Archive for June, 2008
Why I *heart* Plurk
While it may seem like I’m always high on a new tool or site, I really do think I’m pretty choosy about the ones that I wind up sharing. And I wouldn’t blog about it, if I didn’t feel there was merit to it and it was worth exploring. Which is why I wanted to mention Plurk here.
I’ve been using Plurk extensively over the past few days and have started to think that it really could be a better Twitter than Twitter. And after seeing some really neat things happening there, I thought I’d share some of the ‘highlights’ of my Plurk explorations. And while I’m not ready to leave Twitter completely, let me share why I’m digging on Plurk.
Why I *heart* Plurk:
- Conversations are threaded together. When you reply to someone, it STAYS with the original post. On Twitter you have to click from page to page to page to try to follow a conversation. Which is tedious at best. On Plurk, you have one hyperlink to the entire conversation. For example, here is a single link to a live blog/backchannel for Ian Juke’s presentation today. 199 posts, one thread with one link. Don’t want to see those posts? You have one conversation to ignore, or you can even mute it.
- If you link to a video or image, it creates a thumbnail. Yes, that’s kind of fluffy, but it’s a very nice touch.
- While there aren’t many tools out there yet, there are a few that are pretty darn creative. For example, Pollk, which allows you to create polls on Plurk and embed them in. It gives you code to paste in, and as people vote, the thumbnail in your original post changes to reflect the current state of voting. VERY slick. Check out this post and click on the thumbnail to see it in action.
I think I’m going to leave it at those three for right now. There’s more, but I don’t think I need to make a giant list. Of course, there are things that I don’t like about Plurk. For one thing, the timeline is hard to get used to. Maybe if I’d seen it before Twitter, it’d be easier, but I’m so used to seeing things from the top down. Discovering that you can use the arrow keys to scroll though helps tremendously. I’m also not a huge fan of the whole karma thing. I’m pretty competitive, and when I saw that there’s a karma score, I wanted to rack up points. It’s shallow, it’s silly, but to be 100% truthful, I just can’t help myself. You get points for posting, replying and recruiting friends through your unique code. For example, this link would give me credit for you joining, while this one would not. Build Karma, earn things like new emoticons and the ability to change your background. Personally, I think it should be an opt in sort of ‘game’, but that’s part of their schtick I guess. If you have more will power than I do, you could always just ignore it.
Why I’m getting down on Twitter:
- It’s as Twitter as…. well, there’s nothing to compare it to. I’ve never seen a popular site have as many technical issues as Twitter does. Nobody is surprised when it goes down. It’s flaky enough that their error page has even earned itself a fan club. That’s just wrong. Plurk is only a couple months old, so it’s possible it’ll run into these issues when it grows too. Hopefully they’ve learned from Twitter’s mistakes though. Crossing my fingers.
- I’m tired of depending on third party sites to make Twitter manageable. I’m one of the people that actually goes to Twitter.com regularly. For about a week, replies were dead. I follow a pretty high number of people. If I can’t see who’s talking to me, I might as well not even use the tool. So I started keeping Summize open as well so I could see if anyone replied to my Tweets. That meant I was keeping two tabs open to get basic functionality out of a single site. Feh. Also, things like the built in Tiny URL converter has always been flaky. I’ve gotten into the habit of using third party URL shorteners any time I want to link to something. Not a huge deal, but it’s extra steps that should be unnecessary.
- Go look at the Twitter Status Blog. You know why that’s there? Because there’s always something wrong. In the month of June, there were only four days that they didn’t have to put something up there, letting people know what the status was of broken features. That’s just sad. And on the subject of broken features, have you ever tried to nudge somebody? Does that mysterious link actually do anything? Not so far as I’ve been able to see. And I’ve flagged many people to have their tweets sent to my cell phone and have never received a single message. However, Direct messages arrive just fine. Love for somebody to explain that one to me.
The best thing about Twitter is… well, it’s the network. It’s where people are at right now. That’s the number one thing that Twitter has and that Plurk doesn’t. That’s also why I’m not going to give up on Twitter just yet. But I find I’m visiting Plurk first thing in the morning, and only checking out Twitter when I’m done. As much as I’ve liked Twitter over the past year or so, I feel like they’ve done their very best to drive me away. And while alternatives have been available (Pownce, Jaiku), Plurk is the first one that actually feels ‘right’ to me. I’m not saying this because it’s shiny, or because it’s new. I’m saying it because after spending some time there, it feels like Twitter, but a step or two up the evolutionary chain.
While I would never ask anybody to leave their well-established community, I do suggest that you visit Plurk and give it a try for yourself. And give it a day or two, when you have some time. It feels very awkward at first and takes some getting used to. After being doubters, many people have come to change their mind. Hope to see you there!
Wii Fit Workout Program Update (and a few tips)
I keep meaning to post a followup to my previous Wii Fit post, complete with pertinent links, pictures and all that. But work/NECC/baby has gotten in the way and it just keeps getting put off. SO, I figured I’ll just do a really quick update for you.
I’ve now owned the Wii Fit for about a five weeks now. During that time I have worked out with it for at least 30 minutes every single day (averaging about 45 minutes usually), with the exception of three days on the road that I worked out without it. I’ve taken one day off so far.
During that time I have dropped 15 pounds (as of this morning). While I’m not sure I look any different, my wife has commented that my face looks like it has thinned out some, and I’ve moved up a notch on my belt and about ready to move up a second notch. You can’t argue with the results. I’m very much looking forward to one day hoping on the balance board and NOT having the Wii exclaim “You’re obese!”
I’m still not on a formal diet, but I am trying very hard to make good choices. A creamsicle after dinner rather than Ben and Jerry’s. Eating breakfast at home and bringing my own lunch, so I know what I’m eating and don’t over indulge when I don’t want to do so deliberately. I still treat myself (had a reuben for lunch today), but it’s more rare. And when I do, I make sure that I eat well the rest of the day.
I’ve heard from many other people now that have bought themselves a Wii Fit and are going to try to do the same. Based on my experiences to date, I have a few tips to share.
1) After a while, that step aerobics won’t really do it for you, even on advanced. Free step is great because you can turn off the voice and do it at your own pace. I’ve gotten up to 3400 steps in half an hour. However, to increase the difficulty I bought myself an aerobics step. The kind that you see used in actual step class. Found it at a garage sale for five bucks. Now I put the Wii Fit on top of there and use that for the step games. And THAT really gives you a serious workout.
2) Running in place kinda sucks. I’m just not a huge fan. The Wii Fit could really use some variety with respects to aerobic exercises. So here’s what I do. I’ve gotten myself a few workout DVD’s. To be honest, they’re a little above my level, but I’m growing into them. So I start up the Free Run program for half an hour, and then change the channel to the DVD. While I work out with the DVD’s workout program, I hold the Wii controller. It thinks I’m running! It tells me when a half hour is up, and usually the Wii thinks I’ve run about 3-4 miles. Best thing is that it adds some much needed variety to the workouts. You could use Tae-bo, Richard Simmons, Jane Fonda, whatever floats your boat. And the workout is still logged as fitness minutes by the Wii!
3) While I love the boxing, it’s repetitive and has too many pauses in it while you wait for it to tell you what to do. So I’ve figured out two ways to spice it up. The first is that I do combinations. Instead of just right left right, I’ll do right, cross uppercut. Or maybe I’ll do head punch, body punch, kick. Yes, there are times that it doesn’t register some of them. I’m ok with that. I’m getting a better workout and I’m enjoying it more. More score is the only thing that suffers from this. The other idea is to fill in the time in between exercises with calisthenics. While the other guy is telling me what punches to throw next, I step off the balance board and jog in place. Or I do jumping jacks. Or I simulate jumping rope. It’s just for 5 seconds at a time, but it really helps keep the heartbeat up, which is the whole point to aerobic exercise.
4) One day I wasn’t quite in the mood to exercise, so I did an entire day of Yoga. I was still sweating and exhausted afterwards. Those Yoga exercises really do give you a decent workout, so don’t neglect them. It’s easy to forget about them after a while, but try to work them in between other routines.
5) If you have a treadmill or stairs in your house, you can also work those in. Just like in number 2, you can set the Wii to Free Run, and then go hop on the treadmill while holding your controller. Or go over to your stairwell and do stairs. I was really surprised by the range. My treadmill is on the other side of my house and down one floor. The Wiimote stayed in contact with the Wii the entire time.
That’s it for now. I guess the whole key is that I’m doing what I can do get some variety in there. If I’m bored with one thing, I switch it up. So far, that’s been working for me. My goal was to lose 20 pounds in two months. I have 5 to go and plenty of time to do it in.
And yes, I will be bringing the Wii Fit to NECC with me. Hopefully you won’t be in the hotel room next door!
Hope this helps some of you. If you’re doing the same, let me know how you’re doing in the comments! Would love to chat with others on a similar journey.
EdStreamTV is going live!
It’s no secret that I think streaming video is going to be huge at NECC. I’ve already blogged about it once. A thread that I started on the NECC Ning site caused some major conversation. This led to an ISTE proclamation that sent ripples throughout the EduBlogosphere and led to a quick retraction by the conference organizers.
Without a doubt, video streaming is going to be major at the conference this year and the real challenge is figuring out where it’s all happening at. Many will be announced on Twitter, but it quickly became apparent that more organization was going to be needed. Will and I have had several conversations on the topic and have decided to create EdStreamTV.
What is EdStreamTV? It’s a television channel created by Mogulus that we will use to be the live video home for streaming video at NECC. Think of it as NECC TV, complete with live coverage, repeats of presentations, and an on demand library of content available to be watched at any time.
We recognize that different people are going to use different sites to broadcast at NECC. Mogulus will let us pull them all in together. It can handle live feeds, even from multiple cameras and mobile devices. It can import in videos of many different formats. It can import in YouTube videos, videos from uStream, and many other sites as well. It can be embedded, has built in chat, and even has a slick little ticker along the bottom that will pull in blog posts about NECC!
We want you to participate! This could be a fantastic way to share the conference virtually, as well as benefit from it long after the conference doors have closed. There are several aspects to the project, and many ways to contribute.
Prior to the conference: You can create a short (30-60 seconds) video promo for the things you’ll be doing at NECC. Presenting? Hosting a workshop? Live blogging? Conducting interviews? Let the world know what you’re going to be up to. Create a short video and tag it with neccstream08 and we’ll add it to EdStreamTV. You can upload it to YouTube and tag it there. You can record it in uStream and tag it there. You can host it on your own blog and tag it there. Create it and tag it, and we’ll be sure to include it in the channel. You can find more details about this here.
At NECC
Streaming Live on your own site: If you’re going to be streaming out a presentation, let the world know what you’ll be sharing, when it is and where they can catch it. You can log what you’ll be streaming live on this page of the wiki so that people can plan accordingly. If you see somebody else already streaming the same session you were planning to, please be considerate of bandwidth and refrain from doubling up. Or contact them directly and coordinate your efforts.
Streaming Live on EdStreamTV: If you’d like to stream out a session live on EdStreamTV, simply contact email@edstream.tv and we’ll register you as a camera person for the channel and coordinate the timing. You will to stream it live via Mogulus though, as we can’t display live feeds from other sites in real time.
Sharing archives, videos, interviews and more: If you have streamed a session and want to include it in the EdStreamTV channel, simply post it on your own site with the tag neccstream08 OR email us at email@edstream.tv with all the details. You can find instructions for several of the more common sites here. Once you submit your videos, it will go into the EdStreamTV loop and repeated regularly throughout the day and will also be available in the On Demand library.
Bloggers Cafe: We will be using the Bloggers Cafe as sort of a home base for the channel. Expect to see live interviews, impromptu events and broadcasts of various happenings throughout the conference. Stop by if you’d like to join in!
We hope that this becomes an integral part of the conference experience, both live and virtual. We look forward to having you join us in this groundbreaking experience!
Discovery Education and Wilkes University to offer masters degree
Let’s get the full disclosure part out of the way right up front. Yes, I work for Discovery Education. And no, they didn’t ask me to post this on Teach42. But I think it’s pretty darn cool so I’m going to anyway. This is semi-cross posted on the DEN Blogs.
Discovery Education and Wilke’s University are launching a new online master’s degree program in instructional media! This has been in the works for a quite a while now, so I’m thrilled to finally announce it.
The 30-credit instructional media program will prepare teachers to engage today’s students in learning through digital media. It will educate teachers to become specialists who can effectively blend academic rigor with the latest technology, from video to Web 2.0 to virtual field trips.
Courses will focus on topics such as digital storytelling, using digital media in the classroom, using technology to support creativity, and applying brain-based theories of how students process information to technology integration. Kathy Schrock, a nationally known leader in technology integration in the classroom, will design “Internet Tools for Teaching” scheduled to begin in spring 2009.
Yeah, that’s right. Kathy Schrock is going to be one of our teachers. Too cool for words.
I won’t be teaching initially, but I am working on putting together a curriculum for a Web2.0 oriented class. However, considering how much information is out there already, if I’m going to be doing it I want to make sure that it really embodies the spirit of teaching in the 2.0 world. So while I’m not 100% what it will ‘look’ like, you can be certain that you’ll be reading about the progress of it here.
This isn’t a partnership that was entered into casually. Wilkes University had to ensure that the quality of coursework would meet their incredibly high standards, and the folks here at Discovery Education were just as concerned with creating a program that provides teachers with the superior instruction that they deserve.
“The program is designed to help all teachers effectively integrate media-based technologies in helping their students reach new heights of academic success,” Speziale said. “This is one of those special programs that can have an immediate transformative effect in a teacher’s classroom.”
Wilkes University is currently accepting applications for the Fall 2008 semester. Prospective students are encouraged to visit the university’s website at www.wilkes.edu/instructionalmedia, where they can find additional program information and sign up to receive application alerts via email. All Wilkes University Graduate Education Programs are accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
If you’re looking for a way to jump up the pay school, maintain your certification, and get a superior education along the way, you should definitely check into it!
MDK12 Digital Libraries: Going Native
This morning I had the pleasure to keynote the MDK12 Digital Library: Access for Success conference. This was my first chance to present strictly for a community of library media specialists (and related titles). I had a great time adapting my Learning to Speak Native presentation for them and certainly expanded my network while doing so. Learned about several bloggers who were new to me, and discovered some great new resources.
I had a few people ask for a copy of the presentation so I thought I’d share it here. So if you like, you can download a copy of Learning To Speak Native: LMC edition.
While I didn’t record the presentation, the non-LMC version was recorded when I presented it at PETE&C and Kristin Hokanson posted it on her blog. If you would like to see the video, you can find it here.
Describe the skills or attributes you believe are necessary to be an outstanding teacher
Greetings! I’d like to welcome all of you who are currently applying for jobs in education and wish you the best of luck. My name is Steve and I am the host here at Teach42.
A few years ago, I wrote a post last year about how surprised I was that so many people arrived at my blog by doing a search for the question “Describe the skills or attributes you believe are necessary to be an outstanding teacher.” I didn’t really think about it at the time, but that post had all the right keywords, and now when you do a Google search for that phrase, Teach42 is both number three and number four! So I thought I’d put up a new post this year, both to try to lock in the number one slot and to also offer some advice to all of you that are doing these searches.
First of all, I do understand why you’re doing the search. You are passionate, you have the skills, you KNOW you’ll make a great teacher. But how do you get your foot in the door when all you have are those silly short answer questions? And also, while you may make an amazing teacher, maybe you aren’t the most eloquent writer. Surely somebody has come up with a great answer to that fairly generic question already, and you can just ‘borrow’ from their answer, right?
I have two thoughts on this. The first is that you aren’t alone. I’m getting hundreds of hits per month on this site alone from people who are arriving here by searching those terms. They’re all finding the same responses that you are and I’d imagine many of them are basing their answers on them. Now, just imagine that you’re the one who is reviewing applications from people and reading hundreds of responses to this question. They’re going to recognize those responses from people who grabbed their answers from Google and Yahoo. So by ‘borrowing’ from there, you’re doing yourself more harm than good. Instead of getting a solid, thoughtful, insightful answer, you’re getting the same answers that thousands of other people are putting on their application. That won’t help you land that job!
The second thought is that maybe you really will find something that genuinely vibes with you. The perfect answer that describes just how you feel about outstanding teachers. Exactly what you need to base your answer on. Do you plan to cite it? If not, why not? Isn’t that what an outstanding teacher would do? I strongly suggest that if you do find something on the internet that you plan to use, do the smart thing and give that person credit. Go ahead, use a direct quote. Nobody ever said that you can’t include footnotes in those essay questions. Don’t start your career with a minor in plagiarism. If you’re going to do any ‘borrowing’, do a 180 and turn it into actual research instead. Give credit where credit is due.
That’s it for this year. I hope that you find the perfect job for you to start (or continue) your educational career and spend many many years doing the most rewarding job in the world. Not monetarily of course, but those vacations sure are nice (boy do I miss those).
Good luck!
Updated with Wordle of this post. Thanks Cathy!
What’s the point of Second Life?
Got an email from a friend of mine (who’s name shall be withheld to protect the innocent). He had a conversation with his district technology director that he asked for some help with.
I had a short conversation with our district technology director yesterday and Second Life came up. I was telling him how streaming video would be projected in SL and how cool it was … He cut me off when I was trying to explain how I thought it would be interesting to some of our teachers to see what SL was like. He asked me: What is the point of using SL? Can you please provide me with some talking points to help me in the future with “what is the point of using SL”.
So I put together a few ideas of my own, regarding why I think Second Life is significant.
provides us the opportunity to experience things that we could never experience in real life. Because avatars aren’t bound by silly things like physics and laws of nature, we can experience things firsthand in an interactive way, as well as new ways that we could only imagine before.
For example, I can watch a hurricane occur from beginning to end, pausing it, rewinding it, checking out its perspective from above and below the water line, from up in the air and so on. Instead of just studying the cell, and the parts of the cell, I can step inside one and see them moving in three day. I can see the shapes and relative sizes of its parts relative to each other. I can study a painting by Van Goh, and then actually step inside it and explore it.
It can also a valuable tool for distance learning. It provides you with a flexible learning environment that also has a personal touch to it. Virtually face to face meetings.
It’s an ideal environment for breaking down our mental barriers regarding physical characteristics. Would students treat someone differently if they had a male avatar? Female avatar? What if they chose to be African or Asian, even tho in real life they’re white? Would that make a difference in how people treat you? Should it? And so on….
And obviously by its very nature, it can really help engage the video game generation. It gives them a virtual learning environment that they can mold to suit their needs.
To be honest, I’m not certain that SL is the ideal platform for education, but I do think it’s the best we have right now and well worth exploring so we’re prepared to leverage it as well as future virtual environments. It provides a platform for live social networking, which is becoming an increasingly important skill in the business world.
However, I’m just a dabbler. I haven’t gotten to spend nearly as much time in world as many other people, and I know some of you reading this have made serious investments into using Second Life in education. I’m hoping that you’ll help my friend out and share your ideas with us.
So in your expert opinion, what is the point of using Second Life in education?
When does Average Joe become Joe Expert?
The other day somebody referred to me as an expert in the field of internet safety. While it’s true that I’ve done many presentations on the subject and have some very strong ideas about it, it got me wondering exactly when I became ‘an expert’? At some point, there was a line drawn on the ground. On one side, I was a nut with some crazy ideas about kids and the internet. On the other side I was an expert voice that has spoken to thousands of people on the topic. When did this change miraculously occur?
If you’ve been a member of the blogosphere long enough, then you probably can play the “I remember when” game. For example, I remember when David Warlick recorded his first podcast (altho I can’t find it online anymore). I remember when Will’s blog engine of choice was Manila. Heck, I even remember when the term Web 2.0 was coined!
But the most interesting thing to me has been watching blogger after blogger after blogger sit down at the keyboard, type up a few posts invariably to a non-existent audience, and struggle to be heard. The incredible thing is how many of those people are now experts in every sense of the word. Particularly in my role overseeing the DEN community for Discovery, I see it happening constantly.
I’m not surprised that these people have become experts. I still believe that every teacher is a rock star waiting to happen. But what’s fascinating to me is being able to watch somebody who considers themselves to be an average Joe all of a sudden realize that they have hundreds of people following them in Twitter. Or that they got 10 comments on a blog post of theirs. Or that people from 5 different continents have visited their blog.
While some people have been launched into the spotlight in a blaze of glory, most find themselves struggling to find their audience. I vividly remember what it was like blogging in a perceived vacuum. It’s rough to keep posting when you feel nobody is listening. And yet so many educators have persevered and found their niche in the blogosphere, becoming ‘famous for 15 people‘.
I looked up ‘expert’ on Wikipedia, which is an interesting irony in itself. However, the post did contain an interesting tidbit called Germain’s Scale. It is “a measure of perception of employee expertise” and contains 5 objective expertise items (the first five) and 11 subjective items.
1. This person has knowledge that is specific to his or her field of work.
2. This person shows that they have the education necessary to be an expert in his/her field.
3. This person has knowledge about his/her field.
4. This person has the qualifications required to be an expert in his/her field.
5. This person has been trained in his or her area of expertise.
6. This person is ambitious about their work in the company.
7. This person can assess whether a work-related situation is important or not.
8. This person is capable of improving himself or herself.
9. This person is charismatic.
10. This person can deduce things from work-related situations easily.
11. This person is intuitive in the job.
12. This person is able to judge what things are important in his/her job.
13. This person has the drive to become what he or she is capable of becoming in his/her field.
14. This person is self-assured.
15. This person has self-confidence.
16. This person is an expert who is outgoing.
Some of them are rather fascinating and clearly debatable. Items 9 and 16 in particular. I’m not going to point fingers, but their are several prominent educational experts that I would hardly consider to be outgoing or charismatic. However, I do understand why these qualities would be included in the list.
Other items make perfect sense. In particular, the expert to be really does need to have the DESIRE to become an expert. If they don’t have that desire to share and be heard, then nobody will ever know about it. While many experts claim that they are blogging solely for their own personal reasons. Were that true, why not take it offline? If you’re making it public then at some level, even sub-consciously, you want it to be heard. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
One last rambling thought on the matter. There are so many people that I consider to be experts in my network. Some are experts at global collaborative projects, or experts at integrating mobile devices into the classroom, or experts at using Web 2.0 tools for classroom communication… Do their friends, families and colleagues have ANY idea that they are experts? Do they give them the recognition that they deserve? I know that among my friends and family, very few have any idea about my online activities, nor that I present in front of thousands of teachers every year.
Mark Twain once said that an expert is “an ordinary fellow from another town.” Is that really all it takes? Someone you don’t know saying something that feels right to you? Maybe it’s really as simple as that.
I’m very curious to know how you determine who qualifies as an expert. And is it really even all that important? Chime in and I will forever consider you to be an expert on the topic of ‘defining expertise’!
GPS for chronic truants?
I got an email alerting me to a segment on CBS News about one school using a GPS tracking device to help stop truancy.
While it may have worked for the student in the video, I have to admit some skepticism regarding the ability for this to be a large scale solution. They mention that the student really does want to be in school, and this provides him an excuse to provide his friends, without losing any reputation points.
However, there had to be reasons beyond just peer pressure that caused him to miss so many days int he first place. And if the school doesn’t address those issues, then why should this make any difference. Yes, we do want the student to be in his/her seat. But we also need to find new ways to motivate those students, to keep them involved in their education, to ensure that it’s relevant and valuable to their future success. While I’m not trying to imply that the school in the video is failing to do that, I do want to point out that getting them there is only one part of a larger solution to the problem.
And is anybody else wondering what’s to stop him from just putting the darn device into someone else’s backpack for the day?