EVO Week 5 - Saying Goodbye

Another EVO is over. It was my eight and all I can say is that I still have a lot to learn. I was very lucky this year with the sessions I chose. They were all great. I managed to finish five and I moderated one of them. I learnt new skills - how to make videos, how to help students with pronunciation, how to create lesson plans for a flipped classroom. I took a refresher course in ICT4ELT and I managed to collect all five badges. Above you can see the badge to Week 5. And here's my ICT4ELT certificate:

In Flipped Learning, we said goodbye to the session and migrated to this Ning for more flipping.

The moderators of Teaching Pronunciation Differently shared their YouTube channel with us.

In #ebookevo, we published our final chapters. One of the weekly tasks was to create a cover for our ebook. I used PicMonkey to create mine.

Then I played around with this tool and created a 3D version of my cover.

After trying out multiple tools and platforms for my chapter, two stood out for me. One is FLIPHTML5. I really like the way my ebook looks on their platform:

I know I am being a traditionalist here, but my second favourite is Microsoft Word:

It is downloadable  and editable. It is easy to navigate through the document and it has a clean, simple look. I had originally embedded the videos, which is possible to do in the offline version of Word 2013, but then I replaced them with hyperlinked snapshots, because the videos wouldn't work in Word Online.

If you prefer PDF, you can download it from this link.

I experimented with several other formats and you can see all versions of my ebook in this wiki page. I created the wiki to record my progress through this year's EVO and it contains all my EVO 2015 artifacts.

Once again, moderating #ebookevo was a great experience. I hope to do this again next year. Which is why I am a very proud owner of this certificate of appreciation:

I am grateful to Shelly Terrell and the moderator team. Special thanks go to the EVO Moderator group, especially to Nina Liakos and Elizabeth Anne for supporting us.

And, of course, I am grateful to EVO for being there for us. See you next year, EVO.

Week 2 - On Badges, Enforced Independence and Dream Ebooks

As Week 4 begins in my various MOOCs, I am still still catching up on Week 3, while trying to blog about Week 2. We were busier than usual at work during "week 2". It was the end of the term and we had exams. I was tempted to jump straight to Week 3, but then this story that I am telling in installments would have been missing a chapter. Even though I didn't manage to do much homework that week, interesting things were still happening.

In Rhizomatic Learning, Dave Cormier posted the following question:

Learning rhizomatically is the goal, but how do we get there? The position of teachers is based on whole set of power structures that create a reliance on the teacher for setting objectives, assessing progress and giving direction. How can we take people who've spent their whole lives believing that this is 'learning' and MAKE them independent?

As I have said, I didn't do much work during week 2 week, so I didn't post my answer to this question. However, I spent a lot of time thinking about it. Can you enforce independence? Isn't it a paradox?

I keep meeting the same people over and over again in my various MOOCs. They move across platforms effortlessly and they are constantly participating in new MOOCs and communities of practice. These people somehow manage to navigate multiple platforms and cope with information overload. They have obviously reached the level of independence that is required for online learning. They share resources, post their reflections, notes and mind-maps and often create a course-within-the-course. With Coursera courses you learn most intensively not from the lectures, not in the forums, but in student-created Facebook groups. Some of these students have their own blogs, others Tweet or bookmark. When a MOOC doesn't meet their expectation, they simply walk out. Once the MOOC finishes, they continue to share in their Facebook group.

After 6 years online, I think I can safely say that I am one of them. I don't remember how I reached this level of independence. I am not sure it can be taught. Self-taught perhaps. Can it be enforced? Well, you know the joke involving a lightbulb and a psychiatrist.

The lightbulb has got to really WANT to change.

Still, there are some things that good teachers do that can be applied to a MOOC:

• Good teachers model the behaviour they want to see. Al Filreis recorded his ModPo videos as round table discussions because that was the behaviour he wanted to see in the forums. Denise Comer used a pseudonim to write and submit essays in her writing MOOC, exposing herself to the infamous Coursera peer reviews. She then reflected on the activity and showed us how we could benefit from any kind of review we got.
• Good teachers create an environment in which it is safe for you to experiment and make mistakes. As one students said in Al's webcast when he put her on the spot: " The worst thing I can do is be wrong."
• Good teachers leave you some autonomy. If I want to do my homework in my blog or in a Facebook group, that should be acceptable.
• Good teachers don't spoon-feed you information, they let you find some of it on your own. 
• Good teachers are humble. They will let you teach them what you know and they will give you the credit for that.
• Good teachers plan carefully, so that they give you the best possible course. Despite this, or because of this
• Good teachers are willing to improvise and make on-the-spot changes of curriculum, platforms, or any other element of the course. 
• Good teachers use the platform so that it suits their needs and the needs of their students. Read how Al Filreis used Coursera to create something amazing.

I could go on and on. I have seen a lot of great teachers during these six years online. I have seen quite a few that were not so great, but I learnt as much from them as I did from the first group. The online world changes so quickly. What worked yesterday might not be suitable tomorrow. Which is why I have created the Relearner badge I started this post with.

We learnt about badges in MultiMOOC, thanks to Jim Buckingham who gave this inspiring lecture:

The whole topic of open online badges is new to me. One of the reasons why I am fascinated by them is that they give you credit for studying what you want, even if it is just a single unit in a course. Instead of getting a certificate for the whole MOOC, you can get a badge for the unit you studied. Badges are transferable, so that you can share them in your eportfolio, on your website or on any one of your profiles.

I would like to learn more about badges and this is something I am leaving for after EVO is over. There are a few online courses that teach you how to use badges. I intend to go through one or two of them (there is a great one on P2PU). In the meantime I have joined Credly and created the "Relearner" badge I started this post with. Relearning is one of the topics of my next blog post.

Relearning is something I am practicing in EVO. One important lesson I learnt in Mobile Assisted Language Learning in Week 2 is that what's really mobile in MALL are not the devices, but the learners and the resources. I was one of the first teachers in Serbia who got hooked on CALL, but I am late with mobile learning. I only got my first Android device in November. Since then I have had to relearn a couple of things.

In Ebookevo we worked on the visual design of our ebooks. We got to daydream a little and create our dream ebooks. Here's mine:

Two weeks later, as I am struggling with real ebook tools, I have realised that there is no tool that could create such an ebook at the moment. Still, one can always dream. And I know that one day they will create a perfectly interactive ebook. When that time comes, we will have to relearn the way we read.


Tags: #2014evo, #ebookevo, #evomlit, #evosessions, #kolaracebookevo, #rhizo14, #TEFL, #multimooc, #learning2gether, #mooc

On Metaphors, the Future and the Way We Are Wired (#EDCMOOC, #ETMOOC)

Photo Credit: craig1black via Compfight cc

I am now two weeks late with my weekly reflections. The week I will be writing about here is Week 4 in EVO sessions and in #ETMOOC and Week 2 in #EDCMOOC. I managed to follow the weekly activities in my workshops and be more or less on time, but the weekly blog posts are something completely different. It takes a lot of work to put together everything that went on in all these learning spaces and turn it into something meaningful.

I am glad that this week there'll be digital stories to help me along.

In Neuroscience we learnt about the way we are wired. And, you know what? We are all wired differently. Let me put it like this:

See this story on Storybird


Dr Medina explains schema in a fun way:

Meanwhile, in #ETMOOC it was the first digital storytelling week and I created several 6-words stories on Twitter.

First there was the horror story series:

His last words: "Let's split up."
Last seen running into the woods.
She ran upstairs. Front door creaked.

Then there was this standalone melodrama:

"See you", he said. He lied.

And here is my first ever animated gif:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


For the animated gif I used this simple tutorial provided by #ETMOOC.

It was a fascinating week in #EDCMOOC, as we discussed future-focused visions of technology and education, both the utopian and the dystopian ones. We looked at metaphors as lenses through which these visions are seen. Metaphors are deterministic. This is the point where #EDCMOOC has a lot to do with Multiliteracies. Here Vance Stevens writes about why looking at computers as tools determines the way we use them and why the tool metaphor shouldn't be enough. Here's more on computer metaphors from the #EDCMOOC reading list. And here's a blog post I wrote about computer metaphors when I attended Multiliteracies two years ago. In this post I compared the computer to a geenie from a magic lamp, a magic wand and a communication tool. The second and the third are tools, but what about the geenie? Is the geenie a person? I think I will have to go back to this in my next post where I will look at this week's #EDCMOOC topic - redefining the human.

A Manifesto for Networked Objects with its notion of "blogjects" will amuse you. But just at first. Are the "blogging objects" and the "networked objects" really our future? Or, are they already our present? Are they really "more dangerous than the Terminator"? Or will they save the planet for us? Yesterday, I read in my son's weekly science magazine about a project which aims to save the rainforests by equipping the trees with mobiles. Once somebody tries to cut it down, the tree "calls for help". It is this type of thing Bleecker is looking forward to.

Now for something dystopic. The following film (7:50) was the highlight of my week:

Sight from Sight Systems on Vimeo.

I believe this movie can be used in TEFL to discuss, among other things, the gaming addiction. Not to mention the future and relationships.

Another point where #EDCMOOC crosses paths with Multiliteracies is the idea of edupunk. Here's what I found in the Multiliteracies wiki archives about edupunk:

EduPunk and Learning Management Systems - Conflict or Chance? from Martin Ebner

Am I an edupunk? Two years ago I wasn't sure, now I am. I am sure that I am one, that is. Why else do you think I am addicted to MOOCs? And what do you think I am doing here blogging about my online learning experiences?

If you think you might be one too, you should listen to this (one hour long, but worth it):

And if you are the sort of person who likes to take notes, Audrey Watters has already done it for you here.

Well, that's all folks. Next week, we will be looking at what makes us human.

I would like to finish with a great image I found in the #EDCMOOC Flickr pool which, I believe, says it all.


cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo by Angela Towndrow: http://flickr.com/photos/90243669@N05/8461301620/

Tags: #evomlit, #mmooc13, , #2013evo, #brainelt, #edcmooc, #etmooc

Technorati Tags: #evomlit, #mmooc13, , #2013evo, #brainelt, #edcmooc, #etmooc

  

Tales of the Unexpected: On Networks, Utopias and Memory (#EDCMOOC, #ETMOOC(

Last week was a very interesting week in my workshops and MOOCs. Very interesting and full of unexpected twists and turns.

I have personally provided a new twist for you, dear reader, by joining #ETMOOC.

You might be wondering exactly how many MOOCs I am attending now. Sorry, but I won't tell you. Or, rather, can't. I am not sure. A few. More than two, less than twenty. So, there's still room for more MOOCs.

Let me just say that I now feel like a full-time student.

If you are an ETMOOCer and are here for the first time, here's something about me:




Meanwhile, elsewhere (and in no particular order):

Last week in Neuroscience we studied memory. I found this clip useful:




The way Dr Antonio Damasio describes memory reminds me of an orchestra playing in a concert. First there is a single clarinet. Then, the string instruments join in. After them, more and more instruments join until finally the whole orchestra is participating. It follows that, as teachers, we need to add more and more "instruments" when we are reviewing, so that the students can hear the same "melody" several times in different ways.

In Multiliteracies we did networking, which made me reread this two-year old post of mine on the same topic. Nothing has changed much, except that now I am moving in even wider circles that before. Two years ago my network consisted mostly of EFL teachers, but now there are other educators, poets, poetry lovers, various other people who like to sign up for MOOCs... The ties are looser as I get to know more and more people, but I still believe that real friendships can form between people who have only met online. Don't you?

Meanwhile in Mentoring we read this very intriguing text about what really happens when our learners leave our protected classroom environments and enter the real world of L1 speakers. What roles do they play? And do those roles give them enough opportunity to practice speaking? And if they don't, then how are they ever going to sound anything like a L1 speaker. It is a Catch 22 situation.

Meanwhile in EDC Mooc on Coursera... Honestly, I am beginning to lose myself in these MOOC names. EDC stands for E-learning and digital cultures. Anyway, in EDC MOOC we looked to the past digital cultures. Rather, we looked at ways in which this past is viewed - as a utopia, or as a dystopia. Our homework, among other thing includes creating images that somehow describe the topic.

I am a utopian, but I still created this image as my homework:





 I love EDC. Our instructors are very creative and they have collected for us a most amazing curriculum consisting of YouTube clips, among other things. Here's one clip that could be called utopian, I suppose:




Notice that the red bags are only the medium. What matters are the real people that the red bags have connected.

As this was Week 1 in EDC, the professors provided this amazing Google doc. And in this post Jeremy Knocks, who is one of our professors, asks a very important question - should MOOCs focus on the process or on the content?

This wouldn't be a tale of the unexpected if it didn't come with a twist. You see, one of my MOOCs died a sudden and unexpected death. You can read more about this here.

I am in no position to judge. Let me just say that I did enjoy the course while it lasted. I loved the readings and I had no problem signing up for groups (in fact, I succeeded in doing so twice). I wouldn't even mention this if it hadn't given rise to a most amazing new MOOC - consisting of the "refugees" from the course. There are two Facebook groups (one for EFL teachers only) and the beginning of a course on Canvas. It is early days and I have no idea how this course will turn out. However, there are people in the group who know a lot about instructional design, so we'll see.

If you are still here, congratulations. This was a monster of a post. Next time, however, I promise something completely different. Next time there'll be digital stories...

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