Journal #7: Professional Learning Networking

This assignment provided me with a great opportunity to experience how teaching/practice and professional development/theory can be easily combined and enhanced through joining affiliation groups and following news feeds.

From the “Flipped Learning Community, and especially the group “First Time Flippers,” I learned a lot about the “Dos” and “Don’ts” for making engaging flipping videos and about  free flipped platforms – such as Knowmia - that allow you to make mini-units and embed quizzes and questions with any content, even from YouTube, Vimeo, etc. I joined their conversation asking more details about flipped platforms and I was amazed at how fast I received answers. Unfortunately, I can’t still contribute to their exchange of ideas.

What I also found exciting is that there is a wide variety of web-based tools and mobile apps that make comics creation a simple and easy drag and drop process. Although I have no such experience, I’m sure that using comics in the classroom can be a great way to engage students in learning activities and boost their motivation. Students can use them to unleash their imaginative potential and experiment with a number of various multimodal creative activities. I also liked the Tellagami iPad freemium app that allows you to make a cartoon characterization of yourself and have it speak, something that can bring students closer to you.

Through the Digg Reader, especially EmergingEdTech, I found out how you can share YouTube videos in the safest way so as to avoid distractions and inappropriate content. There are interesting tools and techniques that offer both privacy and safe delivery. Such tools are LMS, SafeShare, TubeChop, etc. Since I have never used YouTube so far, I found such information, together with everything I learned about Twitter two weeks ago, interesting and applicable.

Overall, I think I have started seeing teaching in a new light. I have always thought – and still think – that the teacher has an irreplaceable role in the classroom.  But technology, in all its forms and applications, has an unquestionable value as a motivator and facilitator for both students and teachers. Since technology is highly adaptable, judicious and effective use of it can be the key to making all content teachable and learnable.