Collaborative Projects - Digital Fingerprinting

 

Last week Erika Oya and I were  asked to deliver a class about pedagogical uses of technology for a group of teachers - my workmates- who are taking The Teacher Training Course at Casa Thomas Jefferson with us. The layout of the lesson had been previously set up by our supervisor, but we added a little of our personal touch. For me, using ICTs is excellent when It's time to personalize, and have language learners experiment with the target language. It feels like adding a personal digital fingerprint. We began the training discussing reasons to use ICT and reasons to avoid using it. After that we showed a video about the three stages of  pedagogical technology. The lesson got positive feedback from the teachers, and the message in the video lingered in me.

I am for the implementation of ICT in sound, well planned lesson plans because that's what I want the teachers who teach my kids to do. I want them to communicate, share, produce and collaborate, bu I also want them to have more traditional classes  in order to become well- informed and knowledgeable. I believe I am most of the time in stages 1 and 2, but I'd like to have my students in stage 3 more often. What stops me? Well... tight schedules, slow connection just to name some of the challenges I have to face, but I know that there are great collaborative projects going on right now that are just some clicks away. I wouldn't have to do much, because they are already in progress, happening and gainning momentum as I write about them. I decided to make a list, and hopefully engage, and have my students do the same. I hope this list is useful for you too.


OnDiscussion » A collaborative story: The most scary moment of my life ... 
EVO2012 participants and moderators started telling a story, and your students can help finish it
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http://an-image-a-week.posterous.com/
Students from different parts of the world share an image a week.


http://cultural-mix.posterous.com/
A space to learn about culture in different places. 

To join the project, follow these steps:

1. Make a how to video that teaches how to make/do something of value to your local culture. Examples could be how to prepare some food, Make some decoration, How to play  a game or greet someone. Other ideas are ore than welcome!
2. Save it in your computer, and upload it to youtube or any similar site.
3. Email a post to cultural-mix@posterous.com  that includes the following
• the link to your video
• a few sentences describing your work
• your name/country
• you can include a link to your blog, wiki, or website if you'd like.