EdubloggerCon East blew me away yesterday.
I was so impressed by the educators that dedicated their day to joining our gathering at the Newton Marriott. Alan November graciously arranged for a room for us for the day and the accommodations were fantastic (including the wireless access).

I know many of the EBC attendees will be blogging about the day and you can view our notes on our Google Doc. Also, in the next few days, we’ll post a link on the wiki to the archived UStream and I’ve posted the Wordle that we tried to make yesterday here as well as in our Group on the BLC Ning. (I had fun Joyce!) But most importantly, I’d like to take some time to post my thoughts on the one idea I neglected to mention.

Over really yummy Mexican food, I looked at Liz Davis and said, “I just remembered what I wanted to ask everyone!” I wanted to have a conversation about what makes a blog worthy of being listed on your blogroll. I’ve noticed that some edublogger’s blogrolls have gotten quite lengthy. Some are even categorized. Mine on the other hand is quite short and is missing many blogs that I read on a regular basis. So I’ve gone in before posting this to fix that. I’ve also eliminated some of the blogs that I really haven’t been dedicated to reading.

Now that I’ve updated mine, I thought I’d share with you why I listed the blogs I chose. These are the blogs I have subscribed to in my Google Reader. They should give someone reading ThumannResources an idea of who I interact with and what topics I’m interested in reading. For the most part these bloggers are part of my PLN.

Questions for you:

Why do you share your blogroll?

Who’s blog is listed in your blogrroll that your actually read on a regular basis?

Who’s blog is listed in your blogroll that you really don’t read?

What other reasons are there that would cause you to list someone’s blog in your blog roll?

]]> http://thumannresources.com/2008/07/15/the-one-thing-i-forgot-to-talk-about-at-edubloggercon-east/feed/ lthumann http://thumannresources.com/2008/07/10/itouch-the-future-i-teach-myself/ http://thumannresources.com/2008/07/10/itouch-the-future-i-teach-myself/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:57:56 +0000 lthumann http://thumannresources.wordpress.com/?p=91

It’s amazing how many applications are available for the iTouch / iPhone. So far, I’ve blogged about sites for music, math and science and I’ve only made a dent in what’s available to use with students. There are also many sites that we can use for ourselves for productivity and just for fun. Today’s post will be a little bit about all three.

Productivity

· iDetect http://spicyclam.com/idetect/
This is an internet detection connector. If you have an iTouch, iDetect will automatically connect you to wi-fi if there is one available.

· Google Notebook - Mobile Version http://google.com/notebook/m
If you have an iGoogle page set up for yourself, this is great to have access to on your iPhone or iTouch. You could use it in lieu of a Google Doc to access information on-the-go. I’ve used it to access sets of links similar to this Google Doc that I’m no interested in sharing or publishing as a webpage.

· Glide http://www.glidemobile.com/
Sync with your desktop to view Powerpoint and Word docs on your iTouch. It’s a complete mobile desktop. Here’s an article about it.

· Widgetop http://www.widgetop.com/mobile.html
This is the mobile version of Widgetop Check it out if you are a fan of widgets or if you are a developer and you’d like to submit one to them.

· Pogonotes http://www.pogonotes.com/iphone/pogonotes.php
These “notes” are accessible beyond the iTouch unlike the notes that comes pre-installed – take a look at their site.

· iPhone Typing Test http://www.iphonetypingtest.com/
Try it out - see how fast you type with one finger.

· iNetwork Test http://www.inetworktest.com/
Measures the speed of the network your device is attached to.

· iTouch RSS Converter http://rss.blogcast.jp/login.php
iPhone/touch RSS Converter enables you to bring your favorite audio and video podcasts without syncing with iTunes. This tool allows you more space for many music and video on your iPhone and iPod Touch. Try your favorite podcast and you can also discover many podcasts from other people’s choice.

Education

· Quizzler http://www.quizzlerpro.com/quiz/online/index.html
Preloaded quizzes for SAT prep vocabulary, Harry Potter Books, State Capitals, Animals and Nature and more. When you tap on the wrong answer it highlights in red. When you tap on the correct answer it highlights in green so you know to move on to the next question.

Purchase Quizzler Pro to create quizzes yourself.

WARNING: Quizzler was originally developed for Pocket PCs and Palm handhelds. You can adapt the quizzes for the iPhones and iTouches, but their website suggests contacting them directly with any additional questions. It makes me think they are working on developing software specifically for the iTouch.

· iBookmark http://ibookmark.myiphone.pl/en/
There is a function that allows you to import from Del.icio.us

Entertainment

· iDoodle http://www.idoodleapp.com/
I could have used this one in the iTouch Math sites for geometry. You can “replay” your strokes. New to this latest version of iDoodle - you can now add text

video tutorial found at: http://www.idoodleapp.com/iDoodleGuide/index.html
iDoodle.jpg

· Free eBooks http://iphoneplaza.net/books/
They currently have about 20 books- supported by ads for Amazon. (There’s a link right on the main page for a “Deluxe eBook Reader”. It’s a link to buy the Kindle on Amazon.com)

· iPhlickr http://www.chandlerkent.com/iphlickr/
This site is not affiliated directed with Flickr -but allows you to search and view your Flickr photos or the millions of other photos on Flickr from your iPhone or iTouch.

· Google Talk http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/m
IM your Google contacts from your iPhone / iTouch

A few additional items I wanted to mention…

If you are looking to Jailbreak your iPhone – check out Mark Wagner’s blog. He is a fellow Google Certified Teacher that I had the pleasure of meeting in person at NECC in San Antonio last week. He has some great posts on the topic.

Wouldn’t it be great if Diigo had a mobile site?

Still to come iTouch Foreign Languages, iTouch Social Studies and you never know what else I’ll come across. Feel free to leave me a comment with some suggestions. And as always, there were a few sites I looked at that I didn’t list here. Feel free to view my Google Doc.

]]> http://thumannresources.com/2008/07/10/itouch-the-future-i-teach-myself/feed/ lthumann http://thumannresources.com/2008/07/05/necc-2008-something-was-different/ http://thumannresources.com/2008/07/05/necc-2008-something-was-different/#comments Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:09:23 +0000 lthumann http://thumannresources.wordpress.com/?p=86

I could write several paragraphs about how I was looking forward to meeting my PLN face-to-face. But with the exception of the very few people I did not get the chance to see, meeting the educators I’ve been communicating with online met and even exceeded my expectations. What has been keeping me from posting my thoughts has been the other people I met at this year’s National Educational Computing Conference.

Before I tell you about the 4 educators that left the biggest impression on me, let me first tell you about the interesting way I arrived at NECC this year. This is my 3^rd NECC in the last 4 years. Usually the CMSCE funds my entire trip, but since I will also be attending BLC this summer, I went to one of our partners and asked if they would help with my expenses. I was very fortunate that Promethean agreed to pay for much of my expenses in San Antonio in exchange for some sessions on the conference floor.

THIS CHANGED EVERYTHING.

I had a set schedule of sessions at 11, 1 and 3 each day that kept me from attending many of the sessions given by the people in my PLN that I could have learned something from.  I had limited time to spend in the Second Life Lounge and Blogger’s Café as it seemed I always had to be back to the conference floor. And the largest affect it had on me personally was that I had to wear a vendor shirt the entire day. Not only was I snubbed by many vendors until I whipped out my “other” name tag that had “CMSCE, Rutgers University” printed on it, but my insecurities led me to believe that those that didn’t know me yet felt that I was maybe in the “wrong” place due to the label on my shirt.

THIS CHANGED EVERYTHING.

1. I met a teacher where I presented (6 times) who never left the booth – did not even know there was anything to do besides the conference floor – and was not interested in checking anything out even when invited to join me. This left me wondering what percentage of the educators that go to NECC actually attend the sessions and what percentage only visit the conference floor. Dean Shareski estimated that only about “300 of the 17,000 attendees have any sense of what powerful online communities are all about” I think he’s right. It’s a number we should all work on increasing.
2. Two technology teachers I sat next to during a lunch break had never used a wiki before and had no idea what social bookmarking was. Brian Crosby overheard some teachers on the shuttle commenting how none of them thought to bring their laptops. Is this population of 17,000 so connected that they would feel a need to bring their technology with them? We think of our iPhones and laptops as appendages, but we are in the minority.
3. A vender snubbed me (I assume it was because of my shirt) until I switched my name tag to the Rutgers University side at which time they immediately became interested in me.
4. An educator convincingly told me she used Twitter to keep up with technology trends, but when I checked out her profile, she followed three people (one of which was me). I know I can be passionate about my PLN as I rely on many and most of you for an exchange of quality resources and information. I think Mark Wagner said it well on his blog a few days ago when he wrote “I definitely advocate sharing your passions, but we need to remember that they are after all constructing their own meaning and that this usually happens gradually and organically over time.” 

I keep thinking about Educon. I’m looking forward to meeting again in Philly. I know the format with be slightly different and the numbers will be slightly larger – but the conversations that came out of that weekend generated many of the networks that exist today. I was in the Blogger’s Café with Riptide_Furse (who I was psyched to meet face-to-face) when Jennifer Dorman did her session on Diigo. I didn’t recognize her from the little Twitter avatar, but Rip told me who she was, and I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself because I had to run back to the floor and do another vendor session, but I would love to have a detailed conversation with her regarding her comments on her blog. Jennifer wrote “I do question whether or not huge conferences like this one are truly the best delivery method for edtech content.”

Many times I’m torn between the responsibility my work brings and the thirst for intellectual challenge and entertaining social interaction. Sometimes I can mix it all together. Laura Deisley  and Bud Hunt helped with that as did many others.

So, my question is…What impact does NECC have on the educators that never leave the conference floor? Many of us feel that as long as you have a computer, access to the Internet and a webcam you can open your classroom to endless opportunities. If this was the case for every classroom, that would be the end of the conference floor. Chris Lehmann  – I can’t wait for Educon 2.1.

So much has happened in this corner of the ed tech world this past week.

On Wednesday, June 25, we welcomed 50 new talented educators into the Google Certified Teachers group. It has been great hearing about their experiences in Mountainview, CA and the knowledge and enthusiasm they bring to our group.

On Friday, June 27, I welcomed 24 New Jersey educators into the Center’s 21^st Century Learning Initiative. Teachers from Chatham, Hamilton, Spring Lake and Camden school districts met at our Center on Rutgers’ Busch campus to discuss what we need to prepare ourselves to teach students in the 21^st Century. I introduced the teachers to Twitter and Diigo and asked that they spend the next month immersing themselves in developing a personal and professional learning network and giving some thought as to what they would like to gain from their networks as an individual.

We meet again at the end of July.

Today, as I finished my Flipcharts for NECC, I watched the UStreams and backchannel chats of EduBloggerCon in San Antonio. I also procrastinated and it’s now almost 11pm and I have still not packed.

Tommorow – Texas and NECC 08!

On Friday, June 27, teachers from four districts across New Jersey will gather at the Center for Mathematics, Science and Computer Education at Rutgers University to begin the first year of a new initiative I am pleased to be working on. These educators will spend the day getting to know each other and begin immersing themselves in online professional learning networks.

I’ve outlined the day as follows:

• Topic 1: Why do we teach what we teach?
  • Grade levels
  • Subject areas
  • Areas of interests
• Topic 2: Focus on the learning not on the tools
  • What skills do you need as an educator?
  • What skills do you need as an individual?
  • What skills will our students need to be successful in higher education and ultimately their careers?
• Topic 3: Developing your professional learning network
  • Who do you want in your network? Why?
  • What will you offer to educators in your network?
  • What tool(s) do you want to use to develop your network?

I’ve collected some resources I’d like to share with the group:

Council of 21 Concludes its Year-long Study: Preparing Schools and School Systems for the 21st Century

You Tube - Did You Know 2.0 Video

Dangerously Irrelevant: Key Question

21^st Century Learning: 9 Principles for Implementation

I’m very much looking forward to meeting everyone and participating in the discussion among this group of educators. Before we reconvene on July 28, participants will have a chance to communicate with each other via Twitter, Diigo and any other form of online networking they choose including Nings, wikis and blogs to define their vision for 21^st Century Learning.

This past Friday I attended the end of the year monthly meeting for NJECC. Members are asked to bring guests with them to present success stories of technology integration from the school year. We saw some great projects spanning the WII Fit to Scratch to Tablet PCs to the folks I brought from North Plainfield School District who spoke about their iPod and Podcasting initiative.

I Tweeted some new links while I was there. But what I couldn’t summarize in 140 characters or less was what Dave Marra from Apple demonstrated for us.

Among some other amazing tips and tricks Dave shared, he took us through a tour of iTunes U. I admit that I wasn’t as familiar with it’s offerings as I thought I was because I couldn’t wait to get home to starting searching around.

When you get the chance, take a look at these areas in iTunes U to see if there’s anything you’d like to subscribe to and remember – it’s all free.

·         Under the Categories section on the left, you’ll find a link for “Teaching and Education”
Within this category you will find so many wonderful things to view and listen to as an educator.

1.    Teaching and Learning – UMBC’s Hybrid Teaching Workshop

2.     Educational Policy from Stanford University

3.     Duke’s Digital Initiative

4.     Tech-Ease: Classroom Tech Help includes video podcasts on Inspiration, Wikis, Blackboard, podcasting as well as many others.

·         Under the Categories section, you’ll find links for Science, Mathematics, History and Fine Arts as well as other areas of interest. Check them out too.

·         iTunes U is SEARCHABLE!! Try it. I typed “Twitter” in the search box and got back 50 related podcasts.

·         Scroll down to the bottom left and you’ll find a link for the “Beyond Campus” category. Take the time to check these out. Here’s a few.

1.     Little Kids Rock – nonprofit organization that provides it’s curriculum and musical instruments to schools in need. They have guitar and drum lessons posted in podcast format as well as other videocasts.

2.    The New York Public Library – provides literature podcasts from the author visits as well as a business series on credit management and marketing.  They even have a teen program called “Turn It Up @ The Library” which you can subscribe to.

3.     American Public Media – offers a podcasts on the 2008 Election Issues

Take some time to explore and sync some these podcasts to your iPod or MP3 player. Have fun.

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get to my third post on the iTouch. June has been a crazy month of professional development, getting ready for NECC and playing with new toys.

On to the focus of the post - science. As I did with my post on iTouch music sites and iTouch math sites, I’ve published a Google Doc with the websites I tried on the iTouch. Not all of them were worth posting here either because of the layout, appropriateness in the educational setting, or because I just couldn’t access them, but you might want to see them, so you can through this Doc.

I tried to divide the sites into categories as I had with the math sites, but there would have been too many categories, so I’m going to list some converters and some miscellaneous.

There were several great science converter sites for the iTouch/iPhone.

- iConvert - has 26 categories including torque, density, and clothing sizes. (I’ve never been able to convert US shoe sizes to European shoe sizes and now I can!)

- Comoki Converter (only viewable on the iTouch/iPhone) - This one is AWESOME! It’s divided by categories (angle area, energy, temperature, time, length, speed, pressure, power, volume, weight ) You could spend hours here.  BTW - Thanks @Riptide_Furse for the suggestion.

- Temperature Conversions

- Culinary Calculator - weight converter

There were a couple of dictionaries for the iTouch.

• Chemistry Dictionary
  
• Biology Dictionary

There was a also a fantastic site that would be helpful for students working with the Periodic Table of Elements.

As I mentioned in my iTouch post on math sites, you’d probably start to see me repeat some of the websites. But that’s just because as educators, we are creative in how we use our resources. This time, I’ve used iFlipr to create a set of flipcards to review an insects unit my preschool-aged daughter is studying in school. You’ll see she doesn’t need much guidance from me on how to use the technology - or how to identify the insects.

Again, iFlipr comes with decks you can download, or you can make your own. Any suggestions for decks to create? Right now this site is free, but I’m thinking it won’t be for long. Already, one of my favorites, Mogopop, seems to have vanished from the internet. So you never know what’s going to happen.

Next time - iTouch the Future…I Teach - Social Studies

Sorting through the insane amount of applications and mobile websites that are available for the iTouch has proven to be a time consuming task. But I am having a great time. There are so many that can be applied to classroom practice and of course, so many that can’t.

Again, I’ve created a Google Doc, that I’ve shared with you here. You’ll see that all the apps didn’t make it to this post. As I did for my last post, I used the Google Doc to access each of the links from my iTouch. Some of the reasons many of the links didn’t make it here are due to the advertisements on the site, the site was down, or I just didn’t think the layout on the iTouch was student friendly.

As promised, the focus of the second post in this series is Math. I’ve divided the links into four categories; Flash Cards, Converters, Calculators and Reference Tables.

You’ll start to see me repeat some of these sites as they should be listed in more than one category. I’ve posted below a video of my 6-year-old using one of the flash card applications on my iTouch. iFlipr has preset flash cards that you are welcome to use, or you can generate your own decks. I’ve created two as of the day I posted this. The first I create for simple math and subtraction reinforcement and the second you’ll see in an upcoming post (it uses pictures of insects).

Flash Cards

• My First App - Kids Study Cards - Prek-1 pre-set flash cards -  for numbers, colors, alphabet and shapes
• http://iflipr.com - It’s FREE (right now). Easy to use.  Check out their demo video below.

 Calulators

• Compound Interest - easy to use - lists the result for the end of each year, but not monthly
• Car Payment Calculator - great for high schoolers talking about realistic expectations when buying a car
• Lifeware Kitchen Calculator - Great, easy interface
• Grocery Price Caluculator - Compare advertised sale prices with and without coupons (not including sales tax)

Converters

• Comoki Converter (only viewable on the iTouch/iPhone) - This one is AWESOME - divided by category (angle area, energy, temperature, time, length, speed, pressure, power, volume, weight )- You could spend hours here.
• Currency Converter - Easy to use
• iConvert - 26 categories (a few more than Comoki) including torque, density, and clothing sizes. I’ve never been able to convert US shoe sizes to European shoe sizes and now I can!

Reference Tables

• Units of Dry and Liquid Measurement & Metric Units of Measure for Volume and Weight -Converting Measurements for U.S. and Metric
• Weights and Measures Equivalents 

Please leave a comment if you know of any others and I’ll add it to the Google Doc. Or just to say you’re finding this information useful.

Next time - iTouch the Future…I Teach - Science 

“This I Believe” meme started by Barry Bachenheimer is patterned after National Public Radio’s “This I Believe” and is an opportunity to share one’s philosophy of education.

I’ve been tagged by my friend Liz Davis. Thanks for the invite Liz.

Before you read my list, check out this video from the author of The Digital Sandbox on TeacherTube called “Introducing the Conceptual Age of Web 2.0“. I really like how the creator lays out the differences between what was accessible to us on the Internet then and now.

I believe…

• it’s better to identify the objective of the lesson before selecting the type of technology to use.
• schools need to relieve teacher isolation by opening doors and loosening filters.
• we need to nurture all learners – our students, teachers and the community – always encourage the opportunity to learn and grow.
• one of our biggest barriers in education is time. Use it wisely.
• that we should allow students to use daily supports when being assessed at a comfortable and appropriate stage of difficulty.
• subjects should not be taught in isolation – when students can relate to the content they will be more engaged and committed to learning.
• as CAST says, “Motivation is the essential engine of learning”.

There’s so much more I believe. But that’s where my thoughts bring me to now. In the meantime…

1. Karen Janowski
2. Kevin Jarrett
3. Christy Tvarok

YOU ARE IT!!!

We know that Christa McAuliffe was not referring to the iTouch when she made that famous statement during her training for the early 1986 shuttle mission to the moon. Technology had come so far and she was preparing to be the first teacher to set foot in space. It was an exciting time. Ms. McAuliffe’s words have stuck with me all these years that I’ve been teaching and I revisited many of the articles written about her as I was waiting for my 32 gig iTouch to arrive. 

I’ve been teaching a session called “iPods in Education” for the Center at Rutgers University now for about a year. I’ve brought it into many New Jersey school districts as well as they begin buying iPods for their teachers and utilizing the iPods that their students already have from home. I love it! There are so many things we can do to integrate iPods into the classroom.

We spend the day checking out Discovery Education, Mogopop, iWriter, iTunes, RSS, Google Reader, Bloglines, Flickr-Storm, and many other sites and applications. But I’ve noticed over the last couple of months that in each of my sessions, there’s at least one person that either has an iTouch or an iPhone and I was unsure as to ALL the differences except the obvious - how they looked and the access to wi-fi.

Pictured to the left is my white, 30 gig iPod Video Classic, which I love. To it’s right is my new, black, 32 gig iTouch. Each stores music, video, pictures, will sync with my Outlook contacts and will store information in the notes section. Theoretically both should allow me to attach a voice recorder to record and store audio directly to the hardware, but my iTouch is not recognizing my Belkin TuneTalk Voice Recorder. Read here.

So…..there is an awful lot you can do with the iTouch that you can’t do with the Classic. Too much to write in one post, so I’ve decided to write a series, categorized by subject area. Since one of the teachers I worked with this year on podcasting and using iPods in the classroom happened to be a music teacher, I’ve decided to start with the category of music applications:

• iPhone Guitar Tuner 
  http://iphoneguitartuner.com/ - WITH SOUND  - Using Quicktime, asks the user to select from electric bass, guitar, the ukulele and a couple of others to tune your instruments
• Guitar Web App 2.2
  http://guitarwebapp.com/index.php - easy to navigate, includes key signatures and chord charts
• Guitar Chord Library
  http://www.mdmalin.com/webapps/chords/ - hold your iTouch upright to select and see finger placements for a guitar chord, turn it sideways for help
• Waterstone Chord Library 
  http://modguitars.com/chords/ - select the chords that you would like, and the iTouch will display the finger placements
• Digital Guitar Archive
  http://www.digitalguitararchive.com/mobile/-  Searchable database, but you really have to know what you are looking for. You can search by author, title or keyword, great if you are teaching music history or theory on the high school level
• MooCow Music
  http://moocowmusic.com/ (MooCowMusic:Band is still in Beta-test, and is not yet publically available.) The links listed below take you to a 3rd party app that you would need to download onto your iPhone or iTouch - but boy is it worth it.
  Drums: http://www.appsafari.com/utilities/3479/drummer-native/
  Guitar: http://www.appsafari.com/utilities/3478/guitarist-native/
  Piano: http://www.appsafari.com/utilities/2863/iano-native-piano/