I just posted a page on Cyber Safety over on the technology part of the district web site. The district sent out a letter to parents in December warning them that some students are posting personal information on sites like Xanga and Myspace. Students (and adults) need to tread lightly when posting this kind of stuff online, because they could become victims of various forms … Continue reading Be Safe Online

One of the primary principles of the American democracy is right of the people to know what our government is up to. Across history, as government operations become more secret, they also become more corrupt, and tend to deviate from the values and goals of the society. There are reasons for the government to keep secrets. If we’re at war, we don’t want the enemy … Continue reading From the Source…

I’ve described podcasts, and given some examples of podcasts about education and technology. But technology is not an end unto itself. If these things are going to be useful for teachers, we have to use them to teach science and social studies and math. You can search the general podcasts repositories, but it’s hard to find things there. The categories are very broad, and there … Continue reading Finding Education Podcasts

What’s that song? You know, the one that’s playing in your head that you can’t remember the words to? It’s bothering you now, and you can’t quite put your finger on it. Sure, you could probably hum a few bars, but what good is that going to do? Well, go over to The Song Tapper and see if you can find it. You have to … Continue reading We Got the Beat

Basically, a wiki is an editable web page. Traditionally, a web page was created by one person (or entity) and viewed by many people. I could make a web page for my computer applications class, and the students and their parents could go to that page and read the information that’s there. On a wiki, the web page essentially looks the same, except they can … Continue reading What's a Wiki?

I was complaining (in Searching Audio and Found It) about not being able to search audio archives. I was looking for something I heard in a podcast, and couldn’t find it, and, since it was audio, I couldn’t Google it either. Along comes PodZinger. This is a search engine for podcasts. I looks like they take the podcast audio, convert it to text, and make … Continue reading Ask and Ye Shall Receive

If this doesn’t impress you, nothing will. Maybe you haven’t bought into the hype. Perhaps all that Web 2.0 mumbo jumbo went over your head. It’s possible that I may be wrong that things are changing. Take two minutes and go to Protopage. Go ahead. I’ll wait. See what I mean? For the web-challenged (or lazy), here’s a quick overview: Protopage starts with what looks … Continue reading The Web Has Changed

Now we know what Podcasts are (see What is Podcasting?). Are there any decent podcasts about using technology in education? Funny you should ask 🙂 Worldbridges is a collection of people from all over the world who regularly meet online and discuss various topics related to education and technology. Perhaps the most cohesive of their efforts is the Ed Tech Talk show. They also have … Continue reading Podcasts: About Education & Technology

So, you take a suitcase. Inside, you put a Mac mini, a portable projector, and a heavy duty battery. You attach suction cups to the outside of the suitcase, and cut a hole so it can project outward. When the subway comes, you stick it to the side of the train, and you have suddenly have miles of underground canvas and a captive audience. Here’s … Continue reading A Poem on the Underground Wall

All right. I found it. I’m not conceding my earlier point. I think not being able to search audio and video files for something someone said instead of something someone wrote is going to become a bigger problem as we continue to explore using these media online. The audio I was looking for, incidently, was from Marc Prensky’s keynote speech at the Christa McAuliffe Technology … Continue reading Found It

I just found one of the really big problems with podcasts. I was listening to a podcast a month or so ago, and I heard the people talking about digital immigrants and digital natives. One of the points that was made really struck a chord. Of course, they said that the students of today are digital natives, and they’ve grown up with the technology. Their … Continue reading Searching Audio

There are some really neat things going on with podcasting, but I want to lay a little groundwork before jumping in with both feet. This is the first in a series of posts about how this technology can help teachers and students. First of all, a definition is in order. Basically, a podcast is an audio file that gets distributed through a feed. While you … Continue reading What is Podcasting?