Skip to main content

Home/ Buffalo City Schools Technology and Learning/ Group items tagged typing

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Ken Fuller

Online free touch typing program | School environment | Teacher login - 4 views

  •  
    Ever hear this one? "Aren't you the computer person? Why don't you teach the students how to type?" Be polite and point them to this site.
  •  
    Might want to try this one too http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
  •  
    Deb that's pretty cool. I'll have my girls take it for a test drive this weekend.
Ken Fuller

Lotus Launcher Android application - AppStoreHQ - 0 views

  • Overview Details News Reviews FREE Downloads: 10,000-50,000 Download Download Lotus Launcher Enter your email address below to receive a link via email. Visit this link from your Android device to download this app from the Android Market.
  • Description
  • Give the possibility to store your login information of your Lotus Notes webmail. Go to preferences form and define your own parameters.Web site : http://android.miny.frSee full change log on web site.
  •  
    Android App to access Lotus iNotes. I had a teacher ask if she could access her district email from her new Droid Incredible smartphone. I did a little Googling - lotus webnotes droid incredible app - and came up with this little gem. 10-50k downloads is a fair amount and it has an average of 4 stars. For iPhone users it's a little easier. From the iPhone type in notes.buffaloschools.org in your browser of choice. You should see the same page that you would see if logging in from your desktop. Login, and voila!...cool little interface complete with calendar and contacts.
Ken Fuller

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know - 1 views

  • Conclusion These are just ten ways that you can protect your privacy on Facebook. While there are a few other small things to keep in mind, these ten settings are most important. Keep in mind that while you may have turned off the visibility of many profile sections, there is no way to prevent all photos or videos from being visible if friends of yours make the images visible. The best way to prevent embarrassing items from showing up on Facebook in the future is to not make bad judgements in your personal life. We’re all human though and being completely paranoid about every choice you make is probably not the best way to live your life. Be aware of what privacy settings are available and be conscious of what your friends may be publishing about you. While you may not want to configure all of the privacy settings outlined, simply knowing how to do so is a great step in the right direction. By following the 10 settings listed above you are well on your way to an embarrassment free future on Facebook!
  • I’ll touch on each of the things listed above in more detail later. A
Ken Fuller

5 MOOCs Teachers Should Take As Students | Edudemic - 0 views

  • Added by Brian Warmoth on 2013-03-26
  • As massive open online courses continue to evolve, however, educators need to know what they are and how they are changing the education landscape. In fact, teachers and professors could be well served by trying out MOOCs for themselves. After all, the classes are free and full of information. Providers such as Coursera, edX and Udacity offer catalogs of subject- and skills-organized options for new MOOC-takers. For anyone working in education, though, the best first stop might be “Education” category at Coursera.
  •  
    What are MOOCs?
Ken Fuller

World Atlas HD and The World by National Geographic for iPad Review | Macworld - 0 views

  • Decent atlas apps suffer from missed opportunities $(function(){ $('.zoomLink').lightBox({maxWidth:1200,maxHeight:1200}); }) by Philip Michaels, Macworld.com   timestamp(1332878700000,'longDateTime')Mar 27, 2012 4:05 pm I’ve always enjoyed poring over a good map. Whether it’s thumbing through a road atlas, spinning around a globe, or sticking pushpins into a wall map to designate where I’ve been and where I want to go, I can find countless ways to amuse myself with a well-designed map. So if there’s an app that can bring that experience to the iPad and tell me a little more about the world around me, I’m eager to give it a try.
  • National Geographic Society offers a pair of iPad-optimized atlas apps—World Atlas HD and The World by National Geographic. Both apps deliver the world to your tablet, with an easy-to-control interface and a decent amount of data.
  • he World also includes the nation factboxes found in World Atlas HD, but puts its own twist on the feature. Call up information on Belize, for example, and The World lists population, language, GDP, and other data; it also includes a brief description of the country. But there’s a photos tab as well, offering National Geographic images
  •  
    Two iOS apps from National Geographic [optimized for the new iPad], get a 4 mouse rating from Macworld. With these apps you can bring the world to your mobile classroom.
Ken Fuller

Mactracker - 1 views

  •  
    Need to know what Mac system you're working with? We are getting rid of them over time but believe me they are still around. How much memory can you install and what type? How do you reset the PRAM? When was the model discontinued? This is the app to help you with all of those questions and more.
William Russo

The 10 Types of Social Media Sites You Need to be on and Why | Microgeist - 0 views

  •  
    This one is just an FYI sort of thing...
Ken Fuller

How to Control Follower Posts on Twitter | eHow.com - 0 views

  • Feeling like your signal-to-noise ratio on Twitter is a little off?
  • Several Twitter applications include features that allow you to "mute" certain people or topics, taking some of the noise out of your stream.
  • Manage your feed by creating Twitter lists.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Read your lists rather than your main feed on the Twitter homepage.
  • Mute certain users, hashtags or types of posts with a Twitter application that incorporates this feature.
  • Google Chrome extension Proxlet
  • Plume and TweetCaster also have a muting or "zipping" feature
  •  
    Practical tips for viewing the tweets that matter most.
Ken Fuller

Unexpected Learnings: BackNoise Can Be Toxic | New Media Atlanta - 0 views

  • The first speaker was quite good, but he kept referring to the “backnoise.”  I didn’t know what this meant, but a quick check of Twitter and Facebook led me to the BackNoise website.  From what I can determine, BackNoise is the equivalent of passing notes or whispering in the back of the classroom, except anyone who wants to participate or listen in can do so.  Someone had set up a conversation area on BackNoise for New Media Atlanta, and people in the audience were typing in comments during the day that others could read in real time. 
    • Ken Fuller
       
      Just what is backchanneling?
  • One thing I learned yesterday was how the existence of BackNoise can change the direction of an event in real time.  This sounds like a good thing, and it partly is.
    • Ken Fuller
       
      The intended use and the ultimate outcome could be worlds apart; read on.
  • after lunch, the lights in the auditorium were low and several people posted on BackNoise that they were falling asleep, so the organizers turned the lights back up.  When a panel discussion and the keynote speaker got good reviews, they let those sessions run long (which meant the last session of the day didn’t happen, which would have upset me if I were that presenter, but it appears the audience got what they wanted).  And there were enough gripes about the “no beverages in the room” policy that the organizers had a shipment of bottled water brought in and added a break in the afternoon.  All good stuff!
    • Ken Fuller
       
      Unfortunately, BackNoise, the backchannel service being used, allowed anonymous posts. In this case anonimity allowed the participants to take cheap shots at the presenters.
    • Ken Fuller
       
      Getting feedback from the participants allowed the organizers to "cater" to the needs or interests of the participants. For example, improving the lighting, or being more flexible with restrictions, no beverages in the conference room.
    • Ken Fuller
       
      Real-time gathering or dissemination of information can be good feedback for the presenters/organizers.
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • A majority of the comments were just plain mean in an irrelevant way – not constructive criticism, but rude, boorish, even vicious remarks. A few people commented about this rudeness on BackNoise and were immediately scolded with responses like “If you don’t want to read snarkiness, you don’t have to stay on this site!”  They were right.  I became more and more dismayed as I stayed on the site, and I kept telling myself I should leave (and maybe actually pay attention to the presentations – what a concept!).  But it was like catching the first few minutes of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” or trying to eat just one Frito…you know it’s going to be a junky trainwreck but you just can’t help yourself and you can’t stop.
    • Ken Fuller
       
      The one and only person to post their handle was shouted down by the "crowd think". See Philip Zombardo on TED.com on the effect of power on one's actions. http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html
    • Ken Fuller
       
      The remarks became more critical, each one seemingly worse than the previous remark.
  • That’s the silver lining in what became, for me at least, a big, ugly, gray cloud of negativity.  As the second speaker started, people on BackNoise started bashing his PowerPoint slide design, and then his content.  His content was pretty basic – I wasn’t learning anything new – so I distracted myself by continuing to watch the conversation on BackNoise.  It degenerated from bad to worse.  As the day went on, there were some posts of substance, such as people saying that they wanted more “how to” information than they were getting.
  • Only one person put his real name up, and pretty soon the masses bored of picking on the speakers and turned on him for awhile.  He was able to defend himself in a snarky (and presumably respected-by-this-crowd) way, so that mood passed.  But you could see the “crowdthink” forming right before your eyes – if one or two people designated a presenter “good” or “bad” early on, the vast majority of other posts would follow along in that vein.  And they’d almost try to one-up each other with the meanest and wittiest observations they could think of.
  • At one point, I had Twitter open on one browser (using the designated #nmatl hashtag) and BackNoise open on another browser.  The difference between th
    • Ken Fuller
       
      The last speaker got wise and projected the live BackNoise feed for all to see. The perception of no longer being anonymous appeared to change the tone of the conversation.
    • Ken Fuller
       
      Following another source (Twitter) the feedback was much more positive or just about fact finding.
    • Ken Fuller
       
      ...the "crowd" had been very critical of a speaker who had the misfortune of seeing the comments as well.
  • Here are my takeaways from New Media Atlanta:
    • Ken Fuller
       
      Questions to consider after this experience: Do you put a no laptop/mobile device policy in place? Should you continue to read the backchannel feedback, looking for ways to improve your presentations and better meet the needs of your audience? What positive/negative affect might that feedback have on you as a presenter? Are you sure the conference is a fit for you? What new information might you take away from it? Do you know your audience?
  • If you were reading Twitter, you’d get a very different (and more positive) view of the conference than if you were reading BackNoise.
  • The last speaker
  • instead of using a PowerPoint presentation, he put the live BackNoise conversation feed up on the screen behind him as he spoke.  The tone improved, partly because Chris was really good
  • I’m sure having the comments be so very public made people behave a bit better as wel
  • e two was significant – the majority of tweets were either positive or simply restated facts from the presentations. 
  • I cringed for one of the previous speakers when two separate people posted how much her presentation had sucked, and this was right up on the screen for the entire audience (including her) to see.
  • I was blissfully ignorant about BackNoise.
  • I’m truly nervous about presenting, at least to a group with laptops or smartphones in front of them
  • should I read the BackNoise chatter about my presentation afterwards or not?  If people have constructive criticisms that can help me improve my talk and give the audience more of what they want next time, that’s great!  But I don’t think I could handle people joking about or making fun of the way I look, the way I pronounce words, or other personal details that are completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.  That kind of feedback would probably make me a worse speaker – more tentative, less sure of myself, and less likely to want to present at all.  Come to think of it, could BackNoise have a dampening effect on professionals being willing to share their knowledge in general?
  • The negativity on BackNoise had a very large and detrimental impact on how I viewed the event. 
  • the conference and the speakers were not bad at all – in fact, they were quite good.  The problem was that there were too many advanced people in the audience, like me, whose expectations didn’t match what was being presented.
  • I don’t often bring a laptop to conferences, and now I see why.
  • too distracting.  It’s not just BackNoise, it’s Twitter, other social media sites (ironically), checking email, etc
  • anonymity tends to bring out the worst in peopl
  • How can you justify paying good money to attend an event and then not only fail to pay attention to the content, but instead spend the day trying to entertain people you don’t even know at others’ expense?
  • I have the naïve optimism to ask anyone and everyone who’s attending a conference or event to do two things: If you use BackNoise or similar sites, keep your comments constructive and focus on the venue or content rather than making personal attacks or jokes about fellow human beings. Have the guts to use your name when you have suggestions as to how things can be improved rather than remaining anonymous.  That would be the mature, professional thing to do.
    • Ken Fuller
       
      Things to consider when using some form of backchanneling as a presenter or participant: Find the right application for the venue, audience, purpose Encourage participants to focus on the content, contribute constructive comments to the conversation and use your name or handle
  •  
    Blogger Stacy Williams writes about the good, the bad, and the ugly of "BackNoise" [backchannel]
William Russo

23 Things about Classroom Laptops « - 2 views

  • Work avoidance just went digital
  • ou need to find ways to bring that into class, not try and ban it.
  • Find ways in which one or two students can ‘share’ work with many. Create online spaces where students can use ‘friend-networks’.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • 11. Don’t be boring! Using a laptop to type in answers to textbook questions, print them out and hand it is absolutely facile. Your textbook is NOT compatible with student motivation towards technology. Boring computer activities lead to work avoidance strategies and self-interest use of the internet.
  • 12. Don’t try to win the proxy war Filters can be got around, they will always find a way. Entering a proxy war means more wasted time trying to work out what sites will work – You have to test your lessons using THEIR proxy (web access) – as you’ll find that things you want to use are blocked. Overtly policed and blocked networks are counter-productive.
  • 15. The wipe-board is no longer the hub of activity – unless you put it online. The board is not the place to ‘look’. Consider how it can be used to work with ‘small groups’ to workshop ideas – and use the laptops as a student management tool to keep them busy and focused on work – not you or the board.
  • 18. Empower and enlist your Library Librarians are teachers with an additional skill – enlist them in your classroom as a team-teacher. Don’t ask them to find online resources for you – that’s lazy, as them to teach you how to do it, or teach your students.
  • Powerful learning, comes from passionate, motivated teachers who never stop learning. Don’t lock-step these people by industrialist notions of hierarchical power play – or resort to moral or ideological pressure to teachers to do more. It is a long slow process to renew learning, not overnight change. Recognise how important the goodwill of staff is – given the absolute lack of central government funding to invest in teachers – the way it is investing in infrastructure. The criteria used to target ‘future leaders’ is not going to be as effective as it once was, so be prepared for innovation to come from the grassroots.
  •  
    Andrew Church
  •  
    Intersting thoughts in this article regarding 1:1. When you read the section on leadership, think of ways we can nurture our teacher tech leaders.
1 - 10 of 10
Showing 20 items per page