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NYS Educators: help out with a survey about Internet research habits

Feb 4th, 2010
by pollyalida.
1 comment

From findingEducation

New York State Educators:
If you are teacher, librarian or school administrator at a New York public, private or independent school, WE WANT YOU! We are conducting a survey of middle school and high school students’ online research habits, and we’d love for you to participate.

The online surveys are short, painless (we don’t ask sensitive questions), easy to understand and anonymous. They should take about 10 minutes to complete.

Please note: Students will not be asked to provide their names, e-mail addresses or any other identifying information.

Gapminder is blowing my mind

Dec 3rd, 2009
by pollyalida.
3 comments

Gapminder shows statistics in motion. Doesn’t sound too exciting? Take a look at this amazing tool and see if you don’t agree. Ok, I’m a data geek – but this will help you find your own inner data geek, I promise.

This chart shows declining birth rate associated with increases in personal income for the US, UK, China & India. What story can you tell about what’s happening here?

Just think how this could be used in school to bring “boring” old data to life. This service has been around for a few years, but I just learned about it thanks to Buffy Hamilton’s post:  Storytelling with Data: Statistics Tell a Story.

Gapminder includes over 200 social and economic indicators that you can use to create amazing data representations. Countries of the world are represented by bubbles on the charts. Regions of the world are shown by color and bubble size shows relative population size.

And take a look at this stellar presentation by one of the founders of Gapminder, Hans Rosling as he makes data not only compelling, but entertaining!

About 10 years ago I worked on a project called “Numbers Tell the Story” that helped libraries create compelling stories about their libraries that were supported by data. Part of the technology piece of the project was learning to use Excel & Powerpoint to transform data into visually interesting charts and images rather than boring tables of data. I’m just imagining what a Gapminder like tool could have done for that project.

Live session: RSS widgets and Personalised Home Pages – Sept 16, 2009

Sep 15th, 2009
by pollyalida.
No comments yet

Classroom 2.0 Live has been sponsoring a great series of free on-line technology sessions for educators with Sue Waters. Called the Beginner Series, there’s lots of information for you even if you aren’t a beginner. I hope to have time to tune in on Wednesday night. Hope you do too!

Wed September 16, 2009 8pm–9pm (Eastern)
Where: Elluminate link- http://tinyurl.com/cr20live
What:  RSS widgets and Personalised Home Pages
In this third session on RSS we continue the discussion by looking at all the different ways you can use RSS widgets on websites and check out Personalised Homepages like NetVibes, PageFlakes and iGoogle for managing class information.

And make sure you check out all the other great programming, conversations and training on the Classroom 2.0 calendar – truly a terrific resource!

Galleries on Flickr

Sep 15th, 2009
by pollyalida.
2 comments

Flickr has a new galleries feature that lets you create sets of up to 18 photos around any idea, theme or concept you find interesting. This encourages you to explore other people’s photos and search beyond just your own contacts photos for interesting content.

My first thought was that it will help me organize some of the photos I’ve added to my favorites. I ‘fave’ lots of photos and then have trouble finding them again. Galleries might help with with this. (anyone else have great ways of organizing favorited photos?)

The limit of 18 photos encourages flickr members to act as “curators” and gather the best work representing a theme. Seems like a great presentation method for a school project.

Thanks to ShellyS for adding one of my photos to her Simply Awesome gallery or I might have missed this new feature!

Get more info from flickr galleries help.

Emerging Mobile Technologies for K-12 Classrooms – Chat session, Sep. 3, 11 AM

Aug 27th, 2009
by pollyalida.
No comments yet

gadgetsThis looks like it will be an interesting discussion of mobile technologies in schools.  Join in the free chat session at the Education Week website.  No special software required.

Because of their low cost and ubiquity, an increasing number of educators are considering the use of mobile devices, such as cellphones, netbooks, GPS systems, digital recorders, and MP3 players, in the classroom. When harnessed properly, supporters say, these devices can open up new educational opportunities for students. But some critics feel such devices are more of a distraction or annoyance than a learning tool. Our guests will discuss which mobile technologies are best for the classroom, when they should or should not be used, and which emerging mobile technologies will have a significant impact on K-12 education.

(via: Mobile Libraries)

(image courtesy limowreck666)

K-12 Hot Topic Technology Webinars

Aug 9th, 2009
by pollyalida.
No comments yet

Check out these free webinars from Project Tomorrow® and T.H.E. Journal for those interested in K-12 IT issues:

  • Aug 19 Mobile Devices within Instruction    
  • Sep 16 Digital Content    
  • Oct 14 Web 2.0 and Education    
  • Oct 28 21st Century Skills    
  • Nov 11 Top 10 Trends in Student Learning with Technology    
  • Dec 2 Internet Safety
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