Via @TerryFreedman:

Looks like Notre Dame high school in the UK is taking the bull by the horns and moving forward with an initiative to allow the use of mobile phones for educational purposes during class time.

Assistant headteacher Paul Haigh said mobiles, MP3 players and gaming devices were “untapped resources” for teaching and learning.

“We realise as a comprehensive state school we could never afford to buy every student all the IT and mobile devices we would like them to have.

He added: “But most students own many of these devices anyway – they’re just hidden in their schoolbags. What’s more they’re experts in using them, knowing all the short cuts and characteristics of their own equipment as they use it every day.”

Mr Haigh said there was little logic in allowing pupils to use a netbook in school while banning mobile phones, many of which could access the internet, record sound and take digital photographs.

This new school policy is running contrary to a nationwide ban of cell phones in schools. What’s interesting though is the source of the opposition. That the teacher’s union is against it isn’t all that surprising, but the other group that is currently opposing the change is…. the parents. While there isn’t much in the way of details on this front, it does say that parents are worried phones will be a distraction.

Whether you’re in agreement with the new policy, or with the opposition, it will certainly be an interesting story to follow. Hopefully they plan to publish the impact of this change throughout the year.

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Jim Beeghley pointed out to me a bill that was introduced in Pennsylvania that made me start dry heaving at my desk. House Bill number 363 of 2009 attempts to amend an earlier bill to further prohibit “telephone pagers and certain electronic devices.”

It’s short and sweet.

The possession by students of telephone paging devices, commonly referred to as beepers, cellular telephones and portable electronic devices that record or play audio or video material shall be prohibited on school grounds, at school sponsored activities and on buses or other vehicles provided by the school district.

Of course, recognizing that broad sweeping legislature at the state level may be intrusive, overbearing and insufficient to accommodate the needs of all local communities, they do allow for individual districts to bend the rules under certain circumstances.

Well, two circumstances.

If the student is a volunteer fireman, or if they need it for medical reasons.

So all portable devices that record or play audio or video material are going to be banned from school grounds and activities. I sure hope that there aren’t any schools in PA that have laptop initiatives. Or that allow students to record lectures. Or that do any sort of podcasting. Banned, banned and banned.

EVEN if they did just restrict it to cell phones, it’d still be ridiculous. Regardless of your feelings about cell phones in the classroom, I hope you agree that it is a decision that should be made at the school or district level, not at the state level.

If I lived in Pennsylvania, I’d be throwing a hissy fit (technical term) right now.

Feh. Someone tell me some good news before I go yack.

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Raise your hand if you’re within reach of a a device capable of connecting to the internet for about 90% of your waking hours. Ok ok, all of you put your hands down. Between gaming devices, handhelds and mobile phones all being able to connect to the internet, there are so many ways for people to soak up the good stuff you write on your blog… besides just through your computer’s browser! However, do you have any idea what your blog looks like on a mobile device? Have you considered the potential for you to have a mobile audience, now and in the future?

Today’s challenge is going to be to prepare your blog to be viewed via mobile devices. Trust me, I understand if this isn’t a priority for everybody. But you never know how many people may be visiting you while on the move, why not make it easy for them to do so? I know my blog tends to attract a more high tech geeky audience (you know who you are), so maybe it’s not too surprising that I had over 400 hits from Symbian based mobile phones and Sony PlayStation Portables in September. Don’t worry, it’s much easier to make your blog mobile compliant than you might think.

While there are dozens of ways to make your blog mobile, we’re going to focus on three: 1) Taking advantage of plugins (if compatible with your blog) 2) Using a third party site to display your RSS content in a mobile compliant manner and 3) Using MoFuse to create a mobile mirror.

If you happen to be using WordPress, you have some extremely simple choices that will ensure that your blog is able to be read by anybody on the go. Alex King and Andy Moore have both created plugins that you can use by just installing them and clicking “Activate”. There’s even a plugin specifically for making your site iPhone compliant. The nice thing about using these plugins is that when mobile users come visit your blog, they’ll automatically be shifted over to the version of the site that is optimized for them.

The other two solutions require setting something up and then letting people know about it. You’ll have to provide a link somewhere that says “View the mobile version of this site” and shuffle people over to what you’ve created. Not a big deal, but not quite as elegant.

The easiest way to do this is to take advantage of a couple of Google tools designed for parsing web pages for mobile consumption. If you visit this tiny little Google application, it will generate a mobile compatible version of your site. Punch in your domain name, and you’re in business. Grab that URL, and make it available somewhere on your blog. Mine looks like this. Alternatively, you can use the mobile version of Google Reader to massage your RSS feed and make it available to mobile users. To do this, just take the following address and add your RSS feed to the end of it.
http://www.google.com/reader/m/view/feed/ + http://feeds.feedburner.com/teach42/weblog = http://www.google.com/reader/m/view/feed/http://feeds.feedburner.com/teach42/weblog. Once again, provide a link to that page somewhere on your site and people can get to a mobile version of your blog with a single click. And it doesn’t look half bad at all!

Looking for something with a few more power user features? Then you’ll love MoFuse.com. Sign up for an account, put in your blog URL and RSS feed, and within minutes you have a custom mirror of your site. You can take a look at Teach42′s MoFuse here. You can very easily just do the same thing the previous tip recommended, which is providing a link to your MoFuse mobile page. However, you can also make available all sorts of uber-geeky options that mobile users will freak out over. Things like adding a widget into your sidebar where people can enter their mobile number and have a link to your blog sent to them via SMS. Or display a QR code that links to your blog. Or add a chicklet that links to it. Or any combination of those. If you’re using a WordPress blog, or have the ability to add PHP code to your header (you know who you are), you can even provide automatic re-direction for any mobile visitors that visit your site. And yes, you have the ability to create a special iPhone version for all you Apple fan boys and girls!

One last advanced tip for all of you who host your own blog and want to get really geeky. If you want to go the extra mile, you can even create your own mobile URL, using the standard m.Example.com formula. It’s really not that hard. You just need to add a cname record that links m.yoursite.com to whatever link you’re using for your mobile site. This page by Google has tips for doing so for a great many common hosts. MoFuse provides some instructions for connecting up your own domain in this way. Once you make a change like this, it takes about 24-48 hours for the change to actually go through, so be patient. I’m making m.teach42.com point to a mobile version of this site tonight.

So there’s a few possible solutions for mobilizing your blog. And this doesn’t even touch POSTING to your blog via your mobile device! That’s a story for another day (won’t be a part of this challenge).

Have you ever visited any blogs from your mobile phone? Did you check out your own? Do you anticipate having any mobile readers, now or in the near future? Any tips for using mobile devices for accessing the internet? Share your tips in the comments below!

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Image via WikipediaIt’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the idea of using mobile phones in the classroom. In fact, I recently posted a roundup of all the different applications I had installed on my phone, along with an educational spin for each. Without fail though, when I do post something along those lines, I always receive a few emails from people saying, “But you have a special super dooper phone. There’s no way you can do that with MY phone.” First of all, more than likely you can. It’s amazing what an average phone will do nowadays. BUT even if it can’t, there’s a way that you can receive your choice of Nokia’s phones mailed to you for a trial period… for free.

The Nokia event I attended in Helsinki was organized by WOM World. While there, I learned that people can go to their site and request just about any Nokia model current released in the wild to be sent to you for a trial. I was just a little dubious, so I put in a request shortly after returning to the US. Then, just last week I got confirmation that my request had been approved and a Nokia N78 was being sent to me for a two week trial. During that time, I intend to install every free application I can find and to really put it through its paces. And when it comes time to send it back… Well, suffice to say I intend to apply for another phone that very same day.

Think about how cool that is. Pick a phone that intrigues you. Register for a free trial. When it arrives, just throw in your SIM card. If you don’t have an internet plan, perhaps you might want to register for one for just that month (or few weeks). Then try out every new feature, application and site you can find. From live streaming to geocaching, see what you can do with it and what you can’t. And when you’re done, you can just send it back.

I think it’s a great opportunity and well worth your time to try.

If you aren’t too familiar with Nokia phones, you may want to consider starting off with the N96 (successor to my current phone), N810 (tablet device), or e71 (Blackberry style).

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I know most people have already put up their post-NECC reports, but I figure it’s never really too late and I’m glad that I had time to put some things in perspective and do a little soul searching before writing this. There’s so much to write about, both positive and negative, so I think I’m going to try to separate them into two different posts.

Without question, while the sessions are phenomenal, the most memorable parts of NECC often seem to be the networking. It seemed that every ten feet there was another person on my list of “People I Need to Meet F2F” and unfortunately there was never enough time to have a proper conversation. I truly felt humbled that I met so many people who consider me a part of their learning networks, personal or professional. Additionally, there were so many people that I’ve been a fan of for so long that it was an honor to finally meet them in person. I hate to do name lists because I always forget people, but among the most memorable were Miguel Guhlin and Bud Hunt. These are colleagues and friends that I have known for years, but never met face to face. It was truly a pleasure to finally be able to shake their hand, give them a hug and tell them in person just how much I’ve admired their work over all these years.

Of course there were so many others that I could say the same for, but this isn’t about name dropping. It’s about friendships, and making personal connections between nodes in our networks. And no matter how many names I listed, I couldn’t name them all. I can’t remember who said this, but someone at EduBloggerCon truly summed the networking side up quite eloquently: “Every single F2F conversation with someone makes the 140 characters that much more meaningful.” That’s not a direct quote, so if you said it, then let me know so I can get it right and give you credit.

Without a doubt, live video streaming was (as predicted) a big topic at NECC. I’m still trying to get a grasp on how many sessions were streamed. EdStream.TV was not as successful as I’d have liked it to be, but it was a spectacular learning experience that I think has huge potential. In particular, I learned that you really need someone dedicated solely to keeping the project organized and handle the video production, whether on site or off site is irrelevant. Unfortunately I just had too many other time commitments to devote the necessary hours to make it a true success. MAJOR kudos to Jen Wagner for her incredible effort aggregating the streams together here and making sure that virtual attendees had just about as rich an experience as physical attendees.

While backchannels and live streams were becoming commonplace in many sessions, the internet connectivity issues were always around to throw a monkey wrench in the works. During two of the panel discussions I participated in, I couldn’t stay connected to the backchannel to contribute there. Very aggravating. Even my cell-phone-as-a-modem solution failed me, despite the fact that we were in AT&T’s corporate home. However, most backchannels were archived and quite honestly are a wealth of information. That being said, I think it’s a bit presumptuous to assume that people know what a backchannel is, how to find it and how to participate. Vicki Davis has made it a priority to explain the fine art of backchanneling in some of her presentations, and I think she’s got the right idea. I’m going to make that a priority in future presentations.

Speaking of backchannels, while Chatzy and CoverItLive seem to be the hot ones right now, my backchannel of choice has become Plurk. Why Plurk? Well, for one thing, I think it could be the best successor to Twitter that I’ve seen yet. Instead of a series of loosely related posts, you get one threaded conversation with its own RSS feed and permalink. Check out Ginger Lewman’s live blog from Ian Juke’s session. Not only that, but it has a rock solid mobile version that you can use from a cell phone, iPhone or any other mobile device. Heck, on a PC it looks alot like Twitter for those that don’t like the timeline. So while I couldn’t get online, if the backchannel had been on Plurk I could still have participated actively via mobile.

On the subject of mobiles, I don’t think I’ve ever used my cell phone more at a conference before. I used it to keep up with Twitter. I used it to keep up with Plurk. I used it to check in with emails, both work and personal. I used Google Maps on there to find where I was going. I used it to read blogs and to look up people’s names and information. I used my phone as a camera and a camcorder. And as many saw in both Will’s and Hall’s sessions, I used it to do several live video streams. I broadcast solo from the airplane on the way to NECC, and interviewed Kelly Dumont, Bonnie Muir and Darren Draper (who had the misfortune of sitting next to me) on the return flight. Video of that one is embedded below.

While the videos may be a little rough and got cut off before the end, I felt that they were a great proof of concept and something I will definitely continue to pursue. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that I believe that live video streaming via mobile is going to play a crucial role in education within the next five years. These devices are just too powerful and diverse to blow off. I’m seriously considering upgrading from the Blackjack to a Nokia N95 just so I can improve my live streams and get a full screen browser.

I was pretty busy presenting in formal sessions, panels and in the booth, so I didn’t have too much time to attend many sessions. I did attend the DEN’s Second Life Leadership Council’s panel presentation about building out their personal learning networks which was absolutely phenomenal. A classic example of how you can never be over prepared. They knew what they wanted to say, had it timed well, and really did magnificent job of sharing the fine work they’re doing in Second Life.

Speaking of being over prepared, I did catch Hall Davidson’s cell phone presentation. It was easily the best presentation I saw at NECC, and I’m not just saying that because I work with him. I don’t think there’s anyone out there that understands the art of presenting better than Hall and watching him up on stage is like a magic show that you actually learn from. It was chock full of hands on demonstrations and it was a pleasure watching hundreds of educators break out their own phones and participate. If you missed it, they did record it. You can catch it at ISTE’s NECC On Demand website.

Of course, then there was the DEN Pre-Conference which was an absolute blast. Where else are you going to get to see your boss get thrown in jail, a friend get hog tied, participate in an Old West scavenger hunt and STILL have time to network, share ideas, and do a little presenting? The DEN’s 3rd birthday party was a huge “overflowing” success and with STAR Discovery Educators in every corner of the room it was more like a family reunion than cocktail party. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Howl at the Moon, the piano bar where I left both my voice and my dignity. I can honestly say it’s the most interesting place I’ve ever celebrated my *ahem* birthday.

All in all, it was definitely a NECC to remember. Next time I’m going to try to make a point to carve out more free time so I can actually spend more time chatting with people beyond the 10 minute, “Hello! I follow you! I read you! Thanks for all you do! Hope to see you again soon!” There were way too many of those unfortunately.

SO that’s the end of part 1, The Good. More to come.

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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’!

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