It's not linear...

I had coffee with my friend Paul this morning. In December, their family was devastated by the loss of his son (mid-twenties) in a tragic car accident. We began our conversation with my gently asking him "how are you doing". He responded that it was hard, and...um...it's not linear. That truth instantly sparked: grief isn't linear.

During my drive to work after our conversation, I realized how many things in my normal, everyday life are un-linear. "I thought we dealt with that already... why is it coming up again?" "We've already done technology training." No doubt you have a few of your own.

Life is an iterative process.

Why I Love LinkedIn

It's amazing how many "social networking" sites have come up over the years. How do you choose? Years ago, the folks at classmates.com started gaining traction in the whole "class reunion" business. (You know what... I don't have that much in common with my HS graduating class, much less college.) Facebook and MySpace link friends together, but I think many of us in our "post-20's" don't have a lot of friends using those services.

LinkedIn.com asks you for a bit of information about yourself (name, e-mail, where you worked/dates, education/dates) and then cross-references your info against other LinkedIn users who were at those places at the same time. If you know them, you can add them to your network that allows you to look at each others info and other contacts. (Remember the old commercial... they tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and they tell two friends...)

In a second phase, you can upload your address book and it will compare e-mail addresses from your address book with any potential LinkedIn users. Again, making the connections is all voluntary, so you don't have to connect with the geeky Bruce that used to work in accounting.

What's really impressed me is the level of trust and control you have... they don't spam your e-mail, they don't spam your friends, they let you choose how much or how little to show.

And why would you use it?

1. In the field of IT, folks move around quite a bit, so it can be a challenge to keep up with. As people move around (and hopefully keep their LinkedIn profiles up to date), you can keep track of them
2. You can see who is connected to others, so it maps a network of trust. (Oh, Paul used to work with Jane, so I can ask Paul how she does with...communication or VB scripting or ...)
3. You can recommend (or be recommended) by others as a kind of standing testimonial/endorsement.
4. If you're looking for a job, there's a powerful recruiting arm of the tool (haven't used it, so I can't really comment on it...)
5. If you are part of a professional group (say, WASBO or WAMOA), you can upload a logo that your folks can add to their profile, making it easy to verify who's part of your group, either now or in the past.

There are many contact management tools (for instance, Plaxo comes to mind), but with LinkedIn, it's the power of the network. If you decide to join, look me up and invite me to your network!

Podcasts, Voicethread, Relevance

For those who know me, I can get REALLY excited about some new technologies (i.e. Jott) that click with my vision and practice, but I can also dismiss other technologies (i.e. VoiceThread) that I just can't get in to. (Perhaps there are just too many usernames and passwords to manage?)

Knowing that TIME is a big issue for teachers, the whole idea of podcasting seems to be intriguing and elusive. I've seen three different grant proposals from three different teachers looking to get iPods for classroom use (podcasting of lessons, English language learners, etc.), so it seems to be a pretty hot ticket. I think the time and relevance to instruction still continues to be a significant issue. BTW, none of the grant proposals were funded. :(

Mark Milliron just blogged about Mobility and Learning (more to come, I'm sure) and shared a story about a professor (higher ed, but could be K12) who would review classroom writing assignments by creating a podcast of her feedback as she would read the student's work.

According to her, the students flipped. They loved having this mobile, in-depth
feedback. She loved literally being able to talk her students through her
impressions.

Taking this a step further, it clicked with me that one of the challenges of turning work in via an online system (Moodle) is the need to get it printed out to handwrite comments. I'm intrigued with the idea of the writing samples being ONLINE, the teacher reading it online while recording his/her thoughts into a custom audio narrative.

...or, I guess we could continue requiring 1" margins and a box of red pens...