Learning Side by Side

Today was the start of several weeks at Thacher School in Ojai, California for a residential professional development program for teachers called Teach the Teachers Collaborative. As an instructor for many iterations of this program since before 2000, I have seen my share of compilation montages of each week, and have been the sole editor of a few myself. If you have been tasked with creating such a end-of-the-program presentation, then you know how much time and effort goes into developing a quality product that provides great impact and leaves participants feeling nostalgic about their learning journey.

With great relief that I wouldn’t have to create another of these presentations, I find comfort knowing that a colleague (John Lenhardt) this week introduced everyone, including the participants, toward being contributors to an alternative media capture of the week. We are all using Cellblock to contribute collaboratively to the media collection

Cellblock: LAUSD/TTTC Thacher 2008

This particular set of images is a continual process, allowing everyone to take control of the content to be included. Yes, there are other photosharing sites, including social networks such as CUE Community where every person can upload photos for all to look at.

Ning Photoshare: CUE Community

Find more photos like this on The CUE Community

But what makes Cellblock different is that participants can contribute images and video by cell phone Of course, this can also be done by e-mail via a computer. With a 20MB limit per e-mail submission, the program won’t take in GB-sized videos, but videos from a digital still camera are pefect to e-mail.

Check back here again to see what shows up throughout the week. I myself cannot wait for the final product to materialize.