LISD Ed Tech Connection

The video titled A Vision of K-12 Students Today by B. Nesbitt has been floating around the Internet for some time now. In case you have not seen it, it is embedded below. Any thoughts, reactions, comments?

NASA recently announced the release of audio clips, video clips, and still images for students who create their own podcasts:  http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/diypodcast/index.html
Media are sorted into 4 categories or topics:

• Lab Safety
• Newton’s Laws
• Spacesuits
• Sports (in space) Demo

All media can be previewed online. Audio clips are mp3 files. Videos are downloaded in a zipped folder containing mp4 video, Windows Media Video, and a transcript in MS Word.

News from MACUL:

A stipend of $1000.00 and a free registration to the 2010 MACUL Conference, March 10-12, 2010 will be awarded to 10 selected educators to produce high-quality enhanced or video podcasts in one subject area to be posted at MI Learning on iTunes U. Visit www.macul.org > MI Learning on iTunes U > MI Learning Information for application details. Application window: April 1 - May 26, 2009.

Read a related article about iTunes U on eSchoolNews

What videoconference opportunties did you find in the Berrien RESA Videoconference Program database? Were you pleased or disappointed? Did you find someone or some place you’d like to connect with in the future?

 If you could videoconference with any site, organization, or person for educational purposes, who or where would it be and why?

Many Michigan tech-using educators and students are gearing up for the annual MACUL conference this week. Some speaker handouts can be accessed online. On Thursday the Opening Keynote will be provided by Alan November, a thinker who is familiar to many educators in Lenawee County. A student RoboFest will be on Thurs. March 19 from 1:00 to 5:00. The conference Program Book (pdf) can be downloaded.

NetTrekker will be awarding two scholarships to the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Washington DC to two educators who submit projects designed in NetTrekker’s My Portfolio. Projects must include use of at least one NetTrekker resource, be aligned to standards, and focus on students using 21st century skills. The deadline to submit projects is April 15.

For more info browse to: http://crm.nettrekker.com/necc09/

Blogging is starting to get a foothold in some Lenawee County schools and classrooms. Check out some of the local blogs below; some feature interesting media posted by students, while others have information written by educators. To harness the power of interaction that blogs allow, consider leaving a comment on one or two of the blogs.

LISD TECH Center Principal’s Blog, Lenawee ISD

Mr. Musolf’s Mathematics Blog, Britton-Macon Area School

Mrs. Spohn - Third Grade, Onsted Elementary

Room 14 Third Graders, Adrian Michener Elementary

TMS News, Tecumseh Middle School

The list above is not exhaustive. Please send links or leave a comment pointing to other blogs from Lenawee schools.

In a time when many educators are recognizing the benefits of using technology to connect and collaborate with others around the world to explore relevant content and concepts, the Youth Media Exchange (ymex) provides a platform to do just that. Ymex is an online social networking site created by Taking It Global and Global Kids “for youth interested in using digital media tools to share information on major global issues.” Below is a quote from the “About” web page:

We believe that online social networking is a powerful tool for learning and positive action worldwide. A platform that is both self-guided and collaborative, both easily accessible and inherently complex, online social networking, in theory, enables action along a wide spectrum of skills and engagement. Empowered by technology to create, share, and connect online, individuals who have collaborated to take action via social networking have produced significant, unexpected achievements in political, social, and cultural spheres—from uncovering inaccuracies in network news reporting to coordinating humanitarian assistance in response to events such as the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

And yet, social networking has come under fire from parents, schools, and authorities, who aim to limit young people’s access to these tools. Although these are valid claims in some cases, social networking and other forms of digital media engagement have the potential to enable new kinds of learning, empowering youth to become a driving force in creating and shaping a shared future in an increasingly interconnected world. By keeping the spirit of ymex.org focused on positive social change and cross-cultural exchange, we envision ymex.org to be a space where this can happen.

It is important for researchers, practitioners, parents, educators, and policy-makers to understand how young people around the world are currently using and thinking about social networking and digital media, as well as how social networking and digital media can best be used as an instrument for education and social engagement on a global scale. This is a long-term, overarching goal for the field of digital media & learning at-large, but we hope ymex.org can contribute in substantial ways.

The site includes embedded video and audio, external links to media, digital photos, comments, discussion boards, online groups and more. One point of care/concern is proper citation or copyright of media that has not be created by users. Read the guidelines for using the site.

Two innovative chemistry teachers in Woodland Park, CO are using videocasts (aka vodcasts) to redefine lecturing, homework, and how time is spent in their classrooms. The teachers have data showing that student achievement in their classes has increased because their students watch video-lectures as homework then come into class prepared to ask questions, engage in hands-on work and solve problems. This is in contrast to what happens in many other classrooms where much time is spent sitting and listening to lectures, which leaves less time for hands-on work and more paper-based practice at home where students are often stumped.

The teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, have created a web site to teach other educators about their methodology: http://educationalvodcasting.com/

A page of their site includes a narrated slideshow from Bergmann and Sams detailed their teaching methods and achievement data. The page, In the News, includes a TV newscast about the teachers and the process as well as other links to press.