johnhendron.net: hendron’s digest - a weblog

Today during a professional development session with our school administrators, I shared this video called Epic 2015, and we had a discussion that followed. I asked what the technology depicted felt like to them, and then questions about what today’s children who would be living during that time (and perhaps graduating) should be prepared for.

One of the things depicted in the video that “forecasts” what’s happening in the future (some of it funny, some of it true) is something called “The Google GRID.” Among other things, it offers a space to share your knowledge.

Today (for real), Google releases what some are calling a competitor to the Wikipedia: Knol. What’s different is, authorship of an article is maintained. The article is by someone.

I thought it funny, since the make believe “GRID” was so much like today’s real “Knol.” And worse yet, many of the “2015″ technologies are already here today (albeit in some less mature forms). Combine Twittervision with iPhone 3G with an online aggregator service like NetVibes, and you have all the movie’s predictions… 7 years early (save for the court cases and the fall of the NY Times).

About Knol specifically, I like the model at Wikipedia better; I like the concept of crowdsourcing and the crunchy-granola flavor of the wiki. While Knol promises collaboration, it is more traditional in its approach.

And that’s why Google likely did it: it’s not just “another” place to dump content. They’re going for the more “trusted,” traditional route as a competitor. Who wants to write some Knol articles?

Today I found a new site that is poised towards chronicling what costs five U.S. dollars.

I haven’t looked through all the examples yet, but it seems like a neat project schools could do or participate in, or use… to better understand the economy, other cultures, etc.

I’ve been thinking a lot about school websites. This summer I began an ambitious project to “overhaul” our school division website. The look won’t dramatically change, but hopefully the end-user experience will. I know in sweating now, I’ll be sitting “pretty” later.

Why? I’m building a content management system for our website. This means instead of editing HTML or PHP documents by hand like I do now, a wide variety of people will be able to log-in, enter their information, and see it instantly appear online in some good-looking pages.

I’m not building it from scratch, but instead I’m custom-engineering the system using ExpressionEngine (website). The product isn’t perfect, but it is good, and as I continue to learn about all it can do, I’m more and more amazed.

So, my project is concerned with providing more and better access for our folks to be able to publish online. It’s about keeping “track” of news over time. And with features like self-sign-up mailing lists, it should be more interactive, too.

But this obsession of mine over school websites is not new. It was approaching five years now since I began my work on “Operation Desconstruction,” where I did some research on Virginia school division websites and how they faired.

My ultimate conclusion was that schools were ill-prepared for making great websites. Today, that climate has hopefully improved, and hopefully more research should be done.

What I see a lot are districts who are buying services to control their websites, and you likely know some of the names, such as School Center, Whipple Hill, etc. The idea is a great one, from a business stand point. But it’s also bad for a number of reasons, all specific to the vendor you buy from.

What I’ve found, in general, is this:

• You’re buying a cookie-cutter design,
• It’s easy (like I hope my system will be) to log in and add content,
• The web URLs are notoriously unfriendly and long
• Despite buying the product to “solve” the web “problem,” so many sites are unkept.

The one that gets me is this: the web portals/sites you buy are no better in terms of XHTML compliance or usability or accessibility than many that folks have made themselves. Instead, they’re offering content management (good) and a prettier front end. But in the end, does that constitute a better website?

I’ve long held that a better website does not stand upon proprietary technologies, is current and up-to-date, and visually well-represents the stakeholders. Back in the article I wrote, I quoted Jeff Johnson from his 2003 book, Web Bloopers.

“Developing and maintaining a website canbe expensive. Individuals and small organizations don’t have much money to spend on Web development, so it isn’t surprising when their sites contain bloopers”

Yet, the solution when buying a canned service is not fully resolved. The schools still need to provide content. And I think its unforgivable that their templated designs still contain bloopers. Some of these same ones appear in the examples I cite. I wrote back in 2003:

The results of research on Virginia school division websites revealed that a majority of sites fail to follow the advice of usability experts and are inaccessible to users with disabilities and those using non-traditional browsers (and not simply because they use Flash or PDF).

I think a follow up should examine whether or not the sites are done “in house,” with a management system (free or paid), or with a contracted service. It would be nice to see if the cost of a system (if used) improved usability and accessibility. Another thing to examine would be the timeliness and accuracy of the data shared on the division’s website.

Google Docs now has expanded choices for templates. This takes a great idea and makes it better.

Yes, I won’t use most of the templates, but that’s okay. What is cool is that you can easily find “templates you’ve used” (that’s a no-brainer), and you can also see popular templates. In other words, see what others are impressed by… or choose something more obscure.

Their online, collaborative productivity suite keeps getting better.

I can’t wait to play with this (and some kids) on a Promethean board!

This is Sand! And if you think it gets boring, look what someone came up with! (via Happy Notes)

Just for the record, I think the Internet is amazing.

I mean, you can watch a video of someone being struck by lightening, and read about all the reactions to the experience.

Or to find visualizations of the spread of the Wal-Marts across the country from the late 1960s to the current day. Wow.

Yes, this InterWeb stuff is great. (Links via Kottke).

On July 25 I will be presenting at the VSTE ITRT Summer Camp at the Virginia Crossings Resort. This opportunity for Virginia’s instructional technology resource teachers should be a good event.

I’m cross-posting this, but I’ve run through the ideas I am going to present on in the following video. The presentation is entitled Sharing Resources: It’s a 2-Way Street.

Sharing: It’s a 2-Way Street from John Hendron on Vimeo.

Merlin Mann’s e-mail organization scheme (used in a positive way, not a slimy, user-car salesman way) is based on GTD (getting things done) and recently another website is inviting folks to celebrate their victory by emptying their inboxes.

While I follow GTD and dabble, I’ve not yet achieved victory. The day awaits.

“Are you an obstacle, or the answer,” my administrator friends?

I hear so many people in districts the country over lament their “administrators” who don’t get it. It’s more rare to hear of administrators who really are leading in the area of educational technology.

The linked blog post is a good one, and I might share it with our folks later this month when we do some administrative professional development on building a school culture that embraces digital fluency.

I was thinking about the importance of language and how so many people come together to make it happen and just think there must be some parallel to the power of social collaboration in education and what you can produce that would be at the same level as what language is and how important it is to us in society. listen

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Translation: if the formation of a language, a massive collaborative effort that has spanned so many people over such long expanses of time is anything to show for the power of collaboration, I don’t know what else might compare.

Aza Raskin has developed something called Algorithm Ink which lets you code, using JavaScript, “artwork” in a web browser. Think Logo, fractals, and… fun with math!

Ah… looks like the Googlers have brought IM to the iPhone through a webapp!

Look here for new information on Google Talk for iPhone. Or, simply point your iPhone to their URL.

It seems other goodies are in store for all iPhone owners (old and new) on July 11 when the 2.0 software is released, and new Apps will be available for sale.

After my presentation today, I got many great comments. One gentleman said: “Let me tell you, this was the best session by far of anything at this entire conference, I really enjoyed it; it’s exactly what I need!” Cool! I’m glad people enjoyed it.

To see more photos, visit my Flickr set.

Speaking of the final, closing keynote, there was some controversy around the presenter, Dr. Caperton.

First, she dressed sassily and with a lot of color. I liked that. Her resume reads great. Yet, for all the smarts, she couldn’t deliver the right type of closing remarks. For one, she talked too much about the talk itself, she criticized what she saw at NECC, and she only seemed to be promoting her own ventures and business entrepreneurship.

All three of us found it inappropriate, “sleepy,” and ill-suited towards the audience. Of course, it’s easy to criticize. For one, I liked the idea of framing your presentation around comments made by conference goers. But the eSchoolNews video at the start was far better than the folks who spoke into Dr. Caperton’s camera (including the drunk guy). The introduction by ISTE using SecondLife was awesome, yet, Caperton talking about “Modern Constructivism” and “Contemporary Constructivism” sounded elitist and far too cerebral.

I think a far-better approach should have been:

• This is who I am (5 min.)
• This is what I’ve accomplished (10 min.)
• These are the principles that guided me; (20 min.)
• Here’s how they can guide you… (25 mins)

While there’s nothing wrong with showing examples, some of hers were no better than what some of us are doing today in the classroom. Oh well, I am sure someone there got something out of it, and I won’t exactly be scarred for life or anything. Overall, NECC had far too much going on in so few days, but that’s the way it feels each year. I’m glad I had the opportunity once again to attend, and do three varied presentations. It was great meeting new folks through my classes and poster sessions! Stay in touch!

Share presentations at Omnisio! Or, blog from anywhere via your e-mail account: Posterous.

Via Kevin Lim, with some more details.

This week at NECC, I will be presenting at a poster session from 1-3 PM on the topics covered in RSS for Educators.

John Hendron published the book RSS for Educators: Blogs, Newsfeeds, Podcasts and Wikis in the Classroom (2008, ISTE) based on his experiences working at Goochland County Public Schools as supervisor of instructional technology.

For ISTE’s NECC 2008 in San Antonio, John will be available for answering questions about the use of Read/Write Tools in K-12 education, demonstrating examples used in the book.

Relevant Links:

• Goochland Blogs (2005-2008)
• Goochland Blogs (2008+)
• Goochland Wiki
• Goochland Technology Times (over 120 episodes)
• Goochland School Websites
• John’s Professional Blog: Hendron’s Digest
• ISTE Bookstore

Our efforts in using Read/Write tools have been recognized by the Virginia Tech School of Education and the Virginia Department of Education. If you don’t have an opportunity to ask questions in person, feel free to use the comments in this post for questions.

I will be presenting this year at NECC on Wednesday afternoon! I invite attendees to NECC to attend my presentation on High Quality Technology Professional Development. You can download the session handout, below (PDF).

I’m also going to be leading a (filled) workshop on Google Sketchup and doing a poster session covering the topics I wrote about in my book. See you in San Antonio!

It’s great to be here for NECC 2008.

You know, this week I’m presenting at NECC. That’s the National conference that has international attendees. Some of the big-boys from Virginia are here, including Fairfax, Falls Church, and Henrico, just to name a few. And then there’s little old Goochland. We have a pretty good reputation in the Commonwealth, but sometimes I worry.

The presentation is on quality professional development. I think we really, honestly do provide some quality training and support. But it also requires the support of everyone, including those above you. It certainly isn’t as strong as it used to be.

Last year I could actually pay teachers to attend some classes. It made it a much stronger, better-attended experience. This year, I’m having people just not show up, or cancel the morning of the session. In one class, I had one student and 2 hired helpers. Disappointing.

One case in point that gives me cause for worry is this exchange between me and a teacher in a session:

• (John) Okay, next we’re going to find some photos from the city you selected in Flickr via their Creative Commons search area. Open up a web browser and go to flickr.com.
• (Teacher) Whoa, what? A web browser? Come on, what is a web browser??
• (Another teacher) Firefox, click on Firefox.
• (Teacher) Why didn’t you just say go to the Internet?
• (That other teacher) Well, Firefox is a Web browser.
• (Teacher) Ok, never knew that! Can’t I use Safari? But that’s not a Web browser, is it?
• (John) [Speechless gaze.]

We’ve come so far in our little school division. We really have. I have some 200 blogging teachers, with at least a quarter who are podcasting. Yet, we still have those that struggle with basic terminology. And I won’t even begin to extrapolate on how three different people, among three different courses we taught, didn’t know how or what copy and paste worked/was.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

In the book RSS for Educators, I mention using a WordPress blog plugin called PodPress. Today I created a video that covers its basic use.

Publishing a Podcast with PodPress WP Plugin from John Hendron on Vimeo.

This video was produced in a series of 5 instructional videos for introducing our new blogging installation to teachers next month and throughout August.