Home Posts tagged "words"
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Twitter and Google Reader for Productivity

Published on April 10, 2009, by in Uncategorized.

(All quotations are not exact, but paraphrases of much better words that were in the mouths of the participants – These are notes, but I think that they might have benefit to others, so I am posting them on my blog as well)

I just wanted to use this space in order to make sure that we take note of all of our discussion surrounding how to use twitter and google reader for productivity.

“We don’t want to jump on the bandwagon with all new products. But, where does iGoogle, twitter, and blog feeds fit in our district’s overall vision.”

“Just because things are free, doesn’t mean we should be using them and promoting it.”

“Conceptually, the idea of everything coming to you is very inciting, but we need to look further at it from the Google Reader perspective and Twitter.”

“The real question is where do we spend our time? What is really of value?”

“Television news is too slow. I want to be able to know more about the things that I am interested in. I want it to be hyperlinked.”

“I don’t have enough time to consume things in a serial manner. I don’t want to know what happened yesterday before I know what happened today.”

“White papers are specific enough. I want relevancy and making sure that it is current.”

  1. Decide on your purpose for using feeds. What information would you like to be able to access that you can’t currently?
      • Topics to look at:
        • Stimulus and education
          • CDE does a good job of talking about the stimulus, but they don’t have a feed.
        • Broadband and education
        • Virtual Learning Environments
  2. Making your reading relevant: What are the topics that you would like to come to you?
    1. http://surfmind.com/lab/msn/opml/
    2. http://monitorthis.info/
    3. Google Reader Bundles
  3. How do you want information to come to you?

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Virtual attendees unite.

Published on March 16, 2009, by in Uncategorized.

I was thinking some more about Sloodle and Second Life in general
today and a thought struck me: why don’t all conferences have a SL or
Open Sim component?

Why do we struggle to pull together people from all over the state,
country and world into 2d places like blogs, wikis and aggregator
pages when all we need is a decent SLurl to direct people to in order
to connect? Now, I know that the WebHeads in Action do Second Life
events all of the time, but as far as I know they do not have a
face-to-face component. As for the face to face conferences I have
been to, not one of them invited those watching the elluminate or
usteam feeds to join in on an SL roundtable.

Do conferences need to artificially separate those who can see one
another with those who cannot?

Why can’t we put the usteams into a SL environment? Why shouldn’t we
allow the hallway conversations to happen for virtual attendees?

In other words, I would like to do this soon. Anyone already tried it
successfully?

Posted via email from olco5′s posterous

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A list of tags…

Published on January 5, 2009, by in Uncategorized.

The EdTechTalk delicious site has a wealth of relevent tags. It has so many in fact, that it may be THE resource for tags about Educational Technology and learning in general. I love being able to select different tags and find out what other people are categorizing within this rather large community. However, what if you wanted to use those tags somewhere else? What if you wanted to add those tags to the choices in your own blog or search according to those terms?

What if you wanted to categorize all of your ideas according to what the community has deemed worthy of their time? Well, I did want to do that. I wanted to use the common tags of our community, so I have made all of the tags in EdTechTalk (at least up until today) into a comma separated file for easy import into anything I would like to use them for.

Here is the file: edtechtalk-tags

Pedagogical implication: I think that it really makes sense for us to start using the same words to talk about learning. Coming together on a group of tags that we would like to use for aggregation purposes is something that we have neglected too long. The community is far enough along to put get into a discussion about just where we want our folksonomies to go. We need to take ownership of terms like elearning and make them more specific. We also should be teaching our students to come together on terms to use so that all of their work can not only be found later, but also grouped according to topic, theme, or even skill level.

Think about if we had a way to group student work according to a self-reflected score (of effort, of achievement, etc.). What if we could use exemplars and organize them according to the tags that they have self-selected.

Where else should we go with our community of tags?

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The grand challenge.

Published on January 1, 2009, by in Uncategorized.

Well, I let another year go by without challenging myself to blog more. I let reflections go until tomorrows that never came. I left words and ideas on the tip of my tongue. Well, this year is not going to be like that. This year I will not over filter my learning. This year I will not hold on to theories until they are fully realized, eliminating the conversations that could be had if I talked through each element here. This year I will blog every day. This is not an idle promise. It is not an empty gesture at the beginning of the year. It is a challenge to myself to build a consistent voice. I will not forget about the “big posts”, but I will not wait for them either. This year I will speak to my blog with http://dial2do.com and email my blog with http://posterous.com. I will not forget or regret the days gone by this year. I am also counting on you, the reader, to help me fulfill the challenge. If I neglect my challenge, feel free to tweet me, email me, poke me, or otherwise bug me into submission. Thank you in advance for your help.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Posted via email from olco5′s posterous

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Guest Teaching 12.05.08

Published on December 5, 2008, by in Uncategorized.

Cores 1-4:

  1. Discuss-on:
  2. Brainstorm ways in which you would like to “reframe” A Christmas Carol:
  4. Well, let’s talk about how we will be reframing A Christmas Carol using animation and microblogging.
  5. First, XtraNormal will allow us to completely create the scene, choose the characters and their actions, and even add background music, all without having to record a single video frame or sound file. Let’s take a look.
  6. Next, Edmodo will allow us to have some conversation around what we are creating and learning. It will allow us to all think out loud without having our thoughts become too entangled (or having it get deafeningly loud in here). It is the way that we will honor the process of creation and not just the product at the end.
  7. The conventions of microblogging are as follows:
  • Write down exactly what you are choosing to do with your project (which scene you are using, which characters, etc.)
  • Write down why you are making the choices you are making (why put Scrooge on a beach, etc)
  • Write down questions that you have about your project (why is Scrooge so angry; does he have to be in our reframed version?)
  • Reply as much as you can to others.

As for the requirements for the movie, please use the following guidelines:

  • Have no fewer than 5 dialog exchanges.
  • Do not copy and paste words from the book/play. Rethink the dialog so that it is appropriate for the scene that you have created.
  • Block out the entire scene before you click Action!
  • Don’t forget to have tell your microblogger what you are thinking.
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    The Ripe Environment: The Most Powerful Learning

    Published on June 26, 2008, by in Uncategorized.

    Although the podcast (which was somehow not recorded because I had the device set for line-in rather than mic… I am quite mad about it actually) for this post explains this prerequisite for The Ripe Environment pretty well, I would like to further outline it for those of you who don’t have 15 minutes to listen (or who can’t imagine all of the things I would have said, had the microphone actually worked).

    I would like to start by saying that I do not actually have any problems with conferences, meetings, or workshops. In fact, they are one of the premier places that The Ripe Environment can exist. However, my contention is that The Ripe Environment cannot simply stay in that space. It has to transfer over into the times when no one else is around. It has to transfer into the individual mind, so that your own mind is a Ripe Environment for Authentic Learning. I know that probably sounds a little hokey, but I believe that there are many ways of thinking things through, some of which are more productive than others.

    On the podcast (which, once again, is only in your imagination at this point) I use the metaphor of class time and conferences being a typewriter. Conferences exist in one particular place and time, as does the typewritten words on a page. They cannot be copied and disseminated in the ways that a blog post or wiki edit can be. There is something quite beautiful about words existing in only one place and an experience only being a singular event. Even in the capture of the backchannel, live-blogging or streaming of an experience, the experience held in one time. However, the true learning happens when one reflects upon the process, upon the environment.

    The Ripe Environment does not end when the session is over. It never ends. The learning extends over the boundaries when it is made personal. When the singular experience is built upon with an eye toward a personal set of circumstances. Learning occurs when a resource is appropriated for your classroom. Learning occurs when a link is made (hyperlink or a synaptic link) to a website or person. Learning is occurs when an e-mail is sent off requesting a follow up or an invite to a google document is sent out.

    These moments are not held in time. They are ongoing. They make sure that the Environment stays ripe rather than withers.

    The Ripe Environment: Most Powerful Learning Podcast [ 12:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (190)
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    Learning Language

    Published on May 2, 2008, by in Uncategorized.

    I don’t usually post personal things on this blog, but I thought that this was just too important to leave unpublished.

    My daughter is learning language at an amazing rate. She knows more words at 18 months than I thought was possible, but they aren’t just any words. They are words that are important for her. They are words that have a meaning and a context for her life.

    Normally I would turn this experience into an educational rant about creating authentic places for our students to learn language and curriculum, but for now I will just leave you with this video.

    (Either JavaScript is not active or you are using an old version of Adobe Flash Player. Please install the newest Flash Player.)

    iloveyou

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    Imagery in Blogging (and Cell phones in the Classroom)

    Published on October 30, 2007, by in Uncategorized.

    As my students work more and more in the non-fiction realm due to their new found niches, they have a tendency to lose sight of just how descriptive and beautiful their writing can be. As a blogger, I have found that some of my greatest pleasure is derived from my ability to string together an image or a particularly well described passage.

    A blog is informative, but stylistically so. The ability to craft a unique image within the information is a virtue that we should all be striving for. So, in an attempt to put these words into practice, here is what I am talking about.

    Topic: Cell phones and iPods in the classroom

    With his two fingers pushed together, carefully spreading them outward across the screen, one of my students was doing something that I had never thought of a couple of years ago. He was blogging from his iPod. Immediately, we gathered around the gadget, pondering its significance. It was distracting and powerful: the ability to blog about anything at any time. Just think if twitter wasn’t blocked at school.

    I still can’t quite wrap my head around cell phones being used for things other than voice. I have been saying for quite a while that we need more laptops in the classroom, as many as there are laps. But can’t we get done most of what we need with our plans from verizon and AT&T? Watching the mini-safari browser spin into action leads me to believe that we aren’t far off from this reality.

    I want my students to be thinking about how they can utilize their cell phones in my classroom not how they can sneak a look at what time it is on the display when I am not looking. Their cell phones are bejeweled with authenticity. In many cases, their cell phones are so representative of their lives that given the choice of losing a cell phone or a limb would cause them to pause to think.

    Where is the research that says cell phones are great for the classroom. Well, mostly it doesn’t exist yet, at least not that I know of. If anyone has seen any great studies or has done some great work with non-laptop ITC, please share. All I have right now is anecdotal evidence from my classroom and the presentation from K12 Online 2007. Surely there is more to it than that.

    I have italicized (for my students) the moments where I intentionally added imagery or description in order to make a potentially boring subject interesting (at least to me). My hope is that blogging moves closer to this style and further away from the dense writing of academic papers. Let me know what you think about either idea.

    Powered by ScribeFire.

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    Beyond Rubrics

    Published on April 10, 2007, by in Uncategorized.

    itunes pic
    This podcast was created because of a discussion I had with my students about the merits of rubrics in a School 2.0 classroom. The data was mixed. Some students felt very comfortable with rubrics because it let them know how to get an A. Others believed that rubrics would hinder their creativity and ability to be authentic. Although I had asked students to help me create a rubric for an assignment, I had never asked them if they thought a rubric was a good idea at all. This podcast is a summary and a discussion of what I decided to do: Student-Centered Youbrics.

    Show Notes:

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    What does support look like in School 2.0?

    Published on March 3, 2007, by in Uncategorized.

    itunes pic
    Support is such an essential part of education, but many of us who are looking ahead to a technologically rich educational experience sometimes forget this. Because we are savvy, we expect others (including our students) to be savvy. I created this podcast in order to flesh out a few of the ways that we can support teachers who want to transition to School 2.0. The basic points that I came up with were:
    1. All teachers need an aggregator starter pack.
    2. School 2.0 must be framed in terms (and using tools) that most teachers understand.
    3. Small groups of teachers must conduct relevant research within the specific school before many teachers will buy in.
    4. School 1.0 teachers should engage in assessing School 2.0 products from the small group’s classrooms as a way of transitioning into a more collaborative model.

    I have also decided to start including the chapter information and links as part of the show notes for those of you who do not have access to a podcatcher that recognizes enhanced podcasts.

    # 00:00:00: Outdated Paper?
    Dave Cormier’s Blog (http://www.davecormier.com/edblog/)

    # 00:02:04: How does support look in School 2.0?
    School 2.0 Wiki (http://school20.wikispaces.com)

    # 00:04:20: An Aggregator Starter Pack
    Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com)

    # 00:06:16: RSS as Support
    xFruits (http://www.xfruits.com)

    # 00:08:32: Framing collaboration
    Ourtenwords.org (http://www.ourtenwords.org)

    # 00:12:20: Collaboration Take 2
    # 00:13:35: Supporting Relevant Research
    Terry Freedman (http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/db/web2/)

    # 00:15:16: Flat Classroom Assessment
    The Flatclassroom Project Wiki (http://flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com)

    # 00:16:50: Summary and Conclusion
    My blog (http://yongesonne.edublogs.org)

    © Learning is Change