Ictev Handout Gail Casey 30may09

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 Gail’s class materials. 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.

November December 2008

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Pre data collection: Introduction to online spaces Level C & Year 7 students were introduced to online spaces such as blogs & 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 Work 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.

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Week 1

Stage 2 Students as designers Level C students joined the Year 7ning and 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 something that 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.

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Teacher Action Research

Week 2

Stage 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.

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Week 3

Stage 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 student’s 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:

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:

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 work globally 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

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 don’t know all the information that today’s students will need in their future or all the answers to the questions they will face - we don’t even know the questions. Building online communities in my classroom allowed each student to participate in an environment 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.