Category: featured

Posted on in featured, resources

Buzzword BINGO – SxSWedu 2014

Hi to all my Austin friends…sorry to be missing this year’s event.

It’s March, and that means time for the fastest growing (and arguably hippest) education conference in the United States – SxSWedu in Austin. More people, more presentations, more great  opportunities for learning.

If you are just jumping into the world of edtech, use this BINGO card to ensure an introduction to the latest trends.

If you are well-versed on the intersection of education and technology, keep an eye out for these buzzwords and challenge startups and presenters to go deeper than a marketing pitch.

bingo-sxswedu-2014

Posted on in featured, resources

TED.org is flipping lectures

TED.org is teaming educators with animators to create TED-Ed flipped lectures. Anyone can choose a YouTube video and then place it side-by-side with a variety of questions, allowing viewers to assess their own recall and understanding.

I was honored to be invited to present a lesson while in Chicago for #FlipCon12 back in June. My recording went live today! You can view the entire lesson directly at Ted-Ed: Why do competitors open their stores next to one another? – Jac de Haan or watch the video below:

Thanks to Logan, Jordan, Stephanie, Jon & Aaron for making this happen! And thanks to Luke Rowsell for bringing the story to life.

W.M. Hunt on collecting art
Posted on in featured, philosophy

Art, Inspiration & Education

Last week the Seattle Art Museum hosted a talk by art curator & collector W.M. Hunt. The evening was part lecture, part memoir, part performance and was held in conjunction with Photo Center NW’s annual competition exhibition, for which Mr. Hunt was the juror.

As an educator, I found Hunt’s thoughts on finding and cultivating passion to be inline with my hopes for a learning community. He graciously agreed to sit down for an interview:

 

Posted on in featured, resources

Announcing FlipLab – a 21st century professional development experience

I’m super-excited to be a part of a FlipLab, a new workshop that blends flipped classroom technical skills and  experiential learning.

The entire workshop is flipped, in that attendees will do some pre-work before arriving on February 23rd. With a common foundation of knowledge and vocabulary, the workshop will focus on building a complete roadmap for flipped classrooms. From content alignment to screencasting to project-based learning and alternative assessment, we will look at how to successfully integrate technology and create meaningful learning experiences.

From the website:

FlipLab gathers innovative educators to explore and share best teaching practice while leveraging recorded content…Everything developed at FlipLab is shared with other teachers under a Creative Commons license. You will leave a FlipLab workshop with flipped lessons tailored for your classroom and ready to implement. You’ll pilot them in your classroom and work with peer coaches to debrief the results. Even better, you’ll be part of a network of educators pushing the boundaries of educational best practice.

And the best part of all is the incredible team of FlipLab mentors who will be video-conferencing in to provide support and share their own successes and obstacles. The list of mentors is a who’s who of best teaching practice and also a list of my personal educator heroes:

  • Aaron Sams (flipped classroom pioneer, standards-based grading enthusiast)
  • Stacey Roshan (flipped classroom teacher)
  • Ramsey Mussallam (teacher, adjunct professor, cognitive load researcher, YouTube teacher studio presenter)
  • Tom Frizelle (Overlake IT Director, UW doctoral candidate in Educational Communication & Technology)
  • Troy Cockrum (flipped classroom language arts teacher, Google Certified Teacher)
  • Ash Bhoopathy (social learning network expert, collaborative technology designer)
  • Jon Bergmann (flipped classroom pioneer, master teacher)
  • Brian Bennett (teacher, world traveller, flipped classroom master)
  • Greg Bamford (Tedx Overlake organizer, Prototype Camp organizer, teacher)

 

The event is invitation only, but the application for Session 1 near Seattle, WA is open for teachers interested in flipped classrooms. [ed. note: This session was scheduled for Feb 2012.]

Posted on in featured, philosophy

What is technology with intention?

Technology with intention is a starting point for implementing tech solutions in the classroom.

As schools search to keep curriculum relevant in an world where students are hyper-connected to information and each other, teachers and administrators often get stuck trying to find the why and how of tech adoption. It isn’t enough to mandate that teachers use technology, there must be a sufficient training and a clear transition plan from the way things were done to the way things could be done.

I posted on the philosophy of technology with intention previously, on the Billings Beta Tech Blog, with the following words and graphic:

A well-rounded technology curriculum has to address the unique complexities of growing up digital and should leverage this generation’s technological fluency to create meaningful connections to self, environment, and each other.

Technology with intention in the classroom for optimal learning