What is EdTechTalk? Why do you participate?

To help create EdTechTalk Introduction/Orientation materials, we'd like to ask all those who participate in ETT (in whatever way) to answer these questions.

What is EdTechTalk?
Why do you Particpate?
What have been your favorite ETT moments?


In our "commitment to ambiguity", we are using a variety of tools to conduct this conversation and generate remixable media.

Thanks

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Jeff - Wed, 2008-03-05 03:34
This discussion has been around a while, but got going again during post-shows of EdTechWeekly#66 & EdTechWeekly67.
This audio is from the ETW67, [riffly_audio]241B08E0EA1911DCAE8AD0A456B4F508[/riffly_audio]

Lornacos - Mon, 2008-03-10 23:38
Never known to answer a direct question with a direct answer bear with me while I explain why I participate . I am a parent involvement facilitator. I signed up for webcastacademy.net, the internship created to help folks learn how to use the technologies at EdTEehTalk. I have watched EdTEchTalk grow over the past few years but found so few parents using the Internet and I could not see how to find a fit for the parent community and Edtechtalk. Times have changed and more and more parents are using the Internet to connect. So I felt the time had come to use webcasting as a communication and collaboration tool. I was excited to see so many good ideas, a repertoire of screencasts, articles and answers. I soon found a chat world of Skypers standing ready to pick up the slack when my inexperience or exuberance got the best of me. Although I knew a few things about making a podcast, the wealth of information overwhelmed me but at the same time challenged me to try new things. Ustreaming, webcasting, wiki spaces, voice thread and twitter became part of my vocabulary. It has been a big learning curve but I wanted to help parents and teachers take advantage of these tools to improve communications and hopefully build effective partnerships. It has been enlightening working with a group of committed volunteer Webcasters. With their support, I have been able to establish a webcast for teachers and parents working together to support student learning, Parent as Partners. My favourite ETT moment - watching the EdTecTalk folks support Parents as Partners in the chat room. They welcomed the new parents and teachers who had just dropped in for the first time. They invited their comments and immediately started to describe EdTechTalk in a new way. EdTechTalk builds online communities. At last, that is the answer to the questions. Thanks to Jeff and company for creating the vision known as EdTechTalk.

coordinator2 - Sat, 2008-03-15 14:52
I noticed that we haven't generated a lot a traffic over here. Come on EdTechTalk Folk, let us know what's on YOUR mind. So, what is Edtechtalk? I do consider Edtechtalk a social networking site. It's a portal for professional development. I come around Edtechtalk to catch content on the fly. You can engage yourself in countless conversations on the net. These asynchronous interactions help us in furthering our professional development I have blogged and been active in reading and responding to blogs in the last few years. I have also kept up with some pretty cool podcasts. Never the less there is a certain kind of magic that happens when you interact in a synchronous environment. I think Dave Cormier has hit on this several times. Participating in a live conversation via text, audio or video forces us to think on our toes. These kinds of conversations probably go on millions of times on the net. What makes Edtechtalk different is that WE not only host these conversations but advocate for use of Web 2.0 tools to extend them. And like I mentioned before, I just don't get the NING thing. :-) Jose Rodriguez; It's Elementary

Anonymous (not verified) - Mon, 2008-03-17 08:04

EdTechTalk is simply the number one source of up-to-the-minute educational technology information and discussion available anywhere in the world, and it's FREE!

Educators participate in ETT to explore the outer limits of educational technology. You will find a new world full of people who enjoy sharing what they know and listening to your experiences. Everyone adds value to the community. It's like an online commune where everyone shares the bounty from the ideas generated.

The beauty is we each get to pass along our enthusiasm and new found skills to our students and peers. Content for each show is culled and submitted continuously by participants, both hosts and chatters who are equally important parts of this online community.

The show hosts share news, articles, new links, specific classroom resources and reference numerous forms of multimedia and feed them to the world via live webcasts. The webcasts are then saved as podcasts on the EdTechTalk site and available for download on a variety of podcast directories including itunes. Even the chats are saved so you can review them for links you may have missed.

A live webcast is similar to listening to a radio talk show except that you are a very important part of the show. Your voice can be heard through the LIVE chat. The live chat enables you add to react to the discussion in real time by asking questions, networking and collaborating with educators in the chat room and bookmarking the wonderful resources mentioned on the show instantly.

Participants often describe the experience as exhilarating because your mind will become so engaged in multi-tasking that you will reach a new level of consciousness. Each show offers a unique, invaluable experience.

Webcast Academy, the parent site, provides a launch pad for this kind of interactive learning by providing free professional development to willing participants called interns. Interns must be committed to discovery the world of webcasting. They engage in simulated shows, Q&A sessions and lots of technical experimentation. Surprisingly the key to success if motivation and not technical expertise.

Previous interns pass along their knowledge and experience which is forever changing due to changes in technology. Both PC and Mac users will find a home here. Once interns refine their webcasting skills they may decide to launch a show of their own. EdTech Talk supplies the interactive cyberspace for approved webcasts by housing live chat space and live streaming audio capabilities. The discussion is audio and the chat text based, however web based multimedia tool may also be useful for demonstration purposes or to share live edtech conference sessions from around the globe.

If you enjoy change, challenge, learning, being valued for your ideas and trying to make a difference in the world of education, then you must become a part of the EdTechtalk community. How? Just listen to a live show. Next, sign into the chat room. Once in the chat you may be moved to respond. Go for it. What you contribute is important to the greater community. If you want to be warmly welcomed, just mention that you are new and you will instantly make lots of great new friends and contacts.

Fasten your seat belts for the mind altering ETT experience! We can't wait to get to meet you.

coordinator2 - Mon, 2008-03-17 18:21
Along with John S comments on Audience this has to be the most articulated piece of work I've seen at ETT! Now, let's imagine for a second that I am not a member of the choir. What does this really mean? "Number one source of information..." think about it, how is this quantifiable? I work in a school district with 40,000 teachers and I've only ran across a handful that are using Web 2.0 tools in their classrooms. A even smaller select group (Tech coordinators at district level) involve themselves in gathering information to feed the masses. Edtechtalk is only of the sources they may tap into. They usually stay local with county and state contacts with technology initiatives. Their participation with networks like ETT is usually for personal professional development and not necessarily to bring down to classroom teachers. Now regarding these so called podcasts. Sure there is a large quantity of audio content available, but how well is it organized? How easily can I find what I need to further my professional practice? It seems like a lot to go through and even though there may be catchy titles I still have to go through audio and chat logs to find a few things worth my time. Some programs publish shownotes while others do not. Some shows tag their posts while others do not. And what's up with tagging a show with the a person's name. It seems like shameless self promotion! This notion of achieving a higher state of consciousness while multitasking in a live webcast is pretty far fetched. If anything it is very chaotic and mind spinning where the quick witted and the fast fingered are the survivors while the rest of us are left numb trying to figure out how to start listening to the stream, changing our color in the text chat and reacting to a conversation that is 30 seconds old. I never new sound traveled soooooo slow. (OK, Ustream is only a couple of seconds but that doesn't give any thinking time) Now let's talk about the Webcast Academy. In the first place, why is it an academy? It makes it sound like a prep school. Being an intern is like being a new member of a Fraternity or Sorority. The oldies always gang up on the newbies. They force us to take the VAC pill and they hijack our audio. Try getting to the first few weeks and you'll see for yourself. The book, now let me tell you about the book. You can't even print it out. It's always changing! There isn't a single person at the academy that can tell you the expectations for each week. It's a secret that you have to discover on your own. There is a audio/video divide that only a few can master to become Webcasters, otherwise you are automatically sent to class of 2017 roster. This concept of community (commune) sounds a bit hippie to me. Leave that for the past century. It sounds like "Cheers"; "Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same You wanna be where everybody knows Your name" and btw where is the beer? ALL FUN PUT ASIDE, I AGREE ETT IS THE BOMB! SO, HOW DO WE GET THE WORD OUT? OH, I KNOW. ONE TEACHER AT A TIME..... Jose Rodriguez; It's Elementary

Anonymous (not verified) - Wed, 2009-01-21 15:24

its really cool

Anonymous (not verified) - Fri, 2008-08-01 10:00
Edtechtalk is a community of educators interested in discussing and learning about the uses of educational technology. Part of the Worldbridges network of homegrown webcasting, several live shows are webcast each week. software downloads

Anonymous (not verified) - Tue, 2009-02-24 03:31

I'm wondering if it's possible to add the Teachers Teaching Teachers Show #138 to the EdTechTalk iTunes feeds, since it's not showing up in the iTunes EdTechTalk subscription, even though it's listed on the TTT site. Thanks.