by Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day blog.
(Usually, I just post a weekly version of this regular feature. However, sometimes I post an extra “Special Edition” when I have more good links than usual)
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a few and list them here with a minimal description. It forces me to look through these older links, and help me organize them for my own use. I hope others will find them helpful, too. These are resources that I didn’t include in my “Best Tweets” feature because I had planned to post about them, or because I didn’t even get around to sending a tweet sharing them.
Check out the Special Edition of “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”:
The following are what I believe are the rights of all student to have with regards to using technology as an educational tool, written as a student to their teacher:
by Jenny Luca
I work in an Independent School in Melbourne, Australia, and this year we have made a commitment to help our students (grades 7-12) create ePortfolios, using an Edublogs campus as the platform. Here are 5 reasons why we are making student blogging and portfolio development a high priority.
Jenny Luca is a Teacher-Librarian from Melbourne, Australia who is passionate about exploring the potential of new technologies in educational settings. She writes the blog Lucacept – Intercepting the Web and has presented at conferences in Australia and internationally. Follow Jenny on Twitter @jennyluca. Meet the rest of our Voices.
Read the full story, CLICK HERE
Since I am on holiday, I have time to sit down and really read the blog posts of our students at Anastasis Academy…all 500 of them! I am so proud of what our students do and the ways that their teachers challenge them to think and reflect. As I was reading, I kept sending out tweets with links to the posts…I forgot that to read an Edu 2.0 blog post, you have to be registered on Edu 2.0. Oops! I thought I would share some favorites here. None of them have been re-touched or edited.
These are from an intermediate class who started with the prompt: “I used to believe, now I know.”
Post 1
I used to think the traditional way of school was the only, iPads are a new way to learn.and best way to learn. Now I think using IPads, sitting around the room, and being creative is a great way to take advantage of the generations…….
Read the all the posts, CLICK HERE
Report: New technologies have transformed today’s learners
The emergence of widespread Internet connectivity, social networking and mobile computing all have contributed to the creation of a new type of learner, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. “These three elements together have changed the context of learning,” says Lee Rainie, director of the center’s Internet and American Life Project. Students today are more self-directed, more inclined to collaborate and rely on feedback from peers, and are better-equipped to obtain information, the report states.
Last week we released a new annotation feature that allows teachers to make comments and edits on student assignments. We received a number of questions about how this new feature works, so we’ve created this how-to video to help.
Check out the video tutorial, CLICK HERE
I’ll admit it, I have not used Edmodoo enough, I know enough to be dangerous. I keep reading and seeing all the wonderful rich educational ways Edmodo is being used in the classroom. Recently I was observing out Block 1 pre-service teachers in Junction City and the classroom teacher was using Edmodo with her class. I had not introduced my pre-service teachers to it. When I walked in the room for observation, I sorta panicked thinking, oh my, they don’t know about Edmodo, but to my delight, they jumped right in and figured it on on the fly, even letting the middle schoolers show them how to use Edmodo. Edmodo is kinda Facebook like, so these college students had no problems. It does serve a different purpose than Facebook, and does a ton more things, but the interface is similar.
So I am SOLD! I will be using Edmodo in class next semester! Have yet to nail down exactly how, but, I will be using it in my Education Technology for Teaching and Learning classes. What is that class, well, it is the technology integration class that ALL education majors take. I have approximately 150 elementary and secondary majors each semester. Basically the class is getting these pre-service teachers up to speed with using and integrating technology in their future classrooms.
Sadly, they are not as skilled with technology as you might think. Experts with Facebook and playing on the internet, but not so much when it comes to multimedia and really using the internet productively!! I am always surprised, yes every semester it surprises me, how many students say, they “are not good at technology.” That phase even surprises me!!
In fact, my first day of class survey said:
And at the end of the semester, apparently, I am making a bit of progress
by Jeff Utecht
This coming year though I have a feeling we’re not going to see a lot of new technologies but rather the integration of technologies and a continued move to the mobile platform. Much like 2009 we will go deeper into finding ways the technology that already exists can and will effect our lives and education.
Cell phones have long been a serious no-no in the classroom, and many schools, stating that they are a serious distraction for students, have banned them from campuses altogether. Yet there is a growing trend that is lifting the ban on smartphones and instead asking kids to use their phones and mobile devices as learning tools. While some have responded critically to this movement, others have found that it helps students to become engaged and interested in lessons, and in some districts has even resulted in a marked increase in performance levels.
Whether you’re still on the fence about the role of mobile technology in the classroom or are looking for ways to get inspired to use it in your own lessons, it pays to learn a bit more about how smartphones are currently being used for education. Here, we’ve collected stories about just a handful of the schools leading the way in using smartphones in the classroom, making for both interesting and informative research for any tech-savvy (or tech curious) teacher. Who knows, you may just find ideas that inspire you to initiate a mobile revolution in your own classroom!
Pink Floyd’s notable lyric from Another Brick in the Wall (albeit edited for conventions) has been trending in educational commentary as of late, and the recent issue of Time is no exception. In Teacher, leave those kids alone, Amanda Ripley reports on the intensely demanding, ferocious study habits and schedules of South Korean students. Ripley follows a group of Seoul government officials whose evening mission is to patrol and discover children who are studying after 10 PM and to stop them from doing so.
South Korea has begun enforcing a curfew in order to attempt to quell the nation’s obsession with private tutoring, which erupted out of its longstanding emphasis on one-size fits curricula leading to high-stakes, college-entrance exams. Consider the following, shared in Ripley’s article:
This article is cross posted at EdTechInnovations.com
Recently, Christine Wiser T&L’s Managing Editor, asked the Tech Advisors the following question:
I thought that this was a great question that would generate a lot of discussion. So, I wanted to share with you my top three and see what you have to say. After all, sometimes, the more voices heard the more progress can be made.
http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&EntryId=3280
Tools for Educators offers free printable worksheets, printables classroom materials, lesson plan resources, and a host of programs for teachers to use in their classes.
The free printable dice maker is a worksheet wizard that allows you to create dice with pictures, dice with text or printable dice with both images and text.
Check it out: http://www.toolsforeducators.com/dice/
What if Picasso never had a paint brush?
What if Madame Curie never had a test tube?
Teachers, Administrators, and PTA/PTO Leaders
Create a Wish List of the classroom supplies you need, as easily as shopping online.
- provide children with better-equipped classrooms
- reduce the financial burden on teachers, which is a major contributor to teacher attrition
- reduce the $2.2 billion a year that the Alliance for Excellent Education reports districts now spend in replacing public school teachers who have dropped out of the profession
How it Works
Sarah Brown Wessling, 2010 National Teacher of the Year, wrote of ClassWish.org, “This nonprofit is a swift and inventive way for communities to unite in support of the tools that make learning more accessible for all students.”
Here is how it works:
- Teachers visit the site to create Wish Lists of the items they need to equip great classrooms, as easily as shopping online
- Visitors see exactly what is needed and make tax-deductible donations to help
- Many companies match employees’ donations, which can double their funding
- ClassWish has the items shipped directly to the teachers at no cost
About Us
Our Board of Advisors includes such education and business leaders as:
- Nancy Pelz-Paget, Head of Education and Society for the Aspen Institute
- Sharon Robinson Ph.D., CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
- Chris Graves, Global CEO of Ogilvy PR
- Scott Cutler, EVP of the New York Stock Exchange
- Betsy Morgan, Former CEO of The Huffington Post
FCC has taken a different step with their stance on social media and Internet filtering requirements as part of their E-Rate standards.
“Now that even the staid Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has loosened its tight rein on social media networks, it’s time for more educators to use these tools to improve classroom instruction and home-school communications.
In August, the FCC clarified an earlier ruling that led to widespread blocking of social media networks by school districts receiving discounted internet access through federal e-Rate dollars.”
Challenge Based Learning allows students to connect more deeply with content by addressing real-world issues. Using a Mac, iPad, iPod touch, and easy-to-use software from Apple, students can engage, create, and collaborate in the classroom and beyond.
In this webcast, our panel of experts will report on a five-month, global Challenge Based Learning project at K12 and HiEd institutions. And reveal key findings, such as the 12 skill areas 90 percent of teachers felt were significantly improved by Challenge Based Learning.
You’ll also see highlights from select case studies. And you’ll hear from guest speakers — including study participants — who’ll demonstrate the resources and possibilities for schools interested in implementing this groundbreaking framework.
Apple Webcast: Challenge Based Learning in Action.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 10:00–11:30 a.m. PT
I was honored this summer to do a podcast with TeacherCast and have been using the site quite a bit, but this new design is great. Makes things super easy to find. Looking forward to sharing with my students. If you have never visited the TeacherCast site, check it out!
“Dear Friends of TeacherCast
I am writing to you to spread the news of something big happening at TeacherCast. Our website has gone into what we are calling TeacherCast 2.0.
Thanks to your support and dedication to the website, we have grown tremendously and we are helping great educators in more than 80 countries and 49 states. Our iPhone app has been downloaded more than 200 times and our LiveBinders, Podcasts and Curation projects are widely tweeted about each day.
We are looking to grow TeacherCast even further in the next few weeks by adding great content such as app reviews, podcasts, and screencasts. We have added a video section to the website as well as a section we call “Software How-to’s”. In addition, our iPhone app, which features great blogs and content from many of you, was just submitted to Apple for our first major update.
Thank you for your help and support. Please help us by continuing to share TeacherCast with great teachers, administrators, parents, and app developers.
Please take a moment over the next few days to check out TeacherCast. Please write some great reviews for us on our iTunes feed and leave us a nice 5 Star Rating. This will only help TeacherCast grow exponentially. Please continue to tweet and retweet about TeacherCast to your friends and coworkers.
Once again, Thank you for helping me with my dream.
All the best,
Jeff
www.TeacherCast.net
@TeacherCast”
One iPad… to start with. Technology and Education Box of Tricks by José Picardo Many of us look at schools in which there is 1:1 iPad or Netbook implementation and drool with envy. “If only our schools were as innovative” or, let’s face it, “as rich, as these other schools” we think to ourselves. However, the other side of the coin is that many teachers also see iPads as nothing more than overrated books that glow. Is there no middle ground?
I think there is………. Read the full story, CLICK HERE
NBC’s Brian Williams asks an audience of educators at the Education Nation summit about the myriad challenges they face. This is the complete unedited version of the live broadcast.
Click here it watch the broadcast
I watched live Sunday afternoon and if politicians were watching I am sure they saw a very different picture of what education, teachers, students, and schools need and want. I hope they are listening!!
Wow, the Victorian Government, iPads for Learning website is a wealth of information about iPads in schools. It would be a great starting place for a school thinking about implementing iPads into their curriculum or for any teaching looking for ideas about using iPads in the classroom
“This website is for educators who want to learn about using iPads in education. Here you will find information about the Victorian school iPads for Learning trial including specially selected apps, classroom ideas and technical tips.”
Check out
How to model technology use in the classroom
Veteran teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron offers 20 tips for using and modeling the use of technology in the classroom. Teachers should involve students in setting up new technology, use digital tools — such as document cameras, videoconferencing and interactive whiteboards — throughout the school day and use tech-inspired vocabulary, even when talking about offline activities, she writes.
Read the full story: Edutopia.org/Heather Walpert-Gawron’s blog
A ten-year teaching veteran and a California regional Teacher of the Year, Heather Wolpert-Gawron’s musings on educational policy, curriculum design, and daily school life can also be read at www.tweenteacher.com.
