Monday, December 21, 2009

Profile Teachers at the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference

Report on the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference, December 1-3, 2009
(Tom C., Fitz, Jude L., Jennifer O, Kristy V, Courtney V-P)
We attended a number of various conferences and workshops, some of them on products we are already using (Smartboard, Ipod I touch, Google web tools) , others on new ones. Some of the most striking features of this year are:

1. Current trends:

- The convergence of tech tools, the way they begin to get really integrated and work together: social platforms, collaborative project tools (for “traditional” media such as text, presentations, pictures, as well as multimedia tools), communication (“traditional” such as email, skype, videoconferencing, and individual devices and virtual-reality based), Presentation tools for classroom (interactive whiteboards)

- The new flexibility of time and space, of participation and collaboration offered by these tools

- The personalization of the virtual environment

- The quantum leap in power and flexibility of new network models (see below)

- The fact that you get a lot more bang for your bucks today: see what a simple $400 notebook, a broadband connection, and some additional free shareware allow you to do. Throw in the classroom an interactive whiteboard and some individual device like either a notebook, a clicker, an ipod I touch, or a cell phone, and the connectivity between them all allows all sorts of modalities of participation, communication and collaboration

- The fact that every classroom has the means to go global: pairing with other classrooms anywhere in the world, attend presentations, visit places, museums, parks, cities, attend experiments, and interact, even create partnership, with anybody, anywhere.

- The fact that education is entering the “Google it” age: students, teachers, parents, administrators expect all the information they need and want to be just one click away.

One expression encapsulates this convergence of fun,learning, “hyperconnectedness” and production: empowered creativity.

To conclude on this general picture, one more thing I learned that completely blew my mind is the “cloud.” Just listen to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, then imagine Lucy is the power behind the Internet.

2. Specific products that got us interested in:

- Usync.com: social platform designed for the classroom: allows you to communicate ( email, IM, video…), store/share data, and work on projects, either individually or as a group. The teacher remains the moderator. You do not even need an email account to access it. Very intuitive and customizable. Even technophobic students get proficient in it in no time. Fee-based (~$100/year per teacher, no class limitation). Attractive design, too. (Jude)

- Intel tools: see Jude’s presentation at next faculty meeting. You can explore them at Intel tools

- Podcasting: A podcast is a recording (either audio or video) posted on the internet and available to anyone to listen to or watch. Youtube is an example of video podcast (kind of). To create a podcast, it’s so easy it’s not even funny. According to Apple, of course, and especially if you have a Mac. But in its immense generosity, Apple is also enlightening the rest of us here. (Jude)

- Self pacing responders for interactive whiteboards (Jennifer 0). The Promethean system is, for the moment, in advance on Smartboard (it’s a war out there) with a variety of responders allowing more diverse input from students than the current senteo clickers. One may expect smartboard to come up with… a response sometimes in the future. ( Promethean allows tests for each student that they take at their own pace and that will automatically differentiate from easy to hard or vs. versa as the students answer questions correctly, or not)(Jennifer)

- Nettrekker resources (Kristy V). There is so much stuff that I did not know!! We do need a teacher code to get into and use some of the features, such as being able to save searches, which students can then log on and access your saved searches. It also includes a web evaluation form so they can share why the website is a good source or not. (Kristy)

- Twitter and Tweetdeck: mini social platform. Share thoughts and data, keep in touch with people of similar interests, in very short format, called “tweets”. See all tweets together and even add feeds from other social networks such as Facebook and My space, in Tweetdeck. Educational value: TBD. (Jude)


- Etherpad. I would say that the big winner for me at the CMTC was the free, internet based collaborative writing tool Etherpad Like Google Docs or a Wikispace, it allows students to simultaneous work on a piece, but there is no lag or worry that you're writing over someone else's thoughts, since you are working together in real time. Students do NOT need an email address to make this work, so it can happen instantaneously. Students can each have their own color, so you can see who is writing what, and there is a chat space for writers to talk about what they want to write before putting it in the "final" document. The finished product can then be saved in a variety of formats for later use. Up to 15 students at a time can work on any one document for free, although the workshop I went to encouraged more small groups (2-5).
I picture using this is any classroom where collaborative work is taking place, whether the students are all working at the same time, or if they are working separately (in different places and times) on the same document. This is a great tool for critical thinking, editing and revision, and collaborative process- all important 21st century skills.
Having used all three of the above mentioned collaborative tools, I would definitely say this is the best! Check it out at www.etherpad.com. (Courtney)

- "Green screens" are becoming an option to put backdrops behind imovies. This is also possible with Moviemaker and Adobe Premiere. (Fitz)

-The presenters at the conference almost exclusively used Macs. Thanks to a grant, Macs will be deployed in the Middle School, in addition to those already in the science room. “The handwriting is on the wall that I should try to Mac convert.” (Fitz)

Wmware.com:“Enabling the power of the cloud in your network.” This is for techies, of course, but even a hybrid lifeform like me could understand what it does, without understanding at all how it does it, of course. Basically, the new generation of server software has accomplished a revolution in terms of cost reduction for the entire network, power, speed, security and versatility. I must confess that the very first time I saw it, my French visceral skepticism was screaming Alert! Alert!, but authorities in the field are concurring. This is the way to go. I am currently evaluating the possibility to deploy such a network in the Computer Instruction Lab.(Jude)

Monday, December 14, 2009

5 K-12 Technology Trends for 2010

Technology evolves at the speed of light. THE Journal spoke with a handful of technology experts and came up with a short list of top tech trends educators and administrators will want to watch in the new year.

To read the complete article, please go there

Jude

Monday, November 16, 2009

Race to the top

Read Yong Zhao about Race To The Top. A zest of humor blended with knowledgeability and common sense.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Three multimedia resources

Three rich, online multimedia resources to use, share and enjoy:
Glogster EDU: A creative, dynamic, and innovative digital outlet that captures learner's excitement for online creations, keeps learners engaged in course content, and makes teaching and learning more fun. Teachers control all the activities of their learners. Glogster integrates diverse core subjects including math, science, history, art, photography, music and more for individual learner portfolios. It provides unique alternative assessments, and differentiated instructional activities.

Teacher Tube: Our goal at TeacherTube.com is to provide an online community for sharing instructional teacher videos. Upload your lesson plan videos or watch student video lessons at our website

School tube: SchoolTube is the recognized leader for moderated, internet media sharing for teachers and students. All student created materials on SchoolTube must be approved by registered teachers, follow local school guidelines, and adhere to our high standards.
Jude

Monday, October 26, 2009

Itunes university

The amount of audio and video podcasts available in general, and for educators in particular, on Itune University, is just amazing. IU allows you to search all what the very best colleges and universities have to offer for free (if you want credits, get your credit card). You can search by school, topic, curriculum area...conferences, debates, interviews, entire courses, from 10 minutes quick demos to presentation of more than an hour... Of course, most if it is college level,and should be considered a form of PD (soon, we should consider a way for teachers to get credits for podcasts). However, a quick search shows that some material can be integrated into a high school classroom. You do not need an Ipod. Using Itunes, you can download and play audio and videos on any computer. You can also burn them on a DVD or CD and, last but not least,you can play them anywhere on ipods.
For downloading Itunes for free, go there.
Jude

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Reading in the Digital World

A very good article for English teachers and librarians:
Turning the Page, by Tim Walker

Jude

The School Librarian in the Digital Age

A good article on the topic: http://www.nea.org/home/35951.htm
the full version is in the October/November issue of Nea Today.
Jude

Saving Streaming videos - use KeepVid

It is easy to save streaming videos from Youtube and other sites. Just use this free application: http://keepvid.com/

YouTube, SchoolTube and TeacherTube

If YouTube certainly has a lot of relevant material for the classrrom and the teacher, these two sites have a growing number of quality video materials:

SchoolTube
TeacherTube

Jude

Thursday, October 8, 2009

How easy it is to use PhotoStory

A great presentation tool. This was done in less than an hour, uncluding taking pictures, finding some on Google Images, tweating the slid transitions, and adding two sound tracks. And I never used PhotoStory before! Photostory installer is in the sharestaff folder.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Smartboard on Youtube

Smart Technologies now has its own channel on Youtube. It includes official training videos and teacher applications in the classroom. To satisfy the visual learner within us...
Jude

Thursday, May 28, 2009

web 2.0: Everything You Always Wanted to Know But Were Too Afraid to Ask

This is a good primer on what the web 2.0 has to offer. Many thanks to Bill Carruzi and Dr. Cathy Higgins for this presentation. See the links on the last slide. Jude

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Aussie Smartboard Resources

The privileged ones among us who are using a Smartboard are already familiar with the teaching resources provided with the Notebook software. Our neighbors down under have come up with a pretty neat site that adds a lot of quality teaching and training resources: Interactive Whiteboards http://www.interactivewhiteboard.net.au/ Jude

Intel Online Thinking Tools

Intel has put together a remarkable series of online (and free) tools promoting higher order of thinking among students, as well as collaborative learning and assessement tools which are being applied by teachers throughout all areas of the K-12 curriculum: The tools ..."support collaborative student-centered learning. Online thinking tools are active learning places where students engage in robust discussions, pursue investigations, analyze complex information, and solve problems." Just think of the possibilities using them with a Smartboard!

Visual Ranking Tool
Identify and refine criteria for assigning ranking to a list; and then debate differences, reach consensus, and organize ideas.
Seeing Reason Tool
Investigate relationships in complex systems, creating maps that communicate understanding.
Showing Evidence Tool
Construct well-reasoned arguments that are supported by evidence, using a visual framework.
Assessing Projects
Develop strategies for student-centered assessment and create your own from an Assessment library.

Jude

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Doug Johnson's wikispace

Doug Johnson is one of the national stars in the field of School Library. His wikispace has a lot of practical informations for media specialists. Jude

Friday, May 1, 2009

Best Educational Technology Blogs

I am starting a new category of links, Best Ed. Tech. Blogs. I would not have the time to do the incredible work of compilation that others are already doing. However, thanks to their willingness to share, we can all benefit from their findings. Kudos to these people. Blogs should be check out often or,even better, you can subscribe to their updates via RSS. Funding, best practices, lesson plans, newest tech tools, it's all there as it happens. Jude

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Four very rich websites

Four web sites chock full of the newest ideas in education and other fields which are coming in video and mp3 formats. Remember that curiosity about ideas and creations in unfamiliar fields is one of the proven keys to success in one own's field:

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

Try this video of Richard Pyle about finding new species on the coral reef.

PopTech is a network of remarkable people, extraordinary conferences, powerful ideas, and innovative projects that are changing the world. Pop!Tech’s community is eclectic – intellectually, creatively, politically and culturally. But its folks share some common values. The folks who both produce and participate in Pop!Tech passionately believe:
That individuals and small groups have the power to shape the future
That all of us together are smarter than any of us alone
That good ideas should trump ideologies – whether on the Left or Right
That robust debate is the sign of a community’s health
That tomorrow will be more surprising than today
That progress is possible.

Try this video of Thomas Friedman about going green and the energy crisis


Entitled Opinions is like NPR on steroids. Produced by Stanford University, it features downloadable weekly interviews of artists, thinkers, advocates of worthy causes, scholars, writers, scientists, and other people of Nobel caliber. The interviewer, Robert Harrison, makes smart connections from one weekly topic to the other ones, never dumbs down an issue while asking the right questions allowing a general public to follow the interviewee, and makes you feel part of this community of world-class creative people.

Try the interview of Vinton Cerf, co-founder of Google (look it up under Nov 11, 2008).

Edutopia is the magazine, Web site, and video documentaries published by The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF). Founded in 1991 by filmmaker George Lucas, the Foundation documents and disseminates information about exemplary programs in K-12 schools to help spread these practices nationwide.

See Ben Johnson’s blog on Differenciated Instruction and student success

Jude

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Technology grant- TLC and Smartboard training

One could argue that the two best things that are currently happenning in educational technology are smartboards and the Web 2.0. Their impact is only beginning to be felt. Thanks to a title II-D grant and also the commitment of the school administration, I will be attending the Technology Leadership Cohort series of workshops, which is focusing on these new tools, and a Smartboard certification training. This will happen between April 2009 and March 2010. I am very interested in both. If you want to share your experiences and questions, don't hesitate to contact me. Jude