Google Maps the Body!

It had to happen. Google Body Browser is just out and it's fantastic! OK, you need Google Chrome Beta but once you have it go to bodybrowser.googlelabs.com

This guy has some super science videos!

Frank Gregorio is a science teacher in VA. He teaches Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Biology and uses lots of high-tech media and self-produced videos.



See his videos at Vimeo by clicking here!

So what are the "hot jobs" right now and looking into the future?

What are we preparing students for? Check out hot fields for hiring in 2011 by clicking here...

"Changing Education Paradigms"

"In ranking, U.S. students trail global leaders"

"United States students are continuing to trail behind their peers in a pack of higher performing nations, according to results from a key international assessment"

Could we help close this gap with technology?

Read article here...

Apple Tips Galore

Want a bunch of easy to understand tips for your Mac? Just go to Apple Pro Tips...

31 million lessons delivered on video!

The Khan Academy has millions of video lesson resources in Math, Science, the Humanities and Test Taking. Select a subject and find thousands of video lessons ready for you!

Just visit khanacademy.org

Are we teaching math wrong?

Transcendent Man Trailer - the future is coming with or without you...

Can't promote this scientific website enough!

XVIVO has fabulous scientific animations that will blow your mind...


Visit: XVIVO.NET

Excellent Resource for Teachers - Curriki

Curriki is a "community of educators, learners and committed education experts who are working together to create quality materials that will benefit teachers and students around the world. It is an online environment created to support the development and free distribution of world-class educational materials to anyone who needs them. Merry Mattson suggested this site. Go to CURRIKI.ORG

Now I know why our attention spans seem shorter and shorter...

At Gizmodo today I stumbled upon a web page today entitled "The 50 Awesomest Viral Videos Under 30 Seconds Long." They followed it up with "Who has time to watch a whole viral video anymore? Between Tweeting, drinking Mountain Dew, and doing backflips, our attention spans are shorter than ever." And we wonder why we can't keep anyone's attention these days? Alright, I know you want the web page, but you'll feel guilty you did. How far we've fallen.
(disclaimer, watch at your own risk)
50 Awesomest Videos Click Here

This guy got people talking!

Brain-based learning and differentiated instruction today with Richard M. Cash. Fascinated by the "clash" of ideas that ensued when the "reality" of technology meets public resistance. Is resistance futile? Is it "too late for the pebbles to vote if the avalanche has started"?

Are Virtual Schools the Future?

Will schools as we know them today disappear?

An awesome civics site, who knew?!

iCivics (formerly Our Courts) is a web-based education project designed to teach students civics and inspire them to be active participants in our democracy. iCivics is the vision of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is concerned that students are not getting the information and tools they need for civic participation, and that civics teachers need better materials and support.

Click here to go to iCivics...

The only online collaboration site you'll need

A picture paints a thousand words... And wastes less paper!

I teach, therefore you learn... or do you?

Changing expectations of our students...
The way we think about teaching and learning may be outdated...
Consider this...

Are you sensing a trend here?

A robot learning to flip pancakes from Sylvain Calinon on Vimeo.

Robots are coming big time. Watch this!

japanese robot pop star @ Yahoo! Video

Technology can save your life!

50 Best Websites For Moviemakers!

You want a moviemaker resource?! I'll give you a moviemaker resource. For the 50 best websites for all you aspiring filmmakers this is for you.
Click here and go to Moviemaker for the complete list

Bill Gates: In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web

“Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world,” says Bill Gates. “It will be better than any single university.”

He believes the $50,000 a year university education could be done via the web for as little as $2,000.

UC Berkeley Webcasts!

UC Berkeley was a wide variety of web cast courses including the ones below, wow! Go here to watch the webcasts.

PHOTOSYNTH.NET is simply an awesome idea!

Photosynth takes photos (millions) that people take around the world and stitch them together to form a collage of the world. Their goal is to photosynth the whole globe. Monuments, museums, towers, bridges, buildings, panoramas of nature, everything imaginable is here. You should definitely check it out. You don't want to miss this photo database in action as it grows exponentially! Go to Photosynth.net

All the Virtual Tours from BBC History in one place!

Check It Out Here

The Journal of Visualized Experiments - Scientists take note!

There's a problem with a traditional scientific paper. It can take months for a scientist in another lab to figure out how to replicate the experiments that are described in print. JoVE takes advantage of video technology to capture and transmit the multiple facets and intricacies of life science research. Jove is a website that was founded to encourage scientists to publish their peer-reviewed research on video. Check it out at JOVE.COM

So we're already falling behind....

3D Equipment gives schools an added dimension. Read about it here...

New York Times article on U.S. plans to make major changes in standardized testing - they will be computer based

And they will also measure higher order thinking skills. Check out the article by clicking here.

The first wireless handheld digital microscope for computer, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

"capture stills, video and time lapse. Lenses range 0-10X, 30X, 50X, 100X, 200X, 400X and 1000X. You can even connect the ProScope HR to your analog microscope, telescope or borescope. The ProScope HR is USB Video Class and needs no driver to run. You can even use the ProScope HR with programs like Skype™ or iChat™ to show others what your ProScope HR is seeing in real time over the internet!"

Jeremy brought this to my attention...

Click here to learn more...

The Sistine Chapel as you've never seen it before! Unless you've actually been there...

Fantastic 3D with zoom and pan and high definition. You won't regret the tour... Click here!

Health Related Videos Online

Amazing resource with hundreds of Health videos broken down into Disease and Conditions, Health and Wellness, Treatments and Procedures and Medical Fields. Tons of stuff to watch! Click here for more information.

Amazing Anthology of English Literature

Visit Luminarian here...

Ever wanted to learn to SPEED READ?

Now's your chance to do it online with Spreeder. Now kick it up a notch by going here...

Excellent Documentary Video Source

Go here now...

Amazing Interactive map of United States

You can view a zoomable map of the USA for:



Amazing! Click here to view

Digital Learning Environments Conference

Following the IT track here at the HP Digital Learning Environments Conference. Thoughts:

1) Why do they always talk about all these cool learning ideas but we sit in rows and watch text on PowerPoint slides? However, the keynote information was pretty darn good.

2) Good Quote "A Solution in Search of a Problem"

3) Student/Teacher Laptop Programs" "Make it smaller, faster, and less expensive and it will be prevalent"

4) More and more students walking around with the internet in their pockets. Our willingness to manage all this and the time involved are what will hinder or help the situation.

5) Which is more important these days, the information or finding the information?

6) Not letting students have cell phones (for example) is just us saying we don't want to manage it. The thing is that we're going to have to manage it, with the internet in everyone's pocket eventually we won't have a choice. So we need to take the time to figure out how to manage it. Many students don't even need our network (i.e. 3G).

7) One speaker said "Not embracing it (technology and the fast pace it's moving) is criminal."

8) My favorite quote "If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less."

Finally, we should really be using Atomic Learning more on campus. It's an amazing resource for learning and testing...

A good resource for free eBooks...

Found a site that bills itself as a "PDF Search Engine" which is, upon closer inspection, an excellent resource for eBooks. I did several obscure and not so obscure searches and got nice results. Great to download to your iPhone, iPad, computer for reading. And free! CLICK HERE |

101+ Eductional Web Resources For Students!

All on one page. Funny that the mother site is called Studenthacks.org.

For teachers too I imagine...

Click Here

The Math Dude

"Quick and Dirty Tips To Make Math Easier" he claims. Find out for yourself by going to mathdude.quickanddirtytips.com. You can even friend him on Facebook!

Teachers Shake Up Shakespeare with Digital Media

Looking for something different? Check out Edutopia's article on the different ways students and teachers are delivering the immortal bard's words. Click here.

Excellent Online Homework Helper Resource

Powered by New York City's Public Library system, homeworkNYC.org is New York City’s full-service homework help site. It is a gateway to millions of articles in the databases of New York City’s public libraries. Some articles require a New York City Public Library card but many don't.

And there is even free live homework help by phone or online in their Dial-A-Teacher section. You can share math problems, homework documents and more on a whiteboard. You can chat with a teacher, share homework documents, draw your geometry problems, and more. Available 4-7 pm Monday to Thursday ET when school is in session.

Go to homeworknyc.org to take advantage of this wonderful resource.

It appears robots are already among us...

In more ways then one. Read the New York Times article here.

The BEST online resource for teachers, bar none!

I want to highlight Thinkfinity's website once again. That's how good it is. Dive in to tens of thousands of resources for teachers and students alike. Dive in now!

Go to thinkfinity.org

Remember Open Courseware!

Click here now for all 1900 online open courses taught by MIT professors. Check it out because it's an awesome resource!

Dinky Page! Real Quick Way To Post Something To The Web For Free...

"I ran across this handy website a few days ago. If you need to post something to the web real quick and don’t want to hassle with logging in to your wiki or blog, then this may come in handy. It’s real simple- you build a quick, free, ad-free website by using their simple editor, or if you prefer, use their HTML editor"

See how simple here: www.dinkypage.com

Excellent video source for use with students!

"The Internet is full of useful information, but it's disorganized and often unreliable. Despite its problems, the potential of the Internet for education is especially huge. Imagine tapping into that potential.

Imagine collecting all the best free educational videos made for children, and making them findable and watchable on one website. Then imagine creating many, many more such videos.

Just think: millions of great short videos, and other watchable media, explaining every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth.

Finally, imagine them all deeply and usefully categorized according to subject, education level, and placed in the order in which topics are typically taught."

Go to watchnow.org now...

Super Lame! Comic creator extraordinaire...

"Have you ever wanted to add a caption to a picture? What about making a comic out of your photos? Well, you've come to the right place. Here at SuperLame! we've created a web tool that let's you do exactly that. With our program you can quickly, easily, enjoyably, and freely add word balloons to all your pictures." Check out superlame.com

Mix your photos, video and text and present them with style!

Nice alternative to PowerPoint. Create flashy presentations online and easy! Go to: onetruemedia.com and get started. It's a snap...

















Go to: onetruemedia.com and get started. It's a snap...

Jeremy shared a staggering video with me...

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Plurk - a new take on social networking!

Plurk is a social networking site that allows you to work in real time with other people. For example, you add people to your Plurk group and then you can post a question to your page and live plurks will come back to you from other people on your network. It seems like it would be a great tool for teachers to network and share live and to use with students too. Plus it's a great alternative to Facebook. Try it: http://www.plurk.com

The Symphony of Science!

The creator of these videos describes it this way "The goal of the project is to bring scientific knowledge and philosophy to the masses, in a novel way, through the medium of music."

An awesome way to bring scientific facts to people in a music video way! Here is the site symphonyofscience.com and below and example of one of the videos on youtube.

Thursday Video Update From The Floor!

Wednesday Video Recap

Take 10 minutes and follow my day at the Texas Computer Educator's Convention. It was fun filled! Will post a Thursday video recap too later tonight!

Sitting in on Free and Simple Web 2.0 Talk

Christopher Gardner was awesomely inspiring, excellent story. It sure was nice when he finally came out after all the bureaucratic Texas educators back patting, ugh... Now I'm watching a presentation on free and simple web 2.0 stuff. I'm actually a web 3.0 guy but whatever...

Oh my! He just asked people if they knew what Wikis were...

Waiting on Keynote Speaker Christopher Gardner

But I have to sit through all the Texas educator awards and blah blah bureaucracy...

Cell Phones, Eh...

Attending the "Cell Phones ON!" workshop today, highlighting ways to utilize cell phones in the classroom. Seems like a good concept but the trainer is less than magnificent. Oh well, things kick into high gear tomorrow with the Keynote speaker Christopher Gardner (from Pursuit of Happyness fame) and then all the concurrent sessions and exhibitors I will be tracking. Excited!

TCEA Video Update - Thinkfinity Training

Sometimes I feel sorry for teachers...

Benchmarks, Standards, Lesson plans, Learning objects, Motivational activities, Assessment tools, Classroom management, Experiential learning, Accountability, Bloom's Taxonomy, Multiple Intelligences, Collaborative learning, Concept mapping, Curriculum mapping, Dual mode delivery, Emergent Literacy, Experiential learning, Feedback, Grading rubric, Inquiry-based learning, Learning outcomes, Meta-competence, Module, Performance criteria, Portfolio Assessment...

Oh my...

A Mac in a Sea of PC's

Seems like I am the only cool guy here with my MacBook. What the heck are they thinking?

First cool link from Austin - Science!

sciencenetlinks.com

I'm in Austin!

Flew in last night to Austin and am at my first workshop, a Thinkfinity Training. Check out Thinkfinity.org for more information about this wonderful resource. Hope to have a video update by tonight. I need more coffee though...

Heading to the Biggest Educational Technology Convention in the Nation!

I'll be spending all next week at the Texas Computer Education Association Convention. I'm really looking forward to exploring and reporting on all that is up and coming in the world of technology and education. I'll be posting video, photos and text directly from the convention so come back all next week to see what I've discovered. Bon Voyage!

Schools, like newspapers, must adapt or die

Thoughts about the inevitable march of technology and how it will dramatically change the landscape of our schools...

Technology will force physical schools to adapt and go online and morph and change or die, similar to newspapers. If you look at how radically technology is changing the face of the newspaper industry, who can say it won't have the same effect on our school system? With so much content "going digital" isn't it just a matter or time before schools morph their ways "online" with "distance learning" and the like? How will that change our schools physically? What will teachers become?

And when we do produce online content, with M.I.T. and Yale and Harvard offering free online content of a wide variety of courses, how can small schools distinguish themselves and produce any content of value that will make people want to go online and learn from them and not the big boys or others who have already produced content?

What's the goal, the one unifying everything that we need from technology? It's really quite simple... One device with ubiquitous access to information via the internet. That's all we need. Paper, gone. Books, gone. Turning in physical anything, gone. With your one device (be it a tablet, a laptop, a kind of iTouch) you will be able to access and share information and collaborate. This is all you or anyone will need.

And while we're at it, one of technologies greatest promises is the way it will inform and transform student/teacher collaboration with its assessment tools. Assessment is one of the key components of technology in education. It will be big. It's time to start mining the information highway for visionary ideas on student assessment.

One more important piece of the puzzle! If kids are communicating via social networking what will become of traditional email? They don't even really use it. It's kind of "old school." We have to meet them on their turf and that is quickly becoming on Facebook and Twitter and the like, not dusty old linear email...

Well that's my two cents...

Science Videos with "The Mad Professor"

Merry forwarded me a fantastic article about the "Mad Professor" of Nottingham University. They have an absolute treasure trove of science videos, many featuring Professor Martyn Poliakoff of the University of Nottingham, at the "Nottingham Science Channel" on Youtube. With more than 6 million hits he must be doing something right. Check out the videos by clicking on Nottingham Science here

Who knew molecules had funny names?

Well I guess I didn't, but this cool website breaks it down and adds a whole lot more. For all you molecule lovers out there... Click Here

The Project Gutenberg is simply the best source for downloading books online free...

The one, the only, the best, Project Gutenberg. Download books and pop them on your computer, eReader or iPhone and read to your pixels content. Tens of thousands of books to download free. Here is the current Top 100. I was happy to see Sherlock Holmes beat out the Kama Sutra. Works well with the free Stanza app on iPhones by the way. Check out Project Gutenberg by clicking here...

The Most Extensive List of Online English Resources I've Ever Seen!

You've got to see it to believe it! Click here to see hundreds of resources...

Seems to be the week of Music and English

Been finding a lot of interesting Music and English sites lately. This one is the Wikipedia Sound/List "an incomplete list of full length copyleft/public domain musical works available on Wikipedia" It's pretty extensive for an incomplete list. From Bach to Boccherini and all points you'll find a lot of useful classical sound files. Check it out here...

Wow! Audio recordings of English Literature from Middle Ages to 20th Century.

Too cool! Norton Anthology of audio recordings from Beowulf to W.H. Auden!

• Middle Ages
• 16th Century
• Early 17th Century
• Restoration and the 18th Century
• Romantic Period
• Victorian Age
• 20th Century

CLICK ME!

Fantastic resource for English teachers and readers and writers everywhere!

Resources on American Lit, Reading Fiction, Sherlock Holmes, Medieval Literature, Major European Novels, Spanish Poetry and tons more. Please check it out here!