Jim Klein is talking about Social Networking using Open Source software. Didn’t realize that he was going to talk about Elgg. I installed Elgg to use with my students about 3 years ago. When I used it with students it was a really good experience for my students. The part I liked best was the Access Restriction selection project so that they could decide who could see a post. If you’re interested in social networking with students, I encourage you to look into Elgg. If you’d like to take a look, you can use James Klein’s demo site at http://demo.saugususd.org.
Education, Technology, Tools
I found this on David Warlick’s site. Rather than sending emails out to everyone, after I sent emails to my congress people this is the email message that would have been sent to everyone. Go to the the Ed Tech Action Network website to send it out to your congressional representatives.
Did you know that the Bush Administration is intent on eliminating education technology funding? I find it so surprising that elected officials would want to do such a thing when we’re at a critical place as a Nation in terms of how we match up with others in a global economy. I personally don’t want to see our country fall behind when it comes to technology and innovation in the classroom – America needs to stay competitive! That’s why I went to www.EdTechActionNetwork.org to send a letter to my Members of Congress. It was really easy – just one click and I made my voice heard! I encourage you to do the same and join me to spread the word!
Thanks for helping to make education better in our country. If you are at NECC, there is an advocacy booth that provides computers for you to complete the form.
Education, Technology
Bright an early yesterday morning I got on a plane headed for San Antonio and the National Educational Computing Conference with 5 of my colleagues. I’ve wanted to come to this conference for the last 3 years but was never able to. We arrived around 3, checked in and went down to the Riverwalk for a bite. It was hot, but I was happy to be here.
For dinner I went to Texas Rib-fest, a dinner put on by edubloggers. I’m not sure who everyone was, but I did recognize quite a few of the people that I follow on Twitter. It was a good time with good conversations. There were lots of big thinkers in that room and I enjoyed it immensly. Right now I’m in a session entitled Moodle Magic: Tricks for Enhanced Course Design, being put on by Michelle Moore and Kathie Robeson of Remote-Learner. This is the company that my district is contracting with to host our first student roll-out of an online environment. In two weeks I’m doing the initial training for teachers in the district and it will be my “baby” for the foreseeable future. I’m looking forward to seeing what they have to say.
Professional Development
I started looking at the possibility of attending NECC last year and started bugging my boss about it probably 2 days into my new job. Needless to say that as it gets nearer I’m getting more excited about the possibilities of the conference. The networking opportunities… the sessions… the keynotes… San Antonio… all of it is very exciting for me. I haven’t been blogging much since I started in earnest with Twitter (not that I was a regular blogger anyway), but as I look at the NECC program, maybe my role in this whole Ed Tech world is not that of the blogger. It’s not that I don’t feel as though I have things to contribute, but when I think of something that I want to write about, I struggle with actually sitting down and doing it.
I digress… to those of you that will be in San Antonio, I wish you safe travels. To those of you unable to go, there will be plenty of coverage by many. I may be one, I may not… but the conversations that are had there will be well worth the trip.
Education, Technology
