Upon arriving at the Philadelphia Convention Center for the first workshop at NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) I was greeted by this artwork which consists of thousands of coffee cups massed together. Lots of computers and lots of coffee in one place – this is definitely going to be a good time…
For my Additional Professional Hours for this year, I have been participating in an online professional development community titled Tappedin (www.tappedin.org). It is an online campus that has virtual buildings for colleges, teachers and students. In a typical event, there is a live chat among participants on a given topic (ELA, Science, Blogs, Library of Congress, etc.). The participants come from al parts of the globe. One recent chat I was in had folks from Brazil, Texas, Spain and Germany! Our common interests and the power of the internet brought us together from the comfort of our own homes. The opportunities that Tappedin provide are ones that can enrich the learning opportunities we provide here.
Tuesday’s Technology Tip…
(little bits of information to hopefully make your computing life easier)
On the WITS homepage there is a link in the left navigation column for the Staff Directory. This is the electronic version of the printed book we receive each year. The two big advantages of the online version are that you can get to it from any computer with an internet connection (so when you are at home and the book is at school or vice versa…), and it reflects anyone’s changes of phone or address that are made during the course of the year.
No iPod needed, but the lastest craze is audio broadcasting over the internet, or podcasting. If you make an mp3 recording and save it on your computer, you can set up a webpage that broadcasts it for those who want to get it. It can be downloaded by interested people and then put onto a portable mp3 player (hence, “podcasting”). My current favorite podcast is by some awesome techies who used to be on The Screensavers, a daily technology TV show. The show is gone, but Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton & Co. are back at it in a weekly podcast called This Week in Tech (TWiT). Check them out at thisweekintech.com
Video editing on the computer has brought an awesome new level to learning. Some ESL students just finished projects in which their teacher filmed them acting out skits to practice/reinforce common sayings in English. The finished products not only demonstrate the content, but have so much more in that they are finished pieces with audio/video, effects and titles. They are reflections of the individuals and they are very proud of their work.
No matter what the content, video can add some neat things to the classroom!
Our technology plan for the next 5 years, titled (appropriately) Heim 2010, is in place. In the first phase, next year we will be replacing classroom instructional computers. We have not replaced computers in a number of years, so this is the focus for next year. In addition to that, we will begin 2 other parts of the plan – mounting computer projectors in classrooms, and starting a video studio. Both of these initiatives have some awesome possibilities for learning, and we are looking forward to implementing them.
If all goes as planned, next year is year one of a 5-year plan that will see Heim Middle leading the way in technology integration!