NYSCATE 2005 - Bridging the Digital Divide

I just returned from NYSCATE and had a great experience. The keynote speakers were mostly good (with one exception), but not overly dynamic. I actually enjoyed the keynote speakers at the eLearning Symposium better.

My own presenter experience left a bit to be desired, but I'll post more about that later.

However, the workshops and concurrent sessions I attended were GREAT - every last one of them!!!! Either I made better choices than usual or the quality of the sessions was better this time.

I plan to write about each session soon, but am a bit over my head at the moment with requirements for my grad class, so it might be this weekend before I can post in more detail. However, I did put together some links and resources from these sessions. I was hoping to post it as an attachment here, but apparently Blogger doesn't support file attachments.

SO...
I've copied my Word document below. Sorry it's so long. No time to reformat right now. I'll see about making it look nicer later. First is info from the Keynotes and then scroll down for info from the sessions I attended.

Keynotes at NYSCATE 05

Opening Keynote – The Technology Wave of 2005

Corinne Hoisington - Professor of Information Systems Technology at Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg, VA

Links to info from her presentation are here.

http://courses.cvcc.vccs.edu/IST_Hoisington/nystate.htm

Keynote 2 – Creating a Learning Landscape with Digital Equity: What’s the Real Deal?

Bonnie Bracey - teacher-agent of change, working on technology integration projects with classroom teachers and national organizations.

Link to a streaming video of her presentation here and it will be on the NYSCATE website in a month. This was not the best presentation I ever went to.

http://www.annese.com/connect/

Hotlinks to supporting websites

• The Thornburg Center
• Digital Divide Network
• The George Lucas Educational Foundation
• Fifth World Summit for Children
• Games and Education
• Learning About Digital Divide Issues in the Classroon
• Science Without Frontiers STEM Initiatives
• http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/bbracey

Bonnie's Blog

Keynote 3 – The Journey from Access to Competence: Equity, Internet Inquiry, and Online Reading Comprehension

Julie Coiro, University of Connecticut

U Conn New Literacies web site

http://www.newliteracies.uconn.edu/

NYSCATE Presentation

http://www.lite.iwarp.com/NYSCATE2005.html

Closing Keynote – Bridging the Digital Divide: How Do We Minimize the Gap?

Dr. Cornelia Brunner

I didn’t attend this one. Below are links she had to supporting documents.

Supporting Web sites:

The Merrow Report

http://www.pbs.org/merrow/tmr_radio/girltech/guests.html

EDC

http://main.edc.org/Search/viewDirector.asp?id=66

Youth Learning

http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/activities/howto.asp

NYSCATE Keynote Info

This is a link to the Keynote presenter bios and info on the NYSCATE website.

http://www.nyscate.org/conferences.cfm?subpage=133

Workshop and Concurrent Session Info from NYSCATE 05

I attended the following workshops and concurrent sessions

Using Office in the Elementary Grades

And

Cool Things You Can Do with Excel

Janet Caughlin, author of several books on these subjects by Scholastic/Tom Snyder Productions.

Janet’s web site with tutorials and info from and about her books

http://www.workshopbooks.com/

Excel Resources

http://www.workshopbooks.com/software_tutorials/excel_resources.html

Conference handouts

http://www.workshopbooks.com/conference_handouts/download_conf.html

Capturing Stories, Capturing Lives: The Power of Digital Storytelling

David Jakes, Technology Coordinator, Community High School District 99 (Downers Grove, Illinois)

His website

http://www.jakesonline.org

MANY resources at his web site

http://www.jakesonline.org/storytelling.htm

Making Primary Source Connections with the Library of Congress

Gail Petri – Education Resource Specialist with the Library of Congress (formerly a librarian at Rush-Henrietta)

Library of Congress website

http://www.loc.gov/

This is a wonderful “guided tour” handout she used http://www.loc.gov/creativity/hampson/workshop/paper_tour.pdf I also have a copy of her presentation that I can share with people. Just let me know if you would like it.

Podcasting in Education

Gary Stager – consultant, phenomenal speaker, Thornburg Institute Associate and professor at Pepperdine University.

Gary’s web site

http://www.stager.org

A WEALTH of educational podcasting and audio production resources and information

http://www.stager.org/podcasting.html

Also other multimedia resources

http://www.stager.org/imovie/index.html


Apple Digital School Community (not just for Apple users)

Subscription based but some free things. I’ll be getting a trial subscription soon and will share that info with you. Lots of professional development resources and many other resources for teachers. Subscription includes NetTrekker and AtomicLearning (both of which are expensive to subscribe to separately). It's $75 for single user with education discount at the Apple Store.

A one-year subscription for educators that includes a collection of audio journals, online courses, cornerstone research, commentary, tools, resources and collaboration for an individualized, "just-in-time" approach to professional development.

A one-year subscription for educators that includes tutorials, libraries of articles and resources, and an interactive environment for individualized, collaborative, "just-in-time" professional development. Includes access to the full suite of netTrekker's more than 180,000 online resources that align with every state's standards. Features monthly audio journals from Audio Education with interviews with education experts.

Apple School Community home page

http://www.apple.com/education/ads/

Guided tour available there.

Classroom Blogging

I wanted to post a link to this article I came across. It is about blogging in the classroom!

Digital Literacy for Teachers

Digital Literacy for Teachers

Lori and I saw each other at the eLearning Symposium and we are really excited to get this blog back up and running.  I got so many good ideas at this symposium, but like Lori, I am still processing how they fit into what I am doing and what I want to do!

I went to a session presented by Will Richardson called Digital Literacy for Teachers.  He made a lot of excellent points, but I will share the ones that really resonated with me.

Currently, there are more that 30 million blogs with over 1.5 billion links in them.
There has been a 3600% increase in consumer generated video in the past year.
What does this mean?  The web is no longer a read-only medium; it is a read/write environment where users can create content.

Collaboration.  I think Lori will agree with me that this was the underlying theme of the symposium; and this is an important aspect of the web for students and teachers.  No longer is knowledge determined and written by one group of people (for instance the encyclopedia from our days) but users collaborating to create knowledge.

As teachers, the key skill we can pass onto our students is the ability to recognize relevant information quickly.  Remember when we used to have to memorize formulas in math?  Students can find the formulas anywhere now – it is more important to know which formula to use and when.  Think of our roles as teachers as teaching our students “know where” learning – to help our students know where to find information.

This point of “know where” learning really made an impression on me.  As a history major I was always taught there is no sense to memorizing exact dates when they can easily be looked up.  It was more important to have a sense of chronological order of events.  When I first graduated college, I always dreaded telling people I was a history major because people immediately asked me dates – “When did the Romanov Dynasty rule?” or “Name all of the Kings of the Roman Empire” to prove I really was a history major.  I had learned it was more important to know where to find the information rather than to memorize it.  This was a “new” way of thinking about history.  Now here we are thinking about a new way of learning, interesting I would be in this place at this time…

Will concluded by listing what teachers are in the 21st Century.  Teachers are:
     
     Curriculum & Content Specialists;
     Content Creators;
     Connectors to Content;
     Collaborators;
     Mentors to Critical Thinking; and
     Change Agents.

Do you agree that this is our new role in the 21st Century?

I'm Baaaack!

Did you miss me?! NOT! Anyway, it's been a long time since I've been here to post or to read but my goal is to correct that now and move forward.

I've spent the last two days at the eLearning Symposium in Rochester. It was a wonderful experience! Will Richardson, Alan November, and Gary Stager were all interesting and compelling speakers who, as always, challenged and stretched my thinking a bit. Check back on the eLearning Symposium web site. They have promised to post resources from the sessions there, although they are not there yet.

So, rather then reviewing and describing all the sessions I went to, I thought I would think about this essential question instead.

What am I coming away from this Symposium with?

• I gained some great practical knowledge about podcasting. Gary Stager did an excellent job with this session, despite his broken computer and his need to "go with Plan B" for his presentation. He is doing a half-day hands-on session at NYSCATE next month that I had already planned to attend. Now I'm really psyched about that.

• I learned about some things I didn't already know about like Google Earth (You gotta have this and use it with students!) and Skype (What a great collaboration tool! Wonder if my district will let us use it?!)

• I learned more about some things I already knew a little bit about like Wikipedia, PB Wiki (a password protected site you can use for free and create your own wikis, just what I needed for school), RSS, and more. Lot of resources, most of them free, in the areas that I have been looking for resources for.

But the most provocative thing I'm coming away with is . . .

Am I in the right place, doing the right things?!
Hmmm. I need to collect my thoughts on this. I'll publish my reflections later.

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.