A website from Google for educators including tools, lessons, and connecting teachers to create a community of teachers. Definitely worth checking it out!!
http://www.google.com/educators/index.html
I would love to hear how you may already be (or might think about) using some of these tools and ideas in your classroom. :)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
A Must-Read Blog Post
This is a blog post about students taking the use of technology into their own hands! I highly recommend reading....
http://students2oh.org/2007/12/10/student-technology-leadership-collaborative-learning/
What do you think? I love his term "stutechie"! :)
http://students2oh.org/2007/12/10/student-technology-leadership-collaborative-learning/
What do you think? I love his term "stutechie"! :)
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Online Teacher Network
Not that - at this moment in time - I have many, if any, readers; however, I feel like the only way I will get this blog up and running and truly become a service I provide, I need to post on a regular basis. I have not done that. I have truly been very busy since we returned from break; however that is no excuse because everyone is busy. I apologize and hope to get into the habit of posting as often as possible! I need to keep reminding myself that a post doesn't have to be a book...I'm really about writing a book. lol
I found an article that I feel is really worth a read. This article discusses a network that Microsoft has in place to connect technology teachers. Some of you may already know about this, and may even be a part of the network, but if you're not, this is a must read for you! In the very first paragraph it says "Teachers across the United States will have an opportunity to communicate and collaborate with top-notch educators from all over the world through Microsoft Corp.'s Innovative Teachers Network (ITN), a new online forum that promotes the exchange of ideas and methods on how best to incorporate technology into the classroom effectively." The italics are my editing for emphasis.
The best tool a teacher has is another educator. When you can exchange ideas with another educator this creates a place to grow. The ITN is a place that will foster that very thing.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=51777;_hbguid=1fc9f28d-e682-4ad7-b1b9-69b274c94ce4&d=top-news
This is written by Laura Devaney, Associate Editor, eSchool News
Click here to link to the Microsoft page that tells you all about the network.
Click here to link to the ITN homepage. This is also where you can set-up your free account! There are forums on Internet Safety, Teaching Music in the 21st centery (a particular favorite as a music teacher in my former life), and Technology in Education just to name a few.
I found an article that I feel is really worth a read. This article discusses a network that Microsoft has in place to connect technology teachers. Some of you may already know about this, and may even be a part of the network, but if you're not, this is a must read for you! In the very first paragraph it says "Teachers across the United States will have an opportunity to communicate and collaborate with top-notch educators from all over the world through Microsoft Corp.'s Innovative Teachers Network (ITN), a new online forum that promotes the exchange of ideas and methods on how best to incorporate technology into the classroom effectively." The italics are my editing for emphasis.
The best tool a teacher has is another educator. When you can exchange ideas with another educator this creates a place to grow. The ITN is a place that will foster that very thing.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=51777;_hbguid=1fc9f28d-e682-4ad7-b1b9-69b274c94ce4&d=top-news
This is written by Laura Devaney, Associate Editor, eSchool News
Click here to link to the Microsoft page that tells you all about the network.
Click here to link to the ITN homepage. This is also where you can set-up your free account! There are forums on Internet Safety, Teaching Music in the 21st centery (a particular favorite as a music teacher in my former life), and Technology in Education just to name a few.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Classroom 2.0
I came across a social site today that I wanted to share with everyone! Many of you may already know about this exciting tool (look me up and add me as a friend if you're a member!), but for those that don't know about Classroom 2.0, this is a site you definitely need to visit. The web address is simple (http://www.classroom20.com/) and membership is free.
I would describe this website as a "myspace" for teachers who want to share technology ideas and participate in disucssions. The possibilities are much more than on "myspace", though, because of the forums you are able to participate in as well as the possibility to create, through the Ning Network (through which Classroom 2.0 was started by Steve Haragdon), your own social website for your class, a particular project, or group. Another tool that Classroom 2.0 provides is a place to blog. If you've been wanting to dabble in starting your own blog as a place for information outside your classroom, this would be a good place to get started.
You can upload videos, music, photos, join different groups that are already in progress, and join in discussions that are already taking place. All-in-all, if your'e looking for a website that connects you with other teachers, but are new and a little afraid of getting involved with some of the more advanced tools that are available, Classroom 2.0 is a great place to get your feet wet. I promise, once you get started, you won't want to stop! Visit Classroom 2.0 today!!
I would describe this website as a "myspace" for teachers who want to share technology ideas and participate in disucssions. The possibilities are much more than on "myspace", though, because of the forums you are able to participate in as well as the possibility to create, through the Ning Network (through which Classroom 2.0 was started by Steve Haragdon), your own social website for your class, a particular project, or group. Another tool that Classroom 2.0 provides is a place to blog. If you've been wanting to dabble in starting your own blog as a place for information outside your classroom, this would be a good place to get started.
You can upload videos, music, photos, join different groups that are already in progress, and join in discussions that are already taking place. All-in-all, if your'e looking for a website that connects you with other teachers, but are new and a little afraid of getting involved with some of the more advanced tools that are available, Classroom 2.0 is a great place to get your feet wet. I promise, once you get started, you won't want to stop! Visit Classroom 2.0 today!!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Second Life
No, I am not a cat who has nine lives and is soon to begin living my second one.
Second Life is a virtual world that has totally been created by it's users. Going public in 2003, it has exploded and today is inhabited by millions of people from around the Globe. Users create fully customizable in-world avitars. On any given moment in Second Life (or SL if you're speaking in-world), you will possibilty come across a various array of different characters. I, myself, have not been a member very long; however, the things I have learned and people I have met up to this point have been very exciting!
You may be asking yourself, why should I be interested in SL? Simply put, it's use in education is becoming more prevalant. Just today I met a librarian in a Chicago school district that specializes in technology who has a big part of ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) in SL. Yes, to answer the second question you may have. ISTE has a group in SL that hosts many different events, including a "social" on Thursday nights where technology educators from all over the world meet to have discussions. How exciting is that?!? Personally, I don't ever have the opportunity to share ideas with others except those in my own little world and those around me. Now, because of this group, I will be able to share ideas with educators from all over the world!
Many universities from all over the United States are also getting involved. They use SL as a place to go and have chat sessions with their students about their RL subject. There are even teachers who use SL as their classroom! How exciting is that?!? Although I have not gotten into this part as of yet, you are able to enable voice chat. Your avitar will actually be speaking your voice!
Let's talk about price. This Web 2.0 tool is free, but you'll soon realize there are things that do require money. The in-world money is called lindens which can be purchased with RL (real life) dollars. I will say, though, there is a lot of things you can do that are absolutely free. If you never want to spend a single RL dime, you don't have to spend a RL dime. There are even ways to make lindens in-world, but that would be something to do after you had really been involved in SL for a while. An example of a RL person making SL lindens - a co-worker of my husband's is a singer who has a singing career in SL. RL people pay linden dollars to hear her sing at various concerts. I'm actually attending one this afternoon! These jobs are never something you would do to make much RL money, but can help get SL money without having to pay RL dollars.
Check it out! If you're one who enjoys discussion with others to improve education, you'll be glad you did. Everyone is very nice and helpful so don't be shy about asking questions. That's how you learn. Everyone there was new at some point and are eager to help you enjoy SL. If you already have a SL account, please look me up and send me an IM! I would love to chat with you. If you ever create a SL account, I hope you'll look me up as well. I would definitely help you out any way I can! I am JennAFuzz Gabardini. Please feel free to ask questions or discuss SL here!
I do plan to eventually start a SL blog for JennAFuzz which will share her exciting adventures in SL as well as share things that I am learning through her because of educator groups I am a part of. Once I have created that blog, I'll post the information here.
I hope to see you in SL!!
Second Life is a virtual world that has totally been created by it's users. Going public in 2003, it has exploded and today is inhabited by millions of people from around the Globe. Users create fully customizable in-world avitars. On any given moment in Second Life (or SL if you're speaking in-world), you will possibilty come across a various array of different characters. I, myself, have not been a member very long; however, the things I have learned and people I have met up to this point have been very exciting!
You may be asking yourself, why should I be interested in SL? Simply put, it's use in education is becoming more prevalant. Just today I met a librarian in a Chicago school district that specializes in technology who has a big part of ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) in SL. Yes, to answer the second question you may have. ISTE has a group in SL that hosts many different events, including a "social" on Thursday nights where technology educators from all over the world meet to have discussions. How exciting is that?!? Personally, I don't ever have the opportunity to share ideas with others except those in my own little world and those around me. Now, because of this group, I will be able to share ideas with educators from all over the world!
Many universities from all over the United States are also getting involved. They use SL as a place to go and have chat sessions with their students about their RL subject. There are even teachers who use SL as their classroom! How exciting is that?!? Although I have not gotten into this part as of yet, you are able to enable voice chat. Your avitar will actually be speaking your voice!
Let's talk about price. This Web 2.0 tool is free, but you'll soon realize there are things that do require money. The in-world money is called lindens which can be purchased with RL (real life) dollars. I will say, though, there is a lot of things you can do that are absolutely free. If you never want to spend a single RL dime, you don't have to spend a RL dime. There are even ways to make lindens in-world, but that would be something to do after you had really been involved in SL for a while. An example of a RL person making SL lindens - a co-worker of my husband's is a singer who has a singing career in SL. RL people pay linden dollars to hear her sing at various concerts. I'm actually attending one this afternoon! These jobs are never something you would do to make much RL money, but can help get SL money without having to pay RL dollars.
Check it out! If you're one who enjoys discussion with others to improve education, you'll be glad you did. Everyone is very nice and helpful so don't be shy about asking questions. That's how you learn. Everyone there was new at some point and are eager to help you enjoy SL. If you already have a SL account, please look me up and send me an IM! I would love to chat with you. If you ever create a SL account, I hope you'll look me up as well. I would definitely help you out any way I can! I am JennAFuzz Gabardini. Please feel free to ask questions or discuss SL here!
I do plan to eventually start a SL blog for JennAFuzz which will share her exciting adventures in SL as well as share things that I am learning through her because of educator groups I am a part of. Once I have created that blog, I'll post the information here.
I hope to see you in SL!!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Bringing School to the Information Age Article
It's been a while since I posted. It may look as if I have posted 2 times in one day; however, the post right before this, Web 2.0 tools, has been written for a while, I just forgot to post it! If you did not read that, please visit that post to gain a basic understanding of what Web 2.0 tools are.
The place where I work gets several educational magazine subscriptions, one of those being Edutopia. The subscription being passed around to me and my co-workers is the July/August 2007 issue (yes...sometimes we are a little behind, but we still read the information!). There were several articles I felt worth of sharing, but the one I really want to high-light is the editor's note.
Please read and add your comments!
Editor's Note: Bringing School to the Information Age
written by James Daly, Editor-in-Chief of Edutopia
July/August 2007 Edutopia Magazine Article
I feel like this article hit the nail on the head! The last 2 paragraphs really express the need that students have for schools and educators to "jump on board" and began to use technology in their classroom. I know there are several teachers out there who still do not see this as a need, but whether or not they see it, the need does exhist. I also realize there are many teachers who see it as a need, but do not know where to begin and are even scared of the technology. The good news - people, like myself, exhist to help you in those frightening endeavors! Never be afraid to ask for help. We welcome that and are excited to encourage and assist you along the way.
For links to additional articles I thought were outstanding from this issue, please visit my wiki and click on the Instructional Technology Articles link in the sidebar.
The place where I work gets several educational magazine subscriptions, one of those being Edutopia. The subscription being passed around to me and my co-workers is the July/August 2007 issue (yes...sometimes we are a little behind, but we still read the information!). There were several articles I felt worth of sharing, but the one I really want to high-light is the editor's note.
Please read and add your comments!
Editor's Note: Bringing School to the Information Age
written by James Daly, Editor-in-Chief of Edutopia
July/August 2007 Edutopia Magazine Article
I feel like this article hit the nail on the head! The last 2 paragraphs really express the need that students have for schools and educators to "jump on board" and began to use technology in their classroom. I know there are several teachers out there who still do not see this as a need, but whether or not they see it, the need does exhist. I also realize there are many teachers who see it as a need, but do not know where to begin and are even scared of the technology. The good news - people, like myself, exhist to help you in those frightening endeavors! Never be afraid to ask for help. We welcome that and are excited to encourage and assist you along the way.
For links to additional articles I thought were outstanding from this issue, please visit my wiki and click on the Instructional Technology Articles link in the sidebar.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Web 2.0 Tools
What are they and why should I be interested?
Wikipedia (a web 2.0 tool...) defines web 2.0 tools as "a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis, and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users. The term gained currency following the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.[2][3] Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use webs."
In "layman's terms" web 2.0 tools are another "layer" to internet that allows people to interact and also makes software available on-line - more often than not it's free! Think of a social-networking site...myspace or facebook for example. Both of those sites allow interaction with others on-line. Those are considered a Web 2.0 tool. This blog is considered a Web 2.0 tool. My wiki - jmcdaniel.pbwiki.com - is a Web 2.0 tool. Google offers a word processor, spreadsheet document, and powerpoint type document (called Google docs) online. They are free and work very similiar to documents of similiar type. The exciting thing about these, though, is they are on-line and can be accesses from anywhere you have an internet connection. All you need is to create a google account (free of charge - of course).
To be able to search for all sorts of different Web 2.0 tools (most free, but some not), you can visit www. and a list of all sorts of different Web 2.0 tools will be available for your pursual. You can search by different criteria and then when you click on a tool, a preview with a description of the web 2.0 tool will appear at the bottom. There will also be a link that will take you to the actual web page of the tool if you're interested in using it and/or learning more about it.
In the coming weeks, I will be highlighting some different web 2.0 tools and giving detail on what they are and how they might be used to enhance learning. I will go over some of the more common ones (blogs, wikis) and will also give a listing of several different ones that are not quite as common. This will allow you to explore some of the different things that are out there with knowledge of how it might be used to enhance student learning.
I welcome thoughts/ideas on web 2.0 tools! Please add your "2 cents"!
Wikipedia (a web 2.0 tool...) defines web 2.0 tools as "a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis, and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users. The term gained currency following the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.[2][3] Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use webs."
In "layman's terms" web 2.0 tools are another "layer" to internet that allows people to interact and also makes software available on-line - more often than not it's free! Think of a social-networking site...myspace or facebook for example. Both of those sites allow interaction with others on-line. Those are considered a Web 2.0 tool. This blog is considered a Web 2.0 tool. My wiki - jmcdaniel.pbwiki.com - is a Web 2.0 tool. Google offers a word processor, spreadsheet document, and powerpoint type document (called Google docs) online. They are free and work very similiar to documents of similiar type. The exciting thing about these, though, is they are on-line and can be accesses from anywhere you have an internet connection. All you need is to create a google account (free of charge - of course).
To be able to search for all sorts of different Web 2.0 tools (most free, but some not), you can visit www. and a list of all sorts of different Web 2.0 tools will be available for your pursual. You can search by different criteria and then when you click on a tool, a preview with a description of the web 2.0 tool will appear at the bottom. There will also be a link that will take you to the actual web page of the tool if you're interested in using it and/or learning more about it.
In the coming weeks, I will be highlighting some different web 2.0 tools and giving detail on what they are and how they might be used to enhance learning. I will go over some of the more common ones (blogs, wikis) and will also give a listing of several different ones that are not quite as common. This will allow you to explore some of the different things that are out there with knowledge of how it might be used to enhance student learning.
I welcome thoughts/ideas on web 2.0 tools! Please add your "2 cents"!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)