Betty’s Bytes

One laptop per child – a dream of Nicholas Negroponte.  Visit his site http://laptop.org/.  His vision is to provide each child around the world with an affordable laptop.  Read more about his project, which has now been joined by Intel.

• Transform your classroom using technology to engage your students; tools are free, easy to use and readily accessible on the Internet. Capture the interest of your students by providing an audience — a world-wide, authentic audience.
• Begin by visiting Will Richardson’s blog or reading his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (check it out from my office or purchase it from Amazon); I had the privilege of hearing him speak and attending his two-hour hands-on session, so I have lots to share.
• Know the terminology (click on the links to Wikipedia for an in-depth explanation of each term; some are nouns and verbs).
  • blog – Web log or online journal, easily updated, reverse chronological and allowing for comments
  • wiki – online information site that can be updated by anyone, a tool for collaborative efforts (see Wikipedia for an excellent, but large example)
  • podcast – digital media file for broadcasting – download podcasts or you and your students can create audio and/or video files to share information
  • rss – really simple syndication – you subscribe to an rss feed to keep up with sites that are frequently updated
• Use your local resources – your peers, your CRS, your supervisor, your students

• Technology news will now be available and updated on this blog.  Some of you will remember that I created an Education and Technology blog in September of 2005; within two weeks, the site was blocked by VBCPS.
• Two years later, Dr. Merrill and the Department of Technology are encouraging the use of blogging and other engaging and interactive forms of technology for staff and students. Providing students with an audience improves their involvement dramatically, evidenced by the popularity of social networking sites such as YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter (these will be blocked from school).
• Click on the Tips tab at the top of the page for tips, tricks and links that were posted in the monthly newsletter published on the studentportal.
• This is the first posting to Betty’s Bytes in 2007; please visit archived editions of newsletters if you have access to the studentportal. I would appreciate any constructive comments on this new format.