In this weeks assignment, we had to look curate 25 articles about a topic of our choosing.  For my projects, I decided to focus on makerspaces.  Specifically I decided to provide articles that could be used to make a case for developing a makerspace in a school and considerations to take into account.  To do this I made liberal use of the subtopic features.  

The process of creating my curated topic was timely for me.  I will be transitioning schools and will be responsible for developing two makerspaces.  Having these articles clearly organized with questions, will help me when it comes time to make my case to admin and teachers.

Curating topics requires car and consideration.  Unlike, the act of retweeting, liking, or sharing work using any of the variety of typical social media tools, curation tools, provide the opportunity for the curator to structure the articles in a way that promote deeper thinking, makes logical sense, etc.  After going through this exercise I'm convinced of the importance of curation using curation tools.

For my own evaluation of sites to use for curation, I think some aspects will need tweaking to make it more applicable in the professional realm.  I should add a section specifically for evaluating blogs as they can be a vital source of information.  

In this week's assignment for Social Network Learning, we were tasked with creating a checklist for evaluating quality resources.  I understand the importance of reviewing this topic, especially in a course where we are encouraged to find quality resources to share with our fellow students and the wider world.

While conducting my research, I noticed a general trend of categories including “authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage," (Lydia M. Olsen, 2018).  All of which make sense.  However, an additional category was including which focused on appearance (some resources used engagement). 

I mentioned in my article, that appearance, while important needs to be taken with a grain of salt.  Website  design can vary between different countries and sources should not be immediately written off for not meeting someone's own particular design tastes.  Additionally, currency can vary depending on the topic that you are covering.  For example, I wouldn't quote an article from Jan. 2020 detailing safety measures for COVID as the information is continually changing. 

Overall, it was a good reminder about the basics of source curation.

In this weeks course, I have been asked to find tips that I can use to help manage my digital footprint and online reputation.  The suggestions in the video are either new insights to me or enhancements to what I'm already doing.  

My apologies for the sound in the video.  I'm not that good of an editor but have registered for a Udemy course on DaVinci Resolve (free) to improve my skills. 

Over the past several decades the world has increasingly gone more and more digital.  It seems that in today's world pretty much everything you do has an impact on our digital footprint.  From our computers, to smart phones, smart watches, and more.  It's a lot of information that's held in a digital format and increasingly online.

Now this may come as a shock to no one, that I am fairly comfortable with living my life in the online world.  I tend to keep my online life clean and uncontroversial (no long political rants can be found on my Facebook or any public place).  However, this is a result of the privilege I was born into (white, cisgendered male from Canada).  I'm fully aware that if my level of privilege was different, I would probably feel very differently about living my life online. 

For this blog post, I decided to do some digging into my own personal digital footprint.  Searching my name didn't result in any red flags or unsurprising results.  In fact there were many more famous Brendan Lea's that popped up and I finally popped up on page 2 with an old Pinterest account and finally this site.

Use the @mrbrenlea handle proved to be much more effective.  This is what I use across my public social media accounts and it was easy to find me.  Again not surprising.

However, as I look at through the searches for @mrbrenlea, the one thing that struck me was how little I have actually contributed to the global pool of knowledge.  As an educator at heart who works as a tech coach/integrator, I felt kind of ashamed of myself.  I need to further develop my confidence in my skills and knowledge and trust that those who are interested will like what I share and of course find it.

This week in my Social Network Course, I'm asked to share my thoughts on Twitter and the hashtags that I follow.  I've also decided to include a bit on calling out people and Facebook Groups.

The following is a list of the #s that I currently follow.
Coaching:
#coachbetter, #ISEdcoach, #ETcoaches, #educoaches, #instructionalcoaches

Maker:
#makered, #makerspace, #making, #stem, #legowedo, #steameducation, #fablab

Conferences:
#pblworld, 21clhk

GSuite:
#gafe, #googleCT, #googleclassroom, #edtechteam

Africa and Asia:
#africaed, #earcos, #edutech, #pubpd, #pubpdAsia

IBPYP:
#pypx, #pypchat, #pyp

iPads:
#ipadchat, #edapp

Digital Citizenship:
#digcit

Lesson Ideas:
#bookbento

Over the course of the years that I've been on Twitter, I've managed to learn a lot.  The following are just 3 examples:

PYP Exhibition:
When I was working in Korea, I taught Grade 5 for a year which included the PYP Exhibition.  I decided to follow #pypx.  By following this this particular thread, I was able to find ideas to help me organize and prepare the students for the inquiries.  

PBL:
I'm a huge fan of PBL projects with students. Last year I had the opportunity to attend PBL world and was introduced to #PBLworld thread for the conference.  During the conference, the tread was alive with buzz and it helped provide me with ideas but also with methods to craft PBL units. 

Coaching:
I'm a technology integrator/coach.  For the past several years I've been developing and honing my skills with instructional coaching.  By following #ETcoaches, I've been able to gain better insight into the role and how to structure my coaching conversations with teachers. 

Due to the public nature of Twitter, people are able to call out each other or companies.  I am typically against calling out people on Twitter as I believe that most things are better resolved privately with a chat or phone call.  However, sometimes the need to arise to call out a particular company.

I have only done this twice.  In both of these cases, I had spent money on a resource and did not hear from them.  I first tried private methods of communications but alas did not get any answer.  Only then did I dare to Tweet them publicly to express my dissatisfaction.  By doing this, I was able to get responses and the issues were resolved quickly afterwords.

If you are going to call out a company, make sure that you try contacting them first to resolve the issue and then follow up os no response is given with a public tweet.  It's worked for me.  But make sure you do it respectfully.  

This year is the first full year that my school is using Seesaw as a tool for learning.  As such, I wanted to learn more about the product and was able to become an Ambassador.  The company has several dedicated Facebooks groups that are public for teachers using Seesaw in different areas and a private one for ambassadors.  

This has proven to be some of the best PD I have received this year.  I've learned more about the product, gained ideas from others, and even submitted a few myself.

If you are using an app or site with lots of breadth like Seesaw, I would encourage you to find connections either on Twitter or Facebook.

Frankly, I love Twitter for PD.  It has proven to be a spot where I can get follow conferences (great for things like ISTE where there are so many going around).  I also love that I can wade in and out as I please and follow #s that are relevant to my work and interests.  

That being said, I am shy with my posting.  Mainly because of my own inner saboteur and lack of confidence in my own self.  However, participating in the Seesaw Ambassador group, has proven that people like my ideas.  Which reminds me I need to post an idea to Twitter right now.

In my course this week, I was tasked with creating a graphical representation of Communities of Practice, Personal Learning Networks, and Connectivism.  I will start of by saying that I am not an artist by nature and I tried my best to create an image that captured my learning and will help me recall the ideas.  The image is below is what I came up with and my explanation of the concepts are below.

The image of the man at the bottom is a teacher. A community of practice often involves members "who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly," (Strofberg, A.).  As such they may be in the same role (a grade 2 teaching team) or similar roles across division (a team of divisional technology integrators and coaches).  This aspect of the CoP is represented by the two teachers on the upper left hand side.  While they are all clearly educators, their specific roles may differ as is the case with my CoP.   

A Professional Learning Network (PLN)is broader in it's scope and is less formal.  It may contain people associated with your particular profession or others (Carrion, C.).  For example, you may be a technology integrator/coach, and have students who are interested in learning more about how technology is helping find solutions for the pandemic.  In your PLN, you have a scientist that has just posted an article about this that you decide to share with your students.  This idea is represented by the scientist and the farmer in the middle of the image.

Many educational users of PLN use social media as a way to connect to others (Carrion, C.). Which is represented by YouTube and Twitter icons on the right hand side of the image.

Connectivism is a theory that explores how the internet (again symbolized by the Twitter and YouTube icons on the right) have provided a shift in how we learn.  Within a connectivist environment participants " seek out information on their own online and express what they find," (Connectivism (Siemens, Downes)).

The ideas the come from the CoP, PLN, and Connectivist learning are represented by the lines leading into the thought bubble (notice the colours) of the educator in the centre of the image.  While some of the ideas may be used as it, the person receiving may mix and match two or more of the ideas together to come up with a new way of approaching an issue that they are experiencing.  This is symbolized by the use of the Venn Diagram in the thought bubble.  The colours remain separate in some parts but are blended together in others indicated the merging of multiple ideas to create new ones.

Finally, the last part of the graphic is inspired by the importance of sharing within a PLN (and indeed a CoP) (Chattopadhay, S., 2016).  In the image three of the lines are headed to the share icon.  The represent the educator sharing some of his new learning to either of CoP, PLN, or posting it in a blog for others to discover.

Carrion, C. (n.d.). Professional learning networks in education: Why diversity matters. NEPRIS. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.nepris.com/blog/stories/details/professional-learning-networks-in-education
Chattopadhyay, S. (n.d.). Why build professional learning networks. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/build-personal-learning-networks
Connectivism (Siemens, Downes). (n.d.). Learning-theories. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from https://www.learning-theories.com/connectivism-siemens-downes.html
​Stofberg, A. (n.d.). Community of practice – A tool for reflection on intercultural learning. Spaces for Intercultural Learning. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from http://www.intercultproject.com/community-of-practice

I am currently enrolled in EDTECH 543 Social Network Learning as part of my graduate certificate program in Technology Coaching.  As part of our initial course work we have been asked to set up Twitter, Diigo, and of course a blogging platform and reflect on how we feel about using them.

I have had Twitter, a blog (part of which has been archived), and Diigo (though I haven't used it much) since around 2012 as part of the COETAIL course that I took.  My from that time remain the same. 

Blogging, Tweeting, and Social Bookmarking have changed the ways in which educators learn from each other.  No longer are educators limited to only the PD options from their schools and districts that are often cost prohibitive or aren't focused on the specifics of our roles or professional interests.  Rather, now with a click of a button, I can find great PD ideas on topics we are interested in and for free.  It is really empowering to see ideas for and resources being freely shared.

While I love being able to find resources using Social Networks, my difficulty has always been in the active participation on these platforms.  At times I feel like my ideas are not worthy of sharing or that people wouldn't be interested.  That being said, my attitude is changing.  Since last Spring I have been an active participant on the Seesaw Facebook groups by asking and answering questions as well as providing ideas for increasing student voice.

I work as an Educational Coach/Integrator in the Elementary division of my school.  As many of the social media sites require students to be over the age of 13, which rules out my students.  That being said there are platforms that we can use safely.

Last Spring we introduced Seesaw to our teachers and the majority have all created class blogs where students can add comments to each other's work.  We also used Padlet as a way to showcase the Grade 5 Capstone and students were asked to leave comments on each other's work.  It's small but it is a way to slowly introduce the ideas of social network learning along with digital citizenship.

For the teachers that I worked with, I often make recommendations to join various different groups based on their interests.  I remember one instance where a teacher came to me excited about an idea they had found from one of the groups that I suggested and I couldn't help but grin as they were starting to see the power of using Social Media in this manner.

As far as course expectations go, I suppose my biggest one would be developing strategies to increase my network and participation in Social Media and also tips for helping to manage social media.  There is is much out there, that I need to learn how to best optimize my time so that I don't go down the rabbit hole and lose track of time.

When I began my job at my current school, my supervisors were very keen on the idea of a family maker event.  The brief for the event was that they wanted to provide a day for students and parents to experience making together through a variety of teacher supervised activities.  

The school has now held the day for two years.  All the parents commented on how much they enjoyed the event and asked when the next one would be.  In other words you know this event will be held again.  In this post I will share the structure of the day, ideas for activities, and my personal goals for the next one.

As the event was on a Saturday, and I had never organized this type event before last year, I knew that I needed to a team that was enthusiastic about the event.  To recruit volunteers I asked for time at a staff meeting to introduce the idea and followed up with an email.  

The response that I received was extremely overwhelming and I was so impressed by all the people who volunteered. Some even expressed regret that they couldn't commit the time and one even expressed that they didn't want to volunteer because they wanted to take their child to the event. This once again demonstrated how lucky I am to work at the school.

I also want to make it clear, that the day would not have been the success it was without the teacher volunteers.  I made it a point to ensure that I thanked them (repeatedly) for their time and ideas. 

During the initial planning, I asked teachers to come up with making activities that they would feel comfortable leading.  I made a point to explain to them that making is not all about robots, coding and electronics but includes things like sewing, baking, wood work and on and on. The ideas that were proposed from the teachers were fantastic.  I won't share all of the activities that we had but below are a few:

• Lego WeDo 2.0-A chance for parents and students to build robots and program them using a visual block based coding language.
• Robotic Artists-Using markers, papers and a variety of robots (Pro-Bots, Bee Bots, Blue Bots, and Cubettos) students and parents program a robot to draw a variety of images.
• Free Construct-Students and parents were provided a variety of different materials and built whatever they wanted.

I will be the first to admit, that advertising needs to continue to tweak to ensure that parents are informed.  Information about the event was sent out in a variety of different channels including HRT week email, newsletter from the principal, and school promotional materials.

The advertisement included information about registration which was done using a google form (an edited version of the form can be found here).

To facilitate the registration I used FormMule to send reminders to parents about the day.  To prepare paper copies of the activity lists I used Autocrat to automate the process.  

The event was such an incredible success that I look forward to building on the momentum generated over the past two years to make the event even better for the third year.  

I have several goals to improve the event for next year including better advertisements.  However, a personal goal for the next year is to include elements of the local culture in the day.  Kenya has a beautiful history of making using the tools of their environment that I would love to be able to have some form of making from the local culture represented.  In fact, if you are planning a school maker day, I challenge you to look at your local culture and see what could be offered to honour and respect the history of the community in which you are living.

A few weeks ago I was asked if I had any ideas for a grade 4 unit on geography that need to review the students understanding of the compass rose and introduce the concepts coordinate points, longitude and latitude.  I cam up with the usual activities with Google Earth.  However, I felt that I wanted something easier for the students which is when I thought of a newly acquired resource: Cubetto.

When I went into the classes with this activity, I co-taught along with the homeroom teachers and TA's.  This allowed for great flexibility.  Once the introduction was finished, divided the class into 4 groups and assigned an instructor to work with each one.  

While working with the students, the instructor guided the students through giving directions and helping them with the code.  In the groups the students took turns providing the directions and coding the Cubetto.  While a student was programming the Cubetto, I asked the other students for other options for moving the Cubetto.

This lesson was a bonafide success.  The teachers had a ball with it and the students were all engaged and using the correct terminology.  In fact the teachers kept the kits for a few weeks after the activity so they could use it again with the students.

While the activity was a success, there are a few changes I would like to make for the next time:

• Remind students to document their work using their iPads
• Provide additional questions like 
  • Move Cubetto South 3 squares, turn East, move 4 blocks.  Where are you?  What is the corordinate you are at.