I really enjoyed IT Summit this year - especially Will Richardson's talks. In some cases this conference was preaching to the crowd and other times I learned genuine new things. The conference reaffirmed my beliefs that we need to do something different. We need to start teaching a little bit differently.
Here are my notes from some of my favorite sessions - at least the ones that I took good notes for. Keep in mind that I wrote these notes for myself and they may not always make sense to you. There may also be some off topic ramblings in them as well. Other people may also have collaborated with me on those notes so I can't take full credit for them (I love Google Docs!).
Will Richardson's Sessions(Check out Dean Shareski's notes at the bottom of the page. His are awesome.) - Rob Wall recorded his keynote. The link to watch it is in my notes.
Will Richardson's and Dean Shareski'sDuel for the Top Tools(This was on happy little linkfest. Hey but isn't not supposed to be about the tools anymore?)
My apologies if I went to your session but did not make good enough notes to post them up here.
Well I finally got it to work. My time lapse video works! Windows Movie Maker was painful to work with - but it did work. I shouldn't complain about a free tool - but I am going to. My computer crashed three times while trying to make the movie. Converting the photos into a video in the program was actually quite easy (read about how to do it here). Title and credits were easy to add. However I almost gave up when I tried to save the video. I could save the project quite easily but had problems trying to save it in a format that could be played in any other player. Turns out that I am not alone in having this problem. I think that the problem was that my computer did not have enough memory. I finally got it to work by lowering the output video quality. Thanks to the people who gave me any help getting Windows Movie Maker to work.
I took the pictures with a little Logitech webcamera that my school division bought for me. It did not handle the low light in my living room very well (as you can see). I think that it would work fine in a brighter room. I used the Microsoft Powertoys program Webcam Timershot to take a picture every two seconds. This guide pointed me to the tools I needed. It also showed some other methods that also looked good (both Mac and PC). Next time I try this I will use another camera - maybe a hacked Cannon camera like in this post.
I guess that I should also point to Dean Shareski's post Supper's Ready in 80 Seconds that originally gave me the idea.
My next step is to try to recreate this video (using the same pictures) on a Mac in iMovie. I will let you know how the process compared to Windows.
In the past we were what we owned, now we are what we share.
That is one of my favorite quotes from the video.
This video once again touches on what I think is the most important thing about the internet today. The internet is NOT AN ENCYCLOPEDIA! It is a communication tool. It is a way for us to communicate with each other. We create a web of contacts. Donna Desroches put it quite well.
One of the most interesting questions that came from the audience after my presentation was, “can you give a specific example of how information literacy has changed”? My response was to share how little I now use a search engine since the growth of my personal learning network - my twitter friends, my del.icio.us network and the blogs that I read via my bloglines account. Information can now come to me - and I need the skills to be able to create the PLN that will bring me the information I need and the ability to filter the information.
PLN - Personal Learning Network. We also need to remember that we should give back. A network implies a give and take. Information and ideas flow both ways - especially with Web 2.0. Don't just be a leech. Share. Give back to the community and your peers. Dean Shareski talked about sharing in this well written post.
Gestalt - The whole is more and different than the sum of its parts. Gestalt describes Web 2.0 quite well. Our network is more than my part plus your part plus the next persons part. It grows and becomes something bigger when we all join together as a PLN. The mathemetition in me has a real problem with this idea but it is true. We are something more when we truely collaborate.
P.S. This video is awesome because it make reference to World of Warcraft. I will write about it in an upcoming post. We could really learn about using Web 2.0 from WarCrack players.
Apparently it is time for the Canadian 2007 Blog Awards. Check out the nominated education blogs. The first thing that came to mind was time to add some new blogs to my Google Reader. The second thing that I thought of is that two of them are in my Google Reader and I have trolled through at least one of the other ones.
Well Patricia gave me an idea. Why not share some of the blogs I enjoy reading. So here goes. (In no particular order.)
Classroom Tech Tips Donna's blog. Through one of her PD days she introduced me to the wonders of RSS readers and educational blogs.
Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech Dean Shareski has some interesting things to say. I like the way he thinks. Plus he is pretty much a video guru.
Cool Cat Teacher Blog Vicki Davis. An active blogger. A VERY active blogger. She is quite well connected and has written some insightful posts.
Dangerously Irrelevant This guy is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. I just discovered Scott McLeod's blog recently but his posts are making me think.
I have lots more blogs on my Google Reader but these are the ones that I jump on reading right away. And after looking at these top Canadian bloggers I suspect I will be adding a few more to the list.
P.S. I also subscribe to The Despair Inc. Blog because these guys are just damn funny.
