South Carolina DEN

A message from the Leadership Council Chair:

I hope that you all enjoyed your spring break!

The SC DEN Leadership Council is gearing up for the Virtual Conference that will be held around the country on Saturday, April 25. Mike Bryant from Discovery is coordinating the events for us in South Carolina. We will host the conference at Ridge View High School (in the northeast area of Columbia) located at 4801 Hard Scrabble Road, Columbia, SC, 29229.

We’ll begin the day at 8:30 with breakfast and then have a mix of breakout sessions and
virtual sessions. Discovery is providing lunch and the day will end at 3:00.

Sessions by our Leadership Council include:

Senteo and SMART Activity Toolkit - Amy Dent
iPod-a-bilities in the Classroom 2.0 - MaryAnn Sansonetti
Roundtrip Tickets Anywhere: Google Earth in Education - Donna Teuber
Web 2.0 - Julia Davis

You can register for the conference by going to http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/denvirtcon/. If you’re planning to attend our in-person event at Ridge View, be sure to indicate that on your registration.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to network with SC educators and DEN Stars, and to learn about new ways to effectively integrate technology into your classroom activities. We hope to see all of our SC Stars on April 25th!

Please post any questions or leave a comment on the blog!

See you soon,

Donna Teuber
SC DEN Leadership Council Chair

Is it really over? Did three days packed with networking, learning, and sharing really have to end? StreamlineSC and the SC DEN may not be able to provide you with a stimulus package, but they can definitely stimulate the minds of some of the Palmetto State’s greatest STAR Discovery Educators!

For some people,March Madness means basketball courts and hoop dreams, but for the generous folks at ETV, it means engaging educators from all over the state of South Carolina in three days worth of educational technology know-how. On Wednesday, March 18th, ETV opened their doors and studios to educators for a series of free workshops and seminars. Participants sat through sessions facilitated by educator experts in topics that ranged from Google products to digital storytelling. Registered participants had opportunities to learn how to incorporate new techniques on the SMARTBoard Interactive Whiteboard, as well as how to create eFolios for students.

In addition to the numerous workshops provided, StreamlineSC’s devoted divas, Debbie Jarrett and Donna Thompson, teamed up with the SC DEN’s Leadership Council to bring iPod guru Tony Vincent to the big screen! That’s right, with Discovery Ed’s Justin Karkow at the helm, the Leadership Council hosted EdTechConnect with Tony Vincent. Before the webinar began, we all had an opportunity to sit down to a catered dinner and talk shop- that may not sound like a big deal at first until you realize that the peanut gallery included educators as far south as Berkeley County on up to Rock Hill. Not bad. And though we had a few technical difficulties at first, Justin proved that Discovery Ed managers are problem-solvers at heart!

We’re in the process of putting together pictures and video from the event, so check the blog soon for some familiar faces. In the meantime, if you were fortunate to attend one (or all three days) of the workshops, we’d love to hear from you. What did you learn? What did you teach? What did you see that you just cannot live without? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF OUR FEARLESS LEADER’S ENGINEERING SKILLS DURING THE WEBINAR?!

It’s time to enjoy some quality time with fellow DEN STAR educators from around the Palmetto State. If you’re already registered to attend the ETV workshops on March 17-19, then you may as well enjoy a free meal alongside some of the finest educators that SC has to offer!

See the invitation here to register. Participants will not only enjoy rubbing elbows with fellow SC STARS, but will also take part in iPod guru Tony Vincent’s exciting webinar!

Plan on attending? Be sure to reply to the invitation, then leave a comment to let the rest of the SC DEN know you’re coming.

That’s right, it’s that four letter word that makes educators happy…F-R-E-E.

Back by popular demand, the fun and fabulous folks at ETV are bringing you technology workshops to help you learn the latest and greatest trends in educational technology. Donna, Debbie and Dean (the three D’s of education) have lined up 3-days for you and your peers across South Carolina to learn, network, and collaborate.

Join the SC DEN as we meet in Columbia to teach and learn. DEN members, along with folks from Discovery Education, ETV, and educators in and around the classroom, share technology integration ideas for novice to advanced users. The workshops will be held at the ETV building in Columbia on March 17th, 18th and 19th. Registration opens next week, so check here for more information.

And why not spread the news?! Download a copy of the flyer to email to colleagues or post in the workroom. You may even be eligible for a 1-hour re-certification credit. So what have you got to lose? Oh…just three of the most information-packed days to make your classroom or school a more exciting place. That’s all.

Photo Story 3 has made quite an impact on digital storytelling in the classroom. Offered as a free download from the Microsoft website, this application is surprisingly easy to use!

Photo Story is an application that allows you to import digital, still images and create a photo slideshow that you can share. So imagine this, you start off with images from your digital camera or from StreamlineSC. These images are brought into the application where you can crop or add cool effects (like “sepia” for that old-timey feeling). Each image can be edited on it’s own, allowing you to really get creative! Once you’ve finished, the final product is actually a video file that can be viewed by just about anyone.

With Photo Story, you can add your own narration to one or every image in your story, as well as use music to set the tone. The application allows you to use mp3 audio, or get around that good ‘ole copyright law and create your own music. While the music you create won’t be earning you any platinum albums, you’ll still be able to set the mood for your story.

As you edit your story, pictures are placed into a “slider” that allows you to track changes using icons, or re-arrange the order of your show. Recorded some narration for a particular picture? No worries! If you move that picture in the story, the narration and changes you made to the photo will travel with it.

One of my favorite features of Photo Story, though, is the ability to customize the motion of your pictures. Let’s say you’re telling the story of a Civil War soldier. You’ve downloaded a file from StreamlineSC that shows a group of Civil War soldiers at one of their camps. The story begins with this picture, but then zooms in tight and rests on the face of one of the soldiers in the group. You then begin to tell the story of how this young boy went off to fight in the war, highlighting the famous battles he fought in and the generals who led them. Each picture fades in and out, creating a seamless flow of images that tell a story. Pretty neat, huh? Some might even have a name for that effect (hint, hint).

Or imagine you have pictures taken from around your school. You put them together and, with the help of students from your classroom, add narration that describes each photo. You record the voices of your students to coincide with the pictures you’ve taken and - POOF! - you now have a virtual tour of your building. Can you imagine greeting a new student with an iPod and allowing them to tour the school with one of your students?

There are limitless possibilities for Photo Story in the classroom. A common use for this application in education today is a student-created book talk. Using their own artwork, students get the chance to re-tell a story. This is an excellent alternative to a book report, and presents you with the opportunity to very easily integrate technology into the classroom.

Other Photo Story examples include digital scrapbooks for an “All About Me” presentation, history report using photos of photos of key figures, science project visual for presenting findings, and… well, let us know! Please leave a comment about how you have used (or would like to use) Photo Story in your classroom or school. Got a link to one of your videos? We’d love to see it!

SPRING 2008

The team at Discovery Education is always bringing the latest and greatest trends of educational technology to educators everywhere. One of the biggest issues facing classroom teachers today is…LACK OF TIME! Technology is out there, and we do our best to bring it into the classroom. Ideally, we can attend a conference that will allow us to see some of these best practices for ourselves.

With budget cuts looming overhead, it’s nice to know that DE has once again thought of a way to get the information out! That’s right, time again for another Virtual Conference- the geniuses that make up DE are bringing the conference to you.

What’s a virtual conference? Just imagine… Saturday morning:you, your favorite comfy pj’s, a cup of coffee, and a computer. That’s it! No sub for your kids, no hotel reservations, and no racing across a lobby to reach your next session. Attend when you can from the comfort of your own home. Or better yet, team up with some friends and attend together on one computer. And for those schools with innovative and supportive leaders, why not meet up in a classroom and turn on that projector with your grade level or department folks?

Of course, you will need to register- and that’s free, too.

Registration opens on Friday, October 10th. If you’d like to see what’s on tap for the Virtual Conference, see the National Blog here. Can’t make the Virtual Conference, but curious about other professional development opportunities to learn from the Discovery Ed team? Read more about webinars!

The 2008 DEN Streamathon has come and gone, but all of the great information that was delivered is here to stay!

You missed the Streamathon?! Dry those eyes and check out the archives. Here you will find most of the presentations that were given by various members of the DEN team.

Topics include:

Don’t want to miss out on future webinar opportunities? Check out the calendar for online events and register today!

On Saturday, August 16th, Animal Planet is popping in to visit South Carolina!

Animal Planet Expo 2008 will be held this weekend at the Exchange Park from 10am to 4pm. Check out all of the exciting vendors and shows before heading back to school. Bring the family for a day of face painting and fun. And hey- it’s Animal Planet, so your pets can be a part of the fun! Just be sure your furry friends are on leashes. (Leashed dogs and cats are invited to join in on the festivities… cats on leashes?! NICE.)

For more info on the Expo, or to see what Animal Planet is up to, visit the Animal Planet site. Care to get a sneak peek of what’s in store? Watch the video tour!

Any DEN folks plan on visiting the EXPO? Leave a comment and let us know! Will you have a furry friend in tow? Be sure to send us a picture and we’ll post it on the blog.

The South Carolina Leadership Council treated DEN members to dinner in Columbia last night. Dinner with the DEN is a treat, but being able to share technology tips with fellow educators takes the cake!

Cathy Nelson, Library Media Specialist and DEN member, shared two great sites:

Cameroid
Fun image generator for those who have access to a Webcam.

A flickrstream called “Interesting Snippets”
The photos consist of metaphorical creative commons pictures that have added motivational or thought provoking phrases, quotes, and understandings that have many uses. The idea I shared was to get to the photostream, use the slide show feature, and just let them rotate through (roughly 250 pictures) for educators as they wait for staff developments to begin. I suppose they would be good for parents at parent meetings in the same way. I noticed as I searched for them again tonight, others have picked up on this, like Dean Shareski and Alan Levine. They are tagging the photos “interestingsnippets.” The originator of the idea simply created a set named that. It’s a good idea, and one that can grow now that a seed of an idea has been planted and a tag has been formed and implemented.

Donna Teuber shared this tip:

Olympus has several cameras in the SW series that are shockproof and waterproof. These cameras are very durable in a school setting where students may be dropping cameras or taking the cameras out in the rain. The cameras are shockproof when dropped from 5 feet and some models are waterproof up to 33 feet. The cameras are also crushproof up to a weight of 220 pounds.

Thanks for the tips, ladies! Got a tip for the DEN? Let us a know all about it and we’ll post it here on the blog. You can post a comment here or email it to the Leadership Council at sc.den.leaders@gmail.com.

It’s almost time for more great workshops at SC ETV- so why not join your fellow South Carolina DEN members for dinner while you’re in the area?

On Wednesday, July 30th, the SC DEN is hosting dinner for our members at Longhorn’s restaurant in the Vista. We will be meeting upstairs at 6:00 pm. Join us for dinner and share some of your best technology tips with other DEN members from across the state!

DEN members should be getting an invitation soon- but why wait?! If you’d like to join us at Longhorn’s at the end of the month, post a comment below on the blog. Let us know where you’re from and if you’re attending any of the ETV workshops. You didn’t register for any workshops? Well, come join us anyway to network with fellow SC educators!