Pennsylvania

NOTE: I cross-posted this on my Salisbury High School blog.

On of my PA Discovery Educator Network friends, Jennifer Dorman, a.k.a. cliotech, is an avid blogger with a widgetized digital footprint. We are a part of each other’s social networks, and that is a very good thing for me because I always learn from her footprints. Usually my learning takes the form of acquiring a new Web 2.0 tool or tutorial, but often I learn things that were eluding me, like how to show I had a digital footprint (that’s next on my to do list when I have some time out). But her recent cross-post about connecting the right-brain creative accidents of Evan Williams (creator of Blogger, Twitter, Odeo, and his company Obvious Corporation to Discovery’s Webinar with Dan Pink and A Whole New Mind was an insightful connection. Interestingly, however, what lingered from her post was her first sentence admission that she had “unplugged” for several days.

I, too, unplugged for several wonderful days with my family, who traveled many miles to share the holidays. But unlike Jennifer–who returns with a wonderful technology post from her reading The Economist–cover to cover, I read Real Simple and Body + Soul, January-February 2008, selectively concentrating on whole living. ‘Tis the season for resolutions, and while RS focused on organizing the new year, B+S targeted living healthier in the new year. Similarities: undoubtedly, since both are Martha Stewart Omnimedia Inc. publications. In that way that sometimes I purchase something because “it speaks to me,” I subscribed to Body + Soul’s “10 Healthiest Resolutions,” embracing #4 about breathing deeply (hard copy p. 101) because it resonated for me the need to unplug to recharge (not really an oxymoron) to live richly, the goal of this month’s magazine, and what I suspect we all do when we unplug. The problem is that we just don’t unplug enough. It’s not about being off line, although sometimes that’s where I start. It’s really a lifestyle change. I think of how Viana LaPlace’s unplugged kitchen returned me to the simple authentic joys of cooking. And how Jennifer’s simple unplugging–and that from a high-end, high tech achiever, allowed me to unplug without guilt and make time matter with those who really count: family and friends.

So, how will I achieve balance and simplify my life in the new year. It will, I suspect, connect to what I have come to think about abundance, one of Pink’s 3A’s. While Pink’s definition of abundance links to his theories of automation and Asia as reasons why people in the U.S. cannot compete at their current level of abstraction and logical thinking in the marketplace, Terri Trespicio offers a different reading of abundance. In “More Than Enough” (pp. 107-112, B+S), she asks how we achieve a better life without letting the quest consume you. Her answer: striking a balance between not enough and way too much. That’s my new year’s resolution: finding balance. Making room for the new and creating spaces for the old. Rediscovering center somewhere between too little and too much. And like everything else wonderful that happens through social networking, I have so many friends in the Discovery Educator Network who will keep me on course, educated, and timely.

If you are a Pennsylvania teacher, you likely have access to netTrekker through your I.U. (thanks to the PA Department of Education).

 If you are hearing about netTrekker for the first time or have not had the opportunity to implement netTrekker’s resources, here are a few links that will help you get acquainted.

• Take a tour of netTrekker
• netTrekker Help and Implementation Resources (dozens of helpful resources)
• Atomic Learning video tutorials
• Registering new PA users (You will need your I.U.’s keyword to complete the registration.  Not sure what that is?  Contact your I.U.)

Jim Gates posted a summary of the recently released features for netTrekker. 

Here is the quick summary of the new features from Jim:

The new features will enable you to:

• Effectively locate a variety of resources to support general and differentiated instruction.

• Efficiently save only the resources that meet your search objectives.

• Collaboratively share saved resources to others within your class, school or district.

For more details on the major product upgrade, please downlaod http://crm.nettrekker.com/training/shared/training/nTdi_enhancements.pdf or visit http://school.nettrekker.com/help/DI/whats_new.epl.

NOTE: I cross-posted this on my Cliotech blog.

I truly did “unplug” for a couple of days. I read the entire December 22, 2007 - January 4, 2008 issue of the Economist (a magazine that I really enjoy reading, but never have the time to fully digest). There were a few articles that really captured my attention:

• the sexual practices of pandas in captivity (p. 71),
• the hops crisis that is driving up the price of beer (p. 48),
• the genetic mapping on pinot noir grapes that could lead to genetically modified wine (p. 16),
• an intriguing and pragmatic look into the evolution of hunter-gathers (p. 129),
• an investigation into the climatic implications of natural and man-made pollutants (p. 132),
• and the right-brain reflections of Evan Williams, creator of Blogger and Twitter (p. 110).

It was the article about Evan Williams that really got me thinking . . . Discovery Education recently hosted Daniel Pink for an EdTechConnect webinar. Pink, the author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, asserts that the creative intelligences that are typically associated with the “right brain” are the essential attributes (design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning) that will be valued above the concrete sequential “industrial” intelligences that have governed the past few centuries. Evan Williams, who developed Blogger, Odeo, and Twitter, appears to epitomize those attributes. The article highlights three of the beliefs that guide Williams’ approach to business, innovation, and creativity:

• genuinely new ideas are stumbled upon rather than sought out
• new ideas are by definition hard to explain to others, because words can only express what is already known
• good ideas seem obvious in retrospect

Knowing those driving beliefs, I suppose it is, well, obvious what Williams would name his company - Obvious Corporation. Twitter is currently Obvious’ flagship product. You can subscribe to the company blog (hosted on Blogger - obviously) to stay updated with their new initiatives. The birth of Obvious Corp. is a pretty interesting read.

What Williams is attempted to affect within his new company are those creative accidents that produce new and useful products and applications. Obviously, it is a challenge to orchestrate accidents . . . but, perhaps, it is not impossible. Williams describes this frustration as “as itch that we scratch and that becomes the ‘thing’.” One way that Williams continues to inspire his colleagues is by setting “radical constraints” for new projects. For example, asking the question “what can be taken away to create something new?” The article aptly points out that Twitter has one such built-in constraint, 140 character posts. Just look at the creativity and creation that has occurred through that collaborative medium . . .

So, what do I make of all of this?

I think that Williams is one of the high-profile right-brainers who will rule the future. If one reflects on the open-source revolution that has characterized the evolution of Web 2.0, it reasons that the path of the Internet is being paved by similar right-brainers whose creative accidents continue to produce valuable and, in some cases, indispensable applications and products. The days of the think-tank programmers who produce highly-guarded code are over.

Technorati Tags: EvanWilliams Obvious Twitter Blogger Odeo Economist DanielPink

Elaine Plybon, blog coordinator for the Texas DEN Leadership Council, needs YOU!  The Irving Independent School District in Irving, Texas, for which she works, hosts an annual Technology Media Fair.  This year, the district has opened up several categories for online judging.  The hope, above all, is that involving you as judges will keep the students excited about technology and sharing their work with a global audience.  This is where you come in.  The contest needs judges.  Anyone who has an interest in technology in education is qualified to be a judge.  All the projects can be judged beginning now through January 7, 2008. 

There are six categories and levels from K-12.  Anyone who chooses to judge may evaluate as many or few entries as they wish.  Would YOU consider helping with this cause?  You can volunteer to be a judge and you can also share the word with other education professionals through your own blogs, twitters, feeds, and other social networking venues. 

To judge the projects, click here, then click on the judging link.  Please include your name and email address.  Your email address will not be published.  Your information will be used for security only.  If you choose to help, please expect an email from administrative staff confirming that the address listed next to you name is a valid email address.

Let’s see if we can help spread the word and help students in their global outreach.

The buzz about the millennials continues since Morley Safer’s 60 Minutes segment aired in November. Poised to enter the workforce, they are hardworking, resourceful, and tech savvy multi-taskers. So why are these Gen Ys taking so much heat? Important to them: self, friends, family, rapid rise. Not as important: the older generation. After my friend, colleague, and Star DE Jennifer Brinson got the faculty room discussion started, our school district’s Director of Data and Technology, Randy Ziegenfuss, blogged about the millennials. He asked if the older generation was not willing to shift their paradigm of work or if the younger generation need to shift their paradigm? Has the concept of work changed from one generation to another? For some of these answers, I turned to A Whole New Mind.

If you happened to attend the Dan Pink webinar, you noticed the chat with 187 participants on multiple threads flew like the Concord. Despite directing comments to @name, at least 6 strands competed with my attention for Dan Pink’s message. So I focused on the main event, and he made so much sense. If we think about the new paradigm for today’s market economy, if we think Pink, then we do embrace a different mindset for the future. We all shift, or perhaps we get left behind, standing somewhere on the fringe in numerical proportion to our resistance to understand the impact of Asia, Automation, and Abundance. While older may struggle with the 3A’s, younger clearly does not.

What always puzzles me is the reluctance to embrace change, especially when there are really not many other options. If manufacturing, mining, and agriculture were the ways to grow money–not merely exchange it–in the agrarian and industrial ages, and if the information highway has been superseded by the creative age, then how we grow learning, minds, creativity, and the wealth of a nation will change. As educators with a challenge to fit digital learning to digital natives, the millennials are waiting–and to their credit, quite patiently, I think–for some of us to catch up. For me, it really has been a journey of Discovery. The good that I bring daily into my classroom comes from the Discovery Educator Network, from your wisdom and talent and from the Discovery Education products. So, as I venture back to blogging, I hope you will welcome a new voice to help Jennifer share the task she has so ably–and dauntingly to me–held for the past year. I’m glad to be back, and hope you will join us in adding your thoughts and comments to our ongoing discussions.

A tidbit: Jannita will be starting A Whole New Mind discussion group. Email her if you would like to continue the conversation.

There has really been an avalanche of research regarding the evolving learning profile of the “digital native.” It doesn’t matter whether or not you fully subscribe to all of Prensky’s assertions (as I know some of you don’t), you can’t deny that the technological reality in which our students are immersed (largely outside of school) is impacting the way they prefer to learn and to demonstrate their understanding.

I know that many have flocked to the writings of authors who seek to qualify and quantify these changes and their implications for teaching and learning in the 21st century. The tremendous interest generated by the Discovery EdTechConnect webinar featuring Daniel Pink evidences the same. [If you missed that webinar, you can access the event archive.]

Here is another great resource. In case you missed it [I did] this is the video from the “Totally Wired: How Technology is Changing Kids and Learning” public forum.

This public forum was held live on Wednesday, December 12, 2007, 5:30-7:00 pm EST at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA, and virtually via webcast and in Second Life.

The featured speakers were:

Henry Jenkins, Professor, MIT, and author of Convergence Culture, will talk about his latest work on media literacy and skills young people need for the 21st Century.

Katie Salen, Professor, Parsons the New School for Design, and game designer, will discuss the new public school based on design and games she is opening in New York City.

Howard Gardner, Professor, Harvard University, and author of Five Minds for the Future, will talk about the ethical implications of growing up online.

I am THRILLED at all the excitement that has been generated by tomorrow’s EdTechConnect webinar featuring Daniel Pink.

Many of you have asked me about the webinar archives.  Thanks to Kristin Hokanson, who Twittered me the URL a few minutes ago, I can answer your question.

If you miss the webinar or want to listen to it after the fact, visit the Event Recordings Archive.

Happy webinaring!

I published over at my Cliotech blog, but definitely had to share it with the PA DEN as well.

ISTE recently published the second edition of the National Educational Technology Standards for Students.

What is the NETS S Project?

The primary goal of the ISTE NETS Project is to enable stakeholders in PreK-12 education to develop national standards for educational uses of technology that facilitate school improvement in the United States. The NETS Project will work to define standards for students, integrating curriculum technology, technology support, and standards for student assessment and evaluation of technology use.

The booklet is available for purchase for $12.95 (or $9.05 if you are a member of ISTE).

There are a few portions of the publication that are available for free download as well:

• National Educational Technology Standards for Students (including performance indicators)
• NETS S Student Profiles
• NETS S Essential Conditions

Eight educators from across the globe were featured in the implementation scenarios. The scenarios relate exemplary ways that studnets are using technology to increase skills and expand or enhance their learning. The scenarios depict promising practices from around the globe.

All my fellow Pennsylvanians and Discovery Educators will experience a sense of pride when they read the booklet. TWO of the featured educators are PA teachers and STAR Discovery Educators!

• Meg Griffin - Cold Spring Elementary School, Central Bucks School District - PK-2 Heat Energy (page 13)
• Ben Smith - Red Lion Area High School, Red Lion School District - 9-12 Studies in Motion (page 23)

Congratulations to Meg and Ben! I am proud to have both of you in my learning network.

Technorati Tags: ISTE NETS NETSS Education Technology

I’m really excited for the EdTEchConnect webinar with Daniel Pink this week. If you haven’t read Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, yet, you just absolutely need to. Every educator, parent, and student should take the time to read it. Last Tuesday, when RJ Stangherlin, Lance Rougeux, and I provided testimony to the Senate Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Communications and Technology I mentioned Daniel Pink. I was thrilled that my first question - from Senator Wonderling - was to confirm Daniel Pink’s name and the title of his book.
Join us on December 12th at 7 PM (EST) for the much anticipated webinar with Daniel Pink, bestselling author of A Whole New Mind . Daniel will describe how three powerful economic forces are putting a premium on right-brain abilities in the workforce. He’ll talk about the six artistic, empathic abilities that now matter most — and discuss how educators are beginning to surface and sharpen those abilities in students.

If you haven’t done so already, click here to register. While you’re there, check out the entire webinar line-up from Discovery.

So, I am pretty excited about tomorrow . . .

Tomorrow, December 4th, at 10:00 AM, I am going to join fellow STAR Discovery Educator and Salisbury High School teacher, RJ Stangherlin, and Discovery Educator Network manager, Lance Rougeux, in testifying at a Pennsylvania Senate hearing. This is a joint committee hearing involving the Senate Communications and Technology Committee and the Senate Education Committee and focusing on the Classrooms for the Future Program.  RJ, Lance, and I expect to testify at the start of the third hour.

Not that anyone will probably want to stay up late for this, but the Senate hearing is going to be broadcast on PCN at 8:00 PM tomorrow night. The hearing is scheduled to last for 3 hours and I am testifying in the third hour. (I know that it is a bit dorky, but this is a time when I wish I had TiVo.)

So, if you are interested, check out the hearing on PCN.

8:00 PM Classrooms for the Future Program
Senate Communications and Technology Committee and Senate Education Committee
http://www.pcntv.com/schedule.html

Technorati Tags: ClassroomsfortheFuture Education Technology Pennsylvania Senate DiscoveryEducatorNetwork