Neil Seeley says hi from Nashville!

He was at the conference too... Cool

Concentrated on the Assistive Technology Playgound today...

I went to the "Electronic and Assistive Technology Playground" today. There were several cool programs for kids with learning disabilities. Figured you'd appreciate it Elaine. Kurzweil software was of course one of the big contenders, but there were others. I got the contact info for you :-)

How's this for a conference title?

"Impediments to Technology Integration: Individual Factors, School-Based Factors, and System-Wide Factors Identified by High-Using Technology Teachers"

Ok, thought it might be interesting but I'm figuring out the longer the title the less interesting the presentation. I mean c'mon, look at some of these:

"Launching a Hybrid Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology: Lessons Learned from Faculty Deliberations, Student Experiences, and Technological Challenges"

or

Process vs. Product: Rethinking Assessment in Teacher Education from Self Assessment to Teacher Work Samples, Digital Stories to E-portfolios

I mean what the heck?!

Oh well, not all presentations are bad, just couldn't find one this afternoon, although I am impressed by the quantity and variety of teachers here. People really want to know and learn about technology...

Open source tools and technology certification

I must admit I didn't attend this presentation for the certification aspect but more for the "Open Source Tools" they were advertising. Open source is cool because it is free and the fact that programmers out there are constantly working to support and improve these programs. Some of those tools are Audacity for sound editing, GIMP for photo editing, OpenOffice for word processing and Tux Paint which is a kid friendly graphics program. I also found out about free educational software organizations like OFSET, SourceForge and the Open Source Initiative. These are all valuable programs and resources and I definitely suggest taking the time to check them out.

This website was referenced often: http://educationtechnologies.com
Open Source = Free and Awesome... so what are you waiting for?

Printing a Human Kidney

Yes, you heard that right. A 3D printer that uses living cells to output a transplantable kidney. See the TED talk by clicking here.

Integrating a Live Medical Simulation into A High School Anatomy and Physiology Curriculum: CyberSurgeons

I thought I should mention the CyberSurgeon sessions. During a live simulation students connect with a chief medical officer via videoconferencing to diagnose and treat researchers and patients aboard a research ship stationed in a Brazilian rain forest. Way cool...

"To complete the mission, students become part of the fictional CyberSurgeons remote trauma unit on a mercy ship. The simulated ship is equipped with a high-tech hospital and medical research capabilities, state-of-the-art high-end communications systems, and dedicated satellites to relay information.

The mission is conducted through a web/ videoconference hookup from your classroom to the Challenger Learning Center at the Center for Educational Technologies at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, WV."

Here is the website for all you science teachers: http://site.cybersurgeons.net

Keynote a smashing success

Yong Zhao gave a very spirited, interesting and funny starting talk to the conference. A very good pick. Much of the talk centered around the prevalence more and more in the US of teaching to take tests and how in Asia (although teaching to the tests was the emphasis) they are actually moving away from testing emphasis. China is increasing its number of hours for electives and PE while we are cutting them out and doing too much standardized testing. My favorite quote "The US is trying to close the testing gap. China is trying to close the thinking gap."

Food for thought... His zhaolearning.com has a plethora of articles and videos and presentation slides from his talks and they are well worth checking out if you are interested in some of his thoughts on current global educational dynamics. And here is a link to what looks to be an excellent book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Collateral-Damage-High-Stakes-Corrupts-Americas/dp/1891792350

Only at a technology conference...

Would the internet keep going in and out!

Ugh... Doing the best I can. May have to post some updates from my phone...

Whew, made it!

That was too close for comfort! But I'm here... For you!


Waiting on Yong Zhao the keynote speaker. His topic "Students as Global Entrepreneurs: Why, What and How?" Here's a link to his website for now: http://zhaolearning.com

Almost there! Hiding in the bushes...

Running from hillbillies... the things I do to get you guys the latest in technology

Backstage passes

Yeah, these workshops are only for rock stars...

"Today's kids are born digital"

These were the words that the presenter began this afternoon's workshop with. She's right. And we have to adapt. She also pointed out that the most important component to using technology in the classroom is TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

All I could say was well "duh"... But how do we find more time to train teachers who are already so busy with lesson plans, curriculum maps, benchmarks and on and on? Yes, how? Tell me? I want to know the secret magic formula...

Well one nice thing is that she put a list of classroom items like these on the screen and asked which of our school's could supply them. I was the only to raise my hand in a room of 100 people:

Ceiling mounted wireless access point
Ceiling mounted projector and data drop
Projection screen/ whiteboard
Teacher workstation
VOiP Phone
Data Drop(s)
Printing/ scanning capability

So I guess Minnehaha Academy rocks hardware-wise, but what about that professional development? Going to put out a survey asking you some big tech questions soon so hit me back... Here are some interesting PowerPoint presentations she spoke on: http://mytechtraining.com/2011_Presentations.html

More Web 2.0 Tools from this workshop

The 21st Century Classroom

Was hoping for The 22nd Century Classroom but I guess this will have to do... Details soon...

Nashville Conference Day One - First Workshop notes...

Today's first workshop titled "The Best FREE Web 2.0 Tools and Suggestions for Use in Classroom Learning" highlighted many of the Web 2.0 tools I was already familiar with and just as importantly suggestions for immediate implementation into classroom learning. I could try and sum it all up but I know you just want the goods so here is a link to the presenters website. Useful in the classroom examples.

https://sites.google.com/a/westliberty.edu/site2011/home

Taking the long road to the conference

Addictive Online Typing Game!

I couldn't stop the first hour I tried this. It's just too cool and fun... My co-worker Jeremy turned me on to it.

Go to http://www.phoboslab.org/ztype

Wolfram has a wonderful site dedicated to science!

I'm sure you're familiar with Wolfram for math and calculations but they also have an awesome science component. Math, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy and even Biography. Go to Wolfram Science by clicking this link.

REAL TIME social learning environment for classrooms

Teachers can safely share ideas and assignments with other students and other teachers in REAL TIME. Edmodo is Social Learning for Classrooms. Absolutely cutting edge social learning site for teachers and students. Watch the "What is Edmodo" video on the home page and you will understand everything... Click here to go to edmodo

Mashup anything on a webpage

I'm not sure how easy this is to use. It took me a little bit to figure it out but it is just too cool not to try. You can add anything to a webpage from video to images to URLs to sound and mash it all together for anyone to see. Mashup the web here!

Storyjumper Online Book Creator - Primary Grades

Find out about it here...

Storyjumper.com

Kidblog is an excellent simple site for creating classes and organizing student blogs. If you want a simple way for students in your class to start blogging and collaborating in a teacher controlled environment, Kidblog is for you...

• No advertising of any kind.
• Simple login menus allow students to select their name from a list of students in the class, eliminating the need to memorize usernames.
• Clutter-free design means your students will spend less time fussing with widgets/options and more time publishing.
• Central blog directory and simple navigation links make it easy for students to find classmates' blogs.

Go to kidblog.org

____________

Coolest Interactive Map Ever - Return on Educational Investment!

They've attempted to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of almost every major school district in the country. By productivity, they mean how much learning a district produces for every dollar spent, after controlling for factors such as cost of living and students in poverty. This is a wonderful education resource to see the return on all those dollars spent in education... Check it out here: Return on Educational Investment

Cool Basic french Language Site

Just the basics but with the mouse over auto pronunciations it rocks, Many categories... Check it out here: languageguide.org/french

Excellent documentary video source

Lots of documentary videos on | Space | Nature | Technology | History | Environment | Health. Go to documentarydish.com

Primary Grades - cool game sites

I often get requests for more online games for primary grades, especially in Science, Math and Reading. Here are some of my favorite links:

Math:
http://www.ixl.com/math/grade/pre-k/
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
http://www.teachrkids.com/
http://www.coolmath.com/

Reading:
http://pbskids.org/superwhy/
http://www.starfall.com/
http://pbskids.org/games/reading.html
http://www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html

Science:
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities.html
http://funschool.kaboose.com/arcade/science/target=blank"
http://pbskids.org/games/science.html

General:
http://www.funbrain.com/

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...