The title of this post comes from my K12 Online Conference presentation, in a section where I talk about different teachers utilising Web 2.0 tools to improve learning for their students. I coined this short phrase "innovation in isolation" as a short simple set of words for part of my image stack - at the time, I thought that I'd concocted a clever little word twist which amused me, if no-one else. Interestingly, it seems to be the phrase that seems to be still resonating with a number of educators months after the files went live during the Overcoming Obstacles segment.

This morning I "tuned in" to the Free Falling January Blog Club, a by-product of the before mentioned conference where I'd been invited to attend as one of the two topics being discussed were the issues raised during my K12 Presentation. Thankfully, I wasn't there as a "guest" but a regular participant. I signed into Tapped In, where I was greeted by a number of participants and then it was off to the Skypecast. I now know why I like to do audio based things in a planned, scripted manner. Trying to speak "off the cuff" to any educational topic is difficult for me because in the Skypecast environment, there are so many distracting factors. I acknowledge that Chris Harbeck did a masterful and thankless task of managing the numerous interruptions, and Jeanne Simpson was a great host, but it's hard for me to maintain a train of coherent speech when drop in Skype surfers screech, mutter and blast your eardrums as they wreak havoc with any conversation taking place. I think that there is a potential improvement in the Skypecast interface by creating a private Skypecast option, where entry is controlled by a password created by the host. It seems to me that the best value for participants would be in an environment that eliminated the interruptions. Should I be e-mailing Skype with this idea?

I'm struggling to even remember the conversations this morning but luckily there's the transcript,  the shownotes and the podcast.  I can relive my stuttering utterances and see if they more sense than at the time. Sometimes I think I am clearer in writing.

Anyway, more evidence that more "innovation in isolation" influence has spread is available over on Rachel Jeffares' blog where she credits me with "being an influential colleague in my own 'professional learning' social network ." Her own involvement in my presentation helped make it the apparently influential beast it seems to have become. I think maybe it's just more evidence that if you are prepared to go online and utilise Web 2.0 technology and methodologies, that the frustration of isolation can be greatly reduced.