EdTechTalk

We want to introduce you to the founders of http://InstaGrok.com and http://Readitfor.me on this episode of +Teachers Teaching Teachers.

The cores of both of these services have theories of action that emphasize literacy as we know it now. Both founders think that your students might find their services useful for learning, reading, doing research, managing information, and knowing the world.

We think you'll enjoy this conversation with +Kirill Kireyev and +Steve Cunningham.

Learn more about their online services that are being made available for free to schools. See if there might be a place for them in your work with students. Test your theories of literacy in 2012 next to those embedded in these new learning tools What search tools do you think might enable your students to engage in "safe and personalized learning?" (InstaGrok) What tools do you think might help your students to "understand and actually put the big ideas to work?" (Readitfor.me).

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers Paul Allison and Monika Hardy host a conversation framed by +Steve Hargadon's search for a new narrative to support educational change. We are joined by teachers who are actively protesting the disrespect and indignity they have recently been subjected to in New York City and in British Columbia.

One of our guests, +Maribeth Whitehouse was recently quoted in an article by Michael Winerip in The New York Times:

It’s not just the low scorers who are offended. Maribeth Whitehouse, a special education teacher in the Bronx, wrote me in an e-mail: “I am a 99th percentiler. A number of us are in touch with each other, united by nothing more than our profession and professional disdain for this nonsense.” She is circulating a letter of protest for others on the 99th percentile to sign. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/nyregion/in-brooklyn-hard-working-teachers-sabotaged-when-student-test-scores-slip.html

Maribeth Whitehouse joins us on this episode of +Teachers Teaching Teachers as we work toward defining a narrative of respect and dignity for teachers and students alike. And here's a link to her letter.

Steve Hargdadon's perspectives were recently detailed in a thought-provoking post on his blog that ends:

Those of us who really care about teaching and learning as ways of helping to liberate the passion and independence of learners are going to have to both recognize--and figure out how to avoid--the hidden compliance agendas of the big money being doled out. And also how to make sure we're building the kind of appreciative support networks that will help the Rudy's [a teacher in the Bronx] of the world. http://www.stevehargadon.com/2012/03/tail-of-two-ed-tech-agendas.html

In addition teacher +Delia Downing and a student (Delia’s daughter) +Anne Simonen join us on this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers. They were fresh from a protest against their government's educational policies. They provide details about their fight for dignity and respect in British Columbia. http://act.bcfed.ca/whyyoushouldsupportbcteachers/

And that's not all. We are also joined by the powerful, teacher-activists Chad Sansing and MaryBeth Hertz.

This is an important conversation, and we invite you to join us by commenting below. We'd love to hear your stories of letting go of the fear and of finding spaces of dignity and respect both for you and your colleagues and for your students.

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, Chris Sloan and Scott Shelhart host a conversation about Open Education. They were talking just before the first ever Open Education Week which took "place 5-10 March 2012 online and in locally hosted events around the world.”

As it says on http://www.openeducationweek.org ”The purpose of Open Education Week is to raise awareness of the open education movement and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide. Participation in all events and use of all resources is free an open to anyone. Read more

Our guests on this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers are Cable Green, Mary Lou Foward and Karen Fasimpaur.

Cable Green, Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons. Most recently, Green was the Director of eLearning & Open Education for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, where he provided leadership on strategic technology planning, openly licensing and sharing digital content, growing and improving online and hybrid learning, and implementing enterprise learning technologies and student support services. One innovative project, the Open Course Library, creates low-cost, digital, openly licensed (CC BY) instructional materials for 81 high impact community college courses. As Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons, Green is responsible for setting strategic direction and priorities to build a global movement that will enable robust and vibrant practices and policies for free sharing of education and learning assets. Cable will lead Creative Commons’ recently-announced project to provide technical assistance to winning grantees of the Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Community and Career Training Grant program.

Mary Lou Forward is the Executive Director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium, providing leadership for the organization’s efforts to support OpenCourseWare use and development globally. Prior to joining the Consortium, she served as Dean of African Studies for SIT Study Abroad. In that role, she provided academic and strategic leadership for 29 programs across the African continent, leading SIT’s incorporation of technology and distance learning in international programming and developing innovative opportunities to collaborate across countries and between diverse student groups. She has also worked on community-based development in Africa, with an emphasis on the incorporation of appropriate technologies and sustainable resources in small-scale enterprise development.

Karen Fasimpaur is an enthusiastic user of OER in K-12 classrooms. She works with teachers to help integrate, remix, and share open-licensed curriculum to engage students and differentiate instruction. Prior to this work, Karen was an educational multimedia producer, a textbook developer, and a teacher.