Category: Presentations

Greetings from Selmer, TN

I’m spending today and tomorrow with teachers in McNairy County Schools. I’m looking forward to them discovering Andrew Churches’ revised Bloom’s Taxonomy and related resources. We’ll also explore ways to effectively integrate a wide variety of digital technologies and Web 2.0 tools with teaching and learning. Watch for us as we venture out into the network. We’ll be using the following tag for everything related to this professional development workshop: mcnairypd (and #mcnairypd on Twitter).

An Introduction to Presentations 2.0

Quite a few people inquired about what I meant by Presentations 2.0 in yesterday’s post. It represents a move towards more effectively designed presentations with an emphasis on the visual message. The following resources are part of a module in one of my classes in which we learn about presentations 2.0.

Presentations 2.0

  1. Before We Begin
  2. Examples
  3. Getting Started
  4. Resources
  5. Extended Learning

EBC and NECC Preparations Underway

EduBloggerCon (EBC) and the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) are just a few days away and I’m very excited about attending each. In addition to the great presentations and workshops I’m sure I’ll experience I’m looking forward to meeting many of the people from my online personal learning community (PLC) in person.

Here’s a bit of information about me and my EBC and NECC activities. I hope I see you in San Antonio.

Most of you have probably figured out by now that I don’t actually look like the image to the left, so I’ve included a photo of what I do actually look like in this post.

I’m a member of the NECC 2008 Nework at Ning and encourage everyone interested in K-12 technology integration to join this group regardless of whether or not your attending the conference. You can view members’ profiles and add them to your network. Visit my profile page to learn more about me and add me as a friend.

Drew Polly and I are presenting a bring your own laptop (BYOL) session Tuesday morning. The title is Integrating Virtual Manipulatives into Elementary Mathematics Classrooms and it promises to be fun, energetic, and engaging. Full details about meeting time and place are available here. We’d love to have you join us.

me07-500.jpgI’ve agreed to be part of the Diigo team’s EduDiigo presentation. I think there are many positive implications related to the rollout of this educational-friendly version of one of my favorite Web 2.0 tools. I’ll share the details of this session once I have them.

I also think I’m teaching a session as part of the NECC Unplugged slate of goodies. I’ll post the details here when I have them.

Integrating 2.0 Tools Meaningfully

UPDATE:
Technical difficulties interfered with this interactive activity. I apologize for the frustration this caused many of you. Here’s an example of a successful live blogging session.

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This is cross-posted from the PIDT Blog.

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In keeping with the principles of Web 2.0 I encourage the participation of everyone with an interest or expertise in this topic. You may contribute to the discussion and fun by using the resources below.

All the best,
Clif

Resources

Newsletter on Educational Technology

Throughout the years many of the preservice and in-service teachers in my classes, workshops, and presentations have requested that I start an email newsletter. They indicate that in addition to this blog they would like to receive occasional emails sharing rich resources related to technology integration. I’m excited to announce that I have answered these requests.

Clif’s Newsletter on Educational Technology focuses on the effective integration of technology with teaching and learning. Subscribers of this free service will receive occasional emails providing valuable resources and information about lesson plans, activities, technologies, research, etc., related to educational technology.

OPEN TO PUBLIC
Subscription to this newsletter is open to everyone. You are encouraged to share this with everyone with an interest in education (teachers, administrators, homeschooling families, friends, classmates, co-workers, etc.). Everyone is invited to receive this free newsletter.

PRIVACY POLICY
Your email address will never be shared with others. You may unsubscribe at anytime.

MANAGING SUBSCRIPTIONS
You may subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter as you wish.

1 Thing Teachers Should Know about Teaching with Technology

B&W HeadshotTrevor’s Theory

Trevor Acy

What I am about to say would seem like a fairly obvious problem with the use of technology in the classroom, but seeing as how I witness it on a daily basis at the undergraduate level, I can only imagine that the problem spreads to every classroom below.

The Problem:

Too often do teachers use power points, slides, videos, etc as an excuse for them to sit idly behind their desk and convince themselves that they are still fulfilling their role as an educator. How can a student be expected to be engaged if the person who is suppose to be presenting the information approaches his/her role with complacency? When I am excited about a particular subject, it changes the dynamic of learning from being told to learn something to wanting to learn something. It no longer feels like just a workload the teacher is assigning, but rather something I am genuinely interested in. Nothing helps this process better than having a teacher who is honestly excited about what they are teaching. You can tell when a teacher isn’t enthusiastic, and that apathy circulates the classroom infecting the students.

The Solution:

The solution is a simple one. Be engaged and enthusiastic about what you as an educator are presenting. Here are two examples of technology in the college classroom and how one teacher is misusing it and how another uses it to improve the learning environment.

One of my professors walks into class, loads his power point presentation, and takes a seat behind his desk. He flips through the slides reading them verbatim for every chapter between tests. Now these slides are the same ones that are posted online that students can read themselves in ten minutes. There is no incentive to go to class to learn any of the material. Another of my professors has a much larger class, which would make it easier for him to be complacent and just run through some slides. However, his slides are simply bulleted highlights which he expounds with graphic illustrations and current news events. Also, about once a week all the students meet online (through Aplia.com) and perform economic experiments where everyone in class represents a free market. Upon returning to class we discuss the results of our online experiments and then apply them to the material we’ve been covering in class.

To wrap up, it’s simple; be a proactive educator. Complacency is an educational roadblock. Before you blame students for not being eager to learn, take a step back and make sure your attitude and performance is being presented in the right fashion. The easiest way to get students encouraged to perform well is for them to see their teacher excited about the information he/she is teaching.

1 Thing

I’ve added a new feature to Clif’s Notes called 1 Thing. This special section is an area where guest bloggers can communicate “1 thing” they would like to share, suggest, say, demonstrate, etc. about a particular topic. This section will forever be a work in progress, so feel free to suggest guest bloggers and topics anytime. You can easily access this section by clicking on the 1 Thing link in the main menu.

Photoshop Now Available Online for FREE

I’m glad to see Adobe venture into the online realm. There are many, many ways that teachers and students could use this FREE resource. Photoshop Express is a decent first attempt, but I hope that they will put more resources into it and make it the leader in online image applications.

Photoshop Express, the long-awaited free online image editor from Photoshop maker Adobe, [was] released as a public beta [today]. Unlike Adobe’s more powerful image editing tools for the desktop, Photoshop Express is aimed not at the professional photographer, but at the casual snapshot fan looking to polish up images before sharing them online at sites like Photobucket, Facebook and Flickr.

Photoshop Express, which will compete with other free image editors like Picnik and FotoFlexer, is tailored toward the casual user with easy-to-use, one-click editing tools….The service also integrates with a number of photo-sharing websites, enabling you to push and pull photos from Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa, though not, at least for now, Flickr. Adobe tells Wired.com that support for Flickr in the works, but won’t be available during the initial beta testing phase.

Photoshop Express offers two gigabytes of online storage space and requires Flash Player 9. The interface should be familiar to anyone who’s used Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and offers tools like cropping, red eye correction, sharpening, touchup and more, including a set of advanced effects for changing colors, distorting images and converting photos to black and white.

All editing is non-destructive, meaning you can add and remove changes on a whim using the checkboxes beside each tool, which allow you to easily turn edits and effects on and off.

Read the entire Wired.com review.

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSpO4iFPF88

Resources

Photoshop Express – Getting Started

The Geo-Images Project

Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning

Teaching with Digital Content: Lesson Plans

Teaching and Learning with Squidoo

*DISCLAIMER: I’ve hesitated to share this resource because of the advertising and economics tied to it. I have given it a quick test and think that all of that stuff remains invisible. I’m sharing this resource because, in the right context, I see true potential in its integration with teaching and learning.

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Have you seen Squidoo? I would roughly describe it as a means of mashing up information from a variety of resources into a lens (as in the eye of a giant squid; fancy word for webpage). This is accomplished through customization and pulling together a good number of RSS feeds, favorites, bookmarks, page rankings/voting, etc. Lenses are ranked, money is given to daily winners, etc.* You can actually earn money for charity or for yourself just by using the service.* I have browsed through many of the existing lenses and been impressed by their quality. I am guessing that the whole free market competition model encourages quality effort as those with lenses with the highest use and approval are rewarded. Most of the ones I reviewed were by doctors, therapists, professors, etc. and all seemed well-credentialed. It is likely that you will find some lenses that you can use in your own classroom.

I haven’t completely made up my mind about what I think of Squidoo (I found it very, very late last night) but it has certainly given me some things to consider. Ideas for integrating it with learning and instruction have flooded my mind. In the right context it would be an interesting tool for teachers and learners to use for webquests, research, scavenger hunts, presentations, cooperative learning, online classes, a Web 2.0 activity, etc. Additional ideas and strategies are very end of this post.

There is also a section called Hey Monkey Brain where students can pick, research and debate a topic. Again, in the right context this feature has several positive educational implications.

I joined and threw together my own lens on the topic of educational technology. Take a look…

You can setup your own free account using here.

Integrating Squidoo

I thought it might be helpful to all of us if we brainstormed ways to integrate the use of Squidoo with teaching and learning. Here are some of the ideas (classes, lesson topics, activities) that came to me.

  • Business
  • Economics
  • Research
  • Writing and editing
  • Information design
  • Current events
  • Math/ science/ health news and research
  • Travel planning/ virtual field trip scenarios
  • Marketing
  • Student designed and developed webquests
  • Homework helper
  • Tips for parents
  • Book reviews
  • Debate/ critical thinking/ persuasive writing
  • Newsletters
  • Service learning/ moral education
  • Instructional design/ lesson planning
  • Online/ web-enhanced learning
  • Focus on composers, painters, or sculptors
  • Communicate information and resources to teachers about particular special needsMuch of the above can be modified for use in foreign language classes