Open dialogue in the classroom

This is a bit of a reflection on things done in class, how they were done and why these teaching decisions were made.

• creative story telling activities done over a few weeks - one of the students just wrote a blog post about these activities and the impact of these activities to her learning

• making rubrics in class - applied to digital storytelling - conversations while they were doing this - I had four working groups gathered around large chart paper; I wandered from group to group to respond to points, challenges and discussions. This created conversations about having time to practice something before they were evaluated on it - as they had a rubric due for another instructor without having any time or opportunity to explore & experiment in guided practice.

These items, from the eyes and voices of my students are NOT items I would take into the open. These are personal, reflective and focused on my relationship with these students. Not open for open publication. But important for the feeling of openness within the classroom in terms of topics of conversation. 

Voices in the Air

Yesterday, the podcast that I had recorded with Sarah Lalonde last Friday, went on the air. The conversation was tweeted out to my students and several took time to listen. Some connected conversation happened in class today as a followup. Episode 35: Digital and Media Literacies

Today, as part of my class time, some students who wanted to try podcasting, were given the opportunity to do so. During this time, one student made the decision to also participate - confirming my believe that, given a safe and supportive environment, students will engage in using technologies and media that they may not have tried otherwise. I'm modelling and my students are engaging, moving into the open.

Moving mountains

I've used this title as the hook to my conference proposal for the Creative Commons Global Summit.

It's also been trickling through my mind in connection to podcasting and teaching the media class. Last night I had set up a google hangout with a teacher candidate, Sarah L. in Ottawa, to talk to my class about podcasting. Since it connected to the topic of participatory culture and new media, it was timely. She spoke for about ten minutes and then the questions started - as posted in a backchannel in Todays Meet, which everyone could see from their laptops. This talk went longer than anticipated, but it was student centered and focused on their participation in new media spaces.

A few students had also created a short sound file, or radio bumper, for VoiceEd.ca which I took, imported and worked with a music track to enhance the clip, and returned to them, as well as sending off to Stephen Hurley to use with his radio shows. Participation in action.

A few students have created a blog post for their making media assignment that they are tweeting out to other Ontario educators through the #OneWordONT project. One has also added their blog post to the Google Plus community set up for this activity. Again, participation in media spaces where other professionals and educators are engaging in conversations together.

It's not a push or pull action for the students or myself, more of an invitation to play. I set up the 'sandbox' and invite others to join WITH me as we try these media making opportunities together. The benefits is that they (the students) will leave at the end of this term with a connected network in participatory spaces where they can continue to chose to engage - in the open!

Just a little SLACK

This is the second time I'll be using SLACK as a back channel conversation space for an online course. The course is Critical Digital Literacy. It is offered to Faculty of Education students in both Orillia and Thunder Bay. Students also range from PJ to IS (primary junior to intermediate senior) so they will bring a variety of skills and interests into the course. The main course site is built on the external web and mirrored within Desire to Learn, the learning management system, but last year I tried using Slack as a less formal, conversational space where students could interact and provide feedback to each other on their project work without feeling they needed to have their responses in sentence, paragraph, logical sequences where every word counts.

In order to differentiate between these two spaces, I use the words discussion & comments when referring to D2L and the word conversation & feedback when referencing Slack contributions. Since I wasn't as consistent in differentiating the purpose of these two digital spaces some students were confused about how and when to post in each of the locations. In both spaces, I structure groups to reduce the volume of posts and responses but the groups are structured differently in each of these digital learning environments.

Before the students are introduced to SLACK, I send out an email informing them of this alternative digital space and provide a two-page How-To-Guide that includes links to helpful video tutorials. Even if students have used Slack, this is a new application with new terminology and actions to take. As part of the critical digital literacy 'using' - problem solving and 'code breaking' - common operations, conventions.

Once the initial email has been sent, I follow up with the invitation from within Slack to the students - emailed to them within the application. As students enter into the space, I welcome them with a personal @mention. I've included an avatar image created in Bitmoji to enhance the playfulness of the space. This is also evident in the 'channels' that all students join when they accept the invitation - welcome, fun-but-random, q&a, sharing, tweeting. I'll structure the groups once the majority have responded to the introduction survey so I can combine students who may know each other or can support each other through similar interests.

The formality of the D2L space is evident in the formal language I choose to use in the welcoming announcement that students will receive when they enter the course learning management space.