The document discusses Learning Connections (LC), an online community that aims to improve teaching and learning for the 21st century. LC provides blended professional learning opportunities for educators that include online and face-to-face elements. It involves school districts collaborating to share best practices and resources. Research on LC found it effectively supported building educator capacity through collaboration, personalized learning, and developing 21st century skills in students.

1. Improving Teaching
and Learning
for the 21st Century

2. Where to find me:
 Twitter: #connect2013
 Follow me: @adrossis
 Wiki Spaces:
 http://adrossis.wikispaces.com/
 Resources for this presentation:
 http://adrossis.wikispaces.com/C
ONNECT+2013

3. What is Learning Connections?
Learning Connections (LC) is:
 funded by a grant from the Ontario Ministry of
Education, Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
 an online community driven by the collaboration of
school districts called District Champions
District Champions
 align their involvement with their district level plans
 engage in sharing and collaborations with other district
champions
 build capacity within their district with support from LC

4. Who is involved?

5. Polleverywhere.com

6. Polleverywhere.com

7. Blended Approach to
Professional Learning
“Student learning
depends on every
teacher learning
all the time.”
(Fullan, 2007,
p. 35)

8. Blended Approach to
Professional Learning
Personalized Learning
 Learning Online
 Educational Speakers Collection
Collaboration and Learning
 Online Book Studies
 Pilot Applications
21st Century Leadership
 ABEL Leadership Round Table
 Leadership Summit
ABEL Summer Institute
 ASI 2013: Level UP
http://plp.abel.yorku.ca

9. Personalized Learning
Learning Online
 Scheduled Learning included:
 Sessions on: Literacy Skills in Science, Numeracy and 21st Century
Literacy
 Videos of these sessions were created for later viewing
 OnDemand Learning included:
 Sessions on WordPress, Moodle…
Educational Speakers Collection
 Variety of videos available
Twitter Chat
 Visible Leadership
 Social Media in Education
 Skills for Today

10. Collaboration and Learning
Online Book Studies
 The Connected Educator
 3 online asynchronous meetings
 Online activities and discussions
Pilot Applications
 Equella – initial set-up phase only
 Edsby – year one of pilot

11. 21st Century Leadership
ABEL Leadership Round Table
 Topics for discussion included:
 Leadership with Technology for Learning
 App That!
 Social Media in Education
Visible Leadership Summit
 Facilitated by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and
Lisa Neale
 Face-to-face at York U

12. ABEL Summer Institute:
Level UP
ASI delegates will Level UP to improve their effective
use of technology through:
Level UP in 20
Experience this fast paced
Pecha Kucha style session.
Presenters share what they
do and how the Level UP.
ASI Flipped
Flip the conference
experience and engage in
meaningful conversations
based on shared resources
Interactive Learning
Expert facilitators lead
hands-on sessions for a
variety of technological
tools for education.

13. TodaysMeet
What is TodaysMeet?
 Online tool to create a backchannel
 Quick to set up
 Archive your transcript easily
Check out our TodaysMeet:
 http://todaysmeet.com/ProfLearning
 What makes professional learning engaging for you?

14. Building Community and
Sharing Best Practice
“Connected learning communities
are designed to support the
professional development goals
their members have chosen to
improve instruction and
subsequently bring about increased
growth and achievement for the
21st century learner.” (Nussbaum-
Beach & Ritter Hall, 2012, p. 38)

15. Building Community and
Sharing Best Practice
Face-to-face
at York University
 two conferences
Websites
 access to the tools, resources and professional learning
 share, collaborate and learn from each other
Monthly Online Meetings
 synchronous to share, collaborate, and build community

16. Face-to-Face at York U
Fall LC District Champion Conference
 38 participants from 10 school districts and Ministry
 Meet and greet to promote collaboration
 2 opportunities for hands-on sessions
 Planning time
Spring LC District Champion Conference
 Coming May 17th, 2013
 Time to share work done throughout the year
 Planning time for 2013-2014 year

17. Websites
LC hosts two websites for members to access:
http://www.learningconnections.on.ca/
 Access to the tools and resources
 Link to professional learning site: http://plp.abel.yorku.ca/
http://lcchampions.abel.yorku.ca/
 Share projects and ask questions
 Collaborate and connect
 Learn from each other

18. Monthly On-line Meetings
Representatives from Champion Districts meet online
 Provide information regarding upcoming professional learning
 Champions provide feedback to program office about their
needs
 Planning time for LC events
Sharing of best practices
 Each month 1-2 districts take 15 minutes to share
 Opportunity to ask questions and collaborate

19. Edmodo
What is Edmodo?
 Free for teachers and students to connect and collaborate
 http://www.edmodo.com/
Join to collaborate, share and learn
 Create an account and login
 Join our group (code: 3p8s51)
 Discuss how you collaborate and
and share

20. Sample LC Projects
“The integration of technology
and pedagogy to maximize
learning must meet four
criteria. It must be irresistibly
engaging; elegantly efficient
(challenging but easy to use);
technologically ubiquitous; and
steeped in real-life problem
solving.” (Fullan, 2013, p. 33)

21. LC Champion District Project
Evident in LC Projects:
 Teachers engaged in professional learning by coaching, one to
one, small group and large group
 Teachers sharing their work online and face-to-face
 Teachers learning new ways to work and collaborate
 Teachers using technology for literacy and numeracy
instruction
 Students learning appropriate use of technology
 Students engaged in using technology tools for learning
 Students completing authentic tasks and projects
 Teachers working with students to learn new technologies

22. Limestone DSB
 Improve communication and thinking through
purposeful, accountable interactions for students
 Engage students in authentic reading and writing
experiences

23. Ottawa Catholic DSB
 Support tools to capture conversations, observations
and product
 Provide platform for teacher collaboration and
networking (Google plus, Edmodo)
 Professional learning to build capacity

24. Near North DSB
 Professional learning for teachers to effectively
integrate technology across the curriculum
 Coaching model to build capacity
 Share stories of their work online and face-to-face

25. Thunder Bay Catholic DSB
 Teacher librarians use Edmodo for collaboration
and communication
 Focus on “Edmodo into practice” to support
other work in the district
 Promote use of Edmodo in the classroom

26. Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB
 Build capacity as teacher librarians to support student
inquiry – using WordPress as a collaborative tool
 How will using Web 2.0 tools increase the likelihood of
professional, collaborative learning happening among
us, and help build our capacity as teacher-librarians?
supporting student inquiry?

27. Upper Grand DSB
 Two schools: urban and rural
 Students working on inquiry based projects linking
classroom together
 Use of QR codes to share research with community
and other classes

28. York Region DSB
 Professional collaboration through Web 2.0 tools
(Twitter, Edmodo, Google Docs)
 Support inquiry learning in the classroom
 Expand on the idea of “kinetic learning”: follow hash-
tag #KineticInquiry

29. Hastings Prince Edward DSB
 Increasing the use of their iPad carts in the classroom
 Project integrated with the FSL network in district
 Professional learning for teachers using iPads and
different apps for education

30. Research in LC
 Partnered with Institute for Research in
Learning Technologies, York University
 research and evaluates the work of the
program
 2011-2012: Learning Connections: Project
Year End Report
 2012-2013: Learning Connection:
Developing Skills for the 21st Century

31. Research for Improvement
2011-2012: LC Project Year End Report
 Changed format of monthly meetings to highlight 1-2
districts
 Provided comprehensive online space for sharing and
collaboration: http://lcchampions.abel.yorku.ca/
 Continued to provide two face to face conferences:
“Continue to provide the two face-to-face sessions. They
really help to build capacity and collaboration across
boards in Ontario. We really appreciate and look forward
to those opportunities to meet and share with others.”
(Wideman, 2012, p. 13)

32. Research for 21st Century
Learning
2012-2013: LC - Developing Skills for the 21st Century
 Provide a framework to align LC project proposals with
21st century learning skills
 Case study of 2 districts
 Preliminary review of past proposals:
“Most projects explicitly incorporated
inquiry, expository, communicative, and collaborative skill
dimensions in their pedagogical design and classroom
implementations, and all made use of ICT in ways that
required students to apply (and further develop) important
ICT literacy skills.” (Wideman, 2013, p. 34)

33. Reflector App
 https://www.reflectorapp.com/
 Cool features:
 You don’t need an Apple TV to project
your iDevice
 You can project multiple devices
 Inexpensive
 Cautions:
 Use the trial version to check if it
works on your network

34. For more information
Learning
Connectionshttp://learningconnections.on.ca/
LC Collaboration
http://lcchampions.abel.yorku.ca/
ABEL Program site http://abelearn.ca/

35. Resources
 Wideman, H. (2012). Learning connections: Project year-end report
2011-2012. Toronto, ON: Institute for Research on Learning
Technologies, York University.
 Wideman, H. (2013). Learning connections: Developing skills for the
21st century. Toronto, ON: Institute for Research on Learning
Technologies, York University.
 Nussbaum-Beach, S., & Ritter Hall, L. (2012). The Connected
Educator: Learning and leading in a digital age. Bloomington, IN:
Solution Tree Press.
 Fullan, M. (2013). Stratosphere: Integrating
technology, pedagogy, and change knowledge. Toronto: Pearson
Canada Inc.
 Fullan, M. (2007). Change the terms for teacher learning. JSD The
Learning Forward Journal, 28(3), 35-36. Retrieved from
http://www.michaelfullan.ca/media/13396074650.pdf

36. Thank you!
Anita