Now that the masters is done. (sweeps dust off shoulder)

I would like to re-purpose this blog as a collection of general ideas that may or may not be worth sharing. Perhaps I will talk about technology in education, perhaps I will discuss plain old technology, perhaps I will discuss food, or decorating, or the art of dance fighting. Who can say where this blog will go, but one thing is for certain, I will gain some practical proof that I have web/publishing/blogging under my belt incase I decide to make the shift to SEO, Social media marketing, pay-per click, and the ad-words world. All of life is a resume, right?

Wimba wk4

I was not able to attend the wimba but I did have my article reviewed by Melanie Johnston, Tina DeLuca, and Bryan Hammitt. It was helpful to have their feedback because I am so familiar with the content in my article that it was hard to see if I covered all the needed information to make my article make sense. Both Tina and Melanie helped me to see that I was missing some things that would present the whole picture of my research. Bryan helped me by giving me a perspective on my research from a personal point of view that I have not had before. Everyone's feedback was helpful.

Tina's comments:
Hey Lauren, Just read over your paper, have a couple of comments. What form was the introduction to Google sites in, video, lecture? Which Google sites? Might want to list them in the beginning then just refer to them as Google sites for the rest of the paper. In the results section you mentioned how you demonstrated but you did not mention it in the methodology section. Otherwise looks great. 

Melanie's Comments:

Lauren, your article looks great. I would just cut some of the lit review out; The article itself shouldn't be more than 1500 words. Tina's idea was good also, might make it flow better. I take that back, it's supposed to be a minimum of 2000 words, so you are right on the mark! Great job! 


Bryan's commments:

Having taught at a high school for the last 15 years, I am a

good example of one the teachers illustrated in your group.  I grew up and graduated college before the internet was available, yet I teach learners who have never been aware of the internet not existing!  It is very hard to convince a group of teachers, such as my past self, that personalized learning can be achieved very well through the use of their own google site.  I am happy to hear that towards the end cycle 2, you had the majority of the teachers creating and implementing their own Google site and maintaining it with a positive attitude. Hopefully they’ll “Pay It Forward”.  Nice Job.

Wk4 Publishing Leadership Project

I chose to submit my article to the Journal of Computing in Higher Education. To be honest the only reason  I choose that particular journal is because it was the only one in which both the link worked and there was a clear evident process for submission. I could not find the details for submission on just about all the other pages, and in a lot of cases the links brought me to pages that didn't exist anymore. Hopefully this journal will be a good fit for my article, however I am not discussing computing in higher education. But I did do my research project on professional development which is not standard education.

Think out loud post 1

Think out loud post 2

http://web.me.com/laurenweber/schneck_lauren_PubLeadProject.docx

Thinking out loud post 2

I have decided to write an article for my publishing leadership project after much deliberation on which format to choose. I think that I have always wanted to try getting published in some form or another so that route ended up being the more enticing choice. I had a hard time getting the resource links to load for many of the journals listed as options. I figured many of the links might have been around a while and those pages may have been moved. I have decided to submit my article to the journal of computing in higher education, unless I run into some unknown issue. Writing the article was a bit of a puzzling process since I have never done it before but I just kept telling myself that all I needed to do was create a logical story of my research. Once I kept that concept in mind it was much easier. I am putting the finishing touches on my article and I hope that my peers can be honest with me and let me know whether I am way out of line or not. This whole process has been interesting so far.

My comment to Christian's blog

As I read through the chapter, lighting a spark, motivation of my students comes to mind.  I think about how they way, my body language, voice, comes across to my students.  I think about what I would do next time, and openness, the language to “enroll” my kids into the program, really see their need to do the work that was necessary to accomplish lesson goals.  I would say emphasizing the purpose of the lesson. 

The next chapter, being the board, taught me to reassess myself rather looking at others to blame.  The story of Cora was truly impacting, because he took the road of analyzing his situation and seeing what he could have different as a person involved in the trying situation. This taught me with my students and even people that I have a responsibility in the way I react and treat others.  I may not have control of what they do, but what I do is always in hands.  

MY COMMENT:

Christian,

I totally agree with you. This was one chapter in the book that I can agree with 100%! I think we do have the power to motivate and we do have the power to make choices that can lead us in positive directions. You make a good point that its not just about what you say, but how you react in your body language and tone of voice. Those messages confirm or disprove what you are saying with words.

My comment to Megan's blog wk4

So i looked through a ton of conferences and i had a difficult time figuring out exactly how to apply to present at one and what the stipulations for the presentation were. So then i decided that maybe i should just write an article to be published. I looked through several of the journals that i could submit to and this submission process seems a little more straightforward. So needless to say, it is now week 3 and i had started putting a presentation together, but i now think that writing an article may be easier, so i am leaning toward writing an article. If anyone has some tips for submitting to present at a conference let me know. Maybe you found one that was straightforward and easy to understand. I would much rather finish my presentation BUT if i cannot find a conference to present at then i will just have to write an article as well.
Look for a THINK OUT LOUD BLOG POST #3 next week for a final decision.


MY COMMENT:


Megan,

I am also doing an article and the issues I am having is the list of resources seems to be returning unfound pages. Are you having this issue? I don't know if it is my internet access or if a lot of the instructions on publishing have been moved from their original link locations. Which journal did you end up picking? I am interested to see if we gravitated towards the same one.

Reaction to the Reading wk4

(one of my husband's apps)

This week the reading really resonated with me and for the first time I was not at all skeptical of what I was reading. I do really believe that we all have something that we can "pay forward" so to speak, to someone else. No matter how boring or untalented you are, or feel that you are, there is something good that you can pass on to at least one other person. I totally agree with that sentiment and I think everyone else should as well. When it comes to teaching children giving them that spark of possibility is so important because something so small can be so very motivating to a child. I think that teachers need that spark of possibility even more than children in some cases because so many of them are jaded and cynical after years of experiencing let downs. I think that if I can inspire teachers to the realm of possibility with technology I will be successful.

I also agree with the notion that no matter what the circumstance, either how good or bad, my choices dictate my experience. I can choose to have a good attitude and make the most of what I am given or I can squander the possibilities at my disposal. This is true for a janitor and an administrator. Both can make the most of their environment or be very unproductive. No one is holding any of us back from using our full potential but ourselves.

Sharing inspiration is a hard one sometimes, because a lot of inspiration has to begin from within. I think that communicating the effects of inspiration is the best way to get others to find inspiration for themselves. Blogs, wikis and presentations are the best ways for me to share inspiration in my environment. Hopefully with those means of communication I can foster inspiration in others.

The last chapter hit on something that I really love doing and I have been able to do successfully, and that is tap into someone else's talent and make something better together than we could have apart. Fortunately my husband is that someone else! My husband is an awesome programmer who makes mobile applications for iphone, android and windows. He works for a very innovative company that is doing great things with the mobile platform and we have had the privilege of working together on many things. I have done some filming and video editing for his company that was incorporated into iphone and ipad apps. He trusts my creativity and instincts and I rely on his expertise to deliver the best product that I can. I love working with him and he and his co-workers inspire me very much to do new and innovative things. So yes, I have a WE story!