Welcome back!

Why am I posting on my blog after more than a two year break?

This is a two part answer:

1. I am taking an OISE summer Additional Qualifications Course: Special Education Specialist and the project for the online workshop I am developing is called Differentiated Assessment & Learning Via Blogging. Hence, I better start Posting again!
2. My domain name expired and I never made the time to re-register and update my website. Busy with other stuff? Sure! Still teaching, still coaching, still a family man, sill learning, still volunteering, and trying to stay fit! Just not blogging, except micro-blogging on Twitter (@cgill2010).

Back to my summer PD and preparing for my Workshop Monday. Here is the Differentiated Assessment & Learning Via Blogging Workshop Flyer. 

Perhaps you can see it live at a conference some day such as the ASET 2018 Spring Conference , where am am 0/2 two in my recent workshop submissions. Keep trying!

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Using Twitter to enhance student learning is full of pitfalls, excitement, and learning opportunities.  

My first major school project where students used Twitter was with my Grade 12 Management class to organize and promote a Leadership and Technology Conference. The project was an experiential learning project to learn the art, science, and practice of management. Many of the ideas on how to use Twitter for the conference were learned in collaboration with fellow business teacher, @LadyFitzee.  

To begin, the class had to create a conference Twitter account (@stltconference) and a conference hashtag (#pcstlt). Students were then encouraged (explicit criteria on instructional rubric) to tweet promotional and educational information prior to and at the conference.  During the conference, we had a separate computer and screen display the Twitter conversation using  Tweetdeck. In conclusion, the Conference "story" was created using Storify. 

Like any class project, many things went awry, some things were great, and I would do many things differently the next time!  Here are eight ideas and tips that might be considered to improve the learning experience.

1. Plan and schedule plenty class time to creating appropriate names and make sure you check suggested names on Twitter before publishing anything. 
2. Ensure you clearly demonstrate and explain what curriculum content you want the students to Tweet and have a conversation about.  Practice with an initial mini project or activity. 
3. Plan and spend time to ensure the class understands and buys into the concept of Digital Citizenship  (etiquette, literacy, and communications).
4. Practice setting up and moderating conversations on Tweetdeck before going live!. You can block, or "mute", inappropriate users! 
5. Create your own specific teacher account for the project or class. 
6. Create temporary accounts for any student that is reluctant or not allowed to use Twitter or social Media. 
7. Collaborate with other classes (your school and others) and community professionals.
8. Have fun!

If you want students to learn by working together on a collaborative class project, consider using a Wiki. A Wiki is a website where students can create, read, link, and edit each others webpages.  A great video overview on Wikis is from Common Craft.  If you want the business perspective on the importance of collaboration, then you should follow the work of Don Tapscott and read his book, Wikinomics.

As a teacher,  you just have to set up an initial class Wiki project page and then let the students create their own team page and then individual student, or team member, pages. The students design their own pages and can read, edit, and comment on each others pages.  As a teacher, you can also read, edit, and comment on student pages.  However, you can also view changes to all pages and even "revert" to an earlier version if necessary.  

Some of the advantages of using a Wiki are as follows:

1. Motivation. Students can see what their peers are doing, which provides some peer motivation and competition. 
2. Communication. Students and teachers can provide 7-24 feedback, updates, and questions. 
3. Collaboration. Students can share ideas, create a plan to manage their project, reply to comments, and see each others progress. 

To get a better idea on how I use Wikis in class, watch Wiki Work With Gill.  Although I use the PBWorks Wiki application, any hosted Wiki system should be fine.  Enjoy!

There is theory and there is practice.  To truly learn, you must experience the theory in action. You must make decisions, take action, and learn from your mistakes.  By having students participate in collaborative and authentic projects they experience, what Peter Senge calls Team Learning. During an experiential class project students learn from working with others, making mistakes, getting feedback, solving problems, and reflection.

McGill University professor of Management, Henry Mintzberg, questions how well one can learn the art, science, and practice of management simply by taking an MBA course.  To be a good manager,  one needs to experience the theory in action. 

Make no mistake, it is hard work to organize an experiential project and the class will encounter many challenges, roadblocks,  and even conflicts. Welcome to the real world. It is also exiting as the outcome of the project is never certain.  Good tactics, strategy, vision, and the use of technology tools is helpful, but patience and persistence might be more important.  

Although there are many days when I wonder why I persist with these complex experiential projects, I believe the benefits to the students make it worthwhile as follows:

1. Motivation.  Nothing motivates students better than their peers. It is one thing to hand in work late to a teacher, but quite another when it affects your team.
2. Critical Thinking.  Students encounter problems, have to think of solutions, weigh options, and take action.
   
3. Personal Development. Comments from your team members, the teacher, and others in the class provide real time feedback to improve your work and your self-knowledge. 
   
4. Teamwork. Working as a team, students experience the stages of team development by living it, feeling it, and seeing it. For example, students learn about the "storming" stage by experiencing the actual conflicts evident in this stage.  
   
5. Interpersonal Skills. Students learn to listen, communicate, deal with conflict, build consensus, and cooperate.
6. Resume Building. Students will have interesting and authentic stories to share on a resume and in an interview. 
7. Success. Ultimately, working with others to achieve a common goal feels great and builds confidence. 

“Stir It Up” – Learning with Gill

Why Blog? I have been procrastinating about Blogging ever since I asked my students to start their own Blogs in 2010. My interest in Blogging started while preparing to teach a Marketing class and a good neighbor, Patrick Thoburn from Matchstick, suggested I read Mitch Joel’s “Six Pixels of Separation”. The following semester, my Business and Learning Strategies class students followed the book’s recipe to enter the Blogosphere.  They started following blogs in a field of interest they were passionate about similar to Sir Ken Robinson’s idea and book, “The Element”. Next, they wrote a summary about one of their favorite Posts including writing an interesting comment. Finally, the students wrote a Blog proposal and then started Blogging. Meanwhile, I procrastinated.

Why 21st Century Learning? Fast forward a few years and I continued to explore various 21st Century technological tools to improve student learning and motivation. Now, all of my courses include class Wikis to allow students to collaborate in experiential team projects, and students are creating Digital Portfolios. Last semester, I embedded Twitter on my class Blog / Website and created some Flipped Classroom videos, such as Wiki Work with Gill. Yet, still no Learning with Gill, although I did save the domain name!

Why “Stir It Up”? This year, I had the opportunity to attend some professional (#ecoo13) and student (#PowerUpPeel) conferences on “21st Century Learning. I met many educators who have been stirring it up in their classes by trying new teaching strategies to motivate students. They are also sharing their experiences on, you guessed it, Blogs.  However, still no Learning with Gill. I finally had my epiphany while reading the “Principal Of Change” Blog by the Principal, George Couros and loved the title. That was it, the final stumbling block solved! I, too needed a creative Blog title and Stir It Up came to mind. It combines my love of music, fighting for social justice and what is right, and my desire for disruptive innovation, a concept coined by author Clayton Christensen.

Why “Learning with Gill”? It is what we do in education. Continuous challenges, strategizing, experimentation, failures, successes, reflection, iteration (@jcasap), collaboration and finally, learning. No more procrastination – Stir It Up!