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Posts Tagged ‘learn’

Thankful 4 Conferences

Posted by Kathy Adkins on November 16th, 2012 No Comments

Now is a great time to tell educators in your personal learning network how thankful you are for all they do to engage learners and make learning meaningful. Teachers as well as students are contributing to learning everyday and get very few kudos for all they do. Many of these educators and students are sharing incredible resources and knowledge at four November educational technology conferences. K12 Online, Georgia Educational Technology Conference, Global Education Conference and the upcoming Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators online presence provides resources for educators for anytime, anywhere learning. How will we show our thanks? Visit, learn and share with your PLN.

Four for Friday – Online Conferences Resources

K12 10 Day Conference shares so many resources from innovative educators and students. Click directly on 2012 Schedule for overview and check out the links under the Schedule to view awesome presentations. From the Visioning New Curriculum to Students Voices presentation, Authentic Voices, the wealth of information can be discovered via the iPod videos, mp3 audios and supporting documents.

GaETC 2012 resources share presentations by name. You may want to first visit the concurrent session pages listed for Wednesday to Friday and then select presenters name on the resource page. GaETC offered a very helpful app for attendees.

The Global Education Conference culminates today but recordings of sessions can be viewed here. It is incredible to learn from global innovators.

LACUE, Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators, will take place November 25-27. Currently there is a resource page and you will be able to follow on twitter using #lacue.

Image above created with Frame Magic - Frame Magic Lite

Tags: conferences, encouragement, information, Inspire, learn, learners, professional development

Ask…”What Can You Do For Your Wiki?”

Posted by Kathy Adkins on November 2nd, 2012 No Comments

Choice and usage of multiple digital learning tools is growing in our district by all learners, educators and students. In a recent workshop on four of these tools, participants had the opportunity to select two sessions and grasp the potential of the tools for instructional design. Edmodo, Edublogs, Voicethread and Wikispaces were the tools for collaborative learning and choice was key in personal learning for the day. At the wiki session, many asked the question, what is the difference between wikis and blogs and when should each be used? Blogs vs. Wikis, a fictional debate between JFK and Nixon shared on you tube, is a great video to open discussion and provide answers. During this electoral time, what will you vote for, wikis or blogs? It is your personal choice to which tool addresses the instructional design needed for learning and sharing. Today’s vote is to be a warrior with wikispaces. As JFK stated in the video, “Ask not what your wiki can do for you, but what can you do for your wiki?”

Four for Friday – Wikispaces Resources

Wikispaces Videos and Tours, is a collection of over 30 how to videos on you tube on various topics

Wikispaces Blog has incredible information on what you can do for your wiki. Check out Class Case Study: Room 14 Goes Mobile in Auckland and how students own and call their pages ebooks. Also note Wikispaces for iPad, which shares how to better view wikis on iPads since currently there is not an app.

Educational Wikis is another place of learning how to use wikis in education. Be sure to view the examples page.

Getting Tricky With Wikis provides advance directions using code to create text effects, layouts, to inserting a print-friendly feature and creating rollovers. Lenva Shearing, the curated for this wiki also created Cool Tools for Schools and Cool Apps for School.

Tags: apps, blogs, encouragement, information, learn, tools, wikis, wikispaces

Blank Canvas – How will you frame it?

Posted by Kathy Adkins on September 21st, 2012 No Comments

As a veteran educator it is such an inspiration when young staff members step up and guide others. This week Alena Zink, Instructional Technology Specialist at Shiloh Point Elementaty, inspired me with her post, If We Stop Throwing Glitter in the Air…. Glitter meaning templates and cookie cutter activities. Yes, I have been guilty of throwing glitter over years as viewed in one of my newsletters from 2001 where templates were shared for the younger set as encouragement for teachers. Thankfully there were a few ideas shared that could have led to more creativity. Zink states in her thought provoking post, “In a glittery classroom, I see students sitting in front of laptops, completing template-based projects that answer only right-or-wrong questions. Each product looks exactly the same as other 25 in the classroom and does not lead to students remembering what they have learned.” Zink lists six important features of what today’s classrooms would look like if we stopped tossing glitter. You can follow Zink on Twitter @ZinkED_u. How will you frame your instruction with open-ended questions so students critically think, create collaboratively and share their voice? Will you provide that blank canvas without throwing out all the glitter?

“Our tasks as educators lies not in force feeding students but in making them hunger for knowledge.” Amy Pruitt

Five for Friday – Blank Canvas Productivity Tools

Wixie combines paint and artwork with text and voice recording to create the perfect canvas. How you frame the instruction using open-ended questions will provide students opportunity to be creative and own their learning. Tech4learning provides a trial download of Wixie with many resources for educators. Be sure to check out The Creative Educator, their publication that provides articles, stories and lessons on trending topics.

Paint and draw with Sumo Paint, a free image editor for older learners has many tools for creativity. Sumo Paint for the iPad app is $1.99.

Kerpoof is another easy to use drawing program online for younger learners. What directive could you share to inspire young learners to think and share?

ArtPad is a very simple digital canvas that replays the drawing and provides a few frames to frame it.

Electronic whiteboards are large blank canvases begging for creativity in many classrooms. Let them create and share! With learners at the board, allow others to collaborate and design online at Board800. With BYOT initiatives try Jot Whiteboard, a free iPad app with very simple tools for young learners or experiment with Educreations.

Tags: apps, BYOT, design, doodle, learn, resources, students

Ramp Up Learning with Walk Throughs

Posted by Kathy Adkins on September 14th, 2012 No Comments

Building walk throughs have become a vital piece in our district’s support of 21st century learning. Walk throughs in years past have primarily been administrators’ role as part of teacher evaluations. Recent walk throughs have become more learning walks involving teams of media specialists, instructional technology specialist and even small groups of teachers from other schools. Teams rotate and spend five minutes in classrooms to observe and provide confidential feedback via Google docs. What is more powerful than the observation is the learning of the observer. On a recent learning walk educators observed students in a science class sharing images, videos, data and strategies posted in their group motion and force wikispaces project. Students in several classrooms were reading literature selections and back channeling in TodaysMeet. Edmodo was used to share Socrative links and various instructional activities. Students were working in the hallway to pair and share Spanish fluency recordings. All of these activities were possible, not because of textbooks, but because students were using their own devices. I should mention textbooks did physically support part of the science motion and forces lesson. When will you conduct a walk through and ramp up learning?

A Few for Friday – Let Learning Drive the Tools

Socrative can be used to drive learning in so many ways as shared by The Landscape – 13 Ways to Use Socrative. Be sure to check out Socrative’s Blog – Socrative Garden to see how to share quizzes and harvest many other ideas.

TodaysMeet is a great platform for discussion and back channeling. Learn it in 5 shares a how to video and here is a two page pdf guide. Have you seen this great lesson from Read Write Think- Seuss and Silverstein: Posing Questions, Presenting Points. Could TodaysMeet be a part of this lesson and give shy students their voice?

How are you using Edmodo? Check out this Edmodo Resources Livebinder with lesson ideas or view a few videos from Edmodocon 2012. Mr G Online shares Literature Circles -co-starring Edmodo. This passionate educator’s blog is worth following.

Tags: BYOT, edmodo, information, learn, professional development, socrative, twitter, walk throughs

Collaboration – The Big C – Do Not Wait!

Posted by Kathy Adkins on September 7th, 2012 2 Comments

Collaboration is one of the 4C’s that propels our district’s 21st century vision of learning along with Creativity, Critical Thinking and Communication. Collaboration is the big C that embraces the others and makes them stronger. Learners love to connect and share their knowledge in the classroom with each other and their desire to experience and share beyond walls is obvious. As they think, communicate and create collaboratively, the learning becomes larger. I am reminded of one collaborative project with first grade students, Hands Around the World, and how we worked to squeeze this project into the end of the year. It was a huge learning process for all learners including myself. Why should we wait to the end of the year when we have many resources and digital learning tools such as Edmodo and Wikispaces? Connect with a project or begin your own and collaboratively share your learners’ knowledge with others. Do not wait!

Five for Friday – Global Collaborative Connections

A great place to start is The Global Classroom Project, where teachers and students share on the global stage. Their wikispace shares ways to follow via twitter and facebook. Be sure to check out the Craze Crazes, under What’s Happening?

Projects by Jen, from Jen Wagner (creator of Wordle of the Day) provides projects for K-6 grades throughout the school year. OREO 2012 is a simple project for young learners and provides a wealth of resources to celebrate the 100th birthday of the OREO. Registration is now open with project lasting Sept. 17 – Oct. 12. Follow Jen Wagner on twitter @jenwagner.

Journey North offers collaborative sharing throughout the year. Currently Hummingbird Migration is being observed and reported weekly. Journey North now has an app to report sightings.

The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education, CIESE, offers many ongoing and collaborative projects inspired by real time data.

Flat Stanley is a project that has truly embraced all ages. Be sure to check out current news and check the free IOS mobile app.

Tags: apps, collaborate, collaborative, create, encouragement, Inspire, learn, projects, resources, tools

To the Top – Elevate Your Learning

Posted by Kathy Adkins on August 3rd, 2012 No Comments

Recent summer travels have allowed me to view many magnificent mountain ranges in Colorado. One particular vista, Carbon Peak (12,079), was on my daily horizon and looked amazing from lower elevation but there was the strong desire to be at the top for a better view. For many summer months the desire to climb the peak and conquer the elevation was on the agenda but time constraints continually interfered. Fortunately this summer presented the time to climb. With tools to navigate as well as visual cairns (man-made pile of stones) along the way, the trek was mastered. What an incredible view from the top of near and far mountain peaks and the beautiful storybook valley below with its winding streams and meadows. The climb was invigorating and the sense of accomplishment rewarding. As we begin the new school year we need to take time to climb and elevate our learning. There are so many resources (cairns) along the way to propel our journey. We cannot wait for the perfect time because that time is now. Will you elevate your learning?

A Few for Friday – Bloggers to Follow that Elevate Learning

BYOT Network – Dr. Tim Clark recently shared First Five Days of School with BYOT. Clark’s blog provides a wealth of resources to support and elevate learning with mobile devices.

Mind/Shift – Tina BerBarseghian provides incredible resources to move you up the hill of learning. Check out 10 Ways to Boost your Game for Back-to-School.

Dangerously Irrelevant – Scott Meech shares his perspective on the intersection of education and technology. Be sure to check out his wiki Moving Forward, a vast collection of resources to elevate your learning.

Image Source – Courtesy of irewired
Image created using Frame Magic Lite
Tracking App – Endomondo (Multiple Devices)
Another Tracking App – EveryTrail (IOS)

Tags: BYOT, encouragement, Inspire, learn, learners, mobile

15 Years – Slow Down and Reflect

Posted by Kathy Adkins on May 18th, 2012 No Comments

The end of the school year is near and it is time to slow down and reflect not only on the progress of learners we guide but also on our own growth. As I reflect, I not only think about this year but the 15 years I have been an Instructional Technology Specialist, ten years in the trenches at my favorite elementary school and 5 as lead mentor to guide others in the district. As a life long learner, I attribute most of my growth from self-learning. Fifteen years ago there were not as many places to turn for learning in my field but as the years progressed, opportunities flowed quicker and the current of information surged. With out my desire to self-learn and soak up the current, I would not be who I am today. Online Universities recently shared 15 Secrets of the Most Successful Self-Learners and how our passion for learning moves us beyond the boundaries of the traditional classroom. Many of these secrets, including “tone out negativity” have steered me along and kept me passionately learning. Which of these secrets guides you? Slow down the next few months on the information highway and take the time to self-learn. You have steered so many through the year, and now is the time to try some of these secrets to continue your life long learning.

A Few for Friday – Places to Learn

Technology Guides from Piano Independent School District contains a wealth of information for educators. Be sure to check the links that are tagged New!

Technology Tutorials from Internet4Classrooms is a great resource for all educators with tutorials and suggestions for classroom integration and learning.

Want to learn more about web design with Adobe products? Check out Katherine Shields’ Adobe Board on Pinterest. Try a few of these tutorials that interest you and spark your creativity.

Friday Flash will return in August after time to reflect and enjoy learning in new ways.

Photo Courtesy of my son, Brett Adkins – Crested Butte, Colorado

Tags: create, design, encouragement, Inspire, learn, motivation, professional development, tutorials

New PLAYgrounds – Tilt that Seesaw

Posted by Kathy Adkins on April 13th, 2012 No Comments

Old Playground Circa 1897

Assessment weeks are winding away and hopefully learners will have more opportunity to play and explore new learning experiences. A recent post via Daily Adventures, shared global hero, Henry Jenkins – “Play is at the heart of learning – USA” and his influence on educators throughout the world. “Give yourself and your students permission to play, ” say Henry Jenkins. PLAY stands for Participatory Learning and You. Jenkins goes on to state play is the basic human mechanism for learning. Many schools view play as disruption of the educational process but Jenkins notes that play actually motivates learning and provides new forms of engagement. He highlights five core principals to embrace participatory learning. These core principals are key concepts to frame and apply to learning new media literacy’s. Jenkins says, “New media literacies cannot be an option (meaning new media shouldn’t be set aside for the end of the week if the students have been “good”). It is not about the tools or technology; it is about experimentation, more collaboration, more creativity and more play. ” Read entire post about this global hero in education and be inspired. How will you tilt the seesaw and provide new opportunities for participatory learning? Will you wait till work is finished or testing is complete?

Four For Friday – Apps to Take Outside to Play

VidRythm is free app to share learning experiences easily remixing short video clips. There is no actual game to play but it is a lot of fun to play and create. Promote play by sharing play.

Viddy is another video capturing app with cinematic features that allows you to quickly share memorable moments. Viddy is the instagram for videos. Check out this one titled “Water!”

Kinotopic creates kinos, which are also known as cinemagraphs. Kinotopic allows you to make still photographs and add small areas of movement. Make some playful animations!

Snapster is new app released this week that allows you to take square photos. To improve your photography skills you have to play and take lots of photos plus it is always fun to play with something new!

Photo Courtesy of iRewired – Old Playground in Colorado

Tags: apps, challenge, collaborative, design, game, learn, learners, mobile, motivation, participatory, photography, Photos, play

Peek, Lurk and Learn

Posted by Kathy Adkins on March 9th, 2012 2 Comments

Millions of social media interactions take place every minute of every day. Royal Pingdom posted Internet 2011 in Numbers and shared 2.4 billion social networking accounts exist worldwide. This blog post alone was tweeted almost 6,000 times. Last month Social Jumpstart shared how millions are connecting via an infographic, 00:60 in Social Media. There is no doubt the affection for Pinterest is growing. These conversations on Twitter and pinning of educational resources on Pinterest continue to bring professional development opportunities 24/7. When will you take a peek and lurk to learn? Yes, it is okay to lurk as shared in a presentation from Eric Longhorst via Wes Fryer – Twitter a Powerful Collaboration Tool for Teachers. Longhorst suggests you begin lurking by using hashtags to follow topics of interest. Take time to peek, lurk and learn.

Five For Friday – Twitter Resources – Model Responsibility

The Innovative Educator, Lisa Nielsen, recently posted how educators are using Twitter on her blog, Twitter for Administrators, Teachers and Students. Follow Nielsen @InnovativeEdu.

Nicholas Provenzano, The Nerdy Teacher, shares guidelines for communicating with students on a recent blog post at Edutopia- On Twitter: To Follow or To Not Follow. Modeling responsibility is key. Follow Provenzano @thenerdyteacher.

28 Creative Ideas for Teaching with Twitter, from Tina Barseghian -MindShift, shares great ideas for educators. Follow Barseghian @MindShiftKQED

10 Women Who Rock … and Teach, is an excellent post from Lisa M. Dabbs, the facilitator of Edutopia’s New Teacher Connections group. You can follow Dabbs on Twitter @teachingwithsoul. She writes and inspires to support new teachers at Teaching With Soul.

Twitter is blocked from students on many districts’ networks. How can you use these ideas to educate young learners on social media? Use TodaysMeet and build learners’ knowledge on using social media responsibly.

Photo captured by irewired.

Tags: BYOT, encouragement, learn, students, twitter

Colored Pencils to Digital Expressions

Posted by Kathy Adkins on February 24th, 2012 2 Comments

Technology had me back in 1990 with my one Apple IIe and Bank Street Writer. My special education/exceptional students typed text for their stories and we printed with a dot matrix printer. We then paired the text with their own drawings or photos developed at the local store and pasted to make construction paper books. Next we moved to making big books, poster size, with Big Book Maker Favorite Fairy Tales and Tall Tales from Pelican (Toucan Software). We taped the pages together, colored and bound with a spiral binder. We thought we were really cool creating our books twenty years ago. I can only imagine what my exceptional students could now share with the world. What a great time to be an educator and engage learners with so many great ways to express themselves. Watch this video shared by Jeremy McDonald, Mr. Macnology #unexpected and be inspired.

A Few for Friday – Expression Tools

David Kapuler shared Top Ten Apps for Digital Storytelling at Tech&Learning, but his recent pinning at Pinterest shares more visually at Digital Storytelling Apps and Sites. Follow Kapuler on Twitter @dkapuler.

Ed Tech Ideas, Keith Ferrell, shares 8 Great Sites for Reluctant Writers. Ferrell also share, Keyboarding Sites for Kids, to encourage keyboard awareness . Follow Ferrell on Twitter @K_Ferrell.

Appitic is an awesome collection of IOS apps curated by Apple Distinguished Educators. Check out their list for Writing and Storytelling for recently added apps. Lots of resources are shared to use with exceptional children.

Photo Courtesy of Jonna Pohjalainen – Giant Colored Pencil Sculptures

Tags: apps, BYOT, Inspire, learn, storytelling