Online Conferencing for ADD-OS

Thanks Debbie Silver, for helping me understand my randomness. She tagged herself: Attention Deficit Disord . . .ooh! sparklies!(ADD-O!S!) and nothing better describes me.

I love the generation of students we're teaching. They keep up, they follow those random trains of thought that come out of nowhere and aren't necessarily connected.

David Warlick is helping us to understand how to think like our students.

He doesn't expect us to log-on to his keynote and just listen, no more than teachers or presenters should expect students to come in and just listen. He suggests:

• As you watch the video, during the first 24 to 48 hours, go to the session chat, register, and post questions, comments, and additions, as they occur to you.
• If you use Twitter, then post comments, while watching, that would be of value to your followers.
• If you blog or podcast about the session, tag your posts with k12online07 and k12online07pc.
• I am writing an article about the three converging conditions. The outline is currently on a wiki page. It would be useful to me if you could go and insert any elements of the address or concept that resonated especially well with you.

I have a hard time ingesting the concept of a world of free agents. Where, besides the need to eat, will be the accountability and incentives for excellence? If in our "traditional" jobs, even (cosmetic) medicine, people are willing to perform on any level below medicrity just to collect a paycheck, what networks will form so that we know the free agents we're using suit our needs?

I lived the free agent thing as a performing artist. I loved what I was doing and that passion spurred me, but I worried about an accident outside of my car (health care), and couldn't always do my best because a large portion of my time was devoted to finding the next "gig". I made good money, lived a normal middle class life, but there was no safety net for unplanned illnesses. No work = no pay.

How do we prepare our students for that territory? Who will draw the borders?

Best features?

• Pausing to multitask
• Reflecting on how this translates to teaching teachers
• multitasking
• wanting to share this link with folks who might like to hear it.

I'll admit. I prefer the "occasional podcasts" that last about 2 - 5 minutes far beyond a 40 minute one. I couldn't sit still in elementary school. I still can't.

Pour yourself a coffee and give it a listen: http://k12online.wm.edu/davidw.mp4