Need to better explain to your students how and when to  credit the source of an image, particularly on the web? Try this:

Source:  pia jane bijkerk

[via [Flowchart] Can I Use This Image On My Website? on Digital Inspiration]

2. Stress the consideration and application of principles rather than relying on a detailed set of rules. Although sometimes more difficult to enforce in a consistent manner, a set of a few guidelines* rather than lengthy set of specific rules is more beneficial to students in the long run. By applying guidelines rather than following rules, students engage in higher level thinking processes and learn behaviors that will continue into their next classroom, their homes, and their adult lives.

Of course, the district will need to have some formal and enforceable policies, but this approach is more likely to be practical in informing your day-to-day interactions in the classroom.

And of course, good classroom management procedures help a great deal here as well:

9. Create environments that help students avoid temptations. Computer screens that are easily monitored and the requirement that users log in and out of network systems help remove the opportunities for technology misuse. Your presence is a far more effective means of assuring good behavior than filtering software.

Catch Johnson’s full dozen over on his blog.

Image citation: Michael Rosenstein, “May 9, 2010” brotherM’s Photostream. 9 May 2010. 3 Jan 2011 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelcr/4593162288/>.

Helping your children use the Internet safely is similar to teaching them to navigate the offline world. There are parts of the real world that you wouldn’t let your children explore unsupervised—and that goes for the online world as well. But while most of us remember being taught to cross the road and not talk to strangers, we probably weren’t taught how much personal information we should share online or how to handle cyberbullies.

Therefore, it’s no surprise when parents and teachers tell us they want to learn more about how to help their kids use the Internet safely and responsibly.

Within the center, parents can view video clips of Google parents describing the techniques they employ for helping keep their families safe online such as:

• Locate computers in common areas of the house rather than in private or out of the way spaces like bedrooms
• Talk to your children about safe online practices
• Use Google SafeSearch Lock and YouTube Safety mode to reduce the likelihood of encountering inappropriate content.

Also included are sections on tools, reporting inappropriate content and  advice from child safety advocates.

This would be a great resource to point out to parents in a classroom or school newsletter to help them develop strategies for keep our students safe online when they leave our doors. I would encourage you to share this with your building administrator or parent teacher organization.

[via Official Google Blog]

Podcasting in Plain English explains, in about 3 minutes, the essential hows and whys of podcasting. The process is pretty easy and really requires only a microphone and some free software in addition to the equipment you probably already have in your room.

(Reading this post via email? Click here or visit TeacherTube to view the video.)

From an educational perspective, what I like best about podcasting is not the actual recording and editing of the final product – that’s just a bonus. The real value of podcasting in the classroom is the research, writing, and revision process that goes into preparing for the production process.

Contrast this with a typical “report” assignment:

• Writing for an authentic, unlimited audience vs. writing for the teacher’s red pen
• Revision for my personal best before my audience vs. a better letter grade on my paper
  
• Working toward choosing key ideas to keep it to a reasonable length vs. meeting a minimum length
• Focus on a clear, well-paced delivery vs. ?

The production part of the podcasting process is relatively easy and represents the smallest portion of the time invested. The majority of the time commitment goes to solid writing processes. I’ve seen some unexpected students really shine in this type of activity.

Are you or your students podcasting? Post a link to your podcasts in the comments!

1. What would I write about?
2. Am I able to keep up with it?

There are a handful of models that could work well for you professionally, depending on your personality, classroom, and writing style. Think about how any of these might fit you. They range from individual professional, to classroom professional/student, to individual student.

Professional Discourse

An aspect of being a master learner is the reflection and revision process. The use of a professional blog can be a good outlet for discussing professional experiences and learning. Beyond simply writing for the journaling and refinement of your own thoughts, this process can open up the door for opportunities to connect with others who have similar interests, concerns, challenges, and victories. Allowing for comments of others can invite outside insights into what might have otherwise been a one-way conversation. Reading the professional comments of others can be a good way to connect with the real professional experiences of other educators in shoes a lot like yours. This is especially beneficial if you’re only specialist in your field in your building or district.

Remember, of course, that what you write online should never be considered private or anonymous. Instead think of this as an informal addendum to your resume. Be professional. (See also: Professional Safety Online)

Related reading: “Reluctant Bloggers”

Community/Student Communication (Newsletter)

As an educator, you have two audiences with a vested interest in what’s happening in your classroom: students and community/parents.

A blog for students might include homework and class notes, study guides, and extended reflection and dialogue on subject materials. Comments can be used to offer students a chance to respond to any of the above topics. Keep in mind that most blogging tools have the ability to moderate comments to various degrees, so you can retain control of what appears on your blog.

Community and parents are your second potential audience. Your blog can be a means to better communicate with those outside your school on a regular basis through updates on projects, information on what’s being taught, and highlights on school successes. Since the expectations for substance are different for a blog post versus a newsletter, it is easy to quickly post information as it comes available, while still retaining the option to include longer, more detailed articles about your classroom when the occasion arises.

Student blogging

In just the same manner that you can become the author/owner of a blog, your students can also become authors. I’m a big fan of mediums that allow students to produce work for a real audience instead of a red pen. Blogging allows the student to write for a potentially unlimited audience as well as receiving feedback from readers. Just like any writing activity, students will produce their best work when writing about topics of personal interest.

This is, admittedly, one of the more difficult blogging undertakings in that there’s a fair amount of work in moderating and supervising student blogging projects. I would suggest that any school-sanctioned blogging activity be structured such that there are requirements and guidelines for publishing. Again, more in the next post.

Be sure that you have clearance (i.e., student release forms) and that reasonable safety precautions are taken before getting started with such a project.

Student-contributed newsletter (shared blog)

A hybrid model of authorship may work best in many classrooms. This model would feature a single class blog where the teacher invites individual students to submit postings for publication. Possible topics could include:

• a daily report of classroom activities;
• commentary on current content matter;
• links to current events that tie-in to classwork; and
• share student work sample, etc.

The downside is that there is slightly less student ownership than the “Student Blogger” approach mentioned above, while the upside is that the management needs are significantly reduced.

The process here could simply involve the student typing their post in Notepad where the teacher will later review the post and copy it to the classroom blog (I recommend Notepad here because programs like Word tend to bring a lot of extra back-end garbage with it when copied and pasted).

I think this is what I would be most likely to use if I were still in the classroom.

Which fit is best for you? EduBlogs, which I’ll discuss in my next post, has a nice list of “10 Ways to Use Your EduBlog to Teach” that might give you a few more ideas related to this and the other models.

Tomorrow: Two blogging tools worth a look

Image citation: Orbitgal, “bulletin board” Orbitgal’s Photostream. 5 Oct 2007. 9 Apr 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/orbitgal/1492216791/>.

Educator Larry Ferlazzo reflects on teaching in a computer lab, describing his own learning experiences and sharing with us some recommendations from those experiences.

This is the short list of five recommendations:

• Use computer more to reinforce key concepts, and less to teach them
• Students can be producers of content and not just consumers
• Computers can be used to help student develop and deepen relationships with each other, not just with the computer screen
• Use time in the computer lab to help develop leadership among students, and not just have them be your followers.
• Spend less time being the controller and more time helping students develop self control

In reality, these are best-practice recommendations for both the classroom and the computer lab. Ferlazzo describes each in more depth in his TechLearning article.

Ferlazzo’s blog and website are also a great source for ESL, ELL, and EFL resources.

Image citation: Old Shoe Woman, “Student in Computer Lab II.” Old Shoe Woman’s Photostream. 30 Sep 2005. 1 Feb 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/judybaxter/48011845/>.

While the presentation was very well-intended, it seemed that a number of my teacher colleagues left with sense that there is no safe way to professionally use technology and that doing so will most certainly cause you to find yourself in trouble and unemployed.

In hopes of bringing a little clarity, I’ve gathered the input of a number of folks with insight into the topic to compile responses to some of concerns I’m aware of and the resulting misunderstandings.

1. “Do not use school email from home.”
You may use your school email from home, but remember that the exact same rules/policies apply to use of this email system whether from home or from school. The same is largely true for other online district resources.

2. “Do not use school email for personal use.”
Many district policies allow for “incidental use” of school email for personal use, so long as it is not occurring when you should otherwise be working (check your district’s policy).

A clear distinction must be made, however, for content that is obscene or is otherwise inappropriate, as well as use of school email for side-business purposes. These are definitely prohibited.

It is, however, a good practice to have a second email account for personal use. Public records laws could cause an otherwise personal message to be made public and your employer is well within his/her rights, legally and ethically, to read the contents of your school email. Your employer does not have the same rights to your personal email account without a court order.

The best rule of thumb I’ve heard for using any email system, employer’s or your own, is to never write anything in an email that you wouldn’t write on a postcard.

3. “Computer records will be used to prove your guilt.”
This is absolutely true. However, computer records, just like any other good documentation, could be used to prove your innocence. The same could be said of phone records and other electronic communications.

Always use your school email for communication with parents and students and retain copies of that communication.

4. “Using your school email at home allows the authorities to take your home computer.”
If you are investigated for serious misconduct, there’s a reasonably good chance your computer would be taken whether or not you accessed school resources from home.

5. “A social network profile will prevent you from getting hired, or will cost you your job.”
It is true that some employers review Facebook, MySpace and similar sites for information about current and future employees.

It is best to think of this as an addendum to your resume. Your content and contacts provide the employer with a unique insight into your character. Always try to give anything you publish online a second reading, considering how an employer might see you based on the content.

The public has a very different expectation of teachers than others. It’s best to be conservative in whatever you publish. For example, though you may be legally permitted to consume alcohol, a photo of drinking on your site (or even a friend’s) could cause you grief.

6. “Having a social network profile opens you up to impostor pages.”
This can occur whether or not you have your own page. It could be argued that having your own page would make it easier for someone to determine that one profile is real and that the other is the work of someone with poor intentions. On the otherhand, a parody of your actual site would then be possible and may be legally protected.

7. “Social networking causes inappropriate relationships with students.”
This is a slippery slope kind of thing. It’s generally a bad idea to “hang out” socially with your students outside a professional context in the real world or the virtual world.

The approach that mental health professionals use may be a good guide here. It’s good to have healthy, trusting relationships with clients, but clear boundaries must be established and adhered to. You can look at some of the examples of misconduct referenced by the Associated Press in recent articles and see that often before inappropriate actions took place, other normal boundaries for teacher/student relationships had first been crossed. Set boundaries and stick to them.

8. “Blogging is an inherently bad idea.”
[BTW, chances are you're reading this via a blog post.] In my opinion, there are two important things to factor in here: first, remember the public expectation of you as a teacher, and second, don’t bite the hand that feeds you (i.e., if you talk negatively about your employer, you’re putting yourself in jeopardy). Don’t try to hide behind an anonymous blog, it will only work long enough to give you a false sense of anonymity before you’re outed.

Speaker and author, Doug Johnson of Blue Skunk Blog is states it well:

How do you decide what to publish on your blog: praise locally; complain globally. Complain all you want about educational issues, but do it in a global sense. Don’t complain about your boss or school on your blog. Your employer can discipline you for it in some cases. Keep your comments about what’s going on in your school positive and highlight the good stuff.

It is important that teachers feel informed and comfortable enough to explore the technologies that are making a big impact on our society and our students. I hope this provides you with a greater sense of clarity as you explore and use these valuable technological tools.

Google’s Custom Search allows such customization. With Custom Search you can make a number of modifications to the search process you direct your students to use. Educational users may also opt out of displaying Google Ads on their results page.

This is a great opportunity to pare down search results for specific projects or younger researchers just learning their way around mainstream search tools. I am not suggesting the use of Google Custom Search in lieu of teaching students to use the real-world web, but rather as a chance to make searches better for specific situations.

The example here will search all of the ESC’s pages, even though we have content hosted on at least three servers at two different locations.

(As of publication time, Google still isn’t indexing new content on the ESC website very well, so the results aren’t likely to be complete or current. This is not problem with the Custom Search tool itself.)

The URL for your custom site is less than pretty, so I would recommend linking to it from your classroom website (or Progress Book).

For a more detailed explanations see the Google Custom Search site or see Read/Write Web’s writeup, Google Custom Search: Setting the Bar for Vertical Search Engines. Thanks to Jim Vincent at SPARCC for passing along a heads-up on the education application of this tool.

When teaching PowerPoint to students, it’s not the program itself that is difficult to communicate, rather it’s the important idea that PowerPoint (as with its non-Microsoft cousins, Apple’s Keynote and OpenOffice’s Impress) is a single tool with the purpose of supporting the communication – presentation – of an idea. The PowerPoint slide deck is not intended to replace the presenter, nor to display every single word the presenter will say. The slides should do no harm – that is, the content of the slides should not take away from the presentation with distracting graphic, backgrounds, sound effects or transitions. Not to say these are all bad additions, but that they must be selected carefully with the audience and the message in mind.

The ability to deliver an effective oral presentation is a part of our state standards. Where an expectation to include presentation support tools exists, oral presentation skills instruction needs to include good use of presentation tools as a part of teaching the topic.

I want to point you toward two recent articles on the topic of slide design. Take a look at these ideas and think about how they can help polish your own presentation skills.

Garr Reynolds at PresentationZen : PowerPoint tips that Are clear and to the point

Stephen M. Kosslyn at Oxford University Press blog: PowerPoint for Martians?

Harry Grover Tuttle, writing for TechLearning, offers 14 tips for integrating technology to enhance reading instruction.

Some suggestions require more specific resources or are incompatible with our filtering, but several can be implemented in essentially any classroom setting with commonly available computing tools.

Target grades: Varied