Can You Hear Me Now?

Telecommunications: “The science and technology of the communication of messages over a distance, especially using electric, electronic or electromagnetic impulses.” (Definition courtesy of http://en.wiktionary.org)

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol): “VoIP is voice communications transmitted over the Internet.” (Definition courtesy of the network glossary found on http://www.logicalpackets.com)

What do the definitions above REALLY mean? Ask yourself these two questions… How do I communicate? What device do I use to communicate with? Enough said. If you believe successful communication can only be achieved with your home phone, mobile phone or email – it’s time to change your way of thinking!

Take a look at three of the 21st century ways to communicate with others. Best of all… they are FREE.

Skype – software that allows you to make calls via the internet.
· You must download the software in order to use the internet calling features
· As long as you are dialing from one computer to another, calls are free (VoIP)
· Charges apply if you dial to an actual phone number!
· Webcam is optional – only if you want to see the person while you speak
· Built-in Microphone or Headset – personal preference. But, you must have a mic in order for the other party to hear you.

DimDim – web conferencing/video conferencing online application
· Allows you to share your desktop with others as you collaborate on projects
· Can easily chat and/or talk to your meeting attendees
· Great for meetings or for people in different locations who need to meet
· No downloads required
· Need help getting started? There is a 3 minute tutorial on the homepage.
· Did I mention… free! (as long as you don’t invite more than 20 people to your meeting!)

uStream - instant live broadcasts online
· No downloads required
· Must create an account
· Webcam necessary to broadcast
· Free!

How can you incorporate 21st century telecommunications into your classroom? Easy! Get on board with creating a global community right inside your class. Global communities? That is a blog post for another day.

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TECH TIP: Texting is nothing new and is actually gaining greater popularity every day. But, are you slow with your thumbs? Don’t worry! Depending on your mobile phone carrier, you can also send text messages from online. Check out your mobile phone service provider’s website to see if they offer this feature. Most do!

Yes We Can!

Yes We Can. Three small words that have been branded by President Obama as words of hope, empowerment and change. Yes we can applies to so many things – even in education.

Yes we can engage our students as we strive to embrace 21st century learning techniques. Yes we can provide an environment creative enough to inspire new heights and excellence from each of our students. Yes we can empower our students to be open-minded and accept technology for all of its positive and beneficial uses inside the class. Yes we can, as administrators, empower all teachers to accept the changing times and trends of this new day and age. Yes we can provide the tools and resources so tightly intertwined with technology to make a true difference. One lesson at a time. One project at a time. One student at a time. We can.

What exactly does President Obama believe our schools/classrooms should encompass, highlight and focus upon? Here are the highlights within the K-12 educational sector…

· Reform No Child Left Behind
· Support High-Quality Schools and Close Low-Performing Charter Schools
· Make Math and Science Education a National Priority
· Address the Dropout Crisis
· Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities
· Support College Outreach Programs
· Support College Credit Initiatives
· Support English Language Learners
· Recruit Teachers
· Prepare Teachers
· Retain Teachers
· Reward Teachers

Want to know the full details of President Obama’s education agenda? Visit the official website for the White House/President Obama. Check out the education agenda in its entirety.

Be sure to also take a look at his agenda for technology!

"Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let's set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let's recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let's make college more affordable, and let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America."

-- Barack Obama, Springfield, Illinois - February 10, 2007

Yes we can make a difference within our entire school system, on a local level within each school and within each and every classroom – each and every day. We can.

Is it your footprint, or just your shadow?

Retrace your steps. Follow in my footsteps. These boots are made for walking. Follow my lead.

These are all common sayings for where your footsteps can take you. But, what about online? Did you know that you create “digital footprints” every time you visit the world wide web? You also have something called a digital shadow that follows you!

What exactly are digital footprints? In a nutshell… your online trail.

According to a company called Pew/Internet, there are two main types of digital footprints.

Passive Footprints - These types of footprints are involuntarily left from your internet browser cookies and cache, etc.

Active Footprints - These footprints are when you voluntarily give out personal information, like your home address and telephone number when making an online purchase.

So, what have you done recently to leave a digital footprint?

-Posted to a blog?
-Made online purchases?
-Created a profile on a social networking site?
-Posted an online vita (resume)?
-Uploaded your photo?
-Created website accounts/registrations for various reasons?
-Sent an email?
-Used a search engine?
-Used VOIP to make a phone call?

So, we know what footprints are. But what are shadows? Quite similar to your footprints, shadows exist from things like electronic ticket purchases (concert, airline, sports events, theater performances, etc.), medical records, credit card purchases, surveillance camera footage, hotel stays, telephone records, attending professional conferences, etc. Shadows are just a part of everyday life. Whether electronically managed or not. But, more and more, our business transactions and daily interactions ARE electronically handled or stored.

How can you follow your own footprints and shadow?

-Google yourself often!
-Check out http://www.wink.com/ to see where your name/profile show up online
-Set up Google Alerts to receive an email every time your name appears in the news, etc.

This is an eye-opener and an absolute must for everyone… check out your potential digital footprints over the course of one ordinary day…. Very informative and only takes about 5 minutes. You will be amazed...

Want more information? Check out this site to look at the amazing statistics that our digital footprints in the 21st Century have created. Be sure you have some free time on your hand, it is 50 pages in length!

What is the best way to get a handle on your own footprint? Be smart. Post and contribute intelligently. Join professional sites. Create and/or join only positive networks online. Only upload appropriate photos. Step Carefully!

Also... it is extremely important that you educate and teach your students to watch where they walk!

What Can You Convert?

File Conversion. Today, most saved files need to be used, viewed and accessed by many different users. Guaranteed – those users are not all using the same software applications. So, what do you do? You convert your file into another format. What are some options? There are plenty.

ZAMZAR
http://www.zamzar.com/
· Free online service
· Convert images, songs, videos, and documents
· Files you convert can be on your hard drive, or even from other websites
· The converted file is then emailed to you
· Examples of conversion file formats: .mp3, .wmv, .ppt, .doc, .avi, .zip, .jpg, etc.

PRIMOPDF
http://www.primopdf.com/
· Free application you must download
· Convert files to pdf (portable document format)
· Once downloaded, primopdf installs itself into every program you have installed on your hard drive – which is great! You can then choose the “print” option (in ANY program) and rather than printing to your printer, print to a primo .pdf file

SWITCH
http://www.nch.com.au/switch/
· Free application you must download
· Convert audio/sound files
· Application is very easy to use once installed. Simply “add” a file into the Switch program window and choose the output (conversion format). Switch then converts the file and saves the new format to your hard drive.
· Example file formats: .wav, .mp3, .wmv, etc.

MOVAVI
http://online.movavi.com/
· Free online service
· Convert videos
· Upload video to convert
· Receive email notification when file has been converted and is ready for you to download
· Example file formats: .mp4, iPod video, PSP video, .3gp (cell phone video), .flv (flash video), .avi, .mp3, .wma, etc.

IMAGE CONVERTER
http://www.online-utility.org/image_converter.jsp
· Free online service
· Converts images
· Choose desired file conversion
· Upload image to be converted
· Download newly converted file format
· Example file formats: .eps, .jpg, .tif, .svg, .pict, .psd, .png, etc.

Want to get technical?

Curious about the sizes of your files before and after the format conversions? Check out http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/ to figure out file sizes. Visit their site to get specific size conversions for files you use or need to email!

Remember – Copyright Matters! Be sure you own or have followed copyright guidelines for any files you convert!

What is on your virtual bookshelf?

Reading. The gateway to knowledge. Magazines. Newspapers. Journals. Books. All common sources for finding the information and wisdom you hope to gain. All of those options are now literally at your fingertips.

Check out these sites offering free (complete text) ebooks...

http://www.free-ebooks.net/

http://pdfbooks.co.za/

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

ebooks – Just for kids…

http://www.magickeys.com/books/

http://storynory.com/

Robert Munsch

Children’s Classics

Want to listen instead? Try these sites for free audio books!

http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/home

http://librivox.org/

Need books for your PDA or Mobile Phone? Take a look at these.

http://www.feedbooks.com/

http://manybooks.net/

Interested in ONLY computer books? Here are some sites to get you started.

http://freecomputerbooks.com/

http://www.freetechbooks.com/

Don’t have time to search site after site for a certain book topic? Try http://www.pdfgeni.com/. It is a search engine for pdf books and all types of publications! Simply type in the subject of the book you need and then choose from the long, long list that is returned. Now, be sure you check out the originating source and stay in compliance with ALL copyrights issued on your finds.

Remember... copyright matters, regardless of the ebook source!

Happy Reading. You now have a virtual bookshelf. Library card optional.

How Stuff Works

Inquisitive students in your class? Need a new direction to point them towards for answers? Check out howstuffworks.com! This website was first known as “the” place to go for how common gadgets worked. It quickly evolved, and now, this site has become a place that offers answers and great, simplistic explanations on all kinds of topics and processes.

There are now TONS of questions your students can find answers too. You can also easily build lesson plans around some of the questions/topics. Some questions are even answered in the form of a video!

Categories include History, Geography, Animals, Computers, Health, Science, Money, and many more. Need Examples? Take a look at these links… I am sure they will catch your creative eye!

Is the Dead Sea Really Dead?

Who Owns the Oceans?

How Viruses Work

How Stocks and the Stock Market Work

How Barack Obama Works

My personal favorite is a section called “Everyday Science”. Here, you can find the answers to questions like “How do Sunglasses Work?” or “What Causes an Ice Cream Headache?"

These are all questions that easily make you tilt your head and go hmmmmmm. Well, now you can find the answers!

Are You Blue?

Have you heard of Digital Blue? Their name is becoming common among kids in some classrooms across the globe these days. Digital Blue is an innovative technology company that specializes in products for today's youth. What are they known for? Their Digital Movie Creator which easily allows kids to become film directors and executive producers of their own movie productions. Digital Blue has gone so far as to incorporate their products into the classroom by teaming with another company called Freshi (pronounced Fresh Eye).

With the collaboration of both companies, state standards can be met in Science, Social Studies and even Math. They are also in the process of creating specific lesson plans for teachers.

Want to check them out? Visit them online at http://digiblue.com/education/

Check out freshi at http://www.freshifilmworx.com/

Web Proxy

We have all heard the terms “Web Proxy” but is there true understanding of what those words really mean? To understand this process, let’s first answer a few questions.

What is a proxy server?
A proxy server is a computer that offers a network service which serves as a middle-man in allowing a person/computer to connect to a website indirectly.

How does a web proxy work?
You are essentially allowed to anonymously browse websites. For example, if you try to connect to myspace.com on your computer and it is blocked/filtered within your internet access, you would connect to a proxy server web address and the proxy server web address would then connect to that site for you…. Literally, your computer connects to the proxy service on another computer and that computer then connects to the site you want to visit – and allows you to view it.

Why should a web proxy be a concern in the classroom?
There are many, many sites that students would love to visit and interact with during school hours. These developed web proxy sites allow students to temporarily side-step filtering processes in place that are set up to ensure and encourage their safety online.

How can educators and parents work together to solve this problem?
Continue to give students instructions on what is and what is not appropriate to visit online. Filters are already in place within schools, but new web proxy/sites are developed all the time! Teachers must monitor what their students are viewing online. And, equally, parents must monitor their children online at home, as well.

Rest assured that ever-increasing technologies allow these web proxy sites to become filtered. So, even though students may have found a temporary solution to visit their favorite sites – those web proxy sites soon get caught in school filtering systems and the students will be unable to visit those sites. District technology departments are always on the lookout to catch new web proxy sites and put them in their place - on the filter list!

Web Versions?

The World Wide Web has progressed tremendously over the past 10 years. I remember vividly the days of html programming before WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editors came along. The days when animation was “the” going thing on a website are long gone. Instead, we have evolved to the dawn of a new era we are now entering called Web 3.0.

Before fully appreciating Web 3.0, we must first understand Web 1.0 and 2.0! Here are some simple (definitely debatable) characteristics that function under each web version.

Web 1.0
-Reading, Reading, Reading
-All types of publications were posted online for viewing (brief “paper-less” time period)
-Usually “static” webpages there were not always updated on a consistent/evolving basis
-Sites were informational only, usually not requiring/providing the capability for website visitors’ input
-Sites were usually about selling/marketing products/services
-Netscape (popular browser then)
-Success sometimes defined by the number of page views!
-Web 1.0 was in full swing around the dot.com business boom and then losses…
-Mostly Dial-Up connections!

Web 2.0
-Interaction, Interaction, Interaction
-User-created/generated content
-Social Networking (Face Book, MySpace, etc.)
-Social Bookmarking (Delicious, etc.)
-Blogs
-Wikis
-Google
-Twitter
-YouTube
-TeacherTube
-Flickr
-RSS
-Open Source Applications

The list for 2.0 literally goes on and on and on...

What can we expect next/now?

Web 3.0
-Advanced computer graphics
-Artificial Intelligence/Semantic Web (computer-driven information & content distribution/sharing)
-Greater and more intriguing user-interaction
-Broader open-source applications
-More open-data sources (content to the masses with less restrictions)

Based on research from Nova Spivack, Wikipedia sums it up in an excellent manner… Web 1.0 was "read-only", Web 2.0 is "read-write", and Web 3.0 will be "read-write-execute."

What Makes a Technology Rich Curriculum?

Is it just the stuff? Gadgets like student response systems, document cameras, scanners, global positioning systems, laptop carts, digital cameras, slates, SMART Boards, ActivBoards, etc., etc. The list of “things” available to incorporate into our classrooms is astounding.

But, technology rich curriculums don’t begin nor end with just stuff. Add to that ever-growing and very long list resources like... web-based applications, widgets, wikis, blogs, traditional software, online learning communities (i.e. Moodle), global communities, online educational games, social bookmarking, virtual (educational) worlds, podcasts, vodcasts/vidcasts, video conferencing, Google Docs, SharePoint sites, digital storytelling, screencasts, vlogs… the list just keeps going and growing and going and growing.

So, how do you pull it all together? How do you incorporate the “stuff” with the resources? Simple. Think outside the box (textbook, worksheets, pen and paper). Instead, add to those common items imagination, creative planning and a lot of forethought.

What is the goal in producing a technology rich curriculum? A learning yet interactive experience in which your students gain core knowledge, insight, new perspectives and new technological skills.

Go ahead, think outside the box. Your students will appreciate it.

Can Wii Come into the Classroom?

Wii. Wii. Wii. Quite the buzzword these days. But, what exactly is the “Wii” and how can we utilize it for learning? Both are very important questions and imagination has lead the way in providing the answers. According to the official Nintendo site, the Wii is a social gaming experience. That is a pretty high level description when you compare it to “regular” old school games like Frogger, Pac Man and anything Atari provided in the 80’s!

So far, the offerings from Wii are extremely impressive and are mainly geared towards just having a fun time. But, there is one new gaming experience, Wii Music, that may find a niche within music classrooms across the globe. It allows you to play (experience) over 60 different musical instruments.

Want to see it in action? Watch this video of a kindergarten class being officially introduced to Wii Music at school. Be sure to take note of how many kindergarteners were already very aware of what the Wii does... even before they began to interact! Further along in the video, the teachers even got a chance to play. Or, should we say learn?

You may click the image below to view the video

*Image/Video from the Nintendo and Wii websites.

Use the Chalk!

Hotchalk.com is a web-based teacher community which provides lesson plans, activities, digital content, and professional development. This resource is free to teachers and students and requires a user account and password. Hotchalk offers TONS of videos and numerous lesson plans on just about everything including math, science, music, language arts, computers, physical education, social studies, etc.

What can you do right away on hotchalk… check out the section on digital content. Here is an awesome example of an interactive video… “Math Matters: Off-Road Algebra”... It shows students how mathematics is involved in everyday life. Don't forget to set up your free account to access the available resources. Use the chalk! Your students will enjoy it.