21apples

Initial Thoughts on POCC

Posted by arvind s grover Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:27:26 GMT

Wow, the opening session is in a giant room in the Boston Convention Center. i am overwhelmed by how many people are here, how many sessions there are, and how many possibilities I have to explore.

The keynote Frank Wu was exciting, the energy in the room is palpable, and I can’t wait to get started. Still haven’t decided if I will liveblog more than this.

Technorati Tags: Boston, Frank Wu, NAIS, National Association of Independent Schools, People of Color Conference, pocc, sdlc

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Shifting Our Practice

Posted by arvind s grover Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:15:26 GMT

For over a decade, NYSAIS has run the amazing Conference for IT Managers and Librarians. This will be my sixth time attending. Each of the past 5 years, I’ve been pushed. My understanding, my knowledge, my teaching – it’s all been pushed to a level higher than when I arrived. I joined the conference planning team at the end of last year, and it was then where the idea of an unconference arose. Why would we change something that works so well? “Well” not solely being my interpretation – but the people who come year after year are a testament to it.

So why change? That’s what technology is about, the definition even. It’s about advancement. When something better is possible, you build it. You buy it. But most importantly, you use it. Unconferences change the paradigm of a conference. It’s about the people who are there to attend, not the people who are there to present. This year, there are no workshops on the schedule. No speakers, no sessions, no tracks. Just open spaces, where a facilitator will organize into groups where we can learn and teach from each other. Is it risky? No. It’s been done before many a time, so no real reason to fear. People still will, but that’s not good. We need to be risk-takers are we want our students to be. Calculated risk tasking as adults so that we can bring better education to our students.

Some of the most positive comments we receive are about the exchanges people have in the hallways and over the lunch table. This unconference is about making those conversations the entire 3 days. Let people share their practice and learn from each other.

note: This blog post is a bit hokey – I’m not particularly worried about that though, because I feel like it’s truthful. Oh how these conferences/unconferences get the best of us!

Technorati Tags: 21apples, change, education, future, NYCIST, NYSAIS, NEIT2007, school change, schools

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Headed to SXSW Interactive Festival March 9-13

Posted by arvind s grover Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:39:09 GMT

I am fortunate to work in a school where 1) professional development is valued, and 2) the nearly limitless potential impact of technology is recognized.

sxswinteractive Because of that, my school is sending me to the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. I work/live in New York City, so sending me to Austin comes at a significant expense to the school. However, SXSW is a place where some of the most brilliant thinkers on technology and the future will be presenting. This is an opportunity for me to learn about developing technologies and approaches to using them. Most people who attend SXSW aren’t educators – but, they are thinkers. And that is why I want to be there. I want to push the boundaries of how we think about education and what’s possible. I plan to surround myself with outside-of-the-box folks who might help inspire future projects within my school.

My school, while traditional, became a 1:1 laptop school in 1998. This was very early, and as a girls school was pioneering. We are now 9 years in to the program and we know a lot more than when we started. Computers in the hands of every student have great potential, but require a dramatic shift in the way we think about the classroom. School change is an art and science, and anyone good will tell you that real changes takes years and great effort. I hope to be inspired by folks at SXSW like Kathy Sierra, Will Wright, Dan Rather, Limor Fried and hosts of other speakers who will be there.

So many of us attend professional development sessions that train on completely hands-on skills. That is great, that is necessary. But, are we spending enough time doing professional development on vision, on future-thinking? Probably not, so I am going to seize this opportunity.

Is anyone else going to South by Southwest? Please leave a comment, perhaps we can have an educator meetup in Austin.

Technorati Tags: 1:1, Austin, Creating Passionate Users, Dan Rather, education, future, Kathy Sierra, laptops, Limor Fried, professional development, school, school change, South by Southwest, SXSW, Texas, vison, Will Wright

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Happy New Year!

Posted by arvind s grover Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:04:15 GMT

Happy new year to all. I had a wonderful time traveling through Spain and Morocco and my christmas present took some unbelievable photos (evidence below). I have been learning so much about photography from the Digital Photography School blog and the Photojojo blog. Never thought I could learn so much about photography by reading blogs. Will my online professional development ever end? Let’s hope not.

This week has been busy with Winterim, a one-week period where teachers get to try out experimental courses with students. I am teaching Internet radio broadcasting to twelve 8th graders. They have put on two great shows and tomorrow is their final show. They are on live at 12:30pm EST (17:30 GMT) tomorrow January 11, 2007. Tune in to the chatroom and channel 1 at Webcast Academy.

I’ll get back to blogging soon. 2007, here we go…

Technorati Tags: 8th Grade, Canon, digital photography, Digital Rebel XTI, Flickr, Morocco, online, professional development, Photojojo, radio, Spain, webcast, Webcast Academy

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Participatory Conference

Posted by arvind s grover Sat, 18 Nov 2006 01:38:37 GMT

This year’s NYSAIS Tech Conference was professionally thrilling for me. I had a slight advantage over most attendees though, as I got to plan the conference blog. On 21st Century Learning (my weekly webcast), Alex and I interviewed Bill Fitzgerald to figure out how to use the free software Drupal to power our conference blog. Listen to that interview here:
powered by ODEO

Planning a blog for technologists and librarians who come from the high-tech world of New York independent schools was a challenge. I had two main goals for the site: 1) allow people to explore web 2.0 technologies and 2) make the conference (and site) a more collaborative experience.

I think the blog was fairly successful. Before the conference started I sent out an e-mail to all the registrants and the New York City technologists asking them to register for the site, and try out some of the “homework” assignments I posted. The assignments were to get people using the tools, hands on. Most didn’t try the site until they got to the conference, but then traffic really took off. I think the blog will have a lot of use going forward for the New York City tech community who hosted it, but it will take a concerted effort (like anything worthwhile) to keep it going. I do believe it is in all of our best interests though – I’d like to see it blossom into an online extension of our already vibrant group. Our last show covered how the site works, so take a listen here:

Results of the homework: our photo gallery, our blog posts (internal or external) and our bookmarks.

Technorati Tags: 21st Century Learning Webcast, Alex Ragone, blog, conference, del.icio.us, Drupal, education, Flickr, free, Learning Blog, NYCIST, NYSAISEdTech2006, online, New York City

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Watch David Warlick's K12 Online Conference Keynote

Posted by arvind s grover Mon, 06 Nov 2006 04:23:34 GMT

I planned to go to bed early tonight after I finished writing my parent-teacher pre-conference writeups. Instead, I started watching David Warlick video keynote address for the K12 Online Conference and I couldn’t stop. As usual, David was spot-on on everything he was talking about and finished his keynote talking about how we all need to be 21st century learners – obviously I liked that since my blog is called 21apples (find out why) and my weekly webcast with Alex Ragone is called 21st Cenutry Learning.

This “conference” is so interesting because it is all going to be conducted online. You can read about it, participate in live events, check out the agenda, see a map of who all is involved, visit/edit the conference wiki and more.

A wonderful opportunity for teachers, technologists and everyone in-between to learn more about technology in education. How can we do it, why should we do it and more. If you want to use the Internet, computers and tech in general in your school, “be at” this conference. You can even get graduate credit for participating in this online conference.

On a side note, David Warlick’s Hitchhikr website will be charting all the blog posts and Flickr pictures connected to this conference.

Technorati Tags: conference, David Warlick, graduate school, K12 Online Conference, k12online, K12online06, Learning Blog, NYSAIS-EdTech-2006, NYSAISEdTech2006, school, schools, students, teachers, teaching, technology, wiki