How do you spell Proselytize?

Yesterday I had a revelation. My mission to spread Education 2.0 in the Dry has turned into a something akin to a religious mission. (If religious analogies make you uncomfortable why don't you stop reading now. I'm not saying I'm more popular than the Beatles, but there I can see where some individuals may be upset by my comparisons.)

I've seen the light of Education 2.0 and I want to spread the message and open the eyes of those around me. Education 2.0 is so simple to use and has such potential to improve education ... I just want to spread the word. But I'm worried that my zeal may turn away those I'm trying to help. I can almost feel the office doors slamming as I walk down the hall, and hear the whispers "maybe if we're quiet he'll just go away."

I can totally understand and relate to this attitude. I can't even count the number of times I've been told about some piece of hardware or software application that was going to make my life better/easier only to be disappointed. And when I first heard about Web 2.0 my first thought was "here we go again ..."

Now, when I try to convince educators and instructors to try Education 2.0 I hear these arguments:

1. I'm an English teacher (or Math or Art or Kindergarden teacher) and it's too hard for me to learn something new.
2. My students are already learning, and my class is full of lecture and other activities. There isn't time to add anything new.
3. I don't teach online classes, so I don't need this.
   

These arguments are perfectly valid, but I am on a mission tell people that:

1. I'm an English teach (or Math or Art or Kindergarden teacher) and it's too hard for me to learn something new.
   Education 2.0 is NOT about you. You don't need to blog or create videos, let your students do it. Let them participate. And if you do want to use it yourself, Web 2.0 by definition is point-and-click; so it's easy to use.
   
2. My students are already learning, and my class is full of lecture and other activities. There isn't time to add anything new. All you need to do is add the activities, you can still lecture. Again, it's for the students to do, not for you.
   
3. I don't teach online classes, so I don't need this.This works just well for students in traditional classes as it does online classes.
   

What I've found is that no amount of talking convinces anyone. What they need to do is experience it for themselves. It's amazing how quickly people pick it up when they take 30 minutes to start a blog or create a youtube video. And every group or individual who I've worked with has quickly seen the light and become a believer.

But how to get more people to take the 30 minutes to do that?

So be warned ... I will soon be biking to your neighborhood and knocking on your door! I am on a mission.

The Computer Science Marketing Video Rough Demo

This is a rough demo of a movie that could be used for marketing the Computer Science Department. It took 15 minutes to shoot and edit using Windows Movie Maker, which is FREE! Just think how cool this could be if we took a little time and worked on it. We can also ask the CBC Jazz Band if they will give us some recordings to use as a backing track.

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Swimming Straight

My swimming has really improved this year, although you might not be able to tell from my race splits. I've been getting lessons from Lincoln Djang, and every session with him has been great. I'm constantly amazed that each time we meet he can quickly spot some way to improve my stroke, and then has a drill that allows me to correct the flaw and at the same time get a kinesthetic feel for the correction so I can work on it.

But even though my pool times have dropped dramatically, I've had mixed results in the open water. Apparently I don't swim very straight, I curve pretty dramatically to the right, and if I don't sight every 5 strokes I'll quickly be way off course. I can't quite figure out why this happens, but this photo from a recent race may be a clue ...

Web 2.0 Class Videos

Here are some of the student produced videos from the Web 2.0 Track!


Intro to Education 2.0




Web 2.0 Overview and The Internet Cloud By Bruce Wolcott




Blogging (and Delicious) By Debi Griggs

Camtasia Help

If you want help with almost any aspect of Camtasia, they have a great library of movie tutorials.

Windows Movie Maker Help

Designing and editing movies is a pretty complicated process. There are many tutorials to help you, but one of my best suggestions is to do your homework and watch as many videos and movies as you can ... but with an eye towards creating your own.

Rather than listing a bunch of links here, I'm providing a link to my Delicious page. Go there and click on the video tag or windowsMovieMaker.