#edtechchat #edcamp style

Tonight I participated in an event that was as productive as any Professional Development opportunity I have ever attended.  The #edtechchat was #edcamp style and was all about the participants leading the topics by posting the questions.  This was amazing to watch.  The expertise, resources, and connections are something to review, share and invite as many others as possible to join.

We all know the power of a PLN, but honestly, until I began to participate in the #edtechchat, I had no idea the amount and quality of information that I could find.  I asked a question, and within seconds, I had a response.  Let's face it, we all need more time to do the many things we have to do each day.  The ability to quickly have answers as we are planning, sharing with others, developing training materials, or compiling specialized lists of online resources is priceless.  

The "moderators" did a fabulous job, as always.  Thank you @ajpodchaski, @iplante, and @s_bearden

I also appreciated the 11 Year Old Keynote Speaker link provided by @cybraryman1 - this was perfect timing as I was thinking about including something exactly like this in a training session this week.

It was a perfect end to a stressful day, I love learning and this type of activity inspires me.  This is something worthwhile, time well spent.  

#youguysareawesome 

Student Learning with Gaming and Minecraft

The summer is a great time for spending more time with family, and it also gives me more time to learn about the kiddos in my family, what they like, what makes them laugh, their friends, and the traits that make me love them so much. 

I don't think there is a parent or grandparent that wouldn't do anything they could to make sure there are always happy faces, an overabundance of fun, and opportunities for the kids to be themselves.  Whether the summer fun includes swimming in the pool, playing soccer, riding bikes, riding in the boat, fishing, or looking for shells at the beach, there is always time for technology.

I am amazed by the proficiency of today's kids, they are faced with so many options in technology devices, and yet master them in a few minutes after having it in their hands.  After the ISTE conference and hearing about the educational benefits of gaming, I began to pay more attention to what they were playing.  I began to see what the presenters were talking about in a real-world example in my only family. 

This summer, both the girls and the boys seemed to be most interested in Minecraft.  They were able to tell me all about the game, how much planning was involved, what they were learning the "secrets" of the game. Both of the oldest kids (soon to be 10, and 9), gave me a detailed description of what the object of the game was and all about what they were building.  I saw the critical thinking in action.  They were learning from the game, improving their skills and deciding what to build next based on their successful experiences.  Their "presentation" was jsut a good as

It was great!  Amazing what a 9 and 10 year old can teach you.  Our students have so much to offer, we just need to give them the opportunity to share and listen to them.

There are so many resources available, but this one from TeachThought is a good one. 

Lessons to Learn From Minecraft 

Digital Citizenship and Technology Trends

Resources, resources, resources.  There are so many available, and focusing on specific topics is a challenge in itself based on the ever-chaning landscape of technology.  I recently ran across a presentation by Jason Ohler, University of Alaska (emeritus). http://www.jasonohler.com

The 21st Century Fluency project www.committedsardine.com has some great resources related to Digital Citizenship and technology trends that are extremely interesting.  One of the most interesting things I found was a potential mission statement for today's students.

"Students will study the personal, social, and environmental impacts of every technology and media application they use in school." 

That is something we sould all want for our students to prepare them for the future.

PLN's and Hashtags

Some of the most exciting uses of PLN's I have learned about in the past few weeks have to do with hashtags.  Of course, I was familiar with how to use them, had become proficient in searching for them, but had never used them to participate in a live chat.

After a few weeks of "lurking" in the #edtechchat, I finally decided to participate real-time and it was an eye-opening experience.  Within a few seconds I realized I would have to change to another app to make sure I could review the tweets quicker.  HootSuite seemed to work best for me.  I was still overwhelmed by the amount of information shared, and the differing perspectives were extremely thought-provoking. 

I answered the questions as quickly as I could, then reviewed the tweets of others.  I retweeted those which would be beneficial to some who follow me.  The next time I looked at the clock, an hour had gone by and I was still reading. 

Today I found additional resources on #edchat and am looking forward to reading more and sharing them as well.  I am working on Professional Development activities for our Administrators and these resources will help.

I realized that our District is far ahead of the game when it comes to willingness to learn new things.  Our Administrators are open to learning new technology to benefit our students, faculty, and staff.  Our new "Connected Administrators" activities are an opportunity for us to build our PLN's during the upcoming year.  I look forward to participating in many great things.

Steven Anderson's "Its all about the Hashtags" http://ow.ly/nfgqt is very interesting.  Enjoy!

BYOT Resources

There are amazing BYOD/BYOT resources available, and I have been compiling resources to use in Professional Development activities for the upcoming year.  Our District has  a long-term BYOT pilot which has been in process for the past two years.  We have about 150 students participating in the project, and have kept the numbers small at this point to make sure our infrastructure will support it well.  So far, we have been able to keep the network running well, and our students, teachers, and parents seem to be pleased with the progress.

The first year of the pilot we surveyed our teachers.  The majority of them who had students enrolled in the BYOT pilot were in favor of it, considered it to be reliable, and said the students were more engaged.  While we had positive feedback, we still wanted to continue the pilot for another year as we tweaked our infrastructure to allow us to get the best results from our network resources while we continue to expand for mobile devices.  At the end of year two, we surveyed the teachers again, and continued to receive positive comments, however, we still did not see the level of integration using the devices expanding rapidly. 

This year, we plan to spend more time with the teachers and in the classrooms focused on integration activities.  Providing resources to assist our teachers with BYOT integration ideas is a great first step.  I found some great information in the Cybraryman's resources for BYOT/BYOD and wanted to share.

Cybraryman's BYOD/BYOT Resources

Additional information can also be obtained by particpating in the  #BYOTchat on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. EST

An Hour a Day

Taking a break from the emails, planning, infrastructure, maintenance, budget, assessments, meetings, evaluations, Professional Development, policy development, and the long list of other things to be done in a day is difficult, but essential for my learning.  I recently realized that I must continue to maintain the balance at work, that I am able to maintain in my family and life.

I have always wanted to attempt to keep my head above the water coming rapidly from the giant fire hose of information by dedicating at least an hour a day to my Personal Learning Network. Today is dedicated to reviewing hundreds of resources I "saved" for a day which would allow me to spend an appropriate amount of time on them.  I decided to focus on building Personal Learning Networks and identify resources which could help me in this process.  Today I focus on Twitter.

I have used Twitter for some time, but have primarily been a consumer of the wisdom provided by others. Favoriting, retweeting, and increasing the number of experts I can follow with similar interests, duties, and those who consistently provide information which is helpful.  It seems as if there is no time in the work day to really concentrate on the resources, and only now am I thinking in a way that incorporates all of the elements possible when I am planning for the upcoming school year.

My hour a day has ben spent reviewing resources and pinning them to my boards on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/kallen214  (very addicting), and in ScoopIt http://www.scoop.it/u/kallen214 (awesome curation tool for me).  I set time aside to identify resources so that I can go back and do more than a spot-scan of the wealth of information found.

I am also working on the PFN - "Personal Family Network" with Instagram.  During a recent vacation, we were all talking pictures with our phones trying to recapture memories that would last a lifetime. We wanted to share them with other family members and posted them on Instagram.  It quickly turned into instantaneous fun and a competitive contest for the best waterfall and wildlife pictures.  This Personal Family Network was a teaching opportunity for the kids and adults who had not used Instagram before. 

Technology Race

Ok, I know blogging is something I could have done sooner, but was so busy with the day-to-day management and planning that I really didn't think I would have anything of relevance to say on a regular basis.  The day-to-day tasks will never go away, and I am glad about that because I truly love what I do.   

I set out on this journey as a result of a summer where the project implementations are minimal and I have time to reflect on the group's major accomplishments from last year.  I recently attended the ISTE2013 conference for the first time, and it was a great experience.  I have been to major conventions many times before, but somehow this one was different.

I was completely overwhelmed by the end of the first day, and came to the realization, that I would have to make decisions about the topics that would be of the greatest benefit to me, and what I could share with others.  This was an interesting process for me,  I made a plan, then a backup, and was determined to follow it.  All was well until I saw the tables where you could talk with presenters/facilitators one-on-one, and watch the students showcase their accomplishments and ask them questions.  It was fabulous, awe inspiring, and one of the best things I have ever done.

I went to some awesome sessions, learned so much from some of the best educators in the world, and had many conversations with a variety of people.  Their passion for education, experience, knowledge, and willingness to share was inspiring.

Deciding what to do with the resources moving forward is the challenge.  A few weeks before the conference some research on devices started to reevaluate my views on the future of computing.  I started to recognize the shift in my thoughts then, and the conference only solidified my beliefs.

All of us are overwhelmed with compiling, curating, and creating.  At the end of the day, all I can do is take them one at a time, let them sink in, and realize that the other resources will still be there for me when I need them.  Having organized groups of resources allows me to return to them for review, or share them with others as needed.

It is a technology race, but I will not always be the winner, that is not my goal.  I realize I will likely not have something to say every day, but can share resources with others that I find are valuable, and continue to review the resources of others and share them with the goal of student success in mind.  So, the bottom line for today is to enjoy the race and make a difference when I can.