I was doing some maintenance on our online learning system (Moodle) in July. I decided that it would be a good idea to remove teachers who aren’t using the system. We have a lot of people who express interest, play around with it for a while, and then decide it’s not for them. So I wanted to remove all of the staff accounts who hadn’t … Continue reading Summer School
I’m just starting to get caught up on all of the podcasts I missed when I was on vacation. A couple weeks ago, the guys over at EdTechTalk hosted LibraryFest, a webcast on the role of libraries and librarians in 21st century schools. Their primary guest was Joyce Valenza, a dynamic, forward-thinking, technology-focused school librarian from the Philadelphia area. The discussion is online, along with … Continue reading The 21st Century Librarian
Emily started the dinner conversation. “According to Ruff Ruffman’s web site, cheetahs can run 70 miles per hour.” “Really? What else did you find out?” “Dad, I think we should Google cheetahs after dinner.” We did. We found the Nature site, which says cheetahs can run 60 miles per hour. National Geographic agrees with Ruff Ruffman. “Daaad…” She was getting impatient now. “I want the … Continue reading Considering the Source
David Warlick started this conversation about free wifi access at the American Library Association conference this month in New Orleans. Most (all right, both) of the technology conferences I’ve attended in the last year have had free WIFI available, but only in designated areas. This is the first time I’ve seen that they’re providing it for the whole conference (except the exhibit hall). He sees … Continue reading Wireless Access in Class?
Well, it didn’t take too long. Yesterday, this blog received about 20 comments to various posts, all within about an hour. Apparently, most of the things I write about are directly related to free online Texas hold ’em games. This morning, I had another 47 comments. Fortunately, I had WordPress configured to not automatically post comments containing links. I’ve tightened the parameters for comments, but … Continue reading Spammers Like Me
Wikis frustrate me. Back in ’91 when Tim Berners-Lee created the first web site, his focus was on an interactive medium. The web was meant to be a forum where everyone could be a publisher, everyone could contribute to the collective knowledge, and everyone could benefit from others’ contributions. It didn’t work out that way. The technical limitations to putting a web site online were … Continue reading Wet Paint
A subset of my tech team met today to work on the implementation of the Technology Academic Content Standards. These standards have been adopted by the Ohio Department of Education. While school districts are not technically required to use them, it is strongly recommended that we do so. In fact, the tool that school districts are required to use to develop our technology plans forces … Continue reading Have to Have to
We’re finally making some progress in the online learning environment. When I started teaching in 1993, I wanted to find a way to use the social, collaborative atmosphere of usenet in education. I was only interested in asynchronous communication — message boards — where people could contribute at different times. The advantages were easy to see. You could have longer discussions, and get into the … Continue reading Making Progress
I had the good fortune to attend a presentation by Mrs. Hricik’s first grade class at Woodland Elementary School last week. Her students have been working on their presentations for the last few weeks. Working individually or in pairs, they selected animals to study. They used Google to find information about the animal, its habitat, diet, and other interesting facts. They also found pictures of … Continue reading Raising the Bar
I was accused of being too nice to Microsoft yesterday. Before I get too MS-friendly, I should point out that they also have a suite of tools available to help students become more productive. Microsoft Student is a suite of tools that includes a graphing calculator, photo organizer, search tools, a dictionary, and an encyclopedia. Their book summaries include "over one thousand in-depth guides [to] … Continue reading Fair and Balanced
I don’t often speak highly of Microsoft, but they do occasionally manage to do some neat things. A long time ago, they produced the Microsoft Office Classroom Tools. This pathetically publicized collection of templates and resources helped students and teachers use the Office 97 and 2000 tools for student and teacher centered activities. They’ve updated the products for Office XP and 2003 with Learning Essentials. … Continue reading Learning Essentials
Taste of Tech 