danthetechguy.net

Just thought I’d share a tweet posted earlier today…just an example why all GPS devices must remind users to have a good dose of common sense when blindly taking turn by turn directions.

This isn’t the only ‘oops’ found on Google Maps Streetview, so share if you have any. In fact, until recently, you could request directions from New York City to Paris. The directions were very accurate -with one major issue….A short swim across the pond, also know as the Atlantic Ocean. Here are a few other interesting finds on Google Maps: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/03/google-maps-shows-funny-directions.html

I forgot to include the latest Current mashup in my last post. Check it out:

Twitter / Current Mashup

Just in case you read my blog first thing in the morning, I’ve decided to embed the Inauguration video hosted through hulu.com. It’s amazing some of the things that have come about through this election. For example, the first presidential photograph taken with a digital camera, the first national conversation of major infrastructure improvements. I can’t wait to see what happens next. Meanwhile, here’s Hulu’s hosted video stream of the inauguration.

First of all, I have to apologize for dropping out of the blogosphere for nearly two months. Apparently I was not missed. I received to comments and none of my colleagues who supposedly subscribe to my feed noticed. I guess it’s because they dropped of the radar too. Holidays tend to have that effect on people. I decided to be that new blip on the radar after an invigorating weekend at work. (Yes I used ‘invigorating’ and ‘weekend at work’ in the same sentence.

I worked with a dozen of my trainers in an effort to build a solid foundation of research and best practices for three new summer programs. Each one has a particular tech focus. The topics include:

• web 2.0 in today’s classroom
• creating a 21st century classroom (changing practices)
• using technology with Marzano’s nine trategies that work

I can’t be a hipocrit. I need to practice what I preach. Blogging is not some trendy practice that should take place to polish someone’s online presence, but rather be just one of many ways a person’s voice can be heard in the world. This brings me to my next topic: social networks.

Over the past 2-3 months, Facebook, MySpace, and other social profile sites have gotten attention. This time it is not NBC’s To catch a predator. This time it has to do with individuals speaking their minds freely. It isn’t just all people speaking, but people that are involved in education. The two big offenders seem to be young adults trying to enter or graduate from college and established classroom teachers letting off a little steam. I started to write this piece in November, but did not want to leave a bitter taste in my readers’ mouths.

There are two issues at hand here. I’ll begin with the young adults. Students exiting high school have just come through an extraordinary point in their lives. They are learning independence, how to contribute to society (for good and bad), and how to have a presence in the read/write web. For whatever reasons, many young adults share inappropriate comments, pictures, and videos with a group of friends. No big deal…that’s the life of a 16 year old. The problem lies within the power of ‘friends of friends.’ All of sudden Johnny’s comment, sent to Billy, is seen by Billy’s sister, and then back to Johnny’s sister, who tells Mom. Try the Friend Wheel application at Facebook. (see similar Delicious tool) This is much different than kids 30 years ago. The only major difference is the medium. It’s no longer the rotary dial phone in the kitchen. College advisory boards are now looking at social profiling their potential students prior to accepting them into their prestigious university. Is this fair to students? They have gone through a point in their life that they (most likely) will grow through as they go through college. Those that don’t get caught on the other end as they attempt to establish a career at a business, school, or higher ed institution that screens them once again.

The latest news around here has been about local teachers losing their job, teaching license, or reputation because they were a little too careless about how they spoke about their day at work. What are your thoughts on Facebook as a tool for educators / professionals/ people wanting to be taken seriously? I do agree that there is a line of professionalism that teachers must walk carefully, that includes paying closer attention to what we say while we are online. It’s not long before a platform like OpenID proliferates all of the tools so that one account grants you access to dozens of aliases and the comments you leave - like a trail of breadcrumbs.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/3943618/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4YCirhhu-A

Embarrassingly, I have to admit that I have never intentionally attempted to tune in to the President’s weekly radio address. Why? Well it probably has to do with my age and with the medium that has been used my entire life. While I listen to the radio on occassion, I’ve never been a fan of radio broadcast. It just didn’t catch my attention. Now enters my personal learning network. With the evolution of the read / write web, I find myself searching for information that I can apply to my daily life, professional career, and personal interests.

If you were to dive into my Google Reader account, you would see updated RSS feeds from Ed Tech, classroom teachers, national speakers, authors, friends, and many gadgets waiting for review. Now I have a Politics folder populated with President Elect Obama’s weekly addresses hosted on YouTube, with thanks to ChangeDotGov. Now this content comes directly to my list of unread feeds.
So what changes have you noticed in this transition to a new Commander In Chief? Am I the only one that sees a change that has made a difference, even if it is only on a shallow level?

Here’s an interesting article:
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/11/obama_says_yes.html

A focus on personal learning networks – I shared my skype, twitter, blog, & contact information with total strangers that were supposed to reciprocate, however they didn’t know what these tools are. This networking opportunity provided me with a reinforcement of the idea that teachers are overwhelmed and afraid of not being able to keep up. I was glad to share my knowledge and experience with these particular tools, I only hope that they will go home and make these connections – to become not only followers of my tweets, but participants in the blogosphere as well. I look around the room in this presentation and see lights on or off. I hope that those that have a light on will share with others and those with lights off make connections to others so that they can become more aware of the possibilities for PLNs.

I almost lost it. The individuals at my table were SO OPPOSED to exposing students to the web. I heard phrases like “Kids don’t need to have access to everything out there” and “We don’t have time to include that stuff in our class.” I think back to some conversations with others in Ed Tech and realize that we need to work with teachers to refine their thinking. Technology is not an add-on, but an integral part of student learning and teaching practice.

Lesson Learned: When you introduce wikis, blogs, and web tools to classroom teachers, you must start out with definitions lead by examples. You must also take participants through the process of establishing each tool that was used. This provides on the spot guidance through creating a web presence. When participants go through these processes together, they are more likely to continue their personal exploration of these tools. Individuals that are not given support initially are not likely to go back to the class and start using this on their own. Also, teachers must be provided the opportunity for continuing this support long after the PD session has ended. Thankfully, this session ended with such support in a community wiki that is open to all.

Does this look any different than any other school out there today? At first, you might think yes because students have their own desktop, but of the thirty minutes I spent in this classroom, 20 of it was spent filling out reading logs, silent sustained reading, and shuffling worksheets from one student to the next. As a school described as a Technology High School, I found computers for nearly every student, equipment for every teachers, and skills that did not go far beyond the lowest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. I watched as classes supposedly used multimedia to reinforce the curriculum, but it was more of the same. Teachers read a book with students and then reinforced the plotline and history with a MOVIE!!!!! I asked the teachers how much of the movie would be shown. “We’re going to watch 20 minutes of the movie…” I was relieved to hear that…but then she continued with “…each day until we finish it.” This isn’t promoting higher order thinking, contributing to the greater good of a global community, or nurturing ICT skills or digital literacy. So I have one question, what would you do to support this school’s endeavor to become a technology enriched environment?

Don’t get me wrong, I believe news anchors are vital to our coverage of current events, but I am watching the Vice Presidential debate at home and came across HACK THE DEBATE.

Now, I don’t know what will be visible once you click on the link, but here’s a run down of what it was when it was live. You’ll need to understand two major components that went into creating this:

1. CurrentTV - a television station that broadcasts programs created by the audience…in essence it what web 2.0 is, but for television. It came about in 2005 and has been on the air 24/7 since then. Current.com came about a few years later as a way for the audience to be involved even further.

2. Twitter - a microblogging site that supports instant blog posts, limited to 140 characters (about the length of a standard text message). Twitter is part social network, part blog site. Twitter’s power lies in the built in features that allow tweets to mesh with other programs.

So what was on current.com during the VP debate? Think: VH1’s pop-up video meets CNN. As people posted their tweets marked with a tag #current, they would pop-up, in real time, on the Current TV airing of the debate. Most of the comments were relevant and appropriate with only a few making comments that were less than appropriate.

This is powerful! This is amazing! I can’t get enough of web 2.0 mash-ups.

Well I hope I Will Richardson doesn’t mind, but I’m going to plug his book in my blog by using a tool that will change the face of blogs as they can be used in education. Upon checking my Feeds for the day, I saw that Will discovered a great tool. The article, bookmarked at Will’s Delicious site can be read here: SchoolLibraryJournal.com. I just had to try and embed a Google Book Search text in my blog. I chose Will’s text because I just included it as part of a research assignment for a group of classroom teachers and technology trainers across the state (of North Carolina).

So here’s the text…check out the level of interaction that you have..zoom, pan, scroll, just as if it were yours for the taking.

So what would you do with a tool like this? (other than buying a copy of this great text)