This page shows all Upcoming Webinars for the course on Creating and Using Blended Learning Classrooms running from Feb 20 through March 11, 2020 and archives these webinars once completed.
Wed 11 March 1400 UTC Blended Learning Classroom Showcase Event with Vance Stevens on the MOOC community space extension to the course
This was Learning2gether episode 443 and the last live event of the course on Creating and Using a Blended Learning Classroom at https://tinyurl.com/blended2020. The course started on Feb 20, 2020, and ended with this closing webinar on March 11.
Before turning out the lights, Vance Stevens, whose term as English Language Specialist on this workshops and eLearning project, ends with this webinar, has been preparing to flip the course into MOOC / Community mode.
The last half of the 3-week course coincided with a time when schools were closing in unprecedented numbers over concerns with the COVID-19 outbreak. This has sent an equally unprecedented number of teachers into a search for stratgies they can use to transition their classrooms online. Going from face-to-face straight to online is a daunting transition, and one that requires some kind of portal space that will attempt to center the course and provide coherence to activities that cannot be simply explained in class.
This course has been focused on helping teachers conceptualize and create that center space. When teachers have to come up with components for such spaces on limited funds and resources, I call this DIYLMS, or do-it-yourself learning management systems. For teachers who have already been running blended learning classrooms, that center space was already there, and the shift to a totally online environment is simply a matter of layering syncronous activities onto the existing asynchronous ones.
With more schools worldwide closing suddenly almost every day now, many teachers have been stretched to come to grips with the demands of their situations, and many others not yet in that situation are doing what they can to level up and prepare for whatever contigency.
Accordingly, the last week in our course we were hearing from teachers who were having to come up with strategies for dealing with meeting students purely online. Jeff Lebow, who has been working online for years and, like me, incorporating what works online into blended environments for his students, showed us how he had already set up classes for his whole department in blogger and now all they had to do was just add Zoom. In our most recent webinar we talked with Suzan Stamper and Bonnie Calanchini, two teachers from Hong Kong, about how they were coping in international schools with kids and in the tertiary setting with adults. These made for interesting webinars but were mere ripples in the tsunami of information that is becoming apparent as the days go by. I've been accumulating crosses my radar here:
Since this is a dynamically developing situation, and as there is a chance that we in this community could both learn from and contribute to the ongoing conversation, I have created a kind of static extension to the course in the form of a MOOC / Community space, with more information in the Green Folder in the Schoology portal here, https://app.schoology.com/course/2362600716/materials?f=183558388.
I've also set up a MOOC Community Extension space at http://workshops2020.pbworks.com/ and added it to the sidebar there. It can also be reached via this direct link
Posted on Facebook by one of the members enrolled in the Schoology course on Creating and Using a Blended Learning Classroom
This is a recording of a webinar held Mon 9 March by English Langauge Specialist Vance Stevens hosting a webinar on Using and Creating Blended Learning Classrooms on the topic of "What if your school closes?" . Special guests from Hong Kong were Suzan Stamper and Bonnie Calanchini. We were also joined by Don Carroll in Japan and Nergiz Kern in Turkey, with a cameo appearance from the course beautiful assistant Bobbi Stevens, https://youtu.be/B7R3lZqPcuI
This webinar will be especially interesting if you are in the position of having to leap like a lemming into teaching online since it focuses on one particular ramification of the COVID-19 outbreak relevant to the course, where schools have been forced to close in many countries worldwide, and teachers have had to suddenly transition from developing blended learning classrooms all the way to going totally-online in one challenging leap. So on Monday March 9 in Zoom at 13:30 UTC we look forward to welcoming two teachers in Hong Kong, Suzan Stamper and Bonnie Calanchini, when they will discuss with us how they and their colleagues have managed this leap after their respective schools were closed weeks ago.
This will be Learning2gether episode 442 and the 4th Webinar of the course on Creating and Using a Blended Learning Classroom, or the 7th office hour, intended to explain or to help anyone with how to set up some kind of portal or activities in their own Blended Learning Classrooms.
Our theme for the week is focused on how so many countries are trying to contain a global pandemic in part by delaying the start of school terms, putting teachers worldwide in the position of having to set up online learning for their students on short notice, or at least give serious consideration to the possibility.
We will start a little earlier than the normal time with two special guests from Hong Kong, one of the locations most affected.
Bonnie Calanchini, a American teacher who works (from home now) at the Canadian International School of Hong Kong as an Inclusion Specialist, primary level. Her school has been closed since Chinese New Year in January, and she and her colleagues are going into their 6th week of home learning. Bonnie's take: "I can say that my school is doing a fantastic job implementing distance learning and the kids are responding well."
Suzan Stamper teaches at Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education where she's a Senior Lecturer of English and the English Language Support Leader. Her school made the sudden announcement to go online in February, and it is expected that classes will be online until at least after Easter. Suzan's take: "Going online at the tertiary level has raised challenges for students and teachers." She notes that her school faces unique struggles with teaching adults at the tertiary level, and teachers have had to go online with little preparation.
We'll start there and see where the conversation takes us. It will be an honor to connect with both Bonnie and Suzan and find out how they and their colleagues are dealing with the situation.
Announcements of this event were made on these Facebook Groups
Same text, more characters added, and posted on Facebook
Video and show notes from yesterday's #learning2gether episode 442 webinar in the #blended2020 course on Using and Creating Blended Learning Classrooms can be found here: https://learning2gether.net/2020/03/09/vance-stevens-hosts-penultimate-using-and-creating-blended-learning-classrooms-webinar-what-do-you-do-when-your-school-closes/. The discussion lasted for 1.5 hours and ranged from how teachers are coping with having to go suddenly from f2f to online due to #caronavirus #COVID2019, through portals they might use, including SeeSaw, Classin, and Second Life. Thanks to Suzan Stamper and Bonnie Calanchini in Hong Kong, Don Carroll in Japan, Nergiz Kern in Turkey, and beautiful assistant Bobbi Stevens in Malaysia, for taking part in this stimulating and informative event.
Sat 7 March 1400 UTC Blended Learning Classroom Week 3 DIYLMS - Office Hour 6
The 6th office hour in the course on Creating and Using a Blended Learning Classroom is intended to help anyone with DIYLMS (do-it-yourself-leaning-management-systems) how to set up some kind of portal or activity in their own Blended Learning Classrooms. Of course the instructor, English Language Specialist, can help with any other aspect of the course to date.
Present: Hala Salah Abbas, Rita Zeinstejer, Vance Stevens
I uploaded this video at midnight to YouTube without announcing it anywhere and when I work up in the morning I found this comment on it.
Thu 5 March 1400 UTC Blended Learning Classroom Week 3 Digital Storytelling & DIYLMS - Office Hour 5
The 5th office hour was intended to help anyone with the Week 2 materials on Digital Storytelling or with DIYLMS, how to set up some kind of portal or activity in their own Blended Learning Classrooms. For the first time in the course, no one attended today's office hour.
Facilitating in a quiet online space can be disheartening. Why is no one responding? Am I doing something wrong?
But then this appeared, extracted from a DM on Twitter in such a way that it disguises the sender:
A million thanks for this! Good timing :-)
Tue 3 March 1400 UTC Blended Learning Classroom Webinar - Weeks 2 and 3 Digital Storytelling and DIYLMS
The 3rd Webinar for the course on Creating and Using a Blended Learning Classroom is intended to help anyone with the Week 2 materials on Digital Storytelling and presage what's coming up in Week 3 on DIYLMS, do-it-yourself leaning management systems. Once Week 2 issues have been addressed, the webinar will focus on the materials here: http://workshops2020.pbworks.com/w/page/138718179/Blended_Learning_Classrooms_Week3
The 4th office hour is intended to help anyone with the Week 2 materials on Digital Storytelling
Or catch up with the Week 1 mission on coming to grips with digital tools and how to mount a digital "poster"
Or anticipate DIYLMS in the third week of the course on Blended Learning Classrooms.
Vance Stevens went over that at the end of the hour, but meanwhile, in an unexpected but very special development, Jeff Lebow dropped in to discuss with Vance Stevens how he creates and uses blended learning classrooms; essentially how he has moved from a blended environment where students usually met face to face to add Zoom so that now the students can meet in a completely online environment until regular classes resume.
Hi folks, if you are free today March 1, or March 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11 at 1400 UTC and are in the mood for a conversation in Zoom about blended / flipped / online learning, or digital storytelling, or portals where these activities take place, I hope you will join us in one (or more) of the events described on this page, http://workshops2020.pbworks.com/w/page/138675954/eLearning_Archive
At the link above, you will find Zoom links, times where you are, and also archived recordings of past events in this series, and links to their blog posts.
There are over 40 people registered on the Schoology site and consistent participation but not that many turning out for the online webinars and "office hours" which I am holding every other day at 1400 UTC between now and March 11. You can still register for the course if you want to, but it's not necessary and you are welcome to attend the live events as guests
The events are informal, tailored to whomever appears, and though I have been quiet here lately, as you can see from the most recent posts at https://learning2gether.net/, #Learning2gether has been hopping. Hope to see you soon at one of these upcoming events.
This was the 2nd Weekly Webinar for the eLearning course on Creating and Using Blended Learning Classrooms held from Feb 20 to March 11, 2020. In this webinar, Vance Stevens introduced the Week 2 materials on Digital Storytelling. The Webinar was held in Zoom on Wed 26 Feb at 1400 UTC. Jane Chien popped by talk about the course and to clarify how she should complete her Week 1 assignment, which she did by activating her blog, here, https://chienjane.com/2020/02/26/about-jane-chien/ (a.k.a https://chienjane.com/). She's now the third person in the course to complete the week 1 mission:
Here's a list that's now starting to grow of others completing the first of three missions:
At the opening webinar we decided that 1400 UTC would be a good time for our synchronous events in the coming week. Participants can also request other times in case 1400 UTC is not suitable.
You can read more about how this is intended to work here:
As explained at the link above, this course has a webinar or office hour every other day for three weeks. We're still in our first week with 40 people registered in the course, a dozen or so interacting in Schoology, but only a handful turning up for synchronous events. This time it was Ti's turn to drop by and show us the Screencast-o-matic she had produced, and we discussed how she can come to grips with her blended learning classroom by setting up her own portal linked to from the one her school provides. From this feedback I've decided to bring that forward in the course and talk about that AND digital storytelling in week 2.
The meeting was held in Zoom
Sat 22 Feb at 1400 UTC - 2100 Bangkok time - First Office Hour
The course on How to Create and Use a Blended Learning Classroom held its first "office hour" on Feb 22, 2020. Not sure if anyone would be there, I (Vance) started on time and dived into the back story of how the course came about. Magali from Ecuador appeared soon after and we talked about how the course can cater to her need to learn more about digital storytelling.
The meeting took place in Zoom
Thu 20 Feb at noon UTC - 1900 Bangkok time - Opening Webinar
This event has been blogged as Learning2gether episode #438 here
This was the best overview of anticipated webinars and consultations at the time of this webinar.
Many participants had just joined the course and we were just then working out where these people were, so exact timings would be negotiated as the course progresses
The course meets continually for three weeks asynchronously in Schoology and syncrhonously every other day in Webinars and office hours.
Webinars happen once a week. Their purpose is to clarify the curriculum for the coming week and get feedback from participants.
Office hours happen twice each week between webinars. Their purpose is for the EL Specialist to be available at set times for anyone to come along for help with any course-related issues..
Webinars and Office hours will normally be recorded. When there are no participants at the office hours, the specialist can record tutorials on how to accomplish the course objectives
Office hours can be scheduled on demand at times convenient to any participant if that time is convenient for the instructor.
Here is a visualization of anticipated webinars and consultations; exact timings to be negotiated as the course progresses
Meetings dates and times were indefinite at first because it was not clear who would join the course. The course was intended to follow on workshops given in Thailand, so it was assumed participants would be from there, and it was decided to go with an 'early evening' time in Thailand (noon UTC). But on the day before the first webinar on 20 Feb, 30 participants had enrolled for the course, and we didn't know where they were from.
We asked them in a discussion forum where they were from, but only a few had answered bythe date of the first webinar. However the answers received allowed me to make the visualization at the link above where I could see that we had participants from South America all the way east to Taipei.
Therefore a 1400 UTC timing seemed appropriate to all the participants including in Ecuador to join us, and the ones in Asia who were at the first webinar agreed to the later time. So we decided to try 1400 UTC for the first week, and if we see that other times zones are more favorable to participants who are actually turning up.
We might change this for weeks 2 and 3, or we can add additional times if there it any demand. You just have to let us know.
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