Plug a cord into a wall. Turn on the wi-fi on your phone. Open an app. Watch a webinar. Snap two devices together. Are you connected? To what?
Throughout October 楼凤天堂 members have helped us to navigate through hundreds of online professional learning opportunities, many that we鈥檝e hosted, as part of . On the whole we hear that online learning of this sort is incredibly helpful鈥攐pening doors to possibilities never imagined.
Check out this partial list of resources pulled from a session called
- creates collaborative boards for brainstorming and organization
- : create collaborative study groups
- : Web-based tool for diagramming
- : online storyboarding tool to create books
- : website-creation tool
The session she attended was full of resources and discussion of how online tools have changed collaboration in the classroom, but it left her wondering something we鈥檙e all beginning to ponder as educators: 鈥淎re some of these simply fancy time sucks or really useful collaboration tools?鈥�
After attending an about being a connected educator, also wondered about the relationship between digital learning and solid teaching.
鈥淲hat I keep coming back to when reading these tweets and looking at Silvia Rosenthal is what connected means to Tolisano, her audience, and even to the whole concept of Connected Educators Month. I actually feel the definition Tolisano was forwarding was a bit too narrow. When she said 鈥榗onnected鈥� she meant 鈥榙igitally connected.鈥�
But I don鈥檛 think our students need a digitally connected teacher. What our students need is a teacher connected to the current (global/local) conversations animating the discipline. If this connection happens digitally鈥攇reat! If this connection happens with the teacher attending conferences, reading the pertinent journals, and keeping up with important developments in the field without ever getting onto Twitter or a similar digital platform鈥攖hat is great, too.鈥�
Special thanks to 楼凤天堂 members Marisa Crabtree and Michael Rifenburg for collecting the ideas above for Connected Educator Month and our .