Extend your PLC (Professional Learning Community) through Educational Technology

According to The Ontario Ministry of Education a PLC can be defined as "a shared vision or running a school in which everyone can make a contribution, and staff are encouraged to collectively undertake activities and reflection in order to constantly improve their students’ performance.
There follows some suggestions as to places to start looking for opportunities to expand your own PLC.

1. www.twitter.com

Searching using hashtags eg #science and #k12 will find a stream of 'tweets' tagged as K12 science related. Signing up for an account will allow you to read related tweets and eventually follow like minded individuals and participate in K12 Science focused discussions.

2. www.edutopia.org/groups

Edutopia has a broad range of discussion groups with something of interest for most including groups for elementary and middle school teachers, Science, Technology, Math and cross curricular interest groups such as project based learning or PBL.

3. www.classroom20.com

Over 66,000 members in 188 counties featuring regular free interactive webcasts focused on transformational use of educational technology.


Ministry of Education.  Education for all: The report of the expert panel on literacy and numeracy instruction for students with special education needs, kindergarten to grade Ontario Education, ISBN 0-7794-8060-0

Creating a Classroom Blog

One of the most beneficial steps for beginning the transformation of a classrooom is the creation and regular use of a classroom blog. It's ideal for showcasing student work and providing extra information about everything from homework to classroom projects. Parents can subscribe to alerts so that they are informed of new posts or updates. Further down the line the blog can also be used to allow moderated discussion controlled by you of course. In the first instance you'll want to keep things simple and couple short passages of text illustrated with an appropriate image. Before going any further it's worth considering some common sense safety points. Let parents know what's happening through an information sheet and ask permission for including their children in class photos. It's usually reasonable to do this so long as full names aren't posted or other sensitive information such as times and meeting places for example for school trips. If there is any concern about the posting of student images then they can be restricted to student work or similarly unsensitive items. Although I like Wordpress I'd recommend Google's Blogger since it allows the posting of videos and a single account allows single sign in access to a whole range of transformative classroom technology tools.

Creating a Google Account

A great starting point for teachers looking to integrate technology into their classrooms is the creation of a Google account. A single username and password will give access to a broad range of tools useful in transforming classrooms into engaging collaborative learning environments. Highlights include but are not restricted to sharing almost any file and type of media, setting up a classroom blog which supports discussion and feedback, creating documents including spreadsheets and presentations which can be shared and edited collaboratively much like a Wiki can. For anything more sophisticated than a blog then Google Sites allows websites to be created which can be organised in a more structured format than is possible with a blog. Google Forms allows for surveys and questionnaires with automatic analysis and presentation of results. Discussion forums are also possible together with creative options such as image creation via Picnik 3D modeling via Sketch up and even programming via Google App inventor for Android. Not to say that everything revolves around Google but a small investment of time and effort opens up a wide range of options which are already familar and easily accessible to the students in your class. Share video clips. To sum up here's a list of top classroom technology tools for which there will soon follow Classroom Technology Clips to get you started

1. Blogger- Create a classroom blog.

2. Docs- Create and share documents and presentations.

3. Youtube-  Share and now edit video clips of demonstrations.

4. Forms - Create surveys and questionnaires.

5. Custom Search - Make a classroom search engine.

6. Sketchup - Make 3D models of objectsandbuildings.

7. App Inventor - Simple programming.

Classroom Technology Clips

Original Image by Torres21

Welcome to Classroom Technology Clips. Classroom Technology Clips is a series of short video clips created to help busy classroom teachers transform their classrooms into vibrant learning communities through best practice use of a wealth of easy to use, readily accessible Web 2.0 teaching and learning tools. Classroom Teaching Clips was created in response to the need for an ongoing, step by step approach to transforming a classroom through modern technologies without the need for large for investments of time and effort on the part of the busy teaching professional. Clips can be accessed via email in boxes or on the go via mobile devices at a time that fits within busy schedules. Whether new to the profession or an experienced practitioner viewers will appreciate the down to earth presentation by a practicing teacher in a conventional school setting. Each clip will describe a self contained activity which will contribute positively to the ultimate goal of  classroom transformed through the use of pedagogically sound applications of readily available Web 2.0 teaching and learning tools. Peter Farran. Peter Farran is a Technology Integration Specialist working at an International Middle School, Apple Destinguished Educator and currently working towards a Masters Degree in Online & Distance Education via the Open University.