Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Marsha's PDA website

Hi, folks. Marsha asked that I post a PDA website for you. This is it.
(Here it is in long hand: http://uashome.alaska.edu/~magladhart/Handhelds/ED_630.html)

Have fun- and behave!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Ed Tech Standards

Focus: ed tech standards. Today in Juneau with the onsite class I will be talking about technology standards for education. There are two sets in particular that you should be familiar with:
  • Alaska Technology Standards. Last time I checked, many school districts in Alaska default to these as their district standards.
  • ISTE NETS standards (ISTE = International Society for Technology in Education); these are also what NCATE has adopted as its standards
They are very straightforward. The two also correlate fairly well.

ISTE Standard VI Tutorial. Also, in class I showed a tutorial I created about ISTE Teacher Standard VI, which addresses the social, ethical, human and legals issues related to technology in education. Go ahead and click through it when you have time. I am happy to send you the original PowerPoint so you can adapt it for your use in your classroom:
How to view standards. There is a good deal of discussion about the utility of standards (which there always should be). My suggestion is that you adopt the perspective that "standards are your friend." They can provide guidance for you if you are trying to understand what to do with regards to technology in your classroom, and they can provide "cover" for you as you innovate.

Monday, August 27, 2007

How to: Add links in blog posts, upload to TeacherTube

Announcement! We're using TeacherTube, not YouTube!
YouTube is blocked in too many places, so we are switching to TeacherTube. I am posting how-to movies there. So far it seems to be working just fine.

Questions from students lead to movies by me
In response to questions from students, I have created the following how-to movies and posted them on TeacherTube.

They are a little fuzzy, but if you squint and listen to my narration you should be fine. Click on the links to watch them:
Movies are 3-5 minutes long.

Let me know if you have questions.

Monday, August 13, 2007

The web-based media pieces that wouldn't play

When I was in Sitka, there were three media pieces that didn't play well on the PC I was using (as you might recall, we could hear them but not see them). This may have been because the PC I was using did not have a Quicktime player loaded on it. Quicktime is standard issue for Macs, but not for PCs. However, it is free for Windows.

Click here if you would like to download Quicktime player for either the Mac or PC.

I promised to give you alternative ways to see these three pieces. Fortunately, they are on the web:
  • School Train. Glen Bledsoe’s 4th graders created this as an alternative way to show they understood the concept of metaphor for a language arts class. They compare going to school with riding on a train; 4 minutes long.
  • Fox Becomes a Better Person. Hannah’s performance combines traditional and digital storytelling; 5 minutes long.
  • Epic 2015. This gives you a glimpse into a possible future. Pay particular attention to the role that podcasts play at the end of the piece; 8 minutes long.
Let me know if you have questions.

Jason