Buffalo City Schools Technology and Learning

Hey - this webslides thing looks good, too

Outstanding collection of freebies!

Interesting thoughts by Google's founder. Consider this in light of how we approach our work.

Just in case you were wondering :-)

This is an OMG great collection of web 2.0 tools...stunning stuff...also look for my bookmark regarding "cloud" applications for more stuff like this

I used AirSet cloud computing in the past with the staffs of Schools #65 and #95. The primary reason was to create a shared calendar. It worked really well in both locations mostly because they were only asked to use the calendar feature. More advance/adventurous users took advantage of the other apps including text messaging, file storage and sharing, committee to do lists, and iCal integration. It has changed quite a bit since then.

This one is an oldie but a goodie. I use it whenever I work a new group of learners or learners that are new to educational technology. It's an easy read and can be modified to reflect the rapid changes in technology.

Yes, I agree with much of the article and the skills mentioned, but at first glance, it's quite daunting. You're talking about skills that, for the average educator, takes years to acquire and with which to become comfortable. That is something we ,as integration specialists,s need to keep in mind.

Absolutely Sui! I think TISs face the same challenge as classroom teachers. How do we hook them? For people like you and I it's an intrinsic motivation to grow our knowledge base and fine tune our craft. Once a teacher told me, "there are three kinds of teachers, those that were born to do it, those that can be taught to do it and those that will never get it." I want to believe that the overwhelming majority of teachers fall into that second category. So, back to how do we hook them. I agree with Bill that Atomic Learning is woefully underutilized. One way to get the teachers hooked and increase the likelihood that AL is used is to adopt AL as our launching point for developing all PLOs. Take a look at the AL Toolkit http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/atomictoolkit. Assuming that we have done our due diligence and prepared our teachers to register for AL and view relevant tutorials prior to the PLO. Use the toolkit materials to "promote" our PLOs. Encourage teachers to subscribe to the AL newsletter and our web site blog feeds. Design PLOs with their work in mind - flipcharts using upcoming unit actiities, etc. I think it was Kathy Shrock that said something like, when teaching an unfamiliar application use a familiar task and when teaching an unfamiliar task use a familiar application. We also need to change the mindset so that the "learning" is their bag of bricks to carry and that we are here to coach, and support them to that end.

Any idea what "folksonomy" is? Where did the term come from? Why would it be important to this group?

I tend to use the tags that are provided when I tag in Diigo. Is there something I am missing by not evolving our own tags?

"I tend to use the tags that are provided when I tag in Diigo. Is there something I am missing by not evolving our own tags?" Oh, no not at all. I was thinking down the road when we get teachers hooked on Diigo. Let's say Teacher A wanted to search through his schools' group for ELA content. If the group added ELA_ or Gr8_ as a prefix that might simplify his search. So, in this scenario the provided tags would serve as a base and the prefixes would allow for faster more refined or focused searches.

"Children as a mission, not a market" Imagine that!

Interesting talk. What happens when the "flat" world gets flatter and students from all over the world continue to surpass ours AND their connected with laptops?

"Help a child connect with the world." That says it all. I also like the idea of putting more emphasis on programming rather than apps. Programming requires a different way of thinking that is often under emphasized

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry ;-)

This was inevitable.

Here it comes...

It's true...we don't spend much time, if any at all, teaching principals about current tools. It's a shame, because they are the real catalysts for what happens at the building level. This blogpost is a perfect place for a primcipal to start.

Again, Google Docs pops up in the education space. Super resource to use with class laptops.

An oldie byt goody...this time as a cute butterfly

Interesting article which has implications for instructional design.

Totally cool voice recorder for simple podcasting, audio messages or whatever else you can dream of!