We're Back!!

After a significant hiatus, I'm back at this blog. Inspired to participate in this global community by Adam Bellow during his keynote presentation at ISTE 2013. See the video below to be inspired yourself - it is great! I'll also make a concerted effort to tweet more often when interesting things (and sometimes squirrels!) come to my attention as they often do. Follow my tweets @marccjohnson. So, here we go - not sure how often I will post and not sure what I will say - we can all be surprised! Talk to you soon.

MIT Students Create Video Content for K-12

This was brought to my attention by a tech coordinator in one of my districts - thanks Jim! The project, called MIT+K12 has MIT students creating videos that answer questions students might have in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). There are currently over 30 videos available answering such questions as, "How do airplanes fly?" "How can photography be utilized for scientific experiments?" and more. This is a pilot project, so there are no guarantees that it will go on in perpetuity, and some of the videos hit the mark better than others, but it is a nice project if it can grow some legs. The videos are hosted on YouTube so if your school blocks YouTube content, you may be out of luck :-(

TIES 2011

Hanging out at the 2011 TIES conference. Record crowds again, congratulations to TIES for that! Keynote speaker, Joel Rose, from the School of One initiative in New York gave a fine presentation. He discussed the large number of teachers who feel frustrated in their work. It helped explain why many teachers have a hard time adopting new technology. If they are already frustrated, adding something new (and often without any real training) just doesn't work. Tech Coordinators and others working in school technology get frustrated too. The many hats they wear on a regular basis can be daunting. I'll talk about that at a presentation this afternoon. We'll see how that goes. I think the important thing is to remember that everyone who works in educstion is part of a team and everything we do needs to be about the kids.

A Video Worth Watching

I'm back again... I was introduced to this video and the website that the presenter operates by ECMECC's technology integration specialist, Jon Larson.

Adam Bellow is a former teacher turned educational technologist from New York. This video was presented at a conference in August 2011 and is very, very thought provoking and well done. Now we just need to act on some of the things he talks about in this presentation!

If you can find 15 minutes now or later to watch it, you shouldn't be disappointed. You may not agree with everything, but at minimum, you will think! Pay particular attention to some of the things he says about professional development! Then, when you are done, share this with administrators, curriculum directors, professional development coordinators, technology staff, teachers and anyone else who might watch it.

His website is called Edutecher. Lots of good information there. He has a mobile app as well so you can load it on your iOS or Android device. While the video above is from YouTube, if that is blocked by your school, it is also available on the Edutecher website (http://www.edutecher.net/tv.php?id=59). Enjoy!