Professional development - up close and personal

Last week the #AsiaED slow chat on Twitter, which was moderated by Simon Youd, discussed personalised professional development & professional learning (PD/PL) for teachers. This week Simon is continuing to moderate, but with a different approach, and has set the challenge of creating a post, video, or podcast reflecting on last week's chat. 

By coincidence, it is now exactly 12 months since I started blogging, and so this is an ideal time for me to reflect on the impact blogging has had on my PD/PL over the last year, and whether it will continue to have an impact in the future. My original plan was to blog for a year, just to see if I could write and share my thoughts and reflections on a fairly regular basis. I've managed to do this, averaging over two posts per month on my blog. 

In addition to writing for my own blog, I've also written a number of guest blog posts for other sites, for example here. Contributing posts to community blogs, rather than just to my own, has resulted in some great feedback from teachers around the globe. Sites like BAM Radio Network's EdWords blog, Innovate My School.com, and Pedagoo.org, are all great places to submit pieces to. 

A number of contributors to last week's #AsiaED chat mentioned the importance of creating content, rather than simply being passive consumers of content. This is something that is increasingly recognised as being important for our learners, so why not for us as educators too? I have found blogging to be a useful way to reflect on my practice - what works, what doesn't - and use these reflections to hopefully improve my practice moving forward. So, whilst it began as a bit of an experiment, I plan to continue blogging for the foreseeable future.

Although writing blogs can be time-consuming, I've found I am getting slightly quicker at it. I was also concerned to begin with that I would find it difficult to find material to write about, and occasionally I do publish the odd photoblog! However, another important change for me this year was when, in May, I signed up to Twitter. Since then, interactions and conversations I have had on Twitter have provided inspiration for many of my blog posts, for example here. 

In fact, apart from when I studied for my Masters in Education, Twitter has provided me with the most useful PD/PL I have experienced since becoming a teacher. Education chats on Twitter, such as #DitchBook, #INZPirED, and of course #AsiaED, have proved particularly helpful. There are many educators using Twitter who are incredibly supportive and generous, both with their ideas and resources. So again, Twitter, which for me started out as something of an experiment, will continue to be one of my main go-to places for PD/PL.

Other ways for personalising professional development obviously include attending relevant education conferences. In the last 18 months there have been a couple of useful conferences held locally that I've attended, and these have been helpful. I also gave a presentation at the recent Google in Education Summit here in Bangkok. 

So to summarise, I feel that blogging has helped with my professional development, by providing a concrete way with which to reflect on my teaching. Participating in Twitter education chats has also given me much to think about in terms of PD/PL, as well as a very supportive and helpful PLN. In the coming year I plan to continue blogging, both on my own site and for community blogs, as well as continuing to participate in Twitter education chats. 

I'd be interested to hear others' views on their most effective PD/PL...

Bangkok Google in Education Summit 2015

I guess education conferences are like buses - you wait ages for one, and then two come along at once, hence my second blog post in a row that is a conference report!

Delegates settling in before my presentation.

Last weekend saw the 4th annual Bangkok Google in Education Summit, organised by the team at Apps Events. It was held at the Thai Chinese International School in Bangkok. The main meeting takes place over two days, although there is a pre-summit course for people who are taking one of the various educator certifications offered by Google. There was an additional session, towards the of the event, by my colleague James Sayer, and Davis Apas, which explored these various certifications, including Google Certified Educator, Innovator, and Trainer. 

It was my second time at this event, but my first as a presenter. My talk - 'Becoming a connected educator' - was by coincidence very timely, since when I submitted the topic I was unaware that October is Connected Educator month! My presentation began with an overview of what constitutes a connected educator, followed by a look at how blogging and Twitter can be useful tools for getting connected as an educator, and finished with reflections on my own journey towards becoming a connected educator and how this has been beneficial for my practice. 

In my experience these events are generally less formal than more traditional academic conferences, and there was a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Each day kicked off with a keynote speech, which on the first day was a brief overview of some emerging trends in education, such as Genius Hour and Solve X in Ed. The following day the keynote looked at the increasing importance of cloud-based computing, and noted that the top ten strategic technology trends in 2015 are related to cloud technology.

Lee Webster's Solve X in Ed 'Moonshot' - Get rid of final exams.

Following the keynote speech each day there were various parallel sessions lasting an hour each, differentiated by skill and experience levels, about various aspects of educational technology. Although the focus was on Google apps and tools, it was not exclusively so, and lots of different tricks and tips could be picked up over the course of the weekend. For example I heard about a few different apps that I am going to try out, including Plickers, a tool for collecting real-time formative assessment, and Zaption, a tool that can be used to turn videos into self-study lessons. 

Another tool that was demonstrated, and which I've known about for a while but not yet tried, was Flubaroo, which can again be used for rapid formative assessment. It has some additional new features, including an option for grading text-based questions as well as multiple choice questions, and is something I hope to try out next semester. The first day ended with a demo-slam, where delegates were invited to share what they learned that day in two minutes, with prizes available for the winning demo-slams. 

On the second day there was a useful talk around the use of Google forms for student peer to peer feedback. This is something I will definitely use, and is something I see as being a useful way for students to peer assess each others' presentations, for example. The other really great tool, presented by Lee Webster, was Google's My Maps. This is essentially a lightweight GIS package, which is extremely user-friendly and easy to use. I would highly recommend any teachers that incorporate any kind of relatively simple mapping activities to check this tool out. I plan to use it as an addition to the urban biodiversity project I have my students do. 

All in all, these Google in Education events are a great way to hear about new tools, new ways to incorporate them into teaching, and to meet like-minded educators in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. 

Satit Patumwan Academic Conference 2015

Last weekend saw my school’s annual academic conference in Pattaya, Thailand. 

This event is held at the end of each school year, and involves various seminars and workshops to reflect on the previous academic year and consider new approaches for the coming year.

In the morning there were seminars on classroom action research and the development of a student information database.

In the afternoon we met by grade level to discuss classroom management issues – what worked for teachers in the previous year, and what new strategies teachers may adopt the following year.

There was also a discussion at the end around the use of mobile technology in the classroom. A range of opinions was shared and it became apparent that this is an area that will be generating new and unexpected challenges and opportunities for the foreseeable future.