It has been such a fun and crazed two days so far, and I wish I had more time to blog about the buzz here, but this ought to give you a sense of what’s happening. The US Department of Education is here talking about an interesting vision for “School 2.0″ that it’s been working on, and as you can see by the picture, they seem like they are on the right track. I actually had the chance to talk with Tim Magner yesterday who is the Director of the Office of Educational Technology for the DOE and he is really passionate about starting conversations about different models and different visions for schools. I can’t tell you how pumped I am about that development. There will be much more to come on this topic I’m sure, but thus far, NECC has turned out to be feeling very much like a pivotal moment for these tools. 1,200 people in a podcasting session yesterday, tons of people blogging and posting pictures, just a very positive and progressive feel to it all.

technorati tags:necc, necc06, education, reform

I had an absolutely great time during my online session on RSS with the Webheads this morning. There were over 20 people from Europe, Asia, South and North America, and the Middle East that participated. The Elluminate Live software over at Learning Times is incredibly easy to use and really powerful for presentations like this. I was able to run some slides, take them on Web surfs, and narrate the whole thing as I went. I know they recorded it, and I’ll see if I can post a link if/when it’s up.

What was really interesting was the talking to an audience without seeing an audience part. It was almost like doing a somewhat interactive podcast. (Which, of course, is still on my list.)

Have I mentioned how much fun doing stuff like this with technology is? Have I???

UPDATE: The link to the presentation is up on the Learning Times site. You’ll need to do some configuring, but it’s all free.

Google has just launched its “new search service aimed at scientists and academic researchers” named Google Scholar. Hmmm… A quick search for “Weblogs education” brings up 255 hits.

Oy.

Can we split this up somehow? Anyone?
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I can’t believe Barbara Ganley only has 8 subscribers on Bloglines. She’s a constant source of good thinking about education in general and in specific the use of these technologies with kids:

It’s what we’re talking about with blogs in the classroom–how their very mutability and the fact that they are socially based allow them to adapt to whatever learning situation we are in–bending to personalities, tasks, disciplines and goals–and move students to think in terms of community instead of in terms of self. The blog is a catalyst for emergent behavior in the classroom, and even though we rarely arrive at where we thought we were going, isn’t that the point when communities convene to discuss the pressures of development, say, or students explore contemporary Irish literature, or fifth graders engage with a local issue?

Today’s theme is obviously “local.” (Check out this “Hyperlocal Citizen’s Media” study from Northwestern as well.) It’s another part of the direction this all takes…more local…more collaborative…more participatory.
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(via George Siemens) This appears to be a list written by Stephen Downes a few years ago that I hadn’t seen before but has some interesting context for Weblogs. I think there’s only one of the rules that isn’t applicable, namely a lack of standardization.
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(via Pam, who I’m glad to see is back in bidness…) Ok…I’m totally green with envy. This school in Washington is giving their students the vehicle to create a personalized, four-year, online, multimedia, standards-driven portfolio of their work. It was created by an assistant superintendent at the school, and it has the capability for parents or teachers or mentors to leave feedback. Teachers can get online access via their class lists and parents and students can log in anytime from any Internet connection. And for me, here’s the best part:

Teachers say one of the most innovative parts of the eFolio may be the “reflection” section, where students are asked to analyze what they have learned and show teachers they have moved beyond memorization to a deeper understanding.

I believe so strongly in the power of meta cognitive reflection, and I don’t think we’ve even begun to tap the potential of facilitating it. But eFolio is a very cool step in the right direction.

Now what I really want to know is if there’s a Web logging piece to it…

I really wish Marion had more time to write in her Web log because when she does she usually brings some really eye-opening insight on what we’re doing.

I hope the combination of TOS [teacher over shoulder] and RWC (readers with comments) will bring educators closer to achieving Vygotsky’s ideas of increasing the learning zone for students. In Mind in Society, Vygotsky says that the way to achieve greater learning is to combine problem solving activities with adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. With web logs, educators have the opportunity to create a learning zone that unifies thinking and problem solving, adult guidance (teacher/guest experts), and peer collaboration. As this learning zone enhances a student’s writing voice in a space that can become like a portfolio, this allows a student to impact their digital identity as knowledge collectors and creators. The skills involved take students beyond the skills used in the IM world and might help them appreciate the importance of TOS and RWC. Appreciating POS [parent over shoulder] is another thing altogether. (Emphasis mine.)

I think that’s a very articulate description of the potential here. Our role is to create the space and show the way, preferably by example. (Teach blogs, write blogs.) There’s more to think about here…
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Spent much of the last two days with my very skilled and patient wife digging into CSS and trying to make some more themes for my school Web logs. We pretty much ended yesterday with a concept, at least, and a pretty good understanding of how CSS work and the flexibility they give. I was inspired on Wednesday when I surfed into ZenGarden and saw some really beautiful designs that would fit Web logs well. The other area where I pretty much got caught up to speed was the creation of Manila templates in a HTML editor like GoLive. Figuring out where the macros go and what ones have to be in there was a bit hairy at first, but I’m getting there. I know what we came up with isn’t especially scintillating, but I wanted to work with the school colors and be able to swap in a bunch of different graphics in the nav column. Now I just have to get really clear on what sticks when I make a theme of this and what coding I lose. I think that most of the additional code in the main template gets lost, but that the CSS and all of the other settings get saved. If anyone knows of a resource that shows what themes save, please let me know.
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(Via JD)I think this is a pretty good question too:

Tony Perkins, creator and editor-in-chief of AlwaysOn and the event’s host, questioned whether newly emboldened readers will continue to be engaged by Web sites that don’t allow them to comment on stories, editorials or columns. What the blogging and social networking era has done for these readers, he said, was reveal “the power of participating in media… the average citizen out there has something to say.” As a result, he believes every Web site will eventually have to open itself up to readers’ comments, or risk losing their trust.

I know that I almost expect to be able to comment back to most of the writers I read. I keep wishing Josh Marshall would allow his readers to leave feedback because I’d love to see how his insights stand up to other interpretations. And as I’ve said previously, I think the power of comments in many ways defines and shapes what writing in Web logs is. Without that interaction, it’s primarily essay. With it, it’s something slightly different, I think. When your readers are “fact checking your ass,” you really have to pay attention to the accuracy and thoroughness of what you are writing about. That’s why I want to develop that Web logging style and voice in my students.

(via Hypergene Media) From a new textbook Web Journalism: Practice and Promise of a New Medium comes this pretty interesting concept.

“The idea of an Internet community is something of a radical departure for traditional journalistic thinking. These ‘communities’ may be short-term and topic-oriented. They may not be confined to the geographic areas that have traditionally defined audiences for journalists. They are likely to dissipate once the issue that brought the individuals together fades. On the other hand, they may survive and thrive beyond the control or the participation of the journalist who began them.”

One thing I’ve been working on with the school newspaper kids is coming up with ideas for the Web log site once we get it operational. (Just not enough hours in the day…) We’ve been having some fairly controversial issues come up lately like random drug testing (we’re one of the few schools that does) and overcrowding and stuff, and I keep thinking that an issues Web log would be a cool way to stimulate and archive debate. The usual concerns apply: vetting the participants, reviewing posts, etc. I really wish Manila had a feature that would allow the previewing of comments before posting just like news items. But the idea of “short-term and topic oriented” space for students is pretty appealing, and something that I think would be a great way to inform students and get them participating. So many ideas.
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Well, I don’t know if I’ll keep this one up, but I have wanted to dive into MT for quite a while now, and I have wanted to rant about my political views for almost as long…so this free MT hosting offer was almost too good to pass up. If this lives, it’ll be a lot of freethinking, freewriting, brain-dump like blather about my non-education life, if there is such a thing. No expectations…
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Over the last month, the one phrase that’s been sticking in my brain about Web logs is the one Jay Rosen offered up at BloggerCon and subsequntly included in his Ten Things Radical about the Weblog Form in Journalism. I’ve mentioned it here a couple of times before, but today I added t to the top of my nav bar because I think it’s just such a powerful reminder of something I’ve known for a long time but is becoming even more relevant now. “Every reader is a writer, every writer is a reader.” I just love the way Web logs facilitate the connection between the two, the ability to link to the reading we’re writing about. Really, when I get down to it, the thing I like best about this ease of publishing is the ease of connecting and reflecting. It is, I think, the most important skill we should be teaching our students to help them become information literate.

We are lucky enough to have a radio station here on campus and we’ve started a semi-regular broadcast named “Voices of Youth.” It started from a project we did with the PBS show POV last spring dealing with random student drug testing (we do that here, too.) Anyway, the result for that show was good enough that we decided to continue it this fall, and today we created the Web log for the site. Now, if anyone can give me some pointers on how to turn a .pcm file into something Internet playable…

I’ve also added a number of other feeds to my school RSS subscription page. I’m getting ready to have some of these sites go live next week, I hope. Just for the record, we’re up to around 225 sites…

Fifteen already signed up, including Mr. Winer, and I’m thinking we should be able to make 30 without a sweat. As I’ve said before, the Trotts of Moveable Type fame are expected as are people from Blosxom. And Erin Clerico and Bryan Bell will be working their magic on Sunday. If you are serious about Web logs in schools, or if you’re thinking about getting there…c’mon, what are you waiting for????? Click the link, book your flights, and get ready for a great couple of days in SF in Novemeber.

Dave Winer says:

I’m just about ready to flip the switch on the new archive for Scripting News. We’ve also made major progress on bringing a new management team on board for UserLand. Hope to have the deal ready to announce next week. And to celebrate 500 days of No Smoking Dave, I placed an order for two new servers, to run in a new cage here in Boston. This is where I’m going to put various specs and public services that are currently running at UserLand, so the new team can focus on Manila and Radio. Murphy-willing there will be quite a few changes, for the better, in the remaining weeks of 2003.

Fingers are severely crossed…

And from someone who’s coming up on nine, count ‘em, nine years without a cigarette, congrats, Dave. Keep it up.

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