Sunday, November 10, 2013

BYOD, Communities and Learning

By Pamela Livingston


Note: Pamela Livingston was a guest in our latest Google Hangout "Cultivating a Culture of Community." In this post she expands upon her advice in the Hangout.  

When invited to visit BYOD schools, I pose two overarching questions

  • How are students involved in using technology here?
  • How will technology grow your learning community?


These questions become extremely important with BYOD programs. They are important because if you are expecting students to supply their own device for learning, you need to ensure two things are in place.  

  1. Students are fully involved and on board right away. Bring students into committees and have them part of surveys and the planning, ask their opinions as experts.  They reside in the digital world and are your most impacted stakeholders in terms of their current and future academic, career, professional and personal lives. And keep asking them, many times – formally and informally. Follow up on their ideas and suggestions. If BYOD is bought in as a strategy by the students who understand your respect and understanding of them and who realize the entire program was built with their buy-in and feedback - you will have tee’ed up your program for success.


  1. Schools needs to be brought together with technology. With BYOD, schools should not be segmented into classroom silos of technology. Instead, technology should bring schools together. The school should have an overarching online community for social learning where everyone can communicate and collaborate in whole-school groups, in whole-grade groups, in whole classroom groups, and in project-based groups. This should be the same social community not a different one in each classroom, grade level, division, or school. Build and grow your online social learning community with your students so they have uniformity and connectivity as they move through your educational institution – and so that teachers can have ONE place for their professional learning communities and adult professional discussion forums year-after-year.

You can hear Pamela Livingston discuss this and more in our Google Hangout recording which you can access here.
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Pamela Livingston is the author of ISTE's book "1-to-1 Learning : Laptop Programs That Work", Pamela has written for educational publications and presented/keynoted in the U.S.and overseas.  She previously led technology at K-12 schools. Her Web site is http://www.pamelalivingston.com/

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Cultivating a Culture of Community Google Hangout

Did you miss our November 4th hangout, Cultivating a Culture of Community? No problem, you can watch it below. 

In the hangout we addressed the following topics
  • Why creating a culture of community is important
  • What has worked as far as getting others on board.
  • Successes, challenges, and/or frustrations when trying to create a culture of community.

Watch the hangout.
   

Special Guests
Thank you to our special guests. Connect with the on Twitter!

Backchannel
Join our backchannel conversation on Facebook at this link or on Twitter using the hashtag #BYODBGSU. See all the backchannel hashtags on our Tagboard at http://tagboard.com/byodbgsu

Links
Below are links mentioned in the hangout.

Articles

Videos from Michelle Luhtala

Monday, November 4, 2013

Live tonight! Google Hangout on Air - Cultivating a Culture of Community

Our first Google Hangout took place on November 4th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  Visit the "Google On Air" tab at http://byodbgsu.blogspot.com/p/google-on-air.html to view the hangout.

Topic "Cultivating a Culture of Community." 

During the hangout guests discuss the following:
  • Why creating a culture of community is important
  • What has worked as far as getting others on board.
  • Successes, challenges, and/or frustrations when trying to create a culture of community.

Our Special Guests
Thank you to our special guests. Connect with them on Twitter!

Backchannel
Join our backchannel conversation on Facebook at this link or on Twitter using the hashtag #BYODBGSU. See all the backchannel hashtags on our Tagboard at http://tagboard.com/byodbgsu.