Category: PLN

Since 2013, I’ve attended a number of live webinars because of my work in virtual environments. The first webinar I signed up for for this assignment didn’t have a back channel conversation. You couldn’t see if there were other participants or not, and there was a place specifically labeled for questions, but it didn’t look welcoming for comments. So next, I attended four straight sessions on Google Apps hosted by SimpleK12. What made these a little different, is the chat in the webinar was only for asking the presenter a question, and you couldn’t see the questions others were asking. The rest of the chat was on another site. In a way, I found that a little bit distracting, probably since I was trying to contribute to the chat often though. I really like that they keep the transcript of the chats posted. Even though I’ve used Google apps for awhile and I’m Google Certified, I found these sessions very valuable.

Here is the list of chats and webinars I participated in and a brief summary. In each chat, I answered all the questions, liked tweets, and found some new people to follow. In the webinars, I tried to keep a fairly steady stream of comments or questions going. Click on them to link to the transcripts.

6/15/17 #EduAr Twitter chat
This chat for Arkansas educators was all about books.We shared books that are inspiring and have contributed to shifts in our thinking. We shared quotes or other things to inspire others to read the books and shared how we decide what to read next. Also discussed was how to share new learning from the books we read. Lists of must-read professional books were shared. I have several books on my list to read that I’ve found on Twitter.
6/21/17 #Educoach Twitter chat
As a former instructional coach, I have lurked on this chat several times in the past. This time we discussed what culture looks and sounds like where coaching is important, what barriers are there to schools valuing coaching, what supports help build a culture that find coaching valuable, what coaches can do to help build rapport to build a coaching culture, what leadership can do to build a coaching culture, and how coaches and principals build trust. I’ve had a lot of coaching training and the strategies coaches use in building relationships is also what I’ve been doing as an instructional designer to build relationships, so it was a beneficial chat. I will participate in this one again.
6/22/17 #EduAr Twitter chat
Since I enjoyed connecting with the Arkansas educators, I participated in this chat again. Blogging was the topic – something I’ve been thinking about quite a bit, so I was excited about it. We talked about how blogging supports professional learning, what inspires you to read a blog, how blogging can empower you to voice your thoughts, reasons why people may not blog, tips for blogging, and shared blogs that we like. There was a lot of encouragement and useful ideas in this chat. I will be returning to the transcript to get inspired.
6/24/15 Google Tools: An Introduction for Educators
Since there were to be six sessions on this day, I was hesitant to start with the introduction since I’ve used Google Tools for some time. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find some new ideas. Bunny Pad was new to me for back channel chat. I also learned about new presenter settings in Slides, and that Google Classroom is now available for all, not just schools that use GAFE. For students using mobile devices to collaborate on a doc, they have to have the specific doc app – something I thought was the case, but I asked the presenter to find out for certain.
6/24/17 Go Google for Presentations
I learned that you can embed videos from YouTube or from Google Drive in Slides. I also learned that slides can run automatically embedded in a webpage. The insert picture with the copyright information right there is a great feature that I learned about. You can do Q & A, and there is a laser pointer now available. A good source for templates was shared. http://www.slidescarnival.com/ The presenter shared her presentation as a resource.
6/24/17 Make Google Forms Work for You
Forms are my favorite, and I wasn’t sure how much I would learn from this session. But, I learned that they are now adaptive, and that there is an extension for eliminating answer choices for when you’re using the form as a sign up sheet. Once a choice is selected it goes away. There is a multiple choice grid that’s available.
6/24/17 Amazing Digital Projects for All Students with Google Tools
This presentation was packed with ideas and great visuals. The presenter shared his slide deck in exchange for completing a survey at the end. The presentation focused on locate, capture, create, and remake – a version of SAMR using images. Ideas were shared for using Google Photo, Drawings, Screencastify, Blogging, publishing video in Google Drive, uses for Google Maps, and Photosphere. I’ll be revisiting his presentation in the future.
6/26/17 #EdtechAfterDark Twitter chat
This chat was very quick moving during ISTE week from San Antonio. Lots of GIFs. Rather than a specific topic, there were questions related to a theme of quotes from past speakers from ISTE. We introduced ourselves and named our favorite villain – Catwoman for me. We talked about whether happy accidents are the best way innovation comes about, ideas about how professional development should be, learning from failure, benefits of our PLNs, and engaging students.

Moving forward, I plan to continue participating in chats and webinars. I loved the freedom and flexibility to choose when and where I want to participate. I appreciate the jumpstart this class has provided in helping me move from more of a lurker to a full participant.