To Learn Twice

Embedding Google Calendar in Another Language

2011-11-09T21:24:00.000-06:00

This question came up today in the Google Apps Certified Trainer Group. It is actually pretty easy to do.

To make the change you add &hl=XX where XX is the language code to the embed code.

So - this calendar

With this embed code:

Requires a simple change to display in Spanish (&hl=es)

<iframe src="http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=jkloc408t9h5rdv686c8d567hs%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Chicago&hl=es" style="border: 0" width="400" height="200" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Pretty simple! Some of our ESL teachers are displaying their homework calendars in multiple languages now.

Note:

This actually is then converted to a longer code - the key piece of code actually is having ;hl=XX (where XX is the language code) after the timezone (such as "ctz=America%2FChicago&amp") in the final version of the calendar embed html.

Using Google Scripts to Move Data Like a Bulldozer - Forms to Documents

2011-10-28T19:41:00.002-05:00

As we gather more data using Google Forms and Spreadsheets there are a lot of questions out there about how we can reformat and share this data in a more consumable understandable way. In the last couple of months the Maine 207 technology team of Mark Ordonez and Janice Cacciatore and Hank Thiele have tackled this issue on several projects and as a result have created a reproducible Google Script that takes the information off a spreadsheet and ultimately creates a unique document that can be shared with anyone.

Our initial purpose of attempting this was not that exciting of a project, however it proved a concept that we believe will make gathering and sharing data in Google Docs a more powerful, dynamic, and interactive process. What we initially set out to do was take a spreadsheet with information about school payments and create letters that would be mailed out to individual families. This has developed into this repeatable process:

To make this easier to replicate we created a sheet in Google Spreadsheets that contains all of the variables you would need to run this process with the data in any Google spreadsheet or gathered through a Google Form. When the variables are used in combination with a Google Script they can replace fields on a Google Document that is used as a template, just as one might do with a desktop office suite. However, in this case the product is multiple letters all placed in a Google Docs Collection that can be shared individually or as a group.

We have already seen several other uses for this such as one example where we helped Dan Rezac take a teacher walk-through form and create individual feedback letters for each teacher observation. We are generating letters to parents and to teachers using data gathered through forms or on shared spreadsheets and disseminating information in a much more readable format than a typical spreadsheet view as is illustrated below:

Typical Spreadsheet view of Data:

Reformatted Merged Document View

For those of you interested in repeating this type of evaluation process here are some instructions, screenshots, and links of an example that will help you recreate it for your own purposes. The easiest way to get started is to make a copy of this Google Docs collection and follow the instructions.

Posted by:

Dr. Henry Thiele - CTO Maine Township High School District 207
Mark Ordonez - Manager of Data Services Maine Township High School District 207
Janice Cacciatore - Technology Specialist Maine Township High School District 207

Gmail Message Translation

2011-10-05T15:18:00.000-05:00

Here is a tech tip I just sent out to my staff:

I wanted to share a neat feature that Gmail Labs offers us for communicating with our students, parents, and community. You have the ability to turn on "Message Translation" which will use Google Translate to convert a message from another language to English (or to another language of your choice). Here are the simple steps to turn this on in Gmail (link).
Of course, it isn't as good as having a live native speaker translate for you, but it will allow you to receive messages in 58 different languages (and growing) and it translated. I showed this to a group of parents last night and they were empowered with the idea that they could reach out, in a language where they are comfortable writing, to someone at school. Even understanding that it might not be perfect, but getting a general idea across was possible, brought tears to one mother's eyes.
Please take a moment to set it up and ask a student or co-worker to help you try it out.

Is anyone else using this? Successes? Drawbacks?

Back to School - AUP Review

2011-09-16T11:14:00.002-05:00

Each year when staff return to school I send out a review (through email) and sign-off form (using Google forms) related to our district acceptable use policy (AUP). This is something I do to help my staff clearly understand what responsible use of technology is, and it helps protect the district when someone acts inappropriately. Just in case you are doing something similar, follow this link to read the email and gain access to our FAQ's regarding our AUP.

After I sent this out last week, no more than five people followed up with questions. Most of them had to do with copyright and accessing personal email. In the past week two-thirds of the staff have followed up and have signed off on the agreement. I will continue to follow up with every last staff member until their questions are answered and everyone is comfortable signing off on the form. Having an AUP only protects the organization if people understand how to follow it.

Image Credit: "Back to School" By Avolore

Midwest Google Apps Summit 2011

2011-09-07T12:51:00.000-05:00

I am excited to help to announce an upcoming first time ever event. The Midwest Google Apps Summit on November 3rd and 4th at the Glacier Canyon Lodge in Wisconsin Dells, WI. The summit will feature several Google Certified Trainers from across Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, will feature members of the Google Apps for Education Team, and will also have representatives from vendors listed in the Google Marketplace.

The two days will offer presentations around a variety of Google Apps topics and tools. Sessions will include from hands-on, best-practice, classroom examples, success stories, and much more. The conference costs $250 and includes breakfast, lunch, snacks, refreshments, and LEARNING! Rooms are available for $70 per night.

Details and registration for the conference can be found at tinyurl.com/MWGS11 and a flyer is here: http://goo.gl/NQqrE

We hope to see you there!

Interesting Finds This Week (weekly)

2011-08-28T01:30:00.001-05:00

Notice of Board Workshop.9-15-11.pdf - Powered by Google Docs
- - test 2
- - post 3
Estimado padre, - Powered by Google Docs
- - test

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

A great start to the year

2011-08-19T14:13:00.000-05:00

Although many of our teachers have been back for a few days, today kicked off the opening events in our district. By all accounts it was a great morning, and the room was electric with the energy of a new school year. In each of the past 4 years there has been an announcement about the changes we have made, or the cool new tools available. I actually covered this in a big email to the staff the other day.

What is striking about today is that it was different because it wasn’t about stuff and nobody talked directly about technology. What happened this morning was remarkable. We had several speakers and the morning culminated with a panel of teachers discussing the work they have done as a PLC. Throughout these discussions there were all kinds of indications to the advances in technology in our district. Statements like: “check our blog for information on this topic” (from the Union President), and “everything you need is available form the website” (from the Educational Foundation), and “we are making great progress in staff development through our many programs, like the Google Apps for Teacher's workshops this summer” (from the Superintendent). No talk of tools, just talk of how our organization works, all things that would have never been mentioned as boring or basic in past years.

I was sitting in the front row thinking “WOW, this is an interesting change”, when we moved into the panel discussion with our teachers. They were incredible in describing their dedication to the craft and to their students. As they talked they dropped in snippets that mentioned how being able to collaborate on Google Docs, or using Google Forms to gather data, or using data analysis software to understand student progress, or how sharing lessons via Google Sites has made what they do possible. Here is an example of an actual exchange:

Teacher in the audience: “How does your team manage time, how do you communicate with other members of the team, and how do you document that you are actually getting work done when you are given time to collaborate as a team?”

Panelist: “That is easy. We just have a member of the team take notes on Google Docs and the whole team can see the notes. People who are on another team that need the information can see the information too. At the same time our department chair can see the work we are getting done”

Here was a key exchange about how the team gets work done, with a process that totally relies on technology, yet nobody talked about how to use the tool, or why, or where to get instructions. They talked about it just like talking about writing on a chalkboard or on a piece of paper. Everyone in the room, the entire district staff, just absorbed and understood that this was how this team gets business done.

All morning there was talk of technology, but it was integrated into the discussion. Technology never stood alone, it was a key component of accomplishing what was do around here. My hope as we go into the school year is that what I saw this morning continues into each of our classrooms. That we don’t work to integrate technology, it just becomes part of the way that we get work (learning) done.

Google Certified Apps Trainer Preparation Program

2011-07-12T12:59:00.000-05:00

School District 207 in Park Ridge, Illinois is offering a 1 week intensive program, August 1-5, to prepare individuals to apply to become Google Certified K-12 Apps Trainers. During the course of the week we will dive into each of Google Applications in the K-12 education suite, prepare you for the exams, provide tips on leading staff development around Google Apps, and provide opportunities for you to practice working with teachers that are learning to use the tools.

This course will be led by Google Certified Trainer Aida Awad, Science Department Chair at Maine East High School, and will be assisted by Hank Thiele who is a Google Certified Teacher, Administrator, Trainer and is one of the founders and leaders of the Illinois K-12 Google Apps User Group.

Over the course of the week we will be virtually joined by several volunteer guest speakers including:

Rachel Wente-Chaney: Chief Information Officer High Desert Education Service District Oregon and a Google Certified Trainer.
Ronald Ho: Product Manager at Google
Andy Crozier: Superintendent Andrew CSD in Andrews IA. Google Certified Teacher, Google Apps Certified Trainer, and Apple Distinguished Educator, and Leader in the Central Region K-12 Apps User Group
Becky Evans - Google Education K-12 Team
Molly Schroeder: Technology Integration Specialist for Edina Public Schools. Google Certified Teacher, Google Apps for EDU Certified Trainer, and Leader in the Central Region K-12 Apps User Group
Julia Stiglitz: Google Apps for Education Business Development
Scott Meech: Director of technology Downers Grove School District 58, leader at EdReach.us, IEAR.org, ICE Conference Committee Co-Chair, and a Google Certified Teacher.
Jay Blackman: Co-Founder and Technical Coordinator of EdReach, Director of Information and Educational Technology for Tri-Creek School Corporation in Lowell, Indiana, a K-12 school system, Google Certified Teacher, and Leader in the Illinois K-12 Apps User Group
Jamie Casap: Google Education Senior Evangelist
Dan Rezac: Tech Specialist for Northbrook District #30 in Illinois, Google Certified Teacher, and Leader in the Illinois K-12 Apps User Group
David Spangler: Google Apps Consultant for Appirio, helping schools and large enterprise companies move to the Cloud. Google Certified Administrator, Google Certified Apps Trainer, and formerly Network Manger and Google Cloud Evangelist at Maine 207.
Lisa Thuman: I'm the Senior Specialist in Technology Education with theCenter for Mathematics, Science and Computer Education at Rutgers University in New Jersey, Google Certified Teacher, and Google Certified Trainer,.
Dana Nguyen: Google Education Goddess (my title for Dana)

Space is limited for this program with only 7 seats available for 5 days of training, lunches, and access to training materials for $1599. You can register for this event at https://sites.google.com/a/maine207.org/play/registration.

Interesting Finds This Week (weekly)

2011-07-10T01:30:00.001-05:00

http://www.maine207.org/assets/1/15/2011-12_Tentative_Budget.pdf
- - These numbers will change over the next month
Legal Guide for Bloggers | Electronic Frontier Foundation

tags: blog credentials press
don't get caught: credentialling bloggers: 13 examples

The White House credentials bloggers for formal news conferences.The Supreme Court sometimes credentials bloggers--on a case-by-case basis, and with specific requirements for having covered earlier progressions in a case currently before the Court.Target, on the other hand, "does not participate with non-traditional media outlets." No matter what you say.Political campaigns have reshaped their policies to treat bloggers as press.In this roundup, see 8 cases where the United Nations, the federal court in Washington, PBS, the California legislature (but not the U.S. Congress's press galleries), sports teams, the National Press Club, and Chrysler have made policy on admitting bloggers as press, most favorable. The Press Club membership category doesn't provide a credential, however.

tags: blog credentials press
Guidelines For Issuing Press Credentials To Bloggers | Off Wing Opinion

tags: blog credentials press

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Interesting Finds This Week (weekly)

2011-07-03T01:30:00.001-05:00

Contact Us - Google Apps Help

tags: google google apps form upgrade nonprofit
YouTube - CIC 2011 - Learning Games Interview w Henry Jenkins

Scott Traylor of 360KID interviews media theorist and educator Henry Jenkins

tags: youtube learning games

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Interesting Finds This Week (weekly)

2011-06-26T01:30:00.001-05:00

Chicago Tribune Company v. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BOARD OF TRUSTEES, Dist. Court, ND Illinois 2011 - Google Scholar

tags: FERPA
- the following public records with regard to each applicant in

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Interesting Finds This Week (weekly)

2011-06-19T01:30:00.001-05:00

Understanding the Privacy Rights of HIPAA & FERPA in Schools | The National Law Review

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") provides protection for personal health information held by covered entities. A covered entity under HIPAA is either: (1) a health plan, (2) a healthcare clearinghouse, or a (3) healthcare provider that transmits health information electronically in connection with certain administrative and financial transactions.

Schools are obviously not a covered entity health plan or healthcare clearinghouse. However, many school districts employ nurses, physicians, psychologists, or other healthcare providers who serve students and staff. Would the employment of these healthcare providers qualify a school district as a covered entity "healthcare provider" under HIPAA? The answer to this question depends on whether the school district: (1) furnishes, bills or receives payment for healthcare in the normal course of its business, and (2) transmits these covered transactions electronically.

Thus, if a healthcare provider serves students under contract with or otherwise under the direct control of a public school covered by FERPA, any student health records created or maintained by this person are considered education records under FERPA, and not personal health information under HIPAA. This is the case regardless of whether the healthcare is provided to students on school grounds or offsite. Therefore, the school district in the above example would be required to comply with FERPA's privacy requirements with respect to this student's health information, including the requirements to obtain parental or student consent (if 18) in order to disclose Medicaid billing information about a service provided to this student.

tags: HIPAA FERPA privacy rights law schools

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Interesting Finds This Week (weekly)

2011-06-12T01:30:00.001-05:00

Inspiring Teachers: Tips for Using Journaling in Your Classroom

Journaling is not an activity just for English teachers. The journal is one of the best ways to assess student learning after a lesson as well as a great way to provide one-on-one feedback for each student. It is important, however, for you to know exactly how you plan to use the journal in your classroom. What is the purpose of the journal and how does it help you meet curriculum goals?

tags: education resources journaling classroom
- - This was an interesting read
- To encourage creative writing. Offer students a fun or wacky thought, sentence, or word and have them journal thoughts and ideas from that starting point. Another great idea, especially for young students and ESL or ELL students is to use pictures and have students respond to the pictures. Calendar pictures make great journal starters.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Interesting Finds This Week (weekly)

2011-05-22T01:30:00.001-05:00

10 Open Education Resources You May Not Know About (But Should) | MindShift

here’s a list of 10 cool OER and OCW resources that you might not know about, but should know:

tags: education resources opencourseware OER

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Maine 207 Summer Learning Academies

2011-05-09T09:10:00.000-05:00

Last summer we successfully launched our Maine Summer Institutes with just a few courses in cooperative learning and problem-based learning.These programs were very successful which has motivated us to expand our course offerings and repackage our summer program under the title, "Maine 207 Summer Professional Learning Academies."

Throughout the summer, beginning with the week of June 13th, we are offering a variety of different workshops on these topics: Differentiated Instruction, Cooperative Learning (Johnson and Johnson model), Problem-Based Learning (IMSA model), Data Driven Decision Making, Literacy and the Common Core Standards through the lens of one's discipline, Google Apps in the Collaborative Classroom, Google Certified Apps for Education Trainer Preparation Program, and Co-Teaching for Success.

As was true last summer, we are making these courses available to all teachers, no matter what district they are from. Out of district teachers will be required to pay a tuition fee which will cover their instruction, lunch depending on the scheduled time of the class, and books/materials. The only exception is our Problem-Based Learning Course which will be funded with the assistance of NSERVE and therefore will be free to teachers. Most of these courses are approved courses (1 to 2 hour graduate credit hours) through Aurora University and the tuition is reasonable at $100/credit hour. Currently, the only courses that are closed are both of our Differentiated Instruction courses, though a waitlist has been established. Problem Based Learning is filling, but still has seats available, though I expect it to be the next one to close.

If you know of teachers who might be interested, or you'd like to organize a team from your district, please visit our site at: https://sites.google.com/a/maine207.org/play/

Logistical details, course syllabi and descriptions are located there.

Maine Twp District 207 is located conveniently near O'Hare airport just off of Interstates 294 and 90. Many hotels, restaurants, and yes--even a casino to open in July, are located within our district or nearby. The workshops will be located either at Maine South/District Office, Maine East, or Maine West. South and East are in Park Ridge, IL. West is in Des Plaines.

Interesting Finds This Week (weekly)

2011-05-08T01:30:00.001-05:00

8 - Hoover_Final.doc - Powered by Google Docs

The First Amendment Implications of Facebook, MySpace, and Other Online Activity in Public High Schools

tags: policy social media

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Social Media and Student Devices: Developing Guidelines

2011-05-05T21:14:00.003-05:00

I am presenting tomorrow at TechForum Chicago on Social Media and Student Devices: Developing Guidelines

We recently approved a new Acceptable Use Policy, which looks similar to the one from a few years ago. I believe this is a strong legal document, which we follow up with an email to students and staff that gives short highlights of what they should consider when following the AUP. You can read an example from the past and another in the coming weeks when I send out the updated version.

We also strengthened our website policy to include guidelines and requirements when using social media. In my opinion the most important lines in all of these documents is referring to disciplining "actions that cause a disruption in the educational process". These are the types of actions, when appropriately documented are held up in court.

We are in the process of getting a mobile phone policy approved, which we are piloting now, and I will post that policy after Board of Education approval.

I think the key to all of these documents is a strong legal document, followed by yearly communications of the expectations in clear language, and a practice of following the policies and documenting any variance from the policy - especially those that cause a disruption in learning.

Interesting Finds This Week (weekly)

2011-05-01T01:30:00.001-05:00

Update Feeds - What's New in Google Apps

We know you don't want to miss any of the latest news about Google Apps, so we've consolidated key Google Apps blogs and Twitter feeds here. Make sure to check them regularly. Or, better yet, subscribe to these feeds to receive updates right to your door via email or RSS feed! To subscribe to a blog feed, just click its title just below the tab, and then choose your subscription under Subscribe Now.

tags: google schools update
Schools Using Google in Illinois - Google Maps

tags: google schools
How to Easily Remove Duplicate Tracks on iTunes [Windows]

a free piece of software called Duplicate Music File Finder. This one works outside iTunes, so there’s a need to clean up the resulting dead links afterwards. Hold your breath, start the app, point it at your music files, and let it check them out.

Just before we go further, a reminder. I’m trying to help, but the risk is yours. You need to have backed up all your music before you start.

Click the Check All button if you are happy that the duplicates have been selected, and then click on Delete Checked Files to actually remove them. Click Yes to confirm.

The application behaved for me exactly as expected, and all the duplicate files were moved to the Recycle Bin.

The last step in the process is to tell iTunes to take a look at itself, and remove any items in the library which no longer exist. Unfortunately there is no simple way in the iTunes interface to do this, so we need to cheat, just a little.

Apple has provided a script to do just this particular trick, and to make use of it you just need to do these things in order:

Close iTunes if you have it open
Go to the web page, right-click on it, and save the page as a file, making sure you change the extension to .js. So for instance, in Firefox, right-click on the page, choose Save page As”¦ and change the file name from RemoveDeadTracks.txt to RemoveDeadTracks.js.
Open Windows Explorer and browse to the file you just saved
Double-click on the file.

tags: iTunes duplicates howto TOOLS
Straight from the DOE: Dispelling Myths About Blocked Sites | MindShift

epartment of Education’s Director of Education Technology, Karen Cator.

Cator parsed the rules of the Childrens Internet Protection Act, and provided guidance for teachers on how to proceed when it comes to interpreting the rules. To that end, here are six surprising rules that educators, administrators, parents and students might not know about website filtering in schools.

Accessing YouTube is not violating CIPA rules. “Absolutely it’s not circumventing the rules,” Cator says. “The rule is to block inappropriate sites. All sorts of YouTube videos are helpful in explaining complex concepts or telling a story, or for hearing an expert or an authentic voice — they present learning opportunities that are really helpful.”
Websites don’t have to be blocked for teachers. “Some of the comments I saw online had to do with teachers wondering why they can’t access these sites,” she says. “They absolutely can. There’s nothing that says that sites have to be blocked for adults.”
Broad filters are not helpful. “What we have had is what I consider brute force technologies that shut down wide swaths of the Internet, like all of YouTube, for example. Or they may shut down anything that has anything to do with social media, or anything that is a game,” she said. “These broad filters aren’t actually very helpful, because we need much more nuanced filtering.”
Schools will not lose E-rate funding by unblocking appropriate sites. Cator said she’s never heard of a school losing E-rate funding due to allowing appropriate sites blocked by filters. See the excerpt below from the National Education Technology Plan, approved by officials who dictate E-rate rules.
Kids need to be taught how to be responsible digital citizens. “[We need to] address the topic at school or home in the form of education,” Cator says. “How do we educate this generation of young people to be safe online, to be secure online, to protect their personal information, to understand privacy, and how that all plays out when they’re in an online space?”
Teachers shoul

tags: filtering CIPA blocking education DOE filter Internet erate
American Teachers Do More Work for Less Pay Than Their International Peers - Education - GOOD

Ever wonder how the hours American teachers work and the salary they earn compares to teachers in other industrialized nations? Well, the picture's not pretty. In this infographic courtesy of the Future Journalism Project, American educators work the most hours of all industrialized nations, but are the fifth lowest paid after 15 years on the job. Only Luxembourg, Hungary, Iceland, and Norway pay their teachers less.

And how do we compare to the country that's number one in the world in education according to international tests, Finland? Teachers there work the fifth fewest hours and are the ninth lowest paid. Sure, no one goes into education for the money, but at a certain point doesn't it seem wrong that teachers pretty much everywhere else on this chart work less but get paid more?

tags: visualization teachers Salary
The History of Web Browsers [Infographic] - Vikas's Posterous

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Who is using Google Apps for Education in Illinois?

2011-04-28T13:55:00.001-05:00

I have been gathering a list of educational institutions in Illinois using Google Apps for Education.

Here is what I have found:

The map and list can all be seen in a larger format here.

Please let me know in the comments if your school or district is missing.

Illinois Seal Image from: http://www2.illinois.gov/about/PublishingImages/seal.gif

How to Block Gadgets from Sites in Google Apps for Education

2011-04-20T11:20:00.004-05:00

This is a question that comes up quite often when looking at Google Apps for Education:

How do I block students from adding gadgets in Sites in Google Apps?

The FAQ and Google Code Resources that answer this question makes it seem pretty simple, and it is, once you know the step by step instructions.

First of all there are 2 main options of blocking gadgets in sites or on iGoogle pages:

Blacklist Gadgets One at a Time:

I would only use this option for a domain that is for staff or adults only where I have a particular person complaining about a specific gadget

Blacklist everything and then Whitelist Gagets One at a Time:

I would use this option if you want to protect students from any possible inappropriate gadget

Either Option Starts out by creating a simple interface in a Google Site for Whitelisting and Blacklisting.

Step 1: Sign into Google Sites with an account that is an Administrator of Google Apps for Education and create a new site.

Step 2: Name the site and make sure only specified people can view it

Step 3: Edit the page and go to Insert then More Gadgets and select Add Gadget by URL

In the box that appears add this URL http://google-feedserver.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/resources/gadgets/domain-gadget-directory-manager/spec.xml

Change the size of the gadget to be 880 X 800

Click OK and then Save the changes to the page

You will then have an application on the page that allows you to Blacklist or Whitelist applications and see the directory.

Now you are ready to execute the steps to Blacklist Gadgets one-by-one

Option 1: Blacklist Gadgets 1 by 1.

Once you have installed the gadget application above you will see this on the page you created

You can search by keyword (gadget name, category, or url) and find the gadget you would like to blacklist. Click Add to blacklist the gadget. It may take a few hours for the item to be blacklisted.

To whitelist a gadget and get it back in the directory click remove next to the blacklisted item

Option 2: Blacklist Everything and Whitelist Gadgets 1 by 1

Step 1: Follow the instructions above to set up a page with the Domain Directory Gadget Manager

Step 2: Download the Feed Server Client Tool (FSCT) which is this file to your computer (windows or linux only - my instructions are for windows)

Step 3: Unzip the file and put in in your C: drive root

Step 4: Open the cmd prompt (cmd.exe) and type cd c:\fsct

Step 5: Type "fsct shell" and enter the username and password of an administratior of the GAFE account

Step 6: Type: "setpublicgadgetdirfilter BLACK_LIST" and hit enter. You will get back a response that your site feed has been updated.

Step 7: Unblock your Domain Directory Gadget Manager (not sure if this has to be done, but just making sure it remains open) by typing: "addwhitelistedgadget http://google-feedserver.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/resources/gadgets/domain-gadget-directory-manager/spec.xml"

You have now blacklisted all gadgets and have a tool to whitelist back the ones you want students or staff to use.

Whitelisting Gadgets after Everything is Blacklisted

Go back to the site page you made with the Domain Directory Gadget Manager

You can search by keyword (gadget name, category, or url) and find the gadget you would like to whitelist. Click Add to whitelist the gadget. It may take a few hours for the item to be whitelisted.

To blacklist a gadget and get it back in the directory click remove next to the whitelisted item

Although it would be nice to have these features native in the GAFE control panel, Google does provide resources fro protecting our kids from inappropriate gadgets. It should only take about an hour to set this up the first time. After that you have created your own control panel for blacklisting or whitelisting Google Gadgets in Google Sites.

Do you want to learn more about Administering Google Apps for Education, or would you like to send your Teachers to a week of "Google Camp"? See what we are offering in our district this summer for professional development around GAFE here: https://sites.google.com/a/maine207.org/play/areas-of-study/google

Do we need to archive student emails?

2011-04-14T11:30:00.000-05:00

This is a question that came up in the Illinois Google EDU user's group this morning.

Let me start off with the disclaimer that I am not a Lawyer

Referencing this from the State of Illinois (where I work):

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/records_management/electrecs.html

Effective January 1, 2001, the Local Records Act (50 ILCS 205) is amended to allow Local Government agencies to reproduce existing public records in a digitized electronic format with the intent to dispose of the original records. This practice is only allowable if the electronic records are reproduced on a "durable medium that accurately and legibly reproduces the original record in all details," and "that does not permit additions, deletions, or changes to the original document images." In addition, the digital records must be "retained in a trustworthy manner so that the records, and the information contained in the records, are accessible and usable for subsequent reference at all times while the information must be retained." Each agency is also under the obligation to file a Records Disposal Certificate with the appropriate Local Records Commission before any original record may be disposed of and before the reproduced digital record is disposed of. Click here for the Guidelines Summary.

To understand that paragraph you must understand what a record is (from Local Records Act (50 ILCS 205))

"Public record" means any book, paper, map, photograph, digitized electronic material, or other official documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made, produced, executed or received by any agency or officer pursuant to law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by such agency or officer, or any successor thereof, as evidence of the organization, function, policies, decisions, procedures, or other activities thereof, or because of the informational data contained therein. Library and museum material made or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes, extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference, and stocks of publications and of processed documents are not included within the definition of public record.

The key pieces from our point of view (within the realm of technology) is that any digitized electronic material made, produced, executed or received by any agency or officer pursuant to law or in connection with the transaction of public business must be "retained in a trustworthy manner so that the records, and the information contained in the records, are accessible and usable for subsequent reference at all times while the information must be retained."

Do we need to maintain Student emails?

In my opinion we are not obligated to retain their emails or documents because:

· They are not an agency or officer of public business

· Their personal records are protected from disclosure to the public under FERPA

o “FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level.”

o “Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record.”

Just as we are not required to hold on to every assignment, notes between students, or notes from students to teachers we are not required to hold on to every email a student has ever composed or sent from our email systems.

However, there are well defined records we are required to maintain (more about that later), student email just isn't one of them.

Again, just for the record, I am not a lawyer - I just like blogging about this kind of stuff...

The Power of Immediate Feedback

2011-03-18T13:26:00.002-05:00

Most of us know the power that immediate feedback offers students. If in doubt, check out McREL's materials on Classroom Instruction that Works. However, offering this is often difficult to do in our classrooms. We have turned to "clickers" and quick forms to provide feedback, but in the last 24 hours I have found another tool for our Feedback toolbox:

Self Grading/Scoring/Reporting Quiz Using Google Forms and Spreadsheets

Through Matthew Peskay in the Google Certified Trainer's group I came across an example of a Self Grading/Scoring/Reporting Quiz. Where he posted:

To see an example of the solution we're using now you can watch this YouTube tutorial we made for our staff. To make things as easy as possible we actually published a form template with the script already installed so the staff member just needs to add the trigger (shown in the video). Near the end of the video are some examples of the e-mails the student receives with the 'explanation' section. Here's the vid, keep in mind this is meant to be viewed as a prequel to a direct 10-15 minute PD session where all staff create their own quiz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bthOHxeymG0

Matthew built upon an original Google Script written by Romain Vialard where he posted the original Video of how it works.

I then took his script and have been working with Romain to put together a sample spreadsheet that someone can modify and use on their own.

If you take this quiz your results and the information you need to build your own will be sent back to you. If you don't want to take the quiz you can go directly to a copy of the sample quiz spreadsheet.

I have believed for years that technology can help us make our classrooms more personal and allow us to tailor instruction to the direct needs of each student. Cool tools like this help make that possible.

A huge thanks to Romain who is open to ideas for making this even better, so pass them along to me, and I will send them his way.

The power of integration

2011-02-24T23:10:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I took a look at our district's twitter feed and it said that "school would be closed today". That was a post put up 2 weeks before because of a snow day. Our facebook page had the same news. If I was still in school I would have totally shown that to my parents to stay home.

It got me thinking about what would be the best information to post to our social network sites in a timely fashion. I ended up with events because we have stuff going on across the district all the time, which could provide a steady stream of status updates and tweets.

The problem is: "how do you get this stuff posted without handing out login credentials to everyone?"

So this is what I came up with to solve the problem:

Google Form

Google Spreadsheet

Google Calendar

Via

Google Script

Gmail

Via

Google Calendar Reminders

Facebook

Via

Gmail Filters and Forwarding

Twitter

Via

Facebook

It actually works and now we just have to provide access to a Google form and in a couple of seconds and event can be on a district calendar and 8 hours before that event a reminder goes out on Twitter and Facebook.

I think this type of integration illustrates the power of getting products to work together. It took more time to make the tutorial than to actually piece it together the first time.

Let me know what you think.

Cycle of Effective Online Personal Learning

2011-01-09T16:19:00.005-06:00

Over my years as a teacher, and as an educator that spends a lot of time looking at technology, I have continually tried to come up with a simple model of how students should use the Internet to help themselves learn through researching. I guess the current model I have ended up with will work for anyone, not just students. In putting this together I have tried to reflect each of the steps in the learning/research process, included traits of information literacy, considered the effects of social networking, and mixed in the power of the read/write process.

I feel the need to document this model and try to find a model that outlines the process of learning from online sources because the Internet is a dynamic system where new information is being created at a rate never seen before in history and existing content continues to change and mature. This rapid proliferation of free information is lowering the value of factual information and is putting more of a priority on the speed at which one can access reliable information and then use it by connecting information with other knowledge to solve authentic problems. Most of the time people undergo this process on their own, and many students enter the process with little instruction or modeling. Finding appropriate sources initially, keeping track of ongoing changes, and being able to quickly retrieve vetted information when needed are the components that build the cycle of effective online research. The tools that enable online research are search engines, content, social bookmarks/networks, and RSS aggregators. The digram graphically demonstrates this process.

Larger Version

I doubt this is the final iteration of this model, but I am pretty happy with Version 1. I am open to ideas or suggestions for making it better.

Roadblocks in Deploying Google Docs: CRUD and “ilities”

2010-11-17T10:42:00.003-06:00

This is the second in a series of posts about roadblocks organizations face in deploying Google Apps for Education (GAFE). In the last post I went into depth about the FUD that circulates around Google Apps Deployments. In this post I will discuss CRUD, which are the reasonable Concerns, Reservations, Unknowns, and Decisions (along with some of the “ilities”) that emerge when choosing to use Google Apps for Education.

As the person that feels the heat for anything that goes wrong with educational technology in our district, from PEBKAC errors to full network meltdowns, there is CRUD that goes along with any hardware, software, or cloud based deployment. A big part of my job is to be paranoid and critical about technology until I can be reasonably assured that it will work reliably, to the point of invisibility, to my schools. Although few products are actually invisible, to the level of a classroom chalkboard, my goal is that they all end up there. With that in mind I am always worried about many of the the “ilities” (accountability, sustainability, reliability, supportability, operability...) with any products we choose. There reaches a point with any potential technology solution where there is a reasonable level of CRUD that you will be able to live with before making a choice to adopt a product long-term.

As the person that led my district down the path to use and invest time, money, and resources into using GAFE I wanted to share what Concerns, Reservations, Unknowns, and Decisions we have faced along the way, and in some cases, the “ilities” we are managing.

The scariest “ility” is accountability which commonly starts and ends with fiscal responsibility. Obviously the low cost (free), and therefore associated risk of initial financial investment, makes GAFE easier to accept. The agreement that we signed with Google locked us into the core products being free for life (FAQ #4), with the understanding that other parts of the product may come at a cost later on down the road (as is the case with every software product we buy). Yes, there is a risk that GAFE will come at a cost later on and if that happens we will evaluate the cost and value of the product. We do this with every one of the technology solutions we use and have had to make similar decisions with operating systems, desktop publishing products, and enterprise software in the last 4 years.

In the role of the technology leader being responsible for our decisions goes far beyond the initial cost of a product. The total costs of ownership (TCO) includes investing time and energy in researching, choosing, negotiating, deploying, maintaining, and training; all of which are often more costly than the initial investment. When we considered this for GAFE the price point made some of the TCO concerns more palatable. However there were other worries, starting with the fact that nobody on our staff even knew how to use GAFE and at the time we chose GAFE, in 2007, there were not a lot of other schools using it which added to the risk. We offset this concern by leaveraging nearby Northwestern University as a resource and tapping into 3rd party support through SADA Systems. Now there are entire states “Going Google”, millions of users, and excellent communities (like ours in Illinois) working to help each other deploy and use GAFE.

We are currently saving $35K/yr on student email and $55K/yr on staff email by using GAFE for email and message security over our previous products. We are choosing to pay Google 16K/yr for message archiving and discovery (to meet legal requirements) which results in a net saving of 74K/yr. At the end of our 4 year agreement we will have saved nearly $300K that has been reinvested mostly into network infrastructure that will have a long term positive impact on this district. One of the only associated costs of GAFE that is required is bandwidth. This savings from using GAFE along with the reinvestment in infrastructure has improved the sustainability of GAFE in our district.

Google also continues to grow and develop GAFE at no cost to us. Along with these changes comes the risk on not knowing what is coming. There are reasonable concerns that changes that come are things we do not llike, similar to the encrypted search change earlier this year. However Google has shown that they are responsive to their EDU users’ needs. This is an area that we continue to monitor closely and provide constructive feedback to Google about EDU needs and requirements.

One of the steps my team and I always talk about before choosing a technology solution is the cost of leaving the product if it becomes a problem. Unlike many other software companies Google provides resources through its “Data Liberation Front” to help you take your data and leave if you want to go. Once you are gone they will delete all of your data (Privacy FAQ #1). However, a decision to leave Google becomes increasingly difficult as more students and staff use it and as we invest more time and effort in training people to use it effectively. I don’t see a reason why we would leave Google, at this time, but at least I know that if we did we could take our data with us.

One of our major concerns when we chose Google was operability. Some of the more established enterprise products seem to work with everything and finding people that can integrate solutions is very easy. Google is relatively new to the enterprise setting, so we had concerns about getting help when we needed it and the ability to develop on Google’s platforms. We also had initial concerns that there were not a lot of established training resources on the market and we would have to create a lot of training material from scratch.

Google now has a marketplace with many other applications that integrate with GAFE, has built on their platform, and has released many API’s that allow us to build on the GAFE platform. Since going Google in 2007 we have had no problem getting help through the support tab in the GAFE control panel. For those that have not seen the GAFE control panel, here is a portion of it:

We are provided with the usual online forums and help center links, however we also are provided with a phone number to call and links to a help desk along with personalized identifiers that link back to our accounts. We have used these features several time over the past few years and always have received prompt quality support. Google’s reliability has been incredible and blows away the level of service we could provide in-house (even David Spangler, our Network Manager will verify that statement) Sometimes it is just easier to find the information yourself or talk to someone else in a similar setting, which is why the state level agreements and user’s groups have also helped in this area.

Google has also begun a certified trainer program which is now creating a listing of individuals and organizations that can help in deployment and training. We have tapped into these resources and are now part of the community of trainers which has unlocked a massive supply of training material to us. I wouldn’t be surprised if Google continues to collect, collate, improve upon, and publish training materials going forward.

So is there CRUD with Google Apps EDU?

Yes.

However, there are questions like this with every product and it is our responsibility to raise these questions and look for potential problems. There are other questions and concerns that come along with GAFE, that for the sake of time and space, I have not addressed here. Please add your GAFE CRUD to the comments and the readers and I will respond to them. All we can do is help manage these concerns. because reasonable questions will always be present as long as it is our job to discover and prepare for all of the possible “crudilities”.

Roadblocks in deploying Google Apps: FUD

2010-11-04T22:02:00.013-05:00

This is the first in a series of longer posts that will discuss some of the common roadblocks I hear about, and help other schools work through, when trying to deploy Google Apps for Education in their schools

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is a tactic of rhetoric and fallacy used in sales, marketing, public relations,[1][2] politics, propaganda and trolling. FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative and dubious/false information designed to undermine the credibility of their beliefs. An individual firm, for example, might use FUD to invite unfavorable opinions and speculation about a competitor's product; to increase the general estimation of switching costs among current customers; or to maintain leverage over a current business partner who could potentially become a rival.

This document is in regards to an an email I received from a colleague regarding Google Apps for Education. Jaime approached Jackie and said that Google Apps for Education would be a great tool for collaboration among students, staff, and administrators. They have been going back and forth because their “Tech Expert” (Jackie) disagrees with the “Educational Expert” (Jamie) who wants to use the product. Jackie has fears and reservations about using Google Apps.

Jackie started to do some research on Google Apps and initially found the consumer version of the Consumer version of an Apps agreement. This led Jackie to raise some serious questions about privacy, safety, and security of Google Apps. Jamie emailed me and asked for advice. I suggested that they both look at the Google Apps for Education User Agreement.

What follows is Jackie’s response to reviewing the agreement, which I have responded to within the original email in Italics

BEGIN EMAIL

Jamie,

Based on my security training and experience I would not recommend we use this service for the following reasons:

Google's internal security procedures are probably better than 90% of all school systems including ours.

I am not sure how this is a problem, but I am sure Google’s security is better than 99.9% of all systems. Read the security whitepaper.

But the key concept is on their site not in the transport process between our users and their site. The standard free service is not encrypted from the end user to Google’s site and is thus subject to "man in the middle" attaches. (A widely used attack to gain personal information). In my security training this is one of the most basic and widely used tactics to intercept personal information.

That is why it is standard practice for any information that has any value whats so ever to be SSL encrypted. Remember that a lot of our staff will be accessing these docs from their

home computers. Security estimates estimate that at least 15% of these computers at any one time are compromised with viruses and worms that are designed to monitor and send any information they enter to Bots or used as a gateway to acquire information from the clients site.

In fact the secure communications (HTTPS) that would be required for our data, appears to be a paid premium service:

Secure Browser Connections (HTTPS)

Google Apps Premier and Education Editions offers domain administrators the ability to force all users in their domain to use Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) for services such as Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Sites, etc. Information sent via HTTPS is encrypted from the time it leaves Google until it is received by the recipients’ computer

The answer is actually in the question above. “Education Editions offer domain administrators the ability to force all users to use HTTPS”. The link that explains how to do this is here: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=100181 and this is the box you would check in the email control panel:

This is not a free service and the following smacks of bait and switch tactics because they know that once we do all the training and have everything established we would not what to change; (from the user agreement)

3.4 No Fees. Google may charge a fee for the Services after the initial term, and may charge a fee for new functionality or optional enhancements that may be added by Google to the Service. Google may also offer a premium version of the Services for a fee. Prior to Google charging Customer as stated in this section, Google and Customer will negotiate either a new agreement or an amendment to this Agreement.

This is absolutely untrue (However, I find it funny that nobody is concerned about other providers suddenly raising prices) this link to the FAQs explains:
Google Apps for Education is free. We plan to keep the core offering of Google Apps Education Edition free. This includes user accounts for incoming students in the future. As you may know, Google was founded by a research project at Stanford University, and this is just one way we can give back to the educational community.
To see the available features included in Google Apps Education Edition please navigate here.
For more information, you can review our Terms of Service.
If you would like to purchase Google Message Security and Compliance for filtering or archiving purposes, this will have a per user fee depending on the services you choose. Each package is listed here.
But wait, what do they mean by “Core Apps” - certainly this is a trick statement! - No, it’s not:
Google is currently offering schools a hosted solution for their email, calendar, and chat through Google Apps Education Edition, our integrated communication and collaboration solution. Our offer includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Sites, and Google Docs and Google Video, all using your own school's domain.
Google Apps Education Edition includes:
Gmail: Email storage and search tools that help your students find information fast and instant messaging from right inside their accounts.
Google Calendar: Students can organize their schedules and share events and calendars with others.
Google Talk: Students can call or send instant messages to their contacts for free anytime, anywhere in the world.
Google Docs: Share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Collaborate in real-time with your team or with your whole school. You can publish final documents to the entire world, too.
Google Sites: Work together to keep related documents, web content and other information in one place, on one site.
Google Video for education: A video hosting and sharing solution that enables schools and other organizations to use video as an effective medium for internal communication and collaboration

I do not think we what even our patterns of communications should be disclosed to their affiliates. (from the agreement, except their comments in the parenthesis)

a) protect the other party’s Confidential Information with the same

standard of care it uses to protect its own Confidential Information; and

(b) not disclose the Confidential Information, except to affiliates, (That includes companies that advertise with them) employees and agents who need to know it and who have agreed in writing to keep it confidential

The issue here is that a parent in litigation will say that potentially sensitive IEP conversations and documents are being held by an ad supported third party. Even if we assert there is no risk their lawyer would have a good case for "reasonable doubt" and we would lose the case.

Again untrue. A quick check of the Security and Privacy FAQs answers this question directly:
Does Google give third parties access to my organization's data?
Google does not share or reveal private user content such as email or personal information with third parties except as required by law, on request by a user or system administrator, or to protect our systems. These exceptions include requests by users that Google's support staff access their email messages in order to diagnose problems; when Google is required by law to do so; and when we are compelled to disclose personal information because we reasonably believe it's necessary in order to protect the rights, property or safety of Google, its users and the public.
For full details, please refer to the "Information Sharing" section of our Privacy Policy.
Back to the EDU FAQ’s
There are no advertisements used with the Google Apps Education Edition.
If you have an account for only alumni at your schools, you are required to enable advertisements.
Gmail also offers web clips at the top of your inbox which show you news headlines, blog posts, RSS and Atom feeds, and relevant sponsored links. Each clip displays the source from which it was received, how long ago the clip was published, and a link to access the entire story or page containing the clip. You may want to create custom RSS feeds for your University.
If you have an Education domain and choose to Hide all advertisements for this domain in your domain's Google Apps control panel, then sponsored links will also no longer be shown as webclips. Your users will still be able to customize their webclips for news headlines, blog posts, RSS feeds, and Atom feeds.
Using a hosted email, or document storage service, for confidential information is common practice for business (Companies use Google), Government (yes they use Google too), and lots of schools. Even if it isn’t Google hosting the email service, as this search shows:

It would also look bad if a local paper made FOIA requests that included data created from Google and ran an article with a Headline that read: Confidential information about students with special needs being stored on Google! (from the agreement)

FOIA requests: b. Third Party Requests. Customer is responsible for responding to Third Party Requests. Google will, unless it is prohibited by law or by the terms of the Third Party Request: (a) promptly notify Customer of its receipt of a Third Party Request in a manner permitted by law; (b) comply with Customer’s reasonable requests regarding its efforts to oppose a Third Party Request; and (c) provide Customer with the information or tools required for Customer to respond to the Third Party Request. Customer will first use the Admin Tool to access the required informationOnce again they answer their own question by using the agreement, but I will dive in a little further here. These are the same steps you would take with any email system. Google can't access your data, therefore they cannot respond to a FOIA request on your behalf (I don't think you would want them to). As the privacy FAQ’s say:

Google employees will access your account data only when an administrator from your domain grants Google employees explicit permission to do so for troubleshooting purposes. During the course of troubleshooting an issue or other investigation, the Google Support team may ask for the creation of a test administrator account, solely to be used to resolve the particular issue at hand.
Google employees or automated systems may also take down any content that violates the Terms of Service.
In order to provide some of the core features in Google Apps products, our automated systems will scan and index some user data. For example:
Email is scanned so we can perform spam filtering and virus detection.
Email is scanned so we can display contextually relevant advertising in some circumstances. (Note that there is no ad-related scanning or processing in Education or Premier Edition with ads disabled)
Some user data, such as documents and email messages, are scanned and indexed so your users can privately search for information in their own Google Apps accounts.
In other words, we only scan or index user content in Google Apps in order to provide features that will directly benefit users, or to help us maintain the safety and security of our systems. Except when your users choose to publish information publicly, Google Apps data is not part of the general google.com index.
It's important to note that our scanning and indexing procedures are 100% automated and involve no human interaction. For complete information, see our detailedPrivacy Policy, Privacy Principles, and our Google Apps Terms of Service (Premier, Standard, Education Editions).
Our own internal searches for FOIA documents are more invasive than anything Google does with our data, and YES it is our data
Who owns the data that organizations put into Google Apps?
To put it simply, Google does not own your data. We do not take a position on whether the data belongs to the institution signing up for Apps, or the individual user (that's between the two of you), but we know it doesn't belong to us!
The data which you put into our systems is yours, and we believe it should stay that way. We think that means three key things.
We won't share your data with others except as noted in our Privacy Policy.
We keep your data as long as you require us to keep it.
Finally, you should be able to take your data with you if you choose to use external services in conjunction with Google Apps or stop using our services altogether.

They can advertise us using this service and thus by implication endorsing their service:

Publicity. Customer hereby consents to Google's inclusion of Customer's name in a customer list, but only if Customer is not the only customer appearing on the list.

Wow, the FUD is getting deep, the entire statement from the Apps EDU agreement:
Publicity. Customer hereby consents to Google's inclusion of Customer's name in a customer list, but only if Customer is not the only customer appearing on the list. Other than this, neither party may make any public statement regarding the relationship contemplated by this Agreement without the other party's prior written consent.
Which is preceded by the Intellectual properties section, which would allow you to ask in writing for Google to not use your brand (and also reinforces that all of your stuff is yours)

Intellectual Property Rights; Brand Features.

7.1 Intellectual Property Rights. Except as expressly set forth herein, this Agreement does not grant either party any rights, implied or otherwise, to the other’s content or any of the other’s intellectual property. As between the parties, Customer owns all Intellectual Property Rights in Customer Data, and Google owns all Intellectual Property Rights in the Services.
7.2 Display of Brand Features. Google may display only those Customer Brand Features authorized by Customer, and only within designated areas of the Service Pages. Customer may specify the nature of this use using the Admin Console. Google may also display Google Brand Features on the Service Pages to indicate that the Services are provided by Google. If Customer wants to display Google Brand Features in connection with the Services, Customer will comply with the Trademark Guidelines.
7.3 Brand Features Limitation. Each party may use the other party’s Brand Features only as permitted in this Agreement. Any use of a party’s brand features will inure to the benefit of the party holding intellectual property rights to those Brand Features. A party may revoke the other party’s right to use its Brand Features pursuant to this Agreement with written notice to the other and a reasonable period to stop the use.

They are not liable for any issues or lawsuits arising from this arrangement: (from the agreement)

Limitation on Indirect Liability. NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE UNDER THIS

AGREEMENT FOR LOST REVENUES OR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL,

CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, EVEN IF THE PARTY KNEW OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT SUCH DAMAGES WERE POSSIBLE AND EVEN IF DIRECT DAMAGES DO NOT SATISFY A REMEDY.

This is standard in every contract that I have signed with a software company (which protects both YOU and the other company). You will see similar clauses in many agreements (look at the XP agreement or Adobe. I am not a lawyer, but your schools probably shouldn't let you sign an agreement where this isn't present.

To fully comply with the below we would have to send out notice to all our

parents that we use this service:

Customer acknowledges and agrees that it is solely responsible for

compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998

(COPPA), including but not limited to, obtaining parental consent

concerning collection of personal information used in connection with the

provisioning and use of the Additional Products by the Customer and its

end users

You will only need to do this if you are using student accounts with children under the age of 13 (Read about COPPA here). You should actually be doing this if you let students under 13 use any web based service where you are creating accounts for them where the provider may be able to access personal student information. Once again, I am not a lawyer, however since Google cannot actually access your student’s personal information (only you can) and since you are not a commercial entity, I really question if you even have to do this because of COPPA. You really only need to do it because you tell Google you will when you sign the agreement. By the way, since when is communicating with your parents a bad thing?

Sincerely,

Jackie

END EMAIL

I am not sure why this is a constant roadblock tossed up by technology staff, administrators, or other members of the school community. Perhaps it is fear of losing one’s job, eroding their area of expertise, not knowing the facts, or not knowing where to go to get the answers. Whatever the reason, I hope that the information I have provided helps to reduce the FUD circulating around choosing to use Google Apps for Education in your school.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 09/28/2010

2010-09-28T01:30:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Evolution: Artificial Selection

tags: science lesson_plans

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 08/24/2010

2010-08-24T01:30:00.001-05:00

BBC - Dimensions - Index
Dimensions takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are.
Type in your postcode or a place

tags: maps dimensions bbc history geography interactive

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 08/21/2010

2010-08-21T01:30:00.001-05:00

sigilt - BookStudies
Welcome to our first book study! We hope that this experience helps you to work through the content of the book and to connect with other educators.

Using Tech with Classroom Instruction that WorksOur first book will be Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (ASCD, 2007) by Howard Pitler, Elizabeth Ross Hubbell, Matt Kuhn, and Kim Malenoski. This book suggests ways in which the research-based strategies in //Classroom Instruction That Works// can be used with educational technologies, such as word processing and spreadsheet applications, multimedia, data collection tools, communication software, and the Internet.

tags: 21stcenturyskills technology mcrel

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 08/12/2010

2010-08-12T01:30:00.001-05:00

Research dispels common ed-tech myths | Research | eSchoolNews.com
Contrary to popular opinion, newer teachers aren’t any more likely to use technology in their lessons than veteran teachers, and a lack of access to technology does not appear to be the main reason why teachers do not use it: These are among the common perceptions about education technology that new research from Walden University’s Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership appears to dispel.

tags: technology research education 21stcenturyskills myths teaching teachers
ds_gsa_apps_whitepaper_0207.pdf - Powered by Google Docs

tags: googleapps Google Apps apps privacy security google
Google Apps for Education - Free hosted email (Gmail) for EDU
Google Apps is also governed by a detailed Privacy Policy, which ensures we will not inappropriately share or use personal information placed in our systems.
The Google Apps Terms of Service contractually ensures that your institution (or students, faculty, and staff) are the sole owners of their data.
Because customers own the data they put into Google Apps, we believe it should be easy for your users to move their data in and out of our systems.
The controls, processes and policies that protect user data in our systems have obtained a SAS 70 Type II attestation and will continue to seek similar attestation.
Google complies with applicable US privacy law, and the Google Apps Terms of Service can specifically detail our obligations and compliance with FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) regulations.
Google is registered with the US-EU Safe Harbor agreement, which helps ensure that our data protection compliance meets European Union standards for educational institutions.

tags: googleapps apps privacy google education Google Apps
Limitations for multiple domains - Google Apps Help
Premier and Education Edition customers can associate multiple Internet domains with their Google Apps account. The domain name you use when you sign up for Google Apps is the primary domain. Additional domains are subject to certain limitations, which are outlined in this article.

tags: google apps multiple accounts

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 08/06/2010

2010-08-06T01:30:00.001-05:00

How to Use SSH to Transfer File on iPhone | The iPhone and iPad Blog by Simon
If you ask me the top reason for jailbreaking iPhone, the ability to use SSH to transfer files between iPhone and computer via WiFi is my answer. I believe it’s also one of the reasons why some of you go for the jailbreak. But, as I know, not all the readers are geeks and come from technical background. You may even not heard of SSH until you decide to jailbreak. So, here is a short guide to show you how you can use SSH on iPhone and use it for transfer any files to your computer (Mac / Windows). The guide is completely target for non-technical person. I just want to show you how great SSH is when pairing with iPhone for wireless file transfer. So, you can use it to transfer ringtone and photos without the USB cable.

tags: ssh iphone

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 08/05/2010

2010-08-05T01:30:00.001-05:00

Balancing 2 Faces of ePortfolios
What is an ePortfolio?
An ePortfolio (electronic portfolio) is an electronic collection of evidence that shows your learning journey over time. Portfolios can relate to specific academic fields or your lifelong learning. Evidence may include writing samples, photos, videos, research projects, observations by mentors and peers, and/or reflective thinking. The key aspect of an eportfolio is your reflection on the evidence, such as why it was chosen and what you learned from the process of developing your eportfolio. (Adapted from Philippa Butler’s “Review of the Literature on Portfolios and Eportfolios” (2006), page 2.)
An ePortfolio is not a specific software package, but more a combination of process (a series of activities) and product (the end result of the ePortfolio process). Presentation portfolios can be created using a variety of tools, both computer desktop tools and online (Barrett, 2000; Barrett, 2004-2008). Most commercial ePortfolio tools are focused on the product (right-hand) side of the diagram above, although some open source tools contain some of the Web 2.0-type tools that enhance the process (left-hand) side of the diagram, such as blogs, social networking, and RSS feeds.

tags: ePortfolio portfolio eportfolios e-portfolios
Freedom to surf: workers more productive if allowed to use the internet for leisure : News : The University of Melbourne
Surfing the net at work for pleasure actually increases our concentration levels and helps make a more productive workforce, according to a new University of Melbourne study.

Dr Brent Coker, from the Department of Management and Marketing, says that workers who engage in ‘Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing’ (WILB) are more productive than those who don’t.

“People who do surf the Internet for fun at work - within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office - are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t,” he says.

“Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretense that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case.”

tags: productivity research filter filtering
Deploy Google Apps: google-apps-tips-and-tricks
Google Apps Tips and Tricks

Below is a list of weekly tips and tricks designed for new Google Apps end-users. Read Getting Started with Google Apps Tips and Tricks for information on how to setup, copy and distribute the weekly tips and tricks to users in your domain.

Have an idea for a tip or trick you'd like to see added to the list? Great! Just enter in our Tip and Trick idea form. If you have suggestions or comments on any of the tips and tricks presented here, please enter them in our Site Feedback form.

Want to create tips and tricks for your users? Make a copy of our Google Apps Tips and Tricks template.

tags: google googleapps

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 08/03/2010

2010-08-03T01:30:00.001-05:00

How the Internet Works [Infographic]
Good graphic showing how the Internet works

tags: historyoftech internet
The Computer Delusion by Todd Oppenheimer
There is no good evidence that most uses of computers significantly improve teaching and learning, yet school districts are cutting programs -- music, art, physical education -- that enrich children's lives to make room for this dubious nostrum, and the Clinton Administration has embraced the goal of "computers in every classroom" with credulous and costly enthusiasm

tags: historyoftech resources

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 07/31/2010

2010-07-31T01:30:00.001-05:00

Learn How to Make a Gantt Chart in Excel

tags: excel ganttchart charts visualizations howto

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 07/30/2010

2010-07-30T01:30:00.001-05:00

Tips & Tricks: GoogleLookup in Google spreadsheets - Official Google Docs Blog
To use the GoogleLookup function, enter the following formula in the desired spreadsheet cell:=GoogleLookup(“entity” ; “attribute”) where “entity” represents the name of the entity you want to access and “attribute” is the type of information that you want to retrieve.

tags: google googleapps googledocs googlelookup tricks tips googlespreadsheet

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Inb0x Zer0 Tip

2010-07-28T07:47:00.000-05:00

New Inbox Zero trick - set up a filter (rule) to move anything with the word "unsubscribe" to a folder, and out of the Inbox, automatically. You will probably find that you will end up deleting or unsubscribing from most of the items that end up with that label (in that folder).

My Bookmarks and Annotations 07/25/2010

2010-07-25T01:30:00.001-05:00

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Introducing user policy management for Google Apps
In the past six months, we’ve released a series of new features giving administrators more controls to manage Google Apps within their organizations. Recent additions include multi-domain support, new data migration tools, SSL enforcement capabilities, more mobile device security controls, and the ability to tailor Google Apps with more than a hundred applications from the new Google Apps Marketplace. Today, we’re excited to announce one of the most highly requested features from administrators: user policy management.

tags: google googleapps
District 207 names Chief Technology Officer :: Community News :: PIONEER PRESS :: Park Ridge Herald-Advocate
Dr. Henry (Hank) Thiele has been named Chief Technology Officer for Maine Township High School District 207 by the Board of Education. Board members formally approved during their Monday evening meeting an updated job description that expands on the responsibilities Thiele has handled since joining the District as Director of Technology in 2007.

tags: Thiele 207 technology

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 07/13/2010

2010-07-13T01:30:00.001-05:00

A Guide to Getting Started with Google drawings - Official Google Docs Blog

tags: google googleapps google_drawings tools

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

NINGs in School

2010-07-12T08:23:00.002-05:00

I just sent this email out to my staff about the change in NINGs

The following announcement is important for those that use NING at school:

Pearson recently announced that they would be sponsoring Mini NING's for up to 3 years.

If you are using a NING for school purposes, you can apply to have the cost covered by Pearson here.

Once you apply for sponsorship Pearson will contact you to allow them access to your NING. Once they review the NING they will let you know if they will sponsor it.

If for some reason you are denied, or you do not want to allow Pearson to view your content, you will be required to close your NING or pay a monthly cost to keep it open.

How are you handling this? Any complaints from anyone yet on having to let Pearson into the blog, or for having someone sponsor it?

My Bookmarks and Annotations 07/03/2010

2010-07-03T01:30:00.001-05:00

Google Earth for Educators
Google Earth for Educators

Welcome to the Google Earth for Educators Community, a site to share, connect & learn

This site is brought to you by Google and made especially for Google Earth educators and students. Come join and help us build it!

Basic Tutorials & Tips
View videos and tutorials on how to use Google Earth and check out a seven-level Interactive game to help teach the basics to your students.

Join the discussion
Participate in Google Earth Discussions by reading posts, asking questions, helping others, and choosing and sharing the best answers to your questions

Google Earth Lesson Plans
Find lesson plans for many grades and subjects, or submit your own!
Quotes from Users
See what Educators have to say about using Google Earth in the classroom and share how you use Google Earth at your school.

Google Earth for My Class
Get ideas on how Google Earth can help with your specific subject.

Student Created Showcase!
See some great examples of student work created in Google Earth

tags: google earth Google_Earth educators

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

ISTE 2010 - 5 Developing Themes

2010-06-29T06:35:00.004-05:00

I have been attending ISTE and it's pre-sessions since Saturday. Over that time I have attended edubloggercon, the Constructivist Consortium, the opening events, and a day worth of ISTE10. Over the past couple of days I have begun to see some common themes developing in the conference based on by interactions (probably influenced by my experiences heading into the conference as well). Here are the top themes I have noticed so far:

1. It has been a rough year: between budget cuts, leadership challenges, and the increasing responsibilities associated with technology in schools everyone was mentally exhausted heading into the conference. Excitement about changing practices and adding resources to schools has been tempered by budget concerns.

2. We are have some pretty big decisions looming on how we are going to handle an influx of personal mobile computing devices into our society. With the ipad, new iphone, android devices in both phone and tablet forms arriving, and the continue growth of the popularity of netbooks there are a lot more discussions of how we are going to respond to this trend as schools. These conversations center around network infrastructure, policy, instructional strategies, and preparing teachers for this change.

3. Digital Divide - the changes described in #2 above are starting to show how ugly the digital divide is coming. The difference between those able to have the world's information in their hands and those that don't is a growing social issue. When connectivity is factored in with access to hardware the problem becomes greater and more complex.

4. Assessment - many educators are struggling more with assessment and it's design. It seems as though most agree with some form of accountability attached to assessment. However, nobody has quite figured out how to do it. However, it is becoming apparent that technology will have to be involved in whatever solution does present itself, if for nothing less than efficiency alone.

5. Personalizing Education - more people are talking about changing teaching and learning to become more personal, that education has to be tailored specifically for each individual. There is a lot of frustration and confusion about how to make this happen when we are still working in an environment designed to "press out parts" rather than create individual masterpieces.

Are there any others that you are noticing, that I may not have? Let me know.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 06/28/2010

2010-06-28T01:30:00.001-05:00

West Point Bridge Design Contest
Welcome to the 2010 West Point Bridge Design Contest
HOW TO ENTER
Welcome to the 2010 West Point Bridge Design ContestHOW TO ENTER

Download and install the West Point Bridge Designer 2010 software.
Use the software to design and test a virtual bridge.
Register your team.
Log in and submit as many designs as you like.It's absolutely FREE!
Who: U.S. students age 13 through grade 12 are eligible for prizes. Anyone else may enter our Open Competition. More about eligibility...
When: The 2010 contest began on January 28, 2010, and the Qualifying Round ended on March 5. You can still submit designs, but they won't be eligible for national prizes. More about the contest schedule...Prizes: Each member of the first-place team earns a $5,000 scholarship. Each finalist wins a notebook computer. More about prizes...

Download and install the West Point Bridge Designer 2010 software.

Use the software to design and test a virtual bridge.

Register your team.

Log in and submit as many designs as you like.
It's absolutely FREE!

Who: U.S. students age 13 through grade 12 are eligible for prizes. Anyone else may enter our Open Competition. More about eligibility...

When: The 2010 contest began on January 28, 2010, and the Qualifying Round ended on March 5. You can still submit designs, but they won't be eligible for national prizes. More about the contest schedule...
Prizes: Each member of the first-place team earns a $5,000 scholarship. Each finalist wins a notebook computer. More about prizes...
tags: bridge, science, physics, Design, engineering, software, simulation

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 06/25/2010

2010-06-25T01:30:00.001-05:00

Google Apps update alerts: Multi-domain management now available in Google Apps
Google management update is fianally here
tags: google, update, GAFE
- Google Apps administrators can now manage multiple domains from one control panel in Google Apps. Users from different domains preserve their original email address, but all users are on the organization's global address list, and calendars, docs and sites can be shared throughout the entire organization.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Essential Classroom Technologies

2010-06-17T08:01:00.001-05:00

A question I have been asked several times over the past few months is what are the essential pieces of technology that have to be in a classroom to foster 21st century teaching and learning. With the ISTE conference coming up, and thousands of sales people reaching out for our limited technology dollars, what should we be focusing on purchasing?

I am not a big believer that just adding technology changes instruction, but even the best craftsman likes a good set of tools. Here are my most important classroom technologies:

1. A computing device with reliable, fast, and open access (only filtering what CIPA requires) to the Internet. Even one of these devices in a classroom opens the world’s information and people to our students.
2. A projection device that is visible to all students in the room. This allows all of the students in the classroom to take advantage of the information on the computer at one time.
3. A Good set of speakers. This is an item that is often overlooked. Sound is important, especially in today’s multimedia world.

Give me those 3 items and I have enough to bring the world into my classroom and after that, things can get real exciting. It opens up access to videos and other visuals, great questions and answers with a variety of points of view, and an expert on any topic I can imagine. I am only limited by my creativity, which is limited by my time. Which I still believe is the largest limiting factor in developing our instructional practices. Unfortunately, no piece of technology we add to our classrooms will give us more time, that is something we create for ourselves and dedicate to the things we find to be most important in our lives. However, dedicating a little lime to learning to leverage 3 key pieces of classroom technology can make a big difference in the lives of our kids.

Cross-posted that the TechLearning Advisors Blog

My Bookmarks and Annotations 06/17/2010

2010-06-17T01:30:00.001-05:00

Google - public data
Datasets
World Development Indicators (subset)World BankOECD Factbook 2009 (subset)OECD Factbook 2009Unemployment in Europe (monthly)EurostatHarmonized Index of Consumer Prices in EuropeEurostatMinimum Wage in EuropeEurostatBroadband penetration in EuropeEurostatGovernment Debt in EuropeEurostatRoad transport in EuropeEurostatUnemployment in the U.S.U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGDP and Personal Income of the U.S. (annual)U.S. Bureau of Economic AnalysisGDP breakdown of the U.S. (quarterly)U.S. Bureau of Economic AnalysisRetail Sales in the U.S.U.S. Census BureauPopulation in the U.S.US Census BureauSexually Transmitted Diseases in the U.S.NCHHSTP powered by CDC WONDERMortality in the U.S.NCHS, OAE powered by CDC WONDERCancer cases in the U.S.CDC, NCI and NAACCR powered by CDC WONDERWorld Resources Institute, CAIT-U.S. 4.0World Resources Institute, CAIT-U.S. 4.0Education Statistics of CaliforniaCalifornia Department of Education
tags: visualization, data, google, reference, datasets, tools, statistics

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 06/05/2010

2010-06-05T01:30:00.001-05:00

Western Digital Leapfrogs Seagate in HDD Shipments | Maximum PC
tags: no_tag
- from Western Digital have zi

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 06/02/2010

2010-06-02T01:30:00.001-05:00

See how much you could save with Google Apps at your company - Google Apps for business
google TCO
tags: no_tag
Soundation
Create music on the web.
Whether you are an amateur or a pro you will be able to satisfy all your needs with Soundation Studio — a powerful online sequencer with 11 real time effects, 3 synthesizers, a drum machine and a fully integrated Sound Shop
tags: music, editor, audio, tools, sound, web2.0

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 05/27/2010

2010-05-27T01:30:00.001-05:00

Google
I love Google's creativity...
tags: google, pacman, fun, game, google pacman
10 tips for using Gmail at work - Official Gmail Blog
tags: gmail, googleapps

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sir Ken Robinson's 2nd TED Talk

2010-05-25T21:45:00.000-05:00

I am sure many of you are familiar with Sir Ken Robinson's excellent TED talk "Do School's Kill Creativity" from 4 years ago (if not it is worth a watch). He was asked back to TED in February of this year and his talk was posted today. It addresses revolutionizing education through a personalized approach to each child. You can check it out here: "Bring on the Learning Revolution!". It is definitely worth 15 minutes of your time.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 05/25/2010

2010-05-25T01:30:00.001-05:00

Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done
hanks to some handy tricks in the Google Labs bag you can easily add an HTML signature complete with images and save it for future use without plug-ins or outside help.
Earlier this month Lifehacker reader Smosh showed how to put signatures in Gmail without plug-ins. Expanding on the same trick Smosh shared, Amit at Digital Inspiration put together a guide to combining the "Canned Responses" and "Inserting Images" Google Labs features to make easy and image-rich signatures inside Gmail without any plug-ins or outside editing.
Check out the video above to see the process in action or visit Digital Inspiration at the link below to read through the steps. Have a favorite clever use of a Google Labs feature? Let's hear about it in the comments.
Create HTML Signatures Right Inside Gmail [Digital Inspiration]
tags: lifehacker, google, gmail, signature

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 05/21/2010

2010-05-21T01:30:00.001-05:00

Leadership and Vision - Powered by Google Docs
CoSN's Framework of Essential Skills of the K-12 CTO
tags: CoSN, CTO, Skills, leadership, vision

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 05/11/2010

2010-05-11T01:30:00.001-05:00

What is GTD®?
GTD embodies an easy, step-by-step and highly efficient method for achieving this relaxed, productive state. It includes:

Capturing anything and everything that has your attention
Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps
Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on how and when you need to access them
Keeping current and "on your game" with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions)
tags: gtd, productivity, organization, management

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Inb0x Zer0

2010-05-09T11:01:00.005-05:00

When I was first teaching I had an administrator tell me that he was able to be productive because he had an "Clean Desk Policy". Nothing was allowed to sit on his desk for more than 24 hours. After 24 hours it was either taken care of, put in a bin to be filed away, or foldered with materials surrounding a larger project. I have tried to follow this practice as well, and my desk usually has nothing on it (except for times of extreme craziness).

As Email started to take hold I found that much of what used to come across my desk as paper was now coming across digitally. However, the tools I had in my email system were not as easy to work with. Email conversations were not limited to 1 sheet of paper, they came in as many individual threads that were scattered across my inbox. Foldering was crazy, I had over 300 folders for every type of conversation, because finding old messages was impossible.

Then came Gmail.

Gmail has two powerful tools that destroy all other email systems: SEARCH + ARCHIVE

Not just search, a search feature that works quickly and accurately. It came with so much storage (now almost 8GB) that I didn't have to question if a message was "worth keeping". Email became a binary system - two options:

Active
Archived

With Gmail as my new tool I started trying to find ways to accomplish a clean desk policy in email. I call this practice:

Inb0x Zer0

The mantra of Inb0x Zer0 is:

My messages leave my inbox in 24 hours

I have developed some strategies that help accomplish this goal and have outlined them in this presentation:

If you are able to accomplish this you will be much more productive and email will stop being lost in the shuffle.

For those of you hoping to get there - this is what Inb0x Zer0 looks like:

My Bookmarks and Annotations 05/06/2010

2010-05-06T01:30:00.001-05:00

Google Apps Case Study - Maine Township High School District - Google Docs
Henry Thiele, Maine Township’s Director of Technology, recalls that “Just a year ago,District 207 was well behind the average school district in the area of instructionaltechnology.” The schools used a slow, text-based email system and a calendaringapplication that lacked much-needed features. “The network infrastructure wassecure, but we didn’t have enough bandwidth – and the spirit of collaboration wastotally absent,” Thiele continues. Teachers, students, parents, and board memberswanted to transform the way that the district used technology and asked for asystem that delivered more capabilities, allowed innovation, and offered a betterway of learning. The challenge was to not only play catch-up, but also to moveforward – and Maine Township did this by turning its attention to Google AppsEducation Edition.
tags: google, googleapps, GWE
Google Apps K-12 Lesson Plans using Docs, Sites, and Calendar.
Easily incorporate Google Apps into your curriculum with these classroom-ready lesson plans. Have a Google Apps lesson plan? Submit it for review.
tags: google, googleapps, GWE
Google Apps Education Edition for K12 Overview - Google Docs
tags: google, googleapps, GWE
Google Apps Education Edition for K12 FAQs - Google Docs
tags: google, googleapps, GWE
See what's new - Google Apps for business
Keep track of new Google Apps features.
We continuously make improvements. You get new features automatically when you run the applications in your browser.
tags: Google, googleapps, GWE
Google Apps Education Edition: Webinars and Resource Center
tags: googleapps, google, GWE
Google Apps for Education - Free hosted email (Gmail) for EDU
tags: google, googleapps, GWE
Google Apps for Business | Official Website
tags: google, googleapps, GWE
Henry (Hank) Thiele Ed.D (Google Teacher Academy Resources)
GTA Profile
tags: google, GTA, GWE

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 05/05/2010

2010-05-05T01:30:00.001-05:00

WolframTones: About WolframTones
About WolframTones

When prominent scientist Stephen Wolfram published A New Kind of Science in 2002, it was immediately hailed as a major intellectual landmark. Today the paradigm shift that Wolfram's work initiated is starting revolutions in a remarkable range of areas of science, technology--and the arts. WolframTones is an experiment in applying Wolfram's discoveries to the creation of music.

At the core of A New Kind of Science is the idea of exploring a new abstract universe: a "computational universe" of simple programs. In A New Kind of Science, Wolfram shows how remarkably simple programs in his "computational universe" capture the essence of the complexity--and beauty--of many systems in nature.

WolframTones works by taking simple programs from Wolfram's computational universe, and using music theory and Mathematica algorithms to render them as music. Each program in effect defines a virtual world, with its own special story--and WolframTones captures it as a musical composition.

It's all original music--fresh from "mining" Wolfram's computational universe. Sometimes it's reminiscent of familiar musical styles; sometimes it's like nothing ever heard before. It's a taste of what it's like to explore the computational universe--and a hint of what's to come...
tags: music

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 05/02/2010

2010-05-02T01:30:00.001-05:00

WorkTime - Software usage monitoring

Automatically monitor software usage by the employees
Get the actual picture of what software is used, when and by who
Control licenses usage and minimize software related expenses (licenses and software audit)
Identify the most used software
Monitor browsers, email and chat software usage
Find out if employees use any prohibited software
Monitor time spent using any software
Monitor software usage on laptops, remote computers, computers in company's network
Monitor software usage under Terminal Server and Citrix Server
Automatically receive scheduled reports

Automatic invisible monitoringSoftware monitoring is performed in the background absolutely invisibly to the employees, automatically recording information about what software is used, when and by who.

What is recordedWorkTime automatically records the actual software usage and the actual time spent on it. "Actual" means that an application is active (selected) and there is keyboard or mouse activity. Recorded data is very precise and accurate.
WorkTime records software name, full path and document name (if any).
Browsers - what is recorded: web-sites, URLs, page titles and time when activity was performed. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6/7/8, Mozilla Firefox 2/3/3.5 are supported.

System, network, installationWorkTime Corporate is a client-server system that works either in a local or distributed network and is intended to monitor Windows-based computers. The system consists of database, server application, administrative/reporting tool and thin tracking clients. Client applications are installed on each computer that need to be monitored. Monitoring results are automatically sent to the centralized location. Reports are built using administrative tool.
tags: software, worktime, usage, i3
2differentiate / FrontPage
2Differentiate -
For Middle school and High School.
Why Differentiation? Why Technology?
To engage, to involve, to share, to learn
tags: differentiation, personalized
Microsoft Mouse Mischief Home
Mouse Mischief integrates into Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, letting you insert questions, polls, and drawing activity slides into your lessons.

Students can actively participate in these lessons by using their own mice to click, circle, cross out, or draw answers on the screen.
tags: powerpoint, microsoft, technology, studentresponse
Wallwisher.com :: About Us
Where did the idea come from?
Wallwisher's janitor has a post-it overuse problem. He uses post-its as reminders, coasters, bookmarks, wrappers for used gum, to-do list managers, memos. So he decided to have some post-its for the web. SharedCopy, a startup that dealt with adding notes to web pages, therefore, came as a natural choice for the janitor's December internship. It was there that the janitor came up with the idea for using a sticky-note/noticeboard interface for communicating on the web.
tags: wallwisher, postit, bulletinboard
Tagxedo - Tag Cloud with Styles
tags: wordcloud, tagxedo, wordclouds, tag, visualization

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 04/30/2010

2010-04-30T01:30:00.001-05:00

Education Funding And Low-Income Children: A Review of Current Research, 11/7/02
The academic achievement gap between poor and non-poor students is well-known. Low-income children consistently fall behind their peers in test scores, graduation rates, college enrollment, and other measures of academic success. Both state and federal policymakers have recently made significant efforts to adopt reforms designed to address this problem. Some reforms have focused on creating high standards of achievement coupled with systems of testing and accountability. Other reforms have focused on improving the quality of education for low-income students by targeting additional financial resources to the school districts that serve them to improve instruction, facilities, and other academic resources. A significant body of research suggests that targeting additional resources to districts serving low-income children can narrow the academic achievement gap between poor and non-poor students.
This paper reviews and summarizes the results of current research on education funding for low-income children. It examines the findings of researchers and analysts in three areas: the overall relationship between education funding and student performance; recent estimates of the amount of additional funding necessary to narrow the poverty-based academic achievement gap; and specific resource-intensive strategies that have been shown to benefit students in general and low-income students in particular. The most recent, comprehensive studies indicate that school funding and student performance are strongly related. In particular, they find that low-income children can substantially benefit from policies designed to provide additional resources to high-poverty school districts. New research, however, indicates that the amount of additional resources necessary to reduce the achievement gap is significant and may not be reflected in current state funding policies. The research findings are summarized below:
tags: LowIncome, i3
Educational Sequelae of High School Misbehavior
Click on any of the links below to perform a new searchERIC #: EJ794311Title: Educational Sequelae of High School MisbehaviorAuthors: Finn, Jeremy D.; Fish, Reva M.; Scott, Leslie A.Descriptors: High Schools; Behavior Problems; Dropout Rate; Longitudinal Studies; High School Students; Juvenile Gangs; Violence; Grades (Scholastic); Scores; Tests; Graduation Rate; Classroom EnvironmentSource: Journal of Educational Research, v101 n5 p259-274 May-Jun 2008Peer-Reviewed: YesPublisher: Heldref Publications. 1319 Eighteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036-1802. Tel: 800-365-9753; Tel: 202-296-6267; Fax: 202-293-6130; e-mail: subscribe@heldref.org; Web site: http://www.heldref.orgPublication Date: 2008-00-00Pages: 16Pub Types: Journal Articles; Reports - EvaluativeAbstract: Despite the fact that misbehavior in school is a pervasive problem to educators and despite its adverse consequences, few researchers have examined the range of misbehaviors by students, their antecedents, or their consequences. The authors used data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 (NELS:88) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to examine immediate and long-term educational sequelae of misbehavior in high school. The authors constructed an extent of serious misconduct (ESM) measure based on classroom and school misbehaviors, ranging from classroom disruption to fighting and gang membership. The authors first examined relationships among specific misbehaviors and the relationship of ESM to student and school demographic characteristics. Second, the authors studied relationships of ESM with high school and post-high school academic outcomes. Misbehavior was related to high school grades, test scores, and graduation and dropout rates. Misbehavior also was related to entering a postsecondary program of study and completing a postsecondary program. In both cases, well-behaved students were more likely to participate in postsecondary education than were moderately misbehaving students, but moderately mis-b
tags: behavior, i3
Educational Sequelae of High School Misbehavior - Education News - redOrbit
Educational Sequelae of High School Misbehavior
Despite the fact that misbehavior in school is a pervasive problem to educators and despite its adverse consequences, few researchers have examined the range of misbehaviors by students, their antecedents, or their consequences. The authors used data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 (NELS:88) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to examine immediate and long-term educational sequelae of misbehavior in high school. The authors constructed an extent of serious misconduct (ESM) measure based on classroom and school misbehaviors, ranging from classroom disruption to fighting and gang membership. The authors first examined relationships among specific misbehaviors and the relationship of ESM to student and school demographic characteristics. Second, the authors studied relationships of ESM with high school and post-high school academic outcomes. Misbehavior was related to high school grades, test scores, and graduation and dropout rates. Misbehavior also was related to entering a postsecondary program of study and completing a postsecondary program. In both cases, well-behaved students were more likely to participate in postsecondary education than were moderately misbehaving students, but moderately misbehaving students did not participate more than did seriously misbehaving students. The authors discussed results in terms of the need to understand more about the structure of school-related misbehavior and the antecedents of misbehavior, including characteristics of classrooms and schools that may exacerbate student misconduct. Keywords: academic outcomes, educational sequelae, high school misbehavior
tags: behavior, i3

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 04/29/2010

2010-04-29T01:30:00.001-05:00

Spring
The scholarship of teaching and learning Spring 2002 ISSN 1096-1453 Volume 6, Issue 1
Improving Student Attendance: Does it Improve Student Learning? 76a 76b 76c Robert E. Ledman, Morehouse College, GA Felix Kamuche, Morehouse College, GA
tags: attendance, i3
Why Schools are Turning to Google Apps
Henry Thiele, IT director for District 207 says he is “surprised by how many schools don’t even know that [Google apps] is there.” And, when they hear about the opportunity, says, Thiele, they’re curious to know “what the catch is.” Thiele simply responds, “There is no catch.”

Boosting Student Motivation and Performance
“Our students involved in this program are increasing their reading ability at rates faster than anything we’ve seen before,” says Thiele. He is referring to an English course which pairs high-risk 9th graders with their own laptop. District 207 expects an average gain of three points on reading tests over the course of the year, and observes that at-risk students’ scores typically either stay stagnant, or fall behind. For those in this program, scores have skyrocketed between 8 and 10 points. While Google Apps alone was not the only factor in raising test scores, its low cost and collaborative nature made the 1-to-1 curriculum possible.
tags: googleapps, google_apps, web2.0, Thiele
Afghanistan PowerPoint slide: Generals left baffled by PowerPoint slide | Mail Online
PowerPoint has become public enemy number one for many US officers who find themselves battling slide presentations rather than insurgents.Some have gone as far as to declare all-out war on the software after the military command was over-run with mind-numbing 30-slide presentations.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1269463/Afghanistan-PowerPoint-slide-Generals-left-baffled-PowerPoint-slide.html#ixzz0mQ59rWKL
tags: powerpoint, visualization

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The Day the Nings Died

2010-04-16T11:19:00.001-05:00

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.

But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn’t take one more step.

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the ~~music~~ Nings died.

I was greeted this morning by an English department chair in all black. She is mourning the loss of Ning. Although yesterday’s announcement is not good news, it is not unexpected or the end of classroom collaboration in a social networking environment.

My Grandfather was famous for using the saying “if it is too good to be true, it probably is” and I grew up hearing the phrase, so when it comes to stuff at no cost I am always cautious. For those of you that know me as Google Fan Boy #1” this may come as a surprise statement, but I always believe everything will eventually go away. Accepting that from the start makes the end much easier to take. However, I don’t look at it as a bad thing, I think of it as an opportunity. The death of one creates room for the emergence of another. Sure the new may not be the old, but it causes us to learn and change and from that comes new ideas.

Step back 10 years to the “dot-com” crash, which at the time, to some, looked like it might be the death of the on-line world. Out of the ashes rose powerhouses like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Wikipedia with models never seen before in the world. Ning isn’t even dead yet and the conversations have begun of how to replace it. Several people have said, and I agree, that it is time for us in EdTech to be forced to change and adapt - time for us to expect from ourselves that of which we expect from our teachers.

So let’s approach the problem from what we know and then ask some questions:

Ning probably will not be free any more.

At what price would you be willing to pay to keep the service?

There wasn’t another product like Ning that combined a pleasing and usable interface.

What were the components that made it work in the classroom?
Can we find something that fits those needs?

The management of the Ning was so easy.

Is it possible to get Ning to create an enterprise version of their product?

What if Ning comes back and announces that subscriptions for educators are $10 per year? I am sure plenty of people would pay up. IIf Ning created a version that I could purchase for my teachers and manage the accounts, and have a long term contract, I would consider becoming a paid subscriber at the district level. However, they would have to demonstrate that the product would have an escape plan. The biggest problem I see in leaving Ning, and any platform, is the cost and time involved in leaving. There is a real cost associated in leaving any product and we should always consider that when investing in a solution.

So, let’s all take a step back and examine our options, wait for an official announcement on the future of Nings, and prepare an exit strategy for every product we rely on. We should also take a moment to thank Ning for all of the progress it has helped us make in our classrooms and reflect on all they have given us for free. For now we can take solace in the fact that at least the music didn’t die - yet.

Henry Thiele - cross posted a thttp://www.techlearning.com/section/Blogs

My Bookmarks and Annotations 04/14/2010

2010-04-14T01:30:00.001-05:00

Help Center | Facebook
Safety for Educators
There are a number of Facebook best practices for educators, particularly when it involves the safety of their students. Find them here.
tags: facebook, cybersafety, education, safety, digitalcitizenship
Cell Phone Plans - Compare cell phone plans side-by-side

It has never been easier to find the perfect cell phone plan. What once took hours visiting retail stores can now be completed in just a few minutes, all from the convenience of your home or office. Once you find the ideal cell phone plan, you'll be able to pair it with a cell phone special offer. MyRatePlan features one of the widest selections of cell phones, at the best prices, available anywhere. We look forward to saving you both time and money on the purchase of your next cell phone and plan.
tags: cell, phone, mobile, plans, cellphone

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 04/13/2010

2010-04-13T01:30:00.001-05:00

January 2007 Newsletter (PDF) - A Teacher's Guide to Differentiated Instruction - Powered by Google Docs
tags: DI
Classroom Practices Descriptor Page - Powered by Google Docs
Not all students are alike. Based on this knowledge, differentiated instruction applies anapproach to teaching and learning so that students have multiple options for taking ininformation and making sense of ideas. The model of differentiated instruction requiresteachers to be flexible in their approach to teaching and adjusting the curriculum andpresentation of information to learners rather than expecting students to modify themselvesfor the curriculum. Classroom teaching is a blend of whole-class, group and individualinstruction. Differentiated Instruction is a teaching theory based on the premise thatinstructional approaches should vary and be adapted in relation to individual and diversestudents in classrooms.DefinitionTo differentiate instruction is to recognize students varying background knowledge,readiness, language, preferences in learning, interests, and to react responsively.Differentiated instruction is a process to approach teaching and learning for students ofdiffering abilities in the same class. The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximizeeach student’s growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or she is,and assisting in the learning process.
tags: classroom, practices, DI, i3

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 04/11/2010

2010-04-11T01:30:00.001-05:00

CAST: What is Universal Design for Learning?
tags: no_tag
- Multiple means of representation to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge
  
  Multiple means of action and expression to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know, and
  
  Multiple means of engagement to tap into learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn
CAST: Differentiated Instruction and Implications for UDL Implementation
tags: no_tag
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a curriculum designed approach to increase flexibility in teaching and decrease the barriers that frequently limit student access to materials and learning in classrooms
- - - post by hthiele
- Principles of the Universal Design for Learning Framework
  
  Principle 1:
  To support recognition learning, provide multiple, flexible methods of presentation
  Principle 2:
  To support strategic learning, provide multiple, flexible methods of expression and apprenticeship.
  
  Principle 3:
  To support affective learning, provide multiple, flexible options for engagement.
- UDL Teaching Method
- Visit the CAST web site. The CAST web site devotes a large section to Universal Design for Learning. Here visitors will find an articulation of UDL, discussions of its core concepts, descriptions of UDL research projects, a listing of tools and resources that support UDL, and ideas and examples for implementing UDL.
- Inventory and build technology support. Technology, in particular digital media, makes UDL implementation practical and achievable in a diverse classroom. Digital materials make it possible for the same material to be flexibly presented and accessed—even adapted on a student-to-student basis.
- (a) Set Goals, (b) Analyze Status, (c) Apply UDL, and (d) Teach the UDL Lesson.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 04/07/2010

2010-04-07T01:30:00.001-05:00

Cacoo Lets Multiple Users Create Designs Collaboratively And In Real-time
a tool called Cacoo tries to stand out from the pack with some unique features.

Developed by Japan-based Nulab, the Flash application is entirely browser-based, free and available in English (and Japanese). Cacoo features a library of icons users can drag and drop to create site maps, wireframes, flow charts, network diagrams, mind maps, UML diagrams, and more. Much like with similar tools, Cacoo users can align the design elements to each other, resize, flip and skew them, create their own components from existing ones, upload images to include in the diagrams, and more.
tags: cacoo, visualization, mindmap

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 04/06/2010

2010-04-06T01:30:00.001-05:00

By the Numbers: Facebook vs The United States [INFOGRAPHIC]
Facebook’s official company statistics outline the breakdown of the sites over 400 million active users. While the site points out about 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States, it doesn’t dive deeper into the U.S. numbers.

To find out more about the average American Facebook user and how he or she compares to the average American, we dug a little further. After crunching the numbers and comparing the data, this is what we found.
tags: facebook, web2.0, stats

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 04/01/2010

2010-04-01T01:30:00.001-05:00

YouTube - How Not to Use Powerpoint
tags: powerpoint, youtube

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/30/2010

2010-03-30T01:30:00.001-05:00

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/28/2010

2010-03-28T01:30:00.001-05:00

Google Moderator Help
tags: google, moderator, googleapps

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Webinar - Maine 207 Lessons that Integrate Google Apps

2010-03-25T16:06:00.002-05:00

Here are the resources from the webinar:
• Recorded video
• Published slide presentation
• Q&A Transcript
• Maine Township case study

If you would like more information about Google Apps Education Edition, please visit the website at www.google.com/apps/schools. You can also access and review previous webinars (including Maine 207's webinar on deploying Google Apps) in the Google Apps Education Resource center

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/23/2010

2010-03-23T01:30:00.001-05:00

Principal Fuller: GMail Keyboard Shortcuts - Part One
tags: gmail, googleapps

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/18/2010

2010-03-18T01:30:00.001-05:00

Education Week: Final Rules Unveiled for 'i3' Innovation Fund
The U.S. Department of Education stuck to its guns in releasing final rules for the $650 million Investing in Innovation, or i3, grant program, standing firm in the face of criticism that its proposed guidelines demanded too much from applicants in the way of private-sector match and evidence to back up their proposals.
In the final rules and application for the program, released March 8, department officials left intact a demand that applicants secure 20 percent in matching funds from the private sector.
But in a nod to concerns that such a requirement could be burdensome, particularly to smaller districts and in a difficult economy, the department relaxed the timing so that prospective grant recipients don’t need to secure the private funding until they’ve been notified that they are in line to win.
In essence, a foundation or other organization will know that its matching donation is a sure-fire bet.
tags: i3
Our Social Media Obsession by the Numbers [STATS]
From the time we wake up in the morning to the moment we call it a day, and every moment in between (think bedroom, bathroom and dinner table), we’re checking in on our favorite social media sites.
This conclusion comes from data gathered by an independent study (commissioned by Retrevo), which surveyed 1,000 online individuals.
Per the report, our Facebook and Twitter activities continue even after we’ve hit the hay, with 48% of respondents checking in on activity when they wake up in the middle of the night or as soon as they wake up in the morning. Unsurprisingly, these night owl social media behaviors skew heavily toward those under the age of 25.
iPhone users are the most social of the respondent pool and were significantly more likely to check or update Twitter or Facebook from bed — many before turning on the TV in the morning. Several also use these sites to consume their morning news. The iPhone’s app and web experience is clearly making it even easier for the young socialites to maintain their Internet presence regardless of their physical station in life.
The study also found that 56% of social media users check Facebook once a day, 32% don’t mind being interrupted by an electronic message while eating and 24% of respondents under the age of the 25 have no problem with digital communication while on the pot.
A few other interesting data points from the study include:
- 12% of respondents check/use Facebook every couple of hours
- 62% of individuals over the age of 25 see electronic communications during a meeting, meal, sex or bathroom act as unwanted interruptions
- 23% of iPhone owners primarily get their morning news from Twitter and Facebook
tags: social, media

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/13/2010

2010-03-13T00:30:00.001-06:00

Postini Content Manager
How to update Postini Content manager.
tags: Postini, googleapps

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/12/2010

2010-03-12T00:30:00.001-06:00

ALEKS -- Assessment and Learning, K-12, Higher Education, Automated Tutor, Math
tags: eLearning, assessment, aleks, Mathematics, education
Add shared items of Google reader to web clip in Gmail
Web clips in gmail allows you to add a valid feed by searching.Its mostly used to read headlines.Since it does not support to add any OMPL file, its one of the most unwanted features in gmail. However there is one way you can utilize it.

Google Reader allows you to share feed items I.e posts which can be accessed through your public profile, which can be added to web clips, which act as a notification.The only and most important advantage I see here is if any body shares a good news, it will be available in your Web clips.
tags: shared, google, gmail, reader, webclips
The Tempered Radical: What Id Buy Instead of an Interactive Whiteboard
"What I’d Buy Instead of an Interactive Whiteboard

This week was a real humdinger for me. I spent the better part of it buried under hateful emails from a district technology director in Louisiana who had read my recent post arguing that Interactive Whiteboards were a waste of money.

I was really taken aback by the venom and spite in his words. His first email expressed “shock” that “someone like me” could ever be named Teacher of the Year in any district. He called me “self-centered and self-serving” and suggested that my writing was a “poison” corrupting conversations about technology."
tags: technology, smartboard, iwb, whiteboard

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/11/2010

2010-03-11T00:30:00.001-06:00

How to Turn your Nexus One into a WiFi Hotspot/WiFi Tether!(Also Bluetooth Tether) | Nexus One Hacks Blog
tags: nexusone
Google Apps Topic Review - Improving the writing process with Google Docs.pdf - Google Docs
Google Apps Topic Review - Improving the writing process with Google Doc
tags: Google Docs, googleapps, topic, googledocs, google, writing
Pivot Table Tutorial - For Google Spreadsheets
Step by Step - Getting Started Guide
Step 1 - Getting Ready for Pivoting

Step 2 - Inserting the Pivot Table

Step 3 - Learning the Pivot Table User Interface

Step 4 - Using the Pivot Table

How to Filter by a Field
How to Modify the Pivot Table Structure and Layout
How to Drill Up or Down
How to Sort and Unsort Data
How to Rank and Unrank Data
How to Chart Data
Step 5 - Embedding Analytics on Your Website
tags: tutorial, table, pivot, Extension

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/10/2010

2010-03-10T00:30:00.001-06:00

How to Embed a Web Page on Another Site? | techxplore.net
your browser does not support IFRAMEs
tags: embed, iframe, code, to, how

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/07/2010

2010-03-07T00:30:00.001-06:00

CI @ MSU Programs
CI-MSU will provide podcasts of a series of video- and audio-based Chinese learning materials of both beginning-level and intermediate-level. All the materials are organized in coherent stories with language and culture explanations and are suitable to long-term systematic learning of Chinese. There will also be a series that focuses on the issues relevant to living, working and visiting China. This series can serve as a nice introduction of Chinese language and culture for those who want to prepare for their visit to China. Moreover, there will also be a series that is developed specifically for preschoolers and children. In addition to those existent materials, podcasts of adapted daily broadcasts from TV and radio stations will also be provided. Those podcast materials will be available in the coming month.
tags: msu, programs, language, onlinelearning
Amazon.com: Your Child's Strengths: Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them: Jenifer Fox M.Ed.: Books
From Publishers Weekly
Fox, head of a girl's boarding school in New Jersey, writes about a strengths-based curriculum she developed and implemented with great success. She not only presents a workbook that can be utilized by educators and parents, but also offers a convincing argument in favor of over-turning outdated curriculums and teaching methods. Instead of focusing on weaknesses, Fox submits that children do far better when the focus is on their strengths. Childhood is for "creative dreaming," not preparation for standardized tests. Fox identifies three types of strengths: activity, learning and relationship strengths, and helps parents guide their children toward self-discovery, explaining that true strengths include not only what a child is good at, but what she enjoys and makes her feel strong. The book is written in a lively and engaging style, and sprinkled with anecdotes from Fox's teaching life and her own experiences as a student who was frustrated and uncomfortable in a traditional school setting. Clearly, writing is one of Fox's strengths, as is her inspiring passion for helping kids lead meaningful lives.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
tags: strengths, books2read
The Strengths Movement
tags: strengths, movement, edreform
Grammarly
Grammarly is your personal proofreader and grammar coach. Check your writing for grammar, punctuation, style and more.
tags: grammarly
Amazon.com: Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance--and Why They Fall (9780385512848): Amy Chua: Books
Chua (World on Fire), a Yale law professor and daughter of immigrants, examines a number of world-dominant powers—a none too rigorously defined group that lumps together the Persian, Roman, Mongol and British empires with the contemporary United States—and argues that tolerance and multiculturalism are indispensable features of global economic and military success. Such hyperpowers rise, Chua argues, because their tolerance of minority cultures and religions, their receptivity to foreign ideas and their willingness to absorb and empower talented provincials and immigrants lets them harness the world's human capital. Conversely, hyperpowers decline when their assimilative capacities falter and they lapse into intolerance and exclusion. The sexy concept of a world-dominant hyperpower, in addition to being somewhat erratic—the smallish Dutch Republic makes the cut, while the far-flung (but inconveniently intolerant) Spanish empire doesn't—is doubtful when examining an America that can hardly dominate Baghdad and not much more convincing when applied to earlier hegemons. Chua does offer an illuminating survey of the benefits of tolerance and pluralism, often as a tacit brief for maintaining America's generous immigration policies. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
tags: books2read
Are International Tests Worth Anything?
The idea that America was being harmed because its schools were not keeping up with those in other advanced nations emerged after Sputnik in 1957, took a firm hold on education policy when "A Nation at Risk" appeared in 1983, and continues today. Policy makers justify this concern by pointing to evidence showing that, for individuals within the U.S., higher test scores predict a number of important life advantages, such as going on to college and making more money as an adult. Since Sputnik, the evidence driving worries about the performance of U.S. schools have come primarily from a series of international achievement testing programs that started in 1964 with the First International Mathematics Study (FIMS). This was followed by the Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS), the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and, most recently, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In this article, the author shows that for the U.S. and for the top dozen or so most-advanced nations in the world, standings in the league tables of international tests are worthless. There is no association between test scores and national success, and, contrary to one of the major beliefs driving U.S. education policy for nearly half a century, international test scores are nothing to be concerned about. America's schools, he asserts, are doing just fine on the world scene. (Contains 4 endnotes.)
tags: tests, standardized_tests

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

My Bookmarks and Annotations 03/06/2010

2010-03-06T00:30:00.001-06:00

principals - legal
CIPA, COPPA, and FERPA

Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
tags: coppa, cipa, ferpa, principals, legal

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.