US Invasion

Disclaimer: This is the second in a five part series. I hope to have all the information correct, please help out by leaving (or correcting) information. I know I'll miss some people, but will try to highlight many people in my PLN.

Tuesday: US Invasion

Originally I thought I'd make this blogpost about some of the Team Canada people that I follow on Twitter. I began thinking, however, that I'm not sure how many will be making the Southern Trek from 'O Canada' to NECC in Washington, DC. I'm sure there are quite a few I missed, please leave comments and my apologies.

After I realized from Twitter that Jeff Utecht was going to be there, I thought I'd go with these two:

Dean Shareski

and Jeff Utecht
These screen captures were done with Jing and the images came from Dean and Jeff's Twitter avatar as of June 22nd, 2009

Dean Shareski is a Digital Learning Consultant with the Prairie South School Division in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada and also a sessional lecturer for the University of Regina according to his blog.
Not only have I been able to see his Qik video updates, but I've also watched a few of his workshops and student presentations on Ustream!
I did meet Dean at last year’s NECC in San Antonio. I was walking away from Liz Kolb’s cellphone presentation because there was such a line, but he convinced Rick Weinberg and myself that it would be worth the wait. Rick and I turned around and we took front row seats (on the floor), and Dean was right, it was worth the wait. Liz gave us quite a bit of great information to use cellphones in the classroom and I know Rick has done quite a bit in our area since this presentation including his NYSCATE presentation in November (with some technical difficulties!)
I also remember talking to him briefly when he was carrying the head of Darren Kuropatwa to their dinner table! We were out for a stroll on the River Walk and Dean was meeting with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Wes Fryer about the K12Online Conference. Darren was calling in via Skype. You can read about it on Sheryl’s blog post about their K12 meeting.

I don't think he's going to make it, but anther member of the EdTech Posse with Dean is Dr. Alec Couros. I’ve wanted to meet Alec not just for Courosa radio, but for all he's shared the last two years on Twitter. Like Dean he shares many Ustream workshop videos and lately I've caught some of his Qik live streaming video as well (Maybe even a dance recital or two). Alec is a professor of educational technology and media at the University of Regina and talks a great deal of creating Open Classrooms and "Harnessing the Power of Social Networking".
I try to catch as many of their workshops when streamed online as I can, or the occasional Tiny Chat! The last workshop I saw was with both of them at the TCEA Conference in Texas. Dean just blogged about here.

This screen capture was done with Jing and taken from: http://moodle.tcea.org/area7conference/

There are at least two other members of the EdTech Posse: Rob Wall and Rick Schweir (there are probably others). I'm not so sure if they're coming to NECC this year, but if so, I'd love to meet them as well.

OK, I've never had that much to say about Canada, eh?

Next on Deck:

Jeff Utecht lives in Bangkok, Thailand and he is currently the Technology and Learning Coordinator for the International School of Bangkok. I also know that he manages the Wikis in Education Wiki for Wetpaint. My problem is that Wetpaint is blocked by most of our districts!
I also know that Jeff is a baseball fan and a big Mariners fan from what I can gather from his tweets. I'm hoping he can join us at our NECC baseball trip that Paul R Wood is organizing. His blog The Thinking Stick was one of the first blogs that I became interested in. A little humor, some great tips and useful websites to use with teachers seemed to fill his pages.

I believe Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach showed me Jeff on Twitter. Just by responding to an occasional tweet or gathering ideas from his blog, I think Jeff helped me realize how small the world really is with technology nowadays. It is neat to hear from Jeff or Kim Cofino (@mscofino) when they are just waking up and are getting ready to start the day, while I’m getting ready to hit the sack.

Next up for Wednesday: Looking for a good Cheese Steak and a good education? You know where to go....

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.

Highs and Lows

With this job and helping teachers with technology in the classroom, I'm trying to deal with the highs and lows. Everyone I work with at BOCES and in our districts have been INCREDIBLY supportive, don't get me wrong. Maybe it is just me being hard on myself, and always wanting things to work out perfectly, but it happens on a daily basis.

I help someone figure out a hidden property in the SMARTBoard and feel great, then I realize that I never figured out how to use the MiniDV camera! I guess it needs to be Finalized before you can work with the mini DV! Who knew? I hadn't used that type of camera, but I know now.

Photo courtesy of: www.everykilowattcounts.com found from GoogleImages

I guess I put a great deal of pressure to know EVERYTHING about EVERY product on the spot, otherwise I get upset that I let people down. Lately I haven't even turned on my computer at home (unless it is to catch some tunes with the kids). I spend so much time trying to learn everything at work on the computer, that I'm exhausted by the time I get home. Now, that lack of energy could also be because of my less than aggressive workout schedule (mostly my excercise routine only involves Wii Bowling - but, I am a pro!). Maybe it is the time of year, I've heard from others how hard it is to get work done and to even stay awake at home after a long day. Why didn't I try to take that job out in Vegas? Oh yeah, I do truly love this area- even with the snow and cold.

Photo courtesy of: http://larc.hamgate.net/buffalo_snow_7Ft1.jpg found from GoogleImages

OK, I'm rambling. I did set aggressive goals in my last post, then never followed through to check on them. I have done a Voicethread project with another teacher (he set it all up and helped the students record). I helped present at that same school's Board meeting about SMART products. I've Ustreamed The Rick Weinberg at our Tech Coordinator's meeting and also at a local districts' Tech meeting - Rick had educational experts Skype in to talk, very neat.

Things are going great, the holidays are almost here, HEY, I'm still in both districts working as best as I can (and should be on more of a regular schedule with both from now on). I just need to control the ups and downs and level things out a little.

The strong and steady runner is the one who wins the race. All I need to do is try to relax and steadily improve....correct?

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.