Darren Draper

"Excellent suggestions, Joe. Thank you for your feedback." - Darren Draper

"Oh, wow, Deb. You are so right! There are MANY things wrong with boring our students and teaching to the test. Bad analogy on my part. While we might feel nostalgic for an old sewing machine that we used to use, we should never feel that way toward worksheet #17 or 16mm film number G. Too much really is at stake." - Darren Draper

"Personally, I think the one active ingredient - if there is just one - in OPD that makes it better than other forms is the collaboration that takes place with people from other cultures and backgrounds. There's something about having people from widely different viewpoints in the same learning experience that adds significant value. How might we isolate that one variable? I'm still not exactly sure. As for comparing OPD with traditional PD, that's what I have always hoped to do (see the second image/table above). Still, the more I think about this, the more I'm in agreement that I need to narrow focus even further. Thanks for your input, Chris." - Darren Draper

"Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Jon. I appreciate the recommendation to slightly alter the research question and am intrigued by your suggestion. However, I don't want to focus solely upon informal open professional development. In fact, I would rather focus on *formal* open PD, as limited now as it may be. The three examples I cite above contribute to a body of probably what: 8-10 different examples of how formal PD is gravitating toward a more open approach. Therefore: * What is value does an open environment provide to formal professional learning? Still, I'm not entirely convinced that action research will serve as the most effective methodology in answering this question. While I like the idea of working together with the participants - truly extracting their feelings about the experience - I think other qualitative methods might also fit the bill. And given that I've heard very little about action research by members of my committee, I'm not sure persuading them to shift..." - Darren Draper

"Right on, Robin!" - Darren Draper

"What is your understanding of what we will be doing related to providing technology support in the buildings?" - Darren Draper

This is why some blogs are better than others. - Darren Draper

"Vick, It's great to see that you're still rockin' the (school) house with the Flat Classroom project. As you know, it's still think it's one of the most important projects I've ever seen (as far as paving the way for others goes). You and Julie are true pioneers and deserve every pat on the back that you get. Will I see you again at NECC?" - Darren Draper

"You're right about the opportunities in the open source space - I'm with you 100%. Additionally, the technical support and ed tech specialists on my team will be supporting/integrating a lot of open source as they work individually with teachers. In deployment, open source support will fall mostly under the jurisdiction of the non-Microsoft sys admin. Lump it all in with the stuff from Apple. :)" - Darren Draper

"It sounds like you'd make a great addition to our team. Look for future IT positions to be advertised soon (or even the several open now). http://www.canyonsdistrict.org/." - Darren Draper

"I agree with you completely." - Darren Draper

"Excellent points, Karl. The discussion DOES need to take place, and with the discussion an eventual determination to move in the right direction. In thinking more about this, I'm concerned about the tone of many of the comments in this thread about how librarian-type positions are being heavily downsized. How bad is it out there, really?" - Darren Draper