Year
2009 in review
145 posts across 11 months.
December 2009
4 posts- Measuring a year…While I do not really believe that my year has been a sum of the following things, I really needed to take a moment and look back on all of the…
- And now, a Poem for my future.I don’t often write poetry on this blog (or much at all since I left college), but here is what I wrote today: I’m playing with fire for a reason.…
- Educon 2.2 Prenote: What is your innovation?I have been thinking a lot about my session at Educon 2.2, and I think that I have finally figured out just what kind of conversation I would like…
- Boulder Denver New TechnologyI finally decided to see what kind of community there was out there for startups and entrepreneurs within the local area. I guess there is…
November 2009
3 posts- Response to Paul (on PD must be better)This post is in response to a comment on my last post which went something like this: As I read your list I went back and forth agreeing with you.…
- Why online PD must be better.Right now, we are asking teachers to learn in an unfamiliar and, many times, unintuitive way. Right now, we are asking teachers to teach…
- SpeedGeek Learning Version .1I am pleased to announce the following features within the first prototype at http://speedgeeklearning.com: 57 Videos of Ignite Presentations from…
October 2009
2 posts- SpeedGeek Learning Update #2I sent this out to all of the interested parties via e-mail today, but I know that a lot more people are following along, so here is the update on…
- Easy vs. HardSharing content has become easy. Video has become easy. Networking has become easy. Meaning is still hard. Context is still hard. Perspective is…
September 2009
2 posts- Focus on the Geek in SpeedGeek LearningI have it on some very good authority that geeks are very passionate people. We seem to take much more upon ourselves just so that we can get…
- SpeedGeek Learning: My call to ActionI have helped to build many things that I am proud of: The Academy of Discovery eDCSD: Douglas County Online Education Discovery Utopias Discovery…
July 2009
2 posts- As things come togetherAs we meet to talk about bringing all tools under one roof, as we start to work toward a single solution, as we start to use the same language to…
- Staying awayThis is the first time in a few years that I did not attend NECC virtually. I have never attended physically, but I have anticipated all of the…
June 2009
6 posts- LiC Podcast: The On-Button at TIE 2009 ArchiveI was really excited about revising my session from Educon 2.1 for TIE 2009. This is how it went (Including the presentation, the screencasts, the…
- LiC Podcast: Design with Forever in Mind ArchiveAlthough I was thrown a whole bunch by not having wifi for the first 45 minutes, I think that the session was worthwhile. Here is the archive of…
- Conflict of interestI accidentally posted this too soon, but here is the official version of this idea (which is bound to change at some point). What does it mean…
- Another one bites the dust…Image via CrunchBase One of the more promising tools that I had seen in the last year was Flowgram. I had used it to do a few tutorials and to…
- The most trusting of folksWe trust that things will happen , that the projects we are working on will eventually see the light of day. We trust that by sharing our…
Not knowing what I can shareThe future of e-learning is social learning For a week or more I have been conflicted about knowing what I can share from a class I co-taught this…
May 2009
17 posts- Install Moodle on an Oracle Database (in 25 minutes or less)While this post may not be for my typical reader, I believe that it has value to the larger online education community, mostly because many of us…
- Educon Conversation, better late than never.Image by catvpar via Flickr I have been going back through some of my audio files recently and I found a really good conversation from Educon 2.1.…
- Strategy for Collaborative LearningI recorded this podcast a few weeks ago, but I have sat on it for that long in order to mull everything over for a while. The topic for this…
- Blogs as Continuing Professional DevelopmentImage via Wikipedia I got a message on twitter that 5 posts from this blog are now available to anyone who is a part of Continuing Professional…
- What winning looks like.Image via Wikipedia I have been quite energized by a lot of the basketball games that have been going on during the playoffs this year. There have…
- Digital Legacy: Lesson PlansToday I will be working with a group of students at Ute Meadows Elementary on the idea of creating and tending their Digital Legacy (or what some…
- Things that I know nothing aboutI believe in learning all the time, but there are definitely some things that I know nothing about (but would like to some day). I hope to cross…
- Podcast on Podcstock with Kevin HoneycuttImage by Wesley Fryer via Flickr I had the unique opportunity to talk with Kevin Honeycutt about his amazing unconference, Podstock. Please listen…
- What I would be doing tomorrow…Image via Wikipedia Because of my deep love of words, I have always been very excited by unique writing projects (such as NanoWriMo and Myths and…
- Social Networking for a Non-ProfitI was asked to give a presentation on Social Networking for Non-Profits and more specifically, facebook, and so here is my best shot at a number…
- When is a book, not a book?Image via Wikipedia I believe that I have been looking for this capability for a solid year, but I was only able to figure it out today. It can be…
- Communal livingI never realized just how important community was to me until my wife and I asked our best family friends to come and live with us while they are…
- Responsible for your learning time…Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr I had a meeting today that brought together a lot of different people who are all involved in making…
- Honest with myself…Image via Wikipedia Where I to be totally honest with myself: I would stop whatever I am doing and find the nearest classroom to teach in. I would…
- Planning to support us…One of the consistent complaints (and most often heard form of resistance to using open source software) about Moodle is that it lacks any formal…
- I won't buy anything that only does one thingI have been thinking a lot about this recently: I don’t want anything to do with a device that only does what it was advertised to do. It is…
- BookGlutton: The coolest thing to happen to reading.Image via CrunchBase I can’t believe that this service took this long to exist, but my goodness is it cool: BookGlutton is a site that creates on…
April 2009
24 posts- The answer to a question no one askedImage by Getty Images via Daylife Here is an e-mail that I sent out just a few minutes ago to the team that is helping to decide the fate of…
- Talking about teachers when they aren't around.I have been a part of way too many meetings recently when there haven’t been any current teachers present, yet teaching decisions were being made.…
- Jumpcut Closing, Obviously.Image via CrunchBase I woke up this morning to this e-mail: Dear Jumpcut user, After careful consideration, we will be officially closing the…
- Why Google Docs should matter to Schools:I wrote this impassioned e-mail in response to a discussion about using Google Docs within our district. You may be able to sense the passion, but…
- What does flash have to do with it?Image via CrunchBase I was trying to figure out a very specific question today and I have been pretty much stumped ever since. The question is…
- Online Schools on TwitterImage via CrunchBase I realized that my last post lacked a little context, so I am giving it now. Yesterday, an online school…
- Content: The not so hard partFor the longest time, I really thought that getting content for an elearning platform was the hardest part (or at least the most expensive). Now,…
- Truth in advertising…I have had quite a few people follow me on twitter recently that weren’t exactly people. They were organizations and schools. They were large…
- The cost of not doing anything…I was in a great meeting this week where we were considering whether or not to go ahead with a full scale implimentation of the Moodle LMS for…
- Twitter as Feed ReaderImage via CrunchBase I have been more and more interested with using twitter as my primary means of staying fully connected, including receiving…
- Strategy for Mobile DevicesImage via Wikipedia Our district is starting to consider using student smart phones as a part of our overall device strategy. As we continue to…
- No one else is neccesary…Image via Wikipedia I had a great conversation today with a fellow teacher and learner. We were talking about traditional elearning and what…
- My Final Digital Educator Mentor PodcastAlthough I haven’t spoken much about the project itself on the blog, I am a Douglas County School District Digital Educator Mentor, which means…
- New ResponsibilityI was thinking about waiting until I got a little further into the project to start blogging about it, but since I made the choice to start…
- Strategy MattersImage via Wikipedia I really appreciate all of the talk recently about how a district can use strategy as a way forward with connected learning.…
- 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…
- Help please: Assessment Engine NeededImage via Wikipedia I have had multiple meetings this week around the topic of online assessments. Much to my surprise (well, not really), it…
- Nambu: Getting closer to twitter for everyoneAlthough this post will not go extremely in depth into the pedagogical implications of twitter, it will take a look at a new Twitter application…
- Who are "they"?In a post from a few days ago, a reader of this blog asked a very simple question: I would ask why are they less willing and who are the “they”?…
- CondensationI was at a restaurant this morning with my family and my wife’s fingers were getting stickier and stickier from the leaky maple syrup container.…
- Swimming lessonsFor one year when I was younger, I took private swimming lessons. This was in the stage after I had learned all of the basics with a bunch of…
- I'm not sure why this matters…I just got word that the Chief Information Officer for Douglas County Schools (my school district) is now on Twitter…
- Piloting you!I had a lot of conversation today about pilot initiatives within a larger institution. it seems as though in each project that I take part in,…
- Two things I have learned from bloggingImage by veganstraightedge via Flickr The following is an excerpt from an e-mail that I sent out earlier to a group of people in my district who…
March 2009
24 posts- Goomoodleikiog: Naming things is importantSo, this came across my tweetdeck today: http://sites.google.com/site/goomoodleikiog/Home It outlines in very specific terms one way of…
- 15 questions…I was given the task recently of coming up with 15 questions to ask a information technology director candidate during an interview. While I…
- Too busy to work on workflowThe other day I was working with the principal of our online school on creating a workflow for contacts, email, and calendar that would allow her…
- What is it now?There is a syndrome that I see from many of the people that I work with, and at many times, it I can be guilty as well. It happens when someone…
- Moving Day!Image by leff via Flickr I can only say this about a few days in my life, like the day when my daughter was born or the day that put together my…
- The glue has just become superglue.Image by Irish Typepad via Flickr As I have written before, I am more and more convinced that the glue that is holding together all of the small…
- Add Video Tutorials to Google SitesAlthough I am very excited about using Google Apps for Education for school communication and collaboration I can honestly say that I am not at…
- Making moving easy…Every night this week and last I have been packing. I have been packing up my family to move us to someplace better, with more room and more…
- Virtual attendees unite.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…
- Login from Anywhere!Image by Mirko Macari via Flickr While this may not be an earth shattering to anyone else, I just figured out how to embed a login to moodle into…
- Sloodle: The potential for 3d learning environments coupled with LMSImage via Wikipedia I have been looking at this project for quite some time, but I have only begun to explore the real potential here. Over at…
- LMS as LegosImage via Wikipedia As I am pursuing my theory of Moodle as the glue that can hold together all of the parts of authentic online learning, I have…
- Pilot with purposeImage via CrunchBase I want to make sure that I talk about this before I lose sight of the student’s faces when they started… Today I had the…
- Challenging question…Earlier today I was talking with a colleague that I highly respect who was challenging the premise of my blog post from yesterday. She was saying…
- Recasting Education: the problem of continuity.Image via Wikipedia I was just thinking about one of my favorite movies, Gattaca. In it, Ethan Hawke is trying to assume a genetic identity in…
- Logging back in…Image by Extra Ketchup via Flickr So, I have run into quite a few hiccups with my Google Apps and Moodle Integration so far, all of which I think…
- The power of possibility…The power of possibility the only kind of power that matters. The power of the status quo no longer is a value because it can no longer provide…
- Making content your ownImage via Wikipedia In order to document just what I am doing with moodle to make sure that it is the direction I would like to go in for creating…
- Rolling it outImage by Tom Raftery via Flickr Yesterday was my first attempt to inject Google Apps into the conversation about our online school. Now that we…
- I bought a house today!Image by Azhure* via Flickr This post doesn’t have a whole lot to do with educational technology, but I really had to let everyone who might care…
- Moodle as glueI have to say that for a long time I really missed the boat on Moodle. All this time I really just thought of it as a way to put courses online…
- Have an idea!Image via Wikipedia One of my favorite moments of The West Wing is during a conversation between the communications directory and his deputy. It…
- Another Senior Project: Social Network ResearchImage via Wikipedia I don’t have a lot of time to write this post (crazy things happen when I get excited about an idea) , but I really want to…
- Best Senior Project, Ever.Image by Getty Images via Daylife As I have been looking for people who are working to roll out Google Apps for Education in their schools, I…
February 2009
29 posts- The Missing Community for Google Apps?Image via CrunchBase As I am working hard to roll out Google Apps for Education for our online school, I am struggling to find the community that…
- How do you take attendance (or engagement)?Image by inju via Flickr When the students are directly in front of you, it is easy. You count up the number of kids and see just who they are.…
- Laying down the gauntlet…Image via Wikipedia I am trying to create a learning environment worthy of my kids. That’s all. I am working feverishly every day so that by the…
- The Killer App: Google Apps and Moodle Integration?Image via Wikipedia Even though I haven’t used Moodle as much as WordPress and Wikispaces in my own teaching and learning, I have installed it…
- A coalition of the willing: Online Learning in ColoradoImage via Wikipedia One of the biggest things that I learned from CoLearning 2009, was that if the conversations about change in education are…
- I believe in burning out.As much fun as I will have reflecting on CoLearning 2009, I am too burned out to do so tonight. I am too burned out on conversing with anyone but…
- What's the point?I am sitting in Anne Smith’s classroom listening to students talk about the ways in which students believe they are seen vs. the way they see…
- A Post on Remixing that bears repeating.I am sitting in a session at Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation on Remixing in the classroom and I was drawn back to an activity that I did…
- Scaling up a flawed system…Image via Wikipedia I wrote a single thing on the back of a paper at a meeting today: Scaling a system that exists vs. Creating a different system…
- Asking students questionsImage by Getty Images via Daylife This Saturday, at Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation, we will have the privilege of hosting a student panel.…
- Firefox Universal Uploader, a way to make Google Docs an e-portfolio or document backupSorry for the long title, but I don’t need to talk all that much about this particularly cool tool. I just wanted to convey just how excited I am…
- Elitism in the edublogosphere, or EdublarbificationImage via Wikipedia My wife and I were joking last night about just how much the edubloging community likes to think it is the greatest thing…
- Almost the same.Image via Wikipedia Whenever I see somone talk about their brand new LMS, CMS, or collaborative learning product, I tend to be very skeptical. No…
- The Collaborative InstinctImage via Wikipedia It is so strange how links seem to be related to one another when you have a single idea in your head. The tweets seem to come…
- Gmail Reboot, or the only mail client you will ever needAlthough I have been a member of gmail since the good old days of invitation-only status: But, up until this week, I did not use it for anything…
- Learning Networks and PD, the movieImage by Targuman via Flickr Although I didn’t really want to string this piece out for two posts, I think that thinking things through is really…
- A questionThis is a really interesting question. First, if you are looking for engaging videos to show for professional development, I would look…
- Learning Networks and Professional DevelopmentImage by superkimbo in BKK via Flickr I am in the process of putting together a presentation that will be used to convince others that Learning…
- The On Button ArchiveWhile 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…
- Okay, No tools without ideas and no ideas without toolsImage by Felix42 contra la censura via Flickr My last post was excited about the fact that my district is now interested in pursuing the idea of…
- Bigger than pedagogyThe last two posts that I have written have talked about ideas vs. Tools. I didn’t realize it until after I had written them that I had not used…
- Getting excited about an idea, not a toolSo, for a while in our district has been very excited about certain tools that they have invested in. At various times, they have been excited…
- Whenever I feel like…Whenever I feel like I’ve run into a wall in online school I start thinking about all the possibilities for communicating and things just seems to…
- Bringing ideas and people together.The IT department is an interesting beast in any school distrct. It has so many good ideas for how to get things done and it has the technical…
- Technological Musical ChairsImage by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr Today I had two really good conversations about what is truly important in creating a learning environment for…
- I learn with other learners.For a long time, I have been kind of snobby about deciding where I can learn. I had made the decision that I could only learn when I am with…
- Another story of learning…Although I have already written my This I Believe a few years ago and you can even hear it if you wish, but I have been asked to consider the…
- The power of opening your eyes.When I look out onto the learning landscape, I see people who are heavily invested. In making sure that students know what they need to, invested…
- Why twitter matters (for Tim).Image via CrunchBase Tim was the best man at my wedding. He was my friend before I had any others. He was the one who helped me to understand IRC…
January 2009
32 posts- Connecting is the hardest…Connecting is the hardest thing to do in learning. If you don’t believe me, ask a student how many times they have received meaningful feedback…
- When enough is too much…Image by Getty Images via Daylife I want to be able to depend upon all of the spaces that I choose to learn and work in. I want to know that they…
- Expanding on The On ButtonImage via Wikipedia I received an e-mail from an attendee of my educon presentation, The On Button: Instant and Always on collaboration. She was…
- Create something every day.One of the big revelations for me at educon was that creating things is the only way to sustain change. You cannot influence things to change. You…
- The secret to a great meeting after educon.1. Believe in what you are saying. 2. Own what you know. 3. Reference the hope that you feel many times. 4. Reach. 5. Be able to back up your…
- I have never thought so much or slept so little…So, I have been the youngest person in the room ever since I finished college. This is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing in the fact…
- Educon 2.1- The On Button: Instant and Always-on CollaborationAll of the best collaborations I have been a part of have started off with a lot of questions. Not “how do we get it done” questions, but rather…
- The educon 2.1 opening panel.Idea one: The purpose of school is not to churn out a finished product. Innovation doesn’t come from a place of completion. Idea two: If we mean…
- Educon 2.1: Day OneI will be keeping my notes here, mostly, but you can also follow my twitter stream below for more notes. Check out the EduCon wiki for more info.
- Networks are cities.I am on my way to educon 2.1 right now, looking out into the night (don’t worry, I am using my phone in airplane mode). For some reason there are…
- DCSD Conversations 01.21.09Here is the second installment of the Douglas County School District’s conversations around learning and technology, which is cross-posted here.…
- When a phone isn't a phoneImage by incurable_hippie via Flickr I wrote the draft of this yesterday, so I’m pretty sure it still counts for my writing a blog post every day…
- Why don't our students create the Feltron report every year?Image via Wikipedia When I think about all of the ways in which students are measured and monitored, it strikes me that very little of the…
- Every login that can be eliminated, should be.Image via Wikipedia I have been thinking a lot about this concept in preparation for The On Button: Instant and Always-On Collaboration, but I…
- Can you graph a good school?Image via Wikipedia I hadn’t planned on blogging about this again this soon, but this post from Graham Wegner got me thinking about it again. In…
- Schools can look like anything: All things to all kids.Image via Wikipedia Today I was lucky enough to go and visit three Hope Online Sites in Denver. If you are unfamiliar with this program, basically…
- How did Kaplan beat us to it? Or, Who's getting rich off education?Image by Firesign via Flickr So, I was just watching some TV with my 6 month old son while my wife catches a nap, and I saw this ad for Kaplan: I…
- Should kids be excited about Standardized Testing?Image by woodleywonderworks via Flickr I have been given the task of trying to find ways to pump up kids who are not all that excited about…
- Revising learning…Image via Wikipedia One of the large tasks that I am doing right now is taking all of the courses that our online school taught during the first…
- Everything must be scalable… Making me obsolete.Image via Wikipedia I would like to explore if only for a moment the idea that we are all in a major budget crunch. As much as I would like to…
- Until it becomes easy for everyone…I keep on thinking that because I am learning more and more how to get the most out of my phone, my browser, my email, and my time that others…
- House hunting is School huntingImage by McMorr via Flickr This is really my post from yesterday. I was just too tired from the search to post it. My wife and I were looking at…
- It’s incidental, not integral, if you know what I mean…Image via Wikipedia This is one of my favorite quotes from Harold and Maude, which is one of my favorite movies. It is from the scene where Maude…
- DCSD Conversations: A new beginningIn an effort to have some of the conversations that I engage in regularly on Twitter and in the Edublogosphere within my home School District, I…
- TwitpressI 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,…
- Reader where you actually read things…As much as I can before educon 2.1, I will be expanding upon the ideas of my topic, The On Button: Instant and Always on Collaboration. While, the…
- You say you want a revolution…I really enjoyed reading Clarence Fisher’s recent post on why no one he knows has been fired over advocating connected learning…
- A list of tags…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…
- 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…
- Feeds in a workflow.For as useful as they are for aggregating information, rss feeds are not all that easy to put into one’s workflow. You have to make a point of…
- Everything as a feed.I am now coming to understand feeds and rss as the muscles that move the web. They are the tissue that seems to push and pull all of the…
- The grand challenge.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…