Google Earth - NETS-T III, V

I used Google Earth to create a Geo-Biography tracing the route of the Mexican pastorela play. I traced the sources of the play from Zacatecas and Mexico City up through Mexico and into the Southwestern United States. I used customized photo icons to mark locations in Old Town San Diego that are historic sites of pastorela performances during the Californio period when San Diego was under Mexican rule. I added a broad purple pathway of pastorela performance sites in Old San Diego, and added descriptions with information about each site.

This project demonstrates digital aged learning tools that could be used effectively in history, literature and social science areas of the curriculum at any age level. It also demonstrates professional growth and leadership skills of the teacher, which students can emulate to create their own projects.

CSUSM iMovie - NETS-T II, III, IV

CSUSM iMovie: Step Up to Learning

Using iMovie09 digital media software, I imported video footage to create a one-minute public service announcement promoting CSUSM for future students. I used video effects, transitions and other editing tools to modify video clips, add text, title and film credits. I used advanced editing tools to incorporate a framed Picture-in-Picture effect and to adjust playback speed of the clips. I added background music, voiceovers, and manually adjusted fade in and fade out audio levels to complement the video project.

With iMovie09, I will not only be able to model the creative use of digital media tools, but will also be able to impart these skills to students in my classroom. Following fair use copyright guidelines pertaining to video and audio media as well as the written word will promote the responsible use of 21st-century communication tools and model legal and ethical digital citizenship practices.

Wiki page: ClassTools.net - NETS-T II, IV, V

From a pre-existing wiki page describing Web 2.0 tools for schools, I selected a suite of Creativity tools to explore for a collaborative classroom wiki (using Wetpaint) devoted to current applications of technology in the classroom. I developed content about Rivers of the World from 4th grade Geography curriculum materials to sample some of the tools contained in ClassTools.net.

Using Classtools.net, I created a sample of a virtual book using the Animated Book flash template and an arcade game with multiple game formats using the Arcade Game Generator customizable flash template. I created a weblink to this site and also to the "live" template files I created to sample this creative tool set for teachers and students. Once I published my wiki page on the classroom wiki, I commented on my peers' wiki sites as I reviewed samples they had created on their wiki pages. This classroom wiki will be an excellent resource for student teaching and curriculum content development in the classroom as a professional educator.

In addition to the interactive educational games and activities for learning and reviewing factual material, the site provides templates that promote organizational and analytical skill development for every grade level from K-12 and beyond. A source analyzer to determine reliability of online and printed research source materials and a planning tool that addresses multiple intelligence learning styles are two of the advanced features of note.




These samples from ClassTools.net illustrate just some of the multiple format, multilevel educational games and activities available free of charge to teachers and students:

• Animated Book (Virtual online book)
• Geography Q&A (Arcade Game / Flashcard Generator)

Excel Crossword - NETS-T I, II

Excel Crswrd 11102009

Using Microsoft Excel, I created an original interactive crossword puzzle using scientific terms related to weather patterns appropriate for the 4th-5th grade science curriculum standards. From an Atomic Learning tutorial, I learned the skills needed to format cells, add a border and gridlines, add pop-up comments as clues to the crossword, and add conditional color-coded formatting to the first-letter cells of each word in the puzzle. The finished product is an online interactive crossword puzzle which can alternatively be downloaded and printed to complete on paper. This not only models an innovative use of digital tools to promote student creativity, but also can be adapted to accommodate the learning needs, styles and strategies of diverse students in the classroom setting.

Journal 10 - 5 Great Tools to Perk Up Your Classroom and Engage Your Students - NETS-T V

Yoder, M. (2009). 5 great tools to perk up your classroom and engage your students. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(3). Retrieved October 30, 2009 from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=November_No_3_5&Template=/MembersOnly.crm&NavMenuID=4436&ContentID=24614&DirectListComboInd=D

Yoder presents her five top picks for some of the cool tech tools available for fun and learning in today's K-12 classrooms. Tools range in price from the free Google applications to the exorbitantly expensive Smart Table priced at $7,999 - how smart is that in today's oppressed economy? Yoder's top five include WeDO, Smart Table, Aver Pen, MUVEs, and Google Apps.

MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten group collaborated with Lego Education to develop WeDO, a moderately priced ($309.85 for all three components) robotic construction set of virtual manipulatives for 7-11 year old children. Students integrate virtual and physical worlds as they create animations to illustrate stories and even share their projects on the worldwide web. The three component parts can be purchased separately, with each successive part upgrading the program's capability. The robotics construction set ($139.95) allows students to use online LEGO bricks, gears, and motion and tilt sensors to construct 12 different models that demonstrate the four basic themes of the program: mechanisms, wild animals, soccer and adventure stories. With the addition of the activity pack ($129.95), students can create and program their own simple machine designs, learn to measure time and distance, and write about their creations. The software ($39.95) has a user-friendly drop-and-drag interface, an interactive building tutorial, and a teacher guide to assist in designing projects across the curriculum that allow students to share their animated adventure stories with other children around the world.

The Smart Table is an interactive multitouch learning center that just does not seem to be worth the $7,999 price tag. After watching the video promotion for this product, I think the multitouch Smart Table is out of touch with reality. It seems to transform 3-dimensional manipulatives into a 2-dimensional format in a virtual reality environment. It does solve the problem of young children picking up blocks and other manipulatives - there simply aren't any to pick up. I don't think this tool would be cool at any price!

The Aver Pen, $799 for a starter pack of 1 teacher and 4 student pens, can project an image on any surface in the room. It functions like an interactive whiteboard without the physical whiteboard. Using radio frequency that operates within a 100 foot radius, the teacher pen can interact with up to six student pens at the same time. A built-in keypad acts as a group response system to record results and display them as graphs and tables. This could be extremely useful in science and math classes. Applications useful in other content areas include interactive tools, image capture, and video recording capabilities. This device could cut down considerably on the amount of equipment needed to manage a high-tech classroom.

With some minimal materials costs, Multiuser Virtual Environments (MUVEs) are free to anyone with access to a computer and the Internet. Yoder lists some of the new MUVEs that teachers might want to join or explore to design their own classroom MUVEs. Whyville (www.whyville.net) is designed for younger children in early primary grades. Quest Atlantis (http://atlantis.crit.indiana.edu) combines a gaming environment with learning and motivational strategies for children from 3rd grade up to early high school. EcoMUVE (www.ecomuve.org/index.html) is an ecosystems science curriculum for middle school. Skoolaborate (www.skoolaborate.com) was designed for high school students to integrate the curriculum with digital tech tools in a collaborative environment using blogs, online learning, wikis and virtual worlds. These would be a good starting point for a teacher who would like to incorporate MUVEs in the classroom.

Google Apps links teachers, students and classrooms around the world, offers tutorials on using Google Apps, and maintains a discussion forum for educators to share ideas, lesson plans and advice on using Google Apps for K-12 learning environments in every conceivable course content area. Google Apps has a new site specifically designed for teachers (http://edu.googleapps.com) that could be a lifeline for anyone struggling to use technology in the classroom.

Which tool is the right tool for my classroom?
Unless you have unlimited personal resources to spend on tech tools, an educator must first consider the resources available at the specific school site. Ask other teachers what they are using and find out what works well in the classroom at your school. For primary grades, the Lego WeDO construction set is affordable and fun, with cross-curricular applications for science, math and language arts. This tool engages many different types of learners at all ability levels. For teachers with limited finances, Google Apps is the best place to start. It would also be worthwhile to explore some of the many MUVEs. I would ask for help from the school site tech expert and go from there.

What's the learning curve for these new tech tools?
Yoder selected all these tools for their accessibility and for the support they offer to users. Even so, there is a steep learning curve for any new technology that can be frustrating as well as time-consuming. The best approach for me is to try and keep up with technology advancements by reading ISTE's online L&L journal articles, and then ask other teachers and tech experts for their advice. I would start small to build confidence and to assess student comfort level with different types of technologies, then take it global.

Journal 9 Global Collaborative Learning Connects School to the Real World - NETS-T V

Bickley, M., & Carleton, J. (2009). Global collaborative learning connects school to the real world. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(3). Retrieved October 30, 2009 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3720092010/NovemberNo3/students_without_borders.htm

Global collaborative projects teach higher-order and critical-thinking skills while promoting global understanding as students form meaningful relationships with their peers across the nation and around the world. This article presents a brief overview of three global collaborative learning projects:

• The Machito project is a K-12 literature-based project that focuses on the affects of war on children.
• With My Hero Project, K-12 students research and write about a hero in their lives and then publish their results online in a classroom webpage.
• The Art Miles project helps K-12 students communicate about some aspect of their own and another's culture, then to share the results of their discussions and collaborative projects using a wiki page.

In creating and collaborating on their projects, students use 21st century technological tools like Web conferencing, virtual classroom meetings, online discussion threads, and collaborative online webpages and wikis to share information and to work together online to create a mutually agreed upon collaborative project.

Organizations such as iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) and TakingITGlobal facilitate student and teacher collaborative projects worldwide using current information and communication technology (ICT). Resources for the three project areas are listed along with the websites for iEARN and TakingITGlobal.

How can I bring global collaborative learning into my classroom?
The three projects described in the article are accessible and exciting. I would first explore the resource information given in this article on the two facilitative organizations and the three projects. I would explore the diverse cultures represented in my classroom, discover who has lived or visited another country, and who has relatives or friends living in another country. Next, I would discuss the possibility of a collaborative project, beginning with an open-ended question, such as "What can we do everyday to make the world a better place?" I would guide student discussion to determine a meaningful issue for students to explore first within their own school or community, and then to develop that idea into a global collaborative project. Classroom discussion would determine specific cities across the country and around the world to contact as collaborative learning partners. At this point, we would choose iEARN or TakingITGlobal to facilitate the project.

Which of the three projects described might I introduce first?
When I read that 2010 is the "end of the UNESCO Decade of Peace," this phrase sounded so ominous that I would encourage students to explore some aspect of peace and friendship. Maybe students can facilitate bringing peace to the world more effectively than government leaders. Certainly building peace and friendship within our communities and communicating with diverse cultures around the world to work collaboratively toward this end can only help and encourage the peace process. I think the Machinto Project would be a great place to start with any age group.

Copyright Issues - NETS-T IV

Copyright

This paper was created collaboratively using Google Docs to discuss the implications of copyright laws regarding fair use of printed and media copyrighted materials by educators. It is based on the website, Fair Use Harbor, which is an interactive tutorial for educators to review copyright laws and guidelines for use of copyrighted materials. This artifact meets the NETS-T standard IV requirements by delineating guidelines that respect copyright laws and privileges and promote practices to document copyrighted sources and materials in an appropriate manner.