Getting off the Ski Lift

In class on Saturday, I shared an analogy that this course can be like a run down the slopes. Unfortunately, if you are like me -- I love skiing down. It's the ride up the hill that causes my nerves to go wild. And getting off the lift at the top can be a jump of faith.

I can already tell what a great group of MTTers this cohort is. They are quickly going to their community's aid when they fall going over a mogul. We have some great jinging of helpful shots and motion capture to help us get back on our skis again.

This semester is going to be hard work. Exhilarating -- yet hard. But when we get back to the base and look back up the mountain -- we'll be so proud of what we just accomplished.

Now --- anyone want to try this trail through the trees with me??

Tomorrow is the first meeting of the new group of the MTT program. They all know each other - and I am looking forward to getting to know them in the second course.

It started snowing in Texas tonite so who knows if we will have to worry about inclement weather. Just in case .... we had a few options:

* Chat in Blackboard
* Free Conference Call
* Webinar

I went ahead and put together a WebEx. It includes a lot of great features - conference call with phone, headset through computer, desktop share and chat. This will let us be prepared to kick off the course just in case of a snow day.

A new decade, new technologies

I just read a list of new technologies that educators should start using in their classrooms.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/01/20/14-technologies-educators-should-watch-in-2010.aspx

Jing: I have heard about it several times in the last month. Beyond the good ole PRTSC and the new Windows7 Snipping, I wonder how much I would use Jing instead of these other tools. (I do love my screen shots for trouble shooting with students.) Hopefully someone will give a demo!

BT-1 Bluetooth Webcam: At $150, it's a little pricey for me. But I love the idea of being able to move the camera around my office -- or within a classroom directly to where the students are collaborating. I'll have to watch for the $$$ to go down, down, down.

Photo Booth: (MAC -- so I won't be using it.)

Poll Everywhere: Really neat program for quick and free polls in meetings or classrooms!

Prezi: I actually used this for a presentation at the Texas Higher Ed Coordinating Board in December and had several WOWs -- that was completely engaging! TRY IT OUT -- they just came out with a free educator version.

Etherpad: document share that was just aquired by Google to be integrated into Wave. I still haven't found one that I really like beyone the old fashioned tracking changes, comments and passing it in email.

Obrbicule Undercover: Mac ... but it's way cool tracking device even grabs screen shots and video shots if your $$$ Mac Book gets stolen.

Evernote: Free! Keep tracks of notes. This one I may explore next week.

Twitter Widgets: let's you embed twitter right into a homepage or blog. I have twitter -- but really want it to work well on my BlackBerry -- which app should I download for that??