It is a real benefit for me to have the opportunity to share the day with curriculum directors from our member schools. The use of blogging could be a valuable communication tool for this group. The LeaderTalk blog might be a good site to use as a model.

During the opening for the day, it was stated that students starting school in 2007 will be graduating in 2020. Karl Fisch has a very active blog, The Fischbowl. One of the presentations that he has created is titled 2020 Vision, where he is giving the commencement speech for students graduating in the year 2020. Another one of his presentations is titled "Did You Know", which contains information that follows many issues contained in "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman and "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink. 

The main reason for attending this meeting was to share information about the NSSRS (Nebraska Student and Staff Record System). There is a link on NDE's homepage for NSSRS. The NSSRS page contains links to a documents page where you will be able to view PDF template files for Student, Staff, Assessment, etc. These files contain detailed descriptions for all fields that should be populated with data, and the format or codes for each field.

A survey by eSchool News shows 96 percent of students 9-17 that have internet access are using social networking tools. What might be a surprise to adults, is what these students are talking about. One of the most popular topics of students communicating in this online environment is their education. Given this information, schools may need to rethink their restrictive policies regarding social networking technologies.