Greetings!
By tnturner on Jul 19, 2006 in Random Musings
Greetings to you all! This is my first shot at a blog so I’m not sure where it’s going to lead. I have a zillion ideas that are going through my head and a gazillion ways to take them. So needless to say I’m confused as all get up.
As the title of the blog suggests, this blog will be a reflection of the educational process of our youth, how I go about reaching that and the technologies we use to achieve that goal.
Last week I had the opportunity to spend with about 4o other technology educators at the Discovery Educator’s Network National Summer Leadership Conference. My head is still spinning and it’s been almost a full week now that I’ve been home from it. From learning podcasting from Steve Dembo (http://www.teach42.com) and digital storytelling from ‘THE’ Hall Davidson, the upcoming year is one that will definitely be remembered for a LONG time by me and my future students.
I guess that is all for now. More later when I’m a little more rested.
T.
10 Comment(s)
Hey Tom,
I too agree that blogging and podcasting are exciting new tools to bring into education. I need to find an eager teacher to blog.. one who will have a clear goal and will give it the time it warrants. I set up one blog myself in a cursory fashion during a Tech Collaborative meeting, and “belong” to a couple others, but in all honesty, unless you have the time to keep up with the floating conversations, they can easily drift by the wayside. I don’t know enough about the mechanics so I’m sure there’s a way to be notified whenever someone posts so that you don’t have to log on unnecessarily.
Also – I checked Ed Warkentin’s blog (link to the left) and was surprised to see he too mentioned Marc Prensky’s article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” that I brought up to Alan November and was somewhat rebuffed. This article DOES speak to the gaming mind as he went on to stress .. me thinks he confused his articles.. ?
Ahh.. now I see the “Notify me of followup comments via email” option below! Aha!
This looks absolutely marvelous, Tom!!
I’m excited for you as you begin this journey…
In response to a couple of points that Donna brings up: I believe Alan November was thinking of a different author. Not that you weren’t right about Prensky being the author of that article, etc., it’s just that he was thinking perhaps of someone that wrote before Prensky, or more deeply about a subtopic of Prensky’s writing, is what I’m guessing. I was impressed that so many people at the NLC knew of Prensky, Richardson, and others. This was encouraging and validating.
The way to keep up on blogs is through Bloglines. Set up a free account, then click “Add”. Then, in the window on the right, paste in the URL of the blog you want to keep track of. I think the rest will be smooth for you…
Welcome to the blogosphere!
I JUST found out that Danielle is giving away a copy of Richardson’s book that we discussed Ed. I’m so crossing my fingers that I can finagle ;p my hands on it.
Ed, thanks for the tip on bloglines. I was wondering a way to keep up with all of what i want to keep up with!!!
Hi guys,
Look at you Tom, your blog is well under way! Hurray! SO the burning question I have is what is a good blog/wiki site for our teachers to use with their students? Is there something we can set up as a school? How do we keep it within our school community, or do we want to make it global? I’ve defnitely got teachers who would be eager to give it a go (and hopefully) have a goal, so I’m just pondering the next steps.
Is the article Digital Natives:Digital Immigrants online somewhere? I’m interested in checking it out.
I likethe bloglines concept, very cool Once I have a couple going then I can subscribe!
Cheers all,
Kim
Kim…
In talking with Ed last week at the NLC he recommended classblogmeister as well as this edublogs websites. Ed uses the classblogmeister, which is created by David Warlick. From what I’ve read you need to have listened to him speak or attended a workshop given by him.
I requested a password from him 2 days ago, but yet to receive a response. I’m sure I will be the pestering self I am within the end of the weekend if I don’t hear back.
Ah, great Tom! Thanks! I have heard him speak at MacWorld in Jan., I wonder if that counts?
It should….
In the request for a password there is a spot for that I think…
Also, download the .pdf file that gives instructions to register and get started, etc.
Hey All,
A link to Marc Prensky’s articles: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp.
I was also intrigued with “Do They REALLY Think Differently” too. I am not sure I agree with everything he espouses, but I certainly believe that we are not teaching the way our students are learning…
Kim, I too would love a teacher or two to start blogging but am also struggling with blogging outside the confines of our district. This is an upscale with protective parents.
My network guy just installed moodle and I’d like to play with that as a means to communicate. I have no idea at this point if that’s going to work or not.
Morning All,
Thanks for the link to the Prensky articles, will print and read….I’ve ordered all the books on the lists that have been floating around…and wow, lots to read and digest!
Donna, yeah, I’m in the same situation with having a teacher start blogging. I have willing teachers- that’s no problem, but it’s the parent community as well…things would need to have logins/passwords, etc.
I’ve downloaded Moodle on my ibook and my PC at home and can’t seem to get it to install…I’ve created a login/password for the moodle online but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. So far it’s not appearing as teacher friendly as I’d like it to be, but there must be some trick….
We’re ROASTING out here in Cali. Yesterday it was 105!!!! Very rare for Nor Cal summers!
Kim
Hey Kim,
My network manager installed moodle on our server so it could be used across the district. I think it is a server based application.. but I could be wrong!
It’s been hot here too but not THAT hot! I’m working every day this week, doing workshops and teaching a grad course.. I must be nuts!