I Learn a Lot from Photographers

I feel a pull and based on things I see, like the 365 photo projects (of which I just suck at) and those in my PLN who get involved, I think a lot of you do as well. I continually feel my self pulled or sucked into the world of photography. I am a horrible photographer, but I love taking pictures. So I keep trying to learn in fits and stops how to do it better.

To that end, yesterday I attended Photocamp Utah 2010. I follow a few local photographers on Twitter and when I saw the announcement of the event in January I signed up immediately. A good thing because they ended up with hundreds on the waiting list. Many times over the past couple of weeks I thought about just bailing or selling my ticket to someone on the waiting list. I knew I would be way in over my head and didn't know how much I would enjoy it. I should have known better, and yes I was in way over my head. The audience was probably 99% professional photographers as were the speakers for the day.

I did learn a lot and have already forgotten much of what I learned. However,I think the reason I like to hang out around photographers is because their craft comes from their heart. Just like I believe a teacher's craft does. In fact I see a lot of corollary between photography and teaching.

Before yesterday, I had never heard of Zack Arias. He is a new hero of mine. Zack was the closing keynote for Photocamp and he was inspiring to me. Zack is a music photographer in Atlanta, GA. He failed in the photography business once, but came back and has done very well in this iteration of himself as a photographer. Besides the beautiful images in his presentation, he gave a few great words of wisdom and encouragement. I think the advice he gave is very appropriate to education and educational technology as well with just a few word substitutions. His presentation is available here. I will also embed it at the end of this post.

1) Know Your Camera - In educational terms, know your tools. He talked about being so knowledgeable about the equipment that when you are actually using it you don't have to think about it. I think this is an area in which we have not done well recently. We throw a lot of stuff into classrooms and never give teachers the opportunity or they never take the opportunity to master using it. When I talk about stuff, I am not just talking about technology, but curriculum, texts, management strategies and on and on. Teachers have to know the tools they are working with before they can use them effectively to teach.

2) Know Your Glass - In photography this means your lens, how you focus. In education I think it means pretty much the same. It is important to know which tool will achieve the desired effect in your classroom. To a photographer, that means knowing which lens is going to give the desired effect in a photo. In education right now a lot of the focus is on testing, particularly this time of year. But I am pretty sure this is not giving us the effect we want.

3) Knowing Light Gives You Options and Control - A huge part of photography is about lighting. How does that apply to education? I see it as a lot of the external forces that impact what happens in our classrooms. If a photographer tries to use only natural light achieving success in a photo can be difficult. So they bring in other light to enhance or diffuse what they are given naturally. In knowing what the deficiencies are in lighting they again can select the correct tools to make adjustments. In the classroom there are a lot of external things that impact what goes on. But the more we understand those forces we can use the tools we have to grant us more options and controls.

4) Nothing Matters More Than Trust - For someone to feel comfortable with a photographer they have to trust them. It is the same in our classrooms. Teachers have to develop trust for many different people. The must develop the trust of their administrators, their peers, their parents, but mostly their students. We have to earn the trust of our students so that they know we are there for them, collectively and individually. If we can build and maintain that trust the students will learn and succeed.

5) Fear Nothing: Gear, Locations, People - This comes back to some of the previous points about knowing and if we know, we shouldn't fear. We need to be fearless in the education of our students. We need to let them know that the should fear nothing as well. That stumbling blocks are just that, they don't need to fear them, face them, conquer them and move on.

6) Ask for Help, Grow Your Network - Those who are reading this already understand it. I see so many requests on Twitter every day from teachers and technology specialists and principals and many others. I never see those requests go unfulfilled. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Others are waiting. As you seek help and provide help for other teachers, your network will grow tremendously. Don't just grow it outside of your immediate confines though. Reach out and develop the network around you as well.

and finally...

7) Know Your Craft, Know Your Clients, Serve Them Both - Sage advice for anyone who wants to make a living at photography. Critical for us in education. We need to know our students and serve them continually. We also have to know our craft, and contrary to the belief of some that craft is constantly changing. We may not want it to, but it is and if we can't or won't keep up we can't serve our clients.

I want to finish with a couple of other quotes from Zach, but I think you can see how they relate to education as well.

I don't want my clients to say I'm good at Photoshop. I want them to say, I'm a good photographer.

Photography has great rules to break!

Zack also did a video about a year ago that is pretty incredible. Here it is followed by his presentation from yesterday.

Zach Arias - Transform Zack Arias - Photocamp Utah 2010 Keynote

Oh Yeah, I made a Move

Due to ongoing problems with the current service I was using to host the blog and podcast and the fact that I am underutilizing my MobileMe account with more storage anyway, I have moved TheEducationalMac.com hosting to MobileMe. I am still working to get the old media off of the old site and will post it here eventually, but this is kind of a fresh start, once again. Yes, I still create a lot of run on sentences. Yes, I am still cross-posting at theeducationalmac.blogspot.com. So if reading there, carry on.

Schools, Promote Yourselves!

I open with a quote from someone whose work I admire quite a bit.

I'd like to see schools showcase the wonderful learning artifacts of students in the same way that school athletic departments do. –Matt Montagne

Matt tweeted this out about 11 months ago. I kind of filed it away, but have thought a lot about it. As we have started this new district, I have tried to notice this more. I have come to a conclusion. Our schools really need to promote themselves and particularly their student’s work more. I know this is not particular to our district, but needs to happen nationwide.
Nearly everyday in the newspaper now there are stories about our athletic teams. How often do other accomplishments in our schools get covered by the mainstream media. I am not looking to disparage school athletics, and the coverage they receive, but isn’t that really some of the least important work that goes on in our schools.
Now once a week or so another program or a student from a school may get some coverage in the media, (and I am not even going to start on about all of the negative press our schools and education in general receive) but there isn’t a lot of coverage about 95% of the great things that go on in schools. I am talking about old school, old media type coverage of course.
The crux of the matter and the purpose of this post is to emphasize that schools don’t need this old school, old media coverage. They can create their own coverage and promote a lot more of the great things that happen in their buildings. That was the point of Matt’s tweet. The showcasing of learning artifacts should be and is more important than showcasing what happens on the field or court. Also why in today’s landscape would we want the media to be the ones shaping the public’s view of our schools (like they currently do). Why would we not want total control over that. We have the avenues to do that now.
A couple of examples. A week or so ago, one of our schools was featured on a local news for a stranger danger type program they are running. A nice piece, but a couple of problems. Problem number 1, the name of the school was not mentioned until the piece was nearly over. Earlier in the report the referred to the school twice by the name of the city it is in. Problem number 2, we have another elementary that carries the city name. Therefore anyone not paying close attention would think that the program was being run at the other elementary. I have seen this kind of thing happen many times over the course of my career. A school gets some good push for something they are doing, but not identified well.
One of the best examples of this that I have ever seen is the PS22 Chorus. This elementary chorus has exploded into notoriety. If you haven’t heard of them, where have you been. This chorus from an inner city New York School have been invited to perform at the White House, and all over New York city. They have sung songs to the artists who originally recorded them and had them it tears. They have recorded with artists . Their videos have been viewed on YouTube over 15 million times. 15 MILLION! How have they done it. They put the great work they were doing out there for people to see. They put the videos on YouTube and celebrities and others used Twitter to get the word out about them. I think this is an incredible story.
Now I am not saying that every school needs to have this kind of push, but shouldn’t they at least let their patrons and communities have the ability to see what kinds of great things are going on in classrooms. Wouldn’t we want people moving into the community be able to see the great things the students at the school are doing, so that they choose our school.
So what should schools do. With an online presence I think schools need to be tapping in to the myriad of resources that are out there. Where are more and more people going to find out information? Wherever those places are those are places that schools need to be out promoting the great things that are going on in their learning communities.
I believe every school needs is a dynamic, growing website on which they promote the heck out of everything great that is happening there. Too often our school websites give basic information, that tells us how to get there, when the kids will be there, when they’ll eat lunch and so on. They don’t really tell us much about what goes on in the school, what the kids are doing. This should be the starting point for our school showcases. The new problem now becomes how do you drive traffic to the site so that the showcases are actually viewed.
This is where social networking comes in. Twitter is fairly simple to set up and more and more people have heard about it. So set up a Twitter account for the school and get your patrons using it. Then when you have something happening tweet it out. Tweet often about updates to your school website. How about a podcast talking about or showing great things that are happening on your campus? A YouTube channel? A Facebook fan page? The opportunities are many. What if these services are blocked in your district or school. Then start a campaign to show the value of unblocking them.
Coming back to Matt’s quote, the trophy case is an anachronism today. Who even ever sees those things anymore. We have the ability to shout from the rooftops as it were the accomplishments of all of our students. Why don’t we do it? We need to do it?

So That Happened...

I am a little slow on getting this post done, but I did not want the experience to go by without some comment. Two weeks ago this morning we convened our newly hired Educational Technology Specialists and Media Technology Specialists in a week-long retreat. It was something I had been looking forward to ever since I started working in the Canyons School District.

I had worked hard on getting an agenda put together and as we hired people we invited them to prepare some training to share with the group. We planned to get people oriented to what they would be doing and who they would be doing it with. Darren also had a great idea. It was to invite several of our PLN from across the world to come in and speak to our group for a few minutes. This turned out to be genius. These wonderful, giving people (and you know who you are) spent much more than the requested 5 minutes with our teams as they offered valuable insights. I can't thank these friends enough for what they shared with us. We ended up not being able to get to many of the items that the teams themselves had planned (but we will get to them), but the experience of having these guests come to our retreat via Skype was invaluable and helped set a tone that will serve us throughout the coming year.

The retreat also served as a great lesson for me. I had been agonizing over branding for our teams for a couple of months. I was really struggling with coming up with anything. Yet within 2 hours of all being together on that Monday we had come up with our branding, and I think it is genius. The branding will help the two teams work together and be viewed as symbiotic in their work. I will save the unveiling of that branding for another post, but this experience really showed me once again how much better we are together, than separately.

I am grateful for the teams we have been able to put together. Each member brings great strengths and we will be able to shore each other up in areas, where we may not be as strong. These are individuals who are foremost great teachers, some very veteran, some slightly veteran, but a great mix. They have a great desire to help other teachers learn how to best use technology to help students learn and achieve. I have no doubt that we will do great things together in the coming months and years.

The retreat was a great starting point for us, but just a starting point. Now we will move forward and help build this new district. We will do so with a common vision and desire to to the best we can for our students and our teachers. To quote the great philosopher Stan Lee (okay he's a comic book creator) With great power, comes great responsibility, as teams we realize the opportunities we have been given and will go forth to fulfill our responsibilities to the district.

It Just Makes Sense

Saw the following on Twitter today and it struck a chord.

It's part of a larger post by TeachPaperless. I get dismayed with people being worried about what teachers will do with laptops or other technology at home, even if the equipment is provided by the employer. In my experience 98% of the time they are using it to learn. Take pictures with a digital camera at home, upload them, or edit them or whatever. Use a digital video camera to take video of their kids baseball game and edit into a movie for the grandparents. Use the web to find great interactive sites for their students, and on and on and on.

Now the teacher is ready to take the next step and do it with students in the classroom. Whatever the technology, the more they use it, the more they will be likely to use it with students. It opens up avenues of creativity for them and their charges.

Is there potential there for abuse, certainly there is, but you handle that on a case by case basis, as it happens, not expect it as the norm. Having worked with teachers directly for 9 years now, I am convinced that the above statement is utterly true and even in difficult financial times we need to work as hard as possible to create more opportunities for teachers to do this not less.

It just makes sense.

Bring It On!

Our district was featured in a small pullout (spadea) today in our local newspapers. It highlighted some district opening events and then had a section on What's New in the District? This section featured three district initiatives; the Dual-Immersion programs that will be starting this year in 4 of our elementary school's (one more started a couple of years ago), an Art Consortium that we will be involved in, and finally Educational Technology and Learning. This section reads as follows...

Canyons is ramping up technology education and support to create cutting-edge learning experiences for students and teachers alike. The service side will be adequately staffed, including one technical support professional in every high school. Well-maintained equipment will free up education technology professionals to provide a more relevant educational experience to the Internet generation. Education technology staff will be working in the schools, partly teaching students, partly teaching teachers how to integrate technology, including new social media, into their lessons, from Spanish to special education.

So there is our charge. Bring it on!

TheEducationalMac@PodCampSLC

Since I can't seem to get to doing my own podcast, I'll at least link to this presentation. This is from PodCampSLC held on March 27, 2009. It was great rubbing elbows with other podcasters from the area. Whoa, there I go calling myself a podcaster again. If I am going to keep doing that I should probably start doing it again. My thanks to Thom Allen for inviting me to participate at PodCampSLC.

Change = Growth

I have had several discussions over the past few weeks both online and face to face about change. So the topic has been on my mind a lot lately.

“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” – Karen Kaiser Clark

Sometimes we choose change, sometimes change is thrust upon us. Sometimes we resist change, yet it still comes. Sometimes change happens and we don't recognize it for awhile.

In the past 7 months there has been a lot of change in my life. I gained a new daughter-in-law that I wasn't expecting. That was a good change. In January my mother passed away unexpectedly. That was not a good change. In March I chose to make a job change. That was a great change. Also in March I found out that I will become a grandfather again, twice. That will be a great change, twice.

As I think about the changes that have come about in my life over these past months, I ponder about the growth that has come about because of the changes. Have I grown and will I grow through these changes?

With respect to my family, my mother's death has brought me closer to my siblings. We certainly were not estranged, but 3 of the 4 of us live within a 3 mile radius and we seldom saw each other. I can truly say I am grateful for the time we have spent together as we have grieved my mother, and worked together to take care of her affairs. I have often heard tales of siblings being ripped apart during these times because of greed or jealousy. It has helped our family to grow closer.

Gaining a new daughter-in-law has been a delightful experience as well. I am so grateful that my son found someone to love and who reciprocates that love. Now they will bring a child into this world and share that love with him/her (we'll find out in about 3 weeks). I don't think I have mentioned it in these writings, but I love being a grandpa. My oldest daughter will have her 3rd son early in September. She and her husband are such good parents. My grandsons are the funnest. When my 1st grandson was born I wasn't ready for that change. However, the moment he was placed in my arms, my heart grew. I worried that I could never love another grandchild as much as him. But as my granddaughter and two more grandsons have joined the family my heart expanded plenty enough to love them as well.

What does this have to do with education or educational technology? Well I think it has a lot to do with it. If you dislike, loathe, or despise change, then education is probably not the best field for you. Getting involved with educational technology or technology in general with make change loathers cringe. For me though, my involvement in education has caused me to grow tremendously.

When I changed jobs recently, many people questioned why. It seemed to them a lateral move. What I saw in the change though was a new opportunity for growth. The Canyons District is providing and will provide a great deal of change to allow growth among all of the stakeholders. At this point I would like to focus my thoughts on the teachers in this new district. Right now they are finishing the school year as employees of Jordan School District, an entity that has been around for over 100 years. On July 1st they will change and become employees of Canyons School District. Some will feel that it is an opportunity for growth, others will feel that it is just change that has been thrust upon them. For those that resist change, the changes may be very difficult.

I don't know that teachers in general, are any more or less resistant to change than people in other professions, but it feels like it to me. I often wonder if it is true, why that is. I have seen up close the past few weeks great resistance to change on the part of some. It seems to me that without change, growth is actually stunted. That doesn't mean that everything has to change, but we have to be willing to accept needed changes and use them as opportunities for growth.

I am excited for the teachers that will be a part of Canyons School District because I see such opportunities for growth. I will work this year on helping them to see those opportunities and that in turn will help me to continue to grow. I love working with the people that I am working with as they are willing to change and grow. I am so looking forward to the next few weeks as more people will join us. In fact, about 3,000 of them. For those who welcome the change it may be easy, for those who the change has been thrust upon them it may not, but through the change for all, growth will come, that I am sure of.

It is exciting to be a part of change and to have the opportunity to grow, personally, socially, and professionally. In the end that is why I made the change.

The Times They Are a Changin'

This photo is of my elementary school. It has since been replaced by a new South Jordan Elementary, but the building still stands for now. South Jordan Elementary is a part of the Jordan School District. This is significant to me, because of my 49 years 33 of them have been spent in Jordan School District as a student or as an employee. Beyond that someone in my family has worked for the district for nearly the past 70 years. That has made the decision that I have been struggling with for about a month all the much harder. I have decide to resign from Jordan School District and take a position with the new Canyons School District that is being created because of the split. I have talked about the split here and other places for awhile. I still struggle with the fact that the split is happening and the causes of it. However I have determined that the best place for me is in Canyons, so I have accepted a position with the new district. I look forward to new challenges and the opportunity to help build this new district. There are many who may feel and believe that I am betraying Jordan by going to the other side. School board comments indicate that is the perception from the highest levels of the district. I have struggled with that myself particularly with my history in the district and the fact that I live in Jordan. In the end, I had to choose what I felt was best for my family and my career. So it will be onward and upward. The uncertainty of the past couple of years with the prospect and now the realization of the split has in many ways kind of frozen me in place. With the decision made I feel that I can again move forward and am ready to take on the challenges that helping to build the Canyons School District will bring. I will be leaving behind many people who have had a great impact on my life; Principals, supervisors, fellow teachers and specialists. You have all given me so much more than I could hope to return and I am grateful for it and for you. So while this may seem a little melancholy, I am so excited for the upcoming challenges and am ready to face them head on. Still it is hard to believe that in little more than two weeks I will be leaving JSD. I do look forward to continued relationships with those who remain in Jordan and am grateful that I am able to make an astonishing change in my life without having to leave any of my life behind. In other change news, those who follow me on Twitter or Facebook know I have been on a rather extreme diet. The extreme portion ends on Tuesday and we start into a more moderate phase. But I have lost 35 lbs. in 30 days and it has been an amazing experience. I have learned a lot about myself. I have spent the last 15 years spiraling out of control with my eating habits and lack of exercise habits. I have used every excuse in the book to avoid losing weight. I have been on several diets, but just could not stick to one. When my wife presented me with this diet plan, my first reaction was the same as always, no way. But as I thought about it, I realized a lot of my habits were based around my own selfishness. I also realized that I am getting to the stage in my life where if I don’t make a change I am going to cause myself serious health problems. I had gotten into a habit of not really checking my weight, so when I started the diet and got on the scale I was even a little surprised. I had thought I was hovering around 280 lbs. When it read 289.5 I was a little shocked, I really knew it was time to go after this. This phase has been hard, but it hasn’t been as hard as I expected. When you weigh every day and you are seeing results it makes it a little less hard. (Note: I didn’t say easy!) The diet has made me a little tired and a little weak, but as I go into the next phase I am looking forward to getting into a regular exercise program and losing more. My goal weight right now is 200 lbs. by the end of the year. Right now, despite the diet restrictions I do feel better than I have in years and I look forward to feeling even better as I get through Spring and Summer. I know I will need to feel better to face the challenge of helping to get this new district up and running. A challenge I look forward to. Finally, some changes we created some are heaped upon us. This will be true as far as the most fun change comes about this summer. My first daughter and my daughter-in-law are both expecting. So by the end of September I will have two new grand-children. Now I love my grandsons, but I would love to have a couple more granddaughters to even up the score at 3-3. Actually it doesn’t really matter, I will be excited either way. I love my grandkids, and I love my kids. I don’t tell them often enough. That needs to change as well.

Where does the time go?

Yeah, it has been months since, well anything. I am making plans to relaunch, The Educational Mac, both the blog and the podcast. I will be anouncing those plans early in January. So the hiatus, unplanned as it was is just about over. Stay tuned!

K-5 School Launches 1 to1

Now this is a place that I could work for. It doesn't hurt that the principal is a great leader.

How's this for a network experience?

I arrived in St. George, Utah (about a 4.5 hr. drive from home) this morning. I am in St. George to do a couple of workshops for this group tomorrow. When I finally was able to get into the motel room this afternoon I checked Twitter and tweeted about where I was. About 2 hours away in Las Vegas, Cory Plough was monitoring Twitter and noticed I was in St. George and responded about being a couple hours away. I replied and told him what I was doing and told him he should drive up and present with me in the morning. Now the offer was genuine, but I wasn't holding out hope that he would be available and willing. Turns out he was both and Cory will be driving up to present with me in the morning. Want to know the power of the network, as Bill Engvall would say, "Here's Your Sign!"

A Rant of My Own

This one has been festering for a few days. It has been said to me that one of my best qualities is that I don't jump to conclusions. I listen and let things simmer before reacting. One of the problems that I find with having people tell me this is that I now do it more consciously and I think that has hurt the process for me. But the formulation of this post has been more natural as I have thought about events starting with EdubloggerCon on Satuday.

I am not going to spend time stating and restating the different points of view that arose on Saturday. Although, I will admit that initially my reactions went in different directions and were pretty extreme. I even said a few things to others that I wish I wouldn't have said. I don't like saying things on first reaction but I did. For that I am sorry.

However the feelings and conversation that arose from that and during the week got to me a bit. The indirect conversation throughout the week seemed to be all about status. The A list, B list C list, etc. as it relates to the educational blogging community. Is there really a class division going on here. Maybe, maybe not. What I do see is people being in this community for different things, different reasons. I don't care about that either. The fact is that all that choose to be in this community are here. I can choose to take from and give to the community what I want and no one in the community has ever asked about my legitimacy. So I am choosing not to see those in this community as A or Z listers.

What I am choosing to see are the people and my opinion in this regard is that they are all A listers. Everyone of us out there busting our butts to try and make things better for the kids and others we work for and with. I personally did not have an interaction with anyone this week that was not respectful and friendly. In you the community this week I saw many "Pay it forward" moments this week. On Tuesday morning I had the opportunity to help someone out. Tuesday afternoon I got the same treatment from others in my crisis situation. I was constantly greeted with a "Hi, how is the conference going for you." Even when busy in other conversations, people would stop and say hi.

This week I got to spend time with distant friends, many whom I had not met face to face before. Yet I feel like I have known them for years. that was the power of this year's conference for me. It was amazing to sit on a panel with several other people, of which last year at this time I only really knew 2 of them. Again everyone of them "A listers" as far as I am concerned not because of technorati ranking or groupies or whatever, but because that's who they are by nature. They share with me constantly in their writing and their actions.

I am grateful for the time I got to spend physically in my personal learning network this week. It will keep me going for another year. The likelihood of me going to NECC next year is probably not great. But the avenues of attending virtually have been opened and I know that I will be able to still get a lot out of the conference even if I can't attend physically. So for all of those made it happen for others this year, and that will make that happen next year and for all of you in my network I say thank you.

See You in a Few!

Apple's Big Splash at NECC

I am ready to go to the Apple reception this evening. Part of the festivities will be Apple's big splash at NECC. That splash is iTunesU-K12. iTunesU-K12 should debut within the next few hours with content from between 7 and 9 states. Utah is one of the states that will be debuting on iTunesU-K12. I have been working with the Utah group that has been putting together the states efforts on this project.
I believe this project will be somewhat of a game changer. Here K12 ed will have a central gathering place for resources, be they audio, video, text-based, etc. Now I can hear the catcalls and boos coming already. "Here's Apple trying to take control of our content!" I don't believe that this is what it is about at all. Look at what iTunesU has provided for Higher Ed. There are many prestigious universities sharing their content. It is not under Apple's control, they are merely providing the vehicle. Such is the case with iTunesU-K12 as well.
Go to the iTunes store, click on iTunes U, then look for the K12 listing in the bottom left column.
I personally can't wait to see the resources gathered there.

Social Networking in PD

Get the Audio Here!
Recording from the Social Networking in PD session at EdubloggerCon08, held on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 in San Antonio, TX.

Catch the Fever: Viral Professional Development–Add your voice!

Viral Professional Development is emerging in education as a viable method of increasing teacher engagement and learning. Using tools such as Twitter, rss readers, blogs, educational networks, and wikis, educators are collaborating on a grassroots level. This year at NECC, a panel discussion of educators on July 2nd at 1:30 pm CDT will be discussing and live Ustreaming a session to discuss viral professional development.

How did this panel discussion originate?

On Monday, September 17, 2007, Google launched the Google Presentation web application to their suite of services. News of this new service spread quickly through the blogosphere and Twitter and soon more than fifty different people made over 500 edits in a twenty-four hour period to one Google presentation. Since introduced, this presentation has been used by hundreds of people to begin conversations centered on free online tools used to weave a web of connections between people around the world.

As a result of this transformational experience, educators begin discussing the importance of sharing the changing nature of professional development and documentation of best practices in VIRAL professional development. The proposal was written in Google docs and since acceptance, an expanded group of educators around the world has used a wiki, elluminate, and a variety of tools to bring a collaborative, immersive viral PD experience to NECC and to people around the world.

Presenters
Vicki Davis, moderator
Darren Draper
Kelly Dumont
Kristin Hokanson
Robin Ellis
Ryan Bretag
Beth Ritter-Guth
Carolyn Foote

Backchannel Presenters/ Moderators
John Maklary
Stephanie Sandifer

How can you participate?

At 1:30pm CDT on July 2, we will be participating in a NECC panel discussion that centers on the power of the network. During our presentation we hope to demonstrate to all those attending our session in person (and virtually), just how powerful global collaboration can be. Hence, we are asking for your participation in our presentation as well.

1) Join our Ustream

We will be streaming the presentation live on the Open PD Ustream channel at 1:30 pm CDT on July 2nd. You may watch here and participate in the conversation (and even ask the panelists questions).

2) Leave a comment on our voicethread

One way that you can participate now is by adding your voice to the VoiceThread below. Please take a few minutes and add your thoughts about the different tools depicted through images in the thread. We would truly like as many voices possible, offering a wide range of thought on the usefulness of the common tools we all use in our collaborations.

How do you use these tools? How are they important to your professional development? Please add your voice.

Insert embed code for the voice thread from this page - http://thewallscamedown.wikispaces.com/Join_In

3) Join the conversation on the NECC Educational networking site

We've created a discussion thread to converse on this panel discussion at the NECC educational networking site.

Follow our most recent announcements.

All announcements and events pertaining to this session will be announced at the Walls Came Down wiki.

Macworld Presentations

Macworld/IDG has a site called Macworld Encore which has several sessions from the 2008 Macworld. I am not sure I like the format, which is, they basically recorded the audio from sessions while capturing the Keynote or PowerPoint slides. But there is some good information in some of these sessions. Give them a look. See You in a Few!

Help for the Next Show!

Take a Listen
I would like help from my network (that's anyone who reads this) for the next podcast. Rather than give yet another review of Leopard, I would like to know what your most favorite and least favorite features are in Leopard. If you would like to participate in the show I would love it if you would send me an .mp3 or other audio file with your most and lease favorites along with your name and blog, wiki, podcast or anything else you would like to plug. Send them to kdumont@mac.com. I would like to get the show out by next Wednesday so if you could have them to me by Tuesday I would appreciate it.

See You in a Few!

As if I don't have enough else to do...

I felt I wanted another forum a little different than The Educational Mac. So, I have created a new website modestly called The Tao of Kel. I will be ranting daily there this month as I try to participate in Nablopomo (National Blog Posting Month) Never will someone write so much to say so little. The feed for the blog is http://web.mac.com/kelly.dumont/Site/Blog/rss.xml

The Educational Mac Podcast #44–October 21, 2007

Click here to download the podcast!
Show Notes
Leopard Due October 26th @ 6:00 pm
Leopards 300 New Features
Leopard Guided Tour
JSD Elementary Film Festival Information
See You in a Few!

Impromptu Demo Breeds Ideas

I have seen this happen a lot through Twitter the last couple of months, but I had a first hand experience with it yesterday. I was teaching the final session of a professional development for a small group of teachers at an elementary school in our district. The class was about them learning to use the tools available on their Mac laptops. Over the course of the 5 weeks (3 hours per session) we covered the OS, File Management, iLife, iWork, Comic Life, etc.

One of the tools they gravitated to the most was iChat. While most were initially excited about the opportunity to cheaply visit with distant friends and family, they soon discovered what a great tool it was for communication within their building. I wanted to leave them with a glimpse of other things that are happening and available now. I chose to show them UStream. I was afraid this might push them over the edge, but what actually happened was quite different.

Within about 10 seconds the first idea was blurted out, then another and another. Within 2 minutes they had about 10 ideas for using UStream in their classroom. None of them are new and original, but I was impressed that they came up with them. Here is what they came up with...

1. Sharing presentations with parents who might not be able to attend in person.
2. Letting homebound students participate with class (shared Brian Crosby's work with them).
3. Showing and recording student behavior so adminstrator is aware (both positive and negative).
4. Allows parent's who can't normally come to the classroom to see what is going on in school.
5. Live science demonstrations showing or receiving from others.
6. Recording of teaching so students can review it later.
7. Recording student presentations so parents, grandparent's, etc. can view it later. (Password features helps)
8. Allowing guests, experts, etc. to come into the classroom from far away. (Platform neutrality the key for them here.)
9. Weekly newsletter (broadcast) for parents.
10. Nightly broadcast review of the day for students.
This list for me is not spectacular for the ideas themselves, but for who came up with them. This was a group of teachers who 6 weeks ago were afraid to do much more than write an email or browse a web page. I am going back out next month to help a few of them set up their own shows. It was pretty exciting.

The other exciting thing that came out of this class, was that by last night, I didn't have to show anyone anything. By that I mean if someone had a question about an issue with a program, or how to do this or that, I couldn't even answer. Others in the class took over and taught them how to do it. One of them even turned to me and said, "what do we need you for?" I felt proud and rejected all at the same time.

Podcast coming in a day or two.

See You in a Few!

The Power of Support

I sat at an event honoring young women from our congregation this evening. One young woman who has had some personal struggles of late got up to sing. The piano began, she began, but a couple of lines had to stop being overcome with emotion. She asked the pianist to start again and she tried to start again with the same results. At this point, two other young ladies got up and stood by their friend, lending their support. She tried to start again and still could not finish the song. The pianist just played the entire song. Throughout those few minutes the young ladies stood with their friend offering their continued support. It was a moving and powerful moment.

It made me think of some of my own struggles the past few weeks. Speaking professionally, at times I have felt like I couldn't continue with things I was doing. Yet everytime I got to a low point some kind of support would come through the edtech community, be it an answer to a question or the posting of a link to conversation, or other type of discussion. This support has helped bouy me up.

Now we have this great K12 online conference and I would like to thank not only the Seedlings, but all of those who are presenting during the conference. A huge thanks as well to the conveners of the conference. I can feel the stress in posts and tweets from these tireless workers. I want them to know that there efforts are appreciated. k12online07

Announcing 2008 Jordan School District Elementary Film Festival

We are gearing up for our annual elementary film festival. The festival will be held on April 24, 2008. The reason I am posting this here is because we have added a new category this year, Foreign Films. By foreign we mean outside of our school district. We will accept entries from any elementary (K-6) school in Utah, the US, or Worldwide. The entries can align to any of our other categories (Animation, Documentary, Feature Film, Public Service Announcement, etc.)

Entries will need to be accompanied by entry forms which can be downloaded from the link below. Entrants also need to understand that the films will be posted online for screening. Make sure you have covered any privacy issues with your own policies and procedures.

We are so excited to try branching our film festival out slowly to other schools. If you are interested in entering films in our Foreign Film category, please contact me at kelly.dumont@jordan.k12.ut.us

The information page for the Film Festival can be found here –Jordan School District Elementary Film Festival–

Are You Ready, I Am!

As I have been involved at my dayjob lately, I have felt a real lack of forward progress. I keep trying to blame my feelings on the job itself or on coworkers lack of wanting to move forward. The more I think about it though I realize it is me, it is not the job, not anyone else but me. I feel a need for a recharge.

I have been looking forward to the K12 Online Conference, but as I woke up this morning and realized that David Warlick's opening keynote is less than 24 hours away, I got really excited. Jen Wagner tweeted yesterday that she would be up at 5:00 am tomorrow to view the keynote. I replied that I would watch it tomorrow, but not necessarily be getting up early to watch it. Thanks Jen for the challenge so to speak. As I woke up this morning I felt a lot of excitement about K12 Online. I am sure it is going to help recharge my batteries and I am really looking forward to it. Jen, I will be joining you and hopefully many others early tomorrow morning.

See You in a Few!

And now for something completely different, or not, but still cool…

Get the Audio Here I just finished participating in a Skype and Google chat with Vicki Davis, Darren Draper, Karen Janowski, Kristin Hokanson, Robin Ellis, Jo McLeay, Sharon Peters, Ryan Bretag, and John Maklary. We are collaborating on an NECC proposal. Using Google Docs, Google Chat, and Skype we worked on refining the proposal. This is the audio recorded from that discussion. This is such an interesting way to collaborate and plan.

The Educational Mac Podcast #43 A Vidcast September 5, 2007

Click Here for Vidcast Click Here for Audio Only

A rather long winded vidcast. My experiences at the Apple Distinguished Educator's Institute this summer. My roommate was Tom Woodward of Bionic Teaching and the fabled Tech Ninja fame.

An introduction to Twitter.

Apple introduces new iMacs, iLife '08, and iWork '08. They also offer up new site licenses for iLife and iWork.

Guest Cast/Chat with Dan Schmit of Kidcast.

See You in a Few!

Why is it so hard...?

Why is it so hard for me to get a podcast out? I have had the outline/script written for 2 weeks. I want to do it. Am I really that busy? I can't be that busy. Do I need more peace and quiet to do it? Yeah, good luck with that one. Well I will get one out by Tuesday morning. No more excuses...but what about that BBQ on Monday...?
See You in a Few!
No this time I really mean it!

8 Things

This has been around awhile, and I was actually tagged a couple of weeks ago, but am just getting to it. This is another meme experiment: 1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. 2. Players start with eight random facts / habits about themselves. 3. People who are tagged need to write in their own blog about their eight things and include these rules in the post. 4. At the end of your post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. 5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
---------------------------------------------
eight facts / habits about me: 1. My favourite food is lobster, but I don't have it very often. 2. My Great-Grandfather loaned J.C. Penney money to help start his first store. Instead of taking an interest in the venture he opted for his money back with a little interest. 3. My first computer was an Atari 800 XL. 4. The town where my parents lived when I was born no longer exists. 5. My first Mac was an emulator for the Atari ST. 6. I drive a car that looks like someone took a can opener to on the right side. 7. I am a comic book fan. 8. I worked at Computer City/CompUSA for 6 months while working on my Master's. Thought it would be a good way to earn tuition. Ha, Ha, Ha.
---------------------------------------------
Most everyone I read has already participated, but if you want go ahead and consider yourself tagged.

Homes on the Online Range

I must be feeling loquacious these days. Maybe my mind is coming out of a fog. For the first time in awhile thoughts seem to be actually coalescing in my brain. One thing that has struck me in particular late is thoughts of home. Having done some traveling this summer, I have been away from home more than usual. While away I have found myself thinking more about home than usual. Could be the old age creeping in. Anyway those thoughts of home always lead to peaceful, comfortable feelings. One thing that I have noticed about being home though is I seem to be shutting out more of the outside influences when I am home. This may be good or bad.

Along those same lines I have been thinking about online homes. I have places online that evoke the same feelings that being at home does. For me those homes include the Twitterverse, Google Reader, and the ADE forum pages. I also notice that when in these online home environment I tend again to shut out more of the outside influences. I am not sure this even makes sense, but let me give an example.

On Monday it was thought that a small to moderate earthquake struck in central Utah about 100 miles to the Southeast of my home. This "earthquake" caused a mine collapse trapping 6 miners. It is now being reported that actually the collapse caused the seismic readings not the other way around. Anyway, through my online homes I was aware that this had occurred except I didn't know it had happened here in Utah until about 6 hours later.

It makes me wonder if I have let myself get too comfortable in both my real world and online homes.

See You in a Few!

About the Guest Casts

I just have to say that I feel like a proud father. The 3 Guest casts that were posted today were the final projects for the Podcasting PD class I taught the last two days. These 13 fantastic teachers far exceeded my expectations for their projects. Congratulations to all of you.

To the listeners, if you feel so inclined, please leave comments on the Guest Casts, Thank You.

Guest Cast #3–The Four Square Mulitplication Method by The 4 Squares

Click here to listen to the podcast
Produced by teachers taking a Podcasting professional development class in Jordan School District.
Show Notes
This podcast is about multiplication using the four square method.

Guest Cast #2-Communication by The 5 T's

Click here to listen to the podcast Produced by teachers taking a Podcasting professional development class in Jordan School District. Show Notes In our podcast, we discuss different kinds of communication and how they can be used in the classroom. Math, Science, and Storytelling as well as Humor, Reviews, and Group Activities are discussed. This podcast will help people see the importance of good communication and how it helps in culture and the community.

Guest Cast #1–Check it Out! by the Book Lovers

Click here to listen to the podcast Produced by teachers taking a Podcasting professional development class in Jordan School District. Show Notes A discussion of three best-selling books by Stephanie Meyer: Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, with excerpts and reviews for each book.

The Educational Mac Podcast #42 August 6, 2007

Click here to listen to the Podcast! A short cast introducing some Guest Casts that will be coming through the feed in the next day or so. See You in a Few!

ADE 2007 Summer Institute Part II

3 days into the institute and still going strong. For an old fart like me that is pretty amazing. It is the energy of this fantastic group of educators that makes it possible though. Yesterday we finished our Class of 2007 orientation. I think I have my head a little more around what it means to be an ADE. I have for so long been what I hope is a passionate advocate for using technology in education in general and Macs in particular. But this really steps it up another level. Being able to meet with other passionate advocates and to feed off or their energy is incredible.
The level of leadership Apple shows in this regard is also incredible. We spent a couple of hours yesterday and a couple more today with Rebecca Stockley an amazing Improvisation Artist and teacher. What a bundle of energy, wit, and fun. We learned some great improv techniques and skills from Rebecca. We also had a brief presentation from Topher Klein from SMART Technologies that ended in a big surprise. Also throughout the day more great food.
Today we had the opportunity to attend 3 workshops of our choosing. Where else in one day can one sit in sessions led by Marco Torres, Ted Lai, and Carl Owens. This evening we had a glorious meal (sorry, those who did not get steak) and the both of the desserts were to die for. The evening was capped off by a presentations by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Vincent Laforet. He has produced some of the most adventurous and also heart rendering images I have ever seen. To see his shot of the changing of the light at the top of the Empire State Building gave me vertigo while sitting down. On the other hand, his images of New Orleans in the days following Katrina brought tears to my eyes. It was an incredible presentation.
Tomorrow we start our 24 hour project period. I will be working with a group of 3 or 4 other ADEs and we will have 24 hours to complete a project based on a visit we will make tomorrow backstage so to speak at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. At this point I have no idea what we will do, but I am excited to work on it with this team from across the nation.
That has actually been the key of attending this event. As I mentioned earlier, I am amazed by the talent and passion of this group. It is so interesting to talk to these people and hear theirs stories and what they do. I got to know the tech director of a 3,700 student private school in Hawaii last night. Tonight I had the pleasure of dining with the Director of Integrated Technologies of a small school located in Martha's Vinyard. That visit makes me want to visit Boston more than ever. Hmmm...how can I get to Alan November's BLC Conference next year.
Well, off for a few hours of sleep tonight as I am thinking there won't be much tomorrow night. See You in a Few! ADE2007

ADE 2007 Summer Institute

I am currently in Monterey, CA for the 2007 Apple Distinguished Educator Summer Institute. We will be here through Saturday. This will be a great opportunity for me to learn from other passionate about the same things that I am. I am looking forward to working with the other ADE's over the course of the next several years. I have not met everyone in our class yet, but I will. Today the new ADE's flew in to San Jose and were taken by bus to the Apple Campus in Cupertino. Yes, we visited the mothership, drank the Kool-Aid, and bought out the Retail Store on campus. It really was interesting to feel the energy on campus. The coolest thing I saw was the Executive Briefing Center, where Apple brings in groups to brief them on products, ideas, etc. We took a group photo in the quad, which I understand is a rare occurrence as photography is not allowed inside Infinite Loop. We then boarded the buses for the drive to Monterey, or more accurately, California State University at Monterey Bay. It is an interesting campus to say the least. It is actually contained within an old military installation so you have a mixture of old military style buildings and more modern buildings. We are "dorming" it in a modern dorm building. It is kind of fun. I have the privilege of rooming with Tom Woodward. This evening we had a delightful Mexican buffet (the shrimp fajitas were great) and introductory meeting. Tomorrow is a busy day with some introductory presentations and then a vendor fair in the afternoon through dinner. Tomorrow a group of alumni ADE's will also descend upon us which I am really looking forward to. This is going to be a great week and it has just begun. See You in a Few! ADE2007

I am Yllek Ducatillon

I have finally found where I wanted to be in Second Life. This is a new experience for this old dog. I found The Bloggers Cafe blog and now the Second Life version. I have been to the Cafe a couple of times, but was always alone there. Tonight when I jumped in, Ryan Bretag and others were there. Ryan is the creator of The Bloggers Cafe in Second Life. He was very welcoming and even got my picture up on the wall. I think I will be spending a lot of time there in the near future.

Will Richardson's Workshop-Empowering Practice: Leveraging the Read/Write Web for Professional Growth

Notes to Self in parenthesis (Doing this reminds me of how bad a note taker I was in college. Obviously not a very good live blogger either). This is an introductory workshop for the tools of the read/write web. It is about how to use the tools for the educators own professional practice.
BTW-Working on a PC and yes it is killing me. Dang noisy keyboards. These are hugely disruptive times because of these technologies.The important piece to this is learning to create your own learning environments, because this is what are students are going to need to learn to do. A little discussion about blocking the tools, etc. First working with Wikis. Using Wikispaces. The intelligence services of the US are using a wiki. Difference between wikis and blogs. Blogs about conversation, wikis about dumping information. Wikispaces not cooperating so we're switching to Google. Looking at Google Reader. Describing RSS and how Google Reader Works. Going over how to subscribe to feeds with Reader. Spending a lot of time on features of Google Reader (Shared Items, Tags (which I haven't used, but great idea). Now looking at Del.icio.us. (It too is being a little balky. I actually think it is the network here). Now playing with PageFlakes. Haven't done so before, kind of like Google Reader on steroids. (Will is doing a great job of handling all of the hiccups). Going back to Wikispaces with the hope that it will behave now. It is working much better. (I have been a pretty strong proponent of PBWiki, but I am thinking that Wikispaces is easier to use. I need to do a wiki bake-off). Now looking at blogs. Using LearnerBlogs or Edublogs. They too are being flakey. Will thinks these are due to actual problems at the sites. Will wishes that things were working better so he could show his workflow. I wish so too. Going through Wordpress features. Addressing how to get these tools used effectively in schools. It's all about the personal networking and learning. As usual the conversation at the end makes the difference. Great job Will! n07s688 necc07 necc2007

Lunch with Ron Clark

Our team was invited to a luncheon sponsored by Promethean. The lunch speaker was Ron Clark, author of The Essential 55. He really was inspiring. It was fun to see someone who is so energetic and passionate about working with kids. I tried to record it, but screwed up of course. Thanks to Jeff Anderson from Audio Enhancements for inviting us to attend. necc07, neccprep, necc2007

Where is it Happening?

Be warned, this is a rant post. Somethings I have observed this morning. Why would you make it so it takes 7 minutes to get out of a session room. Hopefully that will not be so bad as people get more spread out. If you only have one major way to get out of an area keep it as clear as possible.
I spent my first little bit of time on the exhibit floor, went to see the new HyperStudio. It is supposed to be out later this summer. Again I may question its relevance in today's world, but I still want it. I think I just spent the most money per ounce for any soft drink I have ever had. It is worse than the airport.
By the way, if you want to know where it is happening here, stay close to the Blogger Cafe on Level 2.

Leslie Fisher–Gadget Queeen

Leslie Fisher–Gadgets, Gadgets, Gadgets

Utility Software

SnapzPro Adium (www.adiumx.com)

Fonts–Fontreserve.com

If you have more than 215 fonts the system will only give you access to Times Roman Italics

Clip Art

Art Explosion 750,000

ClipArt. com

www.istockphoto.com

www.dreamstime.com

High end photos

www.jupiterimages.com

www.gettyimages.com

Digital Cameras

Canon Powershot TX1

7.1 MP

Image Stabilization

HD Movies

ISO 1600 for low light

$499

Sony DSC T100

8.1 MP, 5x Optical Zoom

11 Scene Modes

3 in. Monitor

$399.00

Camera Slow?

It could be the card

Memory cards have speed rating

Cheaper the card slower the picture taking

Buy professional level cards–about $10 extra per card

Use a card reader to save on camera battery life

Use www.smugmug.com for uploading pictures

Free-$99.00 per year

When something goes wrong with your card

Image Rescue from Lexar

Television and Music

Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick

USB to Cable or RCA $129.00

Mac and PC

www.pinnaclesys.com

Speakers

Soundsticks II–$199

www.harmanmultimedia.com

TivoTivo to Go is basically a web server $299-$899

Slingbox

Hooks up to TV and Internet

Login anywhere via internet and watch your shows

Also allows you to watch live TV

$199

Home Theatre Nuts

Logitech Harmony 890 Remote

Universal Remote

Web Interface to set up remote

iPod

Mecca for iPod people

www.everythingipod.com

www.belkin.com

Old School Music

iTTUSB–USB Turntable $134.00

http://ion-audio.com

Phone Tidbits

iPhone–Is there anything else right now

Virtual Laser Keyboard–http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com

Verizon and Spring Aircard

Keyspan Presenter Remote $59.00 www.keyspan.com

Solar device charger–www.solio.com $99.00

Computer bags

Messenger Bag $125.00 www.timbuk2.com

Sling Bags www.sfbags.com

LoPro Double bag, computer bag/camera bag.

Motivational–www.despair.com

GPS–Magellan Maestro

n07s135

necc07, neccprep, necc2007

The Educational Mac Podcast #41-June 24, 2007

Day 2 for NECC–Get the Podcast Here Workshop-Finding Successful Solutions for Technology Staff Development Many great ideas for making SD more productive and more fun. Brief interview with Janet Corder of j2Training NECC Keynote–Andrew Zolli, founder of PopTech conference. Things we as educators need to work towards in the near future. It seems like this particular audience is getting a little tired of constantly looking into the future. The Atlanta Drum Line was fantastic! Opening Reception at Georgia Aquarium–Crowded as usual, food not scarce but hard to get to. What I am doing tomorrow. Leslie Fisher Arnie Abrams and more. See You in a Few! necc07, neccprep, necc2007

The Educational Mac Podcast #40-June 23, 2007

Get the Podcast Here
From Atlanta EduBloggerCon 07 What a great start to NECC! See You in a Few! necc07, neccprep, necc2007

Not even conference time yet and great news

Well we made it to the ATL and managed dinner at the Hard of Hearing (err, Rock) Cafe.≤br> Before the conference or even the EduBloggerCon starts I have seen the best news in a long time. Mackiev has purchased the rights to HyperStudio and will be producing the long awaited version 5. The best news though is that Roger Wagner himself is going to be working with Mackiev on the update. I hope they can make it relevant in today's Ed-Tech environment, but if anyone can I think this combo can. I can't wait to get to Mackiev's booth(#316) next week.
Well tomorrow starts off with EduBloggerCon and then a group of us are off to see the Braves and the Tigers. I will try to capture some audio from the Con tomorrow and share it in a podcast.
See You in a Few! necc07, neccprep, necc2007

Off to NECC

Well the countdown is nearly over. I will be leaving with our district group in the morning for Atlanta. Yeah, I still haven't gotten a podcast out in over 2 months. It seems I went straight from kids housing problems, to new grandson, to baseball and softball and more baseball and softball. I am looking forward to a few days off from it actually.

I will be blogging and podcasting from NECC again this year with a new set of tools that will hopefully make it easier for me and better for you. So I really mean it this time when I say...

See You in a Few!

necc07, neccprep, necc2007

An interesting lesson...

This post and comments on David Warlick's blog don't quite make my head hurt, but come close. I do believe the nature of information is changing, but more obviously the delivery of that information has changed as well.
I was teaching a Jr. Achievement lesson in my son's class today. It was basically about information and how delivery has changed. For part of the lesson the students were to copy the text of a paragraph much like a scribe previous to the invention of a press would. They were to copy it exactly as it appeared in their books and the passage was done in a pretty crazy font. I had them work on it for about 10 minutes and most only got the 1st line done and their hands were pretty cramped.
I want then to show how today we could make contact and get information directly and nearly instantaneously. I had fired up iChat earlier hoping someone in my buddy list from outside of Utah might be available for a video chat. There wasn't so next I Twittered a request and got a couple of responses, but no one was available at the time I needed or had the necessary equipment available. I was resigned to using someone in the district. However, as I fired up iChat while the students were scribing, David Warlick himself appeared as available and I imposed upon his time. I really appreciate the 10 minutes David spent with us.
It was pretty cool for the kids to go from feeling what a scribe might have went through to get one single copy of information ready to being able video chat. Keeping in mind that this was a video chat from Riverton, UT to a distinguish North Carolinian who happened to be in Toronto, Canada today. The funnest part for the kids was that they found out their teacher was also from North Carolina. So we had to North Carolinians talking to each other, one in Utah the other in Toronto.
David made a point during our chat that left an immpresson on the kids. He talked about how when he was their age, his world was his town basically. He knew few people outside of his world. They didn't even make long distance phone calls because of the cost. Yet today these kids talked to that same person via video conference without (directly) paying anything.
Thanks again David, it made for very interesting lesson!
See You in a Few!
david warlick

NECC Schedule...subject to slight modification!

Two posts in one day, don't anyone faint.

Beyond the planner information I am excited about the Edublogger Con on Saturday the 23rd.

Conference Planner for Kelly Dumont

Sunday, June 24
8:30-11:30am

SUA204 Finding Successful Solutions for Technology Staff Development [Workshop]
Location: GWCC B211

Monday, June 25
8:30-9:30am

Almost All New Return of the Gadgets! [Session]
Location: GWCC Murphy 1

8:30-9:30am

Personal Computing: New Solutions for the Classroom @ Web 2.0 [Session]
Location: GWCC B211

11:00am-12:00pm
AFI Screen Education Center: Digital Filmmaking in the Core Curriculum [Session]
Location: GWCC Murphy 4

12:30-1:30pm

Cool Tools: Incorporating Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom [Session]
Location: GWCC B302

12:30-1:30pm

Making the Laptop Disappear: Moving to Seamless Integration [Session]
Location: GWCC B212

2:00-3:00pm
Digital Photography and Video Projects for Improving Learning [Session]
Location: GWCC B217

3:30-4:30pm
Innovating the 21st-Century Learning Environment [Session]
Location: GWCC Murphy 1

Tuesday, June 26
8:30-11:30am

TA414 Empowering Practice: Leveraging the Read/Write Web for Professional Growth [Workshop]
Location: OMNI International C

11:00am-12:00pm

iChat, iSight, therefore iFix: Integrating Sound, Video, Jabber for Support [Session]
Location: GWCC B208

12:30-1:30pm
New Tools, New Schools: Starting the Conversation about Web 2.0 [Session]
Location: GWCC B207

2:00-3:00pm
Podcasting for Professional Development: Innovative Strategies for Syndicated Success [Session]
Location: GWCC B208

3:30-4:30pm

Starting From Scratch: Building School 2.0 [Session]
Location: GWCC B201

3:30-4:30pm

Constructivist Teaching with Technology: Learning with Laptops [Session]
Location: GWCC B208

3:30-4:30pm

The REAL Work of 21st-Century Skills [Session]
Location: GWCC B217

Wednesday, June 27
10:30-11:30am
I Didn’t Know You Could Do That with an iPod! [Session]
Location: GWCC B208

1:30-2:30pm
Expanding Boundaries of Learning: Designing Rigorous and Globally Connected Assignments [Session]
Location: GWCC Murphy 1

2:45-4:00pm
Closing Keynote [Session]
Location: GWCC Murphy Ballroom

necc07, neccprep, necc2007

Darren Draper–TTIX Keynote

Teaching in the Digital AgeIntroducing self, T4 Site, Podcasts, National University, Blog http://drapestakes.blogspot.com, family

Talks about the fact that he is preaching to the choir.

70 Million blogs- some of them have to be good - david sifri, Technorati

Tags ttix07, presenters name (firstlast)

Todays topic is change, not money, school change, student change, teacher change

40% of teachers in Utah are older than 50

Teachers are stuck in a rut

In helping teachers, we help students

Technology for teachers
PowerPoint?
Other things are out there.

Times have changed, we're not in the 90's

"We live in a world where the only thing constant is change!" Ian Jukes

Just 2 years ago life was different

2 years ago... There were nine planets Brad and Jen now Brad and Angelina Tsunami New Orleans pre Katrina Virginia Tech just another school
Technology
No Windows Vista No XBOX 360, PS3, Wii Just beginning video podcasts AJAX just beginning No YouTube, TeacherTube No Twitter

Back to Jukes quote.
The only question is how do we keep up.

Karl Fisch-We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist, using technologies that haven't been invented in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet. These are amazing times Students have changed...

Two year-old daughter on computer clicking mouse–Who taught her?
The kids pick it up.

Photo of daughter showing grandpa how to use his iPod-Who is teaching whom?

Children today are growing up immersed in media.

83% Children 0-6 use a screen media in a typical day
65% Live in a home where the TV is on at least 1/2 the time

Kids are active consumers.

77% turn on the TV by themselves
67% ask for particular shows
62% use remote to change channels

4-6 year olds

70% have used a computer
27% use a computer in a typical day
56% without parents

Kids want to Create

They've created a new language
IM Speak

Abbreviations all parents should know http://www.netlingo.com

Books now being written in IM
Lauren myracle

Dying Language

IM Speak vs Latin

Kids don't care that the language is dying

No one can stop them from doing it. Not even teachers.

"These teens were born into a digital world where the expect to be able to create, consume, remix, and share Lee Raimi-PEW

65,000 uploads per day to YouTube, 2700 uploads per hour, 45 per minute

57% of online teens create content for the internet

Sharing-Creative Commons

Showing videos from YouTube

Guitar Canon–20.9 million views
Hey Clip–14.7 milion views
Fast Food Freestyle–6.6 million views
Toto Africa Machinima–14,000 views

Lot's of creativity–Can't we harness that in our schools

Remixes
Mashups
Sunday Bloody Sunday–President Bush

Is it goofy?
Is it Useful?

Generation D
Millenials
Digital Natives
iGeneration
Button-Pushing Generation

One Key Question

Are we Engaging Them?

More times than not we are not.

Our schools are changing (slowly)

One way we can adapt is to use the technology that our kids already love.

Keynote handout will be available at http://www.ttix.org

ttix07, darrendraper

A Long Time Ago in A Galaxy Far Away... (or not)!

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted anything here. I missed an April podcast altogether and will miss May if I don't get going. Spring seems to be the busiest time for me overall. Work tends to start slowing down (except for one project that I will talk about in a moment). However, the rest of my life seems to kick into high gear.
I am coaching my twelve year-old son's baseball team (7-1 so far). I am trying to keep up with my 15 year-old daughter's softball team (8-2 or so heading into tournament season). I have received a new church assignment which is keeping me busy. Trying to spend time with grandkids. Moving Daughter, Son-in-Law, and Grandsons out and back into their home (a long story I need to tell here someday). Moving 20 year-old son back into our house after 8 months away. Painting (them not me), re-carpeting (which for me mainly means moving a lot of heavy stuff). After 5 months of a house in chaos, I would sure like to be able to get it back together and keep it that way for more than a day. Okay, enough whining.
As I mentioned, this time of year tends to slow down a bit at work. The exception to that being the Elementary Film Festival that I have organized for the past 4 years. This is a project that takes a lot of my time for about a month. Part of it is my fault, I haven't included my co-workers much in it and probably should more. It is just that this feels like my baby and you know how that is. Wow how un-Web (School) 2.0 that sounds. Anyway the festival was held last Thursday and we screened 26 films and honored 7 of them with our humble awards. You can view the winners here.
Tonight most of the winners joined me at The Apple Store, The Gateway for School Night at The Apple Store. The only problem was that the store wasn't expecting us. I had signed up for the event over two months ago. I never had a response though. So I talked to an assistant manager 3 weeks ago and she emailed me and told me that we were on the schedule and I should receive some information shortly. I never receive the information and had planned to visit the store yesterday or earlier today to make sure we were still on. Today I received the invitations that Apple sends out to give to parents, etc. Nice timing! Anyway, I assumed that since they did at least make up the invitations that we were planned on. Well, you know what happens when you assume. And sure enough when I arrived at the store they were in a panic. One of the kids arrived before I did and showed the managers the invitation I had made up for our award winners (since I had not received the official ones yet). So when I arrived they were scrambling madly. They were very apologetic and managed to pull it off for us in a nice way. The biggest problem was that they didn't have enough t-shirts for the kids. So they took names and will ship shirts to me for those who didn't get one tonight. For all of the panic it still ended up being a great event for the kids. I have to thank the crew at The Gateway for pulling it together for us. Here is a picture of the kids during the presentation of their films.

There are a lot of things I still have not mentioned that are going on or upcoming, but I will save those for the podcast.
See You in a Few!

Lots are "Paying Attention"

My co-worker Darren Draper wanted to create a motivational presentation for us to use in our district. A "Did You Know" type of presentation. He did a great job and it is called Pay Attention. It has been amazing to see the response to this presentation, not necessarily in our district but from the world. I am seeing the views on TeacherTube go up about 100 every hour now.

See You in a Few!