Group items tagged

Here you will find the Top 10 Language Blogs in the category 'Language Technology'. This category is for blogs discussing technology as part of the language learning process.

"Planning is imperative for any technology initiative - iPad or otherwise. You need to ensure that you clearly understand and communicate how the technology integrates with your overall pedagogical objectives. Too many institutions purchase technology and then search for ways to utilize it ... or leave it collecting dust on the shelf. Planning needs to consider both infrastructure needs and the educational applications of the new technology. Without the proper preparation, technology initiatives are liable to become expensive failures."

I wanted to post a list that talked about how to "use" technology in the classroom, but I found myself revising that word "use" to the more general word, "model." The reason I did this is because so many teachers believe that if students aren't actively sitting in front of the computer screen themselves, then clearly technology is not being used in the classroom. This myth can be a gatekeeper of sorts for many teachers, and I wanted to create a list that both gives advice on how to "use" but also acknowledges that in simply modeling the use the of technology, the students are also learning to use it in an indirect way.

"This whitepaper takes a comprehensive look at the research, policies, and practices of technology literacy in K-12 settings in the United States. It builds a research-based case for the central importance of "doing" as part of technology literacy, meaning more than just being able to answer canned questions on a test. It also explores the current approaches to develop meaningful assessment of student technology literacy at a national, state, and local level."

New Zealand Curriculum Manager, Andrew Churches, posts this revision of the revised Bloom (on his blog, educational origami; Thanks to Tracy Rosen's blog, leadingfromtheheart.org for the link): This is an update to Bloom's Revised Taxonomy which attempts to account for the new behaviours and actions emerging as technology advances and becomes more ubiquitous. Bloom's Revised Taxonomy accounts for many of the traditional classroom practices, behaviours and actions but does not account for the new processes and actions associated with Web 2.0 technologies and increasing ubiquitous personal and cloud computing. Bloom's Digital Taxonomy isn't about the tools or technologies rather it is about using these to facilitate learning. Outcomes on rubrics are measured by competence of use and most importantly the quality of the process or product.

Technologies to Watch section.

Technologies to Watch section.

The Teacher Challenge is made up of free 30 day professional development challenges where participants are stepped through weekly tasks that increase their skills while working together as part of a global community. The Challenge is open to anyone who wants to increase their skills - blogs will be used for reflecting your progress while learning and connecting with each other. We've observed success of any use of online technology is strongly related to the teacher's abilities. The greater we support and increase a teacher's skills, the better they are able to support their students use of web 2.0 technologies.

As a modern day library student, you're probably excited about discovering and experimenting with the new tools and systems that have changed the way we find, receive and catalog information. But with all of the new technology out there, it can be hard to keep track of everything beyond your own niche field of study. This collection of library and information technology blogs have changed that, and now you'll be able to learn about all of the trends, developments, tools and resources available to librarians in every niche.

This is an excellent article. I think every school should take this to a meeting with Administrators to discuss bringing sanity to this issue once and for all.

Command of the written word is a vital 21st-century skill, even if we are using keys, buttons, and tablets instead of pens and pencils. In fact, in our digital world, communication is now more instantaneous than ever. How do we prepare our students to meet the challenge? Blogging can offer opportunities for students to develop their communications skills through meaningful writing experiences. Such projects not only motivate students to write, but motivate them to write well. Furthermore, student-blogging projects can be designed to address the Common Core State Standards for writing. For example, see anchor standard six, which calls upon students to use technology to "produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others." Score!

"This blog is for elementary students to share their comments. There will be a new post every Monday. Students are encouraged to write often and as much as they wish in response to the post." Blog created by Sue Sheffer, "retired" technology integrator from Central York School District.

""Our research suggests a strong correlation between kids using technology and wider patterns of reading and writing," Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, told BBC News. "Engagement with online technology drives their enthusiasm for writing short stories, letters, song lyrics or diaries." "

Shared today on Twitter. Article from 2009

"Are there alternative presentation approaches beyond PowerPoint, and which are accessible to small colleges? We explored this topic through a NITLE prediction market, which closed last week. As noted in our earlier post, researching that game's outcome triggered a wide-ranging discussion about presentation methods and technologies. We will address presentation methods in a subsequent post; here we will survey available technologies. The prediction market selected five, when it launched this past May:"

Top Eleven Things All Teachers Must Know About Technology (or: I promised Dean Groom I wouldn't write a top ten list; so this one goes up to eleven.) The Top Eleven Things All Teachers Must Know About Technology

"So it's my pleasure to share with you our new education programs that are aimed at innovations in STEM+ learning and empowering socially responsible entrepreneurs through global collaboration and the power of technology. Our goal is to equip educators, students and aspiring entrepreneurs with the skills and tools to drive amazing social change in their communities and around the world. Needless to say, I'm VERY excited - I think you will be, too... We believe there is no better way to address society's most pressing challenges than by equipping students, educators and future entrepreneurs with the skills and technology to turn their ideas and ambition into action. Our long-term vision is a world where unlimited educational opportunities transform lives, strengthen communities and drive social change worldwide. To turn our vision into reality, we are partnering with leading education, non-profit and nongovernmental institutions to offer three new programs described below. So what could be more exciting than announcing these new programs? Perhaps selecting exciting and innovative proposals in a few months! Will yours be one of them?"

"Through Dan Meyer's blog I just learned that Google has recently released dozens of lessons for exploring computational thinking through the use of Python programming. Now if you're wondering, "what the heck does that mean?" don't worry, I wondered the same. But since Dan Meyer is one of the people in the edu-blog-o-sphere that I have great respect for, and since he wrote one of the lessons, I had to investigate exploring computational thinking through Python. Python is a programming language. Exploring computational thinking through Python is a series of lessons in which middle school and high school students use Python to try to put mathematics and science concepts to use."

"A research by The National Literacy Trust on 3,001 children from England and Scotland showed that schoolchildren who blog or own social networking profiles on Facebook have higher literacy levels and greater confidence in writing."

"A research by The National Literacy Trust on 3,001 children from England and Scotland showed that schoolchildren who blog or own social networking profiles on Facebook have higher literacy levels and greater confidence in writing."

And here's the original 'firestarter' on the Richardson blog - 2 Richardson's, 1 Ravitch, and a long host of commenters... Enjoy!

So, it is not a question of whether these technologies add value somehow to education, but the reverse, can education add value to the communications and information technologies of our present day world, and its future?

"Are you an educator who has no time to surf the internet for great resources that will help you integrate technology into your daily teaching? Have you ever wished that there could be one central starting point in your search for great edtech resources? " Then T.I.E. is the site for you! Form or join a group, read a news feed, participate in an event, discuss or blog about a topic, watch or share a video, and so much more!