Connect 2.0

On Monday evening at 7pm, Annelies, Struan, Justin, Dennis, Carol, Michelle and I got “geeked” as we watched the pre-conference keynote of 2007 K12Online Conference here in our fabulous Learning Hub:

We started by watching the 2006 keynote presentation by David Warlick to get us ready (and to pass the time while we waited for the 2007 keynote, also by David Warlick, to download), all the while taking notes and discussing how we can bring these kinds of 21st century literacy skills into our classrooms here at school.

For those of you that were unable to attend on Monday night, don’t despair! All of the conference events are posted on the conference blog and will be available permanently – you can even go back and watch all of the presentations from last year!

Check out these links to get you started:

• www.k12onlineconference.org – The main conference blog
• The Schedule of Events – See what’s coming up
• Where do I start? – A guide for first time attendees
• Preconference Keynote – from David Warlick

And, just in case you are still wondering why you should attend this (free, online, just in time, amazing) conference, take a listen to this fabulous podcast by Chris Betcher and you’ll be geeking out before you know it!

Technorati tags: k12online07, k12online07pc

Today I found a fabulous screencast about all the different ways we can blog for educational purposes. And I’m not just saying that because my blog is the first one featured, really

Janetta Garton created this presentation for her teachers in Willard, Missouri, but I thought it was a perfect introduction for our school community here as well!

Check it out – and then come down to the Learning Hub to learn how to set one up for your class!

The absolutely fabulous K12Online Conference begins next week!

This conference is completely free, totally voluntary, and it is entirely online – so not only do you not have to leave your house, but you can watch the presentations anytime!

To jump start the posting of the online workshops, Justin, Dennis and Kim will be hosting a “house party” here in the Learning Hub to watch and discuss David Warlick’s keynote presentation together. The party starts at 7:00 pm (BKK time) on Monday 8 October. This event is entirely voluntary – no one is required to come – but we would love to spend the evening learning together!

We are also planning to host another “house party” at the end of the conference for the final live event, When Night Falls on 27 October.

We are also open to setting up group discussion sessions around the other presentations if you are interested! Please let us know if this sounds like something you’d like to do!

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[Reposted from a few weeks ago]

The “K12 Online Conference” is for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice! The 2007 conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26 of 2007, and will include a pre-conference keynote during the week of October 8. The conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries.”

This is not your typical conference though…

• It’s free
• You don’t have to leave your house
• You can attend every session whenever you have time
• It’s entirely online, spread out over two full weeks
• The sessions are available forever online
• Every resource is downloadable and customizeable
• People from all over the world attend
• It’s collaborative and interactive with multiple methods for interaction during the two weeks of the conference

 The elementary school is buzzing with energy and ideas since more than 10 of its teachers flew to Shanghai for the Learning 2.0 conference.  Teachers and students across the ES are tapping into the potential that some of the new tools (blogs, wikkis, podcasts) to enhance their own teaching and learning.  A term that was used quite often over the course of the weeks was that of blended learning, and it is definitely one that we will be exploring further this year.

Blended Learning is the combination of multiple approaches to learning. Blended learning can be accomplished through the use of ‘blended’ virtual and physical resources. A typical example of this would be a combination of technology-based materials and face-to-face sessions used together to deliver instruction. In the strictest sense, blended learning is anytime any instructor combines two methods of delivery of instruction. However, the deeper meaning lies in engaging the students of the current generation. Thus a better example would be using active learning techniques in the physical classroom and a social web presence online. Blended learning is a term that represents a shift in instructional strategy.  Shift is happening and the ES is right there with it!

http://connect2.edublogs.org

By far my best professional development experience last year was the K12 Online conference:

The “K12 Online Conference” is for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice! The 2007 conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26 of 2007, and will include a pre-conference keynote during the week of October 8. The conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries.”

This is not your typical conference though…

• It’s free
• You don’t have to leave your house
• You can attend every session whenever you have time
• It’s entirely online, spread out over two full weeks
• The sessions are available forever online
• Every resource is downloadable and customizeable
• People from all over the world attend
• It’s collaborative and interactive with multiple methods for interaction during the two weeks of the conference

Justin and Kim will be hosting group sessions to view and discuss presentations together once the conference starts. More details to come!