“I continually hear great comments from many of my colleagues that really enjoyed your session with wikis and languages. They loved what you showed them, and a couple of them were already making plans to incorporate the things you showed them.”
“When I saw you in Memphis, I had the feeling that you’d work well with the SG faculty, andI am glad I was right. .I really appreciate that you took the time….to come and work with the SG teachers.”
Charles Thompson
Director of Technology
St. Georges School
Newport, Rhode Island
In addition to my day job, I have also had the opportunity to share my passion through speaking and leading workshops on how to leverage technology to create a new narrative of learning.
Below are a sample of presentations and workshops available
School 2.0; Creating Flat Classrooms for the 21st Century
The pace of change in today’s world in unprecendented – making Gutenberg’s printing press look like a blip on the radar screen. Our schools were designed to produce workers for an industrial age – focusing on structured, supervised and repetitive tasks as the basis for learning. Yet the transformation in the very nature of information is redefining what it means to be literate in this new age.
As the world evolves, how can our schools keep pace? Just what do our students need to know when all of recorded information is just a mouse-click away? By creating a new narrative of learning, giving our students the tools to collaborate, connect, create and communicate, we can prepar our young people (and ourselves) to work, play and learn as global citizens of the 21st Century.
Format: Presentation
Connecting Through Flat Classrooms; Global Collaborative Projects
As the world becomes flatter, the opportunity for students to learn together in a globally connected classroom are powerful tools to prepare our youth to work, play and learn as 21st century global citizens. Join us as we look at developing new literacy skills for the new global community and how to develop (or join) and manage a student-based, global collaborative project with your class.
Format: Presentation
The Web 2.0 Story
Web 2.0? Didn’t even know there was a first version? Just what does the term web 2.0 mean anyway? More importantly, how can it help in my classroom? Join us as we explore some of the basic web-based tools available to help us create dynamic and engaging learning environments.
From blogs and wikis to podcasts, flickr and voicethread, these tools can be used for home/school communication, virtual classroom management and as a platform for student produced content. Come see what all the web 2.0 fuss is about.
Format: Presentation or workshop
Ten (not-so) Secrets of Wikis
Of all the web-tools out there, wikis are the most versatile and powerful of the bunch. From home-school communication and resource sharing to student content and collaborative project platforms, wikis provide something for every teacher.
Bring your laptop and join us as we start from the beginning of setting up and building a wikispace for your class. In fact, I’ll guarantee you’ll want more than one!
Format: Workshop (Presentation alternate)
Learning to Blog; Blogging to Learn
In this age of the read/write web, personal learning communities need not be limited by geography or space. Much like a journal, blogging can be a wonderful way for all learners to reflect on their own story while sharing their ideas with an authentic, global audience. Add multiple users and you’ll have engaging, global conversations.
Whether it be teachers or students connecting, come learn how to start your own blog, connect with other bloggers, track who you re reaching and learn some basic blog-etiquette as you join in the conversation.
Format: Presentation or workshop
Digital Footprints: Personal Branding on the Web
With something as simple as sending an email, and you’ve left a track on the web. With their appetite for social networking, our students are leaving tracks all over with little regard for the impressions they leave. We talk a lot about what NOT to put up, but their future will demand a presence – our kids will need to be “google-able”. Their future will demand the skills to manage their personal digital brand. Let’s talk about how can we help them use their presence as a 21st century calling card.
Format: Presentation or workshop
RSS – Bringing The Web Home
Some refer to RSS, or Real Simple Syndication, as the “magic glue” of the web. The power of RSS to harness, manage and shape the way an individual can manage information has revolutionized the way users can individualize their personal experience on the web.
From aggregators to embedding feeds in wikis and blogsto bring fresh information to your classroom, RSS provides a powerful tool to bring the many pieces of the web together.
Format: Presentation or workshop
To inquire about availability, contact me at jeff<dot>whipple at nbed<dot>nb<dot>ca
Hi Jeff,
Nice blog! Krista Webb-Scheers here..I was Chad Ball’s student intern back when he taught at Nasis Middle school in 2005 (grade 8).
I started a class blog this year with my Grade 4 students. It is called The Classroom Connection. I LOVE blogging with my students. It is a wonderful way to flatten the walls of the classroom and learn from our global peers.
We have a ton of fun including our own voicethreads, vokis, and movies….so much technology! We are beginning to Skype now too and it is a fantastic learning tool. What better way to learn about another part of the world, than from our global peers that live there. Check the blog out when you get a sec. http://kwebb.edublogs.org
Take care,
Krista Webb-Scheers