Ted's and Donna's Blogs

Ted and Donna have been blogging about the conference too, but not on this blog, yet. Ted has been blogging on his own blog. I tried to get to it so that I could post a link, but I couldn't even get to his district site. Is your server down, Ted? Anyway, you can read some of his posts at this site. Look for them on the right-hand side of the page.
Clarity Innovations

Donna's been working as a correspondent for eSchoolNews. Here's a link to her postings so far.
CTTL Moodle--Supporting Workshop Participants with Online Training

Tuesday Sessions Lori Attended

Sorry I didn't post these sooner. I didn't get back to my room until after 11:00 last night and I was exhausted. These are the sessions I attended on Tuesday, my general reactions to them, and links to connected resources. I'm too pooped to post about my Wednesday sessions tonight. Check back tomorrow.

Concurent Sessions (Click on the title to go to additional related resources):
Increasing Student Collaboration Online, Harry Tuttle, Syracuse University, Presenter
This session was pretty good. He broke "Online Collaboration" into 2 categories: 1. Conversation and 2. Projects. Then he talked about a continuum of things to consider for each as well as giving some examples. His attached handout (click on title above) summarizes these things. Participants asked about where they can connect with other classes to set up online conversations and projects. He cited several web sites where people might find connections:
Global Schoolhouse
ePals
Think.com an Oracle product Later I went to their booth and spoke with them. I'll post more on this later when I sort through my stuff and find the info

Digital Video in a High-Quality Literacy Program, John Schick, Bellingham Public Schools, Bellingham, WA, Presenter
I expected this to be better than it was. John Schick is a librarian and has worked with teachers and kids on producing a variety of video projects. He began by talking about how video can be a ver powerful tool for increasing fluency, providing instant feedback, and increasing motivation. Then he showed some samples, but I thought they weren't very strong samples and they were not well edited. These were clips of other things, so maybe that's why they didn't seem too compelling. One idea that was kind of interesting was using the video to record a child reading the same text over time and then playing it back for the student to clearly illustrate progress, strengths, weaknesses, etc. His point was that at risk readers often don't understand what they are doing wrong and aren't necessarily aware of what they are doing right. In one case a teacher had a print out of the story and the child highlighted each mistake they heard themselves make and then drew conclusions about what they need to work on. In these cases the raw video was sufficient and it appeared to be a powerful tool for reading instruction and self-assessment. Click on the title above to view his Power Point. The link to his school web site is below.
http://wwwnhe.bham.wednet.edu

ABC's, 123's, and WWW's - Early Learning and the Web , Gail Lovely, University of Houston, Lovely and Associates
This session was just what I expected. She showed lots of resources to use with primary level students in the area of Math and Language Arts. She also gave examples of how to use these instructionally in a classroom, often pairing offline activities with online activities. Click on the title above to go to a list of the resources she used in this presentation. Visit Gail Lovely's web site and click on the Resources tab for LOTS of other great resources.

Acquiring a Sense of Metaphor: A Distance Learning Experience, Susan Hunsinger-Hoff and Phy Chauveau, Germantown Academy, Presenters
Once again, this was not what I expected. These 2 fifth grade teachers presented a great unit they do throughout the school year which culminates with students creating a great piece of poetry describing their inner self. Click on the title above for links to lots of the resources they use as well as their presentation PowerPoint. The online part, though, was really incidental. They have taught this unit with no online component in the past. Now they have put it on Blackboard to make it an online course. They still teach it in the classroom face to face but by having it online also, students and families can also access the tools, assignments and resources online. They feel that it makes the unit stronger and increases motivation, but I didn't really see how having it online made a difference in the unit. I didn't think they were really using online tools in any way that was different than what they had always done face to face. But do check out their resources. It is a neat project, even without the online connections.

Moodle: An Open Source Alternative for Online Learning, Timothy Williams, Manheim Township School District, Lancaster, PA, presenter
This was more technical than I expected and focused on creating a server and installing Moodle. Moodle is a very rich and multifaceted open source tool. So much of this was over my head and probably not anything my district would ever use. It was an interesting tidbit to broaden my understanding a bit.

And Poster sessions on (Click on the title to go to additional related resources):

Elementary Blogging: Connecting Writers and Technology through Read2Write
Click on the title to a whole list of resources and handouts. This was a neat project. Through a grant they had money to bring a children's author to their school once a month to work with the kids. They then convinced each other to blog with the students. They had lots of great conversations about books both before and after the author visits. I think you could do this without the grant and the in-person visits from authors just by contacting author's online and asking them to blog with students.

Lights, Camera, Action! Students Find Their Voice through Video Production
Clicking on the title above will take you to a description of this poster session. Click here to go to some connected online resources. I didn't get to spend too much time here taking to the presenter, but the videos I saw (from middle school students) were unbelievably powerful!

Using NASA Multimedia Web Sites in Problem-Based Learning
This is fantastic, FREE downloadable software from NASA on a variety of topics and very problem solving/project based in nature. Click on the title above to see a brief description of the software. Go to http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ to access the software. I was very impressed with what I saw!

Blogging NECC

We aren't the only ones blogging NECC.

Donna - Please post a link to your eSchoolNews Correspondent entries. I tried to find it and I couldn't. I don't think it's posted yet.

I got this from the NECC web site about the "professionals" who are also blogging about sessions and keynotes.

The following educators have invited you to join them as they blog and/or podcast their NECC experiences! You can lurk quietly, or jump into the fray by posting comments of your own.

Jeff Allen
Director of Educational TechnologyBremerton, Washington
Blogging: http://www.oesd.wednet.edu/blog

Erica M. Brownstein, PhD, et al
Columbus, Ohio
Blogging: http://capedblog.blogspot.com/

Steve Dembo
IT Director / Classroom Teacher
Blogging and podcasting: http://teach42.com/

Kelly Dumont
The Educational MacRiverton, Utah
Podcasting:
http://www.theeducationalmac.com/rss.xml or http://feeds.feedburner.com/xmission/Agnp
Blogging:
http://theeducationalmac.blogspot.com

Jeff Giddens
Educator, Georgia
Blogging: http://segatech.blogspot.com/

JoAnn Gonzalez-Major
Instructional DesignerPhiladelphia, PA
Blogging: http://midsolutions.org/ID_community/

Leo M. Grassi
Instructional SystemsBethesda, MD
Moblogging (mobile blogging via cell phone, notebook, or PDA): http://www.interactworks.info/blog/

Brett Hinton
Instructional TechnologistGilbert, Arizona
Blogging: http://www.bloglines.com/blog/hintbw

Rolly Maiquez
Instructional Technology SpecialistTumon Bay, Guam
Photo blogging: http://splashblog.com/necc2005/

Tim Merritt
Video/Multimedia ManagerAtlanta, GA
Blogging: http://dvforteachers.manilasites.com

Craig Nansen
Technology CoordinatorMinot, North Dakota
Blogging: http://stream.minot.k12.nd.us/blog/craig/

Pat Phillips, E.I.C.
Main Function
Blogging: https://www.mainfunction.com/patp/blog/

Suzanne Porath
Middle School Teacher International School of Aruba, Dutch Caribbean
Blogging: http://heartofateacher.blogspot.com/

Tim Stahmer
Instructional Technology SpecialistWashington, DC
Blogging: http://www.assortedstuff.com

Tony Vincent
Omaha, NebraskaFocus: handheld computing
Blogging (and possibly podcasting): http://learninginhand.com/blog/

David F. Warlick
The Landmark Project
Blogging: http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/
Podcasting: http://davidwarlick.com/connectlearning/

Keynote - The New Shape of Knowledge

The opening keynote tonight was very good! David Weinberger was very dynamic and I thought very interesting. Like when I listen to Alan November and David Warlick, he caused me to think. He talked about how the organization of knowledge and/or information changes in the digital world.

1. One leaf goes on many branches (not just 1 piece of information that can go in just 1 category)
2. Messiness is a virtue (many links to many things)
3. Unowned order (users determine the appropriate order of information)
4. Users are contributors (not just passive consumers)

I also liked his premise that knowledge is an unending conversation. This connects well with the things that both David Warlick and Alan November are saying.

I'd never heard of David Weinberger before this. I think I might look for his books now, The Cluetrain Manifesto, and Small Pieces Loosely Joined. They might be interesting reading. He also has a blog that might be interesting as well.

What did you all think, Donna, Laura and Ted?

My eSchool News Reporter Schedule

Hi Everyone!

I got my schedule and here are the sessions I am reporting on:

• Tuesday 10-12 Poster Session: CTTL Moodle
• Tuesday 1:30-3:30 Poster Session: Technology Education - eBus Mobile Computing Project
• Wednesday 10-12 Global Gallery: International Student Collaboration: Incorporating IVC in the Classroom
• Wednesday 1:30-3:30 Student Showcase: Collaborative Learning Online
• Thursday 10-12 Poster Session: IVC in Teacher Education

I think I should still have time for some sessions, but I guess they could do presentations at the poster sessions too - so we'll see!

Donna : )

eSchool News Correspondent

I got picked to be an eschool news correspondent. I was just looking at my materials and remembered I applied and then when I opened my email I had a letter saying I was picked! They are supposed to send me a schedule today or tomorrow.

I get to use a Alphasmart Neo! I hope I still get to go to the sessions I was planning on attending!

I'll keep you posted.... Donna : )

Vlogging

Hi Everyone! I can't believe it is almost time to leave for the conference!

Mark Ball who works in the communications department here at CaTS was asking me about video blogs - vlogging - yesterday.

I just wanted to ask you all if you see or hear anything on vlogging at the conference will you let me know? Or can you pass on what you learn?

Thanks!

Anyone want to go see the Liberty Bell?

I know I have a really ambitious schedule while at the conference - but I really want to see the Liberty Bell? Anyone else want to make plans to go see it together?

What else do you want to see while in Philly?

iKeepBookmarks

In poking around in the NECC stuff, I discovered this free tool. It allows you to bookmark web sites online and then access this list from any computer. You can organize them into folders and categories. It's kind of like Pinet Library from the Landmark Project, Ted. You can register (free) as an individual or as a school and they have samples for you to look at. There are also 2 premium editions that give you some more options. One is $9.95 per year and the other is $14.95 per year, which doesn't seem too bad to me. I started playing with the free version.

If you click on the title above, it will take you to the web site.

Here's a sample label (see Helpful Hint for Conference Attendees post below). I used Avery 8162 Address Labels. For the sample screen shot above, I changed the phone numbers and e-mail address to "protect the innocent."

Helpful Hint for Conference Attendees

Here's a great idea I picked up from other conference attendees and this is useful no matter what conference you are attending. There are usually LOTS of vendor booths where you can enter a drawing, get a free gift, or leave information for future contacts and so on. It can be a real pain to stand there and fill out forms.

INSTEAD - Make labels ahead of time with your contact info on it and then you can just slap it on the vendor's form and you're good to go. I just took my business card (which I make and print myself anyway) and adapted it to fit onto a 1 1/3" x 4" label and printed several sheets. I also printed up some regular business cards to take along as well.

Where and What?

So, attendees, where are you staying and what sessions do you think you might be attending. Click on the "Comments" link and fill us in!

Educational Weblogs

Here's another great resource from the poster sessions.

Weblogs in Education: Cutting Edge Uses of This Emerging Technology [Poster Session] by Michael Lackner, The Bryn Mawr School Tuesday, 6/28/2005, 10:00am– 12:00pm

Observe how Weblogs are being infused across the curriculum, embedded in professional development, and used to increase community, home, and school communication.

He has a link to a PowerPoint presentation on using weblogs in education, Educational Weblogs: Cutting Edge Uses of this Emerging Technology. In the presentation is lots of great information and some links to other resources. Check it out!

Using Excel to Create Interactive Maps

I was just perusing the poster sessions and saw this. It is a really neat idea for creating interactive maps using Excel instead of PowerPointless! And the resources are posted so you can use them without attending this session. Take a look.

Excel Interactive Maps: Who Thought Excel Was Only for Spreadsheets? [Poster Session] Sue Summerford, Lenawee Intermediate School District Tuesday, 6/28/2005, 10:00am– 12:00pm

Tired of PowerPoint? Create interactive maps with pop-ups in Excel. Students can present dynamite visual projects in many content areas.

The presenter has posted a handout for 10 Easy Steps for Completing an Excel Interactive Map Project. At the end of that PDF, there is a link to other resources that go with this project as well.

NECC 2005 - Digital Illuminations

Click the title above to go to the NECC web site to learn more about this year's conference.