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30 New Media Tools and Web Sites for Writing Teachers. This article is really for adult learners but it offers loads of information and ideas for how best to incorporate technology into your lessons...everything from online learning to screen video capturing programs to online collaboration to web conferencing to video to animation creating tools...and it goes on and on! Worth looking at all the options.

This article attracted my attention due to my affiliation with Graduation Portfolios for our district. I loved the idea of students taking ownership of their Portfolio in terms of linking it to an electronic format they could *present* at the end of the school year. One of the apps listed ("Three Ring") sounded really interesting, and I hope to model it with next year's Seniors.

This article was great. Our high school students should be creating career portfolios and some of the programs like Evernote and Three Ring seem to be great ways of collecting and organizing career information. Employers are now looking at what students have accomplished over a paper resume. Some employers want to see you digital resume' with examples of a student's work. These two programs seem to be a great way to help students be prepared for the new way employers might require for job interviews. One other website is a great resource for Student Portfolios and that is MassCis. Not only does it have the ability to upload exemplars, but it has lessons teachers can use that are aligned with the standards to help students explore their career interests. Imagine, career information, career inventories, goal setting activities, resume writing, college and financial information, teachers' lesson plans and student portfolios all on the same website. Each student can create a portfolio and have it from the middle school through high school. Check it out: www.masscis.intocareers.com

The University of Texas at Austin has a wonderful program called Français Interactif which allows students to explore at their own pace and get feedbakc on their word chokce.

This is a resource that explains that students who can only read text but not analyze, synthesize and utilize that information are still considered illiterate! The resource reviews a program that was put together called Digital Youth Network (DYN) and how this organization empowers young people with critical digital literacy skills that make them academically and professionally competitive.

Gregory Ferenstein posts in Tech Crunch: http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/11/a-huge-month-online-education-is-replacing-physical-colleges-at-a-crazy-fast-pace/ GREGORY FERENSTEIN Monday, February 11th, 2013 The rate at which online education is becoming part of the fabric of higher education is experiencing exponential growth. Over 1800 accredited Universities including M.I.T, Duke, UPenn, University of Wisconsin are actively embracing the new technologies. Many of the new courses are rigorous science based courses now being offered at vey low tuition rates. Studies are showing that test scores are rising in an online environment. A word of caution must be added. Initial experiments in education usually recruit the best and brightest on both sides of the equation. As these programs expand, close attention should be paid to the results.

"Kurt Wootton, co-author of A Reason to Read. "In my view, the repetition must not come before allowing students to participate in the creative tasks, but rather repeated practice walks side-by-side with the creative process."" I find this statement to "hit the nail on the head" as the debate between rote memory and creative "aha" moments continue. The analogy of the musician practicing for hours playing scales as well as note for note renditions of other's work is appropriate to this discussion. The book, "Outliers",by Malcolm Gladwell, addresses the 10,000 hour rule. To paraphrase; To become world class at anything, it takes 10,000 hours of focused practice. The author's examples range from Bill Gates to The Beatles. When two sides are set up as an US vs THEM debate, it misses the oppoprtunity to combine perfect practice with creative inspiration. Putting together a perfect meal is based on proper choices of various food combinations. Putting together a perfect learning environment is very similar in that a combination of repetitive learning and creative opportunity helps the learning as well as creative process.

"Kurt Wootton, co-author of A Reason to Read. "In my view, the repetition must not come before allowing students to participate in the creative tasks, but rather repeated practice walks side-by-side with the creative process."" I find this statement to "hit the nail on the head" as the debate between rote memory and creative "aha" moments continue. The analogy of the musician practicing for hours playing scales as well as note for note renditions of other's work is appropriate to this discussion. The book, "Outliers",by Malcolm Gladwell, addresses the 10,000 hour rule. To paraphrase; To become world class at anything, it takes 10,000 hours of focused practice. The author's examples range from Bill Gates to The Beatles. When two sides are set up as an US vs THEM debate, it misses the oppoprtunity to combine perfect practice with creative inspiration. Putting together a perfect meal is based on proper choices of various food combinations. Putting together a perfect learning environment is very similar in that a combination of repetitive learning and creative opportunity helps the learning as well as creative process.

Have you ever thought, "Gosh, I wish I had time to learn more about Flickr, wikis, or (enter your Web 2.0 tool here)?" Well, this is your chance to take the time to focus on your personal and professional development around Web 2.0 tools. It's fun to explore these tools and figure out ways to use them in the library, with your personal Web sites, or in other ways.

I will give Zoho a look. We use google docs at my school now. Each staff member and student was given an account with the same extension. With so many sites to choose from it takes time to see which ones you lke. Google docs seems to show up in many articles.

Zoho Writer looks interesting as you need to be invited to participate. Google Docs are used extensively within our school, though I only used them for our NGY Ning project last year. We also use Google Docs for attendance in our after school programs.

This article discusses the new media literacies (cultural competencies and social skills) that young people need to successfully navigate in the new media landscape. It also provides an overview of programs, and benefits, and challenges associated therein.

An overview commentary on the use of EPortfolios for teachers and students. The article addresses what and how to use electronic portfolios and addresses how one should go about setting one up and how to assess the contents. One point not addressed but one I encountered in another technology class I took was what happens when the computers or programs are incompatible between the teacher and the student (using a mac versus a pc for instance). Very interesting.

What a better way to promote collaboration by students than for a student to create his own social networking site for his high school.

I wonder what program he used to create the social media website.

webs.com

This is a How-To guide for using Acrobat to create, edit, and interact with assessments. This includes adding and commenting on video and audio elements in the document. We have this program on our school computers so it may be worth giving this a shot!

Being a student of the PRS (Personal Response System) ideals through the UMASS/NSF Funded program, I have personally embraced and concur with so much of the data and thought process of using digital forms of assessment, that it has become a cornerstone in determining the understanding and competency of my students through both Formative and Summative assessments. If the life of a teacher is not going to change, and more is to be placed on the plate, something either needs to be removed or made simpler. Digital assessment offers a solution to teachers struggling with the load and tasks of being a reflective and responsive teacher. By keeping students more in the loop on progress and using the data to determine many of the factors associated with duration and direction of lessons, teachers can remain most informed and proactive.

Four years ago we toured the Portland HS. They were all warm and fuzzy about their new 1:1 student laptops. We asked about blocking sites and they stated they were teaching responsible use over locking everything down. We must teach responsible use but everyone needs to realize that the lure of wasting time on connected devices is too much for many of them.

/we began our 1:1 initiative 5 years ago and each year we have a different image for the students. We have several eBooks and programs which are used for curriculum. Deep freeze was installed to prevent "distractions" and DyKnow is used by teachers to keep students on track. The district filters based on the State guidelines. Teaching guidelines really doesn't work, neither does locking the system--it prevents so much education using Web 2.0 tools. I'm not sure there is a happy balance unless the students are mature enough or afraid of consequences. Taking the tablet away hasn't helped either.

This news article points out the different ways sound and visual technology can enhance student learning. No longer are students just creating information blogs, but they are able to include sound in their projects and blogs, using Chrome Classroom. Different applications are: BookTrak, BioDigital Human, Pixir, Geddit and MoveNote. All are programs used in the classroom to enhance learning by bring visual and sound into the students learning. Using the BioDigital Human on Chromebook and see the different parts of the body come alive using video and sound can only improve a student's memory. Three different senses experiencing the learning at the same time.

There is lots going on in regards to the offering in of online learning in post secondary education.  A new organization Coursera offers college level courses using new technology with well known professors.  How will this effect the world of education going forward?

Very interesting summary of MOOCs. They just downplayed the low percentage of students who complete the courses. (Though Thrunn's Artificial Intelligence graduated 23,000 students!)

Free courses that are available online allow for students of all backgrounds to have the opportunity to get higher education. Some programs allow students to receive a certificate that courses have been completed. Does this stunt a students social growth and/or ability to develop effective communication?

A great article that discusses some of the potential uses for technology and communication beyond the walls of the classroom. Through the use of the internet, online programs, and direct communications like Skype, Edmodo, and other instant messaging, students can attend the classroom, even if they can't get to the school on days of weather inconvenience. Snow, Water damage, bomb scares, you name it. Provided that the students could access the internet and had power, the school could exist for that day. Part of the issue is getting kids to realize that the learning can occur outside of the classroom. Another part is that sometimes snow days occur at very inopportune time, like right before benchmark/standardized tests. But, it appears that for the most part the article discusses saving money and keeping the schooling going, when the weather won't allow it. Not sure how many snow days your school has but... not the biggest issue for me. But then there is the other side of this issue. Some parents, and myself included, agree that there just isn't enough time off in the winter. Go to school in the dark, leave in the dark, creates no time for play, no time for a mental break from the classroom. And in a world where students have been accused of not spending enough time outside being kids, I would have a difficult time as a teacher expecting to see them sign in to my classroom, when I was also outside playing on one of those mythical "Snow Days."

This article is about MERIT, a one-year program for educators of grades 4 through 12 that teaches teachers how to best utilize and integrate innovative technology in the classroom.

A school librarian has worked to bring Kindles into the classrooms of the school she serves. Because of the success of the program the school district purchased Kindles for every eighth grade student.

This looks very interesting as well as promising. Furthermore, placing such devices into the hands of older students help mitigate the fears of lost/damaged property. I was unaware a Kindle had a text-to-voice option, something a few students I know would find immensely enjoyable. "The bottom line for me is the Kindles have generated a love of reading among those students who would not have otherwise picked up a book."