Building Personal Learning Networks: Can you Identify the Top People in your Area?

Personal learning networks. What a great thing. I can have a network that is all about Web 2.0 or digital literacy or the bands I like to see on the weekends. I can create a network for just about anything I want to learn more about or stay on top of.

What got me thinking about this? . . . Will Richardson's post Pulling Networks Together. It’s about a set of five questions that are intended to get readers thinking deeply about their passions and about the connections they form around them. More specifically, his first question got my attention: "1. Can you identify the fifty smartest or most accomplished people who share your passions or interests, regardless of where they reside? "

To me, it seems if I can identify these people then I can have the "mac-daddyest" learning community ever - right at my fingertips.

So, my question to you is, can you identify these people? Who are they?

Just Thinkin'

Lee Anne

ENROLLMENT IS OPEN FOR EIGHTH FLOOR SUMMER CLASSES

Be the first to enroll! Here's why . . .
Last summer we had long, long waiting lists for any class that had the word "SMART" in it. After that, we threatened to put SMART in the title of all our classes, such as SMART Blogs, SMART Ed Tech . . . you get the idea. But we didn't. Instread, we scheduled all the SMART classes we could squeeze into the summer. You should be able to find something SMART related scheduled almost every day.


We have some great new classes. The newer classes are always the more popular and fill up the fastest. Here's what is new or changed for the summer:

• Ed Tech 1 - has been shortened to one day - previously, two days
• Ed Tech 2 - this a gizmo and gadget basic, introductory course -projectors, scanners, etc.
• Podcasting 2 - finally! We go in elbow deep with Audacity and audio production
• Google Workshop for Teachers - tie together the many Google tools to may them work for you and your students.
• Grant Writing for Teachers - short course, tips, tricks, and resources.
• Cyberbullying - we've shortened this to 3 hours.
• Intro to Camtasia - screencasting tool. If you teach online - take this class.
• Computer's Don't Byte - get down to the basics, file management, bits and parts, etc.
• SMART Subject Specific Workshops: science, math, language arts, early childhood, social science
  

So, here's how you can find out more information and get enrolled.

• List of classes: http://eighthfloor.org/class.html
• PDF with course descriptons: http://eighthfloor.org/enewsletters/Eighth%20Floor%20Summer%202010%20Course%20Schedule.pdf
• You can also subscribe to the Eighth Floor Google Calendar: http://eighthfloor.org/class.html
  

If you have questions about enrollment proceedures, please feel free to contact your advisory committee representative or Norma Newman, 918-828-5341.

Hope to see you on the Eighth Floor this summer!!
Lee Anne

Ages of Social Network Users - Why do you Care?

I just taught a Social Networks for Educators class earlier this week. Good class – interesting group. As is typical of universal energy (What?), after the class is over, I start getting/noticing all this new and interesting information about social networks. *sigh*

Social networks are a hot area right now. Duh. I guess a more interesting prediction might be to say, when the flame of hotness eventually burns a little lower, social networks will have found a solid home in education. I am still wondering what that will look like. Right now it is a bit awkward. Right now there isn’t huge support or understanding. Right now, none but the early adopters are on board. Right now, potential and vision are limited.

So, on Facebook I ran across a blog post from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, Study: Ages of Social Network Users. I love this kind of stuff. I admit I have not investigated the research. I do know it is from Google – I know, I know . . . . It’s really more of a comparative study than research.

It goes something like this:
“How old is the average Twitter or Facebook user? What about all the other social network sites, like MySpace, LinkedIn, and so on? How is age distributed across the millions and millions of social network users out there?
To find out, we pulled together age statistics for 19 different social network sites, and crunched the numbers.”

Here is what caught my attention: the least active age group is the exact age group everyone assumes is doing nothing but living via social networks – the 18 to 24 age group. I can think of a million reasons why this may be so, but I can also think of a million reasons why this could be so for any other age group, as well. So what gives? And, that’s not the only question I have. What does this mean for business owners and marketing efforts since this age group will soon become the bigger consumers? Will this trend follow this group, or will they become more active as their circumstances change? What does this mean for education – especially post secondary? Are they already bored by all this? Are social networking tools in education going to be another one of those “day late and an idea short” things that wears everyone out?

What do you make of the 35-44 age group being the largest? Come on, it’s not like this age bracket has more spare time. Maybe they do and I have just lived my life wrong.

Another bit of information caught my attention from a satellite article I read. Eighty-four percent of the people on sites like Facebook are female. Many people commented that although a female majority is true, that this was a false representation since many businesses create female accounts to attract customers. I think it would be more interesting to compare which gender is more ACTIVE as opposed to just having an account. Same with age -- although there are few users in the 18-24 age bracket, I wonder if they might be more active?

I’m going to build on my previous prediction.( I’m brave like that! ) Social networking tools will find a solid home in education because educators will recognize what is valuable about these tools, and they will make them good and true and free and valuable. Much, much of the research shows that social networks (also known as community) aide in student retention, regardless of age. In education, social networks become personalized learning environments. They fit well with our media mindedness. Students are comfortable, find purpose, and feel they belong. When is that not a good thing?

Just thinkin’

Lee Anne

Dr. Seuss TODAY - He so would have been a "GEEK"

In case it is not on your calendar, Dr. Seuss would have celebrated his next birthday this coming March 2nd. We were talking about this in an online class I am facilitating, and one of my students Lou Ann Wilkens, shared this:



Dr Seuss Today
Here's an easy game to play.
Here's an easy thing to say:

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!


If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
Then your situation's hopeless, and your system's gonna crash!


You can't say this?
What a shame sir!
We'll find you
Another game sir.

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
'Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!

When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risc,
Then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom!

Dr. Seuss as a "geek"! Can you see it?

Just sharin'
Lee Anne

6 Powerful Social Media Persuasion Techniques – For Educators

In the last year, we have been making a push to build our online learning community. We think this would be an invaluable resource for our consortium members. In the process, we have been trying several social media tools to see which we think will be a good fit. We have an Eighth Floor group on Facebook, we have a Ning site, we have a Twitter account, and we have a blog and wiki. The blog and wiki we have had for about 4 years –they are hardly new and are essentially serving their purpose already. We are really leaning toward the ning site as the hub for our learning community. http://eighthfloor.ning.com/ . I am curious if you can guess why?

So, here’s the thing - that cute little saying, “If you build it, they will come.” Not so much - I’m just sayin’. Right now we have 59 members on our ning site. I love and appreciate every single one of those 59 members – they are AWESOME. (that last statement will be kind of funny in a couple of paragraphs) But we need more! We have a large consortium. Where are the people that are supposed to come?

In an effort to figure out what we could be doing, I have been reading some different blogs lately. One, which I quite like, is The Social Media Examiner. (Author Jeff Sexton) It is more business oriented, but sometimes it is easier to find the answers in the business world and then translate them into education world. Today’s post was particularly interesting for my purposes: 6 Powerful Social Media Persuasion Techniques. Translated, that means, how do I get people to come once I have build it?

Let’s take a look at the six powerful techniques. I encourage you to read the article for yourself, but I am going to translate this into “education world” and share, because if I am nothing else, I am a sharerer. For those of you also struggling with the whole “what’s wrong with my learning community and am I being heard by ANyONE” – maybe this will help?

1. Recipication: This is all about acknowledging and validating the people who do show up. When someone joins your community, you should welcome them and invite them to the conversation. If someone comments on a blog or discussion, you should acknowledge – even expand on –their contribution. Nurture your community.

2. Commitment & Consistency: simple – be committed and be consistent. Continue to remind them in creative ways why this site is valuable them. Send the members a special message every so often. Provide perks for them, such as first crack at new classes or the first to have new information. Make “things” easier for them – create an inside track. Choose a social media platform and stick with it. Be regular in your interaction, be present.

3. Social Proof: this boils down to being valid and sound. Build social validity. See what others like you are doing – what makes them successful. What can you do that others might mimic?

4. Liking: exhibit good intentions. Be likable – be attractive – be for good, not evil. Align yourself with what you feel is positive or good in your area of focus. Be easy to digest and interact with – not complicated. Have a variety of topics to appeal to the variety of people in your community and to those you wish to attract.

5. Authority: exhibit expertise. Cross your I’s and dot your T’s (smile). Check your facts, make sense, be legitimate, and be credible. Not surprisingly, size contributes to authority. The more people who connect with your community, the more authority it has. To me, that’s a little bit of a catch 22 situation – you need people to be authoritative, but you can’t get people unless you are authoritative – you get the idea.

6. Scarcity: offer something there is only a little of. That could be anything that is of value to your community, be it knowledge, information, access, etc. Offer a prize, a contest, a guest spot as a blogger . . . (*crickets*).

Is the Eighth Floor doing all of this, do you think?

In the business world, online learning networks are key. If you need to know something, this is how you find it. Slowly, the same is becoming true in education, really. If I want to know what the latest information is, I hit an online community. This is how your students get their information. It’s not wrong – it’s what it is.

Just out of curiosity, what would it take to get you into an online learning community today – say the Eighth Floor ning site?

Just thinkin’
Lee Anne

Secure Websites in Plain English

Common Craft has another "Plain English" video you won't want to miss.

Secure Websites in Plain English

These days websites make security a priority, but it is hard to know when a website is secure, or what makes it so. This video teaches the basics of website security and how to recognize a secure site.

• An overview of the most common security threats
• How SSL encryption works
• How to recognize a secure connection
• In which situations security is most important

Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

Technology Tips & Tools for National Board Certification

In this Eighth Floor class, participants will discuss tips and technology that will help them get and stay organized throughout the certification process. You will want to bring a flash drive and leave with CONTROL!

Due to weather issues last week - we have reschedule this class for February 18th, 2010 from 4:30 - 7:30 pm.

Contact your advisory committee representative for enrollment.

Just sharin'
Lee Anne

20 Types of Blog Posts - or Blogging Across the Curriculum!

I have had possibly more than a million dozen teachers ask me, "What can I do with blogging in my classroom?" I tell them anything they can imagine, they can do. There are as many ideas as there are teachers and classrooms. I tell them to start out by reading some blogs. Any good blogger was first a good blog reader! Then I tell them to consider their purpose, the nature of their students, and how much time they are willing to commit. I also caution them to replace something they are already doing with the blog - not add the blog to the incredible amout they are already doing. It becomes too much and they will just hate it later.

And all that is some solid advice, if I do say so myself! I realize that for some (me included, often) that solid advice is not always enough to get the juices flowing and motivation running high. Examples, samples, ideas, . . . possibilities! These can help me be creative. So, when I saw this blog post, I thought BRILLIANT! This is just a casual list of 20 different types of blog posts. What I saw was a great list of blogs across the curriculum. See what you think:



20 Types of Blog Posts



Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

Getting the Word Out About our Classes

Every semester we try our best to get the information about our classes out to our consortium members. We use several methods: printed schedule, eNewsletter, emails to the advisory committee, posts and notes on various social media sites, word of mouth, . . . that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Still, we are not sure we are REALLY getting the information out there. We quite often hear from first time participants who have been in a school for many years that they have never heard of us or didn't understand what we were about. OUCH! We do an impressive repeat customer kind of busniness - meaning, once people take a class here, they are hooked.

We have a few questions you all may be able to help us with:

• How do we combat being invisible without being annoying?
• How do we get first timers up here - what might make them notice us?
• What could we be doing to get folks to interact with the Eighth Floor more?

I know people don't have a lot of extra time, and absolutely no schools have any extra money, but we are the best deal in town when it comes to professional development - hands down. How do we let people know?????

Just wonderin'
Lee Anne

Protecting Your Reputation Online - in Plain English

The folks at Common Craft have come out with another short video that puts "life online" in simple terms. This video, Protecting Your Reputation Online in plain English, is aimed at younger social media users and discusses some of the short and long term risks of posting inappropriate or potentially embarrassing information online about them or their friends.

Although it is meant for the tween/teen crowd, there are good reminders in here for us more mature users. I think of this particularly as so many parents and grandparents get on Facebook and other social networking sites. Not only are we connecting with our day to day friends, but we are connecting with kids, siblings, parents, high school friends, work friends, people we don't really know so well, etc. Sharing on the web is a good thing, and I certainly do not want to warn anyone away from productive or fun use of networking sites. I can not imagine my work or personal life without them. We simply need to be mindful of what we are sharing, both about ourselves and others. Does your best friend from high school really want his or her kids to see that hilarious picture? Do you have a frosty beverage in your hand in every picture of you on Facebook?

We don't always think about what goes into shaping our online persona, but of course, we should. This video is a gentle poke in the direction of mindful posting.

Just thinkin'
Lee Anne