46 Interesting Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom

Check out some of these interesting ideas!

Click to visit the presentation.

Attention All Tweeters! Twitter Hoax Watch!

If you use Twitter, watch out for a spam tweet — usually a direct message that tells you about a “crazy personal message circulating about you…” DO NOT click on the link that accompanies this message.

My first hoax direct message — I’ve received several — came from someone I know well and trust (but relationships don’t relate to spam problems in any way). I also found at least one funny tweet, about weight loss, that came out, purportedly, from me. I know that several people have received the “crazy personal message” from me.

Because it’s a hoax, so do the following things.

• Change your password.
• Disconnect from all connected accounts such as Facebook, newspapers, Linked-in, etc. Wait a day or so to reconnect.
• Log out all devices.
• Restart all devices as needed

You should be ok. However, keep an eye on your Twitter account.

 

AU Professor Peter Will Present on Copyright and Fair Use

GDS alum parent and American University (AU) Law Professor, Peter Jaszi, a widely known advocate for educators’ copyright policies and fair use understanding, will present at the March 20, 2012 Technology Tuesday session from 3:30 – 5:00 at the Lower School. He will discuss copyright law, fair use policies for schools, teachers, students, and school libraries, and describe ways that teachers can make the most of fair use opportunities.

The HS faculty is invited to the Lower School campus or teachers can participate from the HS campus via Skype. (A location will be announced.)

Professor Jaszi Co-Authored this Book

For years Professor Jaszi has been active in the development of educational fair use best practices — media literacy, research libraries, and others. Read about research libraries best practices and media literacy best practices  (includes NCTE).

Read this PBS MediaShift article.  Peter Jaszi is the author of Reclaiming Fair Use, co-authored with Patricia Aufderheide. In addition to law school teaching Peter is active with the Center for Social Media at AU.

Peter has asked us to send him links to various faculty and student projects and to collect copyright/fair use questions.  He has already explored our website Media Gallery.

His current thought is to present for 30 to 35 minutes and then answer questions, and he is happy to return for a second presentation.

Peter’s son, Ned, a GDS Class of ’99 alum, has spent quite a bit of time as a videographer making documentaries, and is now working on an MPH at Emory.

Questions are welcome!  E-mail mweston@gds.org

Infographic About the Digital Divide — It’s Still Around

Check out this infographic — at the Mashable blog — that depicts significant and still relevant digital divide issues.

Teachers on Twitter: It’s About Professional Development

Image from Twitter

The Web 2.0 Classroom Blog, TeacherHub.com, features a good introductory post about Twitter and its professional development potential.

Teachers on Twitter: It’s All About the Hashtag introduces the social networking tool to educators and explains a bit about how to identify professional education resources. The post explains hashtags, how to use them to search for Twitter chats, and how to create a hashtag.

An earlier piece from the same blog provides a list of Twitter chat hashtags for educators, and I’ve listed a few of them below along with several of my favorites.  A more comprehensive list of educational chat hashtags is posted at Cybraryman’s site.

21 Signs You’re A 21st Century Teacher

Check out 21 Signs You’re a 21st Century Teacher over at the  SimpleK-12 Tech blog.

Some of my favorites:

• You give weekly class updates to parents…via your blog.
• You realize the importance of professional development…and you read blogs, join online communities, and tweet for self-development.
• You take your students on a field trip to the Great Wall of China…and never leave your classroom.

Read the whole post.

Gizmodo Explains How to Make an iPad Textbook in Under Five Minutes

The Gizmodo Blog shares lots of info about Apple’s new iPad Textbook Maker.

Read the article.

Article for Schools: Thinking About iPad One-to-One Programs

The Journal has just published an article, Launching an iPad 1-to-1 Program: A Primer  (and republished at the 21st Century Fluency Project).

The article, by Mitchell A. Salerno and Michael Vonhof, is a primer for schools that are considering adopting iPads in a one-to-one setting. Both authors have set up and run successful iPad programs.

Educational technology staff who are considering iPad programs will learn a lot by reading information about the following categories, though other area are also covered.

• Leadership
• Cost
• Network function
• Security
• Inventory Management
• Philosophical framework
• Implementation schedules
• Pedagogy

Blogging Resources from Discovery Education

This web workshop, Fear Factor: Taking the Fear Our of  Blogging, was conducted by Discovery Education on January 3, 2012. The site includes links to many, many resources on blogging — lots to help teachers get a sense of how to use a blog in the classroom.