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MetaTrends, EdTech, and the Changing Role of Educators

I came across a couple of great thought provoking things yesterday, all come from Twitter friends – @gsiemens, @Larry_Pixel, and @lparisi.

First up, George Siemens shared his presentation from the Pacific Northwest Higher Education Teaching & Learning Conference in Spokane, WA. When thinking about where all of this digital connectivity is heading and what it means to teachers, it’s sometimes difficult to grasp just how much information is out there. George’s slides gave some much needed perspective.



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And speaking of the Big Picture View, Larry Johnson of the New Media Consortium is seeking our help tagging relevant information about the MetaTrends in technology that they have seen running throughout the Horizon Report series, which takes a look at practices and technologies likely to impact education in the near to mid-term time frame.

The data from these reports have shown some emerging metatrends, which Larry lists as:

* communication between humans and machines tags: hzmeta + humanmachine

* the collective sharing and generation of knowledge tags: hzmeta + collectiveknowledge

* games as pedagogical platforms tags: hzmeta + games

* computing in three dimensions tags: hzmeta + 3d

* connecting people via the network tags: hzmeta + connectingpeople

* the shifting of content production to users tags: hzmeta + user_content

* the evolution of a ubiquitous platform tags: hzmeta + ubiquitousplatform

Have a peek at the wiki and start adding your delicious tags to help with this effort.

Finally, Lisa Parisi sent out a tweet last night about a live podcast show called Teachers Are Talking hosted on the EdTechTalk site. I’m a big fan of listening to good podcasts while I’m working, they’ve pretty much replaced live radio these days, and these podcasts are directly related to my work.

(I’m listening to EdTechWeekly#74 as I type this, have a listen..)

Yesterday’s TAT episode had K-12 educators discussing their experiences with using blogs in the classroom, everything from how to implement a safe system to fears and worries that they have, as well as parents and administrators. Since I work in higher ed, it was good to hear the perspective of folks in the K-12 arena. The archive isn’t up yet, but check the Teachers Are Talking feed to subscribe to the podcast.

Thanks to my twitter buds for keeping me thinking…

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26
Apr 08

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-26

@LenEdgerly I watched Moyer’s show with Rev Wright last night and came away impressed w/ his work #
Third sighting of a naked, ruthed, weirdly named avatar popping into and out of existence in Chilbo. Bots? #
Any SL peeps know where the walk through model of the human heart is in-world? #
@Typewriter What time is your talk today at vBusiness Expo? #
vBusiness Expo continuing with Keynote from IBM about Virtual Worlds SLurl http://tinyurl.com/5xmjx2 #
http://tinyurl.com/6mvyd7 Panel on Human Centered Research for Avatars going on now at vBusiness Expo #

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24
Apr 08

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-24

Will be speaking at vBusiness Expo in about 30 mins if anyone wants to come http://tinyurl.com/6ow9ho #

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23
Apr 08

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-23

Back from St. Louis, great trip, met some terrific folks at USDLA, spring lush drive home, back 2 work. #

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19
Apr 08

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-19

Disturbing news of the day: Pentagon paid $1.7 million to firms of polygamy bosses http://tinyurl.com/5qb6zu #
Feeling guilty about Earth Day, going to spending it driving hundreds of miles to teach people about the benefits of virtual worlds. Absurd #
Think twitter is eating tweets. Checking out http://www.twitterlocal.net and adding some Cincinnati peeps. Thx @ahynes1 #
@scottmerrick Are you recording the performance for us? 🙂 #
Wondering how to map virtual world events reach. Could start asking all attendees to mark on a map. #
But would be easier if could capture IP address like we do on the web. #

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18
Apr 08

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-18

Corporate tax declines and U.S. inequality (image) http://tinyurl.com/493b5x #
@injenuity Me too. TGIF> 🙂 #
@skydaddy that was the sweetest thing I’ve seen all day. 🙂 #
@injenuity Only two, actually, the rest of the day is set aside for grant writing so I can continue to PAY for SL. 😉 #
Reading Real People Don’t Have Time for Social Media via @aakelley http://tinyurl.com/59mhhq #
@skydaddy Good point. Still in search of good ham, apparently. 😉 #
@courosa Worry what it says that I dress more formally in SL than RL, most days. Closet joke in there somewhere. #
New episode of LOST and sweet sleep calls, night Twitter & Happy Friday #
Um, wow, just learning there was an earthquake and I felt it, woke me even. #
@pwoessner Hello from Cincinnati, Ohio! #
@JeanRicardBroek The quake was in Illinois, but def felt it in Cincinnati, whole house shook http://tinyurl.com/4pfm9l #
@alendral I was more confused than scared, the kitties looked freaked out however #
@kateboardman I believe it was Ball State that got the Blackboard SL grant #
@jeanricardbroek Ah! Thanks, was looking for good map of quake http://tinyurl.com/e3hky #
@skydaddy think 140 chars is the max for SMS messages #

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18
Apr 08

Ill Omens? Earthquake Confuses Fleep, Scares Kitties

So sometime before the crack of dawn this morning, I was startled out of a deep sleep to feel the earth moving and the house making very strange sounds. I sat up blinking and bewildered and looked at the kitties who looked back at me with wide-eyed “What the heck was THAT?” looks on their faces.

We continued to look at each other for a few seconds, the house creaked and settled, and I thought to myself, good thing we don’t have earthquakes in Cincinnati, and then I went back to sleep.

Of course it turns out there was actually an earthquake and I was so sleepy and confused I didn’t even realize it until @samharrelson told me on Twitter when I got up hours later.

Local coverage from WLWT reports no damage in Cincinnati, USGS has a nifty map showing all the earthquakes reported in the last 7 days, and local blogger Joe Wessels has an interview with a University of Cincinnati prof who specializes in earthquake building design about an hour after this morning’s quake.

Me, I’m thinking it’s only April and so far we’ve had a blizzard and an earthquake, two pretty rare natural occurrences in my neck of the woods. I’m a little trepidatious about what the rest of 2008 might bring.

Thankfully the plague of cicadas was in 2004, so we don’t have to worry about that one for another *gulp* 13 years.

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17
Apr 08

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-17

Prepping for SL presentation to Iowa Distance Education conference coming up. #
Crossing my fingers that SL doesn’t crash somewhere in the middle today. #
Phew presentation over and I didn’t crash at all, the av on the projector on the other hand… 😉 #
@rhetashan Thankfully it seems everyone was a good sport, all’s well that ends well! 🙂 #
@gwynethLlewelyn I wouldn’t hold my breath on that. 🙂 #
@susanreynolds The first few times were panic inducing, but now it becomes part of the show, if you can spin it well. 🙂 #
@spin no way, way too tedious to do the zillion clicks to rebuild the network #
@spin Yes, but @scobleizer is an exception to almost every rule. 🙂 #
@spin Though with SL related stuff, I do get a lot of overlap in the network #

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16
Apr 08

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-16

fireside chat with Sidewinder Linden, the Program Manager for the Havok 4 Physics Engine http://tinyurl.com/6j6wq7 #
@issfullofcrap Beanie brought me a live mouse and dropped it off in the dining room. Will trade you for dead bird. #
@shamblesguru laugh! Polydroppingfeathersallover seems more common. 😉 #

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14
Apr 08

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-14

Metanomics starting soon, first ever showing in the Chilbo sim if anyone wants to join us! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chilbo/17/204/127 #
@iYan NP now I need an av that can be in two places at once. 😉 #
Thx @clifmims! Retweet Bloomâ€™s Taxonomy and the Digital World http://tinyurl.com/57lqmf #

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