dhaivyd13's photostream

dhaivyd13's photostream on Flickr.

Here are a few photos I'm sharing for the TTT program.

Firefox 12 not working with Diigo Toolbar

TTT members,
We've discovered that the version of Firefox that is loaded on the school computers is not compatible with the Diigo Toolbar. Upgrading to Firefox 18, which is compatible, requires an administrative password. I can visit your classroom to input that authorization information, but you can also try using Google Chrome. I haven't tested that yet, but hopefully it will work without requiring an upgrade. Good luck. I hope that you enjoy all the great functions of Diigo. -Dhaivyd

Tool #9: RSS Feeds & News Readers

There are a lot of websites out there, and most of us have certain websites that we check regularly. Now that we are all "following" different colleagues' blogs, we have even more websites to check. What if you could check for updates of all your favorite blogs, online newspapers and other regularly-updated sites by visiting one simple page? That's the beauty of RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication. You may have noticed that some of your favorite websites have little orange icons that look like the one on the left.


This orange RSS icon lets you know that you can subscribe to the website using a news reader, or aggregator, such as Google Reader or Bloglines. You simply have to create an account with one of these news readers and then start adding websites that have RSS feeds. Watch this Common Craft video to learn more about RSS feeds and Google Reader:



Unfortunately, Google Reader is being taken down on July 1, 2013, so we will begin using Bloglines as the alternative solution. If you already have established a Google Reader account be sure to use Google Takeout to archive your data for import into Bloglines or another reader. You will need to be logged in to the Google account you used to create your Google Reader account in order for Takeout to find your data.

Your job for Tool #9 is to sign up for a Bloglines account, add the blogs of the colleagues you're following, plus at least 3 other blogs, online newspapers, or websites to your reader. Chances are, some of the websites you already visit a lot have RSS feeds available! Post about your experiences with Bloglines, if you think you would use it, and how you could use it professionally.

Here are some education-related sites with RSS feeds to get you started:

• Education Week
• Education News- The New York Times
• U.S. Department of Education
• NPR (They even have an Education-specific feed you can choose)

And here are some award-winning blogs from people in the field:

• Sup Teach?
• Sweeney Math
• f(t)
• Dot Physics
• Teaching in the 408
• think:lab

To search for other blogs that are of special interest to you, go to a blog-specific search engine, such as BlogSearchEngine or Google Blogs.

So, to complete Tool #9:

• Sign up for Bloglines. Use your personal e-mail account.
• Add the blogs of the colleagues you're following to your new reader account
• Add at least 3 other blogs, online newspapers, or websites
• Write a post reflecting on your experience with RSS feeds and news readers

Tool #8: Voicethread

Tool # 8: Voicethread

Voicethread is a way to facilitate a discussion of images and video with a large number of people in a totally online environment. After creating a Voicethread account, you can create individual Voicethreads. For each Voicethread, you can upload images and/or video, comment on each page using text, audio or video, and then share the Voicethread with other users, who can then make their own comments using text, audio or video. It's amazing! Here's a little more about it, if you want more details.
Here is a link to a Voicethread created by the company itself: http://voicethread.com/share/409/ Watch it for an explanation and demo.
Here is a link to a Voicethread created by an educator, to be shared with other educators. Check out how many people commented on it! http://voicethread.com/share/3352/
You should make at least 5 comments on it, one of which should be audio or video. To leave an audio comment if you don't have a microphone you may borrow one from the Media Center or come in to the Media Center to record your comment. To leave a video comment, you'll need a webcam. We have only one available for loan.
FYI, you can request that your account be upgraded for free to an Educator Account, which lets you create an unlimited amount of Voicethreads and gives you a lot more storage space. You can generally get  upgraded within 24 hours of submitting the request.


Note: For $10, you get 60 minutes of “phone commenting” on your account. With this feature, you can click on the telephone icon after you click on "Comment", enter your phone # (cell, home, or school), and the program will call you within SECONDS! Wait for the greeting, record your message, then hang up. You've just left a comment on the Voicethread!


To complete Tool #8:

• Watch the two sample Voicethreads
• Set up a Voicethread account
• Make at least 5 comments on one of the Voicethreads, one of which should be audio or video (you'll need to have a Voicethread account in order to comment)
• Post about your experience on your blog. What do you think of Voicethread? Could it apply to you and your classes? Would you use it?

Tool #7: Photo Sharing

Tool # 7: Photo Sharing

You may already have an account with an online photo sharing site, or perhaps you've had friends or family send you a link to their online albums, like Shutterfly, Picasa, or Flickr. Photo sharing sites have progressed beyond being warehouses for photos, however: many let you edit, crop, organize, share, add comments, tag, create photo groups, and even apply cool effects to individual photos. We're going to be exploring Flickr, which is one of the most innovative photo sites around. You'll be creating a Flickr account, uploading some photos to it, tagging those photos, and then posting a slideshow to your blog. If you don't have access to a digital camera, you can talk to the Media department here and request to borrow one.
Your goal for Tool #7 is to create a Flickr account and upload at least THREE photos, one of which should be a picture of you doing something related to teaching/technology/reading - something specific to this program, basically. The other 2+ photos can be of anything, but ideally would be taken specifically to share with the group. You should then TAG the photos with keywords and tag at least ONE of the photos with the keyword "TTT."  Make these photos PUBLIC (you have to check a box making them public), so that we can search for them on Flickr. You should then write a blog post about your experience with Flickr and make sure to include your Flickr name so we can find your pictures. Your free account allows you to store up to 200 photos.
Here are some resources to get you started:

• Flickr Tour
• Flickr FAQs
• "Classroom" groups on Flickr (school-related photo groups that have been created by teachers)
• The App Garden (these are cool apps that Flickr users have created- there's one called FlickrPoet where you paste in the text of a poem, and Flickr pictures are matched to the text- so your poem becomes a poem in photos)
• BigHugeLabs (lets you do fun things with your photos like make them into movie posters, photo booth pictures, add comic book captions, etc.)

To complete Tool #7:

• Create a Flickr account
• Take and upload at least 3 pictures, one of which should have something to do with the TTT program
• Tag your pictures, and make sure at least one picture is tagged "TTT"
• Make your photos public
• Write a blog post about your experience
• Post your Flickr account name
• Search for and check out other participants' photos on Flickr! My Flickr name is "dhaivyd13", and you can see a number of my Flickr pictures in a recent blog entry on this blog. 

Just for fun (optional): Create something fun using one of the Flickr third party applications or mashups and include the results in your photo stream or post into your Tool #7 blog post.

2012 Tool #1: iPads

Tool #1, 2012-13: iPads

Most of you have had the opportunity to spend the summer with one of the iPads from Park Center's iPad cart. We hope you've enjoyed it and have gotten a lot out of it. Now it is time to share what you have discovered with your peers so that we have the opportunity to learn from the experiences of one another. Towards that end, tool #1 requires you to share at least one use you have found for the iPads in education. To help you in this endeavor and get your juices flowing, please watch the following video and comment on it in the comment box at the bottom of this blog entry. You may want to have your iPad in hand when you view the video.

Tool #1 2012-13 Requirements:

1. Select at least one application that you might use with students and share it on http://d279.us/ipadapps Here is a list of favorite teacher apps, if you want some ideas.
2. After a while, go back and look at the list of recommendations created by the people in this group. It can be found at: http://d279.us/iPadappslist
3. Try out one of the apps recommended by another participant. 
4. Watch the video posted above and make a comment on it, at the bottom of these instructions. You may also want to comment on the apps you have discovered. 
5. For members of the Summer iPad User's Group, turn your iPad in to the Media Center by Friday, September 28. We will wipe it and re-image it for student use. 

Optional Challenge Activities:

1. We expect the iPads to be back in the cart about a week into October. Check the cart out and use an app with your class.There are 20 iPads in the cart plus one for the teacher. Here's a link to the Booking Calendar.
2. Use the Remote View app to project the image shown on the teacher iPad that goes with the cart. This is a 3rd generation iPad, so it has photo & video capability as well as mirroring (the capability to hook it up to your projector), but the student iPads are first generation, without those capabilities. 
3. Create a Google Form for a pre-assessment, assessment, or  survey and have students complete the form on the iPads. Show the results on the projected iPad. 
4. Use the Socratic app to turn the iPads into a student response system. 

Feedback from Participants

Some comments from participants in the 2011-12 program: 

“Great technology resources for the classroom!

Informative

Useful

The program was applicable, depending on the time and effort you wanted to put into it.

Frustrating.

Worthwhile

The program was a wonderful look into possibilities that can broaden any classroom experience.

An easy way to learn how to use new technology tools that you can actually incorporate in your classroom.

Very helpful and useful!

Eye-openingI

Connected with other like-minded teachers [with whom] I never had before...!

Enlightening!

5TTT is a vivid reminder that web applications are becoming the new way to get things done.

It is always good to get an opportunity to explore how to further utilize technology in the classroom.

I like how it was an online

Awesome!”