Show Notes:

1. Announcing K12Online08 Keynotes!
2. Willing to Volunteer?
3. Second Call for Proposals
4. K-12 Online on Twitter

Subscribe to the Inside K12 Online Podcast Channel

Media and Communications (Public Relations)- This committee will be responsible for getting the word out about the conference.Convener- Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach (snbeach at cox dot net)

Live Events - This committee handles live events during the conference, our culminating event “When Night Falls” and fireside chats.Convener- Dean Shareski (shareski at gmail dot com)

Help Desk- This committee will be the conference technical support team and will work from a proactive role in terms of recommending tools and “how-tos.”Convener- Darren Kuropatwa (dkuropatwa at gmail dot com)

Professional Development- This committee will arrange oppotunities for graduate credit and Continuing Education points that can be obtained globally.Convener- Wes Fryer (wesfryer at yahoo dot com)

Accessibility Options- This committee will create a resource and be available to answer questions about ensuring that presentations are accessible by all participants, even those with disabilities.Convener- Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach (snbeach at cox dot com)

Roles and Responsibilities- The role of the convener on each committee is to serve as a liason from the committee to the conference as a whole.The role of the chair is to organize and facilitate 2-3 meetings (Elluminate is available for your meetings) prior to our conference and to lead the committee in development of a support plan and related tasks to fulfill your committee’s purpose.The role of members will be to carry out, with the chair, the purpose and plan of the committee.

Interested? If you are interested in chairing or serving on one of the above committees please contact the appropriate convener or leave a comment below with your contact information and someone will get back with you right away. We would like to have committees formed and functioning by the end of August.

	Preconference Keynote: Professor Stephen Heppell CEO Heppell.net, Professor Bournemouth University, Chair in New Media Environments, Emeritus Professor Anglia Ruskin University, Visiting Professor University of Wales, Newport. Executive chairman LP+ Stephen was the guiding “father” of a number of social networking projects including *ESW in the 1980s, Schools OnLine for the Department of Trade and Industry in 1995/6, Tesco Schoolnet 2000 from 1999, Think.com from 1999. Stephen founded Ultralab in the 1980s, moving there from the UK Government’s groundbreaking Microelectronics Education Programme. Over a score of years Ultralab grew to become Europe’s leading learning technology research centre with projects that pioneered multimedia CD ROMs and on-line communities before the advent of the world wide web. He left Ultralab to found his own flourishing policy and learning consultancy Heppell.net which now has a portfolio of international projects. Stephen is retained by a number of organisations to help with future policy and direction, including the BBC, is an Associate of KPMG, and is retained by UK government in Horizon Scanning work to advise of future directions for educational policy. Stephen is executive chairman of LP+ who are currently developing a Chinese language learning community for 20 million Chinese school students, in partnership with China’s Sun New Media corporation.
	Getting Started: Alice Barr Alice Barr has lived, taught and traveled on five continents. Currently, she is the Instructional Technology Integrator for Yarmouth High School in Yarmouth, Maine. She facilitates a 1:1 laptop environment in grades 9 - 12. Alice also teachers in the summer at The University of Southern Maine and provides professional development sessions during the year. Alice has been a member of Seedlings@bitbybit since 2006.
	Getting Started: Cheryl Oakes Cheryl lives in Maine and has been part of the SEEDLINGS group since the beginning in 2006. Cheryl is a Collaborative Content Coach for Technology in Wells, Maine in the Wells Ogunquit Community School District. It is a school district of 1500 students, 250 staff members located on the coast of Maine, USA. Cheryl has been teaching with technology since 1988. Cheryl has worked in an elementary school with K- 4 most recently and is currently working with students, teachers and community, K- Adult. The newest venture is engaging all our staff and students with our district Moodle. Technology is always an adventure. Through open source learning, the process where we all contribute, the culture of collaboration will become the norm. Please join our conversations.
	Getting Started: Bob Sprankle Bob Sprankle comes from Wells, ME, USA. He’s a Technology Integrator in a K-4 Elementary School, teaching over 500 students technology and skills for the 21st Century and has been integrating technology in a 3/4 Multi-age class for 10 years prior. Bob was involved with the SEED group in Maine as a Technology Learning Leader and helped train the first wave of teachers using laptops for the 7th and 8th grader MLTI project. He was awarded Maine’s Technology Teacher of the Year in 2006 from ACTEM. Bob’s students have received world-wide recognition for their “Room 208 Podcast”, and have appeared in numerous articles, including, The New York Times and Apple’s Education Site. Bob’s professional development blog and podcast, “Bit by Bit”, is geared to helping teachers incorporate technology into their classrooms and can be found at www.bobsprankle.com.
	Prove It! Gardner Campbell Gardner Campbell is Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning at Baylor University, where he also serves as an Associate Professor in the Honors College. From 1994-2008, he was on the faculty at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where from 2003-2006 he served as Asst. VP for Teaching and Learning Technologies. A Miltonist by training, Gardner has published essays in the literature of the English Renaissance, film studies, and teaching and learning technologies. He teaches in these areas as well as in new media studies and writing. He’s worked in teaching and learning technologies for nearly fifteen years at Mary Washington, at the University of Richmond, and now at Baylor University. Gardner currently serves on the Advisory Board of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. He is also a Fellow of the Frye Leadership Institute, class of 2005. Gardner blogs at www.gardnercampbell.net/blog1.
	Leading The Change: Chris Lehmann Chris is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, a progressive science and technology high school in Philadelphia, PA. Chris has returned to his native Philadelphia after nine years as an English Teacher, Technology Coordinator, Girls Basketball Coach and Ultimate Frisbee coach at the Beacon School in New York City, one of the leading urban public schools for technology integration. In 2006, the National School Board Association named Chris one of “20 to Watch” among American administrators. In 2001, Chris was honored by MOUSE (www.mouse.org) as a Champion of Technology and Education for his work on building the portal at the Beacon School. Chris has spoken at educational conferences all over the world, including the Building Learning Communities conference, the National Educational Computing Conference, the Philadedelphia Area Educational Technology Conference, The Council of Educational Facilities Planners Regional Conference, the K12-Online Conference, the International Conference on Technology and Education and at LinuxWorld, and he has worked with many schools and districts in the U.S. and England as a consultant. Chris received his B.A. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.A. in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Chris writes for LeaderTalk (www.leadertalk.org), Grant Wiggins’ Faculty Room (www.thefacultyroom.org) and is the author of the education blog Practical Theory: www.practicaltheory.org.
	Kicking It Up A Notch: Vicki Davis Vicki Davis is an award winning teacher and IT director at Westwood Schools in Camilla, Georgia, where she co-created three award winning international projects, the Flat Classroom project, the Horizon project, and Digiteen. These projects have linked more than 500 students from 8 countries in collaborative projects harnessing the most powerful Web 2.0 tools available. Vicki blogs at the award winning Cool Cat Teacher blog and is a freelance writer, conference, and online presenter.
	Kicking It Up A Notch: Julie Lindsay Julie Lindsay, currently Head of Information Technology and E-Learning at Qatar Academy, Doha, State of Qatar, is an enthusiastic, global-minded education leader and innovator. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, over the past few years she has been teaching and leading the use of technology in schools in Zambia, Kuwait, Bangladesh and Qatar. Her wealth of diverse work experience is complemented by Masters of Arts degrees from La Trobe University in Melbourne and George Washington University in Washington, DC. Julie is a member of ISTE’s International Committee and contributor to ISTE’s Learning and Leading magazine as an ICT specialist and for Bloggers Café column. Recent awards include co-winning an Edublog Award for best Wiki 2006, ISTE’s SIGTEL’s Online Learning Award 2007 and Taking IT Global Best Online Learning Project 2007 for the Flat Classroom Project. As co-founder of the Flat Classroom Project, Horizon Project and Digiteens, Julie is recognized worldwide for her innovative programs using a wide array of Web 2.0 tools to transform learning for the emerging digital, “world-is-flat” educational landscape. From ubiquitous mobile technology programs to online global collaboration, Julie brings front line experiences to share with teachers, school leaders and policy makers alike. She is a frequent presenter on the world stage, a tireless volunteer leader for professional associations, and an inspiration to colleagues and collaborators demonstrating just how different world-class education will be in this 21st Century. More information can be found on Julie’s digital portfolio julielindsay.wikispaces.com/ and her presentations wiki julielindsaylinks.pbwiki.com. Julie blogs at ‘E-Learning Journeys’ on 123elearning.blogspot.com.

Please join us in welcoming these talented and distinguished educators as 2008 keynote speakers for the K-12 Online Conference! Remember you still have just over two weeks left to submit your own proposal for the 2008 K-12 Online Conference, which will begin with a pre-conference keynote during the week of October 13 and continue October 20-24 and October 27-31. Deadline for submissions is July 11, 2008.

Also note Darren created a K12Online2008 group in the NECC 2008 Ning this evening, which we’ll use as a “pre-conference watering hole” to share ideas and solicit input for the conference. Please join our discussions there as well!

Technorati Tags:
k12online08, necc2008, necc08, keynote, web2, collaboration, learning, opencontent, professionaldevelopment, pd, teacher

Participation in the conference (as in the past) is entirely free. Conference materials are published in English and available for worldwide distribution and use under a Creative Commons license. Some changes in the requirements for presentations are being made this year and are detailed below.

The deadline for proposal submission has been extended to July 11, 2008. Call for Proposal Submission Form

OVERVIEW: As in past years, K12 Online 2008 will feature four “conference strands,” two each week. Two presentations will be published in each strand each day, Monday through Friday, so four new presentations will be available each day over the course of the two weeks. Including the pre-conference keynote, a total of 41 presentations will be published. Each twenty minute (or less) presentation will be shared online in a downloadable format and released simultaneously via the conference blog (www.k12onlineconference.org,) the conference Twitter account, and the conference audio and video podcast channels. All presentations will be archived online for posterity. A total of 82 past presentations are currently available from K12 Online 2006 and K12 Online 2007. If you are planning to submit a proposal, please review archived presentations from past years to determine what you might offer that is new and builds on previous work. A variety of live events will also be planned during and following the weeks of the conference.

Please make note that we have moved the “Prove It” strand to Week 1 and the “Kicking it up a Notch” strand to Week 2.

FOUR STRANDS: Week 1 Strand A: Prove it
Although some teachers are excited to “amplify possibilities” using computer technologies, Web 2.0 tools, and 21st Century learning strategies in their classrooms, how do we know if these innovative instructional strategies are really working? Since information technologies and emerging brain research continue to rapidly evolve and change, it is challenging as well as vital to find current, meaningful research to undergird the learning initiatives we are using in our classrooms. What are “best practices” for teaching and learning with the new participatory media? This strand will share research results from the field that support students in using knowledge to communicate, collaborate, analyze, create, innovate, build community and solve problems. In addition, successful methods for developing and/or delivery of action research projects or research-based instruction in today’s digital world will be explored. In some cases, participants may be invited to participate in ongoing or beginning research on Web 2.0 tool use, constructivist pedagogy, or other 21st Century research issues. Educational research about emerging professional development strategies, contemporary learning theory, systemic school reform, and other current themes of educational change are also appropriate for inclusion in this strand.Help us to examine such research questions as: o What does research in learning science, instructional design, informal learning, and other fields tell us about today’s learner and their success? o What design features must teachers incorporate into their instructional activities to support meaningful learning? o What is the role of assessment in today’s changing classroom? How should assessment be structured to meaningfully assess student achievement in the context of the modern classroom?

Strand B: Getting Started
Everything you wanted to know about getting started with web 2.0 technologies for learning but were afraid to ask. The presentations in this strand will focus on specific, free tools for newcomers. Whether you have one classroom computer or a laptop for every student, digital technologies can provide new opportunities to connect with other learners, create new and exciting knowledge products, and engage students in an expanded learning process beyond the traditional “boundaries of the bell.” Teachers first introduced to Web 2.0 tools are often unaware of the new possibilities for teaching and learning afforded by the Read/Write Web. Presentations in this strand will amplify and model what is possible in terms of pedagogy, student creation of content, and collaboration. Practical classroom implementation ideas will be emphasized. Presentations will focus more on the ways new tools can be used to engage students in learning, rather than focusing exclusively on how specific tools are used. If you’ve ever felt like everyone else knows more than you about teaching with technology and you need help getting started, this is the strand for you.

Week 2
Strand B: Leading the Change
Innovative approaches to teaching and learning using web 2.0 tools are often utilized by a limited number of “early adopter” teachers in our schools. This strand seeks to amplify ways educators in a variety of contexts are serving as constructive catalysts for broad-based pedagogic change using Web 2.0 technologies as well as student-centered, project-based approaches to learning. Presentations in this strand will both showcase successful strategies as well as amplify critical issues which must be addressed for innovative learning methods to be adopted by teachers, librarians, and administrators on a more widespread basis. These issues may include (but are not limited to) issues of copyright, fair use and intellectual property, Internet content filtering, student privacy and safety issues, administrator expectations for teacher utilization of Web 2.0 tools, pilot initiatives utilizing key Web 2.0 technologies in different content areas, and innovative ways students and teachers are providing just-in-time support as well as formal learning opportunities for each other focusing on Web 2.0 tools. Successful approaches for both large and small schools, in rural as well as urban settings, will be included. This strand will explore and amplify a menu of practical ideas for educators in diverse contexts who want to continue amplifying possibilities in our schools.

Strand B: Kicking It Up a Notch
You’ve been using blogs, wikis and other technologies for awhile but perhaps haven’t seen them transform your classroom and the learning environment for your students in the ways you think they can. This strand amplifies ways new technologies can be used to transform classroom and personal learning. Rather than merely replicating traditional, analog-based learning tasks, how can digital technologies permit teacher-leaders to “infomate” learning to add greater interactivity, personal differentiation, and multi-modal exploration of curriculum topics? Fresh new approaches to using Web 2.0 tools for learning and authentic assessment will be highlighted. Presentations will explore innovative ways Web 2.0 tools can be blended together to help students create, collaborate, and share the knowledge safely on the global stage of the Internet. Maybe it’s time to share your insights and experiences with your teaching community. Join these sessions to gain insights on amplifying the possibilities of learning in your classroom and/or your professional practice.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: This call encourages all educators, both experienced and novice with respect to Web 2.0 learning tools, to submit proposals to present at this conference via this link. Take this opportunity to share your successes, strategies, and tips in “amplifying the possibilities” of web 2.0 powered learning in one of the four conference strands.

The deadline for proposal submissions is July 11, 2008 at midnight GMT. (NOTE: THIS HAS BEEN EXTENDED FROM THE ORIGINALLY ANNOUNCED DEADLINE OF JUNE 23.) You will be contacted in late July regarding your proposal’s status. The conveners reserve to right to reposition a presentation in another strand if they believe it is best placed elsewhere. As in past years, conveners will utilize blind review committees to evaluate all submissions.Presentations for K12Online08 must conform to the following requirements:

1. Presentations must be a single media file of twenty minutes or less in length.
2. Presentations must be submitted in a downloadable and convertable file format (mp3, mov, WMV, FLV, m4a, or m4v.) Presenters wanting to use an alternative format should contact their respective strand convener in advance.
3. Presentations are due two weeks prior to the week the relevant strand begins. (Week 1 presentations are due Monday, October 6, Week 2 presentations are due Monday, October 13.)
4. Presentations must be submitted only one time and on time. Early submissions are welcomed! Repeat submissions (with changes and additional edits) will not be accepted. Presenters should proof carefully before submitting!
5. All presentations will be shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.

The following are optional but encouraged presentation elements:

1. Prior to September 13th, presenters are invited to submit a “teaser” (maximum video or audio file length: 3 minutes) about their presentation. This can be any type of online artifact and does not have to be downloadable. Examples may include videos, animations, posters, audio interviews, etc.

• • In addition to marketing the presentation, teasers can be designed to encourage and solicit community input related to the presentation topic in advance of the presentation submission deadline.
  • View teaser examples from 2007 at http://k12online07.wikispaces.com/Teasers

1. Supplementary materials supporting presentations are welcomed. These can be wikis with supporting material links, linked examples of student projects, school district exemplary initiatives, social bookmarking collections, and/or other related content.
2. Follow-up projects and/or live interaction opportunities for conference presentations which further amplify the possibilities of the presentation topic may be included. (This can include sharing and building of content prior to, during and after the conference.)

As you draft your proposal, you may wish to consider the presentation topics listed below which were suggested in the comments on the K-12 Online Conference Blog:

• Special needs education
• Creative Commons, Intellectual Property, Copyright and Fair Use
• Student voices
• Community involvement
• Games in education
• Specific ideas, tips, mini lessons centered on pedagogical use of web 2.0 tools
• Overcoming institutional inertia and resistance
• Aligning Web 2.0 and other projects to national standards
• Getting your message across
• How Web 2.0 can assist those with disabilities
• ePortfolios
• Classroom 2.0 activities at the elementary level
• Teacher/peer collaboration
• Authentic assessment
• Overcoming content filtering issues
• Navigating “open web” versus “closed web” publishing of student work

Prospective presenters are reminded that the audience of the K12 Online Conference is global in nature and diverse in their educational context. For this reason presentations and presentation materials which address issues from a variety of perspectives are welcomed.

EVALUATION
Acceptance decisions will be made based on RELEVANCE, SIGNIFICANCE, ORIGINALITY, QUALITY, and CLARITY. Borrowing from the COSL 2008 call for proposals:

A submission is RELEVANT when - it directly addresses the conference and strand themes
A submission is SIGNIFICANT when - it raises and discusses issues important to improving the effectiveness and/or sustainability of 21st Century teaching and learning efforts, and - its contents can be broadly (globally) disseminated and understood
A submission is ORIGINAL when - it addresses a new problem or one that hasn’t been studied in depth, - it has a novel combination of existing research results which promise new insights, and / or - it provides a perspective on problems different from those explored before
A submission is of HIGH QUALITY when - existing literature is drawn upon, and / or - claims are supported by sufficient data, and / or - an appropriate methodology is selected and properly implemented, and / or - limitations are described honestly
A submission is CLEARLY WRITTEN when - it is organized effectively, and / or - the English is clear and unambiguous, and / or - it follows standard conventions of punctuation, mechanics, and citation, and / or - the readability is good

NB: All proposals will be vetted by blind peer review committees. All decisions made by the blind peer review committees are final.

KEYNOTES: The first presentation in each strand will kick off with a keynote by a well known educator who is distinguished and knowledgeable in the context of their strand. Watch for our announcement of Keynote presenters in the next few days.

CONVENERS:

• • Darren Kuropatwa is currently Department Head of Mathematics at Daniel Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is known internationally for his ability to weave the use of online social tools meaningfully and concretely into his pedagogical practice. Darren’s professional blog is called A Difference (http://adifference.blogspot.com). He will convene Getting Started.

• • Dean Shareski is a Digital Learning Consultant for Prairie South School Division in Saskatchewan, Canada. Dean is an advocate for the use of social media in the classroom. To that end he works with teachers and students in exploring ways to make learning relevant, authentic and engaging. He also is a part time sessional lecturer for the University of Regina. He is celebrating his 20th year as an educator. Dean blogs at (http://ideasandthoughts.org). Dean will convene Kicking It Up A Notch.

• • Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach, a 20-year educator, has been a classroom teacher, charter school principal, district administrator, and digital learning consultant. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member teaching preservice teachers at The College of William and Mary (Virginia, USA), where she is in the dissertation phase of completing her doctorate in educational planning, policy and leadership. As the cofounder of the Powerful Learning Practice Network she helps schools and teachers from around the world use community as a powerful tool for systemic change. You can find out more on her website at www.21stcenturycollaborative.com. She will convene Prove It.

• • Wesley Fryer is an educator, author, digital storyteller and change agent. He summarizes his ongoing work with educators and students in social media environments with the statement, “I’m here for the learning revolution.” His blog, “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” was selected as the 2006 “Best Learning Theory Blog” by eSchoolnews and Discovery Education. Social media sites to which Wes contributes are listed on http://claimid.com/wfryer. Wes will convene Leading the Change.

QUESTIONS?If you have any questions about any part of this call for proposals, please contact one of us:

• Darren Kuropatwa: dkuropatwa {at} gmail {dot} com
• Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach: snbeach {at} cox {dot} net
• Dean Shareski: shareski{at} gmail{dot} com
• Wesley Fryer: wesfryer {at} pobox {dot} com

Please duplicate this post and distribute it far and wide across the blogosphere. Feel free to republish it on your own blog (actually, we’d really like people to do that ) or link back to this post (published simultaneously on all our blogs).

• • Conference Tag: k12online08

The conference theme for 2008 is “Amplifying Possibilities.” Participation in the conference (as in the past) is entirely free. Conference materials are published in English and available for worldwide distribution and use under a Creative Commons license. Some changes in the requirements for presentations are being made this year and are detailed below.

The deadline for proposal submission is June 23, 2008. Selected presentations will be announced at NECC 2008 in San Antonio, Texas, USA on July 2.

OVERVIEW: As in past years, K12 Online 2008 will feature four “conference strands,” two each week. Two presentations will be published in each strand each day, Monday through Friday, so four new presentations will be available each day over the course of the two weeks. Including the pre-conference keynote, a total of 41 presentations will be published. Each twenty minute (or less) presentation will be shared online in a downloadable format and released simultaneously via the conference blog (www.k12onlineconference.org,) the conference Twitter account, and the conference audio and video podcast channels. All presentations will be archived online for posterity. A total of 82 past presentations are currently available from K12 Online 2006 and K12 Online 2007. If you are planning to submit a proposal, please review archived presentations from past years to determine what you might offer that is new and builds on previous work. A variety of live events will also be planned during and following the weeks of the conference.

FOUR STRANDS:

Week 1

Strand A: Getting Started
Everything you wanted to know about getting started with web 2.0 technologies for learning but were afraid to ask. The presentations in this strand will focus on specific, free tools for newcomers. Whether you have one classroom computer or a laptop for every student, digital technologies can provide new opportunities to connect with other learners, create new and exciting knowledge products, and engage students in an expanded learning process beyond the traditional “boundaries of the bell.” Teachers first introduced to Web 2.0 tools are often unaware of the new possibilities for teaching and learning afforded by the Read/Write Web. Presentations in this strand will amplify and model what is possible in terms of pedagogy, student creation of content, and collaboration. Practical classroom implementation ideas will be emphasized. Presentations will focus more on the ways new tools can be used to engage students in learning, rather than focusing exclusively on how specific tools are used. If you’ve ever felt like everyone else knows more than you about teaching with technology and you need help getting started, this is the strand for you.

Strand B: Kicking It Up a Notch
You’ve been using blogs, wikis and other technologies for awhile but perhaps haven’t seen them transform your classroom and the learning environment for your students in the ways you think they can. This strand amplifies ways new technologies can be used to transform classroom and personal learning. Rather than merely replicating traditional, analog-based learning tasks, how can digital technologies permit teacher-leaders to “infomate” learning to add greater interactivity, personal differentiation, and multi-modal exploration of curriculum topics? Fresh new approaches to using Web 2.0 tools for learning and authentic assessment will be highlighted. Presentations will explore innovative ways Web 2.0 tools can be blended together to help students create, collaborate, and share the knowledge safely on the global stage of the Internet. Maybe it’s time to share your insights and experiences with your teaching community. Join these sessions to gain insights on amplifying the possibilities of learning in your classroom and/or your professional practice.

Week 2

Strand A: Prove it
Although some teachers are excited to “amplify possibilities” using computer technologies, Web 2.0 tools, and 21st Century learning strategies in their classrooms, how do we know if these innovative instructional strategies are really working? Since information technologies and emerging brain research continue to rapidly evolve and change, it is challenging as well as vital to find current, meaningful research to undergird the learning initiatives we are using in our classrooms. What are “best practices” for teaching and learning with the new participatory media? This strand will share research results from the field that support students in using knowledge to communicate, collaborate, analyze, create, innovate, build community and solve problems. In addition, successful methods for developing and/or delivery of action research projects or research-based instruction in today’s digital world will be explored. In some cases, participants may be invited to participate in ongoing or beginning research on Web 2.0 tool use, constructivist pedagogy, or other 21st Century research issues. Educational research about emerging professional development strategies, contemporary learning theory, systemic school reform, and other current themes of educational change are also appropriate for inclusion in this strand. Help us to examine such research questions as:

• What does research in learning science, instructional design, informal learning, and other fields tell us about today’s learner and their success?
• What design features must teachers incorporate into their instructional activities to support meaningful learning?
• What is the role of assessment in today’s changing classroom? How should assessment be structured to meaningfully assess student achievement in the context of the modern classroom?

Strand B: Leading the Change
Innovative approaches to teaching and learning using web 2.0 tools are often utilized by a limited number of “early adopter” teachers in our schools. This strand seeks to amplify ways educators in a variety of contexts are serving as constructive catalysts for broad-based pedagogic change using Web 2.0 technologies as well as student-centered, project-based approaches to learning. Presentations in this strand will both showcase successful strategies as well as amplify critical issues which must be addressed for innovative learning methods to be adopted by teachers, librarians, and administrators on a more widespread basis. These issues may include (but are not limited to) issues of copyright, fair use and intellectual property, Internet content filtering, student privacy and safety issues, administrator expectations for teacher utilization of Web 2.0 tools, pilot initiatives utilizing key Web 2.0 technologies in different content areas, and innovative ways students and teachers are providing just-in-time support as well as formal learning opportunities for each other focusing on Web 2.0 tools. Successful approaches for both large and small schools, in rural as well as urban settings, will be included. This strand will explore and amplify a menu of practical ideas for educators in diverse contexts who want to continue amplifying possibilities in our schools.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: This call encourages all educators, both experienced and novice with respect to Web 2.0 learning tools, to submit proposals to present at this conference via this link. Take this opportunity to share your successes, strategies, and tips in “amplifying the possibilities” of web 2.0 powered learning in one of the four conference strands.

The deadline for proposal submissions is July 11, 2008 at midnight GMT. (This is an extension of the originally announced deadline of June 23rd.) You will be contacted in late July regarding your proposal’s status. The conveners reserve to right to reposition a presentation in another strand if they believe it is best placed elsewhere. As in past years, conveners will utilize blind review committees to evaluate all submissions.Presentations for K12Online08 must conform to the following requirements:

1. Presentations must be a single media file of twenty minutes or less in length.
2. Presentations must be submitted in a downloadable and convertable file format (mp3, mov, WMV, FLV, m4a, or m4v.) Presenters wanting to use an alternative format should contact their respective strand convener in advance.
3. Presentations are due two weeks prior to the week the relevant strand begins. (Week 1 presentations are due Monday, October 6, Week 2 presentations are due Monday, October 13.)
4. Presentations must be submitted only one time and on time. Early submissions are welcomed! Repeat submissions (with changes and additional edits) will not be accepted. Presenters should proof carefully before submitting!
5. All presentations will be shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.

The following are optional but encouraged presentation elements:

1. Prior to September 13th, presenters are invited to submit a “teaser” (maximum video or audio file length: 3 minutes) about their presentation. This can be any type of online artifact and does not have to be downloadable. Examples may include videos, animations, posters, audio interviews, etc.
2. In addition to marketing the presentation, teasers can be designed to encourage and solicit community input related to the presentation topic in advance of the presentation submission deadline.
3. View teaser examples from 2007 at http://k12online07.wikispaces.com/Teasers
4. Supplementary materials supporting presentations are welcomed. These can be wikis with supporting material links, linked examples of student projects, school district exemplary initiatives, social bookmarking collections, and/or other related content.
5. Follow-up projects and/or live interaction opportunities for conference presentations which further amplify the possiblities of the presentation topic may be included. (This can include sharing and building of content prior to, during and after the conference.)

As you draft your proposal, you may wish to consider the presentation topics listed below which were suggested in the comments on the K-12 Online Conference Blog:

• Special needs education
• Creative Commons, Intellectual Property, Copyright and Fair Use
• Student voices
• Community involvement
• Games in education
• Specific ideas, tips, mini lessons centered on pedagogical use of web 2.0 tools
• Overcoming institutional inertia and resistance
• Aligning Web 2.0 and other projects to national standards
• Getting your message across
• How web 2.0 can assist those with disabilities
• ePortfolios
• Classroom 2.0 activities at the elementary level
• Teacher/peer collaboration
• Authentic assessment
• Overcoming content filtering issues
• Navigating “open web” versus “closed web” publishing of student work

Prospective presenters are reminded that the audience of the K12 Online Conference is global in nature and diverse in their educational context. For this reason presentations and presentation materials which address issues from a variety of perspectives are welcomed.EVALUATIONAcceptance decisions will be made based on RELEVANCE, SIGNIFICANCE, ORIGINALITY, QUALITY, and CLARITY. Borrowing from the COSL 2008 call for proposals:

A submission is RELEVANT when

• it directly addresses the conference and strand themes

A submission is SIGNIFICANT when

• it raises and discusses issues important to improving the effectiveness and/or sustainability of 21st Century teaching and learning efforts, and
• its contents can be broadly (globally) disseminated and understood

A submission is ORIGINAL when

• it addresses a new problem or one that hasn’t been studied in depth,
• it has a novel combination of existing research results which promise new insights, and / or
• it provides a perspective on problems different from those explored before

A submission is of HIGH QUALITY when

• existing literature is drawn upon, and / or
• claims are supported by sufficient data, and / or
• an appropriate methodology is selected and properly implemented, and / or
• limitations are described honestly

A submission is CLEARLY WRITTEN when

• it is organized effectively, and / or
• the English is clear and unambiguous, and / or
• it follows standard conventions of punctuation, mechanics, and citation, and / or
• the readability is good

KEYNOTES: The first presentation in each strand will kick off with a keynote by a well known educator who is distinguished and knowledgeable in the context of their strand. Keynoters will be announced shortly.

CONVENERS:

• Darren Kuropatwa is currently Department Head of Mathematics at Daniel Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is known internationally for his ability to weave the use of online social tools meaningfully and concretely into his pedagogical practice. Darren’s professional blog is called A Difference (http://adifference.blogspot.com). He will convene Getting Started.
• Dean Shareski is a Digital Learning Consultant for Prairie South School Division in Saskatchewan, Canada. Dean is an advocate for the use of social media in the classroom. To that end he works with teachers and students in exploring ways to make learning relevant, authentic and engaging. He also is a part time sessional lecturer for the University of Regina. He is celebrating his 20th year as an educator. Dean blogs at (http://ideasandthoughts.org). Dean will convene Kicking It Up A Notch.
• Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach, a 20-year educator, has been a classroom teacher, charter school principal, district administrator, and digital learning consultant. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member teaching preservice teachers at The College of William and Mary (Virginia, USA), where she is in the dissertation phase of completing her doctorate in educational planning, policy and leadership. As the cofounder of the Powerful Learning Practice Network she helps schools and teachers from around the world use community as a powerful tool for systemic change. You can find out more on her website at www.21stcenturycollaborative.com. She will convene Prove It.
• Wesley Fryer is an educator, author, digital storyteller and change agent. He summarizes his ongoing work with educators and students in social media environments with the statement, “I’m here for the learning revolution.” His blog, “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” was selected as the 2006 “Best Learning Theory Blog” by eSchoolnews and Discovery Education. Social media sites to which Wes contributes are listed on http://claimid.com/wfryer. Wes will convene Leading the Change.

QUESTIONS?If you have any questions about any part of this call for proposals, please contact one of us:

• Darren Kuropatwa: dkuropatwa {at} gmail {dot} com
• Dean Shareski: shareski{at} gmail{dot} com
• Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach: snbeach {at} cox {dot} net
• Wesley Fryer: wesfryer {at} pobox {dot} com

Please duplicate this post and distribute it far and wide across the blogosphere. Feel free to republish it on your own blog (actually, we’d really like people to do that ) or link back to this post (published simultaneously on all our blogs).

• Conference Tag: k12online08

Dean is a Digital Learning Consultant for Prairie South School Division in Saskatchewan, Canada, and an advocate for the use of social media in the classroom. To that end he works with teachers and students in exploring ways to make learning relevant, authentic and engaging. He also is a part time sessional lecturer for the University of Regina. He is celebrating his 20th year as an educator. Dean blogs at Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech.

Welcome Dean!

If you’re reading this, then obviously you have heard of the K12 Online Conference. Perhaps you have even “attended” some or all of the sessions. And maybe, just maybe, you took advantage of the self-reflection rubric. You may even be on your way to gaining some credit, if your school district has “signed up”.

As you can imagine, that “simple” rubric involved a great deal of effort. Bearing in mind that the Professional Development Committee and those willing to help were all over the place, geographically speaking, it’s a minor miracle in itself that we actually managed to meet online on a regular basis.

What is quite tragic, in a humorous sort of way, is that despite the fact that all of us have goodness knows how many degrees between us, working out the time in different time zones was quite a challenge! But we got through, by and large, without a hitch.

What I enjoyed the most about Chairing the committee was being able to be in the presence of, and bounce ideas off, so many great thinkers.

Now, before you mutter to yourself that I must be overstating the case, please bear in mind that I am a Brit, and we Brits don’t like to overstate anything. An excellent example of what has become known as “typical English understatement” was a scene in a film made in the 1950s (I forget the name), in which the Foreign Secretary has just been informed that the Soviets have launched nuclear missiles at Great Britain. Completely unruffled, he picks up the phone and says, “Ah, Prime Minister. There’s something I think you ought to know.”

So, for their insights, commitment, and incredible fund of knowledge and skills, I should like to thank the following members of the PD Committee:

* Jim Lerman - lermanj [at] gmail [dot] com
* Miguel Guhlin - mguhlin [at] gmail [dot] com
* Cindy Lane - lane.cindy [at] gmail [dot] com

Assisting Volunteers:

* Scott Mcleod - mcleod [at] iastate [dot] edu
* Derek Baird - baird [at] yahoo-inc [dot] com
* Brian Grenier - brgrenie [at] episd [dot] org
* Jeff Utech - thinkingstick [at] gmail [dot] com
* And last, but certainly not least, Jamey Osborne, who created the Reflections database.

Also, of course, I should like to thank Wes Fryer for inviting me to chair the committee, Shery Nussbaum-Beach for recommending me.

I hope I shall have the opportunity of working with these fine people again, in the not-too-distant future.

In the meantime, please do make use of the rubric and tweak it to your heart’s content.

Kaj spent many hours working on translation tools and taking an active role in editing the final wiki. Karen got things rolling with a collaborative Google doc and document layout not to mention the many tools and tips for assistive technology. James Stanger shared his expertise in website development and resources for making educated decisions when developing online content. He also is the major contributor for the podcast series we are starting to discuss major hurdles and how to begin using the tools.

Thanks to all the committee members for their support, useful suggestions and willingness to provide information about overcoming accessibility obstacles in this year’s conference as well as the commitment to continue developing this online resource for next year’s event.

Thank you to Jeff Flynn for reviewing the data and suggesting additional resources. My thanks also go to Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Darren Kuropatwa, Wesley Fryer and Lani Ritter Hall for support and for their warm encouragement. It was without a doubt a team effort.

Lee Baber
Accessibility Committee Chair

Whenever someone needed assistance, the members of the help desk stepped up and lent a hand. Whether it was sunrise in Shanghai or sunset in San Antonio, it seemed at times as though the members of the Help Desk were on call 24/7. From email to Skype, hanging out in the Meebo Chat room or supporting the Fireside Chats, these people dedicated their time to making sure that everyone else was able to enjoy a smooth, seamless conference.

When one of our volunteers had to step down for personal reasons, Jen Wagner was quick to step up. She was always ready to jump in and lend a hand whenever and wherever she was needed. I can’t thank her enough for volunteering her time and energy to make sure people had a positive conference experience.

John Evans and Susan Lister were truly the heart and soul of the Help Desk committee. In addition to the dozens of emails, and countless hours manning the live help desk chat window, the two of them combined for nearly 200 edits to the Help Desk Wiki! They truly went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that everything ran like a well oiled machine. Before the conference even began, John and Susan spent hour after hour brainstorming proactive solutions to problems people hadn’t even experienced, and thanks to their time and efforts, would never encounter. I wish to extend them my own personal thanks, for their dedication was truly inspiring and their efforts heroic.

Congrats to the entire Help Desk Committee on a wonderful conference!

One last note. I just want to also extend heartfelt thanks and congratulations to the conveners of this wonderful event. Darren, Wes, Sheryl and Lani have truly created something magical in the K12 Online Conference, that will keep growing year after year after year. This was truly a wonderful event, that participants won’t soon forget. If most of the attendees are like me, they’ve got enough professional development still queued up to last until 2008! Thanks for putting together one of the best professional development opportunities available, online OR offline.

Steve Dembo
Committee Chair
K12 Online Help Desk 2007

The 2007 K-12 Online Conference has officially ended, but the learning continues year-round! What a terrific conference we had this year! The statistics on accesses of the main conference website/blog from around the world (via ClustrMaps) absolutely astound me!

The conference blog ClustrMap for the entire world shows that in the month leading up to and including the two weeks of the actual conference, 83,064 different computer IP addresses accessed the website!

ClustrMaps tracks the location of different IP addresses accessing a site, so each one of these access numbers does not necessarily correspond to a different person. Some of these hits are likely spambots, but most of them are likely people! The ClustrMap after day 1 (October 15, 2007) of the regular conference showed 44,056 site visits since September 16th:

Clearly we had a lot of people visiting the K-12 Online Conference website before the actual presentations got underway, and approximately an equal number of NEW visitors to the site once things got started! Last year for the 2006 conference (our initial year) we estimated that 54,000 people participated. That figure was based on an analysis of file downloads from the hosting webserver at the College of William and Mary. We will conduct a similar analysis this year. Based on these formative ClustrMap results, however, it appears safe to say that conference participation was WAY up in 2007!

Breaking down conference participation by continent, we see that participation was heaviest in North America but also distributed around the world on every continent except Antarctica!

The K-12 Online Conference is the largest and most international education event in which I’ve ever participated! It is exciting to see that more people learned about and were able to find the conference online this year. Hopefully the conversations and sharing that will take place in the K12Online Ning and elsewhere in the blogosphere will continue to benefit learners around the world and tangibly bridge the gaps of time and space with separate us as educators.

They would not have occurred without the diligent, hard and creative work of the Live Events Committee. It is so difficult to express how much we appreciate all the energies and time they have put in to make the “live events” possible. The planning, the behind the scenes emails and the wiki building were indeed a group effort. Thank you! The “When Night Falls Flickr Group”, which was Mark’s inspiration, took When Night Falls to the next level; the community loved it! To Vinnie, for your leadership, it wouldn’t have happened without you.

A huge thank you goes to this committee:

Chair- Vinnie Vrotny (http://vvrotny.edublogs.org/)

Member- Darren Draper (http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/)

Member- Mark Ahlness (http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/mahlness/index.htm)

Member- Rachel Murphy (http://www.ablazeclassrooms.org/blogging.htm)

Willing to help:

Paul Harrington (http://ddraig-goch.blogspot.com/)

Susan Van Gelder (http://susanvg.blogspot.com/)

Joyce Valenza (http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/jvweb.html)

Thank you!!

UPDATE: WE HAVE MET AN UNFORESEEN OBSTACLE WHICH WE ARE CURRENTLY TRYING TO TURN TO AN OPPORTUNITY. The current links are not available. Please use this link .

When Night Falls begins on 12:00 AM Saturday, October 27 GMT. To see what time this begins in your time zone, click here.

As night falls across the planet, educators across the globe are encouraged to participate in the K12 Online culminating event, When Night Falls. This event will be a 24 hour opportunity for participants in the 2007 K12 Online conference to share a virtual coffee break (in an Elluminate room), to reflect and connect with friends, both old and new, about their experiences at K12 Online 2007. It’s also a time to give feedback on this year’s conference as we begin to plan for next year.

Join us for engaging, meaningful conversation and fun in “When Night Falls”!

Before joining the session, please take time to complete the conference evaluation at this link.

To join the conversations and fun in “When Night Falls” click on this link.

Do you have a photo of your community at twilight, or as the sun is going down?
Please consider joining the When Night Falls Flickr Group and sharing it with the world. Directions for joining the group and adding your photos can be found here. See the current set of When Night Falls photos here or Here. Be sure to add yours!

Image courtesy of James Jordan (http://flickr.com/photos /jamesjordan/115627088/in/set -72157601323284300/)

1. Professional Learning Networks: “EdTechTalk: A Network of Homegrown Webcasters”

2. Obstacles to Opportunities: “Starting From Scratch: Framing Change for All Stakeholders”

3. Obstacles to Opportunities: “Creating a Paradigm Shift in Technology”

4. Professional Learning Networks: “Online Professional Development”

Bio
Jeff Utecht is an international educator currently working in Shanghai, China. Prior to Shanghai. Jeff has presented at both Administrative conferences and Teacher conferences around Asia and the Far East. Recently he helped to successfully organize the Learning 2.0 conference in Shanghai, China. The first technology conference of its kind in Asia aimed at bringing International schools together around technology.

Bio Page
https://k12online07presenters.wikispaces.com/Jeff+Utecht

Presentation Title
“Online Professional Development”

Description
In the past year we have seen a number of new free web tools used for online professional development. There are tools that can be used in the traditional sense as well as tools that are redefining how we learn in this connected network. In this presentation, we will take a look at some of the free tools that are now available to schools and educators to hold online professional development sessions. We will also push beyond Professional Development in the traditional sense and look at how these new network tools are being used by educators for “Just in Time Learning” and redefining how we learn from each other in a global network.

Presentation
iPod ready
http://k12online.wm.edu/juonlinepd.mp4
Original
http://k12online.wm.edu/juonlinepd_iPod.m4v
Alternate Original (Ed. Note: Same as above, larger file size.)
http://k12online.wm.edu/juonlinepd.mov
Audio only
http://k12online.wm.edu/juonlinepd.mp3

Supporting Links
http://thinkingstick.wikispaces.com/Online+PD

What is “Take My Hand”?
“Take My Hand”