Very Cool Application of Project-Based Learning

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/pbl-immersive-brings-clean-water-haiti-suzie-boss

Middle School Entrepeneurs

This is a fun NPR story about kids making iPad/iPhone apps.
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/10/141215957/a-new-generation-of-app-developers

20 Incredibly Entertaining iPad Apps for Science Nuts

http://www.asdegree.org/20-incredibly-entertaining-ipad-apps-for-science-nuts/

Voice Thread

I just tried Voice Thread, which is a resource that allows multiple people to comment on one presentation. I think it will come in very handy in the future. Here was a short practice trial in which I commented on a short but helpful discussion about the rule of thirds:

http://voicethread.com/share/184164/

Another, somewhat similar, tool is ThingLink. It allows you to add notes to images on a website. So when users scroll over the image, they will see a link or any other information. Pretty cool!
www.thinglink.com

If you twitter, check out these links!

I'm in a LinkedIn Group for Instructional Design and E-Learning Professionals. Today Christopher Pappas posted this wonderful list of Twitter codes that he's gathered related to e-Learning. Very cool!

Create a blog and they will call!

I find it interesting that I mentioned to a few friends and colleagues that I have a blog now, and a couple of them checked it out and then ... called me!  It's absolutely fantastic that my musings inspire wonderful reflections that they want to share with me personally. Interesting, though, that they prefer to call than add a comment. Honestly, I prefer that they called rather than added a comment. I had long, interesting conversations each time--all because of the blog. So blogging has increased my ability to share with others who have incredible insights, just not in the way I expected!

Part of the problem may be that some folks are having trouble figuring out how to leave a comment. At first my settings (unbeknownst to me) required that everyone who wants to comment must have a Blogger account. I changed that, but my friend Robert still had trouble. He figured out that it was easiest to leave a comment as "Anonymous." That's just fine with me if anyone wants to follow suit. And I'll continue to tweak and improve as I go so that the process is as fluid and intuitive as possible.

I love you guys! Keep on reading and posting OR calling!

Photo credit: crimsonsoul from morguefile.com. Used with permission.

Twitter Giants: President Obama and ... Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber?

This is a great article about encouraging our youth to open their eyes to the great minds available to them via resources such as Twitter. The author, Sam Gliksman, encourages us to get students thinking about who they are getting their information from and the power of our influences. Check it out:
http://ipadeducators.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-20-most-followed-accounts?xg_source=msg_mes_network

P.S. My Twitter name is MadEyeEd. Follow me!

Article referenced with permission: Gliksman, S. (2011, July 14). The 20 most followed accounts on twitter and why you should care! [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://ipadeducators.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-20-most-followed-accounts?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Artwork: Icon, Eden. (Artist). (2009). Birdies: cute free twitter icons for your blog. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/freebies/50-free-social-twitter-resources-and-icon-sets/

Avoiding Numb-Out

One of my oldest and dearest friends, Linda Bennett, took a look at my new blog and called me. She's a high school English teacher--someone on the front lines of education. And she's a GREAT teacher. In her opinion, for the English classroom, she would like to see things "go back to the way they were." That is to say, she has not had many positive experiences with technology in the classroom. In addition, she has concerns that technology is harming students' abilities to concentrate and to read and write.

We talked for a long time about the pitfalls of using technology in the classroom and the effects of all technology (TV, movies, social networking, and so on) on learning. She has a number of very valid concerns. One I'd like to "put out there" to the group is that she's talked to a number of students who are really struggling in college. One common refrain she's heard from many of them is: "technology has hurt me." They couldn't really explain why, except to say that they have difficulty concentrating.

Great Article with Ideas for Students to Use Technology

A couple of weeks ago we talked in class about effective technology tools for presenting in the classroom. Check out this wonderful blog post and video, which describes in detail how some of the programs we discussed can be used in the classroom: "3 Quick Lesson Plan Ideas That Utilize Technology" from K. Walsh's wonderful site, EmergingEdTech, with a guest post by Rebecca Garland:
http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/01/3-quick-lesson-plan-ideas-that-utilize-technology/
Garland, R. (2011, January 16). 3 quick lesson plan ideas that utilize technology [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/01/3-quick-lesson-plan-ideas-that-utilize-technology/   Linked with permission.

I have a wiki!!

I've just created a wiki about my first love--iPads. I'm really excited to see what types of responses I get from "out there" about how people are using iPads in the classroom. I feel like such a little guy, but I really do hope it will turn into a tool people can use to improve their experiences with iPads.

Take a look, and feel free to leave a comment sharing your thoughts, links, favorite iPad apps for education. I'd also love to hear about your experiences in directly using or in indirectly observing others use the iPad to learn something new.
http://ipadsinschools.pbworks.com/w/page/42181285/iPads-in-Schools

I'm loving Diigo!

I have often wanted a tool that would allow me to highlight and save articles I read online. Plus, I hate that I have bookmarks in every browser, and since I have a Mac I often have to move back and forth between browsers. Diigo is GREAT because it allows me to keep all my bookmarks in one place, organize them by topic, and highlight and save articles I read. Oooh la la!  Please follow me--my user name is MadEyeEd.

Web 2.0 is...

My professor, Linda Evans Newell, told us about this great app called Wordle. She demonstrated it in class, and then later I decided to try it as I was sorting out my thoughts about Web 2.0 for an assignment. This is the result. Cool, eh?

http://www.wordle.net/

For Danny

My brother is thinking about moving to Austin and so he had me scope out a few possible business partners. I decided to apply what I’ve been learning in my Applications of Advanced Tech class. As with all my projects so far, the creation of the project was exciting--my digital camera makes taking pictures a breeze, and my dog Chaz enjoys keeping me company while I’m snapping. Assembling them into one cohesive whole is pretty straightforward, too. It’s the DELIVERY that drives me batty! I created this in PPT, but it is so large that every method I try fails. It took three hours for a stuffed version to load on my MobileMe account, but, alas, he didn’t have the right program to open it. I converted it to HTML and sent it, but he couldn’t read the site. I tried Google Presentations, but it appears to be stuck at 58% loaded after two hours. Arrgh! I finally sent it via my website in a movie format.  That WORKED! And now I know an effective means for quickly and efficiently transferring large batches of photos. Build as iMovie and then add to website. Sweet!

Time to Learn Something New...

I’m a writer/editor by trade, so my bailiwick is to write everything down and work with others to get it properly designed, programmed, and published. I spent 10 years in-house at Holt, Rinehart & Winston in the Middle School Science Department. Then I joined some publishing cohorts to create a collaborative work environment to support a variety of publishers. My partners re-focused their efforts toward corporate programming, so I created Mad Eye Editorial to focus on my love for educational publishing and technology. 

I’ve created virtual labs; e-learning lessons of every variety; critical thinking puzzles; habits of mind workbooks; literature resources; and science, social studies, and criminal ethics e-learning modules for students from elementary school on up to college. I’ve worked solo and managed teams of people  to accomplish projects large and small. 

Mosts recently, the iPad has knocked my socks off! Every day I learn a bit more about what that exciting new technology can do. I had the great good fortune of helping a group of teachers get a set of iPads to use in their special ed classrooms, and am blown away by their stories from the classroom. 

I look forward to doing more teacher training as well as to creating the best possible new products using the latest super-cool technologies. So it’s time to expand my horizons!

It seems only fitting to begin this journey by creating a blog! The purpose of this blog is to record my experiences and to solicit feedback from classmates, friends, and the public about their experiences learning about or with educational technology or using educational technology. 

How can a lover of e-learning be such a technophobe?

I’ve specialized in content development and instructional design through the years. The projects I’ve worked on have always included great designers, programmers, and technology experts, so I’ve relied heavily on them to understand how to put everything together in an effective package. But I’m so interested in all that is happening with current technology and do-it-yourself, on-the-cheap technology, that it’s time for me to acquire new skills and see how I can help teachers and students make the most of current resources and ways of thinking about technology in the classroom.

It’s only fitting that I would embark upon my journey in a virtual world. After many good reports, I enrolled in the University of Texas Online Learning program to get a Master’s degree in Educational Technology and a Master Technology Teacher certification. Wish me luck!