Read & Write for Google Chrome has some powerful tools for students in K-4 to utilize in their learning environment. Below is a quick overview of some of them.
Tag Archives: technology
Check out ALL these Lesson Resources + Templates!
As teachers, we can never have access to enough resources for ourselves and our students. Well, I have hit the motherlode thanks to a recent blog post by TCEA. Watch the video and check out the linked resources below for more information.
Pennsbury resources as seen in the video clip are found HERE.
Understanding Google Data Studio – what is it? and Tutorial for Beginners video
Enjoy checkout the many resources for your own work and hey, maybe you’ll even try to create your own Google Data Studio template in the near future!
One Day on Earth Project
One Day on Earth is a collaborative effort of filmmakers, journalists, educators, students, and inspired citizens in every country of the world, who will collectively document the 24-hour period of October 10, 2010 with video and photography. One Day on Earth has built free online educational toolkits to facilitate school participation in our project, and to empower students to use digital filmmaking technology to help tell the world’s story on 10.10.10.
The toolkits include lesson plans, worksheets, slideshows, project ideas, and recommended viewings and readings. The educational materials can be incorporated into any grade level from kindergarten through college through age-specific worksheets. They can also be integrated into many subject matters though subject-based project ideas, which have been designed to align with local and national educational standards. http://www.onedayonearth.org/page/eduv3-1
Image- http://www.dreamstime.com/multiracial-hands-around-the-earth-globe-thumb14115467.jpg
Next is Now
Thanks to @jmedved for finding this gem of a video! I am so impressed by the amount of information presented within the video that is truly Canadian content. I hope it goes viral throughout Canada to all school stakeholders. It is worth the four minutes and raises the question (from a school environment context), what can we do to support these tech-infused students in a learning environment? How do we want this technology to support learning?
I would be interested to hear/read your thoughts!
Children-driven Education
TED Talk is one of my favorite places to find reflective, engaging and motivating videos to share with colleagues. As an Educational Technology Facilitator for a school division, I am lucky to have the ability to share TED as a great resource for administrators and teachers.
Various other bloggers and my own PLN agree that TED is an amazing resource. Learn-gasm has gathered 25 TED talks for teachers. There’s a wiki to assist teachers in using TED talks within the classroom to start discussions, reflections and even as a culmination activity. Even Lifehack has chosen 10 videos that will change our opinion of the way we see the world.
As you can see TED talks really reverberate with a variety of people and organizations. This week, I had the opportunity to spend 17 minutes engaged in a summer 2010 talk by Sugata Mitra (famous researcher for his Hole in the Wall experiments in India). He takes us on an incredible journey.
After watching the video, one of my colleagues, Diane, commented that we could show it at an Administrative Leadership meeting and follow it with a U-shaped discussion (Support Material: U-shaped Discussion) . The discussion could be based on the question, “Can a computer take the place of an effective teacher?” After debating the issue, we could co-create criteria for an “effective teacher.” (Or, before watching the video, build the criteria, and then re-visit our criteria after having watched the video…) Our school division is involved in a critical thinking iniative that is really making an impact for administrators, teachers, students and parents so this video and activity would be a perfect opportunity for our Learning Services department to share a great video and model a sound teaching strategy (not just critical thinking but touching on differentiation and technology integration).
How would you use/share this video in your position? After viewing the video, what are some of the BIG IDEAS that you came out with?
Technology Tuesdays
What can you accomplish when integrating technology
into the classroom or daily work process?
Within my school division this year I am offering Tech Tuesdays which will attempt to answer the above question. These aim to be individual workshops open to any PSD employee who is interested in learning about a specific technology integration topic. The session topics have come in from various sources over the past school year. The sessions will run every two weeks from afterschool.
Examples of topics: Be Semantically Aware, Audio Roundup, The Benefits of Polls and Surveys,
Expanding your PLN with Twitter, Playing with Images, Online Research Exploration, Presentation Reform, Backchannel and Chat Features, Integrating Feeds and Aggregators to Collect Info, and so much more!
I am really excited to work with people, and expand on our technological knowledge and skill level within the division.
The 23 Things Project
In education, we all understand that the face of education is changing. The 23 Things Web 2.0 Project is designed to introduce school division personnel to the tools that can transform learning in their classroom or school.
Activities can be completed independently, as a small learning community or as a large staff.
The project goes through 23 activities to introduce some of the tools of the Internet. Web 2.0 tools are bringing students in touch with the entire world through social networking, wikis, video, podcasting, and gaming sites.
The entire project should take between 8-10 weeks. Each week there are a new set of tools to
learn about, experiment and use. Progress can be tracked and recorded in a blog.
Check it out at http://23thingsproject.wikispaces.com.
I am looking forward to the learning, fun and discussions!
Technology in Education Videos
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I just received the latest Tech News newsletter from Alberta Education. There are always great tidbits, resources, and the latest tech news found in this newsletter. Feel free to subscribe yourself at http://www.industrymailout.com/Industry/Subscribe.aspx?m=16941. The following videos were showcased in this latest newsletter and they are not to be missed!
Since May 2010, I have had the opportunity during various conferences, workshops and meetings to view each of the videos below. First off, they are quite polished and one is able to hear the thoughts from students, teachers, parents and research gurus. Secondly, they are short enough to share with a group of teachers who are looking to further engage their students.
21st Century Learning: Technology in Education Videos
Alberta Education has produced a series of videos to illustrate 21st Century learning in Alberta. The five videos show how Alberta schools are currently using a variety of technologies for teaching and learning. They include:
- Technology in Education: The Possibilities This video showcases a school environment that has fully integrated technology into day-to-day learning and teaching.
- Connection with the International Space Station This video shows the innovative learning and teaching that lead up to the question-answer session between students in Palliser Regional Schools and astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
- Flexibility in Learning Through Technology This video provides a glimpse into the lives of students who have chosen to attend virtual schools.
- Success for All Students with Technology This video showcases two schools that use technology to help students with complex learning needs and language barriers.
- Making Global Connections This video shows how videoconferencing is used to make student learning relevant and engaging.
Image: http://www.nwlincs.org/CompTech/images/LevelB4.jpg
Emerge Conference
For three days this August, I am having the pleasure to network with educators, politicians, administrators, an astronaut, visionary technology enthusiasts to name a few. The setting is beautiful Banff. It has welcomed us with sunny weather, a great facility (Banff Centre) and many good conversations.
Feel free to follow or even review some of the comments found on twitter with the hastag #emerge2010
Sunday
* Dr. David Merrill’s keynote on Physical Blocks for Digital Play spoke about the history of technology in music, games, education, etc. Educational software over the past three decades has changed quite a bit, however this 32 year old prof still believes that the “one-point” experience (that of using a mouse to control one little cursor) is really not the most effective way of interacting with today’s digital content. If you recognize David’s name, it may be because of his infamous TED talk from a couple of years ago surrounding Siftables.
Monday
* Dr. Bob Thirsk’s keynote this morning centered around his experiences with the Canadian Space Agency and the International Space Station. He also tied these events with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required in a classroom setting and the critical role that teachers play in engaging students. Wonderful space pics of the earth!
* For the rest of the day, workshops were available to attend. As well, I presented PSD’s Journey for the first year of the Supporting Leaders in Integrating Technology Project. My topic was Digital Bootcamp for Educational Leaders. I had two glogster posters: one with an intro of where PSD sits in regards to technology integration and the other showing some of administrators/tech leaders discussing one of the NINE effective strategies. We also worked in our group and individual thoughts on a collaborative TitanPad site. As well, the magazine report on issuu was a hit – good info shared through this medium! (Now I need to review this report for its final draft and ‘polish’ over the next few days and hand it in to Ralph at Alberta Ed!!)
* iLead: Shaping Learning Communities that Fit the Needs of 21st Century Learners – Jeff Johnson. Working with leadership in ECSD. A few wonderful videos with admin, teachers and students discussing 21st century learning. As well, he used of COSN’s Learning to Change, Changing to Learn video to garner discussion with leaders. Resources such as www.metiri.com, p21.org and BernaJean Porter and ISTE learning site http://istelearning.org/ info to plan for change with a specific focus for each admin.
* Student-Centered Graphic Organizers: Using Technology to Organize Thinking and Represent Understanding – Danny Maas. Students are able to develop their visual literacy skills and content knowledge using various graphic organizers. Graphic org – books: The Art & Sci of Teaching, Classroom Instruction that Works. 4 types of graphic org: compare/contrast, concept mapping, cause&effect, classifying. Great graphic organizer tools – prezi, bubbl.us, powerpoint, edu glogster and popplet.
Tuesday
* Dr. Marlene Scardamalia’s keynote on Environments and Assessments for an Inclusive Knowledge Society shared some of the research she has been involved in for the past 18 months. www.ikit.org – building of site and resources as per knowledge building and assessment. Interesting that new knowledge creation is not identified in any framework for 21st Century Skills.
* Enhancing the Capacity of Ed Leaders w/ Dale Howard – the researcher reviewing the Supporting Leaders Theme 1 project.
*seeing what jurisdictions are doing, does this change their capacity and knowledge on technology?
Vision – promoting successful school leaders in AB
Mission – admins will recognize the potential of new and emerging tech and enable their meaningful integration in supporting teaching and learning
CASS Study 2010 on application of 21st C learning technologies
http://o.b5z.net/i/u/10063916/h/Pre-Conference/cass_lit-review_final.pdf
Results of initial participant survey:
Response rate – 84%
PD – 69% directly involved, 30% not
Satisfaction w/selection of PD activities – 53%, neither sat nor dissat – 43%
Satisfaction w/ sequencing of PD activities – 50%, neither sat nor dissat – 48%
Not challenging enough – 8%,
Time allotted – satisfied – 35%
Actively promoting digi citizenship – 23%
20 characteristics of tech leadership – 50-60% vision and strategic planning, digital-aged culture,
– 60-70% modeling, evidence-based practice, policy
– 75% tech integration at local level, facilitating staff dev, promoting/modeling responsible social interaction
What does it mean to be a digital-aged leader?
Three fields of knowledge from Friesen and Lock 2010 – practitioner, new, public. Do you feel with this intense PD have you made some leaps in your knowledge?
* Richard Tapp discussed his involvement in the 1:1 ESL student program in Calgary. Shared that the ESL group was half of a class, all students in class received a laptop and resources were at their fingertips such as iLife, iWorks, GarageBand, Audacity, Inspiration, Discovery Education, visual thesaurus, dictionary, and MS Office suite. Students liked having access to the laptops 24/7 and confidence was boosted in showing their learning in a variety of forms. His presentation found here.
* Terry Godwalt’s infectious passion for Canadian Global Education had me attend his session. Working with TIGEd, Terry showed a variety of ways that teachers can provide authentic global learning experiences through webinars, webconferences, and videoconferences. AS well, it’s free and fits with our school division priorities since it has connects high schools virtually with grad students, Four Nations classrooms, Change for Children, VC for Hope = supported by Ctr for Global Ed
* Bob Regan’s keynote right after lunch kept us engaged and laughing. His topic was on Technology in the Classroom: Going form Disengaged to Digital. He had great visuals, a good story and pertinent research to share.
Quote: “Going to school is like being on an airplane – turn off devices, sit down, stare ahead.” As well – research from Manpower ’09: While more people may be looking for jobs, they don’t have the skills needed. Some scary info: each dropout costs the nation $260,000US. There are three stages of tech: lab, classroom and then access anywhere….and now informal learning (could be a 4th stage?). In reference to PD, Bob says that it needs to be fast, fun and frequent. He showcased the Palm Breeze Cafe as an exemplar.
Will add more info from Tues – wi-fi is giving me some trouble 🙂
Teaching and Learning with Technophobia
For those of you who know me, I am passionate about technology. If learning can be more engaging, inventive, creative and guide problem solving in new ways that I have never even thought of, why should I not introduce it to my students, staff, administrators and PLN?
Yet using technology in front of a group of administrators, or teachers or even a class of students is not always a turn-key process. There are those educators that truly say, “I have taught this way for many years and it is working very well, so why should I change?” These are people who require more ‘elbow’ time to get a handle on the technology that now surrounds them 24/7. Then, today, I came across a great blog by Janet where she spoke about her phobia regarding technology. It is certainly a blog that I will share with a few technophobes that I know – maybe understanding that they are not alone will assist them in gaining a bit more courage or thought to persevering through it all. As well, Janet shares her song with an amazing YouTube video created by Alex Francisco:
So, to all those technophobes out there, here is some advice:
1) Ask!!! Don’t spend too much time on something only to frustrate yourself.
2) Students are your BEST resource. They live in this digital-age world comfortably and know a few tips and tricks, plus they feel great when the help out.
3) Clarity. Assignments or activities using technology must be precise and clear.
4) Join an online PLN. Whether it is in Twitter or an RSS aggregator of Blogs. It is important that you hear from other professionals going through similar experiences. Ask a tech savvy person to get you going on ONE of these formats.
5) Failure is an opportunity to learn. It is OK when technology does not work or that students require more supervision/guidance. This is an important life skill we all need to work on to grow in our own digital way.
Take time to watch Edutopia’s video Technophobia: A Classroom Veteran Warms to Digital Tools.
Are the other ways you assist alleged technophobes in your school? Are you a recovering technophobe with a story to share? Comments are always welcome.
Image – http://cf2.8tracks.us/mix_covers/000/108/910/22209.max200.jpg
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