Group items tagged

StoryPlace, an interactive web site, came about to provide children with the virtual experience of going to the library and participating in the same types of activities the library offers. In the summer of 1999, a team of Children's Librarians and Specialists got together with in-house web developers to begin development on this exciting site. In the Spring of 2000, StoryPlace premiered with its first section, the Pre-School Library, completed. StoryPlace currently consists of two libraries, the Preschool Library and Elementary Library.

National Environmental Education Week (EE Week) is the largest organized environmental education event in the United States. Made possible by Canon, it increases the educational impact of Earth Day by creating a full week of educational preparation, learning, and activities in K-12 classrooms, nature centers, zoos, museums, and aquariums. By participating in EE Week, you encourage your students to make a difference in their schools, homes, and communities!

"Chris Dede, a professor of learning technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is a leading authority on online teacher professional development. For 16 years, beginning in the early 1990s, Dede taught a course at HGSE called "Learning Media That Bridge Distance and Time." The rapid changes in interactive technology during that period brought the potential of online teacher learning into sharp focus for Dede. "I saw it as an important way of scaling up quality instructional practice, and an important lever for education reform, but also I saw that it wasn't going far very fast," he explains. Dede's investigations into online professional development led him to gather a group of researchers, distance-learning experts, and professional development providers at a conference at Harvard in 2005, and subsequently to publish, as editor, Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models and Methods (2006). The book, which explores the strengths and tensions of online teacher training, has become a key resource in the field."

ConnectSafely is for parents, teens, educators, advocates - everyone engaged in and interested in the impact of the social Web. The user-driven, all-media, multi-platform, fixed and mobile social Web is a big part of young people's lives, and this is the central space - linked to from social networks across the Web - for learning about safe, civil use of Web 2.0 together. Our forum is also designed to give teens and parents a voice in the public discussion about youth online safety begun back in the '90s. ConnectSafely also has all kinds of social-media safety tips for teens and parents, the latest youth-tech news, and many other resources.

"Examining the role of new media and technology in shaping the future of education TEDxNYED, an all-day conference examining the role of new media and technology in shaping the future of education, will take place in New York City on Saturday, March 6, 2010 and will be webcast live here at tedxnyed.com, allowing viewers around the world to join and engage in these ideas worth spreading."

"Fly over and explore in 3-D Pennsylvania's Civil War towns, battlefields, hallowed grounds, monuments, and museums. Zoom in and examine inscriptions on headstones, monuments, and more with our ultra-high resolution, panoramic GigaPan photography. Immerse yourself in the stories of bravery and battle in the story stops and state historical markers."

"Using Moodle - Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System by Jason Cole and Helen Foster is published by O'Reilly as part of the Community Press series. The first edition of the book, written by Jason Cole and released in July 2005, is based on Moodle 1.4. The second edition, released in November 2007, has been updated to cover all the features in Moodle 1.8, such as the new roles and permissions system, blogs, messaging and the database module. Thanks to members of the worldwide Moodle user community for their discussion and documentation contributions, many of which have been included in the book. Book download The second edition of Using Moodle is freely available online to enjoy, share and modify under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 License.

"There are many teachers who want to start using technology in their classrooms, but just aren't sure where to start. That's why I got together ten prominent ed tech bloggers, teachers, and school administrators to create The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators. In this book there introductions to more than six dozen web tools for K-12 teachers. Additionally, you will find sections devoted to using Skype with students, ESL/ELL, blogging in elementary schools, social media for educators, teaching online, and using technology in alternative education settings."

Youngzine is a one-of-a-kind Web site where children can learn about current news and events shaping their world -- in a simple, engaging and interactive manner. Our goal is to help parents and educators create a vibrant community of globally aware young citizens in an increasingly connected world. Along with news stories written specifically with our young audience in mind, Youngzine strives to inform using fun trivia, compelling visuals and videos. Youngzine is more than a passive website; it is a community of children, parents and teachers who recognize the importance of living in this highly interconnected age where our actions have far reaching impact. Children are encouraged to express their views, submit articles, book reviews or travelogues, and all content is moderated by the editorial team.

Topographic maps are a fantastic teaching resource for educators. They can be used in a variety of ways in the science, math, geography, and history curriculum, from elementary to college level. The following ideas may be used as an aid in building educational lessons or to spark your own ideas for using them in the curriculum.

Skype is a free and easy way for teachers to open up their classroom and their students to a world way beyond their campus. With Skype, students can learn from other students, connect with other cultures, and expand their knowledge in amazing ways. Teachers and parents can also benefit from Skype in the classroom. Read below to learn how you can take advantage of the power of Skype in your classroom.

kmlfactbook.org can use either Google Maps or the Google Earth browser plugin to preview the KML files that you create. To switch between the two modes press the 2D Map and 3D Map buttons to the right in the screen. The Preview in Map button will show the selected data-set in the Google Maps or Earth plugin preview window. The Download KML file button will download the same file to be saved locally on your disk or opened in the standalone Google Earth application.

So where do you start learning how to integrate technology into your classroom as well as how to use it for your ongoing professional development? And how do you stay current with the almost daily changes in the technology landscape? To find answers both general and specific, I talked to three strong advocates for incorporating technology into the learning process: Darren Draper, director of technology services for the Canyons School District, in Cottonwood Heights, Utah; Louise Maine, a science teacher at Punxsutawney Area High School, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania; and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, a digital-learning consultant and a cofounder of Powerful Learning Practice, a professional-development company that aids educators in adopting 21st-century teaching and learning practices.

There is currently a real interest in the role digital technologies can play in the application of MFL in the classroom. Social software and digital media are increasingly being used by teachers to help students' access language learning, and language labs have been newly incarnated for the digital age.

Our vision is to be the source for childhood learning on the Internet - available from anywhere and without charge. Established in late 2004, e-Learning for Kids is a global, nonprofit foundation dedicated to fun and free learning on the Internet for children ages 5 - 12. We offer free, best-in-class courseware in math, science, reading and keyboarding; and we're building a community for parents and educators to share innovations and insights in childhood education.

In a learning community, ice breaker activities loosens the group dynamic with an engaging activity that pertains to the topic being studied or a topic that is completely irrelevant to the learning material. It causes people's shoulders to relax, mouths to grin, and warms up the room and provides a segue to the task or topic for discussion. Whether you are in a traditional classroom setting, or an online learning community, ice-breakers play a vital role in developing a sense of community in a learning environment

The Art of Storytelling website was created by The Delaware Art Museum to allow online visitors to engage with our collections in a unique and creative way. Beyond experiencing our rich variety of art works in the traditional museum setting, this online project - the Art of Storytelling - allows visitors to create their own pictures and stories inspired by works in the museum. These visitor creations can then be shared, both as an email to a friend and published to this site as an entry for all to experience. In addition to creating pictures and writing stories, visitors with microphones enabled on their computers can also record their stories for others to hear. Please explore the site, hear and see what others have created and submit your own story on the Art of Storytelling website.

"The study results indicated that, in general, using interactive whiteboards was associated with a 16 percentile point gain in student achievement. This means that we can expect a student at the 50th percentile in a classroom without the technology to increase to the 66th percentile in a classroom using whiteboards."

Sometimes teachers and administrators need a kick in the pants to see what they perceive as problems re-framed in a different way. Adam S. Bellow, author of The Tech Commandments, and founder of eduTecher, spoke to a roomful of receptive teachers at the recent ISTE 2011 conference, and demonstrated some of the ironies and contradictions the education system is mired in. And he had some advice.

Creaza offers you an integrated, web-based toolbox for creative work, both at school and in your free time.  You use the toolbox along with various fully developed thematic universes:  historical periods, fairy-tales, fantasy worlds, and current challenges, such as climate/environment. Creaza integrates professional and user-generated content, creative tools and a social network in a new and innovative way. Users on Creaza have the opportunity to share their work with other Internet users and can give each other comments and suggestions on the products they choose to share. To use this service, all you need is Internet access, a web browser, and the Flash plug-in.  Creaza is available for PC, MAC, and Linux users alike.  Creaza is fully integrated with Fronter, who provides a platform for learning and collaboration. Fronter offers Creaza as a PlusPack integrated in their platform.