John+Pederson-Wisconsin

Hi. John here.

My current gig is as the Curriculum & Technology Coordinator for CESA #3 in Southwestern, WI. My role is to provide technology professional development and leadership opportunities to teachers and administrators in a consortium of K12 school districts. That's what pays the bills. (Honestly, it rocks.)

My passion is online learning communities. I picked up this blogging thing way back in 2001, though it took me a few years to pin down exactly what I was doing. I found my "voice" somewhere around 2004 and was fortunate to have connected with great people early on. I got really jacked up about the potential, so much so that it tore a big hole in my attitude about educational technology. I spent the first 10 years of This Professional Life as an educational technology director. Boxes and wires and projects and stuff. My passion for the curriculur edge of educational technology mixed with the "Web 2.0" Kool-Aid was a recipe for disaster. I got frustrated and outright quit my job. Best decision ever.

I spent 8 months rehabbing inside of World of Warcraft and going silent in the educational technology community. It was one of the most incredible professional development activities of my life, yet I can't quite explain why. "Establishing online communities and friendships" sounds too cliche. When I try to explain it in terms of "collaboration", people just don't get it.

I came back into educational technology about a year ago and am again riding the wave, happily from an instructional/professional development standpoint. My "role" in the educational technology community these days is to provide a bit of levity as I explore. It's easy to take this stuff way too seriously...and deep down inside it is very serious...but we might as well have fun along the way.

Blog: [|http://www.pedersondesigns.com] Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ijohnpederson Skype: ijohnpederson Presentations: http://itasc.wikispaces.com Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedersoj