Building an Open and Connected Classroom
Three tools that empower learning
As I begin to put off assembling my promotion and tenure file I have thought often about open classrooms. Dwelling on my teaching (really need to get this stuff stuck in a binder not a blog) I realized that my five year journey has lead to a trek across the web. I have tried to bring in principles of connected learning and open practices to my classroom.
In the past this has involved using #GAFE as a Free LMS (before Classroom). The rationale being that most districts, even those iOS based, had become Google Apps For Education locales. I felt I had an obligation. Plus it was all I knew, and easy. A single log on to blogging, RSS (still shedding a tear Reader), collaborative documents, video hosting and live hangouts, Streams on Google+, and content and student portfolios on GSites. It still sounds tempting (except Google Sites…awful).
But I made a commitment to try Open tools. This year, as I try to shove all these bytes into binders (no technology or Web allowed during P&T…..sorry), I wanted to share my workflow. I primarily use three tools: WordPress, Known, and Hypothesis.
WordPress
This is the course hub. The library where you check everything out and find links to the different pathways through the class. I have a shared hosting plan withReclaim Hosting. I have built a course template so I can easily add new courses as I develop them or port them online. Wordpress powers much of the web. It can power your class well.
The only real drawback for WordPress has been the constant vigilance required for security. I wanted to use the BadgeOS plug-in. This required registration to allow the general public to enroll. I used BuddyPress. This meant a constant hunt for plug-ins to stop the barrage of spam enrollments. If I am to use BuddyPress again I will not allow for registration, but will manually enroll. The thought of even doing that is the reason I probably will not use BadgeOS.
Hypothes.is
This is our coffee shop. It is where we gather to read. Hypothes.is is a social annotation tool. It has fundamentally shifted my teaching. Instead of talking about texts I am talking in texts.
All of the posts are public and licensed for reuse so this makes privacy a bit tricky. So I create a few options for students. First I review the benefits of learning in the open to build a web presence. Then we discuss the use of pseudonyms. Finally I let everyone know that hard copy offline annotations or notes are acceptable. I hear private groups are coming soon.
There is also a custom plug-in that anyone can install on their website. I have one installed on most of my blogs.
(Here is a how-to video that shows ways to use Hypothes.is within blackboard).
Known
This is our Stream. I don’t need a physical metaphor for our network. It would seem foreign. Known is a blogging and social networking platform. I use it as a place for students to push all of their content.
Every student in the class maintains their own place online. I want them to own their own learning rather than just learn in the open. They benefit from both. Our Known stream is where we share our community. It does take cultivation. Streams, just like any “LMS” like space, can devolve into file sharing systems with no iterative feedback between classmates. I am getting there.
Many of my students have chosen Known as their blogging platform. I also provide instructions for Blogger (for folks with Google accounts) and wordpress.com sites. I hope many of my students take their blogs with them. Few rarely do, but students approaching graduation have turned to me with regret, wishing they had built up a web presence (Dear Universities everywhere, building a portfolio and a presence are not the same thing). Known offers great hosting packages for students.
My favorite feature though is the control over privacy. I have always kept my class streams private. Before Known I used Google+, but now I can have a public stream that empowers students to make decisions over their privacy.
Students not only control what they share but where they share it. I subscribe to Known’s Convoy feature which allows for syndication to so many social networks.
On every post students can select whether to make them public or share only with the class. This has helped me as a teacher as well. I give critical writing feedback to my students. They are learning a new genre of blogging while being held to traditional academic standards of writing (plus gifs, lots of gifs). I can use the private post function to give important feedback without hauling students out on the parade grounds for a dressing down.
The one drawback I have run into is the comment feature. It is off by default and the way public thinkers, especially women and minorities are treated, I understand. Yet this always takes a few emails to get everyone to turn on their comments. My other issue is the lack of an RSS feed for comments. It might sound strange but I use the RSS of comments as an assessment tool and a public nudge to support a community of writers.
Known is a new platform, and Ben and Erin role out new features all of the time. It is also perfectly simple but powerful. Try it.
Next Steps
RSS Reader
I need a better RSS reader. This is my personal workflow for class and needs to live side by side the stream. I currently use Feedly Pro so I can include a reader. I like it. I can make my collections public and set up a feed for each class. I can only link to the feed. I can not embed the feed yet.
I love what Laura Gibbs has done with InoReader. So I know what I want is possible. I have seen people like Alan Levine build stuff for Connected Courses. My favorite is probably Mozilla’s Planet feed that Atul Varma turned me on to. Now I am way over my head in terms of being able to take the Git Hub repo and do something with it but…. close to what I want does exist.
Laura has built it. I think I need to follow all of her excellent instructions and try out Inoreader.
I just need to get smarter or wait for someone smarter to build the RSS reader for the classroom. In a perfect world it would work like JSTimeline. I have a spreadsheet template. I would add the student name, the rss feed for the blog, and the rss feed for the comments (huge chance of human error here). I press a button and out pops out a pretty stream of student writing. I would want to be able to have a firehose, sort by comments, student, etc.
The right tools are meaningless without community. We need to understand that bringing in open practices and connected learning to web novices requires scaffolding. A lot of scaffolding. It is more than tools. Students need an acceptance of failure and the flexibility of a constant forking plans.
I have taught with no stream and just RSS, just stream, and both. The format doesn’t really matter. Our forum does. We need to come together. The tool I choose is meaningless if my learners do not feel a sense of empowerment and a pride in what they make.
Social Networks
I haven’t moved everyone totally out on social networks yet. I have required Twitter chats but I find many are hesitant to try. Instead I try to model the use of social media in my learning and leading. I will see if it catches on. I just don’t feel right mandating someone sign up for social media. I have created private pathways for all three tools and I do the same for social media. I wonder, however, if I should require Twitter.
I need to teach and encourage students to use greater sharing practices across their networks. Building a web presence is essential for employment.
Forums
I also need to decide if I should cancel my Discourse subscription. I am basically spending $10 a month to prove forums are dead. I think the threads only weave predictable tales. In fact I could almost write student responses before they do. The writing on a forum is formulaic. I am beginning to think Bulletin boards serve communities and informal learning spaces better than classrooms.
Especially for any course I teach. Writing, and the revision there of, is central. This requires a voice that I find flourishes on blogs but founders on forums.
The Future
At least for now I can say I built a class that:
- uses open source tools
- allows students to own their own data
- has privacy options (or I can create a private pathway).
I am also finding myself trying to give back to the tools I use. This can be monetary. I like feeding developers who support an open Web. Yet I often donate more than money. As I get more involved in these spaces I find myself wanting to help build the tools I need.
Each of the three tools highlighted comes with an amazing community or approachable founders. They welcome feedback and I contribute what I can (usually just issues) on Git Hub.
I look forward to exploring and building Open classrooms within and for my networks. My journey has allowed me to help engineer better teachers.
