Dr. Laura Gibbs was the keynote speaker for OERxDomains21 Day 1. Gibbs displayed a series of slides of student blogs and randomized (the 200+ slides) and began telling a story! Gibbs also talked about students telling stories with GoogleSites and mashups. Students tell stories outside of the learning management system (LMS)! Gibbs talked about “how something good is going to happen” when students explore their ideas and create websites to share their work. The Greek Mythology course Gibbs teaches uses an “un textbook” with texts in the public domain. I didn’t know that Google had deprecating Google Classic sites and will remove them later this year. Gibbs talked about the “gaping holes in the internet” that will be left, and the opportunities to revive sites. I wonder how many former students will consider re-launching their class project sites? The moderator interrupted Gibbs to mention how astonished people were with her ability to tell stories about student work with such passion and detail! I agree! Some of the examples of student work included “Tales from Mexico” about urban legends retold and even a storybook by Gibbs: enrolled as a student, Gibbs tells “tiny tales” and stories every semester! The “Tiny Tales” that Gibbs writes are limited to 100 words “no more, no less” and Gibbs assigns students to read her blogs! How cool! Claire mentioned that she found Gibbs on Twitter and mentioned she had taken her class twenty years ago. Gibbs pulled up Claire’s class blog! Now that is an amazing and impactful educator that remembers and has energy and interest for every student! Gibbs also mentioned that “grades would stifle creativity and good work” and hasn’t graded any student work! The mashups that Gibbs described were creative mixes and remixes of topics and ideas. Gibbs used PressBooks to write a “book” of Tiny Tales with students. It is impressive and inspiring to see how much Gibbs has done to build community, motivate learners, and make connections through blogs and stories! I want to learn from this example and continue providing space for creativity, feedback, and sharing. Maybe in twenty years, a former student will contact me, and I can dig up and share their case study or electronic portfolio!
