Eric, that is super news! I’ll look forward to that viewing, and follow-up conversation!

As a season pass holder of the 2008-09 ISTE Webinar series, we have access to the complete archives. I will be hosting similar sessions like the one we held yesterday for archived sessions that look interesting. I’ll let you know when when the Digital Storytelling viewing is scheduled.

Best,

Eric

Thanks for the notes on this presentation.. as usual, your commentary is great for putting the ideas into a practical context.

I’ve had some recent communications with the folks at TED about the potential for creating a Long Distance Guest Speaker directory for K-12 which would fit perfectly with Dave Eggers TED wish. I’m afraid, that I don’t have nearly as much clout as the folks I’ve been reading the past few years, and I’m wondering if you and perhaps some of your K-12 Online Conference collaborators might be able to push this idea forward?

As projectors become the norm in classrooms around the world, there is little doubt that teachers will be looking for meaningful and simple ways to put them to use. Such a directory would, I think, be a very popular online destination…

Since this was my first time to see Webspiration our group may have placed it in the wrong quadrant– it sounds like it should go in Asynchronous/interactive as well.

In terms of professional directories for expert guest speakers, I know that MERLOT has a virtual speaker’s bureau but I think it’s geared more for higher education. This is something Rodd Lucier was asking about on Monday. I think you are right, NECC and other conferences provide great opportunities to grow and expand personal learning networks, particularly when they (as NECC did in 2008) create Ning networks or other learning communities for educators to interact and connect.

I think your idea of doing case-based discussions about how these tools can be and are being integrated into classroom lessons sounds wonderful. I think short case studies like that could provide great material for continuing PD in schools. We discussed this yesterday after the webinar: How beneficial it is to help educators experience blended learning. That can involve watching a video and then discussing it, or a live webinar like we did yesterday and then discussing it. It is certainly more powerful to experience that form of learning personally rather than just talk about it. Yesterday’s webinar was very beneficial in that respect, and I think it is a good idea for district professional development leaders to strategize about how more teachers in their schools can experience similar blended PD opportunities.

I certainly agree it is a great idea to help teachers gain personal experiences about the benefits of videoconferencing using tools like Skype. I am a strong advocate of videoconferencing with grandchildren! While I understand we want teachers to get to the curriculum integration stage and ideally an ACOT invention stage, we all take baby steps… and making personal connections with our family members is a great way to start walking down that road toward transparent technology integration, where technology is used like a pencil in the learning process to accomplish learning tasks. For those who understand desktop videoconferencing tools like Skype and iChat, however, this absence of a virtual speaker’s bureau for K-12 is a real need. Perhaps this is something you can suggest to ISTE they start and sponsor? I strongly think this needs to be a tool that is open for anyone to use, however, regardless of whether they are an ISTE member or not. ISTE’s advocacy for a resource like this could have tremendous impact on the practical potential for educators to utilize guest speakers. The CILC’s Collaboration Center and ePals certainly provide good venues for connecting with other educators and potential guest speakers, but none of these resources are explicitly for “virtual guest speakers” for K12 contexts.

Thank you very much for your session and ideas. Yours is the first webinar I’ve seen where PollEverywhere was used for a global audience survey– I thought that was GREAT. I look forward to continuing to follow your work!

I appreciate the mention of my own presentation and look forward to your comments on Film School for Video Podcasters.

One more site specifically for finding people to video conference with is this: http://projects.twice.cc/

I am honored to know that you were among the audience for our webinar on Wednesday. I have long been a fan of your work and enjoyed many hours of listening to your podcasts.

Yes, this was an overview of many of the opportunities that are available in the Web 2.0 world. This presentation was tool-oriented but I envisioned this as a way get teachers thinking about what they might be able to do with collaborative tools.

Future presentations will include case-based discussions about how to integrate these tools into subject specific applications in the classroom.

Concerning your questions:

- I thought that I did respond to your first question by saying that I thought that your idea of an open-source screencast library would be a good idea. Perhaps I should have reflected on it more.

- I have been thinking about your second question. While most of the people that I know use Skype to bring professional colleagues into their classrooms, I don’t know of any specific directories for people interested in doing this. It suddenly dawned on me that the NECC conference (or any conference) program is a perfect directory of people who might be interested in Skyping into your classroom. They don’t need to be Skype-using people either. I have had to teach a few of the experts I wanted to bring into my classroom how to use Skype. The interesting thing is that once they get the taste of Skype, it becomes an integral part of their daily lives.

I liked your 2×2 matrix of the tools that I presented. I seem to remember you discussing this in one of your podcasts. May I refer to it in future presentations? It is interesting that you placed Webspiration in the Asynchronous/Non-interactive sector. I assume that the reason that you placed it there was because only one person can edit the map at a time. While this is not an optimal method for interaction, does it mean that it is Asynchronous? If multiple people are looking at the same screen but cannot edit it at the same time, does that mean that it is asynchronous?

Is it possible to have an asynchronous editing power in a synchronous thinking session? Hm . . . interesting.

Wesley, I appreciate your work in synthesizing and expanding upon this presentation. Your ideas about using interactive media to enhance the 1:1 laptop experience is quite true. The laptops are just windows into the world of available resources around the world and we must optimize this opportunity for students.

I hope that we can keep in touch,

Leigh Zeitz – Dr. Z