Case Study 1: Global Educator Kim Cofino

kimcofino.com

Case Study 1 Global Educator Kim Cofino

Kim Cofino is a technology consultant and educator that currently lives in Bangkok. She has a blog (Always Learning), a Youtube channel, an Instagram account, and a Twitter account.

What attributes of a global educator does this educator exemplify?

In my opinion, Kim Cofino exhibits all of the attributes of a global educator. One way she flattens the learning is by consulting with districts about how to collaborate effectively with other students and manage projects across different time zones. She encourages and models global citizenship with the lessons for students that she designs. Her website states, “I design interactive experiences for students that highlight and enliven new technological tools while focusing on collaboration, creativity, communication and digital citizenship.” She helps teachers learn how to collaborate more effectively through different tools and tips, one of which being this blog post which helps teachers create a connected classroom. She heavily emphasizes the use of online technologies to connect with other educators and classes around the world, as a good portion of her blog posts are about how to best incorporate technology into the classroom for global collaboration. Kim clearly designs futuristic environments to connect with the world, since that’s a large portion of what her consulting company offers. Additionally, some of her most recent blog posts and Tweets address how schools facing extended closures due to Coronavirus can provide distance learning opportunities for students. I feel that this is a perfect example of designing futuristic learning environments.

What tools does this educator use for collaboration, both with other educators and with students?

Kim Cofino uses Twitter, her blog, a Youtube channel, and an Instagram account to share information. She is an educational consultant, so she works directly with other educators, not students. In her most recent blog post about how schools can continue to extend learning with technology during the Coronavirus school closings, she recommends using tools such as Screencastify, Flipgrid, Padlet, Newsela, and Moodle to give students educational access.

How does this educator facilitate communication and collaboration with either other educators or students?

Kim facilitates communication and collaboration with other educators by facilitating and participating in Zoom chats and Twitter chats with other educators. In her blog posts, she ends with questions aimed toward educators and encourages them to answer the questions in comments on her post. She also asks questions and responds to other educators on Twitter, which facilitates communication.

What is your biggest take away from your exploration of this educator?

I found the blog to be the most informative part of my exploration of Kim Cofino, especially the bottom of her blog where she has collated a list called “The Best of Always Learning”. This list has a lot of helpful introductory articles, including “The Technology Toolbox: Choosing the Right Tool for the Task”. This article includes basic information about collaborative tools, such as blogs, wikis, and social networking, and what situations they are best used in. I sometimes find myself overwhelmed with the vast number of collaborative tools that I've been introduced to, so this blog post helped me hone in on what tools are most appropriate for different collaborative opportunities.