Zombie Alert!

I know, I know--I've gone video crazy for the last few posts, but this one is good & I couldn't resist--it's by Commoncraft, who brought us those really useful videos RSS in Plain English, Wikis in Plain English, etc. This one is a warning about the alarming impending zombie invasion from Canada this Halloween. Beware...

Flat Classroom 2007 Keynote

Wow! Dean Shareski's keynote for this year's Flat Classroom Project (Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsey) is just a great discussion of the elements of design & things to think about as students (anyone) create their projects. The FCP is utilizing Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind as part of their framework this year, and Shareski uses these elements as talking points in his keynote.

I shared the video with my high school daughter (our artist in residence), because I thought it so spoke to her, her strengths and interests.

Here it is--wow!

New (to me) Screencasting Tool!

Here's a screencast that I made to help our web2.0 cohort members who are doing the SLL2.0 course this fall with uploading their avatars to their blogs. Screencast-o-matic is a very easy and free tool that I will use again to create screencasts. I'm thinking of making tutorials for my teachers/students on it. Great for teaching new students how to use our PAC, making booklists on our PACs, etc. On Screencast-o-matic, the videos can remain on their site (of course, it's blocked at our school), or you can download it, embed it, etc. Very slick.

I have tried repeatedly to upload it to Teacher Tube, but I'm not having any luck. It keeps getting stuck and times out on the upload. So I'm embedding it here, although that's probably not a long term solution because it's 4 min long and 42MB. I'm learning though--this is a first effort. Any wisdom out there about using Teacher Tube, making screencasts, etc.?

How to Put Your Yahoo Avatar on Your Blog

New Bloggers!

Our district librarians & ed-tech team have formed a cohort of web2.0 learners, and we have some that have made some exciting discoveries! Welcome to the Blogosphere, ladies! Keep posting and commenting! It's very exciting for your fellow bloggers to get comments! Kudos to you all for taking the plunge and learning about these new technologies that are so "native" to our students' lives.

Today's Student, Yesterday's Classes

I read about this video on Dean Shareski's blog today, and I just don't want to forget about it, so I'm embedding it here:



Wow! Another great one from Michael Wesch--the same man who did The Machine is Us/ing Us!

I wonder about a video illustrating this concept of disconnect between our students and our system. What would it look like if translated to the younger students--like my elementary aged kids or middle schoolers? Thinking...

K12 Online Conference

As are many edtech teacher geeks, I'm really looking forward to the next 2 weeks' K12 Online Conference! What an amazing world we live in that people from all over the globe can be excited about this virtual event!

I'll probably blog more later about it, but I just wanted to say that Lisa Durff's blog post today made me laugh. She listed the 6 descriptors that David Warlick suggests identify today's students' different learning styles, and she commented:

today's learners are a new breed. I see myself in that list, bolstering my idea that I am not a digital immigrant, but an illegal digital alien.

I haven't deconstructed that to see what exactly it is that makes us illegal aliens, but I do feel a bit like that myself somehow, Ms. Durff! Funny observation!

Teachers as Collaborators

Twice within the last week, I witnessed teachers that I know decline to share good teaching ideas with their colleagues. Once, it was a teacher who did not want to share the link to an activity that she'd found online with another grade level for fear that they would "steal" it from her grade level. The second instance was a fellow librarian who had second thoughts about sharing, with another librarian, an Internet Safety resource she'd created.

Both instances left me feeling uneasy. I spend a good deal of my own professional learning time thinking and reading about flat world concepts, web 2.0 tools, collaboration as a means to enhance student/self learning. This reluctance to share is disconcerting--it just doesn't fit my idea of what we're supposed to be doing as educators. AND it does not fit the paradigm of collaborative learning/teaching that our 21st century learners need to use and see being used.

Now, for the really great part of the week though. One of my goals this year is to learn to use podcasting as a way to excite students about the library. Last summer, I discovered a wonderful podcasting resource by Liz Davis, an edtech teacher in Massachusetts. I decided I'd like to adapt it for my students, so I wrote to her for permission. She was nothing but gracious and eager to share! Her email back to me really did bolster my faith in my fellow educator! Thanks so much, Liz! Not only did I find a resource that has helped me to meet one of my goals for our library program, but I've also discovered a new teacher to learn from and collaborate with! Check out her blog!

So I'm thankful for the examples that I see all over the online educators' community. Examples of resource sharing & global collaboration--there is so much out there to learn! A perfect example is coming up, starting tomorrow: K12 Online Conference! I can't wait to see what we'll learn!!!