DEN Blog 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!

Is there an award for winning the most awards?  If so, Discovery Education would HAVE to be in the running.  Last week we added to our total by snagging no less than four Association of Educational Publishers Awards!

The Planet Earth Education Edition, Discovery Education Health and the Allstate ‘Drive It Right’ program all won Distinguished Achievement Awards,  while Discovery Education’s Corporate Brochure received a Beacon Award.

From the Press release:

The Planet Earth Education Edition combines the highly acclaimed Planet Earth series from Discovery Channel with a variety of educational resources.  The DVD set includes 14 programs chaptered into core-concept clips, including Pole to Pole, Fresh Water, The Future: Saving Species, Deserts and more.  In addition, the set includes more than 30 teacher’s guides spanning grades 3-12.  Each guide provides educators with learning objectives, discussion questions, academic standards, and more than 30 writing prompts to spur student creativity.  The package also contains 11 animal guides and posters in PDF format, sized for printing-on-demand.  Planet Earth also is available online through Discovery Education streaming Plus.

‘Drive It Right’ is a powerful video that delivers the important message of teen safe driving – from teens who have firsthand experience with car crashes.  The DVD was used in a co-branded Discovery Education and Allstate campaign to promote safe driving practices.

Discovery Education Health is an online health and prevention resource for K-12 educators.  Offering 16 curriculum programs that cover nine key topic areas as well as a collection of videos, lessons, teacher’s guides and worksheets, Discovery Education Health is currently used in classrooms nationwide.

The 2008 Discovery Education Corporate Brochure is a marketing piece that provides a clear overview of all services that the company offers to educators and administrators and highlights the key benefits these solutions provide to potential customers.

Congrats all around!

Now how do we get nominated for a Grammy?

Only two more weeks before the submission deadline for the DE/3M Young Scientist Challenge and Teacher Challenge.

Two resources for you to help you and your students through the process.  We’ve created and archived a couple of webinars that should answer just about any question you may have about the challenge.

Student Information Webinar

Teacher Information Webinar 

Don’t forget, the Teacher Challenge is open to educators of ALL grade levels.  Let me repeat that in bold.  The Teacher Challenge is open to educators of ALL grade levels!  That’s right, ANY educator can submit in their 60-120 minute video to try to win the trip to D.C. and other prizes.

So what on earth are you waiting for?  Visit the challenge and enter right now!

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?

Have your students turned in their entries into the Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist Challenge yet? Have you turned in YOUR entry into the Teachers challenge yet?

WHY NOT? The Mythbusters think you should!

Create a short (1-2 min.) video about one of this year’s scientific topics and YOU could win a trip to Washington, DC to compete in the YSC finals for $50,000!

The deadline for entires is JUNE 15th, 2008 so you don’t have any time to waste. Don’t forget, half the contest is for students, but the other half is for teachers.

Need more resources? We’ve got you covered! Check out the webinars that Hall created, one for the students and one for the teachers. You can also find a ton of links that Hall and Joe have put together by visiting here. Not only that, but they’ve recently added 40 audio files to the YSC sit. Students can use these clips to spice up their entries!

Visit http://youngscientist.discoveryeducation.com/ for all the details and to SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY!

If you’ve been thinking about applying for one of the LIVE GREEN teacher grants that are available, you’ve got a few more days to do it.  The deadline has been pushed back to June 15th, 2008.  If you haven’t thought about it yet, why on earth not??

Discovery Education and General Motors have partnered up to provide 40 educators in public middle and junior high schools with $1000 each to implement inventive classroom lessons on the environment or renewable energy initiatives.  Not only that, but grant winners will receive a web-based training on Green intiatives and a digital camera to help document their experiences.

In order to apply, all you need to do is submit a 750 word essay explaining how they will advance their students’ learning about sustaining resources through the use of new and emerging technologies.  Essays should demonstrate vision, creativity, and a novel way of presenting environmental and energy concepts.

Visit the LIVE GREEN website to learn more!

If you guessed the Discovery Educator Network website… well, you’re only half right. Both the DEN website and Discovery Education Science were honored with 2008 BESSIE awards!

Discovery Education Science - Elementary won for Best Science Website for upper elementary students.

“Discovery Education is dedicated to improving student achievement in the sciences across the country. Through services like Discovery Education Science for Elementary and programs like the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, we are committed to jumpstarting student interest in science. We are thrilled to be honored with this award and are grateful to the team at ComputED Learning Center for their recognition.” said Kelli Campbell, Senior Vice President of Content and Product Development for Discovery Education.

Meanwhile everybody’s favorite online community won its third major award, this time for Best Professional Development Website in the Teacher Tools category. Ordinarily I would take some time to thank each and everyone of you who are really the key to us winning this award. However, Scott put it so eloquently that I’ll let him do the honors.

“We are very excited the Discovery Educator Network has won this award,” said Scott Kinney, Vice President of Outreach and Professional Development for Discovery Education. “I’d like to share this recognition with the thousands of educators who visit the DEN website each day. Their efforts to share tools, resources and their knowledge of incorporating digital media and educational technologies into their daily activities power the DEN website. Many teachers consider the DEN website their on-line ‘home’ and I’m pleased it has been recognized by the ComputED Learning Center.”

Congrats to the Discovery Education Science team, everyone who works on the DEN website, and of course… each of you!!

Animal Planet and our partners have teamed up to bring Animal Planet Expo to a community near you in 2008. The expo is a free, fun-filled family experience that even your cats and dogs will enjoy.

Animal Planet Expo activities include:

• Animal House / R.O.A.R. for Wildlife — Get up close and personal with even more live animals.
• Bug House — Experience the world of butterflies, ants and other creepy crawlers.
• Safari Snaps — Download the ultimate digital photo with you and the likenesses of Jeff Corwin or Dave Salmone.
• Kids Zone — Great face painting for children 13 years and younger.
• King Croc Slide — Beware! This giant crocodile is on the loose. Our 30 foot monster has razor sharp teeth and a deadly tail! An amazing slide back to safety will be your reward - if you dare!

Currently scheduled dates include:

• May 31 - Delaware Valley, PA
  June 7 & 8 - Providence, RI
  June 14 & 15 - Boston, MA
  June 21 - Burlington, VT
  June 28-29 - Detroit, MI
  July 12 & 13 - Portland, OR
  July 19 & 20 - Salt Lake City, UT
  July 26 & 27 - South Bay Area, CA
  August 2 & 3 - Albuqueque, NM
  August 9 & 10 - Houston, TX
  August 16 - Charleston, SC
  August 23-& 24 - Memphis, TN

Click here to get the latest information, including scheduled guests (such as Jeff Corwin, Steve Thomas and Phillippe Cousteau!)

Lee Kolbert has posted a recap of the Palm Beach Technology Conference that she hosted, and also shared a few photos.  There’s one choice photo of Hall on her blog of him in the booth doing… well, we’re not exactly sure WHAT he’s doing.

So….  Why don’t YOU let us know what he’s doing!

Just to kick things off, here’s my entry:

“Hall is being interviewed by Fortune Teller Magazine about how to tell the future using a rubber band, coat hangar, and video iPod.”

Last week, Hall was a featured speaker at the Palm Beach Technology Conference. It seems there was some controversy during his famous Google Earth presentation, Staggeringly Good Things Mixing Google Earth and Media. A teacher in the audience asked how often the maps in Google Earth were updated. Hall responded that he wasn’t sure, but he knew an easy way to check. He zoomed in on Palm Beach and focused in on the conference site. After asking for a volunteer to keep hitting ‘refresh’ on his computer, Hall instructed to the audience to watch the screen for him waving. Then he disappeared from the room.

That was the last time anybody has seen Hall. The grounds were searched, but there was no sign of Hall. We have contacted other conferences and workshops in the area, but he hasn’t shown up there either. His wife, Gina, has been reported to be fairly unconcerned. “While I do prefer to know where he is, Hall has been known to disappear for months at a time. Once he actually vanished for 13 months straight. But when he returned home, he had some fantastic video of various toilet bowls flushing in Australia. Did you know the water spins in the opposite direction as it does here?”

File photo of Hall Davidson

Authorities have checked his blog, discussion boards, Facebook, MySpace, and even his Twitter page. To date, no further information has been found. Frankly, we here at Discovery Education are starting to get a little concerned. While we are sure his is healthy and safe, he is scheduled for a webinar next week and we’re not sure he has the login information for it.

If you are at a conference, institute day, workshop, Day of Discovery, or seminar and you happen to see Hall, can you please alert us as soon as possible at whereshall@discovery.com.

Also, please tell him that his audience is still in Palm Beach, faithfully clicking refresh and watching for him in Google Earth. They’re getting pretty tired, but nobody wants to leave until they receive the link to the electronic handouts that were promised at the beginning of the presentation.