FCS Tech

We need to analyse and come to a better understanding of the impact of technology, and in particular our 1:1 implementation in the Secondary School, on students and their media habits. Asking students to be using books more may not be the answer, and in fact may be a reactionary approach. Maybe we need to reduce the number of books on shelves to provide room for better designed spaces e.g. 'sound-proofed' smaller areas where 4-5 people can plug a laptop into a large flat screen and collaborate over research or other online/multimedia task Maybe we need to set up podcasting stations and higher-end computers for enhanced video work in areas that all can access, not just in specialist rooms Maybe we need to initiate more discussions based on the reading material available, eg latest magazines and encourage higher order thinking through interaction with other communities and libraries via video conferencing and virtual classrooms

those are quotes from the post. this is part of what i envision for the future of our library.

Wow - I thought that was your own thoughts - definitely on point

getting ready for monday!

Without state $, how can we make this happen? Clearly, this would revolutionize the way our students learn, or minimally how they work (or play?).

Jeremy Rifkin, the author of the just-published book The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis, suggests that The Age of Reason is being eclipsed by the Age of Empathy." "Unfortunately, Rifkin says, our educational structures and modes of teaching science remain grounded in the Age of Reason. Rote memorization of facts, competition among peers and individual achievement are hallmarks of this approach." "Today, young people see the world in a different way than their parents, who often cannot understand why their children are always glued to their BlackBerries in an orgy of talking, texting and tweeting. While their parents value individualism and privacy, today's youngsters view connectivity, interaction and collaboration as everything. And forget privacy; for them, being out of touch is a cardinal sin." "The extent of their kids' connectivity is disturbing to many adults. "If your kids are awake, they're probably online,"" "There is a tendency to view kids' passionate embrace of networked relationships and connectivity as an aberration ("what is this generation coming to?") or as a temporary event ("they'll grow out of it"). These responses may miss the larger picture. Kids' embrace of a new way of being in the world may mirror changes that have been steadily increasing in other areas of society, including science. "

We have a couple of poll plugins installed which we were planning on using at some point. I think initially we want to keep the ning as streamlined as possible, as to not overwhelm newcomers, but eventually we can add more of this type of content.

Lets go!

i wish we had a time machine. it was held back in may. i do have scholarpress installed and have tested it out. it is pretty good actually.

Looks like an annual event - hopefully it will roll out a 2011 version

Is Kaltura available on our blogs?

yes. all i have to do is change the some of the plugin options and we would have it working. we currently get 10GB of total storage for free from kaltura. let me know if you want to try it out.

By all means, please continue trying to improve the useability and reliability of the Wordpress system.

Dov found this site and I really would like to take steps to make our site/blog more available and transparent to our users.

I don't think we're far from a time when I can suggest that Facebook could take over the classwork and assignment functions of MyFCS without people looking at me like I just shot their dog...

interesting list of 47 digital skills teachers should possess.  you can test yourself.

via victor pineiro

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere. We have 1200+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan. Listen to a recent interview by Salman with NPR's All Things Considered

Would be nice, but I'd rather have overkill than never having people see it in the first place.

True-I really like the diigo interface and it should be the place where we are teaching all of the teachers to store their bookmarks. I especially love that it affords this kind of conversation about a site

For W"HEN you get asked for a printed version of the calendar.

Nice find - i put it into the comp rotation blog

Can't we just make the faculty watch this?

The biggest and most important comparison point = price!

there is a script for "class" enrollment.

Very nice - i shared it with the group - this is what melinda was talking about for lunch - it can also do the service signups