New Medias, New Literacies: New Learnings at Learning 2

The Learning 2 conference never ceases to inspire.   It is high praise that many of our ISZL talented Educators return year after year.  This year (my 3rd visit!) I had the privilege of attending the Pre-Conference session: Society Has Changed, Can Education Change With it? Embracing the Visual, Video and Digital Literacies in Schools led by one of my Edu-tech-heroes, Sean Walmsley, a fellow Coetailer  and awesome 'iLearning Coach.'

IMG_9796 flickr photo by learning2.asia shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

 

What is iLearning?

Screen shot, taken directly from Sean's Fantastic Presentation (see below for embed)

Sean kicks off the session with a Twitter Challenge, getting our collective noggins working:

Youtube, Snapchat, music.ly, vlogging and the participatory culture that supports trending topics and viral phenomenon are the new normal! Reply to this tweet with a GIF explaining how you are feeling about it and add the hashtag #L2europe

— Sean Walmsley (@mrseanwalmsley) March 22, 2018

He then describes how he and his students 'rethink literacy' through digital and new media in various school projects.  The projects he and his students create are quite innovative.   Sean's final Coetail project, 'This is My School,' a whole school, collaborative undertaking...all completed in one shot! was what inspired me to sign up for the session in the first place. 


Take a look:





For our session's ice breaker, Sean had us all learn one another's names (providing a peek into our personalities) by doing emoji 😙 impersonations, inspired by this 'New Media Youtuber'.


As I have been interested in the momentum emojis have gained as a form of expression and communication, the activity had me stoked to get started with the session.


Our main challenge for the day's session was for each group to create our own New Media Project based on different prompts (emergent curriculum, phenomenon based learning, participatory culture, new media and new literacies).  Our different projects would then be combined into one final project to form a cohesive take away from the day's new learning. Sean provided us with many resources to get us started.


Our group's topic was New Literacies and New Medias (and my 💗 began to sing a little, as this topic is quite closely connected to my PLC topic, 'multimodal literacy') and we began to discuss our ideas and understandings of new medias and literacies, their purposes and impact.  My small group's discussion was lively and animated, as our four members brought in a variety of perspectives. (Another fantastic thing about the conference are those (divergent) conversations that take place throughout, as International Educators bring such a wealth of experience.)


After scribbling down our ideas on paper (one might argue an 'old' literacy), we got started on filming right away. Sean had installed a green screen (conveniently, right by our table) so we jumped in, using our visual and digital literacy skills to choose appropriate and as much as possible, CC background images that represented the ideas that had come out of our discussion.




IMG_0198 flickr photo by learning2.asia shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license




IMG_0219 flickr photo by learning2.asia shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

In creating our segment of the video, our group expanded upon our existing interests, used our imaginations, innovated by trying out new tools (the app Touch Cast Studio allows you to add a link to a Youtube video as a background when Green Screening. Thanks for the tip, Sean!!) and pursued our individual and independent learning journeys. We also laughed.  A lot.

I think we are officially iLearners! 

Without further ado, here is the final video product from our session:






Back from Learning 2, Kim and I are busy implementing some of the take aways with our Stop Motion Animation Club, with plans for more New Media projects in future.  Stay tuned for our students' New Media projects.

Thank you Sean for the on-going sharing and learning!!!

Digital Citizenship TECH TIP:  All Flickr attributions were generated with the Flickr Attribution Helper

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Photo by Evan Dennis on Unsplash

“Seeing the world again through a child’s eyes is full of paradoxical moments of “painful joy.” I wanted this short film to capture that feeling.” -Kelly O’brien, film creature/producer of How does Life Live? From the New York Times, Opinion

In the short and provocative film, O’brien, creating a short documentary film based on her children’s questions, prompts her young children to repeat questions that they have asked over the years. I am sure that among the thousands of questions her children have asked, many of them are mundane, inconsequential. But not these questions. 

They reflect the random thoughts we all have about why things are the way they are (‘Why do trees just stand there?), about how the world works (What does extinct mean?), and about what makes us human (‘Why do you like beautiful things so much?)

These children ask the toughest questions: the ones we don’t have easy answers to. 

What is kind? 

Why do we eat animals? 

They ask questions we can’t google.

Why are some things special?

Why doesn’t everybody know me?

They ask questions that the next generation will have to answer and point out problems they may have the power in future to solve:

Why is the world so messy?

What is power?

Why are we going to die?

They ask the questions that we busy adults sometimes forget are the most important:

What is fragile?

Why are we human?

Of course young children are concerned with the mundane, but more often than not, they are grappling with their developing understandings and constructing theories about how the world works.
As an educator of young children, and as a mother to young children, I need to remember these things when I am overburdened with the (seemingly) mundane: 

Why do I have to eat my dinner? 

Why do I have to go to school? 

Why do I have to go to bed?

I often struggle to answer these questions, as my interpretation of the question often doesn’t seem to satisfy.

“Because you need food to grow.”

“Because you need to learn.”

“Because you need sleep to grow.” 

My not-quite-getting-to-the-point answers are usually met with a blank stare and one-upped with, “yeah, but why?”

There is a steady stream of quotes on the importance of valuing questions over answers on my Twitter Feed...but as a teacher, and particularly as a parent, I am constantly asking myself, how does one answer such questions?

Let's Make it Happen: Learning 2

It's been a week since I have returned from Learning 2 and I am still buzzing with excitement over

-connecting with and learning from other amazing international educators

-forming deeper relationships with current colleagues

-developing stronger leadership skills through sharing and risk taking

Making Connections.  Photo by Randall Bruder on Unsplash

FYI- I am in love with the electrical circuitry element to the photo at left. One of the things I shared with others at Learning2 was how I introduced and used Squishy Circuits with Early Years students.
My retelling of the process orally made me realise the power of visuals (I wished I'd had more at the ready to share!) but also that I had been meaning to document my own learning of the process in more depth so that others can benefit.



*Check out my Tech in the Early Years Padlet containing an ongoing sampling of Tech Integration ideas for our youngest learners.


So... what is Learning2 about?

Learning 2 is About Connecting With and Learning from Other International Educators

Enjoying a high quality of life in Switzerland & low staff turn over can mean we get used to things remaining unchanged: 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.   Listening to how another educator/school is tackling the same challenges, but much more successfully/creatively can be mind-bending.

Throughout the conference, Learning 2 Leaders deliver short "Ted-Style Talks' on a range of inspiring topics.  One such talk has Sam Sherratt describing Studio5, a fascinating project on how a school is breaking traditional moulds and empowering students to all but eliminate the challenges of timetables, subjects and even teachers! (Well, almost.)  His vision is startlingly similar to what ISZL's Early Years program looks like and makes me want to share more of what we are doing.  To encourage others to share what they are doing.

Learning 2 is About Forming Deeper Relationships with Colleagues

Learning is a social act: Long periods of uninterrupted time to learn and to socialise with one another is key to developing and deepening work relationships.  Additional time spent together travelling, eating meals, etc. is additional time together spent discussing teaching and learning, additional time spent solving a problem, additional time spent learning to trust one another.  Trust is a crucial element in learning and innovation.

Teamwork Takes Time. Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

Learning 2 is (can be) About Developing Stronger Leadership Skills through Sharing and Risk Taking

My first Learning2 was so overwhelming--so much to learn in a short time.  Tweeting was still new to me, and I was learning so much at workshops that I didn't think I could take on any more than that.  My Ed Tech Coach at the time, Jocelyn Sutherland pushed me further (as she always did) by encouraging me to 'lead' an unconference--a grass roots style meeting of like minds about tech in the early years--which I did and got much out of it. 

Last year, excellent colleague Kim Lelek and I upped our game by giving teacher workshops, (much more carefully planned professional development).

This year, we both delivered workshops, and in addition we co-facilitated our peer group of Tech Leaders for an hour at the end of each day at the conference. Interestingly, with each additional responsibility, I only felt more energised and ended up investing more of myself in other learning sessions I attended. (The old saying, the more you put into something, the more you get out of it couldn't be more true.)

*Check out our 2min PD Padlet --little golden nuggets shared by our Tech Leaders cohort.

Leaning in to the PreConference Session, New Medias and New Literacies

IMG_0198 flickr photo by learning2.asia shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

Learning2 is a great catalyst for change.


Learning2 has changed my practice, perspective & relationships.  The larger the school cohort attending, the larger the potential impact back home.  Learning2 is still looking for a host school for 2019 and 2020.  Could ISZL be that school?

Luxembourg's (this year's host city) motto is 'Let's make it happen.' I am echoing that sentiment.