2009 K-12 Online Conference Video Podcast Channel

Can a worldwide scavenger hunt and a GPSr change the way we teach? ABSOLUTELY! This presentation will introduce geocaching and educaching and provide examples and resources to those interested in getting students out of the classroom!

This presentation highlights the use of Google Maps and Google Earth (and Picasa photo)to create a fictional “Heroic Journey” story. The unit is tied to literature (The Odyssey, The Lightning Thief), writing (creating an original story with episodes of adventure) and technology (integrating online tools into the classroom). The presentation includes some sample student work from sixth graders but I encourage you to follow the links to the website where the student journeys are posted.

En el aula de segundo de primaria utilizamos algunos recursos de la web 2.0 para mejorar nuestra comunicación oral y escrita. El microblogging, mensajes con webcam y grabación de audios son alguno de los ejemplos que presento.

Carol Broos and Carol Vrotny, two music teachers discuss the creative process of composing music in the digital age. All links can be found at http://musictechie.pbworks.com

Rachel Boyd’s keynote presentation for the “Week in the Classroom” strand of the K12 Online conference. A peek for a week inside a kiwi junior classroom of 6 year olds. Come and see what we get up to in our classroom learning during a week using a variety of online and web2 tools. Please note that due to this presentation also being visual it is best viewed with audio AND visuals in movie format.

The world is their audience, literally, when high school students embark on a Flat Classroom Project. As a culmination to the 12-14 week global collaborative project students have the opportunity to present their research and findings in real time through a virtual classroom. Guests internationally are invited to attend and ask questions and interact with the students. This experience goes beyond the usual classroom sharing model and promotes awareness of the scope of a global audience, confidence in public speaking and enhanced cultural exchange. This session shares highlights from recent Flat Classroom Student Summits and provides a pedagogical approach that allows safe collaboration and sharing and pushes the limits of classroom experience into a blended 21st century and Web 2.0 model. This session will showcase best student work from the Flat Classroom project and show how students present their research and learning to an international audience. Using a virtual classroom, students from around the world present to their peers and to educators and guests and field questions. The aim of this session is to show how powerful an online learning community is and how Web 2.0 tools can support and enhance the learning experience globally. Participants will be exposed to tools and methods for facilitating this style of online showcase.

The amazing innovation we are seeing in many classrooms around the world still has a small impact, when compared to the size of our educational systems. How do we bridge the divides to go bigger? This presentation will explore some divides, from a Colombian perspective, and will propose some ideas that could help in bridging them. La fabulosa innovación que vemos en muchos salones de clase alrededor del mundo todavía tiene un impacto pequeño, en comparación con el tamaño de nuestros sistemas educativos. ¿Cómo creamos puentes para cerrar las brechas y crecer más? Esta presentación explorará algunas brechas, desde una perspectiva colombiana, y propondrá algunas ideas que pueden ayudar a crear puentes para cerrarlas.

This presentation provides a snapshot of web 2.0 and games based learning which have been implemented in our school and how we have managed to achieve this across all grades Kindergarten to Year 6. We have been using these technologies for several years but it has only been in this last year that there has been a wholesale uptake of these learning resources. 96% of our students are from non English speaking backgrounds. Many of them arrive at school with impoverished language and life experiences. it is our mission to enrich their vocabulary, turn them on to reading and writing and engage them in the process of becoming critical and creative lifelong learners using technology as the tool.

Web 2.0 is more than a set of technology tools. It reflects the democratization of information, the power of collaboration and the personalization we hope to find in any school. Taking full advantage of Web 2.0 technology requires more than hardware and software, it requires adopting a Web 2.0 culture. In 1996, New Technology High School in Napa, California opened with a vision of reinventing high school for a new age. At the core of their approach was a culture, curriculum and technology foundation that empowered the student to take more control over their learning and the school. New Tech High is now a national model for school transformation with a network of over 40 21st Century schools based on those principals. Learn the specific strategies and technologies used by the New Technology Network to create a culture that is more student (user) centered in the classroom and encourage collaboration between students, teachers and schools.

Having been asked to deliver truly cross-curricular ICT to support the Extra English lessons provided for a small group of students, I decioded to use a range of Web 2.0 tools to asist with this. Inspired by the work of Tom Barrett and ‘We Tell Stories’ I decided to create an immersive experience that would help the students have a better understanding of the book. Amongst the tools I used for this were Stupeflix, Google Maps and Google Streetview. The students were able to produce work that was far more involved and detailed than that which they had produced before. As teachers we can be inspired by each other and this presentation is my tribute to this.