ictev handout gail casey 30may09

8/14/2019 ICTEV Handout Gail Casey 30May09

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Gail Casey ICTEV Conference 2009

Using nings, twitter and SmartArt to improve critical literacy and build

creativity in the classroom

This session will take a close look at how Gail Casey has been using online social

networking environments in Geelong, Australia 2008 and in 2007 while teaching ESL in

South Korea. It will include samples of student work, online resources and Gails classmaterials. Student reflection, peer assessment and the use of SmartArt for planning and

recording student ongoing improvements will be covered.

During 2008 I started to introduce nings to my students, an online social network

similar to MySpace but where membership is by invitation only and members can be

involved in a range of activities. Previously I had used blogs and wikis with my students

but I wanted to bring greater flexibility and more collaboration into my classroom. During

semester 2,2008, I decided to trial a project where my Level C students (year 9/10)

worked online with my year 7 students to help them with something this something

was to be determined by the students. Students used fake names so they could not be

identified and they could only communicate via the ning. Below is a summary of the

tasks and timeline of the project.


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Teacher Action

Research

November

December

2008

1 Pre data collection: Introduction to online sp aces

Level C & Year 7 students were introduced to online spaces such asblogs & nings. Each class explored their own space and level C students

were also involved in global classroom projects with schools around the

world using individual student blogs.

Pre Work2 Stage 1 Students as researchers

Level C students researched how learning had changed and how year 7

students might like to learn in the 21st Century.

Year 7 students explored and shared digital photos. Week 1

3Stage 2 Students as designers

Level C students joined the Year 7ningand collaborated with their three

Year 7 students. After online discussion with three year 7 students level C

students designed a product of their choice to teach or clarify somethingthat they thought would be of interest or use to their three year 7

partners.

Year 7 students used photo editing software to explore the possible

changes that could be made to a simple photo.

Week 2

4Stage 3 Students as producers

After collaboration with their three Year 7 students, adjusting their product

designs as required, level C students produced their design. The year 7

ning provided the environment for online feedback & publication.

Year 7 students produced a voice recording, using

podcasting or Vokis, about their photo work.Week 3

5Stage 4 Students as publishers

Year 7 students gave level C students feedback before final modification

for improvements were made. The final product was published online on

the Year 7 ning.

Year 7 students published their digital photo creations and

podcasts and collaborated to gain feedback.

Week

4 & 5

Level C students used SmartArt to plan and visualise their thinking. Below is a sample of

one students initial plan:

Students created avatars as a visual link to their fake names and within the ning

environment sent and received friendship requests, posted articles and made comments

to each other:


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Year 9/10 students communicated with year 7 students using this ning using a number of

methods including (there were others as well):

1) Constructing groups. Examples are of those made up by Level C students, Gradient

and Jeeve.

2) Using discussion forums:

3) Leaving comments:


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Level C students published a range of helpful material for year 7, one example is given

below.

This collaborative project between my classes used http://y7gcasey.ning.com/ and

http://gcasey.ning.com/ online environments. My aim was to look more closely at the

literacies students are involved in outside the school and how I can use them to improve

teaching and learning.

By actively encouraging students to be designers, producers and publishers of content in

a safe and supported online social network, I have given them the opportunities to workglobally whilst building creativity and critical literacy into their learning experiences.

Using nings (as above) combined with blogs - http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?

blogger_id=97161 has shifted my students mode of learning from consumer to
http://y7gcasey.ning.com/http://gcasey.ning.com/http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=97161http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=97161http://gcasey.ning.com/http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=97161http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=97161http://y7gcasey.ning.com/


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participant. Using these online environments changed the way my students collaborated

and interacted. It offered much more student flexibility and student centred learning and

hence it encouraged my students to become creative thinkers, critical thinkers and

problem solvers where they were continually learning and supporting each other.

We dont know all the information that todays students will need in their future or all the

answers to the questions they will face - we dont even know the questions. Building

online communities in my classroom allowed each student to participate in anenvironment where they could support each other and assemble a type of community

that allowed them to become the critical viewer and, I believe, provided them with an

approach to help them cope with some of the unknowns in their future.

ictev handout gail casey 30may09

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