Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

I’ll be in San Antonio for ISTE’s NECC very soon. It seems surreal to think I’m on the list for presenting in a panel discussion. So what if it is not like a real preso? Instead of my own presentation it is rather a group who talk about how the newer tools have changed the way we do things, particularly in the school library. My contribution (voice of expertise) is supposed to be using the tools for professional development. I hope I can hold a candle to the other experts on the panel. I am so in awe of Joyce Valenza, Carolyn Foote, and Judy O’Connell! Oh and some how one of the expert voices is not showing in the list–>Diane M Cordell-a wonderful friend I would have never met had it not been for the tools we use to network (blogs, Twitter, Skype, etc.) So looking forward to this one! Here’s the description from the NECC planner.

June 18, 2008 I am scheduled to give a half day a.m. workshop on Web 2.0 tools and I’ve been given some freedom and flexibility on what I do and how I do it.  I am planning to show a few short videos, get a Twitter hello w/ advice, and Skype in a few folks.  I have personally contacted a few already, but have decided to use my blog (and Twitter) to solicit more volunteers.  I just want some people to allow a skype (w/video or not–the choice is yours) to talk to my audience about how you personally use any 2.0 tools for professional development or projects with students.

I am not talking an hour commitment or anything like that, just a short, sweet “hello” and “here’s an idea or example I’d like to share.” Actually I’ll limit volunteers to no more than 10 or 20 minutes at the most.

Please contact me if you are willing. I am on the east coast, so eastern time rules. I’ll help with the time conversion if you need it. This would be so AWESOME, and what better way to talk about and/or showcase 2.0 tools than to utilize them in my session?

Did I mention my target audience is teacher-librarians–AKA school library media specialists?  These are your potential head collaborators at your schools, and I want to equip them with some knock-your-socks-off project based learning ideas they can take back to their schools.

Okay, if you can’t be available to help out, perhaps you can make a video or podcast hello with a tip, example, or advice?  I would be MOST appreciative! Use the comments here or the contact form on the blog to join me for this endeavor.

Attribution:

Today on our SCASL-listserv, a fellow teacher-librarian asked about how schools are dealing with students who bring their own laptops to school. The posted question also inquired about how schools are using webcams, with the follow up statement “couldn’t they be used to help our homebound students.” Of course we had quite a few respond, and it was divided relatively 50/50 on good vs. bad reasons to allow the laptops. No one, however, addressed the posed supposition about the benefit of webcams in school. I sat on this all day today (though I did individually reply to a couple of people about what I knew about my former district, and the value of the concept. But I wanted to see how others would respond. The following is my posted reply after seeing everything from kneejerk reactions (almost denial) that student owned laptops have a place in our schools, to some obviously very accepting and most welcome to the idea. I shared 3 issues in my response, and they are as follows:

1) More and more districts are looking into wireless as a more feasible means of providing access in their building(s) and district offices, and removing the costs associated with wiring. It is becoming the norm for more and more wireless places, and this is no different for schools. A school or district can go wireless with secure networks, and all one has to know is the password to gain access. The IT hardware folks can lock down a wireless network and make it secure in a relatively easy manner. Even the routers and such you buy at Best Buy and other electronics stores can easily be secured. I predict that in probably 7, but more likely 5 years, there will be more wireless workstations than not. You almost cannot buy a laptop anymore that does not come equipped with wireless capability, and many laptops are also coming equipped with an internal webcam, which brings me to my 2nd thought.

2) This initial thread also asked about the use of webcams in schools. Brian Crosby (author of the blog Learning is Messy and recipient of NUMEROUS awards) out of a school district in Nevada was able to completely and efficiently serve the needs of a former student diagnosed with Leukemia who b/c of her illness had to stay at home. Brian arranged for the student to have a webcam and for his classroom to have a webcam, and through a program called skype, involved this little girl in the everyday activities that took place in his class. This gained him national attention and notoriety, and caused many educators to rethink what possibilities a webcam can bring into a school. Most shockingly, this was not recently, but I want to say 2 years ago. I personally use a webcam and skype to talk to other school librarians around the nation, and would like to explore bring guest speakers into my library program in an effort to show that our world is truly global today, and students can gain insight and perspective from folks they might never have had the opportunity to see, hear and interact with before. Carolyn Foote of Austin, Texas recently had an article in School Library Journal about hosting an author at her school using Skype and a webcam, and I have participated frequently in conferences from around the world I might never have had the opportunity to participate in, all b/c a friend (Lisa Parisi) who had a webcam found a way to include me in the session (using Skype and Ustream as the vehicle to transport me there.) These 21st century tools are here, and we must embrace them. I promise our students have.

3rd) and last, more and more students are going to be bringing their laptops into our schools. There is no denying it, and with the difficulty (especially in SC) with budgeting for Technology, why not embrace this concept and allow the students who have the capability to provide their own means to connect at school? With them bringing their own, and students without access using the schools resources, we would definitely come closer to a 1:1 program for providing computer access, and maybe join our counterparts from around the world in global projects and 21st century learning.

Yes, it does open up a can of worms, and yes, the higher ups will have to develop guidelines and policies. There are already schools in our state that allow students to bring their own laptops to school, and it is ludicrous to deny them when they have the means. Let’s not bemoan this, but rather celebrate it. We as school librarians can be a part of the solution instead of the problem by assisting our building level admin with policies and procedures to accommodate this growing trend. It is not going away.

I wish I had included one more thought. As we prepare students for college, it is
practically inconceivable that anyone would send their child to study at a post high school institution with out a computer of some kind. I read somewhere earlier this year that nearly 87% of entering college freshman bring either a personal desktop or laptop computer with them, and identify it as a critical tool for their success. In my opinion, it is inevitable that this will trickle down to our k12 schools. It is a futile battle to try and keep them out. We cannot hold back the flood of 21st Century Learning.

Image: ‘Scale‘
www.flickr.com/photos/81851211@N00/393169578

Image: ‘SilvestrFlickrn‘
www.flickr.com/photos/75724432@N00/339969095

My youngest son (17yo) objects heatedly when I talk at the table about friends I’ve connected with. He always asks “real” or “virtual,” as he does not agree that the people I network with using 2.0 tools can be anything more than people somewhere else that you really don’t know. Well I beg to differ, ESPECIALLY after this weekend.

Educon 2.0 was everything it promised to be and more. It was really surreal to see the people that I network with from blogs, chatrooms, wikis, podcasts, nings, and Twitter in person. But it was not like how Alex Russo described educators at conferences (my take on his reference was that we are somewhat like “8th graders at a dance”–very unsure of ourselves.)

From the get go, when Liz Davis met me at the airport in Philadelphia, there was an instant connection. We even hugged like long lost sisters. That was true for most of the day as I met in-person for the first time the people I network with. There were many, many spontaneous hugs.

As I continue to try and wrap my head around how special this conference was, I try to find the words to write. What made it so special? There was not one minute where I was not interacting and talking in conversations, and that includes sessions and fun activities, both scheduled and spontaneous (like the Franklin Institute, boxed lunches, a catered Philly cheese steak supper, an impromptu supper at that Asian Cafe that was so good we went back Saturday evening LATE, and they almost had to ask us to leave so they could close!)

Educon 2.0 was like no other conference I’ve ever been to (and that includes EdubloggerCon In Atlanta, which was more of a pre-conference un-conference idea.) There were no powerpoints or slide shows of bullets in sessions, only educators who served as facilitators to lead the discussion on how to make learning more engaging, more authentic, and how to get beyond the obstacles. There was a lot of discussion about NCLB and filtering, and educators who are not up to speed with the students we teach, who design lessons like it’s 1950 and not 2008. But it pleased me immensely to discuss these topics with the most powerful educators I know, and together strive to find a solution to these obstacles.

What struck me as odd?
There were ALL kinds of educators attending (200+), and they included 2.0 teachers, administrators, instructional technology directors, tech integrators, teacher librarians/media specialists, students, college professors, and more, and strangest to me, a broad range of technology and 2.0 skill base in using the tools, including absolute beginners to seasoned veterans. Many had heard of the conference from the tools we use, but others got it simply by word of mouth. It was great mix of our stakeholders. The only missing piece was parents, though many of these are parents too, so perhaps that was covered as well.

Re-occurring theme
“Touch them all.” David Jakes

Favorite Quote
NECC is a showboat compared to this. (Can’t remember who said it.)

Fondest Memories
Supper with the girls (me, Joyce Valenza, Carolyn Foote, Liz Davis, and others). We nixed on two restaurants Friday evening, writing them off due to crowds (after all, Friday is a date night.) We settled for the Asian restaurant, and shockingly enough, befroe we knew it, we had nine at our table. Then right after we ordered two more groups came in, and because the tables were somewhat close, the conversations continued well into the evening–by the end our crowd included close to 75 people. (See my pictured table!)

What I found MOST surreal
My RSS reader was walking around with me, and many were calling me by name. Yes, I do mean Chris Lehmann, Will Richardson, Joyce Valenza, David Jakes, Christian Long, Patrick Higgins, Jennifer Wagner, Woody Delauder, Glenn Moses, Ryan Bretag, and, well, I could just keep going here, but the I would not meet my goal of brevity…

Tons of time to connect!
I will probably blog some more about the conference, but I did want to leave this food for thought. I know it was an immense challenge that Principal Chris Lehmann of the Science Leadership Academy pulled off, but he pulled it off extremely well. But this is the first conference ever that only cost me $50 and included so many well established gurus. There was no exhibit hall, no badges or bags (though I did win a prize, a mug with the Educon Logo), and no frantic schedule of sessions w/ no time to talk between. This was by far the best conference I have ever attended, as each session was designed to be a conversation, with a full 90 minutes that more often than not allowed the participants to really connect, debate, and learn from each other. Many of them had some kind of interactive component (our session had participants draw a traditional library vs. a 21st century library, and then describe them; another session had the participants create a poem or lyric to share about the topic.) Then each session allowed 30 minutes to get to the next discussion, which allowed you to continue the conversation should you choose to. All for $50. WHAT A BARGAIN!!

My Personal Blonde Moment
Sunday morning I was to ride from the hotel with Liz Davis , since she had rental car and our planes left relatively close together. We would ride to the airport form SLA together. But I misunderstood the time, and thought she had left without me (and I was wrong i later found out!) But Will Richardson and Ryan Bretag were riding in Will’s car (a Prius!!) and Will offered to take me and my luggage over. So I hopped in. Will remarked that he really wanted coffee, and I told him if he would take a right there was a Dunkin Donuts and a little convenience store right there. So he drove up to the curb, quickly threw the car in park, and was out of the car I thought before it came to a halt. I swear it rolled about 6 more inches. I about freaked out! I was asking very excitedly to Ryan is the car stopped, is this car in park?? Now mind you I was in the front. Ryan answered yes, but asked to get out (the child door locks were engaged.) At this time I’m still not sure the car is actually in park, so I still a wee bit nervous. I’m trying to unlock his door, while inside panicked about the motion I know I detected. Ryan basically had to say (and as politely as he could muster,) “No Cathy–you have to open my door from the outside–the child locks are engaged.” Talk about a BLOND moment. Oh well, at least I can laugh about it now.

Funniest Memory
The panel discussion, where the panelists all sat at the table each with their laptops (Gary Stager, Will Richardson, Sylvia Martinez, Joyce Valenza, Chris Lehmann, and David Jakes–gosh I hope I didn’t leave anyone out!) Each panelist was using a Mac, all except David Jakes. Jakes began by mumbling “What is this, a Mac commercial?!”

Final thoughts–much of Educon was Ustreamed and so if you want to hear the archived conversations, be sure to visit on channel “EduconTV.” Oh well, back to my original question, are they real or virtual. If I was not sure before Educon 2.0, I know for absolute sure now. These friends are REAL!

Technorati Tags: educon20, ustream

As I see others reflecting on the year 2007 as it draws to a close, I must as well. There have been several changes for me including a new job, a new living arrangement for my family, and new opportunities that are as a direct result of joining the blogosphere and interacting with a network (like Twitter.) I won’t bore you with my favorites, but instead make some goals:

• Brevity – In my own blog reading I find it difficult to read long posts. I know I’m guilty of writing long posts too. So I have a goal–be brief and get to the point! I am planning to reduce verbiage, and try to say it with far fewer words, and instead use more pictures, and maybe a video or two (stored sensibly on video and picture storing sites–hello, YouTube, TeacherTube, Photobucket, & Flickr.)

• Relocate – I am becoming ever increasingly unhappy with Edublogs. I dumped blogger a year and half ago, and jumped ship to Edublogs, primarily b/c I feared Blogger would be blocked at school (and I was not disappointed.) Edublogs was good for me, but as I have grown, my material requires more space. Since it is time to pay for more space to be allowed the service, I see it also as a good time to explore hosting it on my own space/domain. I don’t even know if I understand it, but I have been assured help from my friends Chris Craft, Jennifer Wagner, and perhaps even David Jakes. (Counting on you all, actually!) Timeline? I don’t know. I need to get bills from Christmas squared away before I decide. But in the meantime, my posts will probably be limited.

• Video – I’m going to seriously look at adding video to my mix here. I’ve created myself a YouTube and TeacherTube account, and want to begin playing in the green screen department. Dean Shareski is responsible for that! (Note to Dean–You inspire me!)

• Redesign – I have some presentations coming up, and I plan to redesign them. I’ve been reading a lot lately about the 10-20-30 rule for presenting. I’ve also come to understand that folks don’t want to read it, they want you to tell it-and what better way than in a story. So I’m going to be hitting Flickrcc hard, and trying add in the mix some videos (for commercial breaks, as I heard one blogger call them–wish i could credit that person!) And I’m going to rehearse my spill in the best storytelling format I can come up with. Along with that, I hope to add some kind of interactivity to my sessions–though I haven’t quite figured out how yet. Anyone have any suggestion? Look out SCASL, SCASA’s SLI, and SC Edtech.

Okay, I know, I know, still way too wordy. Give me a break, it’s not 2008 yet! Rag me about it after the first. Happy New Year everyone!

Attribution:
Image: ‘massive change‘
www.flickr.com/photos/20532289@N00/31219031

What a difference a week makes! Saturday the Edublogger awards were announced, and I was so sure I did not win, I did not even go into Second Life to hear who did, nor did I tap into the many portals made available live (like Edtech Talk, Skype, and others…) You see, as I told all my friends, it was enough to be nominated. I even went out of town on a shopping spree Saturday, and around the time the awards ceremony began, my family was sitting down for a wonderful afternoon (early supper) at Carrabba’s. It was divine, and far more enjoyable. I had a few friends and family asking on Saturday, and they were shocked and dismayed that I wouldn’t stay home long enough to at least log in and see. I assured them my Twitter Network and RSS reader would keep me well informed, so well in fact that I need not worry about it all, but instead enjoy my family. I was not let down.

Congratulations to all the winners, and especially the library blog category, I’m especially pleased it is once again a school library blog. I need not have sour grapes, you see, I know what my authority and rank were in Technorati BEFORE the nominations, and I know what it is now after the nominations, and I know how many commenters I’ve had on my blog, and these statistics (which you can find out yourself with a little work) tell me a story that stands on its own, so there is no need for a pity party about the “loss.” My assistant, another colleague at school, and my sisters were all furious that I would not campaign to win, soliciting for votes from all my networks where I am plugged in and connected. But sorry folks–that is not how I operate. I’ll say it again. It was enough to be nominated. It filled me with immense pleasure and is rewarding all on its own. Wonder how I should put that on my resume?

So I returned to work Monday, doing my thing. I worked two basketball games this week, and made two keepsake memory videos for teachers to document and reflect on school performances. I included students in the second one, having them edit for me, select some pictures to go at the beginning and end, and pick out music to add. I think they learned a lot, and I teased them unmercifully, saying I didn’t like giving out all my secrets—pretty soon they would stop thinking I was amazing!

Anyway, to make this week so very jam up for me, yesterday I received an email invitation from Karl Fisch to participate in an exciting event he will be having at his school in January and February. I have not seen it twittered or posted on his blog, so I’m not sure I’m at liberty to say much else. But know that it is truly a reward for be connected to highly successful educators in the blogosphere. I suppose details about his project that I am joining in will be forthcoming soon, but I don’t mind saying it revolves around Dan Pink’s book A Whole New Mind. I am considering asking our 8th grade teachers to use it as a novel study to go along with Karl’s project. My brain is on OVERTIME! (Side Note: There was a cool DEN Webinar tonight w/ Daniel Pink that was AWESOME!!)

As an added bonus this week, today I get the pleasant (although somewhat embarrassing) surprise of getting mentioned in Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk Blog where he is answering questions about a former blog post (where he had just opened his OLPC XO.) It is such a novelty, a lot of people are expressing their curiosity by asking questions via his comments. So Doug chose to answer them in another blog post, and what do you know but my DUMB comment is at the top—as I tease about his cat in the picture, and tell a gushy tale of how cute my cat is. <BLUSH> Okay, so not my best side, or even story. But Doug mentioned me none the less. W00t!

This evening I get the email from Joyce Valenza, exclaiming that our panel discussion session for NECC has been accepted! Joyce’s email began like this: “Good news, friends! We’re on for NECC.” Our session will have a panel of “experts” (I can’t believe I’m saying that!); our session title: Feed, Tag, Research: Remixing for School Library 2.5; session description: School librarians are leading learning and instructional change. Discover how we are re-visioning reading, research, and “library” for 21st century students on the Read/Write Web. And I can honestly say we collaborated for days on the topic and description alone. The group panel includes Joyce Valenza, Carolyn Foote, Diane Cordell, Kim Cofino, Anita Beaman, and me. After hearing from Twitter some of the big names who have been turned down, I feel amazed and honored to be with a session that was accepted.

Oooy, my head is getting so big. Don’t put a pin near me, or I might pop. Tomorrow is Friday, and I can’t imagine what kinds of good things it might bring. No time to be sad or depressed though, as I have so much to be thankful for in this week alone! I suddenly feel SO CONNECTED, not only on a local, state, and national level, but also a global level. Daunting, but exciting.

I don’t want to whoop too soon, so just let me end with a tee-tiny “w00t.”

Recently Carolyn Foote, a friend who is honestly a friend in the virtual sense, as I only know her from Twitter, blogging, webcasts, and Ustream forums, has challenged my thinking about the library. She works in a large public suburban high school in Austin, Texas (Westlake High School). She is in the process of packing up her entire library book by book for a renovation project. Earlier this week she was informed that the renovation could take as long as a year. My comment to Carolyn was “Wow, you will be a virtual librarian in every sense of the word.”
As I reflect on my joking quip, I realize it is true. Will her job end until the renovation is done? Will she have anything to do while the renovation happens? How can a staff member with no physical “home” in the building continue to work and serve the school without any books or tables, a checkout counter, or a reference section, especially in a high school?

I know the answer to my questions. Carolyn will be in need and in high demand right through the whole project. She will probably work harder than any other staff member in the entire building, as she strives to provide the same level of service and instruction as before when there were the typical tables, chairs, books, and more. How?

Just as I jokingly called her a “virtual” librarian, she will become just that. Research projects will be just as effectively completed as they were before. She will continue to teach information literacy and using online resources effectively. Students will have access to necessary resources. Book talks and author visits will continue to happen, even if she has to use Skype. You see, Carolyn is a 21^st century teacher librarian, who has adopted and uses instructional technology to “complete” the job. She uses the tools to compliment instruction, and I would wager she is so good at this already, this vehicle called web 2.0 will drive her services until she can park her self back in a physical space called a library. Carolyn already uses wikis, blogs, and more to supplement instruction. She is using Skype to pull in authors for literature appreciation and book analysis. And students as well as teachers know she can assist in just about any kind of project she is challenged with. Carolyn Foote is a 21^st Century Librarian, and I am so glad to know her, at least in the virtual sense.

Be sure to wish her luck as she tackles the project of library renovation. I know the end result will be a 21^st Century Library to compliment her, the student body, faculty & staff, and community. I am looking forward to a face to face meeting with you in San Antonio this summer at Iste’s NECC.

Carolyn’s Blog Not So Distant Future

Carolyn’s Wiki Web 2.0 in Education

Image Attribution:

Image: ‘packing_boxes‘
www.flickr.com/photos/69157454@N00/25159668

Image: ‘Carolyn_Foote_007‘
http://web20ineducation.wikispaces.com/

PS–my 17yo is looking at Austin, TX for college.

I accidentally discovered tonight that this blog of mine has been nominated for a 2007 Edublog Award under the category of “Best Librarian Blog.” You see I was getting ready to post my “history” as shared recently by Kathy Schrock and Doug Johnson, since I aspire to be like them. I also thought that posting my history would afford me the chance to reflect on my career (the good and the not so good.) In the dashboard feature of the Edublog platform I use, one can see the most recent pingbacks under the section called “Latest Activity.” I nearly fainted when I saw it. First let me say thanks to any of my readers who follow me. I’m amazed when people tell me they read my blog. For the longest time I really felt I blogged in vain. Gradually I began getting comments, and found that along with the clustr map enough affirmation to continue. My blog is really just a reflection on my own personal journey in using web 2.o tools, and hopefully enough encouragement to get others to join in and use these tools too, for professional growth AND student learning. WOW I am still amazed to get this nomination! I am in some good company, and feel honored to be there with other librarians. ( I also had to laugh when I realized I subscribe to ALL the nominees already.) Want to see who is nominated? Click here. Want to vote? Click here.

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2007/db071111.gif

The above link goes to a Doonesbury cartoon that hits so close to home. Thanks to my friend Diane Cordell who shared it via Twitter this morning, I had a small chuckle. It reminds me of that new video circulating among bloggers called A Vision of Students Today. If you have not had a chance to see it, please do. I haven’t blogged about it because so many had already–I didn’t want folks to read my post and say been there/done that (since I find myself muttering that all too frequently myself.)

Is this what our schools are afraid of?? Well, I challenge educators to look at it from the perspective of the student. Obviously there is a talking head at the front, and by all indicators, the student is zoned out, but busily working on other content. Yes, he’s physically there, but not mentally. But his network (obviously some right there in the same class) has clued him in to getting ready to be caught OFF TASK. They strategize a plan through their virtual network, giving him time to cover so he can get right back at the task at hand–reading his email. LOL!

I have to admit I have done EXACTLY this myself! Not this school year, but in years past at faculty meetings. I would sit at my desk (b/c the library would be full for faculty meetings) and work straight through oblivious to just about all going on. No, I didn’t have my network to look out for me or clue me in when it was noticed, but I did strategize, none the less. I listened intermittently so I could chime in just enough to give the sense that I was on task and paying attention. I also made sure the focal point for the speaker (guest, principal, etc.) was set up at a table far from me so that i could work away that hour. It’s amazing how my hospitality of setting up a place for the speaker by clearing a specific table, getting them a bottle of ice cold water, and providing an empty basket for exit slips or papers that would be taken up successfully kept the speaker far from me, allowing me to totally go unnoticed in meetings. (I’m so evil with all my ulterior motives!!)

Now I wonder how many kids do this? Just enough “fake involvement” through asking questions, raising hands, agreeing and disagreeing to get by. And I thought I was so smart.

But knowing EXACTLY how I am has made me question the set up of our computer labs at school, the computers in the library, and even seating arrangements at conferences. I know how easily i get sidetracked and my focus can be easily stolen away. I complained vocally to my principal about the rows and rows of tables all facing the front of the room, asking who decided on this layout. I told her they needed to all be facing the wall and the interior be open for flexible use of space. I pointed out that with the workstations facing the wall, a teacher, visitor, or speaker could stand in the middle and simply rotate to see that all were on task. As it is now, there will many opportunities for students to slip under the radar and like me, multitask away the time, or worse, deliberately focus on other things. They will be able to hide right there at their computer b/c as it is now, they will have time to strategize a way to cover their true focus. My own actions have caused me such paranoia.

Ah well, so far this year all faculty meetings have been engaging enough to keep me on task. I haven’t called on my network or read my email a single time this year. But I did do JUST THIS recently at a conference when I went in sessions, sat in the back, stuck my earbud in one ear (leaving the other open so I could be conscious of room activity) and then just chatted away with the other virtual participants of New York’s TechForum so kindly Ustreamed for anyone interested.. I was TOTALLY engaged in that and TOTALLY oblivious to the session I was sitting in, save for being able tp tell when it was over.

This comic has totally made me think now about students who are slick and do the same thing I do. I also have to wonder–is it a bad thing? I’m still undecided.

Thursday, November 8th, Dean Shareski and friends published a podcast where they interviewed Bud Hunt (AKA Bud the Teacher.) If you don’t listen to this podcast you should.  They truly rocked my world Thursday as they turned from topic to topic. My favorite part of the conversation was how the teacher librarian is in a position to be a change agent in a school.  Oh wow do I ever know that? Anyway, they have this mug with the logo EdTech Posse, and were promoting it if someone would just post to the shownotes or blog the term they discussed with Bud, which was “Venn Diagram.”  I am amazed that I was the first. Since I didn’t catch the other members’ names interviewing Bud, I posted it on Dean’s and the podcast show notes–I won!! WOOT. I guess that makes me a virtual honorary member of the EdTech Posse!

Here’s a pix of the mug and the notification. See? I knew reading all them blogs and listening to those podcasts would pay off. Actuallly they have in many ways, more than I can even begin to describe.  DOUBLE WOOT!