6 Nifty Ideas For Using Google Apps In The Classroom

Over the past few weeks I have collected some great classroom resources surrounding the use of Google for various classroom activities. Here are a few of my favorites. (In no particular order. I don't want to make anyone jealous or anything...)
Googlios
http://sites.google.com/site/googlioproject/
E-portfolios are becoming more and more popular. This site teaches educators and students how to organize all of their digital content in one place (a Google Site) for showing off their best work. Using a Google Site is actually pretty easy but Googlios goes into great detail on how to create and maintain the portfolio and has a huge gallery of examples to draw inspiration from. Below is a preview video from the site.



Simple Google Docs Training
http://services.google.com/apps/resources/overviews_breeze/DocsSpreadsheets/index.html
This is a short (3 min, 56 sec) video slide show, introducing the features of Google Docs. If you are thinking about using Docs with your students or staff, this video could be a good jumping off point to your discussion.

Google Tricks To Save You Time
http://www.eternalcode.com/100-google-tricks-that-will-save-you-time-in-school
There are over 100 tips and tricks on this page. Everything from the most basic, like how to use the image search to keyboard shortcuts for your favorite apps (like Docs, Gmail and more), to how to use simple commands to perform deep web searches that will hopefully get you to what you are looking for faster. The best part for me were the tips for Google Books. Be sure to save this site. You will visit it often!

10 Google Forms For The Classroom
http://edte.ch/blog/2008/08/23/10-google-forms-for-the-classroom/
One of my favorite Edtech bloggers, Tom Barrett, post this a few months back but I keep visiting it because there are such great ideas. In short it is a list of 10 ideas on how to use Google Forms in the classroom. And the ideas are so great. Everything from the regular survey stuff to a prior learning assessment, to kids' book reviews. There are some great ideas in the comments as well.


Sharing Stories With Google Earth
http://joewoodonline.pbworks.com/w/page/10281223/Sharing-Stories-with-Google-Earth
I have written about Google Lit trips in the past, mainly showing the connection between technology an literature. Lit trips are great but what about other subject areas? This site will show you how to create your own story trips, step-by-step in Google Earth. Creating them is easy. The hard part will be figuring out all the great stories you want to tell! Lots of videos, handouts and directions here to guide you. 

Googleize Your Lessons
http://googlizealesson.wikispaces.com/
"Take your old worksheets, slideshows and webquests, and add a twist of Google to make creative, collaborative and engaging lessons," is the motto at the top of this site. There is tons of great information on the simple things teachers can do to spice up lessons using free Google tools. Here is an introductory preso to tell you all about it.

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Even on a Rainy Day you can get a Ray of Sunshine

As I was walking through one of our schools today I went into a classroom and started talking with a teacher whom has one of our Interactive Classroom Solutions set up in her room. We discussed some things about her board that she could not get working and were able to quickly correct the issue and get her back into action.

As we talked before her students came back in from specials she told me that this was her first year in a classroom with an Interactive White Board(IWB), and that she had not really had any formalized training. As we discussed some quick things she could do to get acclimated to the software and to the board itself she started telling me of all the neat and fun websites she had found on her own to assist her with using the technology. I could tell that she was excited and proud that she had learned to use the product on her own and began to show me all of her resources.

After this I imposed on her to ask how long she had been with the school system as a teacher. She immediately said that she had been with the school system for 30 years and this was the start of her 31st year. I then proceeded to ask her what technology had she used in the previous years and her response was a Chalkboard and Whiteboard, nothing else. So it came down to the last part of our talk as her students were lining up to come back into the room I asked how she felt about using the technology and what would she do if she had to go back to a classroom that did not have an IWB in it.
Her response "...they would have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming. I don't know what I would do without it now." To see the look of excitement and energy in her eyes brought a ray of sunshine and a great feeling that our teachers are "Getting It." They are beginning to understand that the technology is there to help them not to hinder or hold them back. Kudos to this 30 year veteran teacher to completely step out of her comfort zone and take a chance on what can feel like a daunting task smelling like a rose.

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So I found a neat classroom blog today with some great projects and pictures on it (I mentioned it in another blog post).

What is interesting though is the way that I found it. Where do you look for ideas and neat examples? I have places that I generally look, but I wasn't really looking this time, it just kinda found me ...

• So it started with when Marlo Gaddis found and shared EDU Symbalo.
• In EDU Symbaloo, there are collections of links and webmixes. EDU Teachers and EDU Tools are two of the ones automatically in your creation when you start.
• While looking at all the sites linked to those webmixes, I came across another collection called TOOLS4teachers.
• On TOOLS4teachers, one of the boxes has a title of Blooming Questions
• That box took me to a Storybird Creation that uses questions to introduce Bloom's Taxonomy to children
• I look and saw the creator of that Storybird is janeh271
• So I went to twitter and searched to see if I could find janeh271
• When I found that twittername, I saw this tweet: http://7rcs.blogspot.com/ added new revolver map to blog, pls check in so we can add to our map and track in classroom!
• So I clicked visited that blog to show up on the map
• Little did I know what a great blog I would find!! There are all kinds of great web2.0 projects, pictures, and ideas on this blog.
• I tweeted about her blog on twitter (she tweeted back thanking me for nice comments)
  
• Then I wrote about her Storybird Creation on my blog about Bloom's Taxonomy
• Janeh271 has now added to her blog also: Creativity ... a mixture of Teaching a Photography
  
• And now I have written a blog post about how I found her great blog ...

Look at all the ways things are connected ...

You never know what you will find ... even when you aren't looking ...

image fromhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/29875101@N00/3363502084/

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Bloomin' Creations ...

Recently I have been quite impressed with the various representations I have found online of Blooms Taxonomy.
Kelly Tenkely's blog ilearntechnology.com has several (including some digital resources):

• Bloomin' Tree
• Bloomin' Pinwheel
• Um-bloom-ra
• Bloomin' Peacock

Just today I came across another great resource related to Bloom's Taxonomy. I was very fortunate to find a Storybird creation that uses questions to help introduce the idea of Blooms Taxonomy to children. Storybird makes it possible to do so many things with collaborative storytelling and writing. This Blooming Questions Storybird was created by Jane Hewitt who also has a great blog (but that is for another post). I saw her name on the Storybird, so I went to twitter and searched for her. Once I found her on twitter, I found a link to her blog that contains all kinds of neat projects she has done with students.

Go to this link to read/play the story below: http://storybird.com/books/blooming-questions/

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CPS Items You May Encounter

I have received a number of questions dealing with the following things so I thought I would write a blog about the answers to these questions so that it might help someone. First of all when you open CPS, if your database is on a flash drive or somewhere other than the C drive, you will encounter the following message.

This message is fine. Just click yes to continue through the process of opening your database. If you click cancel, you will exit out of CPS. The best thing to do of course is to save your database on the C drive. You can copy your database to a thumb drive to work on it at home. Just overwrite the database to the C drive the next morning.

If you ever want to update the CPS or Workspace software, don’t forget to uninstall CPS, Workspace and the Device Manager in the Control Panel. These new versions are supposed to update without removing the older versions but you still need to remove the old before installing the new.

If you have Smart Board software on your computer and you’re not using it, uninstall it. The Smart Board software takes up the unused ports on your computer. This prevents your CPS RF receiver from being detected by the Device Manager. eInstruction emailed a site to me to download a program that clears a port for the receiver. The website is: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm. I downloaded the 2.08.02 file to clear a port. Restart your computer and plug in the CPS receiver before the computer starts up.

When you want to give the students a test, select the “engage” tab and the “lessons & assessments” sub tab. You need to put a check in the box next to the test you want to give your students. Then click the engage button to give the test in the teacher lead mode. However, if you have the generation 2 or the generation 2 Pulse remotes, you also have the option of giving the test using the student paced or student practice mode. I think I discussed these modes in an earlier blog. If you want to give two or more versions of the same test, place checks in the boxes to the left of the tests and click engage. I think I blogged about this earlier too.

I hope this helps you out. Thanks for reading the blog if you made it this far. If you stopped at the title, I understand.

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Using EDU Glogster in the Social Studies Classroom

I had a workshop a week ago for some Social Studies teachers. They wanted to know how they could use EDU Glogster in their class with students. They also wanted to know why they would want to use EDU Glogster in their classroom.

So, I created a glog on Using Glogster in Social Studies. The workshop went well. We talked about ways to use EDU Glogster and I showed some examples of how other people have used it in their social studies classroom. One of the ways I use EDU Glogster is as a teaching tool. I usually show my glog to workshop participants and teach from the glog. EDU Glogster is a great introduction to a lesson also.

In the Department of Instructional Technology, we are creating "About Us" glogs to post to our department's web page and on our department's blog.

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Inquiry-Based Projects for the Classroom

Inquiry-based projects provide students with authentic science experiences. Here are some suggestions for creating and using inquiry-based projects with your students.

1. Action-Reaction blog – is it real or fake? Guided inquiry and student-centered learning to foster the development of critical thinking skills. Students may collaborate, be self-directed, communicate and analyze through inquiry-based projects. http://fnoschese.wordpress.com/
2. Connecting News with National Science Education Standards blog encourages middle school teachers to use current science events as teaching opportunities. http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/
3. Quantum Progress blog building metacognition curriculum for physics classes.
• a. Project – Measuring the earth with Skype and a stick http://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/measuring-the-earth-with-skype-and-a-stick/
4. Snapshot Science provides ideas and resources for biology, chemistry and physics teachers. http://snapshotscience.co.uk/
5. WCYDWT – Science blog provides a collection of rich media that teachers can use as starting points for classroom inquiry. http://wcydwt.posterous.com/

To see all suggested websites please go to Edutopia:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/standards-based-science-inquiry

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Provide Answers To Tech Questions Effortlessly...

It is very challenging sometimes to provide the help that teachers and staff need. Wouldn't it be great if you could just point them to a website that answered some of the basic questions you get everyday like what is a cookie, or how do I teach my students what Netiquette is, or how do I use Garageband?

There is a great resource out there from Center for Instructional Technology at the University of South Florida called Tech-Ease that I can point my teachers to. This is a great site that is basically a giant FAQ database on everything tech. There are topics on the Internet, Hardware, Files and Sharing, Email, Images, Chat and Classroom Management. When you choose your topic there is a list of common questions that teachers or other tech users might ask. For example in the hardware section there are questions like what is a flash drive, or how do I burn a CD in Windows XP? The questions are basic for those of us who work in tech everyday but very common for those that don't. Each section also provide additional links to other resources that users can consult when they have questions.

All of the information they provide is great. Very easy to use and understand for even the most basic technology user. All of that is great. But wait! There is more! There are video tutorials available that Professional Development Coordinators or Instructional Technologists can use or point teachers and staff to on a wide variety of topics. Podcasting, Google Earth, Windows Movie Maker, Wikis, and How To Create Interactivity With iPods are just a few topics. Oh wait there is more. There are some really great guides for users to download on even more topics like PowerPoint, Inspiration, Nvu, Google Docs, Social Bookmarking, Second Life, I really can not list them all. You just need to head over there and check it out!

There are tutorials for both PC only and Mac only products and they have a great section on enabling the accessibility features in both Windows and Mac OS X.

I was an instant fan of this site. I even learned a thing or two. So next time a teacher or staff member has a question or you want to brush up on your skills check out Tech-Ease, oh, and subscribe to their podcast in iTunes. You will love it!

Tech-Ease-Quick Answers To Real Classroom Technology Questions

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Testing Techniques

When I was asked to help administer a math test, I really didn't think much about it. Testing is testing, right?

All the students looked much the same as when I was in high school - young, studious faces; some a little nervous with others holding onto the "I can do this attitude." The most noticable difference was the technology piece available for them. Times have definitely changed. I had paper and pencil to figure out my solutions to the extensive questions. Some problems would take an entire sheet of paper. I watched the students read the problem and then reach over for their T1-84 calculators without a second thought to start plugging in the information. Within seconds, there was the answer. Of course, they still had to know the method to get the correct answer. It was exciting to see the changes from pencils flying across the page writing numbers and characters to fingers pressing buttons on the calculators confidently and quickly.

As the technologies advance and try to stay up with our thoughts and needs, I just wonder how we'll do testing in the future - touch screen with calculating capabilities built in, headset with microphone and individual testing areas, or devices that can read your thoughts and record the answers. The possibilities are endless. What direction do you think we're going?

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Calling all First Grade Classes ....

I just learned about an exciting Glogster project for first grade classes. Here is some information from the wiki for this project:

This project is created by Mrs. Kellam's 1st grade class with help from Mrs. Ogen, our technology specialist, at Nursery Road Elementary in Columbia, SC. We have created a glog (an online, interactive poster) about our community to share with you. Please view our glog and then create a glog about your community to share with us and other participating schools on this wiki. It will be fun to learn from each other and to see how our communities are similar and different.

More information and all the details can be found on the wiki for this project. I think this would be a great opportunity to combine the study of the geography of your area with creative expression by creating a glog. Here is an archived recording explaining how to create a glog (and even how to use netTrekker to find some of the information). The Glogster recording is near the bottom of the page.

Please let me know if you would be interested in participating: mwedwards@wsfcs.k12.nc.us

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SMART Board Basics

I have been going out to schools and conducting staff development on SMART Boards. As I was conducting the staff development several teachers asked if there were handouts for them to refer back to when they got back to their classroom and tried to remember what I had gone over. This got me to thinking about how I could get them information in non-traditional ways. The first thing I did was upload several Quick Reference Guides from SMART Technologies into my wiki for workshop attendees to open and view. Next, I created a glog from Glogster EDU on SMART Board Basics and embedded it into my wiki. Below is the glog I created.



I then created a postcard in Microsoft Publisher that had all the url's that they would need to find my glog, Quick Reference Guides, information on SMART Response Systems, and SMART Slates. I passed them out in yesterday's staff development and showed them how to navigate my wiki. I think the teachers were pleased.

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Remember — you don't need to be an engineer ...

Math and Science were not my favorite subjects in school, so when I was teaching either of those subjects I always tried to find ways to make it make sense for both me and the students. While looking at some of the resource sites available from netTrekker last week, I came across TeachEngineering. I have been impressed with what I have seen so far.
Here is a description from the website:

The TeachEngineering digital library provides teacher-tested, standards-based engineering content for K-12 teachers engineering content for K12 teachers to use in science and math classrooms. Engineering lessons connect real-world experiences with curricular content already taught in K-12 classrooms. Mapped to educational content standards, TeachEngineering's comprehensive curricula are hands-on, free, and relevant to children's daily lives.
Remember — you don't need to be an engineer to use these curricular resources!

The last line make me laugh about not needing to be an engineer to use these resources ... I am definitely not an engineer (even though I am married to one). I like how the lessons and activities found at this site are hands-on, real-world, relevant experiences. We are looking at possibly adding TeachEngineering to Learning Village in the future!

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Centricity 2 is coming!

This week, Melissa Edwards and I attended an workshop on the latest version of the Schoolwires Centricity 2, our district web hosting solution. When we transitioned to Schoolwires in March, we knew that a newer version was soon to follow. It was very exciting to hear how much the company has listened to its clients as they developed Centricity 2. WSFCS is currently scheduled to begin our upgrade on December 29, 2010. I would like to share just a few of the changes we will see once the upgrade is complete:

• You will no longer have to navigate to your allowed section to login and see Site Manager. You will be able to login to Site Manager from anywhere and it will open what you have rights to edit.
• Groups can be created by webmasters to better able sharing and collaboration. They do not have to be linked through LDAP.
• Webmasters will have the ability to unlock their users rather than waiting for district staff to do so.
• Hierarchy of pages will be drag and drop.
• Webpage design will offer editor layouts where you can choose to add specially designed sections like widgets (called apps). This will allow teachers to have more creativity in how pages are laid out but will also allow for sharing of apps (with live updating). For example: If I teach first grade at my school, I can create an app for our first grade team calendar. I can share that app with my team mates, have them add it to a page and then as any of us update the calendar, it changes on our page. This can be done for podcasts, news events, and much much more!
• We will be able to push certain events to collections of schools or teachers. We can push events up, down, and sideways! (up and sideways will require approval)
  
• Each site will have the ability to see the usage statistics for their own site.
• Webmasters will be able to create short urls for sections.
• Content Moderation- we will have the ability to approve content before it posts. For example: a teacher could create a page for a project at school and give students rights to edit. Before those changes show live, the teacher will have to approve the changes.

There are many other new aspects! Stay tuned for more updates!

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How to turn current events into Real-World Projects

Teachers have been looking for ways to do more than talk about current events in class by finding ways to apply science and math to real-world situations. But “how do you plan for academically rigorous projects that are ‘ripped from the headlines’?”

Here are some suggestions from the article.

1. Think about creating a project where your students take the role of the problem solvers, designing a rescue within a certain amount of time. Use the rescue of the 33 trapped Chilean mine workers as an example. Have students think about what they would need to know about human biology and conditions to sustain life Include knowledge about geology and what experts they would need to create a plan to rescue the miners.
• The Learning Network has a lesson for students to create a multimedia project focusing on universal themes. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/chile-y-el-mundo-connecting-the-chilean-miners-story-with-universal-themes/
2. To bring real life events closer to students teachers are implementing projects where students discuss and see events thru other students who live at the effected site, such as the Gulf oil spill in Louisiana.
• Not only can student talk and share pictures from the site but students can discuss the “psychological, economic, and ecological dimensions of the crisis.”
• Does your school use Skype, webcams or pen pals to reach students around the world?
• Voices on the Gulf provides a blog forum for students to discuss ongoing issues related to the Gulf coast - http://www.voicesonthegulf.org/
• Project-Based Learning Camp provided by Edutopia provides a toolkit real world projects using various software programs: Delicious, Twitter, Wallwisher - http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-summer-camp
3. Look at real-life events where students live, such as water shortages, forest fires, water pollution and how polluted or dwindling resources affect their lives, the eco system and what that means for the future. Have students create multimedia presentations to present to the community or to run on local TV cable.
4. Students may also want to take part in service projects where they live or to provide help to victims in other countries.
• Here’s an outline of projects from schools in the Washington area where students researched problems and designed solutions using science, art and technology. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203425.html
5. Here’s a list of resources for teachers and students to use when developing service-learning or community service projects.
• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse - http://www.servicelearning.org/disaster_response
• Do Something promotes youth action within their communities. Students can be involved by receiving mobile volunteer alerts, posting a video, adding comments to discussion forums, setting up a DoSomething club or volunteering. http://www.dosomething.org/whatsyourthing/Disaster+Response+And+Relief/Disaster+Preparedness

To read the entire article from Edutopia please go to:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/real-world-projects-news-events-suzie-boss

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Current Events in netTrekker?

I attended a netTrekker Search training recently and learned some new things about the various ways to search for things in netTrekker. If you have not moved any of the widgets around on your dashboard (which you can now do to organize better for personal preference), one of the boxes at the bottom of the dashboard is called Current Events. Now at first glance, this box did not appeal to me, but after hearing about it at the training. I might have to move this box from the bottom of my dashboard to the top of the dashboard!

• If you click on Breaking News, you get links to PBS, World News for Children, and Newsround from BBC.
  
• The News by Topic Link lets you choose from Science News or Health and Sport News. The Sport News category has topics related to baseball, basketball, football, golf, ice hockey, soccer, swimming and diving, as well as track and field. Each of those links takes you to lists of websites with up-to-date information. There is also a link to the Sports Section of The Washington Post in this area.
• Clicking on US News takes you to another category called News by State. Right now Florida and Idaho are the only states listed in this area. When I clicked on Florida, I was able to get News from All Cities and Towns. I was able to find a resource on the Everglades that contains a video segment, which is teacher recommended.
• The World News link takes me to North America where there is a link to Bermuda. I can visit the Encyclopedia of Earth's Bermuda section to learn all about the environmental issues, geography, ecology and biodiversity, government, people, water, economy, agriculture, and natural resources. (I wonder if that information is available about other places in the Encyclopedia of Earth ... maybe that is another project for me).
• Just looking at the list of links available, I thought the Impact of Current Events one looked the most interesting. I was pleasantly surprised to find these sites in that area:

SMART: World News
Teachable Moments (from the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility)
The New York Times Learning Network
DOGONews: Kids News - Current Events
Lesson Plan: Current Events
WashingtonPost: KidsPost
TIME For Kids
Children's PressLine

Imagine all the possibilities of information students and teachers can find from these sites focused on the impact of current events. I know that checking out each of those sites needs to be added to my list of things to do! What is even better is that I know since I was able to access these sites from netTrekker Search, these sites have already gone through a teacher review process. If I access these sites from netTrekker Search, I have the Read Aloud and Dictionary options available.
I wonder what I will find next in netTrekker ...
If you come across something really interesting in netTrekker Search for me to check out, please let me know!

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Social Media And Promethean

Over the last few days I spent some time with the folks at the Promethean Headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia, talking to them about their social media presence. If you didn't know, they have one. Well, sort of. In visiting, I hoped to talk to them about what they can do to increase their presence and how each of the different teams in Promethean can utilize things like Twitter, blogs, and Facebook to reach out and advance their mission.

I had spent some time there earlier this year at the opening of their beautiful offices. I got to spend a few moments with several members of the many teams and get to know what Promethean is all about. They are more than a technology company. They have a culture there that is simply amazing. Over 60% (according to the CEO) of the employees are former educators. Classroom teachers, curriculum and instructional coaches, technology integrators, and more. And what is clearly evident in my time I spent there is that each and every employee cares about kids and cares about making learning better for kids. They aren't about products. They are about learning.

What is was also clear in our time there was that Promethean is about action. If something can be better they want to know why and how. That is why I went to talk to them about social media. They know they want to be better and extend their voice but they needed some ideas on how. And I hope after our conversations we will see them get more into the space.

In the mean time you check out some of how they are reaching into the social media arena and I will update this post as they add more.

Official Promethean USA Twitter: http://twitter.com/prometheanusa
Offical Promethean Planet Twitter: http://twitter.com/planet_tweets
Official Promethean ActivBus Twitter: http://twitter.com/activbususa

Official Promethean Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Promethean/36412707093
Offical Promethean Planet Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/PrometheanPlanet

Remember, check back here for updates with blogs and other accounts as they are added.

And if you use Promethean in your district (or even if you use something else) check out Promethean Planet. There are tons of resources there, groups and forums and help at the click of a mouse.

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Using Social Media to Brand Yourself?

So how do you best brand yourself using Social Media?

We have been discussing all day today ways to brand yourself through the use of Social Media. I sat in a room with a number of other professionals from different educational and business backgrounds and everyone agreed on the fact that in order to make yourself, your business or your products you need to increase your digital footprint. So the discussions then moved to the how aspect of branding.
Making yourself Stand out from the crowd, using different unconventional methods to get your point across. So what do you use to do this, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and other forms of social media?
Be an expert at something. Choose something that you are working on or have a passion for and learn as much as you can about it and then get the word out. Use all of these forms of social media to get the information out to people and increase your base of knowledge while gathering in people to help you fill in the blanks.
Concentrate on the contacts you make. In business we always have heard about networking with others to meet and interact with other professionals from similar and different fields. In the past this was done in a face to face setting. Well lets come into the 21st century and start doing the same thing but on the web. Lets use Twitter to broadcast out and gather up information about topics you are interested in. Use Blogs to give your opinion about technologies, gadgets, ideas and information that others can comment on and could redistribute out to others. Other social media outlets like Facebook where you can create fan pages dedicated to what your interests are which allow others to see what you have to say and to send you information as well.

The biggest thing that I can say I have gotten so far is that the more you brand yourself through the use of social media the wider your base of knowledge to pull from and share out information.

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Updating the Firmware of Your Mobi RF Receiver and the Mobi Wireless Tablet Manually

In order to update the firmware of the Mobi, you have to go about it a bit differently than is posted on the eInstruction website. They will tell you this process if you call their Tech Support number. eInstruction is a very good company. There are two hex files they will email you with instructions that are similar to the steps I have listed here. This is a more detailed list of the steps needed to complete the manual update of the Mobi receiver and the Mobi tablet itself. The steps are not long or complicated but they should be done in order to have a good connection between the Mobi and the receiver.

Ok, here you go. Proceed as follows:

1.) Open the eInstruction Device Manager.

2.) Plug in the Mobi RF receiver.

3.) Right click on the Mobi icon in the Device Manager and choose properties.

4.) Press the shift and control keys at the same time.

5.) Click on the update Mobi tab that appears.

6.) Click browse and open the hex file that ends with D.

7.) Update the firmware.

8.) The Mobi will restart automatically.

9.) Remove the RF receiver and connect the Mobi to the computer using the USB cord.

10.) Now repeat steps 3-8, except browse and open the hex file that ends in F.

You will need to call eInstruction Technical Support 888-333-4988 to ask for the 2 hex files. They will email them to you.

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Atomic Learning

There are several ways for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools employees to access Atomic Learning. Teachers can access Atomic Learning from Learning Village; all employees can access Atomic Learning from the WSFCS web page; or by typing in the web URL address (https://www.atomiclearning.com/). To go to Atomic Learning from the WSFCS web page, click on Employees, click on Resources, click on Professional Development, and click on Atomic Learning.

If you have not used Atomic Learning before, a great idea is to read the Getting Started Guide and the "How to use Atomic Learning" video series. The Getting Started Guide tells you how to find an answer to tech questions by using a keyword or typing in search terms; you can browse the trainings that are available; view any favorites or trainings assigned to you. To view details under each section on the home page, click the plus button on the right hand side of each section.

The "How to Use Atomic Learning" link (in the lower right hand corner of the page) is a group of video tutorials on how to use Atomic Learning. Most of these videos are 2 minutes or less. If you have not used Atomic Learning before, these video tutorials are a great place to start. Section A lists how to use the Atomic Learning site. From understanding what you see on the screen, to how to set up your preferences. Section B features playing the video, viewing your playlist, sharing and adding to favorites. Section C will help you to navigate through your training series or projects, how to assign training to yourself, and how to add training to a web page. Section D is the "My Training" section and how to use it. Section E is the Assessment section. You can view the 21st century skills assessments, any past assessments or incomplete assessments you have. Section F is 21st Century Skills; view the series, projects, and a workbook. Section G has videos on Tech Integration Projects. Section H is the Extras section. Videos on how to use the video storytelling guide, the storyboard pro, and understanding e-mail notifications. These videos are a great help when you get stuck and need a quick answer.

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Time to Learn

It has been awhile since my last written post and I find that each day it becomes harder to take the time to sit down, think, and write. As technology advances in school, I seem to have less time for it and on most days, that is frustrating. You see, I preach to the folks in my office how it is important to spend a part of each day learning something new. I love to be on the cutting edge of new technology resources and yet that is something that doesn't happen without some time management.

I say this in part because I have spent the past day and a half in a SMART Lesson Developer workshop for our district teachers. Last night (Friday) and today (Saturday), 14 teachers have been learning about best practices in developing Notebook files and incorporating the SMARTBoard in their classroom routine. They are talking and sharing and learning new things. Every few minutes you can hear someone say, "Wow" or "That is so much easier!" Teachers, like me, have less time for their own learning as the demands of the classroom increase. We had many more slots for teachers to participate and as the time has passed, the teachers here say they wish more people had taken the time to come.

I want to be creative and think outside of the box to give teachers that time that they so desperately need to play, learn, create, and share. That is difficult for me as I am not a school-level administrator yet at the district it is my job to do just that. How do we find time for such a valuable resource when time is already at a premium? I would love to hear about district and schools who have examined this problem. How do they evaluate the use of time and budget it wisely? How can you get the most benefits (student achievement) with so little? How do you prioritize?

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robbie73/4244846566/

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Unplugging your Technology

While sitting in on a trouble shooting workshop with Promethean earlier this week, I received a lot of useful information that will help us out a lot with the ActivClassroom solutions we have in the district.

One piece of information that updates our Classroom Solutions training is that you do not have to plug in your ActivSlates every night to charge them. It was stated in the session that the ActivSlate with regular use need only be charged every 30 to 40 days. Now if you use it consistently in your classrooms everyday you may need to charge it sooner than 30 days.
So how do you know when the ActivSlate needs to be charged? You will notice a decrease in the reliability of the board to respond to your pen touches. As well there is a small LCD screen in the upper right corner of the board that has a small battery indicator icon. Just check that and when you get down to one block you are close to the point of needing to charge. Now how long to charge the ActiveSlate. If you just plug it in when you leave for the night you will be fully charged by the morning. If you are in a pinch and need the board to be fully charged for your afternoon class the ActivSlate really only needs about three to three and a half hours to get a full charge.

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What are you teaching about this month?

You might find some helpful resources looking in the November Projects folder in netTrekker! Each month the people at netTrekker pull together resources for various topics or themes related to that month. Since all those resources are put in one place, that saves you time by not having to search for them. What is even better is that the folders for each month are still there, so you can pull resources and other ideas from past months as well.

This is from netTrekker about the resources for this month:
1. Election Day is around the corner. Do our students understand the roles of the political parties and what each one truly stand for?
2. Remember the fallen, remember the heroes. In this activity, students create a Glogster on the immportance of days such as Veterans Day in America or Remembrance Day in Canada.
3. "And in all things, give thanks." In this Thanksgiving unit, elementary students create their own story using Kerpoof about either the first Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving today.
4. The Great American Smoke Out is celebrated in the month of November. Use the resources in this folder to teach your students why smoking is an unhealthy choice, then have them create a poster campaign against smoking

The Monthly Projects folders can be found by looking in To find the Global Portfolio. To find that folder, you will need to be registered as a teacher on netTrekker (when you are automatically taken to netTrekker on school computers, you are in the student category .... you will need to obtain the registration and teacher codes for your school to make that change). On the sidebar there is an area called My Tools and in this box, you can find My Portfolio. Inside My Portfolio, you will be able to find Global: netTrekker Portfolio.

Inside the Global: netTrekker Portfolio, you will find several folders that may be of interest. The one at the bottom is the Tip Tuesdays Portfolio. Inside that portfolio you will find the Monthly Projects folder.

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Bring Those Boring Binders To Life With Livebinders...

I realized today that I have talked a lot about my various Livebinders but never really have taken the time to explain what they are or how they work.

First, a video...



Think of Livebinders as a virtual 3 ring binder that you can put pretty much anything in. Webpage, PDF, image, video, text, they all can go into a page organized for you.

Each item can be on it's own tab or you can further organize by using sub-tabs.

Here are some of my binders:

Twitter:

An Educators Guide To Twitter

Staying Safe Online:

Staying Safe Online

Getting Started With Google Reader:

An Overview And Intro To Google Reader

I encourage you to explore each one to get an idea on what can be put into a binder. Also check out the Featured Binders and the categories to find more binders to use and share. There are tons of great examples there.

The folks over at Livebinders have also created a great "Getting Started" binder that has everything you need to know to, well, get started! There is something there for everyone to learn.

LiveBinders Tips and Tricks

Also visit the Livebinders4Teachers wiki which will connect you to other Livebinder using educators and you can share and exchange tons of great binders.

So check out Livebinders, and give it a try. If you do, head back here and tell us what you think. Do you use Livebinders already? What advice would you give those just getting started? Leave some comments below.

Shameless plug time. On Thursday (Nov 11) I will be the guest of Livebinders and the 21st Century PD Podcast where I will be talking about Livebinders, 21st Century learning and more. You can learn more about how to participate here.

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Updating Your Pulse RF Receiver Firmware

If you are using eInstruction’s CPS Pulse in your classroom, you will need to update the firmware on the RF receiver. That’s the thumb drive looking item you plug into the USB port of your computer. It’s used to communicate to the CPS. If you also use the Mobi on the same computer, it would be a good idea to plug them each directly into one of the computers USB ports. You shouldn’t plug them both into a USB multiport mini hub. By doing this, both receivers will compete with each other. Also, keep in mind, signal strength is lost with the additional wire length. An analogy I use in my trainings is, “Imagine hooking up multiple T connectors to a water hose. The water pressure at one of the hose ends will not have anywhere near the pressure as the original hose end.” I also wanted to let you know that there are updates to the Workspace Mobi (8.84.0001), (CPS 6.59.0018) and CPS for PowerPoint (6.59.0018) programs. They were new in October. The update mainly occurs in the Device Manager but since this is the software that connects the RF receivers to the devices, it’s a good idea to do these updates.

Ok, enough of the rambling. Although I hope you found it useful. Here is the process of updating your Pulse and Mobi firmware.
1.) Open the Device Manager and plug in the receiver you are going to update.

2.) Select the appropriate receiver in Device Manager, and go to file and preferences.

3.) This will open up a dialog box , choose the firmware update tab. Click “check for updates”.

4.) You will be told firmware updates are available. Click ok.

5.) Click next on the confirmation screen, and you will see a list of firmware updates for your device.

6.) If the current version is the same as the available version, choose cancel. Otherwise continue.

7.) Check the box in the device column. Click update, and then click ok on the confirmation screen. A progress screen will open.

8.) When the process completes, the following screen will display with the message “firmware update complete”.

9.) Click finish.

10.) Unplug the receiver.

11.) If you have another receiver to update, return to step 1 and start the process again with the next RF adapter.

Note: If you have plugged in multiple RF receivers, it's a good idea to open the Device Manager and right click on the devices you no longer have plugged in and choose remove.

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Ten Tips for Personalized Learning via Technology

How is technology being used in the classroom for more effective teaching, differentiated instruction and to meet the needs of every student in the school? This article outlines how one elementary school uses technology. Each classroom in the school has an interactive whiteboard, eight computers and access to digital cameras, flip cameras, remote-response clickers and PDAs.

Here are some tips from the teachers on how they use this technology with their students.

1. Deliver instruction through multiple forms of media
• Teachers access instructional videos, audio clips, animations, instructional games and other available online resources.
2. Gather and use immediate feedback on students’ understanding
• Teachers use remote-response clickers with practice questions to see where to customize subsequent lessons to meet the needs of all students.
3. Give students options
• Using digital media students are allowed to show learning through a variety of media tools.
4. Automate basic-skills practice
• Teachers use Study Island and EducationCity to identify weaknesses in student skills and then assign lessons according to the students’ needs.
5. Practice independent work skills
• Teachers have procedures so students know how to use the technology and what to do if they have a question.
6. Create a weekly “must-do” and “may do” list
• Teachers provide a list of personalized “must-do” tasks that all students need to complete and a list of “may-do” tasks that students may choose from so all students always have something to do.
7. Pretest students’ knowledge before each unit
• Teachers assess prior knowledge and tailor lessons to each child’s needs.
8. Be flexible when plans go awry
• Teachers model good problem-solving behaviors and involve students in devising alternative approaches when technology isn’t available or not working.
9. Let students drive
• Teachers let students lead the lesson at the whiteboards giving them the opportunity to capitalize on their skills.
10. Share the work of creating differentiated lessons
• Teachers work together to plan units of study with activities to meet the needs of all students.

From this list of ideas think of ways to use technology to provide differentiated instruction, feedback and choices for all of your students? Also, how are you using technology to assist in planning with other teachers?

To read the entire Edutopia article:

http://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-ten-key-lessons

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Web2.0 Science Tools

Now that we have started the second nine-weeks of school I thought it would be helpful to offer some useful resources in science for middle and high school teachers. This is just a short overview of the many sites included in this site. To view all the resources please go to:

http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/professional_development/web_2_0_science_tools 

General Science

1. Google Earth – use Google Earth to fly to places around the world. Check out the Showcase of tours and videos or the Gallery of images.
• http://www.google.com/earth/index.html
2. Google Earth Lessons
• http://gelessons.com/lessons/
3. Science NetLinks – resources for K-12 science, standards-based Internet experiences for students. Check out the Lessons, Tools, Resources and Benchmarks.
• http://sciencenetlinks.com/index.php

Anatomy

1. Get Body Smart – an online textbook about human anatomy and physiology. The site currently covers nine subject areas.
• http://www.getbodysmart.com/
2. Science & Nature: Interactive games to better understand the human anatomy
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtml

Astronomy & Space

1. Hubblesite – explore astronomy from the Hubble, gallery of images, recent discoveries, and learning resources.
• http://hubblesite.org/

There are also resources for the following areas in science:

1. Kids’ Space Sites
2. Biology
3. Chemistry
4. Earth Science
5. Physics

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Learning Village is back and ready for you to use!!!!!

Yay!
You can now access WSFCS Learning Village from the WSFCS Homepage under quick links on the left side. There is also a link to WSFCS Learning Village Curriculum Warehouse on the top of the glog below as well as a quick reference guide linked at the bottom of the glog!

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EDU Glogster Presentations

EDUGlogster has two new features for premium users. Presentations and Portfolios. I put together a couple of Presentations from Glogs that I had previously created or that someone else created and I added to prepared Glogs. The Presentations are listed below.





To create a Presentation, gather similar glogs together, for instance staff development, reading, social studies, etc. Even if you didn't create them yourself, you can add to prepared glogs. To add to prepared glogs: click on a glog and scroll down to find the "Rate It" box. Within this box you can Add to Favorites, Embed it, Edmodo it, and Add to prepared Glogs. Now you can combine like glogs together to make a presentation. You can then look at an individual glog by clicking on the page that is showing.

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Connecting EduGlogster and netTrekker Search?

I have been focused on ways students can use the information and images they find to create glogs (multimedia posters) with EduGlogster. Students can use colors, shapes, images, videos, and audio recordings to share the knowledge discovered after completing research using netTrekker Search. I was looking today at the netTrekker village forum. I had seen a thread about glogster/eduglogster before but had not really looked at the comments. Teachers talked about the ways they could create followup assignments by linking various activities found on netTrekker. Something clicked in my mind about all the things that are possible pulling together these two great sites.

I have used EduGlogster as a way to pull together links to share with students and as a way to share resources with teachers in workshops. I have used EduGlogster to pull together information about the ways netTrekker Search can be used to aid a teacher's instruction. I am not sure why I did not put those two ideas together ...

What other ways can EduGlogster and netTrekker Search be used together?

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