Promethean Focus Group

I've been asked to help an area district next year with their Promethean Focus Group of teachers. There will be 20 teachers that will be getting a Promethean Board, and they'll have access to the ActivVote & ActivExpression voting devices, as well as ActiViews for the Science teachers- sometime down the road.

Photo taken from Promethean World and taken using Jing

My goal from the Superintendent is to lead them through this year with two summer kickoff dates (Aug. 12-13th) and then follow up sessions about every six weeks. The only stipulations he put on me was that I need to show them sound educational usages for these Boards, and that this style of group needs to be reproducible for next year (for a new group of teachers).
Initially, I thought to start up a Ning group, so I created one to use. Then, I thought since CA BOCES hosts Moodle for all of our teachers, couldn't I help promote that more?

Wait, just keep it simple.

I don't know how much technology these teacher really use in their classes already.
Keep it simple.
I'll do my best to help them learn the ActivInspire software and give them time to find resources that they can use on Promethean Planet or other sites online.
I'll use this Wikispace to put up an agenda and to give them a chance to not only get information, but to add content to as well.

The great Tech guy there walked me through the training rooms and showed me where some of the teacher rooms are in the building (these will be for breakout sessions since we'll all be in a lab w/ one ActivBoard). We talked about making sure we were on the same page with what the district's capabilities are, and also checked some of the sites their teachers have access to.
For instance, Google Earth and Adobe Connect.
I'm actually hoping to have someone come in on the 2nd day to talk a little about how they use Promethean through Adobe Connect (we'll see).

I'm looking for any other suggestions to show the
"Power of the Promethean Interactive Whiteboard"!

I've heard all summer about how IWB's just make the teacher more of the focus, but my hope is that it can make classes more student-centered? I hope to have students create their own content for a lesson (maybe upload it into their own wiki) and share that with the others in the class, maybe even around the world. Is that asking too much?
Maybe we'll get to Global Collaborations after school starts!?!?

Baby steps to start out.


I'm already asked for plenty of help, especially on Twitter and have gotten advice from @budtheteacher @activeducator ,http://twitter.com/activtweets and a host of others.




What do you think?

Photo taken from Promethean World and taken using Jing

Global Connections

Picture above is from: http://www.classroom20.com/groups/group/list?page=14

Here's the deal, I belong to all of these networks to create Global Connections with area teachers and since NECC 2008 down in San Antonio it has been a main goal of mine.

I belong to CAPSPACE and get daily e-mails for projects that have been created. Now, I need to try to get that info to teachers in our area. I have been able to establish one French Connection because of a very flexible teacher in a district I work at. They were able to connect with a Pennsylvannia school on a wiki and have met via DL.

After that connection, I tried to establish another one with a French class in Toronto, but times didn't work out for a DL connection there. They were able to use a Twitter connection to collaborate with another school.

There are plenty of elementary projects out there like: Flat Stanley - seems at least one a week, weather in your area, and some using Voicethreads with students.

I want to make teachers aware that it is very easy to take a project that you will be doing and just post it out there to see what you can get. This is one thing I'll try to work with.

I also want people to know there are plenty of other ways to connect, there are plenty of Ning groups: Classroom 2.0 and Flat Classroom,

plus other sites like ePals, Global School Net, Taking it Global ...

You know what, just go here's a better list from Donna Farren and Lauren Skolny and they NYSCATE workshop "Learning without Borders".

What are some of the Global Connections others have made out there? Looking for some motivation!

Social Networking decision

The animation above is made from: http://www.loogix.com/
All of the photos are screen captures from: http://jingproject.com/

Still trying to figure out all this stuff about personal learning networks, professional learning networks and which I use where. I blur most of it together, but the social networks I use are Twitter, Delicious, Ning, Plurk and Facebook. Probably in that order.

I was first introduced to Twitter at my first Technology Conference in 2007: NYSCATE by Will Richardson, who also Ustreamed the session - another Web 2.0 tool I've used quite a bit. Then, I started to get into many other Social Networks including, MySpace, many Ning Groups, Facebook, Delicious, Diigo, Pownce (now gone), identi.ca, Twine, many Wiki sites, Twice, Teachers Connecting, Plurk......too many to mention and most with weird spellings of names!?!?

Delicious for me is a staple! Bookmark all your websites online so that you can access them anywhere and you can share them with others. The Gateway drug into Social Networking and where I tend to start when trying to explain Social Networking to teachers.

Twitter is again my favorite microblogging site. It's power is well documented a few times a week on CNN it seems. My most powerful network is there. I often still lurk around and listen in, often I ask questions and occasionally I try to add to my network.

Plurk was the one site I thought would replace Twitter for me. Your posts are contained in one thread so you can easily look back and see what others have added to anything you posted or responded to. My network is stronger on Twitter and I've had a hard time (probably finding time) to balance both. I still try to go onto Plurk, but have drastically dropped my usage in there.

Then comes Facebook. I still have no good reason why I don't use this more. Even my wife is on Facebook! And making friends with my co-workers and friends. As I posted on Facebook from George Costanza, "My worlds are colliding!". I think this is the one network I use for mostly personal use. It is amazing how many friends and/or people I barely knew growing up and going through college that I've connected with. With the pure numbers I really can't figure out why I don't use FB more? Maybe just because I want to improve at my job I stick with more professional networks, even though on all of those I do post about the recent bug going through the Carls house or what great new thing the kids have done.

That reminds me, I'm also a member of LinkedIn.

The battle I've seen is Twitter vs Plurk and even though a few months ago I was ready to write my "Dear John" letter to Twitter, I think for me Twitter gets me the info I need and the steady responses. I like the setup of Plurk more (even though I still think the timeline goes backwards), but Twitter is how I start my day. I find out what is new in the educational world and find great links, plus I usually get answers to questions I post.

The downside to Twitter, it does take a bit of time to build that network. @lizbdavis just posted this weekend 7 Twitter tips for new Twits tweeting to Twitter. If you followed all of that, then you are more of an expert than I.

Oh wait, then I got a tweet from @zmanrdz about the Top 10 tips for using Twitter and what is this? A Wetpaint wiki about using Twitter in the classroom!

What social networks work best for you?

Me?

Delicious and Twitter, then Ning Groups like the Voicethread for Educators Ning Group I've created, SMARTBoard Revolution Ning Group which just passed 1000 members and then Classroom 2.0. There are other Global Collaboration Groups I visit from time to time as well as long as groups for conferences like NYSCATE and NECC.

After reading Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach's tweet today and then Neil Rochelle's blog post I began thinking during this somewhat 'down time' for me with the holidays, about making sure I prioritize what's important: Family, Health, Succeeding at my job.....

I have spent way too much time on the computer I'm sure....if you don't think so, just ask the 'Wonderfully patient' Mrs. Carls!
I want to find the best way to help all the teachers in the school districts I work with and want those answers immediately! Is that wrong?
It is tough, though, to gauge how much to try to show people without going too far - plus, I don't always know exactly how some of these Web 2.0 tools work in a classroom setting. As we try things like Voicethread and even PhotoStory, I live and learn with the teacher & students.

I set some goals back in a previous post for December and didn't quite make it through them all.
Maybe I need to keep it simple again. Build with the teachers who have been willing to accept help. Continue with my social networks like Twitter, Plurk & Ning (especially the Voicethread Ning group) during the day. At home, leave the laptops off and focus more on Wii Bowling and the family. ** Sounds easy, but not always ** Leave work prepared for the rest of the week and enjoy my family.

I hope this works. Thanks all.

Voicethread Ning

Screen capture taken from http://voicethread.ning.com/ using Jing

Well, the one thing I've been most surprised about is how our Voicethread Ning group for educators has taken off lately. Mostly thanks to tweets and plurks this past weekend.

I remember being surprised months ago that Voicethread.com did not have a Wikipedia entry. I even e-mailed them about this and thought of starting one......but, I didn't.

{It still doesn't as of December 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 am}

At the same time I was also searching some Ning sites and began to think......

"Why isn't there a Voicethread Ning Group for Educators?".

The next thing I knew I was creating one at: http://voicethread.ning.com/

I left it open to the public and had a few people join, but didn't do much with it because of more pressing concerns with that little thing I like to call a job (I'm in there somewhere) and the teachers and districts I work with.

A short time later, more people started join the VT Ning group, and after some advice I added some basic groups. I've tried to check in on it from time to time (mostly when I get an e-mail message that someone has left me a comment).

However, I never truly decided what is the best way to organize and run this site,

it has just taken off on it's own, which is what I always wanted. I'm far from a

Voicethread expert, in fact, I'm still searching for something I'm OK at?!?!

Now, however, we are up to 224 members, and you can see some great things being shared, people making connections with others, and some good conversation lgoing on like last night. Wesley Fryer made a post about VT changing the settings for educators free accounts.

Then, before you know it Lee Kolbert leaves a comment and Miguel Guhlin is posting his thoughts as well as referencing his recent blog post about this.

Great insight and information on a topic I completely missed with from Voicethread, however, it is one that will affect the way my teachers use VT!

Here is the link to the Forum post.

Screen capture taken from http://voicethread.ning.com/ using Jing

Thanks to all that have helped with our VT Ning group. I hope it continues to grow. I'm always open to thoughts and ideas on how to make this group better, more interactive and easier for members to get information and/or help.

Thanks to everyone in my PLN that are helping me learn.

Proactive Goals

Now that I've survived Thanksgiving dinner and a brief Black Friday trip, I began thinking about getting back to work on Monday. As I thought about it, maybe now would be a great time to refocus for the month of December to end the year on a high note.


After the Christmas holidays and celebrations everyone seems to have some New Year's resolutions, so I thought, why not make some 'mini goals' now that I can try to measure at the end of the month. Come January 1st we'll see how I did.

1. Make it into 4 more classes to work with students and teachers (I'm thinking 2 new teachers at both schools I help out with on a weekly basis).

2. Establish one more "Global Connection" with an area teacher and a teacher from another country or state to work on a project.

3. Connect with our Podcasting Project teachers and support/encourage them to make a meaningful podcast before the holidays.

4. Build on our Voicethread Ning group and get at least one Christmas Voicethread to share with others. Either with adults, or ideally to help get a teacher to create one with their students for parents.

5. RELAX. Enjoy my family, get better with pictures (use Flickr more) and video. Get ready to Ustream Christmas, but to also find a great place to house videos (Google Video, YouTube, ..... taking suggestions).

OK, I've got five good goals to try to reach in really three weeks. It will be a fast month, but hopefully at the end I'll be a better tech integrator for all of my districts come 2009.