Technology & Learnings: For Web 2.0 newbies, here is a visual tour of key tools for educators.

If you are not terribly familiar with some of the Internet tools labeled Web 2.0, here a concise guide to give you some background on these tools:

The Web 2.0 Visual Glossary

Techlearning > > The Web 2.0 Visual Glossary > June 15, 2007

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Hear what you're missing-sound added to Google Earth

The creation of Google Earth first wowed us with it's amazing ability to zoom in on any part of the world so we could get a better look.  Whether you're teaching setting in a novel that takes place in Paris, or sharing the different topographies with elementary students, Google Earth helped us take our students around the world--visually.  Now, through a partnership with Wild Sanctuary, we can also hear the natural sounds of landscapes both familiar and foreign to our ears.  Even better--if you do not have Google Earth, you can also access this feature on a limited basis via Google Maps.

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Learning from the best

It's been so exciting to read about the NECC conference, sessions, and exhibit hall. I can't wait to spend some time trying to better understand it all. Luckily for us in South Dakota, we don't have to go to a national event in another state to hear about the latest in technology integration. First there was relative newcomer to the educational technology keynote scene Will Richardson at the TIE conference in Rapid City, sharing his look at how Web 2.0 is changing our lives, and then about a month ago, David Warlick returned to our state to continue sharing his excellent and practical tools for teachers at the Laptop Institute in Mitchell. To find out more about the Landmark Project, visit the links below. And don't miss Warlick's article in TechLearning titled, A Day in the Life of Web 2.0 (you can also listen to the podcast).

http://handouts.davidwarlick.com
http://landmark-project.com/sl

NECC 2007 - Keynote

NECC 2007 - Keynote

Click the link directly above to view the entry in the TIE Lead blog...

NECC 2007 - Staggeringly Good Things Integrating Media and Google Earth

More and more teachers are becoming familiar with the wonders of Google Earth. Hall Davidson of Discovery presented tips on extending the capabilities of Google earth:
Staggeringly Good Things Integrating Media and Google Earth

Nearly everyone works with the standard version of Google Earth, mostly because Google Earth Pro costs $400 a year. What many don't know is that Google Earth Pro is available !!FREE!! to educators by contacting Debra Kettmann at GEEC@google.com and asking for an educator application (I have already gone through the process and have been using Pro for about a year).

Hall demonstrated how to place image overlays and add video or audio to placemarks within Google. His extensive handout (37 pages) provides much of what you need to try these features. He also highlighted Google Lit Trips, a website that highlights areas of the earth featured in great literary works like Candide, The Grapes of Wrath, The Odyssey, etc. Each lit trip provides information about the literary work, embedded right in the Google Earth placemark (if you are interested, Google Lit Trips welcomes more teachers to add to this content).

Some of the placemark files he used to demonstrate these extended features can be found at:
Media Matters: DEN Goes to NECC '07

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NECC 2007 - Integrating Real-World Data in Classrooms

Greg Bartus of CIESE (Center for Innovation in Engeneering and Science Education) presented resources and ideas for integrating real world data in classroom learning.
CIESE: Integrating Real-World Data in Classrooms
He also shared a catalog of collabroative projects their supported schools participate in:
CIESE - Curriculum: K-12 CIESE Online Classroom Projects

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NECC 2007 - Shedding Light on Web 2.0

Many educators are quite familiar with Kathy Schrock. She did a session titled Shedding Light on Web 2.0 which I did not attend but I find the resources very useful. Her presentation slides can be found at

• Online presentation
• PDF version (11.8 MB)
  (posted 06/25/07)
• Picasa Web Album version
  (posted 6/25/07)

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NECC 2007 - Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society

Mitchel Resnick of MIT
Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society
is part of a project called Lifelong Kindergarten where they develop new technologies that "in the spirit of the blocks and fingerpaint of kindergarten, expand the range of what people can design, create, and learn." Virtually all educators that students need to think and act creatively, yet as students work through the educational system they move farther from the creative spiral process of imagine-->create-->play-->share-->reflect-->imagine...
One piece of software (FREE!!) they developed is Scratch,
a graphical environment for creative programming. The website also hosts shared projects that others download, then enhance and share again. He also shared other LEGO/Mindstorms projects they are working on.

My notes on the session can be found at
LS Notes: Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society

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NECC 2007 - How Virtual Worlds Help Real Students: The River City MUVE

Chris Dede of Harvard University and his colleagues presented a session on the importance of using MUVE (Multiple User Virtual Environments) to immerse participants in rich digital environments.
NECC 2007
How Virtual Worlds Help Real Students: The River City MUVE
Dede points out that as more and more jobs get automated by machines and computers, two areas important for people to add to work is expert decision making and complex communications. In the pursuit of emphasizing 21st century skills, many educators focus on the ability of problem solving. Dede believes the ability of problem finding may be even more important. He also reiterates the importance of the ability to make meaning out of complexity and the ability of comprehension by a team, not just individuals. In their MUVE project, River City, students travel through a 19th century virtual city to determine why people are getting sick. They investigate on multiple levels within the game, set hypotheses, and collect data. They find that students are highly engaged and they improve their biological knowledge at double the rate of non-MUVE students.

eSchool News shares some video clips from this session.

My notes on this session can be found at
LS Notes: How Virtual Worlds Help Real Students: The River City MUVE

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NECC 2007 - Visual Learning: An Accelerant

Cheryl Lemke of the Metiri Group presented a very thought provoking session on the importance for educators to focus on Visual Learning.
Visual Learning: An Accelerant
Education is highly oriented to teaching to the text world, but schools also need to educate students on the "grammar" of visual literacy. Cheryl presents specifics on how the brain works with evidence of increased learning potential with the visual stimulus. She also provides examples of manipulated news media and the importance of students' to discern that manipulation. She describes how schools need to produce expressive and inventive thinkers. Cheryl's presentation can be found at:
http://www.metiri.com/presentations/NECCVis07.html

My notes on this session of the conference can be found at:
LS Notes: Visual Learning: An Accelerant

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NECC 2007

I had intended to blog about every session I attended, but I got pushed out of one session on Monday because it was full. Someone there said to plan on only going to every other session and going and getting in line for the next session. Wow! You can tell this little South Dakota girl doesn't get out enough!

I did get to go see Process Writing for the MySpace Generation. I already knew that we need to change the way we are teaching, but this takes it to that level! It was put on by the folks at Teaching Matters and I know I am going to be spending some time checking out their website when I get home. They are very reality-based and that is what matters to my kids!

Then I wandered into the Exhibit Hall! Talk about sensory overload. I spent 1 1/2 hours in there and didn't make it half way across the room. Yahoo is getting ready to pilot some new stuff for teachers. I signed up, but who knows if they are taking everyone. I met a wonderful lady who designed her own writing program, but I was surprised that she knew nothing about blogs, wikis, or other online tools. I know I am far from being an expert, but I did realize that I know more than the average teacher as to the Web 2.0 and the environment our kids need to be learning in. Towards the end of my visit to the Exhibit Hall I found Google. Since I am convinced that Google is taking over the world, I popped in. Fun for me...I found I do everything they were showcasing (and many things they weren't) except for the custom search engine. (I popped back in there today to do the Scavenger Hunt and found that it is fun and easy.)

Yesterday was a bad day. I woke up with a terrible headache, went back to bed for a while, then got up and got ready for the afternoon. I made it as far as waiting for the bus, only to have to run back and get sick. I missed the whole day. I can't tell you how bummed I am about that! Thank heavens there are so many people that have blogged about NECC. I have my reading cut out for me for the next week!

Today I feel better and started my day with Digital Game-based Learning in American History. I stopped at their booth on Monday. The are the Colonial Williamsburg group. I can't wait to dig deeper into this. I know our state pays for us to see all the broadcasts, but I really need to sign up for the teacher materials. There are many games and sites for students to interact at. I just need to remember there will be a lot more in my curriculum than just the Revolutionary War!


The second session of the day I went back in to see Will Richardson. I know, I know...a case of hero worship, but I get really inspired listening to him. His wiki for today was at

http://handitinnecc.wikispaces.com/

I know I now need to add Wikinomics to my summer reading list. I don't know that I learned any more than I have from seeing him two other times and from reading his book, but I am more prepared to go back to the classroom and fight the fight to have my kids using these tools and really preparing them for the world THEY are going to live in verses the one we grew up in. I know that blogging isn't where all teachers agree we need to be, but I am going to have my kids there doing their thing and showing teachers it not only CAN but SHOULD be done. While I agree with Will that we shouldn't be keeping our kids TOO protected, I do know I am going to have to take little steps. I am very confident that I can get the district to not squawk if I start with Class Blogmeister. Sometimes baby steps are better than no steps at all. I am going to set up my own wiki and put all the assignments and resources for my kids there. I have more to learn before I am up to podcasting, but would like to find a way to use that before the end of the school year. Perhaps my US History class could do their own podcast about the Revolutionary War? Hmm, something to think about!

I wanted to go to the Hands-On Wikis in the Classroom session, but again it was full. (Guess I would have had to skip Will!) I did go see Creating to Learn: Integrating Technology into your Classroom, Grades 5-12. I was almost on overload by then. Jacqueline Keane has put a lot of work into this and, thankfully, she sent me out with a book and folder packed with information. (More summer reading!)

Since I didn't think I could handle any more sessions, I went back to the Exhibit hall. (As if that wouldn't push me over the edge!) I finally saw the back half. I don't feel like I did it justice though! I have a backpack full of information. I found a great deal on thumb drives. I hope I can convince my wonderful principal that she needs to purchase one for every teacher. Maybe if I keep putting technology into teachers' hands, they will get excited! I saw things that make me want to drool and also realized how lucky we are in South Dakota. Most teachers aren't given web space around here. We all have it available. WebCT available to every teacher? They laughed at me. Promethian Boards starting to come into all the classrooms. I had teachers asking where was it I was from. Okay, we may be on the low end of the pay scale, but it is no wonder South Dakota scored an A- on the technology report card. (Only behind Georgia's A.)

There is only one keynote left for me today and the conference is over. It was a fluke that I got to come this year. I guess I am going to have to really start the campaign so I can be in San Antonio next year!

NECC Session 1 ~ Will Richardson

The first NECC session I attended was Will Richardson's

Learning with Blogs: Bringing the Read/Write Web into the Classroom
I have heard Will speak at the TIE conference in Rapid City. Now that I have started my own blog and am planning to use them in my English class, it seems to be a whole new conversation. I will record some of what I heard:

Will's Wiki
Will's Blog

Will had been a 21 year educator. Quit to become a full-time blogger and speaker. Will has been blogging for six years.

Google Blog Search
Technorati

To start blogging you need to read blogs. The links above are great places to start to find blogs that interest you. You then need to start commenting on other blogs. Engaging is a very important piece. At that point you may feel comfortable to start your own blog. There are many places you can start your own blogs. I have a couple started, but I am not sure where I want to "live."

Blogs are reflective. You can use it as a journal, but the real power is to put your thinking and opinions in there and see what people think. You put in intellectual sweat.There is a lot of synthesis in blogs. There is a lot of hypertext. Kids will be working in linked environments.

The question was posed to Will asking the difference between a blog and a wiki: A blog is a conversation. A wiki is a collection. What is the difference between blogs and forums? Blogs are deeply personal. They are your space. Forums are not. They are a group of people.

Reading blogs is an important part of being a blogger and a few that Will talked about were:
Clarence Fisher's blog
Konrad Glogowski
Karl Fisch

Teacher modeling works best when teaching blogging. Here are a couple more:

Vickie Davis - Cool Cat Teacher
Bud Hunt

IM is a very effective language and we should be teaching students that as well as formal language. We need to tell them when it is appropriate.

There are many places you can set up blogs. Here are a few:
learnblogs.org
wordpress

I have a blog. I read blogs and occasionally comment in other's blogs. I am not yet to a point that I consider myself a blogger. I am getting there though. I really want my 8th graders to publish their writing to a blog this year and comment on one another's blogs. I HAVE to be a good role model, so my summer is cut out for me. I am so excited!

I always enjoy Will's presentations and hope to catch a few more!

Hitch a Ride to NECC

A site called Hitchhikr allows you to hitch a ride to many conferences via the blogosphere. On the main page you will find listings to popular conferences. If you click on NECC 2007 you will find a listing of blog posts by people who are at NECC and who are tagging their blogs in a certain way.

Podcasting from NECC

Apple is sponsoring podcasts of key sessions at NECC (National Educational Computing Conference). Check out this page for a list of sessions scheduled for podcasting. The easiest way to listen to a podcast is to download iTunes on your computer. Once you've completed the download select podcasts, select the education category, if you don't see a listing of NECC podcasts perform a search for NECC using the "search iTunes Store" window.

Technorati Tags: necc

ISTE New Student National Education Tech Standards (NETS)

ISTE is releasing this week the new version of the student technology standards.

ISTE | National Educational Technology Standards

In 2006, ISTE began work on the next generation of NETS for Students, which focuses more on skills and expertise and less on tools. Specifically, they address

* creativity and innovation;
* communication and collaboration;
* research and information fluency;
* critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making;
* digital citizenship; and
* technology operations and concepts

. . .

After a year-long effort to gather feedback and rewrite student standards and accompanying documents, we are eager to release the new ISTE NETS•S™ at NECC 2007 in Atlanta.

View the next generation of NETS•S (Word doc, 52K)

National Educational Technology Standards for Students: The Next Generation PDF

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This generation of students

Some have suggested that our (educators') generation is one of information explorers; students of today are a generation of editors. Not only must they find the information but they must do more with discerning good information from weak information and produce quality content. One blogger brings some interesting insight to that notion.

Are We Just Editors Now?

I think, however, that simply calling the current school-age generation a "generation of editors" is a little too limiting. It's true that today's kids don't have to hunt down kernels of information as if they're ancient Cro-Magnon scrounging for roots and berries. Instead, it seems to be replacing those hunting-and-gathering skills with the ability to synthesize and combine information in ways that my own Baby Boomer mind can't always grasp.

It's also creating a generation of skeptical kids who can better sort out bad information from good information. In the old days—the 1980s—finding what seemed like a relevant piece of information was like digging up gold. But sometimes it was fool's gold, and it was often difficult to tell what information was good and what wasn't. We had to rely on editors and peer review to uncover bad information. Even then, bad information would propagate, and would often take years to correct.

One minor example of this is the statue of David, sculpted by Michaelangelo. Art history books had long noted that the statue was a little over 14 feet tall, and this was accepted as fact. But while working on the Digital Michaelangelo Project, researchers discovered that the statue was actually 17 feet.

These days, we get upset when network news doesn't correct factual errors in real time.

I think also think that the baby boomers tend to view information as simply words, pictures and diagrams. My older daughter regards information as something that's mutable, and that flows, not as something fixed and chiseled in stone. We see that on the Internet, too, as people experiment with mashups of different media, with information (data) mixing freely with algorithms to create different ways of looking at the world. One example of this is the work that Imran Haque, the Stanford graduate student who won my old PC in our recent essay contest, is doing by mashing up Google Earth with US Census data.

Editors, synthesizers, and creators. That's the new generation. They'll no longer have hunt and gather for precious bits of information. Instead, they'll be able to build something new and—we can hope—better.

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Blogs in the classroom

If you are needing ideas/rationale for using blogs in the classroom setting, this blog from Anne Davis may be helpful:

Ed-Tech Insider: Blogging in the Classroom

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Are you preparing your students for their future?

Recently in my doctoral program, I came across this article posted by a colleague in one of my courses. As a K-12 educational leader, it made me ponder the questions: Are we doing all we can to prepare our students for the future? Are they learning the necessary skills from us that they need in order to perform and function in the world? Teaching and learning are changing, are we keeping up?

This article linked below describes one college who is now requiring all students to successfully complete at least one online course prior to graduation. Interesting.
http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/17/online

TIE Conference 2007

The conference is over and I can't believe how fast it went. I am excited about the new things I have learned and only hope that I am going to be able to use them in my class. It takes a little more than just me to be onboard with Web 2.0 to make it happen!

The conference was wonderful. Thank you for having the wireless internet available. I was able to keep up with this blog everywhere I went. The speakers were incredible as was the variety of breakout sessions.

I am thrilled that the state's middle school computer teachers have all come together and started their own association. We hope to meet every year at this event!

I would like to thank the TIE staff for all their hard work and dedication to making this event happen every year. We know it doesn't just come about by magic.
I hope to see many of you at the Systems Change Conference in the fall!

PS ~ Check out the cluster map to see who is checking us out!

Student 2.0: New Technologies, New Opportunities for 21st Century Learners

Julie Mathiesen - TIE

Julie took off from the in-depth session I took with her on Sunday about Web 2.0 tools. She truly believes we need to know who our current “customer” is and what they are all about. You will find her presentation on her wiki.

Julie showed us a cute little video about Digital Immigrant vs. Digital Native. She pointed out that “You might be a digital immigrant if….”

She also gave us some new vocabulary like: Screenagers and the MySpace Generation. She also gave us MMORPG – Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game

Teachers don’t know much about gamers because we don’t play games and don’t get the draw. There are games that thousand, even tens of thousands of kids are playing all together.

Electronic communication: “Email is so, like, 2005.” Teens do instant messaging.
Voice communication: Cell phones vs. text messaging.

There are currently 173 million people using MySpace. Julie, being the hip and happening young woman she is, showed us her “MySpace” page. Her page may not be “rockin’”, but she uses it for the great reason of keeping track of her kids. Since I do the same thing, I think it is something parents should do. If MySpace were a country, it would be the 9th largest.

Our generation gap is turning into a generation LAP since many of our kids are lapping us. Start checking out places like Second Life. Many universities as well as ISTE are represented here. What a site!

Five ideas to go forth with:

Go Public! Start blogs! Get student work out in the world

Be De.licio.us! This is Social Bookmarking. Keep your favorites online. If you tag them, you can have them come into your wiki automatically.
Get Wiki! Julie has a Wiki Challenge: Come to the TIE site and paste in your own standards. Link resources to make students proficient with this standard.
Fast Forward! YouTube or TeacherTube. Check out the content. Watch some video and then learn how to MAKE a video.
Get Game! Explore the world of games.

Julie, what an awesome job! Thanks for sharing all your knowledge with us!