Author: Jac de Haan

Posted on in resources

Sharpen your search skills

A Google A Day is a website that offers a single question that can be solved through effective search term use. Take a few minutes out of your day to learn something new and consider the validity of the information you find through an internet search.

Not a search guru yet? Take a look at a series of search-related lesson plans ranging from differentiating adverts from results to using Boolean operators to limit results. In an always-on world where attention is a commodity, search efficiency is an essential 21st century skill.

Posted on in lesson plans

A Brief History of Computing and the Internet

Appropriate grade level: 5th – 7th
Download a Brief History of Computing and the Internet.

NOTE to teacher:

Not all students have strong reading skills, and some have trouble alphabetizing – help them work with the dictionaries in a subtle way and take note for future lessons or collaborations with reading specialists and language arts teachers.

Learning Objectives:

  • To introduce ENIAC, one of the first super-computers, and its size and power in comparison to today’s computers.
  • To understand that the computer as accessible technology has become popular only in the last 50 years. (more…)
Posted on in resources

Resources for connected educators

A SMARTboard won’t raise SAT scores, even as districts plop one into every classroom. An iPad won’t decrease tardies and a Facebook account won’t reduce the number of parent emails you receive on a daily basis.

Integrating technology into the classroom can mean so many things…how to figure out where to start? Digital citizenship, personal learning networks, online video resources and real-time collaboration tools all compete for out attention.  No tool by itself will revolutionize your classroom, it is how you use a resource that counts.

Not sure how to decide to enhance your teaching with technology? Try 21 things for teachers, a straight-forward introduction to some of the tools and resources available at low- or no- cost. The site is an overview, you’ll still end up using your personal learning network and watching YouTube videos to master the resources presented. You have to start somewhere…

Posted on in resources

Collaborate with an international partner

Skype in the Classroom logoOne way to move learning beyond the walls of the classroom is to make connections with real people elsewhere in the world. The prospect of finding a partner school in another country seems overwhelming for some teachers, but Skype is trying to make that task easier.

A few weeks ago, Skype in the Classroom launched – a database of over 11,000 international teachers looking to connect with other classrooms to collaborate and communicate. Want to talk for free with someone in Australia who uses the Nintendo Wii to decrease absences and tardies? Interested in swapping graphic arts images with a middle school in Sweden?

Posted on in tech in the news

April 2011: Tech in the News

2 of this week’s news stories to start classroom conversations:

Obama says White House tech is 30 years behind – The White House technology is not the high-tech version we see in the movies. Is the US at a disadvantage because our leader doesn’t have access to giant touch screens or retina scanners?

Your iPhone is silently and constantly logging your location -iPhones automatically keep a log of all the location your phone goes, in an unencrypted format. Should consumers be warned before this feature is enabled? What other ways of tracking individuals already exist in our digital world?

Posted on in tutorials

Create a classroom blog in less than 2 minutes

[Editor note: Google has updated the user interface for Blogger. Click here for step-by-step instructions with a video walkthrough of the new Blogger interface.]

So you’ve bandied around the idea of a classroom blog for years now but never got around to making it happen. If technology is the only hurdle to getting your ideas or first-hand experiences in the classroom online, then let this tutorial be the end of procrastination.  Start the clock, here we go:

0.00: Go to Blogger.com (Blogger.com is owned by Google. If you already have a Gmail account just login, otherwise you’ll need to add 45 seconds to create one).

0.25: In the webpage that opens, search for the “Create a blog” button and click it.

0.55: Add the title for your blog and then create the URL (the address people will type to see your blog).

1.25: Type in the word verification and press “continue”.

1.35: Leave the default template. You can always change it as often as you like in the future. Is your goal to win a design award or get your content out into the world for other teachers, community members and students? It’ll look great because of the words (and the default design is good-looking too).

1.45: Click on “Start blogging now” and enter your first post!

1.50: In the blog administration pane, click on “view blog” in the top navigation and revel in your triumph.

2.00: Get to writing, your audience awaits!

 

Posted on in featured, philosophy

What is technology with intention?

Technology with intention is a starting point for implementing tech solutions in the classroom.

As schools search to keep curriculum relevant in an world where students are hyper-connected to information and each other, teachers and administrators often get stuck trying to find the why and how of tech adoption. It isn’t enough to mandate that teachers use technology, there must be a sufficient training and a clear transition plan from the way things were done to the way things could be done.

I posted on the philosophy of technology with intention previously, on the Billings Beta Tech Blog, with the following words and graphic:

A well-rounded technology curriculum has to address the unique complexities of growing up digital and should leverage this generation’s technological fluency to create meaningful connections to self, environment, and each other.

Technology with intention in the classroom for optimal learning