This event will be held at Terramar School  7000 W. Happy Valley Rd.  Peoria, AZ 85383

on Sat. Jan 28, 2012 from 7 am to 2 pm.

If you would like to join us, please register at this link.

DEN LC Chair Alison Oswald-Keene

In other news, Alison Oswald-Keene was elected to take over Emily Mann’s post as LC Chair. Emily has donated years of time to the DEN for which we are very thankful. We’re hoping her new classroom schedule allows her to continue as an active member. Alison serves us from Deer Valley and should be a familiar face to those who have been attending DEN events. She’s also been active for years, especially in the coordination of DEN Virtual events. Thanks for stepping up to the Chair position, Alison!

Peer Solutions – January 30, 2012, 6pm

What do you do when you have developed the perfect lesson incorporating technology in an engaging, authentic, and creative way…and then it doesn’t work out? Come join Arizona Discovery Educator Network Leadership Council and AzTEA members for a conversation about challenges, successes, management, and backup plans for this free webinar.

Register here

Please complete our form to help start the conversation. Form link

Event Flyer  for you to pass to peers, thank you.

These recent months have been rather adrift as we tried to figure our our role, but we are back and ready to bond.  We will be reaching out to districts/sites that are continuing to use Discovery so they can maximize it, but for those who are not, we will still be promoting Virtual Conferences & Stream-a-thons & other free educator-benefitting resources available.  An important point that came up, is that DEN is not about the “stuff,” it is about the community and what we learn from each other.  We want to keep that happening and to keep bringing our minds together.  Please join us for our webinars and next meetings to share in the think tank.

I’ll try and post a schedule here soon, but you can also check at www.aztea.org

Animaps is a marker tool for students and teachers to use for illustrating  lit trips or historical map stories with markers that move, images, and text that pops up on cue. The ability to string together sequences of locations, events, and information using maps allows students to demonstrate deep levels of learning beyond just what they know.

By design, students use Animaps at higher levels on Bloom’s taxonomy to illustrate literature or historical maps. Teachers are able to extend and enrich content, and they make a great alternative to the overused common slide show application.

Tutorials are available and the tool is free!  What else do you need to know? www.animaps.com

LOC Blog

For you, the Mashable blog is here and you’re invited to try Embedly out and tell us how you used it.

One of the big questions for me is “can I use it in Moodle?”

We’re looking for guest bloggers – do you like to write? muse about tech? Leave a comment and I promise to get back to you. V

The Navajo County Educational Services Agency (ESA)  has arranged for a 30 passenger wi-fi bus to tour Northern AZ for four days. Educator/passengers will will stop at sites from Kayenta to Whiteriver for PD presentations based on content targeting AZ Social Studies standards. During the ride, prepared educational videos will be broadcast to continue the learning. Hotel stops, speakers and food have been arranged. Sliding scale plans for participation have been published. Participating educators will be able to earn re-certification hours.  Hot and hotter!

Arizona celebrates its Centennial Birthday in 2012 and this trip will focus on the geographic, geologic and social history of our own backyard. The trip will be documented on video cameras allowing the participants to collaborate on their technology skills.

April Weston, an active DEN Star and LC member has coordinated this event and reported a number of private cars  want to follow the bus with their families!  Stories and photos from the adventure will be posted here.

Student run projects coordinated for summer activities could possibly restore “character building” to our communities if not our classrooms. A guest blogger on the Edutopia site shares tips for helping students to organize service.

A Formula for Creating Successful Student-Run Service Learning Projects

Create bookcovers – illustrate scientific concepts – paint a greeting card -  (insert your ideas here)   ARTPAD

Enjoy, Vicki