Dorman’s Trouvailles

Thanks to our friends at mimio for outfitting our breakout presentation rooms with mimio systems and slates.  I’m psyched to be presenting with mimio’s interactive whiteboard system and Notebook application.

We are gathering at Discovery’s headquarters in Silver Spring, MD, for a day of learning and networking.  Here are the takeaway resources for my breakout sessions.

Power Up Your Professional Learning Network

PLN Workshop Wiki

Get Your ‘Og On

Thanks to the Tennessee and Second Life DEN Leadership Councils for lending their expertise and experience to this breakout session at the Leadership Council Symposium.

Here are some resources to get you started:

• Google Calendar
• Google Groups
• Google Docs

[copied from the National Blog]
NECC is just under a week away, and we hope you’re as jazzed for it as we are!  Our home on the conference floor will be Booth #3228 and we’ve got a packed schedule there.  You’ll be able to see presentations such as:

• Discovery the Possibilities with Discovery Educaiton Digital Services
• Multimedia Einsteins: Discovery Education Science
• Using Multimedia in the Classroom with Mimio
• 50 Ways To Use Discovery Education streaming 
• Bring 21st Century Teaching to Your Classrooms: Professional Development that Works
• Connecting Formative Assessment to the Power of Digital Media

And who will be presenting these sessions?  None other than your favorite DE and DEN presenters, including Hall Davidson, Lance Rougeux, Steve Dembo, Matt Monjan, Jen Dorman, Eren Koont, Alex Morrison, and more!

Download the complete Discovery Education Booth Schedule
Don’t forget though, that’s just a fraction of what we’re doing at NECC.  Be sure to attend the special Using Multimedia in the Classroom session we’re hosting with Mimio and the four DEN spotlight sessions.

Look forward to seeing you at the conference!

We look forward to celebrating the DEN’s fourth birthday with many of our STARs at our pre-NECC Birthday Party Extravaganza on Saturday, June 27, 2009 at Discovery Headquarters.

If you are staying for NECC, I strongly encourage you to check out the following sessions from the DEN team.

Using Multimedia in the Classroom
Join mimio and Discovery Education to learn how you can quickly and easily create interactive lessons using mimio Interactive systems and Discovery Education content. Get tips and hands-on experience making your own presentations with our small group demo stations.  All attendees will receive a gift bag and Discovery Education streaming 30-day trial subscription, plus be entered into a drawing for a complete mimio Interactive system!

Bring a friend!

STAR Discovery Educators who bring a colleague with them to the Using Multimedia in the Classroom session will receive a Discovery Education t-shirt.

When?
Monday, June 29th; 3:00 to 4:30 PM
Tuesday, June 30th, 9:00 to 10:30 AM

Where?
Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H Street NW (3 blocks from the Convention Center), Farragut Square and Lafayette Park Ballrooms.

Seating is limited so arrive early to guarantee your space.

Monday, June 29

The 10 Best Free Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers
Steve Dembo
8:30-9:30 AM
Location: WWCC 146B

Eight Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with Video
Hall Davidson
3:30-4:30 PM
Location: WWCC Ballroom B

Wednesday, July 1 

Moving Beyond the Information Age
Scott Kinney
8:30-9:30 AM
Location: WWCC Ballroom A

From Banned to Planned: Cell Phones in Schools
Hall Davidson
12:00-1:00 PM
Location: WWCC Ballroom C

Don’t forget to visit the Discovery Education booth in the Exhibitors Hall for engaging in-booth presentations from the DEN team.  

Image via CrunchBase

It seems like EVERYONE (and their dogs, goldfish, etc.) are Tweeting these days. If you aren’t on Twitter, yet, and are wondering what the buzz (or, rather, tweeting) is all about, check out these two videos from the Common Craft Show.

Twitter in Plain English

Twitter Search in Plain English

Twitter
Professional Learning Network
PLN
Community
Social Networking
Turbo Tagger

[Text below from a Discovery Education Press Release]

The House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to examine how technology, innovative education tools, and digital content are transforming and improving education in America.  Scott Kinney, Vice President of Outreach and Professional Development for Discovery Education, served as one of seven panelists who testified as to how technology and digital content can improve American education in the future.

Moderated by Chairman George Miller of California, the panel included administrators and educators from various public school districts, the Chief Technology Officer for the White House Office for Science and Technology, and a student from North Carolina.

Citing recent research, Kinney illustrated that students use technology profusely at home, while most are unable to use that same technology in the classroom.  Today’s tech-savvy students function by consuming, processing, and learning from media, in many forms simultaneously.  Kinney asked the committee to envision an educational system that supported the use of technology in the classroom, therefore, supporting how students learn naturally.

Kinney also highlighted forward-thinking communities and states for their efforts to transform education using technology, including Indianapolis Public Schools for their efforts to integrate digital content into their curriculum, California for its recent initiative to replace textbooks with digital resources, and Texas for similar pending legislation.

In addition, Kinney discussed how professional development is critical to supporting future programs utilizing technology.  He explained that district leaders, facilitators and teachers must receive continuous support through subsequent professional development that includes lesson and unit development, modeling, and non-punitive coaching.

With data supporting the benefits of integrating digital media into classroom instruction, Kinney argued the time is now for every level of government and school districts nationwide to accelerate their support for the use of effective digital content in schools.  It is only with this continued support that today’s students will reach their full academic potential.

Following the hearing, Discovery Education participated in a special forum in the Capitol’s Rayburn Building, sponsored by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), during which the educational industry showcased the latest products and services.

To view the archived Web cast of Kinney’s testimony, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzw9vykNydE&feature=channel_page

I’m heading out to Lancaster, PA, for the Engage, Enrich, Empower: Leading the Learning of the Net Generation conference at IU 13.

I am joining a terrific line-up of presenters including keynote presenters Alan November and Doug Johnson and several members of the Pennsylvania Leadership Council.

Here are the take-away resources for my two sessions.

Students as Authors: Blogging in the Classroom - Presentation

Blogging Workshop Wiki

Power Up Your Professional Learning Network - Presentation

PLN Workshop Wiki

Thank you to all the wonderful college and university students who are spending their summer working with middle school students in the Lehigh Valley Summerbidge program.  I applaud your commitment to learning and to your community.

Click here to log into Discovery Education.

Here are some resources that will be helpful in your use of DE streaming and DE Science this summer.

• 50 Ways to Integrate DE streaming
• DE streaming Quick Start Guide
• DE Science Middle School Quick Start Guide
• DE Science Integration Strategies
• Embedding Video into PowerPoint 97/2003
• Embedding Video into PowerPoint 2007
• Widgets for Your DE streaming Builder
• Get Your ‘Og On - Glogs, Blogs, and Vlogs
• Roundtrip Tickets to Anywhere - DE streaming and Google Earth
• Thinking Outside the Slide - Non-Linear Multimedia Presentations

Here are some great Web 2.0 applications.

• Voicethread
• Go Animate
• MyPlick
• xtranormal
• MakeBeliefsComix
• Glogster
• Animoto
• Kerpoof
• Pixton
• Diigo - social bookmarking and annotation
• Wikispaces - ad-free educational wikis
• Edublogs - moderated educational blogs
• Edmodo - microblogging, shared calendars, private document sharing, annotation

Here are some additional educational technology training resources.

• Blogging
• Podcasting
• Wikis
• Voicethread
• Glogster
• Animoto
• Learning Networks
• Digital Storytelling
• Digital Storytelling with Web 2.0
• Diigo
  
• WebQuests
• Google Tools for Schools - Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Groups, Google Sites, Google Knol, Google Reader, Blogger, Google News, Google Customized Search, etc.

These are just really useful applications.

• URL shrinkers and chunkers
• Media conversion tools

The Problem: So, you’ve registered to attend one of the Back to School with DE webinars and now you are looking for great integration ideas for the enhanced DE media library.

The Solution: Join the DEN for summer school!

Who ever said summer school isn’t fun? Get ready for your school year with an amazing series of complimentary professional development sessions from the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). Community.DiscoveryEducation.com/Webinar

The DEN Summer School Webinar Series is packed with 16 webinars divided into four thematic strands: Digital Storytelling, School Leadership, Science, and Web 2.0.

Click on the link below to learn more about the webinar program.

de_den_summerwebinars.pdf

Image Citation:

Sun Animation. Discovery Education. 2009.
Discovery Education. 12 June 2009
<http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>

I know what you’re thinking . . . “we JUST finished the school year - I’m not ready to think about Back to School season!”

But, we have some really cool content and feature enhancements to Discovery Education that we want to share with our DEN community.  For those STARs who are conducting summer workshops and trainings, it’s a must to get a peak into the new interface and content types before the training.

We are inviting the DEN community to participate in a webinar to preview the new site enhancements and upgrades.  

Click here to access the registration page for the Back to School webinar series.   (Note: These webinars are all the same; you only need to attend one to learn about the new launch.)

Image Citation:

School Closed. Discovery Education. 2009.
Discovery Education. 12 June 2009
<http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>