Brad Wallace

Yes, the 2009 edition is the latest edition. Thanks for your interest.

Steve Yuen

Your book seems to be really interesting.
Is the edition of 2009 the last one? Is there a new one?

Kindly, from Portugal,
Margarida Belchior

PhD Student ICT in Education
Institut of Education – University of Lisbon

I can see the development in my child’s learning. It really helped the writing and sketching r\features of the app.

Many of the other tools are very useful and require little training for general users to accomplish common tasks. Prezi has definitely granted my presentations some ohh’s and ahh’s although it is a little tricky to use.

Looking forward to reading more of your blog postings!

-Billy

When a technology product becomes a brand identifier it means that when a person refers to that technology it is known by one name. For example social networks people often think immediately of Facebook, or videos people think of YouTube. Some of the technologies mentioned in the presentation that I have used are Diigo a site that allows users to share bookmarks/favorites, Prezi, Slideshare both presentation types of Web 2.0 technologies, Blogger, WordPress, YouTube, and Twitter.

Prezi I have had limited experience with, but recently I have noticed more presenters are beginning to use it. Slideshare is one that I have worked with a few times and believe it is a wonderful way to add audio to presentations. Recently I learned of Dropbox and downloaded it to my computer, although I have not worked with it. The idea of having all of your files synced to one dropbox regardless of which computer you are on is very appealing.

Soon I plan to explore the rest of the technologies identified in the presentation, and explore their functionalities and features.

Some of the items like the car did not surprise me, but I loved how when she was brushing her teeth she was seeing calendar changes to her schedule for the morning. Technology was integrated througout the house. I also loved how when Grandma called everyone was able to see each other and they passed the phone around with their finger instead of a physical phone.

The refriderator was also neat since the pictures were animated rather than still images. I liked how the little girl was able to make changes to them as if she was on a touch screen monitor–that was really neat.

Overall this was an awesome video and great resource for technology’s future.

In the article it rated the following areas: online libraries and databases, e-textbooks, and online learning portals. Online libraries and databases had the greatest impact on student engagement ranking the highest—this surprised me somewhat, because I was not expecting it to have the largest number. E-textbooks also surprised me, because I do not think about them engaging the students. However, when reflecting on some of the e-textbooks I have seen published by Cengage; they can be very interactive for students, and I believe they are more motivated to look for information versus thumbing through a printed textbook.

As a technology educator and one that often trains other teachers in technology professional development; I was surprised by how 58% of instructors say they prefer teaching a course that uses a great deal of technology. For so long I have heard many teachers afraid of technology and not sure how to implement it. The only rationale I would be able to think of concerning this staggering statistic would be how the resources we are given to teach with continue to be more technology centered. Textbooks now have all of the resources online for teachers with online flash cards, Power Points, and much more. To take full advantage of all of the resources the publishers make available and instructor would have to use a great deal of technology.

Dr. Mark our teacher developed an island where we were to have our own virtual reality conference. Each of us had us to develop a presentation on a Web 2.0 topic just as one may with PowerPoint. He also had us to develop a biography page along with a handout. We even had conference T-shirts. Visitors were able to walk around and view our presentations, ask questions, pick up virtual handouts, etc. It was so cool!

I can definately recognize the possiblities of more college campuses moving to incorporate Second Life especially with how online/distance learning is growing. Many of my online advisees have difficulty meeting me face to face to discuss a schedule due to work and life conflicts. My work hours of 8:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. really limit a student who works full time. By allowing the student to meet with me in Second Life this would eliminate a great deal of headaches, and fulfill a great need.

There is so much potential for Diigo both in the classroom and teacher collaboration. I find myself using it in several group projects for various courses I am taking when needing to share information/web resources with fellow partners. It helps us to collaborate and manage the information much more efficiently.

In the classroom it is very secure for a K12 environment too. If a teacher creates the account he/she can then set up secure accounts for the students. Students are able to collaborate and research various projects. They can comment on each other’s work, highlight useful information, and tag using specific keywords. Diigo will even allow them to post to their Facebook or Twitter accounts too.

An example of this would be a Hatian who is charged $13 for a gallon of gas to travel 3 hours to town only to be unable to find the item they were initially looking for. Another example would be the medical assistance a cell phone can provide such as nurses text messaging AIDS patients reminding them to take their medicine.

I was also amazed how in underdeveloped countries cell phone useage can increase the GDP as much as .59 percent when 10 more out of 100 people used them. Connectivity equals productivity. This also reduces the poor from being taken advantage of further by crooked middle men. With a cell phone farmers can verify commodities prices when selling their goods with the use of their cell phone. This helps to reduce them being misled and results in a fair wage.

After my numerous attempts, I could never get it to give me the file in Mp3 format, as the webpage indicated, where I could simply right-click to download the file. Unless I was missing a step (I don’t believe I was) there was nothing free about this. The idea sounds wonderful and I would like to find a website that would provide this service.

“It is important to realize that the Web is what we make it. ‘We’ being the people who read, the people who teach children how to surf the Web, the people who put information up on the Web. Particularly the people who make links…. The Web doesn’t force anything down your throat. If you are worried that your children are going to read low-quality information, teach them. Teach them what to read. Teach them how to judge information.” Tim Berners-Lee (Scientific American Dec 97) Thus it’s use in the teaching and learning environment requires professional judgement in determining whether the appropriateness of the resources and ensuring that the resource is used within the ethical and legal parameters of the profession. There are a number of concerns relating to Internet usage in schools. Some of these issues include acceptable use, ethical issues and filtering. The main way for teaches to protect students from these dangers is to be aware that they exisit and to take precautionary measures within their classrooms on a daily basis.

Classmarker is a great tool and I look forward to using it in my classroom (when I get one) !!!!

In America children are spending an unknown amount of time playing video games, text messaging, surfing the internet or watching television on a daily basis. Due to this teachers should focus on integrating technology in a way that will catch and maintain their attention. This may be very hard to do because many students lack the attention span necessary to get through a lecture that doesn’t require them to respond simultaneously or doesn’t contain a visual aspect. These students aren’t excited by the traditional methods of teaching, thus learning won’t take place. They would rather be watching television instead. So why not incorporate television into the lesson. Instruct the students to take notes on a video or present a portion of a popular movie that relates to the lesson at hand.

“Technology supports teaching, and it supports learning (27).By adding technology to a lesson a teacher can reach those students who may have been deemed unreachable. Lessons enhanced with technology that involve student interaction allow students to remain focused due to their ability to interact, as with video games and other electronic devices. While students remain on task there are less behavior problems, which can often be a major environmental factor for students. The reduction of behavior problems will aid in creating an environment that is conducive to learning and free of barriers.

Our lives have been changed drastically due to the rapid rate at which technology is being introduced. On a daily basis a new form of a more advanced version of a video game or computer software is made available for purchase. I feel that technology is going to become an even bigger part of our daily lives. Whether it be present in the work place or in our homes technology usage is crucial. As a result of technology’s rise it is imperative that we begin to introduce it into the learning process as early as possible. “However, educational technologies cannot be selected or implemented until the teaching and learning process they support has been planned and detailed by an educator (27). Educators who aren’t tech savvy should be trained on how to properly integrate technology into their lesson plans.

While the link does not discuss its competitors it looks very similar to Google Apps and Windows Live sites. Google Apps provides 5 GB along with the Microsoft Office applications that can be created live in the browser. Windows Live has the Microsoft Office features too where a document can be uploaded, edited, and stored live in the browser, however, it provides 25 Gigabytes of free online storage. So far I have not found a sky drive providing this much storage for free. Amazon does provide additional storage plans of 20 GB to 100 GB at a cost of $1 per GB available in 20 GB increments. If an individual purchases an MP3 album from the Amazon store they will receive 20GB of free storage for a year. My thought is why would I want to pay when I can receive 25 GB on the Windows Live site at no charge?

The article makes no mention of including features such as the Microsoft Office applications. Features that it highlights are songs and audio/MP3 files. This causes me to assume that this sky drive is targeted more towards the management and storage of song/MP3 files.

The applications included some to assist students in working on speech and also included Dragon for voice recognition software where a student may have cognitive disabilities. Apps in the list included behavior tracking software to monitor and track students’ behavior too. Some of the apps could have been used in pre-school age groups too if parents wanted to work with children on their writing such as the app iWriteWords and Glow Draw for only $2.99.

This will provide a wonderful reference in the future for me, and I am so glad I learned on this. I have posted this to my Twitter feed and Facebook profiles to share with my network and fellow educators. Soon I hope to hear of how they are using the apps in their classrooms.

As a college instructor I was not quite sure what to expect and was a little worried the students would not be interested. The assignment was to create a three pane illustration narrating how they planned to spend their summer break. The students were completely engrossed in their assignment spending the entire 50 minute class working. Many took the opportunity to print it out on the color printer so they could take it home with them.

Some of the students were education majors and said they would definately use the technology tool again. As Michael indicated above the idea of digital story telling in literature would be a wonderful way to tie the information to something more relevant. Also showing the incorporation of another subject area. You may see my toon by clicking the below link:

http://www.toondoo.com/Search.toon?searchfield=apayne31&searchFrom=toon

Recently I have learned how screen readers work and was alarmed at how little I was doing to make my courses accessible for a vision impaired student. I was not aware of how one should include tags to describe a picture, because the screen reader would not be able to convey what was in the picture if the code did not. Honestly I had never considered this concept.

Some other changes I am making in my online courses are including a text narrative of any videos I show my students. This will provide the same information to someone with limited vision as an individual who watches the movie. Additionally for movies/videos I have included in my course they now all included closed captioning. As I add these materials I am using these accessibility features and not waiting until I may have a student in my class that needs the accommodations.

The alarming part of accessibility is how little it is done and talked about. If changes and modifications are made in the development phase of the web site accessibility is much easier and less time consuming. WAI’s Quick Ten Tips is a valuable reference and will definitely use this in the future in developing and using my online course management system.

In compiling the site’s content the information selected should present multiple viewpoints with no bias. The site should present facts rather attempt to persuade the user. The content should also be correct and meaningful to the course on which the site is based, exceeding all instructional objectives. Proper citation of sources used to create the site is a requirement. When creating a site it is important to include links and citations for materials on the site.

Features such as site maps and search engines should also be incorporated into the sites’ design to increase it’s navigability. Keeping the styles and names of navigation buttons consistent will also increase navigability. Webpages should include multimedia functions such as graphics , audio and video that will appeal to a variety of learning styles. Animations should be used sparingly , adding interest but not overwhelming the intended message. The site also needs to be handicapped accessible. To be handicapped accessible the site will need to include handicapped options on all pages with links to support software.

While being trained to start my internship with DOT USA I was introduced to blogging. During the internship I had the opportunity to train the teachers at Earl Travillion Attendance Center on how to properly implement blogging into their current lesson plans. Many of the teachers were amazed at the various functions that the blog offered. But also had concerns on safety. I suggested to them that they create a list of code names for students to use when posting to the class blog. Once all their concerns were resolved they each began to blog.

Blogs can provide students with a way to post daily entries, to comment on peer postings, and to collaborate on group projects. There are several ways in which I would use blogging. One particular daily assignment would include a bell ringer on which students would be required to comment on a current event. Another possible assignment would include the communication with students from another country. I would also use blogging to communicate with parents. This will allow parents who aren’t able to attend open house or other school events to keep in touch and know what’s going on in my classroom. I feel like this will encourage parent-teacher communication.

The University of Southern Mississippi has just integrated a web conferencing tool called Wimba Pronto, but it is hardly free and it is tied into the personel management system of the University but the premise between that product and these is the same. Create a rich interactive environment for learning and presenting to take place.

I’ve used Adobe Connect before and absolutely loved it! Adobe has tied this in as a part of Acrobat.com and in their Creative Suite Products. The free version is limited only in the number of people that can join the room, but it still works very well.

I tried Big Blue Button the other day, but I didn’t have anyone to meet with so it didn’t do anything for me. The customizability of the desktop and arrangement of the windows looked and felt very much Adobe Connect’s interface.

My suggestion would be to get in and play with them and find the one that works the best for you. Be sure to look at the limitations and security before you actually go for a live meeting or training.

I was fascinated by their ability to interact with things without touching them. They interacted with a digital news paper, took pictures with gestures, and even found out “deals” in the supermarket by interacting with the computer in its own reality.

The thing that really impressed (and scared) me though, was that they were able to scan a person’s face and it pulled up all their information that was online *facebook, twitter, blogs, google searches, etc.*

I’m sure that they have improved their device since then and even since this post. There have been a great many improvements in the technology, the size of the hardware, and sophistication of the software.

This was my first experience with Augmented Reality and that technology. It seems to be catching on more and more. Even now Microsoft has released a SDK for its Kinect device that allows people to do some amazing things with motions, gestures, and AR. This is an exciting time to watch the progression of this technology and others. These technologies combined doesn’t make movies like “Minority Report” such a far-fetched future anymore.

I am way ok with this because of another feature that I’ve been wanting for a while. Amazon Cloud Drive also offers the Cloud Music Player. This player has a desktop application and an Android application that will allow you to store your music (bought from Amazon or otherwise) on the cloud drive and play it on your player(s). The songs that you upload will show up on your phone once you have tried to play them and checked the agreement on your desktop. All my songs that were not in protected formats showed up and sound great. This is not a big deal unless you have a bajilion songs in iTunes in the dreaded m4p “protected” ** aggravating** format. Amazon can’t play these files cause they’re locked up by Apple.. grr… thats another discussion though.

So I guess it seems that once again I will use the best tool that fits the job and not stick to one exclusively. I’m sure that I will use Amazon for backing up documents and occasionally really big files (up to 2gb) and playing music. I will use Google Docs for the ease of use of the forms and spreadsheets. I am still trying to differentiate Microsoft Sky Drive and Google Docs features. We’ll see and talk about that in another post I’m sure.

Once again, the best tool will be used for each situation. I will continue to use Google Docs for many things, Microsoft Sky Drive for others, and now Amazon Cloud Drive for others.

My biggest problem for this process was trying to show people or teach people how they could do this. https://sites.google.com/site/googdocsismyfriend/
That is a site where I attempted to walk people step-by-step through the process of creating a test in Google Docs and then have it graded automatically.

I am glad that I figured all that out, but I’m very glad that I know about Flubaroo now. This tool seems like it would be a great asset for teachers who are willing to use Google Docs for testing, but don’t know a whole lot about spreadsheet formulas (or who just doesn’t have the time or desire to make their own). This tool is automated and easy. I’m not sure how it can email everyone though, unless you have an email field that the student fill out in their test.

I’d be interested in seeing how they wrote the script (maybe through Google developers) and how I can build on these ideas. I’ve often wished that there was a way for me to be able to automate this task but I just couldn’t figure out how. This is a great tool!

Lightworks is an opensource NLE (Non-Linear Editor) for video and it is truly a professional program. Some opensource programs that I’ve seen have been cheap or old looking, but Lightworks has a very polished UI and tremendous capabilities.

I’m afraid the learning curve is going to be a bit steep however. Upon download, there are three keyboard layouts. 1) Final Cut, 2) Avid, and 3) Lightworks. I noticed right away that I was familiar with none of the processes or buttons. Because Final Cut has been “industry standard” for so long, I feel that people with a background in FC would probably get along easier with this program.

Everything seems pretty straightforward, but just very different. The user has to download the codecs to import any type of video file to be edited. The user needs a pretty hefty system in order to run this program. The program suggests having 3gb of ram dedicated to running the program. This will no doubt be for rendering and previews.

I’m sure that once I get the hang of the processes and UI that I’ll be able to use this fine, but until then I’ll just be messing around and reading their tutorials. I’m excited to delve into this program. Oh yeah.. ITS FREE!!!

A few years ago I heard the term “digital storytelling” which was simply using digital tools to tell a story. This was used in some English and social studies to help the students become more engaged with the lessons. The results of utilizing these tools in the classroom instead of just paper/pencil were great for most students. (Some would have preferred to do it the old way and that should always be ok. Not all students are the same nor should they be expected to be, but thats another discussion.) I’ve seen teachers use tools like flickr, powerpoint, animoto, and even Alice 2.0 for digital storytelling.

ToonDoo is yet another tool that could be great to tell stories digitally. This tool has the opportunity to reach a group of students that may be missing out on other forms of expression. I had a group of students in my class who were very artistic and smart, but not very directed or motivated. They always wanted to use paint instead of working on their keyboarding lessons. I gave them an opportunity to use a program similar to ToonDoo during an English Enhancement across the curriculum program and the results were outstanding! They were motivated, told a great story and their work was the best in the class.

I haven’t used ToonDoo, but the potential for its benefit in education is huge!

The very first that I noticed when I went to Dushare is that there are no ads, the services are free, and they claim that they don’t collect or share any information. I’m not saying that this service is not legit, but I can’t understand how they can support this service. It may be that Dushare is just one of many applications owned by a larger business, but I’ll need to research more about it.

My concerns about the legality of this web application are mostly comforted. This service is a way for 2 people to share files and Dushare states that they have no knowledge about what you share. This removes them from liability and leaves the users responsible for doing anything illegal.

Security seems great because there is a password and 128 bit encryption. There is no opportunity for someone to insert malicious things in because it is a secure connection between two computers.

This is an interesting application and I will be glad to be looking into this one more.