Technology Enabled Collaboration to Build a Better World

Editor's Notes

• #2: It is an honour to be invited to speak at the iEARN 20th Annual conference here in Doha. In addition I am delighted that the theme of ICT for Education: Reaching out, building bridges… will allow me to share my experiences and ideas with you as to how technology can enable collaboration across the globe and make it possible for people to build a better world together.
• #3: Schools want to go global, teachers want to connect their classrooms with the world, but what are the challenges, strategies and skills needed to support collaboration using technology? The future is now, the vision needs to be articulated now, global learning should be planned across the curriculum now so that students and teachers across the world can be joined in many ways for multiple collaborative purposes.My premise iswhy use technology if it does not change the learning paradigm and support new approaches topedagogy, and how do we balance the need for content with the role of process in learning? In addition, how can we build a better world through the use of technology?
• #4: Let me briefly share my global journey from the past 16 years.Originally from Melbourne, Australia my husband and I left to teach in Zambia, Kuwait, Bangladesh, Qatar and China. We are now based back in Australia in northern NSW.
• #5: As an international educator I spent 5 years in the Middle East. Kuwait - a country with juxtaposition of culture, and some vulnerability as we were thereduring the second Gulf war build up, and returned after the war to finish our contracts.
• #7: This story cannot continue without me sharing my experiences with technology and how my fascination and addiction to tools that supported collaboration developed.I started my education career as a music teacher in the 1980's. In 1984, the Yamaha CX5M computer - with 64KB RAM and a tape recorder interface - was used by students to compose and save their compositions. It did enable collaboration and creativity.
• #8: By the late 1980's MIDI had emerged and my new school purchased an Atari computer. With software such as Notator and Band in a Box we sequenced original compositions and arranged standards. The immediacy of hearing the compositions playback, the ability to edit and refine and to share were superior to former tape-based older solutions.
• #9: In 1985 I purchased a Yamaha DX7 - an FM Digital Synthesiser - which I used in performance as a practicing musician as well as in recordings. It is a sobering discovery to find these now listed as 'vintage' synthesizers.
• #10: It was not until 1993 that my husband and I bought our first computer for home, a Macintosh LC II - 4 MB RAM, 40 MB HD - can you imagine that?
• #11: In 1994 my first laptop - an Apple Powerbook - I felt so powerful and connected!
• #12: Then in 1997, just as we were leaving Australia I managed to get a second hand, half price Apple Powerbook 3400 - wow! Needless to say the rest is history - many years in schools with non-Apple products saw me purchasing HP, Acer, Toshiba laptops etc. Now of course my home office has 2 x MacBooks, 2 x iPads, 1 x iPhone and 1 x iMac……but it is NOT about the technology, however it is about ageneration of spending moneyon technology that became outdated and obsolete very quickly. Although it feels like the trend has started to slow (or maybe not?) we always need to consider how to support different technologies, while working towards being connected.
• #14: In the mid 1990’s I retrained at the University of Melbourne in Computer Education and explored new tools and pedagogy for connected and online learning.It was during this time that I attended the iEARN conference in Melbourne in 1995. This event was instrumental in inspiring me to connect with the world and to find meaningful activities that could make a difference to my students. The iEARN conference showed me it was not all about the technology, it was about the human connections and learning from and with each other. I had not foundsuch a strong message in other ICT events and interactions. I was hooked for sure.
• #15: I also connected with Global SchoolNet, and my after school activity students in Melbourne who taught themselves how to code using HTML, received an Honourable mention for their website work in Cyberfair 1996 - announced by Al Gore at a 5am (Australia time) session where my school community gathered in our library excited to hear the result of our short-listed entry!
• #16: Epals was also significant in the early days as a way to find other like-minded educators for global interactions. I still recommend all of these organisations as ways to find like-minded educators and ideas for embedding global collaboration into the curriculum.
• #17: How do we define the global collaborative classroom? What skills and habits of learning are needed to successfully reach out to the world? What are needed to learn with and from the world?From my experience successful global collaborative classrooms are connected, engage with multiple audiences, use diverse resources and tools and purposefully create authentic, collaborative learning outcomes.
• #18: In terms of recognition of learning standards - The Partnership for 21st century learning skills cite Communication as well as Collaboration as essential.
• #19: The International Society for Technology in Education technology standards for students also include communication and collaboration
• #20: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance……
• #21: Students Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
• #22: ISTE NETS for teachers under the standard for ‘Model digital age work and learning’ includes: Collaborate with students, peers, parents and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
• #23: In the past 20 years global collaboration using technology has evolved from the 1.0 version of information exchange, to the 2.0 version where artifact exchange as well as information exchange takes place. With the development of faster Internet and better technology tools, Global Collaboration 3.0 allows us to co-create information and artifacts, and build knowledge together to share with the world. All three versions are currently practiced and valid in todays world.
• #24: Already at this conference I have heard conversations and speakers talking about why more teachers are not not embedding global collaboration into their curriculum. Lack of technology access is usually not the reason. Teachers must have realistic expectations of what global collaboration is – and in fact it is hard work. It is easier to have the occasional Skype call and bring the ‘wow’ factor into the classroom. But going what we call ‘beyond the wow’ is where planning and curriculum design is required. Both learners and leaders need to be engaged with authentic topics and uncomplicated accessible technology tools. Yes, it does take a shift in traditional pedagogies to not only integrate technology into learning but to expand the classroom walls to embrace the world.
• #25: Global competition for jobs means that today’s students must not only be well-educated, creative problem solvers but they must also be equipped to collaborate globally and be culturally aware.
• #26: In the words of Tom Friedman author of The World is Flat, “"The more you have a culture that naturally glocalizes - that is, the more your own culture easily absorbs foreign ideas and best practices and melds those with its own traditions - the greater advantage you will have in a flat world.”
• #30: Let me share a little about the Flat Classroom Project, a global collaborative project designed for Upper middle and high school students. It is a concept mashup of two main literary influences, The word is flat by Tom Friedman and A Whole new mind by Dan Pink.
• #31: Anorganisational factor for this project is the way we cross-grid the ‘flatteners’ with the Pink concepts. On the left are the 11 technology flatteners e.g. virtual communication, Web 2.0, and across the top are the six concepts e.g. Innovation & Invention and First person narrative (empathy). Students are put into cross-school teams, so for example a student in team 7C will work with others not in their own classroom, on researching the impact of Google and co-create a wiki with multimedia material. They will also explore the concept of Social Entrepreneurship with a view to framing their personal video on this theme.
• #32: As well as a co-authored researched wiki page, students are required to produce a multimedia response to their learning. Part of this video must be outsourced to another student through pitching an idea and inviting uptake for completion. Once again this is done across the world, not in the same class.
• #33: The first Flat Classroom Project pioneered the use of Web 2.0 to flatten the classroom walls and provide a blended learning environment for about 35 students and 2 teachers. We were like one classroom and interacted and collaborated together. Remember this was 2006, before fiber optic cable arrived in Bangladesh, and when Web 2.0 was still very new. Some days it took us 15 minutes to upload a 5MB video – but this did not deter us!This video was created by our students Casey and Cannelle (the two C’s we used to call them), not as their final personal projects but as an introduction to their co-created wiki. This is something they did through their own engagement with the process and the project.
• #35: A little more about the global project process that has evolved since 2006. The project itself now takes about 12 weeks to complete and runs twice a year. Typical of other Flat Classroom projects (this is a screen shot of our K-2 Building Bridges to Tomorrow teacher kick-off meeting) it begins with developing an online learning community of teachers. As well as an asynchronous environment for teachers to connect, regular real-time meetings are held throughout the project. These are in different time zones each week and recorded. Most teachers attend most meetings each project as it is a way to share challenges and issues and to keep updated via the project manager of what they should be working on according to the project timeline.
• #36: Students come into the project first via joining the online community, currently we use a Ning, and introducing themselves using whatever tool they wish, via a blog post. This handshake is then followed by team formation (re the team grid as organised by teachers) and then moving to the collaborative research tool, a wiki. We still prefer to have TWO tools as one tool alone does not satisfactorily build a community through blogging, forums, and posting of media, such as the Ning or Edmodo, as well as being a collaborative authoring environment, such as a wiki or a Google doc.
• #37: All students and teachers are expected to conduct themselves in a professional and culturally sensitive manner. This includes the types of avatars they choose, the styles of language they use, and the quality of material they upload. The Flat Classroom Project is a launching pad into this professional learning mode. Here is an example of students solving communication problems themselves via the Ning community.
• #38: Members of the online learning community must find out very quickly what their responsibilities are. This cartoon shares the scenario where a student (or teacher) is not visible online because they have not contributed or responded – both of these actions are needed from all participants in a global project. Yes, a weakness of online learning is passive resistance – not being visible or not working in the team – but teachers need to consider their own connectivity and approach to this via assessment methods as well as promoting involvement and being involved themselves. Online visibility must be a priority for any global project.
• #39: Final student multimedia for the Flat Classroom Project is submitted for judging by external volunteers who use the Video artifact rubric. Teachers are at liberty to assess process and progress in the project as they need in their own school, and we offer a rubric for engagement, reflection and evaluation as a tool to be used. Common tasks for all students are a feature of Flat Classroom Projects, however common assessments, apart from the video submitted for a potential award in this project, are not done. Each teacher can integrate the project into what they normally need for their school requirements, which is why the Flat Classroom Project is embedded across subjects such as Technology, Global Studies, Social Studies, Health Science and other interdisciplinary units of work. This builds in flexibility for educators to be able to mold and use the essential project for their own curriculum.
• #42: In the words of Edgar, at the Flat Classroom Conference 2009. “Learning is not necessarily about learning one plus one, it is about different cultures and learning about the world as a whole. I think it’s really important and it helps to make the world more of a global village”.
• #44: After an international crowdsourced vote at the Flat Classroom Conference the ‘winning’ team was the video created by these four students. Prior to coming together in Qatar they had not met or communicated before. In three days they worked together on identifying a global issue and searching for a solution. They then worked with a film expert on being able to communicate their idea via multimedia. They were challenged to make a difference by sharing the problem as well as a potential solution.
• #45: Hence ‘Eracism’ was born. After the conference we took this idea and created a new global project with the same name, Eracism, which is a global asynchronous debate using the tool Voicethread as a platform. Judges were selected and trained from across the world. Some of the finalist classrooms from last semester are Slovakia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and USA. Finals were held synchronously in the virtual classroom Blackboard Collaborate – and you can appreciate the higher order communication and negotiation that took place between teachers to ensure students could be in the same place at the same time to debate live – for example we had Slovakia debating Hong Kong, and USA debating Japan.
• #46: The topic for debate last semester was "The use of Facebook by students around the world to communicate with one another does more harm than good."
• #48: More recently Flat Classroom Conference 2013 was held in Japan, with the theme of ‘How do we help each other’ where mixed school teams devised solutions to help communities facing natural disasters.
• #49: Let me back up a bit here and explain further what Flat Classroom is all about. Not only is it a set of global collaborative projects for all levels of K-12, it is an opportunity to attend a live event – workshops as well as conferences, it is a teacher certification – with Flat Classroom Certified Teachers impacting global curriculum design and management across the world and it is also a pedagogy, and let’s focus on that area more now.
• #50: Flat Classroom pedagogy is based on the freedom and accessibility of Web 2.0 tools, including wikis. It involves ‘flat’ learning, meaning the usual hierarchy in the classroom is not evident. Learning takes place student to student, student to teacher and teacher to teacher across the world like being in one large classroom.
• #51: Flat learning is about bringing the world into the classroom and opening the classroom to the world. This includes project partners as well as expert advisors, sounding board classrooms, judges etc.
• #52: Flat learning is about discovery and engagement with others who are not in your physical space
• #53: Flat learning is a pedagogy supported by technology such as the use of mobile technologies and blended learning.
• #54: Flat learning goes beyond just connecting…..it can change the world as we know it – both local and global.
• #55: In our book, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds, we share the 7 Steps to Flatten Your Classroom pedagogy. Let me briefly share some of this now.
• #56: Step 1 is Connection. You must connect yourself, connect your school, and connect your students!
• #57: Being connected to a Personal Learning Network or Professional Learning Community is a 21C skill for all learners. This is not about social media as such, but about using networking tools in responsible and thoughtful ways to support learning objectives. This is about using the technology to make sustained and meaningful connections. This is about professional use of social media for teachers and students.
• #58: Connection is about using ‘Pull’ technologies to bring the information and updates to you – syndication and aggregation as a form of organisation.
• #59: The Global Connection Taxonomy we developed shows a hierarchy of five levels of possible connection scenarios.
• #60: Level 1: Intra-connection – this is connecting within your own class. When your students leave at the end of the day how do you connect with them beyond the classroom? Is it via a class blog? A school LMS? An online learning portal or discussion forum? A Facebook group?
• #61: Level 2: Inter-connection – is about connecting classes within your school (often the most challenging) or between schools in the local area. As an example, I connected my senior IT class to another class studying the same Diploma project subject – our schools were only a 30 min drive apart but we communicated and collaborated online across a 2-year period. In that time we organised visiting sessions 2-3 times.
• #62: Level 3: Teacher-teacher managed global connection – is about teacher initiated and controlled and applied experiences. This applies at the elementary level where students may not directly connect with others, as well as for older students.
• #63: Level 4: student to student with teacher management – is similar to the Flat Classroom Project I explained earlier. Students become active learners in a virtual environment, managed by teachers across the project.
• #64: Level 5: student to student with student management - is ultimately the goal for most age levels. Our NetGenEd project and now our redesigned Flat Classroom Project includes this. In fact we are also now wanting to put more student input into project design of learning outcomes.
• #65: Step 2: Communication. In the 21C it is important to develop communication skills and be able to relate across timezones and cultures
• #66: Two types of communication methods are needed to sustain a global project: Synchronous and Asynchronous. The traditional classroom is separated by location and separated by time. The Flat Classroom is unified by the Internet and unified by asynchronous communication tools.
• #67: Step 3: Citizenship. Although technology is used in communication, digital citizenship is still squarely about relating to people.
• #68: This definition by authors of Digital Citizenship in Schools, Ribble and Bailey, continues to resonate here: “…the norms of behaviour with regard to technology use”
• #69: Are your teachers and students globally competent and globally confident? We must be providing opportunities to learn with and from others around the world in order to foster deeper understanding.
• #70: Our Enlightened digital citizenship model encourages all learners to avoid the fear factor by knowing how to connect and collaborate online.Expect and foster responsible and reliable and in fact professional collaborations during a global project – and as part of a flattened classroom. Note the Areas of Awareness that ask learners to consider not only technical, individual and social impacts of the use of technology but cultural and global as well.
• #71: Step 4: Contribution and CollaborationWithout contribution collaboration cannot take place
• #72: Students and teachers must develop technopersonal skills that give them confidence in collaborating synchronously, as these students are doing. The student on the left is working in a team during a Flat Classroom Workshop in Mumbai, India while one of her team members is connecting via Skype from Japan in real time.
• #73: Asynchronous collaborations via a wiki show two teachers communicating as they create an information page about Tablet Computing in their classrooms.
• #74: This screenshot from a wiki history shows true co-creation in a text-based environment. The red is where the second student deleted text and the green shows what was added instead. This raises the question – where do we learn how to do this? Most of us are very precious about our own content and ownership of ideas. The exam-based system we usually learn under has made us this way. So my questions to you related to technology-scaffolded collaboration are:How do teachers learn to collaborate?How do students learn to collaborate?What are the best tools?How do YOU teach collaboration and co-creation?
• #75: So, the final steps to flatten your classroom are Choice, Creation and Celebration which we can explore at a later time. Thinking about this further ‘Community’ may need to be added or at least emphasised more during each step. It is essential that technology be used to build a strong learning community for global collaboration.
• #76: In summary of some previous ideas - Collaborative community learning (or what we call ‘flat’ learning) is holistic and global. It includes project and challenge based learning models, blended learning and flipped classroom practices. It relies on interconnected modes of working and a culture of sharing. It is contingent on four key areas: The use of Web 2.0 tools and practicesEvolving pedagogy to include flat classroom idealsGlobal project design and management strategies for successLeadership for connected learning – a whole other keynote for the future!
• #77: What has been the real impact of technology? For example, mobile, ubiquitous, and networkingtechnologies allow this Grade 4 student in Nepal to present his learning to the world as part of the celebration of the global project called A Week in the Life. We saw the other night at the Adobe Youth Voices video festival the impact of real time communication across the globe – it’s immediacy in connecting hearts and lives. Technology provides immediacy and fosters exciting interactions and of course collaborations. Learning with the world is possible and has viable options for curriculum immersion.
• #78: So how do we sustain the experiences and continue to build a better world using technology? It must include curriculum redesign, a change in approach to assessment, peer review and collaboration, and a change in mindset that makes it not ok to work in isolation.We are at a pivotal point in the history of the world with so many issues to find solutions for - health, environment, social, economic. We now have the technology to join the world, and we must use this wisely, and teach the emerging generation about the powerful tools available, and therefore the responsibility they have to use these to make a difference.We must build strong projects and collaborations that go beyond the trivial and we must start students on their global journey at a young age.
• #79: What obstacles must we overcome? One obstacle is the Digital Divide. One solution is leap frogging over what many of us have been through in schools in the past 15 years and finding ways to get smart phones into more hands - we are beyond sending old computers to third world nations - we must move to mobile technologies - learn how to harness the power of this ubiquitous technology.
• #80: Technology is only powerful if it is accessible. The digital divide stops many in the world from accessing this power. In June 2012 about 34% of the worlds population had access to the Internet.
• #81: At the same time regions of the world vary in the access available with Asia increasingly becoming more connected, and Africa and Latin America, although improving in the past 5 years, still not being fully represented according to their overall populations.
• #82: We must also stop blocking educational websites! Across the world websites are being blocked for many reasons – which means that educational websites are not being put in the hands of the learners. This must evolve into a better learning situation for all – it is the new digital divide!
• #83: A word about emerging technologies. The recent Horizon Report for K-12 education showed we should expect cloud computing and mobile learning to be prevalent within the next year. Within 2-3 years learning analytics and open content, and within 4-5 years 3D printing and Virtual & remote laboratories. How are we using this information to inform our school planning and budgets? How are we using it to inform our curriculum and learning designs?Key trends include:Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning, and collaborative models. Social media is changing the way people interact, present ideas and information, and communicate. Significant challenges include:1)Ongoing professional development needs to be valued and integrated into the culture of the schools. 2)New models of education are bringing unprecedented competition to traditional models of schooling.3) The demand for personalized learning is not adequately supported by current technology or practices.
• #84: In the book by Don Tapscott, Grown Up Digital, he discusses the 8 Net Gen Norms. These 'norms' are the differences Don has found, through discussions with 300 + young people and also found through the global nGenera survey of 6,000 Net Geners. These "norms" are, ".....distinctive attitudinal and behavioural characteristics that differentiate this generation from their baby-boom parents and other generations”
• #85: The 8 norms are:1) Freedom, 2) Customization 3) Scrutiny 4) Integrity 5) Collaboration 6) Entertainment 7) Speed and 8) InnovationI encourage you to read more about this and think about how to apply this knowledge to future global collaborations in order to build real learning situations that are exciting and engaging for our students today.
• #90: You have the power to change the world – one classroom at a time…..one collaboration at a time, and as we say ‘When you go flat, you never go back’. I welcome you to explore Flat Classroom further through our portal website.
• #91: In addition, I invite you to consider attending the next Flat Classroom Conference to be held in Sydney June 2014. More details on the flatclassroomconference.com website
• #92: Announcing also the very first Global Social Entrepreneurship Summit for students and teachers, Mumbai India 2014. This event is based on the Flat Classroom live events model.
• #93: I do hope my enthusiasm for technology enabled collaboration has inspired you. How many of you now feel like this student from our Flat Classroom Conference in Japan this year!
• #94: When not traveling the world you can find me living 400 steps from one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia, in the world in fact.