About this Blog

2¢ Worth is just that, it’s the change in my pocket at one particular moment. It is a place where I record the thoughts and ideas that shape themselves in my head as I read, listen, talk, and observe. I write in this blog to have my ideas criticized, deconstructed, recombined, added to, and, when possible, to be used.

We do not like to describe blogging by comparing it to a diary. But it would not be inaccurate to call this blog just that. It is a diary of my greater mind, my experiences, observations, and reflections, mixed in with the responses of an eclectic community of readers — who are often the smarter part of me.It is a conversation.I blog to learn.

I do not promise answers here. I will ask far more questions.

Many of the barriers that prevent us from modernizing our education systems come from the baggage of outdated notions about teaching, learning, curriculum, our children, and their future. Asking questions seems to be one way of probing and provoking new perceptions about what we do, why we do it, and how we might adapt within an almost constantly changing environment.

I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading this blog. It is not always serious and it is not always about education. It comes from a non-traditional educator who is grappling with an intensely exciting world he had no reason to expect.

You can learn more about David Warlick at: http://davidwarlick.com/

PIMPING out my Blog

Although I frequently promote the idea that blogs are for communicating, and that the message should be the primary focus of its operation, I am human, and I am not immune to the appeal of cool gimmicks.  So you will likely see some interesting little feature on my blog that might cause you to ask, “How did he do that?”  Following are a list of the various widgets and plugins that I have installed on 2¢ Worth — just to help satisfy your sidebar-envy:

20 thoughts on “About this Blog”

  1. David

    Hello. It was a pleasure to listen you this past week in Kansas City. I’m so sorry that I had to leave early – the preschool where my daughter goes to school was asking parents to come pick up our children ASAP because of the ice.

    Thanks for all your insight. Everytime I see you present I learn something new. Thanks for all you do to help spread the ideas of learning in the 21st century.

    Thanks.

    Eric Langhorst

  2. Dear David Warlick:
    Technology + Education – Because of your interest in the connection between these, I thought this project might interest you.
    Thanks!
    Darcy Pattison

    Geotagging: A Social App for Geography Fun

    Our knowledge of geography is becoming more sophisticated: If you own a smart phone, like the Apple iPhone 3G or some Blackberrys, the phone will automatically adds geotags – location information – to every photo snapped. But can Americans locate those places on a map? Not likely.

    Echoing every major study of geographic knowledge in the U.S. or Great Britain over the last decade, Americans performed dismally on the 2007 Facebook application, “Traveler IQ Challenge.” Out of 193 nations, US players ranked 117th.

    2006 surveys indicate that over 70% of US high school graduates couldn’t answer these simple questions correctly (See answers below):

    1. What is the most commonly spoken native language in the world?
    2. What is the largest Muslim country in the world?
    3. What country is the largest exporter of goods and services?

    If technology points out our failures in geography, technology also holds hope for our students to learn geography better. Darcy Pattison is the author of the children’s picture book, The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman, a story about a wooden man who travels across the country to connect a family. In the sequel, Searching for Oliver K. Woodman, Oliver starts cross-country again, but when he’s lost a wooden woman, Imogene Poplar, P.I. searches for him.

    “I like writing stories for kids that incorporate maps and geography knowledge,” Pattison says. “I don’t know why I’m drawn to these stories, since I’m not a good navigator. Maybe it’s because maps are a form of storytelling, too.”

    It’s not surprising, then, that the main character of her books, Oliver K. Woodman, is the subject of a new Flickr Map Project (www.oliverkwoodman.com/map-project) designed for elementary students.

    The Project encourages anyone interested to take a paper Oliver along on their travels and photograph him at landmarks. The key is to geotag the photos and upload them to a Flickr group site: (www.flickr.com/groups/oliverkwoodman).

    “Geotagging photos is a great interactive tool for learning geography,” Pattison says. “Like other social applications, it depends on the community to generate content. It encourages interest, participation, and facilitates learning.”

    Geotagging is simply marking a photo as belonging to a specific spot on a map. While smart phones can geotag photos automatically, you don’t need that much technology to participate. In fact, Flickr’s method of geotagging by allowing users to drag-and-drop a photo onto a map is more educational for kids. To correctly geotag, a student must accurately locate a place on a map.

    There are 35 million + photos already on Flickr and even more on GoogleEarth, the other major online photo-geotagging site. Isn’t it enough just to send students to view those geotagged photos? No.

    The beauty of the social applications like Facebook, MySpace and Flickr is that the audience creates the content. The interactive nature of a social app means that students will be more engaged: Aunt Jane took this picture in Athens, Greece; I took this photo at the famous landmark in my own home town. Our class uploaded ten photos, let me show you.

    Linking the activity to a favorite children’s book character like Oliver K. Woodman just adds to the fun. Teachers can use the free lesson plans available with the project to teach an integrated unit of language arts, math, social studies, art and more. The Oliver K. Woodman Map Project is a small step towards improved geographic knowledge through social apps and is perfect for the elementary school student.

    Published in eight languages, author Darcy Pattison (www.darcypattison.com) has traveled to 32 states and seven countries. Besides two starred reviews, The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman (www.oliverkwoodman.com) was named a 2003 Best Book of the Year by Child magazine and Nick Jr. Magazine; the paperback version is available in May, 2009 and an edited version will appear in a Houghton Mifflin reading textbook later this year.

    Answers to Quiz: 1. Chinese, 2. Indonesia, 3. United States.

    ###

    Kovanich, Kevin. Facebook app shows students’ lack of geography knowledge. Northern Star, Dekalb, Illinois. September 4, 2007. http://archive.uwire.com/2007/09/04/facebook-app-shows-students-lack-of-geography-knowledge/

    LaGesse, David. ‘Geotag’ Your Digital Pictures: Your digital camera can keep track of your travels for you. US News & World Report, December 18, 2008.
    http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/50-ways-to-improve-your-life/2008/12/18/geotag-your-digital-pictures.print.htm.

    Lipsett, Anthea. Geography: why in the world do we know so little. Guardian.co.uk, November 19, 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/nov/19/bad-at-geography/print

    National Geographic Society. Young Americans Still Lack Basic Global Knowledge, National Geographic-Roper Survey Shows. NationalGeographic.com, May 2, 2006. http://press.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/index.jsp?siteID=1&pageID=pressReleases_detail&cid=1146580209503

  3. Dear Blogger,

    you are nominated for the “Top 100 Language Blogs 2009” competition. Congratulations! After last year’s success the bab.la language portal and Lexiophiles language blog are hosting this year’s worldwide language blog competition once again. We are confident to surpass more than the 350 blogs which entered the competition in 2008.

    We have made two major changes to last year:

    1. Due to the amount of blogs we have created categories.
    (Language Learning/Language Teaching/Language Technology/
    Language Professionals)
    You are in category Language Technology
    2. User voting will count 50% towards final score

    Voting will start on July 8, leaving you enough time to prepare your readers for the upcoming voting. Voting will close on July 27 and the winners will be announced on July 30.

    For more information on the 2009 competition and what it is all about visit [http://www.lexiophiles.com/english/top-100-language-blogs-2009-nomination-started]
    So now you may ask yourself what you can do. Here are some suggestions

    -Nominations are open until July 6, so feel free to share any blog you like with us
    -Each blog will have a one-sentence-description for the voting. If you would like a special description to go along with your blog, just send me an email [marc@bab.la]

    Kind regards,
    Marc
    On behalf of the bab.la and Lexiophiles team
    [http://bab.la]
    [www.lexiophiles.com]

    Marc Lütten

    bab.la GmbH | Baumwall 7 | 20459 Hamburg | Germany
    Phone: +49(0)40-707080950 http://bab.la/
    Handelsregister AG Hamburg | HRB 101207
    Geschaftsführer: Dr. Andreas Schroeter, Dr. Thomas Schroeter, Patrick Uecker

  4. I am currently taking a course at University of Southern Maine, Portland Maine Campus on Technology in Education – MAC. One of our assignments was to comment on blogs that we were referred to by our instructor. Your blog was on the referral list and I must say I find if very interesting to read. I enjoy reading the thoughts/opinions of other educators in what is happening with education in todays world. Keep up the good work.

    1. One of the most fascinating and valuable aspects of blogging is that “it is almost entirely about conversation.” No blogger can say it all in a single article. They’re too short, and there’s always too much to say. The complete story comes out from the comments. I learn from the comments.

      “I blog to learn!”

  5. Dear David Warlick,

    I am very pleased to inform you that your blog is #6 in the category ‘Top Language Technology Blogs 2009’! This year we received 473 nominations from 26 countries and nearly 5000 user votes. You can check out the top list here:
    http://en.bab.la/news/top-100-language-blogs-2009.html

    We have created a Top Language Blog button that you might want to use on your blog. Here’s the code:

    Thank you for participating and we hope to see you back soon on Lexiophiles!

    Marc
    For the bab.la and Lexiophiles team

    Marc Lütten

    bab.la GmbH | Baumwall 7 | 20459 Hamburg | Germany
    Phone: +49(0)40-707080950 http://bab.la/
    Handelsregister AG Hamburg | HRB 101207
    Geschaftsführer: Dr. Andreas Schroeter, Dr. Thomas Schroeter, Patrick Uecker

  6. Hey David,

    I am a writer for ASSETT, a CU Boulder arts and sciences program devoted to assisting teachers and students in using technology to improve teaching and learning.

    I’m starting to write a series on blogs, and I was interested in using yours as an example. If we end up choosing yours to highlight as a resources for educators, can I quote some of your about me pages and/or your posts?

    If not, not to worry, I’ll just paraphrase! It’s just that sometimes, straight from the horse’s mouth sounds a bit better!

    Thanks!
    Kate

  7. Hello David,

    This message is from a group of educators in Pennsylvania who have developed a Social Studies project that is in the process of raising a modest amount of money to build prototypes for gathering additional partners.
    Our project, the Civil War Augmented Reality Project, is intended to enhance the experiences of students visiting Civil War sites. It is also intended to increase attendance and revenue for historic sites by offering both “high” and “low” tech experiences to best reach the majority of the population.
    We feel that our project is fulfilling a need that educators, park workers, technology enthusiasts, and Civil War enthusiasts have discussed in the past: How can historic sites both raise educational value and public interest in their institutions though technology, while not alienating the non-technical history fans?
    We have worked hard on the answer, and are interested in promoting our creative solutions.
    We would like to make clear that the project is not intended solely for Pennsylvania. It is our hope that the project will expand to other venues, as we feel that we have the ability to use our ideas to enhance the experiences of all students at historic sites.

    If you have a chance, please check out our blog:
    http://acwarproject.wordpress.com/

    And our fun, Civil-War flavored funding campaign on Kickstarter:
    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jmummert/the-civil-war-augmented-reality-project

    If you think that our project has merit, we would be delighted if you could mention it in your blog.

    Here are a few other links of interest regarding our project:

    A recent newspaper article:
    http://www.ydr.com/ci_15435690

    Other recent blog posts:
    http://electricarchaeologist.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/civil-war-augmented-reality-project/
    http://www.yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare/2010/07/linked-in-with-neat-york-count-48.html

    Our Facebook page:
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Civil-War-Augmented-Reality-Project/126003620773256

    Our Twitter account page:
    http://twitter.com/ACWAR_Project

    Thanks very much for considering us!

    The Civil War Augmented Reality Project
    Jeff Mummert- Hershey High School and York College of Pennsylvania
    Art Titzel- Hershey Middle School
    Jay Vasellas- Red Lion Area High School and York College of Pennsylvania

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