The Rodcast

It is fitting that I rode my bicycle to Town Hall and left this note in Jack’s Book of Condolences : “You fought valiantly and with integrity for those who could not fight for themselves. In so doing you lost your own battle. It is incumbent on us to finish the battles you left undone. Thank you and RIP Jack.”

I really meant what I tweeted Tuesday, that the ASI2011 Summer Institute in general, and the session I attended in particular, was the most networked learning I’ve done in over 30 years of PD sessions in my teaching career. It is, I did not mention, closely followed by the Master’s degree I finished last year. But what made the ASI so unique, was being face to face with so many of the people in my Personal Learning Network, and talking, tweeting, emailing, writing on Wikis, collaborating on Google Docs, learning and teaching, talking some more, all at the same time.
I think that’s the big thing- in a community such as this, learning is continuous. We were repeatedly asked to consider what contribution we had made to the learning of others. I think I did my share, but I learned far more than I could ever give. And that’s the point. What if we all contributed as much as we could to social learning? Just how much would we learn in return?
A Lot. A big lot.

So, will it be inspiring and motivating, or like this?

Teacher Professional Development

I found a site recently via my Twitter feed that answers a lot of questions about a topic I have been very curious about for a long time. Integrating technology through the development of classroom ePortflios just may be one of the most unique ways to engage learners by having them document, reflect on, and further pursue, their own learning.

But the site is more than just a site. It’s a free online course, which uses Google Apps (and not coincidentally, my school uses Google Apps across the board), to assist the creation of the portfolio.

Here’s a sneak peak! Click here to go right to the course now!

Check out this digital story beautifully editing, but shot on a mobile phone and edited in a split screen style. Wonderful! How could we get students to create digital stories like this, using the technology they already have in the pockets?

Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.

You can find out more about the film here on Vimeo.

Yesterday I received an invite to Google Plus, the next “wave” in Social Networking from Google. So far, I really like the idea of having circles- one for family, one for friends, one for my tech tweeples, you know. And I can create lots of new circles depending on the audience I want to communicate with. So far, this looks like Facebook, but with selected people seeing my content. Add that to all the other tools that Google integrates into their environment, Maps, Picasa, Blogger, etc. and my first reaction is quite positive.

There are, already, lots of educational technology people talking about how this will be useful, or not, in the eucation setting. I don’ know the answer yet, but I am planing to spend part of the  summer, while I teach an online course on Integrating Information and Computer Technology to tecahers upgrading their qualifications.

Here are some Blogs to read that may help you make your own decision about Google +.

The Innovative Educator-“-What Does Google + Mean for Education?

The Read Write Web – “How to Use Google +”

The Read Write Web – “Is this the Social Tool Schools have Been Waiting For?”

Apps User Group – “What does Google+ Mean for Schools?”

Google + How to Document

Get an Invite. Get on board. Test it out. How “Coolgle” is it (to quote another blog I saw)?

What do you think?

Addendum– Why Google + is about the change the Web as we know it.

And this Blog Post from MSNBC warning about Google + and their security, or lack thereof

In a few days, I’ll be teaching my 3rd online course for Ontario teachers who are upgrading their qualifications by taking the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario’s Integration of Information and Computer Technology Additional Qualification course. The course is the second of a three part continuum that leads to a specialist designation, and is intended to develop integration and leadership in the field of IT integration in the:  classroom, school and school district. What do these teachers need to understand, most importantly, to be able to do, in their classrooms after they’ve finished the course? My hope is that they’ll be doing a lot of “The Big 8 Ideas.”

While sifting through a pile (and I do mean “pile” in the pithy sense of the word) of Tweets and Blog posts this morning, I was lead along a rather convoluted path arriving at Will Richardson’s Blog “Weblogged.” Will may be the foremost speaker, writer, Blogger, and parent driving the discussions about educational reform in 21st century learning. Will’s Blog has a link to a heretofore unknown article (to me that is) called The 8 Big Ideas Behind Constructionist Learning. I have to say that whenever Richardson writes a blog post, there are all sorts of important things that he says, and his post covers a lot more than the link to this idea. I highly recommend adding Weblogged to your Blog reader. That said, have a look at the Blog he mentions, and read the 8 Big Ideas paper which is the summary of research from the Maine Youth Centre. They’ll have you thinking. In them, researchers Drs. Seymour Papert (the father of educational technology) and Gary Stager explored how a constructionist learning model would affect learning outcomes in troubled teens in prison.

In summary, here’s the list of the 8 Big Ideas:

1. Learn by Doing
2. Technology is a building material
3. Hard fun is the best work
4. Learn to learn
5. Take time to properly do the job
6. Do unto our ourselves as we do unto our students- we are all learners on different paths
7. You can’t get it right without getting it wrong- making mistakes is part of learning
8. We are in a digital world and we need digital skills to succeed

This infographic compares some vertical data on Mac and Pc users in an interesting way. Have a look.