I am in a class with some up and coming bloggers today (and for the next couple of days)! We are experimenting with our new blogs and coming up with ways we can use these tools in our classrooms and other areas. Stayed tuned and I will share what we are creating if the bloggers feel so inclined.
If you are new to using WordPress.com, especially if I have encouraged you to do so as of late, you will notice the new administration design in the dashboard. In our blogging workshop this past Thursday I was able to warn those in attendance, but now I send out a message to everyone else to relax and remain calm. 
My good friend Brad Kovach has a nice explanation of the new features of WordPress 2.5. Obviously he is using the actual install, but what he shares is beneficial and I know it will answer several questions that may arise. Read his article at the following link: A look at WordPress 2.5
The changes you see now in the WordPress dashboard will take some getting used to, but I believe we will see the redesign as better organized for the user. Let me know your thoughts and comments on the new design; and, of course, please ask questions so that you can find your way if you aren’t sure where something is located now!
So, let’s see, I suppose we are due for some new video tutorials aren’t we!?! I will have to get my headset mic ready and fire up Jing next week. In the meantime remember: relax and remain calm. 
Peace!
Last week was the one year anniversary of this fledgling blog that has become a wonderful personal resource and has seemed to help a few people along the way. It seems that life has been so very busy as of late that it is difficult to keep up with posting interesting tidbits, but I keep plugging away and manage to get things that are of at least value to me published here at H I T. I am very appreciative of my encouraging and faithful readers who share more with me than I can ever imagine sharing with them. My RSS reader is full of great content every day and with this busy life I find myself unable to keep up with that either! It is time to simplify a bit, reorganize, and focus. Thanks again to all who come this way from time to time, and may peace be unto you all forever.
I like this blog: Students 2.0!
Today is a continuing education day in our district and several offerings are on tap for staff to partake of (Several offerings are associated with Atomic Learning tutorials!):
Quia (Another Tutorial Resource: Hot Potatoes)
Here are some bloggers from my district. Each in their own way are using blogging as a tool to help their students. Enjoy!
This has been a busy and exciting week for me. I had the opportunity to teach another SMART Board mini class on Tuesday. We had parent teacher conferences last night and this morning and deployed the parent portal portion of our student information system. Many parents stopped by our display to gain their access code that allows them to view their children’s grades online. Special thanks to Connie, and it was a pleasure to work alongside her!!!
This afternoon I took part in a professional development with the staff from one of the middle schools in our district, and we learned about RSS and everyone left with a brand new blog added to their arsenal of teaching tools. I look forward to following up and supporting these great teachers in their pursuits of blogging, and I hope that it becomes a useful tool for many of them and their students.
This middle school staff is great, and I have to admit each time I am with them or in their building I wish I was teaching with them, sharing their students, and being a part of what is very special. Their instructional leader is superior and a person that I am honored to work with. They may not even recognize the excellent situation they all have, and if they do I hope they cherish it, nurture it, and hang on to it with all their beings. Madison Middle School, I am completely impressed with you all. Thanks for letting me be a small part of all you do!!! Peace!
Several educators are sitting in front of me right now watching me type this into my blog!!!
Updated info to this post!!!
Click Here for a Mini Class Video Review (at TeacherTube)
Links to web resources shown in the mini class:
Read/Write Web has an interesting article written by Richard MacManus titled “Fear of Web 2.0.” I include their great image from the article here too! Enjoy!
Which of the following blog hosts would work best for beginning users in an educational setting? I have my ideas, but what are yours? Please feel free to add to the list.
The list:
WordPress
Netvibes
EduBlogs
Learner Blogs
Gaggle.net
Landmarks Class Blogmeister
Gcast
World Bridges
ePals
Elgg
21 Classes
Freewebs
I first became aware of the National School Boards Association report “Creating and Connecting/Research and Guidelines on Online Social-and Educational-Networking” in David Warlick’s post at his blog 2¢ Worth.
Recommendations from the report include:
“Explore social networking sites.”
“Consider using social networking for staff communications and professional development.”
“Find ways to harness the educational value of social networking.”
“Ensure equitable access.”
“Pay attention to the nonconformists.”
“Reexamine social networking policies.”
“Encourage social networking companies to increase educational value.”
The report also states: “Safety policies remain important, as does teaching students about online safety and responsible online expression–but students may learn these lessons better while they’re actually using social networking tools.”
David has begun a conversation at his blog concerning this report and I invite you to click on over and take part.
When you plant a seed there are many things that need to happen in order for it to grow. Fertilizer, good soil, water, regular weeding, and so on. Seeds can be cast anywhere with hopes that they will grow, but if unattended their chances of maturing into a flowering plant are by luck at best.
Blogging in education, for many, is an idea or seed waiting to be planted, and I have had the fortune of helping three principals begin the blogging adventure. For now they are experimenting, and I hope to share their accomplishments in the future. I realize that this is just the beginning of educational leaders using a wonderful collaboration tool on personal and professional levels.
A comfort zone needs to be reached at the beginning, and I realize that I must be a gardener in the process. Follow-up and encouragement are in order to help these great people grow and blossom with their blogs. Principals are change agents and champions of innovation, and I know through their examples they can make the biggest impact on the teachers in their schools.
There are many things that can be done with a blog, and that is the beauty of this tool. For the practice to flourish it must be attended to by an audience, and that audience begins with the first person that stops by the garden to look around and that partakes of the fruit that has been planted. I am watching these new gardens with their blogging seeds that are just taking root, and I want to see the fruits of their labors spread throughout their schools and community. Fertilizer, good soil, water, regular weeding: I have important work to do!
Today I finished Will Richardson’s book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. I have always appreciated Will’s viewpoints on his blog, and I like the straightforward, easy to understand approach he presents in his book. Having used many of these tools in my classroom for over a year now, I was familiar with much of what Will shares, but I had many “I should have tried that moments!!!” Now, I am in a new position (district level educational technology specialist) with a new audience (educators) and the book proved valuable in giving me ideas and ways that I can share these tools with teachers.
Teachers themselves will benefit from reading this book (Get it ASAP!), and I believe it would serve as an excellent textbook for in-service training and for use in teacher preparation programs. Even a seasoned Web 2.0 teacher (Can there be such a thing in such a short period of time!?! will pick up new ideas or ways of using these tools that they hadn’t thought of before! As with any text that concerns the web the reader will encounter shared links that have since moved on in such a short time since the book was published; nevertheless, I could easily search the name of a particular person or topic mentioned and find the new location of the information on the web. (Maybe Will could add a page to his blog with updates or create a wiki page where readers could help update links.)
The book, to me, is written for the now, and it is intended to jump start educators and students into using the many Web 2.0 tools that exist today. I know Will has much more to say concerning these tools and the future of integrating technology to facilitate collaboration, critical thinking, and self-directed learning, and I feel his blog serves as a continuation and expansion of the text. One of Will’s main points in his book is to recognize the “teachers” that are and information that is out there, on the web, ready to fill your RSS feed reader! His text is really a staging area for the journey that he invites the reader to take in using these powerful web tools in the classroom, and I think it is a good place to start and to take ownership of your own learning.
There are so many issues to deal with in order to implement and integrate Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom. Acceptable Use Policies that were created by districts in the past no longer address the explosion of collaboration tools that exist in today’s world. I have spent part of my last few days, since attending the Building Learning Communities Conference, thinking about, researching, and defining/redefining acceptable use in my district.
What it comes down to is building a foundation and being proactive as I anticipate the use of blogging, wikis, podcasts, vidcasts, etc. It is part of being responsible and accountable for the learning and safety of our students, and I believe acceptable use must be addressed before immersing these technologies into our instruction.
Some resources I have come up with so far include (mostly from Will Richardson’s book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms):
http://www.eschoolnews.com/eti/2005/06/000877.php
http://www.budtheteacher.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blogging_letter
http://static.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/gems/centralISP/uses.doc
I would appreciate other ideas from the instructional technology and education community. Please share in the comments section. Thank you!
While at the Building Learning Communities 2007 Conference I had the opportunity to attend a couple of workshops by Will Richardson. I have been reading Will’s blog for quite some time, and I finally purchased his book: Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. I am a few pages into this text, and I am already considering this as a resource for professional development in my school district. I believe it is a must read for educators in today’s schools, and an excellent, practical “how to” guide to using these web tools in the “classroom.”
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