Here are my notes on the webcast done by Teachers Teaching Teachers. I'll write a few more thoughts tomorrow - I need to fold some laundry and do a little packing for my vacation.
9:07 Was finally able to get connected and hear what's going on. Everyone is being welcomed and introducing themselves.
9:11 The moderator, Paul Allison, has been lost. There seem to be teachers from all over the country.
9:12 Paul is back.
9:14 Something has happened and I can't hear anyone ... oops...
9:15 I got back on, thank goodness
9:16 One participant (Troy - from Michigan - working full time at the Writing Project site there) is doing a writing marathon - using wikis and blogs, etc. They are using edublogs and using bloglines to read, but that can be cumbersome in terms of being able to respond to one another. They are looking at how they can use tags and Wordpress. Paul said he has used group blogs in the past, but never individual blogs. Another participant is talking about using BlogMeister and is now using EduBlogs. He liked BM because he had a lot more control over approving posts and comments, etc. But, when he began to work internationally, the time difference prevented him from approving content in time for it to reach other parts of the world in a timely fashion. He is now using Superglu - he is still able to supervise by subscribing to the RSS feed. It seems like students can have individual blogs and combine it into Superglu to get one RSS feed. He is reflecting on his use of RSS feeds with the students and wanting to use it effectively.
9:21 Paul (I think) had looked at Superglu, but couldn't get it to grab sub-RSS feeds in blogs. One participant is talking about using Feedburner (my new personal obsession).
9:25 One thing I like about the SkypeCast is that the person in charge can mute all the microphones and then you can request the "floor" and they can give it to you.
9:26 Paul is talking about FeedWordPress. He's talking about using it with individual and group blogs and different feeds going into different places. A student could have an individual blog for all his classes, but tags each post for each individual class and those posts go to group blogs for each class.
9:29 Now they're talking about really advanced feed stuff and I'm getting a bit lost. That could be in part because I'm also trying to get into the chat room. Multitasking at 9:30 p.m. is not easy!
9:34 Paul is talking about having students individually blog for a while and then looking at their categories and comparing those categories to other students and having a group blog "bubble up" from those commonalities. This could be very interesting and lead to some great conversations. Finding those commonalities could be such a rich experience. It reminds me a bit of the controlling idea essay on the NYS ELA Regents exam.
9:36 There's a lot of feedback and it is really hard to hear.
9:38 Now I'm hearing Ahnold. I don't think he has joined ... Something has gone seriously wrong here.
9:44 After some unsuccessful attempts to rejoin, I heard nothing. I should be packing for my trip tomorrow ... While I was trying to reconnect, I found a Skypecast about podcasting with students. Perhaps I'll join that on 7/5 ...