Group items tagged

"Many great websites stream video and audio as an alternative to a traditional TV/Cable/SAT service. Some are subscription based, like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Others are pay per view, like Vudu. And some are free, such as Hulu, ABC, CBS, NBC, and the BBC. There's only one catch. They're generally only available in one country. National broadcasting websites are only available in their country of origin. While some services are expanding internationally, like the recent arrival of Netflix to Canada, the expansion is slow and it's difficult due to the content deals that are made for each country. Another burdensome restriction on freedom is the blocking of social media sites by some countries and by many businesses. Thankfully, there's now an immediate and easy answer. And you just discovered it!"

"As I lamented in my last post, many of the fabulous Web tools out there are restricted to users 13 and over. This limits what Elementary/Primary schools students can access online to create content to collaborate. To save others at school some time, then, I have compiled a list of popular/well known Web tools that can and can't be used by children under 13 - 1), so we are legally covered in what we are allowing our students to use and 2), so they know what is available. Please note that generally the sites that allow for under 13s still ask for parental permission ( even Edmodo if you haven't read the Terms of Use) so a solid school user agreement is needed to use these tools. Some of the sites are not US based so are not bound by COPPA and CIPA regulations. It still requires schools to carefully check out what can be viewed on these sites to ensure they are appropriate to access."

"Do you ever Google yourself? If you don't, why not? If you do, what do you see? If something about you does not come up on the first page, something is wrong. Your learning community needs to know what you believe is important. Your voice and ideas need to be read and heard! If you are not blogging or putting out a digital newsletter on your school or district website, you are missing golden opportunity to communicate with staff, parents, students, and the stakeholders of your community. Most students and parents are using digital media to communicate with friends and family using websites like Facebook or Google +. If you or your school community are not using these digital mediums to communicate your story, you are missing out, and what is worse, people may be telling your story for you and you might not like their version! As a leader, you have to plug yourself into these networks, to build your school's brand, to keep your stakeholders informed, and to model good communication for your staff. "

More reasoned argument from a principal why it's important to be connected as an educator.

Professional development days a.k.a. in-service days a.k.a. team-building days ... quite frankly, they suck for me; they are boring and a major waste of my time -- equally for those who are told to lead them and for the teachers who are required to sit and listen. I am not sure if those in command of designing and facilitating them care to do it, or are actually that far removed from the profession that they have no idea what is relevant. Maybe the leaders of professional development need professional development on how to do professional development.

"At this very moment, many people in Australia are breaching copyright. They are doing creative things, commonplace things, public interest things, things that are improving our community and culture, and they are breaching copyright, often without even being aware of it."

"According to our research, more than 90% of Creative Commons photos are not attributed at all. To make matters worse, less than 10% of the photos that do credit the original work are attributed properly. This means that more than 99% of Creative Commons photos are not adequately attributed. Not without pride, we are happy to notice that most of the bloggers using Foter.com attribute CC photos properly, which is greatly facilitated by our "ready to paste" attribution info. Every time they intend to use a searched image, all they need to do is copy the image and the accompanying attribution details into their blogs. Most is not enough, though. People often find CC photos on various sites and wonder how to attribute them. In order to help you, our team prepared a comprehensive infographic that reflects interesting research findings, gives details of Creative Commons licenses and illustrates how to properly attribute CC photos.

"In classrooms all around the globe, educators are introducing new and exciting technological tools to engage their students in learning. Many educators are successful when integrating these technologies, but unfortunately many are not for a variety of reasons. In my opinion, and from my experience in classrooms around the world, these are the biggest mistakes that educators make when integrating technology into the classroom:"

"In straight forward business terms I see the growth and adoption of cloud following a traditional bell curve between the years 2010 and 2020. We are in year two now, and I would guess that between five and ten percent of applications in use in enterprises are cloud based (typically CRM, email, collaboration applications) and that about fifty percent of businesses are trying cloud to some degree. By 2015, I reckon fifty percent of all applications in use will be cloud based and ninety percent of all firms will have some cloud exposure. By 2020, I think we are talking about one hundred percent in terms of firms and ninety-five percent of working applications being cloud based."

"Using Google Search is making us believe we are more knowledgeable and intelligent than we actually are. That's not necessarily an easy idea to swallow, but sometimes the truth hurts. The harsh reality is that although search engines enable us to find out all sorts of information in a very short period of time, this is not a marker of our intelligence. We are not the only primates who have learned to use tools to our advantage."

"The idea of students sitting in front of PCs learning how to use Word is as dead as the proverbial dead parrot. It is already an antiquated model of learning - like chalk or fountain pens with ink-wells; it has a whiff of the twentieth century about it, rather than preparing our students for the future. Whilst the DfE dithers about what they should do with technology (Mr Gove clearly wants to reboot the chalk and talk bygone age), schools are left with a rapidly changing world, where budgets are at a premium and ICT often stretches what budgets now allow. All the while, students are learning on their iPads, Android tablets and smart phones, writing more in texts and tweets daily than in their collective writing experience during the school week. We aren't harnessing this expertise, never mind guiding it to a place of higher learning!"

"How you use Twitter for business or for fun is up to you, but there are some things that are definite no-nos - things that you do that affect other Twitter users perception of you."

Smartphones and tablet computers are radically transforming how we access our shared knowledge sources by keeping us constantly connected to near-infinite volumes of raw data and information. We enjoy unprecedented instant access to expertise, from informal cooking lessons on YouTube to online university courses. Every day people around the globe are absorbed in exciting new forms of learning, and yet traditional schools and university systems are still struggling to leverage the many opportunities for innovation in this area.

You may well be aware of the hundreds, no, thousands of websites and tools that are available to use within the classroom. Many of these have popped up in the past few years and it can be hard to keep up with them all, particularly when many require logins or may need software to be installed too. So here are a few sites that are perfect for using with a range of children and all of them can be accessed from any web browser.

"Would a person with good handwriting, spelling and grammar and instant recall of multiplication tables be considered a better candidate for a job than, say, one who knows how to configure a peer-to-peer network of devices, set up an organisation-wide Google calendar and find out where the most reliable sources of venture capital are, I wonder? The former set of skills are taught in schools, the latter are not."

"The internet is awash with exciting and innovative tools, and your students have grown up immersed in this world - get in on the act. The digital revolution has given us instant communication and easy global connectedness, with mobile technology in particular growing at warp speed: in 2013, there are almost as many mobile phone contracts as there are people in the world. This digital transformation has produced some extraordinary online tools for flexible education, which enhance students' learning and promise innovative pedagogy for teachers. However, they can also be daunting and challenging for educators. It is clear that teachers cannot ignore these tools, which go far beyond just Facebook and Twitter. Educators are now dealing with Generation Z - students born after 1995 who have hardly known a world without social media and have always lived a life measured in bits and bytes. Most have access to iPads and smartphones as well as textbooks and, therefore, the massive resource of the internet."

"What is digital curation? For those who visit museums or galleries, curators are those who are expert in a specific genre of exhibit, and who ensure that the displays are kept up to date, accurate and relevant to the viewing public. Curation is at the very heart of the success of any museum or art gallery. Digital curation is similar in many ways. It is becoming more important as content increases."

"Over the last month or so EmergingEdTech ran a survey seeking input from educators like you. The goal was to make sure we understand what you want to know about education and instructional technology, and what your biggest challenges are as an educator. The survey received nearly 160 responses (thank you!). Results are being shared results in two parts. This first post deals with the technology-specific questions, and a second shorter post will follow that focuses on the your most significant professional challenges."

"The problems stemming from this are many. How do we stress the importance of digital literacy to a group of people, many of whom are digitally illiterate in the modern sense of the term? How do we get educators to remain relevant in their areas of expertise, if their access to content is limited to the methods and tools of the 20th Century? How do we get educators to participate in collaborative learning on a global basis, when they are comfortable with their day-to-day, face-to-face connections with only their building colleagues?"

""I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate" picks up on the education topic but takes a different stance and angle from "Why I Hate School But Love Education". This poem talks about how we have been made to think about how education and getting university degrees can give us opportunities to have a better chance in making our dream careers a reality. It also touches on how as individuals we are judged and tested by how well we perform on exams, but not all people perform well in exams so why are they made out to feel like they're dumb? The inconsistencies of the education system are really peeled open to reveal a deep problem that needs to be addressed and how society's needs have changed to make this even more apparent. "

Social Media has fast become part of many people's every day lives. With so much new technology being introduced today, there are many benefits and reasons for students to be using social media on a daily basis. Social Networks are being utilized by students not to just talk to their friends or share the cutest cat video they can find, but to make use of these networks to develop and enhance the student lifestyle. Many students are using websites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to market themselves to potential employers by setting up business pages and uploading videos for all to see.