Summary of Learning

In preparing my Summary of Learning project, I spent time looking back over the extensive notes I have collected over the past few months.  In doing so I came across the goals of the course as identified by Alec:

• better understand the historical role technology and media have played in educational & social change; Achieved thanks to the knowledge shared by Alec and a variety of guest presenters
• become knowledgeable of social learning tools as tools for teaching, facilitating learning, professional development, & designing educational environments; Achieved through the sharing of my EC&I classmates and my PLN
• become familiar with the wealth of open educational resources (OERs), learning-related content, & media available for teaching & learning; Achieved through the sharing of my PLN on Twitter and through Goolge+
• become knowledgeable of relevant educational theories and philosophies that inform teaching and learning in the digital age; Once again, achieved thanks to the knowledge shared by Alec and a variety of guest presenters
• better understand the many social, ethical, political, cultural, and administrative issues often associated with technology & media in education and society; Achieved through personal experience and the shared experiences of others in my PLN
• become critical consumers and producers of digital media and information; and, Achieved through active participation in the three ongoing class assignments
• build sustainable, personal learning environments and networks. Work in Progress.  I am very happy with the progress I have made in this area.  I choose to consider this a work in progress because it is something I will continue to build and nurture in my professional life.

In our first class Alec made the statement that we as a class would determine our learning experience.  What a learning experience it has been!  The advancements I have made in the area of social media have occurred because of the collaborative efforts of all of the EC&I 831 community.  Thanks to everyone for connecting with me and sharing this experience.  I have managed to view a few of the Summary of Learning assignments which have been posted to the blog hub already, and I am impressed.  I look forward to viewing all of them as they become available.  Embedded below is my Summary of Learning project for EC&I 831.  I will be posting my final thoughts on my Major Digital Project later in the week.

How I have Become a More Networked Professional

As part of the Networked Professional Learning assignment for my EC&I 831 course, my professor, Alec Couros, challenged participants to develop a "personal learning network" through continuous participation with a wide variety of social media tools.  As a summary of our growth, we were asked to consider the question: "How have you become a more networked professional?"

I decided to base my response on the concept of "The Networked Teacher" diagram Alec shared with us during one of our sessions.  In my infographic I have highlighted the thirteen components of connected learning in which I experienced significant growth.  For each of these components I have provided links (dots) to examples of tools which helped me become a more connected teacher.  In addition, for each component I have provided a video explanation (black play button) outlining how that component allowed me to become a more connected educator, and what I learned in the process.

I have decided to post  this Thinglink as part  of my Summary of Learning because it outlines the growth and learning I experienced in my attempts to become a more connected educator.



Creating This Project
I began by exploring a number of different infographic creation sites.  None of the ones I looked at suited my needs, so I decided to build my own in a low-tech way.  I built the infographic using MimioStudio Notebook software (similar to SMART Notebook).  I probably could have done the same thing with PowerPoint, Paint, or Photoshop.  Once all of my images were in place, I saved the slide as a .jpg and uploaded it to Thinglink.
Next, in Thinglink I created links for every icon I had included in my diagram.  When possible, I linked directly to my account for the web service or tool.
Finally, I gathered "evidence" of my growth for each component through screen clippings and screen recordings.  I loaded these clips into iMovie and added voice narration to explain my growth.  I uploaded these to my YouTube account and then linked these to my Thinglink image.

I would definitely consider doing a project such as this with students in the classroom.  How might you use Thinglink?  How is your growth as a connected educator similar or different to me?

LiveBinder Summary of Learning

EC&I 831 has been great!  I can't believe how much we have covered in such a short time.  The variety of topics we have explored these past couple of months has been incredible.  All of the great references to web tools, resources, articles, videos, blogs, etc. has at times been a bit overwhelming.  In beginning to think about my Summary of Learning project I decided I needed a way to organize all of these resources in one place.  Below is a link to a LiveBinder I have created for the EC&I 831 class.  I have tried to divide it into subsections based on class sessions.  I have also included sections related to my Major Digital Project, Networked Professional Learning and Summary of Learning projects, as well as a section with a number of articles recommended by classmates on Google+ over the course of the semester.  In each subsection I have included links to related articles, suggested readings, web links, etc. which were mentioned by each presenter.  I have also begun jotting down some of my brief personal reflections for many of these resources in the binder as well.  This is very much a work in progress, and is in no way completely comprehensive, but if you need quick access to resources discussed in class please feel free to take a look.

Click here to open this binder in a new window.