Performativity- What is it?  When we learn to acquire knowledge and apply it in new ways, to new situations, we are engaging in Performativity. Performativity can also be known as the way we act, perform an action, or construct an identity. I can see this being a key term in our age of knowledge where […]

When I first started to get my teeth stuck into technology enhanced learning (TEL), or eLearning as we referred to it then, the key message was about pedagogy over technology. The pedagogic design was all that really mattered, and this led to the development of 'learning modules' - Blackboard/WebCT's early attempts at stringing together a number of HTML pages (and bits like forums, etc) that enabled learners to progress through with relative ease.They were reasonably good and done the job.Today, pedagogy is still the key factor in any eLearning design, but there's a greater appreciation for the aesthetics and user experience now (many years after Marshall McLuhan's notion that the 'Medium is the Message'). I wonder if the biggest modern influence on this appreciation is due to the explosion of the Web to help us understand how we engage with web-based content. But now, there's a further precursor - the Web was always accessed via a computer (desktop/laptop) and with this brought certain rules e.g. keeping content 'above the fold' and only taking 3 clicks to get to the content you wanted.However, the development in hand-held devices like the iPhone and iPad has undoubtedly paved the way in web design and has developers not only questioning those old rules, but rewriting them. Contemporary trends are shifting in recognition that for many, these devices serve as the primary means of accessing and engaging on the Web (for example, my Mum and Dad only have iPhones and an iPad - no computer). [that last sentence seems very strange to read back. My Dad. iPhone. #lol].So how is this influencing eLearning?Of course much has already been written about 'edutainment' since YouTube gripped the Web, and MOOCs have focussed largely on the provision of video-based content, perhaps inspired by the successful 'TED Talks'.  Things like email are gradually becoming obsolete to social media. The concept of Responsive Design (where a single site presents differently to users based on the device/screen they're using) has been picked up by Blackboard for their new VLE, but the broader elements of web design haven't trickled through just yet - those trends that recognise and build upon the presumption of mobile access. We know that accessing on our phones means scrolling with our thumbs, pinch and zooming, swiping to go back and forward, etc. These activities don't play too well with typical websites - it can be hard to use your clunky monkey-like fingers to press a small hyperlink on a phone screen, for example.So will we see things like single page designs, encouraging users to scroll? Replacing small clickable hyperlinks with larger icons and imagery? More embedded media? Gone are the days of the ghastly flashing animations (remember the 'Under Construction' pages?) that are now replaced with beautifully crafted and subtle CSS/HTML5 animations.Is there a difference in how learners engage with content today compared with 10 years ago? And how will our learners engage with content in another 10 years? Whilst we tend to think we have a good understanding of learning, teaching, and the learners themselves, I suspect we actually understand only a little as the advances in technology actually do start to lead what we can do pedagogically. Will the 'Mobile first' mindset ever come to play in eLearning?Watch this space...Peter@ReedyreedlesThe Reed Diaries by Peter Reed is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

Originally posted on Mrs. McCallum's Grade 4's:This spring, we have some wonderful work that we will be engaged in. As we continue into our Social Studies unit, our students have begun to identify an endangered animal in each region of Canada. We will be studying the environmental impacts of industry on the animals…

We've moved our team blog to Blogger and integrated it with the edtechteam.com domain. Look for more new content from the team here soon.Content from the old team blog can still be accessed on our site here: http://www.edtechteam.com/blog

Originally posted on Mrs. McCallum's Grade 4's:C.H. Made another great Shadow Puppet for us about the Appalachia Region of Canada - visual literacy at its finest! Our Regions of Canada unit is multi-disciplinary. We are covering expectations from many curriculum syllabi: Underlying, and supporting all of our expectations is an overall emerging culture…

Cross posted from Getting Smart news. I often begin my workshop on personal learning networks for educators by asking these questions: Who is in your learning network? Who do you learn from on a regular basis? Who do you turn to for your own professional development? Some educators are lucky enough to learn from their coworkers or colleagues at their site. Far too many others feel isolated in their room or office, and need to meet with counterparts from other sites in order to have a professional learning experience. All educators (and learners) can benefit from extending their own personal learning network online - beyond the walls of their schools, the boundaries of their districts, and the limits of their experience.I usually ask these questions at conferences, which are frequently only annual events - and rare treats for many educators. My goal is for workshop participants to leave the session plugged into a global network of like-minded professionals, who will broaden their experience and challenge their thinking on an ongoing basis. I share with participants these ten tips for building their own personal learning network, and I hope these might be useful for you too.Learning to Network and Networking to Learn1. Connect - The growth engine of your learning network is your willingness to reach out and make connections with new people. Leave a comment on a blog post or podcast, reply to a question on twitter, or +1 a post on Google+ (or like something on Facebook). Merely reading, listening, or watching is not connecting. The more people you connect with online, the more you can take advantage of the strength of week ties. 2. Contribute - If you have something to share, post it online where it may be accessible and useful to others. Your expertise (and even your struggles) are valuable to others who don’t have your experience. Anything you create for work (or your own schooling) might as well be shared, and might be valuable to someone else. Making contributions is a way to offer something of value to the new people you are connecting with. Sharing online is even considered a moral imperative by many educators; sharing contributes to the greater good. It’s one way we can pay it forward.3. Converse - Over time the connections and contributions you make online will evolve into conversations as others respond to you as well. These conversations will in turn grow into relationships, if not friendships. Sharing something about your passions (and challenges) outside of work can also enrich your relationships. Someone you’ve connected with about baseball or raising a toddler might be more likely to respond to your questions about work as well. 4. Request - If you’ve made connections, offered contributions, and cultivated relationships over time... then when you make requests, they are more likely to fall on fertile soil. In circles of educators who connect online, making a request is acceptable and welcome. You’ll find that you’ll receive much higher quality answers and support by asking your network, than you will by simply searching online. Networking Tools and AnecdotesThe four tips above are the core activities of building a personal learning network, and they can be applied using various tools to connect with others online. Although many other tools, such as wikis, podcasts, instant messages, streaming video, and more can used for connecting this way, some tools are particularly valuable for building a personal learning network, including blogs, Twitter, and other social networks, like Classroom 2.0 and Google+. 5. Blog - Though there will never be another 2004, blogs are still a powerful way for educators (and learners) to connect. Within my first six months of blogging (posting things I had written for work or school anyway), I received comments from six of the authors I had cited in my posts! Over the course of my doctoral research, my blog connected me with more researchers and practitioners than my university ever could have. These trends have continued to this day. If you read many blogs, an RSS aggregator (like Google Reader) can be an essential tool for helping you spend 25% of your time reading and writing blogs for professional development. 6. Tweet - Among educators (and much of the world), Twitter is the most popular social microblogging tool. The posts are short and easy to skim, and because following someone on Twitter is not a reciprocal relationship (unlike friending on Facebook), it is easy to create a custom group of people to follow - and to manage the flow of incoming information. Twitter has been the most powerful tool in the growth of my personal learning network from a half-dozen teachers in the English department lounge to thousands of educators around the globe. Twitter is at least as valuable to me for moral support as it is for technical support. The #lateworkcrew has helped me through many long nights of whittling down my critical tasks. 7. Join Classroom 2.0 - Maintaining a blog and posting regularly to Twitter can feel like significant commitments, and failure to post can generate feelings of guilt. Social networks such as Classroom 2.0, however, are a great place to start with an exiting network (no need to follow, friend, or circle anyone) and with very little pressure to produce. With over 60,000 members, if everyone contributes even a small fraction of what they read, the site is rich with content. For many educators, it is a great starting point for experiencing a personal learning network, not to mention learning more about how these tools are impacting the future of education. 8. Use Google+ - Google’s new social network allows educators to group the people they follow into circles, such as personal and professional (keeping these circles safely separate in a way that is more difficult on other networks such as Facebook). Or, more specifically, users can organize the people they follow into circles for specific subject areas, grade levels, or or even collaborative projects. Additional features are particularly valuable to educators, especially "hangouts" - video calls for up to 10 people, including screen sharing and Google Docs integration. Google+ is also a great tool for expanding your horizons beyond education. There are rich communities of technologists, photographers, and thought leaders sharing on Google+. Final ThoughtsThese final two tips will help keep your initial frustrations in perspective, and help you avoid the temptation to focus on unimportant metrics as you grow your network.9. Be Patient - Many educators get frustrated when they first experiment with these tools, but building a personal learning network doesn’t happen quickly, and it isn’t a trivial commitment. It takes time to make connections and build relationships. It’s takes perseverance to continue when you receive no replies to your requests, and it requires patience to build up social capitol over the months that may be necessary before you begin to feel part of a community. But it is well worth the investment to one day have a 24/7 global network to tap into whenever you’re in need - or simply want to learn something new. 10. Be Authentic - As Tommy Spaulding says, It’s Not Just Who You Know... it’s how you know them. Despite the appeal of seeing your number of followers grow, or trying to post something you know will generate comments or re-tweets, it is more important to be authentic in your online connections. Don’t try to game the system, worry to much about your online "brand," or in any way cajole people into following you or responding to you (with contests or incentives for instance). The more you reveal your humanity the more people will trust you, identify with you, and respond to your reflections and appeals. More importantly, the more you seek out the humanity in others, the more they will want to connect with you - and share with you.  Will Richardson, co-author of Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education has been a part of my personal learning network for years... and I was lucky enough to see him at a conference last week. He shared with me a challenge he recently placed to educational leaders: "If your school system hasn’t changed a year from now, I get it... but if you haven’t changed a year from now, you’re a failure." I hope these tips might help you start down the road of building your own personal learning network and becoming a more connected learner yourself - or if you’re well down this road already, I hope these tips might be helpful to pass on to your colleagues to get them started. If you have tips of your own for educators just starting to build their personal learning network, or if you have questions as you begin to build yours... please share in the comments below. Note: For more on this topic, you might also want to explore Jeff Utecht’s book Reach: Building Communities and Networks for Professional Development.Note: I’ve also been writing about this topic for some time. If you would like to read a brief article that goes into more depth on a few of these points, please see my article Learning to Network & Networking to Learn from The High School Educator in 2008. You are also invited to access the workshop resources for my most recent personal learning networks for educators workshop.

Originally posted on Mrs. McCallum's Grade 4's:Grade 4 Patterning & Algebra Practice on the computer:   4.5.1.2 demonstrate an understanding of equality between pairs of expressions, using addition, subtraction, and multiplication. The following activities have corresponding websites for practice below. Please start with 1) on March 30 in class. (you just have to…

Rich Questions in Math for Differentiation by idmccallum on GoAnimate http://goanimate.com/player/embed/05eArACW1QJs?utm_source=social&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_campaign=usercontent

Instructional Technology Outreach at the Los Angeles County Office of Education (ITO at LACOE) is hosting Blended Learning Models and Haiku LMS, a FREE workshop lead by Chris Bell and myself. We'll be covering integration with Google Apps and other Web 2.0 tools, and we'll be discussing best practices (and Leading Edge Certification) for online teachers.Description: Learn the basics of creating online classes with Haiku LMS. Discover how to seamlessly integrate Haiku with Google Apps, and how to easily embed other Web 2.0 tools into Haiku. Because the instructional model is more important than the technology, further discussion explores various blended learning models - and highlights the simple yet powerful features of Haiku LMS that support successful student centered learning. Ultimately, the less time you need to spend on the technology, the more you can focus on customizing instruction.Fee: No feeTarget Audience: Classroom Teacher, County Office of Education Staff, District Administrator, Site Administrator, Teacher (Non-Classroom)Location: LACOE Education Center 288, 9300 Imperial Hwy.Date and Time: 03/21/2012 09:00 AM - 11:00 AMRegister and More... If you're in the LA area (or willing to travel), we hope to see you there. In the meantime, please share any questions or comments below.

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