Lifelong Learning 2.0

The CUE conference was a time to be inspired, learn about using technology to engage students, and collaborate with peers.  Over the past year, I’ve gotten to know other educators online that I was finally able to meet in person at some of the CUE sessions.  It was very cool to meet people in my PLN that have had such an influence on my journey of learning.

In my first workshop, Mike Lebsock shared how he used Ning to create a digital learning hub for students.  I have a particular interest in using social networks in education and have started several Nings myself this past year.  I’ve been building one to use with parent educators who home school.  However, I didn’t think of using it with students in the same way that Mike has done.  I plan to restructure the Ning I created for parents and students, to incorporate some of the things Mike suggested.

Continuing on the social networking theme, I attended a panel workshop that included several of the educators that I’ve gotten to know recently through online networks.  It focused on the value of social networking in education.  The discussion revolved around digital safety for students and how to maintain the enthusiasm as a moderator.  The debate over the term “social networking” was interesting.  People I spoke with afterwards were hesitant to have their students join a social network, even if it were only opened to the members of the class.  They spoke of negative aspects of MySpace, and didn’t like the idea of a social network.  I agree with the discussions from the panel.  Perhaps we need to change the term for educational purposes.  Maybe “collaborative learning community” would be a better fit.
One of my goals is to teach a parent/student workshop on digital citizenship at the beginning of each school year.  I was interested in finding tools for encouraging online safety.  Here are three sites than Kenneth Shelton shared with me:

1. Cybersafety from CTAP focuses on six areas of online safety.  I plan to share this R U Cybersafe? poster with my students.
2. Cybersmart Cybersmart is a nonsequential curriculum model with printable worksheets and lessons by grade level.
3. This Digital Citizenship and Creative Content teacher’s guide is a free turnkey instructional program.  Check out the My Bytes part of the site.  They’ve built in a music mixer and showcase to give students an opportunity to be creative and grasp the benefit of protecting their creative rights.  I like how they provide a fun way to have students put their newly learned digital citizenship skills into action.

That’s a wrap for the first few sessions at CUE.  I found a wealth of resources at the remaining sessions, which I’d love to share.  I’ll add them here soon.