Hall-Dale School District | MSAD 16

Reaching for the Future

Welcome to the HallDale Education Technology Blog

Featuring news and resources to facilitate discussions around integration and effective use of technology in the 21st century classroom.  Hall-Dale has made a commitment to prepare our students for the future.  Their future.

As Sir Ken Robinson articulates: Young people “are not frightened of being wrong.  If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original….  Kids will take a chance.”   It’s these creative chances and the results that will drive the new world beyond our generation.  A world we cannot predict.  The growth of these technologies and their uses are exponential.  Our lack of understanding of the future is therefore also exponential.  The 21st century is here and we as educators need to lead our children into their future.

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Common Sense Media Helps Parents and Teachers Understand our Students

Thanks Christine Goulette for the tip on the web site Commonsensemedia.org.  It’s full of useful information for parents and educators on what our children are growing up with, such as internet safety, digital citizenship, social networking, etc. 

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Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy

This is a very neat interpretation of Bloom’s Taxonomy.  It’s been modified to be more useful when teaching 21st century skills to students in the digital learning environment we are fortunate to have.

Please take a moment to read the article from Tech & Learning.  I just may be that spark that helps understand how the digital learning fits in modern educational environment!

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On May 15, 2009 at 10:34 pm Skynet became self-aware…

I’m not sure if I should be scared or not??

Where are you?

How old are you?

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Wolfram Alpha - a new kind of search engine

Tonight Wolfram Research, maker of the Mathematica, released ‘Wolfram Alpha”, a new search engine. Actually, I would more accurately describe it as an Information Engine.
The best way to understand Wolfram Alpha, is to view a screencast demostration from Stephen Wolfram, and then try it yourself.

Just remember, “It’s not just how you got the data, but what you do with it.

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HS Laptop Initiative

Here are some of my thoughts on the Maine high school laptop initiative.  I could write volumes on this topic, and may still, but I wanted to start with something short enough that folks might actually read.

Maine High School Laptop Initiative (PDF)

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The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has produced a collection of articles and sites with information on 21st Century Skills.

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Smartboard video tutorials

Here is a weblog devoted to the application of the Smartboard in the classroom
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=272381274

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Have You Checked Out iTunes U Yet?

If not you are missing out on one of the most important education changes in last decade.  This mechanism makes it possible to watch lectures from educational institutions all over the world - for FREE and watch when you have the time, not when class is in session.

Read more here:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_10019766?sr=hotnews

It’s easy:  On your Mac, open iTunes from the Applications folder.
On the left, click on iTunes Store (remember these lectures and podcasts are free!)
At the top right you will see a box that says “search iTunes store”.  Type the search text there for the type of podcast you are looking for.  For example, Physics or Education Technology or autism.
The results you see now could be anything from music to lectures.  To narrow down the results to podcasts or iTunes U there’s one more step.
In the upper left of the window you should see a Power Search box with a menu.  Select iTunes U or Podcasts and the selection results will be filtered.

The video and audio podcasts can be downloaded for viewing later, and be sync’d with your iPod Touch for viewing anywhere, anytime.  Got a spare fifteen minutes while waiting for baseball practice to end?  Take out the iPod Touch and brush up on the physics of baseball or find technology in education lesson plans.

Need more help?  Stop in to the IT office at Hall-Dale and we’ll give you some tips.

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iTunes U for K-14

Today Apple quietly launched iTunesU-K12, a resource for K-12 schools and districts throughout the United States. So far, only a few states have contributed (Arizona, Florida, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Utah) with varying amounts of content available.

Check out Maine’s own page, or check out the excellent resources at Arizona’s IDEAL eLearning page, it is basically a mini iTunes store with numerous podcasts, some faculty generated , some student generated.

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Check out the Digital Vaults

There’s a new primary data search tool that’s very interesting and allows you to search for information and drill down through images, etc. to find more information.  Great resource and lots of fun to use.

Spend some time and learn some history!

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Using Internet TV in the Classroom

David Trask has published a great blog article about Miro, an Internet TV interfacing application.  It installs easily on a Mac and works great.  There’s lots of content available and a good search engine as well.  Take a look at his article here…

Download Miro here.  If you need help installing let us know in the IT department…

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11 Year Old Handles School Technology

Can an 11 year old take over my job?  Maybe! 

Read this article about a small private school in Arkansas.

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Blogs & Wikis as instructional tools…

Some examples of Blogs being used in the Classroom:

Students 2.0
Room 24
A kindergarten class: Kinderkids
Thomas Cooper AP Environmental Science Class
A Spanish Class:
A 6th Grade language Arts Class

Here are some intresting Wikis in the classroom:

FlatPlanetProject
Qatar Academy IT classes with Mrs Lindsay
Room24 Wiki
GoAPES Wiki Page
Mr. Cooper’s Outdoor Culture and Technology course
Miss Duffy’s “Midsummer Nights Dream” page
Walker School Internet Technology course
Miss Cormier’s 7th grade Science Wikispace
A Collaberate wiki between two schools: Nashwaaksis Middle School & American School of Bombay
Miss Gauley’s K-2 Class – Bengough

Make your own Wiki or Blog:
http://www.wikispaces.com/
or speak with the IT department about hosting a site.

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Muxicall

Muxicall: A collaborative music making site
Multiple users can be online, each with a different instrument.

Hold down the shift key as you move the cursor over the screen.

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