1. The document summarizes a keynote presentation about using technology to promote collaboration between students in Alaska and Tasmania on writing mystery stories focused on polar regions. 2. Preliminary findings showed students were highly engaged and motivated by collaborating internationally on the e-book project. Teachers also found value in the collaboration. 3. Further research will explore the impacts of this collaboration on student learning outcomes and engagement with polar science concepts.

1. Technologies in the 21 st Century: Thinking Locally while Acting Globally G. Andrew Page, Ph.D. University of Alaska Anchorage Asst. Professor & Coordinator of e-Learning Graduate Certificate Program College of Education University of Alaska Anchorage [email_address] 35 th Annual BMEEC Conference Opening Keynote Wednesday, January 28 th 2009

2. BMEEC 2009 Conference Mascot Snuggles!

3. Background Write and research about issues dealing with technology, disparity, and the diffusion of emerging technologies for ALL PEOPLE Born and raised in rural Georgia 21 years in the field education Taught homeless people in Savannah, Georgia Married an educator, Sharon Page Two daughters: Morgan and Lauren 10 years as math teacher in the inner city

4. Shout! Chat Interaction: http://gandrewpage.com/bmeec Share your thoughts and VISION!

5. Outline Why technology? Alaskan educators and technology Tasmanian/Alaskan Collaboration

6. “ Share the Vision” WHY? 21 st Century technology ? UAA e-Learning Graduate Certificate Website

7. Educause Goals for 2009 5. Advancing innovation in teaching and learning with technology in an era of budget cuts. 1. Creating learning environments that promote active learning, critical thinking, collaborative learning, and knowledge creation. 2. Developing 21st-century literacies — information, digital, and visual — among students and faculty members. 3. Reaching and engaging today's learners. 4. Encouraging faculty members to adopt, and innovate with, new technology for teaching and learning. Educause Website: Advancing Learning Through IT Innovation

8. Integrating 21 st Century Technologies in Alaska to Promote and Preserve Culture Student Webquests: Created by 3rd and 4th years Education majors at UAA. Website: Nutemllaq

9. Paradigm Shift “ I think, therefore I am” is becoming “we participate, therefore, we are”. ~~ Brown & Adler, 2008 Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 Link to article

10. Brown & Adler, 2008 Link to Light’s work (2001)

11. Brown & Adler, 2008

12. IMAGINE: Thinking Globally Cross-hemispheric Collaboration More than digital pen pals Communicate ideas AND construct knowledge Use technology to expand cross-curricular knowledge Expand multiple literacies

13. G. Andrew Page, PhD, University of Alaska Anchorage Asst. Professor & Coordinator of e-Learning Graduate Certificate Program College of Education University of Alaska Anchorage [email_address] Andy Baird, ManagerTasmanian National Museum, Hobart Tasmania Sandy Zicus, PhD, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania Elena Sparrow, PhD, Int’l Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks Initiated by: Australian Schools Innovation in Science, Technology and Mathematics (ASISTM)

14. Sponsors

16. Where is Tasmania? (A) On the African continent (B) An island but also part of Australia ->

17. e-Collaboration 24 classes paired between Tasmania and Alaska Each pair writes and illustrates collaborative mystery story focused on the polar regions A dozen e-Books constructed electronically using web platform

18. Tasmanian Devil Tasmanian Devil; "Taz" for short, is described as: "A strong murderous beast, jaws as powerful as a steel trap, has ravenous appetite, eats tigers, lions, elephants, buffaloes, donkeys, giraffes, octopuses, rhinoceroses, and moose." He also eats chickens, ducks, and especially rabbits

21. An Artic and…

22. Antarctic perspective

23. Antarctic perspective Glacial retreat Warmer temperatures Ozone holes Conservation matters Eco-recession

24. Arctic Issues The complex intersection between man and nature.

25. Arctic issues 2008: Polar Bear added to the endangered species list by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

26. Process Evaluation Develop a model for cross-hemispheric collaboration What are the best and worst practices?

27. International Polar Year Understand polar regions and communicate with public. IPY.org The International Polar Year is a large scientific program focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009. 10,000+ scientists, 60 nations

28. International Polar Year

29. Why IPY? THE ENVIRONMENT: The Arctic saw the North-West passage become ice free and open to shipping for the first time in 30 years during the summer of 2007. Source: Geophysical Research Letters

30. Polar research

31. Antarctica

32. Critical Friends Methodology Scientists and polar researchers use technology to interact with the 24 classes Providing formative feedback to teachers and students SME’s offering constructive suggestions

33. Teacher Preparation

34. Hands-on Learning

36. Akiuk, Alaska

37. North Pole, Alaska Badger Elementary School Blog : Three classes at our school participated in the ICE e-Mysteries project.

38. Tasmania

39. Challenges Time Communication Co-Construction of e-Book Technology

40. The Website

41. Web Interface

42. Artwork Construction

43. Did I mention the conference mascot Snuggles?

44. Research Question Is the linking of creative writing and science an effective strategy for improving student interest and learning outcomes in science? “ I find that the opportunity to work with others is a big plus for my students and I. They are far more motivated to be involved in written work and in finding out about other people, where they live and how they live. I have noticed that they are much more ready to collect information from the news, current affair programmes, the newspaper etc. when there is a mention of Alaska or Antarctica” (Teacher, October 2008).

45. Findings Online Survey for teachers “ The students are psyched” (Teacher, October 2008). “ The preparation from the collaborative writing and the background content lessons have gone great” (Teacher, October 2008). “ I don't think I networked any more or less than I usually do. I did enjoy working with someone from another country to learn from them. I thought the Skype conference call was extremely useful for communicating with other teachers on the project about things that were working. I did network with scientist more than I probably would have.” (Teacher, October 2008).

46. Evidence “ I have set up a system of sharing Word files online. Many of the kids enjoy doing this on their own” (Teacher, October 2008). “ Guest presenters has also worked well for us. The students all created a research web page. We are sharing these with our partner school to have some common knowledge to work from. The students presented their pages with the use of a SMART board, which was also very successful” (Teacher, October 2008).

47. Evidence “ Studying the Polar Regions has been topical and relevant considering the state of the planet” (Teacher, October, 2008). “ Having someone to organise the link with a class in a different part of the world - something I have tried to do numerous times but not ever successfully!” (Teacher, October, 2008).

48. Cross-Hemispheric Model Preliminary Findings Students metacognitive, motivational, and reflective thoughts about the innovative process of ICE are very supportive. Teachers: “ So - another thing that's working is the collaboration among the e-mystery teachers” (Teacher, October 2008). “ This part of the "plan" went incredibly well and really motivated the students to get into writing their own mystery” (Teacher, October 2008).

49. What impact does the opportunity to collaborate with international peers have on student engagement and learning? Research Question “ Speaking with the other class is excellent. It is hard to work through ideas but the chance to communicate our growing story with others gives the kids a real boost . It makes the writing personal and they don't usually like writing” (Teacher, October 2008).

50. Communication and Interaction “ My partner teacher and I are going to try to Skype each other at home this weekend to work out a few more details to actually write our story. We are thinking it might work out well to divide things up with tasks that require interaction between the classes as opposed to taking the more familiar topics for each class” (Teacher, October 2008).

51. How did the teachers perceive this new collaborative process especially in terms of successes and impediments? Research Question “ I have terrific partners. Very flexible and ideas bounced back and forth with egos. It was a wonderful collaboration and we kept connected frequently each week. I enjoyed the sharing of information and experiences. Kids are the same everywhere!“ (Teacher, October 2008)

52. Teacher Feedback “ . . . We are in the beginning stages of posting our ideas and writing our story, we don't have much experience with the website or process to be able to add much in the way of suggestions, yet”. “ The time and season and schools schedule had also been difficult but we are overcoming it”. “. . . easy open forum for communication/ideas for lessons or ways to approach the topic. . .” (Teacher, Oct 2008).

53. Summative Feedback “ Connecting with other teachers a world away and finding out that we're not that much different in philosophy and desire for our students was a bonus in this project. It was very affirming and gratifying to work with my teacher-partner in Australia. My students and I learned a lot from the "real" connection!” ~Wed, 12/17/08 3:32 PM

54. Research Question To what extent did the students gain a deeper understanding of polar science concepts over the course of the project? “ For us choosing the mystery genre has proved a challenge. Our children are not keen writers and mystery is a complicated gernre so needed a lot of teacher direction. But we are getting there” (Teacher, October 2008).

55. More findings “ My students were challenged . They worked hard to produce writing that was just as good as their partner school's writing.” Mon, 12/22/08 6:58 PM “ We were able to access experts [via technology] from a variety of fields and could ask real life and relevant questions.” Thu, 12/18/08 5:11 PM “ The interactions the students did achieve with one another was incredible. They were fascinated about life on the other side of the globe, and were thrilled to share about their life here.” Thu, 12/18/08 1:43 PM

56. You be the judge…

57. e-Books Submitted by 12 groups/classes on December 20, 2008 Draft e-Books sent to kids book editors e-Books available to public in fall-2009

58. The Future Polar and equatorial collaboration Polar to mid-latitudes collaboration Move towards 3-D Virtual interaction

59. And finally… “ America risks being left behind in the global economy: Revolutionary advances in information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology and other fields are reshaping the global economy. Without renewed efforts , the United States risks losing leadership in science, technology and innovation.” ~President Barack Obama http://www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/

60. G. Andrew Page “ Northern Andy” SKYPE: gapman1 SecondLife: Eclectic Kohime e: [email_address] c: 907.223.0924 o: 907.786.4331 Personal Website: http://gandrewpage.com Project website: http://iem.tmag.tas.gov.au/ e-Learning Graduate Certificate Website “ Share the Vision” “ Share the Vision”

61. Have a great Conference! ~Snuggles