20 Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

This slideshare from Simon Ward is great little resource for teachers. While there are multiple references to New Zealand the tools themselves are worth looking at. I see things like this as great for informal professional development for teachers. Quick showcasing with the option to see more if desired. Kudos to Simon Ward.

On a side note, slideshare itself is a fantastic tool for finding and sharing resources.

Easy Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

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Moving toward Greatness

Last week I read a short Monograph by Jim Collins, titled Good to Great in the Social Sector, and the impact this 35 page booklet had on my view of the role I can have on any agency was profound.

The book starts out with a simple difference between businesses and social agencies speaking about ways to measure greatness. In business, profit is a great way to measure greatness, however in the social sector, greatness must be assessed relative to the mission! This made me ask myself, how does my current agency measure itself? When I read our mission what will be our measure of greatness.

Collins goes on to give five frames that an organization should use to become great:

1. Defining "great" - calibrating success without business metrics

2. level 5 leadership - getting things done within a diffuse power structure

3. First Who - Getting the right people on the bus within social sector constraints

4. The hedgehog concept - rethinking the economic engine without a profit motive

5. Turning the Flywheel - building the momentum by building the brand

Each of these five factors will help to shape an organization and help move it from being simply good to GREAT!

This Diagram illustrates how each of the five frames interact and work together to help move an organization through the "pivot point", the moment when an organization changes its path from good to great! Each of the different frames is an important element all to itself and requires thought and time. This is not an overnight fix, but one that can be used by any member of an organization regardless if they are the head or the maintenance person.

I highly recommend this read, whether or not you have read the original book Good to Great.

Design

I have begun reading Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind and have started into Part 2; the six senses. The first of the senses described is Design. Pink says, "Design is a high-concept aptitude that is difficult to outsource or automate-and that increasingly confers a competitive advantage in business." (pg. 86)
What does Pink mean by this? I must admit that to me the answer is really nothing new, in fact he is just bringing us full circle to a time long ago...the Renaissance. Once upon a time, there were people who excelled in a multitude of areas, business, art, theology, science, architecture and much much more. These people were the premiere thinkers of their time, agents of change in a rather unchanging world. These men are now aptly dubbed Renaissance men (society was quite patriarchal then). Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Socrates, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and the list goes on were these types of people, and yes, most of them facilitated change.
More recently (within the last century), skill specialization, along with a focus on what Pink calls L-directed thinkers put a premium on those that were number crunchers, business minded and the like. Those with Renaissance skill sets were less valued for those that could specialize in a highly touted skill. However, the world is now saturated with these specialized worker bees and many outside the US offer these skills at a cheaper rate than those in the US. More to my point, and to Pink's is that this L-directed thinking is no longer a commodity, so what is going to set those that will be agents of change apart from the crowd? One of the answers is Design.
I heartily agree with this point. Creativity was once seen as the things of dreamers, but as so many now understand, dreaming and making dreams come true are the things that we really do value. Apple's poster campaign "Think Different" is a perfect example of how this sense of "design" really is one of the qualities that will make our future brighter.
Pink's book gives some exercises to help develop and hone one's design sense. One of the ideas I was able to put right to action was reading design magazines. I do most of my reading online, and therefore I am going to share two sites that Pink shares. The first is Ambidextrous, a magazine put out by Stanford university. The second is Metropolis, with emphasis on construction and materials. I am always looking to increase my knowledge base.
With my renewed interest in developing my Renaissance persona, I will be adding Design to my repetoire of skills to infuse in my classes, lessons and professional development delivery. With all of the educational technology tools available, there should never be a shortage of creative design.

Teachers and Web 2.0

This great slideshow from Sacha Chua (www.livinganawesomelife.com) is a wonderfully simple way of looking at learning new technologies. She takes an easy look at some of the reasons teachers give for not learning the technology, and adds a retort that challenges their current paradigm. The bottom line that I took away from this is that teachers are the most important component and that we need to open ourselves up to learn and change!

A Teacher's Guide To Web 2.0 at School

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The New Face of Technology Professional Development

The days of one person teaching one thing for one session are gone! With technology professional development topics regularly changing and the need for teachers to grow at unprecedented rates, the trainers are faced with teaching skills that require repetition and practice. Teachers are in need of regularly scheduled professional development that will build upon prior knowledge and will allow them to practice and learn in a safe environment. The old method saw a single trainer, usually with one after-school session teaching a large group of teachers (either of varying grade levels or varying subject matter) sitting in a computer lab. While this training was going on, a percentage of the participants were grading papers, surfing the internet, checking e-mail or doing any one of a large number of tasks that they saw as being a priority over the training at hand. Having been a teacher, I not only understand this, but am quite guilty of it. This begs the question, how do we train teachers on the skills that are taking over education, yet allow them to feel that their already diminished time is being well spent?

I have looked at this and am trying to take the model of my PLN (Personal Learning Network) and transfer it into my school as a microcosm of what can be. The task at hand was to develop PLN's within the teacher community and find a platform that will allow them to develop and learn at their own pace, while having a focus and a level of safety that will allow for experimentation and growth. All of this needs to occur, without teachers feeling like administration is taking even more of their limited time away.

Here are the steps that I took to set up PLN's in my school and start my teachers on a path to create their own PLN's as well. I started by asking teachers to take a self assessment of technology skills. This was not a punitive task, but rather a way for me to gauge where on scale the technology skills of each teacher lie. Once this was done, teachers were roughly grouped into knowledge level groups of no more than 8. Now starts the hard part. Each group will be enrolled in a moodle class which I (the trainer) will help to facilitate. The PLN's held in moodle will be enriched with a diigo group. This will allow the PLN's to share links, as well as discussion, readings, and other resources in the moodle room. These groups will go on all school year. Each group will be required to meet a minimum of 3 times in person. New resources will be added weekly and each participant is asked to log in once a week at their own time and own pace. The hope is that teachers will feel comfortable to support and challenge each other and that as the year progresses, my role as facilitator will wane a bit and teachers will begin to branch out and grow their PLN's on their own. The following illustration is The Networked Teacher created by Alec Couros from the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina as part of his doctoral thesis to signify the different ways in which teachers network in the 21st century. This is also a good model to use for the new professional development model. As a trainer, my job now is not to teach one skill, at one time, once. Rather my new job it to consistently provide opportunities for teachers to grow and encourage them to do this on a regular basis. As a school we set proficiencies for teachers to attain, but it is up to them to embrace the opportunities at their pace and grow. I will blog about progress as it happens.

Personal Learning Networks

This is a copy of the Guest Post I wrote for Educators' Royal Treatment. You can see the actual post at:

The Educators' Royal Treatment

Originally Written on August 16, 2009

When I was asked to write a guest post on this blog, there were too many topics to choose from.  Where do I start? I have been working in Educational Technology for over 15 years and have seen many different technologies come and go, as well as teaching methods evolve.  So what can I write that won't possibly be outdated or irrelevant in the years or maybe even months to come?  Then it hit me, Professional development.  This is an area that is changing so quickly that we cannot keep up with everything, but the one thing that is going to be here to stay is the Personal learning Network. 

The unique thing about a PLN is that there is no one blueprint for it. It is not a single piece of software, a single club or group, a single page on a social networking site, rather it is a collection of resources assembled by an individual to enhance and enrich their own Personal Learning.   It is just what it claims to be, a Personal network.  The success and efficacy of the PLN is dependent on the individual creating their own network.  There are a large number of variables that will add to the success of a PLN; the tools, the environment, the people in the network and of course the person whose network it is. Lets take a look at each element that was just mentioned.

The tools: this is the most basic part of the PLN and the most varied.  An individual must feel comfortable with the tools they choose and have the ability to navigate through each of them effectively.  Personally I have a large variety of tools in my toolbelt that I use to make my PLN work for me. I use Twitter (microblogging), Several Ning groups (social networking), My own blog (I write this one: http:teachtalk.blogspot.com), RSS feeds from many other blogs (written by people who I view as influential in Ed. Tech.) and of course there are my personal connections.  I make sure I network at any opportunity and try and connect these people with the online tools that I use so that I have more frequent contact with them.

The Environment: This is simply where you connect to your network.  Do you connect at work? at home? on line? in a physical group or cohort?  No matter where you connect to your PLN, it is essential to be a viable member both giving and receiving information.

Members of your network: As educators we are generally taught to accept everyone, and see the gems of information that everyone can bring to a meeting.  I too agree with this in most aspects of my life.  However, in my PLN, I am much more selective.  It is not that I don't think that there are gems that every educator can bring to the table, rather there is so much information out there, I need to beware of information overload.  Look for people that you feel will bring you the best information in the areas that you are interested in.  This goes both ways, just as you should be selective of the people that you bring into your network, you don't need to join every group you are invited to.

The Person who's Network it is: This is YOU! You need to be an active member in any network you are a part of, but in order to get the most out of your own, you need to be visible and active.  Don't be shy!

Personal Learning Networks are so important because the global community is becoming ever more connected and professional development for educators is becoming more and more essential to keep on top of new trends in teaching.  Gone are the days of after-school trainings that happen one time, and without follow up.  While there will always be in-school professional development, the need for ongoing growth in areas that the individual is interested in and can access at varied times is tremendous.

So where do you go from here?  You are reading this blog and that is a great start!  Get a twitter account and find someone you know or find me, Read others blogs, join a ning or simply just ask others what they do.  Build your network and be active with it and then when you are ready, pass it on.