The conversation went something like this:

“It’s storming pretty hard in Salt Lake. Power’s out, rain is falling sideways.”

“How do you know,” asks my wife as she brushes her teeth, getting ready to call it a day.

“Well, you know Twitter? One of the guys I follow on Twitter just posted about how he’s stuck in his car on the side of the freeway.” I pause. “I guess ‘follow’ isn’t really the right word”.

She looks at me as if I’m not the same person she married. “It's 10 o'clock at night, you know what he’s doing. You’re following him.”

Even I know that Twitter’s weird. That’s why I don’t expect everyone to understand it. I certainly don’t expect everybody to use it and am kind of glad that many people don’t. Can you imagine a person in prison using Twitter? (Tweet 1: Staring at wall. Tweet 2: Staring at wall, still.) Nevertheless, when my own wife accuses me of being a stalker (speaking of prison), I start to question what I’m really doing.

So I’ll ask the question again, this time with a better idea of my answer.

What in the Web 2.0 is Twitter?

Because if Twitter is nothing more than a huge stalk-fest, then I think I’ll pass. Five hundred sixteen “tweets” later however, I’m convinced that it’s nothing of the sort.

I'm convinced that Twitter is about community. Twitter is about people. Twitter is about the network. Here's an example of what I mean:

So Twitter's ability to connect me with a network of like-minded people is huge. However, there's more to it than just the network. Take "the news" as another example. I’ve noticed a strange thing happen to "the news" as I have used Twitter. With Twitter, the news has added meaning for me. Like when I learned about the steam explosion that happened in New York a few weeks ago. It brought the news home to me knowing that one of my colleagues was so close to the actual event.


To continue, remember the rain storm I referred to in the beginning of this post? I could have watched the news (like normal people) to see that a storm was making its way across the Wasatch Front. I would have learned the facts and been able to prepare for the inevitable. However, seeing that Thom (a person whose Twitter tweets I follow) was stuck in the storm, sitting in his car on the side of the freeway because of the storm, I immediately understood what kind of storm I would probably be dealing with.


Furthermore, because I “know” Thom (through his tweets), I now have an emotional tie to the news that I once only watched.

“So that's Twitter, honey. Weird? Yes. But that's just the way I like it.”

Technorati Tags: twitter conversation communication

The folks at TTIX (Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange) inform me that the video from this year's conference has been posted here. I had the honor and privilege of giving the keynote address in June, a first for me. In reflecting further on the experience, I am reminded that I had intended to say many more things than I had actually managed to say. I'm sure many teachers have also experienced this in their classrooms.

Reason #8 - Blogging allows you to finish what you had originally intended to say.

Let me say up front that I had originally wanted to go a lot faster than I actually went. Nevertheless, the flow was smooth and I still felt that I had the audience from the beginning. It really was a refreshing experience.

But I missed the sale, the close, the final touches. I got to slide 307 (or so) of 405 (I had to take out the poem above in order to upload the presentation to SlideShare). Yep, only 3/4 through. If I had to do it over again, I'd make sure to mention:

• The results of my informal assessment of cellphone use throughout Utah - roughly 85% of all urban and rural high school students in Utah have access to a cellphone.
• Ithaca College and their Cellflix Film Festival - what an amazing way to use cellphones to teach.
• Ms. Bradfield and her class's travel bugs - one has traveled nearly 19,000 miles. Imagine the conversations.
• Matthew Horne and the amazing things he's done with his ESL students - I'm sure that blogging and postcasting are just the beginning.
• Kevin Honeycutt and one of my favorite quotes regarding teachers and our relationship to our students: "We've got to be willing to play where they play... even if we don't feel comfortable."
• Darren Kuropatwa and the great way he uses Flickr with his math students.
• One of the most powerful comments I have heard about the Pay Attention video. This was given by a student:

“This is a great video. As a tenth grader, almost everything in the video applies to me – I have a phone (which really doubles as a GPS), I have an MP3 player, I have a computer. The lack of application of technology in many schools is appaling.”

--michaelper22

• Finally, I would have told the audience about my cheesy poem - created specifically to close the presentation:
  

If I were you, what would I do?
I’d use YouTube, del.icio.us, and Flickr, too.
To teach my students about somethidng new.

If I were you, what would I do?
I’d use Google Tools – indeed the whole slew.
Google Earth, Docs, and Trends to name just a few.
Yep, teach kids to learn, even when the day’s through.

If I were you, what would I do?
I’d make my kids podcast, ‘til their faces were blue.
And then we would post them to the new iTunes U.

If I were you, what would I do?
I’d share with the world, yep honest and true.
Yeah, I’d be much more open and creative and common.
And when I was done, I would eat some Top Ramen.

If I were you, what would I do?
I’d pay more attention to what the kids do.
I’d learn how they learn in order to teach
Them things they should know without haffin’ to preach.

Anyway, that's what I would have said if I would have had the time. And that's why I'm glad that I blog.

Technorati Tags: ttix07 payattention whyblog education technology

Thank you, Teacher.

Thank you for the many things you have taught me. Thank you for your guidance and words of wisdom concerning teaching, learning, technology, and education. Thank you for your insights, as the views you've shared from your corner of the world have shaped how I see mine. Whether you've known it or not, you've helped me to understand better what it means to live in our rapidly flattening world. You've taught me that we're all in this together.

So I thank you.

As I've learned (and am learning) about what it means to communicate in this world we call cyberspace, I am increasingly cognizant of the different ways that bloggers converse. These are three observations I have made:

• First, some bloggers don't communicate with others (or they save their communication for the worthy few). Their conversations are a one-way street, flowing directly from brains to their fingertips, to the words that make up their blogs.
  
• Second, some bloggers visit the blogs of others, commenting and participating in the discussions of others. These bloggers seem to both give and take.
  
• Finally, there is a conversation that takes place among bloggers simply through an elaborate dance of cross-linking. This type of conversation is very interesting to me as it seems to provide genuine communication, both direct and indirect.

As I consider YOU to be my teacher (in one form or another), I'm genuinely interested in why you do what you do. What makes you write what you write, for some or for none or for many to read? Yep, why do you expose your thoughts to criticism, to ridicule, and to praise?

In short, why do YOU blog and what have you learned by participating in this worldwide community?

Please take the time to answer my inquiry (either directly or indirectly) in a post on your blog or in a comment on mine. I'll be watching and waiting, waiting and watching, and will post the results of this quest in a few weeks time.

Thank you, again, for being my teacher and participating in the conversation.

P.S. If I have failed to link to you above, it doesn't mean that I'm not interested in your opinion yet. It most likely means that I simply don't know I'm interested in your opinion yet - please participate, giving me a chance to get to know you better.

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Technorati Tags: blogosphere communication conversation

I recently gave two presentations for a graduate class I am taking: Diffusion of Innovations. During the first presentation, I discussed creativity and my theory about how we are on the verge of a creative tipping point. Spurred by an increase in the use of Creative Commons licensing and other recent innovations, I think that YouTube's 65,000 uploads per day are just the beginning.

In the second presentation, I discussed the blog as an innovation that has been quickly diffused throughout our world.


Technorati Tags: blogosphere tippingpoint youtube

David Warlick led a session during EduBloggerCon 2007 that was extremely enlightening and by now, landmark. As a result of the enthusiasm felt in that session and subsequent relationships that were formed following that initial introduction, I have been reflecting further on the read/write web and its implications for the future of education.

To begin Mr. Warlick’s session he asked a simple question: “What is working?” Answers varied from brief one-word answers to elaborate descriptions of effective practice. I took fairly comprehensive notes during the session that I have yet to publish. As the content was very thought-provoking, I felt that it would be helpful for all to benefit from the discussion we had. My notes follow.

What is working:

• Wikis – An example of this is the EduBloggerCon wiki. This entire event was planned thereon.
• Online collaboration – School systems are getting together and sharing resources. –Diane Hammond
• Because of new Web 2.0 tools, students and teachers are progressing toward a new learning environment –David Jakes
• Students can show competence.
• Digital cameras, interactive whiteboards – Teachers are starting to engage.
• “The digital camera is the gateway drug [of educational technology].” –Mark Wagner
• “What should the classroom of today look like?” –Steve Dembo
• The classroom of today is a tandem classroom, paired with another classroom of another culture. –Hence the need for increased community (like EduBloggerWorld).
  
• “It’s all about connections.” –Vicki Davis
• “Start where you’re comfortable.” –Vicki Davis
• “I have some students that - what goes on in schools stays in schools.”
• “Now that we have all of this data on our students, what is there in the long tail for education?” –Doug Johnson
• “The school of the future doesn’t concentrate on tools – because the tools are constantly changing. The school of the future concentrates on the learning.” –Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
• “Kids need to know how to choose which tool – because there are so many…” –Scott Merrick
• “Smart classrooms have to be more than just the hardware – it’s a philosophical change about what happens with the tools in the classroom.” –Jeff Utecht
• “We’re at the very beginning of a huge shift.”
• “The smart classroom is the classroom that becomes a conduit for connections.
• “In the smart classroom, the technology’s not integrated, it’s integral.” –David Jakes
• “Social networking is going to be an integral part of the school of the future.” –David Warlick
• Should it be called “Student Networking” instead of “Social Networking”? –Vicki Davis

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Technorati Tags: ebc07fs edubloggercon07 edubloggerworld technology education