Learning Web 2.0

There are so many tools available. I have tried to share just a few that could be utilized to Create a Digital Substitute for when you are attending a conference, have another planned absence, for a virtual field trip, for setup for a lab experiment, or just for the student that was absent.

Trouble seeing the slideshow? Try this link

It has been 2 years since I jumped into the Web 2.0 world. Wow! What a difference 2 years has made. I attended the 2007 Illinois Education and Technology Conference. At that conference, I learned about social bookmarking, blogs, and wikis. Since then I have learned a lot of great things by investing some time into learning about many technologies that are available to all of us.

I had my first opportunity to share this year at the 2009 Illinois Education and Technology Conference. My presentation was titled, “Creating a Digital Substitute”.  The presentation was basically about using tools such as Flip Video cameras, MP3 Recorders, myplick.com, Microsoft  MovieMaker, Audacity and a variety of other tools. These tools allow a teacher to leave materials for a substitute teacher to utilize during a planned absence or  a staffing. Other opportunities could be a digital field trip, notes for an absent student or review for science lab setup and notes from class.

The idea of creating a digital substitute is a ultimately a way for the teacher to learn the technologies that eventually they will feel comfortable in sharing these technologies with their students. Two speakers (Charlene Chausis and David Jakes) at the 2007 conference shared that we need to immerse ourselves in these tools/technologies  in order for us to have a comfort level that we can then share these tools with others (students).

As the thought of a new school year is upon us, I thought I would share some of the technologies that will be available to our teachers and/or students this year.

Moodle  and/or Manhattan Virtual Classroom
Google Apps - for email, calendar, documents, sites, video sharing.
Learn360 - Replacing United Streaming
Study Island
BrainPOP
Diigo
eInstruction – Mobi and CPS Clickers

Additionally we will be introducing LCD projectors and Document Cameras into the K-5 Classrooms.

Here is the controversial statement and the statement that we can all relate to as Tech Coordinators, Teachers, and Administrators.

Let’s hope that we have enough “Time” to “Learn and Share”. Lots of words in this sentence that can be commented on.

Have a great school year,
chris

I wonder why people attend conference(s), technology or non-technology? I use the term, non-technology, but I really cannot imagine that there is such a thing as a non-technology conference.

I will be attending the ICE Conference at the end of this month, February 24-27, 2009. I know there will be teachers and administrators at the conference since ICE stands for Illinois Computing Educators. This is an aspect of the conference(s) that I anticipate. It is the networking with other Teachers, Technology Coordinators, Directors, CIOs, and Administrators.

This will be the second conference that I have attended this year. The first being a conference in Springfield in November called the Illinois Education and Technology Conference.

At these conference(s), I get an increased passion for expanding the utilization of technology in our classrooms as well as ideas for better utilization for the professional and administrative technologies. Mostly because of the successes that are shared during the sessions.

A goal that I have for the upcoming conference is to learn from other schools how they are utilizing their budgets, big or small. As the time comes around this year for building budgets, I wonder about balancing the Capital Outlay, Supplies and Materials and the Professional Development that comes with the technologies.

I will check back in with an update at the beginning of March. In the meantime, please share conferences (technology and non-technology) you attend and one thing that you liked best about the conference.

Keep Learning and Sharing,
chris

Maybe podcast isn’t the correct term or maybe it is.

MyPlick.com allows you to sync audio with slides. I find it much more informational than just uploading your slides, especially as it is becoming more popular to use less words on slides.

MyPlick allows you to upload slides from various sources such as PDFs, Powerpoint, and even Google Presentations. It allows you to upload audio to the site, so no need to host the .mp3 elsewhere.

Here is an example of a recent myplick “podcast” that our JH Principal put together. He is now scheduling a Tech Breakfast for the teachers to learn as we share the process. Give it a try and let me know what you think of myplick and what other tools and techniques you utilize for podcasting.

I am going to try using Flock (Basically is it Firefox for Social Networking).
It has a RSS reader. I wanted to be able to read the items in my Google Reader. This is possible by creating tags in Google Reader and making the tags public. This then can be used to create a blogroll, but you can also subscribe to the page to then be able to read in Flock. Here is an example of the page created by Google Reader

7. Are there other ways to share items in Google Reader?Google Reader allows you to assign tags to individual items. To tag an item, click on the ‘add tag’ link and enter a descriptive tag name. You can then go to the Settings page and make the tag public. A unique URL is created that links to the latest items with your public tag. You can then post this link online or send it to your friends.

Google Reader – Sharing FAQ

I think that the more I utilize twitter, the more I realize the power of the network. The experiences of others are very powerful.  The ability to learn and share is enhanced greatly by twitter and other Web 2.0 technologies.

As I explore more and more of the technologies that are available on the Internet and the impact that these tools have on my education. The more, I realize the impact that these tools can and will have on K-12 education.

Keep learning more and sharing more,
chris

I am presenting this morning at the Missouri Distance Learning Association (MODLA) conference in Osage Beach, MO. (Lake of the Ozarks)


 

Just loaded MaemoWordPy on my Nokia N800. I am using my stylus to type this entry. I am trying to figure out how this unit could be utilized in a K-12 educational environment? Open to all suggestions.

Keep learning and sharing,
Chris