So, thanks to her, I present to you “I’m Following YOU at NECC”:

The Flickr Set:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/khokanson/sets/72157620859666386/

The Slideshow:

Thanks, Kristin for carrying the camera all day and helping me find almost everyone on my shirt – you are the best!

ePortfolios using Wikis (Dr. Helen Barrett) http://electronicportfolios.org/

I must admit that this session was my second choice – Apple canceled their “Panther” preview. And I also must admit that I attended this session thinking that I already knew how to create ePortfolios – I have mine online and I have my students create their own. And while I wasn’t surprised that she suggested using a Web 2.0 tool like Wikispaces, I was impressed by her presentation and her suggestion to build a “matrix” that viewers can look at. Building on her “portfolio at a glance” page, Dr. Barrett created a table in Wikispaces that highlights the skills and disciplines that she is demonstrating on the wiki. Since a Web 2.0 portfolio is hyperlink-able, she makes her “Artifacts” a logical starting point instead of just a footnote. See here: Artifacts Page

You can bet that I’ll take this “next level” with my portfolio, likely following Dr. Barrett’s “How to Create an Interactive ePortfolio” – and then extend that to my students’ portfolios.

GPS and GeoCaching for K-12 Educators (Dr. Alice Christie) http://www.alicechristie.org/

First of all, I just want to say that I want to move to Phoenix to study under Dr. Christie. She is the neatest prof I’ve met – full of energy and ALL about learning (she echoed what I heard time and time again at NECC: “it’s not about the technology”). Dr. Christie is preparing educators for School 2.0 in a BIG way.

This session was not so much about how to use a GPS and more about how to use a GPS and GeoCaching in a multidisciplinary environment. For instance, a language arts teacher could use GeoCaching to teach parts of speech. Or a Math teacher could use it to teach formulas. Pretty much any subject can be used. While I could try to explain exactly how, Dr. Christie does it so much better on her “Educators Guide to GeoCaching”.

So I have a few GPS units I bought with a grant from the Bureau of Career & Tech Ed at the PA Dept of Education. I have taught my kids how to “use” them, but now I know how to teach my kids my classroom concepts, from vocabulary to IP Addressing to…. it’s infinite!