There seeme to be a stream of new media content our there that serve as conversation starters towards much needed change in our schools…

On the heels of Karl Fisch and his “Did You Know / What If / Vision 2021” trilogy, here comes another this one from Darren Draper, a Technology Curriculum Specialist in the Jordan School District in Utah.

Not only has Darren created the video, he provides us with a supply of resources to accompany it. It’s another good one!

[youtube]aEFKfXiCbLw[/youtube]

Technorati tags: education, teaching, technology

Sometimes I am pleasantly by ideas that teachers come up with, especially those teachers that you don’t expect to bring them forward.

Mr. Welch is a student teaching intern in one of our Grade 6 classes.  His cooperating teacher is a “more experienced” teacher that has not been as quick to embrace technology as some others in our school. 

Last week he came to me looking for a video camera and some advice.  His idea wasn’t new (I had done it many times before in my classes) but it was new to his team.  He was having a science class and wanted to do a demonstration / experiement on how to make a galaxy in a bowl…but he was concerned that not all his students would be able to see clearly.  He wanted to simply hook up a camera to a multimedia projector that he could use to provide a visual for his students.  It worked GREAT!

The neat thing about this is that it reinforced for me that the future of education is in good hands.  Even though our universities are, to a large extent, doing little to prepare new teachers for the 21st century, many of the early digital natives we are beginning to see enter the profession bring with them an interest and ability to bring digital literacy skills into their classrooms. 

This kind of new approach to using multimedia in the classroom can have immediate and significant impacts on a teaching team as awll…I am sure that his cooperating teacher will now also be more open after having seem the reception from students.

Technorati tags: education, teaching, technology

I am thankful that our school and Dept of Education have – so far at least – chosen to keep YouTube and many other social networking sites open in our schools. These are increasingly powerful tools that I hope we can continue to use as learing tools.

Now I see that a new, education-friendly alternative is out there. Teacher Tube bills itself as a teacher/student friendly site that is moderated for content. It is something that wehave needed for a while!
At last week’s Literacy and Learning Conference here in Fredericton, I used a slightly modified “New Brunswick” version of Karl Fisch’s “Did You Know” presentation to open the first day. Needless to say, it blew away many in the audience, and was discussion fodder for much of the next two days.

I see now that a newer, abbreviated offspring, named “Shape It Up” has appeared on Teacher Tube this morning. It’s kind of cool, the music is jazzier…and it works. But I still like Karl’s better.

Technorati tags: teachertube, education, teaching, karlfisch

The first Literacy and Learning in the 21st century conference began this morning, but I wanted to share a bit about yesterday.

I had the pleasure of spending the day with David Warlick yesterday. After having breakfast with some of the great folks at the Department of Education, we wandered over to my school where we visited a couple of classes.

First stop – Amy Audoux and her class who were sharing presentations with a school they have been working with that is about an hour from our city. With a Polycom link for audio/visual and a SMART Bridgit link for sharing screens (presentations and wikis), the students were able to bring the two classes together seamlessly.

Then we were off to Chad Ball’s class, which is one of the “flattest” classrooms that I have seen (disclosure: Chad and I team taught last year so many of the ideas were co-designed between us).

Afterwards we meandered over to see Matt van Raalte‘s Grade 9 Math class, which features a wiki as a central resource and learning center. Check it out…and he doesn’t mind sharing!

After lunch with some of my colleagues, David and I headed off to my uncles farm where we explored the art of making maple sugar. You can read about it at David’s blog.

Needless to day, having a day to capture David’s ideas was an amazing treat. Today is off to a great start, but more on that later.

ps…the pic is (l-r, myself, David and Gary Gallant, our VP and MY mentor!)

Technorati tags: Warlick, education, teaching, literacyandlearning

I admit that I have been struggling to even wrap my brain around many of the new web apps out there that others seem to be raving about…blogs and wikis seem almost old school as learners move to Diigo and Second Life….mostly it’s a matter of time, but sometimes I am just overwhelmed by the ideas of other teachers with amazing creativity and vision.

People like Jeff Utecht, Karl Fisch and Clay Burell blow me away (links to their blogs are to the left)…how they find the time to develop their own knowledge and share with others is beyond me…but probably the teacher that I am most in awe of is Vicki Davis…Vicki’s CoolCatTeacher blog is a veritable smorgasboard of practical applications and ideas, but also has a real mix of great vision.

I am still trying to digest her recent post on web 3D (as opposed to web 3.0). With tools like Second Life at our disposal, it seems like the future of the web is changing in many dimensions. The opportunities to (re)capture the interest of our students in “school” are maximized when we can create dynamic learning environments – online and offline – that draw students into the learning process.

My question is, where do I get the funky glasses?

Technorati tags: Vicki A Davis, coolcatteacher, education, teaching

Been kinda busy lately…I was recently asked to instruct two undergraduate level courses by the University of New Brunswick’s Faculty of Education (my alma mater). The courses are regular undergrad calendar listings but are delivered via distance ed as part of a 4-Year BEd program for aboriginal students in four locations around the province.

I am very excited but the task is also a bit daunting. We all talk about how most teacher training programs – in whatever form – do a poor job of training pre-service teachers in the issues and use of technology in the classroom. So they leave me in charge?

ED 3862 is meant to be a basic introduction to the basics of using computers in the classroom for teaching and learning (most of the students will be techno-neophytes so it’ll be kind of standard fare). Ed 4862 will focus on the use of Web 2.0 tools in creating dynamic learning environments promoting 21st century literacy skills.

I need your help. I have placed the course outlines for both courses (they will run consecutively) on a wiki. Please have a look. Your suggestions are not only welcome, but encouraged.

Thanks a bunch…:)

Jeff

ps…yes…the wiki doesn’t lie…David Warlick will visit our class to speak. How cool is that…we may all learn more in the hour he is there than in the other ten weeks altogether!

Note: Sorry to anyone who tried to enter the wiki…I had it set as private…it is now open…if you feel so bold…you can even leave comments…:)

technorati tags: education, warlick, technology