Last night, the hashtags #ebc10 and #iste10 were all over my Twitter public timeline and those were tweets that were posted by my edtech contacts from other countries. After doing a Google search, I discovered that the hashtags were about two events, the EduBloggerCon 2010 and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference 2010.

The first event, EduBloggerCon (based from the definition on its wikispace)

“is an all-day unconference gathering for those interested in social media / Web 2.0 in education”.

Wikipedia states that:

an unconference is a facilitated, participant-driven conference centered on a theme or purpose. The term “unconference” has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid one or more aspects of a conventional conference, such as high fees and sponsored presentations.

So far, the only unconference I’m familiar with here in the Philippines is the BarCamp Manila. Perhaps, it would be nice to start holding an EduBloggerCon event too in the university. However, the question is – are there edubloggers in UP Diliman?

The second event, ISTE Conference 2010, is a conference organized by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Quoting from its website:

ISTE is the trusted source for professional development, knowledge generation, advocacy and leadership for innovation. (ISTE) is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education.

This organization was already familiar to me because it coined some of the definitions or terminologies I have taught in my EDUC 190 class. I was wondering about their membership application though.

Afterwards, I tried to keep track on Twitter more by following the hashtags #ebc10 and #iste10. I just wish I would be able to attend these events live! For now, let’s just stick with the EduBloggerCon 2010 Wikispace and the ISTE 2010 Remote Access/VOD/Webcast site.

Enjoy and see you in the Twitterverse and Blogosphere!

I’m now officially enrolled in 2 EdTech graduate majors as stated from my new Form 5 that is automatically generated and filled out by the system. It feels so good that I’m now on my 2nd year of graduate studies! Hooray! I just hope that I’ll get to have the reduced fees privileges/benefits too like most instructors have in the university. But wait, there’s more…

I’ll be handling a Computers in Education course at the UP College of Education! Wish me good luck!

Indeed, there are so many apps that can be used in teaching! Can you imagine that most (if not all) of these educational tools can be easily replaced by just a tiny gadget?

Given that the classroom is WiFi enabled, teachers will now have a way to check or verify information right away with just a simple tap on an iPhone. It fosters curiosity not only for the students but also for the teachers while being provided with up-to-date resources.

Although my old Sony Ericsson P990i smartphone can take pictures through its macro shot, the iPhone’s camera still overpowers it. Through apps that can instantly upload photos right after taking it, students can now easily share photos (e.g. TwitPic) of laboratory experiment results on a class blog instead of using a paper and pencil that is prone to inaccuracy and the fact that it has low accessibility too.

Students can also create productions such as podcasts or even vodcasts (e.g. Qik, Ustream, etc.) – and this is what I would like to see in a preschool setting in the Philippines in which kindergarten students make a presentation using these media. Isn’t that wonderful, cute, and amazing at the same time?

Feedback is now interactive and a lot faster. The reactions or reflections of students can be easily gathered, published and even archived. For the teacher, assessment is fast and more accurate; say goodbye to manual computations on paper. Last 2nd semester, I found out that the Edu 2.0 portal had an iPhone version as well! Impressive!

Now, can you imagine yourself teaching with an iPhone in hand as well? Go paperless now and grab that powerful toolbox that fits in your pocket!

Wish me good luck!

Visit www.ictedphilippines.org for more information.

Most likely you already know Web 2.0 and Education 2.0 (or 3.0), but how about School 2.0? Chris Lehmann presented a very interesting topic in TEDxNYED on education – School 2.0: Creating The Schools We Need.

While watching the Youtube video, I reflected on every statement he uttered. Amazingly, I was able to start writing again after a blogging break due to a bulk of deliverable for my MA subjects last March, integration period for my teaching load, and getting my MacBook Pro repaired in the service center for about 2 weeks while on a short summer vacation last April.

My typical day usually involves having too many ideas which hinders me from even starting the very first statement of a blog post. Twitter easily becomes the solution to posting and sharing ideas in snippets and this is one of the reasons why I also tend to skip blogging for I already do microblogging through my iPhone.

Focusing more on the examples that Chris elaborates, technology really plays a very vital role in learning. I was able to relate to his example of a student working on a laboratory activity, discovering the real thing on one hand while capturing it with a laptop on the other hand. I reminisced the time way back in my PSHS years where we usually draw what we get from our biology class that can be effectively accomplished now by just getting a laptop with a camera. This is ‘good data’ as Chris stressed on his talk.

Things are very much different now which makes unlearning and relearning very important to learners as well as teachers. The talk emphasized that instead of saying that you teach math, say that you teach kids or students because it’s all about being student-centered and being teacher-mentored at the same time.

“The digital footprint that you leave today matters”. That thing you post on Twitter or Facebook might get reposted a lot of times and be quoted on papers or even books (if dead trees will still exist after a decade).

I was dazzled as well with the example on the influence that a caring teacher can have on a group of students. I saw it as a great strategy to involving a whole class to creating a very big project, honoring their efforts in order to let them feel that college is real life as well – that they can already make things work while still in undergraduate level.

Lastly, there were some take away that I got from the concluding part of the talk. Teachers should focus on getting every day or every session to make sense for their students. They should teach students to ‘learn how to think’, that they can do more than what they learn inside the school. They should ‘allow technology to redefine everything’, especially for teachers who have anxiety on crossing boundaries in translating their old media (paper and pen) to new media (technology!). I have encountered lots of teachers who still use old media and I was greatly challenged to change them or at least influence them to use more effectively the new technology that they already have in their fingertips. Teachers must also teach the students while making an emphasis to changing the world to make it a better place and make life easier too.

Keep in mind that we should also ‘be a learner and be willing to be transformed’. We should ‘be humbled by all that we do not know’. Likewise, quoting Chris again: “How dare anyone think that you can transform a child if you are unwilling to transform yourself?”

So, are you ready to be transformed now?

Quoting from an email:

Alison is an inspirational presenter who is passionate about helping individuals make progress in their lives through education – and, in so doing, to help their families, communities and countries to prosper. She has a wealth of educational experience interacting with international educators to share best practice and contribute to improving the learning outcomes for students. Alison works closely with teachers, school leaders, and bureaucrats to ensure that students access the very best teaching and learning opportunities.

I will try to live stream the event via Ustream in a bit and hopefully the stream will be clear enough for I will only use a SmartBRO connection if I don’t get to have a decent WiFi connection.

Live TV by Ustream

Quoting the Ed/ITLib:

The Digital Library is a valuable online resource of peer-reviewed and published international journal articles and conference papers on the latest research, developments, and applications related to all aspects of Educational Technology and E-Learning.

The AACE Digital Library enables users to:

* Conduct scholarly research.
* Keep current on the latest research and publications in their fields.
* Access and fully search to publications in an easy, searchable, and efficient manner.
* Maintain their academic interests in the area of information technology in education.
* Receive Table of Contents Alerts prior to publication.

Export capability is offered in the following formats:

* BibTex, compatible with LaTeX and similar TeX-based text processors.
* EndNote, compatible with EndNote and any application capable of importing references in EndNote format.

It also offers eBooks, presentations, and several featured & public collections – paperless resources! I just hope that this digital library shall also be included in my university library’s online subscriptions soon. This resource will be very handy especially in the field of educational technology.

Goals: Understand, Learn, Realize, Know, Appreciate, Be aware, Feel, Believe, Desire, Enjoy.

Instructional Objectives: Identify, Outline, Operate, Compute, Name, Detect, Volunteer, Write, Construct, Support.

For example, your topic is on Web Development:

G: Learn HTML programming.
O: Create a simple HTML.

G: Understand the various frameworks used in web development.
O: Operate on a specific framework in creating a website.

G: Know the different terminologies in HTML.
O: Name the different terms or concepts used in HTML programming.

G: Appreciate the beauty of web development.
O: Volunteer to present and demonstrate your own website in class.

G: Be aware of the different strategies on web development.
O: Detect and identify the methods used in developing a website.

For more examples, check out these references: