The following free software programs are good alternatives for concept/ semantic mapping technologies like Inspiration and OpenMind. These are helpful in the development of concept/ semantic maps, flow charts, diagrams, timelines, and more.
Category: Education
Review of Frontline’s “Growing up Online”
I watched the program last night. (PBS has made the full version of the program available online, along with extended clips, discussion boards, and a chat room.) Given all the chatter before the airing I found the program to be more balanced than I was expecting, but it was not without bias. Here are some of my random thoughts related to the program.
- It cautioned that kids may be smarter and safer about online socializing than we think. Are they learning this from themselves, school, parents, media, or …?
- The program dedicated more time to the use of technology for socializing rather than for educational purposes. I’d like to see a follow-up program deal with that topic.
- I’m not sure that everything in the program is generalizable to the larger population. While the episode never overtly made any such claim it’s important that viewers not make that assumption.
- There are excellent teachers that do not make any use of technology in the classrooms. The use of technology does not necessarily make one educational experience better than another.
- The issue of parents’/ schools’ safety concerns and children’s privacy is one that deserves a great deal more consideration.
FRONTLINE: growing up online | PBS via kwout
Here’s what others are saying:
- Comments to my (Clif’s) initial post
- Infinitude: Part I, Part II
- Jennifer Maddrell
- Weblogg-ed: Post 1, Post 2
- Geeky Mom
- Nick Pernisco
- The Official Growing up Online Discussion Board
Educational Resources: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968)
Memphis Commercial Appeal’s 2008 Special Section
Videos and Slide Shows available at YouTube, TeacherTube, and SlideShare
“Growing up Online” on PBS’ Frontline
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XyipM9STyY
UPDATE: The program has aired and you can read my review.
Random Notes from Clif
Joe Namath graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in interdisciplinary studies today, 42 years after leaving Alabama to go pro. Great story!!!
Have you ever seen The Human Clock? Be sure to also check out The Human Calendar!
I don’t think that I’ve ever mentioned Modest Needs. It’s another good source to get involved with charity work/ service education. The slogan, “Small Change. A World of Difference.” says it all.
Free Open Source Software (FOSS)
I’ve run across several lists of free open source software (FOSS) in the last few days. I’ve added each to my del.icio.us bookmarks (see My Bookmarks in the main menu) but I wanted to a bit more proactive in sharing this information with teachers, thus the reason for this post.
Free/Open Source Software for Kids – This list was generated for those teaching 3-12 year old students. It suggests FOSS for music composition, painting, space exploration, math, and more.
KDE-Education Program – This group is “developing high-quality educational software for the K Desktop Environment. Our primary focus is on schoolchildren aged 3 to 18, and the specialized user interface needs of young users. However, we also have programs to aid teachers in planning lessons, and others that are of interest to university students and anyone else with a desire to learn!” You’ll find about 30 educational software games/ tools related to math, science, languages, art, keyboarding, and more.
23 Most Valuable Free Software – A list of the most outstanding free/open source software.
GIMP – “The GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.”
Exploratree – Exploratree is a free web resource where you can download, use and make your own interactive thinking guides, concept/semantic maps, organizers, charts, tables, and more.
Firefox – A cross-platform browser, providing support for various versions of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. However, the source code has been unofficially ported to other operating systems. This project has a large community of external contributors. If you haven’t already switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox (or at least something else) then I strongly suggest that you consider it.
Blender – “Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite.”
For even more, you can also review my previous notes on other FOSS and TeacherJay’s Free Software Guide.
Teens Talk about Educational Technology
One of the highlights of the 2007 AECT International Convention was the fireside chat with Marc Prensky and 5 high school students. Prensky pretty much said the same thing he’s been saying for years (I’ve heard and seen that speech and presentation 3 different times now) but the students brought a fresh perspective to the technology integration conversation. It was great to hear students describe what they consider to be ideal instruction, assignments, assessment, and the desired classroom environment. I sat there thinking that we need to hear from students more often. You can read a transcript of this event here.
Steve Hargadon has recently posted an article (here and here) summarizing his interview with a 14 year old student “who has recently become actively involved in the online dialog about educational technology.” Steve’s summation and the audio of the interview are both intriguing.
I encourage you to spend some time listening to what the students have to say and then share your thought in the comments below.
REPOST: Beyond Access Inclusion Conference
The Restructuring for School Inclusive Environments (RISE) Project will be hosting the Beyond Access Inclusion Conference on November 27, 2007 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN. “The 11th Annual BEYOND ACCESS Inclusion Conference is designed to provide educators, administrators, parents, and related service providers current information on the best and most promising practices in inclusive education. More…
A Vision of Students Today
Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.
K-12 Online Conference
The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone. The 2007 conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries”. This year’s conference begins with a pre-conference keynote the week of October 8, 2007. The following two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26, forty presentations will be posted online to the conference blog for participants to download and view. Live Events in the form of three “Fireside Chats” and a culminating “When Night Falls” event will be announced. Everyone is encouraged to participate in both live events during the conference as well as asynchronous conversations.
Click here for information about podcast channels and conference web feeds.