The On Button Archive
While I was doing some searching over at Tweetgrid (my absolute favorite way of looking at twitter in real-time), I came across these notes from my Educon 2.1 Session, The On Button: Instant and Always on Collaboration.
I figure that now is as good a time as any to put up the archive of that presentation and to highlight just how good Live Blogging can be. Sarah, a teacher in “midcoast Maine”, did a wonderful job of capturing the questions and ideas from the conversation that we had at Educon.
I love the idea of being able to archive not only the video of a conversation, but also the conversation that happened about the conversation. Here is a list of links that also were talking about this session. I can’t wait to hear where else this session goes:
What I am more interested in, though, is how are you aggregating the conversations that surround a learning event? How can we make sure that the supports for our sychcronous environments do not go by the wayside.
A wiki spreadsheet.
I have to say that up until recently I didn’t see what was so great about spreadsheets. I have been using them for years to analyze student achievement data and present findings to others, but the didn’t seem like the “killer-app” that so many others seem to be thinking about.
On the other hand, my wife speaks in spreadsheets and she can really make them sing. She can have fields reference across fifteen different sheets and set up a budget in a matter of moments.
This is extremely cool if all you want to do is present information or figure out what makes sense in terms of data, but as a collaborative process, I just didn’t see it.
That was until Google Spreadsheets started opening up anonymous access to spreadsheet using forms and protected links. I started using google forms in order to record interest in our district’s online school (http://edcsd.org). This proved an effective way of collecting specific information and storing it in a place that could be accessed from everywhere. So, in this sense, it was a mass collaboration that was added to with every entry. No one really is able to see the scale of the collaboration, that is, except for me.
Well that was a neat trick, but it is nothing compared to the idea of a spreadsheet wiki. One feature that was just added to google spreadsheets is the ability to share a link with others that will let others edit it without having to sign up for a google account.
This means that students could record data on the same spreadsheet without having to sign in. It means that achievement data (not on specific students, though) could be aggregated in one place, all without having to teach an entire staff about a new service. It means that you could keep track of all of your school’s goals with everyone adding their notes, never having to go through the extra hoop of remembering a password.
Perhaps best of all, it would allow all of those who do not yet see the value of massively-collaborative projects to participate in one without ever knowing about it and by using a tool they already recognize as important: spreadsheets.
Perhaps I am making too much out of this. Perhaps there are other tools that do this already, but as I am on a search for ways to eliminate as many logins as possible, this is one great step in the right direction.
Do you see any new ways of using this? Are spreadsheets more valuable now?
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CAGT 2008: Technology and Community
Presentation (both live and PowerPoint):
Audio Reflections:
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Topics and Links from the presentation:
- Make the Community Visible
- Make the Community Inclusive
- Make the Community Public
- Make the Community Always-On
- Make the Community Lasting
- Tending your community
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: Collaboration as Instinct
I sat at the over-long table, as I always do on Mondays and thought about the next time I would meet my students for Extended Learning Time (our version of a multi-discipline course without any set curriculum or standards to give guidance or restrict us).
“Well, it is earth day in a couple of days.”
Immediately, my colleague and I started a Google Document called Earth Day 2008. We started dropping in links to pages we found.
“Oh, I did hear something about an event on the National Geographic Channel. Did you hear about it. Something about the human footprint.”
We were pushing hard now, 25 minutes before kids arrive. Link after link being proposed as a starting point.
“What is the question we are really trying to get our kids to answer here.”
“Is Earth Day important and why?”
And we we started writing out a discussion, a plan of attach. We eventually came to the conclusion that there were others who were interested in asking this same question, experts even. And yet, within 30 minutes we created an authentic question and activity around it. Our instinct was to create and collaborate, rather than offer worksheets as an attempt at lesson planning. This is our Ripe Environment, and the class that the students came into that day was Ripe too.
They couldn’t wait to see who had the bigger footprint. They couldn’t wait to collaborate on their own weekly or monthly collection of soda cans or milk jugs. This process of not waiting to be told, of instinctively knowing that it is the right thing to do, that makes it truly authentic.
So, how do you foster this instinct for collaboration. Well, by saying yes to it as often as possible. It is my personal belief that there is never too little time to create, too little time to collaborate.
If you have only a minute:
- Put a request for a resource out on twitter.
- Do a delicious search instead of a google search (it is a community of people waiting to help).
- Link to someone who is talking about it.
If you have a half-hour:
- Start a google doc and invite a few others to join in.
- Search technorati for new blogs, videos, and people who are interested in the same thing.
If you have a longer:
- Start a wiki and get people to contribute.
- Start a blog and get people to contribute.
- Start a movement and get people to join.
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
links for 2007-11-29
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Great resource for teachers and students in an online setting (lessons, videos, etc.)
links for 2007-11-28
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Interesting repository of educational programs for the Apple II(tags: AppleII EduSoftware)
links for 2007-11-27
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An amazing resource for logical fallacies.
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An enormous amount of great wordpress themes.
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