Did You Know Today is Blogday 2005?

Enjoy Blogday 2005 by trying to post 5 blogs on all new blogs!

Video Games & Education

Here I am on word – finding myself posting another entry…
Check out this month’s issue of Innovate.  It is an entire issue on gaming and education!
Link: Innovate - August/September 2005 Volume 1, Issue 6.

Blogger for Word

Have you tried Blogger for Word?

This is so cool.  You can now write your post in word – using all the spell check features – and post right from the word document!  For me this is great!  Often I have to write my post in Word then paste into Blogger.  (I am not a great speller and I like seeing more content at once than the post box allows)

So right now, I am in a word document and then I just have a few additional options under the toolbar – Blogger Setting/Open Post/Save as Draft/Publish – choose publish and I am posting away!

I guess the bad news is it is for MS Word so you have to stick with Bill to use it.

Try it!  Donna

IMMEX (Interactive Multi-Media Exercises) in the Classroom

I also learned about this project at a poster session. It is geared towards math and science for students in middle school and high school. This project was developed by the Fayette County Public School District and is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

"The web based IMMEX software provides students with educational problem scenarios, and requires them to use problem solving skills that integrate concepts with real-life situations. This is a community-integrated model in which teams of teachers, students, business partners, and higher education faculty construct interactive, problem-solving simulations in summer technology institutes for teachers and students. IMMEX problem cases challenge students to investigate a problem and then provide them with the resources to develop, test, and refine hypothesis to arrive at complex solutions. It has a unique assessment component which allows teachers to evaluate student content knowledge and reasoning skills by using the search path maps generated by the software. To read more about the IMMEX project visit UCLA's IMMEX Website."
(Retrieved 8/15/2005 from: http://teach.fcps.net/immex/)

To preview the problem sets visit: http://teach.fcps.net/immex/preview/.

I think these could be helpful tools for using with students and they may also give teachers some new ideas on how to present science and math information in a more learner-centered way.

Foundations for the Future

Hi Everyone! I am still organizing my NECC information and I came across this information I had from a poster session. The site was really great and I definitely encourage checking it out! ~ Donna :o)

I attended a poster session by the Georgia Tech Research Institute titled “Supporting Technology-Enabled Learning for K-12.” The program is called Foundations for the Future. The website is www.f3program.org. It is a program that provides government and industry support to ensure universal K-12 technology and effective use.

The website is a great resource. All materials can be used by any teacher – in or out of Georgia. They have a newsletter called Outtasite! The newsletter is done monthly and features safe sites for children and their parents to explore. It is set up by important events of the month – and then related websites. It is usually created around a theme – for example; Black History Month or Women’s Rights Month. It is a great tool – not only for your students but for teachers as well because they have already found useful sites on a lot of different topics. The newsletters are also archived.

Every month they hold an open house training where teachers from around the area can attend. They even said if you were from out of state and in the Atlanta area you can attend the free workshops! The minutes are published on the website if you can’t make it!

I suggest you check out their website and take a look at the Outtasite newsletter because they really have found a lot of resources – it may make your job a little easier!

eschoolnews.com NECC reviews

The NECC sessions reviews are posted and organized now. There was some delay, and although some were posted they were not finished organizing them, so it was a little bit of a guessing game. But it is all finalized now and you can browse via catagories on the left.

Here are the links to my reviews, just in case you are interested.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/cic/necc/blog/2005/06/001130.php
http://www.eschoolnews.com/cic/necc/blog/2005/06/001068.php
http://www.eschoolnews.com/cic/necc/blog/2005/06/000903.php

Digital Textbooks, Text-to-Speech and Writing Tools: A winning combination

Using Text-to-Speech software has been an internal conflict for me this entire year. As exceptional children teachers were trained in the Solo software this past year, I personally had an internal conflict that was making me crazy. I continually questioned "how does this improve literacy?", "are we just enabling students not to learn to read", "are students going to walk around with an electronic device so text can be read to them" etc.....

In this session, two teachers from LosAngeles discussed how students with very limited English skills were given a classroom voice via text to speech software. They were able to be a part of a class, they were able to gain knowledge for global studies and most of all they were able to show they had intelligence even though they could not read. This in turn gave the students confidence to learn and to grow. I know see a place for text-to-speech software in some of are classrooms. As educators we must be very careful how we use text-to-speech software. It all comes back to assessing the students needs and matching them with the correct tools.

Electrifying Your Staff Development

This was a half day session with two great gals from Texas! and yes they did have a twang!!!
This was a sessions that took away the staff developer as talking heads and made everyone get involved and also get to know one another.

The topics were~~~
Know your customer-characteristics of Adult Learners
How to write exciting descriptions about staff development
Ice breakers
Group Norms
Themes-why you should use them
Top Down Technology
Arts and Crafts with technoloy

All attendees received a CD with handouts describing the above topics and so much more. If anyone is iterested let me know I would be happy to copy. Presenters encouraged us to pass this along to other staff developers.

Bytes for Tykes-Integration w/Limited Classroom Computers

A great session on how to make technology integration work with limited classroom computers. Without labs in our exceptional children classrooms we are still faced with the "I only have 2 computers" syndrome!!! Discussion began around what is NOT integration and how do we put the focus on real technology integration. The speaker, Alma Row gave many many examples of simple templates to use in the classroom for all curricula areas. The focus was on elementary but with special needs students the templates are easily modified for secondary. A CD was given out to attendees which contained all the created templates.

Technology Solutions that Work!

The full title of this session was Technology Solutions that Work! Research-Based Practices for Elementary Grades. I was hoping to get some great ideas to put into practice back at school from this session, but I didn't. Edward Coughlin talked about software that research proves is not effective and some that the research proves is. However, I didn't find this very compelling. You can view his presentation via archived webcast, if you are interested. Information on how to access it is included in my post, WebCast Sessions, below.

Sessions on Blog-Related Topics

I went to several different sessions on blogging in education related topics. They were all useful, in different ways. I'll try to summarize them here. Ted and Laura were in a couple of the same sessions. Maybe they will have something to add too.

Concurent Sessions (Click on the title to go to additional related resources):
Educator's Guide to Blogs in (and out) of the Classroom presented by Erica Brownstein and Robert Klein and their Education Dept students from Capital University, Columbus, OH. (Click on this title to visit their blog about blogs.) Although this was more of a session for beginners and people unaware of blogs and their use in education, it was still a valuable session for me to attend. They had a nice organization to their presentation and good resources that will be useful for me in presenting blogging to others. Here's a link to their presentation slides with resources and ideas for using blogs in education. You can also access a copy of their blog reflection rubric for student teachers and their handouts with resources and concept maps. Ted was also at this session and has a post on his blog about it.

Exploring Web Content Using RSS Newsfeeds presented by John G. Hendron, Goochland County Public Schools, Goochland, VA. This was an excellent presentation on RSS (Real Simple Syndication) explaining what it is, why it's useful in education and so on. You can see his presentation slides here. He also has lots of other very useful resources on his web site (click on the title above) pertaining to web technologies and design, technology integration, and other related topics. In this RSS presentation he focused first on how to access content through this new protocol, with emphasis on how time searching for content online can be streamlined. He also detailed how you can publish your own content online, using one of several newsfeed formats using weblogging software. He did an excellent job of presenting the technologies behind RSS in a way that was clear and very easy to understand. He demonstrated some different RSS aggregators, where to find them, how to subscribe, how to use them, and what special features each had. He also talked about podcasting and blogging. This is an area that I was kind of plugging my way through and understanding only parts of it. This presentation really helped me to get a much clearer handle on it.

Lessons Learned: A Panel Discussion about Creating Educational Communities Online If you read any of the blogs at eSchool News' Ed-Tech Insider, you have heard of most of the panel members, including Will Richardson, Anne Davis (who participated remotely via conference call over speakers), Tim Stahmer, Tom Hoffman, and Tim Lauer. Many of these same people were also part of the Birds of a Feather session, EduBloggers: Join Your Peers Using Weblogs for Teaching and Learning, that I also attended.

There was some interesting discussion at both of these sessions. At the lessons learned panel discussion, Anne Davis began the session and really reflected on tips and tricks and things she has learned along the way while using blogs with her 2nd Grade students. She pointed out such things as:

• The importance of soliciting comments from your friends and colleagues so that commenting begins and is a rich experience for the kids. If you wait until the world finds your blog, it may be a long time before the kids get any comments.
• The value of using the blog as a collaboration tool between groups of students, especially the idea of pairing younger students with older students to collaborate with.
• Students feel like they have a real voice, choice and control when they are bloggers.
• Students like having and sharing opinions and learning to back them up with data.
• She cautioned all to start small and gradually build on that.
• She talked about the value of building a learning community where teacher and students are on the same footing.
• Again she cautioned people to set educational goals for the blog and develop a plan for implementation, but not to be afraid to revise the plan as you go along.
• She suggested identifying (in a safe manner) the author and his/her purpose in their blogging
• She also suggested building in time for reflection and teaching the students how to reflect.
• She admitted that getting the kids to proofread their work is just as hard on a blog as it is in any other writing activity.
• Students need to be taught how to deal with inappropriate comments that might come along.
• Blogging shouldn't replace class instruction but should be paired with thoughtful dialogue and in-person class instruction.
• Students need to see themselves as authors, as ambassadors to the world, not merely consumers online.

I really found her reflections the most valuable. The other panel members shared about their own experiences with blogging with students and teachers and some of the value they see in it, but I didn't think they pointed to "lessons learned" as articulately as Anne did. However, I do regularly read Will Richardson's blog and find it very insightful and thought provoking. If you have never visited his sight, I recommend that you take a look.

The Clarity Innovations Foundry , who sponsored this panel discussion and the Birds of a Feather discussion provides a web site that is a place where, by their definition, "educators who are exploring the uses of technology can have a view of the process of building, surveying, and developing technologies that meet the needs of classrooms."

Columbus Zoo

This was a 30 minute Interactive Videoconference with the Columbus Zoo.

This was also a fun session! They gave us an overview of all the different videoconferences they conduct with students. There was a variety of animal ones but there was also one “I Want to Work at the Zoo!” In this one they do the careers that involve working with animals, but they also do other careers at the zoo – like marketing.

They are able to adjust their programs for a variety of grade levels and are willing to work with teachers to make the content fit with the curriculum and standards.

One activity they had us do was to use our observation skills. They gave us an envelope full of pictures of gorillas. We had to decide which pictures were of the same gorillas. So they also try to include interactive activities for the students.

The sessions are 40 minutes long and $100 each.

Interactive Videoconferencing

30 minute session with Seatrek

This was a fun session. We were shown live video from the manatee tank. Then they had us do an activity – we all had paper lunch bags and inside were a variety of food items. Showing how they incorporate vocabulary – they told us manatees are herbivores and we had to pick which items out the bag the manatee would like for lunch. We showed her our items and she gave us feedback.

The other interesting thing I learned from a Seatrek employee (at another workshop) is that they offer professional development sessions where they can show teachers what workshops are like and give them IVC tips for a successful videoconference.

I was very impressed with the quality and the amount of interaction. The guide was fantastic and made it a lot of fun!

The student sessions cost about $125-$150 for about 50 minutes of content and a test.

Virtual Adventures Workshop

This was a hand-on workshop about creating virtual adventures for students and about having students create their own. I liked the hands-on aspect and had a chance to try things out while asking questions.

Evaluating Virtual Fieldtrips:
— What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the virtual field trip?
— What would you change if you were creating the trip?
— Is it a quality product? Is the information current and accurate?
— Does the virtual field trip meet curriculum standards?
— Is it a good use of time?
— Is it good use of technology/internet? Or would a video, book or other tool be as effective?

Using Virtual Fieldtrips in Class:
— What curriculum standards does this fieldtrip address? How does this trip help me to differentiate learning; provide a different perspective; or challenge learners?
— Where will this resource be used in my lesson – as a springboard; information exploration; practice; or closure?
— How should the fieldtrip be introduced?
— What guidance will the students need in using this resource – for example guiding questions; handouts; or worksheets?
— How will time on the virtual adventure be managed?
— What are the logistics of the technology? Will the trip be used as a class experience or a learning station? Does lab time need to be scheduled?
— Will students work as individuals or as teams? Could different groups explore different areas and then share their findings with the entire class?
— Will there be a thematic headquarters? Suggestions: bulletin boards; banners; screen savers; notebooks; clipart; books; or displays.
— Will any students have difficulties accessing the information because of their special needs (i.e. vision; reading level)?
— How will student performance be assessed?

Ideas for Adapting Virtual Fieldtrips:
— If reading level is too high, copy the pictures into a PowerPoint and make your own show for the class. (Remember copyright and references – cannot post on web without permission.)
— If you find a number of good virtual adventures consider using parts of them in creating your own fieldtrip.
— If the content is too high or too low consider a supplemental guide – with vocabulary and additional information. Make it a “travel guide” and include any guiding questions, worksheets or activities.
— If a fieldtrip doesn’t fit what you are studying – can it be used for comparison? Compare cities; climates; people; places or events!If a fieldtrip is too limited – use it as a springboard or ask students to expand it – use it as a starter idea for creating a student or class fieldtrip.

Here is the link to the part of the site that has the resources we used in the workshop!
http://www.eduscapes.com/sessions/virtual/

Beyond Games: Using Virtual Worlds in Real Education

This was about the Borderlink Project which is a federally funded project in the San Diego area to increase technology use in rural school areas. The teacher was very enthusiastic about this project and had many examples of how it was used by the students.

The virtual world – Eduverse – can be downloaded at the Borderlink site. You can view Eduverse as a tourist. There is an online chat area and students can change their avatars.

Students enter Linkworld where there are 9 chat-protected areas. All chats are logged and reviewed.

The one activity I heard the presenter talk about is the students created an old style play once done in Italy. The students had their avatars acting on the stage, saying lines and dancing. In the audience people came from all over the world to watch and the students were interacting with professors and scholars in this style of play.

Resources:
http://www.borderlink.org/
http://www.borderlink.org/technologies/lw.php

Planning for Effective Use of Videoconferencing

This was a fantastic workshop! It began with an ice breaker. We were all given cards with the names of a character or actor from a movie. We had to find out partner and then find the quote from the movie hanging on the walls. Then name the movie. Once we were together we found out information on:
— The name of the other person & where they worked,
— The other person’s experience with IVC, and
— What the person expected from the workshop.
Then we introduced the other person. It was a great way to meet and talk with people in the workshop and it got us all in the mood for collaboration right away!

The first order of business was to get us to think of IVC Planning using Systems Thinking (or Configurationally Thinking) – if you change one part the entire system changes!

Consider the stakeholders – administrators, teachers, students and community.

Remember: Everyone moves at their own speed!

Three speeds: innovators; early majority; and resisters. It is important to provide a balance and remember that the innovators are often willing to try anything-so their credibility with the early majority is not that high.

Study the school culture – general school culture and classroom culture. That way you can align implementation strategies with the general and specific cultures.

Create a context for buy in. Make IVC a ‘get-to’ rather than a ‘have-to.’ It is important to nurture the process – support, persistence, follow-up and team building.

Nuts & Bolts of Videoconferencing

This workshop was great! The presenter was very knowledgeable and she hosted 3 live video conferences during the workshop. She talked about the importance of collaboration in videoconferencing – not just with partners but with other people doing videoconferencing to make connections and learn from one another.

Another important point she made was to know why you need videoconferencing because no matter what tech team you work with they will always object to the amount of bandwidth it takes. So it is critical to have educational purpose in any discussion with administrators when discussing videoconferencing.

She gave an example of 2 classes that had been working on a project together using email and webquests and when they had their first videoconference was when they realized they were both special education classes. Before that the students never knew – so it is an important tool for all classes.

One videoconference was with the museum she worked at and they took questions on presenting content via videoconferencing. That was a point to point IVC. Using Polycom at both sites she emphasized the ease of use and the plug and play aspect for a teacher using this technology.

The next videoconference was with Polycom talking about equipment options and set up options. They recommended a whitepaper on their site for technicians with questions on IVC and firewalls.

The third videoconference was with a man in Ohio. He has created wireless videoconferencing. The system can run on battery power or AC. The camera is placed on a cart and therefore it can be moved while videoconferencing. Excellent tool for museums! The company works with you on establishing wireless access – it is done on 802.11 B or G and 3 times the range with one access point. (4400 square feet per access point)

This workshop was very beneficial to me because I got to talk with experienced people and other brand new people. It gave me an idea of types of projects people are working on. I also liked being able to see the 3 live IVC demonstrations in person! The facilitator, Mano, was very helpful and I saw her many times throughout the conference. This workshop was the only workshop sponsored by ISTE – which shows the growing importance of IVC in the classroom!

Resources:
http://www.c-it.net/ - wireless videoconferencing
http://www.kidlink.org/english/general/intro.html - international videoconferencing and collaboration
http://www.gng.org/ - international IVC programming
http://www.uark.edu/depts/coehp/de/debasics/index.html - tips and etiquette
http://www.teacherresourcebank.com/VTV/what_is_vtv.html - what is videoconferencing

Leading Effective Technology Integration

This was a workshop I attended and it was sponsored by Intel's Innovation in Education.

The workshop defined the integration of technology as:
“Technology integration is the process of teachers and students routinely and seamlessly using technology resources and technology-based practices to enhance learning.”
The key words of the definition being routinely, seamlessly and technology-based practices the factors to moving technology integration into the future.

We spent time discussing how personal beliefs impact results when it comes to technology integration. This is not only true at the teacher level, but also at the administrative level. It is one thing to say technology integration matters – but if you don’t know how it looks then the results will also be unclear. So it is important that everyone knows what technology integration looks like so they can envision the end results.

We discussed the issue of how to shift priorities and time to support technology integration. What evidence will be accepted as proof of technology integration? Are use and integration separate? The importance of “just-in-time” training came up as an important way to help teachers and leaders assimilate technology into daily use – leading to integration. Having someone available on the spot to trouble-shoot and help incorporate technology is an essential element in technology integration.

We also reviewed the NETS-A and created our own individual action plan.

The final part of the workshop was focusing on the next steps and how we can achieve them.
1. Reflect on Learning
2. Complete your action plan
3. Continue to explore resources
4. Take action
5. Evaluate progress
6. Adjust action plan.

I found this workshop useful because it allowed for a lot of discussion with the other people at the workshop. People were from all different roles – principals, superintendents, technology specialists and professional development. It was interesting to hear how other people are integrating technology and the importance of creating a personal action plan.

I also saw the value in knowing what the end state of technology integration looks like so that having a clear vision can help create an effective action plan.

Resources:
An Innovation Odyssey at http://www97.intel.com/odyssey/index.aspx?i=1 has strategies and best practices to explore. There are also unit plans and lessons to try.

http://www.profilerpro.com/ - this site allows teachers and administrators evaluate their technology skills, attitudes and knowledge. There is also learning resources available on the site.
http://caret.iste.org/ - research and articles on research in educational technology.

Proactive Preparation: Interactive Video in Teacher Education Programs

Imagine having your student teacher walk into the classroom ready to videoconference the first day? Or picture the brand new teacher you hired asking when can s/he start videoconferencing? If your student teacher or new hire is from Adrian College it will happen!

Greg is working with associate professor, Richard Lovett, from the teacher preparation program at Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan. Together they offer a 3 part module on videoconferencing in one of the Educational Technology courses. The students are required to use lesson plan design and develop an interactive, multi-media, hands-on instructional lesson – and deliver it by videoconference!

In the first module, the pre-service teachers learn how to modify a traditional, face-to-face lesson for videoconferencing. They are provided with many resources to research videoconferencing and how to design effective interactive videoconferencing lessons. The second module involves researching and studying best practices. In the third module the students deliver their lesson to their classroom peers via videoconference.

Students work in teams based on subject area. One Health/PE team taught CPR via videoconferencing providing everyone with CPR training manikins for practice. A group of students studying to be Elementary Art Teachers created a lesson on Primary and Secondary Colors teaching how to mix colored paints. A group of pre-service science teachers made a lesson on how fossils are created. The ideas and lessons were excellent – even Greg admits to being amazed at how incredible the lessons have been!

Class surveys show the pre-service teachers find learning interactive videoconferencing skills valuable to their careers as teachers. The students also learn the important skill of collaboration by working on teams to create one lesson. In addition, the videoconferencing modules create opportunities to practice sound lesson plan design and lesson delivery.

This teacher preparation model connecting technology and practice is an outstanding way to provide pre-service teachers with an opportunity to learn about videoconferencing in the K-12 classroom. By incorporating interactive videoconferencing in teacher training programs, Adrian College is making great strides in creating 21st Century teachers!

Superfriends!

Technology skills, writing and grammar skills, peer mentoring – the Superfriends Project has it all! This collaborative project was between 2 classes – Amanda Johnson’s 4th grade class at Midfield Elementary School in Midfield, Alabama and Julie Ramsay’s 6th grade class at Fultondale Elementary School in Fultondale, Alabama. The classes wrote letters, emailed and instant messaged each other sharing writings, projects and ideas.

The two classes formed a cyber-classroom working on Language Arts projects together. In addition to creating fantastic projects together, strong friendships and peer mentoring occurred. The students at the showcase proudly displayed letters, puppets, collages and posters. The cyber-classroom also has been in the newspaper several times too!

Six students were at the showcase – Kaleb, Alex, Tiffany, Karleena, Raven and Chelsey. Each one took NECC attendees through their showcase. All visitors received a smiley face pin which represented the fun and positive experience the Superfriends project was to all the students.

The 6th graders had taught the 4th graders how to make fabric puppets based on characters of books the students read. The 4th graders showed the 6th graders READ Posters they created posing as characters from books they read and the 6th graders wanted to make their own!

The classes shared directions and book reviews while practicing descriptive, expository, narrative and persuasive writing. The students studied grammar and editing skills while composing letters, emails and instant messages. They also improved their technology skills – keyboarding, MS Word and a variety of computer programs and peripherals.

The Superfriends Showcase was fun to review! The enthusiasm of the students and the teachers was evident from the pride they took in displaying their work and the terrific way they described their projects. I think the Superfriends Showcase is an excellent example of technology seamlessly integrated into classroom curriculum! The use of technology enhanced student learning and the collaboration between students and teachers allowed the formation of a great learning community!

You can learn more about the Superfriends Project by visiting their website at: http://ramsaysclass.com/Epals.html.