Thursday, July 09, 2009
Why Jeff went to NECC09
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Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Wordle 4th of July
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Monday, July 06, 2009
Saturday, July 04, 2009
On the Mall on the 4th of July!
Okay, I'm gonna do it.Last night I was pretty sure I was gonna be a party pooper, but today, after catching up on all kinds of things all morning at the hotel, I'm downtown at Gordon Biersch with a cold brew in front of me and my laptop aperch a singularly central bar table. People on the wait list just didn't see the table, I guess, or would rather sit at a traditional table or booth. I'm a happy camper.

- Second Life is not a "game." You can find any number of statements, manifestos, and flat-out angry diatribes on this topic with your Google search engine and a few careful search terms. Perhaps the most eloquent is the "Classification" segment of the Second LIfe entry at Wikipedia. To whit:
Classification
During a 2001 meeting with investors, Rosedale noticed that the participants were particularly responsive to the collaborative, creative potential of Second Life. As a result, the initial objective driven, gaming focus of Second Life was shifted to a more user created, community driven experience.[11][12]
Second Life's status as a virtual world, a computer game, or a talker, is frequently debated. Unlike a traditional computer game, Second Life does not have a designated objective, nor traditional game play mechanics or rules. As it does not have any stipulated goals it is irrelevant to talk about winning or losing in relation to Second Life. Likewise, unlike a traditional talker, Second Life contains an extensive world that can be explored and interacted with, and it can be used purely as a creative toolset if the user so chooses. However, the vast majority of users use Second Life primarily as an entertainment medium,[citation needed] and for most of them the ability to interact with other users is critical to that.[citation needed]
- Second Life may be a "simulation," but--at least as it is used by educators--it is much more a social networking platform that is mounted on a platform that is a simulated environment than it is a "simulation."
- Second Life educators, while they may be individually interested in gaming, are more educators than gamers. Many come into SL simply to enjoy the company of others, to benefit from the amazing sense of place that SL can provide for networking, teaching, and learning.
- The nearly 5000 members of ISTE Second Life could mostly care less about the content promoted by the membership of SIGGS, aside from Second Life. I'm not saying that content is not valuable, and educationally valid, and shared with good intentions, but the underpinnings of most of the content I saw at the wonderful SIGGS Playground are not relevant to many of the members of what I propose to be SIGSL, SIG Second Life. Shoot, there should probably be a SIGVE (one for all other Virtual Environment platforms as well. But even that's getting too broad for many of our ISTE SL members, and I truly think we need to populate the discussion with resources for SIGSL without broadening its scope.
- Second Life is free. Most of the SIGGS content, other than SL, is not. That's a huge difference that can't be overstated. While there are commercial aspects to networking, teaching, and learning in SL, an educator need not spend dollar one to benefit from it on a daily basis, if she or he so chooses.
- Back when the SIGGS was first proposed, I had put in a concurrent proposal in for a SIGVE. For a number of reasons, including my own overcommitments in various venues and on various projects, I deferred to ISTE's suggestion that we merge, and deferred leadership to the capable Greg Jones, since the broader topic suggested that his level of expertise is clearly more suited to leading that SIG. As far as I can see, none of the leadership of SIGGS has much interest in SL, aside from using it as a platform to promote their own interests. That's a good thing, and I applaud it, but I maintain that the Second Life "tribe" needs more representation in ISTE than the SIGGS can provide it. It needs its own SIG, ya'll.
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The Money Shot

Nobody made an address. There were no Powerpoints. The food was marginal. This is why I do this work.
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Thursday, July 02, 2009
NECC09 for the Visually Needy!
NECC09 is dead. Long live NECC09! | Reactions: |
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday at NECC09--Opportunites for Input
I was talking with Scott Meech and Judi Epcke, just before exiting the convention center for the Metro (subway) to go change clothes for the President's Reception, and in those 20 minutes I enjoyed sharing opinions and insights with them so much that I knew I had to write this post. Much earlier, first thing in the morning, I spent 4 hours with 300 or so of the most influential people in the International Society for Technology in Education. After some very inspiring talks from an invited panel, and prepped by two documents we had been charged to pre-read, we broke out into 5 topic groups based on our expressed interests, from the following field of options:
- ACCESS TO HIGH-QUALITY LEARNING EXPERIENCES - What role can technology play in broadening access to high-quality, rigorous learning? (Including students living in poverty or in rural areas, learning English, and coping with disabilities?)
- IMPROVED ASSESSMENT - What role can technology play in developing and delivering high-quality assessments of the skills and concepts needed for college and careers?
- DATA-DRIVEN DECISION MAKING - What role can technology play in facilitating data-supported continuous improvement processes?
- TEACHER DEVELOPMENT - What role can technology play in enhancing the professional growth of teachers and improving the effectiveness of their teaching?
- STUDENT ENGAGEMENT - What role can technology play in promoting the engagement and success of students, including those from at-risk populations? (i.e., the kind of system innovation needed to dramatically improve high school graduation rates?)
Once we had broken out into our 5 groups, those were assembled into sets of smaller groups of seven each, and the only one in my group that I already knew was Lisa Linn, my wonderful co-facilitator of the Second Life Playground and a longtime friend first from SL and then from NECC. She's an educator in Southern California and under serious constraints that limit her potentials for innovation, and her frustration with that is often palpable. Others in my group included one from Africa, one from the Virgin Islands, and one from Thailand. Another was from California, and two vendor/educators, one from OneText (the First Class email folks) and one from Smart Technologies. Toward the end of the experienced we were joined by a New Zealander. We were asked to pick roles for our group in standard breakout session manner, and I was chosen facilitator. Andrea from OpenText, was the reporter, Kimberly from Smart was the timekeeper, and Lisa reminded the rest of us to speak loudly and slowly for our international guest. What transpired over the next two hours as we pursued our directives to reflect, discuss and arrive at consensus on several topics was nothing less than inspirational.
We were treated to some results reported in the NetDay Speakup survey from 2008 then set to work. I quote the charge:"Imagine that the person who controls the purses strings one level higher than you walks in your office one day and says, "We need to transform the way we do business. I have access to stimulus dollars and other federal funding to invest in technology solutions that will provide along term pay off in improving our productivity and student outcomes. How can we leverage technology to promote the engagement and success of all of our students, including those from at-risk populations? How can technololgy help us innovate and dramatically improve our high school graduation rate?"We were asked to reflect upon 5 questions, and given 2 minutes to do so. Then we were asked to discuss them, focusing on numbers one and three, and achieve something like consensus on brief contributions to the document that will eventually go to the Obama administration as our organization's recommendations for a National Educational Technology Plan. Wow.
- What will the transformed system look like in the end?
- What Barriers need to be removed (in addition to having access to sufficient funding?
- What steps must be taken to achieve the goals?
- What metrics will you use to measure progress?
- Who will you cite as examples of progress toward this goal, demonstrating that the concepts have been tested?
I'm sittin in a the Old Dominion Brewhouse 10 minutes before the President's Reception and I'm not really up for hitting the 30 minute subway trip up to my hotel to change clothes, then doing it again to come back down and again to return to the hotel after. I do like the DC Metro, but not that much, especially at the end of a long and taxing day. Long in good ways, taxing in spectactular ones. My apologies to the President's Reception, which I'm sure went swimmingly without me.
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NECC09 ISTE Leadership Symposium

I'm streaming the ISTE Leadership Symposium into SL at the moment, using SL Voice. We have 12 avatars present.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/97/81/30/
Friday, June 26, 2009
In DC!
I'm 'way up out away (Uptown, I'm told) from the conference center, but I'm about to venture out and make a practice run to the Washington Conference Center, so that I an make it with confidence to tomorrow a.m.'s 7:15 door opening for the ISTE Volunteer Breakfast, then back up a ways to the Renaissance Hotel for the CSTA CSIT Symposium, which I fully intend to alternate during the day with the fabulous Edubloggercon back down at the Conference Center. I'll be taking subway trains so I'd better get good at it.
I plan to work on my schedule today, pound out a comprehensive to-do list for the weekend, and to wake bright and shiny for a day of networking and learning. No presenting for me tomorrow, or Sunday, for that matter, when I'll be attending several events, starting with the ISTE Leadership Symposium 8-12:30, then I'll catch the ISTE Member Welcome from 2:00-3:45 and then the ISTE SL Volunteer Welcome at 4-5 pm followed by the conference keynote address from none other than Malcolm Gladwell. Dinner? Maybe I'll head back up home for a catnamp before catching the ISTE President's Reception at the Smithsonian! That's from 8:30 to 10:00 so if I plan to be conscious that's likely a good idea...
Monday, of course, the Second Life Playground kicks off from 8-4, and Lisa and I will be wrangling a stable of capable volunteers for that, then I'll be presenting the Quest Atlantis Birds of a Feather Networking session from 4:4506:15.
Then there'es the SLPg from 9-4, then TP405--Introduction to Education in Second Life: n00bs UNITE! from 12:30 to 3:30 on Tuesday, the Second Life Birds of a Feather session from 4:45-6:15. Wednesday it's an early one with WA507--Educators' Toolbox and Skill Set: Instruction and Presentation in Second Life from 8:30 to 11:30 and the Closing Keynote address from Erin Gruwell from 2:45 to 4.
Wrapup work will happen on the 2nd, blogging, and archiving and thank-you'ing and such, then I'm hoping for some rest on the 3rd and 4th, catching some entertainment and fireworks the night of the 4th of July, and flying home to my much-missed and very patient family the aftnoon of the 5th.
There you have it--stalk me at will. Free hugs.
Off to the conference center dry-run!
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