Gail Casey – ICTEV Conference 2009

Using nings, twitter and SmartArt to improve critical literacy and build
creativity in the classroom

This session will take a close look at how Gail Casey has been using online social
networking environments in Geelong, Australia 2008 and in 2007 while teaching ESL in
South Korea. It will include samples of student work, online resources and Gail’s class
materials. Student reflection, peer assessment and the use of SmartArt for planning and
recording student ongoing improvements will be covered.

During 2008 I started to introduce “nings” to my students, an online social network

similar to MySpace but where membership is by invitation only and members can be
involved in a range of activities. Previously I had used blogs and wikis with my students
but I wanted to bring greater flexibility and more collaboration into my classroom. During
semester 2,2008, I decided to trial a project where my Level C students (year 9/10)
worked online with my year 7 students to help them with “something” – this “something”
was to be determined by the students. Students used fake names so they could not be
identified and they could only communicate via the ning. Below is a summary of the
tasks and timeline of the project.
 November
December
2008

1 Pre data collection: Introduction to online spaces

Level C & Year 7 students were introduced to online spaces such as
blogs & nings. Each class explored their own space and level C students
were also involved in global classroom projects with schools around the
world using individual student blogs.
Pre Work
2 Stage 1 Students as researchers
Level C students researched how learning had changed and how year 7
students might like to learn in the 21st Century.

Year 7 students explored and shared digital photos. Week 1

3 Stage 2 Students as designers

Level C students joined the Year 7ning and collaborated with their three
Year 7 students. After online discussion with three year 7 students level C
Teacher Action
students designed a product of their choice to teach or clarify something
Research
that they thought would be of interest or use to their three year 7
partners.

Week 2
Year 7 students used photo editing software to explore the possible
changes that could be made to a simple photo.

4 Stage 3 Students as producers

After collaboration with their three Year 7 students, adjusting their product
designs as required, level C students produced their design. The year 7
ning provided the environment for online feedback & publication.

Year 7 students produced a voice recording, using

Week 3
podcasting or Vokis, about their photo work.

5
Stage 4 Students as publishers
Year 7 students gave level C students feedback before final modification
for improvements were made. The final product was published online on
the Year 7 ning.

Year 7 students published their digital photo creations and Week

podcasts and collaborated to gain feedback. 4&5

Level C students used SmartArt to plan and visualise their thinking. Below is a sample of
one student’s initial plan:

Students created avatars as a visual link to their fake names and within the ning
environment sent and received friendship requests, posted articles and made comments
to each other:
Year 9/10 students communicated with year 7 students using this ning using a number of
methods including (there were others as well):

1) Constructing groups. Examples are of those made up by Level C students, Gradient

and Jeeve.

2) Using discussion forums:

3) Leaving comments:
Level C students published a range of helpful material for year 7, one example is given
below.

This collaborative project between my classes used http://y7gcasey.ning.com/ and

http://gcasey.ning.com/ online environments. My aim was to look more closely at the
literacies students are involved in outside the school and how I can use them to improve
teaching and learning.

By actively encouraging students to be designers, producers and publishers of content in

a safe and supported online social network, I have given them the opportunities to work
globally whilst building creativity and critical literacy into their learning experiences.
Using nings (as above) combined with blogs - http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?
blogger_id=97161 has shifted my students mode of learning from consumer to
participant. Using these online environments changed the way my students collaborated
and interacted. It offered much more student flexibility and student centred learning and
hence it encouraged my students to become creative thinkers, critical thinkers and
problem solvers where they were continually learning and supporting each other.

We don’t know all the information that today’s students will need in their future or all the
answers to the questions they will face - we don’t even know the questions. Building
online communities in my classroom allowed each student to participate in an
environment where they could support each other and assemble a type of community
that allowed them to become the critical viewer and, I believe, provided them with an
approach to help them cope with some of the unknowns in their future.