http://www.flickr.com/photos/deux-chi/4146284063/
The Virtual Book Club will begin a short 48 hours (-ish) from now! It has been so much fun to see folks begin to post on this blog, tweet comments on the book, email with ideas or even call when they had a question. One of the wonderful things about a global Professional Learning Network (PLN) is that you have colleagues and friends from all around the world sending you great snippets of wisdom and encouragement at all times of day. Thank you everyone for your active participation already!
If you haven’t already, a quick reminder to make sure you computer is ready for our first session on Monday, January 7th, 7:30PM EST (that’s Tuesday at 3:00AM GMT), for your time zone, click here. To check your computer, go to this page by Blackboard Collaborate, it lets you check your computer to make sure you have all the software you need.
The link you will need to join the session is: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2007066&password=M.065891D192F8072208BF5756999CE0
Please plan on logging on 20 minutes or so before the start of the book club so that you can make sure all is working and complete the Audio Wizard before we get started. If you haven’t used Blackboard Collaborate yet, you’ll find it is a great tool and pretty easy to use, but you’ll want some time to explore it before we get started.
Anyone who can’t make our first meeting or has some ideas to share before then, feel free to begin commenting on Chapter One or Chapter Two. We have some folks from time zones that can’t make the live meeting but will be following our conversation through this blog.
I have just finished reading the first two chapters. While I heard much of it during my certificate program, the information provided in the first two chapters helps to clarify the “flat classroom” idea. In particular I found the 3 categories of collaboration useful and one that I want to put on my wall or somewhere where I will see it everyday. Chapter 2 particularly struck me as I am currently in the process of researching various master’s programs in Ed Tech and while the general area intrigues me this chapter helped to pinpoint some key areas of interest that I might be able to use for research projects:
1. How to educators justify or explain the concept of global collaboration to other educators, admin, parents, and students when it is difficult to find conclusive studies that go beyond anecdotal? This of course leads into an exploration of research ethics and how researchers satisfy ethics boards without being bogged down with paperwork.
2. A lot of the elementary projects that I’ve seen focus on exchange of cultural information, I would like to explore how we can create units or projects that go beyond this so that students don’t necessarily think of collaboration as a cultural exchange project( which is stil valid).
3. How do educators who come from different school systems work this into their curriculum?
4. As an educator in a first world country, I often wonder about the responsibility of first world governments to ensure that students from other countries have access to the tools to globally collaborate. This of course leads into a discussion on third world countries and priorities. Should money be spent on ensuring digital access or food?
5. I’m interested in exploring how projects can run when the students themselves do not share the same language? Many of the projects that I have seen are ones where the students all speak to varying degrees the same language. But if they are forced to collaborate with someone who doesn’t understand what they say or write, how would a project work, what type of project would be best for this, and what would be the educational benefit.
Sincerely,
Brendan
Highly descrіptive blog, I еnjoyeԁ that a
lot. Will there bе a part 2?
Hi Paul! Glad you found the blog helpful! We are getting ready for Session #3 on Monday, February 4th at 7:30pm EST (that’s Tuesday, February 5th at 3:30am GMT). For your time zone, click here. We will be discussing Chapters Five and Six. Hope to “see” you there! If you are interested in participating in a virtual book club from start to finish, please fill out this form. Thanks for your interest!
A friend referred me to this website. Thanks for the information.