California DEN

If you aren’t yet aware, September 11 will be remembered with a Freedom Walk at many locations across the US.  This event will show support for  victims of the Sept 11 attacks, as well as all military personal and their families.  Personally, I work on Camp Pendleton (the largest Marine Corps Base in the world) and we will be walking to both educate and support our families in the military.  If you need more motivation, you can count it as part of your 100 minutes per week of PE!
    For more information on this event or to set up a walk in your area, please see the DEN National Blog here. 

It’s time to celebrate new beginnings! 

Join us for our final Beach Bonfire of the summer as we kick off the 07/08 school year and welcome Kim Randall and Mike Botte to the DEN team!

Bring your family and a even future DEN members as we head down to the beach once again.

When: Saturday, September 8th

Time: Dinner is at 5 pm… but feel free to come earlier

Where: Bolsa Chica State Beach Near Life Guard Stand 26

What do you bring: A side dish to share and your own beverages

What we’ll bring: hamburgers, hotdogs, and all their fixins… and of course the famous DEN Smores

RSVP ASAP: Marie Belt ( beltmv@fusd.net ) or Bev Matheson ( mathba@fusd.net )

Post a comment and let us know you’ll be there! Looking forward to seeing you soon!!!

(Invite Attached) Download bonfire_party.pdf Download bonfire_party.jpg

About a week ago, I posted about an AFI (American Film Institute) workshop. We are now proud to offer additional discounts to all DEN members.  I attended this training in the spring and it was very engaging and hands-on.  The instructor, Frank Guttler, is highly enthusiastic and very knowledgeable.  I felt the training and environment were very authentic and I left knowing a lot about how to integrate digital storytelling into my curriculum, as well as movie making in general.

See below for more info on this opportunity.

September 22, 2007 CSUMB Language Lab 9:00am to 5:00pm

In this hands-on workshop, teachers and administrators
of all grade levels and subjects will learn how to use filmmaking as a
tool to engage student learning. Through experiential lessons, participants
will learn to shoot, plan edit and critique film and make connection to
their curricula.

Participants will learn:

    * The difference between shots and scenes

    * How to organize and improve filmmaking
with storyboards

    * How to use video cameras (a hands-on experience)

    * How to edit footage on a video editing
program (time permitting)

Participants will preview the program’s newest curriculum
and professional development components, including the program resources
now available at Discovery Education’s unitedstreaming.com, and hear the
latest program research findings. Participants will understand the premise
behind AFI’s development of the Screen Education program, stemming from
its 40 year history as a national institute providing leadership in screen
education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art
of film, television and digital media. Introducing digital filmmaking into
the K-12 classroom can capitalize on the appeal and excitement of collaborative
storytelling through moving images as a means to an end-the mastery of
traditional subject matter.

Learning to understand, consume, evaluate and especially
to create media for the screen can improve students’ involvement in the
classroom, expertise in appropriate use of technology, academic performance
and social skills. AFI believes the first step is to engage educators and
provide them with the skills, information and confidence to navigate a
technology-based environment.

This workshop is offered through a partnership between
Cal State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB), the American Film Institute
(AFI) and CUE. The workshop will be lead by Frank Guttler, Associate
Director of the American Film Institute k-12 Screen Education Center.

A working lunch will be included with the workshop. Please
contact the CUEtoYOU coordinator at mwagner@cue.org
if you have any particular dietary requirements.

Regular Cost: $155 with current CUE membership ($195 new
or renewing)

DEN MEMBER SPECIAL: $120 for DEN members with current
CUE membership ($160 with new or renewing CUE membership)

Register Now: https://cueweb.cue.org/cueweb/pdw/pdwwebstore.aspx

Refund Policy: Membership and workshop are both non-refundable.
Membership is non-transferable.

Note: This workshop is eligible for a $120 reimbursement
through the Ed Tech K12 Voucher Program. Any membership fee added above
this is not eligible for reimbursement.

It seems to me that the fall season always holds many conferences.  We have CUE in the spring and ISTE in the summer, but most of the local CUE affiliate conferences seem to be in the fall. Who better to present at these conferences than DEN members?  There’s no way I can list all the local conferences out there, but hopefully you can contact your local board and help them out in one way or another.   Below is an except from the San Diego CUE call for presenters:

Are you an educator with information and excitement to share?  We hope you

will consider submitting an application to speak at this event!  In past
years there have been over 400 attendees,  all eager to hear about new and
nifty ways technology is being used in education.

Presentations are 45-minutes long including Q&A (some hands-on presentations
will be 90-minutes).

Our attendees range from novice to very experienced educators and technology

users interested in hearing about the variety of ways technology is used or
can be used in education.

SDCUE will provide complimentary registration and lunch for the primary

speaker of each non-commercial session.

Take advantage of the great opportunity to further your education and that of other educators.  Just take an idea that you have and run with it.  This is also a great way to prepare for a presentation at a larger conference. 
- Dave Kootman

Well, I have to say that I haven’t owned an Apple computer since my Apple II C, but I wanted to share a neat tip from a few of our fellow DEN members: 
Howard Martin, Austin, TX and Dennis Grice, CA

I didn’t know this, but this may be old news to some of you!  You’ll see all the great uses of this capability—>
Here is an impressive little trick to wirelessly transfer files to
and from Mac via bluetooth. No WiFi connection necessary.
1) Make sure Bluetooth is turned on and both machines are discoverable.
2) Go to the Utilities and open Bluetooth File Exchange.
3) Select the file you want to send to your friends Mac. Click SEND.
4) Select the name of your friend’s computer from the list of available devices. Click SEND.
A
windows will pop-up on your friend’s computer telling them that you are
sending them a file. All they need to do is click ACCEPT. The file will
be saved on their machine. Is that cool or what?!

Thanks Dennis!
-Dave Kootman

The first ever DEN Second Life party was a rager (as teacher parties go). There were people floating, a lighted disco dance floor, and DEN giveaways. I was up on the dance floor for about 2sec. and had just figured out
how to dance when SL crashed. Unfortunately I had another event to go
to (in Real Life) before it could start again.

If you attended post a comment here. Did you meet DEN members? Did you have a fun time? Did you figure out how to dance? Tell us what you thought.

CUEtoYOU is proud to announce a special partnership with the
American Film Institute (AFI) and Cal State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB).
CUEtoYOU will host the AFI Screen Education workshop at the CSUMB Language Lab
on Saturday September 22nd. In this hands-on workshop, teachers and
administrators of all grade levels and subjects will learn how to use filmmaking
as a tool to engage student learning. Through experiential lessons, participants
will learn to shoot, plan, edit, and critique film and make connection to their
curricula. The workshop is lead by Frank Guttler, Associate Director of the
American Film Institute K-12 Screen Education Center and lead professional
development trainer for the last 5 years.

The
workshop runs from 9:00am to 5:00pm on September 22nd. Coffee and refreshments
will be served at 8:30am and a working lunch will also be included in the
workshop.  The cost to CUE members is only $155. Non-members merely pay an
additional $40 for a full year of CUE membership. (Bring your own digital video
camera and tape if possible.)

Read more about the
event: http://www.cue.org/stories/storyReader$444
Register Now: https://cueweb.cue.org/cueweb/pdw/pdwwebstore.aspx

Have It Your Way!

As we get deeper into the digital world, we find ourselves using
all kinds of digital media.  For better or worse, the media formats we
use are getting more and more broad with every new technology that
emerges.  Sometimes,we need to convert an Open Office document to a
Word doc or pdf.  Sometimes we need to convert a wav file to an MP3.
And don’t we all love to take videos from YouTube and save them to our
own computers (Flash to avi)! 

In the past you pretty much needed to be a professional hacker to
accomplish these tasks in a simple way. Now there are tools, both
online and downloadable software that can take care of this for you.
One of my favorites is Zamzar. It doesn’t need a whole lot of an intro.  Go
there and check it out.  To download/convert videos from a website
click the URL button.  In terms of converting files that are not listed
on Zamzar or converting files without uploading/downloading them first
there are tons of downloadable tools that you can use as well.  I would
suggest simply Googling for a tool.

A great way to use some of these features is to download YouTube videos
for educational purposes (copyright permissions permitting, of course).
Additionally, we’d like you to search United Streaming for relevant
material first
Some other conversion tools out there include :  Vixy,
Hand Brake (download), KeepVid and many more…

Second Life (SL) has become a new fetish for lots of us. It’s both absorbing and fascinating. If you’ve been waiting to try it out, now is your chance to get your own ‘avatar’. The DEN SL Leadership Council is hosting the first DEN Gala Event on August 15 5:30-7:30pm. That’s SL time, which luckily for us on the west coast, is the same as California Daylight time. The meeting is at DEN’s SL headquarters on Eduisland II 98,95,21. I’ll be coming back from a vacation the night before but should make it. Hope to see many of you floating in!

Download flyer_for_premier_gala_event1.pdf

Brett