The day has come when using a 2001 Mac in the Lab at the elementary school isn’t working. We have been fortunate that up until very recently we were able to use these computers to access online sites and create student products using older software. This spring we have run into several realities related to the age of these machines. They are running OSX.3 (Tiger) as they have limited RAM and processing capabilities. This means that we are unable to use the current version of iWork that is owned by the district. Students are creating multi-media presentations using Keynote and they are unable to work on them in the lab if they have ever used a G4 iBook and a newer version of Keynote.

We refer students to http://pbs.org/cyberchase for learning activities, but that site is only one of several where videos and the newest learning games posted online aren’t available in the lab. Google Earth is a wonderful learning tool as we introduce our students to world geography, but it is not available in the lab. There are online sites like http://wordle.net that we have used with older students to view their writing in this visually enhanced way, but the plugins in the lab don’t work with the site.

We have been incredibly fortunate to be able to use the equipment no longer needed at the middle school or the high school for as long as we have. Now it is time to upgrade the lab so that our youngest students can explore multi-media posted online and create their own projects that dislay their learning and introduce them to being knowledgeable consumers of our multi-media world.

I learned about the rights of users that are protected by copyright laws from Kristin Hokanson’s session which will be useful as I work with our 4th grade multi-media projects this week. Then I participated in a chat with 60+ other educators in a conversation about what should stay and what should be changed in our ideal school of the future facilitated and recorded by Will Richardson. His Google Notebook for the session offered a list of related current writing. I listened to Gary Stager review his not so humbly titled “Best Ideas in the Educational World”. They are a good list to keep in mind; I especially like the thought, “Document success wherever you can…,” as I need to remember to share and publish what we are doing that demonstrates the creativity and learning of our students. While in the chats I recognized some participants and communicated with others I didn’t know. Will Richardson included those in the chat as a discussion group in his session and checked in with us online to connect us to the room. I found some new people to follow on my Twitter network and found new blogs, nings and student projects that gave me ideas for our schools. In all, a fun way to learn on my own terms in my own time.

Tomorrow I will change it up a little and participate in the two afternoon sessions with my K-12 colleagues Alice & Mike so we can have a conversation about what we see and hear. I would have loved to be there in person for the sessions and the times in between, but this new technology allowed me to take part in a stimulating professional learning experience from several hundred miles away.

Thanks to the organizers, the student videographers and all who made this experience possible!

Today I am seven weeks from my last treatment for stage 3 ovarian cancer. Two weeks ago I found out that my CT scan was clear and there’s every hope that I have eradicated my cancer through surgery and chemotherapy.

I’ve been told that I exhibited a “quiet determination” throughout. I’m working on owning that as a strength and set of resources I’ve been able to access. I certainly have never been as physically ill as I was after some of the treatments. What helped me get through it? The power of friends. Every time I went to an appointment or a procedure I took with me a person who cared and was openly there for me. I didn’t know if I could get through some of the times and there was always someone who would let me cry or talk or just be.

Among the many notes I’ve received since the startling day of my diagnosis there was one that spoke to the good things that would come during this time. This wasn’t a sugar coated thought, but one from a person I  know to be wise who had just experienced a tremendous loss due to cancer. It has stayed on my mind as a guiding thought and in the back of my mind I’ve looked for those prospects in the mix of the challenging times.

I love both worlds and the world with the electronic devices allows me more and more opportunities to read about and listen to ideas that add to my options in that world. The environmental educator in me needs to sometimes move to the place that doesn’t have phones, satellites and the option to “be on” at all times.

So, those are my thoughts as I join family for some time in that world before returning for the final week of getting ready for school.