Educating the Digital Tribe

Study Shows The Benefits of 1:1 and the Factors that Enhance Success

2012-01-25T18:28:00.000-08:00

From K-12 Computing 1/25/2012
See http://www.k12blueprint.com/k12/blueprint/story_study_shows_benefits_of_1_1.php

Are Interactive White Boards Dead?

2012-01-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

By Robert J. Leneway January 8, 2012

Close to 600,000 Interactive Whiteboards were sold worldwide last year, generating nearly $1billion of revenue, according to a new market report from Futuresource Consulting. “Across the globe, the Interactive Whiteboard phenomenon is really taking hold,” says Colin Messenger, Senior Consultant, Futuresource with “one in six classrooms” now hooked up with an Interactive Whiteboard. The report goes on to say that few markets hold the promise of education, where we’ll see very strong sales growth for at least the next five years.” Thus, the use of interactive white boards may not yet be dead but there are several other emerging trends that may threaten their mortality.

According to Wikipedia, “An interactive whiteboard (IWB) is a large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector. A projector projects the computer's desktop onto the board's surface where users control the computer using a pen, finger, stylus, or other device. The board is typically mounted to a wall or floor stand.” They range in price from about $3,500 to $5,000 and need a laptop which could cost from $500 to $1,500 and if not already build in, a multimedia projector and typically weight up to 300 pounds.

Why use an IWB?

All interactive whiteboards come with software, to enable you to use it as a copy board. Wedgewood Consulting claims that IWBs can be use to “write or draw on the whiteboard with your finger or the pens provided and save the image to the computer. These images, which are your notes from the meeting or training session, can then be printed or emailed. The software that comes with some interactive whiteboards may have built in OCR to recognize handwriting and turn it into computer text.”

Wedgewood further reports that Interactive whiteboards can be used to:

Write over the top of programs to highlight and annotate points (see picture above).
View and navigate the Internet from the whiteboard. Surf and display websites which the entire room will be able to see.
Students/audience members can approach the whiteboard and add their contribution to the discussion by writing directly on the whiteboard.
Present ideas to large audiences.
Display movie files or DVD's from the PC
Work on word processing documents, spreadsheets, design project with your colleagues and can be connected to video conferencing systems.

In the classroom, Marzano (2008) claims that student achievement can be raised significantly with the regular use of IWB by trained teachers. Hence, their increase in sales to the educational marketplace.

Alternatives?

In their best seller, Disrupting Class, How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns: Christensen C., Johnson C., Horn, M., (2011) detail how new innovations quietly progress to a tipping point and replace current technology, ie. main frames computer replaced by personal computers, and currently brick and mortar schools by online education. A similar fate may be brewing for I.W.B.s. Forrester Research projected that based on the U.S sales figures of different PC form factors – Tablets, Netbooks, Notebooks & Desktop, tablet sales, will overtake Netbook sales in 2012 and desktop sales by 2013 (Shantharam, 2010). Within the tablet market, 14.3 million iPads were sold compared to 1.3 million other tablets in). 2011 (Ugwu, 2011

The Consumer Electronic Show held in Las Vegas each year is the largest show of its kind in the world is reported to demonstrate that 2012 will be the year of the Internet TV. Internet TV is an emerging internet technology standard for use by television broadcasters to directly distribute Internet content to the viewer. Meanwhile, large LCD TVs with interactive screens have now also reached the consumer marketplace. These touch screen LCD and plasma TVs/monitors ranges in price from $949 for a 50” LG touch screen TV to $10,000 for a 70” touch and thin screen 3D Samsung TV and are expected to come down in price as availability and sales increase. Touch screen TV, or tablet such as an iPad connected to either a projector or an LCD TV are emerging as an possible less expensive alternative to interactive white boards. A laptop with TV output can provide limited interactivity. However, when a pc is linked using software such as Splashtop or Doceri to a tablet like an iPad and a projector or LCD TV functionality beyond what is currently offered by most IWBs can be obtained. See chart below. These linking software apps offer remote desktop control, annotation, and an authoring environment for creating and sharing lessons. Thus, by using a tablet like the iPad to communicate wirelessly with a classroom computer, teachers can project lessons using standard projection equipment to create an interactive whiteboard learning environment that allows students to participate in lessons without leaving their seats.

Instructional Functions	I.W.B.s with pc and Projector	Touch Screen 50 inch TVs with pc	PC, iPad(s) and Projector
Highlight and annotate	X		X
Surf the Internet	X	X	X
Class writing on board	X		X
Present ideas to large audience	X		X
Display movies and DVDs	X	X	X
Collaborative work with MS Office	X		X
Connect to a video conferencing session	X	X	X
Record screen for future viewing	X		X
Record entire lesson for future playback			X
Student input without leaving desk			X
Displaying educational apps			X

Est. cost of I.W.B. with projector (REMC) Promethean 300 Series Fixed Bundle	$4,006
Est cost of Multimedia projector, ultraportable, WXGA (REMC bid price)			$909
Est cost of Projector bulb first year	$200-$300		$200-$300
Est cost of Touch Screen 50” TV with Internet		$3,000
Est cost of PC with basic software	$1,200	$1,200	$1,2 00
Est cost of iPad			$299 to $699
Est cost of linking software			$50 per iPad
Est total cost	$5,500	$4,200	$2,700
Est total cost for 30 students (working in pairs with iPads)	N.A.	N.A.	$7,950

*iPads are currently available at $299 from Verizon and other wireless vendors with a two year commitment, however, reports are that Apple will make a $299 version available to everyone this spring 2012 to better compete with the $199 Kindle Fire.

Conclusion

If cost is the only consideration, then the commercial IWB could be replaced by a combination of a pc, iPad, and projector running an iPad wireless linking software like Doceri at less than half the cost. Also, a 50” ITV or Plasma Internet enhanced TV connected to a pc with an HDMI connection and/or iPad with an HDMI adaptor ($33) is also less costly, but also less interactive then the other two solutions. The advantage is that is it less complex and does allow for the use of educational iPad apps on a large screen.

However, it should be remembered that it's not the medium, but instructional methods that cause learning. For any implementation to have a chance of making a difference in learning, Deubel (2010) says that one needs to be able to answer "yes" to one or more of the following questions:

Is there an educational need, problem, or gap for which use of new media might potentially enhance learning?
Would the application of new media assess students' prior knowledge and either provide the instructor with relevant information about students' knowledge and skill level or provide help to students in acquiring the necessary prerequisite knowledge and skills if their prior knowledge is weak?
Would the use of new media enhance students' organization of information given that organization determines retrieval and flexible use?
Would the use of new media actively engage students in purposeful practice that promotes deeper learning so that students focus on underlying principles, theories, models, and processes, and not the superficial features of problems?
Would the application of new media provide frequent, timely, and constructive feedback, given that learning requires accurate information on one's misconceptions, misunderstandings, and weaknesses?
Would the application of new media help learners develop the proficiency they need to acquire the skills of selective monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting their learning strategies? (Some call these metacognitive skills.)
Would the use of new media adjust to students' individual differences given that students are increasingly diverse in their educational backgrounds and preferred methods of learning?

If these questions on the use of educational technology tools to enhance learning are applied to each of these options, then it would appear that each meets one or more of criteria, but the best solution that would meet all of these learning enhancement and engagement questions would be to purchase multiple iPads such that student could work individually, in pairs or small team on instructional problems that could be shared directly from their desks to the larger classroom audience. As the instructional process becomes more individualized and the instructor takes on more of the “guide on the side” role, classroom technology that support this role change becomes increasing critical.

So, the interactive white board may not be yet dead, but it is in peril of being “disrupted” by emerging innovations in classroom technologies.

Design Thinking: Lessons for the Classroom

2012-01-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

By Betty Ray
Edutopia 1/3/12

Much has been written about changing role of the teacher from "sage on the stage" to "guide on the side." Design thinking, which is a dynamic, creative and collaborative approach to problem solving, presents a unique model for educators who wish to facilitate from within the class, rather than impart knowledge to it.

The Design Thinking Process

While design thinking has its roots in the innovation/design sector, the process itself can be used anywhere. Indeed, it is a great tool for teaching 21st century skills, as participants must solve problems by finding and sorting through information, collaborating with others, and iterating their solutions based on real world, authentic experience and feedback. (It is also a great tool to develop and run a school, but that's a different post for a different day.)

I had the good fortune to participate in a collaborative workshop at the Big Ideas Fest, where we practiced design thinking with about 12 other educators over a three-day period. The idea was to give us a first-hand experience with design thinking, and to demonstrate how the model could work within the classroom.

Practitioners of design thinking have different steps depending on their needs. At BIF2011, we used these steps:

1) Identify Opportunity
2) Design
3) Prototype
4) Get Feedback
5) Scale and Spread
6) Present

In design thinking, you work through the steps together in small groups (or "Collabs" as they were called at BIF2011). Our task was to explore the question: How might we create ways to assess learning geared to making tangible progress toward meaningful goals?

With driving question in hand, each Collab is led by a trained facilitator. There are basic ground rules for working together (like saying "yes, and" rather than "yes, but" when disagreeing with someone), and using elements from improv comedy to help maintain a culture of positivity, risk-taking, support and flexibility.

This is important, as the goal is to break through the negative thinking that plagues the big, thorny issues, and to come up with one prototype idea for solving one aspect of the problem.

This right here is another novel idea! We're not tasked with fixing the whole system. This is an approach positing that small changes in the right places can have big impacts on outcome.

Six Design Thinking Steps

To solve these problems, we follow this six-step format from design thinking:
Step 1: Identify Opportunity

To deepen our understanding of the issues surrounding inadequate assessment of 21st century skills, our cohort split into two groups, each of which interviewed two educators: a public school teacher who wanted to assess soft skills in addition to state standards; and an independent school teacher who wanted a means of assessing kids that didn't interrupt their learning.

These interviews gave our group a specific goal: What system or product could we come up with to meet the needs of these two educators in assessing 21st century skills?

Step 1 in the classroom: Identify a big issue that is plaguing your school or community. Is there a fundraising challenge? A school resource issue? A civic concern or an environmental problem? You can also do a quick community needs assessment, but don't get too bogged down in this. The idea is to pick a need and move through the process. You can always iterate later.

Once you've identified your issue, invite two to three parents or other community members who are personally affected by this issue to share their perspective with your students. You can have them there in person or via Skype. Let students ask lots of questions. These are the people for whom the students will be designing solutions.

Step 2: Design Process

Here, we reviewed the stories in Step 1 and brainstormed solutions. We needed to come up with an assessment idea that was accurate and authentic, and it had to provide meaningful data to real world public school educators. With a "no idea is too stupid" mantra, we wrote brainstorms on sticky notes and posted them on a whiteboard. By the end of this process, we began to see themes emerge: it should give students feedback about where they are lacking and where they need to go; it should also be student-centered, longitudinal, with real time feedback. We organized the sticky notes into these bigger themes to prep for tomorrow.

Step 2 in the classroom: Once students have heard the issues facing their community via Step 1, give them sticky notes and pens and let them brainstorm solutions. Invite them to be inspired by each other and build off each others' ideas. Remember, no idea is too stupid! Once they've finished brainstorming, identify the main themes that have emerged, and break students into small groups to research their initial ideas. Here is where the "guide on the side" can really make a difference. The students may have some wonderfully creative but entirely impossible ideas! At this point, the teacher should guide them with real world experience to help ensure that they have a good start.

Step 3: Prototype Phase

Next, we review the themes and select one to prototype. This prototype need not solve all of the problems, just one aspect of the problem voiced by one of the speakers in Step 1. (Note the incredible discipline intrinsic in this process. At this point, we are focusing on one solution to one aspect of one problem.)

Our idea is an assessment "dashboard" called iGPS. This device would assess student progress much the same way a GPS in the car works; it pinpoints a student's current skill level, identifying target skill level along with specific waypoints to keep the student on the path to achieving the stated goal/skill level.

We used paper, markers, pipe cleaners and glue to make a prototype of our idea, which looked like a Googlemap from "where I am" to "where I need to be" plotted along a route that intersects specific skills. It was rough, but it communicated the concept.

Step 3 in the classroom: Get a bunch of creative materials together and let the groups flesh out their ideas into physical prototypes. As teams are creating, help them think through their prototypes: How will each feature help the people we interviewed in Step 1? Does this mesh with the research they did? How will the prototype work? Which materials are the best for the job?

Once they're done, tell students they're going be pitching their ideas to experts. Give them a chance to practice and refine their presentations so they're comfortable and confident!

Step 4: Feedback

Over lunch, all groups shared their prototypes to a panel of experts for feedback. All groups got to see everyone's presentations. Most prototypes were digital software tools, though not all.

Two experts from two different stakeholder groups offered their feedback: A) An educator who was looking for ways to make the idea more useful for a real-world classroom setting, and B) a social investor, who was looking to see if there was a viable market, and if the product would make a viable business.

Step 4 in the classroom: Invite people who are experts and/or stakeholders in the field to come to your school and have students present their prototypes to them. Ask each expert to review each pitch and prototype, and give students explicit feedback: what works with this idea, and what can be improved?

Step 5: Scale and Spread

Taking the feedback we received, we hone in even further on our prototype. To do this, our team breaks into four subgroups to address the questions raised. How can this assess both individual and group work? How does a student earn points (their quantifiable score)? What does the product itself look like? And finally, assuming our product is successful as an assessment tool for 21st century skills, what's the best way to market it to district administrators who will make the choice to adopt it? We answer these questions and quickly re-prototype to include these points.

Step 5 in the classroom: This step is yet another excellent opportunity to practice "guide on the side" facilitation. Help each group of students understand the feedback they got, and work with them to understand the best way to implement solutions. If there are multiple feedback points to be addressed, the groups can break into subgroups to address each point for efficiency. You might have students pick a project manager, and have all the subgroups report back to that person.

Step 6: Present

Most of the time, we go to these conferences and get fired up about all the great ideas there, and then we leave and nothing changes. The Big Ideas Fest culminated with a surprise. Three out of nine projects were selected to participate in the Big Ideas Fest in Beta, a new program which offers support to bringing these ideas to fruition. And furthermore, ISKME, the sponsor of the event, received a $50,000 matching grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support three groups with additional design workshops, access to ISKME's networks, services and other resources to help incubate their ideas.

So, after a grand total of six hours' total collaboration time, each of the nine groups had come up with some great prototypes, and three were going to get some support to build their prototypes into working products.

Step 6 in the classroom: Barring a visit from the Billionaire Fairy, you may have to get more creative for this final step. You might invite the community members you engaged in Step 1 of this process, as well as others in your school or community to hear the presentations and brainstorm actionable ways to bring the ideas to fruition in an authentic setting. You could present both in-person and online, or set up Skype calls with local businesses.

Are you using aspects of design thinking now? Or do you feel that design thinking might have a use in your classroom or school? How might it work?

Betty Ray is Edutopia's senior blog editor and community manager. She was one of the organizers for TEDxSFED in San Francisco and is a regular blogger for Edutopia. Follow her on Twitter @EdutopiaBetty

iPad apps for Teachers

2011-12-17T02:16:00.000-08:00

A Catalog of iPad Apps for Teachers and Students by Vicki Windman

Written by: 8/31/2011 10:16:00 AM

Fourteen of us–special education teachers, school psychologists, speech therapists, and other educators–recently spent six hours brainstorming with the goal of producing a starter iPad app catalogue for teachers and students in our district, and beyond.
Fourteen of us–special education teachers, school psychologists, speech therapists, and other educators–recently spent six hours brainstorming with the goal of producing a starter iPad app catalog for teachers and students in our district, and beyond. Thanks to my colleagues for helping the district pioneer through new territory!

All Grades:

Super Kids has been my go-to website for reinforcement dittos for years. Now they have a vocabulary app for grades 4-12 for $.99. The goal is to increase vocabulary on all grade levels.

Khan Academy Free - From algebra to basic arithmetic, YouTube videos that explain each topic.

Flashcardlet Free - Flashcardlet allows you to search for and study Quizlet.com flashcards. It also allows you to make personalized flashcards.

RFB&D audio $19.99 membership to Learning Ally Gain instant access to Learning Ally’s (formerly RFB&D) downloadable DAISY formatted books.

Elementary

UnderSea Adventures: Free - the $1.99 full version offers allows you to vary the levels. Learning Addition Visually - Answer questions to reveal a secret picture. Every correct answer is one step closer to seeing the picture.

iTouchandLearnNumbers $1.99 provides a perfect blend of curriculum based learning and animated game fun.

ABC Phonics Free - FLASHCARDS - SEE the spelling, HEAR the audio, and LEARN the word.

What are they thinking? $3.99 Choose to have the student listen to 180 entertaining “thoughts,” or have the student answer each “What are they thinking?” question. This App can track data for all correct and incorrect responses. It also collects data for one student at a time and allows you to view and email those results.

Elementary/Middle School

Shake a Phrase $1.99 A fun interactive app to learn the parts of speech with 1700+ age appropriate vocabulary words. Three modes- Shake It: creates a new random sentence every time you shake - great for discovering new words. Not sure what a word means? Just tap for definitions! Story Starter: shake up the beginning of a story and let your imagination take over. Quiz Me: test your skills with adjectives, verbs and nouns. Tap on the right words to get points.

Earth Science through Photographs $4.99 – geared for 8-11 year olds. The app includes earth science photographs containing three details with audio.

Living Safely $29.99 provides self-directed learning sessions for 27 important safety skills topics.

A Trip in the USA $.99 Using rhymes, this app tells the story of a trip to several US cities where you learn about the geography and history. Cities include New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Orlando, Seattle and Houston. One of the nicest things about this app is that you can personalize it with your child’s face – and gender – so the story becomes about them.

Middle School

Be Confident Who You Are By Electric Eggplant $3.99 Meet Mateo, Michelle and their friends—six teens trying to figure out what middle school’s all about. Follow their adventures and watch as they learn how to get along in middle school.

High School/Middle School

The Constitution Free - the Constitution as it was.

History: Maps of the World Free - A fun and educational collection of high-resolution historical maps.

Library of Congress Free - The Library of Congress is the world's largest library and the largest body of knowledge under a single roof. Whether you're onsite, at home, in a classroom or elsewhere, this app will give you a virtual tour that mirrors the Library of Congress.

Science 360 Free - fantastic visuals! The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Science360 for iPad provides easy access to engaging science and engineering images and video from around the globe.

Musee du Louvre Free - the next best way to see the Louvre without going there.

High School:
SpaceTime for the iPad $9.99 SpaceTime 4.0 is the most powerful mathematics app and graphing calculator ever developed for the iPad. This app has the ability to graph in 2D and 3D with beautiful and colorful graphics.

Monster.com Free - great for teaching students how to look for a job a skill all High School and College students need to know.

Resume Writing Secrets $.99 All High School students need to learn how to write a resume. This app gives you the hidden rules and secrets.

Expense Tablet $.99 A great app to teach students the concept of budgeting.

Fiske Interactive College Guide $19.99 Organize your college tour with built-in map function Locate critical school deadlines (such as application dates) Email admissions departments directly from the app . Browse each college website, explore schools that compete with one another (“overlap schools”).

Television and Broadcasting for High School Students

Clapper Board $19.99 a convenient, all-in-one digital slate, clapper board, shot log, and shot notepad— designed for use in film, TV, documentaries, music videos, and interviews.

Storyboard Composer $19.99 mobile storyboard and pre-visualization composer designed for Directors, Directors of Photography, Producers, Writers, Animators, Art Directors, film students and anyone who wants to be able to visualize their story.

ProPrompter $9.99 features professional settings for fonts, font sizes, background colors, scroll speeds, mirroring, looping, landscape, portrait and automatic orientation modes, adjustable countdown, cue points for fast re-cueing, support for international language fonts, editing, direct script creation, remote control and a complete help menu.

8mm HD $2.99 capture the beauty and magic of old school vintage movies. Dust & scratches, retro colors, flickering, light leaks, frame jitters - all can be instantly added with a single tap or swipe.

Scripts Pro $5.99 When writing in desktop screenplay programs, you forget about the program all together and are focused entirely on writing your story. The same thing is true with Scripts Pro because there is no cluttered interface or complex solutions to writing.

Autism
Social Skills Sampler HD Free - This company the Conover Company has a wide variety of “Life Skill” videos This particular one Is designed to teach and reinforce basic social skills critical for independent living.

EPIC WIN $2.99 It’s a streamlined to-do list, to quickly note down all your everyday tasks, but with a role-playing spin. So rather than just ticking off your chores and reminders, completing each one earns you XP to improve and develop your character.

IDIOM Dictionary $1.99 Can be used in all areas of curriculum but this concept is particularly difficult for children on the Spectrum.

Everyday Skills $39.99 provides self-directed learning sessions for 40 important skills necessary for living independently and accessing the community based on proven content developed by the Attainment Company.

iReward $3.99 When stars have been earned, your child can pick from the default list of suggested rewards, or you can setup your own custom rewards especially tailored for each of your children.

iPrompts XL $49.99 alllows you to create picture schedules, a countdown timer, choice prompts. It comes with an image library which includes hundreds of useful illustrations and digital pictures across many categories.

ABC Data 4.99 Created to assist professionals and students in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), ABC Data is an unobtrusive data collection tool for counting behaviors and recording session duration.

Practicing Pragmatics $5.99 - Student looks at an illustration and either reads the prompt or touches the screen to listen to the prompt. The student then gives a verbal response. After each answer, tap the green (correct) or red (incorrect) button to score the student’s verbal response.

Vicki Windman is a special education teacher at Clarkstown High School South.

Eight Years of 1:1 Computing Research in Maine

2011-12-16T06:43:00.000-08:00

Posted on November 15, 2011
Reaching the Tipping Point? Eight Years of MLTI Research
PC Computing Blueprints
by James Rosso

The latest report from the University of Southern Maine documents the impact of the nation's most comprehensive statewide 1:1 initiative.
A Middle School One-to-One Laptop Program: The Maine Experience, written by David L. Silvernail and other researchers at the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) of the University of Southern Maine, provides an overview of many years of research about Maine’s middle school one-to-one initiative. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), which has provided all 7th and 8th grade students and their teachers with their own laptop computers for 24/7 use, was originally authorized in 1999 by then-governor Angus King. By the fall of the 2002-03 school year, MLTI entered its first phase, involving over 17,000 seventh grade students and their teachers in over 240 schools throughout the state. The program expanded to grade eight the next year and has continued providing laptops to all 7th and 8th graders, accompanied by professional development for faculty, ever since.

From the beginning, MTLI was committed to program evaluation. The Maine Commissioner of Education contracted with MEPRI to conduct ongoing research into the impact of the initiative using a variety of methods including online surveys, test data analysis, site visits, and observations. What follows is a summary of the key findings reported in MEPRI’s current research overview.

Section 1: Evidence on Laptop Use

The latest evidence comes from a survey of 1,690 middle school teachers conducted in the spring of 2010. The goal was to assess how often and in what ways the computers were being used. In middle schools where laptops have been readily available for so many years, has teacher use of technology reached what Malcolm Gladwell refers to as the tipping point—"the point where something that began as unique becomes common"? In some areas, the answer appears to be a cautious "yes." For example, over an 8-year period (2003 - 2010), teacher use of the laptops to communicate with parents, students, and colleagues and to manage student information has doubled, rising from approximately 40% to over 80%.

A closer look reveals the ways in which the laptops are most frequently used. After asking the teachers to classify their use on a 6-point scale ranging from "never" to "often during the day," the researchers identified the following as the most common uses (ie., rated as 4, 5, or 6):

To communicate with colleagues inside and outside the school (93%)

To look up quick facts to inform teaching (88%)

To manage student information (87%)

To develop instructional materials (83%)

To conduct research for lesson plans and curriculum design (78%)

To record grades (76%)

To communicate with parents and students (75%)

As a tool during instruction (75%)

To differentiate instruction (75%)

For summative assessment (60%)

For formative assessment (53%)
And what about student use? According to student surveys, instructional use was most common in language arts, social studies and science. In these three areas, approximately 40% of the students indicated they use their laptops four hours or more each week. In mathematics, on the other hand, only 14% of the students reported using the laptops 4 or more hours per week and only 10% of art and music classes used them that often. Types of uses reported by students as occurring at least a few times a week included:

Researching information (69%)

Editing papers (44%)

Taking notes (42%)

Organizing information (38%)

Writing first drafts (32%)

Creating presentations (26%)

Working on short-term assignments (26%)

Working with spreadsheets (17%)
Section 2: Factors Relating to Use Levels

It is hard to answer the question of why there are differences in adoption levels by different teachers involved in the same program. Computer use does not appear to be a product of age, gender, teaching experience, or education level. However, as indicated above, usage was more common in certain subject areas than in others. Beyond that, one of the main factors affecting teachers’ use of the computers is teaching philosophy.

Based on survey answers, researchers were able to classify teachers as either constructivist (student-centered) or traditional (teacher-centered) in their teaching philosophy. Among constructivist teachers, 57% used the laptop frequently with students, whereas for the traditional teachers laptop usage was at 32%. It also seems that the usage of the computer in the classroom is shifting some of the teachers from the traditional to the constructivist end of the spectrum; MLTI is helping teachers become more student-centered.

Section 3: Benefits of the Laptop Program

Survey data show that teachers feel that they benefit from working with laptops. Some of the main benefits they identified:

Ability to explore topics in greater depth (87%)

Ability to teach some types of content and skills more effectively (86%)

Ability to individualize curriculum to fit student needs (82%)

Ability to differentiate instruction more effectively (76%)

Ability to teach students to be critical thinkers (66%)
Teachers also reported being better able to complete administrative tasks quickly, cover more material, track student learning, and let student data inform their teaching. In addition, teachers believe that the laptops make their students better learners. With laptops, the majority of teachers say, students work harder at their assignments, learn some content faster, express ideas more effectively, and are generally more involved with their learning.

Likewise, students are aware of the benefits to them. In the survey, the students indicated that, when working with a laptop, they are more likely to edit their work, stay better organized, get more work done with a higher quality, understand the material better, and feel more involved.

Section 4: Impacts on Student Learning: A Summary of Findings

To determine gains in specific curriculum areas the MEPRI research team has conducted a series of reports over several years. In all four of these already-published studies, summarized in A Middle School One-to-One Laptop Program: The Maine Experience, students participating in the laptop program outscored a control group in significant ways:

Creating Better Writers

Using Laptops to Facilitate Middle School Science Learning: The Results of Hard Fun

Maine’s Impact Study of Technology in Mathematics

21st Century Skills
Section 5: Costs of the Laptop Program

This section of the report strives to answer one question: Is the Maine Learning Technology Initiative cost effective? For this research, the comparison was made with other 1:1 programs around the country. State costs include the laptops, software, network costs, and state level personnel costs as shown in the chart below.

2009-10 State MLTI Costs
Item

Units

Cost

Middle School Student

29,570 @ $242 per unit

$7,155,940

Middle School Staff

4,468 @ $242 per unit

$1,081,256

School Network Fee

225@ $7,817 per school

$1,758,825

MLTI Staff

Ten full and part-time staff

$471,905

Total Costs

$10,467,926

Cost per Unit

$308 per Unit

Local costs were also taken into consideration. The researchers found that the costs of the MLTI program sit in the average range when compared to similar programs or, as the authors reported: "Although much of the evidence in this area must be used cautiously, it appears Maine’s one-to-one laptop program costs are in line with the average costs found in other one-to- one laptop programs. Maine’s per unit costs were very similar to the average found in four other cost studies, and the incremental costs appear to be moderate."

Section 6: Summary and future Research

Teachers report benefits from the laptop program in both instruction and management while student achievement has definitely increased. As the writers of the report indicate: "The evidence presented in this report indicates that the MTLI program has had a significant impact on curriculum, instruction, and learning in Maine’s middle schools. In the areas of curriculum and instruction, the evidence indicates many teachers have reached the tipping point in the adoption and integration of the laptop into their teaching."

Further research is needed, however, to arrive at a better understanding of why certain advances have not been as fast or as great as program planners might have liked. In particular: Why do the teachers make so little use of the laptops to provide differentiated instruction or formative assessment? Why isn’t more time being devoted to using the laptops to develop 21st century skills?

Finally, the researchers are hoping to look more closely at the role of MLTI in the shift from teacher- to student-centered instruction. To what degree has it happened? And for whom? "Finding answers to these questions," say the MEPRI researchers, is important for identifying strategies for further promotion of this shift for more teachers."

Source: A Middle School One-to-One Laptop Program: The Maine Experience

The Digital Student and Coherent Curricular Programs

2011-11-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

Robert Leneway, 2011
We are living in fascinating times. It is both exhilarating and challenging. Powerful emerging technologies, data systems and communications have converged to change how we play, work, communicate, learn and even what we think about. It is fundamentally changing our institutions and support systems, especially schools. Christensen, Johnson and Horn, (2010) claim by 2020 over half of the U.S. student will be learning online and will reach a disrupting tipping point when tax payers will ask do we still need classrooms.

To adapt to overwhelming amounts of information, and continual interaction with visual media and game playing, researchers tell us that the newest generation of K-12 students have neurologically changed their brains to try to keep pace and literately see and learn differently than their parents and grandparents, in that they see and remember visual images in place of text (Carter, R. (2009), Feinstein, S. (2004), Goldstein, 2007) Kandel, E. (2006)., and Small, G., & Vorgon, G. (2008)). The television is being replaced by computer screens, mobile devices and game consoles as primarily sources of information and entertainment (Prensky, M, 2006). Today’s paper textbooks are about to be replaced by intelligent, colorful, multimedia response programs that fit on mobile devices such as iPads, Kindles and smartphones. According to Aponte, G, Levieux (2009), the new interactive games require a decision every 1-2 seconds and rewards every 7- 12 seconds. Meanwhile, our schools, our classrooms and our curriculum have remained relevantly the same for decades.

At the same time, recent media attention toward the state of education has multiple hands trying to gain control of our educational systems and the content they teach. Recently, legislature like No Child Left Behind and governmental threats of public sector takeovers has taken much of the power and funding from programs that needed it. It is clear from this media attention that public education is being attacked by powerful enemies. Public education has to change or die. Perhaps the greatest hope for responsive change to both changing student learning needs and external threads comes in the form of educator’s attempts to develop coherent curriculum program changes.

In a recent interview, (Leneway, 2011) a fifth grade teacher said: "As I look at my class today compared to my classes ten years ago, I can really see a difference in interests and the way students spend their spare time outside of school. As students are evolving with the times, their interests that we, as teachers, have become accustomed to are changing. My avid readers in class are now downloading books onto their “Nooks” instead of bringing their books to class. Students are texting and/or messaging via Facebook on their free time at home; and the majority of my students can play and “master” more and more video games that I have never heard of and am clueless about…..More and more of my students are “antsy” and more apt to “play” with technology than use the traditional ways of learning without utilizing technology. I have found myself adjusting and changing my lessons/projects that I teach over the years to keep them engaged."

As a another high school teacher said during an interview, “Education can adapt and embrace the 21st preparing students better for a world that has technology at its core of almost everything we do these days.” While another teacher reported: There are better ways to do things, so we do them in better ways. Why would education be any different? Yes, math is still math: but math is much more efficient, faster, and easier to learn when using electronic programs and smart boards. English is still English: but using a word processor for a 20 page report is much faster, more efficient, and much easier than handwriting a 20 page report.

In their best selling book, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, Christensen, Horn and Johnson 2008, 2011) claim that “for America to stay competitive, … we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, re-evaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words we need ‘disruptive innovation’.” The challenge to school leaders is how to provide a coherence and relevant curriculum experience during “disruptive innovation.”

Assessment in the Digital Age | Digital Learning Environments

2011-11-02T06:23:00.000-07:00

Assessment in the Digital Age | Digital Learning Environments

Ian Jukes on What are the most profound effects that digital bombardment has on children? How is this changing the way educators need to teach.

2011-11-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ian Jukes November 1, 2011
http://www.21stcenturyfluency.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=2265

What are the most profound effects that digital bombardment has on children? How is this changing the way educators need to teach?

The central issue is that kids today look pretty much the same as we did growing up, which belies the fact that on inside they are completely different. Because of digital bombardment - because of their pervasive exposure to digital technology - exposure that primarily happens outside of school hours - that this digital bombardment is literally wiring and rewiring kids’ brains on an ongoing basis. Their brains are constantly adapting to accommodate all the technology they spend so much time surrounded by.

They are what Canadian futurist Don Tapscott calls “screenagers”—the first generation that has grown up with a computer mouse and the assumption that images on a screen are to be interacted with. These technologies are their new learning tools and also are something to project their very identity onto - what writer Marc Prensky calls “digital natives.”

They’ve developed a “cultural brain” profoundly affected by digital culture. Because of digital bombardment, the brains of today’s children are changing physically and chemically.

They are actually neurologically wired differently than we are.

The problem is that many teachers haven’t had the same digital, online high speed experiences that their students have, so naturally many teachers only feel comfortable processing information at the conventional speeds they have experienced most of their lives. And, as a result, they don’t understand or appreciate the digital generation’s need for speed.

So after digital learners have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours of their lives before and after school, and on weekend and holidays playing video games, surfing the web, using cellphones and other digital devices wandering around in virtual environments, they come to school where many of them tell me they feel like they’ve literally run into a wall when they are confronted by the awesome technological power of an overhead projector or a dry erase whiteboard.

To really connect with the digital generation, educators need to start by acknowledging the absolute centrality of digital culture to their lives; and be willing, at least part of the time, to acknowledge, accept, to embrace and even show some respect for the digital world that is an everyday and internalized part of their students’ lives.

2. What are the new thinking skills that today’s workers need? How should educators change the way they teach to make sure they equip students with these skills?

Great question!!! Over the past two years, we have asked this question of more than 2000 people from all walks of life - politicians, business folks, educators, parents...Inevitably it seems to come down to six major things - first, students need the ability to solve complex problems in real-time.

Second, students need to be creative. They need to be able to think divergently and creatively in both digital and non-digital environments to create novel and useful solutions.

Third, they need the ability to think analytically.

Comparing, contrasting, evaluating, synthesizing, and applying without instruction or supervision. Being able to use the higher end of Bloom’s Taxonomy

Fourth, they must be able to collaborate seamlessly in both physical and virtual spaces, with real and virtual partners in traditional and digital settings.

Because the most powerful technology in the classroom was, is and will remain...a classroom teacher.

Fifth, they must be able to communicate effectively - not just using text or speech, but in multiple multimedia formats.

And finally, they must develop an appreciation of the social, the aesthetic, the esoteric, the philosophical, the moral, and the ethical. We want to nurture students who are socially functional and prepared to operate in the new and changing world they’re going to live in. We want to help them develop the skills that will make them a good person, a good citizen - parent, a community member and a positive contributor to our nation. We may quibble about the language a little, but every group of stakeholders we ask the question to from parents up to national level officials give us more or less the same answers.

We believe that traditional emphasis literacy is not enough. We believe that even if we were to educate our students to standards of the traditional literacies and the provincial/state curriculum, as we are doing in our schools, that our students would be literate by the standards of the 20th century, but they wouldn’t be literate by the standards of the 21st Century - if we’re going to prepare our students for the world that awaits them once they leave school, we need to move our thinking, we need to move our training beyond our primary fixation on the traditional 20th century literacies to a new and different set of 21st century fluencies - the process skills that are absolutely essential for success in the new working and living culture of the 21st century.

3. How can educators keep up with the new media and technological developments that their students are accessing without becoming overwhelmed or neglecting other aspects of their work?

This is the wrong question. I could put a state of the art piece of technology in the hands of every single student, every single teacher, and every administrator - and if that's all I do, the only thing that's going to change is that the technology bill not to mention the power bill is going to be a hell of a lot bigger. Because the most powerful technology in the classroom was, is and will remain...a classroom teacher. But not just any classroom teacher - it has to be a classroom teacher with a love of learning, an appreciation of the aesthetic, the esoteric, the ethical, and the moral - a teacher who understands Bloom and Gardner - who understands how different students learn at different stages of their lives.

The fundamental issue we are facing in the 21st Century classroom has very little to do with hardware and everything to do with HEADWARE - a focus on critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, information fluency, 21st Century collaboration, and what it means to be a global digital citizen in the new digital landscape. If teachers are willing to make a commitment to this, not only will test scores go up, but students will leave our schools with the essential skills needed to survive in the culture of the 21st Century.

4. Why do students today process information, interact and communicate in fundamentally different ways than any previous generation before them? Each generation of students is, of course, presented with new ideas and new technologies—for example, the eras of the telephone, the television and the personal computer. What makes this particular generation unique?

Digital learners have had lifelong experience operating at twitch speed. For them waiting for their computer to start up, waiting for files to download, waiting in a lineup to do something is a complete waste of time. This is primarily due to their constant lifelong exposure to video games, handheld devices, cell phones, hypertext, and all of the other aspects of our increasingly digital, high paced world. As a result of this chronic lifelong digital bombardment, digital kids have had far more experience at processing information at a far faster rate than we do. So naturally, they’re far better at dealing with high speed information.

To coin a phrase from the movie Top Gun, the digital generation has an internalized "need for speed" - digital is their native language - it’s the way they grew up.
Consequently, if we want connect with the digital generation, we need to start by acknowledging the absolute centrality of digital culture to their lives and be willing, at least part of the time, to acknowledge, accept, to embrace and even show some respect for the digital world that is an everyday and internalized part of their students’ lives.

... we now understand that the brain is constantly creating new thinking patterns throughout our lives.

5. In your presentation, you make reference to the concept of “neuroplasticity.” What does it mean and why is it important for educators to understand it in terms of today’s learners?

Neuroplasticity is the process of the ongoing reorganization & restructuring of the brain where the neurons are constantly rearranging themselves, making new connections, and pruning unnecessary ones - literally that the brain is plastic and malleable

So contrary to traditional assumptions about how the brain and mind function, we now understand that the brain is constantly creating new thinking patterns throughout our lives. It’s important to understand that the brain is like a tree. Early on there’s a flurry of growth as a tree grows extra branches, extra twigs and extra roots. Then, over time, the unused branches or pathways get pruned away or wither and die.It’s this pruning that gives a tree its shape for the future.

The very same thing happens in the brain. There’s a lot of truth to the old phrase "Use it or lose it" The cells and connections that are redundant - the cells and connections that are seldom used get neurally pruned away. Over time unused or under utilized neural pathways wither and die.

Additionally, as new neural connections neural connections form during the early stages of life, the most heavily used pathways, the pathways that get sparked the most frequently, become coated or insulated with a substance called myelin, which is a fatty insulating sheath that speeds signal transmission in the brain.

Being insulated in myelin will boost neural signal transmission speeds in the brain by more than 13 times. Which is a jump in speed equivalent to switching from dial-up to broadband. Myelinated circuits not only transmit 13 times as fast, they also transmit 30 times more information per second. So these myelinated neural circuits not only have greater speed but also greater bandwidth.

So you might ask, what does this mean? It means that if you have a student who spends the majority of their time focusing on music or sports or academics, those are the cells and neural pathways that will become hard-wired and insulated.

However, if you have students who spend the majority of their time lying on the couch playing video games or watching TV, those are the cells and connections that are going to flourish.

In the end, the most used and useful connections develop into a complex high-speed neural network as a result of this regular exposure,and if the connections are not used or useful, they get pruned away. That's what neuroplasticity is and why it's important for teachers to understand it in terms of today's learners.

6.In your presentation, you’ve come up with eight key learning preferences of digital learners and compared them with the “old-school” teaching styles. Why is it vital for today’s educators to adapt their teaching strategies to their students’ learning preferences rather than the other way around? Should we be at all concerned about this massive exposure to digital media?

Wow - a pretty big and complicated question to answer in 25 words or less, but here goes. The digital generation is frequently criticized, derided, misunderstood, misrepresented and disrespected in the press. They’re often accused of being intellectual slackers and anti-social beings who lack even basic social skills. However, the research says that on the contrary, for the vast majority, the digital world is a far from an isolating experience - constantly in contact with one another. They’re a highly social generation. Here’s the difference, they’re just not social the way that we’re social

They live at least part of the time in digital worlds they’ve created for themselves, they play Warcraft, they play Mass Effect and hundreds of other MMORP games that are exciting and engaging. In these virtual environments they create and control everything - they’re users - they’re active - there’s excitement, novelty, risk, the company of peers. They observe, they inquire, they participate, discuss, argue, play, shop, critique, and investigate. As a result, they become easily frustrated because they expect, in fact they demand to be able to be in control. The problem is that what they expect and experience in their world outside of school with their games and websites is completely at odds with what they experience in the classroom where everything is controlled by adults . They sit in classrooms where things are hierarchical, unidirectional, inflexible and centralized where the teacher stands at the front of the room talking to them non-stop without even showing nice pictures.

It’s boring,they control nothing, they have to sit there passively and listen - for them, school is all about being passive observers and learning endless deferred gratification; and I can absolutely guarantee you that it will not be possible much longer to engage young people in an educational system where the quality of experiences the school provides aren’t as inviting and engaging as the quality of the experiences they can get outside the school. The digital generation will never accept the traditional stand and deliver educational model - they need to be in a situation where they’re controlling things and that can never happen in the current school environment

7. If you could share one key piece of advice for educators navigating this new digital frontier, what would it be?

Every generation since the time of Socrates and Plato, including our parents, has looked at the next generation - including us - and said, what’s wrong with those kids? There’s nothing wrong with these kids. They’re just different – neurologically different – that’s why they see the world differently – they engage with the world differently.

There is a fundamental change going on in our culture and many adults refuse to recognize or accept this. We have every right to expect the digital generation to respect, understand and engage with our world and our values - that's how we transmit culture - that's how we transmit democracy, from one generation to the next. But in the same way that we have every right for them to respect our world, we absolutely also need to take the time to respect, understand and engage with their world and their values. Just because we were here first doesn’t mean we can ignore their world. And we ignore their world at our peril.

See
thinking outside the can
www.21stcenturyfluency.com

Long-term Survey Reveals Gen Xers Are Active, Balanced and Happy

2011-10-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

Despite being stereotyped as a bunch of insecure underachievers, most members of Generation X lead active, balanced and happy lives, according to a long-term University of Michigan survey.

"They are not bowling alone," says political scientist Jon D. Miller, author of The Generation X Report. "They are active in their communities, mainly satisfied with their jobs and able to balance work, family and leisure."

Miller directs the Longitudinal Study of ...

More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=122088&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click

This is an NSF News item.

An Open Letter to Techy Teachers

2011-09-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

By Nicholas Provenzano
9/14/11 From Edutopia (http://www.edutopia.org)

As the new school year gets underway, there will be plenty of times when the "techy" teachers are going to be asked to help others get their classrooms set up. As I spent the first few days helping my friends put their digital lives together, I made sure to follow some important tips I learned over the years. Follow these tips and helping teachers get ready will be a breeze.

1) Listen

It seems simple enough, but I've seen too many tech support people just come in and plug computers in and re-start programs without really listening to what the problem is. Take a moment and listen to their specific problem, and ask the questions you need to ask. This makes the person feel better about the whole situation.

2) Avoid Saying "It's Easy"

Just because it is easy for you, doesn't mean it is easy. The phrase has a way of making people feel stupid if it was not easy for them. Just tell them you will be happy to help.

3) Show, Tell, and Let Them Try
It is important that you show them the process of fixing their problem. The saying about teaching someone to fish applies here. It is easier to just do it, but if you can show them how to resolve the problem on their own, they might not need to call you for help next time. Even better, they might be able to assist others who might have called for your help.

4) Follow up

I feel it is always important to follow up in the next day or two. Sometimes the problem doesn't stay fixed or another issue comes up and they are afraid to bug you for more help. A follow-up lets people know that you are still available to assist if needed. Helping teachers with tech is as much about relationships as it is fixing things. If people feel comfortable, they will be more willing to ask for support and take advice.

These four steps have helped me help many teachers over the years. Consider them the next time you get a distress call for serious tech support. Happy teching!
If you like this, you might also like

* The Dos and Don'ts of Tech Integration PD by Mary Beth Hertz
* Four Simple Tips to Start the Year Strong by Nicholas Provenzano
Source URL: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/tech-teachers-advice-nicholas-provenzano

Four Web 2.0 Technologies To Inspire Students

2011-09-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

* By Chris-Rachael Oseland * 09/14/11

Instructional Technologist Marta Masterson is used to some skepticism when students see her syllabus. A lot of them have never heard of Web 2.0 technologies like Diigo, Glogster, Prezi, and PBworks. For some, the thought of using any technology they can't access from their phone breaks them out in a cold sweat. For others, there's a very real concern that investing hours into Web 2.0 projects could result in waking up one morning to discover the cloud ate their homework.

Masterson said she has faith that the four technologies she finds most useful in the classroom aren't going anywhere. She's willing to back that faith up with examples of real world success in using Diigo, Glogster, Prezi, and PBworks as teaching tools.

Realistically, Masterson said, there's a risk these technologies might disappear, but she said she believes teaching students how to use Web 2.0 technologies is almost as important as the course material. "Students are going to be using a computer every day at their job, even if they're not in an IT field," she said. "There aren't a lot of jobs out there anymore where you're not sitting in front of a computer every day. The more you know about computers the more job opportunities you're going to have. Plus, not having to wait for the help desk makes you more efficient. If you're on a deadline and you know how to solve your own problem, that makes you a real asset."

By the end of her classes, Masterson said, she's converted most of her skeptics.

Campus Technology recently had an opportunity to talk to Masterson about how she uses Web 2.0 technologies in both the graduate library science course she teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in her position as Instructional Technologist at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI.

Chris-Rachael Oseland: You say there are four big Web 2.0 technologies you advocate in the classroom. Let's take a close look at each of them. Tell me how you use PBworks.

Marta Masterson: PBworks is a wiki. I specifically use it because it has a free option for educators. The education license allows more privacy rights than the public option. I can set up the wiki so only the students and I can view it. That's one of the main concerns I have with a lot of Web 2.0. I want to make sure my students have a level of privacy where if they don't want their name attached to something, it doesn't follow them for life.

PBworks is a great way to have students work online in small groups. I also use it to summarize course content. I divide up sections of readings and have them work in groups. There are a lot of ways to put videos into the wiki. I send students out to find real world examples of how their subject is being implemented, then they can share that information with everyone in the class.

Because it's a wiki, they get the opportunity to link to things. It's not static. They can show other students Web site that are relevant to what we're discussing in class.

An added benefit of the small groups is that they all can edit , take turns, go in there, and change things around. They don't have to all be there at the same time. It shows a history of edits so I can go to the page and see what work a specific student did at the a specific time. It lets me keep track of individual progress, group progress, and see how they're working together in the class.

Oseland: How do students react to using PBworks?

Masterson: Overall students have liked it. In fact I'm always surprised how little they e-mail me and ask me for help with it. It has a great set of tutorials and videos and I make sure in all the assignments I write I link to those.

The things they don't like about it are all aesthetic. Sometimes it's difficult to get text to wrap around images or maybe the whole page is not as beautiful as they'd like to be, but it's an easy tool to learn. That means there's some give and take. You have a lot of freedom

In general, you can either have a technology with a very high learning curve that ends up really beautiful, or you can have something that a student can learn today with no trouble at all, but it isn't as nice to look at.
Glogster EDU lets students create online multimedia posters that use text, photos, music, and video. Glog by Emily Kornak
Glogster EDU lets students create online multimedia posters that use text, photos, music, and video. Glog by Emily Kornak

Oseland: You said you use a different technology to help students get to know one another better. Tell me about Glogster.

Masterson: I would call it an electronic poster. It's online, so it's not on a piece of paper. Students can add text, images, and videos to it. If they don't have their own pictures, it comes with images they can use. Embedding the YouTube videos is super easy. You can also add audio to it.

For one assignment, I had students critique and compare two academic journal articles. One student had audio of her talking about the two articles instead of writing it out. Instead of this thing totally full of text, she talked to people, made it more interactive.

I like to have students make a poster about themselves when we start class so they can get to know one another better. I've had a student put up a video of them with their kids. Another had some audio and photos. It's more geared towards K-12, so it's not really the best tool for academic writing. I like having them use it for socialization, though. That's part of class, too.

That brings me back to best practices. Glogster didn't work out the way I wanted it for the very first assignment, but after talking to my students, I was able to find a whole new use that was a lot more relevant. Now they really like it.

Oseland: Is this another free technology?

Masterson: Oh, yes. It also has an education component. A teacher can sign up for private classroom accounts. The basic non-education version is free, too. These Web 2.0 tools are mostly free, and a lot of them have great educational uses.

Oseland: Like it or not, everyone is familiar with PowerPoint. You have an alternative.

Masterson: I like Prezi. It's kind of like the mind map version of PowerPoint. You have this huge canvas and you can plop what you want to say down anywhere on it. You can write out your text anywhere you want and create a path around it so when you click the forward arrow it knows to go to the next slide, but you can also zoom out and see the whole presentation. It's not so linear.

It's hard to describe. This is the technology students both love and hate the most.

Oseland: I'd love to use a good alternative to PowerPoint. What do they hate?

Masterson: They hate how different it is from PowerPoint. Prezi has a high learning curve. Instead of the control panel in PowerPoint, it has a thing called a zebra. It really isn't like anything you normally use.

PBworks is set up so when you're editing a wiki page, it almost looks like a Word document. It's really easy. You don't have to think about it at all. Prezi doesn't look like PowerPoint at all. You have to learn all the editing tools. On top of that, you not only go up and down and back and forth, you also go in and out. Sometimes students have a difficult time with that. It has more steps in order to make it look nice, but--if you put in the time--you can make something really cool-looking.

Students were very divided on it. If they got it, they'd make these amazing detailed Prezis. Others spent so much time learning how to use the technology they didn't have much time left to add actual content.

I like it because it's not linear. It creates much more interesting presentations than power point. You have to decide the pattern and the flow of information that's in your presentation. You're not just plunking down text on a slide.

Oseland: Do you think PowerPoint might be fading from the classroom?

Masterson: No. A lot of people still really like it. It has its place. It's easy to use. I think maybe the problem right now is that people need to be better educated about how to use it well. A lot of the hate towards PowerPoint has to do with the user and not the technology. People use it to stand there and read from a slide.

Oseland: Honestly, I've never been to a meeting where I thought, "Wow, this PowerPoint Presentation really added a lot."

Masterson: That's because people are using it wrong. I like it a lot when faculty provide the PowerPoint presentations to students in advance. They're a nice resource to have. Students can look at the slides ahead of time. If they have it all written out, they know what the teacher things is important. Instead of scrawling notes as fast as they can, they can concentrate on what the teacher is saying.

Oseland: You also have your students use a social bookmarking site.

Masterson: Yes, I have my students create their own link libraries in Diigo. It's a lot like Del.icio.us. You can put sticky notes on Web sites. If you go back to the site when you have Diigo open, you can see your sticky again.

It also allows you to highlight content on a Webpage.

One of the features I like is it lets you create groups on topics. For example, there are some educational technology groups people belong to with these amazing lists of all these Web sites and blogs you can look through.

I use Diigo groups for my students. Everyone in the class has to join and then I have them find links on certain topics and they have to go in there, find something they like, describe what it is and why they chose it. I have them all comment on one another's so they're actually going in and looking at them.

If you want students to use things like technology, you have to give them some sort of grade on things so they have a reason to go in there and use it. I do this towards the end of the semester because by then they've been with the topic we're talking about. They've pretty much completed their project, and the project forces them to go out on the Internet. It's a way to make a class library of the resources they've used.

One of the things that was a nice surprise to me when I used it for the first time was how much it opened the students' eyes up to how much free stuff there is out there. Once you're out of university and don't have access to a periodical database all the time, there are still places you can go to find information. It's amazing how many people are willing to share their lesson plans, assignments, and things people will need for business resources, too.

Oseland: We've talked about the software you use. Do you picture any big hardware changes in the near future?

Masterson: I don't think desktops are going to be around much longer, especially in computer labs for students. As it becomes easier and cheaper to do things with wireless, I think computer labs are going to turn into places where students bring their own computers, hang out, and get help, as opposed to being a place where they go to sit and type on a strange computer.

Oseland: Do you see schools dropping netbooks and laptops in favor of tablets?

Masterson: No. Tablets aren't at the level yet where you can do the kind of things you need to do to be a student.

Oseland: Do you think textbooks will be replaced by way of tablets?

Masterson: I hope so. I never liked buying them. Of course, buying a book on an Kindle or iPad isn't cheaper at the moment, but hopefully textbooks will be cheaper. I think the way students use textbooks is made for those kind[s] of devices. A lot of it is skimming. If it was easier to carry around, I may be naive, but I like to think if they didn't have to lug around 50 pounds of books, maybe while students were sitting at the bus stop they might read a few pages for class.

Oseland: Where do you see classroom technology heading? Give me a Jetson's moment describing what you think classrooms will look like in the future.

Masterson: I think there will be a lot more courses are set up online that allow the students to learn from each other so the instructor really is more of a facilitator. I like the hybrid idea because there's value in meeting your classmates and having real time face-to-face discussions. Those passionate, in-the-moment discussions you end up having about a topic or a reading you did, I haven't found a way yet where I feel like you get that online.

It'd be nice to have part of classes be online. Faculty can put up lectures and readings for students to do with questions students should be discussing. You do that kind of work outside the classroom. That way, when students come to class, they can have discussions about what they learned outside class and do more of the sciences, hands-on work or lab work during classroom hours, the things that make more sense to do in a classroom setting.

I don't really think it's that far-fetched. People could do it now if they wanted to.

Teacher's First Day Icebreakers

2011-08-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

No matter what level you teach, establishing rapport with a new group of students is key to knowing how to help them learn. Here is a list of reviewed resources that offer a chance for you and your students to get to know one another. See: http://www.teachersfirst.com/spectopics/firstday.cfm from the Teacher First blog.

10 Terrific Apps to Help out High School Students

2011-07-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

By Laura Selby

updated 7/29/2011 9:16:40 AM ET 2011-07-29T13:16:40

It's almost August, and that means the beginning of a new school year is just around the corner. Maybe you're thrilled; more likely, though, all those lazy days of summer vacation have left you feeling like you don't know much about history, biology, or that foreign language you took. So we've assembled a motley collection of educational apps to give you a head start on the school year. Heck, even parents (who are, of course, already expert on all subjects) could probably find some interesting tidbits among these apps.

Courtesy of Tecca
1. World Atlas HD
Price: $1.99
Download:World Atlas HD
If you think free maps on the Internet leave something to be desired, the National Geographic Society's World Atlas HD app might be the app for you. It lets you search high-resolution world maps; you choose whether to view them in classic style, with an antique look, or in satellite form. Consult details for specific countries, including land area, population, languages spoken, major religions, type of government, and natural resources. World Atlas HD is available for iPad.
2. Wikipanion
Price: Free
Download:Wikipanion
This app is designed to provide easy access to Wikipedia from your smartphone or tablet. You can bookmark individual entries and sections within an entry, or perform a dictionary search within Wikipedia without leaving the page you're consulting. Wikipanion is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
3. Math Formulas — Reference Guide
Price: $0.99
Download:Math Formulas — Reference Guide
No more scrawling down mathematical formulas on little scraps of paper; this app remembers them all for you. Formulas are sorted by mathematical discipline (geometry, calculus, algebra and so on), and most are accompanied by examples of how they're used. This app is available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Courtesy of Tecca
4. PocketCas Lite Free
Price: Free
Download:PocketCas Lite Free
The developers of this app promise that with its help, "you will be able to solve almost every mathematical problem you can imagine." We're drooling already. Essentially, the app turns your device into a sophisticated graphing calculator. You can solve complex equations using the embedded functions from calculus, algebra, linear algebra and applied mathematics. PocketCas Lite Free is available for iPhone and iPad.
5. AccelaStudies "Essentials" series
Price: Free
Download: Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic
This foreign language app is available for learners of more than a dozen languages, including Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. Its features include flash cards, quizzes, and audio clips of a native speaker pronouncing vocabulary words. The app's available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

6. Frog Dissection
Price: $3.99
Download:Frog Dissection
Frog dissection is a classic high school biology experience. To practice for the big day (or to allow parents to relive their own frog dissections without the smell of formaldehyde), check out this award-winning app. Besides virtually dissecting a frog using the proper tools, you can learn about different types of frogs and their life cycles. There's also an interactive quiz. This app is available for iPad.
7. Shakespeare
Price: Free
Download:Shakespeare
As the name implies, this app contains the complete works of Shakespeare — 41 plays, 154 sonnets and six poems — all fully searchable for the words of your choice. There's also a glossary of Shakespearean terms, a section devoted to notable quotes, and a gallery of portraits of the Bard. The Shakespeare app is available for iPhone and iPad.
8. The Chemical Touch
Price: $0.99
Download: The Chemical Touch
The Chemical Touch app offers an interactive periodic table and detailed information on each element's properties, as well as more technical chemistry topics that we, quite frankly, don't totally understand. But we imagine it would be fascinating to budding chemists. The Chemical Touch is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Courtesy of Tecca
9. Skrambler X
Price: $2.99
Download:Skrambler X
A solid option for art history buffs is the Skrambler X game. The app helps you unscramble paintings by more than 30 famous artists including Degas, Rembrandt and Van Eyck. It's a good mental workout, and poring over the images provides a painless way to learn about each artist's signature subjects, colors and brushstrokes. Skrambler X is available for iPad.
10. Easel SAT Prep Lite
Price: Free
Download:Easel SAT Prep Lite
If you're studying for the SAT, this prep app could come in handy. It consists of a sample workbook with three sections, just like the real SAT. Each section has 25 questions which you can answer by scribbling on the blank space provided. If you find yourself stuck, a limited number of questions have a ShowMe feature that lets you watch a step-by-step demo of how to tackle that item. Easel SAT Prep Lite is available for iPad.

Test the Instruction, Not the Kids

2011-07-19T11:09:00.001-07:00

TCRecord: Article by Dick Schutz, Teachers College Record, May 25, 2011. This interesting article provides an alternative to NCLB standardized testing of students.

New PBS Resource Could Help Advance Digital Learning

2011-07-06T03:55:00.000-07:00

by Lee Crockett The Committed Sardine - http://t.co/DeQiqB9

The Public Broadcasting System and Boston-based PBS station WGBH are releasing a new digital media platform for pre-kindergarten through college, called PBS LearningMedia. The site will provide digital content tied to curriculum standards and will be available in both a free and premium format.

Rob Lippincott, senior vice president of education for PBS, said the system—expected to be announced June 27—has been in development since the emergence of WGBH’s Teachers’ Domain and PBS’ Digital Learning Library.

“LearningMedia is a merger of those two efforts to create a single national educational media platform for public media,” Lippincott said.

“What we’re looking at is not the Digital Learning Library and not Teachers’ Domain, but building on those collective resources for a new service that draws on the strength of both of those efforts and is meant to reach out to all stations throughout the system, and through those stations to a whole range of different kinds of partnerships in the system,” said Michelle Korf, senior executive for educational media with WGBH.

PBS LearningMedia will include content from more than 55 member stations, independent producers, and public institution partners. The site plans to launch with 12,000 digital learning objects, which include video clips, documents, games, images, and activities.

“Approximately 60 percent of the collection is made up of video clips,” said Lippincott. “All of these are purpose-built short pieces of video that have been produced or adapted for use in the classroom. These are not simply segments of television.”

The pieces are all aligned with the Common Core State Standards and created specifically for use with PBS LearningMedia.

“These are resources that have been vetted by educators, and unlike archives that are simply collections of resources that have been developed for other purposes, these have been keyed to specific teaching needs,” Korf said.

The network is meant to connect teachers to digital learning aids that are complementary to their curriculum.

“It is a supplemental product; it’s not designed to be the curriculum. It’s designed to be the media which drives and supports the curriculum,” Lippincott said.

“It’s also meant to be suggestive and not prescriptive,” Korf added. “Different states have different needs. … This is meant to support the whole range of curricular agendas at different state levels and to allow for a degree of localization and customization by teachers, by school districts, and by states.”

The free service allows educators to search for any keyword, standard, topic, or grade level and use the content they find in the classroom. The premium service, which adds a fee, allows for greater customization and enhanced features.

“It requires a little bit of extra bandwidth, it opens it to a much wider set of uses, and it allows teachers to use a lot more. Access to control of account and assessment data and analytics of what goes on in the system are the big difference … between the custom layer and the basic layer,” Lippincott said.

PBS LearningMedia officials plan to allow the system to be adaptive based on usage.

“We see this as a very dynamic model, and we see it evolving in response to the needs of teachers and students and also states,” Korf said.

The Top 6 Emerging Technologies in K-12 Education

2011-06-07T04:48:00.000-07:00

The Top 6 Emerging Technologies in K-12 Education

Time to Move Over?

2011-05-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

This is from a May 5, Tech Republic essay, Welcome to the future. All Homo Extinctus please step aside.

By Todd Fluhr

Every generation forges its own identity. It’s inevitable and desirable. But what are the implications for tomorrow? Is the current generation doomed to become Neanderthals in a land of iPad using Cro-Magnons? Is it even possible to integrate and evolve with the new and improved society? Or are we relics of a different time and place?

The shockwave of societal change and cultural perspective has hit us faster than in previous generations. As technology and change escalate, the faster we become irrelevant and out of date. Jerry Rubin once said to never trust anyone over 30. Logan’s Run lowered that age to 21 and executed them on Carousel. Now, we’re just trended by marketing demographics and marginalized by brand-name merchandise.

The world you knew is radically different from the world that is. Your point of reference is gone. If you haven’t learned to adapt and change, you’re already obsolete. It’s time to evolve and forget everything you once thought relevant.

If you can’t do that, then it’s time to dust off the old VHS and watch some Max Headroom reruns.

For the rest of the essay, see http://tinyurl.com/6j39m9m

Top 12 Web 2.0 Sites for Teachers

2011-04-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

by Michael Leon

Being a successful educator takes a great deal of work and dedication. Many teachers pursue a masters in education to develop additional areas of expertise, and most teachers work to embrace technology that can make their jobs easier. Here are some popular web 2.0 services and tools that can make a big impact.

1. Curriki brings teachers together to collaborate and share curriculum. This app facilitates the sharing of templates, study guides, handouts and lesson plans. This is a great resource for finding fresh ideas or supplemental activities.

2. Shmoop is an excellent tool that provides study guides for many disciplines including poetry, literature, civics and US history. The guides are geared toward children with enjoyable, easy-to-understand content.

3. ClassMarker makes quiz and test creation simple. Create tests easily using short answer, true or false, multiple choice or essay questions, or a mix of question types. Teachers can randomize the questions and results can be provided instantaneously.

4. GradeFix helps students schedule time for homework around activities and commitments. The site is easy to use and helps students avoid the traps of procrastination and better allocate their time.

5. TeacherTube takes the idea of YouTube and tailors it to a teacher’s needs. The site features educational content, tutorials and lesson plans in many forms that teachers can use in the classroom.

6. BrainHoney is a free resource allowing educators to personalize lesson plans, author curriculum, access grade books and communicate with students and parents.

7. Engrade makes efficiency and organization achievable. Teachers can post assignment due dates, create student reports and manage attendance and grade books.

8. DOC Cop makes it easy for teachers to check for plagiarism in student writing. The app cross-checks both online and offline sources and provides a report detailing possible issues.

9. SparkNotes helps students work on basic skills including how to study for tests, write papers, and achieve educational goals. The site makes supplemental learning easy with summaries of literary classics.

10. CreateDebate provides a dynamic environment that helps students debate and discuss their thoughts in a virtual setting.

11. Exploratree helps teachers create better lesson plans, called thinking guides. Thinking guides help students think through different issues while leveraging or considering other aspects or points of view.

12. Google Applications for Educators provides a suite of applications such as Google docs, notebook, book search, and their newest app Google picnic, which helps teachers create ideas for lesson plans and classroom resources.

Teachers aiming to excel in education are always seeking to improve their skills and efficiency. Teachers are also incorporating web-based educational apps to streamline administrative tasks and expand their repertoire of inspired, engaging classroom activities.

The Renaissance Through the Looking Glass

2011-04-22T03:32:00.000-07:00

From RISK eBusiness: Moving to Just in Time Teaching Part 3, Adobe Educational Leader Blog by James Kinney, 2011.

The age of now has oft been described as one of digital tribalism where the age of empire, standardization, control and concentration of power and influence have given way to chaotic and barbaric forces that truculently refuse to be defined and controlled by the old paradigms. We are advancing toward the past—almost medieval, semi-literate forms of informal, quasi-embodied social interaction where the emphasis is on the relationship—on being there (digitally) and participating in the conversation. It is Walter Ong’s Post-literate society or age of “secondary orality.” We are leaving the time where meaning was defined in terms of rational scientific constructs and entering a new epoch where our old science creates more questions than it is capable of answering—adding to an already infinite data set. We are entering a new mythopoetic age where it is pointless to look at the massive complexity of our modern technological and information ecosystem and hope to induce meaning and significance through observing it. What is significant is that we are not detached from it (as the old science would have it) we are caught up in its turbulence trying to keep our heads above water, as it were. The more sane approach would be to recognize that this leviathan chimera unleashes enormous pressures on us and to not ask what this means but, rather, to demand “what do we wish this this to mean for us now and in the future” and to hold it to account for this vision. We must not embrace technology simply for its own sake, rather, it should be subsumed in the service of our collective vision for the future and, in that sense, we are called upon to dream and to do so boldly. To envision a world where technology and information serves to nurture humanity requires that we come to understand who we are at our root and to what purpose must our hearts and our minds be put. These questions resonate with aspects of spirituality that seem antithetical to the project of science. However both science and technology have no life or no meaning without being grounded in the context of life—of attending and attaining to being fully human in a world that is rich, diverse and healthy and to this end all human projects should bend their respective backs to the task of enriching life on this planet and, thus, must be held fully accountable to this demand. Human health is linked to a complex web of inter-relationships that extends out beyond the human sphere to include the entire created order. Our evolving technological landscape has the potential to allow us to discover who we are both individually and collectively in relation to the broader world and to deepen the veracity of relationships that putative modern western science, and the tsunami of uncritical progress it unleashed, has unwittingly compromised.

A-Z Web tools:C+D

2011-03-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

by Özge Karaoğlu
From March 25, 2011 TechLearn.com

Here is the new part of A-Z Web tools with the letters C and D:

ClassBlogMeister is a blog engine tool that is specifically created for the classroom use.

CheckDog lets you spell check your website to see how many spelling errors on it. Just copy and paste your url and get the results.

ConfusingWords is a site where you can find a collection of words that are often confused or misused.

ConverttoCartoon is a tool to turn your own pictures in to a cartoon.

CiteBite is a tool where you can get a link directly to specific quotes in web pages.

Clue is a fun and an interesting way to test people (or you) about what they remember on your site.

CarryOutText is a text-to-speech service that converts your English text to a mp3 file that you can use on your computer or your mp3 player.

CubeTree lets you create wikis, blogs, profiles, feeds for your groups.

Codeorgan is a site that analyses any web page and translate its content into music. Just copy and paste your URL and let it play!

CopyScape is a site that detects online plagiarism. You can easily search copies of your pages using this site. It lets you search copies of you pages on web.

Citrify is a photo editor tool that you enhance your pictures.

CoSketch is another whiteboard that you can collaborate to visualize your ideas and share them as images.

Closr allows you to upload your pictures, share and zoom your images.

CrazyTalk lets you make your pictures talk. You can add emotions and you can use text-to-speech form.

CorkBoard is an online cork board that you can add text and images.

ComicBrush lets you create your own comics by using your drawing, photos and ready to use artwork.

Chatterous is a tool to create a group chat right in your website or blog.

CropMom lets you create your online scrap books.

ChirpStory is a tool to create a story from your tweets by organizing tweets into a compelling narrative quickly and easily.

Calameo is a tool that converts all kind of documents into a digital publication and lets you share it via Facebook, Twitter or your blog.

Colla-O-Write allows you to write your own story by adding an existing or illustrating your own original story.

ClayAnimator is a tool to create your own stop motion animation.

ClassMarker is an online quiz maker that marks your tests and quizzes for you.

Comeeko lets you create own photo scripts by choosing your layout, uploading your pictures, adding bubbles with texts and effects.

Capzles is a way to combine your videos,photos, blogs and mp3s into a multimedia storyline.

Classik TV is a site where you can put different Bollywood movies together with music effects.

Clipgenerator is a tool to create music videos from your images and text.

Cacoo is an online collaborative drawing tool that lets you create different diagrams such as site maps, frames and network charts.

CamStudio is a free streaming video software. You can easily record all your screen and audio activities.

ComicMaster is a tool to create comics by using characters, text, different backgrounds.

Dvolver is a tool to create online animations. You choose the characters, write the dialogues, add some music and publish it.

Delicious is one of the best social bookmarking tool. You can save all your bookmarks online, share them with others, and see what other people are bookmarking.

Diigois a research, collaborative research tool and a social bookmarking tool that you collect your favourites from internet. You can share your finding with highlights, sticky notes and the original url.

DoSize allows you to resize your images online. You choose your pictures to resize, select the size and send them to others. It’s that easy!

DisposableWebPage is a site where you can create a disposable page with any content you want and share it with others. Each page has a count down clock that you can start from anywhere. when the time finishes, the page stays for two more weeks before it is deleted forever.

Domo is another site that GoAnimate features. You can create animations and slideshows. All the animations are reviewed and appropriate to use. You can add music and text to your animations.

Doink is site that lets you create flash-style animations. You can create your animations from scratch or reuse the work of others. You only have to draw the pictures step by step to animate them.

DoYouBuzz is a tool to create online resumes. You can enrich your resume with videos, images, presentations and documents.

DecideAlready is a decision maker tool for groups. You ask your question, everyone votes and you get the results.

Draw.to is a site where you can create and share simple drawings on Facebook, Twitter, email or more. It also works on iphone, ipad etc. and you can also embed your drawings to your blog or website.

Dispostable lets you pick up a temporary email address and use it without getting any spams.

DocsPal is a free online file converter that supports all kind of documents, audios, videos, images, e-books. You can also view your documents directly on your browser.

Drop.io is a simple and real time sharing and collaboration tool that lets you share text, video and audio. You can also create online collaborative presentations and record your voice.

DabbleBoard is a whiteboard that enables you to visualize, explore and collaborate. You draw as you are drawing on a whiteboard and you can easily share your ideas.

DoingText is a web based text editor for collaborative writing. You tell others the URL and they write comments, make changes without signing up.

DoppelMe is web tool to create your avatars to share on online space.

DigitalFilms is a website that lets you create your own film for free. You choose your background, scene, characters, animated actions, dialogue, introduction and ending credits.

Dooid allows you to create your own business card with all your networks and contact details on it.

Dipity is an online timeline that you can add videos and pictures.

DropEvent allows you to create photo galleries that others can contribute to without signing up.

DoodleWall allows you to create a collaborative virtual wall that everyone can write and draw on it.

DandeLife is a tool to keep record of the events of your past and present. You can add videos and pictures. It’s a great timeline and a online journal!

Dotsub is a browser based tool enabling subtitling of videos on the web into and from any language.

Six Product Flameouts to Haunt Your Dreams - Intelligence - News & Reviews - Baseline.com

2011-03-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Six Product Flameouts to Haunt Your Dreams - from - Baseline.com

iPhone: the 21st Century Tool Box that Fits in your Pocket!

2011-03-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

iPhone: The 21st Century Teacher Tool that Fits in your Pocket! from Karen Bosch on Vimeo.

Assessment: Driving Education Transformation

2011-03-12T09:22:00.000-08:00

Check out this brand new publication by Cheryl Lemke of the Metiri Group, commissioned by Intel, http://tinyurl.com/482zmg6 from K-12 Computing Blueprint - March, 2011.

WMU grad, Cheryl Lemke has been a guest speaker at Western Michigan University for Educational Technology Coordinator Conference sponsored by the WMU Educational Technology Program and is regular speaker at the national ISTE Conference. As you will see in this publication, Lemke has a clear pulse on the role of technology for assessment in education.

A Personal Digital Native Story

2011-03-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

Seattle Life magazine has just published a very well written article on my own digital native and his business partner on their exciting social network story. It is entitled: This Product Will Change Your Life How a game, an actor, and a mentor-driven startup program helped alter Seattle tech entrepreneurship (and maybe celebrities) forever by James Ross Gardner. Since the article was published two weeks ago, all I can say is that excitement has continued, and I hope to be able to provide a happy ending update soon. See http://tinyurl.com/4w8jerc

Preparing for Digital Storytelling

2011-03-01T03:02:00.000-08:00

One of my students, K. F. Is working on a digital storytelling project with her 1st graders. It reminds me on an article that I work on with several others including Allen Webb on the topic about ten years ago. The technologies have changed, but the basic principals to telling a good digital story remain the same. See http://tiny.cc/7hoo6
R Leneway

Differentiated Instruction

2011-02-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

Web 2.0 for Teachers

2011-02-08T07:05:00.000-08:00

Web 2.0

View more presentations from Robert Leneway.

A-Z Web Tools:A+B

2011-01-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

by Ozge Karaoglu

URL:http://www.techlearning.com/article/35972

Here is the first part of my A-Z Web Tools: A+B

Animasher is a site to make animations by using pictures from the gallery or you can use your own pictures too. You can add music, some sound effects, text or record your own voice for your animation. You can get a link or publish your video on the site.

Ahead is a similar site to Prezi. It’s a way to create a presentation that transforms your layout into a zooming experience. You can add images, audios, documents, links and videos. You can also embed your presentations. The site itself is also created with Ahead. This experience is sure to be a great impression on your audience.

AcapelaTV is a site where you can find ready flash animations to reuse by customizing them. You can use text-to-speech feature to make the characters talk. You also have different language selections. It’s an interesting and a fun site to play with,and a good practice for writing and listening.

AwesomeHighlighter is the easiest way to highlight texts on web pages. When you finish highlighting, you get a link to share it with others.

AMap is a great and a fun way to display your live debates on a very simple visual format. You can use it to review a book or a story you read.

Animoto is a great site to create video pieces from your photos, clips or music less than a minute. You just add your photos, choose music and add your text. Animoto does the rest. You can get a link or an embed code for your website.

With Animata, you can create animations and interactive backgrounds.

About2Findout is a site where you can create a quiz, interact and challenge each other.

AnyTypos is a free,online spell checker. To check your text, just copy paste your content and you can get the results online instantly.

Alphabetizer is a site to put any list in alphabetical order. When you finish, you can print it. There are also different options that you can use such as reversing a list, removing duplicates, capitalizing first words or ignoring definite/indefinite articles.

BuildYourWildSelf is a site to design an avatar with animals parts. You choose a background and send it to others. The sites gives you a name and tells about your features.

Bubbl.us lets you create a brainstorming sheet that can be embeddable to your website.

BitStrips is a comic creator tool. You choose the characters from the gallery, write in the bubbles and publish it online or save it to your computer.

BeFunky is a tool to add photo effects to your pictures to turn them into art.

BusinessCard2 is an online service to create professional network and exchange business cards on web. You can add videos, slide shows, files,external links, your websites, social sites and you can let other people to leave messages and it’s embeddable of course.

Bot Morpheus is a bot that can write and speak at the same time. The answers are logical, it also asks questions and analyze your answers.

BubbleJoy lets you create a video greeting card using your own video. You can choose from different fun card designs that will fit in to your topic.

BookGlutton lets you create virtual groups to meet up in the digital books and have discussions on any chapter. You can also chat by leaving comments and sharing them with each other.

BlogBooker is a site to produce a high-quality PDF Blog Book from all your blog entries, comments and pictures.

Board800 is a multi user shared interactive whiteboard with simultaneous access and drawing capabilities. It lets you add as many as you want. Users can use each page independently, and each user can see the changes on each page.

Box.net lets you share your files with your visitors in a small widget box.

Bookr is another site that is featured by Pimpampum. You create and share your photobook using Flickr images. You can write tags to find the pictures from Flickr photos or you can search your name on Flickr to find your own photos. When you find them, you write your text that matches with the pictures. You may want to create your story with this tool

BonzoBox is an interactive tool that lets you create a speacial BonzoBox site that you can build your page with your favourite websites. It has a drag and drop application that makes it easy for you to collect your favourites.

Blabberize lets you make a photo talk with your own voice.

Bubblr is a way to create your comic strip with Flickr pictures and add bubbles to tell your story!

BombayTV is a tool for writing subtitles for Bollywood films. You can also record your voice or use text to speech application. There is also BombayTV2 where you can edit different scenes from Bollywood films together and add subtitles to them

BigHugeLabs lets you create a slide show from images anywhere on the web.

BigUniverse is an engaging website. You can read book online or you can create your own and publish it.

BubbleSnaps lets you add bubbles to your pictures and create slide show.

Bibme is an automated bibliography generator. It finds information about your sources and formats the citations for you. This site can save you time while building your bibliography. It also allows you to search from a database of millions of entries to find your source.

BrainFlips is a tool for creating, sharing and studying flashcards. You can add text, images, audio or video to your flashcards. Thanks to Rupert for suggesting this tool.

Stay tuned!

The Accidental Plagiarists

2011-01-25T16:05:00.000-08:00

T.H.E. Journal The Accidental Plagiarists

* By Susan McLester
* 01/25/11

Is it possible to commit involuntary plagiarism?

Heather Scott would say it is. In fact, she estimates that only half of the plagiarizing she sees in her English classes at Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs, CO is the result of students "trying to be tricky," as she says, while the other 50 percent may simply be an indication that students don't understand the difference between plagiarizing and paraphrasing or how and when to use quotes or cite credits and resources.

That may seem an unnecessary consideration--what more knowledge of plagiarism do they need other than the understanding that they better not do it? Yet Scott's notion that many student plagiarists are either uninformed or unaware, rather than calculating cheaters, doesn't lack support, including new research concluding that the more effective anti-plagiarism strategy is to increase knowledge on the subject rather than instill the fear of being caught.

For that reason, some educators are starting to rethink the use of plagiarism detection software. Scott herself has taken to using Turnitin, the popular, Web-based anti-plagiarism application from iParadigms, as a preventive tool as much as a punitive one. The solution is a three-part package, offering peer review and paperless grading features in addition to the standard originality check, which sniffs out cheating by matching content from a freshly uploaded essay against all the works already stored in its database.

"At first it was all about the originality check," Scott says, "but I discovered that if you use the whole system it empowers students."

Scott says she finds the software's paperless peer-editing function, which helps guide students in providing feedback to each other, a major reinforcement of writing skills. Students upload their papers and then read and edit each other's drafts online prior to making revisions and submitting them to Scott. A built-in palette of proofreading marks and sample comments offers guidance and training in editing skills.

"Kids used to say, 'You're out to catch us!' Scott says. "But once they got used to the feedback, they started looking forward to it."

A study released last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research added force to the idea that prevention efforts are better at deterring plagiarism than punishment is. In the study, students in half of the participating courses were required to complete an anti-plagiarism tutorial before submitting their papers. The study found that assignment to the treatment group substantially reduced the likelihood of plagiarism. The report concluded that "the intervention reduced plagiarism by increasing student knowledge rather than by increasing the perceived probabilities of detection and punishment."

Some plan of attack is certainly needed, as student plagiarism has been raging ever since the Web made it a simple three-step sequence of Googling, copying, and pasting. "It's so dramatically easier to plagiarize with the Internet," says David Townsend, an 11th-grade English teacher at Richardson High School in Richardson, TX.

Plus, a bustling market of online research-paper providers prods students to take the easy way out. Want to buy a term paper? A Web search lays out about 400 options if you're so inclined. AcademicTermPapers.com, for example, sells them for a mere $7 a page. Or there's OPPapers.com, which offers 50,000 free essays, term papers, and book reports, punctuated with this note on its home page: Life just got a little easier. If you'd prefer a service that will do your reading and critical thinking for you, try Pink Monkey, Cramster, and SparkNotes--all of which provide chapter summaries and analyses.

"The paper mill out there is incredible," Scott says, noting that, without help from Turnitin, "with 150 students there's no way I could stay on top of 'borrowed' content."

Another theory on the rise in plagiarism argues that it may just be a case of copycatting the copycatters. Students may be legitimately confused about what constitutes plagiarism because they have become so used to seeing material taken off the Web and co-opted freely. In an article on cheating in schools that ran last July in The New York Times, reporter Trip Gabriel paraphrased Suzanne Lovett, a psychology professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME: "... Internet-age students see so many examples of text, music, and images copied online without credit that they may not fully understand the idea of plagiarism."

Agreed, says Townsend, so the need for prevention-based interventions is even greater. The first move, he urges, is for teachers to step up and do their job, which is to educate students on the ethics of citing sources and giving credit where it's due. "You have to teach the kids that this is intellectual property," Townsend says. "It belongs to someone. Someone worked hard to come up with it; therefore, give him the credit for thinking it up in the first place."

Townsend says he instructs students on the way to cite sources along with the need to do it. He adds that a number of citation-creating tools, such as Landmark Project's Citation Machine and Microsoft Office's Source Manager, provide another layer of plagiarism deterrence. The user simply types the source information and the desired format into the referencing tool, and the technology does the rest, creating an alphabetized, correctly formatted works-cited page. "It's like doing math with a calculator," Townsend says. "It's that simple."

Like Scott, Townsend employs anti-plagiarism software to try to help students avert cheating before he has to catch them. He uses SafeAssign, a plagiarism detector that is part of the Blackboard learning management system. Like most programs, after receiving an uploaded essay and checking it for duplicated content against every other file in its database, it generates a report that identifies what percentage of the paper may be lifted from somewhere else. "For example, if a kid has taken something off of SparkNotes, it has a link to the exact page that it came from," Townsend says.

As a precaution, Townsend requires his students use the tool's "rough draft" feature, which allows them to upload a draft of their essay into the system and address whatever passages are flagged before submitting a final essay. "As long as they cite everything that comes up, they're okay," he says.

Both Townsend and Scott include anti-plagiarism software as a part of a wider effort. Along with instructing on the hows and whys of source citing, Townsend has his students sign a pledge not to commit plagiarism. Scott takes steps to try to limit areas where students are vulnerable to plagiarizing. She sees the sophomore year's research paper she assigns as a particular problem spot.

"It's the first major research paper they've had to do so far," she says, "and they haven't had a lot of practice citing sources, creating a bibliography, and so forth."

So Scott tries to tailor the paper in a way that is plagiarism proof. She has students turn in prep work--outlines, sources, drafts--in stages in advance of turning in the final paper. She also carefully crafts assignments. For instance, her end-of-semester final exam requires interviews, poetry, and other nontraditional content, which essentially rules out plagiarizing.

Townsend, however, says he believes that fear still has a significant influence on keeping students from straying. He maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy with respect to plagiarism--if you're caught, you're getting a zero. He says the severity of the problem calls for a combination of prevention and punishment.

"Why can't we do both?" he asks. "I've had students turn in papers where they've cut and pasted and haven't even changed the font. It'll be rocking along in Times New Roman, and then suddenly there's Helvetica, and then Times New Roman again. It's that flagrant and it happens all the time. You educate them that that's wrong and show them that they will be caught if they do it--and you reward them for doing it right. So you've got education, carrot, and stick."
How To Do It Right

A number of online tools can help guide students through the correct way to cite resources.

BibMe

Citation Machine

Citation Maker

EasyBib

KnightCite

NoodleTools

Source Manager

About the Author

Susan McLester is former editor-in-chief of Tech & Learning magazine.

Investing in Teachers as Learners

2011-01-24T08:57:00.000-08:00

Investing in Teachers as Learners

Google, Facebook, IBM and Others' Weird Job Interview Questions in 2010 - IT Management - News & Reviews - eWeek.com

2011-01-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

Google, Facebook, IBM and Others' Weird Job Interview Questions in 2010

Top 25 Web 2.0 Sites for Education

2011-01-14T05:50:00.000-08:00

Top 25 Web 2.0 Sites for Education by David Kapuler

Next Big Thing: Teachscape Reflect

2011-01-11T09:19:00.000-08:00

Here is a new tool that will record teaching in the classroom and offer feedback for improving the classroom teaching process.
Next Big Thing: Teachscape Reflect

The Presentation Secrets Of Steve Jobs

2011-01-07T15:28:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

The Presentation Secrets Of Steve Jobs

View more presentations from Peter Walker.

YOU SUCK AT POWERPOINT!

2011-01-07T15:27:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

YOU SUCK AT POWERPOINT!

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE.

STEAL THIS PRESENTATION!

2011-01-07T15:26:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

STEAL THIS PRESENTATION!

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE.

Social Media for Business

2011-01-07T15:25:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Social Media for Business

View more presentations from Presentation Advisors.

The Digital Tribe: Defined

2010-11-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

by Robert Leneway
I have been asked why I named this blog Educating the Digital Tribe? The concept of a digital tribe was taken from a keynote address that I attended at the 2005 Skillsoft Perspectives Conference in Orlando, Fl by Online Learning Guru, Elliott Masie.

After graduating from XYZ Technical College, Katie Smith got her first job as a web master with Masie Consulting Company. After six months, her boss, Internet guru, Elliott Massey conducted Katie first evaluation. Dr. Masie tells her what amazing job, she was doing in her brief time with the company. But, during this evaluation, they were continually being interrupted by her desk top personal computer beeping. When asked what all of the beeping was about, Katie replied it was her "digital tribe". This is a digital tribe of virtual classmates and friends who she regularly communicates and collaborates with. Masie says he realized that he had not only hired Katie, but also her "digital tribe". A personal learning and support network from around the world, that she could call upon any time to both help her with technical problems and keep her well informed. Thanks to her well developed network, Katie can look forward to a long successful career supported by her digital tribe.

There is considerable research to support the use of personal and virtual network to improve work attainment and advancement (Reily, 2010; Humphries,2007; and Saedi and Nyugen,2009. Graduates and the unemployed are often excoriated to call upon their personal and online networks to help with their job search. Students graduating from high school without the opportunity to develop appropriate online supportive networks are at a definite disadvantage when competing with their social networking digitally competent peers who are also entering higher education.

Internet Safety

2010-11-05T11:34:00.000-07:00

Adobe Educational Leader, Sherry Ziolkowski recently wrote in a general email to the Adobe Educational Leadership group:

"The State of Illinois passed a law requiring that each district have an Internet Safety curriculum. We met as a committee several times last year to write curriculum and gather resources for a website. I have finally completed the student sections of the site and thought that maybe some of you may find it useful, too.
It is divided into three age groups: K-2, 3-5 and 6-8. For each age group there are seven topics: cyberbullying, phishing, digital fingerprint, social networking, cell phones and IM, copyright and stranger danger. Each topic page has what our committee considered essential knowledge, a quote and a ’did you know’ section, as well as links to activities and other resources and videos from many different sources (with permission, of course). The parent and teacher sections are nearing completion.
Any feedback would be appreciated!"

www.sd25.org/isafety

Adobe Rome Cloud Computing Released for Educators

2010-10-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

For the past three months I have been a part of the Adobe Project Rome for Educators. And I am excited to share that the beta is over and it is now being released to the public. So you are are among the first to see it.
Please take a look at the short video and additional information below.
Bob Leneway

-------------------
Johann Zimmern Adobe Educational Product Manager wrote:

Hello all:

It is finally here: We’re proud to launch the Project ROME free public preview. Many thanks to those of you who have been active participants in the Project ROME beta over the last few months. Your insight and wisdom has helped us tremendously and we are now embarking on the next phase. As of today, Project Rome is available for everyone to test and can be accessed per below.

Project ROME for Education http://rome.adobe.com/education
Project ROME http://rome.adobe.com

For those of you who may not be familiar, Project ROME is available as browser version or AIR desktop client - go and test both versions and let us know what you think.

General feedback and all comments highly appreciated.

Best. Johann

TWITTER SUGGESTIONS FOR EDUCATORS

Introducing #ProjectROME for #Education http://bit.ly/ProjectROMEEdu. Check out what you can do on YouTube http://youtu.be/I76Lfe5KkM0 #edtech #K12

10 Top Tips for Teaching with New Media

2010-10-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

A great new resource for teaching the digital tribe can be found in a pdf from
Edutopia's 10 top tips for teaching with new media;

http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/Edutopia-10-top-tips-for-teaching-with-new-media.pdf

Tech Learning TL Advisor Blog and Ed Tech Ticker Blogs from TL Blog Staff â€“ TechLearning.com

2010-10-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

Tech Learning TL Advisor Blog and Ed Tech Ticker Blogs from TL Blog Staff â€“ TechLearning.com

Combine Webtools to Create Interactive Online Environment

2010-10-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

by Mark Brumley
See: http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/blog_mark_brumley/combine_webtools_create_interactive_online_environment

Virginia using iPads to teach social studies

2010-10-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Virginia using iPads to teach social studies

Logic Evaluation Design - Hudsonville Tech Project

2010-09-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

This is a copy of a powerpoint presentation that was shared with teachers and administration on a suggested evaluation design for the Hudsonville Public Schools iPad and iPod initiative that includes evaluating the impact of integrating 210 iPads and 210 iPods.

Hudsonville Evaulation Logic Design

View more presentations from Robert Leneway.

There is an App for That - HPS staff presentation

2010-09-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

I spend much of today talking and presenting to teachers and administrators at the Hudsonville Public Schools at the Baldwin Middle School including this presentation on possible iPad and iPod apps. The Hudsonville Public Schools has initiated an iPad/iPod initiative to provide one to one computing for their students. It can be seen at

Hudsonville p saps

View more presentations from Robert Leneway.

Engage Me or Enrage Me

2010-09-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting review of Marc Prensky video podcast on "Engage Me or Enrage Me" by one of the students enrolled in this semester's Advanced Instructional Technology Online Educational Technology Graduate course at Western Michigan University that I wanted to also share with our readers. Stephen Hasenick has kindly agreed to share this review of Prensky online lecture on gaming and education.

September 20, 2010

Being an older computer gamer this lecture really engaged me. I say old because since I started my master degree I have not had time to play any complex games. My son started playing a game called Runescape about 4 years ago. Wanting to know how safe it was I decided to give it a try. Ok, it sounded fun too. The game was very key stroke intensive; I wonder why over 100,000 people played it at any given time. The graphics were nothing compare to other games on the market. One of these Prensky hit on, leveling up, motivated the players. They would complete a normally boring task to just gain a level. The gained levels would allow them to complete quest that made them heroes. Some of the task had real concepts. Making a steel sword required a player to mine both iron and coal, combine them in a furnace, to make steel and then use a hammer and anvil to make a sword. A few years later they came out with the grand exchange. My son learned business concepts by learning to buy low and sell high. He would calculate out how many items he needed to buy to make a certain profit. Social networking and teamwork was learned while texting and planning out different tasks that his friends and he would do. These games are very real to them.

No wonder education is boring in comparison. Where are the clear objectives and rewards? As Prensky points out, these games engage the player. I agree there is much us current and future instructional designers can learn from game designers. I have already wondered if games could train people to do many of the tasks that are trained through education.

An interesting point is that we as educators do not have to learn these new technologies unless we want too. We are not ‘native’ to it. Let the students do it. We just need to guide and teach them to evaluate it. An interesting twist is to let students use technology to educate each other as we guide them.

------------------------

Reference:
Prensky, Marc. Engage Me or Enrage Me: eTeaching Day Keynote. 2006
Retrieved from: http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/prensky/

Nation's First Public School Based on Game Design

2010-09-22T05:47:00.000-07:00

"An article about video games and learning, published in the New York Times Magazine, has been garnering lots of attention this week. The article profiles a number of advocates for games for education and several programs, notably Quest to Learn, the nation's first public school based on the principles of game design, in New York City. (Source: New York Times Video)" From Edutopia 9/17/2010
For a short video on this school see http://www.edutopia.org/educational-video-picks

Classroom: Basic Compositing & Animation in After Effects CS5

2010-09-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Join educator and multimedia expert Adam Shaening-Pokrasso as he walks you through the basic concepts of digital compositing and animation in an in-depth introductory lesson in Adobe After Effects CS5. By the time you’re through, you will be able to create a stunning motion graphic title sequence for a film. http://tv.adobe.com/show/classroom-after-effects-cs5/

Developing a 'Tech Bill of Rights'

2010-09-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

by Bridget McCrea
T.H.E. Journal 9/1/2010

Some K-12 schools have liberal policies concerning technology. Students walk around toting laptops and PDAs and using the institutions' WiFi systems while on campus. They can bring up Web sites without worrying that their favorites will be "blocked" from the systems, and--at the right times--use their phones to call, text, and e-mail as they wish.

Other schools take a different stance, banning individual technology altogether. They don't allow phones on campus; they discourage the use of individual laptops and block; and they block any and all Web sites that the administrators and teachers deem inappropriate. Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are taboo at these schools, where technology is looked upon as nothing but a distraction and where such Web sites are vehemently blocked and filtered.

Somewhere in the middle of these two scenarios is a happy medium that few K-12 institutions have yet to reach but should be striving for, according to a new report. Conducted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Online Safety and Working Technology Group, the study investigated online safety and found that blocking access to social networking sites and alarming students about the dangers of the online world usually does more harm than good.

Released in June, the "Youth Safety on a Living Internet" report said that parents and teachers should "promote online citizenship and media-literacy education, and actively encourage the children's participation in the process..... Teaching children civil, respectful behavior online and offline is the key to fostering a safe Internet environment," the group stated in its report, which warned adults to avoid "scare tactics" and to instead take an approach to online risk prevention based on social norms.

"While shocking stories can sometimes mobilize people, scare tactics simply do not work when it comes to long-term behavioral changes among youth. Scare tactics should be avoided in favor of educational campaigns that model positive behavior and marginalize improper behavior," the report stated.

So how does a school district go about finding the middle ground between student safety and the quickly evolving world of technology? David Stoloff, the professor of Eastern Connecticut State University's education department, said striking the right balance requires a "community" approach. Teachers, parents, students, stakeholders, and school administrators should all be involved in the planning, said Stoloff.

"Take a step back; form a planning committee; and talk about what should be integrated into your students' rights as it pertains to technology," said Stoloff. "Know the local laws and attitudes in your region, and factor those into the planning process as well."

Districts that haven't already embraced technology on campus will have to go a step further, drilling down to the simplest issues first (such as how individual teachers should handle cell phones in the classroom setting). Then, consider bigger challenges like Internet usage, WiFi accessibility, and Web site access. When in doubt, Stoloff advised, schools should look at what other districts are doing and then replicate those policies that most effectively balance student needs with restrictions and educational excellence.

"The most important thing to remember is that you're not alone," said Stoloff, "everyone is struggling with the issue of technology limitations within the classroom and on campus. If it's not already an issue in your district, it will be soon."

The Online Safety and Working Technology Group found that getting students involved in the "technology bill of rights" development process can result in a more stable, useful set of policies. "There is a commonly held belief that young people need to be protected from either criminals who are out to get them or from their own lack of judgment," the report stated.

"While both can be true, it's also important to pay attention to research that shows that many young people have adopted and continue to adopt effective strategies to deflect dangers from both adult criminals and their misbehaving peers," according to the report. "This is not to suggest that youth don't need adult supervision and support but prevention campaigns need to take into consideration the resources that young people bring to the table, both as participants and as leaders. Young people need to be involved in all aspects of risk prevention."

Seth Cirker, president and CEO at emergency awareness solutions developer SituCon Systems of Fort Washington, NY, concurred with the report's recommendation and said the more people who are involved in setting technology policies in schools the better. School resource officers and local police departments, for example, can provide valuable input in terms of local laws, common safety concerns, and privacy expectations.

"For the 'bill of rights' to be effective, there must be complete transparency with the polices, which should be based on input from teachers, parents, administrators, and anyone else who should have a say in clarifying the policy's [mission] and goals," said Cirker. "And while individual students shouldn't necessarily be the decision makers, they shouldn't feel like they are in jail either. Aim for a balance that factors in safety and technology without compromise."

About the Author

Bridget McCrea is a business and technology writer in Clearwater, FL. She can be reached at bridgetmc@earthlink.net.

Educational Technology Resources

2010-08-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

I would like to share a blog with annotated educational resources by one of my educational technology graduate student, Lindsey Baxter as an assignment for my Advanced Instructional Technologies EDT 6440 course. it can be found at http://eductechresources.blogspot.com/

Solving Global Challenges

2010-08-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

by Bob Leneway
At this year's 2010 ISTE conference in Denver, CO, the opening keynote address was given by Jean-Francois Rishard, the author of High Noon: Twenty Global Issues, Twenty Years to Solve Them said that educators need new skills, new knowledge, and a new global mindset. This is because Rischard said that because the problems we face are interconnected and involve the entire planet. He included the following global issues viewed in three different ways. They include:

Sharing our planet: Issues involving the global commons

• Global warming
• Biodiversity and ecosystem losses
• Fisheries depletion
• Deforestation
• Water deficits
• Maritime safety and pollution

Sharing our humanity: Issues requiring global commitment

• Massive step-up in the fight against poverty
• Peacekeeping, conflict prevention, combating terrorism
• Education for all
• Global infectious diseases
• Digital divide
• Natural disaster prevention and mitigation

Sharing our rule book: Issues needing a global regulatory approach

• Reinventing taxation for the 21st century
• Biotechnology rules
• Global financial architecture
• Illegal drugs
• Trade, investment and competition rules
• Intellectual property rights
• E-commerce rules
• International labor and migration rules

He further said that "the rate of change is moving at an exponential rate" while educational institutions and human "bureaucracies are moving much slower." Thus "educators need to give wings to new ideas."

An excellent way to get students involved in global issues is though the global issues network. See: http://www.global-issues-network.org/

The Future of Professional Development

2010-07-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

Notes from ISTE 2010 Chris Dede presentation on the future of professional development.
See http://www.iste2010.org/forum/topic/show?id=4157629%3ATopic%3A8479

One Laptop Per Child Project Works With Marvell to Produce a $100 Tablet

2010-07-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

From the New York Times article by NICK BILTON May 27, 2010
See:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/olpc-partners-with-marvell-to-launch-100-tablet/?pagemode=print

Texting and Today's Students

2010-07-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

by Dr. Bob Leneway
One of my graduate students recently shared her experience on teaching English to today's students that points out the difficult of working with the digital tribe. The following is being shared with her permission:

In my experience as a teacher, I regularly correct students’ writing. With the increase use of text messaging, many students write using text abbreviations. It can be very frustrating. It’s like students are bilingual, they get caught up in speaking two different languages: proper English and texting. Most of my middle school students have cell phones. We often have a problem with students keeping their cell phones in the large pocket of their hoodie sweatshirt, memorizing the buttons on their phones, and texting each other in class while their phone is still in the pocket of their hoodie. The behaviors of students have changed greatly to reflect a more fast and connected society. This society of students is losing the traditional role of written language because of texting abbreviations. It is up to teachers to understand this change in behavior, accept it, and find ways to motivate students to learn.

Tutorial Designers

2010-07-11T05:02:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the ideas from Dr. Alan November paper on Students as Contributors.

Students from Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, California, have energized their school through the use of screencasted tutorials. Through the leadership of their teacher, Eric Marcos, these kids have begun documenting their learning by recording themselves solving problems based on material discussed in class.

Marcos has been using Camtasia (www.techsmith.com) with his class to allow students to record the actions being preformed on their computer screens while also recording their explanations about how to solve each problem. When completed, these movies are uploaded and become part of an online database that Marcos’ students—and anyone else around the world—can access at any time. Another option by TechSmith that is free and equally as powerful is Jing (www.jingproject.com). With this software, and a single click of the mouse, students can begin recording their work easily and at any time.

Marcos has found this task to be so motivating that he has worked to build a new YouTube-like Web site (www.mathtrain.tv) that he and the rest of his school’s math department use to share the growing number of screencasts that students are creating. He has found that allowing students to create material for this site increases engagement and provides struggling students with more opportunities for reviewing troubling concepts.

Students-as-Contributors

2010-07-11T04:54:00.000-07:00

Recently I attended a presentation by Dr. Alan November at ISTE in Denver that made alot sense. That is using the classroom digital tribe as contributors of the class curriculum content. For a pdf of an article on Dr. November presentation see http://novemberlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/students-as-contributors.pdf

Dr. Bob Leneway

Tech Learning TL Top 10 Sites for Creating Slide Shows

2010-07-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Sites for Creating Slide Shows

1. Kizoa - Creates beautiful slide shows, with a variety of music, effects, transitions to choose from.
2. Shwup - Great site for creating private collaborative slide shows with features such as the ability to allow comments.
3. Photo Peach - Unique site that allows users to create quizzes in their slide show through multiple choice questions.
4. Animoto - One of the most popular sites around with an educational instance.
5. Slideroll - A very nice site site that allows the user to make private or allow comments.
6. Flixtime - Easy to use site where a user uploads photos and selects audio and transitions and then gets a code to embed into their site.
7. One True Media - Great site to create animated slide shows with video.
8. PhotoSnack - Very user friendly site with a drag & drop interface.
9. Pho.to - Create flash based slide shows and get an embed code to put it on a site.
10. Vuvox - An excellent site for creating beautiful multimedia slide shows.

David Kapuler was the media and technology specialist at Greendale (Wis.) School District. Read his blog at cyber-kap.blogspot.com.

Survey: Staff development is top ed-tech challenge

2010-06-23T12:28:00.001-07:00

Survey: Staff development is top ed-tech challenge

2010-06-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Survey: Staff development is top ed-tech challenge

Internet Access Linked to Lower Test Scores

2010-06-23T03:04:00.000-07:00

Internet Access Linked to Lower Test Scores

Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2010

2010-06-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2010

Survey reveals gaps in school technology perceptions

2010-05-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

Survey reveals gaps in school technology perceptions

Six technologies soon to affect education

2010-05-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

Six technologies soon to affect education

Panel: Cell phones have much potential in classroomsCommon Sense Media hosted a series of panel discussions April 21 that examined how mobile technolo

2010-05-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Common Sense Media hosted a series of panel discussions April 21 that examined how mobile technology can both help and hinder children’s development and education. See http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/04/22/panel-cell-phones-have-much-potential-in-classrooms/

Web 2.0 Heroes

2010-04-24T04:42:00.001-07:00

Web 2.0 Heroes: Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers by Bradley L. Jones

John Wiley & Sons, 2008 (273 pages)

ISBN: 9780470241998

A rich smorgasbord of unique viewpoints, this book brings together fresh ideas that are sometimes experimental, necessarily flexible, and always on the leading edge to prepare you for a Web where users rule.

I am currently reading and would highly recommend this book.

6 Technologies That Will Shape Education

2010-04-14T07:50:00.001-07:00

Top of Form

K-12 Technology Trends

6 Technologies That Will Shape Education

By David Nagel
04/13/10

Cloud computing and gaming are among the six technologies that will have a major positive impact on K-12 education in the next few years, according to researchers. But education also faces some critical challenges in that timeframe, including challenges that may require fundamental changes to the way we educate in the United States. This according to a new report released this week by the New Media Consortium (NMC) in collaboration with the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), "The 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition."

The annual Horizon Report--this year funded by a grant from HP--focuses on the key technology areas that researchers identify as likely to have a major impact on educational institutions and other learning-focused organizations within the next five years, broken down into the technologies that will have an impact in the near term, those that are in the early stages of adoption, and those that are a bit further out. The report also identifies "critical" challenges facing education in the near future.

Top 6 Technologies for the Next 5 Years

In the near term--that is, in the timeframe of about a year or less--the technologies that will have a significant impact on education, according to the report, include cloud computing and collaborative environments. In the 2009 report, cloud computing had previously been listed as a mid-term technology, but the report's authors said cloud computing "has seen dramatic uptake by schools over the past twelve months."

However, the report indicated, schools are only using one aspect of cloud computing to any significant degree. "Schools commonly use cloud-based applications today, but the promise of the cloud's extensive resources for computation, research, and collaborative work has yet to be realized."

In the mid-term--about two to three years out--game-based learning and mobile technologies (particularly the blurring of cellular networks and other types of networks) will play a key role in education, according to the report. Gaming, the authors wrote, has several advantages for education, "but the greatest potential of games for learning lies in their ability to foster collaboration and engage students deeply in the process of learning."

Augmented reality and flexible displays we identified by the report's authors as technologies that will have an impact on education a but further down the road, four to five years out. Augmented reality refers to the convergence of various media tools and mobile applications to create "a portable tool for discovery-based learning, enhancing the information available to students when visiting historical locations, doing field work, interacting with real-world objects, and even paging through books."

"The technologies profiled in this year's report show tremendous promise for transforming education at the very deepest levels," said Larry Johnson, CEO of the NMC, in a statement released to coincide with the report.

The report's autors cited several examples of schools using these technologies successfully and included links for further reading on each topic point.

K-12 Technology Challenges

Beyond the six technologies identified as significant for the next five years, the report also looked at the challenges facing education institutions and the trends that have emerged in the years since the Horizon Project was launched in 2002.

This year's report cited five challenges that the authors identified as "critical." They include:

Inadequate digital media literacy training for teachers;
Out of date learning materials and teaching practices;
Lack of agreement on how education should evolve, despite widespread agreement that change is needed;
A failure of education institutions to adapt to informal education, online education, and home-based learning; and
Lack of support for or acknowledgement of forms of learning that usually occur outside the classroom.

On this last point, the report said: "Beyond the classroom walls, students can take advantage of online resources, explore ideas and practice skills using games and other programs they may have on systems at home, and interact with their extensive--and constantly available--social networks. Within the classroom, learning that incorporates real life experiences like these is not occurring enough and is too often undervalued when it does take place. This challenge is an important one in K-12 schools, because it results in a lack of engagement in learning on the part of students who are seeking some connection between their world, their own lives, and their experience in school."

Horizon Report Toolkit

Also, for the first time, this year NMC and CoSN have released a toolkit as a companion to the Horizon Report. It's designed to help develop the discussion about new technology in education.

"For educators on a quest to help students grow as 21st century learners, this report is a must-read, one-stop source for information about emerging technologies that have the potential to transform education," said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN. "We hope to see continued conversation around the report throughout the year and are releasing companion materials like the 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition Toolkit to help make that possible."

The complete 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition can be accessed here. (PDF and HTML versions are available.) The companion toolkit can be requested on CoSN's site here.

About the Author

Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education publications and electronic newsletters. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com. He can now be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/THEJournalDave (K-12) or http://twitter.com/CampusTechDave (higher education).

Bottom of Form

Learning in 3D

2010-04-12T18:13:00.001-07:00

Elloitt Massey tells us about a great new book by Tony O'Driscoll from Duke University, which he wrote with Karl Kapp. They create a foundation for considering and deploying 3D Worlds and Virtual Worlds (like Second Life) for learning and collaboration. They are both excited about this innovation space as well as being researchers on the advantages and challenges of using 3D for learning in 2010. Information about the book at: http://www.learningin3d.info

Let Faculty Off The Hook

2010-04-07T10:49:00.001-07:00

By Trent Batson
Campus Technology 03/17/10

Why is it taking so long for higher education faculty to adapt to the myriad opportunities made available by information technology and Web 2.0 interfaces and functionalities? Instead of trying to find fault, let's look for causes.

We early adopters, or at least this specific early adopter, believed in the innovation adoption curve. I therefore expected that the pedagogical (actually andragogical) magic I, and others, discovered years ago in using new technologies would gradually be discovered by other faculty members. We expected, as would be normal according to theory, that mainstream faculty would be using technology as we risk-taking early-adopters did within 10 or 15 years. Wrong. At least not in the big numbers we expected.

It's now more than 30 years since the introduction of micro-computers. It's almost 20 years since the Web was created and 6 years since Web 2.0 tools swept the culture and transformed communication and social patterns across the board.

I've argued, as have many commentators on technology and higher education, that the evidence for needed changes in teacher-student interaction is so overwhelming, why can't faculty start to make the change?

The simple answer is we commentators and institutional administrators are asking the impossible. It is one thing to use technology to improve on existing processes--such as e-mail being faster than campus mail and easier to send to many people all at once than printing hundreds of memos--but a very different thing to ask people to invent the e-mail system. Because, by analogy, that's what we are asking faculty to do. In the following paragraphs, an image of the gantlet against change that is laid down before the faculty will emerge.

Still, and this may be true for many decades to come, most college and university classrooms are designed for teacher presentation; the shape of the room, the acoustical design, control of lighting, lack of sufficient technology in the room, the furniture, security, window treatment, and so on, the space itself screams lecture. Likewise, parent and incoming student expectations have the force of centuries of fixed models about what teaching and learning are supposed to be. Such cultural memes (like physical genes), so ingrained, change ever so slowly.

The assumptions built into classrooms and parents' and students' minds find their way into instruments for student evaluation of faculty. Faculty are supposed to be in control and knowledgeable and prepared and, in sum, the same as teachers of 50 years ago. "The teacher of the year" brings to mind an entertaining and smart individual who is confident and sensitive, and who can be heard at the back of the room, and who perhaps has a bit of wit. These are great qualities, but what doesn't come to mind is a person who has designed a great sequence of activities, helps students address important and challenging problems, and who uses technologies in inventive ways. This kind of teacher does not make for great drama and most likely will not be professor or teacher of the year.

Another reason not to move to a course design augmented by technology is the presumption that a lecture, by definition, is teaching. Lecturing and passive learning are, in the short run, the easiest options for both faculty and students. The faculty member can "cover the material" in a predictable way and feel her job is done; if the students fail to learn the material as shown by the usual measures, it is the students' fault, except that the students think it's the teacher's fault.

When I taught using my own alternative methods using technology or collaborative exercises, students asked some odd and embarrassing questions for the first few weeks: "When will the real course start?" Or, after a few weeks of intensive studio-writing in a computer lab, "When will we start writing?" Or, probably the most stunning one, "Look, if you don't know what you're doing, can you bring someone into the class who does?" In each of my classes, by the second half of the class, the students were intensely engaged, but I had to face doubt, disbelief, and revolt each semester as I disregarded the expectations of the students.

Another legacy anchor slowing down change in teaching/learning practices is the syllabi on file. Syllabus models are on record in many departments, formally or informally, and traditional expectations are therefore reinforced constantly.

And, let's not forget faculty review. Faculty review processes do not favor or even recognize, in most cases, innovation with technology, probably because we know so little about which innovations are good and which are not. Some colleges and universities have addressed this issue and it is encouraging to see that development. But, at many institutions, there is often nothing in the review process that would help move faculty toward an intelligent adoption of technology in their teaching.

Importantly, spending on academic technologies is small compared to spending on administrative computing. It would not surprise me, also, if most top administrators in higher education believe that huge expenditures on IT, as in the 90s and 00s, are over.

But even if the will, or the resources, were there to spend, there is no clear path showing administrators what to spend on, except for those technologies that reinforce the teaching-learning systems already in place. In other words, faculty do not generally benefit from intelligent strategic leadership and new systemic designs but are hung out to dry. "Innovate at your own risk" seems to be the message.

And, as faculty are pondering next fall's classes, an e-mail arrives reminding them to order their books for the fall, as usual, because, of course, you will be using books.

After reading these factors, and remembering other similar reinforcements of the status quo, we could easily conclude that using technology in inventive ways is for the foolish or the tenured.

What, then, is the underlying cause for the slow pace of transition toward new, more appropriate teaching and learning methods? The changes we are looking at now are millennial changes because they require learning completely new classes of skills. And, these changes must replace a system in place for centuries. It is one thing to use technology to improve on current practices, but another, and more challenging thing, to use technology to replace current practices and operate in ways that are completely new and counter-intuitive to us.

We may have a new ecology of learning (we do), but we also have systemic incompatibility with the new ecology. The entire workflow on the academic side of institutions runs against the new ecology. If the institution is ready to question every single process in place, now, to discover how that process works against nurturing the new ecology, then that institution can support faculty in working in the new ecology. Until institutions are ready to do that, however, let's let faculty off the hook.

What It Mean to be a ‘Tech Savvy’ Leader

2010-03-27T13:15:00.001-07:00

For short video clips from the 2010 eSchool News Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards, which honor the nation's top senior school district executives for their outstanding leadership, vision in educational technology. See:

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/01/28/tssa-winners-describe-what-tech-savvy-means-to-them/print/

Digital access, collaboration a must for students

2010-03-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

Digital access, collaboration a must for students

Here is a link to the March 22, 2010 eSchool article discussing the importance of online collaboration as a required 21st century skill.

Call for Digital Citizenship and Innovation Examples

2010-03-22T17:35:00.001-07:00

SIGilt is now collecting policies, teaching materials, and student work about Digital Citizenship and Innovation. Please help us collect all of this and get the word out. The main page is located on our wiki here: http://sigilt.iste.wikispaces.net/Digital+Citizenship+and+Innovation

To make it easy, here is a tweet you can use:

#SIGilt collecting policies about digital citizenship and innovation http://bit.ly/aS49bGPlease RT and get the word out!

Here is some more information.

DCI-Policy Documents


What is your school/district's policy about cell phones/iPods?


Does your school/district have a policy about using web 2.0 tools?


How about using social networking sites to create student groups for online discussions?


Do you have great permission forms that have worked for you?


What about an innovative Acceptable Use Policy?

Visit DCI-Policy Documents page and upload, link to, or send us your documents to be included.

DCI-Teaching Materials


What do you use to help teach Digital Citizenship?


What materials (videos, slideshows, handouts, etc.) do you use to teach -

o How to be safe online?

o Privacy settings for Facebook?

o Privacy settings on Ning?

o Cyberbullying?

o How to post comments?

o Netiquette?


Is what you use different for students and teachers?

Visit the DCI-Teaching Materials page to upload, link to, or send us your materials to be included.

DCI-Student Work


What videos, slideshows, handouts, posters, etc. have your students created about digital citizenship?

Remember that student work must have permission to be posted online. For this reason we will ask that you only link here to work that is already online.

Visit the DCI-Student Work page to link to your students work.

PLEASE NOTE: We will provide all materials on the wiki under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/. By uploading, linking, or sending us your document you are agreeing to this license.

Feel free to contact anyone on the SIGilt board if they maybe of any assistance to you.

Jean Kiekel, Chair
heymsk@comcast.net

Re-Imagining Learning Video Link

2010-03-15T16:48:00.000-07:00

Re-Imagining Learning - Video Link

Educating the Digital Tribe

Study Shows The Benefits of 1:1 and the Factors that Enhance Success

Are Interactive White Boards Dead?

Alternatives?

Conclusion

Design Thinking: Lessons for the Classroom

iPad apps for Teachers

Eight Years of 1:1 Computing Research in Maine

The Digital Student and Coherent Curricular Programs

Assessment in the Digital Age | Digital Learning Environments

Ian Jukes on What are the most profound effects that digital bombardment has on children? How is this changing the way educators need to teach.

Long-term Survey Reveals Gen Xers Are Active, Balanced and Happy

An Open Letter to Techy Teachers

Four Web 2.0 Technologies To Inspire Students

Teacher's First Day Icebreakers

10 Terrific Apps to Help out High School Students

Test the Instruction, Not the Kids

New PBS Resource Could Help Advance Digital Learning

The Top 6 Emerging Technologies in K-12 Education

Time to Move Over?

Top 12 Web 2.0 Sites for Teachers

The Renaissance Through the Looking Glass

A-Z Web tools:C+D

Six Product Flameouts to Haunt Your Dreams - Intelligence - News & Reviews - Baseline.com

iPhone: the 21st Century Tool Box that Fits in your Pocket!

Assessment: Driving Education Transformation

A Personal Digital Native Story

Preparing for Digital Storytelling

Differentiated Instruction

Web 2.0 for Teachers

A-Z Web Tools:A+B

by Ozge Karaoglu

The Accidental Plagiarists

Investing in Teachers as Learners

Google, Facebook, IBM and Others' Weird Job Interview Questions in 2010 - IT Management - News & Reviews - eWeek.com

Top 25 Web 2.0 Sites for Education

Next Big Thing: Teachscape Reflect

The Presentation Secrets Of Steve Jobs

YOU SUCK AT POWERPOINT!

STEAL THIS PRESENTATION!

Social Media for Business

The Digital Tribe: Defined

Internet Safety

Adobe Rome Cloud Computing Released for Educators

10 Top Tips for Teaching with New Media

Tech Learning TL Advisor Blog and Ed Tech Ticker Blogs from TL Blog Staff â€“ TechLearning.com

Combine Webtools to Create Interactive Online Environment

by Mark BrumleySee: http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/blog_mark_brumley/combine_webtools_create_interactive_online_environment

Virginia using iPads to teach social studies

Logic Evaluation Design - Hudsonville Tech Project

There is an App for That - HPS staff presentation

Engage Me or Enrage Me

Nation's First Public School Based on Game Design

Classroom: Basic Compositing & Animation in After Effects CS5

Developing a 'Tech Bill of Rights'

Educational Technology Resources

Solving Global Challenges

The Future of Professional Development

One Laptop Per Child Project Works With Marvell to Produce a $100 Tablet

Texting and Today's Students

Tutorial Designers

Students-as-Contributors

Tech Learning TL Top 10 Sites for Creating Slide Shows

Survey: Staff development is top ed-tech challenge

Survey: Staff development is top ed-tech challenge

Internet Access Linked to Lower Test Scores

Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2010

Survey reveals gaps in school technology perceptions

Six technologies soon to affect education

Panel: Cell phones have much potential in classroomsCommon Sense Media hosted a series of panel discussions April 21 that examined how mobile technolo

Web 2.0 Heroes

6 Technologies That Will Shape Education

Learning in 3D

Let Faculty Off The Hook

What It Mean to be a ‘Tech Savvy’ Leader

Digital access, collaboration a must for students

Call for Digital Citizenship and Innovation Examples

Re-Imagining Learning Video Link

by Mark Brumley
See: http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/blog_mark_brumley/combine_webtools_create_interactive_online_environment