Distance Learning: Benefits of the Connected Classroom

In the 21st Century, connecting outside of the classroom will be more and more common place. Speaking with authors and experts can be as simple as placing a phone call. Today, you had an opportunity to learn about equipment that is available to you to make connections outside of your classroom, experienced a sample of what it "feels" like for students to participate in a distance learning experience.

At this point we would like to find out how you felt this classroom experience was. We have a few questions to ask to improve the class for others.

1. At this time, how do see yourself using a video conferencing in the classroom?
2. What could the instructor have done to better in the presentation of this class?
3. List one thing that you learned during this class that you will teach a colleague about.
4. Share with us one thing that you learned that may have given that "aha!" moment.

Also if you need the reference to the handout you can find that here.

Images and Photoshop

So now that you have completed your first photoshoot we would like to hear what your thoughts were. Visuals are widely known as a great way to convey information. Now we have a few questions for you about this class. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, comment anonymously and have at us. Please respond to the following:

1. At this time, how do see yourself using a Photography in the classroom?
2. What could the instructor have done to better in the presentation of this class?
3. List one thing that you learned during this class that you will teach a colleague about.
4. Share with us one thing that you learned that may have given that "aha!" moment.

Also don't forget you can always get another handout or learn more at the wiki.

Mapping Minds: Inspiration for Organizing Ideas

While people have been organizing their thoughts and ideas since the beginning of time, the graphic organizer makes it easy to convey those thoughts to others. With mind mapping software, like Inspiration, it can be even easier for students to display their thoughts and ideas. Using the many tools and templates offered within the software you have hopefully learned powerful new ways to allow students to map their thoughts.

Now it is time for you to leave us some feedback. Please respond to the following prompts in the comments on this post.

• At this time, how do see yourself using Inspiration for learning?
• How could the instructor(s) have better met your needs and expectations?
• List 2-3 important concepts that you learned during this class that could teach a colleague tomorrow.
  
• Describe an "aha!" moment you might have had during this class.
  

Digital Streaming

Streaming video in the classroom is an simply way to begin integrating technology in your classroom. With the amount of video that students are already viewing out of school doesn't it make sense to engage them in the same activities in school? We hope that you enjoyed the class and please feel free to contact us with any further questions. Now we would like to have you answer a few questions for us.

1. What is one thing you will do over the next three days to improve your SMART Board skills or knowledge?
2. List one thing that you learned during this class that you could share with a colleague. Share something that you learned that may have given you an "aha!" moment.
3. Do you have suggestions on how to make this class more meaningful for teachers? If so, please describe your idea.

Also if you ever need another handout they are available on-line, as well as other information relating to the digital streaming.

SMART Classrooms = Engaged Learning

Thank you for attending the Introduction to SMART Board class. We hope that you enjoyed the class. At this time we would like to ask you to fill out our evaluation. We have four questions we would like you to answer. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, sign in anonymously and have at us.
Please complete the following questions to provide us feedback about today's class:

1. What is one thing you will do over the next three days to improve your SMART Board skills or knowledge?
2. List one thing that you learned during this class that you could share with a colleague.
   Share something that you learned that may have given you an "aha!" moment.
3. Do you have suggestions on how to make this class more meaningful for teachers? If so, please describe your idea.

Also if you ever need another handout they are available on-line, as well as other information relating to the SMART Board. You can find all of it here.

Word in the Classroom

Word is one of the most well known and probably one of the most used applications on a computer in schools. We hope that today you learned about some different ways to extend the use of Word in your classroom. There are still a lot of other functions that you can use in Word that we haven't talked about. So we hope that you are leaving today with some ideas on how to use Word more effective way. To improve upon this class as well as to give you an opportunity to begin to reflect upon what you learned today we would like to ask you the following questions:

1. Share with us one thing that you learned that may have given that "aha!" moment.
2. What could the instructor have done to better in the presentation of this class?
3. List one thing that you learned during this class that you will teach a colleague about.
4. What is one way that you might try to use this in your classroom?

Web 2.0 - Interactive Web Tools

Web 2.0 does not necessarily mean that there is new World Wide Web, rather it is used to describe new tools and strategies for using the web in new ways. While there are a multitude of tools within the Web 2.0 name, blogs, wikis and podcasts are emerging in education. We are interested what your experience was during this class. Please click comments below and reply to the following questions:

1. Was your perception of Web 2.0 tools changed from when walked into class today?
2. How do you see blogs, wikis or podcasts being used in your school library?
3. How might have the instructors served you better during this class?

Thank you for your time and questions during this class. We welcome your questions and conversations concerning Web 2.0 tools.

Digital Cameras and Scanners

So now that you have completed your first photoshoot we would like to hear what your thoughts were. Visuals are widely known as a great way to convey information. Now we have a few questions for you about this class. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, comment anonymously and have at us. Please respond to the following:

1. At this time, how do see yourself using a Photography in the classroom?
2. What could the instructor have done to better in the presentation of this class?
3. List one thing that you learned during this class that you will teach a colleague about.
4. Share with us one thing that you learned that may have given that "aha!" moment.

Also don't forget you can always get another handout or learn more at the wiki.

iMovie

During today's class you edited captured video within Apple's iMovie. iMovie is the video editing program in Apple's iLife suite. iMovie is a great program for beginning video editing due to it's drag & drop interface. We learned how to build your video story by dragging your video, audio and still image from the iLife libraries. Remember, you can find the class handout at the Model Schools Tech Help Wiki - http://wiki.monroe.edu/index.php?title=IMovie.

Before you leave tonight we would like you to answer three questions. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, comment anonymously and have at us. Please respond to the following:

1. At this time, how do see yourself using a WebQuest?
2. What could the instructor have done to better in the presentation of this class?
3. List one thing that you learned during this class that you will teach a colleague about.
4. Share with us one thing that you learned that may have given that "aha!" moment.

Creating a WebQuest

WebQuests have been proven to empower student learning through carefully designed inquiry-based activities, the world wide web and authentic tasks. You had a chance to begin to create a WebQuests for your own use to enhance learning in your classroom.

Before you leave tonight we would like you to answer three questions. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, sign in anonymously and have at us. Please respond to the following questions:

1. At this time, how do see yourself using a WebQuest?
2. What could the instructor have done to better in the presentation of this class?
3. List one thing that you learned during this class that you will teach a colleague about.
4. Share with us one thing that you learned that may have given that "aha!" moment.

If you ever need the handout that is available here, on the wiki.

SMART Classrooms = Engaged Learning

Thank you for attending the Introduction to SMART Board class. We hope that you enjoyed the class. At this time we would like to ask you to fill out our evaluation. We have four questions we would like you to answer. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, sign in anonymously and have at us.

Please complete the following questions to provide us feedback about today's class:

1. What is one thing you will do over the next three days to improve your SMART Board skills or knowledge?
   
2. List one thing that you learned during this class that you could share with a colleague.
   
3. Share something that you learned that may have given you an "aha!" moment.
   
4. Do you have suggestions on how to make this class more meaningful for teachers? If so, please describe your idea.
   

Also if you ever need another handout they are available on-line, as well as other information relating to the SMART Board. You can find all of it here.

Podcasting: Sharing Your Voice

Watch out Rush, we are podcasting now! Thank you for taking this class today, we hope that you have left with an understanding of what podcasting is and why you might want to do it.
Here are some additional resources you might find helpful when you are planning a podcasting experience for your students.


Educational Podcasts
* Yahoo! Education Podcasts
* Room 208 Podcast
* My German Class Podcast
* Military History Podcast
* Visit your iTunes Music Store and search Podcasts

Creating Podcasts Resources
* Creating Podcasts
* Segment Planning Booklet
* Podcasting in Education Video Series

Podsafe Music Resources
* The Free Sound Project
* FreePlayMusic.com
* ACIDplanet
* Podsafe Audio
* MacAudioGuy


Please take the time to fill out our evaluation by answering the following questions in the comment area of our blog.

* What is one thing that you learned?
* What is one thing that the class instructor could have done better?
* What is one way that you plan on using this in your classroom?

Making the Web Work for Learning: WebQuests

WebQuests have been proven to empower student learning through carefully designed inquiry-based activities, the world wide web and authentic tasks. You had a chance to search and review a few WebQuests as well as share ideas about how you might use WebQuests to enhance learning in your classroom.

Before you leave tonight we would like you to answer three questions. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, sign in anonymously and have at us. Please respond to the following questions:

1. At this time, how do see yourself using a WebQuest?
2. What could the instructor have done to better in the presentation of this class?
3. List one thing that you learned during this class that you will teach a colleague about?
4. Share with us one thing that you learned that may have given that "aha!" moment.

If you ever need the handout that is available here, on the wiki.

What a SMART Board!

Thank you for attending the Introduction to SMART Board class. We hope that you enjoyed the class. At this time we would like to ask you to fill out our evaluation. We have four questions we would like you to answer. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, sign in anonymously and have at us.

Please complete the following questions to provide us feedback about today's class:

1. At this time, how do see yourself using the SMART Board?
2. What could the instructor have done to better in the presentation of this class?
3. List one thing that you learned during this class that you will teach a colleague about?
4. Share with us one thing that you learned that may have given that "aha!" moment.

Also if you ever need another handout they are available on-line, as well as other information relating to the SMART Board. You can find all of it here.

RSS: Making the Web Work for You

Let's face it, the Internet is like a large firehose and it's not going to stop. So, what do you do with all the information? How can we filter information to work for us and not slow us down? RSS, Real Simple Syndication, is one very powerful and useful way to access timely information about news important and relevant to you. It's also a great way to learn more about your personal interests. In this class you learned the basics of RSS as well as set up an RSS aggregator to use via Bloglines. We encourage you to continue using your new account and make it a habit to read from it often. I often have my morning coffee in front of my personal digital newspaper!

Please complete the following questions to provide us feedback about today's class:

1. At this time, how do see yourself using RSS?
   
2. What could the instructor have done to better in the presentation of this class?
3. List one thing that you learned during this class that you will teach a colleague about?
4. Share with us one thing that you learned that may have given that "aha!" moment.

Inspired Teaching & Learning

Using Inspiration "students in grades K-12 learn to clarify thoughts, organize and analyze information, integrate new knowledge and think critically." In this class you learned to work with Inspiration software, now what? Please responde to the following questions in the comments area below.

• How do you plan to use this powerful "combination of visual learning and technology" to help students clarify their thoughts, organize and analyze information, integrate new knowledge and think critically?
• What could the instructor have done to better present the use of Inspiration for meeting educational standards?
• List one thing that you learned during this class that you can take back and teach a colleague about?
  

Its a Wiki Wiki World

We hope that you now are familiar with the wild world of wiki. We use this blog to collect feed back from our classes. If you would please answer the following questions in the comment area below.

• What is one thing that you learned?
• What is one thing that the class instructor could have done better?
• What are you going to do in the next three days to apply what you have learned tonight?

Introduction to Publisher

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Now that you have made it through our Introduction to Publisher class, would you mind providing us with some feedback? Simply click on the Comments link below this post, sign in anonymously and have at us.

Please respond to the following questions:

1. What is one thing that you learned?
2. What is one thing that the class instructor could have done better?What is one way that you plan on using this in your classroom?
3. Hey, while your here, why not check out what other courses we offer?

Happy [Belated] Birthday

EdTechClass turned one year old on August 13, 2006. It all started as a sandbox for me (Brian) to play in and learn about Blogger and blogs in general. EdTechClass has evolved several times thoughout the year and I imagine that it will continue to evolve. For the most part it has been a place to solicite feedback about the courses that we teach. In the future, I [Brian], plan to learn more about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to edit the template we use in Blogger. This is to make this blog a worthy resource for our colleagues, but more importantly a friendly place for teachers to visit and use as a valuable resource in implementing technology into their curriculum.

So, thanks to all of you who subscribe to our blog and please send us your suggestions at edtechclass@gmail.com.

Podcasting

Watch out Rush, we are podcasting now! Thank you for taking this class today, we hope that you have left with an understanding of what podcasting is and why you might want to do it.
Here are some additional resources you might find helpful when you are planning a podcasting experience for your students.

Educational Podcasts

• Yahoo! Education Podcasts
  
• Room 208 Podcast
  
• My German Class Podcast
  
• Military History Podcast
  
• Visit your iTunes Music Store and search Podcasts
  
  Creating Podcasts Resources
  
• Creating Podcasts
  
• Segment Planning Booklet
  
• Podcasting in Education Video Series
  
  Podsafe Music Resources
  
• The Free Sound Project
  
• FreePlayMusic.com
  
• ACIDplanet
  
• Podsafe Audio
  
• MacAudioGuy
  

Please take the time to fill out our evaluation by answering the following questions in the comment area of our blog.

• What is one thing that you learned?
• What is one thing that the class instructor could have done better?
• What is one way that you plan on using this in your classroom?

Blogging 101

We covered a lot of information about blogging today. We often have told people that to understand blogs and get a feel for what they are capable of, they need to subscribe and read blogs. We have chosen Edublogs (a Wordpress service) as our choice of blogging service because of the easy user interface, control features and quick publishing of posts and comments.

Please remember to use our wiki resource to remind you how to use certain features of Wordpress. We hope that this class has gotten you thinking in terms of what weblogs could do for classrooms, schools and for you professionally.

Educational Blog Examples

• Literacy in Math, Science & Technology
  
• Room 208 Blog
  
• Cool Cat Teacher
  
• Get Your Blog in Shape
  
• ScienceBlogs.com
  
• History is Elementary
  
• Blog search at Technorati
  

Before you leave tonight we would like you to answer three questions. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, sign in anonymously and have at us. Please respond to the following questions:

* What is one thing that you learned?
* What is one thing that the class instructor could have done better?
* What is one way that you plan on using this in your classroom?

What a SMART Board!

Thank you for attending the Introduction to SMART Board class. We hope that you enjoyed the class. At this time we would like to ask you to fill out our evaluation. We have three questions we would like you to answer. Simply click on the Comments link below this post, sign in anonymously and have at us. Please respond to the following questions:

1. What is one thing that you learned?
2. What is one thing that the class instructor could have done better?
3. What is one way that you plan on using this in your classroom?

Also if you ever need another handout they are available on-line, as well as other information relating to the SMART Board. You can find all of it here.