Group items tagged

In a move that could bolster the growing popularity of e-books, Google said Thursday that the 1.5 million public domain books it had scanned and made available free on PCs were now accessible on mobile devices like the iPhone and the T-Mobile G1.

“We are excited to make Kindle books available on a range of mobile phones,” said Drew Herdener, a spokesman for Amazon. “We are working on that now.”

Unlike the version of Google Book Search for PCs, which displays scanned images of book pages, the mobile version simply displays text, allowing users to download printed material more quickly over wireless networks.

The best option, of course, is professional development on the use of a netbook for staff and students (these are so inexpensive that I have no doubt that Parent-Teacher Organizations will want to buy them for students to use in and out of school; I've already had one request for this!). Some quick ideas:Pass out USB Flash drives with anti-malware/anti-viral free tools that can be installed. Passing out USB Flash drives with the school logo and contact information, maybe a web site address to find more tools and tips online, can be a positive way to interact with your audience. Some districts are getting custom USB drives from providers like PexagonTech.com (http://pexagontech.com) or Ram-It.com (http://tinyurl.com/cmkzum).Or, if you rather not use USB solutions, start setting your students up with digital lockers using solutions like Xythos.com, Gaggle.net, or Acma.com.Schedule a "Bring Your Netbook to School" Night and encourage safe computing.

I’m reminded of the best book any new teacher should have that helps address some of these questions, The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher by Harry Wong. There is a new 2009 edition out now. 

One point in Wong’s book that still lingers with me is the importance of planning and preparation. You cannot over plan.

With good procedures in order, students trained, expectations explained and lots of practice, the classroom can run smoothly. When you plan well, stay organized, and maintain a positive outlook even when it becomes stressful, you can bring new challenges and fun ways to learning. You will gain as much as your students do for it will be a rich and rewarding experience.

C-1.1 I show and explain the plan I followed, the information I gathered, or the work I created. (examples: text, images, sound, multimedia presentations, email, tables, spreadsheets, animation, web pages...) sa1.1 logs on and off ICT devices sa1.2 opens applications and files (examples: using Start menu, My Computer, desktop icons...) sa1.5 navigates within an application (examples: using icons, menus, keyboard shortcuts...) sa2.2 manages electronic files and folders sb1.2 recognizes and presses keys on the keyboard (examples: uses one finger, uses both hands, hunts and pecks, uses correct hand position while watching the screen, demonstrates speed and accuracy...) sb2.1 selects and uses peripherals to find / record / manipulate / save / print / display information (examples: microphones, digital cameras, video cameras, electronic whiteboards, digital microscopes, joysticks, touch screens, storage devices, compact flash memory, data projectors, TVs, printers...) C-2.1 I discuss my work with others at a distance by using electronic communication tools. (examples: email, Internet, threaded discussions, videoconferences, chats, instant messages, camera phones, blogs, podcasts, online whiteboards...) sa1.11 sends and receives text messages and electronic files using rules of etiquette (examples: not typing in all capital letters, filling in subject line…) C-3.1 I communicate with a wide audience and collect feedback to improve my work.

Welcome to episode five of the Technology Shopping Cart podcast where educational innovation thrives on the food of creative ideas! This week Karen Montgomery, Vicki Allen and Wesley Fryer host an interview with Kristine Molnar of PBwiki. PBwiki is one of our favorite web 2.0 sites for creating collaborative wiki documents with teachers and students. After sharing our geeks of the week, we discussed digital citizenship and the ways teachers in different places are helping students as well as educators connect 21st century skills with digital citizenship skills including Internet safety, safe online collaboration, and netiquette. It is helpful to situate conversations about Internet safety within a broader discussion of digital citizenship, and insure the constructive and positive uses of collaborative digital technologies are also highlighted.

Role of School Leaders in Supporting Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum

School Factors

Resources and timely access to ICT:

Geospatial" technologies--which include geographic information system (GIS), global positioning system (GPS), and remote sensing (RS) tools--are becoming increasingly important in our everyday lives. These technologies use "smart" maps that can display, query, and analyze geographic databases; receivers that provide location and navigation; and global-to-local imagery and tools that provide context and analysis.

Mind Meister's basic account is free and has all of the features that a teacher or student would ever need. With the free account users can collaborate with others, share via email or embedding, and download or export files. One of the features I really like is the ability to add active links to websites. The linking feature is a good one for students trying to organize their thoughts for a research paper. The intuitive piece of Mind Meister is in the creation aspects. To add a new topic or "idea box" users simply click the green "add" button. To remove an item click the "delete" button. Organizing the items with Mind Meister is a simple matter of dragging them to the position you want them in. Changing the size and type of text is as easy as changing the size and type of text in a word document.

Applications for EducationMind Meister could be used by students to record and organize their ideas and resources for research papers. The ability to add active links to websites helps students keep track of their resources and how those resources will be used in their paper. Mind Meister is a collaborative tool so it's very useful for students who are working on a group project or presentation. The embedding codes provided by Mind Meister make it possible for users to include their mind maps as a part of a wiki, blog, or website

Maybe good teaching and good use of the web is about all about crafting the way we live our verbs and our adjectives. It’s about paying attention to what kids are doing: where they can engage and how they can connect. Maybe our job is simply to study them in action, determine which of those skills need further support, provide feedback, and shift our position and the support we provide in response. Teachers who wonder how the web can revolutionize teaching and learning might appreciate this Common Craft-style video by Leigh Murrell and Heidi Beezley:

Comprehensive research released today by The Center for Rural Policy and Development offers policymakers a series of recommendations on how to help and improve rural Minnesota schools.

Develop collaboration instead of consolidation: A state policy should be developed to help foster collaboration with and between school districts. While consolidation has been used in rural districts with declining enrollment, the authors’ research on cost-effective policies strongly cautions against this strategy as the negatives outweigh the positives.

Use technology to its best advantage: Online professional learning communities should be established to help rural educators share best practices and reduce isolation, and online general subject or enrichment courses should be made available to isolated rural learners.

"Educators are finding that the use of technology increases student engagement and empowers individualized instruction," said John Wilson, executive director of the National Education Association, in a statement released to coincide with the report. "The successes highlighted in the Trends Report show how instructional technology can address teachers' need for engaging curricula, as well as increase access to management and assessment tools to enhance the way students learn and teachers teach."

Technology adoption is on the rise in America's K-12 schools, and it's having a positive impact on learning outcomes. That's one of the findings from a new national trends report released Thursday by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA).

About : Foto2Avi is a freeware video/photo converter to avi/mpeg/flv. It is an video editor too.