Alice Mercer's Posts - Classroom 2.02024-03-29T10:33:48ZAlice Mercerhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/mizmercerhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1949872679?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=mizmercer&xn_auth=noHelp me pick a picture...tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-06-28:649749:BlogPost:300142007-06-28T17:48:42.000ZAlice Mercerhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/mizmercer
<p></p>
<br></br><br></br>Family Pic: <br></br><p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" height="158" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974045655?profile=original=?width=300" width="129"></img></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Green outdoors:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" height="122" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974045621?profile=original=?width=300" width="122"></img></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Blue outdoors:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" height="128" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974045718?profile=original=?width=300" width="132"></img></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Avatar: …<br></br></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" height="138" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974045734?profile=original=?width=300" width="138"></img></p>
<p/><br/><br/>Family Pic: <br/><p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974045655?profile=original=?width=300" alt="" height="158" width="129"/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Green outdoors:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974045621?profile=original=?width=300" alt="" height="122" width="122"/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Blue outdoors:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974045718?profile=original=?width=300" alt="" height="128" width="132"/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Avatar: <br/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974045734?profile=original=?width=300" alt="" height="138" width="138"/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><br/></p>Feds to eliminate tech funding?tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-04-21:649749:BlogPost:67512007-04-21T13:46:32.000ZAlice Mercerhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/mizmercer
<p>Cross-posted at The Blog of Ms. Mercer</p>
<p>Okay, now that I have your attention, I’ll point you to this post <a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/04/20/margaret-spellings-is-under-fire/"><font color="#333333">http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/04/20/margaret-spellings-is-under-fire/</font></a> from guest blogger Scott McLeod on Wes Fryer’s “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” (not faster than the average 6 month old if Spellings has her way, I guess).</p>
<p>Scott lists all…</p>
<p>Cross-posted at The Blog of Ms. Mercer</p>
<p>Okay, now that I have your attention, I’ll point you to this post <a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/04/20/margaret-spellings-is-under-fire/"><font color="#333333">http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/04/20/margaret-spellings-is-under-fire/</font></a> from guest blogger Scott McLeod on Wes Fryer’s “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” (not faster than the average 6 month old if Spellings has her way, I guess).</p>
<p>Scott lists all the K-12 technology programs that have been axed so far, then goes on..</p>
<p>“The only thing left is EETT, and now the feds have proposed zeroing out that budget yet again.”</p>
<p>Here is his call to action:</p>
<p>“If you’re an educational technology advocate, it is time to spread the word about what’s occurring (e.g., link to this post!), express your concerns to politicians and policymakers, and educate those around you about what the issues are and what potential responses might be. Although it’s not quite clear what Secretary Spellings is doing with these roundtables, the notable absence of the ed tech organizations and a seeming emphasis on NCLB-related technologies is of at least some concern. And of course the biggest concern of all is the fact that <strong><em>the U.S. Department of Education, under Secretary Spellings’ watch, keeps trying to walk away from our children’s technologically-suffused future</em></strong>. I wish it weren’t so, but it’s hard to interpret the facts any other way.</p>
<p>Be informed. Be proactive, not reactive. <a href="http://www.edtechactionnetwork.org/index.html"><font color="#0066CC">Get involved</font></a>.”</p>
<p>Go get ‘em!</p>Visualizing your data...tag:www.classroom20.com,2007-04-04:649749:BlogPost:27532007-04-04T17:19:14.000ZAlice Mercerhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/mizmercer
<p>First, <a href="http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2007/04/gapminder.html"><font color="#810081">Scott</font></a> Mc Leod has a post on Hans Rosling (which I <a href="http://mizmercer.edublogs.org/2007/01/20/interesting-links-for-the-week/"><font color="#810081">posted</font></a> about earlier) and his…</p>
<p>First, <a href="http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2007/04/gapminder.html"><font color="#810081">Scott</font></a> Mc Leod has a post on Hans Rosling (which I <a href="http://mizmercer.edublogs.org/2007/01/20/interesting-links-for-the-week/"><font color="#810081">posted</font></a> about earlier) and his <a href="http://tools.google.com/gapminder/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=6;ti=2004$zpv;v=1$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=SP.DYN.LE00.IN;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=20;iid=SP.POP.TOTL;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=1004;iid=SP.POP.DPND;by=grp$map_x;scale=log;dataMin=466;dataMax=64299$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=24;dataMax=82$map_s;sma=50;smi=1.2$inds"><font color="#0000FF">Gapminder</font></a> data site.</p>
<p>Last night on Women of Web 2.0 had a speaker focusing on visualizing information and data, and had this link to <a href="http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/app"><font color="#810081">ManyEyes</font></a>, an IBM project on data visualization. I think it would be fun to upload NAEP data or the recently published data techonology in schools? Anyone interested?</p>[cross posted on <a href="http://mizmercer.edublogs.org">http://mizmercer.edublogs.org</a>]Elementary Bloggingtag:www.classroom20.com,2007-03-31:649749:BlogPost:18662007-03-31T06:13:56.000ZAlice Mercerhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/mizmercer
<p>Well, I'm starting to see more web 2.0 sites getting blocked in my district. PB Wiki (which I used for a project with my kids) is not accessible. I'm looking at some other tools to see how to incorporate them in my classroom.</p>
<p>There are two tools I've seen recently that have different strengths (and weaknesses):</p>
<p>1. Tumblr.com: a REALLY simple an intuitive blog interface. I would LOVE an interface like this for student blogs.</p>
<p>2. 21 classes: Recommended by Will Richardson.…</p>
<p>Well, I'm starting to see more web 2.0 sites getting blocked in my district. PB Wiki (which I used for a project with my kids) is not accessible. I'm looking at some other tools to see how to incorporate them in my classroom.</p>
<p>There are two tools I've seen recently that have different strengths (and weaknesses):</p>
<p>1. Tumblr.com: a REALLY simple an intuitive blog interface. I would LOVE an interface like this for student blogs.</p>
<p>2. 21 classes: Recommended by Will Richardson. The environment has all the controls I would want as an elementary teacher, but they have ads (one teacher was admonishing students to ignore ads on his site for site selling term papers), and the look is not as flexible as I would like (sidebar widgets, etc.) from what I can see.</p>
<p>I still love my edublog, but there is no garden wall there. I'm sure I could get it, if I paid, which is another thing to consider.</p>