Weekly Tech Tips: Citizen Journalism

Weekly Tech Tip:


related links:

• The Fix is In: Social Mobilization and School Reform (Wiki still under heavy construction)
• Qik
• Posrerous
• iPadio

Video Festival:

• Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

• IDEO Global Chain Reaction from IDEO Labs on Vimeo.

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• TEDxNYED
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Link Stew:

• When test scores seem too good to believe
• (USAToday)
• In Fight for Space, Educator Takes On Charter Chain (NYTimes)
• 'Value-added' teacher evaluations: L.A. Unified tackles a tough formula (LATimes)
• Collective bargaining law published despite restraining order (Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel)
• Losing Our Way (NYTimes)
• Members stage “grade-in” at Deptford Mall (New Jersey Education Association)
• 5 myths about teachers that are distracting policymakers (Washington Post)
  
• Research supports style of learning (Adelaide Now)
• Something to Fight For by Deborah Meier (Education Week)
• Resourcing the PYP, MYP, & DP
• Virtual School Symposium 2011 Request for Proposals Now Open
• Arts and physical education in schools: Necessities or extras? (Sun Sentinel)
  

Blog Carnival:

• I’ve created a LinkedIn profile…. Now what? by Mary Huston on Lexical Linguist: I'm just geeky that way!
• Are We Ready to Stop Labeling Ourselves Digital Immigrants? by Pam Moran on A Space for Learning
• Why build a PLN by Kevin Honeycutt on What a PLN is...
• Am I Making Any Sense? by Gary Stager on Stager-to-Go
• ACE and Pearson Collaborate to Transform GED Test, Aligned with Common Core State Standards, Based on GED 21st Century Initiative by Susan Ohanian on Susan Ohanian .Org
• Student revolts about Standardized Exam by Kathryn Coffey on Real Teaching Means Real Learning
• Ugh. Classic Politics Now Extends to Social Networking in Education. by Steve Hargadon on Steve Hargadon
• Compare and contrast: using computers to improve math education by Sylvia Martinez on Generation YES Blog
• The illusion of standardization by Joe Bower on Cooperative Catalyst
• Education is life: a call for more fabulous failures by Kelly Tenkely on Dreams of Education
• Constructing Empathy by Ira Socol on SpeEdChange
  

Retweetable Tweets:

Don't be fooled. GOP had this planned for yrs. Swell deficits w/tax cuts then cry poverty. #WI, #FL, #OH, #MI. We are under attack friends.less than a minute ago via Twitter for AndroidBrian Mancuso
brianmancusoNYC

"To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge." ~Thoreauless than a minute ago via Seesmic twhirlSean Nash
nashworld

73% of 12- to 17-year olds have at least 1 social networking profile (Pew, 2010). The other 27% LIEDless than a minute ago via TweetDeckGina Schreck
Ginaschreck

#EpicLibyanMan walking into the sunset with his guitar...... and rocket launcher #libya #feb17 http://yfrog.com/h0x47gkjless than a minute ago via TweetDeckIbn Omar
IbnOmar2005

You are indeed fortunate if you're teaching in a school where computers are available for teaching and learning - use them! #ictschootipless than a minute ago via webKobus
Kobusvanwyk

Uninstalling dictator in progress ... ███████████████████████████ 99% complete #Egypt #Libya #Mubarak #Gaddafi #jan25 #feb17 #p2 #sgp #tlotless than a minute ago via websunshineejc
sunshineejc

. @CBrannon Tell the kids that there is a mean old guy grading the tests who is trying to trick them. Your scores should go up appreciably.less than a minute ago via webGary Stager, Ph.D.
garystager

When things get bad, shut down mobile networks & social media. When they get really bad, shut down the internet. #ArabTyrantManualless than a minute ago via webIyad El-Baghdadi
iyad_elbaghdadi

"Minnesota’s kids deserve better." Read Education Commissioner Cassellius' testimony on House GOP education bill at http://bit.ly/en1Xvvless than a minute ago via webCharlene Briner
CharBriner

For those of you new to following me and/or Libya, there's often a grain of truth in rumors. But sometimes they're just bunk. Be skeptical.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckAndy Carvin
acarvin

Testing industry is lobbying now to retain all the testing provisions of NCLB. That's their cash cow. Obama is going along.less than a minute ago via webDiane Ravitch
DianeRavitch

#lol Actual question from a new user: "How do I overthrow a dictatorship with this thing?" /via @tsudoless than a minute ago via HootSuiteTweetSmarter
TweetSmarter

I loathe education's past & dread its future. This is unhealthy. I'm working through it.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhoneJerrid Kruse
jerridkruse

Rhee: "I worry about people going into the job with longevity as one of the goals. I’m not a big believer in longevity."less than a minute ago via webDan Meyer
ddmeyer

. @radicalgeek You need to look at the trends & how K.A. is discussed along with "School of One" and "Carpe Diem." All bad ideas.less than a minute ago via webGary Stager, Ph.D.
garystager

"We agree that all children need to succeed; but do we mean the same thing?" John Holt #edchatless than a minute ago via TweetDeckdavidwees
davidwees

Weekly Tech Tip - "Hey, look over there!"

Weekly Tech Tip:

These past couple weeks there has been a flood of fantastic free online professional development resources for educators published. Rather than create my own Weekly Tech Tip this week I would like to point your attention to a broad range of high quality and valuable online professional development resources. With both live and interactive and recorded workshops, sessions, and discussions on a broad variety of topics related to education there is bound to be something here that addresses the unique needs of each educator.

Live Events:

• January 28–30, 2011 - EduCon 2.3 - EduCon is an unConference held annually at the Science and Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. I am profoundly jealous and regretful that I have yet to be able to attend. The unConference format means that people don't go to this event to hear keynotes and attend sessions, they go to attend and participate in conversations about education. The event is extremely popular and draws some really awesome people. They stream all their conversation sessions online via Elluminate and most do their best to be interactive both with their face-to-face guests and their online guests.
  
• Ongoing Weekly - The Future of Education- Each week Steve Hargadon hosts a conversation with a leading voice in education in Elluminate. These sessions are live and very interactive.
  

Recorded:

• The Future of Education - Usually not more than one day following the session Steve Hargadon posts a recording of the sessions in this series both as Elluminate recordings and as podcasts.
• Reform Symposium Archives - The Reform Symposium is a live online conference but all their sessions have been recorded and are available to watch online for free. These are sessions presented mostly by teachers about innovative and creative uses of technology in the classroom.

Video Festival:

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Link Stew:

• The Daily Papert
• Interview: Inside the Brain of Gary Stager
• "Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century" on PBS?
• Peer review: Trial by Twitter

Blog Carnival:

• 10 Reasons Students Say They Prefer Learning Online by Lisa Nielsen on Huffington Post
• What am I willing to be fired for? by Joe Bower on For the Love of Learning
• I really liked Race to Nowhere by Scott McLeod on Dangerously Irrelevant
• The New Story (?) by Will Richardson on Weblogg-Ed
• Perspective - The Autodidact and Khan Academy by Chris Lehmann on Practical Theory
• Change Change by David Jakes on The Strength of Weak Ties

Retweetable Tweets:

this is all particularly important and relevant bc reformers cite models of military as models for education. Teachers are "Nation builders"less than a minute ago via webheidi
towittertoo

Reminder: Only dead fish go with the flow.less than a minute ago via webChad Brannon
CBrannon

Weekly Tech Tip - Social Media & Social Constructivism

Weekly Tech Tip:


Related Links:

• Twitter Book Club - Seymour Papert's "The Children's Machine" Chapter 1
• Twitter Book Club - John Taylor Gatto's "Dumbing Us Down: The hidden curriculum of compulsory schooling"
• The Real Disruptive Innovation

Link Stew:

• Personal Learning Networks By Will Richardson (2007)
  
• Story of Stuff, Full Version; How Things Work, About Stuff
• 7 Tips for Building Collaborative Learning Spaces

Retweetable Tweets:

Can You Copyright A Tweet? http://j.mp/aGBgeb and http://www.canyoucopyrightatweet.com/less than a minute ago via HootSuiteTweetSmarter
TweetSmarter

Jon Becker shares a list of education researchers on Twitter:

@pcwoessner 10 to start: @mcleod, @SchlFinance101, @edjurist, @shermandorn, @mkbwsu, @courosa, @schwier, @gsiemens, @asbruckman, @ksquireless than a minute ago via TweetDeckJonathan Becker
jonbecker

@pcwoessner there's also @WayneDLewis, @punyamishra, @marclamonthill, @chrisemdin, @dumilewis...I'm sure I'm missing some...less than a minute ago via TweetDeckJonathan Becker
jonbecker

Being remixed is an honor...much like being quoted in a newspaper, a blog post, a podcast. #blc10less than a minute ago via TweetDeckJeff Utecht
jutecht

Blog Carnival:

• The Importance of Mobile Phones in Education Teenager Ethan Davids describes how essential his phone is to him. on ICT in Education

• Family education or homeschooling as a commons-based economy by Michel Bauwens on P2P Foundation

• Least Restrictive Environment By Chris Lehman on Practical Theory

• Beyond Gutenberg by Kelly Tenkely on Dreams of Education

• bandwagonesque: homophily, vuvuzelas, and the rhetoric of lists By Scott Schwister on Higher Edison

• Let kids use the Internet for non-school purposes By Doug Johnson on The Blue Skunk

• Web 3.0 By George Siemens on elearnspace
  

Here is your assignment, if you choose to accept it. #edchat #iste10 #rscon10 #k12Online

There have been a slew of education "conferences" in the past few years that have challenged what a conference is or can be. For me, the K12Online was the first of such conferences I learned about. the K12Online is a free online conference that takes place every fall. Most of the sessions in the k12Online Conference are pre-recorded or pre-made videos, Voicethreads, or podcasts that are released on a traditional conference schedule. There is an element of synchronous learning with the K12Online in the form of "fireside chats" but that is pretty much the extent of it. The beauty of the k12Online is that the sessions exist and are accessible indefinitely (or at least until the companies that host the files or the technology that mediates this form of information sharing degrades or falls well into obsolescence). I can attend the 2008 K12Online Conference today pretty much just as I could three years ago.

The second type of conference that I came to know that challenges our notion of the conference is the unconference. For me this was Educon, a now annual event hosted by Chris Lehman at the Science and Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, and Edubloggercon, an event convened by Steve Hargadon annually the day before the ISTE conference. The premise of an unconference is that there are no conference sessions, only conversations. Where a traditional conference session usually involves a presentation by a speaker and "sit and get" from attendees, an unconference involves participants in dialog, discussion, and problem solving.
The third type of conference-like event that for me challenges this whole notion is not a conference purse but rather an online version of what we might think of as a seminar. Steve Hargadon, aside from turning the conference upside down with Edubloggercons, hosts an ongoing series of interviews/presentation both for Classroom 2.0 and the Future of Education. These are syncronous sessions where a presenter gives what amounts to a keynote speech followed by a question and answer session in Elluminate. The biggest difference is these sessions are highly interactive. You have a far better chance getting a question of your answered in one of Steve's sessions than you ever would with most of these presenters in person. Whats more, Steve records these sessions so, like the K12Online they can be accessed anywhere at anytime.

July 30th-Aug 1st will be another conference that seems to challenge the notion of what a conference can be. Convened by Kelly Tenkely, Shelly Terrell, Jason Bedell, and Chris Rogers, The 2010 Reform Symposium looks to combine elements of the K12Online and Steve Hargadon's ongoing Future of Education series into a live interactive online conference for educators. They also have said they would record the event, but unlike the K12Online the interactiveness of these sessions promises value in actually attending the event live. Looks to be a fantastic event.

All of this has had me thinking lately about how social media (podcasts, vodcasts, slide sharing services, etc.) has made a lot of high quality content normally presented at these conferences available for free online. Is there even any real need to attend any conference other than to network with other educators? And, as for networking, we do that online through tools like Ning and Twitter anyway. Is there really any need for us to meet in person. Besides, who do you think learns more from a traditional conference? The attendees or the conveners? Just like often the one in the classroom who learns the most about the content is the teacher I content that the one who learns the most about the PD content is the convener. With so much great content out there for free online anyone could convene their own virtual conference for free. Whats more, through social media we can even simulate Q&A sessions around the keynote and sessions we choose (and the presenters don't even have to know they are part of our conference).

So, here is my challenge to you:

Convene your own conference! Scour the internet for high quality content. It can be on any subject. It doesn't even have to be about education, it could be about Smurfs, Dungeons & Dragons, LOL Cats, or Dinosaurs if you want. But, convene your own conference! Do it on a blog, wiki, social network, or website. You are allotted a budget of $0. Then let everyone know about your conference. Publicize it on Twitter, post a comment on this blog, post a link to it on your Facebook profile, send a link to people on email listserves you are part of. Convene your own conference on any topic. Go!

Resources: below are a list of possible sources of online content for your conference (I will post more to this list as the week goes on):