Really Cool Map Mashup

I have to admit--I have always been VERY social. So when I saw that a PA group started for NECC attendees I was very excited. Now I would be able to tell which of my friends in my networks were going to be there....but Atlanta is a big city, how would I know where everyone was staying?
I started by creating a google map--only to discover that I was the only one who could add placemarks. So I started my quest for map mashups that would allow multiple users to add bookmarks.....I have always liked frappr, but found that when I was on my district network I was unable to access it. Then I found platial. The basic concept is this: you create a map of a certain locations, add bookmarks and people can comment on the bookmarks you added or add their own. I created a map for PA NECC attendees so they could add the placemarks of where they were staying--neat because it could be embedded into the wikispace for the PA group as well.
Platial has some pretty cool maps....like good eats in NY and some cool features, like you can limit who can add to your map.....Then I started to think about OTHER more educational applications. What about creating a map of the battles of Gettysburg. Teacher can bookmark the sites, students can comment on what happened there. OR a map of natural disasters--kids can add the location and others can comment. If you are visiting my blog today--take some time to click on my platial map and let me know where you are visiting from!!!!

Understanding Tragedy in a Connected World...

Like many, I have struggled all day to make sense of what happened yesterday. Our schools are supposed to be sacred places. In a place where people come not only to learn, but to share their knowledge, to produce citizens to make this world a better place, such things should not happen.

My babysitter was a Virginia Tech Student. She found out today that one of her friends was killed in the massacre.

While I don't want to exploit what is a terrible tragedy, I can help but think.... think about how many students at Tech were getting their information from off campus through cell phones and text messaging...think about how a tech alert system in place may have changed the outcome...think about how the first footage from the scene was from a student's cellphone. I think too of how because of media and instant information repeated over and over, how painful this loss must be for those who are living it. My sitter is one of my friends on Facebook, I left her a message on her wall to let her know I am thinking about her and her friends. A group was started in her friend's memory on Facebook. In less than an hour this group grew from 71 members to over 370. I marvel at the power of the tools that are bringing people together in such difficult times...allowing them to communicate, to express, to grieve. There has been so much negative press about the dangers of sites like myspace or facebook and here is an example of how it is bringing people together in very powerful ways.

Vicki Davis talks about a world where technology is a friend, journalist, and tool of safety. where wikipedia has more reliable information than a single news source.

I grieve with the world and continue to pray for the families, students, and faculty who were affected by the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

Are you paying attention....

I came upon this video via Wesley Fryer's Moving at the Speed of Creativity--In the spirit of Karl Fisch's Did you Know PowerPoint and many of the other conversations being held about how to reach kids and teach them how they learn, I thought it worth posting. Not only does it have lots of good information, but the references on each slide to support. Not only that it offers ways to actually reach these digital natives. Interesting that it actually has more views on TeacherTube than on YouTube--let's hope that continues to stay unblocked in most districts.




Don't let yourself get STUCK.

Get ready for the future....

I came across this via Durff's Blog and Apple Learning Interchange...
As we move towards 1:1 in my school district, I think it is well worth passing along as food for thought.

Let’s have a little competition at school and get ready for the future. I will use a laptop and you will use paper and pencil. Are you ready…?

I will access up-to-date information - you have a textbook that is 5 years old.
I will immediately know when I misspell a word – you have to wait until it’s graded.
I will learn how to care for technology by using it – you will read about it.
I will see math problems in 3D – you will do the odd problems.
I will create artwork and poetry and share it with the world – you will share yours with the class.
I will have 24/7 access – you have the entire class period.
I will access the most dynamic information – yours will be printed and photocopied.
I will communicate with leaders and experts using email – you will wait for Friday’s speaker.
I will select my learning style – you will use the teacher’s favorite learning style.
I will collaborate with my peers from around the world – you will collaborate with peers in your classroom.
I will take my learning as far as I want – you must wait for the rest of the class.
The cost of a laptop per year? - $250
The cost of teacher and student training? – Expensive
The cost of well educated US citizens and workforce? - Priceless

It is worth noting that this was originally posted on Abilene, Kansas High School Dialogue Buzz website during the spring of 2003. . Given that 96% of students say that school is important for their success, and only 20% say it is meeting their needs and the fastest growing set of computer users today are 5-7 year olds. Given that at the time of this posting, in 2003 4%of US school districts were involved in a 1:1 initiative. By 2011, it is estimated that 24% of districts will be involved in a 1:1 deployment. The question shouldn't be are we ready...it should be are we moving fast enough?

It's time to rethink a few things....

I read blogs, a LOT of them--sometimes when I blog myself, I feel like an echo of others' thoughts but recently Will Richardson posted an interesting article in Education Week: Let’s Abolish High School and since I had the opportunity to see Willard Daggett speak over this break--I really needed to take some time to make some connections. From the Ed Week article, Will quoted:

“A century ago, there was no way to address these concerns, but, thanks to computers and the Internet, we now have rapidly improving tools that will soon allow virtually all young people to master essential material at their own pace, and to do so at any point in their lives. There will probably always be a place for the classroom, but it will be a place where intense and intimate learning takes place with highly willing students, not a step on an assembly line.”

a place where intense and intimate learning takes place with highly willing students.... I have some concerns about this quote. Daggett was very clear that while he has traveled around the world, there is no place he would rather be that the United States because we are the one country that makes it their responsibility to educate everyone...

FROM MY NOTES taken during Dagget's session:
Our schools aren’t failing—we graduated more 18 year olds despite facts that have more state tests to pass—more children living below poverty line…World outside school is changing 4-5 times faster than world in school. We are suffering from a skills gap. Change is a process. We cannot and will not be able to change until there is more pressure for change than resistance to change. China says they will be #1 in biotech—1 year requirement…India has 2 year requirement—yet many of our schools are teaching sciences in isolation. Project 720—requires 2 years of foreign language—but what languages are we teaching? In China 110 million people studying English—must pass proficiency exam in English. India has 168 million preschoolers. If the preschoolers in India were a nation they would be the 4th most populated nation in world. The Math & Science requirements to enter HS in India are higher than that of our graduation requirements. That is the ones they CHOOSE to educate—The problem is that the ones they choose to educate are going to have us for lunch. Are we talking about this in schools?

Will stated... It’s getting to the point where I’m either going to have to stop reading stuff like this or put my blog where my mouth is in terms of my own school system…Often I feel very much the same way...

When ARE people going to stop reading and writing and start DOING? There are quite a few bold educators...who are taking risks and talking about it. Chris Lehman, Marco Torres, Vicki Davis, Karl Fisch and the teachers at Arapahoe immediately come to mind and I think PA is taking some bold steps between the Keystone Technology Integrators, Classrooms for the Future, Project 720, and PA High School Coaching Initiative but it is systemic change that needs to happen and I think we have a responsibility to our students to have ongoing conversations. Because when kids are given the opportunity to work and learn collaboratively ---and they go on to institutions of higher learning, they come out saying THIS

So I repeat what Daggett said MANY times during his session...Change is a process. We cannot and will not be able to change until there is more pressure for change than resistance to change. I challenge educators to talk more, be less resistant and start to make some changes.

Redefining Copyright....

I have been mulling over the ideas of copyright, since I saw MWesch's Video...and since Google has recently been in the news over their lawsuit with Viacom, I have started to think about it a lot more.

Many of the teachers with whom I work have been assigning multimedia projects... very powerful opportunities for the students to show what they have learned. However, the questions that the students have raised as they come to me to consult with their projects have cause me to think a lot about the ethics of internet content....

A student studying stereotyping in advertisements... goes right to You Tube for her content and finds it is filtered on our district server. Retro Junk is a site which is not filtered, but because content can be added by anyone really does fall into the same category. Does it count as a primary source? Can the videos be used under fair use?

What if the student only wants to use a piece of something-they want to download the content? If they are not taking the video from the primary source, do they have the right?

In reality, a savy student can do a simple search for video downloader....Once they realize the file is not in a form that can be edited....ok do a simple search for file conversion... and viola instant editable video. Developers have created these types of software and they are free.....hmmmmm has really got me thinking.

So this morning I decided to test the process, see how it worked. As I was following links to kid of test this process, I happened upon film.com where you can find all kinds of trailers for movies, etc.... Kids COULD follow the above steps, find a trailer, download it, convert it and use it in a school project under the guidelines of fair use IF--they follow the fair use guidelines. HERE is a link to a ton of copyright resources. I really like the 2 page pdf chart from From October 2002 Technology & Learning Magazine . However I think that many teachers and students do not know these guidelines like they should when assigning (or completing) multimedia projects.

I try to convince the students that no matter what, these user contributed sites do not qualify as a PRIMARY source...that the content does NOT BELONG to YouTube, that sometimes the content posted on YouTube does not even belong to the poster. I try to steer them towards sites that are more reliable and often make the point that they are striving to make more effectively.

Some of the issues mentioned in this CNN video about the YouTube lawsuit by Viacom include Viacom's claim that even though they promised to remove over 100, 000 videos that violate copyright, tens of thousands of clips remain. While they suggest that YouTube establish a better filter system, the problem is that even when they do remove the videos in question, any user can put them back up. What was most interesting was that in my hyperlinking, this morning I ended up on Universal Pictures site. It was not surprising that a banner on the top of the site states "We have updated our privacy policy as of 3/20/2007. Please click HERE to view our new privacy policy. By using this website you are agreeing to be bound by our privacy policy and our terms of use." Of course these policies clearly state that everything seen or read on the Site is copyrighted unless otherwise noted, and may not be used except as provided in these Terms and Conditions without the written permission of Universal.

On the flip side, by going through the process to get what they need....are these students not developing higher level thinking skills, creativity, collaboration and all of those other great 21st Century skills we are trying to create?

Is it time for schools to start imposing stricter policies for violation of copyright in digital projects? And...just whose responsibility is it? OR do these uses constitute fair use?

Please offer your thoughts and help me wrap my head around this...

Is the TEST what matters most...

or is it the learning process? As PSSAs are going on throughout my district...makes you wonder.

Thanks to Chris Lehman for pointing out this song by Tom Chapin
Posted by ME in honor of the PSSAs that are going on this week
Not On The Test (click to HEAR this song)

Go on to sleep now, third grader of mine.
The test is tomorrow but you'll do just fine.
It's reading and math. Forget all the rest.
You don't need to know what is not on the test.

Each box that you mark on each test that you take,
Remember your teachers. Their jobs are at stake.
Your score is their score, but don't get all stressed.
They'd never teach anything not on the test.

The School Board is faced with no child left behind
With rules but no funding, they're caught in a bind.
So music and art and the things you love best
Are not in your school 'cause they're not on the test.

Sleep, sleep, and as you progress
You'll learn there's a lot that is not on the test.

Debate is a skill that is useful to know,
Unless you're in Congress or talk radio,
Where shouting and spouting and spewing are blessed
'Cause rational discourse was not on the test.

Thinking's important. It's good to know how.
And someday you'll learn to, but someday's not now.
Go on to sleep, now. You need your rest.
Don't think about thinking. It's not on the test.

What struck ME the most was the last line "Don't think about thinking. It's not on the test." Today I sat in on a webinar that pointed out that college teachers are still lecturing because that is what is expected of them--that although kids learn are different and they learn differently, they also want to be successful. This high stakes mentality and high pressure makes kids want to be spoon-fed information rather than taking responsibility for becoming lifelong learners. In thinking about your experiences with high stakes testing...what stands out for you?

Are you smarter than a 5th Grader...

Is anyone else as disturbed by this show on TV as I am? Grown adults testing their knowledge against that of a 12 year old???? I guess it really does support the idea of how much of the content of what we teach is REALLY relevant outside of the 5th grade classroom. Research supports that kids who learn via traditional lecture and those who are involved in project based learning do retain information differently. Perhaps the adult contestants might fair better if they had been exposed to project based learning when they were in school. Or perhaps Thomas Friedman was right in his book The World is Flat when he stated "In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears- and that is our problem.”
The fact that these shows are making it on tv... pretty bad---the fact that I am actually watching and thinking about it :)

Hello, Bonjour, Hola...

So I have received my first video comment on my Connected Classroom video.



HERE IS THE CHALLENGE....

Hello World" is the first thing people are taught to program in nearly every programming language. "Hello World" can also be translated into hundreds, if not thousands, of human languages....but how often do we really stop to say "Hello" to the rest of the world?

I challenge everyone that sees this to respond. You get two cards...the first should say "Hello World" in your native language. The second should be your message of hope, dreams or thoughts to the world on one card, five words or less. We will then compile the videos from all over the world and repost on YouTube...spread the word.

So to the 4 (5 as of this morning:) countries in which I have readers :) What do you say, are you up for the challenge? It will be interesting to see how connected we really are.

The difference between natives & immigrants

GAH--I love those bloggers who take such good notes that you almost feel like you've been somewhere...
While I find it hard to keep up with the number of Blog entries that Wesley Fryer has a day, the content of what he writes is always so amazing. Recently he wrote about Marco Torres' Keynote speech at MACE entitled Now What do we do with IT.
Some highlights for me (and I wasn't even there :P )

While Tech plans really reflect big differences in how kids and adults see technology
- adults see technology as a tool for RETRIEVING information
- kids see technology very differently than adults do
one uses technology, one does technology

I witnessed this first hand this weekend. We had gotten my 7 year old Nintendo DS for his birthday--within MINUTES of having it, (while I was still reading the directions) he had figured out how to pictochat his buddy...

Kids see technology as a studio, stage, and a community
Schools see it as a productivity tool

Case in point...the ongoing conversation about using PowerPoint

Wesley's notes also included an activity to have people name three events in history that have had a major impact on one's life

Always in the top 10....
– atomic bomb
- JFK assassination
- moon landing
- challenger accident
- berlin wall
- 9-11

Noting that no matter how many times this is done, no one ever writes down something they have read: It is always something they’ve seen or heard

anyhow...check out Marco's websites:

sfett.com
flickschool.com

and while you are at it, subscribe to Wesley Fryer's Blog: http://www.speedofcreativity.org/

More lessons...

I am continuing to reflect on Ken's post & responses to mine about the TOOLS kids need not being the tools of technology but the tools of learning--Jeff Utecht had a great post on the Thinking Stick about integrating technology and giving kids choices. Bottom line, they don't like it. However (and he said it about as well as anyone...)

We must reengage students in the learning process invite them back into the learning process and make them the center of learning, not the receivers of information. If we are going to teach students to ‘Learn how to Learn’ then we must at times push them to do so and get out of their way so they can.
One of my students in our teentek.com class came up to me yesterday and said:

“What do you do here MR. U? I mean you never teach us anything.”

Exactly!

I am trying to encourage teachers to create the rubric that demonstrates what they want students to learn, but allow the students to decide what that learning looks like to them. It is EASIER to assign everyone to create a power point or a digital storytelling or a wiki or whatever and often times that is what the kids want too--they want to know exactly what is expected of them....exactly what they need to do to get an "A" or to be "proficient". As the teacher becomes the guide rather than the all knowing giver of information, the teacher needs to turn control of the whole learning process over to the students. Only then are we truly preparing them for the world they are entering.

Sharing a few GREAT finds....

So I SHOULD be working on my graduate work, but I made the mistake of checking my bloglines and Julie Lindsay had a couple of great finds that I had to take time to record. The first find is blaring in my ear as I type...Musicovery. You choose the genre, mood, time frame, whether you want to listen to hits non-hits or new discoveries--it chooses the music--and creates a visual web that it follows for about an hour. Find a tune you like? click on the itunes or amazon button and go to the store for purchase OR listen for free....pretty cool considering I am working at the Panera and left my ipod at home. The next is a cool little counter from NeoWORKS that I have added to my sidebar--so far the only one who has visited my blog today is ME --but what a fun thing to embed in a class blog for students to see who is reading them. I always feel funny blogging someone elses stuff, but these 2 were too good to pass up. If Julie is not on your blogroll, she is definitely worth adding.

Lesson in the Yellow Needlenose Pliers

Some of my favorite things I am reading these days are right from the classrooms of the CFTF teachers here in PA. Ken Rodoff posted that he was in the midst of a Wikipiphany. He had given his class an assignment to use the Teacher's First WikiWalkthrough and then "teach" a group of teachers about wikis during a "mock conference". As soon as the assignment was given, the kids turned to the computers to create PowerPoints. I had 2 thoughts when reading about his lesson and the way kids responded...
1. What a fantastic expression of 21st Century skills....they turned to the computers to collaborate, to be more efficient.
2. Why did they go first to powerpoint when you had given them a new tool that they could have used to present?

It reminded me of a great article I once read...from the Journal of Computing in Teacher Education called The Lesson in the Yellow-Handled, Needle-Nosed Pliers

From that article

"So, while we fill the toolboxes of our future and practicing teachers and
arm them with the knowledge to use the tools for educational purposes,
let’s go a step further to assist them in organizing those toolboxes so that
their knowledge and skills are easy to access when needed. I’ll bet you know
how to swing a hammer, but knowing when a hammer is necessary and
when the job calls instead for a wrench requires some knowledge in context
and perhaps a bit of problem solving. Perhaps we make it too easy on our
teachers. We teach them about using a tool, such as spreadsheet software,
and then give them an assignment using that same software. The result is
that they become good at following directions, but they lack the critical
knowledge of when to use which tools and for what reasons. Unfortunately,
no one will follow them through their careers, standing over their shoulders
to recommend which tools will extend their teaching for any given lesson."

Are we doing the same things to our students? How many teachers are assigning the kids to do a creative project but requiring them to use power point, iMovie, and not allowing them to develop the skills of determining the best way to present this information themselves? OR because they are the digital natives, will they figure this out for themselves...

Newspaper 2.0

I admit it, I do NOT read the newspaper. It could be that I can't sit still long enough to do so...It could be that I start an article....only to be distracted by something else when I turn the page to finish that article. I have the same problem with magazines...Books are linear, I can do books, but magazines and newspapers I have never been able to do....until the internet.
I LOVE my bloglines. I can read and link, read then link, if I want to find out more, all I need to do is CLICK...it works for my attention problems. I like getting my news via RSS. I start an article, I CLICK to read more and there is nothing to distract me in between...News 2.0

We get the newspaper delivered at my house...my husband reads it daily. He likes being able to sit down with is coffee and turn through the pages, different strokes for different folks.....

I guess there are a lot more folks like me because This Sunday, I noticed on the back of the sports page that our newspaper has an EXPRESS section. All of the news in one page, visual with directions on where to go if you want to find out more. Under ON PAGE ONE, it shows the 4 stories that appear on page 1--just a summary. Want to know what is happening in the NATION & WORLD? There it is--title, one sentence, and where to go to find out more. There is the entire newspaper all layed out in this 2 page spread, short little blurbs with where to go to find out more. All it is missing are the hyperlinks :)

If you build it....

will they come?

Because technology is SO expensive to implement the question of "is it worth it" often arises.

...when everything is in place... the tools, the resources, the equipment, the reliability, the support... is it worth it? Does something magical happen in the classroom?

Having spent the last few months as a coach for teachers in a one-to-one setting, I can tell you that the answer to this is a resounding YES...

Want to see magic, spent a day in an English class where kids have voice...they use blogs and threaded discussion boards. They take notes in the "notebook" version of word. On a Friday afternoon they spend 10th period bluetoothing plans in preparation for the weekend, taking notes, learning how to access their files from the G: so they can be prepared to present on Wednesday...collaboration, presentation, research...

Want to see magic, watch a chemistry classes revising their labs using subetha edit. A physics class "mapping the wireless access points in the hs by sending information back to their classroom using the same program...collaboration, analysis, revision.

Want to see magic, watch RobTV...the weekly broadcast (produced even without a TV studio...) simply an enthusiastic librarian and elementary students who just want their voices to be heard http://snipurl.com/robtv...

Want to see magic...what about the class relating fictional literature about an autistic child The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime autistic kids to the true story of an autistic woman.

And speaking of magic...how magical is seeing the looks on the faces of a class of autistic students when they get to watch the "movies" they made explaining how a simple machine they learned about works

If you build it...they WILL come...

There IS magic is building these types of learning experiences for children...but it is important that the building blocks: tools, resources, equipment, infrastucture and support provide a solid foundation.

How are we supposed to talk about 21st C Skills..

when the things that we talk about...genuine TOOLS for improved learning are blocked by SPAM mail filters? How can we ask kids to create content if the places where they can host this content is blocked by internet filters?

I have had the ULTIMATE tech frustration today. I spent a ton of time this afternoon trying to send an email to a list of tech integrators. An email came through our coaching listerve asking for example of good classroom wikis to share with their administrators. After scouring my blogroll and del.icio.us accounts and reviewing my PETE & C presentation, I came up with the following reply:

Check out my presentation wiki from PETE & C
The main page is
http://theconnectedclassroom.wikispaces.com/

The sample wikis are on this page
http://theconnectedclassroom.wikispaces.com/World

Also check out Jenn Dorman PA Keystone http://www.cbsd.org/holicong/jendorman/ as a local example which is part of my page

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites079.shtml this is a good article to share as well

Vicki Davis (who skyped into my session) wrote about how she started using wikis in her classroom
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-i-started-in-wikis-flat-classroom.html
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com is a great blog to subscribe to...

Tried it again--referencing the blogs, without the addresses....STILL blocked....
So this is what I wrote--no porn, no ads, no junk and yet time after time it got rejected by the SPAM mail filter. Every day of the 40 or so emails I receive, at least 15 are SPAM in nature. My network administrator assures me that 50% of what he CATCHES is spam and yet almost 50% of what I receive is SPAM and information that is VALUABLE for teaching and learning 21st Century Skills is rejected. Which brings me to my original questions....

How are we supposed to talk about 21st C Skills when the things that we talk about...genuine TOOLS for improved learning are blocked by SPAM mail filters? How can we ask kids to create content if the places where they can host this content is blocked by internet filters?

BTW...If you are reading this from the CFF Coaches listserve, it may be your only chance to give me your feedback it :)

It's all about the book...

Maggie made an interesting comment about how librarians may feel about the "connected classroom" video. She stated that many "teachers do not feel that reading on a computer screen is actually reading--and that is all the reading many of our students get each day after school". This raises an interesting question about the definition of literacy and what it means to be literate in today's world. Not only do many kids ONLY read off the screen at home , many times they are ONLY reading from text and writing on paper in schools. If you haven't seen MWesch's Web 2.0 Video you simply must! The types of reading and writing that exist on the internet are different from traditional reading and writing that are happening in schools. So all teachers of reading and writing must engage in the conversation about how best to use these new technologies to teach kids about these new literacies. Donald Leu and his team at the University of Connecticut are talking about just that. We teach kids to read and write for different purposes, yet we ignore teaching kids how to read hypertext. Kids are doing research and while the original site is valid, may end up finding information that is unreliable based on the site where it is located. Even some adults link from place to place (site to site) without realizing that is what they are doing. Isn't it our responsibility to teach children ALL forms of reading and writing? After all, books were once the "new technology" as well:-)

Apparently I am VIRAL....

I don't know if anyone has read Karl Fisch's recent post about how his Did You Know slides have gone viral...but I feel like I have scratched the surface and the infection is growing inside me more each day as I wake and think about my future in public education.

My version of Karl's thoughts is appearing all over. Interestingly, I have found quite a few Canadian bloggers' sites (all in French) here and here and here even here and who knows where else :P Although unfortunately I had a minor in Spanish Bable Fish has allowed me to follow what people are saying about the state of teaching, learning and today's world.

Although most of the sites I discovered state me as a source--I was a little taken a back when I linked to one that had not only taken off the direct link to my YouTube video, but had made comments to it using Mojiti (video annotation service) in essence changing the work----or had he?

When I looked at what he said....in BEAUTIFUL prose....it was the story of a father....and what he wants for his children.....
Roughly translated..... the annotations read as follows...
I try to be a catalyst of the passage of the school of yesterday towards that of tomorrow
And this (of the photo of a factory job) since a few years already!
Where the chalk will not be a privileged tool.
From there the importance of competences...
VS knowledge
The dad in me asks it to you... PLEASE!
A whole heartfelt cry, not?

My comments to his posting (in French of course:)
As a mother of 3 and a public school teacher in the state of Pennsylvania, you can see why I created that video, no---although US centric as pointed out in other comments I have received, this is a GLOBAL issue. I realize as I see my video embedded in sites around the world. We can NOT finish the discussion OR change the subject. We need to stand up as parents and educators. Globally we must do what is best for our children and their world.

We are in a more powerful place than I can even wrap my head around.....
Thoughts?

Nice Wiki....

There has been a lot of talk about my video these days, video is a powerful media. I got an email asking HOW I embedded it right into the site--I thought others might have the same question...what a great topic to blog about---I am really digging this blogging thing.

My first thought for hosting was to put it on my own domain www.khokanson.net but I also wanted to follow the old practice what you preach philosophy so I decided to use a free video host service. the cool thing about youtube or googlevideo, or odeo, or any free video hosting site IS the ability to embed--when you post a video it gives you 2 things--a url to link to and and embed code that you can use to embed--in a blog, wiki, or whatever page takes embedded video.

I guess I got a lot of bang for my buck on youtube because with the tags flat world web2.0 and education a lot of folks have found it. I like that you can also set your videos to be public or private, you can set it so people can comment on it or not, you can allow people to rate it AND you can set it so it either can or can not be embedded by others. am actually being blogged about :) My same video has actually been embedded and commented on in 2 other blogs (http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2007/02/stephen-downes-connectivism-and-second.html#links and http://teacherdudebbq.blogspot.com/2007/02/by-way-19th-century-is-over.html)

The elementary school where I worked prior to my coaching job actually was hosting their weekly news on youtube now using eyespot (http://eyespot.com) which I am just learning about. It takes a while to load, but nice because on youtube there is a little image at the bottom that if you click on it brings you to youtube. Although it USUALLY jumps to a page with like videos that is not always the case. Eyespot as far as I can see, does not do that--but like I said I am just learning, but check out RobTV to seewhat these elementary school students are doing with the help of their very talented librarian. They have a really nice disclaimer as well.

TO EMBED IN A WIKI or whatever--as long as there is an "embed media" icon in the editing toolbar--you can add whatever video has embed text--in wikispaces, the embed media button looks like a tv--you click on it and when the pop up opens--you copy the text from the embed area of youtube (or whatever service you are using) right into the pop up box.

oh heck--if you are using wikispaces, the directions pop up IN the box and are much easier to follow
Add your favorite media clips and applications to your Wikispace in three easy steps:

1. Go to your favorite video clip, podcast, or embedded application. Anything from Google Calendar to Odeo to YouTube!
2. Find the HTML code to paste into your site. This will be found in a text box labeled "Embed", "Embed HTML", "Add to My Site/Blog", or similar.
3. Paste in the HTML below and click "Preview" to see how it will look. When you save your changes by clicking the "Save" button, your media clip or application will appear in your Wikispaces page.

As Ken Rodoff a fellow CFTF coach and Keystone so eloquently put it "all wikis can blog--but not all blogs can wiki"--to which I reply---either one is better when embedded--hee hee hee--there you go Ken--your blog is out there now you TOO are committed.
GOOD LUCK to all of you and hey, send me the link to your first embedded wiki / blog media--Maybe I'll blog about YOU :-)

Maintaining Relevance

As I sit listening to Will Richardson's Keynote at PETE & C--the question that stood out to me the most was...
As kids connect socially to the things which they are passionate about—how do we in education maintain our relevance?

What a concept---we....the teachers....and what we have to say.....does it have relevance to the students we teach? How do we make it important to them? I have really been thinking about this a lot lately as we begin to answer the strategic plan process in my school. How do we continue to support these efforts while preparing for high stakes testing? How do we convince people that we can't continue to do more of the same stuff and make a difference?

Will asked us to think about these things as teachers...
Who are OUR teachers?
How are we building OUR OWN learning network?
How are WE modeling OUR learning for our students?

Groups like The Keystones and GTO mentors, the Classrooms for the Future Coaches, and PAECT are starting to have these conversations...starting to make these connections. So I open it up to you...what changes are YOU going to make?