Notes from Millie D

The people at careerbuilder.com are at it again.  First they brought us Monk-e-mail.  Now they’ve brought us Age-O-Matic.  Age-O-Matic lets you know how you’re aging based on what your job is doing to you.  Check it out if you dare…

Steven Jobs certainly knows how to raise the bar when it comes to technology.  Yesterday during the Keynote presentation to MacworldSF a bulk of the presentation was focussed on 2 products:  AppleTV and iPhone.  AppleTV will be a nice product in a modern home.  The price point seems to work in favor of being put into homes.

The gem of the presentation was showcasing the iPhone.  Think iPod meets cell phone meets Internet access.  People will focus on the cost which is not cheap.  When you put together all of the pieces people will spend more.  The part I’m excited about is the Internet capabilities.  Some of the features of OS X will be integrated into a Safari-like browser.  With that capability users will be able to take advantage of Web2.0 technologies from their phone.

I will hopefully own one, someday.  It may not be on the initial rollout but I’m confident that I might have one by the end of the year.  Who else is considering one?

I’ve been reading blogs for the last week or so and learning a lot about people based on their 5 things about themselves that you might not know from their blog.  Well I thought I might have escaped this one but Cheryl Oakes got tagged last night during a Worldbridges chat on WOW2 and she tagged Sharon Betts today who tagged me.  Here it goes:

1.   My oldest daughter goes to school with me every day despite the fact we don’t live in that town thanks to the generosity of two superintendents.

2.   I’ve served on a national board of directors for a non-profit educational organization, Academic Decathlon.  I’ve also participated when I was in high school, coached a team when I started teaching, and ran the state organization for 9 years.

3.   I take every day with my youngest daughter and treat it like it is the last due to her dormant liver condition, Alpha 1 Anti-trypsin Deficiency.

4.   I audited a high school course in typing just so I could take a computer science course.

5.   I graduated with a major in finance and a minor in economics from Bentley College (the real BC).  Who would have thought I would be a technology integrationist.

Every party needs a party pooper and that’s why they invited me.  I’m going to stop the tagging.

Chances are if you’ve been reading an edu-blog within the last week you’ve seen people tagging others with 5 things people might not know about themselves. A teacher, Lucy Gray, from Chicago has taken it to another level by using Google Earth. People place a placemark to identify their location, answer the questions and then
upload their file to have it complied. Here is mine:

Michael Richards GoogleEarthMeme

Here are the directions if you feel inclined to participate:

Direct Link

google earth googleearthmeme maps

During last night’s K12Online Conference “reunion” skypecast/chat at Worldbridges they were talking about the next one.  The conversations got me thinking about the fact that we can do the same thing within the state of Maine through ACTEM’s annual MAINEd Conference.  A lot of “non hands-on” sessions could have been done through screencasts or as a podcast. Why can’t this be done in Maine?

Think about the positive impact of reaching as many educators as possible.  How many people miss a session because there were 2 at the same time or they couldn’t take the day off from work but could access the session when their time schedule allows it.  I know there were some sessions I missed that I heard great things about that I wish were archived. I believe the infrastructure is available to make it happen.

Instead of being one of those kind of people who are just another idea person if someone that is a decision maker within ACTEM’s conference reads this I will volunteer to help in any way the group deems.

The challenge is out there who is out there to help make it happen!

We are here staring at the beginning of a new year but there is still some unfinished things about 2006 I would like to reflect upon.

2006 may go down as a watershed year. The true impact on “flat world” is starting to be realized. Blogging and other Web2.0 tools are bringing great minds and ideas into more of a conversation rather than a single sided conversation you might have read about in the past. These conversations are taking place with a global perspective. Who would have thought an online only conference would have taken place and been successful? The bar has definitely been set high for 2007!

DOPA appears to be dying a quiet death I don’t think this is the last we will hear about it. Every time Dateline shows a “Catching a Predator” episode the DOPA conversation will be started among politicians in the US. Hopefully politicians don’t just cast a wide blanket trying to prevent harm to our youngsters that handcuffs educators from using some great tools. 2007’s conversation may be on a local level with educators and IT coordinators trying to figure out how to marry the great web resources for students while protecting them.

2006 ended with some great conversations thanks to Worldbridges and their Webcastathon 2007 (the archive can be accessed with the link). There were lots of different conversations about a lot of different technology out there. This is a great way to start your professional development for 2007!

2007 figures to be a great year in the world of technology and education. I hope 2006 was a great year for you and that 2007 serves to be a better year.