Welcome to Make Cycle #3 in CLMOOC 2016, the final “official” week of our Connected Learning Massive Open Online Collaboration in 2016.

As we have been reflecting on the connected learning we’ve witnessed in CLMOOC, this past “purposeful pause” week, our thoughts have often drifted to nature, to metaphors we can recognize linking our experience to the growth and change happening naturally in the world around us. Like the root systems that grow, connect, and nourish rhizomatically, sometimes the organic, serendipitous connections that nourish our learning, bring us insights, and instigate growth can be relatively unseen.   

We invite you in Make Cycle #3 to Celebrate Connections in any number of ways…

…to unearth the systems of connections that support you.
…to nourish a connection that supports you.
…to fertilize a meaningful connection for you as an educator, creator, person.
…to graft new connections as you prepare for the new school year.  

Celebrate Live with Us!

• Join our Make With Me live broadcast with chat on Tues., August 2  at 4pm PT/7pm ET/11pm UTC live streamed with asynchronous chat. This session will also be recorded so you can watch the archive later. In this special, last Make With Me, we encourage you to gather some loose parts for play and making and join us to celebrate the process of connecting with our hands and our minds.

• We will be hosting a Twitter chat for Make Cycle #3 on Thurs., August 4  at 4pm PT/7pm ET/11pm UTC with the #clmooc hashtag. We’ll be celebrating our connected learning experience in CLMOOC.

Celebrate Through Making!

Our learning has been facilitated by working in a community that is openly networked. Connected Learning is learning grown through the relationships fostered during production-centered Make Cycles. As you consider the suggested Makes listed below, also know that it doesn’t end with the Make Cycles. As you head into the year, consider the shared purposes you have developed this summer, and consider ways to stay connected and keep our networks strong. Now that’s something worth celebrating!

Dip in – Do something quick and easy. Play with something new or use something you’re familiar with to celebrate!

• Give a shout out as a comment on a blog post, a G+ post, or a #clmooc tweet to someone’s work that has inspired you, strengthened you, pushed your thinking  as a way to celebrate the learning it inspired.

• Celebrate the processes of learning. Play with one of the digital tools/apps/platforms that have surfaced in past #clmooc experiences and post a failed attempt at making! (And then add your own to a new but growing list of tools!)
• Or do the same with a Make in the Make Bank. Speaking of the Make Bank, you can add your own Make to the Make Bank!

Swim in – Try something slightly more time-consuming and detailed.

• Create a learning map. If learning is a journey, where has it taken you? Where did you begin? Where are you now? When have you charted undiscovered country? When have you bumped into a border? Map your learning like Sheri using MyHistro. Reflect on your experiences these last few Make Cycles. How and when did you feel like you were learning? What were you learning and with whom?
• Go on a learning walk.
• Consider how the Connected Learning principles we’ve been trying out in CLMOOC have played out for you. Where are the hotspots for you? In the past, several people, including Karen, have tried this sort of mapping using ThingLink.
• Use Chad Sansing’s My Connected Learning Tube Map to map out your connections.
• Map a plan moving forward. How will your learning propel you into the next school year?

Dive in – Create something in a new way. Synthesize the thoughts of others in a more detailed way.

As a way to both connect and celebrate, conduct a Curiosity Conversation with a CLMOOC peer. Perhaps there is someone whose work you find inspiring or somebody who has talked about a hobby that interests you, or someone who teaches something you want to know more about. Or maybe there is a CLMOOC-er who just seems fascinating, funny, and like an all-around decent human being. Whatever attracts you to the person, make some time to connect and learn more about him or her. You can conduct this conversation via Google Hangout or Skype, or by recording a phone conversation, or even via email, Twitter, Voxer, Google Slides or another favorite social media platform that allows you to  record the conversation.      

Once you’ve had your conversation, consider ways of sharing what you learned: what were the highlights? the questions raised? the ideas worth amplifying? Try some audio editing, via a tool like Soundtrap. Post the audio to a platform like Soundcloud. Or craft a visual/poster/postcard of your favorite statements. Or create a short video to accompany the audio. Or all of the above!

• Scott Glass’s Curiosity Conversation with Kevin Hodgson: “I used the app ACR to record the phone conversation, uploaded to Soundcloud, then edited in Soundtrap. Of course, editing is not necessary.”
• A student example of a Curiosity Conversation: Recorded on her phone, edited in Soundtrap, uploaded to Soundcloud and Blogger
• Here are some helpful directions Scott uses in his teaching: Curiosity Conversation Directions, Curiosity Conversation Editing & Blogging
• Kevin and Terry’s Hackpad conversation

Check Out These Resources

• Try Coggle or MindMeister or any number of concept mapping tools to trace your plans for the upcoming year.
• Make a screencast for editing in Soundtrap.
• Watch movie producer Brian Grazer discuss his use of curiosity conversations.
• Check out the Institute of Curiosity’s website regarding curiosity conversations.

Need More Information? Check out our FAQ page

Finally … Celebrate your connections with the CLMOOC community. Launch into the conversations in any one of our places to share or listen from safe spaces. Be yourself. Remember we ~ the community ~ are here to support each other as we learn through connection.

We look forward to celebrating with you!

Scott Glass @sglass771
Allie Pasquier @alliepasquier
CLMOOC Make Cycle 3 Facilitators