280 Slides - Easy Way to Make Presentations

Any time I've needed to put information into a presentation, it usually started with Powerpoint - until lately. MovieMaker, PhotoStory, Voicethread, and Google Docs are some of the choices I've used to present information to others, help with training methods, and share findings. In this ever-changing world we are always looking for new and better ways to share.

While at the NCTIES 2009 conference, I went to the Web2.0 Digital Tools for Digital Kids session with Dr. Howie DiBlasi. One of the free tools he shared from his top 53 web 2.0 sites was 280slides. Basically, it is free powerpoint that is web 2.0 based. The learning curve is minimal and it is very easy to use. The first time you use the program it will ask you for an email address. Then just click on the Launch button, choose what kind of presentation you would like to do - create new, open a saved file, or import an existing file - and begin working. All the familiar tools are right there for you.

As you work on your presentation, 280slides autosaves every few minutes so you don't have to worry about losing your work and it will always be the latest version. Since everything is saved to their server, you can get to your presentation anywhere, anytime as long as you have an Internet connection.

Already have some presentations you would like to use at a distant location and not carry them on a thumbdrive? 280slides will import existing Powerpoint presentations so you can make changes and/or additions, or use them as they are. The reverse works as well - create your 280slides presentation and then download it as a PowerPoint file (even 2007), an open document, or a PDF. When you feel the need to share it with others, just click on the Share button and email it to someone (2007 format only), publish it to the web through SlideShare, or embed a link to it on your website.

The toolbar has everything at your fingertips so you can start fresh, import, or publish. It was easy to upload photos and movies from my own sources or from a website, even YouTube, and Flickr. Changing themes and layouts was a breeze. One click on the yellow note icon and you have a place for presenter notes. All in all, this is a fun and easy to use web-based program.

Need to create or work on a presentation? Let's think about meeting at a Starbuck's or Panera Bread, get comfy in a chair, logon and put the web to work. See you there!

Generating and Testing Hypotheses

Another proven instructional strategy focuses on inductive thinking by having students discover principals through generating and testing hypotheses. To be successful, learning experiences must include clear guidelines and structured tasks that guide students to a deeper understanding of the concept.

Technology can be a valuable tool throughout the process. Directions, tables and graphic organizers can detail the procedures and organize the data. Digital probes, microscopes and tools can be utilized to collect accurate data. Spreadsheet functions facilitate recording and analyzing results so students can focus on interpreting data rather than performing complicated calculations. Online simulations allow students to quickly perform multiple trials or run experiments that cannot practically be completed on site.

Need good simulation sites? A netTrekker is a great tool for locating reliable resources. Simply refine the search results for your chosen topic by selecting Learning Experiences under the Learning Aids category.

Let's rethink the possibilities.

Based on content found in:
Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement written by Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Jane Pollock and Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works written by Howard Pilter, Elizabeth R. Hubbell, Matt Kuhn and Kim Malenoski

Ocean Explorer Brings Undersea Science to Life

The JASON Project connects students with explorers during live sea expeditions to motivate and excite students about science. It’s called “telepresence” technology that enables an unmanned robot submarine to stay in the ocean 24-7. If a robot submarine finds a major discovery – maybe a lost city or sunken ship - experts in the scientific fields can be at a command center within 20 minutes, remotely controlling the submarine and its cameras. Through a live production studio students will be able to experience these breakthroughs.

How is this possible? Fiber-optic cables will transmit video feeds from cameras on the robot submarines to a command center at the University of Rhode Island’s Institute for Archaeological Oceanography. Other command centers are being built at 11 other oceanography institutes across the country which are linked through the ultra high-speed Internet2. National Geographic is spending $11 million to help build the live production studio.

Students at Internet2 connected schools will be able to view the remote camera images from the sea floor and listen to live conversations among the scientists. Rhode Island middle schools are connected to Internet2 and the district is building remote command centers in the school libraries. With this access the students will be able to see firsthand the explorations and be able to remotely control the submarines. How cool is that?

According the Robert Ballard, founder of the JASON Project, the reason for targeting the JASON Project to middle grades was simple – he wants the future stars to be scientists and educators and if students aren’t interested in science by eighth grade he doesn’t think they will become interested in the upper grades.

Who is Robert Ballard? He's a former commander in the United States Navy and an oceanographer who discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985, the battleship Bismarck in 1989, the USS Yorktown in 1998 and most recently John F. Kennedy's PT-109 in 2003. To learn more about Robert Ballard go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ballard

To learn more about the JASON Project go to:

• http://www.jason.org/public/home.aspx


• http://www.jason.org/public/JASONMissionCenter/TheJasonMissionCenter.aspx

Image found at: http://www.jason.org/public/home.aspx

Technology Empowers Differentiated Instruction

Technology offers a great potential to help students and prepare them with 21st century skills but how does that same technology help teachers differentiate instruction for all students? In January of this year ISTE provided several examples of classroom projects that helped students learn while keeping them engaged.

Certainly students enjoy school better and learn more when they are being taught in ways that respond to their readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles. Teachers can better meet these needs by changing four elements of their instruction: content, process, product, and learning environment. Teachers can differentiate their instruction by changing some of their instructional strategies, management strategies and including software applications, video streaming, the Internet and other technology resources. Differentiated Instruction should include digital-age literacy, inventive thinking, effective communication, and high productivity which should lead to better student achievement.

Teachers can better understand their students by doing interest inventories, surveys, observations or interviews. You can check out:

• Survey Monkey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/
• Free Online Surveys at http://www.freeonlinesurveys.com/
• Zoomerang at http://www.zoomerang.com/.
  
  

Differentiated Strategies

1. Tic-tac-toe board of activities where students choose to demonstrate their understanding of a topic by making a choice from the board. To learn more about tic-tac-toe boards go to http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/Choice+Boards.
   
   
   
2. I-Search – students work individually or in pairs using the internet and other research tools to investigate a topic of interest. A couple of examples:
   
• I-Search Unit – http://www2.edc.org/fsc/mih/i-search.html1
  
• I-Search Curriculum Unit – http://www.literacymatters.org/content/isearch/intro.htm
  
• Webbe template and storyboard – http://www.everythingdi.net/docs/webbetemplateJan152009.pdf



3. WebQuests - students work collaboratively using web research tools to investigate a teacher-designed topic of interest. Examples:
   
• WebQuest page – http://webquest.org/
  
• Pre-Writing a Webquest – http://tommarch.com/learn-ing/prewrite.php
  
• WebQuest Maker – http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/web_quests/



4. R.A.F.T.T. – this strategy integrates reading and writing in a non-traditional way with students creating a product that illustrates their understanding.
   
• R.A.F.T.T. stands for:
  
• Role – the role of the character
  
• Audience – audience for the product
  
• Format – the way a student choose to show their understanding
  
• Topic – the final product: who, what, when where, how
  
• Technology – software application used by the student
  
• What is R.A.F.T.T. –http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/raft/



5. Jigsaw – students are assigned a subtopic of a particular topic of study within a group. Students research their subtopic and then “jigsaw” with other subtopic experts from the other groups to produce information about the subtopic. Once complete the student returns to the original or “home” group to share their knowledge. The home groups can build a wiki to share the information learned.
   

For more information about differentiating instruction using technology go to http://everything-di.blogspot.com/.

itunesu Is A Resource You Will Want To Explore!

I would like to revisit the educational content of itunesu again. There is a wealth of information in itunes for you to give to your students. iTunesu is a new world library and a leading source of free educational content. It contains more than 100,000 podcasts, videos, lectures, presentations and readings from all over the world. It’s a great way to put information into the hands of the students. Students can go to itunesu to find the videos and podcasts they want and download them to their computers. Then they can sync them to an iPod and take it with them. From the itunesu page teachers and students can select links to subjects such as Business, Engineering, Fine Arts, Health & Medicine, History, Humanities, Language, Literature, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, Society, Teaching and Education.
There are also links to Universities & Colleges, Beyond Campus and K-12. For example, go to itunesu → Universities & Colleges → University of South Florida → College of Education → Lit2Go: Audio files for k-12. This is a resource that has the K-12 books available as podcasts. There are about 3000 podcasts on this site. There are tabs for each grade level K-12. When you click on the 6th grade tab for example, you will find 318 podcasts that you or your students can download for free. One of the choices is “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” chapters 1 – 13 by L. Frank Baum. You will find 511 podcasts on the 9th grade tab including “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe. There are 318 podcasts on the 10th grade tab, 261 podcasts on the 11th grade tab and 143 podcasts on the 12th grade tab.
“Beyond Campus” gives you access to museums, libraries and other great resources. Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, Carnegie Institution for Science, Smithsonian Global Sound, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum are a few of the resources you will find here.
There are also downloads available from the History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, Travel Channel, the Weather Channel and others.

New Project Ideas from Flicker

Ready to move beyond PowerPoint projects? Have students summarize what they've learned by creating a trading card, motivational poster or jigsaw puzzle. Mark Samberg and Abbey Askew shared a site titled Big Huge Labs (http://www.bighugelabs.com/flickr/) during their NCTIES presentation. The site subtitle explaines these are Flickr Toys offering a variety of tools to something "cool" with your photos.

One feature allows students to summarize what they've learned using the Trading Card Maker (http://www.bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php). Begin by uploading a photo. Then add a title, subtitle and description. Clicking the Create button finalizes the card saving the image as a jpeg file.

Needle in a Haystack!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Computer Labs 2.0

It seems most classroom computer labs have been organized based on the placement of the electrical units and Ethernet drops and/or by having all the screens facing in one direction to make it easier for monitoring computer use. This setup often creates a challenge for anyone working on a computer while trying to pay attention to the instruction going on at the board. During tech workshops, I often see teachers switching back and forth between the whiteboard and computer trying not to fall behind. As we redesign and rethink the classrooms of the future I wonder if we can give the labs a facelift as well.

A short time ago I visited John at Jefferson Middle, in part because I was curious about his new lab setup. His lab looks a bit like a coffee shop with elevated seats and circular tables positioned around the lab with wireless laptops on each table. With a flat screen plasma on the wall, John’s lab has an inviting feel to it. And although I didn’t see it in use with students, I really liked the arrangement. And I’m betting the students prefer it as well.

Now if he’d only add a coffee station in the corner and charge me three bucks for a cup of house blend, I’d be there every day.

Finding the Right Pen to Write

What if you took notes from a meeting then minutes later you could not understand what you had written earlier? Well a digitalized pen may be the solution for you. This type of pen may not be the panacea for all ineligible handwriting. Even more it will probably never replace the basics for learning to write with legible penmanship. Nonetheless, this type of pen does offer additional options for taking notes. Several products are now available for those interested in purchasing digitalized pens. These options include IOGEAR’s DigitalScribe pen, and Leapfrog’s digitalized pen. Other pens include Silicon Valley’s Livescribe and Logitech's io2 digital pen. Another little pen is the Pulse smartpen which allows the linking of audio and the notes that you create using the pen. To see a video on this innovative tool – visit their website at http://www.livescribe.com/

In the classroom these small tools may be used for students who have difficulty taking notes during class lectures. Several of the pens available provide students the option to write their notes on regular paper with the information being sent directly to their computers. Other pens may require that the student downloads the information from their pen to the computer. Whatever the process, you should be able to find the right pen to write.
Pictures from:
http://www.iogear.com/product/GPEN100C/
http://www.livescribe.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Catalog.woa/wa/getItem?id=APA-00002

Let's talk about Science

Students need to learn it, teachers have to teach it. Why not make it fun for everyone?

What if there was a website that allowed your students to learn Science curricula in a fun and inviting way? The Jason Project offers curriculum resources for students in grades 5-8 to help them get interested in science investigations with real scientists and researchers from the National Geographic Society, NOAA and NASA.

Do not take my word for it check out the "Take a Tour" link from the home page of the site. It is approx. 5 minutes long and gives a general overview of what the site offers to you, your students, your administrators and parents. Yes I said parents, they have the ability to go in and see the progress their children while they are working on assigned projects.

How do you get started? Well because everything is free, again with the free thing, you have to register for an account and then verify it through email. During he registration process you put in your zip code and it will bring up all the schools in and around the zip and let's you click on your school. You have the option to set up your account as either a Teacher, Administrator, Student and Parent.

Once you have verified the account through email the magic begins. You can immediately go in and set up a class and create logins for your student, no email is needed for your students. Then you can begin searching for content within the site.

Here is what you have access to And it can be searched according to the NC SCOS:

• Physical Science
• Life Science
• Earth and Space Science
• Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
• History and Nature of Science
• Science and Technology
• Life Science

Once you have found what you are looking for all you have to do is assign it to your class and your students go in and start looking. Not only do you have the integration with the NC SCOS you also have Lesson Plans, Assessments, Videos in the Digital Library and Black line Masters. There is so much that you can see use and share with your students that will enhance your everyday in class instruction.

Are You Unsure What A Word Or Phase Means? Check Out 1-Click Answers.

1-click answers http://www.answers.com/main/download_answers_win.jsp is a download that allows you to alt click on any word or phrase on your screen to see a window that contains the definition, pronunciation and instant access to over four million topics without leaving what you are working on. 1-Click Answers gives you free online access to encyclopedias, dictionaries and other 180 sources.
The download can also provide an answer bar that docks to the side of the screen and takes up very little space and a browser toolbar. These are options; you don’t have to choose all of them. I personally do not like a toolbar on my browser because it prevents some things from working. The answer bar allows you to search for words or phrases. You will see information about your word from a variety of different sources including: the dictionary, Sci-Tech Encyclopedia, Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, English Folklore, Columbia Encyclopedia, Science Dictionary, Word Tutor, Quotes About, Dream Symbol, Wikipedia, Translations, Best of the Web and many more.

Gizmos - Gadgets for Math and Science

One of my favorite benefits from attending conferences is learning new ways to help students learn. I attended a session at NCTIES 2009 that used an interactive whiteboard and an online program called Gizmos from ExploreLearning.

Gizmos is an online simulation program for science and math. It has multimedia activities for grades 3-5, 6-8. and 9-12. The activities target higher order thinking skills. Because they are visual and interactive, students seem to enjoy practicing the skills. ExploreLearning follows the research findings of Robert Marzano's teaching strategies that show positive effects when students use computer-based manipulatives.

The 380+ multimedia activities are correlated to state standards and textbook adoptions. When you go to the site, scroll down to the bottom of the page and choose "Gizmo correlations (to states and textbooks)" to go to their catalog listing. There you can browse through Math, Science, state correlations, textbook correlations, or a full list of their collection - by grade level or topic. Each of the NC standards had one or more activities linked to it. Included for the activity was Teacher Materials and Student Lesson Materials with guides, objectives, vocabulary and assessments.

Gizmos will let you work on any of the activities, but if you stay on one for longer than five minutes, it will kick you back to the main screen and ask you to login or register to try a free, 30-day trial version. Once you're registered, you can copy graphs that have been created during the activity and paste them into a document. There is a screenshot feature and you can design your own worksheets from the pictures and documents.

I saw lots of possibilities with the computer-based manipulatives and especially using them with an interactive whiteboard. Think of all the fun you could have "seeing" your problem "come to life."

Presentation 2.0

When I recently attended the NCTIES conference at the beginning of March, I was in a session where the presenter used a new web tool that I had not seen before. This web tool gave new meaning to my interpretation of a presentation.

Prezi is the name of the website and it takes presentations to the next level. "With the help of Prezi you can create maps of texts, images, videos, PDFs, drawings and present in a nonlinear way." One great thing about this web tool is that you have the ability to make your product Private or Public.

I could not believe how quick and easy it was to get started and have a presentation up and running in as the site says about 5 minutes. I had all of my resources in place and ready to go. Within the presentation I was able to select a background from a few canned ones they have. Then you are on the canvas and ready to create your new presentation. Using this palette tool you can begin adding your material. Now the sky is the limit with what and how much information you want to use. The site automatically saves your progress every few moments but if you click the Blue File Circle you can Save or Save and Close. You also have the Blue Show circle which allows you to see immediately how the presentation will look. On the Blue Place circle you have all of your tools for the presentation. At the top is Media which you can use to upload Images and video.. there is a downside right now you can only upload Flash (flv) video but as this moves out of the beta phase there may be different options available. The Text options allows you three choices for fonts in html code, body, strong and head. With Frame you can section off your presentation into different areas. With Line you can create a high-lighted area, an arrow line or a free hand draw line. Path allows you to create the flow of your presentation. See the video to learn more.

Now the site offers a lot of other tools for you while you are creating your own presentation. The site offers the Learn Tab which has a number of videos and interactive tutorials for you. There is the the Showcase tab that has 27 pages of shared presentations that others have done on varying subject areas. The last tab is the Forum where you can get and give feedback on the site, issues that you are having or just ask about new features that might be available soon. Speaking of features what else can Prezi do for you? Here is another video to show you how you can emphasize areas of your presentation.

Images & video provided by Prezi.com

My Tweet. Your Voice.

Technology in the classroom. 21st Century Learning. Technological and educational collaboration. What do all of these things mean? Well… let’s find out what it means to you!

Be creative... tell me (USING ONLY ONE WORD) what students gain from using technology in their classrooms.

How do you respond? By using Twitter.com! What is Twitter? An online tool that allows you to collaborate/talk to others while only using a limited number of words to communicate. It provides the capability to instantly send and receive ideas and messages.

Follow these steps to get started…

· Visit www.twitter.com
· Click the “Get Started, Join” button mid-way down the page
· Fill in the info to create your own account
· Once you have created an account and you are logged in, click “Find People” at the top
· In the search box, type in “aprilpatt” (That’s me!)
· Click on my name and my question (tweet) will appear.
· Simply click on the small arrow (underneath the start) to add your response!
· Want to follow the responses for yourself? Simply click “follow” and it will allow you to follow the responses as they are added (you must be logged in to see the responses)

Are you more of a visual learner? Take 2 minutes, 25 seconds to watch this Twitter tutorial about what makes Twitter work.

http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter or at
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=65c60642bc8f14432120

Check out this video of how some 2nd graders (yes, 8 year olds!!) are using Twitter in their classroom. http://www.channel3000.com/video/18912902/detail.html

There are so many tools and resources around us. Let’s figure out positive and educational ways to incorporate them into our daily curriculums. Remember, with all online tools, you absolutely MUST teach online safety at the same time you introduce the tools. Constant teacher observation and computer screen monitoring is also an absolute must!

I look forward to your tweets and will post them on this blog later. Not sure you want to create a Twitter account? Feel free to simply add a comment to this blog post.

What are the directions and the question again?

“Be creative... tell me (USING ONLY ONE WORD) what students gain from using technology in their classrooms.”

Time – National Geographic - World Almanac: In the classroom

Several magazines such as Time and World Almanac provide websites that offer resources for students and teachers. Some of these websites make available materials such as graphic organizers, test and interactive activities. These are resources that teachers may find helpful in the classroom and best of all they are offered for free.

For instance, at the National Geographic for Kids site, the resources provided may be used as a teaching tool when teaching about the similarities and also the diversity of animals, http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/. This site contains geography games, interactive activities and videos about animals as well.

One more online resource is World Almanac for Kids, http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/. World Almanac for Kids, makes available articles that are written for student audiences. Among the articles available are articles about technology, geography and science. Additionally, resources are available about topics such as weather conditions, general science, and the solar system.

Another website is National Geographic/ Wild World Almanac. This site, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/, is a great resource for students and teachers to use when studying about endangered species and ecosystems.

For current news events that are written with children in mind, teachers may consider the Time for Kids website,
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/. This site also provides free worksheets and test.

Crisis or Opportunity?

Don't you just love it when the pieces begin to come together? Recent opportunities have allowed me to read The Thin Book of Naming Elephants and hear Will Richardson. I really didn't expect these two events to be related but I found a connecting idea.

The book encourages its readers to avoid the tendency to place blame. Instead a "surprise should be an opportunity to review and reexamine the system, our assumptions and choices" and "an opportunity to grow". I particularly liked the reference to Paul Romer's terminology "waste of crisis" which emphasises the short window of opportunity to take advantage of a difficult situation. Yes, take advantage. Desperate times can open the door to new approaches and new solutions. Legislators and administrators may be willing to consider alternate tools and funding allocations when times are tough.

In his presentation at the NCTIES Conference, Will Richardson suggested that during the current financial crisis, we may discover that digital is cheaper. What if we compare the cost of technology tools verses consumable tools? What if we fully utilize the power of technology to cut the cost of day-to-day supplies? What if teachers don't need to hoard and fight over paper?

Let's explore the possibilities and open some new doors. Let's think differently about our day to day procedures and welcome new approaches. Let's look outside the box for resources and tools to meet our needs.

Let's not waste the crisis.

Hammond, Sue A., and Andrea B. Mayfield. Thin Book of Naming Elephants. Bend, OR: Thin Book Publishing Company, 2004.

21st Century Tech Literacy

My five-year-old is teaching my three-year-old how to use the computer. My wife and I have been impressed by the patience she's shown with him. Currently he is receiving a heavy dose of instruction on mouse skills and how to navigate through the Starfall website.

Although my daughter is very special to me and I am very proud of her, I'm not sure if her experience with technology is that different from her peers. But I know she'll enter kindergarten next fall with quite a bit of "computer time" under her belt. She knows how to access the Internet through “the Firefox” and knows Mommy and Daddy will allow her time on "educational sites."

To be clear I'm not advocating a lot of screen time for young children, and we monitor what sites she is on and how long she is online, but I would wager she is as comfortable on the computer as some adults I know (maybe more). I can’t help but wonder, if she is representative of a larger group of digital natives entering the classroom, I wonder if education is keeping up with them.

Recently I talked with a friend of mine who is in technology and also has a child starting school in the fall, and we both shared our desire for our children to be engaged with technology in school at an early age. The technology vision for the school will play a big factor in his decision on where his child will attend—not just the equipment but what teachers and students (even kindergarteners) are doing with it.. I don’t know if a trip to the computer lab 45 minutes once a week for “computer class” is what he is picturing, nor is it enough to prepare our future students for digital literacy.

How will YOU see in the future? How will OTHERS see you in the future?

When my father was ill in 2003 the doctors gave him a disposable pill-sized camera to swallow that would record pictures from inside. I was fascinated by the camera and I really wanted to see how the pictures would be downloaded from the camera, but my father just swallowed the pill camera with a huge glass of water. So much for my curiosity.

Fast forward to today. Rob Spence, a documentary filmmaker who lost one of his eyes due to a childhood injury, now wants to replace his prosthetic eye with a high-tech wireless web-connected video camera. He calls himself Eyeborg. His current prosthetic eye is not an orb but a soft material that sits on a peg that was surgically implanted inside the opening. Right now there is a team of people working to make him an eye camera with a miniature lenses and a wireless transmitter. Once the team can make a powerless solution and a wireless solution for the eye camera Rob will have a bionic eye. The camera is the tiny black circle in the middle of the chip below.

How will this eye camera affect the future of optical robotics? One member of the team thinks this camera will lay the groundwork for curing blindness. Could someone who is blind be able to see again using ocular technology? Others on the team think this will give people the ability to record everything they see and experience.

I think having the ability to see again for people who have lost their vision is a tremendous step forward in technology and medicine and I would want to see again if I became blind. However, I'm not sure I want to wonder in the future who has an eye camera that may be recording me. What do you think?

For the documentary filmmaker then possibly he would be able to film in a more beneficial way thru the eye camera compared to having a camera in his hands or a camerman following him around. But recording everyday life, my life, without my permission, not sure about that.


Please watch the video for this amazing eye camera ocular technology.
http://watch.spacecast.com/the-circuit/current/january-2009/#clip128282


Please visit the Eyeborg Project website for more details.
http://www.eyeborgblog.com/


Eye image from Microsoft clipart
Disposable camera image from Google Images
Eye Camera screenshot from Spacecast video

Communicate, Collaborate, Connect

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the 2009 NCTIES conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. NCTIES is the acronym for North Carolina Technology in Education Society. “The mission of NCTIES is to provide leadership in educational communications and technology by linking all who hold a common interest in the use of educational technology and its application to the learning process.”

The tagline used by NCTIES gives pause for reflection… Communicate, Collaborate, Connect. In this, the 21st Century, those words are powerful. Let’s look at each one individually and then collectively. According to Webster, their definitions are as follows…

--
Communicate: to convey knowledge of or information about; make known

Collaborate: to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor

Connect: to become joined; to place or establish in relationship
--

Collectively, those three words can easily be used to shape and define the skills that are developed through the use of 21st Century classroom initiatives! What comes into play?

· Telecommunications (Skype, Twitter, etc.)
· Global Communities (Quest Atlantis, ePals, etc.)
· Wikis (PBwiki)
· Blogs (Blogger)
· Shared Documents (Google Docs)
· RSS Readers (Google Reader)
· Social Bookmarking (Delicious)
· Moodle
· Video-Conferencing
· The list goes on and on….

How will you communicate? How will you collaborate? How will you connect? The tools are already in place – just add creativity. Your students will appreciate it.

Need to Calculate?

One of the NCTIES presentations included information for free calculators and supplies through a group called RentCalculators. Their mission is to support education by supplying calculators and supplies at a much lower purchase cost, renting them cheaply, or even free. Students can calculate online, rent the calculators for as low $4 per month or purchase one for $9.00. The RentCalculators.org site is designed for students to be able to use the technology even if they can't afford to buy it.

Students can use RentCalculators' Free Online Graphing Calculator with ease. It is online and accessible anytime they need to use a calculator for their homework. Once the link is clicked, the window can be resized to full-screen. Just type in the problem to be solved through one of the tabs - Equations, Settings, Intersection, and Plot Points - and see the immediate results.

This organization uses donations to help make technology affordable for students. Their goal for 2009 is to make the first month's rental free. Check out their site and share the wealth!

A Foundational Structure for Learning 2.0

NCTIES Session with David Warlick

David Warlick spoke about the “Native Information Experience” for digital learners at the NCTIES conference last week in Raleigh, NC. He spoke about how school leaders and teachers are finding ways to implement learning 2.0 with their students.

David spoke about the eight characteristics of networked and digital information experiences that teachers need to bring to their classrooms from observing the informational experiences outside the classroom that students have everyday and how these experiences define the unique networked, digital, information culture of today’s students.

These eight “Native Information Experiences":

1. Are responsive – authentic, personal experiences of sending out and receiving responses from others. Receiving responses from others being the payback for the students.
2. Measures Accomplishments – by the audience and comments from their friends.
3. Values Safely Make Mistakes – students learn by failing; they will keep doing something until its right.
4. Demands Personal Investment – students invest a lot of cumulative time in their informational experiences.
5. Values Personal Experience and Identity – students need to be part of a social group, sharing and learning from others.
6. Rewards with Audience and Attention – audiences have to be earned. Rewards for the students come from having other see what they are doing. One site was mentioned concerning rewards and audiences – Fan Fiction where students write and add chapters to an online story. http://www.fanfiction.net/
7. Provokes Communication – through technology students carry their friends with them all the time always communicating.
8. Are Fueled by Questions – many students are not afraid to ask questions

Understanding the informational experiences of our students will help schools and teachers achieve learning 2.0 in their classrooms – having students create, communicate, collaborate, problem-solve, and be engaged learners will cultivate new learning experiences. Teachers need to use the many web 2.0 tools that are available – wikis, blogs, Flickr, ePals, RSS feeds, social bookmarks, social networks, VoiceThread, Audacity, PhotoStory 3, Movie Maker, Animoto and others to enrich the learning experiences of all students.

Evernote, The One Stop Depository of Lists, Notes, Web Pages, Snap Shots or Anything You Can Think Of!

Are you the kind of person that easily forgets things? Now what was I writing about? Oh yea, I remember now. This blog is about Evernote http://www.evernote.com/. It’s a free service to capture anything, be it to do lists, notes, web pages, snap shots or anything you can think of. You can use your PC (or Mac), desktop or laptop or your mobile phone to create your notes. You can also hand write your notes. You can take a picture using your camera, phone or webcam, take a clip of a web page, take a screen shot of your computer, scan whatever you want into Evernote, record audio or email notes directly into your account. Evernote will run everything through a recognition technology and then synchronize it across all your devices. The notes you add are arranged chronologically by the date and the time you created them but you have the option of changing the way they are appear in your notebook. Notebooks are the containers for your notes. You can have several notebooks. These notebooks can be local: which reside on your computer but do not get synchronized to the Evernote server, synchronized: which are synchronized to the web server but are only accessible by you or published: which can be viewed by the public but not edited. You can also tag your notes to organize them so that you can easily find them at a later date. When you do a search for your notes, you can save the search for later access. You can create notes by dragging a file directly onto a notebook name. The file types supported at this point are txt, html, jpeg, gif, wav and png. You can also email text and images directly into your Evernote account. Evernote is a free online method to get yourself organized. Just don't tell my wife.

Dare to be Great

Did you ever get to the end of a great book and was let down by the ending? It was either not what you expected or left you wanting more.

Why not write your own ending to that book. Put in what you want the characters to do and say. Make the book come to life in your minds eye and get it on paper, or rather online. Yes online for you to keep or for you to share using Plotbot.

Plotbot, what is it, well it is an online web resource that allows you the user or people to collaborate the writing of screenplays, or manuscripts. As teachers you could also use this site in conjunction with writing assignments and book reviews to give your students the opportunity to write, or re-write, their own ending to a novel, short story, movie etc..
This process allows for student collaboration with their peers as well as with the instructor for feedback. As well will prepare some students for careers in writing screenplays or manuscripts.

The site is very easy to maneuver through. When you come to the splash page you create your account, and its is Free. Once you have created your username and password you are then asked whether or not you want this project to be private or public. If you decide to make your project private no one will be able to view it unless you invite them in. Once you have done that you create the project name and enter in some parameter settings and off you go.
Now that everything is set up you can begin creating your content. You can choose to make a(n) outline, screens, screenplay as well as set up a project blog, guidelines, references or character document. Depending on your content you can set up the rating for this according to the MPAA standards.
If you make the project public, or for your invitees, you can set up an RSS feed to it and keep up with editing.
Plotbot also has its own repository so that you can upload documents straight to the site for download and sharing.

So whether you plan on a career as a screenwriter or not, whether you like it your way take a chance and see what Plotbot has to offer.

Image provided by plotbot.com
video provided by Commoncraft

A Virtual Trip to Virginia & Washington DC

The sun had barely peeped above the horizon when over one hundred eager teenagers and their brave chaperons rode off - taking the traditional 8th grade trip to Virginia and Washington, DC. This school sponsored trip and so many others like it are planned during the school year for students to visit historical sites, monuments, memorials, galleries and museums. During these tours students are able to experience firsthand places which include:

The Holocaust Museum: http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/
The National Museum of African Art: http://africa.si.edu/collections/index.html
The Newseum - http://www.newseum.com/
The World War II Memorial World War II Memorial
Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Although students may not be able to see all that Washington DC has to offer as a tourist location, the National Register of Historic Places provides a comprehensive listing of possibilities at http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/travel/wash/sitelist.htm. An additional, website to visit for an aerial view of Washington DC is http://earthgoogle.com

To visit all of these places virtually is an amazing adventure. Imagine what the student experience is like being there. See in your mind’s eye how walking among the monuments, memorials and the halls in which some of the founding fathers of this country traveled could further peak the student’s interest. This could perhaps heighten the student's interest in their study of United States history. In the classroom, think about the usefulness of these virtual tours and how this information serves as a virtual introduction of things to see during the tour. Envision viewing these sites after returning from a trip to Virginia and Washington DC as a part of a historical review or an introduction on the study of World War II. Even still, students may wish to visit some of the websites to view information about places they could not visit because of time constraint.

By the time you read this post my son and his fellow travelers will have returned home weary from their journey. I will have, according to my son, “asked him over one hundred questions about the trip”, including, what he thought about the Atlantic Pavilion Pillars at the World War II Museum. What he thought about the digital stories from the Holocaust Museum? I know he’ll question how I know about these things (especially, since I promised that his dad and I would not follow the bus). Then I will let him know that I too took the tour – No, I did not follow the bus – well… I did virtually.

Simple Timer Solution

Need to focus that student who gazes around the room for 4 of the 5 minutes designated for an activity?
Need a timer everyone can see?
Need to limit your computer time for a more balanced life?

Check out http://e.ggtimer.com/ for an easy to use, highly visible, online timer.

Type in the amount of time (3 hours, 10 minutes, 5 weeks 2 days 4 hours 6 minutes 7 seconds, etc.) and click Go.

Your computer screen begins the count down. with a clear display of the remaining time as well as a page border that fills across the screen as the last minutes tick away or..

track the time on a browser tab in IE 7 as you access other websites. This is a fun tool that has no fear factor.

For more discoveries, visit the NCTIES section of our wsfcswiki and browse through our conference notes. Set the timer so you don't stay too long. We've posted lots of links for you to explore.

Network Literacy at NCTIES

I first saw Will Richardson present a few years ago at another NCAECT conference, and it was one of my favorite sessions. He presented again this year at NCTIES and did not disappoint.

If you are interested in instructional technology, webtools or education you might want to start following his blog. I find his ideas to be really interesting and provocative. I like his sessions because even when he is presenting on a subject I think I already know about like RSS, he still manages to bring something new to the subject.

I attended three of his sessions, and the last on Network Literacy was perhaps my favorite. I think he described it as "a thinking session for personal learning networks." There were several ideas I'll take from the session, but here were a few of the best: the need for us to teach kids and model how to build networks in safe, effective and ethical ways; teaching kids to become "clickable"; and if you are in education, and you don't feel pushed, then you are not paying attention.

It was time well spent.

Preconference at NCTIES

The North Carolina Technology In Education Society Conference cranked up in Raleigh yesterday with the preconference sessions. Our historical adventure overcame a few obstacles-- a tornado drill? really? What were the chances? But in the end, the session really yielded some great results and interactions with educators around the state.

The session was held at the NC Museum of History and focused on integrating technology with NC History. Our group toured the museum, collecting ideas and pictures, then planned and created a product for the classroom using Activstudio. It was a great way to start what promises to be a great conference.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Telecommunications: “The science and technology of the communication of messages over a distance, especially using electric, electronic or electromagnetic impulses.” (Definition courtesy of http://en.wiktionary.org)

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol): “VoIP is voice communications transmitted over the Internet.” (Definition courtesy of the network glossary found on http://www.logicalpackets.com)

What do the definitions above REALLY mean? Ask yourself these two questions… How do I communicate? What device do I use to communicate with? Enough said. If you believe successful communication can only be achieved with your home phone, mobile phone or email – it’s time to change your way of thinking!

Take a look at three of the 21st century ways to communicate with others. Best of all… they are FREE.

Skype – software that allows you to make calls via the internet.
· You must download the software in order to use the internet calling features
· As long as you are dialing from one computer to another, calls are free (VoIP)
· Charges apply if you dial to an actual phone number!
· Webcam is optional – only if you want to see the person while you speak
· Built-in Microphone or Headset – personal preference. But, you must have a mic in order for the other party to hear you.

DimDim – web conferencing/video conferencing online application
· Allows you to share your desktop with others as you collaborate on projects
· Can easily chat and/or talk to your meeting attendees
· Great for meetings or for people in different locations who need to meet
· No downloads required
· Need help getting started? There is a 3 minute tutorial on the homepage.
· Did I mention… free! (as long as you don’t invite more than 20 people to your meeting!)

uStream - instant live broadcasts online
· No downloads required
· Must create an account
· Webcam necessary to broadcast
· Free!

How can you incorporate 21st century telecommunications into your classroom? Easy! Get on board with creating a global community right inside your class. Global communities? That is a blog post for another day.

That's what I want

I have debated now for a number of years as to the purchase of either an LCD or Plasma HDTV. I was not which was better for my purposes. So what did I do, like many others out there I did the research.

I went out online and read reviews from the major brands websites, went to all the major electronics stores in the area, and even a few lesser known places. I read blog posts and consumer reports. I thought I had it all down and was ready to buy...



but look what they came up with now. OLED Television Wallpaper. Yes, I said Wallpaper. No more excuses to not buy that big screen tv anymore, because that is all it is now a screen. Toshiba has developed this new OLED (Organic light-emitting diode) technology so now you can roll out your tv screen just like wallpaper. Oh yes and for the Green conscious the energy output is a fraction of what you have for a conventional LCD or Plasma. There are a number of other uses described in the article but I had to share that geek moment with everyone again and say, "That's what I want."

Image provided by Cleantechnica.com

What is a Good "Digital Citizen"

What does it take to be a good digital citizen and who determines if they are?

Well here it is folks, Microsoft is allowing access to free online curriculum that "..that encourages students to be good digital citizens."

The curriculum helps to teach students about intellectual property rights through different scenarios and demonstrations that they can go through to bolster their knowledge. The programs is labeled as Digital Citizenship and Creative Content. Initially this was targeted for students in grades 8-10 but according to the designers can be adapted for grades 6-12.

On the website you do have to create a free online account, I know another user name and password to remember, to have access to their online content. Once you put in the general info the system asks you to fill out a curriculum area and grade level selection grid. After you move on to the next screen at the bottom of the page are the four units. They would also like for you to fill out the survey of the content after reviewing it.

Each unit is a comprehensive package of information ranging from the general overview and activating strategies to scenarios and post activity review assessments. There are also testimonials from your educational peers that have taken part in this curriculum with their students and again is approved by ISTE and AASL.

Make Connections - Make a Difference

Multiple education sectors stress the importance of global connections and refer to classrooms without walls, but how do we begin the process of expanding our classrooms?

Will Richardson's recent blog post titled "Working Together to Make a Difference" shares the work of 11 year old Laura Stockman. Laura uses her blog to promote community service and global connections to honor the memory of her grandfather who passed away in 2005 after a battling brain cancer. Visit her "25 Days to Make a Difference" site to learn more. Check out Laura's Ning titled "Working together 2 make a difference" for more suggestions.

These sites offer a variety of ideas, large and small, for helping people in your neighborhood or across the globe. Learn how other educators have taken advantage of opportunities to bring the world to their classroom. Then take the leap and look beyond the textbooks to see how you can make learning relevant and make a difference. Start checking out options now then make plans to take Laura's challenge and share your 25 days of making a difference next December.

Near or far - Make new connecitons - Make a difference

Wikispaces and Student Collaboration

Collaborating with his fellow classmates by means of Wikispaces is my son’s latest assignment at school. He is a middle school student enrolled in Ms. C’s 8th grade Language Arts class. As a part of the assignment, Ms. C has the students reading books in small groups and then responding with each other via their group’s wikispaces page. My son seems to get it. “It”- being the transition to the web 2.0 tools as a means to learning. He has even created himself an avatar using http://www.meez.com/ He was able to upload his avatar into the wikispace and now sees it next to each of his responses. He reads his book diligently and checks nightly to see if anyone has posted new questions. He also reads the responses that others have written to his questions. When it comes to his password, well, he can’t share it with me. That’s great and he understands even the importance of having his personal username and password.

If teachers are wondering if students will respond to learning how to use this web 2.0 tool in the classroom, my son is a true testament to the fact that digital natives are able to maneuver the learning experience without much assistance. Nonetheless, it is teachers like Ms. C, who are also taking on the challenge and helping develop 21st century learners. For more information on how you can use wikispaces in your classroom, visit the wikispaces website at http://www.wikispaces.com/. Additionally, you may want to talk with your technology facilitator about offering a wiki workshop at your school.

Our Students' Future

Why should teachers include 21st century skills in their day to day curriculum? If the way they teach works, why should they change their teaching methods? It’s very natural for a person to draw from the past experiences in their life to make present day decisions. The only problem with this is that our job is to prepare the students for their future and their future is not based on our past. When I was in class the teacher stood in front of the room and taught us things using chalk and a blackboard that we had to memorize, analyze and later regurgitate on a test by the end of the week. We quietly sat in our straight rows and took our, in my case, messy notes on everything the teacher said. Oddly enough this worked. We were prepared for the world that we entered as a newbie ready to work employee. The future, although not completely known, of course was thought to be 20, 30 or 40 years away. As a newbie employee in the world of work, we did not have to compete in a global economy. The internet was not even created yet so we had to memorize information. Computers were just starting to surface but they were too large to fit on a desk. Yes, I’m that old.
That was then, this is now. Today’s students don’t have to memorize facts, they just have to know how to find the information or better yet, have the information come to them. Many of the jobs that they would have competed for, had they been born in our time are now farmed out to countries that I have never even been to. Today when we think of the future, it’s not decades away, it is more like 5 years away or less. Students will need to possess 21st century skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, written and oral communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation skills to be able to compete in this global economy. They will also need to acquire some of the same skills or qualities that we did before we walked down that diploma runway such as leadership, integrity, ethics, accountability, adaptability, work ethics, people skills, self-direction and personal and social responsibility. These skills are not new but are essential to making one stand out in a crowd of thousands of applicants.
So for example, instead of assigning a research paper that students type and hand in, have them do the research, write a rough draft and create a podcast, a digital recording, of their findings. The students can add pictures to their podcast or record themselves with a video camera to create a vodcast. Teachers can use Google Docs to have their students collaborate on a classroom assignment. Google Earth could be used to create trips anywhere in the world so that students can see the places referenced in lessons. There are so many free tools that can be used to let students express their creativity such as wiki’s, blogs, glogster, vuvox and other online multimedia presentation programs. There are hundreds of other ways to allow students to express their creativity and new found knowledge. Teachers could use wireless tablets, Smart Boards and ActivBoards as a method of involving their students in their classroom lessons. This list could go on for pages.
I think we can all agree that change is happening at a very fast pace. Since some people have not changed their teaching methods. Wouldn’t this then mean that the gap between past teaching methods and present day technology is expanding at an alarming rate as well? What will these teachers do to close this ever expanding gap and when will they start? Education is not about us. It is about the students we teach and the future they will face! Please make that change. You have our support. We will be here to help you every step of the way. That is what we are here for.

So You Want to Teach Online

What steps should you take to change face-2-face course content
to online content?

First you will need to know what course management system (CMS) your school system is using. Is your school system using Moodle, Blackboard or WebCT? Take time to learn the features of the CMS, the interactive components, the gradebook and decide what features would work best for your course content. If there are features missing that you would like to use, then look for free Web 2.0 tools such as Flickr, Google Blogger, Webpaint, VoiceThread or other free online tools.

The modules of the CMS form the navigational structure of the course so make sure to know the layout of the CMS your school system will be using. Now begin to organize your course content into the modules. To make this easy use a concept mapping tool such as Inspiration, Microsoft Word or just map out the course with pencil and paper. Make sure each module of the online course focuses on the goals and objectives of the curriculum. There are three areas the course should be organized around – course materials, discussions and assignments/activities. Make sure to include completion times for each course task to help students plan time to complete all work.

Let’s look at each area:
Course Materials. Course materials can be web sites, video clips, PowerPoint presentations, podcasts, online articles or lecture notes. Remember to find ways to differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of all students.

Discussions. A discussion board is one of the primary tools for connecting with the students to see how well they understand key concepts of the course. Make sure discussion questions require students to engage in higher-order thinking. Also, think of ways to use the discussion board to motivate the class and remember that teachable moments will occur in the discussion board. Use a detailed scoring rubric for the discussion board so students know the expectations required for postings.

Assignments/Activities. Think about listing all assignments, due dates and scoring rubrics in a downloadable document to help students stay organized and to make sure they understand expectations. Make sure students know the file formats accepted for posting assignments. Instructors should not have to spend a lot of time trying to open student assignments from various software applications. Think about using a Frequently Asked Questions forum where students can ask questions about the course and assignments.

Once the content modules are created and organized, decide how many modules to make available to students at a time. Post modules weekly to prevent students from jumping ahead while allowing students time to post missed assignments from the past weeks. It’s also helpful to make sure students have a complete understanding of the past modules before working on future modules.

Whether posting complete courses or supplemental materials online for a face-2-face course, instructors will need to know the technology skills of the students. Instructors can prepare a student information sheet listing the necessary technology skills for the students. Make sure to outline all course expectations for the students letting them know that online courses usually need more time than face-2-face courses. Even though online courses are accessible 24 hours a day, students need to know they should expect responses to assignments and other postings within a time period set by the instructor.

If your school system offers online courses and/or online supplemental materials it would be helpful for students to complete an orientation to familiarize them with the online course software and the navigational structure of online courses. As students work through the online materials always look for ways to improve the course, making note of what worked well and what changes are needed. At the end of the online course provide students with a course evaluation to help decide if the online course met the objectives for the course.
Once an instructor decides to remake a face-2-face course to an online course there are many helpful resources. Here are just a few resources.

• The Technology Source: Creating Online Courses http://technologysource.org/article/creating_online_courses/
• Moodle Community: http://moodle.org/
• E-Learn Magazine: The Reluctant Online Professor http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=case_studies&article=41-1
• Blackboard Tips: 10 Easy Steps to Creating Your Online Course http://med.uth.tmc.edu/administration/edu_programs/ep/blackboard/text/10ezSteps.pdf Leading &
• Learning with Technology: Turning Face-to-Face Content into Meaningful Online Courses http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200902/