educational technology

In the featured session, Rethinking How We Teach Mathematics to Struggling Learners with Technology, Ted Hasselbring discussed how we can use technology to address the recommendations of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel for all students, including those with special needs and at-risk for school failure. The following are notes from his presentation:

More and more schools are embracing educational video game technology to engage students and improve achievement scores. During this presentation a team of educators from one Broward County school showcased the implementation strategies that took them to the top of the leader board in a district-wide math competition. The following are notes from their presentation:

•DimensionU is home to four distinct worlds where students play educational video games to practice core K-12 subject areas: Math, Literacy, Science and History. http://www.dimensionu.com/

During this presentation, by UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and College of Education, Dr. Robert Everett and Mr. Eric Fisher described the Engineer Teacher Connection. They shared about the Internet Science and Technology Fair and explained that it is an Online competition where teams of students participate in a competition to innovate solutions to real world problems. http://istf.ucf.edu They also presented about the product they just released that connects engineers and teachers.

Cheryl Lemke is a nationally known speaker on policy, leadership and accountability in education technology. In this spotlight session, Ms. Lemke discussed designing tomorrow's lessons using the latest social, learning, and neuroscience research on critical thinking, multi-tasking, multimodal learning, collaboration, and engagement. On Monday, 1/18, her presentation will be downloadable from her company website at: http://www.metiri.com The following are notes from Ms. Lemke’s presentation:

Julie Hagaman shared many open source software programs along with tips and tricks on how to use them in the classroom. Below I’ve listed open source sites that Ms. Hagaman shared with us during her presentation. However, many more are available at the Teach4Teacher website and are sorted by categories. Check it out at http://tech4teacher.weebly.com/

•Poll Everywhere allows learners to use their cell phones to submit polls. http://www.polleverywhere.com
•Open Office is a free and open productivity tool. http://www.openoffice.org/
•GIMP Image Editor http://www.gimp.org/

During this session Ms. Weary shared engaging ways to support the development of number sense in students. This included ideas for teaching important number sense concepts and skills, including the five- and 10-structures and subitizing: using virtual manipulatives as part of math instruction and evaluating virtual manipulatives for classroom use. Notes I wrote during this session are provided below:

•DreamBox virtual manipulatives includes free trial use of virtual manipulatives. http://www.dreambox.com
•Launched Jan. 2009 and has been well received (as you can see on their website).

Dr. Howie DiBlasi lives in Georgetown, TX and was the presenter for this feature session titled 21st Century Learning: Digital Kids in the Classroom and 37 Free Software Tools for the Global Classroom Connection. Dr. Howie wasn't exaggerating - he shared at least 37 free, fantastic websites! The following are notes I typed during his presentation. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for information on how to download his PowerPoint presentation.

•There are 6.2 million teachers in the U.S. 17% are in public elementary schools and 51% are over 50 years old.

This session, Teach with Video: Student Created Video Projects in Your Class by Steven Katz, M.Ed., began with a powerful video created by a 9th grade world history class. The following notes were written during this, standing room only, session:

•Handouts and notes can be accessed at: http://teachwithvideo.com/blog
•Sample videos and student handouts are available at: http://www.Teachwithvideo.com/samples.html
•Podcasts at: www.cdsnews.net and www.teachwithvideo.com/podcast

These two teachers were full of personality! Ms. Kincaid graduated from Shiloh Elementary and Ms. Palmer was her 4th grade teacher. Ms. Kincaid graduated and has since been a teacher at Shiloh for six years. They teach at a rural district with approximately 16 students in each of their classrooms. Their presentation is posted at: http://www.shiloh.k12.il.us/

•Received over $350K for software, training, and equipment.
•Teachers trained over 400 hours in 3 years.

I'm at FETC and had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Hal Davidson, Director of Discovery Educator Network. The session was titled Deep, Deep, Dive Inside
Digital: It’s Wild in There. All handouts are available at: http://www.DiscoveryEdSpeakersBureau.com Mr. Davidson began the session asking attendees to, "Make sure your cell phones are on with ringers off! It’s a new age – turn your phones on!" The following are notes I recorded during this session: