Opening Up Digital Teaching and Learning II

Last night’s #edtechchat revolved around the kind of learning that must go into #edtech before students even sit with a machine. It boils down to Make. Hack. Play. Learn, regardless of the medium or mode. Yet  I also know we need a critical focus on building ethical tech and modeling these values for our students.

I believe we need to focus on attitudes and not just the  computational thinking that empowers the use of technology.

I believe as public school teachers and public university professors we have a responsibility to work in the open and share our efforts back to the Commons.

I believe a pad and a pencil is the most useful piece of #edtech equipment we can give to any child.

Identity not Content

So much of the talk revolved around content creation. I am not usually worried about most of the crap that kids make at school. My focus is on the crap that happens that makes the child. Too often this pile of stink is being algorithmically served up to children. See the first generation of the web built the tools we use as they were doing their identity work as young children and adults. Today this identity work is being sold back to our children hidden behind social feeds.

Their brains (yours too) are under attack from daily notifications scientifically designed and  tested to act like drugs.

As educators we have a responsibility to seize back the web for our our children.

For me that starts with privacy by empowering folks to own their data and their identity by having their own domain.

Digital Teaching and Learning II

During the #edtechchat I shared a course shell I made that day using CSS Grid (tt was my first time trying CSS Grid instead of a Bootstrap website so I may have made a few errors).

I am working on a course template shell that we can use in our classes. We all teach the same thing. We are talking about our students remixing and collaborating. Don’t you think its about time we do the same? https://t.co/lpx03D47G7 #edtechchat

— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) May 15, 2018

After words folks were asking about my recent #indieweb efforts and I threw out an idea of teaching a free mini-course this summer. By the time I woke up I had ten requests for the class.

So I needed to switch it up. Instead I decided to open up my Digital Teaching and Learning II class that I will be offering this summer from July 13-August 18th. Most of my classes are taught openly (students always have the option of publishing privately) and through RSS so why not step it up for a high level graduate class?

(Below are notes that are subject to change often)

Goals of class

• Be fun and worry free.
• Create a GitHub Account and build the world’s simplest website by learning to fork, or remix, a repo.
• Create a website of your own with both long format blog posts and short posts such as replies, bookmarks, and status updates.
• Post critical reflections on current trends in #edtech
• Build an online course of an existing unit or class you teach using HTML and CSS Grid (you don’t need to know anything. What can’t be learned can be copy/pasted and if you copy and paste enough you edventually learn).
• Utilize web standards like microformats and protocols to create a network of scholars free of silos.
• Design a learning pathway to meet your needs.

FAQ

How will this work?

Everyone will choose a hosting package and start up a website with a blog. If you already have a website and blog, that is awesome. 60% of the classwork is done. If your website is on a platform like wordpress.com, medium, blogger, weebly, or edublgoger we will work with you to migrate it to your own space. If you are already running from your domain even better. 75% of the classwork is already complete. Then we will help you add #indieweb technologies.

GitHub, Is that scary?

Not really. I was afraid at first but remixing on GitHub is a lot like copying a Google Doc. Especially when you will be using really small HTML files like we will. In fact we will do most of the learning in Glitch which will allow us all to contribute and remix each other’s work. Luckily Glitch and GitHub do a great job of talking.

My school just uses G Suite so can I still take this class?

Sure, and if you want to hone your Google Classroom, GDoc, or any other skills you can build a personal pathway towards that in You will just share your learning and any materials you make on your website. Open is an attitude and we can still plant the seeds in our children using any tool.

I don’t know any HTML can I still participate?

Yes, you do not need any specialized knowledge. Students enrolled in this class never dealt with anything beyond the WYSIWYG editor in Digtial Teaching and Learnign I. Nobody will be light years ahead.

We will always start with templates. Learning HTML is like learning a sonnett. Once you know the pattern it’s easy to follow. You will be able to build your website without really having to change any of the html tags.

If you are a website guru I welcome you as well as I am learnign as I go. Developers and engineers can really benefit from hanging from regular folks to see how instruction is different from documentation.

Can I take the class for credit?

Yes this is a graduate level course. It is your responsibility to check with your current insitution to make sure the credits would transfer. Students participating in the course for credit will have extra responsibilities around documenting their learnign and developing a personal learning pathway.

When can I learn more?

I will be designing the course materials throughout May and early June. You will be able to see a finished product sometime after that. However I will be documenting each step of the way so if you follow me across the web it will be hard not to learn more.