innovation3

Read Scott’s post here.  Read Karl’s post here. Read the comments on both pages. But, here’s the video…

I have been in a number of forums where the subject of backchanneling for learning in the classroom has been mentioned. I personally use it all the time in exactly the same way Dana Boyd does. It has dramatically increased my learning power. See the excerpt from her blog post below. I also Scott Snyder’s presentation at K12OnlineConference.org 2008. Hope this helps you move beyond confusion.

Backchannel

Backchannel is the practice of using networked computers to maintain a real-time online conversation alongside live spoken remarks. The term was coined in the field of Linguistics to describe listeners’ behaviours during verbal communication, Victor Yngve 1970.
The term “backchannel” generally refers to online conversation about the topic or the speaker. Occasionally backchannel provides audience members a chance to fact-check the presentation.
First growing in popularity at technology conferences, backchannel is increasingly a factor in education where WiFi connections and laptop computers allow students to use ordinary chat like IRC or AIM to actively communicate during class.

Blog Post on Backchanneling

Dana Boyd’s Blog apophenia :: making connections where none previously existed

I want my cyborg life
Excerpt: There’s no doubt that I barely understood what the speaker was talking about. But during the talk, I had looked up six different concepts he had introduced (thank you Wikipedia), scanned two of the speakers’ papers to try to grok what on earth he was talking about, and used Babelfish to translate the Italian conversations taking place on Twitter and FriendFeed in attempt to understand what was being said. Of course, I had also looked up half the people in the room (including the condescending man next to me) and posted a tweet of my own.
But, of course, the attack was not actually about the reality of my internet habits but the perception of them. There’s no doubt that, when given a laptop in a lecture setting, most people surf the web, check email, or play video games. Their attention is lost and they’ve checked out. Of course, there’s an assumption that technology is to blame. The only thing that I really blame said technology for is limiting doodling practice for the potential future artist (and for those of us who still can’t sketch to save our lives). Y’see – I don’t think that people were paying that much attention before. Daydreaming and sketching (aka “taking notes”) are not particularly new practices. Now the daydreamer might just be blogging instead.

K12OnlineConference.org 2008 Presentation

Back-channels in the Classroom

Scott H. Snyder Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Blog: http://thespian70.blogspot.com/
Bio: http://k12online08presenters.wikispaces.com/Scott+Snyder
Bio: Scott, a graduate of Bowling Green State University (Ohio) with a B.S. in Education, has been teaching for 15 years. A member of the English
Department at Cedar Cliff High School, Camp Hill, PA, USA, Scott teaches Theater, American Literature, and AP Language and Composition.
Presentation Description: Backchanneling, traditionally an online discussion running alongside a live presentation, is a way to engage all students in classroom activities, including students who are normally non-participants. Issues and student needs that lead me to the technique, the educational
relevance of the process, backchanneling services (including possibilities and limitations of several), and example activities will all be addressed in this presentation.
Post By Dean Shareski ⋅ on K12OnlineConference.org 2008 October 29, 2008

Chris Betcher on Betchablog writes about the importance of teachers and students having an online footprint. He expresses what I told a teacher yesterday as we sat overlooking the Charles River in Boston. Students are online; they need to learn from us how to act respectively and productively within the Internet world. Anything less is an abdication. The post is definitely worth reading. It will help you answer some important questions.

• Why do I and all educators need to have an online identity? (Chis talks about teachers, but I want to push your reflections to include everyone directly and indirectly responsible for educating students, i.e. educators.)
• What responsibility do we have for our students’ online identity?
• Why do students need to develop an online footprint for “inclusion” in their school portfolios?

Read the post to find out what Chris thinks. Here is a snippet from the post.

We have a unique opportunity to provide our students with a digital footprint that says wonderful things about who they are, what they can do and where their passions lie, but unless we actively teach them how to make it positive it may not be the case.

And if we don’t actively understand and engage with that process ourselves, we will most likely do a pretty ordinary job of helping our students do it right.

24 Hour Challenge

On Thursday and Friday, January 8-9, 2009 I issued a personal Twitter, Plurk & Facebook challenge. I asked my PLN (Personal Learning Network) for help compiling a list of topics they would include in a course for educators on Teaching and Learning Skills for the 21st Century. That list is below.

If you’d like to add to the list, let me know with a comment below or through Twitter, Plurk or Facebook. My ID is dennisar.  I’ll consider additional comments if I need to revise this post in the future.

Topics: Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century
February 3, 2009 Draft

Broad Topics

• 21st Century Skills
• Aggregation
• Authentic Learning and Assessment
• Collaboration
• Compassion
• Creativity
• Communication
• Developing a Network
• Differentiation
• Global Communication
• Inquiry
• Media Literacy
• Personal Learning Network
• Principles of Teaching and Learning – (for example, Silver and Strong, Thoughtful Education)
• Problem-Based Teaching and Learning
• Problem Solving
• Relationships with Students, Parents, Community, and Colleagues
• Shift is away from Fixed Content to Learning on Demand
• Smart Phones
• Student Responsibility for Learning
• Technology
• Visual Literacy

Universal Design for Learning

• UDL4all: http://udl4all.pbwiki.com
• Center for Applied Special Technology: http://www.cast.org/
• A Toolbelt for a Lifetime http://tinyurl.com/5n4nkh
• UDL Technology Toolkit: http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/

Web 2.0 Tools of the Read/Write Web

• Blogs
• Bookmarking: Diigo / del.icio.us
• Content Aggregation
• Digital Storytelling
• Google Tools
• Online Photo Galleries: flickr
• Online Publishing
• Podcasting and Videocasting
• RSS
• Social Networking
• Tagging
• VoiceThread
• Wikis: Wikispaces / PBwiki

Thanks to Kelly Dumont, Alice Barr, Linda Nitsche, Neil Rochelle, Paul Hami, Michele Krill, Charlene Chausis, Sue Tapp, Jennifer Dorman, Alan Beam, Derrall Garrison, Nancy White, Deborah Vrabel, Elizabeth Sky-McIlvain