I know we are past the tumultuous election season already, but I started thinking about the effect that a conference, even a smaller local education conference like the TRETC (Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference) — I thought it timely that CoolCatTeacher blogged about making the most of a conference experience.  She quoted a reflection written by Mitchell Weisburg, after attending EduCause.

In the spirit of reflecting about reflecting (is that meta-reflection?)  CoolCatTeacher blogs about the importance of the reflection element by conference attendees.

Require Reflections from Conference Attendees
I think every person who attends a conference should be REQUIRED, yes, I said REQUIRED, to write a reflection. It should ideally be an open blog post, but at least one on the intranet for others at the workplace to see.

It could also be a gcast, or cell phone recorded podcast, or a video where a person talks to the screen. Really, it could also be photographs that are shared. But it should be something, done in a medium that is the simplest way for the person who attends to communicate in.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be one of 12 attendees from my district who attended the conference. We are not ‘required’ to reflect on the conference experience, but this is generally something I do on my own.  As a district we are HUGE on reflection by the students, on any given professional development, we are not yet culturally in a place where we can expect teachers to reflect.  I would love to get a bit more formalized reflection from my fellow attendees, and perhaps continue the conversations that we began yesterday.

For the past two years I have attended on my own, but the experience was different in a group.  The obvious positive is the direct focus that our conversations took, in how we can leverage the strategies, tools and concepts that we learned about in our school. Also, with a group of 12+ like-minded people “on the same page” it seems more realistic that we can make an impact in our home-buildings, and increase the use of technology to impact student learning in our district.  Additionally, our administrators also attended, and saw some of the great things that can be done with technology.  I’m not sure we are quite in a place where our district envisions a “new way to do school”, but at least we are moving in the right direction.

The downside to being in a large group is the external networking that get missed.  Often you sit in a session with someone you know, are less likely to introduce yourself around, and expand your PLN.  (I still managed to connect with a few new people through Twitter. Though in full disclosure, three of them were at a conference in Philadelphia, not in Pittsburgh.)

On the whole the conference was fairly good.  I was not as impressed by the keynote speaker as in past years, but I think that highlights the qualities of the DEN speakers we saw in the past rather than the speaker from the US Department of Education (aka The Feds).  Apart from looking like Tim Robbins, the speaker was pretty sound.  Tim Manger (Director of the US Department of Ed. on Educational Technology) was in the right place with his remarks, though his presentation wasn’t anything I had heard before, and borrowed heavily from other presentation I’m familiar with (without giving credit, I might add).  I am, however, checking out the “School 2.0“  website he demonstrated.

Out first session was more of an hour and a half sales pitch from Promethean.  I’m not sure if this is typical of technology conference sessions, but in any case it was very good.  Wendy Zuber demonstrated the tools very well, and having some hands on time with the responders made a pretty big impact on the audience.  Sure, it just made me wish for a classroom set of responders and a “real” interactive whiteboard.  We do have a Promethean Board on wheels, that is rearly used by teachers in out school.  But carting it down from the upstairs lab, setting it up, and then recalibrating every few minutes afer it gets knocked (or the projector gets bumped.)  Maybe in our brand new new building (in a few years) we will have “modern” classrooms.

Second, I attended a presentation on iTunes U.  It appears that our friends at Fox Chapel School district are once again on the bleeding edge of all that is technical, and are the first Pennsylvania school to distribute content through iTunes.  My feelings are mixed as to how practical a solution this actually is.  What’s worse is that the State is involved in the process, and wants all content that is posted to be tagged with state standards.  I’m not sure if I can think of a more effective way to squash teacher enthusiasm than to insist that content is pigeonholed into a specific set of state standards.  And where does Foreign Language content go?  We have no state standards.

Lastly, I attended a great presentaiton by Grace Poli of Union City, NJ.  This was one of the best organized presentations, and had the most direct foreign langauge impact of any that I’ve done.  She poitned me to some outstanding resources, and strategies for using technology (iPods) in teaching.  (Hmm . . . I was going to link to her Slideshare, which she PROMISED she would have up by this morining, maybe I’ll add it later.)

My remarks at my dad’s memorial service on September 20, 2008. (Cross-posted from our Family Blog)

---

All of you are here to day to help us to celebrate the life of the man who you may have known for all or some of the last twenty years, since my family moved to Pittsburgh from England. You all know some facet of Mick Platts: the friend, the neighbor, the colleague, the family-man, the artist, the teammate, the runner, the athlete, the chicken-wire and paper mache parade float-builder, the handy man, the father, the husband, the proud grandad.

My dad was a remarkable man for many reasons. He may have taught your kids to shingle a house, or frame a window, or hang drywall on the summer mission trips that he joined us on. My mom and he helped to lead the Youth Group when there was a need.

He was often quiet, just biding his time for the right moment for his quick wit and sense of humor to send us into side-splitting laughter. If you could have been around the dinner table with us when he got on a roll, you would have experienced such joy and happiness, even as your belly hurt from laughing so hard.

But today, I need to share with you the man that I have known since I was two-years old, and what he means to me, my sisters and my mum.

Many of you may not even know that my dad is my step-father. It was never necessary to make the distinction. My grandmother has often reminded me that when I was a little boy I would say to her:

“Do you remember the day I married my dad?”

---

Anne and Mick met one night in a bowling alley in 1982, their matchmaker friends had been hard at work. Dad had just moved back to Barnsley, after quitting a job that he didn’t like, and joined the local police force. (That’s right, add Mick the Bobby to the list) A group of friends were out together, and I was there. According to my mum I was a huge pain, I tried to break the pinball machine, spilled my Lemonade down the bowling lane (some things never change.) And after the evening out, my dad ended up crammed into the same car that was giving mum and I a ride home, accidentally, on purpose. There was a full moon, that reminded my dad of something. . . “Has Richard seen E.T. yet?” Which was of course his round-about way of asking my mum to the movies. . .

The story continues, but we can skip ahead to three days before my third birthday, November 12th 1983 when my mum and dad were married and we continued on with the journey of a lifetime together, as if nothing had ever been different. . . My mum and dad and I were a family, he was my dad and I was his son.

In my adult life, I realized what a brave step it must have been for him. A lesser man might have been scared off by a single mom with a three year old child. To start a family at twenty-four years of age. But not my dad. He fell in love with an amazing woman, and with me at the same time.

But our journey was only just getting started…

Two years later we had moved to Stockport, a town outside of Manchester in England. Dad had gotten back into his chosen field, and was pursuing his dreams and talents as an Engineer. We pick up the story in November, where my mum is expecting a baby. Jenny, not surprisingly was in a rush to join us, and they had already been to the hospital expecting to come home with a baby. . . twice. Despite all of this rush, my dad in his infinite wisdom felt that it was still ok to cycle to work. And on their second anniversary, my mum went into labor with the greatest anniversary present they could have imagined. Dad had to hitch a ride home with his boss to take my mom to the hospital. He was scared, this was his first time doing this. And the first of his girls - Jennifer, who kept my dad’s bright blue eyes, arrived just after midnight the following day. And he was the happiest man in the world.

August 25th, 1988 – we arrived in America with a box of silverware, a computer that wouldn’t work, and two bikes. Completely unprepared for the greatest adventure of our lives. People often ask my mum how long we have been here. To which she sometimes responds: “We came 20 years ago for a year.” America . . . the chance to come here was irresistable for a young family. They came to the land of opportunity, but with opportunity comes risk, and fear. What brave people my parents were to bring us here and risk everything to further our family.

Shortly after this move my dad began to work with Walter Buss, a colleague, friend and boss that my dad respected very much. He would want Walter to know that he looked to him as a mentor and father-figure here. My dad was a brilliant engineer, project manager; well respected in his field by his colleagues, and we know that he will be sorely missed by them.

It didn’t take long for my dad to be spotted, and Walter wasn’t going to let him go. Our one-year adventure became three, then four, and then we started to put down real roots, bought a house, made Mount Lebanon our home, joined the church and my parents made the decision to expand our little family. . .

Ellen arrived one night during a thunderstorm that would not relent. Dad did not bike to work, and mum and dad played cards all night. Ellen, unlike her big sister did not want to come, which is a surprise to anyone who sees how she jumps into things today. My dad was so proud of Ellen his brown-eyed baby girl, who has become a beautiful young woman in her own right. We are all so proud of her talents, she is an athlete, a kind and caring girl, a musician, and a good friend.

My dad especially loved the music that she and Deborah make playing the piano, and singing . . . gifts that both girls got from my dad. (Did I mention Mick the Guitarist?)

Soon my parents realized that at 7-years younger than her older sister, we would soon be out of the house, and Ellen may be lonely. And how lucky we are for that conversation. Deborah, as is her way, was an easy baby on my mum and my dad. He proudly, and nervously cut the cord of his baby (for the first time, I might add) and our family became complete with Deborah. Dad loved to hear her sing, and watch her compete, and is so proud of the young lady that she is becoming.

The five of us have a lifetime of happy memories with my dad, and he knew how much we loved him. He was proud of us all, and showed it to us every day. He loved me as his son, but he adored his baby girls.

---

The past months have been hard. My dad protected us, and you, from the worst. But this time wasn’t without its blessings. For six-months after his first seizure, my dad could not drive to work. I took him in the morning, often running late, and with a couple of coffees that I picked up on the way to his house. And my sister often drove him home. For six-months, I got a half an hour every day to talk to my dad, like we have never had the chance to talk before. Sons and fathers don’t share often enough how they feel. But I took joy in having that opportunity. And I did tell him what he means to me. That he made me the man I am today. He gave me every opportunity that I have ever enjoyed. I teach German because, like him, I wanted to speak German. From him I got my strength, my ambition, and my commitment to my family.

We will remember my dad for the happiest of our memories. The vacation of a lifetime, on Kiawah Island, where all of us kids, and my wife, Marie and our baby Eleanor spent one of the happiest weeks we have ever had together. My dad and I learning together to cast a shrimping net, and while everyone else was out cooking and eating the best shrimp together over a beer, leaving the runts for everyone else.

One of the happiest thoughts that I am left with is just this past Saturday, during one of Deborah’s rainy soccer games. Marie was coaching the team, and looked across the field to se my dad protecting his granddaughter from the rain. Holding her close, loving her, and her loving him. They were helping each other.

Girls: Your daddy loves you, and is proud of all that you are. And, I know that I speak on behalf of my sisters and mum when we say.

“Dad, we love you, we are proud of your life. Now be at peace.”

Our BSN Coordinator asked for answers to these questions — I may have overdone my answer, but it was valuable reflection.

How are you using BlackBoard . . .

• … it in the classroom?
• … it for curriculum?
• … it in elementary school?
• … the tools?

My response:

In 7th and 8th grade German I have faced two main issues, time and lack of current resources. Blackboard is a way to help me overcome these challenges.

I am using BB for the following:

1) Textbook replacement - Our textbook Komm Mit was published shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall, during which time the German Currency has changed, the spelling rules of the language have been overhauled, and lastly fashion, activities and interests have developed and changed greatly. I am using BB to compile my own resources, as well as making use of the cream of the crop that I find online. The existing grammar, or vocabulary sections in the text are shallow and undeveloped, while simultaneously failing to explain anything clearly. I either create my own reference page in BB, which allows me to embed audio examples as well as text, or I make use of my new favorite source, a university beginners German course form the University of Portsmouth in England. I’ve been in touch with Paul Joyce, and he only asks for brief acknowledgment that the content from his Open Online German Textbook are his work. By including my own pictures from Germany, I can show real Germans, in a believable way, and can compare and contrast fashions with American students in a real way, rather than using the pictures taken in the 80’s as these kids entire representation of how Germans dress and act.

2) Assessment (for/of learning) — I’m not a huge fan of the test layout, and the labor-intensive question creation in BB, but I do like using the online tests for a few reasons. Instant feedback — unless it is something that requires later grading, the students get an instant report about how they did on a quiz, and while the experience if fresh in their minds they see the questions, their answers (right or wrong) and any other possible answers that could have fit. Some students are not good online test takers, but it is simple to identify those students and print out a paper copy for them to see. This allows me to spend a little extra time with those students (often special ed students) giving more personalize feedback.

The assessment statistics data lets me dig into my classes and see who is scoring what, how my grades were distributed and who I need to follow up with (retest, review, remediate) With over 230 students this has freed up time for actual teaching, planning, needs assessment, rather than mundane clerical work.

3) Grade book — after a little tweaking (assigning student IDs to Fort couch user accounts that indicate section number, followed by a number, their alphabetical order in the class) I have finally mastered the Blackboard gradebook, and like it better than Gradequick. (SmartViews are key) Since we don’t have EdLine, the students can now see both their on-line and offline grades in BB and then at the end of the 9-weeks I can export (or just copy) the final totals into a GQ book.
If we did (when we do) have Edline this would (will) create an extra step, but I believe that I could still export and import back and forth even including the assignment headers.

4) Tools –> Currently my course is not as dynamic, or interactive as I would like. I am using the blog as a one-way communication tool by placing it as the entry point for the course. this way I can share with the students (comments are off, kids cannot post, so it is fairly controlled.) I see this as a place to exhibit outstanding work, invite students to share and something to develop. The discussion board will be used eventually, though I haven’t implemented it yet.

Vocab Wiki — The class will shortly begin using the wiki tool as a vocabulary guide. Students will contribute vocabulary entries to the page, and can earn extra credit for excellent entries. I would like to let them include photo-entries, but am wrestling with a way to control this to prohibit abuse.

5) Classroom — I have called up the site frequently for two reasons. 1) to show students where to find material 2) Display some sort of content online — the current lesson’s vocabulary list for example.

6) Future — My supervision project for this year is to create a class podcast, and BB has an integrated podcasting feature that is more well-developed than Schoolwires (iTunes Feed creation to be specific) I plan on using this to implement the podcast.

I’m sure there is much more that I *could* be using BB for but I’m still in the process of figuring out the most effective way to organize my material, and use time effectively.

After five years of hosting with one world, today I jumped ship, won over by Steve Dembo’s annual praise of his web hosting at Bluehost, as I sat and grumbled, stuck in a two year deal that was doing the minimum of what I needed, but threw up occasional roadblock when I wanted to do something cool, like play around with Moodle (no dice, they ran an old version of php!) In fact, i realized how outdated the platform was when I got on Cpanel and realized that I had instantaneously upgraded in every aspect of web-site management. I’m pretty sure that five years ago what I got was pretty slick. Only now do I realize that they failed to upgrade anything meaningful since then.

I’m going to leave the site in a boring old template for now, since I want to fiddle around with my templates and get things back in working order.

Friday, I completed seven and a half days of intensive learning at Carnegie Mellon University.  I have to say, that I really like the condensed format of instruction, especially as a working teacher.  I can get an entire 3 credit course done in two weeks.  It is exhausting.  But in the end, I come out with more than I expected to get in that time, every time.  The course was: The Principal's Role in Instructional Technology.  But it was really more than that, it turned into an exercise in defining my personal vision of technology in education.  

The format of the course was entirely non-traditional in the fact that it was personalized - inquiry based learning.  It was difficult to grapple with as a student from a traditional background, and if I had to do it over again I would prefer to use a more disciplined-inquiry based course.  I would have set concrete goals for my learning outcomes and focused my own research, questioning, and thinking along these lines.  On reflection, I could have done this myself and held myself accountable.  In fact, to some extent, I do (and did) this in an informal way.  I accept that as part of my own programming, I still expect a university course to be highly structured, with expected deliverable on a fixed time line.  I suppose if I had been more trusting I would not have stressed about having some kind of surprise at the end.   

This minor criticism aside, I experienced a great deal during the two weeks.  The fact that the class consisted of five students made the discussions a major part of the learning process.  Several times we chewed on topics, from the way that Google is changing our reading (and thus thinking) style to the difference between our own personal time-management styles (and some dangerous talk about the differences between men and women's brains - time-management-wise).

(The following two sections were lengthy enough to break out into their own posts.)

PA CYBER CHARTER VISIT REFLECTION

QV SCHOOL VISIT REFLECTION

On Thursday, we had basically the entire day to work on whatever learning targets that we set for ourselves.  I chose to hone my personal vision for technology integration in education, and work on organizing my academic e-portfolio for my program.   I also spent some time digesting the learning experiences from two days spent outside the classroom (see above) 

As part of my own learning I am reading Made to Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath.  I'll blog later when I'm done, right now I've churned out about three chapters (I'll miss riding the bus to class!)  The basic message is about how to make an idea 'sticky.'  The acronym SUCCESs (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional and Stories) describes the six elements of a an idea or message with the potential to stick. Part of my challenge was taking my 'vision' statement sticky.  I first decided that my vision had to be a living document, capable of change, nothing that could be tied down, or completed in these few days.  As I poured my thoughts into a Google Doc, second guessed, questioned, reflected and discussed my notes and thoughts, I realized that my vision is less about technology, and more about change.  The shift in mindset needs to be from resisting change, to looking at (and teaching) the skill of becoming nimble educators, embracing the positives that come with change, and acknowledging the risks.  Most of all, when change suits our curricular goals, it should be called for from below, instead of forced down from the top.  Eventually, I hope that the scare quotes are dropped from "technology" and these tools become integrated into the teaching and learning process. 

(dragged in from Zotero)

   Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2007). Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (1st ed., p. 291). New York: Random House.

Finally, I had an opportunity to experience a professional-grade teleconference first-hand.  We spoke with a program alumna, Madell Dobrushin, retired from 35 years in the Pittsburgh Public School System and now, director of distance learning in the large school district of Richland One in South Carolina.  First, it was very cool to use the teleconference, even though we had a small portable unit, not a big screen like in the movies.  Better still was the chance to discuss a leader's career path, challenges, vision and goals.  Hopefully she will be able to put me in touch with a German teacher in her district for some exciting use of teleconference this year.

 

Wednesday, we visited Quaker Valley School District's Osbourne Middle School.  We started with a discussion of the organizational structure of the (sort of) non-profit NNDS and its charter school, including the cyber school, to flesh out our understanding of the previous day's visit. Then we were briefed on the third round of the one-to-one initiative born of the PA Digital School District Initiative. (DSD) 

For the past eight years, and recently renewed for the coming four, the relatively small school district of Quaker Valley has creatively funded millions of dollars in their integration of technology into the curriculum.  Originally a third through twelfth grade initiative, scaled back to high school only in the second round, and so missed by the middle level teachers (imagine! Teachers clamoring for more!) that it was recently reinstated in the new lease of equipment.  

Joe Marrone, a leader at QV can take much of the credit for guiding the district from the unenviable status as one of the least connected, and old-fashioned districts in the state, to a clear leader in technology integration in only twelve years.  Joe will be the first to tell you that it comes from strong political support with the school board, collaboration with the right people both in the school and in the community, and the guiding vision that it is not about technology, but every decision is a curriculum decision.  His programs have been so successful because his teachers, administrators understand, that the technology is only a part of the teaching and learning process.  With this mindset, new technology additions are not cumbersome, or unwanted, but they add to the experience of teacher and student.  What a change from the environments that many of us find ourselves in.  

Joe gave me an insight about what it means to be an upper level administrator, that I've never seen before.  Partly because QV is such a small district, Joe has taken on many different roles that would normally be undertaken by several individuals.  I've never met someone so knowledgeable about so many different systems.  He is a driving force behind the instructional technology integration that QV is so well known for, but not only that.  He had encyclopedic knowledge of each building, from the networks, HVAC, number of cabinets in each room, the type of rubber used on the steps, the manufacturing process used to cut stenciled circles in the carpet, the lighting, security, configuration of the large group instructional areas, knew the custodians by name, the various lawsuits that have occurred, and on and on.  It highlighted for me the importance of teamwork, where in a larger district these tasks would be in the minds of several different leaders.  It is vital that a district get people on board who can communicate with one another, and the community when appropriate.  Part of the reason that QV was so impressive was the interconnectedness of each decision.  I left wondering whether the district would have been so successful without a leader capable of understanding such a diverse set of responsibilities.

 

On Tuesday of this week we visited the PA CYBER CHARTER school and were guided around the facilities of the Cyber Charter and the Lincoln Park School for Perfoming Arts.  Ron Young spend over two hours with us, taking us through the buildings, encouraging us to ask questions of a very accomodating staff, and sharing, quite frankly, with us some of the challenges and stumbling blocks that they have faced, and continue to face today.  For me, this was my first encounter with a Cyber school, or a Charter school in general, and I creit this time with changing my entire view on the subject.  Before we trekked out to Midland, PA, my only experience with charter schools was what I have read in the paper since Governor Ridge started down the road to school choice for Pennsylvanian students.

Prior to my visit to the Cyber Charter and Performing Arts Charter, my understanding was that traditional public schools opposed charters because they took students from the public schools, and the money followed the child to their new school.  While this is true in a sense, I did see what is made possible by creating specialized schools that fill a niche, without requiring students to attend expensive private programs.  And, there is clearly a need for the PA Cyber Charter school in PA (and the parent non-profit runs several schools in different states and indian reservations too.)  This year they estimate that 8,000 students will be enrolled in the program.  Enough to fill ten 800 student k-12 academies.  They had to extend the enrollment period this year by a month to acommodate the number of student applying to the cyber charter.  The school administrators will be the first to tell you that online school is not for every child.  In fact, they estimate that they lose 10% of students each year, not including graduation.  What challenges do they face?  Lots!  All educators acknowlege that school change is hard, slow, and is routinely fought from within the ranks.  In this case this revolutionary force in education is fought from all angles.  School leaders from our 512 districts percieve the loss of funds from their coffers as highway robbery. (though our guide explained that the state can reimburse up to 60% of this cost back to the schools. I haven't looked into that more closely.  State legislators are trying to change the charter school legislation to limit this expenditure to $3000 per student each year.  Clearly this is a measure to choke the cyber schools out of existence.  Whatever the outcome of the fight in the short and medium term, I hope that as a technology leader, I will be able to find the means to put aside the differences and take the best of traditional public education and take advantage of the ground that these courageous leaders have broken. 

In terms of the Blogosphere I'm about a month late in writing about the Nicholas Carr article in the June/July edition of The Atlantic Monthly: Is Google Making us Stupid?  — I had read the blog posts about the article, but never quite made it to the article itself, until we decided in our course to devote twenty minutes to the article and discuss the impact.  My initial thoughts, from what I had gathered about the writing were skeptical at best.  The title is obviously meant to be attention getting, and I almost dismissed the concept outright.  But I dragged myself through the article, at times in agreement and at others with questions remaining.  All the time with the focus on the role that this play in the instructional technology field. 

The main thing that I took away from the article is a recognition of the fact that technology (in this case web-based media) is changing the way we think.  Or at least the way we use information.  Carr writes that before he started using the web he could read deeply into a book or article and today feels that "after two or three pages his mind begins to drift . . . as if I'm always dragging my wayward brain back to the text."  And to think I thought I had Adult ADHD - in fact, everyone else in my class (five guys) seemed to agree with this.  

A classmate made the analogy of Cable Television — There is so much out there, but you sit with the remote in your hand surfing through what you want to watch.  It's not just reading, and we have been doing it for years.  I do it with the letters "J" and "K" — google reader lets me 'read' hundreds of blog posts daily.  Am I really reading?  Of course not, I'm reading "horizontally" as Carr quotes from the UK educational consortium study: "New forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins."  As more and more content becomes available I find may way through the content I want, or that benefits my goals.  Some of the more biased commenters in the article implied that this change in depth meant a lower level thinking.  I would contest, that through my network, I wind my way to different types of text, follow the threads of discussion to new material, enriching, not limiting my reading (viewing, listening, analyzing, etc.) 

Well, it seems that I am now multitasking to the extreme.  I should stop writing, and pay attention to class.  I'm not done thinking about this though.  

 

 

 

Today I spent seven hours in a conference room being trained on the new LMS that my school is in the process of adopting.  Blendedschools.net is a not for profit in Pennsylvania that provides a suite of hosted services, along with 'pre-developed' curricula that, according the the sales pitch can be dropped in, tweaked and used for teaching.  

I went into the training trying to keep an open mind, since I had been pushing (though perhaps not hard enough) to get the administration to look at Moodle, and using the money we saved for a comprehensive, and ongoing professional development scheme.  I think that at the end of the day, the draw for my school was the inclusion of pre-designed content packets, and ostensibly some sort of resource sharing mechanism (which I think is awesome, in theory.)

My initial impression of Blackboard is that it is not quite as bad as I feared my experience would be.  The system is enhanced with the inclusion of several 'learning objects' - a blog, wiki module, etc.  

While I'm still getting to know the ins and outs of the instructor view, I'll refrain from making any broad judgments.  I'll leave that for another post.  It is different than what I was used to from my year's experience with moodle, but whether one is better than the other remains to be seen. 

 I did muse over this article, found on Doug Belshaw's shared google reader items:  How to talk to non-tech savvy clients.

 Our trainer today was nice enough, but I couldn't help but get frustrated at the way that parts of  the training went.  Our group was small, and consisted of a mix of highly technology literate teachers, to those that were unfamiliar with the mechanics of running any kind of content management system.  I think his main failing was not asking anything about what we already knew how to do.  There was the standard introduce yourself, and tell your experiences, but it seemed that he didn't listen.  In fact, that may have been the heart of the entire experience.  Not listening to what we were saying, especially after asking.  The Freelaceswitch.com post I linked above suggests - subpoints are my thoughts: 

• Fish for an estimate of their expertise
• AND then  use that information — differentiate if you have to!
• Don't underestimate their knowledge
• Even if the baseline for previous knowledge is pretty low, never talk to an audience like they are fourth graders. 
• Keep it simple and slow
• This goes without saying.  But at the same time keep things moving.  I'll give you all a minute to wrap your minds around that contradiction. 
• Talk in terms of results
• Not just what you do, but what you will end up with AND how it will benefit.
• Pause or ask for questions
• Use familiar references
• Be honest
• You have to compartmentalize the trainer from the salesman.  This is tough to do, but if you set expectations to high, and mask the limitations of your product, then you are setting people up to be disappointed in it. 
• Conclusion

One day, as my career moves forward, I may find myself in this very position.  I'm interested in becoming more involved, and being a presenter in the area of technology integration.  What am I learning from each experience that I have?

 

 

Lee & Sachi LeFever of Common Craft Video released their best quality video yet today on Social Media (in HD!).  It's a bit different from their past endeavors, in that this story is told almost entirely in metaphor.  The town of Scoopville's transformation from centralized ice cream production to small scale independent ice cream outlets in people's homes (ew - Salmonella! Someone call the FDA!)  Anyway, it covers the general topic of media production, and the value of feedback, comments, tagging, etc.  A neat way of describing what Social Media is to a non-technical person.   

How annoying - I still can't embed video in Wordpress! What a pain.  The link: http://www.vimeo.com/1083838 

 

LeFever defines social Media as anything that is created on the web, blogs, audio, video.   I follow @leelefever on twitter (when 'something is not technically wrong') and mused generally about my rights to his videos when using them in school under a Non-commercial Creative Commons license.  Almost instantaneously, I received this tweet! 

 

 Nice! Not only did Lee respond to me, I guess that means he follows me.  I know this is the entire point of Social Media, but it still makes me giddy, when I get to participate so directly with the movers and shakers of the web world.  I was pretty sure about my answer, but in BT (before twitter) who would I have asked this question?  Would emailing him have been weird? After all, it was a small issue.  Anyway, moving on to observation two.

The second noteworthy tidbit I observed today, was the pretty even distribution between discussion of the content in the video, and even more prominently the techniques used to make the video.  Obviously every CC video is getting better, and part of the social media experience is the sharing, discussion and feedback from users to improve content, with the end result of all of us having awesome videos to use to educate our students and our colleagues.