Learning2gether Episode 38

Sunday, April 17. 2011 –

How do you close the screen shares you no longer want? We never did figure it out, but that’s what the lines are @#!?

BigMarker is free software running online that lets participants display voice and video, share screens, and of course text chat with one another. It has two modes, meeting space and presenter.  Today we try out a meeting space created for Webheads to hang out in. No password is required to join in, but please wear a headset (your mic will activate automatically).  I don’t think it has a recording mode; we may have to make a screencast. The room is available for common use by anybody at any time 24/7.  And anyone who can read a capcha can create his or her own room at http://bigmarker.com. Thanks and acknowledgement to Nik Peachey for the tip on this space, yet another illustration of how knowledge disseminates through a PLN.

When and where:

• noon GMT, start gathering at http://tappedin.org for distance coordination and setup
• 13:00 GMT, http://www.bigmarker.com/vances/wia

Announcements:

• http://taedtech.ning.com/events/today-we-test-drive-bigmarker
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27622

Screenshots (we didn’t bother screencasting our fumbling about learning this new software 😉

• 
  View on screencast.com »

• 
  View on screencast.com »

 Saturday, April 16, 2011

Vance Stevens presents Transforming learning with creative technogogy: Achieving the aha! moment, live from Ras Al Khaimah, UAE with help from online colleagues in various regions of the UAE and with a possible live hookup from Brighton, where they will be getting ready for their first presentation of the day at the IATEFL Conference taking place there. http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2011/ TESOL Arabia is very active in the UAE, with chapters in various cities frequently putting on professional development events such as the one in the flyer at left. However, the UAE is a large country, with several hours driving time required between its major cities.  As a result it is often not possible for many teachers in the UAE to attend these fine events in regions not their own.

One purpose of this presentation is to suggest alternative means for teachers in the UAE to connect with one another via their chapter events.  This presentation will attempt to demonstrate how teachers in various parts of the UAE can present to one another online and not only that, but include participants from other parts of the world as well.  It is hoped to suggest by extrapolation that teachers familiar with tools making this possible could also use them to engage students in meaningful and authentic communication with peers elsewhere in the UAE and worldwide.

• The presentation will be an echo from my blog post here http://advanceducation.blogspot.com/2011/03/transforming-learning-with-creative.html, applying the concepts through engagement with an active PLN or personal learning network.
• Audience participation includes:
  • Broadcast of the presentation via Elluminate to a live audience who could interact with the one in RAK via my projected laptop with mic and speakers, or directly with on-site participants txting from workstations
    • Nik Peachey, Graham Stanley, Ayat from Egypt, and Anthony Gaughan have offered to join us from the IATEFL conference in Brighton (see http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2011/forum/welcomeintroductions); and we can also monitor their Twitter feeds and converse with them through #hashtags
    • Live interaction with other TA chapters (Jim Buckingham and Heather Baba have offered to join from distanct emirates)
    • Live interaction with others invited to tune in across various PLN’s of educators interested in using educational technology with language learners; e.g. Kalyan Chattopadhyay, IndiaCALL
  • As a result of exposure to this instance of transformative learning through creative technogogy I’m hoping that some might achieve that aha! moment. In that case they might be encouraged to learn more through participation in further connectivist professional development via http://taedtech.ning.com, http://webheads.info andhttp://learning2gether.pbworks.com

When? 07:00 GMT (11 am in UAE, 8 am in Brighton ), at this time:

• http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=PLN+in+UAE+teacher+professional+development&iso=20110416T11&p1=2&ah=1
• or http://tinyurl.com/2011apr16-7gmt

Where? in Elluminate 

• http://home.learningtimes.net/learningtimes?go=273662
  
• or  http://tinyurl.com/y3eh

Announcements:

• http://aplanet-project.org/profiles/blogs/invitation-to-attend-a-virtual
• http://taedtech.ning.com/events/connecting-the-dots-connecting
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27613

• Recording of latest event at http://learning2gether.pbworks.com is at http://tinyurl.com/2011rak16apr – thanks all who attended #taedtech

  — Vance Stevens (@VanceS) April 16, 2011

Forums:

• http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2011/forum/future-conferences#comment-7470
• http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2011/forum/welcomeintroductions

Recording:

• https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-04-16.0101.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75
• http://tinyurl.com/2011rak16apr 

Slideshare:

http://www.slideshare.net/vances/connecting-the-dots-technogogy-and-the-aha-m…

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Beyza Yilmaz, Isil Boy, and some of their colleagues will share with us their impressions of the recent ISTEK conference in Istanbul April 1-2, 2011.

Special guest: Nik Peachey http://technogogy.org.uk/pres.pdf

Some links:

• http://elt.istek.org.tr/
• http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23istek
• http://blogs.istek.org.tr/elt2011/

When and where: 17:30 GMT (note, later time than usual, 9:30 pm in UAE) in Elluminate

• http://tinyurl.com/y3eh
  (or http://home.learningtimes.net/learningtimes?go=273662)
• Time: http://tinyurl.com/2011apr24gmt1730 
  or: http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=Learning2gether+Live+Online+Webinar&iso=20110424T1730&ah=1  

Announcements:

• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27589
  http://tinyurl.com/istek10apr11

• Invitation to join Apr10 in #istek recap/debrief at http://learning2gether.pbworks.com/volunteersneeded -see http://tinyurl.com/istek10apr11

  — Vance Stevens (@VanceS) April 6, 2011

• http://taedtech.ning.com/events/weekly-learning2gether-with
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27597

Recording:

• https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-04-10.1038.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75
• http://tinyurl.com/2011apr10peachey 

Tag Games

• http://www.delicious.com/tag/istek11
  What is this? During the event, Vance asked for volunteers who visited any sites mentioned to tag them ‘istek11’ in Delicous or Diigo. I’m not sure how you search Diigo (not obvious at http://diigo.com) but the above URL is a Twitter search on that tag.  After the event wound down, Vance went back through the presentation to find sites mentioned and tag them (and annotate them).  So the link above points at this writing to just those links, though anyone on Delicious can tag sites relevant to this event and in so doing add them to this list.
  More information:
  – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27612
  – http://curiousvance.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/aggregating-content-around-a-class-tag-using/

Sunday, April 3, 2011

James Buckingham hosts the event ‘Innovate Using Educational Technology and Your Beliefs – Nicholas Yates’ on TESOL Arabia – Education Technology – Special Interest Group Ning, http://taedtech.ning.com

Join us online at 5pm (in UAE, 1300 GMT) when Nicholas Yates introduces us to the importance of “beliefs” and how they impact on our instructional design and use of technology in the classroom.

• PPT: http://www.slideshare.net/taedtech/tesol-arabia-nicholas-yates
• Jim Buckingham interviews Nicholas Yates:
  http://podcast22887.podomatic.com/entry/2011-03-30T03_33_28-07_00

Announcements:

• http://taedtech.ning.com/events/innovate-using-educational
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27579

Recording:

• http://tinyurl.com/2011apr03l2g-yates 
• Full URL:  https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-04-03.0610.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75

More information and follow-up:

• http://digitalemerge.net/
• http://digitalemerge.net/#/follow-up-from-learning2gether/4550212984
• http://tinyurl.com/3blqvv7

Two events planned: Sunday, March 27, 2011

• At 13:00 GMT, in Elluminate, http://tinyurl.com/y3eh –
  TESOL Arabia and International TESOL Conference debrief and wrap-up session
  if you were at TESOL Arabia in Dubai or TESOL New Orleans, or wish you were there, please come along any time after noon GMT and we can pop into Elluminate and get each other’s impressions. Any amount of time you can spend with us between noon and 1400 GMT would be welcome.  We’ll record the session and at the end hope to have an archive of our perspectives on this year’s conference season.
• A planning meeting for Earthday 2011, http://earthbridges.wikispaces.com/
  At 17:00 GMT, in Skype and streamed live via  http://earthbridges.net/live
  The second event is a planning session for Earth Day April 22, 2011. The planning is for a 24 hour webcastathon in which your students are encouraged to participate, wherever they are in the world (and at whatever time).  You can sign them up on the wiki.  The planning session is where ideas for that are brainstormed and where presenters hook up with webcasters.  Join in if interested.
  Where to sign up: https://spreadsheets.google.com/lv?hl=en&hl=en&key=0AqD8iTomj-YydEwwNDFYS1k2ZGlwUXlkQmxIMnVraXc&authkey=CJr1j4oN&f=0&rm=full#gid=0

Announcements:

• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27557
• http://taedtech.ning.com/events/learning2gether-duathalon

Recording:

• https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-03-27.0604.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75
• http://tinyurl.com/2011mar27-l2g

Learning2gether Episode 33

Sunday, March 13, 2011 

Between noon and 14:00 GMT (4 and 6 pm in the UAE) Vance Stevens once again hostshttp://learning2gether.pbworks.com. This week’s discussion was supposed to be on transformative learning. The original title was “What is transformative learning?” But this could develop into something along the lines of … “Are educators ready for transformative learning?”

These are questions Vance has been pondering in a recent blog post:
http://advanceducation.blogspot.com/2011/03/transforming-learning-with-creative.html

If you’re available at noon to 14:00 GMT today and interested in the topic, swing by http://tappedin.org (at noon, 4 pm in UAE) and move with us to Elluminate http://tinyurl.com/y3eh and we’ll have an informal discussion on our topic.

The direct link to the Elluminate room is
http://home.learningtimes.net/learningtimes?go=273662

If you’re up that late in Japan it would be nice to hear from you as well, to let us know the situation from your perspective. After all, that IS transformative learning, making the connection between knowledge and real people.

Is that it? Is that the definition I’ve been looking for?

Announcements:

• http://taedtech.ning.com/events/are-educators-ready-for
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27497

In the end, it was just Lawan and I, and Jen Verschoor who stopped by to say hello.

I guess we were making the connection between knowledge and real people.

Learning2gether Episode 32

Sunday, March 6, 2011 –

Download: https://learning2gether.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/686316-2011-03-06webheads-learningtimes-v-10-001-64k.mp3

Discussion with Kalyan Chattopadhyay http://www.kalyanchattopadhyay.info/
about Second Life and the Village EVO session, multiliteracies, connecting groups like APACALL with IndiaCALL in India, and the future of learning in a networked world.

Time of this event where you are: http://tinyurl.com/2011mar6gmt1300

Announcements:

• http://taedtech.ning.com/events/learning2gether-discussion
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27451

Recording:

• https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-03-06.0529.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75
• http://tinyurl.com/2011mar6kalyan

Download: https://learning2gether.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/686318-2011-02-27webheads-learningtimes-v-10-001-64k.mp3

Jim Buckingham conducts an online interview with Dr. Philip Towndrow
This session is set as a continuation on the Workshop / Discussion that was initiated on 30 October in Dubai – “Managing Technology in the Classroom,” Jim Buckingham conducts an online interview / discussion with Dr. Phillip Towndrow in Singapore in Elluminate. Dr. Towndrow has been involved in researching the effectiveness of one-to-one computer use in the classroom and should help shed a “researcher’s” light on the matter.

To see the time 13:00 GMT where you are:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=27&month=2&year=2011&hour=21&min=0&sec=0&p1=236.

Some notes on key topic – How to Manage the Use of Technology in the Classroom 
Two directions:
– teachers trying to decide where to begin in their implementation of technology into their instruction
– students bringing technology into the classroom (i.e. namely mobile phones)

Point of departure, a list of Google docs with information that was either gleaned from or presented at the 30 October meeting with teachers in Dubai.. where this topic was the focus:

• Managing Tech in the Classroom – general purpose of today’s discussion
• Summary of brief literature review (desktop research)
• Actual literature review (desktop research)
• Participants worksheet – problems & solutions

Further suggested readings and resources:

• Prensky, M. R. (2010). Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning. Corwin Press.
• Towndrow, P. (2010a, September 16). The Knowledge Sharing Marketplace – Teachers as Digital Task Designers – Part 1. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://web.mac.com/philliptowndrow/e-Portfolio_Web/The_Knowledge_Sharing_MarketPlace/Entries/2010/9/16_Teachers_as_digital_task_designers-Part_1.html
• Towndrow, P. (2010b, September 16). The Knowledge Sharing Marketplace – Teaching Digital Natives – A Review. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://web.mac.com/philliptowndrow/e-Portfolio_Web/The_Knowledge_Sharing_MarketPlace/Entries/2010/11/25_Teaching_digital_natives-A_review.html
• Towndrow, P. (2010c, September 25). The Knowledge Sharing Marketplace – Teachers as Digital Task Designers – Part 2. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://web.mac.com/philliptowndrow/e-Portfolio_Web/The_Knowledge_Sharing_MarketPlace/Entries/2010/9/25_Teachers_as_digital_task_designers-Part_2.html
• Towndrow, P. (2010d, November 3). The Knowledge Sharing Marketplace – No Silver Bullet. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://web.mac.com/philliptowndrow/e-Portfolio_Web/The_Knowledge_Sharing_MarketPlace/Entries/2010/11/3_No_silver_bullet.html
• Towndrow, P. (2011, February 11). Introduction – Phillip A Towndrow’s ePortfolio. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://web.mac.com/philliptowndrow/e-Portfolio_Web/Introduction.html

Announcements:

• http://taedtech.ning.com/events/online-discussion-managing
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27438

Recording:

• http://tinyurl.com/towndrow2011feb27
• https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-02-27.0344.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75
  

Learning2gether Episode 30

Sunday, February 20, 2011, 13:00 GMT 

Dennis Newson says about his presentation: “For enthusiastic believers in the affordances, the potentialities of Second Life for those with good broadband  access it is easy to get carried away by the ability of learners to speak through 3-D mobile figures with their own voices,  fly, hang-glide, fall off high platforms unharmed, survive under water, change gender and appearance, produce objects out of nowhere and make them disappear again with a single click, have a different YouTube video playing on each side of a large cube – and much more. But what are the principles of an appropriate, structured, coherent pedagogy for language learning in SL? What is harder to achieve in terms of language learning in  SL than in conventional settings and what elements of the SL environment are particularly language learner friendly? With my presentation I shall attempt to begin a discussion about  such issues.”

This presentation hosted by Dennis Newson is a special event.  Capitalizing on techniques learned during her EVO Village session, http://village.grouply.com, Heike Philp will meet us in Second Life and in Adobe Connect and bridge the two via screen sharing so that people can come to Connect for the audio and the broadcast view of Second Life.  Participants wishing to take part in the audio must come to Adobe, and if you wish your avatar to appear in the screen share you can go to SL as well.

Announcements:

• http://taedtech.ning.com/events/dennis-newson-towards-an
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/message/27366

Presentation URLs:

• Adobe Connect for voice participation and Second Life screenshare:http://lancelot.adobeconnect.com/webheads
• SLURL of Webheads HQ on EduNation http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduNation/49/179/23
• Recording: http://lancelot.adobeconnect.com/p99181812/ 1h15min

Learning2gether Episode 29

Recording at Webheadsinaction Drupal Server (Worldbridges):

Download: http://webheadsinaction.org/audio/download/601/EVO2011-Closing-2011-02-13.mp3

Sunday, February 13, 2011

The EVO event wrap-up webcastathon hosted by Jeff Lebow at http://webheadsinaction.org/live has been set for 13:30 GMT on Sunday Feb 13. You can listen and text chat there or if you can get in via Skype you can talk as well.  As many voices as possible are encouraged.  For more information about the 5-week annual professional development EVO Electronic Village Online sessions, seehttp://evosessions.pbworks.com