Wow, technology!

I was trying to get up to date with all the the blogs and feeds I follow and it is a never ending battle. The incredible number of resources jumping up everyday makes it impossible for me to ever be able to explore and experiment with all of them. Just the number of sites that allow for a variety of methods of digital storytelling boggles the brain! How to choose, which is best and how do you find out? I do follow many wonderful people on twitter and really enjoy their amazing output but again, how to keep up? I have resigned myself to the fact that I will miss some amazing things (I am actually expected to work here!) and hope that because so many people post and tweet about the really good stuff I will be able to see it at some point. That does not mean I will actually get to play with it, but maybe I can send it on to someone who will.

I have a friend and colleague at a Catholic school near me, she tries so hard to keep up but she is the technology teacher, tech support person and technology professional development person. There is just not enough hours in the day for her to even begin to explore a lot of what is out there. I am afraid most teachers, even technology teachers are in that boat. There is just so much and way too little time to find out what works best. They just keep trying, following the educational technology leaders and trying to find a way to use just a small piece of what is available. So much of what is new and exciting is not going to get a shot because we are all stretched too thin, so many really wonderful things end up disappearing before they even get exposed to the general population.

I find this both encouraging and disheartening. Wow, the possibilities and at the same time OMG, how to even begin to use this enormous resource. I am blown away by the possibilities, I have a friend, a young ex-coworker in Japan, he went there to teach English a few years ago. In the past we would just have lost touch over time, now he blogs and I can follow him and read all about his amazing experience. I love it! That is the encouraging part, the disheartening part is that in the midst of his life he has so little time! I guess that what we will all experience in life and work in this new age of technology!

Just my random thoughts!

Great TED talk by Gary Flake on Pivot, a new way to look at the web.

Great YouTube video made by a middle school to promote reading!

iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » 20 iTunes Feeds for the 2.0 Teacher

Great resource for teachers who already use 2.0 tools and those who would like to know more!

http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=989

georgetownblogs - Twitters and Tweets

Just what is the web 2.0 stuff all about? Twitter, what the heck is that and why do I care?  Who blogs and why, do I want to?  These are just a few of the questions the new developments on the web engender.  Social networking, social bookmarking, tweeting, we are hearing all about this and our students are doing it.  Here is a great wiki (another one of those terms!!!) that helps you to understand this and also to see the variety of tools and resources available to help.  Take a look and join the 21st century!

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• georgetownblogs - Twitters and Tweets

  tags: georgetownblogs, web 2.0, blogging, twitter, wiki

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Interesting blog on "back channels" posted by Jeff Utecht, really food for thought. I really like the notion of a focused conversation outside of the presentation but I could see how that would be very distracting. I also was interested in his description of the process of learning how to use such a conversation. He talks about people first randomly commenting in a very unfocused and personal way then gradually figuring out how to use the conversation to understand the presentation. I could see how many educators would become frustrated if it was not focused immediately and deciding it was too distracting and not a good tool. His observations are some what different but I don't see many people taking the time to use and learn back channels. If you are curious and would like to know more here is the link to his blog. Take some time to read it, I was not a real fan of the idea until I had read a couple of his entries and then thought about it some. I think I can see why it might be a good way to explore a presentation more thoroughly and but would like to find an opportunity to try it out.

Haven't posted for quite awhile, we have been busy getting ready for new laptops for the teachers and students. So much work gathering the old ones and getting them off to be recycled and then waiting for the new ones to come in. Anyway, I am looking at Twitter with new eyes. I have so enjoyed following all the tweets coming from NECC, you people are awesome. I am very jealous, but so glad there is a way to keep up with all the activity. I have really enjoyed twitter these last couple of days although I will admit that it has been time consuming because of the furious number of tweets coming in. I have also been exploring the idea of using Twitter in a school environment. Not so much with students, our teachers are just not ready to go there but as a communication tool for us and also for parents. I am not at all sure how that would work, and I am sure there would be some serious questions from admin types and also from parents. While social media is interesting many of them find it very scary! There are a lot of preconcieved notions to work through before that kind of thing can be adopted. I read some great articles on corporations adopting social media and their guidelines, I think these can be good tools to deal with many of the issues that are bound to crop up.

I was amazed to read about the many social networking tools that are being marketed to corporations now. Very Ning like in appearance, but of course with a cost. When you start seeing something developed as a product you know it is becoming mainstream! My aunt is using facebook, my very elderly aunt! She is now friends with my daughter and her husband on Facebook, how cool is that? THAT is mainstream.