efriendlylearning.com

Training Topics for Laptop Projects

2008-08-21T07:30:00.002-05:00

Share some topics for training that might help you this year...

Use the comments to give feedback..

Leaders Supporting Laptops for Teachers

2008-08-20T15:36:00.002-05:00

What two questions do you have as you move forward in the laptop for teachers project?

Reply as a comment to this post...

6-8 Laptops for Teachers

2008-08-20T15:35:00.000-05:00

What two questions do you have as you move forward in the laptop for teachers project?

Reply as a comment to this post...

3-5 Laptops for Teachers

2008-08-20T15:33:00.001-05:00

What two questions do you have as you move forward in the laptop for teachers project?

Reply as a comment to this post...

K-2 Laptops for Teachers

2008-08-12T20:27:00.004-05:00

What two questions do you have as you move forward in the laptop for teachers project?

Reply as a comment to this post...

New Links Added to efriendlylearning!

2008-02-02T09:05:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to note an update to my website efriendlylearning.com.

Since I have been working with 1:1 tablet PC projects I haven't been keeping current with my Free Applications for Handhelds recently. I am doing a few presentations at the Midwest Education Technology Conference and I have just added some new additions to my Free Apps for Handhelds site. Check out these great tools! And METC, too!

Lots of new favorites or bookmarks have been added to my FURL archive too! I use this online social bookmarking tool as an extension of my sessions with educators. The links that I review can be found here. For instance, if you heard me talk about alternate text to use with digital tools in your classroom, check out my FURL archive and filter the topics by Digital Text Sources.
Find more text sources...add a comment to this post with the link! I will add them to my archive. I am constantly adding to this archive so point your browser here or subscribe to my archive. Get yourself an account here.

A valuable link for teachers this time of year looking for practice for those high-stakes tests is an earlier blog, It's Testing Time Again, highlighting released test items from national and state tests.

What has Christine been doing to help educators embed technology in learning? Lots of 1:1 Digital Tool projects! And I am loving working with teachers and students in this rich environment! Keep track of me...

Just when you think you caught up...

2007-11-18T19:33:00.001-06:00

I read two very interesting articles today, that impact my thinking about communicating and learning. What do you think about Death of Email and The Future of Reading?
Share your thoughts...

Reasons for 21st Century Skills in Learning

2007-10-29T21:09:00.001-05:00

I have used this video with teachers and administrators as we work with one-to-one digital tool initiatives in learning.

Here is a video link for Did You Know created by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod.

Watch this video and engage in discussion about 21st century skills in learning and the role that technology might play in the learning environment.

The authors have also created a Wiki Space, Shift Happens to support the "virtual" discussion. There are other versions of Did You Know on this site just in case your district has blocked YouTube with its proxy. One of my favorites is the SlideShare version by Jeff Brenman.

Share your comments after viewing! What data would you add to strengthen the discussion?

A New Add to an Old Fav, Google Earth

2007-09-06T21:38:00.000-05:00

It is funny how your after hours web-surfing actually connect to something that happened earlier in the day....

One of my favorite tools, Google Earth was part of the observations I was doing in classrooms today. One class was using the toolGE to measure distances part of developing a "map" of the school neighborhood in a geography unit.

Another teacher was helping students read a chapter by doing a "text walk" and modeling a "think aloud". The topic was the ability to see the landforms of the earth. At that time in the observation a document camera was used to show a picture taken from space. The students read an excerpt from a book by astronaut, Michael Collins, describing the view of the world from space.

Ah...I wish she had Google Earth on each student laptop so that students could manipulate a take different views from outer space...

And now here I am finding that Google Earth now has a "sky" view. Download the latest version of Google Earth and check out what the sky has to view!!! There is a great video by astronaut, Sally Ride, which demonstrates the Sky View.

Virtual Spaces for Classroom Collaboration and Management

2007-09-06T20:08:00.001-05:00

As a part of my consulting for efriendlylearning.com I have been working with schools in one-to-one digital tool initiatives in learning. I have found many teachers involved in these one-to-one technology initiatives looking for e-solutions which support student collaborating about learning, a place to manage their classroom content, the ability to publish student products, access to share ideas with other educators and communicate with the learning community what is going on in the classroom.

Oh...and please can it be free!!!! Hey, we are talking about education here, right?!

Well, that usually rules out the biggies like BlackBoard, Elluminate, and the other $$$$ tools. Open Source solutions like Moodle and Sakai are free, but usually need more expertise than the average teacher might have, or need resources beyond the teacher's "reach", so they are generally ruled out as options. But...what about the emerging 2.0 solutions??

Here is a list of solutions that I am investigating.
Chalksite , Elgg, Nuuvo , haiku LMS and Digication.

Of course the "free" is always for limited use but sometimes the features are just enough without going to the premium "pay" accounts. I want to guide teachers to a simple solution for those who have little support outside of the classroom.

I will be look for other solutions...post any you find!

Learning Forward - Day Two August 9, 2007

2007-08-09T08:49:00.000-05:00

After taking a “Gallerywalk” viewing student work whether with students, teachers, parents or community members, find ways for them to reflect on what they saw and what they learned.

For our blogging purposes, think of this lab experience as reflective practice using student work to learn forward. Act AS IF you were a group of teachers who have gathered to review these lab samples of student work in your school.

Please comment on both aspects AND leave specific examples when possible:

1. What did you see in other products or learn from comments in the gallery walk worth considering?
2. What advice you would give yourselves to help coach even better student work NEXT time?

Greening Up Student Tasks - Ongoing Ideas for Transforming Learning for Kids

2007-08-09T08:38:00.000-05:00

Now that your brains, creativity and collaborative thinking has warmed up, share your BEFORE (a G00d task assignment) and AFTER (a now GREENER and Greater task assignment) ideas increasing the quality of student work both in content as well as craftsmanship.

Play the good to great game by describing the task prior to the workshop experiences and the ideas you have now generated for GREENING it UP! Wherever your ideas start - no problem just join the challenge of greening IT up even more by using the template providing a compare and contrast approach to sharing. Feel free to consider this creative space an ongoing BEFORE/AFTER task even after our time together. This will enable us to continue learning from each other.

Begin with your team names.Now describe the BEFORE and AFTER using the following template - that way we can celebrate what IT looked like before and how it morphed into an even greener (ta da!) GREAT!

BEFORE-Good !
Student Task-
Type of Communication -
Rank Bloom’s Taxonomy-
Mode of Communication-
Category of Tech/Learning Use (L-A-T)-

AFTER – GREAT
Student Task Idea-
Type of Communication-
Rank Bloom’s Taxonomy-
Mode of Communication-
Category of Tech/Learning Use-

Teachers Explore Social Networking

2007-07-26T14:44:00.001-05:00

Social networking is an exploding trend for online communication. Just ask any teenager about My Space or Facebook and they will be talking about their "friends" or messages left on their "wall". I know that many adults are afraid of these social networks... but sometimes it is just because we don't understand the tool and the communication systems and therefore cannot envision the value these tools have for learning.

What is Ning? Are you LinkedIn? Have you found out what's GoingOn? How can I learn more about KickApps? Isn't it all about me.com? And then ofcourse, what the heck is a CrowdVine?

Teachers, explore these sites, test a few by starting your own social network. Think about how you can get your student/parent/teaching community talking about learning on your customized social network!!

Here is a blog post that does a nice job of sharing details about some of the social networks.

Isn't Technology Competition(Lust) Great!!??

2007-07-05T08:05:00.000-05:00

First the Apple iPhone and now....

Check this out running on a Windows Mobile device.
Want to know how it is done? While I don't own a Windows Mobile device, you can make yours "iPhone like" with a skin running on Windows Mobile 5.

It is all about computing in the palm of our hands!!

Creating Original Music for Podcast Tracks

2007-04-30T18:12:00.000-05:00

As I was noodling for some new tools to "freshen up" my podcasting resources I found this neat little tool by a cereal company! Students can create some of the background sounds for their podcasts using and audio mixer called CTC Music Mixer.

First the user selects one of the eight sample mixes and clicks Start Mixing. Each mix brings up a different audio mixer with acoustic, bass and electric guitar tracks, organ chords, all kinds of drums, crazy keys, and so much more. The user moves audio segments around on the track, controls tracks that play, volume for the segements to create a unique sound.

Sound mixes can be saved as mp3 files when you sign up for a DJ account! Here is a little beat I put together!!!

Sky's the Limit for Science Teachers

2007-04-06T16:42:00.000-05:00

Science teachers, star gazers and budding astronomers WikiSky is for you!

WigFlip for Student Products!

2007-03-30T00:16:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post from my late night investigations of popular social bookmarking websites. When I was working with teachers today, many mentioned that as the end of the school year draws near they are looking for students to create "products" that demonstrate learning for a content topic.

WigFlip is a little tool to spice up some of the products that students make. These callouts can be added to presentations, reports, etc.

Teach Yourself with Online Videos

2007-03-23T20:54:00.000-05:00

Today, with the plague of shrinking educational budgets, especially for professional development, teachers need access to "free" resources to help them learn. I just came across a video/animation resource, Wikivid, which will help educators learn more about so many of the software applications that are used in school districts. This resource is full of beginning, intermediate and advanced ideas related to popular software. My favorites are the advanced Excel formulas! I am one of those people who need to "see" how those formulas work! I have always had a need to do some advanced "exceling" but struggled with getting some of the advanced formulas to do what I wanted.

Use this resource next time you are struggling with a software issue!! What a great anywhere, anytime tool!

A Technology Conference for Educators

2007-03-02T00:32:00.000-06:00

I am just finishing up an exciting week as a technology staff member for the IL-TCE Conference in Illinois. Organizers of the conference brought a great group of state-wide school technologists together to support over 50 pre-conference sessions and two days of breakout sessions by teachers and administrators.

Our technology staff volunteers started the day with a 7 AM meeting. Not only did we provide the BEST support to presenters and participants, we had FUN and were able to do alot of networking! However, as the week progressed it seemed the team found it harder and harder to be punctual for our 7 AM start...perhaps a little too much FUN was had at Lilly's.

FYI--Just in case you plan a conference
Here are some of the excuses technology staff use to explain why they are late for the 7 AM briefing and room assignments.
Yes, you know who you are!

1. The "network" guys work "different" hours.
2. I had an ironing problem.
3. No, really, my email server is down and I was trying to fix it remotely!
4. My daughter is spending the night and she does not get up until 9 or 9:30 AM.
5. Wow, I am sorry I got here so late, I think I am coming down with something, I almost hurled this morning.
6. I couldn't find a clean red shirt.
7. I had to get a massage at the salon because I had cheeleading practice last night and I pulled my muscle.
8. I got the golf cart stuck in the snow!
9. I was out in Gallery unlocking the doors.
10. I had a friend visit last night.
11. I went back to my room to get my ID because the security guard wouldn't let me in without one.
12. I had to upload my pictures to Flickr.
13. I just had someone relay the messages by radio to my room.
14. A MacBook with iSight streamed the video right to my PC in the F-Wing.
15. I was trying to find the answer to the "lurker" question.

Thanks to all who made this a memorable week!
Tech Rocks!

Watch TV Online for Free!

2007-02-24T16:06:00.000-06:00

So much video content, so many places to look! Here is a list of thirteen places to watch online TV!

One of my favorites is ChooseandWatch. Browse the categories and find great links to video content for your classroom like the clips from the Discovery Channel from the Education category.

Oh, and if you are tired of the winter weather, especially those of us in the Chicagoland area where February has been FRIGID, take a look at this relaxing video of the ocean waves! Go to ChooseandWatch and select the Special category and click on Relaxing TV-Island. Sit back with a glass of ice tea...yeah, that's better!

Online GradeBooks for Free

2007-01-31T17:29:00.000-06:00

Ah...the end of the third grading period is here. While in a school this week I heard lots of chatter about posting grades in the grading software. "Excuse the interruption, but teachers would you please export your grades, again, due to a system error..."

Many school districts use gradebook software for the printing of report cards and that is all. But what about providing students with access to their progress on an ongoing basis. With parent conferences in the next couple of weeks, many parents would like to know what the student's grades are before they meet with the teacher for so many reasons. While many schools have the ability to print electronic report cards from "e-grades" that teachers keep, they do not utilize the student or parent access features of their "gradebook" package, or the software being used doesn't have that anytime, anywhere access for the various stakeholders who want to track student progress.

Do you keep your grades electronically? Take a look at EnGrade! It is a FREE online tool for classroom grades. Engrade is a free and powerful tool that gives teachers the ability to manage and post student grades, upcoming assignments, and attendance online in real-time.

Students and parents have online access to the data, too. I have begun to use the software in some of the long term professional development projects in which I am involved. This provides some feedback to the teachers about their implementation of daily use of technology in student learning activities. My grading system has been customized from a numerical scale to a rating of 1-4 which are represented in a more "expressive" way.

4= ;-) 3= :-) 2= :-o 1= :-(

The teachers, with their access as students in my class definitely can monitor their progress in meeting project goals! And I can give the principal access to these "grades", too!

Visual Literacy Ideas

2007-01-10T21:39:00.000-06:00

One of the 21st century literacies is visual literacy. I have been doing some research for a training session I am preparing for and I thought I would share a couple of my "finds".

Browse the great visual literacy activities using photographs from the Oakland Museum of California. Take these great ideas and combine them with more primary sources from the National Archives or the American Memory Collection from the Library of Congress. Target critical thinking and inference with these tools to help student thinking differently about visuals.

Another tool that I found provides a roadmap for helping with visualization of data. The periodic table for visualization methods is an eye-opening tool for helping students analyze and communicate understanding of content and concepts. Teachers, we can really think deeply about the "graphic organizers" we are using and this tool helps us select an appropriate tool. What I like best is that each tool identifies if the thinking process as convergent or divergent!

And Here We Go!

2007-01-03T10:37:00.001-06:00

Today's article, Six Ed-Tech Trends to Watch in 2007, in eSchool News is an important read for educators. We used to spend our IT dollars on the hardware, but now a shift of that trend is on the horizon. In the future, more IT dollars will be spent on the services that make our sub-computer ever so powerful! For educators I especially look forward to the possibilities of Trend # 4!

Web 2.0 Mega Site Hotlist

2006-12-21T21:40:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post before I sign off for a relaxing vacation over the holidays...Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Exploring the explosion of Web 2.0 tools is one of my favorite things to do and now I found a megasite keeping it all together for me. Take a look at Web2Go2.0 for the latest tools for social bookmarking, collaborative writing, organizing groups, and so much more!

Great tools for teachers and students to stay connected in a digital world. Ask yourself, "how might one of these tools change instruction and learning in a classroom?"

Calling All Writing Teachers

2006-12-15T23:48:00.000-06:00

I just completed writing an article for an educational technology magazine. My son has his final "senior" paper due soon in his high school English 4 class. My college senior...well he tells me on a Thursday that he won't be coming home as planned this weekend because he has seven papers to finish by Monday. (Yeah, those who have been through that one also remember PROCRASTION was never our friend!)

Here are 50 tools for writing that I uncovered one day when I was Googling! I especially like Writing Tool #3. This was timely advice when trying to narrow a 2500 word draft to 2000 words. And ofcourse, heed attention to Writing Tool #5. In fact, just reading through the 50 tools reminds a writer of some things we may have forgotton in our effort to make writing deadlines.