Education and Tech News Today 02/05/2014

Happy Digital Learning Day 2014! Here's a guide on how to participate today and beyond (lots of recorded sessions will be shared later). Today is crammed full: an Edtech Buzzword cheatsheet, NASA's Space Math that collides math and science with the explosive force of space, and a great write up from Richard Wells about SAMR and iPad implementation. There's more.

So much free PD is coming up including #CO14 this weekend (some awesome presenters including Stephen Downes, Jackie Gerstein, Dr. Curtis Bonk, Shelly Terrell, and more.   I'm presenting Saturday) and some upcoming Twitter chats from SIGML (an ISTE affiliate) next Tuesday. What are your students going to say when you teach them to search Goofram (search Google and Wolfram Alpha at the same time – thanks Leah for showing us how.)

Celly upgrades their already cool reminder platform. Robot Turtles says they teach coding before kids learn to read. A site with new fitness videos for you health teachers out there and some new apps: Brain Breaks with Go Noodle, Chronicle, and Grade Hacks. A digital Citizenship resource list from Edutopia.

It is scholarship time and Kohl's announces theirs. Microsoft is planning a big initiative to give Bing to Schools and many other apps and software programs as part of President Obama's ConnectED initiative. (Some of you might save some money.) A new survey gives US public schools a Grade C for use of technology in the classroom. Finally, in an intriguing article, filmmaking is the new activism as two filmmakers work to document student uprisings in Chile over providing free education to everyone.

Meanwhile in my own classroom, I'm kicking off some new projects – Gamifi-ed is in full swing and I'll have some work to share with you there soon — but remember the Gamifi-ED OOC starts next week and for two weeks we'll be creating Open Education Resources (OER) about gaming in the classroom. Lots of incredible educators who are using gaming now have agreed to share openly so we can build the information that builds on how games can and are actually being used to teach. (This will be a boon for college profs adding gaming to their preservice education courses.)

I've added a few inspirational quotes to the news today. Let me know if you like it.

Remember – if you don't bring it, the kids won't either. I know it's “Hump day” but make it into Bump Day as you bump up learning and hook the students.

You Rock because you teach. You have my respect and appreciation. Thank you.

;-) Vicki

Digital Learning Day is Today! Join in.

Teach with Better Results

  • SAMR success is NOT about Tech |  IPAD 4 SCHOOLS

    Excellent write up about the SAMR method and iPad implementation by Richard Wells @ipadwells. Great work here to help us understand that it is a transformation of mindset. If these things were easy everyone would do them well but as it is transformation is hard and we all have our struggles in our own schools with it.

    tags: education ipad samr

Upcoming Free PD & Online Events

Technology to Improve Learning

  • Celly Blog | The Next Celly

    I love Celly for notifications (similar to Remind 101) – this is what I use for my school and to connect with parents and students (without having to give out your cell phone.) Here's the tutorial and now you can share pics which means you can snap a picture of your homework board and send it out. Awesome.

    tags: education news app

  • Brain breaks kids love – GoNoodle

    I don't know that I'd market “brain breaks” as a way to get “classroom control” but I guess that is what some teachers want. I am fascinated by how Brain Breaks are trending on Twitter as many teachers are using them so I guess I”m going to sign up for Go Noodle and see what the fuss is about. Any of you using this tool/ website?

    tags: education brain teaching apps all_teachers

  • Power House Education

    Interesting app called “Chronicle” for tracking and including artifacts for how students are learning and improving. With students turning in all kinds of documents and work, this is an intriguing way to track it.

    tags: education edu_newapp app bestpractices

Remember to be kind to yourself and love yourself. Teaching is hard. We all make mistakes. Admit them, apologize and move on and hopefully let others do the same. Teaching is so much better when you love others but you also have to love yourself.

Remember to be kind to yourself and love yourself. Teaching is hard. We all make mistakes. Admit them, apologize and move on and hopefully let others do the same. Teaching is so much better when you love others but you also have to love yourself.

Scholarships and Contests

Tech Ed News that People Are Talking About

  • Microsoft has announced an initiative as part of the ConnectED movement in the US. Here are the details:

    “Windows 8.1 Pro Operating System: One of the most powerful and flexible operating systems for education, it provides the ability for students and teachers to use education apps and Microsoft Office, search for information across their device and the web, and is optimized for touch, education apps, research, productivity and digital inking, critical keys to better learning outcomes.
    Office 365 Education Communication and Collaboration Tool: Email, sites, online and offline document editing and storage, IM, and web conferencing capabilities for all you students for free. Plus 5 copies of Office for free for more than 12 million students at qualified institutions.
    Partners in Learning Network Teacher Training and Resources: Partners in Learning provides educators with a network of nearly 1 million educators from 136 countries. It offers them a forum where they can share ideas, find free lesson plans to inspire classroom learning and develop professionally.
    Bing for Schools Ad-free search: An ad-free digital literacy platform aimed at helping students learn important digital skills based on access to a connected computing device, daily common-core aligned lesson plans, and a safe, private environment where search history will not be mined for data.
    Student training and resources: Microsoft IT Academy: For roughly 2,000 high-needs schools, Microsoft is providing academic institutions and their educators, students, and staff with digital curriculum and certification for fundamental technology skills.
    Affordable Broadband from EveryoneOn: A critical component to connected learning, Microsoft’s non-profit partner EveryoneOn is offering home Internet service for as low $10 to the 36 million Americans living in low-income communities.”

    tags: education news microsoft connected

  • A study in the US gives US public schools a grade of “C” and says that there is not enough access to technology in schools. I think critical mass is building and demanding excellence in innovation in technology – of course, there is a price tag for this demand and with coffers shrinking it will require lots of creativity and hard work. Interesting study to share with policy makers.

    tags: education news edreform edtech

World News and Education

  • Increasingly activists are becoming filmmakers because video is the modern essay – traveling further than pamphlets by Patrick Henry, showing people in action fighting for freedom – or, in this case, free education in Chile, tends to cause change. Fascinating read and case study.
    “Roberto’s son Pablo, born and raised in the UK, has worked on several documentaries on Latin America. He produced the documentary ‘Inside the Revolution: A Journey Into the Heart of Venezuela’, released in August 2009 by Alborada Films, and ‘The Colombia Connection’, released in November 2012. He has covered Latin America for various media outlets, including Al Jazeera English, the Guardian and the BBC.

    I spoke to Pablo about their forthcoming documentary on Chile’s student movement and their crowdfunding campaign.”

    tags: education news politics chile south america activism filmmaking

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis is a full-time classroom teacher and IT Director in Georgia, USA. She is Mom of three, wife of one, and loves talking about the wise, transformational use of technology for teaching and doing good in the world. She hosts the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast which interviews teachers around the world about remarkable classroom practices to inspire and help teachers. Vicki focuses on what unites us -- a quest for truly remarkable life-changing teaching and learning. The goal of her work is to provide actionable, encouraging, relevant ideas for teachers that are grounded in the truth and shared with love. Vicki has been teaching since 2002 and blogging since 2005. Vicki has spoken around the world to inspire and help teachers reach their students. She is passionate about helping every child find purpose, passion, and meaning in life with a lifelong commitment to the joy and responsibility of learning. If you talk to Vicki for very long, she will encourage you to "Relate to Educate" or "innovate like a turtle" or to be "a remarkable teacher." She loves to talk to teachers who love their students and are trying to do their best. Twitter is her favorite place to share and she loves to make homemade sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls and enjoys running half marathons with her sisters. You can usually find her laughing with her students or digging into a book.

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