VOTE me off the Island! The new 21st Century Reality Show
Flashback to the 20th century where each classroom teacher, principal, assistant principal, and superintendent were considered to function in isolation. Yes, there were grade level meetings, principal conferences, but those were structured, filled with specific messages, lists of things to do, data to share and most likely it was synchronous event. For the most part if you were hired to teach in a classroom, you did your job in isolation, unless you were lucky enough to co-teach with a peer. Similarly, for an administrator you were working in a one person think tank. You had problems to solve and maybe you got some great ideas when you went to the yearly principal or superintendent conference once a year, however, the rest of the time you were on an island too.
Fast forward to the 21st Century Reality Show! Today, there are no excuses for anyone in education to say they feel isolated in their job. Yes, you may be the only technology integrator in your building or school district, you may be the only 1st grade teacher in your building. (You can tell I am from Maine where we still have some schools where there are single opportunities for a grade.) However, by joining a virtual network of other educators you need never be isolated again. You can willingly be voted off the island!
Pack your bags, gather your 21st Century tools and become a virtual educator, never isolated again. What do you need to be a virtual educator? You will need Internet access, and a search for a group similar to the one you are already a member. If you are a teacher, administrator or a technology coordinator you can find what you need to get started right here at TechLearning. You can select from different categories of topics and the great thing about this is, that you are not restricted by a time frame, a date, or how long you can participate. This is the asynchronous part of the virtual space. The education you will take part in here is based on your time schedule and your interest. You can read an article, search for a topic of interest, whenever you would like. You can take part in a blog.... wait a minute. What is a blog? A blog, you are reading one now, is an online journal entry. The most valuable part of this journal entry is that you treat this as a conversation. You can interact and comment about this entry. You can join the conversation and thus become a member of a virtual group. You may even begin your own blog or blogs, yes you can can many blogs! You, in fact, will be happy to be voted off your island whether it is your classroom, your office, your school, or your district.
Once you have joined a virtual community, begin looking at other virtual communities and find the best one that you can relate to. You have many choices, Techlearning.com/blog or the TappedIn.org community, where educators from around the planet have set up "office" spaces, defined their interests and you can look for others with similar interests. The Discovery Educators Network, which has a bulletin board and discussion groups, is a great group to join and you can find subgroups based on identified interests. There are many choices if you visit WorldBridges.net, where you can listen to a variety of podcasts and webcasts of educational design, and I've already gone into detail about Electronic Village Online, where I learned to become a Webhead. You can join or create a small group of other educators and begin your own conversations using SKYPE or GIZMO for free telephony communications. Alice Barr, Bob Sprankle and I have a monthly show called Seedlings at Bit by Bit that many people look forward to. Besides having an Internet connection to become a virtual educator you will need a few inexpensive tools. I use a USB headset with headphones and a microphone, or my ipod headphones and a USB microphone when I am talking on SKYPE or Gizmo. These tools allow great broadcast and audio reception when involved in online conversations.
What does this all mean? With very little money invested you can become a world traveler in the virtual spaces reserved for educators on the World Wide Web. You don't need a passport, you don't often need any special currency, you just need an adventuresome spirit, and some time. Oh, right, you have already designated some time since you are reading this blog. Now take the next step and comment, continue the conversation, share this blog with someone else and vote them off the island!
Comments
Cheryl,
I listen to your podcasts with Bob and Alice- and I love the article- I am the Director of Instructional Technology for PENNCREST School District in Pennsylvania. Last year, we did an extensive staff development program over the course of 3 months that we called Survival Tech: Escape from Anuwanu Island (pronounced as the slurred version of I don't want to). We took our 38 participants to several "islands" to get them to consider the value of technology tools, including web 2, that they hadn't tried before. It was a true reality experience for them- and, they were all voted off Anuwanu island at the end- Now, we just need to continue to get more of our staff to join them.
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