Tim Gascoigne

International School Teacher, Traveller & So Much More

Down The Rabbit Hole

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The Internet is the amazing place of discovery.  I love how the folks at Curator’s Code term the infinite discovery of the internet similar to that of going down a Rabbit’s Hole.  When you think about it, that is exactly what we are doing.  Here is what the rabbit’s hole looks like for me on many occasions.

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a.) I see a tweet and click on the link to something interesting.  This then prompts me to click on a link on the website that takes me somewhere else.  All of a sudden my interest on a topic, person, or something  is peaked and I go to youtube and find a video about it.  The video links me to something else and I go there and find the author of something else.  I google his name because I am interested in what he is talking about and it just keeps going and going and going….

An example of this is about a month or so ago I remember seeing a video link through one of my twitter friends to the Fellowship of the Ning, which is a group of young people from around the world who had a collaborative channel for a number of years.  The link was to a google hangout where Ben Wilkoff was doing an interview of their experiences and talking about their relationship and efforts over the years.  Through this I learned about his soon to be collab channel which would be called The Fellowship of the Open Spokes where a number of educators post daily videos and discuss issues in education and learning.  I am obsessed with watching these videos and it has become a nightly experience for me- all of this as a result of someone hyperlinking and tweeting a link.

I want to reflect in two parts to this phenomenon we call the Internet and how it has transformed my life:

Before COETAIL: 

Before COETAIL I was a frequent taker of information and content and never really considered why attribution was important.   Without realizing it I take information every day from the internet and my experiences on the internet are transformed by the ability to hyperlink and jump around or by letting the rabbit hole take me into places I never dreamed of and to learn things and make connections with my prior learning in ways I had never thought about before.  As a learner I am constantly amazed at how the internet transforms these learning experiences for me.  It is not so much the traditional learning that we might think about pre-internet but rather the 2-way dialogue built into this community that really transforms my learning experiences.

Post Beginning COETAIL

After beginning the COETAIL course and giving myself the time to reflect on the readings and have discussions with my students about these issues about the internet, it has caused me to reflect on myself as a learner and user of this vast space we call the internet.  I realize the power of these hyperlinks, how they take us into places of learning that weren’t possible before.  They give credit to authors who spend time creating and they encourage us to create and build pathways for other learners.  It truly is an amazing thing.  It takes time and that is what often gets in the way of me giving credit and attributing etc.. but when we realize what the internet is built on then we begin to see how it is part of the experience rather than an add-on or a separate component.

“Link to others as you would want others to link to you”

As I think about my personal use of the internet, this blog that I came across makes me think about it all in a very interesting light:  The internet has totally transformed the way we live.  It is not so much about transforming in a negative way but rather a new way.  Cool idea. See below

What do you think? Could you do what this guy did?

 

Whose Got The Power?

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I was really struck with the article by Danah Boyd (2010) in which she talks about how bullying and the programs we put in schools just don’t resonate with the average teenager or child for that matter.  It’s true.  Think about the multitude of anti-bullying programs and plans we put in place in schools to combat the issue.  I was a part of an anti-bullying program in Canada and initially we saw a decline in the number of principal visits and concerns from students, parents and teachers.   However it didn’t last for long.  Initially these cases declined but in no time the bullying continued and it was as if the “programs” didn’t even exist.

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Bullying is the imbalance of power that one person has over another.  I see it all over the place and it occurs amongst adults just as much as it does with our kids.  It happens in the work place, across cultural groups and in our families.

I get confused with the separation that we place on cyber bullying as if we have bullying under control but now we have this new monster to deal with : cyber bullying.  Cyber bullying is just bullying as we have known it for years through the devices of technology.  It needs to be treated the same way as we deal with bullying.  It just seems to have larger effects because the audience is larger and it multiplies faster.  The students we teach are growing up in the world of technology like we have never experienced.  We have kids on computers, interacting online through communities, and sharing with each other and the world.  In the same way that we have discussions with our students about representing themselves online in an appropriate way and being careful to protect themselves and their privacy we also need to be teaching them about how to treat each other.  I think they go hand in hand.

It is our responsibility to teach this to our kids.

Let’s rethink bullying programs and create a climate in our classrooms and families that encourages respect, dignity and humanity.  I was bullied just like the fellow in the video below and it didn’t have long-term effects that it has for so many that are bullied.  I owe that to my teachers and my family who told me that I could be anyone and anything that I wanted to be.  We need to do this for our students and we need to give them the tools to rise above it.

I think that schools teaching digital citizenship is in its infancy and light years behind the advances that technology has made in our lives.  We really haven’t been talking to students about this stuff for as long as we should have and we haven’t had these important conversations about “cyberbullying” for as long as the internet has been around.  I think that if we are teaching our kids how to behave appropriately online at an early age then we are sowing seeds for responsible behavior in the future.

 

However, I had a grade 3 student just last week skype another student of mine and tell her how much she was the scum of the earth…..I have some work to do!

Right Click, CTRL C, CTRL V

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Ok, this is what my brain does when I think of the topic of copyright, piracy, fair use, and whatever else you want to call it.

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Why does nothing make sense?  Why is this issue so confusing?

My mind has been going back and forth on this issue and questioning why it all matters and how can we really get a handle on it.  I think that the very reason we are still talking about these issues are testament that this is a grey topic – this is not an easy fix and this is not something that is going to go away anytime soon.

We are all very good at right clicking, copying and pasting something that we need, like or want into a document or into whatever we are creating.  I am amazed at what repercussions this can have on a larger scale.  After watching a video from Kelsey Giroux’s latest post I am totally awe struck that this is the direction the internet might be going.  How can this be possible? How can we prevent it from happening? The internet is founded upon principles of sharing and connecting that goes against these new IP laws.  It is scary to think that this could happen and may already be in the works.  This brings me to think about my life in China.

I sit here on my computer, connected to a VPN so that I can access this blog, google sites, and many many more and wonder how can a superpower such as China be allowed to block sites like facebook, youtube and twitter.  Well, it sounds extreme but the censorship in China will blow you away.  Yet at the same time China has an extremely big problem of piracy and copyright infringment.  There is not a corner in Beijing in certain areas that you can’t cross without having an opportunity to buy a DVD for the price of a pepsi.  This video brings the issue to highlight:

 

So how do I model this and teach my 8 year old kids (who would have a hard time understanding this on a large scale) about it in a country like China when there seems to be no regard for these issues?

Well, I think the atmosphere I create in my classroom about respect for ownership, appreciation for the other, and safety to take risks and fail are important.  I also need to figure this out in my own head about what it all means and what it means for education and how we can make sense of it for our kids and help them navigate the messy waters of this stuff.  I really like the ideas of fair use and how it allows the sharing and taking of information for teaching purposes under certain conditions as long as we give attribution and follow guidelines.  Common sense plays a big part as well.

I think if we use common sense then we are doing more than most and we should try to think before we Right Click, CTRL C, CTRL V.

 

Public Privacy

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The internet: A public place to get a lot of stuff for free.
That’s what I used to think.  Who would know? Who cares? Why should I care?

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People have been taking other peoples information that isn’t theirs for years.  It really isn’t a new thing.  Then came along google search and all of a sudden we can steal a multitude of things without repercussions – or so we think? Even if there aren’t repercussions – does that make it right? Of course not.  What do we do when we want the answer to a question? Almost 100% of the time I turn to google and find the answer.  If I need a picture, I turn to google and take it.  It doesn’t cost me any money, it doesn’t take much time and it is extremely convenient. After all, if you put it up on the internet you should be ready for someone to take it.  Well, yes and no.  Yes, the internet is public and as we are aware that just about anyone  can access it.  We can right click photos, take snapshots etc…Does that mean I want my pictures put on various websites or my information “stolen” and used for someone elses benefit? No.  So, these discussions are so important for us and for the learners we are entrusted with.  They are also growing up in this digital age where the lines of privacy are extremely blurred.

Most people who share their photos on flikr or their status updates on twitter realize that many people can see them.  I think what people don’t realize is the access that many people have to the things we think are “private”.  We use the internet as regularly as we do many other every day tools.  The professional and the personal get melded into one confusing and hazy cloud.  We check our facebook at work (woops did I say that?), we work on our professional blogs at home, we share work ideas on facebook and our personal photos with our twitter PLN.  These things seem harmless – but are they?   After reading Husna Najand’s article on being aware of the lack of privacy we have on our information and media that is on the internet, it begs the question of what can we do?

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This weekend I stumbled upon The Internet Grandad, an 81 year old vlogger who was made famous by the media because of his age and his gentle way of sharing knowledge, advice and stories.  I love watching his videos as he pioneers the use of technology for the elderly.  I found him through a post on google plus where he shares how he was searching for something and stumbled upon a picture of himself that was used by someone else. He was not asked permission for use of his photograph which is basically a snapshot of a youtube video he has uploaded.  He says, “Do we not have any rights about who can publish our images?”.  Well, we do have rights and we can protect ourselves using difference licenses such as a creative commons license. We can protect ourselves and teach the same to our students. We can take better care of what we put on the internet.

The internet: A public place where we need to protect ourselves.

Online Presence

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This notion of a digital footprint is interesting.  To me a footprint implies something thatdisappears and gets washed away.  The trail of footprints left behind someone walking in the forest shows the way that they travelled.  After the rain comes and the wind blows through the footprints disappear.  The reality is that our online footprint doesn’t get washed away and it doesn’t disappear.  I think this is what strikes me most about our presence and our activity on the internet.  Where does that terrible email we once wrote go? Will someone ever see it? Probably not but who knows?  Where does that embarrassing university photo go from facebook?

 

Some rights reserved by Garry – www.visionandimagination.com

I appreciated the article by Sarah Perez in which she talks about a “digital shadow”.  Maybe this is more accurate when thinking of our online behavior.  A shadow follows you where ever you go.  However, a shadow lingers, it is not always seen and it disappears from time to time.  These things that Sarah Perez talks about that contribute to our digital shadow are interesting.  Bank transactions, medical data base information, and many other things make up this “shadow”.  Recently, I was contacted by the Canadian Student Loans about a privacy breach and it got me thinking about our identity online, our presence and what it says about us, who can access it and what does it mean in this crazy boundary-less world of the internet that we live in everyday.

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The notion of a tattoo is something more permanent.  Something that doesn’t disappear without a lot of expense, time and effort.  The tattoo that someone wears on their body has significance.  It has meaning.  Often the image was carefully chosen and selected to reflect a part of their life, an experience, a love, or a deeper philosophical meaning.  There is intent to make a statement.  An intent to tell the world “Look, this is a part of me and a representation of who I am.”

So, digital footprint, shadow, tattoo…whatever.  What is mine? Do I have one? Should I have one?

The answer I think is yes if we use the internet – then we have a digital presence.  We are tracked by our behavior for marketing purposes and pop-up ads find what we are interested in whether we want them to or not!  It is amazing that just about any website I go to a bunch of “Teach in China” jobs come up….go figure.  When I google myself with just my broad name a few articles from my university come up, my facebook page, and my profile on a few sites including my current place of work.  Not much.  Nothing comes up that is embarrasing or anything that I regret.  I’m lucky.  But does it represent me? Maybe a little.

I think as an international educator it’s imperative that I have an online presence for a number of reasons.

  • Having an online presence can help me in getting a job.
  • I have a footprint whether I like it or not: might as well make it reflect me.
  • It serves as a good model for our students
I have talked to my students about how we conduct ourselves online at various points throughout the year but there are many things missing in our discussions. So I am looking forward to this course highlighting and bringing somethings together for me.

 

Grade 3 Skype Call to South Korea

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We had a wonderful experience in our classroom last week.  Through the initiative of a student and his parents we were able to make connections with the Korean Aerospace Research Institute in South Korea.

This was significant for us because of our inquiry into space and the effects of our solar system on Earth.  We had come to the end of our unit and have been finishing our final projects of writing reports about an effect of the solar system on Earth.

After spending weeks going back and forth between the mother and the institute and ironing out times, dates and details we finally connected via skype.  The preparation I did leading up to the event was to try and have the students understand where they were in relation to our school in Beijing and the technology we would use to talk to them in real time.  We spent some time creating good questions and we looked at the best set up of the computer, projector, speakers etc…

On the morning of the call, we did a practice with the Grade 4 class because they had just skyped with an author and we asked them for tips on what makes a good skype call.  That was fun for us and a great experience for them to pass on their learning.

I had planned to record the conversation through Quick Time and had the program opened.  When I went to play it back to the kids there was that lovely red record button sitting there unclicked……yes, I forgot to click the button!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My 10 reflections on what makes a good skype call

1. Prepare the kids, prepare the kids, prepare the kids! I think this is really important.
2. Give kids jobs during the call (photographer, question asker, video recorder, note taker, etc..)
3. Think about position of computer in relation to projector.  It is nice for the kids to see the person on the projector.
4. The camera should be pointed at the kids – that way they feel ownership over the experience.
5. Practice with them. Call another class, let them feel what real time video calling is like)
6. Google map the location of the person.  Talk about that country, distance from us, etc…
7. Ensure the students practice clear and loud speaking.
8.  Give kids ownership of the experience
9. Don’t forget to record!
10. Reflect and share!

Course 1 Final Project – Journeys on the Silk Road

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I think I use technology quite a lot in my room and since the beginning of this course keep asking myself if it is transformative.   Is it taking the students to a place they could not have gone before technology or without the tools we are using?

This is a lesson I have done in the past and am adapting it to new technology tools and using some transformative learning through a collaborative site such as Edmodo.

Is it transformative? I believe it is transformative because they are going to use Edmodo to post their products and have input into the other groups.  They are familiar with how to comment on a blog, post things to their digital portfolios and share media links.  The Edmodo site will enable them to work in partners and add content and ideas to the others.  Does this make it transformative?

Does technology enhance the learning?  The tools we are using (iPads, Edmodo) will enhance the learning because of the skills they are using and the multi-media component that will be in the product.

Feedback is welcomed!

Flatclassroom Virtual Experience

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This post seems quite timely to my involvement as a virtual participant in the Flatclassroom Conference in Tokyo this weekend.  The theme was “How can we help each other” and the platforms were set up for groups to collaborate on projects that would address the theme.  This is a face to face conference with virtual participants joining through backchannel chats, live stream google hangouts etc..By joining the wiki and registering I was potentially able to be virtual and collaborate with a team in Tokyo (me being in Beijing).  My expectations were high and I was pumped for this awesome experience.  Well, when it came right down to it things did not work out the way I had thought they would.  A couple of factors played into the experience:

  • delay in getting put on a team meant that collaboration had begun without me.
  • involvement on the face-face team to include me was difficult late in the game
  • slow internet and sometimes blocked sites (China) makes multi-linking and virtual participation difficult.
I think the difficulty was on the face to face groups to include the virtual participants.  I think the aim was to bridge the distance between tokyo and the virtuals but perhaps next time there could be virtual teams.  I think it would have been quite exciting to see what we as virtuals could have come up with.  There was a lot of wasted time waiting, trying to connect, searching for team members, etc…
The tools we used to connect virtually were;
-flat classroom wiki
-Ustream live
-twitter (#flatclass2013)
-google hangout
-blackboard collaborate
–etherpad (a great collaborative notepad where people write in diff. colors)
-backchannel chat (which was the main area that we cam together in)

This is what we collaborated on as a reflection of the experience!

Technology is certainly changing the learning landscape.  The experience I was a part of this weekend was messy and had its flaws but it was truly incredible to see the power of connecting with others and the power of community.  Despite borders we can flatten our learning and collaborate with others – it is possible and we are at the verge of exciting things!

I learned how to navigate my way around the wikispace and grasp the scope of the project, the aims of the conferences and the vision for the future.  I learned some other valuable take-aways in the process:

  • its ok to fail – thats when real learning happens
  • community is powerful, especially online

I met some great people, followed some interesting folks on twitter and learned a great deal about the power of collaboration that can happen when the right people with the right mindset work together.

Here is a shot of us in the google hangout talking about our frustrations, learning etc…

At another time we were able to be a part of the student pitches for emerging technologies.  Through a google hangout we could ask questions, see what the students were talking about and hear their vision for technologies that are soon to be common place.

Technology changes the way in which we work together, learn from each other and effect change.  The essence of the conference was how we can help each other through global projects.  The team I was on came up with the project Kids2Kids which was privileged students working with underprivileged students who have gone through a tragedy to tell their story through ebooks that they work on together.  This project is one I would love to look at further.  Is this a new thing in a new way? Would it be possible to do this without the technology? Something to consider…..Now onto thinking about a lesson for course 1 wrap up.

Unimportant and Uninteresting Understandings

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The title of this post reflects my state of being at this moment.  I have delayed this blog post for 7 days thinking that something magical and enlightening would come to me. I felt like this guy waiting…….

but it didn’t.

I am sitting here pondering over the hours of mindless (but fun!) link jumping I did this week.

Here’s what it looked like:

  • -signing up for #flatclass2013 and jumping around that wiki for hours
  • -reading the blogs on my reader, reading on flipboard
  • -commenting on a few blogs that I thought were interesting
  • -reading the required readings this week several times
  • -watching videos
  • -link jumping for hours
  • -setting up Google+
  • -following more on twitter
  • -reading cool collaborative projects that people are doing
  • -tweeting a few things here and there even though I can’t imagine anyone would care
  • -getting creative in my classroom with using the theory of connectivism
  • -etc etc etc

 

I am sure we are all there doing the same and now I sit here to reflect and I have nothing.

So, my reflection this week on the essential question about how things are changing in my classroom is that things have been changing ever since I embraced the notion of using technology in a more embedded and seamless way.  I have changed and I know my students have as well.  Have things changed since the start of Course 1? Probably not in a huge way but I, as a professional, am feeling a bit more connected and some ideas are coming together for me…albeit slowly.

The kids we teach build their networks without realizing it through social media, gaming and the day-to-day “geeking” out that they do.  I recently heard someone say that today’s graduates from high school do not remember a time when they didn’t have this access to technology where as we, as Mark Prensky in his article are digital immigrants.  The one issue I have with this term is that immigrants suggest that we will never really assimilate and be a part of this culture.  I think I am in the sense that I am engaged with it, open to learning about it and wanting to effect change in my practice with it.  Does it come naturally? No, but it is slowly…

My understanding of building a PLN through these cohorts, twitter and blog reading gets me a bit frustrated because I don’t see that happening as quickly as I would like and I am not really sure what it looks like when it arrives but I’ll wait and see…

What does your PLN look like? How do you build it, maintain it and put into it?

That’s my question for those that are reading….

 

Becoming Obsessed

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I can see things changing in my classroom as I increase my learning network and see the benefit to learning from others and connecting through social media.

My students are working on a space unit and I thought I would use my new twitter skills to connect with experts.  I came across @Cmdr_Hadfield who is currently commanding the ISS in Space.  I have literally become obsessed with his real-time photos from the ISS and his question and answer sessions on Reddit.  In wanting my students to see the value to learning from others and giving them some tools that they can, possibly in the future, find their own learning networks I have found excitement with this sharing and connecting.

In the Living With New Media document, the Macarthur Foundation states that when young people geek out they are exploring areas of interest that go beyond common knowledge by seeking out expert knowledge networks outside of usual friendship-driven networks.  This is essentially what we are doing and what we want our students to do.  They go on to talk about geeking out goes beyond just the “consuming” of information (which is what so many of us do regularly) to actually producing knowledge that contributes to the knowledge network.  I realize how this starts with me and shifting my thinking to understanding that I have something to say and want to contribute to my learning network. It is a difficult shift but one that is truly valuable and I am slowly beginning to see those rewards.

The essential question for this week is: How can we effectively, practically and authentically embed technology within our curricular areas?

Good question, really, and I have no idea.  I ask myself this all the time and I really don’t know.  I think we just keep doing what we’re doing through the lens of technology and seeing “just in time” opportunities to show our students how they can help each other, learn from others and inquire into areas of interest without us.  Becoming less helpful is something I keep reminding myself of.  I recently attended a Math in the PYP workshop and came across an article through this that talked about the need for educators to become less helpful – it can be messy but it is where the true learning takes place.  This is inquiry – releasing control, allowing for messing around, exploring and making mistakes.

Teachers, its time we become less helpful and become more obsessed with new media for us and for our students.

 Hanging out, messing around and geeking out has become kind of fun.  But now, I need to take a break!
Signing out….or do we ever really sign out?