James Surowiecki, Opening Keynote

Wisdom of the Crowds (PBS – Science Now) What was truly exciting about this keynote was the fact I just recently watched a PBS special on the exact same concept and examples Mr. Surowiecki used. His main example was Sir Francis Galton who wanted to test his theory that groups of common “folk” were in an essence incompetent when trying to guess the weight of a cow. His results were shocking, because despite no one guessing the actual weight of the cow, collectively they were remarkably accurate.

To put this into perspective for educators, it takes a village to educate/raise a child. This is no new concept to education, but rarely is it seen. Yes, we all “work” together to mold the minds of tomorrow, but we lack one concept “collaboration”. No “one” teacher can educate every student, however working together and utilizing each person’s individual talent is crucial in this age of NCLB.

What makes true collaboration hard (ego, insecurity, experience level, trust, views, pedagogy, time, funding, professionalism, etc..)?

At the top I created the link to a short video about Sir Francis Galton and his experiment (check it out)

Poster Sessions (Tom)

I attended various poster sessions that dealt with emerging Web 2.0 technology. The projects incorporated Podcasting, Video-Teleconferencing, on-line collaboration, and some sort of “global awareness”.

Many teachers were using free software and on-line resources to conduct multi-modal learning for their students.

One school in Minot, ND created a time-line that went down their hallways simply by researching on-line specific topics. Though technology was limited it allowed the whole school to visual be a part of the project. The projects covered nanotechnology to diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) heard about their project and flew a team to North Dakota. Needless to say, the Superintendent I spoke too, they were amazed by all the open space and cows. What is amazing about this project is how something so simple and small developed into a global issue that will forever be etched in the minds of the students, faculty, and community.

Another Poster Session that stood out was the Global Explorers project. A group of students collaborated with students from Columbia. They utilized e-mail, skype, wikis, Podcasts, blogs, video-teleconferencing…you name it. This project is interesting in how it developed. It started out basic with e-mail, then blogs, then wikis, conferencing, etc… As the students became more and more involved, they wanted quicker feedback and response from their counterparts in Columbia. This is amazing in the sense that the students directed the teacher into the direction they wanted to go. Their podcast is available on iTunes here.

There were many exciting Poster Sessions and I know that others in the group will also be posting.