Putting the learning from Innovate 2013 into practice

Flipped Classroom

After two full weeks of school following the Innovate 2013 conference, we can already see changes in practice that are a result of learning that took place at the conference.

One of them involves allowing students to become more independent learners, which makes classroom time more hands-on under teacher guidance. The teachers are creating screencasts (video recordings of teacher explanations) for student  The use screencasts to support student learning leads to flipped classrooms. The flipped classroom isn't new to Graded, but after Innovate other teachers have started experimenting with the practice. PFL teachers, for example, are beginning to explore the idea with the aim of generating a bank of screencasts from different teachers.

Gamification of Education

Another theme present at the conference was gamification of education.This Infographic provides some background on the term. 9th grade biology classes have started to explore this idea by following Paul Andersen's suggestion for game design to improve learning. Elements of game design used include "completing levels to acquire experience points and move up the leader board".  Edmodo and Google Spreadsheets are being utilized to gather and organize points/levels. On a similar trend, other game and flash card sites are also being explored like Quizlet and Zondle.

Learning Network on Twitter

Using Twitter to create personal learning communities was another recurrent theme at Innovate and several people have become excited about the tool. Aside from using Twitter to communicate with colleagues around the world,  one science teacher is beginning to explore how Twitter can be used as a space for asking questions and finding information about science. Several science hashtags are being explored  including #scichat. A hastag is a keyword that indicates the topic being discussed or explored by a group of people.

It's always exciting to see educators take what they've learned at conferences and immediately put them into practice.

Image Credit:
Classroom by James F Clay. Creative Commons Rights on Flickr. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesclay/3509154283/lightbox/>
El Grande by Chasing Imperfection. Creative Commons Rights on Flickr. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasing_imperfection/226685564/lightbox/>
Twitter Typographic Wallpaper by Jez. Creative Commons Rights on Flickr. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/girlgeek/3374620636/sizes/n/in/photostream/>

Students and Parents: You can participate in the Innovate 2013 Conference

While just about everyone in the Graded community will be finishing up their vacation, 300 educators, including over a 100 of Graded's faculty, will be learning at the Innovate 2013 Conference. The good news is, that in today's connected world, you can participate virtually by joining the Conference Ning. This is your opportunity to join in our discussion on "re-imagining school". You can also track the conference on Twitter with the hashtag #innovate13.

The full conference kicks off with the Innovator Panel on Saturday evening at 1700. We are happy to announce that two Graded parents, Alex Abizaid and Fábio Coelho are on the panel. Graded graduate, Michell Zappa is also a featured speaker on Monday.

Innovate 2013 Presenters Featured at Porvir

While preparing for the Innovate 2013 Conference, members of the organizing committee developed a partnership with Porvir.

"Porvir means “future well-being for all people”. We want to learn how to build this future and invite the Brazilian society to learn with us. This is the intention of Porvir, a communication and social mobilization initiative that promotes the production, dissemination and exchange of content on innovations in education, in order to inspire improvements in the quality of education in Brazil."

Two of the key presenters for Innovate 2013, Will Richardson and Scott Klososky, have been featured on the Porvir site recently and Porvir will be covering the conference in January. We're privileged to have the opportunity to work with Porvir and to learn from these two thinkers.

Scott Klososky interview is entitled, Cérebros portáteis e seu potencial de mudar educação

Will Richardson's interview, “Professores devem reaprender a aprender”