Jen Williams is a former Director of Education, program Literacy Specialist, and district Speech-Language Pathologist who is a co-founder and lead program developer for Calliope Global.   Follow Jen Williams   This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   HelpHub.me   Audible.com   House of #EdTech Recommendation: Bingo Baker   House of #EdTech VIP: Barry Saide   Complete shownotes at: http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/09/the-importance-of-global-education-with-jen-williams.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Meghan Davis is a former event coordinator turned entrepreneur. She, with sister Melissa, is the co-founder of GoEnnounce which is engaging the students of today to be the leaders of tomorrow.   Follow Meghan Davis   This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   HelpHub.me   Audible.com   Complete shownotes at: http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/10/creating-positive-digital-footprints.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Matt Miller is a high school Spanish teacher and the author of the highly acclaimed book Ditch That Textbook and founder of the website DitchThatTextbook.com. (19:26)   Follow @jmattmiller   This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   HelpHub.me   Audible.com   EdTech Thought: Jill Dobrowansky reflects on Edscape 2015 (5:02)   Recommendation: Overcast Podcast App (14:26)   House of #EdTech VIP: Glenn Robinson (49:40)   Complete shownotes at: http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/10/ditch-that-textbook-with-matt-miller.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Dani Kennis (17:15)   Black Canary from the #EdJusticeLeague, shares her passion and exudes endless energy about her profession. Dani creates a blended classroom that incorporates the use of Google Apps for Education among other tools. She is passionate about student-driven creations in which learning extends beyond the six hour school day as well as beyond the four walls of her classroom. She enjoys presenting and attending at local and national Ed Tech conferences.   Follow @kennisdani   #EdTech Thought - Experience Art and Post Modern Jukebox (4:10)   #EdTech Recommendation - Bloomz (14:28)   House of #EdTech VIP - Jessica Raleigh (39:50)   This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   Complete shownotes at: http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/11/edtech-energy-and-fun-with-dani-kennis.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

LaVonna Roth has influenced over 25,000 educators, students and organizations with down-to-earth strategies and insights to the most common and frustrating educational, behavioral issues. LaVonna is also the inspiration behind Ignite Your S.H.I.N.E.   Follow LaVonna Roth   This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   (6:16) #EdTech Thought - The Value of EdCamp   (21:15) #EdTech Recommendation - Appear.in   (24:40) LaVonna Roth talks Ignite Your S.H.I.N.E.   (49:57) House of #EdTech VIP - Ross Cooper   Complete shownotes at: http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/11/ignite-your-shine-with-lavonna-roth.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Natalie Krayenvenger is 4th grade teacher from Maryland and the co-moderator of #EDbeat, a weekly inspirational Twitter chat that welcomes all educators and celebrates the positive in education.   Follow Natalie Krayenvenger   This episode of House of #EdTech is sponsored by:   Audible.com   Domain.com   Listeners Like You! Become a Patron...   (5:32) #EdTech Thought - No More WiFi In Schools?   (7:52) #EdTech Recommendation - Voxer for the Web   (9:56) Interview with Natalie Krayenvenger   (40:40) House of #EdTech VIP - Lauren Thomas-Paquin   Complete shownotes: http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/12/edbeat-with-natalie-krayenvenger.html   -- FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: mrnesi Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: @mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Last week I went to one of Jisc’s ‘Connect more’ events where, amongst other things, I tried to get back into the swing of networking (I turn into Alan Partridge when having to make professional small talk ) and delivered a short presentation looking at good, not so good and downright dreadful examples of elearning content development. I’m not going to spend time here talking about it, but you can see the presentation in all its glory by clicking here. On the way to the event, an invite to a group called FOS on Google+ from a peer piqued my interest, so at the end of the day, and feeling buoyed from a very enjoyable event, I logged into Google+ for the first time in months. It turns out that the invitation was not just for a group, but for a MOOC-or, as the course designers described it- an open learning event for professionals who teach in higher education.  Whatever the title, it was an intense but exhilirating 5 day experience. Rules of participation were simple: drop in and out and complete as many activities as you want to. Participants were encouraged to set up an ePortfolio using any platform or format they wanted and to share their work with peers  Separate conversation threads were set up on Google+ and as a result, concepts and discussions never crossed streams or became difficult to navigate. Facilitating the course were Chrissi Nerantzi and Sue Beckingham from Manchester Metropolitan and Sheffield Hallam Universities respectively. Here’s their presentation giving a clear overview of the course and its methodology: Activities, chat rooms and posts to social networks were easy enough to manage, but much tougher to navigate were the Twitter showers held every evening. The format was simple enough: a recommended reading was uploaded to WordPress and participants invited to ask, and in turn offer answers based around the theme of each reading. Log in from the start and these frenetic tweet downpours (‘shower’ suggests an altogether more sedate experience) were manageable, though, like the head of a hydra, by the time I had sent a tweet response to one question, three more questions had been asked by other participants. Taking a more casual approach and dipping in and out of showers made the flow of conversation impossible to follow. Without TweetDeck or Storify to hand to manage everything (I was in the living room with an iPad.  That sounds like the denoument of a game of Cluedo.  I can confidently state her that I did not kill anyone), tweets were arriving quicker than I could read them.  A few participants admitted on Goggle+ that they had stood on the sidelines during these Tweet downpours and felt that everything was perhaps a bit too fast-paced and in turn, intimidating, for them to be able to contribute.  So how to fix the one element of the course that maybe didn’t work as well as the rest? Had the hour long sessions been split into 3 or 4 segments, with one question posed at the start of each segment, everything would have felt more coherent and cohesive. Instead, there developed a community of people answering one another’s questions, posing alternative viewpoints and offering links to further information but at such a speed there was no time for ideas or knowledge to germinate or develop. To a casual observer, these splintering threads - hard enough to keep up with if concentrating from the start - became impossible to dip into. Now, this all sounds a bit negative.  I really did enjoy the course - and am going to do my best to complete the 3.5 out of 5 activities that I didn’t have the time or energy to get to.  (I believe I have until September to do these). As the Tweet pasted on Sue and Chrissie’s first slide says: "Enjoying #FOS4L and how a bunch of people, most of whom have never met, just get down to serious fun and learning with no fuss or nonsense." The experience was exhilirating and fun, all participants were very supportive of one another, and the readings that were uploaded to the FOS site relevant, clearly written and, in the case of Napier University’s ‘Benchmark for the use of Technology in Modules’ document, about to be stolen by me for use in my institution. Should FOS run again, I would say to any interested party (and will be telling my staff) to log in and have a go.  However, I’d also suggest the format of those Twitter Showers should be tweaked a little before that.

Last week I discovered the ‘Blimage Challenge’ (BLog IMAGE) which came about when Amy Burvall challenged Steve Wheeler to create a learning-related blog post based on one of her own hand-drawn images. Since then, many images and blog posts have been exchanged via blogs and Twitter. A list #blimage bloggers and their posts can be found on Steve’s blog here. Keen to get involved, I logged into Twitter and asked for an image of my very own from which I could write a post.  Both Steve and David Hopkins sent images, and now that I’ve dried myself off after two days in sodden Pembrokeshire without an internet connection, I’ve had time to think about both images. I’m starting with Steve’s - a photo he took in Piccadilly Circus - as it had immediate resonance.  Here’s Steve’s photo: Two things struck me almost immediately: the tonal shift from those eye-watering colours running along the top of the picture and the way everything gets a lot darker in the middle. Then the fact that while that colourful upper band was screaming ‘look at this everybody! Look at the shiny shiny!’, the sodden, black figures beneath trudged onwards, faces determined to not look up, all in their own little bubble. ‘It’s been raining for God’s sake. I want to go home.’ There are still a great many people who work in education who, when offered the chance to look at the ‘shiny shiny’ - to see what technology can do to assist, interest and engage - put their metaphorical umbrellas up and their (actual) shoulders down. Teachers, administrators, managers, lecturers, head teachers, teaching assistants…some embarrassed by their lack of knowledge, some ashamed, some oddly proud (in the same way many people take pride in their inability to do maths), and - frustratingly - some just completely apathetic. I wish I knew how to get all of these people to look up. If asked, many of them would, undoubtedly, look for a second or two, remain unimpressed, then return to the rain soaked pavement, still intent on getting home. Now and again though, a few would gaze upwards, grin and stop for a while, suddenly interested in this colourful new world. And they are the reason I love my job. It’s all about paying it forward - so if anyone would like to have a go at writing their own #blimage post, here’s an image that you can use. It’s a photo that I took at the National Botanical Gardens of Wales a couple of weeks ago, so please feel free to share.

This is my second #blimage post, and a much trickier one to write. David Hopkins sent me the image you see on the left, and on seeing it, my immediate thoughts went something like this: ‘Ah yes, it symbolises the way IT Service departments in a lot of institutions can be shark-like. They can be seen as a threat that may be hidden below the surface, but likely to appear and bite you on the arse if you dare to steer what you are doing in a direction not in line with their world view.’ However, instead of banging my fist on a metaphorical table, I realised that instead, I felt like a gentle walk down Memory Lane. So after a bit of bathtub-based contemplation, I got to thinking this: When I was 4 I was obsessed with Lego. I remember owning buckets full of the stuff but one thing I remember with proper clarity is sitting in a holiday apartment in Spain with my dad and a brand new Lego windmill set. Together we built, brick by brick, a perfect representation of the huge red and brown windmill on the front of the box. My dad would read the instructions, describe the bricks needed to complete a section, and I would dutifully find the required bricks and snap them together according to dad’s verbal instructions and the photo on the box. We’d do this for 10 minutes or so, then swap roles. Together we built the mighty windmill, forgetting that despite going to Spain for a summer’s holiday, we were stuck indoors in the pouring rain. We learned how to build that windmill together. Proper ‘learning by doing’ and constructivist learning in its most literal sense. But in working to build it together, I was able to practise my communication and reading skills, hone my fine motor skills, work on a whole heap of mathematical skills and - vitally -  have such a good time that I still remember something I did 40 years ago with such clarity that it could have been yesterday. Three cheers for plastic sharks! If you want to know what the blimmin’ heck #blimage is, take a look at Steve Wheeler’s blog post here #blimage on Flipboard here and a #blimage board on Pinterest here.

By Real Change [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsAfter two negative posts I vowed to write a positive one. This week it's easy. We concluded our semester long professional development course on new literacies integration. As each teacher shared it was clear that we have all changed.I have to admit that taking this new path was not easy. Laurie (Friedrich) and I had constant discussions about setting clear expectations and providing support. We rejected a notion of formal point by point grading. Instead we embraced an atmosphere of acceptance and support. We were absolutely right, every participant in the class emerged as a true professional and found ways to surpass our expectations (and I am quite sure their own). In an era when teachers are devalued and de-professionalized our humble experiment showed (once again) that treating individuals with trust and professionalism leads to exceptional professional growth.This group of teachers have put their trust in us and Laurie Friedrich and I did our best not to fail them as a group. This PD was not about grades or reaching some arbitrary standard, instead it was about each professional identifying a goal and working towards it. To be honest I think everyone, myself included, achieved more than we originally planned. Here are some excerpts from our teachers' blogs:"Even though this class has only lasted a semester, I have learned a tremendous amount. I have pushed myself to try new things and through this process have found incorporating technology into my lessons as simple, fun, and best of all… engaging for my students! ""I've learned to be a little more patient as I try to integrate technology into the curriculum. I'm still working to be OK with the "messiness" that comes with using new technology for the first time. No matter how much I prepare and try to anticipate glitches, new issues arise when we use an app or website for the first time. I can't let that stop me from trying new ways to enhance learning via technology.""As I reflect over the course of the semester, I realized I have integrated more technology into my teaching than I ever have before. I now feel more comfortable trying out new technology resources with my students. Previously, I was too scared that the lesson would be a total flop or that my students would know more about computers than I do. As it turns out, I am knowledgeable, capable, and confident in teaching my students skills with the use of technology."We included in the class graduate students who were not currently teaching. These students with varied classroom experience stepped into the breach and supported classroom teachers as they worked to integrate new literacies into the classroom. Carly is a graduate of our program who will get her first classroom next year wrote:"This semester I learned so much about how I can integrate technology into a classroom. As I start my first teaching job in August in a third grade classroom, I am very eager to take many of the activities/ideas and the knowledge I learned and use them in my own classroom! I was very fortunate to be able to work with many great teachers this semester that have prepared me and shared many great things I can do in my classroom. I am very thankful for the teachers who invited me into their classrooms for me to observe and help out with the technology aspect of their lesson. From these opportunities, I gained confidence as a new educator."