In the age of the 21st Century data deluge how’s an innovative educator supposed to keep up with all the information out there?If you’re like me every time you turn around, pick up a book, stumble across a website, attend a presentation, etc. etc. etc. you learn about a new tech tool, tip, trick, blog or webcast and more. First there were wikis, blogs, and podcasts, then there were Ning, UStream, and Twitter. While the technologies sound great, it seems nearly impossible to keep up with them all and how do you follow up to see who is using what and how it’s working?
In response to this issue, I have set up The Innovative Educator site where I have shared videos, webcasts, blogs, recommendations for parents, and more that I have found helpful in my work.I have also set up several discussion forums so readers can share their recommendations and comment on using the tools and suggestions posted on the site.It is my hope that this will be a valuable resource for educators.
I invite you to visit The Innovative Educator and if you like it, post a comment to share your feedback with others.If you have any suggestions please post them on the site.If you want to contact me directly about comments, thoughts, or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
One of my favorite memories from my childhood in L.A. was escaping with friends to my bedroom transformed into a studio to produce a radio show. We broadcast news of the day, gave weather reports, sang, conducted interviews and taped it on our tape recorder. While it was fantastically fun to produce our broadcasts to nowhere I can’t help but wish I was a kid today with technologies that provide them with instant ability to broadcast themselves to an audience far beyond their bedroom recording studios and connect with others around the world. One such technology I’m excited about is UStream which in just minutes allows users to broadcast and interact with a global audience of thousands with just a camera and an internet connection.
Today innovative educators can use UStream to develop live broadcasts or help students find their own voice, passion, and learning to develop and broadcast shows to an audience they connect with about a subject of true personal interest. There are already some innovative educators experimenting with these technologies. Drape’s Takes blog has a Ustream Post about a teacher who’s doing some great things with his students broadcasting book reviews and inviting parents to watch the broadcast. Remote Access blog has a Ustreaming PDpost telling of
Ustream proclaims they are Changing The Face Of Educationin collaboration with the History Channel by broadcasting a Pulitzer Prize Winning Author to speak about George Washington in an interactive broadcast with a live chat room where students around the world could converse and ask questions about the broadcast. Will Richardson shared at a recent conference that a teenager invited him to join his broadcast where he was watching the presidential debates and providing teenage commentary to other kids around the globe in an interactive forum and doing a more interesting job then most of the networks and providing his audience with a meaningful opportunity to have a conversation about what they were seeing.
Ustream explains that its interactive broadcast functionality allows viewers to personally interact directly with whoever is broadcasting -- including personalities like their favorite author, musician, expert, or politician. Ustream opens up a new world of possibilities and experiences to broadcasters and viewers alike, which the pre-recorded static video that's predominated the Internet to date just can't provide. Today, people are Ustreaming everything including:
Major political events such as debates, speeches, rallies
Talk shows
Entertainment events such as premieres and 'red carpet events'
Showcase your original music, your band's performances, jam sessions with other musicians, and more (when you have the music rights to broadcast the music)
Conference sessions
School and business events and training
Sporting events at college and high school level
Personal milestones such as holiday gatherings, weddings, grade school events, parties, even births
As an Innovative Educator I have an insatiable need to read, see and hear about new things all the time and on demand. I have found a tremendous resource to satisfy this desire at http://www.ted.com/ which posts fresh TedTalks weekly. Ted Talks are inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers designed to bring inspiration, innovation and new perspectives on the world and on ourselves. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). TED.com makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. Almost 200 talks from the archive are now available, with more added each week. The videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.
For an Innovative Educator (especially a city educator who spends a lot of time on subways and buses) the 18 minute format is just fantastic for personal learning. Additionally, the videos are all segmented into smaller pieces just perfect for sharing when trying to inspire students when delivering instruction.
Here are The Innovative Educators 6 picks to begin your TED experience.
Freakonomics Fans In an eye-opening talk -- presented before the publication of Freakonomics -- Steven Levitt presents one of the book's more fascinating analyses. Sifting data collected through first-person interviews with a Chicago drug gang, he shows that drug dealing is not at all a quick route to riches. And yes, a drug gang does have a org chart.
Whole New Mind Fans Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.
Jane Goodall Fans Traveling from Ecuador to Africa, Jane Goodall takes the audience on an ecological journey, discussing highlights and low points of her experiences in the jungle. She shows how progress is helping research (DNA analysis) and hurting the environment (clear-cutting). And she draws a dozen parallels between primate and human behavior, making the point that we really aren't all that different. Our big advantage, she says, is the ability to communicate with sophisticated spoken language -- yet, sadly, we are abusing this power and destroying the planet. She urges the TED audience to behave differently, and use their higher powers to correct the planet's course.
Tipping Point and Blink Fans In this witty monologue, Malcolm Gladwell follows the career of a food industry consultant who uncovered a key secret to what eaters like. Running huge focus groups to find customers' truest tastes, Gladwell's hero draws a radical conclusion, an epiphany that has defined food marketing ever since. Note: The theme of the 2004 conference was "The Pursuit of Happiness" -- hence the talk's quirky presence.
Nicholas Negroponte (One Laptop Per Child - OLPC) Fans Nicholas Negroponte lays out the details of his nonprofit One Laptop Per Child project. Speaking just days after relinquishing his post as director of the MIT Media Lab, he announces that he'll pursue this venture for the rest of his life. He takes us inside the strategy for building the "$100 laptop," and explains why and how the project plans to launch "at scale," with millions of units distributed in the first seven countries. "This is not a laptop project; it's an education project," he says.
You may also want to check out: Nicholas Negroponte: From 1984, 4 predictions about the future (3 of them correct)ttp://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/230
Wii, Interactive Whiteboard, Touchscreen Fans Johnny Lee demos his amazing Wii Remote hacks, which transform the $40 game piece into a digital whiteboard, a touchscreen and a head-mounted 3-D viewer. A multi-ovation demo from TED2008.
The TED mission involves a passionate belief in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. We are fortunate they have built this clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.
Another amazing thing about Ted.com contribution is that viewers have an opportunity to share their thoughts about each video because they provide a commenting/discussion feature associated with each video. TEDTalks have tremendous potential to inspire innovative educators everywhere. I invite you to share how videos such as these have inspired your teaching and learning by posting comments on such experiences here. For more great videos visit The Innovative Educator's Video Recommendations.
