Science, ICT, and the Global Classroom (#CONSTAWA33 Keynote)

Last weekend, I presented the Dinner Keynote at the Science Teachers’ of Western Australia conference, exploring the topic: Science, ICT, and the Global Classroom: Exploring the Possibilities.

Science, ICT, & the Global Classroom (#CONSTAWA33 Dinner Keynote) from Michael

Our Challenge: Engaging Students in Science

As a primary school teacher & global education specialist, being asked to present to secondary science teachers was an interesting experience

The central theme of the presentation focussed on the use of technology to enable teachers and students Engage, Connect, Communicate, and Collaborate in secondary Science – via connections with external organisations, experts, and science educators around Australia, and around the world.

Building Bridges with REAL Science

My most memorable science teachers were those who were passionate about their subject, and who went out of their way to CONNECT their students to REAL science. As was posited to me on the night, these connections should, and indeed MUST begin, in the primary school classroom, but I was interested in exploring the possibilities at the secondary level.

You DON”T have to be an Expert (when you’re part of a community)

I was also very keen to point out that teachers don’t have to be ICT experts to engage & connect their students in Science. The keys to success lie in keeping an open mind, and and being willing to learn and collaborate with colleagues and experts beyond your classroom walls through engaging in online communities, such as the Scootle Community and Twitter.

I finished up by sharing a crowd-sourced Google Doc, containing links and ideas for Secondary Science teachers interested in exploring the possibilities of ICT and global connections in their teaching. You can access (and contribute) to that document via the short link: http://bit.ly/CONSTAWA2013.

Post Conference Reflections

I was rather pleased with the reception I received at the CONSTAWA Conference. It was rather challenging to walk into an unfamiliar conference audience, but the feedback was very positive.

I’ve learnt a great deal through the experience … not just about how much work and preparation goes into these kind of presentations, but how I can personally integrate ICT and global connections into my own Science teaching in the future. The connections I’ve made … the lessons I’ve learned … will help me a great deal when I eventually find my own space and own classroom – one day.

Thank you to the long list of teachers, scientists, and experts who helped make this presentation possible. I am indebted to you – for your support … and inspiring example of what is possible when you ‘explore the possibilities’ of Science, ICT, and the Global Classroom.

The Story of an Image

In preparing for my Science, ICT, and the Global Classroom presentation at the Science Teachers’ of Western Australia Conference this weekend, I’ve learnt some valuable lessons about global connections, crafting powerful presentations, and about connecting science to the real world.

But perhaps the greatest lesson has arisen from my endeavours to model the appropriate (legal) use of images in educational presentations …

This is the story of an image, and there’s quite a story to tell ..

Image: Jordi Rios. Reproduced with permission

I first came across this image through Twitter, where it appeared on the Facebook page of a prominent Science communicator in the USA. With the intention of using this quote and image in my presentation, I contacted the owner of the site – only to discover that he didn’t own the image!

With his kind assistance, I traced the imaged to the 500px site, where you can view the original version.

What followed was fascinating …

After leaving a comment on the site, I received an email from the artist in Spain, who was quite surprised to hear from me – for several reasons!

Firstly, he had no idea his image was being used in the above form, and secondly he wasn’t particularly happy that the image didn’t (and still doesn’t) attribute him as the artist!

With the help of Google Translate, and several emails later, Jordi kindly gave me permission to reproduce the image (and quote) for educational use.

But, this whole experience has left me with an important lesson about images on the Internet Just because it’s there, doesn’t mean you have a right to take it and use it. I’ve also learnt that that asking for permission can have some unintended, unexpected consequences. But I’m glad I did.

The Power of Connections & Conversation

It is hard to believe that #ACEC2012 has been and gone. Yet, I will carry its legacy for many years to come.

For me the conference was not about the presentations or the keynotes, although they had their place. It was about the connections, the conversations, … and the food … (only partly kidding!)

Photo by @anouk_ratna, Student Photographer @ #ACEC2012

During the conference, I had the opportunity to meet many wonderful, inspiring educators – some of whom I have known and worked with online for years. Some highlights included meeting @rgesthuizen, @ackygirl, @brettelockyer, @HenriettaMi, @losiath, @murcha, @tasteach, @alupton, @smadsenau, @melcashen, and frankly, the list goes on …

I took a great deal of confidence and affirmation away from #ACEC2012.

Making my presentation debut at Australia’s national ICT conference was a personal milestone, one which I will remember for many years to come. The fact that I had a full house, and received such wonderful feedback on the ‘passion’ of my presentation, was a welcome recognition that my work is valued beyond the emotional roller-coaster of my day-to-day teaching practice.

I knew that my work in global education was respected by educators around the world, but I really appreciated the opportunity to sit down and talk to people whose teaching practice and educational outlook are being transformed through their engagement in the #globalclassroom community.

I’m a teacher. I may not have my own class, but I’m making an impact.

And I’m already looking forward to attending #ACEC2014 in Adelaide!

Skyping with @SAVSchool at #ACEC2012

Presenting at #ACEC2012

Cross Posted at The Global Classroom Project

On Wednesday October 1, 2012, I had the wonderful opportunity to present with Nigel Mitchell (@1nbm) on the topic: “Working in the Global Classroom” at theAustralian Computers in Education Conference.

Despite some initial technical hurdles, including the fact that Skype was blocked at the school, the presentation was a great success.

We managed to Skype with Julie Lindsay, the co-founder of Flat Classroom Projects; and shared our global collaboration stories with a large local audience, and a small group of teachers in Taiwan, India, and the United States via UStream,

I hope you will take some time to explore our slides, and watch our UStream recording.

You can access, and contribute to our presentation notes here.

Working in the Global Classroom: A Guide to Connecting & Collaborating Globally (#ACEC2012) from Michael

The Next Step: Presenting @ ACEC2012

Cross Posted at The Global Classroom Project

In several hours time, on October 3, at 10.15AM local time, I will be presenting (with Nigel Mitchell) on ‘Working in the Global Classroom‘ at the Australian Computers in Education Conference in Perth, Western Australia.

This is late evening of October 2 for teachers in the Americas, morning of October 3 for teachers in Asia. Please click here to find out when this is in your time-zone.

Featuring a skype link-up with Julie Lindsay, from Flat Classroom Projects, the broad goals of the session are to:

Present our rationale for integrating global perspectives across the curriculum
Showcase our stories and reflections as connected “global educators”
Interact with global educators in real time to discuss the possibilities, challenges, and learning opportunities afforded by global interactions.

You can read the full outline here.

How can you get involved?

A key goal of this presentation is to involve our national and international audience through streaming the session LIVE via UStream & inviting global educators around the world to help us write our presentation notes.

Please feel free to comment using the #globalclassroom hashtag, and chat with our session participants. This will be our official backchannel to the live / UStream presentation.

Watch

If all goes to plan, you can follow us LIVE on UStream here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-mgraffin-channel#events

Please click here to check when this is in your time-zone.

We’d also sincerely appreciate it if you’d take some time to share your advice, resources, links, and suggestions for teachers new to connecting and collaborating globally.

We are crowd-sourcing our presentation notes in Google Docs, seeking to showcase the power of international collaboration in action.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1STb-xPK29WEGLBgegzxHZIOraQjlMrm2yetajXTgpec/edit#heading=h.727hoxhx6f7c

Please tweet this widely – we’d like to make this a truly global resource.

Anyone recognise these little characters?

Classroom 2.0 Book Project: #globalclassroom Stories

This post originally appeared on The Global Classroom Project blog

We are proud to announce that our chapter submission to The Classroom 2.0 Book project is now live. With over 75 submissions from leading educators worldwide, this amazing project was organised by Steve Hargadon, Richard Byrne, and Chris Dawson of the Classroom 2.0 network.

Now, we need YOUR help!

The Global Classroom Project – Classroom 2.0 Book

We’d truly love to have the #globalclassroom story published in a print book for the very first time. (One day, we might write our own. Until then, this is the next best thing!)

If you could take a few minutes to read our submission, and share it with your networks, we’d be extremely grateful. The more readers we get, the more likely we are to be included.

Thank you to Deb Frazier, Theresa Allen, Effie Kyrikakis, and Kyle Dunbar whose contributions made this chapter submission possible. We hope you enjoy reading our #globalclassroom stories.

Michael Graffin and Deb Frazier – The Global Classroom Project

Celebrating Global Collaboration (#flatclass Book Club Reflections: Part 7)

Over the past year, an extraordinary bunch of international educators transformed a vision of global collaboration community, dreamt up right here in Western Australia, into a real world reality. The Global Classroom Project has been an extraordinary experience, and we thought this was something worth celebrating.

Chapter 9: Celebration, in Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds, filled in the missing piece of the #globalclassroom puzzle; bringing home the need for an official closure and celebration of our 2011-12 project.

We needed to provide a space and opportunity for our teachers and students to celebrate and share their experiences with the world. So on July 1, 2012, we held our Looking Forwards, Looking Back webinars, inviting our teachers to contribute to an international showcase of our projects, learning experiences, and achievements through Global Classroom 2011-12.

Global Classroom 2011-12: Looking Forwards, Looking Back from Michael

Due to terrible technical problems, the morning (Americas) webinar turned into an impromptu Google+ Hangout; however, the evening Australia / Europe webinar was an incredible success, with speakers from India, Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Romania, and the USA.

The closing webinars also provided an opportunity to share the first pictures of the #globalclassroom memento scrapbooks, which are traveling to classrooms around the world. These scrapbooks provide our students with the opportunity to share their voices, cultures, and learning with the wider world, and will continue on their journeys for at least another year to come.

Book Club Reflections …

I found Chapter 9 of the #flatclass book a very relevant, informative chapter; one which had a significant impact on the #globalclassroom community. While the way we acknowledge and celebrate learning is somewhat different to the #flatclass model, that’s the way I like it.

We’re building on the work of those that come before us, and are exploring new ways to learn, connect, and collaborate globally. As they say, life is always more interesting when you’re a pioneer …

Imagining a World of Global Collaboration (#GlobalEd11)

“ A small group of thoughtful people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

Comment shared at our #globaled11 presentation

On November 15, 2011, I was lucky enough to present alongside Deb Frazier, and members of the #globalclassroom team at the Global Education Conference 2011; sharing our Global Classroom 2011-12 wiki community with the world.

Attended by around 25 teachers, from Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America, this presentation was a fantastic opportunity to share, and reflect upon, the incredible efforts of our #globalclassroom teachers in making global connections, establishing projects, and enabling their students’ voices to be heard on the world stage.

If you’d like to watch our recording, please click here:

https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/recording/playback/link/dropin.jnlp?sid=2008350&suid=D.7D57122AD0470DC1245CEB99286023

The Global Classroom Project 2011-12 (#GlobalEd11)

View more presentations from Michael

Global Classroom is already making a significant impact on the lives of students and teachers around the world.

We’re imagining a world of global collaboration.

TOGETHER, in a small way, we are working to make this world a reality.

*The original version of this post was published on The Global Classroom Project blog on November 16, 2011.

The Global Classroom Project: #GlobalEd11 Presentation

Just a quick post to let you know that I will be presenting on The Global Classroom Project 2011-12, with Deb Frazier (Ohio, USA) at the Global Education Conference 2011, on Tuesday, November 15, 2011.

We hope you can join us for:

“A discussion about The Global Classroom Project 2011-12; a new online global projects community helping K-12 teachers and students share their expertise, learning, and voices on a global stage.”

We will be exploring our stories and latest global collaborative projects. With contributions from #globalclassroom teachers in Australia, Romania, New Zealand, USA, Canada, France, and Denmark, this is a presentation not to be missed!

For full details of our presentation, please visit our session overview.

When?

We will be presenting on Tuesday, November 15, 2011, at 6AM New York (EST), 11AM London (GMT), 4PM Delhi, 7PM Beijing, 10PM Sydney.

We have attempted to find a time friendly to teachers in Europe, Africa, and Asia, as we strive to make Global Classroom more globally representative.

We recommend finding our session, “The Global Classroom Project 2011-12: A Global Learning Community is Born” using the official schedule for YOUR time zone.

Where?

To join our presentation in Blackboard Collaborate, please click on this session link shortly before the start time:

https://sas.elluminate.com/d.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=GEC11Part270

We will be publishing the slides, and recording link on this blog (and our wiki) following our presentation.

I’m looking forward to sharing how The Global Classroom Project has developed and grown over the past few months, as I witness global dreams becoming global reality. This project is an amazing example of how social media, web 2.0, and global collaborative projects can change the lives and work of hundreds of teachers and students around the world.

I look forward to sharing what’s happening at #GlobalEd11. I hope to see you there!

An Important Milestone – #RSCON3

The third Reform Symposium e-Conference has broadened my horizons and expanded my PLN.

It is hard to describe the Reform Symposium e-Conference, but the words ‘inspiring’, ‘informative’, and ‘insightful’ come to mind.

#RSCON3 was a wonderful opportunity to connect, learn and share with new and experienced teachers around the world; and it will have tangible impacts on my teaching and professional learning practice in the months to come, particularly when we launch the Global Classroom 2011/12 project later this year.

And presenting at #RSCON3 was an important milestone in my teaching career, as it was my first ever professional presentation. I’m proud that I was able to share my experiences, and “make my voice heard” on a global stage; and I suspect there aren’t many 2nd year teachers who can say they’ve presented at an international conference! (Thanks Shelly!)

My Presentation: “What the heck is a PLN?”

I shared my personal ‘PLN story’ at #RSCON3; exploring how my “Personal Learning Network has reawakened my love of teaching, supported me in tough times, and broadened my horizons.”

With the help of my wonderful moderator (and friend) @JoHart, I was able to lead a lively, interactive online session, attended by 33 teachers from around the world (although, sadly few Western Australians). And I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was received.

After exploring the gradual development of my PLN, and discussing some of the online tools / resources I’ve used to build it, I handed over the microphone and whiteboards to my audience, asking them to share how they “connect, learn, share, and collaborate”. They did so with gusto!

Themes and Takeaways

Having a PLN is a rewarding and transformative learning experience, but actually getting “out there”, and building your network isn’t an easy or rapid process. It takes time, patience, and perseverance – but you don’t have to do it alone.

By sharing my story and experiences, I hoped to demystify the “Personal Learning Network”, and give ‘newbies’ a few ideas about where to start, and who/where to go for help and advice. With the assistance of the my session participants, this message came across ‘loud and clear’.

Thankyou

I hope my “What the heck is a PLN?” presentation will inspire and assist new and experienced teachers to take that critical first step on their own PLN journey. If I can make a difference for just one person, I will have succeeded in this goal.

So, thankyou to everyone who attended my presentation, and all those people who will listen to the recordings. I hope you find it helpful, and I look forward to reading your feedback.

Recording Links

Elluminate Recording

Presentation Slides

What the heck is a PLN? – Personal Learning Networks for Educators