I was initially disappointed when I wasn't able to attend this year's ISTE conference in Philadelphia. I lurked on Twitter simultaneously
following #ISTE2015 and #ISTE15 hoping to see some things I could take away from the conference even though I wasn't physically present. Then it happened. Tony Vincent introduced us all to an app called Periscope. Periscope is a video feed that notifies you when people you follow on Twitter are live streaming content from any location throughout the world. As you are watching the live feed, you can make comments and share your enthusiasm for the content via little floating hearts that appear on the side of the screen.
What impressed me the most was Tony's evolution of using the app throughout the conference. At first he began by walking around Poster Sessions, admittedly battling his shyness, speaking with student presenters about their projects. Then as time progressed and he recorded a couple more sessions, he appeared to feel more confident and fluent with the act of interviewing different people at the conference. After a few more poster sessions and informal interviews my favorite moment of all the video streams came when he had a quiet sit down with the inventors of the amazing creation app Explain Everything.
My takeaway from this was that Tony made his learning feel like something that we experienced with, or alongside, him. It was public and documented in real time. He was brave enough to put himself out there for his peers to watch as he learned. This felt like a more powerful experience for a learner than hearing the edited reflections of presenters who share their struggles after the fact. In-between his live sessions, I would find myself having the time to reflect on how I would have done something differently or in what ways this would encourage students and teachers to take risks in their own learning.
Whatever way we use this technology in the future, I hope that we approach it with the same willingness to make our learning public for everyone to share in because when we do we truly create a sense of "alongsidedness" that makes learning feel accessible.
following #ISTE2015 and #ISTE15 hoping to see some things I could take away from the conference even though I wasn't physically present. Then it happened. Tony Vincent introduced us all to an app called Periscope. Periscope is a video feed that notifies you when people you follow on Twitter are live streaming content from any location throughout the world. As you are watching the live feed, you can make comments and share your enthusiasm for the content via little floating hearts that appear on the side of the screen.
What impressed me the most was Tony's evolution of using the app throughout the conference. At first he began by walking around Poster Sessions, admittedly battling his shyness, speaking with student presenters about their projects. Then as time progressed and he recorded a couple more sessions, he appeared to feel more confident and fluent with the act of interviewing different people at the conference. After a few more poster sessions and informal interviews my favorite moment of all the video streams came when he had a quiet sit down with the inventors of the amazing creation app Explain Everything.
My takeaway from this was that Tony made his learning feel like something that we experienced with, or alongside, him. It was public and documented in real time. He was brave enough to put himself out there for his peers to watch as he learned. This felt like a more powerful experience for a learner than hearing the edited reflections of presenters who share their struggles after the fact. In-between his live sessions, I would find myself having the time to reflect on how I would have done something differently or in what ways this would encourage students and teachers to take risks in their own learning.
Whatever way we use this technology in the future, I hope that we approach it with the same willingness to make our learning public for everyone to share in because when we do we truly create a sense of "alongsidedness" that makes learning feel accessible.
PERISCOPE IN THE CLASSROOM
I am excited about the upcoming year and seeing how we can put this tool into the hands of the children in our school. Just imagine:
- Interviews with the principal, librarian, or cafeteria staff for kindergartners and new students to view and participate in
- Field trips no longer become something that just the children present get to experience and learn from
- Presentations in any class can now be shared and inquired about throughout the world