Drape's Takes: Reflections On Our Busy World

Reflections On Our Busy World

I must admit: it's better to be busy than bored. The last couple of days have certainly been eventful. Here's a quick recap, not for the purpose of boring you with the details of my pathetic life, but to show you the possibilities that are available to teachers everywhere in a connected, digital world.

I gave a presentation yesterday [Utah, USA] in my Theoretical Perspectives on Whiteness Theory graduate class. The presentation discussed Pamela Perry's ethnography entitled Shades of White. I decided to use a blog to allow my classmates to reflect on their own identities, the professor was impressed, then asked me to teach the class how to blog. I guess if you're going to take a class, you'd might as well teach it - at least then you can talk about things that you're interested in. More about the blog: I had the students post to the blog via email ("Mail-to-Blogger-Address") so each of the posts appears to have come from me - a small price for the quick, less than ten minute setup time.

As a result of yesterday's class, I taught my fellow cohort members [Utah, USA] how to blog today. I also gave them a quick rundown of Gmail and Google Docs. I may have left a few rocks in the dust (sorry, David Jakes [Illinois, USA]), but I think several class members will actually continue to blog.
For my other doctoral studies [Utah, USA], I was able to read 14 articles, skim one book, write two papers, finish one reference sheet (including citations), and begin my final paper - all in two days (phew).
I was able to communicate more about EduBloggerWorld with Julie Lindsay [Sydney, Australia], Steve Hargadon [California, USA], and Vicki Davis [Georgia, USA]. Through email we were able to solidify several key ideas about the nature and purpose of EduBloggerWorld [Earth]. Details are forthcoming.
I was able to "attend" a portion of a book chat in Second Life [Blogger's Cafe, SL, Virtual Earth] about the popular book Cult of the Amateur. The discussion was extremely thought-provoking, as Ryan "Ex" Bretag [Illinois, USA] was very well prepared with several cutting questions.
As Second Life was giving me a few Linux [Geekdom, Planet Ubuntu] fits, I dropped in on the WOW2 discussion on Internet safety. It was great to be a part of the discussion and I was glad to not be the only male present. Jason Hando [Sydney, Australia] also joined in on the cat-blog-referencing fun.
I received two, count 'em, two kudos on Twitter yesterday: one from mobileminded - congratulating me on my recent blog posts (hopefully this post won't disappoint) and the other from jmaklary kudo-ing me for being willing to promulgate the ed-tech gospel. By the way, mobileminded is Brian C. Smith [New York, USA] and jmaklary is John Maklary [Texas, It's Own Country, USA].
I stumbled upon the coolest blog I've ever seen: All About Abby. With Karl Fisch [Colorado, USA], I invite you to welcome aboard an exciting new blogger [Colorado, USA]. While there, be sure to check out the dozens of comments she is deservedly receiving. Very cool stuff.
Finally (and on a personal note), the highlight of it all was when I was able to Skype video-chat with my family, causing my youngest kids to cry. You would have cried too, if you had seen the video quality.

I told you it's been busy around here.

Technorati Tags: education blogosphere technology

I gave a presentation yesterday [Utah, USA] in my Theoretical Perspectives on Whiteness Theory graduate class. The presentation discussed Pamela Perry's ethnography entitled Shades of White. I decided to use a blog to allow my classmates to reflect on their own identities, the professor was impressed, then asked me to teach the class how to blog. I guess if you're going to take a class, you'd might as well teach it - at least then you can talk about things that you're interested in. More about the blog: I had the students post to the blog via email ("Mail-to-Blogger-Address") so each of the posts appears to have come from me - a small price for the quick, less than ten minute setup time.

As a result of yesterday's class, I taught my fellow cohort members [Utah, USA] how to blog today. I also gave them a quick rundown of Gmail and Google Docs. I may have left a few rocks in the dust (sorry, David Jakes [Illinois, USA]), but I think several class members will actually continue to blog.
For my other doctoral studies [Utah, USA], I was able to read 14 articles, skim one book, write two papers, finish one reference sheet (including citations), and begin my final paper - all in two days (phew).
I was able to communicate more about EduBloggerWorld with Julie Lindsay [Sydney, Australia], Steve Hargadon [California, USA], and Vicki Davis [Georgia, USA]. Through email we were able to solidify several key ideas about the nature and purpose of EduBloggerWorld [Earth]. Details are forthcoming.
I was able to "attend" a portion of a book chat in Second Life [Blogger's Cafe, SL, Virtual Earth] about the popular book Cult of the Amateur. The discussion was extremely thought-provoking, as Ryan "Ex" Bretag [Illinois, USA] was very well prepared with several cutting questions.
As Second Life was giving me a few Linux [Geekdom, Planet Ubuntu] fits, I dropped in on the WOW2 discussion on Internet safety. It was great to be a part of the discussion and I was glad to not be the only male present. Jason Hando [Sydney, Australia] also joined in on the cat-blog-referencing fun.
I received two, count 'em, two kudos on Twitter yesterday: one from mobileminded - congratulating me on my recent blog posts (hopefully this post won't disappoint) and the other from jmaklary kudo-ing me for being willing to promulgate the ed-tech gospel. By the way, mobileminded is Brian C. Smith [New York, USA] and jmaklary is John Maklary [Texas, It's Own Country, USA].
I stumbled upon the coolest blog I've ever seen: All About Abby. With Karl Fisch [Colorado, USA], I invite you to welcome aboard an exciting new blogger [Colorado, USA]. While there, be sure to check out the dozens of comments she is deservedly receiving. Very cool stuff.
Finally (and on a personal note), the highlight of it all was when I was able to Skype video-chat with my family, causing my youngest kids to cry. You would have cried too, if you had seen the video quality.