Monday, July 26, 2010

World of Warcraft and Learning with Teens, Live on Thursday July 29th in Elluminate

Join me Thursday evening for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com interview with Peggy Sheehy and Lucas Gillespie on student learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games (MMORPGs).

Date: Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Pagehttp://www.learncentral.org/event/86942

Many students today are engaged in what some have called a parallel curriculum.  This learning isn't taking place in desks or even in schools, but rather in virtual spaces called Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games or MMORPG's.  These game-based worlds force players to tackle a variety of cognitive challenges that scale proportionately as their skill level and proficiency increases.  These persistent game worlds are also intensely social spaces, forcing players to work cooperatively in a variety of roles to advance in the game, fostering communication and even leadership skills.  These are the very "21st-Century Skills" that schools advocate but are often failing to produce.  What might it look like, though, if these games were brought into the classroom?  How does this look, logistically?  Are there solid curricular connections?  Join us for an interview with Lucas Gillispie and Peggy Sheehy, two pioneers who are doing just that with the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

Lucas Gillispie has been an educator for more than a decade now, working as a high school science for ten years before taking a position as a district-level instructional technology coordinator for Pender County Schools in southeastern North Carolina.  Lucas holds a MS in Instructional Technology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he completed thesis work researching the effects of a 3D video game on middle school student’s achievement and attitude in mathematics.  His interests include gaming in education particularly the use of MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games), mobile game-based learning, virtual training and simulations.  His current projects include the WoWinSchool Project, a collaborative effort to explore the impact of using World of Warcraft in both an after-school program and as part of the regular instructional program and iPod Games for Learning, a program that explores the use of game-based learning using the iPod Touch.  His presentations have been well-received at Games, Learning, and Society, Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education, Games in Education, NCTIES, and NCDLA among others.

After a twenty-five year career as a professional vocalist, Peggy (Norton) Sheehy attended Empire State University and received a BS in Musical Performance and Education. She began teaching in 1997 at Mt. Sinai Elementary School in Mt. Sinai, New York., where the transition from the stage to the classroom was a natural one! During her tenure there she was a third-grade classroom teacher and also served as a district technology trainer.  After receiving her Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from Stony Brook University, she became an advocate for the authentic infusion of technology in education, and spent extensive time presenting her ideas and experience at technology conferences and workshops throughout the Northeast region. She received the Technology Teacher of the Year for two consecutive years from ASSET, (Association of Suffolk County Supervisors for Educational Technology)  where in 1999, 2000, 2001 she presented  "Tomorrow's Classroom Today".

In 2001, Peggy moved to Greenville, South Carolina where she taught fourth-grade at Stone Academy of Communication Arts.  It was there that she attended the University of South Carolina at Columbia to begin her MLIS, and moved into the field of library and information science. Ms. Sheehy is currently continuing her studies in the MLS program at Southern Connecticut State University.

In 2003, she returned to the New York area and now serves as Instructional Technology Facilitator and Media Specialist at Suffern Middle School.  Very active in the district’s teacher technology training program, she is a fierce advocate for the meaningful infusion of technology in education and in 2006 established the first presence for a middle school in the virtual world of Teen Second Life.  After experiencing profound success with the first group of 400 8th grade students, Ramapo Islands has now expanded to six complete sims to support 1400 students and their teachers.

In 2007 Peggy established MetaVersEd Consulting Ltd. to facilitate the proposal, design, acquisition, and implementation of educational environments in the virtual world of Teen Second Life. She believes that engagement, edutainment, and the authentic applications of 21st Century technology in education is paramount to preparing our students for success in the “flatter” world.

Peggy has been privileged to present her work at NECC 2007, 2008, and 2009 in Washington DC, and was a featured presenter at the NECC Leadership Symposium demonstrating how to translate the new NETS from paper to practice, NYSCATE, TECH FORUM, EDTECH, TECH EXPO, ISTE BEST PRACTICES, Alan November’s BLC Conference, as well as NSBA’s T&L in Seattle and COSN in Austin.  In addition, Peggy was a Keynote speaker at the SWCSS and the CLMS annual conferences.

At NECC 2009, she was awarded the prestigious “MAKING IT HAPPEN AWARD” and is proud to sport the coveted “PINK JACKET”  Peggy/Maggie Marat (her Second Life counterpart) was also privileged to introduce the opening Keynote Address at NECC 2009

Sam Chaltain on Democratic Learning Communities, Live Wednesday July 28th in Elluminate

Join me Wednesday evening for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com interview with Sam Chaltain, author of American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community.

Date: Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Pagehttp://www.learncentral.org/event/86940

Sam Chaltain is a DC-based educator and organizational change consultant. He works with schools, school districts, and public and private sector companies to help them create healthy, high-functioning learning environments. Previously, Sam was the National Director of the Forum for Education & Democracy, an education advocacy organization, and the founding director of the Five Freedoms Project, a national program that helps K-12 educators create more democratic learning communities.

Sam spent five years at the First Amendment Center as the co-director of the First Amendment Schools program. He came to the Center from the public school system of New York City, where he taught high school English and History. Sam also spent four years teaching the same subjects at a private school in Brooklyn.

Sam’s first teaching experience was in Beijing, China, where he joined the faculty of the Foreign Languages department at Beijing Normal University as a visiting lecturer. He taught two American History & Literature courses to third-year undergraduates.

Sam’s writings about his work have appeared in both magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Post, Education Week and USA Today. A periodic contributor to CNN and MSNBC, Sam is also the author or co-author of four books: The First Amendment in Schools (ASCD, 2003), First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights (Oxford University Press, 2006), American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community(Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), and We Must Not Be Afraid to be Free: Stories Of Free Expression in America (Oxford, 2010).

Sam has a Master’s degree in American Studies from the College of William & Mary, and an M.B.A. from George Washington University, where he specialized in non-profit management and organizational theory. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he graduated with a double major in Afro-American Studies and History.










American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community

Laurence Peters on Global Education, Live on Tuesday July 27th in Elluminate

Join me Tuesday evening for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com interview with Laurence Peters, author of Global Education: Using Technology to Bring the World to Your Students

Date: Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Pagehttp://www.learncentral.org/event/86938


Laurence Peters' Global Mission Statement:  Laurence is a global educator—he passionately believes that we need to help our students achieve a “global perspective” in their studies--one that does not come from learning about the world second hand but can be significantly enhanced by personal communication that todays’s Web 2.0 helps facilitate. His latest book (Global Education: Using Technology to Bring the World to Your Students) published by ISTE, is one large step in this direction. The book provides the essential standards based rationales as to why the global dimension needs to be a central part of how and what we teach in today’s classrooms.

Laurence was born in London, England in 1952. He studied at the University of Sussex, where he received a BA degree in English Literature in 1974. He received his MA (Educ) degree in the Theory and Practice of English Teaching from the University of London, Institute of Education (1978) and a Ph..D from the University of Michigan. After writing and teaching he gained a Law Degree from the University of Maryland in 1986 and became counsel to the Subcommittee on Select Education & Civil Rights for the US House of Representatives (1986-1993) before serving as Senior Policy Advisor to the US Department of Education (1993-2001). Subsequently Peters directed the Mid-Atlantic Regional Technology in Education Consortium (MAR*TEC) working with five states, (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Washington DC and New Jersey) to assist their efforts to integrate technology into the curriculum. His book Global Education: Using Technology to Bring the World to Your Students (ISTE) 2009 is currently adopted in many graduate level programs including the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) where he has served as an adjunct lecturer and consultant. He currently serves as Vice President of the National Education Foundation. He is married with three children.

How to Contact:  edusolutions123@aol.com

Global Education: Using Technology to Bring the World to Your Students

This Week's Live and Interactive Webinars in Elluminate

Below are this week's public, free, and interactive Webinars through LearnCentral.org, the social learning network for education that I work on for Elluminate.

The time of the events below will show up automatically in your own time zone when you are registered in LearnCentral and when you have chosen your time zone in your profile. Event recordings are posted and available after the events if you aren't able to attend them live. If you are looking for an easy calendar import / RSS feed for these events, you'll now find a link on your calendar page or the calendar page of specific groups!

Be on the lookout for Australia-time-friendly events as part of the new Australia Series, Spanish-language Webinars from the Aula 2.0 Series, and student-oriented sessions fromStudents 2.0! We also hope you will consider hosting your own public webinars using the LearnCentral public room--instructions are available by joining the "Host Your Own Webinar" group on the main announcement tab (http://www.learncentral.org/group/3432/host-your-own-webinars).

Thanks for your attention, and see you online!

Monday, July 26th
  • 5pm PDT (US) / 8pm EDT (US) / 5pm GMT/UTC (intl times): FUTURE OF EDUCATION SERIES
    Educational Networking Alternatives.Steve Hargadon will lead a discussion on alternatives for educational networks.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/88086
  • 10:45pm PDT (US) / 1:45am EDT (next day) (US) / 5:45pm GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times): AUSTRALIA SERIES
    “Tech Talk Tuesdays: What do I do with Web 2.0,”
    with host Anne Mirtschin. In this presentation, Jess McCulloch, an early uptaker of and innovator web2.0 tools will talk about and demonstrate her favourite tools, explain how she has used them in general for personal networking and give some ideas for classroom projects. LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/86875
Tuesday, July 27th
  • 12:30am PDT (US) / 3:30am EDT (next day) (US) / 7:30pm GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times):
    “Science in Practice.”
    Join Lorrajne Lawson for a discussion about her project, Science in Practice. Science in Practice is a new course on offer to high school science students in Queensland, Australia. Units of work for the course include: Safety in the home/workplace/environment; 'Sport and Performance Science'; 'On the farm or in the zoo?' and 'Your planet needs you'. (units_of_work_SIP_CSDE_24June 2010.doc). Currently in development is the course for online implementation in 2011. Please join Lorraine and share some resources or ideas on networking!
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/node/88465
  • 9am PDT (US) / 12pm EDT (US) / 4pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    “Global Trends in Language Learning in the 21st Century.”
    Join Dr. Sarah Eaton as she about this new research. The webinar will include a 20 minute presentation and 35 minutes for discussion. Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) and individualized, customizable approaches to speaking a new language are just two of the new directions in language education, according to a new study on global trends in language learning. The study found that authoritative teacher attitudes and language labs, among other things went out in the 20th centuy. In the 21st century, new trends include using technology both inside and outside the classroom; adopting an individualized and learner centered approach to learning; linking language learning to leadership skills and community impact; and asset-based approaches to assessment including frameworks and benchmarks. The study, “Global Trends in Language Learning in the Twenty-First Century”, conducted by Dr. Sarah Elaine Eaton, a research associate at the Language Research Centre of the University of Calgary and a private consultant, also found that public speaking and presentation skills, even for second language students, are enjoying new levels of prestige in the Obama era. “For the first time in decades, there is a U.S. President who is wooing young people with his power to communicate verbally. This is having an impact not only in the United States, but across the globe. There is an increasing focus on the clear verbal articulation of ideas. This is being reflected in the field of languages, as there is an ever-increasing focus on articulate communication. Second language speech contests, debates, poetry readings, and story telling are particularly trendy,” Eaton explains in the report. The study is a meta-analysis of recent research which provided the means to identify current and emerging trends in the language education field.LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/86167

  • 4pm PDT (US) / 7pm EDT (US) / 11pm GMT/UTC (intl times): Collaborative Online Education Project Training for Teachers,with presenter Mayte Esponda. Mayte will lead a discussion on online project training for teachers.LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/88191
  • 5pm PDT (US) / 8pm EDT (US) / 12am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times): FUTURE OF EDUCATION SERIES
    Laurence Peters discusses, “Global Education,with Steve Hargadon as part of the FutureofEducation.com interview series.
    LearnCentral Link:
    http://www.learncentral.org/event/86938
Wednesday, July 28th
  • 3am PDT (US) / 6pm EDT (US) / 10pm GMT/UTC (intl times): AUSTRALIA SERIES
    eT@lking: Flat Classrooms and Global Collaboration," with host Anne Mirtschin. Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay will join Anne to talk about their amazing work Flat ClassroomProjects.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/85624
  • 4pm PDT (US) / 7pm EDT (US) / 11pm GMT/UTC (intl times): Collaborative Online Education Project Training for Teachers,with presenter Mayte Esponda. Mayte will lead a discussion on online project training for teachers.LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/88193
  • 5pm PDT (US) / 8pm EDT (US) / 12am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times): FUTURE OF EDUCATION SERIES
    Sam Chaltain discusses, “American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community, with Steve Hargadon as part of the FutureofEducation.com interview series.
    LearnCentral Link:
    http://www.learncentral.org/event/86940
  • 6:30pm PDT (US) / 9:30pm EDT (US) / 1:30am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times): MATH 2.0 WEEKLY SERIESs
    “Math 2.0 Weekly: Project Euclid
    ,” with host Maria Droujkova. Mira Waller (Duke University Press) and David Ruddy (Cornell University) will introduce Project Euclid.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/82631
Thursday, July 29th
  • 4pm PDT (US) / 7pm EDT (US) / 11pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    EDUBLOGS SERIES
    “Edublogs Fine Focus - YouTube in the Classroom.”
    Join Jo Hart for one of our fortnightly "Fine Focus" sessions. YouTube is powerful because it is popular, but it is widely
    prohibited on school networks. In this session, Bill Genereux (associate professor of Digital Media and Computer Technology in the Engineering Technology Department, KSU) will discuss his recent efforts to learn how students and educators are portrayed on the social media video website YouTube using digital ethnographic research methods pioneered by Michael Wesch.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/67267

  • 5pm PDT (US) / 8pm EDT (US) / 12am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times): FUTURE OF EDUCATION SERIES
    Steve Hargadon interviews Peggy Sheehy and Lucas Gillispie on “World of Warcraft and Learning with Teens” as part of the FutureofEducation.com interview series.
    LearnCentral Link:
    http://www.learncentral.org/event/86942
Saturday, July 31st
  • 9am PDT (US) / 12pm EDT (US) / 4pm GMT/UTC (intl times): CLASSROOM 2.0 LIVE SERIES
    Update on Diigo version 5,”with co-hosts Kim Caise, Lorna Costantini and Peggy George. Diigo co-founder, Maggie Tsai, will demonstrate the features in the latest version of Diigo, the online social bookmarking tool.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/node/88218

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Alternative Social Networking Platforms for Education

Last night I interviewed Derek Zabbia from Ning and Steven Gross from Pearson to talk about the changes to Ning's services and the sponsorship by Pearson of Ning "Mini" networks for K-12 and Higher Education networks in North America.  It was a good, albeit slightly confusing, session.  Because Ning's changes and the Pearson sponsorship are happening (and need to happen) in conjunction since they are tied to the timing of free networks going away, Pearson's role hasn't been well understood.  The event last night should give some clarity, although I would argue that neither Ning or Pearson have done a great job so far proactively explaining what is naturally confusing.  (Event recordings:  Full Elluminate or Audio-only.)

Because I think the broader community of educators still wants to know more about what the options are for educational social networking in light of the Ning changes, next Monday night we'll hold another session exploring:  the alternative platforms network organizers are moving their communities to; how you are handling privacy, licensing, and technical issues relating to transferring members and content; what your experiences have been so far; and if any networks are needing "rescuing" right now.  If you have made a transition, or are planning to do so, please attend so you can tell us about it.  Vendors are also welcome to attend, but let's agree that those of us who are vendors (me included, since I represent Elluminate and LearnCentral.org) will not toot our own horns but be there just to listen, learn, and answer any specific questions that might come up.  Details for the meeting are below my notes.

In the meantime, here were some quick takeaways for me from last night:

  • It seemed to me that some number of the participants last night didn't really understand the Ning changes nor did they understand Pearson's role.  While a careful and close reading of all the material on the Ning site does provide answers to most questions, neither organization has done a great job of making things really clear.  I'm sure Derek has a LOT going on right now, but he wasn't able to answer some questions--notably, about the ability to turn networks back on later if they've not converted by August 20th, or about the archive function (which I still don't see on my networks) and the archive format.  OK, so if Derek doesn't know these things, then I think we can forgive ourselves for not knowing all the details here...
  • Steve Gross from Pearson made it clear that Pearson does not have a legal right to nor will they attempt to contact the members of educational networks that are accepted for their sponsorship, although they will be able to contact the network creators and there are no restrictions on the amount of that contact (Steve did say he doesn't think it will be much).
  • Steve also made a compelling case for their sponsorship being an opportunity for Pearson 1) to do something good, and 2) just to watch and learn about how educators are using this type of platform.  I did a poll of the audience to gauge the trust level around this motivation, and I think they have some work to do.  As Steve said, the proof will be in what they actually do.
  • Derek said that they estimate there are roughly 11,000 educational networks on Ning, 7,500 of which are North American.  This is obviously a pretty small drop in the larger Ning bucket, but they decidedly feel the influence of the education market at Ning to work so hard to put this deal together with Pearson.  So far they have had about 2,000 applications for Pearson sponsorship of Mini networks.
  • I took a poll of how many of those present in the session (we had just over 100 at our high point) who were using Ning for educational networking would be able to move forward with the limited feature-set of Mini networks, and about 1/3 said that they would be able to but 2/3 would not (would need one of the higher service levels).  I'm guessing this will be a helpful number to Ning as they look at the response rate to the Pearson program.  I'm also concerned about that portion of the 2/3 who might not have a plan to be able to pay...
  • E.g., a number of folks indicated that the one-month grace period for education, ending August 20th, was putting them in a real bind--since they won't be able to get approval by their educational institution since school won't yet have started for them.  
  • I'm also curious to know if anyone else, like me, has procrastinated decisions about networks--since I currently run several that won't be able to use the Mini but for which I'm not ready to pay the $19.95/month fee for Ning Plus (in particular for me:  using a custom domain name, having groups, and having more than 150 members).  I just honestly haven't spent the time to go through my networks to figure out a plan for each, in part because I think I'm going to have to make some hard decisions on some personal and family networks (I'm already paying fees for my professional Ning networks so they won't change).  Are there some really valuable educational networks that are going to run the risk of being turned off?  If so, do we need to mount a "rescue" operation?  How will we even know which networks are in danger?
  • I remain concerned that those who contributed to educational networks when Ning was in the "freemium" model did so believing that their contributions were part of the "civic" engagement, not unlike contributing or working on Wikipedia content.  To have that content "go away" now because it's not going to be paid for still feels to me like the breaking of a social contract, and I remain disappointed that there wasn't any kind of "grandfathering-in" of existing educational networks.  I also wonder how many non-institutional educational networks will be created knowing that non-payment at some point in the future will result in this same disappearance of content.  I'll be sorry to see that creativity and experimentation go away, if they do.

Date: Monday, July 26th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Tuesday Event: James Bach on Self-Education and Passion

Join me Tuesday evening for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com interview with James Bach, author of Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar: How Self-Education and the Pursuit of Passion Can Lead to a Lifetime of Success.

Date: Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Pagehttp://www.learncentral.org/event/86937

James Bach is an expert in the field of computer software testing who has taught critical thinking and software testing around the world and at such places as the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He lives in Eastsound, Washington with his wife and son. When James Bach was just 24 years old, he told a classroom of at risk kids, “Education is important. School is not. I didn’t need school. Neither do you.” And James should know. At the age of 14, James, son of Richard Bach (bestselling author of the 1970s classic Jonathan Livingston Seagull), dropped out of school because it was “interfering” with his education. To James, it wasn’t just a waste of time, he felt he was using his own time against himself. This was a seemingly radical idea for someone who would go on to become one of the youngest technical managers at Apple Computers and an internationally-recognized expert in the field of computer software testing.

Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar: How Self-Education and the Pursuit of Passion Can Lead to a Lifetime of SuccessFrom the publisher:  "In this new book, James strongly advocates the importance of “unschooling”—considering himself not a student but rather a “Buccaneer-Scholar.” James, a buccanneer-scholar is a person “whose love of learning is not muzzled, yoked or shackled by any institution or authority and whose mind is driven to wander and find its own voice and place in the world.”

"The volatility of today’s job market and the limitless opportunities afforded by the internet have forever changed people's attitudes about schooling. In this world of rapid technological development, people are becoming successful, making money and finding personal satisfaction through non-traditional means. Ideas have become more important than training; innovation is more important than credentials. The ability to educate oneself — to learn how to learn — is crucial.

"With SECRETS OF A BUCCANEER-SCHOLAR, James doesn’t seek to eliminate schools but he does want to deconstruct the belief that formal education is the only path to a great education. In his uniquely pithy and anecdotal style, James outlines the eleven elements of his self-education method and shows how every reader — simply by investing time and passion into educating themselves about the things that really interest them — can develop a method for acquiring knowledge and expertise that fits their temperaments and enhances their unique abilities and skills."

Visit:
www.buccaneerscholar.com

This Week's Live and Interactive Webinars in Elluminate

Below are this week's public, free, and interactive Webinars through LearnCentral.org, the social learning network for education that I work on for Elluminate.

The time of the events below will show up automatically in your own time zone when you are registered in LearnCentral and when you have chosen your time zone in your profile. Event recordings are posted and available after the events if you aren't able to attend them live. If you are looking for an easy calendar import / RSS feed for these events, you'll find our Google Calendar "hack" at LearnCentral.tv (the developers at LearnCentral are working on a good long-term solution).

Be on the lookout for Australia-time-friendly events as part of the new Australia Series, Spanish-language Webinars from the Aula 2.0 Series, and student-oriented sessions fromStudents 2.0! We also hope you will consider hosting your own public webinars using the LearnCentral public room--instructions are available by joining the "Host Your Own Webinar" group on the main announcement tab (http://www.learncentral.org/group/3432/host-your-own-webinars).

Thanks for your attention, and see you online!

Monday, July 19th
  • 5pm PDT (US) / 8pm EDT (US) / 5pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    CLASSROOM 2.0
    SERIES
    Pearson and Sponsorship of Educator Ning Networks.Join Steve Hargadon for a live and interactive session with representatives from Ning and Pearson who will discuss the significant changes to Ning's pricing plans, how the changes affects educational networks, and the Pearson program to sponsor the new Ning "Mini" service level for education-focused networks.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/86936
  • 10:45pm PDT (US) / 1:45am EDT (next day) (US) / 5:45pm GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times): AUSTRALIA SERIES
    “Tech Talk Tuesdays: Getting the Picture: Working with Online Images,”
    with host Anne Mirtschin. In this presentation, John Pearce will share ways to manipulate and change digital images using a range of free and open source as well as online image editors. Digital cameras are so ubiquitous these days that just about anyone can take a digital image or movie. Despite this so many digital images do not get past the camera let alone get adapted for use in the classroom or beyond. This need not be the case as digital images and movies can be used very easily to enhance student learning. This session will explore ways to manipulate and change digital images using a range of free and open source as well as online image editors. John will also share where you can find, and how to search for images on the internet that you can use freely, and if time permits will also look at how you and your students can share and add to the pool of suitable digital images and movie content worldwide as well via Flickr, TeacherTube and edublogs.tv.LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/85623/
Tuesday, July 20th
  • 10am PDT (US) / 1pm EDT (US) / 5pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    ELLUMINATE LIVE SERIES

    “Faster, Cheaper, Better: Really Rapid Instructional Design,”
    with presenters Tracy Tagliati and Dr. Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan. Do you feel stifled by the traditional systematic instructional design model? Twelve years ago, Thiagi went cold turkey and quit using his grandparents’ ADDIE instructional-design model. He came up with a continuous, concurrent, creative, co-design approach. His associates and hundreds of workshop participants have used this approach to design corporate training materials faster and cheaper and to produce more effective transfer to the workplace. In this walk-the-talk workshop learn when, why, and how to apply principles from chaos, creativity, and improv to design learning packages for multicultural audiences and for the next generation. LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/85572 (pre-registration required)
  • 5pm PDT (US) / 8pm EDT (US) / 12am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times):
    FUTURE OF EDUCATION SERIES

    James Bach
    discusses his book, “Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar,with Steve Hargadon as part of the FutureofEducation.com interview series.
    LearnCentral Link:
    http://www.learncentral.org/event/86937
Wednesday, July 21st
  • 3am PDT (US) / 6pm EDT (US) / 10pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    AUSTRALIA SERIES
    eT@lking: Elearning Innovations for VET in VIC," with host Carole McCullough. Debbie Soccio will be the guest presenter on Victorian Innovation Projects for VET - new twitter arrangements and other innovations for project collaboration “HOWARD's GIG”.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/69050
  • 6:30pm PDT (US) / 9:30pm EDT (US) / 1:30am GMT/UTC (intl times):
    MATH 2.0 WEEKLY SERIES

    “Egyptian Math
    ,” with host Maria Droujkova. Join Milo Gardner and Bruce Friedman for a presentation on the decades of decoding and analysis work on Egyptian sources.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/82625
Thursday, July 22nd
  • 12:30pm PDT (US) / 3:30pm EDT (US) / 7:30pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    “PBS Cyberchase/ National Summer Learning Association Webinar.”
    Join this webinar for a PBS Cyberchase summer learning association webinar.
    LearnCentral Link:
    http://www.learncentral.org/event/86649
  • 4pm PDT (US) / 7pm EDT (US) / 11pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    EDUBLOGS SERIES
    “Edublogs - Serendipity (PD out of a blue sky).”
    Join Jo Hart for a fortnightly unconference session. Bring along the burning issues and hot topics YOU would like to discuss. Topic is chosen by poll at the start of the session.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/67266
Saturday, July 24th

  • 9am PDT (US) / 12pm EDT (US) / 4pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    CLASSROOM 2.0 LIVE SERIES

    Twiducate,”with co-hosts Kim Caise, Lorna Costantini and Peggy George. Twiducate founder, Brian Collinsworth, will lead a discussion about Twiducate, an online social network for use with students.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/84921

Tonight - Ning and Pearson Answer Questions About the New Educator Program

Join me tonight for a live and interactive session with representatives from Ning and Pearson who will discuss the significant changes to Ning's pricing plans, how the changes affects educational networks, and the Pearson program to sponsor the new Ning "Mini" service level for education-focused networks.

Ning's new pricing plans go into effect tomorrow (July 20), and the grace period ends on August 20th.  Next Monday, July 26th, we'll hold a session asking for reports on alternative network services or solutions that different people have tried and what their experiences have been.

For the sake of clarity:  while I did consulting work for Ning at one time, and while Pearson and Elluminate (my employer) have different business ties, I have no personal interest in Ning or Pearson and this session is being held entirely for the benefit of the educational community.  Next week, during the demos on other networks, I will show LearnCentral, Elluminate's free social network for educators, but only as part of the larger picture of what alternatives are available for educators.

Date: Monday, July 19th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Pagehttp://www.learncentral.org/event/86936

Those interested in the history of educational social networking and Ning can download my white paper here.


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Tonight - Graham Glass on Edu 2.0

Join me tonight for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com interview with Graham Glass, the founder of EDU 2.0, a popular free cloud-hosted learning management system (LMS).

Date: Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Pagehttp://www.learncentral.org/event/84917

Graham Glass is particularly interested in the future of education, including areas such as adventure games and learning circles, and recently presented his ideas at TEDxManila.

In a previous lifetime, Graham was the founder and chief architecture of The Mind Electric, a web services company that was bought by webMethods in 2003. He served as the webMethods CTO after the acquisition before starting EDU 2.0.

In addition, Graham used to teach computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas, made a living as a professional instructor teaching advanced software, and wrote several textbooks published by Prentice Hall. He has 15 patents, all in the area of distributed computing.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Live Today: Neeru Khosla on Open-Source Digital Textbooks and Nigel Paine on Five Big Global Trends in Education

Join me for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com interview with Neeru Khosla, co-founder of CK-12, as we talk about their work and the future of textbooks.

Date: Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Pagehttp://www.learncentral.org/event/84915


Neeru Khosla is a firm believer in the power of education. She wants the rigor and accountability of for profit models to apply to non-profits. Neeru is a member of the Board at The Nueva School in Hillsborough, California, where she has served since 1997, caters to gifted and talented students and is internationally recognized. Neeru is also on the Advisory Board of the American India Foundation, a leading international development organization charged with accelerating social and economic change in India. She previously served as a trustee of the Pacific Vascular Research Foundation and Connexions, a Rice University open-source project. Neeru's commitment to education is evidenced by her role on the National Advisory Board for DonorsChoose, an organization dedicated to addressing the scarcity and inequitable distribution of learning materials in U.S. public schools. Neeru is one of the founding members of the K-12 Initiative of the D-School (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) at Stanford University and a member of the committee to expand the program. Neeru is currently the Co-Founder and Executive Director of CK-12 Foundation. CK-12 is a non-profit organization launched in 2006, which aims to reduce the cost of textbook materials for the K-12 market both in the US and worldwide.

Neeru holds a Bachelors degree from Delhi University/San Jose State, a Masters degree in Molecular Biology from San Jose State, and a Masters in Education from Stanford University.



Just a few hours later tonight, join "Coach Carole" McCulloch from Australia as she interviews Nigel Paine on "Five Big Global Trends in Education" as part of the LearnCentral Australia Series.  The session will discuss a few of the larger shifts in eLearning that are occurring as a result of improvements in technology, global economic forces and the changing workforce.  Participants will be encouraged to share their own stories and examples and it should be fun!

Date: Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 / Thursday, July 15th, 2010 depending!
Time: 11pm Pacific / 2am Eastern (next day) / 6am GMT / 4pm AEST (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Page:  http://www.learncentral.org/event/85617

Nigel Paine is the Managing Director of nigelpaine.com ltd.  He has been involved in learning technologies for over twenty years. He has run organisations producing software, CD Roms and multimedia materials,one of which won an EMMA (European Multi-media award).  His company was the first in the UK to have educational software bundled by Apple for the US market.

Appointed in April 2002 to head up the BBC’s Learning and Development operation where he built one of the most successful learning and development operations in the UK.  This included an award winning Leadership programme, state of the art informal learning and knowledge sharing and one of the most successful and well-used intranets in the Corporate sector.  All this while managing the largest broadcast training operation in the world.

He left the BBC in September 2006 to start his own company that is focussing on promoting creativity, innovation and learning and the link between them. He speaks at conferences around the world and writes for a range of international publications. He is also coaching senior executives in companies in Europe, Australia and the USA. 

He drives people mad with his infectious optimism about the power of learning to transform both individuals and organisations and is a great believer in innovation as a means of constant renewal.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and the Royal Society of Arts and has been a visiting Professor at Napier University since 1998. In 2006 he was awarded the Masie Learning Through Leader Award, and has been a Masie Fellow every since.


Sunday, July 11, 2010

This Week's Live and Interactive Webinars in Elluminate

Below are this week's public, free, and interactive Webinars through LearnCentral.org, the social learning network for education that I work on for Elluminate.

The time of the events below will show up automatically in your own time zone when you are registered in LearnCentral and when you have chosen your time zone in your profile. Event recordings are posted and available after the events if you aren't able to attend them live. If you are looking for an easy calendar import / RSS feed for these events, you'll find our Google Calendar "hack" at LearnCentral.tv (the developers at LearnCentral are working on a good long-term solution).

Be on the lookout for Australia-time-friendly events as part of the new Australia Series, Spanish-language Webinars from the Aula 2.0 Series, and student-oriented sessions fromStudents 2.0! We also hope you will consider hosting your own public webinars using the LearnCentral public room--instructions are available by joining the "Host Your Own Webinar" group on the main announcement tab (http://www.learncentral.org/group/3432/host-your-own-webinars).

Thanks for your attention, and see you online!

Monday, July 12th
  • 10am PDT (US) / 1pm EDT (US) / 5pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    ELLUMINATE LIVE
    SERIES
    Project Team Triage,” with presenter, Lou Russell. In this presentation, Andrew will explain how he has successively removed teaching & learning activities from the classroom and replaced them with online equivalents that are equally (or more) effective. His journey started in 2006 with a biology podcast (which is now receiving 1000 downloads a day) through which he explains the concepts that were previously only explained in class. Now he teaches biology to a class who does not even have a place in the school timetable! He will share the tools he has used and/or is using, including podcasting, screencasting, instant messaging, various websites/social networks and Elluminate. Some of his students will (hopefully) also attend to give a student perspective.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/node/85562 (pre-registration required)
  • 10:45am PDT (US) / 1:45pm EDT (US) / 5:45pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    AUSTRALIA SERIES

    “Tech Talk Tuesdays: Teaching and Learning without a Classroom,”
    with host Anne Mirtschin. In this presentation, Andrew Douch will explain how he has successively removed teaching & learning activities from the classroom and replaced them with online equivalents that are equally (or more) effective. His journey started in 2006 with a biology podcast (which is now receiving 1000 downloads a day) through which he explains the concepts that were previously only explained in class. Now he teaches biology to a class who does not even have a place in the school timetable! He will share the tools he has used and/or is using, including podcasting, screencasting, instant messaging, various websites/social networks and Elluminate. Some of his students will (hopefully) also attend to give a student perspective.LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/83447
Tuesday, July 13th
  • 6pm PDT (US) / 9pm EDT (US) / 1am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times):
    “Collaborative Online Education Project Training for Teachers,”
    with presenter Mayte Esponda. "What is a Collaborative Project? Why collaborative Projects Online? Key factors of
    Collaborative Projects Teacher training Is it necessary to be trained to build a successful collaborative project?
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/80509

The 2010 Global Education Conference
A Collaborative Worldwide Conference on Global Education, November 15 - 19
Multiple Time Zones, Multiple Languages, Multiple Tracks, and Free
For more information, to volunteer, or to keep informed: http://www.globaleducationconference.com



Wednesday, July 14th
  • 3am PDT (US) / 6pm EDT (US) / 10pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    AUSTRALIA SERIES
    eT@lking: 5 ways to use videoconferencing," with presenter Carol Skyring. There are many ways that videoconferencing can enhance the educational experience. In this session Carol will talk about five ways to extend your classroom and show you how you can involve your students in a variety of experiences. She will give you links to a number of websites where you can find videoconference content and exchange ideas with other educators.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/84383

  • 9:30am PDT (US) / 12:30pm EDT (US) / 4:30pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    ELLUMINATI SERIES
    Shannon's Bright Ideas Center - Engagement," with presenter Shannon Autrey Forte. The ways to engage and collaborate in Elluminate are vast. We will start with the basic features such as Polling, Emoticons, Whiteboard and Chat. One hour will probably not be enough time, so we may consider adding a Part 2 of this topic for August. You may also notice this is not scheduled on the FIRST Wednesday of the month this time. Well, that is because I will be on vacation that week, but don't want to miss this topic. I apologize in advance to those who will be unable to attend due to the date change, but remember we will post the recording for you, promise!
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/83447

  • 11am PDT (US) / 2pm EDT (US) / 6pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    ELLUMINATE LIVE SERIES

    Creating A High Performing Workplace With Games, Social Media, And Virtual Worlds,” with presenter, Anders Gronstedt, Ph.D., president of the Gronstedt Group. Get ready to step down from the stage, get out of your faculty cloak, and join the new learner-centric revolution. Forget courses and curriculums. The future of learning is about online conversations and communities, podcasting on the go, and shared immersive-3D virtual-worlds experiences. A new breed of learners is entering the workforce with little patience for traditional “Web 1.0” PowerPoint dronathons and e-learning drudgery. They want to be engaged, in control, and part of the storyline. Leading companies are turbocharging workplace performance with learning and communications that focus on doing, simulating, socializing, playing, sharing, and collaborating. In this session, learn how leading companies are betting that the future of learning won’t be built on flat, static webpages but rather in traversable 3-D spaces; think Facebook meets Grand Theft Auto, or a Smurf Village reduction of your classroom.
    LearnCentral Link:
    http://www.learncentral.org/node/85568 (pre-registration required)

  • 5pm PDT (US) / 8pm EDT (US) / 12am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times):
    FUTURE OF EDUCATION SERIES

    Neeru Khosla discusses, "Open Textbooks and the CK-12 Foundation", with Steve Hargadon as part of the FutureofEducation.com interview series.
    LearnCentral Link:
    http://www.learncentral.org/event/84915

  • 6:30pm PDT (US) / 9:30pm EDT (US) / 1:30am GMT/UTC (intl times):
    MATH 2.0 WEEKLY SERIES

    BLOCK Fest.” During the event, we will talk about block play, parents as teachers, and BLOCK Fest events of the past and the future.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/82614
Thursday, July 15th
  • 10m PDT (US) / 1pm EDT (US) / 5pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    ELLUMINATE LIVE
    SERIES
    “Active Contributors In Social Learning: Helping Learners Acquire Motivation And Skills.”
    The growth and success of social learning and mobile learning are accompanied by a new type of learner - the Contributor. Contributors create and share content and continuously interact with their informal groups.The challenge, however, is that learners - whether generation X,Y or silver - require a new set of skills and motivation to become active contributors. In this No-Lecture Webinar, Ray will cover strategies and tactics that have proven effective in developing Contributors. This session will also help trainers, eLearning designers and learning leaders understand new leader skills for implementing social learning and supporting the Contributors.
    LearnCentral Link:
    http://www.learncentral.org/node/85570 (pre-registration required)

  • 4pm PDT (US) / 7pm EDT (US) / 11pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    EDUBLOGS SERIES
    “Edublogs Fine Focus (Topic to be advised in advance).”
    Join us for our forthnightly "Fine Focus" sessions on a wide range of topics from: how to use tools/applications (the "techie stuff"),
    edu issues, e-learning tools/strategies and much more. In fact anything "e" that is of interest to educators. PS If you have anything you would like to share we would love you to deliver a session for us.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/67265
  • 5pm PDT (US) / 8pm EDT (US) / 12am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times):
    FUTURE OF EDUCATION SERIES

    Join Steve Hargadon for a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com interview with Graham Glass for a discussion about Edu 2.0.
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/84917
Saturday, July 17th
  • 9am PDT (US) / 12pm EDT (US) / 4pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
    CLASSROOM 2.0 LIVE SERIES

    Moodle Mayhem,with co-hosts Kim Caise, Lorna Costantini and Peggy George. Miguel Guhlin and Diana Brenner will lead a discussion about the Moodle resources and course repository found at "Moodle Mayhem".
    LearnCentral Link: http://www.learncentral.org/event/84920/