Openness, Sherpas and ECI831 or Why I Follow So Many Canadians

"Open"courseware is not new. There are several institutions, including heavyweights like MIT that are offering up course materials available for anyone to take and use. There are materials on iTunes U and YouTube EDU but how many institutions or professors will allow noncredit students to attend class sessions and interact with the class?

For the second year in a row I'm taking the ECI831 course, and I didn't fail it the first time. I'm a member of Alec Couros' growing group of non-credit students/mentors. I participate in as many of the online sessions as I am able and interact with the students in the course through the blog posts and twitter. True there is no credit for the course, but I'll benefit from the resources, ideas and learning in the course even if the topics are familiar to me.

Not only do I enjoy the course, but I'm a big fan of Alec's efforts and work in open education. He's not the only person advocating for Open(ness) in Education, but he's likely one of few who will invite you to participate in his classes.

This kind of openness requires a shift from the traditional closed classroom with teacher delivering content model. As part of Alec's recent session he talked about the role of the sherpa guiding learners through landscapes filled with social media and networks, knowledge and media literacy. This is the role that must be embraced at least partially for openness in our schools to occur. It's a little scary being open and transparent in our practices. Being open puts us out there for other to judge and maybe criticize. But it also allows for support and connecting, and as uncomfortable as it may be to shift to the sherpa role, I suspect that is more of what's needed now.

For one, the world is more open, allowing us the potential to make new connections and learn in amazing ways. But it's also needed because both education and teachers have been under fire lately. Openness and transparency might allow schools to connect with communities and parents and show the kinds of learning experiences happening in their classrooms. As a parent with a young child in public school, I like openness in the classroom, not because I want my child in the open and not because I don't trust her teacher, but rather because I want to see the learning that takes place and applaud and support the efforts of her really fine teacher.

A little more openness in education, whether it's courses in universities or in elementary schools, might give all a chance to be a part of a bigger learning community.

Additional Links:

• Wikipedia on Open Educational Resources
  
• ECI831 Session List
• Curriki is a good site for finding OER in several different subjects and grades
  

Why I'll Keep Blogging

I used to be a lot of "pull" not a lot of "push" on the web. I was a little more "R" not a lot of "R/W." The Internet was a vehicle for finding info., and while I enjoyed the birth of web 2.0 sites, I didn't do a lot of sharing or publishing myself.

I could come up with a lot of reasons I didn't share; not enough time, not enough energy, and concern about privacy/sharing too much. But I'll admit mostly is was because I've never liked committing to the process of writing. I like brainstorming and writing, but don't like editing and revising much. Coming up with blog ideas is fun - writing it out in a way that makes sense - not so much. My wife, who is an editor by trade, can attest to all that I am saying.

Finally, there also was something a little unsettling about putting my ideas "out there." The ideas are now available for the learning, but also the critiquing and evaluating . . . globally. Sometimes it sounds a little far-fetched to say so, but I knew it was what the technology allowed- your ideas to be on display for anyone online. So really, for all those reasons, it was easier not to blog.

But all that changed when I went to work for Marlo Gaddis, head of instructional technology in Winston-Salem. Her department had a blog which all members of the team were invited to (expected to) contribute. So in May 2008 I became a blogger.

My first several posts were admittedly unspectacular. I posted early on because it was a requirement, but over time I found I enjoyed the process of publishing and sharing ideas. It became an important step for reflecting on my learning.

In August of 2008 I was pleased with my post on "The Hole in the Wall Project" and the one about my favorite tool at the time Zoomit. Then in March 2009 I got a comment on my blog from a teacher in Norway. And pretty soon I was jotting down ideas during the week of what might be my next blog post.

I remember the conversations about the posts with one of my colleagues, April, who was a gifted writer herself, and found I enjoyed our discussions about blogging. She mentioned the idea of creating a blog to cross post to that could serve as a collection of all my posts; a great idea for an online portfolio. After some consideration I took the additional step and created this blog for cross posting.

I can't say I've gotten a lot of comments on this blog, as most of the attention went to posts on the bigger district blog, but still it's been a worthwhile project. Still the highlights have been some of the comments and conversations from educators I respect who have taken a moment to comment on the posts. The process of blogging, publishing and connecting has benefited me a great deal.

In fact a few months ago, after proofing my latest post my wife casually remarked that my writing had improved (a little) since starting to blog. It was high praise coming from the editor who will often shake her head at my cavalier attitude towards conventions and grammar rules.

So now that I've moved into another job, there's no clear expectation in place for continuing to blog. But I think I still will. I've benefited from the reflection and writing process that goes into blogging, and I don't want that to end. I think I'll keep it up with a tip of the hat to my former boss who applied the gentle nudge that started the ball rolling. I think the blogging is less about the publishing and more about the learning and connections that are made.

So I'm going to try to keep it going.

What You Can Do with Creative Commons

In the past it seems the only time I've been asked to talk about copyright is when there was a danger someone might not be observing it. I've held many workshops where there is just a short time to remind participants not to post copyrighted material to their website, blog, wiki etc. . . And because the workshop wasn't solely about copyright and because copyright can be confusing, I've seldom had the time to fully answer questions or give what I feel are good alternatives. Therefore the quick message was a lot of "don't" and "can't" and not much of "can" or "do." And this is often the same message passed on to students.

But I think we can empower ourselves and our classrooms with some "can's" and "do's." A good alternative is Creative Commons (CC), which is a movement I've been a fan of for some time. To be clear, I am not a copyright expert or a lawyer, but from my perspective, the appeal of this option is that it seems relatively straight-forward. There there are some great posts and sites on how CC can be used by educators. Perhaps one of the best examples are the posts by the Clever Sheep who has created several resources for Creative Commons and education.

So here is my best take on using Creative Commons materials in your classrooms:

With CC, the creator can license work for reuse or noncommercial use. There are some guidelines, but much of the material is licensed for noncommercial use, so educators and students have the ability to use and reuse great media without the fear of copyright violation. There are a lot of sites with high quality media that are licensed with Creative Commons. I have listed a few of my favorites below.

CC Licensed Images:

• Flickr CC Search flickr is full of fantastic CC images
• Compfight another way of searching flickr for CC images

CC Audio:

• ccmixter.org community audio site
• Jamendo free music downloads
• freesound.org
• soundbible sound effects and clips

All CC Media:

• creativecommons search good starting place in searching for all media
• wikimedia commons cc and public domain section of Wikipedia

One of the best options for students and teachers may still be creating your own media. Basically if you take the picture or create the music, you own the copyright. And this could be a great moment to discuss the licensing options and how it impacts a creative work. Maybe you and your students will license your work with Creative Commons license and add to the content being used and shared by educators.

You might find that Creative Commons is a way to have copyright discussions that don't just revolve around what you can't do.

Additional resources for CC in education:

• The Clever Sheep's Creative Commons in the Classroom
• Wes Fryer's Copyright Resources http://teachdigital.pbworks.com/copyright
• Danny Nicholson's Guide to Creative Commons

Images used:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/guervos/361969834/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/purpleslog/3244332524/

WSFCS Online Learning

Sometime in June, WSFCS Online Learning had it's 600th participant receive credit for an online technology course since October of last year. If I'd planned ahead I would have had confetti and balloons falling from the ceiling and a shopping spree for the lucky teacher.

Although I think 600 is a huge number, and we'll exceed 700 almost immediately in the new school year when courses again open for enrollment, I think the numbers are only important in that they show the growth and the prospects for the future.

The real story is the way our district has changed the ways we offer professional development to better meet the needs of our educators. Teacher's time is at a premium, and while I think it will always be important to offer face-to-face workshop in professional development, teachers appreciate having the option of taking some courses and some coursework online. Courses can be self-paced and participants can choose when to take the courses. This can be a important factor for teachers who need more time in workshops or educator's whose schedules don't always allow them to attend the workshop when scheduled at their schools. There is tremendous value in allowing educators in our district these choices.

So what does the future hold for WSFCS Online Learning? The site and course catalog has grown exponentially over the last year, and there will be more and more professional development in many different areas for interested educators. We'll continue working with the great folks in our instructional department to make sure all professional development has a place on our site, and we hope to build programs that help new teachers in our district. So we're growing and hope you'll take the time to experience online learning for yourself. You might find the time and ownership it affords you is exactly the ingredient you need in your professional development in the new school year.

"AwesomeHighlighter" is...well, awesome

We live in an exciting time for web-based tools. There is no shortage of great free options that can be used in the classroom. The challenge often exists when wading through all of them on the Internet and finding the right ones for your class. My latest recommendation for an addition to your "teacher toolbox" is "the awesome highlighter."
The awesomehighlighter can be used to highlight text on web pages and create a link to the highlighted page.

It's a great way to provide a little guidance or instructions for using a site (above) or maybe posting discussion questions on a website (below). After you have highlighted the site and posted discussion questions, you will be given a unique url that you can then share via email or on your website. It is easy to use and free without the need to set up an account. Although you may choose to create one in order to save highlighted pages.


I think the awesomehighlighter can be used in classrooms with interactive whiteboards, projectors or mounted flatscreens, but also by teachers who would like to add the awesomehiglighted link to their websites.

Awesomehighlighter, a cool little web tool worth adding to your collection.

Twitter & Foursquare-A Game Worth Playing?

My blog posts, for the most part, follow a predictable pattern. I blog about experiences in ed tech or maybe a new tool I've found that I feel deserves attention. I generally avoid topics that I think will create a stir, in part because I cross-post on my department's blog, but also because I don't like to publicly rain on parades. However, sometimes a lot can be learned from a discourse on a subject and maybe a good comment to a blog post will help me learn something.

So here goes . . . I don't like Foursquare, and I think it deters efforts to encourage educators to use Twitter.

I'm not a "foursquare expert," but I'll explain it as best I can. On Wikipedia, Foursquare is described as a location-based social networking website that allows users to "check in" at locations and earn points, badges, etc. . . . Foursquare can be integrated with Twitter so when a Foursquare user "checks in" the update is broadcast in Twitter.

In the past year I've spent some time talking about the ways I think Twitter can be a great tool for educators to build a PLN that will share ideas and resources related to learning and education. I've tried to dispel the notion that Twitter is for movie stars and narcissists who think the rest of the world cares what they are doing. Because I believe Twitter is a great tool for making connections and sharing ideas with other skilled, passionate educators from around the globe. Then along comes Foursquare which allows users to turn in location-based reporting into a game. Collecting badges and ousting others from their "foursquare Mayor" duties.

Now I'm not arguing there couldn't be educational value attached to Foursquare (on field trips, for example), and I know there is a need to learn technology ourselves so we can help guide students to make wise decisions using mobile technology. I won't even scratch the surface on some of the privacy issues that need to be considered with any location-based programs. And I don't have issues with geolocation games (who doesn't like games?).

I'm focused on Foursquare's impact on Twitter because my twitterstream will now occasionally include:

"John Doe just became Mayor of Best Buy"
"Jane Doe just unlocked her newbie badge"
"I'm at Chick-fil-a at Northgate Mall"

(Sigh) Now I know I could "unfollow" users of Foursquare and these updates would disappear. But a lot of these people often bring real value to my network. I respect and learn with many of these educators, and I don't want to lose that value. And I am not against some of the social aspects of Twitter. I really enjoy some of the support and water cooler banter that is on Twitter every day. So I'll tolerate the updates on where you ate lunch because I value you, your ideas and your commitment to education.

But for the new user, the skeptic, the teacher short on time who is still evaluating Twitter or the tech dept making decisions about whether Twitter is a website worth unblocking for teachers, I think Foursquare is a negative force. I think it adds to the notion that Twitter is just a social tool meant to report "What's happening?" I think while Foursquare helps Twitter become a more "social" tool, it harms the credibility of Twitter as a "learning" tool.

So Foursquare users am I uniformed? Not giving Foursquare a fair chance? Missing out?

Additional Reading:

• Vicki Davis recently posted a Foursquare Beginner's Guide from ISTE (including Steven W. Anderson) that is well worth reading and maybe has a different view of Foursquare.

Image Credits:
Both images used were licensed under CreativeCommons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpstyles/3367761841/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marco40134/3264740932/

New Promethean Planet for Storage

When Promethean Planet recently upgraded their site and released the news they would be giving users 1 GB (yup, 1 GB!!) of storage space, I immediately thought of all the teachers I've known who've dealt with issues regarding how best to store their Activboard flipcharts.

Our district offers each teacher space on district servers, but teachers who are heavy users and develop and save flipcharts all year long often eventually max out that space.
I've seen teachers who have carried around several color-coded flashdrives each filled with flipcharts or purchased external hard drives to hold all their flipcharts. Of course issues arise when you don't have the equipment on hand or the hardware is misplaced or fails.

The best solution now may be to keep Activboard files on the Promethean Planet. I've expressed my love for cloud computing in the past, and I'm pleased to see Promethean is providing this service for Promethean Planet members. With 1 GB of space for flipcharts teachers can purge those "My Documents" and flashdrives and use Planet not just as a place to search for resources, but also a place to store files as well. Kind of a one-stop shop for Promethean-related files.

Teachers always need to be aware of the information they put online, but the vast majority of the flipcharts I own don't contain any specific user information, so I'll enjoy having my flipcharts in one spot.





The one drawback I can see in my plan is that I am at the mercy of my Internet connection and Promethean Planet's site, but the lure of 1 GB of storage is enough to get my attention. And as teachers who use Promethean Planet plan and prepare for the next school year, I'll encourage them to look into this free storage option.