K12Online07 Audio Podcasts

Using what is happening in my classroom as a backdrop, we’ll endeavor to provide reasons, methods and rationale during our time here that support integration of 21st century tools in education. We will share a few tools and methods that you may not have access to, but much of what you will see is probably available at your school site … you just don’t know it yet.

Derek will challenge us to hold a mirror to our professional practice and begin reflecting critically on what we are doing with technology in our classrooms, using examples from New Zealand to illustrate the use of reflective practice both at an individual level, and at a whole school and systemic level. He’ll also describe an online tool that’s been developed as a result of the New Zealand research which seeks to assist teachers in their self-research.

There is no shortage of "Cool New Web Tools" out there and all three of us are guilty as charged for presenting them to teachers via the firehose effect. In our session, we will begin with a nostalgic nod to our presentation past where just 3 years ago we were talking up "Small Pieces Loosely Joined" - blogs, wikis, and a little RSS. Now there is so much more, almost too much. So we may talk about some cool tools, but more at a level of looking at the affordances which make them compelling, and why these and future breeds of tools and platforms matter to K12 teachers.

Recognizing that educators want students to engage in and enjoy learning and to have the opportunities for success and that reality often brings hardware and budgetary constraints, this presentation explores free Web 2.0 tools focusing on student learning activities and engagement. For each tool, a general introduction will be made followed by: Ideas and examples of how these tools can be applied in the classroom, Tips to introduce tools to students, including privacy and fair use, Tips on showcasing and assessing student work.

Design is a word and idea that engulfs so much of our lives. How does it impact our classrooms and schools? How can we begin to think of design as something that we intentionally build into every day. We’ll look at very practical examples and ideas to begin the process of making design and creativity a part of teaching and learning.

This presentation will explore a Concept Mapping solution developed at University under funding by US government agencies. CMapServers are running around the world for accessing, publishing and collaborating in building Concept Maps. CMapTools, use of which can promote the development of high-order thinking skills, is a stand-alone application for developing Concept Maps that can be published to a CMapServer. These Concept Maps are capable of containing concept text and relationships, as well as rich multimedia elements and hyperlinks to other resources to support and inform the map.

This presentation will explore a Concept Mapping solution developed at University under funding by US government agencies. CMapServers are running around the world for accessing, publishing and collaborating in building Concept Maps. CMapTools, use of which can promote the development of high-order thinking skills, is a stand-alone application for developing Concept Maps that can be published to a CMapServer. These Concept Maps are capable of containing concept text and relationships, as well as rich multimedia elements and hyperlinks to other resources to support and inform the map.

This presentation will explore a Concept Mapping solution developed at University under funding by US government agencies. CMapServers are running around the world for accessing, publishing and collaborating in building Concept Maps. CMapTools, use of which can promote the development of high-order thinking skills, is a stand-alone application for developing Concept Maps that can be published to a CMapServer. These Concept Maps are capable of containing concept text and relationships, as well as rich multimedia elements and hyperlinks to other resources to support and inform the map.

This presentation is for educators new to the world of blogging who wish to learn how to use blogs with students in a safe and teacher-controlled environment. It is also for current bloggers who desire a step-by-step example of how to introduce teachers to blogging. The focus will be on creating blogs combined with instructional uses and examples of web 2.0 tools integrated within the blogging. Blogmeister is a good starting point for beginners as it is free, not blocked, is safe, and there is a community of help support available as teachers are beginning the process of learning to blog. It can be a good place to start to show administrators and others the power of blogging and provide examples of why we need to have less blocking and more educating and empowering of our students and teachers. While Blogmeister is the focus a WordPress example blog will also be shared. This plan can be adapted to any blogging software.

A series of screencasts showing people how to bend and stretch Moodle to allow for authentic, web 2.0 style, participatory engagement and learning for their students. These screencasts will be accompanied by support files where appropriate, such as backed-up Moodle courses that can be restored on people’s sites as well as any instructional material such as worksheets in pdf form. I’d also like to provide some way for people to screencast their own work in Moodle and share with the rest of the community - perhaps using screen-o-matic, a free screencasting tool that works from your browser. This will allow other people to share new ways they have used Moodle.