Yes Tech!

What is Media Literacy?

Pam Shoemaker — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:02:27 +0000

What is media literacy? These young students know what media literacy is! Kudos to 1st grade teacher, Kathy Cassidy. Here is the classroom blog.

Extensive List of Useful Tools for Teachers

Pam Shoemaker — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:52:48 +0000

Wow… this huge list of useful tools for teachers by Naomi Harm of Innovative Educator Consulting has many sites that I want to spend some time checking out. Categories: bookmarking tools, copyright free digital photos, capturing programs, converters, digital photo editors, digital photo project tools, flash and share your presentations, interactive whiteboards, music, photo hosting/sharing, productivity, students, timeline creators, URL shorteners, video programs, web 2.0 repositories, and virtual worlds. There is also a link to download the list as a PDF at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

Awesome Presentations Available Online

Pam Shoemaker — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:46:40 +0000

Last weekend, the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) hosted their annual Virtual Conference. In Michigan, we host a face-to-face event in conjunction with the online presentations. I’m on the DEN Event Team and was one of the face-to-face session facilitators along with several other inspiring educators across the state. One disadvantage to being involved in facilitating the face-to-face event, is not being able to attend many of the sessions. I was pleased to learn this morning that the virtual breakout sessions are not available, so I can attend whenever I have a free moment. If any of the following topics interest you, I encourage you to do the same:

Students as collaborators, creators, and directors
Podcasting
Making your PowerPoint presentations more interesting
Using Discovery Education’s teacher tools (assignment builder, quiz builder, etc)
Gloggle
Sharing your multimedia projects with the world

Access all of these presentations on the DEN Blog Virtual Conference page. Enjoy!

Screencast-o-Matic

Pam Shoemaker — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:09:12 +0000

I learned of a new screencast tool from Chris Ozias (Pinckney Technology Integration Specialists) while at the “Tech or Treat” MACUL/Discovery Education Event on Saturday. It’s called Screencast-o-Matic. No download and no account registration required! I just recorded a quick screencast to introduce an 8th grade inquiry-based science lesson I developed. Creating the screencast was super easy (no need to read any directions or change computer settings). There are many saving options: MPEG-4, avi. Or share direct to youtube (However, this didn’t work when I tried it) or to Screencast-o-Matic. There is some advertising, but it didn’t seem offensive. I’m thinking that this could be used easily by students!

More About Social Networking

Pam Shoemaker — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:11:14 +0000

I was invited to the Oakland County Career Tech Prep teacher inservice on Friday. I was able to sit in on the keynote presentation by Corey Perlman, author of eBoot Camp. His book is about Internet marketing techniques for small businesses. His message is that educators need to experience and understand social networking so that we can help students use social networking to connect with others and land jobs.

He recommends that students should have a solid Internet presence before leaving high school:

Upload at least one youtube video of themselves dressed nicely while communicating career goals.
Blog. Recommended platform is Wordpress.
Use linkedin. Ask teachers for recommendations.
Post articles and best papers on Ezinearticles.
Build a website. Joomla is a platform that could be used.

I’ve always recommended that teachers not “friend” students. Mr. Perlmam gave me a few ideas and I may change my mind. There is a way to keep your main Facebook page private from students and still connect with them on Facebook. You can create a Facebook group. This will allow conversations, announcements, and collaboration to occur right in Facebook, where students already are.

Mr. Perlman’s keynote gave the teachers who attended a brief overview of the power of social networking and a taste from many different tools. My online course, 21st Century Learning, will help guide teachers as they venture on their journey.

Brown Symposium on Technology and Society

Pam Shoemaker — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:03:53 +0000

Today I traveled to blue and gold territory – the University of Michigan, cross-state rivals of my alma mater, Michigan State University. U of M hosted the John Seely Brown Symposium on Technology and Society. danah boyd was the keynote speaker. danah (lack of capitalization is not a typo) is a social media researcher at Microsoft Research New England and a fell0w at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

The setting: a beautiful auditorium at the Business School. I arrived a few minutes late, just as the keynote was starting. I ended up in the back row of the balcony. I noticed that there were many college students in attendance and there were several hands on laptop keyboards all around the auditorium; I felt right at home. As Ms boyd was speaking about her research about social networking, the two young adults sitting in front of me were checking email, and posting to Twitter and a Skype chat. They were back-channeling; deeply engaged in sideline conversations that the presenter made them think about. Others might have thought they were off-task, but I don’t believe so, because I often do the same thing.

Ms boyd found that kids prefer to spend time with their friends face-to-face, but that the high amount of structured activities (clubs, sports teams, etc), and parental rules often keep them home. So they tend to hang out on MySpace and Facebook out of convenience. They don’t use social networking sites because of the technology; they use it because all their friends are there.

Teens participation in online social networking sites is viewed upon by most adults as frivolous, unsafe, and a waste of time. However, teens are learning how to live and interact in ways that are very important in today’s world. Just like most other human behaviors, there are ”good” and “bad” examples of how social media is used. I’ve seen awesome teen-generated digital media, created with a purpose and communicated with originality. Some examples that come to mind for me include the teens who made the YouTube video of the water slide they constructed from the second story window (requiring advanced physics knowledge, the reaction of the 3rd grader to President Obama’s speech, and the blog of a high school student trying to make positive changes in his school.

However, what is in the news more often is the negative; fear is used to spin a story… Teens sending pornography via their cell phones, writing inappropriate comments on Facebook, or meeting a stranger who turns out to be a predator. Ms. Boyd is very concerned that the culture of fear of the “bad” is causing a lot of damage. She believes that adults need to help guide teens into making good choices while using social networking tools, a significant part of their lives. I agree with her.

Read danah boy’d reserch here. Warning: over 400 pages

MACUL/DEN Virtual Conference, Oct 24

Pam Shoemaker — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:23:53 +0000

Day of Discovery: Tech or Treat Conference

Saturday, October 24, 2009

8:30 am to 3:15 pm

Registration is now available for the “Day of Discovery: Tech or Treat Conference” at Harper Creek High School (map) in Battle Creek, MI. Click here to register now.

This event is jointly sponsored by the Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) and the Discovery Education Network (DEN), featuring MACUL’s “Making It Happen” award winner, Andy Mann. Choose virtual sessions from nationally known speakers and/or face-to-face sessions with experienced technology trainers. There is no cost for the conference. Lunch is provided. All teachers are welcome, although space is limited. SB-CEU’s available. Door prizes provided by Discovery Education and MACUL.

Virtual Sessions by Discovery Education’s National Speakers:

Can I Help You With That? The Student as Collaborator

Do You Have the Audacity to Podcast?

Thinking Outside the Slide

Putting the Bling in Your Builders

What on Earth is a Gloggle?

Be Nice and Share: Publishing Your Media-Infused Projects

In Person Hands-on Sessions: (subject to change)

The Best Open Source & Free Windows Applications (Andy Mann)

Google Earth: All Over the World and In your Backyard (John Phillips)

Hands-on: Geocaching in the Classroom (Gina Loveless & Pam Shoemaker)

SMART(board) Discovery Streaming (Melissa White)

Thinkfinity: Free Lesson Plans and Educational Resources (Jim Stewart/Karen Lemmons)

Podcasting: Supercharged Writers

Digital Storytelling: Make it Personal

Google Docs: Really, I can do that? (Lisa Wickman)

Get Connected with Social Bookmarking (Melinda Waffle)

Click here to register: https://lrougeux.wufoo.com/forms/den-fall-virtual-conference-battle-creek-mi/

For more information, email Lisa Wickman at: wickmall@haslett.k12.mi.us

What Does the Internet Think?

Pam Shoemaker — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:40:41 +0000

I listened in on a Discovery Educator Network webinar this evening. Steve Dembo shared a website that I find very interesting. It is whatdoestheinternetthink? I don’t understand exactly how it works, but it seems to be a search engine of public opinion. It scours the Internet quickly and will tell you if the term is positive, negative, or indifferent. I tried it out three times using these terms: health care reform, taxes, and Flickr. Could it be accurate? It would be fun to compare the results over time. Try it out; think of a few topics in the news of late and see what results you get!

1. Health Care Reform

2. Taxes

3. Flickr

Did You Know?, version 4

Pam Shoemaker — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:20:33 +0000

I’m sure you have seen one or more versions of the Did You Know? video. The original version was created August 06; since then at least three more versions have been made. The most recent version was released this month; it was created by XPLANE, The Economist, Scott McLeod, Karl Fisch , & Laura Bestler for The Economist’s Media Convergence Forum in October 2009. Enjoy!

You may enjoy reading about the history of the video, or seeing earlier versions. If so, visit the Shift Happens! wiki.

Discovery Education Network Fall Streamathon

Pam Shoemaker — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:27:34 +0000

Mark your calendar for an awesome day of learning: Wed., September 23, 2009. See schedule below and tune in when you can.

9 AM: Back to School Changes in DE streaming

10 AM: A Day in the Life with DE streaming

11 AM: Streaming the Solution: DE streaming in the Math Classroom

12 PM: Supporting 21st Century Literacy with DE streaming

1 PM: Back to School Changes in DE streaming

2 PM: Dialing in the Digital Compass: DE streaming with Social Studies

3 PM: Multimedia Einsteins: DE streaming with Science

4 PM: Homework Gone Digital

5 PM: A Day in the Life with DE streaming

6 PM: Back to School Changes in DE streaming

7 PM: Crunching the Numbers – Using the DE Admin Tools to Show Your Success

8 PM: The Discovery Educator Network 2009-2010