However, one little insight often makes the whole subject a lot more interesting. For example …

Did you know that when Romeo and Juliet first meet, they play a word game together? They take turns making up a sonnet. This is a game like charades (come on, that’s fun, isn’t it?), and it used to be as common. Having the advantage of prior scripting makes their sonnet better than most, of course. But, still.  Have a look -

(Quick primer: sonnets are 14 lines in “iambec pentameter” – which just means up-down 5 times – with some rhyming rules, as you’ll see)

Romeo:
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

[that's the first verse - Juliet knows she needs to add the next]

Juliet:
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.”

Romeo:
Have not saints lips?

Juliet:
Aye, lips that they must use in prayer!

Romeo:
Then grant, I pray, lest hope turn to despair!

Juliet:
Saints do not move, but grant, for prayer’s sake

[Romeo kisses Juliet (of course - she just said he could!)]

Romeo:
And thus my lips, from sin, by thine are purged.

Juliet:
Then have my lips the sin that they have took?

Romeo:

Oh, sweet tresspass, sweetly urged!
Give me my sin again.

[he kisses her again - she kind of asked him to!]

Juliet:
You kiss – by the book!

See? Can’t beat the Bard. Hey – did I just get you to read a sonnet?

By the way, that scene was from memory, so apologies if I got anything wrong … from “that’s pathetic” to “that’s *so* cool that I know it by heart”- that’s what we all want in our classes, right?

I still hate MacBeth, though

People sometimes look at me strangely when I suggest it. You post messages saying what you’re doing right now: that might not rock your socks. But as with any conversation, you just have to find the right people …

Imagine that one day you come across a whole lot of people, milling around in groups, chatting. They’re talking to people with similar interests – project management, say, or civil engineering, or knitting. And they’re sharing whatever interests them – social news, if it’s that kind of group, or the latest research, or technologies. You don’t have to stay very long – most people wander in for a while, then go away again, and wander back later.

The groups aren’t fixed at all – most people are listening in to different sorts of people: they might be part of a big group of educators, for example, but also following a few people who’re into photography, an old friend from high school who’s now a fishing guide in Minsk, and a researcher from Peru that they’re collaborating with. There are many other conversations going on, but they’re only tuning in to the ones that interest them.

This is the power of Twitter. It lets you connect with people who’re talking about the things you’re interested in. It’s also in very short bites – max 140 characters – so the conversation can’t get hijacked by the bore from the 3rd floor. And if it does, you can simply stop listening to him.

Some real-life examples of how I use twitter: I follow people who “tweet” about the latest educational technology. I follow a research librarian who asks for questions when she’s on the desk (thanks ailie!). And I asked the twitterverse for ideas for a web 2.0 presentation, and got some excellent suggestions. Alex Courosa recently used twitter “live” in class to ask for thoughts on online bullying – it was a real eye-opener to his students that so many people are out there; and demonstrated to them that the web really is a public place.

As with any group, it’s good to find a friend to introduce you. But if you don’t know anyone, search for terms you’re interested in – ‘molecular biology’ for example – to find people who are talking about that. Check out their posts, and if they seem to be saying interesting stuff, follow them. And check out the people that they follow, too (look for the photos on the right hand side of the page). If you’re into education technology, you could check out my network at www.twitter.com/onekim.

It pays to follow a bunch of people – those “in the know” suggest about 150. Less than that, you don’t get as good information, apparently. I’m happy with my current group of 65, though.

Twitter’s not a place for drawn-out conversations: it’s about small bites of information, and brief public exchanges. Don’t use it as an instant messenger – that’s what MSN is for. Share stuff that will be of interest to the people you’re following. And, above all, use it as a tool to connect with people in your field.

There are several firefox extensions you can use instead of twitter’s website, but the website works fine too. There’s some migration to similar tools in plurk, friendfeed and
facebook at the moment, because twitter’s getting big, fast, and having trouble coping. But I think twitter’s still the place to start – for now, it’s still the leader of the pack.

As always, to learn more, google “twitter”.

Enjoy!

This is a group of IT lecturers and tutors from polytechs and some universities around New Zealand. The papers tend to be about education, education technology, and teaching technologies, although it’s also a forum for applied IT research – because that’s what polytechs do – and people present software concepts they’re developing. They’re a friendly group, and a great way to meet collaborators.

Favourite presentation so far: actually, my boss! Steve Corich’s presentation on teaching multiple generations – baby boomers, gen X and gen Y. I was Steve’s example for Gen X; it’s a fairly good description of my attitudes, but there’s nothing like being psycho-analysed by your boss in front of 50 conference attendees

Steve’s main message: don’t put people in boxes – these are just trends, but knowing them can help us; and don’t teach to Gen Y – in NZ they’re only predicted to be about 50% of tertiary students this decade. Instead, incorporate methods for all 3 groups.

Add that to Neil Commins’ & Kay Feldon’s presentation on learning styles in the Introduction to Business course at Unitec, which I teach next semester at EIT, and I have lots of food for thought.

This would be a great way to explain concepts to students – simply link to the page or embed the video.

First up: del.icio.us.

Yes, it has a funny name. But bear with me … it’s awesome.

What it is: It’s called a “social bookmarking” site. When you’re surfing the internet, and want to go back to a page, you probably save it to your Favorites or Bookmarks, right? Instead you can save it to del.icio.us, which is online, not on your computer. You can then access it on any computer – I’m constantly coming across things at home for work, and vice versa.

That’s handy, but what’s even cooler is that you can share your bookmarks with others (you can also choose to keep it private). So my friends can see what I’m reading.

Why this is great for educators:

1. When you find a site that would be useful for your students you can bookmark it. You can tell them how to get to your bookmarks (to see mine, go to http://del.icio.us/1kim), or you can put a link to your bookmarks on a web page (including your online learning system or blog).

A neat way to display your bookmarks to your students or readers is to display your bookmarks or tags on the website itself, rather than just link to them (to see what I mean, check out the “What I’m reading” section in the sidebar, which is a selection of my del.icio.us bookmarks).

2. Use the bookmarks for research – my o my!

When you find a blogger in your area of interest, check out their del.icio.us bookmarks. You can also see who else has bookmarked the page, then look at their bookmarks, and so on, and so on (I’ve circled this bit in the screenshot above).

You can also search from the del.icio.us website, say on “edutech” and follow the trail from there. Instead of doing a basic google search, you’re limiting your search to sites that people already think are useful. Cool, eh?

I absolutely recommend that you check it out. I can’t believe how many useful sites I found in one day using this – it would previously have taken me days to find this much reasearch. It’s wonderful. Of course, it can get addictive, so you have to know when to cut off.

Here’s some more information that you might find useful:

• A simple explanation of del.icio.us and how you can use it in higher education at eduGuru
• Top 10 ways to use del.icio.us (the top few are a bit techie, but keep reading).
• Check out the edublogger for easy-to-follow explanations of why and how to use common online tools.
• There’s heaps of cool del.icio.us apps and ideas at Lifehacker or Quick Online Tips.