The TWAIN blog

President Obama’s website Change.gov is now Whitehouse.gov. I am following their posts on Twitter and they posted this video link to share how their TIGR team is working to make government more transparent.

Interesting to hear them say they are working to make the federal agencies “more effective”.

What’s even more interesting? They are allowing people to post comments that are both positive and negative about their services. They are taking recommendations. They are making the entire process…more effective.

Web 2.0 tools greatly emphasized here!!

Watch, learn, and respond.

I have seen this image before in other places but finally printed it to hang on my wall and start talking about it. I am going to be adding this to other walls in my district and to spark more conversation. Interesting to not only apply this to technology but even to lifestyle. My trainer at the gym may get a copy tonight.

The image is originally from the Biocultural Science & Management blog. Located at: http://13c4.wordpress.com/2007/02/24/50-reasons-not-to-change/

I have been working out for almost a year now at a variation of gyms. In the larger city where I was, I had access to a large chain of gyms. I could throw a rock and hit 3 of them because they were on almost every corner. Now, I use two local gyms in the town where I live. I play racquetball at one and I have a weight trainer at the other. A nice variation is helpful.

But still, I can’t get a grip on handling calories and keeping data about my exercise routines. Heck, I have enough trouble remembering to drink a glass of water ever 90 minutes. I finally realized I should incorporate the technology tools I am in contact with daily to use for my health program. I have an iPhone for chrissakes!

So, I found a few and they have helped. Here are the ones that worked for me:

On Twitter, you can follow certain hashtags like #twit2fit and #fitness. These will send posts when someone posts to these channels.

On my iPhone, I use a resource from LIVEStrong but is really a connection to something called The Daily Plate. You can find it for free in the iPhone apps section. I like this tool because I can type in what I ate for a meal and it finds it through a Google-type of search engine. It then calculates my daily caloric intake and lets me know how many calories I have access to at each step in the day. When I exercise, it calculates that figure into how many calories I burned in the workout. Very helpful.

Another site I found today is called Gyminee and it seems like a similar site to Daily Plate. I see that on this one, you can enter your goals as well and it helps you plan on how to reach those goals.

While working out on an Elliptical, I watch iTunes podcasts on everything from the daily news (Anderson Cooper) to Cook’s Illustrated Simple Recipes (for some interesting dietary cooking). These are a nice break from just technology/education podcasts. The Elliptical is my place to break free from work and really focus my mind. Find a place in your gym or workout where you can “break out” as well.

The final help steps out of the digital side and into the real side. You need some real people in your life to nag you about your weight loss. Nagging isn’t the best thing in life; but it may be the best thing for your health.

Drink that water!

The past few days have been a whirlwind and I am glad to finally be home here in Kerrville. I spent last Thursday and Friday in Austin at the TEC-SIG Fall meeting with colleagues in the field. It was great to see so many people out there in the field and to hear the concerns we all share! As someone new to this field, it was a little daunting too because I feel so out of of it in just trying to transition from campus coordination to district director. I am such a NEWB!

I am also someone who is constantly comparing myself to the successes of others and in that crowd, there are some monumental leaders who will always be several steps ahead of the rest of us. Renegades and Mavericks – you know who you are (and if not, I will tell you in person!) and then there are those of us just happy to be following your blogs and to read a note from you on Twitter.

I already posted about the goings on in all these trainings but I just spent 6 hours in my car with the radio off in my own personal development. My own reflexive time to start figuring out how to make this work. And I wish I had a simple answer but I don’t. I have a very hard pill to swallow and much applied learning to put in place.

I know that I am a people-pleaser. Someone who wants to make everyone happy and that means selling out my own soul at times or my own happiness to make something happen. As a campus person who was tied to the teachers, this was easy to do because I felt I was making a martyr of myself and connecting to the teachers. I was scoring points for them so that they would like me more and then that was my “in” to get them to enjoy my training. I knew this as I was doing it. I knew it wasn’t right but it was my method.

Now, I realize in my new role that this won’t work. It hasn’t yet and if it continues it will blow up in my face. I have known this for some time but was fighting it because changing my method is very hard. Why change??

I am also now a supervisor of a group of people that serve the district in their capacity. This is new to me as I have only ever before had 2 assistants who reported to someone else. This is my first supervision role. The idea of making people happy all the time will not work here either.

So, I have to change….everything.

I am freaked out by this realization and rallied by it as well. I finally feel like I have some direction and resources. The Technology Directors Academy was just what I needed. I have been so overwhelmed that I did not even know the questions I needed to ask. It is the same feeling as the first year teacher thrust into a role and learning in the first few weeks that it isn’t like the lessons in college.

I haven’t been at this for more than a few months and I have already felt regret, depression, frustration, lost, ungrounded, self-loathing, and complete distrust in my own abilities – much like the first semester of my first year.

The Academy is something I recommend technology directors take if it is their first year or their 11th. I even recommend that if your instructional technology coordinator is separate from your infrastructure tech coordinator, that the two directors attend this academy together. It is collaborative and so helpful for developing those (BHAGs – Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals) and a plan for uniting the service orientation of our jobs together. I hear how districts have that rift between instructional and infrastructure and the rift that grows year by year between them and this Academy could be a solution for you both. Really! It’s definitely a good start in the right direction.

I am looking forward to days 3-5 of this group. It was great sharing with so many varieties of technology directors at different tables and group games. I hope we continue the conversation on our blogs, wikis, and NING groups. And if any of you are reading this blog would like to add your input, I would love to share it here with the readers as well.

Here is where you can find more information from TCEA about their Technology Coordinator’s Academy: http://www.tcea.org/Training/Pages/TechnologyCoordinatorsAcademy.aspx

And a huge debt of gratitude to our excellent trainers!! Not a moment of boredom or waste in the time we were together. Thank you for sharing so many resources with us and for putting me at ease in developing an action plan!

Kari Rhame from Deer Park ISD

Robert Harris from Highland Park ISD

Lori Gracey from Bastrop ISD

Miguel dropped the glove and asked me to post my comments on what happened at Day 2 of TEC SIG. I honestly did not take many notes on the day because…well….I got caught up in making fun of the situation on Twitter. It happens.

So what happened? Well, that’s hard to figure out. I haven’t been into all the gab on the TEC-SIG listserv. I mainly check it when I get an interesting topic or I post a question about something I would like a response to.

I didn’t know there was this growing debate between TEA and the SIG. So from an outsider’s view like my own it looked like a fight was developing in that session on Friday.

I think I can see both sides of the arguments that took place. Sparing the nitty-gritty, here is what I think:

1) The reps from TEA tried to “school” us in proper netiquette by informing the group that information shared by them is copyrighted and that we should ask permission before posting it online or posting it on our own blog/podcasts.

2) They then told us that they were too busy, understaffed, and unprepared for dealing with the new technologies of Web 2.0. We even heard that often they send out information that is changed by the time it is sent out.

3) Audience members who do podcast and share these resources were seeking clarity on copyright when posting resources sent by TEA (which is a public entity).

My thoughts on this:

1) TEA should really take advantage of the people who are willing to post their information in easily explainable terms. I know that if I have a question on something, I ask TEC-SIG or I read the blogs of others. I rarely visit TEA’s site or ESC-service centers. I can’t find information as easily as on others sites.

2) People who do blog/podcast on their sites should (even as a courtesy) ask for permission to record word for word or to post the slides from a presentation. It is a professional courtesy that I think has fallen to the wayside. I agree that they are a public entity and we should get the information from them to post. But I also think it is a courtesy to inform them in advance that you wish to record them. I do the same for all guest speakers and meetings I wish to record.

TEA should provide a better communication system for distributing information along with some interactivity on their site. I agree. But as they say, they are understaffed as well. It sounds like they need help with this and my question is why can’t TCEA help them? Why can’t we as an association provide the tools to distribute information more than just conference advertising?

The one place I think we should look to for technology information in the state should be linked to TCEA somehow. We keep talking about providing a database of all of our district resources and vendors with small steps heading that way. What is our organization about besides a listserv and a conference each year?

Better yet, what are my dues for in this group? What am I paying for?