Time to Reflect

Classroom 2.0 LIVE!is hosting a webcast and show: "What We Learned in 2008" on January 2nd. Click here for more information and a link to the webcast.

Here is my 2008 Top-Ten list for education technology tools:
Classroom 2.0
Google Reader
iGoogle
Blogger
VoiceThread
Diigo
Jing
Weebly
Google Docs
Wordle

What were your favorite education technology tools in 2008?

Teacher Training Videos created by Russell Stannard

• Teacher Training Videos created by Russell Stannard

  Video technology tutorials

  tags: education, web2

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

January 2009 Conference

Attention Chicago area teachers and technology staff!

Make plans to attend the 15th Annual NICE Mini-Conference
Sponsored by Northern Illinois Computing Educators

• 21 sessions!
  
• Fabulous raffles!
  
• Continental breakfast!
  

When:
Saturday, January 31, 2009

Time:
8:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.

Location:
Stevenson High School

Cost:
$5.00

Visit the NICE website at:
http://chapters.iceberg.org/nice

Interesting Sites

Yahoo! Glue is a new feature from Yahoo! It gathers images, videos, and articles on a topic and then organizes it on one page. Simply type an entry in the topic text box and click GLUE IT! There is nothing to download and install on your computer. This program is still in Beta.

See the results for a search on Obama.

Everything about obama - Yahoo! Glue

• Everything about obama - Yahoo! Glue

  Yahoo glue page - related pages

  tags: obama, yahoo_glue

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Interesting Sites

Save, annotate and share your bookmarks with Diigo. In addition to sharing with others on Diigo, teachers can convert their bookmarks (with the annotations) to a blog post. This is a very easy way to share project links with their students.

Diigo - Voicethread Bookmarks

• YouTube - Voicethread

  tags: voicethread

• Voicethread for Educators - Voicethread for Educators

  Network for people using voicethread in the classroom

  tags: voicethread, ning

• Voicethread 4 Education » home

  tags: wiki, education, voicethread

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Voicethread For Ideas

I have been very impressed with the different ways VoiceThread can be used in an educational setting.

How do you use VoiceThreads?

Add your examples to the Classroom 2.0 wiki page
http://wiki.classroom20.com/Voicethread

3 More Days

Pollster.com

More on Voicethread

Create a collaborative multimedia slideshow in 3 steps.

1. Upload files
   
2. Comment
   
3. Share
   

Video describing Voicethread.


Read how one of our teachers uses voicethread in the classroom.
http://spirobolos.blogspot.com/2008/09/voicethreads.html

Charity for Water

Charity for Water
Imagine life without access to clean/safe water.

Sites of Interest - October 4, 2008

I read about Flowgram and Vodpod in Stein Brunvand's Ed Tech in Teacher Ed blog.

Flowgram is a free program that combines web pages, documents, photos and voice comments into one interactive package. Users can control how they navigate through the flowgram. Teachers or students can create an educational flowgram and share the link or embed it in their blog.

Vodpod is free program that allows you to collect your favorite videos and then share the collection on your blog. I added the vodpod widget to my blog sidebar.

Sites of Interest - September 23

Attended the NICE meeting tonight. Here are some of the sites that were shared with the group:

Snipurl - Create smaller URL
LinkBunch - Put multiple links into one small link which you can share
Glogster (education version) - Creat posters for the web

How I Spent My Weekend

My school recently purchased an Ed. Voicethread subscription. Voicethreads can be private or shared. I embedded mine in this post.You can add voice or text comments to each slide.

Imagine the different ways you can use this with your students!

Go to the Voicethread site and sign up for a free account. There are tutorials and a collection of projects.


Other resources:
The Voicethread 4 Education wiki has an extensive collection of student and teacher projects.

The Voicethread for Educators ning has resources, forum discussions and groups.

How I will use voicethread? For professional development!

NECC 2009

The 30th anniversary NECC 2009 will be held in Washington, DC. on June 27—July 1, 2009

Showcase your projects and share your expertise with fellow teachers!
Presentation proposals will be accepted through October 8th.

Learn more about NECC and ISTE by visiting http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2009/about_us/

NICE Mini-Conference 2009

Mark Your Calendar!

January 31, 2009 (Saturday)
•Townline School, Vernon Hills, IL
•Registration ($5) at 8:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M.
•Hear from our 2008 mini-grant recipients

The NICE Mini-Conference consists of 15‐18 concurrent sessions. Sessions are 45 minutes long.

We are now accepting proposals to present at the NICE Mini- Conference in January 2009. Share your expertise with other teachers. Submit your proposal today! Deadline is November 15, 2008.

Click the link below to access the online application.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pVOUEMbKEcFeS-txHE-ueRw

Interesting Sites - On the Road in New York

I spent the summer learning new software, preparing documentation and training users on how to use Office 2007 and tablet computers. The new school year has begun!

I also took advantage of the Labor Day holiday and spent a few days out East.

Here are links to a few of the places that I visited in upstate New York.

The Corning Museum of Glass has online resources for educators. The museum has an extensive glass collection, provides glass working demonstrations and opportunities to create your own glass. (I made a flower.)

The FDR Presidential Library and Museum
website contains educational resources, digitized archival documents and copyright free photographs of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, The Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II.

Pictures from Hyde Park

Sites of Interest - September 1, 2008

Hurricane Information
Read/Write/Web blog: Hurricane Gustav on the Web: A Reference Guide for Our Readers
The Weather Channel: Hurricane Gustav - Track the Hurricane Live on weather.com
American Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/

Useful Web Sites

Even though NECC finished a few weeks ago, I still reflect on what I learned from attending the sessions. We want to equip students with 21st century skills, to become problem solvers and content creators, but what does this mean outside of the classroom?

Young people use technology differently than I do. My daughters go to the Internet to find directions for train/bus routes, order movie tickets or clothes, etc. They stay in touch with their friends through text messaging and social networks such as Facebook.

Question: How do you go from Midtown(NYC) to the Brooklyn Bridge using public transportation?

Find the answer on HopStop.com
http://www.hopstop.com/
Currently this site has schedules available for the following cities: Boston, Chicago, New York City or Washington D.C.





Go to Google Maps (in selected cities) to plan your next train/bus ride online.

• Get step-by-step transit directions
• View station schedules

Social Bookmarking with Diigo

I had watched a demonstration on Diigo at the Blogger's Cafe at NECC. I was impressed with the ability to mark up and comment on web pages, and then organize them into lists that you can show as web slides.

Visit the NECC group on Diggo to see the bookmarks saved by its members.

My NECC2008 Album

Find more photos like this on NECC 2008

NECC 2008 - Monday in San Antonio

Highlights from Monday

The Wonderful World of Wikis
Educational Wikis
Adam Frey and Vicki Davis

Demonstration at Blogger Cafe
Diigo

Our Students * Our World
David Warlick
3 key points from presentation

• unpredictable future
• info-saavy students
• new information landscape

Jing Project by TechSmith
capture images - record video - share






Sample screencast: Word 2007 Ribbon http://screencast.com/t/cyXmjoBl

Social Networking for Social Good
Inspire - Inform - Involve
TakingITGlobal.org

NECC 2008 - Sunday in San Antonio

We arrived in San Antonio this afternoon and then went to the Convention Center to pick up our registration packets. Later, I strolled along the Riverwalk and took some photos. Tomorrow I will blog about the convention and the sessions that I attend.

Tentative Schedule for Monday:

8:30-9:30am  Wonderful World of Wikis
9:45-10:30am  Student Showcase
11:00am-12:00pm  Breathing Life into Your Curriculum
2:00-3:00pm  Social Networking for Social Good
3:30-4:30pm  Social Networking = Professional Growth

NECC 2008

Going to San Antonio for the NECC 2008 Conference!

If you are unable to attend the conference, you can still participate virtually. Follow the conversation by visiting the NECC ning or NECC 2008 websites. There will be blogs, podcasts, videos, and pictures.

I am looking forward to meeting people, exchanging ideas and learning more about the role of technology in education, 21st century skills and web 2 tools.

I plan on blogging about the sessions I attend and uploading my photos on Flickr.

Search for more blogs, bookmarks and photos using the technorati tags : necc2008 or necc08

Word Clouds using Wordle

Wordle is a free program that creates word clouds from text that you enter into the program. Frequently used words are given more prominence in the cloud. You can edit the appearance of the word cloud and then print the final image or add a link from your blog. Share with others and publish the image to the Wordle gallery.




Click to view the original image  Web24u.

Sites for Today, June 4th

Next Vista for Learners
Free online educational videos created by teachers and students. Create and post your own video!

iEarn (International Education and Resource Network)
Large non-profit global network that enables teachers and youth to use the Internet and other technologies to collaborate on projects.

Sunday in the Park

Sunday was a perfect day to visit Millennium Park in Chicago. The Gospel Music Festival had performances, children were playing in the Crown Fountain, and the flowers were beautiful. The Cloud Gate or Bean sculpture continues to draw big crowds. I enjoy watching people's reactions as they look for their reflection on the Bean.

Apture and the Library

The New Trier Library has added Apture code to the
Tell It Like It Is blog. Click the icons next to the text to enjoy viewing a media rich blog post.

See other examples of blogs or wikis enhanced with Apture:
Uber Abe
Web Tools 4 U 2 Use

Personal Learning Communities (Network)

While reading a discussion on Professional Learning Communities in Classroom 2.0, I found this post by Lisa Nielsen, The Innovative Educator: 5 Things You Can Do to Begin Developing Your Personal Learning Network.

1. Join a professional social network
2. Pick 5 blogs to read
3. Set up an iGoogle and Google Reader accounts
4. Comment on blogs
5. Microblog (twitter)

My Personal Learning Network continues to evolve:

1. iGoogle and Google Reader account
   
2. Subsribe/read educational blogs
   
3. Member of Professional Social Networks (Nings)
   
   
   
   • Classroom 2.0
     
   • NECC 2008
     
   • Ning in Education
     
   
   
4. My summer goals
   
   • Comment on blogs
     
   • Start a discussion on Classroom 2.0
     
   • Create a ning for school - technology professional development
     

Will Richardson explaining PLN



Summer Project
Create your own Personal Learning Network!

Do You Glog?

Express yourself with Glogster.
Create a poster using images, text, sounds and video!

Embed the glog code into your blog or wiki!
Share with friends!


Click the link to view the full poster: Chicago_glog

Using Technology to Promote Change

Technology such as blogs and social networks are being used to promote increased awareness of social or environmental causes.

Here are some examples:

The Chicago Tribune recently ran an article on how non-profits are using the social networks, Facebook and MySpace, to reach young people and raise money. Click here to read the article.

Sustainablog provides information on environmental and economic sustainability, green and sustainable business, and environmental politics.
Read the post by Max Gladwell on Ten Ways to Change the World Through Social Media.

Green Options is a community and network of blogs dedicated to helping you make green choices.

Today's Interesting Sites

Politics
FiveThirtyEight - This is a great site for following the presidential electoral projections. Weights the results from multiple polling agencies.

Using Technology for Social Justice
El Cilantro - Young people in the Little Village community in Chicago use technology to bring about environmental and social change. Click on Our Map of Environmental Justice. This multimedia map includes video interviews of residents, pictures of the community, and locations of assets and toxins.

Boolean Logic
Boolify Project - Makes it easier to for students to understand their web search by illustrating the logic of their search. Students drag "puzzle" pieces onto a whiteboard and add keywords. Search the web, news or images!

Interesting Sites

I attended the online May 17th Classroom2.0 "Live Conversations - Web 2.0 Week in Review." (Visit the Classroom 20 wiki to see the schedule and view archived programs.)

The program featured an interview of Jeffrey Yan,
Founder and CEO of Digication, a popular e-portfolio site. He demonstrated the features of the program and showed examples of how it is being used in schools.

The following list is from the discussion on interesting web 2 sites:

Diigo. Goes beyond simple bookmarking of pages: highlight web pages, add sticky notes, share with others, join a group
Omnisio Share videos, create presentations
Empressr Visual storytelling and presentation rich Internet application
Primary Access Provides teachers and students primary source documents to create digital movies
iLessonPlan Create, manage, reuse and share your lesson plans
NECC2008 Join this community and share your NECC 2008 experiences

Media Rich Blogs

I registered for Apture after reading about it in Will Richardson's Weblogg-ed. This program allows you to create media rich blogs and web sites by adding some code which enables you to link to images, maps, video, pictures, powerpoint, and even documents.

Visit my other blog where I am experimenting with Apture. Think of the possibilities for using interactive blogs; professional development, student projects .....

Below is a quicktime movie made with Camtasia to demonstrate how Apture enhances my blog.

Interesting Site - Speaking Avatar

Create your own speaking avatar and add it to your blog or website!
You have several options for adding sound.

1. Record directly into the program
   
2. Record and edit using Audacity
   
3. Type the text and choose a computer voice
   

Imagine the possibilities in an educational setting!

Helen Otway summarizes a discussion about Voki avatars in the classroom.


Get a Voki now!

Podcasting Explained

Another video from Common Craft! Their videos provide short and understandable explanations of technology subjects.

Podcasting in Plain English


Do you subscribe to podcasts? Visit the iTunes store to find education podcasts.

Web 2 Tools - Wikis

Blogs are a great communication tool for individuals to share information with others. But what can you use for collaborative student projects?

Wikis are a great tool for collaborative projects in the classroom. Students can edit pages, add links and upload files. Two wiki programs that I have used are PBwiki and Wikispaces.

PBwikis are easy to setup and the education version is ad free. Click here to learn more about the features available in PBwiki.

Wikispaces has developed materials for teachers that explain how to create wikis and provides examples of real projects. Wikispaces is ad free. Click here to go to their help page for K-12 teachers.

Using Web 2 Tools

1. Opened iGoogle to read my blogs
2. Read a post by David Warlick describing "Web Tools 4 U 2 Use" wiki
3. The topics on the Web Tools 4 U 2Use include Audio & Podcasting, Blogs, Calendars, Management & To Do Lists, Drawing, Charting & Mapping Tools, and much more.
4. Here is a quiz that I found on the Quiz and Polling Tools page

Ning in Education Videos

Find more videos like this on Ning in Education

Social networks in Education

I have been reading about Ning networks as a way to share ideas with others.

Classroom 2.0 is a Ning for educators who are interested in Web 2 and collaborative technologies.

Read this blog posted on the Classroom 2.0 site which describes how students used art, videos and blogs to focus attention on social issues in their community. Creating networks of purpose

The IL-TCE social network continued the discussion and collaboration following the 2008 Conference.

We are going to explore the possibility of creating a Ning network for a student project and invite the parents to participate.

• Forum for students, teachers, and parents
  
• Collaboration
  
• Sharing
  

Earth Hour

Join the movement
March 29, 2008
Turn out the lights for one hour in your time zone 8PM - 9PM

Preserve Our Planet video

Updated information - The website for the "Preserve Our Planet" film and PSA has been changed.

The National Geographic Channel website will begin broadcasting the winning “Preserve Our Planet” College Film and PSA entries on April 15th.

http://www.preserveourplanet.com

Earth Day is April 22nd.

We can all make a difference.

Technology Integration - Web 2 Tools - Asking Why?

Insightful article by Ryan Bretag in 21st Century Connections.

Explains why educators and facilitators need to focus on the "why" when planning a class project using web 2 tools, instead of only on the "what" or "how" .

Northern Illinois Computing Educators (NICE)

Learning and Teaching Through Animation

Animation Tools: Flash and Scratch

Learn on how to effectively use these programs in your classroom and view student projects.

Date: March 19

Time: 4:30 PM

Location: New Trier High School

Read the newsletter for more information.

http://chapters.iceberg.org/nice/pdfs/march08.pdf

News from IL-TCE 2008

Personal Learning Networks, Social Networks, Blogs, Podcasts, web based documents and more.

Visit the Conference blog at http://myiltce.ning.com/

Here are some of the new Web 2 sites that I learned about today that you can use professionally in the classroom:

Time Space Map
bubbl.us
Pageflakes
Buzzword
Splashup
ToonDoo
FreeRice

Mitch Resnick from MIT Media Laboratory was the keynote speaker.He discussed the creative learning cycle and showed two of the tools that were developed by MIT to foster student creativity and problem solving

• Scratch
  
• Picocricket

Thoughts on Social Bookmarking

My del.icio.us account currently has 264 tagged bookmarks plus 13 people in my network. I can click on any network member's name and easily view his/hers bookmarks.

Today, I searched my del.icio.us account for bookmarks that were marked with the "social" tag. This reduced the number of sites to a manageable 15. Then I searched all of del.icio.us using the "social" tag and found 382,074 bookmarks!

Applying tags to your del.icio.us bookmarks creates order out of chaos. Additionally, you can create bundles from a group of tags. (However, at the other extreme there is over tagging - an issue that I am dealing with as I review my existing bookmarks.)

Since I am on the subject of organizing, why not post your favorite book titles to the web? Find other people with similar reading tastes.
LibraryThing | Catalog your books online

Blogs on Social Bookmarking and Photo Sharing

Learn about blogs from this clever video posted on Youtube.
Blogs in Plain English

Blogs on Social Bookmarking and Photo Sharing
The Social Bookmarking Faceoff - ReadWriteWeb

The Web Photo Sharing Site Faceoff - ReadWriteWeb

Saw this information on the E^2 Educating Educators blog.
Flickr: Photos from The Library of Congress These photos have no known copyright restrictions.
Think of the educational possibilities.

Search for blogs using keywords
Technorati

Need to organize your blogs and news?
I subscribe to Bloglines to stay up-to-date with my favorite blogs and news feeds. See my Education blog list in the Links panel.

Sharing

Bookmarks

• Register for an account
• Save bookmarks to the Internet
• Add tag (keyword) to bookmarks
• Share with others

del.icio.us
Google - Bookmarks
Furl




Photos

• Register for an account
• Upload photos to the Internet
• Add tag (keyword) to photos
• Share with others

Picasa slideshow

Flickr - Photo Sharing
Picasa Web Albums



Share Videos
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself
TeacherTube - Teach the World