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A few weeks ago I was invited to speak to a small group organized by MSU Global at the inaugural “Fanning the Flames” conversation where I was asked to speak about EdTech trends. I’ve waited a bit too long to blog about this, so the twitter archive isn’t porting into Storify. (Serves me right for falling behind!) You can view a search for the hashtag #ftfmsu here – I autotweeted during the presentation so you’ll find all of the links to the technologies I mentioned by searching through the tweets.
Catching Up: MSU “Fanning the Flames” by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
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A while back, Punya shared this Louis CK video. Whenever I get impatient with pages loading or the “wheel spinning” I think of this clip (forward to 1:58):
Today, an amazing thing happened – from space.
While many found it funny, my mind was blown at so many levels. I’ve been listening to quite a bit of CBC radio and the morning show is always talking about Commander Hadfield & his tweets. People can tweet him and he’s taking pictures of Canadian cities as he orbits. We’re living in a time where astronauts tweet. Anyone can talk to him, and he will respond, from space. WILLIAM SHATNER can tweet him, and he will respond, from space. It was one of those moments that brought into sharp focus the tremendous changes I’ve seen in my lifetime and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.
It’s coming from Space by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
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I had a great time talking (and making) with the Friday Brown Bag group last Friday.
Here is the slideshow archive of the tweets:
And here’s the link video recording of the session: http://edtalks.educ.msu.edu/makerspaces/
This work by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
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This year for Ada Lovelace Day, I would like to thank three special IT women: Mary Loftus, Pam O’Brien, Catherine Cronin. (pictured from left to right above.) I’m trying to remember how our connection began…I believe it was via another special woman, Pam Moran and #edchatie. Our connection was immediate and I have learned (and continue to learn) so much from our exchanges online and offline. In a very short time, our community has grown into a hashtag (#ITWomen), has generated conference proposals (for both Grace Hopper & SXSWedu) and now includes many more women in IT and educational leadership. I am thankful every day to call these amazing women my friends.
2011 Post – Thank you Dr. Caroline Haythornthwaite
2010 Post – Thank you Dr. Catherine Mohr
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You too can contribute to Ada Lovelace Day!
Just follow these three simple steps:
- Write about a women in science, technology, engineering or maths whose achievements you admire.
- Publish your story online.
- Visit our directory of stories and either join up or log in.
- Add your story to our collection.
- Tell your friends! Twitter hashtag is #ald12
Thank you Mary, Pam & Catherine #ald12 by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
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I had a great time on Monday meeting with the staff at the International Academy. I started my career at the IA way back in 1997 as a “tech lady” and it was so awesome to return after all these years. Much of my passion for education and educational technology was developed at the IA and I sincerely appreciated the opportunity to return and give something back to the community!
Below, you will find the Storify with the links & tools I shared on Monday. The goal was to share tools and stragegies that teachers could easily implement & use right away to help relieve some of the day-to-day stresses & challenges of teaching.
As a follow up to our discussion on displaying an iDevice on a projector – you can use the Reflection App on the school wireless network if you set up your laptop as a mini-network. One super cool magic trick I forgot to show, if you turn on the camera on your iDevice while it’s mirroring, you have an instant document camera! Additionally, someone asked if there is a Reflection app for Android devices. I did some googling and tweeting and it seems like Splashtop may be a solution, but I haven’t tried this out myself. If anyone in my PLN has a solution/tip – please let us know in the comments! You can also physically connect your iDevice to a projector with this VGA adapter.
My final follow-up tip – I tried auto-tweeting for the first time during my presentation and LOVED it (and based on feedback, participants liked it as well!) Here are the fabulous easy to follow directions on how to auto-tweet from Adam Bellow.
Follow up to the International Academy Back to School PD Day #IAPD by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
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A few months ago my friend Scott wrote about compliments. In his post, he referenced the saying “Gratitude is the best attitude.” As Scott notes in his post, this world is full of a lot of complaints. Those of us in the teaching and service professions often absorb quite a bit of blame and frustration – not only from individuals but from media and the public at large. Sometimes fielding those frustrations can get you down. I’ve learned so much and developed strategies for understanding and dealing with these scenarios (both personally and professionally) over the years. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still working on these strategies, it’s a constant self-reflective learning process.
Yesterday, I returned to my office on campus after being away with our overseas program for several weeks. In my mailbox was a hand addressed letter. This is not extraordinarily uncommon as sometimes transcripts or bills/invoices come in a handwritten envelope. When I opened the letter, my eyes welled with tears – tears of humility and appreciation. The letter was from an Irish teacher who had attended the #GREAT12 conference which was put on by our Year 2 MAET students in Dublin. Here is a small snippet from the letter:
I immediately scanned the letter and passed it on to the overseas students in our Facebook group – and the expressions of appreciation and joy continued there, brightening the days of our students from every corner of the globe who worked so hard to put on a large-scale educational technology conference for their peers and the educational public at large in Ireland within a short 2 week time frame. This was a task that at times, felt insurmountable/impossible and was (as you can imagine) a very stressful endeavor for the conference organizers. Thank YOU @john_heeney for refilling our proverbial buckets of emotion with the gift of appreciation.
The power of Thank You by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
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Cross-posted from the EduTech blog - because I’m super excited about this!
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The 29th Annual MSU College of Education Technology conference will be held on October 27th, 2012 on the beautiful campus of Michigan State University in Erickson Hall from 8:30 am – 3:30 pm. The theme of this year’s conference is open and networked education and it is quite fitting that through a collaboration between the College of Education, the MSU College of Education Alumni Association and the Master of Arts in Educational Technology Program, this year’s conference will be FREE OF CHARGE to all attendees. (Stay tuned for registration information!)
We are also excited to announce that Dr. Alec Couros will be our keynote speaker for this year’s conference. Alec is an Associate Professor of educational technology and media at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina. He has given hundreds of workshops and presentations, nationally and internationally, on topics such as openness in education, networked learning, social media in education, digital citizenship, and critical media literacy. His graduate and undergraduate courses help current and future educators understand how to use and take advantage of the educational potential offered by the tools of connectivity. Find out more about Dr. Couros at http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/ or by following him on twitter @courosa
The Call for Presentation & Workshop Proposals is NOW OPEN!
Proposals Due: August 15, 2012
Presentations will be 45 minutes long and workshops will be 1 1/2 hours long. All workshops must include hands-on instruction.
Click here for the submission form
Save the date: Oct 27, 2012 29th annual MSU COE EdTech conference – @courosa is coming! by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
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So, a few days ago I got a tattoo.
I have no other tattoos – I have been thinking of this one for over 7 years. One night while hanging out with friends we were discussing what we would get if we ever got a tattoo – my friend Brad said “think of something that you would never ever want changed for your entire life.” Right then, the idea for a creative commons tattoo was born. I have been thinking about it ever since our conversation many years ago and I told myself if and when I finished my Phd (which I did, yeah!) I would get the tattoo.
The only person I would trust with giving me a tattoo is Jeff Bates. I met Jeff over 12 years ago when Scott and I first moved into our house. Jeff (and his awesome wife Tra) were friends with our roommate Ken. Facebook has allowed us to peer into each others lives for the past several years and I have followed Jeff’s work on the page for his shop – 51 Tattoo – he did an amazing job and I highly recommend his work!
There are 3 symbols inked into my foot – the creative commons logo, by attribution, and share alike. Many people have asked me what they mean…
What is creative commons?
Creative Commons Mission
Creative Commons develops, supports, and stewards legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.
Creative Commons Vision
Our vision is nothing less than realizing the full potential of the Internet — universal access to research and education, full participation in culture — to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity.
By attribution means that you let others copy, distribute, display and perform your copyrighted work – and derivative works based upon it – but only if they give credit the way you require.
Share Alike – means you allow other to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.
The creative commons is something that is very, very meaningful to me (thus the indelible ink.) I have made amazing connections to others via technologies born from Creative Commons. By sharing my work, my photographs have made it to the Freakonomics blog, the Guardian blog in the UK, and the Pure Michigan blog. Since I am aware of my wider audience and I have learned so much about photography by sharing my photos with others. I create assignments using the Creative Commons – and on and on – it’s what I do and what I will continue to do. The open network and the platforms upon which the network is built (like WordPress) inspire me and I hope I can contribute and give back a portion of what has been given to me.
While I was getting my tattoo, Jeff said the best kind of tattoos are the ones that start a conversation and he thought mine was one of those tattoos – I’m looking forward to many more conversations about the Creative Commons :)
To learn more, you can read (and remix, reuse) Larry Lessig’s books on free culture and the Creative Commons:
The Future of Ideas – http://www.the-future-of-ideas.com
Free Culture – http://www.free-culture.cc/
Remix - http://www.scribd.com/doc/47089238/Remix
I also credit Yochai Benkler’s the Weath of Networks for deepening my understanding of creative culture and open content.
The story behind my @creativecommons ink by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.leighgraveswolf.com.
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This blog post was prompted by a discussion among our MAET overseas Facebook group – the question was posed “Hey everyone, Which conferences would you suggest attending.” The post is intended for international educators as well as teachers in North America. I generally will have an educational technology lens on as I search out conferences, however, since MAET is deeply rooted in the TPACK model, we have a very broad definition of technology and always consider pedagogy and content knowledge to be equal and necessary partners in teaching and learning – so keep that in mind as you’re looking for conferences and reading my suggestions below.
Why go to conferences?
Conferences are quite an investment of time and money, so, you have to do your research before committing resources. With twitter, blogs and other forms of networking, are conferences still necessary? I think so – and I have become very selective about the conferences I attend, making sure they contain social, hands-on, collaborative experiences along with expert commentary (instead of 3 straight days of talking heads.)
Where should I start searching?
Ever since I started working in the educational technology field I have used The Conference Calendar – the interface is a bit clunky, but it will give you a wide brush stroke of conferences around the globe. They are not rated by quality, so you’ll want to do some searching and research before choosing one out of the blue.
Clayton R. Wright frequently posts an AMAZINGLY comprehensive list that Stephen Downes posts and shares on his blog - it is THE BEST LIST I have ever come across, it is well worth the download.
Below, I categorize several of the conferences I have attended to give you a range of options to consider:
Free Conferences
Many companies provide free conferences and professional development for educators. For example – TechSmith has a Screencast Camp coming up in August, Edmodo offers certification conferences, Google holds free educator institutes – just keep your ear to the ground on Twitter and you’re bound to come up with more sponsored workshops.
ISDs and local schools and community organizers also provide free camps and conferences. One of the best examples is the EdCamp movement – you can see the listing of upcoming EdCamps here- http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/ Coming up soon here in Michigan there is the Mattawan Tech Camp and Barrien RESA Tech Camp (there is a $60 fee for this camp.)
Shameless plug: MAET is putting on a free conference in Dublin, Ireland this summer on July 17th!
Additionally, there are some fantastic free online conferences – two that are exemplars in this category are 4TVirtualCon and K12 Online.
Regional Conferences
Regional conferences are generally less expensive than the “mega” conferences I will talk about shortly. Every year I enjoy the MACUL conference here in Michigan, it give us a chance to connect with our MAET students in the area and gives a sense of what is happening in the field state wide. The Michigan Joint Education Conference is a great “meeting of the minds” of the subject areas.
On a global scale, there are regional conferences organized by large international school organizations like EARCOS, ECIS, AASSA, and eLearning Africa – all of which have “sub-category” conferences that target different areas.
Specialty Conferences
I recently attended PELeCON, and it was truly one of the best conferences I have been to in quite a while. (I blog more about it here.) In sum, it was a tremendously engaged group of individuals and the opportunity to interact with ideas and people was extraordinary.
SXSWEdu was also a very unique experience. It was the first large conference I had been to without vendors explicitly separate from the conference proceedings. Everyone participated with their “education hats on” rather than sales pitches. It was an excellent conference, one I would attend again.
SITE is more of a traditionally research oriented conference, but also has crossover sessions that would be beneficial for a classroom teacher and reflective practitioner.
Mega Conferences
ISTE, SXSW, national subject area conferences are all worth attending – maybe just once or twice. They are SO incredibly overwhelming and many people (including myself) stress over having to choose one session over 100 others going on at the same time. The advantage to “mega” conferences is that you may have access to “mega” practitioners and experts in the field that regional or state conferences may not be able to afford. If you go to a mega-conference, try to present as well as attend, it will make the experience more worthwhile (more on this below.)
Think out side of the box “conferences”
As someone who often (ok the majority of my time) provides professional development for others, it’s easy to forget what it is like to be in an uncomfortable situation of a newbie. That’s why I take cooking classes – it puts me in a territory where I am unfamiliar and also teaches me a lot about teaching. Browse through community college or community education catalogs for day classes, put yourself in the position of a learner and learn what to do (or sometimes what not to do) when working with a novice.
Tips and Tricks for Choosing a Conference & Getting Funded
Take a look at the hashtag stream for the conference – this will tell you a lot about what you’re getting into. If you don’t see lots of activity on the stream, chances are the conference community may not be actively involved in sharing. This is not necessarily a bad thing, this could be an opportunity for you to take a leadership role in getting the social ball rolling!
If you’re asking for an employer to reimburse or fund part of your trip, make a strong case for how you’re going to connect what you’re learning back to your own educational community or classroom. I always tweet, blog, document and share my experiences at conferences to share with our MAET community and my PLN at large. Look beyond the conference – is there a Twitter contact in the city where the conference is being held? Could you connect with him/her more formally by including a school visit into your trip? On a quick side note along these lines, I saw a friend tweet about #stc12, this was a new hashtag for me and I found out it stood for the Society for Technical Communication - they have a specific page on their blog with a template letter to convince your boss!
Try your best to present at the conference you attend- this takes advance planning as CFPs (calls for proposals) come out quite early. If you’re in a cash-strapped school, this should increase your chances of being funded since you’ll be sharing the innovative work you’re doing in your school.
What are YOUR tips and tricks? What conferences do you suggest? Let’s continue the discussion below!
So Many Choices: Things to consider when choosing a conference by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
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A few weeks back, Scott and I were talking about our 2012 garden plans. We have an amazing tomato lady – Karen, the proprietor of Michigan Heirlooms. Scott, who tends to the garden all summer when I’m away, emailed the tomato lady and sent her some pictures I took of the tomatoes we purchased from her greenhouse to share his excitement for the coming season. She loved the pictures so much she wanted to use them on her website! Being the Creative Commons girl I am, I was more than thrilled and honored she wanted to use my photos. I was even more thrilled when she offered to provide us with lettuce and peppers in exchange for pictures of them for this growing season – what a fun project! The project started tonight by planting the starters – 31 different varieties of lettuce! These certainly are not the best pictures ever, and more of a memory tool for me as they start to grow – but – I wanted to capture their growth over time. I’m not sure what I’m envisioning for the final photos (I have some fun creative ideas in mind.) I’m excited to plant the peppers tomorrow and for this exciting creative journey ahead. I’ve been so busy I haven’t had much time for “real” photographs lately, so this will force me to take time and see the beauty in the things growing around me.
Why I Love the Internet Reason #209 by Leigh Graves Wolf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
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