Posts tagged ‘web2.0’
Top 10 FREE Web 2.0 Sites for Educators: NECC Edition
I’ve had several requests via email for my Top 10 presentation from NECC, and realized that I should probably post it here. Of course, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing!
So here’s a link to the presentation slides, such as they are. Most of the presentation is live demonstrations, so they’re only of limited value by themselves.
Here’s a link to the ISTE broadcast of the session. Video looks and sounds great, but they didn’t record what I was doing on the screen until 20 minutes in.
Then there’s my own personal broadcast of it using Procaster and Livestream. It has what’s happening on my screen throughout the entire presentation. However, the camera angle isn’t exactly the most flattering one I could have chosen 
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Welcome to the shiny new Teach42
Welcome to the new theme for Teach42.com! This is something that’s been in the works for quite a while now (far too long), but I’m thrilled to finally switch over to it today. I’d been thinking about getting myself a new theme since I started seeing other blogs using the same one I’d be using. I’ve always wanted to have something completely original, but in the past must of the custom ones I’ve used have had issues on the backend. I finally decided to take the plunge when I saw the EFL Geek’s new theme which completely blew me away. So I emailed Sean and asked him if he’d be interested in creating a custom theme for me and he mentioned that he was creating his own design company and would love to work together.
Heh, I have to give him major credit. Between conferences and family and this that and the other thing, I haven’t been the easiest person to work with. But he’s always been a true professional and fit the development around my crazy schedule. From brainstorming ideas out, to graphic design to creating a complete custom wordpress theme with all the features I wanted, he did an absolutely phenomenal job.
I have to admit, at first I balked a little bit about paying someone to create a theme for me. After all, it’s just a blog… But then again, it’s also something I’ve invested five years of my life on. It’s gotten me my current job, and introduced me to thousands of educators world wide. It’s my identify online, my resume, my cv and my permanent record. And once I started thinking along these lines it seemed almost odd to me that I hadn’t invested more in it already. So I took some of the money this blog generates from Google Ads and I set it aside to have the new theme created. I wanted something somewhat whimsical, and yet geeky. I love the computer cables strewn about everywhere in the sidebar widgets and such. Usual web 2.0 tools are integrated in as well. Gravatar user images are thrown in for commentors and so on. I also have a few plans that we didn’t stick in yet but may be added in the future.
I hope you like it! It’s funny but this theme has been ready to switch over to for a few weeks now, but I kept putting off making hte change because I wanted to do a proper introduction for it. However, in the meantime, I kept putting off blog posts because I wanted to wait to post them until the new theme was ready! And while waiting for that to happen, I just didn’t post anything. I should have taken the advice I always give to other new bloggers. JUST DO IT. Don’t wait for bigger and better, don’t waste time with things to come. Do it now, as you can always add more and improve later.
So with that, I hope you like the new digs! Leave a comment and let me know what you think. And if you decide to do something along these lines yourself, I personally recommend you reach out to Sean. He was a true professional and great to work with.
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’!