Welcome to FieldFindr

[David Truss]

This is the next step in the evolution of an idea that I first wrote about in a post on my blog that I also built a wiki space for. I am reposting the original idea below. My questions to you are as follows:



1. Is this Ning space a good venue for a portal like this?



2. What suggestions do you have to make this work?
(Example: Should we create 'Groups' around specific subject areas?)

3. What, if any, approaches should be taken to promote this beyond the world of edubloggers?
(After we get #2 sorted out)

Here is my original post:
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Portal Needed to Connect Classrooms to the World: Global Citizens can Share Talents and Skills with Students [Feb. 21, 2007]


Here is an idea that has been brewing in my mind for a while:

FieldFindr A space where teachers can meet global citizens who have skills that they are willing to contribute to a class.

Teachers can find people in a field of interest that they are working on in their class. Volunteers can tell teachers their field of interest and also tell teachers how they would like to help a class.

The site could be sort of a combination of Warlick's HitchHikr and MySpace or Facebook. (In a way it is more of a matchmaker site.)
You can sign up and log in as a teacher, or as a willing contributer (Volunteer) in you field of interest.

Basically Volunteers create a profile listing talents and skills. Then they set up a time-line of when they would be interested in helping with, or presenting to, a class. Then teachers can contact volunteers who have profiles of interest.

There could be an opportunity for volunteers to contact teachers too, but I think this should be done through a contact page like this, rather than by direct e-mail.

Here is a mock-up wiki that I built to give you an idea of what I mean. (Yes, I know the profile pictures are a bit big, but they were easy to format that way.)

Below the mock-up profiles, I created a space where interested contributors to a classroom could actually post their information. Teachers can find prospective volunteers by searching a particular field/subject.

However, I believe that there is a need for a fully committed portal site that is dedicated to:
CONNECTING TEACHERS TO GLOBAL CITIZENS THAT ARE WILLING TO SHARE THEIR TALENTS WITH A CLASS.

At a dedicated portal:
Tag searches could easily be set-up. (See my 'Super Tags' post [coming soon])
Teachers could find other teachers to help them.
Positive relationships between business and education can be formed.
Success stories could inspire teachers hesitant to explore web2.0
Retired teachers or field experts can be tapped into.
There is so much opportunity for collaboration! (I came up with this list in about 3-4 minutes... and I'm sure you could add to it:-)

Once the site is set up, the opportunities and possibilities are endless!
Again, just off the top of my head, here are some kinds of volunteers we can easily tap into...Especially if we had a portal to help us do so.

• A musician or poet who is willing to judge a performance or contest.
• A Researcher willing to share new ideas in their field.
• A Math tutor who offers after school assistance on a forum. (Time differences could actually be an advantage here.)
• A dance instructor could teach ballroom dancing at a local high school.
• A retired teacher giving a video tour of a Boreal Forest or a desert he lives close to.
• An art gallery tour from half-way around the world...

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A similar idea originally came to me a few years ago after seeing this award winning Timebank Commercial.

It came to me again a few months ago when I read this David Warlick Post where David is talking about Will Richardson's session at MASSCUE:

"Will did make a passionate point about how we need be talking about sharing our students' work with real audiences. It's engaging them in real conversations with the world they're learning about."

I finally had to get this idea out after reading these Wesley Fryer and Vicki A Davis posts over the weekend.

Feedback?
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So, here are the questions again:

1. Is this Ning space a good venue for a portal like this?


2. What suggestions do you have to make this work?

3. What, if any, approaches should be taken to promote this beyond the world of edubloggers?