Digital Literacy Collaboration


Maybe you're wondering: What is digital literacy? 

PROJECT UPDATE 3.2012:
Class 62 & Heidi Siwak win The Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Teaching & Learning. YAY! Read more here

I'm really honored to do my small part and collaborate with Heidi Siwak & class 62 in Canada, Ian Chia in Australia & Esa Heltulla in Finland on the project based learning experience, I LIVE OVER HERE- A DIY APP.  What a dedicated group of DIGITAL LITERACY pioneers.  This whole collaboration began on twitter and spilled over into "real life."  This is truly a testatment to the power of social media & what we can do together to change education.

Teachers like Heidi & innovators like Ian & Esa are defining what the 21st century classroom looks like: collaborative, participatory and fun!

Heidi Siwak and her class 62 in Dundas, Ontario are creating an Augmented Reality App for the iphone and documenting the entire process on her blog: THE AMYRILLIS.


There is also a I LIVE OVER HERE - DIYapp wiki here.

from the wiki:
Class 62 in Dundas are creating their own iPhone app - they're choosing and writing all the content based on locations around the city of Dundas in Canada, creating all the artwork, photography and interface design. Their goal is to create their own iPhone app to be published on the App Store in a few months.
Along the way - this project will expose them to a range of real world experiences - thinking about their ideal audience and how to write and market Dundas to them. They're learning about mathematics used in photograph and digital design and global positioning systems. They're learning about geography and social studies in their own city. The potential for studying basic astronomy and science involved with geo-satellites used in mapping may be explored. They're learning about software design and content management systems and databases that are used in the iPhone app. They're creating art and design and talking to the digital artist @CynthiaJabar. 

Most of all - they're having fun, making stuff and collaborating with each other and others across the world.

Our hope is that we all learn from each other, and potentially create an extension of this app so that we can open the system up to other classrooms around the world from 3rd graders upwards to middle school and high school students. We can imagine an app that allows many classrooms to create their own content, and download the contributions from other classes of children and youth from around the world. Ideally - the app would have a body of creative-commons licenced curriculum behind it for many grade levels, so that we can open up participation for learners of multiple ages.
If you'd like to be involved in this discussion of where this experiment is going and how you might like to be involved in further apps for your own class, please feel free to email @ianchia so he can create a wiki account for you to edit and contribute content here - other educators are very welcome to participate in this wiki. Being Prudence would like to hear and discuss your ideas in the open - that way, everyone can benefit. As well, Heidi is blogging about the experience of Class 62 on an ongoing basis and welcomes comments from others.



ENGAGING KIDS
During a Skype session with the students from class 62 asked me: "why do you want to help us?" My answer: I truly believe we all need to do our part, no matter how small,  to reach out and inspire and share our creativity with the children in our lives.  I am simply doing my part.  Of course it's just plain fun & inspiring hanging out with kids too!  I am learning so much from this collaboration as well.  I'm in turn taking what I have learned from them and sharing these digital literacy skills and insights with the children in my life. 

We all know digital literacy in the 21st century is not a luxury.

Here are some comments from the kids in class 62 Heidi posted on the Amaryillis blog.

"Being able to contribute to the app project has made me feel like I was important.  Emily and I cropped pictures on photoshop which was a big part of the project.  It was fun, but a lot of work." -Carlie

 "We have been able to have experts help with the app, like Cynthia and Ian when they gave us really good information and helped us along the way.  If we weren't connected we wouldn't have been able to do this project.  Skyping with people like Dr. B, Ian and Cynthia wouldn't have been possible.  Being able to work on an app project is different from normal projects because we get to connect with people around the world. Working with professionals has been so amazing for me.  How we got to talk with them via Skype and Twitter ... it is just so cool!"- Justin C

 "Technology has helped us connect to the world because with technology it shows other teachers or even  students what we are learning and how we are learning. We are sharing and connecting different ideas about the use of technology." -Sydney


The iPhone app, I Live Here will be published fall 2011. 
You can follow us on twitter @ianchia, @heidisiwak, @idevbooks, @cynthiajabar.
HASHTAG: #DIYapp

ABOUT IAN CHIA 
Ian is the founder of Being Prudence and the one who started all these shenanigans in the first place.  He is passionate about making thoughtful and enticing learning experiences for children and their families.
Ian is married to his magnificent wife Carrie and is the proud father of his daughters Grace (11) and Ella (8) and Felicity (0 or 6.75 depending on how grownup you are).
Most of Ian's friends consider him to be a very creative geeky dad, but truthfully his two favourite tech appliances are his hot glue gun and his pressure cooker.
FOLLOW: @ianchia

ABOUT ESA HELTTULA
iDevBooks math apps are designed and made by me in Espoo, Finland.

I have been a researcher of algorithm visualization at the University of Tampere where I designed educational applications that made complex algorithms more accessible to computer science students.

The Finnish Society of Computer Science gave me the Annual Finnish Master’s Thesis Award for my thesis on algorithm visualization in 1988.

When I was looking for a Column Addition app for my daughter. I was surprised to find out that there were no apps that teach the basics like column addition, column subtraction, long division and long multiplication in an easy way.

I had designinged programs for visualizing algorithms for computer science students and I decided to use that knowledge to make great teaching and learning apps for children and everybody who wants to study math.

You wil find my apps by choosing the math apps -link. You can use the endorsements -link to find testimonials by teachers.
FOLLOW: @idevbooks

ABOUT HEIDI SIWAK
Heidi Siwak has made it her life’s mission to make learning more exciting, more engaging, more collaborative and most of all … more outside the classroom!  Harnessing the power of technology and social media, Heidi is creating brand new models of learning and teaching, and uses her Grade 6 classroom as a laboratory in which her students teach her as much as she teaches them.  Using platforms such as Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Skype and gaming Heidi and her students are finding ways to connect with experts around the world, test the validity of information and ideas, and expand the scope of intellectual exploration and creativity.  And, they are having a ton of fun while they are doing it.  The results have been astounding and inspiring. After 20 years as an elementary and middle school teacher of Language, Social Studies and French, Heidi is developing a new understanding of what it means to be a teacher in the 21st century. She shares her discoveries through her blog, “21 Century Classroom: The Amaryllis”.


App titude for learning rscon3 heidi siwak
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FOLLOW: @heidisiwak
BLOG: heidisiwak.blogspot.com

Heidi will shared her experience at RASCON3 Sunday, July 31st, 2011, 05:30 (5:30am) LA Time.  Sunday, July 31st, 08:30 (8:30am) NY time.
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