Just thought I'd take a moment to let friends know that major changes are looming on my horizon. After nearly ten years working at the University of Chicago in various capacities, I'm leaving to start my own full-time consultancy. Working at the University of Chicago has been a privilege, and I have learned so much during my years at Lab, UEI and most recently, CEMSE. I'm excited professionally and personally for all the adventures that await me and my family!
It's time to now apply my knowledge and experience in new ways and am looking forward to a variety of projects that will let me follow my education passions and at the same time, stay in touch with my current colleagues. I will be continuing to work with CEMSE on various projects, mostly involving the infusion of technology into a science curriculum. Hopefully, I will be working more directly with teachers and students overall, and I particularly want to focus on helping schools figure out the many pieces of the 21st century skills puzzle. I also plan on developing my interest in helping kids and teachers learn to search more effectively, and want to pursue my growing fascination with all things related to iPhones, iPods and iPads. So many avenues to pursue, so little time!
This summer looks to be a busy one as I jump into this work. First stop will at ISTE 2010 in Denver, which promises to be a whirlwind of activity as usual, and then a trip to visit Judy Beaver's Summer Lab program at the fabled Punahou School in Hawaii, followed by a probable trip to the Building Learning Communities in Boston. Later in the fall, I'll be a featured speaker at Connecticut's ed tech conference, CECA.
Specific projects so far include consulting working for Tiger Logic, a company that produces a very cool search technology called yolink. I'm very excited about this opportunity as I really like the product and the yolink team. yolink really scaffolds search for people and I especially like how search results can be exported to email, Google Docs, Evernote, and Diigo, to name a few tools. It's exciting to be helping a company with this innovative product, and I wouldn't be involved with this kind of venture if I didn't wholeheartedly believe in it. Stay tuned for a lot more about yolink and its role in education!
Additionally, I'm starting to blog at the O'Reilly Radar along with several really smart people who also want to see education evolve. One of these people is journalist Elizabeth Corcoran, who has a vision for helping educators better leverage technology in classrooms. As her project grows, I'll be serving as an adviser.
Finally, a third leg of my work will involve partnering with the incomparable Steve Hargadon to co-chair an online global education conference, a nice complement my work in the Global Education Collaborative. Details are in the works, and it promises to be a synergistic event that will take place sometime in November. Again, stay tuned for details.
So that's my story... thanks again to everyone who has supported me along this journey! I can't wait for things to come!
