Check out this podcast!

Dissecting the Dissertation


A real-time discussion of the dissertation process





Dennis Pipes and Curby Alexander, Ph.D. students in Instructional Technology at the University of Virginia, discuss their experiences as they begin the dissertation process. This show will be co-hosted by Steve Whitaker, a faculty member in the Instructional Technology program at the University of Virginiafeature guests and fellow students from the University of Virginia. You can e-mail us at:
dissertation.podcast@gmail.com








Enjoy! -- Dennis pipes and Curby alexander

Feedback on Digital Stories Across the Curriculum

Great session today on Digital Stories Across the Curriculum. What feedback, questions or comments do you have related to the ideas discussed and questions raised in this session?

22 Mar: Follow-up from NTLI invited papers: barriers to tech implementation

In the discussion following the NTLI invited papers, several ideas emerged. One was conducting some form of analysis of technology use in the schools. For example, we count "computers in the schools" but we don't differentiate between Pentium II machines and G4s. Or consider schools that block blogspot or images.google.com -- they're avoiding a perceived threat, but at what educational cost? What are they giving up? We don't know. Does the benefit of the policy outweigh the costs?

Please feel free to contribute anecdotes/links to data on tech use -- what are the constraints, what are the trade-offs?

SITE podcasts: 21 March 2006

The following are available as podcast recordings of SITE 2006 sessions:

1. Can you hear me now? Composing Connections between Classrooms and Communities: Keynote by Dr. Janet Swenson
2. Facilitating Effective Technology Research in the Core Content Areas
3. Lessons Learned from 1-to-1 Laptop Initiatives: Reflections on the Critical Components

1:1 Stories

Lots of great discussion at the "Lessons Learned from 1-to-1 Laptop Initiatives: Reflections on the Critical Components" session this afternoon. Mike Muir told us about the 1 to 1 Stories project he has started, which looks like a great resource for collaborative sharing of stories of both successes and challenges in 1 to 1 learning environments.

The Q&A session was great! Thanks to all the panelists and participants.

blogging during presentations

Hello Everyone,

Greetings from the panel on Facilitating Effective Technology Research in the Core Content Areas headed by Lynne Schrum. These are editors of major journals.

Some quick observations:

This is a wonderful interactive tool. Are there places where it is appropriate or not?

In particulary, I feel a little rude posting a blog while they are talking. Anyone else feel that way? Maybe I just grew up thinking it wsa impolite not to have eye contact with the speaker. Clearly the new generation has adjusted.

I guess hte real question is: when is technology a distractor, not for the learner but the speaker? I feel unsuccessful when I am the speaker and the audience does not have eye contact. I will ask the speakers how they feel later.

Neat technology.

Gerald Knezek

Advocacy through digital storytelling

I really enjoyed Janet Swenson's challenging keynote address this morning, as well as the follow-on dialog which engaged many others in discussions around the topics she raised.

One of my main questions after listening to Janet and interacting with her as well as other SITE conference participants is, what do we do now? Janet challenged us all to be advocating for children in our own spheres, and also engage in the broader struggle over defining what teaching and learning means and should look/feel like in the 21st century classroom and school. But how do we do this?

One suggestion that came out of our dialog following Janet's keynote is to challenge the students, pre-service and in-service teachers we work with to engage in digital storytelling that focuses on the issues Janet and other have raised.

Perhaps the following two questions could be used as "essential questions" to engage students of different ages in digital storytelling projects:

1. For students, what is the classroom you want to be in? What kind of school do you want to be in?
2. For teachers, what are the things you want to do with students that you are not able to do today?

One of the participants in the follow-up session to Janet's keynote asked about models of excellence, and the term "islands of excellence" was used. The question was, where are the models? It seems that SITE and AACE are outstanding forums to facilitate the sharing of these types of digital stories. I know anecdotally that digital storytelling competitions in schools can be VERY engaging for students, and a way to share powerful messages with broad constituencies in particular communities. Perhaps after leaving SITE, those of us engaging students in digital storytelling activities could use these types of questions and then share links to the digital stories that people in our community create in response.

What do you think?

Thread for Research in Content Areas session (Tue, 21 Mar)

Please use this thread to comment on "Facilitating Effective Technology Research in the Core Content Areas" by Bell, Bull, Maddux, McAnear, Sprague, Thompson, and Schrum.

If you're in the room, please feel free to post, but also raise your hand and participate if you want to have it brought up "live".

If you're outside the room, please blog and if you have a question you'd like to have asked by someone inside the room, please say so! (I find that "Hand" works as a pretty good prompt that you have your hand up.

I'll be watching the blog and will try to facilitate these questions.

Blogging for Janet Swenson's keynote

Good morning, everyone! A new blog has been set up for all of you to comment on Janet Swenson's keynote: http://site2006keynote.blogspot.com. Please contribute to the conversation!

Monday, 20 Mar: Opening Keynote by Michelle Selinger

Please use this thread to respond to Michelle Selinger's opening keynote, "I Teach You, You Teach Me." Add blog posts, link to images, etc. Feel free to live-blog or to follow up afterwards, at your leisure.

Thank you! I now imagine groaning every time someone sees my name--as they wonder what new act of technology support they will be asked for next. Thank you (this is going to be a refrain in my conversations in Orlando--I'll try to work up a catchy song and dance to accompany it).

I need your advice. As you all know, I'm trying to establish my Tuesday talk more as a dialogue than monologue by inviting those on site and off (through streaming audio) to "productively trouble" my own thinking on the issues I'll address by agreeing and disagreeing, extending and modifying our understandings of our mission, community, responsibility, etc.

I imagine that if successful in engaging you and others in that dialogue that several threads of conversation are likely to emerge. For instance, even now, I would like to pose two questions (this isn't actually the "posing") one that builds on Debra Sprague's keynote and asks whether there are other communities (beyond those represented at SITE) with whom we should be in closer conversation, and (building on Ian's kaynote) the ways in which those conversations might be enabled with newer technologies. I see those as potentially two separate conversational strands--and I think there are several others that will emerge as folks here some of the claims I'm going to make (I'm anticipating some resistance).

So,,,,,,,is the SITE 2006 Conference blog the best place to host THESE keynote conversations, or shoud we ask that yet another blog (Glen suggested for instance that this could mimic the digitalstorytelling and mentor blogs) be set up that supports the keynote and leaves this blogspot for general conference conversations?

What do you think, my dear friends and colleagues?
Janet

Hi everyone
We would like to invite your colleagues who are unable to attend SITE to our panel session on Tuesday 1.30. We will be using the interwise platform to allow 2 of our panel members to contribute from Ireland and Israel so the session will be open for participants from around the world as well as those attending SITE. The participants will hear the presentations and see the powerpoint presenations and even be able to ask questions.

The subject of the panel is "How effective are intercultural projects in bridging between different cultures?" and the panels represent different communities hearing and deaf as well as cultures in conflict, North and South Ireland - Moslem and Jews in Israel.
In order to enter the session please go to http://interwise.macam.ac.il/mofet/portal/mofet
and then choose SITE at the appropriate time.

Please pass this message along to any of your colleagues who are interested in the topic to enable them to attend.
looking forward to a great conference
Elaine Hoter, Miri Shonfeld, Harry Markovicz, Asmma Ganayim and Roger Austin

This blog is established to support live blogging at the SITE 2006 conference in Orlando, Florida.