Going from Third-Person, to First

Pause for a moment and reflect on the cumulative effect of the projects currently at play in Wisconsin: Common Core, RTI, PBIS, InTASC, SBAC, new district report cards, and a new educator evaluation system. Not to mention the fact that we are powering up these initiatives at a time of record-low revenue and depleted morale in Wisconsin. 

All these initiatives are worthy—there is no question about value or merit. However, to paraphrase Peter Drucker, culture eats projects like these for breakfast, and without considerable attention to the softer-side of organizations, our school districts will suffer and struggle to not only implement but also realize any student-performance benefit from these mass-scale reforms.

To a large extent, school leaders have little influence over any of these projects; in a practical sense, they are mandates—from the top, down. We must implement them, and we have trivial authority over the particulars.  While we have insignificant influence over the actual reforms, we have substantial inspiration in how we choose to implement them at the local level. 

School leaders today have direct affect on the climates in which these reforms come to fruition. If the quality of our partnerships aren't strong, if we aren't in agreement about continuous improvement, and if our vision isn't powerful and based on community values, these reforms aren't going to get very far.  No matter how innovative and research-based these reforms are, they will fall short without powerful work at the local level to inspire motivation, commitment, vision, and empathy. 

For teacher leaders, building principals, district administrators, and board members, we now are fortunate to have this flash of clarity. Yes, the limelight is on top-down reform and the white-hot spotlight is directed at us, yet this affords us the opportunity to direct the action.

Ironic as it may be after decades of efforts to lobby huge and impersonal education legislation, we realize that our most influential efforts are best played out on a local scale, with our own communities, on personal relationships and collegial trust. So today, we shift to calling forth the gifts of kids and colleagues, finding a way to let people’s light shine, and to go from third-person, to first. 

Other Things Being Equal

For a little more than a year, I've had the awesome opportunity to work with fellow administrators from across the state in helping them to better understanding digital-age tools. As a part of this effort, we've worked on social bookmarking, micro-blogging, blogging, and creating screencasts. We've delved into the concept of PLN creation, and we've looked at the ways that digital-age tools amplify administrative capacity to support PLCs. I have learned as much from these people as I hope they have learned from me.

The most striking realization with which I have come away from this experience is that technology know-how only matters so much. After the cursory proficiency in understanding how any digital-age tool works, other things matter. After someone knows how to log-on to twitter, and understands the concepts of a tweet, hashtag, RT, HT, and list, then what?

It is at this point in technology development that underlying leadership traits become very apparent since the way social media and other Web 2.0 tools are put into action depends largely on a given leader's philosophies about collaboration, empowerment, innovation, and learning. After the initial know-how of technology, other things matter.

This vitally modifies how I looked at development as it relates to technology. This type of development is not done separate from development associated with leadership; development in technology must be done simultaneously with leadership development, and the catalytic interplay between the two can amplify both positive leadership and negative leadership attributes of the person using the technology.

What do you think? Is the effective use of digital-age tools congruent with the quality of the leadership behind their employment? What leadership attributes are requisite for the effective use of digital-age tools, and how can we as a community cultivate those attributes in leaders around us and in pre-service leaders? 

@JaneHart with the Top Tech Tools of 2012

Always a fun exercise for self-reflection, below is Jane Hart's top 100 tools for 2012. As you click through the slideshow, reflect on the degree to which you use these tools to convene people to solve problems, seamlessly connect stakeholders, and learn from others. Do some exploration, use a new tool, share this list with others, grow as a leader. 

Top Tools for Learning 2012 from Jane Hart

As a Matter of Principal

Wisconsin public education today, like many states, is in the condition of total reform. As in, when you go to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, a splash page should flash up and say, “Under Construction.”

A laundry list of different projects make up this list of reform. Heading up the list is the shift to Common Core State Standards, followed by NAEP cute scores, SBAC, Educator Effectiveness, ACT expansion, new reportcards, WISEdash, SIS, RtI, PBIS, and this list goes on.

Without a doubt, we all shoulder some responsibility for the effective implementation of these programs, but let’s not deceive ourselves and acknowledge the truth: Our building principals are going to bear much of the weight of these reforms. Much of it is on their shoulders; they are the modern Atlas, accountable for upholding the sky (apparently from falling).  

Now, I am blessed with an unbelievable administrative team. Smart, hard working, positive, caring, driven. They arrive early and go home late. They sacrifice time with their families without question. They trust but verify, have difficult conversations based on values, admit mistakes when wrong, and care about details when no one else does. To a large extent, the professionals who make up my administrative team are also my role models.  So, I come from a considerate and measured place when I ask this question: How on earth are our building administrators going to accomplish all that they are going to be asked to do?

In the ecology of a principal's calendar, there is no white space. We've all been there: after-school learning programs, summer academic academies, district-wide assessment cohesiveness, educational gaming partnerships, Google Apps training, new elementary Math curriculum, 20 percent staff turnover, inclusionary practice programming, a BYOD initiative, English curriculum revision--just to name a few our own recent projects. Our existing educator evaluation system is currently robust, and any white space after the previously mentioned is consumed by IEP meetings, discipline, attendance issues, parental concerns, and swarm of other urgent issues.

I already know what’s coming: overused and tired responses, such as “It’s not about doing more but doing things differently.” Or, “Focus on what matters most.” The tipping point that we are at, however, is significantly beyond clichés, such as “We are gonna have to do more with less.”

Principals need time, leadership development, advocacy, and emotional support, and we (superintendents) need to help.

This means fighting against interests that don’t understand administrative function and want to compress leadership roles (such as hiring a dean of students or part-time administrators). It means finding a way to help building principals access the best professional development possible and advocating to school boards-legislators-parents-and community stakeholders for principal autonomy. It means helping them focus on possibilities instead of current obstacles.

In Greek Mythology, Heracles constructed two pillars to hold the sky for Atlas, hence freeing him of bearing the sole responsibility of possible collapse. What pillars will we build to help our building principals so that they don’t singularly bear the weight of the sun, the moon, and all the stars? 

Wisconsin Education Reforms

Wisconsin is currently experiencing what amounts to tectonic plate shifts in the field of education. Of course, reform isn't rare for education. From Desegregation to A Nation at Risk, and from Outcomes-Based Education to 21st Century Skill Frameworks, many veteran educators have seen the field of education literally evolve in front of their eyes. Today, however, we are muddling through reform more sophisticated and ambitious than ever before.

Because of the quantity, complexity, and inter-relatedness of the initiatives, many even in the field of education don't fully comprehend or are aware of the broad view of these reforms. Below is a collection of resources meant to help people better appreciate current education reform in Wisconsin.

Even after these lofty projects, still more looms on the horizon, including PI-34 teacher licensing and licensing renewal reform and graduation requirement reform.

Disclaimer: This review is a simplification of a complex series of initiatives. To actually grasp the nuance and detail of these initiatives, I encourage you to visit the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction website.

Leadership: To Awaken Possibility in Others

This video could almost be looked at as an extended definition of leadership. We all have much to argue about should we spend time looking for it. To focus our efforts, however, in awakening possibility and potential in others, this aim is—indeed—the substance of leadership. Leadership isn't first about test scores, policies, or being right or wrong or even “in-the-black.” It’s about community, relationships, trust, service, and vision. 

My favorite quotations: 

"One of the characteristics of a leader is that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he’s leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming."

"This is about the bird who flies over the field and doesn't care about the fences."

"The conductor doesn't make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful."

"Who am I being that [your] eyes are not shining?" 

Shock and Awe of the Future

In this revealing slideshow by the Pew Research Center, we get a peek behind the curtain at the future, including how millennials will live, the future of money, the impact of big data, and the future of higher education.

Digital technology impacts by 2020 from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

I pulled two quotations out of the slideshow almost immediately: "Mobile is the needle, social is the thread, people are the cloth." And, "These technologies caused revised conceptions of man's place in the universe."

In reflecting back on school district leadership, I am both excited to be leading in a time of such innovation and concerned about the uneven distribution in the understanding of and access to digital-age tools within schools and homes. We frequently talk about achievement gaps. We should also be frequently talking about accessibility gaps and ignorance gaps in light of digital-age tools, including gaming, mobile devices, etc. Indeed, the shock and awe of the future may not be as much about the amazing nature of the devices themselves but the amazing disparity of understanding, access, and use of them. 

The "A-Ha" Moment

The "A-ha" moment is not manufactured, but we can set up the circumstances where they are more likely:
  Daniel Goleman on achieving an "A-HA moment" by morethansoundproductions

To what extent do we allow educators to pursue innovative thinking (the "A-Ha" moment) if they are so swamped with handbooks, predetermined curricula, policies, and schedules? How much room does a school district really have to support its employees to endeavor to innovate if we are all overwhelmed with federal regulations, state accountability measures, and top-down/one-size-fits-all mandates?

@CathyNDavidson - "If we 'Can' be replaced by a computer screen, we should be!"

Here is a wonderful article by Cathy Davidson about our core dilemma as educators: Like many industries, we are close to being "Dangerously Irrelevant." 


The subscript to this is about leadership and how we collectively communicate the relative value of teachers. What systems (of development, altruism, vision, collaboration, etc.) can we put in place that amplify a teacher's influence and extend his/her reach beyond the normal parameters of a school day? 

Can we continue to expect deference and esteem from the past? Or, do we need to accept the challenge and deliver powerful learning experiences, resulting in our new status update: Irreplaceable.

Working to be "Knowledge-Able" (Or, "Let Them Leave with Questions")

As you may know, I'm a huge fan of Michael Wesch. His work has not only influenced the way I think about technology and media, but he has also significantly influenced the way I teach.

Below, he discusses our institutional need to transform from organizations that focus on knowledge to organizations that focus on helping students be "knowledge-able." The full article can be accessed here.



What are the opportunities before us? How can we reform our institutions from ones that focus on "knowing" the right answers to ones that seek important questions?

Of Purpose, Community, and People

"In times where there's a lot of stress, it's desperately important that we find deep things to anchor on, that aren't just ephemeral." Peter Senge



How can leaders leverage technology to develop and share purpose, encourage the development of community, and help people reach their potentials as opposed to inadvertently allowing catalytic nature of technology to geographically dis-aggregate and ideologically divide us?

By Force of Habit

Here's a neat infographic by Charles Duhigg, from his The Power of Habit.

As he says, there isn't a single formula that works for everyone, but thousands. And, negative habits are a particular part of why we fail at endeavors.

How does the science of repeated behaviors interface with our likelihood for turning to technology to solve problems? Is it our "know-how" or our habits that is getting in the way of school leaders utilizing technology to help people develop and to personalize learning? To what extent does our success in #edtech initiatives depend less on understanding #edtech and more on our habits related to instruction and leadership?

Students Test Educational Games for UW-Madison's Discovery Institutes (Guest Post by David Bell)

Recently, our middle and high school science students participated in important educational gaming research for UW-Madison researchers. Meagan Rothschild and Michael Beall of the Morgridge Institute for Research had students play the educational game Progenitor X. Progenitor X is a game developed to teach players about the relationships between cells, tissues, and organs, including the basic scientific principles of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell research. While the researches have spent countless hours developing the game, they also need middle and high school students to beta-test these games. The goal for their visit was to collect very specific data. Prior to playing the game, students took a short pretest to determine their background knowledge on the subject. While students played the game, analytics software monitored each movement that students made in order to better understand the choices students make while playing the game.  Following the game, students took a post test and were able to give feedback directly to the researchers.  The research collected will  help developers create a final version of the game that enhances the learning experience. Our students were able to learn about cells, participate in applied-science research, and discuss the elements of game design with professional game designers.  Later this month, intermidiate elementary students will be beta-testing Citizen Science, another applied-science, contextualized game. We are excited for the opportunity to partner with UW-Madison's award-winning educational gaming department (including gaming rock-star, Kurt Squire) and to participate in other play-testing projects in all content areas. 

Thank you to middle school science, high school science, and high school science/special education teachers for coordinating the experience.

Pictures courtesy of Kim Fanning

If you are interest in learning more about the Educational  Research taking place at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery a few resources are available below:

Guiding Principles

Current Projects

About the Morgridge Institute

This is a guest post by David Bell. It is originally posted here. 

Solving for "e"

Funny how we are so captivated with solving for “e” today, with e-harmony, e-banking, e-commerce, e-learning, e-news, and the list goes on. And in this algorithm of instantaneousness and data, what is it that we are actually solving for? What is “e”?

Recently, I heard Tom Thibodeau speak about servant leadership. He said (I paraphrase) that you never really know yourself until it’s within the context of others. It’s through relationships that we build self-awareness, develop self-regulation, show empathy, solve problems through teamwork, and consider variables when making decisions. It turns out that when we solve for “e,” it equals emotions.

Emotional intelligence and leadership styles that bear consideration for emotional intelligence yield capacity for stronger relationships—ones that give us capability to face adversity, ones that call us beyond ourselves, and ones that elicit civility and professional discernment.

From what I’ve read, developing emotional intelligence is a contemplative practice, and it always helps to start with a framework off from which to work. CASEL recently developed a detailed model for competencies in social and emotional learning.

After solving for “e,” the “e” in e-rewards or any other e-abbreviated word is actually emotion, and being conscientious about your emotional intelligence can not only facilitate environments that are safe, caring, and participatory, but also promote emotional competency such as self-awareness and better relationships. 

How do you solve for "e"? To what extent do you see the "e" in e-mail or e-solutions or e-cards connoting our awareness of our own emotions and how we recognize emotions in others? Do you think that an awareness of emotions in the age of "electronics" is important? How do leaders leverage electronic communication to increase our awareness of emotions? How are you solving for "e"? 

Daniel Goleman (@DanielGolemanEI) on the Future of Leadership

Here are my notes:



 

The Autonomous Discovery of Google Kids

In his recently published book, From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom, Marc Prensky wrote, "It is critical, though, to understand that because the locus of “knowledge” has, in the 21st century, moved to a great extent from the teacher to the Internet, and because the personal passions of our 21st century students have become the kids’ best (and often their only) motivation to learn, our teachers’ job—in fact their very raison’d’être—is going through enormous change." I recently saw this play out first-hand in my nine-year-old son.

It started with this:

And then this (which is a tutorial produced by another elementary school kid far from Wisconsin):

And before I knew it, he was proudly standing over this:

Aside from being a great example of how different types of media work harmoniously, it also illustrates a couple of stronger points: Google kids autonomously learn. They know that they have immediate access to resources that can amplify and extend their learning. They are more independent and self-paced as they learn.

Here, my son was not coerced, lectured, drilled, or measured. We was excited and interest-driven, while utilizing global resources to complete a hands-on, technology amplified project-all without a single word of encouragement or persuasion from an adult. He's a Google kid.

Post blog reflection:
How can we capture this? How can kids thrive in a different environment? How can we translate the attributes of this scenario into powerful student understanding of complex concepts? How can we embrace, funnel, and leverage self-guided discovery in a technology-amplified classroom?

For Goodness' Sake

When is the last time you've knelt-down to tie the shoe of a 5-year-old? When is the last time you cared enough to remember someone's birthday? Do you have the presence of mind to listen instead of making excuses when someone is expressing concern? Can you set aside your own needs and wants in seeking the greatest good for someone or something else? Can you extend yourself for others purely because it's the right thing to do and without the expectation of personal benefit?

Are we willing to trade in our problems for our possibilities? Are we willing to lift what is low, to unite what lies apart, to advance what is left behind? Is it time to have a conversation that we have not had before? 

Thank you to Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) for posting this. 

Program or Be Programmed

Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff

Does your school organization reflect our new digital information landscape? Well, does it? 

@McLeod, Circa 2006

In Scott McLeod's inaugural blog post of Dangerously Irrelevant, he said, "This blog is intended to highlight and help with the leadership issues related to K-12 technology. We can (and do) pour ungodly sums of money into teacher training, student programs, and infrastructure – these are all good. However, we will see few tangible, sustainable benefits in most places until they have leaders who know how to effectively implement, build upon, and sustain those initiatives. We need more effective technology leaders. We need them in formal leadership positions like principal and superintendent rather than informal, often powerless positions like media specialist or technology coordinator. We need them now." 


Indeed, we are still talking about the need for leadership, and we still need significantly better leadership from principals and superintendents when it comes to the meaningful integration of technology into education. Looking at this through the lens of an archeological dig (of sorts), the very content of McLeod's blog points to how we've changed our approach to #edtech reform.  


Here's a Wordle of McLeod's blog posts in August and September, 2006.

We can see that the word "school" has significant standing along with "technology," "schools," and then "students." The words "leadership, administrators, teachers, district, leaders, and student" also have ancillary prominence.

Here's a Wordle of McLeod's blog posts in October, November, December of 2011 and January, 2012.

Immediately, we see that the word "student" holds the biggest prominence in the wordle, followed by "technology," "learning," and "need." The word "School" holds a subordinate place in the wordle. If I squint my eyes, I can see "leadership" and "teachers," but I don't see "district," "administrators," or "leaders" at all. I think this represents a change of focus, a change in McLeod's internal dialogue. McLeod's own "shift" in focus (from writing about school reform to writing about student-centered learning) is exactly the shift that we must all make.

At Dangerously Irrelevant's inception, it was a blog focused on "formal" leadership issues involving meaningful technology integration. What it may have evolved into is a more eclectic, wide-ranging blog that focuses on student learning. The realization here is one of purpose. The intent of administrative #edtech development is to instill a deeper appreciation for and to cultivate a powerful inclination to leverage digital tools for student-centered learning. That is, the moment we all shift our focus--just as McLeod has over time--from focusing on administrative #edtech development to student-centered educational reform; that is, the the moment we shift our focus from #edtech reform in schools to leveraging #edtech for student-centered learning, then we are closer to the antithesis of administrative irrelevance.

The New Transformational Trend: People

The following graphic prompts us to peek into the future. Certainly, we all look to technology as a primary driver of change, yet the trends below are about people and not technology. This is not to say that we can't look at how the trends below work in, with and around social media networks, but what is easy to discern is that people of varying agency and ideology are driving these transformative trends, not digital tools alone. Indeed, the focus on "People" is a trend for transformation.

Created by Brian Solis Flickr: b_d_solis

So, let's cross-walk this concept (of the importance of people over technology alone) over to education and look at the digital tools being proposed as solutions to our "crisis." Teachers still scaffold remediation after classrooms have been "flipped"; teachers still accommodate, manage, and leverage iBooks after New iPads have been integrated; and teachers still formatively assess, elicit growth, provide support, and respond to varying learning styles after mobile phones have been successfully accepted into schools.

So, how does this realization change our conversations? How does this realization (of the both constraining and enabling influence of people on digital tools) change how we look for solutions? Are are concepts such as the "flipped classroom" fads that distract us from the real work, which is to develop people?

The Superintendency: It's a Calling

It all started with this. It's a great post with thoughtful considerations on becoming a building principal. My comment, however, was to also think about the superintendency:

"Yes, building administrators are retiring every day, but so are superintendents. Indeed, we need courageous building principals to take on the challenge of district leadership too!"

This prompted Curt Rees (@wiscprincipal) to charge me with the following homework:

Accordingly, here is my sponsorship and advertisement, encouraging building-level principals to consider becoming superintendents.

Under "Normal" Circumstances?

Here, Pew Research Center does a quirky overview of the "new normal," which includes increased accessibility at home, increased use of mobile devices, and increased use of social networking by all demographics. This all leads to the 8 "realities."

The emerging information landscape The 8 realities of the “new normal”

View more presentations from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

After clicking through this slideshow, what strikes you as concerning or inspirational? What "hits home" when reflecting upon our systems that teach kids, or that help them transition through stages of their lives? Is our blueprint agile enough? Do our information policies scale up to new medias? How do our attitudes and our skill-sets allow us to understand these revolutionary shifts?

AASA 2012

I am honored to have the unique opportunity this year to present for my colleagues at AASA's National Conference on Education. My presentation is on administrative compression in small, rural schools (PPT below). Check the current schedule of events for my most up-to-date time and location for the presentation if interested. You can follow the Twitter discussion for the national conference with the hashtag, #nce12.

The Part-Time Superintendent-WASDA/WASB

View more PowerPoint from bradfordgs

I am also exceedingly honored to be an eSchool News Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awardee for 2012. With company like William Skilling (@SuptSkilling) and Daniel Frazier (@DanielLFrazier), the award is certainly a humbling privilege, as it is a honor to serve the kids, teachers, and families of Wisconsin.

A Place of Our Own (Guest Post)

The following post was written by David Bell (@dtbell22) regarding a recent day of internal professional development. It was the single best day of teacher development that I have ever experienced, anywhere in my career. The peer-to-peer collaborative instruction resulted in high ownership. The boots-on-the-ground knowledge of actual tool implementation made for high interest. The embedded nature of the sessions substantially decreased distance between the act of development and the place where the new learning would be executed. Finally, hands-on, action-oriented sessions made for a great opportunity to play, experiment, problem-solve, and learn. I've never been prouder of the staff. 

On Friday, January 27th our faculty participated in an educational technology workshop. The exciting part is that we did not have to visit another school or have an expert guest speaker flown in. Teachers participated in 21 different learning sessions led by their colleagues. It was an opportunity for our staff to showcase the educational tools being implemented in their classrooms and to model how these technologies enhance instruction. The benefit to a professional development activity of this nature is that our teachers now have access to a local network of experts. I am confident that all teachers learned more applications that will strengthen their instruction.

Sessions included:

• Embedding Media into Websites  (Paula Niedbalski)
• Developing a Blog (Nick Bakke, @bakke3129, The Ed Tech Gurus)
• Using Google Forms in the Classroom  (Paula Niedbalski)
• A Paperless Classroom with Dropbox and Other Tools (Jodi Glaze, @KungFuSpanish)
• IPODs as a Testing Accommodation (Caleb Hundt, @hundtcaleb, The Ed Tech Gurus)
• How to Flip Your Classroom (David Bell, @dtbell22)
• Creating Screencasts with Jing (Brad Saron, @bradfordgs)
• Web 2.0 Research (Nick Bakke, @bakke3129,  The Ed Tech Gurus)
• Skyward Reports (Julie Lundeen)
• Digital photo presentations with Animoto (Nick Bakke, @bakke3129, The Ed Tech Gurus)
• Twitter:  Create your own Personal Learning Network (Ryan Alderson, @aldersonr)
• Skype and Facetime (Dawn Capwell)
• Picasa Photo Editing and Web Album (Caleb Hundt, @hundtcaleb, The Ed Tech Gurus)  
• Evaluating Apps and District Guidelines (Ryan Brown)
• The Instructional Uses of Document Cameras (Colleen Curtis)
• Google Reader as a Professional Development Tool (Colleen Curtis)
• Creating a website on Google Sites (Sarah Wallace, @WallaceSarahE and Karen Alderman)
• IPADS for Beginners (Alissa Sanders, @asanders329)
• Technology Assisted Instruction with the IPAD (Megan Menzynski, @MrsMenzy)
• Handwriting Recognition Apps on IPADS (Megan Menzynski, @MrsMenzy)
• Using Livescribe Pens on your Class Website for Remediation and Reteaching (Julie Lundeen)
• Using Google Forms for Formative Assessment (Paula Niedbalski)

A few pictures from the event:

Mrs. Sanders presenting on iPad Basics

Mrs. Lundeen leading a session on the Smart Pen and Websites

Mr. Woodhouse and Mr. in App Evaluation for District Guidelines

Mr. Bakke helping us set up Diigo accounts for research

Using iPods for testing accommodations with Mr. Hundt

This blog is crossposted here. 

My Digital Dictionary

Over the last three years, I've had the need to express particular ideas and thoughts that have not yet been captured by existing verbiage. Accordingly, I've taken it upon myself to coin the following new words:

Reader Fatigue: The cognitive exhaustion that is a result of continual flow of great information from a Google Reader. Synonyms: Mental Overload.

Digital Hording: The compulsive behavior (mostly by teachers) to save every bit of any file, program, or application on a home directory-no matter what the significance of the file.

Tweet Groupie: The sycophantic flatter who engages others on twitter for the purpose of self promotion as opposed to participating in and contributing to a digitally-oriented professional learning community. Self disclosure: I began my digital journey this way out of naivete.

Blog Crush: A high admiration and idolization of a colleague's blog, including the ideas expressed, connections made, and subsequent transformation triggered.

Post Prudence: The realization that comes once the colleagues you admire the most now follow you and your blog. Example: Once you know that @mcleod follows your twitter feed, you can't say stupid crap anymore.

Follower Balance: The idea that in a digitally-oriented professional learning community, you should be as interested in what others have to say as what you have to say. Hence, there should be somewhat of a balance between who follows you and whom you follow. Antonym: Tweet vanity.

Tab Collecting: The act of collecting tabs within your browser as a way of remembering that you want to tweet or blog about it later in the day.

4 O'Clock Push: The rush of tweets that appears from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. as a result of twitter users not wanting their bosses to know that they've been surfing the net while on the job. Note: Twitter users will collect tabs during the course of the day and then push them out after the formal end of the work day.

Tweet Noise: Random, unrelated, or hollow posts that are sprinkled into our personalized twitter feed. Used in sentence: Once I got past the tweet noise this morning, I found three wonderful blog posts that I bookmarked, and one that I commented on. 

5 a.m. Twitter Clutch: The unusual mixture of British twitterers that are just about to go to bed and the North American twitterers that have gotten up early, all of whom to converse and share insights on twitter.

One-Upman Twittery: The practice of outdoing others in one's digitally-oriented professional learning community by responding to a colleague's post with a parallel story about oneself with even more elaborate outcomes.

Have you ever experienced any of these? Do you have any terms that you have coined to describe situations or experiences you frequently encounter?

Ubiquitously Repressed

Michael Wesch 

"We are in an age of . . .

• Ubiquitous computing,
• Ubiquitous communication,
• Ubiquitous information,
• Ubiquitous speed,
• Everywhere,
• From anywhere,
• On all kinds of devices,  

Where it is ridiculously easy to . . .

• connect,
• organize,
• share,
• collect,
• collaborate,
• publish."

Scott McLeod

"We all now have a voice.
We can easily find each other.
We can easily work together."

Does your organization reflect our new digital information landscape?
Well, does it?