You did a broad sweep of where we can go on Tuesday, for people at all levels of technology literacy. You led us all into a "discomfort zone." That's where Vygotsky says the most learning needs to take place--the zone of proximal development. The HUGE message I got was Creating Context instead of Content. The content is changing all the time!!!
You lit a spark within the walls of my school so I feel hopeful.
When I first met Bram Moreinis on open school night in the fall, I was delighted to hear that I could have a voice in making the website a communication vehicle for parents who feel out of the loop. It was a win-win experience to see that just showing up and providing suggestions and feedback could help guide a process to such a successful conclusion in a few short months.
Part of my delight in visiting our school website now is knowing that I had a hand in the process. I've been greatly impressed with Bram's ability to bring this process together in such an open, interactive way and feel we're fortunate to have someone with his extensive background here.
Bram doesn't believe in the word "impossible". He believes that you can get what you want if you are willing to try hard enough.
Bram secured a grant through IBM to get myself, another teacher and a computer to Mexico, our Oaxaca Project. But, it was more than a grant that Bram gave me. He gave me an opportunity that turned out to be the most exciting experience I've had as a teacher. He gave me never-ending technical support without ever making me feel dumb, and if you are a novice to technology you know how important that is.
He gave me a real belief in the premise that there are not problems, only solutions that take hard work and time.
The Design Studio is an annual curriculum project development cycle. Bram facilitated a two-week workshop, teaching participants technology skills and instructional methods wrapped around content from expert lecturers.
Bram continually provided the dose of intellectual adrenalin necessary to push our collaborators and me beyond the envelope. As a result, the project we developed serves as a model of excellence in on-line scholarship.
We all continue to be very proud of it.
It has been my pleasure to work with Bram on a number of projects over the past two years. My students and I have greatly benefited from his creativity and expertise in funding, developing and supporting exciting projects that made foreign language study more authentic and motivating.
I first got to know Bram in writing a grant to fund a videoconference-based project with students from Valencia, Spain. Throughout the three project videoconferences Bram provided the technological support, following up with web-based bulletin boards and the development of student web pages to deepen the intercultural communication.
Bram understood what my goals were and helped me use computer tools to develop my materials efficiently and cleanly.
Bram designed and co-taught our Tech Scouts class. He was instrumental in helping us actualize our goals and objectives, not only for the Tech Scouts students, but also for other CPESS teachers and students.
One of the projects Bram helped us to realize was a planning forum where CPESS teachers and students were able to communicate with one another to discuss technology issues, keep track of and take care of equipment and software problems, and support one another's work.
With Bram's help, some of the Tech Scouts even helped support technology in other schools.
ePortfolios are a high-cost, high-risk, and high-return pattern to adopt. Although the State of New Hampshire (ambitiously) required all public schools to adopt ePortfolios by a common deadline, not all schools were (or are) ready for that level of technology integration into instruction and assessment.
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