December 2009 Blog Posts (102)

What percentage of F's in a class is it reasonable to give?

What percentage of F's in a class is it reasonable for a teacher to give? I mean what's the dividing point between a teacher firmly drawing the line at demanding minimum competency and rigor, and a teacher who is simply not reaching their kids and flunking so many students that we clearly see that the educator is actually ineffective at their job?

If 80% of the kids in a class are failing a class, is the teacher not a part of the problem for the immense amount of failure in… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on December 14, 2009 at 7:59am — No Comments

Don't be defeated by the deluge of spam!!

First I want to thank Steven and the people at Ning for trying to figure out what to do in light of the recent deluge. I'm amazed it hasn't happened before now with the community being so large and wide open. Until they do figure this out, we may just have to become determined not to let the spam-bots disconnect us.

Under the forum list, if we click "View All" -- we can get to the recent discussions that are real and still ongoing. Yes, we'll have to click past a few pages of spam… Continue

Added by suehellman on December 13, 2009 at 9:37am — No Comments

iTouch-SPED

I have a severely disabled student in my music class. Great kid, very helpful, IQ around 50-60.

He has been using my iTouch and it seems to be working.

I would like him to be able to:

1. Do basic categories. Can he find a picture of a trombone by going to photos-instruments-trombone. Are there apps/games for categorizing?

2. Loud/soft, hi/low, fast/slow. All the basic music skills.

3. Any music related games, flashcards, etc...

4. Can we… Continue

Added by Brandt Schneider on December 12, 2009 at 6:10pm — No Comments

Top 10 Wordle Lessons

Wordle.net is becoming one of the most used new technology tools for teachers. It is free, and versatile enough to be used in any area of the curriculum. There are lots of different ways to use Wordle, so I decided to compile a few of my favorites with some I already use and put them together in a top ten list. They are in no particular order, but if you want to check them out, click the following link to see my… Continue

Added by Jonathan Wylie on December 12, 2009 at 12:53pm — 8 Comments

Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference

INVITATION:

SITE 2010 is the 21st annual conference of the Society for Information

Technology and Teacher Education. This society represents individual

teacher educators and affiliated organizations of teacher educators in all

disciplines, who are interested in the creation and dissemination of

knowledge about the use of information technology in teacher education and

faculty/staff development. SITE is a society of AACE.

SITE is the premiere… Continue

Added by cem balcikanli on December 12, 2009 at 7:54am — No Comments

The New Quality Standard ISO/EIC 19796-3:2009 for E-Learning: Enabling Global Quality Development

This article shows how to implement and adapt the Quality Standard ISO/IEC 19796-1. This standard is a general framework to describe and develop quality management and quality assurance for educational organizations. Since the standard only provides a framework to develop quality based on the organizations requirements and needs.

The Quality Adaptation Model ISO/IEC 1976-1 shows the steps to develop and implement quality in organizations: the main steps (Context… Continue

Added by James O'Reilly on December 11, 2009 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment

Launching an Edtech company

I haven't had the chance to use this blog here, so here goes. I'm not a certified teacher, but I do really enjoy working in education. So for anyone interested, this is going to be an account of working in the education field from a private/entrepreneurial perspective.

--

I've worked for a private ed tech company (GlobalClassroom.us) for the past few years and have gotten (and am still getting) great experience working/supporting/helping teachers use Moodle and other… Continue

Added by Joseph Thibault on December 11, 2009 at 12:39pm — 4 Comments

Get most out of your precious holidays in Greece

Deciding on which Greece holiday package is best for you...which place to visit on your Greece vacations...which company will offer you the best Greece packages. Plentiful of information is available on internet before planning a vacation of your dreams.

When you plan to travel to any new holiday destination for a vacation, you will always look to make your vacation full… Continue

Added by Rehyma Macgill on December 11, 2009 at 5:16am — No Comments

The non-cognitive approach, bubble tests and why learning to suck up is more critical than ever.

God bless ETS. I mean if you know anything about me, you know how much I find the whole industry of bubble tests to be 1) an absolute cash cow for the bubble test makers and 2) an unquestionably flawed means for either student or teacher assessment.

And now, ETS, is unveiling -- from behind their magic black cloak of psychometrician darkness -- the all new Personal Potential Index.

PPI bay-bee! You may not know it yet but one day it'll be yet another… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on December 10, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

Travel to Peru – Peruvacationtours.com

Travel to Peru and all of its destinations; Cusco, Lima, Machu Picchu, Amazon, Arequipa and more – peruvacationtours.com

If you are looking for a good place to visit on your next vacations, you might want to consider traveling to Peru. If you travel to Peru you will find a country full of culture and great places to visit each with its very own identity and sub culture.

When you travel to Peru you will likely arrive in Lima the capital city. From Lima you have a variety of options to… Continue

Added by daniel fernandis on December 9, 2009 at 10:29pm — No Comments

Learning and applying exponentially can be overwhelming

I started this web journey a few months ago, and while I do drop by occasionally, I have yet to commit to any one following. The week with the K-10 Online conference I have begun to more clearly understand what I am doing. At least without being able to explain what I am doing, though I know that won't sit so well with my administrators who are trying to evaluate my progress.

Since August I have been glogging, blogging, and tweeting. Last week started iPodding and am Xtranormal,… Continue

Added by Artie O'Connor on December 9, 2009 at 5:20pm — No Comments

Fireside Chat with Joyce and Konrad: December 12th, 6:30 pm GMT

This Saturday there will be a live Fireside Chat with Joyce Valenza and Konrad Glogowski, the keynoters for week 1 of the k12Online Conference 2009. The live chat will take place at EdTechTalk --> http://edtechtalk.com/live where participants can hear the keynoters and chat in the chatroom. The Fireside Chat is scheduled at 6:30pmGMT -->… Continue

Added by Durff on December 9, 2009 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Etherpad does not take you to the Heavens, but it comes very close to it

I had been using Etherpad –http://www.etherpad.com–for a while, but had never experimented its potential as a collaborative tool in the classroom.

Etherpad is one of the best online-based word processors out there not only because it is free (and now open source since Google acquired it) but also because it enables users to create a public pad without having to sign up for an account. Etherpad has many other wonderful features such as easy… Continue

Added by Imwinkelried on December 9, 2009 at 4:08pm — No Comments

Next steps in considering Interactive Whiteboards for our (Higher Ed) classrooms

Using a Wii Board & ActiveInspire software to demonstrate IWB’s, at little cost.

In November I started working with a team of faculty members and technologists to learn about today’s Interactive White Board offerings, and I’ve been posting a series of articles… Continue

Added by Kelly Walsh on December 9, 2009 at 12:12pm — No Comments

The Coming Cuts... How Far can Teachers Be Pushed?

My school district has already let us know that there are more cuts coming. Big ones. To personnel.

And it's not just my school district that plans on breaking out the hatchet. More teachers are going to lose their jobs and I've even heard that some districts are talking about a 10-12% pay cut on top of drastic personnel cuts.

10-12%!?

At what point does the public refuse to accept this?

At what point do we refuse?

At my school,… Continue

Added by Alan Sitomer on December 9, 2009 at 6:30am — 4 Comments

Annotated Bibliography – Twitter, Social Networking, and Communities of Practice

Just came across this recent annotated bibliography of Twitter, social networking, and communities for practice. You can read it here.
It might be of interest to some of you.

http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/past-issues/volume13/ej50/ej50int/

Added by cem balcikanli on December 9, 2009 at 3:11am — No Comments

Make a Quiz for Your Website or Blog

Online quizzes or tests work as good tools for organizations and training. Making and placing quizzes on your website or blog has many benefits.

For educators and trainers, online quizzes or tests are essential materials that help you find the weakness of students on specified knowledge. For individuals, you can make some funny quizzes to drive traffic to your website or blog.

Then, how to make a quiz or quizzes for your website or… Continue

Added by SunnyY on December 9, 2009 at 12:10am — No Comments

Merry Christmas from Shamblesguru

Added by Shamblesguru (Chris Smith) on December 8, 2009 at 8:58pm — No Comments

The Charlie Schulz Philosophy

Scroll through slowly and read carefully to receive and enjoy full effect

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip.

You don't have to actually answer the questions just ponder on them.

Just read the e-mail straight through, and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America… Continue

Added by James Edward Charles Webber on December 8, 2009 at 5:35pm — No Comments

FELICES FIESTAS.! PUEDES ROMPER LAS AGUJAS DEL RELOJ PERO NO PUEDES DETENER EL TIEMPO.

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MENSAJE :

EL TIEMPO QUE PERDISTE EN TONTERÍAS YA SE QUEDÓ PERDIDO , PERO NO LA ESPERANZA.DE INICIAR UN AÑO NUEVO CON EL PROPÓSITO DE RENOVACIÓN PERSONAL..

LOS BUENOS O MALOS RESULTADOS DEPENDERÁN DE TI.!..

SE TRATA DE PROPONER METAS REALISTAS Y NOBLES., APROVECHANDO CADA DÍA PARA QUE SE VISLUMBRE CON

EL SELLLO DE LA EXCELENCIA.!

MEJORANDO LOS COMPORTAMIENTOS Y POR SOBRE TODO CONSERVANDO LA… Continue

Added by Susana Marcos on December 8, 2009 at 4:25pm — No Comments