The Human Filter-Moving Students Beyond Google

How do people decide what to tag or share? I tag items that have personal meaning but they need to be useful, relevant, thought-provoking or maybe just entertaining. Are my tagged items better than a Google Search? I would hope. Does columnist Jay Mathew's Washington Post article on Senior Project come up in a Google Search? Not in the first two pages. How about a useful mindmap of Twitter tools? Nope. A nice list of analogies used for AP Psych review? Nope. A great video demonstrating how an MRI works? Ok, Google got that one if I search "how does an MRI work?"

In the past month, out of the hundreds of posts, sites, links, tweets, updates, and emails I've decided to tag 16 links. I've become a human filter for anyone who is interested in Psychology, Senior Projects, Technology, and Education.

I've tagged 5 sites that are specific to my course or professional duties (psychology and Senior Project). These include an anatomy review site, an analogies review worksheet, a video on how an MRI machine works and two articles about Senior Project.

I tagged 4 sites about hardware/software which include a mini-projector device, a tool to provide audio to slides using your cell phone, a concept map of Twitter tools and a list of ways to use a flip video camera in the classroom.

I tagged 3 sites about general educational issues that include using Google Apps for Education, leadership needed to push 1-1 computing in our schools, and creating electronic portfolios for students k-12.

Finally, I've tagged 4 random sites that reflect some personal interest that include NPR's coverage of the SXSW Music Festival, a photography portfolio, a crime tracking tool using Google Maps, and an online application to present at an educational technology conference.

Del.icio.us Page

• Google Reader Shared Items

My Personal Learning Network (PL N)

My school is in its 2nd year developing meaningful Personal Learning Communities (PLC's). These groups are primarily organized around content area groups that set Smart goals who then work collaboratively toward achieving these goals. It so happens that I am the single AP Psychology teacher in my building. While I have identified my own goals based on College Board data, I miss out on a broader discussion about learning, technology, and general content knowledge in the course of in-house collaborative work. This doesn't mean I am not having these conversations about learning. I have turned to web 2.0 tools to have these discussions, to share resources, and to reflect on my strategies and practices. So I thought I would share a sampling of the people who are in my own Personal Learning Network. I say a sampling because my network goes beyond my interest in education, technology, and psychology. I could also include names with whom I share an interest in music, politics, design, marketing, sports as well as a personal network of friends and family.

In reflecting on my PLN, I do notice that I want and need to add more individuals with connections directly to Psychology, I want to include a more diverse group, and I want to continue to add those names who represent an expertise in their fields as well as delete names who don't offer anything to the conversation.

Google Reader Subscriptions to Blogs and other RSS Feeds

• http://www.21stcenturycollaborative.com aka Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach is a 20-year educator who has been a classroom teacher, technology coach, charter school principal, district administrator, and digital learning consultant. Currently, she is in the dissertation phase of completing her doctorate in Educational Planning, Policy and Leadership at the College of William and Mary.
• http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/ aka Vicki Davis, Vicki Davis is a teacher and the IT director at Westwood Schools in Camilla, Georgia. Vicki co-created three award winning international wiki-centric projects, the Flat Classroom project, the Horizon project, and Digiteen with teacher Julie Lindsay, currently at Qatar Academy.
• http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/ aka Darren Draper, Technology Specialist, Sandy, Utah. An avid educational technology enthusiast, A Technology Curriculum Specialist for Jordan School District.
• http://www.johnconnell.co.uk/blog/ aka John Connell, Scotland. A teacher by profession but has been out of the classroom for many years. Recently joined Cisco Systems as their Education Business Development Manager for the Emerging Markets - covering South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia.
• http://www.speedofcreativity.org/aka Wesley Fryer. Wesley Fryer is an educator, author, digital storyteller and change agent. He addresses a range of topics related to education, technology integration, distance learning, and twenty-first century literacy.

Twitter (Microblogging)

• cheeky_geeky aka Mark Drapeau (Washington, D.C.), a biological scientist researching social tools for government use and writes for mashable.com.
• kjarrett aka Kevin Jarret (New Jersey), a K-4 Technology Facilitator/Computer Lab Teacher, Google Certified (NYC ’07), Grad School (MSEd) Instructor, Second Lifer, and workshop presenter.
• dwarlick aka David Warlick (location unknown), a 30+ year educator, technologist, programmer, author, & public speaker.
• tammyworcester aka Tammy Worcester (Kansas), Instructional Technology Specialist at ESSDACK, a service center. Present at lots of conferences and writes a few books.
• chrislehmann, aka Chris Lehmann(Philadelphia), Principal of the Science Leadership Academy and author of http://practicaltheory.org/serendipity/
• MikeGras, aka Mike Gras (East Texas), Chief of Technology in a east Texas school district, White Oak.
• ShawnKball, aka Shawn Kimball (Eastern Maine), Child-centered, future-focused teacher versed in instructional technology and authentic, and integrated project-based learning.
• kstevens77, aka Kyle Stevens (Dallas, TX), Teaching English and Economics and coaching wresting and cross country at Bishop Dunne Catholic School.
• cshirky, aka Clay Shirky (NYC), Mr. Shirky divides his time between consulting, teaching, and writing on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. Mr. Shirky is an adjunct professor in NYU's graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program.
• cwebbtech, aka Chris Webb (Minot, South Dakota), Secondary Schools Tech Facilitator, Masters Degree in Ed Tech (Boise State), Bachelors in Music Ed (UND).
• chrischampion aka Chris Champion (Hershey, PA), writes http://sparksofhope.org/ and a computer teacher with tech integrator designs.
• jomcleay aka Jo McLeay (Melbourne, Australia), teacher of English in a secondary school who loves social media.

There are other social tools I use as well. Flickr, youtube, and del.icio.us (social bookmarking) all have social components that allow me to subscribe to different users or add users to my personal learning network. So, please add my blog and twitter feed to your personal network and let me know how I can add yourself to my network.

Update: Since this post, BrianLockwood (twitter name), an educator, administrator, geek and traveler, and teacher at Yokohama International School, Japan and jasonaedwards (twitter), Director of Educational Technology at the Khartoum International Community School in Sudan started following me on Twitter. Brian tweeted about a collaborative 4th grade Physical Education project that I shared with the PE Dept. at Klem South. I don't know if Klem South will participate but this is just one example of how quickly and how far ideas can be shared and how connected we've become. I now have ideas about setting up a collaborative project for my AP Psychology class as well.

Twitter & TED Collide

Many who know me also know that I am always raving about the speeches available from the T.E.D. Conference. Well, yesterday my Twitter world and the T.E.D. Conference collided. It was basically nothing more than running into someone who knew someone kinda thing but how it occurred was a purely Web 2.0 phenomenon. Here's how it went:

On Twitter I follow Gia Milinovich (giagia on Twitter). I don't remember why or how I decided to follow her. Apparently, she must have been connected to someone else I follow. Yesterday Gia left a tweet that mentioned she held a TED party. I simply replied directly to her, "TED party? TED conference?" Gia replied, "Yes, a TED party with 'TED people', many of whom Brian and I met at TED this year. It was fab!" After a couple more exchanges on Twitter, she informs me that Brian is Brian Cox, physicist and former rock star who gave a TED speech on his work with the Large Hadron Collider. Brian is also her husband.

Update: Another TED speaker, Harold Rheingold left a tweet asking if anyone was available for a cup of coffee in Philadelphia between a speaking engagement and his flight. I wish I lived in Philadelphia as I would have made time to have coffee with Mr. Rheingold. This is twitter universe.

30 Minutes with Twitter

Twitter....one of the most difficult Web 2.0 technologies to explain. Actually, it's easy to explain what it is....more difficult to explain its usefulness. So I just spent the last 30 minutes using Twitter and this blog is about where I went and what I learned (in chronological order).

From some recent twits, I learned that some Instructional Technologist that use Twitter are addicted to Web 2.0 technologies and I received a reply with a link regarding information about a local court case that basically has legalized gay marriage in NY State. This is useful since I am a co-advisor for our school's GSA club. Since I "follow" the uStream twit, I received information that singer James Blunt will be streaming live on uStream on Saturday Feb. 9. Next, I followed a shared link to a 4-minute video clip of Brian Regan, the comedian , talking about going to the eye doctor. Very funny and I forwarded it to a friend who has been avoiding the eye doctor.

Next, I searched a couple of specific terms in Tweetscan. I typed in "U23D" to see what people were saying about a movie I want to see next Friday when it comes to Rochester. I found over 50 tweets in the last couple of days from people who were generally ecstatic over the film. I also typed in the word "psychology" and I found that lots of people are studying psychology, many hate psychology, and only a few who did well on a test...fortunately, none were my psychology students.

I learned that not everyone is into LOST.

Two of my colleagues were on Twitter. I found out that Erin Ells was opening the new Professional Development Center for Webster School District by teaching a class on wikis. And what is apparently a good week for wikis, Barb Goldammer was teaching administrators about wikis.

I also had short conversation with Miguel Guhlin, IT Director for a large urban school district in Texas. I ended up subscribing to his blog but was interested in how he does Skype video conferences for a fee.

Somewhere along the line, I also was informed about an article by Mike Schmoker in Education Week, regarding educational "improvement plans."

I was privy to a conversation between 2 Twits who were troubleshooting a podcast feed usinga wiki, del.icio.us and iTunes. This was a little beyond my expertise, but something I probably could figure out if I wanted to send them a direct message.

I also learned about punoftheday.com, where I found things like "There was once a cross-eyed teacher who couldn't control his pupils." I decided to subscribe using Google Reader so I could read a pun a day.

Finally, I linked to AcademHack, that recently posted a list of academic uses of Twitter.

So have some fun and give Twitter a try... and if you want to follow my tweets...go here (of course, you will need to sign up for Twitter first).