Reflections on my Learning Journey

In July, I had the amazing opportunity to meet face to face with many of my Online colleagues while attending the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston. I had met some people at the Educon 2.0 conference in January. It was great to see them again. And, there were many people who I met face to face for the first time. For me, networking and socializing were among the highlights of the conference. I had so many inspiring conversations about teaching and learning and about technology.

I attended the BLC conference for the first time in 2006. At that time, I knew one other person at the conference. I moved from session to session mostly on my own and didn't attend any of the social events. In just two years so much has changed for me. This year at BLC I felt I belonged. I knew many of the presenters, presented a session (with Lisa Thumann), and even helped organize an unconference. Looking back, I am amazed by my Web 2.0 journey. I have learned and done so much I have to pinch myself - it is hard to believe the progress I have made. It feels wonderful.

Since July of 2006, I started this blog, presented at several technology conferences, published two articles, and even my own book. I feel that BLC06 was the catalyst for all of these accomplishments, primarily because it lead to this blog. Writing here has given me the confidence to reach for my dreams.

If you haven't started blogging yet I really think you should. You have to start somewhere, so why not start right now! Go to http://www.blogger.com or http://www.edublogs.org and write your first post, then leave a comment with the Web address so we can all see it.

If you are already blogging, let us know if you agree. Should everyone blog? When did you start? Has blogging changed your teaching and/or your learning? Please share your thoughts. I look forward to learning from all of you.

Where's The Beef?

My brain is buzzing from so much learning. The combination of Edubloggercon East and BLC is almost too much for me to handle. I met amazing people, reconnected with old friends, presented twice with Lisa Thumann (my mom came to watch), attended incredible sessions (Dave Truss was a highlight), added lots of new people to my network, and danced with Joyce Valenza (among MANY others).

I'm only ready to articulate a tidbit of my learning. My thoughts are incubating right now, but as @sandman27 told me this week "You know what happens after incubating? Hatching!" Hopefully it won't be too painful (I've had two children without the help of any drugs so I know what that can be like, but I digress...).

At the end of the conference today Alan November talked about doing a better job of marketing ourselves. He reminded us that what we know as "beef" could also be described as "dead cow." Alan suggested that "Director of Technology" be renamed "Director of Information and Global Communication."

I love this idea! And I think I may be able to convince my new school district (especially if they read my blog :) to change my title. The problem is coming up with a good alternative. I think a lot of these titles sound pretentious. I would like to find one that accurately describes what I do, without causing the faculty to roll their eyes.

Here are some of the ideas that I have. I would love to hear yours - or do you disagree? Is there a better word than "director?" Is there a synonym for "21st Century?" (I'm getting a little tired of that one.)

• "Director of Innovation and Global Communication"
• "Director of 21st Century Pedagogy"
• "Director of Teaching & Learning Collaborative"
• "Director of 21st Century Learning"
• "Director of 21st Century Literacy"

Stay tuned for more to come about this past week!

Dilbert Cartoon from joelogon's photostream.