Weekly Tech Tip: Beginners Guide - Social Networking for Educators

While Myspace & Facebook are still largely taboo in k-12 schools social networking has recently made a huge splash for Educators. There are many social networks that have been created in the past three years designed specifically for teacher professional development and educational research. This week's tech tip introduces you to a few popular networks for teachers.

Weekly Tech Tip:

Related links:

• NEA's list of social networks they recommend for teachers
• ElEdBlog - Space to discuss articles from NEA Today
• ASCD EDge
• Classroom 2.0
• Educator's PLN
• iTeach Mobile
• English Companion Ning - Where English teachers go to help each other
• Early Career Teachers - NCTE Ning
• Art Education 2.0 - Using New Technology in Art Classrooms
• MEMO - Minnesota Educational Media Organization - Serving school ...
• k12Online
• SEMTEC The SE MN preK-12 Technology Coordinators
• The Future of Education
• WebQuest Dialog
• Independent School Educators network

Want to build your own social network, try these platforms:

• Ning!
• Mojofiti - Social network & blogging platform that instantly communicates in 27 languages
• Taskbarn
• Planypus
• Wetpaint - free wiki platform that has social networking features

Link Stew:

• Educon 2.2 is this weekend
• Follow them on Twitter!
• Attend Virtually (links to Elluminate Sessions Steaming unConference Sessions)
• Avatara - Create 3d avatars online
• iTALC - free computer lab management software - gives you big brother control over your fleet of machines
• Try Android 2.1 on Windows

Blog Carnival

• How to Request Ad Removal from an Educational Network
• 50 Cool Search Engines for Serious Readers
• "Will Richardson and the new high school, Clay Shirky and the new college" by Alex Reid on Digital Digs

Weekly Tech Tip - Terms of Service and Age Restrictions

The new online tools are great and can have exponential application for teaching and learning. However, one thing we need to be aware of when using online tools and services with students (especially those under 13 years old) are age restrictions found in the terms of service. Federal COPPA law requires us to gain parental permission to use many of the tools I have in the Digital Backpack with students. Many tools, however, do not have any age restrictions, do not collect any student information, and are completely safe and appropriate for students of any age. I have added a new feature to the Digital Backpack that indicates these age restrictions found in web service TOS agreements. This week's tech tip walks you through this new feature of the Digital Backpack. For a list of tools from the Backpack that don't have any age restrictions click here.

Weekly Tech Tip:

Link Stew:

• 2010 Horizon Report | NMC - annual forecast of new technologies and trends likely to have an impact on education

• Educause General Session: 2010 Horizon Report and Lightning Round
  

• Monster Milktruck! - Drive around Google Earth in a milktruck.

• Education Week: Cellphones in Schools: Flip ’Em Open

• Education Week's Digital Directions: Whiteboards' Impact on Teaching Seen as Uneven

• Educational Networking: The Important Role Web 2.0 Will Play in Education

• Welcome to Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker! Create crossword puzzles, word searches, mazes, and other puzzles for your classroom today!

• Wikitude - Augmented reality world browser for the iPhone and Android

• CiteSimple: Free MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian Citation Tools

• :: AppMakr - make your own app for the iPhone or iPod Touch

• Wallwisher.com :: Words that stick - make a virtual bulletin board

• 2010 ELI Live Presentation Archive - This is a database free online conference session recordings.

• If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online - NY Times
  

• Neotake - ebook search engine
  

• CommonCraft's Protecting Reputations Online in Plain English

• Kids Connecting With Adults Online: Teach students how to learn with adults from around the world. by Will Richardson | District Administration

Blog Carnival:

• Cost per student compared to prison inmate - by Scott Mcleod on Mind Dump

• Tool or Toy? The Blurred Line of a Computer By Jeff Utecht on The Thinking Stick

• Engagement v. Empowerment -- Some Early Thoughts... by Chris Lehmann on Practical Theory

• Taking others' assessments: How brave are your educators? - by Scott Mcleod on Dangerously Irrelevant
  

Weekly Tech Tip - Downloading and Converting Online Video

Since we recently (temporarily) blocked YouTube at school it poses a particular problem for teachers who rely on it for content. There are ways to get around this by downloading the videos before and after school or at home. In this week's tech tip I show you two different methods of doing this. I also built a new teacher training module on this topic that includes these tech tips and links to the necessary tools.

Weekly Tech Tip:

How to Download and Convert Online Video Files using Desktop Tools from Carl Anderson on Vimeo.

Download and Convert Online Video using Online Tools from Carl Anderson on Vimeo.

6.6 - Extracting and Converting Online Media Content (3pts)

Link Stew:

• Dear Map - this is a tool that lets you annotate Google Maps with your own landmarks and share them with others. They also let you view your custom map in Google Earth and even create a drivable virtual road trip. (Cool factor - 9.5)
• Slide Finder - Slide show search engine with an academic focus.
• N Building on Vimeo - Augmented reality is the next big thing in tech. This is a video of a building in Japan that has built QR codes right into the architecture (QR codes are kind of like visual bar codes
• Format Factory - Free media file format converter
• Sheet Music Editor - Create new original music or refine and polish hand-written compositions
• app.itize.us - Directory of the "best designed" iPhone and iPod Touch apps
• Cell Phones: The 7th Form of Mass Media - Interesting speech by Tomi Ahonen on Fora.tv
• Primary Pad - web-based word processor that allows students and teachers to simultaneously work on documents at the same time.
• Interesting statistic from MNSCU regarding Online Enrollment:
• MnOnline growth rate this year is 22% - over 19,000 FYE in online courses. Online now makes up 12.8% of total enrollment.
• Transfer songs from iPod to computer http://bit.ly/4wyISJ
• Digital Equity in Education: A Multilevel Examination of Differences in and Relationships between Computer Access, Computer Use and State-level Technology Policies by Jonathan D. Becker, J.D., Ph.D., Hofstra University

Blog Carnival:

• Blind Men, Elephants, and Cognitive Tools from Technology in the Middle Blog by Patrick WoessnerFacebook's Zuckerberg Says Privacy No Longer A 'Social Norm' (VIDEO) From the Huffington Post
• School Teaches Its Students Almost Entirely Through Video Games from NeatORama