Several months ago, one of my Social Media students, Freya Kellet (who I fondly describe as the equal to 5 high-functioning adults) suggested a 24 hour international online conference as a possible class project. At the time, I dismissed the idea as over the top and beyond our class’s capabilities. I was kind, but dismissive of Freya’s suggestion…we had real work to do!
Since Freya first made her suggestion lots has happened with our class; we received a provincial grant and have been busy planning a 3 day student led, Digital Citizenship conference for students, parents and teachers in School District 23. We have made presentations to district administrators, the district BYOD committee and our director of instruction on the topic of Digital Citizenship. Students worked incredibly hard to make polished, professional presentations to suit an adult audience. At each presentation I was bursting with pride to see them making their learning visible! Their commitment, their vision, the vigor of their learning was evident! The response has been overwhelmingly positive and we have received support and encouragement from our district for this student initiated project. We are excited to be partnering with our district in hosting the conference, SoMe Summit:Co-constructing Our Digital Futures, which will be held November 20, 21, 22. We are also excited that Dr Alec Couros will be working with us for these 3 days.
Luckily for me, Freya is a focused and determined 15-year-old. She did not give up on her dream of having a global conversation with other students on how they can change education, one small action at a time. During a Google hangout our class did with Dr. Alec Couros, to find our direction in the large topic of Digital Citizenship, he suggested we might consider doing a project that tapped our networks. We could then use the project as an example of the power of Social Media. WELL…that was opening…it seems that Freya’s dream was destined to be.
Here we are little more than 2 weeks since that conversation and we are excited to launch our plan to host a 24 hour online youth-sourced conference, that we are calling #moocon24 (Massive Open Online 24 Hour Conference). Below is a brief intro video for this student visioned project. It is interesting to note that this project unintentionally aligns with many of the internationally recognized ISTE NETS for Students.
If you know any teachers in your network who have a class or student group (aged 13 to 18) locally or internationally and might be interested in such a project please pass onto them. If you have any ideas or insights for our project we would love to hear them!
If you’d like to learn more about this project visit the #moocon24 website.
A Fine Balance 