COD - 2/29/2012 - MoneyIsland [Money]

MoneyIsland is a website designed to help kids make sense of money and learn financial responsibility.

MoneyIsland is a virtual world where kids can not only have fun learning, but their progress is also tracked and encouraged. Quests to exciting destinations like the Eiffel Tower and Atlantis teach real-life principles of financial responsibility.

The Parents & Teachers section of MoneyIsland provides detailed lesson plans and sample activities to engage children in the classroom or at home.

There is also an administrator tool within MoneyIsland that the players don't see. You can view exactly what the students learn and interact with the same content. Tracking students' progress can help identify areas where they might be struggling, so extra attention can be given outside of game play.

MoneyIsland aligns with national standards published by the Jump$tart Coalition® for Personal Financial Literacy. The MoneyIsland curriculum builds skills in three basic areas: Saving & Spending, Earning & Investing, and Using Credit Wisely.

Note: MoneyIsland is very Flash heavy.

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Do Our Beliefs Mold Our Reality?

 

I recently read Hamlet and the Power of Beliefs to Shape Reality by Maria Konnikova, a Literally Psyched blog post in the Scientific American Blog Network. The piece summarizes some of the results of research into our perceived views ourselves and our abilities.

"What’s more, our beliefs and construals can actually alter our reality. What we believe can, quite literally, be what becomes true. As an example, take intelligence, something that many people believe to be a genetically predetermined entity. While intelligence may indeed have a large genetic component, that is far from all it is."

Essentially, we become who we think we should be. There are two divergent theories of intelligence: incremental and entity. Incremental theorists believe that intelligence is open to change through hard work, learning more, and so forth. An entity theorist believes that intelligence is fixed. There is nothing you can do that will make you any smarter.

Furthermore, an incremental theorist views failure as a learning opportunity, while an entity theorist sees it as a personal shortcoming that was inevitable.

"… our world is what we perceive it to be, and our place in it, how we imagine it. If we think of ourselves as able to learn, learn we will—and if we think we are doomed to fail, we doom ourselves to do precisely that …"

Read the full article here

As an educator, relate these theories and ideas to the students you have taught. How many doomed themselves to failure because they didn't believe that any action on their part could improve their lot? On the other, I'm sure you had students who were challenged by failure and determined to overcome their shortcomings.

 

COD - 2/28/2012 - Mentimeter [Tools]

Mentimeter is a free tool that helps you interact with your students by providing a web-based tool that enables you to create questions, collect answers, and show the result in real time.

To use Mentimeter, go to the site's start page, type your question, and click a button. Your question is created. Add the possible reposes and pick a theme. Instruct  your audience to vote using their cell phones and a Vote ID you provide them.

Present the result which is automatically updated when new votes are received. You may hide the results when the class is voting. If you want to control the time when the vote is open, you can turn the question off at any point.

There is no limit to the number of questions you can create. Mentimeter saves your questions forever. To ensure access to your question you should copy and save the URL.  Future plans include making it possible to save questions with an account.

Mentimeter can be a low cost alternative to expensive classroom response systems and clicker keypads.

Mentimeter's goal is "to make presentations more interactive, engaging and fun."

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COD - 2/27/2012 - Piazza [Community]

 

Piazza, which means plaza in Italian, is a virtual public square online where students can come together to ask and answer questions and explore under the guidance of their instructors.

Piazza makes it possible for instructors to easily answer questions, edit content, and track student participation.

With Piazza, manage out-of-class student questions and answers. Students can post questions on the class dashboard. Then, in the manner of a wiki, students can collaboratively answer the questions subject to instructor moderation and editing. Students can also post private questions that can only be seen by the class instructor.

Instructors retain full ownership and rights to anything they submit or post. Piazza is FERPA-compliant and protects the privacy of students.

Piazza can be used anywhere with free iOS and Android apps available.

You can use Piazza free with no commitment needed and nothing to install.

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The Rearview Mirror 2/25/2012

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

Monday

Poll Everywhere uses cell phones and other mobile devices to create stylish real-time response experiences.

Tuesday

From The Innovative Educator blog, Creating a plan with students to use cell phones for learningpresents a complete lesson plan in which your students will address cell phones as learning tools.

Wednesday

The Big6 is arguably the most widely known and used approach to teaching information and technology skills world-wide.

Thursday

NIEHS Kids' Pages is an informational and educational resource for all ages to learn about environmental health.

OnLive Desktop Plus Offers More Service

OnLive Desktopfrom Microsoft, the subject of a recent post, gives you free, simple access to MS Office on your iPad from anywhere you have an Internet connection.

Now OnLive has released a new service plan, Plus. This Plus plan costs $4.99 (US) per month. The Plus version adds Internet Explorer 9 to the software suite and access to third-party storage sites such as Dropbox and Gmail. You also get priority access.

According to a Macworld story, browsing the Web through Onlive Desktop and Internet Explorer is faster than using Safari on the iPad because your iPad isn’t doing all the processing required to render the page. The browser is really running on an OnLive edge server and your iPad isn’t doing all the processing required to render the page.

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COD - 2/23/2012 - NIEHS Kids' Pages [Science]

NIEHS Kids' Pages is an informational and educational resource for all ages to learn about environmental health.

NIEHS Kids' Pages is a government website designed to teach children about the connections between their health and the environment; to encourage children to pursue careers in health, science, and the environment; and to assist children in learning to read and master mathematics and science.

NIEHS Kids' Pages is organized into a few main sections with sub-categories in each:

• Discover and Explore-environment and healthy living, recycling, pollution, the natural world, and how science works
• Scientific Kids-kids' viewpoint, experiments, activities, and quizzes
• Fun & Games-games and puzzles, coloring activities, songs, jokes, illusions, and riddles and brainteasers

What's that Word is a glossary of relevant vocabulary. There is also a Parents & Teachers area with lesson plans and activities, fact sheets, links, and more.

NIEHS Kids' Pages is produced by The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

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COD - 2/22/2012 - Big6 [Information Literacy]

 

The Big6 is arguably the most widely known and used approach to teaching information and technology skills world-wide.

The Big6 helps students develop the skills and understanding needed to find, process, and use information effectively by focusing on process as well as content.

Information search and use skills along with with technology tools are integrated in a systematic process to find, use, apply, and evaluate information for specific needs and tasks.

The six stages of the Big6 process:

• Task Definition
• Information Seeking Strategies
• Location and Access
• Use of Information
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

The Big6 information problem-solving model is used in thousands of K-12 schools, higher education institutions, and corporate and adult training programs.

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COD - 2/21/2012 - Creating a Cell Phone Plan [Lesson]

From The Innovative Educator blog, Creating a plan with students to use cell phones for learning presents a complete lesson plan in which your students will address cell phones as learning tools.

Starting with a discussion of the potential uses of cell phones as learning tools, students will then decide for what educational purposes their cell phones may be used.

Teachers will have students use their own phones to participate in a Poll Everywhere multiple choice poll and a free-text poll, thereby modeling what they are presenting.

Students will develop a plan for educational uses of cell phones and design a contract for cell phone use in the classroom.

The lesson includes a sample planning worksheets, NETS standards, and research-based instructional strategies.

COD - 2/20/2012 - Poll Everywhere [Tools]

Poll Everywhere uses cell phones and other mobile devices to create stylish real-time response experiences.

Poll Everywhere makes text-to-screen applications for SMS voting and text walls that can be displayed on the web or in Keynote/PowerPoint. Poll Everywhere can be used anywhere an audience can text or tweet. All the students in a class can now communicate with the teacher in real-time during the lesson through the use of cellphones.

Poll Everywhere is a low cost alternative to expensive classroom response systems and clicker keypads.

Watch An Educator's Introduction to Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere's products are used by Fortune 500 companies as well as K-12 teachers. Their customers include Google, TED, McDonalds, and others.

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COD - 9/24/2012 - CloudOn [Tablet]

CloudOn is a free tablet app that lets you work directly in Microsoft Office, edit & store your information online, and share files with your colleagues.

As well as being able to format text, change fonts, and correct  typos, CloudOn enables you to track changes while editing Word documents, use pivot tables and insert formulas in Excel,  present your PowerPoint slides complete with transitions, and more.

Key features of CloudOn:

• You work in the real Microsoft Office.
• CloudOn delivers your Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive files to one place.
• Open email attachments directly in the workspace or send files to anyone, even if they don’t have a CloudOn account.
• Use the file viewer to open and view PDF, PNG, EPS, or virtually any file type.
• CloudOn automatically saves any change you make.Watch a video introduction to CloudOn

CloudOn is available for iPad from the iTunes App Store and from Google Play for Android tablets.

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The Rearview Mirror 2/18/2012

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

Monday

The WatchKnowLearn plan is to deliver free educational videos over the Internet that can be viewed any time, anywhere, so that everyone can have the same opportunity to learn.

Tuesday

Checkthis lets you quickly and easily put your content online: videos, text, pictures, and more, change how it looks, share your link, and get instant feedback.

Wednesday

MakeBadge is a free, Flash-based web application for making printable badges, business cards, and passes.

Thursday

ePals is a platform designed to show teachers how to use technology strategically to promote meaningful teaching and learning and to bring together teachers and students from around the globe.

COD - 2/16/2012 - ePals [Community]

ePals is a platform designed to show teachers how to use technology strategically to promote meaningful teaching and learning and to bring together teachers and students from around the globe.

ePals hopes to achieve this by "creating a safe and secure content-rich environment that challenges students and educators to research smartly, collaborate with other learners of all ages, think critically, problem-solve, and communicate their learning using various web 2.0 tools."

To this end, ePals provides digital content intended for collaboration and self-directed learning. At the same time, by providing professional development, curriculum, and other resources, ePals helps teachers learn to integrate technology effectively in their classrooms,.

Meaningful content and experiences that require teamwork, digital literacy skills, higher-level thinking and communication are the standard of authentic ePals projects where students and teachers learn and work together.

ePals reaches into 200 countries and territories providing a potent network effect bringing together students and educators based on areas of interest and geography. The ePals network connects students with others with whom they share a common enthusiasm, both locally and around the world.

Watch a video: ePals-The Basics

An innovative set of role-based permissions and policy management technologies give schools and educators the ability to manage what students see and with whom they interact. ePals' policy management technology implements regulatory frameworks, such as COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) and FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).

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COD - 2/15/2012 - MakeBadge [Tools]

MakeBadge is a free, Flash-based web application for making printable badges, business cards, and passes.

MakeBadge allows users to create customized badges and other items on the spot. Design custom badges and business cards without any special design skills.

Video guides facilitate using MakeBadge. The videos describe the step-by-step process of creating a classic business card, a badge, etc. You will learn how to add text to a project to change layout, to select correct background color, and insert an image placeholder.

Watch a video: How to Make Free Printable Badges

MakeBadge supports Spanish,  French, German, Portuguese and Italian.

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COD - 2/14/2012 - checkthis [Sharing]

Checkthis lets you quickly and easily put your content online: videos, text, pictures, and more, change how it looks, share your link, and get instant feedback.

Everything published on Checkthis is automatically saved to its own unique short and random web address. It can be public or protected with a password. Invite other people to take a look or edit it themselves.

Checkthis features:

• Simplicity - No registration or set-up required.
• Temporary or Permanent - One day, a week, a month, as long as you choose.
• Public or Private - Open your content to the world or password-protect it.
• Collaborate or Not - Each page can have one editor or many.

Watch the video Meet checkthis

Checkthis is for instant web publishing without the clutter.

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CK-12 eTextbooks News

CK-12 is working to establish the development and distribution of quality open-content, web-based collaborative e-textbooks  that can be core texts as well as provide a flexible context for learning.

CK-12 is looking for schools who are already conducting pilot studies with their materials.  If you are currently formally exploring CK-12 materials, you are asked to complete this survey.

CK-12 is looking for volunteer beta testers for a new product to be released later this year.

CK-12 and Wolfram partner to enhance Algebra I...CK-12's Algebra I - Second Edition FlexBook has been enhanced by Wolfram technologies including  Wolfram|Alpha, Mathematica, and Computable Document Format (CDF).

See an earlier post about CK-12

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Inkling Habitat - Scalable Ebook Publishing

Today, Inkling announced their new online ebook publishing tool, Inkling Habitat, that is designed to speed the workflow for textbook publishers.

Inkling Habitat is a scalable publishing environment built specifically for interactive content. Cloud publishing means you can log into Inkling Habitat from any web browser, and have access to everything you need to manage product development. Everyone everywhere sees the same content, making it easier to communicate with your authors, vendors, and contractors.

Inkling Habitat's features:

• Global collaboration
• Cross platform
• Structured content
• Infinite revision management
• Automated error reporting

Inkling Habitat is currently on a limited distribution. Publishers, writers, or educators can request an invite to Inkling's Early Adopter Program.

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COD - 2/13/2012 - WatchKnowLearn [Videos]

The WatchKnowLearn plan is to deliver free educational videos over the Internet that can be viewed any time, anywhere, so that everyone can have the same opportunity to learn.

WatchKnowLearn believes the best way to make this happen is by organizing the hundreds of thousands of good videos currently available on the Internet into one super directory.

To this end WatchKnowLearn invites educators to suggest videos for inclusion into their directory, and then to review, approve, and assign those videos into appropriate categories. The videos are high quality and cover all major topics from elementary to secondary schools. WatchKnowLearn has so far indexed over 20,000 educational videos into a directory including over 3,000 categories.

No registration or fees are required of teachers in order to use the videos in the classroom or for students to use them at home 24/7. Users can browse the directory or search WatchKnowLearn by subject and age level.

The WatchKnowLearn website invites participation in a wiki system guided by teachers. Video titles, descriptions, age level information, and ratings are all edited for usefulness.

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