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XTimelines- Collaborative Multi-Media Timelines

XTimeline is the web application I've been searching for for quite some time. As a social studies teacher I am truly excited about using XTimeline with my students and I think my students will be excited to use it. XTimeline is a collaborative time line creation tool. Yes, there are others available, but none are as good as this. XTimeline gives users the option to include photos, videos, text, and web links within each entry of the timeline. After creating a timeline the creators can invite people to comment on and discuss the timeline. Think of it as Youtube for timelines. Timelines created with XTimeline can be easily embedded into another website like a blog or a wiki for example. Below I have included an example of a timeline created about the history of Jazz created using XTimeline. Applications for Educators Timelines have long been a standard project in classrooms. XTimeline is a new twist on the old standard. Students will be engaged in using XTimeline because it allows them to create academic projects in their "language." The websites most popular with students today have many layers of media. XTimeline gives students the chance to sow what they know in a style that they are familiar with and enjoy. I'm planning to use XTimeline with my students when they return from winter break. I'll report back on here about the students' level of engagement with XTimeline.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Lumifi- Collaborative Research

Lumifi is a new collaborative research tool. With Lumifi students and teachers can collaboratively share, evaluate, and organize information found online and off-line. What makes Lumifi different from other online collaboration tools is the ability to upload documents then extract only the relevant information to share with others. Often while researching a topic students only need part of a document or web page, Lumifi gives users the option to weed through peripherals and get right to the information they need. Applications for Educators Lumifi is a good way to have students collaborate on research projects. Students can share in the research and analysis process together. Have your students invite you to be a collaborator in their project and you can monitor their progress through the research process. Below is a video introduction to Lumifi.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Free Vibe- National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign

Free Vibe is a project of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. Free Vibe is designed for students to find and share information and stories about drug use. Free Vibe has all of the usual information and scare stories about drug abuse that you would expect to find on an anti-drug campaign. Students can read the story of Len Bias (number two NBA draft pick in 1986 overdosed on cocaine two days later) and other famous people whose lives were cut short by drugs use. What makes Free Vibe great is that it has the look and feel of the Web 2.0 websites (Facebook, MySpace) that students use in their everyday lives. One of the ways that Free Vibe appeals to students on their level is through widgets or icons that they can embed on their favorite social networking profile. Free Vibe is written in a language and style that will keep kids engaged better than a lot of the other web resources about substance abuse. Free Vibe has discussion boards for students to share their opinions on a variety of questions related to substance use and abuse. Today's discussion topic is started with this prompt: "What would you say to a student athlete thinking about using steroids?" In addition to discussion forums and profile tools, Free Vibe has video sharing features. Watch one of the videos below. Applications for Educators Free Vibe doesn't have materials specifically designed for teachers, but it does have a lot of free resources like posters and pamphlets that teachers can use in their classrooms. For those of you maintaining blogs or websites for your classes, Free Vibe has free anti-drug banner ads you can embed into your blog or website.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Students believe in technology, but do all educators?

The results of the 2008 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index were released last month. The survey of 1004 teenagers found that more than 70% of American teens believe that technology can help fix some of the world's most pressing problems. The bad news is more than half of the students do not feel that their high school is preparing them for a career in technology and engineering. If you recall from Michael Wesch's video, many of today's students will have jobs that do not exist today (click here to see the video). What do educators need to do to prepare students for the jobs of the future? If technology is pushing the economy and technology changes far faster than schools can invest in new technology, how then do schools prepare students for the future?

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Understanding Genetics - Tech Museum of Innovation

The Tech Museum of Innovation, located in San Jose, California has an interesting online display about genetics. The online display covers the science of genetics and the politics of genetic engineering. The online display includes a series of videos from the Future of Science Conference. In the video leading scientists and philosophers discuss topics related to genetics. Applications for Educators The science of genetics displays are informative and appropriate for use with students in middle school and high school. The videos and articles discussing the ethics and politics of genetic engineering and gene therapy are appropriate for use with high school students. Below I have embedded a video featuring Daniel Dennet discussing genetics at the Future of Science Conference.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Web Safety - Protecting Kids Online

Fifty countries across Europe are celebrating Safer Internet Day today. The day is designed to raise awareness of the dangers students can face on the Internet. Read more about Safer Internet Day here. In an effort to teach children about potential dangers online the Council of Europe has created a game called the Wild Web Woods. The Wild Web Woods is designed for students ages seven through ten to learn how to spot danger on the Internet and what to do when they do spot danger on the Internet. Applications for Educators Wild Web Woods is an activity that all elementary school kids should complete before exploring the Internet. I actually had a high school student try the game today and she agreed that middle school and high school students could learn from the game too.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Presidential Candidate Match Game

USA Today has a short, 11 questions, survey to help citizens determine with which candidate they match up. Applications for Educators The Candidate Match Game is a short but potentially deep activity to use with high school students. The questions and issues raised in the Match Game are good for starting conversations with students about the various Presidential Candidates.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Yale Open Courses

Last week I explored MIT's Open Courses. This week I'm exploring Yale's Open Courses. The number of open courses that Yale offers is not as large as MIT's, but Yale's Open Course offerings are deeper. The courses Yale offers include video and audio files of the lectures from each class as well as the transcripts from each class. Like MIT's open courses, not all of the readings are available for free so you'll have to check Amazon or your local bookstore for the readings.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Taking it Global

No statement about technology is as undeniable as "the Internet connects people globally." TakingITGlobal.org is using that fact to promote young people to take responsible civic action in their local and global community. The projects Taking It Global have started include local engagements, classroom projects, and globally collaborative projects through Internet applications. TakingITGlobal.org is more than just a website of ideas about how to take action, it is also a social network to connect young people around the world who are interested in doing something positive for their local or global community. Take a look at the list of projects and resources available here. This is how Taking It Global describes itself: "TakingITGlobal.org is an online community that connects youth to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities. It's the world's most popular online community for young people interested in making a difference, with hundreds of thousands of unique visitors each month." Applications for Educators TakingITGlobal.org is a great way for students to share their ideas with other students around the world about how to make the world better. The educational resources section of Taking It Global provides lessons and advice about getting students involved in charitable projects in their local and global community. The technology collaboration section of Taking It Global gives students a chance to not only share ideas but work also collaboratively with students around the world.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Digital Movie Making

The Digital Directors Guild is a project designed to help teachers explore and use digital storytelling in their classrooms. The Digital Directors Guild has projects and resources for all grade levels. The resources page of the Digital Directors Guild contains information regarding all stages of developing Digital Storytelling projects with students. Digital storytelling is a great way to get kids excited about a topic. Through the creation of a digital story they become the directors of what can be consumed by their peers. Digital storytelling gives every student a chance to be active participants in their learning process and the learning experience of their peers. You can click here to see a list of ten reasons for using digital storytelling in your classroom. If you've never tried digital storytelling (making videos or audio slide shows) the Digital Directors Guild gives advice on getting started including how to use free video editing software and samples of finished projects. I've embedded one of the sample projects below.

This short video presents a good argument for using digital storytelling.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Internet4classrooms- Internet Lesson Plans

Internet4Classrooms is a good resource of links to lesson plans and web-based activities for teachers. Some of the links I explored take you to lesson plans that may not necessarily integrate technology, but are useful none-the-less. The most useful section of Internet4Classrooms is the grade level sections for grades K-8.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Word Processing Collaboration- Buzzword

On Mashable there is a list of 13 web-based word processing applications. All of the applications have collaboration/ sharing features. Click here to see the full list. I tried out 11 of the applications (Google Documents and Zoho Writer were not new to me) and the one that really got me excited is Buzzword. Buzzword is very rich in features but at the same time has a simple interface perfect for use with students. Below I've embedded a short video overview of Buzzword. Applications for Educator

Why would I use Buzzword instead of another web-based word processor? Buzzword has a much more professional appearance compared to its competitors. So what? Looks matter in web-based applications. Why do looks matter in a classroom environment? Looks matter in a classroom environment because if the program looks "cool" and looks "web 2.0" students are more likely to get excited about using it. You're connecting with students in their language if you're using web 2.0 applications. The finished product is something students will be proud to share and show. What else is great about Buzzword? Buzzword has incredibly quick image upload times. Far faster than Google Documents. (I tested both applications three times to figure this out).

" objid="1:2" vu="http://www.virtualubiquity.com/buzzword">Buzzword has a much more professional appearance compared to its competitors. So what? Looks matter in web-based applications. Why do looks matter in a classroom environment? Looks matter in a classroom environment because if the program looks "cool" and looks "web 2.0" students are more likely to get excited about using it. You're connecting with students in their language if you're using web 2.0 applications. My former principal referred to this as meeting students where they are. Students will be proud of the work they do on Buzzword because a project completed on Buzzword has the look of a professionally produced magazine (when printed) or blog. In fact, I'm so impressed by Buzzword that I'm considering doing all of my blog writing in Buzzword.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Alegbra in the Real World

This blog entry is dedicated to my colleague, Jeremy the math teacher, who has to constantly answer the question, "when are we ever going to use this?" In my bumbling around the Internet today I found a website with videos about Algebra in the Real World. On The Futures Channel there are videos accompanied by lesson plans about using Algebra in the "real world." Applications for Education The Futures Channel has come to the rescue of Math teachers who are constantly asked the question, "when are we ever going to use this?" On the Futures Channel there are many lesson plans and lesson ideas relating math (and other subjects) to current "real life" situations. And by "real life" the Futures Channel doesn't mean just converting recipes like my high school Algebra book did. Check out the Futures Channel today and stop answering the question, "when are we ever going to use this?" For more Algebra lesson plans that involve real-world scenarios check out Dan Meyer's free 38 week Algebra curriculum.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Mediated Cultures- What will you do this semester?

Mediated Cultures.net is a project of Michael Wesch's designed as an exploration of the role of emerging media in cultures. Last week I shared with you Wesch's extremely popular and thought provoking video about today's student. (Click the word video to watch it). Today I came across a simulation activity Wesch does with his anthropology students to explore the systems of the world over the last 500 years. While the activity is designed for college undergrads it could easily be adapted for high school students. Watch the introductory video below and then visit Wesch's website to learn more about the activity.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

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Free Technology For Teachers: It's Not Just Schools Incorporating Technology Into Education

On the Museum Two blog there is a thought provoking article about the struggle of children's museums to integrate current technology into their presentations. Read the full article here. The author of the blog, Nina Simon, summarizes some of her conversations with Bob Whicker, an Education Development Executive at Apple. One of the great statements from the conversation regarding wired classrooms was "teachers still steer the boat, but students have much more freedom and opportunity with the controls." This week I have been reading about Internet filters for schools and talking to a lot of teachers about filters. The general consensus seems to be that everyone is concerned about what students access on the Internet, but at the same time teachers are worried that too much filtration done on an administrative level restricts their ability to effectively integrate technology into the classroom. (One teacher I spoke with said that his students are not allowed to access Google Documents). How does your school balance letting teachers "steer the boat" while providing more freedom and opportunity with the controls? Where should the "steering" come from, the classroom teacher using discretion or administrators? I would argue that the steering should come from the teachers not administration because the majority of administrators (not network admin) are not up to date on current web applications.

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Free Technology For Teachers: Quintura For Kids Video

In the previous post I wrote about a new search engine called Quintura for Kids. Here is a short video explaining how the visual search engine works. (The video will open in a new window).

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Free Technology For Teachers: Visual Search Engine- Quintura for Kids

Quintura for Kids is an easy way for young students to search for information on the Internet. By placing the mouse pointer on a word or picture, the student will see subcategories to select from. The program is fairly intuitive and a good way to introduce students to the things that are available on the Internet. Try out Quintura for Kids by clicking on the image below.

This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Teachers if you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.