Gec 2014 Presentation by Maria Colussa and Vance Stevens - http://www.globaleducationconference.com/forum/topics/keeping-your-batteries-charged-and-learning-together-by Gone are the days when teaching meant to follow the textbook. Nowadays teachers who don’t want to bore their students to death embrace global connectivity. However we should familiarize ourselves with the territory by connecting with other teachers whose experience is similar to ours before we embark on our journey in order to be able to filter and utilize what is useful from what can easily become information overload. In this session you’ll meet Maria, from Argentina, an impassioned teacher who works freelance and can make her own rules when it comes to teaching in her particular context. She says, “Connectivity made me change my frame of mind through exposure to different practices which I would not have dared to use in the past. Learning online with other educators can be customized, it is often free, self paced and presents a great opportunity to hang out with other enthusiastic teachers from across the world.” Maria has discovered numerous communities to connect with, and you’ll meet Vance, from Al Ain in UAE, the coordinator of one of those communities. You’ll also meet Maha, a teaching entrepreneur from Egypt who is exploring connected learning as a means of leveraging the effectiveness of online training. From them you’ll learn what other communities they connect with, for linking teachers and students on a global scale as well.

1. Keeping your batteries charged and
learning together by connecting
globally with other educators
Maria Colussa and Vance Stevens
Global Education Conference
Tuesday 18th November, 2014

2. How did we meet?
-2012: GEC Attendee
-2013: EVO Sessions Attendee- I met Vance here!
GEC Presenter
-2014: EVO Sessions Attendee
GEC Presenter
-2015: EVO Sessions Attendee for sure...and who knows?

3. What I get from connecting
-Variety of experiences in different scenarios
-Free PD
-Support
-Inspiration!
What I understand by PD?
It involves all the stages and actors in a learning context
(teacher, students, material,facilities) and what we can do
to improve the process. Today you can find PD sessions
for all these aspects.

4. Discoveries
-Your knowledge is useful to others
-Connecting doesn´t mean embarking on grand
projects. eg Be an audience for a class or just
filling in a quiz.
-You learn about the latest news in edu. It´s no
longer necessary to wait till next year
conference. Access to compulsive
sharers.(Vance, Jeff, Sonya and Shelly)
-Connecting globally allows me to get new
material for my classes every day!

5. Outcomes
Visible
Open and Connected Learning MOOC
Connected Educators We Want You!
with the help of people
from 3 different continents!
This Proposal again with people from 3 different
continents!
Intangible
The power of the herd: we are not alone. Confidence!
Birds of a feather flock together: we think alike. (likeminded individuals)

6. What larger movement
is this part of?
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)
changed the way knowledge and content are
created and shared.
Affordances of web based tools enable the
connection of people who want to work
together.
Webheads in Action
Learning2gether
Worldbridges / EdTech Talk /
I Have a Question

7. Webheads in Action
and Learning2gether
Writing for Webheads started in 1998
Webheads in Action in 2002 (as an EVO event)
WiAOC in 2005, 2007, 2009
Learning2gether from 2010
http://tinyurl.com/learning2gether
Stevens, V. (2014). Connectivist Learning: Reaching Students through Teacher Professional
Development" in Son, J.-B. (Ed.). Computer-assisted language learning: Learners, teachers and tools.
APACALL Book Series Volume 3. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
This document shared at http://tinyurl.com/small2014

8. Worldbridges, EdTech Talk, IHAQ
Jeff Lebow and http://worldbridges.net/
● http://webheadsinaction.org/
● http://edtechtalk.com/
○ Teachers teaching Teachers
○ 21st Century Learning
○ ELT Live
○ IHAQ
I have a question with
○ Jeff Lebow
○ Dave Cormier
○ Jennifer Maddrell
○ John Schinker

9. Electronic Village Online (EVO)
http://evosessions.pbworks.com
● Sept each year - sessions proposed
● Oct - sessions accepted
● Nov - moderator training
● Dec - final preparations
● Jan 6 - registration opens
● Jan 11 - opening webcast
● Jan 12 - sessions begin
● Feb 15 - closing webcast

12. The Future
Cooperation
Collaboration
Openness
It will be exciting to see what outcomes these
global interactions will bring about in the long term as our
paths diversify and each of us chooses different roads.
We are spoiled by global learning, our paths will certainly
cross as we continue “berrypicking” from the web.

13. Thank you!
Maria del Carmen Colussa Vance Stevens
@mariacolussa on Twitter - @vances
Maria´s Blog http://adVancEducation.blogspot.com
Icons by Prettyoffice9, via Iconfinder
Photographs by Maria Colussa, on Flickr