Yup, it is, but there's a good reason for it. My own team at MNPS Virtual Learning is studying about Instructional Design via "Designing Effective Instruction" by Morrison, Ross, and Kemp, and the focus of the ISTE Leadership Symposium in Denver last summer, led by Chris Johnson, was learningspacedesign (HEY, that's me and Kathy with Lee and others in one of those pics!). The cover story of the Dec.-January Leading and Learning with Technology is, guess what, "Design New Spaces for Learning." (I have a little POINT-COUNTERPOINT piece in that issue, by the way.)
But I digress. Here's the share for the day: David Thornbug, the fabulously driven educational change advocate, recently presented on the topic at TEDx TLN, an event that took place in Phoenix, Arizona. This video, a presentation David calls "Learning on the Holodeck: Theaters Without Audiences," just became available at YouTube and I want so much to share it that I'm embedding it here.
The punch line is worth waiting for. Wait for it...wait for it...
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Tennessee Educational Technology Conference 2010
I spent much of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday schmoozing and attending sessions at this year's Tennessee Educational Technology Conference at the Nashville Convention Center. Let me just say this: Any conference that centers around educational technology needs to make sure their gathering place provides ample free wi-fi for its attendees. I know it's an old building, but they've done better at that in the past. Many of the attendees at these things need to be connected and they don't need to have to pay for a very laggy top-floor-only connection or plug into a hardwired laptop on the vendor floor. Just sayin'.
That's better. Now. This was a great conference for me because I
That's better. Now. This was a great conference for me because I
- met Debi Crabtree, Virtual Learning Coordinator for Hamilton County Virtual Schools (and I'm still wondering why they can call their program a "school" and we can't) and her partner in presentation, Betsy Norris, and to sit in on several of their 5, count 'em, 5 presentations;
- got to watch my boss, Kecia Ray, present twice;
- discovered, thanks to Debi, CompassLearning, an online course provider that Debi says is "the most interactive and engaging content out there." I'll be reviewing that content this coming week for our own program; and
- attended friend Rusthon Hurley's keynote address, where he emphasized the power of video in education.
I only had my Samsung "dumbphone" with me for picture taking, though I did also snap a couple things with the Mac PhotoBooth program, so though I apologize for the quality of the snapshots, I'm posting those four pics right here:
e4tn presentation re a new Middle School beta
program for online learning
e4tn demos their LiveScribe exploration
Debi Crabtree shares Web 2.0 resources. I even learned
a few new tricks. I am grateful to Debi for her sharing spirit and
her eloquence and I soooo look forward to our future
collaborations!
Rushton Hurley wows a packed house
Thanks to the organizers of the conference for a rich learning experience, despite the missing ubiquitous wi-fi. Sorry to my tweetz and other PLN for the lack of communication during the conference! I'll share out some resources here later!!!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Professional Networking for Lifelong Learning
My thanks to the organizers of Texas's Virtual Education Conference '10, held this week Nov. 9 through 12, for the opportunity to meet a quality handful of new colleagues via my presentation last night. I did prepare a PowerPoint for it, though through the effort of adapting that object to the Elluminate10 platform I'm beginning to see value in starting out building a presentation in its whiteboard-based interface and will likely play with that during February's 4 webinar series with ESBOCES in New York. At any rate, on my way to my morning treadmill workout I want to offer the original PowerPoint here.
Focusing on only three elements of a PLN, it's chocked full of resources for an educator just starting out building a one, which for me has two "P's," Professional and Personal. Maybe I'll start abbreviating it "P/PLN" to make that point.
The 1 hour mini-event, moderated magnificently by Kim Caise, will be archived at the site, and if it's available via guest access I'll post the link to it right here. I had fun, and I learned some things myself. Please feel free to share:
Focusing on only three elements of a PLN, it's chocked full of resources for an educator just starting out building a one, which for me has two "P's," Professional and Personal. Maybe I'll start abbreviating it "P/PLN" to make that point.
The 1 hour mini-event, moderated magnificently by Kim Caise, will be archived at the site, and if it's available via guest access I'll post the link to it right here. I had fun, and I learned some things myself. Please feel free to share:
Monday, November 08, 2010
Reposting Again, Another Opportunity to Share
I consider David Warlick a friend. Back in 2007 I was teaching a week of Web 2.0 exploration to a group of teachers and David spent an hour of his time chatting with us, an hour borne of our acquaintance through ISTE and subsequent conversations about education. A resulting artifact was podcast number 59 of my "Snacks4theBrain!" series, an interview, music show I produced back then for the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach. You can read (and listen) all about that at the Snacks4theBrain! podcast website.
Zoom to present day, where you are encouraged to add to your calendar David's live share, detailed below, this Wednesday night via the K12 Online Conference. I regret to admit that I haven't participated at all in this annual event, but only because my personal and professional life has been so busy. Perhaps I'll see you in one or another event this week, or perhaps I'll see you at David's live post-conference keynote. I hope so.
Via email this morning:
Subject: Post-Conference Keynote Presenter Live
Fireside Chat with David Warlick
A message to all members of K12 Online Conference
| Hello everyone! I wanted to invite you to continue to view the 2010 K12 Online Conference presentations including the post conference keynote presentation by David Warlick - 'A Gardener's Approach to Learning'. The culminating live event of the K12 Online Conference will this Wednesday, November 10th at 7pmEST/11pm GMT.The session will be in Elluminate and accessible via either of the following links: Date: November 10, 2010 Time: 7pm EST/12am (next day) GMT Short URL: http://moourl.com/k12online10_ Full link: https://sas.elluminate.com/m. Mark your calendars with this event and stay tuned for more details with invitations to participate in the live Echo sessions held at EdTechTalk throughout the remainder of 2010 and 2011. The Live Events committee will continue to share details and additional live events after the 2010 conference and before the 2011 conference. The 2010 K12 Online Conference has been a fantastic two weeks with amazing videos from presenters around the world. The Live Events Committee hosted several events throughout the conference and will continue into the new year. We hope to cross paths at the Global Education Conference hosted by Steve Hargadon and Lucy Gray. Many of the current and past K12 Online Conference presenters will again share the wealth of their knowledge throughout the five days the Global Education Conference will be held. Be sure to check the schedule and support conference presenters by attending, engaging or volunteering to assist with conference sessions at the #globaledcon10 website. Have a great week, Kim Caise K12 Online Organizer Team |
Visit K12 Online Conference at: http://k12online.ning.com/?xg_
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Make Plans to Participate in the 2010 Global Education Conference, November 15 - 19!
While my two colleagues are planning to leave me behind to hold down the fort at the end of next week when they traipse on out to Arizona for the iNACOL 2010 Virtual School Symposium, I'm planning to, well, hold down the fort at MNPS Virtual Learning, but I'm also planning to attend another conference, all from the comfort of my own little (admittedly techtripped-out) cubicle. Thanks to Steve and Luuuuuuuuuuucy (I have to say it that way every time I see her, for some inexplicable and likely juvenile reason) for making this happen. I repost content from the Global Education Conference website here in the sincere hope that I'll see some of you there (virtually, of course!). Here 'tis:
Bienvenue! Welcome! 歡迎! Willkommen! Benvenuto!
반갑습니다!
Seja bem-vindo(a)! Bienvenido!
The conference is a collaborative and world-wide community effort to significantly increase opportunities for globally-connecting education activities and initiatives.
There is no formal registration required for the conference, as all the sessions will be open and public, broadcast live using the Elluminate platform, and available in recorded formats afterwards. Links to watch the sessions will be posted a few days before the conference begins, in the "Sessions" and "Schedule" pages, and recording links will be listed soon thereafter. To verify that your computer system is configured correctly to access Elluminate, please run the self-test here.
We are currently looking for volunteers to help moderate session--please check here if you can help (and thanks!).
Thank you for your interest,
Steve Hargadon
Co-Chair
steve@hargadon.com
www.stevehargadon.com
Lucy Gray
Co-Chair
elemenous@gmail.com
elemenous.typepad.com
http://globaleducation.ning.com
A Spanish/Espanol version of the site is here.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
If You Teach, Enjoy This. If You Don't, You May Not...
I'm reluctant, in large measure due to the oft-expressed opinion of my dear friend Cathy Walker that too many would-be Web pundits don't really do anything--they only collect and re-publicize the original work of others, to share this, but omg I have to:
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Utopian Visions? Possibilities? Something...Virtual Pioneers Closing Keynote October 30, 2010
Thanks to the folks who attended my closing keynote for the two-day Virtual Pioneers History Conference in Second Life last evening. Spiff/Andy had asked me to close with some visions for the future of education, and I kind of went wild. Though one attendee rather rudely backchatted his boredom during the opening wrap up and summary, I appear to have stifled his criticism, at least to some degree, with the following presentation. I spiffed it up (pun intended) a bit after subsequent dinner conversation with my lovely wife, who serves up the best pushback from the point of view of a parent and educator. The backchat text file is at http://goo.gl/xiro .
Here 'tis. I may add some audio, but for now as you view it you should likely put on the Beatles "Revolution" or virtually any Ratatat, either one played very loud...
View more presentations from Scott Merrick.
Here 'tis. I may add some audio, but for now as you view it you should likely put on the Beatles "Revolution" or virtually any Ratatat, either one played very loud...
View more presentations from Scott Merrick.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Gary Stager's "Must Read" List for School "Reform"
The esteemed Gary Stager, educational change advocate and a strong voice in the edublogosphere, last week posted a piece--on the new Huffington Post Education tab--which he, with characteristic aplomb, entitled, "Wanna be an School Reformer? You Better do your Homework!" I heartily encourage you to begin yours with a visit to that post and a thorough reading of Gary's careful and knowledgeable descriptions of the 18 books on his (though "admittedly subjective") list of essential required readings. I took a few minutes at the start of my work day to cull out just the titles with Gary's links to the books themselves, but only because I want a concise assignment sheet for myself in order to search my local public library (that "teacher's salary" issue ;).
[Posted later, a pic of my growing collection from the public library, shared with my colleagues at my cubby]:
Steve Hargadon, through whose Facebook post I became aware of Gary's article, suggests that "we need to do a book study of these." I concur. As I say, please do read the original post, but if you need the cheat sheet I submit it here, along with Gary's comment preceding his must-read list:
Dr. Seymour Sarason, The Skeptical Visionary: A Seymour Sarason Reader, The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform: Can We Change Course Before It's Too Late, And What do YOU Mean by Learning, Political Leadership and Educational Failure and Charter Schools: Another Flawed Educational Reform?
Seymour Papert, The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer
The Big Picture: Education Is Everyone's Business by Dennis Littky and Littky's biography, Doc: The Story Of Dennis Littky And His Fight For A Better School, by Susan Kammeraad-Campbell
Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization
The Schools our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" and The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools by Alfie Kohn
Dr. Theodore Sizer, Horace's Compromise
Jonathan Kozol, Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope
Herbert Kohl, The Herb Kohl Reader: Awakening the Heart of Teaching
Susan Ohanian and Kathy Emery, Why is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools?
Gerald Bracey published, Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality - Transforming the Fire Consuming America's Schools
Not With Our Kids You Don't! Ten Strategies to Save Our Schools by Juanita Doyon
Go for it! And let me know when you're ready to have that book study group!
[Posted later, a pic of my growing collection from the public library, shared with my colleagues at my cubby]:
"The following books are appropriate for parents, teachers, administrators, politicians and plain old citizens committed to the ideal of sustaining a joyful, excellent and democratic public education for every child."A Schoolmaster of the Great City: A Progressive Education Pioneer's Vision for Urban Schools, Angelo Patri
Dr. Seymour Sarason, The Skeptical Visionary: A Seymour Sarason Reader, The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform: Can We Change Course Before It's Too Late, And What do YOU Mean by Learning, Political Leadership and Educational Failure and Charter Schools: Another Flawed Educational Reform?
Seymour Papert, The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer
The Big Picture: Education Is Everyone's Business by Dennis Littky and Littky's biography, Doc: The Story Of Dennis Littky And His Fight For A Better School, by Susan Kammeraad-Campbell
Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization
The Schools our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" and The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools by Alfie Kohn
Dr. Theodore Sizer, Horace's Compromise
Jonathan Kozol, Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope
Herbert Kohl, The Herb Kohl Reader: Awakening the Heart of Teaching
Susan Ohanian and Kathy Emery, Why is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools?
Gerald Bracey published, Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality - Transforming the Fire Consuming America's Schools
Not With Our Kids You Don't! Ten Strategies to Save Our Schools by Juanita Doyon
Go for it! And let me know when you're ready to have that book study group!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Sir Ken Robinson Helps Me Out (Again)
Okay, just to make sure you watch this. I've Facebooked, tweeted, emailed, and done everything but run screaming through the streets to share this 11 minutes of reasonableness with others. Here's my last effort (today, anyway) to nominate Sir Ken Robinson for a Global Reason Award. Is there such a thing? Maybe not, but there should be. I started off my MNPS SWAP session by sharing this with the 18 K-12 teachers who were really there for a Web 2.0 learning day. I said it was "to let you know where I'm coming from, here." Here:
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Web 2.0 for US! Session at Martin Professional Development Center 101910
I had a great time yesterday facilitating an all-day Web 2.0 (and beyond) session for 18 MNPS teachers. The participants were a very nicely balanced mix of elementary, middle, and high school teachers and we got right into it at 8:37 a.m. The class was supposed to get underway at 8:30 but my watch (this has never before happened) inexplicably stopped at 8:16 and I kept glancing at it thinking, "we have a few more minutes" until I thought "It's been 8:16 for quite some time. Has time stopped?"
Off we went. The session was guided by the PowerPoint/GooglePresentation embedded here and underscored by dialog in a live chat room at http://chatterous.com. I have now pasted the chat log into slides at the end of the pressie and added a few replies to questions or comments I didn't see because I was sharing my little heart out up front of the room. The final slide shares a bit of my own reflection on the day's work.
Please take a few minutes (11, which you will not regret) to view the Ken Robinson presentation we started the day with, because as I said, "I want you to know where I'm coming from..."
Thanks again to all my wonderful new colleagues and my hearty encouragement to you to keep the faith and keep your change moving in the right direction. On of our main support structures at Virtual Learning is "Do the next right thing for our students." You know what it is. You are good teachers.
Here is:
Off we went. The session was guided by the PowerPoint/GooglePresentation embedded here and underscored by dialog in a live chat room at http://chatterous.com. I have now pasted the chat log into slides at the end of the pressie and added a few replies to questions or comments I didn't see because I was sharing my little heart out up front of the room. The final slide shares a bit of my own reflection on the day's work.
Please take a few minutes (11, which you will not regret) to view the Ken Robinson presentation we started the day with, because as I said, "I want you to know where I'm coming from..."
Thanks again to all my wonderful new colleagues and my hearty encouragement to you to keep the faith and keep your change moving in the right direction. On of our main support structures at Virtual Learning is "Do the next right thing for our students." You know what it is. You are good teachers.
Here is:
Monday, October 18, 2010
Virtual Pioneers Online History Conference!
Come and join in the 3D immersive fun and learn while you do it!
Second Life and OpenSimulator, two important artifacts of future history, are continually providing new ways to see, hear, and personally experience the past. Other 3D platforms are doing so as well, and in the course of these presentations over a two day period, as you drop in when your own schedule allows, you will see what all this can mean for learning and teaching over the next generation. Read the press release for the conference.
Andrew Wheelock (Spiff Whitfield) has facilitated into being a group of around 200 educators interested in exploring history in virtual worlds. The Virtual Worlds Pioneers has been going strong for years now, having started out in a Ning and migrating to grou.ps (as did so many other communities) when Ning dumped their free-for-education policy. The new address is at http://grou.ps/virtualpioneers/home and I heartily encourage you to join.
Why? Because VWP consistently offers events in virtual worlds where educators can share a passion for history. In doing so, they build friendships that can last a lifetime. Two lifetimes, even...
If you don't have a Second Life avatar, now's the time. Simply visit Secondlife.com and get one for free. Play around with it for half an hour prior to the conference so you will be able to sit or walk without sitting on someone's head (considered rude in any historical period or culture) or bumping into others embarrassingly.
This is the first ever VWP online history conference, but it won't be the last. Themed "Re-Create, Educate, Illuminate--Learning History Virtually," it runs Friday and Saturday, October 29 and 30, coming up in just under two weeks. I'll be wrapping up the conference with a closing keynote on Saturday, 4 pm SL (Pacific) time, to be followed by a "Closing Celebration- Socializing, dancing, prizes, and music!" The entire schedule is available online at the conference website and it looks to be a doozy!
Heck, I'll save you a click or two:
Saturday, October 29:
| Date | Time (SL time) | Session | SLURL |
10/29/10 | 1-2pm | Kimmer Jameson from PBS Eight will inspire us with her blend of great teacher resources that can adapt to Virtual Environment history. | Virtual Pioneer Headquarters |
| 10/29/10 | 2-4pm | Csteph Submariner will lead us on a tour of this unbelievably detailed and historically accurate sim that highlights the trials and poetry of this era in world history. | Western Front |
10/29/10 | 4-5pm | Jacon Cortes will take us on a tour of Antiquity Texas, an 1800's role playing sim in the Antiquty Community of Victorian Sims and ruled under the gracious hand of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Antiqutiy. Jacon has a superior knowledge of this time period as well as tremendous skill as a Second Life designer and builder. Please join us on this fantastic tour. | Antiquity Texas |
| 10/29/10 | 5-6pm | Eureka Dejavu- Understanding Islam in Virtual Worlds | Virtual Pioneer Headquarters |
| 10/29/10 | 6-7pm | Tamsin Barzane- The Yoruba Light Project (still under construction) connects the past and present of the West African Yoruba people to Salvador da Bahia in Brazil and to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. | Yoruba Light |
Saturday, October 30:
| Date | Time (SL) | Description | SLURL |
10/30/10 | 10-11am | BigD Flanagan- Join BigDin a discussion of team teaching Social Studies in the secondary setting. BigD has 17 years of History teaching experience to bring to this topic. The subject lends itself to a wide array of teaching approaches and practices. | VP SKYBOX |
10/30/10 | 11-12pm | Shenlei Flasheart-Overview of the 1:1 simulation of the Gettysburg Battlefield being developed in the openSim-based ScienceSim grid. Discuss how educators can become involved in this large-scale, big picture project to fully simulate the critical, 3 day Battle of Gettyburg. | Virtual Pioneer Headquarters |
10/30/10 | 12-1pm | Norma Underwood -Historical Building by Students. Come see the Lincoln Memorial and a Holocaust Memorial built on a Second Life Teen Estate and moved to the Reaction Grid. If you are interested in re-enactments or role-playing, this shows what 13 and 14 yr olds are capable of doing. | |
10/30/10 | 1-2pm | DrM Magic- Connections Through Cultural Dynamics DrM & Students will present a cultural quilt of history and familial dynamics that bring educators and students together through a historic poster presentation blanketing their comforting past, gingerly gifting it to 21st Century learners! |
10/30/10 | 2-3pm | Ydnar Seljan-A Walk Through History with Language | |
10/30/10 | 3-4pm | Nany Kayo- Dias de Los Muertos-The Day of the Dead -Exploring this unique Mexican holiday. | Smithsonian Museum of Latino Music |
10/30/10 | 4-5pm | Closing Speaker- Scott MerrickOh- Will wrap up our conference as only Scott can, by inspiring us with the future of virtual environments and education. | |
10/30/10 | 5-6pm | Closing Celebration- Socializing, dancing, prizes, and music! | |
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