Holt Think: Ed, Creativity, Tech, Administration

I know that it is a somewhat leap of faith to start following a blogger, and hoping that they will continue to give you useful information. Let me tell you a little about myself, so you can know where I am coming from:

I am the Director of Instructional Technology in the El Paso Independent School District in El Paso Texas USA. I have had that position for 8 years, although when I blog, I blog as a private citizen and not as a representative of my job.

I have been blogging since 2003. My first blog was called “Byte Speed” but after 2 years, I had to take it down because there was some company by the same name and my blog was getting more traffic than their website. That apparently pissed them off enough to sick a lawyer on me. They gave me a cheap-ass gray-market no-name laptop from Asia that weighed 15 pounds if I gave up the name so I did because they had lawyers and I didn’t.

I then started a blog called Intended Consequences, and it lasted all the way until Apple pulled the support of iWeb, which was the platform I was blogging on. (iWeb +Mobile Me.) You can still Google Tim Holt Intended Consequences to see all the re-blogged articles that were created at that site.

When that died, I moved here to Tumblr because Will Richardson had just moved here, and he is a guy I respect, and frankly, it looked like a pretty easy place to blog on. I like technology, but I really like easy technology that just does what it is supposed to do without biting me. MAybe that is why I like Apple so much…

Anyway, back to the point:

I want to thank you for following me. If you haven’t figured it out by now, this Tumblr is a combo Self reflective blog and place where I like to put a lot of web links to to things that interest me. I use the site as sort of my online filing cabinet that I share with the world. As long as Tumblr is up and running, I plan on adding material. I hope you find it useful.

So that is what makes this Tumblr site. Thanks for sticking with me, thanks for following me, and if you have a chance once in a while, tell someone about my site. I am not one of the “big boys” in ed tech, so I don’t do a lot of keynotes where I can promote my site and myself, so any hits to the site are appreciated.

Tim

Posted 8 months ago

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2 notes

education, blog, blogging, ed, technolgoy, EPISD, Tim Holt,

What is your favorite education-related blog?

My RSS choices have kind of grown long-in-the-tooth, as my feeds look the same now as they did a few years ago. So, I need your help. What blogs are you reading? Why are you reading them? What new blogs have you discovered?

Thanks for sharing with me!

Posted 8 months ago

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4 notes

education, blog, blogging, pln, plc, ed, web 2.0, question,

The Joys of Blogging « Diane Ravitch's blog

From the blog…

But there is something about blogging that is even more rewarding than being printed in the newspaper. For one thing, I can write whatever I want whenever I want. That’s self-publishing. It is a sort of vanity project, to be sure, but it has its benefits. No one edits me. At some publications, the editors are very heavy-handed. No matter what I turn in, they always think they can write it better. It’s too long. Cut 200-300 words. The ending should be the beginning, and the beginning should be the ending. You can’t say this, there’s no room for that. Sorry, as we went to press, we have to cut another 100 words.

And there is always the chance that the editor(s) will decide he doesn’t want to publish you at all. So you either have wasted your time or you have to go knock on some other publication’s doors to find an outlet. I hate to think of all the unpublished articles I have written. As everyone who writes about education knows, there are very few outlets that will publish you. So one tends to accept whatever editors say or demand as the cost of being published.

The ultimate joy of blogging, then, is freedom to write, freedom to speak, freedom to express one’s views without editing.

Posted 11 months ago

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1 note

education, blogging, blog, web 2.0, diane ravitch, El Paso, El Chuco, El Paso Texas,

A Principal's Reflections: Common Misconceptions of Educators Who Fear Technology

Can you add to the list that this author has come up with?

Time, Control, Cost, Assessment, Lack of Training

Posted 1 year ago

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1 note

education, ed tech, blog, edchat,

iPad Insight: Worth Checking out

This looks like a pretty good “all things iPad” blog. Check it out if ya got some time.

Posted 1 year ago

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ipad, apple, blog,

Follow Joel Adkins. http://kisdtech.blogspot.com/

I have been enjoying reading Joel Adkin’s blog posts as he travels the width and breadth off the SxSW Festival in Austin. Really, who wouldn’t want to be there? I am totally jealous. (And how did he convince his bosses that he needed 2 weeks off to go there? I want that gig!)

Anyway, Joel’s blog is a very nice mix of “Gee, Come see what I am seeing!” and practical tips that he is picking up along the way.

http://kisdtech.blogspot.com/

Of particular interest to me is his blog on educators as curators. New ideas are great to have swimming around in my head. This one is pretty cool.

Read it. Follow it. Enjoy it.

Lead on Joel. We are following!

more photos here

Posted 1 year ago

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ed tech, educaiton, joel adkins, blog, blogging,

What is a “consumable?” The iPad App Conundrum

Miguel Guhlin, no shrinking violet when it comes to asking hard questions on his blog, started a neat little discussion revolving around the idea that apps, specifically apps purchased for iPads in schools might one day be considered as “consumable products,” meaning those that are purchased with the knowledge that they will be handed out, used and then thrown away or taken home with the student.

Science teachers are well versed with the idea of consumable instructional materials. For instance, paper cups can be purchased that might be used in a lab to mix different solutions of sugar water. In this case, the sugar would also be a “consumable” because at the end of the lab, both the sugar and the paper cups are disposed of.

One dictionary defines a consumable as: a commodity that is intended to be used up relatively quickly: drugs and other medical consumables.

So the idea of a consumable in a classroom is something that is going to be used up quickly, then discarded. Any food stuff for instance, is a consumable. In the old days. it was almost the idea that really inexpensive stuff is a consumable: paper clips, pens, pieces of paper.

But over the years, the amount of money spent on these “consumables,” and the price of consumables themselves, has made many look at perhaps the whole idea of what is “something to be used and quickly discarded” needs to be reevaluated.

I Need your help: Why do you blog? Voicethread

If you are an education blogger, please take a moment or two to respond to this Voicethread: Why Do you blog?

Thanks

Posted 1 year ago

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blog, blog, blogging, educaiton, ed tech, help,

S H I F T – A New Year’s Resolution for 2012 | Powerful Learning Practice

From the article:

As we return to the classroom in January we’re refreshed, renewed, and rarin’ to go, right? If you’ve been putting off shifting your classroom due to time constraints, fear, or confusion about what “shifting” is, now is the time to take that first step forward. In the five full months that remain (in most of North America, at least), commit yourself to one of these steps each month and you’ll be on your way.

Posted 1 year ago

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3 notes

education, blog, voices from the learning revolution, plpnetwork, PLP,

Voices Nominated for Best Group Blog

Voices from the Learning Revolution blog, in which I contribute to, has been nominated for an Edublog award. Please consider voting for the Voices effort here:

http://edublogawards.com/2011-3/best-group-blog-2011/?nominee=chcvro

Click on the Group Blog category. In the pull down menu, click on Voices From the Learning Revolution.

Posted 1 year ago

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2 notes

education, blog, blogging, voices, voices from the learning revolution, education,