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...