Wisconsin

Join other educators as thousands around the country participate in the DEN Virtual Conference on Saturday, October 24th.  If you’re looking to attend in person, you can participate in New Berlin, WI.

The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) Virtual Conference provides an opportunity to learn powerful ways to integrate digital media and Web 2.0 tools into your instruction as well as discover an abundance of resources to expand your own professional learning network.  And, it’s free!

You are invited to an in-person event hosted by the Wisconsin Leadership Council, with support from the School District of New Berlin.

Virtual Presentations Include:

Can I Help You With That?                         

The Student as Collaborator, Creator and Director

Do You Have the Audacity to Podcast?

Thinking Outside the Slide

Putting the Bling in Your Builders              

What on Earth is a Gloggle?

Be Nice and Share: Publishing Your Media-Infused Projects for the World to See

Hands-On Sessions:

 SMART Board

Web 2.0 Tools

Building a Professional Learning Community

Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

For more information and to register visit:
 https://lrougeux.wufoo.com/forms/den-fall-virtual-conference-new-berlin-wi/

For a schedule of events, visit:

http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2009/10/09/tech-or-treat-dens-fall-virtual-conference/

If you have any questions, please contact Rachel Yurk at rachel.yurk@nbexcellence.org

Looking for a flyer to hand out to colleagues?  Download this one.

I didn’t attend, but heard a lot of great things about the Discovery Educator Network National Institute that was recently held.  The DEN National Institute for 2009 took place from July 13-17 at the Headlands Institute just north of San Francisco in the beautiful Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  Participants has the opportunity to connect with colleagues from all over the country and discuss the best ways to use media in the classroom.

A lot of great resources were shared during the week.  If you’re interested in checking out the list, please visit this blog.

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

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)

Through January 2008, you can access the NBC news archive FREE through HotChalk.

HotChalk is a learning management system that provides a community for teachers, students and parents that “…includes curriculum management, lesson plan development, automated assignment distribution, collection, and grading in a web-based environment.”  [See About HotChalk].  This is a free system that relies on advertising that can be controlled by the school, but is not shown not during the school day (and never to students under the age of 13).

Beyond the regular features in HotChalk, you can sign up now and get access to over 70 years of NBC news (through January 2008).  NBC News Archives on Demand provides video clips, text resources, primary documents, photographs, drawings, charts and graphs.

After signing up (for free), I went directly to the archives.  I found that the search engine was a little limited (i.e. I found no coverage for the completion of the “human genome project” - a major scientific accomplishment, which was completed in 2004).  I think this is in part due to the search engine using a limited set of keywords, and the fact that the archives seem mostly geared towards history, communication arts (English), and government/politics.

Still, I was able to find original news footage of the moon landing, Sputnik, and the Manhattan Project, making it well worth the hassle of signing-up.

[Also posted on www.explodingsink.com]