This series will be all about the conferences, summits and professional learning communities that we believe everyone should check out. First off is DEEP LEARNING CONFERENCES. The conferences they organise all over world allows everyone to discover, engage, experience, and participate with their discovery and deep dive sessions. There will be conferences happening in Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia early 2016 so check out their website at DeepLearners.com for more information.
Second is AppsEvents. The summits they organise teach educators practical uses of Google tools. They also go beyond summits as they offer online courses as well as certification courses for Google Apps Admins and Google Educators. Check out their website at AppsEvents.com to learn more.
Conferences, summits and other professional learning communities are a great way to meet people, build a network or community, start a collaborative project and more. Some of the members of GEG West Bangkok started out as attendees but now have been part of these conferences and summits as presenters. The growth and opportunity has been tremendous not just for them but to the people around them.
+Wesley Przybylski+Sean Thompson+Dan Taylor+James Sayer
The initiative of Thirsty Thursdays has been gaining a lot more momentum lately and thus we would love for you to join us!
What is "Thirsty Thursdays? What are we thirsty for? Why do we do this?" Well let me answer those questions for you. First off, Thirsty Thursdays is an initiative by Various GEG's and GEG members based in Bangkok Thailand. As we have a lot of talented Educators based in this vibrant City, the idea behind Thirsty Thursdays is that we would share this knowledge and basically show our 'Thirst' for knowledge! On selected Thursdays we sign up and get together for a Hangouts on Air and broadcast this session live for the world to view! Most of us will present or 'slam' and demonstrate a useful and helpful EdTech feature, app or function. If you would like to watch some of our previous HOA Sessions: You can find them by subscribing to the following YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBA5QAoxkud7BiyifAgnHvQ We of course love to welcome other educators to join with us during these sessions and they are By NO MEANS limited to GEG West Bangkok Members. If you would like to join one of our Thursdays let us know! We send out sign up forms ahead of time and the more the merrier! As a matter of fact Our next Thirsty Thursdays will be next Thursday at 7 PM Bangkok Time! If you are ready to share some of your knowledge or are thirsty for tips and tricks please join us and fill out the form below:
We are all looking forward to having you join our next events, either as presenter or viewer.
When educators are doing joining advanced activities, discussing deep topics and are sharing in lessons on Bee-Bots and Pro-Bots which are meant to be for early years students, then you know that they are enjoying their learning!
Fun was just part of the learning and sharing that happened during the event. There were a lot of discussions and a lot of student-led learning where the students this time were the educators themselves.
About 9 different schools were represented - 5 government schools, 2 private schools and 2 international schools, from early years to high school up to vocational studies. We started off with a brief overview of what GEGs are and why we are doing this event then proceeded with the BIG idea session.
What's the BIG Idea?
Basically, this session was like an idea factory where everyone was given the chance to come up with a good (or bad) idea to improve the community we are in in terms of education. This kind of served as an exercise. Here are some of the ideas the participants came up with:
Living in the trash island
Giving each student in class compliments before starting (everyday)
Eliminating exams
Better management of classes
Change Management and potential issues with this
Exploring Programmable Floor Robots with Bee-Bots and Pro-Bots
Bee-bots are a great way of introducing programming and Problem Solving. Many Schools and classrooms are beginning to see the value of Coding at such a young age that their is a high demand for Professional Development for Early Childhood Practitioners.
The focus of the Presentation was on hands-on activities and getting down onto the carpet and Coding!
Some of the attendees even had some full on discussions about the Theory or Pythagoras as they Coded the Pro-bot to draw out various shapes.
For information on this session and how to use Bee-Bots in Class, see the slideshow above.
Unconference Sessions
Session 01: Kanbanchi Kanbanchi is a Project Manager that works really well with Google Apps and Seamlessly allows collaboration on projects, checklists and assignments. It has been described by one of our GEG Leaders as "Google Keep on Steroids". For more information on this Webb App, join one of our future events or watch the following video:
Session 02: PLN/PLC This session looked at how two online Platforms can be used as a Professional Learning Network or Professional Learning Community.
The two Platforms in question are Google+ and Edmodo.com.
Edmodo
We heard a first hand account from an Edmodo Luminary and Ambassador about how Edmodo enables teachers worldwide to come together and share resources. These educators then rate these resources, feedback is given and tips shared. Lesson plans, worksheets, presentations, you name it, Edmodo has it. On top of that Edmodo is also a fully equipped VLE, with a visual style reminiscent of Facebook. Perfect for your Young learners, not quiet ready for Classroom. And off course it has integration with Google Drive for power users.
Google+
Who says G+ is going away? It's not going anywhere! Google+ Plus is its own entity, a powerful Social Media Tool with an Emphasis on Professional Development, Collections and Communities. We had a look at how G+ can add to your development and how the use of collections and communities can improve not only your teaching but also brings many interesting articles and resources to your attention. Both have their strengths and weaknesses and have proven to be monumental in helping teachers and educators worldwide share their experiences.
If you would like to find out more about using any of these platform, Join us at one of our upcoming Meets! https://plus.google.com/ https://edmodo.com/ Session 03: Certifications This session was more on discussion - answering the questions: How to get certified, Where to find resources, What to expect, When to get certified and Why get certified. Getting certified can lead to a new and exciting career opportunities for some while others get to meet people, collaborate and grow. Session 04: Google Drive and Collaboration Basics We try cater for everyone who are not techie, are not acquainted with edtech or are newbies. This session allowed everyone who attended to see how to create, share and collaborate on documents. More photos of the event can be accessed here or visit us on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/gegwestbangkok/
