The kids get it....

This is the concept I was referring to in my recent conversation with Will. The kids do indeed get it and it's time that, as Josie says, in Learners as Teachers as Learners "Let's hope these types of initiatives soon become common practice."

Blogging and Community

This blog started in Jan. '02 as a "voice in the wilderness" during my second semester as a graduate student in the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning faculty at OISE/UT. I've recently completed coursework for my M.Ed. and will continue to use this blog to track the learning and work I'm doing in some of the "communities of practice" of which I'm fortunate enought to be a part.

Here's a link to a community of practice here on the south end of Vancouver Island.

Blogging as a medium provides a way into the conversation that's taking place on the web; provided, of course, one has access to the means of communication.

If you're a Canadian citizen reading this post you owe to yourself to go to your local all-candidates meeting and ask your prospective parliamentarians what they intend to do to ensure accessible high-speed internet access for all Canadians.

I had to pay a "recording tariff" on the CDs I bought yesterday to be able to send holiday pictures and video home with departing family members. I'd like to propose that the CRTC impose a similar tariff on telecommunications companies -- with the proceeds used toward development of the infrastructure needed to ensure all Canadians have access.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
originally uploaded by dougsymington.

Here's a picture of our mascot. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all the gang at samlab.com

Making Connections in the Technorati Cosmos

I'm back with a post to this interface. Last week I had the opportunity to participate in an experiment that Will Richardson put together with Skype conferencing. I had a chance to chat with Will for about 20 minutes and was especially interested in Will's thoughts regarding the recent controversy regarding blogging in schools.

Here's what Will has to say about the experience. Special thanks to Will for interrupting his "blog break" to make this post, and enjoy a well deserved break.

Regular readers of this space will know that I've been doing more and more work with my Drupal-based space at http://samlab.com.

Most recently I've used the book feature within Drupal to put together a term paper for this semester in which I refer to my interview with Will last week, and some other interesting (to me at least ;-) stuff I've been doing with media on the web.

My 501st post

I logged on to make a post here since the one I made with on my cell to see if I still could. (While possible, the difficulty of text-entry from the phone make it less than practicable for the most part. I don't own a Treo or "crackberry" but I imagine thumb typing would be better).

I've just returned from this year's version of the Winterstart World Cup at Lake Louise and I'm here to relate some "learning" I did yesterday. I learned that driving toward the coast in "diminishing" winter conditions can be exciting.

NOTE: A little over a week later I'm back to finish my "501st" post....
Last week ago I learned that the change in road conditions between here; here; and here in a snow/rain storm can be a white knuckle experience indeed.

For more on exploits from the Lake, check out the Flickr and YouTube pages with "artifacts" from this and other years.