Highlights of the Christa McAuliff Conference

On december 2nd, Kevin B., Jennifer O. and Jude L. attended the Christa McAuliffe annual Conference in Nashua, which is about educational technology. Here are the highlights of this day.

David Warlick's key note speech developed his broad, infectious vision of the implications of having the classrooms filled today with “digital native” students. Digital natives live in a virtual world of continuous, global, multiple, multimedia connections. The classroom which ignores this reality will be ignored by the students and is bound to disappear. Digital hyperconnectivity offers huge educational opportunities and is changing the nature of teaching. “It's not about teaching anymore, it's about learning.” Online collaborative tools, not bound by time and space, make learning part of the global, permanent conversation in which the digital mind lives, creates and develops itself along with its unlimited networks of partners. “In this world where you never say good-bye because you are always connected, the learning experience is a ongoing conversation with other learners. It takes you from learning as a lifelong process to learning as a lifestyle.”

You may explore Warlick's vision, including clips and handouts here.


MAJOR TRENDS

Warlick's vision was illustrated, if not proven down right, by a number of workshops and presentations about the Web 2.0: Online and FREE collaborative tools like the Google for educators suite, Classroom blogs, video editing and embedding software, and podcasting, just to name a few (see list of links below). A special word about Second Life, which is literally exploding, in terms of its number of participants worldwide. It started as a social network and evolved into a parallel universe where your alter ego (avatar, in 2nd Life lingo) can do everything you do in real life (well, almost), pretty much the way you would control your alter ego in a videogame. This includes now all sorts of educational activities like field trips, scientific experiments, museum and library visits where you meet, communicate and even learn and do learning projects with partners from anywhere in the world. Wonderful, or plain scary? You'll be the judge.

As far as the classroom, two types of equipments are becoming standard features:

- individual tools: laptops, clickers (aka SIS, Student Interactive System) and tablets. Clickers' full potential is only unleashed when used with interactive whiteboards. However, they can be be already effective when used with a multimedia projector and a regular screen. To those, should be added the increasing educational utilization of nomad tools (ipods, PDAs, tablets, blackberries, without forgetting the ubiquitous cell phone).

- Environmental tools: interactive whiteboards and the various interactive presentation software that are being developped for them are definitely the stars of the show. Mimios remain a good plan B for those who can't afford interactive whiteboards, especially with a 5-year guaranty applying to the stylus, which used to be the weak point of the Mimios.

Online Administrative suites and classroom/courseware management systems are becoming a serious competition for network-based software: cheaper (some are free) and getting more and more user-friendly. See for instance Moodle and Sakai.

Assessment, surveys and GLE & NECAP testing prep (software and online) are also mushrooming, given the market created by NCLB emphasis on assessment and testing.

Assistive technology did feature a couple of breakthrough especially for the challenged reader.

All in all, a very exciting and informative day. And now, go and visit the websites for the tools mentioned above:

Interactive whiteboard and clickers: http://smarttech.com/

Testing:
http://brquiz.com/
http://scantron.com/products/
http://www.studyisland.com/

Visual presenters:
http://brquiz.com/;
http://www.ken-a-vision.com/

Assistive tech for readers: http://www.texthelp.com/

online learning (for students):
http://www.vlacs.org/
http://www.govhs.org/

Serious Games (games that boost student skills)
http://www.disti.com/SGSC/
http://www.seriousgamessource.com/item.php?story=21512

Web 2.0 applications – multimedia
ttp://globalclassrooms.wikispaces.com/first
http://animoto.com/
http://www.apture.com/
http://sakaiproject.org/portal
http://www.google.com/educators/tools.html
http://jottit.com/about
http://voicethread.com/about/
http://www.zamzar.com/

Web 2.0 applications – classroom and course management:
http://sakaiproject.org/portalhttp://jottit.com/about
http://moodle.org/

Web 2.0 – blog
http://globalclassrooms.wikispaces.com/first

web 2.0 – others:
http://www.daylife.com/home
http://www.surveymonkey.com/
http://www.secondlife.com/
Jude

A convenient use of Google

When you run into any kind of error message, and I mean, any kind, first "google it." Most likely, google will direct you to a number of message boards where people dealt with this specific issue and found out the fix. I can't tell how many issues I've solved this way, both at work and at home. If your computer has a recurrent issue but no error message, google a description, or several ones using different key words, of this problem. For instance, "windows live photo gallery installed but not opening", or "windows livephotogallery problem" etc. Jude

25 Tools every Learning Professional should have -Free

In 2008 223 learning professionals worldwide contributed their Top 10 Tools for Learning. From this, the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies compiled the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 list. These tools are the most popular free tools in 25 tool categories. They are a mix of personal productivity tools (for managing personal learning) as well as authoring tools (for creating learning solutions). Many of them are Web 2.0 tools that promote a social, collaborative, sharing approach to learning. Jude

Printable Computer Quick Reference

This free gift from K12.Customguide.com consists of downloadable reference sheets for many different softwares used by teachers. Scroll down their homepage to see the whole list. Enjoy. Jude

Teachers love Twitter

From the NHOET Blog- While some educators are just getting familiar with the term Web 2.0 and all the various tools that can be classified as “web 2.0 tools,” other educators are already immersed in using them. Of course everyone has their favorites. My current favorite is GoogleDocs, but that’s a topic for another post. Today I thought I should share a few interesting articles about how Twitter (one of those Web 2.0 tools) can be used for language arts, community building, and many other things.
Search Engine Watch has an article by Ron Jones about Twitter
David Parry has a blog called academHack with a lengthy interesting post about how he uses Twitter in his university classroom at U Texas in Dallas.
EdWeek’s Digital Directions June 2008 issue includes an article about Twitter. One of my favorites was how this teacher used it:
created a Twitter account called Many Voices and invited his students, and students around the world, to add a sentence or two to the ongoing story through tweets. Within six weeks, the rolling story, written 140 characters at a time, was finished—with the help of more than 100 students in six different countries.
Have you used Twitter? Cathy Higgins

New website for online learning resources for everyone

From the NHOET blog-This morning, Governor Lynch was joined by state education officials in unveiling a new Web site that will serve as a one-stop, online learning resource for students, parents, teachers and school administrators. The new Web site provides information about online learning course work available — at schools in NH and beyond — which can be counted toward high school graduation credit. The comprehensive site also presents information and studies regarding the benefits of online learning. More…

Green curriculum

GreenHearted.org is a primer on transformative education for sustainability ...what you'll need in order to green your classroom, your curriculum, your students' learning, your school community, and your life's work as a teacher. Definitely inspiring. Jude

PBS online courses -PSU graduate credits

PBS TeacherLine offers more than 130 top-quality, graduate-level online courses for educators and has offerings that span the curriculum.
PBS TeacherLine's online courses were developed to align with national standards developed by leading professional organizations such as NCTM, ISTE, and NCTE.
Graduate credit is available from Plymouth State University. Fall courses start October 22, 2008. Check out the website. Jude

Picturing America

Picturing America
A great multidisciplinary opportunity for libraries to boost the curriculum and improve the school outlook:
The National Endowment for the Humanities believes that engaging, masterful works of art can bring the story of America to life.
When displayed on the walls of your classroom or library, Picturing America’s noteworthy, high-quality images offer an innovative way to teach American history and culture. These images, and the accompanying Teachers Resource Book, help students better understand America’s diverse people and places and connect them to our nation’s travails and triumphs.
Visual stimulation enhances learning and makes it more enjoyable. Art can introduce social studies, literature, civics, and even science and math in an immediate, tangible way. With Picturing America, students develop a deeper understanding of history and our shared human—and American—experience. Jude

A worthwhile contest

When Your Students Think 'Green' Your School Can Win BIG!
WIN A "GREEN COMPUTER LAB" FOR YOUR SCHOOL!
INSPIRE your middle and high school students to be leaders in the Green Schools movement--and your school could win a state-of-the-art computer lab! The "Green Light Contest" essay competition, sponsored by PC Mall Gov, in partnership with HP, InFocus and T.H.E. Journal, is seeking entries from students in two categories: grades 5 - 8 and 9 - 12. In essays of 1,000 words or less students are asked to describe how they and their teachers can utilize technology to protect the environment, with the grand-prize-winning composition being awarded a 30-seat "green" computer lab for the author's school. Two additional first place winners (one from each grade-level category) will each receive a "green" laptop. Winning essays will be published in T.H.E. Journal and winners will be recognized at FETC, January 21 - 24, in Orlando, FL. ***APPLICATION DEADLINE is December 1, 2008. Winners will be announced at FETC, January 21 - 24, 2009, and notified by mail no later than January 31, 2009. ***Complete essay and submission criteria are available online at:
http://www.1105info.com/t.do?id=1685344:894475 Jude

Christa McAuliffe conference

As far as I am concerned, two yearly events periodically shake up the educational technology landscape inNew England: the Christa McAuliffe Conference and the Building Learning Communities conference by Allan November. The McAuliffe Conference is coming up in early December, I will be attending the Tuesday sessions, starting with David Walick's keynote. Walick conveys a broad vision of education, redefined by the use of new information tools.

Anybody interested to tag along, let me know. Jude

Quality Online Professional Development w/graduate credits

Lots of New Hampshire educators have participated in courses offered by the New Hampshire e-Learning for Educators program (otherwise known as OPEN NH). And they usually say, “this is the best deal in town!” because the courses cost only $100 with an option for graduate credits through Plymouth State. In seven weeks you can earn 3 graduate credits and network with other educators all across the state on topics that interest you.
You can still register for courses beginning October 7 and ending November 25. Fall 2008 courses include:
BP-01 Creating and Using Meaningful Rubrics that Assess Student Work
BP-06 School Policies for 21st Century Learning
CE-05 Developing Competencies for High School Courses
LA-03 Differentiating Instruction to Accommodate Learning Styles in Language Arts
LT-03 Supporting Literacy Development in Upper Elementary Classrooms
LT-04 Helping Struggling Readers Improve Comprehension
LT-05 Accommodating ESOL/ESL Students in the Classroom
MA-04 Using Real Data in the Math Classroom
SC-01 Inquiry in the Science Classroom Using Internet Based Data Sources
SC-05 Matter and Energy: Understanding Some Basic Principles of Science Literacy
SC-10 Understanding Force and Motion
SS-04 Differentiating Instruction to Accommodate Learning Styles in Social Studies
(From the NH OET Blog)

Start the year with a bang...

...By exploring David Warlick' Landmarks for Schools website. This Web site is dedicated to the idea that the very nature of information is changing, practically before our eyes. It is changing in what it looks like, where we find it, what we look at to view it, what we can do with it, and how we communicate it. Here you will find information and tools that redefine literacy for the 21st Century. Jude

Teachers, you can podcast

Podcasting makes your courses relevant for the ipod generation. For examples of podcasts and how to create one, visit the Educational Podcasting Network. Jude

Teachers, you can start your class blog

Go to the list of links on the Profile Teachers webpage . You will find different options and recommendations to start your class blog. Jude

Blog of the NH DOE Office of Educational TEchnology

The blog of the NH DOE Office of Educational Technology deserves regular visits by anyone involved with educational technology in New Hampshire. It is in the Technology links (ET Blog). Many thanks to Dr. Cathy Higgins for this initiative, and also for the whole site of the OET.
Jude

2008 National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers are out

Check them out. Jude

On Teachers & Technology

Dave Nagel, "The Future of Instruction: Teacher as 'Co-Learner'," T.H.E. Journal, 6/30/2008,
Jude

epals Boston conference

Epals is a safe and well-designed platform for classroom blogging, email, connection with other classrooms throughout the world, and collaborative student and teacher project. The upcoming conference in Boston (July 15) looks pretty interesting.
Talking about blogging, currently on top of the list of links on the Profile Teachers webpage of the Media Center are a few other good options. Jude

T.H.E. Journal

Although loaded with advertising, this is a good source of information on current products and trends in educational technology: T.H.E. Journal
Jude

a common model for technology integration

I believe our three schools have developped a model comparable to this one, it works well, with some room for improvement, of course:
http://www.21centuryconnections.com/node/452
Jude

Mandating Technology Use in the classroom

A sensible, fact-based argument for mandating classroom technology integration:
http://21centuryconnections.com/node/469

Jude

school libraries censorship exhibit

The Long Island Coalition against censorship is offering a very affordable exhibit on this topic for the 2009 Banned Books Week (sept 7-Oct 4). Check the details on their website. Jude

Grant Opportunities

One of the functions of this blog is to help teachers becoming aware of grant opportunities. the K. Schrock and the Big Deal grants pages have good collections of grant opportunities. Jude

crush course on the web 2.0

This slide show by Kathy Schrock is an excellent, educator-oriented, intro to the web 2.0. Basically, everything a software-based computer does, can be done online in a more collaborative and creative way. A definite eye-opener for teachers:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kathyschrock/SheddingLightOnWeb20?authkey=kZBm6h9FDp4

Jude

21st century media centers

This article was found on the Alan November website. About the leadership role of media centers in the integration of technology at school as well as home. Definitely stimulating: Designing Libraries, Learning for a Lifetime
Jude

Interlibrary Loans for teachers (ILL)

Teachers: when you need a book which is not in our local collection, you can either ask us to borrow it for you via Interlibrary Loan services (usually it takes about a week for the book to be delivered), or you can explore the Public Access catalog of the NH libraries that participates into this service. It's especially convenient if you want to expand your search beyond one title. For instance, this allows you to see everything available on a topic or by an author.

posting Office Documents

It looks like all blogging sites offer the option to post Office documents, but it's not a simple drag-and-drop process. Docs need to be embedded, and it looks like this takes several steps. If you've done this before, let me know, by adding a comment to this post. Jude

First post for librarians

A question for my fellow librarians: do you have a selection policy, and how old is it? Do you see any reason why it should be posted on your library website?

First post about Information Technology

Teachers can use this blog to ask questions and reply to them. For instance, a teacher can ask here how to open word 2007 documents when using Word 2003. Then whoever can help, either an Action Tesam member or any reader of this post, can add a comment, explaining how to do this.
Jude

first post

This is my first post. At this point, my question is, is Blogspot a good plaform for our Action Team? It's simple and clean, while providing a certain versatility which might be all we need. The only thing I wonder is, how to organise posts, in case we would have hundreds of them. The simplest way to go is to decide on labels: Technology, Library Media, and Cross-disciplinary. As it is too long to type, we could shorten to Tech, Lib, CD. Let me know what you think.
Jude