Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Jan 4, 2008	Open PD - Social Software in the Classroom (Round 2)
If you are a teacher, administrator, or technology specialist that would like to learn more about the many free, online tools that can be used to enhance your teaching, then consider yourself personally invited to join us for round 2 of Open Professional Development - Social Software in the...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Nov 13, 2007	Social Software 08 - Expanding the Circle
To technology professional developers ( and social software enthusiasts ) worldwide : Social Software '07 ended on such a high note that Robin Ellis and I are ready (and preparing) for rounds two and three. One thing we'd like to change in rounds two and three is how...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Oct 18, 2007	Social Software 07 Rocked The House
Last night's Social Software in the Classroom open professional development class went as well as I had envisioned it could go from the beginning. To say that it went perfectly would probably be an understatement : Recording, transmission, and connecting went flawlessly . We opened with...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Oct 9, 2007	Our Fearless Leaders - Technologically Incompetent?
Nothing brings President Bush’s references to “the Google” (and his apparent lack of technology literacy) closer to home than my recent experiences at the NFUSSD conference in Charleston, West Virginia. Yesterday, I had the privilege of presenting (thrice) with Margo Shirley and...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Oct 5, 2007	Social Networks & Future Open PD
I’m very impressed with an article that Steve Hargadon (et. al) has recently written for School Library Journal (as well as a related article in eSchool News ). It’s so refreshing to see educators promoting the use of Social Networks – for education’s sake. Says Steve: While...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Sep 27, 2007	SS Open PD Soars In Session 2
Last night's open Social Software in the Classroom session went extremely well . In fact, the stark contrast between last night's class and the class that "tanked" a week ago makes it hard to believe that the two classes are even related. After twenty or so minutes of initial connection...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Sep 20, 2007	SS Open PD Tanks in Round 1
The technology demons were out in full force last night in our first "open" professional development session ( Social Software in the Classroom ). Indeed, the glitches were many. Nevertheless, the session did end on a high note as we engaged in a wonderful conversation about our need...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Sep 17, 2007	Social Software in the Classroom - Ready for takeoff!
Well, here we go. I just finished setting up the video/audio stream with our district tech gurus (yeah, even smarter than I am) and holy crap: I'm starting to think that this thing is actually going to work . Here are the details for this Wednesday's " open professional development...... [view]