VoiceThread & Community Walk Example Lessons

My final project in my 21st Century Skills class was to update the current way a lesson or topic is taught in the classroom to meet the guidelines set forth by the 21st Cent Skills Iniative. I decided to use two of my favorite new tools, VoiceThread and CommunityWalk, in conjunction with one of my favorite subjects, The Civil War in NC (Thank You Again Dr. Candy Beal for inspiring me about my local history).

I created a wikipage to act as a launch point and have included rubrics and storyboards. I'd love to get some feedback, please take a look!

http://bethanyvsmith.pbwiki.com/civilwar

NCETC Chat Follow-Up

One of the great things I have learned from David Warlick (and have only had a chance to use it once, but loved it) is to foster the "back-end chat." So many times I've heard - "Close your laptops now. OR Turn off your monitors." We are so afraid of what THEY will do if we can't have their undivided attention.

So how do we foster multi-tasking computer users WITHOUT losing the dreaded "time on task." You create a mechanism for your audience to discuss issues DURING the presentation. You foster the "back-end chat."

David has done this and then afterwards interjects his own comments and posts the chat. Today, I got around to actually reading the chat and clarifying some issues.
Check it Out

and happy Backchatting!

(Oh and I used a program called Pladeo to do this - instead of the Ajax chat client David used.

Edublog Awards

I am always impressed by the quality of winners from the Edublog Awards, and this year is no exception. Some of these I have heard of, others I have not. I look forward to exploring them all more!

Best educational use of a virtual world
Suffern middle school in Second Life (Second Life)

Best educational use of a social networking service
Classroom 2.0, Steve Hargadon (Ning)

Best educational wiki
Welker’s Wikinomics, Jason Welker (Wetpaint)

Best educational use of video / visual
RBG Street Scholars Think Tank Multi-Media E-Zine, Marc Imhotep Cray (Blogger)

Best educational use of audio
SMARTBoard Lessons Podcast (Wordpress)

Best elearning / corporate education blog
eLearning Technology, Tony Karrer (Blogger)

Best educational tech support blog
El tinglado, Josa Cuerva Moreno

Best librarian / library blog
A Library By Any Other Name, Vaughn Branom (Blogger)

Best teacher blog
The tempered radical, Bill Ferriter (Typepad)

Most influential blog post
Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher? - The Fischbowl, Karl Fisch (Blogger)

Best resource sharing blog
TipLine - Gates’ Computer Tips, Jim Gates (Blogger)

Best new blog
dy/dan, Dan Myer (Wordpress)

Best group blog
Techlearning blog

Best individual blog
ScienceRoll, Berci Meskó, Hungary (Wordpress)

My sessions are complete...

Whew..... I am finally done with my presentations and workshops. You know it seemed like a good idea at the time to present FOUR times AND teach a workshop. Really, it did. I am sitting in Patrick Crispin's session on Accessibility right now and am trying to decompress. My morning sessions went really well (and in my opinion better than yesterday). Although yesterday we had a 30 minute break between presentations and we had only 15 today - and I totally didn't realize and started LATE!!!!!

The majority of my presentations I have placed on my wiki
http://bethanyvsmith.pbwiki.com/

Please feel free to add your comments and sites that you have found. A big thank you to everyone who came to my presentations. I really enjoy presenting and as exhausted as I am - it was totally worth it.

Warlick's Video Game Presentation

I am a big fan of using (appropriate) video games to engage learners in the classroom. I worked for a video game testing and support facility in Baltimore, MD when I was taking a detour from education. They were moving into the edutainment market and wanted someone with education experience that could speak geek. I learned more there about computers and how they worked (as well as the people that loved them), more than I ever thought possible.

What always surprised me was how smart most of these guys were (very few girls), how little education beyond high school - which embodied all the stereotypes I had come to know - and yet how social and smart and dedicated they were to their jobs. Mind you I know that they were the exception not the rule, but it gave me some insight that I will forever be grateful for.

Now on to my session comments......

David always has a great looking presentation and uses wikis for his Online Handouts.

We are investigating Second Life at State - so I am excited to see that David has an office there and is demoing how to use SL to deliver content. I wonder if this is the future of Course Management Systems?!

Can we teach with games? or learn with games?
I actually responded to this question in the chat. I believe there are definite teachable moments with comparing virtual or historic environments for the real world. Even comparing games that are not historically accurate are important. (I have vivid memories of playing Oregon Trail as a fourth grader during lunch in the computer lab - yes I was one of those).

How is the "video game generation" different?
We are competitive, risk taking and sociable as well as Self-confident! You get to be the Hero! My husband and I actually had this discussion the other day about board games (I had board game night as a kid). He loved play Othello and Stratego while I loved Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly. He prefers much more strategy and long term planning games than I did.

seriousgames.org
Can video games teach empathy?
I wonder about this. Can putting our students in virtual environments impact them enough to change their views about real life?

Is the line blurring from real life and online life? Do we want it to?

Podcasting Workshop

Well I just finished my Podcasting Workshop at NCETC. This is the first time I have conducted a workshop by myself in a long time. I missed having someone else to banter back and forth with - it was a bit isolating. I had a small group of people and I think we produced some good podcasts. I have to wonder if I should start teaching Audacity more. As much as I want to live in a Mac world - it just isn't quite there yet.

I will be Twittering most of the conference - bethanyvsmith

It looks like all my presentations are on the other side of the hotel in pretty large rooms - I'm not sure if that is good or bad! Hope to see some of you at the conference!

1,000 Hits!

Evan says, "Yea! Mommy's blog has over 1,000 hits"

I literally "hit" a milestone today - 1,000 hits to my webpage! This means so much to me - not just because I yearn to be popular (just kidding), but really because it is the conversations that grow out of blogging that are so important and drive me to continue posting. Blogging on a regular basis is an important part of my own professional development, and I appreciate your support.

My 1,000th hit was at 7:24 PM last night from Mountain View, California! How cool is that!