Timing is Everything

You just never know. A few weeks ago I attended a webcast from Classroom 2.0. As the webinar was winding down, I glanced over at the chat area and saw some comments that I agreed with, and said so. As luck would have it, the webinar ended and I thought, well, that ends that. Much to my surprise, minutes later I received an email from another webinar attendee...James N Shimabukuru, University of Hawai`i - Kai`olani CC with the message:

"I'm wondering if you're the same "jsotir" who participated in the Elluminate webcast that ended about a half hour ago. I was intrigued by your text messages re the need to develop online programs from the ground up instead of as extensions of existing traditional F2F models. I believe we share the same view. "jpatten," who also participated in the session, also seems to share this view. I haven't been able to "find" him via a google search.
I'm wondering if you (and jpatten if we can contact him) and I could further discuss these ideas in email exchanges -- with an eye toward publishing the results in a blog article"

Intriguing.

Then this message:

Mr. John Patten,
I'm wondering if you're the same "jpatten" who participated in the Elluminate webcast that ended a little over an hour ago.
I was intrigued by your text message exchanges with Ms. Judith Sotir re the need to develop online programs from the ground up instead of as extensions of existing traditional F2F models.
I believe the three of us share similar views.
I'm wondering if we could further discuss these ideas in email exchanges -- with an eye toward publishing the results in a blog article.
I've contacted Ms. Sotir, and she expressed an interest in participating in this email discussion. I hope you'll be able to join us. If yes, then I'll email the two of you a brief intro to serve as a rough starting point.

John Patten, director of technology for the Sylvan Union School District in Modesto, also agreed. Now we had a team, and even a team name...JJJForum. And although the content of our group discussion is still evolving, I decided to write about the formation of this team. I'm old enough, to still find the ability to create such a project in what was literally minutes from a casual chat in a sidebar of a webinar nothing short of magical. Three people, hundreds of miles apart, were able to start sharing thoughts and ideas as if we were sitting next to each other in a regular seminar. Jim, who is also the editor of ETC Journal did a simple Google search and found John and me. Emails sent to us confirmed that we were both in the webinar chat, and that we were interested.
Whatever comes from the article itself is another topic. The interesting aspect for me was that it is a perfect example of where technology and education will likely lead us. Web 2.0 vehicles such as blogs and wikis, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter make communication instantaneous, and the world a tiny place. Education must mutate into this virtual reality, which is rapidly becoming a part of our lives. Arguments can be made that Facebook posts are usually vapid and uncessary. Perhaps, but only to the degree that conversations with the same individuals is likewise. My own family blog has migrated to Facebook. I know that my nephew has landed a summer job (which makes my brother happy), or see pics of new babies with their proud parents. I can comiserate with a friend who has a never-ending cold, and support another who has lost a treasured pet. Perhaps none of these qualify as earth-shattering announcements, but they keep us in touch with each other. They are a form of communication. As educators, we must accept these changing forms of communication and use them to help us relate to our students. Our students will change, and we must change with them to remain relevant. It's just a question of time.