FCGP: Increasing the Curiosity Quotient

Wilderness FCGP15-1 Class

Wilderness FCGP15-1 Class

Over the last two weeks my ESL Year 11 class has joined the Flat Connections Global Project (FCGP15-1) for 2015. We have been making our “About Me” iMovies for the handshake activity and individual students have started blogging on their own page. For some it was their first experience of making videos for an audience and blogging on a public forum.

Authentic learning experience

Participation in FCGP brings authenticity to learning as students have a purpose and the context of contributing to a Global Project. They can go to the site 24 hours a day and see who is online and chat to other students. My small ESL class of 6 students is growing in size every minute.

Curiosity Quotient

FCGP15-1 Collaboration

FCGP15-1 Collaboration

What I have found most exhilarating is the curiosity that my students have for meeting other students from different cultures. As more students have added their ‘handshake’ their curiosity quotient has soared. Who are these other students? Where are they from? How are they similar or different to me?
 
Today I read Angela Maiers on Closing the Passion Gap
In a column in The New York Times, Thomas Friedman explained that “we need everyone to be innovating new products and services to employ the people who are being liberated from routine work by automation and software. The winners won’t just be those with more I.Q. It will also be those with more P.Q. (passion quotient) and C.Q. (curiosity quotient) to leverage all the new digital tools to not just find a job, but to invent one or reinvent one, and to not just learn but to relearn for a lifetime.”
This quote resounded with me as I reflect on the past two weeks of FCGP- the curiosity and passion my students have shown for using ICT to collaborate globally in the FCG Project.
What new ICT skills have students learnt?
  • making iMovies
  • creating a YouTube Channel and uploading their videos.
  • writing Blogs
  • how to comment on blogs
  • embedding videos and images
  • bookmarking
Digital Citizenship
  • Digital footprint
  • online etiquette
  • a daily learning routine of checking the Ning and responding to comments
  • the idea of building a professional learning network
Functional Grammar: Blogging and writing blog comments 
  • Interpersonal language: evaluative and reflective vocabulary
  • awareness of audience on word choice
  • purpose: tenor
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