Networked Chambers of Commerce

We spend quite a bit of time wondering about how social networking technologies will affect the classroom and school environment, but what about other areas of our lives? I came across this article in a local paper this morning while I was waiting for my bagel. The title, "Internet Forces Businesses the Rethink Their Model" caught my eye, as did the opening paragraph:

Consider today's young professionals, with their pod-casting,
Web-casting, blog-browsing, socially networking, online work-shopping
ways of staying connected. Now pan over to the local chamber of commerce, traditional organizer of card exchanges, golf fund-raisers and guest-speaker luncheons.

The struggle to remain relevant in the business world, particularly the world of small business is no less high-stakes than the very one we are in here in the field of education. Local chamber of commerce meet-and-greets at the Holiday Inn are as much in danger of becoming irrelevant as are schools married to the 20th Century style of teaching and learning.

"There's definitely a gap between the traditional way that most chambers operate and the way businesses operate today," said Angela Harrington, chief executive officer and president of Harrington Communications LLC in Springfield. "Technology to many of them is maintaining a database. But they don't really use their site as an interactive medium."

We see the same attitude in the business world that we sometimes see in the faculty rooms we encounter:

"At the end of the day, I don't really want to look at a computer,"
said Scott Cohen, training director for Children's Aid and Family
Services Inc. in Paramus. "It may be a networking tool, but do I want
to integrate that tool into my entire life?"

I think that in business or in education, getting the message out and providing your consumers with the necessary information to be successful (whether buying your product or learning a skill) is paramount. When I teach, I am a big fan of the "any means necessary approach" to getting students to learn, reflect, and be successful. Wouldn't the same ring true for the business world, especially the small business world which depends on networking and contacts in order to compete for consumers in a small market?

We often wonder about the nature of the 21st Century workplace, and we should; however, are we as behind as some segments of that workplace? When I read articles like this one, I am reminded that the pace of change is slow at all levels.

Top Ten Tools

This post is inspired by Jane Hart's project, which I heard from through George Siemens' post about it.

Although I am famous for the phrase "it's not about the tools," I couldn't help but look at what people are using to produce and manage content. Especially when you get to peer into the minds of some really sharp people. Here are mine, with explanations:

• Google Reader- a bit overwhelming at times, but still the hands down best resource for learning
  
• Blogger- my think aloud. This is where conversation begins and ends with me.
  
• Google Notebook- I use this for focused research when I need to compile a list of sources for myself or others.
  
• iShowU- Best cost to performance ratio I have found in a screencaster
  
• Audacity- still simple, still perfect
  
• Zamzar- Converts just about anything on the fly and offers a simple downloadable file
  
• Skype- How I connect to people much brighter than myself
  
• Twitter- My new favorite thing. Quick, ubiquitous, and networked.
  
• del.icio.us- I use this more as a searchable catalog of links rather than an organizational tool
  
• Firefox- As many have said, this is the home base. Completely customized and suited to what I need it to do.

What are your top ten tools?

When We are Ready, and No Sooner

A few of the administrators I work with are really beginning to struggle with what their schools will have to look like in a few years, and much like I spoke about a while ago, it's the wrestling with limitations that makes for vigorous creativity. Brad is struggling to gain traction blogging with his faculty, yet he knows that there is real pedagogical benefit for his staff in this type of participation. Thinking about this as I have some time on my hands at the moment, I came across George Siemens' (who always seems to do this to me) post Learning with Networks. In it, he reflects on Terry Anderson's post of the same name. Anderson's conclusion is what Siemens looks at in his post, but I was more interested in Siemens' response:

I can't think of any model other than networks that is capable of
adjusting and reacting at the required pace and manner. But the real
problem is not identifying the solution to our current challenges. The
real problem rests in implementation. When we move to networks, we need to change pretty much everything else. It's like a software program
that has been written in one language, and we are now trying to write
it in another. We can't simply add on and tweak. In education, we
basically have to start over...rethinking curriculum, teaching,
learning, the role of technology, and so on. I don't think we are under
enough pressure yet to make changes of that scale.

What pressure do educators/administrators feel to move away from traditional methods towards blogging as professional practice? It's the whole horse and water thing here. We have to find something to make our staff not want, but need to buy into this. Right now, there is no tipping point in sight, but I think Siemens, and Stephen Downes, as well as a host of others, are spreading the word about the value of learning networks that include blogging and other forms of informal learning mixed with formal classrooms.



Technorati Tags: networks, connectivism, blogging, siemens, downes

Finding the Rabbit

Thanks to Chris Sessums for drawing my attention to this:



Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us. Dir. Michael Wesch. 2007.


A link of David Warlick's post to Julie Coiro's recent work got me motivated. A lot of my thinking lately has been directed in not only digesting the power of connectivism and the potential of Web 2.0 as it applies to school, but also how to sell it to educators. My job is to facilitate the use of technology in classrooms and to support the staff as they implement it.

It requires a little more when we begin talking about an entire pedagogical shift. It becomes a matter of first making it meaningful to the staff. I would never want to ask a teacher to stand in front of a room of students, especially the digital natives that we have in class today, and have them teach using Web 2.0 tools, unless that teacher had bought in themselves.

Coiro uses the Miss Rumphius Awards as an example for steps that teachers should take when integrating technology in a meaningful way. I like them for what I want to do, and how I want to approach my staff. Taken directly from her site, here they are:

1. Start out small and move through stages.
2. Take a few risks along the way.
3. Take a proactive approach to learning.
4. Encourage your students to share their expertise.
5. Never underestimate the power of collaboration.
6. Seek authentic learning opportunities.
7. Be prepared for change.

Every district has what I term "rabbits," and this term was bandied about at the conference with Will Richardson on Friday. This morning, I listened to his podcast with Rob Mancabelli regarding how to implement social networking technologies into existing schools and the idea of passion and meaning in regards to selling districts on these ideas matched up succinctly with the idea of the "rabbit." We need these tools to mean something to our staff before we ask them to take it to the students. They have to buy in and see the value for themselves as learners, before they use them as teachers.