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.

Grammar Girl Knows

You may want to introduce your students to Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. The tips are a fun way to understand the rules of grammar-lots better than most grammar books I've encountered. Mignon Fogarty, Grammar Girl, offers free tips through Podcasts and her Website. There's also a Grammar Girl book packed with great grammar practice including guidelines for written interaction through email and text messaging. Grammar Girl reminds us that there is no "unsend" button, that we may not want to reply to "all", and that computer slang/abbreviations may not always be appropriate. I don't know about you, but it's difficult for me to decide about a salutation in an email. No salutation often seems rude and "dear" sometimes seems too formal. I often turn to Hi Diane. Grammar Girl tells me know that such a salutation is commonly used, "but not technically correct". It should be "Hi, Diane." Now you know. I find it difficult to write about Grammar Girl without worrying about my grammar. Perhaps she'll be able to stimulate your students to think "grammar", too?

July 15th ePals Conference: Online Communication for Students

If you are looking for great ideas for interactive learning with friends from all over the world, check out The First Annual ePals Conference, which is scheduled as a pre-conference workshop at Alan November's annual conference. The session will take place on Thursday, July 15th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Boston Newton Marriott.  Educators interested in global education projects, collaborative technology tools, Web 2.0, and how these impact learning, will want to attend and perhaps present. If you have best practice or implementation tips related to Web 2.0 and social networks, send in your ideas for the conference.

Building Interactive Courses and Activities

Harbinger Knowledge Products' Raptivity, a winner of Technology & Learning's Award of Excellence, provides an easy way to set up courses, webinars, surveys, learning content, etc. just like you want. It features a library of over 200 learning interactions such as games, videos, simulations, 3D interactions, puzzles, visuals, diagrams, simulations-you name it. To set up courses, you'll need to use a Pentium III processor or higher; those using what you create will need a Pentium II processor or higher. The program has a clean look and looks easy to use. As an educator, you'll appreciate that interactivities can be set up based upon the learning theory (Bloom, Gagne, etc.) This is a product that you'll need time to investigate carefully, so if you are interested, you'll want to download the Free Trial, take the tour, and sign up for one of the free Webinars. There are several levels of Raptivity that can be purchased depending upon need. The lowest price for education is below $300 and includes 35 interaction models. However, you may be interested in higher-level versions of the product or some of the add-ons (Video TurboPack, Simulations TurboPack, etc.) that are available at an additional cost.

Your Professional vs. Virtual Life

When might your virtual life come in conflict with your teaching career and/or with your ability to get a teaching job? Maybe during college you posted something on a social networking site and forgot about it? Maybe you put a sexy photo online, had second thoughts about it, and then thought you'd removed all traces of it? Maybe you think what you do online won't be found by your students, their parents, or your supervisors? Today pre-service teachers and in-service teachers are finding that what they've put online can haunt or destroy their careers. Some teachers have been denied credentials, some have been suspended, and others have lost their jobs because of Web postings. The Washington Post article, When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web discusses the problems involved when sites on the Web show teachers looking and acting, well-not so professional.

Teens & Their Secret Digital Lives

Prevention Magazine (April '08) published The Secret Life of Teens and a number of other articles (Secret Life of Teens by Rich, Secret Life of Teens: Clubbing by Cuomo) and books (The Secret Life of Teens by Patnaik and Shinseki) have targeted this topic as well. Those writing about teens cover topics such as alcohol and drug abuse, teens' lives, hopes and dreams; teens' nightlife; and how to help teens survive these often exciting and dangerous years. It's evident that teens look to online communities and digital communication for interaction. Going to FaceBook, for example, helps them get away from the adults in their lives. In an online community they can share their secrets, which often aren't secrets for long. It's their world, and probably many of us ex-teens would have liked to have that world available at times when we were teens. But it's also a world that can become addictive. Aside from the possibility of online dangers, there's the danger that teens are so drawn to digital communities that they go there instead of interacting with those around them. It's not just online communities that are keeping our students from being part of the real world. Katie Baldo, the guidance counselor quoted in the Prevention piece warns that kids, because of being wired to their digital connections, aren't getting the practice they need with non-digital social interaction. She recommends that use of technologies such as cellphones, MP3 players, and video games be limited to one-hour on weekdays and two-hours on Saturdays and Sundays. Of course, teens and even pre-teens would say that this digital world is an important part of their real world.

Do You Have an Intelligent Classroom?

Sign up for Model Intelligent Classroom News or visit the Model Intelligent Classroom site to keep up with ideas and news about how to bring 21^st Century Skills into your classroom. Find out what technologies can make a difference and how you can best integrate them into your teaching. Investigate Tips like Top Whiteboard Use, Digital Story Telling, Multidisciplinary Digital Photography, Launching a Laptop Program, Professional Development, and Building an Online Community. Model Intelligent Classroom is hosted by Technology & Learning and features Dell and Intel in partnership with school districts throughout the United States.

Flip Over the Flip

Your students have probably already heard of Flip cameras. In fact, some of them may already have a Flip. These are digital video cameras that sell for a fraction of the cost (about $150) of mini-camcorders. They're small-about 4" by 2" and come in a variety of colors. Of course, they can't do everything a more expensive video camera can, but they are perfect for student presentations, Web video, recording classroom events, and much more. -And they'll load into your computer with their own USB plug that pops out from the body of the camera. The Flip Ultra could be a great addition to your classroom tools.

To Filter or Not to Filter - Sites, eMail, etc.

Everyone complains about filtering. It's a topic often argued by teachers, parents, school leaders, and students, but nobody has come up with a solution that pleases everyone. Because people have differing values, needs, and backgrounds, the hope of finding a solution isn't on the horizon. Teachers and parents complain that filtering isn't adequate. Parents call schools complaining about nasty comments that came to their children's email, in a chat room, or through a text message. Schools get calls from parents who request a magic button that will keep their children safe from what they consider inappropriate sites and digital communication. Teachers and students complain that sites they want to get into are blocked. They can't access the sites they need for their lessons. Tech administrators complain that they can't keep up with the filtering dilemma. They are too busy opening and closing sites and checking digital communication is overwhelming and takes time from their other duties. Maybe it's time to find out more about the why's and how's of filtering? The site Teachers Teaching Teachers has a podcast called Locating the Tyranny of Filtering. This is a conversation with some folks who are responsible for what is and isn't to be blocked.

Teaching Teachers Tech—Any Ideas?

Everybody talks about the need for in-service tech education. You've probably heard school board members and district administrators say, "We've got to get all teachers using technology effectively in their classrooms." Schools schedule sessions that sound good, but often end up with only part of the teachers in the session learning from it and the rest of them complaining that they already knew the content, that it didn't have anything to do with what they teach, or that they didn't understand one word of what the session leader was talking about. Reactions usually range from "Great session" to "Total Waste of Time". Because teachers are at so many different levels of knowledge and because what they need to know depends upon grade level, student ability, and subject area, one-size-fits-all training doesn't work. Training needs to be individualized. Workshop sessions offered at conventions like NECC and online courses such as those scheduled by PBS TeacherLine are better suited to meeting the tech learning needs of teachers. In addition, there are online learning experiences offered by textbook publishers, computer and software companies, and educational sites (like Powertolearn.com) that may be perfect for individualizing teacher learning about tech.