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:

1. List of Sessions
2. Twitter Feed for the session
3. The original Wiki page

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.

Twitpress

I was having a little trouble with getting wordpess to update my twitter account when I post from my phone. I think that things should just work, but apparently even wordpress 2.7 (which nay the only blogging platform I will ever need) doesn’t understand the need for instant twitter acknowledgment
 
Let’s see if this works any better..
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Posted via email from olco5′s posterous

I’m holding my son…

I’m holding my son right now and talking to my WordPress blog and I am considering whether or not this is going to be a great way for me to start blogging regularly again and thinking a lot of different things in order to get my mind out there and produce something.

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Online Learning and Web 2.0: OL Teach 2008 (Secondary)

Online Learning and Web 2.0: OL Teach 2008 (Elementary)

The Ripe Environment: Backchannels exist.

Whether we provide students or teachers with a backchannel, one will form. So long as there is more than one voice in a learning environment, the need to be heard will be undeniable.

Students may pass notes or they may text message in their pockets.

Teachers may point to a highlighted passage or simply make a face of disgust.

These things are not meant to stay in the background. They are essential, and as such, must be elevated to their rightful place in the classroom. The backchannel must influence the front-channel and must become the front-channel if the discussion and learning going on there is more important.

But, before I get too ahead of myself, let me set my definition of a backchannel:

A backchannel is the running commentary (critiques on, questions about, distractions from, references for, resources under) the dominant information stream. This dominant stream could be a lecture, discussion, video, or any other attention getting activity that would normally occupy the majority of the learners.

This may sound like quite a distraction. Why should we bring the note passers into the discussion? Why should we encourage distraction? Because it is how we learn.

Kelly Christopherson does a really great job of highlighting how a backchannel actually functions in a Ripe Environment, but I think the hardest thing to understand about a backchannel is balencing the two things that inherently have to go on within an classroom, but are not always so center stage. He says it this way:

Watching the crowd made me realize that we have a long way to go as educators. Many people in the room seemed to be having difficulty with the two things going on at once. Maybe that is why so many educators become frustrated with the use of cellphones or laptops in their classes; they don’t see how the two things can be going on at once.

The rapid fire writing down of resources, texts, or quotations is all well and good during a class or PD session, but what about questioning those things. When does that happen? If all learning is conversational and requires relationships, when are those relationships born and when do those conversations occur? They occur during the backchannel, if and only if one is set up and is relevant to those in the audience.

The experience that Kelly describes above is one that happens far too often. Those who do not find the backchannel relevant write it off as distracting, or worse, destructive. They want the front-channel to be the only channel, even though their brains and pens are commenting non-stopped on what is being said. We need to teach the value of commentary, fact-checking and questioning. We need to construct The Ripe Environment for the backchannel.

The Most Change For The Most Kids

The most change for the most kids Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (136)

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

The company I keep now…

I’m not sure how many people truly mean it when they say it, but I am truly honored by my inclusion in the Most Influential Blog Post category of the 2007 Edublog Awards for The Ripe Environment.

To be along side Karl Fisch and his amazing work to create a mirror for our schools…

To be next to Konrad Glogowski and his visual portrayal of pedagogy…

To be nestled in with Scott Mcleod and his viral networking power and ability to see the greatness in a single idea…

To be among Kris Bradburn and the challenges put out by Wandering Ink…

That is what I am most honored by.

Thanks to all who nominated me. If you care to, please vote for this blog. I don’t imagine I have written as influential of blog posts as the above bloggers, but I would like it not to be an absolute slaughter in the polls.

links for 2007-11-27

• Logical Fallacies: The Fallacy Files
  An amazing resource for logical fallacies.
  (tags: fallacies debate)
• Free WordPress Themes – Kate’s Theme Viewer
  An enormous amount of great wordpress themes.
  (tags: wordpress themes WebDesign Templates)

links for 2007-11-26

• Install WordPress on Your Own Hosted Server – Beyond School | Beyond School
  (tags: WordPress MakeYourBlog/WikiBetter)
• H I T – Hokanson’s Instructional » home
  A fairly extensive wiki for educational technology resources in all subject areas.
  (tags: edtech Wikis TechnologyTeacherResources)
• Clive on Learning: Don’t blame PowerPoint
  Interesting blog post on powerpoint.
  (tags: Powerpoint LearningTheory)