Wisconsin

I saw this come across Twitter today. It looks like Discovery’s new service will embed digital media into the curriculum.  Check out the article - looks to be pretty good information.  The link below will take you to an article from THE Journal.  This journal, in itself, is a great resource.

Discovery Launches Service To Embed Digital Media into Curriculum

The last week or so, I’ve been working on a project that involves Skyping with students and classrooms from all across the United States.  Our 4th graders are studying the U.S. and I thought it would be neat to get authentic research from someone who lived there, rather than just using books and online resources.  This is the second year of the project and you would have thought I would have learned something.  For a variety of reasons, mostly my fault, the project seemed to be more successful last year.  Now, we’re not done yet, and we could make a strong push this last week and a half, but I wanted to let you know about a few things that you might want to keep in mind when attempting a big project like this.

1.  Be aware of Time Zones.  This wasn’t as much of an issue for me as last year, but it’s still something you can’t forget about.  There was one interview we had scheduled this year, but I sent out the wrong time.  Luckily, the teacher was able to work us back into their schedule and everything worked out.  I can’t imagine what it must be like dealing with time zone differences more than a couple of hours.

2.  Organizination is key.  I tried to keep in constant contact with the teachers we would be communicating with so the potential for something to go wrong was minimal.  I made a few mistakes when I originally set up my contact list from last year, but eventually got things worked out.  However, don’t do what I did, and have 3 different lists of contacts.  It’s not a good idea.

3.  Plan on everything taking longer than you’d expect.  Barring any technical difficulties (see #4) the interviews will take longer than expected.  In some cases, the students are more talkative.  In others, you get started a little later than expected.  Regardless of the reason, I figured out I had to schedule the chats at least 20 minutes apart instead of the 15 I did in the past.

4.  Technology is great - when it works.  We used Skype for all of the video chats and for the most part, things worked okay.  Some connections were better than others and the quality of the video and audio was good.  In others, it was pretty choppy.  In some cases we had Skype issues on one end and had to cancel the chats all together.  In all but one case so far, we were able to reschedule.  Regardless, I reasonably happy with how things are going.

5.  Flexibility is key!  Luckily, I’m in a position where I have large chunks of time during the day when I don’t have students.  I know that’s not the case with a lot of people, but I can honestly say that the willingness of the teachers involved to work with our schedule has been pretty good.  In several cases, teachers we were working with simply told us they’d work around our schedule.  Some went as far as to say, “Tell us when to meet and we’ll stop what we’re doing to chat.”  That’s awesome and very much appreciated.  I do have to say the willingness of the two classroom teachers in my school to be flexible has been great as well.  There have been times when I’ve called up to their rooms minutes before a scheduled chat and asked for a student.  They’ve sent the child down with no issues.  (Or at least no issues that I know of!)

6.  Use your PLN and their PLN’s.  Getting the word out about the project is probably the hardest thing to do.  I started much later this year than last getting the information out.  Last year, I posted information about the project all over the place.  I wrote a blog post about it, used the Classroom 2.0 Ning, the Projects by Jen Ning, Global Schoolhouse Network and probably others I forgot about.  This was both good and bad.  It was great because a wide variety of educators heard about the project.  It was bad because I had to make sure I remembered to visit the sites to check for comments.  This was hard for me.  While I did receive emails from the Nings when comments were made, I struggled (and did again) touching base with all interested educators.  I also didn’t realize that you could close a discussion on a Ning, which I should have done because there were comments about particpating after the project was over last year.  That’s part of learning, right?  In addition to posting the information all over the place, several members of my PLN on Twitter retweeted the information to their PLN’s.  This was very nice of them because in most cases, I didn’t ask - they just took a few seconds to help out. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark your calendars for the WEMTA Winter Virtual Conference - Saturday, February 28th, from 9:00 am (CST) to 4:00 pm.  What is a virtual conference?  Well, this one is a one day conference delivered virtually LIVE to your computer - wherever you are.  All you need is a computer that has internet access (a microphone is optional, but it does allow you to participate live with your questions or comments.)  You can attend all day, part of the day, or just the session(s) you are interested in.

 Schedule of Events

9:00 – Copyright or Copywrong:  Copyright and fair use in the classroom  Not sure what is allowed or is not allowed under copyright laws?  Need a refresher on what to be telling students when they produce their multi-media presentations?  Need practical suggestions on how to bring your staff up-to-date with fair use and copyright?  Then attend this webinar and get “up to speed.”  Presenter:  Keith Schroeder  Web address:  http://keithschroeder.net

10:00 - LEARN 360 

Learn360 is a diverse collection of thousands of online streaming videos and video clips created by organizations such as PBS, National Geographic, and Sunburst Visual Media, as well as educationally relevant audio files, newsreels, speeches, and images. Many videos can be downloaded in QuickTime, Windows Media, and Flash and imbedded in classroom presentations.  Even if you’ve seen LEARN 360 before, you haven’t seen anything yet!  They have greatly expanded the available resources and tools.  Presenter:  Tom Bukowski  Web address:  http://www.learn360.com/

11:00  iSafe – Internet Safety Curriculum 

Recent legislation appears to require schools to provide Internet Safety education.  This wording was added to the Communications Act: ‘‘(iii) as part of its Internet safety policy is educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyber bullying awareness and response.’’  One of the resources available for your use is the www.iSafe.org approach to educate and empower youth in internet safety concepts. IT is a free curriculum, though you need to be complete some training in order to access the materials. iSafe covers five basic internet safety concepts.  Presenter:  Chris Rogers  Web address:  http://www.cesa7.k12.wi.us/content/ils/index.asp

12:00  The Importance of a Personal Learning Community (PLC) and How to Develop One   

A PLC is a personal learning community.  These are the people who are your resources.  This is where you can bounce ideas, get new ideas, brainstorm, etc.  You are not alone any longer when connections are so easy to develop with the new tools available on the internet.  We’ll take a look at what all of the buzz is about and I’ll show you some of the great tools available for you to start developing your PLC!  Presenter:  Keith Schroeder  Web address:  http://keithschroeder.net

1:00 RSS - Your New Research Assistant! 

Need Your Own Research Assistant?  Do you wish you had more time to explore the internet and find cool sites to integrate into your curriculum?  Are you looking to bridge the gap between yourself and your students in the digital world they live in?  Create a RSS feed page.  Time is always an issue, there is never enough.  A RSS feed page will allow you to find keep track of newly added information to blogs, websites and wikis that pertain to your subject area or other areas of interest.  In a few simple steps you can set up a page and you will instantly be on top of the most current news.  Presenter:  Dena Budrecki  Web address:  http://msdenabudrecki.pbwiki.com/

2:00 (Double Session)  Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the Internet Safely and Responsibly - FERPA and How It Impacts Schools. 

We must expect that young people will post personal information online and will interact wih a wide range of people ~ including “online strangers.”  There are risks associated with these activities.  There are also risks associated wth crossing a busy street.  We don’t tell children never to cross streets.  We hold their hand when they are young ~ then we teach them how to do so safely and responsibly!  As our young people are becoming involved in the global interactive Internet community, it is important for educatros to ensure they have the knowledge, skills and values to do so safely and responsibly. This presentation will focus on materials available for students, professional development and resources for parent education.  The presentation will  give you practical suggestions that will incoporate insight from research on youth risk online and effective risk prevention.  Presenter:  Nancy Willard, the executive director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, is a nationally recognized authority on issues related to the safe and responsible use of the Internet.Web address:  http://www.cyberbully.org/ 

To register please follow this link:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/621167197

Our school is using Discovery Streaming for the first time this year.  I’ve had a little experience with it in the past, but for the most part, most of my teachers have not.  The fourth graders are currently studying animals and their final project, after researching their information, will be creating a PowerPoint.  One of our students is a go-getter.  After the project was introduced, she came back the next day with a little video project she put together at home.  I thought it might be a good idea to take the skills this student has, and push forward a little more.  I asked her if she was willing to try something new, take on the challenge, and then if successful, teach others.  I knew the question to the answer before I even asked it.

The next day, I downloaded zebra videos from Discovery Streaming for her, with the idea that she could write a script and then record a voiceover.  I tossed out the idea and she was all for it.  I told her to write the script that night from her research and she came back the next day ready to go.  She was pretty familiar with MovieMaker so I didn’t need to spend much time showing her the software.  Quickly, she picked up on how to record her voice, mute the existing sound, and match up the new audio with the movie.  The final project isn’t quite ready yet, but this student is on her way to a pretty decent project.  I certainly hope she can transfer some of this new learning to others and become the teacher.

My district has recently installed Microsoft Sharepoint. This is a dynamic tool (albeit from the MotherShip) that allows me to create and control groups where users can collaborate though shared documents, discussions boards, blogs, and wikis (and many other features).

My initial observations of Sharepoint made me realize that it has a distinct Microsoft footprint - heavy on tools, but clunky to use. It reminds me of that spoof video fantasizing if Microsoft had packaged the iPod. In any case, I futzed around with it for a while until I was semi-satisfied.

I have to admit - the discussion board is a powerful tool. It engages my students on a level that they would not comfortable with in the classroom. It challenges them to raise questions they would not ask in class. It actually brings more discussion into the classroom. And this was only after a week of discussion. (NOTE: the power of a discussion board is not new to me, but this is the first time I am able to use one under my district’s IT reign).

This is exactly a tool I have been looking for, as I have a colleague in Sweden who wants to have our classes collaborate on a project. Since SKYPE is blocked, this would allow the students to actually have that collaboration - supervised by me and my Swedish colleague.
Sharepoint is quite powerful in that it allows multiple configurations for its users with many layers of permission. There are a few no-brainers that I already have setup to protect my students. First - they can only post, but can’t edit or delete their entries. This helps to reinforce the idea that once something is posted on the internet, it is always there. Secondly, I don’t allow anonymous outside registration either - outside registration would have to be added by me or would have to be requested.

But I am not clear how to setup other student permissions/identities and if I should allow outside access for viewing. I have a few options:

1. Lock down the site so that ONLY students in my class can see and participate in the discussions
2. Lock down the site as above, but allow it to be viewed by any student or teacher in the district
3. Allow outside viewing, but protect student identities - make them create unidentifiable usernames
4. Other options?

If you use student discussion boards, what advice do you have? What are the benefits and drawbacks of these configurations? I want students to be safe, feel free to speak their mind, but I also want to emulate the outside world as well.

You can see what I’ve done (and what the students have done) so far. Their identities are protected - so I am currently using option #3. Most likely, these settings will change in the future. [Link]

This school year, I was fortunate enough to have an interactive whiteboard (from Interwrite) installed in my classroom. I was hesitant to get it at first, as I would lose some valuable front-board real estate to have it mounted.

However, once I started using it, I soon found out some interactive and intriguing ways ways to enhance my instruction. Here’s what I like about it:

1. More Student Interaction. I often find myself working too hard. That is, teaching to my students instead of working with them so that they can teach themselves. The IW has really helped to get students out of their seats and truly be more interactive in the lessons. Students love to write on the board, and it’s a great way to get students to contribute to the class.
2. New Technology WOW Factor. There are only a handful of IW’s in the school right now, and students still think it’s a pretty cool gadget. It’s like I have the iPhone of education hanging on my wall (sorry for the metaphor).
3. Great for Graphing. As a science teacher, I always have my students collect and graph data to analyze in class. The IW allows me to display graphs and write on them for analysis (usually through Logger Pro). The ‘write-on-able’ feature and the fact I can go back or save make the IW far superior to an overhead and some markers.
4. Import Work and other Media. The IW allows me to easily import many types of media. This is particularly nice when working with online or CD-ROM textbooks, as I can incorporate media directly from student texts into my lessons. I can also use non-digital media, as we have a copy machine in our building that will scan documents and e-mail them to teachers.
5. Save and Export Work. As I mentioned, I was a little cautious about losing some traditional whiteboard space. But I found that the IW actually expands this space, and I can create multiple pages and scroll back and forth. I can also record my movements on the IW to export them as a movie, and export the pages to a PDF file.
6. Demonstration and Interactive Use of Programs. I particularly like to use RasMol for molecular imaging. I can use the same basic mouse functions on the IW to manipulate the molecule on the board, as well as certain structures with the IW pen. Here’s an exported video of me manipulating a GFP molecule with the IW.
7. Interwrite Board + SMART Airliner Tablet = Extreme Whiteboarding! I still use traditional whiteboards integrated with the IW. I can assign multiple tasks for student groups to tackle on their own whiteboard, then take a picture of each and upload them to view. The students can present it on the board as I bring up their whiteboard picture. All the while, I am sitting in the back and can correct or add comments with a SMART Airliner Tablet or wireless keyboard/mouse. Again, the students produce, review and critique their entire lesson with my guidance.

Picture of Student Work:

Picture of Corrected Student Work:

If you can’t afford an interactive whiteboard this year, check out the economy solution - made from a Nintendo Wii [Link].

(Also posted on www.explodingsink.com]

The Library of Congress has recently made a huge step in embracing such Web 2.0 concepts such as creativity, collaboration and sharing between users.In an effort to provide better access to their collections, while symbiotically harvesting more information about those collections, the Library of Congress has created a Flickr page to host copyright-free pictures:

Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist…

…We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves.

More information is available on the Library’s Web site here and on the FAQ page here. You can read Flickr’s take here.

-from the Library of Congress Blog

While this is a tremendous offer, don’t forget about the slew of resources already available from the Library of Congress (including a section for teachers). Check them out for your classes and for yourself.

And there is also an underlying motive here. To help the Library on this project, Flickr has even created a new publication model for public collections called The Commons. Both the LOC and Flickr are hoping to encourage other public institutions to follow their lead. (In fact, the National Library of Australia is already doing a similar project with Picture Australia).

But of course, making these collections easily available has tremendous implications in education. This is a perfect way to teach about tagging and sharing in the classroom, while using historically important content without the worry of students accessing inappropriate content. And these pictures have no copyright restrictions, so they can easily be used by students and teachers in endless and creative ways in many classes. Too bad Flickr is blocked by Websense in my district.

What could you do with these pictures?

(also posted on www.explodingsink.com)

Here is a press release from Space Explorers (De Pere, WI):

Senior research scientist Dr. Michael Wolff will host a live, online chat with students and teachers on Thursday, January 17, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. CST. During this event, Dr. Wolff will answer students’ questions about the Martian atmosphere. Space enthusiasts are encouraged to submit questions before or during the scheduled chat time by visiting this LINK.

Dr. Michael Wolff is a senior research scientist with the Space Science Institute, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Dr. Wolff graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Madison with a Ph.D. in Astronomy in 1993. Dr. Wolff is actively involved in several current spacecraft teams, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MARCI and CRISM instruments) and the Mars Exploration Rover project. Among his current research interests are radiative transfer, interstellar dust, remote sensing algorithm development, electrodynamical scattering theory, and many aspects of terrestrial planet atmospheres.

Space Explorers, Inc. is sponsoring this chat event. The company provides kindergarten through twelfth grade standards-based science programs including virtual simulations, experiments, and data analysis tools to thousands of educators across the United States. Through these programs, Space Explorers strives to inspire a new generation of explorers to pursue careers in science, math, and technology.

The use of digital photo frames to show slideshows is nothing new. But while I was setting up our house for Christmas (tree, lights, etc), I noticed the digital photo frame in the family room that has been repeating the same family pictures for the last 11 months (it was a 2006 Christmas gift).

Immediately, I realized that it could easily be used for another Christmas decoration. So I went to Flickr, searched for “Christmas” and found a slew of high quality, general Christmas pictures. After realizing that my frame only recognizes JPEG’s, I selected only those files - and ones that were shot horizontally (they look better in the frame than vertical ones).

Here is the result:

So I was able to create a temporary, yet dynamic Christmas slide show (interspersed with family pictures at Christmas). Beyond using this idea for other holidays and special days, I realized that I could do the same thing in my classroom. Imagine topic-specific pictures that can showcased to peak curiosity, engage discussion, and generally highlight the topic at hand. These pictures can easily be changed by swapping out memory cards, so it would be fairly easy to get it ready for several lessons over a school year.

As digital photo frames are getting pretty cheap, they can easily be purchased for the classroom. Or, if you are like me, then your old electronics end up in your classroom. I might have to upgrade mine at home and use my old one at school!