Edublogs Serendipity webinar overview – iPads in class?

Introduction

This recorded Serendipity session was again one where the topic chose itself. There were only three of us in the room a topic choice time and we were all interested in the initial suggestion of “iPads/tablets in classrooms (1:1 models)”. This being a Serendipity session the consensus was to go with that topic.

The Session

This was a great session, mostly audio with some text chat and a number of links shared both through text and on the whiteboard.

As always the discussion ranged across a wider field than the topic title would imply. We were talking mainly of iPads, however much of the conversation would apply also to other tablets.

We also talked briefly about sharing devices in class and also about the added difficulties of “bring your own device” scenarios and the need for activities not device specific.

One of the main themes running through the discussion was how difficult it is for many teachers adopting iPads in class to get started.

Reasons for this may include:

  • lack of availability of pre-existing activities “lessons” that can be used as they are or easily adapted;
  • lack of time to learn the device

I think that these issues apply to introducing any new device/technology but that the problem is becoming more apparent as new devices and technology proliferate. Also increasing adoption of devices/technologies in “schools” is forcing those who are not by nature “early adopters” and experimenters to use these new tools before they are ready!

We shared many links, tips, ideas and solutions to issues of using iPads and other devices in class – particularly with respect to the various non-compatibilities.

Conclusion

I personally enjoyed this session immensely, not least because I came away with a couple of new apps to try out on my own iPad!

Our Next Session

Our next Webinar is an Edublogs “Fine Focus” session. “More quick & easy online tools!” In which we will explore and share our opinions about a few online tools that are potentially quick and easy to learn for teachers and students.  Join us on Thursday March 22nd at 23:00 GMT/UTC the time for you will vary depending on your timezone (check yours here) Thursday afternoon/evening in the USA, late night Thursday in Europe, and Friday morning March 23rd in Australia – in the usual Blackboard Collaborate virtual room.

Edublogs Serendipity webinar overview – projects, community

Introduction

In this recorded Serendipity session we didn’t actually vote on a topic! There was a consensus to briefly discuss three of the topics and that the fourth one perhaps merited a FineFocus session of its own (see next week’s topic at the bottom of the page). In fact we looked at two of the topics in the end – they were:

  • project based learning & using the strong language of online programs
  • community involvement in content delivery

These blended together very well and generated lots of discussion.

The Session

Initially we shared concerns and misgivings about:

  • some of the possible issues  of being locked in to any one of the increasing number of publisher owned and operated student/content management systems;
  • increasing curriculum rigidity and standardisation of “learning”

Then we moved on to discuss the advantages project based learning “PBL” and the difficulty of doing this with the increasing constraints on educators. This conversation blended well into community involvement in content and gave rise to many ideas on possible community projects. There were also suggestions for other ways of increasing community involvement in educational organisations as a strategy for breaking  down the barriers that often exist.

Conclusion

This session was fascinating – truly Serendipitous in the way that we ranged across the related topics. It seems to me that increasingly in our sessions we are hearing the frustrations of educators in schools, who meet with severe constraints on how they teach as well as with the ever narrowing and more prescribed curriculum. As an adult educator in literacy/numeracy I feel that I am incredibly lucky at the moment in having a less rigid and constrained curriculum than colleagues in schools but it is probably only a matter of time!

Our Next Session

Our next Webinar is an Edublogs “Fine Focus” session. “Big Brother (Google) is watching you!” In which we will take a look at some of the implications of the recent changes in Google.  Join us on Thursday March 8th at 23:00 GMT/UTC the time for you will vary depending on your timezone (check yours here) Thursday afternoon/evening in the USA, late night Thursday in Europe, and Friday morning March 9th in Australia – in the usual Blackboard Collaborate virtual room.

Edublogs webinar overview – using ToonDoo

Preface

If you access the link to the recording it would be great if you could either tweet me (@JoHart) or leave a short comment on this post to let me know. I would really like to know if it is useful to people when I post the overviews & recording links

Introduction

The purpose of this session was to take a look at one of my favourite online tools, the cartoon making site ToonDoo. I use this a lot both for learning resources and to engage my students in developing texts.

The Session

As usual the webinar was recorded and we began with a look at what people would like to gain from the session and finding out who was familar with Toondoo. This led smoothly into an opportunity to share links for other cartooning websites.

We moved on to look at a couple of the ways I use ToonDoo both for learning resources and for students to create their own visual texts. Then came the really fun bit, using Application Share to share the Toondoo website and to jointly make a cartoon. I asked for volunteers to build a cartoon and gave control to several people in turn. The resulting cartoon is here:

WebinarToonResizeFollowing the successful use of “homework” last week when we went away to make Vokis. I thought maybe a similar homework this week would be fun. So we invite anyone who was at the session (or in fact anyone who reads this post/watches the recording) to make a ToonDoo and either Tweet the link or put it in a comment to this post. Then we can all enjoy. 🙂 We already have one person @jofrei who has completed the homework with her ‘toon entitled Webinar Toon

UnforseenResize

 

I was rather hoping I would not be expected to do any homework this week but decided that it is always fun to make cartoons so here is mine. I have cheated a bit in that this is one is one I needed to make for the Induction disc I am developing for my online literacy students. I’m trying to underscore the information on digital safety and digital identity with cartoons.

 

Conclusion

I enjoyed presenting this session very much. Partly because it felt very interactive with lots of particiption and partly because I like “playing” with ToonDoo. I also think that these sort of combined “techie how to” and “teaching strategy” webinars are a good combination. This is because sometimes learning about a great tool is not enough in itself – ideas on how it can be used/applied in a learning context are really helpful.

Next Webinar

SerendipitybsmallOur next session is an Edublogs “Serendipity” session on Thursday March 17th at 23:00 GMT/UTC (6pm USA EST, Midnight BST) or Friday March 18th at 1am CEST, 7am West Aus, 10am NSW, depending on your timezone (check yours here) – in the usual Elluminate room. This is one of our fortnightly unconference sessions where we invite you to bring along your “hot topics” and “burning issues” for our poll on the topic of the day. If you want to propose a topic in advance then visit the Serendipity Wallwisher and add your topic.

In the Future

If you are a regular visitor to our webinars you will know that we alternate “Fine Focus” sessions on specific topics with “Serendipity” the unconference sessions where we choose a topic by poll at the start of the session. Sometimes the very fact of being asked for “hot topics” or other ideas for discussion or learning tends to make our minds blank. This has prompted me to start a Serendipity Wallwisher for topic suggestions. Please visit the wall and add your ideas for Serendipity topics so that we have more choices to consider. Some of these ideas might also form the basis for future “Fine Focus” sessions.

Edublogs Serendipity webinar overview – Presentation

Preface

If you access the link to the recording it would be great if you would just leave a short comment on this post to let me know. I would really like to know if it is useful to people when I post the overviews & recording links

Introduction

For this recorded session the topic chosen was from the Wallwisher and was on best presentation practice, however as we were a small number we diverged from this and discussed and shared examples of  the options we use ourselves.

The Session

We started the session by sharing (on the whiteboard) some of the ways that we present our information to others. With a small group these were inevitably limited in number, as I think most people have preferred tools and styles of presentation and will usually use those if practicable.

AgesOfPresentationsTOONresize

We moved on to discussing and sharing (through application share) some of our own personal examples of how we present information eg interactive PowerPoint, webpages with embedded links and customised Elluminate whiteboards developed on a PowerPoint base.

Conclusion

This session was great for gaining insights and ideas from how others present information. My takeways include a need to learn how to make the internal interactives work in Powerpoint and also to take a closer look at using a web page as the thread to link a series of information presentations.

Our Next Session

FineFocusSmallOur next Webinar is an Edublogs “Fine Focus” session. This week’s session  “Blog or Wiki? Pros and Cons” will be an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of blogs and wikis as tools for different learning situations. Do you know the difference? Do you want to use either or both? Do you currently use either or both? Come along – share how and why & discover how others use them. Join us on Thursday Feb 10th at 23:00 GMT/UTC (6pm USA EST, Midnight CET) or Friday Feb 11th at 7am West Aus, 10am NSW, depending on your timezone – in the usual Elluminate room

In the Future

If you are a regular visitor to our webinars you will know that we alternate “Fine Focus” sessions on specific topics with “Serendipity” the unconference sessions where we choose a topic by poll at the start of the session. Sometimes the very fact of being asked for “hot topics” or other ideas for discussion or learning tends to make our minds blank. This has prompted me to start a Serendipity Wallwisher for topic suggestions. Please visit the wall and add your ideas for Serendipity topics so that we have more choices to consider. Some of these ideas might also form the basis for future “Fine Focus” sessions.

Overview Edublogs webinar – “iGoogle, do youGoogle?”

Introduction

This recorded Edublogs Fine Focus session followed the recent Google theme. This time it was my turn, the topic was iGoogle and how it provides the hub of my Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

The Session

I very much enjoyed this session as I  love to “play” with Elluminate and always like to share the various Web2.0 tools that I find useful.

The main aims of the session were to:

  • check we all had some idea about what iGoogle is
  • explore its use as the hub for a PLE
  • look at how the PLN strands can be drawn together on iGoogle through a variety of  available gadgets.

iGoogleDoYou resize

We made use of polling and whiteboard in the early stages of the session. However I mostly used Application Share to show everyone how I use iGoogle as the meeting point for all the strands of my PLN and my “e-life”. Then we took a look at how the new pages can be created and personalised with themes and chosen gadgets. During this section I handed control of my desktop to others so that they could add gadgets to one of my pages. As always I tried to pick up on questions in text as we went, but also asked for them after the Application Share ended. Finally we did a round up of “take-aways followed by feedback.

Conclusion

This was a fun session from my perspective and seemed to be enjoyed by all. My greatest satisfaction as always is when people have “take aways” that they feel will be useful to them and there were a number of these from this session.

Next Week

SerendipitybsmallOur next Webinar is an Edublogs “Serendipity” session, one of our fortnightly unconference sessions where we invite you to bring along your “hot topics” and “burning issues” for our poll on the topic of the day. If you want to propose a topic in advance then visit the Serendipity Wallwisher and add your topic. Then join us on Thursday Oct 14th at 23:00 GMT/UTC (7pm USA EST, Midnight BST) or Friday Oct 15th at 1am CEST,7am West Aus, 10am NSW, depending on your timezone – in the usual Elluminate room

In the Future

If you are a regular visitor to our webinars you will know that we alternate “Fine Focus” sessions on specific topics with “Serendipity” the unconference sessions where we choose a topic by poll at the start of the session. Sometimes the very fact of being asked for “hot topics” or other ideas for discussion or learning tends to make our minds blank. This has prompted me to start a Serendipity Wallwisher for topic suggestions. Please visit the wall and add your ideas for Serendipity topics so that we have more choices to consider. Some of these ideas might also form the basis for future “Fine Focus” sessions.