Saturday, August 21, 2010

Positive Energy

Positive Energy
It was fun to feel the positive vibe coming from #mnwcougars this week as our first three days of in-service were conducted. Don’t get me wrong, we had some bumps in the road, some rough spots, and some definite punt situations. But overall, I was extremely impressed with our K-12 teaching staff and their willingness to learn.

Technology Overload?
#mnwcougars are making many changes this fall in the area of technology. For some this is a huge learning curve and for others it is old hat. The collaboration between staff, with teachers teaching each other was awesome. Newly formed blogs, Class Jump sites, online classes, Google Apps, Twitter, and Skype were some of our staff highlights. It is fun to see people learn new things and take risks. I believe taking risks and being willing to learn will be key factors in our success as we implement 1:1 computers as learning tools for our students.

Did someone say Twitter?
The #mnwcougars hashtag nearly tripled in followers over the course of the past week from 8 to 16 to 23. It was fun to track the new #mnwcougars users with www.blastfollow.com. What is Twitter? Why should I use Twitter? When do I find time to Twitter? For everyone the answer is different. One common cry I hear from educators that aren’t connected globally is, “I just wish I could have some planning time with other like subject teachers from outside of our district.” With a social network like Twitter you can. Go find that connection, and amazing results could follow. Once users start to make connections and find resources, people will start to say, What did I do before Twitter?”

1 comment:

  1. I am in the bucket of "when do I find time to twitter." (this doesn't count does it?).
    I have had a twitter account for almost a year and have done literally nothing with it until Mike started doing more with Twitter.

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