Warming up for Walkmyworld project

Photo by Parvel https://pixabay.com/en/desert-africa-bedouin-footprints-1007157/ Shared under a CCO

This is the opening week for Walk my world project. It is a simple and powerful idea to introduce participants into the use of Twitter, self-reflection on online identity and the chance to interact with folks from different parts of the globe.

Each week there will be short assignments and the goal is to upload the productions in Twitter by using the following hashtag: #WalkMyWorld LE0.
[Note: Learning event and then the corresponding number].

Come and join us in this exciting project!

Part II: #Walkmyworld project

                                              CCO Public Domain-Pixabay

How have I grown as a teacher because of #walkmyworld?

A small group of pre-service teachers participated and finished an iteration of #Walkmyworld that was not running at the time the main project took place early in 2015. Thus, the students interacted with me and among them. This was certainly a limitation in the outcomes. Yet, it offered them a glimpse of what they could do via Twitter.

Working with Twitter was simple and this was one of the main attractions in spite of the resistance that a few pre-service teachers experienced to open Twitter accounts. When I inquired why they resisted Twitter so much it appeared that they viewed it as a gossip social media tool, that is to say, what famous people use to share what they are doing and where they are. They could not see the potential beyond that, let alone the implications that it could have in relation to the construction of digital identity and/or their PLN (Personal Learning Network).

I learned that it is essential to follow the pace of the group so that they can be ready to understand what they were doing. I did give them the option of not posting in Twitter and sending a word doc but they decided to accept the challenge. I also realized that short learning events and a powerful tool such as Twitter can help to promote the integration of technology into a class without a lot of effort but with the need of adequate support.

How have my tech skills grown?
The project pushes me to learn new tools/apps so it is motivating.  I only know how much I need to learn (and want to)! I appreciate the collaborative aspect of the project because the mentors had posted tutorials and showed what they did. That was very exciting!

Should the project use an open or private streaming?

I am very new to the project so my experience here is very limited. I can see the benefits of using Twitter that is open and allows for social interaction and exchange of ideas. It is true that it may prove complicated to express safely what one wants to say but this is also the reality of the world we live in. We cannot build crystal walls to protect our adult students from what they or others say but we can teach them how to behave and express their ideas online. In the case of kids, I think this is different because there is a lot more at risk. I like the way Kate is working with her grade in Australia. 

I also agree with what others have expressed that the beauty of this project is in keeping it simple. 

#Walkmyworld project--Part 1

                                           Christy1/  CCO Public Domain Pixabay


Happy new year to all!

Let me start by writing that I do not blog often. I am gradually learning to understand the multiple implications of sharing my thoughts with a real audience, whether it is a group of colleagues or my own students.

I have to acknowledge that blogging paid off because it forced me to take time off my busy schedule to think ideas through and write about them. One of my blog posts became the basis for an abstract I submitted to a conference that was accepted, so the gains were immediate.

As I resume the activity on my blog this 2016, I would like to describe the outstanding project that a group of educators created to use technology in a friendly manner.

How I became interested in #Walkmyworld (this part is in response to Greg's questions

I was reading one of Ian's blog posts when he described #Walkmyworld project. In one of his recent posts, Ian described the project as “an open research, open learning, and open education project designed to get educators and students thinking critically about digital texts while sharing and connecting online”.  

I decided to give it a try as a participant in early 2015 and then I used it with my pre-service teachers in late September and October 2015.

What did I learn from the experiences both as a participant as a teacher?

As a participant, I could tell the learning events were interesting and I loved the interaction some of my tweets received from the participants. It meant that somebody was reading them.

As I teacher I knew that not all the learning events would resonate with my population (pre-service teachers of English as a foreign language) but decided to play with them. What did I learn? My students were eager to connect with other participants but since we did it on a time that the project was not running with the other groups, the interaction was only among them and me. They were only four and two were very reluctant to use Twitter so I had to mentor them and gradually explained to them what they could get away from the project. The learning events that worked well were the first ones and the last ones. The ones in the middle had a focus on poems and that did not work well with them—again I kind of knew that this could be the case. I realized the importance of debriefing with them as we were doing the learning events because they had assumptions about the project that were incorrect and it was also my opportunity to discuss with them about digital citizenship.

This entry is a response to a series of emails that I have been exchanging with the creators of the project and their encouragement to respond via blog.

Digital Identity: real or fake?

                                             CC BY Andres Rueda
The first time I thought about the concept of digital identity was when I introduced the term digital footprints to my students. This means the digital bits and pieces we generate in our exchanges with others in public forums and posts we leave online. They can help move us forward in our career if we make smart moves or backwards if we choose the web as a way of venting our emotions on more personal levels.This is a great video that educator Johnson prepared a few years ago. While some of the stats may be outdated, the impact is still valid.

I have noticed that the younger generations in particular, but not exclusively, have a quite different idea of the notion of what they share publicly vs. privately as the Flacso educators eloquently analyzed in their link to Radio Program. The educators noticed that the youth do not tend to take this distinction into consideration and believe the world should be an open forum for them to say what they want. While free speech is a right for every human being, there are social protocols, also known as Netiquettes-- to follow in order to show respect for others even when disagreeing with their ideas. And what about their most inner precious struggles? Should Facebook be equated with an open psychoanalytic session (minus the coach) for others to share how to tackle the issue at hand?

What I know about digital footprints and netiquette have shaped what I share online. I understand that I am gradually building an online persona, but the question is, should it be so different from the real one? Professionally speaking, I do not think so. I believe that online platforms provide me with a venue to express ideas that can reach a wider audience than just the students in my class. Will this change? This is a question that I will continue to explore as I become an active participant of the online communities.For the moment, I tried my hand at a a poem (using Genious) in a multimedia format using Zeega. Enjoy it!