Finally, Not Just One of the Crowd

Do you espouse collaboration? Really?
I started developing a Personal Learning Network (PLN) just about a year ago after I reacquainted myself with Twitter. In that time, I have gleaned a number of ideas and resources to bring back to the students in the alternative program I coordinate, as well as the "mainstream" colleagues in the junior high where I act as a Building Technology Integration Specialist. Central to the theme of many of these resources, tools and ideas is that notion that we enhance what we do by collaborating.

Inspired,  I embarked on a wiki project last year because I wanted my students to see their collaborative efforts pay off in the completion of an on-line resource. In addition, I utilized my PLN connections to gather "real world" consumers of their work and generate authentic feedback from those who accessed the wiki. By the time students had completed their work (or the time to conclude teh unit had arrived) there was a living, breathing student-generated entity influenced by an authentic audience of professional educators serving as aresource for completing a unit assessment.

Reflecting on that task, I see my students gained experience, insight, and understanding through their collaboration. And, I benefited from the use of my PLN as "audience."

But, and here is the central question, had I really collaborated, or had I merely relied on others to assist my students? While drawing on the input of others is an aspect of collaboration, I don't think I really collaborated; instead, I assigned and watched my students collaborate on work.

So, last week when the call went out on Twitter from Beth Still (@bethstill) and Jason Schrage (@oswego98) for contributors to a crowdsourcing effort, I knew it was finally time to contribute to my PLN, to add my knowledge to a collaborative effort.

The result of the work of people from across North America is EdTechConnect, a site compiling insights regarding a variety of web2.0 tools, and supporting an in-service workshop Jason is conducting today (1/25/10).

I visited the site this morning, and marveled at how the site was crafted by people who volunteered their "expertise" to facilitate a greater understanding by people they likely will never meet. It amazes me that from the crowd of Beth's & Jason's PLNs my voice emerged to take it's place in the chorus that is EdTechConnect. Together, the 10 or so voices have composed a resource that could help revolutionize how teachers address their craft.

Now, I'm not just one of the crowd, I'm the one in the crowd who shared what he knew inorder that others might benefit. And, doesn't it feel good right about now.

Click here to view a map of the EdTechConnect collaborators
-SchlegsofTonka

More About 1st Web2.0 Hero, Andy Carvin

What is Crisis Camp, and how is it harnessing the web and Web2.0 utilities? Listen to my first ever Web2.0 Hero Andy Carvin in this video.



-SchlegsofTonka

Who's Your Web2.0 Hero? Andy Carvin

I jumped on the web2.0 bandwagon a while back, but in earnest 13 months ago. In that time, I've discovered the amazing resources of a PLN via Twitter, one of which has been Andy Carvin National Public Radio's social media manager.

Shortly after the earthquake in Haiti, Andy was in the fray establishing stateside Crisis Camps in which blogger, coders, and tech geeks aplenty could collaborate on developing tools and resources to aid relief efforts in Haiti.

Andy appeared on NPR today (1/23) and spoke about these camps and how web2.0 toools have taken an increasing mroe active role in disasters over teh past 5 years.

Thank you Andy for your efforts, your work has touched me and the lives of so many here and in Haiti, I'm dubbing you my first ever Web2.0 hero.

If you have a Web2.0 hero Let me know about them

-SchlegsofTonka

Let's Take Back Texting

John Pearce's post at My Other Blog (Texting was never actually designed for consumer market) has me wondering (yet again) when we'll take back texting from mass use and bring it into our classrooms.


Pearce cites a guardian.co.uk article revealing engineers initiated texting as a means of internal communication, and when faced with the prospect of adapting to cell-phones, "people experimented a little bit."

Texting could be a great means of internal communication in our schools, if only teachers, like the engineers before them, would "experiment a little bit."
-SchlegsofTonka

Cloud Burst

I love that I was able to craft this presentation using Google Docs. Nevertheless, this is a cautionary tale.

Thursday January 7, 2009 8:30pm CST
The familiar startup chime of  my MacBook initiates my focus on the task of preparing this presentation for Friday's staff meeting.
My goal: Quickly compose thoughts on an equity workshop I attended a month earlier in such a way as to engage my audience of skeptical colleagues.
My first click of the mouse was on the overused orange PowerPoint P on my dock. My subsequent click, after an "I shoulda had a V-8 head slap," was Firefox. My intent was to ditch the PowerPoint in favor of my Google Docs account. I surmised I could engage my colleagues more effectively by crafting a minimalist yet lean and clean presentation which I could share with my colleagues in the morning. I could post a url, invite them into the presentation and take comments and feedback. It was the perfect blend of modeling effective tech integration and presenting salient points from teh workshop.

Thursday January 7, 2009 9:30pm CST

The bedtime rituals have me take a hiatus from crafting what I hope to be a presentation worth paying attention to in the morning.

Thursday January 7, 2009 11:36pm CST

I make the final save of my presentation after 212 revisions.

Friday January 8, 2009 6:50am CST

I arrive in the Hopkins North Junior High Media Center, and hear, again, that welcome sound of the MacBook chime. I Open Firefox and arrive at my iGoogle homepage. I click on Documents from my menu, select the  presentation named Culture_Behavior, and... Wait a minute! What's this white screen? Why are all the buttons and links on the page showing up as simple black text? More important, Where is my presentation! Ugggghhhh Google Fail!

Friday January 8, 2009 7:15am CST

Our presentation over the equity workshop has begun. I step to the front of the room and confess, "I had a great presentation to explain what I took away from this workshop. But, uh, yeah, well it's just a blank white screen at Google Docs right now." I continue, and my points are well-received (what I can recall, that is).

Remember, I love using Google Docs. But what transpired yesterday has me questioning the reliance on cloud applications when it comes to what I'm calling mission critical work. Sure, I could have downloaded the presentation Thursday night and opened it Friday morning in PowerPoint, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of cloud applications? Moreover, that's not the point here.

My point is to call to light one of the concerns cloud computing critics have been expressing over the last 2 years or so in which such applications have become en vogue: just how reliable are they.

Based on Twitter posts from my PLN, and the pages too numerous to count on the Google Help page yesterday, I was not the only one in a quandary with this Google Fail. Globally, ordinary folks like me were relying heavily on Google Docs to make presentations on Friday. And, with a simple glitch, we were doused.

Looking forward, I'm still using Google Docs to craft my presentations in order to engae and involve my audience in what I speaking about. However, I'm going to go with my gut and download that file, just in case.

-SchlegsofTonka

State of Hockey Sends 5 to Vancouver

It has absolutely nothing to do with technology in Education, but I just wanted to mention that 5 players with roots in the State of Hockey will be donning the red, white, adn blue of team USA when the Olympic hockey tournament takes to the ice of Vancouver.

The fab 5 are:
Jamie Langenbrunner (F - Cloquet, MN)
Zach Parise (F - Prior Lake, MN)
David Backes (F - Blaine, MN)
Erik Johnson (D - Bloomington, MN)
Paul Martin (D - Minneapolis, MN)
-SchlegsofTonka