Northwest educators, come Blaze the Educational Technology Trail at NCCE 2012 – Seattle, March 13-16! Steve Dembo and Hall Davidson are featured speakers at this action-packed conference, and no doubt they will be sharing all kinds of great ideas and resources that will keep your fire ablaze! Early bird registration is available until February 10, [...]
Very soon after I had just sent a message out to my Digital Storytelling students alerting them to a good sale on editing software for PC’s, I sat down next to Steve Dembo to hear a keynote speaker at Iowa’s edtech conference. Within minutes Steve showed me a free, web-based alternative to the late (temporarily, [...]
Yesterday was a fun filled day for Dallas Teachers with a visit from Discovery Education. About 200 teachers from as far as 3 hours away came for a day of networking and learning to increase their knowledge on Discovery tools and more. Matt Monjan led a session on digital storytelling tools for the classroom. He [...]
Christopher Columbus Columbus Day will be celebrated October 10, 2011. I like to begin my lesson on that day reading sections from a letter that Columbus wrote without letting the class know who it is from or that it is Columbus Day. The letter is a primary document found at http://www.ushistory.org/documents/columbus.htm. The letter tells [...]
California Bay Area teens were challenged to make a PSA promoting a program to cut poverty in half by 2020. You can watch the two finalists, cast your vote for the winner to be aired on local television, and watch a behind the scenes documentary to get some ideas about how your students can make [...]
By David Andrade, http://tinyurl.com/edtechguy Glogster is a very cool site that allows users to create interactive posters called Glogs. I had learned about this a long time ago, but never had the chance to use it or try it out until this week. The free version is limited (50 students), but is still very useful. You could [...]
I know you’ve seen them, those panoramic images on Google Earth, shot on the streets of major cities around the world. And now (soon – June) you can shoot your own with an iPhone 4 and this little camera affectionately called Dot360. Gotta wonder what’s gonna happen when this gets into the hands of science [...]
I can still hear my 4th Grade teacher, Miss O’Malley say, “You need to say what you mean, then write it.” What’s interesting is I just did that. I’m writing (actually speaking) these words you’re reading, on the iPad … using Dragon Dictation. So now, more than ever, it still helps to say what you [...]
Usually when someone raves about a book, it’s about plot, or character development, or imagery. It’s rarely about ease of download or file transfer. But today (actually no one’s really sure when) Apple changed something and now getting iBooks into your iPad is easier than using a library card. And this is great news [...]
Cisco’s recent announcement discontinuing the popular Flip camera caught everyone, especially the education community, by surprise. I have always enjoyed walking into a school to do a “Makin’ Movies” workshop and finding a number of those handy little cameras ready for participants. I personally have always favored and recommended Kodak’s Zi line, especially for Mac [...]
I’ve said it before, one of the great rewards of teaching is getting to watch kids learn and grow up. And to take that a step further, seeing those “kids” as grown-ups can be just as rewarding. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching and coaching with a few former students. A few have managed to [...]
As I begin my third year teaching Digital Storytelling in the Discovery Education/Wilkes U. instructional media program, I find myself in a god Janus kind of mood: looking forward and backward at the same time. I feel confident that the almost three hundred students I have had contact with have taken away something they can [...]
I had just settled down for a long winter’s nap, after making a list of how to be productive with this new iPad. There’s no question that it’s fun to use. Typing is fun, iBooks are fun, the new MythBuster HD app and the new CNN app, wow, even Weather is FUN. Now call me [...]
The Hub, Discovery’s new children’s channel for kids and families has a digital storytelling contest for K-5 students that will be judged in 2 divisions: K-2 & 3-5. The December 18th deadline is rapidly approaching, but The Hub is providing a framework and resources to get you started. This could be a great way to [...]
For starters I lost my iPad. Yep, left it in a cab (I think) after an friend’s wedding festivities in Bermuda. I’m never gonna see it again. And with DE’s new app for their video library, I’ve become obsessed with finding a replacement. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m feeling moved to share a bountiful [...]
We’ve all said terrible things about TV. Bruce Springsteen even wrote a song about his 57 channels with nothing on. But despite the subscription fees, the inevitable price hikes, occasional loss of service, and some mind numbing content, the real problem with TV is, well…, you need a TV. Until last week. If you want [...]
Sorry for having avoided blogging for a time. We’ve been slowly updating our blog engine and I didn’t want to tempt fate until all the pieces were working properly. I’m going to hope enough of them are in place to share this contest with you. Once again, I know it’s short notice, but even if [...]
It’s probably too late for you to formally join this project but you might find a lot of inspiration in it for your classes. The One Day on Earth project is a great way to raise your students’ global awareness. They even have a page of resources specifically tailored for education. What could students learns [...]
The 10 finalists for the coveted Discovery Education/3M America’s Top Young Scientist title have been named. They will gather this fall to see who will wear the crown and how the many prizes will be distributed. In the mean time you can see how creative they all were in their video applications. The focus this [...]
Most of you are just about ready to start school (if you haven’t already). And, as the days are obviously getting shorter, I bet all of you are reflecting (mourning?) as much on another quickly passed summer as you are planning for this school year. Though I’m “retired,” I’m no different. On Monday I’m off [...]
ISTE 2010.1 I always start the national conference telling myself I’ll do a blog a day on what and who I’ve seen. It’s already the closing day and I’m just getting around to it but this might be hard to top (if I ever coalesce my thinking on all that I’ve seen and heard on [...]
In this time of global connectedness and emphasis on not just digital citizenship, but responsible, global citizenship in general, Challenge Based Learning would seem to go hand in hand with challenge based living. And I can’t think of a better tool to express and share solutions to those challenges than digital storytelling. I believe it [...]
Here are a few things your students could get involved in to keep the energy up through the end of the school year. 11 days left for Jr. Hi students to enter the Discovery/3M Young Scientist Challenge. Our past winners have some solid advice for putting together an entry video (or any video for that [...]
I am not a photographer nor do I play one on TV (or DV). I do know how to tell people how to compose video shots for effective visual storytelling. But if it weren’t for my two younger sisters and some neighbors, I’d hardly have any pictures of my own kids when they were growing [...]
I got to kick off Discovery Education’s 4 week series of webinars for the NetGenEd Project yesterday. Hall Davidson and I will be taking turns every Wednesday in April talking about various aspects of student video making. My webinar on writing and good preparation through storyboarding is already archived on their site. I know it [...]
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