September 2008 Blog Posts (107)

Social not cool anymore?

I believe that the aspect of including social media and social elements in your school, work, or play is important and that it is still all the "buzz." But, is using the words "social" or "social network" out? Facebook has a made a few minor changes, notably, they have removed the social network definition in their description. Maybe it's just a given or maybe it's just out. It reminds me of the days when everyone went through the whole... "we're a .com… Continue

Added by John Costilla on September 30, 2008 at 7:43am — No Comments

Recharging...75% Complete

So, I've 3/4 of my way through the two week Australian Spring holidays - and I've started considering our final term for 2008. To see my thoughts and "To Do" list - check out my blog. Please share any suggestions/ideas/strategies you think might help!

Added by Mobbsey on September 30, 2008 at 6:03am — No Comments

The Intelligent Web

Web Strategist, Jeremiah Owyang writes:

The Intelligent Web: Software that is able to collect and make sense of all the data in the system and is able to deliver meaningful content…

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Added by John Costilla on September 29, 2008 at 8:02am — No Comments

Authentic Nonfiction Assessment

We just wrapped up a two week unit on exactly what it means when the teacher says, "You have to read nonfiction differently." Kiddos at my school have HEARD that phrase before, but many could not really explain exactly what that meant. So on Friday, as an assessment, I had them write out answers to these three essential questions which we had discussed… Continue

Added by Michelle TeGrootenhuis on September 28, 2008 at 7:30pm — 5 Comments

Fair Use and Copyright- My Thoughts

If there is a area in education that is more murky I am unaware of any. There is so much conflicting information on what educators may and may not use for classroom instruction ,that most of us end up hopelessly lost reading the small print. So after reading everything I could find on the subject I am going to take a stab at figuring it out. Since I am not a lawyer ,just a humble educator , I always hope that the effort I put into citing sources counts. So here is my best… Continue

Added by Kelley Irish on September 28, 2008 at 8:00am — 4 Comments

Teaching students how to comment...

About 1.5 weeks ago I rolled out my class blog (Mr. Lane's Computer Applications/Web 2.0 Blog) as an interactive tool with my 8th grade Web 2.0 technology class (the first few weeks it served, more or less, as a Web 1.0 tool). After working through the layout of the blog, we read together a post, and then I asked them to submit a comment. Before they commented I spent some time discussing the importance of making sure the comment was free of spelling… Continue

Added by Peter Lane on September 27, 2008 at 11:00pm — 3 Comments

Idea for an interactive timeline project based on the series of events related to our current economic crisis

To help me understand the complexity of our economic crisis, I decided to search for information from the past that might have contributed to the current set of events. The Celestial Economic Sphere, DataViz for the Finance Biz, Truthiness, Behavioral Finance & Greed is the title of the post (long) that I wrote in response to the economic crisis.

As I dug up material for my post, it occurred to… Continue

Added by Lynn Marentette on September 27, 2008 at 12:23pm — 6 Comments

Connecting with Passion

After considering my sources of inspiration and the power of passion in the world I put my thoughts out there on the web - "Connecting with Passion". Let me know what your thoughts are :)

Added by Mobbsey on September 27, 2008 at 7:34am — No Comments

A Brave New World-Wide-Web

Wow, I put this up less than two weeks ago and I just checked the number of views... 2,000+ on blip.tv and 700+ on YouTube. I am pleasantly surprised:-)

Find more videos like this on Classroom 2.0

I wrote about this video in a post called, Who are the people in your… Continue

Added by David Truss on September 26, 2008 at 9:12pm — 1 Comment

Report Wisely: Make Sense of Your Online Assessment Results

To maximize the learning efforts of online tests in virtual classroom, teachers need quick insights of miscellaneous test results in a simple yet smart report.

September 25th, 2008 - More and more teachers are benefiting greatly from the simplicity and flexibility of online tests and exams to measure learning performances. Teachers would have obtained the value of assessment results for effective teaching and learning, with detailed test items and responses in an… Continue

Added by William Peterson on September 26, 2008 at 8:19pm — No Comments

Pam's Instructional Technology Blog

I maintain a blog on instructional technology at University of Minnesota's UThink Blogs. Please see:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/pam/it

Added by Pamela Gades on September 26, 2008 at 12:30pm — 1 Comment

Links

Hi Parents,

Here are some excellent and helpful links for you to use at home. These websites support our curriculum!

www.studyisland.com
www.funbrain.com

Added by Ashley Spence on September 26, 2008 at 7:56am — No Comments

Resources to teach students about the election

As we all know, the candidates in this year's election are using the Internet extensively to get their message out and to promote their respective fund raising campaigns. Many Civics and Social Studies teachers are discussing the election in class, and educators ought to consider using the web to teach students about the election. Of course we can go directly…

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Added by Greg from LessonGateway.com on September 25, 2008 at 7:30pm — 1 Comment

Project 10100

Google has launched Project 10100, described as “a call for ideas to change the world by helping a s many people as possible.”

The project works as follows: you send Google your idea by October 20th; it’s done by simply filling out a submission form, add a 30-second video if you like. Public…

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Added by John Costilla on September 25, 2008 at 7:50am — No Comments

Reflections from Our Teacher at Sea

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/media/audios/ As the Vendee Globe approaches Skipper Rich Wilson, our teacher at sea, reflects on the upcoming voyage. Join educators around the world as we follow the Vendee Globe with our students.

Added by Lorraine on September 25, 2008 at 12:39am — No Comments

Free Web 2.0 Video Service for Educators

Animoto provides a free Web 2.0 video service for educators.

Videos can be made from images and music can be added as a sound track.

Student videos can be as short as 30 seconds or longer.

Students can make videos of their class projects and embed them in a class Wiki, blog, or in a multimedia presentation.

The flexibility and ease of this service adds a new dimension for teachers and their… Continue

Added by David Wetzel on September 25, 2008 at 12:30am — 1 Comment

Fighting the Tech People

Ok, not so much fighting, but trying to build an argument. Our tech people do not want teacehrs using wikis in their classrooms because of concerns about control. I'm looking to build up a great argument to present to the Superintendent so that we might be able to win this battle. All suggestions are welcome!

Added by Mark Fuson on September 24, 2008 at 11:13am — 2 Comments

Please consider joining our Cool Tools and EdTech (http://groups.diigo.com/groups/cooltools) and/or Parent Learning Board (http://groups.diigo.com/groups/parent) group at Diigocom.

You might also enjoy checking out and downloading the FREE Teacher Toolbar (listed among Jane Hart's best elearning tools in… Continue

Added by Ellen on September 24, 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments