The Technological Conundrum

Gapminder World - Minding the Gap

2011-10-12T09:33:00.000-04:00

The web 2.0 tool, Gapminder World, was the brainchild of Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Hans Rosling. Their mission was to create a more interesting way to view fact based statistical information about the world in which we live and view it over time using software they called Trendalyzer. Google has now acquired the software and the developers who worked on the software initially are still hard at work creating new videos, pdf documents and flash animations to produce fascinating information on how the world has changed over time. For example, you can look at how age expectancy and income level are related while viewing the changes over a hundred years. There are plenty of tutorial videos and PDF files to show you how to do this on the teacher section of the site: Gapminder for Teachers. There is even a desktop version so that you do not have to be online to use Gapminder. Gapminder has also included some teaching guides such as the one called 200 Years that Changed the World.

This site is simply filled with factual information for use with your classes. This site is not just just for math and geography teachers! All students can benefit from learning to use this site to access statistics on all kinds of information on health, wealth, HIV, human development, money, reducing childhood mortality, income distributions, marriage, employment rates and the list goes on and on. Teachers, check it out and Mind the Gap at www.gapminder.org today!

Tutorial Video

Popplet - Simple, Versatile Way to Present Information

2011-09-23T09:10:00.000-04:00

Yesterday a colleague, Dave Herren, told me about Popplet. I explored the web 2.0 tool and was very impressed by its' simplicity and versatility. It can be used as a mind mapping tool, poster board, and presentation medium. It allows users to share their creations and is therefore also collaborative. You can make your popplets public or just choose who you wish to have access. You can change the colors of the bubbles and text, add Flickr pictures, YouTube videos, pictures from your computer or Facebook page, Google Maps with a specific address, and pictures of products from Amazon.

You can add your own comments to each Popple too. Looking over the features, I also saw where you can export your Popplets to PDF or Image formats in order to print it out and even link different Popplets together.

Teachers we have another amazingly simple, versatile, efficient and colorful way for our students (or for ourselves) to present information. Below is a link of an example of a Popplet definitely worth looking at and getting some ideas for the classroom. Napoleon: History http://popplet.com/app/#/489.

Here is the link to the main Popplet information page where you can sign up, watch a video on how it works and get other information such as how you can get the iPad App too! This web 2.0 tool is in Beta now and I definitely recommend checking it out and introducing it to your students.

I'm Flipping for Flipboard!!

2011-09-04T19:45:00.000-04:00

Flipboard is a free app for the iPad and it is my favorite app of late! Flipboard allows you to take all kinds of online information from Twitter, Facebook, News, RSS feeds, Flickr, and various other sources of information and lets you read it in a magazine like format. All the pictures and links are spread before you like an informational smorgasbord! You can check your news-feed on Facebook, or search Twitter for real-time information.

Teachers and students can use Flipboard as a way of creating their own personal learning networks by subscribing to the sources of information that fire their imagination. In the classroom, it can be used as a research tool for news, and articles as well as real-time information. Just imagine searching for information about a current event using Facebook and Twitter to find posts from the people who are living through the event! Students doing any kind of research can use the search feature to find topical information. The information and pictures can be emailed, or printed out. This app is really amazing! I highly recommend it for personal and school use. Here are some links to get more information!

A YouTube demonstration of the app:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2vpvEDS00o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2vpvEDS00o

How one teacher uses it: http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2011/02/flipboard.html

More information: http://flipboard.com/

iHomework Gets Students Organized

2011-05-23T13:33:00.000-04:00

While I was searching around for cool "apps" the other day (this has become a hobby of mine), I came across iHomework for iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. After downloading and playing with it a bit, it made me want to go back to school just so I could use it for my classes! This app has it all. No need to carry around paper and pencil to keep track of your assignments, homework, readings, and tasks. It also allows you to enter your course schedules and teacher information for easy reference. The app also lets you put in your assignment grades so that you can track your overall course progress. Then it can sync all information to your computer whether it be a Mac or PC. Students, Teachers, Parents and guardians will love this app! Of course, not every student has an "i" device though many students do. For the ones that do, this is an exceptional app and is rated overall as 4 out of 5 stars in the App Store.

When students are organized with assignments, due dates and other resources, they are more likely to do well in school. This app will keep all the those little pieces of paper where they have written their assignments off of the floor of their locker and into a device where they can easily find the information that they need.

Here is an instructional video on how to use the iHomework app and you can follow them on Facebook as well. They have a website where you can get more information.

If you currently use this app or are trying it now, please leave a comment and let everyone know how it has worked for you.

Dabbling with Dabbleboard!

2011-04-25T13:10:00.003-04:00

Dabbleboard is a web 2.0 collaborative tool that allows you to draw, create mind maps, brainstorm, demonstrate concepts and so much more. This is a fantastic tool to use with your interactive whiteboard! It is so incredibly fun and easy to use that anyone can do it! This is a wonderful teaching and learning tool. I can envision teachers using it to illustrate concepts they are teaching and students using it to create mind maps, concept maps, organizational charts, mock ups, flow charts, diagrams, building plans, illustrations, and do demonstrations. This tool is different because it allows you to work collaboratively, and draw both naturally and spontaneously as well as open a back channel on the site at the same time for even better collaboration!

According to the Dabbleboard site, here are the top ten reasons to use Dabbleboard.

Here are the Top 10 Reasons you should use Dabbleboard:

Dabbleboard is easy and fun to use. Unlike other whiteboard applications, Dabbleboard feels as natural to use as a marker on a whiteboard, or a pencil on a sheet of paper.
Dabbleboard is fast. Since you don't need to spend time constantly changing tools in the toolbar, you can draw much faster.
Dabbleboard is flexible. Everything you draw can be moved, resized, deleted, and replicated.
Dabbleboard produces pretty drawings. Okay, we admit you don't need your whiteboard drawings to look like works of art.
Dabbleboard lets you easily reuse previously-made drawings. With drag-and-drop simplicity, you can add drawings to your personal library, and copy something from the library to your current drawing.
Dabbleboard allows sharing and real-time collaboration with anyone anywhere in the world.
Dabbleboard works with hardware you already have, including your favorite computer.
Dabbleboard works with other software you already use.
Dabbleboard is secure. Unless you make your drawing public, each drawing can only be viewed by those you've shared it with, and by no one else.
Dabbleboard is free! We want to help the world think and communicate visually, and we won't let a little money get in our way. We also offer Pro accounts at reasonable prices.

Take a look at this video that demonstrates how easy Dabbleboard is to use. http://dabbleboard.com/tour

Then, check out this link to learn more about Dabbleboard and sign-up if you would like to start using this cool tool: http://dabbleboard.com

Apps for Digital Storytelling: Easy and Awesome!

2011-03-29T13:45:00.000-04:00

StoryKit

There are two apps that can be used for creating digital stories that I highly recommend. They are easy to use and can be used for all age levels. One is called StoryKit and the other one is StoryRobe. They both work on an iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. StoryKit is free and allows the user to use pictures, text and voice to create a story. Students can use it to take pictures of their field trip with narrative notes, record their lab experiment with a narrative, do creative writing projects, conduct interviews, and create any other project where they would like to tell a story. They can take their own pictures for the project, narrate their story verbally to go with the pictures and add text for emphasis. When the story is completed it can be shared via the web! Viewers can have the story read to them or chose to read it on their own. The web address is private so that teachers and students can share it with whomever they wish. The story will also be on their mobile device for easy viewing.

StoryRobe

StoryRobe works much the same way, except that the story is only told verbally and you have the options of uploading the story to YouTube or emailing it to someone. StoryRobe costs only 99 cents. Even if you share your digital story, it will still remain on your mobile device for easy viewing just like StoryKit.

Both of these apps are wonderful for creating alternate means of assessments for students, recording important information, taking verbal notes with pictures, creating literature, and sharing information. Any content area can use this technology. Please check these apps out at the urls below. I give both of these apps a 2 thumbs up!

StoryKit: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storykit/id329374595?mt=8
StoryRobe: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storyrobe/id337670615?mt=8

A Personalized Newspaper Created from Twitter? Really?

2011-02-24T13:19:00.000-05:00

Paper.li is a tool that uses Twitter or Facebook to create a personalized digital newspaper based on your interests. It is very easy to create and takes just a couple of minutes. I tried it out and created a newspaper for myself using technology as the focus in less than 2 minutes! Check it out: http://paper.li/CRenfrow/1298570025

What makes this a wonderful educational tool is the fact that students and teachers can have a personalized newspaper to read based on their interests, or specific content being studied in the classroom. The newspaper automatically updates itself every 24 hours to get the newest information on your topic. All you need is a Twitter or Facebook account to begin. Because Facebook is usually filled more with personal socialization information, I believe that using Twitter to create the newspaper would be better for school use because you can get more newsworthy information, and the latest events happening in the world, etc. Teachers, just imagine being able to have your students (and yourself) receive the very latest real-time information on any given topic that you are studying instantly and having it updated automatically every 24 hours!

Please check out this tool at: http://paper.li/ and create your own digital newspaper today. This is one great tool for creating personal learning networks!

My Study Bar is Just What the Teacher Ordered!

2011-01-10T12:15:00.000-05:00

I am amazed by this tool. It was designed originally for use with students with Dyslexia by a team at RSC Scotland North & Easthowever. However, it has great applications for any student. I can't say enough about the power of this tool. This tool, once installed, stays on top of whatever you are doing on your computer so that it is easy to access whenever it is needed. You can save it to your desktop or install it on a USB drive so that you will have all of your information from whatever computer you use. Using the USB option is a great choice for students who don't use the same computer all the time. My study bar learns from you as you use it so it becomes personalized to your needs.

It has mind mapping options, calendars, sticky notes, reading assistance such as text to speech reading, a talking dictionary, the ability to change font and background colors to make reading easier, vu Bars for assisting tracking issues, word prediction, spell checking, built in keyboarding lessons, text magnifier, a cursor locater and so much more. This is the perfect tool to assist students with studying, reading and/or writing difficulties however severe or mild and it is free! There are easy access video tutorials for every application.

This is a MUST check out tool for Special Educators and an absolutely perfect tool for Universal Design for Learning methodology.

You can download this tool here at the top of the page: http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/eduapps/mystudybar.php#tutorials

The update patch here for Windows XP or 7: http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/eduapps/mystudybar_v3.php

Find tutorials here further down the page: http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/eduapps/mystudybar.php#tutorials

For more information: http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/index.php

Wordia The Visual and Collaborative Dictionary!

2010-12-08T13:52:00.006-05:00

Wordia is the most interesting dictionary I have ever seen! Not only does it give you definitions of words like regular dictionaries, but it gives you videos that show you the meaning of the word visually! What is even better is that the videos are uploaded from all sorts of people like us! Here is a quotation right from their website. "Like a traditional dictionary, Wordia allows users to search for the spelling, meaning and etymology of a word but what makes Wordia unique is the ability for users to explore the personal connotation of word through video."

Imagine in your classroom having students define important concepts and vocabulary words by creating a video to be uploaded to Wordia. By having your students do this, not only would they be reflecting deeply on the meanings of these words, but also be sharing their learning with a global audience making the assignment very very real! You could have students work collaboratively in groups or individually. This is also a great place for students to look up words especially if they are visual learners. For those teachers using the Universal Design for Learning/Differentiated Instruction, this is a great way to use Web 2.0 tools as alternate learning and assessments paths.

Here is an example of a video done by a student:

http://www.wordia.com/shield_volcano/videos/1301

Go to Wordia today and check out this exciting new tool at http://www.wordia.com/wotd/2010/12/8.
You can sign up for a free account and let the definitions begin!

Dippen' Into Dipity the Multimedia Timeline Maker

2010-10-12T23:14:00.002-04:00

Dipity is a kind of search engine that reaches out and finds information on the web about any given topic. You can create your own timeline or view someone else's. You can add your own events and create a timeline from scratch too! This tool can also be used to keep track of what you have been doing on the web or you can make events as a way to keep track of a project.

It is also a perfect way for a students to demonstrate their understanding of a historical or current event by creating a timeline of what led up to a particular point in history. Students can search for topics that they are gathering information about from websites with RSS feeds, add information to the timeline manually that they find out from other resources like books or websites without RSS feeds, and get realtime information from social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and several others. What a great tool to use when you are differentiating an assessment. This is a tool that you really need to play with to understand the power and implications for the classroom.

Take a look and sign up for a free account at: www.dipity.com and check out the tutorial video below that will show you how to create your own timeline!

Cloudlet - Not Just Another Cloud on the Web

2010-09-22T11:14:00.000-04:00

When I came across this tool, all I could say was WOW! Teachers have spent years trying to get students to refine their Internet searches, use Boolean techniques and yet have continued to watch them try to go through massive amounts of information or just grab the first thing they see when researching a topic. Now there is Cloudlet, which is a free Firefox add on that works with Google to create a tag cloud to help researchers refine their searches easily and quickly! You can see in the picture here to the right that I was searching on the War of 1812. Cloudlet automatically pops up a tag cloud that helps me refine my search. Watch this video to see it in action. You will be impressed.
http://www.getcloudlet.com/swm.php?page=video

Try it out today at: http://www.getcloudlet.com

Widgetbox - Lets You Make an App for That!

2010-09-11T21:46:00.000-04:00

A colleague showed me Widgetbox yesterday and explained how her husband was using it within his school system to create a widget that could be shared on a website or as a phone application for parents to use for quick access to school information.

Of course, I had to go home and play with it and create a widget of my own! I also created a mobile app for my iPhone that links to my blog, tweets and YouTube channel. It looks just like a tiny little icon on my phone and when pressed looks like this picture and users can choose where they want to go. Whatever they choose automatically comes up on the screen to read or watch videos. It is pretty darn cool! Once you create the mobile widget, you simply take the permalink and go to it from your phone and save it to your home screen to make it an app! Here is the link to my mobile widget to try it out: http://m.wbx.me/mobile-site-iteachtechnologynow Just go to the link from your iPhone and then touch the + sign and choose Add to Home Screen. It then becomes an app on your iPhone! You also have the choice of embedding the widget on your website.

So, how can we educators use this? A few things come to mind:

quick reference links for community (news, maps, school website)
use widget on teacher websites so students have access to the links you wish them to see
allows students to create widgets of their own for their website and/or phone for quick reference
use other shared widgets that give you access to all kinds of educational information

Drawbacks are that it doesn't work with all sites, but the site says they are working on that! I would definitely check it out and think about how you can use it with your students and share your ideas by commenting please.

www.widgetbox.com

History Pin - Collecting our World's History One Picture at a Time

2010-06-04T11:00:00.009-04:00

History Pin is a brand new site in beta version whose aim is to collect our world's history by collecting old pictures from people around the world. They are working in cooperation with Google Maps. People can upload their old pictures, "pin" them to the location that they were taken on the Google Map and put in an explanation of the picture. The implications for education are huge! Students can find pictures for areas on the map that they are studying and actually view then and now pictures! There may be little stories attached to the pictures as well so students will need to remember to verify for accuracy any information that may have major historical implications. Students can also help with the project by uploading old photos, with permission from parents of course.

This is an exciting project because old photographs deteriorate and this is a way to preserve them, share personal and cultural history, learn about other countries and their cultural perspectives from people who are sharing their stories of where they came from and who they are. This could potentially be a wonderful way to bring the people of the world closer by seeing images that demonstrate how alike we really are as well as celebrate and understand our differences.

Check it out at: http://www.historypin.com/ and sign up for a free account. Let's all help build the history of our world one picture at a time!

For more information, you can check out this video:

Mouse Mischief from Microsoft

2010-05-04T12:10:00.002-04:00

The folks at Microsoft have created a free (yes, I said free) add-on to PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 called Mouse Mischief. This add-on lets students participate in their teacher's PowerPoint lesson, which means they can do activities as individuals or teams, take informal assessments, play games, draw, identify information and the list goes on. When they do an assessment, the results show instantly in a chart right on the screen. Sounds a little like SMART Response Systems, doesn't it? Each student uses a wireless mouse which shows up right in the presentation. This is such a neat idea and is really inexpensive. The software add-on is free so all you need are the wireless mice. There is a catch in that Windows XP and Vista will only let you use up to 5 mice in your classroom. However, Windows 7 will let you use up to 20 or 25 mice!

I downloaded the software and tried out the teacher portion and found that it is really easy to use. I'm looking forward to trying it in a classroom. This definitely looks like a great way to get active participation in your lessons, which we all know leads to enhanced engagement and learning! There are also several ready-made lessons and templates that are available for free. I suggest that you try it out and see how it works in your classroom.

For more information: http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/

For lesson plans: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT103751791033.aspx

Videos of Teachers Using Mouse Mischief: http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/learn-more.aspx

Apple iPad -WOW

2010-04-09T12:11:00.003-04:00

Right now I'm keying this post using the iPad. The keyboard takes a little getting used to for a touch keyboarder like myself, but it works better than I suspected. It is also intuitive and will offer word completion while you key that you accept by simply hitting the spacebar. The screen is large enough to very see very clearly while you browse the Internet. While listening to iTunes, I was surprised that the sound quality was pretty darn good! It looks just like a huge iPod Touch but visually it is so much nicer to use. I can really see what I am keying as well the sites I am visiting on the Internet without having enlarge things like I did on my iPod Touch. I think I am falling In love with this technology! What a wonderful way for students and teachers to have easy and quick access to the Internet for research, have audio or digital textbooks right at their fingertips, and they hardly take up any space at all.

It will be interesting to see what textbook contracts come through for this technology and what the books will cost. This technology could change the way a classroom operates in a big way. Kudos to Apple and watch out Kindle because now you have some real competition! You can check out the iPad for yourself at www.apple.com

Podcasting - An Engaging Tool for Authentic Learning and Assessment

2010-03-31T12:54:00.001-04:00

Podcasting is a powerful way to share information, tell stories, entertain and assess learning in a creative, engaging and authentic way. OK, it's a great thing, but what is podcasting you ask? Podcasting is using the Internet to host episodes of audio and/or media files that can be heard/seen on the Internet, on your own computer or downloaded. Often, they are captured in "podcatchers" like iTunes which looks for new episodes of a particular podcast to which you have subscribed. Someone explained podcasts to me once by making the analogy between podcasting and an old fashioned radio show. However, now we can make audio podcasts, enhanced podcasts (audio accompanied by pictures) and video podcasts (which are sometimes called vodcasts). This is another way of making a digital story to share with people from all over the world or just your little piece of it. They can be hosted on local networks or your computer so that they are not accessed globally or hosted in the cloud on sites such as podomatic, odeo, or iTunes (there are many others) so that they can be shared with all who would like to listen to them.

In education, podcasting can be used as an authentic way of learning and assessment. For example, imagine a middle school language arts classroom where the students are beginning to learn about the 9 comprehensive reading strategies. After initial introduction to the strategies, students are asked to work in pairs to create a podcast on a particular strategy. The strategy is to be explained in the podcast and an example given to demonstrate how the strategy is used while reading. An appropriate introduction and conclusion are incorporated into the podcast as well as nice background music. The teacher uses a rubric to assess the students' understanding of the reading strategy assigned, as well as the students' use of the technology. Then the podcasts are shared with the entire community so that all students and parents can learn from the podcasts. By sharing with the community at large, parents and grandparents are now able to better help their children with reading comprehension! The students were able to participate in an fun, engaging and authentic learning experience that benefits their community and feel a sense of pride in their work. This kind of scenario could be done in all content areas.

Give podcasting a try with your students. You will be glad you did and so will they! Below are some helpful links to get you started!

www.podomatic.com to upload, and store your podcasts. You can even create an RSS feed that you can give to iTunes and they will become a podcatcher for your feeds. This has a definite cool factor for students.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ This is a free downloadable software that will let you record your podcast and change it into an mp3. You will also need the lame encoder file to make mp3's in Audacity. Audacity will work on either a Mac or a PC. The site has downloads for both formats.

Here are some Audacity tutorials: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Category:Tutorial

http://www.musopen.com/ is where you can get some music from the public domain for your podcast.

Good luck!!

Head Magnet - Your Brain in the Cloud

2010-03-11T10:18:00.001-05:00

When you log in, Head Magnet greets you warmly and offers you all the information that you have stored in it plus its own suggestions for your personal improvement activities. It considers itself your brain in the cloud because it compartmentalizes information like names, faces, vocabulary, quotations, and anything else you need to remember! It can also create flash cards to help you study. It offers you new information to expand your vocabulary, learn about other countries, as well as offer you games to improve your: spatial reasoning, memory, attention, focus, speed, language, visual perception, problem solving skills, fluid intelligence, reaction time, general health and stress levels. Best of all, it's free!

This site seems like quite a find in this information based world of ours where we are constantly trying to remember everything. In terms of using it as an educational tool, my initial reaction was that it could serve as a great assistive technology, but then really it is designed to help everyone. I believe that both teachers and students alike (and lets not forget about our administrators) can really benefit from this tool which fits so nicely into UDL (universal design for learning) teaching practices. I encourage you to check it out for yourselves and enhance your brain!

Link: www.headmagnet.com
Here is a link where you can explore some of the activities available: http://headmagnet.com/explore
This is one of the memory games that it links you to: http://www.lumosity.com/

eyePlorer - A New Vision for Information

2010-03-01T09:15:00.003-05:00

I was recently introduced to a new Web 2.0 tool called eyePlorer. It is sort of a search engine with a new twist. In eyePlorer, you simple key in a topic you are interested in researching, hit go and watch categorized information called eye spots appear. To see if it is the information that you need, you can click on one of the "eye spots" to get an explanation of that particular piece of information. If this isn't cool enough, you can drag information to a built-in notepad on your screen any information that you would like to keep and it saves your notes from session to session! You can create several different tabs in your notes so that you can keep different topics separated. Seeing is believing, so here is a video that explains how it works. http://en.eyeplorer.com/show/intro.html

This tool is definitely worth trying with your students or for yourself. I especially love how when you click on an eye spot, it tells you what the article or piece of information is about so you don't necessarily have to go to the site and read to find out if it is what you need. Try it out the next time you ask your students to do some research. My prediction is that students may be more engaged because of the way eyePlorer works. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it!

Here is the link to eyePlorer so you can check it out! www.eyePlorer.com/show

A Few Software Applications of Note

2010-02-08T15:48:00.001-05:00

I tested a new software called SpellQuizzer. The main page can be found at (http://www.SpellQuizzer.com). It was designed to compliment a teacher's spelling and vocabulary curriculum by allowing them to create their own spelling lists. The built-in spell checker recognizes both US and UK English spellings and warns the teacher if they make a typographical error while creating their own spelling lists. That is an important feature because we all make typos at one time or another. The teacher makes recordings of themselves pronouncing each word and can put it into a sentence to foster the correct meaning and spelling of those pesky words that are spelled more than one way depending upon their meaning. The software also gives you free downloadable spelling lists at their website: http://www.spellquizzer.com/Spelling-Lists.htm. There is also a community area where collaboration is encouraged through discussion forums and places to share your spelling lists. This software is not free, however, the creator, Dan Hite, is currently offering SpellQuizzer free to any educator who contacts him at http://www.SpellQuizzer.com/Contact.htm.

Another great application that I have found is the Visual Mathematical Toolkit. This is a free download at http://amath.colorado.edu/java/ . This software came from the University of Colorado at Boulder's Department of Applied Mathematics. This is a very powerful mathematics tool that can be used to simulate the visual learning of Calculus and Differential Equations.

MVT, as it is known, contains visual and computational tools which are designed to help students visualize the concepts of Calculus. MVP contains several tools such as: a Scientific calculator, Plotting tools, Numerical tools, Linear algebra tools, Differential equations tools, Content-specific applications, Other Calculus visualization tools, and has a Tutorial-style help system. This software is extremely powerful and can be used for high school as well as for college mathematics.

Another math tool that is free that can be used on-line is Visual Math Learning. This web 2.0 tool can be found at: http://www.visualmathlearning.com/.

VML is an interactive multimedia software program that can be used as a pre-algebra and elementary algebra tutorial. Included in the tutorials are lessons, exercises and games to keep students engaged and learning! Teachers, parents and students can all benefit from using this tool. It does not require any registration and the sites goal is to simply improve math education.

I encourage you to give these tools a try. Please feel free to give me feedback about them.

Why is Technology So Important in Education?

2010-02-01T12:50:00.006-05:00

Many people may ask this question because education in many ways is different today than it was when they were in school and they want to know why. The answer to the question isn’t always so obvious either. However, the plain and simple truth is that today’s world has changed. No longer do our children learn in the isolation of a classroom. No longer is memorization of facts and figures the goal. To keep up with our ever changing global community with all its complexities, our children must learn to be complex problems solvers, to be able to work collaboratively, to be good digital, global and community citizens, to develop their higher order thinking skills, to become experts in something that they are passionate about, to be able to discern good information from bad and to be competitive in the global workplace regardless of their chosen career.
Technology assists our children in obtaining all of these skills. More so today than every before in history, students have the ability to research any topic. They are not bound by classroom or library walls. Technology has opened doors to a seemingly infinite well of information, which is not always accurate. Therefore, they need to learn how to sift through it all and get the “good stuff.” This seemingly infinite well of information and current bank of technology has also allowed students to truly invest themselves in their education by developing personal educational plans or studying fields of particular interest to them. When students are actively engaged in their own learning to reach his or her own ultimate potential, everybody wins. For example, perhaps a social studies teacher wants their students to do a project about the Roman Empire. Each student could choose a particular part of the Roman Empire that sparks their interest such as politics, fashion, or the technology of the time. Assessments could then be differentiated by allowing students the leeway to choose their product such as a fake blog where students pretend to be political figures in Rome and discuss politics or a wiki is developed where students collaboratively design the latest Roman fashion. Local history could be studied by students gathering oral histories from senior citizens and then creating a podcast of the project to put on-line and share with the community! The possibilities are endless all thanks to technology and teacher/student creativity! To quote Edutopia, an on-line publication, “Learning through projects while equipped with technology tools allows students to be intellectually challenged while providing them with a realistic snapshot of what the modern office looks like. Through projects, students acquire and refine their analysis and problem-solving skills as they work individually and in teams to find, process, and synthesize information they’ve found online.” For more information on educational technology, you can find this article at: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction.
In short, we are not teaching our students to work in jobs existing in the past or perhaps even the present, we are facilitating our students’ education so that they will be able to succeed in the jobs of the future! These may be jobs that do not even exist today! So in this ever-changing global society of ours, we need to keep focused on what is in the best interest of our children by providing them the opportunities and tools that they will need for their future. Here is a YouTube video from Dr. Howie DiBlasi that addresses these issues with some shocking statistics! http://tinyurl.com/diblasi.

SchoolTube - A Safe Showcase for Students

2010-01-14T15:08:00.001-05:00

School Tube is a free alternative to YouTube for schools. Every school can set up their own channel where student and teacher created videos can be showcased! Each teacher has their own channel. What a great way to share projects with your school, family and the community at large! One of the great things about SchoolTube is that it is moderated. This means that each school has at least one person who is the moderator of their school channels. This person will have the opportunity to review all videos before they are uploaded. This keeps mischievous folks from uploading improper videos. Because of this, schools and teachers can feel safe when students are searching for a video on SchoolTube.

Not only can teachers and students showcase original video projects for class, but you could also upload videos for school news, sporting events, drama and music events! I am sure that all the creative educators and students out there can think of many things to use SchoolTube for so please leave a comment and share your ideas!

Remember that it is necessary to get permission from those involved and/or their parents before uploading a video. No one wants to be on the Internet without their knowledge or permission!

Check it out and see what you think! SchoolTube http://www.schooltube.com/

Jing Screencasting Software - Free!!

2010-01-07T10:24:00.004-05:00

What is Jing you ask? Jing is free software that you can download from the web that will let you record everything that you do on your computer screen or take snapshots. You can record your voice at the same time using a microphone. It then changes this recording into a movie file that you can upload to the web (YouTube, SchoolTube, etc.), play from your computer or website.

This is very useful in education for many reasons. You can create "How To" movies complete with narration to help students understand a technological procedure, use a web 2.0 application, do a math problem, do research, cite sources, and the list goes on and on. Just recently, I watched a Jing produced by one of my college students in my Digital Storytelling course. This high school algebra teacher used PowerPoint and narration to explain how to do algebra problems that his high school students will be working on in class. Then he used Jing to record his PowerPoint to create a movie. It is simply an outstanding way of reaching students at home! Let's face it, how many of us as youngsters got home, tried to do our algebra homework and just couldn't remember all the steps? Now his students can go to his website and watch the video on all the steps of the problem and their problem is solved!! Great job Glenn!!

There is a paid version of this program for $14.95 per year that lets you do direct uploads to your YouTube channel, or Flickr, etc. I highly recommend you checking this out. It is another tool that is simply outstanding. Thanks to all the programmers who put this stuff out so that educators like myself can create richer learning environments for our students!! Bravo!

Here is where you can download Jing! http://www.jingproject.com/download/
Check out Glenn's Jing! http://screencast.com/t/YWU5ZTJhY
Check out Glenn's School Site!

http://rutlandcitypublicschools.org/schools/rhs/teachers/williams/

Prezi - A New Kind of Presentaton Web 2.0 Tool

2009-12-18T09:51:00.001-05:00

All I can say is Wow!! This tool is amazing! It is like having a gigantic white board to write on in any direction to make your presentation. You can put text, pictures, videos and sound into your presentation. You can zoom in and out on specific pictures or words to help you emphasize points. Seeing is believing so watch the video because this is like nothing you have ever seen! On the www.prezi.com site, here is an introductory video that explains Prezi very well. Take a minute and watch it.

OK. What did you think? Pretty amazing right? Can you imagine the creativity that your students can put into these types of presentations? There are several tutorials to help you along the way. Imagine presenting a new concept to your students in this way? It will be a great attention grabber!

Here are some examples of Prezi presentations to give an even better idea of what you can be doing to liven up presentations forever!

http://prezi.com/wesbmcijhqvx/
http://prezi.com/5bgt4pwnau7s/
Definitely check this one out! http://prezi.com/kh8oftmvbuxk/

Tweets - Not Just for the Birds!

2009-12-10T09:25:00.002-05:00

I'm sure that everyone by now has heard of Twitter and some of you are using it to stay in touch with family and friends. However, how many of you are using it for developing your own personal learning network or for communicating with your students? I want to share with you some of the ways that I'm am using Twitter in education.

First, I built my own personal learning network. Trying to keep up with what is new in educational technology is almost a full-time job in and of itself. I knew of a couple folks that I wanted to "follow" because I knew that they shared a lot with their followers. Then, I went onto a search site which helps you find people that are interested in the same things that you are so that you can "follow" them. In turn, many of them will read your profile and follow you. In this way, you start creating a professional learning network where you can share information, glean information, ask and answer questions from others. It really works well. I have learned much already from the folks that I follow. Here is the link to the site where you can search for others with your similar interests and educational subject matter: http://wefollow.com/ All you need to do is to click into the "enter a tag" box the subject or interest that you wish to find and when they come up click on someone that looks interesting. I suggest always reading their profile to make sure that it is really an educator that can offer you good information. I also think that you need to add yourself to the database in order to "follow" others.

I also use Twitter as a way to communicate with my students. You can get your students to "follow" you and you them in order to answer questions, send out homework assignments or other information to all your students at once. You can come up with all kinds of creative exercises for your students like scavenger hunts, having them translate your Tweet for a foreign language class, have them record observations from a field trip and the list goes on and on. It is only limited by our collective imagination. There are many applications for Twitter as well that let students take pictures of experiments or record field trips notes or pictures and send them to Twitter in order to retrieve them later and put into a report or presentation all using their own cell phone! I like to use TwitPic for this. It is an application that works with Twitter to let students send pictures to their account to use later.

You and your students can also use Twitter to research a subject for a project. People often share tidbits of information and a url to an article about that Tweet. This is searchable and you can find real time information! You and your students can also follow newspapers, etc. to stay up with the latest world events!

If you have never used Twitter, here are some links to videos to help you get started!

Twitter in Plain English
Twitter Search in Plain English

Wordle

2009-07-31T22:12:00.003-04:00

This is a word cloud of this blog created with Wordle! Words are very powerful and Wordle provides a means of changing the words from a book, article, poem, short story or any kind of writing into a powerful, creative visual representation. In an instant, anyone can see what the piece of writing is about by the size of the words. The bigger the word, the more that particular word shows up in the piece of writing. Imagine being able to create a Wordle visual representation of a reading that your students are doing as a way of previewing or reflecting especially for those who are visual learners.

How does it work, you ask? You simply go to www.Wordle.net and click on the link to create a word cloud. You can key or paste in the text. You can also give the link to a blog, etc. and Wordle will go and get the text. It is so easy! Try it; you'll like it!!

Vermont-NEA's Annual Convention - All About Technology!

2009-07-08T09:28:00.003-04:00

Hey all you teachers out there! This is exciting news! This year's VT-NEA Annual Convention is all about technology in your classroom. It is being held on October 21st and 22nd and has quite a line up of sessions designed to get you in the know on the latest technologies for your classroom. I am very excited to say that I will be presenting three sessions on Using Twitter and Wikis to Enhance
Student Learning, Alternate Assessments: BlipTV and YouTube, and one on my Google Tool Favorites. This is an excellent opportunity for you to experience the power of educational technology and how it can enrich the learning environment in your classroom! There are so many interesting and enlightening sessions to choose from that I hope to see you there soaking up the information! For those of you who are tech phobics out there - not to worry - this is not a high stress atmosphere! Start small and before you know it, you will be using technologies proficiently! This could be your first step to something really exciting!!

Technology Coaching: A More Personal Approach

2009-06-05T18:15:00.004-04:00

I have been doing a great deal of reading on professional development techniques to assist schools in creating digital classrooms that will enhance student learning while giving students 21st Century Skills. Lets face it, all teachers know that the spray and pray method of professional development doesn't work. After such PD, teachers are expected to implement what they have learned without continued support. This technique doesn't work well especially when it comes to training faculty to use technology.

Technology Coaching is a new term that describes a more personal approach to training teachers. It means that the providers of educational technology professional development will not only work with groups of faculty, but also individuals on an on-going basis. No more spray and pray! Using this model of PD really lets the tech. coaches get to know the faculty that they are serving on a more informal and friendly basis thus helping faculty use the technology resources that best fit their students' needs. Teachers need differentiated instruction just as our students do and tech. coaching seems to me a wonderful way to help teachers facilitate learning for kids in a way that works for everyone involved!!

Does your district use Technology Coaches? If so, please tell us about it.

2009-04-14T18:12:00.001-04:00

Google Notebook

I love Google Notebook! I don't know what I ever did without it. I use it to store all of the information that I find that will help educators to integrate technology into their classrooms and facilitate their student's 21st Century Skills. It is categorized by topic and content area which helps me keep it all straight and easy to find. What is especially great about this application is that it can be used to gather research information like the old fashioned index cards except better! Google notebook allows the researcher to "clip" the url and any notes they wish to take with the click of a button. You will need a gmail account before you can access it. Once you sign in with your gmail account, you click on the "more" menu and then choose "even more". This will take you to a list of Google tools where you will find notebook. You can keep your notebooks private or you can share them with the world. I decided to share my notebooks that are about technology integration. Here is a link to my website that leads to accessing my Google Notebook resources by topic. http://tinyurl.com/dbl78p I hope you find them useful!

VoiceThread Gives Youngsters A Voice

2009-04-03T10:55:00.000-04:00

Recently, I discovered a free web 2.0 tool that can be used for so many different venues including education. You can find it at www.voicethread.com. Voicethread is a new spin on a blog of sorts. It seems to me like a cross between a blog, a PowerPoint presentation and a podcast. This technology is free to a point, then there is a minimal fee for educators. Educators can also pay a small fee to license the application so that all their students can have an account!

What this tool does is allow us to upload pictures that we want to present and either talk, key text, or phone in our voice to go with each picture. It is like a blog because it allows others to comment on what the original presenter has created through voice or keyed text. There are safety features so that educators can create their own privacy settings to have the voicethread public or private. You really need to see it to appreciate the possibilities for education. I urge you to visit the site and check it out! With a little imagination, there is no telling how you can use this web 2.0 application to enhance learning and assessment in a positive and creating way while enhancing your students' 21st Century Skills!

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think about this technology. If you come up with some great lesson ideas, please share them on my wiki, Educational Technology Today at http://educationaltechnologytoday.wikispaces.com/. Just look on the menu to the left to find a page that describes your curriculum area and leave your lesson ideas on that page. If you need me to create a new page for your content area, please comment to this post and I'll get right on it! Thank you!

Collaborative Educational Technologies

2009-01-30T13:12:00.000-05:00

As many of us know, there are a world of Web 2.0 educational Internet sites out there at our disposal. Sifting through them to find what is useful for a particular lesson or unit is sometimes difficult. So, anyone out there that is using a great Web 2.0 educational tool, please feel free to comment on this blog and let everyone know about it. On lulu.com, which is a great self-publishing tool, there is a free downloadable book that attempts to highlight some useful Open Source Software tools for education. It is also listed on a blog called Ask BJ. You can go to this url: http://www.askbj.net/cms/node/6 and scroll down to the end of the page where you will see a link that says "Free Software for Schools." Click on it and choose to download or open it. It is a good resource; you should check it out.

Some of my favorite Web 2.0 educational tools are:

www.edu20.org (educational social networking and on-line course software)
www.blogger.com (blogging site)
Google Docs (create collaborative documents, presentations and spreadsheets)
Google Tools (especially notebook)
www.wikispaces.com (create wikis)
www.twitter.com (it is just cool)
www.flickr.com (on-line picture organizer that lets you search for pictures)
www.voicethread.com (really cool - lets you comment on something with text, voice or video)

What are some of your favorites?

Edu 2.0 - Really Rocks

2008-09-08T05:44:00.000-04:00

I made a discovery about 2 months ago - Edu 2.0. The site was created by Graham Glass a former classroom teacher turned tekkie. It is absolutely awesome! I have been using it for my classes this year and the students really seem to love it. What is it you ask? It is sort of like Moodle, except easier to use, and is a web 2.0 software as it resides on the world wide web and not on your school server. It is highly interactive. For those schools where server space is an issue; it is just the ticket!

Personally, I love how it can hold all my lesson plans, all the student's needed documents and worksheets, and student's submit their assignments on-line. I am saving lots of trees this year! It has built-in wikis, blogs, thousands of resources, groups, programmable gradebook, and so much more! You can link to/upload any resources, hyperlinks, urls, PowerPoints and videos you need. You could use it in conjunction with a class that meets everyday or you could create an on-line course with Edu 2.0. Graham was really thinking about student and teacher needs when he created this beauty! I highly recommend it!

Another thing that I really love is the fact that if there is a bug detected, it is fixed right away. No moss grows on these rolling stones! Really, you have got to check this out because besides the fact that it is simply excellent; it is also free! Here are a few urls that tell you more about it and a link to the site itself! Enjoy!

Edu 2.o
Podcast Interview with Graham Glass
Graham's Blog
YouTube Explanation of Edu 2.0

Educational Gaming

2008-02-27T16:13:00.000-05:00

After watching this video on educational gaming and reading Technologies of the Childhood Imagination by Ito, I began to really think about my early schooling and play time experiences as well as those of the other kids in my family. Imagination and game playing among children is really nothing new. My first thought was that it is just more elaborate today because of technology, but then I decided that that wasn't it either. I remember my brother playing extremely intricate baseball simulation board games where he and his friends invested huge amounts of time. They also played baseball as a sport, and watched it on TV. It was the topic of discussion, trading cards were purchased and traded and their entire social life for several years revolved around baseball. It was pervasive as the essay by Ito describes Yugioh today in Japan. The one difference I see, however, is that my brother's scenario was not as widespread in the population as Yugioh. It was more confined to his group of friends who were crazy about baseball. Globalization of technological media is the difference between yesterday and today. Kids love games whether it be sports, or barbie dolls. My granddaughter likes to pretend all sorts of things. She is three. So, it is no wonder that the idea of using technological games to teach is upon us. Teachers have used games to teach for many years. Now we have elaborate technological games that allow us to teach many subjects in depth. I find it fascinating. I would love to visit the high school in the video that seems to "do it all" with technology to find out how they really cover subject matter. My concern is that games shouldn't replace good teachers who grasp intricate concepts and can guide children's conceptual growth and ethics. However, using technological games to harness enthusiasm, develop skills, and learn in a more hands-on way seems like a great thing and definitely one that I intend to explore further.

Here are links to articles on educational gaming:

http://www.cofc.edu/~seay/cb/simgames.html

http://www.cofc.edu/~seay/cb/findsim.html

Here are links to some educational game sites:

Children's Games:

http://www.learn4good.com/games/kids/double_digits.htm

http://www.cleverisland.com/login/login.asp

http://resources.kaboose.com/games/?source=google&keyword=games&sendroicid=608c8a8a-2376-4d36-bcef-452795cf2fa1&sendroiad=808830371&sendroikwd=Total+-+content+targeting+Games&gclid=CMWV8_v95JECFSOCGgod4lPKfw

Mac or PC?

2008-02-10T08:35:00.000-05:00

There is a big debate these days, at least on TV, about which computer is better a Mac or a PC. I am curious to know what you think? I have developed a WebQuest for my students on the subject and I am anxious to see what their opinion will be. Until recently, I have always used a PC. Lately, I have been learning to use a Mac and its software. I am finding that for multi-media projects, the Mac is superior. Let's watch some fun videos on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EbCyibkNB0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci2D1ig4df4

Here are a couple of information pieces I found:

http://www.apple.com/getamac/

http://www.macvspc.info/

What is your opinion? Which computer should we be using in our schools? Should our students be cross platform? How can we best prepare them for life?

Internet Research - A Journey into the Twilight Zone

2007-12-30T19:58:00.000-05:00

Aaahhh darn it! Not again! This assignment is taking too long and my students are using Internet sites that are simply junk! How am I supposed to cover these standards if I have to somehow teach my students how to sift through the junk on the Internet too!

How many of you have felt like this? It really isn't as bad as it seems; you can avoid the feeling that you are in the Twilight Zone. I give students a form that helps them to identify good Internet sites, go through the form with them, and have them practise giving consideration to sites I have pre-selected. I select a good site, a bad site and a so-so site and have them fill out the form on each site so that I can monitor how well they are interpreting the information. This lesson doesn't take too long and will go a long way in helping your students to select information that is relevant, appropriate and accurate for their research. Best of all, it is not time consuming, its easy and for you Internet novists - you can learn right along with your students!

Here are some sites that may help you:

For high school: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/evalhigh.html

For grades K to 8: http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/lesson_plans/#k1

Informational Sites:

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html#eval

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

What are your thoughts?