I was fortunate to be able to go to the Discovery Educator Network National Institute last week. It was fantastic to be able to network and learn with like-minded technology enthusiasts! Highlights of the week included:
Meeting new people and forming friendships that can be maintained on-line with social networking tools.
Going to the Discovery Studio to be videotaped in front of the green screen used by Discovery Channel stars. We made a video to help teachers understand what the DEN is all about and to learn about the benefits of becoming a DEN STAR educator.
Learning how easy it is to use Adobe Premier’s chromakey feature.
Creating my own Mobulus Station that I can use to live broadcast professional developement when needed.
Learning about the benefits of cell phone technology for the classroom from Hall Davidson.
Discovering the benefits of geocaching. Now I want a hand-held GPS to try it myself!
Signing up for a Plurk account, a Twitter-like social networking tool. I lOVE IT!
Creating a video modeled after the Boom-de-Ya-Da commercial. This was the opening activity. I worked with teachers from Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Texas. So fun!
Spending time in a “green building.” Water is saved by moving the toilet handle up for liquid waste, and down for solid waste. Maybe Discovery can be highlighted during Earthcast 09!
Strolling the National Mall with friends before catching our flight home.
My family and I went on vacation to a place without Internet access, and it was exactly what I needed! Although part of me wanted to be in Texas at NECC, I needed the down time. I read lots of books, golfed, and even went white water rafting. I so much appreciate all who were able to attend NECC for their willingness to share their experiences via their blogs. I intend to watch the videos and listen to the podcasts that have been posted on the ISTE website, and any others I can find!
Next week I am fortunate enough to be going to the Discovery Educator Network’s Leadership Institute in Silver Springs, Maryland. I cannot wait! I hear the networking and professional development is tops.
Mozilla Firefox became available for download today. I found a wonderful write-up about the new features that is worth taking a peek at from dria.org, “the intrepid girl reporter.” The malware and phishing protection are among the best new features.
I was just browsing the Discovery Educator Network’s ”Streaming A to Z” blog, and found an entry about how to do the “green screen” effect in Windows MovieMaker, something I’ve been wanting to try. As you will see by reading the post, it is actually a BLUE screen/chromakey feature. Links to step-by-step directions with screen shots are available, shared by Jen Dorman.
Why would you want to do this? How cool would it be to be able to add yourself or your students to an existing DiscoveryStreaming Video? You can swim with sharks, interact with past Presidents, and explore the rain forest!
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) wanted to find out the philisophies of Scandinavian countries, whose students have outperformed students from other countries in a recent test of math and science skills. They learned that educators in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark believe that teacher autonomy, project-based learning, and nationwide broadband Internet access are keys to their success. I read about this in April 2008 issue of eSchool News.
These three countries have vastly different philosophies from the USA. They do NOT have standardized testing, competitive grading, and top-down accountability. They also have pre-school programs between ages 4 and 7 that stress self-reflection and social behavior, not academic content. The pre-school programs help students take responsibility for their own learning. Additionally, the countries have social programs that provide families with support; poverty and extreme wealth do not exist.
I have been using Camtasia, a TechSmith product, for several years now. I love it…it is easy to use and there are many rendering options. Creating video tutorials does the trick when I am not able to meet with folks face-to-face. Jing is a free screen capture program, also made by TechSmith. It lacks some of the slick editing features of Camtasia, but its simplicity and sharing options make it worth it. A few days ago, a teacher asked for help with grading collaborative projects using the Moodle gradebook. I was unable to meet with the teacher, and writing out the steps would have taken 30 minutes or more. I fired up Jing and created a short video within five minutes. I was able to send a link to the video to this teachers and all the other 8th grade social studies teachers who might also want to know more about the Moodle gradebook.
Jing even offers free server space to upload videos. I highly recommend that all teachers and administrators download and try out Jing this summer!
What an awesome day! To celebrate Earth Day, a group of 10 or so of us from all over the world worked together to pull off 24 hours of non-stop programming over the entire GMT day. The webcasting team came from Canada, Germany, Australia, the UK, Portugal, and the USA. Conversations centered around preserving the Earth. Guests included scientists, environmentalists, business leaders, educators, community members, and students! We recorded the day’s events, which will be available soon for those to listen to later.
Participants filled the chat room to ask questions of the hosts and special guests - the live conversations were fun and informative. I was actively involved with about 18 of the hours either by hosting or providing behind-the-scenes support to the person hosting. This was true of the entire Earthcast team. It was the best teamwork I’ve ever been a part of!
The day was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. The pass-offs at the hour mark when webcasters passed the streaming to someone else in another part of the world were times when everyone came together - checking the sound, offering suggestions, and encouraging each other.
Student voices were heard from all over the world about important environmental matters. They were poised and proud to be broadcasting to a worldwide audience and they were invested in the subject. Their teachers report that they want to know when they can do something like this again.
I felt a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. I streamed both audio and video from my laptop for the first time and I didn’t mess it up. I enjoyed sharing the 6th grade blogging project done by April Warren and her students, and talking with Sue Hellman and her students about a video they created for Earth Day. I also interviewed Chris Clonen, the Project Manager of General Motors’ Education website and loved the conversation and learning about hybrid vehicles, fuel cells, no waste manufacturing plants, and more. Click here for archived audio of the interview.
This one one of the highlights of my entire career and I look forward to future similar experiences. The possibilities are endless!
Thanks to the entire Earthcast team and everyone who participated! This event would not have been possible without the support of WorldBridges and EdTechTalk.
Oakland Schools (county in SE Michigan) hosted a technology conference today. The opening keynoter was Lee Rainie from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. His presentation was a timeline of when new technologies were introduced. He eventually got to web 2.0 resources. His presentation fit the need of the audience. There were only four people who knew what Twitter was, and only a few that had heard of del.icio.us, to name a few of the tools that were mentioned. A few people from my district asked me about some of what was mentioned in the keynote, so that was good!
This is a cool story: A teacher from my district (the wonderful John Shaw) presented about a blogging project he did with 4th graders using Blogmeister, see handout. He showed how easy it is to embed Flickr slideshows and audio recordings. His student teacher was there, too. She did not have an active role in the presentation, but she chimed in with a few thoughts here and there. After the session, a curriculum director from a local district approached her and told her that they had two teaching positions available and told her to apply, telling her that she wanted to hire teachers that did these kinds of projects. Hooray!
I presented in teh afternoon about an 8th grade Social Studies unit that is taught using Moodle. All of our 8th graders will be involved, as this is used as a performance assessment for technology literacy. It was fun to share about the development of the curriculum and the teacher professional development.
At the end of the day, Julie Evans of Project Tomorrow shared the results from the nation-wide Speak Up data, as well as specific results for Oakland County. The results are included in her PowerPoint presentation. “The students want to be productive in school, and want to have access to their devices… their laptop, mp3 player, Smartphones, and PDAs!”
Bruce Umpstead gave an overview of the state of Michigan’s use of technology. He did a great job of highlighting the key points and his philosophy matches mine! He will be the keynoter for Walled Lake’s Spice it Up Conference on August 26, and his message would be perfect for our administrators and teachers.
I spent the afternoon with a great group of folks discussing & planning steps to help administrators be the kinds of leaders required to transform our schools into 22nd century places of learning… meaning we must plan for the future. I wish I remember who said that at the meeting, but I really like the phrase “22nd century learning” much better than “21st century learning,” a popular phrase that I believe has become overused. If we are planning for 21st century learning, we’re already too late.
Meetings I attend outside of my school district tend to be with people like me - people who work on instructional uses of technology. Our ideas and beliefs are shared for the most part. The meeting today was with a group of administrators (superintendents, principals, curriculum directors, etc) who come from diverse backgrounds . I enjoyed hearing their perspectives and ideas - it was fun to discuss educational technology with people who have such different job responsibilities from mine. The lingo was a bit different from what I am used to, but we all are interested in changing the learning culture of schools and are striving for the same goals.
The discussion was rich as we talked about the “formula” for the development of the kind of administrative leadership that fosters student use of technology as a true learning tool. What makes some administrators passionate about the topic? How can students be added to this discussion? How can we encourage the natural learning that takes place informally in homes to continue at school? Should teacher evaluation have a technology component? How can we best share ideas and network with others about this topic? What are the routines and practices of our best technology-using schools? Of course, there are many more questions than answers, but I am pleased to be a part of the discussion and planning process.
Also, a phrase I heard for the first time was “generative leadership.” …I plan to learn more about what that means.
Everyone who knows that I recently purchased a Mac have been asking if I now prefer Mac to PC. Can’t say that I do. Yes, it is different. I just like knowing both languages! At work, I use a PC. At home, I switch off. Almost everything I do these days is web based, so either platform works just fine. The creative suite of software on the Mac has been fun to try out, but there are PC equivalents to all of it. The business world is almost entirely PC, so I support my school district in sticking with PCs.
After about a month of use, here are my thoughts:
The Mac is very hot on my lap. I quickly learned about the need to stick something between me and my laptop after scalding my thighs!
The Mac makes a very strange bubble noise that I cannot figure out how to turn off. I have figured out that the noise is probably due to using Skype, and the noises may occur when people on my contact list log on and off. I’ve tried switching every settting, but I’m still dealing with that annoying noise. Yes, I could turn Skype off, but I like to use it.
Microsoft Office on a Mac = Microsoft Office on a PC
Camtasia does not work on Mac
Photobucket is fun. This is a program that does not have a PC equivalent (at least I don’t think so)
iChat is also very cool. I love the computer-sharing function. I use Yugma to do this on a PC, but need to use Skype for audio.
iMovie = MovieMaker
I love the ease of using keyboard shortcut to snag images on the Mac - Vista now does the same thing.
Less software updates on the Mac
Garageband lets you do “enhanced” podcasts. I use Audacity on my PC, but there is no ability to add images. I’m not all that keen on the enhanced podcasts, because I am unable to use them on my video mp3 player (I have a Creative Zen… didn’t go with Apple’s ipod. My Creative has a built in voice recorder that Apple did not have…. Apple requires an additional piece of equipment that you have to buy).
The ease of zooming in when presenting with a Mac is an awesome feature!
The Feb 2008 issue of Educational Leadership features an article titled “Cover the Material - Or Teach Students to Think?,” written by Marion Brady. The author questions the logic of adding “rigor” and high standards to the curriculum at the expense of teaching students to think. The author believes that old answers rarely fit in eras of rapid social change, and that adaptation to changing realities require higher-order thinking skills. Textbooks do not help develop higher-order thinking skills, because they represent the final conclusions of other people’s thoughts and processes.
Traditional instruction is more concerned with the study of opinions about the real world than with the study of the real world itself. Internalizing others’ views required just one thinking skill–recall. Trying to make sense of one’s own day-to-day experience requires the use of every known thinking skill.
Education leaders can take a crucial step toward getting students to use higher-order thinking skills by drawing a sharp line between firsthand and secondhand knowledge. The best way to do this is to focus attention directly on some part of the real world.
Our students need to have opportunities to make their own inferences, hypotheses, generalizations, and value judgements. Gobal collaborative projects such as the Roadkill 2008 Project (sounds gross, but you need to look into it… I heard about it on EdTechTalk this week), projects such as Cheryl Lykowski’s Global Explorers project, and Technospud Projects would fit the bill.
A few classrooms in Walled Lake are participating in The Oakland Schools Land Use Project, where students come up with a development idea that would improve their community. They collaborate with local experts who push them to think about concepts such as the impact on the environment and the people, and local zoning ordinances. The students survey their community to determine the need, calculate costs, and identify benefits and challenges. They present their idea to the county experts by videoconference. The project has meaning to the students and they are learning to think!
I agree with the author, who believes that a focus on real-world issues can alter the entire culture of a school or a school system. It is relevant. It shows respect for the students. Tim Tyson, former principal at Mabry Middle School (Georgia) gets it. His students all participate in a film festival where they create videos based on a current events issue. Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see some examples. Principal Tyson delivered the closing keynote address at last year’s NECC Conference; it has been 8 months and it is still fresh in my mind. He brought students with him who talked about their experiences doing their research, creating their video, and their feelings about making the world a better place. It was highly motivating to them. There is no doubt in my mind that the skills developed as a result of that project are the kinds of skills that are needed in today’s working world.
What can we do (and what needs to be done) to give more emphasis toward teaching students to think in a time when our country is so focused on standards and testing? I am doing what I can in my school district in Walled Lake, but I know that there is so much more to do. One of the things I’m excited about is an 8th grade social studies project that I’m developing right now. It will be one that ALL 8th graders (about 1,200) will complete, and it involves students collaborating to create projects that requires them to think! They will participate using Moodle, an on-line course management system. Pulling this off requires lots of time, teacher staff development, tech troubleshooting, and advanced planning. Hopefully the teachers will soon agree that time spent on a project like this is worth the time away from “covering the material.” Only time will tell.
I’ve been off this week for mid-winter break, and have spent lots of time preparing for my MACUL presentation. I have a few book studies that I facilitate, focusing on Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works. During my session, I’ll be sharing how I structure and facilitate my book studies, along with all the materials I use.
Most everyone probably knows about Marzano’s nine instructional strategies that improve student achievement, according to thousands of research studies (Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement). This new book shows how technology can support the nine strategies. I thought about writing a similar book about a year ago… wish I had acted quicker, as the authors beat me to it!
My session will be on Thursday, March 6, from 2:30-3:30pm. I’ll be sharing some on-line and printable resources that participants can use for their own book studies. K-12 teachers may learn about some ready-to-use tips and strategies that can make a positive difference for student learning. Hope to see you there!
Miguel wants to create an edublogger passion quilt, with lots of contributors; one image per person. The image should be one that captures what we most passionately want children to learn in school…from our particular perspective. I created my own simple drawing in PowerPoint and saved it as an image.
Here are the 3 rules for this meme:
Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.
The five people I am tagging from my Twitter network are:
I decided that I needed to be more well-rounded with all ed tech tools and apps. I’ve done a lot of research and learned that the new Apple computers can run Windows and Mac operating systems at the same time. I purchased a program called Fusion that allows an immediate switch of operating systems. Before I even install Fusion, I want to spend time using the Mac programs. I’m feeling a bit illiterate, not knowing how to do the basics. For example, I keep trying to right-click, and I still haven’t figured out how to resize a window to the size I want it.
The school district I work for is strictly a PC district. Therefore, my new computer will most likely stay home for my own personal work and fun. I want to use it for webcasting and for the development of some on-line classes I am working on now for the One to One Institute. I look forward to comparing iMovie to MovieMaker.
Thanks, Julie and Derrall, for helping to get me going and for being there for all my dumb questions!
What an awesome day! I just returned home after attending the conference at Doherty Elementary School in West Bloomfield. The day was a blend of virtual and face-to-face professional development sessions. Kudos to Cindy Carson, who hosted the event at her school, and facilitated the day, making sure the presenters had what they needed, the food was ordered and delivered on time, door prizes were available to attendees, and other “behind-the-scenes” duties.
Thanks to MI Leadership Council members Eric Strommer (Flint Schools), Cheryl Lykowski (Bedford Schools), and Pam Shoemaker (Walled Lake Schools) for facilitating breakout sessions. The opportunity for attendees to ask questions and work with each other was a bonus to attending the conference in person.
The virtual keynotes and breakout sessions will soon be posted to the Discovery session archive page. I plan to watch the sessions I did not attend, as I heard they were great! Web 2.0 tools that I plan to also check out sometime soon are posted on Alan Levine’s 50 Ways Wiki.
A first grade teacher in my district just got a new webcam and is anxious to post some video on her classroom blog. She asked me if I knew how to use Flixn. I’ve never heard of it, so I figured I’d give it a try. The program is very easy to use! And it does not even require a log-in. I look really tired and am having a bad hair day, so I apologize. However, if you are a blogger and have a webcam, this program is worth taking a look.
Kudos to Barb, who has her first graders writing more than ever before… due to her blog. The students love getting comments and sharing their writing with others. If you have a moment, they would love for you to make a comment. Thanks!
Are you looking for classroom ideas and resources about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr? If you are a subscriber, Discoverystreaming has many new videos, audio files, images, and writing prompts available. Click here for easy access to these resources.
Take students to the 1960’s and the Civil Rights movement with these resources. Also get them thinking and writing about Dr. King, his message, and his impact on our nation and the world.
Thank you, Langwitches for this tip! Until the end of the month, free Premium accounts are available to bloggers from Yugma. Yugma is for hosting web meetings, and it allows you to share your computer desktop with others, along with whiteboard and chat features. If you are not a blogger, you can still sign up for a free account for up to 10 attendees.
I cannot wait to try it! I’ve copied and pasted the info from Sylvia’s blog below:
Hi, This is Connie from Yugma. On behalf of Yugma with our One Year Anniversary, I would like to thank you for mentioning us on your site and helping us to spread the word about our product. The blogging community had had an integral part in making Yugma one of the fastest growing real-time web collaborations services in 2007 with over 100,000 users to date.
To express our thanks, we’re donating/sponsoring Yearly Premium Yugma accounts (valued at $99.50) to bloggers who simply ask. To learn more about this program and how to get your sponsored Yugma account, check out the details on the Yugma blog – linked below. http://www.yugma.com/blog/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=261&Itemid=1
Please be sure to check this out soon! The window to request your account through the Yugma Blogger Program will be through the end of January, 2008.
With Greatest Appreciation,
Connie and the rest of the Yugma Team
PS: Be sure to stay tuned! Yugma is set to release new features and improved performance in the next few weeks and months. To keep informed of all the happenings, check out http://www.yugma.com under the news and blog.
I learned about a Ning dedicated to Moodlers from Gates’ Computer Tips blog. If you have never heard of Ning, it is a social networking site that can be used for educational purposes. I am a member of several Nings: MACUL, Classroom 2.0, School 2.0, VidSnacks, OpenEducation, and the One-to-One Institute. Nings can be public and private. Of the ones I am subscribed to, all but one are public, as they are designed to share and collaborate with others from around the world. The private Ning is used to work and create professional development materials for a large project that will be marketed around the world. A private Ning could be created by any teacher to allow students the opportunity to use social networking as part of thelearning process in a safe way.
Click here to listen to the third Webcast Academy interncast by Pam Shoemaker, Dennis Oliver, and Derrall Garrison (PD2) was broadcast on December 23, 2007 as part of the Winter Soltice Webcastathon. The topic: Intercultural Insights.
I read an article in USA Today about some college students who are creating a documentary about life as a college student without a computer.
…. is part of a documentary-making course at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. She and two other students who went on the “computer fast” are the documentary subjects; eight others took turns filming. When the documentary is finished, they plan to screen it on campus and submit it to film festivals.
Students in the research study set goals for how long they could last without using a computer. 3 weeks? 4 weeks? 5 weeks? I chuckled when reading about the experiences of the students, who are forced to using a dusty typewriter to complete assignments. I remember those days…
I find it difficult to go even one day without doing something on my computer. How long could you last without using one?
Voice Thread, a way to create group conversations about images, docs, and videos
WizIQ, an on-line teaching and learning tool
A webcast is an on-line audio show with a chat room to ask questions of the hosts. If interested, go to http://webcastacademy.net/chat a few minutes before 8:00 - you’ll need to double click on the “webcast academy” folder on the right side of the chat window. There will be a link below the chat window that gets you to the audio; we’ll be broadcasting on Sandbox A. Please join us!
Dr. Yong Zhao, from Michigan State University, was the keynote speaker at the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston, MA. (July 2007) The title of his keynote is Digital Citizenship in a Global Economy: the Internet Revolution and its Implications for Education. The audio from this keynote was published by Alan November this past week. His message is clear: we need to rethink how we are preparing our students for the global marketplace. In the USA, we’re making some strides in reading and mathematics, thanks to NCLB. However, even if we are doing as well as or even a bit better than other countries, it is doubtful that our students will earn a job if competing with students from India or China, because it is cheaper to hire workers from these other countries. Therefore, we must nourish new talents that involve creativity, and we must use up-and-coming technology tools in the process. He mentioned the need for educators to read Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind: Information Age in the Conceptual Age.
This podcast is one that I want to re-listen to in the near future, as it is very thought-provoking. It certainly worked as a pep talk for me today.
You can listen to the podcast through iTunes by searching for the November Learning Podcast Series, and then selecting the Nov 21, 2007 episode. If you prefer to not use iTunes, click here.
