A guide to using videos (includes stuff on flipped classes, and publishing).

I came across another resource that contained some things even I had not seen. The pamphlet is called -Mind shift :Teachers’ Guide to Using Videos by Catlin Tucker. It is a 17 page pdf file with working links if you open it on your computer.
Some sections-
5 Awesome sites for instructional videos
Sites that curate educational videos
What makes a good video?
Flip your classroom: extend and engage!
Exercises for flipped classrooms
Create opportunities for publishing

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/files/2013/03/MindShift-Guide-to-Videos.pdf

Again, I would love to get any feed back about this resource.

Enjoy,

Peter

50 Education Tech tools---

I have been wanting to discuss a number of tools but have not caught up with other things yet. In the mean time I came across this blog post about 50 Ed Tech sites many of you might be curious about. Try a few or email me and I will make it a priority to review it. Happy Hunting!

-Peter

http://fluency21.com/blog/2013/03/26/50-education-technology-tools-every-teacher-should-know-about/

Texting- Teacher to Student

In the new rash of software I have discovered and been playing around with, one seems to reach out more than the others for discussion. This is Remind101.com. This site allows the teacher to text all the students in a class. The teacher cannot see the student's numbers , nor they the teacher's. This can be used in a a few different forms. You could make an announcement to an after school group,  reassign a homework, or reminding about a test. An interesting feature is that the site also has a widget for your web site (this can keep a record of communications, though why use it if the student's are on your web site already?)

With the snow day communication like Remind 101 can certainly come in handy. If my project is still due on Monday a little reminder might go a long way. When my Model United Nations group needs to communicate I can have my President quickly call off a meeting.

I would love people's feedback about how this would work for them. Enjoy!

I wanted to follow up the Colonel with a blog post that just came out.

10 Great Technology Initiatives for Your Library

https://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/features/02192013/10-great-technology-initiatives-your-library?tab=comment&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=ca646

There are a number of issues and information based solutions that a librarian can use in a school. Take a look and see if there is one that would start a good discussion. I'll take a deeper look into it. Though if you want to go to the source, contact Ms. Andronik (I have already emailed this to her), I'm sure she would be happy to start a dialogue on any of the suggestions. 

Digital Literacy

Train the Leaders in digital literacy...Train the Mentors in digital literacy....Literacy has always been dependent upon the available technology (printing press all the way to iPads). Helping kids (and teachers) to "Geek Out".  Developing teachers mentoring teachers, student's mentoring students, students & teachers mentoring each other in digital media...Take a look at what they are doing here (7 minutes) ...

Here is a Podcast (19 minutes) on Defining Digital Literacy and Libraries...

"Thinking Outside of the Box" and leveraging technology to develop 21st century learning expectations...all require new skills and competencies. Old Dogs & New Dogs, learning new tricks. How trainable are you?