Computers in Libraries 2006

I noticed that a lot of people were referencing the Pew Internet Life Study recently and it turns out Mr. Lee Rainie was a presenter at the Computers in Libraries conference this past week in Washington DC. A few people have been liveblogging (and regular blogging) on the conference.

Here is a blog that many people have linked to in reference to Mr. Rainie's presentation.
Thinking Out Loud - Mermaid - The Intenet: Enhancing Digital Work and Play

Here are other blogs with the CIL2006 tag. CIL2006 Tecnorati Tags (You can tell they are librarians - they pre-defined the tag - I don't know if it was an underground or official movement - But definitely a great idea for conferences!)

CIL2006 Unofficial Wiki

Karen & Jane from Library Services at BOCES attended. Maybe we can ask them to blog here or let us link to wherever they blogged!

Here is some information found in the Pew Study. If you want more information, here is the report.

Chat Lingo Explained

Hi All!
Kim Komando just published this column on Cyber Lingo on March 24th. It has some good information and some links to gather more information. It is designed for parents, but it applies to education as well.
Donna

A Dance With the Butterflies

A Dance With the Butterflies
I found this Spring Project and wanted to add it to the spring list!

Boing Boing: New bill: Cyber Safety For Kids Act of 2006

Boing Boing: New bill: Cyber Safety For Kids Act of 2006
I am a little behind in going through my blogs and emails, but one of the librarians sent me this Friday!
Pretty interesting no matter what side of the issue you are on!

Cyber Safety

Hi Team! I know we have been passing around the topic of internet safety lately and I came across a few more resources.

The Consortium for School Networking has two sites - an old one and a new one. The old one has a toolkit that seems pretty helpful. The new one has a broader focus - not just cyber safety but security of data as well.

Play it Cybersafe has curriculum for elementary and middle school students on copyright issues and illegal software copying, downloading, and distributing content.

The FBI has a site for internet safety for children.

CyberSmart has a free curriculum for use in teaching K-8 internet safety.

And of course... The Looney Tunes Teach Internet Safety!

Hope some of these can be of value! Donna

Journey North Monarch Butterfly

Hi All! Just a couple online resources for you as spring approaches...

Journey North is back online with lessons and maps for your students. In addition to the Monarch Butterfly, Tulip Gardens, Whooping Crane, Bald Eagle, Humming Bird, Grey Whale, Robins and Songbirds are all offered as options to track and follow this spring. Each topic has maps, lessons, activities and booklets for the students (and teachers).

Sea Turtle Migration tracked by satellite.

Sutton Avian Research Center has a Bald Eagle Nest Cam with babies in the nest to watch. There are snapshots to use as well.

Don't forget the Peregrine Falcons at Kodak! The webcams are on and there are teacher and student materials available.

April 22-30th is National Wildlife Week. The NWF has a site with books and activities for students for the celebration.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has an Urban Birds Study which has some videos and activities. Not everything is free at their site, but there is a lot that is for creating bird watching lessons this spring!

Online School Yard and Class Room Investigation Projects

A couple other online projects that are taking registrations:
Bucket Buddies (any grade)
Square of Life (any grade)

Staring soon:
3/27 The Global Water Sampling Project (grades 9-12)
3/27 Take a Dip (any grade)
4/3 Human Genetics (grades 6-12)
4/17 The Global Sun Project (any grade)

Don't Forget Earth Day April 22nd!
Join the Earth Day Groceries Project.
Downloadable Earth Day Coloring Book.
Earth Science Picture of the Day.
EPA Environmental Kids Club.

And a cool site I bumped into today: If These Walls Could Talk. An interactive and visually compelling website, the Atlanta History Center provides some answers to those questions by looking at four historic homes around that fine Southern city. This would be a cool project to do for Rochester or even the towns of the schools!

Enjoy! Donna

Ed Tech Day in Ithaca

Several of us attended Ed Tech Day in Ithaca, NY. I'd like to share 1 really cool thing I learned about. Maybe others of you already knew about this, but I didn't. It's called, "Producer" and it combines a movie and a PowerPoint. Although the download title says that it's for PowerPoint 2003, the guy from Microsoft said it works with PowerPoint XP also. It allows you to have video playing in one, small window and then sychronize PowerPoint slides to it in a larger window to add more information. It's a free download at this link.

Producer for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
Here's how Microsoft describes it:

Use Microsoft Producer 2003 for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 to capture and synchronize audio, video, slides, and images, then preview and publish a rich media presentation virtually anywhere for viewing in a Web browser.

If you would like to see what it can look like, CLICK HERE to see a demo, or click on the picture above.

They gave a demo at the session I was in and it is incredibly easy to use. I'm thinking of using it to create some online tutorials for things.

Blogging Tools

Hi! I was doing a little blogging research and I came accross these 2 blog services.
Learner Blogs
Edublogs
I looked them over and set up a couple of trial blogs. It seems like these are good tools for teachers because there is an option to be able to monitor all comments prior to posting. Both also allow the author to add people to approved posters. They are also free.

I know everyone has been happy with Blogmeister - but just in case you need a couple of more tools.

NECC 2006

I thought it might be nice for us to share which workshops and/or concurrent sessions we are thinking about or planning to attend at NECC in San Diego. Below are the sessions I currently have in my planner. On Thursday, 7/6, in the 3:30-4:30 time block, I currently have 4 things. Obviously I'm going to have to choose 1 at some point. Maybe if someone else is planning to go to one or more of these, that will make my decision easier. Each title below is a link, in case you want to read more about the session. I've already seen Dewitt Jones several times, so I'm not going to go to that keynote, although his work is good.

Tuesday, July 4

8:30-11:30 - Flash in a Flash: Practical Applications across the Curriculum
7:00-9:00 - 4th of July Party and Opening Reception

Wednesday, July 5

8:30-9:30 - Beyond Cyber Safety Awareness: Practical Internet Safety Education that Works
10:00-11:00 - Podcasting and Podcatching for the Absolute Beginner
12:30-3:30 - Extreme Web Site Makeover: Javascript, CSS, and Multimedia
4:45-5:45 - Exhibit Hall Reception

Thursday, July 6

8:30-9:45 - One Laptop Per Child - Keynote - Nicholas Negroponte
9:45-10:15 - Continental Breakfast in the Exhibit Hall
11:00-12:00 - A One Hour Tour: Navigating Primary Sources on the Internet
12:30-1:30 - Computer Ethics: The Dark Side
2:00-3:00 - Copyright and Ethical Issues: Avoiding the Copyright Police
3:30-4:30 - I need to choose 1 of the following things that I'm considering:
Maximizing Your Cookies: Leading Geeks in Education
Favorite Learning Resources: Students and Teachers Share Where and Why
Visual Learning and Generation M
A Web of Connections: Why the Read/Write Web Changes Everything
7:00-9:00 - Thursday Night Social

Friday, July 7

10:00-11:00 - Creating a Kids' Creative Commons Using Local History Resources
12:30-3:30 - Podcasting 101: The Essential Tools for Creating Educational Podcasts

My gosh! I'm tired already, just looking at all of this, but really excited at the same time!!! I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else is thinking about taking.

Maybe we should also designate a date and time to meet, maybe for dinner somewhere, include our families or whatever.