Technologically Literate

For those interested, I will be blogging from Atlanta over at http://travlinpruitt.blogspot.com

See you there!

Calling all integrators, new and experienced.  I am opening up the Tech Integrators pageflake community to anyone in the field of ed tech.  I welcome your participation and only request an email address to get you involved.

You can PM me at kpruitt@dasd.k12.pa.us.

If you are creating your own, please forward your public “pagecast.”  It would be great to see this come together.  

Check out the page:  http://www.pageflakes.com/kpruitt/11201963

Read what was behind the idea:  http://kpruitt.edublogs.org/2007/06/07/aggregators-as-communities/

I want to thank Dave Cormier for a brillant idea.  Although he was rushed and met with one ill-prepared website, Dave’s presentation at the FOE (Future of Education)  online conference was excellent and could change the way we see the aggregator. 

First, I can’t say that I am a big fan of the online conference.  It’s the blur of a chat room, the bad audio, and sometimes disasterous presentors that keep me watching re-runs rather than participating in real time.  (By the way, thank you to the person that thought of recording and posting presentations.  It’s like TiVo’d education ) However, Dave did it right.  He demonstarted a tool within the context of potential use.

Dave used the aggregator, PageFlakes, as a web portal.  (see it here) He set up each of his ”flakes” to aggregate certain tags (in this case foe2007scm.)  He then encouraged the students to create a blog post or tag a flickr pic.  After a few minutes and a quick page refresh, links started to pour in from the attendees.  I literally sat slack-jawed in my clunky K-Mart recliner.  It was so simple, yet so cool.  

Sure wikis and even expensive web-portals can do similar things but here, right in front of our eyes was a FREE 10 minute answer to keeping everything…and I mean EVERYTHING, in one place.  Just off the top of my head.  This is reseach, assessment, collaboration, community, and even entertainment placed into a nice neat package.

Here are two communities I am working on.  I cannot stress how ease this was.  I hope that I can energize others the way Dave unknowingly energized me.

For teachers at DuBois  http://www.pageflakes.com/kpruitt/11176389   

For PA tech Teachers   http://www.pageflakes.com/kpruitt/11201963

Obviously, I am only working on local items.  I have no idea where this is going nor am I sure what the impact will be.  I can tell you one thing, the success or failure will be clear.  In fact, it will be availble for millions to see. 

I am not going to get into particulars, but during a nice conversation about using web tools in the classroom an interesting comment was posted.  The source, who ironically declines to post a picture,  questioned if using web tools is a step toward killing FTF communication and if we advocate them are we teaching our children that it is okay to ignore the human element?  Hmmm. 

Short answer, no.  I don’t think anyone who cares enough to be a teacher is advocating dropping out of society.

Long answer, this question always seems to be posed when education is involved.  Be it secondary or university is e-learning as good as FTF learning?  Personally, and I may step in it here, I feel that the e-learning I have experienced is and has been more substantial than the 4 years  I spent at a small university in PA.    How can I rationalize such a statement?  Thought you would never ask.

I agree the e-learning is not for everyone.  I am a self-motivated individual that will dive head on into just about anything that catches my interest (keyword).  I like reading, I love learning, and yes, I like that the majority of the time the outcome depends on me.  In my mind, there is no comparison between 8 weeks of on-line grad work and the first 2 years of on-campus undergrad.  During the “gen ed” years of college I was stuck paying 10,000 a year for part-time faculty that wanted to be there less than I did.  I was automatically enrolled in classes to make sure I was ”well-rounded” and was only able to sniff my interests once a semester.  I went from jazzed about running a real TV studio to a careless frat boy 2.0 seconds.  (oh yeah, and back in my day, we had to live in those 8×8 concrete cells, not these 5 room condos they get today) 

Before I go too far, I think what I am trying to say is that there is room for everything, like I said before, balance.  Technology is not going to replace FTF communication.  As human beings we long for connections.  As soon as electronic communications turns personal you know that someday you will meet that person face to face.  With the web we get to seek out exactly what we are interested in.  When I looked into grad programs it was between a $40,000 PSU diploma in curriculum and a $20,000 diploma in technology integration from Walden.  A PSU branch is within walking distance, but they did not have the program for me.   In the past I would have been stuck, but e-learning provides the platform for experts and interested students to connect and focus like never before.  There is no way a rational, educated human being can say that the 2 credit Health course with 800 people is better than an email conversation with an industry leader.   

Heck, we are all going to meet in ATL in just a few weeks and I am excited for that opportunity.  I have ”met” several people that I consider true friends and even though it may take us a few minutes to recognize each other, I guarantee we’ll be laughing and sharing stories in no time. 

Take Care and hug a friend, or as our European pals say, 

Cheers!

Ken  (flickr photo by Bonedad)         

In February of this year, I was moved to action by a visit to Pennsylvania’s Ed Tech Conference dubbed PETE&C.  Meeting and talking to people like Jim Gates spurred me to start blogging.  It was there that I saw a tremendous opportunity to bring online/open source tools to the students and teachers of DuBois.  Without PETE&C I am positive that I would not have the energy or passion to finish my masters or to continue helping other teachers.  Thank you administration and Title 1 funds.

Well, in typical Pruitt fashion (I am notoriously impatient when I get rolling)I have already submitted a proposal for 08′.  I am prosing a 3 hour “pre-conference” session on DV in the classroom and with 8 scant months to prepare I am already going overboard.

“So what?” you may say.  “So, I am already nervous!” I would reply.  I am writing this to reflect on some of my ideas and to hopefully hear what others would want out of 3 straight hours with me.  After all, that’s what the social networking is all about, right?

The only draw back is, if your here, you probably have a good idea about editing and posting video. So, put yourself in one of your teachers shoes.  One that is interested in DV, but not sure how to go about starting. 

My thoughts are, as a teacher and tech coach, I want to first do a good job of connecting the use of DV to rich, authentic learning.  With the proper amount of time, student produced video projects have to power to delve deep into the high-order thinking skills that are so prized today.  I will discuss project-based learning, group dynamic, and self-directed learning all in the context of Mr. Bloom and Mr. Gardner.

The meat will be reserved for three (so far…I am open to suggestions) methods of creation and online posting of videos.  As a PC based school, I plan on covering Windows Movie Maker/PhotoStory, SplashCast, and Jumpcut.  I figure that is a good cross-section. 

Finally, I will cover uploads and embeds using TeacherTube, hopefully finishing with time to work on a short version of the Internet Safety Video unit that I use with my 7th graders. 

Wheww! I feel better already.

I have personally witnessed the power of posting a students work online.  My second period was blown away by one student video being viewed 7000 times in a month.  It changed the way they approach projects in my room and that’s what I hope to share. 

If you have any input or reference material I would love to hear/read it.  Remember…I only have 8 months left…Wow, I’m a wreck             

I decided to give this a try. Here is a quick and dirty Audacity tutorial. I actually use this to help my students learn the program to produce podcasts. The nice part…Since it is open source the kids go home, grab a mic, and continue. There are not too many pieces of software you can send home with the students.

Download: Posted by kpruitt at TeacherTube.com.