Today is Day 11.If you are just starting with us today, you might want to check out Day 1 here.
OSSEMOOC is a project of OSAPAC, and over the past three days, the OSAPAC group has been meeting f2f in Toronto, doing incredible work for Ontario students.
Members of OSAPAC sharing with OSSEMOOC the role of the team in ensuring great digital resources for Ontario students.
On my way back to northern Ontario, I was reflecting on what a privilege it is to be part of a group of educators so passionate about what is best for children, so knowledgeable about digital resources and so determined to make a difference. I am proud to have them in my PLN, both face-to-face as it was this past week, and over social media, as we work together until our next opportunity for a f2f session.
My Professional Learning Network is critical to my success as an Ontario (OCT) educator.
Today we explore why building that PLN is especially important in 2015.
From Digital Leadership by Eric Sheninger
We will also take you on a tour of some of our favourite places to find personalized information online.
Thank you for continuing your journey to becoming a connected leader.
As you think about your role as a leader during the 2015-2016 school year, you know that being connected is an important part of your work. A simple first step to connecting with other leaders around the province and around the world is learning to leverage social media for professional learning.
Educators learn and share together on Twitter.
Update: CBC’s interview on why principals and teacher must be on social media
OSSEMOOC is an open support system for leaders to learn to connect and self-direct their professional learning. A perfect starting point is to get connected on Twitter.
If you are uneasy about getting on social media, here are some steps you can take to access professional learning anonymously. This is a great starting point for beginners.
On May 5, 2015, we shared how you can use Twitter as a public library. Read the full post and access all the resources here or start with just the short screencast below.
Once you are ready to be a participant on Twitter, this resource will help you get started.
This short screencast shows you what you will learn.
Check the OSSEMOOC site daily for more support in becoming a connected leader in 2015-2106.
Today we look at how we can connect with other educators by taking advantage of online learning opportunities.
If you are a connected educator and leader, you will often hear of opportunities to learn online through, for example, MOOCs, webinars, internet radio, and Hangouts on Air. Taking part in these learning events allows us to connect through the chat or by taking a leading role, and often these connections lead to ongoing conversations, blog posts, and other forms of sharing.
Tonight, OSSEMOOC is offering and opportunity to learn about digital storytelling with two of the best in the “business”!
Join us here at 8 p.m. EDT for a fun look at digital storytelling. Our group task, and your challenge for today, is outlined here. Bring your phone or tablet, or do the task in advance, but be sure to participate!
The OSSEMOOC Tuesday Night Open Mic session (January 27, 8 p.m. EST) will focus on some of the key conversations from Educon on the topic of Professional Learning.
Click[here] to join the meeting room anytime after 7:30.
If you check the #hackpd hashtag and the #Educon hashtag, you will see some of the rich conversations that happened this past weekend at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. We want to bring your thoughts on this topic into the conversation.
“How does a shift occur from a mindset where learning is provided to a culture where learning is sought?”
To dig into this, we will focus mainly on the role of the educator.
Here are a few of the questions we are posing for this week:
1. What do well-designed learning experiences for adults look like?
2. Do you believe that all educator professional learning should be directed by what knowledge and skills the data indicate that students need to succeed (i.e., that all professional learning is based on student learning needs)?
3. Should school and system leadership support teachers in the design of their own learning experiences? If so, how can they do this?
4. Should schools create a culture of teacher-learner agency? (From Wikipedia, “In the social sciences, agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices”.)
5. Do you think that “Professional Development” creates a culture of learned helplessness?
Congratulations! You have committed time over the past month to become a connected leader. You have found where the learning is happening. You have found places to connect with other colleagues who value learning in the way that you do.
What lies ahead?
Your thinking about your practice may have shifted significantly over the past month, but relationships remain at the centre of our learning.
Sometimes, as you share your excitement about what you have learned with your colleagues, you will feel like the voice of the “Lone Wolf”.
An important blog post on the loneliness of the innovator by David Truss. Click on the image for the full article.
At other times, when you are with your “tribe”, you will feel like you are “preaching to the choir”. This too, has value.
Sharing the importance of nurturing the early risk-takers who are modelling the learning we want for our students, but Stacey Wallwin. Click on the excerpt for a link to the full blog post.
As a connected leader, you are taking ownership of your own learning. Isn’t this exactly what you want for your students?
Shared by Bill Ferriter @plugusin under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non-Commercial License.
You’ve learned that Twitter is a 24/7 stream of learning for educators. Random captures of Tweetdeck demonstrate how many ideas are flowing at once.
Will Richardson shares eight attributes of modern educational leaders here. Understanding where to find the best and most current ideas about education is the first attribute.
Watch what happens when connected leaders understand the importance of networking for students:
Look at the number of comments on this blog! How powerful is this conversation among teachers and student about mindset and learning?!
Here is a sample of the kinds of conversations among teachers and students you will see on this class blog. Take a moment to comment on some of the student thinking.
As you continue to connect, you will experience magical moments, learning and connecting that grow from your open sharing. Alan Levine expertly collects these stories. I think Ms. Balen and Ms. Calder need to contribute to this collection!
“The power, the strength, the future of the internet as we know it now, depends on this two-way flow. Share openly, and then share your story.”
Check out some of these fabulous stories of connecting, then be sure to share your story when the magic happens for you.
Congratulations on a successful 30 days of connecting.
Here at OSSEMOOC, we look forward to continuing to learn from you. Be sure to add your blog to the list through our “Join In” page.
Thanks for your participation and feedback. We hope you will continue to add resources to our posts through the comments, and that you will continue to spread the word!
We leave you with some inspiring words from Connected Leaders in Ontario – The OSSEMOOC K12 Online Conference Presentation for 2014.
Congratulations! You have now spent 28 days learning how to be a connected leader.
Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non-Commercial – Share-Alike License by Guilia Forsythe
Throughout this series we have emphasized the critical importance of Digital Leadership. Today we want to share some further thinking around this topic. In particular, consider the changing conversations around the concept of Digital Citizenship.
Here are a few opportunities to expand your thinking about the importance of being a networked lead learner.
In 2008, Ira Socol shared his thinking about why so few educators were connected leaders. Take a few minutes to read this excerpt, or click on the image to read the full essay.
From “Toolbelt Theory for Everyone” by Ira David Socol, 2008 (click on the image for the link to the blog)
Today, we often hear that it isn’t about the tools, it’s about the pedagogy. What does your experience tell you about this? Should we be teaching tool use explicitly in schools? How does this posting challenge your thinking about your leadership?
As leaders in education, we often think about the safety of children in online spaces. How do we best teach digital citizenship in our schools? Current thinking about this topic is shifting, as evidenced by the following conversation with Tanya Avrith.
Every one of your students will be Googled before they get their first job. How are you helping them to create the digital presence that will help them achieve success? (@jcasap)
Dean Shareski shares his thoughts here on how technology can be a catalyst for changing educator mindsets.
What do you think? Take some time to reflect on your learning over the past month. How does the concept of “digital leadership” fit with your current professional practice?
What further resources do you have to help others with their learning on this topic?
Sylvia Rosenthal-Tolisano (@Langwitches) is one of my favourite bloggers. She does visually represent the learning in incredible ways, and I have a number of her posters hanging in my classroom. BUT, it is her teaching through her blogs that I so appreciate.
Tolisano never forgets the role of technology in the teaching and learning cycle. Skill-building in reading for meaning, gathering information, and note making–all key components in the research process–are front and centre here without the traditional teacher lecture and notes for students and in ways that support students’ acquisition of information literacy skills.
Take some time to explore Langwitches’ Blog. It will be worth your while.
Shared by: Julie Balen, High School English Teacher, Wikwemikong Board of Education (@jacbalen)
Together, we are reading the book It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens (by Danah Boyd) available for download (free) here: http://www.danah.org/books/ItsComplicated.pdf
As well, we are suggesting that #digitalcitizenship and #digcit would be great hashtags to follow on Twitter this month to help push your thinking in this area.
We are collating some online #digitalcitizenship resources in the Scoop.it page here. Check back often to see what has been added, or subscribe to the feed for this page (use the green Follow button when you get there).
It looks something like this:
The OSAPAC Digital Citizenship group will be joining us, as well as some other special guests.
Check out The Digital Citizen, a paper.li by Mark Carbone for new resources and thinking on this topic. You can subscribe to the paper by providing your email address.
Remember that this is a Connectivist MOOC, and we all share our learning with others. Special thanks to Andy Forgrave and Deb McCallum for sharing 30 Days of Learning in Ontario in unique, collated formats.
As you blog, use the #OSSEMOOC tag so others are able to find and respond to your thinking.
On my way back to northern Ontario, I was reflecting on what a privilege it is to be part of a group of educators so passionate about what is best for children, so knowledgeable about digital resources and so determined to make a difference. I am proud to have them in my PLN, both face-to-face as it was this past week, and over social media, as we work together until our next opportunity for a f2f session.
OSSEMOOC 