EduTech’s West Central Region Blog

Last Friday, I attended the North Dakota Association of Technology Leaders Spring Face to Face Conference in Fargo.  While there, I learned about these fun classroom games and activities that are easy to use with an interactive whiteboard from Nancy Conkins.

Jeopardy Labs

Purpose Games

Class Tools

I hope you and your students will enjoy using these in your classrooms!

Using videostreaming in the classroom is a great way to extend learning!

Here are a few websites to explore:

• Apple Learning Exchange http://newali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000355/
• Explore Learning http://www.explorelearning.com/
• The Futures Channel http://www.thefutureschannel.com/index.php
• History.com http://www.history.com/media.do
• NASA Virtual Scanning Electron Microscope http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/vlab/index.html
• Teacher Tube http://www.teachertube.com/

I’ve recently been introduced to a website that Promethean Learning has created to certify teachers in ActivStudio and ActivPrimary Foundation Skills for Mac users.  It is a Moodle site and you will need to register (even if you already have a Promethean Planet account).

Here is the website:  http://www.prometheanlearning.com/us/index.php

Once there, click on the orange Mac Level 1 Activstudio or Mac Level 1 Activprimary links.

Let me know what you think after you complete the course!

According to Grantastic Designs, there are 5 basic rules of web design and layout.

Your web site should be easy to read
–High contrast with the text and background
–Text should not be too large or too small
–Good use of white space

Your web site should be easy to navigate
–Consider the audience
–Organize consistently

Your web site should be easy to find
–The URL should be easy to remember
–The URL should be as concise as possible

Your web page layout and design should be consistent throughout the site
–Each page has the same look and feel
–Text should be consistent

You web site should be quick to download
–Images should not be too large
–Animations should be kept to a minimum
–All linked documents should be in PDF format

To find out more information about Grantastic’s recommendations, go to http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/5rules.html

Wikipedia also has some good information regarding the terminology used in web design. Here’s a link to that page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design

Have you ever wished you could remember where that great article, resource or web page was located? Social bookmarking is a way for Internet users to store, organize, share and search for bookmarks of web pages. Just like creating a bookmark in your web browser, a social bookmark is stored on the web for access from any computer. This makes it possible for you to find your favorite web page you’ve bookmarked at the office at home as well. With social bookmarking the links can be made public to share with others via email or online. People can then view your bookmarks chronologically, by category or by search engine.

There are many free social bookmarking services. I have listed a few below:
Connotea
del.icio.us
Digg
Diigo
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Netvouz
Newsvine
reddit
Simpy
Stumbleupon

There are advantages to using social bookmarking. Remote access from any computer connected to the Internet, tags created by human beings rather than algorithmic software and rank based on use are a few.

I currently use Furl. Check out my Furl page http://www.furl.net/members/lynneanneanderson
Happy bookmarking!!!

Ideas For Using The ActivBoard in the Classroom

Get the most out of your lessons by using the ActivBoard in your classroom. Here are just a few ideas that I found on the Promethean Planet website:

• Annotate over an image or text (pen or highlighter) to make corrections or add punctuation
• Draw lines to match concepts
• Use images from the resource library to tell a story
• Link to a short video and ask students for the main idea and supporting details
• Create templates for completing story elements such as background, character, and plot
• Use spotlight to illustrate location or identity of an object
• Use the paint bucket to color certain words or objects.
• Travel to different continents and explore foreign countries using “Google Earth”
• Drag objects into Venn diagram to establish similarities and differences

Whiteboard Interactive Links

These links are not just for whiteboard use, but work well with them because of the interactive factors each contains.
1. EdHeads is a science site containing interactiveness with simple machines, virtual knee surgery, and weather. http://www.edheads.org
2. K-3 math sites http://www.juliethompson.com/SMART.html
3. K-12 math sites http://www.d131.kane.k12.il.us/Bardwell/smartboard.html
4. Learning Planet http://www.learningplanet.com
5. Set Game http://www.setgame.com/index.html
6. eFieldTrips http://www.efieldtrips.org
7. National Library of Virtual Manipulatives http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/vlibrary.html
8. Various Science Sites for High School Students http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/tools/science-hs.html
9. Various tools to enhance Math education for Elementary and Middle School students http://www.arcytech.org/java
10. Various engaging math games for students grades preK-7 http://www.learningplanet.com
11. Interactive lessons to boost a child’s success in school. http://www.dositey.com
12. A multitude of web sites aimed at assisting foreign language teachers. http://www.internet4classrooms.com/flang.htm
13. Another site that contains foreign language resources. http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslsp.html
14. Comprehension and phonics site for pre-school to 2nd graders. http://starfall.com

Interactive Research Sites

1. The National Student Research Center recommends these science sites for high school students. http://www.youth.net/nsrc/webs.html
2. Locate historical pictures, maps, music and more at The National Geographic site. http://www.nationalgeographic.com

Streaming Video Sites
1. Brainpop contains K-8 math, science, social studies, technology, math, English, and health video clips and quizzes that are tied to standards. http://www.brainpop.com Many videos are targeted toward 3rd Grade and up, but Brainpop junior is found at http://www.brainpopjr.com and is targeted for the lower grades.

2. United Streaming is a digital video-based web site featuring more than 5,000 full-length videos divided into 50,000 content-specific segments. This site contains lesson plans tied to standards, quiz builders, writing prompts and more. http://www.unitedstreaming.com

3. KidsHealth contains an abundance of health information pertaining to kids, parents, and teens. Phy-ed and health teachers will find this site useful as it has streaming videos, an interactive treasure hunt, healthy recipes and more. http://www.kidshealth.org

4. Google Video contains free and for pay videos for educators. http://video.google.com

Smartboard and Activboard Resources

1. K-12 whiteboard templates http://www.center.k12.mo.us/edtech/SB/templates.htm#K2
2. SMART Technologies web site http://www.smarttech.com
3. SMART Technologies education site http://www.smarttech.com/education/
4. EdCompass http://edcompass.smarttech.com/ec/en-us/
5. Promethean Planet site http://prometheanplanet.com

Check out these podcasts on interactive whiteboards!

ActivBoard Tips http://www.prometheanplanet.com/us/server/show/nav.1252

ActivBoard Teacher Ideas http://feeds.feedburner.com/PrometheanPlanetTeacherFeature

SmartBoard Podcasts http://pdtogo.com/smart/?page_id=28

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