Resources and reflections on integrating technology in education

A colleague of mine has started a new tech blog, JB-IT: Resources and reflections on integrating technology in education.

Jason Bales is a Technology Specialist with the Chapel Hill ~ Carrboro City Schools, and has a wealth of knowledge. His blog will likely be geared to the gen-ed population, however, certainly there will be cross-over interest for our special needs students. Be sure to follow!

Heres a brief excerpt from an article:

Multimedia projects can be a giant pain, which may be why some teachers avoid them altogether. Even the most tech-savvy teachers find these projects a bit daunting. Take audio recording as an example. You can use a simple site like Soundcloud, but it requires an account, and that account takes a while to set up, which can be a real issue if you are thinking of having students create their own accounts. You could use a desktop program like Audacity or Garageband, but then you have to set up some way to share or collect those recordings, which can be a time-consuming process. So, it seems like there's no happy medium, no way to do a simple one-take recording that doesn't require either an account or lots of work on the teacher's end in collecting the assignments.

Or is there? Recently, I learned about a way to do a simple recording online with no account, and you can collect all of the projects using a simple Google Form.

Happy Therapy!

North Carolinians, are you paying attention to what is happening?!?!

Senate committee calls for ending class-size caps

A bill approved by the Senate Education Committee here in NC would end the policy of capping K - 3rd grade classes to 24 students.  Matthew Burns, WRAL reporter writes a great article on the subject that can be read at the link above. 

Burns quotes Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph as having stated "I don't know if 10 kids in a classroom is better than 15 or not".  Tillman is a retired school administrator. He goes on to say that he doesn't know what the ideal number is. IMO he is either being disingenuous, or he must have not been terribly competent as a school administrator.  

Tillman also states that he doesn't care if a teacher has 30 or 13 students in a class but that teachers will be graded on progress only. 

Let's pay attention folks, public education is under attack, and McCrory and company are in the process of deconstructing public school funding, while raising expectation for teachers to more and more rigorous but misguided standards.  

Facetime: adding and removing numbers and email

Similar to my prior post, occasionally I receive an email from staff telling me they need to add someone on Facetime, or perhaps they are receiving Facetime calls from people they don't know. In the latter case, that occurs because they have inherited an iDevice from someone else, or they are using a group iTunes account to manage "Find my iPhone" and other features.

It is pretty simple to make certain that you are receiving the Facetime calls you want, and not those you don't want.

1.  Begin by touching on "Settings"

2.  Then touch "Facetime" in the left column.

3.  Uncheck email or phone numbers you don't want, and add email accounts that you do want. 

Make certain that your Facetime friends have the new email/numbers to contact you.

That should take care of it, happy therapy!

Catch UP Parents!

 As a parent, do you know which kids your child goes to the mall with? If your child says "I'm going out driving around with my friends", do you say "okay"? Or do you ask "who, what, where, when, and maybe why"?

An engaged parent asks those questions. 

I remember when I was a teenager. There were a few phones in our house. One in the kitchen, and one in my parents room. My last few years at home, I got a phone in my bedroom, but it was the same telephone line, and I was not supposed to stay on the phone during the day, as my father worked from home. Having private, unsupervised phone calls was a challenge.

Many teens today live in two separate worlds, the physical world where we reign as parents, and another, the cyber world where we are often woefully absent. Today's youth have multiple social media venues they participate in.  Many of them have a smart phone and maybe a computer to use as they see fit. At it's best, the cyber world is a tremendous social tool which they navigate with remarkable skill and it enriches their lives. At it's worst, it becomes a Lord of the Flies situtation with cyber bullying, sexting, academic cheating, and super-gossiping.

Either way, this cyber world and it's social tools are here to stay. We can catch up, and be stewards of our children in this complex ever shifting environment, or be left far behind, asking our children to raise themselves to the best of their abilities.

I challenge all of us to ask who, what, where, when, and maybe why regarding our kids social media usage. Know which tools they use. Friend or follow them. Make it mandatory. You wouldn't let them go to the mall with a known drug seller, or a kid known for shop-lifting, right? Hold the same standard to their social media.  My kids have to share their passwords to all their media tools with my wife and I. I go on as them periodically. I don't post as them, and I make a point not to embarrass them, but you will see things as the "user" that you can't from the "following side".

Happy Parenting!

Playtime Matters: another great Acorn Dreams blog article!

The blog Acorn Dreams provides tremendous early childhood resources that can "equip you to guide children, starting in the preschool years, to make friends, cooperate, handle anger and disappointment, calm down, and solve problems peacefully."  

The "blog discussions share information and effective strategies that nurture children’s social-emotional development and healthy behaviors. 

Playtime Matters is a really terrific article on the power of play, and what play can look like. Check it out!

What is the Internet, Anyway?

This is very funny...

Do you use SmartBoards? If so, check this out!

The SMART Learning Space is moving We have some big news to share – the SMART Learning Space is changing locations! When? The change will occur April 1st and you’ll be re-directed automatically to the new location on that date.  No new course registrations will be allowed between March 18th and April 1st so we have time to transfer data.   Why? We think the new site will be easier and more fun for you to use. It has an active community where you can connect with other people and get SMART product tips and tricks, a forum where you can get answers to your training questions, and a super-easy user interface we know you’ll love. What do I need to do? Finish any incomplete courses by March 26th. We’ll transfer all of your learning records, but we can’t transfer a “bookmark” in the middle of the course. Do I need a new account? No – we’ll do all the work, and you can use the same user name and password as you do now. Do I still have access to the same courses? Yes! The current SLS online course catalog contains over 120 high-quality courses, which will all be available in the new location. Will I lose any courses that I’ve paid for and haven’t taken yet? No – all of your courses will be transferred over to the new site. Your “lifelong learning record” will include training or certifications that were previously completed. If you have more questions, check out our FAQ or contact us at smarttech.com/contacttraining. If you want to receive monthly updates about what's new and exciting at SMART, please update your contact information at smarttech.com/subscribe. We look forward to seeing you in our new location on April 1st! Yours truly, The SMART Learning Space admin team