Lots of Good Information for Educators This Month

It's fun to stop at a Starbucks and discover that folks in the car ahead of you (who you don't know) have paid for your coffee! Random acts of kindness.  :)  Connected educators, however, help each other in a bit more organized manner. I know that I can find many--even more than usual--articles and tweets online this month about being connected. Many teachers and other educators share good news about new tools and other teaching resources via blogs and tweets. And the K12 Online Conference 2014 this month is free and asynchronous. What a bargain that is!

Be Connected! / Phil and Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

Connected Educator Month:
Are you finding articles to help you work with your students and with other educators in addition to helping you boost your own professional development? If you are a new teacher or if you mentor new teachers you will find some good ideas at Teaching with Soul. Especially check Five Tips for New Teachers to Become Connected Educators.

New Tools:
Are you looking for a good way to share resources with students? Read BlendSpace: Awesome Review Idea! at Teaching with Technology. See how Bethany Petty created a review activity for her students' Constitution tests. In addition, she shares other ideas for using Blendspace with your students.

Mathematics, Technology, and Women:

In the early years of my career it seemed that only male mathematicians showed up in textbooks and elsewhere. I was delighted when I later began teaching technology education to find references to Lady Ada Lovelace and Dr. Grace Murray Hopper and their work in the field. Today I enjoy reading Roots of Unity, the mathematics blog of Evelyn Lamb in Scientific American. In Beyond Emmy and Sophie: Resources for Learning about Women in Math Lamb shares resources for several female mathematicians. She also provides access to her Twitter list of Mathy Ladies (students, teachers, other women) who tweet about mathematics.

K12 Online Conference 2014:

Last week we viewed presentations for two strands (Stories for Learning and Games and Gamification) of this year's conference. Beginning tomorrow (Monday, October 27) we will view presentations for the Passion-Driven Learning and STEAM strands plus the keynotes for those two strands. Check the schedule for the presentations.

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Have you connected with other educators this month to share your good ideas and experiences?

Two K12 Online Conference 2014 Keynotes Today

Are you following the K12 Online Conference 2014?

Wes Fryer took us across the country as we met educators who (virtually) joined him in his pre-conference keynote, Igniting Innovation in Teaching and Learning, a week ago (Monday, October 13).

Conversation / Sharon Mollerus / CC BY 2.0

Today (Monday, October 20) Ben Wilkoff's keynote for Stories for Learning and Kevin Hodgson's keynote for Games and Gamification are scheduled to begin those two strands.

Do you need information about this excellent online conference? Go to last week's blog post to learn more.

Are You Ready for the K12 Online Conference 2014?

Are you ready? The K12 Online Conference 2014 begins in just about 8 hours with Wes Fryer's pre-conference keynote!

k12onlineconference.org

Read about the conference here:

K12 Online Conference 2014. Igniting Innovation. Free. Online. 

http://teachinginadigitalworld.blogspot.com/2014/08/k12-online-conference-2014-igniting.html

Note the presentations and when they will be presented here:

2014 Schedule

http://k12onlineconference.org/?page_id=2480

You do not want to miss this!

K12 Online Conference 2014. Igniting Innovation. Free. Online.

Two online events are must do's for educators (teachers--including librarians--and administrators) and teacher education students. Both occur in October each year. One is Connected Educator Month and the other is the K12 Online Conference. Both events are free. Both offer professional development and networking opportunities that, in my opinion, are invaluable.

In last week’s post I shared information about Connected Educator Month from the event's planners. This week I am sharing information about the K12 Online Conference from its event planners.

http://k12onlineconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/k12online2014-flyer.pdf

About the K12 Online Conference 2014

Igniting Innovation is the theme for the K12 Online Conference 2014.

Scheduled events include:

Monday, October 13…

• pre-conference keynote by Wesley Fryer (@wfryer)

the next two weeks (starting October 20)…

• 40 presentations in four different strands, with four presentations posted per day
• each presentation is a single media file of twenty minutes or less (but not too much less)
• all presentations are shared under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported licenses

the strands are...

• Gamification and Gaming
• Stories for Learning
• Passion-driven learning
• STEAM

Gamification and Gaming (convened by Jose Rodriguez)
How can game thinking, design and mechanics be employed to make learning more engaging and fun? This strand highlights ways educators are using gamification to transform classroom learning and encourage students to level up as they learn knowledge and skills both inside and outside the classroom. Kevin Hodgson (@dogtrax) shares this strand’s keynote during week 1.

Stories for Learning (convened by Susan van Gelder)
Sharing stories is a great way to learn. In the telling and the listening, learning deepens. Stories by students, by teachers, about discoveries, about classrooms… Let’s gather around the virtual campfire for some storytelling. Ben Wilkoff (@bhwilkoff) share this strand’s keynote during week 1.

Passion-driven learning (convened by Karen Fasimpaur)
What does learning look like when it starts with learners’ passions and interests? This strand will cover topics such as Genius Hour, Connected Learning, interest-driven blogging, independent projects, and more. Joy Kirr (@joykirr) shares this strand’s keynote during week 2.

STEAM (convened by Paula Naugle)
How are teachers and others helping students develop skills and a love of learning through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) activities and lessons? This strand highlights innovative STEM learning, projects, and ideas, as well as the ways the arts and creativity are included in STEAM. Mike Petrich (@TinkeringStudio) shares this strand’s keynote during week 2.

k12onlineconference.org

How Can You Share News about This Conference with Colleagues and Your PLN?

Download the conference marketing flyer in PDF format (http://k12onlineconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/k12online2014-flyer.pdf). Forward or print or post this flyer where teachers will see it (teachers’ lounge, beside teacher mailboxes, outside your classroom, or anywhere else it can catch the attention of other educators).

Tweet about the 2014 K12 Online Conference using the conference hashtag (#k12online14). 

Share the K12 Online Conference by putting a linked version of the 2014 square conference logo badge on your own blog or other website. You can download the logo and add it to your site, linking it back to k12onlineconference.org. (See mine on the right-hand side of this page.)

k12onlineconference.org

How Does the K12 Online Conference Work?

The conference is FREE and online. It is open to ANYONE and is organized by educators for educators around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice. One of the goals of the conference is to help educators make sense of and meet the needs of a continually changing learning landscape.

No registration is required. You are welcome to sign the Guest Book.
 
During the conference each year, presentations are posted to the conference blog (http://k12onlineconference.org/). You can also view the presentations on YouTube or by subscribing on iTunesU.

Archived conference presentations and live events are available. These events are accessible from the navigation links (organized by year) at the top of the blog.

During the conference dates you participate by downloading the presenter’s content or viewing it online, reviewing it, and then posting feedback or comments. Comments can be posted on the conference blog.

The conference schedule identifies when a particular presenter’s content will be available. (After the identified date, the schedule will have a link to the content). You can also attend the culminating live event. Live events provide an opportunity for you to listen to the week’s presenters, ask questions directly and visit with other participants (virtually). It’s a good idea to watch the conference feed for conference information, follow the conference twitter feed, or check back regularly to the conference website.

You can view all the presentations and supporting materials for the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 conferences.

The conference is NOT a venue for advertising and direct marketing. Anyone is welcome to participate in the conference as an individual.

Ponder / F Delvanthal / CC BY 2.0

8 Tips for First-time Participants

• Don’t try to take it all in at once. Pick a strand and follow it. View, perhaps, only one presentation per day. Attend the culminating live event if you can.
• Review the program ahead of time to choose the sessions that most interest you.
• Check out the presentation teasers to help you decide where to start your conference experience.
• Work with a colleague to share the information. Just like at an “in-person” conference, go to different sessions and “get the information and handouts” then report back.
• Get everyone together for a keynote session, then assign people to report back on the key points in one presentation.
• You could make it a school event and get together after school, at lunch time, whenever to view the conference sessions with colleagues. Pick one that interests you and/or fits your school ‘s goals.
• If you’re busy all week, remember, the conference is mostly asynchronous (not happening in real time) so you can catch up with the conference later. All links to past conference presentations are accessible using the navigation links at the top of each page.
• See the FAQs for information about professional development (CPE) credit for participation in the conference.

 
And most important of all... Don't forget to mark the dates on your calendar for both Connected Educator Month (#ce14) and the K12 Online Conference 2014 (#k12online14)!