Managing Online Circles

 
With the advent of Google+ coinciding with the arrival of my summer holidays, I've been feeling a little out of the loop over the past few weeks.  I typically try to 'unplug' a little over the summer so that I can recharge my batteries for new projects & collaborations as another school year begins.  This means taking a bit of a breather from most of my online connections.  Not completely removing myself per se, but limiting the amount of time that I engage with these tools.

But now that Google+ has been introduced, I've felt the need to dabble - to connect with different people in different ways, to create new social circles with my online connections.  Well, not really new social circles, but more social circles...

Herein lies the problem for me.  With all of the online communities that are available to participate in, I'm beginning to find that it's becoming increasingly difficult to 'manage' my participation in each.  Is regular participation required in each of these communities in order to make them meaningful?

I participate in a number of social networks and I find that I use each one in a slightly different way - each tool has it's own purpose for me.  I like each of the social networks to which I belong because of that sense of community.  And when new social networks arrive on the scene - especially networks that have been developed by the heaviest hitters in the online world - I don't hesitate to jump on board and explore the features and possibilities.

I know a great many educators who shun all aspects of connecting & collaborating online.  You and I both know that these teachers are doing themselves a great disservice by avoiding the use of these tools.  For some of these teachers, they refuse to take the plunge because they feel that they've always been fine without the use of these tools.  For others, they feel that they have nothing to contribute.  But the excuse that I hear more than any other is the lack of time - they feel that they just can't afford the time that it would take to participate effectively in an online community.

It's a shame that we still have so many educators who have not realized the potential that social networking has to offer.  But, to be honest, I'm starting to see where some of these teachers are coming from.  It takes time to manage your participation in these learning communities.  Is it worth the effort?  Of course!  But it can be tricky to juggle your online circles.  I've begun to wonder just how many balls I can keep up in the air without dropping them...

Magical Moments

I had the privilege of attending TEDxPhillyEd yesterday and I was blown away by what unfolded before my eyes.  I've been a live participant in a couple of TEDx events already this year (TEDxManitoba & TEDxJuanDeFuca), so I knew what to expect going into this...

 

At least I thought I did.  The two other TEDx events that I attended were great.  The speakers were all world class and I walked away with so many ideas to pick apart.  But as I walked away from TEDxPhillyEd yesterday, I couldn't help but think that the experience wasn't just great - it was magical.  

Everything about this event was perfect - from the venue and the speakers, to the hosting city and the sponsors. The organizing committee deserves a huge round of applause for crafting their vision for this event and bringing it to fruition :-)

There are so many things that transpired throughout the day that I really can't articulate them all succinctly in a blog post.  But there are a few ideas that I'd like to pick apart here that have got me thinking.  One of the most significant things that made the day so special for me were the connections.  

I connected for the first time in person with a number of the people I'd only ever known virtually.  Seeing your network come to life in this way is a very satisfying experience and one that will stick with me for a long time to come.  

All of the talks throughout the day were so well connected, from the featured speakers, to the students and the emcees.  Everything about the content and format of the day was so well designed.  The TED videos that were shown throughout the day were directly connected to speakers who were in the room, which served to complement the live event perfectly.  

Even the hospitality area where participants networked during the breaks was connected to the content of the sessions, providing all of us with the opportunity to see, first-hand, the passion for learning that was so clearly articulated throughout the day.  I loved how participants even had the opportunity to test out their new Echo Smartpens that were given to each and every one of us by one of the event sponsors - THANKS for your generosity, Livescribe!!!

I'm not going to go into any detail about the individual talks - suffice to say, they were all brilliant.  I tweeted incessantly throughout the day about my own take-aways.  I tweeted more yesterday than I've ever tweeted before, and I tagged all of my tweets with the hashtag for the event - #tedxphillyed - a hashtag that proved to be used by so many people that it was trending in Philadelphia yesterday...

If you want specifics, you really need to find them for yourself.  You can follow the discussions with the hashtag listed above.  You'll also want to check the TEDxPhillyEd website for the archived videos - they will all be made available soon and I know that I will be revisiting each and every one of them!

I do, however, have one lingering thought about the day.  When asked how many people in the room were Twitter users, I was surprised to see about half of the hands shoot up.  And I was also astounded by the sheer number of iPads in the room - clearly tablets are taking over as the device of choice among educators.  

But where were all of these people on Twitter?  Sure there were a LOT of tweets contributed to the feed, but there were really only about a dozen of us in the room who were using the hashtag to track the conversation.  There were also a number of people who were contributing to the dialogue from abroad.  

As I looked around at all of the iPads in the room, I noticed that many (most?) users were recording their reflections using Notes.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I think there's SO much more power in sharing our reflections in transparent ways.  I know that if I were using Notes to record my thoughts and ideas, they'd live on my iPad and I'd occasionally review them to refresh my memory about what I felt was important at the time.  Nobody else would benefit from me capturing these highlights in this way :-(

When an idea resonated with me, I tweeted about it.  On many occasions, other people retweeted my tweets to show consensus.  Several times throughout the day, I engaged in side conversations surrounding these topics with different people in different places.  I thought much more deeply about the content as a result of the continuing conversations.

The whole idea behind any TEDx event is to make a difference.  To bring together a group of like-minded individuals and push them to think about the things that matter.  TEDx is all about spreading ideas and information - to encourage people to create and innovate.

Moving beyond TEDxPhillyEd, all of us have a responsibility to keep the message alive.  By attending this event, we've all made an informal commitment to spread the word within our own learning communities.  How do you plan to keep the message alive?  How will you share your own take-aways from this event?  How will you make a difference?

WoW! - Writing on Writing

 
I just completed a really interesting chapter in the story of my life and decided I need to use this space to share it.  In a way, I was contracted to do some writing and I really didn't know what I was getting myself into.  I've written a lot of content over the years, but I've written it primarily for myself and the limited number of people who visit my blog.

I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to join the Edmodo Featured Blogger Team.  There were five of us from around the world that were asked to post to the Edmodo blog once a week for the past ten weeks.  I was humbled by the opportunity to write alongside this amazing group of educators!

I've been overseeing the implementation of this secure educational social networking platform within our school division.  As a result, my posts provided a 'view from the district' and they were all related to various aspects of implementing Edmodo in our classrooms and schools.

Knowing that the readership of the Edmodo blog is significantly higher than the number of readers I see here, I really felt as though I had to pay close attention to the words I wrote.  I spent a great deal more time than I usually do reading and re-reading the sentences and paragraphs that I wrote, because it was important to me that each word was used for a reason...

In looking back over the ten posts that I submitted to the blog, I'm proud of my accomplishments.  I can see how I've grown and changed even over the last couple of months.  I find it fascinating to reflect on how my story over the last ten weeks unfolded as I built upon my preceding posts from one week to the next.    

I though it might be interesting to link to my Edmodo blog posts here, in the event that you're curious as to the story I've told.  If so, you may want to go top up your cup of coffee, find a comfy chair to curl up in and settle in from the beginning ;-)

• Week # 1 - getting started...
• Week # 2 - professional development...
• Week # 3 - it's all about connecting...
• Week # 4 - sharing 'pockets of innovation'...
• Week # 5 - technology infusion & the BYTE Challenge...
• Week # 6 - breathing new life into an old system...
• Week # 7 - why use Edmodo with your students?
• Week # 8 - spreading the word...
• Week # 9 - get out of the way...
• Week # 10 - the end, or a new beginning?

Thanks, Edmodo, for this amazing opportunity!

When Learning Becomes An Event

I had a fantastic week of connecting, sharing and learning with many colleagues from around the province of Manitoba as I attended the Riding The Wave conference out in Gimli. It's always a treat getting together face to face with like-minded educators, and I often find that (for me, anyway) some of the richest learning experiences take place between sessions as participants reflect over a cup of coffee and extend their own learning.

I was invited to present a couple of sessions at this year's conference. You'll find one of these two sessions below - 'When Learning Becomes An Event'. I've been thinking a lot about how I learn and how our students learn. This session proved to be an opportunity to take participants on a little journey to explore the idea of extending the learning by celebrating even the little things that happen in our classrooms and in our schools.

There's been so much talk in recent years about '21st Century Skills'. It's time for less talk and more doing. Teachers and students need to see tangible ways of incorporating social media into the teaching and learning that takes place in their classrooms.

If you just want to poke through my slidedeck, you can find it posted on Slideshare. However, I think you'll find that the content just isn't complete without the narrative. For that very reason, I recorded a screen capture of the actual presentation which you can watch right here...

If you're willing to take the time to view my presentation (about 70 minutes), I hope you'll take two extra minutes and post your own reflections, questions, comments, etc...

Making Our Learning Transparent

I had the opportunity to attend my second TEDx live event just a few short hours ago and my head is still spinning.  As I drove away from an amazing day of sharing, learning and networking at TEDxJuanDeFuca, my mind was reeling.  Such a diverse array of speakers and each of them rose to the occasion in a very big way.

I've been reflecting on each of the speakers I saw and I must say - they were all brilliant :-)

But I've also been thinking a lot about how I learn.
And how I make my learning transparent.
And how I learn best by sharing.

One of the ways we all learn best is through sharing.

Yesterday: I shared some of my learning through tweets and images.  I talked about my learning.
Today: I'm writing about what I've learned and how I learn.
Tomorrow - (or another day...) - I'll share my learning however and wherever I can.

How do you make your learning transparent?

The Safety Net

I fell off the horse months ago and made the mistake of not climbing on again right away.

I'm amazed at how easy it's been to ignore my blog and voice my thoughts, ideas & opinions elsewhere (in 140 characters or less).  All of the things I'd traditionally use my blog for have been replaced by micro-blogging - sharing current projects, highlighting resources, networking with colleagues.  I never intended to remain silent for so long on the blogging front, but I find some comfort in the fact that I'm not the only edublogger who's ever taken a little reprieve from publishing in this format.

But the time has come to break my blogging silence.  And the reason is simple.  I have a favour to ask of my professional learning network.  You are my social net and, in this case, I'm hoping that I can count on you as my safety net as well - in place to catch me if I fall ;-)

Image Credit: 'Greekadman'

In just a couple of days, Darren Kuropatwa and I are being put to the test.  We've been tasked with educating a live audience of 200+ for three hours on the opportunities and challenges that exist with social media in a classroom setting.  While we're thrilled about the prospect of taking this audience on a journey and challenging them to try new things and see new possibilities, we can't shake the fear of having our plans backfire.

That's where you come in - the social network, the professional learning network.  You see, we've structured the afternoon in such a way that our virtual attendees could get just as much out of participating as our live audience will.  In fact, with increased virtual participation, the participants in the room will get that much more out of their experience.

The entire afternoon will be streamed live over the web and you can catch the Livestream on the Create Faire website.  The focus for the afternoon will involve having participants work together to create content which, ultimately, could be re-purposed in any number of ways down the road.

We'll be encouraging participants to tweet throughout the afternoon using the hashtag #createfaire - this will serve as their feedback and provide them with an opportunity to voice their opinions or concerns.  Participants will be asked to tweet with the prompts 'I like...' or 'I worry...' with regards to the social media opportunities and challenges that are raised throughout the morning.  If we could have you tweeting with these same prompts, or using the #createfaire hashtag and engaging some of these Twitter newbies by pushing back a little, that would be fantastic :-)

A portion of the afternoon will involve participants (did I mention we'll have students in the room along with teachers & administrators...) using their mobile devices to snap some pictures and e-mail them in to us for inclusion in a collaborative slideshow.  All photos will be auto-tagged and licensed under a Creative Commons NC-AT-SA license.  We'd love to include your pictures as well - just send them to: 

did40use@photos.flickr.com

So, I've filled you in on the basics, but there's so much more in store for everyone who is part of Create Faire.  We'd love to have you take part in this event in some capacity.  

Please consider joining us virtually for Create Faire this Friday afternoon, March 11th, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm CST.  Darren and I are confident that (if everything works according to plan) this will be a professional learning experience unlike any these folks have ever had the opportunity to participate in before.  And, with your participation, it'll be that much more meaningful for everyone involved :-)

Please leave a comment if you'd like to participate virtually and I'll make sure that all relevent information is shared with you...

Pump Up The Volume

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53611153@N00/2337887067

 

 

 

No, this post isn't a tribute to the eclectic 80's band MARRS, although their tune was mighty catchy.  Those of you that know me likely assumed that this post had something to do with music, as I have been known to spend too much time and money on live music - but no, you won't find that in this post either ;-)

This post has grown out of some reflecting that I've been doing over the summer about media literacy and the increasing need to make sense of the wealth of information and content that we're bombarded with on a daily basis.  The times, they are a changin', and we need to really think about how we are preparing ourselves and our children to embrace these changes...

I haven't spent a whole lot of time at home this summer and my adventures have taken me through many diverse landscapes.  Through photography, I've tried to freeze all of these moments in time to preserve my memories of the places I've been and the people I've seen.  I've really played the role of a tourist well - I've had my camera by my side every step of the way. 

5 weeks & 4300 images later...

What do I have to show for all of these adventures?  Far too much to fill an old-school photo album.  But I do have plenty of material to create some captivating photo slideshows.  My wife has a tonne of quality images to use in her digital scrapbooking.  I can produce, upload & share videos of our adventures, or burn DVD's chronicling our summer holidays for family and friends.  All of these things require the use of the media that we've been acquiring along the way.

It hasn't always been this way...

You see, we got a new camera.  Our first digital SLR - a Canon Rebel XSi.  We've decided that although we're both amateur photographers, we're ready for more than we can get out of our standard point and shoot cameras.  My wife and I both love this new camera and we've done a great job of 'breaking it in' by shooting a tonne of photos.  But 4300 shots - really?  There's no need for that!  To me, this just exemplifies the way our lives are changing as a result of the media-rich culture in which we live, work & play.

Rewind about 13 years...

Image Source: http://sajidgidda.com/life/the-descent-of-the-photographer

This was it - my first digital camera, a Sony Mavica.  I fell in love with this camera instantly for the ease of use and convenience of seeing and sharing my photos instantly.  This was before memory cards & USB cables were commonplace.  All I did was insert a 3.5" floppy disk and start shooting pics.  I could get about fifteen photos onto a floppy disk before I had to eject it & copy the images onto my desktop computer but, hey, it worked.  I carried a stack of floppy disks in that camera bag anywhere I went because I knew I'd need them ;-)

Diluting an art form...

My wife's uncle is a professional photographer.  He's spent much of his life making a living through photography.  As much as I praised the merits of my Sony Mavica digital camera, he simply turned up his nose at it.  He sneered at the thought of digitizing photography.  I vividly remember a conversation we had before the turn of the century about how digital cameras were killing the art of photography.  According to him, digital photography ruined the art because anyone could take perfect pictures.  We set up our shots and snap our pics - if they don't turn out the way we want them, we try again.  We frame them a little differently, we capture our subject in a slightly different pose, or we change the lighting a bit.  The instant feedback that we get from shooting digital photographs can turn all of us into professionals by arming us with the ability to perfect the photos we capture.  This uncle resisted for many years and finally bought his first digital camera about five years ago.  Now, it's all he shoots with ;-)

The way it was...

Remember when you used to have to drop off your rolls of film at the 'photo finishing' store to get them developed?  You'd pick up your prints and excitedly open the envelope to see what you captured.  In most cases, you'd be delighted to find a few shots from a birthday party a few months back, a couple of pictures highlighting a family trip and a few photos featuring friends and family.  One little roll of film could span a few months of your life.  Now, we can easily shoot a hundred images in an afternoon...

The evolution of digital photography really reflects what's been happening with every aspect of technology.  It's crept into nearly every aspect of our lives and we see evidence of it everywhere we turn.  Through digital photography, we now chronicle our lives in far more detail.  Every little experience is captured and preserved.  And we have far better ways of sharing these images than simply tucking them away into albums and putting them up on a shelf.  But with this increased volume we have to have better means of 'filtering' the photos we capture and share.

We're still learning the filtering process.  We're looking for better ways of managing our digital photographs.  We need to find more effective ways of archiving our images so that they can be easily retrieved.  In most cases, we choose only a random sampling of our photos to share through sites like Flickr - so what do we do with all of the other images that don't get shared so publicly? 

Who teaches us how to do these things?  More importantly, who teaches our kids how to manage their digital artifacts?  These skills haven't traditionally been taught in our schools or our classrooms, but they need to be...