Thursday, October 11, 2007

You're invited to my presentations on Friday, October 12th

Simulpost with TechLearning

The Maine technology conference has been delightful thus far -- I will have so much to blog when I get back. The people here are great! So let me tell you what I've planned for today, and how you can join in.

No Google Jockeys

And this morning, podcasting phenom Bob Sprankle coined a new term. I backchanneled during my wiki presentation (which was useful for a thousand reasons.) Last night, I looked at "backchannel" on wikipedia and learned that the term for someone watching the backchannel and reporting back to the speaker was at one time called a "Google Jockey."

Meet the Backchannel Bouncer

Well, I don't know about you, but I don't like that term for the classroom. So we thought and thought. Bob came up with the term Backchannel Bouncer. I don't know if it will stick, there may be a better term. I do think this one has the potential to fit, and I'll tell you why. The Bouncer -- is in the backchannel and people can bounce questions off him/her as a first line of defense -- he handled tons of questions like help w/ usernames -- redropping links in the chat so people could follow on their laptops.

But then, every 20-30 minutes I'd turn to Michael Richards (my backchannel bouncer today) and say "What is going on in the backchannel? Are there any questions in there for me or feedback?" He would bounce their questions off me. He made meaning.

Also, if we had any trouble, he could literally be a bouncer hand handle problems in the chat. It is really a super great tool for backchanneling and I think it is a must-do for all workshops and sessions -- I've already recruited a backchannel bouncer for my two sessions tomorrow. (Thanks Cheryl and Alice.)

And then, I could answer questions. Also, several people came in from around the world and starting chatting with the students -- they got so excited! (Unfortunately Google Presentations still isn't archiving the chat!)

So, today (it is 2:22 am) I will backchannel in Google Presentations again and also have a live ustream. Don't count on the ustream video being too great, so I recommend pulling up the stream and then following along in the Google pres.

Here is the information that you need:

Seven Steps to a Flat Classroom
9:30 - 10:30 am Eastern Standard Time
This will be streamed live on ustream at http://ustream.tv/channel/cool-cat-teacher-tv. The TV may not be that great, but you can listen to the audio and then see the live presentation in the google presentation. If you have a gmail account, you may also participate in the live chat (or backchannel.) This also allows you to receive links and share thoughts with others

Blogging for a Better Classroom

1:20 - 2:20 pm EST
This will be streamed live on ustream at http://ustream.tv/channel/cool-cat-teacher-tv. The TV may not be that great, but you can listen to the audio and then see the live presentation in the google presentation. If you have a gmail account, you may also participate in the live chat (or backchannel.) This also allows you to receive links and share thoughts with others.

Other links and slideshares are posted on my presentation wiki.

Join in (and if you plan to, leave a comment so that I'll know you're coming and I can point it out to the audience. I want to point out the nature of what is happening. There is a method to this madness.)

And if you want to hear from some people who were in workshops today in Maine -- take a listen - this was about 10 minutes long.



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