We are thrilled to be in Alabama for the Marshall County Summer Academy.  This is a huge professional development event sponsored sponsored by the schools districts of Albertville, Arab, Boaz, Guntersville, and Marshall County and hosted by Arab City Schools.

We are facilitating two sessions: 21st Century Learning: Researching in the Digital Age and Beginning with Wikis: Fostering Collaboration and Communication.

We put together some digital take-aways for both sessions.  Click here to access a MultiURL with those resources.

Here is our WallWisher that we are using to share ideas for ways to use wikis to foster collaboration and communication in the classroom and among colleagues.

Click here to open the WallWisher in it’s own browser tab/window.

I am so excited to be part of the awesome line-up for SummerSALT 2010 in Wilson County Schools.   Seriously, the program is stacked with inspiring presentations and engaging hands-on workshops.

Since DE is a green company, I decided to put all the take-aways and hands-on activities for our full-day workshop online.    We are also going to use a Google Moderator forum to collate the best of our integration ideas throughout the day. Click here to access it and share an idea.

DE SummerSALT Agenda
Hands On Activities

Discovery Education streaming

• Discovery Education Passcode Flyer
• DE streaming Overview (Screenshots) PowerPoint
• DE streaming Quick Start Guide
• DE streaming User Guide
• Closed Captioning on Video (PC)
• Closed Captioning on Video (Mac)
• DE streaming “Getting Started” Page
• DE streaming Help Page

Discovery Education MediaShare

•  DE MediaShare Users Guide

Don’t forget to check out the fantastic schedule of summer webinars being sponsored by Discovery Education.

The DEN Summer Institute for 2010 will take place from July 18-23, 2010 at Bentley University in Waltham, MA just twenty minutes west of Boston.  Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with fellow STAR Discovery Educators from all over during an exclusive, intensive, week-long networking and professional development event.  Apply today!

March 12
DEN Summer Institute Announced – Application Open

April 12
Deadline for applications (5 PM ET)

April 19
Applicants notified

April 23
Deadline for accepted applicants to RSVP

April 26
Wait-listed applicants notified

April 30
Deadline for wait-listed applicants to RSVP

Interested?  Read the FAQ document and then click here to apply.

More about the DEN Summer Institute

Curious about this whole DEN Summer Institute thing and want to know more?  Check out the links below.

Brief video about the DEN and our institute

Resources and materials from last year’s institute in San Francisco

Live coverage of the 2009 institute

More highlights of the 2009 institute

Okay, that should be plenty.  If you haven’t started your application yet, what are you waiting for?

Read the FAQ document and then click here to apply.

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Connect the Thoughts!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
9 AM to 4 PM ET
Cost?  FREE
Register today! All times ET.

9 AM
Connections, Conversations, and Collaborations: Creating a Personal Learning Network That Works For You
Lee Kolbert, DEN Guru, Palm Beach County, FL

Thanks to the influx of social tools on the Internet, educators are becoming increasingly empowered to control their learning environment.  We are no longer limited by the physical proximity of colleagues to discuss issues and develop professionally since the wisdom of the masses is as close as a computer.  Social networks, such as the Discovery Educator Network, can be synchronous or asynchronous and allow us to connect with each other.  In this session, we will explore the DEN, as well as, Twitter, FaceBook, Ning and other online tools where you can reach out to connect and build your own Personal Learning Network, tailored to your needs.

10 AM
Homework Gone Digital
Matt Monjan, Discovery Education, Silver Spring, MD

Learn how to differentiate your instruction and connect with your students using the Discovery Education Student Center.  We’ll start by creating quizzes, assignments and writing prompts using the Builders in DE streaming.  Then we’ll create a classroom and show you how to assign content to your students.

11 AM
When You’re Not the Smartest Person in the Room
Dean Shareski, Digital Learning Consultant, Prairie South School Division, Moose Jaw, SK, Canada

The moment you bring an internet connection into the classroom, you open up you and your students to a vast world of knowledge, possibilities and connections. Many teachers are beginning to realize this but are struggling to make it a reality. This session will explore  and reflect on the current barriers that prevent teachers from reaching out and more importantly provide reasons and examples that clearly make the case that everyone needs to be a networked learner.

12 PM
Cell Phones, Internet and Oprah:  How the US Presence in Iraq Has Affected Women’s Lives
Christina Asquith, Author of “Sisters in War: A Story of Love, Family and Survival in the New Iraq”

What do Muslim women think about America? Journalist Christina Asquith spent five years living and reporting in the Middle East. For her new book, Sisters in War, Asquith lived in the Baghdad home of two Iraqi sisters, visited the beauty salons, attended women-only weddings and hid from suicide bombers cruising the neighborhood.  She will describe how life changed for Iraqi women, for better and worse, after the US invasion of 2003, and explain how restrictive Islamic traditions for women are being challenged by the arrival of cell-phones, internet and Oprah.

1 PM
Connecting Language Learners to the Curriculum through Digital Media
Lindsay Hopkins, Discovery Education, Los Angeles, CA

2 PM
Rock OUR World!
Carol Anne McGuire, STAR Discovery Educator, Anaheim, CA

Is global collaboration an educational reality?  Or just a buzzword?  See how K-12 students have rocked
their world by solving real problems while composing music, making movies and learning about each
other in live video conferences.  What a great time to be an educator!  The walls of the classroom are
coming down!  Learn how to bring the world to YOUR students!

3 PM
DEN in Ten
Lance Rougeux, Discovery Education, Mechanicsburg, PA

The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate about teaching in the 21st century.  In this session we’ll explore all of the benefits the DEN offers and take a look at the many events planned for 2010.  If you aren’t part of the DEN yet we’ll show you how to join the community.  If you are part of the DEN, we promise this session will show you a few things you didn’t know about the DEN.

Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell to Participate in National Town Hall Meeting on Science Education during NSTA Philadelphia Annual Conference

NSTA is pleased to announce that Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell will be part of the first ever Science Matters National Town Hall Meeting on Science Education on Friday, March 19 at the Millennium Hall in the Loews Hotel. At the National Town Hall—which is being co sponsored by NSTA and Intel– science educators, school administrators, and other invited guests will engage with Governor Rendell and other panel members about the state of science education and key initiatives that are helping teachers to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century.

In addition to Gov. Rendell, the panel will include Carlos Contreras, US Education Director, Intel Corporation (confirmed); and invited guests from the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

Portions of the film Imagine IT: The Power of Imagination, a powerful documentary about connecting imagination and creativity with science and engineering in education, will be used throughout the event. Following the town hall meeting on Friday afternoon Intel and Science Matters will host a screening of the film Imagine IT for conference attendees. Discussion during the film and after will center on the importance of the ideas presented in the film and how teachers can use Imagine It in the classroom.

To register for the conference and attend the town hall, visit www.nsta.org/philadelphia.

The Mid-America Association for Computers in Education (MACE) is hosting their annual education technology conference in Manhattan, Kansas, and the Kansas Leadership Council and DEN team are out in force!

Visit Brad Hagaman at the Discovery Education booth at the Kansas State University Alumni Hall.  He is sharing updates from Discovery Education.  Ask him about the exciting new content coming to Discovery Education streaming this month.

On Thursday, Jen Dorman will be joined by the Kansas Leadership Council in the Discovery Education presentation room, Banquet Room C.  Here is a snapshot of the all-STAR line-up of presentations.     MACE_Schedule_2010

Here are the take-away resources from the Discovery Education conference sessions.

The Kansas Leadership Council is also broadcasting the sessions in the Discovery Eduction room.  Visit the Kansas LC blog to access the LiveStream video feed and CoverItLive live blog starting at 8:00 am CST.

If you can’t join us in person or virtually this week OR if you can’t wait to share everything you learned at MACE, you can still get your fill of inspiration and information at our “In Case You Missed It: MACE 2010″ webinar on March 22 at 5:00 pm CDT.

Click here to register for the webinar.

Siemen’s Teachers as Researchers

Dates: June 20 – July 2, 2010

Have you ever wanted to be part of scientific research team? Have you ever wanted to bring the excitement of authentic research into the classroom? Siemens teachers as Researchers (STARs) will provide the experience, resources, and contacts you need to do just that!

Apply now.

Deadline for applications is March 1. 2010.

Program Description and Benefits

Siemens Teachers as Researchers is a two-week residential professional development program, all expenses paid*, in which teachers will engage in mentored research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. STARs provides middle school and high school STEM teachers the opportunity to engage with top scientists and researchers on short-term research projects about current topics of national interest that are related to ongoing research at the laboratory.Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is America’s largest, multi-purpose, national research laboratory. Its primary research areas are neutron science, advanced materials, biological systems, energy, national security, nanotechnology, chemical sciences, nuclear physics, and high performance computing. ORNL is home to more than 50 scientific centers and specialized facilities, including the Spallation Neutron Source, National Center for Computational Sciences, Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences, Joint Institute for Biological Sciences, Bioenergy Science Center, Center for Nanophase Material Sciences, National Transportation Research Center, and the Tennessee Solar Initiative.ORNL mentor scientists will design short-term research projects on current topics of national interest that are related to ongoing research at the laboratory. Working in teams of 4 to 5, teachers will collaborate with ORNL scientific teams to conduct assigned research projects. DOE-ACTS teachers at ORNL will provide additional leadership and resources to help you incorporate research into your science and math classrooms.In addition to the research immersion, you will have additional educational enhancements in the form of seminars, mini-workshops, tours, and field trips to focus and expand the research experience.

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I’m having such an inspiring time at ICE 2010 in St. Charles, IL.

Yesterday’s DE Boot Camp Workshop was fantastic and I had a blast working with educators from across the state.

Today I am facilitating three spotlight sessions  — two “Power Up Your Professional Learning Network” and one “Teaching the iBrain” in the New Orleans Ballroom.

I posted the take-away resources for both sessions online.  Click here to download them.

The ICE2010 Twitter feed has been so dynamic today.  If you aren’t attending in person, be sure to check the #ICE2010 Twitter hashtag.

Special Announcement: Come to the Discovery reception tonight to learn about new resources including Planet Earth and LIFE http://links.discoveryeducation.com/ICE2010 .

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I’m here in St. Charles, IL, for ICE 2010 – facilitating a Discovery Education Boot Camp full day workshop.  Here are the take-away resources from the workshop.

Discovery Educator Network

Discovery Education streaming -  Links to service overviews, demonstrations, and efficacy research

Discovery Education streaming Getting Started Guide
Discovery Education Classroom Resources -  Links to free resources, sponsorships, and competitions

• Puzzlemaker
• Lesson Plans
  
• Siemen’s STEM Academy
• Web 2010
• CDW-G Conquering Technophobia (Web 2.0 in Education)
• ReadyZone H1N1 – Continuity of Learning
• Ready Classroom – Emergency Preparedness
• ThinkGreen Classroom
• New Teacher Survival Guide
• Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators
• Curriculum Center
• Brain Boosters
• Worksheets to Go
• Learning Adventures
• NASA at 50
• Understanding Epilepsy
• Discovering Diabetes
• Parent Corner
• Discovery Student Adventures
• Scotch Science Fair
• Siemen’s Science Day
• Siemen’s We Can Change the World Challenge
• USADA True Sport Award Program
• Fuel Our Future Now – STEM resources, Dash+, and Automotive Xprize

Web 2.0 Applications

• SlideShare
• VoiceThread (pricing page – upgrade to educator status)
• Glogster
• Wikispaces
• Google Docs
• Animoto
• Blabberize
• Go Animate!
• timetoast
• ShareTabs
• Wordle
• WordSift
• GreatSummary
• Zamzar
• Vidly
• QuietTube

Tutorials and Learning Resources

• Glogster
• VoiceThread
• Diigo
• Google Tools (Docs, Earth, Maps, Calendar, Reader, etc.)
• Digital Storytelling
• Digital Storytelling with Web 2.0 
• Blogging
• Podcasting
• Wikis
• Digital Learning Networks
• Copyright and Fair Use
• Project Based Learning (Challenge Based Learning) / Why Teach With Project Based Learning? / EL Project-Based Learning / BIE PBL
• Discovery Education – My Admin
• Discovery Education -My Classrooms
• Discovery Education – The Builders
• Widgets for the DE Builders 

Presentation Tools

Video Tools

Mobile Tools

Image Tools

Community Tools

The Best of the Rest

Welcome to Casper, Wyoming!  I’m joining the rest of the Discovery team at the Wyoming Technology in Education Conference – EduTech 2010.  We’ll be running two sessions at the conference.

Navigating the Stream – Tips and Tricks for Discovery Education streaming

Whether you are new to DE streaming or are an “every day, every lesson” user you will learn something new about this comprehensive digital curriculum solution.  Join us to explore the rich media resources, exciting classroom applications, and inspiring competitions and sponsorship programs.

Discovery Educator Network

Discovery Education streaming -  Links to service overviews, demonstrations, and efficacy research

Discovery Education streaming Getting Started Guide

Discovery Education Science – Links to service overviews, demonstrations, and student access and assessment information

Discovery Education Science Getting Started Guide

Discovery Education Health – Links to service overviews, resources, and efficacy research
Beyond the Stream – Integration Strategies for Discovery Education streaming

Finding and playing video segments is one of the many ways you can use the Discovery Education streaming library.  But did you know that your DE streaming resource includes a built-in Interactive Atlas, Calendar, hundreds of Writing Prompts, thousands of quiz questions and a whole lot more?  During this session you’ll learn how to integrate the DE streaming tools in new and exciting ways to reach your 21st century student.  See how teachers and students are integrating videos, images and audio clips into their curriculum by looking at their samples and learning how to create your own.
Beyond the Stream – Presentation

Discovery Education Classroom Resources -  Links to free resources, sponsorships, and competitions

• Puzzlemaker
• Lesson Plans
  
• Siemen’s STEM Academy
• Web 2010
• CDW-G Conquering Technophobia (Web 2.0 in Education)
• ReadyZone H1N1 – Continuity of Learning
• Ready Classroom – Emergency Preparedness
• ThinkGreen Classroom
• New Teacher Survival Guide
• Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators
• Curriculum Center
• Brain Boosters
• Worksheets to Go
• Learning Adventures
• NASA at 50
• Understanding Epilepsy
• Discovering Diabetes
• Parent Corner
• Discovery Student Adventures
• Scotch Science Fair
• Siemen’s Science Day
• Siemen’s We Can Change the World Challenge
• USADA True Sport Award Program
• Fuel Our Future Now – STEM resources, Dash+, and Automotive Xprize