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simulpost with TechLearning Dr. Robert McLaughlin was one of our guests on the Wow2 show this past Tuesday night and made some interesting comments about and the importance of tapping into deep web resources. I think that many of us, myself included just forget about the importance of the deep web. And with fully 95% of deep web resources being free, there is no excuse for not exposing students (and ourselves) to this amazing part of the Internet. With the "deep web" , some experts estimate that 50 times the data than is available on the surface web (sites indexable by search engines) reside behind deep web - password protected databases, non-indexed web pages or query-only databases. I will admit, I'm really a beginner at the deep web, but have begun my journey. I want to share with you some of the deep web information and resolutions of mine since I've begun my own intentional exploration of the deep web: The 21st Century Information Fluency Project has some gre...

I'm excited about tonight's Wow2 show that starts in about 30 minutes (9 pm EST) with Dr. Mary Friend Shepherd - Professor and Program Director for the PhD Educational Technology Program at Walden and Dr. Robert McLaughlin, Chair, ISTE SIG on Digital Equity ; Chair, ISTE SIG on Innovative Learning Technologies and Executive Director, National Institute for Community Innovations. It is going to be a great conversation. Here are the planned talking points: Wow's - Jennifer, Sharon, Cheryl, Vicki Introduction Research 2.0 Discussion - Talk about any current research that you are aware of that is important for those who are looking at Web 2.0 to understand. The Evolution of the PhD Program -- Why does it need to evolve? If so, how? Meaningful, Connected Research - How can we connect the research of PhD students to that of relevant classroom needs. If you could create your ideal PhD program, what would it be? Time Permitting How can we involve researchers, who typically don...

Protecting teachers and students from unauthorized filming is an issue as can be seen with what happened to this fifth grade teacher at an event that many people film -- the fifth grade graduation. The video's originator filmed the teacher at graduation with close ups of her face and zooming in on her lower anatomy and set the 3 minute clip to "hot For Teacher" before it was taken down off youtube when she found out about it last week. We should be discussing privacy concerns in amateur videos. We should learn about and be educated on what is it proper to share and what is not. The reason we don't talk about it more, I think, is a sinking feeling in our own stomachs that perhaps we don't know what to tell kids or adults! I always tell students that to post any digital artifact (podcast, photo, video) of a person that you must have that person's specific permission -- let them see it and ask them. (Of course, what if their parents argue that they are a minor...

Tenacity and Determination This is an interview that George Hotz did about how he unlocked the iPhone. (A fact which he announced on his blog on August 21st.) Determined to use his iPhone on his T-mobile service, he reverse engineered it (over 500 hours of time) and made it so he can use it with his Tmobile service. He shared it on his blog and youtube (and has his own wikipedia entry !) He asks for a one on one talk with Steve Jobs! I love it! What I love, this student is seventeen and look at how eloquent he is! (He attended Bergen County Academies , a magnet public high school in New Jersey.) Being at the Right Place at the Right Time Oh, and by the way, the twenty one year old kid who caught Barry Bond's homerun setting ball, is set to begin the auction at http://www.scpauctions.com/ . Although the path to riches and albeit perhaps temporary fame can be achieved by either luck or hard work. Those who stay there (if that is something to be pursued) stay there via hard...

Sometimes I just want to reach through the Internet and give a super big High-Five, hug, and "yahoo" all at once. This is how I felt when I read about Jennifer Dorman's class that she has developed called Online Connections . I also want to give a high five to the administration that had the vision (and trust) to give her the reigns for developing such a class. ( I believe that teachers should be enmeshed in curricular decisions and in fact that will do a lot to prevent waste and promote improvement. As a whole, I believe that education has a lot of decision makers who couldn't hold down a class much less teach anything. But that is another blog post.) Jennifer says : The class is called Online Connections and the focus of it is loosely centered around the notion that technology has changed the way people learn and work and that we must expose our students to the reality of this changing world. For a techie and former social studies teacher who often felt somewha...

I'm really starting to fall in love with my Polyvision board (Smartboard). It has taken me a while to get comfortable with it and really run quickly between write and click mode, but I've just started doing something that my students LOVE. When I review for a test -- we've already taught and retaught. But we cover so unbelievably much that I like to give a good review. This week, as a part of the review process-- I used the whiteboards that were generated and shared them on their notes wiki that had already been created. ( Take a look at combined wiki notes and smartboard screenshots.) This is one screen from the computer science review. (I always mark terms and items that are included. Additionally, the students are required to take notes every day and turn them in as 10 points on the test. ) You can also see my intro to keyboarding quiz review . So, if you have a smartboard of any kind, this is what you need to do to accomplish this: 1) Learn how to save your scree...

I love listening to both the Businessweek and Wall Street Journal podcasts. They are brief, pithy podcasts with great information that is applicable across the board. This week, I am requiring my ninth graders to listen to this podcast about the future of work. Here are the questions I'm asking them: As we discuss how things are changing, Businessweek has created an issue about the future of work. This is the world that you will be living in. Listen to this brief podcast and answer the following. (please number) 1) What is changing about the workplace in America? 2) What type of people will continue to be employed? (What characteristics will they have.) 3) What do you find most interesting that was discussed? 4) Are you personally optimistic or pessimistic about future employment opportunities for you and why. Kids need to know WHY things are important. Why is it important to adopt an attitude of change? Why is it important to learn? Why there are no guarantees any more! It...

It has been a busy day over at edubloggerworld with the fun virtual meetups and discussions. I have a lot to share with you. There are more people joining in to discuss some ideas and issues. I'm going to share with you the e-mail I just sent moments a go about my work today on this project to some of the other people who helped set this up. OK, I just spent five hours I didn't have but we all know the feeling. I posted the elluminate session on the home page ( listen to it here ) and created templates for talking points ( http://edubloggerworld.wikispac es.com/space.template.Talking +Points+Template ) and tags ( http://edubloggerworld.wikispac es.com/space.template.Standard +Tag ). Feel free to go to manage space and manage templates and edit them. It will not effect the current four talking points and all of the existing tags, but it is still small and manageable. Also, I created a talking points page ( http://edubloggerworld.wikispac es.com/talking+points ) with the m...

Ok, teachers of science. Go to Google and download the latest version of Google Earth and you will have a super cool new feature called Google Sky! View Google's mini tour to the left (which they handily posted to youtube .) This lets you turn heavenward to look at constellations and all sorts of things! You can explore: planets, constellations, the moon, galaxies, the life of a star, and the atmosphere. I'm also fascinated by the Google Earth Community which allows you to make and share these files. Ideas for use: Use it in junior high for earth science to interactively explore the sky. Discuss the life of a star. Use it on your smartboard to explore, zoom in, and discuss things. The Hubble Telescope images are available to you and your students! This is such a great tool for the science classroom. I haven't looked at the feature that allows you to look at the atmosphere, but what could you do with a study of the environment? You can study the atmosphere over variou...

I'm helping out my friend Ellen who writes for a popular magazine -- she has the following question -- one that I love. Please respond here. Also share the name of your school. Web 2.0 opens many new avenues for creativity and expression. How do you use it to teach today’s young authors and artists? What do you think? This is my answer: I believe that Web 2.0 allows students multiple methods of displaying their knowledge and through a variety of assessment methods: podcasts, text on wikis, photography, video creations, videos of interviews, or blog posts -- that all learning styles are included. These tools also are magnets for student interest because they use cool new tools that they are attracted to naturally. tag: Web2.0 , web2 , podcast , wiki , teaching , education

Today at 3:30 pm EST - 4:15 EST I will be hosting a global meetup to talk about how we can facilitate connections and communications between educators around the world. There is only room for 50 participants so you may enter the room at around 3:15 -- first come first server. (ha ha) Join us in the elluminate room , and remember, we will be recording. (If you want it to convert your time, go to our Airset Calendar and set yourself up with an account -- after you specify your local time, you're set.) Everyone is welcome to add their FREE educator event to this calendar. Learn how today! We'll talk more later -- gotta go review for a test!

I just have to disagree with someone I usually agree with. Wes calls for the suspension of textbook purchasing: "The purchase of paper-based textbooks, along with the dearth of analog testing materials now flooding most public K-12 schools, represents an enormous WASTE of taxpayer money which should be spent on more relevant and flexible curriculum resources and tools for learners: Namely, wireless, mobile computing devices (laptops) and digital curriculum materials." I think that a digital only classroom at this time is as untenable as a paper-only classroom. I am a visual learner and have to have a hard copy in my hands! I am working with four students taking the virtual high school here in Georgia and they have their reading assignments per unit -- after struggling with taking notes, etc. we finally had one student print out the units and then I went and copied it for all four of them. Paper and laptop go hand in hand nicely. I personally have to underline, write, rewrit...

The northern hemisphere of this big blue marble is heading back to school this time of year. So, we're talking to as many teachers as possible tonight on Wow2. If you're online in skype tonight, watch out -- send me a chat and let me know you'd like to share your back to school goals or cool new tools and we'll try to pull you in! (I'm coolcatteacher -- if you request my details, tell me the specifics of who you are or I won't "accept" you!) It is at 9 pm Eastern Standard time at edtechtalk.com and will be a lot of fun -- just chatting about the cool new things we've found. If you've never joined in one of these, just click listen on the right hand side and click Chat underneath it -- you can listen and also chat live with educators just like you from around the world! So much fun! And hopefully some of our southern hemisphere colleagues will jump in and talk about their amazing insights as they approach their halfway mark! tag: WOW2 , t...

Teaching is tough work, I mean, really tough. I've been a business professional, general manager, entrepreneur, and stay at home mom, and the only job tougher than being a teacher is a stay at home mom with toddlers! The first two-three weeks are difficult because you have to "train" the kids. Teach them the routines. Teach them the tools. Learn the process. This is my sixth set of students to have to teach how to wiki and each time, it is the same questions which cause a huge growth in critical thinking ability require a lot of coaching. Here are the most common things I see from the approach of having small teams create a wiki: Students want to have one student type and the other sit by and watch and both get the same grade. As much as I love project based learning -- very often, students are not equal contributors in offline projects. Some have just gotten comfortable that their assigned partner will do the job. This is my theory: if you ask most teachers, they...

I just had a presentation from three tenth grade computer science students that literally blew me away on avoiding e-mail scams and internet fraud. (This is part of the initial internet security and safety module we do first in computer science -- I do a scaled down version in fundamentals. Safety first!) They shared the 2006 list of Top Ten Internet Scam Trends from the NCL fraud center. Here are some points that they made: Consumers under the age of 30 account for 27% of all internet fraud complaints (as the victims) --but they are more likely to fall for auction scams (items sold but not delivered), general merchandise, advance fee loans, and fake check scams (where someone sends you a check but then wants a refund and you wire it back before their check clears.) Auctions are the #1 fraud item on the Internet with an average loss of $1,331 and that is not nearly as high as it was in 2003 before ebay removed the link on their site to fraud.org. Initial contact with crooks has now s...

Edubloggerworld And there is another exciting project that I haven't talked enough about -- the kickoff of Edubloggerworld is this Thursday. There are so many things that are being worked on with this, but here is the idea. A centralized clearinghouse for FREE non-commercial events for educators -- whether you are a blogger or not. (perhaps including the word blogger is a misnomer -- it is sort of by bloggers but for all educators.) We have a calendar in airset and anyone who signs up as a global greeter can add dates. What is a global greeter? The goal is to have someone from every country. It is time to truly have international cooperation. In fact, several groups have already been created on the ning for other countries, but we need more. But a global greeter is someone that a new person can contact to say "Hey, give me some direction here - how can I connect into the edublogosphere, SLedusphere, webcastedusphere, or whatever your interest is. " But it is about ...

This is the second full week of school and I'm almost through what I call my "orientation time." My keyboarding class (8th grade) has to learn that they come in quickly, get to work, and get to business. No goofing off, get to work. I always give out bonus notes (+5 points) the first week of school to the first student (s) who begin typing their lesson first. They save it and add it on to the grade of their choice before report cards go out. It means that the kids often run to class to be first (and I have to watch for that), however, it also means that they get to business. I think teachers who waste time at the beginning of class don't take their job seriously. (I say start quickly, get it done, and then enjoy the teachable moments at the end of class. But if you're stressing about getting your objectives done at the end of the class, you miss the valuable time at the end when you really have breakthroughs with your students.) My Computer Fundamentals cla...

simulpost with TechLearning I am editing to explain more clearly how this is different from regular public records. Several bloggers have noted that this information is already available, which some of it is. My additions are in italics. Ethics discussions belong "smack dab in the middle" of schools so that students will understand when they are adults that just because they can, doesn't mean they should. We have had some interesting class discussions about the new company Intelius which for $15 dollars will sell your cell phone number, unlisted number , social security number and more for a fee. (I think it is perhaps this purchase of cell phone numbers and unlisted numbers which is NOT in the public records database as most bothersome.) I looked up myself and it had every address I've ever lived (since turning 21) and the following information for ONLY $49.95 and although I have no criminal record, I was stalked in college and it is that which bothers me most!...

We had a great group of peer reviewers for the Horizon Project including Chrissy ( Teaching Sagitarian ) from New Zealand. It was great to have a global audience (and honestly, sometimes students listen better to their peers than they do to adults,) but as I've talked to both her and Graham in Australia, I have to wonder about the influence of peer review on the class that is reviewing. How about the excitement that it brings? I think that there is a power in peer review and although a middle school student may not have the capability or skill set to produce at the level of Horizon Project students who participated, they definitely have the ability to provide feedback and learn from what they are reading. In essence, the students of Horizon created a textbook on the future that middle schoolers got very excited about. What about this as a model for teaching and restructuring what we do in the future. This is not only peer review but peer modeling because it is coming from ol...

115 degrees and lawnmower accidents Yeah -- we're back in school --but getting back here was a near fiasco -- a heat wave with a heat index of 115 and my compressor went out in my computer lab, my oldest son went off of a bridge on a heavy duty lawnmower due to a brake malfunction (but fortunately came out of it with only a cracked elbow!), and another of my children started middle school -- Whew! it is Nutty. But when someone said to me the other day: "If you could be anywhere, doing anything in the world right now, what would it be?" It hit me like a "ton of bricks" -- really, I am exactly where I want to be. I love teaching! When that bell rings and the kids fill their seats and begin work (usually before the bell rings) and when we get to talking about the cool tools (such a great talk about Microsoft Surface the other day) and technologies -- boy, that is a rush any good sky diver could understand. There is nothing like it in the world! My precious chi...