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.