Top EdTech Items: my personal list.

Last week, someone asked me what my top five to ten best educational technology take-aways were. I recognize that they were asking me about the Tech and Topics class in general, but I thought I would share my top five EdTech tools / skills which I use regularly. In no particular order, they are:

• Screencasts
  I have to say that at first, I found it incredibly difficult to hear myself speaking through instructions on a computer, but my students continued to tell me it was valuable to them. I found that I had less people asking the same questions over and again, and instead people would direct themselves to my website to get a refresher.
• Prezi
  This alternate presentation tool has really changed the way that I organize information for my students. I like to be able to provide them with the big picture and then allow them to zoom in on pertinent details.
• Blogging
  This bit of online, public journaling is a great way to provide an authentic writing experience to our students, especially since the audience can be just about anyone in certain circumstances.
• RSS Readers
  The ability to pull blogs, twitter feeds, news sources, and other online content into one place for my perusal has been invaluable. This tool is part of not only my classroom (tracking student blogs), but also my own PLN (personal learning network).
• Google Apps / Google Docs
  The Google suite of tools has been invaluable in getting my content online for my students to access when they are outside the school building. These programs also allow students to collaborate on projects even when they cannot be in the same physical space at the same time.

That is a brief explanation of each, and I hope you will take some time to think about your top technology tools or skills. It really is a great reflective exercise.

See you soon!

Personal Learning Networks 101

Where do you go when you have a question about something in education or in your content area? Many of us, as educators, are told to continue taking courses and to continue to accumulate hours of time at conferences where people speak at you about things which may or may not help you. What about the people around you (physically and digitally) who can help you? Isn't it a good idea to use the brainpower of other people who you know, can rely on, or trust in general?

That is what Personal Learning Networks are for.


But don't take my word for it...

http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/04/5-things-you-can-do-to-begin-developing.html

Let's discuss!

A minor departure from technology.

I am pleased to share a blog that I subscribe to and whose author made a point I have been trying to convince people of for a long time. If nothing else, this just shows that there are other people who think like me.

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2011/11/sweet-smell-of-success-starts-at-home.html

Since I'm on the "these people think like me" wagon, it is also important that, in today's increasingly user-centric internet, we allow ourselves to see what the other side is thinking from time to time. Just a thought. Continue what you were doing...

Have a great day!

This is both a test and a warning... what not to do.

This video scares me a little, even though I know it's fiction. How did he get his students to do that routine bell after bell? Mine are always asking questions and stuff :)

Web 2.0 for Teachers.

In the interests of using web 2.0 to discuss web 2.0, I thought it appropriate to also do a little collaboration across time and space and check out the presentation done by another professional educator. We will be going over this in class, as well as searching for other interesting web 2.0 tools you might use in your classroom.

60 in 60: Web 2.0 Tools on Prezi

One that didn't make their list, but is on mine: dipity.com

Let's use one: http://mrbecksfort.wikispaces.com

embedded video...

Screencasts

This post is addressing something that more and more teachers are beginning to use to instruct in a 24x7 scenario. Screencasting is taking video of a computer screen while someone narrates what they are doing. 


There are many options for this type of video-recording, and while I will address two of them, I will also post a link here to an article which covers others.


When I am on my school PC, I prefer to use Smart Recorder. This tool comes with Smart brand IWBs, and is pretty user friendly. You click record, and when you're done and click stop, you tell it where you want the video to be saved. It is a pretty smooth program if you have it.


If you lack that, but don't want to pay for a professional capture software (which cost anywhere from $20 to $700), then you can use screencast-o-matic. This software will allow you to record up to 15 minutes of video instruction with sound and host it online or download the finished file. It is a pretty smooth tool, but the only downside is that there is a watermark on the finished video for the free version. It is a web app, though, so nothing needs to be installed.


Here is a list of other tools put together by someone other than me.




Good Luck!

So many great sites... too little time.

Thanks to a couple emailed links, I happened across a great site which addresses the use of Bloom's Taxonomy and technology. Since that is my focus, I decided to post a link to that site here:

http://visualblooms.wikispaces.com

In the interest of authenticity, I would encourage you to consider how you would use the newest of web tools to help your students reach those higher-level skills while using their technology.

Yet another iPad article.

I found yet another article on the use of iPads in the classroom. This one is not quite as optimistic as some of the others, but I thought it worth a look.

Click here for the article.


The summary of the article, in the author's words: "There is an entire cultural shift that needs to accompany 1:1 deployments (whether or not they involve iPads)."

Teacher Technology Survey

Please help me prepare for next week by completing this brief survey by Monday, October 3rd at around 3:00 PM.



Thanks for your time!

iPad article in USA Today online.

Since we're all about technology in Education, I found this article from USA Today about iPads in the classroom. The educators in the article are primarily special education, but I think that the article gives us some insight into how some schools are using these devices (and how many).

Adapting to the iPad, called education's 'equalizer' - USATODAY.com

Presentation Tools: a partial list

In the effort to constantly be improving my skills and those of my students, I have put together a list of the presentation tools that I discussed in my classes on September 8^th. This list will take you directly to the sites that we discussed in class. If you know of more, please comment and let me know what they are!

• Powerpoint (which I will not link to as it is a program that must be installed on your PC or Mac).
• Google Presentation
• Sliderocket
• Slideshare
• Empressr
• Prezent it
• Animoto
• Voicethread
• Glogster (EDU)
• Prezi

Good Luck with your presentations! I look forward to seeing them all!

Legal Cases 7:00 Class!

Click Here for the legal case sign-up sheet.

go the post for the Legal Presentations in January to see the sections... See my archive.

Legal Presentation 4:15 Class

Here is the link to 4:15 the class Sign-up sheet:
Click Here
:)

The Reading Level and Textbook Assessment Documents

Hey there, my EDMS350 & 550 friends!

Here are the links the reading level form and the textbook assessment form. Please have the information for next week's class, and we'll plug in the data into the WordPerfect forms at the beginning of class.

Reminder that you need to do each form for two separate texts.

Enjoy!

Blog Addresses for EDMS 350/550

Please click on the appropriate link for your class:

The 4:15 class

The 7:00 class

The first blog assignment: to write a post about potential uses of Blogs in your classroom.

Evaluation Sheet

Here is the link to the evaluation sheet that we will be using in class to determine whether your page is completed.

Evaluation sheet

The sheet here is hosted on dropbox, one of my newly discovered 21^st Century / Web 2.0 tools. I have it sync'd up on my iPad so that I have access to some of my files from my mobile device. It is quite seamless, actually. Search for "dropbox" and you will find it.

How to Choose Technology

This is a great Article from a technology-savvy teacher in North Carolina. He makes some good points about the purpose for technology in our classrooms, and is a worthwhile read for anyone who is concerned with how to go about deciding what to use in their own class environment.

21st Century Learning

Teaching in the 21st Century on Prezi

Perfect Educational Technology Tool from student and teacher perspectives

The article that I read on the edweek blog was one which applies to what I may be attempting to use in my classroom soon: the iPad. It's always good to get some other perspectives.

Click here for the article:

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/leading_from_the_classroom/2011/02/teacher_and_student_insights_on_using_technology_in_the_classroom.html

Legal Cases Assignments for EDMS 350 & 550

Click on this link to go to the legal case sign-up for the presentations coming soon!


Here is the topics you need to cover!

Use the following organization for completing your Legal Brief:

• Citation: Name of Court Case
• Topic: one or more word description about the topic of the case 
• Issue: A brief description of the issue at stake. Usually one paragraph is sufficient.
• Facts: a description / list of the case facts. 
• Findings: How did the court rule? 
• Rationale: How did the court determine its findings? Why? What was the legal basis / precedent? 
• Implications: what does that case mean to educators today?

EDMS 350/550 Blog Addresses

Hey!

This is the blog roll for our Spring Course. Comment with your blog address!

Mr.B

11 advantages of using a blog for teaching

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

11 advantages of using a blog for teaching

View more presentations from Frank Calberg Services.