Michael Harvey and Fadzli Ishak are spreading the #WakeletWave in Malaysia. The work they’re doing is incredible!
Since arriving in Malaysia last year to teach at an international school, it has been amazing to make connections with local educators. Wakelet now plays a big part in these experiences. On Sunday the 19th of January, myself (@doctor_harves) and fellow Malaysian Microsoft Innovative Education Expert and Wakelet Ambassador, Fadzli Ishak (@fadzli_ishak), organized the first ever workshop in the brand-new Microsoft Education Classroom at SK Tamin Bukit Indah in Johore State, Malaysia!
The productive sharing session was attended by 35 educators from a wide range of educational backgrounds. During the hands-on sessions, educators from the Johore region were introduced to Wakelet as a powerful collation tool.
After helping them sign up, we guided the participants through the process of creating profiles and developing their first collections on the platform. Once the basics of Wakelet were covered, we then introduced to them ways both of us have applied Wakelet in our classrooms including:
1) Teacher curated resources
Teachers can curate a collection of resources to use in their lessons. My IB Physics class is an example of this. I hand-pick sites that I want students to visit. These resources link to the curriculum I am teaching and provide a resource that the students can incorporate in their learning and can be adapted to each class.
2) Student curated resources
Being able to effectively research and filter information is a crucial skill. ‘Googling’ an answer sounds simple but involves a complex process including choosing keywords, verifying, adapting, organizing, annotating, remixing, creating, collating, and sharing.
This process is assisted by Wakelet. Students don’t have to put too much thought into designing their collections; they can focus on the important skills of the curation process.
In my lessons students curate collections to gather resources for a particular learning objective, for example describing the uses of the electromagnetic spectrum.
3) Digital portfolios
There are many different approaches to setting up and using digital portfolios. Wakelet makes that process easier.
Students and teachers can add online and offline evidence of their learnings into a Wakelet collection. This might include essays, digital badges, experimental write ups, artwork and videos. The list goes on and is only limited by ones imagination!
This portfolio can be used for assessment purposes, self-reflection, or it could act as a digital portfolio for showing evidence of personal development for teachers. A Wakelet digital portfolio is also a great starter for parent-teacher interviews.
4) Digital storytelling
A Wakelet collection could also be a good way to share a story chronologically and can introduce dual coding.
Here are some examples:
- In History, students can create a narrative to explain a famous historical moment in chronological order
- In literature, students can storyboard a novel and present it with text and images.
- In Science, students can outline through images and text what occurred during a chemical reaction.
5) Differentiated learning
Different Wakelet collections can be created for classes with differing abilities.
For example, my IB Physics classes are divided into standard and higher level. I can therefore cater each collection to precisely meet the needs of each class.
6) Create and collaborate globally
As a teacher you can invite students and teachers from around the globe to collaborate on a Wakelet collection.
For example, both Fadzli and I share the implementation of sustainable development goals through projects locally and then shared them globally. Different projects from different classes can therefore be on the same collection.
The rest of the session involved working with the educators in small groups or one on one to see how they could utilize Wakelet in their classrooms. This proved very effective in showing first-hand how the tool can be incorporated.
After 2 hours of intense sharing and learning, it was time to unwind with the giving away of some Wakelet swag and build on the connections we had made over the last few hours! It was a great experience to collaborate with these passionate Malaysian educators and I look forward to continuing to assist them on their journey in riding the #WakeletWave!
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