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.

Networks enable Discussion

It was sometime yesterday while following my Twitter network ( for those who have been living under a stone for the past few months ) - (Twitter a 140 word instant messaging system that enables people to create their own personal learning group).

I was following the chat between friends in the US and Australia when I picked up on a discussion about the Future Learning in a Networked World travelling Conference ( which runs from 16th to 28th January), in particular that an online friend Kim Cofino and her colleagues at the International School Bangkok were hosting a live Ustream'ed discussion from the school this morning ( 5am UK!).
This is interesting for me, because not only have I been following Kim and her colleagues work for quite a long time, but for me now they are a highly motivated Online connected IB school.
The discussion today was largely lead around reading acquisition...
In the room at ISB were staff from ISB including foreground right Justin Medved and left Kim herself. To Justin's side is Michael Coghlan and John Eyles, to Kim's side is Webhead Vance Stevens, further down the table are staff from Bangkok.
In the discussion area were up to 20 educators again from around the globe. The discussion was very much a dialogue -
Vance talked us through his presentation

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While the discussion ranged around how children acquire reading skills in the modern world, whether technology is always the panacea, or that technology has to be part of a balanced approach to educating our pupils.
Again the discussion came up to a well known hurdle - how many teachers are actually switched on to using these new technologies ...... even such obvious ones to those 'in the loop' such as Delicious and Twitter.
I will leave you to listen to the discussion here - also if you want to see what things looked like from the other end of the conversation look out for Flickr photographs tagged flnw08 - this will grow I am sure as things progress..... thanks to all in the real and virtual room for a lively and interesting discussion .... special thanks to nzchrissy for acting as a link between real and virtual rooms :-) and of course to Kim, Justin and the staff from ISB.
It also shows The power of personal networking in the 21st Century.

The debate about Learning in the 21st C by 21st C Educators

I am endebted again to Kim Cofino and her colleagues Dennis Harter, Justin Medved, Struan Robinson and Teresa Belisle from the International School in Bangkok, for their energy and enthusiasm for embracing Web 2.0 technology into the curriculum in their recent discussions on Embedding 21st Century Literacy into Curriculum Planning ( Kim is 21st Century Literacy Specialist at the International School) , and also internalising tech such as blogging for their own means of reflection ( this kind of joined up thinking using new technology tools is what, I, for one tried and failed to get embedded in my school/ local area - and may be why I ultimately sought to find people to work with who have this degree of 'vision').
To have teaching colleagues embrace not only blogging but also collaborative Google Docs as a means of not only communicating their ideas must be truly galvanising, but also allowing the wider community to make changes to the document, making it a truly 21st Century work in progress- in Struan's words
"Why do I share this thinking and this story? I come back to the opening anecdote about our visiting literacy specialist who was impressed with our intellectual thinking. It made me reflect- through our daily collaboration, I am challenged everyday. We are asking big questions and although we don’t have all the answers, we are hungry for more. 21st Century thinking… bring it on!!"

It was on Dennis Harter's blog that I came across his post on Why they need us, in which he had used Mike Wesch's thought provoking video as a discussion point on the effectiveness of education in the classroom or lecture room of the 21st Century.

a short video summarizing some of the most important

characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Dr Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.

Thank you again Kim and the progressive staff at ISB for your work, which I am sure others grappling with implementing and embedding 21st Century Literacies into their Curriculum will find really useful.

Streamed Social Networking Web Video Sites

Intrigued by the phenomenon of online video streaming I have been looking at 2 such sites today.
I caught up with Will Richardson videocasting in Ustream this afternoon quite by accident when following up links from Kim Cofino's Delicious Links. Will had tried out Operator 11 previously and was broadcasting live on Saturday 13th October here is his feed. Todays Weblogg-ed Show was on video gaming at MediaTech


Will who is out there at the edge searching for new ways to deliver Web 2.0 technologies in an educational setting has been using Ustream for some time, tried out Operator 11 with some IT colleagues last week.


In the chat alongside UStream today I asked Will about his take on the two applications... there is an advantage in O11 that you can allow other participants to broadcast (operating like FlashMeeting with each person having air time to talk) - this does not appear to be available in UStream which seems to be what it says - you streaming (there is a chatroom also in UStream - so that participants can contribute - very like webcasting from Worldbridges.) However Will did have a problem in Operator11, even though you have the power as a 'director' to allow people in to participate, it appears that they can come in anyway and could try to take over the conversation - this reminded me of the live 'seat of the pants' When Night Falls, Skypecasts for K12Online06 which made them very difficult to control...
Neither site would not be appropriate spaces for students to access either, due to inappropriate content on start-up pages.
Presentations can be embedded as above though for use if necessary at a later date. Not really in the spirit of live interaction. It is interesting to see how these applications spring up, each having useful elements - both of these would be useful for teacher PD or Workshops with built in interactivity... Follow the developments by keeping up with people like Will, David Jakes et al.

David Jakes made an interesting observation in the chat today, suggesting that there have perhaps been too many new social networking applications recently which has taken educators away from their core role, I for one would agree with that remark. It is difficult enough to get tried and tested Web 2.0 technologies into everyday teaching, we must be looking long term for some of the latest developments to appear in a classroom near you.

Many Thanks to Kim Cofino for setting me off on this research. You can find more at Kim's Delicio.us links.

*apologies for earlier spelling/grammar - I blame it on feeling rotten with a cold when typing up this blog - that's my story anyway !!!! :-)