The first day of the New Learning Technologies conference went off without a hitch. I found the presentations that I attended interesting and informative. As always, I took copious notes but, because of some issues with Internet access at the conference center, I am unable to live blog or tweet. Instead, you may access my notes one my public Evernote notebook: SALT 2010.

Additionally, my friend and colleage, Natalie Laderas, and I had the great honor to present at this conference. You may access our presentation, Leveraging Open Source to Develop e-Learning, on Slideshare.net.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to post! I look forward to hearing from you about what I have learned and shared with you.

~April

What kind of design advice would I give this professor? Well, I’d say:

• know who your students are, particularly their age and interests
• make a note of what the available technologies and tools are…both on your end and on your students’
• know what you expect of your students (and that they know it too). Student achievement should be couched in terms of “When the student walks away from this course, what do they need to be able to do?” Make sure those student expectations are based on course goals. Students should always know, upfront, what you expect of them. Make it clear and obvious.
• decide on structure. I prefer to start from the student and work outward, therefore student-centered learning is how I would set up a course, if given the opportunity. However, not everyone (particularly higher ed) has that option and has to work within the structure given. But, there is always room for flexibility and you should know where that flexibility is. Try incorporating as much social learning opportunities as possible and help students build a PLN through the activities in the course.
• activities need to authentic and applicable. Any subject can have authentic activities. This points back to “what a student walks away with” point above. What activities will get them ready for that? What can you do that incorporates the social and networking tools that will allow them to access information so they can participate?
• real life examples. Use yourself as an example, bring in teacher-practitioners (or other experts in your field) through Skype, DimDim, or F2F, explore resources with students and pick apart the examples. Real life examples are a good way to touch base on what is practical, cool, and far-reaching.
• be honest. If you don’t know what a tool is or how something works, say so…with a caveat. If one student wants to know, then half a dozen want to know as well. Learn with your students and create a pool of shared meaning and knowledge.
• understand that technology is a means, not an end. Don’t use a shoe to pound on a nail. Use a hammer. Know what the tools are first and what they can do before using them in your course design. Trial the tools and make tweaks as necessary (including abandoning the tool if it doesn’t fit the need).
• be accessible. If you expect your students to use technology and tools for class, make sure that you are also available through them. I’m not just talking email here either. Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Nings, texting, Google Wave (and now Google Buzz) are all communication tools that allow you to be available to students as needed.

Now he can go back and redesign his course so that it really reflects the topic: Technology in the Classroom. What are your thoughts? Did I give good advice or did I lead our intrepid professor astray?

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Image by janusz l via Flickr

For the past three years I have worked as an instructional designer at Performance Learning Systems. It was a great experience and I learned quite a bit about design, teamwork, and myself. I have made some great friends while developing online higher education for teachers. But, like all great things, my time with PLS has come to an end. And, with a heavy heart, I must say goodbye to the friends and colleagues I have come to know so well.

And say hello to my new colleagues at ISTE. As of January 25, I will be working for this terrific organization as an instructional designer. I look forward to creating professional development that is informative, timely, and innovative. I find this opportunity exciting as I hope to continue my personal mission to help teachers prepare our kids for a world increasingly dependent on technology and the increasing amounts of available information.

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Which brings me to the “one very big don’t” part of this blog post’s title. If you are going to ask someone for a connection, do not under any circumstance, send the following default message:

Because, if you do, what you really send is:

*inhales deeply to calm herself*

Okay, maybe that was a bit overboard. There are times when I’ve sent out the default message. But, and this is a big exception, it was only to someone I already knew and was expecting the invitation.

When I am not on a first name basis with the potential contact, though, I always send a short and polite note letting the person know why I am asking for the connection and anything we may have in common.

The default LinkedIn message is like the following video (if you substitute LinkedIn for Facebook, that is):

You might have something in common with them and, potentially, could even make a great connection, but without a personal and meaningful interaction, the conversation cannot even start.

So, to get the conversation started, you need to do the following:

• Do make the effort to get to know the person before requesting the connection. LinkedIn is not a popularity contest and quality really is better than quantity.
• Do look to people outside of your immediate field for connections. You never know what will inform your practice next.
• Do contact the potential contact through their blog or Twitter and strike up a conversation before you ask them to connect with you on LinkedIn. That way, you are no longer a stranger when you send the request.
• Do be polite and spell/grammar check your request.

The bottom line is that I really like using LinkedIn, meeting new people, and making those networking connections but I won’t answer plain old, default LinkedIn requests. Do us both a favor and make it interesting and polite. Showing an interest in the person you’re trying to connect with never hurts either!

~April

You may connect with me on LinkedIn. See above post for connection requests.

1. a redefinition of the terms “teacher” and “student” and “subject matter expert” because of open source content
2. the emergence of a new marketplace system dependent upon open source resources and content
3. open source software accepted on its own merits and not as a “poor cousin”
4. connections between ourselves (personal), each other (social), and networks (technological) becoming ubiquitous and it will seem odd if someone doesn’t have some kind of mobile or computing device on their person at all times
5. social learning becoming a buzzword
6. e-books and e-textbooks increase in popularity and online library resources increase
7. real time communication, through Twitter, texting, etc., leveraged by teachers in the classroom
8. collaboration becomes the norm rather than the exception as educators and colleagues use wikis and Google Wave to communicate and create
9. young people becoming meaning-makers and being taken seriously for their efforts, interest, and contributions
10. social action combining with learning to make a positive change while learners receive hands on education

I am not the only one making predictions! Here is one that I hope comes with goggles and a really cool nerf gun mod:

So, what does your crystal ball tell you?