scottmerrickdotnet

 Good morning, As Fall Solstice demonstrates itself (Wednesday) and we move, here in Nashville, from a rainy and warm start to a clear and cooler end of the week, I want to note that the world around us seems to be doing a spanking good job of pretending that people are not sickening and dying every day from the ongoing pandemic.  I have been in two public places this week, Kroger on Charlotte Avenue and Midnight Oil on 51st Avenue; and I watched the Tennessee Titans pull an awesome win out of an out-of-town game hat in Seattle yesterday (on my tv). In the first gathering place, there seemed to be some effort and concern about safety as around half the shoppers, and all the staff, continued to wear face masks. In the second, as I picked up our tasty frozen Rose wine beverages to take home and enjoy, the place was packed and I was the only human in the building wearing a face covering. I saw one or two masks in Seattle as the cameras panned the jammed stadium, but clearly everyone knows

Thanks to Jeff Graham in Nashville for sharing this on YouTube. We were safely esconced on our sofa in our Nations home and caught a little bit of it on the way to bed, but this is the best one I've found for getting the Nashville Symphony's beautiful music with the excitement of seeing it over the mighty Cumberland River. Enjoy!

Hey, y'all, Been doing some recording and editing and I hope you enjoy this first in a series from "covid drafts"  -- stay tooned for more!

I have a little announcement I want to share.  Let me just say it: I “resign” from any and all leadership positions in ISTE and in ISTE Virtual Environments Network. When my membership to ISTE expires in May, I do not intend to renew it. I wish the best of everything to everyone--members, leadership, staff, and administration. Lots of friends. Lots. Lots of dear memories. And all the best to ISTE VEN. Take off, y’all, take off and soar. You have some passionate and capable leaders still, focused on the future of XR (all new things 3D and alternate reality). Over the past two plus decades, I’ve enjoyed participating in and enriching my life with my membership to the International Society for Technology and Education. The thing that I enjoyed the absolute most about those conferences was the coming together, in a different city every summer, of thousands, and increasingly more thousands of educators, technologists, vendors, and media professionals--all in the service of exploring how to

 Hey, y'all,  Hope everyone is safe and well. Lots of good indicators now but we must not let down our vigilance and distancing habits. I pray (yes, I do that) predictions of another surge are hollow and that they are thwarted by our common set of healthy-keeping habits. Meanwhile, the post is to share that I recently signed a contract with Microsoft, albeit no money involved, to allow them to feature a curriculum piece I submitted to Microsoft: Education Edition almost a year ago. It's up. Educators using :EE to teach, please know that a key feature of this "lesson" is imminently adaptable to virtually (sic) ANY discipline or class. Just change a few key features like the vocabulary list, replace my example in-world with one of your own making, and GO FOR IT.  I am looking foward to seeing how innovative teachers do so.   Check out Don't be a virtual stranger! Share your successes and challenges with me scott@scottmerrick.net !

 I have been doing a little opinionizing this week, and in an effort to underpin that with actual facts, I've done a bit of research and also a good deal of introspect examination based on my own experiences teaching for 25 years. In my 25th, I hope to keep racking up those years. My prospects of doing so, however, are looking less hopeful by the day this week.  The new administration, which I supported with my vote and with my modest social media presence, is not helping. I think that is likely a result of its own pining to return to education "the way we've always done it" (the most harmful words in our cultural phrasebook, in my humble opinion).  I wrote something:  The Case for Real Virtual Learning By Scott Merrick January 23, 2021 The context in which I write is Covid-19 and its growing army of mutations, and the hold the pandemic has on how we learn and teach. Legions of politicians and pundits cry out for the re-opening of school buildings. The topic has