COD - 6/13/2012 - ClassroomWindow [Sharing]

ClassroomWindow is based on a simple premise: teachers are the real experts and no one knows better than they do what works – or doesn’t work – in the classroom.

ClassroomWindow is a place where teachers' voices can be heard by publishers, product developers, and district decision makers. Teachers may share their expert opinions about the books, curricula, and tools they use daily.

ClassroomWindow taps the practical experience of potentially millions of educators working with classroom products on a daily basis, combining the breadth of crowd-sourcing with the depth of expert analysis and evaluation, finally allowing purchase decisions to be made based only on the effectiveness of educational products and services.

ClassroomWindow hopes the transparency created via their site will heighten competition among education vendors, leading to more effective products that better meet the needs of today’s classroom.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0  

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.

Catch of the Day - All About Computers - 12/9/2010

All About Computers is a joint effort of CDW-G and Discovery Education to create a web resource to help today's 21st century educators develop a new generation of thinkers in our schools and in the workplace.

All About Computers provides lesson plans, articles, a technology showcase, and links all related to connecting the the 21st century teacher and learner.

Educators are presented four lesson modules …

• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Communication and Collaboration
• Creativity and Innovation
• Digital Citizenship

Each downloadable PDF multi-page module includes a related introductory article and lesson plans for grades K-12 (ages 5-17).

The All About ComputersTechnology Showcase links to the products of CDW-G's technology partners including such industry leaders as Lenovo, Toshiba, PolyVision, and others.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Catch of the Day - Hoot of Loot - 10/29/2010

Hoot of Loot is a website designed to enable everyone to buy and sell used or new school supplies, books, furniture, and anything else that is used in education.

Hoot of Loot is the first website to allow registered schools, teachers, and home school parents to place classified ads on a website that specializes in educational products.  School supply vendors can also sell their surplus educational items on the site as well.

Products are sorted in well-organized categories can be easily searched by buyers.

A normal account is for individuals, teachers, and schools that would like to place a classified ad on Hoot of Loot. The buyer contacts the seller to set payment and shipping details. Placing ads is free and there are no commission fees either.

A commercial account is available for companies that would like to place an ad on Hoot of Loot. The buyer places an order with credit card details which go directly to the seller. Hoot of Loot does all the advertising for their sellers with various marketing campaigns.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

DoSomething101 School Supply Drive

Staples and DoSomething.org are hosting the third annual Do Something 101 School Supply Drive. You can help right now by holding school supply drives in your school and community.

Through September 18, you can drop off school supplies at Do Something 101 collection bins at any Staples store across the US. Each Staples store is teamed up with a local non-profit organization that will ensure your supplies will help students in your own community.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Saturday Project: A Central Charging Station

Friday night, I finally had had enough of having things charging in every room of the house (except the bathroom). I decided to do something about it and paid a visit to the local Home Depot Saturday afternoon. This convenient kitchen charging station is the result.

The shelf has room enough for both my 13" MacBook, my 10" Toshiba netbook, and a couple of smaller devices such as my iPod Touch and my phone. The two hanging baskets below the shelf, which are the key feature to me, accommodate the AC adapters for both laptops, the iPod charger, the phone's AC adapter, a camera battery charger, and a charger for AA/AAA batteries with space to spare. If necessary, a couple more baskets could easily be added. A couple mini hair clips help with cord management.

The shelf unit is Closet Maid item 8279, $15.76, all hardware included. The two baskets are Closet Maid item 3937 at $3.67 each. The hair clips were locally appropriated at no cost to me. Total (with tax of course) was $24.48. Labor, about a half hour. Degree of difficulty, a caveman could do it.

Catch of the Day - Wed 29 July 2009

The catch of the day for Wednesday is iLab Central.

iLabCentral is where teachers and students go to access real lab devices over the internet, making high school science labs more real, more engaging, and more accessible.

The iLabs online experimental facilities can be accessed through the Internet, allowing students and educators to carry out experiments from anywhere at any time. These remote labs significantly increase the breadth of experiments that students have access to in their classrooms thereby greatly enriching their science education.

iLabs currently offers nine labs in conjunction with the Center for Educational Computing Initiatives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northwestern University's Office of STEM Education Partnerships. Included among these offerings are the Polymer Crystallization Lab, the Shake Table Lab, the Neutron Spectroscopy Lab, and the Radioactivity Lab.


The following are possible through The iLAB Network:

• Science teachers and learners in traditional and online high schools and informal science education programs now have the ability to experience the excitement and authenticity of using high-end equipment to investigate the world in the same way that scientists do.
• Students are provided new research and learning opportunities, allowing them to share and discuss procedures and results.
• Teachers can learn to integrate iLABs in a range of science courses (including AP courses), encouraging them to go beyond the current paradigm of cookbook science labs with outdated or inappropriate equipment
• Students around the world can access costly or delicate lab equipment which their schools might not other wise have the resources to purchase and operate .

Click here to see a Flash video example of the ELVIS lab located at MIT.

The iLab Network is supported in part by the National Science Foundation

I Wish I Could Get ...

Teachers now have iLoveSchools.com to find classroom resources without having to spend a penny. iLoveSchools.com is a web-based tool to match teachers and donors with each other to get sometimes critically needed items into the hands of students and teachers.

How iLoveSchools.com works:

• Teacher needs teaching tools...
• Teacher registers on this site...
• Donor has item he or she wishes to donate...
• Teacher receives eMail with offer...
• Teacher and donor eMail each other to discuss donation ...
• Teacher receives donation...
• A perfect match!

The I Love Schools, Inc. mission is to help America's teachers find much needed school equipment, materials and supplies they cannot obtain through in the normal ways. According to iLoveSchools.com, the average teacher registered on this website spends over $659 out-of-pocket buying these items. These people are consistently taking money out of their own paychecks to purchases items for their employer. Teachers have been doing it for years. The current economic climate has made things even tougher.

Once a teacher registers, iLoveSchools.com works to find donors who can contribute the needed items, new or used. Many items have found a great home in a classroom. Teachers across the country have experienced the concern and generosity of Americans who have discovered their needs through iLoveSchools.com and have responded with enthusiasm.

100% of a donor's gift goes directly to the teacher of the donor's choice.

Techno-Teachers

Some interesting stats from techLEARNING, 6/2/08 ...

86% of teachers have desktop computers available in their classrooms; 67% of teachers have access to laptops for their students if they need them; and only 5% of teachers have no access to computers of any kind.

9% of teachers spend more than 50% of instructional time using technology, while 16% of report no use of technology during classroom time.

85% of teachers report not having enough computers in their classroom as a barrier to using digital content, either always (23%) or sometimes (63%).

Nearly 95% of teachers use technology to search for free content for use in their classrooms; 36% report that they do so at least three to four times a week.

17% of teachers participate in online social networking. Nineteen percent of teachers participate in an online professional community.

Students of all ages are creating multimedia presentations in school: 58% of high school students, 49% of middle school students, and 22% of elementary school students.

New Grants & Contests

K-12 math and science grant and a wireless lab contest

Techlearning >> Grants & Contests > March 15, 2008

Using the Canon Video Camera

This video will introduce you to the controls and basic functions of the Canon ZR800 Digital Video Camera


Related: Windows Movie Maker video tutorial

Whiteboards Boost Learning

Research conducted in the United Kingdom concludes that interactive whiteboards have a positive impact on primary school students in math, science and English. Children who consistently used interactive whiteboards for extended periods of time progressed more quickly. In 2003-04, the British government funded the Primary Schools Whiteboard Expansion Project, allocating £10 million to 21 local school authorities to support the implementation and continued use of interactive whiteboards in primary schools in England. The evaluation study examined the progress of 7,272 students in 332 classrooms. The researchers found that the length of time pupils have been taught with an interactive whiteboard is the major factor that leads to achievement gains. This appears to be the result of the interactive whiteboard becoming embedded in teachers' instructional practice; when teachers have had sustained experience (around two years at the time of the evaluation) of using an interactive whiteboard, they are able to change their teaching practices to make best use of its features. Analysis combining the data from the 2005 and 2006 cohorts found that math students in grades three-six made additional gains of 2.5 to 5 months' progress. In sixth-grade science, some students made as much as 7.5 months' additional progress. Teachers reported that using interactive whiteboards positively impacted lesson preparation time, student assessment and student learning outcomes. The United Kingdom has the highest classroom adoption of interactive whiteboards. An estimated 100% of primary schools and 98% of secondary schools have at least one interactive whiteboard. Overall adoption in all UK primary and secondary classrooms is estimated to have surpassed 55% as of 2007.

Source: British Educational Communications and Technology Agency

CDW-G "Out of Box" Training

The training session which we had previously been told would be in Altoona at IU 8 is now in Indiana at IU 28. I have registered us for Friday, November 30. Our group will include Kristie, Denise, Amy, Mitch, myself, and Chad. Do to a conflict, we will need to attend the 8:00 - 11:30 AM session.

Only three schools may participate in each session. I have received confirmation of registration for this session.

MAP

Tips for Using and Caring for Memory Cards

13 Tips for Using and Caring for Memory Cards

From the Digital Photography School, advice on how to get the most out of your digital camera's memory cards.

Camera Media Deals

You may want to buy your own digital media for the still and video cameras so that your work is is stored on media that belongs to you. I shopped a little bit for you to try to find some good deals on SD cards for the still camera and MiniDV cassettes for the video camera.

Buy.com
SD cards
Kingston 1 Gb SD/1GBKR $10 (free shipping)
Kingston 2 Gb SD/2GBKR $14.95 (free shipping)

MiniDV video cassette
Sony MiniDV 60 min digital video cassette DVM60PRL4PCWM $11.87

Tigerdirect.com
SD cards
Ultra 1 Gb ULT31833 $12.99
Ultra 2 Gb ULT31923 $14.99

MiniDV video cassette
JVC MiniDV 60 min digital video cassette B275-2014 $5.99
Panasonic MiniDV 80 min digital video cassette B275-2024 $9.99
Sony MiniDV 60 min digital video cassette S167-4084 $6.99

Prices and items numbers current as of 4:50 pm, 11/7/07

Equipment Delivered!!!

This workshop has been moved to IU 28 in Indiana, Nov 30.

Nearly all of our equipment has been delivered including the laptops. The installation team should be here next Tuesday Monday. After that, we'll start rolling stuff out.

Remember, there's going to be a hardware workshop at IU 8 (Altoona, see the map) soon which you are all required to attend.

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