About+Us

Your Facilitators :
 * [[image:me.png width="88" height="88" link="@http://sharonsshare.blogspot.com"]]@http://sharonsshare.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/sharonbetts

sharonbetts@gmail.com || ===As an Educator in the 21st century, I have been privileged to be able to share my passions of technology and learning with students, teachers and administrators across the globe. There has never been a better time for people like you and me to build online communities and construct our own professional learning networks. Start yours now=== ||
 * [[image:cheryl.jpg link="@http://www.cheryloakes.com"]]@http://www.cheryloakes.com

http://twitter.com/cheryloakes50

cheryloakes50@gmail.com || ===In 2006, I took an online class, the Webheads, because it sounded different. After making great international Webhead friends, I began webcasting at EdTechTalk.com, an online community. At my first National Educational Computing Conference in 2006, I was shocked to find my virtual friendships had morphed into real friendships. No longer can educators claim that they are alone in their school or their job category. The Internet has flattened the walls of our classrooms, schools and state, as Thomas Friedman wrote in The World is Flat. Take the first step into this online community. Join the adventure, not for us, not for yourselves, but for our students.=== || We will demonstrate how you can easily create a Professional Learning Network with other educators and begin using it tomorrow. You will learn why these networking tools are essential for today's teachers. You will practice how to embed them in your day to day activities. See the power of the crowd and experience the wisdom of many!

I am one of a trio of educators in Maine who have been online and introducing educators to the benefits of the online or virtual or digital worlds. Alice Barr, Bob Sprankle and Cheryl Oakes formed a group called SEEDLINGS. It all stemed from our days, with Sharon Betts, as a MLTI trainer with the 7th and 8th grade teachers around their laptops in a project called SEED. When the project finished we saw the value of keeping educators connected. No longer did we need the fixed and face to face opportunities to continue our learning and sharing. Many things happened, the Internet became faster, many online services were free for educators and the barriers we once considered insurmontable, flattened. We have a SEEDLINGS ning that anyone is welcomed to join. We started the ning when we were a keynote for the K12onlineconference. The ning is still viable and self supporting 3 years later. We also have a ('radioshow') webcast 3 Thursdays a month on edtechtalk.com/live. This is where we share our conversations, GEEK of the WEEK, our favorite links of the week and introduce our audience to our guest of the week. We share regular classroom problems and how others are using technology to solve them or integrate the solution into an already crowded day. This ning has allowed for all educators to continue their own professional development. We hope you will join us. You don't need to do anything beyond joining. You can 'lurk' and see how it functions. You can comment to others. You can start your own conversations. You can begin a blog in a save environment. Once comfortable you can start your own ning.