CARET: The Impact of Media and Technology in Schools
1998 literature review of technology in education, showing benefits of technological tools especially within constructivist learning environments.
Opened Practices
Resources and descriptions for teaching practices using open source tools
Cool Cat Teacher Blog: The Five Phases of Flattening a Classroom
Vicki Davis explains that classrooms can't jump immediately to being fully connected--you have to take steps to build the community and teach the safe behaviors. In 5 phases, Vicki goes from the "intra-connected classroom" to a classroom with many-to-many connections and student management.
Social Bookmarking Conundrum « Thumann Resources
Resources for getting started in Diigo and comparisons between Diigo and Delicious
21st Century Learning: 9 Principles for Implementation: The Big Shift
9 principles for implementing transformational change in education, changing the culture to support 21st century learning. Principles include "People before Things (or test scores)" and "As the Individual Grows so Will the Collective Wisdom of the Community"
Classroom Management Quotes
Some good quotes on classroom management and education
Streamline It Part I: Diigo or Bust : Metanoia
Side-by-side comparison of Diigo, Del.icio.us, and Zotero from someone who was using all of them but decided to switch to just Diigo. While admitting that this is the right personal choice, he's not convinced about whether it's the right choice for schools to introduce social bookmarking.
Why Would Teachers Use Diigo? | Clif's Notes
Discussion on reasons to use Diigo in educatinal settings
First Steps Toward Becoming a 21st Century Educator | always learning
Kim Cofino's suggestions for steps to take to build skills and a Personal Learning Network (PLN).
Spotlight: Free Science Resources Online : March 2008 : THE Journal
Overview of free science resources from NASA, the Smithonian, and MIT OCW
TeacherTube - How to create a great PowerPoint without breaking the law.
45 minute presentation from the eTech Ohio 2008 conference by Alvin Trusty. Half of the presentation is about creating good presentations, half about copyright law in education. Touches on color, contrast, font, and more.
Social Bookmarking Soulmates at WRT: Writer Response Theory
Classroom activity using Diigo's user profiles to find a "social bookmarking soulmate" who has similar interests
Boolify: PubLearn's Boolean Search Tool
Visual tool for creating Boolean searches--shows search criteria as puzzle pieces. Also includes a few lesson plans
Google Earth Lessons
Lesson plans using Google Earth. Includes basic tutorials on Google Earth as well as lesson plans divided by subject.
Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog - Blue Skunk Blog - Changing how we teach copyright Pt 1
The first part in a series on a new approach to teaching copyright, starting with a focus on what is allowed by Fair Use
<span class="sizeGreater20">Change the focus of copyright instruction from what is forbidden to what is permitted. </span>
Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog - Blue Skunk Blog - Changing how we teach copyright Pt 2
Part 2 in a series on teaching copyright in a different way. This post argues that educators should be more willing and able to assume that their use is allowed, rather than always assuming it's forbidden if it's a gray area.
Place the onus of proof of wrong doing on the provider, not the proof of fair use by the user.
Wikispaces Blog » Blog Archive » A Classroom Wiki Webquest
7th & 8th grade wiki on rock history, where students researched and presented information on the wiki. The instructor also acknowledges learning a lot from her students on using Photobucket and other tools in combination with the wiki.
Are Schools Inhibiting 21st Century Learning? : April 2008 : THE Journal
Survey results on attitudes towards technology in education, including games.
<p>According to the survey, the majority of middle and high school students (51 percent of students in grades 6 through 12) indicated that "games make it easier to understand difficult concepts. Forty-six percent said they'd learn more about a subject if information were presented in a game format; 44 percent said gaming "would make it more interesting to practice problems"; and about a third said that "the use of games in schools will help them learn how to work in teams and see the direct results of their problem solving activities."</p>
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<p>Teachers were apparently even more enthusiastic about gaming, as 65 percent indicated that they thought educational gaming would be an effective tool for students with different learning styles and would help engage students in coursework. More than half said they'd like to learn more about educational gaming, and some 46 percent said they would "like to receive specific professional development on how to effectively integrate gaming technologies into curriculum," according to the survey.</p>
<p>According to the survey, the majority of middle and high school students (51 percent of students in grades 6 through 12) indicated that "games make it easier to understand difficult concepts. Forty-six percent said they'd learn more about a subject if information were presented in a game format; 44 percent said gaming "would make it more interesting to practice problems"; and about a third said that "the use of games in schools will help them learn how to work in teams and see the direct results of their problem solving activities."</p>
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<p>Teachers were apparently even more enthusiastic about gaming, as 65 percent indicated that they thought educational gaming would be an effective tool for students with different learning styles and would help engage students in coursework. More than half said they'd like to learn more about educational gaming, and some 46 percent said they would "like to receive specific professional development on how to effectively integrate gaming technologies into curriculum," according to the survey.</p>
ASCD: Whose Problem Is Poverty?
Educational Leadership article arguing that closing the achievement gap requires a combination of both improved education and improved socionomic conditions. The article lists a number of health issues for low-income children that can affect student achievement.
Education Week: Learning to Teach With Technology
Instead of teaching technology as a separate course, more colleges training preservice teachers are integrating technology in content areas like math and science.
the standards require teacher-candidates to exhibit knowledge, skills, and dispositions that equip them to teach technology applications. Candidates also have to show they can use technology to support student learning of content.
<p>Joel Colbert, who heads the committee on innovation and technology, says the handbook seeks to make the point that stand-alone technology classes are now obsolete. </p>
<p>“We are saying that’s not the way to integrate technology into teacher training, because each subject area uses technology differently,” Colbert says.</p>
Technology Integration Matrix
Matrix for integrating technology in K-12 classrooms from entry-level to transformative use. 5 learning environment characteristics are shown: Active, Collaborative, Constructive, Authentic, and Goal Directed. Each cell in the matrix is accompanied by a video and lesson example.
VoiceThreads: Extending the Classroom with Interactive Multimedia Albums | Edutopia
Using VoiceThread as an asynchronous multimedia discussion with sixth graders with great results and conversations from students.
In his inaugural attempt using the application, Ferriter posted VoiceThreads about a variety of topics online, encouraging students to comment on them voluntarily on their own time. He got dozens -- even hundreds -- of comments on each. It was a revelation. "I can basically extend my classroom," he says.
Ferriter says more students participate more actively in digital discussions than in the classroom. "You don't have to be the loud one or the popular one," he points out. When he asked his students about their online involvement, he said they cited the sense of safety: "They can think about their comments beforehand." They also liked the fact that any VoiceThread has multiple conversations going on at once. "In a classroom conversation, there's generally one strand of conversation going at any one time, and if you're bored by that particular strand, you're completely disengaged," says Ferriter.
Ferriter says more students participate more actively in digital discussions than in the classroom. "You don't have to be the loud one or the popular one," he points out. When he asked his students about their online involvement, he said they cited the sense of safety: "They can think about their comments beforehand."
Middle School Science Mania
Activities and resources for middle school science
The Bamboo Project Blog: 21st Century Workplace Literacy: What Does that Mean and How Do We Engage More People in the Discussion?
Lots of educators talk about the 21st century literacy skills that students will need for the workplace, but how much input do they have from people outside of education? How do we get people to interact outside their usual circles?
Making the Case for Quality
Resources and tools supporting continuous improvement techniques in K-16 education. Case studies from several school districts provided.
Getting Results
Free online professional development course for community college instructors from WGBH & the League of Innovation. You can follow a linear path or skip around to the parts you want. Content includes diversity, active learning, technology, and assessment.
SLEDevents
Calendar of events for educators in Second Life
Top News - Tech encourages students' social skills
Using technology with kindergarteners and first graders to support social constructivist learning. Registration required to read the whole article.
Well-integrated technology opens social networks for students and allows children to develop key social skills, according to two recent studies conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Techdirt: Txt Spk In Schools Not A Big Deal
Basically, the research shows that students do sometimes forget and let abbreviations from texting into other writing, but overall the technology use and writing students do improves their writing. Links to multiple studies done in the last several years.
In 2003, there was a study that showed that all this writing online was actually making kids <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030520/1943254_F.shtml">more comfortable</a> with writing in general. In 2004, a study showed (like this one) that with a little instruction kids easily <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20041223/1427218.shtml">understood the difference</a> between texting and writing. In 2005, a study actually found that kids were <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20051031/1836235.shtml">better writers</a> than in the past "using far more complex sentence structures, a wider vocabulary and a more accurate use of capital letters, punctuation and spelling" even if they sometimes let a txtism into their writing. And, in 2006, a study showed that students showed <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060731/1938242.shtml">no ill effects</a> from widespread text and IM messaging.
2008space -
Collected student work published in an online journal--poetry, stories, animation, photos, and more.