Showing posts with label web 2.0. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web 2.0. Show all posts

Friday, June 11, 2010

people buy why you do it

Simon Sinek has an answer by asking the question, Why? Maybe the golden circle can help explain how some overrides pass and some fail.



What do you think about this?


Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the video

Franklin, MA

Thursday, June 10, 2010

"you need to learn how to disagree without being disagreeable"

In this 12 minute video clip, John Perry Barlow says:

the internet is enabling the possibility of collective human thought
it was going to be a difficult road
it was going to question every system of authority

political process, you need each other
you need to learn how to disagree without being disagreeable
all politics is local

it is possible to see the future where money didn't matter in an election

the internet has made it practically impossible to govern something like the nation

we have to use the same mechanism where we ran a campaign from the bottom to run the government from the bottom



A worthy lesson given the recent events around the override vote

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the video clip.

Franklin, MA

Saturday, April 24, 2010

"A key challenge is the fundamental structure of the K-12 education establishment."

Continuing to entice you to dive in and read the 2010 Horizon Report: K12 Edition:
A key challenge is the fundamental structure of the K-12 education establishment. As long as maintaining the basic elements of the existing system remains the focus of efforts to support education, there will be resistance to any profound change in practice. Learners have increasing opportunities to take their education into their own hands, and options like informal education, online education, and home-based learning are attracting students away from traditional educational settings. If the system is to remain relevant it must adapt, but major change comes hard in education.

Many activities related to learning and education take place outside the walls of the classroom — but these experiences are often undervalued or unacknowledged. Beyond the classroom walls, students can take advantage of online resources, explore ideas and practice skills using games and other programs they may have on systems at home, and interact with their extensive — and constantly available — social networks. Within the classroom, learning that incorporates real life experiences like these is not occurring enough and is too often undervalued when it does take place. This challenge is an important one in K-12 schools, because it results in a lack of engagement in learning on the part of students who are seeking some connection between their world, their own lives, and their experience in school.

These trends and challenges are having a profound effect on the way we experiment with, adopt, and use emerging technologies. These aspects of the world that surround and permeate education serve as a frame for considering the probable impacts of the emerging technologies listed in the sections that follow.


Franklin, MA

Friday, April 23, 2010

"there is little agreement as to what a new model of education might look like"

Continuing to entice you to dive in and read the 2010 Horizon Report: K12 Edition:
Many policy makers and educators believe that deep reform is needed, but at the same time, there is little agreement as to what a new model of education might look like. It is difficult to envision profound change in a system as firmly established as K-12 education is today. Proponents of change promote more learner-centered approaches; open content; programs for continuing teacher professional development in partnership with higher education institutions; and the use of social networking tools to increase access to peers and professionals for both teachers and students, but not everyone is in agreement. Opinions also differ on how to make (and measure) progress at all and whether it is better to build success slowly, using pilots and small proof-of-concept classrooms, or to push for rapid and radical change on a broader scale.


Franklin, MA

Thursday, April 22, 2010

"Students are different, but educational practice and the materials that support it are changing only slowly"

Continuing to entice you to dive in and read the 2010 Horizon Report: K12 Edition:

Students are different, but educational practice and the materials that support it are changing only slowly. Schools are still using materials developed to teach the students of decades ago, but today’s students are actually very different in the way they think and work. Schools need to adapt to current student needs and identify new learning models that are engaging to younger generations. Many education professionals feel that a shift to a more learner-centered model focused on the development of individual potential instead of the imposition of a body of knowledge would lead to deeper and more sustained learning across the curriculum. To support such a change, both teaching practice and the tools used in the classroom must adapt. Assessment has also not kept pace with new modes of working, and must change along with teaching methods, tools, and materials.


Franklin, MA

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

"Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and profession"

Continuing to entice you to dive into a reading of the 2010 Horizon Report: K12:
Along with current trends, the Advisory Board notes critical challenges that schools face, especially those that are likely to continue to affect education over the five-year time period covered by this report. Like the trends, these are drawn from a careful analysis of current events, papers, articles, and similar sources, as well as from the personal experience of the Advisory Board members in their roles as leaders in education and technology. Those challenges ranked as most significant in terms of their impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry in the coming years are listed here, in the order of importance assigned them by the Advisory Board.

Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and profession. The challenge is due to the fact that despite the widespread agreement on its importance, training in digital literacy skills and techniques is rare in teacher education and school district professional development programs. As teachers begin to realize that they are limiting their students by not helping them to develop and use digital media literacy skills across the curriculum, the lack of formal training is being offset through professional development or informal learning, but we are far from seeing digital media literacy as a norm. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that digital literacy is less about tools and more about thinking, and thus skills and standards based on tools and platforms have proven to be somewhat ephemeral.


Franklin, MA

Friday, April 9, 2010

What does the health care bill have for MA?

I like the presentation. Input your state and the data from the state then fills out the script to make it your (state) story.

They don't provide the code to embed it here but you can follow this link to view it.

Don't get too distracted by it and forget to come back here though!



Franklin, MA

Saturday, April 3, 2010

If Franklin matters, you can help

I believe Franklin matters, hence the name for this site. I have written of how the site came to be and how it is my public service effort here.

I am realizing that as much as I can do, there is still more to be done and hence can use some help.
  • If you believe that Franklin, MA matters
  • If you have some skill in writing
  • If you have a willingness to learn some Web 2.0 tools
I would like to expand the writers on this site.
I would like to include those who have answered Yes to the questions above and would be willing to help.

In particular, there are Planning Board, Conservation Commission, and Design Review meetings that would be good to attend and report on. I have focused on the Town Council, School Committee, Finance Committee and Financial Planning Committee to "follow the money". These other areas are important to cover and I can not do it all. Nor would I attempt to.

So if you are reading this, you already maybe someone who can help.

If you'd like to explore what this would mean (and what help/training I would provide) please let me know.

You can comment or send me an email at shersteve@gmail.com.

Thank you!


Thursday, April 1, 2010

Transliteracy - a new opportunity

Interesting points made on how the library should consider changing its mission are raised this brief video.




Read the full posting here.

What do you think? Should the library charter change from literacy to transliteracy?

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to view the video on Franklin Matters.


Franklin, MA

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Crowd sourcing real time data

What does that mean?
What would you do if you heard a giant boom and you didn't know where it came from? If you're like thousands of people in Portland, Oregon, you might hit Twitter and Google Maps to participate in the city-wide exploration of a slightly frightening mystery. Last night at about 8 p.m., people in a big part of the city felt their windows shake and no one could tell them what caused it.
Some folks in Portland, OR collaborated to combine their Tweets with updates to a Google Map and help to pin point a city park where the explosion seemed to originate. The police, also following on Twitter, checked out the park and did find remains of a bomb.

Read the full post including detailed maps and screen shots here



Franklin, MA

Using Google Tools

Do you know how to use the free tools available from Google?
This guide avoids some of the obvious things, like using Google Docs for collaborative writing, and instead focuses on some of the lesser-used Google tools options like publishing an online quiz using Google Docs. In all there are 33 pages containing 21 ideas and how to instructions for creating Google Maps placemarks, directions creating and publishing a quiz with Google Docs forms, directions for embedding books into your blog, and visual aids for accessing other Google tools.
The full post and guide can be found here

My thanks to Richard Byrne for doing this.



Franklin, MA

Monday, March 22, 2010

"There is something wrong with it"

Do this now.
You can take 3 minutes.
More rewarding that radio
or that Facebook update in your email

Sir Ken Robinson in a short three minute video:



Attending the Finance Committee meeting doesn't mean I don't believe that the School Committee meeting isn't important.

The School Committee meeting is important.
Multiple worthy recognitions will be awarded.
Good things will occur that will reward the effort and time put into them.

I'll "follow the money" in this case to see what will happen in the Finance Committee meeting.

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view this video clip.

Franklin, MA

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The internet of things

Maybe part of the social media craze is allowing humans to create an information flow of status data that will join the "internet of things" data and really provide a world of integrated data that can become the right information at the right time for someone!



What do you think?


Franklin, MA

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Can't go? Watch on the web!

What is Government 2.0?

Government 2.0 Camp New England is an unconference about using social media tools and Web 2.0 technologies to create a more effective, efficient and collaborative government.


Who should attend the Gov 2.0 Camp New England?

Anyone interested in improving government through social media and Web 2.0 technology should attend, including government employees, elected officials, students, researchers, and citizens of all types. The purpose of the conference is to share innovative projects and brainstorm new ideas.


Watch Gov 2.0 Camp New England live: http://bit.ly/gov20ne


PS - I will be attending and will report back during the day, if connections are available, or at least a recap after.
 

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

"This book's gonna be a good book"

Every once in awhile, the beat catches you.

You get caught up in it!

"I have my book
Do you have yours?
What are you reading?"

...

"This book's gonna be a good book
to read!"



Enjoy!

What are you reading?


Thanks to the Teen Literacy Tips for the link



Saturday, February 20, 2010

Two more links to share

Two more sites along the hitchhiking trail on the internet that are worth sharing:

1 - The Future of Education
http://www.futureofeducation.com/

This features interviews with leading folks on education. The archive is rich, the schedule outlook is also rich.

2 - ReadWriteWeb
http://www.readwriteweb.com/

This is more than education, it covers all aspects of the web in today's emerging environment. It makes multiple posts during the day (averaging 15 a day per my Google Reader statistics) so it will be quite busy to try and keep up with it.


Previous post:
Hitchhiking amongst Education Resources


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Hitchhiking amongst Education Resources

Jeff Roy had posted some education blogs worth reviewing a couple of week ago on the Franklin School Committee blog. In the spirit of traveling amongst good education sites this week, I have some of my favorite education sites to add to his listing. (Note: the order listed is simply following down the subscription listing in my RSS Reader and not any other scientific weighting or ranking.)

1 - David Warlick, a well traveled speaker and noted educational blogger. That his website is called 2 Cents helped catch my attention but he has mode than made it worthwhile to continue subscribing to it. His post on Monday referenced QR Code which coincidentally I had written about last week.


2 - Dr Scott McLeod is one of the authors of the "Did You Know" series of videos that has circulated amongst the web highlighting the problems with education. I have quoted from him frequently, and shared many of his posts. He actually has new post where he announces adding three blogs to his CASTLE collection. They are likely ones I add here but are so new to me at this time, we'll hold that off until later. (What is CASTLE? It is the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), the nation's only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators.)


3 - Robert F. Bruner, Dean, Darden School of Business of the Univ of Virginia, writes at Dean's Blog. He doesn't post frequently but does post good thoughtful pieces. A recent piece on the recession has a graphic that is quite telling depicting the job losses from this period compared to all other recessions/depressions. It is a sobering graph!

4 - Free Technology for Teachers publishes frequently with lots of really good resources. I have shared many here but there are so many, I don't try to do them all. It would be overwhelming. 'Nuf said.


5 - Literacy is Priceless, a blog for reading teachers is a good resource. A recent posting on Personal Learning Networks features Will Richardson who coincidentally is also on my listing.


6 - Wesley Fryer writes at Moving at the Speed of Creativity. He has his daughter frequently contribute to explore the technology they use together. VoiceThread is one they posted about when visiting the St Louis Arch. I have used VoiceThread on the Joyful Jubilant Learning Blog

7 - Will Richardson, is an author and educational speaker. He writes at Webblogg-ed. He used to teach at Hunterdon Central High School, in Flemington, NJ. Had I not taken the opportunity to move to Franklin many years ago, the girls would likely have gone to this high school. As mentioned above, Will was interviewed on Personal Learning Networks and that video can be seen here:



These are just a few of the good educational resources available today. Have you found one to share?


"a coherent answer"

At first, the silence in the room was deafening. Then, gasps and questions came flying out. “Hey, Jason’s typing on MY screen.” Then, “Whoa. There’s a chat box. Are we ALLOWED to use that?!?!” After the first five minutes, the students figured out that they were supposed to work together to answer the question that I provided. I was amazed. I had not provided the students with a single verbal prompt or redirection, and they were using the tool to write a response together. Before I knew it, they had drafted a coherent answer to the question together. Their single response was much better than anything they had written individually all year.
How did this occur?
Etherpad is a free tool that allows users to collaborate in real real time. There’s no need to refresh your screen with Etherpad, it automatically updates every .5 seconds!
To read the full posting click through to
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/02/using-technology-to-find-students.html




Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Jordan, UT: Jordan School District

With school vacation this week, many folks will be traveling. Let's travel a little ourselves via the web to find out what else is going on with local blogs, in particular those covering local government and education.


Current J - the blog for the Jordan School District
http://current.jordandistrict.org/


T4 is a resource for comprehensive school improvement plans:
http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/t4/content/section/7/39/

T4  is a resource for teachers
http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/t4/content/section/5/38/

The Flip over video page is a wealth of resource links on how to use the Flip video camera
http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/t4/content/view/314/37/


In your travels, have your found a good blog to share?

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

What is online learning?

We are fortunate that online learning is being explored in Franklin. You may have heard of Moodle which is open sourced software used to deliver the content of a particular classroom subject. This video provides an overview of online learning:




Thanks to Dr Scott McLeod who writes at Dangerously Irrelevant for sharing this which he helped to create.