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Showing posts from 2009

EETT/AARA Grant

I haven't been posting lately. I am swamped with writing a proposal for a SSTT/AARA grant for 1-1 netbooks in every English classroom. The details of what I am required to do for this grant are here: http://www.isbe.net/curriculum/elearning/default.htm I haven't been this focused on writing something since my dissertation. At least I know someone will read this one. Expect me to emerge from my cave in January. Happy Holidays to everyone!

My Bookmarks and Annotations 12/08/2009

Processing 1.0 tags : programming , visualization , design , graphics , opensource , processing Best Online Collaboration Tools 2009 - Robin Good's Collaborative Map - MindMeister Mind Map "Best Online Collaboration Tools 2009 - Robin Good's Collaborative Map" tags : collaboration , web2.0 , mindmapping , Tools , mindmap , learningtrends , tool , mindmeister Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 12/06/2009

Help me fix my last picture of mom : pics tags : whyIlovethenet Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 12/05/2009

movieclips.com home - movieclips A database of thousands of top movie clips that are a couple of seconds each. tags : Movies , Clips , freeware , movieclips.com , film , movieclips Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 12/04/2009

Free Media Video Converter MP4 AVI 3GP FLV AVC Codec HD Free Software - Quick Media Converter Home Page - Free FLV TO AVI DIVX DVD MP4 MPEG MP3 H264 IPHONE IPOD MOV WMV XVID WII XBOX PS3 3GP 3G2 TS VOB MKV SWF OGG Free Video Audio Converter Cocoon Softwar "New Quick Media Converter HD V4.0.0.0 Final and Stable release Download Quick Media Converter HD v 4.0.0.0 here ! Or in the upper left part of our main page Introducing our best ever version supporting many more formats , new design new possibilities such as Youtube and Daily Motion AVC video conversion and also Support of QCELP (USA)audio codec as well as KDDI Codec ( Japan) TS HD from Satellite receivers such as Dreambox and much much more such as an integrated video audio player. " tags : Converter , freeware , Media , windows , software Format Factory - Free media file format converter "Format Factory is a multifunctional media converter. Provides functions below: All to MP4/3GP/MPG/AVI/WMV/FLV/SWF. All to MP3/W

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/21/2009

Using Visual Literacy: Eye Opening Apps / FrontPage Presentation from IETC 2009 by Dawn Moore and Heidi Kay tags : visualliteracy , visualization , pictures , graphical , wordle Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/18/2009

Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary and thesaurus "Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary — Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate. Enter words into the search box to look them up or double-click a node to expand the tree. Click and drag the background to pan around and use the mouse wheel to zoom. Hover over nodes to see the definition and click and drag individual nodes to move them around to help clarify connections. * It's a dictionary! It's a thesaurus! * Great for writers, journalists, students, teachers, and artists. * The online dictionary is available wherever there’s an internet connection. * No membership required. Visuwords™ uses Princeton University’s WordNet, an opensource database built by University students and language researchers. Combined with a visualization tool and user interface built from a combination of modern w

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/17/2009

Visualising the Guardian Datablog | Information Is Beautiful "There’s been a furore over here in the UK about the dangers of illegal drugs. The Government has sacked its most senior drugs advisor, Dr Professor Nutt, after he claimed cannabis was no more harmful than alcohol. And that horse-riding, and specifically ‘equasy’ (Equine Addiction Syndrome) was riskier than taking ecstasy. (Statistically he’s correct. His study here.). Anyway, digging at the numbers behind his statements and how drugs are reported in the popular press, I found some stuff I didn’t expect about drug harms." tags : visualization "You're fired. I only want people who already know how to do their jobs." - Dangerously Irrelevant "When will we, as educational systems, redefine the job descriptions and expectations of educators to include their regular and effective incorporation of relevant digital technologies?" tags : pd , professional , learning , comic Posted from Diigo . The re

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/16/2009

K12_SocialNetworkingSurvey.pdf (application/pdf Object) To benchmark attitudes, perceptions and utilization of social networking websites and content-sharing tools by teachers, principals and school librarians. tags : web2.0 , media , statistics , k12_socialnetworkingsurvey , socialnetworking nielsen_howteensusemedia_june09.pdf (application/pdf Object) It’s easy to get caught up in the hype around teenagers. The notion that teens are too busy texting and Twittering to be engaged with traditional media is exciting, but false. To develop the best strategy around teens and media, start by challenging popular assumptions about teens. Don’t focus on the outliers, but on the macrolevel trends of media and preferences for the segment. The averages will show you that teens can often be reached by the same means as their parents. In this report, “How Teens Use Media,” we debunk the myths and give you the hard facts. tags : web2.0 , teens , media , statistics , debunk , myths Posted from Diigo .

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/14/2009

Land Mass and Population Size By Country | Herald Daily tags : visualization Don’t-Miss Video: Incredible Look at U.S. Airways Flight 1549 | Autopia | Wired.com We’ve seen a lot of simulations of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 going into the Hudson River, but a new video painstakingly compiled by an engineer offers the most comprehensive and compelling look yet at the airliner’s short but incredible flight. tags : video , leadership , critical thinking , preparedness , expert Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/13/2009

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2009 | EDUCAUSE "Since 2004, the annual ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology has sought to shed light on how information technology affects the college experience. We ask students about the technology they own and how they use it in and out of their academic world. We gather information about how skilled students believe they are with technologies; how they perceive technology is affecting their learning experience; and their preferences for IT in courses. The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2009 is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 studies. It is based on quantitative data from a spring 2009 survey of 30,616 freshmen and seniors at 103 four-year institutions and students at 12 two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 62 students at 4 institutions; and review of qualitative data from written resp

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/12/2009

cyoa visualized Visualization of choose your own adventure books At its atomic level, a cyoa book is a collection of numbered pages of a few different types. Most pages tell a portion of the story, then finish by telling you to jump to another page. A smaller number of pages tell a conclusion to the story and represent an endpoint with no further jumps. We can subdivide these ‘narrative’ and ‘endings’ groups further based on the number of choices offered or the goodness of the ending. To visualize this, imagine color-coding every page in the book and then laying the pages out next to each other: tags : libraries , cyoa , books , visualization , tear out the pages Dangerously irrelevant libraries - Home - Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog tags : libraries , books , questions , library , education , 10 , web2.0 , irrelevant libraries , dangerously , home 10 questions about books, libraries, librarians, and schools - Dangerously Irrelevant 10 questions about books, libraries, librarians,

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/11/2009

Changing primary domain name - Google Apps Help tags : google , domain , primary , changing Evolving Technologies Reports | EDUCAUSE Evolving Technologies Reports The Evolving Technologies Committee is charged with the identification of developing technologies and the evaluation of their impact on higher education for the EDUCAUSE community. Annually such technologies are identified, researched, and white papers are produced by members of the committee. The information gathered is presented at the EDUCAUSE annual conference committee meeting tags : technologies , evolving , reports Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/10/2009

Cell Size and Scale Demonstrates Scale of items ranging from a grain of rice down to an atom tags : science , cells , biology , scale , Interactive , size , genetics , atom CoSN VOI K-12 technology leaders are under increasing pressure to justify current and proposed technology expenditures. Value of Investment (VOI) is a CoSN project to help schools to better understand the costs and benefits of proposed technology related projects. Much as corporations use Return on Investment (ROI) to evaluate the worth of these projects, schools should perform a similar evaluation. However, there is a fundamental difference between K-12 and business goals: a business exists to make money; business technology projects are in place to increase top line revenue and/or decrease overall costs. The business of schools is education; schools need to understand their educational goals and how investments in technology will support them. tags : edtech , technology , research , assessment , planning , indicat

Brain Research and Visual Learning

I had the opportunity to hear Wes Fryer keynote today at the 1-1 Laptop Conference in Chicago. He used a stat that I have heard before and have debated a little. The idea is: "What we see travels to the brain 60X faster than what we hear" We discussed it afterward because I have recently looked at that information for another presentation that I was working on. I think it should actually be: "At any one time 60X more information can travel to the brain from the eyes than from the ears" Did some research tonight to confirm my off the head numbers today and here is what I found... Optical nerve fibers = 1,200,000 Several spots on the web - here it is from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_nerve Auditory nerve fibers - 20,000 - 30,000 depending on the source wikipedia has it at 30K At 20K you get the 60X number 1,200,000/20,000 = 60 That would just impact the amount of information that could be carried at any one time. It is all electrical impulses trave

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/04/2009

nsf.gov - Funding - Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers - US National Science Foundation (NSF) The ITEST program responds to current concerns and projections about the growing demand for professionals and information technology workers in the U.S. and seeks solutions to help ensure the breadth and depth of the STEM workforce. ITEST supports research studies to address questions about how to find solutions. It also supports the development, implementation, testing, and scale-up of implementation models. A large variety of possible approaches to improving the STEM workforce and to building students’ capacity to participate in it may be implemented and studied. ITEST projects may include students or teachers, kindergarten through high school age, and any area of the STEM workforce. Projects that explore cyberlearning, specifically learning with cyberinfrastructure tools such as networked computing and communications technologies in K-12 settings, are of special in

My Bookmarks and Annotations 11/03/2009

Oversold and underused: computers in ... - Google Books Larry Cuban's Oversold and Underused on Google Books tags : instruction , improvement , capacity , instructional_capacity , underused , oversold instruction capacity improvement.pdf (application/pdf Object) three decades of research has found that only a few interventions have had detectable effects on instruction and that, when such effects are detected, they rarely are sustained over time. A review of research and professional experience with school improvement suggests several explanations for these disheartening findings. One is that schools are complex social organizations situated within, and vitally affected by, other complex social systems including families, communities, and professional and regulatory agencies. The larger social environment of schools constrains and shapes the actions of teachers, students, and administrators, often in ways that greatly complicate the work of school improvement. tags : instruction ,

My Bookmarks and Annotations 10/31/2009

Little Pearls - "tiny films" that open hearts and minds Little Pearls are “tiny films” that open hearts and minds, inspiring authentic connection and compassionate action on behalf of all living beings. Created by the media non-profit Little Pearls, these beautiful films are gifts of the heart – for you and for the world. MISSION AND VISION tags : hero , storytelling Amazon.com: The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness: A True Story (9781565122901): Joel Ben Izzy: Books "First-time author ben Izzy's vocation as a professional storyteller may fill his life with heady myth and poetry, but as he acknowledges early on in this slim but memorable recollection of personal tragedy, "the absence of magic" in his childhood is the very thing "that sent me looking for it." He found it in the unlikeliest and most cruelly ironic way. After undergoing surgery to remove thyroid cancer, ben Izzy lost his voice-the instrument of not only his art, but also hi

My Bookmarks and Annotations 10/24/2009

Will at Work Learning: People remember 10%, 20%...Oh Really? Debunks the myth of the 10,20,30.... percent learning rules tags : research , myth , pedagogy , instruction , learning , education , teaching , instructionaldesign Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 10/17/2009

Springshare LibGuides - Web 2.0 for Library 2.0 LibGuides is the amazingly popular, easy to use, web 2.0 content management and library knowledge sharing system. Libraries use it to create attractive multimedia content, share knowledge and information, and promote library resources to the community. Academic, Public, Special, and School Libraries find LibGuides an ideal solution for subject guides, information portals, course guides, community guides, research help, faculty/teacher support, etc. tags : library2.0 , web2.0 , libguides , libraries , guides , tools , information_literacy , Library Henry (2) - Google Wave tags : no_tag Henry Thiele Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 10/10/2009

$10 billion takes fiber to every school, hospital in the US - Ars Technica $10 billion takes fiber to every school, hospital in the US The US has more than 120,000 schools, hospitals, and libraries, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes that they can all have fiber optic Internet for $5 billion-$10 billion. tags : internet , broadband , connectivity 20 Year Archive on Google Groups "20 Year Usenet Timeline Google has fully integrated the past 20 years of Usenet archives into Google Groups, which now offers access to more than 800 million messages dating back to 1981. This is by far the most complete collection of Usenet articles ever assembled and a fascinating first-hand historical account. We compiled some especially memorable articles and threads in the timeline below. For example, read Tim Berners-Lee's announcement of what became the World Wide Web or Linus Torvalds' post about his "pet project". You can find more in-depth information about the

My Bookmarks and Annotations 10/09/2009

The myth of the page fold: evidence from user testing | cxpartners tags : usability , fold , webdesign , design , page fold What Visualization Tool/Software Should You Use? – Getting Started | FlowingData re you looking to get into data visualization, but don't quite know where to begin? With all of the available tools to help you visualize data, it can be confusing where to start. The good news is, well, that there are a lot of (free) available tools out there to help you get started. It's just a matter of deciding which one suits you best. This is a guide to help you figure that out. tags : visualization , visualisation , flowingdata , tools , visualizing , infographics Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

William Kamkwamba "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind"

I have been following William Kamkwamba's blog for about a year now and I received his book " The Boy that Harnessed the Wind " on Monday (finished it Tuesday). It was a fabulous read and helped put into perspective 3 main things: I am so blessed to have been provided the resources that I have been given for my entire life - I have really had it pretty easy. The problems I face on a daily basis can be difficult, but I am blessed that those are my only challenges. Overall, I (and the people around me) are pretty wasteful with our resources and our abilities. For those of you that don't know William's story you can see him speak about it here at TED from July of 2009. He also appeared with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last night. I have embedded it below and William talks about it himself here . My favorite part is the exchange between Stewart and William about him preparing to take his SAT's (at the 5:50 mark). The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thur

Google Apps Webinar: Final Follow-Up

Here is the follow-up sent out from Google: If you are interested in signing up your school for Google Apps, please visit our website In case you'd like to share this information with others, or re-watch again yourself, please make use of these assets: Recorded webinar Slide presentation Q&A Session Transcript Google Moderator page of questions (with posted answers to questions - click 'View responses' next to question) Case study Thanks for again for joining us - and we look forward to seeing you at future Google Apps Education events. The Google Apps Education Team

My Bookmarks and Annotations 10/08/2009

Visualizing The U.S. Electric Grid : NPR Visualizing The U.S. Electric Grid Grid Map The U.S. electric grid is a complex network of independently owned and operated power plants and transmission lines. Aging infrastructure, combined with a rise in domestic electricity consumption, has forced experts to critically examine the status and health of the nation's electrical systems. tags : visualizing , visualization , powerlines Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Apps Edu Webinar: Follow Up

Google has posted the webinar on their resource page: http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/resource_center.html It is also available directly from YouTube We have also responded to all of the questions on the moderator page. http://moderator.appspot.com/#16/e=cdd2b The focus of this webinar was on how we got up and going with Google Apps. Eventually I will put something together on how our teachers, students, and administrators are using it. Of course you can always contact me with any questions.

Acceptable Use Policy - Yearly Email - 2009 Version

Each year I send out an legal review/acceptable use policy email to all staff. I hope this serves 3 purposes: Informs the staff about responsible technology use Prevents all of use from doing something irresponsible or illegal Provides legal protection for the district if someone does something irresponsible or illegal Before sending this out I have our district administration and the Teacher's Union review the document. Once both the administration and the union say that it is a good email I send it out. Here is what went out this morning: Good Morning, We mention this information each year, but new State and Federal laws and policies are constantly being developed as technology use is growing and changing. Our district also has policies about acceptable use of technology and internet resources. We have put together this email to help better inform you of how all of this relates to your technology use in Maine 207. Our hope is that by informing you of these policies we

My Bookmarks and Annotations 10/01/2009

Tools - Google Translate Make your website instantly available in other languages Add Google's website translator to your webpages, and offer instant access to automatic translation of the pages. Adding the website translator is quick and easy. tags : google , translate , translation , web2.0 , Language , widget , Tool , webdesign Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Apps for Education in Maine 207 Webinar

Maine 207 has been steadily adopting more of Google's Apps over the past 2 years. These free resources have been quickly accepted by our students and staff. Sign up for our webinar next week and find out why and how we chose to partner with Google with their Apps solution for student Email and Documents. We will also share where we think we are headed with the Apps Suite from here. Joining us will be representatives from Google and SADA Systems (the company we have hired to automate our account maintenance). Please sign up and attend if you are able. Google Apps Education Edition at Maine Township High School District Tuesday, October 6, 2009 11:00 a.m. PDT (GMT -07:00, San Francisco) Have questions for us or the Google Apps teams? Submit them here .

My Bookmarks and Annotations 09/28/2009

Khan Academy The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere. We have 900+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan. tags : math , Video , youtube , science , physics , finance , education , khan Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 09/25/2009

iTunes_U_Copyright_Overview.pdf (application/pdf Object) Excellent copyright information for teachers from Apple tags : copyright , Fair Use Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 09/23/2009

HOW TO: Set Up a Winning Facebook Fan Page But what about your business? Does it use Facebook (Facebook)? If you’re a business owner, you really need to set up a Fan Page, or else you risk being left behind as more businesses shift to social networks like Facebook. This post is a beginner’s guide to setting up and getting the most out of a Page on Facebook for your business. tags : facebook , Social Network Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 09/17/2009

YouTube - The Internet Explained Basics of how the Internet works tags : Internet Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

How Does The Internet Work?

Our Internet is slow right now. I was asked by one of our student journalists to explain how the Internet works and why is it suddenly slower this year. Mark Ordonez and I put this response together. How do you think we did? What could I add or change? 1. How does the internet actually work? The Internet itself is a series of lines that are connected by pieces of equipment that send information to and from computers located all around the world. The lines can be electrically based (phone lines, T1, T3, etc) or can be light based (fiber optics). When a connection is made to a location it connects to pieces of hardware called routers and switches. These pieces of equipment determine where to request information from or where to send it. Each router, server, and computer has an address, called an IP address, that allows other computers to find it. To give a concrete example: If you are in the library at Maine South and you go to Google for a search. You first enter in a URL (universa

My Bookmarks and Annotations 09/15/2009

YouTube - Did You Know 4.0 tags : didyouknow , web2.0 , future , technology , staffdevelopment Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 09/14/2009

List of keyboard shortcuts for Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007 The following is a list of keyboard shortcuts that are available in Microsoft Word 2002, in Microsoft Office Word 2003, and in Microsoft Office Word 2007. This list is a compilation of the individual keyboard shortcut lists available in Word 2002 Help and in Word 2003 Help. Note Shortcut keys mentioned in the Help topics, menus, and dialog boxes refer to the U.S. keyboard layout. Keys on other layouts may not correspond exactly to the keys on a U.S. keyboard. If you are using a different language keyboard layout from the version of Word you are using, you may have to make adjustments when using shortcut keys. tags : office , shortcuts Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 09/05/2009

Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org: Creating a Bootable WinXP USB Flash Drive to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP, Vista, and/or 7. And, the tool that you use is the same one to create a bootable GNU/Linux drive (which I explore here)--UNETBOOTIN. The steps for Windows weren't that hard, either. tags : windows , spyware , boot , usb Education Week: Filtering Fixes The Internet filters used in most schools allow educators to carefully screen Web sites by keyword or category to ensure that students can’t access obscene images, get diverted by online games, hack in to confidential files, or use software programs that can damage school computers. That security, however, has come at a cost, many observers say. tags : filtering , Internet , InternetSafety Why Do Workers Reject New Technologies? Why Do Workers Reject New Technologies? September 3, 2009 It’s a familiar situation: a company adopts a new software tool and tells its workers it will make their job faster and easier.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 09/04/2009

Create and Collaborate on Online Diagrams - Try it Free | Creately Online diagramming application tags : mindmapping , diagramas , diagram , collaboration , web2.0 , diagrams , tools , flowchart Draw Anything Easily Create fast, professional looking diagrams with Creately's large library of objects and easy start templates. Now you can draw anything easily. Posted from Diigo . The rest of my favorite links are here.

What do you think of this email regarding a cellphone policy

Someone forwarded me this email titled: Inappropriate Cellphone Use on the Rise I have removed the name of the school from the letter. What do you think of the policy? Student Cell Phone Use Cell phones are not to be on, used, or visible during the school day. Students may not use phones in the classroom, restroom, hallway, or cafeteria from 7:45-3:15. Students MAY use cell phones before and after school. The first time a student is in violation of this rule, he/she will receive two detentions and the cell phone will be confiscated and returned to the student at the end of the day. If it occurs again, the student will receive progressive discipline from that point on . It is OK if the student asks to take the battery out before turning the phone over. If you have concerns (reasonable suspicion) that the phone was being used for inappropriate activity we will investigate further when the student comes to pick up the phone. If the student refuses to