Flat Classroom Handshake Activity

Earlier this month I posted about the Flat Classroom: A Week in the Life project I am working on with a Grade 2/3 teacher.  This week I helped her prepare the "Handshake" activity to kick-start the Flat Classroom project.  This involved a number of steps, which I have listed below:

• participated in the first and second weekly online meetings using "Fuzebox"
• completed a handshake class slide which provided hints to the location of the school
• posted this slide to Jigsaw Planet
• created Flat Classroom accounts with Wikispaces, Edmodo, Ning, LiveBinders, and Google+
• embedded the handshake activity as part of a poll question in Edmodo
• began entering students into Edmodo
• determined the best way to create student avatars to post in Edmodo

This week students will learn how to login to Edmodo using the new Windows 8 tablets which have been deployed to the school.  Once logged in, students will be given the chance to create an upload an avatar, and will be given the opportunity to edit their profile.  As a class, students will view the handshake slides of a few other classes and will try to guess the locations of those schools.  The teacher plans to give the students the chance to explore Edmodo a bit on their own as well.  In the next couple of weeks students will be divided into subgroups and mixed with students and teachers from around the world.  Each student will then get the opportunity to collaborate with other students using a variety of digital tools.  The task for the next couple of weeks will be to help the students become familiar with these tools.  As the parent of a grade 2 student, I am very excited to see just what these students will be capable of creating.  I imagine it will be great.

Through this process one thing that has become clear for me is the need for simplicity when setting up a resource.  The Flat Classroom project is extremely organized, and the steps for each activity are very well detailed.  The organizers have been very supportive and helpful and there is definitely no shortage of information - and that is the part which has led to some frustrations.  Most project information can be found on the main project Wikispaces page.  However, additional details and support can be found on the group Ning.  Resource information for web 2.0 tools is contained in a LiveBinder.  Teachers looking for support can join the Flat Classroom Google+ group.  And then there is the weekly Fuzebox meeting.....  All of these resources are great, but it has become a bit overwhelming trying to keep them all straight.  I can imagine it is especially overwhelming for teachers who have never visited these sites before starting the project.

In reflecting on some of my presentation practices, I feel I have at times provided participants with "information overload".  With so many great tools and resources it is easy to get caught up in wanting to expose people to everything.  What I should keep in mind is the idea of "too much of a good thing".  What I really want for people is to expose them to something that will work well.


Accomplishments This Week

• Helped solve a technology issue at work through recommendations provided to me by my PLN
• Posted a second tech. question to a different online community
• Flat Classroom project work (as listed above)
• Provided training for two Intro to Mimio 1/2 Day Sessions
• Provided Windows 8 training session for high school teachers
• Blog commenting and professional reading
• Considering some ideas for EC&I 831 final project
• Had my own personal blog post retweeted for the first time

Flat Classroom Project Kickoff

I have been given the opportunity to work in collaboration with our Social Studies consultant and a primary classroom as they participate in the Flat Classroom: A week in the Life project.  As stated on the website, "The aim of the project is to join Elementary School classrooms globally with a view to exploring what life is like in each country through discussion, sharing and collecting multimedia to create final products together."  

Over the course of several months, students are given the opportunity to interact and collaborate digitally with students from around the world.  Students practice digital citizenship skills as they work to complete multimedia projects that help answer the essential questions:
1. What are the similarities and differences of children around the world?
2. How can we connect to each other through or commonalities?
3. How does your geography where you live impact your topic?

Some of the Web 2.0 tools introduced as part of the project include Edmodo, Wikispaces, and Voice Thread.  I met with the classroom teacher early this week to assist with some of the initial set-up tasks.  Project assignments this week include registering for Edmodo; posting basic class information to the project wiki; and completing the "handshake" activity.  For this activity we have been asked to find a picture that represents our community, and to post a number of hints about our community.  This picture is then loaded into Jigsaw Planet and shared with other classes taking part in the project.  Over the next few weeks students will be divided into working groups to collaborate with other students around the world.  I am looking forward to participating in this project over the course of the semester.

Accomplishments This Week

• Shared a tech issue with my social network and received a response in less then 15 minutes (Thanks Alec!)
• Setup a LiveBinder to begin collecting EC&I 831 resources
• Attended Flat Classroom project kick-off meeting
• Gave two half-day Mimio training sessions 
• Gave one Intro to Mimio session
• Gave one Windows 8 training session
• Used TodaysMeet as part of a PD session