VITTA abstract for 2012 conference – Creative learning environments promote creative thinking & inspiring learning All students have knowledge, that their experiences have given them, and valuing this knowledge can be a difficult task within a school curriculum. Venturing beyond the walls of the classroom, to combine online social media, Web 2.0 and face-to-face teaching, can help to support students’ strengths and abilities while providing them with opportunities to create, publish and be valued resources for their peers. This PhD classroom action research study created dynamic online environments where students were faced with a wide range of tools which encouraged them to think, create and share their knowledge. Multimodal methods of learning were at their fingertips and new literacies became part of the day-to-day learning cycle.

1. Creative Learning Environments
Promote Creative Thinking &
Inspire Learning
Gail Casey
Teacher – Geelong HS
# Just completed my PhD with Deakin Uni
Background image from - http://allthingslearning.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/in-praise-of-creativity%E2%80%A6part-one/
VITTA Conference August 2013

2. About my work:
• I have just successfully completed the examination phase of my PhD with
Deakin University for which I held an Australian Postgraduate Award.
• My presentations can be found at:
http://gcasey.wikispaces.com/Presentations
• My action research sites include:
• http://webtowhere.ning.com/, http://ghs2011.ning.com/ &
http://ghs2010.ning.com/
• In June 2012, I was awarded first place in the ISTE Online Learning
Awards:
• http://www.iste.org/membership/awards-recognition/sigol-online-
learning-award
•In June 2013 my paper titled ‘From Telling the World to Showing the
World: in an Era of Social Media’ received an Outstanding Paper award at
the Edmedia conference in Canada.
•http://www.editlib.org/p/112222/

4. Practitioner Action Research

5. Practitioner Action Research

6. All Students have knowledge that
they bring with them to the
classroom

7. Many strengths and abilities that
students have can go unnoticed

8. Social and Participatory Media
Provide a Gateway for Educators
BUT WHAT MIGHT THIS LOOK LIKE?

9. Creativity is at our Finger Tips

10. Students can create identities

11. We have the means to inspire learning

12. “Multimodal literacy is one way
of describing reading and
writing in new communication
environments.”
Maureen Walsh, 2011 p.14, in
Multimodal Literacy: Researching Classroom Practice

13. Lets look at some examples.
In these examples ‘Ning’ was used,
but there are many other
alternatives such as Edmodo and
school Intranets that would also
work well.

14. http://ghs2010.ning.com/

15. http://ghs2011.ning.com/

16. http://webtowhere.ning.com/

17. The students have the Creativity!
As educators, we need to use this
for our own purposes…..to engage
their peers in Creative Thinking &
to Inspire Learning
We need to build environments
where this can be shared!

18. I have published and presented widely
Teacher Publications
Casey, G 2012, 'Social Media in the Math Classroom', Learning & Leading with Technology, vol. 40, no. 36-37.
Casey, G 2012, 'Designing for Learning using Social and Participatory Media', ICT in Education, vol. 34, no. 1.
Casey, G 2010, 'Knowledge Sharing, Knowledge Building: Using social networking to develop critical literacy and
encourage creativity', Education Technology Solutions, no. 36, pp. 42-4.
Peer Reviewed Publications
Casey, G 2013, 'Interdisciplinary Literacy through Social Media in the Mathematics Classroom: an Action Research
Study', Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol 57, no. 1. (ERA 20322)
Casey, G 2013, 'Social Media in the Classroom: a Simple Yet Complex Hybrid Environment for Students', Journal of
Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, vol. 22, no. 1. (ERA 20285)
Casey, G 2013, 'Building a Student-Centred Learning Framework Using Social Software in the Middle Years Classroom:
An Action Research Study', Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice. 12: 159-189,
http://www.jite.org/documents/Vol12/JITEv12ResearchP159-189Casey1186.pdf (ERA 18013)
Casey, G 2011, 'Knowledge-building: Designing for learning using social and participatory media', eLearning Papers, no.
27, pp. 1-7. (ERA 45102)
Casey, G & Evans, T 2011, 'Designing for learning: Online social networks as a classroom environment', International
Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 1-26. (ERA 20804) Also published in Spanish
Casey, G & Evans, T 2012, Diseñar para aprender: redes sociales en línea como un entorno de clase, Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México l B@UNAM l retrieved March 2012,
<http://bdistancia.ecoesad.org.mx/contenido/numeros/numero7/presencia_01.html>.
Book Chapter
Casey, G (forthcoming), 'Students as 'Assessors' and 'Assessees' in an Era of Social Media', in S Koc, P Wachira & X Liu (eds),
Assessment in Online and Blended Learning Environments, Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, NC.
Other Papers in Various Stages of the Peer Review Process
Casey, G (2nd round of peer review), 'Unlearning to be the Teacher', Technology, Pedagogy and Education Journal. (ERA 20271)
Casey, G & Evans, T (in peer review stage), 'Chaos and Complexity Within and Around a Classroom Action Research Investigation
of Social Media', Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education. (ERA 40646)
Casey, G & Wells, M (in peer review stage), 'Remix the social: Remix the learning in an era of social media', Journal of Technology
and Teacher Education. (ERA 20270)