Came across this sign in Union Station in Toronto. A reference to days gone by when Canada had a viable passenger train system.
Author: Dean Shareski
The Posse has awakened
From the Posse:
Our hiatus is over! I hope you think it was worth the wait!
This conversation featuring the full posse – Alec Couros, Rick Schwier, Dean Shareski and Rob Wall – was recorded on December 14, 2005. Just the day before we recorded, I was in a meeting for developing an Information Literacy scope and sequence for the school where I teach. The teacher librarian and I were talking about blogging, wikis, RSS, podcasting and other tools of the read-write web, along with production technologies like digital video editing. One of the teachers in the meeting asked what was the point of having students do these things in school – I was so stunned to be asked this that I didn’t have a good response, so I posed the question to the posse. A very robust conversation was the result – EdTech Posse Podcast #013. (I even took the time to change the sample rate to eliminate the dreaded chipmunk effect.)
Releasing this podcast now is very timely – it seems like much of our discussion is complementary to some of George Siemen’s reflection in his short podcast Restructuring our Structures. If you like our conversation, I think you’ll like George’s podcast as well.
Shownotes for EdTech Posse Podcast #013 are in embryonic form as of this posting. Please nurture them that they might grow! (Unless you are a spammer, in which case I have reserved a special place in Hades just for you!)
We’ll be doing a presentation on May 1st at the TLt Conference. More to come on that.
The tale of two tickets
I wasn’t planning on going to any games while in Toronto but was fortunate to see a basketball and baseball game. It was the Raptors last home game and a disappointing season meant many were uninterested. We got a call at about 4:00 asking if we wanted 4 tickets. They were $199 tickets.
The next day I went to see the Bluejays and Yankees. This time I had to pay but fortunately they only cost $2. It was a choice between more shopping and watching baseball. I think I made the right choice.
Wireless in Winnipeg
It’s Easter break for us this week and I’m currently sitting in the Winnipeg airport ready to board for my flight to Toronto. I’ll be doing a workshop later this week on the use of video and multimedia for a church there.
I always appreciate having free wireless in airports. It seems more and more airports offer this service. In fact, knowing that Winnipeg offered free wireless influenced my flight options. Flying out of Regina rarely offers a direct flight and that often means a pricier ticket. So I didn’t mind having a 2 hour lay over here in Winnipeg.
Now if I could have only avoided the 4:15am wakeup to get on the 6:00am flight… Dalton I owe you one for driving me.
Open Space Consultant’s Conference
Yesterday, April 12th. Our school division hosted a conference for consultants and superintendents and frankly anyone interested in supporting teachers and classrooms based on the open space model.
Thanks to a podcast by Steve Dembo, I was inspired to try this out. Since our division and entire province for that matter has undergone a major restructuring and reorganization, there has been major unrest. So the opportunity to try something different seemed possible.
I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout. I was hoping to meet with a half dozen interested parties. As it turned out there were 35 people representing 8 different school divisions as well as representation from our provincial department of learning. There was a high level of energy and buzz regarding the invitation to meet and discuss issues that were important to each individual.
I created the entire conference and agenda in a wiki. From here, each organization had the opportunity to contribute over the past month in preparation for the day. By the way, wikispaces offers their service free for teachers which enables you to create totally private areas if you wish and ad free. This proved invalueable in developing the day.
During each discussion we utilized Jotspotlive which as far as I know is the only online notetaking service that allows for simultaneously notetaking.
The concept of an openspace conference seems like a natural way to organize thinking. I’m sure I didn’t lead it exactly according to the book but was pleased with they day. We embraced these principles:
- Whoever comes is the right person – You don’t need every person in the organization, just whoever cares the most. And if you’re the only one who comes, you might finally have some rich, focused quiet time for thinking and writing on that issue.
- Whatever happens is the only thing that could have – Let go of your expectations and work with whatever unfolds.
- Whenever it starts is the right time – Creativity doesn’t happen on a schedule.
- Whenever it’s over, it’s over. – If you find a solution in 20 minutes, move on to the next group. If it takes 2 hours, keep the conversation rolling.
In keeping with my tagline, the day was relevant, authentic and engaging. Everyone had ownership in the content and their learning. Several remarked at the use of technology to connect and provide a richer experience. Using a tool like Jotlive, you were able to sit in on one session and yet snoop around at the activity happening elsewhere. As is the principle of open space, this allowed you to excercise your right to use your feet and move over that conversation and bring with you the good discussion you had at other sessions.
Thanks to Steve and also a old post on How to Run Useless Conference for some of the inspiration behind the day.