Thing 13 – 21st Century Conferencing
I just spent a relaxing and pleasant evening browsing through some very interesting online conferences in the comfort of my living room…no I didn’t wear my pj’s but sweats are just as comfortable. A cup of tea and my laptop and I was ready to begin.
I first watched Bridging History Using Web 2.0 Tools presented by Robin Beaver and Jean Moore. This appealed to me because of the curricular content…we are both studying Asia. I loved the many primary resources that Jean had available for her students online and the depth of her projects was quite amazing. The student collaboration and the learning aspect of all her activities really motivated me to think more about integrating more similar projects in my own classroom.
Next, with a break for dinner, I watched Brian Crosby and his conference on Video-Conferencing It’s Easy, Free and Powerful. I Really enjoyed this video and how it was divided into very helpful small segments. I have also used Skyp when a student was out sick for a length of time and found it helpful for everyone involved. I would like to use it more for absent students. Using video conferencing when a visitor presents could be so useful and effective for the entire school, the community and further afield. The collaboration aspect of video conferencing was clearly stated in many positive ways and I loved the Harris Burdick project and the interview section with other schools. Students respond so well to this kind of learning and the outcome is so rewarding.
My last conference of the evening was about a favorite hobby of mine…Geocaching. A colleague and I plan to create a student developed nature trail on our school grounds. Students will then compile and hide some geomath, geography and geoscience mystery caches where students will find each cache, solve the puzzle and find the next cache in a series. This video by Beth Ritter-Guth and entitled Unlikely Coordinates? Geocaching Across the Curriculum gave me some new and fresh ideas to get this going. I also want to research more on Dr. Alice Christie, the guru of educaching.
All in all, I spent a very productive and enlightening evening at these conferences and think they are a wonderful idea. I hope to continue to browse through many more and will definitely be back next year to see what new and innovative ideas are out there in these great conferences.
Filed under: Uncategorized
