Scott Sibberson

Dublin Literacy Conference 2012

2012-02-01T19:58:00.000-05:00

Getting ready for the Dublin Literacy Conference. Preparations have begun on a presentation about Web 2.0 Tools for teachers to help with literacy. I am creating a collection of tools with examples of how they can be used in the classroom. How can teachers and students learn and demonstrate learning using those tools. I will share it here once the conference has occurred.

Here is the link to the conference, if you are in the Columbus area and looking for a great way to spend a Saturday.

Dublin Literacy Conference

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012
Dublin Coffman High School

Online Graphing Calculator

2012-02-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

I recently ran across a graphing calculator online. It is very easy to navigate and allows the user to share the graphs they create. It is a product of Desmos. Within a couple of days, they had upgraded to a product that allows the user to create an account to save and share the graphs that they create, abettercalculator. This is awesome. Here is what the website looks like.

Along the left side, you get to enter equations, points, etc. It has a keypad, so you can choose numbers, letters, functions, etc. These are all browser based, which makes it very easy to navigate on an Interactive White Board. I think teachers will love this.

As I mentioned before, a logged-in user can save graphs into a folder, share the link to the graph, or save an image of the graph in .png format. It even allows the user to tweet out the result of the graph.

Another great feature is the customizable settings of the graph. You have control over the x-axis, y-axis, scales, etc. You can even use pi as a label. Nice for trigonometry. Give the page a try. It is probably a page you'll come back to frequently.

More QR Codes in Science

2011-10-25T15:39:00.000-04:00

Our Physics teachers are using QR Codes with their students in a couple of ways that are pretty useful. First, they are using the QR Code to take the students to a "Friday Picture of the Week." This is a picture of some physics object that the students have either learned about or will learn about. Students are encouraged to submit photos that they find throughout their work.

Second, the teachers use QR Codes for the students to reference online assessments using the online source, Quizstar. The students can use their phones, laptops, or other device to take these assessments. The QR Code allows the students to avoid typing in long URLs. These Quizstar formative assessments then provide the teachers with data about the students and their knowledge of the subject.

The last way that the teachers are using QR Codes is on a calendar that is on a bulletin board outside their classroom. It has QR Codes that relate to the day's activities. Some codes are for Quizstar assessments, some are for videos (that are hosted on their class webpage), and some are for pdf files that the students may need. This makes it very easy for a student to find out what happened in class on a day they were absent.

QR Codes are starting to pop up everywhere. How creative can you get? Incorporate them into your classroom.

Must Read for Teacher Leaders

2011-10-23T18:58:00.000-04:00

If you work as a school leader, there is a new book that can really shed light on digital technology and social media. What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media, edited by Scott McLeod and Chris Lehmann, brings together the thoughts of many leaders in educational technology. There are many chapters dedicated to different topics that teachers and leaders need to know about and start to utilize with their students. Each chapter gives some background information, then delves into some practical application of that topic, giving examples of how each is used in schools.

The chapters range from basic blogging and wikis to digital video, from virtual classrooms to one-on-one computing, from social bookmarking to Twitter, and much, much more. These chapters are written by some of my favorite educational technology "teachers." I am constantly learning from many of the people that contributed to this book, like:
Vicki Davis
Steve Dembo
Wesley Fryer
Will Richardson
Karl Fisch
Chris Lehmann
Dean Shareski
Richard Byrne
Miguel Guhlin
Alec Couros
Kevin Jarrett
Kim Cofino
David Jakes
Liz Kolb
Jeff Utecht
Ewan McIntosh

Check out the book, as well as the many resources it shares. There is definitely much to be learned from it. Every staff should have access to it. It is a quick read, but will provide thorough materials for the topics that you would like to investigate further.

QR Code Bulletin Board

2011-10-18T06:54:00.000-04:00

Our World Languages Department decided to incorporate QR Codes into their bulletin board. They surveyed their teachers and each submitted their favorite music videos from different countries. Then, they prepared a page on each artist (or group). So each page contains the name of the artist, the title of the song, a brief description, and a QR Code to the Youtube video of that song. Students and staff can use their QR readers to access that song. Pretty Cool. The photos below are from the whole bulletin board and one of the pages.

Glogster Instead of Posters!

2011-10-17T15:03:00.003-04:00

If you are like me, you are tired of those "same old posters." Students print pictures, cut them out, and paste them on poster board. Or they make the "tri-fold presentation board" with printed material and pictures from the web. Why not make something interactive and colorful?

Glogster allows the user to add pictures, video, audio, links, etc. It is colorful, interactive, and fun. A teacher can collect these online posters from students and share them with the class and parents. Wow! And we didn't have to buy paper, glue, toner, etc. With these glogs, students can link to the websites where the material is found, making it easy for the reader to obtain more information, if interested. These glogs are shareable and embeddable. They've made it very easy.

Glogster also has a teacher friendly account. Glogster.edu makes it easy for teachers to share their online posters. It allows for simple creation of collaborative class projects.

Check out my first glogster. Literally done in less than one hour. It contains links, video, and audio.

Annotation Tools in Preview

2011-10-09T12:25:00.000-04:00

Preview on the mac has a tool menu that contains annotation tools. These tools allow you to easily open any pdf file and "mark it up." These tools are quick to use, giving you easy access to editing and emphasizing a document. PDF files can be created from anything that is printable. You can save your work as a PDF, then display the PDF files on your board or screen with a projector. Then, using their tools, you can edit, highlight changes or re-emphasize strong parts of the document. There are many uses for this in the classroom.

Here are the tools:

Here is a tutorial video:

Skype for Open House

2011-09-08T13:01:00.000-04:00

Our Chinese teacher has to travel between all 3 of our high schools. Unfortunately, two of the schools had Open House on the same night, so we had a problem. She came to me and asked if we could Skype into the classroom to allow the parents to meet her and hear from her, since she would be physically unable to change buildings in the 10 minutes allotted. I thought it would be a great idea.

We were able to set up the computers and allow the Skype to occur. She was able to share part of her Keynote presentation as well as talk to the parents. I believe that the parents were extremely happy to see her talk about Chinese, since I was going to be the alternative. She left her materials with me, just in case of technical difficulties. She utilizes many different forms of technology in her class, and this was a way to directly show the parents her command of Skype.

Magic Wand Scanner

2011-08-15T19:07:00.001-04:00

Check out this scanner. It is the Magic Wand Portable Scanner, from VuPoint. It's a AA battery-powered wand scanner that stores the image on a mini-SD card. Really, this scanner takes about 5 minutes to setup and with some practice allows you to digitize just about anything you can hold flat. The wand is about 9 inches wide so it has the ability to scan a sheet of paper, making it easy to scan a student's work without having a flatbed scanner in the room.

Once the scan is complete (and you can store many scans on the same card without having to unload), you hook the scanner up to your computer. It uses a standard USB cable, which is included. Once plugged into my mac, iPhoto opened and the images were ready for uploading. No software to install. Easy!!! We are hoping that this wand will make documenting student work a little more accessible and convenient.

We also hope that it will help organize paperwork around the house. My wife can use it while traveling to organize receipts, so that will save us some follow-up work when she returns home. Also, it will allow us to throw away papers that we can scan and keep digitally. We'll let you know in a few months just how helpful this device is.

3 Free iPad Drawing Apps

2011-08-14T11:30:00.001-04:00

Here are three drawing apps for the iPad. They seem to be pretty good for kids to be able to produce work. Thanks to Shannon Miller for mentioning these. There are different features available for each program. These product are free and can be used by students of all ages. They can play and create. Check them out.

Crayola's ColorStudio HD - You can make pages using animations, clip art, and free writing. Work can be saved or shared via email. The user can also save a picture of their page with a screen-capture.

Doodle Buddy for iPad - You can create pages of artwork. Doodle, stamp, add sounds and pictures to create you work. Share your work via e-mail or save a picture with a screen-capture.

SketchBook Express - A high-quality tool for creating art. Use tools to create pencil, pen, or brush marks. You can also use shapes to create lines, circles, squares, etc. You can even use layers to add depth to your creations.

10 iPad Apps Every Teacher Needs

2011-08-09T21:01:00.000-04:00

Pages
9.99 (4.99 for schools buying at Volume Pricing)
Pages is a word-processing application. It is designed to allow the user to edit, create, and view documents. The documents can easily be shared via e-mail, or iTunes. You can add photos and graphs to your word-processing and you can also utilize some standard templates to create new documents. Pages is a necessity for the iPad user.

Keynote
9.99 (4.99 for schools buying at Volume Pricing)
Keynote is a presentation application. It is designed to allow the user to edit, create, view, and share presentations. Like pages, Keynote presentations can be shared easily via e-mail or iTunes. Photos, graphs, charts, and other media can be added to your presentations. It is an outstanding application for the iPad.

Numbers

9.99 (4.99 for schools buying at Volume Pricing)

Numbers is a spreadsheet application. It is designed to allow the user to edit, create, and view spreadsheets. It is easily share via e-mail and iTunes. Data entry and chart creation are nicely accessible in the iPad app, making the Numbers app quite helpful to teachers that utilize spreadsheets.

Air Display

9.99 (4.99 for schools buying at Volume Pricing)

Air Display is an application that allows the iPad to take control of the users computer. The display of the iPad mirrors the display of the other computer. The user then utilizes the computers software and documents to perform tasks. Teachers with LCD projectors on their computers can get the iPad to perform like a Interactive White Board if their computer has software that allows writing. See information by Wesley Fryer with regards to that process.

Dropbox

Free

Dropbox is a free online storage application. It is a site that installs on iPads, iPods, iPhones, and computers so the user can store files and have access to them no matter where they are. Sign up for your free account at dropbox.com and get your friends to sign up as well. Them more people you get to sign up, the more free storage space you get.

Evernote

Free

Evernote is an outstanding note-taking and idea-organizing application. It can be used on an iPad or computer with an account that syncs the information between the locations. It is easy to record audio, take photos, and write notes that can be organized into topic notebooks. Your account will even give you and email address to e-mail notes into Evernote.

Google Search

Free

Google Search makes searching the internet extremely easy, by saving you keystrokes. Google Search utilizes Google's searching capabilities - like Voice Search (speak into the phone or iPad and it translates and starts the search), Google Goggles (searches using photo recognition - take a picture and it tries to find it), and it also uses your location to find information that is in your vicinity. This is an outstanding application.

Dragon Dictation

Free

Dragon Dictation is a voice-to-text translator. This application records your speech and translates it into text with outstanding accuracy. The text can then be sent to others by text message, e-mail, and cut to your clipboard. Dragon Dictation also connects easily to social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Show Me

Free

Show Me is a screencasting application.

See Previous Post

Screen Chomp

Free

Screen Chomp is a screencasting application.

See Previous Post

Here are 10 applications that your iPad would love to have. The applications will help you be productive and efficient. As you can see, I like "Free" and feel like there is so much out there to help you do good work. Here are some. Send me your others.

Honorable Mention

Scan - A QR Code Reader

Dictionary.com - A Dictionary and Thesaurus look up.

Keynote Remote - Allows you to control your Keynote Presentations from your iPad.

Flipped Classroom

2011-08-01T09:07:00.000-04:00

This past year, I heard a lot about flipping a classroom. We had some teachers in our school who were flipping their instruction. It has become a fairly common practice from what I am seeing. What is flipping? Having the students receive instruction at home, via podcast or screencast, and then spending class time working, with teacher support, on problems and applications regarding the instruction. At BLC11 this past week, I was lucky to see some of very good presentations that involved flipping instruction. The presentations mentioned a couple of great points to why you would flip instruction as well as what you need to do to make that happen.

First off, I would like to thank the speakers that I saw - Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams (from Colorado) and Garth Holman and Mike Pennington (from Ohio). These guys have worked together in their preparation of lessons to share with students. I am finding that the effectiveness of this type of instruction can be greatly influenced by two people providing the instruction by asking questions and explaining the concepts. Bergmann and Sams have a ning that they share some of their information - Flipped Class. Holman and Pennington have just started using flipped instruction and are planning on doing more of it this year. They have a website called TeachersForTomorrow.Net. The feedback they received from students was outstanding.

There are many reasons why flipped instruction can be very successful. First off, the students can work through applications and problems with the teacher in the room for support. The teacher takes on more of a "coach" role, as the students work together to solve problems that would have been difficult to solve on their own at home. Flipping also allows the students to view the instruction at their own pace. They can pause videos, rewind to see again, and watch multiple times, if necessary. And another good reason is that when a student is absent, their instruction is available at a later date. These reasons make the idea of flipping the instruction quite helpful.

What do the teachers have to do to flip instruction? Many teachers record their teaching with video. They can record with their SmartBoards, or set up a video camera in their classroom and record their instruction. Some use tablet computers to record their voice and writing, then create a video with editing software. This process is called screencasting. Others use webcams and create interview shows with other teachers, recording their explanations of concepts with their computers. There are many ways to record your instruction so that it can be shared with your students.

My hope is that as more and more people will flip their instruction, then more and more lessons will get shared. There are many awesome teachers that have excellent ways to teach concepts and that students could benefit greatly from being able to see those recordings. Give flipping a try. Record your instruction, let the kids see it ahead of time, and enjoy the time working with kids on new problems that they can solve and work through with you in the room with them.

Connecting with Good People

2011-07-30T07:32:00.000-04:00

Below are some people you might want to follow on Twitter. I had the opportunity to see and hear these people talk at BLC11 in Boston. They spoke on various topics regarding education and technology. They are:

Garth Holman - @garthholman - online textbook and collaborating from a distance - blog
Mike Pennington - @professormike1 - online textbook and collaborating from a distance - blog
Jon Bergmann - @jonbergmann - flipped classrooms - ning
Aaron Sams - @chemicalsams - flipped classrooms- ning
Chris Bell - @cbell619 - google docs for collaboration - web info
Marco Torres - @torres21 - using technology to engage students - web info
Jeff Utecht - @jutecht - using QR codes in schools - blog
Angela Maiers - @angelamaiers - social networking and web 3.0 - web info
Rob Evans - dealing with change in schools - web info
Kathy Cassidy - @kathycassidy - digital portfolios - blog
Seth Bowers - @sethbowers - student tools for collaboration - blog

If you get a chance, read the material these people write about or see them in the future. They have good insights into helping students succeed. Their ideas are good and materials are helpful.

Screen Chomp

2011-07-29T09:21:00.000-04:00

Screen Chomp is a new piece of free software that is out for the iPad. TechSmith Corp has developed this software to help make it very easy to capture work off of an iPad. You can record writing and audio to create videos of your work, creating a screencast of what was happening. Screencasting is an outstanding way to create tutorials for sharing what you learn and know.

Using Screen Chomp, you have the ability to change text color, display photos that are on your iPad, and easily save the video. It also has the ability to send directly to Facebook. It is a new piece of software and the developers are looking for feedback. Students have found this software easy to use to demonstrate what they know - allowing them to share with other students.

ShowMe App

2011-07-18T20:44:00.001-04:00

A few of our teachers at school are going to use iPads in class. They are going to use the iPads to control their LCD projectors and whiteboards. I will write about that process as it unfolds, but today I want to share with you an app that I just found and have been playing with. It is the the app called ShowMe. It is an app that allows the iPad user to write on the iPad and record what is written, as well as any audio that you provide while working.

On the left-hand side of the page, you can see that you have a pencil tool, an erase tool, a clear-screen tool, and a picture insertion tool. You can choose pencil colors. And at the bottom of the page is a record button, so you can record what is written on the page. It also records the audio so you can describe what is taking place. This is outstanding for recording tutorial work. It would also be an excellent way for students to demonstrate their understanding. They can do the work and explain as they go. You can save the recording for sharing later with other students.

Once you record your video, you can upload it to ShowMe's website. You will be given the choice of making it public or private. If private, you'll be able to share it with a link. If public, anyone on the ShowMe website would be able to search and find it.

You can title the video, provide a description, and also keyword tag it for future reference.

As you can see here, you can share it on facebook, twitter, or email. I think that this application may prove helpful and easy-to-use for teachers to create tutorials for their students. Give it a try.

Building a Master Schedule

2011-06-11T10:04:00.000-04:00

We just finished building our master schedule. It is quite a process, and one that if completed conscientiously, can make a big difference as to how many students can really get the classes they want and need. Usually, this process is done with a month or so of school to go, so that schedule conflicts can be worked out. This year, due to budget issues - which led to staffing issues, we were put on hold. We have never built a schedule this late.

We use a process that was developed by Pearson. They run workshops to train school administration and support groups how to build schedules so that a maximum number of students can schedule with no conflicts. We have 1200 or so students, so conflicts will be an issue, especially when you offer IB and AP courses. It is a fun "puzzle" to put together. We use scheduling boards and scheduling chips to help with the process. You can see them below.

For the past couple of years, we have been fortunate enough to use a computer program to help us with this process. A teacher from a neighboring school district developed his Schedule Builder program, and it has cut more than a day's worth of time off the process. I would like to say thanks to Jake Tawney. If you would like to see his product, contact him. It is really easy to use and saves a lot of tedious work. Thanks, Jake. This program is worth every penny.

I am glad that I am part of the process. It is a challenge that really adds to the school year, but people don't realize what goes on. If you get a chance to work with your administrative team on building a master schedule, you should try it. Our team consisted of principals, guidance staff, special education staff, science department members (room issues abound in the science department), IB coordinator, and others.

Dublin Tech Camp 2011

2011-06-07T18:11:00.000-04:00

Almost 100 teachers gave up two days of summer vacation to come to Tech Camp 2011. My technology colleagues and I had the opportunity to work with teachers on various topics and activities. The morning was filled with presentations, and the afternoon provided time for teachers to work together in small groups on different projects of their own interest. I was privileged to be able to present on two great topics.

I worked with Beth Politz and Joanna Doyle to present on Synchronous Communications - Skype, iChat, and Elluminate. All 3 are available for teachers to use from school. We showed teachers how these programs worked and gave them ideas of how each could be used with their students.

The other sessions I presented were on Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers. I got to present this twice, and both times the turnout was wonderful. Teachers were eager to hear about Twitter, Google Apps, Blogger, Flickr, Shelfari, and other free online applications. I have posted this presentation here - http://scottsibberson.blogspot.com/p/presentation.html. You can view the presentation here, as well as other resources that were used.

Thanks to all teachers that showed the interest to attend. Keep working and "playing". It doesn't come easy.

iChromy

2011-06-05T09:04:00.000-04:00

Where have I been for months? What a busy spring! Plus, I've been playing with a new iPad. We'll save that post for a later date. WOW - it may be a game-changer. But let's get back to today's topic - iChromy. iChromy is available at the iTunes Store.

iChromy is a web browser application created by Diigo for the iPad. It's free and easy to use and there are a couple of features that are outstanding.

First, the ability to forward a webpage to your others accounts is quite easy to setup and easy to execute. iChromy will attach to your Twitter, Facebook, Diigo, Google Reader, and more. It will also allow your to sent the URL via e-mail to others. I find this very helpful as I am gathering resources to share with other people. To have all of my account just one click away is extremely helpful.

The other feature that I find helpful, is the feature of saving a website for later reading - offline. There is a "glasses" button that allows you to save a website. You can then access the information from that website at a later time, even if you are not connected to the web. This is quite helpful if you are going to be in a car or on a plane, where internet access is limited. You can load up some of those articles you want to read for a later time, then just delete them when you are done.

I would recommend that you try iChromy. You will find it easy to use and quite a nice time saver.

More than Bracketology

2011-03-13T11:30:00.001-04:00

NCAA Tournament brackets are everywhere. It seems like everyone is doing it. Some play for money, some play for fun, some play for personal pride. I love that Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic bet on one sheet they call the "Sheet of Integrity." I have found less desire to fill out many brackets (even though I have run many in the past) and more desire to try just one and compare with friends, just for bragging rights. I just love this time of year for college basketball how teams play when they get to their conference tournaments, with the possibility of making the NCAA Tournament. I can't turn it off. I call it research....

By research, I really mean research. My real contest this time of year combines the excitement of the March Madness Bracket and fantasy sports. My friends and I get together and conduct a fantasy draft of players involved in the NCAA Tournament (one of our players is connecting by Skype, due to the fact that he is out of town). We draft 10 players for our individual teams. The team that scores the most total points in the tournament wins. We use Googe Docs to share the results - the spreadsheet is there for people to keep up with scoring throughout the tournament. Yes, it is quite competitive. And there is a lot of smack talk, but, my team involves a lot of research and data collection.

Data? Yes, data. I have compiled a list of over 150 players that will be involved in the "big dance." I have also collected the stats involving their points per game average. Spreadsheets (thanks Google Docs) involving that data and also the anticipation of how many games they will play. This is where the bracket comes into play. You have to be able to predict a team's success, to be able to select their players for your team. So you crunch numbers to establish a draft order for the big night. Do you take high-scoring players in a few games, or a medium-scoring player in a lot of games? That is where different people take risks. I tend to side with players that play a lot of games.

What data is most important? Some select by taking players from their favorite teams. Some select from the teams that they feel will advance the farthest. Some select from teams that are hot, while I try to take the scientific direction. What players score big on teams that will play the most games. I hope that my buddies don't pick all of my top players. I try not to deviate, but draft trends sometimes cause me to leave my sheet, just so I don't get blocked out of teams that I want to cheer for. I love my local Buckeyes, and always cheer for the Tarheels. The key players for our competition often come from the Cinderella teams that advance when unsuspected. Last year, Butler and Gordon Hayward took me deep into the Tournament.

So, do you pick players that score a ton? Or, do you take players that should play a lot of games? That is what makes our draft fun and competitive. There is so much more you can do than just fill out a bracket. I will spend a lot of time over the next day or two making some decisions in establishing my draft order. I hope I don't choose players that end up on an upset team or a player that is on the injured list (did that a couple of years ago - oooops!). I know it will be fun, interesting, and keep us interested in the whole tournament, even if the teams we cheer for are ousted. Have fun with your bracket. I will.

Dublin Literacy Conference

2011-02-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday was the Dublin Literacy Conference. Around 600 teachers from Ohio and the neighboring states came to Dublin, Ohio to learn about literacy and hear speakers cover different topics related to literacy. I have been involved in the conference for many years, providing technology support for the presenters. It has been a very rewarding experience, allowing me to meet many wonderful people and hear many moving speeches. This year was no different. Actually, this may be one of the best conferences in many years.

One thing that was different this year, for me, was that I was one of the presenters. I was given the opportunity to share information about Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers. My presentation focused on tools that teachers could use personally to build their professional learning network. I shared information about Twitter, Google Applications, Flickr, Diigo, Shelfari, and Blogspot - or at least that was my plan. I was able to share quite a bit about Twitter and Google, but found myself time-restricted in the introduction of the other topics. I figured that was what would happen.

I have arranged my blog to include pages that would allow the attendees to go back to my blog and see my presentation, a slide share, as well as other Web 2.0 Resources, which contain Diigo bookmarks that update whenever I add new bookmarks. Teachers seemed to be receptive to the information, even if they were not current users. I tried to give examples of how they could use these tools, both personally and with students. Check out the slideshow and links.

Poll Everywhere - Data Collection

2011-02-23T19:26:00.000-05:00

I recently signed up for an account with Poll Everywhere, so I could see if it provided data feedback that could be easily accessed and set up. I am going to give it a try with a poll at a presentation I am conducting this weekend. Poll Everywhere is easy to setup, and provides the audience with three ways to send in their response. Audience members can send their choice by text message, by tweeting to an account, or by accessing a website. Because of it's flexibility, it should be easy and convenient for audience members to find a way to reply to the questions.

Poll Everywhere compiles the data live, so you can see the responses come in. You can do multiple choice questions, T/F questions, or open-ended questions. With upgrades to your account, you can even mediate the responses before they are displayed on the screen. I think it will be interesting to see which online tools my attendees use most frequently - it will allow me to adjust how much time I spend on each tool. It would be a nice way for teachers to obtain data from students, to help guide where more instruction is needed.

Poll Everywhere also provides educators with extra benefits, as well as discounted pay accounts. They have K-12 accounts, Higher Ed accounts, as well as whole-school and district accounts. Each provides added controls and features, but I am trying the free teacher account. I can poll 32 people (which should more than cover my session - unless people read this and come see how it goes).

I'll write back later to share my thoughts and results.

EDUCON 2.3 - A Couple Days Removed

2011-02-01T12:21:00.000-05:00

I can't believe the weekend is over. Luckily, we had great flights to and from Philadelphia. Some of our friends didn't and had to spend nights and days in layovers and cancelled flights just to get there or get back home. I do feel lucky about our travel. I had so looked forward to the conference, because I had heard so many great things. I knew a lot of people that would be there (because Twitter makes you feel like you are their friends), and had read a lot about past conferences. I was ready.

After the first couple sessions, I was blown away. Here we are at sessions, hoping to learn a few things about different topics, and we are right in the middle of conversations with people about the topics. This conference wasn't like most. We were there to have conversations, to share ideas, not only with the presenters, but also with the people sitting around us. It was incredible. The audience was filled with so many smart and insightful people, all willing to share their experiences and ideas. All thinking about ways to improve the experiences of students - and not focusing on test scores. Innovation - how can we do things differently to create outstanding, authentic learning experiences for our students? How can we help students become passionate about their futures? How do we create an environment in which students can fail, then learn from their experiences, so they can react to new situations and find success?

Sessions were held that covered many topics, presented by outstanding educators. Discussions between outstanding educators and non-educators provided insights as to how we can alter what we do to help all students succeed. We need to work to create environments where we can model skills that students need, providing mentorships and connections that will provide them support into the future. Helping make connections was one of the many thoughts I came away with. How do we make connections with people to help support growth?

Making connections was one of the things that I found so energizing about EDUCON. I was able to re-connect with some people that I had previously met. I had the opportunity to meet people that have influenced my growth over the past year. I was able to meet them face-to-face, rather than just communicating through Twitter and email. I think those contacts are so helpful. I was also able to make a couple new friends. Technology will allow us to continue to communicate easily. It is amazing how easy sharing thoughts and experiences is now that Twitter and blogging have become so popular. I hope that I can convince my colleagues of the importance of connecting with people in their areas of interest, learning and sharing with people with common goals and hopes. We need to support each other and grow together as we try to help our schools become better places for learning.

I'd like to give a special thanks to some of the people that I met and learned from. Theses are truly amazing people. You should follow them, to see for yourself.

Dean Shareski (@shareski) http://ideasandthoughts.org/
Alec Couros (@courosa) http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/
George Couros (@gcouros) http://georgecouros.ca/blog/
Patrick Larkin (@bhsprincipal) http://www.burlingtonhigh.blogspot.com/
Chuck Poole (@cpoole27) http://www.throughourwindowroom101.blogspot.com/
Chris Craft (@crafty184) http://www.crucialthought.com/
Michael Wacker (@mwacker) http://mwacker.blogspot.com/
Troy Hicks (@hickstro) http://hickstro.org/
Sara Beauchamp-Hicks (@yoopertechgeek) http://hickstro.org/cccl/
Bill Fitgerald (@funnymonkey) http://funnymonkey.com/
Rodd Lucier (@thecleversheep) http://www.thecleversheep.com/
Leslie Davison (@lesliedavison)
Cindy Minnich (@CBethM)

These people, along with many others, shared of their time and knowledge so that many others can grow and learn. It is truly fantastic that all of you are willing to give so much back to the profession. Chris Lehmann and the students of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy should be so proud of the event they put together last weekend.

Readability - Make Web Pages Easier to Read

2011-01-27T10:25:00.000-05:00

Ever go to a web page that is so cluttered you can hardly read the text? Here is a tool for you. You can easily install it into you Firefox, Safari, or Chrome browser to help make the webpage cleaner to read or print. The company, Arc90, put it together so you could simplify what you were reading. It is a nice tool, one that students might find helpful when doing research. Watch the tutorial below, it is really simple. This link will take you to their website where you can set your preferences and install Readability.

Readability - Installation Video for Firefox, Safari & Chrome from Arc90 on Vimeo.

Tagxedo - Word Cloud Made Easy

2011-01-24T17:46:00.000-05:00

You see word clouds all over the place. Wordle does an excellent job of creating word clouds, but I was introduced to another site that made it so easy.

Tagxedo took the words from my blog and enclosed them in the shape that I could choose, a speech bubble. You can easily modify the colors, theme, fonts, orientation, and layout. There are many choices for shapes, and you have the ability to save into different sizes and formats. I would recommend this site for easy creation of a cloud that you could use to illustrate your point.

The thing I found quite helpful was that you could bring the words in from a website, a blog, a twitter account, a delicious account, etc. You can also cut and paste your text from other sources as well. Give it a try. I think it is an awesome way to illustrate frequently used and key words from your writing. Once you submit your words for processing, you will soon see the shape you asked for. All of the characteristics of the shape are then modifiable, so you can make it look the way you want.

EDUCON - Almost Here

2011-01-22T11:59:00.000-05:00

A week from now, I'll be in Philadelphia. EDUCON 2.3 will be taking place at the Science Leadership Academy. It will be a wonderful opportunity to learn from and meet some of the very people that I follow on Twitter. I will have the chance to spend a couple of days in sessions covering a variety of topics. I think I'll get to see:

Chris Craft and Michael Wacker talk about online professional development. It will be interesting to see how other districts are using online PD as we are developing some for ourselves.

Troy Hicks and Christina Cantrill talk about digital writing. I am interested in hearing Troy Hicks speak and getting the opportunity to meet him. I will also get to hear him in February at the Dublin Literacy Conference.

Chris Lehmann, principal at SLA, is speaking about how we can take the learning that occurs at EDUCON back to our districts and continue to work on the topics we have heard about. How do we keep contact with those we learn from and support each other moving forward.

Karl Fisch is part of a panel discussion about the questions - Can Schools Support Student Innovation? His blog, The Fischbowl, is one that I read frequently.

Dean Shareski and Darren Kuropatwa are talking about teaching visual literacy and using youtube. They will be very interesting. I met Dean at BLC10 this past summer, so it will be interesting to see him again. I enjoy reading his posts and hearing about what he is doing. Both of these guys are people I follow on Twitter and read their blogs.

As you can see, there is a wealth of knowledge attending ECUCON, and I believe it will be an outstanding weekend to learn and develop more relationships. I think more people should attend these types of workshops. I will keep you posted as to how it goes and what I find out. Follow me on twitter, @ssibberson, or follow the hashtag #EDUCON. It will be interesting and thought-provoking, I am sure.

CardStar - Organizing All of Your Club Cards

2010-12-27T18:53:00.000-05:00

Does your keychain look like this?

You need to clear the clutter and make things easier for yourself. You need to start using the application called CardStar. I use the application on my iPhone so that I always have the numbers of all of my store membership cards. It stores my Giant Eagle card number, my AAA number, my gym membership number, my Kroger card, etc. You get the idea. And the best thing, it also provides a barcode for each number so that it can be scanned at checkout at a store or check-in at the recreation center. I don't have to remember my cards, or hope I haven't given them to my daughter to use.

So, if your keychain is unbearable, or those cards are just mangled, clear the mess. Download CardStar and start using your phone or iPod to store those membership numbers. You will always have them with you and be able to take advantage of member discounts and gas perks. I know my application has saved me a lot of money and time. The only place I have found it to be a problem is at the gas pump, because their auto scanners won't read the phone screen. That is such a small problem for such a nice convenience.

This application also allows for you to store information about the different cards. You can store phone numbers, addresses, web addresses, as well as other notes. I think this application will be well worth the few minutes it takes to add the number (it creates the barcode) for the different company cards that you register.

QR Codes for the Library

2010-11-12T14:10:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, I showed some of our staff members a QR Code and I posted a couple around the building. The media specialists, Diane and Michael, showed me a poster in the library that had a QR Code printed on it. "Why would they use a code and not print the text?", was the question. I demonstrated how, with my iPhone, I could go directly to the website associated with the poster. No typing, no mistakes. I piqued their interest. How could we use this?

Today, two days later, I went to school to find out the media specialists had printed a QR Code with a link to the school's library website. They were so impressed with themselves. I had shared with them the QR Code post of Jeff Utecht, that contained information on how to print QR Codes as well as how to read them. They utilized the websites and printed their specific code. I am thoroughly impressed. I believe they are going to print bookmarks for the students to take home with the code printed for their use. I also believe they will add the code to other print material that goes home with students. This will make accessing the website a little easier.

I also received a lot of feedback from one of our secretaries. She had seen these symbols in magazine adds. She brought me the Target ad from that week, that contained a lot of these same symbols. Those codes were sending shoppers to Target online to purchase the product that was associated with the code. Once we start to figure out how we can utilize these symbols - it may make access to material more efficient and accurate. It is amazing how much can be figured out just by "putting something out there". No explanation needed.

Tech Tuesdays

2010-11-09T21:46:00.000-05:00

On many Tuesdays in my building, we have "Tech Tuesday". Tech Tuesdays are days set aside to provide technology in-service/training to teachers and staff. Teachers and staff are provided the opportunity to come in during their plan time and see presentations and receive instruction on various topics from basic skills to advanced applications. Sessions last about 40 minutes and typically are voluntary. It is important to provide sessions that teachers will find helpful and interesting.

The Basics

Early in the year, the Tech Tuesdays tend to provide instruction on the implementation of necessary technology skills. These topics include First Class - our email system and communication tool, ProgressBook - our online grading tool, MasteryManager - our assessment analysis tool, as well as other software pieces that teachers need to be able to use. There are also sessions regarding PowerPoint/Keynote, word processing, and Mac basics - since we are an Apple district.

Extended Thinking

As the year goes along, we spend time with more advanced topics as well as other tools that teachers might find helpful. We have already spent a day working with teachers on how they can use Twitter - see earlier post. Our focus was on how they would use Twitter for personal and professional learning, and how they can follow people to grow their PLN, connecting with people with common interests. Our school has recently started Tweeting and we feel that it can be another way for communication and sharing to occur. We are also planning future events to include topics like Google Applications, Online tools - like Flickr, SlideShare, AudioBoo, etc.

One of the other high schools ran a day called "Tech Fair" - like science fair - by demonstrating different ways that teachers use technology in class with the students at their building. By exposing their teachers to different technology integration methods, their teachers were able to see what is available to them and also see the application into the classroom. We will try to hold a day like that at my building during the next couple of months.

It is important to provide opportunities for teachers to grow personally and professionally using technology tools. The more tools that they can be exposed to, the more opportunities that they may be able to share with the students. Their comfort level will be higher, their interest will be greater, and their chance of looking for implementation will be increased. Not all teachers will know all things, but if there are tools that they can learn and use, it will benefit instruction and learning. Tech Tuesdays is about supporting teachers as they grow and learn.

Blogging with Students

2010-11-04T20:00:00.000-04:00

Today, I had the opportunity to work with our IB Art Teacher, Kate Menke, as she is implementing blogs with her students. We are working on creating blogs with the students so that they begin to develop an online digital portfolio. They are going to display their work and explanations, as well as demonstrate their critical skills with comments on the other students' work. These students will be able to follow each other and see the growth over the years. I believe it is the start of something awesome for these students.

Early in our process, we talked about digital footprint, and what that means for these students. We talked about what the world can see about them and that it is important for them to share all of the incredible work that they do with society. It is important that they display their work in ways that impress the readers, whether it is classmates, teachers, family, friends, or anyone else that may find their work. We also talked about the permanence of their work and that what they post is a permanent statement to world. Also, part of this discussion was the need to be good digital citizens. They discussed the need to be honest and sincere, thoughtful and kind.

We then talked about the steps necessary to create a Blogspot blog. We went through the following presentation and talked about the importance of keeping their profiles empty and keeping the amount of personal information shared to a minimum. We stressed the importance of the students moderating their comments, so that comments that are questionable can be discussed before going out to the world. It was a nice process and one that the students will actually go through in the next few days. The students seemed so excited to get going.

Setting up blogspot

View more presentations from Scott Sibberson.

We have involved the parents in this whole process. It is important to us to have everyone on the same page as we move forward in this project. The teacher is excited. The students are excited. And, I am excited to see how this goes. I believe the students will grow incredibly throughout this process and they will end up with a product that they can be proud of and show off.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T07:43:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween!

Hope all of you have fun trick-or-treating! It sure was fun here.

Using the Necessary Tool

2010-10-28T16:43:00.002-04:00

Who would've thought I would need the cassette tape deck that was on the shelf in my back storage room? I recently had a student ask me if there was way to transfer his old cassette tapes to his mp3 player. I had to think for a minute, then realized that my cassette dubbing deck was there. We got it down, dusted it off, and connected it to the computer in the work room. What a way to preserve these old recordings that provide information that the student needs.

By utilizing Garage Band on the mac mini, the student was able to record the cassettes digitally on the computer. He was able to edit out the long pauses, and then share out the files as mp3s. He could take them home with his USB flash drive and import them into his iTunes account. He was so happy that he could hear these old cassettes. His uncle thinks he will enjoy the cassettes and that he could learn some new things. Now he can actually use them in a technology form he possesses.

My word of advice? Don't give up on some of those old gadgets that are lying around. There may be a use for them someday. You never know what tool you will need. My student is sure glad we hadn't sent that deck to the warehouse for storage. He is actually thinking of bringing in more of these recordings. Old school meets new school. Glad I could help.

Sharing What You Know and Learn

2010-10-13T17:37:00.001-04:00

I recently viewed the K12 Online Conference 2010 Pre-Conference Keynote by Dean Shareski. He talks about our need to share what we learn and to share it freely with others. His talk, entitled Sharing - The Moral Imperative, speaks to what we can learn from others if we open the doors of communication and utilize the technology that is available all around us. It was a conversation that I had with Dean that motivated me to start this blog, and share what I know and learn with others. We are forever indebted to many people for what we know. We need to give back. Our students will benefit greatly from the stories and experiences we can share with them.

Dean talks about his PLN and how he learns from people all over the world. Why are we restricted to the teachers in our buildings or in our districts? We have the ability to learn and collaborate with teachers from all over the world. He shares stories of the work of math teacher Dan Meyer, who shares his math lessons through is blog online. Dan's sharing helped another teacher from Scotland, who was using Dan's authentic lessons to help teach his students mathematical concepts.

It is our duty to share what we learn and what we find. I hope you enjoy this video from Dean and the K12 Online Conference. Visit the conference site and join in the learning. It will prove to be a rich experience, I am sure.

RunKeeper - nice application, website

2010-10-12T17:44:00.000-04:00

I recently started using RunKeeper to keep track of my running distances and times. I had seen a friend of mine using it and it looked interesting, so I had to investigate. I found out that RunKeeper.com is not only a physical fitness tracking site, but also a social site that can help you keep track of others that are utilizing the site. It allows you to keep track of your own information, but also allows you to network with friends and family. That is a nice motivator. You don't want your friends to show you up! Go to the site, sign up, and set up your preferences. It will only take you a couple of minutes.

It also connects to Twitter and Facebook, so you can easily post your results to your networks. You can let your friends know how you are doing and they can comment back to give you encouraging words. So far, I think this application will be helpful to keep me working through the winter months, when working out and exercising become difficult. Not only will it track runs and bike rides, it will also allow you to enter workouts that you do at the gym on different types of equipment.

One of the nicest feature of RunKeeper is that it has an app for the iPhone. Take your phone with you when you run. Listen to your music. Press start on the RunKeeper app, and press stop when you finish. It automatically uploads the data from your run to the website and can post directly to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Nice.

I would recommend this application to you if you are a runner or biker - it utilizes the GPS on the phone to track distance, speed, elevation changes, and calculates the number of calories burned. Pretty cool. Give it a try.

Twitter for Teachers

2010-10-02T20:32:00.000-04:00

I used Tech Tuesday to talk with teachers about Twitter. As we talked, I found that they were concerned about using Twitter at school. As the conversations played out, people started thinking about how they might use twitter. Our initial thoughts were to get them to use Twitter for themselves and see that there are ways to connect with many people all over the world that share their common interests. Our hope is that they grow their following, connect with great people, learn and share information, and then start to think of ways to implement in the school setting. I have struggled to see where schools are using Twitter on any large scale, so it is hard for me to start pushing them directly into using Twitter for a school-only experience. Twitter can be one of the tools that helps them grow.

When introducing teachers to Twitter, I began by sharing some valuable web sources. I started with Twitter in Plain English, by Common Craft, the Twitter4Teachers Wiki, and 30 Essential Twitter Tutorials for Newbies and Experts. These resources are good places for teachers to go to start learning new Twitter skills, as well as locating other experts in their field of interest. I shared with them how to do "people searches", how to follow people, how to create lists - so that they can organize the people they follow, how to look at people others followed, and much more. I tried to keep things simple - as Twitter can be a little bit much if you jump in to quickly.

I asked the new users to follow me and told them I'd follow them back. I had them follow our school (@dublinjeromehs), the school district (@dublinschools), and mentioned some other area groups they could follow. Many had friends that they knew were using Twitter - so those were easy people to add. I am interested to see how many will keep going with Twitter and what they find beneficial over the next few weeks and months. I think there are great resources to be obtained and shared through Twitter and hope that my colleagues can learn as much using Twitter as I have.

I am currently looking for schools and school districts that use Twitter. I am interested in observing the way they Tweet and seeing possible uses for our schools and district. My administration and I are working to figure out the best ways to utilize this form of communication, so that teachers, parents, students, and all interested in our building could "follow" us to see the great things that go on. Twitter can be a powerful tool to inform the community. Hopefully, we'll see some exciting ways to make it happen.

Dropbox - How to Share

2010-09-11T07:49:00.000-04:00

Having problems getting a project from one person to another? Need to get your powerpoint presentation to a colleague? E-mail is a great way to send some files, but what if your files are larger than the allowed size?

Try Dropbox. Dropbox is a free program that will run on your computer and allow you to store 2GB free in an area that you can access from other computers. It even has an App for your iPhone or iPad. You can store that presentation, podcast, or XL .pdf file, so that it can be retrieved somewhere else, or even by someone else. If you know someone with a Dropbox account, you can set up a shared folder so that documents can be accessed by either of you. 2GB of free storage space is more than enough to move those big files without having to burn CDs or DVDs and the transfer is very fast and secure.

Dropbox also has a program that allows you to get free extra storage. By getting your friends to use Dropbox, you can earn free space - up to 8GB of free space. Try it out and invite some friends.

What if you need to receive items from someone? There is also a program that works along with Dropbox to allow people to send you files, even if they don't have a Dropbox account. It is called AirDropper. It allows Dropbox users to send an email request to the other person with a link to upload the file. That person then uploads the file into your Dropbox folder. Pretty nice when you are asking for a file that is too large to attach to e-mail.

I would suggest that you give Dropbox a try and pair it along with AirDropper to make your file-sharing experience a little less painful.

Results of Survey

2010-08-29T08:27:00.000-04:00

Results of survey aug 2010

As you can see from the survey, there is definitely room for growth in many areas of technology when it comes to using online tools for personal and professional growth. Over the next couple months, we will spend time getting teachers comfortable with some of the tools that can provide much information and allow them the ability to share snippets of information, as they become more and more comfortable. We will continue to add new online tools, so they can see that there are many ways to communicate to many different audiences.

Some of the things that they have mentioned are concerns about time vs. benefit factors. Teachers feel that adding new things to their plate (without taking any off), just gives them more to do. We will attempt to show them that there is so much out there that can change the way they do their work. There are online tools, communication tools, research tools, and many others that can help make their job more efficient. They should not just keep doing things the way they have in the past.

We will start with Twitter and see if we can grow the number of staff that use. We will attempt to share with them some of the ways I use twitter, as well as some of the people that I follow. We will use sources of A Teacher's Guide to Twitter, by Kate Klingensmith at her blog Once a Teacher, video clips from Common Craft, and others sources mentioned before, like Jeff Utech's Reach and Will Richardson's book on Web Tools. We will try to get teachers to grow there personal learning networks. Finding people from around the world that share their same interests and passions.

We will then discuss some safety and security issues - discussing digital footprint and what they want the web to know about them. We discuss being proactive in the placement of information. Many teachers are afraid to put information out on the web, but they don't realize that there is already information out there. They need to flood it with good information, so that the incorrect or unwanted information is harder to find.

It is our belief that teachers will be much more willing to work with students in technology, if they are more comfortable using it themselves. We hope they learn a lot of new skills this year that will allow them to be more open and aware of what is available to them and their students, which will push them to think of new ways to approach those old classroom activities.

Wish us luck as we head into the year - trying to get a lot of teachers using online tools. Twitter, RSS feeds, photo sharing, podcasting, Facebook, and many more may be just part of our culture by May. We hope they start to think of new ways to use that really help the students prepare for their future.

Talking Twitter

2010-08-18T21:02:00.000-04:00

I had an opportunity to talk twitter with two teachers from Beachwood, Ohio the other day. Garth Holman, Mike Pennington, and I sat down and Skyped a nice discussion about how Twitter could be used with high school teachers. We discussed the purpose of Twitter and how it could be used to develop their own Professional Learning Networks. Garth (@GarthHolman), Mike (@ProfessorMike1), and I (@ssibberson) follow each other on Twitter and that is actually how we made our connection. After connecting through Twitter, they invited me to share my thoughts.

Garth and Mike recorded part of our conversation and have posted it on their blog - www.teachersfortomorrow.net - and you can hear the conversation there - http://tinyurl.com/3x2zqab. These guys are doing a very nice job of connecting with people around the State of Ohio and are connecting with Alan November. Their site is a great resource for educators. They talked about possibly being at BLC11 next summer. Hopefully, I'll get to see them and we can meet in person. I am hoping that we will work together and share different thoughts of using technology in our schools.

Our hope is that we will do a follow-up interview to discuss where Twitter goes with the staff and community of our high school. My hope is that we will have so much success that the other high schools in our district will jump on board. I think that the Twitter world can provide some outstanding connections to professionals that will help teachers improve their craft. There are many ways that we can use Twitter to communicate with the community and we are hoping it is very successful. Follow us and see where it goes - Dublin Jerome High School (@dublinjeromehs).

Kids and Technology

2010-08-15T21:44:00.000-04:00

The phone rang at 8:30 today. My wife looked at me like - "You are going lose your free day today" - as she was talking to my cousin's wife. The girls were all going to see Wicked today and I was going to be alone to do some chores, watch some golf, and generally have a relaxing day. The call was telling us that my uncle, who was going to watch my cousin's 5 year old boy, had the stomach flu and wouldn't be able to watch him. What is next - I was going to be the fill-in. I love him. He is a hilarious, fun little boy, but my babysitting skills were a bit out of date as my own kids are now 10 and 19...

What I found out was that he was bringing some Wii games, his cars, and some other toys. I was hoping the weather would break and I'd be able to take him to the zoo. The Columbus Zoo is awesome and I haven't seen the polar bears, yet. Options.... That's all I need.

When he got here, he showed me his Wii games. I always enjoy some time with the Wii and he would give me a good excuse to play for a while. Needless to say, I would be able to play and have some fun. Does a 5 year old have the stamina to play for many hours? Sure, he sure did. We had a Wii marathon. I am not the greatest player of video games, but I have to admit, he crushed me over and over and over. We played three different games - Harry Potter Legos, Mario Galaxy 2, and Super Mario Brothers. I could not believe how much he could navigate the menus.

He could quickly navigate through the setup, then explain what was going to happen in the game. He could teach me some basics of the game and then show me different things to do, which buttons to use, and what characters to use. I asked him how he knew and he said that he played with his dad and that they figured stuff out. He knew character names, button commands, which games needed nunchucks, and how the game would progress. He even got frustrated with me if I didn't catch on fast enough. I could really not believe how comfortable he was with the machine.

Spending the day with Jake makes me think about how much young kids could really use technology. How do we get different gadgets in the hands of the kids. They would be able to figure out how to do different things all the time. They could play and figure out what would happen, then share with us. I definitely swallowed my competitive pride, as I like to win, but Jake really opened my eyes as to what young children can really do and be comfortable with. What can we do to get children comfortable with other forms of technology? How can we get them to be as productive with other forms of technology as they are with gaming systems. They have the ability. We just have to give them opportunities to "play" with the tools.

Old Technology - Visiting the Past

2010-08-08T12:13:00.000-04:00

I spent the evening at the Gallery Hop in the Short North in Columbus. We were walking around and looking in stores and shops and just happened to stumble upon some cool stores. One of the shops was a paper store, On Paper. On the shelf was...

We continued on our way until we got to a vintage store, Flower Child, where I found these treasures from the past...

It really makes me appreciate the new technology we have. How easy it is to have things at our fingertips. We just plug in new devices, edit, and enjoy. My youngest daughter didn't even know what some of these things were. Enjoy today's technology - it will be in a vintage store before we know it.

You Have to Read This One!

2010-08-07T13:23:00.000-04:00

Been reading Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, by Will Richardson. I find it to be a "must read" for teachers at all grade levels. Will Richardson is a master of technology integration and this book is filled with different web tools and suggestions for integrating them into the classroom. He does an excellent job of describing the tool, so the teacher can be a user, and then explains how it can be used with students. He even gives teachers ideas of how to be safe and careful with putting students and their work "out there" for the world to see.

This book focuses on tools that are free and easily accessible to teachers. The tools and skills that he writes about include Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts, RSS, Twitter, Screencasting, Flickr, and others. He does a great job of including links to tutorials, screen captures, and step-by-step descriptions of what teachers can do with the tools. His intention is that teachers become users, then integrate the tool into the classroom for the students. These are all web tools that the students should be able to use to share their ideas and work.

My hope is that teachers will read the book, or at least some chapters, and start to utilize the web tools available to their students. We are working in a time where students can gather much information quickly on the web, and they spend a lot of their spare time on the web, yet we keep them from working and publishing on the web. This book provides some very clear skills and steps needed to help your students become creators of material and not just consumers.

Staff Survey

2010-08-06T10:31:00.000-04:00

As the new school year approaches, I find it very important to develop a concept that can help our staff move forward. After a long conversation with my principal, we have agreed that we would like to see our staff develop and grow their PLNs. We believe that there are some areas that our teachers can use to grow as teachers and members of our learning community. After reading material from Jeff Utecht (see previous post) and Will Richardson, the online tools that can be utilized are:

Twitter
Google Docs
Blogging - Blogspot or Wordpress
Photosharing
Social Bookmarking - Diigo or Delicious
RSS

We've put together a survey for our staff using Google Docs. We created a form that they can fill out quickly to inform us of their current use and also state a goal for their development in the area of social media. The data will then be collected in a spreadsheet that can be analyzed to establish our needed steps to help the staff move forward. We are interested to see where we start - and also know who can be leaders in the movement. We believe we have some "closet twitterers" that would be willing to help spread the word of what great connections can be made.

After we get the results of the survey, we'll share them (generically, of course). We are really curious to see if there is an enthusiasm to move into this realm. Teachers tend to share with their neighbor teachers, but sometimes hesitate to throw their experiences out to the world. We will make it our mission to convince them that there are many of teachers that can benefit from the sharing of ideas. Social sharing is a good thing. Teachers can gain professionally and personally.

Teachers Getting Started

2010-08-01T07:29:00.000-04:00

For teachers that are just getting started utilizing technology, there are a couple of things to do at the beginning that will help facilitate the process. There are a lot of free online tools for teachers to use, but most require an email address to register your information. I would suggest that you spend a half hour and create two email accounts outside of your school address, so you can easily become a user of these online resources. The two emails that I would recommend creating are free and easy to setup, and they are Google Mail and Yahoo Mail.

I would recommend creating a free gmail account. It is not necessary, but I have found it to be quite useful to have a gmail account. First of all, I use it to log into my google applications. I also use it to log into Blogger, so I can blog and tell you about all these wonderful tools. Gmail is also rarely blocked by email filtering systems, so you emails sent to and from this account will likely get through to the receiver. Google will then have your information, so when you add different applications to your repertoire, you will be able to log in and be able to work.

I mentioned that gmail is not necessary for use of the Google tools. You can create a google login using any email address, but since the process is so easy, I would recommend getting a gmail account. I do not spend a lot of time checking my google email since I do get most of my traffic through other accounts.

The other email account I would create is a free Yahoo email account. Yahoo has some nice features on their website and being a member of Yahoo will allow you to customize your homepage as well as many other things. The main reason that I created this account was so that I could join Flickr. Flickr is the site that I use to upload photos and share photos. I requires a Yahoo ID, so creating it early will be helpful.

I think that creating these accounts when you first get started, will allow you to be thoughtful and consistent when choosing your login names, passwords, and email addresses. The more consistent you can be with your online presence, the easier it will be for people to find you, follow you, communicate with you, and share with you. My feeling is that people need to embrace that fact that these online tools are here, and learn quickly what they can do to help facilitate growth. It takes some work (or what I like to refer as "play time") to figure out, but the benefits are great. Plus, you don't have to spend a lot of money for special programs.

I will try share information in the future about Google, Yahoo, and Flickr. I just wanted to suggest that there is some simple work you can do help facilitate your successful use of the tools. Spend a half hour getting your accounts and passwords set up. It will help you with your work in the future.

Join Diigo - Social Bookmarking That's Great for Teachers

2010-07-28T16:24:00.006-04:00

I recently joined diigo - www.diigo.com - as a social bookmarking site that is an alternative to delicious.com. I became interested in diigo when I found out that they had an educator access to their site, that allows educators to create groups for their students to share bookmarks. I am always looking for ways to allow teachers and students to collaborate on their work. This looks like an outstanding way for online research and resources to be compiled and shared. I found out about the free teacher accounts at diigo from Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers.

I signed up for both my personal account and then the free upgrade for teachers. As I was going through this process, I learned that you may want to do this in a meaningful way. You may want to create an account for yourself, that you don't mind putting out to the public. You may want to create an account that is your teacher account, with a different username, that you will share with your students. You may want to keep your personal bookmarks private from your students and the teacher account will give the students access into that account. That is just something to think about. Users do have the ability to keep collected information private.

Once you have gone through the process of creating the teacher account, you will have access to a teacher console in diigo. That is where you will be able to create groups of students that will be able to share links and information. You will be able to create specific logins for students - using an e-mail address or just a name. This is quite nice for younger students that don't have e-mail accounts, yet. You can also import that information using a spreadsheet - if you have a large class.

I believe diigo will allow teachers and students to work electronically, see each others research, and analyze the sources, without having to print out large amounts of material. It will also aid in the citing of sources, as we teach students to document their research. Diigo will be an online tool that I try to work with and share a lot this fall, when I get back to school.

Technology at Baseball Game

2010-07-23T19:58:00.010-04:00

My wife, daughter, and I went to a baseball game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis last Monday. We were sitting in right field when we noticed a bright green rectangle behind home plate. I asked my family if they knew why there would be a green rectangle on the wall behind home plate. Does anyone know? I do....

If you watch a baseball game on TV, you'll notice that there is an advertisement to the left of the catcher, in that same location. That advertisement changes to different company logos every inning . They are using green screen technology to super-impose the company logo onto the green screen. Pretty cool for television advertisement, especially since the only people that can't see it are the people in the stadium - and they are seeing other signs all over the ballpark.

Next time you go to a game - probably only Major League games, since that is where the advertising dollars and television exposure is highest - take note of what is on the wall behind the catcher. Amazing what a little green screen can create as far as revenue. No wonder kids love using green screen in videos, once they've been exposed to its potential.

Reach - by Jeff Utecht

2010-07-21T09:10:00.015-04:00

I recently picked up the book Reach, by Jeff Utecht, while attending BLC10 in Boston. I proceeded to read it very quickly, finding it contained many quick resources for teachers. I am going to share it with my staff at school. I had the opportunity to hear Jeff while at BLC10 and found his information to be practical and helpful. This book is both.

In the book, he shares information about communities and networks and how to make these communications work for you. He starts with the RSS feed and shows how it works for gathering information from the sites to which you subscribe. He provides tutorial videos and other information that can be helpful.

He also adds material on how to contribute to your learning community. There is everything you will need to help you start and set up a blog, wiki, ning, or other place to share your knowledge and experience. Again, he provides resources and support in the book. Along with that, you'll find information to help you build your personal learning network. What you need to effectively use Twitter, Skype, Facebook, and others is described and shared.

Jeff's book is a great place to start if you are getting just beginning in the area of using technology to learn and share with students and teachers.

Entry Into the Blogosphere

2010-07-16T18:52:00.016-04:00

After spending three days at the most motivating conference of my career - Building Learning Communities Conference 2010 - BLC10 - I have been moved to become a contributing member of the online world. I have been inspired by people that I have been following on twitter and on blogs. I got to learn from people like Dean Shareski (@shareski), David Jakes (@djakes), Brian Mull (@brianmullnl), Jeff Utecht (@jutecht), and many more. They spoke of the need to share what we do with others, even when you don't feel that your message will move mountains.

The conference was interesting and compelling. It exposed me to many brilliant people talking about learning, how people learn, and what tools can help that learning, especially in the technology arena. We had conversations around what tools people are using to learn and what tools we need to share with others in order to help them move forward. More entries regarding those topics will come as I get a chance to process the overwhelming amount of information and the wonderful stories that support that thinking. Topics include:

Digital Footprint

Digital Citizenship

Personal Learning Networks

Network Safety

Social Media

Google Tools

These are just some areas that I hope I'll be able to work with and develop ideas to share with my colleagues. I was able to obtain many resources - thank you all at BLC10 - so many that it will take weeks and months to organize and prioritize. I will take that on as my mission.

I was also pleased to hear some amazing keynote addresses -

Mitch Resnick - spoke about learning and creating and sharing in online communities. He addressed the audience about the online community and software Scratch - and the great things that students can make and share and collaborate and remix - using this program and online community.

Michael Wesch - spoke of learning and sharing of learning. His address focused on the students being the learners and striving to solve real problems. Students need to learning about communication, thoughtfulness, and empathy, and that the three of those things need to be intertwined.

Rahaf Harfoush - spoke about social networking and it's impact on our communities. She worked on President Obama's social media team for the 2008 election. She shared many stories about how the different social media sites were used to help inspire people to get involve in the campaign. How do we leverage that knowledge to get our students and teachers and communities involved in what is going on at school?

Adora Svitak - spoke about how students need to become more involved directly in what is going on in schools. Teachers aren't the only ones that have skills and knowledge to share. She is 12 years old and has an amazing insight into what can happen when students are empowered to lead in the schools. She recently spoke in Columbus at eTech Ohio.

As you can see, I was exposed to three days of unbelievable people and information. My hope is that you will find something useful from what I share and from the many people I will communicate with. Grow your own personal learning network and keep learning from the many bright people out in the profession.