JTPS – Instructional Technology Blog

Over this past school year we have been working hard to create and develop a model for teacher websites. In the high school we have introduced a Wordpress MU blog server. This new tool allows teachers to maintain websites without having to know any web programming.  It also allows teachers access to their sites from home without the need for any special software. Some other features include: Rss feeds, moderated commenting, threaded discussions, embedding of multimedia, attaching files, and parent notifications.

We have also introduced a course management software called MOODLE. Moodle is a secure software that allows for an extension of your classroom outside of the four walls. On Moodle teachers create online courses. Within a course they can host discussions, give quizzes, collect assignments, create webquests, develop surveys, link to videos, text and images, and a host of other features.

Now that we have these tools it is important that we take the next step and understand how these tools can be useful for teachers and students. How will they impact student learning? I will be writing about this topic in a few seperate blog posts. For this post I would like to focus on teacher websites. The diagram below outlines some features that I believe are valuable on a teacher website.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT

By providing resources such as class  notes and assignments we eliminate the need to spend time during the day gathering these materials for students who are absent or lost the information. By adding quizzes and online discussions we open up our classroom to students outside the school day. Students can respond to discussions on their time. They have an opportunity to formulate a response and share it without the pressures of a full classroom. Quizzes can be used to assess prior knowledge before starting a new unit or as a formative assessment to check for understanding. By displaying student work you are allowing them to write for a global audience.  Students will show engagement in the fact that what they are producing is going to be made available for others to view and comment on.  There will be a greater sense of pride with what they are creating.

These are just a few ideas of how a teacher website can contribute to student learning. I welcome additional comments from  you regarding this topic.

Filed under: Teaching With Multimedia | Comments Off

I came across the website the other day. It is called analyze math http://www.analyzemath.com/. I found it to be a great resource for creating interactive math lessons.  Here is a description from the website:

“The site includes several java applets to investigate Graphs of Functions, Equations, and Algebra. Topics explored are: equations of line, ellipse, circle, parabola, hyperbola, polynomials; graphs of quadratic, rational, hyperbolic, exponential and logarithmic functions; one-to-one and inverse functions and inverse trigonometric functions; systems of linear equations; determinants and Cramer’s rule; inverse matrix and matrix multiplication; vectors, complex numbers, polar equations; absolute value function; slope of a line; angle in trigonometry, unit circle, solutions to trigonometric equations; graph shifting, stretching, compression and reflection. Applets used as Online Math Calculators and Solvers and Online Geometry Calculators and Solvers are also included”

The interactive applets can be found here:

http://www.analyzemath.com/math_software.html
I see a lot of uses for such a site. Here are some of my ideas:

1. The interactive applets can be used on an interactive whiteboard.
2. Teachers can create an interactive assignment on Moodle with links to the applet for practice, links to instructional videos and discussion forums.
3. Create an interactive assignment using Glogster. One section of the Glog could be practice using one of these applets.
4. Advertise the availability of this resource for students to use as a homework helper or study guide.

Enjoy

Filed under: Curriculum, Interactive Sites, Interactive Whiteboard, Mathematics | Comments Off

I came across this site thanks to a blog posting I read here. It is called The Week in Rap.  The week in Rap is a music video that summarizes the major world events of the week. It is organized as a Rap video.  A typical video is under 5 minutes.

This is a great alternative tool for teaching current events. It may be a great end of the week activity.  Some ideas that come to mind are:

1. Link to this in a Moodle discussion and ask students to respond to a question regarding it.

2. Have students develop a blog posting reflecting on these events using Ning, a wiki, Moodle, Google Doc, or traditional journal.

3.  Have students create their own music video that discusses a global issue. Use this as an example.

http://theweekinrap.com/

Enjoy!

Filed under: Literacy and Writing, Social Studies, Subject Areas, Teaching With Multimedia, What's Cool on the Web | No Comments »

Have you ever heard of a Glog? Would you like to learn how to take a traditional project like a poster and create a 21^st century, online version of one? Do you think your students would be interested in learning how to create an online poster with text, images, video clips, sound, graphics and design features? Would this type of assessment foster creativity, engage students in the learning process, and develop technology literacy skills?

If this sounds interesting to you then you should take a look at Glogster Edu. A glog is a 21st century poster. A Glog is an online poster that can contain photographs, images, graphics, video files, sound files and text.  Glogs allow you to add hyperlinks to other websites.

Glogster is an exciting and engaging tool for students. Glogster takes the traditional process of creating posters and makes it more interactive, dynamic, creative, and in tune with 21st century expectations.

I will be offering a workshop on a web 2.0 tool that provides the opportunities listed above. To learn more about it and to register please follow the link below.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Aaa0uxFLu14JZGZzd2JrM21fMTZnYm53M2dnNw&hl=en

If you want to jump right in and start exploring then please visit the Glogster EDU home page at http://edu.glogster.com.

IMPORTANT: Currently a teacher who registers with Glogster EDU can create up to 200 student accounts. This will be changing to 100 starting March 1. Register now to lock in 200 accounts before March 1.

Stay tuned for how to documents and instructional screencasts.

Enjoy!

Filed under: Curriculum, Elementary, Interactive Whiteboard, Projects, Secondary Resources, Web 2.0, What's Cool on the Web | No Comments »

WolframAlpha is the next generation in search engines. I have found this site to be one of the most useful tools available on the Internet.  It  is a computational search engine.

What this means is that this search engine can compute just about anything. The program is so sophisticated that it can query almost any computation using natural language. You can “just ask a question”. You will not only get your answer, but you will see the steps to solve it as well as all other pertinent or relevant information related to your question.

Does this sound confusing. The best way to learn about the power of this website is to watch this demo video made by its creator.   Sit back and enjoy this clip. I am confident you will be amazed!

Wolfram Alpha can be used quite extensively in Education. Math and Science students can use the engine to help solve math problems, learn the step to solve a problem, and gather data for research.

This search engine separates itself from GOOGLE in that it delivers the answers and data you are looking for. It does not just list a page of search results that you  sift through to find what you are looking for. As I mentioned, it is a computational search engine. That means it has access to endless amounts of data to pair with its algorithms. At the bottom of all of  your search results you will find a link to sources. These are the sources that are used to complete the computations. Whether it is historical weather data or us census numbers, the sources of data are right at your fingertips.

There is so much that I could write about Wolfram Alpha. Stay tuned for more postings.  In the meantime, take a look at the video and start exploring.

Enjoy!

Filed under: Google, Internet Search, Tools | Tagged: math_resources, science_resources, search_engines, wolframalpha | Comments Off

In my workshops I have referenced a number of places to find pre-made smart notebook lesson templates.  The site I most often reference is www.smarttech.com. This is the home page for the company SMART. There you can access notebook lessons organized by grade, subject, and/or CCCS.

Smart has introduced a new site that I have found to be an even better resource. It is called the Smart Exchange. On the Smart Exchange you can search for notebook lessons by subject, grade and topic. You can also upload lessons that you made to share with others.

What I like about the Smart Exchange is that you can preview the lessons directly in the browser without having to download anything. You can also view a rating scale to see how other teachers have rated the lesson.

This is a great place to get started with using the Smart Notebook Software. If you search for a lesson on a topic you will working with students on, you can download it and then make changes to it. This is the best way to get acquainted with the notebook software.

I also publish a lot of resources including lesson templates, interactive sites and tutorials on my wiki http://edunology.wikispaces.com. Once you are on the wiki please click on Interactive Whiteboards on the navigation menu.

Enjoy!

Filed under: Interactive Sites, Interactive Whiteboard | Tagged: smartboard, smart_notebook | No Comments »

I came across this excellent resource posted on one my favorite blogs “free technology for teachers” .  It is an interactive site created by the American Revolution Center. Here is a description of the center straight from their about page:

Filed under: Interactive Sites, Social Studies, Subject Areas | Tagged: american revolution, Social Studies | No Comments »

Jenuine Tech has opened up a new online project called “Everyone Counts“ The theme of the project is the US Census that will be happening this year. She has setup a website with information regarding the project. There are two question sheets that can be used as well as a number of extension activities. This seems like a great project to work on with your class. I have a few ideas regarding extension activities as well. Here is the link to the project information and registration info. I listed some extension activities that I thought were interesting.
http://www.jenuinetech.com/Projects/ec20/welcome.html

• Global Collaboration – We are starting to make a number of connections with schools in the US and overseas for video conferencing and collaboration. A comparison of census data that the students collect would be an interesting idea. I can help make the connection with another class. Jen also offers the opportunity to find another class through her Ning site.
• Math – The collection of census data is a great way to incorporate MS Excel into your curriculum. Students can add the data to a spreadsheet and create graphs to display and interpret the results
• Social Studies / Geography -After reviewing census data for locations students can take a trip on Google Earth to visit these locations. They can identify the type of community and take note of the physical characteristics of each location in relation to the census data (i.e suburban, vs. rural, vs. urban communities)
• This site has some ideas for teaching about the census in your classroom.   http://www.census.gov/schools

As always I am available to assist with and plan all stages of such a project! I would also appreciate it if you would share any additional ideas you have to add to this project.

Filed under: Curriculum, Elementary, Mathematics, Projects, Social Studies | Tagged: census, online project | No Comments »

I was introduced to this site from a technology blog. The   Guardian’s Decade in Business infographic. This is an interactive timeline of 120 images that represent various business stories from the last decade. By clicking on each picture you can retrieve further information on the story.

This may be a good resource for students who are studying ecomonics. These stories will provide further insight into the ups and downs of the ecomony over the decade.

Filed under: Curriculum, Secondary Resources, Social Studies | No Comments »

The National Libary of Virtual Manipulatives was created to supply teachers with interactive mathematics manipulatives. It is available free of charge on the web. Here is a description of their site taken from their about page:

“The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM) is an NSF supported project that began in 1999 to develop a library of uniquely interactive, web-based virtual manipulatives or concept tutorials, mostly in the form of Java applets, for mathematics instruction (K-12 emphasis). The project includes dissemination and extensive internal and external evaluation.”

This site can be used on an interactive whiteboard. Links to individual activities can be incorporated into smart notebook lessons as well. Faculty members can provide links to individual activities on their website for students to access at home.

http://nlvm.usu.edu/

Enjoy!

Filed under: Curriculum, Interactive Sites, Interactive Whiteboard, Mathematics, Subject Areas | No Comments »