ITSC Notes v3 When does meaningfulness start?

When does meaningfulness start?

Dr. Tim Tyson, in the closing conference presentation, challenged everyone to transform their teaching practice into what he describes as School 2.0:

• Authentically engaged learners
  
• Self-directed learning
  
• Project-driven instruction
  
• Independent problem-solvers
  
• Empowered by technology innovation
  
• Collaborative learning community
  
• Relevant
  

Spurred by the request of a middle school student to work during the summer to perfect his project to share globally, Dr. Tyson created Mabryonline.org so that student projects could be distributed globally on iTunes. He asked his students, “What do you have to say that’s so important that everyone on earth needs to hear it?” Their responses, in the form of student-produced videos, exemplify the potential results of true educational reform and should serve as motivation for all of us:
Mabry Middle School Videos

ITSC Notes v2 The View from Google Earth

Instructional technologist Lynn Lary of Oregon’s Springfield School District presented a dynamic workshop on the use of Google in education. The 3-hour workshop focused mainly on the powerful spatial representation capabilities of Google: its advanced search capabilities combined with mapping tools and Google Earth.

Dr. Lary led collaborative activities in which participants acquired hands-on experience in utilizing Google’s amazing power to locate and analyze various types of data. Most importantly, Lary shares, through her blog, exemplary activities in utilizing the power of Google to transform education by providing students with relevant, meaningful project-based learning that can be replicated across the curriculum: http://handheldcomputers.blogspot.com/

If you haven’t yet delved into Google Earth, Lary’s blog gives you the power and the incentive to do so.

ITSC Notes v1

This weekend, I have had the privilege of attending ITSC, the annual conference for instructional technology geeks held in Portland.

The Keynote Speaker, Marco Antonio Torres, was absolutely riveting! His presentation is entitled, “Now What Do We Do With IT?” He has accomplished phenomenal things with low income students in a huge inner-city school in southern California.

Be sure to check out his websites:
sfett.com
flickschool.com

The two premier workshops that I have attended so far were by Leslie Fisher, a self-proclaimed technology geek, and the infamous Kathy Schrock. Both of these workshops were fantastic! Here is a link to Leslie’s presentation handout.

Be sure to follow the links back to the root domain and see all the free information and funny stuff Leslie has to share!

Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until this evening for Kathy to upload her presentation handout. But she has so much other cool stuff on her website, it’s worth a look anyway: KathySchrock.net

Don’t miss out on Springfield Middle School teacher Eva Lamar’s website; she has wonderful tips and tricks for promoting literacy using Microsoft Word and Firefox, as well as projects that integrate technology.

Happy surfing!

Google Doodles contest

Google is famous for innovation. Here's a new contest that encourages art, innovation, higher order thinking skills and literacy, all rolled into one!

Picture this: You're standing in front of your class, but instead of keeping their eyes on the blackboard, the students are all sitting there doodling.

For once, though, they're actually working on an assignment -- namely, the Doodle 4 Google competition www.google.com/doodle4google which offers young artists the chance to play around with the Google logo and perhaps have their artwork seen by people all over the world.

The theme for our U.S. doodling competition is "What if...?"

What if...I could live underwater, or in outer space, or in Colonial America?
What if...I could see into the future?
What if...I could build any kind of invention I wanted?

Google will display 40 finalist doodles on their site and invite the public to vote for their favorites. The winning doodler will receive a $10,000 college scholarship and their design will take over the Google homepage for a day (the winning school will also receive a $25,000 technology grant).

Want to get in on the fun? You'll find everything you need, including detailed lesson plans, at www.google.com/doodle4google Registration closes on March 28th.

Have fun and good luck! You can check out Google for Educators @
http://www.google.com/educators