I love conferences.  But even as someone who has made a presentation or ten at various events (admittedly, I get way too excited about sharing ideas in any format), it’s usually the conversations outside the presentation rooms that count.  However, whatever your motivation, the rising cost of travel (and it ain’t easy to get anywhere from New Brunswick by plane!), shrinking school and district budgets and personal time/money crunches leaves less and less opportunities for teachers to develop networks face to face.

With this cruch, on-line professional development opportiunities are becoming more and more prevalent, not to mention necessary.  Many commercial operations are offering fee for learning opportunities to connect, but the grassroots, volunteer-driven movement of the annual K-12 Online Conference (click on tag in right side-bar) far exceeds anything offered by the corporate world.  Whether it’s due to the commitment of the educators involved in the organization or the wide-spread viewpoints and special interests of the volunteer presenters, K-12 Online offers a valuable community-based opportunity for learners to connect.

It all starts next Monday with a keynote by international educator Kim Cofino (with whom I co-managed last years 1001 Flat World Tales collaborative writing project).  I am especially excited to hear what Kim has to say and follow up (hopefully) in the post-keynote discussions with other educators.

It’s all about the conversations – whether it’s on-line or face to face.  Maybe I’ll gather a few friends around the old radio set (aka laptop) and tune in with some cold ones and pretzels.

Let the learning begin.

Technorati tags: technology, education, whipple, learning, k12online, kimcofino

We’ve been busy talking about digital footprints and our on-line presence, present and future the past few classes.  My student intern just asked the class “does a digital footprint happen by accident?”

That got me to thinking – how does my digital footprint develop?  Of course, we know we play a large role in developing and managing our own profiles, but how do we begin to assess the power of what we write/publish?  How far can it reach?

This little fellow feels fine.

We can create our own portfolios, blogs, websites, etc and shape our presence through these on-line presences, but is that all there is to it?  Can we just avoid a Digital Footprint by not posting anything? What about the google full of other data out there with our name on it that we don’t have as much control over? What about the tagged photos in facebook? What about information posted by organizations of which we are a part?  Obviously, as more and more information becomes available in digital form and search tools/aggregators become even more powerful management tools, it will be even more imperative to have the skills necessary to assess and manage our own profile.

As an example of the power of the Internet to bring our feelings and ideas together, my student intern is showing the class We Feel Fine,  a new website that aggregates, connects and mashes together the plethora of feelings and emotions posted in the billions of blogs around the world.  Amazing.

So, what do our kids need to know about this power of the web?  How can we best prepare them for an increasingly connected world where they will be visible at a click of the mouse?

Technorati tags: technology, education, whipple, learning

Photo Credit: Então, Uploaded to flickr on November 12, 2009 by Malu Green!

It was just around 8:20 this morning. I had just fired up my laptop and turned on twitter, skype and my other connection tools, but didn’t check to see who was on yet.  I was half listening to the morning announcements and then I heard it, the familiar sound of the skype call.  Someone was calling me, at this hour of the morning.

Cape Spear, NL; as far east as one can go in North America

Without looking I answered, figuring it was one of my colleagues from Asia or Oceania looking for some info, but lo and behold the voice was a more familiar one. Being east of the east (the Eastern Time Zone that is), we rarely see anyone up and around from North America – most are still dozing or going through their morning routine.  However, there is one time zone even more east than Atlantic, and that belongs to our wonderful friends in Newfoundland and Labrador.

This morning, it was that province that beckoned me.  I recognized the first voice as that of my teaching colleague Keith Pender, who also happens to be a colleague from the softball community as well through his post as the Umpire-in-Chief for the province.  He teaches at a small rural community about an hour south of St. John’s – the provincial capital.

And then I heard them – his students.  He had promised them an audience using their new Mac computer in the class, and he delivered.  For the next three minutes I provided them with an authentic audience of one. While the audience might be small – it was not insignificant.  They were delighted to play the new song they were learning for me, and I was delighted to listen.

This is exactly the kind of opportunities our kids need to address the three critical questions (see previous post on this here) we/they need to address to prepare them for their future; how do we prepare them to be information artisans, how do they learn to develop personal learning networks and how to develop/manage their digital footprint. By connecting with me, Keith was able to model for his students how his networks allow him (and them) to learn, the role of an authentic audience and how music (and art and photos and video and…) all have a critical role to play in the information landscape of the 21st century – rivalling text as their tool.

For me, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet and engage with some wonderful young people through a colleague – and a gentle reminder of why it is we do what we do.

Technorati tags: technology, education, whipple, learning

Another in the installments of free wifi spotting.  I am at the airport in Ottawa on my way home through Toronto.  YOW doesn’t have free wifi, but – if you agree to fill out a brief survey – the airport will give you 15 minutes of free connectivity.  Guess I’ll have to type fast!

Andy Warhol said that everyone had their 15 minutes of fame.  Guess this is mine.

On Monday of this week we awoke to news that vandals had done significant damage to the cenotaph, the monument in my town that honours our veterans and serves as the central focus for Remembrance Day ceremonies.  This just two days before Remembrance Day itself.  In a smallish, close-knit town next to a large military base, this was a significant event.

I don’t have a significant record of military service to honour within my own family, but my wife’s father (deceased) and her mom were both involved in the war effort – her dad as a Canadian servicemen in WWII and her mom working on the home front as a young lady in her native England. She later met her husband to be and immigrated to Canada as a War Bride.

Today, because I am travelling, I missed the service.  In retrospect, if I had of been thinking, I would have attempted to be in Ottawa earlier for the national service – something I have always wanted to do.  With the damage to the cenotaph, it seemed particularly important to show my respect and express my thanks.  Now comes news of the tremendous outpouring of support for the veterans as the community rallies to repair the cenotaph.  I am always proud to be from Fredericton, but even moreso today.

To all of you out there, past and present, from Canada and other democractic nations from around the world, who fought for our freedom, thank you.  We will remember.

Photo Credit: Fredericton Cenotaph, Uploaded to Flickr on August 15, 2009 by Ed Corey

I wouldn’t call myself a road-warrior, but several times a year I get on a metal bird for one reason or another – usually a conference, softball event or, more rarely, pleasure. This time it’s softball as I am off to Ottawa for Softball Canada’s AGM. For those of you who haven’t flipped over to the “About Jeff” page, I am an international softball umpire and currently the National Deputy Umpire-in-Chief for Softball Canada.

Today’s routing takes me through Halifax, an airport I frequent rarely. It’s been several years since I’ve been here and it’s easy to see why it always seems to be ranked high on lists of business-friendly airports. Today, another pleasant surprise – Free wifi!

Halifax International Airport - home of FREE wifi!

Now, coming from Fredericton and our city-wide free wifi, I should come to expect this service as part of daily life. But the fact is, unfortunately, most airports and municipal wifi services are rich for the infrequent traveler. Try and find free wifi at O’Hare, Toronto or Montreal. Today, here at YHZ, it was as simple as clicking, entering an email (I assume I’ll be getting some promo emails so I gave them the G-mail account I use for such purposes) and away we go.

Now, for those of you who are jealous of my find, comes word that Google is giving travelers a digital Christmas present – free wifi in 47 airports across the United States.  You’ll have to likely suffer through some marketing, but now, thanks to the folks at BigG, you too can make your airport time connected without pulling out a credit card.

As I sit here in a very quiet departure lounge (it is Remembrance Day) there are about twenty people waiting at the gate for the flight to Ottawa.  More than half are on laptops or handhelds, connected to home, work and the world.

Technorati tags: technology, education, whipple, learning