#EduGoalsMooc The Goal Minded Teacher: Challenges to Transform Student Learning. ENTIRE COURSE REFLECTIONS

#EduGoalsMooc The Goal Minded Teacher: Challenges to Transform Student Learning.

ENTIRE COURSE REFLECTIONS:

5 weeks ago I started s course which i had known about thanks to the INTEF-Educalab newsletter, which had proved to be an excellent provider of interesting coaching. Due to different professional reasons, I decided that this school year I would devote a significant part of my working (and leisure) time and energy  to learn new things that could improve and update my teaching performance. In September I took a course on ABP / PBL and then several NOOCS on different aspects which show the influence of technology upon education. 
The point is that even when the course began on February, 13th I didn't know for sure what it would be all about: something about having goals in your mind... However, that very rough idea started being shaped little by little both by the week scheme of Objectives-Key Ideas-Challenges & Reflections and the Roadmap which somehow set our destination.

And soon I was immerse in a habit of setting goals to myself and my students, working on challenges and thinking on how I had done. In a bit more than a month I have achieved -among many others- the following goals. These are the

FACTS:

1) I have learnt 

• about the importance of goals in life and in teaching
• how to motivate students turning an ordinary activity into a challenging learning mission.
• how to motivate my students by using digital badges.
• to design, create and issue digital badges.
• about Digital Citizenship, Digital Footprint.
• how aware of their Digital Footprint are both kids and parents.
• Digital Learning Theories.
• about my self awareness on classroom management.
• how to team up with parents to provide kids a safe online environment and
• plan a collaborative project which involves online work and contact.

2) I have posted 15 new entries in my learning journal, some of them of considerable length and depth, reflecting about my learning process. Before February 13th it was minor tool with little use.

3) I have used 8 web tools or apps to create different kind of digital artifacts. I have used 5 of them for the first time but are now definitely included in my PLE. Both my twitter and Facebook profiles have shifted towards a more professional line. My twitter use has increased as the rise in tweets (+73,9%), impressions (+420,7%) and mentions (+280%) clearly show.

PERSONAL VIEWS:

1) Among the more than 10 different assignments we have been given a couple of them stand out in my opinion, due to their relevance and influence in my teaching practice:

• Creating Learning Missions, and 

• Creating a digital, citizenship, and learning resource for parents.

I believe they are and will be really useful for me, my school peers, my students' and their parents.

2) Both Units 2 & 5 have been the most influential in my views upon how to teach, how to make a difference and how to make things new so that motivation is provided for both my students and myself.

3) Some parts of the course have been really challenging. For example, all the theories related with Digital Learning seemed at first a little disconnected from what we had done so far. Then reading them carefully and mindmapping one of them gave me a free, unexpected assessment on how i was doing as a digital teacher. It also set a destination -goal- towards which I should try to move.

The same feeling arose when I surveyed my students about their own and their parents' digital awareness, especially after I discovered how little such awareness was in both groups. I must admit that I became seriously concerned about that. I firmly claimed for action at the end of week 3. Little i knew that I would myself be empowered to provide that assistance during week 4 when we were asked to create a digital, citizenship, and learning resource for parents.

4) Taking part in this course has made me a better learner and a better teacher for several reasons:

• I have been given the necessary self-confidence to take up learning challenges like this, which include plenty of technological performance,
• I have learnt how to motivate my students using Learning Missions, Digital Badges, web tools & apps, Challenges and Goals.
• I have got used to posting my own views about these learning issues and to reading peers' blogs and journals as a profitable way of learning things from others. 
• Sharing and collaborating online are not just learning or teaching tools. They may be for some of us, but they won't definitely be so for our students. They will be required to collaborate online, so teaching them how to do so is not an option anymore.

Like in those old ads for products aimed at losing weight, there is a BEFORE and an AFTER this course. I feel something in me has changed. Something is new in my mind, Perhaps now I have become a GOAL MINDED TEACHER.

Last, but not least I want to thank all my peers in the course for their valuable contributions, views opinions, posts and products. I must acknowledge them an abundant source of learning. And, of course, Shelly & Fabiana for all their attention, care, support, encouraging and inspiring words after every single post on facebook or twitter. This would not have been the same without their personal commitment.

#EduGoalsMooc The Goal Minded Teacher: Challenges to Transform Student Learning. WEEK 5: CHALLENGE & FINAL REFLECTIONS.

#EduGoalsMooc The Goal Minded Teacher: Challenges to Transform Student Learning.

WEEK 5:  CHALLENGE & FINAL REFLECTIONS (of this week).

Week 5 at #EduGoalsMooc has brought along the final step in the path we began on February 13. In my opinion it is not the end of anything but, on the contrary, the beginning of many things which I will detail in another post here.

We have dealt with the issue of how to foster collaborative learning and turn it a common practice for us teachers and among our students since the  world we live in is global and digital tools allow us to connect ourselves and our students worldwide.  So, it seems obvious that we must engage ourselves in this learning process and help our students develop the necessary skills in collaborating and problem solving with peers worldwide. Working in a project online with teachers and students from different locations make you  widen your own and your students' perspective. You can see what other teachers do and your students get to learn about new cultures and traditions. 

First, we have been provided with a good deal of information about how to set up a global collaboration project. For example, this link here gives a nice way to get you started connecting.

Second, we moved to learn about tools to achieve both asynchronous and synchronous communication. Since synchronous communication involves real-time communication participants in a collaborative learning project will probably need tools to help them schedule their planning sessions and meetings and find a time zone friendly date and time to meet. I list some of my favorite:

• Time and Date 

• World Time Buddy 

• Padlet 

• Google Drive and Apps 

• PBWorks 

Then, we were shown the possibilities  that using Skype -a video conferencing tool available on the web, your browser, and as a mobile app, for educational purposes- has and how to get started with it. 

Finally, we focused on Blogging as one way to get students to start and keep communication with peers worldwide. By this means, they can post their thoughts, images, videos, and share their creations, challenges, goals and badges. Students in other countries will be able to  see them and interact with them in a an asynchronous way. Especially interesting,  Quadblogging is a system which connects 4 schools. Each week a class' blogs is featured and the other 3 schools leave comments. This helps keep the conversation going. 

We were then set the challenge of Planning a lesson with a peer. Starting collaboration with another teacher was the goal seeked. Thus, planning an activity for both sets of students to accomplish was the outcome to achieve in the hope that students will be able to complete the activity at a later date. 

When I started thinking about it, I envisaged a collaboration plan with a teacher and students from an English speaking country working on Spanish as a Second / Foreign Language. I tried to find a partner from the MOOC through a comment in facebook and twitter. Unfortunately, nobody answered and I decided to outline it myself. My Buncee presentation follows:

I must say that this is not my first collaboration project: some months ago I took an online INTEF course called ABP: Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos (Secundaria Y Bachillerato) / PBL Project Based Learning (7th-12th Grades) and some peers and I produced a project which involved History, Science and Languages. 

The goal of the project was to challenge students to impersonate a famous historic character and create an infographics using Piktochart. You can check the details of such project (Y tú, ¿Quién eres?) if you manage enough Spanish. (Sorry for not having an English version yet. If you are interested in it, I can try to help you turn it into English.) You may also want to read this post about another collaborative project:

Only one final post for this course is due in this learning journal. In a couple of days, at the most, I hope to have accomplished that task. 

#EduGoalsMooc The Goal Minded Teacher: Challenges to Transform Student Learning. WEEK 4: FINAL REFLECTIONS.

#EduGoalsMooc The Goal Minded Teacher: Challenges to Transform Student Learning.

WEEK 4: FINAL REFLECTIONS.

WEEK 4 In MOOC The Goal Minded Teacher has brought along some steps forward in participants' teaching self view and skills.

Teacher Survival Kit:

On the one hand, we have had to take an insight to the way we manage our classes, including our relation with students and parents, time arrangement and problem solving. We have done it in a very funny way: creating an interactive image showing the materials (I have also included some ideas and feelings, tough) which help us be more flexible and proactive as teachers. It must include a code of conduct, which must be fully understood by all the students, especially the consequences of acting against it, as well as those "hard" or "soft" things that let the learning keep going no matter what happens.

A digital safety, citizenship, and learning resource for parents

We have taken a second challenge which has consisted on creating a website for the parents of my students to make them to understand how to help their children become better digital learners and citizens. The outcome was meant to be visual, user-friendly, and to provide resources aimed at the age group of my students.

We were invited to work with peers in pairs or small groups to complete this activity and during a couple of days I tried to collaborate with a peer who teaches the same age group as I do. Unfortunately a set of technical, professional and familiar problems have made it impossible.

My web site is named "Safer kids on the net" and it includes hints for parents to understand their kids' performance online. It also aims at showing the risks of the use of technology and, of course, at providing solutions in case of incidence. Further information can be read here.

I have done most of it in Spanish, since that is the only language most parents of must students can speak or read. Nevertheless, an English version is under construction to be used for anyone who wants to use it worldwide.

This task is linked with the one we did in WEEK 3 CHALLENGE #2, where we had to survey our students about their behavior online, their knowledge about their digital footprint and especially about their parents' attitude towards their performance online. In WEEK 3 FINAL REFLECTIONS I hinted some action lines which perfectly match the digital safety, citizenship, and learning resource for parents we have produced.

#EduGoalsMooc The Goal Minded Teacher: Challenges to Transform Student Learning WEEK 4 CHALLENGE #2. Design a digital safety, citizenship, and learning resource for parents.

#EduGoalsMooc The Goal Minded Teacher: Challenges to Transform Student Learning 

WEEK 4 CHALLENGE #2. Design a digital safety, citizenship, and learning resource for parents.

After taking out and showing all the stuff we usually carry in our backpack, we have become aware that we are in control of what happens in our classes. In fact we have always been but this getting nude exercise is a sort of empowering and recognition to ourselves. As a next step in this learning path  we have been asked to create a resource, website, or presentation for the parents of my students to let them understand how to help their children become better digital learners and citizens.

This task links up with the one we did as WEEK 3 CHALLENGE #2: Survey students about their digital footprints, which was aimed at gaining  a deeper understanding of our students’ digital activities. By doing so I was able to gain an understanding of what was my students' awareness of their digital footprint and what their parents would (or wouldn't) do to care about their kids' behavior online.

In addition, in WEEK 3 FINAL REFLECTIONS I exposed some of the conclusions that could be drawn after considering my students' answers to the survey:

1. they start using the net and the social networks at an early age: 10 years old;
2. Most parents are apparently concerned with what their sons do online, although they do nothing to check effectively their deeds.
3. A high percentage of them post pics and videos of themselves on social networks, regardless of the future consequences it may have.
4. Kids are absolutely unaware of what their digital footprint is and how it could affect them in the future.

Then I stated that  some kind of action should be taken about this and made clear the different levels of digital abilities that the three parts in the problem possess. It was necessary for parents and teachers to undergo a training process to get the necessary qualification to be able to cope with this issue effectively.  

And so, here I come with this very simple website where I collect information taken from INCIBE (Instituto Nacional de Ciberseguridad) and OSI (Oficina de Seguridad del Internauta). However, prior to being assessed by peers,I would like to make clear couple of facts about my choices:

1. It was my intention to work with a colleague and had in a collaborative product. Unfortunately some technical, professional and familiar problems have made ir impossible. I must apologize for the delay I may have caused her unwillingly.
2. I have decided to write it in Spanish so that I can use it immediately with my students' parents. Yet a translating gadget has been added to enable getting an English translation while the full English version is finished.

I hope you like and enjoy My digital safety, citizenship and learning resource for parents. Needless to say, It would be great if it were useful.