AUDIO: access session audio to accompany these slides at http://bit.ly/audio_thompsonfldvipn2015 [copy/paste] Keynote address at the 2015 Florida District Virtual Instruction Program Symposium (FLDVIPN2015)

1. Eggs, Ecosystems, and the
Power of Connected Learning
Kelvin Thompson, Ed.D.
University of Central Florida
@kthompso #FLDVIPN2015
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike 3.0 Unported
License. Portions of this work are the intellectual property of others and are attributed appropriately in
context.

2. http://bit.ly/thompson_fldvipn2015
Primitive audio recording of the session
http://bit.ly/audio_thompsonfldvipn2015

3. “Day 5: The Back of My Classroom” by bonnie-brown on Flickr CC BY 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bonnie-brown/4249862228

4. “egg crate” by meg-z on Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/meg-z/4522641172

5. “26” by pixopatamus on Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pyxopotamus/15767780015

6. “Impossible?” by h-k-d on Flickr CC-BY-ND 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d/6984394425
Metaphors
Are
Destiny
- K. Thompson

7. “Echinacea Bee_Teresa_Prendusi” by USDAgov on Flickr CC BY 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/7420018760

8. MOOC
Open Educational Resources
(OER)
Open CourseWare
(OCW)
Open Learning
iTunesU
podcasts
screencasts
online course
blended
hybrid
Connectivism
Hour of Code
flipped class
Personal Learning
Network (PLN)
Twitter
TED Talks
YouTube
Google Wikipedia
wikis
blogs
RSS
IFTTT
html
BYOD
mobile
human moments

9. Tips for Exploring the Ecosystem
1. Get comfortable with openness
2. Embrace the infostream
3. Practice connected learning*
4. Help students become connected
learners

10. Get Comfortable with Openness
• True Stories of Openness
http://stories.cogdogblog.com
• Creative Commons
http://creativecommons.org
• Open Educational Resources (OER)
https://www.oercommons.org

11. Open TeachingTeaching in the OpenClosed Teaching
What happens in the course
stays in the course
Semi-permeability
(Some elements go “out”)
Complete* permeability
(World comes “in”)
Openness Continuum
http://bit.ly/teach_open

12. UCF Faculty Seminars in Online Teaching
• Online/blended learning focused
• Co-presented by teaching faculty and instructional
designer
• Information-packed
• 30 minutes!
• Interactive webinar format
• Repository of recordings and supporting resources
• New topics each semester
Subscribe to mailing list to be notified of
upcoming seminars
http://bit.ly/facultyseminars

13. Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository
a resource to support the curation of effective
pedagogical practices in online and blended courses
individual entries include:
• strategy description drawn from the pedagogical
practice of online/blended teaching faculty
• artifacts depicting the strategy from actual courses
• alignment with cited findings from research or
professional practice literature
All released for reuse/remix under
Creative Commons
http://topr.online.ucf.edu

14. • 60+ published strategies relevant to online and blended
courses
• New strategies added/updated regularly
• Categorized by Content, Interaction, or Assessment
• Get ideas for your blended or online course design!

15. BlendKit Course Materials
• Instructional modules
• BlendKit Reader
• Do-It-Yourself design tasks
• Recordings of interdisciplinary faculty
interviews
• Recordings of online webinar discussions with
faculty cohorts
http://bit.ly/blendkit

16. Embrace the InfoStream
• Information as a flow or stream
– See danah boyd http://bit.ly/streamCSU
– Choose: fight, float, or navigate (McCarthy, 1991)
• Practice: Consuming, Curating, Contributing
– Establish access point(s) (e.g., Twitter)
– Take in, screening for relevance
– Mark for later use (e.g., “Favorite” in Twitter)
– Retrieve when needed

17. Practice Connected Learning
• Professional conferences good starting point
(e.g., resource sharing via official channels &
Twitter back channel)
• Form/engage with a Personal Learning
Network (PLN) See http://bit.ly/pln_intro
• Participate in a cMOOC
See http://bit.ly/mooclunch_resources01 for a
starting point

19. http://bit.ly/edtwitterchats

20. October is
Connected
Educator Month
http://connected
educator.org
has year-round
resources but
buzzes during
October

21. BlendKit2015
• Free, open, online course built around BlendKit
Course materials
– February 23 – May 12 (five weeks)
– Facilitative communications
– Weekly webinars
– Interaction opportunities among cohort
– Choose your own participation level
– Optional (paid) “Certified Blended Learning Designer”
credential
• For Info or to Register: http://bit.ly/go_blendkit

22. Help Students Become
Connected Learners
• Design activities for students to: Consume, Curate,
Contribute
– Model your own practice
– Establish a mini-Personal Learning Network (PLN)
– Set expectations (and scoring criteria?) for on-going
activity
– Encourage students to spin off their own PLN
• Scaffold with supporting resources
– Align with learning objectives
– Provide examples
– Link to how-to guides/tutorials

24. “Ending the egg crate will
liberate both students and
teachers.”
- Darrel West (The Brookings Institution)
http://educationnext.org/time-to-abandon-the-egg-crate-
approach-to-education

25. Offered by Scott Sava at http://ssava.deviantart.com/art/Mork-474467115

26. Please Follow-Up
Dr. Kelvin Thompson
@kthompso
kelvin@ucf.edu
http://about.me/drkelvinthompson
http://bit.ly/thompson_fldvipn2015