RSS, podcasts, and media resources

Posted by Harvey on November 20, 2008 in Podcasting, Web 2.0

The wealth of resources available on the web for use in education make it more important than ever to be effective at managing the firehose of information that exists on the Internet. Rich media like video and audio files, including podcasts can greatly augment the learning experience of students, but managing the information to support curricular goals can pose a problem for teachers and students alike.

RSS or Real Simple Syndication creates a feed from a web server hosting content to allow users to readily subscribe to frequently updated information (For more information about RSS, view this short video). This stream pulls content into an aggregator or Feed Reader like Google Reader, iTunes, or newer web browsers.

One popular way of distributing RSS content is by using podcasts. (more…)

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Looking Through The Lens of the Tiers Model

Posted by Abbey on November 14, 2008 in Instructional Strategies

I recently heard someone quote a poem by Caventry Patmore who said,

“The truth is great, and shall prevail,
When none cares whether it prevails or not.”
I was so taken by this poignant message that I was inspired to take time to discuss my truths about technology integration.

If you want to understand the meaning of technology integration you need to reflect on where you are in your implementation and where you want to go to improve your practice. Is it for the purpose of helping you be more productive, or for engaging students in learning or general self improvement?

The Tiers of Technology Integration into the Clasroom Indicators is one of the best tools that has come our way to understand what it means to integrate technology in the classroom. As you read on, I propose two reflection activities that teachers can use to examine the Tiers Model. (more…)

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Digital Media in the Classroom

Posted by Gary on November 5, 2008 in Internet Research, Language Arts, Photo Story 3, Podcasting, PowerPoint, Science, Social Studies, Teacher Voices

An excellent example of teachers and students using digital media in the classroom is Nathan Hale’s 10th Grade Academy. These students are creating movies about the effects of worldwide epidemics as a research project. The Hale teachers realized that the video editing process would consume too much time and decrease the time students spent learning the content. Their solution was to imitate the “Ken Burns” style and create movies using only digital photos instead of video. To do this, the teachers designated Photostory 3 as the “movie” making application. These changes helped simplify the movie making process and reduced “creation” time significantly. (more…)

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