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I was able to sit down today for a while and just browse. How nice that is to do, from time to time, eh? This time I took some time to again stop at TED, and I was able to watch two more outstanding presenters.
The first one I watched is one that you will HAVE to send to your art and music and Drama teachers. Natasha Tsakos presents part of her one woman show, a multimedia show that is just SO creative and ... amazing, you're going to have to watch it to see what I mean. Very cool stuff. Your arts kids will LOVE it! Here she is on Ted.
The second one, which I'll embed here, is another from Hans Rosling, the creator of that WONDERFUL site, Gapminder. You may recall his first presentation at TED a while back. Or maybe you saw this presentation. This time, however, I think he's outdone himself. In this funny and very informative presentation he uses his data to challenge our ideas about what it means to be a Developing country. As you watch this, think about how your students might be able to use Gapminder to make such a presentation. They'll have to do this in teams, I think, but I do think it would make for some powerful, long-term learning.
Here it is. Watch this from start to finish. Then share this with your favorite Social Studies teacher. This is GREAT learning!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Post weekly (weekly)
class_startersCATESOL.pdf (application/pdf Object)
50 interesting and fun ways to start your class - a pdf
Once upon a time there was just ONE printing press in the world. Now anyone can have one (printer) or more. Today we hae to go to a store to purchase items we want. In the not-too-distant future we may all be able to just make the item ourselves. What does that mean to Business? What does it mean for education?
10 Youtube URL Tricks You Should Know About - Annotated
Some very interesting little tips for playing youtube videos
Nice site with videos on how to use Diigo
Youth Voices is a meeting place where students and their teachers share, distribute, and discuss their inquiries and digital work online. It's a space where teachers nurture student-to-student conversations, collaborations, and civic actions that result from publishing and commenting on each others texts, images, audio and video.
Online image / photo editor pixlr free
If you're not familiar with this, take a look. Bookmark it for when you need it.
- Governing Dynamo - Take a look at some Historic American Rhetoric
Underneath the image is a link that will step you through the word clouds for all the inaugural speeches. Each one is also printed so that you can read the full text. This is not only good for Social Studies, but also VERY good for English. My how our language has devolved over the years. Read Madison's speeches, for example.
A nice site for History Tours in Google Earth
Embed this Google Earth player on your webpage. Point it to a kmz tour file. This is great! http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2009/07/best_google_earth_tour_to_date_apol.html
This is FUNNY! Social Media addiction. ROFL!
All Passage Middle School classes will blog this year -- dailypress.com
Imagine! And they, too, are following the CIPA laws - the same laws that some of our schools are using as reasons to BLOCK all blogs!
- Passage teachers have been encouraged to create an account on Twitter, an online social networking site that limits each posting to 140 characters. Teachers will attend a morning screening of the movie "Julie & Julia" and "live blog" the experience with their Twitter accounts. Rogers chose the movie, based on the experiences of two real people, because one character uses a blog as an education and communication tool.
Wired Up: Tuned out | Scholastic.com - Annotated
Interesting article.
- Recent reports from the Pew Internet and American Life Project show that 93 percent of youth ages 12 to 17 go online. Of those kids, 55 percent use social-networking sites (like Facebook and MySpace), and 64 percent are creating their own original content (such as blogs and wikis). Unlike watching television, using the Internet allows young people to take an active role; this move from consumption to participation affects the way they construct knowledge, develop their identity, and communicate with others. "Technology, from my perspective, has created an opportunity for students to use new digital-media resources to express themselves in ways that earlier generations could never have imagined,
- Students today "more quickly tune out a teacher or someone who doesn't relate," she adds.
- This is something Jim Gates hears a lot. As a coach for Pennsylvania's Classrooms for the Future project, he works to make technology available to students and teachers. He's also got a blog of his own called TipLine. "There's a growing disconnect between how kids embrace technology and where teachers' skill levels are," he says.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Twitscoop - signs of the times
I'm sure that many of you have already seen twitscoop before, so for you this won't be anything new. But, for others it might be. I just think it's such a VERY cool idea. It filters through the twitter stream looking for commonly used key words, eliminating the's and and's, etc. Then it forms a tag cloud with those words. But the cool part is that this tag cloud changes in front of your eyes as the conversation in the 'twitterverse' changes.
There have been a couple especially interesting twitscoops lately, and those folks have made youtube videos of them. Here's one that shows what happened the day that the new of Michael Jackson's death started to spread. Watch as his mention comes in very small (fewer mentions) and then grows as more folks spread the word. Here's another (part 1 and part 2) of the day when there was an earthquake and Tsunami in New Zealand, as well as a plane crash making the news.
Wouldn't this idea be excellent if somehow you could sign in and it would make a tag cloud based on what is being said only by those whom you follow? Wow. VERY nice - if it ever happens.
In the meantime, here's a little widget that they offer. It's not as cool as the one on their site, but pretty neat, nonetheless. Of course, depending on when you look at it, it may have references to people or things that you wish weren't there. (Another reason to limit it to just those you follow) Still, it's signs of the immediate times. A visual reminder of how information is being transmitted and gathered every second of every day.
How are we helping our students make sense of all this?
There have been a couple especially interesting twitscoops lately, and those folks have made youtube videos of them. Here's one that shows what happened the day that the new of Michael Jackson's death started to spread. Watch as his mention comes in very small (fewer mentions) and then grows as more folks spread the word. Here's another (part 1 and part 2) of the day when there was an earthquake and Tsunami in New Zealand, as well as a plane crash making the news.
Wouldn't this idea be excellent if somehow you could sign in and it would make a tag cloud based on what is being said only by those whom you follow? Wow. VERY nice - if it ever happens.
In the meantime, here's a little widget that they offer. It's not as cool as the one on their site, but pretty neat, nonetheless. Of course, depending on when you look at it, it may have references to people or things that you wish weren't there. (Another reason to limit it to just those you follow) Still, it's signs of the immediate times. A visual reminder of how information is being transmitted and gathered every second of every day.
How are we helping our students make sense of all this?
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wireless Electricity - Redux
Back in 2007 I blogged about an article on NPR about wireless electricity. I thought at the time it would be a good writing prompt for a science class, at least.
Today, when browsing through the Ted talks videos I came upon this video of Eric Giler demonstrating wireless electricty. This really is something that could truly inspire one of your students to set out in a career to advance this even further. This is HUGE!
Of course, we still have to HAVE electricity in order to send it wirelessly, but that could also be part of your newly inspired student's vision. I hope you'll send this to your favorite science teacher.
Today, when browsing through the Ted talks videos I came upon this video of Eric Giler demonstrating wireless electricty. This really is something that could truly inspire one of your students to set out in a career to advance this even further. This is HUGE!
Of course, we still have to HAVE electricity in order to send it wirelessly, but that could also be part of your newly inspired student's vision. I hope you'll send this to your favorite science teacher.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Looking forward to the new year
I've been hearing folks talking on Twitter about starting back to school and how excited they are for the new year. Some are starting a new position. Others are excited because of the challenge of teaching a new grade level. And others are excited because this year they are finally able to use a wiki or a blog, or maybe they've got their own Moodle server. Simple things, yes? But, it has taken years of effort to get to that point so they are rightfully excited about it. Here's to them. I can't wait to hear about all the great things that they're now going to be doing.
We KNEW it would happen eventually, didn't we? It was never a question of if it would happen. Only when. Let's just hope that it happens before the next big technological advancement renders today's tools obsolete, putting us right back in the same situation - but just with different tools.
I, too, am looking forward to some wonderful new opportunities. First, there's the fact that my role as a Mentor in the Classrooms for the Future program will be morphing into something new this year. The global economy and the struggles with PA's budget have put an end to the CFF program as we had known it. But, the principals of the grant were solid and will be still be promoted. The only question is what it will look like. CFF was about using technology to engage students, and to get students involved in activities that are truly meaningful in today's world - AND tomorrow's. So, the push will continue there, and I'm very pleased and proud to be a part of it.
And, I'm excited about the opportunities I have to work with schools directly in my business at gatesideas.com. I've got what I believe to be a very good set of timely and important workshops that I offer, as well as being willing and able to be a third party, independent observer to determine whether or not the huge investments in technology are making a real difference. We like to think that it is, but an outsider can see things more clearly, sometimes.
So, this will be a fun year for me, too. I'm a lucky man.
We KNEW it would happen eventually, didn't we? It was never a question of if it would happen. Only when. Let's just hope that it happens before the next big technological advancement renders today's tools obsolete, putting us right back in the same situation - but just with different tools.
I, too, am looking forward to some wonderful new opportunities. First, there's the fact that my role as a Mentor in the Classrooms for the Future program will be morphing into something new this year. The global economy and the struggles with PA's budget have put an end to the CFF program as we had known it. But, the principals of the grant were solid and will be still be promoted. The only question is what it will look like. CFF was about using technology to engage students, and to get students involved in activities that are truly meaningful in today's world - AND tomorrow's. So, the push will continue there, and I'm very pleased and proud to be a part of it.
And, I'm excited about the opportunities I have to work with schools directly in my business at gatesideas.com. I've got what I believe to be a very good set of timely and important workshops that I offer, as well as being willing and able to be a third party, independent observer to determine whether or not the huge investments in technology are making a real difference. We like to think that it is, but an outsider can see things more clearly, sometimes.
So, this will be a fun year for me, too. I'm a lucky man.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
News from Diigo
This is potentially some EXCELLENT news from the folks at Diigo. You may remember that a while back Kevin Jarrett and a few of us met online to experiment with the teacher-student roles in Diigo to really explore it. In that experiment Kevin discovered that students were able to see some of the groups that non-teachers had created, and some of those groups were less than appropriate for school. Teen love, etc.
Since that time both Kevin and I have been in contact with Maggie Tsai and her team of programmers there at Diigo as they worked to create a solution to this issue. Well, I'm very happy to announce that I just received an email from one of the programmers who stated that the issue is now resolved, and that students are only able to see other groups that had been created by teachers.
YES!!!
Now, I've not gone in, as yet, to experiment, but I'm confident that this is the case, and I again feel ready to promote Diigo as THE TOOL to help students and teachers manage the information that they find when researching the web.
Of course, Kevin, I'm sure, will be putting the changes to the ultimate test very soon (when he gets his labs set up ;-) ) but for now, I'm quite pleased with the announcement by the programmers.
WAY TO GO, DIIGO!!!
Since that time both Kevin and I have been in contact with Maggie Tsai and her team of programmers there at Diigo as they worked to create a solution to this issue. Well, I'm very happy to announce that I just received an email from one of the programmers who stated that the issue is now resolved, and that students are only able to see other groups that had been created by teachers.
YES!!!
Now, I've not gone in, as yet, to experiment, but I'm confident that this is the case, and I again feel ready to promote Diigo as THE TOOL to help students and teachers manage the information that they find when researching the web.
Of course, Kevin, I'm sure, will be putting the changes to the ultimate test very soon (when he gets his labs set up ;-) ) but for now, I'm quite pleased with the announcement by the programmers.
WAY TO GO, DIIGO!!!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Post weekly (weekly)
kmlfactbook.org can use either Google Maps or the Google Earth browser plugin to preview the KML files that you create. To switch between the two modes press the 2D Map and 3D Map buttons to the right in the screen.
The Preview in Map button will show the selected data-set in the Google Maps or Earth plugin preview window.
The Download KML file button will download the same file to be saved locally on your disk or opened in the standalone Google Earth application.Wolfram|Alpha Blog : What We’ve Been Doing This Summer
What's new at Wolfram Alpha. Can it get even better?
Top 7 Places to Watch Great Minds in Action
below is a list of the top 7 places to watch great minds in action. What makes these conferences special is both the people they’re able to assemble together in one place and that they put videos of the experiences online for everyone to enjoy. What other conferences attract the top minds in the world?
Skype Other Classrooms! | The Edublogger
Looking for another class to skype with? Start looking here.
Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com - Annotated
Nice article about the effectiveness of online education.
- Some of it was in K-12 settings, but most of the comparative studies were done in colleges and adult continuing-education programs of various kinds, from medical training to the military.
- “The study’s major significance lies in demonstrating that online learning today is not just better than nothing — it actually tends to be better than conventional instruction,”
- But the report does suggest that online education could be set to expand sharply over the next few years, as evidence mounts of its value.
- The real promise of online education, experts say, is providing learning experiences that are more tailored to individual students than is possible in classrooms. That enables more “learning by doing,” which many students find more engaging and useful.
- “People are correct when they say online education will take things out the classroom. But they are wrong, I think, when they assume it will make learning an independent, personal activity. Learning has to occur in a community.
We're very happy to announce that over 700,000 historical images from The New York Public Library's Digital Gallery are now freely and instantly available whenever you're creating a VoiceThread.
- We're very happy to announce that over 700,000 historical images from The New York Public Library's Digital Gallery are now freely and instantly available whenever you're creating a VoiceThread.
YouTube - Imagine Leadership | By XPLANE & Nitin Nohria
What does 'Leadership' mean to you?
How to Create a Walking Tour with Google City Tours
This has great possibilities for the classroom, don't you think?
Top Ten Images from The Hubble Space Telescope
This is too much for my feeble mind to handle
YouTube - Six Word Memoirs by Teens
Interesting. Will something like this work as writing prompts for your students?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
A College Freshman's Lament
I know a young man who is starting his Freshman year at a major University in the south. We emailed a couple of times the past two days (you know - email? That thing that the kids use to communicate with old people? *sigh*), and I was asking about his classes and about what kinds of technology he's seeing.
He said that one Prof will be using online textbooks and blogs with the students. (She'll likely use an aggregator to collect student writings, too.) Students will turn in assignments via a blog and will also be graded on the quality of the comments (conversations) that they are required to post on each other's "papers." His comment was, "This may be normal for universities, but it's way beyond anything we had in high school, technology-wise, so I was pretty excited" He went to a high school near Pittsburgh, PA. And, I wonder how "normal" it really is at the college level, too.
But then he talked about his American Government class. He said that he didn't think there would be any technology use in that class. I said I thought that was a shame, and that that class, in particular, was the perfect class for discussions. This is what he said in reply,
"As for American Gov, I completely agree. It's in a lecture hall with 150 of my closest friends, and he actually said that due to the size of class, we wouldn't be able to have very many discussions. It's really just sad; we're going to be "talked at" the entire time. How is that going to engage the students and make us interested in the material? He said he likes the book we use "because it has a lot of Supreme Court decisions." I can't help but think, "Wow, I can't wait to sit there and be lectured about Supreme Court decisions for 75 minutes."
I wrote back and suggested that he consider starting his own discussion forums somewhere, and even if only 10 kids joined in, it would add a level of engagement that would otherwise be sadly missing. His response, "Actually, after I sent that last email, I had thought about just starting a discussion board myself."
Don't you LOVE it? The professor may well plan to lecture for 75 minutes, but he's already thinking about how to leverage the web tools to create his own place to discuss the cases. Is he a "21st Century Learner", or what? What a shame that his prof didn't come up with that on his own. I was going to suggest that he organize a backchannel during the classes, but I've got a sneaky suspicion that the prof wouldn't appreciate all those kids typing while he's talking, don't you?
So, two things struck me in all this. First, that his high school experience couldn't match a simple experience like blogging. Second, that he's setting up his own discussion forums to create a more social aspect to his learning in the American Government class. He'll create his own area of engagement, if his Prof won't.
How are you meeting the needs of students like this?
He said that one Prof will be using online textbooks and blogs with the students. (She'll likely use an aggregator to collect student writings, too.) Students will turn in assignments via a blog and will also be graded on the quality of the comments (conversations) that they are required to post on each other's "papers." His comment was, "This may be normal for universities, but it's way beyond anything we had in high school, technology-wise, so I was pretty excited" He went to a high school near Pittsburgh, PA. And, I wonder how "normal" it really is at the college level, too.
But then he talked about his American Government class. He said that he didn't think there would be any technology use in that class. I said I thought that was a shame, and that that class, in particular, was the perfect class for discussions. This is what he said in reply,
"As for American Gov, I completely agree. It's in a lecture hall with 150 of my closest friends, and he actually said that due to the size of class, we wouldn't be able to have very many discussions. It's really just sad; we're going to be "talked at" the entire time. How is that going to engage the students and make us interested in the material? He said he likes the book we use "because it has a lot of Supreme Court decisions." I can't help but think, "Wow, I can't wait to sit there and be lectured about Supreme Court decisions for 75 minutes."
I wrote back and suggested that he consider starting his own discussion forums somewhere, and even if only 10 kids joined in, it would add a level of engagement that would otherwise be sadly missing. His response, "Actually, after I sent that last email, I had thought about just starting a discussion board myself."
Don't you LOVE it? The professor may well plan to lecture for 75 minutes, but he's already thinking about how to leverage the web tools to create his own place to discuss the cases. Is he a "21st Century Learner", or what? What a shame that his prof didn't come up with that on his own. I was going to suggest that he organize a backchannel during the classes, but I've got a sneaky suspicion that the prof wouldn't appreciate all those kids typing while he's talking, don't you?
So, two things struck me in all this. First, that his high school experience couldn't match a simple experience like blogging. Second, that he's setting up his own discussion forums to create a more social aspect to his learning in the American Government class. He'll create his own area of engagement, if his Prof won't.
How are you meeting the needs of students like this?
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Post weekly (weekly)
Check this out. You may never need it, but if you do this is a great tool. Free, too
What a fun idea I'll bet she'd be very willing to accept your suggestions, as well
SecretBuilders - A Fun, Free, Cool Online Virtual World MMO for Kids!
This looks like a VERY fun virtual world that is safe for kids. Educational games, quests, and SO much more.
Free lesson plans and educational resources | Thinkfinity
Spend some time in here. TONS of resources. Bookmark it and share it with your students, too. Quality stuff.
disposableWebPage.com - Annotated
disposable web pages. Set the clock and it will expire when the time comes. Interesting idea, yes?
Disposable Web Page is now here! You can create a disposable web page with as little effort as a few key strokes and start right away at filling up the page with the content you want.
Disposable web page offers you the convenience and freedom of getting information out there on the internet with as little hassle as can be.
SAS� Curriculum Pathways� Home Page
Now offered free to educators, this site has a TON of resources, curriculum enhancing content, activities, and lots more. Watch the demo first to get an idea of what's in the site.
MixedInk - Free Collaborative Writing Tool
This is excellent! It may not be perfect yet, but it's as close as I've seen for collaborative writing assignments. Make sure you watch the tour video to get a sense of how it works. They will be making more enhancements for education soon (no student emails required, and better reports), but even now I think it's excellent!
HeyWhatsThat: July 2009 Solar Eclipse
OUTSTANDING animation using the Google Earth plugin that shows the moon's shadow on the earth during an eclipse. EXCELLENT
See the tweets of your followers or of those you follow on a google earth map. Google Earth plugin required.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Let's talk about the Keystone Exams
I've not been able to stop thinking about the Keystone Exams that appear destined to become reality in PA schools very soon. These will be tests given to students across PA to determine if they can graduate. The reason, as I understand it, is that the number of kids who were graduating was larger than the number of kids who scored at Basic or above in the PSSA tests, prompting the concern that schools were passing almost anyone who would hang in there for their senior year.
OK. I can understand why one might question those numbers. But then, we all know that success in high school doesn't always mean success later. More importantly, failure in high school doesn't translate to failure later. Rarely do you find yourself in a job/career where memorization is the determining factor for success. Still, we must measure against something or we have no idea how well we're doing. Not measuring the effectiveness of what we do would be as irresponsible as measuring it incorrectly.
But there are other issues that are weighing in on this for me. Like the statement by one official person who said that it's better to test the kids at the end of each grade, "...before they forget it all." As if that's an acceptable solution. That's admitting up front that we KNOW that they aren't remembering what we're spending all year trying to teach them, but if we can at least catch them during that window when they still DO remember it, we've done our jobs. If we built bridges instead of teaching kids, it's like saying, "We know this bridge will collapse, so let's test it now before it does, and we're OK."
I worry that this test will become the only way we determine our effectiveness. And it will be so easy to then adjust our curriculum to teach to the test, won't it? Side businesses will crop up that will create practice exams that contain questions "like those on the Keystone Exams" and schools will pay big bucks to get them and arrange schedules so that the kids can take those practice tests. Then another optional feature (at an additional cost, of course) will be remedial material to help the student (and teacher) focus on the specific questions that the students are missing.
Meanwhile, the students still have no clue how to form an effective search on the Internet. (Internet? Some folks talk about it as if it's a passing fad.) It's a basic google search or nothing. They don't know a thing about how to find the most recent articles, or how to find information on a given website, or from a different country, or how to view the search in a timeline. They've never seen Wolfram Alpha and so they don't know the power of that tool. They can't find a primary source document or even know why that's a good thing to do. And, if they do find pertinent information online, they have no way to manage it. I once saw a class where the student would print out the sites that they found online, then use yellow highlighters to mark the important part of the page. Is that even CLOSE to anything relevant in this day of massive amounts of information? Is that acceptable to ANYONE?
They won't know about proper copyright etiquette or the Creative Commons. There will be little 'right-brain' activity going on, because we can't afford to take the time away from studying for the test - after which 'we can forget all this stuff.' Those teachers who do work to ensure that their students are using higher order thinking skills and are working on the upper level of the new Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and who are trying to ensure that the NETS-S are being addressed will soon find themselves having to eliminate some of that in favor of the test material. Do you see any way around that? Am I raising an alarm over nothing?
From the article:
"The proposal would require students to demonstrate their competency in English, math, science and social studies by passing a Keystone Exam, which are subject-specific and given at the end of a course; an international baccalaureate exam, an advanced placement test, or a local assessment independently validated to be aligned with state standards. Those who use the Keystone Exam would see its score counted toward a third of a student's final grade in a course and a "below basic" score would be counted as a zero on the test."
Yes, there are other options besides taking the Keystone exam. You could take that international baccalaureate exam, but that might mean a whole new curriculum, won't it? Or, you could take an AP test. Fine for those already doing that, but not an option for the majority of students. Or, you can take a test that your district makes up that is aligned to the state's standards. I'm not sure how that one differs from the Keystone except by who creates the test. It's still a "pass this or else" exam. But hey, no pressure.
I worry that we're moving in the wrong direction. Not that we shouldn't be trying to determine our effectiveness in the classrooms, but that we're willing end our discussion of that effectiveness if satisfactory test scores are shown - at the end of the course - before they forget.
OK. I can understand why one might question those numbers. But then, we all know that success in high school doesn't always mean success later. More importantly, failure in high school doesn't translate to failure later. Rarely do you find yourself in a job/career where memorization is the determining factor for success. Still, we must measure against something or we have no idea how well we're doing. Not measuring the effectiveness of what we do would be as irresponsible as measuring it incorrectly.
But there are other issues that are weighing in on this for me. Like the statement by one official person who said that it's better to test the kids at the end of each grade, "...before they forget it all." As if that's an acceptable solution. That's admitting up front that we KNOW that they aren't remembering what we're spending all year trying to teach them, but if we can at least catch them during that window when they still DO remember it, we've done our jobs. If we built bridges instead of teaching kids, it's like saying, "We know this bridge will collapse, so let's test it now before it does, and we're OK."
I worry that this test will become the only way we determine our effectiveness. And it will be so easy to then adjust our curriculum to teach to the test, won't it? Side businesses will crop up that will create practice exams that contain questions "like those on the Keystone Exams" and schools will pay big bucks to get them and arrange schedules so that the kids can take those practice tests. Then another optional feature (at an additional cost, of course) will be remedial material to help the student (and teacher) focus on the specific questions that the students are missing.
Meanwhile, the students still have no clue how to form an effective search on the Internet. (Internet? Some folks talk about it as if it's a passing fad.) It's a basic google search or nothing. They don't know a thing about how to find the most recent articles, or how to find information on a given website, or from a different country, or how to view the search in a timeline. They've never seen Wolfram Alpha and so they don't know the power of that tool. They can't find a primary source document or even know why that's a good thing to do. And, if they do find pertinent information online, they have no way to manage it. I once saw a class where the student would print out the sites that they found online, then use yellow highlighters to mark the important part of the page. Is that even CLOSE to anything relevant in this day of massive amounts of information? Is that acceptable to ANYONE?
They won't know about proper copyright etiquette or the Creative Commons. There will be little 'right-brain' activity going on, because we can't afford to take the time away from studying for the test - after which 'we can forget all this stuff.' Those teachers who do work to ensure that their students are using higher order thinking skills and are working on the upper level of the new Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and who are trying to ensure that the NETS-S are being addressed will soon find themselves having to eliminate some of that in favor of the test material. Do you see any way around that? Am I raising an alarm over nothing?
From the article:
"The proposal would require students to demonstrate their competency in English, math, science and social studies by passing a Keystone Exam, which are subject-specific and given at the end of a course; an international baccalaureate exam, an advanced placement test, or a local assessment independently validated to be aligned with state standards. Those who use the Keystone Exam would see its score counted toward a third of a student's final grade in a course and a "below basic" score would be counted as a zero on the test."
Yes, there are other options besides taking the Keystone exam. You could take that international baccalaureate exam, but that might mean a whole new curriculum, won't it? Or, you could take an AP test. Fine for those already doing that, but not an option for the majority of students. Or, you can take a test that your district makes up that is aligned to the state's standards. I'm not sure how that one differs from the Keystone except by who creates the test. It's still a "pass this or else" exam. But hey, no pressure.
I worry that we're moving in the wrong direction. Not that we shouldn't be trying to determine our effectiveness in the classrooms, but that we're willing end our discussion of that effectiveness if satisfactory test scores are shown - at the end of the course - before they forget.
Monday, August 10, 2009
MixedInk - Outstanding Collaborative Writing App
I just got out of a webinar with Vanessa, from MixedInk, and I can't wait to tell you about it.
Collaborative writing is difficult, isn't it? How do students manage the various versions of the document, and how do they bring in other ideas to the document without cluttering it? How does a group of students decide which version is best? How can you see who all contributed to the finished product? Enter MixedInk.
With this site students can, for example, begin by each submitting his or her own version of the assignment. Students then can rate those versions and begin to pull bits and pieces from each one into what they're agreeing is a final version. They can select paragraphs, sentences, or entire pages to be included in the final version. And (and I think this makes it almost perfect) they can comment on the works in progress.
When a new topic is created by the teacher, the starting and ending dates are included. Plus, you can indicate a different date when the ratings will end. For example, all edits will stop on one day, but they'll have two more days in which to rate them. What's also great is that when those dates arrive, the tabs on the document change so you can't, for example, edit any longer. Then, when the rating period is over, that tab is gone, as well. VERY nice!
They are in the process of making it a bit more teacher friendly by, for example, making the ability to upload student accounts rather than requiring email validation, and the ability to generate more detailed reports. Even now though, this is one to check out for sure.
Watch the tour (below) but then get a couple people together to try this out for yourself. I just KNOW that you're going to like this tool.
Collaborative writing is difficult, isn't it? How do students manage the various versions of the document, and how do they bring in other ideas to the document without cluttering it? How does a group of students decide which version is best? How can you see who all contributed to the finished product? Enter MixedInk.
With this site students can, for example, begin by each submitting his or her own version of the assignment. Students then can rate those versions and begin to pull bits and pieces from each one into what they're agreeing is a final version. They can select paragraphs, sentences, or entire pages to be included in the final version. And (and I think this makes it almost perfect) they can comment on the works in progress.
When a new topic is created by the teacher, the starting and ending dates are included. Plus, you can indicate a different date when the ratings will end. For example, all edits will stop on one day, but they'll have two more days in which to rate them. What's also great is that when those dates arrive, the tabs on the document change so you can't, for example, edit any longer. Then, when the rating period is over, that tab is gone, as well. VERY nice!
They are in the process of making it a bit more teacher friendly by, for example, making the ability to upload student accounts rather than requiring email validation, and the ability to generate more detailed reports. Even now though, this is one to check out for sure.
Watch the tour (below) but then get a couple people together to try this out for yourself. I just KNOW that you're going to like this tool.
MixedInk Demo from MixedInk on Vimeo.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Post weekly (weekly)
Mediated Cultures: Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University
This is Michael Wesch's public Netvibes page. Check out how he has it organized and the kinds of widgets he is using.
YouTube - A Portal to Media Literacy
An interesting lecture by Michael Wesch, creator of several YouTube videos. Listen to what he says about student learners.
Do you think this service will get past the guards to be able to be used in school?
Shared from another group, this scribd epaper lists different apps for recording screencasts and compares them nicely. Click full screen to read it comfortably.
Gordon Brown: Wiring a web for global good | Video on TED.com
He mentions twitter here, too
FlashMeeting is an easy to use online meeting application, it allows a dispersed group of people to meet from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. Typically a meeting is pre-booked by a registered user and a url, containing a unique password for the meeting, is returned by the FlashMeeting server. The 'booker' passes this on to the people they wish to participate, who simply click on the link to enter into the meeting at the arranged time.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Diigo is GREAT - but not perfect
If you are reading this post it's probably because you're familiar with Diigo and what an amazing, powerful learning tool it is. You, like I, love the social aspect of it that allows other readers to comment on your bookmarked discoveries, and you love how you can share bookmarks with groups, etc. We could go on singing the praises of the tools within Diigo. But, in a video conference session this morning with Kevin Jarrett, we discovered some issues that you should be aware of.
First, let me say that we both spoke with Maggie Tsai after our discoveries, and she is very much aware of our concerns. However, at this point in time, with her company's resources and manpower so heavily involved in trying to get their next version ready to release, there won't be a solution to our concerns very soon.
A couple of the issues were minor, having to do with uploading student names via the supplied template. Those are easy fixes; nothing to be too concerned about. But, here's where we began to worry. After Kevin had created a few student accounts, he logged in as one of those students. But, the access to some of the Friend features was there. While an outsider cannot contact a student (since students don't have profile pages) a student COULD contact an outsider. Now, I can't imagine they'd want to, but they could. Also, a student can see all the teacher's friends and, I think, their bookmarks.
But, I think the biggest issue came when Kevin was able to browse the groups in Diigo and he found one that, let's just say, you wouldn't want to be caught reading it in church. He was also able to see all comments that had been made public, and for his situation in the elementary schools he had reservations about that.
So, I think that diigo with the younger kids may be out - at least for now, at lest for the younger students. And, you should at least be aware of the other concerns before you launch into it. Some schools wouldn't have a problem, while others would faint dead away at the mere thought of it. My thinking is that the sites themselves are still blocked, and the rest are just words - and words can never harm me.
As I said, we did talk to Maggie, and she did confirm that the system is working as designed. But, she also said that these issues could be avoided entirely should there ever be a way to, say, have your own domain of Diigo, just as you can with Google Docs. And, she said that some of our findings could be addressed, once they are free to spend some time on them. Once the new release it out and in prime time. And, she said that she and the team there welcomes feedback from teachers.
So, if you're going to be using Diigo with students, at least go into it with eyes wide open. My suggestion is that you create at least two dummy student accounts and you log in as those students to see what you can see. Maybe consider having an entirely different Digo account that you use with students and which doesn't have 'friends' attached to it. And, if you're already using Diigo with students, please leave a comment to let us know your experiences But, whatever you do, even if you decide to avoid it for now, do NOT give up on it. It's WAY too good a tool to just forget about.
First, let me say that we both spoke with Maggie Tsai after our discoveries, and she is very much aware of our concerns. However, at this point in time, with her company's resources and manpower so heavily involved in trying to get their next version ready to release, there won't be a solution to our concerns very soon.
A couple of the issues were minor, having to do with uploading student names via the supplied template. Those are easy fixes; nothing to be too concerned about. But, here's where we began to worry. After Kevin had created a few student accounts, he logged in as one of those students. But, the access to some of the Friend features was there. While an outsider cannot contact a student (since students don't have profile pages) a student COULD contact an outsider. Now, I can't imagine they'd want to, but they could. Also, a student can see all the teacher's friends and, I think, their bookmarks.
But, I think the biggest issue came when Kevin was able to browse the groups in Diigo and he found one that, let's just say, you wouldn't want to be caught reading it in church. He was also able to see all comments that had been made public, and for his situation in the elementary schools he had reservations about that.
So, I think that diigo with the younger kids may be out - at least for now, at lest for the younger students. And, you should at least be aware of the other concerns before you launch into it. Some schools wouldn't have a problem, while others would faint dead away at the mere thought of it. My thinking is that the sites themselves are still blocked, and the rest are just words - and words can never harm me.
As I said, we did talk to Maggie, and she did confirm that the system is working as designed. But, she also said that these issues could be avoided entirely should there ever be a way to, say, have your own domain of Diigo, just as you can with Google Docs. And, she said that some of our findings could be addressed, once they are free to spend some time on them. Once the new release it out and in prime time. And, she said that she and the team there welcomes feedback from teachers.
So, if you're going to be using Diigo with students, at least go into it with eyes wide open. My suggestion is that you create at least two dummy student accounts and you log in as those students to see what you can see. Maybe consider having an entirely different Digo account that you use with students and which doesn't have 'friends' attached to it. And, if you're already using Diigo with students, please leave a comment to let us know your experiences But, whatever you do, even if you decide to avoid it for now, do NOT give up on it. It's WAY too good a tool to just forget about.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Email 'tips' are Too distracting?
I recently heard from a person who works in a public school and who is sorta like a tech integrator person. (Trying hard not to identify even the gender to protect the innocent.) As such, this person had been sending out emails to the other faculty members in which were tips, or websites to check out, etc. I don't know how often those emails went out, but I can't imagine they were more than one a day - but I don't know that, for sure. The intent of those emails was to help keep the faculty aware of new sites and ideas, and to try to generate a discussion. It was meant as a passive way to provide professional development in a time when PD hours are so limited and so precious.
But, the person was recently told that those emails were "too distracting" and that they were to stop.
*pause for that to sink in a bit*
Too distracting, eh? Did you hear me screaming? Now this person is starting a blog in which to post all those items that normally would have gone out in the emails. That's perfect, of course, because now nobody has to see them. Nobody has to be bothered anymore with those pesky emails about the great debate site, deepdebate.org, now moving to OnlineTownhalls.com. Or, about a wonderful site for social studies teachers, Mapping Worlds, that does a fantastic job showing relationships between countries based upon either their relative data. (Hard to describe, but a great site) Or, maybe it was a site that allows collaborative mind mapping, or a tip about how to manage resources, or a tip about how to do something in Moodle. "Don't bother us with that stuff!"
So, instead of thanking this person for the work that went into finding and writing those email tips, this person was told to stop bothering the staff. Yes, maybe a "thank you" was offered, but only in the "Thanks, but no thanks" sense. "Take it somewhere else!" That's the message.
What a shame that the decision was made to give in to the whiners who probably complained that they can't keep their inbox empty as it is, let alone with all THAT stuff. Instead of showing them how to set up folders and filtering rules so that they could have kept those tips for later, they stopped the tips. Instead of saying, "I hope you will let us show you how to manage those tips, because we feel that they're very important to the professional development of our faculty", the message became, "Sorry to have bothered you."
What a shame. Now back to "Business as usual."
But, the person was recently told that those emails were "too distracting" and that they were to stop.
Too distracting, eh? Did you hear me screaming? Now this person is starting a blog in which to post all those items that normally would have gone out in the emails. That's perfect, of course, because now nobody has to see them. Nobody has to be bothered anymore with those pesky emails about the great debate site, deepdebate.org, now moving to OnlineTownhalls.com. Or, about a wonderful site for social studies teachers, Mapping Worlds, that does a fantastic job showing relationships between countries based upon either their relative data. (Hard to describe, but a great site) Or, maybe it was a site that allows collaborative mind mapping, or a tip about how to manage resources, or a tip about how to do something in Moodle. "Don't bother us with that stuff!"
So, instead of thanking this person for the work that went into finding and writing those email tips, this person was told to stop bothering the staff. Yes, maybe a "thank you" was offered, but only in the "Thanks, but no thanks" sense. "Take it somewhere else!" That's the message.
What a shame that the decision was made to give in to the whiners who probably complained that they can't keep their inbox empty as it is, let alone with all THAT stuff. Instead of showing them how to set up folders and filtering rules so that they could have kept those tips for later, they stopped the tips. Instead of saying, "I hope you will let us show you how to manage those tips, because we feel that they're very important to the professional development of our faculty", the message became, "Sorry to have bothered you."
What a shame. Now back to "Business as usual."
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Heading to Erie
I'm really excited about the workshops that I'll be giving at the 3CsETC Conference in Erie on Tuesday, August 4th. I'll be giving the opening address, entitled, "This Changes Everything." I'll be posting that presentation on my website as soon as I stop tweaking it. --sigh--
I'll also be doing two workshops. One is entitled, "PowerPoint Alternatives" in which we take a look at sites like Slideshare, ShowBeyond, Presi, etc, and talk about how to get accounts for students if they don't have email accounts. We'll also see how those presentations can be embedded into a wiki or other web page. Putting it on a wiki is nice, since then you can use the discussion threads to talk about them.
The second workshop is entitled, "Top Ten Tech Skills Every Teacher Should Possess." Great title, but it's tough narrowing it down to ten, isn't it? My ten would be different from your ten, I'm sure. I've got a handout on my website, too. I'll get them all up on the website soon.
In any case, I'm looking forward to this opportunity. What fun it is to meet teachers from around the state who are investigating new technologies.
I'll also be doing two workshops. One is entitled, "PowerPoint Alternatives" in which we take a look at sites like Slideshare, ShowBeyond, Presi, etc, and talk about how to get accounts for students if they don't have email accounts. We'll also see how those presentations can be embedded into a wiki or other web page. Putting it on a wiki is nice, since then you can use the discussion threads to talk about them.
The second workshop is entitled, "Top Ten Tech Skills Every Teacher Should Possess." Great title, but it's tough narrowing it down to ten, isn't it? My ten would be different from your ten, I'm sure. I've got a handout on my website, too. I'll get them all up on the website soon.
In any case, I'm looking forward to this opportunity. What fun it is to meet teachers from around the state who are investigating new technologies.
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Wikipedia:Schools - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Welcome to Wikipedia! Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia which anyone can change, including you! There are Wikipedias in many languages, with lots of people working to make them better. This is the Simple English Wikipedia, where the articles are easier to understand than traditional English.
Photo Tampering Throughout History - Annotated
So you teach photoshop? Or maybe digital literacy and ethics? Check this out
Screenjelly - What's on your screen?
Screenjelly records your screen activity with your voice so you can spread it via Twitter or email.
Tinychat - Free Chat Rooms & audio video conference
A quick chat room, complete with mic and camera
- Picture a classroom where every student has their own tablet PC, with wireless internet access and videoconferencing equipment to give them access to academics, industry experts and other schools around the world. The teacher begins the lesson by drawing students’ attention to a new discussion thread that’s appeared overnight on an online forum about a text they’re studying.
- You no longer need to be fluent in HTML to benefit from the digital revolution. Web 2.0 tools are closing the divide between richer and poorer regions, and between the ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’ of the online world. Cloud computing, where resources and software are stored online, means hardware is no longer necessary, and the growth of free programmes and services lets anyone create their own wiki, blog or podcast.
- The extent to which technology can transform the world, and education, is illustrated by the ‘flat classroom’ project, run by Julie Lindsay, head of information technology and e-learning at Qatar Academy in Doha, Qatar, and Vicki Davis of Westwood Schools in Camilla, Georgia, USA. The project began in 2006 as an online collaboration between the two schools, inspired by Thomas L. Friedman’s book The World is Flat. It has now sprouted two sister projects – ‘digiteen’ and ‘horizon’, which have so far involved more than 800 students and 200 educators from across the world.
- “Technology isn’t magic. It doesn’t provide instant solutions. It challenges teachers to improve their practice by being more flexible and creative, and it challenges students to reflect on the limitations of technology as well as its capabilities. The best way to learn is by practising together.”
YouTube - Podcasting in Plain English
Isn't this a good explanation of Podcasting?
A nice list of sites for teachers and students to share. Shelfari is even listed there. And Classroom 2.0.
Educators
Social networking has certainly made students’ lives easier. Students share homework, notes and test information before teachers and school administrators even know about it. Grade books and lesson plans have been digital for a while but teachers (much like older people in general) have been slower to visit social sites. These social sites for teachers are going to change some outdated thinking.
What about using a tool like this to stay in touch with parents?
Let Me Entertain You... by Bob Sprankle
This article points to two "must-see" presentations from NECC. I hope you'll watch both of them.
- Both presentations will help you get that tune that's stuck in your head out of there --- not "Let Me Entertain You" (there's no hope for that), but the "KIDS these days..." one. Hopefully, they'll help get that tune out of being stuck in your school as well. Because, let's face it: that tune is really just a flimsy excuse to not change.
Effective Internet-Using Educators
What do you think of this article?
- All effective teachers plan and plan well, creating different
scenarios to cover the ways that lessons might go.
50 Useful Mind-Mapping Tools for College Students | Associate Degree - Facts and Information
Don't let the 'college students' cause you to miss this list.
Did I hear that some of you are taking your kids on college campus tours? Check this out
Education 2.0 - Edmodo - Free Private Microblogging For Education
This may be something that you could do right away in your school Spend some time here
- Edmodo provides a way for teachers and students to share notes, links, and files.
Teachers have the ability to send alerts, events, and assignments to students.
Intelligent Video: The Top Cultural & Educational Video Sites | Open Culture
A nice list of sites that contain videos of all kinds, from documentaries to lectures and in between.
Panoramio - Photos of the World
Great tool to create Google map with lots of images. Very nice
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
My Email was blocked due to profanity
I emailed something to the listesrv this evening. This is the message that I received back from a receiving school email: "This email has violated the PROFANITY. and Quarantine entire message has been taken on 8/1/2009"
The ONLY word in there that may have even come CLOSE to being profane was the word 'twit.'
Here's the line: "One way to do this is to have each twit.. er.. tweet :-) include a hash tag that you specify."
Am I the only one who thinks this is just WAY over the edge of reason?
The ONLY word in there that may have even come CLOSE to being profane was the word 'twit.'
Here's the line: "One way to do this is to have each twit.. er.. tweet :-) include a hash tag that you specify."
Am I the only one who thinks this is just WAY over the edge of reason?
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