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

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

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

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

Stimulus Package Signed into Law; What It Means for K-12 Education

An article that should be read by every educator:
http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23982

Jude

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

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