A New Alphabet

Today, boys and girls, we're going to learn the alphabet:

via http://educationaltech-med.blogspot.com/2012/02/21st-century-version-of-digitised.html

What If There Were No Deadlines?

One of the things I've always admired about the teachers at FLVS is their ability to deal with deadlines--or rather the lack of them.  Students can take as long as they need to accomplish objectives.  Of course, they are reminded, gently nudged, offered help and strongly encouraged to stay on track.

This couldn't happen at UCF under the current more traditional structure.  Learning takes place within a semester....or it's supposed to! There are deadlines.  For most of you, that's not a problem.  You're used to deadlines from Kindergarten through high school, deadlines on the job, deadlines for applying and enrolling at UCF, deadlines for registration, deadlines for dropping and adding courses.

In this course, there are weekly deadlines and I have to admit I'm grateful for that.  It's much easier to think about a topic or two at a time.  Grading is easier, too.  I look at the assignment directions, get the criteria firmly in mind, and then grade all of the projects at one time--at least all that have been submitted.  If we didn't have deadlines, many of you would wait until the last week to do all of your work....because there would still be a deadline.  Learning would suffer for sure. So would I!

But what if there were no deadlines?  I saw this video recently and it really made me wonder: What if there were no deadlines for learning?




What do you think?

A Must Read

Seth Godin is one of my must read guys.  He's not in education, but much of what he talks about applies to teaching and learning.  However, today he published "Stop Stealing Dreams."  It is specifically about education, and I think it is a must read.

It's an ebook:  30,000 words. You can read it online, you can print it, you can read it on your Kindle or ipad or iphone or other device.

He says:

The economy has changed, probably forever. 

School hasn't. 

School was invented to create a constant stream of compliant factory workers to the growing businesses of the 1900s. It continues to do an excellent job at achieving this goal, but it's not a goal we need to achieve any longer. 

In this 30,000 word manifesto, I imagine a different set of goals and start (I hope) a discussion about how we can reach them. One thing is certain: if we keep doing what we've been doing, we're going to keep getting what we've been getting. 

Our kids are too important to sacrifice to the status quo.

The line here that stands out to me is this one: One thing is certain: if we keep doing what we've been doing, we're going to keep getting what we've been getting.  I would add, "Frankly, that's not good enough."

Godin also says,

"This is an experiment in firestarting--I'm hoping that removing friction from the sharing of this idea will help it spread. If you're interested in the topic (and I hope you are), please tweet or like the project page, download the files, post mirror copies on your own blog and if you can, email them to every teacher, parent and citizen who should be part of the discussion about what we do with our kids all day (and why). If just a fraction of this blog's readers shared it with their address book, we'd reach a lot of people.

"If you get a chance, visit the page and give a shoutout to a teacher that's made a difference to you or your kids. Ultimately, our future belongs to a generation that decides to be passionate about learning and shipping, and great teachers are the foundation for that."

SpiderScribe

Here's a new concept mapping (mind mapping) tool!  It's SpiderScribe.    I learned about it through the Teaching Generation Now blog.  They offer information on one tool a week.  This one was new to me, but it looks pretty cool.  And free.  From the GTN blog:

SpiderScribe could be used in the classroom to:

• Organise ideas
• Plan projects and research tasks
• present research
• create stories or timelines
• summarise chapters, characters or books
• create mind maps

You can find a very short video on the SpiderScribe site describing its features.  It's definitely worth a look.  And while you're there, check out this SpiderScribe on learning theories.  WOW!

Teacher Training Videos also has a great tutorial.  Now that you know more about concept maps from your Inspiration/Kidspiration/Mindmeister assignment, it should be easy for you to master this tool.

And the Oscar Goes to....

It's Oscar Sunday.  The Academy Awards!  The biggest night in Hollywood.

I'm pulling for The Help!  How about you?

Frank Baker, formerly of Orange County Schools, is a leading authority on media literacy.  He offers lots of tips for using movies to help students become more critical thinkers and to see beyond the hype.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, sponsors of the Oscars, offers some great tools for teachers.  And you can find lots of resources and lesson plans for teaching about movies and teaching with movies.

Edutopia has a list of Oscar Inspired Lessons--from student filmmaking, to movies every teacher should see, to digital storytelling (which you'll be doing after spring break--or maybe during?) to an interview with Martin Scorsese.

Like I said, I'm pulling for Hugo.


OK, OK so I can't decide.  I'm just going to enjoy the evening.  I hope you have your assignments wrapped up so you can enjoy the event, too.

See you at the after party!

photo credit: lincolnblues via photopin cc

Teaching & Learning Online

This week we'll have the opportunity to talk with representatives of Florida Virtual School.  As you know, Florida is probably the leader in online learning and teaching.   Odds are that you'll be doing more of both during the coming years.

Learning Online
What does it take to be a good online learner?  There was a great article last week in Edutopia: Seven Digital Learning TIps for Students. Here's part of it:

Here are seven attributes that [students] should have or need to develop for successful online learning:

1. You have to have a sense of self. 
Successful learners online have an awareness of metacognition -- self-motivation, self-starting, and ownership of one’s actions. In other words, they reflect on how they learn as well as what they learn.

1. You need to be able to manage your time wisely. 
They must be able to lay out their tasks with a critical eye, plan them accordingly, and follow them through to fruition -- many times without someone looking over their shoulder.

1. You have GOT to know how to collaborate. 
This is a biggie. More than an understanding of technology, more than a perfection of writing skills, the ability to collaborate is one that must be used comfortably online.

1. You need to be able to set goals for yourself.
 Being able to see the target and backwards plan towards that target is vital.

1. You need to communicate well in writing.
 The entire online community is based on the language of words and how to communicate them effectively. One cannot use texting language and expect to be heard. A student needs to use their best level of writing.

1. You must follow the community norms.
 Just like a classroom has a set of rules, so does an online class. A student must function within the norms and rules of netiquette set up by the instructor (or, better yet, agreed upon by the class itself).

1. You must be your own advocate.
 As slam poet Taylor Mali once wrote when asked if they would be tested on the material, “If not you, then who?” So does it go with being one’s own advocate. If you won’t ask the questions, take control, and make sure your voice is heard in a positive way…then who will?

Still not convinced that online learning is similar to your traditional classroom? Well, as I wrote about in my book, business leaders and college professors have identified 13 skills as those most needed by students entering college or the workforce. They are as follows: 

Collaboration, Independent Learning, Communication, Problem Solving, Decision Making, Understanding Bias, Leadership, Questioning, Persuasion, Goal Setting, Sharing the Air, Compromise, Summarizing

Teaching Online

Do you have what it takes to be a good online teacher? Your module this week has a short quiz that will help you determine that.  Rather than say you'll never teach online, it is probably wiser to acquire the skills and attitude you need to do it.  There is little doubt your future includes some virtual teaching.

photo credit: aperturismo via photopin cc
photo credit: William Brawley via photopin cc

If you liked Inspiration/Kidspiration....

...you might like Webspiration.

It's from the people who make Inspiration and Kidspiration.

"Use Webspiration to map out ideas, organize with outlines, and collaborate online with teams or colleagues. Create concept maps, mind maps, idea webs and other powerful visual thinking models in Webspiration's Diagram View.  Build organized outlines, plans and reports with Webspiration's Outline View. Webspiration unleashes your creativity, strengthens organizational skills, and transforms your ideas and information into knowledge."

And check out this list of 50 ways to use Inspiration/Kidspiration (pdf) from University of Wisconsin at Stout.

There are dozens of online concept-mapping tools.  In addition to Mindmeister, two of my favorites are bubbl.us and Mindomo. You can read more about bubbl.us from a classroom teacher who uses it and you can see some Mindomo maps on my wiki page about choosing the right tool.

I also like Text2MindMap.   You just type in your text and it makes the web from your outline.  Magic.

Mindmaps or concept maps are examples of graphic organizers.  If you haven't explored some of the templates in your subject area/grade level available from Inspiration, do it!  You'll get lots of ideas for lessons that help students visualize their learning.  And here's a presentation that appeared in my RSS reader this morning:

I'm beginning to see a number of graphic organizing tools available for the ipad, ipod touch, iphone and android phones, too.

Interactive Whitney Houston Tribute

A Canadian newspaper published an interactive tribute to Whitney Houston this weekend.  You can see it here (not the image at the left.) When you get to the page,  hover over the image with your cursor to see the "infodots."  Click on any dot to get more information.

The image was made interactive with ThingLink, a tool in an upcoming challenge.  As you see, ThingLink can be used to add text, video, audio, hyperlinks and more to any image.

You've recently seen how a concept map can be used to create a biography.  Think about showing students to use ThingLink as another way to learn and share more about the life of another person.


photo credit: asterix611 via photopin cc

Are You More Techy Than a 4th Grader?

Well, are you?

Let's see what these 4th graders from a school district in Colorado are doing?

Great way to "show off" (in more ways than one) what kids are capable of in today's classrooms!

  photo credit: Barrett Web Coordinator via photopin cc

Happy Valentine's Day!

What's at the heart of this course? Not technology, but teaching and learning.

"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." -- John Dewey

"Do not confine your children to your learning, fo they were born in another time."  --Chinese Proverb

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." --Alvin Toffler

"There can be infinite uses of computers and the new technology, but if teachers themselves are unable to bring it into the classroom and make it work, then it fails." --Nancy Kassebaum

"Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought, or an event." --Heidi Hayes-Jacobs

"The need to know the capital of Florida died when my phone learned the answer.  Rather students need to be able to think creaively, learn on their own, adapt to new challenges and innovate on-the-fly."  --Anthony Chivetta

“Any teacher that can be replaced by a computer, deserves to be.” --David Thornburg

"One learns by doing a thing; for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try." --Sophocles

"If you study to remember, you will forget, but if you study to understand, you will remember. " ~Unknown

"By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn." --Latin Proverb

"Technology has limitations on what it can accomplish. You do not." --Lou Gerstner

"If you want to feel secure, do what you already know how to do. If you want to be a true professional and continue to grow. . . go to the cutting edge of your competence, which means a temporary loss of  security. So whenever you don't quite know what you're doing,  know you are growing. " --Madeline Hunter

Sites for you to bookmark with ideas for integrating technology on Valentine's Day:

• A Techie Valentine's Day
• Valentine's Day - Technology for Kids
• Great Valentine Sites for Kids and Teachers
• Happy Valentine's Day Using Words from Your Blog
• CybraryMan's Valentine Links 

Make your own free geeky Valentine at XtraNormal.

Google Docs

Module 6 has two assignments that will let you use the power of cloud computing.  The newsletter assignment can be completed using Google Docs.   If you've never used Google Docs, here's your chance!   One of the free apps is a word processor with lots of options for you.  Many schools and districts are getting Googley--using Google Docs in lieu of MS Word or MS Office or Pages or Keynote.

This week I saw this in my Google Reader (Yep!  another Google product!)  In this presentation (created in the Google Docs presentation mode) the presenters share examples of how Google Apps are being used in schools.  The module has a link to some other information about Google applications in the classroom.

Search and You Will Find

You now know why its critical to be savvy searchers--because we need to teach our students to search!  Here are 12 ways to be more search savvy.  One of your classmates wrote about the filter bubble.  Here are some ways to pop it!

Did you know that Google offers some free lesson plans?  There are free posters, too.  In fact, Google has a whole site just for educators with lots of resources, ideas and events.

Some of the best stuff comes from fellow-teachers.  Here are  two free ebooks from Richard Byrne who writes the Free Technology for Teachers blog.  You can download these, too!  GREAT resources with great ideas from a great blog by a great teacher!

I ♥ Richard Byrne and all the teachers out there who share!


Google for Teachers


Google for Teachers II

A Kindergarten Scavenger Hunt

photo © 2010 Mel Rowling | more info (via: Wylio)
Earlier in the semester you completed an Internet scavenger hunt, and you recently worked with your team to create one in a wiki.

There are a lot of elementary majors in this class--and quite a few early childhood folks, so here's a differentt kind of scavenger hunt involving technology:  A Kindergarten Digital Camera Scavenger Hunt.  There are possibilities here for almost any grade and any subject.  What a creative technology-using and technology-teaching teacher!

And checkout the jigsaw puzzle maker he mentions, too.  That could definitely be used with any level depending upon the photo and how many pieces you decided to create.   Here's one for you!  In what grade level and subject area do you think it might be used?  How could YOU use it?

By the way, a new twist on the scavenger hunt uses QR codes. Read about one in an elementary school
and a middle school.  That same middle school also created a QR code scavenger hunt for parents!  I wonder who did better, kids or parents?

 Leave a comment!

Google for College Students

Google has a new site especially for college students.  It offers tips and tricks for future college students, current students, and for college seniors getting ready to enter the world of work.

Check out the tips and share your own tips with fellow students for a chance to be featured on the Google Student Blog.


You're looking at search strategies in this week's module.  You can have fun and test your search skills here: 


You might also have some fun with

• Gwigle - Figure out what is being searched for by looking at the results 
• Google Whack - Find two words that have only one result
• Google Fight - Which term gets the most hits?
• Google Image Quiz - What is the search term for all of these image?
• Guess the Place - See a portion of a Google map and figure out where it is

Safer Internet Day

Today is  Safer Internet Day, designed to promote safer and more responsible internet use of online technology and mobile phones and celebrated across the world.  This year's theme is Connecting generations and educating each other, with the slogan: "Discover the digital world together... safely!"

This topic looks at the reach of the online world across all generations and cultures and encourages families to work together to stay safe online. Whether you are 5, 40 or 75 years old, whether you use the internet once a month or several times a day - each person has something different to bring to the table that can help shape our online experiences and our understanding of online competences and safety. We all have a role to play in ensuring that every child is safe online.

Today our offline and online worlds are strongly connected, from families communicating via webcam with relatives and friends abroad to children doing their homework online. The online world is a unique arena where people of all ages can learn together and from each other, especially regarding online safety. Tech savvy youngsters can teach their elders how to use new technologies, while grandparents can draw on their life experiences to advise younger generations on how to stay safe online, as they discover the digital world together.  Here's one teacher's story.  Click on the tabs on the right for more information.  The "learn more" button will take you to the Safer Internet Day toolkit for schools.

File extensions

Some of you are still having trouble with those little letters at the end of a file.  Is it .doc, .docx, .lnk, .jpg, etc.?  This is pretty much a problem for Windows users.   Take a look at this:

Here's the link to the document described at the end of the video.  You can download it and print it, too!

Emerging Technology for Better Health

Many of the newest products at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas were geared toward improving health and fitness. In fact, there was a conference within the conference:  The Digital Health Summit which covered how “health care companies are using services, devices, and communication technologies to put consumers in the driver’s seat,” and the Sports and Fitness Tech Summit, which showcased “devices that monitor fitness output and other gadgets that help keep people connected and safer in the outdoors.”

I thought this product was simply elegant!  It will be on sale later this month for about $150.





Then there's EASports Active offering an interactive fitness product with a heart rate monitor for Kinect for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii.  From the Consumer Electronics Association:  

As the electronics we use everyday become more entrenched in our daily routines, it is natural to expect that these technologies will work together to provide us a more complete view of our activities and ultimately produce better health and fitness outcomes. The “magic” of miniaturization of wearable electronics and the data harnessing power of the Internet combine to give consumers an unprecedented level of insight into just how healthy and fit we are (or aren’t!).

Take a look at the number and variety of fitness and health related apps available right now for iOS devices! 

Many colleges are now offering degrees in health & fitness technology.  So what do you think?  Can technology make us healthier?

photo credits: Will Lion via photopin cc and Derek K. Miller via photopin cc

Obsolete Technologies

Last  week you explored some emerging (and recently emerged) technologies.  But I thought it might be fun to look at some things that are now obsolete!

From the Houston Chronicle:

Former AOL employee and writer John Scalzi videotaped his daughter Athena holding a record for the first time, he put the video on YouTube, it was picked up by Huffington Post and has now been seen almost 200,000 times.

The 13-year-old girl find the thing fascinating, at first believing it must hold a lot of songs because it’s so big and ending up disappointed to find it only holds 10 to 15 songs. She then learns to play it you put a needle on it and seems incredulous. (Why would you put a needle on it?) 

Scalzi tells the Huffington Post the video is one hundred percent real and not faked, although it sounds as if some YouTube commenters doubted that. He has since disabled comments. 

It would be a fun experiment though. Hand your kids a record, a floppy disk or a Walkman and see if they know what to do with it. 

Here's more:  

• 100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About
• 21 Things That Will Become Obsolete by 2020
• The Best Obsolete Technologies
• Obsolete Technology:  40 Big Losers
• Obsolete Learning Technologies

Which of the obsolete technologies are new to you? Which of the "emerging technologies" will be the first to go?  

photo credit: psyberartist via photopin cc

Your Scavenger Hunt

http://www.flickr.com/photos/szacharias/3890784993/

Haven't decided on a topic for your scavenger hunt yet?  


How about Groundhog Day?  Teacher Larry Ferlazzo offers some of the Best Resources for  Groundhog Day.


Other February events worth a scavenger hunt from
Teach-Nology:

• African American History Month - Lesson Plans, Teacher Resources, Worksheets
• American Heart Month
• President's Day Weekend - Lesson Plans, Teacher Resources, Worksheets
• February 3rd - The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution are Ratified - Lesson Plans, Teacher Resources, Worksheets
• February 4th - Rosa Parks' Birthday
• February 5th - Weatherman's Day- Lesson Plans, Teacher Resources, Worksheets
• February 10th - The French and Indian War Ends
• February 11th - National Inventors' Day- Lesson Plans, Teacher Resources, Worksheets
• February 12th - Charles Darwin's Birthday
• February 14th - St. Valentine's Day - Lesson Plans, Teacher Resources, Worksheets
• February 15th - The 100th Day of School
• February 15th - Susan B. Anthony's Birthday
• February 20th - Love Your Pet Day - Lesson Plans, Teacher Resources, Worksheets
• See All Events, Holidays, and Celebrations of February 

Want more? Including some strange ones?  Jody Gerlock publishes a list each month.  February may be short, but the list is long.  Here are just a few of them:  

February 2012 is...





Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month 
AMD/Low Vision Awareness Month 
American Heart Month 
Bake For Family Fun
Festival of Camellias (2/5-2/28) 
International Boost Self-Esteem Month
International Expect Success Month
Library Lovers' Month
National Bird Feeding Month 
National Care About Your Indoor Air Month 
National Cherry Month 
National Children's Dental Health Month 
National Laugh-Friendly Month
National Mend a Broken Heart Month
National Pet Dental Health Month 
National Sweet Potato Month
National Time Management Month
Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month 
Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month 

Pick SOMETHING and get 'er done!  The topic isn't as important as what your team does with it!

Quick Poll Results - Social Media

Last week I invited to you participate in a quick poll about social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook.  I hope you took 30 seconds to participate!

Here's the results:

Interesting!  I wonder if the same people are on both?  That would make a good follow-up question!  I probably should have asked about MySpace as well.

In 2010 the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that:

Both teen and adult use of social networking sites has risen significantly, yet there are shifts and some declines in the proportion of teens using several social networking site features.

• 73% of wired American teens now use social networking websites, a significant increase from previous surveys. Just over half of online teens (55%) used social networking sites in November 2006 and 65% did so in February 2008.
• 47% of online adults use social networking sites, up from 37% in November 2008.
• Young adults act much like teens in their tendency to use these sites. Fully 72% of online 18-29-year-olds use social networking websites, nearly identical to the rate among teens, and significantly higher than the 40% of internet users ages 30 and older who use these sites.
• Adults are increasingly fragmenting their social networking experience as a majority of those who use social networking sites (52%) say they have two or more different profiles. That is up from 42% who had multiple profiles in May 2008.
• Facebook is currently the most commonly used online social network among adults. Among adult profile owners, 73% have a profile on Facebook, 48% have a profile on MySpace and 14% have a LinkedIn profile.¹ 
• The specific sites on which young adults maintain their profiles are different from those used by older adults: Young profile owners are much more likely to maintain a profile on MySpace (66% of young profile owners do so, compared with just 36% of those ages 30 and older) but less likely to have a profile on the professionally-oriented LinkedIn (7% vs. 19%). In contrast, adult profile owners under 30 and those 30 and older are equally likely to maintain a profile on Facebook (71% of young profile owners do so, compared with 75% of older profile owners).

Teens are not using Twitter in large numbers. While teens are bigger users of almost all other online applications, Twitter is an exception.

• 8% of internet users ages 12-17 use Twitter.² This makes Twitter as common among teens as visiting a virtual world, and far less common than sending or receiving text messages -- as 66% of teens do -- or going online for news and political information, done by 62% of online teens.
• Older teens are more likely to use Twitter than their younger counterparts; 10% of online teens ages 14-17 do so, compared with 5% of those ages 12-13.
• High-school-age girls are particularly likely to use Twitter. 13% of online girls ages 14-17 use Twitter, compared with 7% of boys that age.
• Using different wording, we find that 19% of adult internet users use Twitter or similar services to post short status updates and view the updates of others online.
• Young adults lead the way when it comes to using Twitter or status updating. One-third of online 18-29 year-olds post or read status updates.

Note that those statistics are two years old!  That's a long time in technology!

Here's some other info from Pew for you to consider.  How do you compare?

Created by: Online Graduate Programs

February 1 Is "Change Your Password Day"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/parmiter/2505803867/

I love this idea from Gizmodo:  Change Your Password Day!

<-- I also love this "password" image I found with a Creative Commons search.  Click on the link if it's too small to read. It's worth it.

You want your students to be safe online and, of course, you want to be safe as well.  If you use the same password for every site that requires one, you are asking for trouble.  Here's one way to build a strong password that will be unique to each site you visit yet easy to remember.   It's a good thing to teach your students, too.

Below the video is a poster that one school uses to help students learn to create strong password.  It's from The Daring Librarian who points out:

"According to CNN Tech, an 8 digit password can be hacked in 2 hours but a 12 character password would take 17 years."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/info_grrl/6609623265/

I also found some great tips in Crack This: How to Pick Strong Passwords and Keep Them That Way.  I especially liked the ideas in the section on complex passwords. Using song lyrics is a great idea!  Easy to remember and hard to crack!

Do you have trouble remembering your usernames and passwords?  So do your students!  Here are some ideas for helping students with that task (and you might use some of them yourself!)  I suggest investing in a Password manager like 1Password or similar program.

Digital Learning Day

By Michael Horn

With the arrival on February 1, 2012 of the first-ever national Digital Learning Day, the disruptive innovation of K-12 online learning—from in blended-learning environments to remote ones—seems to be taking yet another step toward the mainstream.

For over a couple decades, supporters of technology in education have talked of its potential benefits in transforming education. But beyond a set of enthusiastic early adopters, the use of technology in formal education remained largely stalled. Its talked-about benefits remained unrealized at best, as the cramming of computers produced few notable results that scaled.

With the rise of online learning, that began to change. Its growth is rapid and undeniable. Increasingly we're seeing online learning stretch beyond areas of nonconsumption—where the alternative is nothing at all and where disruptive innovations first take root.

The shift from print to digital, as Tom Vander Ark so succinctly puts it, is upon us. Singapore for some time has had an e-learning week.

Now we have our first Digital Learning Day.

As we approach this day, and as district schools, charter schools, and states around the country participate, we must make sure that this doesn't become a day that is all about technology for technology's sake.

The critical thing is to fashion a student-centric system powered by digital learning that allows each child to realize his or her fullest human potential. Technology in this vision becomes the backbone that helps us to customize an education for each child's unique learning needs, not the gadget that's just there because it's cool or because we simply think learning through or with technology is the way we should do it now.

To do this right, it's important to bear in mind the definition of digital learning from Digital Learning Now's Roadmap for Reform: "Digital learning is learning facilitated by technology that gives students some element of control over time, place, path, and/or pace." The document defines each of these elements and offers the following line: "Digital learning is more than just providing students with a laptop."

As our formal education systems move into the digital age, we should do so with the student and his or her learning at the center, not technology.


Digital Learning Day Resources
from Edutopia


More about Digital Learning Day