I just noticed the Learning and Innovation Blog just turned three … my first post to L&I was way back on July 28, 2004. It wasn’t my first blog post, but it was certainly the first that was trying to focus energy into the space I spend my time in — teaching and learning with technology. Before L&I I had been playing with all sorts of tools — from Frontier and Radio to Movable Type … I just couldn’t make it all happen. It was still too much work, until 7/28/2004 …

That’s the day I decided to skip the nasty installs and just try to publish … The answer at the time was Blogger. I can vividly remember being blown away by the ease of use with the tool. I recall going to work the next day and gathering up members of the Solutions Institute and falling all over myself with excitement as I showed them just how easy it was to get an account and publish online. I recall something like a 3 step process to make it all happen. It fundamentally changed my appreciation for working the web — and I was a webmaster back in the day! The instant publishing opportunity it created was a major turning point for me.

That excitement is still at the root of so much of what I try to do every day. I still have slides in presentations I do that talk about the old web publishing model compared to the blog model of type and publish. The ease of use convinced me that if I could find ways to take technology out of the way I could influence not only my own writing frequency, but the frequency of writing by my students and my peers. It opened my eyes to how powerful creating content can and should be. It has changed how I use the web in my classrooms, in my work, and in my life.

I feel like so much of the last three years worth of thinking started with that Blogger account. And so it is, as I post my 529th post here at L&I I am struck by how this whole experience has changed the way I think, create, and share. It is astonishing to me how many real and virtual connections writing has provided me with over the last few years … I can’t thank all of you enough who spend a little time reading what it is I have to say and leave comments (nearly 1600 of them!) … all of it has proven to be a very important part of my personal and professional life. Thank you!

Now, time to start working on some decent content!