Education Technology Solutions

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EDITOR'S L ETTER
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A number of years ago while attending an
educationtechnologyconferenceinVictoriQ,
I had the pleasure of chairing a session with
about 30 teachers. The session was more of a
focus group aimed at helping us (Education
Sofufions Magazine) better
understand how we could more effecnvely
seNlee t he education technology market.
On the subject of editorial. specifically the
kinds of editorial that educotlon professionals
wanted to see in the magazine. the
overwhelming mqjorrty of attendees stated
that they really wanted to know what other
schools where doing. Not Just In one's own
state or territory, but across the country and
even around the world.
Since then. we have had the opportunity to
attendagreotmanyeventsondconferences
and engage in similar discussions with
education professionals from around the
worid, and this desire to know what other
instttutions are doing is a recurring theme
across most of our conversations.
Of course, given the frequency with
which we encounter this request, I find
myself wondering. how many education
technologists actually practice what
they preach?
Podcost. Vodcasts (Video podcasts). biogs
and wikis - the list goes 00. These are not just
technologies about v..rnich students should
be taught they are valuabl e tools which
can be of significCYlt benefit to education
professionals in their own professional
development. Toke, for example, tweets. In
recent years. Twitter has become infamous
for being the platform from which uninspiring
individuals with an overly inflated sense of
setf-worth espouse mir.clless drivel about
nonsenstcal rubbish which no sone person
could ever possibly care about. This is
largely due to certai n Hollywood celebrities
abusing t()()ls li ke Twitter fcx their own self
aggrandrsement and inadvertently giving
what is otherwiseaveryuseful communication
tool a poor reputation.
Howevet a quick online search reveals a
significant number of sites through which one
can engage in very meanllrgful and useful
dialogue with other education professionals
using Twitter. My personal favourite is Cybrary
Mon's EducatiOnal Web Sites found at
cybrarymon.com/chats.html.
On this site, one finds a wealth of highly
relevant and useful educational chats. Take
for example, EdChat which occurs every
Tuesday and is an incredible coliobOfative
tool for educators to debate and eva!uate
solutions t o various problems through Twitter.
Over 500 educators and administrators have
contributed to t he EdChot discussions from
vorious countries around the wortd.
Other chats indude Parentelic. an interoctive
discussion on Twitter between parents and
educatOfS from around the world; SmChet,
where educators discuss fundamental
changes taking place os a result of new
social media technologies and how these
technologies con be used more effecttvely
in the classroom; and MuseEdChot, a
discussion beiween musi c educators from all
over the world c bout relevcnt mUSiC topics
in
As Australia's leading educoiion techno!cgy
publication, our role is to prOVIde information
for education professionals that wiH help
them be more effective in their role. As SUCh,
I implore readers to take some t ime and
explorethedepth and breodthofprofessional
development resources available on t he
Internet. Much of the content one finds is
more than just useful, rt is downright inspiring.
Explore, learn and please, shore with us the
omazing things you find along the way
John Bigelow - Editex