I had the great pleasure of spending a couple of hours with about 40 Alabama teachers yesterday during an Elluminate online conference session that I gave on Blogs in the Classroom. Even better, Darren Kuropatwa came in for a guest appearance and talked a bit about his experiences. I have to say that despite finding Elluminate to be somewhat chaotic what with hands going up and chat rooms and all sorts of functionality, it’s a great way of reaching out to people where they are, bringing them together in a very supportive and easy environment, and having some great conversation. It’s just another one of those tools that gives me a whole bunch of optimism for the uses of technology in our classrooms and a great example of how quickly things are changing. Thanks to Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, John Norton, and Cathy Gassenheimer with the Alabama Best Practice Center for inviting me.
Will, It was such a treat having you involved in the Elluminate session with Alabama teachers and administrators. Your presentation was both interesting and inspiring and I expect will have a major impact in the participants’ use of Web 2.0 tools! Thank you again!
Cathy Gassenheimer
Will, you did a great job and got lots of Alabama educators excited about blogs. They also enjoyed your web cam appearance (grin). As for Elluminate being “chaotic,” you get used to the experience of having live talk, presentations, and a direct message box all going on at once. Older folks find it more disconcerting than digital natives! (grin twice) — John Norton