TTT#363 - Michigan State Master of Arts in Educational Technology 9.11.13

This episode of TTT, recorded on September 11, 2013, is a conversation with teachers in the Michigan State Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program http://edutech.msu.edu/programs/masters/.

The MSU MAET program is offered in three different formats: a hybrid summer cohort on campus in Michigan, fully online, and overseas (this past summer the program was in Galway, Ireland.) On this episode of TTT, teachers from these different cohorts discuss what they learned this summer and how that's impacting their school year ahead.

Chris Sloan hosts these teachers for an informal conversation about their experiences in Galway, Ireland this summer and their plans for this fall: Marcie Lewis, Blair Winters, Jeffrey Fisher, Annie Kim, Ray Stuckey, and Bob Larocque.

Enjoy this conversation with some dynamic teachers who are wisely incorporating technology into their teaching.

 


Click Read more to see the chat that was happening during this live webcast.


 
 

Chat from September 11, 2013

20:53Chris Sloan: Hello all
20:53unnamedHello!
20:54Peggy George: Hi everyone
20:54Marcie Lewis : Hi Everyone!
20:54Peggy George: Hi Marcie and Chris and Annie :-) Great to be here with you.
20:55Annie Kim: Hello! :)
20:56Peggy George: I'm curious if any of you from Michigan participated in the 4T Virtual Conference with Liz Kolb last spring.
20:56Peggy George: it was hosted by Univ of Michigan
20:56unnamedHello everyone!
20:57Renee Jorae: Hello everyone
20:57Peggy George: video and audio is coming through great! :-)
20:57Lauren Villaluz: Hi Everyone!
20:58Peggy George: hahaha!! we have commercial sponsors? :-)
20:58Peggy George: Hi Lauren and Renee
20:58Peggy George: I love having people in the chat with me! I'm often talking to myself :-)
20:59Peggy George: great tshirt!!!
20:59Peggy George: amazing audio quality for everyone! I think we have some pros on the panel!
21:01Seth Mitchell: Greetings
21:01Annie Kim: excited to chat!
21:02Peggy George: awesome!! can actually see everyone (no one hiding in the dark) :-)
21:02Annie Kim: Wish I had gone to Ireland
21:03Annie Kim: I was part of the cohort program at East Lansing. 2 weeks face to face and 4 weeks distance learning
21:03Peggy George: Ireland would have been a fantastic site!
21:04Marcie Lewis : Ireland was a great location!
21:07Peggy George: I'm really excited to hear about the MAT program! Sounds very innovative!
21:10Annie Kim: I wonder where the next destination might be
21:10Annie Kim: Yeah Grand Rapids!
21:11unnamedwho just spoke?
21:11Ray Stuckey: that was me
21:12Peggy George: :-)
21:12monika: who's in bangalore?
21:12monika: do you know Arzu Mistry?
21:15Peggy George: so exciting to hear that you are getting the opportunity to present PD to teachers in your school!
21:16Seth Mitchell: Teachers reluctant to use digital tools for learning are far more likely to take risks if they see the work of a successful colleague in the room next door.
21:16Peggy George: totally agree with you Seth!
21:18Blair Winters: I use Twitter in my classroom! Art_MSE
21:18Peggy George: that is so great that they have an ongoing PLN of people both before and during your program!
21:18Ray Stuckey: I use twitter a lot too
21:18Peggy George: Are you going to talk about how you use Twitter in your classroom Blair and Ray?
21:18Seth Mitchell: Love that notion of repurposing tools and strategies.
21:19Peggy George: woo hoo!! a twitter convert :-)
21:19Annie Kim: MAET is all about repurposing tools
21:19Lauren Villaluz: I also use Twitter for parent contact!
21:20Annie Kim: Remind101 is great for parent interaction and keeping them in the loop
21:21Blair Winters: @Art_MSE
21:22Annie Kim:http://anniekim23.wordpress.com/ a product of MAET programs
21:22Peggy George: got it :-) thanks
21:23Peggy George: protected tweets so I have to be approved to follow you
21:24Annie Kim: find me on Twitter @MsAnnieKim
21:26Peggy George: following you now Annie :-) Love your portfolio! Can't wait to explore it after the show.
21:27Blair Winters: So frustrating no email access for students
21:27Annie Kim: I know!
21:28Peggy George: how will they learn to use it if they aren't trusted (with supervision) to try it???
21:28Lauren Villaluz: Our students don't have e-mail access either but we are K-8.
21:28Annie Kim: bandwidth is a HUGE issue
21:28Peggy George: you can use Fake Twitter and Fake Facebook to help them learn :-)
21:29Peggy George: http://faketweetbuilder.com/
21:29Lauren Villaluz: I use Fake Tweets with my students all the time for short answers! They dig it.
21:29Blair Winters: Marcie is lucky!
21:29Annie Kim: our elementary does 1:1 so we have more technology at the lower grades than the upper grades
21:29Peggy George: I agree about Glogster! it is a bandwidth hog!
21:30Annie Kim: I think the idea is that we should teach them how to be responsible citizens of technology before giving them those tools, but I am not so sure
21:31Peggy George: I think they can learn by using the tools with supervision.
21:31Marcie Lewis : One of my projects was about developing digitial citizenshop sig1to1dc.wikispaces.com
21:31Annie Kim: I agree, but I think the idea of managing or supervising students is a difficult idea
21:31Blair Winters: Marcie was that your SIG Project?
21:31Peggy George: excellent Marcie!! thanks for your link!
21:31Marcie Lewis : @Blair - yes
21:32Blair Winters: I thought so! It was great!
21:32Blair Winters: IS great
21:32Annie Kim: My SIG project was on flipping classrooms
21:32Peggy George: is that on your portfolio Annie? That's a special interest of mine
21:32Blair Winters: Mine was Parent teacher communication
21:33Peggy George: I created a scoop.it for screencasting and flipping the classroom.http://www.scoop.it/t/screencasting-for-online-learning
21:33Peggy George: thanks!
21:33Blair Winters: I wish I could have done the Makey Makey!
21:33Annie Kim: my ideas on flipping changes and grows constantly
21:33Renee Jorae: To visit my student blogs and comment visit my blog at www.SMARTeKIDS.net
21:33Leigh Wolf : 091LABS
21:34Peggy George: Blair were you using technology and social media to connect to parents?
21:34Annie Kim: that was my first introduction to the idea of flipping
21:34Peggy George: terrific!! do you think you'll flip your classroom when you're on your own?
21:35Annie Kim: I have to be creative as many of our students do not have access to technology
21:35Renee Jorae: Or go directly to my student blogs at www.SMARTeKIDSblogs.net .
21:35Annie Kim: But I am learning that there are other ways to flip and that technology is not absolutely necessary
21:35Seth Mitchell: Agreed, Annie.
21:35Annie Kim: MAET has really taught me how to think outside the box in utilizing technology
21:36Seth Mitchell: The core of flipping is really making sure student learning is at the center, not the assignment.
21:36Annie Kim: my network whether on facebook or twitter really helps form and improve some of my ideas
21:36Annie Kim: absolutely, Seth Mitchell
21:36Blair Winters: Ray you could do a family tree too!
21:37Peggy George: I co-host a weekly webinar for teachers called Classroom 2.0 LIVE and we had a fabulous elementary art teacher on the show awhile back. She is doing incredible things with tech with her students. This is the Livebinder for her show.https://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=837824
21:38Blair Winters: Ray I like the progression of your ideas...from drawing to photoshop
21:38Blair Winters: Good confidence builder
21:38Ray Stuckey: I hope it works out. Its has been really fun so far.
21:44Peggy George: I love Donors Choose! I have supported quite a few of their projects for teachers.
21:45Seth Mitchell: My students snagged a few digital video cameras from DC a few years ago.
21:45Peggy George: so exciting to hear your success with Donors Choose :-)
21:45Peggy George: that's great Seth!
21:46Annie Kim: sorry Fish didn't get your text until now
21:46Seth Mitchell: It was exciting for my students. As Annie said, it is an empowering experience.
21:46Annie Kim: its so powerful for students to know especially for struggling districts
21:46Peggy George: that was a great explanation about what happens to items purchased with Donors Choose grant funds.
21:48Peggy George: did your MAT program make an attempt to make sure you could be in a classroom that had and was using technology?
21:49Peggy George: thanks for the follow back Annie :-)
21:49Annie Kim: I began the program before I got hired and the best answer I can give you is that most of us reframe our thinking to make things happen
21:49Annie Kim: it might take a couple rounds to thinking and discussing things with other MAETers before something comes into fruition
21:50Peggy George: that's great and it's also great that you felt prepared to be able to bring about that kind of change. :-)
21:52Marcie Lewis : That is a video of my class
21:52Marcie Lewis : on a GoogleHangout with an archaeologist
21:52Peggy George: Annie do you follow Ginger Lewman? She does incredible things with PBL and inquiry with HS students and tech. Here are her public Livebinders:http://www.livebinders.com/shelf/search_display_author?terms=Ginger+Lewman
21:53Peggy George: thanks Marcie! what an exciting experience with the archaeologist!
21:54Peggy George: Annie what kind of parent permission did your school require for you to video your kids for the reading conferences? looks awesome!
21:55Peggy George: great decision to try to go more paperless :-)
21:56Annie Kim: it goes with the syllabus and lets parents know that I capture learning in the classroom and use it to help shape what I do as a teacher and that I would love it if they would help better my teaching. I let them know that the footage may be used for educational purposes and may be on my education portfolio
21:56Annie Kim: they can opt out, but most don't and
21:56Peggy George: great!!
21:57Annie Kim: the video link is my end of the year reading conference to show how choice reading creates readers in students who have not been readers for a very long time
21:57Peggy George: do they realize that your portfolio is online and will be shared with many others?
21:57Annie Kim: many of these students couldn't remember the last time they read a book cover to cover
21:57Peggy George: I can't wait to watch the video!!
21:57Annie Kim: i provide the link and recommend that they peruse the website
21:58Annie Kim: before they make a decision with their parents
21:58Peggy George: that's a great strategy
21:58Annie Kim: its like Twitter. They find me on Twitter and then find that I am "boring" cause all I do is talking about "teachery things"
21:58Peggy George: transparency is very reassuring :-)
21:58Peggy George: hahahaha
21:59Annie Kim: my general rule is honesty and transparency and they buy into it. My approach has been to treat them like mini-adults and teach them how to "do life"
21:59Annie Kim: hopefully they can learn to do the same
21:59Peggy George: love that approach!
22:00Peggy George: it's using technology to empower learning not for the sake of using it
22:02Peggy George: woo hoo Annie! That's exactly what to do to build your PLN. Follow peole in all of your online interactions :-)
22:03Peggy George: people...
22:03Peggy George: I'm so inspired by the quality of teaching representated in this panel!! Awesome reflective teachers!
22:04Leigh Wolf : oops
22:04Seth Mitchell: I second that, Peggy!
22:05Annie Kim: The problem with MAET is that we get so excited about all the different technology that our network shares with us that we want to do too much. We just need to learn how to calm down and take care of things one thing at a time.
22:05Blair Winters: Thanks!
22:05Annie Kim: Many MAETers have done amazing things from the conversations and networking and we continue to. It is so inspirational to see what we can do!
22:06Seth Mitchell: "Connecting ourselves to good people." That's the secret to teacher growth, isn't it?
22:06Annie Kim: YES!
22:06Lauren Villaluz: Yes!
22:08Seth Mitchell: Hangouts are great for evening review sessions with students or virtual office hours. Had some great book discussions with groups of students last year (used oovoo for that).
22:10Peggy George: I think you would really enjoy watching the recording of the presentation by this amazing art teacher-Tricia Fuglestad.http://live.classroom20.com/1/category/tricia%20fuglestad/1.html
22:11Peggy George: she talks about how she found funding for her class projects and her students became amazing videographers :-)
22:12Peggy George: hangouts have definitely enhanced our ability to learn and collaborate!
22:12Seth Mitchell: Thanks, everyone!
22:13Peggy George: nice little rant Paul :-) so many times we restrict ourselves unnecessarily :-)
22:14Peggy George: I was in an incredible live webinar with some Finnish educators a couple of weeks ago and they do an incredible international summer science camp and if students are selected to participate all of their expenses are paid
22:14Renee Jorae: Thank you for the opportunity to participate!
22:15Peggy George: thanks everyone for a fantastic conversation! you're all very inspiring!!!
22:17Peggy George: one more great Finnish link:http://www.myscience.fi/index.php?id=443