One year ago I asked my network to complete a survey on Personal Learning Network. The survey was used in a series of presentations and to build my PLN Yourself website. Being a year later I’m wondering how much has changes?  Are we using different tools to connect?  Are the tools we would recommend to new people different? Can you help in the following ways: Can you please complete my new Personal Learning Networks Survey? There are only 2 questions Can you promote my Personal Learning Networks Survey to your network using a range of tools? For example blog post, twitter, plurk, Facebook so responses aren’t biased by promotion by one tool or one individual If you do promote this survey can you please link to this post by creating a pingback and/or leaving a comment?  So I have a record of all the different ways in which this latest survey has been promoted? And if you’re enjoying this blog, please consider Subscribing for free!

Yes I know unusual post but I wrote this post when I went away on holidays — now I’m updating with more current information because people still refer to it for assistance But the problem is every day I receive requests for assistance via my personal email account, work email account, Twitter, IM, comments on blog posts etc. So here’s the different ways you can get help: Step 1: Read through the Frequently Asked Questions - this provides quick and clear answers to some of the most common questions we’re asked in Edublogs Support. Step 2:  Read through the Edublogs User Guide on Edublogs Help and Support site Step 3: See if the answer is on The Edublogger Step 4: Ask for help in the Edublogs Forum Step 5: Leave a comment on one of The Edublogger posts - the comment feed is monitor by others while I’m away Step 6: Send a tweet - @edublogs or @suewaters And if you’re enjoying this blog, please consider Subscribing for free!

There’s always a shiny new toy- and with it the stampede to use. Yes that was also me once too   Nowadays I’ve learnt very slow, steady saves time and my sanity. So I’m incredibly proud of the fact that I’ve never watched ANY Google Wave videos, read ANY tutorials and avoided every invite until I stumbled across a reason for investigating. My motivation was I discovered you can set up public waves that any one can join. I decided this was a good way for me and other educators to learn how to use Wave, by working together with each other, while also seeing how Wave might be used for personal learning (and with student). Joining a Public Wave We’ve called our public wave eduwave. Joining  it is as easy as: Search for Eduwave by typing with:public Eduwave into search and then hit Enter. Now all you need to do is click Follow once you’ve found Eduwave to start following it. Feel free to add your own replies to the wave, test different features and send me a tweet (@suewaters) if you want me to log in and join you. Off course I’m proud of the fact that my friends taught me quickly how to use Wave. Creating a Public Wave Big thanks to Rob Wall for quickly locating the information I needed to create the public wave. All you need to do is: Add public@a.gwave.com to your contacts lists by clicking on Add new Contact, enter the email address public@a.gwave.com and then click Enter It should add Public to your Contact list Now hover your mouse over Public’s avatar and select new wave Now anyone in Google Wave can search and add themselves to your public wave. FINAL THOUGHTS Please share your thoughts on Google Wave. Your like(s), Dislike(s), What’s cool? Your tips… and links to any tutorials that I should have read And if you’re enjoying this blog, please consider Subscribing for free!

This is a tough one, which Larry hinted at here… But I think it is important to take the time to thank those who nominated me and my different websites (Sue Waters Blog, The Edublogger and PLN Yourself) in several categories of the 2009 Edublogs Awards. Thanks Sue Wyatt, Jan Smith, Lesley Edwards, Burcu Akyol, Mike Sansone, David Truss, Gail Desler, Rliberni, Darcy Moore, and Shelly Terrell. I’m honored to have been nominated by you all (and apologies if I’ve missed anyone from the list — please let me know if I did as it defnitely isn’t deliberate!) As Larry Ferlazzo says: ‘the really important thing about these awards is that they provide an opportunity for everybody to learn about great blogs and other resources out there that can be helpful to our teaching’. So take the time to check out the 2009 Edublogs Awards — because it’s a great way to discover cool ways of using social media in an educational context! PS Please tell me about some of the cool ideas (and/or sites) you find when checking through the Edublogs Awards nominations!

I’m currently enjoying a leisurely few days family holiday visiting my friend. Obviously I forgot to tell her dog I’m definitely NOT a dog person!  And balancing a MacBook and dog on lap while working on an iPhone isn’t easy Send back the cat! Hope you’re all having a great holiday break and here’s looking forward to an exciting 2010!

It’s amazing how a blast from the past can be such a powerful reminder! I created Animoto video below over 2 years ago! It was unusual because as I said in the description: Had to push the boundaries of using Animoto by adding words and voice. Not because it was a good idea, it probably wasn’t, but the challenge was there so had to try! Today David N. left me the timely reminder in a comment: Happy to say I continue to push those boundaries and are learning new things every day. My motto- The only bad ideas are never trying or giving up too quickly Since Animoto allows you to upload your own music I quickly recorded some audio (using Audacity) and uploaded it to put with my video. And here’s the video for a chuckle Oops and apologies in advance as I may have said bad words like ‘this might be crap’ when talking. Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com. And if you’re enjoying this blog, please consider Subscribing for free!

Any takers? I’ve had enough of the work involved with dealing with spammers on Ning sites. So decided to reduce the workload by getting rid of eTools and Tips for Educators. It’s a cool name and URL - http://etools.ning.com/ If Ning is like blog sites once a URL has been deleted no-one including the original user can create the site again with that URL. Let me know if you would like to take it over (and use how you want) otherwise I’m deleting in 48 hours. PS  Unlike my husband who I’ve tried to give away (occasionally) it doesn’t come with an inbuilt snore Image by Mubblegum licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike And if you’re enjoying this blog, please consider Subscribing for free!

There’s always a story behind what inspires bloggers to write specific posts. Unfortunately we aren’t always able to include that aspect in our posts Maybe it is me?  But often the story behind the post is just as intriguing and fascinating as the post. So I thought you might be interested in the story behind A Twitteraholic’s Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter? The Inspiration Being at a large conference like ISTE, where you have over 13,000 people attending,  reminded me of how much my life has changed as a result of using twitter. Life before Twitter at a conference was like the first day at a new school — really lonely, isolating experience and take days to connect with others. While life with Twitter at a conference is like walking into a big party where you know everyone and are meeting up with old friends.   And it’s probably even harder to understand for those that don’t use twitter (or only use it a bit) but often we haven’t even connected with each other online before the conference. But Twitter brings us together — regardless of whether we’ve already built a relationship online.  And the time we spend together face-to-face enhances our online relationships so the next time we meet up its even better! Connecting with others was as simple as sending tweets like ‘Who wants to go out for dinner #iste10′, ‘Who wants to go out for breakfast — I’m hungry #iste10′, ‘Where is everyone? #iste10′ or monitoring the hashtag #iste10 to find out what was happening. What other technology really allows you to connect with some many people so quickly? And That line… Off course there is often stories behind specific lines within a post. My two favorite line in A Twitteraholic’s Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter? are: "Twitter is for people with too much time on their hands" "using it like a big teachers lunch room that’s open 24/7″ The "Twitter is for people with too much time on their hands" has the best story Here’s how it goes….. The day I flew out to USA I crashed my car — managing to break the suspension underneath my car and damage my left hand. Unfortunately due to travel commitments I couldn’t get my hand x-rayed until I returned home 3 1/2 weeks later.  So while it was being x-rayed I tried to explain why there had been a delay in getting it done due to traveling as part of my work. Explaining what it meant to support a blogging company wasn’t working — so I tried the opposite approach by saying blogging is sort of like Twitter since most people have heard of twitter. That’s when he replied "Twitter is for people with too much time on their hands" — we’ve all had others say exactly that to us.  For me it was we have to that line in the post because too often that is exactly what people think and say to us! And since I had managed to break my hand in the car crash I can confirm true crazy Twitteraholics don’t let things like a broken hand get in our way of tweeting or writing blog posts. Here’s the x-ray and my story remains that the concrete pillar was driving on the wrong side of the road! And back to "using it like a big teachers lunch room that’s open 24/7″ — someone on tweeted that on Twitter during the time I was writing the post.  Thanks whoever tweeted it! Final Thoughts Hope my story has added more meaning to my A Twitteraholic’s Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter? post and makes it as memorable for you as it was for me — especially considering it was written over at least week and from two countries at opposite sides of the World. And would love to hear the stories behind what inspired you to write your different posts! And if you’re enjoying this blog, please consider Subscribing for free!

Feel like helping out? Some background I"m presenting at The Reform Symposium, a 48 hour free e-conference that begins Friday, July 30th at 2pm PDT (LA Time) and ends Sunday, August 1st at 2:30pm PDT (LA Time). You’ll find details for my presentation and how to join here! But I’ve decided to be different.  Rather than me choose the topic of my presentation.  We’ve invited people to suggest topics (and titles). I’ve now condensed topic suggestions — all we now need to do is finalise the choice. Submit your vote So here’s your chance!  What would you like me to present on? Can you please vote by choosing your preferred topic from the poll?  And tell all your friends to vote quickly too. For those wondering: ‘Blogging for teachers" is tips and advice for teachers on blogging for personal and professional reflection "Managing workflow" is how to effectively use tools like gmail, Google Docs, gtalk, Google Reader, Google Calendar etc to colloborate with others and manage your work Voting has closed and the results are: Final thoughts Thanks for helping me out! And off course — with limited time to organise. Would love it if you should share your thoughts (for any of the topics) on: What you would like to know? What you think I need to cover? And if you’re enjoying this blog, please consider Subscribing for free!

Life’s been a bit tougher the past 12+ months which is why there’s been less of Sue around than previously. And off course, during the same period I’ve also been a bit accident prone so some of my friends, who have been there when I’ve needed them, have decided it’s time for a smile and laugh. So as a bit of harmless fun they’ve created the Sue Waters’s Injury Sweepstake. I’ve been lead to believe if I make it to 30 Sept, 2011 without an injury I win the prize of REAL chocolate As Phil say’s it all started from his gentle teasing of me being prone to accidents and perhaps we should run a sweepstake on it. Considering I’ve injured myself three times in the past 12 months — there might be some truth in being accident prone. History of accidents are: April 2010 - Grade 2 tear of calf muscle in right leg trying to change the tyre (tire) on my car while on holidays July 201 0- drove car into a concrete pole in a car park breaking fourth metacarpal of my left hand Feb 2011 - fell over when car stuck behind boon gate in public car park damaging ligaments in left foot ‘ But am I really accident prone? My accidents were annoying, and let’s be honest, quite funny. But evidence suggests that others are like me In the same time period my sisters both injured themselves (walking): Aug 2010 - middle sister badly fractured left ankle Dec 2011 - oldest sister broke her left arm/wrist and shattered right shoulder ball joint Placing your bets So for a bit of a chuckle, and fun, check out the current suggestions of how I might next injury myself, when and the cause of the accident.  There are some really funny suggestions. And off course, while there add your own suggestions to the Sue Waters’s Injury Sweepstake. Wish Phil had made it so my children couldn’t enter  They’ve been plotting how they could rig it