Easy-Cheesy Easy Bib
I recently purchased a subscription to EasyBib premium for all three campuses. So far the kids who have availed themselves of this tool are thrilled. It really bugged me to see kids struggle with trying to get every comma, space and capitalization correct in their MLA citations. What a waste of time. (That's another rant in itself). Well no more. What is even better is that with the premium edition they have access to notes and references wherever they go. All they need to do is create an account while they are at school and they will have access at home. See a demo here: http://easybib.com/help/intro
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Department of Ed Student Video Contest Blocked in Many Schools
Isn't it ironic? The US Department of Education has announced a new video contest, asking students to "inspire" them with their stories. The contest requires students to have a YouTube account and upload their video to YouTube. Many schools are still blocking YouTube. Time for our local schools to get with it. I have always maintained you can't teach students how to use a resource properly by banning it's use.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Thursday, February 07, 2008
On-line Solutions to Everday Challenges
Yesterday I attended the Michigan Virtual University Symposium: Online Solutions to Everyday Challenges and this* (the medium I am currently using) is one of the solutions to an everyday challenge. As I was sorting out the mess of notes and information on my desk this morning, I began to share some of my enthusiasm for the new tools with a colleague. He suggested that Airset might be a great tool for organizing all the our building School Improvement Process files, calendars and communications. I agree. So here we are. This post (which was originally written in the Blog feature of Airset) is a great tool for me to debrief the staff. It occurs to me as I write this, that had my laptop been charged, my notes would have gone there live. Next time. For now, I will add them line by line as time allows.
The keynote session was delivered by Yong Zhao, MSU professor and founder of the Center for Teaching and Technology as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. The main theme of his presentation was that we need to move from a dictatorship to a democracy. Traditionally, learning has been dictated; and technology allows us to move to become a democracy of learners with personalized learning environments and personalized learning goals.
Zhao quoted a line from the movie The Matrix : "never send a man to do a machine's job". How many machine jobs do we perform daily? This is a problem that must be solved by school leaders. Interactive technology raises "seat time" challenges as well as many other issues that are begging solutions of school leaders. Zhao maintains that our school systems have become impoverished single-species ecosystems that can be improved by a technologically diverse environment.
Zhao referenced widely publicized study that found that students who learned math via computer games did not fare better on standardized tests than students who learned the concepts in a traditional classroom. The tagline of the news item was that "computers do not increase test scores". Zhao interpreted this study quite differently and that was that computer applications were just as good as teaching math as the traditional method. The Confucius Institute at MSU utilizes Second Life, (a MMORPG ) which allows students to enter a virtual world where they can interact in Chinese.
One of the breakouts that I attended was Free Online Collaboration Tools. The presenters utilized one of the tools (Weebly) that they described as "brain dead" webpage creation to provide an on-line "handout" of the session. I strongly suggest you peruse the tools detailed below. Airset is the tool I am utilizing here that I can already tell will change my world. Buzzword is heralded as being even better than Google Docs for document collaboration. PageFlakes allows teachers to maintain a web presence and Chalksite is an on-line version Moodle or Blackboard.
You can access the on-line handout here:
onlinecollabtools.weebly.com
This year is our building's first experience with on-line courses, but I expect them to be very successful. One of the reasons is the personalization of the experience and the goals. Students will have access to the materials on their own terms in their own space and time. They will not be forced to fit into a schedule or seat and obligated to be engaged when they are sick or tired or maybe otherwise disinterested.
*This post was originally written for the Airset private blog and was adapted for this public post.
Yesterday I attended the Michigan Virtual University Symposium: Online Solutions to Everyday Challenges and this* (the medium I am currently using) is one of the solutions to an everyday challenge. As I was sorting out the mess of notes and information on my desk this morning, I began to share some of my enthusiasm for the new tools with a colleague. He suggested that Airset might be a great tool for organizing all the our building School Improvement Process files, calendars and communications. I agree. So here we are. This post (which was originally written in the Blog feature of Airset) is a great tool for me to debrief the staff. It occurs to me as I write this, that had my laptop been charged, my notes would have gone there live. Next time. For now, I will add them line by line as time allows.
The keynote session was delivered by Yong Zhao, MSU professor and founder of the Center for Teaching and Technology as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. The main theme of his presentation was that we need to move from a dictatorship to a democracy. Traditionally, learning has been dictated; and technology allows us to move to become a democracy of learners with personalized learning environments and personalized learning goals.
Zhao quoted a line from the movie The Matrix : "never send a man to do a machine's job". How many machine jobs do we perform daily? This is a problem that must be solved by school leaders. Interactive technology raises "seat time" challenges as well as many other issues that are begging solutions of school leaders. Zhao maintains that our school systems have become impoverished single-species ecosystems that can be improved by a technologically diverse environment.
Zhao referenced widely publicized study that found that students who learned math via computer games did not fare better on standardized tests than students who learned the concepts in a traditional classroom. The tagline of the news item was that "computers do not increase test scores". Zhao interpreted this study quite differently and that was that computer applications were just as good as teaching math as the traditional method. The Confucius Institute at MSU utilizes Second Life, (a MMORPG ) which allows students to enter a virtual world where they can interact in Chinese.
One of the breakouts that I attended was Free Online Collaboration Tools. The presenters utilized one of the tools (Weebly) that they described as "brain dead" webpage creation to provide an on-line "handout" of the session. I strongly suggest you peruse the tools detailed below. Airset is the tool I am utilizing here that I can already tell will change my world. Buzzword is heralded as being even better than Google Docs for document collaboration. PageFlakes allows teachers to maintain a web presence and Chalksite is an on-line version Moodle or Blackboard.
You can access the on-line handout here:
onlinecollabtools.weebly.com
This year is our building's first experience with on-line courses, but I expect them to be very successful. One of the reasons is the personalization of the experience and the goals. Students will have access to the materials on their own terms in their own space and time. They will not be forced to fit into a schedule or seat and obligated to be engaged when they are sick or tired or maybe otherwise disinterested.
*This post was originally written for the Airset private blog and was adapted for this public post.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Bad Manners All Around
Last week a 17 year old Virginia high school student left a message at the home of a school adminstrator complaining that school was not cancelled on a day when 3 inches of snow had fallen. The wife of the school administrator phoned the student back and her response has been posted to You Tube. While I can understand the wife's frustration, when dealing with children, we teach more by example and her response is not the best. As to the smart-alec student, while utilizing the internet to "get back" at the administrators wife, he is leaving a digital footprint of his bad behavior that will follow him for eternity.
Last week a 17 year old Virginia high school student left a message at the home of a school adminstrator complaining that school was not cancelled on a day when 3 inches of snow had fallen. The wife of the school administrator phoned the student back and her response has been posted to You Tube. While I can understand the wife's frustration, when dealing with children, we teach more by example and her response is not the best. As to the smart-alec student, while utilizing the internet to "get back" at the administrators wife, he is leaving a digital footprint of his bad behavior that will follow him for eternity.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The XO Laptop, Give One Get One:
Previously I wrote about the OLPC XO Laptop program.
As I mentioned before, if you are in the holiday spirit of giving but don't see a personal use, you might consider give one, give one to IA. This would be a great tool to allow our own future inventors the opportunity to create applications for this project.
From November 12th to December 31st, 2007, your $399 donation will fund an XO laptop going to a needy child and you can receive one for yourself in the US or Canada. You can order online at laptopgiving.org
Or you may call to order: 1-877-70-LAPTOP (1-877-70-527867)
For general questions about Give One Get One, please email: service at laptopgiving.org
Saturday, December 01, 2007
"Now You Change It"
Yes, get used to it. I had a conversation with a staff member the other day about the fact that the district is considering giving up on the costly Blackboard that our staff has finally embraced (after 5 years) and switching to the *free open-source Moodle. He was concerned that all the work put into BB thus far would be wasted. That is not the case at all. Think of it like a personal fitness routine. Just because you change programs or trainers does not mean the work you have done in the past has been wasted. On the contrary, it has gotten you to your level of fitness today.
It has not taken 5 years for the staff to learn BB. It has taken that long for them to buy into the concept of an on-line content management system. Now that they realize the benefits, I think they are ready to keep on moving forward.
The switch is still in the consideration stage (don't panic) but aside from the resistance of staff to have to "learn something new", I see a lot of value in the open-source applications. For one, they are constantly changing for the better.
Just this past year we introduced wiki's into the classroom and in a few short months, our kids are utilizing dozens of them. A great feature of Moodle is the integrated blog and wiki feature. Each course as well as each user automatically has access to their own blog. Everything in one place!
Below is an amazing new application that I happened upon today. More great tools to use every day. I will get an adventurous teacher to give this a go and report back. In the meantime, have a look for yourself and let me know what you think.
Yes, get used to it. I had a conversation with a staff member the other day about the fact that the district is considering giving up on the costly Blackboard that our staff has finally embraced (after 5 years) and switching to the *free open-source Moodle. He was concerned that all the work put into BB thus far would be wasted. That is not the case at all. Think of it like a personal fitness routine. Just because you change programs or trainers does not mean the work you have done in the past has been wasted. On the contrary, it has gotten you to your level of fitness today.
It has not taken 5 years for the staff to learn BB. It has taken that long for them to buy into the concept of an on-line content management system. Now that they realize the benefits, I think they are ready to keep on moving forward.
The switch is still in the consideration stage (don't panic) but aside from the resistance of staff to have to "learn something new", I see a lot of value in the open-source applications. For one, they are constantly changing for the better.
Just this past year we introduced wiki's into the classroom and in a few short months, our kids are utilizing dozens of them. A great feature of Moodle is the integrated blog and wiki feature. Each course as well as each user automatically has access to their own blog. Everything in one place!
Below is an amazing new application that I happened upon today. More great tools to use every day. I will get an adventurous teacher to give this a go and report back. In the meantime, have a look for yourself and let me know what you think.
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