coComments related to Graham

One thing I have noticed is th

2008-07-20T07:54:23.397+02:00

One thing I have noticed is that comments don't pull through in Google Reader Mobile or browsing your blog via Skweezer - but the old Blogger comments did. Seeing that I read a fair bit on my Nokia via wireless, it means I can't check your comments until I get to an actual laptop or PC.

This is how my presentation sh

2008-07-20T05:08:36.391+02:00

This is how my presentation should have turned out, Sue. Well, I don't quite have your talent but everything you covered in 30 minutes is what I wanted to tackle and more in 45 minutes - and I didn't really get there. Brilliantly done - and you honoured your PLN's responses a lot better than me.

Keeps us off the streets, I su

2008-05-26T08:23:43.666+02:00

Keeps us off the streets, I suppose.

At first glance, I thought tha

2008-05-25T14:56:31.970+02:00

At first glance, I thought that looked like a photo of one of my old mates. But on closer inspection, the place is too tidy. Yep, everything's connected these days and the time to be online is increasingly tight in between lego building, report writing, email replying, lawn mowing, committee meeting, so it means that I have to make it all count. Maybe that RSS Reader needs a good trim - who are the voices worthy of my attention and time. Maybe twitter dying mightn't be a bad thing ...having barely used in the past month, I wouldn't miss too much. But the frustration of not writing something that connects is building with each passing day - my best quotes are floating off in IM netherworld or in response to those "it's just a day job" practitioners who cross my path regularly - but I feel better now that I've let a few words loose here. And I feel almost prepared for tomorrow, almost caught up, almost...

Bill, you can use all of the p

2008-05-20T14:54:38.610+02:00

Bill, you can use all of the pretentious language you like round here - I've been guilty of that myself on more than one occasion. "21st Century Learning" is certainly an imprecise term - does it mean we are deciding what and how learning will take place for the next 90+ years? I think it's not so much that this century has or needs practices unique to the 20th century but as more and more is added to the education plate, what things are now irrelevant for educators and can be jettisoned out of formal schooling? It is bit like declaring, "Here we are at this point in time. Maybe education has lost its way a bit with the exponential impact of technology (not necessarily Web 2.0 as you hint) - if we stop and take stock, what is it that is still important for schools to be doing?" And yes, it might turn into a self-justification exercise to cement the importance of schools to our social fabric etc., etc, but a research project like this has to be better than just carrying on regardless. I'm hoping that with university partners, learning theory will be an important component.

Thank you all for your insight

2008-05-18T13:08:21.041+02:00

Thank you all for your insightful comments. The other thing I would add about using del.icio.us is that it becomes more useful the more frequently it is used. Building up a big repository of links that is searchable, adding other users into a network that provides a stream of personally recommended links and searching like-minded bookmarkers becomes more powerful as time goes by. I know that diigo adds bookmarks to del.icio.us as you go but at the moment, I know del.icio.us really well and can describe its potential and operation better to my non-techie colleagues.

Robin, I actually think that i

2008-04-27T13:34:06.256+02:00

Robin, I actually think that in my case, blogging has probably over-magnified my actual achievements! I get some kudos from people for being a reasonably coherent writer and maybe there's some novelty in being the bloke from down under so this whole idea about edublogger celebrity is entirely the wrong direction to be heading. I get where Cathy is coming from in terms of wanting to reach out to the powerful influences in our online network - it's an entirely human response and it hurts when the enthusiasm is not reciprocated. (Not that it will make anyone feel better but remember us Aussies will probably never meet any of their important links in person!) Another way of looking at this issue of writing quality is that substance will beat style anytime. Sometimes being a "gifted writer" means too much of the latter while the blogger who has to work harder with their words will achieve the former.

I was using Excel so I just us

2008-03-09T11:51:17.154+01:00

I was using Excel so I just used the graph function from within the spreadsheet - the IWB is like a giant touch screen computer so I create it in front of the class in a matter of seconds but I don't usually save the graph. Does that make sense?

Helen, I've seen Vokis on othe

2008-01-20T12:39:28.830+01:00

Helen, I've seen Vokis on other blogs and I've thought that they would be a really cool way to get students on board with a topic. But... I haven't done anything about it. I wasn't even sure that they could be embedded in edublogs but your post shows me otherwise. Well, now I'll need to have a go - my IWB in the classroom will never be the same! Thanks for the inspiration, Helen! And cool to have another Aussie educator to follow on Twitter.

Sue, it wasn't all that long a

2008-01-16T12:13:41.528+01:00

Sue, it wasn't all that long ago (well over a year I think!) I had a Skype conversation with Alex Hayes and your good self where you declared that you didn't really "get blogging". How things have changed - look at you now!! Well done. A fantastic choice.

Wow! I'm officially totally in

2008-01-14T11:29:27.819+01:00

Wow! I'm officially totally intimidated.... but what a goldmine for those of us who tried and want to get better at this whole design game for the betterment of ourselves and our students.

I love creative metaphors and

2008-01-10T06:04:52.989+01:00

I love creative metaphors and I'm going to use one here (badly or otherwise) to acknowledge the fabulous chain of comments and the links that lead off to other valuable insights. Blogging and comments can be a bit like surfing. You're out there paddling around, sometimes you're in much deeper water than you realise and there is the real possibility you could get bitten by a shark. Each post is like paddling really hard for a wave as it rises behind you and you point your board shorewards. Catching the wave is the resultant blog post - how long the ride lasts for depends on the comments. In that case, this is the longest string of comments for any blog post I've ever written and I'm madly thrashing around in the shallow foam trying to eke the last part of the ride now. I'm usually a small wave rider - unlike other edubloggers like the Big Kahuna (aka Clay) where 60+ comments is possible on a throwaway blog post! Thanks to all who've offered other breaks where we can enjoy the ride as others carve up this particular topic. I cannot emphasise enough how much you all should go to ken's original post that triggered my "parable." We do need a balance between the good news that collaborative projects can enable and the very real hassles and barriers that can thwart that success. I'm not sure that technology coordinators need to be better salespeople - after all, successful sales in the real world are usually backed by a marketing campaign (and budget to match). In some ways, I'd prefer to think that some frustrations arise just out of some teachers being risk averse in all situations, not necessarily technology related. Technology just happens to be an obvious example. Cheers, everyone.

Of course, it could just be th

2007-09-21T01:31:42.757+02:00

Of course, it could just be that I'm not smart enough to be a geek. I'm too scared to open an extra app on my Tablet PC while the Anti-virus boots up in case the whole OS goes pear shaped!

Very cool - unless you are a s

2007-09-08T15:12:52.435+02:00

Very cool - unless you are a super fast editor, that would have been hours and hours of work. After all, I can sweat over a Photoshop image incessantly for lengthy periods of time and still miss basic details - but you are at the deep end of the design talent pool and I'm in the wading section. Nice to see the Open Educator badge displayed - notice that the designer forgot to create it on a transparent background??!!? Seriously, Dan, I loved it and there's no such thing as summer camp down under and you made me feel like there was a gap in my life because of it.

It's hard to top Darren's advi

2007-09-01T08:27:11.740+02:00

It's hard to top Darren's advice but after emerging from my tiredness after Melbourne, I reckon there's some power in sharing the story of how you got involved in using Web 2.0 tools, what were the factors that caused you to "buy in" and where that journey has taken you. I'm still worried that the solemn, quiet faces after my session were because they thought I was crud but it could have been that they were thinking hard about I had to say. Your point about "LIKE relates better to LIKE" probably is worth exploring and explaining as the fact that elearning is the common thread between sectors and education roles can be exploited. Put it to your assembled group that there is more to learn from people in different situations than your own - and that the best thing Web 2.0 does is allow you to easily learn from others. Look at who's offering to help you here - they aren't fellow aquaculture TAFE lecturers, but they are all elearners. I'll be on Skype tonight if you want to bounce some more ideas but seriously, point them towards your wiki as a starting point and tell your story.

I think that Konrad is one of

2007-08-26T12:46:59.998+02:00

I think that Konrad is one of the edublogosphere's finest examples of being an open educator - I hope you scrolled through his comments and noted how he responds personally to everyone who has added to his conversation and invites them to contribute more. Talk about great role modelling for his students. I agree with you, Kim - I believe that his use of blogs is the higher level use we knew deep down that these technologies are capable of - Konrad's reflections show us how to utilise this and create our own classroom learning communities.

Neil, this might sound corny b

2007-08-15T02:50:35.449+02:00

Neil, this might sound corny but your integrity has emerged as the winner on this occasion. I think you were also modelling what good teachers do which is not "reinventing the wheel" when a tool or this case, template, does what you intend anyway. The winning component was in the message and yes, the teachers at my school, really, really liked it when I showed them on Monday morning. Thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog - and as a teacher from a similar age bracket with family constraints, I know that "having a go" at a competition like this against younger, design-savvy educators meant doing the best I could with limited opportunities and no background in arts or visual design whatsoever! PS. The beach in your slides looks great, but honestly, we have better ones down under. You should come and check them out for yourself! :-)

Come on, the worst movie of al

2007-08-12T13:06:08.924+02:00

Come on, the worst movie of all time would have to be "Dances With Wolves" - it's not even a contest!

Kelly, as someone who's read s

2007-07-11T13:30:18.829+02:00

Kelly, as someone who's read some of the degrading stuff across the edublogosphere (with some questioning your own professional capabilities) I think it is really important to work hard on respectful dissent. I have worked hard to be diplomatic and even-handed in any of my posts that question certain points of view and it is not easy - the ranting and sounding off can get personal rather quickly and is pointless if engagement with others is the goal. Again, probably the only way is to model exactly what we want all edubloggers to do and refuse to be drawn into any baiting going down. A good example of how respectful dissent can win over acceptance of a new viewpoint can be found over in the comments of a Leigh Blackall post early last year.

Interestingly, I wasn't singli

2007-07-08T13:36:50.446+02:00

Interestingly, I wasn't singling out standardised tagging as an important issue as so much as I was trying to point out a wider issue that it is only really visible from outside the borders of the 50 states. I think you are right in pointing to Stephen Downes as his much shorter observation is what got me originally thinking about why the idea didn't sit comfortably with me. The whole idea of dissent without getting others offside is an important one to me. We want people to engage in conversation and agreeing with everyone regardless is not progressive professional learning. There are some points of view that you only get from this part of the world - being a fellow Australian, you would also see the cultural grip American ideas/products/entertainment has on the Australian public. Although through the distorted lense of the media, the average Aussie knows a hell of a lot more about the USA than what the average American knows about us. Some of the "progressive ideas" bandied around in some parts of the blogosphere (project based learning, inquiry approach, thinking skills) are standard practice here in classrooms and have been for quite a while. But unless someone with a different point of view pulls up theexcitable crowd every now and then, and points out that there may be other approaches or that there may be issues broader than their own system, then the echo chamber will be in full blown effect. Cindy, this is an excellent blog and I'm glad that we've crossed paths so that another intelligent Antipodean voice can join the mix. Stir up a bit of your own dissent!

Dean, I enjoyed this short cli

2007-05-22T13:16:02.572+02:00

Dean, I enjoyed this short clip very much. Your courses look so much greener than what I'm used to down under (drought might have something to do with that) but as a golf tragic, the golf trip concept is a global one. Now if only I had three friends for a trip of my own!!

Ah, Sue, you're making me jeal

2007-05-21T14:56:53.433+02:00

Ah, Sue, you're making me jealous. My old Ipaq 1930 is still running strong (and on its third battery) so I'm not ready to buy a new PDA. It's getting a bit battered, doesn't have wireless, and doesn't like too many programs running at once (which Windows product does?) but it does take standard SD cards, and is still my favourite place to start blog posts. I really like the transcribe software for getting my ideas down quick - the small keyboards you describe don't really excite me much at all. Does value for money enter the equation anywhere? I chose mine way back in Jan '04 because it was listed in PC User magazine as value PDA of the year and it has proved to be a great buy for me. Good luck with your purchase.

Ooooh, pink. No way, no self r

2007-05-09T05:52:17.663+02:00

Ooooh, pink. No way, no self respecting Australian male is going to look at a pink site - unless the content is really good like about beer or footy or surfing. Seriously , people who object to your colour scheme aren't likely to have huge intellectual contributions to make to your excellent work. Keep the scheme, I say.

Mike, this follows on brillian

2007-03-26T05:47:38.009+02:00

Mike, this follows on brilliantly from some of the ideas uncovered at TALO Swapmeet - it's one thing to whine about the filter but the virtual excursion concept where students could access the "interesting" tools with the structure in place you'd have for any off school site excursion is worth pursuing. Yep, I'll live blog it as long as there's some sort of open wireless point to connect to. I haven't yet tried Twitter but you might struggle to find a volunteer, so I'll create an account before next week and see what I make of it.

As far as I know, the permalin

2007-03-05T12:23:19.534+01:00

As far as I know, the permalink is the unique URL address for an individual blog post but a trackback is the acknowledgement via pinging of another blog linking to a specific post. For example your recent post,Teachers Online 2 sent a trackback (also called a pingback) to my blog and lobbed it in the comments of <a href="http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2007/02/27/teachers-online/"the post you were referencing in your post. Now edublogs does this automatically unless you turn it off in the Admin interface, but other blog addresses sometimes require that you paste the permalink into a Trackback or Pingback box when writing the post. So, you need a permalink to create a trackback, but not all permalinks create trackbacks! Is that clear?

Do you remember this post from Leigh? I reckon that's what you're doing here, and there and don't forget here! Who would have thought that some of your cyber time capsules would be so indestructible.

Wesley, I don't have anything

2006-03-30T12:31:46.306+02:00

Wesley, I don't have anything insightful to add but it is interesting that here in Souh Australia parents can request that their child be exempt from the standardised testing in Years 3, 5 and 7. These are known as LaN tests (Literacy and Numeracy) and students cannot be compelled to sit them if parents request that their child not do them. We are also currently fighting a battle with the Federal Government imposing a "plain English" report card across the nation which allocates all students with grades A - E. Again, parents can request that their child is exempt from this measurement system - an option that I will exercise on both accounts in my capacity as a parent for our eldest son who is in Year 1. I worry about the "we have tests in real life to get qualifications so kids need to learn to deal with that" mentality. Is our business learning or test-passing?