Summary of Edubloggerworld Activities today: Join the Brainstorm
It has been a busy day over at edubloggerworld with the fun virtual meetups and discussions. I have a lot to share with you. There are more people joining in to discuss some ideas and issues.
I'm going to share with you the e-mail I just sent moments a go about my work today on this project to some of the other people who helped set this up.
So, what do you think? Here is a copy of what we're asking everyone to do now:
Now, bloggers are an independent, creative group, and no where in any discussions have I seen anyone who advocates getting rid of the spontaneity, excitement, and learning that is inherent in the blogosphere.
Instead it is more, putting teeth to the complaints that many of us have had:
We're tired of reinventing the wheel! We're tired of missing out! We want to include newcomers and my goodness it shouldn't have to be so hard!
How can we share our enthusiasm and expose teachers to these things. But more importantly, how can we facilitate connections between teachers of all disciplines who may or may not be able to integrate technology in the classroom (due to current funding levels or availability) but certainly can integrate technology to connect to one other.
To me, as Sharon Peters said in our elluminate today, it is about removing the T (technology) and putting in the E (education) into our efforts. (I might add, perhaps even to remove the Me and put in the We -- Edunomics if you will instead of Wikinomics.)
It needs to be more than a "techie" thing and involve a grassroots efforts of educators to connect and discuss.
So, join in. Please tag your posts edubloggerworld. If you want to discuss a specific item you're passionate about -- join the wiki, sign up that you're interested, leave a message on the discussion tab or edit the wiki, and host a session yourself to talk with others. Call four friends and record the conversation about this and release it as a podcast. Interview others. Discuss, discuss, and most importantly share (and use the standard tags so that those discussing will take a look at your thoughts -- even if they are to vehemently disagree that anything should be done.)
If you don't like the ideas and the direction, say why and for goodness sakes, suggest an alternative solution to some of these problems. Edubloggerworld may not exist in 10 years, but perhaps it can birth some really useful things that will truly change education for the long haul. It is not important that "it" exist -- it is important that we begin connecting, making meaning, and stop whining about what we wish would happen and figure out if we can do something about it.
Everyone is welcome. Consider this your personal invitation to join in.
I cannot guarantee that everything is perfectly organized, but if you find something you don't like -- fix it OK?
Let's use this stuff we talk about all day.
What do you think?
Oh, and if you want to know how this airset thing works and want to add your free, educational, non-commercial event, view the following video:
E-mail me if you have problems adding your event or want to join at coolcatteacher at gmail.com.
tag: edubloggerworld, edubloggerworldmeetup2007, edubloggerworld_taggingstandards, education, blogging, teaching
edubloggerworld_brainstorm
I'm going to share with you the e-mail I just sent moments a go about my work today on this project to some of the other people who helped set this up.
OK, I just spent five hours I didn't have but we all know the feeling.
I posted the elluminate session on the home page ( listen to it here) and created templates for talking points ( http://edubloggerworld.wikispaces.com/space.template.Talking ) and tags (http://edubloggerworld.wikispac+Points+Template es.com/space.template.Standard ). Feel free to go to manage space and manage templates and edit them. It will not effect the current four talking points and all of the existing tags, but it is still small and manageable.+Tag
Also, I created a talking points page ( http://edubloggerworld.wikispaces.com/talking+points ) with the major points from my session (y'all add any others that you see.)
The video for airset is posted on the calendar sharing page and you can see it here. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAcRCCikR6s
Here are the talking points:
1. Ongoing Unconference
2. Tagging Standards
3. Welcoming Beginners
4. Calendar Sharing
Here are the current tags in use on the site - they have pages and RSS feeds built for google blogsearch and delicious. I also want us to consider advocating that every education related post posted by us is tagged education -- we should be able to make education become an important topic of interest on technorati. Why we haven't done this before, I'm not sure. What do you think?Edubloggerworld
These tags will be used to pull information into the edubloggerworld website and wiki and your RSS reader based on the use of these tags. We will use Google Blog Search and del.icio.us as our two sources of information. Click on a tag to see current information about that topic.
- edubloggerworld The tag for writing about edubloggerworld in general
- edubloggerworld2007 - The tag for writing about events that you would like the edubloggerworld to know about -- these will be pulled via RSS feed onto the Ning. Just use delicious or your blog to tag your post or a resource and it will go to bloggers around the world.
- edubloggerworldmeetup2007 For all virtual meetups held in 2007.
- edubloggerworld2008 The tag for marking events to share with the edublogger community that will occur in 2008.
Talking Points Tags
These are current tags for talking points.The group today suggested we enter a brainstorming phase for two weeks -- do we want a tag for that or just use the talking points tags and come up with new talking points as they see fit (since everything should be tagged edubloggerworld.) What do you think?
- edubloggerworld_taggingstandard
s - edubloggerworld_ongoingunconfer
ence - edubloggerworld_welcomingbeginn
ers - edubloggerworld_calendarsharing
OK, I'm going to be "off the grid" a few days, I have several huge deadlines this weekend!
So, what do you think? Here is a copy of what we're asking everyone to do now:
- Read/ listen to and share the transcripts.
- Hold more sessions within your sphere of influence to discuss these ideas. (tag them edubloggerworld_brainstorm)
- Join the wiki, ning, and airset calendar.
- Look at the talking points and mark your area of interest.
- Talk about it!
We're currently planning to be in a brainstorming phase for the next two weeks starting today on August 23rd where the blogosphere will discuss these items and the potential for our cooperation (further than the blogging we're already doing) to see if there is enough interest. (Some people like the blogosphere as is.)
Now, bloggers are an independent, creative group, and no where in any discussions have I seen anyone who advocates getting rid of the spontaneity, excitement, and learning that is inherent in the blogosphere.
Instead it is more, putting teeth to the complaints that many of us have had:
- Why aren't more new folks coming on?
- How can we make it easier?
- How can the average classroom teacher find things for their classroom?
- How can we not miss important events?
- How can we include newcomers?
- How can we harness the voice of the blogosphere to promote and help change in education?
- How can we promote the exchange of best practices?
- How can we promote grassroots efforts that include nonbloggers?
- How?
We're tired of reinventing the wheel! We're tired of missing out! We want to include newcomers and my goodness it shouldn't have to be so hard!
How can we share our enthusiasm and expose teachers to these things. But more importantly, how can we facilitate connections between teachers of all disciplines who may or may not be able to integrate technology in the classroom (due to current funding levels or availability) but certainly can integrate technology to connect to one other.
To me, as Sharon Peters said in our elluminate today, it is about removing the T (technology) and putting in the E (education) into our efforts. (I might add, perhaps even to remove the Me and put in the We -- Edunomics if you will instead of Wikinomics.)
It needs to be more than a "techie" thing and involve a grassroots efforts of educators to connect and discuss.
So, join in. Please tag your posts edubloggerworld. If you want to discuss a specific item you're passionate about -- join the wiki, sign up that you're interested, leave a message on the discussion tab or edit the wiki, and host a session yourself to talk with others. Call four friends and record the conversation about this and release it as a podcast. Interview others. Discuss, discuss, and most importantly share (and use the standard tags so that those discussing will take a look at your thoughts -- even if they are to vehemently disagree that anything should be done.)
If you don't like the ideas and the direction, say why and for goodness sakes, suggest an alternative solution to some of these problems. Edubloggerworld may not exist in 10 years, but perhaps it can birth some really useful things that will truly change education for the long haul. It is not important that "it" exist -- it is important that we begin connecting, making meaning, and stop whining about what we wish would happen and figure out if we can do something about it.
Everyone is welcome. Consider this your personal invitation to join in.
I cannot guarantee that everything is perfectly organized, but if you find something you don't like -- fix it OK?
Let's use this stuff we talk about all day.
What do you think?
Oh, and if you want to know how this airset thing works and want to add your free, educational, non-commercial event, view the following video:
E-mail me if you have problems adding your event or want to join at coolcatteacher at gmail.com.
tag: edubloggerworld, edubloggerworldmeetup2007, edubloggerworld_taggingstandards, education, blogging, teaching
edubloggerworld_brainstorm
