DEN Blog Network

Has it really been a year already?  I remember vividly when a group of us all met up in Second Life, sat down in a sparsely furnished room and established our most unusual Leadership Council to date.  Since then, the DEN has become one of the most active education communities in SL.  From Discovery themed events to the weekly PD workshops, the DEN in SL Leadership Council has helped literally hundreds of educators get their start in virtual worlds.  With over 60 events and a crack team of volunteer guides, it is truly incredible what they have accomplished in a relatively short time.

Well, tomorrow the DEN celebrates it’s one year anniversary with a black tie affair, “Dressed to the Nines.”  Time to break out your best dress and tuxedo and celebrate in style.

New to Second Life?  This is a perfect opportunity for your first visit!

Aren’t dressed for success yet?  Don’t worry, visit this site to give yourself an extreme makeover on a zero budget.

So join us on Wednesday night at 8PM Eastern to celebrate one year of rocking the virtual world, and to see what they have in store for the 08-09 school year!

The grand opening, just one short year ago!

Okay… I feel like that game “Where in the World is Carmen..”  I have received hundreds of emails…. read all your posts…. and have been meaning to send out pics… but let me break it down for you….

Everyone knows I am a planner… so I “planned” on having a baby… staying at the hospital a few days… being wheeled out in a wheelchair with a newborn in my arms… lounging around in my brand new pjs… creating a website for David… posting pictures… sending out announcements… you know… everything you “normally” do… but of course you all know I am not “normal”

So here’s what happened…. at least the cliff note version… went into labor a week early… went against the normal “24 hour” labor with the first child and completed the “task” in less than 5… rather than the 7 lb baby the doctor said I was going to have… he arrived in the world at 5 lbs 4 oz… had a really hard start…. I didn’t care about counting fingers and toes (didn’t do that til several days later)… he ended up at Children’s Hospital Orange County (CHOC)… and we stayed there for 7 days while my little David faced his first giants and won!  A huge shout out to the incredible nurses in the NICU at CHOC who made a rather rough situation bearable.

Yes the rumors are true… I was in trouble several times with the hospital staff, both at St. Joseph’s where I delivered and CHOC where David stay… let’s just say I didn’t know I wasn’t suppose to get up and walk and hour after delivery…. and then a few hours later when I still hadn’t seen my baby I got up and walked to the nursery on my own.  At CHOC I was mostly in trouble for staying up around the clock and never going home to rest…. but for goodness sake my baby was in there… and I politely tried to explain that I worked for Discovery Education and all nighters for a week wasn’t a problem… that they should try one of our institutes!

So…. here we are a month later… it’s true… time flies…. I call him my little heavy weight champion… He’s up to 8 lbs now… he is starting to pack on the pounds… I can’t complain as he sleeps for 4 hour periods in the night time and even goes straight back to bed…. however the day time is a whole other story… he seems to think a nap is only 30 minutes and refuses to be left alone.  I have his cousin over here right now just so I can type this.

So here are the long awaited pictures from my new little Super STAR!  Click here for our Flickr account: http://tinyurl.com/5a8vck

He’s looking forward to his first DEN event in Northern CA at the ILC Conference!

Thanks again for your countless emails and phone calls!  It’s great to have such a great network of not only exemplary teachers but incredible friends!

Baby Kisses to All-  Jannita and David

As many of you know, Discovery Education and Wilkes University are collaborating on a fully online, 30 credit Master of Science degree in Instructional Media with courses designed by some familiar names…Kathy Schrock, Joe Brennan, Steve Dembo, and Lance Rougeux (yes, I realize that is shameless, self-promotion). 

What you probably don’t know yet is that based on the really positive feedback and strong interest from the DEN, Wilkes University has agreed to create some “DEN only” sections in the program.  So, you could take the Digital Storytelling class with a whole cohort of STAR DEs or connect with your DEN colleagues in a special section of the Digital Media in the Classroom course (which btw, I hear is phenomenal).

Right now there will be enough room for up to 100 DEN members to register but we’ve had a lot more educators than that let us know they are interested.  Get your registration in now!

A plethora and then some!  As we head into the 08-09 school year, I look over the webinar schedule and I am just stunned by what we have to offer.  As of right now, we have over 100 webinars on the calendar that you and your colleagues can participate in!  It truly is an astonishing amount of professional development available to you, and that’s just what’s on the calendar as of today!

So what can you register for?

EdTechConnect webinars: This monthly series brings you up close and personal with some of the biggest names in education.  The year begins with Tim Magner of the US Department of Education, and we take off from there.  We’ll be featuring Bernie Dodge, Alan Kay, Jason Ohler, Tim Tyson, Bernajean Porter, Tony Vincent and finishing the 08-09 program off with Ian Jukes!

DEN Webinars: Last year, the DEN team offered webinars twice a month on subjects on integrating media in the curriculum, podcasting, Web 2.0, digital storytelling and more.  Those sessions were in such high demand that we’ve decided to double our offerings this year!  That’s right, every week you’ll be able to attend a webinar hosted by a member of the DEN team.  We kick off the year with a Back to School Boot Camp series, followed up by a month of Integration Ideas.  Then all bets are off as the DEN team brings you an enormous variety of ideas for using digital media in your classroom.

DE Product Demonstrations: You may know all about DE streaming, but how familiar are you with DE Science?  Or Elementary Science?  What about Discovery Education Assessment?  Or even MediaShare?  Every Friday at 1pm EST, we’re hosting product demonstrations so you can learn more about the incredible services Discovery Education has to offer.  Each session is offered by the people who know the products best… the people who created them!  You’ll get a personal demonstration of the site and have plenty of time to get your specific questions answered.  Bring your administrators along so they can see firsthand the different ways that Discovery Education can help transform learning in your district.

Special Events: Scattered throughout the year are some incredible events you’ll definitely want to participate in.  This year we’ll be hosting the 3rd annual Streamathon as well as two DEN Virtual Conferences.  Additionally, we’re hard at work lining up new Discovery Connect webinars, connecting you and your students to the television programs on the Discovery networks.  More details on those will be coming soon!

The best part is, they’re all on the calendar RIGHT NOW for you to register for.  Go ahead and sign up now, we’ll send out reminders prior to the event so you don’t forget.  Not only that, let your colleagues know about them so they can take advantage of these great opportunities as well!

Visit our webinar calendar to register for any and all of these events.  While there’s too many to list, here’s a list of some of our upcoming events, just to whet your appetite.

Tonight! - 50 Ways to Spin a Digital Story

August 11th, 1pm EST - Response to Intervention (RTI)

August 12th, 7pm EST - Building a Bigger Builder, Your guide to the DE streaming tools

August 22nd, 1pm EST - Discovery Education Professional Development Opportunities Overview

August  August 29th, 1pm EST - Discovery Education PowerMediaPlus

September 5th, 1pm EST - Discovery Education Assessment - Predictive Benchmark

September 9th, 7pm EST - 50 Ways and Beyond

September 12th, 1pm EST - Discovery Education streaming, Plus, Media and Language Packs

September 16th, 7pm EST - DEN State of the Union Address with Lance Rougeux

September 17th, 7pm EST - EdTechConnect featuring Tim Magner, director of the office of educational technology for the US Department of Education.

Classes all around the world are trying to find ways to “go green.”   Discovery Education, Siemens and the NSTA are partnering up to help you and your students take it to the next level!

The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge is the first and only national K-12 sustainability education initiative aligned to state education standards and uniquely tailored to match students’ growing comprehension abilities throughout their school-aged years. By partnering with Discovery Education, a division of Discovery Communications, which provides scientifically proven, standards-based digital media tools and resources to classrooms nationwide, and the NSTA, the largest science teacher organization in the world dedicated to improving science education and increasing student learning by engaging all teachers of science, the Siemens Foundation will serve as a pioneer in recognizing sustainability efforts within the K-12 education system.

While the challenge will be starting off with middle school in September, it’s going to be expanded to reach students of every grade level.

K-2: My Classroom: Introduce students to the importance of “being green” and provide opportunities for active learning and engagement.
3-5: My School: Inspire students to think beyond their classroom — using science and math skills to take their school “green.”
6-8: My Community: Empower students with tools to apply the Scientific Method to real-world “green issues” in their local communities.
9-12: My World: Connect students with real-world scientists as they tackle today’s “green challenges” — moving from insight to global action.

While I’ve been sworn to secrecy and can’t divulge all the rest of the details just yet, I can say that if you’re a middle school teacher, you definitely want to be on board right from the get go.   It’s going to be an incredible experience, and there are some serious prizes up for grabs.  Visit the We Can Change the World Challenge website to register for more information.

What do Whale Sharks, Hammerheads, Mako Sharks and teachers have in common? They can all be seen at the DEN in Second Life “Swim with Sharks Underwater Scuba Adventure” on Monday July 28th at 5 pm SLT (5pm PST, 7 pm CST and 8pm EST)! Everyone who pre-registers will receive a complete Scuba Diving outfit with equipment for free. (If you miss the pre-registration you can still participate however you will not get the free equipment.)

This is one event you will NOT want to miss.  If you’ve been waiting for a good opportunity to check out the DEN in Second Life, consider this your personalizzed engraved invitation.  Visit the Second life blog to read all the details.

Dear DEN members:

I am doing some market research on a new offering that will provide video content in over 30 languages, aligned to curriculum standards for grades K-12

As our vault of wisdom, experience, and honest answers, I am looking for some DEN members who may be able to donate about 30 minutes of time to chat with me about these videos and how they might provide the most value in the classroom.

If you are a DEN member who either teaches a foreign language or works in a classroom with ELL students, and are interested in providing some valuable insight, please email me at betsy_whalen@discovery.com with a few times that may work for you.

In case you didn’t see it, Hall’s mobile phone presentation was recently featured on the EdWeek blog.  It’s has generated quite a bit of conversation already, so give the article a read and then chime in with your own comments.  Don’t forget, if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, you can catch the archive of his spotlight session from NECC by visiting here.

What a week and I was on a mission. It started off with a teeny tiny fender bender on Tuesday which knocked off my front license plate (which I didn’t even bother to try to put back on yet), then with a parking ticket today (couldn’t talk myself out of that one). This will teach me to not attempt to drive directly after coming home from vacation, but nothing was going to stop me from making a special trip to visit our newest DEN member and to make sure he signed up to become a STAR! I made a quick Animoto video of pictures of David Demian’s debut and him signing up to become a STAR (I think he got a little tired during the application process though…) Jannita and Laurian are proud of his new STAR status! More pictures coming soon!

If we want to devote more money to education, one solution is to put more students into the system.  Hardworking DEN leader Jannita Demian is doing her part one baby at a time:  Today, David Matthew Demian was born, making Jannita and husband Laurian parents for the first time.  Matt Monjan reports David to be 19 inches, 5 lbs 4 ounces, and mother and baby doing fine! Because David was unable to sign a release form, a webcam birth for the DEN was not possible, but watch for pictures soon!   This new native Southern Californian was born to a native Southern Californian but maybe this child will know what a snow scraper is (old Jannita story).  Congratulations from us all!