Jeffco Ed Tech

What can we learn from Lady Gaga about engaging and inspiring students?

To Facebook or not to Facebook?

shortcuts to help with iPhone.  I think most will also work with iPad and iPod.

8 tips for blogging with students.  Includes link to feedback from kids about educational benefits of blogging. We are looking at adding blogger to Jeffco Google Apps for some users.

eBooks, Digital Resources - it is changing our personal consumption of content.  How will it change the way we consume, use, assign books and textbooks in our schools?

Great article about reading, technology and different types of literacies.  Be sure to read the example from Fort Collins about the variety of ways to interact with the book, "Holes." some quotes: "Experts figure that kids today read and write even more than previous generations. And they do so in a broader and more complex environment - though not always in academic ways.""Mastering the technical aspects of multimedia tools is essential. And both reading and writing in the digital world demand a more collaborative approach, played out before an ever-widening audience equipped for rapid-fire feedback."

In a 1-to-1 laptop class, do students pay attention? Yes No and... It depends

Turning the Classroom Upside Down Why not have lectures at home and 'homework' at school-and let students learn at their own pace?

 10 tips for using social media in the classroomTeachers should use social media in classroom lessons, and banning such tools will stifle learning and lead students to question teachers' relevance, university English professor Todd Finley writes in this blog post. Finley provides 10 guidelines for incorporating social media tools in the classroom. He offers several resources and suggests that teachers: create social media rules that are directive, but unrestricted; draw a distinction between academic and informal writing; and promote constructive online discussions. Edutopia.org/Todd Finley's blog 

SMART Board/Notebook Newsletter. Includes several Math ideas, articles, research, tools, etc.

With benefits from apps to battery life to free e-books, is the iPad the ideal tool for today's classroom?By Wayne D'Orio

Google Sites, Weebly, Edmodo, Wikispaces, Chatzy, TodaysMeet, Twitter, Vocaroo, Voki, Poll Everywhere

Google Notebooks changing the way Astoria High students learn. Quote: All computing on the notebooks is done on the Internet. Documents, applications and settings are stored on "clouds," and can be accessed from any Chrome Notebook.  "You can't download anything, so you will never have a virus," Scott Holmstedt  Astoria High School technology director. "And every time I open it up, it will be as fast as the first time I opened it up."

The yearly Horizon Report documents key trends in technology that have an impact on education.  Last year, it highlighted Cloud-based computing and Collaborative environments as the most immediate trends.  This year it focuses on Electronic Books and Mobile Devices. good geeky reading!

Resource from University of San Diego to help schools develop policies about student use of "Electronic Communication Devices." (including cell phones, laptops, tablets, etc) - both personal and school owned...