To be successful today and into the future we all KNOW everyone needs 21st century skills. But why? What concrete examples lead me to believe “my” job needs global awareness? Financial literacy? Why do I need communication and collaboration skills as a janitor? What is the purpose of learning creativity and innovation skills when all I do is answer the phone?

So my question to you is: Why should a <insert title here> have to acquire 21st century skills?

Titles may include: Custodian, Grounds Keeper, Secretary, Programmer, Videographer, Helpdesk Support, Program Coordinators, Directors, Therapists, Technicians, etc.

To me, it is not a matter of title but a way of thinking. We can move from convergent thinking to divergent thinking about the everyday way we do our job. With knowledge of 21st century skills we can think of different more effective ways to do our jobs in a manner suitable for this generation.

Image by http://www.flickr.com/people/jakecaptive/
Used under direction of Creative Commons Licensing.

Here are a couple of articles a colleague (Mrs. Coover) shared with me yesterday. Will be fun to look back in 20 years and say, “I remember when…”

• Technology that became obsolete within my lifetime
• 10 obsolete technologies to kill in 2010

I had the opportunity to showcase Animation-ish to our ESU Learning Web teams. This is a wonderful piece of software that can be used in any curricular area. Kids will have so much fun with it you won’t be able to pull them away from the computer! Here is a link to the website I used as an outline: http://jasone.me/animation

I am trying out a new URL shortner from YOURLS.org. It was easy to set up and configure. I like the idea of using it for workshop material, mobile phone links I use a lot, and more.

For example, I am working on a presentation for Animation-ish tomorrow and so created the link http://JasonE.me/animation. Or how about some mobile phone addresses: http://JasonE.me/m for my mail and http://JasonE.me/w for Kearney weather. It also has a handy little WordPress plug-in that allows you to publish a short URL to posts to Twitter.

I can’t wait to find new and fun ways to use this new tool.

You can use Google Docs Viewer to display PDFs, PowerPoints, or TIFF files in an online viewer so your audience does not have to download the file and have a third party view to display your files. You only need to put your files in an accessible place on the Internet. Once you have the URL for your file, visit https://docs.google.com/viewer to generate the code you need.  Here is an example of a PDF I have created.

View Podcast Planning Table

Some great blogs people suggested when I asked on Twitter and Facebook:

• http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/
• http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/
• http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
• http://www.twitter.com/ Follow: Steven Anderson @web20classroom or Richard Byrne @rmbyrne
• http://fischbowl.com/

I also have some that I use in my WordPress workshop. You can find them here:

• http://blog.esu10.org/wordpress/training/blogging-resources/

Please share others!

This is a series of articles on how and which technologies you might use to support the eight individual intelligences as defined in Dr. Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Here is a sequential outline of the articles:

•  Introduction
• Word Smart (linguistic intelligence)
• Number Smart (logical-mathematical intelligence)
• Picture Smart (spatial intelligence)
• Body Smart (kinesthetic intelligence)
• Music Smart (musical intelligence)
• People Smart (interpersonal intelligence)
• Self Smart (intrapersonal intelligence)
• Nature Smart (naturalistic intelligence)

Your comments, thoughts and ideas are encouraged! Thank you – Jason

Just wanted to share highlights from a recent Edutopia newsletter titled “How to Bring Outdoor Education to Your Class.” You can find the online version here.

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Take a Hike: How to Make Being Outdoors In

As gaming devices supplant games of catch, schools counter nature-deficit disorder with outdoor experiences.

by Susan Brenna

Though his parents once lived in the countryside in Mexico, Juan Martinez grew up in crowded Los Angeles, barely noticing the earth and sky that was masked by the concrete and smog. Six years ago, when Martinez was fifteen, his science teacher proposed he earn extra credit and raise his failing grade by joining the school’s ecology club. He found he liked working in the school garden, which led to a trip to the Teton Science Schools, in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. It changed his life.

More at Take a Hike: How to Make Being Outdoors In | Edutopia.

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It’s All Happening at the Zoo School: Innovative Education with Practical Applications

At Minneapolis’s School of Environmental Studies, learning is about becoming an expert and solving real problems.

by Diane Curtis

When Mark LaCroix and his classmates at Minnesota’s School of Environmental Studies (SES) discovered patches of buckthorn crowding out native species at a local park, they didn’t just write up their findings as a science report to be read by the teacher and then handed back. They compiled data in a form familiar to government agencies and submitted a technical report to local officials, who used the information to direct park gardeners to eradicate the invasive plant.

More at It’s All Happening at the Zoo School: Innovative Education with Practical Applications | Edutopia.

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Five Tips for Introducing Outdoor Education to Your Class

Follow these easy-to-implement suggestions about how to go outside with learning.

by Andrea Mills

This how-to article accompanies the feature “Early-Childhood Education Takes to the Outdoors.”

Here are five ways to adopt the ideas behind the Waldkindergarten concept:

1. 1. Partner with a Local Nature Center
   2. Connect with a Natural-Education Initiative
   3. Network with Other Professionals
   4. Bring the Forest to Campus
   5. Gear Up

via Five Tips for Introducing Outdoor Education to Your Class | Edutopia.

With the advent of the ESU 10 facility expansion, the need for a kiosk to help guide visitors to their destination was apparent. Four key spots were identified to locate these new welcome centers. One at each east entrance, one in the hallway connecting the two wings, and one at the entrance of the north conference room entrance.

Initially, the electronic welcome centers will have a color map of the building and daily workshop/meeting information to direct our visitors.

There has been much talk about what version 2 (and beyond) of the Welcome Centers could offer. The more they get used and as more potential is envisioned, we will update these devices and hopefully make the experience for our visitors more inviting and pleasurable.

After reading “There’s silver lining to Google’s cloud computing glitch” by John Naughton, I pondered the following quote:

Andy Grove, then the CEO of Intel, said in 1999, “In five years, companies that are not internet companies won’t be companies at all.” He was widely ridiculed at the time. But in fact he was very perceptive. What he meant was that we were entering a period when internet access would become like electricity supply: very few companies generate electricity, but all companies use – and rely on - it.

More and more great services are available “in the cloud” but they require Internet access. This makes me thing about the “Internet OS.” What is next in providing access to all of these resources? Google Gears is a next step but only a stepping stone in my eyes. Operating Systems are going to take on a whole new dynamic in the future and it will be based on cloud computing. What are your thoughts?