Nebraska Change Agent

' I am entirely certain that twenty years from now we will look back at education as it is practiced in most schools today and wonder how we could have tolerated anything so primitive.' John W Gardner

I have been working for months to organize the first ever Digital Connections Boot Camp for teachers in western Nebraska. The idea was simple. Put together two days worth of superb training delivered by some awesome educators, include some online lessons to compliment the training and get the local state college to approve it for graduate credit and teachers will register in droves. I thought that teachers would jump at the chance to attend a boot camp that would focus on specific and practical digital skills that they could begin using immediately. The price tag was even right— $70! This fee covers the sessions as well as breakfast, lunch, and a light snack on both days. The local community college where the boot camp is being held agreed to let out of town participants stay in the dorms for around $17 per night. I believed if I built a solid and affordable learning experience that teachers would be all over it. I have learned that it isn’t that simple. As of 11am yesterday there were 22 teachers who had registered. About 1/3 of those registered are from central and eastern Nebraska which tells me that there are teachers who recognize this is an awesome learning opportunity! One participant is coming all of the way from Chicago! (Did I mention the incredible gift that the Spa by TLC is including for each participant? They are giving a VIP card to each person that is worth 40% off of their most popular services, treatments, and products during the entire month of August.)

Numbers mean everything and the bottom line is that there is a very real possibility this camp will be cancelled unless we get more teachers registered or if we can find some sponsors. Right now we have just enough to cover the travel expenses for my two presenters. When I meet with the rep from the college tomorrow I need to be able to tell her that I have pledges from companies to help us cover the cost of breakfast and lunch for 2 days for approximately 30 people. I NEED YOUR HELP! Please help make this conference a reality for the teachers who are looking forward to it.

How can you help? You can use this form to contact me and let me know how much you can pledge. You could also purchase a registration to help boost our numbers. I’ve never needed the help of my personal learning network as much as I do now. If you have ideas for potential sponsors please tweet the link to this blog to them. I only have a little over 2 days to make this happen.

 Click here to make a donation to the ISTE Newbie Project to get Jerry to San Diego

Congratulations to Jerry Blumengarten who has been named the Newbie for ISTE12. Many of you know him by his Twitter handle, @cybraryman1.

I was not planning on doing the ISTE Newbie Project this year.  I had organized and managed this project for the last three years and I simply needed a break. There is a lot of work that goes into making this project work that happens behind the scenes and I did not have the time to do it this year. But last week all of that week when I received an email from Suzie Nestico. She had been contacted by Jeff Bradbury who runs TeacherCast and Ron Peck who is one of the co-founders of #sschat and the SSChat Ning. They were looking for a way to get Jerry to San Diego so he could attend his very first ISTE.

Jerry is one of those rare people who has found a way to give more than he takes from his personal learning network. He started out creating a website for his school in 1999, but by the next year had developed a site for all educators with hundreds of great resources and links. The website grew and now has over 500 pages and 30,000 links. It is considered the “go-to” website for information on just about anything. Many educators sing the praises of this wealth of information and sharing on a level that no one in education can come close to. In addition, this individual is an active member of several chats on Twitter. #Edchat, #ntchat, #gtchat, #elemchat, #engchat, #sschat and #ptchat are just a few of the chats he contributes to and moderates on a regular basis. This amazingly generous person deserves everything we can do for him and more.

Please thank Jerry for all he has done by making a donation to get him to San Diego.  A ChipIn donation widget is located on the ISTE Newbie Site.

In 2009, I started the ISTE Newbie Project to serve as an example of how people who are connected to one another on Twitter can work together to do great things. There were  a lot of people that discounted the value of Twitter and I was determined to show the naysayers that it really did have a valuable place in education. For three years in a row I tapped into my personal learning network to raise money to send three different Newbies to ISTE. (A Newbie is simply someone who has never attended ISTE.) Last summer I made the decision to take a break from the project to spend time with my family and pursue other projects, but all of that changed the other night.

I received an email from a person who was working with a couple of colleagues to figure out a way to send one of their friends to ISTE. Once I found out who the person was I made the decision on the spot to revive the ISTE Newbie Project. This person has given so much to so many people. This individual has spent years sharing and helping others. His hard work and dedication has definitely been noticed by others who want to thank him by helping him get to one of the most outstanding educational technology conferences in the country.

It is almost time to reveal who the ISTE12 Newbie is.  Stay tuned for the big announcement!

  ISTE Newbie Lounge Volunteer Doc

ISTE is just around the corner and one of the things I get to do again is organize the Newbie Lounge. ISTE is a HUGE conference and there are various cafes and lounges that cater to different groups of people. For example, the Bloggers’ Cafe is a place where lots of edubloggers like to hang out and visit with each other. The Social Butterfly Lounge is a place where attendees can go to find out about  how to use different types of social media. The Newbie Lounge is location where first-time conference attendees can go to connect with seasoned veterans. (A seasoned veteran is anyone who has attended ISTE/NECC at least once.)

In order for the lounge to be successful it needs to be staffed by volunteers who want to help newbies have an enjoyable conference experience. The job is pretty easy. Just meet and greet Newbies who are looking for a friendly face to help them feel not so overwhelmed. The volunteers in the lounge help conference attendees figure out the conference planner and might make suggestions for sessions. Volunteers need to commit to approximately 3 hours over the course of Sunday through Wednesday. That is only about 45 minutes each day or two short visits each day. Last year so many people wanted to volunteer in the lounge, but they also wanted to hang out in the Bloggers’ Cafe. The cafe and Newbie Lounge could not have been located further apart. I have been told that this year they are much closer together. There are no set hours when you have to be in the lounge. Volunteers can come and go when it is convenient for them.

I’d like to have around 30 people signed up by May 20. Volunteers get all kinds of neat stuff including a T-shirt and other thank you items. I need all volunteers to be signed up no later than May 20 so I can get your information to ISTE so they can put you in their database. I will contact all volunteers with other information in early to mid June.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. My email is nebraskavirtualteacher@gmail.com.

  ISTE Newbie Lounge Volunteer Doc
Thanks to the following dedicated educators who have already signed up to help out!

Tim Gwynn
Ann Michaelsen
Jason Epstein
JoAnn Jacobs
Joan Young
Karen McMillan
Andy Mork
Adina Sullivan
Kim Jurczak
Heather Crosser
Cherie Stafford
Paula Naugle
Donna Sullivan-Macdonald
Kristina Peters
Peg Coover
Cory Plough
Lisa Linn
Derrall Garrison
Mindy Johnson
Jennifer Riddle

For approximately 185 days a year from 7:45am until 4:15pm  I belong to my district. During that time I have a variety of duties including teaching students face-t0-face as well as teaching students online. When I am not engaged in either one of those activities I certainly have no problem figuring out things to keep me busy. Not just sitting behind a computer pretending to be busy, but really doing things that matter. I do things like work on future classes that I would like to teach, tweak my online classes, and plan training camps for teacher. I’m also the go to girl when people have tech questions. During my office hours I have Tweetdeck open and I spend time reading through the stream on the lookout for any tidbits of information that might help me. There are times when I work with other teachers on different projects. Typically we have a GoogleDoc open and work on these projects as we have time during the day. I also read various educational blogs and once in a while I manage to hammer out a post during the day. The conversations that I have with teachers online have taught me so much and have helped me grow.

I think it is safe to say that 80% of the people I am friends with on Facebook I’m also connect with on Twitter. They are also members of some of the Nings I frequent and they write many of the blogs that I read. The one place where I WILL NOT go while I am on the clock is Facebook. While almost 200 of my friends on Facebook are educators most of the are not terribly active during the school day. From time to time they hop on Twitter, but I rarely see them actively engaging on Facebook.

I cannot count how many times I have heard educators say that Twitter is the most amazing source for self-directed professional development they have ever experienced. When was the last time you heard someone say that about Facebook? Exactly. Do you see where I am going with this?

Twitter, Nings, blogs, Facebook as well as other sites give us the ability to connect and share on a personal level as well as a professional one. While there are many educational pages and people who post educational content on Facebook, I don’t find nearly as much professional content on there as I find on other channels. While I have conversations that stray off the educational path on Twitter, they help me build stronger relationships with people that I consider to be my greatest sources of information. I would define this as professional networking. When I’m on Twitter my intent is to learn and share. When I am on Facebook my purpose is to catch up with friends and family and socialize. I think it is perfectly acceptable to ask my employer to provide me with time to explore and learn with educators. However, I do not expect them to pay me to chat with my friends and family during the school day. I cannot help but wonder how many hours are squandered by teachers who are just as obsessed with Facebook as their students are.

What are your thoughts? How do you use these different networking tools?