Collaboration is the way forward

I love the new way that I work. I used to sit, thinking of ideas, occasionally bouncing them off of my partner, as she is a teacher too, or seeing what I thought would be good. Those were the old days. It doesn't work like that any more.

In January I have two sessions showing web 2.0 technology. One is my local ICT cluster that I run and the other is a session at a school that was put together because I was asked to come in and inspire the staff.
Now, web 2.0 covers a lot of areas and the cluster meeting is only around an hour long! This left me with a huge dilemma. What do I cover? Do I briefly show lots of things? Or really delve into Primarypad (was Etherpad) and blogging? But what about Wallwisher? Twitter? Go Animate?
I knew what to do, I asked my PLN (Personal Learning Network) for some help. I created a Primary pad (http://mraddison.primarypad.com/2) and started coming up with ideas. I then sent a link out on Twitter and within seconds, I had the help of 3 other teachers who were keen to share their ideas.

Unfortunately, they had so many ideas that instead of trimming mine down to a manageable hour, I have been inundated with other things to try! MyEBook is a particular favourite that was suggested. I think Delicious will have the biggest impact long term on the way that they share and work as a school, but for a quick win that they can use the next day in class, I think Wordle or Primary pad will be a good start. Showing Blogging/Google Reader will help them to develop until I see them again in later sessions.

I know that the sessions will be fantastic and should really capture the attention and imagination of the teachers there and for that I have to thank Twitter and my PLN.

Thanks to @icklekid, @colport, and @primarypete_ for their help and ideas!
Oh and @johnmclear for his work on Primary Pad