http://www.cocomment.com/comments/coolcatteacher Copyright 2007 coComment.com 2009-11-22T00:08:42.112+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/images/logo4rss.gif http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=1520727&comment_id=28933352 Vicki Davis You are so spot on with this article. This year as educators converged on our National Education and Computing Conference (NECC) - all we heard was "social networking" and "community" -- everyone was touting it as the next greatest thing. However, it wasn't really because we needed it or wanted it, but because someone somewhere told them it was the "thing" we wanted. We connect and create our own communities quite nicely and there are places we do want to connect, but you're right -- it is the places where we have our passion as well as necessity of sharing best practice (like our student information systems and textbooks). If these companies would allow their employees to connect and understand the networks then I think we would see more meaningful, real uses of community emerge from companies. 2008-07-24T15:56:32.807+02:00 2008-07-24T15:56:32.807+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=1224578&comment_id=23759212 Vicki Davis Congratulations! I'm so proud of you! It is great that you are a finalist and that I was a small part of it. I think the challenge is in finding the worthy cause. Actually discerning the best causes that are accurate and not just someone looking for easy money. I wish there was an organization that could verify "causes" and give them a stamp of legitimacy. What are those organizations and what should people look for when considering to give? I hope that you'll consider posting this so I can share it with my readers. I think we all worry about being "duped." 2008-02-03T03:51:33.129+01:00 2008-02-03T03:51:33.129+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=809074&comment_id=15805287 Vicki Davis NO, Wes, I am not defined by my gender, bias, background but I am certainly shaped by it. Noah, your words are very true. WE do not understand others until we've walked in their shoes. And in the infancy of this great educational transformation -- we must remember that appearances to outsiders are important. We have so many people that do not wish to see these transformations happen, that giving them additional reasons to ignore what needs to happen in education is precisely what we do not need to do. Leaders know what the right thing is to do and understand that appearances are important. While I do not consider the race/ethnicity/creed as I read people, I do look at my bloglines list as a whole and say, OK, am I including everyone that I should -- am I missing a perspective? It is about perspective and including as many as possible so that we may make the best decisions possible. When you meet me at NECC (hopefully), you'll see that like Jen, I too do not consider myself a "Women's Libber" in fact with my views on marraige, many would consider me the opposite. But I will say this -- Ibelieve in the importance of intentionally including people. Reaching out to others intentionally. Looking at things and saying -- are we welcoming to outsiders, do we make them "insiders," do we listen to them, do we understand their unique perspective? Are we best representing what can happen in education if we learn to cooperate and reach INTENTIONALLY across gender, geographic, racial, and creed lines. And the intentionally is the operative word there. It is more than about conversations that happen here -- of course we're all included based on what we do -- I comment and it is posted-- it is also about conferences, it is about presentations, it is about F2F, it is about who is on your Skype list and email list -- and in those cases, people are SELECTED -- it is up to those in power who SELECT to pull from the diversity in the CONVERSATION to best represent this amazing transformation happening in education so that we can bring more people on board, not repel them. And often failure to choose to be diverse in these things, is in fact, a choice. One that such a movement in its infancy shouldn't choose. I know Terry Freedman intentionally went through Coming of Age and included people. I also know that George Siemens planning the Future of Education intentionally worked to include a variety of people/genders/countries/organizations. I applaud them for that, it is something weall have to do. Diversity is not something that is going to be solved any time soon but it is important to have these conversations. 2007-06-18T16:33:48.112+02:00 2007-06-18T16:33:48.112+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=809074&comment_id=15752370 Vicki Davis I would also add another perspective -- that of geographic diversity -- Chrissy Hellyer from New Zealand is amazing, Jo McLeay from Australia, and Julie Linsday from Bangladesh (now Quatar) -- I am also concerned about intentionally including geographic diversity in the conversations (and conferences) as well as gender diversity. 2007-06-17T11:13:36.223+02:00 2007-06-17T11:13:36.223+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=809074&comment_id=15752106 Vicki Davis Thank you for having this conversation about diversity in the edublogosphere and in online conferences. There are in fact, many women who are involved in the conversation -- or perhaps I should say a growing number of women and others. I think it is important to intentionally reach out to them and encourage their participation in the conversation for although we try not to over emphasize race/ethnicity/gender -- the fact is, people from differing backgrounds have differing viewpoints and it is that variety of viewpoints that is essential to our success in education. The thing about David as a leader -- he reads a lot of diverse viewpoints (it seems) -- so that makes him a bit different. I think perhaps the most important question is -- how diverse is our own blogroll -- are we reading people different from ourselves. Are we intentionally including those with differing viewpoints in the conversation. 2007-06-17T10:53:26.089+02:00 2007-06-17T10:53:26.089+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=682428&comment_id=13422019 coolcatteacher I love it! I enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing! 2007-05-06T01:36:30.066+02:00 2007-05-06T01:36:30.066+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=636714&comment_id=12347553 Vicki Davis OK, I know I'm a collaborator kind of teacher, but I would love it if we could have a TEACHER-driven wiki that analyzed and envisioned the future. That we intentionally collaborated and shared best practices. I wish it could be a follow up to the conference so it wouldn't take time away from the conference -- OK, we've heard it, now we're going to do it, now we're going to share it. Write a "wiki textbook" of sorts for wikis, podcasting, blogs, etc to harness the power in an intentional sort of way. With awards, etc. I might just know someone who might work with it.... hm... who could she be? (Actually, I might know several!) 2007-04-18T15:34:01.731+02:00 2007-04-18T15:34:01.731+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=241218&comment_id=11764420 Vicki Davis Just came back to give someone the link for this post. Thank you Danita and Cheryl for the compliments! I am catching up on these presentations too! Thank you for your encouragement! This conference was truly a great gift to the world of teaching! 2007-04-09T03:34:13.512+02:00 2007-04-09T03:34:13.512+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=518950&comment_id=9561404 Vicki Davis Hey, Ken. My maiden name was Adams but now I go by Davis. FYI. I did a double take for a moment when I saw my old name up there! Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Great post, by the way on a very important topic! 2007-03-02T19:13:49.566+01:00 2007-03-02T19:13:49.566+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=517129&comment_id=9518619 coolcatteacher Great video. I think this is a wonderful demonstration about how education can move into the 3Dweb and still retain our high educational values. Great job! 2007-03-02T00:42:21.198+01:00 2007-03-02T00:42:21.198+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=464820&comment_id=8396498 coolcatteacher This is great and so much like what we are discussing in the connectivism conference this week. This is excellent! 2007-02-09T05:32:27.468+01:00 2007-02-09T05:32:27.468+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=coolcatteacher&conv=422228&comment_id=7077690 Vicki Davis This is a great reflection and an interesting assignment that I may consider doing in one of my classes! 2007-01-22T20:58:37.654+01:00 2007-01-22T20:58:37.654+01:00