Ed Tech Buzz at Hilton Elementary Schools: Announcing a New Online Course

Ed Tech Buzz at Hilton Elementary Schools: Announcing a New Online Course

I'm really excited to finally have at least part of an online course developed in Moodle!!

Please use the link above to go to my post about it on my Tech Study Group blog. If you, or anyone in your districts would like to take this online pilot course, please contact me. I'm looking for volunteers to enroll, take the course, and provide feedback.

Collaborative Learning, the Wiki Way

So, how can a wiki be useful in a classroom, you might be asking yourself. If you think of a wiki as a collaborative website where many people can add information and edit the information that is already there, then it does have value in an educational setting. Out of need to find online research sites which are "kid-friendly" for young students, Denise Duffy at the Village Elementary School in Hilton, NY, began a school-wide wiki, The Village Elementary Wiki. A 3rd Grader class added the first content as they researched the Arctic region. This has led to some wonderful learning! The class who began the wiki has spent extra class time going back to the wiki over and over again to reread, edit, revise, and improve upon the content they first entered. Try getting young students to do this on paper! Trust me, it doesn't happen! Secondly, another class has begun their research and is using the wiki as their starting place. It gives them information in "3rd grade-friendly" text (because it was written by their peers, with references cited) and it is getting them excited about their research. They are identifying what is "missing" or what they would like to know more about, and that is guiding the research they are doing. They are looking forward to being able to add the the wiki! Their teachers and I are getting "goose-bumps" as we are observing this! We are looking forward to watching this wiki grow as more and more classes begin to add content on a variety of subjects. And PB Wiki is a wonderful tool to use. Not only does it provide some free space for hosting the wiki, but it has very WYSIWYG text editing, which makes it very easy for young students to use and really take ownership of. If you would like more information on PB Wiki, you can visit their website or contact Lori Burch.

Lori's Geek of the Week Entry

I know I'm a bit on the geeky side, but I found this article from ABC News really interesting in so many ways. Below is an excerpt. Click on the title to go to ABC News online and read the entire article.

So Much Data, Relatively Little Space

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN AP Technology WriterBOSTON Mar 5, 2007 (AP)

A new study that estimates how much digital information the world is generating (hint: a lot) finds that for the first time, there's not enough storage space to hold it all. Good thing we delete some stuff. . .

. . . Add it all up and IDC determined that the world generated 161 billion gigabytes (161 exabytes) of digital information last year.
Oh, the equivalents! That's like 12 stacks of books that each reach from the Earth to the sun. Or you might think of it as 3 million times the information in all the books ever written, according to IDC. You'd need more than 2 billion of the most capacious iPods on the market to get 161 exabytes.

So, what do you think? How does this effect us in education? What are the implications for us as a society? Post your thoughts.

Ed Tech Buzz at Hilton Elementary Schools: Embracing Web 2.0 in an Education 1.0 Universe

Ed Tech Buzz at Hilton Elementary Schools: Embracing Web 2.0 in an Education 1.0 Universe

This is a post I recently added to the blog I use in my district for my technology study groups. I thought it would be of interest to all of you as well.

Ed Tech Buzz at Hilton Elementary Schools: More on Web 2.0 Tools

Ed Tech Buzz at Hilton Elementary Schools: More on Web 2.0 Tools

Here's a follow-up to the post above. There are links to many Web 2.0 resources as well as a link to our podcast on the subject and to a Seedlings @ Bit by Bit podcast also on the subject.

Classroom Blogging

Oh, my. It's been a really long time since any of us has posted here! We've all been busy posting podcasts on our ITS Tech Time site and also posting to a variety of wikis and other places and I'm afraid "Digital Illuminations" has been neglected.

Anyway, I'm back with this post.

I've just listened to an excellent podcast on the topic of classroom blogging. It's a recording of a presentation done by Bob Sprankle at the ACTEM (Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine) Annual Conference held last fall. He has wonderful examples of how and why to use blogging with students. He also has links to a myriad of classroom blogging resources. You will find the links below.

He mentions an issue with using Blogger with students which is that of the blue bar at the top that links to other, random blogs. If you would like to begin blogging with your students, but this is a concern you have with using Blogger in the classroom, please email me and I can fill you in on some options for addressing that.

Bit by Bit Episode 32 - Classroom Blogging Podcast
Workshop Links from this Podcast
Blog Tool Options Wiki by Wesley Fryer

Reading is Fundamental (RIF)

Do you remember RIF? I have to admit I totally forgot about it until I saw them listed in the vendor section at NECC. I went over to visit with them and I was really impressed with their resources.

Their free website has tons of resources. It is aimed primarily at the elementary grades. There is an Educator section, as well as a Parent section, and a section for Kids. They also even have a Bilingual section.

In the Educator section, you will find "Writers' Block" where your class can join other classes in writing a story. They also have animated Read-Along stories. In addition they have contests, web resources, lesson plans and articles. They even have downloads and printable planning guides.

For the children, they have a section called Reading Planet, where the kids can do activities (like illustrate a story), play games, review books,browse book lists and write stories. There is also a free Reading Planet Club that kids can join which allows them to create a web page, join contests and get a birthday card. To join the club kids under 13 have to use a parent/teacher email.

The Parent section allows parents to look for reading ideas and activities by age level. They also have printable resources and calendars with reading activities.

If you need any literacy ideas or materials I recommend this site. I also think the section for students has enough pictures (and read aloud with speakers) that it could be used fairly independently depending on the reading level and activity.

Founded in 1966, RIF is the oldest and largest children's and family nonprofit literacy organization in the United States. RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8.

Online Lessons: As Diverse as the American Mind!

Kim mentioned she was looking for free resources - this is a reprint of my post for eSchool News. The resources that this site provides are outstanding and free!

Looking for student-ready, project-based lessons for students in grades 3-8? Need 24/7 access to the lessons and the content? No budget? Then the Adventure of the American Mind (AAM) program has great news for you – they can provide all of this to you for free!

The AAM Online Education Program (www.aamonline.org) has online lessons using digitized content from the Library of Congress that students can work on independently. Each lesson has a video preview and a lesson guide, as well as, supplemental materials for teacher use. In addition, lessons feature Microsoft Office technical tutorials and academic tutorials.

The Adventures of the American Mind program began in 1999 as a professional development to prepare K-12 teachers to integrate digital resources from the Library of Congress’ website (www.loc.gov). It began as one program in western North Carolina and has expanded to seven states with 27 programs!

The AAM program offers workshops, graduate courses, online professional development and faculty education, in addition to the online student lessons. Workshops are conducted at the school - using the technology resources available at the school. The workshops are grounded in adult learning theory and are practical in nature. By meeting the teachers and the schools at their technology levels the program ensures success.

The AAM program is designed around 3 Levels of Integration. The presenters’ shared several examples of lessons created by teachers at all three levels and even shared with us lessons created using digital content from the Library of Congress by the teachers’ students! The lessons were high quality and very well done. Some were even award winners!

I was impressed with the presenters’ enthusiasm and passion for the AAM program. I think their practical, success-oriented approach to professional development builds teachers confidence and comfort level with technology. This program offers a way for teachers to learn how to integrate technology at various levels and the support the teachers need when trying a new teaching style.

Locate an AAM partner near you www.aamprogram.org/introduction/aam_partners.aspx

A Place Called (Virtual) School: The Promise of K-12 Online Learning

This was fantastic - definitely a highlight of my conference! It was a panel discussion and I quickly realized that I really like the panel format. It was very interactive – with the panel participants talking with one another and it allowed a lot of time for Q & A. Over the last 5 years, one of the fastest growing trends in education is online schools. This panel was full of pioneers who have all had tremendous success implementing state-wide online schools.

Maribel Sevilla from ISTE Research and Evaluation was the Chair. The presenters were William Thomas from Southern Regional Education Board; Melinda Maddox of Alabama Department of Education; Matthew Wicks from the Illinois Virtual School; Robert Currie from the Michigan Virtual School; and Pam Birtolo of the Florida Virtual School. Each presenter spoke for about 5-10 minutes and then at the end we were able to ask questions. This was very well attended with standing room only.

Mr. Thomas (SREB) spoke about the considerations for planning state virtual schools. They have seen “skyrocketing” growth in virtual schooling across the country as educators search for ways to improve education. In addition, there has been a lot of success in students taking online classes. One of the biggest advantages online schools offer students is a wider variety of courses than their local school can offer. Mr. Thomas spoke emphatically about the need for quality with cost control.

Ms. Maddox addressed the importance of having state department and legislative support to back a virtual school. Their program is called ACCESS Distance Learning (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide) and it was created by the Alabama Department of Education in October 2005. It provides the infrastructure needed for online education and it also provides the courses and teachers. The aim is to provide access to AP courses; additional courses; and remediation courses that are not offered in their schools. Currently there are 12 pilot schools which offer both asynchronous and synchronous online classes.

Mr. Wicks is from Illinois Virtual High School which has been in existence for 5 years. IVHS offers curriculum to all regular and alternative education students – the goal being equity of access. Mr. Wicks emphasized the ability of online schools and courses to meet students individualized learning needs. He encouraged us all to throw away preconceived notions of what type of student is successful in an online environment. Online teaching methods have improved and it is possible to reach a wide variety of learners online.
Michigan Virtual High School has been in existence for 6 years – since 1999 - and is supported financially by the state. Mr. Currie stated that there are over 7000 enrollments for this fall. In addition, they also offer a variety of test preparation courses that are not included in the general enrollment numbers. Since 1999, Michigan has been investigating what it means to be a 21st Century student.

Michigan is the first state to require students to have taken at least one online course as part of graduation requirements. Starting in the fall, all incoming 8th graders will be required to have an online course experience in order to graduate. Mr. Currie emphasized that online learning can be for every student and can meet the individualized needs of every learner with proper online teaching and facilitation.

Ms. Birtolo from Florida Virtual School began by agreeing with Mr. Currie and Mr. Wicks – online classes are for every student. The Florida Virtual School (FLVS) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. In the fall, they will have over 50,000 students (grades 6-12) enrolled in their courses. They have 476 teachers. FLVS contributes their success to student-centered learning and high quality teachers. In student surveys, FLVS has found over and over that students find the connection with the teacher to be the best part of their online experience. For students, it is not about the technology or taking classes online – it is about the relationship they have with their teacher.

This session allowed for a long session of Q & A. Some topics that came up during this time included:
1. Scalability – the online school program must be able to scale up to allow for large numbers of students. They discusses how often paperwork processes are the biggest hindrance to scalability. It is important to be sure your processes are not a barrier for students who want to take online classes.
2. 11 states have virtual schools by legislative actions.
3. No virtual school offers a diploma – the diploma comes from the local school district.
4. Funding is – and will continue to be – a huge issue in online schools. Online schools cannot become more expensive than traditional schools. Currently, there is little leadership at the federal level for online school funding.
5. Quality of teaching and teacher accountability. Most of these programs have high standards for hiring and maintain a strong training program.
6. Course ownership and intellectual property is more of an issue in college courses than in K-12 online schools. Right now the model is that schools create the content for online courses themselves, or they buy the course from a 3rd party like an online school. The school decides whether they will have their own teachers facilitate the course or use a teacher from the online school.
7. Home-schooled students often utilize online schools to take one or two courses – similar to students in the districts.
The final note that all the presenters wanted to make was to again emphasize that online classes are not for a certain “type” of student. Do not pre-judge students and exclude students based on an old profile of a successful online student. Online courses are engaging and individualized – students have a strong relationship with their teacher and often receive more one-on-one help than in a traditional face-to-face class.

Teacher Technology Skill Evaluation

Hello All!
Vincy mentioned at the last meeting she was looking for an assessment tool to use with her teachers. I dug around my folders and found some resources that may be of use.

Rubrics for Teachers & Students NETS:
http://www.ncrel.org/tech/nets/rubrics.htm

Core Technologies Competencies & Skills
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te10lk13.htm

Technology in my Life Assessment
http://fromnowon.org/FNOMay93.html
This is older but a more personalized approach.

Assessing Teacher Technology Projects
http://ldt.stanford.edu/~tacyt/projectrubric.html

Teacher Technology Assessment Rubric
http://www.compstrategies.com/staffdevelopment/cue/rubric.htm

Utah Technology Awareness Rubrics
http://www.uen.org/cgi-bin/websql/utahlink/UTAPdomains.hts

ProfilerPro (http://profilerpro.com/)
"ProfilerPRO allows for the evaluation of knowledge, attitude, and skill based on simple surveys implemented via the World Wide Web. Group members can share knowledge and promote collaboration based on responses to skills-based survey items. Use ProfilerPRO to strengthen your school's, district's, or other educational group's ability to share expertise and grow as an organization."

Sample of Online Tech Assessment Survey
http://www.sun-associates.com/eval/samples/samplesurv.html
From: http://www.edtechevaluation.com/

An Educator's Guide to Evaluating The Use of Technology in Schools and Classrooms
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdTechGuide/index.html
Self-Evaluation Survey from 1998
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdTechGuide/appc-7.html

Hope maybe they can be of some help or get you going in the right direction!

SimSchool

I checked out a product called SimSchool (http://simschool.org) which is a simulation for teachers. It was created through funding from the Preparing Tomorrows Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) project. The idea is to allow teachers to practice differentiated instruction, lesson planning and classroom management in a safe learning environment.
Each student in the class has a profile with their personality and learning style. The teacher has to talk with the students and match assignments to learning styles. The student outcomes depend on the teacher interaction and lesson plans. Through repeated experience teachers can build teaching strategies.
The simulation is free – all you have to do is register. After you finish a simulation you can download a class report and individual student reports. The simulation can be saved and accessed later. There is an enhanced version that can be purchased - $12/year for premium access.
I tried it out a little and it was engaging, the premium version allows you to create a larger class and designate specific learning styles and personalities to a student. I think it would be a great tool to use to re-create a class situation that did not go well, or try out some new strategies. I definitely wished we had something like this before I started student teaching!

21st Century Information Fluency

I also went to a poster session called 21st Century Information Fluency: Assessing Students' Knowledge and Skills. This is a project I have read about before but I knew they were coming out with some new curriculum for teachers and librarians so I wanted to check them out. It is a project of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) to help educators and students use digital resources more effectively, efficiently and ethically.
Their website (http://21cif.imsa.edu/) has resources, a search wizard and tutorials for Digital Information Fluency. In August, they released their first Full Circle Resource Kit which has interactive activities for students, ready to use curriculum and assessment tools. Each Full Circle will feature a core competency for Digital Information Fluency. Also on their website they have a lesson database where teachers can access and share lessons and materials.
Even though the project originates from Illinois the content is free and open to all. I was very impressed with the material and I feel it addresses an important need for both teachers and students. Effective searching and digital literacy skills are not often offered to our teachers and we need to teach our students. The materials and resources available from IMSA are top of the line. I encourage everyone to make sure their librarians are aware of the site.

Video for Learning

I went to a poster session called Creating a Free, Online Library of Video Resources for Everyone. I met Rushton Hurley, who is a former teacher and principal, who created Next Vista for Learning. Next Vista is a free, online video library with work using the Creative Commons license. The advantage is that all videos are made by students and teachers. The great part of it is that the videos can be downloaded therefore not requiring the bandwidth of a streaming video. I spoke with Rushton for a while and spoke with him about the challenges of providing streaming content to students. He said he is looking for people to add videos. All content will be prescreened by educators. When we spoke, Rushton was focusing on three library collections: Light Bulbs; Global Views; and Seeing Service.
The Light Bulbs section includes videos where a teacher or student is presenting a content topic in an engaging, fun way. The videos are to be short focusing on a single module. For instance, he has a video of a math instructor teaching mean, mode and median. The goal is to be short clips that a teacher can use to supplement their instruction or use for a lesson introduction or summary. The goal for students is to allow them to have the content presented in another way and that is available to them outside of the classroom.
The Global Views section includes videos that feature students presenting other cultures and other countries. The videos can be used to generate discussions and allow students to showcase their work. The Global Views video library collection aims to help prepare students to be global citizens.
The Seeing Service video library collection includes videos highlighting the good work students are doing in their communities. The videos can be used for discussions, to generate project ideas or even part of a project requirement. It is a great way for students to inspire one another.
I was impressed with Rushton and the Next Vista project. He truly believes we need to incorporate more visual learning to engage our students. He also believes that with the wide variety of tools available students and teachers can create quality videos. Rushton sees the Next Vista website as an open source alternative to expensive, commercial sites. He believes that together students and teachers can offer the same quality content as vendors. He hopes to have a collection together and online for the fall, by NECC 2007 his goal is to provide access to 200 student and teacher made videos.
Personally, I think it is a great idea and if you are creating videos at all then to check out this site and contribute videos. Who knows more what is needed to teach students – video producers or teachers and students? If you have some videos to contribute I strongly recommend adding them to this online collection.

Digital Illuminations: Virtual Adventures Workshop

Digital Illuminations: Virtual Adventures Workshop

I wanted to put a link back to my post from NECC last year about my workshop with Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson. Fantastic resources!