John Adams -- Founding Father

In my not too distant past, I had a little time to delve into a biography of John Adams. What an amazing guy, and his wife, Abigail, was no less amazing!

The Boston Library has a wonderful online library dedicated to John Adams, with many handwritten documents from his life.

I strongly recommend the John Adams Library!

A Periodic Post

I know, dear Reader, you're saying.....what else is new? Like when's the last time you posted to your own blog, HJ? Months ago.

Okay, okay. I'll try to get better about it!

So, in that spirit, I want to share a website I've discovered that presents an array of information about the periodic table that we all studied in science class.

This site presents the information in a way that seems ideal for kids (and grown-ups, too). I liked the way the site is organized and how the background and introductory information is written. And the interactive game where you have to identify elements by their components (electrons, neutrons, protons) is very well done. Great site and learning resource!!

Annenberg Media, Learner.org -- Interactives, The Periodic Table

PNAIS Tech Share Conference 2007

Held at the Sleeping Lady Conference Center just outside of downtown Leavenworth, Washington, the PNAIS Tech Share Conference took place June 27-29, 2007. This was my second tech "share" event having attended last year's first-ever get-together (that one was held at IslandWood Conference Center on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

This year's event proved to be rewarding, as was last year's. Here follows my summary of what I saw and learned.

Day One

Megasession 1

Is Social Software Changing Everything?

Presenters: Richard Kississieh (Catlin Gabel) & Tom Frizelle (Overlake)

Richard began this first “megasession” with an introduction to a site he created just for this conference. He touted the tool “Drupal” (http://drupal.org/about) which I haven’t yet looked into in detail, but I believe Richard described it as something like Moodle but (in his estimation) better. Not only was this site to serve as a record of attendees’ experiences and observations while here (if they chose to share them online), but it is also incorporates one of the central characteristics of Web 2.0 applications: users access and interact with data, and have the ability to add their own original content to what is already there. Web 2.0 was to be a central theme of this conference.

The PNAIS site Richard set up for this Tech Share Conference using Drupal is at:

http://pnaistech.org/drupal/

He gave us an “in class” survey to complete and then turned his focus to the following examples of social software:

wikis
blogs
podcasts
student-oriented sites

If Web 1.0 is seen as a static resource – one visits a site and accesses the information made available there – in Web 2.0, one can access all the incredible breadth of information available and, in addition, interact with that information to add, change, or otherwise update what is already there (i.e. a Wiki) or to post new information, opinions, or perspective in the media of your choice (i.e. written blogs, audio or video podcasts). The ways in which these tools can build connections between people and assure that we can all access the best of many minds collaborating is increasingly amazing the more one thinks about it!

Megasession 2

Introduction to Web 2.0

Presenter: Cheryl Wolotira (Northwest School)

Cheryl opened her presentation with a video available via YouTube called “The Machine Is Us”. I had seen this once before. It’s a clever demo of how information can be and is manipulated by people starting with pencil & paper (and eraser) but moving to the far more flexible and instantaneous way to transform text with the computer, mouse, software, and the human brain.

The question posed by Cheryl was: Why should Web 2.0 matter to us (as teachers)? Her answer: Because it matters to our kids (our students). “It’s where the kids live.”

She went on to talk or demonstrate the following:

podcasts
v-casting
social network sites
blogging
wikis
video conferencing

Cheryl noted that, even as software tools evolve and change, the hardware we use is also in the process of being transformed. As an example, she showed as a FlipVideo camera (http://www.theflip.com/). Available in 30-minute & in a 60-minute versions, the FlipVideo camera is a one-piece video camera able to record video with the press of a button onto flash memory (no tape). To download the video, just connect the FlipVideo camera to a computer via its built-in USB connector (no cables!) and it’s done. Apparently the camera also comes with basic editing software. She did not go through an entire sequence but it did look easy as can be. The cameras are also quite reasonably priced and widely available (she got hers at Costco). Cheryl invited us to think back to what digital video cameras used to be and how “user friendly” and less expensive this hardware is getting. It’s another indication of the doors that are opening to teaching and learning options not readily available before.

As far as podcasting is concerned, Cheryl talked about the wide availability of easy-to-use and reasonably-priced digital voice recorders. Using Audacity (free audio editing software) and educational sites offering distribution networks, doing podcasting in the classroom is also becoming easier.

Web 2.0 also offers us Issues to wrestle with. From Cheryl’s standpoint, we, as educators, must keep ourselves and our students informed about:

Internet safety
copyright/fair use
reliability of content

Cheryl did not spend a great deal of time on these issues. Clearly each could be a workshop in and of itself. Still, I think her point was to make sure that mention was made of these areas where we need to be fully informed and prepared to teach (and reach) our students.

Day Two

Breakout Session #1 (Teacher Track)

Using Moodle and SharePoint

Presenter: John Newsom (Lakeside)

John’s session gave us an overview of Moodle and provided all an opportunity to set up a practice Moodle site on a temporary server he provided. We used session time to work on our Moodle experiments. John indicated that 2007-2008 would be a trial year for classroom/teacher use of Moodle at Lakeside.

Once I was able to create a site for next year’s 7^th grade Laptop Prep class, I spent time learning how to add/remove modules and begin trying to plan and organize how I might construct a Prep Moodle site.

Certainly still in the planning stages, I plan to keep modifying and adding to what I was able to start at the conference

.

Breakout Session #2 (Teacher Track)

Using Web 2.0 Tools

Presenter: Cheryl Wolotira (Northwest School)

Cheryl invited us to visit a set of links on the very recently activated site she has set up for teachers at The Northwest School. She and her school went with a service called SWIFT – which costs only $500/year. SWIFT provides easy web page creation and hosting for all teacher sites. Page templates are provided making assembling and maintaining a website quite doable for the typical teacher (she believes). Cheryl pointed us to her site (below). In particular she had us go through her list of Links since so many of them relate to Web 2.0 sites and resources.

http://teachers.northwestschool.org/nws/cwolotira/index.php

Links include:

Interactive Web

• Blogspots - Great blog site for those new to blogging.
• bubl.us - Online and collaborative mindmapping and brainstorming.
• de.licio.us - Collect, tag and annotate your favorite websites
• Education Webcast Network - David Warlick's podcast site
• iTunes - Find educational podcasts, how-tos, or post your own or your student's podcasts.
• Learn Out Loud - Podcasts and Audio Books, many of the free! Great site to look for audio, and educational podcasts. Think about this for students that have difficulty reading or need other ways to process written information.
• Second Life - Virtual reality world. Create an alter ego for yourself and then have a look at what educational institutions are doing! Think distance learning in a virtual world.
• stu.dicio.us - Collaborative tools for students. Take notes, create schedules and calendars, share your work with group partners.
• TeacherTube - Teacher-created v-casts on all sorts of topics including specific lessons for students, tutorials and social commentary.
• Wikispaces - Create a wiki for yourself or others to use. Educational institutions can get the premium account for free.

Professional Development

• 2 cents worth - David Warlick's entertaining and very informative blog about the state of education and educational technology today.
• Digital Directions - A new online journal from Education Week on what's new, what's exciting and what's workin in educational technology.
• Landmark for Schools - Links to all sorts of useful sites for students and teachers.
• Read/Write Web - An article from Read/Write Web outlining all sorts of interactive web applications.

Social networks

• Facebook - This probably doesn't need much explanation but think of the possibilities for collaboration!
• Flikr - Upload, tag and create using your photographs.
• Furl - Save links and pages you find on the internet.

Another tool Cheryl talked about (although we didn’t spend much session time on it but it does look worthwhile for further looking at) is Classroom 2.0 (http://classroom20.ning.com/).

Day Three

Breakout Session #1 (Teacher Track)

Putting It All Together: Rebuild, Remodel, or Rethink

Presenter: Cheryl Wolotira (Northwest School)

Cheryl announced to us that her intent for this session was summarized by the first four words of the session’s title…..putting it all together. We were all set about to work on whatever we had with us that we started while here at the conference. My time was spent mostly helping two of our Middle School teachers, who were also at this session. Their focus was on following up on the beginning they had made in setting up Moodle sites for their foreign language classes. I got a little done on mine, too, but most of my time at this session was helping others.

Breakout Session #2 (Teacher Track)

Copyright ≠ The Right to Copy

Presenters: Eric Stratton (UPA) and Kristen West (UPA, unable to attend)

Eric presented a PowerPoint and a .pdf handout that he along with Kristen West (Coordinator of Academic Technology at UPA, who was not present), covering many, many websites covering copyright and fair use along with tools for finding royalty-free and public domain items. The discussion also included the increasingly higher profile and attention being given movements such as Creative Commons where content creators can attach less stringent copyright protections onto their intellectual property.

As many in this session acknowledged, raising awareness copyright law, the fair use exemption, and the ethical issues arising out of the whole question of intellectual property is a big challenge to tech folks, librarians, and teachers alike. Truly reliable and consistent information on copyright and intellectual property rights is available but all-too-often ignored or disregarded. The list of resources provided by Eric and Kristen on their .pdf sheet are quite comprehensive.

Another reality is that many of the students who come to us seem to have adopted the “whatever I can get on the Internet is free to use” point of view. Again, there were some among this group who also recognized that some of today’s challenges in dealing with the issues surrounding copyright have to do with the adults in our institutions, too. It was not lost on some of us that the realm of copyright, fair use, and intellectual property – and how the Internet has had impact on those concepts – is one challenge where we have nearly as big a job educating and convincing our colleagues as we do our students.

Adieu…….

Eric’s copyright session was the last one of the conference and it brought to a close the 2007 Tech Share Conference. Now it was time to head home. As was my experience last year (after attending the first Tech Share Conference at Islandwood), I found my time to be well-spent at this conference. I’m grateful that PNAIS offers this kind of professional development opportunity. It’s a lot of work to put together such an event and I hope those who organize this conference know that many of us “out there” are very appreciative. The good part, of course, is that I went home with much learned and much more to explore!

The Bolles Tablet Insitute 2007 -- April 18-20, 2007

The group attending the 2007 Bolles Tablet Institute was housed at the Hampton Inn near downtown Jacksonville. The eighteen attendees came from a variety of areas including New Mexico, Texas, Virginia, Illinois, and Washington State.

Each morning at 8:30, a bus from Bolles picked us up and transported us to the day’s session. Days 1 & 3 were held at the Upper School campus; day 2 took place at Bolles’ Bartram Middle School campus. Each and every day was full of presentations, classroom visits, and hands-on practice time. Oh, and every day brought us a new and even more delicious lunch! Our days concluded late afternoon as the school’s shuttle returned us to our hotel.

The most obvious differences between my Tablet Institute experience and any other conference/workshop I’ve attended previously were four major (and extremely important) factors:

1) The small number of participants (a total of 18)

2) This conference about educational technology took place at a school while students were in class making classroom visits possible.

3) All the presentations were done either by Bolles’ Technology Team and faculty, not outside presenters or “experts”. I believe that, over the three days there were about 20 presentations [presentations and classroom visits], not counting those by tech staff. This seems to say volumes about the vitality of Bolles’ technology program and the interest-level of its faculty.

4) A thoroughly “hands on” philosophy in the design of the workshop, including a tablet PC (Lenovo X41) for each participant to use and practice on for the duration of the conference.

Having a limited number of participants meant that more individual attention was possible, more participant questions could be posed and answered, and more true acquaintanceship developed among those of us attending. Chatting with these folks between sessions almost always opened up new thinking and discoveries providing new perspectives, ideas, and brainstorms! I recognize that not every technology conference can or should have such a small group of attendees, but in this instance, it was a great treat to able to attend something with this design.

Another attribute of this conference that I have rarely encountered before is an educational technology workshop where, along with the presentations, we had the chance to make classroom visits and watch some of the same people who had presented to us working in their classroom with their students. The advantage of being at an educational workshop with real students and instruction going on is difficult to overstate.

I had assumed that all teachers at Bolles had laptop computers, and I was correct. They use Toshiba Portege M200 and M400 models.

I was wrong, however, in thinking that there is a student laptop program at Bolles; there is not. I understand that moving to a student laptop program is under some discussion, but it does not yet appear on the horizon.

Tablet PCs have been phased in among the Bolles faculty over a three-year process. The school moved from desktop computers for faculty to tablet PCs. At present, all teachers have a tablet PC. Though Bolles makes no claim that all teachers fully integrate the use of tablet PCs into their classroom, my observation was that the faculty “buy in” was substantial.

The Tablet Institute arranged for each participant to have a tablet PC (Lenovo X41) for the duration of the conference. Being able to use a tablet PC, both during the sessions and at “home” at the hotel, for practice and review of the day’s sessions, was a tremendous plus to this conference. Three days of tablet PC experience does not make one anywhere near an expert or experienced user – especially in the use of the tablet software such as Journal and OneNote. But having a machine to use for those three days was a great asset.

The theme that ran through so many of the presentations and classroom demonstrations is the tablet’s ability to allow the teacher to annotate in real time the results of classroom discussion and content arising out of the dynamics of the classroom. We looked at ink annotations (being able to write directly on the screen in “standard” applications such as Microsoft Office Suite) and specialized applications specifically designed for use on a tablet computer (e.g. Windows Journal, Microsoft Office OneNote, Ink Desktop, Snipping Tool, Ink Art, Ink Flash Cards, Equation Writer, Tablet Music Composition Tool – we even took a look at the My Font tool which makes it possible for you to create a font that is based on your own handwriting!).

The typical room set-up at Bolles had the tablet PC stationed at or near the front of the room. Teachers move freely about the room, facing their students, returning to the tablet to add notes or comments, or inviting students to do so. And all the ink annotations added to the “ink enabled” applications can be saved (or not) and used for future classroom presentations, distributed to students who missed class, posted to a class webpage as a resources, and so on. In most cases, the content of the day’s curriculum was prepared in advance and displayed on a large screen from a ceiling-mounted projector. The tablet computer was used by the teacher and students to add to and amplify the content based on the dynamics of the class, including the give-and-take among teacher and student and students among themselves. The stylus and ink annotations allowed that all of it to be preserved.

All at Bolles credited the installation of ceiling-mounted projectors as a major step in propelling the success of the tablet PC as a classroom and teaching tool. I’m wondering if, as teachers at Bolles accrue more experience with tablet PCs – and the technology for better display of multimedia over wireless connections – that teachers will be even less oriented toward the podium and use their portable tablet to roam more freely throughout the classroom.

My “take aways” from the Bolles Tablet PC Institute included the following:

• Tablet PCs offer a number of tools that seem posed to make portable computer much more of a practical, day-to-day reality, one far more integrated into the teacher’s use in the classroom and in the process of teaching.
• The tablet technology – hardware and software – has made noteworthy improvement. The tablet technology seems poised to become much more attractive as a first option in considering a recommended laptop for use in schools.
• Among those hardware and software improvements include:
• The stylus and screen interface are much improved – pen responsiveness to and on the screen, the clarity and brightness of the screen itself
• The speed improvements in processors, the tablet operating system itself seems much more reliable and stable, and especially the strides made in handwriting recognition
• The instructional tools such as Windows Journal, Microsoft Office OneNote, ink annotation which is available in a number of programs (including Microsoft Office), snipping tools for taking screen content and bringing it into programs such as Journal and OneNote
• Based on the sense I got at Bolles, teachers are drawn into the use of tablet PCs in their classroom once they get an idea of what they can do (no rocket science discovery, in this case!). There is also much “cross-pollination” as teachers see what colleagues are doing with respect to the use of this technology in their teaching (which is also a model for growth and success we see over and over).
• In my classroom observations at Bolles, my general impression is that student and teacher eye contact, interaction, and student classroom engagement were strong. (Reminder: Bolles does not have laptop program and, therefore, students are not on the other side of a screen which I see in some situations at our school with student laptops, so we’re not directly comparable.)

Questions that I remain uncertain about include:

• Are SmartBoards and tablet PCs redundant? In other words, is what they can do equivalent enough that if you have one you aren’t missing much by not having the other?
• Will an even greater “buy in” for a tablet PC at Bolles going to have to wait until a rock solid wireless transmission for multimedia is available?
• The Math Department Head at Bolles – who was clearly one of the most knowledgeable and systematic proponent of tablet use in the classroom – spoke of major enhancements to Microsoft Office OneNote in the newest version (Office 2007). Of particular interest was an improved filing and organizational structure. Another highly-touted feature, which he had not yet experimented with because his students don’t have laptops in the classroom, was OneNote’s capability to allow collaborative sessions. I would very much like to research this tool thoroughly.

These thoughts, and those questions, are what I have on this last day of the Institute. I’m sure more will come to me as I continue to digest and think through the many presentations, discussions, and observations I’ve made over these three days. No doubt, more will follow!

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

I thoroughly believe it the positive benefits of humor and having a good laugh. All good-naturedly, of course!

Check out HelpGuide.Org's site, Humor and Laughter: Health Benefits and Online Resources.

Laugh it up and stay healthy! :-)

This Site Has My "Stamp" of Approval

Don't ask me why, but I'm tickled to find this site out there: The Mailbox Locator

Find a mailbox pretty much anywhere in the U.S. Find mailboxes by state, city, or by zip code. Click on a particular mailbox and get the pick-up times, a map of the location, and other pertinent details.

What a blast! (Yes, I know you're wondering why I have so much time on my hands!)

Still, it's worth a visit now and then. It could just come in handy if you've got an important letter or package to mail and need to find the nearest mailbox and best pick-up times.

Check it out!

P.U.M.A.S.

If you're interested in Math, Science, and making the learning of same more "practical" for students (and probably everyone!), you should visit this NASA-sponsored site called P.U.M.A.S. The acronym stands for:

Practical Uses of Math and Science

This seems like an eminently good idea to me. Maybe that conviction reflects my school experience with those subjects that seemed not very related to real life (at least as I defined "life" as a student).

Still, this is a great site and a great idea!

More Leonardo

I've written about Leonardo da Vinci before but I've come across another online exhibit that seems too good to pass up.

Currently on display at the Alfred and Victoria Museums is a wonderful Leonard da Vinci exhibit. Since the actual museum is in Britain, click here to transport yourself virtually to the exhibit.

You won't regret another encounter with this incredible artist, engineer, and creator.

Giving Thanks For The Cranberry

It's a little early to be thinking about Thanksgiving dinner (maybe) but I was for some reason. One of the traditional staples of the dinner menu to accompany the turkey in many homes is cranberries.

Lo and behold there is a site dedicated to this fruit. Click here for all you need (or want) to know about the mighty cranberry!

Just Two More Weeks

I pretty much steer clear of politics on this site, but I will put a plug in for the Online Newshour (with Jim Lehrer) site that's dedicated to the upcoming mid-term election.

They've called it Vote 2006 and the site presents many of the issues and races of regional and national interest in a straightforward way including as many points of view as possible.

We are entering the final phase of this campaign and, boy, is there a lot going on!!

Undersea Wonders

Undersea vents, and the rich variety of sea life that those vents sustain, is the subject of this website put up by the National Science Foundation.

This offers undersea views and interactive tools that lets you get an up-close (though virtual) look at a world that few of us will ever likely actually visit.

Click here to be taken there!

Web 2.0? What Does That Mean?

Though no expert myself, there seems to be much discussion and a great deal written about Internet use given the umbrella designation: Web 2.0.

The Pew Institute has done a series of studies about the Internet and future use. Click here to view a recent report about this direction an apparently growing number of people see the 'net going in. (The report is available for download as a .pdf.)

300 Million And Counting

Much has been made leading up to today as our country has apparently reached the 300 millionth citizen. Supposedly this landmark event took place today at 7:46 a.m. (Eastern).

The Census Bureau has prepared a special page to mark this occasion. It takes a snapshot of normal "facts" of American life in 1915, 1967, and 2006, these being the years when the U.S. reached 100 million, 200 million, and, now, 300 million citizens.

Click here to check out what some common aspects of American life was like then and now.

Elections In The USA

Just over three weeks from now, our country is going to go through another election cycle...in this case, an "off year" national election. No presidential race, but all the House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate. There are, also, a number of local races, initiatives, and bond issues.

The Library of Congress has a set of resources that highlight the American electoral process. Click here to visit this excellent site (labeled as Teacher Resources, but there's lots here for teachers and non-teachers alike!)

Supremely Interesting Cases

This current session of the United States Supreme Court began early this month. It is difficult, sometimes, to understand the impact decision made by this body have on the day-to-day life of us in the United States.

Two organizatoins, Stree Law & the Supreme Court Historical Society, have put together a site dedicated to the landmark cases that have, in our history, made a mark on our society.

A site well-worth visiting.

Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Cooking With What You Got

Thanks to the imagination of Tom Tuke-Hastings, there's a website that helps all those who cook come up with recipes in that particular condition cooks everywhere now: I didn't have time to get to the store....what can I cook?

His site, CookByNumbers.com, lets you check off the items you have left in your fridge and in your cupboard. Once you indicate the stuff you have around, you click a button "Find Recipes" and up will come a list of recipes using as many of the items you have lying around. Cool!

Give it a try! There were a lot of recipes for things that never occurred to me that I would be able to put together from what I had in the house. Like I said.....cool!

The List of the Longest of Just About Everything

This site dedicates itself to producing evidence of the longest item in many categories: song, building (could also be classified as the tallest), conga line, eyelashes, hammock, last name, NBA game, neck, ski jump, URL, Yo-Yo spin, zucchini, and many others.

If you want to check out the interesting and.....bizarre!.....go to:

The Longest List of the Longest Stuff at the Longest Domain Name

You won't be disappointed!

Free Reading and Definition

If you've ever got a word you forgot to spell -- or have some free time for reading and you're online, too -- check out one or both of the following.

The Free Dictionary

The Free Library

Lots, lots, and lots more there!

Our Constitution -- What Does It Mean?

There are times when I wonder if we, as a society, spend enough time pondering things that we take for granted. Like what? Well, I think we Americans talk a lot about our freedoms and the rights we have in this country, but I don't think we spend enough time looking at the Constitution itself, read its language, and think about what it means and why it's in there at all. Why did the Founders think those principles were important enough to be in that document.

The American Bar Association has a site to promote just this kind of analysis and reflection. Called Conversations On The Constitution, this is a site that provides plenty of concepts and principles to discuss. There are interactive pages that "test" your knowledge of this crucially important document.

I hope to be spending much more time there.

News To Wake Up To

If you've ever wondered about the caffeine content of some of your favorite brews (tea, coffee) or soft drinks, check out this site courtesy of the Mayo Clinic. It lists a set of common beverages that many consume, yet we/they may not know how much caffeine your downing.

Click here to find out!

Music From All Over The World

Wesleyan University offers this site where you can see and hear instruments from all over the world. Offered by region or by instrument type or by material they're made from, this is a terrific place to plunge into the wide, wide world of world music.

Click here to check out the Virtual Instrument Museum.

Traveling Nightmare -- Airport Division

I don't travel that much but I was intrigued by this site: The Budget Traveler's Guide to Sleeping in Airports.

As a concept, the whole idea seems like torture, surely banned by the Geneva Convention. But take a look at the ratings and where the airport near you -- or the one(s) you're going to be traveling to -- compare. Naturally there are tips for where you'll get the best chances for shut-eye.

Good luck!

Automobile Longevity

As the owner of a car with (real) miles now approaching the 150,000 mark, I hope I qualify as someone who understands the value of proactive car repair and maintenance.

For those who have yet to learn the advantages (and virtues) of taking care of those wheels so that don't fail you at the worst possible inconvenient hassle-inducing moment, take a moment and visit CarCare.org.

Who knows? Not only might it save you money, but a lot of time, anxiety, and money (to pay for the anger-management sessions).

Get A Load Of These Match(less) Wonders!

In case you've ever wondered what some people do with their spare time -- especially if you've wondered about people who have a lot of spare time -- check out the Matchstick Marvels Museum.

Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Remember, I Promised Variety!

The whole premise of this blog is finding things all over the map. I would certainly consider the following to be in the relatively off-the-wall category and of almost not improtance....but kinda fun!

We've all seen the ads or found the phonebook listings for companies who have phones numbers with words in lieu of just numbers. A oft-use example in our household -- as Earthlink subscribers -- is 800-EarthLink (which, of course, is actually 800-327-8454).

Not that I've thought about it all that often, but I've occasionally wondered if my own phone number spells anything.

Guess what! There's a site that will take numbers you type in and tell you what words can be made of it.

Give it a try. It's PhoneSpell.Org.

Rich Stores of Educational Resources

I came across two extensive groupings of Internet resources related to education. Housed at Kean University, they are:

Educational Links for Middle School People

Educational Links for New Teachers

I haven't had time to check out all the links here -- and there are many, many of them -- but these look like valuable resources. They are double-chedked a couple times every year so should be both there and reliable.

The many links on each page are organized by subject area and, though, the pages are long, they have anchor links and "back to the top" links that make navigation fairly efficient.

I know I'll be coming back to these pages often in the future.

A Less Renowned Presidential Assassination

I'm old enough to have the indelible stamp of the moment when I heard that President Kennedy had been shot. I realize that more than one of our past presidents have been killed while in office. I just finished reading the most fascinating book, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson.
I've come across a website that covers the assassination of another of our presidents, William McKinley. I haven't explored this in depth yet but it looks like a well-done site and has, no doubt, a number of fascinating details about what happened. Click here.

Giving "Voice" To Our Literature

I just found out about a website dedicated to producing audio versions of all books in the public domain. Called LibriVox ("acoustical liberation of books in the public domain"), volunteers read chapters from works in the public domain. These audio files are then made available for downloading and can be accessed in a similar manner to a podcast.

What a wonderful communal effort on the part of people who both love literature and believe strongly in making these books available in more than one format.

Not Just Your Run-Of-The-Mill Fiddle

For those of us interested in music -- and perhaps in sounds and timbres in general -- here's a site which has a gallery of unusual instruments. It's the Gallery at Oddmusic.com.

Click on the link for the instrument that piques your curiosity and you'll typically see a picture or pictures of the instrument. Many of them also have sound files available to listen to, as well.

Check these out: LightHarp, Skatar, Uncello, Triolin, Cymbalom, Bazantar, Aerolian Wind Harp, and many more!

Historical Yo-Yos

I don't know about you, but I certainly went through a phase where I couldn't get enough time playing with a yo-yo. Not that I mean to imply that anyone, any age, couldn't while away their time quite usefully learning all the fancy yo-yo tricks and techniques.

Well, whether you want to look back through the prism of nostalgia or just check it out because you love your yo-yo, check out the Museum of Yo-Yo History.

The (Record-Making) Wrap on Gum

Chewing gum and I have a checkered past. I've had times when a wad of bubble gum or Juicy Fruit was something to relish. But there were also all those years as a music teacher and the iron-clad rule of "no gum." (How can you play the clarinet or even a string instrument with gum in your mouth?)

Why then am I directing you toward a site that celebrates an almost unimaginable level of gum use? A site dedicated to a gum wrapper chain clocked at 48,077 feet in length as of March, 2006? Why?

No good reason really. Just one of those feats that seems unbelievable.

The man who has accomplished this is Gary Duschl of Viriginia Beach, VA. The guy has earned your visit to his site. Click here.

The Vincent van Gogh Gallery

For those of you who are fans of van Gogh, he is an online gallery that purports to have all his works available for viewing via the web.

What a resource! Visit The Vincent van Gogh Gallery

An "Elemiddle" School?

I had never heard of the term "elemiddle". Period. Turns out it is a termed coined by those who advocate K-8 schools as the most effective model for educating those years. If you're intrigued by the notion at all, you might be interested in the article linked below:

American Association of School Administrators - Publications - The School Administrator - The Rise of the ‘Elemiddle’ School

Digital Photography Lessons

Check out this site (I think it's really a blog) for what looks like some very good tips on taking photos with a digital camera.

Need To Take A Snooze?

Maybe you really should get more rest. Turns out sleep is very important, even though it's not fully understood why humans, let along most other organisms, check out of consciousness and zone for hours every day. Enough of us learned in college, at least, that no one can go that long without a good snooze.

Check out a wealth of information at the National Sleep Foundation. This may be one case where what you read will put you to sleep....and that's a compliment!

Harold's Lausanne Log -- Day 3

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

No keynote address today. After breakfast it was off to a workshop..

Session 1

Direct from NECC: Debut of Inspiration’s Brand New Software – InspireData!

Presenter: Jennifer Wagner

This session was actually added at the last minute. Jennifer had attended NECC which was about a week after InspireData was released by Inspiration. She saw it at NECC and found it to have much potential and was excited about this approach to having kids work with databases.

As before, I think it will be better to link her presentation here and retype it all. There is, of course, information available directly from Inspiration, too, that shows what InspireData can do:

http://www.inspiration.com/productinfo/inspiredata/index.cfm?fuseaction=features

I came away from the workshop pretty enthused about what we might be able to do with InspireData. The only drawback was clear in the demo today: it’s still so new that much remains to learn about it and, as a brand new product, there are glitches, some of which we saw today (some freezing of the program, for example). InspireData is definitely worth a second and third look.

Since this is the last day of the conference, and the final group session takes place in just a bit, I finally sat down and took the time I needed to go online and complete the evaluations for the sessions I had attended and for the conference itself.

Everyone gathered back in the Elder Performing Arts Hall for the much-anticipated final get-together which included – yippee!—door prizes. The potential booty ranged from laptop cases to software licenses to a tablet PC (!). It was a nice concluding event – and, no, I didn’t win any of the door prizes. However, in these three days, I was definitely a winner in the sense that I was exposed to a range of new thinking and ideas that will give me plenty to chew on for some time to come.

As I look back to my days at the 2006 Lausanne Laptop Institute, I am extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to attend this event. As was the case last year, as much as I’ve enjoyed the other conventions I’ve attended both in Seattle and other parts of the country, my Laptop Institute experiences outpace them all as interesting, effective, and engrossing experiences (I must say that this year’s first PNAIS Tech “Share” Conference was also very, very good). I can’t believe it’s all flown by so fast! Everyone here has been incredibly friendly, approachable, energized, creative, and dedicated to their work with students. The weather was a drag with the triple digit daytime highs but, then, pretty much everything here is air-conditioned so it didn’t really put a kibosh on anything except long walks in the afternoon.

If I were to assign “tags” to this year’s Laptop Institute, the ones that come to mind first include tablets, blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS, moodle, collaboration, “the world is flat,” and constructivist teaching and learning. Allowing for hype, there does seem traction to the notion that we’re coming to a realization of the power of sharing information and collaboration through online tools and resources. It’s a very exciting time to be in schools and, at the same time, in educational technology, where change and creativity seem everywhere. Remembering that you can do only so much “online,” I can’t forget to repeat that it was wonderful to think, listen, and learn in the midst of such a great group of people with such dedication and passion about their work in schools. Blogging or IM-ing or posting to a forum are all great ways to communicate these days but nothing yet can substitute for meeting with and talking to people face-to-face. Great conference!

Harold's Lausanne Log -- Day 2

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Keynote Address

1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work

Speaker:

Pamela Livingston, The Peck School, Morristown, NJ

Tuesday began with the second keynote address of the conference. Much of her presentation derived from the book she just finished and is (or will soon be) published by ISTE.

Her main points were:

• laptop programs do exist out there that are successful
• laptops promote self-directed learning and support constructivist instruction
• laptops help students stay organized.

All these things can contribute mightily to learning, especially in 7^th grade and beyond, according to her research.

She went on to list a number of observations about 1-to-1 laptop programs that applied to teachers:

• increased planning, teaching, and communication
• access to a wealth of curricular resources
• increased communication with students, colleagues, and parents

Some observations for schools with 1-to-1 laptop programs:

• student attendance and enrollment can be improved
• student achievement can be improved
• home-to-school communication can be improved

Pamela seemed quite taken by the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Project and showed a picture of the $100 laptop, had us use a pipe-cleaner to form an imaginary crank. We weren’t sure why, but we turned this “crank” for 30 seconds. Her point? In those 30 seconds of cranking, a person with the OLPC computer would have a number of minutes of computer use time since the OLPC Project computers have a built-in hand-crank generator. These portable computer can truly be used anywhere; lack of AC or battery power won’t be a hindrance. It gives a new spin on “anywhere, anytime” computing. The OLPC program apparently has the goal of distributing 150 million of these $100 laptops worldwide.

Here are the components Pamela listed of successful 1-to-1 laptop programs:

• planning
• steering body or committee
• multiple constituencies
• learning from what other schools/districts/states have done
• professional development
• logistics – networks, firewall, anti-virus measures, spam, spyware, etc.
• just-in-time tech support
• attention to teaching approaches that evolve to take advantage of the laptop in the classroom and with the student at home
• effective classroom management

(she suggested videos on this subject from the Irving School District in Texas)

Some successful programs she cited from her research (I don’t think she did much research in the western portion of the US):

• State of Maine
• State of Michigan
• Forney ISD (Texas)
• The Peck School (where Pamela works)
• St. Thomas Episcopal Parish School (Tampa, FL)
• Henrico County Public Schools (Richmond, VA)

Pamela also made special mention of an examination of adult learning espoused by Malcolm Knowles. The term he coined is “andragogy”. Background on Mr. Knowles and his theories about adult learning can be found at the following site:

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-knowl.htm

Session 1

Tables, Tablets, and Technology – The Rocky Hill Model

Presenters:

Stephen Farley, Head of Upper School, The Rocky Hill School

Scott Young, Science Department Chair/Physics, The Rocky Hill School

Mr. Farley began by emphasizing what he feels schools should promote:

• a culture of thinking
• a culture of authentic participation
• a culture of reflection

The Rocky Hill Model, which extends from the design of the building to the way classrooms are run to the way administrators make decisions for the institution:

• transparency
• communication
• accountability

(some examples: the building is filled with light and rooms are separated by walls of glass which keeps that feeling of transparency and contant reminders of an environment of learning)

He also emphasized the importance his school attaches to being

• partners with our students
• willing to be patient, to fail, and to evolve
• welcoming to innovation, to invest in the “humanware”, and to celebrate faculty accomplishments

Scott took over and showed some examples, illustrated by pictures from the classroom, or the use of tablets and the Harkness table. Students and teacher all face each other at the table, an installed projector and screen (wirelessly accessed and available to all students), and the transparency, communication, and accountability are built into this format. The whole class is gathered face-to-face (no hiding in the last row), the layout strongly encourages discussion among all, and the ability to display student work for all to see reinforces the accountability.

He also displayed examples of student and teacher note-taking using the tablet and made the case that the teachers liked the ability to be able to hand-write comments/corrections on student papers and return to kids, and that kids liked the ability to take notes by hand. He did point out, though, that there are a number of kids who use their tablet in the “notebook” mode (clamshell opening style) rather than the flat tablet mode because many feel they can type faster (or at least far more legibly) than they can write.

There were a number of presentations at this year’s Institute that featured discussion about the use of tablets in the classroom. There was enough “buzz” about tablets this year that I’ve begun to wonder if we should take a harder look at what tablets might offer in our setting, as well.

Session 2

Paper to Electronic Delivery

Presenters:

Rachel Holsinger – US Science Teacher – Sayre School, Lexington Kentucky

Debbie Wheeler – US Science Teacher – Sayre School, Lexington Kentucky

Website for presentation materials:

http://sparta.sayreschool.org/faculty/rholsinger/

The presentation PowerPoint plus some of the documents used in the demo are available at that link.

Rather than retype everything, I will link the presentation here in the online version of my Lausanne Log.

What I will say is that these two gave one of the more effective presentations of the conference. Why? 1) the information they shared was valuable; 2) their delivery was positive, energetic, and responsive to the audience, and 3) their materials were attractively and effectively designed.

This session was an example of a session where the focus was clear and effective. I believe Rachel and Debbie attended last year’s Institute, took home some ideas and tried them. They found that they had to tweak things to make them work in their school. Their presentation, then, seemed very practical and quite a bit less theoretical than a fair number of sessions I’ve attended over the years. By showing their “problems” they encountered in fulfilling their goal to become as “paperless” as possible in the classroom, their solutions taught us methods that will work for us, too.

Besides, as I said, Rachel and Debbie were both tremendously effective as presenters. This was a winner!

Session 3

Moodle, The Free Open-Source CMS

Presenter:

Peter Richardson, Director of Technology Serives, Rutgers Prep School,

Peter pointed out that Moodle is a Content Management System (CMS) and that it is an open-source program supported by many worldwide. It came about through the work of people deeply interested in social constructivist pedagogy.

Mr. Richardson shared his PowerPoint with me so I have that for reference.. He put great emphasis on the ease of setting up Moodle, especially with the help of a download from a group (in Germany) called apachefriends.org (www.apachefriends.org). By downloading one of their files (I believe he said the package is called XAMPP), the php, MySQL, and other component requirements will get installed automatically. Sounds kind of too good to be true but I’m going to look into it more when I get back.

Unfortunately, since some sessions in different strands overlap in the schedule, I had to leave early from this Moodle presentation in order to get to…..

Session 4

Using Wink to Create Custom Tutorials

Presenter:

Melissa Wert – Harpeth Hall School mwert@harpethhall.org

We had gotten an e-mail just before the conference to download the current version of Wink, if possible, so we could go through the steps of creating a tutorial during this workshop. I was ready to go.

Melissa walked us through the steps of creating a tutorial for a simple set of operations in Paint. After thinking about the potential for something like Wink, one of the reasons I really wanted to attend this presentation was to see if there was any potential for Wink to be used to do some kind of assignments in Laptop Prep next year. Why not ask 7^th graders to create tutorials with Wink to demonstrate that they know how to run a ChkDsk, or update and run SpyBot, or set McAfee for scheduled updates and system scans? Some might even be good enough to keep in a library of tutorials for other students and/or adults.

Be all the above as it may, Melissa’s presentation showed that Wink is good at what it does although it is not quite “fall off a log” easy. It’s quite likely that the kids will have an easier time of using it than I guessing from this exposure to how Wink works. The potential is definitely there for curricular use in Prep class. There’s also the option of my creating tutorials for adult or student use quite apart from Laptop Prep, so I’m glad I attended Melissa’s session.

End of day two. It's been a pretty packed experience and very rewarding!

Harold's Lausanne Log -- Day 1

Monday, July 17, 2006

As the shuttle bus from the hotel made that last turn toward Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, I felt that sense of anticipation and familiarity as I recognized the place I had had such a rewarding experience a year ago. Yes, I had been at last year’s Lausanne Laptop Institute and that experience was very positive. I was sure, as I disembarked from the air-conditioned coach, that the 2006 session was going to be a great experience, too.

After a bit of granola, coffee, and fruit, I was off to the Elder Performing Arts Center for the opening keynote address of the conference.

Keynote Speech

Redefining Literacy in the 21^st Century

Speaker:

David Warlick, The Landmark Project

As most conferences do, this one opened with an address from an invited “expert” or “guru” and Lausanne was no different. David Warlick, of the Landmark Project and many other educational technology initiatives, was set to speak on the subject “Redefining Literacy in the 21^st Century”. But before he spoke, a few minutes were dedicated toward welcome to the 460 (!) attendees of this year’s Laptop Institute. Stewart Crais, Lausanne’s Director of Technology and Lorrie Jackson, the person most responsible for organizing this year’s Institute (she’s a tech integrationist at Lausanne, I believe) made sure we all felt welcome and ready to start a stimulating conference.

Not surprising in this day when Internet access is viewed by a large cross-section of people as a daily activity and routine, David’s talk began with a list of online resources up on the big screen These were designed to illustrate various points he was about to make in his address to us. They included:

About Wikis:

http://davidwarlick.com/wiki-warlick/index.php?title=Redefining_Literacy_for_the_21st_Century

Web links related to this specific presentation:

http://davidwarlick.com/wiki-warlick/index.php?title=Web_Links_Related_to_this_Presentation

David Warlick’s own Wiki:

http://davidwarlick.com/wiki-warlick/index.php?title=Main_Page

Presentation handouts:

http://handouts.davidwarlick.com

The homepage of Mr. Warlick’s Landmark Project:

http://www.landmark-project.com/index.php

David directly launched into an example he felt illustrated the importance of teaching our students the “new literacy”. He asked, “Does a social studies teacher need study guides anymore?” Instead of a study guide produced, printed, and distributed by the teacher, he invited that hypothetical teacher to consider creating a wiki page devoted to the particular curricular unit. Assign students to make their own contributions from their own research to the collected information that the wiki will form. David maintains that today’s literacy is marked by communication and collaboration. Why not use the power of the group to find the information and collaborate on a study guide rather than doing the traditional teacher-centric version yet one more time?

But what about making sure each student knows the body of knowledge needed for that curricular unit? Wouldn’t the social studies teacher be abandoning her/his responsibility to monitor each student’s learning by doing a wiki or allowing group work and collaboration?

David would argue, no. There is nothing in this model that means minimum requirements for each student are gone. It does mean the teacher would have to re-think the assignment, perhaps adjust the goal of the assignment and certainly the method for completing it. She/he would also have to re-design – or at least re-think – the way to assess student learning and what constitutes completing the assignment. David reminded us that even as wiki pages evolve, are edited and re-edited, the previous versions are archived. All page edits are identified with the author which means that all individual student contributions could be identified and assessed.

Even factoring in a little inborn skepticism on my part, I thought such a methodology would be well-worth trying. I certainly agree that all our online resources make collaboration very easy. Why not use those tools to build student knowledge, too?

After just a few minutes of speaking, David took us a little by surprise saying he was going to skip to his conclusion: Stop integrating technology in our schools.

Instead, we need to teach our students the primary importance of verifying information (in this day of information overload), as well as techniques and tools for sifting through the stuff they don’t need and find the material they do.

We must teach our students (and probably ourselves, too) how to uncover the origins of information we access and use.

On the subject of information and how much there is out there, David gave us a statistic to the effect (I may not have this absolutely correct): In 2003, the amount of new knowledge added that year amounted to 5 exabytes*…or 37,000 Library of Congresses-worth. That’s a heck of a lot of data!

I have been well aware that there is a near-unlimited about of data out there but hearing that rather dramatic statistic does underscore the need on all of our parts to know how to make sure the material we’re reading/hearing/seeing, is legitimate and trustworthy.

To illustrate this last point, David displayed a web page with background and biographical information about Martin Luther King. No author or sponsoring organization was listed but there were pictures and paragraphs of text. The page itself had a polished and professional look that certainly looked authentic.

However polished, David warned, without clear information about authorship and/or organization responsible for the page (or site), one can’t consider this a trustworthy site and it’s not possible to verify the content.

We have to verify.

And to illustrate why, David tried to find out who was the author or sponsor. By deleting the page name in the URL, he found the parent page, which was an introductory page about Martin Luther King with, of course, a link to the page we started with. The parent page had the same great professional look. Yet, there was still no indication of an author or sponsoring organization.

At the bottom, you could click on a link to contact the webmaster. David looked at the mailto: link, found a name and a domain. He didn’t recognize the web master’s name or the domain. He could have searched on the person’s name, but decided to start by seeing if there was a website with that domain name. He inserted the domain in a URL. To our collective surprise (and shock) we were looking at a white supremacist website! The sponsoring organization for this ostensibly authentic website about Martin Luther King was really a white supremacist organization! These specific pages have since been removed but this scenario certainly illustrates the importance all of us need to accept to verify online content.

The Literacy Tasks David laid out include:

• find the information
• decode it
• critically evaluate it
• organize the information into personal digital libraries

David showed a study of a group of online retailers (Rhapsody, Amazon, and Netflix) which showed there to be a so-called “long tail” in terms of availability of content. A link to the actual study is at: http://www.wired.com/wired/images.html?issue=12.10&topic=tail&img=2

The upshot is that there is a body of titles – music, books, movies – which amounts to common core of titles widely available. The titles, you might say, are the core group that you’d find at brick-and-mortar retailers. What has changed in recent years is the “long tail.” If you look at the right portion of the group, the “long tail” is the much flatter part of the graph that represents titles published in far few numbers than the core group. What has changed is availability. Before the advent of online bookstores, music download sites, and other online venues for buying content, you’d be looking at “out of print” notices. Now, however, there is far greater access to content that is way off the best-seller charts which gives us yet more access to information and points of view.

David gave the example of his own book. Once he finished writing and editing it, he used a self-publishing site on the web (http://www.lulu.com/) to get it “out there.” David claimed his book was available for purchase about two hours after he finished submitting it online. This is, obviously, much different than the way authors used to publish their books. Similar opportunities are available to composers, musicians, and film makers.

Not to mention our students: students can upload their movie to any number of sites (i.e. YouTube). Or their digital pictures to Flickr. Or they can put their short stories on a blog. Or they can podcast an audio diary to iTunes. The landscape for accessing and sharing information is changing!

It has never been easier for anyone to get their work distributed to a worldwide audience.

Another concept David put out there is that it should be one’s goal in her/his writing expresses ideas in a compelling fashion.

Unfortunately, due to lack of time, the final tenet of the new literacy that David had up there on the screen he had to skip. The word up there was “Ethics”. Even though he didn’t have the time to spell this out, it certainly makes sense to me that just as we must verify information, we must also bear in mind the importance of ethics with respect to the production and use of ideas and material. This is copyright and fair use, certainly, but I imagine David would have elaborated in more detail about the role of ethics as it plays out in the day of wide dissemination and sharing on information and ideas so often accomplished with a mere click of the mouse. I’m sorry he ran out of time.

As you want any keynote address to do, David Warlick’s talk gave me much to think about. I’ve bookmarked a number of his sites and will look for time to go back to them, re-read his thinking, and do a better job of digesting it all.

[By the way, David requested that, if we blog about this presentation, we include these three words in the blog text or tag:

redefine --- literacy --- warlick

Why? Our networked world makes it possible to share information in ways not possible before. By including those specific words a search/gathering tool he has set up will add that blog entry to all the others that contain those words, forming an ever-growing and ever-changing collection of thinking and observations. People can read and think about other people’s ideas and perspectives while sharing their own. Amazing!]

David’s contact info:

david@landmark-project.com

919-414-1845

*In case you’re interested – and I was because I had never heard the term before – an exabyte amounts to a billion gigabytes.

Now begins the conference and the scheduled sessions.

This year, the sessions are organized in various strands. There are strands for Integrationist, Teacher, Support, Administrator, plus some for exhibitors and so on. My first session was in the Integrationist strand.

Session 1

Tech Goal-Setting Strategies

Presenter:

Deidre Brown – Staff Development Coordinator – Randolph School – Huntsville, AL

Ms. Brown comes from the Randolph School in Huntsville and she is the Staff Development Coordinator there. Her focused on aspects of the professional development system at Randolph

To begin with, at Randolph each department has a Technology Integration Consultant (known as a TIC [sic]). They are the go-to people for members of their department. Randolph has a tech team as well. The way Deidre described the set-up of TICs, it must work pretty well. The TIC is a contracted position with a signed contract and stipend.

Randolph asks each faculty, staff, and administrator to come up with an annual Individual Learning Plan (ILP) in which specific technology goals are set by the individual. Each ILP is presented to the person’s respective TIC and to the department head, and perhaps the division director. At some point in the year, the TIC will check on the various goals the individuals have specified; Deidre puts all the people and their goals on a spreadsheet of her own. That way, come late winter or spring she can approach her colleagues, ask how the progress of attaining their tech goals are going, and offer help with any still unmet These tech goals are not part of the individual’s yearly evaluation and, if they miss making a goal, they can roll it over into the next year. The ultimate goal of the program is not to admonish failure but, rather, to encourage learning, professional growth, and success.

Deidre gave us samples of ILP forms – blank and filled out.

Another document she shared was a skill sheet which gathers skill lists, various programs, and assorted other tech information for reference. Why? People can’t decide on a tech skill goal if they don’t the skill they don’t yet have. This sheet offers a wide array of possible opportunities for new learning. Think of it as a way to “prime the pump” for setting tech goals.

At some point in the year, the each department head presents the group department goals at a department meeting.

Teachers at Randolph may apply for grants to present their own summer technology trainings. If their proposal is accepted, they receive a small stipend.

Session 2

A Guide to Web 2.0: The Changing Shape of Information

Presenter:

David Warlick (see background info above)

In some ways, an extension of his keynote this morning, David Warlick focused on the future and information, if not literacy per se. Information, he said, in the last ten years, has become:

• networked
• available in digital form
• overwhelming (which I took to refer to the flow and breadth of information coming at us every day)

Furthermore, he said, in the last two years:

• content is created more and more based on conversations (blogs, forums, e-mail, wikis, etc.)
• content depends on the behavior of readers and users
• content is increasingly connected with others through ideas

David recommended a downloadable book by Terry Freedman called Coming of Age. I’ll try to get around to downloading it and see what it has to say.

David recommended another book – The New Shape of Knowledge, by Dave Weinberger

David went into mashups which he defined as websites that gather information from a collection of other websites and makes something new of that info. The Wikipedia definition of mashup is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_(web_application_hybrid)).

One example of news tracking David showed was Buzztracker (http://buzztracker.org/). Buzztracker monitors news and notes where the news is from or about. It compiles these feeds, tallies how many refer to what place, and then indicates this activity with dots on a world map. The larger the dot, the more news there is about that city or place. To quote its own introductory blurb:

Buzztracker is software that visualizes frequencies and relationships between locations in the Google world news directory.

Buzztracker tries to show you how interconnected the world is: big events in one area ripple to other areas across the globe. Connections between cities thousands of miles apart become apparent at a glance.

Buzztracker keeps an archive of each day’s activity and map. Going back in the archive is a way to watch the change in the news from day to day

David has created a mashup called Hitchhikr (http://www.hitchhikr.com/) which is focused educational technology events, conference, blogs, and other resources.

To quote his introductory remarks about his site:

In changing times, we need to raise our heads out of the water every once in a while, take a drink of kool-aid, network, learn, and energize. Yet, we can't always make it to the conferences we need to attend to mix with the people we need to see -- face-to-face. This is why Hitchhikr was invented, to provide you with a virtual space where, thanks to blogs, podcasts, and RSS, we can connect, share, respond, and grow knowledge out beyond the place and time of the event.

An example of how this works: To assure that any blog entries about this particular presentation gets linked to other entries about the same event, David requested that people be sure to include “web20” and “warlick” (without quotes, of course) somewhere in the text (or as tags). That way the entries get picked up by Hitchhikr and collected with other entries with the same terms. This, then, being an illustration of how information can be shared widely and immediately to interested audiences in a way not possible even five years ago (or two?!).

How to do wade through all this content? A tool David pointed to was RSS. He demonstrated his favored aggregator and explained, for those who had not encounted RSS feeds before, what they were. I’ve used SharpReader as a stand-alone aggregator as well as the online options such as Bloglines. I’ve gotten the RSS “habit,” too, but I still struggle with how to wade through all the content, even with aids like RSS.

David reiterated the point that “we connect to each other through the content” we seek.

As people use tools like blogs, RSS, wikis, and so on, they create their “personal learning network.” Building one’s own personal learning network is what we must teach our students.

Note about aggregators: David showed the group Bloglines as an online way of subscribing to RSS feeds along with other online content. He also made mention of a new(ish) tool he has started using called Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com/) which offers a bunch of configurable tools you can add to your page (plus add other tabs for more content) including RSS, Gmail, and other options. Right now in beta, this is a free service out of Paris. When I get a chance, I’m going to set up my own netvibes page.

Tonight is the big dinner of the conference and will be held here at the Hilton in one of the large ballrooms/dining rooms.

Dinner was held in one of the very large convention dining rooms that are here at the Hilton. This year they suggested we find a table with our “strand” indicated so that we would be grouped according to our job focus. In other words, tables were labeled Teachers, Integrationists, Administrators, Support, etc. I sat at one of the Integrationists tables and recognized one person I had already met earlier today, a couple folks familiar from last year, and a group of people new to me. The geographical range at our table ranged from Florida to Tennessee to Iowa to Seattle. We had a nice meal (grilled boneless chicken, grilled veggies, and grits [that’s what the Tennesseans at the table said it was!]).

This has been a great start to the Laptop Institute. Now to get ready for tomorrow

It's Off to Memphis!

Today I set off to Memphis to attend the 2006 Lausanne Laptop Institute, an annual conference focused on laptops and learning held at the Lausanne Collegiate School. This will be my second year in attendance and I'm looking forward to it a lot. Last year's experience was great and I suspect I'll again have a rewarding, interesting, and fun time.

A Fascinating Music Site -- Musipedia

Boasting tools that allow you to enter notes (pitches & note values, including rests), or indicate melodic contours, or whistle a tune....whatever your method, this site claims to be able to help you identify those ditties or tunes you either can't get out of your head or can't remember the name of the song.

Go to Musipedia!

Lizards and Snakes......Alive!

Come and visit this site at the American Museum of Natural History about -- well, yes! -- Lizards and Snakes. What's not to love about 'em?

More Patently Silly?

In case you've ever wondered what some of those "stars" out there expect (or demand?) when they're on tour or in some performance venue, you can check out the expectations on the part of about 200 performers at the Backstage link at the Smoking Gun website.

Some pretty amazing (and fascinating) details!

Patently Silly Is Right!

Thomas Edison these folks aren't. This site is dedicated to calling attention to actual inventions that have been awarded U.S. Patents. Well, not just to any invention but to inventions that are both patented and -- yes! -- silly.

Maybe not laugh-out-loud hilarious, a number of them will at least bring a smile to your face.

What were they thinking????

Patently Silly - The Humor of Invention - presented by Daniel Wright