Standards: 1.2; 1/3/ 4.1/ 6.1; 6.2; 6.3/ 7.4
I was invited by Maha Bali to be on the panel of an EdContexts Google hangout. Looking at the qualifications and experience of the other people on the panel I was initially intimidated but decided to do it anyway. Growth mindset! An opportunity to join a diverse group of people on the topic of contexts in learning. I believe everyone had a unique perspective on the broad topic. It’s a very different experience joining in a conversation in a webinar, keeping up with what’s being said and being put on the spot to speak (at which point you’re talking into a space you know is inhabited by the listening panel although you can’t see them). I’m so much more comfortable with writing – having the time to compose your thoughts, deleting what doesn’t come up to scratch, not exposing anything about your physical self.
I believe this is part of the digital experience offered our students. We are still so text-centric at school; we should be allowing our students different digital platforms for communication and expression. These are the literacies we should be developing for ourselves in order to be in the position to open up new possibilities to our students.
Educators across contexts (EdContexts) – Google Hangout Conversations. (Link to blog post)
Thanks to Maha Bali for inviting me to take part in a webinar conversation about connected learning and contexts. Maha is one of my first MOOC friends when I jumped in last year, and she is the most generous and wide-reaching person. It was great to meet everyone and chat about contexts in learning – just scratch the surface really – great to meet new people, and talk to people I’ve known from online networks face to face (so to speak) for the first time eg Maha, Simon and Tanya (who’s from Sydney). Together we represented many contexts across geographical, cultural, linguistic and professional borders.
Of course, all participants are part of connected learning networks which can be discovered through their links below:
- Maha Bali (host) – Associate Professor of Practice at the Center for Learning & Teaching at the American University in Cairo (AUC), located in Cairo, Egypt
- Shyam Sharma (host) – Assistant Professor of writing and rhetoric at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY
- Asao B. Inoue – Director of University Writing, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington-Tacoma
- Tanya Lau – eLearning Instructional Designer from Sydney, Australia
- Tania Sheko – Teacher Librarian at a 9-12 secondary boys’ school in Melbourne, Australia
- Simon Ensor – English teacher at the Université Blaise Pascal Clermont Ferrand in France
Lenandlar Singh was unfortunately unable to attend. His list of conference papers indicate he would have been a fantastic addition to the conversation.
Shyam and Maha were hosting and did a great job despite technical issues and Maha’s daughter waking, and thanks to Liana for her excellent support as we all connected to the hangout. I know Terry Elliott was watching and tweeting and I know that others were too, asking questions in the #clmooc and #connectedlearning Twitter spaces.
The video and storify (summary of related tweets) is available on theConnected Learning website as well as additional links and resources shared by participants.
I discovered that one of our French teachers comes from where Simon is located – Clermont Ferrand. She is very excited about that and would like to make contact with him. We are thinking it would be fun to connect our students in way similar to the way he already does through CLAVIER.
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Here is my map #pdp15 