Although there has been tremendous professional learning and sharing by folks using the #NCed hashtag, we believe there is great potential for collaboration across the state that is untapped. We want to learn from the experiences and expertise of educators in all parts of the state and use #NCed to provide venues for deep levels of learning and professional growth. In an effort to strengthen collaboration and learning across the state, #NCed is evolving in the following ways for the 2014-15 school year. We hope you will choose to be an active participant and share these opportunities with friends and colleagues.
- The #NCed team is developing a schedule of monthly chats to occur simultaneously via Twitter and Google Hangouts on Air. During these chats, we will discuss topics that are important to educators across the state. Panelists for these chats will be educators recruited from across the state who are eager to share and learn from others. These chats will regularly involve collaborative planning and sharing via Google Drive. For example, we may host a collaborative planning session focused on effective practices for communicating instructional initiatives with stakeholders. Participants would be encouraged to share strategies, resources, and practices that have worked for them. Our hope is that promising practices will spread across the state like wildfire. Collaborative planning and sharing can continue asynchronously following the live chats via Twitter, Google+, and Google Drive. Resources and ideas shared during these collaborative planning sessions will be linked to the #NCed blog.
- We are focusing our efforts this year on growing the #NCed Google+ Community. Google+ Communities provide a great space for collaborating in more than 140 characters. Our hope is that this community will be a place where NC educators go when they have questions, ideas, and resources to share with others. We also will link archives from #NCed Google Hangouts on Air / Twitter chats and collaborative planning sessions to the Google+ community. If you aren't a member, join today!
- The #NCed team and other educators across the state will host occasional un-chats using the #NCed hashtag to talk about whatever participants want to talk about. Un-chats allow educators to discuss issues that are important to them and their students in that moment. These regular un-chats can help NC educators and those interested in NC education stay current with what's happening in classrooms across the state.
As #NCed evolves, we hope you will join us so that we can all learn from one another and apply what we learn in our local settings. Please visit this link to share your feedback and express your interest in participating.
