January 19, 2015

Connect Me to Education




I'm starting 2015 with the project of my dreams!

If you read Life Feast and know a bit about my work, you might also know I've been involved with teacher development in the virtual environment since 2009. I started moderating my own online course "Cultura Edtech" to share a bit of what I had been exploring on the web with fellow teachers and to feel less lonely during a difficult time in my life when I had to stay home (You can read about this story in my M.A. thesis - text in Portuguese). The virtual world was my bridge to being in contact with other people.

Since then, I've never left the online world and the online world has never left me. At that time, in 2009, little research had been developed about digital technologies in education and online learning. Most of us, teachers who ventured teaching online, were following our instincts and trying out different ways of teaching and learning. After many years moderating courses, I felt the need to go back to university and develop a research in this area which fascinates me so much. A question that puzzled me was: Why do so many people see the online environment as a cold place and I feel the complete opposite?

For me, learning is a fascinating experience which can be more pleasurable when we are in contact with other people. 

Connectme Education is the result of these years of experience and a wish to reach teachers I haven't reached yet. 

Our aim is to organize online courses, in Portuguese or in English, for the continuous development of professionals involved with education. We want it to be a space where teachers can feel at home and comfortable to learn with each other. Each month, one-month or two-month courses will be proposed to small groups of teachers. I can't wait to start!

I have great joy to invite you to come and visit us at our brand new website created with great care. I'd also like to thank my dear friends and colleagues who have joined me on this project: Roseli Serra, Márcia Lima, Jennifer Verschoor , Cecília Morais and Camila Borges for her professional help with the website and social media.


We hope you enjoy it!



Our first online course is going to be about FLIPPED LEARNING. How about joining us?




Our contact info: CONNECTME EDUCATION

December 27, 2014

What's your desktop like?


This is my last post in 2014, therefore, I wanted it to be special.

I've always enjoyed having a look at people's desktops, their wallpaper and their most used apps and programs. And why is that? Have you noticed how much our desktop can say about ourselves, what we value and what we are into? I thought of fulfilling this curiosity by inviting several educators I follow to share their desktop with us.

I also asked them to answer some questions:
1. Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
2. How do you organize your desktop?

The screenshots shared below are in the order they were sent to me.


CARLA ARENA http://carlaarena.com

Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
I am not the kind who changes computer wallpapers all the time. I tend to stick with them  for a long time. One thing that is essential for me is that the image has some flat, basic colors so that the folders stand out on the screen. This image has a very special meaning to me as it was one of my greatest gifts and achievements of the year, becoming a Google Certified Teacher in the first Google Teacher Academy ever done in South America. I love the colors and it always brings back cheerful moments with a wonderful group of educators. 

How do you organize your desktop?
I try to keep my desktop totally clean. Sometimes, there are some screenshots around, but I always transfer them to a screenshots folder. 

Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
The photo is from Aegina, an island off the coastline of Athens. It is the place I’ve spent all my Greek summers since I was born. I always associate it with beautiful memories and it is a heaven of inspiration and positive energy.

How do you organize your desktop?
At first glance, my desktop seems chaotic. I‘ve got all sorts of files and folders that I’m currently working on. You can find interactive books, documents, photos, drafts of blogposts- the list is endless. Surprisingly, I can find them easily and I can add ideas in texts or presentations when I have a short break. I’m sure that an IT expert would slit his wrists but to me it makes perfect sense.


As you can see, instead of sharing her laptop screen, Shelly chose to send us her iphone screenshot. You will understand the reason by reading her answers below. 

Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
That's a picture of Rosco when we lived in Germany and I'd get to walk him 2 hours a day in this beautiful forest by my house. He's my little buddy and we've been through so much. He's gotten me through living in 2 different countries, deaths of family and 2 really great friends, being married then divorced and now publishing a book. That's what my wallpaper means.

Everyday, I work on my desktop with presentations and blog posts and I research and do social media with my iPhone by my side or listen to podcasts, so I often work with both simultaneously to be able to do all the things I do.


Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
This photo is in Cabo de Santo Agostinho, in Pernambuco. It was taken by my husband. It has a special meaning to me because it's a place we go every summer. It's very high and has a wonderful view from there. The sunset is amazing. In this area there's a very small catholic church and we love listening to the bells from there when sitting and looking at the sea. There's also a lighthouse that reminds me of my childhood when my dad first took me to visit this place.

How do you organize your desktop?
The organization of my desktop has mostly to do with icons I access most as well as some folders we are working with. I have backups of these folders, of course and when the whole job is done , I remove these folders form the desktop not to have it too crowded with images. Also I love the tool bar at the bottom which is very hands on.

KIERAN DONAGHY   http://film-english.com/


Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
I chose this photo as it's of my daughter, Rosa and Aina who are the most important people in my life. The photo was taken last Christmas and every time I look at the photo it reminds me how lucky I am to have two such beautiful and kind children.

How do you organize your desktop?
I have direct access links to the most common tools I use such as a video editor and downloader tool, and also to the projects I'm working on at the moment so I've links to the folder where I keep my lesson plans for my website Film English, a direct link to the manuscript for the book I'm currently finishing Film in Action which will be published next April, and a direct access link to the manuscript of another book I'm writing which is called How to Write Activities for Video and Film. I also have a direct access to Spotify as I always listen to music when I'm working.

VINÍCIUS LEMOS @viniciuslemos http://mthatlearning.blogspot.com.br/


Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
I chose that wallpaper because I absolutely love sunsets. This image means a lot to me because I took it myself on a very special trip to the Great Barrier Reef, in Australia

How do you organize your desktop?
My desktop never looks neat. I need to learn how to organize it!

GRAHAM STANLEY   http://blog-efl.blogspot.com 

Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
The wallpaper is a set of revolving sunset images...just something nice to look from time to time.

How do you organize your desktop?
My desktop is clean and functional as this is my desktop at work - the clocks show the time in the places where we have remote teaching going on from (Uruguay, Argentina, Philippines, UK)

ARJANA BLAZIC http://twitter.com/abfromz

Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
Right now I have a photo of Dubrovnik, a city in southern Croatia on my desktop. This photo was taken by my husband during our last year's holiday. I have it on my desktop because it reminds me of the wonderful time we spent there. Another reason is that this photo makes me less homesick while I'm in the US on a ten-month fellowship.

How do you organize your desktop?

I like my desktop to be neat and tidy. The documents that I put there are usually those that I need to work on, so this is some kind of a reminder for me. I keep all the tools that I use most frequently on the dock. Sometimes the dock is a bit cluttered as I tend to work on a number of different documents at the same time.

NIK PEACHEY   https://twitter.com/nikpeachey

Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
I love this tree. It was in the village where I used to live and it looked different every day. I used it to replace picture of my wife and daughter. I had to change it to something less personal as i was using my laptop to present at conferences.

How do you organize your desktop?
My desk top is a random mess of quickly created images, half written articles and whatever else. No sense of organisation, but I know what's there and where it is.


ANA MARIA MENEZES   yes, that's me :)

Why did you choose that wallpaper for your computer? Does it have any special meaning to you?
The image I have on my desktop was created by Jenny Highsmith from Maiedae, home of the artists who helped me with my blog template. I fell in love with this free image and its message which daily reminds me to design for myself the kind of life I love. 

How do you organize your desktop?
I like my desktop clean, but whenever I'm taking lots of screenshots it becomes clustered with images which I delete later on. Whatever I often use can be easily reached at the bottom dock.

I'd like to thank all the teachers who contributed to this post and kindly shared something so intimate as their own personal screens with us.

I wish everyone a FANTASTIC 2015. May all of us be able to design a life we love!