Preparing for Connected Learning in 7 Steps

Several poignant questions were asked during our Connected Learning workshop for 3rd - 4th year teachers. One of the most direct and relevant was...

"What should we be doing now to prepare for 1:1?"

After providing a summary of what I felt was a solid response, I said that I would follow up with our current 1:1 teachers to gain their perspective on this. I then posed the question to the students taking my in-district course, "Digital Tools for Connected Learning". These seven items were consistently given as suggestions for preparation for creating a connected learning (1:1) environment for students:

1	Establish an LMS (learning management system)	Schoology	NETS-T 2, 4, 5
2	Digitize content, establish cloud storage w/ sharing	Google Drive	NETS-T 1, 3, 5
3	Establish collection of web resources	Diigo	NETS-T 1, 2, 5
4	Familiarize yourself with 1:1 hardware	iPad	NETS-T 1, 2, 3
5	Keep learning goals, objectives, & skills at the forefront	iTunes-U	NETS-T 3, 4, 5
6	Continually ask “WHY?” when considering new tools	Evernote	NETS-T 1, 2, 3
7	Build out PLN (personal learning network)	Twitter	NETS-T 2, 4, 5

There are likely others that we missed, but this would certainly be a good, working list for teachers to begin with. In general, our current pilot teachers suggested; keep it simple, keep it focused, don't be afraid to take risks, and become a model "learner".

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