instructional technology network
tri-county educational service center

In case I haven’t mentioned before, I am a big fan of the folks at Common Craft. I think that somewhere deep down inside, these folks missed their calling into teaching. They’re very good at simple explanations of otherwise complex topics.

Common Craft has produced “Blogs in Plain English,” the latest installment in their “Plain English” series. You may recall the “RSS in Plain English” video I referenced back in September.

This is the clearest explanation of blogging, what it is, who does it, how, and why that I’ve heard or read – and all in under 3 minutes. Take three minutes and watch the clip below (email readers of this blog, click here). You’ll be glad you did.

The video can also be viewed on TeacherTube and YouTube .

Deadlines for the winter sessions of two online professional development partners are approaching.

Basic computer skills and internet access are really all that are necessary for taking part in an online course. One of my favorite features of online course is the ability to work at the time of day that best meets my family’s schedule. Please contact me at the ESC if you have any questions or concerns about whether online learning is a good fit for you.

TeacherLine

Deadline: January 1, 2008 for $20 “Early Bird” discount (promotional code: Early Bird)

Winter I Session begins: January 21, 2008
Winter II Session begins: Feburary 11, 2008

Teacherline is a series of facilitated online courses produced by leading educators, education institutions and companies in alignment with national standards. The video-rich, learn-by-doing courses are a combination of content and methodology and are accessible via the Internet. They are individualized, self-paced and sequential at various skill levels.

Courses are available from each of these categories:

• Science
• Technology
• Instructional Strategies
• Reading/Language Arts
• Math

Visit the TeacherLine site for more details.

eTech Ohio

Deadline: December 18, 2007

Winter Session begins: January 27, 2008.

See my earlier post on this for more details.

Are there times when you already know the definition of something but lack the word to describe it? Merriam-Webster’s visual dictionary is a resource for just that situation. 6,000 color images illustrating and defining over 20,000 items make this a great way to find the names of various things that you might otherwise have struggled to define. Everything from plants and animals to heavy machinery to sports to the kitchen sink is found in this collection.

The labeled illustrations could be helpful for teaching content area subject matter, such as cells or the parts of a plant. I can also see great potential for ESL students just looking to learn the names of common items (take a look at the Society section for illustrations of cities, health, and public safety items). Links to recorded pronunciations make this tool even more useful.

[via Lifehacker]

Doug Johnson at Blue Skunk Blog highlights a good example of the importance of teaching students responsible use of the internet, rather than steering clear of it. A case that arose in his district out of the use of school-sponsored email provided a meaningful teaching opportunity.

“It is because of incidents like this that I am glad we have always given our students school sponsored e-mail addresses. It allows kids to make “safe mistakes.” The girl and probably her classmates got a real-life lesson in protecting one’s password and about identity theft without anyone getting hurt.”

Read the full article on his blog.

Student communication tools are a frightening topic to cover in school, but where will our students learn responsible use otherwise?

In case you’re interested, email is first introduced in the Ohio Tech Content Standards at 2nd grade.

A great collection of multimedia resources on the web is at Teachers’ Domain. Developed by PBS affiliate, WGBH, the collection includes a number of free videos, interactive modules, and articles. Age appropriate content is available for essentially all grade levels.

Free registration is required, but worth your time. The primary content areas include: Earth and Space Science, Engineering, Life Science, and Physical Science. A dozen or so Special Collections touch upon Civil Rights and Literacy (e.g., “Between the Lions Early Literacy”).

Good stuff. Good price.

[Side Note: Teachers' Domain also offers a handful of online courses. More information on these at PBS Teacherline]

The best thing about this generation of web tools is the potential for dialogue. More importantly, it’s the ability to put an idea out there, get criticized, rebut that criticism, and still get feedback from the critic. It’s not always that rosy, but when it is, it’s very good.

I want to point you first to a post in which Michael Wesch, the coordinating professor of the “A Vision of Students Today” project noted earlier this week, has highlighted a reply from a reader flipping the perspective of the video back to eyes of a professor. I think the reader’s point will resonate well with many educators.

Equally striking is Wesch’s reply, (Clarifications on “A Vision…”) to a post by District Administrator columnist, Gary Stager. Stager takes Wesch to task and Wesch steps up to the challenge. This is a very well stated reply and represents a top-notch example of such an online exchange.

His most notable statement, in my opinion, without regard to this particular context is this:

The great myth is that these “digital natives” know more about this new information environment than we do. But here’s the reality: they may be experts in entertaining themselves online, but they know almost nothing about educating themselves online.

Again, I’m always interested in your reactions. See the comments link just below this post on the tech blog site and add your reply.

Something to chew on. Take a look at this short film (If the clips are missing in your email or RSS reader, go direct to the tech blog and view it there).

More clips are available at mediacultures.net at Kansas State University. A transcript is available on the class blog.

So… what do you think? I realize there are an abundance of ‘ya, buts,” but I’m interested in your thoughts on what this means for us today. What reasonable steps could be taken in the direction needed? Be careful not to dismiss that content as irrelevant just because these are older students. Add your comments/responses on the Instructional Tech blog site.

Two other sidenotes:

1.) The collaborative editing tool noted in the video is Google Docs. It is free, accessible anywhere online (It remains blocked in some districts. Ask.), and includes essential word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools. This is a great tool for collaborative student projects, especially in that it tracks user edits making it possible to see who’s actively participating.

2.) Some people have raised the points the students make about using Facebook and working on other things during class as just cause to ban the use of laptops and other devices from the classroom, most commonly in college settings. The real question this raises is whether the laptops are the cause or the effect of the distraction.