ISTE Unplugged - home

ISTE Unplugged - home Miss attending ISTE - do so virtually.

10 Ways Wikipedia Has Changed Education | Online College Courses

10 Ways Wikipedia Has Changed Education | Online College Courses

Whether ultimately a boon or a bane (or somewhere in between), only educators from another planet haven’t somehow encountered opinions regarding Wikipedia’s presence in their industry…

Just about as many ideas about its influence exist as there are individuals to even hold them, but nobody can deny that the online encyclopedia, not to mention the other Wikimedia websites, certainly left a splash in the classroom and mainstream society alike. And here, for reader consideration, just happen to be a couple of examples.

How To Use Google Plus

How To Use Google Plus

Waiting for a Google Plus invite? Google is rolling out the service in waves and you can expect it to become a ubiquitous social option in the coming months. We have been playing with the service since getting invites yesterday and there are a lot of things to like about Google's new social initiative.

The Top 5 Websites For iPad App Reviews

The Top 5 Websites For iPad App Reviews

Finding good iPad apps in these new fangled app marketplaces is hard enough at the best of times, so let me show you 5 of the best sites I use to find great iPad apps and those little hidden gems, without having to trawl through the entire app store.

The “Yeah, Buts” Answering the Top 10 Arguments against Change

The “Yeah, Buts” Answering the Top 10 Arguments against Change You can do change - honest.

QR Code Classroom Implementation Guide

Cool Cat Teacher Blog: QR Code Classroom Implementation Guide

QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) are just barcodes. There is nothing fancy about them.

Just like the grocery store clerk uses barcodes to look up the product and scan the price into the computer, your mobile device or computer can look up QR codes to:

take you to a website,
read some text,
give you a phone number, or
generate a text message.

The Best Websites For Creating Online Learning Games

The Best Websites For Creating Online Learning Games | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Here’s yet one more “The Best…” list — this time focusing on web tools that let teachers and students create their own online learning games.

If you find this list helpful, you might want to also review The Best Online Learning Games — 2007 (a couple of the sites on that list are repeated here), The Best Online Video Games For Learning Language & Content Knowledge, and The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too.

When I talk about “learning games,” I also mean sites where students can easily create online video games that might not have an overt learning purpose.......

3 Ways to Follow ISTE 2011 Remotely

3 Ways to Follow ISTE 2011 Remotely

If you couldn't make it to ISTE in Philadelphia this week, you can still learn from home with these three tools.

Follow the #iste11 hashtag on Twitter

Lots of educators are sharing what they learn at ISTE in real time through Twitter. As they go to sessions, they're tweeting main session points and their thoughts through the #iste11 hashtag. They're also using specific hashtags for individual sessions.

Along with the highlights of formal learning sessions, you'll see links to resources and ongoing discussions about what educators are learning and who they're connecting with.

Google Apps Agreement for Wisconsin Schools

Schools can free up money and staff time while helping students and staff use current technology and collaborate more easily, under a new agreement between the Department of Public Instruction and Google.

Google Apps for Education is a suite of software normally free to schools but requiring a contract. The DPI resolved potential contract issues at the state level so that any public, PK-12 educational institution can use Google Apps via a simple consent form.

Partnering with the department, the CESAs will provide trainings, beginning this summer, both on technical implementation and on using the tools for student learning.

Google Apps' uses include email, document collaboration, closed-loop video sharing, private blogs where students share their work and reflect on their learning, and more.

Housed on Google's servers, the applications let districts reduce maintenance costs associated with existing solutions.

As districts move forward, the DPI expects to negotiate volume discounts from Google for desired add-on elements and services.

After going Google in 2007, Oregon School District "saved tens of thousands of dollars," improved collaboration, and introduced students to up-and-coming technology, says Technology Director Jon Tanner.

Janesville educators use Google Apps to run paperless classrooms and distribute a school newspaper.

Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero: 21st Century Teacher

Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero: 21st Century Teacher

The 21st Century Teacher is a new social network that intertwines nicely w/ Facebook and Twitter. This social network is brand new and slowly growing and is a nice alternative to other great teacher network such as Classroom 2.0 or Educator's PLN.

This network has a bunch of groups to join such as Instructional Technology Specialist to iPads in Education. Another nice feature is the community blog and the easy in which one can share and post documents. I highly recommend checking out 21st Century Educator by clicking here!!

Apps in Education: Can you really use Twitter in your Classroom?

Apps in Education: Can you really use Twitter in your Classroom?

Twitter was one of those things that I just ignored. I thought it was a little bit indulgent and frivolous, that was until I got shown how teachers are using it for Professional Development. It is interesting how often it is now my first port of call if I am looking for a new Web 2 tool or an App that does a specific task. So how can you use twitter in the classroom? This post is also posted at Edtechtoolbox.

Free Technology for Teachers: 9 Places to Find Creative Commons & Public Domain Images

Free Technology for Teachers: 9 Places to Find Creative Commons & Public Domain Images

When students create multimedia projects they might be tempted to simply do a Google Images search and use the first images they see. But as educators we have a responsibility to teach students to respect copyright holders' rights. One of the ways that we can do that is to teach students to use Creative Commons and Public Domain images.

Setting up Google Sync with your iOS device

Setting up Google Sync with your iOS device : Google Sync - Google Mobile Help

Follow the steps below to setup Google Sync on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch....

Blogging with Students – LiveBinder of Resources

Blogging with Students – LiveBinder of Resources « About a Teacher

Last #elemchat discussion on blogging with elementary students was really inspiring! So many wonderful resources, ideas and stories were shared! What I loved the most was that a lot teachers expressed their willingness to start blogging with their students and many others said to be really looking forward to continuing blogging next year.

Digital Sorytelling Tools

Tech Learning TL Advisor Blog and Ed Tech Ticker Blogs from TL Blog Staff – TechLearning.com

With the coming of the 21st century, technology has added a new twist to our traditional storytelling. Beyond the scope of pen and pencil, we can now easily tell and share our stories digitally with mobile phones, flip cameras, recording our voice or using free web tools. There is no doubt that today’s students are more motivated and interested in using digital storytelling just like any other multimedia. It offers us, educators, a new and a very 21st century way to captivate students’ attention, facilitate learning, reach shy students and increase collaboration and community in a classroom. It’s a great way to give voice to ourselves and our students in an out of the classroom walls.

The Toolbox

Directory of Learning Tools

DIRECTORY OF LEARNING TOOLS 2011
Over 2,000 tools for learning and working in education and the workplace

Would You Take A Free Online Ed Tech Workshop This Summer?

Would You Take A Free Online Ed Tech Workshop This Summer? | Emerging Education Technology

Interested? Which of these topics and time-frames would you prefer?

I’d like to offer a free online workshop for teachers (and anyone else who is interested) this summer. I’m planning on a 4 week workshop that would probably require around 2 or 3 hours of work a week. This would be a hands-on, interactive experience, in which all participants would communicate with me and with each other as we learn how to use one (or several) free web-based applications in the classroom.

What Does it Mean to Be a Tech-Savvy Principal?

What Does it Mean to Be a Tech-Savvy Principal? | Connected Principals

For those of you venturing to Philadelphia next week for ISTE11, we hope you will join us on Monday, June 27, at 2:30 PM for a panel session led by Dr. Scott McLeod, where five of our Connected Principals contributors will discuss what it means to be an effective technology leader in education.

Top 10 Educational Apps for Facebook

Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero: Top 10 Educational Apps for Facebook

With the evolution of the web and social networking in particular I decided to compile a list of educational apps for the most popular social network in the world, Facebook. The use of Facebook in education usually brings about some controversy but there is no denying the impact it has on collaboration for it's users. While Facebook might not be allowed in most districts there is definitely an educational benefit that students and teachers can gain alike.

Blooms Taxonomy with Technology Included

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DOWNLOAD Go Google: Free Email & More On Your Domain

DOWNLOAD Go Google: Free Email & More On Your Domain

Own a domain? You need to read “Go Google: Free Email and More On Your Domain.” This manual, the latest from Lachlan Roy, explores the amazing free power of Google Apps. Even if you don’t own a domain right now you just might find yourself buying one after reading this guide......

Open Source eportfolio - Mahara

See that beautiful bald eagle image to the left? I found it on the site of Ken Thomas. That image and dozens of other great images of animals and other natural beauty are created by Mr. Thomas and released into the public domain. Mr. Thomas releases these images into the public domain because, in his own words, "When it comes to photos, I’m not trying to make art here. I take pictures of things. About 99% of the time, those are things that don’t belong to me. Claiming that I own the rights to a picture of a mountain, or a tree, or a sunset, just seems absurd to me when I don’t own the mountain, the tree, or the sun."

Mahara is an open source e-portfolio system with a flexible display framework. Mahara, meaning 'think' or 'thought' in Te Reo Māori, is user centred environment with a permissions framework that enables different views of an e-portfolio to be easily managed. Mahara also features a weblog, resume builder and social networking system, connecting users and creating online learner communities.

Smartphones in Schools

moblearn: the mobile generation is learning ...: Use Smartphones in class, say school principals

Use Smartphones in class, say school principals

The National Association of Secondary School Principals have been trying to make sense of the whirlwind that is Social and Mobile Technologies.

They have just released a position statement, summarizing their thoughts on the matter … and it is surprisingly good!

They actively encourage schools to accept smartphones, and social networking as part their educational provision, and offer a range of guidelines and advice to different levels of practitioner.

Veezzle

Free stock photo search engine & Cool photography community - Veezzle

eezzle is a free stock photo search engine, we are indexing free photos from big communities such as SXC, RGBStock, StockVault ...

This way, you can quickly and easily find high quality free stock photos from other websites.

You can also register and be part of the community, share your photos, create collections etc.

"Our" photos are made to be distributed over the Internet so you have the RIGHT to use them online or in your work.