K12 Online 2009: Bridging the Divide

On September 26, 2009, the K12Online Conference in partnership with EdTechTalk will host a worldwide, synchronous “LAN party” (free web meet-up) from 2:00PM EDT (6:00PM GMT) to 5:00PM EDT (9:00PM GMT).

Organizers encourage educators around the world to get together with colleagues and engage in lively, online discussions during this time using links provided by EdTechTalk. Past presentations will be shown, and participants are invited to engage in live conversations about the presentations with the featured presenters during and following each session. A K12Online Conference overview is scheduled at the EdTechTalk website 30 minutes prior to the LAN party. This event provides an opportunity to try out the synchronous EdTechTalk environment and platform, which we will be using for the 2009 K-12 Online Conference in December.

For more background about LAN parties, see Jeff Utech’s post from Sept 2006 and the K12Online08 Shanghai LAN Party wiki. The Shanghai LAN parties are models we hope educators around the world will emulate in 2009. You do NOT have to gather face-to-face with other educators to participate in this Saturday’s live LAN party events, but F2F connections are encouraged!

Here’s the schedule. (Times below are EDT. Start time for the first presentation is 6:00PM GMT. Use this WorldTimeServer link to convert this time for your local time zone.)


2:00 – 2:45 EDT Film School Mathew Needleman, Apple Distinguished Educator, has been integrating video in the classroom for seven years as a teacher of kindergarten, first, and second grade. Make better classroom movies with simple tips that will help elevate your vodcast to the next level in terms of artistic and technical merit. Learn how to storyboard like a pro, choose shots that support the telling of your story, and capture better lighting and sound.

3:30 EDT Open, Social, Connected Dr. Alec Couros is a professor of educational technology and media at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina. This presentation unravels a recent open graduate course offering titled “Open, Connected, Social” that was offered at the University of Regina, Winter 2008. The presentation describes the theories influencing the course, types of open practice, reflections and outcomes, and goes on to describe the emergence of “open teaching”.

4:15 EDT Wiki While You Work (Basic) A former high school English teacher, Mark Wagner has since served as an educational technology coordinator at Estancia High School, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, and the Orange County Department of Education.  His session briefly introduces participants to the Read/Write Web, and to wikis in particular. A live demonstration of wikispaces.org and wikipedia.org will illustrate that…, “If you can use a word processor, you can use a wiki.”

5:00 EDT We Like Our Blogging Buddies: The Write Stuff With Blogging Mentors Kathy Cassidy is a grade one teacher at Westmount School in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada.  In the winter of 2008, Patrick Lewis’s university class of pre-service teachers were blogging mentors for Kathy’s grade one students. This presentation talks about that collaboration and the results of the research that was conducted about the effect this mentorship had on the students’ writing.

Kudos to the K12Online09 Live Events Committee for organizing and hosting this event! Please plan to join us and share this learning opportunity with your colleagues!

Reproduced and modified from Kim Caise, Patrick Woessner, Dean Shareski and the K12Online09 LAN Party Wiki. Please copy, reblog, and tweet this information!

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