Today in an email newsletter I received information about Knol, an initiative from Google designed to produce user-created encyclopedic content that is more authoritative than Wikipedia. As you probably know, Wikipedia is controversial among educators and librarians since anyone can create or edit an article on this site, raising questions about the validity and the accuracy of their articles. However, Wikipedia articles may also be corrected quickly through this method, leading to an accuracy level that rivals traditional encyclopedic sources.

Here are my NECC notes from a session entitled Virtual Opportunities: Interactive Strategies for Online Instruction. This was a panel discussion highlighting best practices for teaching and learning online. This session had particular relevance for me since I've started teaching online courses through Concordia University Wisconsin and the MTM Project. This is a growing area in the field of education -- one which opens the doors for all kinds of new learning, and all kinds of new skills to facilitate this learning. Here are the notes:

Here are some unedited notes from a session at NECC about strategies for online discussion. I personally found this session very helpful in thinking about instruction strategies for a new era with new tools. Here are those notes:

This really isn't the best timing, but I'm having difficulty with the battery on my laptop, so any NECC updates today will rely on my ability to move close to a power supply during the various sessions.

In the meantime, here are some resources from the conference from yesterday:

Here are some links which may be of interest to teachers in Lutheran schools that I've uncovered this past week:

• Google is opening their popular Gmail email service to testers in trying out new features. Some of these features may eventually be permanently incorporated in Google Apps, which may be used by schools. Full article.

I've started playing with a service called Diigo, which appears to be a combination of several social networking ideas, such as Ning and del.icio.us, with steroids added. The site is much faster to render than the other previously listed services in my tests, which is remarkable given the richness of the features found in Diigo. As a result, I'm finding it to be fairly overwhelming. There are so many interesting tools and uses that it is difficult sorting through the utility for education, professional development, and ministry in a focused way.

Over the past week I've compiled a short list of potential professional development resources for teachers in my building. While this is by no means a comprehensive list, I thought that the list might be worth sharing. Each of these books, sites, and activities relate to education and technology in some way. I've encouraged each teacher to be proactive as far as their own learning this summer as part of the process of restoring energy and passion for future service.

My friend Alan in California has started to blog. His blog, while not having a long list of posts as of yet, does provide some insights into the work of a technology specialist and the struggle that persists in pushing educational and technological change in our Lutheran schools.

OK....the title is a cheap play on words from the title of a popular Christian book, but it really is appropriate for this post.

Friday was our last day of school for the 2007-2008 term. As a result, my thoughts are turning to more creative and futuristic themes -- themes which get shoved aside when the school year gets busy. One of these thoughts is working through a more intentional analysis of our current church/school website and working on improving this essential ministry tool.

Perhaps you have seen this video which is making the rounds in education circles. It is a powerful video in speaking to the changes in education that are essential to best serve our students in preparing them for THEIR future.

The Post-American World is a volume that is getting a lot of buzz in the media and blogosphere these days. This book, written by Newsweek correspondent Fareed Zakaria, studies the fundamental changes taking place in the realms of economics and geopolitics taking place in the world today. The quotes which I've read make it seem like this book is almost a natural follow-up volume to The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman. I cannot wait to get a full copy of the book in my hands. In the meantime, here are a few quotes from the book, as compiled by the Two Million Minutes blog:

Some of you may have already seen this notice, but there is an online meeting today for all educators in Lutheran schools related to technology, education, and ministry. This meeting is being hosted by Dr. Perry Bresemann, our Synod's School Technology Director. On the agenda for today is a discussion of the format for future meetings, a review of the technology sessions related to NECC in San Antonio in June and July, and a conversation about the possibility of hosting our own Lutheran K-12 online conference.

Please join us at 5 PM Eastern, today, Thursday, May 1st, at http://breeze.muth.us/techleaders.

I'm asking the good Lutheran question in this post -- What Does This Mean?

As you may know, I posted the slides from my presentation on "Preparing the 21st Century Student" on SlideShare prior to the LEA Convocation. The purpose in doing that is to make the information available for those who were unable to attend the sectional, or even unable to attend the Convocation. Of course, this slide show is publicly available to anyone through this site. Consequently, I received the following email this morning:

Many of you know that I presented at the LEA Convocation this past week on the 21st century skill set our students will need for their future success. That presentation, in my mind, is just a beginning step in the discussion in which all educators should be participating as together we try to make sense of these emerging technologies and apply them to education and ministry in God-pleasing ways. Interestingly, already today I've come across an article that also relates to these skills, and no doubt many more will follow.

As I was sharing my presentation on Preparing the 21st Century Student at the LEA Convocation on Friday, a comment from a participant prompted me to recognize that I missed an opportunity related to technology and education on my recent trip with our 8th grade trip to Washington DC. What I should have done is brought along my mp3 player, which also has a digital recorder. Then I could have recorded the immediate reactions of students to the sites we were viewing and comments on what they were learning. The students could have then edited these comments into a podcast and shared them with the school, their parents, and other interested listeners.

Well....at least this post was live when it was written!

I've found a wifi hotspot here in the Minneapolis Convention Center, so it is time to post a few reactions from this year's LEA Convocation. It has been great meeting so many new people and connecting with old friends and colleagues. I'm thankful that my presentations on Preparing the 21st Century Student and Multi-Class Wikis have all gone well, for which I'm thankful. I know these presentations are not about me but rather about helping our teachers better prepare students for their future, yet it is still nice to have the feeling that the sessions went well and smoothly.

I am sitting at the Denver airport awaiting my flight to Minneapolis for the LEA Convocation. I am thankful for the free wifi here in the gate area for it allows me to pass the time productively.

I will be a part of the Technology Share-a-Thon at the pre-conference technology session on Thursday morning. I will be introducing our multi-class wiki and discussing how wikis might be used in education. There is such potential for using this tool for collaboration in bringing Lutheran schools and our students together. In case you are interested and not able to attend the Convocation, or if you are not able to attend this session, presentation slides and notes may be found here.

Lately I've been talking and writing more about PLNs -- Personal Learning Networks -- and how they are necessary for me to be able to sort through the challenges we face in education, ministry, and society due to the proliferation of new technologies. This weekend I was working on a presentation and I needed to save a YouTube video but couldn't remember the online conversion tool needed to download the video. So I shared a post on Twitter, which quickly went out to those educators in my network. Within two minutes I had my answer. It was Zamzar I was seeking. With that information, I quickly converted the video and integrated it into my presentation.

How long might I have spent searching for that tool if I did not have my network? I might have found Zamzar quickly, but it also might have ended up being a much longer search. The key with a network such as this is to give as well as get. I make it a point to respond to as many queries from others as possible. We all need help from time to time, but we all have something to share. Connecting with a network is a great way to build your professionalism as well as to add value to the ministry of another.

(By the way, here is a link to my Twitter ID, in case you are interested in becoming part of a network yourself.)

Lately blogging has become more of a chore than a joy. I'm wondering if that is a natural result of constantly being on the lookout for new ideas, sources, etc. to share with others. Or is it a bit of laziness that is creeping into my routine? Perhaps part of it is a sense of being overwhelmed by all the new technologies and ideas to be used and embraced. Whatever the reason, it has been difficult for me to discipline myself to sit down and formulate some coherent thoughts for these posts.