High Techpectations

Midwest Tech Forum 2009 Handout

Check out the handout for my portion of the Web 2.0 panel at Tech Forum Midwest tomorrow! This is intended to be a short overview of Web 2.0 and its implications for education. I've also included some web sites and readings for further exploration. Lucy Gray • Tech Forum - Midwest 2009

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-to-Guides & Manu web2.0 tech

Lucy's List: March Update to Interesting Twitterers to Follow

I published a list awhile ago of recommended people to follow if you are just getting started with Twitter. I'm appending that list in this post and my suggestions reflect a wide variety of Twitterers, not just people involved in the field of education. I find it fascinating the many ways people have chosen to use this tool.

Have fun exploring and feel free to list any other recommendations in the comments section of this blog! I've posted these suggestions in no particular order.

http://twitter.com/pbslearningnow

http://twitter.com/garystager

http://twitter.com/cogdog

http://twitter.com/cnansen

http://twitter.com/AngelaMaiers

http://twitter.com/paulawhite

http://twitter.com/presentationzen

http://twitter.com/KathySierra

http://twitter.com/johndavitt

http://twitter.com/OERCommons

http://twitter.com/cshirky

http://twitter.com/digidirections

http://twitter.com/mwesch

http://twitter.com/ISTEGlobal

http://twitter.com/tackychristmas

http://twitter.com/CelebSightings

http://twitter.com/WildEarth

http://twitter.com/Twitter_Tips

http://twitter.com/nytimestravel

http://twitter.com/mmuir

http://twitter.com/iPhone_alerts

http://twitter.com/newmediac

http://twitter.com/tedtalks

http://twitter.com/NOW_on_PBS

http://twitter.com/pbsengage

http://twitter.com/librarycongress

http://twitter.com/google

http://twitter.com/googlereader

http://twitter.com/cchausis

http://twitter.com/SJQOTD 

http://twitter.com/TheOnion

http://twitter.com/teach42

http://twitter.com/newmediajim

http://twitter.com/acarvin

http://twitter.com/zephoria

http://twitter.com/kanter

http://twitter.com/ewanmcintosh

http://twitter.com/shareski

http://twitter.com/SantaClaus

http://twitter.com/Techmeme

http://twitter.com/Riptide_Furse

http://twitter.com/mashable

http://twitter.com/jonnygoldstein

http://twitter.com/willrich45

http://twitter.com/edtechtalk

http://twitter.com/fastcompany

http://twitter.com/coolcatteacher

http://twitter.com/Pistachio

http://twitter.com/mscofino

http://twitter.com/UstreamTV

http://twitter.com/mediasnackers

http://twitter.com/TwitterLit

http://twitter.com/MacLife

http://twitter.com/TwitterMeThis

http://twitter.com/kathyschrock

http://twitter.com/langwitches

http://twitter.com/edubloggercon

http://twitter.com/smartinez

http://twitter.com/BeckettsDad

http://twitter.com/Lifehacker

http://twitter.com/ekornblut

http://twitter.com/QueenofSpain

http://twitter.com/digitalteacher

http://twitter.com/Westleyf

http://twitter.com/guykawasaki

http://twitter.com/KidderLit

http://twitter.com/torres21

http://twitter.com/joebjr

http://twitter.com/senatorgrant

http://twitter.com/vbek

http://twitter.com/alexanderrusso

My Digital Kids

Although both of my kids are four years apart, they have similar digital tastes. I've found items like Leapfrog's Leapsters to be helpful during our 35 minute plus commute to school, and I decided they were ready for iPods when their last birthdays rolled around (both were born in October). I purchased the last version of the iPod Nano (the square chunky model) along with iTunes gift cards for them in addition to loading up the MP3 players with content that I thought they'd enjoy. 

So far, so good in terms of their use. My fourth grader, Julia, has learned how to select content in our iTunes library and sync it with her iPod. Both keep their headphones and iPods in plastic bags most of the time for easy transport and protection. Henry has a lamp that plays the iPod and he listens to audiobooks and music at bedtime. Julia has a clock radio that does this, too, but it hasn't worked as well as the lamp. 

In terms of content, we can fit about one movie (the current selection is Alvin and the Chipmunks) and a slew of audiobooks and podcasts on the iPods. Both kids love a Webkinz podcast; Julia tends to gravitate towards audiobooks and Henry is learning a great deal from video episodes from the National Geographic channel in iTunes. Here's a video that I did with Henry about what he's learned so far. 

Dipping Your Toe in the RSS Feed River

Here's a blurb from an ReadWriteWeb blog post that echoes what I was saying to session attendees at the ICE COLD mini-conference today. Don't even try to keep up, but think of your RSS reader as a pool of information that you dip into when you have time or the inclination! Click on the image to read the entire article.

Seven Tips for Making the Most of Your RSS Reader - ReadWriteWeb via kwout

NICE Mini-Conference 2008: Global Awareness

NICE Mini-Conference 2008: Global Awareness

DOWNLOAD PDF :

Download NICE2008.pdf

From: elemenous, 5 hours ago

| View | Upload your own

An update of last year's preso

SlideShare Link

Friday 5: Pageflakes

I've been wrestling with a quick and easy way to direct students to relevant web sites. Our new web site management system is great, but a little clunky for quickly adding links. We have a wiki that will serve as a repository for curricular resources, but again, it takes time to add links to this. I also have envisioned one page of links for kids to reference, so that little ones in particular do not have to do a lot of web browser navigating.

So, the other day after speaking with technoguru principal, Tim Lauer, about how he keeps web sites up to date on his school's machines, I decided to try Pageflakes (http://www.pageflakes.com/).

Here is a tutorial wiki on Pageflakes that explains everything you
need to know:

Techwithme: PageFlakes for Education
http://techwithme.pbwiki.com/PageFlakes+For+Education

And, here are the ones I created for teachers at NKO focused on
currently taught math topics:

NKO Pageflakes Home
http://www.pageflakes.com/NKO/19739953

PreK-1 Cluster
http://www.pageflakes.com/NKO/19741294

2-3 Cluster
http://www.pageflakes.com/NKO/19739840

4-5 Cluster
http://www.pageflakes.com/NKO/19739844

Research and Resources
http://www.pageflakes.com/NKO/19739845

Fun For Kids
http://www.pageflakes.com/NKO/19739851

Teacher Sites
http://www.pageflakes.com/NKO/19739930

These pages are works in progress, so stay tuned!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year,

Lucy Gray

P.S. - Remember you can subscribe to the Friday 5 via email at http://groups.google.com/group/friday5!

Interesting Twitter Discussion on blogTV

I've started branching out in Twitter to add people/organizations to my network that are not directly education related. I subscribe to Santa Claus (yes, I still believe), Mashable, Barack Obama, and a bunch of others. I find these additions by browsing the networks of others and from various things I read about Twitter. Anyway, another such find is Jonny Goldstein whom I think I actually came in contact with a few years ago when I was researching video blogging for a Friday 5 list. It's a small blogosphere. Anyway, Jonny hosts a talk show on blogTV (similiar to Ustream) and I took a look at one of his shows recently. There are a few other parts to this which I did not get through, but this episode does a good job of demonstrating the power of Twitter. Jonny's interviewee is Laura Fitton of Pistachio Consulting, and I really identified with the attributes of Web 2.0 apps that drew her to Twitter specifically, being somewhat housebound as the mother of two young children. That very same reason drew me to the internet when my now 9 year old  was teeny tiny. This sort of stuff has helped me to work more efficiently and more powerfully because I am connected to people across the globe!

Friday 5: Year in Review

Hi Readers -

My New Year's resolution is to try and get back in the habit of publishing Friday 5 lists on a consistent basis! Here are a few sites I've collected to ring in the New Year.

See you next year,

Lucy Gray

-----

1) The Condition of Education 2007
http://nces.ed.gov/Pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007064

2) Year in Review 2007 - Special Reports from CNN
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/year.in.review/

3) AFI's Top 10 Movies of 2007
http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/12/16/afis-top-10-movies-of-2007/

4) 100 Notable Books of the Year - 2007 - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/notable-books-2007.html

5) Internet TV: 2007 Year in Review | last100
http://www.last100.com/2007/12/17/internet-tv-2007-year-in-review/

6) The 100 Best Songs of 2007: Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601363/the_100_best_songs_of_2007

7) 50 Top 10 Lists of 2007 - TIME
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/0,30576,1686204,00.html

8) Google Zeitgeist 2007
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist.html
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist2007/

Google publishes lists of the most popular search queries, which give you an indication about the public mind set during 2007. It's scarily fascinating! At the end of each section in this year's zeitgeist is a practical tip on how to refine your searches.

9) Lifehacker Zeitgeist 2007
http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/lifehacker-zeitgeist-2007-335359.php

Mashable and Lifehacker are two of the most practical web sites out there. I highly recommend skimming these sites on a regular basis.

10) Ask Lifehacker: How Can I Create a 2007 Timeline?
http://lifehacker.com/336387/how-can-i-create-a-2007-timeline

11) Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 New and Improved Apps of 2007
http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/top-10-new-and-improved-apps-of-2007-332617.php

12) Mashable's Best Technology Quotes of 2007
http://mashable.com/2007/12/15/best-technology-quotes-of-2007/

13) Top Web Apps & Sites of 2007 - ReadWriteWeb
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_10_web_apps_of_2007.php

Another Hit: Google Docs in Plain English

Friday 5: Special Mystery Guest: ELL

Hi All -

Larry Ferlazzo has put together tremendous resources for teachers and students. He teaches Social Studies and English to English Language Learners and native-English speakers at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, CA.  He was named the Grand Prize Winner of the 2007 International Reading Association Presidential Award For Reading and Technology.  He has a website with over 7,000 categorized links accessible to English Language Learners and younger native English speakers at http://www.bayworld.net/ferlazzo/english.html and a blog (http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/) where he daily shares new content added to the website. A few months ago, I shared his student examples page (http://www.bayworld.net/ferlazzo/Student%20Work.htm l) with Friday 5 readers; it's helpful because I'm always seeking concrete examples of student technology use. Thanks, Larry, for sharing your expertise with us!

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com
-----

   

1) Oxford University Press -- Student   Sites

http://www.oup.com/elt/students/?cc=global

 

Hundreds, and probably thousands, of online   English language development activities for all levels.

 

 

2) Peace Corps English Teaching Manuals

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=library.language

 

I think the teaching manuals the Peace Corps   has developed for teaching English as a second language are extraordinarily   helpful to teachers.

 

 

3) Starfall

http://www.starfall.com/

 

The best online site to teach reading to   beginning English Language Learners or young native speakers to read..

 

 

4) Dvolver Moviemaker

http://www.dfilm.com/live/moviemaker.html

 

A great site for students to develop their   writing skills in a fun and creative way by creating simple movies.

 

 

5) Hello World English

http://www.hello-world.com/English/EN_English.php

 

A site for beginning English Language Learners   to learn basic "survival" English.

 

 

6) English 180

http://www.english180.com/lessons.do

 

A very good site for both Beginning and   Intermediate English Language Learners with graduated lessons.

 

 

7) English Interactive

http://acacia.cnice.mecd.es/~agip0002/auro/inicio.html

 

Another excellent site for both Beginning and   Intermediate English Language Learners with exercises at various levels.
 
  -----
 
  You can subscribe to the Friday 5 at   http://groups.google.com/group/friday5 or read it in my blog:   http://elemenous.typepad.com.
 
 

Beware of Quechup Spam Scam » Moving at the Speed of Creativity

Link: Beware of Quechup Spam Scam » Moving at the Speed of Creativity.

Don't do it! Don't accept any Quechup invitation from me!!! I got an invite from Steve Dembo, and promptly joined,as we all know that I love Web 2.0 stuff. Well, they scan your address book to find contacts, and then they send unwanted email to the addresses listed. I can't believe this is legal. 

My sincere apologies to anyone that took the bait. There's a great privacy lesson in here somewhere... I'm trying to convince myself that this is a teachable moment. Hah.

Global Education Collaborative Meeting #1

I'm playing around with this very cool video conferencing tool called FlashMeeting. It's sponsored by Open University, I think, which hosts all sorts of open source content and courses. FlashMeeting is used for research purposes, so you to submit an application to be able to book through them, and meetings are recorded. Anyway, I'm hosting my first FlashMeeting this Sunday evening (September 16th 8PM CST)to discuss global education efforts; please consider joining and sharing any ideas that you may have. The meeting will be available for viewing when we're finished, too.

If you need more info, please contact me or check out the Global Education Collaborative ning.

Blog Action Day 2007 : Remix This Idea

Sheddheads: Web 2.0 Comes to Museums

Link: Sheddheads.

Just got my Shedd Aquarium membership newsletter in the mail which details their new media sharing site called Sheddheads. People can join this site and participate in the generation of content. I signed up and viewed a You Tube video of a Beluga whale giving birth.

This is a great idea, but it seems to have a limited focus. I'd love to see a site for all major museums to share content... sort of like a Flickr or YouTube with one stop shopping for quality educational content.

Field Trips 2.0 Project

I am part of a group of teachers working on a project that we plan on submitting to the Apple Learning Interchange. Specifically, this project focuses on the idea of reinventing field trips as we traditionally know them. We'd like to show teachers how to plan effectively for mobile learning experiences, what great excursions look like, and help them kick field trips up a notch by taking advantage of collaborative opportunities, digital tools, and web-based resources.

Interested educators are welcome to join our project. There are a couple of ways you and/or your colleagues can help:

1) Add bookmarks to our resource collection in del.icio.us by tagging any great links with the tag: Fieldtrips2.0.

2) Let us link to your educational blogs, blog posts, and Google Earth files that deal with your own field trip experiences. We also would love links to geocaching projects. We will post your name and school along with any links you send.

3) Participate in a group audio and/or video. We want to record a conversation, preferably using iChat AV, between multiple educators on how to make a field trip work, particularly when using Apple stuff and other digital equipment.

Send any of us an email indicating strands of interest if you'd like to participate. Additional details will then follow.

Thanks in advance,

Lucy Gray - University of Chicago Charter School
Judy Beaver - Punahou School
Andrew Gardner - The School at Columbia
Julene Reed - St. George's Independent Schools
Mike Searson - Kean University

ADE Frappr Map

We are all over! I'm looking forward to meeting new ADEs at next week's Apple camp.

Google Scavenger Hunt for Middle Schoolers

I'm so excited about a spur of the moment project I started today in my sixth grade computer science class. We just finished group reports in our millennial/computer terms wiki, and our next topic to cover is graphing. For the past two quarters, I've done a rather dry assignment involving temperatures of cities around the world in Google Docs and Spreadsheets. I decided I wanted to explore an Ogle Earth blog posting forwarded by Chris Walsh to the GCT community, and I began by trying out the Google LookUp formula within Google Spreadsheets. Essentially, you enter certain search terms into this formula, data is found by Google, and entered into the specified cell. See this blog posting in the official Google blog for more information and check out the hunt itself. I need to add more complete directions and polish it a bit, but I may post about this over at the Infinite Thinking Machine when the project is finished. So far, my students' reactions have been really positive... they had no idea about the calculator features in Google Search and many said that this alone would help them with their homework. Another thing to note is a suggestion from my colleague, Marty. She thought it would be great to use autofill with this Lookup formula, to say, find statistics for a set of pro baseball players. Unfortunately, autofill doesn't seem to be a feature with Google Spreadsheets yet!

Pictogame

Here something fun from Pictogame:

Put this game on your blog   Create your own   More games

The picture I took with my built-in iSight camera.

Friday 5: More Cool Tools

Friday 5: More Cool Tools

Hi Everyone -

In February, I had the opportunity to help with the second Google Teacher's Academy in New York. Along with two other GTA leaders, I participated in a "Cool Tools Duel" in which we presented a couple of our favorite edtech resources. Everyone present then voted via applause for the overall favorite. This activity inspired a long list of other cool tools within the Google Certified Teachers community, and I thought I'd share a few of my favorites this week. The third Google Teachers Academy just wrapped this week in Southern California, so welcome to any new Google Certified Teachers who may have joined the Friday 5!

Enjoy and think summer,

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

1) VoiceThread
http://voicethread.com/

This site was recommended recently by my ADE friend, Valerie Becker, and I'm looking forward to exploring it further. At VoiceThread, you upload photos (or directly import them from your Flickr account) and a slide show is created. You then can add audio and text narration, and have others comment on the photos in a similar manner. Check out this document for information on how you can set up VoiceThread to for classroom use.

2) Gliffy
http://gliffy.com/

Here's an online alternative for concept mapping. There are some nice Web 2.0-like features in Gliffy, such as the ability to blog about a drawing as well as to add collaborators to a file. Via Chris Walsh.

3) OurStory.com
http://www.ourstory.com/

Create multimedia, interactive time lines for free at this web site. This is a nice resource for personal use because several sets of guiding questions regarding various life scenarios are presented. For instance, there is a set of travel questions that will lead you to reflect and document on a trip. Via Kevin Jarrett.

4) Math Thinking Blocks
http://www.thinkingblocks.com/

This is an online visualization tool for helping students with math. In the module I sampled, I was given a story problem in which I had to figure out the total cost of two items. I was guided through three steps to solve this problem which included visual guides and feedback. I found this to be a really unusual as well as useful tool for helping students with math. You really need to try this one out!  Via Kevin Jarrett.

5) The Generator Blog
http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/

This was suggested in the GCT community by Alix Pleshette. This blog contains a growing list of web sites in which you can generate general silliness. For instance, you can add your own picture to an image of a cereal box, make a banner for a web page, or create your own customized Hollywood sign. You might want to screen any of the sites listed here first before using with students, though. Some of them do not look appropriate for kids.

To subscribe to the Friday 5 Google Group, visit this page.

NECC 2007 Workshop Resources

Excuse multiple crossposts -

Julene Reed and I are teaching a workshop at NECC on global collaboration, and I've set up a series of resources to demonstrate during this class. I hope that these resources will live on as people become interested in sharing resources used to teach global awareness concepts. Please consider jumping in and joining any of these groups. Some of them are already seeded with material, but others are just getting started. Feel free to pass this info on to anyone you know that also might be interested.

If you are presenting on a simliar topic at NECC, please think about "crosspollinating" material in these spaces as well.

1) Global Education Ning group
http://globaleducation.ning.com/

2) Global Education Flickr group
http://flickr.com/groups/globaleducation/

3) Global Ed Google Group
http://groups.google.com/group/globaleducation

4) Global Education Collaborative Wikispace
http://globaleducationcollaborative.wikispaces.com/

5) I'm tagging any resources I bookmark with the tag globalawareness in Furl and in del.icio.us.

6) Google Calendar for Global Education - enter your NECC global awareness events here, for instance.

If you think of other similar resources we should include, please send me suggestions.  Thanks!!!

Friday 5: Best of the 2007 Webby Awards

Hi All -

The Webby Awards were recently announced, and here are a few of my favorite sites culled from the long list of nominees and winners. Check out the entire list here if you would like more!

Thanks,

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

-----

1) Poetryfoundation.org
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

This site has a great search tool: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poetrytool.html. One feature includes searching for poetry-related images within the foundation's Flickr groups.

2) Best Stuff in the World
http://www.thebeststuffintheworld.com/

#2 and #3 on this week's list fall under the category of social networks, sites that revolve around user generated content. Best Stuff in the World has people rate and compare anything and everything.

3) Last.fm - The Social Music Revolution
http://www.last.fm/

Listen to and buy music here at this site.

4) The Gapminder World 2006
http://tools.google.com/gapminder/

I think I've mentioned this site in a previous Friday 5, but it's worth another mention. This site uses graphics to represent data in interesting ways.

5) Smithsonian Photography Initiative
http://photography.si.edu/

This site has search capabilities which allow one to easily browse photos, create a personalized collection, and share it with others.

Friday 5: Will Richardson Workshop

Friday 5: Best of Will Richardson

Hi All -

On Friday and Saturday, teachers and administrators from several area independent schools gathered at the Francis Parker School here in Chicago to learn from classroom blogging guru, Will Richardson. Will is a former high school teacher and early adopter of Web 2.0 technologies, now consulting in school districts across the country. His blog, Weblogg-ed, is widely read by many educators. All in all, it was a productive and enlightening workshop; this week's list represents a handful of sites that were discussed.

Take care,

Lucy Gray

_______

1) Gcast

Gcast is a podcast hosting service. Users can make recordings via phone amongst many other features.

2) Wikinomics

This is the accompanying web site to a popular book written by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams. Will recommended this business book as its message apparently has potential implications for education. Interestingly, the web site includes a blog and a wiki where community members are authoring additional chapters of the book.

3) Remote Access blog by Clarence Fisher

Will referenced Clarence's work several times during the workshop. There's an interesting graphic on emerging technologies and services included in Clarence's May 5 post.

4) 21Classes

Will consulted on this student-friendly blogging service.

5) A Web of Connections: Why the Read/Write Web Changes Everything

Will relies on wikis for presentations nowadays, not slideware.

While browsing sites during the workshop, I found two others worth sharing that were not directly a part of the workshop:

6) Using Google Earth for Earth Science and Remote Sensing

7) Celebration of Teaching and Learning: Multimedia Resources from Thirteen/WNET and WLIW

This conference had a great line-up of speakers. For those of us unable to attend in person, videos of several presentations are online for viewing.

The Global Education Collaborative

Link: The Global Education Collaborative.

Excuse the multiple cross-postings on various listservs etc....

Please consider joining a Ning community on global education: http://globaleducation.ning.com/

At the National Educational Computing Conference to be held in Atlanta, Georgia this June, fellow Apple Distinguished Educator Julene Reed and I will be hosting a workshop on global collaboration. I plan on utilizing a variety of tools and resources throughout this hands-on class, including Ning, a service that allows one to establish a custom social networking site. I am hoping to seed this site with people and content in preparation for this workshop, and I would like to invite anyone to jump in and participate.

I've made a few prior attempts at creating an online meeting space for those interested in global collaboration which included the establishment of a .Mac group and a blog. While I still plan on posting to these resources, I think this environment might be more inviting because it allows for the posting of photos, videos, and RSS feeds. Users can make their own custom personal pages, contribute to discussion forums, network with other like-minded individuals, and comment on these features. I've been inspired by the success of Steve Hargadon's Classroom 2.0 and School 2.0 Ning communities, particularly by the forum conversations in the Classroom 2.0 one.

I also hope that this will also serve as a hub for anyone who will be presenting at conferences on various global education topics. Please consider uploading any relevant files including presentation slides. You can upload slides to sites such as SlideShare and Scribd, which I think, will give you the html code to embed videos in a Ning community. If you need help with any of this, just let me know.. it's pretty easy. Of course, you can probably also save slideshows as Quicktime files and upload them directly, too.

Please let me know if you have any questions...

Friday 5: Using Chat and Instant Messaging in the Classroom

My students have found me online. I haven't decided if this is a good thing, or not, quite yet, but it definitely has me to thinking about using chat and instant messaging to communicate with students.

In my sixth grade computer science class, our discussion about instant messaging started when a student asked me about my user name for a class wiki project. I explained that I use the same user name (elemenous) for all my accounts, including the AOL Instant Messaging service (AIM), and my students perked up immediately. They were surprised that a teacher, of all people, actually used AIM, and I bet one class that many more teachers use an instant messaging service than they realized. I also explained that I use chat regularly to communicate with other teachers around the world, and that it's been wonderful tool for exchanging files and learning from other educators.

So, since this discussion, the number of kids instant messaging me after school has jumped from 1 kid last week to about 8 kids last night. I think I had 4 different chat windows open on my computer, and it was difficult for me to multitask. I noticed that the conversations are markedly different than the ones I have with adults. When I chat with an adult, I usually am pinging them for a specific reason such as tech help or to share a resource. With kids, however, it seems as if they are sort aimlessly IMing each other and me. This is a social tool for them, and they must be chatting with lots of other people because often our conversations go dead as if they were busy elsewhere. Sixth graders, IMHO, have not learned the fine art of  carrying on an online conversation. Interestingly enough, though, one of my students told me that most of the grade-level "drama" happens within instant messaging conversations after school. One kid said he's learned to hit certain keys to quit IMing quickly when his mother approaches as he's not supposed to be online during homework time. Another kid said his mother took away his keyboard because she thought his computer habits were too distracting for him. (I'm making a mental note of this tactic for when my children hit middle school.) It's fascinating to see how important this tool has become to kids; I feel like I've been let into the club a bit as they have been reaching out to me via IMing.

Generally, I think using instant messaging and chat rooms in the context of learning is not something most teachers want to incorporate into their curricula; it's a matter of digital natives versus digital immigrants. We immigrants have been slow to realize that this tool is wildly popular amongst adolescents, and that if we frame its use properly, chatting via instant messaging or inchat rooms might actually empower learning. So this week, I've compiled a slew of related articles that might help you understand this phenomenon.

Take care and have a great weekend,

Lucy Gray

1)   Strategies For Using Chat
Academic Distance Learning Center, Webster University, Saint Louis, Missouri

2)    Let's Chat: Chat Rooms in Elementary School

3)   Educause | Resources | Resource Center Abstract

4)   PC World - Internet Tips: A Grown-Up's Guide to Instant Messaging

5)   Moving at the Speed of Creativity>Blog Archive> The Case for Instant Messaging in the Classroom

6)   Experimental College at Tufts | Instant Messaging: R U Online! RU? | By Robert Farmer

7)     Spiral Notebook > IM in the Mood for Chat

8)     Apple - Education - iChat AV and iSight in the Classroom: Lesson Plans

9)     iChatCollaboration.pdf from Goochland County Public Schools

ICE COLD mini-conference

I'm presenting two session on Google tools at the Illinois Computing Educators' west suburban chapter's mini-conference on Saturday, April 21. Here is a .pdf of my presentation: 

Download lisle.pdf

The Friday 5 Search Engine

I've made a customized Google search engine using sites I commonly use when compiling Friday 5 lists. It's now listed on the left-hand side of my blog along with a box that allows people to subscribe to the Friday 5 in Google Groups. If you ask to contribute to this search engine, you can add relevant sites. It is also possible to add the search engine to your blog, homepage, or Google start page.

I can see teachers using Google Co-Op to make customized engines for various units of study. I think it's a pretty handy way to direct students research instead of just letting them loose on the Internet.

Friday 5: Creating Comics

Hi All -

I've been working with a science class this week in which kids are creating newspapers on genetically modified foods. Some kids are drawing political cartoons and I showed them how to scan their work, import these files into Comic Life and add fun touches including captions, speech bubbles, and various graphical enhancements. This project got me thinking about other useful tools for creating comics and thus, this week's theme was born!

Have fun exploring these tools!

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

1) Comic Life

This is one of my favorite pieces of software, and I believe it comes installed on new Macs. iPhoto is integrated into Comic Life, and you can publish directly to a .Mac account as well.

2) ReadWriteThink: Student Materials: Comic Creator

This web site generally has great tools and lessons for students and teachers.

3) Make Beliefs Comix

This site seems kid friendly!

4) Comeeko

This site lets you create comics with photos. It is a social web site, too, meaning that you can rate and comment on users' comics if you choose. I would recommend using this site for teachers to possibly create materials, but NOT for student projects, as the content does not seem to be screened for the k-12 arena.

5) ToonDoo - The Cartoon Strip Creator

Again, this is a social site and you may want to take a look around this site before using it with students.

6) The Comic Book Project at Teachers College, Columbia University

I found this link while looking for comic resources, and it looks like an interesting project for hand-drawn comics. Take a look at the online gallery of student work.

Let’s make it a Good Friday for the blogging world : Thoughts From A Technospud

Link:  Let’s make it a Good Friday for the blogging world : Thoughts From A Technospud.

In response to a recent cyberbullying incident that's garnered a huge amount of attention, Jennifer Wagner of the Thoughts from  a Technospud blog has made a request of the those who blog. She is encouraging fellow bloggers to take a moment today to recognize other bloggers who have been supportive in the blogosphere. I'm not sure if I am supposed to comment in the blogs of these people, or comment in a post on my own blog, so I am going with the latter option and tagging it "cybercompliment". Here are the people I'd like to thank:

1) A marketing person for this landscaping company. I can't remember the marketing person's name, but she wrote me after reading a post I had written about Margate Park. Here is the link I actually referenced in this post that's now in a password protected blog. Anyway, this was the first time I realized that people really do indeed read and respond to blogs. Blogs as a way to connect with others was completely foreign to me.

2) Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen fame. He noticed a post I had written about a student presenting at the Apple Store and he incorporated the story into his own post. I had read Garr's stuff previously, so when I received an email from him regarding Sam, I was blown away. What was this business professor with a popular blog in Japan doing contacting me?!?!?!? Again, the reach of the blogosphere was evident and it made me ponder how the Internet has forever changed our ability to connect, network, and derive meaning from others around the world.

3) Tim Lauer and others who held a blogging workshop at NECC 2004 in New Orleans. This was really the first time I explored the concept of blogs.  Here's a post from Anne Davis's blog about that event.

Thanks again, everyone!

Google Earth Meme Update

There's a new entry to the Google Earth Teacher Meme. Thanks to Marilyn DiPasquale for her .kmz file. Marilyn asked me how to created this file and put it in the Google Earth Community, so I'm copying and pasting the instructions I sent to her via email. To participate in this particular project, click on the aforementioned Googel Earth Teacher Meme link and you will see instructions. To create your own collection of .kmz files, follow the instructions below.

1) Make sure you register with the Google Earth Community site.

2) In Google Earth, each participant saves their .kmz file by going to File>Save>Save Place As> and then they browse to the place on their computer where they are going to save their file. This way they have a copy.

3) Then, they send this to me as an attachment or in GE, they go to File>Email>Placemark and send me the file that way.

4) Once I received the files, I made a folder in Google Earth (Add>Folder), selected it and saved it to My Places (File>Save>Save to My Places). I made folders in the same manner within this folder for each person participating.

5) I then opened the .kmz files from the emails sent to me and I selected those, moved them to their respective folders, and saved the entire enclosing folder again by going to File>Save Place As. I noted where I saved that .kmz file.

6) I then went to the Google Earth Community web site, found a forum that looks appropriate for posting my project, and I made a post describing the project. It's fairly self-explanatory; the first step was to create a new topic in a forum. The forum I chose was Education>Educators.

7) After creating my new topic post and entering relevant info, I clicked the continue button at the bottom of the page, and on the next page, there is a place for uploading files. This is where I uploaded the saved .kmz file and then I clicked the button that says ok, submit.  Note that it's helpful to save your post to your favorites within the Google Earth Community so that you can find it easily again.

8) To make additions, I open my .kmz file in Google earth, make additions in the manner described in Step 5, save again, and then visit my post in the Google Earth Community. There is an edit button on the post, and I go through and reupload my new edited .kmz file. There is a link that says to view it in Google Earth and one to view it in Google Maps. I usually look at the Google Maps one to make sure I uploaded files correctly.

Friday 5: More Web 2.0 Sites

If you've followed the Friday 5 for awhile, you probably already know that I am a fan of an internet phenomenon known as Web 2.0. According to Wikipedia, Web 2.0 is, "a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004, [that] refers to a perceived second generation of Web-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users." The second coming of the Internet includes web sites that you might have heard of, such as Flickr, Blogger, del.icio.us, You Tube, and MySpace. Each of these sites serves a different purpose; what they have in common is that they depend on user generated content. This content is easily shared with others using something called RSS feeds, and interaction with others is encouraged via comments, tags, ratings and linking to other sites. Web sites that fit this Web 2.0 genre bring people to together, allow others to collaborate, and help distribute content that can be used in new and different ways. I encourage you to try out one of these services to discover the power of Web 2.0. Flickr, a photo sharing site, is a great place to start.

This week's Friday 5 contains a few sites that are new to me. If you are really into these kind of web applications, make sure you check out this comprehensive list of other Web 2.0 sites.

Take care,

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

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1.    Swivel
http://www.swivel.com/

Swivel allows users to upload data, make charts and graphs, and share it with other in multiple ways. I first read about Swivel in Wired magazine, and it appears like it's not quite perfect and still in beta testing. Because it is so new, there's not a ton of data to look at, but I imagine this will change over time. Here's some data on Chicago Public Schools that can be viewed in different charts and graphs, for instance. It will be interesting to see how educators adapt Swivel for classroom use.

3.    Quimble
http://quimble.com/poll

Quimble lets you develop online polls that can be made public or private. I heard about this service recently on the EDTECH listserv.

4.     Scribd
http://www.scribd.com/

Kathy Shrock recently blogged about Scribd, which lets you upload PowerPoint presentations and other files. I like the nifty feature that reads this material to the viewer. Other similar sites worth checking out are SlideShare and ThinkFree.

5. ToonDoo
http://toondoo.com/Home.do

This site was mentioned on Steve Hargadon's new Classroom 2.0 Ning site, where educators are discussing how to incorporate Web 2.0 technologies into classrooms. ToonDo allows users to create and share cartoons using a bank of clip art. It's definitely nifty, but I'd hold off referring kids to this site as I ran into a cartoon that was not particularly kid friendly that was featured in the archive section of this site. As with any site where material is shared, it's wise to take a look around before deciding whether something is appropriate for kids. ToonDoo, however, is very handy for teachers looking to create a graphic for a newsletter, web site, presentation, etc.

Join the Classroom 2.0 Wiki

Link: classroom2dot0 - home . Steve Hargadon, a fellow Infinite Thinking Machine blogger, has started a collaborative document known as a wiki that focuses on using new technologies in the classroom. These web sites and applications are known collectively as Web 2.0 technologies, meaning that they represent the second coming of the Internet. This wave focuses on user generated, collaborative content.  Check out this wiki and think about how you can incorporate things like Google Docs and Spreadsheets, social bookmarking services, and video conferencing into your curricula. This site is definitely worth exploring. Steve has also started a social networking site for Classroom 2.0 stuff at Ning and the link is here. His goal seems to be to bring practical ideas for implementing these interactive and powerful technologies into classrooms, so please consider exploring,and possibly contributing to, his forums for making this happen!

My Beloit Circle

Link: My Beloit Circle.

Edublogger Will Richardson recently blogged about Barack Obama's website that has incorporated Web 2.0/ social networking technology, and I was reminded of his post when I was recently invited to join my alma mater's new venture.

It looks like social networking is going mainstream a bit more as Beloit College recently launched a new alum feature called My Beloit Circle. It's sort of a cross between Linked In and Classmates. The company running this site also does it for other organizatons.

A couple of thoughts as I've delved into this.... first, I wonder how much time busy people will really invest in this. I've played around with My Beloit Circle quite a bit as I'm naturally interested in this stuff, but is the average user really ready for this? Secondly, I entered the feed from my blog into a field in my profile, and it's pretty cool how my recent blog entries pop up in a certain section along with posts from other Beloit alum bloggers. I noticed that I was the oldest person listed there by far and I'm only 40! Thirdly, it's really difficult to see who's registered so far because the search feature doesn't let you browse past the first page if you search by class year. The only other way to see if someone belongs to this online community is they are a connection of yours ala Linked In's style of networking. Finally, I think a really useful feature is group creation. Anyone can create a group for others to join and network within. There are groups for alum organizations in cities, for teams, and for people working in certain professions.

At any rate, it will be interesting to see how this online community develops. At the very least, it's clever to keep your alums tied to the school and hopefully, donations, too. (By the way, I haven't seen anything in this community yet regarding fundraising.)

Live From New York...

Link: Google For Educators.

I'm sleepless in the city that never sleeps as I'm visiting New York to help with the second Google Teachers Academy. I'm holed up in my cozy little hotel room at the Pod Hotel, which reminds me very much of the hotel in which I stayed in Berlin last summer. I suppose I am just too wound up after a stressful day of travel which included losing my luggage.

Pictures to come....

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

The directior of information technology at my school, Curt Lieneck, passed on this video today. I showed it to both of my sixth grade classes, although it might have been a bit over their heads. It explains web 2.0 pretty well and is cleverly produced. My classes definitely preferred this video to the one that inspired it in the first place.