Tech Tips, Tricks and News

25 Websites for Teaching and Learning

Sep07
2011 2 Comments Written by Mary

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has announced the 2011 Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning. The list of websites honors the top 25 Internet sites for enhancing learning and curriculum development for school librarians and their teacher collaborators. The list is considered the “best of the best” by AASL.  The Top 25 are free, web-based sites that are user-friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.  The websites honored this year include: Aviary, CK-12 Flexbooks, Conduit, Digital Vaults, Dipity, Edistorm, Edmodo, Exploratorium, Geocube, iCyte, i-Earn, i-nigma QR codes, Kerpoof, Khan Academy, Lingt Language, Microsoft Tag Codes, Myths and Legends, Nota, PicLits, SpicyNodes, Symbaloo, Tagxedo, Yolink Education, You Are What You Read and ZooBurst.

 

Posted in General

What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

Sep07
2011 2 Comments Written by Stephanie

I’ve been reading The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr.  I have found it fascinating when considered in conjunction with what Dr. Georgia Bozeday told us on Aug. 22nd about executive functioning.  Below I have quoted a few bits from the book to spark a continuing conversation in our buildings.

“Dozens of studies by psychologists, neurobiologists, educators, and Web designers point to the same conclusion: when we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning.  It’s possible to think deeply while surfing the Net, just as it is possible to think shallowly while reading a book, but that is not the type of thinking the technology encourages and rewards.” p115-116

After a passage wherein he discuses the differences in brain activity between reading online and reading book-like text, … “the extensive activity in the brains of surfers also points to why deep reading and other acts of sustained concentration become so difficult online.  The need to evaluate links and make related navigational choices, while also processing a multiplicity of fleeting sensory stimuli, requires constant mental coordination and decision making, distracting the brain from the work of interpreting text or other information. Whenever we, as readers come upon a link, we have to pause, for at least a split second, to allow our prefrontal cortex to evaluate whether or not we should click on it.  The redirection of our mental resources, from reading words to making judgements, may be imperceptible to us – our brains are quick – but it’s been shown to impede comprehension and retention, particularly when it’s repeated frequently.  … We revert to being “mere decoders of information”.  Our ability to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction remains largely disengaged.” p121-12

As educators, should this knowledge impact our use of the Internet with students?

Posted in General - Tagged , , , , ,

SimplePhysics for iOS

Sep06
2011 1 Comment Written by eric

I stumbled across this app last week and quickly found myself engulfed in a this addictive physics/engineering simulator. SimplePhysics is a $.99 app that runs on all iOS devices (iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone) and puts you in charge of building different structures that can withstand a simulated environment designed to mimic a real world event. Your score (either 1, 2 or 3 stars) is awarded based on how cheaply you are build a structure to meet the requirements. Its sort of a digital analogue to the balsa wood or toothpick bridges that are often built in Physics classes but while we were able to test for downward stress using those models this app allows us to test the effect of Tornado strength winds on a skyscraper or rotational stress on a ferris wheel.

This app could easily be used to illustrate reinforce basic concepts of physics or engineering in science class in both a structured or free exploration setting. (And for those of us who may not remember much about designing a bridge aside from using a lot of triangles you can unlock the ideal solutions for $.99)

Personally I would appreciate if the app would give me some suggestions or explanations when my dam failed to hold under the onslaught of a river flood for the 15th time… but perhaps that’ll be in version 2.

Check out SimplePhysics in the iTunes App Store.

Posted in Science - Tagged , , , ,

ScreenChomp – Create & Share Tutorials on the iPad

Aug31
2011 1 Comment Written by eric

“ScreenChomp is a free app for creating and sharing short tutorials or lessons on your iPad. ScreenChomp provides a whiteboard on which you can demonstrate things by drawing and talking people through your instructions. ScreenChomp records your voice as you go. When you finish your recording share it to ScreenChomp.comwhere a shortened URL will be provided for you to share with anyone you like. From ScreenChomp.com you have the option to download recordings as MPEG-4 files.

Applications for Education
If your school has purchased iPads for your classroom, ScreenChomp could be a good app to have to students use to create and share short demonstrations of their understanding of a particular topic or concept. ScreenChomp reminds me quite a bit of Show Me so you might want to do a comparison and decide which one works best for you and your students.

H/T to Silvia Tolisano at Langwitches.”

(via Free Technology for Teachers)

Posted in General - Tagged , , , ,

Behold – A Search Engine for Creative Commons Images

Aug29
2011 Leave a Comment Written by eric

Behold – A Search Engine for Creative Commons Images:

“Behold is a search engine that is designed to help you find the best Creative Commons licensed images for your blog, slideshow, or video project. Behold searches the catalog of more than one million Creative Commons licensed images on Flickr. What makes Behold different from just searching by using the license filter on Flickr itself is that Behold searches not just by image tag but also by the quality of the content of the images. When it works correctly if you used Behold to search for images of “buildings in New York City” you would not only be searching the tags people assigned to their images, but you would also be searching the actual content of the images.

Applications for Education
When students create multimedia projects in my classroom, I require them to use either Creative Commons or Public Domain images if they don’t create their own images. I do this to teach and reinforce the point that they cannot just grab and re-use images without regard for Copyright. Behold could help my students find quality images that meet my Creative Commons requirement.”

(via. FreeTech4Teachers)

Posted in Art, Foreign Language, General, Language Arts, Math, Music, Physical Education, Science, Social Studies, Special Education - Tagged , , , , , ,

Google Docs Outage

Aug26
2011 Leave a Comment Written by eric

There is a currently a service outage affecting the Google Docs List. Until the outage is resolved by Google you may be unable to select or view your documents at http://docs.d181.org/. Direct links to a document are unaffected.

I will update this thread as more information is available.

UPDATE: Google reports this problem is resolved.

Posted in 181 News - Tagged , ,

How to Take Screenshots

Aug24
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Jill

Here’s a quick way to do a screen shot from your computer to put it into a document.

To put an image in the clipboard if you don’t need to save the image:

  • Control Shift Command 4. (Use left hand for Control Shift Command and the right hand for 4.)
  • You will see crosshairs with a circle in the middle. Move the crosshairs to the area you want to capture. Hold down the mouse and drag it. When you’ve selected the area you want to copy, release the mouse.
  • You will hear a camera click and the image will go to the clipboard.
  • Just paste it into your document.
  • The clipboard is the place where a item goes when you copy or cut something and then paste it.
  • The clipboard can only hold one item at a time. Whatever you put on your clipboard will stay there until you replace it with something or exit.
To put an image on your desktop. This allows you to save it:
  • This takes fewer fingers but it can clutter your desktop.
  • Press Shift Command 4. Release the keys. Your cursor will turn into crosshairs.
  • Move your cursor to the area you want to capture. Hold down the mouse and drag it. When you’ve selected the area you want to copy, release the mouse.
  • You will hear a camera click and the image will go to the clipboard. Just paste it into your document


 

 

Posted in General - Tagged , , ,

Spent – A Game for Learning About Life on Minimum Wage

Aug24
2011 Leave a Comment Written by eric

SPENT Logo

“Spent is an online game designed to teach players about the challenges of living on minimum wage (or slightly higher) employment. Players begin by selecting a job which will provide the wages they have to survive on for a month. Then throughout the game players are confronted with challenges that they have to handle by making an “either or” choice. After each choice the player’s account balance is adjusted. In addition to the change in the player’s balance sheet, each choice is followed by an explanation of consequence of the choice made.

Applications for Education When I saw Spent it reminded me of a simulation activity called Life on Minimum Wage that I developed and have used for a couple of years now. Both activities are useful for teaching students about the difficult decisions that some people have to make just to take care of the basic necessities.”

(Via FreeTech4Teachers.)

Posted in General, Math, Social Studies - Tagged , ,

Backup2GO

Aug24
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Mary

Backup2Go is our new back-up tool for teachers. It’s already loaded onto your laptop, and already backing up items to the district server.

Unlike students, you will not see the 2 houses on your menu bar, or the notice that your computer is syncing when you log in. Student accounts are backed up using mobile syncing, just like last year.

Backup2GO operates in the background, backing up every hour while you are on the district network. When you are outside the district, the backup does not take place. If you have important files created while you are outside the district, your computer will automatically back them up during the next school day or if you opted for admin rights on your computer, you can manually start the backup as soon as you connect to the District network.

Backup2GO also gives you the ability to restore your own files if you accidentally deleted something or need to use a previous version (without waiting for the tech department to help). If your computer malfunctions, the technology department can restore your files to a loaner or replacement computer.

You need to be aware that your backup files now exist on your laptops, not in a mobile account. Therefore, you cannot log into your district account on another computer and have access to your files. Don’t leave your laptop at home! Like last year’s mobile syncing, Backup2GO does not back up your pictures and movies.

To access Backup2go, go to:

  • System Preferences >> PreSTORE >> Open “Backup2Go in Browser”
  • Login = same as computer login
  • On the left side of your screen is a backup button and a restore button
  • When you open it up, should have notes in middle of screen with time of latest backup started and completed, and the next backup. You can click on backup now (if you opted for admin rights).
  • If you accidentally delete something you can get it back while in district; click on “Restore” and recover old versions of documents.

Please open Backup2GO soon to make sure it is running on your computer. If you have questions, please submit a ticket to the helpdesk.

Posted in General - Tagged ,

New Infinite Campus Teacher Tools Videos

Aug22
2011 Leave a Comment Written by eric

Infinite Campus has significantly upgraded their teacher tools (answering in a lot of teacher feedback) for the 2011 – 2012 school year. Many of our middle school teachers viewed a webinar overview of the changes this past spring or summer but for those that didn’t (or those looking for a more in-depth look ) Infinite Campus has posted 5 videos on YouTube. You can find links to these videos here on the tech blog under the Resources > Infinite Campus menu.

Or you can click this link.

Posted in General - Tagged , ,
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