ISTE Conference In Denver 2010

The International Society for Technology in Education will hold its annual conference June 27-30 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. This year’s theme “Exploring Excellence” will include sessions on just about everything you need to know about technology in education.  On the ISTE conference site, you can use the Program Planner to select sessions that are appropriate for you. For example if you want to learn about iPhone apps for mathematics, the impact of e-book readers, LEGO Robotics, or 3D animation; just log on to the Planner. Early-Bird registration closes on 5/1 and mail-in registration on 6/11.

Teaching with Techology: How Do We Plan for the Future?

The latest article in Teaching with Technology gives information on technology trends for 2010, ideas that should be a help to educators trying to plan for the future in these tough economic times.  The information comes from Deloitte Canada, a respected business consulting firm. Teaching with Technology author, Professor Jim Lengel, lists the tech trends most relevant to the work of teachers and offers an analysis and recommendation for each. As many of us worry about whether to go with e-Readers, netbooks, net tablets, smart phones, and the mass of new digital devices that we could put to work in our schools, brainstorming on the topic of what tech we are thinking about purchasing is good for us. What tech are you planning to purchase for your school(s) this year and why?

Photojojo! It’s Fun. It’s Free

Photojojo is a free online resource where you and your students can learn to “turn a photo into a mural in 5 minutes flat”, shape your photos into a dog or a cat, create an origami photo, put students’ faces on cupcakes, make a tripod from a water bottle or a photo holder from a tennis ball, and so much more. A February volume, for example, shows how it’s possible to move landmarks, in your photos, of course. You can subscribe to Photojojo’s twice a week email newsletter or get its creative ideas through RSS.

Looking for Ways for Your Students to Collaborate?

Ozge Karaoglu on the Tech & Learning site offers a list of “100 Web Tools for Collaboration”. Part I features the first 20 of the 100 and includes links to Dabbleboard and 10 reasons for use of this whiteboard; CoSketch, the whiteboard that needs no installation and works with all browsers; Stixy for creating online bulletin board interaction; Ning and Grou.ps to help you establish your own social network; ImaginationCubed, a “cool” multiuser drawing tool according to Karaoglu; and other tools such as GroupTweet; Wallwisher; PageFlakes; Whiteboard; Wiggio; WeToku; WebNote; MeBeam; SpringNote; DoingText; Creately; WikiDot; Phuser; and PalBee. With these tools, you can create chat rooms, start online notebooks, work with others to create professional designs, share content, track discussions, set up online video meetings, record interviews, send email, track changes—you name it. Wow. Nice list. Look for more by checking Karaoglu’s blog.

Frontline: Growing Up Online

The Frontline report, Growing Up Online, features information and discussions on the questions, “Just how radically is the Internet transforming the experience of childhood?” It tackles questions related to students and their beliefs about privacy, private worlds of teens online, teens sharing personal information, teachers and tech, and traditional teaching methods.  The section, Keeping Kids Safe, focuses upon what parents need to know about their children and the Internet, fear of predators, cyberbullying, and state and federal efforts to keep kids safe. You can watch the full program online, view the follow-up report, and read what people who saw the program had to say about it. If you want, you can add your comments about the Internet’s impact on your students. Don’t forget to check out the readings and links, teacher’s guide, and information on what we’ve learned abut kids and the Internet and how our digital generation is doing.

A Look into the Future – Seeing What an iPad Can Do

OK, there is lots of conjecture going on about why anyone would want the new Apple iPad, but if you want to take a look at future of publishing, including textbooks, take a gander at this YouTube clip demonstrating what a future Sports Illustrated issue might look like on such a device. Also take a look at Gadgetwise: Is the iPad a Child’s Best Friend?

Everything You Need to Know About Wireless

A new Case Study has been added to our Power to Learn Internet Smarts Library. Everything You Need to Know About Wireless is an interactive slide show that will help your students better understand how wireless technologies work. Emphasis is placed not only on the technical aspects but on avoidance of pitfalls that may arise when using wireless technologies such as laptops, smart phones, and PDAs. —And don’t forget to put the other case studies—Social Networking: Don’t Give Yourself Away; Digital Permanence: Forever is a Long Time; Cyberbullying: Not Just Name Calling; Misinformation: Truth or Spoof; Fair Use: Beg, Borrow or Steal?; Keeping Personal Information Private; and Music Downloading:Paying the Piper—to work in your classroom.

ISTE Season Pass for Webinars & More

The International Society for Technology in Education offers a Season Pass for all the Webinar sessions throughout the year, along with use of ISTE resources and archives. If you sign up, you’ll have access to all the Webinars that have been held since August 2009 in addition to the rest of the Webinars for this year.  Past Webinars have tackled topics such as: Screencasting, Project-Based Learning, 21^st Century Skills, Assistive Technologies, Open Source Software, and New Media Literacy. A list of future Webinars includes: Battery-Powered Computers, Emerging Technologies, Podcasting, MMORPG (What it is and how it can help students), Twitter, Math and Technology, and many more. The Pass is available to members for $200 and to non-members for $500. Admittance to individual Webinars is listed at $50 for members and $125 for non-members.

Homework As An Excuse

Most kids like to spend time online, and many parents and teachers worry about the time students spend at the keyboard. As teachers move to assigning homework that may require use of the Internet to access and complete assignments, kids have a perfect excuse for staying online.  All they have to do is to tell parents, “I’m doing my homework,” when perhaps they’ve finished what was required an hour or so ago.  This is just another way kids are finding to circumvent what we want them to do. The answer is parent and teacher communication so parents will be aware of assignments and teachers will be aware of how long students are taking to “do assignments” at home. We need to help parents learn how to monitor their children’s online activities and how to find out what’s actually assigned.

When Assigning Online Homework

Those of us who love technologies come up with many wonderful ways to enhance our teaching  and the learning of our students. There are so many sites and applications that fit perfectly with course content. This is perfect for our classrooms that have access to the sites, digital equipment, and applications we want to use. It’s not always fine for homework. That’s why we must keep reminding ourselves that not all students have the same access, digital equipment, and software at home as they do in school. Sure, some may have better access, but think of those who share a family computer, aren’t allowed online, may not have an up-to-date computer, may not have fast Internet access, may not have a working computer and/or printer, may not have the applications or tech equipment needed, etc.  We’ve all heard excuses such as, “I couldn’t print my paper because my printer was out of ink”, “I couldn’t email it to you because our Internet was down”, and “I didn’t have any way to record the sound or do the video.”  It’s always difficult to tell whether these are legitimate excuses, whether students are too embarrassed to tell you that they don’t have what they need at home, or whether they blaming technology is a good way to avoid penalties for not doing assignments. So what’s the answer? Send us your ideas.