Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Jun 2, 2008	Catch the Fever: Viral Professional Development - Add Your Voice!
Viral Professional Development is emerging in education as a viable method of increasing teacher engagement and learning. Using tools such as Twitter , rss readers , blogs , educational networks , and wikis , educators are collaborating on a grassroots level. This year at NECC , a...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  May 9, 2008	Ustream & Presentations, Part 2
I've been asked a number of times to share additional tips and tricks regarding the Ustream / CamTwist 1-2 punch we used to enable the kind of learning environment created for OpenPD (please see my post here for initial thoughts and tips regarding the practice). Tip of the Day: Work...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Mar 14, 2008	Presenting/Teaching With Ustream
Building upon Wesley Fryer's list of tips and tricks for creating a successful Ustream broadcast, I thought it would be helpful to illustrate a few additional pointers. These pointers come after conducting over 30 hours of Open Professional Development and the realization that poor streams...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Feb 23, 2008	Ustream: Just Another Thing To Worry About?
I crafted yet another (hopefully) persuasive email. Enter Mr. Jones. Jethro Jones is a teacher in the Jordan School District that is doing absolutely amazing things with his students. Wikis and blogs and Teacher of the Month . If only all teachers were so eager to Pay Attention ....... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Feb 14, 2008	Chalk It Up To Learning
The two-and-a-half-hour nightmare commute after OpenPD last night was, for me, an educational time of reflection. With the thousands of other folks that apparently could find no better place to enjoy a good snowstorm, I sat in my car wondering what we had learned during last night’s class....... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Jan 26, 2008	Discussing OpenPD @ EduCon 2.0
Robin Ellis and I discussed 21st Century professional development today in the first breakout session at EduCon 2.0 . In a refreshing reversal of roles, Robin led the discussion in person while I participated remotely. From a technical standpoint, there were a few bandwidth issues - but all...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Jan 25, 2008	EduConTV - I Guess You CAN Be Everywhere At One Time
I don't know if this will really work (and won't until they begin broadcasting), but I thought that if I can't have a cheesesteak, then I'd might as well improve the experience for those of us left behind. Introducing EduConTV : Your one-stop shop for the virtual EduCon experience. Thanks...... [view]

Posted By:  darrendraper Posted On:  Jan 24, 2008	OpenPD - We've Come A Long Way, Baby!
I'm speechless, really. Last night's inaugural OpenPD session went so smoothly that I wasn't even sure we were attempting the same thing we did back in the fall . In a word (or two): Everything Worked! As a result, conversation was engaging, educational, and very refreshing....... [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 12, 2007	TESOL Macedonia Thrace Conference - Yep, The World Is Flat
I had the opportunity to present at the TESOL Macedonia Thrace Conference (held in Northern Greece) today. Rather than fly to Greece to join the conference, I elected to give my presentation via Skype and Ustream. Other than the 30 minutes of technical difficulties that the TESOL folks had on...... [view]