Group items tagged

Great site for some self-paced tech learning opportunities and tools. 

"While there are still some educators who dispute the importance of technology in the classroom, there is no dispute over the fact that technology is here to stay in schools. Whether you are one of those tech-savvy teachers who can't get enough of technology news and ideas or you are a teacher just learning to embrace technology in the classroom, these blogs offer a wealth of information straight from teachers and other professionals in the education field themselves."

"Staffed with about 60 full-time researchers, many of them Indians with PhDs from top universities in the United States, the center is at the cutting edge of Microsoft's R&D. It covers seven areas of research including mobility and cryptography." For now, the US is still the center of tech education. How long will people continue to come to the US for education? How can we change the tide of American students not choosing/being prepared for engineering/leadership

How many of the PhD's are going back to India, though?

It's what we are moving our students to by teaching to the test and in this article it's being used against India.

...is a deliberately eclectic mix of tech commentary, sci-fiction nerd-outs, fringe culture, gadgets, and serious news items. It is, according to its own description, a "directory of wonderful things."

A wonderful example of a teacher who gets it. This teacher has a system established for how and why he is doing what he is doing. I'm not sure I agree with all of his approaches, but that's the great thing, it works for him, but I do love the structure that he has developed here. I encourage you to look at his Quadratic review lesson on the 11th of February (it might be the 12th) because it uses the tech, to support the work his sub has to do while he's out. Great idea.

A blog about the use of the Smartboard in the classroom. So not only a good place for generic ideas, but as in this post specific ideas to incorporate into the classroom in specific courses, i.e. Algebra II.

If looking for a system or classroom routine to develop student eportfolio this mosdel is a nice way of organizing the 'tech' aspect of the routine. Have students write blog posts as writing to learn component, get feedback for editing, organize them according theme/topic (allows for cross-referencing), post final products as portfolio pieces. Very transparent, easy to track, allows for built-in feedback/reflection.

A curriculum designed to incorporate multi-media in student presentations. 

Nice description of one way of developing an online/blended course model. I applaud Stacey's choice to do it, tweak later, rather than postpone doing it because it's "not 100% ready". 

Very comprehensive list of digital storytelling sites. 

For those interested in pushing their own limits about what tools are available to me!

A great timeline of the US-Russian Space Station. 

NIce slideshare about digital storytelling and the use of voicethread to accomplish that. Slide 2 quote: "In educationeze, it's Multimodal Writing. While any use of a computer to help present a story could be called digital storytelling, it's now a term of art for a presentation with a scripted voice-over narration which is illustrated by a series of mostly still images, sometimes with brief video clips, often with a musical background added." A little not taking oneself too seriously with what I think is a good description of digital storytelling.

Great set of tips for using Twitter more effectively. I really like #3, because it's all about interaction in my opinion. If working with teachers on backchannel conversations/routines, then these tips should help the teachers understand how to support the process more effectively. Thanks Clif for sharing!

I know the Hubble is not new, but the addition of the new spectroscope adds new life to this old tool (yes it's almost 20 years old). If nothing else exposing students to the different pictures that Hubble generates would be an addition. If you can use the pictures to help develop math/science connections then what a powerful tool. Take one picture a day and ask students to calculate how long it would take a human to get to that point in space traveling at 100,000 miles per hour (twice as fast a any human has ever gone) or at 1,000,000 miles per hour (way faster than we can currently travel)...

Joshua A. Danish says it takes a village to effectively integrate new technologies such as the iPad into elementary classrooms. As we reported recently, some school districts are investing in iPad2 touchpad tablets in kindergarten classrooms. In an opinion piece published in the Indianapolis Star, Indiana University assistant professor Joshua A. Danish says that though tablets such as the iPad have potential to be a powerful tool for teaching and learning, educators shouldn't jump the gun.