All I want for Christmas...is YOU!

So I was enjoying a bit of festive fun with Mariah Carey on YouTube the other day (again! I need to re-visit my musical tastes…) when I started to think about what a little fluff ball like me might want for Christmas.  I wonder if Santa will even make it to my dusty computer?  If he does, I’d be stoked if he left me an iPad, or a mini video camera, or a new smartphone, or an interactive whiteboard to play with. Or at least maybe a few software upgrades?

But then I got to thinking about what I’ve done this year without much of this new stuff at all - in fact mostly with just a normal computer, free software, websites and a quite leisurely internet connection!  I’ve tweeted over 220 times, followed almost 100 people and been followed by nearly 80 (fluff only knows why!), uploaded 10 videos to Vimeo, blogged 14 times and started a Facebook page. Once I started sharing ideas, I learned how to record my screen, make videos, share videos, connect with new people online and made heaps of mistakes along the way!

So what now? I want to get better at it. I want to see what happens more in classrooms, and why technology does or doesn’t fit in different situations. I want to keep things simple, but not lose sight of the important details. I want to listen more carefully to advice and ideas and think about the best ways to share them. If Santa brings me new gadgets that would be fun, but I don’t think they’re as important as making connections with people and ideas. As my friend the Dalai Lama says,

"we need awareness of the ways we are connected with others, reflecting on the characteristics we share with others”

Clever chap, that one. Cheeky smile too :-)

Thanks for reading (and writing and listening and clicking and downloading…), and here’s to discovering together - whatever the next year brings!

Of heroes and villains

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles" (Christopher Reeve)

Heroes are very interesting, aren’t they? At least people in teaching seem to think they are, if the number of hero/villain topics in course books are anything to go by! Here’s a typical ‘everyday hero’ lesson which is actually quite interesting when you add the real-life bit with the YouTube clips and news reports and things. There are also heaps of terrible songs about heroes and even worse videos (Mariah Carey and Enrique Inglesias, you know who you are!) – though if you’re teaching ‘would you...’ second conditionals Enrique is your man. Personally I’m a retro kinda fluffball, and choose Bette Midler every time (how many tenses are in this song? Wow!). But I digress...

People like to call teachers heroes too, and Ken Wilson did a couple of really interesting blog posts about ELT heroes which lots of people commented on and are worth a read. Heaps of people I recognise from Twitter too. Isn’t it funny though, that technology swings loads between being a hero and villain? Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are heroes one day (yay! New iPad!) and villains the next (boo! They’re taking over! And my iPad won’t work...) and it’s often the same with technology activities. When it works, we’re all like ‘yay, how fluffy does my Wordle look!’ and students gasp in wonder at how the clever teacher created an instant poll they could vote for using their mobile phones. When it goes wrong, though, you better run ‘cause the evil technology demons are in trouble! Where did that amazing video I found go when I clicked the link in class? Why did my perfect Pecha Kucha not save properly? I HATE TECHNOLOGY!

It’s times like these when I get all philosophical and like to search quotes websites for inspiration. Here’s one from random 18^th century Swiss chap Johann Kaspar Lavater:

“the prudent see only the difficulties, the bold only the advantages, of a great enterprise; the hero sees both; diminishes the former and makes the latter preponderate, and so conquers”

In my fluffy interpretation, I think this is true of tech too; those who use it best figure out how to minimise difficulties and keep it simple, whilst making the most of its good points – the engaging, the fun, the up-to-date stuff. I leave you with some final words from author Laurence Shames. I have no idea who he is either, but I like the words: 

“ Success and failure. We think of them as opposites, but they’re really not. They’re companions – the hero and the sidekick”

Learning Curves and Swerving Learning

"Hey baby, you really got my tail in a spin...hey baby, I don't even know where to begin..."
I've been thinking a lot lately about the ups and downs of learning to integrate technology into teaching and learning. My fluffy instincts and short life experience tell me there's a huge, exhilarating learning curve when you discover a new tool or website and you find all these new things to do with it. Then your belly drops through the floor when you get to the top and see how far down it is - and how much there is left to learn!

I had a peek recently at Marisa Constantinides' blog and conveniently for me she's just been thinking about something similar when she trains teachers. It sounds like huge 'tech dumps' of information don't really help, and lead to some teachers labelling technology with that 'I'll get to that when I have some spare time' sticker. Spare time? When you find a teacher who has spare time, come see me and I'll eat my fluff.
Anyway, her thought was to get little bits of tech in throughout the course activities and then reflect on what had been used and why, which seemed to work. Kind of like hiding the vegetables in a pasta sauce, then going 'hey kids, you just ate broccoli! How tasty was that?'.

http://blog.jeromeparadis.com/

And for students? Keep it simple, relevant and regular. A diary in English is such as useful thing (I love my blog for reflecting on stuff) and it can be as simple as updating your status in English once a day on Facebook or Twitter. Those who want more can explore audio diaries (Audioboo), video diaries (check privacy settings whatever you recommend) or even a blog like this if they really love writing.
The important thing? Like any skill, a little everyday, as part of your routine, is much easier to maintain than huge one-off tasks, and will keep that learning curve moving gently upwards, without the big drop-off at the end! And when it feels too hard? "Life is a rollercoaster, you just gotta ride it!" (thanks Ronan) - strap yourself in, throw your arms up and enjoy the ride!

The Vacuum: Part 2 (suck it up!)

At the end of my last blog, I said I'd been thrown right back into the craziness - and almost shuffled back into that vacuum cleaner for a bit of peace! Instead I girded my fluff and hitched a ride to the English Australia conference, where I hoped to get excited again about exploring and connecting with other people.

It was a massive fluffy shock for me, I have to say! As well as talking about teaching and learning, there were presentations about business, marketing, visas, government and regulations - who knew there was so much going on in the background whilst teachers and students are working away in the classroom? I decided to ignore a lot of it for fear of getting overwhelmed again, although I might have gone a bit too far the other way when I had a drink that evening...

I also saw a presentation about using technology that compared it to an adventure, looking at '6 impossible things' - something to do with a girl called Alice who explored 'Wonderland'. Sounded like she was copying me, actually, but without the fluff. Anyway, she did have some good ideas, and because I'd just had some delicious Rocky Road I especially liked her one about 'a cake that can make you grow'.
 

It wasn't dieting advice (though I am a little over-fluffed after those treats), but about how technology and social networking can help teachers develop and learn new things.

So, in the spirit of getting out of the vacuum, I'm re-connecting and asking everyone, "what's the technology 'cake' that made you grow this year?". Email navitarconnects@gmail.com,  drop your ideas in the comments below, or tweet using #6thingscake so I can find it!

The Vacuum: Part 1

After my amazing time at the Big Day In I was on a massive fluffy high after meeting so many people and learning so much. Pretty soon, though, I came crashing down to my dusty computer again. How could I possible use all the ideas I'd heard? Which ones were best? Where could I start? And why couldn't I get my computer to even turn on?

I went for a stroll to calm down and get my fluff straight, but then disaster struck! It was evening, the cleaners were around, I got too curious and too close to that evil vacuum cleaner and - schlooop! - I was in the vacuum before you could say 'dustballs'! I wasn't sure if I'd been sucked up by mistake or not, but after a while, once the dust had settled, I actually started to relax and enjoy myself. So peaceful in there without phones, computers or people! Even if it was a bit dusty *cough*. I even found time to read this book about going on a 'Digital Diet' and managing technology better.

I had some dark thoughts in there, for sure, and for a while I considered stopping my explorations in technology altogether. In the meantime, though, someone got the message out that I was trapped, and there was a vote about whether I should be saved! Amazing! I was so sparkly and fluffed up when I heard people wanted me to come out.

It reminded me that it's the people, the ideas and the connections I make through technology that count - not the technology itself. Sounds simple, but I needed that time alone to figure it out and find my fluffy mojo again. Since I got out, I've been thrown straight back into the craziness...but more of that in Part 2!

Fluff or snuff?

Big Day In: Best Day Ever!

Last Friday I was at the Navitas English Big Day In, and it was fluffin’ amazing! I met hundreds of teachers and people who work in different places, saw heaps of presentations on teaching and technology and even appeared on the big screen myself! How embarrassing!

Prashant Hari

There were so many different presentations and activities I can’t possibly mention them all. There was some great stuff on ‘Digital Literacies’ and mobile learning (mlearning) from my friend Gavin Dudeney, and lots more detail on Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) that Mark Pegrum and I didn’t manage to discuss when we did our interview. There was some fluff-raising research on social media from Prashant Hari too, and heaps of examples from teachers who are using Facebook, wikis, video, social media and all kinds of websites to help their students learn English!

I tried to get involved myself during the day, and tweeted when I could. People also wrote ‘real’ tweets on my tail and some took me home too. I hope their children don’t eat me – eek! I even got a new hairstyle or two once people figured out my fluff isn’t as solid as it looks. Not sure the koala-style is for me!

I listened to a lot of conversations during the day and as well as lots of excitement, there were a few worrying things I heard. Some people think that technology is only for your learners or certain types of students, which seems weird to me – isn’t it part of everyone’s lives now, from job-hunting to finding love online?? I also heard some people complain that there was too much information, which I understand but I think the world moves pretty quick now and we have to find ways of filtering and analysing what’s out there. Imagine what it’s like for me –I’ve only been exploring since March!

On the plus side, I found out that when you dig deep into the fluff, everyone knows something about technology and nobody knows everything. I think what I’ll remember from Friday is that everybody is still learning and anyone can have a go. The most important thing is to keep your ears, eyes and mind open, talk to other people and be part of the conversation, whether it’s online or face-to-face. If I'm not trying it, how can I know if it’s useful or not?

I’d better go as I can hear the cleaner coming with the vacuum and if there’s one thing us dusty types hate, it’s those pesky sweeping things and vacuum cleaners! Oh…wait…*cough*…he’s coming in here? *cough* No one comes in here! Wait! *cough* No…I haven’t finished…turn that thing off! *cough* Help!



Frustrations, Facebook and friends in the fluff...



Gavin Dudeney

 Things are so up and down these days! One day I'm all sparkly and I think I've finally got the hang of things, and then I try something new, get confused and I go all grey and negative again.
After watching too many videos a while ago, I decided I needed some face-to-fluff interaction, so I got in touch with Mr Dudeney from The Consultants-E. We had a lovely chat over a coffee about how to get started with technology and I felt much better. The video I made of the conversation is here.

My Facebook Page

Then I set up a Facebook page because I noticed lots of students use it all the time in the computer room, and I wanted to see what they meant when they said 'Facebook me'! It sounded quite painful. I couldn't have my own profile becuase apparently I don't appear to be a real person *cough* but I could have a 'page' which people can 'like' if they want to see what I'm up to now and then.

Mark Pegrum

I was still a bit befluffled by the whole Facebook thing, so I went to another nice chap called Mr Pegrum, a clever man who works very far away at the University of Western Australia. He told me about PLNs (Personal Learning Networks) which can include Twitter and Facebook, but also real people and resources. He also told me about some pages I can 'like' from my own page, so I can see updates and ideas from other people using technology for learning. You can watch the video of our chat here.

I still find everything quite overwhelming, despite all the help I'm getting from everyone. One problem I have is remembering all the useful sites people have recommended to me. I started writing them down but mis-spelled all the long URLs, so then I copied and pasted them into a Word document but forgot where I saved it. Now I've set up an account on Diigo, where I can save links to websites, and add notes and highlight bits I think are interesting. I hope it helps! I'm off there now to watch my favourite Dusty Springfield video..."I don't know what to do with myself....don't know just what to do with myself..."

Video killed the Navitar!

Oh...my...fluff. What a crazy few weeks it's been! My eyes are dry, my fluff is all dusty because I haven't left the computer room, and I think I'm hallucinating too as I thought I saw a zillion little Navitars marching past the window yesterday...

I've been exploring video websites, and what a ride it's been! I've watched more funny cat videos on YouTube than you can shake your fluff at, strained my tiny brain by watching much bigger brains on http://www.ted.com/ and seen some amazing animation and uploaded my own videos on http://www.vimeo.com/.
I think YouTube is great. You can find anything on YouTube, from teaching videos by Scott Thornbury (I saw him on Twitter!) to how to reset a Flipcam when it freezes! You can also see useful stuff for people learning English like the BBC Flatmates series.

TED hurts my brain but shows me what experts and famous people think about lots of issues like the environment, science and of course technology. Because I'm exploring things like Facebook and Twitter, I found this talk about 'Filter bubbles' really interesting, but this song about sharing online was really fun too! Funnily enough, it's on YouTube too!

Finally, I love Vimeo because it's where my videos live. It's a super-creative space where you can see things like this 12-minute film 'Zero'. It was actually a bit scary, and because I'm a ball of fluff I really understand how the little stringy guys feel.

Finally, here are my tips for how not to get overwhelmed by all the great video out there:

1. Plan how much time you want to watch for, and stick to it!
2. If you find a film useful, email it, tweet it or post the link on Facebook. Make sure you say what it is and why you like it, so that other people can decide if they want to watch it without wasting their time
3. Have some fun by making your own! I use a really easy Flipcam and the free Moviemaker thing because that's all I have, but you can use anything! You can probably make a film on your mobile phone right now!

Talking of which, I made a new film this week. More on that soon....

Two more twitter tips

It's been a super-busy few weeks for me. I have a few more new followers on Twitter and I've had lots to explore to try and answer questions from people who are still getting used to new things, like me. I'm trying to be helpful but I'm just having a go myself and then I tell people what I found. I hope that's okay!

Twitter is great, and is teaching me heaps, but I've been getting a bit dizzy with all the information on there! Last week I found really useful things like URL shorteners (I like http://www.bit.ly/ and http://www.is.gd/). These are handy because you only have 140 letters in a tweet, and often a website address can be really long! I made a quick video to show what I do here.

One thing I've also noticed is that after you follow more than 100 people, it feels like quite a lot of information if you want to quickly look at your Twitter stream, or newsfeed, or whatever you call it. One tip I saw was that you can make 'lists' to categorise people you follow. If you follow some teachers, for example, you could make a list called 'teachers' and add them to it. Then you can just choose to look at that list if you want to quickly see what they're talking about. Or you can just do what I do and try to read everything, then get confused and hide behind your computer until it goes away.

I've seen heaps of really good videos recently, so I'm going to explore some video-sharing websites in the next week or two and see what I can learn. Wish me luck! 

New friends and new finds on Twitter

It's Friday already! The week goes so fast when you're exploring all the time *cough*. I get so dizzy sometimes from all the new things I'm looking at and next thing I know it's the weekend and everyone is going home again *sigh*...

This week I've been really trying to get my tail into Twitter and sharing what I'm doing. I had a go at following new people and practised how to do a reply and retweet. I think I did okay.

Then I had a go at exploring #ELTchat and discovered that there are heaps of transcripts and summaries of past conversations on their website. I made another video of that and found some really nice music in Soundcloud that was okay for me to use because it's licensed under a Creative Commons thing. I need to explore that more later, because it's a bit complicated for me right now.
I have some new followers on Twitter too! A big fluffly hello to @morgan2morgan, @kimmy_tee, @zeusmeister10, @cherrymp, @louisekane2, @kzaneh, @conniefessler, @gracehyh, @barbsaka and everyone else! I had one or two funny tweeps follow me who were tweeting about naughty things but I just blocked them and they can't follow me any more! Easy! *sparkle*
Excited about what I might explore next week, but for now I'm super-tired. Think I'll have a snooze behind my old computer

Gremlins?

Ooh, golly, I’m in trouble now! After I got a bit wet in the rain the other week, I started to feel a bit funny. Next thing I knew, there were 2 of me! And then 4 of me! I fluffled off and hid behind the computer in my dust where I feel safe. I waited as long as I could for the sounds of multiplying fluff and tweeting tails to stop, and when I looked out again, I was everywhere! I was so frightened by the multiple me that I closed my eyes very tight and went grey so they wouldn’t see me.

After a while I ventured out from behind my old computer and had a look. They were gone! All of them! I thought I saw a little white tail fluffling off to the teachers’ room but I didn’t dare follow.

Now I’ve noticed there are people in Parramatta and Cabramatta who have started following me on Twitter and making friends with me, even though I’ve never met them before. I wonder if the other Navitars have gone travelling…?

Finding my feet (under the fluff!)

Just watching and fluffling about!



 It's been a long time since I last wrote my diary, but I've been exploring so much I've barely had time to cough! Here's what happened. My feet are a bit sticky and I was just fluffling around one day in my usual spot behind the old computer when I got stuck to someone's shoe! Suddenly I was hitching a ride away from my dusty spot and into a classroom. At least I think it's a classroom - I couldn't see much from under the desk but I saw a pair of feet at the front and it sounded like there were students doing lots of fun things! Some of them were talking in other languages too, which seemed to make the teacher angry.
I'm not sure what happened next but I fell off the shoe and had to stick myself to the hem of someone's jeans to get out. Now I'm in a room full of computers and I'm watching what the students are doing to try and learn what I should do. At the moment, most of them are looking at something called Facebook with lots of pictures of people and they're typing little comments and having tiny conversations with them! How funny!

If you want to find out more about me (I get confused sometimes), have a look at my last two diary entries...

Exploring with the blue bird

Tweet tweet! *cough*

*cough* Twitter! It’s called Twitter! There are millions of people on there – I think you call them twits. Some of them are followed by millions of other people, especially if you’re famous and are a relative of the queen like Lady Gaga. I started to explore by following people, and I’m learning from them every day. Now there are 18 people who follow ME – and I don’t even know where I’m going! *cough*

One thing I learned about Twitter is that people show you useful things all the time. Some people just talk about their favourite shoes and people they don’t like, but lots of people show me articles they read or videos they liked that they think I will like too. My favourite twits at the moment are @TEDtalks and @GOOD – there’s so much to learn just on these websites!

I live somewhere where people speak lots of languages, but they also speak English. I don’t understand everything they say, so I’m following some people on Twitter to help me. There’s a nice lady called @shellterrell who seems to know lots and lives in Germany, and @cioccas seems very friendly – she lives in Australia like me. Then there’s @Marisa_C – I think she’s the president of Twitter and lives in Greece. She showed me that if I type #eltchat I can find heaps of things about learning – just what I need for exploring the world! *shimmer* so excited! *sparkle*

I am Navitar

*cough* I am Navitar. I appeared on 3rd March 2011 when some balls of dust behind a disused computer were rolled together by a draft from the door. I'm not sure why I'm here, and I want to find out. I'm trying to make contact with someone - anyone - and this old computer is all I have.

I found a picture of a blue bird on the computer just after I appeared. I can write short messages to the bird, but I don't know if anyone can read them. People follow me, but how do they know where I'm going? I follow other people, but I don't know where they're going either.

I'm keeping this diary too. Maybe no one will read it, but that's okay. If the door shuts tomorrow and the dust comes apart again, at least someone will know I was here.

Life is confusing when you're a ball of dust *cough*