by Doug Adams
Recently, the University of Kansas School of Education acquired a set of Activexpression learner response devices, commonly called “clickers.” These clickers are slightly larger than a cell phone, with a keypad and a number of specialized buttons. With them, a presenter can survey a class, get responses from the participants, and present the response data in real time. Results can be anonymous, or if the instructor assigns the devices to individual members of the class, responses can be logged and entered into a spreadsheet or database grading system.
April 11, 2010
Let Your Students Express themselves
Free Online Resources for Writing and Research
4Teachers.org, a division of ALTEC, has a suite of tools designed specifically to help students with their writing and research projects, from narrowing down a great topic, to collecting online research, to writing a persuasive essay.
Site of the Week
Kidblog.org (http://kidblog.org)
Kidblog.org was created by teachers for elementary and middle school teachers and students to have a safe place to blog. Unlike other blog platforms, teachers have complete administrative control over student blogs. Kidblog collects no personal information, is free of advertising, and easy to navigate. Create a blog for your classroom today using this valuable free resource!
April 4, 2010
Grants! Grants! Grants!
Now is the time to start preparing to submit grants this summer that will yield awards in the fall. Many grants are available to teachers now to fund projects in a wide variety of subjects. Most grants require a simple online application. Here are a few of the grants you may consider:
Site of the Week
My Science Box
This site is a terrific resource to find hands-on science projects for grades K-16. The middle school units are the most comprehensive and designed to be 4-6 week science units complete with detailed lesson plans, worksheets, and lists of materials needed for hands-on activities.
March 21, 2010
Train your Entire Staff on a Limited Budget
Many technology coordinators are beginning to schedule their staff development sessions for summer. Finding cost-effective ways to train your entire staff can be a challenge. Fortunately there are a few options available to schools that are working with a limited budget. (more…)
MIT OCW Highlights for High School
MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is an online database of virtually all MIT courseware. MIT course materials include lecture notes, exams, and videos and are free and available for anyone to use. There are currently 1900 courses available and no registration is required to view the materials. The Highlights for High School section of the OCW features materials that are most useful for high school students and teachers. (more…)
Site of the Week
Teacher Tap
(http://eduscapes.com/tap/index.htm)
Teacher Tap provides free professional development resources organized into project pages that focus on a specific topic. Each project page contains practical hands-on activities, common questions, teacher resources, software suggestions, and useful learning resources. For a more indepth look at specific topics there are also online courses available.
March 15, 2010
Site of the Week
A WebQuest about WebQuests (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestwebquest-es.html)
Learn how to develop great WebQuests in 90 minutes by completing this WebQuest written by Bernie Dodge. Discover the different possibilities open to you by analyzing several WebQuest examples and discussing them from different perspectives.
March 7, 2010
ALTEC Needs Your Help
We are currently conducting a short student survey to determine students’ “likeability” of math and word games. We hope it will help us make better educational games. The survey will take less than five minutes to complete and we collect no personal information at all. To take the survey go to Computer Games Likeability Survey.
