Bricks and Mortar?

After the third full day of work shopping here with my fellow GOA teachers, I feel like I have learned so much from my new group of colleagues and friends.  One of the great gifts of this time is the time itself.  We have been invited to work on our courses.  We have set up shop in one of the beautiful conference rooms here at Islandwood and we have short little instructional workshops, then work time, then show and tells, with fun and amazing meals sprinkled in between it all.  A typical work session is a few hours long and at any given moment there are some folks chatting about an idea, bouncing layout or structure questions off each other, and others with their headphones on, working away.  And then when folks share what they have been working on, in the show and tell sessions-- wow!  So much thought and effort is going into these classes-- I'm thrilled for all of the students that get to take them this fall.  

 

I've also been wondering today about the feasibility of recreating this experience we are having-- an intensive teacher workshop-- in an online environment.  It could be done; the work would likely happen, but I wonder if I would learn as much.  I'm thinking about the dinner conversations, the walks in the woods, the fun post-dinner chatter and sharing pictures of our lives outside of this work.  I guess that can happen on-line too, but I am so grateful to have met these folks face to face.  

Day One GOA Teacher Workshop

It has been an overwhelming and exciting day, to say the least.  I have had great meals and great conversations with folks here.  We had some time to reflect on on-line instruction, learn a bit about our learning management system, Haiku, and then we had some time to work in our "playground" courses.  While there were moments while I still felt immersed in my Summer School work in Honolulu, the permission to take time to do this work has been such a remarkable gift!  I am learning so much and have so much more to learn.  Here is a quick video look at some of what we did today:

A Learning Vacation

Left HNL today to spend a week outside Seattle on Bainbridge Island where I will be working with a great group of educators on preparing classes for this fall's launch of the Global Online Academy. 

We have the big challenge of working to design instruction that takes the best of what we do at our schools and translates that to an on-line environment.  I think that one of the greatest strengths of independent schools are the communities of learners that we cultivate, and the strong personal relationships that are forged which both encourage and facilitate enduring learning.  So how are we going to translate that into an on-line environment in which we may never meet our students face to face?  

Some of the answers to this major question will come from a commitment to engaging student voice and student creation in our courses.  There are many, many, excellent sources of information-- content delivery-- on the internet (Khan Academy, iTunes U, etc).  Where GOA has the potential to be unique, and truly innovative, is in fostering the relationships that allow for learning beyond the gates of our schools, in a truly global and on-line environment. 

I'm excited to see what the baby steps we will be taking tomorrow, as a group, to work on this project.  I know that we have just three (and a bit) days together, so we will have to go from baby steps to running pretty quickly.  I am going to spend the rest of my evening polishing the goals and outline of my course thanks to a great template provided by Ms. Darcy Iams. 

End of year. . . beginning of year. . .

The last week of the "regular" school year is bound to feel a little full for those of us involved with summer school!  It has been such a great year, with so many exciting changes and opportunities.  One of the most exciting projects that is on my plate is working with the emerging Global Online Academy this coming year.  The GOA is a collaborative project between ten independent schools from all over the US and the world.  I am going to be teaching a Spanish course as part of the pilot year offerings. 

This project has me thinking hard about how to translate what we do well in our school (and those things for which independent schools are often thought to do well-- and what are those?!) into an exclusively on-line environment.  I will be working with an amazing cohort of teachers at my school who will also be involved in planning and designing courses to offer over the next year or so.  We are all starting to look at these questions and I just can't wait to see how much we all learn over the course of this year!  And, I am thrilled to have the chance to be a part of such an exciting project that is already sparking discussions and interest.