About

= W2W PLP project: = = Virtual connections =

Schools involved:
Woodford Primary School Warrnambool College

Premise:
As members of our group work across upper primary and lower secondary classes, we want to explore how best to use technology to assist transition and connections between Primary and Secondary schooling. This may take the form of various expressions of technology (see below), but the focus remains to link students between Woodford and Warrnambool in order to develop a greater understanding of the learning that occurs in the middle years of schooling. It is expected that this will benefit both students and teachers alike.

Technology to use:
Whilst not limited to this, some forms of technology that we may use to connect students to one another include: · Blogs (Global Teacher / Global Student) – students from both school settings reflect on learning done in their classroom context and view each other’s blogs to gain an insight into the different practices in a primary and secondary setting. This would be done regularly and would hopefully not be an ‘add on’ to current teaching practice. We like the concept of establishing ‘blog buddies’ where students are paired or grouped between the schools to develop a more personal understanding of one another. · Ning – established to link classrooms with each other. As primary students cannot edit the ning (under 13 y.o.) it’s use may be limited to overall classroom reflections on the project. ·  Wiki (wikispaces) – set up to link student blogs in one space across the two schools and if needed a collaborative workspace on learning projects across the two schools. Could also be used to embed video or audio reflections created by each school. · Podcasts (Audacity ??) – Each class involved to create podcasts pertaining to ‘a day in the life of …’ or reflections on current learning or specific tasks (such as intro to Indonesian language). These could be rendered then posted onto wiki (either directly or hosted on internet) for each school to access. For some podcasts this may involve work outside classroom curriculum. · Vodcasts (Movie Maker ??) – as for podcasts but in video format. Vodcasts to be embedded in wiki (hosted on Teacher Tube or equivalent) · Social bookmarking (Delicious) – could provide students with the ability to share favourite websites. Could setup specific tag (W2W) to RSS feed onto Ning to collect student bookmarking related to project. · Social interface / interactions (Edmodo) – could establish virtual classroom across schools that students could use as a mini-blogging / communication tool with teacher moderation / direction. Edmodo also allows for projects to be assigned which could be worked on outside school time. · Virtual conferencing (Skype or Elluminate) – provide real-time opportunities for classes to virtually interact with one another, either to ask questions relating to different experiences of schooling or to collaborate on joint projects. Skype could be used for whole classroom catchups, whilst Elluminate could be booked via Department room to host sessions outside class time (sessions to focus on specific theme) · Feedback (Survey Monkey) – ensure that we give students (and ourselves) to opportunity to reflect on the usefulness of the virtual connections and learnings generated by the project. Use these results to share with others in PLP (and within regional network) the success or otherwise of activities and processes trialled.

Suggested timeline:
Term 3: When || What || Who || Week 8 31st August || Clarify project goals Agree on initial project activities || All || Week 9 7th September || Speak to relevant classes about project Ask for volunteers to create short vodcast / podcast on aspect of school life (canteen, lockers, netbooks, etc.) Establish Ning and Wiki || Dave, Gault, Vince

Kerry, Rohan || Week 10 14th September || Create vodcast / podcast and upload onto wiki Run 15 min Skype session (x 2 – Woodford to link up with Gault and Vince’s class) to introduce students to one another || Dave, Gault, Vince ||

Term 4: When || What || Who || Week 1 5th October || Set up blogs for students and establish ‘blog buddies’ across classrooms Conduct Elluminate session during class time – discussion to follow set topic (relevant to Woodford and Warrnambool class) || Dave, Gault, Vince

Dave, Gault, Vince, Rohan || Week 2 12th October || Introduce ‘Delicious’ to students and encourage them to tag relevant websites to ‘W2W’ to RSS feed onto Ning site. Set up RSS feed on Ning to capture W2W tags Students blog at least once during week (provide focus) || Dave, Gault, Vince

Rohan || Week 3 19th October || Use wiki to introduce ‘peer coaching’ opportunity on a relevant area of the curriculum for Warrnambool College classrooms (over 3 weeks). Students blog at least once during week (provide focus) || Dave, Gault, Vince || Week 4 26th October || Set up edmodo for ‘W2W class’ and encourage discussion across virtual classroom around topic / theme. Conduct Elluminate session for all interested students after school one night (around peer coaching activity). Ensure students know how to use edmodo for continuing the discussion. Students blog at least once during week (provide focus) || Dave, Gault, Vince

Dave, Rohan, Kerry || Week 5 2nd November || Finish ‘peer coaching’ activity between classrooms. Students blog at least once during week (provide focus) || Dave, Gault, Vince || Week 6 9th November || Create survey monkey on-line survey. Create vodcast / podcast on reflections of what students have learnt during the virtual connections made between the schools – upload onto wiki (could also allow for written reflections on wiki). Students blog at least once during week (provide focus) || Rohan Dave, Gault, Vince || Week 7 16th November || Students view range of learning reflections on wiki and compare to their own reflections. Students give feedback via survey monkey. || Dave, Gault, Vince ||