1.1.2 Join a reputable DLC- Digital Learning Community
Perhaps the best way to find a a DLC is through word of mouth. Last summer, at the DEN (Discovery Educator Network) workshop in North Fulton County, a good friend of mine, and fellow "classroom flipper", suggested that I attend EdCamp Atlanta with her. Upon reflection, it was the same friend who invited me to join her at the DEN workshop!
Once you join one DLC, you will have the opportunity within that DLC to learn about and explore other DLC's. I now belong to EDMODO and at least 3 DLC groups within that community as well as EdCamp Atlanta, Discovery Educator's Network, Flipped Learning Network, as well as the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association), which has a phenomenal catalogue of free resources for members as well as non members. (NSTA also has an active listserve where community members request and receive support in a variety of teaching areas, according to major subject taught. I follow the Earth Science, Chemistry, and Physical Science listservs to stay current on new developments and to be able to share my resources with new teachers. Advice: start somewhere and keep looking until you feel that you are well connected and not overly cluttered.
EDMODO.com has been surprisingly resourceful to me as a teacher in search of innovative uses for technology and digital learning in the classroom. Through them, I became aware of (and now use) the following resources: educanon.com (annotate youtube videos and ask questions of your students during the video), read.activelylearn.com (teachers can select web-based articles for students to read and insert questions that are based on the common core for reading/writing that students must answer before proceeding- the piece de la resistance is that students who complete the article can see each other's answers.), and mind-mapping programs such as bubble.us that students can use to graphically organize their thoughts. What I like most about EDMODO is that I am able to monitor and teach my students to practice good digital citizenship as I teach them Earth Science content. It is a win-win situation, and I highly recommend this DLC. Others like it are available, for example, Schoology.com. I chose EDMODO.com for the interactive features and the ability of students to work collaboratively, after demonstrating exemplary digital citizenship. If a student is not exemplary in their online communication, I "put them in time out" by removing them from the group for a couple of days. I then send them an email with the evidence pasted in it and explain their consequences. This works. Students don't want to miss out on what is going on!
A new DLC that I have joined is KhanAcademy.org. This is a tremendous resource and is extremely well organized. I signed up as a teacher and have spend several hours exploring the contents, reviewing lessons, evaluating comments left by users, and taking some of the assessments. So far, this has been a great experience. I would like to hear from other teachers about the effectiveness of using this as a classroom resource by registering your students. (Do they get direct mail from KhanAcademy or its affilates?)
The challenge of getting students to join a DLC can be met in several ways, but the three methods that I have used seem to be most effective for my students.
First- Post an assignment for them to complete or an article for them to read and interpret by leaving comments. This technique captured 98% of my students. The other 2% (total of 4) needed time at school to complete these tasks due to connectivity issues at home or overbooked extracurricular schedules.
Second- Post exemplary student work for commentary by their peers and relate some of your posts to topics that your students love (This year it is a tie between Sherlock and Doctor Who). (Lol- got you, too!) Remember to always get permission via email before posting student work. The sharing of exemplary work and references to trends they follow not only engages student interest, but it promotes higher achievement across all levels of mastery.
Third- Form small online groups within your classes and let them use google docs or the DLC (if service is available) to collaborate on projects. Post the finished project on the DLC for critical review and commentary by peers. (One example of how I have done this is by screen-casting 4 students working on the same Venn Diagram. From beginning to end, it took 45 minutes, and the end product was worthy of "study guide status". The activity was engaging and showed other students how to work collaboratively on a google document.)
The bottom line is this: Start somewhere. Get excited about the DLC, your excitement and engagement will transfer to your students. Try EDMODO or other online community that you can use to model and monitor digital citizenship with your students.
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