“I Learn, You Learn, We Learn” Blog

Check out this jam-packed list of FREE webinars offered by Discovery Educator Network. Get ready for back to school with a visit to one , a few or all of the sessions listed below.

All sessions begin at 11 AM ET. Register Here. It’s free and easy.

Digital Storytelling Week
8/3/09
Thinking Outside the Slide: Creating non-linear PowerPoint presentations and learning centers with Discovery Education Media
8/4/09
Digital Storytelling Made Easy: Using Discovery Education Content with Animoto and PhotoStory
8/5/09
Director’s Cut: Discovery Education Media and MovieMaker (PC)
8/6/09
Director’s Cut: Discovery Education Media and iMovie (Mac)

Leadership Week
8/10/09
The Information Society is HERE: Are our schools up to the task? with Dr. Scott McLeod
8/11/09
Policies, Safety and Social Networking
8/12/09
Web 2.0 for Administrators and Others: Schools, Tools, and the 21st Century
8/13/09
Data Driven Decisions with Discovery Education Assessment

Science Week
8/17/09
Myth Busted: Easy Ways to Integrate Digital Media into Your Science Classroom
8/18/09
Getting Your Hands Dirty with Discovery Education Science
8/19/09
Differentiating Instruction with the Discovery Education Science Assessment Manager
8/20/09
More and Muir Tech Tips for Going Green

Web 2.0 Week
8/24/09
Get Your Glog On! The DE streaming Builders and Glogster
8/25/09
The Thread that Ties it All Together: Discovery Education Content and Voicethread
8/26/09
Two Roundtrip Tickets to Anywhere in the World: Designing Virtual Field Trips with Discovery Education Media and Google Earth
8/27/09
Learning Through the Funnies: Mixing Discovery Education Content with Free Comic Tools

Enroll today.

Last night’sDEN webinar with Anastasia Goodstein, creator and author of yPulse Teen Blog, was a a terrific session focusing on what teens are actually doing on the internet. Turns out it’s not much different from years ago. They like to hang out, decorate their space, and socialize all in an effort to find themselves. What has changed is they are
doing it in a very different place - online. Think about it - malls and social hangouts aren’t as welcoming anymore, teens still have a lot on their minds (just as we did years ago), but they still need to talk with their friends. Social networking sites have become the “place” to hang, talk, decorate, and be a teen.

Anastasia, along with a number of webinar participants,agree the issue at hand  is we (parents and educators) need to begin a serious campaign on educating our students about the correct way to use computers, the correct way to socialize online, and what to do when a teen reads something disturbing to them.  Computer Ethics, Digital Citizenship and Internet Safety must become a staple in our education system and in our conversations with our children.  Computers and the Internet aren’t the culprits (contrary to what most school officials think) it is the people using them in the wrong way that is.

Here are Anastasia’s Top Ten things you can do to become a “Totally Wired” educator (and Parent)

1. Survey your teens - Find out where they go online, what they like to do online and how they use their phones and the internet

2. Lean on them - Not a computer wizard? Identify a teen who is and let them help in your class. It is empowering and validating.

3. Join a social network - Learn to use the tools your students are using

4. Be their guide - Help them learn to evaluate and find credible internet sources. Help them become information “literate”

5. Talk about and model appropriate use - No hidden camera photos of their friends,  what’s appropriate to post in a public forum and why, not using texting acronyms in English papers

6. Teach teens cyberethics -Incorporate ethics into any computer course and classes using computer labs,emphasizing what’s different about bullying online, the public nature of the internet, plagiarism and cheating

7. Identify the trailblazers in your field - Read their blogs, ask them to tell you what works and what doesn’t

8. If you are a trailblazer,spread the gospel. Find ways to get your positive experiences with technology out to others.

9.Support efforts to unblock appropriate social media - Educate your administrators on ways social networking can be educational and how some can be privatized

10. Practice Active Reputation Management- student blogging, portfolio sites, active use of privacy settings.

Here are some sites to help get you started:

• Google Tips forOnline Safety
• TenCommandments for Computer Ethics
• NS Teens
• AddressingCyberbullying in Classes
• Online Activity about Digital Citizenship
• WebWiseKids