LISTEN to MIGUELWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)1- CONNECT WITH @MGUHLIN "This is @mguhlin on Twitter, Instagram and Google+. I can’t wait to CONNECT with great educators at the upcoming Convention. Be sure to follow #TCEA2016!"See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Dr. Roland Rios (@drrios) did a phenomenal job setting up the Voxer in the ELL Classroom workshop! As you'll hear in this podcast I recorded while assisting the Doctor (grin), I had the good fortune to introduce him to Voxer, and then he ran with it to be ready for a last-minute Voxer in the ELL Classroom workshop at the ELL Academy held at the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) 2016 State Conference!Listen to Dr. Roland Rios and Miguel Guhlin(Length: 22megs; about 1 hour listening time)Also, at the end of the session, participants had the opportunity to share how they would be using Voxer in THEIR classrooms or in their sphere of influence. Here are what some of them said:Listen to Participants' Idea for Voxer UseBy the way, if you're at TCEA on Tuesday, February 2nd, please drop by Miguel's session on When Email Fails! You can find his resources online at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16View Slideshow:Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

"Every day learning and sharing," I observed one evening to myself (yes, I was talking to myself! Doesn't everyone over 45 do that?), "has sure gotten easier!" I quickly ran over the catalog of phenomenal tools for everyday learning and sharing that I've encountered in just a short time!Listen to Podcast(not yet available)1) Telegram - If you haven't seen this WhatsApp-like app that is available for free, provides end to end encryption for private chats, and group chats that can include up to 200+ members, and works on every modern mobile device (e.g. Android, iOS, Windows, your computer's browser) available, then you're missing out! It seemed like the natural tool for a school district to turn to when the internet went down. And, since everyone seems to be equipped with a mobile device that has it's own internet, I'm not surprised that it's taken hold.2) Voxer - Looking for an easy way to make curricular connections, as well as faciliate audio/text/video-based professional learning? Then look no further than Voxer. While Periscope is a wonderful just-in-time video app, you can't beat Voxer for how easy it is to create a "chat" which is just another moniker for "community of learners" who can share information. In my mind, it combines the best of social media tools like Twitter and Plurk with Periscope, enabling fantastic connections.3) Blab.im - Another neat way to connect with others includes Blam.im--available on your iOS or Android device--and facilitate video chats that can be easily recorded and saved. What's more, some are using them in lieu of Google Hangouts and other tools as ways to instantly connect with others at a scheduled time.4) Flipboard - If you haven't encountered Flipboard, it's a great way to curate content and share it with an audience. You can have multiple ezine contributors/editors, and they can view content available online via RSS feeds, news and media, as well as Twitter. All of this great content combines in a portable, mobile electronic magazine ("ezine") that is quite convenient to have access to.What app are you taking advantage of to facilitate every learning and sharing in your environment?On Tuesday, February 2nd, at 10:00am, several of us will have a chance to share some alternative solutions that we use when network/internet fails, including Telegram and Voxer. I hope you'll join us at TCEA16 ! If you can't, just check back here for a podcast of the presentation, as well as links below:Everyday learning and sharing opportunities abound with social media, PLNs, and just-in-time communication apps. In this panel presentation, you'll hear from campus and district staff who have embraced social media as alternative ways to support their staff, communicate effectively, and scaffold learning and sharing for all. Getting the app is easy, changing human habits hard. Listen to how these leaders have helped transform their practice and that of their campus teams.  Open Google PresentationApps You Can Use to Facilitate CommunicationTelegram - View Tutorial for School DistrictVoxer - Using Voxer to Streamline School Communicationsvia Edutopia. An excerpt:Voxer is described as a free app that combines the best of voice, text, and photo messages into a high-tech walkie-talkie, creating a powerful, modern, personal and team messaging tool.Remind - Remind for School CommunicationsOther Communication ToolsToolCostUseAdvantageFacebookFreeSeguin ISD: District, departments, campuses and classrooms use to share events, links, videos, news.New Braunfels ISD, Comal ISD(Campus News)Ease of use, variety of media, patron proximity (It’s where they already are.)TwitterFreeNew Braunfels ISD- district newsSeguin ISD--districts news, some teachers/programsManor ISD- External communication and Internal celebrations; Monthly Twitter Chat (3rd Tuesday, #ManorISD) for teacher PD credit. Del Valle ISD - district account (district announcements, events, etc.), Instructional Tech dept account (tech news, training announcements, etc.)Comal ISD(district and campus announcements)Easy, many already use Twitter, searchable.SchoolwayFreeFree, push notification, scalableEdlio$6000Navarro ISDpost on website and Tweet at the same timeSchool MessengerDel Valle ISDLiberty Hill ISDRound Rock ISDSeguinNew Braunfels ISDcall, email, tweet, and post to site at the same timeYour VoiceFreeGoogle SitesFreeshare with everyoneRound Rock ISDnot limited by platformGoogle CommunitiesFreeRRISD:  Multiple communities that have become the basis for learning community chatter and sharingManor ISD- Leadership Team and Novice teacher programmust be a GAFE district, but is easy to use and attractiveRemind.comFreeSeguin: Teachers, coaches use to send reminders, news, etc.Comal ISD: Used in the high schoolsK12 Alerts$3000Navarro ISD text, email, and voice messagingCall, email, tweet and at the same timeWordpress?RRISD: Transitioning all sites above teacher sites to a robust WordpressComal ISD: many teachers have transitioned to Wordpress from IWeb. Can populate content across multiple sites and our Comm dept can control style and improve info flow.ZoomGoogle HangoutFreeManor ISD-Video Conferencing Zoom is part of ESC 13 serviceshttps://www.zoom.us/ Face to face conferencing across district without rushing around to meetings.Google HangoutFreeTelegram AppFreeThis app can be loaded on staff phones (iOS/Android/Win) and can run parallel to District network when Voice/Internet communications are out.Here is a brief tutorial of how ECISD uses it - tinyurl.com/ectelegrams ParentLink AppCost $$$Enables an app to be share info with parents, students, etc. that is flowing from RSS feeds across district. Loads specific calendars, etc.ParentLink also provides for a phone/SMS text messaging system for contacting parents. Develop a Strong School District Communication Strategy- http://goo.gl/5RFK07 Inform...Listen...Engage- http://goo.gl/FXLaj2 Dunlap Community Unit School Communication Plan- http://goo.gl/0ze0ll Round Rock ISD Communications- https://roundrockisd.org/departments/community-relations/communications/Georgetown ISD Communications- http://www.georgetownisd.org/Page/331 Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

LISTEN to MiguelWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)FUN FIND - VOXER | LISTENThis is Miguel Guhlin on TCEA Radio with a favorite app pick. Want to participate in fantastic conversations with global educators? Get the Voxer app and join teachers, principals and superintendents who are sharing their learning as it happens via Voxer Chats. Find out more online at the TCEA Radio Shares page at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16  Find out more at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16 . And, for goodness sake, don’t forget to follow the #TCEA16 hashtag to become a connected educator!You can also check out New Teachers to Voxer (check out their blog), which features great tutorials and provides for a Voxer "sandbox" to learn in, as well as #tecsigchat for Texas educators learning and sharing at the intersection of teaching, learning and leading with technology!See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

LISTEN to MiguelWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)AUDIO RECORDING | LISTEN"This is Miguel Guhlin on TCEA Radio. Attending TCEA and can’t take notes fast enough? Ran into an old colleague who’s sharing wisdom about a topic you just have to remember for the week after TCEA? Ask the session presenter or your friend if you can audio record her! You can use these two free apps to quickly record audio--for audio notes, a podcast, whatever. On iOS, use the free Voice Record Pro app and on Android, use HiQ MP3 Recorder or Voice Recorder (free). All feature easy saving to Dropbox and other cloud storage locations. Chromebook users can rely on MicNote for short 2 minute recordings or upgrade for $20.  Find out more at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16   and #TCEA16 is the hashtag to follow if you want to listen in on my recordings!See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

LISTEN to MiguelWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)SCAN PAPER TO PDF | LISTEN"This is Miguel Guhlin on TCEA Radio! Don’t want to carry all those great handouts from presenters and exhibit hall solution providers? Then don’t! Get the one of these apps for easy scanning of paper documents, save them to Dropbox or GoogleDrive! My favorites scanning apps for iOS include the cheap $.99 iScanner, Readdle’s Scanner Pro ($2.99). For Android, try CamScanner. Share what you can scan via a blog, Dropbox or Google Drive and add the hashtag #TCEA16 ! Find out more at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16 See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Listen to MiguelWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)Identity Crisis PreConference Promo | Listen"Are your end users juggling too many logins and passwords to various systems? If that's the case, you may have a problem with account management, also known as identity management! This is Miguel Guhlin in TCEA Area 20! You can find me online @mguhlin via Twitter and/or Voxer. In this segment, we'll be having a quick conversation with Virgil Kirk, Systems Interface Specialist and Identity Management Guru for the East Central Independent School District. You can find him online via Twitter @virgilkirk. In his session, Identity Crisis: Managing User Accounts, he shares several solutions to a problem districts across the Nation are facing as they go digital with...well, everything!1. For our listening audience, Virgil, tell us about what you are here at TCEA 2016 to share.2. If there was ONE take-away you wanted participants to get from your session, what would it be?You can find more about Virgil Kirk's presentation online at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16. And, of course, be sure to follow the #TCEA16 hashtag!See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

LISTEN to MiguelWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)SHARE CONTENT EASILY WITH READDLE DOCUMENTS | LISTEN"This is Miguel Guhlin on TCEA Radio!  Are you a classroom teacher that needs to quickly share content with your students from your iPad or iPhone? Maybe you need Readdle Documents, a free, no cost file manager solution! This versatile, all-in-one solution provides ebook compatibility, the ability to access GoogleDrive, Dropbox, set your iOS device up as a server for easy access from your computer or other mobile devices, a music player and ebook reader! It is a must-have app for iOS users! Once you start using it, you’ll wonder how you lived without it and stop spending money on other apps! You can find more information out at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16 Be sure to follow #TCEA16 hashtag to learn more!See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

LISTEN to MiguelWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)DON'T BE A VICTIM! | LISTEN"This is Miguel Guhlin on TCEA Radio! Have you been the victim of a phishing scam or identity theft? Then, you definitely need to attend my session at TCEA 2016 on Thursday, February 4 at 3:45pm. We’ll explore 5 key areas you need to be aware of as an educator, not to mention a human being in today’s hyper-connected world and I will share some tips on protecting yourself. Find more resources for this session online at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16 and be sure to find out more by following #TCEA16 hashtag."See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

LISTEN to MiguelWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)Top Chromebook Apps | LISTEN"Are you a Chromebook user like I am? This is Miguel Guhlin with a few of my favorite Chrome must-have apps! This will be a quick run-down, so grab your digital note-taking app and let's get started! It's pretty amazing when you consider what can be done on a Chromebook and how easy and flexible it is. What fun to revisit my favorite apps, as well as discover some on Chromebook or for Chrome browser, that can be used. For email, use the CloudMagic chrome app. I use it on all my mobile devices and love the simple interface! Want to protect those confidential files on your Chromebook? Use MiniLock for file encryption and safeguard your logins and passwords using Keepass.info and BrowsePass Chrome add-on. Want your students to create audio notes or podcasts? Use MicNote; the Free version records 2 mins but Pro version for $4.99 records for 2 hours with unlimited notes/recordings. Want to create slideshows and videos? Try Google Slides, Haiku Deck web, the incomparable Explain Everything and/or WeVideo. Screencastify (makes HTML5/webm files), or the TechSmith SnagIt (need extension and app; makes MP4s) .There may be a charge for some of these apps but all are fairly inexpensive. If you missed the roundup of Chromebook apps, you can always find the complete list online at tinyurl.com/tcea16radio. Be sure to find out more exciting ideas online via Twitter with the hashtag #TCEA16See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

LISTEN to MiguelWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)Hour of Code | LISTEN"Thanks for listening to TCEA Radio! This is Miguel Guhlin (you can find me @mguhlin here via Twitter and Voxer). Are you a coding fanatic or just interested in getting started? Listen into the Voxer Chat Susan Reeves and I had about Hour of Code earlier this year! Susan shares how to get started tips, hour of code resource links, promotional materials, how to print student certificates and beyond hour of code goodies! You can find more exciting Voxer Chats and connect to other Texas educators via #tecsigchat. #tecsigchat is an ongoing conversation about teaching, learning, and leading with technology available at no cost via the mobile app, Voxer. Find out more at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio and be sure to follow the hashtag #TCEA16 for great sharing before, during and after the Convention!"See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Listen to MiguelWelcome! Bienvenidos! This is the page of TCEA Radio Contributor, Miguel Guhlin. Connect via Twitter @mguhlin or Voxer @mguhlin. Below, please find my latest contribution to TCEA2016 Radio! Find out more about TCEA Radio! (Hint: Get the app for iOS or Android first!)FUN FIND - GetLiner.com | Listen"Standing in line at the grocery store, reading an article link from Facebook on my smartphone, and I realize, 'Man, I need to highlight this article!' And, I need to do it right now! because I'm going to forget by the time I get home. But how?"This is Miguel Guhlin on TCEA Radio. When I need to highlight an article quickly, I use the free Liner app, available for iOS and Mac (sorry, not available for Android!) at getliner.com. Most of the time, I'm on my iPhone, and Liner lets me quickly highlight an article, then save those highlights to Evernote. I can also read the highlights via the Chrome browser on my Chromebook, Windows or Mac computer. What I do, though, is save my Liner highlights to Evernote, then copy-n-paste them right into Blogger for quick sharing.  Find links to the Liner app at http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio and remember,  #TCEA16 is the hashtag to follow if you want to listen to for more tips!"See more online at : http://tinyurl.com/tcea16radio Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Over the past few months, I've been sharing how one district solved the account management problem through the adoption of an identity management/automation solution. Unfortunately, in every meeting, I encounter a question that is central to the needs of Texas (and other) school districts--Does this solution resolve the overwhelming amount of data file creation requests for digital textbook publishers? And, each time, my answer has to be, "No."  In this blog entry, I share what may very well be THE solution. Listen to the Podcast Interview with Solution Provider, Encore CEO Michael KnightAutomated Provisioning (includes federation)Updates: Link updated since it wasn't working earlier. Also inserted additional information and links to files.The worst part of the deal is that I wish districts like Denton ISD had spoken up and shared this sooner...the same goes for ESC-11. As the saying goes, "You don't hide your light under a basket!" That would have saved a lot of effort before for many.BACKSTORYFor now, here's the backstory to this search for the Holy Grail--an identity management/automation solution that not only interacts with Active Directory, Office365/GoogleApps, but also all the OTHER stuff that comes up without any additional costs. The backstory is outlined here and is worth reading so you can understand the scope of the issues and the various solutions:The Texas Digital Textbook Data Nightmare - In this engaging comprehensive primer, featuring quotes from Texas school districts, Miguel explores the problem and solutions available. This is a great intro for those struggling with vague notions of what is happening (or not) in regards to data integration.Data-Driven School Districts Experience Growing Pains - In this "pictures of the problem"-rich article, Miguel shares his journey to find a solution, including job descriptions and expectations.To the Rescue - @Clever in Texas Schools? - Want to use Clever to in place of or to complement your existing user provisioning solution? Read this article to get answers to key questions!MyNotes: ClassLink for Rostering - My notes on ClassLink's connection to OneRoster.org, a presentation shared at the TCEASysAdmin.You can also find ALL my materials--sans The Solution mentioned below--online at http://tinyurl.com/tceaidentitycrisis. There's a LOT of information there and I recommend you review it all before jumping into any one solution.THE SOLUTIONAt the TCEA 2016 State Conference, I was scheduled to present on Wednesday about Identity Crisis. On Tuesday, though, I met one on one with the Education Service Center, Region 11's solution provider partner, Enboard's Encore. I listened to them (audio recording) for about an hour and a half.I was blown away.In one fell swoop, the solutions I had touted so highly, as well as others like Clever, would prove unnecessary.This is THE solution school districts need. Some of the salient points:Encore is a cooperative member, which means if you had to, you could skip the bid process. Coops include Buyboard and Region 11 TETCP.Encore is in Texas school districts and has been for years. Customers include the following: Denton ISD, Lewisville ISD, Mesquite ISD, and Crowley ISD. Denton ISD's Ernie Stripling also recorded a video about the relationship between Denton ISD and Encore.Encore is a subscription model, based on total user cost. Total users include staff and students because, to be blunt, you need all of them. For example, a district with 15K of staff and students would pay $30K annually. This is actually quite a savings to other solutions that charge up front and then annually for NEW products.Enboard can also provision Parent/Guardian and Community Accounts and enable Parent/Guardians to log in with their own accounts and access their associated Student’s Account Information without having to log-in as the student (commonly called Impersonation). Encore deploys 10 Applications/Resources for the District per year (2 Years = 20 Applications, 3 Years = 30 Apps). So, if you have some new digital content provider or assessment vendor say, "Hey, we need these 5 data files for our system to work in these formats!" then Encore will generate those data files for you.  The District is fully trained on the Enboard Platform and can add as many SSO Applications as they need without any additional charge.Districts pass on the the data file schemas--how data files should be created--from the vendor to Encore and Encore will generate those files, then place them on your secure FTP (SFTP) server for pickup by the vendor, or provide even more support. All Data is kept within the Districts environment as all data should remain private and confidential.Encore provides Single Sign-On (SSO) to everything you can imagine, including the Big 3 Textbook Publishers...let me say that again. They handle the textbook vendors. For example, when looking at Pearson, I realized it would cost about $900 to auto-generate that file from our regional service center. Instead, Encore could do this at no additional cost.Encore can support any Web-based Application that is Forms-Based, supports LDAP/Active Directory Integration, has an Authentication API or Supports Federation (SAML, WS-Federation, oAuth, etc.).Encore also supports creating Accounts on Third Party Platforms of varied Username and Password variations.Encore stores all District Account Authentication Information Encrypted in the District’s Active Directory Environment.  Encore does not store the credentials in a third-party platform.In fact, Encore won an award from Microsoft for encryption and security for SSO Credential Data.There's a lot more that can be said but it's pretty simple recommendation--go with Region 11 and Encore.Note: You can access these resources online:Enboard Value Statement: Reviews overall Value Statement of EnboardEnboard Comparison to SSO Platforms - Review Enboard Comparison with other SSO PlatformsEnboard SSO Application Library List - Details Encore’s Current SSO Application Library ListEnboard Overview - General Overview Presentation of EnboardInstruction Benefits - One Page Overview for Instruction EnablementOther Resources: ESC-11 Information PageTxCTO PresentationEncore Comparison to other SSO SolutionsEncore Value StatementEncore vs Clever Comparison If you think SSO isn't that big of a deal, imagine your K-12 students and staff trying to juggle 40+ different logins and passwords...imagine logging into ONE place, then tapping on an icon. For example, in the screenshot below, users click on Moodle icon, and that logs them straight into the popular course management system...the same is true for Istation, Think Through Math (TTM), and many other solutions...you can get an insight into the breadth of these by looking at the pictures below:Look at Picture AlbumThis includes SSO into GoogleApps as well as Office 365:A few more pictures:Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Listen to Traci Clarke, K12 Dynamics Data DashboardSource and Find Out More"We've abandoned the waterfall approach," shared Traci Clarke recently at the TCEA 2016 State Conference. She introduced me to a really neat idea--SCRUM.Scrum is an iterative and incremental agile software development methodology for managing product development. It defines "a flexible, holistic product development strategy where a development team works as a unit to reach a common goal",[1] challenges assumptions of the "traditional, sequential approach"[1] to product development, and enables teams to self-organize by encouraging physical co-location or close online collaboration of all team members, as well as daily face-to-face communication among all team members and disciplines in the project. A key principle of scrum is its recognition that during production processes, the customers can change their minds about what they want and need (often called requirements volatility[2]), and that unpredicted challenges cannot be easily addressed in a traditional predictive or planned manner. As such, scrum adopts an empirical approach—accepting that the problem cannot be fully understood or defined, focusing instead on maximizing the team's ability to deliver quickly, to respond to emerging requirements and to adapt to evolving technologies and changes in market conditions. (Source: Wikipedia)This idea of an iterative and incremental methodology reminds me a bit of instructional design process that Cathy Moore describes in her article, How Action Mapping Can Change Your Design Process. She describes it in this way:Action mapping makes stakeholders work together to analyze the performance problem, commit to the same measurable goal, and agree to focus on activities rather than information.What might the process be when working with others? With Scrum, it means dividing work into manageable components then completing them in two week increments, for example.Image Source: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/uploads/articles/MockedTaskBoard.jpgEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Listen to Rusty MeynersJoin SOS-SIGUnder $6 via GearBestCorrected link via +Rusty Meyners :  Actually, $4.74 w/free shipping - Good Quality!http://gearbest.com/home-gadgets/pp_202879.htmlEverything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Jim Jewell without his 'Borg implant ;-)Listen to Robo-SIG's Jim Jewell(Join RoboSIG!)Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Find out more at http://centrallo.comEarlier this week, I stumbled on Centrallo.com, a web site that suggests it can be an Evernote replacement. If you've forgotten why anyone and everyone is looking for an alternative to Evernote, then you may want to read this article. I've tried several, including MammothHQ, SimpleNote, GoogleKeep, and Apple Notes. None matched Evernote for its features, although they easily beat it on its negatives (e.g. bloated interface, lousy note search, etc.). Centrallo offers a fresh take and I'm extremely hopeful. In fact, I am reaching for my wallet.ABOUT CENTRALLOA little about it from the emailed press release (oh no, I hope I don't get a deluge of those now) from Michael J. Sher, co-founder:Centrallo, a global productivity app maker today announced the release of Centrallo version 2.0, a major upgrade allowing Evernote users the ability to easily import their notes into Centrallo. The new Import Wizard is a free feature letting Evernote users import their notes to better organize, search and share them using Centrallo's robust list making, sharing and publishing capabilities."Releasing our Evernote Import Wizard is the biggest milestone in our three-year history," said Michael J. Sher, co-founder of Centrallo. "The most requested feature has been the ability to import notes into Centrallo from Evernote so users can create structure by turning standalone notes into structured lists. This takes Centrallo to the next level, enabling better organization and full control of information that flows in and out of users daily lives", says Sher."The most requested feature during my six-years at Evernote was lists-within-lists," says Heather Wilde, Centrallo's newest advisor and former Director of Global Technical Support at Evernote. "The Evernote Centrallo Import Wizard now provides users with the one missing crucial piece in the productivity puzzle in a highly complementary, user-friendly way."In the meantime, for those of you that need something boasts the same features as Evernote without the bloat and SLOW note searching, Centrallo may be your new best friend. In trying it out, though, I immediately ran into some challenges...not with the app itself, but rather, with importing my notes from Evernote. My request was brief, typed from the comfort of bed at some dark hour:Tried Evernote import but nothing happened. :-( Any ideas?Fortunately, approx 24 hours later (if not sooner) of submitting my help request, the CEO of Centrallo responded:On Sat, Feb 6, 2016 at 8:32 AM, MIchael J. Sher wrote:How large is your enex file?Right now, we accept 500MB file sizes.Where did you get stuck?This began a trail of conversation, exchanged video tutorials and walkthroughs. The problem wasn't that I didn't know how--Centrallo makes it painfully easy--but rather that a bug existed:Miguel.  I can confirm that something is not right with the importer.  Our team will fix this first thing tomorrow - provided it is easy.   I was able to import your enex file, but am still waiting that it is in my account.  It’s been 10 minutes.  We will get back to you.And, they have fixed it as of publication of this blog post and you also get an update via email. The Centrallo folks were kind enough to load 3-4 Evernote ENEX files--those are backups of Evernote Notebooks--and those appear in my Centrallo account. What's more, the file attachments embedded in those notes appear as well.Ok, I'm declaring success with Centrallo as an Evernote replacement just on the basis of lists within lists and embedded files!What the wizard looks like is shown above.Sending Centrallo one of my precious ENEX files, a Notebook export from Evernote.A list of all the notes in my Business Cards Notebook scheduled for import.Centrallo really has many MORE features to commend it, although it has a free version, the Premium  ($4.99 a month or $44.99 a year) model allows for more storage...and works on Android, iOS, Web: 15 Gb Storage Unlimited Notes Unlimited Lists Unlimited Attachments Passcode LockGreat interface!Compare that Premium usage to the Free version of Centrallo :Free accounts have no expiration limit. You can use it as long as you would like - or until you run out of free notes. When / if you run out, you can refer people to Centrallo  to earn free notes or upgrade to our Premium subscription. 1 Gb Storage 100 Notes Unlimited Lists ≤25 MB Attachments No Passcode LockSome other great features that appear:Email your notes in from trusted email addresses--I have 5 listed already--that you can set in your Centrallo settings to your accountname@m.centrallo.com.Color code public linksShare Lists (in Evernote parlance, Notebooks) with othersA simple interfaceWhat I'm hoping for in the future:RSS Feeds for ListsCloudmagic integrationGetLiner.com support (although that's more on GetLiner than it is on Centrallo)Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

"91% of adults in the survey "agree" or "strongly agree" that consumers," shares a 2014 Pew Research study, "have lost control over how personal information is collected and used by companies." Unfortunately, that perception may be tied directly to how many of us are storing confidential data--whether we want to or not--in cloud-based storage systems.Image SourceIf you're like me, you're storing important data online because of the following reasons:Easy backup - You're worried that storing it on USB external flash drives or "sticks" is too dangerous since they are easy to lose, may suffer data corruption. With Dropbox and GoogleDrive, the "backup" of your data happens auto-magically when you save stuff in the appropriate folder on your computer.Portability - You love to be able to work from anywhere, even when you're out for coffee at Starbucks. You also don't want to leave confidential data on your laptop since you carry that everywhere and while it's password protected, you're positive you don't have fancy disk encryption turned on. You DO make sure to logout of your cloud storage, though.Collaboration - Everything you do involves partnering with someone else, and that's why GoogleDocs is so good for team projects. When you save stuff on Dropbox or GoogleDrive, other people can get to it and work with it...and that's great all-around!Unfortunately, you can't just assume that confidential data will be safeguarded appropriately when it's stored in the Cloud. To safeguard that sensitive data, you need to take a few steps. Here are 3 steps you can take that will immediately protect you when placing your precious data online. Are they the only steps you can take? Absolutely not! The question is, How much security are you willing to trade for ease of use? It's a tough scale and over time, trust me, you will find the right balance. For now, though, it won't hurt to be overly protective...well, it won't hurt TOO much.Step #1 - Protect your Device and ConnectionsWe often carry our devices--laptops, phones, tablets--everywhere we go but fail to protect them adequately. What's worse, we also forget that when our devices connect over public WiFi, we are in danger of being "packet-sniffed." This is a fancy way of saying, people can eavesdrop our WiFi and snatch critical information, like our login credentials (more about that in a moment, Step #2).Make an effort to protect your device, though, including logging out or "locking" it so someone can't just pick it up and start using it. Establish a secure "cloud computing base" that protects against malware/viruses that may load keylogging software onto your machine. You can do that by keeping your anti-malware/anti-virus software up to date. Some suggested tools include MalwareBytes, Spyware Blaster, Spybot Search & Destroy for spyware/malware, while using AVG Anti-Virus for antivirus (Windows 10 has solid tools, BTW), and, finally, removing and cleaning up your Windows computer using Revo Uninstaller and CCleaner.Step #2 - Safeguard Your Cloud Computing Login CredentialsAs mentioned in Step #1, safeguarding your Cloud Computing Login credentials is critical. You need to invest in a Virtual Private Network (VPN)--especially if your work place isn't providing one, although most school districts and employers do--like Private Internet Access (my favorite VPN provider, BTW, because it works on ALL my devices). Without a VPN, you are open to packet analyzers and sniffers because your data is being transmitted in clear text....that is, NOT encrypted. While Google and other providers have made every effort to encourage folks, many services still rely on unencrypted connections (without the gold Secure Socket Layer (SSL) padlock).Not only do you need to avoid phishing and spear phishing (targeted at specific individuals) schemes--which attempt to steal your credentials so they can expand their circle of confusion and infection to others--you also need to take advantage of tools like Keepass, Dashlane, and LastPass. There are others but you can google "online password manager" and find many solutions. Another important point is to ensure you have a secure password generator, which many of the tools listed above provide. School districts may also consider drafting a policy, a sample of which is available online.You can protect yourself by also taking advantage of 2-factor authentication, illustrated below:2-factor authentication is available for a variety of services. I use it with GoogleApps, Dropbox, and many others.Step #3 - Practice Safe Data PracticesSince we must all work with confidential at some point, even if it is personally identifiable information (PII), or medical/health information, we must practice safe data practices. One of those practices--aside from shredding paper copies of sensitive data--including encrypting that data when it is NOT in use and/or in transit. If in a work environment, make sure that you ONLY access sensitive data on work devices, avoid clicking on email links and attachments from people you don't know, and, for goodness sake, DO NOT do that while checking your personal email at work, especially if it is a Yahoo email account given the types of malware spreading ads that find themselves displayed.If you aren't encrypting your data before putting it in the cloud, you are sending a clear message that you just lack concern for confidential data. While some data is intended to be portable, easy to backup, and collaborate with, confidential data is NOT. Some ways to encrypt your data include using tools like Secret Space Encryptor (SSE)--which works on Windows, Mac, GNU/Linux and Android--and/or Chromebook friendly MiniLock. Tutorials are available as videos and/or print. All of these encryption tools ARE EASY to use and encrypted files/folders can be saved directly to cloud storage (e.g. Dropbox, GoogleDrive). Android users typically have more encryption options--given that iOS sandboxes its apps, it's a little more difficult--available to them, like Secret Space Encryptor (SSE).However, if you want an even more dynamic solution, considering using encrypted file storage like SpiderOak storage (Dropbox like storage but encrypted) or even overlaying encryption with BoxCryptor, which includes a portable solution.ConclusionYou can regain control of how data is shared provided you follow the 3 simple steps outlined in this article. Unfortunately, as data goes mobile, you'll have to find the solution that works best on your device.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

If I learned anything at the TCEA 2016 State Conference, it was overshadowed by a powerful app shared off-hand in a T-TESS presentation by Dr. Bruce Ellis. I had so much fun with the app I didn't pay as much attention as I needed to the presentation! As such, I must share it with you, as well as add one of my own.Life-Changing App #1 - Office Lens (No Cost)In spite of the fact that it was a Microsoft created app--it was difficult to overcome my reluctance but I succeeded, thank goodness--I quickly pulled it down to my iPhone, which was my default note-taking app at the Conference (you know, taking pictures).Amazingly, the Office Lens app works on both Android and iOS, making it a great choice. I shared this app with an iPad Pro user, who was hastily scribbling notes onto a full-size iPad Pro...and he immediately started using it, exclaiming at how wonderful it was. In fact, everyone I've shared it with has loved it! Why aren't you using it yet?Life-Changing App #2 - Centrallo.com ($4.99 monthly/$44.99 annually)Although I've already written about it, this Evernote replacement is worth mentioning again! Be sure to check out the Centrallo app for both Android and iOS, but also accessible via the Web. It's easy to use and reminds me of a "fast and light" Evernote without the kitchen sink!Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Over the last 2 days, you may have noticed a problem with the mguhlin.org domain. That's because I was moving my domain registration from GoDaddy to Tierra.net, where I also store my mguhlin.net account. After knocking my head against the screen, it finally is working.The official address for Around the Corner is www.mguhlin.org.:-)Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Image Source: VEX RoboticsThis past weekend, I had the opportunity to help out--admittedly for a little under 2 hours, so not much!--at the VEX Robotics Competion hosted by the East Central ISD's Legacy Middle School. While there, I picked up a few balls, recorded a podcast and took pictures of the event. This blog entry is the result! The event involved a packed room of kids--see pictures below--geeking out over VEX robots.  These were quite a different event than one I'd been involved in many years ago with Lego Robotics.A Special Thank YouBefore going much further, I'd like to thank Dawn Drisdale (@msdris30) and Marguerite Lowak (@mlowak) for organizing the event as part of the STEAM initiative launched by the EC Technology Department this year.  East Central ISD was able to participate because we met last year to allocate funding and Dawn/Marguerite began doing research at the TCEA 2015 State Conference as to what robots to invest in! I'd also like to do a quick shout to anyone who volunteered to help out at the event, including Virgil Kirk (@virgilkirk) and Sandra Lopez.Below, you will find some pictures and a podcast interview I recorded with the VEX Robotics laiason.  I love the characterization of robots as "shooters" or "gatherers."Listen to PodcastLeft to Right: Thomas Mead, Miguel GuhlinRobotics Education Web SiteWatch this Video Explaining the VEX Robotics' Nothing But Net! Competition   Pictures of Competition:The view into the Legacy MS Cafeteria...you can see the timer at zero. Although you can't see it, on either side of the timer, you will find two "fields" for the robots.This is what the "field" looks like. The balls have to be re-setup after each event. After doing a few of these, I must confess to getting pains in some muscles I hadn't used often! Fortunately, there were high school students as volunteers helping re-stack the balls appropriately. Pictured to the right above, you'll see the judges for this event, and behind them, a team of student waiting to deploy their robot.Amazingly, you could see and smell the hard work students were engaged in as they customized their robots. In one case, the man kneeling in the bottom left is actually performing surgery on a robot component with a cutting tool (hence, the "burning smell" some reported), albeit quite controlled.A robot close-up. Notice the green-rim wheels that allow the robot to move in a variety of directions.This scoreboard was setup by Michael McClane at the event, enabling student teams to see what was happening and where they placed.

Note: The following is a re-post from LeaderTalk, and is a blog entry I wrote some time ago. Although the tools are dated, it's easy to imagine new ones that take their place. Amazing that while the ideas endure, the tools have changed dramatically!Embracing Citizen-Journalism in K-12 LeadershipJob misery, shares Patrick Lencioni, author of various educational leadership books, comes as a result of 3 reasons. Those reasons include the following: Anonymity - If others in authority are unaware of what you are doing, then you are unhappy. We cannot long work in obscurity.Irrelevance - If our work is irrelevant, means nothing to the organization, has no impact on the bottom line—teaching and learning—then why do it? Why get up and fight the good fight?Immeasurement - Failure to measure our success—or lack of it—means that we are unable to assess our progress. And, without that tangible measure of forward movement, of change, it is too easy to be lost in the midst of the change we are trying to facilitate. As an administrator, I see it as my role to clarify for staff how their work is relevant to the organization, to provide feedback on their rate of success, and to celebrate their hard work so that all know they are responsible. If we assume the mantle of citizen journalists, then we can tap into our own creativity and eradicate the 3 reasons misery finds its way into the hearts of our leadership teams.Power in CreativityWhen I do something—teach a class, create a product—I get a charge of energy. At the end of a day of meetings, I walk out drained, tired, and wishing I could take a nap before driving 45 minutes through bumper-to-bumper traffic. When I "do something," I walk out feeling awesome and I’m ready to go out for the evening, craft administrative procedure, or facilitate a workshop.The reason creativity is so powerful for me is that I am at heart, a teacher, a person who likes to share what he is learning with others. Citizen journalism is about reporting on what is going on around me, and enabling others to have access to experiences and ideas that are daily occurrences but that only a few see. Fight Job Misery with Read/Write Web ToolsPatrick Finn, author of Literacy with an Attitude, shares that powerful literacy involves creativity and reason—the ability to evaluate, analyze and synthesize what is read…it is also the ability to write one’s ideas so that another person can understand them. As leaders in public schools, we can take on the 3 factors of job misery that Lencioni identifies and minimize them in school settings. It is simply a matter of using technology to transform the negative, to be creative and create online value that others can come to better understand what our students and staff are doing.1- Recognize - "There is something that is much more scarce," shared Elbert Hubbard, "something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability." With easy access to publish at will tools, you can easily recognize educators, students and parents in your school community. Foster recognition by featuring the work you or your team does in blogs and video clips that show how they are working on behalf of their target audience or colleagues.  Some specific tools you can use to achieve this include: Blogs - Setup a blog you can easily contribute to. Blogs make it easy for people to subscribe to them, and you can add photos and videos to them. While initial setup can be challenging, there are now many educators who can provide assistance. Wikis - Moving to the next level, challenge teachers and others you trust to contribute content to a wiki, an editable web site. The ease of adding content should enable people to contribute content. Both of these mediums are essentially blank journals, or bulletin boards, that can hold sound (e.g. podcasts), video (e.g. vidcasts) and text media (e.g. narratives). If you are not comfortable with embedding media like video or audio, put it on a web site that simplifies the process (e.g. Edublogs.tv is a great site to host video or audio at no cost and without advertising).Once you have content online, you can also choose to create a narrated tour. Some tools you can use include the following: Diigo Web Slides - These allow you to create narrated slideshows of web sites. The web sites remain interactive and clickable even as you add your audio narration to them.Flowgram.com - This new tool enables you to combine audio narration with web sites, pictures, and a variety of content in one easy to use tool. You record directly from your computer (you’ll need a microphone) and just need to know the web address of the content you want to add. This makes it easy for you to highlight online work that your staff and students are creating and sharing via the Web.Jog the Web - Create a guided tour of web sites, adding your comments to each site. Lacks the audio component available in Diigo Web Slides and FlowGram.com. Other possibilities include using tools like MyPlick.com, VoiceThread.com to upload a slideshow document—such as one created in Powerpoint—and then adding audio to it. VoiceThread even enables your viewers to add audio, video and text of their own. What a fantastic way to recognize the work that is being done, and invite recognition of that work done by your staff by others!2- Engage - Engage your colleagues in conversations and work that makes a difference in the lives of others. As educators, we have opportunities to engage others every day. One Read/Write Web tool that we can use to engage others is to facilitate professional meetings and learning that is available using Moodle. Often, our meetings and workshops leave us disconnected, shuffling from one disjointed event to another. Creating a Moodle and empowering your staff to participate in it can provide opportunities for engagement, for enabling individuals to be heard and to exercise their voice. However, do not expect success immediately. It may very well take a year of hard work, including consolidating resources in one place, to see results. You can find Moodle.org online, and there are ample examples of Moodles being used to enhance work and professional learning settings.3 - Set Clear Parameters for Success - If the team needs to be able to measure it’s own success, it’s own progress separate from me as the boss, then I need to set clear definition of what constitutes success. This is often difficult with changing expectations from above, "scope creep," as projects do take on a life of their own. I always come back in those projects to whether the end user has learned how to use the technology proposed, and whether they are using it at a maximal level that optimizes their work. While some administrators have access to project management tools (e.g. MS Projects), there are now ample tools that enable collaboration. Wikis and Moodles are two powerful tools you can use that do not involve adding yet another tool. However, data collection can sometimes be a challenge. Why not use a tools like GoogleDocs Spreadsheets and Forms (login as guest) to collect information on the progress of an initiative? Or, install the Questionnaire module in Moodle (view example)? While these simple tools cannot replace more sophisticated project management tools, they do provide ways for educators to collaboratively design the parameters for success and to report progress on those. ConclusionAs education administrators who have access to a variety of Read/Write Web techologies, it is possible for our teams to experience anonymity, irrelevance and immeasurement. Yet, it is a possibility well within our control as leaders. Take a moment and learn how to use simple Read/Write Web tools to become a citizen journalist rather than continue as merely an administrator who waits for a Communications Department to decide what is newsworthy and what isn’t.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

One of my favorite aspects of the #GrowthMindset is the idea you can add "...yet" to the end of something you haven't accomplished yet. For example...."I haven't signed up for the TCEA TEC-SIG SPRING MEETING...yet.""I haven't looked at the agenda...yet.""I'm not committed to learning from great people like Doug Johnson...yet.""My district is worried that I won't learn anything at an unconference scheduled at the TECSIG Spring Meeting. I haven't told them how wrong they are...yet.""I'm broke, I need to stop buying Starbuck's coffees so I can afford the low-cost of TECSIG membership and meeting registration. I haven't stopped...yet."You get the idea, right?"I haven't signed up for TECSIG Spring Meeting...yet. But I plan to ASAP!"Register for the TECSIG Spring Meeting Taking Place in Austin, Texas at TCEA Headquarters on April 14-15, 2016!Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Note: I wrote this blog entry in 2005, or maybe, 2006 for Technology & Learning. It's amazing how many different ways we can have conversations in digital spaces, but the idea of a conversation remains...because we are human beings. My ideas have certainly evolved since then! You'll want to read the original and compare it to the article below, from which I've removed some of the pieces I disagree with!"It's as if there's a layer of conversation lying on top of the regular web," shared David Warlick at a conference. At the same time, he introduced the concept of a Personal Learning Network, or PLN. Facilitated by blogs and RSS Feeds, the purpose of the PLN is professional development within an area of interest. This idea of building your own professional development network - where you find the people from whom you can learn, ask questions of them, comment on their thoughts and links, and have them do the same for you - is one of the major benefits of blogging and podcasting. It is the art of conversation captured in digital format. This article shares how blogs enable both adult learners and students to create their own Personal Learning Networks, sometimes with unintended consequences - both positive and negative. It also examines possible solutions to address unintended consequences among student blog use. Blogs as Digital ConversationsDigital conversations are taking place in the blogosphere...but are you a participant? I recently asked a group of technology directors via their email list if they were having the types of conversations that others were having. I was struggling with the use of blogs in education, and I wanted other directors to discuss it with me. That is when I discovered that email lists are no longer part of the "inner circle" where the best conversations take place. Instead, those conversations are taking place in spaces like Twitter, Blab.im, Voxer, Blogger.com, and the millions of virtual spaces available on the Web. The concept is becoming international, as the masses of India and China find their own voices online and begin to build their own PLNs, drawing upon many more people than we have access to in the United States. This means that isolationism just will not work, neither for you, for your own children, nor for your students. If you're not a part of the conversations, you aren't aware of the issues until they hit home, such as the problems with YikYak, Kik, etc. and the use of adult online spaces by students at schools across the country. By now, the inappropriate use of digital spaces has been discussed across blogs and social media, but if you aren't connected, and you did not "catch the news," then you missed the opportunity to learn. However, if you are a part of the conversation, you can learn, contribute and perhaps, learn as others learn.Learning with others makes the difference, since learning is a social process...and has now gone online with social media. Learning with others means you take control of the flood of information and data coming into your life. There are three aspects to using modern digital tools that tap into this conversation, and consequently three incentives for building virtual personal learning networks. These are explored briefly below. 1) New Digital Tools Enable Professional Development NetworksAnne, a teacher, describes the benefits of a blog-based personal learning network. This type of network allows us to tap into people with whom we would not otherwise have contact. On "EduBlog Insights." Anne writes about how a librarian's blog—"The Shifted Librarian"—allows her to learn about a conference she could not attend. She writes, "Those learnings led me to even more learning on the blogs of those who had presented. Talk about professional development." And, many of us now follow hashtags on Twitter to learn more about a particular subject (e.g. #tcea16 for the most recent TCEA State Conference, #digcit for Digital Citizenship).As Dr. David Tobin, Ph.D., notes in "Building Your Personal Learning Network," PLNs give us access to varied information sources, and, more importantly, to people of whom we can ask questions, who can provide us with coaching and mentoring, and who can challenge or extend our thinking. In the connected world in which we now live, NOT creating your own personal learning network cuts you off from what you need to survive and thrive in the "flattened world" that Thomas Friedman describes in The World is Flat). With content curation tools, we are able to process a greater amount of information than was previously possible by surfing to different Web pages. In a moment, we can get the pulse of conversations, then dig as deep as we need so as to discover what is of merit. 2) Digital Tools Enable Human ConnectionsAt David Warlick's TechForum presentation, one of his slides showed how he was making connections between blogs, building his own PLN. For example, he started reading Steve Dembo's "Teach42.com", and something mentioned in that blog made him explore another.Like David, I started out in the same way. I began simply with one or two education-related blogs such as "Bud the Teacher" and "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" (http://www.speedofcreativity.org/) and then added blogs as I went. But adding blog feeds my RSS Aggregator is not what digital conversations are about. It's not enough to read, it's also important to write, speak, share video, as Wes Fryer points out:To accomplish that, I started leaving comments relevant to the blog entries posted on others’ blogs. As I posted each comment, I included a link back to my own blog "Around the Corner". On my blog, I would expand on the conversation in a way that I only hinted at in the comment. In this way, I invited other bloggers to visit my blog and, in turn, leave comments on my site. And the nature of the comments left on my site has been very helpful, primarily because they give me information and advice that I wouldn't have had if I had depended on my "traditional" PLN, comprised of the people with whom I interact every day at work and in my personal life. Thus, in a way that Email lists could never accomplish — because not everyone can be subscribed to every Email list on which I work — blogs enable me to learn from strangers. 3) Digital Tools Foster TransparencyDigital tools enable us to see others’ thinking — or lack of thinking — as they build a web of connected learning.The art of digital conversation, of building personal learning networks, is more about knowing when we need information, as well as knowing how to identify, locate and evaluate it. And, then, as if that weren't enough, real life forces us to effectively use that information to solve real life problems.Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin's blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure