SpeedGeek Learning Version .1
- 57 Videos of Ignite Presentations from around the United States (Boulder, NYC, San Fransisco, Columbus, and many others)
- 8 Different Sessions answering attempting to answer the following questions:
- What is your life story?
- What does it take to create something from scratch?
- What is possible in health care?
- How should we be thinking?
- What can business be?
- What is the future of education?
- How does social media change us?
- What is great design?
- A single flash user interface for interacting with all videos (A carousel of content)
- A hide and unhide collaborative document (Etherpad) on each session that allows for you to contact the individual presenters about their projects and give your own answer to the question on the session.
- A chat interface for each session that allows for real-time conversation about any single video or the entire collection
- The ability to share SpeedGeek Learning via e-mail, twitter, facebook and all of the other services that come along with “Share This”
- Think of any way that you could use the SpeedGeek Learning platform within your own work. If there are any videos that you use and would like to collaborate upon, let’s set you up with an instance of your own. If there are certain big questions you would like to answer, let’s answer them with video and collaborative documents. Start to think about pushing the platform to be what you would like it to be. I am up any ideas you have. Just let me know.
- Spread the word that the prototype is available. I would love to get as many people answering these questions in the collaborative document and passing the link around as possible. If you feel the need to blog about it, do so. If you feel the urge to tweet, please do so. I pushed out the initial idea, but this is the first version that I can actually show off.
- Recording your own videos within the interface.
- Analytics about individual video views
- Greater collaboration with the presenters of the sessions
- More ways to organize the sessions
- Further design work to flesh out the platform
Twitter and Google Reader for Productivity
(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.”
- 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
- Making your reading relevant: What are the topics that you would like to come to you?
- http://surfmind.com/lab/msn/opml/
- http://monitorthis.info/
- Google Reader Bundles
- How do you want information to come to you?
- Phone
- Go to http://reader.google.com (on your phone)
- Set up google alerts for terms that you are interested in and have them come directly to your e-mail (http://google.com/alerts )
A question
This is a really interesting question.
First, if you are looking for engaging videos to show for professional development, I would look here:
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/resources/videos-for-pd/
As for introducing the subject of engaging students with technology, I think that you would really have to find a good itch that you think all of the teachers want to scratch. What is the one thing that they can do with technology and students that they couldn't do before? Why should they care about technology?
Places like http://classroom20.com, or http://supportblogging.com, or even something as specific as http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/ would work well to figure out just how deep the topic goes with your teachers.
As for an article, I like http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/?p=94, many of the posts from http://weblogg-ed.com, or any of the presentations at slideshare about educational technology.
If you are really interested in starting this conversation, I would recommend that you start up a discussion group over at Google Groups or set up a wiki for this purpose. Or, simply get an e-mail group going if that is where your teachers are at. Creating an avenue for this kind of conversation is the only way to make it last. Let me know where you want to go from here. Creating change is not an easy business.
I am in need of your expertise:
I am preparing a session for teachers within my school district on engaging students with technology. My emphasis is on 'ENGAGING' not on putting a child in front of a computer with headphones. Some of our staff has forgotten that instruction still needs to take place even if your are using technology.My question is…. How would introduce this subject… I would like to show a video to break the ice… Something like MR. BEAN or SEINFELD that would a lead into the subject.
Do you have any suggestions?
Also, I am looking for a professional article to share with teachers along the same subject.
I would appreciate any help that you could give. Thanks so much for inspiring me with your articles and presentations.
Posted via email from olco5′s posterous
“Hope Online” Professional Development 11.14.08
Do Not turn off your cell phones and laptops.
If you have them, use them.
(Throughout this workshop, you can ask questions via text message by texting hopeonline and your question to 41411. You can also add to our questions without a cell phone by going to http://www.textmarks.com/HOPEONLINE)
I am not here today in order to introduce to you a brand new initiative that will require extensive amounts of training and make your life busier before you see any real benefit. I am also not here today to say that there is any one tool or strategy for making the ways in which you work actually work.
Rather, I am here to ask you a lot of questions, mostly about what you are spending the most time with in your job. What are those things that take away from what you would rather be doing, the rewarding experiences of working with kids and other adults who are working with kids.
In order to do this, let’s get one thing straight. Information is infinite. Attention is finite.
You gather a seemingly insurmountable amount of information every single day from e-mails, voicemails, web sites, student data paperwork and many other sources. It can be even more daunting to think that there is more information out there about how to organize that information. With your attention stretched so thin, it is hard to think that there are ways of getting any of it back. We are still going to try, and for the most part, we are going to look at solutions that are already in your workflow.
Well, I would like to present you with a few possibilities for a different way of organizing information.
The first is I would like to use my voice to listen to my e-mail, create e-mail, put an event on my calendar, send myself a reminder, create a text, and post to my blog. While this service has a name, I would much rather you think about the strategies that I am using in order to create more time for other things. Because I am able to use my voice to do these things, I can make efficient use of my drive time (of which, there is a lot).
Dial2Do – A way to use your voice to get things done on your cell phone.
An example of using this strategy to create something.
I would like to next highlight the use of short messages to capture information. Many times, I need to be able to capture information from myself and others, but there is no time in order to send out an e-mail. I need to be able to capture it now. So I send a text message to a service that aggregates the information for me and for everyone else who I invite:
TextMarks – A way to both capture information and share information through SMS.
An example of using this strategy to create something.
I use e-mail a lot. Well, perhaps that is an understatement. I am available by e-mail about 20 hours of any given day. With that in mind, I would like to be able to use e-mail in order aggregate archive the most important things that I am sending out. I want to be able to attach anything I want and have the archive understand it.
Posterous – The e-mail blog that don’t even have to sign up for.
An example of using this strategy to create something.
Now, if I am on my computer and I want to capture information on a topic. I want to capture it as I am doing my research, not go back afterwards and document what is going on. I want to be able to simply highlight text and pictures and have them all simply show up in a webpage that I can e-mail to someone or share with somone for them to add to.
Google Notebook – Collect text, pictures, and movies from webpages in order to be shared later with others.
An example of using this strategy to create something.
Well, what if I want to show others exactly where to go on a webpage using my voice. I would like to guide people through a series of webpages that I think are important. I want to do this in less than 5 mintues too.
FlowGram - Create a screencast of webpages and archive it to send to others.
An example of using this trategy to create something.
Now I would like you to figure out what you would like to be able to do in terms of aggregating and storing information. Brainstorm things that you don’t know are possible. Think about how you gather information now and how you would like to change that to be less attention heavy and more information heavy.
Now that we have all of our information gathered and stored, we will want to collaborate and talk about that information. The easiest way to do that is to meet face-to-face, but for much of the time, that requires significant driving and serious scheduling.
So, I want to come together with a few others to talk something out. I want to be able to see, hear, and write with them. I don’t want to have to set up log in to anything. I just want to hit a power button.
Tokbox – Always on Video Conferencing.
An example of using this strategy to create something.
I would like to work on the same spreadsheet with someone else so that I don’t have to send e-mails of the same document back and forth and get lost in the versioning. I would also like to be able to have information be entered into the spreadsheet via a form that others can fill out so that I don’t have to do as much data processing tasks.
Google Docs – A truly collaborative version of office
An example of using this strategy to create something.
Finally, I really want all of this stuff to be accessible in one place. I would really like to not have to remember exactly what all of these sites are. I just want one place to go to where it makes sense to find all of these things. Almost like a well-maintained professional development environment for hope.
Our IQity classroom - A one stop shop for learning tools, collaboration, and further professional development.
Now I would like you to figure out what YOU want collaboration to look like at Hope. Brainstorm
things that you don’t know are possible. Think about how you collaborate now and how you would like to change that to be less
attention heavy and more information heavy.
Create your own MobileMe (Sync Everything, at all times).
An aside: it is too bad that every post I write seems like an attempt to get back into the habit of posting, but I suppose until I start blogging consistently again, that is just how it is going to have to be. I have missed way too many things that I have been thinking about to ever fully catch up, but perhaps I can start anew. Anyway, here are my latest thoughts.
Before I go into the details of how to sync yourself completely, I want to tell you why I even undertook this idea. Well, our school system uses an extremely proprietary e-mail and calendaring system called firstclass. Every person that uses firstclass in our schools is locked in to using the firstclass calendar for appointments and things of that nature. But, because I have seen the light of using Google Calendar (open API, shared calendars, embedding, etc), I refuse. In fact, I was so obsessed with the idea of converging the two that I speant an entire weekend (when I wasn’t having fun with my family) on getting Firstclass to sync with Google Calendar, and then eventually my new blackberry that the school district provided for me.
So, this is how you sync everything:
Calendars:
Contacts:
Now, for the details…
(Update: I didn’t put this in the initial post, but I think it is worth mentioning that Firstclass does have a way to sync with both Palm Desktop Software and SyncML directly, but since my district hasn’t set either of these up, I thought it was important to try and find a better way of doing things… there are also third party services that do some of this, but I want a FREE workflow)
In order to get your first class calendar to talk to anything else, you will need to export it as a iCal file:
Now, you may look at this picture and ask, why I wouldn’t just export it as a blackberry file and skip all of the steps in the middle. Well, there are a few reasons. One, if I did this, all of the events would be duplicated every time I exported and imported. Two, because I am on a Mac I do not have any blackberry desktop software to make this sync work.
So, onward we go to iCal. First, you will need to set up your Google Calendar to sync with iCal, using this handy dandy tutorial from Life Hacker.
Now that you have your Google Calendar set up to sync, simply import into iCal your latest and greatest export from Firstclass:
Now, if this isn’t your first time doing this, you will end up with a lot of duplicates. If that is the case, just use the iCal Dupe Deleter. This is also a good tool for deleting duplicates from Google Calendar if you have ever found yourself with too many of one item.
Now, you have synced completely to your Google Calendar and you are ready to sync to your blackberry. Simply point your device to this address and download your over-the-air sync application.
You can now enter an event in Firstclass, iCal, Google Calendar, or on your blackberry and they will sync with one another. Pretty cool, right. But, we are not done. If you would like to have your calendar in an even more universal Format, you can put it on a SyncML server, like Funambol.
All you have to do is download their blackberry application and you can sync to your heart’s content there.
For Contacts:
If you are also looking to sync your contacts, you can simply use your Blackberry or iPod touch to talk to Funambol using their built in programs (search for funambol in the App store, or use the above link to download the blackberry funambol application).
Then you can sync your contacts with the funambol server.
As for your Mac, you can use the Preference Pane sync.
This will let you put your contacts on your mac, on the funambol server, or on your blackberry and they will all sync.
I understand that MobileMe does a lot more than this, but I believe that if we can create a FREE workflow for each one of our teachers, students, and administrators that syncs information to the place that they need it, we will be able to have the conversations that truly matter. We will no longer be stuck trying to find information, it will always be ours. Although you may not geek out at all that I am proposing, I think there are some pretty heavy implications for continuity in the systems that we are creating. If you have figured out any more syncing tricks, please leave a comment and add to the value of our collective research.
Online Learning and Web 2.0: OL Teach 2008 (Secondary)
The Presentation:
The Collaborative Podcast:
The OL Teach Text Messages:
The Backchannel and Moderated Discussion:
The Voicethread for Sharing Ideas:
The Links for further learning:
Preserve the learning links:
Creation as norm links:
Authenticity as expectation links:
Online Learning and Web 2.0: OL Teach 2008 (Elementary)
The Presentation:
The Collaborative Podcast:
The OL Teach Text Messages:
The Backchannel and Moderated Discussion:
The Voicethread for Sharing Ideas:
The Links for further learning:
Preserve the learning links:
Creation as norm links:
Authenticity as expectation links:
The Ripe Environment: The Most Powerful Learning
The Ripe Environment: Most Powerful Learning Podcast [ 12:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (174)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 Social Networks of Tragedies
July 05, 2007 07:52PM
This podcast is pretty heavy:
I was in Osawatomie, KS for the 4th of July. It flooded earlier in the week, and my sister-in-law lost her car and her apartment due to this natural disaster. This event really got me thinking about how we can use the technology that our schools provide (especially in 1:1 programs) in order to create social networks for a community. I hope that we can start putting together ideas like Steve Hargadon’s Public Web Stations (link below) in non-crisis times. If you have any ideas about how to do this, please shoot me an e-mail at benwilkoff@gmail.com
I am also interested in knowing if you would rather I don’t include links and pictures with my podcast, but rather simply upload the mp3 file. If you have an opinion either way, please post a comment on this podcast.
Show Notes:
- 00:00:00: Intro to Osawatomie Flooding
Pictures - 00:02:12: Supporting the people of Osawatomie
News Article and Support Links - 00:03:02: The 1:1 Social Network
The Osawatomie 1:1 Initiative - 00:06:24: The New School Community Center
- 00:07:51: Steve Hargadon’s Public Web Stations
Public Web Stations - 00:09:53: Bridging Social Networks and Analog Communities
- 00:12:15: How do we use tech in our schools to benefit the community?
My Blog
The Most Change For The Most Kids
June 27, 2007 12:30PM
It is with some hesitation that I post this podcast. I am a teacher, and I will always be a teacher. However, I have been given the opportunity to do more. I have been recruited (although not formally given the position) for a Technology Integration Position in a nearby school district. This podcast is all about coming to terms with the idea of leaving the classroom so that I might create change and achieve School 2.0 in a larger way. At this point, I am very much interested in following my passion for finding solutions, and if this job provides solutions for more teachers and more students and also for my family, I don’t know that I can do anything other than pursue it. I am, however, still looking for others who have either made this transition or who have rejected it in favor of the classroom. Please e-mail me at benwilkoff@gmail.com if you have any questions or ideas.
Show Notes:
- 00:00:00: Intro to the Great Transition
The Podcast Blog - 00:00:58: Karl Fisch put me up to it.
The Fischbowl - 00:01:59: Why is the first wave leaving the classroom?
Slow Motion Distributed Car Wreck - 00:05:28: The Long Haul Teachers
Cool Cat Teacher - 00:07:15: What Should School 2.0 Leadership Look Like?
Leadership Development for Educational Technology Leaders - 00:09:27: What happens to the classroom I leave behind?
My classroom Website - 00:10:51: Other Factors
My Daughter’s blog - 00:11:55: The most change for the most kids
My Blog
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