Sunday, December 31, 2006

Using the Internet in the K-12 Classroom

Happy New Year, "Teach with Tech" listeners!

Soon the new semester will be upon us, here at Indiana University. As I have since 1998, I'll be teaching my online course, Education W505: Using the Internet in the K-12 Classroom. I'm looking forward to the new semester, and meeting the new students. Of course, the class has changed over the years I've taught it, just as the Internet has grown and developed. The basic idea of the course is that I lead students through the basic tools of the Internet (email, the Web, chat/instant messaging, learning management systems, etc.) and we discuss how they can be integrated into the student's current or future teaching. Recently, I've added podcasts, blogs and wikis into the class. The activities and projects all revolve around creating things that can actually be used by the students in their teaching. I've been really pleased and impressed with the work that my students have done in this course, creating webpages, webquests, etc. The capstone activity involves creating an instructional unit that integrates the Internet. One of my favorite aspects of teaching this course is that the students are so diverse--while I welcome students from Indiana, it is always nice to have students from out of state or out of the country. This past semester I had a student in Taiwan, and I've had them from Dubai, Japan, England, Pakistan, etc. over the years. I'm still looking for a few more students for this semester (which starts January 9th). Interested? Check it out at: http://www.indiana.edu/~w505a/

Only a week or so before I leave for the MacWorldExpo convention! Can't wait! I'm sure I'll have lots to share in the podcast when I get back.

The International Student Media Festival will start accepting K-12 media project entries on February 1st! Time to start thinking about your class's entry, if you haven't already.

Cheers,
Chris

Friday, December 22, 2006

Episode 16: "What is Web 2.0?" Show Notes

Well, the episode is out there! Go get it! Great for listening to while shopping, or driving to Grandma's!

Articles for this Episode:


Time Magazine Person of the Year 2006:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning?
http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm06/erm0621.asp?bhcp=1

What is Web 2.0?
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Featured Websites:

Second Life: http://www.secondlife.com
Student-Centered Learning Management System: http://www.elgg.org
Easy sharing of large documents: http://www.yousendit.com and http://www.rapidshare.de
Slashtmp (IU only): http://kb.iu.edu/data/angt.html (instructions)
Google Docs & Spreadsheets: http://docs.google.com/
Google Labs: http://labs.google.com/ (including all the other Google tools we mentioned)
Innovative use of widgets: http://www.protopage.com/
Breeze/Contact competitor: http://www.vyew.com/
Blog Search Engine: http://blogsearch.google.com/
Teaching via the iPod: http://www.mogopop.com

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Congratulations! You're a Winner!

"Teach with Tech" Episode 16 will be recorded tomorrow, Thursday, December 20th, and it's all about you, yes, you! Just like the current issue of Time magazine is, and for the same reasons, more or less. Congratulations on your Person of the Year--should we say Teacher of the Year or Faculty Member of the Year?--status! How did you earn this award? It's because you are part of Web 2.0! What does that mean? Tune in to Episode 16. Our old friend Mark Millard of the Teaching and Learning with Technologies Centers at Indiana University will be joining us to discuss this very topic.

Chris

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Episode 16 Is On Its Way!

Yes, it's about that time again! You can feel the excitement in the air! Episode 15, which is of course, still available, discussed digital video analysis and continued the steady increase in listeners, was released about a month ago. Episode 16 of "Teach with Tech" will be here before you know it!