Educational Technology and Life

“Oh, No!” Moments and Charging Multiple Tablets

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 20:09:52 +0000

By Second Grade Teacher Julie Stewart

We have had our share of memorable moments since receiving our Nexus 7 tablets. Things like charging multiple tablets and having non-homeroom students also using the tablets was now on my list of daily things to manage. It was going to be so easy…

I did not think too much about it, at first, because I thought it would be one of those easy tasks that did not take a lot of effort. When the tablets needed to be charged, I would just plug them in. It all seemed so simple. I suddenly found myself wondering how was I going to do this, and where on earth do I put them in my already crowded classroom? The minor problem came when I realized that I did not have enough power strips on hand. I called my teammate, Beth, and asked if she had some that I could use. Thank goodness for the IT department for having a secret stash of odds and ends for technological emergencies! With her spares, I had enough to set up charging stations all over my classroom on any horizontal or vertical surface that was available.

Before I could actually start plugging them in and charging them, my next task was to remove each charger from its box and take off the plastic bags and ties. After I got the USB cables plugged into the charging units, the tablets were finally ready to be charged. As I started this task, my college-aged son, Stephen, stopped by my classroom to lend me a hand. He helped me find a few more open outlets for the power strips, and we got them all plugged in and charging in less than 10 minutes. They were scattered all over my classroom, but each tablet had a home to charge. My “Oh, no!” moment was no more!

I had mentioned in an earlier post that it was important that I have identification names and numbers on all of the tablets. This was done to prevent major “Oh, no!” moments. Since my school does ability grouping for math and reading, my class decided that we should share our tablets with the other second graders who have me as their math and reading teacher. Doing this has allowed me to put the Nexus 7’s into the hands of close to 75 second grade students! This kind gesture made the other second grade classes very happy. By assigning each guest student a specific tablet, I have made all of them accountable for using them. This, along with adding LanSchool to each tablet, has made the students very aware of computer security. It also prevents 25 students from asking me all at the same time as to which one they should use!

A funny moment happened one day when I heard an “Oh, no!” from one of my homeroom students when she was looking at her photos in her photo gallery. She brought her tablet over to me to see. One of the guest students assigned to her tablet had been exploring the camera feature while usng her tablet and snapped a self portrait. My homeroom student remarked, “Well, it is okay, Mrs. Stewart. She took a really good picutre, and now you don’t need to show her how to use the camera. She will be an expert pretty soon.” All I could do was smile! This is the kind of moment that makes this teacher pretty darn happy.

My next post will be showcasing some of the work the students have done out in the field using their tablets and the camera to show their creative “wow” moments. You will be amazed at what they did with just a few minutes of instruction on using the camera feature and being set free on their photo safari in and around our school.

Nexus 7 Rollout in 4th Grade

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:52:38 +0000

Cross posted from the EdTechTeam blog.

We’re all so proud to be involved with this effort. The second class set of Nexus 7s the EdTechTeam donated for 1:1 student use was rolled out earlier this month…

YEAH!!!! The Nexus 7s arrived in Maine on Friday afternoon and we were able to give them to students just three days later. Kate Parkin (4th grade teacher) and I had spent time preparing for the devices, exploring apps, becoming familiar with various resources like Edutecher and Android4Schools and thinking about how to bring this to her students in the most productive way. Some weekend work went into charging, updating and preparing the tablets with each student’s Yarmouth Google account.

Read More on Kathy Wolinsky’s Blog…

Do any of you know of any schools purchasing Nexus 7s for student use? We’d love to connect with the educators in those schools as well – to share challenges and best practices. Thank you in advance for any comments you might leave.

Meanwhile, we hope you all have a happy new year celebration. :)

How to Succeed in Ed-Tech (By James & Adam)

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 18:09:38 +0000

I respect these guys, their company, and their product a lot. They’ve always been generous with their time and expertise – and I’ve learned a lot from them since first meeting Adam at an edublogger meetup in 2006. I’m thrilled to see Adam and James sharing their experience (and their focus on teachers and students) with others working to be successful in the education technology market. I hope this article (a manifesto of sorts) is influential and helpful for many, so I’m thrilled to share it here.

How to Succeed in Ed-Tech
By James Byers and Adam Frey, Founders of Wikispaces, November 2012

Along the way we’ve formed a strong opinion about what success means for us, and the short list of characteristics we believe are crucial for the success of ed-tech companies. We’re sharing what we’ve learned because the opportunity to improve education through technology is vast, large enough for many times the number of companies in education today. Taken in combination, these characteristics run contrary to much of the prevailing Silicon Valley wisdom about how to address this market. We hope that today’s young education startups will consider this alternate path.

http://www.wikispaces.com/content/topic/how-to-succeed-in-education

Since there aren’t comments on their site, I hope you’ll leave your own thoughts here below. :)

The Wagner Solstice Party 2012

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:41:07 +0000

December 21st is a Friday this year, and the winter solstice to boot. It’s also a traditional date for the party I’ve hosted every year since graduating high school. So, with no ado whatsoever… you’re all invited. Ping me if you’re thinking of coming and I’ll share the address.

This used to be a large party, but it’s been humblingly small the last few years. There’ll probably be a few of my friends from high school, college, and hockey… and with any luck a few Southern California Ed Tech people. If any of you are in the area (or willing to travel), I hope you can make it too. I’ll definitely be serving home made wine to celebrate the solstice and would love to share a glass with some of you face-to-face. :)

Android or iOS and Mobile Learning Philosophy

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:56:53 +0000

Twice today I found myself writing an email that felt like a blog post – and both were related to what mobile devices to choose and how best to use them. A friend asked whether he should purchase an iPhone 5 or a Samsung Galaxy S3 for his next phone, and here is a slightly edited version of my response:

If you’ve already got iOS or Android, that would be a major factor, especially if you’ve invested in a lot of apps. You’ll probably want to stick with what you own and know.

Other than that, the super short answer is this: I’ve had an iPhone since the original (and have a significant investment in apps, especially for my boys, ages 4 and 2) but I’ve just switched to Android. I bought the Galaxy Nexus just a few months ago, but just purchased a Nexus 4 today to replace it. That would be my recommended phone – it’s not quite so large as the S3 (a bonus in my book), and coming directly from Google it has (and will get) the latest updates first.

That being said, the main advantage of iOS now is the app library (but only barely). The selection of good apps for toddlers is much better on iOS, but everything I want for myself (and older students) is available on Android. If you have a Mac, iOS would also be an advantage for how well it’s integrated, but I also just ditched my Mac for a Linux Ultrabook so Android works out well, especially with the Ubuntu One cloud service.

The main advantages of Android are tight integration (and single sign on) with Google tools, and of course the variety and choice of hardware and software, especially because it’s open source. There are more and more small things I like about the UI as well, but ultimately the cutting edge phones are very equivalent right now.

Another colleague recently received a set of Nexus 10 Tablets from Google… but she has always taught with iOS devices. She was asking for some guidance and I wound up writing this (again, it’s slightly edited here):

For me, there are three overarching themes to focus on. The first is getting the devices into the hands of kids so they can search (in support of inquiry-driven learning, ideally for project’s they’re passionate about) – incidentally, the built in search App can use audio and images in addition to text searches. Teaching students good search strategies is key here, of course. The second focus is empowering students to collaborate – and all of the mobile versions of Google Apps are great for this, especially Google Drive. The single sign on with Google across all apps on the device is awesome – particularly if each kid has a device (or you have a specific account associated with the device). The third focus is to empower students to create (just as you would on an iPad) with image, audio, and video editing programs – there are many. The curricular apps are a far distant fourth priority in my mind – and the web will beat them for content and flexibility most of the time. I’m a fan of the open-ended tools, and Android is a great platform for that. So you can spend time searching the Play Store for other specific apps (many iOS apps are also there – or else there are equivalents), but I’d recommend focusing on these three things first – and getting kids doing meaningful work they care about. :)

I hope these thoughts might be helpful to others here… and I hope to learn more from all of you in the comments.

Diffusion of Useful Ignorance… and Self Forgiveness

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:18:01 +0000

I’ve been inspired to study Thoreau again, and suspect this will generate a number of posts here. I’m heavily annotating what I read and have found much I want to write about, some of which would be in the realm of “and life” posts – though some of it would be relevant to this blog in other ways as well, which is to say it would relate to education and technology. In the interest of getting something posted tonight, I want to focus on one particular idea that has resonated with me.

The purpose of education might be said to be the “Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,” but Thoreau suggests that there is “equal need of a Society for the Diffusion of Useful Ignorance… for what is most of our boasted so-called knowledge but a conceit that we know something, which robs us of the advantage of our actual ignorance?” Elsewhere he asks, “how can we remember our ignorance, which our growth requires, when we are using our knowledge all the time?”

In short, as educators, it is often difficult to admit that we are ignorant… but of course, no matter how learned we are, everyone is always more ignorant than not. If we are to be true educators (and if we are to grow and learn ourselves – and be lead learners) we must embrace our own useful ignorance. But we must also work to diffuse this mindset within our institutions – and among our students. Helping them to adopt an attitude of useful ignorance might be one of the best learning tools we can offer to students – and one of the best gifts we can offer them in life.

I’m not drawing this from Thoreau, but I’ve found that this attitude works well hand-in-hand with the practice of forgiving yourself for your own shortcomings. Together these two attitudes can help a learner (or members of an organization) to not only let go of preconceptions, but also to let go of the burden of needing to be responsible for having preconceptions (or accurate understandings) of the world to begin with. This makes it easier to accept the world as it is, to learn new things from new experiences, and in short – to grow.

I think Thoreau means many more things when he talks about “useful ignorance” (including his believe that there is a “subconscious magnetism in nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright”), and I suspect I’ll return to these more abstract ideas, too. But in the meantime, I’m finding this simple reminder to embrace and diffuse useful ignorance a pragmatic source of clarity, particularly in the context of sharing increasingly intoxicating information technologies with others. :)

EdTechTeam Values… and Thanks

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 09:48:49 +0000

This is an excerpt from something I wrote for the team back in February. It has stood the test of time well, and I’m excited to finally share it here. I look forward to any comments, feedback, or pushback from others. :)

Over the past few years I’ve found that my personal and professional values have more or less converged, so I’m particularly passionate about my commitment to these values… and I think they’re a good fit for this team.

Passion

We do only work that we are passionate about. Don’t accept a job from the team that you aren’t passionate about. Do feel free to send us leads you’re not passionate about, but know that I won’t move on a lead unless I am passionate about it… or unless I know someone else on the team that is. It follows that we also don’t provide or recommend products or services that we are not passionate about. Sticking to your passions is also a very positive way to ensure you never threaten your own integrity.

Flexibility

We are a flexible team. This is probably the essence of the EdTechTeam, and I often pitch this benefit to clients: “We are a nimble organization, able to be flexible and responsive to your needs… Our services can be scaled up or back as necessary, and we are experienced in developing custom services based on client requests. Because we always work on a contract basis, few of the commitments required to hire an employee are necessary for your organization to tap into our expertise.” I value flexibility over systems, rules, and precedents – and I value flexibility over checklists, goals, and plans. Flexibility is critical to the philosophy of the “lean startup” and that philosophy is key to our success and future growth. If I say “thank you for your flexibility” it is high praise coming from me.

Openness

We are an open team. I mean this in many ways. Most importantly, we are open with each other. Hopefully this message is a good step toward making that even more of a reality. If you have questions, concerns, or potential conflicts… let me (and anyone else involved) know. We are also open with the clients, educators, and students that we serve; we always share our opinions (and identify them as such); we always disclose potential conflicts of interest; and we always disclose any additional funding or support we might be receiving. And, of course, we always thank the people and organizations that have contributed to successful events and projects. Also, we share as much of our resources as we can. That is why all of our workshop resources and publicly posted materials (including blog posts and wikis) are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. We’re paying it forward to other educators and learners.

Creativity

We are a creative team. Creativity is a cornerstone of my educational philosophy. I believe that encouraging creativity is both a means for learning other things, and a valuable end for education to aspire to. I value working with creative people (like all of you), and our creative solutions to others’ problems are in a very real way what we are selling. We find creative ways to help people learn.

Simplicity

Simplicity is good. All things being equal, simplicity is better than complexity. Simple solutions are better than complex solutions. Simple tools are better than complex tools. Simple rules of thumb are better than complex manuals, and simple values are better than complex contracts. If in any case, a simpler tool can be used, simpler words will suffice, or a simpler route can be taken… we should always choose the most simple path to the solution we want. I feel my language in this message is simple, but I know it is still unnecessarily long and complex. I look forward to the day I’ll be able to express these things in only a few lines.

Health, Balance, and Authenticity

We live healthy, balanced, and authentic lives. I mentioned that my personal and professional values have converged over the years. These are three values (collected for simplicity’s sake) that I aspire to in my personal life, that I admire in many of you, and that we should look to for guidance as a team. We should not suggest things to clients, educators, and learners that would not be healthy or that would lead them to lead an unbalanced or inauthentic life; rather, we should encourage healthy choices, balanced behaviors, and authentic communication. I’m a fan of teaching “the whole child” (regardless of the political baggage this term may have acquired), and I think it is critically important to always deal with everyone, educators and students included, first as people. Discover their passions and their challenges if you truly want to help. The technology in our name and mission does not outweigh the health and happiness of the people we serve.

Giving

We donate 5% of our net income to put devices in the hands of students. As I’ve worked to reboot this business in 2012, I’ve wanted to ensure that giving is baked right into the business model. (Among other things, I was inspired by Blake Mycoskie’s Start Something That Matters.) When I asked myself what we could do, I kept coming back to the importance of putting devices in the hands of kids… to creating as many 1:1 situations as we can (even on an individual scale). We can’t offer any sort of 1-for-1 deal similar to Mycoskie’s TOMS shoes (it would be too expense to include the price of a mobile device with every workshop ticket… or to give away a workshop for each one sold), but we can dedicate 5% of our net profit to putting devices in kids hands. Inspired by Warren Dale, who provides some very convincing arguments for giving kids iPod Touches (which they will carry and use everywhere) I am giving iPod Touches to kids in schools with teachers (and visionary educational technologists) who will provide the best chance for the devices to be put to good use. UPDATE: The entire core team for the Google Apps for Education Summits has committed to giving away Nexus 7 devices… and I just shipped our second class set yesterday!

Synchronicity

We embrace synchronicity. Whatever cause or causes have brought all of us together, there is no doubt in my mind that this team is greater than the sum of it’s parts – that I am better working with you than I am working alone. Similarly, I trust my intuition… and I trust yours; your opinions and insights are extremely valuable to me. As a team, we should continue to embrace the happy accidents and meaningful connections that our work presents us with. I look forward to seeing how our efforts will be shaped in the months and years to come.

I feel the same way about this (sometimes dormant) blog. And on this particular day I’m Thankful for all of the happy accidents and meaningful connections I’ve found here with all of you as well. :)

See also a flashback “Thank You” post that still resonates with me 9 months later: http://edtechlife.com/?p=2942

Self Government and Education

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:00:53 +0000

I missed the chance to see Obama’s victory speech on the day he won the election, but I went back and watched it two days later, and I’m glad I did. I immediately searched for the transcript and copied it into a Google Doc so I could mark it up. I found a few passages particularly meaningful… and relevant to our mission as educators, particularly in the age of social media.

I often appreciate and respect the president’s realism, which may not be something his opponents consider one of his strengths. I think it is important to temper the “hope” and “change” (which are vitally important) with a more realistic (sophisticated and nuanced) view of the world if anything is going to actually get done – and if hope is not going to be lost in the face of difficult challenges. Incidentally, I think this is true for educational technologists (and perhaps educators… or people… in general) as well as for political leaders. In any case, I think we see an example of that philosophy from the president here:

Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated. We have our own opinions. Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy. That won’t change after tonight — and it shouldn’t. These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty, and we can never forget that as we speak, people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter, the chance to cast their ballots like we did today.

I also think this last point is important in our field. We can be grateful that we get to have the arguments that we do… which device, which policy, which pedagogy. And as much as we may grow tired of our opposition (and resistance to what we see as positive change), at least we’re in a position where the argument is a meaningful one and we do actually have the power to make the future a better place for our students.

I believe one of the president’s other strengths is challenging Americans to see a bigger picture. I think it’s why so many people who oppose his efforts feel he is bringing about an end to “their” America. I’m not one who thinks he is selling out our country to the UN, or Europe, or socialists (or whatever), but if the US needs to one day give way to something greater (perhaps in the wake of the UN), I am unequivocally all for that. A meaningful global government (that allows for great diversity in many arenas) will be a good thing for humanity, and this planet. I think the day has already come when we need to not see ourselves as Americans first, but as Humans… and not as “from America” but as “from Earth.” Sometimes the president’s frankly political rhetoric falls short of this vision… and sometimes it moves from the politically correct toward what ought to be. I saw that here:

We want to pass on a country that’s safe and respected and admired around the world; a nation that is defended by the strongest military on Earth and the best troops this world has ever known — (applause) — but also a country that moves with confidence beyond this time of war to shape a peace that is built on the promise of freedom and dignity for every human being.

We believe in a generous America; in a compassionate America; in a tolerant America…

I was proud to hear these words coming from our president. And again, I think this perspective is also important in our field… though I would take it an additional step. If we are a generous, compassionate, tolerant America… perhaps we should be working toward educational systems and tools that not only might benefit the 50 million American k12 students, but perhaps the 750 million k12 students world-wide. And there certainly are people and organizations working toward this aim. As I’m writing this I even find myself feeling a bit proud that I’ve been working increasingly on international professional development events… carrying our message face-to-face to educators outside the US. That being said, I know our team is only scratching the surface… and so far is mostly serving international and private schools with more resources than their local public counterparts. One step at a time… hope and hard work in the face of challenge.

Speaking about this change in America, the president touched again on the theme of hard work hand-in-hand with hope (both are necessary for real change to happen in any meaningful pursuit, especially on a national - or global – scale):

…progress will come in fits and starts. It’s not always a straight line. It’s not always a smooth path. By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams won’t end all the gridlock, or solve all our problems, or substitute for the painstaking work of building consensus, and making the difficult compromises needed to move this country forward. But that common bond is where we must begin.

Also in keeping with this theme was this next segment, in my opinion the most important (and perhaps most audacious) of the president’s speech:

The role of citizen in our democracy does not end with your vote. America has never been about what can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government.

In the context of our work in education this means at least two important things to me. First, it means that we can’t complain about the government’s approach to education (at least not unless we’re actively working to change it). It is our government. In a very real way, we are the government. And, things will not change for the better in education (or in any particular direction at least) until we the people rise up and make it so. This can happen at the local level. School boards have a tremendous amount of power, freedom, and flexibility to do as they please locally… and it is rarely exercised… but most boards serve at the pleasure of the voters – you can have it another way if you can craft a compelling vision and organize support for it. This can also happen at a larger level at the state departments of education (states still maintain a high degree of independence when it comes to education, though they too exercise it less and less), and at the federal level. In short, if we want something radical, like, say, a constructivist educational technologist as a secretary of education… we have to make that happen.

Second, it means to me that we need to prepare our students for a life of self-government. I mean this on a personal level of course… in that students need to be able to govern themselves (it’s a key to success in any field – and in life), but I also mean this in terms of participatory government. We need to prepare students to take things into their own hands… to craft compelling visions and organize support… to demand something different from their local, state, federal, and global governments (in all areas, not just education of course… kids are concerned about the environment, human rights, and civil liberties – and we should empower them take their government into their own hands to improve things in the ways they want). And, in this age of social media and participatory media – with the internet in everyone’s pocket (or glasses!) making widely distributed easily scale-able participation almost ubiquitous (among those who have access), it is not unreasonable to think that these technologies can and should make it possible for more people to participate in government more often. I would never imagine everyone voting on everything; we’ll need representatives for the foreseeable future. But there is no reason more people can’t be involved in organizing and lobbying… and no reason more people can’t be authoring, editing, or otherwise contributing to legislation… and no reason we can’t have voters vote on some more issues. Our government should be far more participatory – and far more transparent. There’s no reason a significant overhaul of our government shouldn’t be forthcoming in the wake of these technological changes… despite all the challenges and hard work (and mistakes) this will inevitably entail. Incidentally, I believe we should prepare students both to be more involved in their government no matter what new technologies bring and to help bring about the technologies to make self-government more of a reality in this country… and around the globe.

Perhaps this is a tall order, but I think it’s the cause we take on as educators (or at least as educational technologists). We have the power to make this happen. I believe we will. And I can’t wait. :)

A Focus on Individual Learning and Individual Technology

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Here is another exerpt from an email… I felt myself going into “manifsto” mode and thought it might be worth posting here. With full knowledge that this might be considered a controversial (or arrogant) stance, I offer this for your comments. (As I get back into blogging, I need to get back into pushing my comfort limits – and into not caring so much if something I post might rub a potential client the wrong way.) In any case, this captures some of my philosophy regarding where I should focus my time, and where I hope the people I work with will focus their time.

1. Our team is explicitly constructivist (and explicitly focused on social change efforts), so I hope you’ll encourage creating environments in which students construct knowledge by making, doing, creating, sharing, and working together on authentic work that matters to somebody outside the classroom. Don’t be afraid to downplay the importance of standardized tests in the lives of the students… and as a legitimate measure of a school system. To be blunt, I’m (at best) ambivalent about the Common Core Standards. Creating standards for a state of 30 million people was a bad idea – creating standards for a nation of 300 is doubly so (if not 10 times as bad). We encourage focusing on systems that allow individualized learning experiences for students – experiences that tap into students’ passions and are driven by their own inquiry. The Common Core can be an excuse for introducing some of these ideas into a school system if it’s a buzz word with some force behind it (since the common core and constructivist techniques are certainly not incompatible), but in the wrong hands the Common Core can also be an excuse to focus on tests and standardized “scope and sequence” or “pacing guide” style systems. If they want Common Core, give them Common Core with a Constructivist spin. If they don’t focus on Common Core, let it be.

2. Our team believes the most important change we can focus on (with respect to educational technology) is to get an internet connected device into the hands of each student… whether it’s a school provided 1:1 program or a BYOD arrangement, I would work to move them as quickly as possible to having every student carry a personal device to school – and home. This could be an iPod Touch, an iPad, a Nexus 7 (or 10), a Chromebook, a Macbook Air, an Ultrabook running Linux (like I use now), a Windows Netbook, or whatever. That being said, we’re sort of partial to Google’s solutions (and open source solutions) for their price, features, scale-ability and ease of management – and their tight integration with Google’s cloud services, which are important (whether Google’s or otherwise) for ensuring the device doesn’t matter. Naturally, we’re also partial to Google Apps for Education. In fact, if there were one thing I could teach all teachers today, it would be Google Docs – I think it has the most potential to change (and improve) the way teachers work with each other and their students – and of course, the way students work with each other and the world.

3. …Actually, that’s about it. Focus on meaningful pedagogy, and the devices to amplify the individualized constructivist approach. The rest is just details..

I look forward to the pushback in the comments below… and perhaps some “amens” to boot.

BTW, I can feel how rusty I am not only at writing, but at sharing. Onward… :)

What Makes A Good One-Hour Conference Session?

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 01:16:11 +0000

One of my original blogging philosophies (back in 2004 or 2005) was this: if I wrote something for work or school, I would post it to my blog (if it were relevant and worth posting). In my flirting with NaNoWriMo and DigiWriMo this month, I’ve realized that much of my best writing (and most of my writing of any kind) is happening in email. I sometimes write emails that border on minor manifestos, and I’ve kept an eye out for when I sense that happening, and then cut and paste the relevant portions into a document for potential blog posts. Here’s part of a message I wrote to one of the local hosts of an upcoming Google Apps for Education Summit. It captures some of my philosophy on what we’re looking for in a one-hour professional development session at the summits.

In general, we’d like to connect directly with the presenters as much as possible. A key element to the success of these events has been our vetting and managing of the entire program – it is not a conference with random sessions submissions. That being said, we would love your feedback following any local auditions you arrange. Your opinion would be very important to our decisions and direction – we do rely heavily on our hosts for helping to vet the “local talent.”

Also in general, our main criteria is that people leave a session informed and inspired. We focus most on raising awareness, but also want them to leave empowered to take next steps – and we know that a successful hands on experience can be key in making that happen. So we do encourage hands-on sessions, but that can be a “play along” format as easily as a “complete this activity” format. We typically don’t do “how to” sessions, though. Any attempt to do an activity in an hour should be bite sized, and easily differentiated for different skill levels. An ideal session might have a 10 minute interactive overview, choices for a 30 minute hands-on activity, and another 10 minute interactive “wow, look what you can do” demonstration. We also encourage welcome and reflection activities as the bookends to each session. But often a series of “wow look what you can do” moments each followed by “now you try” can be very successful in the hands of the right presenter, especially if supported by moving anecdotes, examples, and inspiring ideas. So we don’t put many requirements on our presenters. Instead, we ask them to share what they are most passionate about sharing – and only invite people we are confident will know how to deliver this magic. :)

There are certainly many other answers to the question of “what makes a good one-hour conference session” but this excerpt addresses one of the answers that has worked for us… and worked for me, both as a participant and an organizer. Naturally, I’d love to hear comments on these thoughts – and on what you think makes a good one-hour conference session – here on the blog. Please participate below. :)

What did I learn? Search Google News Archives

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:53:56 +0000

I wrote (most of) this on the plane ride home after the Google Apps for Education New England Summit last week…

If I’m going to blog publicly, I can ask myself… what did I learn this weekend? I usually learn something new at each summit… from dropping in on sessions, or from good questions asked in my own sessions… or, of course, from new tools or features released since I last ran my sessions. :)

Thanks to an attendee question, I relearned how to search the Google News Archives using the new interface. If I post this to my blog, I’ll have to re-record a new video of it. It’s awesome. In short, though, you can now access the Google News Archives by simply visiting Google News, and clicking on the drop down arrow in the search box. One of the options is to search in the archive – and you can limit your search by date as well.

Here’s the video… my first screencast using my new Linux laptop. I used RecordMyDesktop to create an ogv file and then uploaded it directly to YouTube. I forgot to turn up my audio input first… and YouTube seems to have crunched the resolution down pretty far, but considering I wasn’t up for a second take, I’m pretty happy with how it gets the point across. :)

Given my difficulty in articulating what else I’ve learned this weekend, I think another take away is this: I’ve got to make it more of a priority to spend substantial time in the other sessions in order to learn something new each time (and to take advantage of where we are, and who we are with). It will also help me have an even better idea about how each presenter runs their sessions and how the events are going. Right now I stick my head into every session (when I’m not presenting) to see how it’s going. I busy myself taking pictures (as unobtrusively as possible)while I get a sense for how the energy in the room, but I don’t usually stick around for the content. Most of the content is of course familiar to me, but I still pick up nuggets here and there, and there’s no doubt in my mind that the speakers at these events have vastly different experiences and expertise from mine – that I could benefit from if I put more time into listening.

That being said, I did learn A LOT this weekend, but not necessarily about educational technology. I continue to learn a lot about business… and about people (and organizations)… and about myself. These things just might not be appropriate for an educational technology blog. Depending on the reflections, though, they might work here (it is an “and life” blog too after all), or they might work on a separate blog – or perhaps on an anonymous blog. Or perhaps only in a private file – in a hidden directory on an encryped drive. I’ve been doing some journaling too. ;)

Back to Blogging: NaNoWriMo & DigiWriMo

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 08:18:13 +0000

Tonight I’m reflecting on the power of writing – and on the power of blogging. I thought it might be appropriate to share some of it here.

For the last three years I’ve had my eye on National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo). The writer in me has looked on with jealous interest as over a hundred thousand people each year attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

I once wrote a great deal of fiction, science fiction actually – and perhaps ironically, a great deal of poetry as well (which eventually became song lyrics during the years of 1996 to 2003). Sometimes I think the work I do now is also something like a marriage of these two genres, but since starting my Ph.D. in 2003, I haven’t written a new song… or new poetry… or a story (at least not a complete one of any of these). I sometimes thought I would write more again when I was done with the Ph.D., but that hasn’t turned out to be the case. Of course I still write. I wrote a 215 page narrative for my dissertation. On many work days I easily spend 6 hours or more writing email, planning documents, etc. – and many more hours than that writing tiny bits of whatever as I complete my work at my keyboard. But it’s very different.

So each year, NaNoWriMo captures my attention. I consider doing it, but I back out due to my workload. This year, I decided that it was more important to practice the spirit of it than to stick to the 1667 words a day (which would take me about two hours… time I don’t have every day). For now, I’ve settled on 30 minutes… and I’m not even holding myself to doing it everyday. So far my record has been abysmal, but… I’ve written more this November than in any of my previous “attempts.”

Most of it has been false starts and most of it has been crap. I’ve really struggled with what to write (or more accurately, I’ve struggled with committing to writing something). I started two stories. I started a blog post. I started a more personal journal. And I broke out my two book outlines for Educational Technology books (one based on my workshops over the past ten years, and one on based on my vision for what schools could be today).

Naturally, I’m questioning whether or not I want to write fiction at this point in my life. I love the idea in the long run… but in 2012, for the most part if it’s not family or work, I’m not doing it… and it seems hard to write something (oh I don’t really mean this, but) frivolous… something that doesn’t directly support my goals. I still fancy myself a science fiction author (with rejection notices to show for my early efforts – so I am a “real” writer in that sense), but it’s been years… and it may be a few more yet.

That being said, I may still benefit from something less structured than writing a book in my professional field. That doesn’t exactly help me “write things out” or explore other parts of myself. I find myself ripe for discovering a twist on NaNoWriMo… Digital Writing Month (DigiWriMo), which encourages writers to produce 50K words – in any digital medium. More importantly, it encourages writers to play with the medium (and most importantly, the effect) of their words. Anything online counts – blogs, twitter, wikis, etc.

This happens to correspond pretty closely with my long ignored goal to blog more regularly again.

I won’t have the time for 50,000 non-work related words in November… and I won’t spend the nearly 2 hours I used to spend on most “true” blog posts. I won’t even write for 30 minutes a day, and I won’t even post everything I write. But, I could actually write 30 minutes (or more, as usually happens once I’m rolling) on most days. And if I keep that up through to the end of the year, I might really have something to show for it… or even lots of little somethings, since I’ll certainly journal things I don’t post – and I may even write some fiction (perhaps for my two little boys).

It turns out I’ve had a very healthy approach to annual resolutions (or more accurately, habit changes) the past few years… and I’ve often used November and December to “try out” changes before committing to them for a year. It’s in keeping with the “lean learning” or “lean living” philosophy (as in “lean manufacturing” or “lean start ups”) of “testing early and often.” In any case, after trying this for two months, my hope is that writing 30 minutes a day might be something I’ll feel comfortable committing to in the new year.

30 minutes can be a long time if you’re just writing. This post was written in about 20… after I screwed around deciding if I would compose in wordpress or a Google Doc… and after updating plugins and themes on my wordpress blog. :)

One of the reasons I’ve chosen to focus (primarily) on blogging as the form for my writing this month (and perhaps beyond) is that I’m a big believer in (and evangelist for) connected writing. Durring my dissertation, I found the writing experience was much more powerful and valuable when I posted what I was writing to my blog than it was when turn it in to my advisor. And I continue to see that the value of my writing for others grows over time when it is shared. If any piece of writing is searchable and discoverable online it may be “accessible and useful” to others. It may help like-minded people to connect… and it may help those of differing opinions (or different resources and experiences)to challenge each other – and to grow. Even though I’m sure I’ll journal some personal things, too, I suspect I’ll find the same is true with this new writing process. If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ll share your own thoughts in the comments below.

And maybe you can weigh in on whether or not I’m really just avoiding committing to a 50K word project that requires actual planning – and avoiding putting myself on the line by writing something so substantial that others will actually judge.

More soon…

#nanowrimo #digiwrimo

Nexus 7 Tablets Given a Test Drive by Second Graders

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 03:45:08 +0000

By Second Grade Teacher Julie Stewart

Anytime a class set of items enters a classroom, there needs to be an organized method to monitor them. I realized that our new tablets could be managed just as easily as anything else in my classroom. I would just use the classroom student identification numbers I assigned the students on the first day of school. This would ensure that each student would always get their own tablet. (I will let you know why this is so important to me in a later post.) I made labels with their last names and ID numbers. I took a photo of each box with their last name and number. I then attached the labels to the back of the Nexus 7 tablets. After attaching the label to the tablet, I took a simple colored dot with the ID number written on it and attached that to the box. (This was cheaper than using label tape!) This allowed me to store the boxes and remember which tablet belonged with which box and have a file stored with this information. Beth and I also opted to leave the clear plastic film on the tablets to help protect the screens for as long as possible. We figured that this was better than nothing for the time being. We shall see how long this packaging film lasts as our cheap screen protector!

After getting the tablets marked with ID numbers and handed out to their new owners, we were finally ready to get started! I gave the students a brief overview of the Nexus 7, how to turn it on, and basic care and handling. Since the students had already set-up their Google accounts the week before the tablets arrived, it was so simple to have them enter their information after turning them on. Oh, there were a few who had to try it a couple of times, but it really was easier than I thought it was going to be. The only minor glitch was when it came to the step where the wireless security code needed to be entered into the tablets to allow for an internet connection. I realized that I had to put that information into each tablet myself! It happened to be our lunch and recess time, so I was able to get it all done by the time the students got back to class. Needless to say, they were pretty happy that I had every tablet ready to go. Their excitement was pretty high at this point.

After all of the start-up steps were completed, they were ready to take their tablets for a test drive. The first thing they wanted to do was visit was Google Earth! It was a simple and easy first task. Their first couple of stops on their virtual trip was their house and our school. Then one of the students suggested that we visit different countries. It was not long before most of them were gathered around the world map in our classroom and found the places they wanted to see. By the end of the class period, I believe that every continent had been visited by my classroom travelers. This proved to be a very exciting virtual field trip. I think the most exciting moment that I captured in a photo was when two students found out that they could visit Paris! It was a great teacher and student moment!

We definitely had a great first lesson with our new tablets. Our test drive was a huge success!

Second Grade Teacher’s Dream Fulfilled With the Arrival of the Nexus 7 Tablets

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:44:17 +0000

Cross posted at blog.EdTechTeam.com.

By Second Grade Teacher Julie Stewart

It is just about a year ago when I told Beth Mossholder, our resident Google Certified Teacher and technology teacher, that I was going to try to find a way to get tablets into my classroom. Little did I know that I could actually make it happen! After attending the Google Apps for Education Rocky Mountain Summit this past August, I knew I had to get the 21st century into my classroom for more than just one day a week when my class had a technology class. When I saw the opportunity offered from the Ed Tech Team to place Nexus 7 tablets into the hands of students for a pilot program, I knew this was my chance to make this a reality. I applied and am now thrilled to be part of this amazing journey that has already opened the world up to my students.

September 24, 2012 marked the beginning of this amazing journey for my second grade class with the arrival of our classroom set of Nexus 7 tablets. We had been following the shipment via UPS with their tracking system, so when we saw that they were in Colorado at a UPS depot just miles from our school, the class could hardly sit still! The school office was alerted to make the phone call once the truck arrived with this very special delivery. Beth and I knew our world was about to change in a matter of hours.

The phone finally rang with our much anticipated phone call. I quickly got the students to line up; how I managed that I will never know! I went two doors down from my classroom to get Beth as my second graders followed me like little ducklings all in a row. We started to hurry down the long hallway when hurrying suddenly turned into something similar to running. The chatter of happy voices disturbing every classroom along the way was priceless! Little faces peered out from behind classroom doors as we made our way to the school office. We were greeted with a smiling UPS delivery man with the special delivery from the Ed Tech Team!

This had to be the best day ever for my second graders! The addition of these tablets is going to change the way my students learn this school year and beyond into their futures. The 21st century has arrived in my classroom, and I cannot wait to see where it takes us.

Thank you, Ed Tech Team, for making a dream come true. Our journey has just begun and what a ride it is going to be!

New Laptop, Phone, & Service: Open Source, Unlocked, & Contract Free

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:18:56 +0000

UPDATE: I buried the lead… by switching from AT&T to StraightTalk I’m basically getting my new phone AND laptop for FREE. :)

Wow. I exhausted all the possibilities and finally settled on a new laptop, phone, and phone service. I’m going all open source, unlocked, and contract free. :)

Laptop: ZaReason UltraLap 430
https://zareason.com/shop/UltraLap-430.html

Phone: Google Galaxy Nexus by Samsung
http://www.google.com/nexus/#/galaxy

Service: StraightTalk Unlimited (Month-to-Month)
https://www.straighttalk.com/secure/ServicePlans

BTW, I’ll save more than $1000 over two years by leaving AT&T… plus another $1400 since I’ll be canceling my MiFi as well. I can buy a new phone whenever I want! (This made it easier to say no to the Samsung Galaxy SIII for now, as did the promise of Jelly Bean sooner on the Nexus… not to mention the Nexus was half the price unlocked. I really wanted to do the SIII on Credo for $199, but the two year contract at AT&T like prices turned me off despite Credo’s social mission.)

Also, the laptop has double the RAM of a Maxed out Macbook Air, and more SSD storage than possible with a Macbook Air… for over $300 less. And, I found great looking alternatives to all my favorite Mac Apps, including TextExpander and FlyCut. Oh, and they’re all free.

These are still not inexpensive purchases, but I feel like it’s money well spent… I was out the door for 15% less than I would’ve been with a maxed out Macbook Air and a basic iPhone 5. And with the savings over time with the cell plan, I basically just got my new phone and computer for FREE!

I guess I buried the lead, eh?

And of course I’ll be sharing my experiences switching from OS X and iOS to Linux and Android… and I’m looking forward to finally walking the open source talk. :)

See The EdTechTeam Blog

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 16:00:52 +0000

From May 2 to August 10 we were doing some legit team blogging over at the EdTechTeam Blog. It was a great experiment in Team Blogging and we hope to be back again soon with more new content. Meanwhile, pop on over, check it out, and leave a comment if you find something you’re interested in. :)

Learning with Google+ Hangouts OnAir

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:22:33 +0000

Yesterday we hosted a Google+ Hangout OnAir to promote the Google Apps for Education California Summit in Santa Clara, July 12 & 13. Our special guests were Day 2 Keynote Speaker Dan Russell, Ph.D. , spotlight speaker Rushton Hurley, and committee members Jim Sill and Molly Schroeder. Each of them shared a brief bio, and then a tip or philosophy from the session(s) they’ll be leading at the summit. It was a great Hangout, and I think, a great taste of what it will be like to be at the summit with all of these people – and hundreds more like them. We hope you’ll join us.

But more importantly, this Hangout was also a great learning experience.

For those who need to be brought up to speed… Google+ is Google’s new social network (coming up on a year old publicly). A Hangout is a feature of Google+ that lets up to 10 users video chat simultaneously. It also allows screensharing (and other add on “apps”), making it a powerful tool for learning. An OnAir Hangout is also broadcast for other viewers (who can leave text comments to interact with the Hangout participants) and recorded for future use. The OnAir feature is still only handed out to celebrities, public figures, and Google+ users with many followers. I received my access from the Google Apps EDU team.

In any case, this was my first true Hangout OnAir, not counting a few “tests” and a conference session I “streamed” at CUE last month. I tested this a few times before the real thing in the afternoon, and lesson one was the reminder that tests are good, but there’s no substitute for real experience. Increasingly, I’m of the opinion that this is the best way to learn, though… by doing, playing, failing, and then reflecting and sharing your experience. :)

So, I usually do a Hangout on my Macbook (three years old, but recently refit with a solid state hard-drive making it ridiculous fast), but I’ve had even better reliability with the Chromebooks in my office. So, I tested it out by hosting the Hangout OnAir on a Chromebook… only to discover that I couldn’t share my screen! I then joined the same Hangout from my Macbook and was able to share my screen. Initially I thought this was because the host couldn’t share his screen, but for the real thing I ran it from two Chromebooks and discovered that you can’t screenshare on a Chromebook (right now). I’ve since tested this… I can screenshare on my Mac regardless of whether or not I’m the host of an OnAir Hangout… and I can’t screenshare on my Chromebook no matter what. I read online that this feature was missing on Chromebooks last summer when Hangouts launched, but that by November it was working well on Chromebooks. I suspect the recent UI update to Google+ has sidelined this feature on Chromebooks once again. Hopefully it will be back soon. In any case, I still used my Mac to make my screensharing presentation during the Hangout (I was logged into the Hangout from two machines at a time during the whole event… first two Chromebooks, and later a Chromebook and a Mac.)

Unfortunately, we also had other issues – and not just the usual “my mic isn’t working, let me rejoin” type issues. Soon after the session started and I handed it off to other speakers, the tab hosting the Hangout on the first Chromebook froze. No big deal. The Hangout persists… but I lost the ability to force focus onto a particular speaker (usually Hangouts do their best to feature whoever is speaking at the time… and having others mute their mics really helps cut down on chair shuffling noises shifting the focus of the video… this is an old school video conferencing problem… but OnAir Hangouts allow the host to click on a particular speaker to force focus onto them). What happened in this case, though, is that the focus got stuck on me, even while Dan and Molly were speaking. Then part way through Molly’s talk it jumped to Jim, and I’m not sure why. The focus remained on Jim throughout the rest of the Hangout! If memory serves, the focus was shifting well during some of the live event (for me at least), so I’m not sure why the recording turned out this way. In any case, this is why it’s a blog post about learning now, and not something we’re promoting more for it’s own sake. :)

Happily, learning by trial and error (and “lead learning”) was something of a theme of the discussion during the hangout. John Hall, a potential attendee at the summit, joined us and let us know he was just learning about Google+ Hangouts, and I assured him that so were we. (I even mistakenly said I’d just learned that you can’t screenshare as an OnAir host.) Jim had to pull the “cooking show” maneuver to show off a finished product of a demo he tried live but didn’t come together in time (he was sharing Google Calendar . And even Dan tried to show me a trick in Google Books, which wound up not working… but it led us to discover another that did.

Incidentally, I also just learned that YouTube’s increasingly awesome online video editor is limited to only 15 minute clips, so I couldn’t annotate this video, by say, adding this link directly in the video: http://ca.gafesummit.com

Also, JUST NOW I tried to launch another Hangout OnAir (to test something) and wasn’t able to until verifying my YouTube account (via SMS). My account is now able to upload clips longer than 15 minutes. Apparently I was able to do that yesterday via Hangouts OnAir, but it appears I can now do that even through YouTube’s upload interface. Cool.

I hope this post might be helpful to some of you… and I hope many of you might consider joining us at the summit in Santa Rosa this July 12th and 13th.

And if you’re in the Rocky Mountain region, you might consider joining us for a similar event only minutes from the Google Office in Boulder Colorado on August 2nd and 3rd: http://co.gafesummit.com

We’ve also got summits planned for 2012-2013 in Mexico City, New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia, Singapore, the UK, and elsewhere around the US and the world. Each of these includes speakers and support from Google – and the potential for touring local Google Offices. Be sure to subscribe to this blog for announcements and updates, or follow us on Google+ and Twitter.

More soon…

Thank You

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 06:36:18 +0000

This is an excerpt from a response I wrote to a thread of messages between some of my colleagues and friends who recently connected at the CUE conference. What I wrote, though, applies to so many other people, I thought I should share it here as well (especially since I wound up alluding to the title of this blog, the first place I began to connect with a new sort of community, which might be called my PLN, but has certainly become much more).

This was definitely a special CUE conference… and our shared events have been increasingly so for me in recent years. This feels similar to the sort of connections you might be lucky to make in school, but we’re all geographically distributed already – and this won’t be “over” when we all “leave.” Our remote connections also make our limited times together that much more special… and I love that our “reunions” are spent making new memories. #climbingcue #cabanacue #latehikecrew etc…

There’s also something special about having chosen or found each other, rather than simply being brought together by circumstance (at a school… or home town, or workplace). It’s amazing how much I respect each of you (and so many others in our community) as professionals, as educators, as learners, and as people… and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have a more personal relationship with so many of you.

It seems to be a lesson I need to keep learning, but many of you have helped me rediscover the importance of the “and life” element of our work. In short, you make me feel good about being human. “Thank You” is an apt title for this thread. I’m very glad to have been included.

And I’m thrilled to end this message with: More soon…

For some readers of this blog, I’m very much talking about you (or perhaps you’ve experienced this with different people). For others, this might serve as yet another example of the potential power of a Personal Learning Network (PLN). In any case, please share any comments or responses here – or via email. And, as I used to end so many of my early posts, thank you for reading.

Image Credit: woodleywonderworks

EdTechTeam at CUE 2012

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 22:57:12 +0000

The EdTechTeam has just finished a busy week at the Computer Using Educators 2012 Annual Conference. Many of our workshop resources are available for free online (under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license). We hope you’ll use these, and share them with your colleagues and students.

www.edtechteam.com/cue12

Let us know in the comments if you have any questions about these workshops – or anything to add to the resources.

And, of course, contact us or fill out the online request form if you’re interested in bringing these workshops to your organization or your region.

Incidentally, I was particularly excited about my own sessions… both were new and both went very well:

What Do You Want to Learn? 20% Time in Education

Google Certified Teachers Share: What’s New From Google for Education

Google Apps for Education California Summit

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:31:08 +0000

I am thrilled to announce this here… it’s the beginning of a new chapter in my career, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

The EdTechTeam invites you to join us for the first annual Google Apps for Education California Summit to be held at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara on July 12 & 13, 2012. This high intensity two day event focuses on deploying, integrating and using Google Apps for Education to promote student learning in K-12 and higher education.

The program features Google Certified Teachers, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers, practicing administrators, solution providers, Google engineers, and representatives from the Google Apps for Education team.

Plan now to send your teachers, administrators, tech directors, library media specialists, tech support staff, CTOs, and anyone who is interested in finding out more about leveraging Google Apps for Education to support student learning. More…

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about this event.

Updated iPad for Educators Workshop Resources

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 03:53:39 +0000

The iPad for Educators workshop at the California League of Schools Annual Conference in Northern California went well today (despite only 2.5 Mbps bandwidth for the entire “lab” in the hotel). The updated resources are freely available (under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license) here:

www.edtechteam.com/workshops/2012-02-24

Please feel free to share these resources with your colleagues (and students). Please comment here if you have any questions (or have anything to add).

Image courtesy of nooccar via Flickr.

A Social Learning Aggregator (& Learning Studios)

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:04:59 +0000

I’ve made the first post on a new blog titled “What Do You Want To Learn?” The blog is an effort to aggregate resources and empower learners. It is also a place to explore the concepts of a social learning aggregator, and a physical learning studio.

Here’s a key excerpt from the first post:

In short, leaners no longer need schools for access to information. They no longer need schools to provide a network of people to learn from – and learn with. They no longer need schools to provide quality curriculum. However, they do need new tools (and mentors) to help them aggregate the open educational resources and distributed learning opportunities now available to them. And, they do need places to go where they can meet peers and mentors face-to-face… human spaces conducive to learning and creating… spaces where they can share their excitement, where they can participate in physical pursuits (such as dancing or building anything), and where they can build a sense of local community.

Feedback is appreciated, here or at the original post:

http://www.wdywtl.com/2012/02/social-learning-aggregator-and-learning.html

Apply To The Google Teacher Academy UK

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:42:31 +0000

Thinking of applying to the Google Teacher Academy? Join or watch a live Hangout on Google+ with past participants… at 12:30 PM Pacific time today. Catch it on your lunch break… or catch the recording after the event.

Google in Education originally shared this post:

Thinking of applying to the Google Teacher Academy?Join or watch a live Hangout on Google+ with past participants this Wednesday 8 February at 20:30 UK time (3:30pm EST). Instructions for joining here (and it will also be recorded). Add +Tia Lendo to your Circles.The GTA is a FREE professional development experience designed to help primary and secondary educators from around the globe get the most from innovative technologies. It will be held in London on April 4, 2012 (with an optional unconference on April 5, 2012). The application deadline is 16 February. +Wendy Gorton +Ian Addison +Danny Silva +Dana Nguyen +Mark Wagner +Becky Evans+Molly Schroeder +Ross Mahon +grainne phelan

More photos from Google in Education

Blended Learning Models and Haiku LMS

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:10:18 +0000

Instructional Technology Outreach at the Los Angeles County Office of Education (ITO at LACOE) is hosting Blended Learning Models and Haiku LMS, a FREE workshop lead by Chris Bell and myself. We’ll be covering integration with Google Apps and other Web 2.0 tools, and we’ll be discussing best practices (and Leading Edge Certification) for online teachers.

Description: Learn the basics of creating online classes with Haiku LMS. Discover how to seamlessly integrate Haiku with Google Apps, and how to easily embed other Web 2.0 tools into Haiku. Because the instructional model is more important than the technology, further discussion explores various blended learning models – and highlights the simple yet powerful features of Haiku LMS that support successful student centered learning. Ultimately, the less time you need to spend on the technology, the more you can focus on customizing instruction.

Fee: No fee

Target Audience: Classroom Teacher, County Office of Education Staff, District Administrator, Site Administrator, Teacher (Non-Classroom)

Location: LACOE Education Center 288, 9300 Imperial Hwy.
Date and Time: 03/21/2012 09:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Register and More…

If you’re in the LA area (or willing to travel), we hope to see you there. In the meantime, please share any questions or comments below.

Chromebook Camp with Google Apps for Education

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:23:53 +0000

Sean Williams and I are hosting this event in Los Angeles on March 7 & 8. We’ll be sharing the latest on Chromebooks (hot off the presses at the Google event in Mountain View later this month), the price is accessible, and the location is spectacular (with good food to boot). Here is more information in case you might be interested:

Chromebook Camp with Google Apps for Education
March 7 & 8, 2011 (at City Club in Los Angeles)

Brought you by the EdTechTeam, this unique professional development event for educators offers hands-on experience with Google’s fast intuitive Chromebooks, inspirational ideas for using Google Apps (and Chrome Web Apps) in education, and tips for getting started with advanced topics such as apps scripting or hosting your own instructional channel on YouTube – all in a spectacular setting. Registration is open for the introductory first day, the advanced second day, or both days. Best of all, everything you learn during the workshop can be implemented right away for FREE, with or without Chromebooks.

More: http://www.edtechteam.com/chromebook

Naturally, we’d love it if you share this with your colleagues in the area (or who might be interested in traveling to the event for that matter). And, of course, I’d be happy to answer any questions about what we have planned.

Personal Learning Networks for Educators: 10 Tips

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:59:07 +0000

Cross posted from Getting Smart news.

I often begin my workshop on personal learning networks for educators by asking these questions: Who is in your learning network? Who do you learn from on a regular basis? Who do you turn to for your own professional development? Some educators are lucky enough to learn from their coworkers or colleagues at their site. Far too many others feel isolated in their room or office, and need to meet with counterparts from other sites in order to have a professional learning experience. All educators (and learners) can benefit from extending their own personal learning network online – beyond the walls of their schools, the boundaries of their districts, and the limits of their experience.

I usually ask these questions at conferences, which are frequently only annual events – and rare treats for many educators. My goal is for workshop participants to leave the session plugged into a global network of like-minded professionals, who will broaden their experience and challenge their thinking on an ongoing basis. I share with participants these ten tips for building their own personal learning network, and I hope these might be useful for you too.

Learning to Network and Networking to Learn

1. Connect – The growth engine of your learning network is your willingness to reach out and make connections with new people. Leave a comment on a blog post or podcast, reply to a question on twitter, or +1 a post on Google+ (or like something on Facebook). Merely reading, listening, or watching is not connecting. The more people you connect with online, the more you can take advantage of the strength of week ties.

2. Contribute – If you have something to share, post it online where it may be accessible and useful to others. Your expertise (and even your struggles) are valuable to others who don’t have your experience. Anything you create for work (or your own schooling) might as well be shared, and might be valuable to someone else. Making contributions is a way to offer something of value to the new people you are connecting with. Sharing online is even considered a moral imperative by many educators; sharing contributes to the greater good. It’s one way we can pay it forward.

3. Converse – Over time the connections and contributions you make online will evolve into conversations as others respond to you as well. These conversations will in turn grow into relationships, if not friendships. Sharing something about your passions (and challenges) outside of work can also enrich your relationships. Someone you’ve connected with about baseball or raising a toddler might be more likely to respond to your questions about work as well.

4. Request – If you’ve made connections, offered contributions, and cultivated relationships over time… then when you make requests, they are more likely to fall on fertile soil. In circles of educators who connect online, making a request is acceptable and welcome. You’ll find that you’ll receive much higher quality answers and support by asking your network, than you will by simply searching online.

Networking Tools and Anecdotes

The four tips above are the core activities of building a personal learning network, and they can be applied using various tools to connect with others online. Although many other tools, such as wikis, podcasts, instant messages, streaming video, and more can used for connecting this way, some tools are particularly valuable for building a personal learning network, including blogs, Twitter, and other social networks, like Classroom 2.0 and Google+.

5. Blog - Though there will never be another 2004, blogs are still a powerful way for educators (and learners) to connect. Within my first six months of blogging (posting things I had written for work or school anyway), I received comments from six of the authors I had cited in my posts! Over the course of my doctoral research, my blog connected me with more researchers and practitioners than my university ever could have. These trends have continued to this day. If you read many blogs, an RSS aggregator (like Google Reader) can be an essential tool for helping you spend 25% of your time reading and writing blogs for professional development.

6. Tweet – Among educators (and much of the world), Twitter is the most popular social microblogging tool. The posts are short and easy to skim, and because following someone on Twitter is not a reciprocal relationship (unlike friending on Facebook), it is easy to create a custom group of people to follow – and to manage the flow of incoming information. Twitter has been the most powerful tool in the growth of my personal learning network from a half-dozen teachers in the English department lounge to thousands of educators around the globe. Twitter is at least as valuable to me for moral support as it is for technical support. The #lateworkcrew has helped me through many long nights of whittling down my critical tasks.

7. Join Classroom 2.0 – Maintaining a blog and posting regularly to Twitter can feel like significant commitments, and failure to post can generate feelings of guilt. Social networks such as Classroom 2.0, however, are a great place to start with an exiting network (no need to follow, friend, or circle anyone) and with very little pressure to produce. With over 60,000 members, if everyone contributes even a small fraction of what they read, the site is rich with content. For many educators, it is a great starting point for experiencing a personal learning network, not to mention learning more about how these tools are impacting the future of education.

8. Use Google+ – Google’s new social network allows educators to group the people they follow into circles, such as personal and professional (keeping these circles safely separate in a way that is more difficult on other networks such as Facebook). Or, more specifically, users can organize the people they follow into circles for specific subject areas, grade levels, or or even collaborative projects. Additional features are particularly valuable to educators, especially “hangouts” – video calls for up to 10 people, including screen sharing and Google Docs integration. Google+ is also a great tool for expanding your horizons beyond education. There are rich communities of technologists, photographers, and thought leaders sharing on Google+.

Final Thoughts

These final two tips will help keep your initial frustrations in perspective, and help you avoid the temptation to focus on unimportant metrics as you grow your network.

9. Be Patient - Many educators get frustrated when they first experiment with these tools, but building a personal learning network doesn’t happen quickly, and it isn’t a trivial commitment. It takes time to make connections and build relationships. It’s takes perseverance to continue when you receive no replies to your requests, and it requires patience to build up social capitol over the months that may be necessary before you begin to feel part of a community. But it is well worth the investment to one day have a 24/7 global network to tap into whenever you’re in need – or simply want to learn something new.

10. Be Authentic – As Tommy Spaulding says, It’s Not Just Who You Know… it’s how you know them. Despite the appeal of seeing your number of followers grow, or trying to post something you know will generate comments or re-tweets, it is more important to be authentic in your online connections. Don’t try to game the system, worry to much about your online “brand,” or in any way cajole people into following you or responding to you (with contests or incentives for instance). The more you reveal your humanity the more people will trust you, identify with you, and respond to your reflections and appeals. More importantly, the more you seek out the humanity in others, the more they will want to connect with you – and share with you.

Will Richardson, co-author of Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education has been a part of my personal learning network for years… and I was lucky enough to see him at a conference last week. He shared with me a challenge he recently placed to educational leaders: “If your school system hasn’t changed a year from now, I get it… but if you haven’t changed a year from now, you’re a failure.”

I hope these tips might help you start down the road of building your own personal learning network and becoming a more connected learner yourself – or if you’re well down this road already, I hope these tips might be helpful to pass on to your colleagues to get them started. If you have tips of your own for educators just starting to build their personal learning network, or if you have questions as you begin to build yours… please share in the comments below.

Note: For more on this topic, you might also want to explore Jeff Utecht’s book Reach: Building Communities and Networks for Professional Development.

Note: I’ve also been writing about this topic for some time. If you would like to read a brief article that goes into more depth on a few of these points, please see my article Learning to Network & Networking to Learn from The High School Educator in 2008. You are also invited to access the workshop resources for my most recent personal learning networks for educators workshop.

Stop American Censorship

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:44:53 +0000

I’ve censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet–a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit: http://americancensorship.org/posts/5850/uncensor

I am ???? ???????????, and I ???? you to ?????? the ???? ?????? ?????? Act and the ??????? IP Act. ????? ????? ???? ???? ???? and ?????? ?…

Happening Now: Personal Learning Networks for Educators

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:38:38 +0000

Happening Now: Personal Learning Networks for Educators. Please share – why do you connect with other educators online? What do you get out of it?

And bonus points for everyone who replies on Friday evening. :)

2011-12-02 Personal Learning Networks for Educators – Now with Google+ – EdTechTeam

Unbelievable – the vibrate function on my (long since) water damaged iPhone

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:08:36 +0000

Unbelievable – the vibrate function on my (long since) water damaged iPhone 4 came back! I just need the headset back and it’s fully functional. Wow. Don’t give up on your water damaged electronics. :)

Mark Wagner originally shared this post:

Mark Wagner – Google+ – Sadly it seems my iPhone 4 (that went swimming with me over…

A few times recently I’ve found myself using Google+ instead of email

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:08:31 +0000

A few times recently I’ve found myself using Google+ instead of email (when sharing with my techie friends and colleagues), and just discovered a compelling reason to do that – you can edit a post after you’ve shared it. :)

Of course, I’m not ready to give up inboxes, labels, filters, stars and all that Gmail goodness… but this is an interesting trend for me personally.

Gonna grab a late dinner soon at #clssouth.

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:08:34 +0000

Gonna grab a late dinner soon at #clssouth. Anyone interested in meeting up? (Work’s done and I hope to crash early after too.)

Google+ Hangouts with Free Voice Calls

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:54:30 +0000

Awesome. I’ll definitely use this for event planning calls.

Scott Ludwig originally shared this post:

TechCrunch | Google+ Now Lets You Conference People Into Hangouts With Free Voice Calls

Arrived late last night for #clssouth .

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:08:38 +0000

Arrived late last night for #clssouth. Setup the Maclab this morning, and I’m prepping now for the iPad workshop this afternoon.

2011-12-01 iPad for Educators at CLS South – EdTechTeam

Preparing to share this circle for a Personal Learning Networks Workshop

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:23:32 +0000

Preparing to share this circle for a Personal Learning Networks for Educators workshop this weekend…

Urge President Obama to veto indefinite detention of US citizens

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:38:24 +0000

Urge President Obama to veto indefinite detention of US citizens by the military – without even being charged with a crime: http://act.demandprogress.org/act/ndaa/?referring_akid=1053.375679.44T3iD&source=typ-tw via @demandprogress

Ask Obama To Veto Indefinite Military Detention of AMERICAN CITIZENS | Demand Progress

Blogs by Educational Leaders?

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:39:31 +0000

Blogs by Educational Leaders?

After the morning break we’re going to get into a segment on “Blogs and the Read/Write Web for Administrators.” Please share – what are your favorite blogs by educational leaders?

principals – m3d1

Technology Success at Your School

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:39:29 +0000

Technology Success at Your School

I’m starting a day of the Administrator Training Program at the Orange County Department of Education. During the welcome activity we’ll share successes with technology at their sites (or in their programs). Please “join us” by sharing here too – what is a recent technology success at your site or program?

principals – m3d1

Use iTunes Match to upgrade your older purchases to higher bit-rate DRM-fre

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:08:24 +0000

Use iTunes Match to upgrade your older purchases to higher bit-rate DRM-free music and then upload it to Google Music for free. :)

How to upgrade tracks to iTunes Match, fast

by +Jason Snell Macworld.com Nov 14, 2011 8:35 pm
“So you’ve bought iTunes Match, which gives you access to shiny new 256kbps AAC versions of your audio files. But by default your iTunes library is still packed with your old files. So how best to upgrade all of those old files, in place, to the new versions?”
Hat tip to +Danny Silva for the link. I went through these steps this morning, and left iTunes downloading the upgraded files. When I got back to my computer this afternoon, Google Music was automagically uploading the new tracks. (Note: This tutorial doesn’t explain how to setup Google Music – you’ll need to do that independently. It was already setup in my case and worked perfectly… though I may have some duplicate songs in Google Music though because of this… I’m not sure if the duplicates were already there.)

How to upgrade tracks to iTunes Match, fast | Macworld

This looks like a great deal on Android phones (if you happen to care… )

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:38:38 +0000

This looks like a great deal on Android phones (if you happen to care where your money goes… and happen to be progressive or left-leaning in your political views): http://action.credomobile.com/specialoffers/nov11/monsanto.html?ph=droid&pc=314294&&id=30991-2504876-oD4bD7x&t=2

Don’t miss the $350 contract buyout credit too.

CREDO Mobile, America’s only progressive phone company

I might be using Reader more again now that I can so easily share

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:55:10 +0000

I might be using Reader more again now that I can so easily share (outside Reader) on Google+ (and thus Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn). And, now that I’ve brought my contract with my biggest client to an end (December 31st), which felt a lot like quitting my job did over five years ago, articles like this are catching my eye again.

Also, welcome to the other side, Christy.

Tips for Starting to Freelance

#StopCensorship :

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:53:37 +0000

#StopCensorship: Stand with Senators who plan to block Internet #censorship bill- http://act.demandprogress.org/act/stop_censorship/?referring_akid=.375679.JcKNQi&source=typ-tw via @demandprogress

Stop Censorship — Take Action Before Senate Vote

Two of the five middle schools named as 2012 Breakthrough Schools are also STW

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:23:45 +0000

Two of the five middle schools named as 2012 Breakthrough Schools are also “Schools to Watch” (a model supported by the California League of Middle Schools) – Woodbridge in VA and West Carter in KY.

MetLife Foundation and NASSP Honor Ten High-Performing Schools

Middle Grades Matter

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:23:43 +0000

Middle Grades Matter

Kareen, a Teaching Ambassador Fellow located in Washington state, and Geneviève, a Washington D.C. based Teaching Ambassador Fellow, have written a blog post based on the roundtables they have been conducting with middle level educators over the last few months (including roundtables held with STW after the October Forum Convening and at the AMLE conference). As middle grades teachers they are trying to increase the presence and awareness of middle grades, so please share this with any middle grades teachers and administrators you might work with.

Middle Grades Matter | ED.gov Blog

I was asked: Google Music or Spotify?

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:08:31 +0000

I was asked: Google Music or Spotify?

Right now I think you need Google Music, Spotify, AND Pandora to have it all.

Google Music lets you put your own collection in the cloud (good for stuff you own but isn’t on Spotify… including stuff you recorded yourself… also good for listening to music you’ve already selected).

Spotify lets you listen to just about anything you can think of (even if you don’t own it) – and probably find a karaoke version of it to boot.

And Pandora rocks the smart playlists (great for discovering new music). Google Music has smart Auto playlists, but that’s just pulling from your collection, so it’s not as good for discovery.

And Google Music now has sharing via Google+ (which for me is better than Facebook sharing from Spotify), but it’s only in the Marketplace right now… not from Google Music itself.

I don’t completely know my way around any of these three, but they still seem complimentary rather than redundant. I’m most excited, though, to see how Google Music evolves, because surely Pandora-esque playlists are coming – and the library of available music will grow (I’ve been paying 9.99 a month for Sportify mobile, but I could buy way more albums than I do right now for that money).

Here’s my first shared “purchase” on Google+:
https://plus.google.com/109972393384120358602/posts/Ki5Vd8dMXuN

And an even better one:
https://plus.google.com/109972393384120358602/posts/2SmG7tWURXL

Mark Wagner – Google+ – Sharing my first “purchase” (it was free) on the Android…

Via @demandprogress: More Than 700k Have Acted

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 01:38:27 +0000

Via @demandprogress:

“More Than 700k Have Acted: Let’s Finish Strong

It’s been a show of force like no other: More than 700k anti-censorship contacts have been delivered to Congress so far this week, as the Blacklsit Bill gets heard in committee.

What an amazing day — let’s top it off with one more push. Please send one more message to Congress — even if you already have — touting our numbers and telling them they need to back down. Let’s make it clear that the Internet has risen up, and won’t back down until Congress heeds our calls.”

More Than 700k Have Acted: Let’s Finish Strong | Demand Progress

Exciting news about Rootstrikers from Lawrence Lessig:

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:38:38 +0000

Exciting news about Rootstrikers from Lawrence Lessig: Rootstrikers is also merging with United Republic to get money out of politics.

I just received the message below from Lawrence Lessig. It was an automated message of course… I signed up on the Fix Congress website a few years ago and have been following their efforts since.

The link he mentions (that you should go to) is this:
http://act.democracyfund.org/go/22?akid=48.2249.CFZ2y7&t=4

The video of Lawrence Lessig making this announcement can be found here:
http://vimeo.com/32219175

Mark,

VIDEO: Lawrence Lessig welcomes Rootstrikers to United Republic. More…
I am writing with some great news about Rootstrikers, Change Congress, and the Fix Congress First projects.

Over the past few months, a number of very significant funders of reform have decided that enough is enough. Led by Arnold Hiatt, former Chairman of Stride Rite, they have decided to form national powerhouse to advance sweeping reforms.

This is fantastic news for the movement, and for me. United Republic, the new organization, launches today at unitedrepublic.org, with a mandate to enact and inspire an extraordinary range of new and powerful work. We are also merging with the 250,000 members of MSNBC’s host Dylan Ratigan’s “Get Money Out” campaign.

United Republic will be led by one of the most effective political organizers I have known – Josh Silver, who ran the campaign in Arizona to get public funding enacted, and founded media reform group Free Press.

Because of their leadership, I will be able to focus on spreading this message effectively.

That message, as you’ve seen, has had to morph. However difficult it was to imagine Congress passing a bill to fund congressional elections before the Republicans took control of the House, it is impossible to imagine that right now.

Instead, as I’ve traveled across the country speaking about my book, I have been struck by how far we still must go to get people to connect the dots – to see the link between whatever issue they care about and the role of money in politics. Again and again, I have been driven back to a favorite line in Thoreau’s Walden:

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

What we need now is to recruit millions who are striking at the root. Millions who are helping others to see how every issue is tied to the money. And how we won’t make progress across a wide range of issues – whether you’re from the Right or the Left – until we address this fundamental corruption.

From now on, our efforts, along with the Get Money Out campaign, will all be merged with United Republic. Joining forces is the only chance we have to create the critical mass necessary to win this vital issue.

With this in mind, I’m asking you to do one thing today. Forward this email to ten friends, have them go to this link, and get them to join our movement. We will not send them lots of emails asking them to sign ineffective petitions. We will enlist them in a cutting edge movement to get big money out of politics. Getting them – and millions more – involved is our only hope of reaching critical mass.

When we started this project, it was clear there was a long road ahead. There remains a long road ahead. But for the first time I feel confident that we’re pulling together the leadership, resources and infrastructure that might make this fight winnable.

Thank you for your enduring support of this work. Go to unitedrepublic.org, stay tuned, and feel free to contact us with any questions about these exciting new developments.

Sincerely,

Lawrence Lessig

Take Action | United Republic

Via @demandprogress:

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:08:42 +0000

Via @demandprogress: The hearing is going on RIGHT NOW — and the deck has been stacked against censorship opponents. Let’s make sure our voices are heard anyway.

We Just Delivered 500k Anti-Censorship Signatures: Email Congress As Blacklist Bill Has Hearing | Demand Progress

Save our wild heritage!

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:08:52 +0000

Save our wild heritage! http://bit.ly/uxou7K

Save Our Wild Heritage

No way…

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:09:24 +0000

No way… this is real right now – and I’m online visiting other sites (even this one): “Oops! Google Chrome could not find www.google.com” Got a DNS error too… anyone else?

Google

Internet censorship is coming to America.

Mark Wagner, Ph.D. — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:23:43 +0000

Internet censorship is coming to America. We must stop it. Take action to kill the “Stop Online Piracy Act”: http://bit.ly/u5Vs2Q

SaveTheInternet.com | Internet Censorship: Not Today, Not Tomorrow