Kathryn Woody
Georgia Educational Technology Conference
Nov. 20, 2007
As a curriculum technology specialist, I had the privilege of hosting Vicki Davis during the Georgia Technology Conference in November 2007. Ms. Davis is a dynamic and energetic presenter and classroom teacher. She used the process that she uses in her classroom to get all the participants involved in her 21 Century classroom in Camilla, Georgia. It was refreshing to watch a truly dedicated teacher and Internet integrated classroom presentation.
To set the stage for her learning environment, Ms. Davis uses google docs, blogs, podcast and wikis for her presentations to her students. Students also participate actively using the gmail back channel feature on a split screen. This plays a major part in connecting her classroom to other classrooms around the world. Her web page at http://coolcatteacher.com/ is filled with Internet connections that are open so students can access sites like twitter, skype, you tube, teacher tube and flickr for sharing projects.
Two years ago Vicki Davis and four other colleagues established a classroom connection which created a “flat” classroom inspired by the book, The World is Flat , by Thomas Friedman. In his book he is explaining that the worldwide connection of the Internet is making communication between all countries as easy as local communication. Open communication is the source to appreciate other cultures and learn from them. Ms. Davis created a liaison with other classroom teachers from Bangladesh, China, and Australia. Even though the teachers planned the project, student products and communication were the focus of eliminating language and cultural barriers with students from other countries. Hence the title of her presentation at the conference, “My Seat-mate lives in China”.
Throughout this project, several positive and negative issues of Social Networking became apparent. Often there are many public school systems that block Internet sites because of the dangers of Social Networking. Vicki Davis wanted to explore networking with her students and those of other countries. Because Ms. Davis works for a private school, it was possible for her to get permission from her school administrator for such a global undertaking. One positive value of Social Networking was the introduction of her students to the cultural diversity of other nationalities. Students began to learn and understand the acceptable ways to interact with students of such different cultures. The processes and projects were challenging to all of the participating students. Some of the negatives were usually related to obvious reasons. Some times there would be poor Internet connections. Language barriers and poor technical computer skills would cause some interference with communication. Occasionally there would be a problem with ineffective contributions and plagiarism. When problems arose, this would be a teachable moment to work through the ethics and etiquette of Internet usage.
A captivating process in the classroom with Vicki Davis was that while she was showing the participants at the conference her powerpoint about the “Seven Steps to a Flat Classroom”, she was using gmail or back channel on her split screen for all of us to communicate and ask questions while she was presenting. She had also set up a small clip-on video camera attached to her laptop computer. She had notified her other colleagues in China, Australia and Bangladesh to be on line with us if possible so they could respond to our questions. I can certainly see how all of her students would be totally involved in the process of communication.
To help others that would be willing to step out and up to this intense learning process, Vicki Davis has provided instructions and Internet connections for support at her information site http://del.icio.us/vickidavis There are blogs and forums for discussions and questions. One suggestion is that you join other organized projects first to learn more about planning projects , to obtain support for using integrated Internet resources in your classroom and to find other classrooms to connect students together. Some suggestions are Technospud, Class blogmeister, Taking IT Global, ePals, and Global School Network. When you feel comfortable with participation in another group, then setting up your own project will be easier. Go for it and good luck!