Next Gen Learning Challenges

iNACOL is partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to boost college readiness and college graduation rates. The project will “provide grants to innovators, build evidence of what works, and foster an engaged community of professionals committed to helping students and young adults prepare for college and successfully complete their postsecondary educations.”

The project will launch with a six-week Request for Comments period where people can share their knowledge and comments on the issues of helping students prepare and complete college. The conversations will discuss these challenges:

• Visit the Next Gen Learning Challenges website at www.nextgenlearning.com to learn about college readiness and completion in the United States
• Contribute research, resources, and perspectives on the four challenges
• Contribute ideas for future challenges, the next of which will focus on secondary education
• Engage in discussion forums targeting key questions
• Explore the challenges with your colleagues through workshops

Partners in the Next Gen Learning Challenges are:

• Gates Foundation
• EDUCAUSE
• League for Innovation in the Community College
• International Association for K-12 Online Learning
• Council of Chief State School Officers
• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Later this summer the Next Gen Learning Challenges will solicit grant proposals for:

• Deploying open core courseware
• Deepening learner engagement through interactive, online technologies
• Scaling blended learning
• Mobilizing learning analytics

iNACOL and the Next Gen Learning Challenges believes that “technology can be a key tool for making learning more flexible, engaging, and affordable.”


To learn more about the Next Gen Learning Challenges go to:
http://www.nextgenlearning.com/

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Why do you use technology in a lesson?

When you use a technology tool for a lesson, do you have a good reason to use that technology or are you just using it because it is "technology" and you feel like you are supposed to use it? I remember learning about a "new" technology tool and then going and figuring out what lesson I could teach so that I could use or show that technology. I quickly came to realize that an educational topic should drive a lesson, not the use of a technology tool. In education, we are in the business of learning. I feel teachers do whatever is needed using whatever materials and resources they can to best students needs, whether it involves technology or not. Student needs should be the driving force behind a lesson, not the "need" to show off a "new" technology tool. I think that teachers need to be exposed to a variety of technology tools so they can choose which one best fits with the educational lesson being taught (if technology can help ... if it can't, don't use it).

While going through my google reader recently, I came across a blog post with the title "Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor" on Kyle Pace's blog. Listed below are several quotes from that post really caught my attention and prompted me to write this post.

• Showing, not just telling – If a presenter is sharing a new and great tool, back it up with how it can be directly related to the content being taught. Concrete examples should be provided. Like I said during EdChat, “If the tool is only being seen for its glitz, then the person sharing the tool didn’t do their homework beforehand.” Teachers need to know how it’s going to enhance student learning. Students should be able to go home and easily explain this to their parents. Not just go home and say, “We used Google Docs today and it was cool.” Ok, so it was cool; we all know that, but how did it enhance your learning experience?
• Kristen Winkler said during EdChat: “Tech is the spice, content is the dish. Tech accentuates learning but the content needs to be in center of the process.” I thought this was a great way of putting it. Teachers, you already have the “dish” down pat, but maybe it’s time to try a new “spice”?
• Elana Leoni also reminded us that we should “Always have the students’ needs in mind. Just because it’s cool doesn’t mean it’s an effective learning tool.”
• Mary Beth Hertz said during EdChat: “Write the lesson first, choose the tool last.”
• Deven Black said it very well: “Teachers, like students, need a safe place to fail using tech in teaching. Failure is the key to learning.”

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Google Voice Is Now Available To Teachers And Students

Google Voice is now available to anyone (both students and teachers) in education with a .edu email account. Click on this link to see a video on all the cool features Google Voice has to offer: http://www.youtube.com/googlevoice.

I wrote a blog about Google Voice about a year ago. Google Voice www.google.com/voice is a free service. You still need a cell phone carrier. However, when you make a call to any number within the United States any day of the week and any hour of the day, the call is free because you dial your Google number to make the call. International calls are very reasonable. A call to Spain for example is only 2 cents a minute. You get to choose your Google phone number and area code from a list. If you change carriers, you Google number will stay the same. When someone calls your Google phone number you can have it ring your work cell number, personal cell number, desk phone, home phone, all of them or none of them depending on the time of day or the person calling you. Your messages are transcribed to text but the good thing is you don’t have to listen to the voice messages from each phone. You can access all your voice mail from your Google number. Your transcribed voice mails are also sent to your gmail account so you can read them at anytime no matter how noisy it is where you are. You can also set up different voice mail greetings depending on who is calling you. You can have one voice mail greeting for friends, one for work and yet another for your Mother-in-Law. Do I have your attention now! Speaking of Mother-in-Law’s, you can also block calls from a specific number. The next time she calls she will hear the message, “we’re sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or no longer in service. Don’t you just love technology! Google Voice also allows you to share your voice messages. Log into Google Voice select the voicemail you want to share and select email. Type in their address and click send. When a call comes in, you can take the call or send it to voice mail. To have a conference call, have the callers call your Google number. As your phone rings, you will be asked if you want to add the caller to your current call. With Google Voice Mobile App, you can visually navigate between your voice mails. You can also send SMS text messages without charges to your carrier. If you don’t have an .edu email address, I would still apply for a Google Voice account. It’s a very useful number to have.

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Updated Google Internet Searching

In the recent issue of eSchoolNews I read a short article about Google Tunes Up It’s Internet Search Results. To the left of any search results people can find tools for reshuffling and filtering search results into specific categories. According to Google the changes were designed to encourage people to use Google’s search engine more frequently.

So here’s an example – I did a search for “Gulf of Mexico oil spill” and got about 27,000 results. My choices were listed under Everything and Any Time. It was easy to filter the search in Google by the categories and by the time frame posted. Photos and videos could easily be viewed in threes or all at one time. This would be a great tool for teachers and students to be able to select the type of media to view information and the time posted to either see the progressive history of a story or to read the most current posting.

To compare I did a search for “Gulf of Mexico oil spill" in Yahoo and I got 143,000,000 results that could be filtered by news source, photos, video or Twitter. The photos could be viewed three at a time using the scroll arrow or viewed by pages. Last I did the same search in Bing receiving 13,000 results. The results could be filtered by News About, Images Of, Related Searches or Search History. Bing brought up all images on one page which took some time to load. But the images could be filtered by size, layout, color, style, and people. The one feature I really liked in Bing was the ability to mouse over each video thumbnail to preview the video.

So depending on your needs each search engine offers choices for teachers and students.

To read the article from eSchoolnews go to:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/eschoolmedia/ecampus_201006/#/50

Image from Google Internet Search

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wikis ... wikis ... wikis

While I was at an elementary school last week helping teachers with their new websites, one teacher showed me the ways she uses the wikis she has created. Christy used to teach in a school where there were 8 Kindergarten teachers, so it was not possible for all of them to have a common planning time. In order to find a way to collaborate, they used a wiki to share ideas and create lesson plans together. On this wiki, the theme of the week is posted at the top of the page. The headings on the page match the different parts of the lesson plans (guided practice, phonics, independent practice, small group, ...). Teachers in the group can fill in what activities, lessons, and materials they are using to accomplish the part of the lesson for that certain theme. For example, teachers can list what books they are using for the "read aloud" times that week. I think I would like being able to see what other teachers are doing and/or what materials/resources they are using to teach the same types of lessons. Just think of all the ideas and resources that can be shared this way.

Christy also uses a wiki for parents and other volunteers to sign up for times to help with the class. She posts days and times when she needs help (like Parent Readers on Fridays, Writing Center Help, ...), and then people (mostly parents ... she really encourages dads to volunteer) sign up by putting their names in the appropriate slots. If a volunteer signs up for a time and then realizes he or she can't make it, the name can be deleted so someone else can sign up. Christy also mentioned that she posts class supply needs on the wiki as well. There is also a space for parents to sign up to send items for "celebrations" (class parties). To promote the use of this wiki, any time a parent asks how they can help with the class or what items they can send to help, Christy asks for them to check the wiki. I thought this was a really way to do some parent-teacher communication. Part of a PTA Parent Night could be used to show parents how to access and participate with these wikis.

A couple of weeks ago, I overheard a high school teacher talking about a Social Studies wiki that she visits almost everyday. I found out the Social Studies Department for the school system set up a wiki. They told teachers to post to that wiki anytime they found a good lesson or materials to support a certain topic. The teacher I talked to is the only one who teaches Social Studies at her small school, so she was excited to be able to share and collaborate with people who taught the same subject. She said that she was always getting ideas from and adding ideas to the site.

I have used wikis in elementary school for a writing project and other research projects, but I had not thought about how wikis could be used in these ways to help teachers at any level.

Image created at Letteringdelights.com

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Promethean Planet Adds Storage

When Promethean Planet recently upgraded their site and released the news they would be giving users 1 GB (yup, 1 GB!!) of storage space, I immediately thought of all the teachers I've known who've dealt with issues regarding how best to store their Activboard flipcharts.

Our district offers each teacher space on district servers, but teachers who are heavy users and develop and save flipcharts all year long often eventually max out that space.
I've seen teachers who have carried around several color-coded flashdrives each filled with flipcharts or purchased external hard drives to hold all their flipcharts. Of course issues arise when you don't have the equipment on hand or the hardware is misplaced or fails.

The best solution now may be to keep Activboard files on the Promethean Planet. I've expressed my love for cloud computing in the past, and I'm pleased to see Promethean is providing this service for Promethean Planet members. With 1 GB of space for flipcharts teachers can purge those "My Documents" and flashdrives and use Planet not just as a place to search for resources, but also a place to store files as well. Kind of a one-stop shop for Promethean-related files.

Teachers always need to be aware of the information they put online, but the vast majority of the flipcharts I own don't contain any specific user information, so I'll enjoy having my flipcharts in one spot.





The one drawback I can see in my plan is that I am at the mercy of my Internet connection and Promethean Planet's site, but the lure of 1 GB of storage is enough to get my attention. And as teachers who use Promethean Planet plan and prepare for the next school year, I'll encourage them to look into this free storage option.

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Creating a Glog

Thanks to a member of the NC Ed Tech Chat Skype Group, I discovered a Prezi on Creating Glogs on Glogster created by Dorene Bates! I am a big fan of Glogster and EduGlogster. I have not used Prezi too much although I have seen some great examples. Here are some other Glogster Resources I share in workshops. Now I will need to add this presentation to that list! Thanks Dorene!

Creating a Glog on Prezi

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Online Safety Report Discourages Scare Tactics

School’s out and thousands of students have a much deserved rest from school but how will these students spend their time online this summer? A federal online safety task force found that students who spend a large amount of time with social networking sites, text messaging and other ways to communicate are not influenced by scare tactics for Internet safety. The task force determined that educating students about appropriate online behavior and digital media use will enable students to evaluate potential online risks through digital citizenship and media literacy.

The Online Safety and Technology Working Group (OSTWG), created by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, recommends creating a web-based clearinghouse of online safety education research and establishing industry best practices for effective internet safety education program.

The group pointed out that “the statistical probability of a young person being physically assaulted by an adult who they first met online is extremely low.” The Berkman Center Internet Safety Technical Task Force found that cases of adult –to-child sexual encounters on social networks usually involved teens who were aware that they were meeting an adult male while cyber bullying can start as early as second grade. Unfortunately many parents and teachers don’t sufficiently know how to teach digital citizenship to students.

With summer here, many students will spend hours online in social networking sites and on the internet. Without understanding the risks, many students will be on their own this summer to figure out the ethics, social norms, and civil behaviors that lead to good citizenship and internet safety according to the OSTWG. Parents need to know what sort of content and information will be accessible to students when they are online. So get involved, check out what students are doing online, ask questions about who they are meeting in social networking sites and talk to them about internet safety and cyber bullying.

To read the entire article from eSchoolNews go to:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/06/07/online-safety-report-discourages-scare-tactics/?

To learn more about the Online Safety and Technology Working Group (OSTWG) go to:
http://techliberation.com/2009/06/04/online-safety-technology-working-group-ostwg-is-underway/

To read the report Youth Safety on a Living Internet please go to:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2010/OSTWG_Final_Report_060410.pdf

To learn about the Nine Elements of Digital Citizenships go to:
http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html

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Summertime Blogs

The summer can be a great time for reflection and planning for implementing new ideas for the upcoming school year. Teachers often use the summer months as the time to try out some new things and plan for how to integrate technology into their lessons. So as the school year begins to wind down for 2009-10, I'd like to suggest my Teacher's Top 3 Blogs for Summer Reading.

These are all blogs I've been following that I feel provide easy ways to incorporate technology into your classroom, whatever grade you teach.

• I've mentioned Richard Byrne's www.freetech4teachers.com before as a great blog to follow for reviews of tech tools and ways they can be used in the classroom. His blog posts are concise and often don't just discuss the tool but also ways it can be used for educators.
• Kelly Tenkely's http://ilearntechnology.com/ blog is another blog worth following. I think Kelly's Promethean Quick Tips should be required reading for teachers in our district who have activboards. But her audience is not just teachers with activboards. Her blog often highlights a site or tool that any classroom could use.
• Vanessa Cassie's blog moved this year to http://sharpsav.com/blog/ . She offers several posts for the SMARTboard users, but like Kelly offers a lot of tips for people using any interactive whiteboard or even none at all.

Again all these blogs are short reads that yield a lot of valuable content and would be great sites for those who are just starting to following blogs. There are several others I feel could be added to the list, but it's the summer after all, so I'll keep the reading list brief. Just a little extra education for that much-deserved vacation. :)

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Turning The Rubber Stamp Off In The Resource Browser Of ActivInspire

Have you ever selected the rubber stamp in the Resource Browser and wished it would end? As I have gone out to do trainings in ActivInspire I sometimes get the question, "How do I turn the rubber stamp off in the resource browser of ActivInspire?" When you click the rubber stamp in the resource browser, it just continues to create duplicates of the object endlessly. If you select another object from the resource browser, it will continue to make copies of that object as well. Clicking the rubber stamp again will not end the madness. Double clicking the rubber stamp will not end it either. Right clicking on the page allows you to increase or decrease the size of the object that is endlessly placed on the page. However, if you double click the selected object or another object in the resource browser, the rubber stamp madness is ended. That's a lot easier than quitting ActivInspire to end the rubber stamp madness.

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Websites To Keep Your Students Mentally Active this Summer

Now that we are just a few days away from the end of yet another school year, the fear sets in, and a question comes to mind. Are my students/children going to forget what they have learned during the school year this summer? We all know that somewhere down the line we all seem to click off the learning button when it comes to the summer. The beautiful days, full of sunshine, trips to the pool, beaches and other areas to visit.

Fear not, try out these links to give your students/kids some fun time on the computer. Oh and it is educational too.

1. Have your students learn about the US Mint with History In your Pocket website.

2. Play all types of interactive learning games with Funschool from Kaboose.

3. Learn lots of fun and interesting facts about everything at Fact Monster.

4. Get more information that you want to know about in Math at Math Playground.

5. Learn about the Geography from the National Geographic Kids site.

6. Did you ever want to learn how to play a musical instrument, try out Play Music.

7. Learn about America's Story from the Library of Congress.

8. Get a grip on Art with the Art Junction.

9. Learn about the Science Experiment of the Week.

10. Learn how to create computer programs with Scratch from MIT Media Labs.

These websites range in difficulty to offer challenges to all grade levels from Kindergarten to High School. So after your students/kids have visited their favorite vacation spots or have been outside running around all day getting physical exercise. Give them the opportunity to exercise their minds too with a couple of these websites.

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