Dublin Literacy Conference

Last Saturday was the Dublin Literacy Conference.  Around 600 teachers from Ohio and the neighboring states came to Dublin, Ohio to learn about literacy and hear speakers cover different topics related to literacy.  I have been involved in the conference for many years, providing technology support for the presenters.  It has been a very rewarding experience, allowing me to meet many wonderful people and hear many moving speeches.  This year was no different.  Actually, this may be one of the best conferences in many years.

One thing that was different this year, for me, was that I was one of the presenters.  I was given the opportunity to share information about Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers.  My presentation focused on tools that teachers could use personally to build their professional learning network.  I shared information about Twitter, Google Applications, Flickr, Diigo, Shelfari, and Blogspot - or at least that was my plan.  I was able to share quite a bit about Twitter and Google, but found myself time-restricted in the introduction of the other topics.  I figured that was what would happen.

I have arranged my blog to include pages that would allow the attendees to go back to my blog and see my presentation, a slide share, as well as other Web 2.0 Resources, which contain Diigo bookmarks that update whenever I add new bookmarks.  Teachers seemed to be receptive to the information, even if they were not current users.  I tried to give examples of how they could use these tools, both personally and with students.  Check out the slideshow and links.

Poll Everywhere - Data Collection

I recently signed up for an account with Poll Everywhere, so I could see if it provided data feedback that could be easily accessed and set up.  I am going to give it a try with a poll at a presentation I am conducting this weekend.  Poll Everywhere is easy to setup, and provides the audience with three ways to send in their response.  Audience members can send their choice by text message, by tweeting to an account, or by accessing a website.  Because of it's flexibility, it should be easy and convenient for audience members to find a way to reply to the questions.

Poll Everywhere compiles the data live, so you can see the responses come in.  You can do multiple choice questions, T/F questions, or open-ended questions.  With upgrades to your account, you can even mediate the responses before they are displayed on the screen.  I think it will be interesting to see which online tools my attendees use most frequently - it will allow me to adjust how much time I spend on each tool.  It would be a nice way for teachers to obtain data from students, to help guide where more instruction is needed.

Poll Everywhere also provides educators with extra benefits, as well as discounted pay accounts.  They have K-12 accounts, Higher Ed accounts, as well as whole-school and district accounts.  Each provides added controls and features, but I am trying the free teacher account.  I can poll 32 people (which should more than cover my session - unless people read this and come see how it goes).

I'll write back later to share my thoughts and results.

EDUCON 2.3 - A Couple Days Removed

I can't believe the weekend is over.  Luckily, we had great flights to and from Philadelphia.  Some of our friends didn't and had to spend nights and days in layovers and cancelled flights just to get there or get back home.  I do feel lucky about our travel.  I had so looked forward to the conference, because I had heard so many great things.  I knew a lot of people that would be there (because Twitter makes you feel like you are their friends), and had read a lot about past conferences.  I was ready.

After the first couple sessions, I was blown away.  Here we are at sessions, hoping to learn a few things about different topics, and we are right in the middle of conversations with people about the topics.  This conference wasn't like most.  We were there to have conversations, to share ideas, not only with the presenters, but also with the people sitting around us.  It was incredible.  The audience was filled with so many smart and insightful people, all willing to share their experiences and ideas.  All thinking about ways to improve the experiences of students - and not focusing on test scores.  Innovation - how can we do things differently to create outstanding, authentic learning experiences for our students?  How can we help students become passionate about their futures?  How do we create an environment in which students can fail, then learn from their experiences, so they can react to new situations and find success?

Sessions were held that covered many topics, presented by outstanding educators.  Discussions between outstanding educators and non-educators provided insights as to how we can alter what we do to help all students succeed.  We need to work to create environments where we can model skills that students need, providing mentorships and connections that will provide them support into the future.  Helping make connections was one of the many thoughts I came away with.  How do we make connections with people to help support growth?

Making connections was one of the things that I found so energizing about EDUCON.  I was able to re-connect with some people that I had previously met.  I had the opportunity to meet people that have influenced my growth over the past year.  I was able to meet them face-to-face, rather than just communicating through Twitter and email.  I think those contacts are so helpful.  I was also able to make a couple new friends.  Technology will allow us to continue to communicate easily.  It is amazing how easy sharing thoughts and experiences is now that Twitter and blogging have become so popular.  I hope that I can convince my colleagues of the importance of connecting with people in their areas of interest, learning and sharing with people with common goals and hopes.  We need to support each other and grow together as we try to help our schools become better places for learning.

I'd like to give a special thanks to some of the people that I met and learned from.  Theses are truly amazing people.  You should follow them, to see for yourself.

Dean Shareski (@shareski)  http://ideasandthoughts.org/
Alec Couros (@courosa)  http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/
George Couros (@gcouros)  http://georgecouros.ca/blog/
Patrick Larkin (@bhsprincipal)  http://www.burlingtonhigh.blogspot.com/
Chuck Poole (@cpoole27)  http://www.throughourwindowroom101.blogspot.com/
Chris Craft (@crafty184)  http://www.crucialthought.com/
Michael Wacker (@mwacker)  http://mwacker.blogspot.com/
Troy Hicks (@hickstro)  http://hickstro.org/
Sara Beauchamp-Hicks (@yoopertechgeek)  http://hickstro.org/cccl/
Bill Fitgerald (@funnymonkey)  http://funnymonkey.com/
Rodd Lucier (@thecleversheep)  http://www.thecleversheep.com/
Leslie Davison (@lesliedavison)
Cindy Minnich (@CBethM)

These people, along with many others, shared of their time and knowledge so that many others can grow and learn.  It is truly fantastic that all of you are willing to give so much back to the profession.  Chris Lehmann and the students of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy should be so proud of the event they put together last weekend.

Readability - Make Web Pages Easier to Read

Ever go to a web page that is so cluttered you can hardly read the text?  Here is a tool for you.  You can easily install it into you Firefox, Safari, or Chrome browser to help make the webpage cleaner to read or print.  The company, Arc90, put it together so you could simplify what you were reading.  It is a nice tool, one that students might find helpful when doing research.  Watch the tutorial below, it is really simple. This link will take you to their website where you can set your preferences and install Readability.



Readability - Installation Video for Firefox, Safari & Chrome from Arc90 on Vimeo.

Tagxedo - Word Cloud Made Easy

You see word clouds all over the place.  Wordle does an excellent job of creating word clouds, but I was introduced to another site that made it so easy.

Tagxedo took the words from my blog and enclosed them in the shape that I could choose, a speech bubble.  You can easily modify the colors, theme, fonts, orientation, and layout.  There are many choices for shapes, and you have the ability to save into different sizes and formats.  I would recommend this site for easy creation of a cloud that you could use to illustrate your point.

The thing I found quite helpful was that you could bring the words in from a website, a blog, a twitter account, a delicious account, etc.  You can also cut and paste your text from other sources as well.  Give it a try.  I think it is an awesome way to illustrate frequently used and key words from your writing.  Once you submit your words for processing, you will soon see the shape you asked for.  All of the characteristics of the shape are then modifiable, so you can make it look the way you want.

EDUCON - Almost Here

A week from now, I'll be in Philadelphia.  EDUCON 2.3 will be taking place at the Science Leadership Academy.  It will be a wonderful opportunity to learn from and meet some of the very people that I follow on Twitter.  I will have the chance to spend a couple of days in sessions covering a variety of topics.  I think I'll get to see:

Chris Craft and Michael Wacker talk about online professional development.  It will be interesting to see how other districts are using online PD as we are developing some for ourselves.

Troy Hicks and Christina Cantrill talk about digital writing.  I am interested in hearing Troy Hicks speak and getting the opportunity to meet him.  I will also get to hear him in February at the Dublin Literacy Conference.

Chris Lehmann, principal at SLA, is speaking about how we can take the learning that occurs at EDUCON back to our districts and continue to work on the topics we have heard about.  How do we keep contact with those we learn from and support each other moving forward.

Karl Fisch is part of a panel discussion about the questions - Can Schools Support Student Innovation?  His blog, The Fischbowl,  is one that I read frequently.

Dean Shareski and Darren Kuropatwa are talking about teaching visual literacy and using youtube.  They will be very interesting.  I met Dean at BLC10 this past summer, so it will be interesting to see him again.  I enjoy reading his posts and hearing about what he is doing.  Both of these guys are people I follow on Twitter and read their blogs.

As you can see, there is a wealth of knowledge attending ECUCON, and I believe it will be an outstanding weekend to learn and develop more relationships.  I think more people should attend these types of workshops.  I will keep you posted as to how it goes and what I find out.  Follow me on twitter, @ssibberson,  or follow the hashtag #EDUCON.  It will be interesting and thought-provoking, I am sure.

CardStar - Organizing All of Your Club Cards

Does your keychain look like this?

You need to clear the clutter and make things easier for yourself.  You need to start using the application called CardStar.  I use the application on my iPhone so that I always have the numbers of all of my store membership cards.  It stores my Giant Eagle card number, my AAA number, my gym membership number, my Kroger card, etc.  You get the idea.  And the best thing, it also provides a barcode for each number so that it can be scanned at checkout at a store or check-in at the recreation center.  I don't have to remember my cards, or hope I haven't given them to my daughter to use.

So, if your keychain is unbearable, or those cards are just mangled, clear the mess.  Download CardStar and start using your phone or iPod to store those membership numbers.  You will always have them with you and be able to take advantage of member discounts and gas perks.  I know my application has saved me a lot of money and time.  The only place I have found it to be a problem is at the gas pump, because their auto scanners won't read the phone screen.  That is such a small problem for such a nice convenience.

This application also allows for you to store information about the different cards.  You can store phone numbers, addresses, web addresses, as well as other notes.  I think this application will be well worth the few minutes it takes to add the number (it creates the barcode) for the different company cards that you register.