Notes from Millie D

Google Co-op

Google announced this week a version of Google that users can customize for end users by creating their own search engine.  My first reaction was like an immigrant:  who would take the time to do this?  Then I got thinking and realized that this is exactly what services like PortaPortal and other bookmarking sites do but the user would receive more quality information not just link names.

This could become one of the hidden gems in a Web2.0 world or a big flop if users find the interface clunky.  I’m sure Google was thinking of librarians to take advantage of this kind fo a service in an educational setting but all teachers would provide their students with a listing of websites to use for researching can take advantage of this service.

Now if Google Co-op could play nicely with del.icio.us then we would have something here.

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Children very quickly realize the limitations of PowerPoint in the classroom, the limited audience it provides.  Slideshare meets a market for the YouTube generation, providing that PowerPoint a greater audience. 

Remember that YouTube can be embedded into a website so that Powerpoint now it can be shared in a global audience.  This is a way of making something old new.  This could be a simple way of integrating native tendencies for the immigrants.

technorati tags:web2.0, powerpoint, youtube

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Infinite Thinking Machine

Wes Fryer is at it again, he took the Prensky article, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” and took a look at the digital landscape today.  He looks at five different groups:  The Natives, The Immigrants, The Refugees, The Bridges, and The Undecided.  I feel like I’m more of a native than I’m an immigrant but having both feet in each I guess I fall in the bridges category.

David Warlick has challenged us to “stop acting like immigrants and start acting like natives.”  We need to minimize the refugees group and try to move them (a lot like MLR work) to undecided or to immigrant status

Wes clarified his thinking further next day in a posting on his blog.  He looked at the dichotomy of the digital native/immigrant.  My take within the dichotomy is that is not enough to know about the technology but to keep pushing to use the technology.  The ever changing world of technology makes it hard to keep up but for the natives they don’t see it as keeping up but as discovering new frontiers.

technorati tags:edtech, literacy

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Wouldn’t it be embarrassing to go into your del.icio.us account and show off some of your sites and find out that they were dead links, especially if you were demonstrating del.icio.us?  Now you can avoid it by using dead.licious (donationware).  Sorry XP users it is an OSX program!  dead.licious goes through your bookmarks and spotlights the ones that are dead, taken down, or disappeared.  The user-interface is very easy (make sure you uncheck the ones you want to keep). 

Now if there was a program to check for broken thoughts or memories within my brain…

technorati tags:del.icio.us

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If you weren’t one of the lucky 50 people who got in to see the fireside chat with David Warlick here is a link to the archive. When you click on the link it starts up a java program called Elluminate.

Warning-when you are watching you are doing just that, you are not involved in the live version. Don’t try to click on the talk button.

There were over 130 people knocking on the door trying to get in. I was lucky enough to get in and highly recommend the archive. If you haven’t heard David’s keynote it is a hoot but delivers the a great punch. Here is the keynote. David captures random thoughts about teaching, technology, students, and the usage of the Internet for education. A future blog entry for me will be centered around an idea David forced me to think through, the Internet is the Information Superhighway but don’t be afraid to take Route 66 and enjoy the ride. There is just as much on Route 66 as on the highway.

Keep fighting the good fight. Children may not realize it now but they will appreciate your efforts later in life.

Technorati Tags: k12online06 k12online

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Tonight, my head is hurting.  No, my head doesn’t hurt because I have an idea but due to the fact there is so much information I’ve uncovered it will take me some time to truly put my hands around it.

On the heels of ACTEM’s MAINEducation06 is the K-12 Online Conference that got underway today with David Warlick’s keynote.  David alluded that his keynote was going to be random thoughts captured during the course of a day.  He did not disappoint.  While I was listening to the keynote I stumbled upon a fireside chat with David.  Fortunately the family was cooperative and I was able to sit in on it with a who’s who with Web 2.0 technology.  There are too many names to mention.  I noticed that Alice Barr made her way in for a short time.  Here were the moderators:  David Warlick, Wes Fryer, Darren Kupotowa, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach (she was the ring leader keeping people on task).

This fireside chat was interesting.  It was done using a service called Elluminate.com.  Elluminate is a java based tool that enables audio conferencing, text chats, and a virtual whiteboard.  David was featured in a video feed.  At times I was following the video feed and got drawn to the whiteboard.  Then I would be drawn to the text chats and fall behind in the video feed.  At the end Wes mentioned that everything was archived:  whiteboard, text, video, and audio.  Sheryl mentioned it would be archived in “real-time” so that we can watch everything as it happened in one piece.  How cool is that!

Back to the K-12 Online Conference, did I mention this is free for people to be involved in?  Sessions start next Monday and run over the next couple of weeks.  There is a conference wiki to help document the material.  Check out the volume of material that is covered through the agenda.  I’m already starting to clear my schedule to get involved with some great professional development for myself and my school and I don’t have to go anywhere to take advantage of it!  Cliche moment:  Professional development has truly become flat, like the world we live in.

Just a note on the agenda, all times are listed in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).  We are currently 5 hours behind GMT. 

Now I’ve got to get the caffine going it may be a late night digesting all of this goodness.

technorati tags:k12online06, k12online

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Today was a day that made me think a lot about teaching in the 21st Century and how it is so different than what I was brought up with when I was a student.  We are now preparing students for careers that probably haven’t even been developed yet.  Blah, blah, blah…I’ll blog more about that later in the weekend.  Today my worlds collided (technology, education, and parenting) and the result should be very interesting.

For those of you who don’t know my daughter goes to the same school where I teach (there’s two worlds colliding on a daily basis).  She is in first grade and is developing a lot of confidence as a reader as well as an author (notice I didn’t say writer because she is producing her own books on a daily basis).  Her teacher has put out the challenge to the class to read an appropiate book to their fellow classmates. As a parent I wanted to support my daughter’s work so she would read her book to practice her pacing and diction before reading it to the class.

Tonight, as we were reading together before bedtime I came up with an idea:  why don’t I record her reading the book and turn it into a podcast for others to benefit from.  I told my daughter of the idea and she got very excited.  “You mean I can be published…”  Remember this is a first grader!  She went on like a kid in a candy store.  Then she said, “we can even add background music to the story.”  She was starting to tell the new story, redefining the literacy.  The immediate result from the educator side in me was this new level of motivation to get it right because the audience has now grown.

The educator side in me started the wheels turning; talking to the teacher, making sure the permission slips are accounted for, etc.  I also thought about contacting the author to see if we can use the book’s images for an enhanced podcast.  I guess this is the kind of stuff being an educator in the 21st Century is all about.

Thank you David for making me see through some new lenses today as my worlds collided.

technorati tags:redefining, literacy, warlick, actem, actem06, mained06

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I’ve just left the keynote address by David Warlick at the MAINEducation 06 Conference. I’ve heard a lot of stuff about his address: Redefining Literacy. The address did two things for me it one blew my mind on the reality of what education is facing in the coming years. The second thing David’s address did was to confirm some of the things I’ve grazed in the classroom in the last year or two.

Unfortunately I know I have a lot of work to do but I’m excited about the journey! I will blog more about the summary later.

Technorati Tags: actem actem06 MainEd06

technorati tags:redefine, literacy, warlick

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Google Docs & Spreadsheets

Today, Google has announced Google Docs (Writely in a Google wrap and Spreadsheets for all gmail users.  This is just another item in place for Google to create an online version of Office.  For those of you who have not tried Writely, the program mimics Word but allows for collaboration within documents (like a wiki).  Users can upload files to work on, which minimizes the need for a local file server (especially when you combine this with the 2.7+GB of storage that gmail allows).

The next thing I’m looking for is the integration into their Google apps for your domain.  We are very happy about the mail and calendar feature and are waiting for Picasa and Docs integration.

If you need a gmail invite send me an email at mrichme at gmail dot com and I will send you the invite.

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The next couple of weeks brings a lot of opportunities for Maine educators in the world of technology. This Friday is the annual ACTEM MaineEd Conference. David Warlick the keynote speaker made reference to our conference today on his blog. Sharon Betts in a sense put a call out there to educators attending to share their collective wisdom and blog about it. I would extend the invitation that if anyone would like to share their notes I will post them on here. I plan to do my part and blog during the sessions. If people bring power strips that would help.

The next opportunity is one that is getting a lot of props in the blogging world but not so much on the ACTEM listserv, K12Online. In a lot of ways my professional development time gets extended without the need to ask my district for money. For those of you who are hearing about this conference for the first time, the K12Online conference is over two weeks with different conference strands around using Web2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice.

The most important things I can impart on people is the continued practice of read/think/write as we all own the Internet we owe it to others to share the knowledge.

Technorati Tags: actem actem06 MainEd06

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