The Job Search

Sigh...big sigh. It seems that I am forever looking for that big job. Looking again. Is everyone looking? Has looking for the big job become a national pastime?

I probably have more licenses and certifications than anyone should ever collect in a lifetime. I am a licensed recreational piolet. I have my EMT license. I am a licensed educator in the state of Vermont. I have NOLS Winter Outdoor Educator Certification. I am a licensed professional ski instructor, level I. I have a BS in Graphic Design from the University of Cincinnati. I have a double masters degree - MA in Technology Education and MS in Information Technology Management. Is that enough????

And, here I am, again, looking. Still paying off school loans and wondering if I should go back to school for another degree. Maybe, then, I can find that job.

I have been working for the past year as a technology Integration Specialist for the Bennington, Vermont School District. This is a job I love and would love to continue, albeit, like any public education job, one will never get rich doing it. However, I love teaching and I'm good at it - really good. So what's the problem? Beauracracy in the public schools. Sigh...big sigh. Want to know what's wrong with our schools? Public school politics and beauracracy. To be an educator one must be educated with degrees and licensed through the state. Beaucoup training. To be on the school board, one needs no training, no certification - only political connections. Is there somethiing wrong with this picture? The school board is the governing body for the school district. They are the ones who decide strategic direction and vote on who goes ad who stays, ultimately. They determine policy and procedure. Yet they are not required to have any particular training or experience in education. I guess the fact that they went to school is enough to determine the future of schools and the future of education for the community?? I don't get it.

The school board for the Bennington School District is looking at the possibilty of voting out the 6th grade (Middle School) technology position. They have concluded that 6th grade doesn't need technology. Well, if they don't need it, then who does???? I am hoping ot move into the 6th grade technology position as the integration position is being filled by my predecessor (that's another story of politics and beauracracy). Thus the reason for the continued search. At the moment, ther board has not voted and the position still stands. But the fact that there is even a question, worries me. And the fact that the future of education is in the hands of an elected, not necessarily qualified group, worries me, too. It all seems backwards. And, perhaps that's way education is in such a mess.

Technology and Things That Matter

It's been over a year since I’ve posted to this site. The prompt to do so came as I was writing about myself as a member of the SVSU Tech Partners Wiki. What to say about myself? My resume? My portfolio has always done the speaking for me. So I decided that perhaps my visual/verbal technology “bits” should speak for me as well. Besides, the point of the blog, in the first place, was to write about Technology and the Things that Matter. Could there possibly be a better time to address that topic than now, when we are about to determine a new technology plan for the Southern Vermont Supervisory Union?

I am honored to be part of this group. To be here means that my skills, education and experience are seen and acknowledged by my peers. “Seen and acknowledged.” Perhaps the most key phrase in the world of technology education. Is there anything more than that, that any student wants, but to be seen and acknowledged? It’s no wonder that technology has come to mean so much to a generation of students who grew up with television. “Seen and acknowledged” is the entire world to this generation that lives on YouTube. Which leads me to the next question…

What happened to self knowledge? Self acknowledgment? Self acceptance? Inner balance and grace? Can these things exist in a generation that is dependent on being seen and acknowledged? Can technology bring inner balance, self knowledge, self acceptance and grace?

Can technology education bring inner balance, self knowledge, self acceptance and grace? Can any Technology Plan even hope to address such lofty ideals? Can it afford not to?

Hockey Clips and Video Clips

While waiting at Riley Rink for my almost fourteen year old to return from the state hockey tournament I videod clips of the goin's on in the warming room and out on the rink for a short class movie. One engaging youngster of age six, having just gotten off the ice from Sunday night Stick and Puck with dad was most engaging. His composure for the short interview was astonishing for a six year old. His brother, not to be outdone by junior, sat for an interview as well. He was equally engaging and charming. These two young men reminded me greatly of my own little man when he played for the youongest level of NHA Hockey, the Mites.

Now, at age almost fourteen, my little man is no longer learning to skate, but instead slugging it out with other young men, like himself, who seem to think the skill is in being tough enough to slam and be slammed. What happened to the charming six year old who was fasinated by the blade on the ice, how it turned and flashed with hockey players gliding in rhythm, in time, a team, a ballet with hockey sticks?

I once took my little man to see a game at Middlebury College with the varsity A team. I forget who the opponent was. However, they were equally skilled. The game was, in fact, a ballet. The strength of the young men playing was unquestionable. The more impressive aspect of the game was the coordination, timing, restraint and skill in playing as a team. There was, of course, the inevitable checking, but that was not the objective. The objective was the amazing skill and handling of the puck - how the team could seemingly "feel" what the other was doing. Those young men who spent days and weeks and months playing and drilling and knowing one another could literally "feel" where the other was on the ice. It was amazing. My young man was as transfixed as I was.

At that time, those qualities of quiet restraint and skill where what amazed us both. Now, when I try to talk to my young man about hockey he only wants to talk about who slammed who and how his team got them back. It saddens me. For me, also a hockey player, of the female persuasion, this is not the game. This is a part of the game to be ignored as a necessary evil of Men's Hockey. At age six, when there is no checking allowed, there still seems to be a love of gliding, handling the stick and puck and working as a team. To send a pass and receive that pass and move the puck up the ice in unison, in time, as a team is beauty. It still holds fascination for a six year old, and for me.

This is what I'd like to capture in the making of a video. Obviously, in the short clips I made that Sunday night at Riley Rink there is not enough footage or the right kind of footage. It is perhaps a start. And perhaps as I continue in school I'll have the opportunity to learn more of the skills and techniques to make this video. For now, it's just finding time to make a short, short video and an audio clip. Writing about it is fun, but now the film's the deal. My words will have much more impact if in image and motion. Perhaps with video, I can even get the attention of my own fourteen year old hockey player.

Infant Hour at the Wi Fi Café

11:30am and the quiet, focused click clack of computer keys is drowned out by the slightly shrill voices of young moms talking about nipple shapes, shopping deals and baby rashes. There is the cooing of little guys who find it thrilling to gnaw on a leather wallet, drooling over zipper and stinky old leather alike while mom attends to brother or sister. Squeakie sqeakie. Perhaps a rubber duckie? High fives all around from tiny hands for Josh who serves moms much needed cappuccino. Many "pleases" and "thank you's" – more than you'll hear from any other table. Six moms, seven children aged, what? About six months to eighteen months? Every high chair in the café is filled and the heretofore quiet cafe is abuzz and with activity, mom chat and feeding.

The moms are without make-up, although most never wore it, with Birkenstocks, clogs and Sorell boots. This is, after all, Vermont. Long hair in permutations of buns and poney tails. One mom who has braved loose tresses has tiny hands entwined in a grabable bunch. All, with beautiful cherubs. And this, the Spiral Press Café is the place of choice to bring them so mom can have an adult moment where all will be happy. Did I say, all?

Are we, the moms whose babies now wear braces and choose their friends over a café excursion with mom, are we, the moms gone back to work or grad school and the book club members and older gentlemen working on something very important and the young executives and local business folks (various insurance agents, attorneys, etc.) meeting with colleagues, are we adverse to the cacophony of baby and young mom sounds chasing after falling sippie cups and cookies? All appears ok. Heads are still down after a moment of acknowledgement that the guard has changed. Everyone seems to have noted that the babies are cute, and, well, back to work, baby noises and all.

Educational Communication with a WOW

Okey Dokey. I missed the first class of Educational Design II: Audio, Video Media for the Web, but I made it to the 2nd class. And WOW! Okey Dokey Super Duper! This is going to be great. Just what I had hoped fthe class should be. Since I am auditing, however, I hope I can keep up. I knew I couldn't carry the load of another full class. On the other hand, I didn't want to miss out. Always the dilemma. How to fit it all in, cause I want to do it all.

Now, how can I fit in Web Standards, too?

Here I am, again.

Another year, another class. Actually, the same class over again.

Technology changes so quickly that it's really difficult to self-educate. Sometimes it requires a class to poke and prod and push me into delving back into the mire. Web Design II is one of those classes that will be forever changing as technology itself, changes. I decided to take the class, again, as an audit, to review and revise my technology currency. There are many facets of the class that did not exist the last time I took it - more involvment in video and interactive web elements. My capstone may require an in-depth knowledge of these technologies.

So, here I am, again, on the blog.

Mountains, mountains, more mountains

I don't know what it is about mountains, but I love them. I always have. I remember as a small kid staring at the Appalachain Mountains that I grew up in, just wondering. You know, looking at the ridge lines receeding seemingly forever into the distance and just wondering where they went. Sunsets in the mountains are always so spectacular. Sunrise is even more so; especially when you wake up in a sleeping bag watching the sun come up over your toes.

I became a telemark skier, then racer, then backcountry enthusiast. I guess that happened when I discovered the amazing Wasatch and Rocky Mountains and what backcountry skiing was REALLY about. Telemark racers are notorious for making the race secondary to the free ski in order to just hit the trees (not literally but backcountry wise). Those races were too much fun, and so my love of mountains expanded. Then, there were the Alps that became more familiar during the Telemark World Championships in St. Anton, Austria and San Gervais, France. Jumping with the Norgies (Norwegian Tele Skiers) was certainly eye-opening. I realized you could talk with anyone, anywhere in the world if you could talk about mountains; or better yet, if you were experiencing them together you didn't need to talk at all. Blissful existence and good memories afterwards.

I could go on and on about mountain experiences; the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt; the backside of Killington, Vermont; spring camping trips up Tuckerman's Ravine in New Hampshire; even an expedition to Mt. Everest as a trekker and student of expedition life. Hiking the mountains, biking the mountains, climbing the mountains, trout fishing in the mountains of Montana, or just staring at the mountain ridges from my kitchen window in Vermont. Many of my most memorable and long-lasting friendships were forged in the mountains.

So what's this got to do with technology and on-line learning? Not much. That's the whole point. Contrast. Having the one makes you appreciate the other. So when it came time to design a course (in Moodle) for on-line study, I chose a topic that took me to the mountains (in terms of content, not actual geography) where I knew the subject matter would keep me going through the frustration of "dissonance in learning". I am learning lot, but I'm still struggling with how to get it all into my moodle course. I did this little widget flickr badge to motivate and inspire students of my Avalanche Safety in the Backcountry on-line course. Seems the only one it's motivated is me, cause I can't get it into moodle (yet).

Check out my new flickr badge, anyway. Most of the photos are not mine. Wish they were.

Thinking, not computing.

“We need to get away from the notion that computers are something we go use in a lab once a week. When was the last time we sent kids to a pencil lab?”
Chris Lehman, principal at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia

I think what Mr. Lehman is saying is that the computer, as a tool, needs to be more integrated into the entire educational experience. Additionally, and perhaps more subtly inferred, is the notion that training the mind comes before the use of tools to express or document what the mind produces. Once again, it is the mind that matters in education. The tools change. The tools are secondary to education and the two are distinctly different.

The difficulty, however, comes in when the lives of our young people (the MySpace Generation) are filled with “programmed” activities. Yes, it’s fascinating to play with ipods and personal computers and phone cameras and to learn flash and photoshop and imovie and 2nd life virtual realities. But filling our lives, or the lives of our children, with these activities precludes the possibility of developing imagination. If we fill all our time learning the tools, when do we learn to think, imagine and make the connection between the tool and what to do with it? The whole person, complete with curiosity, imagination, and motivation to connect the dots is the goal of education. The tools don’t do it. Effective pedagogy and assessment does.

The value in learning programmed tools and applications is two fold. The most obvious is learning to use the tool. Then, there’s the less obvious, what to do with it? Web 2.0 Technology gives us the invaluable opportunity to connect in ways that were never possible before. The value in learning the tools is in answering the question, where will the next generation take this technology and how can we educate the mind to do it in the best possible way. Where do we want the next generation to go? Are the values of peace, moral conscience, and world-wide human betterment still the goal? How do we teach our coning generations to use the tools of technology to get closer to the goal than we have?

flickr fantasy

I like to periodically look at my classmates' blogs to see what everyone else is writing about and what sorts of tools are being used. Today, while sitting at my usual spot in the bookstore cafe, I scanned the blogs and found that Jen had done a sweet little animated flash widget with photos from flickr. I was mesmerized and spent the next six and a half hours cropping and uploading and organizing photos to do the same.

I was obsessed. The more I did, the more I wanted to do. I did sets, and groups and tried to do another flicker flash widget for my avalanche class (haven't figured it out, yet) and then realized I could organize my portfolio for viewing a lot easier than adding pages to my web site. Wahhooooooo!! I thought I'd reached nirvana in a flash (get it?). I was so obcessed that I worked all day exploring flickr instead of doing the moodle work I'd planned to do.

I was motivated like I never was when it was assigned to us to explore flickr. Now, why is that? What was the mechanism that stirred my imagination when my instructor, although well prepared and expert at the job, could not? This question is exactly what we've been reading and discussing. That is, how can an educator customize (differentiate) education and/or the tools one uses to motivate learning? In particular, how can we, as educators, use web tools to motivate and assist learning?

For me, personally, being so visual, I am intrigued with motion, color, photography and how things look. Naturally, the flickr badge caught my attention. Herein lies the key - how do we find that tool, that mechanism, the question that will open a door and motivate a student? It's not so simple. I'm sure at some point in explaining flickr, someone probably mentioned the badge widget and other features of flickr. It wasn't until I SAW it and CONNECTED the possibility to how I could use it as a tool in creating my avalanche safety course, that I "saw the light" so to speak.

In the classes I have taught, I always ask, "Why are you taking this class and what do you expect to get out of it?" I even do this with four and five-year-olds who always amaze me with their wisdom. This gives me an insight into each student's mindset, prior experiences and personal expectations. And, even though I have objectives, goals, needs assessment and structure for the class (although frequently I don't finalize my course structure till I've asked this question) inevitably, I customize the details of executing the class based on the individual students. Along the way I check in, monitor and access not only the progress of the class, but each individual according to his or her personal goals. I check on myself, as well. Am I achieving my objectives and goals? Are the tools I'm using motivating and assisting understanding or are they confusing the issue? Are the students "getting it?" Or, do I need to take another tack? Perhaps the plan works for some, but not others. How do I deal with that and is my structure flexible enough to accommodate change?

With all the readings we've been doing, it's been gratifying to realize that what I've been doing has support in the educational community and has a name - differentiated learning. Not having had the benefit of formal education in education, I was just following my nose and my intuition. I wasn't trying to be an educator as much as a "guide." This has been my own personal guiding rule for being a mom or an educator or any sort of leader. Respect all as equals. Even the 5-year old can show you something new and valuable.

I can't imagine teaching any other way. After all, every one is different. Everyone responds to different kinds of stimuli. Like me, spending six and a half hours on a flickr badge, finally "discovering" flickr and finally being motivated to really learn what it can do.

The Gods Must Be Crazy or Unfamiliar With Web 2.0

Technology is a tool that broadens the scope of possibility. Without the human mind behind it, however, there is no creativity, only programming. The importance of the tool is that it provides a window to the world. It gives us the opportunity to see and hear and experience (to a limited degree) almost instantaneously, the writings, thoughts, visions and news of the world. It allows us access to the world’s libraries, books and people. Nothing is far away; no one is a stranger and no culture hides with the possibilities of internet technology.

Technology is the tool that allows us to be creative by being able to access new data with which to work. We make new connections between old things or new things. We create seemingly new things through the connection of heretofore unrelated elements. New thinking is generated through new stimulus or seemingly new stimulus because of new access.

The mind, the individual, with his or her individual talents and short comings, is the raw material with which the educator works. That material, that person, remains a complex, fertile, as yet not fully understood, field of potential. The mind is subject to fluctuations of mood, chemistry, environmental factors, age, developmental level, physical/emotional variations, and even the personal response to a particular educator. Every person, every moment, every day is different.

It is the educator’s job to make the tools for accessing information useful to the minds he/she works with. It is up to the educator, to find ways to stimulate interest, motivation, creative thought. There are many tools with which to do this, but few are as impactful or exciting as the tools of Web 2.0 and 3.0. These tools are part and parcel of the new generation's environment, but they are less familiar (if familiar at all) to the prior generations who are the educators. This is the dilemma.

There was a film made some years ago Called "The Gods Must be Crazy. " It's about an Australian Aboriginial native who found a Coke bottle that seemingly fell from the sky. He’s never seen such a thing nor have any of his tribe. It turns out to be a very useful tool, so useful, infact that this small tribe who have never known "ownership" or anger or violence, now start to experience these things because of this new thing that is essentially, the new technology. Everyone wants it. But no one knows how to handle it. And, suddenly everything has changed. The native tries to get rid of the Coke bottle; but somehow it keeps comeing back. So he decides to walk to the end of the earth and throw it off, so they can go back to being the way they were. Somehow, it never happens and the adventures that he and his family get into during the journey bring them into more and more contact with new things, not less.

This film is available on UTube in its entirelty, but the part that interests me is the concept of how the coke bottle changed them, the natives. The bottle was just a bottle. It's impact on them, however, was extensive and ever widening.

So, here's the point. Educators have all sorts of tools at their disposal. They are only able to use those that they understand and find personally helpful. Students come from a different world, so to speak, where the language of the internet tools is simply part of their thinking. All tools are useful. All internet tools are useful. But you can't use them, or speak the language that a student needs if you don't understand the tools.

Internet Neighbors

Because I live in a rural area of Vermont, in a wee, tiny town, I can only get dial-up service for internet acess. So, in order ot do most of my schoolwork, I go to the bookstore internet cafe, buy a latte, get the password for the day and enter into the world of high-speed internet. I sometimes spend over 9 hours a day there. I see the breakfast meeting crowd, the lunch crowd, the afternoon shoppers, the Long Trail School kids who get off the bus at the bookstore for lacrosse practice or to be picked up later by parents who are still working. I watch the cafe slowly start to empty out about 5:30 or 6:00.

Inevitably, I see lots of folks I know - other lacrosse or hockey parents, my son sometimes meets me after school, business people I know. People say hello, chat awhile to catch up on any news, ask what's new. Total strangers help each other with the weird things that happen when the router blinks out. It's a really tempramental router but the regulars know it just has to be reset. These are my neighbors, friends and acquaintances. These are the folks with whom I share a little bit of the world.

At the same time, I'm logged into any number of on-line discussions or chats. I read the news from all over the world through all my RSS news feeds. I read the thoughts and writings of like-minded professionals and students through their blogs and participate in the larger "community of thought and contribution" through various wikis. Frequently, I'm emailing friends and associates as far away as the People's Republic of China or Long Island. I can click a photo of a friend having coffee with me and instantaneously show it to a friend in France. I'm here but I'm there. I'm sharing my little moment in time and space with these folks, too.

Right now, I'm sitting alone in the cafe. It's 5:45 and I'm the last of the die hards, today. The silver is clinking and rattling as it's being taken from the dishwasher and put away for tomorrow. The music is quietly playing in the bckground. I took a break earlier to go down the street to watch my son at lacrosse practice. It was sunny and cold. I was both warm in the sun shining on my face and cold in the wind that blew through my too light coat. It was wonderful to feel the world around me and hear the sounds of boys at practice, siblings play chase to pass the time and familiar parents discuss this year's team, coach, weather, whatever.

Then, I came back here to the digital world. I don't need a second life. I have many lives at any second of the day. They're all valid. They're all real. All these folks are my neighbors and I am dumbstruck with the wonder and reality that we, truly, have become a global village.

And then, the immediate next thought is, "How then, do we really create community in this global village? Or will it happen as naturally as just neighbors passing the time of day?"

Quiet Time

I heard an interesting talk on WNPR the other day as I was driving along. It was the author of a book, The Fourteen Traditions, talking about how children today have way too much stimulation, entertainment, planned activities and passive activity in their lives. The book is a comparison of the present generation to those of previous, quieter, less "entertained" generations. It poses the question, "Is all the stimulation, entertainment and activity that technology affords the young and into which we are all plunged, good for us? How will this change children of this generation from those of the past? How will we develop contemplative, self-reflective adults if the means through which these qualties are achieved is changed?"

This author, whose name I can't recall just now, stressed how he grew up with a strong sense of self developed through quiet, reflective activities. Children were encouraged to read, write, imagine or reflect during free time. There was little in the way of entertainment. Days were spent in school or work or doing chores. What little time there was for play was spent in imaginary games and environments - places where only the mind could go. Toys were made, not bought. Evenings were quietly spent around the dinner table talking over the day. and, if there was any time afterwards, it was spent with reading, a stamp collection or family storytelling.

Now, conversation is infrequent, if at all, among family members. Everyone is tuned in to his or her own mode of entertainment. The television is going, as are the portable DVD players and ipods. Children and teenagers spend free time engaged in playstations, xbox, computer games, ipods, video or other entertaining and technology heavy pastimes. Where and when does anyone reflect on what one is doing? There's so much doing, is there actually any time to absorb it all; to comprehend it all or to see ourselves in it?

This is a metacog blog. So the question becomes, how and when do our children learn to learn about themselves if they are always so busy? Does metacognition exist for them?

Wiki Wiser

Will's Web II class was a potpourri of wiki's and wiki usage. A little sample of what I did last night in class is just to your left under 'about me."

To see the real thing, here's the link:

http://mat064.pbwiki.com/sheila

Eureka! Audio Clip for Junior Ski and Snowboard School

Here it is!!!! Finalemente! Eureka! Can this be it?
The audio clip has arrived, alive.

Stratton Mountain Junior Ski and Snowboard School
Instructional audio clip #1

My Home Town, Y'all

Believe it or not, I come from a small, coal mining town on the New River in West (by God) Virginia. Every Spring I get a hankering to go there. Check it out. Life in the hills of Beckley, West Virginia.

Can't get there from here...

I know I'm doing something wrong; but what is it?
I got the editing done (Garage Band, Audacity, Itunes),
I got the clip converertedinto an Mp3(Switch),
I got the clip uploaded to Hipcast (tried Odeo, too),
I got it published to our class blog for this purpose(Hipcast),
I even got to the source code and copied it.
But Blogspot will not let me post it into the source code on my blog.

It looks like this:

Well, I can't show you the code because the editor tells me there's something
wrong with it. Sigh. Big sigh..

Just can't get there from here.

Stratton Audio 1

Audio

file:///MCGC/Winter/Web%20Design%20II/Audio:Converted/mp3-Allison/Female%20Voice.1%20merg%20%20merged.mp3

Oy!!! Audio!!

I'm still struggling witht the audio thing. How can this be so difficult? Hipcast doesn't work. Audacity doesn't work. Maybe these things have something to do with the problem. Now, I'm working with Odeo, a nifty new widget that has at least let me get my audio clip into itunes. Has this gotten me any closer to my goal of getting my audio clip actually loaded onto my blog? Oy!! I don't know.

Garage Band Rag

Having struggled with Audacity, imovie and a few other free sound and editing softwares for the last month, I'm still (I repeat STILL) working on a sound clip of about 7 minutes. Perhaps the problem is that I have worked with film and sound editing at a professional level and I'm expecting too much from both myself and the available software. I am accustomed to using FinalCutPro for film and sound editing. I'm a MAC user for those of you who don't know. Perhaps the inherent limitations (or just plain differences) of nonprofessional sound editing software is what's driving me crazy. Isn't there some sort of standard vocabulary?

I'm now working in Garage Band, at the suggestion of a classmate. The editing should be intuitive and industry standard, but, Garage Band seems to have its own vocabulary. In editing a marker is used to note a spot where editing is intended to occur. However, in GB a marker is something else and so far, I've not found the equivalent by another name. I've found this to be true with lots of other "tools." It's hard to do what I need because tools are called things other than the known, industry standard names or names that I, a basic level professional, have come to know as standard. And, there doesn't seem to be any easy way (that I've found) to translate; like maybe an old-fashioned glossary. Why?

At this point, I've finally figured out how to cut, join (no options for transition although GB does a great job of the match-up in joining clips), add audio clips and tracks and with the aid of a sweet little software called Switch, www.nch.com (purchased online for $28 after a 15 day trial period) I've converted my edited sound into an mp3 (Garage Band does not save as an mp3 which seems a bit mean-hearted on the part of the developers) ready to be uploaded by Hipcast, today. Now, if I can only master Hipcast. Wish me luck.

Home, Home on the Wayfare...

There appears to be a plethora of new mapping mashups. It does appear to be the new combo technology to use satelite maps coombiined with map maps and various other new technologies to make it possible to "wiki" mapping. What would old world cartographers have to say about this? How do you suppose Christopher Columbus might have approached the Queen of Spain to finance his trip to the unknown new world if he had "Wayfaring" at his disposal? Wow. Queen Isabella would have been mighty impressed. For those of us int he "new world" however, it's lovely to go home, home on the wayfaring. The limitation is the availability of satelite maps of the area. Since I'm from a small town in West Virginia, there's little available. Too bad. And, now I live in a small town in Vermont. Again, not much available. The problem here is that all those cosmopolitan areas already have tons of points of interest available on all sorts of regular maps. Those small towns are the onew who could use it.

For educational purposes, the new map technologies present some pretty fabulous opportunities to get students excited about geography and history. I can definitely see applications for all sorts of education. How about touring around the parts of the world from which famous literature or art has originated? Fabulous. Maybe the post should have been called "Art, Art on the Wayfare...".

ARCS, IDDE, ADDIE, Piaget, Bruner, Gagne, Fink!

LBJ took the IRT down to 4th ST USAAAAAAAA. When he got there what did he see? The youth of America on LSD.

Remember the musical, HAIR? I sometimes feel that I'm singing another version of the above song when I have to recite my favorites in the educational theory arena. It goes like this...

ARCS a favorite of mine, useful and found in IDDEEEEEEEEEE. When you get there look and see; does this have something to do with ADDIE?

Favorites? Well, should I start with Piaget? Bruner? Gagne? Fink? I find it hard to say who or what is my favorite theory or theorist. As applicable to what? All are important. All have application. All are stepping stones to the next or reflections of the past. What about Maria Montessori? Her name hasn't come up. We study some, we ignore others. There are simply too many to do them all. But we cover the basic concepts. And, in my book, the best is a combintion of them all - whatever theories apply to the need and give the student the tools needed to achieve. That's my favorite.

Furl It!

I've been furling and bookmarking and social bookmarking and generally explorig the world of furl, delicious, and RSS feeds. Has this gotten me anywhere? Not yet. I've read some really interesting stuff. I've been thinking about the meaning of social bookmarking (to be explored furter in another post). But, generally, I still prefer to save articles as web archives on my hard drive in files that I create and organize according to my own eccentric heirarcical system.

There is a very good reason why this works so well for me. I live in rural Vermont where there is only dial up available at my house. For high-speed internet access, I go to the Spiral Press Cafe at the bookstore, spend $4 on coffee and get the password for the day. But there are many days when there is no internet access at all. This is (believe it or not) a reality for many people. windstorms, snowstorms, electrical failures, human failures. So, on those days, I have information on my hard drive to be read at leisure.

Yes, yes. It does sound old fashioned. But I like it. It works for me. I will continue to explore the world of furl, delicious, RSS feeds and lots of new sites that are showing up to help me wade through the slog of information available on any given subject at any given moment. However, I don't find it a slog. I don't find it a chore or an inconvenience to organize my own information. It actually gives me an opportunity to think about the content - sort of like hand writing. What is a chore, is having to learn a new system, software, procedure, etc. when all I want to do is read an article. If I have to do all that everytime I want to read an article, I probably won't bother - unless it's really important.

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Hey, you can now subscribe to ME!!! How about that? I'm working on that audio thing. It will be here this week and then you can subscribe to my blog and listen to me ramble on every week. Maybe, I'll even sing. All sorts of possibilities. Singing blogs. Could be a beautiful thing.

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