Ruffing ITInformation Tech and Education…Tryin’ it, Lovin’ it, but sometimes just Ruffin’ IT.

Thanks to a link posted on Twitter this morning (sorry I can’t find who it was to give credit) I was able to search the NECC program of sessions. By clicking on a session you have access to presenter handouts. Wonderful! Like not being seated in the dining room but at least being able to order take-out. Didn’t have time to explore much yet but I did start with  Best Practices in Fair Use for 21st Century Educators presented by Renee Hobbs of Temple University, along with Katie Donnelly, Kristin Hokanson, Michael RobbGrieco and Joyce Valenza. 

It has always been troublesome trying to make sure that we do not infringe on anyone’s copyright in our teaching or with student projects, but with the November 2008 publication of new guidelines regarding Fair Use in education, things seem to make more sense, and yet there is still so much to think about, especially the idea that a work must be transformative in nature. I hope to make use of the documents and videos they have provided at their wikispace on Copyright Confusion for their NECC presentation in order to help my teachers better understand what we really can do in our projects. Not as great as being in the room and hearing them first hand, but I am grateful for the sharing of this to the entire education community.

And that is just one topic. I will never run out of things to read about this summer.

I just finished listening to Steve Dembo’s presentation at the DEN Leadership Council session on blogging at 1DP. (Though the image is not from his actual presentation. Practicing my image insertion.) I longed to be there but alas, could not be. Nevertheless I learned some things via the stream from the conference session. He was talking to the LC blogging teams and I actually did not feel so bad hearing questions asked by them on things I already know how to do. But boy do I have a lot to learn!

Thanks to these virtual opportunities, my learning does not have to stop just because I cannot be there in person. I can even do a physical workout in front of the computer while my mind is being exercised as well. I am going to explore more of the options in WordPress, although Steve did mention the format would be changing this summer.  I will keep writing and hopefully improving. And isn’t that what I want my students to do?

I am so happy to have been invited to help out on the Second Life Leadership Council. What a great team they have been (Rip, Lor, Beth, JM, Celestia, Laelia), working so hard to make the SL experience better for all of us in the DEN. I have learned so very much in my almost 2 years as a member of the DEN in SL. What a fantastic vehicle for professional development!

It has also been rewarding being a volunteer guide on the weekends at the DEN headquarters. Although as I say, sometimes I feel like Eleanor Rigby, other times it is very rewarding to be able to make someone feel welcome, explain what we do there as educators, and even make new friends from all over. We have so many things in common as educators, and it is a good feeling to know that other teachers, whether they are in Alaska or Norway, experience the same frustrations and time crunches that we do. We are all struggling to do what is best for our students and by our conversations we grow as educators and have the resource of a support network to help us in our mission. I hope I can offer something of value to the group. I will surely do my best.

Just came across a link(via eSchoolNews) to a free curriculum offered by Microsoft to teach digital citizenship, especially in the area of intellectual property rights. It seems to have been around for several months though I am just now discovering it. Obviously Microsoft has a vested interest in young digital citizens understanding these concepts, but they are important concepts nonetheless. I have signed up (registration required) and then downloaded the 4 modules of the program. I will take a closer look at it this summer but it looks quite interesting. Program is listed for grades 8-12 but is adaptable down to 6th they say. There is also a website for students to access for their activities in each unit.

I highly recommend the resources at the ThinkGreen site, one of the many educator resources available through Discovery. I used this recently in third grade tech class. We discussed the topics and watched several of the videos, with students summarizing key points learned from each video. I added each idea to a master list and at the end, each student chose an idea to depict with KidPix Deluxe. Images were exported to jpegs and inserted into PhotoStory for our PSA. They each added a narration for their picture. Can you believe, our school does not recycle? Maybe with the help of those new fourth graders in the fall, we can make it happen. Video is posted on our school website in wmv format.

Talk about feeling like a small fish in a big pond. Just saw this video which is an awesome way to get across the concept of size in the universe. And the background music is great. Wish I had had this when I was teaching eighth grade earth science. Star Size Comparison HD

A little timidly I am finally posting something to my DEN blog which has existed since August 2007. Wonder if I can get tutored on some of the choices offered on this blog site.

I am shaking the dust off in a lot of areas this past week now that school has ended. I also started a Twitter account back in 2007 and did zilch with it. Currently going by Patti211 changed from pruffing…I am so wishy-washy. Got back into it this past week. I said to my sister last night, “Hey, I noticed you didn’t tweet since Easter” and she said, “Oh, I don’t really bother with Twitter too much. I use Facebook now.”  Aaarrrggghh.  She proceeded to tell me about some cool pictures my son had on his Facebook page, WHICH I DON’T GET TO SEE!

Went back to my blog page (Blackberry Alley) also created in 2007 on edublogs and updated that. Saw on that site that my blog roll had some favorite blogs that had relocated and so I updated those links. Since it uses WordPress like this site, I wish I could just have one blog and have it show up both places. Tell me there is a way to do this! Although my daughter told me that I write waaaay too much, who wants to read all that. Well, probably nobody but it makes me feel good to let it flow…so there.

Yeah I was on fire in 2007. Followed lots of bloggers, starting using Skype and Twitter and classblogmeister and SecondLife (Vita Demina) but now it is 2009. Did I disappear from the face of the earth in 2008? Maybe just trying to keep my head above water in a lot of ways. So for the summer of 2009 I resolve to:

1) get more sleep …MUST be a priority for me

2) try to accomplish the home to-do list

3) try to accomplish the school to-do list, big item being purchase a new server…scary

4) become a better blogger and a more active member of the DEN. Vita Demina has been trying her best in Second Life already.

Thinking about all that I might just need to take a nap.