Viral Professional Development: June 2 - 22, 2008

Deirdere,

Thanks for starting this topic. It sounds like an interesting wiki. Is it public or private? Would you mind sharing it with me.

For the past couple of years I've created wikis to go along with presentations that I give so that attendees can access the resources that I mention later.

I have a couple of examples of VPD that I'll share. First, a number of years ago, while working on a degree in journalism I become a section editor for my university's newspaper. When I started I hadn't yet taken the graphics course where we learned desktop publishing, so I learned on the job from my fellow editors (one in particular). I then passed that knowledge on to not only future editors, but also classmates when I eventually took that graphics course.

The second example is when I went to work at my current job. My colleague in the next office and I regularly ask each other questions about needed solutions to problems (design issues, what technology may help, etc.) I share that knowledge with instructors that I work with and colleagues at other institutions through e-mail, blogging and Twitter.

I learned far more in these two examples than I ever have attending a conference or workshop.

Hi Deirdre,

I've just been spending a lot of time preparing tutorial videos for wetpaint

I've put them on my YouTube channel at: http://youtube.com/NikPeachey

Please feel free to use them.

There are also some postings about using wetpaint on my blog, but I'm not sure how relevant they will be for your context.

Best
Nik Peachey
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/

Folks, I feel like the kid in the candy store because I love WetPaint wikis. They have a to-do-list, a profile page, discussion threads on every page, a calendar, photo galleries and widget capabilities. It does have a moderately ok editor which is better than the not reasonable editor I've dealt with on other wikis. Here is my newest site that I'm hoping will generate lots of material at the conference:

 http://distributedmedicaleducation.wetpaint.com/

This group is an excellent example of VPD!
My most recent example involved the Flip cameras. I blogged about it here. Since I made that blog post, another instructor tested the camera, wrote an lengthy review and passed it on to his Dean. That dean passed it on to another dean who passed it to more instructors. It's almost out of control. I tried to go buy a camera today and the local Best Buy was sold out.

While some people here are speaking about VPD, I am wondering about the resources we have right here. Many of us have similar professional and personal interests, and as such it smells like (to use a different metaphor than the "it looks like" that I normally use) a community of practice or VPD grouping right here.

I suppose with all of us reading these posts and the resources we have / use with others, I am wondering if there is a simpler way of capturing this than we are doing right now.

For example, when I find somebody with something interesting, I tend to then subscribe to the blog rss or Twitter feed (which I have done to and with a number of you here), though this can be a tedious process. 

I recently participated in the Connected Futures workshop through CPSquare, and this same issue came up there without a fully satisfying solution.

Jeffrey
http://silenceandvoice.com/
http://twitter.com/JeffreyKeefer

Here is my example of VPD today. I have been asked this question by only one other instructor before but I love this question. I was asked to come over to the Gig Harbor campus of TCC to work with some teachers on Blackboard. There were only a couple of us so I threw away the agenda and asked "what do you need to know?" and we went from there. When we were done, one of them asked "what don't I already know that would be cool for me to know about?" that is the exact words. The previous instructor said "cool tool" or something like that. But there was a thirst to be involved, a real curiosity about what people were doing and how technology was solving problems. This instructor asked me to come over and made sure that others were there too. They are passing on what they learned to others there. We had the time and pace so they could learn a lot on their own and they did.

Greetings from Thunder Bay, Ontario! I'm on a travelling conference that started in Sudbury, then spent two days travelling by bus to Thunder Bay, stopping off to visit exempary medical clinics along the way. If that concept isn't viral enough, imagine thirty people from every continent who get on a bus at 6:00AM and play musical chairs until 10PM for two days. Imagine the intensity of the conversations. Imagine all the cards being exchanged. Imagine stopping at small communities for lunch and dinner with the mayor or chief and other community members. This is the best conference ever!