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CATEGORY: Communications, Collaboration Tools |
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Expanded the number of devices usable for collecting classroom walkthrough (CWT) data, the application allows users to gather instruction data through classroom walkthroughs on a netbook, laptop, or tablet PC, with or without an internet connection.
News/Breaking News - Posted 09 Mar 2010
With its new features, including charting, "on the fly" reporting, a new Quick Find capability, and productivity tools for easier database creation, FileMaker Pro 11 makes using databases easier and quicker than ever, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 09 Mar 2010
The new feature of Blackboard's communication platform lets teachers communicate easily with students' families - in their preferred language - helping to improve parent involvement and student engagement in the classroom, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Mar 2010
An online learning community is a place designed to help users achieve learning goals of some sort through collaborative partnerships, including varying degrees of social networking and internet-based and computer-mediated communication. Charlie Doe takes a look this month at some of the more formal versions of online learning communities—often called learning management systems (LMSs)—which are usually developed by professors or teachers to achieve academic goals via web-based services.
After reading an interesting Library Journal piece by Tom Peters entitled "The Future of Reading: As the Book Changes Form, the Library Must Champion Its Own Power Base—Readers," Stephen Abram is moved to ask, Is reading in jeopardy? Personally and professionally, he says, he really doubts it, but …
The advent of the internet and Web 2.0 has significantly changed our relationship to information and personal learning opportunities outside of formal education, notes author Steve Hargadon. The technology that took this amazing change and multiplied it tenfold is an underlying theme of Hargadon's article, which ranges across social networking, Web 2.0, the emergence of educational networking, and what he sees as the first real area of significant adoption for educational networking: professional development for educators.
This newest version of the online standards mastery program offers enhanced assessment, instruction, communication and collaboration tools to help schools maximize their return on investment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Jan 2010
The unit's built-in SD card slot and USB port allow the Spirit SD to work with the latest digital file formats, providing educators with the technology to play pre-recorded instructional resources, stories, and music for the whole class.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Jan 2010
With Time To Know, the teacher guides the class using an engaging curriculum that is integrated with tools for classroom management, planning, assessment, and collaboration.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Jan 2010
Under the agreement, FLVS will move all of its more than 100 courses to a fully hosted Blackboard Learn platform by the beginning of 2011.
News/Breaking News - Posted 21 Jan 2010
The platform will enable easy sharing of educator-generated success stories on technology use in the classroom.
News/Breaking News - Posted 21 Jan 2010
The new features are intended to help schools eliminate paper waste and conserve energy while saving money by offering parents more choices.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Jan 2010
The companies have partnered to create the Heinle Community, intended as a safe and secure virtual workspace designed for learners to practice English through collaboration on projects in an authentic learning environment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Jan 2010
The newest version of Inspiration's flagship software is designed to build 21st century communication and thinking skills, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Jan 2010
In a year's time, Charlie Doe's district has placed interactive whiteboards in about 30% of their elementary classrooms and, in doing so, has made interactive whiteboard technology the envy of the district. That sparked his interest, so for this roundup, he takes a brief look at several products that offer a variety of approaches, from full whiteboards to equipment that makes a standard dry-erase whiteboard become interactive.
Podcasting, a morph of the words "iPod" and "broadcast," was first coined by U.K. journalist Ben Hammersley. (In fact, it was declared to be 2005's Word of the Year by The New Oxford American Dictionary, edging out both "Sudoku" and "trans fat" for the philological nod.) The digital medium quickly found its way into the classroom, and why not? After all, it's free, easy, and accessible, and it has the ability to power up education for students from kindergarten to college.
There is an economical way to introduce videoconferencing that involves inexpensive laptop computers and programs such as iChat, Skype, and ooVoo. A technology integration plan shared by a few pioneering districts in the author's area proves this point. Through it, schools have been able to make a serious commitment to the "new wave" of interactive technology at a minimal cost.
Schools can now download updates to Netop School6 and Netop Vision6 classroom management software at www.netop.com/download.
News/Breaking News - Posted 16 Dec 2009
To accommodate various presentation styles and technology integrations, TurningPoint AnyWhere combined with Turning's ResponseCard keypads or ResponseWare, a web-based polling application, creates a wireless response and voting system allowing presenters to ask interactive questions within their preferred presentation application.
News/Breaking News - Posted 04 Dec 2009
The website is an online destination designed to offer kids ages six and older, along with their peers, parents and teachers, a chance to explore the galaxies in fun and challenging ways.
News/Breaking News - Posted 30 Nov 2009
Insight enables instructors to teach, monitor, and communicate with an entire class from one central computer. This latest version extends Insight's platform compatibilities, allowing teachers to run the console within the Mac OS X operating system.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Nov 2009
Joule features next-generation functionality, dedicated service, a growing partner program, and the open-source LMS Moodle at its core.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Nov 2009
MyVision Basic provides four essential tools for teaching with computers, so any teacher can supervise student computer work, share engaging on-screen demonstrations, instantly capture the attention of the class and control student internet access.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Nov 2009
How does one keep up as the tools and resources for educators. Mary Ann offers both her own advice and that of a former students of her in this helpful edition of Belltones.
The constant development of new and evolving internet and electronic technologies has resulted in the creation of an exciting variety of teacher tools for classroom use. The related changing nature of culture and the way students learn these days makes it imperative to adopt these digital tools in our schools. This article takes a look at a sampling of new or updated software, web-based services, and hardware that can be very useful in a variety of learning situations.
In the September/October 2009 issue of MMIS, having noted (with some surprise) that most of today’s crop of elementary school students were born in or after 2000, Stephen Abram launched into the first of a 2-part series of musings on what their world will be like in the near and not-so-near term. Check it out if you missed it. And now … here’s Part 2.
An increasing number of K–12 academic institutions are going online, changing the way they teach in response to how today’s students today want to learn. Industry organizations such as the International Association for K–12 Online Learning (iNACOL) believe online learning is revolutionizing global education, and those academic institutions with strong elearning strategies will advance to help prepare students to reach their full potential in a digital age. Today’s students want more options when it comes to education, and online learning is providing new opportunities for universal access to the best possible education for all students, regardless of ability, background, income level, or geography.
Sonja Plummer-Morgan and Lisa Neal-Shaw are public librarians from Maine who have explored the use of virtual worlds with very young—and not-so-very young—children. They have found sites very helpful in encouraging curiosity and enabling tech-learning behaviors such as online communication, collaboration, composition, traditional as well as 21st-century literacies, and more, to the extent that we wanted to share their insights with our readers in K–12 education settings.
Twitter, Blogger, Facebook, MySpace, Ning: How do we help our students learn the social skills needed to understand what it really means to live and participate in a global community? How do we incorporate this into our schools and classrooms? How do we keep ourselves and our students safe? Social networking sites are mainstream media for many tweens, teens, and adults. There are even social networking sites that attract kids as young as 5 years old. This is the reality of the world we live in, and schools should reflect this reality.
The collaboration has resulted in the first integration of Moodle and Cisco WebEx Training Center, a live or on demand web conferencing and training platform that engages learners with interactive, media-rich online instruction.
News/Breaking News - Posted 29 Oct 2009
The new “clicker” device provides students with additional feedback during interactive polling via a small LCD screen.
News/Breaking News - Posted 23 Oct 2009
A provider of an enterprise learning management platform with open-source Moodle at its core, Moodlerooms plans to take all feedback it receives into consideration when planning for future developments.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Oct 2009
The virtual workspace is designed to give districts greater control of social media and allow educators to create and manage collaborative groups across classrooms, schools, districts, and around the globe
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Oct 2009
SchoolRooms gives students access from a single interface to library resources, online databases, and approved web content alongside new and past curriculum specifically created for SchoolRooms users. Version 3.0 features new administration tools that allow teachers and librarians to customize and adapt the product to meet the needs of students and parents.
News/Breaking News - Posted 01 Oct 2009
The collection includes Photoshop Elements 8 and Premiere Elements 8 to help educators enhance teaching and learning of digital literacy skills, and now offers netbook compatibility support for Photoshop Elements 8 (Windows) and Adobe Photoshop Elements for the Mac platform.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Sep 2009
ePals will act as the global education partner for "Team Earth," and will offer an interactive, safe focus area for students worldwide to engage in competitions, voice their opinions and take action.
News/Breaking News - Posted 21 Sep 2009
Global Education: Using Technology to Bring the World to Your Students is written to provide educators with the tools they need to help students gain a more global perspective and to prepare them for an increasingly interconnected world.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Sep 2009
Designed for both individuals and academic organizations, the Elluminate Teacher Certification Program is available to anyone as a public or private course, online or onsite. Upon successful completion of the course, attendees earn two academic or continuing education credits.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Sep 2009
The USB-powered camera has a 2-megapixel resolution with auto focus, and adjusts to lighting conditions. In addition, the Diggiditto's software features image recognition capabilities.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Sep 2009
It is not unlikely that the corpus of information that today's learners in grade four will encounter as adults will be doubling in minutes. That likelihood should provide pause for every educator. What is their world going to look like, and what are the skills, aptitudes, and competencies we need to be facilitating, teaching, and encouraging? Here, in Part 1 of a two-part series, are some thoughts on where things are and where they’re headed.
As a kid, Mary Ann used to collect insects, setting the critters into their respective boxes and tagging them by laboriously printing information on little slips of paper. Apparently the process of classifying appealed to her deeply, and ultimately lead to … what else? … this month's discussion of tags, folksonomies, and tagging as a participatory sport and useful intellectual activity.
A year ago, Barbara Fiehn wrote in Multimedia & Internet@Schools about the emergence of social networking features being added to school library automation systems. At the time, Follett’s Destiny was the leader among school automation vendors in implementing the social networking or Web 2.0 features, and some schools and media specialists were getting on board. A good deal has transpired in the ensuing year. So here’s an update based on a user survey Barbara did as well as information from interviews she conducted with vendors at the recent American Library Association (ALA) conference in July 2009.
Does the word Internet2 conjure images of a mythical realm off-limits to the masses of web-surfing plebeians? A forbidding place where computer engineers and the academic research elite speak in esoteric computer programming dialects and move terabytes of data through big pipes at the speed of light? At Horace Mann Elementary School in West Allis, Wis., Internet2 is helping transform the school library into the heart of digitally enabled innovation and learning. So what is the real Internet2, and why does it matter to K–12 schools and libraries? James Werle and Louis Fox have the answers!
Collaboration is one of the defining characteristics of the 21st century, but many educators are still searching for ways to embrace this idea in their schools. Some technologies facilitate the creation of a collaborative learning environment better than others, but there are a number of technology tools that can lead to collaborative student and teacher engagement while also addressing budgetary and infrastructure issues. This article offers suggestions for overcoming barriers using simple tools that foster complex thinking.
Safe and encrypted, GigaTribe.com’s peer-to-peer private online network now lets schools share classroom videos privately online with teachers. Another “Back to School” feature is the ability to share class documents as well as share course materials among teachers.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Aug 2009
Two versions are planned: MyVision Free, which enables teachers to supervise student computer use and will be available for free download, and MyVision Basic, which features tools for guiding student learning on computers.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Aug 2009
Now offering 35 languages in total, the updated language translation tool allows more than 1,000 language pairs to be made between educators and students worldwide. The expansion encourages teachers and students from all parts of the world to connect and collaborate without language barriers.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Aug 2009
Pricing is based on school enrollment at the time of purchase, eliminating the expense and hassle of ordering more licenses when more computers are purchased.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Aug 2009
PBS Teachers and Classroom 2.0 host a series of free webinars for educators on digital media and technology in education. The new fall line up of PBS Teachers LIVE! webinars includes topics on science, digital storytelling, geography, social studies, education in the digital age, and online professional development and teaching resources.
News/Free Resources - Posted 13 Aug 2009
The collaboration is intended to promote the use of podcasting for both teaching and learning.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Aug 2009
The strategic partnership with the Gabriel Piedrahita-Uribe Foundation, based in Cali, Colombia, is designed to bring high quality learning resources, safe communication tools, and collaborative experiences to Spanish-speaking educators and their students around the world.
News/Breaking News - Posted 09 Jul 2009
Multiple-drawer card catalogs have long been relegated to storing bulbs and batteries in media centers or nuts and bolts in garages. Static OPACS accessible only in the media center have become web catalogs accessible throughout the school and beyond; WebPACS have evolved into full-featured, one-stop-shopping access points for media centers’ collections, websites, databases, customized lists of state award winners, top checkouts, ebooks, book excerpts, and thumbnail images of book covers. As Mary Alice explains this month, media specialists use these next-generation systems to create reading lists, webliographies, and more, enabling students not only to find books but to contribute to the catalog's content.
Collaboration is certainly the way that today’s learners prefer to work. Technology-savvy students are creating a demand for learning and communicating collaboratively at school, just as they do at home. This trend is not only creating a new kind of learner but a new kind of educator as well—one who specializes in developing and sustaining a nexus for cooperative learning and who has the skills, knowledge, and contacts to connect students with resources. Enter Roxana Hadad—“The Collaborator.”
In this month’s column Stephen highlights some thinking in his home province of Ontario. He is encouraged, he says, that some of the political leaders in the educational sector are trying to move beyond testing and actually into practicing 21st-century strategies. At the end of April 2009 the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) released a discussion paper titled “What If? Technology in the 21st Century Classroom”
The 21st Century Skills Science and Geography Maps demonstrate how the integration of 21st century skills into science and geography classes support teaching and prepare students to become effective and productive citizens.
News/Breaking News - Posted 30 Jun 2009
Bergen, N.J., High School students win the Best-of-the-Best overall submission.
News/Breaking News - Posted 30 Jun 2009
The PBS Digital Learning Library will contain high-quality multimedia resources from PBS member stations and award-winning PBS broadcast programs, all aligned to national and local education standards and tagged for easy searching.
News/Breaking News - Posted 30 Jun 2009
The program is designed to mirror the 21st century workplace where students of all ages are provided with the ability to publish their writings and art through a real-world, technology-driven book publishing experience.
News/Breaking News - Posted 29 Jun 2009
Pinnacle Accelerated Learning offers districts a secure virtual learning environment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 Jun 2009
TurningTalk is a new social learning community for response technology users to provide an open forum for the discussion and sharing of ideas and teaching strategies.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Jun 2009
PBS TeacherLine has enhanced its online suite of professional development resources and tools that help teacher leaders, coaches, and mentors provide sustained, collaborative support to peers.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Jun 2009
Enhanced usability and accessibility, extended international support, and additional learning management system integrations are among the Elluminate Learning Suite enhancements.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 May 2009
A recent article in the New York Times, "PBS Brings Bugs, Presidents and Soufflés to the Web," cites some very cool resources now more easily available from PBS.
News/Cool Links - Posted 07 May 2009
Special needs students—those with physical, behavioral, cognitive, and learning disabilities—represent a diverse range of learners. Because of the nature of the job, media specialists must provide resources that meet their needs. There are many ways you can do this, making connections to a broad range of learning needs and working with a broad range of teachers, and in this month’s Media Center column, Mary Alice gives you some guidance.
Today, everything from the school lunch program to attendance rosters, telephone operations, and more can be handled by computer systems. And, of course, more and more student assessment can be managed (or at least scored) with computers, generating data results that can be used for additional software manipulation. Data management systems are developing enormous amounts of information that can be stored and then combined and additionally analyzed (or “mined” or “drilled”) for data-driven instructional leadership. This roundup takes a look at several products with different approaches to data-driven decision making.
A new, free white paper—"Best Practices for Using Games & Simulations in the Classroom"—that tackles the practical challenges teachers face when they use video games was released this past February by the Software & Information Industry Association's Education Division. In this article, Lee Wilson, the author of the paper and the co-chair of the working group that produced it, summarizes, excerpts from, and describes the main points of the report.
Today, Web 2.0 tools make collaboration easier than ever, and your public librarian is there to help you navigate through them. While public libraries have many focuses, resources for children and teenagers are a mainstay of their programs and materials. These librarians work with the same students you do, just after school—helping with homework, research papers, and math problems, as well as finding the perfect novel for a historical fiction assignment. Why not work together during the school day? This collaboration can help you assist students to understand the Web 2.0 tools that can make research fun and invigorating, and it gives you a chance to share the workload.
Videoconferencing for K–12 Classrooms serves as a guide to setting up new interactive videoconferencing programs and improving existing ones. The book shows educators how to use interactive videoconferencing to connect to classrooms anywhere in the world, take virtual field trips to otherwise unreachable places, and integrate supplemental resources.
News/Breaking News - Posted 29 Apr 2009
Played online on both Macs and PCs, JumpStart.com Virtual World offers a safe and secure online environment where kids can interact, explore, and learn, the announcement states.
News/Breaking News - Posted 18 Mar 2009
The new book helps school and public libraries connect, partner, and share resources to improve and expand services even during times of fiscal restraint.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Mar 2009
The new version includes a Create Custom Resource tool, teacher and student communication tools, and enhanced batch enroll features.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Mar 2009
Interactive Videoconferencing focuses on integrating videoconferencing with teachers' standards-based lessons to enhance learning.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Mar 2009
The Learn360 video streaming service for K–12 education now offers a My Learn360 homepage designed to individualize the user experience for educators.
We’ve all got too much email. Mary Alice Anderson notes she has four accounts: one for her district job, one personal, and two for online teaching work at two universities. Without careful management, we can find ourselves confused and spending too much time sorting it all out. What’s a busy educator to do? Well, start by reading Mary Alice's tips, along with a few illustrative anecdotes, in this month's column.
A mobile device—also known as a hand-held device, handheld computer, ultrasmall laptop, tablet, palmtop, or simply a handheld—is a small, very mobile computing device. Many mobile devices have features that make them especially useful tools for educators, teachers, administrators, students, and others. This article will take a brief look at some examples of ultramobile PCs, handhelds, probeware, portable gaming devices, and digital media players that could be useful in an education setting.
Online “global classrooms” empower educators to leverage the power of social networking to create curriculum that is more interdisciplinary, more effective, and more relevant to students’ lives. The global classroom represents the future of learning—and the future is now! This article offers a nuts-and-bolts guide for developing a global classroom, using TakingITGlobal’s “virtual classroom” platform as a model. It begins by describing TakingITGlobal for Educators, or TIGed, and how it works; it then offers a step-by-step guide for educators who want to establish or modify their own online global classrooms.
We live in a Web 2.0 world where everyone is capable of creating content and sharing it, not just accessing what someone else has created and shared. Tools to create content are now readily and freely (or somewhat inexpensively) available to the general population. Content creation tools can aid in instruction and teaching, providing another avenue for students to access and learn material. Want some ideas and products to play/teach with? Read on as Karen Klapperstuck and Robert Lackie provide you with a great rundown and roundup.
Direct Instruction eSuite is a set of online tools designed to integrate technology into instruction to save daily planning time for teachers and increase student engagement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Feb 2009
Saywire offers a combination of safe social technology and secure permission-based controls designed to provide “walled garden” social learning networks for K-12 schools.
News/Breaking News - Posted 18 Feb 2009
Using the immersive characteristics of digital games, Labyrinth blends a storyline with multi-level puzzle play to build pre-algebra skills in several core areas: proportions - fractions and ratios; variables and equations; and numbers and operations.
News/Breaking News - Posted 09 Feb 2009
Authors and new Web 2.0 tools are adding interactivity to the literature-based online resources of TeachingBooks.net.
News/Breaking News - Posted 01 Feb 2009
“My Portfolio” allows educators to collaborate and share digital resources at school and district levels.
News/Breaking News - Posted 23 Jan 2009
The new Adobe K-12 Student Licensing Program offers students, teachers and staff at K-12 institutions in the U.S. and Canada the opportunity to purchase Adobe creative software at up to 80 percent off the original software price.
News/Breaking News - Posted 23 Jan 2009
The mobile learning student response app for iPhone and iPod touch is designed to get students engaged in active learning and provide educators with instant assessment.
News/Breaking News - Posted 14 Jan 2009
Chancery SMS 6.7 includes several key enhancements to five major functional areas including permanent records; health immunizations; elementary school attendance; security; and its customization framework.
News/Breaking News - Posted 08 Jan 2009
Today’s students are truly digital learners. Outside of school they are texting, using cell phones, creating social networks on the internet, and playing interactive games online; they often do all of these things at the same time—multitasking. They expect to use some of these tools when they are in school. Teachers can create new learning opportunities for students and turn classrooms into the 21st-century global classroom when they integrate technology into the learning environment. Read on to learn from Sheila Gersh just how teachers can begin to create such environments.
At “eFilms at ePals,” through widget technology, educators gain free access to videos, including National Geographic content.
News/Breaking News - Posted 04 Dec 2008
For November 15, 2008: Try out BookHooks and introduce your younger students to a place where they can share their book reports with other readers in a safe environment.
Cyberbee Web Pick/Cyberbee's Web Picks - Posted 15 Nov 2008
By
Linda C. Joseph
The company’s next-generation web-based response solution allows users to gather participant feedback instantly through mobile devices, smartphones, and laptops.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Nov 2008
Google Apps Education Edition offers a variety of email, calendar, and collaboration tools directly from a computer browser.
In her previous column Mary Ann Bell protested loudly, "I'm Mad and I Am Not Gonna Take It Any More!" regarding overly restrictive internet filters. In this column, she shares some tactics for gaining access, starting here with the bandwagon ploy: "Everybody else is doing it!" After all, decision makers need to know that many educators are moving ahead with Web 2.0 sites.
With Web 2.0, the number and functionality of fee-based and free interactive electronic resources available for K–12 classrooms have grown and changed tremendously in the last 5 years. In this article, the sixth in Robert Congleton's series of reviews, he looks at four websites he found particularly notable for the interactive programs they offer. These are programs that can be integrated into K–12 classrooms either as part of the curriculum or as learning supplements. One is a fee-based database while the others are free to use but require user registration.
Though it may have gone unnoticed by most K–12 users of Internet2, in the 2 years since the publication of Erika Miller’s article, “Internet2, K–12 and Librarians,” in the September/October 2006 issue of MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, the available bandwidth for this powerful network has increased dramatically. Now capable of moving along at 100 gigabits per second, Internet2 (I2) provides powerful new potential for the research and education communities to take advantage of an ever-increasing range of options for high-speed applications that change the way students and educators learn and teach.
Of our 53 million K–12 students, 51 million of them (or 93%) play video games, and neither that number nor the value the games they play should be dismissed. After all, these days there are games being produced by “a new crop of entrepreneur-developers who believe that today’s games must be anchored in more specific pedagogical design principles. They also believe that to stand the test of time, today’s games must not only engage but teach ,” says author and game developer Ntiedo Etuk. Read on. Find out more.
The Elluminate Learning Suite now includes Elluminate Live! V9 and Elluminate Publish! V2, adding functionality that enables educators to reach and engage more learners, promote a culture of collaboration across the enterprise, facilitate formal and informal learning, and ensure accessibility and flexibility for all users, according to the company.
News/Breaking News - Posted 29 Oct 2008
Election Central provides resources and forums for learning and discussing how elections affect the global marketplace.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 Oct 2008
The Collaboration Education Appliance integrated suite delivers blog, wiki, and forum capabilities that are simple, easy to use, and together deliver more than any one individual application.
News/Breaking News - Posted 23 Oct 2008
In the new ITI book, innovators describe pioneering library and educational projects in Second Life and other virtual environments.
News/Breaking News - Posted 21 Oct 2008
SMART Notebook SE allows students to create, share, organize, and store digital files just like their teachers. Students can also use the software’s scheduling and organizing features to keep track of homework assignments and due dates, take notes, and highlight important concepts.
News/Breaking News - Posted 20 Oct 2008
The company’s Wiggio.com service is intended to make it easy for students to work in groups.
News/Free Resources - Posted 03 Oct 2008
The new curriculum and licensing programs will enhance access to Adobe’s design and development software, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Sep 2008
The “Every Kid Votes” program aims to organize and mobilize 2.5 million grade-schoolers to participate in the voting process.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Sep 2008
The immersive educational game is intended to make learning science interesting, exciting, and fun for elementary school students, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Sep 2008
Our traditional practice with books is not as scalable as we and our users might want. How do we get book recommendations to scale as well in libraries as Amazon does on the web, but still aimed at our age cohorts? Traditional practice offers a personal touch with a human being. That needs to continue, but we can extend that personal touch beyond the walls. Since we really care about books (and reading), we can use the new tools on the web to put our services on steroids.
Document cameras—sometimes called visual presenters—are among the most exciting current technologies available to assist teachers in presenting formal or informal lessons. These devices can take the place of overhead projectors. They offer an array of helpful functions and features—and should be found on every teacher’s desk in every classroom. In this issue's "Look At ... " roundup, Charlie Doe takes a look at examples of document camera technology offered by a variety of companies.
In the July/August issue of MMIS, Kelly Czarnecki started her "tour of the possibilities" of using virtual environments in K-12 education with a look at two projects based on/in Teen Second Life—Science in Second Life, and Suffern Middle School in Second Life. Here's the rest of the tour, visting Whyville, the River City Project, Quest Atlantis, and McClarin's Adventures.
From using Twitter to encourage short story writing to utilizing Delicious to organize professional development tips and favorite articles, the number of social networking tools and websites is increasing exponentially. We know educators use these 21st-century tools with students in all grade levels. The question remains, however, whether and how these tools might be used to positively affect student understanding and achievement. "Yes," says ePals' Tim DiScipio, "these tools, when chosen thoughtfully, implemented appropriately, and combined with innovative pedagogy through internet-connected communities, can teach students the skills necessary to thrive in the 21st century and expand their ability to communicate and collaborate in a global marketplace." Read on, learn more!
While many schools are blocking access to social networking applications on the internet, school library automation OPACs are beginning to provide such applications to students and staff. Barbara Fiehn talked with some library automation vendors and others about this emerging trend to see what they're up to, and with some school library media specialists to gain some insight to their hesitations and acceptance. Read on to see what she learned.
To mark the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, youth leaders for Global Kids, Inc. have created an online community and game in conjunction with Game Pill, Inc., AMD, and Microsoft Corp.’s Partners in Learning where young people can engage in and experience the ongoing relief efforts in New Orleans.
News/Free Resources - Posted 27 Aug 2008
The MyLibraryPlus component enables schools and districts to manage, upload, organize and deliver a growing library of digital assets.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Jul 2008
At a time when the K–12 market is undergoing rapid growth in the adoption and utilization of digital learning systems like online textbooks, ThinkCentral offers middle and high schools a powerful LMS previously unavailable to secondary schools, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Jul 2008
According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the skills we need to be teaching include the following: information, media literacy, and communication skills; thinking and problem-solving; interpersonal, collaborative, and self-direction skills; global awareness; economic and business literacy, including entrepreneurial skills; and civic literacy. While the context in which our schools operate today has changed, the goals have not. We can look at these 21st-century skills as an extension of efforts that date as far back as John Dewey at the turn of the previous century. The key difference is that today we have a new set of tools to apply to the tasks. Moreover, the changing economy makes it more of a necessity that our students can use technology to solve problems, collaborate, and create. Learn more on this subject in this article by Adobe Systems' Bob Regan.
The 2007 edition of the Horizon Report by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative predicted that in 2 to 3 years, virtual worlds will greatly impact teaching, learning, and creative expression. These scalable and highly creative environments are being used by educators all over the country in a variety of settings and in a variety of ways. This article offers a look at projects using virtual worlds that are currently “happening” in K–12 schools, what we’re learning from them, and what we can continue to learn by charging full steam ahead with these fascinating educational tools.
If there’s a refrain Stephen Abram hears too often, it’s that many of us feel it’s impossible to keep up and learn all this new stuff in technology and learning. So he has devoted this month’s column to a few sites that he finds useful to quickly orient himself to some of the Web 2.0 technologies. Even when he has already played with or experienced some of these tools, he says, he always learns something new from these sites.
Early this past fall Mary Ann Bell got tired of hearing other people talk about Twitter and feeling left out. She had been mentioning it as something new to the Web 2.0 world in presentations and with students, but felt a little hypocritical for doing so without participating. So, as she reports in this month's Belltones, she paid the site a visit and signed on. Follow her journey from skeptic to convert, plus how and why Twitter won her over and what it can do for you as well.
"Building community" is a powerful phrase and a tremendous responsibility for a library, and even more powerful is the experience of stepping back and seeing the community grow as a result of what you are doing to create new groups of people and new ways to share and discover information. As the technology education librarian for teens and youth at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) in North Carolina, Kelly Czarnecki believes creating virtual communities is an important aspect of this responsibility as participation in online communities is driven by advances in technology. Find out why, and how, in her article.
Imagine if textbooks were alive … living, changing, evolving, and improving … never out-of-date! … a textbook that would give students images, videos, and interactive tutorials about a subject, a vocabulary word, or a topic … a digital textbook that would be student-driven, a model for differentiated learning, and geared toward helping all students learn through visualization, interaction, and simulation. In the age of Web 2.0, all this and much more is possible. And it’s all at our students’ fingertips with just a click of a button. Welcome to the “Age of the Wikitext!”
Just when you thought you understood how to fully integrate internet learning into your curriculum, along comes Web 2.0, the “social side” of the internet where people can communicate with others and contribute their own content. As a librarian you should be able to communicate with students, parents, and teachers the issues that they face when placing materials on Web 2.0 social networks, and one of the big ones is copyright. This article looks at several situations in which library users may use popular social networking sites and confront copyright laws.
Facebook is getting increasing recognition, and use, in the education community. Thomas Krivak has put an excellent primer together for you on this important social networking site. (From Information Today, Inc.'s Information Today magazine.)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 07 Mar 2008
In her previous column, titled "Celebrating Communicating: To Blog or Not to Blog?" Mary Ann Bell talked about the future of blogging and whether this particular communication tool was a bit passé, having been around for a while and now facing competition from other new and trendy options such as wikis, nings, and Twitter. As she developed that column, though, she realized that she could get through only the first half of her intended material to cover (discussing whether or not blogs are outmoded) and had not touched upon the rest of the material. So she weighs in now with a second column about blogging.
On top of reading literacy and numeracy, civic literacy, and all the rest … now we’re hearing that schools must expand the teaching of information literacy, computer literacy, media literacy, critical literacy, health literacy, technacy (yes, it’s a word) and transliteracy (and yes, it’s also a word!). And, they must do it all across the curricula. Enough already?? Well, despite the likelihood he'll encourage some slings and arrows, in this Pipeline column, Stephen Abram highlights an emerging, important, new literacy—online social literacy.
In this article, Aline Soules discusses some current options for media specialists who want to adopt elearning tools and makes some suggestions about how to keep up … because, as she notes, "the pointers that will help you today will be old hat tomorrow and obsolete the day after."
Students can easily overlook websites that aren’t filled with often changing content. Do you think you’re too busy to devote time and effort to attract users to the great resources available on your library website? If you can simply copy and paste, think again! With no coding skills you can set up your websites to continually display fresh content. Read how in Aaron Schmidt's article.
The company has partnered with Moodle developers in the U.S. and Canada to connect Moodle to the Elluminate Live! Virtual Classroom.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 Feb 2008
The company's new EasyTech lessons and activities support middle school students to learn critical skills in blogs, podcasts, online communicating and more.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Feb 2008
The new collaborative web-authoring tool enables students to create sophisticated web projects.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Jan 2008
The Princeton Review holds free SAT Strategy Session events in the virtual world of Second Life on Jan. 19 and Jan. 31.
News/Free Resources - Posted 18 Jan 2008
Wikia, Inc., the for-profit cousin of the Wikimedia Foundation, launched the alpha release of its new search engine, Search Wikia, on January 7. (From Information Today, Inc.’s NewsBreaks)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 14 Jan 2008
Digication Inc., a provider of e-Portfolios, announced that it has partnered with Davis Publications, a provider of art education textbooks, to combine e-Portfolios and Web 2.0 technologies with the content found in traditional textbooks. (From Information Today, Inc.’s EContentmag.com)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 11 Jan 2008
Mary Ann started her own blog recently and since then she has seen some comments that suggest the blogosphere may be imploding, exploding, or otherwise meeting its demise. So this month, with survey results in hand, she explores the question "To Blog or Not to Blog?"
Remember folder games and puzzles? Teachers have always used instructional aids of one kind or another to supplement instruction, such as calculators in Math class, games, puzzles, math aids, and other devices for small group or individual work. In recent years, computers and computer-related electronics such as MP3 players, hand-held devices, keyboards, projectors, whiteboards, and a diverse collection of additional electronic instructional aids have become available. Charlie Doe's Look At ... roundup this month sorts these supplemental electronics into categories and describes an array of them for your information.
Do you still remember the thrill of receiving a summer postcard from your teacher? How exciting it was to open the mailbox and find that personal piece of mail waiting—and to realize that your teacher was thinking of you. Perhaps the photograph on the face of the card led you to the encyclopedia to learn more about a particular place, while a handwritten line or two described a cultural experience, unusual food, or new language. Travel postcards, sent by thoughtful teachers over the years, have broadened the world of many a child. Yesterday’s postcards have gone high-tech. Weblogs, or blogs, enable today’s teachers to send a new kind of post, sharing their travel experiences as they unfold. Blogs provide an up-to-the-minute opportunity for teachers to continue to educate their students through semester breaks, to interact with their school communities, and to share experiences and locales that encourage understanding of the broader world. And those 21st century postcards come complete with the ability to upload and publish journal entries, photos, slideshows, audio, video, and educational links.
Three winners will receive an Interwrite Makeover and prizes valued at more than $15,000.
News/Breaking News - Posted 03 Dec 2007
Our sister publication Computers in Libraries has a great feature this issue on Internet2 by the associate director and director of the National Internet2 K20 Initiative. (From Information Today, Inc.'s Computers in Libraries magazine.)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 26 Nov 2007
The company will use the new social networking platform to enhance its teacher outreach efforts.
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 Nov 2007
Email as a means of online communication has been around since the beginning of online communication. In fact, according to Ian Peters, it even predates ARPANET. He describes its infancy as a tool called, appropriately, MAILBOX, which was used as early as 1965 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Today it is used by hundreds of millions of people. Mary Ann Bell asserts in this month's Belltone's that it's still the killer app!
With the growth of Web technologies, the availability of high-quality professional development for educators has increased significantly. There are numerous benefits to professional development for educators, including increased job satisfaction, career advancement, better pay, and improved student learning. However, there are significant challenges that often impede them from pursuing opportunities that will contribute to their growth, such as convenience and affordability. Professional development delivered in an online-learning environment removes many of the constraints associated with traditional forms of professional development.
With end-of-grade, back-to-basics, multiple-choice testing for the masses and mechanical instruction methods, there’s growing concern that children are not learning to problem solve as much as they are mastering memorization of isolated facts in order to answer test questions. Yet, when they get home from school, children eagerly devour new information and concepts through the virtual environments of video games. In what I call a stealth-learning environment, children develop skills that connect and manipulate information in the virtual worlds of video games without really knowing that they’re learning.
Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools, by Lynn Schrum and Gwen Solomon, provides a comprehensive overview of the emerging Web 2.0 technologies and their use in the classroom and in professional development.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Oct 2007
The company will now customize configuration of OME-kids.com with its corporate solution MX-Defender to create a comprehensive filtering and email security service for school systems and classrooms.
News/Breaking News - Posted 09 Oct 2007
Four GenevaLogic Visionary Grants, designed to recognize teachers who have an innovative vision of the ways that instructional technology powered by Vision classroom management software can improve teaching and learning, will be awarded in January 2008.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Oct 2007
Internet learning community ePals, Inc. has announced it has made its policy-managed SchoolMail, SchoolBlog, and online literacy curricula services available free of charge to schools worldwide.
News/Breaking News - Posted 10 Sep 2007
Stephen Abram has no worries about great new ideas being developed throughout libraryland, but he is concerned that such ideas are not diffusing fast enough. In this Pipeline column, he ponders why this is and how the tendency can be combatted, and also offers a rich list of creative librarians' blogs and other resources that will help you speed that diffusion yourself.
Finding safe, engaging collaborative projects for your classroom doesn't have to be a challenge. There are many mentored and data-entry activities that allow your students to participate with classrooms across the country and around the world. Many of the Internet projects have been around for years with proven track records. Others have the backing of nonprofit foundations. This month, Cyberbee directs you to a range of such sites where you can find a project that is just right for your classroom.
While our students might be able to click through Web sites with ease and change the layouts of their MySpace profiles in the blink of an eye, there are still many things we can teach them about the read/write Web. There are also many ways we can teach our students using the read/write Web. Underlying these opportunities is the possibility to use the read/write Web to discuss the issues of authorship, authenticity, and the production of information—all topics for rich discussions of information literacy. This article provides a review of some of the best online tools you can use to excite teachers and to prepare students to be active agents in today’s participatory culture.
The new content integrations further advance the means in which school administrators, teachers, students and parents stay connected.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Aug 2007
Nearly all students with online access—96 percent—use social networking technologies such as chatting, text messaging, blogging, and online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and Webkinz, according to a new study released by the National School Boards Association and Grunwald Associates LLC.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Aug 2007
In the May/June 2007 MMIS issue, Mary Ann wrote about listserv communication and the benefits thereof. That caused her to think of a related but slightly different array of communities: online support groups. For personal use, and also for patrons, it is worthwhile to look at these environments. They can be highly beneficial, but there are a few caveats. So this month, she discuss the advantages and disadvantages of such groups.
The “social networking” generation is writing, and this writing is important to them. Schools must find a way to merge these informal writing activities with the writing activities found in classrooms. It’s possible that the use of social networking technologies with classroom writing programs could make writing in school interesting enough to motivate students to tackle the more formal writing needed for college, business, and other activities in adult life. Charles Doe's latest "Look At ... " article examines some of the software and Webware possibilities inspired by social computing as well as some of the newer computer- and Internet-based writing tools.
Blogs, wikis, social software, Web 2.0—it’s not really about the technologies but about the method of collaboration between users that presents some of the more interesting advantages. The goal of authors Robert Lackie and Robert Terrio in this article is to continue the discussions of practical Web 2.0 tools and social networking sites that have been brought up in this magazine and at recent school librarian conferences and to highlight other collaborative tools and exciting developments in free Web 2.0 social software, items they categorize as “Useful Collaborative Tools” and “Practical Mashups”—both very exciting and practical for today’s teacher-librarian!
Unlike the majority of tween oriented destinations, which are either fantasy-based virtual worlds or branded game and entertainment portals, imbee.com supports user generated content that is not corporate defined, allowing its members to personalize their own online user experience.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jun 2007
Improvements to the wireless classroom pad include new design and software.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 Jun 2007
The best practices featured demonstrate how students' social uses of technology can be leveraged for constructive learning, and build on the growing trend among online social networking sites, including commercial sites like MySpace and Facebook, to connect youth to social issues and causes.
News/Breaking News - Posted 27 Jun 2007
Peer Connection's content enables instructional coaches to deliver customized professional development to their peers while building a community of learners.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Jun 2007
The new site is intended to offer educators a place to discover and share ideas and resources for effectively using Inspiration Software's visual learning products to develop students' critical thinking skills across the curriculum.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Jun 2007
With Ask ePals, educators and others can share their knowledge with teachers, parents, and students, as well as seek the advice of others. The service is available either at www.epals.com/askepals or through Web pages that embed the widget capability.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Jun 2007
Mary Ann Bell was recently housebound during an infrequent ice storm in the Texas Hill Country. But, she writes, "I am far from lonely. The main reason for this is my connection with people all over the world via listservs." Thus her topic for this issue: communication. Read as she celebrates the many ways is able to be in touch with others via the Internet.
You’ve likely heard the numbers. Conservative recent estimates describe Second Life as a pretty huge virtual ecology. More than 1.2 million people have created avatars in Second Life, and 1,525,670 unique people have logged into Second Life at least once. Of that number, 252,284 people have logged in more than 30 days after their account-creation date. The conservative monthly growth rate is about 23 percent. Twenty-three percent growth will mean 3 million in a year’s time—a healthy number, but not hyperbolic growth. It can be managed, and we can see the effects and react—unlike other Web-based changes we’ve lived through. Stephen Abram finds this enormously engaging and interesting to a profession that thrives on being interested and making things interesting. Read on ...
You’ve read the news articles, seen the stories on TV news, or possibly heard them on the radio: Bullies have gone online, predators are lurking everywhere, and MySpace is a nightmare for kids and teens. What the media doesn’t tell you are the facts about how kids and teens can stay safe online. They tend to focus on the sensationalism and not the realism. Now you can learn what to look out for, what to advise parents about, and how to help students who may be experiencing problems online.
Technology is playing a key role in various types of communication within the classroom today, changing the way communication takes place in a way that is having a real impact on learning. A different breed of technology, leveraging the power of simplistic Web 2.0 design principles, is proving to finally break through with a real impact on students and teachers. Technology such as online learning communities is proving to offer a more dynamic learning experience, with direct benefit to students and teachers. It’s a refreshing change for educators who have struggled with the complexity, cost, and practicality of the last generation of technology tools.
The Wired.com article we point to here focuses on social networking sites and their uses in educational settings, mainly discussing the open-source social networking software Elgg.
News/Cool Links - Posted 19 Apr 2007
Using a button on the Vision Teach-Pad, teachers share their computer screens with the entire class. Then using another button, they blank all student computer screens and lock the keyboards to secure student attention for a lesson.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Apr 2007
The integration is scheduled for May 2007 with the release of the DyKnow Vision and Monitor software versions 5.0.
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 Mar 2007
The podcasting software combines a scripting tool, sound recorder, easy uploading, and built-in broadcasting, all into one interface.
News/Breaking News - Posted 21 Mar 2007
The competition is designed to promote technology-rich global learning from students and educators around the world.
News/Breaking News - Posted 09 Mar 2007
The Web-based educational software tools empower teachers and students to manage course content, facilitate communications, and publish Web portfolios.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Mar 2007
PBS Teachers offers thousands of free lesson plans, local and national educator resources, teacher professional development, videos, blogs, and more.
News/Breaking News - Posted 01 Mar 2007
In the world of education, writes Stephen Abram in this month’s Pipeline, “the best path is to start by asking ourselves a simple question: ‘What will [our students’] world look like?’” Walling tools and components of the Internet—which will be a part of their world—out of our schools doesn’t sound to Stephen like following the best path. So, being an affirmative fellow, he offer a turnaround policy!
The Digication Admin Tool enables schools to take control over the management of their Digication learning community, from linking user sign-up to existing student databases, to course management and user access privileges within the online community.
News/Breaking News - Posted 21 Feb 2007
The latest PRS software creates a “virtual” environment so students anywhere can participate in an interactive assessment environment, the announcement states.
News/Breaking News - Posted 26 Jan 2007
This is the first in SafeSchools’ Online Safety Series, which covers the various means of communication as well as the growing dangers that can entrap students when they’re online, including cyberbullying, predators, and threats of violence.
News/Breaking News - Posted 19 Jan 2007
According to the report, 55 percent of online teens use social networks and 55 percent have created online profiles; older girls predominate.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Jan 2007
Mac teachers can instantly asses their students’ knowledge with the integration of InterWrite PRS
News/Breaking News - Posted 11 Jan 2007
Mindful of the safety and security issues surrounding social networking, Stephen Abram nontheless has plenty of good to say about the popular phenomenon. In this month's Pipeline, he talks about, and guides readers to resources about, positiveeducational uses of social networking.
The Internet has changed the way students learn and communicate. With the click of a mouse, they can instant message one another, work together on projects, download all kinds of multimedia files, and post to blogs, Web sites, and RSS feeds. Access to people and information enhances instruction, but what happens when the "dark side of the Internet" sneaks around the corner and into the classroom or home? In this column, Cyberbee points to lots of resources that can help.
FrontRow ToGo is an all-in-one sound system that clarifies and evenly distributes the teacher’s voice throughout the classroom, allowing students to more easily understand teachers regardless of where they’re seated, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 20 Dec 2006
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association, announced the launch of a new open discussion list, YA-MUSIC.
News/Breaking News - Posted 17 Dec 2006
Califone International, Inc. launched the USB Jackbox, the first jackbox with microphone inputs.
News/Breaking News - Posted 20 Nov 2006
Stephen Abram offers more tricks to build information fluency in the second of his columns on the subject, this time offering teaching/learning ideas based on MySpace, Second Life, Teen Second Life, Activeworlds, OPAC or Web treasure hunts, and game show Web sites.
A mystifying or vague buzzword to many, Web 2.0 was made fashionable in late 2004 by O'Reilly Media, the foremost publisher of computer technology books and a leader in cutting edge online technology conferences. This article will provide an introduction to Web 2.0 for libraries and will also attempt to bring to light a few notable, free Web-based interactive communication tools that can help librarians and other educators seamlessly access, create, organize, and disseminate information for their library, themselves, colleagues, and friends. The resources mentioned and the references and recommended readings provided should bring librarians up-to-speed on little-known and newer techniques, tools, and thinking on this crucial topic.
Washington Post staff writer Yuki Noguchi takes a look at MySpace and other online teen social sites in this article in the Sunday, October 29, edition of the newspaper.
News/Cool Links - Posted 30 Oct 2006
The Alliance for a Media Literate America (AMLA) is accepting session proposals for its 2007 National Media Education Conference, “iPods, Blogs, and Beyond: Evolving Media Literacy for the 21st Century,” to be held June 24-26 in St. Louis, MO.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 Oct 2006
The collection brings together four software applications: Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0, Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0, Adobe Contribute 4, and Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional software, and curriculum and training materials for teachers.
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 Oct 2006
TANDBERG will offer access to free virtual field trips to schools that use TANDBERG videoconferencing equipment, enabling students to experience cultural events in foreign countries, learn about scientific discoveries, or hear stories first hand from those that lived through historic moments.
News/Breaking News - Posted 20 Sep 2006
The free classroom program allows teachers, kids, and parents to explore blogging, messaging, and private social networking while having fun and connecting safely online, according to the announcement.
News/Free Resources - Posted 19 Sep 2006
Digication Spotlight is designed as an academic network for K-12 and higher education where teachers, students, and alumni can create “Spots” to post their original writing, art work, photos, movies, music, important papers, upcoming events, and interesting ideas.
News/Breaking News - Posted 13 Sep 2006
The SchoolRooms online portal and a simplified library management system interface are among the offerings for school libraries.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Sep 2006
Mary Ann Bell writes: "I think today, many of us feel like we are washing elephants with toothbrushes. We have too much work, not enough time, and inadequate tools. How can we make meaningful progress with so many demands? Can technology help, or does it just complicate our lives? While there may not be any easy solutions to the problems we have with so much work, lack of sufficient staffing, frustrating deadlines, and other pressures, I can share some of what has been helpful to me." And so she does, in this month's Belltones column.
As Stephen Abram writes, "The Internet has given us many new ways to provide learners with an environment that allows them to learn through discovery, play, collaboration, and just plain having fun." He elaborates, and give loads of examples, featuring YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, Blogger, podcasting, del.icio.us, and more in this month's Pipeline.
Internet2 allows unprecedented worldwide communication and collaboration on data sharing, and provides an invaluable opportunity for K–12 teachers and students. In the year and a half since her school district has been connected with Internet2, author Erika Thickman Miller has begun to explore a small part of its capacity—a taste, she says, that has made her feel she has opened a book of wonderful new adventures, and that she feels compelled both to share and to further explore.
The technology will help prevent Internet “grooming” and make social networking and communicating online safer, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 02 Aug 2006
Designed to be a comprehensive online source for educators, Promethean Planet provides searchable information to help educators maximize the use of interactive technology in the classroom.
News/Free Resources - Posted 05 Jul 2006
For July 1, 2006: BubbleShare, “the best way to share your photos and the stories that go with them,” is worth considering if you want empower your students to create and share their work. Safety features included!
Cyberbee Web Pick/Cyberbee's Web Picks - Posted 01 Jul 2006
By
Linda C. Joseph
Always looking for relevance to the field in what's "now" and what's ahead, Stephen Abram notes this month that, in his view, "social networking personal Web sites are not a fad but a strong, long-term trend. Why do I think this? Fads don’t evolve; trends do. These social creations on the Web are evolving quickly." Further, he writes, "The sites contain the seeds of changes that will reshape our world. Indeed, they’re the next step in group work!" Read on!
Helping school colleagues keep up with technology trends is a function library media specialists are well-placed to fulfill. It's also a function that can further underscore the importance of the LMS at school. With that in mind, we've turned to Nancy Willard, prominent—perhaps even ubiquitous—spokesperson on the subject of online safety in the face of new Internet technologies. Nancy's feature gives you in-depth ammunition, understanding, and resources to press into service to help your staff and entire school community cope with all aspects of this important new technology trend.
GO Solve Word Problems, Science Court, Reading for Meaning, and Decisions, Decisions 5.0 are among many of the company’s titles now supported by online guides to help educators use them with interactive whiteboards and projectors.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jun 2006
The Ocean Explorer, which we heard about through The Scout Report, has ongoing explorations you/your students can join; a gallery of maps plus photos, audio clips, and writings gathered under headings such as Explorers, Technology, History, Cultural Heritage; and loads more, including a For Fun section.
News/Free Resources - Posted 16 Jun 2006
Imbee.com is a blogging site for children ages 8 to 14. What!!??? you're saying. Not safe!! Well, with all the concern over kids posting and publishing to the Web, it's worth reading the EContent article by Jared Bernstein to see how the imbee.com folks create an environment they say is safe even for kids that young. (From Information Today, Inc.’s EContent magazine)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 13 Jun 2006
The InterWrite SchoolBoard 1071 and 1085 support the industry’s movement toward the use of widescreen laptops and wide-format projectors, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Jun 2006
InterWrite PRS 4.0 supports InterWrite PRS-RF, the newest addition to the company’s line of student response systems, as well as existing InterWrite PRS infrared systems.
News/Breaking News - Posted 25 May 2006
Here’s a sampling of thought about the “Deleting Online Predators Act” from some of the best known ed. tech. bloggers. If you’re not up on this, reading these posts will quickly fill you in.
News/Cool Links - Posted 18 May 2006
Students using the multiplayer videogame about the political and economic causes of World War II reportedly achieved higher test scores than students learning the same material more traditionally.
News/Breaking News - Posted 12 May 2006
Gateway will package and sell DyKnow software with its learning services and hardware products.
News/Breaking News - Posted 10 May 2006
Sub-IT, a telephone and Internet-based automated substitute placement system, helps schools quickly find and assign substitute teachers to fill classroom vacancies.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 May 2006
Carvin writes: “This blog … will focus on the intersection of Internet culture and education. One of the primary goals is to help guide educators through the ins and outs of what’s often referred to as ‘Web 2.0.’”
News/Breaking News - Posted 05 May 2006
Moodle is a free, open source course management system software package that is designed to help educators create quality online content and a collaborative, interactive environment to support their classroom courses. It's been in use at the author's school, the National Cathedral School (NCS) in Washington, D.C., for 3 years and there has been tremendous growth in its use over those years. Athena Maikish describes the software and the many ways they're pressing it into service, from creating interactive physics homework quizzes to promoting a paperless classroom and applying technology to increase productivity.
Stephen Abram has been following the Duke University experiment of providing iPods to all students ... and a lot more that's been going on with iPods in education. iPods represent, he asserts, a bellwether technology. In this column he discusses why and lays out a host of educational activities the technology lends itself to.
Instead of students thinking through adventure plots for their game avatar, says Patrick Greene, educators are interested in having students learn to think through real-life adventure plots that will help them acquire the skills, knowledge, and dispositions that will help them to become successful in life. Invoking the work of the likes of Roger Schank, Chris Dede, and Bernie Dodge, Greene discusses the evolution of online gaming/simulations to where it meets these educators' aspirations.
Student usage of social networking sites sites has become one of the hottest tech issues for schools this year. Clearly, social networking presents challenges for schools, and Joanne Barrett's article will help you understand the phenomenon--what it is; what it means for kids, parents, and teachers; what the benefits can be, what dangers it poses, and more.
Internet streaming bolsters videoconferencing, which traditionally restricts communications to sites with compatible videoconferencing infrastructures, high-bandwidth connections, and in-house technical expertise.
News/Breaking News - Posted 29 Mar 2006
The series is designed to help educators get the most from video games in the classroom.
News/Breaking News - Posted 16 Mar 2006
The new version is designed to enhance administrative and end-user settings for the Personal, School, Family, and Enterprise editions of TurboTools.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Mar 2006
Handheld Computers and Smartphones in Secondary Schools
provides guidance and activities to help educators learn how to use this new
technology effectively to meet curricular goals.
News/Breaking News - Posted 01 Mar 2006
Stephen Abram writes in this month's Pipeline, "While we may be seeing some learner resistance to traditional writing and creation activities, maybe we can increase their engagement in learning good writing, editing, and information literacy competencies by aligning some of the projects with a Web-based option." Among the options he discusses are social networking, blogs, wikis, and photo sharing.
The newest version of the educational simulation developer’s management program allows multiple teams to compete against each other.
News/Breaking News - Posted 24 Feb 2006
Students or audience members can use the system’s credit card sized input devices for polling, testing, or anonymous response.
News/Breaking News - Posted 15 Feb 2006
Thinkronize’s netTrekker d.i. search engine will now feature links to Promethean lesson plans and resources for educators to use with their ACTIVclassroom solutions including the ACTIVboard, Promethean’s interactive whiteboard.
News/Breaking News - Posted 10 Feb 2006
RM Easiteach Studio is now available in a Mac OS version.
News/Breaking News - Posted 10 Feb 2006
The site targets museums, libraries, and public broadcasting stations, aiming to help them “work together to address local needs, increase civic engagement, and improve the quality of life” in their communities.
News/Cool Links - Posted 23 Jan 2006
New features give teachers improved ability to create and manage digital content, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 10 Jan 2006
Mary Alice Anderson writes, "In recent months I've had numerous opportunities to visit media centers in other districts as we plan for media center renovations and program improvements at our senior high. Our visitation team included media specialists, board members, architects, administrators, local press, and community members who care about media centers." And then she draws on this experience to give you expert advice on how to prepare for visitors to your own media center ... and why ... and how doing so will benefit you and your program.
In thinking about phones, Stephen Abram asks, "So, what does it mean when I see a short video of a kid keyboarding over 40 words per minutes with his thumbs on his phone? What does it mean when I call 411 and get Silicon Sally, who is just a computer but asks me questions and (mostly) understands and answers? And what's this got to do with learners?" And then he gives some answers!
Will Richardson, supervisor of instructional technology at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Fleming, N.J., and now a well-known speaker on cutting-edge educational uses of the Web, has written a book to be published by Corwin Press in February 2006 entitled An Educator's Guide to Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Cool New Tools That Are Transforming the Classroom. This article is adapted from a chapter of that book, with permission from the publisher.
We want to signal the existence of an interesting (almost) new discussion group “for school, academic, and public librarians to exchange ideas on information literacy programs and experiences that demonstrate a collaborative relationship between K-12 and higher education institutions.”
News/Cool Links - Posted 12 Oct 2005
S.O.S. for Information Literacy is a dynamic, multimedia, Web-based, and freely accessible resource for K-8 library media specialists and classroom teachers that promises to make a significant contribution to enhancing the teaching of information literacy skills worldwide, according to the project organizers.
News/Free Resources - Posted 12 Oct 2005
iEARN-USA is offering its Multimedia Guide to Global Online Collaboration in CD-ROM format at no cost, while supplies last.
News/Free Resources - Posted 07 Oct 2005
ETS has repositioned all of its flagship K-12 products and services under the System 5 brand.
News/Breaking News - Posted 22 Sep 2005
PALS Classroom Exchange and PubSub will provide monitored, filtered blogging for 4.6 million educators and students in 191 countries.
News/Breaking News - Posted 16 Sep 2005
Industrial Audio Software’s ePodcast Producer offers an integrated podcasting solution of real benefit to teachers, the announcement states.
News/Breaking News - Posted 07 Sep 2005
Macromedia’s new K-12 site license offers educators a combination of digital communication tools and resources to enhance teaching, learning, and communication, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 01 Sep 2005
In this story, Mike Lambert and Margaret Carpenter, educators at Hong Kong International School, outline a range of approaches that “harness the power of images” in their teaching. Among the article subheads: Digitize ... Then Verbalize; Iconize ... Then They’ll Memorize; Use Visual Prompts to Encourage Creativity and Lateral Thinking. There’s also a sidebar of some brief stories from vendors whose products tap into visual learning.
In recent months, there’s been a revolution in interactive technologies—both in their design and in their cost. In this month's Pipeline, Stephen Abram takes a look at some of them, laying out an area in the free Web playground where learning can happen. "The swings are IM," he says, "the teeter-totter is podcasting, the slide is Skype, and the merry-go-round is JYBE."
Version 4.1 includes major enhancements to the software packages, which foster interactive classroom instruction and control and monitor student desktops.
News/Breaking News - Posted 20 Jul 2005
SMART Ideas concept-mapping software 5.0 is designed to improve student comprehension and retention; the new version streamlines planning, teaching, and assessment, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 06 Jul 2005
The upgraded software expands educators’ options for developing and delivering questions and lessons using the classroom response system InterWrite PRS, according to the announcement.
News/Breaking News - Posted 28 Jun 2005
Looking for a dynamic way to market and advocate for your school's media program? A media program Web site can be a versatile and far-reaching advocacy tool. What can happen if you use the Web site to showcase your school's media program to students, parents, and the community? The outreach potential is unlimited. Here’s a look at some possibilities for advocacy and marketing.
Can learning be achieved effectively by the standard measures, via e-learning, or through some blend of technological and classroom strategies? When added to the issues of the digital divide, you have a problem of gargantuan proportions. With effort, thought, and money, however, it is possible.
Challenged to identify common information needs across the community and to gather and deliver the resources for them, librarians at Cherry Hill Public Library created a “Digital Community Center.” Sirsi’s Rooms content manager serves to organize and house the resources, and to open them up everyone.
Streamingmedia.com author Mark Fritz writes how Cisco’s VoIP solutions help school districts consolidate their networks and make videoconferencing a reality. (From Information Today, Inc.'s Streamingmedia.com)
News/ITI Cross Links - Posted 02 Feb 2005
To start the new calendar year with a trends and expectations story from a school librarian's point of view, we turned to library media activist, writer, conference presenter, and school library "presence" Pam Nutt. We asked Pam to query her colleagues and herself to find out, well, what's on their minds! What's affecting them and their profession, particularly--but not exclusively--in the area of technology. Read this feature to see what she told us.
We now have some pretty good track records on some new technologies that make access to information—both physical and intellectual access—simpler and, therefore, we hope, better. Hurdles to that access exist in both the physical and virtual worlds. Requiring a PC or specific browser to access information sets a hurdle in place in the virtual environment. Requiring information to be used within a library during specific hours is a hurdle of sorts too. Here are five key technologies that improve access in one way or another, or both.
The IntelliTools Classroom Suite includes three integrated software programs--IntelliPics Studio 3, IntelliMathics 3, and IntelliTalk 3.
The software, designed for grades pre-K8, provides a network-ready cross-curricular platform for classroom activities, creativity tools, and student performance tracking and assessment.
Pinpoint is a Web-based research utility tool for K-12 schools and libraries. The product allows users to simultaneously research school library resources, subscriptions, and Internet sites and harvest age-appropriate annotated resource lists.
BrainPOP is a subscription-based Web site that provides standards-based animated educational videos on a variety of topics in Math, English, Science, Health, Technology, and Social Studies.
As the Web continues to develop and faster Internet access becomes available to more individuals, the likelihood of Web-based programs replacing CD-ROMs is becoming more and more real. The advantages provided by subscription Web-based services will lead them to be used for direct instructional purposes in the classroom.
We believe that ongoing reading promotion through our school media's technology program goes a long way toward supporting reading.
The InFocus LP600 projector offers a variety of connection options—wired or wireless, computer or video sources—even the option to go PC-free with a USB flash drive.
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