I am so looking forward to the weekend so I can play around with some of the tools I have discovered this week. Most recently xtranormal.com and the ability to make an animated video in minutes. It's clunky and a little bumpy but I never lost any work. The students reacted well to the presentations and tomorrow the students will give it a test drive.
Not doing too poorly in developing the habits needed to keep blogging at leat once per week. Finished reading Will Richardson's book,… Continue
Added by Artie O'Connor on October 15, 2009 at 7:30pm —
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Facebook just posted some useful tips for educators who use the popular social networking service to communicate with their students. They are pretty basic tips that are good reminders for any adults who work with kids as a teacher, scout master or youth pastor. And parents too.
Privacy is important, especially on social networking…
At the end of October, I will have the privilege of attending an education summit at Google entitled, "Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age ". Before this event, I will be blogging on the topic of transforming teachers' practices with digital technologies.
I have some pretty specific ideas in mind that I'd like to include in my blog posting. I also would like… Continue
Added by Lucy Gray on September 18, 2009 at 5:15pm —
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The ICT competency standards for teachers have been designed by UNESCO and its partners to help educational policy-makers and curriculum developers identify the skills teachers need to harness technology in the service of education.
Developed in cooperation with Cisco, Intel and Microsoft, as well as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), the standards consist of three parts:
* a… Continue
Added by Kevin Chilton on September 2, 2009 at 8:51am —
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Abstract: This paper introduces the main functions of the screen recorder software. Combined with the characteristics of computer science courses and teaching methods commonly used, screen recorder software is playing a more and more important role. Practice has proved that screen recorder software improves the learning and teaching effectiveness. It is a helpful tool to facilitate teaching of professional computer science courses.
In past and present generations, many or most teachers have used the “traditional” teaching method. This method usually includes lectures, worksheets, and testing, which creates a passive learner. I remember how teachers have taught middle and high school classes, usually via lectures. Even some college professors do the same thing.
This leaves most teachers and students bored out of their mind.
More teachers need to put students in more active role of learning not only… Continue
Added by Christina on August 15, 2009 at 11:45pm —
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Just posted a new entry under a new tab: Teaching is a serious business
First entry on: Student-centredeness, which grew out of a reflection on a blogpost by a fellow teacher.
If interested, head over and let me know what you think.…
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and will never be.
Thomas Jefferson recognized the relationship between education and freedom hundreds of years ago, so why do we still expect nations to do the glorious mountain building required of their future without the bedrock of teachers? We ask the world to ‘cut carbon emissions’ without teaching them science. We ask them to… Continue
Added by Jacqui Murray on August 5, 2009 at 12:13pm —
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SpaceTime3D allows you to see your searches. After you type in your search term, you will see pictures of the web pages for your search. You can shuffle through these pages to make finding the information you are looking for easier. The SpaceTime Browser which is a download and SpaceTime3D, which is a web version (no download) of our Visual Search interface available at http://www.spacetime.com. We're proud to announce that The SpaceTime Browser… Continue
Being laid off is one of the top five stressors, along with:
* Death of a family member or friend
* Economic hardship
* Marrying or divorcing
* Having a child
The American Psychologic Association says this about stress:
* 62% of Americans say work has a significant impact on stress levels. (APA Survey 2004)
* 52% of workers are more stressed because of work than home. (APA Survey 2004)
* 54% of… Continue
Added by Jacqui Murray on July 16, 2009 at 4:46pm —
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What are the key elements required for a transformation of teaching and learning through the use of technology? There are obviously many reasonable ways to look at this. From what position do you view this issue? Are you a teacher, instructional coach, building principal, technology facilitator, director of technology, chief administrative officer of some flavor, superintendent, parent, or student? For you, this issue will likely run through the… Continue
Added by Sean Nash on July 13, 2009 at 8:00am —
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Believe it or not, many instructors/managers do not see games as a serious teaching tool. It may be hard to admit, but, in some ways, they’re right! In most cases, their beliefs have been influenced by a variety of factors, the most common of which is their personal experience seeing how games are used in a classroom. To make matters worse, many instructors who use games are unknowingly reinforcing the negatives that so many have about using games.
Students from Bath University are using a computer car-racing game to help them to learn the principles of engineering.
The computer simulation game 'Racing Academy' allows first-year engineering students to theoretically design aspects of a racing car, such as the tyres, gearbox and engine, before racing it against a computer-generated car.
The teaching tool has now been analysed by psychologists and engineers at the university to gauge how effective gaming can be as a… Continue
Added by Kevin Chilton on June 17, 2009 at 8:03am —
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As a middle school teacher, if I have learned anything about being an effective teacher, I have learned it's all about connection. Not connection with 'the class' because there's no such thing as 'the class'. The connection(s) you must cultivate are those between you and each and every student.
Students will largely forget what you say to them but they will never forget how you made them feel. Connection offers the opportunity for you to build… Continue
I have the honor and privilege of quite often giving end of year, end of course, graduation and other speeches to teachers. I take it seriously and usually end with a story. Stories work well and inspire. One of the ones I've used most often is this one - MAKE A DIFFERENCE. But I have a number of personal anecdotes and also folktales. You can read many others in the… Continue
Added by ddeubel on June 9, 2009 at 3:39am —
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Have you ever wondered how much of your training really “sticks”? Are you looking for ways to find out what your trainees really know? This lively, 30 minute webinar focuses on the power of games as a tool for formal and informal assessment. We’ll explore the challenges that we face when assessing adult learners and introduce you to tools to meet those challenges. You’ll learn how Audience Response devices can be used to gauge, in real time, the effectiveness of your presentation. Attend this… Continue
Added by John Dillon on May 29, 2009 at 11:20am —
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This blog and it's sister blog has as its focus bringing to light the game changers of 21st century technologies and globalization as related to Education and how teaching and learning gets done in (U.S.) schools. The very first posts were critical commentaries about the perceived fear and obstruction of schools in terms of adopting new and potentially transformative learning… Continue
Added by Andrew on May 29, 2009 at 8:39am —
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For some time now I've been reflecting on my identity. One's identity is formed through interactions between one's nature, roles and environments. In other words, it's rather complicated, and simplifying it in order to make it manageable is a formidable task indeed. The image you see here is my latest attempt to accomplish this task. The image consists of 3 major L-shaped brush strokes. They represent three words describing my approach to life: Loving, Laughing and Learning. The… Continue
Added by Michael Stout on May 16, 2009 at 10:04pm —
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