Call for a Conversation: Online Teacher Academy (Beta)

[Alex Ragone]

Fred Bartel's Starting a Virtual Independent School thread morphed recently. As we discussed the topic, what resonated in me was the importance that our communities understand what it means to learn online. Once a critical mass of our communities know what the the pros and cons of this environment are, we can better assess how they will fit into our schools.

Over the past couple of weeks, arvind, Vinnie and I have been discussing the creation of an Online Teacher Academy for this purpose. Here are links to the two podcasts:

21st Century Learning #97:Designing an open, web 2.0, personal lear...
21st Century Learning #98: Designing an Open Online Teacher Academy...

In the two podcasts above, we begin the discussion about how to lead our teachers through an online experience that provides them with the tools and the inspiration to build their own personal learning network.

After our last podcast, I posted a couple of goals and a short description for this experience:

1. Teach online tools in the context of teaching and learning
2. Creating online community to model and sustain this learning

This online teacher academy starts by walking its participants through some basic online tools while building a community, and creates a structure for the participants to create and document new work thus leaving a legacy for the next generation of learners.

I would like to spend some time working to create this learning experience with a group of interested educators from June 30 - July 2nd here in New York City. We'll definitely be broadcasting this, so don't worry if you can't be in NYC. This also coincides with NECC and I'm sure we'll be bringing folks who are there into this conversation.

We already have some takers who are interested in participating in this discussion.

What do you think? Who's interested in participating?



Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jiscinfonet/405736372/

[Alex Ragone]

Kerri -- My goal of this is to create the course content that can help build that course. I think we the people power of NECC and our NYC group, we can actually get a structure live in a few days. Then we can organize f2f and virtual events around the content.

[Bill Campbell]

One idea I had last summer, which came back to my consciousness after listening to the 21st Century Learning podcast with Demetri and Dave as guests, was to get teachers on Twitter as a way to provide off-hours technical support. At least that's how I thought about initialing selling it to new faculty at our school when they were handed a tablet PC over the summer after being hired. (We are a 1:1 school and all MS and US division teachers have use tablets.) My real motive was to get them using a tool like that where they might just start off asking questions I (or other tech staff at my school) might answer, move toward answering each others questions, then possibly move toward expanding that support network into a PLN that would include people outside of our school. I really didn't have enough experience with Twitter at that point yet to fell comfortable about enough to sell it, but that has changed with time.

Taking that a step further based on what Dave (or maybe it was Alex) said on the podcast, I'd be willing to help with a network like that where we had teachers from multiple schools with multiple tech coaches and support people "manning" the network.

[Alex Ragone]

Yeah, Bill. Dave really hit that nail on the head.

I'm wondering how we create that support network. We could use twitter or a skype chat. ETT works really well with a skype chat. It just depends on what folks want to commit to. Definitely a topic to discuss during the summer seminar. I'm going to have to go back through this thread and peel out the topics that need to be dealt with.

[Alex Ragone]

Folks, Sarah Hanawald is going to be joining us on 21st Century Learning on EdTechTalk at 1:00pm EST on This Thursday 4/2/2009. Check us out there at http://edtechtalk.com/live

[Susan Carter Morgan]

I've just returned from our VAIS tech retreat, and I was amazed at the difference this year in people's attitudes and willingness to embrace online learning and networks. In past years, we have some push-back, but this year people were twittering, ninging, and wikiing all over the place. (I'm a little tired today, so I won't elaborate, but based on this weekend, I'd say people are ready to try this.
I would be happy to set up content online for some aspect of PD for teachers.

[Hadley Ferguson]

Alex,
I would be very interested in participating.

I just finished doing PLP with Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and found that turning myself into a learner again, tackling new and challenging ways of thinking, revolutionized my classroom work. As I became the student, in a safe, learning environment, I left many old ways of thinking behind and was willing to move forward. The idea of creating that kind of learning experience for other faculty, who are willing in many cases but intimidated and/or have no time, seems like a great idea, especially for those who are not going to have the PLP experience.

Thanks for all of your thinking! This and the conversation on a virtual school are fascinating!

[Laurie Bartels]

HI Alex,

How is it possible that this conversation, which has been read and followed by me, has managed to go without my contributing a "Count Me In!" Surely I must have posted that some place!!

So please, count me in :-)

Cheers, Laurie

[Linda Vasu]

Alex,
Such a great idea! I would love to be a part of the discussion the week June 30-July 2 in the city. Currently I am at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich (after 4+ years working with Don Buckley and Karen Blumberg at The School at Columbia). Supporting teachers and students as they discover, build, and develop their own PLNs... and then organizing collaborations of divergent thinkers is the way of the X-team which Deborah Ancona of MIT writes about. I love the mentor-tribe model and the x-team for boundaryless, innovative problem solving.
Please count me in!
Best, Linda

[Alex Ragone]

Linda, Thanks. I should have put a year on this post. It was 2009. It didn't actually happen as my role at Collegiate shifted and I had to attend a conference to support my new position. How do you think we could move this forward?

[Linda Vasu]

Hey...you did put a year on it. I'm a year late! But maybe the time is now. It's still a great idea. Moving this forward may be easier after the TedexNYed conference. (btw Laura Hansen and I go back a long way....)