William Snider’s article in the August 2006 EduTopia, “The Digital Superintendent,” provides a nice window into the thinking of Doug Otto, superintendent of Plano ISD in the Dallas, Texas area. After creating a series of videos for the Texas Technology Leadership Academy (which was primarily funded by the Gates Foundation) several years ago, I become
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Ever since I participated in my first skypecast, I’ve wanted and hoped to find a web-based tool that would permit interactive whiteboarding and even screensharing. Web 2.0 guru Cheryl Oakes is, as always, on top of the latest tool developments and brought Vyew.com to my attention in her latest Seedlings podcast on Bit-by-Bit. According to
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I learned this evening from Alan Levine’s “Mindless, Time Wasting, Ego Chasing Vain Pursuit” post about bloginfluence.net. Yes, using this tool is a bit like “Googling” your own name, but I also think in a more positive than vain sense this is a very powerful tool for following the connected conversations in the blogosphere. My
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As you may already know, the first annual FREE K-12 online conference is coming up at the end of October and beginning of November. Even if you have never presented at a conference before (online or face-to-face,) I encourage you to consider sharing a presentation for K-12 Online. “Presentations” are recorded screencasts, audiocasts, or videos
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The September 20th article in USA Today, “Meet my 5000 new best pals,” is an interesting look at “friending” in digital social networks like MySpace that is especially popular with young digital natives. Issues with “friends” in virtual spaces mirror those with face-to-face friends in many cases, but questions also arise about whether “bad social
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I was delighted to learn from Mike Lawrence today that CUE (Computer-Using Educators, Inc. based in California) has formally taken a stand against DOPA: the proposed “Deleting Online Predators Act” that passed the US House of Representatives this summer and still waits for consideration by the US Senate. CUE’s statement on DOPA is: Computer Using
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I definitely think our educational system needs important reforms, but I continue to be disappointed and saddened by the lack of national leadership we have for the sorts of education reforms we need. US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings’ announcement on Tuesday that US colleges and universities need to face similar accountability to K-12 schools
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Tim Donovan is one of the four founders of Imbee.com, a website providing a free, safe digital social networking environment for students between the ages of 8 and 14. On September 21, 2006, I interviewed Tim over Skype about Imbee and learned more about the free Teacher’s program launched by Imbee. Tim’s observation that organizations
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Sindya Bhanoo has posted a nice top 10 list of read/write web tools students can use for educational purposes. Although the post is ostensibly for college students, most of these tools can be used powerfully in the K-12 space as well. Tools on the list I had not heard of before include: Soundslides – Storytelling
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Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD in the Dallas area is sponsoring a one day conference on November 3, 2006 titled “Beyond4Walls: First Annual iPods and Podcasting in Education Users Group Conference.” The conference description is: Successful educators realize that teaching techniques, which appeal to the learner, are ever evolving. Identifying novel and enticing teaching techniques requires educators
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Eric Langhorst has posted a superb review of the online assessment tool Quia.com as a new podcast on his blog, “Speaking of History.” I haven’t used Quia.com myself for several years, but hearing Eric describe it makes me wish that more teachers knew about it and had access to it or tools like it. We
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The best thing about the “Microsoft-designed school of the future,” detailed in the September 20th article “No more teachers, no more books” may be the schedule and the school’s overall approach to learning. According to the article: Because some studies have shown students do better with a later start to the school day, classes run
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K-12 schools are not the only ones banning Skype use these days, some universities are banning it also. According to this latest article from ARS Technica: In a move that has sparked protest from both students and professors, San Jose State University has become the latest California school to ban Skype from most of its
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Even if you have specialized webpage authoring software like Dreamweaver or Frontpage on your computer, know how to use it, and have FTP or other “uploading” access configured to a webserver– Getting content online with these “web 1.0″ tools can be a needless hassle for many purposes compared to web 2.0 tools like wikis. I
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Apple has published a great profile of the 3rd and 4th grade scholars in Bob Sprankle’s Room 208 classroom at Wells Elementary School in Wells, Maine. The article is “Elementary School Students Become Podcasting Pros.” Way to go students and Mr. Sprankle!
“Hy-wire” is the name of the General Motors car of the future: entirely powered by hydrogen energy. Amazing! Too bad they are not yet available for ordering. In a few years….. Thanks to Clara Ward for this link!
Why do school district administrators, as a general rule, assume that all instant messaging websites are evil and inappropriate? I’ve made a case for instant messaging in the classroom before– But I am wondering today what the most effective ways to help administrators understand the potential value of IM and desktop videoconferencing is and can
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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, based in Cleveland, Ohio, announced several new distance learning programs today that are available for students in grades 4-12 via videoconferencing. Today during our workshop in McAlester, Oklahama, we connected to them and heard some details. Their programs include the following, plus three additional offerings: Hip-Hop Technology: From
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Physics professor Lou Bloomfield defines mass as how hard something is to shake, and observes that human beings generally go through life trying to avoid momentum transfers. This podcast includes several reflections on these ideas as they relate to the contexts of school reform and educational change. Program Length: 20 min, 01 sec File size:
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