Notes from Millie D

It has been a while since I really put together a meaningful post, I don’t count the links I find as a meaningful post.  I can’t even claim that I haven’t had anything to write about lately.  I guess it is a sign that I’m enjoying my summer vacation.

The last couple of weeks I’ve immersed myself in being with my family and engaging in professional development opportunities.  Last week I was fortunate enough to be at Alan November’s Building Learning Communities, which someday I’ll post my reflections but I’m still soaking up the experience.  I’ve been able to attend NECC and MLTICastine08 virtually thanks to ustream, CoverItLive, and my RSS feeds.  So I want to thank all of the people who have done their part in allowing my to attend these conferences through their lens.  In the tradition of pay it forward I did used CoverItLive to live blog sessions at BLC and really enjoyed those who hopped on and joined me.  CoverItLive is a tool added to my personal toolbox.

Now I’m starting to change the professional development lens to a presenter.  I’ll be a keynote presenter in August at the SAD 61 Summer Technology Institute and I’ve been working on my presentation a little here and there but I have the rare opportunity of high speed internet and no children for the weekend.  I figure I don’t have any better opportunity to get this presentation done!  So tonight I decided to have an outline/mindmap going in a visual way but not utlizing technology.  Blasphemy you say!  I say no way!  I’m using post-it notes so I can move things around customize my outline.

Sometimes a computer screen can be limiting.  In my living room I have a wall that is 12 x 7 with nothing else on it.  I consider it my blank canvas and I’m hoping that by the end of the weekend it turns into my presentation.  We can hope right?

One of the tools I’ve been using this summer to stay current on a lot of topics is Plurk.  Plurk is another microblogging tool that uses karma to provide users with perks in customizing your experience.  I like Plurk for a few different reasons-verbs and threaded conversations.  Plurk starts off your entry by allowing you to use one of the common verbs or you can freestyle your 140 entry.  The verb allows the person to use a stronger voice to make your update.  The threaded conversations are great because users can interact with the author and start a conversation rather than hit and run with a tool like Twitter.  Did I say Twitter?  Yes, I’m still using it but have been frustrated by the outages that have become more frequent lately.  Plurk has been more stable.  Do you have to choose one or the other?  My answer is a resounding NO.  Both serve a purpose in a PLN.

I’ve been thinking a lot, I know it is a dangerous thing, about a lot of topics that will eventually make it to blog entries.  “Modern Day” Conference (virtual vs. face to face), Conference Ettique, Shifting the Paradigm of Learning and Technology, Kiva.org, and Starting the School Year Right.  So look for some post in the coming weeks as I flesh out these thoughts and my experiences throughout the rest of the summer.