Jan 27
melsonTeaching, Technology Contest, Discovery Education, Interactive whiteboard, Laptop
Enter the 9th annual Win a Wireless Lab Sweepstakes for your chance to win one of three grand prize wireless computer labs for your school, including 20 notebook or tablet computers, interactive whiteboard, mobile cart, projector, printer, wireless access points, portable document camera, digital camcorder, and a $5,000 digital media grant from Discovery Education.
Plus, 25 additional technology prizes! In addition to the three grand prizes, we’re giving away 20 additional prizes, including projectors, notebook computers, and digital camcorders! Each month one lucky winner will receive a projector from NEC.
Enter once per day until May 3, 2010 at discoveryeducation.com/cdwg. Share with your friends and colleagues on Twitter and triple your entry each day.
*No purchase necessary. Sweepstakes runs through May 3, 2010. For complete details, see the official rules posted at discoveryeducation.com/cdwg.
Popularity: 23% [?]
Nov 03
melsonGadgets, Teaching, Technology education, High school, Mobile phone, UK
I found this fascinating quote today:
Looks like Notre Dame high school in the UK is taking the bull by the horns and moving forward with an initiative to allow the use of mobile phones for educational purposes during class time.
Assistant headteacher Paul Haigh said mobiles, MP3 players and gaming devices were “untapped resources” for teaching and learning.
“We realise as a comprehensive state school we could never afford to buy every student all the IT and mobile devices we would like them to have.
He added: “But most students own many of these devices anyway – they’re just hidden in their schoolbags. What’s more they’re experts in using them, knowing all the short cuts and characteristics of their own equipment as they use it every day.”
Mr Haigh said there was little logic in allowing pupils to use a netbook in school while banning mobile phones, many of which could access the internet, record sound and take digital photographs.
teach42.com, Teach42
You should read the whole article.
Popularity: 59% [?]
Aug 10
melsonSocial Networking, Teaching, Tech Links, Technology, del.icio.us Bookmark Managers, Common Craft, del.icio.us, Diigo, Social bookmarking
Heard of Delicious? Diigo? No? There are just two of the most popular sites providing social bookmarking services. Social Bookmarking is a method for you to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet. And lucky for us, the good folks at Common Craft have created a simple video to explain what this is all about.
After watching the video, stop by the school’s Delicious and Diigo accounts for some link goodness. The school’s Diigo account is somewhat limited so stop by mine for a better example of what it looks like.
Note: Diigo has special education accounts for teachers and classrooms, so be sure to visit.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Jun 15
melsonTeaching, Technology Gliffy, Google Earth, Microsoft PowerPoint, Presentation, SlideShare
True tech integrators know the digital projector can be used for much more than projecting. Here is a sampling of some creative ways to use your projector in any curriculum.
• Reading/Writing. Display images, words, or phrases for writing prompts in creative writing or poetry class. Model savvy formatting and editing skills by giving live demonstrations in your word-processing software. And put away those old flashcards—young students love singing karaoke to practice their pronunciation and identify targeted sight words.
• Mathematics. Utah State University’s National Library of Virtual Manipulatives offers hundreds of multi-sensory games, illustrations, exercises and puzzles for K-12 students that explore numerical operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis. (nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vLibrary.html; free online, $39.99-44.99 for enhanced desktop version).
• Science. Ask students to add their experimental data directly to your spreadsheet and project graphs of their results for everyone to see—you’ll identify those pesky outliers in no time. Protect your eyebrows and your budget by showing videos of dangerous chemistry demonstrations.
• Social Studies. Google Earth (earth.google.com) works wonders but loves to crash on older computers. Try the University of Texas at Austin’s renowned Perry-Castañeda Library Virtual Map Room (www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/; free) for a wide array of PDF maps from around the globe.
• Timer, Stopwatch, Countdown. Using a simple freeware program like TimeLeft (www.timeleft.info), students will see exactly how long they’ve been working on a project, how much time is left, or how many days until the ice cream social after your final exam.
• Games and Quizzes. Turn those groans to glee come quiz-time with hyperlinked Powerpoint presentations that mimic popular quiz games like “Jeopardy!” or “You Don’t Know Jack.” Free Sheppard Software (sheppardsoftware.com) has dozens of interactive games that will have your students begging for more.
• Board Work. Standing at the whiteboard terrifies many students. Why? Writing large print on a vertical plane isn’t easy for everyone and little handwriting slips can turn into big, embarrassing mistakes. Ask students to do the work on a sheet of paper, fire up your doc camera, then project their results. No more stage fright!
• Graphic Organizers. Online diagramming software like Gliffy (www.gliffy.com; free basic membership, premium account varies by number of users) or Bubbl (bubbl.us; free) can make creating lively instructional flowcharts, cluster diagrams, and spider maps a breeze.
• Guest/Substitute Lectures. Live streaming or podcast lectures from guests will give your students access to experts around the world without footing for an airline ticket. Record your own lectures with software like Camtasia (www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp; $299) or upload your Powerpoint presentations to Slideshare (slideshare.net; free) and you’ll be the toast of the substitute teaching pool. Best of all, students can access these lectures for future reference.
• Drama/Theater. Want to do some on-the-fly improv theater? Hang a white sheet, place the projector behind the sheet facing your audience, and let your students perform inexpensive miniature theatrical productions. Project image “backdrops” from your computer and you’ll have the fastest set changes in history.
Ten Ways To Get Beyond Powerpoint With Classroom Projectors.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Jun 11
melsonTeaching, Technology education, Micro-blogging, Social network, Twitter
Twitter can feel like a strange new landscape when you first jump in. It is not always clear what its professional uses are, or what to post in 140 characters or less. But when you start to think of Twitter as a micro-blog (and not just a forum for the personal minutiae of people’s daily lives), you will find that Twitter can be a valuable tool for professional development. Here are 25 ways that teachers can use Twitter to ask for help, get lesson plan ideas, book and professional resource recommendations, connect with other professionals, and even host an online book club.
via 25 ways to teach with Twitter by Sonja Cole.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Jun 11
melsonTeaching education, facebook, Social media, Social network
With so many students, teachers, and librarians on Facebook these days, the social media site has become somewhat of a platform, offering developers a way to create and share applications for education. This, of course, is great news for online education, as it provides all sorts of great tools designed to make learning and administration easier. Check out these applications that represent some of the ideal tools Facebook has to offer for online education.
via The Facebook Classroom: 25 Facebook Apps That Are Perfect for Online Education – College Degree.com.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Jun 11
melsonTeaching, Technology classroom, education, Kids and Teens, Mobile phone, Teaching, Text messaging, texting
I found this fascinating quote today:
What if our educators took time out of each day to reinforce the proper, safe and secure way of using these devices – not only inside the walls of the classroom – but outside as well? Don’t you believe that would begin to reduce the number of inappropriate uses (sexting)?JDS-CIO, CIO Corner, Jun 2009
You should read the whole article.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Jun 10
melsonTeaching, Technology Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, education, Public school
Today, our kids get their information from the Internet, downloaded onto their iPods, and in Twitter feeds to their cell phones. A world of up-to-date information fits easily into their pockets and onto their computer screens. So why are California’s public school students still forced to lug around antiquated, heavy, expensive textbooks?
via Schwarzenegger: Digital textbooks can save money, improve learning – San Jose Mercury News.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Jun 03
melsonTeaching, Technology classroom, Teaching, texting
Our high schools are full of secretly texting, blithely unengaged adolescents, my colleague Dan de Vise reveals today in a story on a Montgomery County proposal to let students text during lunch. Dan’s story describes the situation well. Educators can’t keep up with the latest technocrazes. They banned cellphones for awhile, then decided they were necessary for emergencies. They figured no one would use them in class, forgetting that the text function allows a flurry of conversations without the miscreants making a discernible sound.
Texting vs. Teaching: Who Wins? – Class Struggle – Jay Mathews on Education.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Older Entries
RSS
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=b544ccec-0745-46ba-906b-ccfcaa23c549)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3a098550-19f4-41ee-aa79-579668f29962)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=9b48b52c-6e47-42f1-bce3-a3b09b3ec20c)
