From Drab to Fab:

Designing Dynamic Virtual Discussions

OTRK12 April 1, 2014

photo courtesy of Donna Fry @fryed

http://bit.ly/otrk12_2014

• #otrk12

• bsherry@ugcloud.ca Itinerant Tech Coach

Upper Grand DSB

• @brendasherry – twitter

• brendasherry.com - blog

For today...

A Culture of Thinking

plpnetwork.com

Connected Coaching

Appreciative Inquiry

• positive psychology (Martin Seligman)

• strengths based vs deficit based

• social constructivism

• we are the stories we tell

• we are the dreams we imagine

Evocative Coaching

• change - one conversation at a time

• strengths-based

• design thinking

• appreciative inquiry

• Ruby Red slippers

• Bob & Megan Tschannen-Moran

Designing for online spaces

Kris Hoet on flickr tigweb.org

What does the research say?

• trust

• developing voice

• discourse,

questioning,

accountable talk

• digging deeper with

ideas

• monologue vs

dialogue

• aggregation of

‘stuff’

• parallel

conversations

• me vs us

Katz, Earl and Jaafer

Learning Communities in general:

1. Storytelling and scanning for ideas

2. Aid and assistance

3. Sharing

4. Joint work - shared responsibility for

improving the work of teaching

Steven Katz

In order for joint work to be productive:

• de-privatization

• collective commitment to change

• not about preserving existing understanding

• making thinking explicit, accessible, subject to scrutiny

• quality vs quantity of collaboration (activity traps)

Icebreakers

• getting to know you

• building an online voice

• learning the tools in a non-threatening way

FAQ section

• transparency

• knowledge building

• community

Student Cafe

• make a space for

social

conversations

• model/teach

etiquette in online

spaces

Six Word Stories

● fotoflexer.com

● pixler.com

● photoshop

photo courtesy of Lisa Unger

Adding Audio

Telegami

Voicethread - 2 truths and a lie

What does active listening look like?

What about active listening online?

• Paraphrasing

• Clarifying

• Restating

• Questioning

• Liking – the virtual nod

Scaffolds

• active listening

• asking good questions

• what does effective

feedback look like?

• tiptoeing back through the

work of others

• synthesis of ideas

photo courtesy of Donna Fry

Project Zero http://visiblethinkingpz.org

• Questioning

• Modeling an interest in ideas

• Constructing understanding

• Facilitating and clarifying

thinking

• Listening

• Documenting

Noticing and Wondering

Headlines - Mark Church

I Used to Think...Now I think

What makes you say that?

And other elaboration triggers…

I agree with you because…

I disagree with you because…

Check…

I think…

I believe…

http://theconstructionzone.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/scaffolding-for-deep-understanding/

Have you thought about…

Maybe…

I am confused about…

Another explanation might be…

I don’t understand…