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!

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.

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.

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.

Is it ever too late to post a NECC round up?  I hope not!  Because the STARs were truly shining bright at NECC this year and I got a plethora of links to share.

• The Northwest Blog has a solid summary of the day along with an Animoto made up of pics taken there.  Trust me when I say that it was a wild time indeed!  Jen Dorman shared her experiences there as well.
• Jen Dorman has also shared a huge number of live blogs from the conference, including her notes from the DEN in Second Life LC’s Creating a Personal Learning Networking in Second Life.
  
• Speaking of the DEN in SL LC’s session, they rocked the house!  And there were more than just a few blog posts about it.   In fact, Beth Knittle of the aforementioned LC has a post well worth reading about what the DEN in SL means to her and Elaine Plybon chimed in with her own post about her experiences presenting at NECC on her DEN blog as well as on her personal blog.
• Beth also shared her own reflection of what NECC meant to her, as well as how much her personal learning network has affected her.  Lee Kolbert has her own ‘brain dump’ over at her MacMomma blog, including a shout out to Hall Davidson and his cell phone presentation.
• While we’re on the subject of Hall’s cell phone presentation, you might want to read this review that says it was the “best presentation I saw at NECC this year, hands down…”  I’m assuming he just hadn’t seen my presentation on policies yet.  But others agreed with him.
• Since we’re talking about Hall, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that he did do a second Spotlight session that he shared over on Media Matters.  Both sessions can be found over on NECC’s webcasting page.  If you missed them, here’s your chance to check them out!
• Of course, some people decided they were going to be at NECC even if they had to drive halfway across the country to do it.  Tim has shared a summary of his entire NECC experience on the Tennessee blog, including some of the evening festivities that were going on.
• I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that we had the opportunity to celebrate the DEN’s third birthday with about 400 close personal friends as well!  Over on the Virginia blog, they have Flickr slideshow posted with photos from the event.
• And while my fingers are starting to wear out, I can’t close this off without mentioning the daily summaries from Joe Brennan, discoveries from NECC shared by the North Carolina blog, Geekybird’s brain being set on “sponge”, and even more daily summaries from the Northwest blog!

What’d I miss?  Surely that can’t be it, can it? If I missed a post, link it up in the comments so everyone can find it!

Thanks for making this a NECC to remember, whether you were there in person or attending virtually.  *whew*  Now it’s time to kick back and relax for a few weeks.

Huh?  What’s that you say?  Leadership Council institute next week?   DEN National Institute the following week?  Yikes!  Why stop now?  We’re rolling!

Better question would be where won’t we be??  I’m looking at the list of STARs that are presenting at NECC and I am blown away by the numbers.

Hall and I are each presenting a few times.  Hall is being featured as a spotlight presenter this year and will be doing two sessions that you won’t want to miss.   On Tuesday at 3:30, he’ll be presenting It’s In Your Pocket: Teaching Spectacularly with Cell Phones.  I’ve been working on that one with him, and it looks to be incredible.  I may even be doing a little guest appearance with him!  Then on Wednesday at noon, he’ll be presenting The Man Behind the Curtain: Really Simple HTML for Non-Wizards.  I’ve seen this one before and it’s a blast.  Don’t get stressed out by the word “HTML”, he really does make it easy to get very impressive results.

For myself, I’ll be presenting Policies, Safety and Social Networking on Wednesday at 1:30pm.  It focuses on the need for schools to update their policies to reflect Web 2.0 sites and social network and provides examples for how to do it safely while maintaining high standards.  I’ll also be speaking on two panels.  The first is Podcasting & Podcatching for the Absolute Beginner on Monday at 11:00am, and the second is Social Networking in Education on Tuesday at 2:00pm.  Hope to see you there!

As if five sessions by the DEN team weren’t enough, that’s just barely scratching the surface!  The following list are all sessions featuring STAR Discovery Educators!

Sunday, June 29, 2008 Concurrent Sessions, Workshops, Poster Sessions

• 7:00 PM Martha Thornburgh Mathlincs: A Collaborative Math Project with a Global Span

Monday, June 30, 2008 Concurrent Sessions, Workshops, Poster Sessions

• 8:30 AM Fred Delventhal, Elaine Plybon, Nancy Sharoff, Lori Abrahams, Anne Truger, Beth Knittle Creating a Personal Learning Network in Second Life

• 8:30 AM Ben Smith, Jared Mader The Tech Based Science Classroom

• 8:30 AM Stephanie Anderson Learn to Podcast and Video Edit Now!

• 11:00 AM Susan Anderson, Jim Holland Breathing Life into Your Curriculum: Google Earth Advanced Placemarks

• 11:00 AM Charlene Chausis Off Task: Web Sites and Web Tools You Didn’t Know You Needed

• 12:30 PM Grace Smith, Stephanie Throne Differentiating Instruction with 21st-Century Tools/NETS•S in Encore Classrooms

• 12:30 PM Michelle Hutton Python: Learn Programming the Fun Way

• 1:00 PM Anne Truger Re-Energize Your Curriculum with Clay Animation

• 3:30 PM Ben Smith, Jared Mader Student Creativity and Innovation in Schools

• 4:45 PM Stevie Kline Panel Participant in Bernajean Porter’s: Digital Storytelling: Becoming StoryKeepers

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 Concurrent Sessions, Workshops, Poster Sessions

• 10:00 AM Susan Anderson, Jim Holland Hidden Treasures in Your Curriculum: Geocaching for Students

• 11:00 AM Vicki Green, Kathy Andrzejewski Differentiated Instruction-One Click at a Time

• 12:30 PM Michelle Hutton Computing Outreach: Getting Students Excited about Computing!

• 12:30 PM Ben Smith, Jared Mader The How To Workshop for New Technologies

• 1:00 PM Beverly Plein, Joanna Ebert Think Big, Think Global, Think 21st-Century Skills

• 1:00 PM Nancy Sharoff Visual Literacy and Web 2.0: Implications and Applications for Education

• 1:00 PM Kristen Innes, Jen Kiddle Technology, Art, Music: Integrating across the Curriculum to Meet Standards

• 1:00 PM Jim Holland, Gaby Krumm Print, Cut, Fold: Creative Technology Projects for all Curricula Areas

• 3:30 PM Carol Anne McGuire Rock Our World: Global Collaboration buzzword or educational reality?

• 3:30 PM Alma Row The Price Is Right: Free Online Resources for Educators

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Concurrent Sessions, Workshops, Poster Sessions

• 9:00 AM Cheryl Lykowski Global Explorers-Where Students Are Making The Global Connection

• 9:00 AM Mary Amtsberg, Jean Thorpe Blogging, Podcasting and Smart Boards - Oh My!

• 9:00 AM Heather Hurley, Wendy Heller Make Your Mark with SMART! Implementing SMART Classroom Tools

• 9:00 AM Jim Holland, Susan Anderson Google Earth: Real Science, Real Word, Real Fun!

• 12:00 PM Lisa Parisi, Christine Southard Harris Burdick Online Writing Project

• 12:00 PM Michelle Hutton Python for Fun Introductory Programming

• 12:00 PM MaryCarole Strother iLearners in an eWorld

• 12:00 PM Kenneth Shelton Technology Integration Station “Your next stop to innovation”

• 1:30 PM Carol Broos It’s Music: Compose, Post, Share, and Comment

• 1:30 PM  Robin Ellis The Walls Came Down: Incubating Collaborative Learning Environments 

Whew!  Did I miss anyone?  If so, please leave a comment and let me know!  And definitely make it a point to check out your fellow STAR Discovery Educator’s presentations and support the network!

Discovery Education and Wilke’s University are launching a new online master’s degree program in instructional media!  This has been in the works for a quite a while now, so I’m thrilled that we can finally announce it.

The 30-credit instructional media program will prepare teachers to engage today’s students in learning through digital media.  It will educate teachers to become specialists who can effectively blend academic rigor with the latest technology, from video to Web 2.0 to virtual field trips.

Courses will focus on topics such as digital storytelling, using digital media in the classroom, using technology to support creativity, and applying brain-based theories of how students process information to technology integration.  Kathy Schrock, a nationally known leader in technology integration in the classroom, will design “Internet Tools for Teaching” scheduled to begin in spring 2009.

I can’t speak for current teacher prep programs, but I can say that the technology preparation I received while getting my education degree was nowhere near adequate to leverage the incredible tools that are available today.   This program will help teachers maximize technology to improve their ability to educator their students.

“The program is designed to help all teachers effectively integrate media-based technologies in helping their students reach new heights of academic success,” Speziale said. “This is one of those special programs that can have an immediate transformative effect in a teacher’s classroom.”

In most states now, teachers are required to earn continuing education credits to maintain their certification.   There’s no better way to stay certified, move up in the pay scale, and learn how to be a more effective teacher using technology, than by earning a master’s degree.   And if you’re going to earn one,  you can guarantee that Discovery Education is going to stretch your thinking.  And we couldn’t have picked a better partner than Wilkes University, one of the leaders in graduate teacher education.

Wilkes University is currently accepting applications for the Fall 2008 semester. Prospective students are encouraged to visit the university’s website at www.wilkes.edu/instructionalmedia, where they can find additional program information and sign up to receive application alerts via email. All Wilkes University Graduate Education Programs are accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

See you in class!

Next week, you’ve got two fantastic webinars to participate in. The first is the latest in our Discovery Connect series, as we get you up close and personal with the executive producer of When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions. But that’s not all! We’ve added a very special guest to the roster: Shuttle veteran astronaut Eileen Collins! You and your students will get to hear from an actual Space Shuttle astronaut and ask her your questions about her experiences. Can you think of a better way to wrap up the school year? This webinar is for both teachers AND students, so gather up your classes and get ready for a truly ‘out of this world’ experience.

This webinar will be on Wednesday June 11th at 1pm Eastern. Click here to read the full details of this webinar.

The second webinar features our resident expert when it comes to the world of Digital Storytelling, Joe Brennan. He’ll be presenting a webinar entitled, Lights Camera Publish!

I have always thought that one of the greatest benefits of students making their own videos was that they get viewed by an audience. Not only is the learning shared then, but the preparation and production value goes way up. It’s hard to generate that same amount of enthusiasm for those private transaction assignments between teacher and student that are tests and written assignments … So whether you have competed, plan to compete, or are just lurking in the wings, you can learn a lot from contest participants’ videos. From the simplest stories done with still cameras to full blown school studio productions, any class level and subject area can benefit from watching and/or creating their own cinematic mini-epics.

This webinar will take place on Tuesday, June 10th at 7 pm Eastern. Click here to register!

Cost for these two incredible webinars?? Nada! Zilch! Zippo! Nothing! Don’t you just love Discovery Education webinars?

Dave Solon, STAR Discovery Educator hailing from Pennsylvania, is truly living it up ‘Discovery style!‘  The most recent episode of his show Twenty Minutes For Tech features an interview with me about the DEN, a promo from the captains on Deadliest Catch and a truly amazing interview with Jeff Corwin.  I’ve seen Corwin a couple of times now, and I was blown away by how open and candid he was with David.

Truly an interview worth hearing, and a fantastic testament to the opportunities you all have available to you as DEN members!  Thanks for sharing, David!

After ten months of traveling at 16,000 mph, the cruise stage ended and the lander was ready to make its descent to Mars. According to our host, sending Phoenix from the earth to the polar ice cap of Mars can be compared to launching a golf ball from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and hitting home plate in Wrigley Field in Chicago 1744 miles away (a fitting analogy with the Dodgers and the Cubs squaring up in Chicago this week). Unlike its predecessors, this rover does not have wheels! A stationary science lab, all of the experiments will be conducted at one location in the Martian arctic making the exact positioning of the lander a make or break detail.

In a room full of NASA friends, family and some very smart people, we waited for 90 minutes for the Phoenix to phone home. Data is relayed 422 million miles to the earth via X-band radio waves in 15 minutes time! As the first pictures of the solar panels (confirming their deployment), the foot bed (showing how the lander had settled into the surface), and the horizon (the first glimpse of the polar ice cap) arrived, mission control erupted again! Not only had Phoenix arrived safely, but it was ready to get to work.

It’s mind boggling that a manmade object can enter the Mars atmosphere at 12,750 mph and be safely slowed to 5 mph in 7 minutes time! With all of the things that could have gone wrong, the Phoenix team expressed their surprise with how smoothly everything went. What is their secret? Maybe it’s a yellow plastic bowl adorned with cute little bunnies and filled with peanuts that made its third appearance in the control room as a source of “good energy” during the re-entry communication blackout. With a three for three record of bringing good luck (Spirit, Opportunity and now Phoenix), I wonder if they will lend the bowl to me for next year’s spring training?