David Warlick or David Loertscher

Yesterday I was in a dilemma about what evening professional development event I wanted to participate in. I had read weeks ago that Second Life planned a presentation event in conjunction with ISTE featuring David Loertscher, library media guru and professor at San Jose State. I had also heard that David Warlick would be a guest on a weekly webcast i join, Women of Web 2.0. So at 9pm last night I was truly a multitasking person, pulling up both, and trying both at the same time. As I waited for David Loertscher to begin, I am standing there in SL thinking how eerie it feels to be in a virtual world, and how I was NEVER really a gamer, and didn’t know if I would EVER develop a comfort zone for this. I actually stood, too, b/c I could NOT make my avatar sit down. Seats were rapidly filling. But the other part of my computer was iTunes (as well as a chat window), and the folks were shrieking with laughter and very obviously having a great time. The conversation was LIVELY and fun, and I kept going back so I could follow the chat. The ladies and their guests always bring in the conversations happening in the chat, and last night was no less. I was incorrect about the guests though. David Warlick is going to visit soon, but last night was a show focusing on using social networks and new presentation tools. It was mentioned that WOW2.0 was competing with an ISTE event in SL, but the chatroom had a record crowd–in the upper 30s. The guests were Darren Draper of Blog “Drapes Takes,” 5th grade teacher Dean Meyer, and Steve Hargadon of blog fame, Ning fame, and best, Edublogger Con fame form NECC 2007.

What a WISE decision I made. Even though I was mildly disappointed that it wasn’t David Warlick, it was still very powerful conversations about new, free (mostly opensource) presentation tools, like Elluminate, FlashMeeting, Google Presentations, and others, and how these tools have enabled us to have meaningful professional development with tools designed not only to share, but also involve and interact with participants. Many of the new tools have a chat feature enabled, and sometimes the presenter can even incorporate the back channeled conversations right into their presentations. How awesome. We also talked of the power of social networks and social networking, reliving just a bit of the power that came from EdubloggerCon (which i attended and participated in at NECC Atlanta 2007!!)

Doug Johnson of Blue Skunk Blog fame had blogged yesterday about how he planned to attend the David Loertscher presentation in SL. So I emailed him and shared about my quandry–which one to choose? He emailed me back today, noting that he went to the SL presentation, and it seemed to me he was mildly disappointed that David Loertscher was only there apparently in handout form, as his assistant conducted the presentation. The content was good, but available as a pdf handout download. (NOTE: You can get good summary as well as Doug’s take and thought provoking questions from this SL presentation in a post on his blog today.)

So with this information I now am SO GLAD I choose Women of Web 2.0. It was well worth the hour I spent online in this chatroom as I listened to the guests and hostesses carry the program. Best of all, I was NOT alone in my choice. Reports are that the chatroom had record numbers, and included in the chatroom were some really big experts like David Jakes, Miguel Ghulin, and LMS’s Joyce Valenza, Carloyn Foote, and Lisa Durff. (Great minds think alike, and apparently meet up in the same chatrooms!) My friends, it is a wonderful opportunity to network with educators who have a similar interests in students and education. Here is quoted text from their site that tells what it is:

WOW 2.0 is for all who are using the tools of the internet whether it be in a classroom setting, leading seminars, authoring books, maintaining blogs or wikis, or just enjoying the tools of the internet in an educational and exciting way.

WOW2 is brought to you by Cheryl Oakes, Jennifer Wagner, Sharon Peters, & Vicki Davis, four women who not only love using the tools of the Internet but also love sharing the tools with others…Each Tuesday night’s chat is great fun and we invite you to join in the conversation via the chat room.

One last note. I asked Jennifer Wagner when David Warlick will be there. They are trying to have him mid October, which for the show translates to Tuesday night, October 16, from 9-10PM. I promise if you come any Tuesday night you won’t be disappointed.

NECC 2007 — You can still tune in!

Even though Necc 2007 is now a distant memory, I am pleased to share many ways you can still enjoy this educational conference, an annual favorite of mine! Those who know me know that I am huge fan of library gurus Doug Johnson (of the Blue Skunk Blog) and Joyce Valenza (of the Neverending Search Blog), who I got to speak with personally at the conference. Yes, I was star struck by some of my favorites, but both of these are really easy going folks who love to talk about the state of libraries in education today. NECC made podcasts of many of the sessions, as well as webcasts. The podcasts are now available for you to listen to, and the webcasts will be coming soon. [UPDATE: Webcasts are available NOW here and HERE.]

Here is a link directly to Doug Johnson’s session titled Classrooms and Libraries for the Net Generation, and here is a link directly to Joyce Valenza’s session (co presented with Ken Rodoff) titled Inforamtion Fluency Meets Web 2.0. Both are excellent sessions I attended, and there was standing room only in these sessions. Many opted to sit on the floor. I even know of a small group who sat in the hallway and listend via someone “skypecasting” the session live!

There are a lot of other sessions available in this format at the Apple Learning Interchange Site, the official podcast channel of NECC.

No time to sit and listen?? Visit Hitchhikr or Technorati to read up on the sessions that were blogged. I wish I could share the energy in the blogger lounges as well, but most of that was unrecorded conversations. But you can read all about it in the blog postings from above.

As you enjoy your summer break, perhaps you’ll be able to enjoy this conference as well, even from afar.

Information Fluency Meets Web 2.0 — Joyce Valenza’s NECC 07 Presentation

This media guru always knows exactly what to say to make me feel I am right there with her! The media guru of the century, Joyce Valenza, admittedly calls herself a 1.8 person, not quite 2.0. She considers herself still in beta, but proclaims to all that it is okay to still be in beta. We are, after all, lifelong learners!

Valenza starts with a a pix of the soldiers from the story Stone Soup. Many want to believe they scammed the village, but in reality, if looked at a different way, they were instead an inspiration for change and a catalyst for collaboration in that village.

With the increase in Web 2.0 tools, our students are living in a very rich media world. As literacy teacher librarians, we should be embracing these tools to teach responsible use. We can model the use of these tools as well through our instructional practices. An IDEAL way to model is to change the way we do pathfinders, and instead of publishing static webpages, make wiki pathfinders! Of course this is just one way, but what a way to jump right in!

Joyce Valenza created a wiki for this presentation that can be easily accessed, and she welcomes its use for us to teach our faculty and staff, and yes, even students. There are some GREAT examples of end products of project based learning here as well, and a ton of ideas for us to start small (while we are still in beta) and grow to become authentic 2.0 users and contributors.

Remember the intro with the analogy of the soldiers and their stone soup? We as professional teacher librarians can be the soldiers of Web 2.0. We can model the use of web 2.0 tools in our own instructional practice, and help teachers integrate their use as well through solid collaboration. I left this session so inspired! Check out her avatar–I’ve got to find where this was made so I can make my own too!

Is there anything at NECC for you?

Just in case you think the ISTE and NECC are not relevant to school librarians, think again. Doug Johnson, Director of Media and Technology for the Mankato Public Schools, has posted a slew of sessions from the 2007 NECC Program that are directly related to media and school libraries. Read what he has publicized as being directly for media specialists by clicking here. Visit the NECC site to see for yourself. It’s in Atlanta this year, and that really is just a short drive for most of us. I’ll be there, and hope to see some other fellow SC lms’s attending too. It is such a shame that NECC and ALA overlap this year since both are a reasonable distance for us here in SC. NECC is June 24-27. Anyone interested in going?

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