Pennsylvania

Regular readers of my cliotech blog and of the DEN PA blog may be noticing Anthony Armstrong’s name popping up pretty frequently. That is because our classes are working towards some collaborative projects this year. It has been a pretty exciting process linking my classes - in Pennsylvania - with his - in South Korea.

Anthony’s school, the Korea International School, is moving to 1:1 in their middle level courses. Next Wednesday, Anthony is presenting to his faculty in preparation for that shift. He is seeking exemplars to showcase in his presentation. I think that the PA DEN is the perfect spot for him to look as hundreds of Discovery Educators have been innovating their practice through the Classrooms for the Future grants and personal commitment to 21st century learning.

If you are among those classrooms who have been engaging students and extending their learning through the integration of educational technologies, especially Web 2.0, please leave a comment on Anthony’s blog so that he may motivate his faculty by showcasing your successes.

Thanks to all who can offer some support and suggestions for Anthony.

Technorati Tags: KoreaInternationalSchool Education EducationalTechnology Web2.0

I cross-posted this on my cliotech blog.

As the presidential campaign season heats up, everyone will be increasingly bombarded by propaganda. We can’t escape it (even if we don’t watch television).

Well, a friend who works for Congressional Quarterly told me about a joint venture between CQ and the St. Petersburg Times called PolitiFact. The site is a fact-checking service that should be invaluable in sifting through the mountains of assertions, attacks, boasts, etc. that characterize pretty much all political campaigns.

PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly to help you find the truth in the presidential campaign. Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times and CQ will analyze the candidates’ speeches, TV ads and interviews and determine whether the claims are accurate.

They even have a theme song and video on YouTube . . .

The service offers a number of great RSS feeds as well.

Here is their feed for recently reviewed statements from candidates.

So, check out PolitiFact and become an empowered voter.

Technorati Tags: PolitiFact CongressionalQuarterly St.PetersburgTimes Campaigns Politics PresidentialCampaign 2008

I cross-posted this entry on my cliotech blog. 

If you get a chance to check out the fall issue of Education Week’s Digital Directions magazine, please look for article “Wiki Wisdom.” Fellow Pennsylvania STAR Discovery Educator, Kristin Hokanson, and I were among several educators interviewed for this article. The article explores professional use of wikis by educators.

I had suggested a few caveats when using wikis with students or other educators. Here are some of those integration tips for wikis from the article:

1. Make use of the feature that alerts a wiki manager that changes have been made to the wiki. Check regularly to see what changes have been made and by whom.

2. Determine whether your wiki should be accessible to the public or be limited to a defined group.

3. Be aware of copyright and licensing issues when posting other people’s work.

4. Emphasize “digital professionalism” to the community that can add content to, dit, or otherwise revise your wiki to remind users that it is a document many other people will see. Talk about and make clear what is, and is not, acceptable on the wiki.

5. Especially when using wikis with students, take steps to prevent users from posting personal information that would reveal their identities.

You can visit Kristin’s The Connected Classroom wiki that she uses with her teachers as a CFF Coach as well as with Keystone Technology Integrators at the annual summits and many, many others through her regional and conference presentations. I use wikis to extend student learning in my Online Connections course as well as to provide ongoing support for educators in my professional development workshops and regional and conference presentations.

So, when you have the opportunity, please check out the article and offer some of your suggestions for ways that you have used wikis with your students or colleagues.

Technorati Tags: Education EducationWeek Wikis DigitalDirections Technology

[This was cross-posted on the DEN PA TypePad blog.]

I hope that everyone is enjoying a fantastic start to the school year.  I just wanted to remind PA that DEN is hosting a webinar later this week that is intended for teachers to attend with their students.  Last year, my classes joined hundreds of other students from across the country in two DEN webinars.  My 9th graders loved the experience and still talk about it on Facebook . . .

If you were unable to join in on the Planet Earth and Space Week webinars last year I imagine that you want to take advantage of DEN’s upcoming webinar with Danny Forster of Build it Bigger.

Here are the details about Thursday’s webinar. 

Discovery Connect Webinar: Submit Your Questions for Danny Forster

Don’t forget that this Thursday, September 13th at 1 PM (EST) is the Discovery Connect webinar with Danny Forster, host of Build It Bigger. 

If you go to the Build it Bigger website you can show your students a webisode or two from the show to get them ready for a fun, interactive experience with Danny. 

We’d love to have Danny answers your questions, so please send Matt (matt_monjan@discovery.com) anything you want Danny to answer during the webinar.

We’ll even take a few live questions from students around the country during the webinar.  But, we need those questions in advance. 

See you on Thursday, September 13th!

For more details and information on how to register for the webinar, just click here.