K12Online Events - Oct. 31, 2008

Check out today's sessions @ K12Online 2008
http://k12onlineconference.org/

Parental Engagement in the 21st Century - Leveraging web 2.0 tools to engage parents in non-traditional ways
Lorna Costantini and Matt Montagne
Description: New ways of looking at relationships with parents will help parents support their children, their child’s teacher and their child’s school. The next generation of parents are and will continue to be computer literate. Electronic communications will be one of the ways that schools and teachers effectively communicate with families in the 21st century. By engaging parents using new mediums, schools can help develop a broad base of parental knowledge regarding social media tools. parents that are more informated and have a better understanding of social media technologoes will be better prepared to help their children successed and excel in the information age.
View Video.

Film School for Video Podcasters
Mathew Needleman
Description: Make better classroom movies with simple tips that will help elevate your vodcast to the next level in terms of artistic and technical merit. Learn how to storyboard like a pro, choose shots that support the telling of your story, and capture better lighting and sound. Regain lost opportunities to teach media literacy and higher level thinking via video production by empowering yourself to empower your students. Tap into over one hundred years of movie history with this engaging presentation that instructs as it entertains.
View Video.

The Lie of Community: The True Nature of the Network
Bud Hunt
Description: The emergence of online, networked communities of practice is valuable and precious - but it is easy to be misled about what these actually are. They are not communities, in the traditional sense. There is no set membership. Norms and values grow and change in response to our changing understandings and participatory acts. We all see different things and exist in different conversations. Texts are repurposed. We choose whom we read and follow and respond to. In this edited collection of multiple conversations about these issues, the presenter and his guests will share some theory, stories, and ideas about what it means to exist, teach, create and learn in a community of communities, a true personal learning network.
Audio Only.

There’s Something Going on Here You Need to Know About…
Dennis Richards and Charlene Chausis
Description: In July 2007 a superintendent had his first introduction to the Internet world where collaborating, contributing and creating are the norm. Later that year, in SecondLife, the superintendent met the International Society for Technology in Education’s 2007 Technology Leader of the Year, who has mentored him, as the need arose, during a year and a half of his self-directed learning.
The superintendent has learned much about the people, platforms, and the pedagogy of this online world with help from people like the mentor who live all over the world and who accepted his invitation to become part of the online network of educators he has developed and nurtured since 2007. What are Ustream, Twitter, YouTube, Elluminate, Diigo, Mind42, Jing, SecondLife, Google Docs, and TED? What do they have to with learning? Our capacity to learn? to share? to invent? Come join the conversation as the superintendent, Dennis Richards, and the mentor, Charlene Chausis, “tell you three stories on the way to one argument.”
View Video.

Project Pic365 - day35

What's the big idea?

K12Online Events - Oct. 30, 2008

Check out today's sessions @ K12Online 2008
http://k12onlineconference.org/


Interactive tools for remote and synchronous mentoring
Michele Wong Kung Fong
Description:This presentation addresses the intersection of design, education and tecnology. It investigates the design of remote mentoring interfaces. It questions ways in which the design of interactive tools can support the remote and synchronous mentoring of a middle school learner by a college student through concrete representation of abstract concepts. It looks at ways in which the design of interactive educational tools can be informed by learning styles and preferences for more more meaningful learning experiences. While this presentation focuses on specific variables such as concrete middle school learners, peer to peer mentoring and science as the subject being mentored, it shows the potential for strategies to be transferred to other educational contexts. The presentation will include demonstrations of ways in which interactivity can promote meaningful learning at the different stages of the learning process as well as ways in which characteristics of social networking portals can be appropriated for remote mentoring purposes.
View Video.

Monsters Bloom in Our Wiki
Ann Oro and Anna Baralt
Description: Learn how our Monster Project encourages creativity and the development of reading and writing skills while integrating technology into the classroom. Using monsters as a vehicle, students across the United States exchange written descriptions and recreate their partner’s monster without ever looking at the real thing. Teachers will discover free tools available online, connect drawing and writing tools, learn how to work with multiple files in a wiki, and equate various goals of the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy with an electronic platform. Lesson plans, tips, and resources are shared.
View Video.

Teaching Web 2.0 - Everything you need in one place
Wendy Drexler
Description: The Teach Web 2.0 Wiki is a repository of emerging web applications with educational potential. Tools are reviewed for their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential threats. Resources and teacher examples are also posted. The wiki is only as valuable as the content posted by contributors. The more who participate, the more valuable it becomes.
View Video.

Telling the New Story: Leverage Points for Inspiring Change Orientation
David Warlick
Description: It is often said that “the future is not what it use to be.” In this information-driven, technology-rich world, where jobs appear and become obsolete in only a few years, it is certainly not your father’s future any more. Retooling our classrooms into learning spaces that effectively prepare our children for a future of infinite opportunity will require a new story about teaching and learning. It must be a story that is so compelling that we forget about our childhood student experiences from decades ago and agree that a different kind of classroom, teaching, and learning experience is required and deserved by our children.
View Video.

Project Pic365 - day34

AC Love.

The Great Wall - Part 2

In a recent post by Michael Wesch titled "A Vision for Students Today (& What Teachers Must Do)," I read this quote:

Some time ago we started taking our walls too seriously – not just the walls of our classrooms, but also the metaphorical walls that we have constructed around our “subjects,” “disciplines,” and “courses.”

...Not surprisingly, our students struggle to find meaning and significance inside these walls. They tune out of class, and log on to Facebook.

I'm sure you have all seen this video that received more than one million visits the first month it was posted.


In spring 2007, Michael Wesh invited the 200 students enrolled in the “small” version of his “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology” class to tell the world what they thought of their education by helping him write a script for this video that was posted on YouTube. The result was the disheartening portrayal of disengagement. With rare exception, educators around the world expressed the sad sense of profound identification with the scene, sparking a wide-ranging debate about the roles and responsibilities of teachers, students, and technology in the classroom.

With more than a year gone by since the posting of this video, you can image how many comments and blog posts, reactions, etc. were posted.

Michael Wesh shares his reflection and insight...

By the end of the summer I had become convinced that the video was over the top, that things were really not so bad, that the system is not as broken as I thought, and we should all just stop worrying and get on with our teaching.

Read the complete post to learn his thoughts on "what went wrong" and the notion of how students move through our systems with the "getting by" game.

The Solution:

Fortunately, the solution is simple. We don’t have to tear the walls down. We just have to stop pretending that the walls separate us from the world, and begin working with students in the pursuit of answers to real and relevant questions.

When we do that we can stop denying the fact that we are enveloped in a cloud of ubiquitous digital information where the nature and dynamics of knowledge have shifted. We can acknowledge that most of our students have powerful devices on them that give them instant and constant access to this cloud (including almost any answer to almost any multiple choice question you can imagine). We can welcome laptops, cell phones, and iPods into our classrooms, not as distractions, but as powerful learning technologies. We can use them in ways that empower and engage students in real world problems and activities, leveraging the enormous potentials of the digital media environment that now surrounds us. In the process, we allow students to develop much-needed skills in navigating and harnessing this new media environment, including the wisdom to know when to turn it off. When students are engaged in projects that are meaningful and important to them, and that make them feel meaningful and important, they will enthusiastically turn off their cellphones and laptops to grapple with the most difficult texts and take on the most rigorous tasks.

Read more from Michael Wesch @ Brave New Classroom 2.0

A Vision of Students Today (& What Teachers Must Do)

The Great Wall - Part 1

When the World Wide Web was created in 1989, its main objective was to enable the free exchange of information via interlinked hypertext documents.

After 20 years, we have created firewalls, filters and blocked information flow for various reasons. In our own education systems, students are limited to certain video sharing sites, social communities, and blogs. Many students have more access at home to research, engage, create and publish than what they have at access to at school with the "great walls" we put around our technology and Internet access at school. Teachers and students alike may believe that they are being limited to valuable content and resources. I would agree. It could be worse...

Top 10 Countries Censoring the Web

Find out which countries are keeing an iron hand on content censorship. (Daily Bits.com)

K12Online Events - Oct. 29, 2008

Check out today's sessions @ K12Online 2008
http://k12onlineconference.org/


Back-channels in the Classroom
Scott Snyder
Description: Backchanneling, traditionally an online discussion running alongside a
live presentation, is a way to engage all students in classroom
activities, including students who are normally non-participants.
Issues and student needs that lead me to the technique, the educational
relevance of the process, backchanneling services (including
possibilities and limitations of several), and example activities will
all be addressed in this presentation.
View Video.

Connecting Classrooms Across Continents: Planning and Implementing Globally Collaborative Projects
Kim Cofino and Jen Wagner
Description: Globally collaborative projects are an exciting way to engage your students in authentic learning across continents. Combining a variety of web 2.0 tools can remove the barriers of time and distance to connect your class internationally. Learning to collaborate in an online and inter-cultural environment will clearly be a critical skill for their future. Learn how to develop a successful global collaboration and participate in a real time project with Kim and Jennifer! Although aimed at elementary school, teachers of all levels will find inspiration and practical ideas throughout this video!
View video.

Pushing the Limits: Web 2.0 and 21st Century Learning
Aimee Stoffel and Tanya Gray
Description: Tanya and Aimee have launched a pilot program that would put laptops and Web 2.0 technologies in the hands and minds of seniors in our rural Kansas high school. This presentation will discuss the layout of the class setup and background work needed for implementation, communicate the struggles and successes encountered and show examples of student work. Together we will provide educators with an in-depth glimpse of the possibilities that are out there for 21st century teaching and learning. The participants will go away with a wealth of knowledge of different Web 2.0 applications and how to use them in classroom instruction. The participants will see the layout of the class, hear pros and cons of the experience, and gather ideas for “amplifying possibilities” for technology use in their own classrooms. should be considered.
View Video.

Ramapo Islands: A New Dimension in Learning
Peggy Sheehy
Description: The team process of creating a virtual presence for your school, the development of authentic, experiential, standard-based curriculum & implementing it with students in Teen Second Life addresses the NETS for administrators, teachers & students and is an innovative approach to a collaborative and all-inclusive learning community. Focusing on the process of developing constructivist learning in the virtual world, Sheehy will present the steps her teachers are taking this 3rd year of teaching in Ramapo Islands on Teen Second life to translate their content into the virtual landscape. She will outline best practices that have evolved and the student responses to this 21st century pedagogical shift.
View Video.

Project Pic365 - day33

Night light.

K12Online Events - Oct. 28, 2008

Check out today's sessions @ K12Online 2008
http://k12onlineconference.org/

Oh the Possibilities
Lisa Parisi
Description: A project-based learning (PBL) classroom is an ideal environment for preparing 21st century students for their future. This type of classroom provides students the opportunity to engage in learning, using their creativity to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of curriculum. Learn how to create and manage a PBL classroom, while still maintaining your sanity.
View Video.

Current leadership models are inadequate for disruptive innovations
Scott McLeod
Description: In this 20-minute voice-narrated PowerPoint (Presentation Zen style) Dr. McLeod reflects upon key concepts from Dr. Clayton Christensen’s work regarding disruptive innovation. The presentation draws primarily from two of Dr. Christensen’s books, The Innovator’s Dilemma and Disrupting Class, and focuses on the different ways of thinking that are now mandatory if school leaders are to successfully navigate their organizations in transition to the 21st century. Key points from other leadership models also make their way into the presentation.
View Video.

Overcoming Entropy
Louise Maine
Description: In Science, entropy is the course of events towards disorder of a system. In new ideas or models, early adopters have the spirit and the energy of innovative ideas. This is the case with 21st century skills. In order to continue innovation and change the course of education, the momentum of change needs to overcome entropy. Reflection of lessons learned in creating change has brought to light successful and unsuccessful ways to balance energy and entropy as well as several barriers and thoughts that should be considered.
View Video.

Project Pic365 - day32

$0 many choices...

5 Steps To Social Media Management

Oct 27th, 2008 | By Josh Garner | Category: Featured Article, Social Media
Read the full post at SEO Factor.

Set Aside Some Time
Google has the right idea with their 80/20 perk. 80% of your time must be spent working, the other 20% is yours to do with what you wish (as long as it is appropriate). Consider setting aside specific time to read Digg or Sphinn. Personally, I start the day strong checking my pertinent social profiles early in the morning, and leave softly with a few checkups. This works great for me, but you might find something that meets your needs a bit better.

Resist The Urge
I know it can be difficult, but that email in reference to a message about a shout in regard to that event can probably wait until your designated time. The people that need to contact you asap, usually know how. Otherwise, the message can probably wait just a bit. Of course, there are exceptions, but you can usually tell these from the “I just bit you with my vampire, please bite me” requests.

Cut The Fat
There are so many social sites out there. There are communities for just about any topic you can think of. I find it best to stick to the communities I know I can be most active in. That being said, I’m all to happy to start playing with a new site as it comes along to give it a chance. If I find I like to make use of it regularly, I re-evaluate all of my communities, and cut back on the sites I don’t get the most out of. Remember, you don’t have to delete your account, just back off of it for a bit.

You Get What You Give
In normal “everything has 2 sides” fashion, I’m also going to warn against ignoring a profile that you find to be useful. If you are going to take part in a community, really take part. If you have a profile that says “last logged in 40 days ago” or you don’t speak much, when it comes time to share what you have, nobody will be there to listen. You will only get out of social media what you are willing to give it.

The Right Tool For The Job
There are a ton of tools to help you consolidate your efforts. Just about every social site has a badge or widget or bit of code for you to make use of. Figure out what you need from what site in order to maximize your efforts. You can find a Twitter tool to work with your browser, eliminating the need to visit the site all together (this only works for cool browsers like Firefox).

Like all things fun and productive, you have to set a few rules to keep it so. If you let your social profiles get out of control, you will find it a difficult task to get things back in order. Try to find the times that work best for you, and attempt to make that a schedule. Evaluate the sites you are using most often, and consider cutting the rest.

Image by frankdasilva

Information | Knowledge | Wisdom

The other day, my son had done something we didn't approve of and so we took his cell phone away and access to the computer. He loves technology for what it offers, both good and not so good: YouTube, social networks for kids or not (myspace) and research for school. Over the course of a summer break, he taught himself how to read music, play the guitar and follow along with these videos to learn certain songs - I must admit, he's really good. He also loves having a cell phone; more of a status thing with the kids I guess. My purpose was to make sure we knew when, where, why stuff so we can keep track of his every move. I recently switched texting capabilities to unlimited in hopes that it would save on costs for talking to his mom, sister and me and to some extent, his friends. To my surprise, it did cut down on the monthly phone bill, but his text messaging was at a whopping 3,200 plus texts in one month... Really, how many LOL, TTFN, IDK, NP texts can one kid send. Kids don't even write complete sentences anymore or spell the words out completely. It's a whole new language that I'm not 'in the know' about. Needless to say, I'm not okay with the whole texting thing, which seems to be the most widely used communication tool for high schoolers. I don't like the fact that I can't filter or monitor what or who he texts as easily as I can monitor history or filter websites on our home computer. I guess this is nothing new with schools who deal with this all the time.

So with 3,000 plus text messages in a month, (compared to my daughter, who's older, with just 230) I wondered if this technology and others are necessary or a necessity..?

Sometimes I think that the more we provide for our kids, the less we actually give them. I remember being outside all day long and coming in to eat and then going back out. I remember my son riding his skateboard and playing basketball for hours and then come in and play his guitar. I realize that technology gives them access to more information and knowledge, but is it really making a difference? Does this knowledge transfer to wisdom or should it? I don't have the answers, but I was intrigued by this video which shed some light on this particular topic.

Information Deformation


So I don't have all the answers, but seriously 3,000 plus texts in a month? Yes, we did have the talk. Of course, he did text me back...

Google Earth for iPhone

Google Earth for the iPhone Has a Beautiful Interface

from Mashable! by Stan Schroeder

Slowly but surely, iPhone versions of popular Web applications are coming in; I don’t doubt that in a year’s time you’ll be hard pressed to find one that doesn’t have its iPhone counterpart.

The latest app to adorn your iPhone screen is Google Earth, the virtual 3D world atlas we’ve learned to love on our desktops. Like all other iPhone applications, it’s available through the applications store; it started rolling in on Sunday and is now available for almost everyone, depending on your time zone.

The interesting question about this application is, of course, how did Google take advantage of iPhone’s capabilities when they created the interface for the app, and the answer is: beautifully. Besides the standard panning and multitouch zooming, you can tilt your iPhone to change the viewing angle or switch it to horizontal view to see a wider picture. Furthermore, both Wikipedia and Panoramio layers of bookmarks are included (you can turn them on and off in the settings), and offline mode also works. if you continue using the application without being connected to a network, it will use cached imagery you’ve previously viewed. Finally, there’s the standard search, available through an icon in the upper left corner, which works pretty much like in the desktop version.

Take a look at the video presentation of Google Earth for iPhone in the video below.

Popout

[image credit: CNET]

K12Online Conference Oct. 27

Check out today's sessions @ K12Online 2008
http://k12onlineconference.org/

Time to Grow
Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay
Description: How do you measure up? How do you grow from month to month and year to year in a tough profession that often lives in the tyranny of the urgent? This presentation explores ‘food for thought’ background and issues to do with growing and succeeding in a flattened educational environment and encourages you to pick several areas for improvement this year. It also offers tips for carving out “time to think”, and the development of mentorship and the grassroots movement of educators and how you can “join in.” Educators around the world can set your goals for improvement and share what they are doing this year to kick it up a notch and grow as well.
View Video.

Games in Education
Sylvia Martinez
Description: It sounds like a simple idea– kids don’t like school… kids like games, so if we sneak some educational content into games, won’t everyone benefit? This session will explore what’s right and wrong about this idea, and how educators can discern the difference between the hype and the promise. I believe that although some of the promise has been oversold, there is much to learn from exploring the educational promise of games in the classroom.
View Video.

The Voices of School 2.0: School Reform as described by the words and images of the people of the Science Leadership Academy
Chris Lehmann
Description: Leading change can only happen when others believe in and then live the change leaders suggest. Listen to the voices of the students and teachers of the Science Leadership Academy through the lens of progressive, 21st Century school change.
View video.

Beyond the Stacks: Using Emerging Technologies to Strengthen Teacher-librarian Leadership
Carlene Walter and Donna DesRoches
Description: Donna DesRoches and Carlene Walter, collectively known as the Disruptive Innovators, present their framework for professional learning and mentorship for teacher-librarians demonstrating how new technologies can be used to creating meaningful online learning opportunities. Within the context of the framework, they will illustrate the importance of redefining, reshaping, and readvocating the role of the teacher-librarian in order to:

• Define the information literate teacher-librarian
• Examine how emerging technologies are creating a need to re-define our roles
• Identify new learning needs
• Present the Disruptive Innovators online workshop, Meet the Stars.

View Video.

Project Pic365 - day31

World Youth Day DFW

Project Pic365 - day30

Why so serious?

Voicethreads

This weekend I joined the Live Fireside Chat via Elluminate. The format was very interesting as we basically joined a webinar conference session where we were then placed into one of 13 rooms. Each of the presenters that shared their information from this week's K12Online Conference sessions that took place this week each moved from room to room to share updates, answer questions and engage in group dialogue with attendees. It was great to talk directly to the presenters and to also collaborate with others in the room.

The K12Online event has been an amazing experience for me. I have learned so much from the presenters but even more from the participants. They are so willing to help and full of many ideas. I learned today that one person takes all of the video and audio files and uploads them to their iPod so that they can take the presenation on the go or listen to them at their leisure... Small but powerful tip to enhance professional growth and learning opportunities when you can't sit at your computer all day.

Also, one tool that I really liked was Voicethreads. Rather than trying to explain it, click the link to better understand. This is a great tool to gather input and engage with others about a particular session or topic. I have not heard of this tool before, but it is very useful as follow-up or ongoing information sharing.

Project Pic365 - day29

What to do?

K12Online Conference Oct. 23 &24

Check out today's sessions @ K12Online 2008
http://k12onlineconference.org/

Web 2.0 Tools to Amplify Elementary Students’ Creativity and Initiative
Jackie Gerstein
Description: This presentation describes projects designed for students, ages 8 to 12, to use emerging technologies for engaging, thinking, learning, collaborating, creating, and innovating. It has its foundations in social constructivism whereby students drive their own learning experiences through educational networking using emerging technologies. An additional goal is using free, open-source, or minimal cost tools, so the project can be replicated.
Play video.

What Did You Do In School…?
H. Songhai
Description: This presentation will look at some very practical ways that students can use cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras and a number of free Web based tools to document, organize and archive just about every important aspect of their high school career.
Play video.

Action Research as Catalyst for Change in Teacher Practice and Outcomes for Children
Elaine Newton
Description: Discussion of outcomes for children, teachers and families at two early childhood centres that are engaged in action research focused on introducing I.C.T. (Information and Communication Technologies) into teaching and learning programmes (and a brief description of the ECE ICT PL programme, and some features of early childhood education in New Zealand).
Play video.

Using Online Argument Role-Play to Foster Learning to Argue and Arguing to Learn in a High School Composition Class
Richard Beach
Description: I describe the use of online role-play in a 12th grade high school composition class using a class blog and a Ning forum. In a role-play, students adopt fictional roles associated with competing positions associated with influencing a final decision on an issue. Students were highly engaged in a Ning role-play on the issue of student Internet access in their school because they were assuming different voices, writing to multiple audiences versus just the teacher, and developing arguments to make proposals for actual changes in the school’s Internet policies.
Play audio.

Traveling Through the Dark
Steven Kimmi
Description: This presentation examines how to get started using educational technology through metaphorical analysis of William Stafford’s poem, Traveling Through The Dark. Through this analysis we will look at the obstacles teacher’s face, the process of implementing technology into the classroom, and the role that others can play in the process.
Play Video.

Video-Conferencing It’s Easy, Free and Powerful
Brian Crosby
Description: Through this Quicktime video presentation attendees will learn how free video and audio-conferencing software can easily be utilized to both access and share learning opportunities with students globally. In addition attendees will acquire the knowledge and resources necessary to use this valuable educational tool.
Play video.

Throwing the Box Away
Barbara Bray
Description: 109 K12 teachers and eMentors at Pinellas County Schools, Florida developed six 6 week cross-age cross-curriculum projects for their EETT grant in 2006-2007. This presentation describes the professional development and resources necessary for successful projects. Learn how teachers collaborated with teachers from other grade levels and designed standards-based real-world activities that engaged all students in the learning process. Examples, strategies, and evidence will be shared.
Play audio session.

We Like Our Blogging Buddies: The Write Stuff with Blogging Mentors
Kathy Cassidy and Patrick Lewis
Description: In the winter of 2008, Patrick Lewis’s university class of pre-service teachers were blogging mentors for Kathy Cassidy’s grade one students. This presentation talks about that collaboration and the results of the research that was conducted about the effect this mentorship had on the students’ writing.

Project Pic365 - day28

Biker bar...

Project Pic365 - day27

Yoga 2 be kidding.

Please fix the iPhone

Please fix the iPhone is a great resource to get the latest and greatest on updates and enhancements to your mobile phone.

K12Online Today's Events - Oct. 22, 2008

Check out today's sessions @ K12Online 2008
http://k12onlineconference.org/

Presentation Title: “Never Too Young”
Description: Teachers of our youngest students are often left behind when trying to implement new technologies into their curriculum. They may receive the “hand-me-down” equipment and issues related to teaching the youngest classrooms are not addressed through in-service. This presentation demonstrates 3 web 2.0 tools that are ideal for transforming learning to students in the early grades: Voicethread, Dipity and Blogging. The presentation consists of a screencast with a supporting wiki for links, examples and extended resources. Authentic student projects will be used in the demonstration and information given on implementation strategies for the teacher.
Click to view video.

Presentation Title: “Reading Revolution: New Texts and New Technologies”
Description: Our focus is on new texts and new technologies that educators can use to support readers. The tools of Web 2.0 offer teachers new ways to help students become better readers. We will focus on three main tools to allow our students to develop 21st century reading skills. First, we use blogs as tools for literature response. Next, we will use wikis to create online word walls to teach students new vocabulary. Finally, we will use podcasts to respond to literature through book reviews and author studies.
View wiki presentation.

Presentation Title: Open, Social, Connected: Reflections of an Open Graduate Course Experience
Description: The presentation unravels a recent open graduate course offering titled “Open, Connected, Social” that was offered at the University of Regina, Winter 2008. The presentation describes the theories influencing the course, types of open practice, reflections and outcomes, and goes on to the describe the emergence of “open teaching”.
Click to view video.

Presentation Title: “Promise into Practice: What it Now Means to Teach Adolescent Readers”
Description: It is a daunting and exciting time to teach English - especially as we consider the “shifts” in how we define literacy, and the toolset for our work as readers and writers continually expands. This session investigates one teacher’s work in studying her practice and students’ learning when she worked to bridge new literacies into “traditional” classroom practice.
Click to view video.

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Lower.

K12Online Today's Events - Oct. 21, 2008

Check out today's sessions @ K12Online 2008
http://k12onlineconference.org/

Presentation Title: “The Google Gamut: Everything you need to get started,” Kern Kelley
Description: The number of technology resources available to us can be overwhelming and whenever I’m asked “Where to begin?” I usually suggest setting up a Google Account. With a single login and password, users have access to dozens of free services. This presentation walks through the process of setting up an account and then using a handful of the more popular applications that Google offers. The progression runs from email to a personalized homepage, blog reader and writer, online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation suite, calendar, photo storage, and finally a web page creator to pull it all together. Also, because Google is constantly adding and improving features, users who already have accounts might just pick up on some new tips they hadn’t known about.
Click to view video.

Presentation Title: “I Like Delicious Things: An Introduction to Tagging and Folksonomies,” Chris Betcher
Description: Using simple examples from a number of tag-driven websites, this presentation looks at how tagging and the subsequent creation of folksonomies are changing the way we think about information. Starting with obvious tagging systems used on sites like Flickr and Delicious, it examines how tagging enables information to be classified, sorted and managed in ways that make it more accessible, easier to manage and more self-aware. It also explores how tags can be aggregated across large collections of information to provide a snapshot into the overall zeitgeist of collective thinking.
Click to view video.

Presentation Title: Student Creation of Digital Documentaries in History Classrooms: Research Findings, Glen Bull, Thomas Hammond, Curby Alexander
Description: PrimaryAccess is a free online digital documentary maker designed for social studies instruction. This presentation will provide a quick introduction to PrimaryAccess and then describe some of the research on its use in classrooms, focusing on students’ learning outcomes. The presentation concludes with recommendations for teaching with PrimaryAccess.
Click to hear audio.

Presentation Title: Facilitating Technology Integration: A Synthesis of the Research, Jon Becker
Description: There is a very small but growing body of empirical research on facilitating technology integration in schools. This presentation brings together that research in the form of a critical synthesis. Dr. Jonathan D. Becker, a professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), will discuss the major themes that have emerged from the research and place them within the context of his own research with technology integration specialists in the state of West Virginia. The major goals for this presentation are to make the research accessible and to provide educational technology practitioners relevant research-based data to inform their practice.
Click to hear audio.

Real or Not: Video streaming on iPhone?

This just posted yesterday on"Old School Blogging."

Qik App for the iPhone

What is QIK? — Qik is a little piece of software that lets you stream video live from your cell phone to the web, where your audience can chat back in real time to your device’s screen while you broadcast. With Qik, you can share with anyone and everyone what’s going on anywhere and everywhere you go.

Coming to an iPhone App store near you.
Status Update: Bhaskar Roy, the Co-founder of Qik, has commented on this matter : “we are looking into having Qik be available on App Store, but at present are not sure when and how this will be happen”.

This would be so great to have; I'll keep checking for it and let you all know when it becomes available.

Project Pic365 - day25

Gab

K12Online Today's Events - Oct. 20, 2008

Check out today's sessions @ K12Online 2008
http://k12onlineconference.org/

Presentation Title “How Can I Become Part of this ReadWriteWeb Revolution?”
Description Join Alice, Bob and Cheryl, as we kick off the Getting Started strand with our keynote: How do you Become Part of this Read/Write Web Revolution? Be a pioneer and become part of the journey learning about 21st Century Skills. Team up with us and the other strand conveners for this exciting excursion.
Click here to view video.

Presentation Title: “Free Tools for Universal Design for Learning in Literacy”
Description: This presentation will describe ways that you can support literacy using free tools found on the internet. Types of technology supports for literacy will be discussed as well as the some of the free tools that are available on the Internet today. The last part of the session will deal with what Universal Design for Learning calls for and how the types of tools discussed can assist educators in achieving Universal Design for Learning in your classroom.
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Presentation Title: Asking Bigger Questions About Assessment

Description: How can we demonstrate that what we do with teaching and learning technologies makes a difference in student learning? My presentation doesn’t answer that question directly, but it does explore a larger historical and cultural context for the issue of student assessment. The aim is to start with complex questions of meaning and purpose so that we construct and choose our assessments wisely.

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Project Pic365 - day24

Butterfly hunt.

Project Pic365 - day23

Jimmy's B-day.

Project Pic365 - day22

Friday Night Lights.

As it should be...

Let the content be free!

I have been following the dialogue and engaging in the conversations about ISTE's Fair Use Guidelines for "conference content." It seems to me that the issue is about presenter content the stance on the ability to share, ustream, podcast, etc. this content that may/may not be copyright material.

The amended Code of Content reads:

For NECC 2008, ISTE’s permission is not required for non-commercial video and audio recording of sessions and workshops.

However, for NECC 2008, written permission from the session or workshop presenter is required prior to capturing a video or audio recording. Any permitted recording should respect the presenter’s rights and not be disruptive.

Under no circumstances may any length or quality of video/audio capture be used for marketing, advertising, or commercial purposes without express written permission from both the session presenter(s) and ISTE.

Image Credit: Flickr by PugnoM

I agree that these materials should not be used for commercial purposes as that takes away from the presenters own monetization and benefits the third party. However, the notion of sharing for the greater engagement opportunity is a plus. I guess the fine line is this... If I am a "teacher" and I take video and post to YouTube, Ning Communities or a Facebook profile, I, the "teacher" am not using it for commercial purposes, but I am providing content for the commericial profider, (social media group mentioned) which may make their revenue through Google AdWords or advertisement or subscription fees, plus, I am driving traffic to this commericial provider with my non-commercial intentions. This creates a whole series of secondary issues. Obviously, one would not directly package the video content and sell the content from a presenter, so that is a mute issue. I think companies could take the content gathered and possibly use for marketing purposes or testimonial alignment to their mission - that, I do not agree with without permission from the content provider or presenter.

In following the posts from the ISTE NECC threaded discussions and also following the conversations around this exact issue from the group at K12Online Conference, I tend to side with the approach K12Online has taken - the Creative Commons way! I am hopeful that ISTE will find a workable solution and take input from this model.

Here is and excerpt from the recent post from the K12Online group on use of content and redistribution:

Conveners for the 2008 K-12 Online Conference met this evening following our pre-conference fireside chat, and among other things discussed and reconsidered the previously announced request that K12Online conference presentations NOT be mirrored/file-shadowed on other servers.

Considering the points raised by several other K12Online participants as well as presenters, conference conveners have decided to change this request. Instead of restricting access to conference presentation files after they are published “live” during the conference, we say: Let the content be free! (Per the terms of the conference and presenters’ CC license, of course.)

Read the complete post: Let the content be free! (following CC terms)

I believe there is a middle ground and I support and share the approach of connecting, engaging and embracing the exhange of knowledge. I am hopeful that for the better of the purpose of these type of events we do consider the sharing of information and also find avenues for presenters, businesses, consultants, etc. to benefit as a result of sharing their content from a workshop session or presentation. We have a great model for making this happen that is a win for teachers, learners, presenters, businesses and organizations. The model...

Bright Idea...

It’s about the size of a credit card and powered by a small cell. Flip up the light bulb shaped cut-out to switch on the soft, mellow, glow of bliss. Bright idea.

Designer: Hyun Jin Yoon & Eun Hak Lee