MACUL 2008 made me a rock star …

[Bruce Umpstead]

… and I am not referring to the Guitar Hero III duel that kicked off my “MDE Update” session on Thursday (3/6/08). I am talking about owning “Umpstead” on Google.com.

Out of curiosity, on last Friday after the conference, I decided to “google” my last name on “Umpstead” and up popped my MACULSpace page, which surfaced as #1 (over some guy from Utah with the name of “Umpstead Jr.” (… and I thought having that name as a sir name was interesting).

That means if anyone who spells my last name [correctly] finds me and my thoughts on educational technology right here, right now.

Wow, that’s powerful, considering previously 1) you had to include my first name to find me “above the fold” on Google and 2) my Amazon.com, LinkedIn.com, or MSPNet (last job) profiles were the primary references before the conference.

What’s this means, is that MACULSpace is now the first point of reference when anyone searches for me, and because of this, I must place a priority on maintaining my blog thoughts on education and educational technology.

And thus a cycle is started where I update my blog to stay current, resulting in more traffic (I hope), which keeps my ed tech “face” out on the web.

So, thanks Ben (social network administrator) and MACUL 2008 for giving me a stage to be a rock star, as far as Umpsteads are concerned.

[Kelley Irish]

This is a great space. Lots to learn and share here...and we are amoung friends. it is not always easy to be THE TEACHER! Theone who does project based interactive learning. It is so great to see the kids excitement when I post their Pod Cast on my wiki page-but alas as a teacher you often find yourselves excited all by yourself. When you try to explain to other teachers in the building how the students learned so much--you may get the response-Oh I don't get all that techee stuff.

I want to empower children-have them imagine, dream and apply skills. I think challenge is a good thing and that too much comfort in routine can lead to doing the same thing in the same way getting the same results!

Here--we are amoung friends.

[Kevin J. Galbraith]

Michael Porter said…
"Well you have always been a rockstar to us."

Ditto!

[Michael Porter]

Well you have always been a rockstar to us.

Since the end of the conference I have been reading and posting to MACUL space everyday, and each time I come back I learn something new. I just read the postings about small grants, and even though I teach grant writing I picked a lot of information. What a great resource, thanks Ben you Rock!

[Ben Rimes]

All the credit goes right back to you Bruce, for being such a devoted leader. You make an excellent point of creating a cycle of information consumption/creation. Too often, it's easy to stop producing, rest on one's laurels, and it's in those moments that it's easy to lose focus and understanding.

That, and it's a nice ego boost to see your name at the top of any Google search :)