Ten Ideas for Teaching Teachers Technology I had never been to an "unconference" before, but when I heard the organizer of SocialEdCon Unconference introduce the event, I knew I was in for something new: "Write your ideas that you want to discuss on the top of the poster board. Each of you can look at all of the ideas and put check marks beside the ones that interest you, and then that will drive the topics that we discuss today." I leaned over to my husband, Brad Flickinger, an "unconference expert," and whispered that I'd love to learn more about educating teachers about technology. I gulped! I was here to learn from others -- not lead a session -- but I jumped into the deep end of the pool of unconferencing. As the Director of Instructional Technology for the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado, I'm responsible for the professional "technology" development of nearly 1500 teachers. What Did I Share? 1) Show, don't tell. 2) Teach with TV. 3) Be "liked." 4) Chirp about your accomplishments. 5) Blog about it.
OER Commons The Connected Educator CLASSROOM 21 | by Greg Limperis {*style:<b> August marks the </b>*} U.S. Department of Education’s month-long celebration of the connected educator. For sure, I was growing my connections, but my connections were limited. Little did I know that, at the time, I was increasing my connections but still limited to the here and now. Nonetheless, it was amazing that this urge forward, this desire to learn from others and share, connect and collaborate brought me to my first real job. During this time, one of those connections suggested to me that I might return to school to become an educator. Upon completing my master’s degree in education, I began working as a teacher in a classroom situation that felt foreign. As the years went by and technology improved, I never lost my passion to be connected. These connections allowed me to bring knowledge, experience and global awareness to my students I taught each day. So, I challenge you: connect with others. Like this: Be the first to like this.
Connexions - Sharing Knowledge and Building Communities Four Ways to Use Pinterest in Education It seems as though when one technology tool for the classroom is introduced, another one is waiting to make its debut! We’ve shared several 21st century tools with our readers; however, we have not acquainted you with a recent tool, Pinterest. Pinterest is an electronic bulletin board where users can “pin” images from around the web. These images are then categorized into various boards on the users’ profile. Lesson Plans- As briefly mentioned above, Pinterest is a superb visual resource full of pictures, videos, and website links. Pinterest can be a fun and exciting tool inside and outside the classroom. Is there a fifth way in which you would incorporate Pinterest into the classroom?
Free online tutorials for learning to use technology and ict in education How to work with screencasting tools www.teachertrainingvideos.com uses Camtasia for making the training videos. I also use JING for making short videos. If you look at the menu on the left-hand side, you can see a complete list of the screencasting tools that I have worked with and made videos for. Here are a few of my favourites. Camtasia 7-Two sets of videos All the videos I have made on this site use Camtasia 7. SnagIt SnagIt is not free but it is a very reasonably priced option for creating screencasts and it also allows for doing much more. SnagIt part two ScreenR A simple screen cast tool that works on the web. ScreenCast-o-matic Another free screen casting tool that does not need any download and allows you to record quite long videos. Russell Writes in the Teacher Training Journal
Social Media: Guidelines for School Administrators Social media tools like Facebook, Myspace, Instagram, Google+ and Flickr are potentially exciting learning and teaching tools that can help teachers and students make connections to ideas, skills and concepts in a 21st-century learning environment. However, social media are getting a bad rap in education. Some students use the tools in ways that pit their First Amendment rights against their responsibilities as students in brick-and-mortar schools. In 2006, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the Hermitage School District in Pennsylvania after the district suspended student Justin Layshock for creating an unflattering online parody of his principal. In 2007, a federal judge determined that the suspension was unconstitutional, and in 2010, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the district violated the student’s First Amendment rights. Clearly, schools must consider the rights of students to freedom of expression. Protection from Predators
Think.com, Oracle Education Foundation, Progetti | Concorso | Libreria Top 10 Educational Technology Hashtags for Educators Twitter is a real treasure trove of educational resources for teachers and educators. It is one of my favourite web tools to stay updated about what is going on in the field of educational technology. It goes without saying that everyone of you has got a Twitter account but the question is do you really benefit from Twitter as should be ? By implication, my question is referring to educational and professional development benefits. Hashtag is a great way for users to locate and keep track of particular information within the massive tweets. Below is a list of top educational technology hashtags I have meticulously handpicked for you. Check out the list and don't forget to share it with your colleagues : 1- #edtech This is one of the most popular hashtags for educational technology fans. 2- #edchat Another similar hashtag where people interested in educational technology hold constant talks and chats about educational web tools. 3- #Web20 4- #elearning 5- #mlearning 6- #edapps / #edapp
Join the Movement to Transform Learning: A Guest Blog by George Lucas I didn't enjoy school very much. Occasionally, I had a teacher who would inspire me. But as an adult, as I began working with computer technology to tell stories through film, I began to wonder, "Why couldn't we use these new technologies to help improve the learning process?" Twenty years ago when we started The George Lucas Educational Foundation, we could see that digital technology was going to completely revolutionize the educational system, whether it liked it or not. Yet, in light of extraordinary advancements in how we use technology to communicate and learn, our schools and districts have been frustratingly slow to adapt. Unfortunately, much of our system of education is locked in a time capsule that dates back to the Industrial Revolution, when learning became an exercise in pumping as much information into kids as possible. What we need today and in the future are citizens who can wield the tools of technology to solve complex problems. Consider a few powerful examples.