21st century classroom presentation at Yokohama International School

Kim Cofino from ISB ( Bangkok) gave a presentation on Friday 20th November to an audience of educators at Yokohama International School.
Kim is always an enthusiastic presenter and took her audience on a journey showing ways of integrate web 2.0 technologies into their curriculum and classes using the 3 step method:
1. Design
2. Tools
3. Management
The Design element states that the use of the technology should be curriculum driven, the technology must not be the learning.
Tools of course is self explanatory however it is keeping up to date with these that is where teachers such as Kim and Jeff Utecht come into their own - every school or group of schools should have access to a good 21st Century technology practitioner who can show others how to integrate the new technologies into an authentic learning setting.
Management comes down to how teachers integrate the use of technology into the classroom, perhaps easier in a 1 to 1 school setting, but more of a challenge in others - there is also the need to show school management and curriculum planners that discrete IT time and use of computer labs for timetable sessions might not be the way to go!
Thank you Kim for a wonderful session and to Brian Lockwood for the video stream.

Our Personal Learning Network Journeys....

Check out Jeff Utecht's article from 3rd April regarding how we develop/grow our personal learning networks. Jeff's blog post sprung from David Warlick's article ( My Personal Learning Network needs a ########! )....both of the guys are suffering as many of us are from information overload. How many times have you stayed up those extra few hours past midnight ( wherever you are) in order not to miss a conversation? I know for certain that I have, to listen to Ed Tech Talk chats which don't start until 2amGMT!!! and even to the extent of getting up at 5am to join in a Ustream discussion from Bangkok International School and the list goes on.....
There certainly comes a point which Jeff says in his article when something ( usually your family commitments!!) takes you away from your network for a period, this is a good thing as it allows you the time to reflect on the networks that you are involved in.... and is bad as in my case friends and colleagues thought I had dropped off the edge of the world!!!! It even got to the point were Allanah King in NZ left a message on my answering machine at home in Wales wondering where I was!
I can relate directly to Jeff's graph above ( from Flickr - Creative Commons licence) where I guess I have entered Stage 5 where I don't strive to be involved online all of the time, I make time for the family ( when you have grandchildren you have to - they don't understand unless they are at the centre of the universe - and who would deny them that?).
I think that you have to strike a balance otherwise a bit like I found around the start of the year 'bloggers block' can set in and then you might actually find that you switch off from your PLN for a period in order to re-adjust your body clock ( it helps to know which time zone you are in - let alone everyone else!)
I realise as well that a change of role also has an effect on your PLN, I feel a little on the outside looking in these days as I am not in the classroom anymore, it affects the way I interact in the online community as it is bound to do..... so in closing I apologise to those who missed my rather boring Welsh accent for a few months but I am in Stage 5 and am gradually getting back into the networks that I find most valuable and thought provoking.
Incidentally if you want to see how we have grown into the use of online applications which is also a driver of our PLN's check out the top 100 apps here ( thanks to John Sutton from Creative ICT)

Wiziq

"Use WiZiQ's virtual classroom
equipped with live audio-video communication, chat, content sharing, and session recording
capabilities. No download is required since it
works with any web browser and on any operating system."
I dropped in too late to join Jeff Utecht and company when they tried out WIZIQ last weekend, but having listened to the playback here, WiZiQ certainly looks like an excellent FREE video/audio conferencing virtual classroom - and will give FlashMeeting a run for its money. Wiziq offers IM chat, audio or video conferencing and an interactive whiteboard and the facility to upload ppt and swf files ahead of time into a store ready to import into your session. In addition it allows the upload of images. There do appear to be glitches with some uploads which I hope that the WiziQ people will be able to iron out( WiziQ didn't like some of my ppt files??) If you get to listen to the whole playback you will hear how The Teacher controls speakers and those able to interact with the whiteboard, it also allows The Teacher to 'buzz pupils' ahead of time to remind them to speak ( this is only heard by the specific student.
As far as those in the room were concerned the application seemed to press the correct buttons - the only drawback that some folks would have liked is the desktop sharing which is available in Elluminate - but and this is a big BUT - the application is FREE and does not require a download - give it a go sign up - I would very much like to get into the next WiZiQ session :)

Is this a good Thing?

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Mingle² - Dating Site

Thanks to Jeff Utecht at Thinking Stick for this - you take the test it's scary, but true :(