NECC

I just was informed by email that my proposal to present at the National Education Computing Conference was accepted. I am so thrilled and excited and scared all at the same time. It is such an honor to be selected. I applied last year and was turned down but this year--here I go. I am presenting a poster session detailing an inservice that I presented during August on Web 2.0.

Second Life

Hi--I wonder if anyone has been to second life that I know. I hear about technology people spending time in second life but I have not had good experiences there. Is it the wave of the future or just a game that will come and go? I see some fun that could be had there but I have had to walk away from many men who do not know that kissing someone as soon as they meet you is not acceptable (at least not in the South). I can understand why teenagers and kids are not allowed in second life. It seems to be a fantasy world kinda like the Sims. Has anyone been to second life and had a really good experience.

New Coursework

I am starting two new classes at Walden University this week in my quest to get my Ph.D. in Educational Technology. One is Integrating Technology in the Classroom. I always call my technology class--the easy one. I learn so much and really enjoy the topics. The other class is Educational Measurement. I looked this morning and found out that our first group project concerns value added scores in Tennessee. As one of two students from Tennessee, I may be called upon to be knowledgeable about this topic. But then again--as a librarian--I do not have value added scores. Any comments about value added and how it helps or hinders you would be appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I am thankful for a job where I love what I do and can work with current technology. I am thankful for my family. I hope that ya'll have a wonderful thanksgiving and eat lots of turkey.

TASL Conference

On Friday, November 15, 2007, librarians from all over Tennessee met in Franklin, Tn to work on all sorts of different ideas. I spent some time in Web 2.0 workshops. We talked about podcasts, wikis, and blogs. Many people are using them in classrooms and libraries. I foresee them being used more and more as the web 2.0 becomes more a part of the fabric of learning. I see many people using technology more and more. The students are just happier when they use technology. What do you think????

Bethel Class

I enjoy teaching one grad class at Bethel College in McKenzie. I get to work with teachers and help them to learn to integrate technology. There is just so much that they need to know but the whole class is like playing with a computer. Web 2.0 is tough to teach to classes because it encompasses so many read-write items. But at least they know how to begin to look for ways to help their students integrate web 2.0 tools.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is the read write web. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networking (myspace), you tube, flickr, and social bookmarking (del.icio.us) are all a part of the read write web.

This new addition to the Internet has many advantages. You can make even the most shy student respond to your posts. The technology behind it is free except for an Internet connection. Student can collaborate with other students in the same city or in another state or even in another country.

What are some uses that you can use in your classroom--today or even in the future?

Wiffiti

Ok--I am so into gadgets but this wiffiti is so cool. to the side bar. All you have to do is txt me at 25622 put @dianneanderson first--then it will place your comment on my wiffiti. After that when you text 25622 it goes to me. You can put all sorts of comments on the wall. The picture is of a cool library that I found in flickr. It was so much fun. So TXT me.

Library Projects

Today, students began the first of many library projects. Collaborating with the Biology teacher, the students came to the library and worked on a biome project. There is little mention of wikis that I taught during inservice but maybe soon. We did use our wiki to complete our standard access report for the Southern Association Team that is visiting in October. I think that teachers understand the wiki but are not ready to use them in class yet. Maybe a success story is needed.

My library skills workers are using blackboard this year. They have a discussion board as well as paperless assignments. I really like how it is progressing. School is going well even though we have the typical "I forgot my password" or "I am a new student--how do I log on to the computer?" This is really turning out to be a fun year.

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school. There is such a freshness to the first day of school. Students have a fresh start. Teachers have the new tools that they learned in inservice to become better teachers.

Web 2.0 tools are worming their way into my school. I used a wiki to make the Standards Assessment Report to the Southern Association Visiting Team. Teachers see the value of using the technology. Some of them have created wikis to use in their classroom. I can see the ice thawing towards Web 2.0.

School Starts

I am so excited. Tomorrow is the first day of professional development. I am working with my teachers to introduce them to web 2.0 tools, Inspiration 8.0 and Office 2007. I have three hours. I know it is like a week's assignments put into one day. But I am still excited. Teaching my peers is harder than teaching my students. I have been working on this for weeks. I have one more week before the students show up. Professional development is really fun when I do not have to plan it. But then again, the teachers need to know about the latest and greatest technology. Let's hope that they are ready to use Web 2.0.

Professional Development Planning

I am working trying to plan professional development workshops for next week. It is hard to believe that school will start for my teachers on August 2. This year after attending NECC, I am so excited about Web 2.0 tools. I must get my teachers to embrace this technology. So...I have 1/2 day that I am going introduce blogs, wikis,and RSS feeds. I also have to explain to them the best way to use Inspiration 8.0 and the new Office 2007. Then I have two more days of professional development where my teachers and I are planning for the Southern Association review team that is coming to visit. I have a wiki all set up and we are going to finish our report using a wiki. I have spent the last two weeks planning for these professional development workshops.

I learn so much reading blogs that others have done. My bloglines account has 37 feeds and I add to it constantly. I love reading all sorts of information and how they are using technology. I also am downloading podcasts all the time to listen to when I have a long drive. What great learning tools are available right now? What does the future hold? I can't wait to find out.

Librarian Workshop a success but not about Web 2.0

I love Web 2.0 but the workshop that I went to on Thursday was not about Web 2.0. First, we were allowed to shop for books for our school. I enjoyed the time looking through the shelves to find books for the school. After that, we talked about cyberbullying and the Volunteer State Book Awards. I am hoping that we can incorporate the Volunteer State Book Award (VSBA) this year, but first I have to order the books. Then we heard the author Rebecca Seitz. She was awesome. She is a publicist for several authors and gave away books. I won three books YEA!!!! Then Rebecca read to us from one of her book, Prints Charming. We all bought copies for ourselves. I can't wait to read it.

I did encourage all the librarians there to investigate Web 2.0 and be the leaders in their schools of the movement which will soon take over their students. We need to be prepared.

Librarian Professional Development

Tomorrow, (Thursday, July 12) I will be attending a professional development workshop with librarians from West Tennessee. I wonder if we will be discussing the usual fixed vs. flex?, what graphic books to buy?, etc. Or will be graduate to more collaboration and web 2.0. I am so excited about using web 2.0 tools this fall that I am going to drag my teachers to use this tool. I have been thinking about the best way to present RSS feeds and blogging. I have mentioned blogging before and they just stare at me. But with wikis and RSS, I can see them using them.

Wish me luck as I travel to a professional development workshop that I hope will be different.

Senator Corker to the Rescue!!

Senator Bob Corker's press secretary called and our group of 10 students and 5 adults that traveled to Europe are writing articles for the newspaper about our trip thanking Senator's Corker's office for their help while we were stranded. We had been in the airport for 46 hours when Senator Corker's office intervened and we were met by the Vice President of Customer Service and booked on a flight the next day, given hotel rooms and meal vouchers. It was a life saver!!! We finally flew home the next day feeling better after a hotel room and meals.

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

Technorati

Excitment

I am so excited about school starting this year. I mean I have the usual databases to set up but I also am going to introduce my faculty to a wiki in hopes that some of them will incorporate it into their classrooms. We have to write a narrative about the 7 standards of the Southern Association before a site visit in October. I have set up a wiki with each of the 7 standards and I hope to get the teachers to use them to write their narratives. It will work so much better than email. The record itself will be useful.

I also get to teach the new Inspiration 8.0. I don't know if I can get them to buy into the wiki idea but I hope so. I can see such learning. It is exciting to be able to teach the students now.

Airport disaster

I want to tell you DON'T FLY UNITED!!! I took 10 students and 5 adults to Europe on a student tour. We had a 14 hour delay due to weather on the beginning of the trip. United lost our 13 bags. They returned eight of them seven days into our trip. The other five finally made it back to Tennessee four days after we returned home. The worst part of the trip was the return flight. We were supposed to fly into Nashville Tennessee on June 13. We landed at Washington Dulles just as a storm hit and our flight was canceled. We offered to fly to Huntsville, Knoxville, Memphis, Birmingham or Nashville. Even with all these locations, we spent 56 hours at the airport.

We called our U.S. Senator Bob Corker who called United and we got booked on a flight to Knoxville June 15. Senator Corker also persuaded United to comp us rooms at the Hyatt and meal vouchers!!!

So far, United has offered to send us a $100 off our next flight on United for each person. We have sent them receipts for all the food that we had to buy in the airport as well as the clothes that we had to buy while on the trip. I will pack differently next time and make sure that I don't fly United!

NECC

Having just returned home from NECC, my brain is full of ideas of how technology can be integrated into the curriculum at my school. What is the best way to get the teachers excited about using Web 2.0? I have plans to work on the School Improvement plan using a wiki. I think that if the teachers use the wiki--then they will see the benefits and how easy it is to set up. I have hopes that this will work.

I have committed to blogging more about my experiences in the Ph.D. program at Walden. It is a challenging program that causes me to learn and think constantly. While at NECC, I attended a Walden residency at night. Dr. Shepard had great people to speak to us--David Thornburg, Vicki Davis, Sherry Toledo and Mark Wagner. These are leaders in their fields and it was so encouraging that they would take time to speak to us.

I am now home writing summaries of the sessions that I attended. Then I am going to start working on my next KAM (Knowledge Area Module). I am writing the one concerning systems theory. I am looking at different theorists at this point. I have picked out Peter Senge. I am looking for others.

Time off

Well, I took off while I was taking Quantitative Analysis. It was not that bad. I mean--don't get me wrong, I worked on it but it was manageable. I am now taking Management of Technology and Curriculum. It is really busy.

I am getting excited about NECC. It is in June and I am looking for a topic for my dissertation. So, I am looking to find a topic and some information. See ya.