HHS Technology Bits

Text Googl (46645) for Information & save on 411 calls.

There are so many new tools popping up all over the web – it is impossible to stay current on everything.  Here is a small sampling of things to use in the classroom.  Check out a few and let us know which of them you use with your classes and how.  Be sure to see the new videos added in the widget to the right. Use the Comments section to share your experience with others.

VisualTools -

• Go2web2.0 Map of interactive web sites
• Web Trends map – architecture – see who’s using what
• Wordle generates word clouds
• Glogster – interactive online posters & blogs
• Howcast videos – videos and wiki guides to whatever you want to learn.
• VodPod - collect video & use the widgets to deliver just what you want from your wiki or blog
• Tag Galaxy - picture tool
• Animoto – make movies
• Vimeo – make & share video
• Free tools to make digital video:  Jing Camstudio
• Online video file converters:  vixy.net Zamzar.com
• Visual searching with results grouped by similarities- Grokker &  Kartoo
  
• Touchgraph – searches & shows connectivity
  
• Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

Google – a plethora of useful class tools.  Create a Google account, first.

• Google Docs & Spreadsheets – Great for online collaboration. Docs are notes that can be accessed from anywhere online.  Docs & spreadsheets can be shared with multiple contributors.
• iGoogle – customized info delivery – brings information to you.
• Calendar -
• Notebook – clip web resources to share with others
• Earth – download & use to explore, search, map, etc.
• Blogger - use Google for blogs – text, photos, video… you can even use your phone to post.

Check out the siftables:

David Merrill – Siftables

Every educator should watch the PBS Frontline special, “Growing Up Online.”  It is a great insight to the digital world in which these kids live.  What are the implications for education?  What are the new issues?  Your comments about this program are greatly appreciated.

Growing Up Online  (PBS Frontline, 1/22/08)

Ok, I was playing around and found this great site that lets you track the locations of different people visiting your site.  I just had to try and and put one on this site.  I also put one on our Cultural Exchange wiki.  Heritage is attempting to increase the “global” cultural awareness of our students.  We have a wiki called the Cultural Exchange wiki for students who are in other countries to post information & photos about that country and our students can ask questions to learn about the culture and people.  Currently, most of the students who are posting are American college students studying abroad.  We would love to find participants who are natives for each different country, and in one case we have.  If you know someone who would be willing and interested in participating, please let me know.

If you visit the site, the countries listed across the top are those for whom we think we have found foreign participants.  Not all have had a chance to post information, but several have and are quite interesting.  These different country pages are also listed along the left-side navigation bar.  I encourage you to visit the site!  Take your students to the site and see what they think about it. 

Congratulations to the 35 faculty members who have become Certified in Internet Safety from the iSafe site.  They have completed the entire online course – every chapter of all 6 modules.  That means that they can now access the curriculum materials for their classes and have students take the online assessment surveys.  What an awesome accomplishment for our faculty!

One of the great things about the iSAFE training site and materials is the online assessment tool.  The site has pre- and post-  surveys for students to determine their internet habits and to see if these habits change after kids have done the lessons and learned about the issues and dangers.   Material is available for a wide range of content on the site, so Internet Safety can be integrated into almost all courses at high school.  Are you integrating Cybersecurity, Cyberethics, and Cybersafety into your classes?  Should we be teaching internet safety to students?  You can still take the training and earn the recertification points.  Register for the course in PDMS, to earn points, then  register at the iSAFE site and complete the modules.

News Flash (From iSAFE)

For the first time ever in the U.S. a spammer has been convicted of felony spamming.  Jeremy Jaynes was sentenced to nine years in prison under Virginia’s tough new spam law.  Jayne’s sister, Jessica DeGroot, was fined $7500 for her involvement in Jayne’s spam operation. According to court papers, Jayne and company repeatedly sent over 10,000 spam messages over a twentyfour hour period—and those were only the ones reported by irate recipients. The Register of Known Spam Operations rated Jaynes as the eighth-most prolific spammer in the world.

Students may think that what they are doing online is harmless or funny and not realize the serious consequences for these actions.  Students have recently gotten in trouble with the law in several states for items posted on MySpace or FaceBook.  Students need to recognize threats to their safety online and know how to circumvent predators.  Students also need to know when their files or their financial information are endangered. 

You have taken a giant leap forward in educating yourselves about some of the Internet Safety issues.  I encourage you to use the iSAFE materials and do the lessons with students.  I am available to help you plan or to teach a lesson with you – just sign up for my time via e-mail and reserve a lab or laptop cart.  Please encourage students to STOP, THINK, CLICK in that order when online.  What else should we do to promote and encourage online safety and responsibility for our students?  Make a comment and share with others what you are doing in your classroom or other related issues.  Just click the Comment button below.

Record the sounds of learning and share them with students, parents, other educators…

VoiceThread.com allows you to record voices and attach them to a sequence of pictures and post the files so that others might make audio comments or simply listen and watch.  Educator accounts are free and you can set up files for each student in a class.  Then the entire class can upload comments and start threads of their own.  It is a web forum that lets one talk, capture, and save audio to surround the images.  Lots of different voices, or people, can attach comments to the same image.  (See http://voicethread.com/pachy.php)

A word of caution about photos on the Internet:  Once the photo is out there you cannot take it back.  I’m using a photo that was already published on the Internet – which I simply downloaded and cropped.  Photos can be electronically altered and republished.  It may be best to post diagrams or student work.