Betty’s Bytes

Attend a conference or workshop, learn one or two new things, and consider your experience a success! The VSTE (Virginia Society for Technology in Education) Conference was held in Virginia Beach at the Convention Center and was a success. It provided an opportunity to network, collaborate, learn, and explore. I am anxious to share what I learned with my faculty face-to-face in a hands-on environment.

In the meantime, allow me to share some topics that were of interest:

• Second Life - What is it and does it have application in education?
• Google – Do we really need Microsoft Office? Now you can collaborate online as you share documents, spreadsheets and presentations and even work offline to sync when you are connected to the Internet. Google for educators is impressive!
• Discovery Streaming – a new administrative tool to view use, more features for teachers, and some for students coming soon! 
• Teacher Blogging Best Practices – Web site of the presenter – http://www.johnhendron.net/
• SMART Boards – Powerful Tools for Secondary Students 
  • Grassfield High School – Chesapeake Public Schools
    Contact: Liz Everett – an expert with SMART Boards and the secondary student
    Telephone: 755.558.4749
    E-mail: Liz.Everett@cpschools.com
    Address: 2007 Grizzly Trail, Chesapeake, VA 23323
• SoftChalk – VBCPS has a site license, and our teachers may install it on their home computers (PC or Mac); there is a 30-day free trial for anyone, but VBCPS employees may get the activation code from the Intranet. Engage your students using SoftChalk; it is easy to learn (30 minutes max). For activation information for VBCPS teachers, login to the Intranet, Department of Technology, Instructional Resources, and SoftChalk.
  • Click here for a link to download for a PC.
  • Click here for a link to download for a Mac.
  • Click here for the installation guide.
  • Click here for the user guide.
• High End Video Projects on a Shoestring Budget – if you are using Windows Movie Maker, you will love these tips from Pam Williams, an elementary school CRS in Virginia Beach. Her tips make Movie Maker much more fun and the product more interesting; links for the downloads that you have probably thought you would like to have are located on her wiki, and, best of all, they are FREE!
• ZOOMIT! This one tip was worth the conference! Zoom in on your PC when the type or pictures are too small in your presentation. Download this little application; press ctrl + 1 and your picture zooms in; you are able to use your mouse to zoom in and out and to move around the screen. Press ESC to end the program and return to your normal screen.

For information on VBCPS conference sessions at the VSTE Conference, please visit: http://vb-vste09.wikispaces.com

Integrating technology in a classroom can be a daunting task. As teachers begin to learn new technology, that technology will spill over into the classroom; but, beware of the pitfalls. The more we know as teachers before the project begins, the better the outcome will be; sometimes there is no way to know exactly what problems will occur, but you can guarantee that there will be some. While reading 3 Challenges to Wiki Use in Instruction by Ruth Reynard, I was reminded of some of the problems that we had podcasting in the Senior English classes earlier this year even though we had practiced our plans before presenting them to students. One example of the types of challenges that occur during an online project happened because the students chose to use a different format for media files that the ones we had used during our preparation; we had opted to save and upload using wav format, where the students chose mp3. As a result, we had to locate and install a file that would allow them to use their selected format; it was not a bad thing, just an unexpected, time-consuming one.

As with a PowerPointPresentation or any other project, the more work that is done in preparation for the project, the more likely that it will be successful. The first time I did a PowerPoint lesson with a group of students, I found that they were more interested in the features and fun parts of the software than with the subject of the lesson; we require our students to research and enter the “meat and potatoes” of the objective into their slides, then they are allowed to be creative with all the “bells and whistles.”

Editing becomes second nature to students using technology, and their desires to revise and edit seem to come from within. In the past students would research, write, and submit. Now we are seeing students research, write, edit and revise, then submit. More and more we are seeing students editing and revising repeatedly in order to produce a product, which they can be proud to display and share electronically with their classmates, their teachers, or the world.

Finally, when using technology to engage your students or enhance your lessons, require that your students be active participants. Share your rubric, so that students have a complete understanding of what is required for mastery and provide them with rewards for going the step beyond, synthesizing and utilizing what they have learned and shared. When using blogs and wikis, your students must actively participate in discussions and collaborations. You may find that as students are more actively engaged, they are reading more and synthesizing what they have read projecting this newly acquired knowledge into their online contributions.

Obviously, time is a factor; but it is important for students to have time to process information and formulate their responses and contributions. I am again offering my services to the teachers in our school to help integrate technology to engage your students in active learning.