2007 November | The Village Green

First Year Birthday November 30, 2007

Posted by Matthew Woolums in Opinion.
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My blog celebrated its first birthday today. Over the last year on average I’ve posted about three times a week. Posts covered communication/collaboration tools, laptops for children, the role of statistics and data in education, appropriate use of information, classroom uses for blogs, my own opinions, and even a few jokes! I haven’t gotten a lot of feedback, although there are 50+ comments. Akismet thinks another 350+ were spam. There are fewer than a dozen external links to my blog, not counting spam blogs, and Technorati reports a page rank of 962,510. Is bigger better?

So why do I blog? Mostly for myself. I need a space where I can participate in a creative process. I need a place where I can work through my own thinking by committing words to paper. I also need a location for my own thoughts that can exist somewhere beyond the confines of my limited brain. I blog because it feeds me. I blog because I need to externalize my internal dialog. I hope that those of you who are reading this are getting something out of it too, something personal and meaningful. I hope it feeds you too.

OLPC Sued for Patent Infringement November 28, 2007

Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, OLPC.
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CNET.com’s The Open Road is reporting that the One Laptop Per Child project is being sued for patent infringement. One more bump in the complicated road to provide access to everyone everywhere.

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9824699-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Habits of Highly Successful Knowledge Workers November 28, 2007

Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos.
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George Siemens has posted a small selection from a Jay Cross publication entitled “Improving workplace performance.” In the selection, Jay states that knowledge workers are taking the responsibility to manage their own learning for what they need to know for their jobs. I see teachers and librarians as knowledge workers. I see professional educators assisting students on their journey to become knowledge workers.

In the life of a teacher, does self-directed learning hold implications for staff development? How about learning communities? How does self-directed learning on the part of the teacher change classroom teaching practices? Are there implications for the student as well as for the teacher?

http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/archives/003165.html

Entire Blogosphere Stunned November 28, 2007

Posted by Matthew Woolums in Humor.
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The Onion reminds us we’re only blogging here.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/entire_blogosphere_stunned

Google Lit Trips November 27, 2007

Posted by Matthew Woolums in Tools.
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Sometimes a good idea just keeps cropping up. Google Lit Trips is an interesting experiment in mapping literature. Developed by Jerome Burg, Google Lit Trips combines classic literature and the mapping power of Google Earth to provide a unique geographic exploration of the story. There is a section on how to get started, and examples of ‘mapped’ literature, including “Make Way For Ducklings” by Paul McCloskey, “The Slave Dancer” by Paula Fox, and “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare. This idea has a lot of potential, especially as more people contribute more titles.

http://web.mac.com/jburg/GoogleLit/Home.html

Blog Example #16 – Online Project Assignment Page November 27, 2007

Posted by Matthew Woolums in Edublogs.
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Mr. Rimes used his blog to post resources and information about an online project called Mattawan Travel Agency. In this project, from January 2007, students are invited to become travel agents. Using a variety of tools, like Google Earth and Kidspiration, students mark spots around the globe that travel destinations.

http://visitmyclass.com/blogs/rimes/archive/2007/01/31/72151.aspx