Who Else is Out There?

The other day, I was talking with a psychotherapist friend of mine, and our conversation lead to talking about how our jobs were the same, and how they were different (I’m a teacher, btw… in case you forgot).

We eventually got around to discussing how each of us keep up with our professional learning and how we stay up to date with the latest research and “best practice.” We found we both read books and papers, and attended conferences (though he less than me). The main difference we found was that he didn’t do what I’m doing right now: anything that had the slightest whiff of “Web 2.0″ or even collaboration. I found this fascinating. He admitted there were the occasional webinars for his profession to be found, but for the most part, his profession was, as he put it, “a pretty lonely and isolated occupation.”

Now clearly psychotherapists cannot have absolute transparency when writing about daily findings or needs, due to patient confidentiality, but the same is true with teachers: we must keep our students anonymous when we blog about the learning we’re doing in our profession, or reflecting on new practices.

His profession, I was happy to hear, has “Listservs” that other psychotherapists could join and share in conversation, but he admitted that it was mostly a means to receive information than gather it, rather than open it up to dialogue.

I’ve often thought about this before: What other professions are using the transparent “Web 2.0″ tools to grow new connections, work together in teams, set up wikis, blogs, webinars, or online conferences? Until I became an “iphoneographer,” I wasn’t even aware of another group sharing their work, tutorials and reviews of practice with others. I’m sure they exist, but I’ve yet to be a part of an “iphoneographer webinar.” They seem rare, whereas I could easily find more webinars than I could attend on the subject of education on any given day.

So let me ask: Is ours an anomaly? And even in the profession of teaching, are the tools that many of us are using still adopted by the minority more than the majority? Just the other day, I was talking to an amazing teacher friend of mine, and she admitted that no matter how much she has wanted to learn the tools, she’s still a bit afraid of them. I’ve been trying to encourage her to join up with some online groups for about 10 years. She’s an outstanding teacher and would have so much to share with the rest of the global community. She’s not alone; I still find myself having to explain what the acronym “PLN” means to other teachers.

When I was a kid (and I have no idea why we were even drawn to this), but my brothers and I had a CB radio installed in our kitchen. We all had “handles” (you know, “fake names”—mine was Scorpio) and each of us had made many of our own “online” friends when it was our turn for the handset. It was very safe, because the rule was that one on my parents had to be in the room for us to be able to get on the wireless (wow… come to think of it, my parents were teaching me safe Internet skills way back in the 70s, before we even knew there was an Internet). The only people I remember connecting with were truckers and other “geeks” like me and my brothers. It was a pretty lonely and empty practice as we called out “Breaker 1-9″ into the void.

I can’t believe that educators are the primary users of these collaborative tools. But are we? Are we living in a “bubble” where other professions are still living in “lonely and isolated” occupations where they have little time or knowledge of how to collaborate, share, and work with transparency due to the amazing tools we now live with?

Would you help me out? Would you ask around and see what other professions are using these tools to grow their learning and professions? Are there webinars for plumbers? Are doctors listening to podcasts on their way to work? Do bankers rely on Twitter to help steer and plan their day?

Thank you for helping to carry out this “informal research.” Just add what you find to the comments below. Much thanks in advance!

 

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11 Responses to Who Else is Out There?

  1. Kristin Tarnas says:

    Hello Bob-
    Is it my imagination or is the Seedlings podcast no longer active? I so enjoyed listening to you folks, it was my absolute favorite podcast. If I just need to update the link that would be great! Otherwise, I hope you folks are just taking a hiatus…
    Mahalo, Kristin

    P.S. I do enjoy your photos and your blog!

  2. Lee-Anne says:

    Hi Bob, you’ve just given me a great idea for the Social media unit I’ll be teaching soon. Instead of my students finding the usually “Facebook fiasco” article I’m going to get the to investigate how different industries use social media to build connections.

    I’ll let you know what they turn up - but it’ll be in a couple of months.

  3. Bob Sprankle says:

    Kristin,

    We are currently in plans to bring a new season soon (lawyers are just finishing up some contracts), so hang in there and thanks so much for your feedback!

    Bob, Cheryl, Alice

  4. Bob Sprankle says:

    Lee-Anne,

    AWESOME! Would love to chat with you more about this and can’t wait to see the results!

    B

  5. Mike Jackson says:

    As a retired Headteacher here in the UK I believe you are right when you say that even in our profession many of the technological tools available are still adopted by the minority rather than the majority?
    Whenever I talked to my colleagues about the many great sites there are around the world that we should be collaborating with I could see the fear come into their eyes. They often used the excuse of lack of time as their reason for not finding out more. It often worried me that we found it so difficult to win over the leaders of our schools. Would their lack of enthusiasm impact on their teachers?

  6. Wesley Fryer says:

    I know there are lots of web designers using social media like blogs to stay up on current trends, tools and resources! I’m not sure about other professions, however. I think it’s a good question and look forward to reading what others find. I’ll ask around too.

    Your CB radio story reminded me of my past experiences with CB radio. I vividly remember being in 2nd or 3rd grade, and having a hand-held walkie talkie that could receive as well as broadcast on CB channels. I went to the end of our street near the “loop” which goes around Lubbock, and picked up on some channel 19 trucker traffic. I talked to one of the truckers, and for some bizarre reason (I have no idea why) I asked him to come over to our house for a beer.

    Now, I don’t even know if he actually received that transmission. At that point I turned off my CB walkie-talkie and rode my bike as fast as I could to our house, terrified, and I told my mom what I’d done. She first asked me if I’d told the trucker where we lived, and I hadn’t… so we weren’t in any imminent danger of an 18 wheeler pulling up out front with a trucker expecting a free beer. I vividly remember that moment, however, and it’s funny to think of now.

    Oh, how far we’ve come from our CB days… I don’t even remember what my ‘handle’ was. I’m seeing my folks this weekend tho, so I’m going to share this story and see if my parents remember my handle. Fun memories!

  7. Bob Sprankle says:

    Great story, Wes! Thanks for sharing!

    Bob

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  9. Rachael says:

    I work with both education and help desk software management and what I have noticed in working with clients is that there are far more educators out there connecting with each other than even IT professionals. This shocked me when I first started; who would be more connected in the interwebs than IT guys? But what I’ve found is that although almost any profession has at least some presence out there (albeit exceedingly small in most cases), the education field has one of the largest and most active online communities around. Keep connecting, teachers!

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