VSS revs up the call to bridge the gaps!

Susan Patrick begins the morning by highlighting international efforts to improve access to education around the world. The gist is that the US is falling behind because of the speed with which other countries are moving toward better access and systemwide professional development in elearning. Susan challenges us to keep focusing on providing a world class education to all kids. In one example, the state of Georgia, there are over 400 high schools and only 88 qualified physics teachers. How else can the US provide quality education to our students without implementing blended and virtual education? Follow @desertjul on Twitter this morning to see some of the related resources from this moment at NACOL's VSS!

Google Sites and Notebook Webinar Tonight, NMSU Families Webinar Tomorrow

Find out more about these free webinars at http://webinars.nmsu.edu.

Fabulous Friday Following

Just a few things for you to look out for on this Friday, October 10...I'll try to help you see the forest through the trees.

MoodleMoot New Zealand 2008 just ended, but you can stream some very fresh information reported on twitter nicely via hashtag #mmnz08 (ie: what's up with Moodle 2.0, what Martin Dougiamas recommends Moodle communities should invest in, issues involving students identity management, etc). It's worth a moment of your Friday time, especially if you are a Moodle administrator. If you get especially curious and want to go more indepth, follow my shared Moodle feeds here to see aggregated Moodle tweets from throughout Twitter alongside recent blog posts by attendees.

The Twitter 20 is an effort by Jay Baer to conduct real time, '20 question' interviews of 20 influential Twitter stars. It happens this morning, follow it live, if you dare ;-). I think this would be interesting for those of us who are looking at educational possibilities of microblogging or uses of twitter for learning. I love how the format is presented...

140 character questions (x20).
140 character answers.
In real-time.
On Twitter.

I'll be with Melody and Kerry as we try to persuade folks at the Community College Roundup to try out Everybody's Business. We look forward to expanding users across campuses to widen the institutional knowledge community.

I realize these are all random weak-tie-style connections to Moodle, Twitter and Higher Ed Social Networking... maybe you'll find something here for you. If not, stay tuned. Next week I will be with some amazing colleagues at the New Mexico Technology in Education Conference and chatting up all sorts of things from Moodle to Adobe Connect to Professional Development Ecosystems to Web 2.0. And yes, there will mobile blogging and probably even a Twitter hashtag, #NMTIE08? any other suggestions?

Have an amazing-super-fabulous-glimmering Friday!

Give one XO to a child in a developing country, Get one for a child in your own life

I have not once regretted following Julz lead and participating in the G1G1 of 07, and I've been delighted with my daughter's XO. This Sugar Linux machine has been designed for children to practice and develop/program their own technology adventures. Since our XO came in January, many people have asked how to get one of these machines...and now you can!

Amazon will handle the Give one, Get one program this year, still at the amazingly bargain price of $399. So check it out, and consider connecting a young person in your life with 'gen XO' kids around the world.