Professional Development : European Moocs

This month we have a lot of free learning  opportunities online  : most of them have been run by European institutions. I have enrolled and I am going to do them.

An important Mooc is about LANGUAGE LEARNING AND LANGUAGE DIVERSITY and I am willing to learn about the new tools which will be introduced. Some tutors have been working online for years and they are going to share ideas and guide us in the Mooc.

In October we have  a Mooc about STEM.

I am an English Language teacher but I would like to work with teams of Teachers who are interested in using English while working in projects.  Interdisciplinarity, use of English language, modern web tools  can be crucial in designing new Learning experiences . STEM classes are important, more and more we do need to guide learners to work in job related to STEAM.

I will write about these experiences online.  For the firs Mooc I am going to share my online experience by working in a blog and using  Edublogs.  

PLN: Making time to build your PLN

To develop your PLN  you will need a lot of time.

When you start it you realize that you will never stop learning and sharing online.
Here you can find the link to my  short presentation about  PLN and  what you should bear in mind
https://app.biteable.com/watch/pln-in-the-life-




PLN in the life of an educator (copy) on Biteable.


My  activities online  started about  four years  ago, I was a newbie and  realized that I was learning a lot. It took  me months to become familiar with the new ways of  working , some of them were developing while I was still a beginner in learning but I could rely  on great support.

If I had to suggest what to do to build your PLN , I would say that  the first months it takes a lot of time to know what to do. You need to know what you want to do and who and what  you want to follow. Once you have taken off, you will go on.





My tips

The online communities will help you develop and later you will become an active educator online.

Professional Development: Using curation Tools as a connected Educator

The Sixth step of my  Professional Development course online has an interesting topic: using Curation Tools.  The link to the step is here :https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/pln-curation/.


Content curation requires a lot of skills from reading about topics you are going to write about to sharing and creating content by using modern web tools.

Image credit : https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/

What I have been doing in the last years is a detailed research online of what I was interested in:
once I found what I thought I might use for reading and learning about   I bookmarked it by using some tools like Pocket and also  Pearltrees. I used Pocket to begin with and then checked the links and created my collection with Pearltrees.

Here is my collection of favourite websites or articles : I tried to find a way to organize them by topic and following some trendy ideas shared by other educators.


Italianteacher
I really like Pinterest because I can use it for sharing useful webtools with other educators and I also follow some educators.
Pinterest is  a good tool for curating  content but  I am a fan of  Google  Apps as I usally share what I have learnt online by creating websites or  Google documents and Google Slides. 
I usually post these interesting  ideas on  what I have learnt online and when I am asked to do it  I also share them online. Most courses require this to help the learners share and learn together.
Here is the interesting Livebinder which has been created and shared by an Argentinian educator about the Mooc we have just finished- VWMOOC 2018.
I like livebinders but I have not used them yet.     Click here to open this binder in a new window.

I have written some posts online - we used a Moodle Platform and created some presentations : here is the one about the fourth week of the Mooc which I shared with the other teachers


I love images and videos but  I am only a beginner and  need to work on new tools which can help me write and summarize the ideas I have found interesting.


For sharing learning  I often use  Google sites and also images by using  Google Drawing.

Here is a short summary which focussed on what we learnt in a course about  Mentoring . I like Google Drawing because you can choose images and create your content by adding also hyperlinks.



In the last weeks I have used Thinglink for my reflections on a VIRTUAL CONFERENCE online:

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1083339273295364098


I have no good technology at school but I think that if I had to help my students in writing posts for a blog I would share video tutorials with them.

Hopefully today the greatest educators share how to use new tools and I am sure I could manage.

Content curation is important  for your  PLN.

I became a connected educator and started using some tools by chance. Now I can see they are used widely.

 Blogging requires a lot of exercise and knowledge  but when you start it you will never stop !! 

Using Blogs as a part of your PLN

Why writing blogs and what I like about blogging and some bloggers

The fifth step of the course about PLN is about Blogging and PLN. You can check the main  ideas and links shared online  here : https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/pln-blogs/.

Ever since I started learning online I have been writing some posts and when I started using  Twitter I really liked sharing posts written by some bloggers and  also loved learning about some new  bloggers.

I usually follow different types of blogs: some are only the reflections of an educator while  Others provide tips about how to use some tools and on the best  ways to work in class.

Some educators also post podcasts and guides and I really love these types of posts as they are always about new technologies and  projects.

I usually receive updates via email from some bloggers like Vicki Devis or  Shelly Sanchez.

I have never used my blogs for sharing my portfolio: I am going to create a website where I will  describe my activities online and will provide the links to the main tasks I have done so far. I like the idea of having  blogs for students and some educators have shared good activities. I am going to continue writing but some students do not collaborate and this is the reason why I have not used blogging with students much.

I check some bloggers on YouTube too and I love podcasts. If I had more time I would read more online. I have bookmarked some articles  published online which I really want to check later ;t in general I love following educators like Eric Curts because they are expert in education technologies and run webinars which I like to attend virtually online.

When I have time I like posting my replies and if someone writes in my blogs I usually reply.

I would suggest anyone who doesn't  write blogs to start writing about an event or a conference he/she may have liked and later to present some ideas  about some topics they  are familiar with.
When you start blogging you need to learn about how to work but later you become familiar with the use of images and also the tools online and  you can manage in a short time.

I have bookmarked the best websites and  blogs I am following now: they are about technology, mindfullness, ELT, resources and lesson planning for educators and materials online for students.
When I have time I also search new websites for my students.  I really love podcasts and I would like to find more online.

  In the last years more Italian educators have been involved in blogging and thanks to them I have become more connected and engaged in continuing learning.

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