Anniversary Book Project

5th

Teaching and Learning Across the Globe

By: Anne Mirtschin and Lorraine Leo Creative Commons License: CC BY-NC-ND Author contact: lorra22@gmail.com Author Biography: Lorraine Leo is a technology teacher in Jackson School in Newton, MA. She serves on the National Scholastic Teachers Advisory Board for Scholastic.com.

Anne Mirtschin is Australian teacher who currently teaches Information and Communications Technology from prep through to year12.. She is also the host of Tech Talk Tuesdays and eT@lking. Activity Summary
Both teachers classes have been successfully connected in both synchronous and asynchronous times. A variety of tools have been used for connecting and collaborating. From simple emailing of images for classroom use, collaborative voicethreads, google docs, videoconferencing etc through to the empowering and challenging virtual classroom (DiscoverE and Blackboard Collaborate) where students have shared their festivals, passions, location etc in real time. These virtual classrooms have included a blend of different age groups, from 5 to 86 year olds, a mix of educational tiers eg students, teachers, university professors, research scientists, pre-service teachers and a mix of participants from up to five continents in one classroom. Class or subject area: Cross Curricular Grade level(s): Year 3 and beyond to adults Specific learning objectives: (adpated from the ISTE NETS standards for students) Use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively on a global scale, to support individual learning Contribute to the learning of others Connect, interact, collaborate and publish with global peers, experts and general community members, including family. Use a variety of media and digital environments to connect, communicate and create. Share learning spaces Communicate information and ideas effectively to a variety of digital audiences using a variety of media and formats Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners from other cultures. Contribute to project teams to produce original works. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility.

Stories from our eClassrooms The Vendee Globe Voyage of USA Skipper Rich Wilson 2008-9 This was one of our first major collaborative projects which involved a number of synchronous and asynchronous connections. Lorraines class was following and connecting with Rich Wilson prior to and during the Vendee Globe race. Hawkesdale students were also invited to participate. Before Rich sailed solo around the world, he consulted with us via skype to discuss the format of the sitesALIVE! website which was to be used for updates and communication whilst at sea. Lorraine also presented a DiscoverE webcast about the sitesALIVE! voyage program to Australian grade 5 students. Throughout the race students from both schools sent questions to Rich via the siteALIVE! website. These questions were answered during the race and whilst at sea. Collaborative voicethreads were created and used before the start of the race Good Luck, at Christmas time Holiday Greetings and at the end of the race Congratulations Cover It Live! was used for live blogging at the start of the race in France. Vincent Mespoulet from France interpreted the French TV broadcast, images were shared and Anne, especially was kept up to date on how it looked. Annes bandwidth access was too slow to be able to view the live streaming from France. Teachers from USA, Taiwan, Italy, Santa Maria Island in the Azores, Spain, and Australia were able to ask direct questions. See the Coverit Live blog. http://earth.edublogs. org/2010/10/23/cover-it-live-archive/ (Password vg) Voicethreads have been a popular tool and used for asynchronous connections. Here are some examples: 1. Questions for year 7 Hawkesdale Students from Jackson Second Graders The second grade students created an image, uploaded it to the voicethread and asked a question. Year 7 Hawkesdale students then replied answering their questions. 2. Favourite Place - Fifth graders in Jackson and Hawkesdale year 9/10 students discussed their favourite places. Google Documents Lorraine organised two contacts to present to the year 9/10 ICT Australian students, on their experiences as volunteer workers in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. A shared google document, was setup for students to ask questions while the contacts were in Haiti. When they returned from Haiti, Leogane, Haiti, Newton, MA Hawkesdale, Victoria they presented a slideshow to Anne Mirtschins students in the DiscoverE virtual classroom. View the classroom recording. http://www.jacksonschool.org/webcasts/webcast201011211806/

Webcasts Webcasts have been a firm favourite for connecting classes and educators. These have included Jackson student presentations on1. Fourth of July 2. Halloween 3. Festivals 4. Where we live etc As a primary source of information about their country, the students are empowered and engaged, by being the native experts, able to answer questions unique to their country or community. Webconferencing gives every participant a voice and student/teachers readily ask lots of questions in the chat. Co-teaching: Lorraine and Anne have taught each others classes.... Expert speakers in the virtual classroom Jean Pennycook, a teacher working with Dr. David Ainley, a research scientist stationed in Antarctica, spoke to the whole Hawkesdale P12 College school. Australian students were spread across a

number of classrooms and were able to give questions to their teacher who keyed them into the chat. These questions were promptly answered. A number of Lorraines students were also present, as were the software developers of DiscoverE and interested educationalists from several continents. Learning about the eye in a global classroom In this exciting linkup, an optician taught a global classroom of gifted students - one from Jackson school, USA, two from China, two from Thailand and one from Hawkesdale, Australia. The other

amazing aspect of this class was that the optician was a patient in hospital. World Friends Project Teaching grade 4 and 5 in 2012, Annes students were invited to participate in the World Friends Project designed by Professor Yoshiro Miyata at Chukyo University in Aichi, Japan. This is a global project involving students from many countries creating sprite figures of themselves in Scratch, expressing friendship. Using skype, Lorraines student taught grade 4 and 5 Australian students how to create a sprite and how to write a script so that the sprite moves and interacts with other sprite characters from around the world. http://miyata.hiroba.sist.chukyo-u.ac.jp/wmuseum/Friends3.html The Australian students were fascinated and finished this videoconference with lots of questions. Lorraine has also created screencasts for the students at Hawkesdale. These screencasts were shared via a blog. An Australian Story in Blackboard Collaborate Recently the year 9/10 ICT class of Australian students shared a presentation on the nature of

Hawkesdale, life on Australian farms, their pets, their passions, their interests, using Blackboard Collaborate. This represented an exciting, globally blended classroom - involving students from Australia and USA, a University professor from Japan, parents from USA, Australia and Japan, teachers and an 86 year old participant. Nervousness soon gave way to pride. The chat was active and despite some glitches, students of all ages were able to learn together. Listen to the Recording Keys to our successful connections over the last five years We have grown to know each other and have a friendly relationship. We are both passionate about our interest in working with students and connecting our students with others. We are flexible in times that we are able to work together and honest with each other. Due to the differences in time zones, weve had to be willing to work outside of our regular school day (at night, in the morning before school or on the weekend)

Reliability: Once weve discussed a project we do our best to follow through on it. Lorraine will add comments to Hawkesdale student posts. See Georgias and Rachaels blog posts Ongoing communication: We communicate in many ways including email, g-chat, and skype to keep in contact about projects or just to check in. Age groups: We work with different age groups. Rather than seeing the limitations of mixed age groups, we look at the benefits it has to offer our students. Tips and hints for others: Find someone who has similar interests. Start small. Be willing to take some risks and make some mistakes to grow from them. Maintain communication as regularly as possible. Test and test the software to be used before trialling with students. Reflect on strengths and weaknesses of projects. Archive webcasts, photos and blog posts.