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Liberal Education Today - Post details: Reuters closes Second Life desk From Stephen Downes -- Reuters closes its second life desk - not sure people knew it was there or how to use it to begin with. tags : education , secondlife , web3d WePapers - The world's biggest study-group A website of study groups and sharing information. Would be interesting for testing to see the features that work here. tags : education , edu_newapp 100 Awesome Ivy League Video Lectures | Online Universities.com Interesting post about 100 great video lectures. tags : education , video Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Op-Ed Contributor - What’s the Point of Daylight Time? - NYTimes.com Looks likely that president elect Obama will support elimination of Daylight savings time in the US. This op-ed piece in the New York times talks about how DST does not link to energy conservation as once thought. The one thing it WOULD make easier is global collaboration - Google Cal doesn't convert to dST until AFTER it happens and we all missed a meeting. tags : education , politics , workflow_software Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

This hack just in from Flat Classroom. We've been using it a couple of weeks and it works very nicely.  Last year we stumbled on it and I didn't realize how useful it was. When you want to easily take a file off a DVD. 1) When you put the DVD in the computer tell it to NOT play the dvd. Instead (on a PC) right click and open the DVD. 2) Open the file folder on the DVD and look for the .VOB files - usually there are 2 or 3. 3)  Make a directory on your hard drive.  Then, right click and copy the VOB file and paste it into the directory. 4) Right click on the vob file and rename it *.mpg - where the * is whatever you want to call it. Although the quality seems to degrade a smidge - it is a file ready to edit and put up on youtube or wherever like flat classroom. This way, we rip from our camera directly to dvd and then can edit w/out coverters.  Also, some of our football heroes have been able to snag game film to edit and include. I'm sure there is a...

digiteen2008 » Virtual World Digital Citizenship for Middle Schoolers The page documenting the students who used Google lively to teach middle schoolers about digital citizenship. tags : education , Google , digitalcitizenship digiteen2008 » Woogi World Elementary Education This year, some of my students have used woogi world to teach fourth graders about digital citizenship. This wiki documenting their efforts is to be finished by next Tuesday. This is a great project. tags : education , digitalcitizenship , edu_trends Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Emotional INtelligence Questionnaire online. Note that you'll answer about 125 questions but that to get the report, it costs $14.95 at the end - don't waste you're time if you're not going to pay for it - IT IS NOT A FREE TEST but you can see the questions they ask. tags : education , learning MHS - Online Catalog Emotional Quotient - Inventory test linked to from the College admissions article. tags : education T...

Just reading this post from Tom Barrett over at  Box of Tricks where he points to my Google lively post about my students losing these great virtual worlds that they've created. I started asking myself: what would happen if Google decides to axe Google Docs or Google Apps in the same way it axed Lively earlier this week? What if the internet connection is lost when you most need it? What if Google mess up? (is it really that improbable?) Then I reminded myself that Google is probably the largest advertising agency in the world, a public corporation with over 20,000 employees worldwide who need to get paid and shareholders who aren’t in it for the good of you or me. What would happen to my files if Google decides Docs does not provide a sustainable revenue stream? What if Google appoints a new CEO who thinks differently? Are these things really so far-fetched in the current economic climate? Finally I couldn’t help but wonder if we would not be better ...

FOXNews.com - Florida Teen Commits Suicide Before Live Webcam Audience - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News Oh my goodness - this is terrible. A florida teen committeed suicide via webcam. This is horrible. Knowing how to report online crime is something we need to be able to do - a sort of e911 for online is what we need. tags : education , society , web2.0 , digital_responsibilities Admit It: They Don’t Like Us Educators better learn the lesson of detroit -- if you treat enough people in the wrong way - they won't be there to support you. Kids won't be kids forever and one way to kill your school in the long run is to be unkind and unlistening now or just to not educate them or tell them what they need to know. Learn from this. tags : education Aunt Lee Dot Com Typing Central Website with over 50 typing games. tags : keyboarding_teacher , education Learn, teach and earn in the MindBites how-to video marketplace A video website to sell and market online we...

Just some reasons why my students make me so proud! I've been out this week, here is a sampling of some of the emails in my inbox as I'm checking it in the Atlanta airport.  You can see, that I'm a coach and my students and I have a relationship.  They are professionals and they amaze me.  This is what happens when student projects become OWNED. "I was out of your class Tuesday and Wednesday because I had to go to the doctor, and I was sick. I have recently been informed that there has been some plagiarism on the wiki. We have been researching most of the wikis and found plagiarism on some of them. I have decided to post a blog post on Digiteen to inform everyone that plagiarism is illegal. If you have any ideas on how to deal with the plagiarism, please email me back." This is about http://wiki.digiteen.net and plaigarism is something that does happen - we have to continually work on this as teachers, but many of the students get very angry and want to work...

Veterans History Project (Library of Congress) Veterans History Project Home page -- GREAT PROJECT!!!! tags : education , history , history_teacher Veterans History Project Launches Field Kit, Web Resource - The Library Today (Library of Congress) Veterans Hisotyr Project -- get a field kit and film your local veterans - submit this to the library of congress - I saw a presentation on this in Illinois and it is amazing what they are doing with this. They report how much the kids now love history and it is amazing. WE NEED TO BE DOING THIS. tags : history , education LiveWeb - insert and update web pages real-time in PowerPoint Insert live web pages into your powerpoint. tags : education , powerpoint , presentation Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

I'm amazed at this presentation and am sitting in the last half.  Everyone has the same interview questions - they developed some, they add some of their own.  The library of congress field kit has some questions. They want a full class of kids to do the project.  They are integrating in history and journalism.  They don't want the same kids doing the same interviews over and over again. Discussing how do you measure impact? They have a rubric that they are going to evaluate against - looking for quality.  Many people have oral stories on cassette players -- if we could get pictures and good audio - then make them postumously. I would love to do that for my grandad.  I think I have him on cassettee players.   In this project, they've only spent about half their money.  The project is growing and trying to support the kids they already have.  They are trying to figure out how to keep things quality and expand in a meaningful way....

I'm sitting in a session about  the Students involved with Technology Conference in Illinois. These are my live notes.  I'm so impressed, this is a conference by students and for students.  Every student has to choose what they want to be:  a participant or a presenter-participant.  If they do a presentation, they have to have a sponsor. They give demos and presentation on hardware topics, robotics, gaming, web design, video editing and many other topics.  So, the students sign up - they charge $18.  They charge to cover minimal costs, but if you don't charge, they don't show up.  They have GREAT prizes:  laptops, wii's laptops, HDTV's.  They go up to 500 students -- it is all about the keynote speaker, they say.  If you have a great keynote, it helps.  Students grades 3-12 from Dewitt, Livingston, McLean and other counties in Central Illinois (and beyond.)  Last year, they sent the video out by keynote.  ...

In my opinion, Google shutting down Lively on the heels of a major price increase over at Second Life, is a major mistake.  My students LOVE lively with Digiteen and I was just about to come out with a major recommendation on HOW to use this great tool for educators.  On their wiki, students are beginning to describe and share their work .  What are our alternatives? We need ways to download these rooms!  My students have done amazing work!! This is really horrible -- I'm waiting for the "backlash" from my students as I just sent the email out this morning.  Just wait, we're going to talk about how to act in ways that Google MIGHT listen -- I'll keep you tuned. I think when my students read their email this morning, I'll hear them shout all the way to Illinois!

http://w3t.org/u/84kq From David Warlick - Google life photo archive. tags : education , photos , virtual_communication , web2.0 Evaluate VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) Free for 60 Days - VMware This software lets you take one host PC server and this lets you virtualize servers. In Walton County - have 100 servers and 60 are virtual. All independent and have their own IP address and appear completely independent -- they have 6 blade servers. This does cost money. This would let me move the Accelerated Reader and Accounting system to separate "virtual servers" and if one needed to reboot, I could reboot a "virtual server" and not the physical server. This is from an expert IT - Jack Higgins, Network Analyst - Walton County schools in Atlanta, GA -- met by accident in the Atlanta airport. A lot of these bookmarks are from him! This lets the processes run by windows be shared by all the "virtual" servers so it requires a lot less power and is very "gr...

Discovery Education - Inspiring Invention PSA Contest and K-12 Classroom Resources Create an inspiring invention Public Service Announcement (they do want you to download the Sony creative software.) - from Sony and Discovery Education. tags : education , grant , contest , digitalstorytelling Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

WHS Digiteen Reflective Blog Post - Digi Teen This is the reflective blog post due at the end of digiteen this year. tags : education , learning Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

I've pulled out my notations from a great Carnegie Mellon blog post about a Rochester Institute Study surveying children about their behaviors online -- you'll see quotes below and my comments.  (Source of Graphic: Rochester Institute of Technology ) MySecureCyberspace: Children Online: Getting Younger and Continuing to Take Risks Not surprisingly, the study found that children are communicating with friends, peers, and others online in ways that show a lack of knowledge in what is ethical, safe behavior. This is NOT suprising to those of us who work with children. WE MUST have digital citizenship education in schools!!! MUST! comment by Vicki Davis Only 50% of these young children said that their parents watched them as they used a computer, revealing that the other half were exposed to unchecked Web browsing and interaction with others online. About 48% of these young children saw online content that made them feel uncomfortable, and one in four of them said they di...

Miley Cyrus Dead Rumor Not True An example of how the Internet often "makes" news. Although many people believe online sources above traditional media, verifying sources is still something that should happen. Again... don't believe everything you read, ANYWHERE! tags : education , web2 , worldonline , www_world Ladybug Landings » Blog Archive » Motrin Makes Moms Mad So, if you haven't heard the latest twitter "scuttlebut" which finally knocked SNL off as the #1 search term on twitter, it is the Motrin Mom's ad. I think there are more important "fish to fry" than this one and like some others, wish that we focused on some more important things out there - like accommodating those with LD as we should - however, I do agree that Motrin was so far from clueless. The #1 rule of target marketing: Respect Those You Target and Motrin seems to have missed this. As a mother of three, I'm proud of every stretch mark, ache, and pain because I love...

This just came across my email from Steve Hargadon and I wanted to share it: A message to all members of Classroom 2.0 Barbara Barreda was one of the first members of Classroom 2.0. She is the principal of Saint Elisabeth School in California, and lost her home yesterday to the one of the major fires burning here. Having to flee her home during the night with little notice, Barbara is staying with a friend, but I'm told she now has only has the clothes on her back and the few items she could throw into her car. Barbara has asked for prayers and thoughts as she and her family make all the adjustments that they need to. Clarence Fisher and Jen Wagner have set up a donation fund for Barbara at http://www.jenuinetech.com/bbfund.htm to collect money to help her make it through the holidays. There are also instructions for sending cards, gift cards, or even other donations (Jen has clothes sizes). Barbara has a special place in my heart, being the one and only attendee at ...

From Teemu Arina (hat tip to mega-educator aggregator, Stephen Downes ) This is exactly why those people who use RSS readers to scan through thousands of feeds, read blog posts from various decentrally connected sources and who engage themselves into assembling multiple unrelated sources of information into one (probing connections between them) have much greater ability to sense and respond to changing conditions in increasingly complex environments than those who read only the major newspapers, watch only the major news networks and don’t put themselves into a difficult situation of being hammered with a lot of stuff at once. Linear, intentional learning was how you learned in the past. Enter nonlinear, visually active way of learning of the future. This is where we must move and yet, it starts with teachers building their own Personal Learning Network from a variety of sources.  Are your students building a PLN for each project or major course of study? (We use igoogle ...

transplant » twitter is – What is twitter -- great poetry ;-) Basically twitter is a search engine for people. tags : twitter , education Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .

Why don't you jump on over to In Need of a Base Case blog by Leigh Ann Sudol and answer her question about computer science education (Hat tip to my favorite Microsoft Blogger Alfred Thompson ): "So my question to you, my readers as well as to myself over the next few days is - how can I measure what my students think is important and relevant? I am considering some kind of electronic survey (so I can get a diverse sample) and I am wondering if I can somehow “narrow in” on particular topics (the way your eye doctor asks you lens1 or lens2?). Keeping in mind that I want to highlight particular aspects of computer science (see last post) I need to really think about what kinds of questions I would ask in order to get really interesting results." Leigh Ann is reflecting on another great article from Joanna Goode from the November 2008 issue of Communications of the ACM:  " Reprogramming College Preparatory Computer Science ."  I just urge her to realize that...

The New Team - Joel I. Klein - Series - NYTimes.com Names are popping up for education secretary amidst much discussion. Here is a recent one that I've seen named several times -- Joel Klein, chancellor of NYC public school system. tags : education , learning , edu_news Mathetude » Recently Hot It is called "mathetude" - however, this digg-like aggregator for technology and education is fascinating with readers giving "apples" to the news stories. I've enjoyed browsing through what they have in this repository of current news. tags : education , rss , news , edu_news Tulsa World: TPS refuses to release report on school TPS reports have a whole new meaning in Tulsa Public Schools where the report overviewing conditions at their alternative school are being withheld. This is a "dicey" area at best and one that no administrator wants to be in. I have friends who work at alternative schools and tell me that they are basically ignored and not treat...

In, what seems to be student project about Playful Technologies by Karen Radakovich , (Which Seems to come from the University of Illinois at Urbana ) is embedded a most profound reflection: " The  important component here is to realize that making something seem more “real” isn’t necessarily the goal of simulation.   In a sense, this is what it does, but the fact that a player is using the simulation for play and not experiencing whatever is being simulated in the real world is the clue that there is more to it than that.  Players want to detach themselves from the outside world when they are immersed in play, as I discuss in my section on ideal users.  Therefore, why would they want to get so close to the real world through simulation that they feel as if they are no longer playing?   One thing that this reading discussed was more simple aspects of simulation, like the game pieces on a board game.  For example, in the board game Up the River, ...

A N I M O T O: Boarding Heaven Hey, you can put text in animoto videos now!!!! How exciting!!! This is great! I love how it adds to the digital story - we have had to put it on the videos. This is great!!! So exciting! tags : education , moviemaking Download Twitter Message Archive - Tweet Scan You can download your twitter archive through December 2007 tags : education , twitter Tweet Scan - User Search tweetscan now lets you search for users tags : education , twitter Digital Planet - Oct 7th episode PHENOMENAL discussion of Internet use in Brazil, including a great discussion about how students are taught and use the Internet in Brazil. So many things are discussed. tags : education , learning O Jornal - Web site keeps Brazilian immigrants connected Orkut is the most widely used website in Brazil -- and holds the record as having the highest percentage of use of any website in any country. Orkut is Google's social network and is also very popular in India, Pakistan, and Braz...

Image via Wikipedia This is a great screen tutorial from Jesse Spevack a fellow Google Certified Teacher (GCT).  I must say that the private GCT community is one of the most active, thriving communities in which I participate.  It is an incredible network of teachers and part of what we do is share things (both Google and non google) with one another! Related Posts: Related articles by Zemanta Google Teacher Academy Applications Due tomorrow, August 24 Google Uses Searches to Track Flu's Spread (Miguel Helft/New York Times) Sites that Caught My Eye Today 08/19/2008

"When you integrate all of the senses, then the students start to ask questions," McDonald explains. "We say, 'Smell this, taste this, look at this.' And then they ask, 'Why?' And then we respond, 'Let's look in this book and see if we can find the answer.' Kids need a tactile relationship with the environment, and we provide that tactile info, which then can open the mind." This from Janet McDonald, manager of Rochester Roots , as quoted in Edutopia's recent article Cultivating Minds:  Food-Related Curricula Take Root Nationwide , by Bernice Yueng . Using food in the classroom has long been a strategy of renegade teachers, although perhaps not in as meaningful a context as this. Mama and the "Bad Boys" My Mom first started teaching at Westwood when there was a group of "bad boys" that no one could teach.  She taught this group Math and English and surpassed much of what the other teachers were doing in thei...

A Doctor, a Mutation and a Potential Cure for AIDS - WSJ.com Fascinating article!! tags : education copyrightconfusion » home Fair Use Best Practices are being redefined today, November 11th. tags : education , learning , copyright. Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here .