Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tech Grants for Washington State Teachers

Washington State K-12 educators are invited to apply for a 2009 Qwest Foundation Learning Technologies grant. This grant application is the first step in a competitive process that will award $10,000 grants to individual public school teachers or teacher teams.

These grants reward learning projects that integrate technology into standards-based curricula. The grant is managed by Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Educational Technology unit.

Completed grant applications are due at OSPI no later than 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 21, 2009. For more information or to download the application materials, click here.

Thanks to Julia Fallon for the scoop!

Labels: , ,

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Free Online Conference on Web 2.0

The Knowledge Bank online conference out of Australia this year is focused on Web 2.0 in education: what it is, how it’s being used today and its potential to radically change education.

Steve Hargadon will be giving the keynote address on why "Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education."

General Conference Information

Topic: Learning in a changing world - Web 2.0 and beyond
When: Six sessions held over July 21 and 23 2008 (depending on time zone!)
Where: Online in Elluminate
Sign Up: The conference is free but you need to Sign Up.

Abstract

Web 2.0 is not new - many of us have used social networking sites like YouTube, TeacherTube and Facebook. We know about Wikipedia, Skype and podcasting. We read, even write, and comment on blogs. But what might happen to education as Web 2.0 becomes mainstream?

* Introducing Web 2.0. Who are you? Where have I met you before?
* How can reading and writing a blog change your way of learning?
* How does a direct connection with an expert shift your relationship to knowledge?
* Who are the content experts?
* What skills should we be teaching to young people, and what can we learn from them?

Who should attend?

Primary and secondary school teachers, education policy officers, researchers, further education professionals and other educators - anybody interested in Web 2.0 and education.

Related Resources

Labels: , ,

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Linkage: Web Predator Myths, Twitter & Oprah

Study DeBunks Sexual Predator Myths: Sorry Chris Hansen, but a new study reveals that much of what people "know" or report about social networks and sexual predators is, well, just wrong.

Twitter and NASA: The Mars Rover is sending live updates to Twitter.

Virtual WWII Exhibit:
The online collection features items and stories selected from a collection of World War II materials housed at the Lee Library at Brigham Young University.

Constructing Modern Knowledge '08:
The Constructivist Consortium is sponsoring a four-day institute focusing on "intensive computer-rich project development with peers and a world-class faculty." The conference will be held at the Radison Hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire.


O Ambassadors:
Oprah Winfrey, in partnership with Free the Children & Oprah's Angel Network, have announced the launch a new social change organization for youth called O Ambassadors.

Want to Reach Teens? Think Mobile:
Teens are already totally wired, so it's natural that teens will use their mobile devices as a way to connect with the brands they love. And advertisers are all too happy to oblige.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Acrobat & Buzzword: Move over Google Docs

Earlier this week Adobe launched Acrobat.com a new suite of web-based services that includes, Buzzword, an online word processor that will--especially in the education 2.0 community--go head-to-head with Google Docs.

According to the Acrobat blog the new Acrobat Suite is comprised of three distinctive applications:

  • Adobe Buzzword for creating and reviewing documents together.
  • Adobe ConnectNow for holding full-fledged online web conferences/video conferencing with up to three people.
  • The Acrobat.com organizer for sharing 5GB of files with others online, including the ability to convert 5 documents to PDF and embed your documents in blogs, wikis or other web pages.
Read more about Acrobat and Buzzword by clicking here.

Labels: , , ,

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Podcasts and Classroom Use

Task pre-service student teachers to research integrating technology into classroom use and they will produce an overwhelming source of ideas!

To share their ideas for using Podcasts in the Classroom:
Teachers can use podcasting to share lecture information with students. Teachers can have students create podcasts to share information that they gathered. This type of assignment would have students use voice recordings, sound effects, and photos. This will definitely engage students if they are taught how to create one. Students and teachers can also use podcasting and add it to a website or blog. I think I'll do that with mine smile. Teachers and students who use podcasting learn content in a creative way. In addition, they are also learning new communication skills.

I like the idea that students can access information from the web and not have to only read. This could help with auditory learners, students who like to listen to music, and those students who love to use computers.
~Elena

A few examples of how podcasts can be a learning tool for learning are that podcasts make most educational needs accessible, such as lectures and speeches, audio-guides, case studies, audio-notes/feedbacks, music, news and course updates, etc..
~Clare

I looked at Brown University’s website—it was cool how they put up podcast about activities that took place and we can view them with a windows media player, itunes or download it into your iPod.
MY IDEA… This gave me that idea that in your class—you may use this to document special days/presentation in class or in the school and this can be a way to have parents view it at home or when internet access in nearby. It is a new way students may learn how to access information and/or have them create a podcast as a culminating project.

Some other ideas for podcast can be “How-to-do” podcasts- for example, grammar, writing a story or letter, read-aloud, storytelling, step by step completing a science project, making a blog or website, etc…
~Diane

When I was looking through some teacher blogs about podcasting I read about one teacher that uses podcasting for students to record their reading. This way progress can be tracked and teachers or specialists can listen to the podcast to see what areas need to be addressed.

I was thinking that it would be neat to have the students create portfolios that could be accessed by their parents at home. It would work just like engrade.com but lots of other things could be included. Students would also be able to access their recordings at home and work on improving their reading if they wanted to. Just like teacher portfolio or the paper portfolios in the classroom.

I was also thinking that a teacher could use podcasts as part of the weekly or daily routine. At the beginning of the year the teacher and students would/could listen to the same podcast together and learn how to take notes or listen for key words. Since Saipan has so many (mostly) ELL students I would start out with video webcasts so that students could see along with hear but quickly move into the listening only realm. The teacher could easily modify the lesson by providing some with worksheets to fill in as they listen while the higher level students would have a worksheet too but have to take better notes and fill in more information. Students would rather listen to a podcast from a specialist or celebrity than their teacher!

When I was looking through the social studies podcasts I got the idea that it would be fun to have the class do a year-long project about their community. It could be bundled together so that people could listen and learn about Saipan from the students’ perspective. I got the idea from listening to students in a social studies classroom question a guest speaker about his trip to Egypt.

I never realized all of the uses for podcasts in the classroom. Laurence mentioned a lot of great ideas that address multiple intelligence, thinking styles, and learning styles. One of the great things I learned from this assignment is that if done properly podcasts can reach students at their level and where they are at with their background knowledge. Wouldn't it be great to have time on Friday's for students to be able to put podcasts on their ipod to listen to over the weekend! They would not even realize they are learning! State of flow all on their own!

Maybe the new yahoo for teachers website will have podcasts bundled by levels and content so that a teacher could just put it on the computer for the students and not have to look at 50 different places before getting just 3 different leveled podcasts addressing the same content.
~Erin

Podcasts can be created from original material by students and teachers or existing audio files can be downloaded for classroom use. Creating a podcast allows students to share learning experiences. It provides them with a worldwide audience that makes learning meaningful and assessment authentic. Teachers can use the technology to provide extra and modified material to students to download and evaluate at a time that suit them. The flexibility that such time-shifting offers makes podcasting a valuable educational tool.

Podcasts are a great way for using student products to share learning, sharing school news with parents, faculty, community members, and other people, and for teachers to provide professional development with others. By providing students with an authentic audience, teachers increase motivation to write. Students improve fluency and listening skills. Podcasts give students a view of journalism in the making, tutorials, and encourages interactive collaboration with others that is creative, fun and FREE.

Here are some educational techniques we could use podcasts and incorporate them into our classroom and lessons/teachings.

* Talk and music shows
* Interviews with pupils and staff
* Story telling and audio books
* Tutorials and instructions
* Commentaries
* Sharing information with parents and the community
* Providing updates on forthcoming school events
* Sportscasts
~Laurence

Some sites they wanted to share with others looking to incorporate podcasts:

Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Why Web 2.0 Isn't Relevant for the (Education) Masses...Yet



Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li spends her time between two worlds: the early adopter Web 2.0 crowd and the broader business users who don't quite get them.

Here, she explains why all that Facebook-MySpace-Twitter-Digg excitement aside, most of the world just doesn't find Web 2.0 relevant and what entrepreneurs need to do to fix that.

Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Tapping the Tools of Teen Culture

In reading "Tapping the Tools of Teen Culture" from the Digital Divide Network I was reminded of teen culture.

As adults, we use new technologies for various reasons, in our personal lives and for our job, but these are hardly ever for the same reasons or ways in which teens use them.

In this article, Aaron Schmidt, talks about new technologies such as blogs, wikis, IM and provides some very good ideas to use the Web2.0 as a participatory tool from the teens' perspective.

It's a good read.....

Labels: , ,

Sunday, September 30, 2007

MashupEdu : The New Digital Pedagogy

Dr. Mercedes Fisher and I just finished a new book chapter titled "Pedagogical Mashup: Social Media, Gen Y and Digital Learning Styles" that will be published early next year.

I'll have more details in a future post, but in the meantime I wanted to share the bounty of resources we culled together for the article.

We've saved the links for all the resources and references cited in the book chapter over on the social bookmarking tool del.icio.us, which you can find here: http://del.icio.us/mashup.edu

If you have any questions, or know of a great Education 2.0 resource that we should include, let us know!

Related Articles by Mercedes Fisher & Derek E. Baird

Labels: , , , ,

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

K12 Online Conference 2007

Announcing the 2nd Annual K12 Online 2007 convention for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice.

The 2007 conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26 of 2007, and will include a pre-conference keynote during the week of October 8. The conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries.”

Additional Resources

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Get the Pulse on Totally Wired Teens

Twtour Anastasia Goodstein is an award-winning blogger and expert on how American tweens, teens and twentysomethings use technology. She is also the creative genius behind the Ypulse blog and Ypulse Mashup conferences (including the Tween Mashup in NYC this month).

Most recently she is the author of a book about teens and technology called Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online.

In her book Anastasia explores what Gen Y is doing on the Internet and with social media and mobile technology. She also delves into issues around cyberbullying, MySpace (and other social networks), as well as how all this technology is impacting schools and educators.

Anasatasia, thanks to the folks over at Proctor & Gamble, is going on a fall book tour. In addition to being incredibly knowledgeable in how teens are using technology, she is also keenly aware of how technology is being (or not) integrated in the classroom to support these burgeoning digital learning styles.

From personal experience, I can tell you that Anastasia is an engaging and interesting speaker who has the ability to explain (in real English, not geek speak!) how teens use technology, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of their total immersion in technology.

If you have the opportunity to hear her speak, please do so! You'll be glad you did.

Related Resources

Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, September 17, 2007

Yahoo! & the 21st Century Classroom

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Back to School 2007: Get Your Wiki On!

You already know that PBwiki is the easiest and best wiki platform out there. But did you know that Atomic Learning has FREE tutorials on PBwiki?

These tutorials will help you learn step-by-step how to create a PBwiki. Hurry, the tutorials are only available for a short time!

Speaking of wiki's, Yahoo! For Teachers has a new group for educators where they can go to get advice, share experiences and best practices from other teachers who are using wiki's in their classroom.

Whether your a wiki veteran, or just getting started, come share what you know about using wiki's in an educational setting.

Related Resources

Labels: , , , , , , ,

AT&T Education: Four Stars for Jumpcut!

Jumpcut, the free suite of video editing and remixing tools, was recently featured as the AT&T Education "Hot Site of the Week"!

Many thanks to our friends at AT&T Education for featuring Jumpcut. Come join the Jumpcut + Yahoo! For Teachers group and share your video project and clips with other educators.

Jumpcut is Yahoo! too, so if you already have a Yahoo! ID, you're all set to go!

Related Resources

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Monday, August 20, 2007

Ed Tech & Lifelong Learning

Mr. Circe, one of the teachers who participated in the Yahoo! For Teachers workshop in NYC, has recently started a professional development/lifelong learning blog called ed/el/tech.

In this lifelong learning & professional development blog, Mr. C keeps tabs on the latest and greatest web tools and provides some terrific insight into how you can integrate social media into your curriculum.

Be sure to save ed/ed/tech in your favorite RSS reader or bookmark it in del.icio.us--this is good stuff! Thanks Mr. C!

Labels: , , , ,

Technology & Learning Digital Photography Contest


"Technology & Learning invites K-12 students to participate in the sixth annual digital photography contest.

The competition, open to all K-12 students, challenges you to capture - and share - your unique vision of the world in a "Digital Diary - Through My Lens."

If you have an artistic side, you also have the option to digitally enhance your photos with your favorite imaging software.

The best digitally enhanced photo wins a special prize from Adobe. Other prizes include a digital camera, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and more!"

More Info

Labels: , ,

Monday, June 04, 2007

Yahoo! Teachers Workshops 2007

Today Yahoo! Teachers announced the dates and locations for their 2007 Yahoo! Teachers workshops! You can learn more about the workshops and get an application by clicking here.

Come join your colleagues and learn how to use Yahoo! Teachers and the Gobbler in your classroom. This is an excellent opportunity to learn how to use social media tools to support student learning as well as connect and meet other passionate educators like you!




We had a great time at our 2006 Yahoo! Teachers workshop and expect this year to be even better! So this summer, come spend a day with Yahoo! Teachers.

Related Resources

Labels: , , , ,

Monday, May 21, 2007

Yahoo! Teachers Documentary: By Teachers, for Teachers


Excerpt from a documentary made during the Yahoo! Teachers, Summer Session 2006 camp held on the Yahoo! campus. Check out http://teachers.yahoo.com to see what educators and Yahoo! created together!

Be sure to check the Yahoo! Teachers site for information about upcoming workshops in a city near you!

Labels: , , , , , ,

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

the next wave: mLearning


the next wave: mLearning
Originally uploaded by derekeb.

I just got the reprints on my latest article. You can read the abstract here. If you want to know more, or need a cure for insomnia, let me know and I'll send you a copy.

Labels: , , , , , ,

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Yahoo! Safely: Net Safety Resources for Teachers & Parents


How does Yahoo! help keep kids safe online? Find out on the recently launched Yahoo! Safely site! As the most trafficked internet destination in the world, Yahoo! is committed to ensuring that the 30 million children on the internet in the US are exploring it safely.

The new Yahoo! Safely site collects resources, knowledge and expertise from across the Web for children, parents, and educators to raise awareness about the importance of safety, ethics and piracy.

Check out some of the interactive features on Yahoo! Safely that help kids form safe and smart Internet habits early in life:
  • Games and Activities – Play cyber-safety games online
  • Clips and Videos – Watch educational videos that help kids become good cyber-citizens
  • Weekly Poll – Vote on opinions about safe practices
  • Avatar ID Card – Submit Avatars to be featured in the gallery
  • Online Safety Forum for Parents – Join in the discussion about online child safety
  • Tech Advisor Articles – Get expert advice from Yahoo! Tech bloggers

Related Resources

Labels: , , , , , ,

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Now Live: debaird.net

Just a quick note to announce the launch of my new blog debaird.net! Yes, the name is quite original isn't it? I'll still be blogging here on BlendedEdu with MaryAnne sharing ed tech resources and reviews.

Over on the new site, I'll be blogging about Social Media, Gen Y, Education Technology, Community and other stuff. So come on by and have a read!

Web Resources

Labels: , , , ,

Related Posts with Thumbnails