This group of panelists will discuss how they channeled their "viral" connections to create a collaborative presentation about the then-emerging web application, Google Presentations. Within twenty-four hours of its release, over forty (40) educators from around the world made over 500 edits and used numerous tools to learn the application together and share best practices with each other and the educational community. Since then, the document has evolved into a presentation that hundreds of educators are using to present and teach this powerful tool. Furthermore, its evolution will continue into the first ever "virally created" NECC presentation.

Building collaborative groups that promote cooperation, foster enthusiasm, and cultivate creativity is becoming essential to the success of any organization or group. Techniques that foster "viral" cooperation (that is cooperation spawned by person to person contact through electronic means) are a vital part of the toolbox of any successful organization.

Additionally the panel will discuss a number of free tools and strategies such as microblogging (Twitter), blogs, instant messenger, Skype, and other web applications to help ideas transmit quickly and promote cooperation within groups. Whether your group is a school, system, organization, or just a grassroots group of educators, you will benefit from learning how to rapidly spread ideas so that you will: learn together, work together, and grow.

Note: If the requested technology is provided (two projectors and two screens with a wired connection), we will have one panelist that will stream live from a virtual educational world in Second Life to represent what is happening with educators in that environment. She created the first conference on best practices in Second Life and has created the first Literary World in Second LIfe for teaching literary. Her work has been based upon the principles in this discussion. She would be the first Second Life panelist at NECC that we are aware of.

Outline

Process: Google Presentations will be used to present this material enabling an archivable backchannel for those participating. Additionally, we are requesting an additional screen so that one panelist from second life may be streamed into the panel as NECC's first SL panelist.

Outline and Time
1. What is virally caused collaboration? 5 minutes
2. How does viral collaboration work? 10 minutes
A) Viral networks
B) Viral Collaboration Tools
C) The Backchannel (and the power of archiving chats to take notes)
3. Measurable Results of Viral Collaboration 10 minutes
A) Accelerated Learning
* Discuss integration of Presentations with other tools (Notebook, etc.) -
* Demonstrate the Quantity of Information Learned and Shared on a timeline to demonstrate acquisition of knowledge by a large group of people
B) Archivable Results
* Shared on blogs, wikis, and others later -- permanent record facilitating learning
* Promotion of transparency and openness (inclusive of all time zones)
4. Discuss ways that tools have been used with students, student reactions, success stories - 15 minutes
A) Backchanneling in the classroom
B) Viral Learning Communities
C) Case Studies
5. Professional Development Uses - 10 minutes
A) Presentations and Collaborative Courses
B) Information Sharing (I think we should focus on how we are all creating similar things...this allows us to work together and have more time for learning)
C) Case Studies
6. Discuss a few of the glitches - 5 minutes
7. Where do we go from here - 5 minutes

Supporting Research

Teachers who regularly participate in professional interactions and activites beyond the classroom are shown to be more likely to create collaborative work settings, student initiated activities in their classroom, and place students in leadership roles in the classroom. (Becker, Reil 2000) A case study between two teacher education schools (Slowinski, 2001) recommended that schools educating teachers follow policies to promote sharing and ongoing participation in professional development for improving their teaching practice.

Coates, J., & Draves, W.A. (2007). Nine Shift: Work, life, and education in the 21st Century.River Falls: LERN, Inc.

"Life in this century is being reformulated around networks" (p. 132)

Cites 9 reasons "why the network is superior to the pyramid"

1. More information is discovered
2. More information is shared
3. The sum is greater than the parts
4. Great access to people and resources
5. People bring networks with them
6. More relevant information
7. Individual talents are stressed
8. Outcomes are measured
9. Decision making is better

Leyden, P. (2002). New leadership skill key in 21st century. LERN Magazine, 9.

"The fundamental principle of networks is that no one is as smart as everyone. So networks utilize everyone in the organization. And each individual brings more value than just one person. So the total of the network is greater than the sum of its parts" (p. 9)

Friedman, T. (2007). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century (further updated and expanded). New York, NY: Picador.
"And the key to being small and acting big is being quick to take advantage of all the new tools for collaboration to reach farther, faster, wider, and deeper" (p. 449).

"The best companies are the best collaborators. In the flat world, more and more business will be done through collaborations within and between companies, for a very simple reason: The next layers of value creation -- whether in technology, marketing, biomedicine, or manufacturing -- are becoming so complex that no single firm or department is going to be able to master them alone" (p. 457).

Brown, J. (Sept./Oct. 2006). New learning environments for the 21st century: exploring the edge. Change, 38(5). Retrieved July 21, 2007 from Academic Search Premier Database.

In the landmark book, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, authors Don Tappscott and Anthony Williams present compelling evidence (based on a $3m research student in 2000-2001) touting the importance of creating effective mass collaborative efforts as the foundation of societal success in business and education. The advent of technologies such as Google Documents, Google Presentations, Wikis, and Skype enable professional developers, teachers, and educators to create and share presentations that can be used around the world. This presentation is to bring to the forefront a discussion of mass collaboration in education to a scale that has not been seen previously and recommendations on how it can be done by some of educations grassroots practitioners.

References:

Becker, H. J., & Riel, M. M. (2000). Teacher professional engagement and constructive-compatible computer usage (Report no. 7). Irvine, CA: Teaching, Learning, and Computing. Retrieved February 28, 2002 from http://www.crito.uci.edu/tlc/findings/report_7/

Slowinski, J., Anderson, T., & Reinhart, J. (2001). Can web-based collaboration reform education? Technos: Quarterly for Education and Technology, 10(3),10-14. Retrieved February 18, 2002, from http://www.technos.net/tq_10/3slowinski.htm.

Presenter Background

Vicki Davis - Teacher and IT Director - Westwood Schools, Camilla Georgia; co-winner SIGTEL's Online Learning Award 2007; Taking IT Global Best Online Learning Project 2006; Edublog Award for best Wiki 2006; Wikispaces Wiki of the Month December 2005; Edublog Finalist for Best Teacher Blog 2006; Finalist Edutopia's Totally Wired teacher Award 2007; Contributor to Wikis in Education by Stewart Mader, Brown University; Authored articles for Cable in the Classroom magazine, Leading and Learning, Technology and Learning; Bi-weekly blogger at Techlearning.com; Author of the popular Teacher Blog Cool Cat Teacher; presenter at NECC 2006; presenter at the Future of Education Conference, K12 Online 2006, K12 Online 2007; Maine Technology Conference 2007; Illinois technology Conference 2008; Tech Forum - Chicago 2007; Georgia Educators Technology Conference 2006, 2007; Keynote Presenter at the Center for Quality Teaching and Learning at Columbus State University Columbus, Georgia; co-founder Women of Web 2 (www.womenofweb2.com), and co-host of the weekly WOW2 show at edtechtalk on Tuesday nights at 9 pm (www.edtechtalk.com)

Robin Ellis - Instructional Technology Specialist in the Quakertown Community School District in Quakertown, Pennsylvania and is STAR Discovery Educator. She has been working in the instructional branch of the technology department for the past 8 years. Her job focuses on working with teachers and students in the classroom on anything that relates to technology and the curriculum. Robin currently maintains the Connecting Through Conversations blog. She has presented at several conferences including the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Conference (2005), and the Pennsylvania School Board Association Excellence Fair (2007).

Darren Draper - One of five Technology Curriculum Specialists for the Jordan School District in Sandy, Utah. He has been working with educational technology for the last 10 years and loves technology (when it works). His job also focuses on helping teachers and students to use technology in learning. Darren currently maintains the Drape's Takes blog. Darren authored the "Pay Attention" video and has presented at several conferences including the keynote presentation at the Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange (Utah, 2007), TESOL Macedonia Thrace 15th Annual Convention (Greece, 2007), and National Federation of Urban & Suburban School Districts (West Virginia, 2007). Darren was also one of the co-founders of the EduBloggerWorld international social network.

Kristin Hokanson- Kristin's background is as an elementary teacher and is currently the Technology Integration Coach at the Upper Merion Area High School, King of Prussia, PA for Pennsylvania's Classrooms for the Future Initiative. Her project Hands Across PA was recognized with distinguished honors for SIGTEL's Online Learning Award in 2005. She has presented at conferences including the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Conference and Expo (2006 / 2007), Discovery Educator Network Regional Leadership Conference (2006), Keystone Technology Integrator Summit (2006 / 2007), Pennsylvania Business Educator Association Conference (2007), Eastern Business Leaders Association Conference (2007), and Classrooms for the Future Boot Camp (2007). A Keystone Technology Integrator, STAR Discovery Educator, PA Discovery Educator Network Leadership Council Co-Chair, PAECT South Eastern Regional Director, Kristin maintains The Connected Classroom Blog and Wikispace and focuses her work on creating collaborative opportunities for teachers and students.

Kelly Dumont is one of five Technology Curriculum Specialists for Jordan School District in Sandy, UT. He has worked in that capacity for the last 9 years. Previously he taught 5th and 6th grade in Jordan School District. His job is to help teachers and students learn to use technology more effectively in the classroom. He blogs and podcasts at The Educational Mac.com. He is a Past-President of UCET (Utah Coalition for Educational Technology, an ISTE affiliate) and currently serves as the Past-President Liason and ISTE liason for the organization. He has presented at the UCET conference for the past 10 years (1977-2007). He is an Apple Distinguished Educator (Class of 2007).

Carolyn Foote is Eanes ISD District Librarian and Westlake High School Librarian, and author of the "Not So Distant Future" blog. She is a recent finalist for TCEA Technology Librarian of the Year(2007), and was featured in American Libraries article, "Mattering in the School Blogosphere" and has recently presented at TASSP 2007, Internet Schools West 2007, and TCEA 2008. Her role is to provide leadership for her district and staff on emerging instructional technologies and how they impact information literacy for students, particularly those involving research and production.

Beth Ritter-Guth (SL name Desideria Stockton) teaches English and Communication FT at Lehigh Carbon Community College and PT at DeSales University in Eastern Pennsylvania. Her use of Second Life to teach literature, composition, technical writing, and communication has been recognized by USA Today, the BBC, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Her non-profit program, Liteature Alive! in Second Life, seeks to provide open access learning environments to global educators, students, and SL residents. Current projects include The Edgar Allan Poe House, Mama Day Island, Camelot, Grendel's Lair, The Cantebury Tales Virtual Pilgrimage, the Kate Chopin Classroom, the Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson Classroom, the Collaboration Station, and the Progressive Era Literature Project. Her recent project, the World University Exchange, connects faculty and college students from all over the world in a "Survivor" scenario. Ritter-Guth is active in the uses of Web 2.0 applications and supports and promotes Creative Commons licensing. She volunteers her time to teach other faculty how to use Web 2.0 and virtual worlds as classroom enhancement tools.

If facilities are available, Beth's SL Avatar Desideridia will be streamed by Ryan Bretag (information listed below). If facilities are not available, Ryan will discuss the virtual worlds aspects of this topic.

Ryan Bretag has spent seven years in education, both as a secondary English educator and now as an administrator at Glenbrook North High School, one of the top schools in Illinois. In his role as instructional technology coordinator, he focuses on the infusion of technology into the curriculum and the facilitation of professional development for educators. He has presented and facilitated workshops at local, state, and national levels with a focus on web 2.0, blended learning environments, professional development, and 21st Century Learners. Bretag holds a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction and is currently in a Ph.D. program for Educational Technology at Walden University where his research interests are on secondary reform and the concept of 21st Century schools. He blogs for Technology & Learning as well as maintaining his own blog, The Four Eyed Technologist, where he generates enthusiasm and conversation on many topics facing the world of education today.