My area of interest is the integration of technology in the classroom.  This means that I was looking for examples of ideas for teachers to implement social media and collaborative tools in the classroom. The use of social media in the classroom helps support the ISTE Technology standards which are used by my school.

As I work in elementary, my students are not permitted to create accounts on their own due to company policies, GDPR, COPPA, and a host of other regulations that have been developed to keep students safe.

That being said using social media and collaborative tools in the elementary school, is not impossible but does require extra consideration.  For example, with Padlet students are not able to create their own accounts but teachers can create walls for students to use provided they follow a set of guidelines developed by the school to ensure their safety.

Additionally, finding a full outline of a project proved to be difficult.  Most sites provide ideas for using social media without necessarily providing a whole unit overview.  This is understandable, especially in the private schools where such details may be considered property of the school.  While I don't necessarily agree with this stance, it is understandable.

The examples I found can be seen on Scoop.it (please use the filter to see the articles on social media).

The common thread that I found in most is that social media in the elementary classroom is used to open the world to the classroom and the classroom to the world.  This is typically done through Twitter, Instragram, Skype etc.  

The most interesting resource I found was the Mad about Mattering project.  While this project is aimed for older students, it does provide a blueprint for teachers to develop their own globally collaborative project.  It will probably be referenced as I work on the final project for this course.

This week for my course, I had to join at least 4 new PLN groups focused related to my professional interest.  My main focus professionally is technology in Education and I was easily able to find 4 groups to join and begin participating in.

The groups that I joined were all on Facebook and varied in terms of content and quality.  Each group is a little bit different in terms of frequency of posts, interaction, size, etc.  Part of this is due to the wild west nature of groups.  Anyone can create them (which is great), but this also leads to a tendency for groups focusing on the same goal to be created.  I noticed a lot of cross over in terms of the type of content and even focus across these groups.  Perhaps one day someone will come up with an easier way to organize these groups.

I noticed that I tend to prefer to respond to people, rather than put myself out there.  Especially if I know of a solution.  This typical of my personality as it allows me to contribute and interact with others while not revealing any challenges or criticism of my ideas.  I know I said that before but it does take time to get over insecurities.  

Anyway, pictures of the groups I joined and the interactions that I made are in the slideshow below.

Another part of the assignment this week was to create a visual representation of our PLE or Personal Learning Environment.  I specifically tried to focus on the tools that I regularly use to learn from other educators and to work with others.

I noticed a lot of overlap with the use of tools (hence some of the clutter in the middle.  I also tried to represent my frequency of use with platforms (the larger the icon, the more interaction I have with it on a weekly basis.

It is no surprise to me the GSuite take up such a large portion of my own PLE diagram.  I use it heavily each and every day for work (currently at a Google School).  I wondering if this will change in the coming years as I move to a Microsoft Teams school.

I was surprised that  Facebook came in second.  However, during shutdowns it become a wonderful source of ideas.  On top of that the Seesaw community groups are simply top notch.

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