The Importance of Connectivity

I'll start this week off by discussing the major change in my daily life: my move to Philadelphia. Despite the heat, the move went very well. Amy and I got everything in to the new place in just over two days - we felt like that was good time. However, it was not until after we were all moved in that I began to realize the importance of connectivity.

It is no secret that the internet has been an integral part of my life, especially my adult life. Sometimes, I realize now, that I take the ability to connect, create, and work with others through the touch of a button for granted, big time. That was never more apparent to me until this weekend, when Amy and I had NO INTERNET! I had forgotten what it was like to have to wait to talk to friends, get updates, and even get work done. It is amazing how important the role that the internet plays in my daily life, and, it got me thinking about the future. Scary thoughts!

Not only was the lack of the internet an interesting update this week, but I also have made major break throughs with our Siberian contact, Ekat. I heard from her on Monday morning; she is going to evaluate our Digital Stories AND possibly skype with our class on June 17th. This was a major breakthrough as far as I was concerned. It really is amazing how connected the world educators can be. This was an amazing break through for me. I hope am really hoping that we all get to experience working with and talking to educators from Siberia!! I will keep you posted on how it goes!!

One more note about connectivity: this whole idea of Video Conferencing is completely new to me and I could not be more interested in it. I have been researching different tools to maximize the overall outcome of a technologically induced video conference, and the three best tools that I have found so far are skype, tokbox, and oovoo. I suggest you check out all three, they all have different positives and negatives. Well, on second thought, isn't the point of technology to make things easier? Maybe I will post a video comparison of the three for next week.

Until then.... do svidaniya? Peace!