Resources and ideas for teachers

Good afternoon folks.
The countdown to Christmas is rapidly progressing there are very few days remaining in 2007.
Temperatures have dropped, snow has fallen and we’ve all dug out our boots and parkas.

Resources and ideas for teachers

Edublogs: (http://edublogs.org/)
Sometimes you just want a simple way to distribute information to your students, or even other teachers. Edublogs is an education community built on WordPress-powered blogs. It's free, and like most blogging platforms, you can embed video, podcasts, etc.

Edublogs offers 10 ways to use an edublog for teaching, which includes class publications and newsletters, online discussions, allowing student blogs, and adding multimedia. If you have a webcam, you can upload video files to YouTube or TeacherTube and embed those into your blog.


10 ways to use your edublog to teach: (http://edublogs.org/10-ways-to-use-your-edublog-to-teach/)

There are many ways you can use an edublog in your teaching, here are ten to get you started:


There are a vast number of active, educational bloggers who write about a wide variety of topics and issues. Check out http://edublogs.org/2007/11/26/edubloggers-and-the-edublog-awards-2007/ to learn about the best of this community.

Camtasia and SnagIt: These tools from Techsmith have recently been made free to teachers. Check out John Goldsmith’s description of Camtasia on the Virtual School’s Online Community site. Links to download these applications can be found there as well.

You can even embed files from Techsmith's Snagit screen still capture and Camtasia Studio screen video capture applications in your blog.


Some Science Links:

FreeScienceLectures – links to videos demonstrating a number of concepts. (http://www.freesciencelectures.com/)

SciVee – a site dedicated to the free and widespread dissemination and comprehension of science. This is a partnership between the US Public Library of Science (PLoS), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC).
http://www.scivee.tv/


Mindomo: (http://www.mindomo.com/) One of the most effective ways to brainstorm ideas is with mindmapping. This is because a mindmap allows a lot of freedom in terms of how you add new bits of information. Mindmaps are great for organizing information hierarchically, producing project plans, managing projects, critical thinking, and hundreds more uses. Because most good mindmapping software allows you to expand or collapse nodes, you can switch between high-level and low-level views.

Web-based mindmaps have not been around as long as the desktop versions, but a few of them have advanced features. Mindomo is amongst the most sophisticated, with more features than some low-end desktop mindmapping applications such as Freemind (free). Mindomo, amongst others, allows document sharing. Comapping allows real-time collaboration. Other alternatives include MindMeister and Bubbl.us. Most of these web-based apps have both free and paid options.


Online Professional Learning Series: Advanced Placement Online
Mon, Dec 10, 2007
3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Brent Sawatzky from SD 23 will discuss online Advance Placement courses.
This is an Elluminate Live session. Log from http://www.learnnowbc.gov.bc.ca/educators/Rural_Ed%20ucation/Prof_Learning_Login.aspx



Online discussion: Dec. 10 -21:
Teaching in the 21st Century: New skills for teachers?

Do teachers need to acquire new skills to prepare students for a productive and meaningful life in 21st Century? What are these new skills and what kinds of professional development do we require in order to change our practices? Do we really need new skills or do we need to shift our priorities? If Michael Fullan is correct when he writes, “Educational change depends on what teachers do and think, then we need to hear from you.

Join the Virtual School Online Community moderators, Greg Kochanuk Dave Gregg, John Goldsmith, and David LeBlanc, in an asynchronous panel discussion and help us begin to critically consider what we need to do as teachers.


Please forward this to your colleagues who may be interested.

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