Digital Literacies: November 2012

Guest Post by Jason Graham

I chose Jason to be the final guest post in this series for a couple of reasons. First, I've been a follower of his on Twitter for a while and I'm always impressed with the quality of the tweets he sends. They are always insightful in some way and have helped me to continue my learning journey especially around the PYP. Which brings me to the second reason I selected him. Jason is a respected PYP workshop leader and I cannot overstate the excitement I experience when teaching in a PYP environment. Over the years I have taught in almost every environment such as PYP, UK National Curriculum and the IPC. But my support, still truly lies with the PYP as the quintessential learning environment.

This is another great post by Jason and you can catch up with him on Twitter or at his blog.

Thanks Jason!

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Awesome. That is the word that comes to mind when I reflect on Learning 2.0 Conference in Beijing last week. I’ve never been around so many educators that support each other. That cheer each other on. @B_Sheridan states it nicely in his blogpost on Learning2 ‘ I felt as if the conference had an aura more like a music festival than an educational conference. People were pumped to be there.’ That sums it up.

I was fortunate enough to be there for the pre conference. That was an honour. So many great educators with ideas to change education for the better. On my team there was Dave Caleb(@davecaleb), Jeff Dungan(@jdungan), Patrick McMahon, Justin Hardman(@jahardman), Doug Taylor(dtaylor2008) Zoe Page @pagezoe and Ben Sheridan @B_Sheridan. We created a trailer in the hopes to further EARCOS Action Research projects into an issue that we felt was at the crux of technology in education: How to reduce anxiety of ‘integrating technology. The ideas flowed one night at the ‘Gung Ho’ pizza place across from the conference hotel. The notes taken down on a napkin. Yes a napkin. We talked about where we came from, we all started as beginners in technology and we are still learning. Everyone is at different places in their learning journey path with technology but we are all on the same path and that’s to improve teaching and learning. That’s the goal. We came up with this video trailer we hope will inspire others to take action.

One of the Learning2Leaders was Adrian Camm. He challenged my thinking of gaming in education. We didn’t just play video games, a misconception I had when I went into his

session. It was also about games in general sense. We played strategic card games, games with dice and games with counters. Strategical thinking. I came away with lots of ideas for my class. If you’re interested check out his site Games in Education. Another Learning2Leader I finally met in person was FlatClassroom Co Founder Julie Lindsay. It was great to meet face to face after so many skype sessions.

I was also honored to work on the Learning 2.0 marketing committee with @cdiller and @chamada. I learned alot from them and the others on the committee. It was a worth while experience watching everyone coordinate such a big event. The extraordinary work behind the scenes to pull this off. Western Academy of Beijing was a great place to hold this event. The school made an impression on me.
Finally, I presented on #hashtag learning communities on Twitter such as #pypchat. We got a synchronous #chat going so participants could experience what it is like being in one of these chats. It was fast and furious. I also asked Michelle Hiebert aka @mauimickey of #kinderchat to make a short trailer on the importance of a PLN and what #kinderchat meant to her. Her video clip was inspirational.