Problems of practice

How can community be developed in the online space and how can authentic learning be captured?

These are the issues that I wrestle with in my teaching practice. I see community as totally pivotal to good online teaching, yet it is challenging to develop real community in a virtual environment where class members might be dispersed across the country. I see knowledge building communities as offering a relevant and innovative approach for online teachers. Knowledge Building, as I see it calls for students to work as a research team to solve authentic and emergent problems. The heart of the issue for me is how to create the space for authentic learning and inquiry, where the tail (assessment) is not wagging the dog (learning). In my view, online teaching has the potential to provide that space to step outside of the bounds of traditional school culture. This is what excites me about teaching. If this resonates with you, check out my video to find out more.

https://hail.to/nex/article/YUWWccu

Learning about Gifs

I have recently been the learner in a Manaiakalani toolkit workshop. I chose the 'fun with gifs' workshop thinking that I would have a bit of fun there and maybe come away with something to take back to the classroom.

I soon realized that I could make gifs from google slides and talltweets.com and simply set up the sequence like a stop motion. movie. So super easy.

I then noticed a student of mine talking about how the photos they had been taking of their work showed it evolving.

This sparked an idea that I could use gifs to bring the process to life and even get students to incorporate this into their blogging. 

Happy days