Week 4 - Presentation Wimba thoughts

I am enlightened by the outstanding work of my fellow students. This blog was not a requirement but I want to take a moment to say thanks to Jason, Emily and Professor Bustillos for their dedication to the task of preparing us for presenting to the public. I am working hard on getting a first rate presentation together and hope it has the desired effects. Last night's Wimba session gave me a good feeling as I go into month twelve. My classmates where very supportive of my project and I am grateful for that. I have a lot of work to do and plan on working hard to keep the pace but I believe the support system is there. People have given me an "A" and I am "enrolling" in the change that I want to see! Stay tuned!

Week 4 - The Art of Possibility

I stated in another blog that I feel enrollment is all about buying in. It is saying I am willing to become an active change agent. So many times we may agree with a thing, even feel passionate about it but not become active. Enrollment is about buying in. It is also seems to be a contagious thing. Others may follow the lead of someone who steps up to the plate.

I was happy to read chapter ten. As great as I think the book is I was beginning to feel that it was all positive. The chapter acknowledges that some times things do not appear to be working out. I thought the solution they offered was cool, I would have never looked at myself as the game board. This gave the book an interesting twist. The metaphysical implications of being the ultimate captain of ones fate is resonates a bit with me. Knowing this allows us to make the conscious decision to handle every situation non matter how difficult it may be.It's more than just wishful thinking. Being the "the board" questions the root causes of situations as well and I can appreciate the in depth analysis the book suggests.

Having read the Art of Possibility has given me a great deal of confidence and motivation. I found myself being grateful for all of the experiences the Zanders shared and glad this was a required reading. I also spent a lot of time analyzing my life of measurement. As I live in the life of possibility, I expect to see and achieve great things in myself as I observe the greatness in others.

Week 4 - Thinking Out Loud- Where Will I Present?

The Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education or AACE
offers several conferences around the world. It appears their network is pretty strong although I am not sure exactly how many members are in the organization. They have two conferences that I am interested in.

SITE- Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education. this conference, taking place in March 2012. This conference is in it's 20th year and I believe has a well established conference of industry professionals.

The AACE conference E-LEARN, 2011 - World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare & Higher Education also peaked my interest as I still have corporate training and motivational speaking as an option.I feel if I attend a conference like this one as well as one primarily attended by educators I will be able to stay in tune with the overall growth of the profession. This conference takes place in October 2011.

I am not solely interested in membership to an organization that will only provide me with resources and contacts. I want to find one that has room for me to grow into support and leadership roles. I think this is important for my continued professional growth.

Another organization and conference that caught my attention was ISTE. I became aware of the International Society of Technology Educators a few months ago. This conference brings together education professionals for networking and training, and offers a huge exposition featuring all of the top education resources. Companies like Smart, Houghton Mifflin and Mimio are all on hand in a huge exhibition center showing off the latest educational resources. I feel like this would be a huge opportunity for me to gain on multiple fronts. I plan to attend next month at the Philadelphia conference as an observer and perhaps present in 2012.

For all of these events my topic will be Technology Integration for the purpose of Community Building. Closing the digital divide should be addressed on multiple fronts and I believe that I have found an interesting topic that attendees may want to know more about. In my literature review research I came across a number of articles that dealt with the global digital divide on a community level. I find it interesting that not many non-profit professionals have taken this on as a topic of discussion. I have discovered some TED videos on the subject and Aneesh Chopra, one of President Obama's senior aides gave a speech at a conference I attended last November. I feel like I can add to the global dialogue on this subject. Now that I have defined my scope, I am looking forward to bringing the presentation together and presenting it soon.

Week 4 - Thinking Out Loud- presentation versus publication

I have decided to give a visual presentation. I believe this is the best method for me to relay the message that I want to give with thought provoking explanation. I also want an opportunity to demonstrate what I am capable of producing an impressive presentation, taking into account all that I have learned through Full Sail.

When it is complete, this presentation will bring together the issues at hand in the area of technology integration for the purpose of community building, my literature review and plausible solutions for the successful closing of the digital divide.

In the Scope - Week 3 - Free Choice

I call this in the Scope because I enjoy giving you an insight into my thought process for the week. What’s on the mind this week? Application. I have no doubt that I have the skills to be an excellent technology integration specialist. I am thinking back to how much I have learned in the last year. Soon I will be trying to pull all of the resources that I have been exposed to, and catalog them in order to meet the needs of all teachers. I want to be a reliable source for information regarding all things technology based. I need application next. I need fertile environments and situations to implement these great strategies.

My existing position has been a wonderful place to test my ideas but I am interested in doing a lot more and helping a larger group of people. One thing that Full Sail does not advertise is that they put your ambition into overdrive. It may not happen with everyone but it definitely did with me. Call me the trigger happy teacher because I am ready to get it on.

Week 4 In response to Joanna Puello

Joanna,

I have been able to see some of your work over the course of this program and have been extremely impressed with your concept. I believe it requires forward thinking to create such a model as an online performing arts school. This is the type of thinking that is appreciated at conferences. I think most people who would attend have seen the entire spectrum of standard practices. You are offering something new and fresh and I hope that you have success in presenting it.


Joanna wrote:

I’ve done more research on the conferences so that I can narrow my selection down to two conferences. In addition to the GaETC I had mentioned in a previous post, I am also interested in the FETC – Florida Educational Technology Conference…a “conference that brings education leaders and technology experts together to exchange techniques and strategies for teaching and learning success. Known worldwide for its outstanding program, FETC provides educators and administrators the opportunity to explore the integration of technology across the curriculum—from kindergarten to college—through hands-on exposure to the latest hardware, software and successful strategies. FETC offers a wealth of information for all education professions—teachers, principals and deans, district administrators, curriculum designers, media specialists, technology directors and others.”
At first I felt a little timid about preparing anything for a conference because my ARP was just a very first baby step in creating an online performing arts school for students K-12, but as I have worked more on my final publishing project, I’m realizing that the research I did in my Literature Review as well as the data I compiled in my ARP is really valuable information which will be exciting to a whole host of educators, administrators, and principals out there.


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Week 4 In response to Kristi Swartz

Kristi,

My take on enrollment is it is simply buying in to the larger cause of humanity. To contributing as it was stated earlier. I think enrollment is the conscious decision that I am a willful participant in the world around me and that my actions will affect the growth of others. So you are right. I think it is about participation AND the concept was stated earlier in the book just in a different way. Contributing, enrolling, participating. All indicate submission into the concept of possibility.



Kristi wrote:

This week after finishing The Art of Possibilities I reflect further on how this book has changed my perspective. I understand the idea of being ready to participate, offering the gifts we possess for the good of the community, and being open to others eagerness to catch the spark and share it with others. This is a great model for teachers today. We can participate in the students learning in our class sharing what we know and learning from our students’ gifts and knowledge. We can definitely instill sparks within our students creating students who catch the fever to learn and grow in everything they do.

The whole enrollment thing did throw me, however. I prefer to think of it as participation, as discussed in an earlier chapter. The idea of enrollment seemed redundant to me. I look forward to others thoughts on enrollment.

My favorite part of this reading dealt with the Nelson Mandela address of the words of Marianna Williamson. The idea of this poem in regard to sharing our power and light and how that can spark others to shine their light as well, was inspiring to me. I actually read over this several times and typed it out to print at a later time. I love the idea of all people being born to manifest the glory of God within us, all of us. That was an inspirational message, and a spark, a light, I hope to share my students through my actions!

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