For 'Connected Educator Month,' Tips From 33 Educators We Admire Stacy BrownErin Olson, an English teacher in Iowa who is featured in our post, uses Twitter-like technology to enhance classroom discussion. Go to related 2011 article » The U.S. Department of Education has declared August Connected Educator Month, and since we’d be nothing without the teachers we’ve connected with over the years, we’re enthusiastically on board. To celebrate, we asked every educator who has written a guest post for us, been featured in a Reader Idea, or collaborated on one of our features to answer two simple questions: What is one important thing you’ve learned from someone in your Personal Learning Network (P.L.N.), however you define that network? Reading their responses, below, is a crash course in how to be a “connected educator.” So read what they have to say, follow the links to their work both within and outside The Learning Network, and, when you’re done, tell us how you’d answer those two questions yourself. Aliza Aufrichtig | Flocabulary The Year in Rap Contest
New Social Collaboration Tool Helps Students, Professionals Work Together Keyware, Inc. recently announced the launch of its social collaboration tool, SafeShare, which allows gamers, students and even business professionals get together digitally and do what they do best – collaborate and help. The SafeShare application allows for up to 20 users share a computer screen, offering up a real time close-up of what their friends are seeing, whether it’s a game view, tutoring session, or meeting proposal, by clicking on thumbnail views displayed on the side of the screen. The application’s launch is rather timely as we gear up for back to school. SafeShare has the potential to make information sharing and teamwork so much simpler and more efficient,” said Keyware CEO John F. Parents who are concerned about online safety in regards to their kids and education can rely on SafeShare’s security. Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology?
A Tale of Two Students Meet Michael. In June, he graduated from a high school where he was encouraged to use his own technology for teaching and learning, and to connect to the district’s Wi-Fi network, where he shared almost complete open internet access on school- and personal-learning devices while on campus. The district’s guidelines for appropriate conduct are delineated in the student code of conduct. The underlying principle that guides policy development in his district is one of trust. During his high school career, Michael was encouraged to communicate and collaborate with his classmates and friends using the communication tools that best served their needs. Teachers and external instructional partners were frequently included in these communications. Through curricular projects, Michael learned how to use social media to increase his productivity and learning. Now, meet Jessica who is entering 11th grade in one of the 12 largest school districts in the United States.
21 Map Creation Tools for Students and Teachers Yesterday, I published a review of MapFab which is a fabulous, free, and simple tool for creating maps online. Writing that post got me thinking about all of the other free map creation tools that I've reviewed over the years. Google Maps and Google Earth are my favorite tools for creating maps, but not every school allows teachers and students to download it. And creating Google Maps does require you to have a Google account which is an obstacle to use in some schools too. In the list below you will find some map creation tools that don't require registration. And, of course, all of the tools on this list are free for teachers and students to use. Animaps is a service that was built for the purpose of allowing users to create animated Google Maps. Tripline is a service designed to enable anyone to record a trip they've taken or to plan a trip itinerary. Build A Map is a service that allows you to build layers on top of Google Maps.
Why Symbaloo is an excellent iGoogle alternative. Were you using iGoogle mainly to keep track of the latest headlines? Then you are going to LOVE Symbaloo as iGoogle alternative! Symbaloo is a visual way for you to link to your favorite online news sources and sites and therefore the best iGoogle alternative. You can save any link along with an image, to a tile on Symbaloo so that you can easily find it later. With Symbaloo it is easy to create your own personal Internet "webmix". iGoogle has been commonly used by many as a way to keep track of the latest headlines. RSS-Overview – All your news on one webmix. One option for keeping track of your news sources on Symbaloo is by creating an RSS webmix. A second option is to mix it up. Your Symbaloo preferences are stored in the Cloud. • Is completely free to use • Will never stop service • Free of advertising • Available on any desktop, laptop, smartphone and tablet. "Symbaloo makes managing bookmarks easier - across all your devices" The Next Web There are thousands of gadgets on iGoogle. Tasks
Connected Educator Month | Connected Educators You Need to Use Technology the Wrong Way I don't think I've ever known anyone else who uses a spreadsheet as a calendar. For me, it works, though. I have the date, the day, the task or event, the type of task and the location. For recurring events, I simply write "every week" or "every day." I'm not suggesting everyone should use a spreadsheet for a calendar. Too often, students learn a rigid definition of how a particular technology tool should be used. I want students to be hackers. The following are some examples of using tools in ways they weren't originally intended to be used:Vocabulary Tumblrs: Tumblrs allow students to create and to curate. Those are just a few examples and many people would say, "Well, why don't you just use ______ instead?" Here are a few thoughts on how teachers can encourage students to get into the hacking mindset: Permission: Teachers can create options for students as they work on projects and assignments. photo credit: scottwills via photo pin cc
10 Interactive Lessons By Google On Digital Citizenship 10 Interactive Lessons By Google On Digital Citizenship Added by Jeff Dunn on 2012-07-22 YouTube has a firm place in the current classroom. Google (which owns YouTube) built the lessons to educate students about YouTube’s policies, how to flag content, how to be a safer online citizen, and protect their identities. Below is a list of lessons, and the recommended flow for delivery. Or you can download the Full Teacher’s Guide or the Full Set of Slides in PDF . The killer feature for this curriculum is the extra features that come with each video. Category: Videos Tags: digital citizenship , guide , How To , presentations , Videos You may also like Second Grader Shows How She Uses Evernote For Fluency Added by Jeff Dunn 1 week ago 10.04K Views 3 Comments 0 Likes If you're learning a language or trying to organize your learning, check out this second grader sharing how she uses Evernote for fluency and organization. How Flipping The Classroom Is Working In Turkey Added by Katie Lepi 2 weeks ago
EdTech Cheat Sheet Infographic - Boundless Gamification, digital storytelling, virtual classrooms…it’s not easy to keep track of all of the new buzzwords in the booming edtech sector. At Boundless, we’re confronted with these terms and technologies every day, and we do our best to keep all of the lingo straight. We put together a little cheat sheet to help you master some of the most important words to know in edtech. Brush up on your terms to make sure you’re not scratching your head at the next conference, meetup or debate about the future of education! Don’t worry–we won’t tell your teacher if you take a peek. 50 Best Sources of Free STEM Education Online Colleges, online universities, and other educational forums in your community can be excellent places to learn more about a variety of STEM topics, but there is also a wealth of educational material available on the web for those who prefer to learn at their own pace or take a more individual approach. Even better, these resources, whether classes, lectures, or tutorials, are all free of charge, meaning you can improve your knowledge without emptying your wallet. Check out our list (organized by topic, not ranking) for some great STEM resources that can help you build your knowledge about everything from calculus to fire science. Universities These universities, many of which are renowned for their STEM programs, offer resources like course materials, videos, and lecture series. MIT Open Courseware: MIT offers one of the largest collections of OpenCourseWare on the web, with the vast majority covering STEM topics. Lectures Tutorials Educational Media Free Courses Reading Material
Use Twitter in PowerPoint Your audience is tweeting How do you draw them into your presentation? By asking for their opinion, and displaying their tweets directly in your slides. Try it now: chart How does it work? If people tweet and include "@poll", we'll pick it up as fast as Twitter allows. If you defined a confirmation message, @poll replies back to them. Scholr.ly Search Engine Takes An Innovative Approach To Research The web is cluttered. There’s a pantload of information out there and it’s hard to sift through. Google does a fabulous job at being your virtual Swiss Army Knife for finding what you’re looking for. But even the likes of Google Scholar and Google Books are not perfect. Quickly finding and skimming abstracts, learning about authors, and surfacing new publications is tricky. That’s where Scholar.ly comes in. Personally, I love the dual column approach. One interesting side-note is that, when faced between results that are either behind a paywall or free, Scholr.ly ranks free papers and books above those behind a paywall. The beta is expected to launch later this summer and we’ll be sure to bring you more as it’s opened.