Clustrmap reset and how to exercise while working!

It's happening again: My little lonely clustrmap (see sidebar) will be reset to zero in a few days, an annual event I'm guessing the folks at clustrmap hold in order to keep the most popular maps (like David Warlick's) from becoming solid red dots.

Awwwwwwww.

Well, it's been an interesting year, and I want to thank the thousands of readers who have visited scottmerrick.net in an effort to learn anything I have to share in my meanderings through this lifetime.

I also want to thank the folks at Clustrmaps for developing such an inspiring tool, one that is easy to use and that tells me that from April 1 of 2008 until this very moment in which I'm blogging about it, my little effort has been visited by 5,145 human beings from every continent (excepting Antarctica--hey, where are you, explorers!). That's encouraging to me, and it gives me hope for the future of the globe, a world where people are engaged in active learning about one another and interested in others outside of their own local, national, or regional geographic areas. Life(s) is good.

Speaking of which, I am into an exercise routine that makes my family laugh at me but which, in combination of it and healthier food and beverage choices, has lost me around 10 pounds in the last 6 weeks or so. Here's an 00V00 video that shows it in action. Just another geeky moment that I shared out this morning at PBS's new Frontline Digital Nation project.

Here's a link to the video.

Cheerio!

Right-Brain Ahoy

Last night, thanks to my lovely wife Lee Ann's mindful oversight of the arts programs at my school, with an eye toward faculty professional development and our school's commitment to balance in life, I participated in "Painting Made Easy," a two hour one-off workshop led by Whitney Ferre'. Whitney is the founder of Nashville's Creative Fitness Center and co-owner of Rumours Wine Bar. Thanks again to Lee Ann (the brains and powerhouse behind my school's annual art show, artclectic), I joined another faculty colleague, kindergarten teacher Jason Hooper, in the learning experience. It was fascinating, enjoyable, and most of all, relaxing.

I walked from the workshop with a 12x14 canvas, its thickly applied acrylic paint still drying (especially on the trees, perhaps a bit overworked but finally completed to my moderate satisfaction). Here's a photo of my masterpiece:

Whitney's philosophy of creativity and its role in the balance of life is expressed, quite eloquently, in her new book, The Artist Within: A Guide to Becoming Creatively Fit.

In the course of my little reaquaintance with how much fun it can be to push and pull paint around the surface of a stretched canvas, I learned that Whitney is a blogger. Her website at creativelyfit.com features blogposts from January of this year (welcome aboard, fellow blogger!), and they are looooong and innnnnnteresting! Anyone interested in balance in life should take a visit to her collection of insights and news centered around the "art" of art. As for me, I plan to read them while on my step-machine surfing on wireless-connected laptop, and I also plan to pick up some small canvases and to continue to take little relaxation vacations on a more regular basis! Thanks, Whitney!

Spring Break 2009, on the hunt for Superman and Mister Catfish!

My boy and I booked it up Interstate 24 from home today to arrive in Paducah, Kentucky in order to be within striking distance of both the Super Museum in Metropolis, Illinois and the fishing opportunities at Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. We've had a great time so far and just being together in novel places is a hoot. The slideshow up top should get longer over the next couple days. Just watch. BTW, we didn't find Mr. C. at all, but the last day of our trip, pulling back off the highway into the Moors marina, we walked out the spit to fish off the sunken rusty barge and pulled in 11 fish--stripers, largemouth, and a couple lake trout. Weeeeeee.

Story Quest Next Friday!

Attention, writers who are in Second Life!

[5:59] IM: Jenaia Morane: (Saved Sun Mar 15 00:31:08 2009) My name is Jenaia Morane. I'm a writer and teacher in RL and the founder of The Virtual Worlds Story Project here in SL (www.tvwsp.com).
[5:59] IM: Jenaia Morane: (Saved Sun Mar 15 00:33:40 2009) Next week on March 20 I will be celebrating World Storytelling Day with a Story Quest. Writers will choose from one of five genres and travel all over SL to get clues to write their stories. The day will conclude with storytelling, prizes, music, and dance. I'm hoping you might help me spread the word. I'll drop info about the event in your inventory, but please feel free to contact me if you have questions. And of course I'd love to see you at the Quest ;-)

Here's the notecard Jenaia dropped me, "heatened up" a bit with working links:

The Virtual Worlds Story Project Presents: The Second Life Story Quest

The Virtual World Story Project is pleased to announce its first annual Story Quest, to be held on World Storytelling Day, March 20, 2009.

With a goal of helping writers and storytellers imagine, craft, and share Second Life stories, the Quest will lead participants along one of five Story Trails. Along each trail will be a series of Enchanted Books. Touching the books will not only provide information to include in the story, but clues that lead to other points on the trail as well.

The Quest will allow participants to choose from one of four genres, and be held across multiple sims in Second Life. The Quest's final stop will be Karuna (the new HIV/AIDS sim) where participants can sit in scenic surroundings to write, submit their stories, and/or get help from writing coaches.

The day will conclude with story readings, the awarding of prizes, live music, and dancing.

This event is ideal for educators wishing to help students learn to write well and experience the immersive and creative possibilities inherent in virtual environments.

DETAILS

Date: Friday, March 20th

LOCATION: Starts on Storybook Island OR Karuna (use either of the two LMs to pick up your Quest instructions)

STORYBOOK LM: Storybook Island, Storybook Island (66, 187, 21)
STORYBOOK SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Storybook%20Island/129/70/25

KARUNA LM: Karuna, Karuna (202, 73, 22)


Start Time: Story Sleuths can pick up their first clues on Storybook Island at Midnight.

End Time: The Quest ends at 5:00 pm SLT. That is the time that stories must be submitted. The rest of the festivities, which include story reading, live music, and dancing commence immediately after. The awards ceremony will be held at 7:00 pm.

Questions: Please IM Jenaia Morane or drop her an email at: jenaia@tvwsp.com

Summercore for a Summer Learning Experience!

I'm copying here an email announcement from old friend Steve Bergen, Chief Information Officer at the Harlem Storefront School in New York. From experience, both my Tech Director Wiz (Kathy Weiczerza) and I can testify, from direct experience, that this four day multi-band educational technology experience (now offered in the Northeast and in Florida!) will leave you with great ideas and powerful learning experiences that will make your teaching easier, more fun, and immeasurably more effective. Steve Bergen is a pioneer still pioneering! Need a ProfDev experience this summer? Just DO IT!

Scott

http://scottmerrick.net
----- Original Message -----
*** do NOT reply to this email ***
*** instead use sb@cstorefront.org ***
good morning everyone
1) we are returning to Horace Mann School for the 3rd consecutive
year July 13-17, 2009 for a Summercore open to everyone
2) we are returning to Shorecrest Preparatory School in Florida for the
8th consecutive year July 27-31, 2009 for a Summercore open to everyone
3) please spread the word to other teachers and administrators at your school; registration info posted on http://www.summercore.com thanks so much ... I hope each of you is doing well and look forward to hearing from you if you have time to write ...
Steve
p.s. at my school -- The Children's Storefront -- in Harlem, we have started a "penny drive" with the goal of collecting 1 million and then 1 billion pennies in case you might want to support us or partner with us ... pictures and "penny problems for kids" are posted at http://www.cstorefront.org/pennies ... we were featured on New York
channel NY1 the other day and you can see the videos of me on that web page ... CBS World News is coming out TOMORROW to film us ... we think we might be on television on Sunday 3/15 right before 60 minutes (not really sure) ... Lynne made me buy a new sweater for the occasion ;-)
***
do NOT reply to this email ***
*** instead use sb@cstorefront.org
***
Steve Bergen ... primary e-mail is now sb@cstorefront.org
CIO and Computer Teacher, The Children's Storefront
70 East 129th Street, New York, NY 10035
An Independent School in Harlem
Web site:
http://www.thechildrensstorefront.org
Tech Saturday Info is posted at http://www.techsaturdays.org
Penny info is posted at http://www.cstorefront.org/pennies
also co-director, The "Summercore" Teaching Company
until the Pats go 19-0 ...
http://www.summercore.com

Summercore 2009 includes:

• June 15-19 at Castilleja
• June 21-26 at New Canaan Country School
• July 6-10 at Berkeley Carroll
• July 13-17 at Horace Mann, NY as well as
• July 27-31 at Shorecrest in St. Petersburg, FL (open to public)

It's Just Confusing, Isn't IT!? -- "Curriculum War!"

Wow, this crossed my email inbox this morning in an email from Education Week:

Backers of '21st-Century Skills' Take Flak

and I'd highly recommend a careful read. It's about time that one written piece describes the debate surrounding curriculum reform and does so with balance and thought-provoking comprehensiveness. I so wish I'd been at the lively and heated panel discussion that the article outlines.

A sample from the debate, which featured "experts" (I detest that word, but
it's convention to refer to experienced players that way) on teaching and
learning:

For instance, Mr. (Daniel T. Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville) Willingham said, a teacher leading a whole classroom-based discussion of Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger can largely control themed discussions. A project-based setting allowing small groups to explore different ideas might give students a chance to examine a diverse, richer set of subtexts—such as the history of existentialist thought or colonization in 1930s Algeria—but it also forces teachers to make many more snap judgments about how to guide students, provide resources on topics with which they may be unfamiliar, and ensure students are on task. “There’s a reason teachers have been taught for 75 years to do projects and they don’t do them,” he said.

Do you agree with another educator at the event? “We are stuck,” Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford University, said in an interview. “We’ve been having this curriculum war for years.”

Go read. Weigh in.

Call to Share from Julie Lindsay in Qatar!

A friend of mine said last week that she's underimpressed with folks blogging other people's work. I present this in order to beg to differ. I'm absolutely impressed with sharing out valuable efforts to bring others into the Great Conversation that is Web 2.0. "Find your story and tell it. If you put two individual teachers together, they're always better than two individual teachers." I rest my case.

This is a MUST-SEE from Julie Lindsay.

Educators internationally gathered together at Qatar Academy on February 20 to
discuss 21st Century Learning. As a result they decided to take action and share
their experiences in the hope that others will be inspired to embrace change in
education using new tools, new skills and a new mindset. See http://elearning.qataracademy.wikispaces.net/21C_Learners for
more information.

Facebook Exchange with a Former 3rd Grader!

I just want to share a gratifying Facebook comment exchange I had with a former third grader, now a student at Princeton. I happened to be on a couple days ago when he posted:

Alexshould be working now, but cant find the will.

I was just about to logout and slam my laptop closed after working all day trying to edit down audio from a recent presentation to a serviceable file for inclusion in a new podcast, and I'd decided to just quit for the day and finish it up ad hoc this week. Seriously, I'd been working on it for 8 hours (post-production is highly underappreciated!). I wrote to him:

Scott Merrick at 6:03pm February 23
Will it to happen, Alex, you can you can you can. I'm stopping. Been working all day and into the night! You get started! Here's the torch!

and almost immediately got this back:

Alex wrote at 8:19pm
thanks for the encouragement! I guess you never cease being my teacher!

If that's not the bee's knees I don't know what is. Here's a public thanks to Facebook for making it possible for me to "never cease!"

Professor Spot Video

Kaplan University is running a commercial that made me weep a bit when first I saw it. I'm pleased as punch that my lovely wife Lee Ann excitedly looked it up on YouTube to share it with me. "This is what you're always talking about!" she said.

She's right.

I know little about Kaplan University but I bow deeply to a commercial that says important things. Watch:



Wow.

"Why Second Life?" Presentation to the Center for Science Outreach and School for Science and Math

My presentation to colleagues at Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach went pretty darned well!

I'll flesh this out more in a bit, and I have most of it on audio so it'll likely be our Snacks4theBrain! episode 80, but here's the slideshare, ya'll (with the caveat that I talked over the slides like a madman and had a great deal of fun doing it!).

Why Second Life Scott Merrick For VU CSO

View more presentations from Scott Merrick. (tags: virtual worlds cso)

There'll probably be a tidied up version by the time of the podcast. Several links came to mind as I was chatting the dozen or so folks up. Thanks to Ronee Francis, my new friend and colleague at the Vanderbilt Discover Archive for coming in, and thanks so so much to our driving force, Dr. Virginia Shepherd, Director of the CSO, for being there. Her cancellation of a trip to Cleveland likely had nothing to do with my little session, but it sure was good to see her there...

Oh, for grins, here's the Prezi.com version, which I worked on for hours and had to set by the wayside due to its automatic and currently apparently unfixable tendency to truncate long URLs. I have it on good authority the makers of Prezi are working on the issue and I hope to use this fun and "non-linear" presentation tool more in the near future!

Here, by the way, is the URL for the ISTE/SL beta orientation I mentioned a couple of times. If you go there to create your avatar, you land first of all at ISTE Island, a great place to start out!


Cheers!

3 Controversial but Intriguing Statements in One Business Journal Article

From Fairfax Business Media's New Zealand CIO comes this article, originally published in May, 2008, and penned by Byron Reeves, Thomas W. Malone, and Tony O’Driscoll. Leadership's online labs

It's a loooong article, but to tease you into reading it I provide but three perspectives culled from its over 2500 words. Imagine an extended analogy between online gaming communities and complex corporations, embedded in a complex analysis of leadership in both environments.

Consider these elements of "games such as Eve Online, EverQuest, and World of Warcraft":

1) Leadership roles are often temporary. Perhaps the most striking aspect of leadership in online games is the way in which leaders naturally switch roles, directing others one minute and taking orders the next. Put another way, leadership in games is a task, not an identity — a state a player enters and exits rather than a personal trait that emerges and thereafter defines the individual.

2) Dashboards, or cockpits, display both status and communication functions on the same densely populated user interface and often on a single computer screen, eliminating the need to open and close different software applications. Constantly visible during play, the cockpits allow a leader to stay within the narrative of the game while acquiring necessary information about players and communicating instructions to the group. Unlike a corporate dashboard that is located on a handful of computers at headquarters, with access limited to the senior executive team, these personal, view-as-you-go game cockpits give people in the field access to information as soon as it is available. That, in turn, allows game players to act on it without waiting for instructions from a guild leader. What’s more, the information allows players to assume impromptu leadership roles as needed. In many of our video clips, we see three or four people barking orders to team members during a raid, briefly taking the lead in the improvisational style of a jazz ensemble.

3)Leadership demands speed. A game hour is unlike 60 minutes at your desk or in a meeting. Actions that might take weeks or months to unfold in real life are often compressed into hours or even minutes online. The lightning pace of games is unlikely to become widespread anytime soon in the business world, except perhaps in selected contexts such as high-velocity financial trading. However, business decision making is accelerating, driven in part by the almost instant, if not always complete, availability of certain kinds of data. To keep up with rivals, real-world leaders will increasingly need to be willing and able to act on such information without pausing for long periods to weigh options.

Reeves, Malone, O'Driscoll, "Leadership's online labs." New Zealand CIO. 05 May 2008. Fairfax Business Media. 13 Feb 2009 . http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/tech/E9AAD1FBA10D072CCC2574830010E2BE.

There's more. I highly encourage you read the entire article, available without charge online at New Zealand CIO. Thanks also to Genie Tanner for tweeting the link. I think she was just testing out her new Twhirl client, but wow, what a gem she shared. I tweeted back that I was using the free version of ReadPlease to have it read aloud to me whilst I was setting up for 4th graders in Quest Atlantis, and now she has that tool, an information gift from me in response to an information gift from her. That's how it works, pilgrims...

Enjoy!