Wired Educator

The Nintendo DS has proven itself as an incredibly popular game system. Now, as more and more educational software is being developed for the Nintendo DS, it may begin to expand its popularity into the classroom as a exciting learning tool.

One of the first educational software releases was Brain Age. Brain Age 2 is now out and promises to give your brain a workout by making questioning fun and competitive. This software encourages building your ‘brain power’ during your spare time, just minutes a day,  in check out lines, or waiting for a ride.

Recently, a girl’s junior high school in Tokyo, Japan adopted the Nintendo DS as a means of assisting the teaching of the English Language to their students. Students used the plastic stylus to spell words correctly and were awarded once they completed five levels. The English Language for Japanese program also included video of a teen ordering food in English and dialogue for the students to repeat.

The program is on a trial basis in just a few schools. Students reported the exercise as fun while they learned and an instructor said the students were inspired to achieve on the game systems. Overall, however, the reaction from educators, staff, and parents is mixed. The school is getting 40 of the systems and the software for free for being part of a test group.

There are many other educational software titles for the DS.  Kaplan is now making SAT review programs for the DS, and Electronic Arts has adapted its popular Brain Quest game to name just a few. Crossword puzzles, Suduko, and mental puzzles have also been around for quite awhile.

The verdict is indeed still out on the value of the Nintendo DS as an educational tool. I really enjoy seeing educational software and uses created and adopted for already successful systems.  A big part of education is being able to bring information to the learners’ interest and life. What better way than to use technology they are already familar with and using.

What is truly needed is Software Developers Kit for Educators that is incredibly simple to use and would allow teachers to add terms and questions to the Nintendo DS and choose outcomes for correct and incorrect responses. If anyone knows a way to do this please contact the staff here at Wired Educator. One major aspect of the DS which has not even been mentioned in the eduational setting is it’s ability to chat and share with other users. This could be very helpful in research, discussions, group work, and collaborative learning groups.  Lots of possibilities. It is too early to recommend but I like this direction on and educational focus.

Ok Haven’t blogged in a while.  So Far we have had a great time and great weather.  We are all developing Google Earth Files along with Lessons that coorlate to state standards.  I have been busy documenting the wildlife in the area.  I will be providing a link to the lesson that I create very soon.  I am almost done and I have two days yet to tweek it and make it better.

The National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) is about to hold their annual conference.  This year’s conference is being held in San Antonio. The NECC is presented by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) each year. You can visit either website for highlights of this year’s conference.

While it is obviously too late to attend the conference, you can gain a tremendous amount of insight into integrating technology into your classroom by visiting the two sites linked above including FREE downloadable handouts and papers, PDFs, overviews of new ideas and presentations, and LIVE STREAMING VIDEO FEEDS of speakers and presenters.

In short, by bookmarking and visitng the NECC and ISTE sites you can make it a virtual conference!

A great live feed of the NECC conference is EdStreamTV: http://edstreamtv.wikispaces.com/

If you would rather follow the NECC (pronounced “neck” by those in the know) via blog, direct your URL to:

http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2008/program/blogging_NECC.php

Podasting is another great option for following the NECC.  Apple is the official podcasting channel for the NECC.  You can follow it here:

http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/collection.php?collection=2956

These sites will provide you with a tremendous amount of fantastic resources for integrating technology into your lessons and schools.  You can follow new tech trends in education as well.

You can watch webcasts of this year’s speakers and view an archive of webcast from previous conferences.  (NECC has been around nearly thirty years!)

Scour these sites for the treasure trove of riches they offer!  A must for every wired educator.

Imation released a new incredibly small flash drive today called Atom.  Atom, is the smallest flash drive Imation has every created.  It is barely longer than a paperclip!

Flash drives are nearly indispensable for educators. I’m always amazed at the number of teachers wanting to borrow mine. Sure our school has storage on the server and I even have my own internet storage location, but nothing works better to quickly move data, especially students’ work, from one computer to another than a small USB drive.

I have had my emails containing my lesson plans delayed in transit, and our server has gone down one too many times.  I do carry a great Lacie external drive, but I really like a  small flash drive for simple transfer operations.  Atom looks like a great companion.

Not only is Atom incredibly small, it has an aluminum shell, password protection feature, and more. Great for taking important documents from room to room, building to building, computer lab, or even home. If you seeking employment the drive is great place to keep your resume’ and teaching portfolio.

I have a flash drive on a lanyard that I use with our computer lab when a student cannot save, having other problems, or in rare cases needs to take something home to finish.

Works with Mac or PC.  (Special features for Vista Users included.) Prices start at $18 for a 1GB and end at $100 for an 8GB. (4GB and 4GB also available.)

Wired Educator Recommendation: I’m getting one!

Yesterday we went Trawling for Fish in Stone Cove which is on the West size of South Bass Island in Lake Erie.  I am providing you to a link of my video so you can see what kinds of things we picked up along the way.  Enjoy!

Smart Technologies has launched Version 10 of it’s collaborative learning Notebook software for their popular Smart Board.  The new software boasts thirty new features to make creating lessons even easier and more creative and displaying lessons on your Smart Board even more fun and exciting.

The new software now includes access to more than 100,000 new works of educational material.  The software has a new updated teacher’s hub that connects teachers to hundreds of lessons and tools to better use Notebook Version 10.

The new Notebook Version 10 features are the result of feedback from teachers and students and include: a Table Tool to create rows and columns, Shape Pen to draw any shape that is instantly perfected, Page Recording that records the teaching lesson for later replay without repeating the opening menus or applications, Object Animation which allows any object with effects like spinning, flying or fading, Magic Pen which can magnify, zoom in on image or write notes that disappear in ten seconds, Active Alignment, Themes so you can change backgrounds, colors, fonts, and more in your lessons, and more.

This is by far the most powerful version yet.

You can check Smart Technologies website to see if you have an eligible product for a FREE upgrade to Notebook Version 10. If you do, you just enter the hardware product serial number, complete a customer information form, and then download Notebook Version 10 off of their website. Once the software is running enter your product key to activate the software.  From my reading of their eligibility requirements it sounds like if you own Smart Technologies equipment you are eligible, but you can check for yourself.

Notebook Version 10 will run on a Mac or PC.

Here is the eligibility list:

The following SMART hardware products ship with Notebook software 10 and are eligible for the upgrade:

  I am huge advocate of podcasting and the only problems I have encountered have been the obstacle of getting teachers in our district to create audio and video podcasts. I was thrilled when I read an article on eschoolnews.com about teachers earning bonus pay for creating podcasts.

In truth the article’s focus was about every student at a New Mexico school getting a Zune media player. (See: Schools Try to Reach Students Via Podcasts @ www.eschoolnews.com)

One hundred students at Fort Sumner High School were outfitted with a Zune media player.  A Zune is similar to an iPod.  Each teacher was given $400 bonus pay for locating twenty audio or video podcasts that related to their lesson or subject matter and creating five of their own.  What a great idea!

I know there will be critics of the bonus pay, however, I like the idea because schools will always have access to these lesson on audio or video podcasts.  As long as the podcasts are great lessons it would be no different than if the teacher wrote a chapter for a text book.  Some schools pay teachers to cover classes or tutor after school.  Podcasting, in my book, would be of equal or perhaps even greater worth.

Microsoft donated the $300 Zune players and requested data to verify if the devices improved test scores.

Anyone interested in podcasting should read the full article and forward it to your administrator.

I applaud Microsoft for the donations and encouragement.  I predict the schools will see improvement especially in their foreign language departments.  I prefer an iPod over a Zune, but the real importance here is getting podcasting equipment into the hands of excited teachers and encouraging them to create podcasts.  I personally do not seek or expect bonus pay for my podcasts.  I enjoy creating them and I see tremendous benefits in integrating them into my course work.  To me it is an extension of my teaching, however, I certainly do not discourage schools from encouraging or rewarding teachers for great podcasts.

This is great news for podcasters and wired teachers everywhere.

I have been podcasting for several years and introduced it to my school district. We have developed a very simple, yet effective approach to podcasting that does not interrupt the teacher’s day in the slightest.  Ninety-five percent of our podcasts are created by Keeping It Simple. A very small percentage of our podcasts are mixed and edited.

I found this interesting visual timeline of technology in the classroom. A narration would have been great. Still fun to see how far we have come, how fast we are moving, and perhaps where we may be heading.  

Ok for all you wired educators, My name is Patrick Kania and I am a contributing member of Wired Educator.  This week I am working on Gibraltar Island, Ohio.  I am taking a class on Creative uses of technology in the curriculum and with Freshwater ecosystems.  I am so Excited.  I will be blogging about things from the class later on.  

Pat

Google Earth is an amazing resource for educators.  If you haven’t used it in your classroom yet make time for it in the coming school year.

Google Earth is an interwoven collection of satellite photos of the entire planet configured in an interactive way that allows users to fly from one location to another. It’s basically a 3D model of the Earth. The detail is amazing. You can manipulate the globe with your mouse spinning it to a location and zoom in, or you can type a location into the search field.

Visit: http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html

Students need a sense of geography and I cannot think of a better tool to provide this need to our students. 

Sure, Google Earth makes sense in a History class, but how can other teachers use it?  Well, I cannot think of a classroom that could NOT use it.  I am an English teacher and I bring up Google Earth on my projector each time we are reading a novel to give my students a sense of the setting. A music teacher could show students where famous composers and musicians were born and performed.  A Gym teacher could do the same with the origins of athletes and contests. The possibilities are endless.

Google provides a great Getting Started Guide as well as a page of instructions and possibilities for educators. 

Going on a field trip? Go there first with Google Earth. 

Write about the trip you have always wanted to take, use Google Earth for make itinerary even more interesting. 

There are many other Google Tools you can use with Google Earth to make the lesson even more exciting.  You can add buildings with Sketch Up and apply historic overlays.

I’m anxious to read more ways you use this great FREE program.