Vance has created a course for a unique cohort of young students at the Naval College in UAE. They all have laptops and their instructors at the college complain that their laptops are distracting in class, so the students’ attention and focus has to be earned and sustained in task-based activities. Therefore this course was designed to engage the students and leverage their ubiquitous access to computers into learning outcomes.
Vance has assembled survey and student blog data to verify student interest in the materials; but rather thanpresent on the topic (there is a recorded version online already) Vance would like for this to be a flippedpresentation where I briefly overview it and discuss with those present how they engage their students and make learning F.U.N.
The course would not have been possible without continuous access to and interaction with others in my CoP and extended PLN this past decade, which enabled me to experience engaged learning with peers in order to model it for my students.
Dan Bassill does some remarkable work applying his past business experience to his present passion for improving the lives of disadvantaged kids in Chicago through his tutor mentor programs. The mechanisms he sets up for that are interesting, instructive, and relevant to communities of practice which rely on the cognitive surplus of like-minded volunteers.
Dan Bassill, leader of the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in Chicago will lead a discussion seeking to learn ways educators and non profits are recruiting and utilizing volunteers as tutors and/or mentors in school and non-school programs throughout the world. Dan would like to draw information from participants. Here are some questions that will be asked:
* Where do your find volunteers?
* What are your expectations for your volunteers? Where do you share this information?
* Describe your volunteers. Are they business people, college students, community residents?
* How long do your volunteers stay involved with you? Less than a year? One or two years? More than two years?
* How do you tell your story to show volunteers how and why they should join you? If you use a web site, blog or video, please share links.
* How do you screen volunteers? What is your interview process?
* Once you have volunteers how do you train and support them?
This discussion is also intended to be part of an on-going strategy helping raise visibility and recruit volunteers for the 2012-13 school year. If you use volunteers and have a recruitment strategy post it on a blog or other forum in advance and then share what you’re doing during this forum. If you’d like to share facilitator role add your name and organization. Invite others who utilize or want to utilize volunteers to participate. Visit this link to see how Dan’s group has been helping mobilize volunteers for Chicago area tutor/mentor programs since 1995.http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/chicagoland-volunteer-recruitment
Thanks for the opportunity. I don’t think many leaders, directors or volunteer tutor/mentor people are yet deeply involved in on-line network building or attempts at collaboration. I do a Google search every month or two looking for groups focused on collaboration, capacity building, collective effort, volunteer recruitment, etc. and don’t come up with much. Part of the challenge is that we’re dealing with an issue most people who are on-line don’t spend a lot of time thinking about (poor people) and the people who are leading tutor/mentor programs are swamped with the day-to-day work of running a program, finding volunteers and donors, etc. that they don’t have lots of time for on-line engagement.
My focus on infrastructure and building communities of practice is now shared by many people in the field who are involved in the day-to-day struggles of connecting youth and volunteers in programs that are constantly competing with each other for operating resources. Thus, my ability to cast a wider net via forums like Webheads is very appreciated.
Sunday July 15, 2012 – Luis Arnoldo Ordoñez, MOOCs and CAMELs
Luis Ordóñez will be offering a MOOC (in Spanish) about performing collaborative research in social sciences. The idea is to help graduate students to develop collaborative research for their requested theses. Perhaps education students in the areas of language or educational technologies might be interested in learning more about this course. They can get information at http://interconectados.org/los-camel/camel-investigaciones-colaborativas-en-ciencias-sociales/ (easily translated).
Luis referred more than once to this picture by Stephen Downes
CAMEL is a Spanish achronym for Curso Abierto Masivo En Linea
Luis works at Universidad Simón Bolivar in Venezuela teaching the seminar for citizen involvement in the Doctoral Program in Social Sciences, and he is the President of Fundación Interconectados which aims to insert digital technologies in our society.
It’s summertime. Self-respecting teachers are many away on holiday. So how can they engage in Learning2gether? Well, summertime is good for just hanging out.
This Sunday, 1400 GMT, Vance is planning to Hangout in Google Hangout with Jeff Lebow. That’s about all that’s planned, (except that you’re invited 🙂 We’ll catch up with Jeff, find out what he does in 27 teaching hours a week there in Pusan Korea, what he’s got planned for EdTech Weekly, and who’s minding the server over there at WorldBridges, wherever that is 🙂
Graham’s friends and professional contacts plan to talk an hour or two about Graham Davies, who passed away in late June, 2012. If you knew Graham, or knew of him and would like to know more, please join us and contribute your recollections. We can all continue learning from Graham by exploring his legacy online.
Graham was recorded at the Virtual Round Table April 23, 2010 event, as part of a panel associated with EUROCALL: http://virtual-round-table.ning.com/events/panel-discussion-connected-and. Panelists included Graham Davies, Stephen Bax, John Gillespie, and Vance Stevens. Francoise Blin was also included as well as Ingred (from Austria).
Graham was recorded on November 13, 2009 as part of a panel at the Lancelot Schools’s Virtual Round Table Conference hosted by Heike Philp: http://virtual-round-table.ning.com/events/virtual-panel-discussion-those. Besides Graham, panelists included Vance Stevens, Ton Koenraad, and Duane Sider (from Rosetta Stone)
Time: July 1, 2012 from 1pm to 3pm Location: EuroCALL Headquater in Second Life and Adobe Connect for the stream Organized By: Heike Philp aka Gwen Gwasi
Graham Davies, the grand seigneur of EuroCALL passed away on Thursday, 21st of June (2 weeks after his 70th birthday) after a long battle with cancer. He was married since 1968, with two daughters, two granddaughters and one grandson. He spoke fluent German and tolerable French, and dabbled in Russian, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish. In his free time he swam in the pool at his local Holiday Inn, played golf when the weather was fine, and I went skiing in Austria each winter. He walked at least a mile every day with their greyhound. Their family have adopted retired racing greyhounds as pets for over 30 years.
He celebrated his 64th birthday in Brussels three months after undergoing major surgery for a very rare form of cancer known as PMP (Pseudomyxoma Peritonei). He kept a diary of his battle with PMP under Survivor’s Story. He reached the age of 65 in 2007 and described himself as “happily retired” – although still finding plenty of things to do.
Graham began his career as a teacher of German and French in secondary education in 1965, moving into higher education in 1971. From 1971 to 1993 he taught German and managed the multimedia language centre at Ealing College, which was later integrated into Thames Valley University (now known as the University of West London). He had been involved in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) since 1976.
In 1982 he wrote one of the first introductory books on computers in language learning and teaching, which was followed by numerous other printed and software publications. In 1989 he was conferred with the title of Professor of CALL.
Graham Davies was the Founder and President of EUROCALL, holding the post from 1993 to 2000, and I served as a member of the EUROCALL Executive Committee from 2000 to 2011. He was also actively involved in the organisation of two WorldCALL conferences in 1998 and 2003. WorldCALL is a worldwide umbrella organisation that aims to assist countries that are currently underserved in the area of ICT and the teaching and learning of modern foreign languages.
Graham took early retirement from full-time teaching in 1993, but worked part-time as a Visiting Professor for Thames Valley University until 2001, assisting in the management of a number of EC-funded projects. He held the status of Emeritus Professor of Computer Assisted Language Learning and I did occasional external examining of his MPhil and PhD students and kept himself busy by editing the ICT for Language Teachers Website http://www.ict4lt.org where he managed the ICT for Language Teachers Blog <http://ictforlanguageteachers.blogspot.be>. Graham lectured and ran ICT training courses for language teachers in 22 different countries and sat on a number of national and international advisory boards and committees.
With a lot of passion he kept investigating the possibilities of language learning and teaching in Second Life. Graham was responsible for maintaining a presence for EUROCALL in Second Life and liaising with CALICO, EUROCALL’s affiliated association in the USA. EUROCALL and CALICO share a Headquarters on one of the EduNation Islands in Second Life, and we have set up a joint Virtual Worlds Special Interest Group (VW SIG). His avatar name in SL was Groovy Winkler, and Sally can be found there too as Flopsy Bookmite.
Helaine (Laine) directs the Language Teacher Education Programs at LIU – Hudson – Graduate Centers of Long Island University, USA. She collaborates with her colleague, Nancy Lemberger from LIU-Brooklyn on cross-campus online programs in TESOL and Bilingual Education.
For this session, Laine will share her experience flipping her Fundamentals of Linguistics class this spring semester for the first time. There were many surprises in what occurred when she decided to try the flip. She hopes to generate discussion on the rationale for the flipped classroom, what students and courses are best suited for this model and how it has worked out in her class. One of her students, Edith Ramirez-Lopez, will join in to provide the learner perspective.
Host: CourseSites (from Blackboard) announces a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
Audience: Thousands of Blackboard, CourseSites, and other online and blended learning instructors around the world.
Description: Motivating students and creating community within blended and online learning environments is crucial to academic achievement and success. This open course will provide both theoretical concepts and practical tools for instructors to improve motivation, retention, and engagement within blended and online courses.
4. Question and Answer (Q&A) Session: Wednesday May 23th; 4 PM EST (Up to two hours of Q&A)
5. Blackboard/CourseSites Overview: Wednesday May 30th; 4 pm EST
Twitter Note: The Twitter hashtag will be: #bonkopen
About Dr. Curtis Bonk: Curt Bonk is Professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University and President of CourseShare. Drawing on his background as a corporate controller, CPA, educational psychologist, and instructional technologist, Bonk offers unique insights into the intersection of business, education, psychology, and technology. A well-known authority on emerging technologies for learning, Bonk reflects on his speaking experiences around the world in his popular blog, TravelinEdMan. He has coauthored several widely used technology books, including The World is Open, Empowering Online Learning, The Handbook of Blended Learning, and Electronic Collaborators.
4 Reasons Why the Bonk MOOC is So Interesting, posted April 25, 2012 By Joshua Kim
Bonk, C. J. (2012, May). Participants, Questions & Answers, Demonstrations, and Reflections. Week 5 presentation at Blackboard/CourseSites Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success, Online from Bloomington, IN. Available:
Bonk, C. J. (2012, May). The Rise of Shared Online Video, the Fall of Traditional learning. Week 4 presentation at Blackboard/CourseSites Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success, Online from Bloomington, IN. Available:
Bonk, C. J. (2012, May). 50+ (actually 75) Hyper-Engaging Ideas: Critical, Creative, Cooperative. Week 3 presentation at Blackboard/CourseSites Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success, Online from Bloomington, IN. Available:
Bonk, C. J. (2012, May). Blackboard/CourseSites MOOC Part I1: Where Are You R2D2?: Addressing Diverse Learner Needs with the Read, Reflect, Display, and Do Model. Week 2 presentation at Blackboard/CourseSites Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success, Online from Bloomington, IN. Available:
Bonk, C. J. (2012, May). Blackboard/CourseSites MOOC Part 1: The TEC-VARIETY model. Week 1 presentation at Blackboard/CourseSites Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success, Online from Bloomington, IN. Available:
Google ‘Craig Kapp NYU ZooBurst’ to find sites such as:
“Zooburst is a web-based digital storytelling tool designed to facilitate personal expression through the creation of interactive 3D pop-up books. Using a simple drag-and-drop interface, Zooburst lets anyone quickly construct immersive 3D worlds that can be experienced online or in the palm of your hand using a standard webcam and a printed piece of paper.” from https://itp.nyu.edu/itp/gallery/projectDetail.php?t=26&id=3171
Learning2gether 