This past year was - professional wise - a very good year. At the beginning of 2015 I was invited to do a talk for new students (6th graders) and their parents about future education and at my school was selected to speak at BETT (London, UK) with friend and SMART Exemplary Educator Emil Waldhauser about the Global Collaboration projects we did with our classes. Throughout the year I did some other presentations during the 'week van de mediawijsheid' (digital footprint week) at two schools in our community and a presentation about SMART Notebook and interactive whiteboards at at a geography teachers conference. And at last but not least I made it to the European part of the EdTech team ... How about that?
I also was selected to attend SMART amp Champs (Madrid, Spain) and the global SEE Summit (Calgary, Canada) with friend and colleague Henk-Jan van Mierlo amongst many others whom I got to meet again at these SMART professional development conferences which were amazing and gained me a lot. I even got the chance to speak at a staff meeting at SMART HQ which gained me SMART kapp iQ for my SMART Collaborative Classroom. Very happy with that!
Besides the use of education technology in my classroom such as the multiple SMART Boards, the new kapp iQ, 1:1 iPads, SMART amp and Google Classroom I did a few field trips with my classes. The trips to SEE Cédric Mainil in Belgium and to Emil Waldhauser in the Czech Republic were the best. I introduced LEGO in my classroom, and am just getting started with that ... al this passes by in this short video that I created. Enjoy.
This day starts with the demoing from the outcome of the hackathon from last Tuesday. Each group needed to present their final thing and most of them were amazing! All was total NDA, so we cant' tweet, blog or post anything about it on the internet. We even couldn't take pictures of the new SMART ideas. My group didn't won the hackathon prize, but I think that it was still the coolest Notebook LAB thing ever. It was entitled 'Dino Team Quiz' and that's all I can share. ;)
After a few hours of presentations of possibly new stuff in Notebook, amp etc. we went back to SAIT Polytechnic for a presentation about Free The Children. An Educational partner in moving the world from “me to we”. Check out this site if you want to get involved. A program that I am really axious to include in my 'global citizenship' classes.
Tomorrow up for a ride in a big truck to the Canadian Rockies.
Today started with a presentation about the brand SMART Technologies and branding. Branding is all about the perception of a product or service. SMART Technologies struggles with the fact that it’s not just an interactive white board company (anymore), but has much more to share and has shifted their core business to different kind of solutions for the classroom.
Of course SMART wants to get rid of the old SMART Boards, just as Apple wants all the old iPhones gone and exchanged for the newer versions, but Stephen Yao had a good story to tell. Although interactive flat panels are a more expensive than interactive white boards, you'll retrieve that with the far less energy costs. I was really surprised by the fact that (especially on a larger scale) moving from the interactive white board to the interactive flat panel could safe that amount of energy. Take a look at this document.
Did a presentation today with Kristin Straumann at the headquarters of SMART Technologies. We were asked to do so and share the things that we do in our school and classroom in front the entire SMART staff. Greg Estell was so nice to have us over and introduced us before we could share our story. I’m not nervous to speak in front of a large audience, especially not about this topic. But today I needed to share this with the company that provides me with the technology that I use and I needed to do my very best … and it all needed to be in English. We both Kristin and myself did a great job and presentation went very well. I also stated out that the classroom solutions are great, but being with all the SEEs and SMARTians feels like home and is epic! We got a very nice applause and staff members told us that we did a great job. Now that’s what I’ll be taking home with me … Oh wait, there’s more. Greg asked us about the one thing that we are missing at this moment in our classroom for our kids … we both were stunned and couldn’t directly come up with anything. And sort of asking for let’s say a SMART Board seems so greedy, wouldn’t you agree? Greg assured us that we could think about it whilst the offer would last throughout the week. Will keep you posted on this ...
After lunch I was up for the unconference about Changing School Culture with SEEs Rebecca, Holger and Lori. My question or discussion point was about How to deal with teachers that are reluctant in the use of technology'. And it was my first time that I did an unconference. We've shared a Google document which all teachers can use a resource.
And at the end I did a co-presentation with Lise Galuga and Charity Harbeck about Google Certifications and Google events, where we can share our experience with SMART amp.
Oh, and we even were very close to a tornado. How about that? Check this short time-lapse movie.
This second day of the summit we spend all day at SMART Technologies HQ for three different activities and we started with the most awesome thing: the Hackathon. All SEEs were divided in smaller groups of 5-6 people with that same amount of software developers to start brainstorming on the next best thing for SMART Notebook, SMART LAB, SMART kapp, SMART kapp iQ and of course SMART amp. Brainstorming helped us getting further to an awesome plan within SMART LAB (activity builder), but is total NDA, due to avoid spoilers for new users. I really do hope that our idea will eventually really be added to SMART Notebook (LAB). We will find out more about that next Friday.
After spending a few hours with developers we were split into three large groups for a guided tour around SMART HQ:
software testing lab: real nice visit and we could all share our complaints. Did you know that in this testing lab they have all different kinds of computers with minimal settings and operating systems to test every release of soft- and firmware on all kinds of SMART Boards and interactive flat panels. Nice!
briefing center: Have been there before and was nothing new. Although the SMART Collaborative Classroom (showroom) is nice to be in.
hardware testing lab: this was the best. So many cool things were shared with us, but most of that is of course total NDA. The camera-testing was cool. Did you know that each camera is unique and has to cover and correct the errors from the other three cameras from the SMARt Board. This makes every board unique! How about that!
At last we all went to a reflection group, that we've signed up for. I was in the SMART Response VE group and could speak with the developers and we could share our wishes and the way we all use SMART Response VE in the classroom. There will be a new version coming soon, so nothing can be shared ahead of that. All I can say is that it will be very good! And it was nice to see that some of my earlier comments through a feedback session by phone were already in there.
After two days spending on the campus and downtown Calgary with Allen Brooks and others the Global SEE Summit was finally going to start and this day was going to be a very busy day full of new stuff. The opening keynote on Sunday night by Marc Prensky was nice and gave us the right mind set for the next couple of days (and hopefully the next couple of years whilst practising teaching in our classrooms). At first we were welcomed by Greg Estell - president SMART Technologies - sharing with us how great is was to have us around and that we could definitely learn from each other. Really? I think that I speak for all the 77 attendees from the 23 countries when saying that it was merely our honor to be there and that we were more than happy to share every thought we have about SMART Technologies and their soft- and hardware.
The ones that attended the Global See summit last year were the mentors of this summit and did have special tasks like leading conversations, organizing ice breakers, timekeepers, social media experts and (technical) support for the day.
Sessions as the road ahead lead by SMARTians showed the roadmap of SMART Technologies of which a lot is not for sharing. What I can share is that SMART is well known for the SMART Board of course, but there's more that meets the eye. The brand name wants to get rid of the perspective that it's only known for the interactive white boards, but wants to be known as the company with mainly software solutions for education such as SMART Notebook, SMART amp™ and SMART kapp. Nowadays it shouldn't really matter which hardware one uses, yet the software that one uses does. Of course all the SEEs are already aware of that and it's like preaching to the choir, so we could join in on the how to discussion. We've shared our points of view on this matter via gold star challenges. Good.
Naturally SMART
And at last all three software solutions (Notebook, amp and kapp) passed by through the day and their role and possibilities in education and of course we all could give feedback. Very long day to start with ... Tomorrow heading to SMART Technologies HQ.
The one thing that I can share about a feature the new release of SMART Notebook 15.1 is that the popular add-on XC Collaboration will no longer be available, however its functionality will be available in the form of a new activity called “Shout it Out!”
Shout it Out! will be a part of the Lesson Activity Builder in the SMART Notebook software, and will offer similar functions to XC Collaboration and more. We've used this one a couple of times and it's awesome! At first I was dissapointed with the fact that XC wasn't to be supported anymore, but this one is way cooler and better! Good job!
And the quote of the day was from Kristin Straumann, during the SMARTamp best practices session, she mentioned "I knew HOW to use it, I just didn't WHY to use it. UNTIL … I put my kids into a workspace" ... I LIKE THAT!
This week we all received the summit guide and the program looks just fantastic and I'm really looking forward. Instead of the regular four days, we will now have five full days of learning and professional development at the SEE Summit in Calgary, Alberta.
As a summit peer mentor there will be some sessions that I will do. On Tuesday I'm one of the reflection group leaders to point out what we've gained on that day. On Wednesday I will be leading with three other SEEs the unconference about Changing School Culture. A great topic and really where my school is at now. And I will do a session with Lise and Charity on presenting about SMARTamp at Google Apps for Education summits. And throughout this day I am the social media specialist with Sergio, so keep an eye on the #smartee hashtag on Twitter and Instagram. On Thursday I will do the ice braker activity and I've prepared a education apps logo quiz with SMART Response and also a secret quiz ... and I will bring some prices as well! Looking forward. Will keep you posted. Whoohoo!
Yes!!!!!!!! I'm going to the best PD Summit that I know of ... again. This. Is. Epic.
A month ago I applied to be a peer-mentor at the next Global SEE Summit at head office of SMART Technologies in Calgary - Alberta, Canada. Yesterday the SEEs that applied were notified through a webinar, organized by the Global Advocacy Team of SMART Technologies, if they were invited to attend the Global SEE Summit during the summer 2015. And yes, I'm in and I am very happy!
I'm also very honored to be with a large group of teachers and learn with and from them in order to redefine the way the world (well, at least in my school) learns. I'm very excited and am going to the Summit with my colleague Henk-Jan van Mierlo from the SMART Showcase School - Ashram College we both teach.
While at the Global SEE Summit in Calgary, Alberta two weeks ago Rafranz hosted a Twitter Chat. It was the first one that most of the attendants were in the same room while tweeting and sharing their thoughts on the questions. Last week the NA SMART Exemplary Educators did a Twitter chat and the topic was the Global SEE Summit. And this was really helping us SEEs from #SummitWithdrawals ... We all miss the summit a lot and weren't finished at all.
Rafranz created the question to review the Global summit and shared the questions with me afterwards, in order to do the same in our time zone. The North American Twitter chat was at 3 AM CEST and there weren't that many EMEA SEEs attending. So Bryony (SEE from Schotland) and I thought that we might give it a go this week with the same questions.
Q1 We all accomplished quite a bit last week both personally and professionally. What was your greatest #smartee accomplishment?
Q2 What one new thing did you learn about SMART NB or Amp that you can share? (nothing under NDA) #smartee
Q3 We all made global classroom connections last week. How will you realistically get and keep your classrooms globally connected? #smartee
Q4 What is your one big thing that you will implement right away because of the Summit? #smartee
Q5 Share one thing that you learned from an international friend! #smartee
Q6 If you could change or improve one thing last week, what would it be? #smartee
Q7 What would you like to say to someone who made a great impact on your life last week? #smartee
And before we started the Twitter chat, we did some housekeeping. Nothing NDA should be shared, because we signed that agreement for the Summit and when answering a question, people should respond using the number of the question in their tweet. The questions will start with a Q followed by the number. Answers should begin with A followed by the number of question you’re answering.
The twitter chat was from 7 till 8 PM CEST, but it took at least 15 minutes more. People were enthusiastic. And before we even could start with question number 1, the chat was already running on another topic: world citizenship, digital citizenship, digital footprint, digital tattoo and what should or could be taught in that curriculum. Very nice topic and would like to do a tweet chat about that topic.
The tweets are captured in this Storify. And tweeting from tweetchat.com is very useful during a Twitter Chat, because it automatically adds the hashtag that's been used.
P.S. I would like to thank Rafranz for sharing the questions and Bryony for doing a great job hosting the Twitter chat with me! Thanks.
The past few years I've had the honor and the pleasure to attend three different SMART Exemplary Educator Summits and if you count the precursor The International SMART Board forum along, than I've attended in total four professional development training camps organized by SMART Technologies in a foreign country.
My first official summit was in the summer of 2011 at the headquarters in Calgary, Alberta (Canada) and I was invited to come over and have a look at how the North-Americans did run a show like that, because together with 5 other SEEs from Europe we were going to be the peer mentors at the EMEA SEE Summit in Hamburg (or Paris) the next year. At this summit there were also about 50 SEEs from Canada and the US. This Summit was (perhaps due to the fact that it was way out of my time zone in the beautiful country of Canada) epic to me. I've learned so much and gained so many friends. My love for SMART gained a boost and was ready to adopt more technology in my classroom. This was also the start of my first global collaboration project with teachers from abroad.
Class of 2011
My second summit that I attended was in Hamburg at the local SMART office during the summer of 2012. There we're about 30 SEEs from EMEA and four from North-America (3 from the US and one from Canada) to learn from and share with each other. This Summit took only three days of professional development and I did two presentations. New friends were made and old friends were reunited again. New global collaboration projects started from here.
Class of 2012
My third summit was in Calgary, Alberta (Canada) again. The summit was a global one, therefore there were about 76 SEEs present. SEEs from Canada, the US, EMEA and Panama, Chile and Mexico. This was the one that was most epic. Different from the other ones, and I've made even more new friends and was (at last?) reunited with old friends as well. Whilst putting this words down, I'm still suffering from summit withdrawals. I'm missing my fellow SEEs and want to work even more with them. Global collaboration will be taken to a next level ...
Class of 2014
Besides the locations, amount of SEEs that attended and the latest software releases at the moment of the summits, there were some differences between them. I'll try to share my opinion on that.
At first in my opinion we did less sharing at the latest summit, compared to the other two that I attended. All SEEs needed to prepare and bring their best lesson to the 2011 and 2012 summit and needed to show and share in smaller groups. That is definitely something I've missed during the global summit. The amount of technical details was merely the same, although was the focus on this summit of course on amp and less on Notebook. New were the hackathons and the sessions we did with the developers. That is a great benefit from the other summits I've attended. We could share our feature requests etc. directly with the developers and could actually see that a lot things were put right into action. We all loved that! Watch out for the new releases of amp and Notebook! This was also the first year that the Global SEE platform was a great part of it, which made people do and share things on that platform. As I already stated before ... after the last summit I'm suffering more from summit withdrawals, so I guess it's addictive and I need to be with my fellow SEEs more and more again. There!
Today we went to do some sightseeing in the Canadian Rockies. We planned to visit Banff National Park, Lake Louise, Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and we got to do some souvenir shopping in the town Banff.
Panorama shot at Lake Louise.
This was indeed very nice. I've been to Banff National Park before, but never to Lake Louise and it is a very beautiful site. Even when it's a little cold and rainy. The water in Lake Louise has this typical color of water that just came from a glacier. I've taken so many pictures, but as always one cannot capture the atmosphere in a picture. I tried anyway. I also took the time to create a Time Lapse movie with the iMotion app for iPhone. How many SEEs can you spot?
Time Lapse movie from the walk around Lake Louise.
Walking around and chatting with new friends (for life) was a very nice ending of this summit. Besides this beautiful sightseeing tour, the past four days at SMART Technologies HQ was topic of the chatting in the morning. We talked what we most liked, what we thought could be better and talked about what we'd gained and will take home or school with us.
Personally I would have loved that we shared more (lesson) ideas, worked and collaborated more with each other, rather than the in my opinion technical issues regarding SMART amp. Don't get me wrong, I really like SMART amp and am looking forward to working with this in my SMART Collaborative Classroom. I do hope that all the comments we made to improve working with amp (and Notebook) will soon be available to make it even beter to work with. Back home I will do a presentation about this trip at school and share all that I've learned and gained from this summit. Mainly it will be things that we've shared in between, such as the outcome of the twitter chat and during the Global Collaboration workshop. We all made new friends and contacts this summit and those I will take with me and either me or one of my colleagues is willing to do a global collaboration project with SEEs from abroad. I also like the Kermit style video's, and that another thing I will take home. I can do that with students within a certain topic I teach or even in my mentor group. And I'm also thinking of Johan and me sharing what we've learned with other Dutch SEEs at the SMART office in the Netherlands ... Lots of ideas and work. Still processing.
Panorama shot taken from the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
After Lake Louise we ate the best lunch ever at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and went for some shopping in the picturesque town Banff. I bought some stickers, pins, pencils and t-shirts. This was good and I want to be back! Canada. Is. Epic. Thank you SMART Technologies for taking good care and having me and the other SEEs around the past week!
This morning I created a Time-Lapse movie from the walk from Hotel Alma to SMART Technologies HQ and will add this to the #urban100 community, which embraces #GuerillaGeography to map the world in a slight different way. And I think that's a cool thing.
The hackathon teams presented the outcome of their ideas and they were in just one word amazing! If all this will be added to SMART Notebook and SMART amp we will truly be very happy with that. We (and certainly I) loved all the new things that actually will be added to the new NB and amp versions. It's a good thing to have teachers collaborating with the coders. Looking forward to the next release of NB (and the iPad version!).
Warren Barkley was ours for two hours during the Fireside Chat. About 15 people did get the chance to fire away the question that they really wanted to ask the CTO of SMART Technologies. Mine was a bit long, but was satisfied with the answer. The past few years (2012 till 9 months ago) SMART wasn't that good in my opinion and I was afraid that likewise to Apple, SMART Technologies didn't dare to experiment anymore and that future releases would be as predictable as the larger, better camera having, quicker and better OS etc. iPhoneX (don't get me wrong, I'm a fan). Well he explained that since 9 months SMART is back and all I can say and see after this week: He is totally true. My believes have returned too ...
On the Fireside Chat with Warren Barkley
After the lunch break we were divided in smaller groups and had the chance to discuss in smaller groups a few NDA stuff about both amp and Notebook. I was in a group that chatted further about the mobile version (yes, even smartphones) of amp and what and how teachers and students would want to see and control the content within the SMART amp platform. The teachers were quite unanimous about most things and the developers were very happy with our input.
When we got back from the small-group discussion sessions we were told to go upstairs and gather in the cafeteria of SMART Technologies. While entering the cafeteria we were applauded by the whole team of SMART and there were seats ready for us in a nice dressed up place with balloons etc. This was a huge surprise and it got even better. While the week was wrapped upon by a few very kind words to us by the chief of SMART we were told to check the little gift coupon in our chair (Oprah moment). Most of us gained a couple of thousand points for the Gold Star SEE Challenge (I got 2500) or a book and a few got some big surprises awaiting them. Lise won a new 600-series SMART Board and two others won a light raise interactive beamer. This was very nice! And on top of that we all received a one year license for SMART amp! Whoo-hoo!
Than we all had to do the White Hat ceremony and we were given a White Hat! This was so nice and the SMART staff kept applauding! We felt very special and there were people crying from joy. Lots of pictures were taken and then we had to get back to the Hotel to dress up for the 80's murder mystery dinner at Ford Calgary! This. Was. An. Awesome. Summit! Thank you SMART.
At the end of the day, before I left a few people from the technical department from SMART Technologies were so kind to have a look at my computer. Since the release of SMART Notebook 11, SMART Response Teacher Tools wasn't working on my MacBook, due to flash errors. With some coding added to the registry I am finally able to use the Teacher Tools again on my MacBook. So glad they could help me out! This has been buggering me ever since. So thanks again!
The whole group of Global SEE Summit SMART Exemplary Educators 2014
Allen pointed out this morning the following statement and I must say that I agreed on this one. "Who is crazy enough to present after a night out with Broken Toyz?" Well, it was my turn today so I guess I'm crazy enough. This morning wasn't going very well and I had little trouble with the mild headache and little sleep I had the past night. Anyway, I was up and was about to do two presentations today! One with Kate Seward (whom I met at the Summit in 2011 and I have been collaborating with the past school year) and one on my own about Global Collaboration. This was also the day that my eldest daughter Faye was about to turn eight and whilst following up on the news about the MH17 flight that was shot down from the sky above Ukraine last week, this day was a national day of mourning in the Netherlands because of that.
The topic of today was 'It takes a teacher to grow global understanding' and my presentation and how to set this up in your class room was due today. We started with an open discussion about SMART amp lead by Erica Arnoldin concerning our experience with amp after the SMART amp camp from yesterday. After that the whole group could ask questions to the developers team and loads of requests and feedback was released from the SEEs. I was kinda worried that a lot of requests were about the fact that powerful tools from Notebook should be added in amp, but in my opinion that's not a good thing. Notebook is mainly a teachers tools, where amp is a collaboration tool for students and they shouldn't be the ending up the same. That's all I can say about these NDA sessions.
After the lunch break and before my workshop about Global Collaboration, there were some small presentation of SEEs that have already done some Global Collaboration just to inspire the whole team of SEEs and prepare them for the workshop later this day.
Lise and I are getting a selfie with Neil!
Look what Rafranz gave me! A Sheldon flash drive!
The first presentation I did together with Kate while she was not present at SMART Technologies HQ, but called in from her home address using Bridgit. We'd created a Notebook-file together prior to the summit and showed and shared our experience with our colleague SEEs (present and the ones that joined in via Bridgit) just as Bob, Giovanna, Maria and Chris. We did a great job (well, mainly Kate, because I was still suffering from the Broken Toyz thing ...). And after this show the Global Collaboration 'how to' was on. I had about 90 minutes and the SEEs needed to work and collaborate with each other in small groups that were lead by an EMEA SEE, so there were 24 small groups. The outcome was a Global Collaboration lesson plan for the next school year and needed to be shared in the Gold Star SEE platform. There were some good things going on and I got a lot of positive feedback on my presentation. The SEEs were very happy to work in smaller groups on hands-on assignments. It turned out to be a good day after all.
During the day I interviewed a few SEEs that I have worked with the past year and asked them what was the main benefit from doing such a project. And did I use eXtreme Collaboration? Oh yes I did!
Yulia, Hamdy and Michelle giving their feedback on our projects.
I have shared my presentation via Twitter and a SlideShare version is available here:
"There are no learning styles, but learning preferences” is what Heather Lamb pointed out and puts this whole learning thing in a new perspective and is certainly applicable to the way amp works, because since technology is more the way students learn today, than the latest gadget. And today we did a SMART amp camp and received a certificate afterwards as well. The SMART amp camp was lead by Heather Lamb during this day, while others were invited to join a hackathon and had an eight hour session with coders whom would build new features in both amp and notebook upon the input of the attending SEEs. The outcome of that would follow on the next day.
For both groups this was a very intense day of training. Ainhoa pointed out that in the formerly know SMART Learning Space SEEs could do an online SMART amp collaboration training free of charge. I will do that before next school year starts.
"When there is a correct answer - exercise in creative thinking"
We were asked to respond to the question of what collaboration (with SMART amp) meant. These are a few of the responses that I especially liked:
- 1+1=3
- Personalised learning with AMP workspaces open to all learning preferences.
- Everyone working in the same direction, although the necessarily at the same speed or the same time.
The - according to Rafranz - stock image photo of me collaborating in amp with Lise and DeVane
During this day lots of SEEs created Kermit style video's about the Summit, SMART and education, due to a newly introduced Gold Star SEE Challenge and I interviewed Lise (CA) and deVane (US):
After dinner at the end of the day almost all SEEs attend the #smartee twitter chat! which I prepared with host Rafranz Davis (from TX, USA). We created the next questions which all SEEs could respond to during the twitter chat session.
1. How do you manage to escape from the standardised curriculum and add to your lessons?
2. In what ways do you add creativity to your lessons/content?
3. How can we create lessons that better prepare kids to be globally prepared?
4. What do you think is most important to teach concerning world citizenship?
5. How do we maintain global awareness in learning
During the one hour Twitter Chat we did, the response was huge and the discussions were running. I respect the fact that Rafranz kept track of everything and guided the whole group through this session. It was great and the best part was yet to come. At the end Rafranz added a sixth question 'what would people want in their class room' and Linda Janssen was one of the people who responded and she asked for wifi in her classroom in South Africa, something they just don't have. Which Warren Barkley (CTO of SMART Technologies and present at the time) responded to that and said that SMART would take care of that. How awesome is that?! There we're tears all over the place.
The day ended with eighties hair metal cover band Broken Toyz at Morgens Pub.
Receiving the SMART amp camp certificate from Heather Lamb
