As someone who awoke to this just a short two years ago, I am continually astonished at the rapidity of change. In fact, I had my first--and so far, only--panic attack in July, 2005 driving down the highway to work as I realized that the world is changing faster than I can keep up. The only way to respond to a panic attack is to seize control, to realize that I have some measure of control over how I react to rapid, tectonic paradigm-shifts that inflict terror because they transform the world around us. Not feeling it, huh? Well, that means you haven't looked over the edge and seen it looking back at you.
The only way to deal with this challenge to our particular approaching to learning--aside from ignoring it completely, which is about as effective as ignoring an oncoming truck when you're crossing the street--is to seize the steering wheel and create our own learning network. As a technology director, people look to you to model learning new technologies. Are you taking advantage of all the resources you can to streamline the often messy learning process?
Why jump in?
Christopher Parsons shares that we need to do 4 things with the content we encounter. It's an overwhelming amount of unorganized content, often content that may be useful in the future but we won't know that until we encounter the situation we need it for. This content would otherwise be thrown away or filed away in a way that would not be useful--such as paper notes, in our email or computer's bookmarks and then forgotten. As we try to make sense of this barrage of content--information, ideas, tips and how-to's, and personal information--Chris shares we need to do the following at light-speed:
- Read - Read/watch/listen to the entirety of the content that you are presented with.
- Evaluate - Consider what the content meant to you, and whether or not it was a source of information that intuitively seemed appropriate/acceptable for the task at hand.
- Critique - Moving beyond evaluate, seriously reflect on the material and form your own opinion of the material.
- Write - Share your critique with others, so that they can engage with you and the original content to develop a cohesive knowledge-product.
In the past, reading, evaluating and critiquing were done to different degrees by each of us. As a literate society, especially one composed of educators, it was rare that few of us actually wrote and published our critiques with others. Now, it is possible to share how what I read, evaluate, and critique connects with my own personal learning and schema. This is powerful because individuals--like you and me--have the power to publish at will to an audience of millions. The key thing to remember is that as we externalize our thinking, it becomes less of "I'm an expert expounding on what I know" and more of "I'm a learner, just like you, sharing what I'm learning so that we can learn together through our common errors and mistakes and maximize our breakthroughs." Consider that our understanding of learning is changing. We need to think of learning as an experience that happens when we connect with others.
If you fail to connect to the network of learners, you miss out on a global conversation about what YOU are passionate about. And missing out is a darn shame because it can save you time, energy, and increase your reach, no matter how brilliant (or not) you think you are. That's a powerful idea. Smart people get smarter because they have access to the network of learners. People who are just starting out are able to learn as fast as they can to get what they need accomplished.
When I meet folks that are just becoming aware of the conversation--usually because I push them over the edge in a workshop--I like to share several tools with them. These are essential learning tools that every 21st Century learner should have. They involve action on your part to use them, but it is the acts of use that cast out fear of change. The act of building your own personal learning network (PLN) is your fundamental act of freedom. Start now.
The Tools You Need
You only need several tools to get started, although there are hundreds. Please be aware that the purpose of these tools is to externalize the knowledge-building you do every day from the public information that comes across your computer screen. It is also to take advantage of the power of networked learning that is possible. There are thousands of educators online, and you can tap into their collective knowledge to ask questions, have conversations about what you need to learn. The only expectation is that you share what you know with them. Each no-cost tool listed below does it in a slightly different, but complementary, way.
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Where Learning Conversations Take Place (in alpha order)
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1) Get a Diigo.com account. Diigo.com is a social bookmarking tool, similar to the popular Del.icio.us service, but also centralizes in one place various learning possibilities. The social aspect of learning is important, especially with our increasing focus on conversations that add value to what we are learning. Diigo.com lets you bookmark web sites and have an online conversation about them. Here's a diagram that addresses some of those:
Some of the exciting ways educators are using Diigo are listed in the sidebar. Centralize your learning through web sites and the conversations you have about those sites online by using Diigo. Since Diigo is free, you can encourage your superintendent and other administrative staff to become a part of the conversation. This kind of "networking" empowers all who participate in the conversation. Here are some suggestions:
- Annotating curriculum documents and adding stickies to show where tech integration is happening and could happen. This could be annotated for a group of curriculum writers.
- Annotate state education agency memos for your administrators. We get memos every day and they are posted online. Immediately, among a team, share what are the implications of the ideas shared in the memo, the most important points, etc.
- You can see instructional uses of Diigo as screencasts developed by Clay Burell, an International School teacher, online.
Example: http://www.diigo.com/user/mguhlin
Find Diigo online here: http://diigo.com
2) Twitter: Use twitter.com
to build a professional learning network. There are many 21st century
teachers out there. Find them and create a twitter network that can be
a support group, provide inspiring projects, and keep you in touch with
like minded people. All of you participating in this workshop can be a
group. Locate each other in twitter and become a network. You can use Twitter specific tools to connect with others. One of my favorites is TweetScan.com. It allows you to search the many "tweets" that occur each day (view a search on Education ) and subscribe via RSS (Read tool #3 below for more on RSS) to the results. That way, real time comments about what is critical to your work comes to you.
Whenever there is contact with other educators, there is hope.
That's the power of communications. I can't share the excitement I felt
at participating in a TeachMeet on September 19, 2007
taking place in Scotland. How did I find out about this? Obviously, I
was not in Scotland. I was sitting at my desk working on work projects,
when a "tweet" came in from Paul Harrington, an educator in Wales.
As a result of his sharing via Twitter, I was able to participate in this conference via my web browser and listen to speakers like Ewan McIntosh and others share what they are doing in schools in Scotland. Do you think this might have impacted my perspective about the power of global learning opportunities? How might it have impacted YOUR perspective to participate in a dialogue with educators from around the world?
By combining the power of Diigo and Twitter, I am able to more easily track ad-hoc professional learning opportunities as they occur, as well as have conversations about them BEFORE and AFTER. This kind of just-in-time learning, as it happens, can be very powerful for educators. One way that I approached tracking broadcast learning opportunities included creating a Diigo group. I invited other educators and now we have a collaboratively updated list of EDuStreams --educational professional learning happening online via uStream, Elluminate, Wimba.com sessions that are appearing online. EDuStreams are actually video/audio presentations and conversations done by educators about topics they are interested in. Twitter allows us to share these at will, while Diigo allows us to keep track of these opportunities and share them with others, even if they are not on Twitter. After you get your Twitter and Diigo accounts, join the EDuStreams group on Diigo to keep up to date on new learning opportunities.
Example: Norms for Online Behavior
Find it here:
http://twitter.com with a list of educators to follow at http://twitter.com/mguhlin
3) Start blogging. Blogging is a process of reflection on what you learn everyday. How can anyone spend time blogging on top of what they do all day? The fact is that some of my best blogging research--when I decide on Future Blog Posts--while I'm looking for something else. In fact, my focus during the day is learning something, either for work, to satisfy my curiousity (which begins with a question or a wondering).
At the end of the day, early evening in fact, I quickly look back at what I tagged for a Future Blog Post, which is actually a "tag" I keep in Diigo.com. I may bookmark many items, but only blog about those that are immediately relevant or connected.
Before, I would copy-n-paste the
link, the relevant quote or point that triggered my thinking into my
blog program (Thingamablog) but now I just use Diigo.com. In that way, blogging for me isn't a
"special" activity, but part of everything I do. When I'm asked for what I know about a particular topic relevant to my work as a technology director, I am able to check my bookmarks. If I have spent time reflecting on implementation of a technolgy-related project in my blog, I usually bookmark that as well and can quickly pull up the needed information. This work prepares me in advance for questions my job naturally throws at me. I easily have 3 times that in ideas or info that I
stumble upon.
In a real way, this is a much different way of behaving and acting. Modelling it for our students is critical, as Cheri points out above, but understanding it ourselves is just as important. Before blogs (BB), I never would have done this (tag ideas, blog about my response/reflection, wikify my resources for others, podcast valuable conversations with other people for later listening). In fact, keeping a journal was a joke for me, even though I knew that every "good" writer kept one. It wasn't until I started blogging--with the real audience that's reading--that I understood the power of blogging everything.
Amy Gehran at Contentious Blog articulates this really well when she writes the following:
via Teach-n-Babble
In my recent Blog Your World! workshop at the PBS/KLRN ICTT 2007 Conference, I shared it in this way, as perceived by one of the newbie bloggers, Juliet Ray at Deep Thoughts (drop by and give her a comment):
This kind of externalization is useful to others. For example, back in 2005 I wrote a how-to for doing something in GNU/Linux operating system that used KDE as the GUI (as opposed to Gnome or the others out there). In September 20, 2007, someone found it and blogged about it...if I hadn't externalized my knowledge, made a "backup brain," then this would not have been here for Jim Plumb to discover.
I wanted to have the view in tree mode rather than the default icon view.
Another neat result of this is that *I* rediscover my own blog entry when Jim writes about it or interacts with it. It makes me want to re-read the entry. In reviewing my social bookmarking network, I noticed Mark Ahlness had picked up on one of my favorite blog entries, "Writing the List Article"...I hadn't seen that blog entry in ages, even though every article I write is based on the structure outlined.
Blog what you learn, what you do. Soon, you'll realize you know--and as importantly, discover more--about what is in your head than you think.
Example: LeaderTalk Blog for school district administrators at http://leadertalk.org
Get Started at http://edublogs.org with an education-related blog about what you are learning and how it is relevant to your work. Ask yourself a few questions to get started, such as What are you most passionate about in your work? and What is the hardest thing you do in your work, and why is it challenging? Finally, share your successes--and failures, such as What obstacle or problem you encountered and how you overcame it? Some common questions technology directors have include the following:
- What backup software do you use in your district?
- Have you considered switching from MS Exchange to Google Apps? How did you make the transition?
- What Special Education tracking software or web-based service are you using at the District level?
- What kinds of audio/visual solutions are you using to broadcast school board meetings?
- And many more. Responding to these types of questions in your blog and sharing resources with other technology directors via Diigo.com will instantly enable you to share ideas about important matters relevant to your work.
Get started by joining this Diigo group (CTOnetwork) for Chief Technology Officers, Technology Directors/Coordinators, and others in district-level technology positions.
3) Use Google Reader to Manage RSS Subscriptions:
Most new web pages now have what is known as an RSS feed button. Web
sites with RSS--real simple syndication--feeds enable you to read their
content without visiting their web site beyond the first time. You can
subscribe to their content--and subscription is at no-cost--and any
updates/changes to their web site are delivered to you directly (
Watch this Video). The benefit of this is that creating a personal learning network will not result in MORE email, but rather, less. Instead of receiving email notifications, you go to Google Reader to review the latest updates and changes, and participate when you have a need.
My Example: Miguel's Shared Items in Google Reader
Get Started at http://reader.google.com
Reflecting on the Tools
These three tools can save you a lot of time and energy as you try to join the flow of conversation. One of my favorite quotes--that came to me via Mark Wagner--is "He who learns from one who is learning, drinks from a flowing river."
I hope you'll continue to learn every moment and share that learning with others. The rewards are infinite.