Tag: #InnovatorsMindset

Published September 20, 2016 by

Special Guests Shawn Clark and Brady Venables join #IMMOOC on Saturday, September 24

We are pleased to announce that Shawn Clark and Brady Venables will join us for our YouTube Live session on Saturday, September 24th at 7AM PST (10AM EST).  As always, the session will be recorded so don’t worry if you miss it!

Here is a little bit about Brady and Shawn…

Brady is currently a high school biology teacher turned district instructional technology specialist.  She is passionate about ensuring the devices we’ve invested in for our students aren’t being used as expensive pencils.

Shawn is a high school dropout turned PhD in Ed Admin, former middle school principal and current Director of Curriculum & Instruction (16 years total) in Saluda, South Carolina, Co-authored Using Quality Feedback to Guide Professional Learning.

Their blog can be found at venablesandclark.com and they are two truly inspiring and innovative educators.

Housekeeping

  1. Check out the YouTube Live session with Dave Burgess from last week, which also has the blogging prompts. We encourage all participants to blog a weekly reflection and share a Twitter video (the ones posted have been awesome so far!)
  2. You can also subscribe to the podcast which has the same information.
  3. We want to answer your questions on the podcast, so submit them here.
  4. The selfie-giveaway ends on September 26th, so make sure you enter.

Moving Forward

Thank you for all of the sharing that is happening.  I know that I have pushed my own learning through this process, and I am reminded how important it is to set up communities that we can all learn from each other, not simply the “teacher”.

Have a wonderful week!

leaders-today

#InnovatorsMindsetMOOC Hangout Announcement

#IMMOOC #InnovatorsMindset brady venables katie martin shawn clark

Published September 9, 2016 by

Quick Tips for Blogging with #IMMOOC

As people are joining #IMOOC, many of them are starting their first blog, are starting to blog again, or are using their space to blog for this learning opportunity.  If you are starting your first blog, I would suggest something like wordpress.com or edublogs.org.  Both are free, but the paid options are definitely worth it in my opinion.  I am also a big fan of edublogs as you can tweet @SueWaters or @edublogs at any point if you need help, and they seem to show up like Batman in the night.  Blogger and other options are great, but I am personally partial to blogs that are wordpress based.

Here are some quick ideas for when you are blogging for #IMMOOC:

  1. Put the hashtag #IMMOOC in the title. This way, when others share your post, it is shared to the hashtag.
  2. Do not feel you have to write a college thesis.  Short posts and reflections can just be as valuable as long ones.
  3. Using media is awesome…Embedding things like YouTube, images from Instagram, or compiled tweets from storify, can also tell a powerful story. You do not need to be a “writer” to share your thoughts.
  4. When you tag your posts, use your own name in the tags.  This will help bump your blog up in the google results when people search your name.  The more you blog and tag your own name in the blog, the more likely when people search for your name later, they will find your space.  You will thank me later 🙂

Here is the last tip that I have, and it is an important one…

Read each other’s blogs and find time to comment.  There are some reasons behind this:

  1. It makes everyone smarter.
  2. It encourages people to keep going…many stop because they feel no one is reading their blog posts.
  3. It builds community.

I was asked the question today…How do you blog so much?  Quick answer is because I read a ton of other people’s blogs.  Personally I need to get better at commenting more, but I definitely try to share all of the great blogs that I read on a daily basis.

Hope that helps!!!  Looking forward to adding YOUR blogs to my feed!

P.S.  If you have a blog or are about to start a blog, add it to this google form.  I will take the spreadsheet and share it publicly on this space so that others have access as well.

Tips for the MOOC

#IMMOOC #InnovatorsMindset blogging edublogs sue waters