Join Us for Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation This Saturday

This Saturday, February 21st, we'll be holding the 2009 edition of Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation. We're completely full in terms of physical registrants, but if you aren't coming in person you can still attend virtually. We'll have Elluminate rooms going for each of the sessions, with live video and audio from the physical rooms, and of course the chat and other features of Elluminate.

We'll be starting around 9 am MST (although the sessions themselves don't start until 9:30). Here's a link to a list of all the Elluminate rooms, and below is our schedule for the day (couldn't get the Gliffy to embed nicely in Blogger, so it's just an image below - follow this link for active hyperlinks to the sessions.) We're excited to have new faces leading the conversations this year (plus an old face or two), as well as a couple of folks from SLA in Philadelphia joining us. We're looking forward to some great learning conversations.

A Whole New Learning Experience: Take Two

I blogged last year about some of our ninth graders reading A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, and discussing it not only with each other, but with over 30 educators from around the world and Daniel Pink himself. Well, some of this year’s ninth graders in Anne Smith’s and Maura Moritz’s classes are going to get the opportunity to do it again.

If you’re really interested, you can read all my previous posts regarding our experiences with this project. But, in a nutshell, the students are reading the book and discussing it in class using the fishbowl method with live blogging. In addition to the students discussing face-to-face and live blogging, approximately 30 educators from around the world will be “dropping” in to live blog as well. They’ll be able to hear and see the in-class discussion via webcam (and MeBeam), and will simultaneously live blog along with the outer circle of students in the classroom (using CoverItLive this year). Twice during the project, once while discussing Chapter 4 (Design) and then again at the end of the book with the culminating discussion, the students will have the opportunity to interact with Daniel Pink via Skype.

The students will be doing a variety of activities along with the discussions, but their culminating project will again be a Wikified Research Paper. A Wikified Research Paper has all the components of a traditional research paper, but on a wiki so that it can include hyperlinks, audio, video, etc. It also contains other wiki pages with their research and related items, as well as the ability for others to give them comments and feedback along the way and on the final paper (although since it’s a wiki it’s never “final”).

If you’re really a glutton and want to know more about this, we have a video produced by Dana Levesque, one of the amazing instructional technology specialists in our district. It gives you a feel for what it looked like last year, including some short interviews with students, some longer interviews with Anne and Maura regarding their preparation for and reaction to this project, and an interview with yours truly talking about some of the technology aspects of this project.

Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation (2009 Edition)

Well, we did it earlier this year and most folks asked us to put on a 2009 edition, so we're doing it again.

You are invited to attend the Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation Conference (2009 Edition).

What is Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation?
Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation is a one day conference/meetup for teachers, administrators, students, school board members, parents and anyone who is interested in education. It will be held on Saturday, February 21st, 2009, from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm at Heritage High School in Littleon, Colorado, USA (different location than last year - here's a map). We assume most folks will be from Colorado, but everyone is welcome to attend, and we are working on some ideas for virtual participation.

Education is conversation.

Conversation creates change.

The future of education does not exist in the isolated world of theory and abstract conference sessions. Instead, it exists in conversations. It exists in creating a robust learning network that is ever-expanding and just-in-time. Learning 2.0 is not the beginning of this conversation. It is merely a stopping point, a time to talk about the visible difference that we all seek.

We read. We reflect. We write. We share. We learn. Come join us for a day of conversation about learning and technology.

You can learn much more about the conference on the wiki, including information about registering. Here are some highlights:

Tentative Schedule
We're still working on the details so this will be updated before the conference. Also, this may expand if we have more folks register than we are anticipating. (To quote Bud Hunt, "This conference stuff is hard!"). We also need folks to submit proposals to facilitate conversations.

Registration
You must register so that we know how many folks to expect and so that we can have enough lunches available. (Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?)

Cost
Free, baby. And lunch is included, thanks to the generous support of Littleton Public Schools and St. Vrain Valley Public Schools.

Wireless
BYOL (that would be Bring Your Own Laptop) - we'll have wireless access to the Internet (filtered) - we may test our capacity to handle density of machines, but hopefully things will go swimmingly. If not, we have wired machines in various places you can access.

Questions for Students
We're having a student panel discussion during lunch. Here's your chance to submit some questions for them to consider.

Invite Others
We strongly encourage you to invite other folks from your school, district, neighborhood, or learning network to attend as well. It would be great if everyone could bring at least one person with them that is perhaps new to this conversation.

Call for Conversations

Hey, did you miss it above? We need folks to submit proposals to facilitate these conversations. This doesn't happen without you.

Questions?
Feel free to leave a comment on this post or on the FAQ page on the wiki.

Promote Learning 2.0
Did we mention that you should tell others? Blog about this. Link to the wiki or this blog post. Download a flyer (pdf) and print it out.Or use this nifty image.

WWSD: What Would Shakespeare Do?

No, don’t worry, this is not a reprise of that post. Anne Smith had her ninth graders complete a word trace from Acts 2 and 3 of Macbeth:

Through our study of acts 2-3 of Macbeth, the kids were put into groups looking at the use of one of the following words: blood, hand, man, night, sleep.

. . . I asked the kids this year to demonstrate their learning using any way BUT PPT . . .

I let my grad school buddies know of this, and Gary Stager our teacher, asked my students to think about the project this way: What Would Shakespeare Do?

After a few presentations today, we debriefed after each one discussing did their presentation merely distribute information or did they go above and beyond the expectations to really show WWSD? I asked the groups that gave a literal interpretation to spend some more time really pushing our understanding of Shakespeare's use of those words. Why those words? Who says them the most? Are there modern connections? What connections can you make between the uses of the words? and being creative with their interpretations. I am anxious to see them progress with their thinking.

The students came up with a variety of presentations including writing a sonnet of their own about Shakespeare's use of 'hand' and connecting it to a Good Charlotte song, creating a rap rendition about 'night' and connecting it to Mission Impossible, and creating a series of one man plays about his use of 'man'. Head on over, check out the examples, and leave them some constructive criticism.

I also think it's interesting to contemplate what various historical figures would do to communicate their ideas given today's tools, and challenge students (and teachers) to not only imagine that, but try their hand at creating it. What would Shakespeare do?

Please Help Abby with Her Homework

My eight-year-old, third grade daughter just began an assignment for school. Each child received a composition book to use for their “travelogue journal.” Inside was pasted this greeting:

Dear Friend,

I am a student in the 3rd grade at Renaissance Elementary School in Castle Rock, Colorado, USA. I am learning about U.S. and world geography. With your help, I can learn more about many different places. Here’s how you can help me:

1. Complete one journal entry in my attached journal by writing about the city in which you live.

2. Send a postcard from your city addressed to me at the school address below.

3. Send my journal on to a friend or relative who lives in a different region of the United States or another country.

Then there’s some additional information, a “return by” date of April 15th, 2009, and her school address. Then in the next couple of pages each student wrote a little bit about themselves, what they like to do, and about the Castle Rock area. Each student is supposed to then mail this to someone they know in a different part of the country, that person adds to the journal, then sends it on to another person.

I think this assignment is fine as far as it goes, and we mailed it off to a friend in Kentucky on Friday. But, and you’ve got to know what’s coming, I thought this assignment was ripe to have a “virtual companion” to it. So, I haven’t asked for much on this blog (well, other than changing the world), but I’d like to ask those of you who are still reading this blog to consider contributing to Abby’s travelogue wiki. There’s an explanation on the wiki itself, but here’s the basic idea:

1. Add your information to the wiki (first name, last initial, city, state/province, country).
   
   
2. Upload or link to a picture (a “digital postcard” if you will) that’s representative of your city.
   
   
3. Write a short description of your city.
   
   
4. Then, if you want, send the link to the wiki on to friends or family that you think might be willing to participate. (Note – please not “send this to everyone in your address book!” – I don’t want this to be Fischbowl-generated spam.)
   
   
5. Then, if you really want to go the extra mile, actually send a postcard to Abby at her school (pdf).

Now, I really have no idea if we’ll get five or five hundred responses, but I figured it was worth a shot (and it takes a lot less postage). Not only would you be helping Abby and her classmates learn more about the world, but also helping other students (and adults) that visit the wiki learn about the world. I think it would be especially nice if other students added to the wiki, in addition to adults, but we’ll see what happens.

Update 9-23-08: Wow! The response has been great. Thanks to everyone. That original page on the wiki has so much on it that it's becoming difficult to edit, so please add all new entries to the second page I've created. If you already have info on the first page and need to change/add to it, please email me with the changes and I'll update it (I've locked it now so that people don't accidentally try to add to it). Thanks again to everyone that's participated and, if you haven't yet, please go ahead and contribute.

A New Learning Opportunity

I’m really excited about a new learning opportunity I began this week. I’m helping as a “Community Leader” for the ADVIS Cohort of Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson’s Powerful Learning Practice initiative.


The PLP cohort model has face-to-face, webinar (Elluminate), and online discussion (private Ning) components, and I’ll be helping mostly with the online discussion component. I’m still figuring out what my role is, but essentially I’m supposed to do two things: help with the technical side of things (wiki questions, Ning questions, etc.) and help contribute and extend the online conversations. In other words, it’s very similar to what I’ve been doing in my own building staff development these last few years. The biggest difference is I won’t be part of the face-to-face meetings and, of course, I haven’t met most of the people in the community face-to-face. (I had the opportunity of presenting to an ADVIS group - along with Anne Smith and Will Richardson - back in January, and a few of the folks in the cohort attended that, so I probably have met some in the cohort face-to-face.)

While I’m really excited to be part of this, I’m also really nervous. (And this is the reason for this and hopefully subsequent posts – to share the process and what I learn as I go along.) Folks who know me in physical space know that I’m not the most social person. I’m certainly not anti-social, but it takes me awhile to join in with a group of people that I don’t know well. So this will be interesting for me as I leave my comfort zone a little bit.

Even so, I’m still really excited about this opportunity and thankful to Sheryl, Will and the ADVISPLP Cohort for allowing me to participate. I look forward to learning along with the cohort – and hopefully sharing on this blog what I discover about this type of online professional development.

Colorado High School Graduation Requirements Wiki

The Colorado Graduation Guidelines Development Council is tasked with making recommendations to the State Board of Education regarding high school graduation requirements. They've setup an informational wiki, have an online survey you might want to take a look at, as well as a few public forums you can attend in person.

I'm glad they have this information out there, although I'm not sure how well they've advertised it (I stumbled across it due to a tweet from Bud). I also find the membership of the Council of interest. The ones I know of are all thoughtful people, and I would assume the others are as well, but it seems to me that there are a few categories of folks missing. Anyone else see the same gaps?

Update 3-29-08: In the comments Rick linked to his earlier post about this. It's worth reading.

AWNM Wikified Research Papers

As the culmination of their study of A Whole New Mind, Anne Smith and Maura Moritz’s students had to complete a Wikified Research Paper. Here are links to the four wiki pages that have links to the students' wikis. (You’ll have to explore a little on each student’s wiki, some of them have their final paper on the home page of the wiki, others on a page titled Final Draft, and still others with various other page names .) There are over one hundred of these, so I certainly don’t expect anyone reading this to go read all of them (I certainly haven’t), but you might pick a couple from each class at random to read and then leave them some constructive feedback on the discussion tab of their wiki.

Smith Period 2

Moritz Period 3

Moritz Period 4

Smith Period 5

I wanted to take a moment to once again thank Daniel Pink and the folks in my network who helped us out with this project. Your participation, thoughts and insights are much appreciated.

Because a few folks asked, I also wanted to share a few of the technical details of the video conference with Daniel Pink. We brought all four classes together in our Forum (our large lecture-hall type classroom – the only one large enough for a group this size – around 110 students) for two hours (in-school field trip for the students). We connected with Mr. Pink via Skype. On our end we had a Dell computer that was connected to a large rear-projection screen that’s part of our Forum, as well as to speakers in the ceiling of the Forum. We used a Logitech Ultravision webcam (slightly newer version of it) for the video, and a Blue Snowball Microphone for the audio. On his end I believe he was using his Mac with the built-in iSight camera. He was also wearing headphones to minimize the audio feedback. (Skype appeared to do a great job with that – his wearing headphones helped us out, but we couldn’t use headphones on our end because all the students in the Forum needed to hear, but Mr. Pink reported very little audio feedback on his end.)

We had pre-selected twenty questions from students for Mr. Pink to respond to (they’re all in the live blog if you want to read through it), in addition to two general questions to get the ball rolling. Each student came down to the microphone to ask their question of Mr. Pink. After he answered, they could ask a follow-up or clarifying question if necessary. If they didn’t have one, then there were eight students down in front to carry on a very modified fishbowl discussion if they had anything to add to what Mr. Pink said (very modified fishbowl discussion because of the time constraints, having four classes in a lecture-hall setting, and the opportunity to hear from the author himself). The webcam and microphone were positioned to pick up the eight students down in front (as well as the students who came down to ask the questions), so Mr. Pink could hear those comments as well. The remaining students shared about thirty-five laptops and participated in live blogging using CoverItLive (I was on another Dell jockeying the CoverItLive blog).

Finally, we also ustreamed the whole thing (video archive, chat archive). We had a Canon camcorder hooked up via Firewire to a Mac and a second Blue Snowball Microphone positioned at the table with the eight students. I was at a table with a Dell (for the CoverItLive blog and with headphones to verify that the ustream was working) and the Mac (for the ustreaming itself).

Overall, the technology worked really well. The only real issue we had was that the ustream chat doesn’t always make it through our firewall, so I couldn’t monitor that, and we did lose the ustream a couple of times. Thankfully Kristin Hokanson captured the chat and helped me put the various orphaned ustreams back together so we have a pretty good record of the ustream.

Here are a few pictures to get a feel for what it looked like (especially for those of you who watched the ustream and perhaps thought there were only 8-10 students there).



Finally, I want to thank Anne, Maura and the students, for the incredible amount of time, effort and thought they put into this project. There are things we could’ve done better (and will do better next time we try something like this) but, overall, I think it was an amazing learning experience.

First Release of Encyclopedia of Life

I first posted about the Encylopedia of Life last May, now they have their first 30,000 pages up.

Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about all life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world.

. . . In this first version of the portal, you will find:

About 25 exemplar species pages. These pages show the kind of rich environment, with extensive information, to which all the species pages will eventually grow. These pages have been authenticated (endorsed) scientists.

Tens of thousands of additional species pages. These pages are authenticated, but do not contain the rich array of information found on the exemplar pages.

About 1 million minimal species pages contain the scientific and common names for a species and often have a distribution map, but lack other authenticated information.

Looks like a good start.

Live Blogging AWNM – Round One

As I mentioned in a previous post, four sections of our ninth graders are reading and discussing Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, including live blogging and a videoconference with the author. They are also live blogging with various folks from my learning network as they discuss the six senses that Mr. Pink believes are critical for success in the 21st century.

Last Friday was our first attempt to bring in those outside live bloggers and – for the most part - it worked very well. In the spirit of sharing what works – and what we struggled with – here’s a quick summary.

What Went Well
The technology worked surprisingly well. Sometimes when we’ve done live blogging previously (just the students in the class), Blogger has blocked our IP address after awhile because they thought we were spamming comments (sometimes 200+ comments in 50 minutes that are coming from one IP address). Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

MeBeam worked pretty well, with the only problems being a software update that messed a few folks up, as well as some firewall issues (more on that below). We used MeBeam to stream the audio/video of the inner circle discussion out to the live bloggers. That way they not only followed the comments on the blog, but were able to hear the conversation in the classroom. For those that hooked up their own webcams, it also allowed the students to see what they looked like. (We decided not to bring their audio in, figuring the students had enough to concentrate on.) We used a Logitech webcam for the video, and a Blue Snowball microphone for the audio, with the Snowball pulled into the middle of the discussion using a 15-foot USB extension cable.

As usual, the students did a really nice job with the both the in-class discussion and the live blogging discussion (with one exception that I’ll talk about below). Our remote bloggers were incredible. Thanks to Dean Shareski, Darren Draper, Julie Lindsay, Jeff Whipple, Sharon Peters, James Folkestad, Sylvia Martinez, Karen Janowski and Tim Stahmer for your participation, your probing questions, and your willingness to devote time to this. We - and our students - really appreciate it.

What Didn’t Go Well
MeBeam updated their software a couple of days before we did this. As part of that upgrade, they implemented a “motion detection” system so that people didn’t use up their bandwidth with a webcam pointed at a wall or something. If it doesn’t sense any motion for about 10 seconds, it kicks you out of the room. But that meant that if folks trying to tune in to the MeBeam broadcast didn’t have a webcam connected, it booted them out. Luckily MeBeam still has their “original style” available that works without the motion detection system. I found that out the day before, but didn’t get that communicated to everyone in time. Since the feedback from the remote bloggers is that hearing the in-class discussion was really helpful, that was not ideal for those folks that couldn’t connect. Hopefully this week we’ll do better. Also, at least one remote blogger had firewall issues that wouldn’t allow him to connect to MeBeam. MeBeam uses Flash and a pretty standard port, but apparently not standard enough.

While for the most part the student discussion was really good, they did get off-topic a little more than I expected. From previous fishbowl discussions I’ve seen them conduct, they usually do an excellent job of staying on topic. I think the difference was mostly because it was a non-fiction book, and that threw them a little bit. I wanted them to focus mostly on the concept of Design, but they spent more of their time on right brain/left brain issues. I still think it was a great discussion in all four sections, but that’s something we can hopefully improve on this week (focusing on Story this week).

What I Still Wonder About
Sylvia gave us some thoughtful feedback asking if we had thought about exploring the science of right brain/left brain a little bit more, since the extreme dichotomy of “the left brain does this, the right brain that” has been somewhat discredited. (My reading of the science is that each hemisphere is still “specialized” and operates differently, but that the interplay is very complex.) To be honest, I was more focused on the six senses and not the science, and wasn’t that worried about the science because Pink was using it as a metaphor, not a scientific “fact.” For me (and this is just me), I want to explore the usefulness and applicability of the six senses to today’s students, both in a school setting and beyond. I feel like schools are pretty “L-directed” (to use Pink’s term where he tries to avoid the “left brain” idea) and that we need to incorporate more “R-directed” activities and even policies into our schools. Not everyone agrees that that is the case, of course, but I think it’s worth exploring. But Sylvia’s comments make me question whether we should’ve expanded this project even more to include the science, and I wonder how we could’ve done that effectively (or possibly could do it effectively in the future). So if folks have suggestions – or links to good resources that explore this further – please leave a comment.

You can read Anne Smith’s and Maura Moritz’s reflection on how last week went, as well as posts by Darren, Julie and Sharon with their thoughts. If you’d like to read through the live blog posts, here are the four sections (Period 2, Period 3, Period 4, Period 5). And Dan Pink has chimed in with a question for our students (on Anne’s class blog, on Maura’s class blog).

Overall, I think it was a very successful start to the project. We’re hoping that with some tweaks to the process (like sending better MeBeam instructions to the remote bloggers) and a reminder to the students to stay more on the topic of the particular chapter they are discussing, that this week will be even better. This week we’re looking forward to hearing from two of our school board members, Dan Maas (our CIO), Kristin Hokanson, Miguel Guhlin, Ben Wilkoff, Lori Soifer (a school board trustee in Michigan), Christian Long and Jim Gates.

ADVIS Presentation Questions and Feedback

Anne Smith and I had the pleasure of presenting alongside Will Richardson today to the good folks at the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools. This post is a place to leave questions or feedback for Anne and me. I apologize for the delay in posting this, but we didn’t anticipate that Blogger would be blocked at a Country Club (note to self: always ask about the filter ahead of time, even in non-school venues).

Here’s the wiki that the network built in response to a tweet by Will. In addition, several folks asked about some classroom examples from our school, so here are some we’ve demoed previously (the top part is about our staff development efforts, scroll down to see the examples). (As always, these are a work in progress and not necessarily "exemplary" work – we feel it’s important to share what we’ve tried even when the results weren’t all we hoped for.) Feel free to leave a comment and/or contact Anne or me if you have further questions.

Thank you to Barbara and the other folks at ADVIS that invited us out and treated us so nicely. Thank you also to Will – ‘twas a privilege.

Think Pink: A Whole New Learning Experience

Maura Moritz and Anne Smith have just begun an interesting project with four sections of their ninth grade honors language arts students (Maura's class blog, Anne's class blog.) The students are reading Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, discussing it in class, and then writing a thesis driven persuasive essay built around one of Pink’s six senses (Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, or Meaning).

As part of their discussions in class, the students will participate in a fishbowl discussion with live blogging. This is something they’ve done previously (although this is the first time with a non-fiction book), but this time they’ll have some additional participants in their live blogging – including the author. When the students discuss and live blog Chapter 7 (Empathy), Daniel Pink will be live blogging it with them. In addition, after finishing the entire book, the students will participate in a live videoconference with Mr. Pink.

Since Mr. Pink is presumably a very busy guy, he will only be live blogging that one chapter with the students. So we’ve invited a few other folks to live blog the other “Sense” chapters with the students. This includes local folks like our superintendent, our CIO, and two of our school board members, but also includes a variety of folks from around the world that are members of my personal learning network. (Thanks to everyone who agreed to participate. We didn’t want too many and tried to get gender balance and at least some geographic distribution, but of course time zone differences cause some problems there.)

As the students progress through their study of the book and its related concepts, they will also keep a Personal Learning Journal (some will do it online, others will keep it more private). They will:

reflect on the process of reading AWNM, relate the book to your own personal lives through a variety of reactions, reflect on your brain assessments, the AWNM video, as well as try one suggested activity within each Sense’s portfolio (Design, Story Symphony, Empathy, Play, Meaning). Also, we will ask you to reflect on how each Sense applies to you personally through your classes and life.

For those of you who haven’t read the book, at the end of each "Sense" chapter Mr. Pink includes some suggested activities that help the reader explore and/or develop that sense further. The students will each choose one of those activities for each chapter, complete it, and then reflect upon it.

When it comes time to write their persuasive essay about one of the Senses, the students will complete a "Wikified Research Paper." They will:

publish your paper in a wiki format, allowing you to use links in your argumentative paper to your actual research and go beyond the limits of the usual typed paper. Students could add data, photos, audio and video links, etc.

The students will also use the wiki for the entire writing process.

I, of course, love this idea, and am excited to see how it goes. As always the first time you try something, I expect there will be glitches along the way, but I still anticipate this being a wonderful learning experience for our students. Whether you particularly like Pink’s book and agree with his arguments or not, I think most folks would agree that these are important concepts for today’s learners to think about. This project will allow them to think much more deeply about these ideas and hear a variety of viewpoints from around the globe – I commend Maura and Anne for taking this on. I particularly like how they close their description of the Wikified Research Paper:

Before you submit your paper, think about this. Normally you would turn your paper in to your teacher and your teacher would provide the commentary and grade your paper. This paper is different. You are producing this paper for the world. Is it good enough for the world to read? Did you submit your best work?

Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation

You are invited to attend the Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation Conference.

What is Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation?
Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation is a one day conference/meetup for teachers, administrators, students, school board members, parents and anyone who is interested in education. It will be held on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008, from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, USA. We assume most folks will be from Colorado, but everyone is welcome to attend, and we are working on some ideas for virtual participation.

Education is conversation.

Conversation creates change.

The future of education does not exist in the isolated world of theory and abstract conference sessions. Instead, it exists in conversations. It exists in creating a robust learning network that is ever-expanding and just-in-time. Learning 2.0 is not the beginning of this conversation. It is merely a stopping point, a time to talk about the visible difference that we all seek.

We read. We reflect. We write. We share. We learn. Come join us for a day of conversation about learning and technology.

You can learn much more about the conference on the wiki, including information about registering. Here are some highlights:

Tentative Schedule
We're still working on the details so this will be updated before the conference. Also, this may expand if we have more folks register than we are anticipating. (To quote Bud Hunt, "This conference stuff is hard!")

Registration
You must register so that we know how many folks to expect and so that we can have enough lunches available. (Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?)

Cost
Free, baby. And lunch is included, thanks to the generous support of Littleton Public Schools, St. Vrain Valley Public Schools, and Arapahoe High School.

Wireless
BYOL (that would be Bring Your Own Laptop) - we'll have wireless access to the Internet (filtered) - we may test our capacity to handle density of machines, but hopefully things will go swimmingly. If not, we have wired machines in various places you can access.

Questions for Students
We're having a student panel discussion during lunch. Here's your chance to submit some questions for them to consider.

Invite Others
We strongly encourage you to invite other folks from your school, district, neighborhood, or learning network to attend as well. It would be great if everyone could bring at least one person with them that is perhaps new to this conversation.

Questions?
Feel free to leave a comment on this post or on the FAQ page on the wiki.

Oh, also feel free to add this image to your blog, or download and print the flyer.

Wikified Personal Philosophy Statements

Kristin Kakos's students are getting personal on a wiki:

One challenge that faces me each year is how to achieve cohesion between in-class activities, homework assignments, class discussions, creative projects, and essays (not to mention cohesion between units and semesters). With the guidance of the brilliant and charming Mike Porter, my students and I have discovered the glory of wikispaces.

In my American Literature classes, my students each formed a personal philosophy statement that will form the focus for the semester, and perhaps even for the year. Many of their philosophy statements explore the root of evil, the impetus for rebellion and/or obedience, the destructive force of fear, the significance of vulnerability, and other concepts that emerge from early American literature.

She links to four of her students' wikis that are partially completed, so you should visit her post and click through to the wikis. You can leave constructive comments on her post or on the discussion tabs of each wiki.

I really like this part of what Kristin writes,

I like using wikispaces because the technology doesn't get in the way; a wikispace is essentially a 21st century folder that allows for almost any type of media, emphasizes professionalism, encourages feedback, and lasts as long as you want it to, unlike a notebook that you clear out at the end of each semester. We'll keep coming back to the wikispaces throughout the semester and adding to them, and hopefully by the end of the semester they'll be able to look over their work and their ideas say, "THIS is the little piece of my soul that grew in American Literature," whether they focused on hope, goodness, evil, or any other personal topic that found its way out of a seemingly boring Puritan text.

The Encyclopedia Of Life

1. Watch this embedded video (4:00).




2. Consider watching this TED video of E.O. Wilson (22:35).

3. Take a look at the FAQ's for the Encyclopedia of Life. Here are a few:

What does Encyclopedia of Life seek to accomplish? What are its objectives?

Ultimately, the Encyclopedia will serve as an online reference source and database for every one of the 1.8 million species that are named and known on this planet, as well as all those later discovered and described. Encyclopedia of Life will be used as both a teaching and a learning tool, helping scientists, educators, students, and the community at large gain a better understanding of this planet and all who inhabit it.

What impact will this have on science? On society?

Encyclopedia of Life should be one of the most significant developments we have ever experienced in the life sciences. It can be a “macroscope” comparable in power for discerning patterns in large amounts of information just as the microscope is for zooming to the small. Just as the biotechnology industry has been built upon the existence of large genomic sequence databases (such as GenBank), Encyclopedia of Life will have an equally catalytic effect on comparative biology, ecology, and related fields. By harnessing the research, commitment, and hard work of scientists across the world, The Encyclopedia will serve as a truly global resource for information regarding life on this planet. Such a comprehensive resource of information has never been available to the scientific community or society at large before. It will provide society at large a tool unequaled in scope and convenience for policy makers, educators, and the general public.

Who is ultimately responsible for constructing the Encyclopedia of Life?

Encyclopedia of Life is a collaborative effort. Ultimately, the tens of thousands of people with expertise around the world and their predecessors are responsible. In terms of practical accountability, efforts are currently being headed by a steering committee of senior officers from Harvard University, Smithsonian Institution, Field Museum, Marine Biological Laboratory, Biodiversity Heritage Library consortium, Missouri Botanical Garden, and the MacArthur and Sloan Foundations. The Atlas of Living Australia is in the process of joining, and we look forward to more major partners from all regions during the next year. Numerous organizations have already contributed to the conceptualization and development of the Encyclopedia.

Who will do the writing?

Unlike conventional encyclopedias, where an editorial team sits down and writes the entries, the Encyclopedia will be developed by bringing together (“mashing up”) content from a wide variety of sources. This material will then be authenticated by scientists, so that users will have authoritative information. As we move forward, Encyclopedia of Life and its board will work with scientists across the globe, securing the involvement of those individuals and institutions that are established experts on each species.

How will you ensure information on this website stays current?

Encyclopedia of Life and its staff intend to work with leaders in the scientific community to ensure that all content is accurate and current. Each day, we learn more about the species with whom we share this planet. For the Encyclopedia to succeed, it must receive regular and continued contributions from the field – from scientists across the globe – to ensure it stays current. Advanced software tools are being developed to mine the scientific literature in order to provide regular updates. In addition, the scientific community will use Encyclopedia-developed tools in their own research endeavors; when they are ready, they can submit updates with the push of a button.

What are you doing to ensure functionality in different languages/cultures?

A primary goal is to ensure that the content on the Encyclopedia is available in a wide variety of languages, so it can be accessed and utilized in communities across the planet. This is a global resource, and the ever-evolving product will express that. The Encyclopedia will work with individuals and organizations around the globe to translate the content into local languages. Also, a great benefit of standard formats for web pages is that it makes them easier to understand. We put a premium on good visualization, so that even those who may not appreciate text can still extract a lot of information. Finally, we will design the content in ways that it can be accessed usefully on handheld devices as well as on desktop screens.

Is this just for the scientific community?

No. Encyclopedia of Life is being developed to serve as a comprehensive resource for everyone, scientist, teacher, student, media, any interested party. It will be developed in a wide range of languages. Once completed, we believe the Encyclopedia will be a valuable learning and teaching resource for anyone who has an interest in Earth’s species.

How will scientists use this?

As a reference library and as a macroscope. For decades now, scientists in the biological community have called for the establishment of a database similar to what the Encyclopedia will become. They have developed many partial encyclopedias, covering different plant or animal groups. But the Encyclopedia will be the first common resource where scientists across the globe can both access and share information on all species. Encyclopedia of Life will unite key scientific communities throughout the world, improving communication, information sharing, and collaboration. It will allow researchers to explore and perceive patterns too large or complex to have been studied effectively with our old tools.

How will students use this?

It will allow a student to browse all of nature. The site will provide students one common web location where they can learn about every species that has populated the planet Earth. This one-stop shopping unites mammal, bird, bug, plant, bacteria, etc. in one location, providing a clear understanding of how our ecosystem works and improving student learning. Students and educators will be provided with a wide variety of tools for using the information on the species pages as well as for feeding their own information back into the system. Wherever a species name occurs, there may also be a hyperlink to its page in the Encyclopedia. So if you read a name of a flower in a poem or about an insect affected by global warming, you will be able to get a species biography instantly.

How will the public at large use this?

It can be a handy field guide that people take with them on hikes on a personal digital assistant. It can tell you all the plants that might be found in your neighborhood. In recent years, we have witnessed the impact that a website like Wikipedia can have on humanity, providing a common location for information on all things great and small. Encyclopedia of Life has the potential to be a similar phenomenon, serving as a catalog, database, and learning tool about every organism that has ever lived on the planet. In the same way that dictionaries help literacy, the Encyclopedia can help biodiversity literacy.

What about Wikipedia?

Wikipedia inspired us. Wikipedia accumulated about 1.5 million entries in English in its first four years. That gave us confidence that our tasks are manageable with current technology and social behaviour, although the expert community in a lot of the subjects for pages in Encyclopedia of Life may be only a handful of people. Wikipedia has also created some species pages, as have other groups. Encyclopedia of Life will, we hope, unite all such efforts and increase their value. The Wikimedia Foundation is a member of the Encyclopedia’s Institutional Council.

4. Check out who's involved.

5. Think about how you - and your students - can use this (launches in 2008).

6. Think about how you - and your students - can contribute.

7. Think about what this - and other similar projects sure to follow - means for education. And for the world.

Seniors Paying It Forward

I know there are kids like this at every school, but I just wanted to note that Michele's students are stepping up:

Several students in my 3rd hour, have come up with a way to really affect a student's life in Littleton Public School District. They came to me wanting to host a Bingo night to raise money for a family in need. They wondered if I knew anyone that had a great financial need. I knew just the right student. My sister is a preschool teacher at Hopkins Elementary School, just 10 blocks down the road from Arapahoe, and she has a student that has a terminal illness. My sister contacted the parents, her principal, and we got the ok (plus many happy tears) to move forward with our fundraising efforts. They understand that this is still in the preliminary stages, but that they would love to have the community support and love for their little girl.

Read more on the planning wiki.

I just get so tired of the constant bashing of teenagers (and, yes, I've done it myself once or twice). When given the chance, they almost always rise to the occasion.

Global Collaboration: 1001 Flat World Tales Project

Michele has a couple of posts where she describes the initial steps in a global collaboration between her class and classes in Korea, Canada and China (so far). The idea originated with Clay Burell, who teaches at the Korea International School in Seoul, South Korea.

Clay's idea is to have students read portions of the Arabian Nights and have them then write stories about their culture, their lives, starting with truth and bleeding into fiction. The premise is a frame story (an alien has landed and you've been asked to explain our world). Students will create a Thousand and One Flat World Tales, a storybook online...students of all grades, from around the world. We'll focus on 6+1 traits, fiction techniques, and hopefully our students will see a common thread between all the stories. Maybe they'll have a bigger perspective of the world (sometimes hard to create at age 13 & 14) and leave English 9 a little more focused on their dreams, their future.

Check out the wiki that Clay has set up, and also take a look at the FAQ page. This is just getting started, so only Clay's students have any stories up yet. But this is an ongoing project (K-12 so far, any college folks want to jump in?), so contact Clay if you'd like to join.

Communication so far has been via e-mail, skype, and the discussion pages on the wiki.

I just got my account on Skype and tried out the instant messenging this morning. It was 6:45 am here and 10:45 pm in Korea. Clay Burell (http://burell.blogspot.com/) and I traded ideas, asked questions and held a free, international conversation all 15 minutes before my English Lit class started. The world has just gotten flatter in my little world.

When the stories are "finished," they will then be published on student blogs (linked from the wiki). Clay has coined the term "blook":

We gave the name blook to the idea of a new type of publication, never possible in the history of reading and writing until the invention of wikis and blogs: a "book" of short stories that is published on inter-linking student blogs. A blook.

The official list of published students will be maintained on this wiki. Whenever students officially select (and teachers perhaps agree?) a student's story for publication on the 1001 Fllat World Tales blook, the story and writer will be "promoted" from the wiki to the student's blog.

Each additional story will be added to the blook's Table of Contents on this wiki, and linked to each additional student's blog.

Readers of the blook will thus read each story on its own writer's blog, and click the hyperlink to the next successful student writer's blog, on and on. Think of the benefits of an ever-growing world audience for these students on their blogs. (And yes, we have security guidelines and advice!)

Our goal is to match--then surpass--the original 1001 tales with "1001+" of our own!

So, how did all this get started? Clay started blogging (okay, prolifically blogging - I don't think Clay sleeps much). He read The Fischbowl and linked to a couple of items. The links came into my RSS aggregator so I checked out his blog and commented. He posted the 1001 Tales idea on his blog and I commented. I shared some ideas via email (and in person) with my language arts and social studies teachers. Michele jumped in with both feet. I also have three social studies teachers that are discussing with Clay ideas for how they can work together. The most promising idea so far is taking a look at the Cold War - from the American and the Korean perspective, and specifically spending some time looking at the Korean "Conflict".

Umm, somebody explain to me again why we can't do this?

Image Citation: The Arabian Nights, originally uploaded by Shenghung Lin.