Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

I switched over to Google Reader from Bloglines about 2 months ago and am basically pleased. I’ve noticed recently that my feed has no formatting in Google Reader. Bloglines as well, so I guess it’s a feed issue rather than the reader. My posts look brutal and here I go to such lengths to pretty them up.

I tried deactivating plugins but didn’t see any change. I notice that Bloglines keeps my PodPress player in the feed. D’Arcy, Rob, Allan or any other feed experts, do you have any advice?

It reminds me of a classic Seinfeld exchange:

JERRY: Oh… You mean… shrinkage.
GEORGE: Yes. Significant shrinkage.
JERRY: So you feel you were short changed.
GEORGE: Yes! I mean, if she thinks that’s me she’s under a complete misapprehension.

I feel I’m being short changed.

Technorati Tags: feeds, feedburner, rss, newsreader, googlereader, bloglines, seinfeld

I called this podcast Naked Conversations because much of the content centered around the book by Scoble and Israel. It was a talk given to various members of Western provincial teachers’ associations. These are the folks who work with large provincial teachers’ associations on things like teacher contracts, grievances, rehabilitation, teacher advocacy, pensions and overall teacher welfare.

After some controversy about posting this, I’ve chosen to take edit out the audience portion and simply post my own voice. Not quite as powerful, but hopefully beneficial. (Thanks Anna for the encouragement.)

The focus of this talk was more suited to a business perspective rather than education and so the tone of the presentation was different from what I’m used to giving. As I drove up I listened to the podcast of Will and Rob Mancabelli. I know included at least 2 ideas from their presentation into mine and I’m not sure if I gave them credit. Not even sure if I needed to …after all I know that very little of my presentation is original thought but I digress.

Also, here are two one minute videos that I showed demonstrating the ease of blog posting and subscribing to content.

 

 Podcast 23 Naked Conversations: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (706)

This is the second time in a short while that I’ve responded to a pessimistic post by Will Richardson. Certainly his thoughts are not foreign to me and most of our network.

…the numbers of examples of students on the K-12 level whose learning is being transformed by these technologies is amazingly small, at least to me. I mean really, where are the examples of students blogging…and I mean blogging, not just using blogs…and building global networks of learners? There are some, yes, but not enough to make the case that these tools can work in the current school environment.

The key is that the tools themselves do not create the shift of control. The tools are easy to use but do not necessarily mean pedagogy has changed. We too often introduce the tools without spending the time explaining why. Explaining why takes way more effect than showing someone how.

…lately it feels like there is too much static in the signal, that it’s more about navel gazing and top 100 lists and word counts than how we make this work for kids and schools.

Guilty. However the beauty of blogging is the fine balance between personal and professional ideas. I enjoy getting to know those in my PLE. But I certainly get tired of those who continually talk about themselves in a narcissistic manner. I can’t even define when the line is crossed but I have a gut feeling and their blog begins to lose credibility.

I’ve been working to cut my RSS subscriptions from 125 or so to about 40, and I can see going even leaner. I’ve come to depend on a few trusted filters as well as a smattering of practitioner bloggers who I think keep me grounded in experience. But I’m feeling the need to get some “fresh” voices in my diet, and I’m growing more and more interested in the larger cultural conversations regarding Web 2.0 tools. Much of what’s happening out there is relevant in here.

Will, you’ve talked about this before. I’ve also argued against this. Managing massive amounts of information is a critical skill. Not that it requires having hundreds of feeds but as the power of RSS becomes more prevalent, and I think it will as it converges more with email, we’ll have to figure this out.
I believe our focus should be to:

1. Continue to promote those new and powerful stories of learning.
2. Identify and challenge old stories that are disguised as innovative.
3. Model the powers of Personal Learning Networks.

I also am optimistic that the exponential nature of the web 2.0 will ultimately persuade schools and education to embrace them rather than restrict them. Maybe not this year but soon. The impact of youtube and wikipedia for example into mainstream society is making it easier for us to discuss these ideas as cultural shifts rather than passing fads.

Again Will, good conversations and thanks for the card.

Technorati Tags: change, education, optimism

I’ve been having some issues with my feeds from Technorati.  I have 5 search feeds that I subscribe to and for about the past month, I am continually getting hammered with outdated posts that appear to be updated but I know aren’t (some of them are mine).  Is this just me or is this an issue? Somebody smarter than me, please help.

Technorati Tags: technorati, feeds, bloglines

On Tuesday, I spoke to some 70 school administrators in our school division on the changing classroom. The idea was to continue to create an awareness of many of the new ways we can do school as a result of the Read/Write web. Will was gracious enough to pop by for a few minutes via Skype and talk about his experience. One question that was asked was, “how do we go about influencing teachers to explore these new technologies and new ways of teaching and learning?” Will’s response was to the begin by reading blogs. Find out what others are saying and doing and then decide how to jump in. (Will you can rephrase if you like)

I remember Alan talking about this over a year ago and wondering if he should be having teachers create blogs during his introductory workshops or have them spend time reading first. I responded at the time saying I didn’t think order was important. I think I was wrong. If learning really is a conversation let’s talk about how we join conversations. It seems to me that more and more people are becoming aware that there is a great conversation happening. They’ve heard about it and are starting to peer into the window.

But like we’ve all been taught, when you want to join a conversation, it’s usually best you listen for a while and find out which conversations you’d like to join. Standing in the corner of the room and just talking usually doesn’t attract much of a crowd although it can get you some strange looks. The problem is the existing conversations are so engaging, most don’t notice if outsiders are trying to start new ones. So the best way for others to join and contribute is to be invited in by others, introduce them to a few people they think they’ll connect with and participate with them.

I’ve done this with a few people somewhat successfully. Thinking ahead to my goals for next year, I know I need to focus more on getting them to listen for a while. If they are adminstrators and school leaders I’ll introduce them to Will, David, Miguel, Wes, Ewan and Tim. I’ll encourage teachers to spend time listening to Clarence, Darren, Cheryl, Bob, Bud, Barbara, Anne, and Konrad.

I know at first it’s always a bit awkward. But there’s more interest in spending time in these conversations. Clarence is talking about doing this with his students. That’s the real important conversation. But if we as educators have never entered into a global conversation, it’s not likely we’ll ever create that opportunity for our students. But as we all know and I told the administrators, kids are already having them so when will we?

Came across this article on the importance of RSS.  Here’s a few gems from it:

Saying that RSS is only for geeks today is like saying in 1998 that the web was only for geeks.

You should be fired if you do a marketing site without an RSS feed.

no one can force an RSS feed down my throat. When I want to subscribe, I can. If I no longer choose to, I can stop

RSS puts pressure — lots of pressure — on the subject line for each individual feed, which have to be shorter, more focused and relentlessly to the point.

If you have trouble selling the idea within your organization, it’s enough to know that RSS helps make content more sharable and findable… and you shouldn’t get any arguments there.

I’m always looking for talking points around RSS. These are some that may stick.

I was hoping the move to this new location to be a smooth one. Everything appeared to be going well but a couple of things have come up.

My feed won’t validate. I’m not bright enough to figure out how to fix this? Any feedgeeks willing to help?

My subscribers went from 156 to 349 in one day. Now it would be nice to think that my brilliant posts could potentially increase readership by over 100% but I’m suspect. Not sure what’s happening but something seems fishy. Now it would be nice to think that my brilliant posts could potentially increase readership by over 100% but I’m suspect. Not sure what’s happening but something seems fishy.

So if anyone cares to comment or offer advice on this one, please do so.