My undergraduate students in “Technology 4 Teachers” at the University of Central Oklahoma this semester have learned how to use a variety of web-based tools for communication and collaboration. Here are a few superb examples. Copying the “scribe post blog” idea from Darren Kuroptawa, we’ve used a Blogger site this semester as a shared learning
(Read More…)
Is your news feed on Facebook cluttered with status updates from people you’ve friended who are quite possibly addicted to FarmVille? I was overjoyed today to learn there’s an easy way to HIDE these updates when you’re on Facebook without “unfriending” people entirely. Here’s how. After logging into your Facebook account, click the HIDE button
(Read More…)
Today I shared a seven minute “Pecha Kutcha” presentation with my “Technology 4 Teachers” students on the topic, “What I hope you learned this semester in our class.” I recorded the audio with my Sony UX-71 digital audio recorder and uploaded / synchronized that mp3 file to my slides on SlideShare this evening: What I
(Read More…)
This podcast is a recording of Shannon Miller’s presentation with her students at the Iowa 1:1 Institute in Des Moines on April 7, 2010. The title of their presentation was, “Be The Change You Want To See In Schools: Integrating Technology and Making Connections to Create Change.” Shannon is the teacher librarian / media specialist
(Read More…)
Podcast347: Be The Change You Want To See In Schools [ 47:59 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2553)
Classen SAS, the public magnet school my oldest child attends in Oklahoma City, has some new portable classrooms because of the much-needed MAPS improvements getting underway. This morning as I dropped off my son for school, we noticed some new graffiti on the side of the eastern-most portable. I do not know enough to say
(Read More…)
In February 2010, the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus stopped for a day in Yukon, Oklahoma. Several students from Yukon High School (recommended by their teachers) were selected to spend the day aboard the bus with professional musicians and teacher-educators, creating an original song and music video. “Oh, My Love” was the result of their
(Read More…)
For the past four years, I’ve helped lead and facilitate a statewide oral history project in Oklahoma called “Celebrate Oklahoma Voices.” Since we started using Ning for our learning community and a space to share videos, it’s been VERY important to moderate not only video submissions but also requests to join our community as a
(Read More…)
Google Document sharing can get very messy if you have a lot of students. This semester, I have 45 students enrolled in the two sections of “Technology 4 Teachers” which I’m teaching at the University of Central Oklahoma. One week when I was absent, my substitute instructor discussed the “sample unit plan” assignment with students
(Read More…)
Simple, stick figure drawings accompanied by audio narration can be very powerful when they are used to tell a compelling story. The following video, “Children’s Rights,” was shared by one of my students this semester in “Technology 4 Teachers.” She described it by writing: This educational video basically was a PSA (Public Service Announcement) that
(Read More…)
As an educator, you do not hear these words nearly often enough: “Thank you for your service.” Thanks for the big things and the little things you do each day which make a positive difference in the lives of the children you teach, lead, and love. Our world is a better place because of the
(Read More…)
I received the following question via email recently, and am posting it here along with my thoughts. I’ve been wanting to write and share about ePortfolios for several weeks, and this question has given me a good opportunity to do so. Please chime in with other suggestions and ideas! I wonder if Moodle is a
(Read More…)
It’s amazing to see what creative people can do with music, movies, LEGOs, and a LOT of discretionary time. If you want proof, check out some of the LEGO stopmotion videos included in Mashable’s posts “Top 10 LEGO Movie Tributes on YouTube” and “10 Best LEGO Music Videos on YouTube.” The past two summers I’ve
(Read More…)
Today, Saturday April 24, 2010 in North America (right NOW in fact) the Discovery Education Network is hosting a free, virtual conference hosted via WebEX. We just heard a great presentation from Lee Kolbert, and Lee put together an outstanding site of all her session / referenced resources on Google Sites: sites.google.com/site/edtechlearning/ The lineup for
(Read More…)
I shared the following today as a response to a comment posted on my recent rant, “Cognitive dissonance from the school internet filtering message.” I think the issues and questions highlighted here are worth extracting and sharing as a separate post. This is a VERY important conversation. Blog reader “JJ” wrote: I am an avid
(Read More…)
BYOB (bring your own bandwidth) is a non-negotiable requirement for conference presenters who use the Internet, and my experiences today at the University of Oklahoma confirmed this. Today’s Oklahoma Distance Learning Association (ODLA) conference was a superb chance for learning and networking – and I do not share this post to in any way reflect
(Read More…)
These are my notes from Kurt Gramoll ‘s keynote presentation “Delivering Distance Engineering Courses Utilizing Web-based Electronic Media” at the Spring 2010 ODLA conference on April 23, 2010 at the OU K-20 Center. Simon is a professor at Oklahoma University. MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS. Background – professor at OU – aerospace
(Read More…)
These are my notes from Simon Ringsmuth‘s presentation on Google Wave at the Spring 2010 ODLA conference on April 23, 2010 at the OU K-20 Center. Simon is a professor at Oklahoma State University. Simon’s blog is “The Brighter Side.” Simon is sringsmuth on Twitter. He has his own video production business: Ringsmuth Digital Video.
(Read More…)
These are the slides for my presentation tomorrow at the 2010 Oklahoma Distance Learning Association‘s spring conference, on “Technology Trends in Higher Education.” This is a slightly tweaked version of the presentation I created from scratch and shared in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on April 9th. That version is available as a poorly synchronized SlideCast on
(Read More…)
Last year on Earth Day for the Film on the Fly digital storytelling contest, my kids and I created the three minute and fifty second video, “Go Green, Go Electric!” My son (who was 11 at the time) did some the editing for this video using iMovie, and I did the rest. In following the
(Read More…)
