In this session on Web 2.0 and Social Networks, the tried to walk the walk, rather than just talk the talk by having participants participate in a conversation which was difficult in the theater/auditorium that the session was in.

They also invited participants to engage in the conversation via a Chatzy room. Six people took up the challenge, three on-site participants, myself (vvrotny), Colin from the American School of London, and Annelise, a charter school teacher from Romulus Michigan, plus three off-site participants, Lucy Gray from the gate at O’Hare in Chicago, Sylvia Martinez from California, and Joe Dale, from the Isle of Man (ironically, the home of two stage 2008 Tour de France winner Mark Cavandish). Below is the conversation which took place during the session:

*Pamela* from x.x.x.1 joined the chat 2 hours ago
*Pamela*: This is our backchannel chat – join us if you’d like!
*ASL_Colin* from x.x.x.1 joined the chat 2 hours ago
*Jenny Z* from x.x.x.1 joined the chat 2 hours ago
*vvrotny* from x.x.x.1 joined the chat 2 hours ago
*vvrotny*: I am hoping that you will send the URL so I can link to my
blog later
*vvrotny*: my twitter username is vvrotny
*vvrotny*: all my social network id’s are vvrotny
*vvrotny*: shameless plug, my blog is Multifaceted Refractions
(vvrotny.edublogs.org)
*vvrotny*: I have been using CoverItLive for many of the sessions that I
have been attending here at the conference
*vvrotny*: Many of the products are using OpenID
*Lucy Gray* from x.x.x.166 joined the chat 2 hours ago
*vvrotny*: Ning is using OpenID
*Lucy Gray*: Hi!
*Lucy Gray*: I’n here to heckle
*vvrotny*: @Lucy still at the airport? Welcome
*Lucy Gray*: Yes, still at O’Hare
*Lucy Gray*: don’t know why I am delayed
*Lucy Gray*: What’s Pam’s session>?
*vvrotny*: Talking about problems – one of the major part is multiple logins
*josef* from x.x.x.1 joined the chat 2 hours ago
*vvrotny*: Web 2.0
*Lucy Gray*: I agree.
*joedale* from x.x.x.4 left this message 2 hours ago:
Hi everyone. This is a backchannel to ?
*vvrotny*: Making it a discussion
*joedale* from x.x.x.4 left this message 2 hours ago:
Is this like Cover It Live?
*vvrotny*: @hi joedale it is a conversation about Web 2.0 tools. Making
it more interactive by having discussion and chatzy
*vvrotny*: This is like CoverItLive
*Lucy Gray*: I think I’ll try Cover It Live at BLC….
*joedale* from x.x.x.4 left this message 2 hours ago:
What is the conference you are referring to?
*vvrotny*: This is from the Laptop Institute
*Lucy Gray*: I’m in Chicago, but following the Lausanne Laptop institute
from afar. I’ll be at the building learning communities conference this week
*Lucy Gray*: I’m in Chicago, but following the Lausanne Laptop institute
from afar. I’ll be at the building learning communities conference this week
*vvrotny*: Talking about social networks and interactions between
faculty and students
*vvrotny*: Isolating students and adults is not always best – Bruce Dixon
*vvrotny*: Bruce is from aalf.org
*joedale* from x.x.x.4 left this message 118 minutes ago:
Is the discussion on UStream or is it just here?
*sylvia* from x.x.x.166 left this message 118 minutes ago:
hello
*Lucy Gray*: Hey Sylvia
*vvrotny*: There is no ustream at this point. Would be difficult to do
in this discussion based format in a theater.
*ASL_Colin*: Would schools be willing to share their various NINGs so we
could see what other schools are doing?
*Lucy Gray*: I run this ning http://globaleducation.ning.com
*Pamela*: Not unstreamed no
*Pamela*: What other Nings exist?
*vvrotny*: http://laptoplearning.ning.com This was started by Julene
Reed, who presented here yesterday
*joedale* from x.x.x.4 left this message 115 minutes ago:
Nice dropping by. I’ll see you guys later. Cheers.
*vvrotny*: http://isednet.ning.com is the Indpendent School Ning
*ASL_Colin*: Independent School Educators Network is at

http://isenet.ning.com

*ASL_Colin*: beat me to it
*sylvia* from x.x.x.166 left this message 114 minutes ago:
hey lucy – stuck in the airport still?
*Lucy Gray*: There’s another one by an afterschool program where I work.
Click on the tab at the top of this page and request to be admitted:

http://www.iremix.org/

*vvrotny*: I wish this presentation was in a physical space that was
more intimite and allowed for better chance for ustream
*vvrotny*: @sylvia are you remote? Where are you?
*annelise* from x.x.x.1 joined the chat 114 minutes ago
*Lucy Gray*: Yep, Sylvia… I haven’t had many delays this summer, so
I’m okay with it
*vvrotny*: @welcome annelise
*Lucy Gray*: Here’s another Julene ning: http://globalgreen.ning.com/
*annelise*: thanks for the sample links
*Lucy Gray*: Bernie Dodge just started a WebQUest one
*Lucy Gray*: Bernie Dodge just started a WebQUest one
*vvrotny*: We would benefit by allowing skeptics talk. This is the
diversity of ideas that allows for a greater wisdom of the crowds,
rather than listening in an echo chamber
*annelise*: I’d like to start a ning in our district this year and
needed some good school smples to show to administrators
*Lucy Gray*: http://webquest.ning.com/
*Lucy Gray*: Punahou Lab School ning: http://PSTechLS.ning.com/
*ASL_Colin* from x.x.x.1 joined the chat 112 minutes ago
*vvrotny*: We are in the midst of setting up a ning for our English 12
classroom. Setting it up next week. Will post on my blog when completed
(vvrotny.edublogs.org)
*vvrotny*: We are doing it right now as a private walled garden
*Lucy Gray*: NECC ning http://necc2008.ning.com/
*Lucy Gray*: Smartboard Revolution http://smartboardrevolution.ning.com/
*vvrotny*: Catherine Cook in Chicago is tracking and not locking. Most
difficult – educating parents as to why
*Lucy Gray*: NAIS ning http://NAISnet.ning.com/
*vvrotny*: Treat failures as teaching moments, a really great concept
since they will stumble thmeselves when they are outside of school
*vvrotny*: Glad you can join us Lucy, you are providing great examples.
*Lucy Gray*: I’m a ning nut.
*Lucy Gray*: :)
*joedale* from x.x.x.4 left this message 108 minutes ago:
Bye
*vvrotny*: How do we challenge students to be better digital citizens
*Lucy Gray*: How can we challenge our students if we aren’t challenging
our teachers?!
*Lucy Gray*: How can we challenge our students if we aren’t challenging
our teachers?!
*Lucy Gray*: Oops
*annelise*: @lucy, how do you keep track of all the nings you
participate in? Doesn’t it get overwhelming?
*vvrotny*: What we are doing is trying to adopt the tools (nings, chats,
etc.) to model and give appropriateness. But because we bring to light,
will they be like the roaches and scatter to the next tool?
*Lucy Gray*: I don’t look at them all the time, Annelise.
*Lucy Gray*: They are tied to my one Ning ID, so that helps
*annelise*: there is so much out there, how can we contribute quality
with such quantity? I struggle with this
*Lucy Gray*: plus I track certain onesin my RSS reader
*sylvia* from x.x.x.166 left this message 106 minutes ago:
@vvrotny at home in calif. just had to answer phone!
*vvrotny*: @annelise I particpate actively in two or three at once. Lurk
on the rest
*Lucy Gray*: Do you use a news aggregator/ reader? I recommend NetNewWire
*Lucy Gray*: Don’t feel like you have to participate in EVERYTHING; jump
in when you can.
*Lucy Gray*: Okay looks like plane is boarding
*Lucy Gray*: I’m signing off… have fun
*vvrotny*: Need to give students a digital driver’s license. But parents
don’t understand how the tools can be used. Many are clueless and do not
know where to turn
*annelise*: thanks lucy
*vvrotny*: @lucy thanks. Have a great flight and look forward to your
reflection to BLC
*vvrotny*: Parents should ask students to show them what they are doing.
But as they become older middle-schoolers, students want to be more
independent
*vvrotny*: I have shifted the conversation to acknowledging that these
tools are here and how to detail
*ASL_Colin*: I like the idea of a digital driver’s license – 6th and 7th
graders can get “L” plates and earn the trust to take their laptops into
their own rooms
*vvrotny*: Parents need to shift from being a policeman to be a guide
and mentor. A direct quote from one of my parents after our parent
learning experience
*annelise*: are teachers using this type of tool (chatzy) during
classroom discussions?
*vvrotny*: We try to immerse our parents in a social network (we use
Moodle, so that they can understand what their kids are talking about )
in hybrid f2f and online classes in the winter
*vvrotny*: This year, we partnered using Skype with University School of
Milwaukee. A powerful experience which allowed parents to realize that
their problems were not isolated. Many parents had the same issues and
problems
*vvrotny*: there is power in numbers
*vvrotny*: I use chatzy in my classes and presentations
*sylvia* from x.x.x.166 left this message 99 minutes ago:
gotta run! cya’ll later
*vvrotny*: Need to let parents have time to experience and take baby steps
*vvrotny*: @sylvia thank you for coming in
*vvrotny*: American School in London required parents to come in to get
laptops and then provided instruction in some of these tools
*vvrotny*: ASL goes over acceptable use at the same time. Encourage
parents to collaboratively create home AUP
*annelise*: like the idea for student and parent to sit down and create
a collaborative agreement on home acceptable use
*vvrotny*: Go over philoshy of AUP at another school which I did not
catch the name of.
*ASL_Colin*: This year we also had a parent speak at the opening night
to give advice to the other parents about what to expect – it was much
more powerful for the parents to hear from another parent who has “been
through it” before
*vvrotny*: Districts coming down on teachers who are using tools, blogs,
twitter, etc.
*vvrotny*: 6th grade put in program, excellent project. Parents come for
orientation of tablet. talk about digital citizenship and use the
egg/baby experiment. Has led to great success
*vvrotny*: At Peck, students had LARK, Legal, Appropriate, Responsible,
and Kind. Nice

Created at *Chatzy.com* <http://www.chatzy.com>

Wow!

Jeff Whipple challenged me to live blog the session. I am glad I put it away, so that I could be immersed.

But upon reviewing the message and reading the replies of those of you who are in my network, I realized that there were some nuggets which one could find in the message yesterday. When you strip away the presentation style and the supplimental PowerPoint, there were some points and questions that I do feel need reflection.

I will continue to let the ideas perculate and report later on what those questions are and also my feelings on them in the next few days. Today, I sit ready to learn, to meet colleagues new and old, who will help me find success on the goals set forth for this year. Oh, yeah, I have failed to communicate those as well. Guess I have a lot of writing to do and ideas to share.