Filed under: Instructional Leader | Tags: Back Channel, Collaboration, Communication
In May of 2011, I wrote about my experience using backchannel at one of our schoolwide assemblies. A few weeks ago I was so happy to see the tool used in one of our English classes. The teacher used it during a Socratic Seminar on John Updike’s short story, “A & P”. The twist is that the student seminar leaders and the teacher were backchannel chatting during the discussion. The original purpose behind the use of the tool was to archive notes for students who were out for school trips. While they were able to archive the notes, they found out that it was helpful in other ways.
Seminar Logistics
The seminar leader and the teacher were in the circle and both had access to TodaysMeet. There were two other students who are adding notes to the backchannel and they were outside the circle. The other students participated in the seminar and they were not able to see the chat.
Prior to visiting the class the teacher told me that one of the unintended benefits was that the co-leaders were able to use the chat to coach the leader during the seminar. In this situation the teacher prompted the leader with the following:
” Teacher at 2:28 PM, 17 Apr 2012 via webIB English A2 Aims
- communicate clearly, fluently and effectively in a wide range of situations
- understand and use accurately the oral and written forms of the language, in a range of styles and situations
- understand and use an extensive range of vocabulary and idiom
- express ideas with clarity and fluency
- structure arguments in a focused, coherent and persuasive way, and support them with relevant examples
- engage in detailed, critical examination of a wide range of texts in different forms, styles and registers
- appreciate the subtleties of technique and style employed by writers and speakers of the language
Filed under: Change Agent, Leadership, Visionary | Tags: 1:1 Laptop Programs, 21st Century Schools, Collaboration, Communication, Planning
While our middle school has a 1:1 program in grades 6 and 7 our high school is planning to roll out a 1:1 program in August 2012. We have created a 27 member task force comprised of teachers, students, parents and administrators whose job it is to get out in front of the learning and to make recommendations for the 2011 school year. The task force leadership group decided to structure the group, which has a December – June lifespan, around these ideas and goals.
Goals
- Develop recommendations/action steps for the high school for the 2011-12 school year. Recommendations will be based on the International Society for Technology in Education’s Essential Conditions.
- Share information on 21st century education with the Graded community.
The group meets monthly for 4 hour chunks of time so we realize the importance of communicating and collaborating virtually. There are three tools that we are relying on heavily for communication and collaboration.
1. Ning - The 2012 Task Force Ning is our hub for communication. While there are 27 members of the task force, there are 56 members on the Ning. We have opened it up to our entire community. We started by posting notes from our initial meetings in the discussion forum and are encouraging video uploads, ongoing discussions and blog posts. We use it as a portal for discussions and an archive of our process. Recently, we asked our high school leadership team to review the Ning so that the members could gain a sense of what the task force is doing. While we’re never satisfied with the level of participation, the amount of information that has been generated after 3 months is fantastic.
2. Diigo - We have created a group called Graded 21st Century that members can use to share web resources. Members can also share highlights and notes with the rest of the group. We are finding that the long tale property holds true with a very small number of members contributing multiple sources. It will be interesting to see how participation improves over time.
3. Google Docs – We use Google Education tools to collaborate and present information. These tools are available 24/7 for members to use and we have a rich archive of information.
So, what have we learned in rolling out these tools?
1. Building the Ning doesn’t mean that people will automatically start using the tool. We found that we had to provide support to help the teachers, students and parents to get started. Sending the information out via e-mail only worked for some of the participants.
2. Using the tools during the face to face meetings is a must. Aside from the obvious reasons, this allows the participants to discuss the tools and they can get help, if necessary.
3. We’re working with an outside consultant and she is able to track our progress and participate in the discussions. On a recent Skype call with her I asked her to guess which direction the group took in a recent meeting and she had already seen the work and was able to comment. It’s so efficient and effective to have her linked in with our work.
4. Making a monthly post an assigned task has had mixed results. Some were more comfortable with expounding on their ideas that related to specific online resources and others just shared resources on the Ning. We’re hoping that with feedback and discussion that posting will become a habit and that the quality of the posts will improve.
5. We’re constantly looking for ways to increase the chatter on the Ning. We are optimistic that we’ll develop a culture of online collaboration but it seems to be something that we can’t give up on.
We’re very excited about the work that this group is doing and it will be exciting to see how this online culture evolves. What suggestions do you have for us?
Filed under: Instructional Leader, Leadership, Visionary | Tags: 21st Century Schools, Collaboration, Curriculum, Leadership, project based learning, Web 2.0
Over the past few weeks I have been working with David Sinclair from Taipei American School on a presentation that we will be giving at the EARCOS Administrator’s Conference in Manila. The presentation it titled, Leadership for 1:1 Laptop Initiatives. 
During this time we have been using Google Docs to share information, ideas, links to sites and blogs, and photos. On several occasions we have 
skyped to talk through ideas and we are using 
Prezi as our presentation tool. All of these provide us with access to real time changes 24/7.
OK, so none of this sounds that earth shattering these days, but there was a moment the other night when I realized that this is so COOL. I was out sitting on my deck working on the presentation with my mini laptop, listening to the sounds of crickets chirping and the waves rolling onto the sand. In the middle of my work David skypes me to discuss the presentation. We are both reviewing our notes and the presentation online and making changes as we go. Meanwhile, my wife, who is helping us with the presentation design, is in another room on another mini editing the presentation. All three of us were collaborating and we weren’t even in the same room. David was even thousands of miles away. When we were talking he said, “what’s that noise?” so I told him about the crickets and the waves. Not a bad location to get some work done.
In today’s world there is no reason why our students should not have these experiences frequently. Our job as educators is to create the opportunities for them to collaborate with students and/or experts from around the world. Aside from the cost for the machines and access to the internet, the rest of the tools are free.
