Annotation September 29, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Edubloggers, Tools.add a comment
Clarence Fisher, in his Remote Access blog posted an interesting activity about annotating text as an exploration of literacy. This seems like a terrific activity that brings those automatic skills good readers exhibit up to a more conscious level.
For a better description of the activity see his post here:
http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/2007/09/annotate-a-te-1.html
Just a few days later, Vicki Davis posted an interesting exploration of what I’ll call annotated text on her blog, Cool Cat Teacher Blog. I was struck by the similarities between Fisher’s example image and example number 6 from Davis.
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-text-only-enough-for-todays-students.html
Another example of posted deconstructed or annotated text can be found on the Remote Access blog here:
http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/2007/09/blogs-complex-s.html
It looks like you could use JKN (http://info.jkn.com/) or Trailfire (http://www.trailfire.com/) do accomplish something similar with web pages, though I haven’t used either and suspect there may be even better tools available.
Slideshare to Slidecast September 29, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Tools.1 comment so far
Slideshare has posted a slidecast on the steps to add an audio track to a Slideshare presentation. The steps seem do-able, but also seem a little complicated. For instance, you have to upload the audio to a second site. Are there easier ways to accomplish both the presentation and the audio at the same time?
http://www.slideshare.net/faqs/slidecast
Sketchcast September 25, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Tools.add a comment
Sketchcast is another cool tool. This one lets you record as you sketch on a whiteboard and also annotate with audio. Below is an embeded sketchcast about sketchcast.
OLPC - Buy One Give One September 25, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in OLPC.add a comment
Yet another twist to the OLPC saga. The BBC is reporting that people in the US will be able to purchase one of the ‘$100 laptops’ for $399. The extra cost covers the purchase of a second OLPC for a child in a developing nation. It will be interesting to see how many are purchased and donated.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6994957.stm
ISS - Some Final Thoughts September 21, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Conference Sessions, Opinion.2 comments
This has been a very interesting day of thought-provoking discussions. People are genuinely concerned with keeping kids safe. I’ve heard more comments about providing tools and fewer about limiting or restricting access. It is refreshing that the general tone of the summit is one of helping our kids, not one of punishing them.
I would also like to thank Bud the Teacher for providing us with a great model of living a transparent life, something to which Will Richardson is currently calling people.
Here is Bud’s post:
http://budtheteacher.typepad.com/bud_the_teacher/2007/09/internet-safety.html. He also twittered the event.
Looking back it was remarkable how few laptops were present at the summit. With over 100 attendees, I saw fewer than half a dozen people actually using a laptop other than the presenters. Internet safety is an important issue, but I’m just not sure how prepared we are when we aren’t practitioners ourselves. I don’t think we ‘get it’ yet.
ISS Keynote - Part Two September 21, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Conference Sessions.1 comment so far
Jennifer Mardosz, Fox Interactive Media and MySpace
How do we keep our kids safe while still benefiting from the wonders of the web? How do we involve our community when that community is an online virtual space?
MySpace safety tools are developed with assistance from local law enforcement agencies. For example, Amber Alerts can be distributed to MySpace users who list specific zip codes in their profiles.
MySpace is working to build safety into the features it offers, and to provide additional safety features. MySpace works with communities in both the physical and virtual worlds to provide a safe environment.
MySpace origins tie into online music. Many independent bands make a name for themselves by setting up a MySpace account to promote their music.
MySpace offers school groups. These are mostly used by alumni. MySpace has a school hotline to help with resolving concerns.
Disclaimer: I’m not a MySpace user, although I do have a Facebook account.
ISS Session 2 - Online Investigation of Crimes Against Children September 21, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Conference Sessions.add a comment
The Innocent Images National Initiative
SSA Joseph C. Schwecke
SA Stephen Roberts
Denver Division
DOJ - FBI
Federal investigations of online sexual exploitation of children began with kidnapping of George Burdynski, Jr in May of 1993. Child pornography has been a part of the Internet from the earliest days. Since that time, 17,691 cases were opened, resulting in 5,840 convictions. 37% of all cyber investigations in 2006 involved Innocent Images (child exploitation.)
Two kinds of cyber crime:
1. emerging threats to national security - terrorist groups, state actors
2. traditional crime migrating to the Internet - child exploitation, hackers, intellectual property, fraud, identity theft
Why is the Internet a source for this problem? The Internet offers an environment of a safe haven. It offers anonymity, control over the environment (control how and who you contact,) access to ‘like minded’ individuals, and efficiency. The Internet also provides easy access to children.
Members of undercover task forces are themselves evaluated every 6 months.
A case study was presented.
ISS Session 1 - Effective Ways to Involve Student Leadership Organizations September 21, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Conference Sessions.add a comment
Lynn Erseck, Kelsey Kreager, and Laurie Urich - FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America)
Presentation started with a short video produced by Boulder Valley School District. “To use the Internet is to accept a level of risk.” Copyright development was described as well as music piracy. Terms such as ‘worms’ were defined. Pornography is prevalent for teens and younger adults. Child predators provided a sobering finish.
This presentation is presented by members of the Colorado iCrew, young adults working to keep other young adults safe. FBLA in high school provided the forum for the development of the Internet Safety Project.
Colorado iCrew - high school and college students presenting safety podcasts. The first episode was played for us. They also have gmail and myspace accounts for the iCrew.
Internet Safety Foundation - unique to Colorado. Coalition of various community, state, and federal members working to keep students safe on the Internet.
Peer-to-peer education is an essential component. Kids probably know more about it, and students are more likely to listen to each other.
There are many levels of involvement for parents as well as students. A flow chart was distributed that details the steps of presenting safety information to the community, along with supporting resources such as the NetSmartz411: Internet Helpdesk - http://netsmartz411.org/.
They have presented to groups as young as Kindergarten.
Colorado iCrew link: http://www.coloradoicrew.libsyn.com/
Internet Safety Summit 9-21-07 Keynote Part 1 September 21, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Conference Sessions, Edubloggers.2 comments
I’m attending an Internet safety summit and was pleased to meet Bud Hunt, also known as Bud the Teacher. Nice to meet someone whose work I’ve followed online.
Our first speakers were US Attorney for the District of Colorado Troy Eid and Deputy Attorney General for the State of Colorado, Tom Raynes. http://www.ago.state.co.us/InternetSafety/SafeSurfing.cfm was provided as a page with safety resources. Mr. Raynes describes the Internet as the playground of today, and calls for that playground to be a safe (and fun) environment.
In Colorado, first offenders for child pornography are sentenced to an average of 6 years in prison.
Phil Bremmer (sp?) reminded us that unless we keep up with technology use patterns by our children we won’t be effective in the effort of Internet safety.
Troy Eid described tracking a single child pornographic image as it is traded online just in the boundaries of Colorado. Turns out it was housed on 50,000 servers. An expert group had only predicted around 5,000.
The students responsible for the Colorado iCrew podcast on iTunes were presented with video iPods. Nice to see their work rewarded.
Blog Example #11 - Virtual Field Trip September 15, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Edublogs.add a comment
On November 3rd 2007, 4 teachers from the UK will be heading off to Antarctica on a scientific expedition. Follow the link below to see how they are doing.
http://edublogs.org/2007/09/12/edublogging-antarctica/
Snapshot of Media Trends September 15, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Data.add a comment
George Siemens has posted an entry on his elearnspace blog with links to two short and very interesting PDF documents that detail some of the current practices of how people interact with different media types. Well worth taking the time to read.
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/archives/003072.html
Blog Example #10 - Professional Learning Community September 15, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Edublogs.add a comment
Professional learning communities are a terrific way for teachers to engage in a dialogue to improve the craft of their teaching. Too often, they are only effective when the participants are all gathered together in one place. Too often, there isn’t enough time to meet. A new Edublogs blog, In Practice, is one effort to provide a forum for a learning community, to keep the dialogue moving forward.
http://inpractice.edublogs.org/
OLPC Now $188 September 15, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in OLPC.add a comment
CNN.com is reporting that the once $100 laptop developed by MIT for the One Laptop Per Child project is now selling for $188. Just thought you might want to know.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/09/14/hundred.dollar.laptop.ap/
Banned in the Library September 13, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Opinion.add a comment
I overheard an interesting comment today while helping out at a school. The librarian was introducing the library to a new class. In describing the resources she asked if it was OK to use Google. Being mostly compliant students, they assumed the answer was yes. She told them,
“No. You can’t use Google in the library. You can’t just type in a question to get an answer. It’s too easy. What if you were in a library without Google? You have to learn how to use the resources in the library.”
I’m having a hard time picturing a library without Google. I’m also wondering about restricting certain resources from our students. Just imagine if we told students, “No, you can’t use printed materials. Books are too heavy. It’s too easy to just look up a key work in the index. What if you were at home or someplace without all these printed materials. You have to learn how to use only online digital resources?”
Just replace your favorite source of information (TV, storytellers, newspapers, blogs, magazines, radio, wikis, etc.) and think about what it would be like if you were banned from that resource.
For me, a better response or position to take would be to teach students the proper use of Google, how to verify results, how to access advanced find features, even additional online search tools.
It’s an Outrage, I Tell Ya’ September 13, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Tools.2 comments
A joint project between UC Berkley International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) and the University of Washington (UW) provides us with a cool new tool called the UW CSE and ICSI Web Integrity Checker. The tool checks to see if your Internet Service Provider is inserting advertising into web pages. Think of it like your cable company running advertising along the bottom of your favorite TV shows. Are you safe from ISP inserted advertising? Follow the link to find out.
