How do teachers keep up with the latest, relevant educational resources and technological innovations? In this post, I will share a powerful teacher tool that will not only help K-12 teachers in Manitoba but also other educators worldwide.
I would sure like to get a peek at Joyce Wong's bookmarks!
Slightly more than 15 years ago, when Netscape Navigator became a popular browser for Windows-based computers, I made the following statement at a meeting of a few colleagues … “I would sure like to get a peek at Joyce Wong’s bookmarks!” To put this phrase into context, you have to understand that Joyce Wong, a very innovative educator in our school division, was integrating technology and engaging students at her K-6, inner-city, school. I felt that she and I had a similar interest in how technology could be best used in elementary classrooms. I knew that Joyce spent much of her own time searching the world-wide-web for activities and resources that would motivate and help her students to learn. Furthermore, I knew that, like most Netscape users, Joyce was building up an extensive list of “bookmarks” (later called “favorites” in the Internet Explorer browser). Well before the adage “Your friends are your filter” was coined, I knew that Joyce’s bookmarks would reveal innovative resources that were worth investigating, while sites that did not meet her high standards would never be included in her bookmark list. Today, this same filtering of educational resources can take place through your personal learning network (PLN) and the sharing of such resources can be expedited through the micro-blogging action of Twitter. In fact, in its most basic form, with its concise 140 character message (or “tweet”) limit, Twitter might be considered as one of today’s main bookmark-sharing mechanisms.
Today I want to make readers aware of a remarkable tool. Abut one year ago, Andy McKiel (K-12 Coordinator of Curriculum for the St. James-Assiniboia School Division) investigated the paper.li web application and created “The Manitoba-Educators Daily“. This web-based “newspaper” is a compilation of the daily “tweets” (Twitter messages) that have been shared by various Manitoba educators.
This educational resource is an easy entry tool. For example, you don’t need to own an iPhone or smart-phone on which to receive tweets; nor do you even need a Twitter account. Even though you may not be part of an active personal learning network (PLN), you can still “leverage your learning” by following up on information and resources shared by some of the most innovative, technology-using, educators throughout the province of Manitoba.
For example, when you point your computer browser to:
http://paper.li/amckiel/manitoba-educators
a daily “newspaper”, similar to the one at right, will be displayed. Readers are encouraged to click on this image so as to better view the details in a magnified format. [Click on this image for a magnified view.]
In the top left corner, the date of the compilation is displayed together with the “Archives” icon. When one clicks on the “Archives” link, the reader is presented with a calendar, from which one may click on any day and retrieve the tweets and information shared by Manitoba educators on that specific date.
Our current image, is dated October 20, 2011 and, if possible, readers are encouraged to visit “The Manitoba-Educators Daily” and click on this date under the “Archives” link, so as to be able to better investigate the capabilities of this educational tool.
Let’s begin by exploring the components of a story. In the bottom left-hand corner of each “news” item is an icon or gravatar, together with the name or “handle” of the Manitoba educator who shared this item. If one was to explore the wiki “Manitoba Teachers Who Tweet“, s/he would learn that Clarence Fisher (aka “glassbeed” to his Twitter colleagues) is a Grade 7/8 teacher from Snow Lake, Manitoba. 
Furthermore, when one moves the mouse over the gravatar icon, s/he will see the actual tweet (shown at the right) that Clarence shared, together with a shortened URL address and link to the actual CBC story of the mine disaster. From Clarence’s initial tweet, the “paper.li” web application creates the active title link “Manitoba mine worker dies in accident – Manitoba” and displays the introductory sentences from the actual web article. Clicking on this active title link takes one to the actual CBC web page where the entire resource can be investigated. Actual Twitter account holders can initiate commands such as “Reply” or “Retweet” right from the initial tweet display image.
When viewing ”The Manitoba-Educators Daily” newspaper, I prefer to click on the “See all articles” link displayed at the right edge of the black separator bar. From this list, I can quickly scan all the articles, and link to the actual sources of interest.
I would encourage readers to explore this innovative resource on a regular basis and if you feel that you want to be kept informed daily, one can click on the “Subscribe” button (under “Andy McKiel’s’ gravatar near the top right-hand edge of the main page), provide an email address, and have the wealth of resources shared by Manitoba educators emailed to you daily.
Although I have highlighted Andy McKiel’s newspaper creation, I suggest that educators further investigate the data compilation that the “paper.li” application can provide. For example, if one points his/her browser to the Liechtenstein domain name of: http://paper.li, one can browse this “newspaper” resource. For example, if one enters the name “Darren Kuropatwa” (aka Manitoba’s educational “blog-father”) in the “people” portion of the search tool, followed by a click on Darren’s gravatar, one will find that Darren is the creator of the following, well-viewed, newspapers:
Furthermore, educators might wish to investigate the list of other potential “paper.li” newspapers by searching the “papers” portion of the search tool on the main page. One can just select the “papers” option and review all the papers under their language of choice or search for items such as “kindergarten”, “technology”, “ADHD”, “photography”, “iPad”, or “education”.
Lastly, if you should acquire a Twitter account and begin sharing tweets, send a direct message to Andy McKiel. If he can validate, from your Twitter profile, that you are a Manitoba educator, he will add your contributions to the The Manitoba-Educators Daily“, so that we can all share and learn from one another.
Take care & keep smiling 
Philosophy" to @
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