Wrap-up and Reflection from Summer Educator's Institute Presentation

Well I just wrapped up the presentation from the Summer Educator's Institute on Web 2.0 Technologies You Should Know About. I think it went well save for the complete bust on the TWEME.

Can't for the life of me figure out what happened -- especially when I thought for sure it would show all the comments...in one place.

Bummer.

I'll try again to figure it out. I think it might have had to do with the fact that so many people were hitting the server at the same time from the same IP Address. But, that's just a guess.

Going into the individual Twitter messages provides some great reactions to what we did today:

1. Lots of new stuff to learn, not sure how to use it yet.
2. What I thought about this exercise....it was frustrating getting in at first and I don't know if I want to be a "twit".
3. i have way too many tabs open, facebook, netvibes, twitter, gmail, blogger..so many cool new tools so little time..
4. I've signed up for Twitter and I am learning how to use it. I think this is really cool.
5. Very enlightening exercise. Each of these tools seem to be hybrids of the other.
6. I am trying to follow this twitter thing but it can be a little confusing...
7. a bit scary, yet interesting,trying to think of ways I can use this in the classroom or communication between students, parents etc
8. I am feeling completely overwhelmed and need time to play wiht these applications before thinking about educational uses.
9. I am a little freaked out about this whole twitter thing - can I pick who follows me...no cell phone texting so how will it work

I was able to find all the reference to edconf using SUMMIZE and that link is http://tinyurl.com/5oetfl

So as I thought, two hours wasn't really enough -- and yet, it was enough to get people thinking and playing. Hopefully the sandbox metaphor worked! Now on to tomorrow and the presentation for the St. Mike's School and Community Course (GED 684) on Social Networking and creating community!

Summer Presentation Series on Social Media: Educator's Summer Conference June 23, 2008

I'll be doing a series of presentations over the summer -- all having to do with social media tools, upcoming trends and using social media tools in the classroom. My audiences will be a broad mix -- from K-12 educators, to small business owners -- all trying to wrap their hands around so-called Web 2.0 technologies. I've decided to use my blog as the starting point to include descriptions, links and my general outline for what I will cover. After each presentation I'll post my reflections and some of the Q&A that came from it.

Web 2.0 and What it Means for your Classroom
Summer Educators Conference Presentation
Champlain College, Monday, June 23, 2008

Course Description: Social media tools swirl around us and we hear that the younger generation is all over it, leaving teachers not just in the dust, but eons behind! However, what are they using really and how are they using it? And, more importantly, what tools are out there right now that you can leverage for your classroom? We'll explore the known such as social networks like Facebook and the general world of text and instant messaging. We'll also examine some things that may not be so well known including RSS, Blogging, Micro-blogging, Wikis and online collaboration tools. Most importantly we'll talk about ways to use these in your classrooms.

Required Readings:

1. Market Ideology and the Myths of Web 2.0 by Trebor Scholz: http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2138/1945
2. A Vision of Convergence in Higher Ed -- Please download and watch "Connected" and read the colleges vision for Mlearning http://www.acu.edu/technology/mobilelearning/index.html
3. In five years it's all about Mobile: http://ypulse.com/archives/2008/03/in_five_yearsit.php
4. Creating and Connecting: Research and Guidelines on Online Social and Educational Networking: http://www.nsba.org/SecondaryMenu/TLN/CreatingandConnecting.aspx

Required Videos:

1. RSS in Plain English: http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
2. Wikis in Plain English: http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english
3. Social Bookmarking in Plain English: http://www.commoncraft.com/bookmarking-plain-english
4. Social Networking in Plain English: http://www.commoncraft.com/video-social-networking
5. Blogging in Plain English: http://www.commoncraft.com/blogs
6. Twitter in Plain English: http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter

SESSION OUTLINE:

Introduction of me and this blog as a resource for information and what we cover.

Kick off with YouTube Video: Learning to Change - Changing to Learn and discussion

Tool Demonstration and how you could use them

• My Blog: http://champlainprofessor.blogspot.com/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=68900537
• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ejyoung67
• IM: which might you use? AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, GTalk or an aggregator?
• RSS: iGoogle (http://www.google.com/) or Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com/)
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ (my twitter is http://twitter.com/ejyoung67) think of this as a different way to use TXT in the classroom!

Hands on fun with one tool real time: Since we won't have time to do all of these, let's play with a newer tool to see what the possibilities are. Twitter. Everyone to sign up for a twitter account. Everyone "follow me" and then, post your overall reactions to this exercise (140 characters only please) using the following somewhere in your message #EdConf. Then we will go to http://www.twemes.com/edconf to read it all!

Closing with the possibilities brainstorm! Small groups on ways you might try these different tools in your classroom remembering that not all your students are using all of these tools! Each person to "TWEET" their results -- remember to use #edconf in the message.

Dog and Pony Shows -- it's all about Social Media

It's a beautiful thing. Students are mostly gone (smile), there's no more grading homework and the faculty collaborative has ended. In other words...it's SUMMER and I am FREE!! Well..sort of.

I'm still a program director (until the end of June) and there's still a bunch of administrative things to wrap up and classes to staff for the fall. But it is manageable and I have free time.

So, of course...I'll be busy doing other things!

This past week, I presented a session to real estate agents at Coldwell Banker Hickock and Boardman Realty in Burlington, VT on best practices in social media -- specifically we talked about how to utilize blogging and social networking ... or when not to. I handed out a tip sheet which focused on what I think are the MOST IMPORTANT things to consider when thinking about which online tools to use to help you market your business/service online. I'll post those tips soon.

Next week I'll be presenting at the Sen. Leahy e-Business Seminar with Dave Winslow of EpikOne, Ted Adler of Union Street Media and Dan Cyprus, a Real Estate Agent with ReMax at the 2008 Business EXPO. Our topic: Creating A Buzz About You and Your Business: Should You Be Marketing Yourself and Your Company Using Social Networking Sites?

On June 23rd, I'll be a presenting at the Summer Institute for Educators. The theme is integrating technology into the classroom, and my topic? Betcha can't guess...."Technology students use in everyday life". I'll be giving a quick intro on IM, Texting, Social Networking and how students are using them...and not using them!

Later on in July I'll be conducting a two day session for K-12 Educators on Social Media. The details are still being worked out, but it promises to be great fun -- we'll be looking at specific tools and talking about the challenges for the K-12 educator in incorporating these tools into their teaching.

Gee...maybe I should start charging!

On another note, adjunct professor Daniel Schutzsmith has launched a new site called DSGN+DVLP. A recent post on his blog was about the term ONLINE VISIBILITY and references the class I developed and he is now teaching. He's come up with a definition. You should check it out. There's a good discussion going on there about his definition ... and I just think I might post!