So I can’t remember the last time where I’ve had a stretch this busy, and obviously, blogging is suffering. Three presentations in the last week. Wall to wall meetings at school. On and on… Yesterday I was in Rochester doing some serious blogvangelizing to New York State teachers and administrators, trying to carve out some time to write and read. Four different presentations. Whew.
So as a result, I’m up to 500 unread messages in my Bloglines account…that has to be a record, and it’s really weird this feeling I’m getting of being really disconnected from what’s going on in this community. Makes me really appreciate the work of Stephen Downes and his OL Daily which gives me a quick view of what’s happening out there. But it’s still starting to feel a bit overwhelming.
Yesterday, however, was great…motivated educators who are sincerely interested in what’s happening “out there,” asking great questions and starting some really interesting questions. It was really interesting to me that there seemed to be a pioneer spirit in our midst, a metaphor that certainly fits but one I hadn’t really tuned into much before. One particular thread of conversation dealt with the coming ethics issues that inevitably are going to come up when the “sum of all human knowledge” ends up online. That’s a bit of a sticky one.
So here’s hoping there’s a few more edbloggers in our midst…
Just wanted to say thanks for your wonderful talks. (plural)
I am a newly converted blogger and am at the airport this very moment typing frantically.
Im a private high-school teacher who somehow fell into the upstate conference this week and I just hope to keep up the energy I have at the moment to bring back to my colleagues.
I’m in my fifth year of teaching a Bioethics course elective at my school (theharveyschool.org) as well as an AP Biology course and I cant wait to jump into this.
I hope we all can speak further about the potential of this… I’m a bit intimidated, but havent this excited since… i cant remember when actually.
Inspiring work…
Thanks Again.
Jason
Thanks, Will, for extraordinary energy you’ve given to so many of us at the eLearning Symposium in Rochester. Our youngsters deserve to participate in this world of global communication, to have the opportunity to test their ideas and creativity in an arena that expands well beyond the walls of their classrooms. I’m absolutely determined to start now, even if I need to start with just one teacher, to harness (or more accurately, to loose) the power of blogs and Skype and other communication tools as instruments for reinvigorated learning.
I felt the eLearning Symposium in Rochester, NY was a huge success. What was most interesting to me was that the focus wasn’t so much on the technology, but the learning. How do we meet the learning needs of our current students? How do we convince those that need convincing that the way students are learning today is dramatically different than just a decade ago? These, among many others, were questions that I encountered as I participated in the sessions at eLearning.
My goal is to start a blog for each of the professional development courses we offer. There are two reasons for this… 1) use the blog as a resource for follow-up of a course and 2) introduce teachers to blogging itself. Thanks to all who were involved in the planning and quality dialogue that occured the past two days.
I too very much enjoyed your presentations and conversations at the eLearning Symposium in Rochester. I feel once again energized and ready to try again to pass the word about blogging.
I am a member of an Instructional Technology Specialists group in my BOCES. Last summer I tried to begin a blog for us to use to share about our experiences at the NECC conference in Philadelphia and then to continue to blog as a way to collaborate on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately I found that though I could lead the tech specialists to the web, I couldn’t make them blog. Now I’m ready to try again and got myself on the agenda for our next meeting.
I did some blogging with students last year and have yet to begin again this year. However, now I’m charged up and ready to run. It’s a little more difficult since I don’t have my own class so I have to convince other teachers to work on this with me, but I think I can twist a few arms and get going.
I think the best way to spread the word is to be doing it, just like you suggested Will – doing it myself and also doing it with kids. Then I can point to what we’re accomplishing and show people the value in it. Contrary to the “just close my door and teach” model, it’s more of a “teach with my door open, doing what I know is good for students and learning, and others will begin to take notice” model. Sometimes a “seasoned teacher” like me needs a reminder of this, and your work has inspired me to once again move forward with my door open.
I couldn’t agree more with your observation about being “on-the-road” collaborating with peers in physical time and space versus being unplugged for hours at a time away from the virtual communities (maybe another good justification for your post “Uneasy Classroom Space”?)
Ditto on OLDaily and EduRSS…glad to see you “back” again!