RE 6575: Lit-n-Tech

This website gives a definition of technology and how it is used in education. It also describes technology educational goals and strands of learning technology.

This is a school site in Austrailia that I stumbled upon (I know it's Austrailia but it is really interesting in how they break down technology education). It talks about technology being the know-how and creative processes that help people use tools in their everyday lives. The site then proceeds to explain technology in the classroom.

This blog says that it is used for students and teachers. It is a place to set up a blog to use it classrooms. It is free and only for education. There is also a way to manage class blogs. Check it out and see if you could use it in your classroom.

I think this is an amazing application on your iPhone, iPad or computer. This is more so an application for great ideas, websites, lesson plans and activities for the children in your classrooms. Just another way technology has created so many opportunities for us to learn!

Yes Pinterest is great! Cute, engaging activities and it super starts our creative minds! Always a plus!

I love pinterst! This is an awesome site and has something for everyone! Tons of ideas, crafts, etc to use in the classroom! I could spend hours on this site!

If you have never used Google docs...you should! Using these you can save anything you find on the web right into your Google documents that you can access from any computer. Here is some information on Google docs if you have never used it before! Enjoy!

This article informs you of the problem with bookmarking, what social bookmarking is, why you should use it, and why you should choose Diigo over the others. According to this article, they feel that Diigo is more useful for teachers or students than the many others to choose from. It provides a link to the Diigo Educator Accounts and gives you instructions on how to set up your classroom or group.

Here is a short article about how education has changed over time and is now moving toward the technological era. It states that there are 3 ways education has become virtual, technical and computer generated.

This is similar to pinterest. It helps one to explore and bookmark ideas, tools, and sites. You can bookmark much like we are doing here.

This definition directly reflects our first readings for this course.

Wow! Wealth of info, tutorials, links to all sorts of useful educational technology.

One of my favorite tech videos of all time. Clever and funny portrayal of book as a new technology requiring help desk assistance.

If you haven't heard of or used gaggle, look into it. Our whole school system uses gaggle, and it is great for the classroom, especially with the older students. They have an email address, a dropbox to put documents in, they can turn in HW via the dropbox, and I post my HW assignments on the calendar for them to see. It has a wall like facebook or a blog for them to post on as well. The most important and best feature is that at any time I can access any of the students accounts to monitor their emails or documents. This way I know they are having safe and clean conversations.

This link will take you to my class website where I have linked about 200 websites for all subject areas. Several are very interactive, only a few you have to purchase. Great sources, and most teachers always ask for my link- so I am going ahead and posting for your use. Enjoy :-)

I found this by accident but thought it could be useful for some :) If you are lucky enough to have an iPad in your classroom- this is a simple and short tutorial on the do's and do not's of using an iPad in your classroom. It gives setup instructions and tips, applications you may need or want- it looks great!

Great information! We have iPad2's at our school, a full class set of 30. It is quite nice, but like you said, it is important to know the do's and don'ts before using an iPad with kids. They are smarter than you think and they know how to work around the system to get items they want. That was very helpful and I will pass along to my administrator as we just got the iPad's this year. Thanks!!

This site gives a brief definition of what literacy means. It points out that literacy is not just knowing isolated pieces of information, but rather having the ability to use language in broader ways. This site also provides literature "Research" information and additional websites and resources for teachers.

I thought this site was very detailed and thought through to help assist teachers or educators with their questions about literacy. On the website you will find the definition of literacy, their literacy beliefs, literature review, action research, references, and favorite literacy web sites. Under literacy beliefs, they have broken down the term into four categories- learner, curriculum, teacher, and assessment. This is great for educators as they can read specific beliefs on literacy based on the specific topic of interest or need.

This website defines technology in several different ways. It looks at the characteristics of technolgoy and how it is used.

I thought this site was interesting because it has a heading titled, "What Counts as Technology?" It goes over technology as objects, knowledge, activities, processes, and as a sociotechnical system. It also discusses technology and gender and has several links to support their theories and research. Very neat and detailed!

In this program you can create questions for students to answer and (if they had laptops, ipods, or ipads they could use at their desk) they could answer the questions. (this could be done as a center since we don't have enough laptops for all students) This could be a quiz or test.

This is a great sight to go and find web quest that have already been created by other teachers. This is a place to search a specific topic and have your students explore.

This artcile is by a Professor at the Open University, Andy Lane. It gives a definition with three important aspects to that particular definition.

This websites defines technology as having different meanings to different people. It states that there are 3 components to technology... 1.Technology is taking action to meet a human need 2. It is more than just scientific knowledge 3. It provides organized ways of doing things.

This site provides an article that discusses the benefits of using social bookmarking. It also provides a social bookmarking comparison chart (Delicious v. Diigo). It provides a ton of information about social bookmarking and also gives a tutorial on how to use them.

An overview of social bookmarking in brief. Explanation of tagging and a few other commonalities across social bookmarking sites. Links to lots of social bookmark sites.

Non-threatening starting place to explore social bookmarking utility.

This site lists several ideas for using social bookmarking in schools. It also lists the top 5 social bookmarking sites.