Category Archives: Ed. Tech Resources

The Power of the Hashtag

Ed. Tech Resources,

Two weeks ago I was fortunate enough to do a presentation at the Maui Technology Day at Kamehameha Maui Middle School.  My presentation was on using Twitter for Professional Development.  I wanted to demonstrate the power of the Hashtag and in order to do so, I needed a little help from my Personal Learning Network (PLN).  The day before my presentation, I tweeted,

The response was overwhelming.  Not only was my tweet retweeted by @web20classroom himself , but it was retweeted over 100 times!  And that doesn’t include how many people also responded “yes”.  By using the Hashtags #edtech, #edchat, #PLE, and #Learn, my tweet went out to thousands of educators with similar interests.  Without using Hashtags, maybe one of my 80 something followers at the time might have seen my tweet and maybe may have responded.

Twitter has become invaluable to my learning.  I’m no longer limited to learning from educators in my own school, but educators from around the globe without having to leave my office.  I follow people like Steven Anderson, George Couros, and Shelly Terrell to prescreen information for me so I don’t have to.  I use hashtags to stay current on trends in educational technology and to even ask questions to my PLN, who willingly respond and have in turn made my job much more efficient.

Two weeks later, my power of the hashtag tweet is still being retweeted which I am pretty amazed by.  If you’re an educator reading this, believe it or not, other educators do want to know what works for you in education.  Share the tools you are using in the classroom to motivate students.  Use the power of the hashtag  and ask questions to other educators.  Use the 21st century skills your students use every day.  Everything you need to get started, including lists of educational hashtags, can be found right here.

And remember…tweet others as you want to be tweeted 😉

Changing the Header on Your KS Blog

Ed. Tech Resources

This tutorial will show you how to change your header on you KS Blog.

After logging into your blog,

 

Note:  If you choose your own image, you will be able to crop it to the header size on the following page (see below).

Click on Save Changes and youʻre good to go! 

The header size is 940 by 198.  If you want to customize your header before uploading:

  1. Create the header in Photoshop.
    1. Open Photoshop and choose file > new
    2. Type 940 for width and 198 for height
    3. Click on OK
  2. Donʻt like Photoshop?  Create your header in PowerPoint, save it as a jpeg and then upload it to your Blog.  Click here for a PPt file thatʻs already sized for the header.  Make sure to keep all your customizing within the navy rectangle.

 

 

21st Century Professional Development

Ed. Tech Resources

I just spent the last two days immersed in 21st century professional development.  Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to polycom all day with Alan November (@globalearner) along with @carmenstack, @kaleichang, and @KSHAlumnai.  Today, I attended the Schools of the Future Conference where @globalearner, and my most favorite, @torres21, were the keynote speakers.  If I tried to share everything I learned, this blog post would be way too long to read, so I want to just share two of my main take aways for the last two days:

  1. We need to ask more questions – not only do we need to ask more questions, but we need to listen to our students questions, and provide them with opportunities to question. (more on this in a future blog post)
  2. Get on twitter – use it for PD.

Twitter has changed my life.  A couple of years ago I heard about it and created an account because I wanted to see what the buzz was about.  But I didn’t truly understand the power of twitter and professional development for teachers until I watched a youtube video created by @stumpteacher.  I want to share that video with you.  And I want you to share that video with everyone you know.  You don’t have to be a teacher to take advantage of the learning and sharing that twitter can provide.

I hope this video enhances your professional learning as much as it has enhanced mine.

 

Alternatives to PowerPoint

Ed. Tech Resources, High School, Middle School, Web 2.0, , , , , ,

Edutopia has an excellent Summer PD titled, Web Tools Collective Series.  I just read Part 4 of the series and my absolute favorite Youtube Video about how not to use PowerPoint was shared:

We’ve all probably experienced this when attending presentations, which is why this video is SO funny.  I laugh every time I watch it!  So how do we teach our students to give good presentations?

ReadWriteThink and PowerPoint in the Classroom both have excellent resources for teaching kids how to create effective and meaningful PowerPoint presentations.  But we also have to remember with the emergence of Web 2.0 tools, there are now FREE alternatives to PowerPoint.  Below are just a handful of some of the Web 2.0 Tools that students can use to create presentations:

The beauty of the above tools:

  • They’re accessible from any computer, anywhere as long as one has internet connection
  • They can been shared with peers, students, parents, etc.
  • They allow for collaboration
  • They don’t require a flash drive

One important thing to consider when using any Web 2.0 Tool in the classroom is the terms and conditions of the tool.  Lucie deLaBruere has put together an excellent resource for information addressing terms and conditions of Web 2.0 tools and privacy policies.  Find it here.

What’s your favorite presentation tool?  Do you have any student samples you can share?

Adding Attachments to Your KS Blog

Ed. Tech Resources,

 

 

Sometimes when you write a blog post, you want to make documents available for your readers to download.  Hereʻs how to add an attachment to your KS Blog:


  1. Decide how you want your attachments inserted, for example:a.  Click here to download document
    b.  Click on the link below to download document
    Adding a Post 

     

  2. Click on the icon that looks like a sun above your tool bar.  When you hover your mouse over it it will say, “add media”.
  3. In the shadow box you will notice at the top there are different places you can upload your media from.  In this example, weʻre going to upload from our computer.  Simply click on,
  4. Notice in the next window a link is created to the document.  For example b above, you would simply click on “Insert into Post” and your document will be linked in your post.  for example a above, select and copy the link to the document and exit out of the window.
  5. In your post, highlight the word you want your reader to click on to download the document.  In example a, I used the word “here”.  Highlight the word and then click on the link icon in your toolbar.

  6. Paste the link to your document in the url field in the next window and then choose, add link.

Update your blog and, Voila!  Now you can link!

Note – because not all blog readers have the same programs on their computers, itʻs a good idea to link to PDFs.

Twitter…Yes? No? Maybe?

Ed. Tech Resources

This post is part of an Online Communication PD Class…

After the Introduction to Twitter Class and reading through the HW assignments…

  1. Can a micro-blogging tool accommodate communication and learning in the classroom?
  2. Will you use twitter as part of you PLN?
  3. What drawbacks can there be in using a tool like this one?
  4. If the tool must fit the purpose, how, when and where will you use this tool as teacher?

 

 

Embedding Video From Your KS Website Account

Ed. Tech Resources, ,

So you have a movie you’ve created, or one of your students has created, and you’ve published it to your KS Website and now want to have it embedded in your blog.  Well…here’s how:

Step 1: Create a new post and click on the Add Video Icon

Step 2: A shadowbox will open.  Click on the URL tab

Step 3: Open a new tab and navigate to your KS Website where your movie is hosted.  Copy the url (web address)

Step 4: Click back over to your post and paste the URL into the Video URL field.  Add “.mp4” to the end of the video URL

Step 5: Click Insert into Post and then Publish and Voila, your video is now embedded into your blog!

Here’s a video tutorial using this method:

EmbeddingVideo.mp4

Embedding Video Into your Blog

Ed. Tech Resources, ,

There are a couple options for embedding video into your blog.  This tutorial will show you how to embed video from a video hosting websites like Youtube, Vimeo, and Teacher Tube.

Step 1: Go to the website the video you want to use is hosted at. 

Step 2: Find the “embed” code, it might be a button you have to click on

Step 3: Copy the Embed Code

Step 4: Create a New Post in your Blog and toggle to HTML View

Step 5: Paste the code

Step 6: Click publish and Voila, your video is embedded!

Try it and let me know how it works!

What’s Your PLN Like?

Ed. Tech Resources
Diagram by: Alec Couros

 

I have only recently become more savvy in learning through my Personal Learning Network (PLN).  I used to spend hours on the internet, hunting for information.

 

 

The old me:

  • Googled lesson plans
  • Rarely bookmarked
  • Visited only my favorite resources…sometimes (Edutopia, T.H.E Journal,eSchool News, Teacher Tube, etc.)
  • Only used Facebook for socializing
  • Had a Twitter account because I heard about it, but I never really used it
  • Wasted a lot of time looking for that “awesome website I saw a couple months ago, but I don’t remember what it was titled”
  • Shared “stuff”…but only in my school

Now I:

  • Still Google Lesson Plans, but I know how to use quotes and + and – now AND have you seen all the cool Google tools on the left?
  • Bookmark the sites I need to access for work
  • Use iGoogle as a reader to bring the information to me
  • Follow my favorites on Facebook (Glogster, Edublogs, etc.)
  • Use twitter to follow Ed. Tech experts (and more…)
  • Use Later This so I don’t loose that awesome website that I don’t have time to read right now but don’t want to loose it…
  • Share globally through my blog, google sites, classroom 2.0, wikis and more
Jeff UTecht’s Stages of Personal Learning Networks Adoption

If you look at Jeff Utecht’s Stages of Personal Learning Network Adoption, I think I go back and forth between Know it All and Balance.  I often find myself wanting to learn more and more and more, and then there are days when I’m all good and know I can tap in when I’m ready.

I think I manage my PLN pretty well, but I also know I have a lot to learn.  There are tools out there that can help me manage it all better, and the best is probably yet to come, and then something better will come along.

What’s your Personal Learning Network like?