A Day In The Life of 2.0

This posting was inspired by Joyce Valenza’s School Library Journal article titled “My 2.0 day and the response/rant about our cover argument” from October 15, 2009. Have you reflected on your digital 2.0 life and how it has transformed over the past couple years? What does your digital daily routine look like professionally (or personally)? How many times a day do you have to type in a user name and password? How many different user names and passwords do you manage? It is really quite interesting to list how the digital world impacts my daily routine.

First thing in the morning I check all four of my email accounts – two personal and two educational accounts. Are four email accounts too many? Once I arrive at school the 2.0 life really begins. I check in behind the scenes with the school blog, Technology Learning @Camilla. Are there new comments posted that required an administrative reply? From there I login to my professional Delicious account so that my laptop is ready to use the Delicious quick launch buttons in my browser.
On any given school day, I will login to most, if not all the following digital tools:
• Blogger
• Discovery Streaming
• LearnAlberta
• Promethean Planet
• VoiceThread
• Slideshare
• Podomatic or Podbeam
• Wikispaces

Throughout the day there are numerous web 2.0 tools, Internet resources and digital applications that are part of the regular technology landscape in my classrooms:
• Google Earth
• Wordle
• Audacity
• Photo Story 3

After the school day is finished and I have arrived home, I quickly boot up the laptops. It is now time to manage more digital accounts at home. Some of these applications are simply for personal use, some are an extension of my professional day that can only be managed at home.
• Teching Around with Web 2.0 Personal Blog
• Twitter
• Google Reader
• Google Docs
• Shelfari
• Skype
• Flickr
• Picasa
• ZoHo Notebook

How many Ning’s are too many Ning’s? It is not enough to belong to one educational Ning these days. Each time I read about the creation of a new Ning on Twitter, I suddenly find myself joining the community. I tend to follow some of my favourite Twitter colleagues into new social communities because I don’t want to miss out of the amazing discussions, resources, and sharing. Although I belong to a handful of social networks, I regularly manage four social networks:
• The Educator’s PLN
• Canadian 21st Century Teacher-Librarians
• Classroom 2.0
• Stenhouse Publishers


I have over forty web accounts, and that number is somewhat underestimated as there are many more web 2.0 accounts that I used and have forgotten to type up on my master list.

My day is digitally busy. The rapid growth of emerging technologies will continue to keep my 2.0 life in a state of typing in user names and passwords.

Is life now one big login?

My Personal Learning Network

Building my own personal learning network (PLN) has been professionally rewarding. Next to my graduate studies, my dedication to developing my PLN has been an invaluable investment. Connecting with technology professionals, educational experts and creative individuals through such networks as:
Twitter
EdTech Talk
Classroom 2.0
The Future of Education
Canadian 21st Century Teacher-Librarians

The opportunities to connect locally, provincially, nationally and globally 24/7 have open up dialogue for critical thinking conversations on a variety of educational topics to support my professional learning, which in turns allows new knowledge to be woven into my instructional practices. My PLN provides daily support, gives answers, asks questions, and shares resources.

Look beyond your classroom, your school, your district…there is a global PLN out there ready to
Connect, Communicate, Converse

"You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes."
~Winnie the Pooh