http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac McCollough/Unis Media News Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:49:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I just watched this very interesting video by James Paul Gee, the technology/education expert from University of Arizona. He talks about how today anyone can do things that are "taught" by traditional education, usually much cheaper than in the U.S. He discussed the need to incubate innovation, which is the ... http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/08/21/innovate-or-die/ Today I took the Middlebooks Blog to an audio podcast format. I used Audacity to record and edit the video files and Podbean as the hosting site. It was quite easy and had the added benefit of getting an eighth grader to talk enthusiastically about something he read. My editing ... http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/05/29/middle-books-blog-moves-to-audio/ I have recently been introduced to a new tool called MyStudiyo.com that makes online quizzes very easily. Here is one that I made to go with the "Pain in the Brain" video that I presented at staff meeting a few weeks ago. I will also post a link to the ... http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/05/27/cool-teacher-tool/ Delicious - A great place to collect and catagorize websites that is available anywhere you can log in to the Internet. No more "Oh,no! I bookmarked it on my other computer" woes. Here is mine. http://del.icio.us/calvamom Pageflakes - an easy way to put a bunch of things together on one webpage. ... http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/05/02/cool-tools-to-learn/ Kristin Fontichairo , a school media specialist in Birmingham, has developed a short learning module called Exploring Elementary 2.0. It is an overview of Web 2.0 applications that canbe used in the elementary classroom. If you are interested, please take a look at http://exploringelementary2.edublogs.org/ .  I will be glad to ... http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/04/18/learning-opportunity-for-teachers/ Get the IM INTO Second Life widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Send IMs to Second Life without logging in.:-)Share This http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/04/03/cool-widget/  McCollough/Unis students are networking using the virtual world Whyville. We had some nice social gatherings over break and students said they would like to get together more often. We are also taking that time to learn to play some of the great science and math games that earn clams (Whyville ... http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/03/27/party-in-whyville/ Get a Voki now! This is the avatar I made in Voki. It is basically just a place to go make your own little talking cartoon character. Fun!Share This http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/03/10/voki-another-fun-internet-app/ Virtual worlds that allow scripting let you represent numbers (make graphs) in some very cool ways. Here is an example of a graph of the price of gas over the last few years. Share This http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/03/03/graphing-video-from-second-life/ Many thanks to Adam Salamey for helping me shoot and edit this video clip for ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). I'm just trying to show that virtual worlds are full of regular people just trying to learn, play and grow their minds.Share This http://blog.dearbornschools.org/alvarac/2008/02/26/thanks-adam-for-help-with-this-video/