Kentucky Student Technology Leaders

As a Kentuckian, the emphasis on technology use by students in Kentucky schools is a point of great pride to me. From the time that education reform brought an emphasis on equity in the early 90s, there has been a mandate that student to computer ratios be kept low. The multi-million dollar allocation for instructional device upgrades completed in 2008 was a tangible statement on the part of the Kentucky legislature that having up-to-date equipment is a priority in order for technology to be an integral part of the learning environment.

As technology leaders and researchers place more and more emphasis on "ubiquitous" or "one-to-one" computing, the role of the student as learner, teacher, and leader continues to be critical to successful implementations. The Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) is a powerful organization that has provided opportunities for many students to learn and lead within their classroom or school as well as at regional, state and national conferences in the fifteen years of its existence in Kentucky.

Kentucky STLP has six stated goals:

1. The STLP will develop activities which enhance the academic, social and emotional growth of the student.
2. The STLP will provide leadership opportunities for all students.
3. The STLP will participate in multi-age collaboration by forming innovative learning partnerships.
4. The STLP will form learning partnerships among students with different technology skills.
5. The STLP will develop activities which benefit communities.
6. The STLP will develop instructional activities which integrate technology and benefit the school and support KETS (Kentucky Education Technology System).

Schools may join and become state-recognized STLP schools by sending an email to Elaine Harrison Lane at elaine.harrison@education.ky.gov. Regional and state STLP Showcases give students the opportunity to display or "showcase" their school projects and to learn from other schools. The regional showcases are held in multiple locations across the state this fall:

• November 5, The Center for Rural Development Showcase, Somerset
• November 11, Murray State University Showcase, Curris Center
• November 12, University of Kentucky Showcase, Student Center Ballroom
• November 13, Western Kentucky University Showcase, Diddle Arena
• November 17, Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center (EXPO) Showcase, Pikeville
• November 19, Morehead State University Showcase, Adron Doran University Center
• November 20, Northern Kentucky University Showcase, Student Center
• November 24, University of Louisville Showcase, Student Activities Center

These showcases are wonderful opportunities for schools to gather ideas or to allow students to "show" their best projects to others.

Nix Picks For Teachers: Ten Top Web 2.0 Tools

The change from looking for information and resources on the web to modifying/creating is an opportunity for teachers to invigorate the learning environment. Today's Web 2.0 sites give power to learners and educators to customize, interact and participate. Students (and teachers) respond very positively to real, meaningful tasks. There are actually so many tools that it may be difficult for teachers to find a starting point. Here are ten tools (for teachers who are ready to make some changes in their learning environment) to try.

Random Word/Name Picker, http://classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine/
Random name/word picker is a fun and easy way to randomly choose a student’s name to answer a question. It can also be used to create a fun game by using spelling words, important dates, keywords from a chapter, etc.

Wordle, http://www.wordle.net
Wordle is technically a “tag” cloud or a visual depiction of user-generated tags (words). The importance of a tag (word) is shown with font size or color. The website is free and does not require an account. Wordle.net creates the tag cloud from text (copied and pasted or typed) or urls.

Tinyurl, http://tinyurl.com
TinyURl is a website used for shortening long URL’s. Copy and paste any url onto the website for a shorter more accessible web address.

Wikipedia, http://www.wikipedia.org/
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative encyclopedia. The wiki contains approximately three million articles. Most of the articles on the controversial site can be edited by any registered user. The site is praised for its up-to-date information including links to additional resources and criticized for inclusion of unverified information.

Delicious , http://www.delicious.com
Delicious is an easy-to-use bookmarking website where members can organize existing bookmarks, and save more! It has user-friendly “bookmarking buttons” that can be added to the Internet toolbar to quickly add titles, descriptions, and tags. With Delicious, users can access all of their saved bookmarks as well as other members’ public bookmarks from any computer!

Flickr, http://www.flickr.com
Flickr is an online photo management tool that allows registered users to upload, organize and share photos. Flickr is partnered with Picnik to allow for fun and creative ideas to transform photos.

Animoto, http://animoto.com
Animoto is an easy way to turn pictures and uploaded or selected music into videos and post them online. After signing up, unlimited shorts (30-second videos) are free. A free video can include approximately 12-15 pictures. All-access passes which include downloads and longer videos can be purchased.

Twiddla, http://www.twiddla.com/
Twiddla is an interactive whiteboard website/meeting space available for free use with or without an account. Guests on Twiddla, have all the same options as a member, except that the project is public. Becoming a member is an easy one step process. The Twiddla whiteboard is a collaborative space where you and your guests (students) can insert text, upload photos, draw images, mark up websites, or start brainstorming on a blank canvas.

Poll Everywhere, http://www.polleverywhere.com/
Poll Everywhere is a website that functions as a student response system. It has free (30 responders) and advanced options. Teachers can create multiple choice or free text polls (surveys, questions). Responses can be submitted online or by text message, and totals are calculated in real-time online. Reports can be downloaded for use in PowerPoint presentations, etc.

YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/
YouTube is an interactive site where users can search millions of videos, and even upload their own! You don’t have to have an account with YouTube to view videos, but only members are allowed to upload videos. YouTube also gives the option of uploading a video, or immediately creating one directly from your webcam. Some content on YouTube may be inappropriate for students. TeacherTube (http://teachertube.com/) or SchoolTube (http://www.schooltube.com/) may be other options to consider.

Please share your favorites as well as ways you are using them by completing a quick survey or by posting your comments here.

Nix's Picks (25 Favorite Learning Tools)

On an almost daily basis, I read posts from education professionals as I am looking for resources that will help teachers to make learning not only challenging but "real." I want students to learn at high levels and to find what they are doing meaningful and even "fun." I scan Twitter posts and subscribe to feeds using Google Reader. I also like to just explore and use my intuition for evaluating what I like to use and what I think might be good tools for other educators.

Jane Hart of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies and Vince Hill of Cleassroom 2.0 have both compiled favorite lists of learning professionals. I think it would be fun to create a list of resources that are Kentucky favorites and to compare these with other state, national and international lists. I have found that this list changes for me so we might try to do this annually. The tools I have like the most in the past may move to the top of my list or may drop entirely off my "favorite list." A year ago, I thought that I could not manage without Google Notebook. However, now I have completely replaced this tool with Delicious.

I'll be discussing my "favorite tools" with a little more detail in future blogs. I hope you will help identify more useful resources and share your comments about my list.

Nix Picks: Top 25
GOOGLE, All Things (Reader, Docs, Groups, Calendar, Searches, Maps, Sites, Earth, etc.)
Delicious, Shared Bookmarking
Flickr, Shared Images
YouTube, Shared Video
Twitter, Micro Blogging
Skype, Communication -Collaboration
Blogger, Blogging
Slideshare, Shared Presentations
Twiddla, Live Collaboration
Poll Everywhere, Web Polling
Zamzar, File Conversion
Tinyurl, Shortening URLs
Wordle, Word Mapping
Animoto, Video Creation
Wikipedia, Wiki
Facebook, Social Network
Dropio, File Drops and Create Audio
Voicethread, Shared Photo Stories with Narration/Comments
Ning, Social Network Creation
Youmail, Voicemail Online
iTunes, Digital Media Manager/Player
Bubbl.us, Concept Mapping
Thinking Tools for Teachers and Students
Gcast, Podcasting
ALTEC Tools, Instructional Tools for Teachers and Students

KATE on the Web

I recently realized that the Kentucky Academy of Technology Education (KATE) has had a web presence for over ten years. The original website was actually designed by a contractor to assist districts as they scheduled sessions on Kentucky’s Tele-Linking Network.

Several modifications incorporated additional resources collected or created to make integration of technology into teaching and learning easier for educators.

1. With the assistance of talented web designers and educators who laboriously sorted through thousands of resources, KATE Links was added. This collection of web sites is categorized by subject and grade level.
2. Teachers needed practical strategies that they could quickly adapt in their content areas so the In Your Classroom category was added to not only give quick connections to core content, but to also provide “techknow” ideas.
3. Three categories of links were added at the top of the page with materials on standards, curriculum, tutorials, professional development topics,etc.
4. Technology in Classrooms of Kentucky (TICK) was added in 2006 as a repository of learning objects including instructional units, lesson plans, activities and assessments that are tied to the Technology Program of Studies (adopted in 2006) as well as Kentucky Core Content, state and national technology standards. The repository has over 3,000 learning objects. TICK provides a single point of access for resources specifically applicable to educators. For example, a web search on a topic such as fractions returns over 11 million hits, while a TICK search will only return a list with applicable instructional materials.

Early in 2008, KATE introduced a new and improved version adding “Web 2.0” features to allow educators to not only acquire resources, but to also electronically share high-quality learning resources among all learning professionals. TICK has already been modified to provide alignments to revised technology standards and will be undergoing a major revision during the next year as changes to Kentucky’s Program of Studies are made. With Kentucky’s commitment to the national standards movement, the resources found in TICK will be aligned with the curriculum of many states.

We hope that you will share your comments about the KATE web resources (http://www.murraystate.edu/kate), including ways you are using them and suggestions that can be incorporated into the next version.

Blogging With Blogger

I thought that it was probably appropriate to make the first post in this blog about blogging. In 2006 "The Best of Education Blog" awards were presented at the Florida Education Technology Conference. In a March 2006 article entitled, "Blogs Are Changing Education," the award winners described some of the reasons they blog. They used adjectives such as easy and accessible as well as nouns such as ideas to describe the power of blogging in education. Blogging is now being used extensively by organizations, celebrities, families, technology leaders, teachers, and students. In fact, it has become quite commonplace.

There are many tools for blogging including edublogs, wordpress, tumblr, and blogger. I am quite fond of the hosted version of WordPress. However, I have chosen to talk about Blogger, http://www.blogger.com/, because it is a user-friendly, easily-accessible, free tool. The blogs it hosts are all subdomains of blogspot.com located on Google servers. Blog permissions allow restriction of viewers as well as author rights assignments. It is not "frilly" and doesn't have an abundance of features. The fact that it is so EASY makes up for its simplicity. It has plain, simple layouts that navigate sensibly and keep people like me (with little eye for design) from getting in over my head. In addition, posts can be added using the mobile blogger with a cellphone or published using Word.

I have no doubt that teachers and students have important things to say and that this tool can be used to say them. Please share your comments and ideas.