Web 2.0 Tools and Age Limits
One of my frustrations as a middle school tech coordinator is making sure the cool tools I find for instructional use are legal for use with my students. Many educators don’t realize that tools they use may require students who use them to be 13. Others balk at the rules and direct kids to falsify info to use the tool.
Personally, I feel their frustration, however educators need to set an appropriate example for their students. Encouraging kids to falsify their date of birth now just supports their argument when they do it in more high-stakes situations.
I’ve been looking for a listing online of online tools and age limits. Thus far, my search has been unsuccessful, so I’ve decided to start my own. I’d love other educators to add their favorite tools to the list and help fill in the blanks for age limits. I thought it was important to include a link to the T.O.S. (terms of service) or privacy agreement which states either that the tool is intended for all ages or states a minimum age for use.
Please help build this spreadsheet and keep it accurate.
Daily Diigo Bookmarks 08/11/2010
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Best Free Online Applications and Services
Nice List:
“Online applications (also known as web applications or webware) are getting more popular, particularly when broadband Internet access has become more common and readily available to more users. With online applications and services, you do not need to download and install them into your computer for using them—you just need to open up a browser and access them online.”
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Daily Diigo Bookmarks 08/10/2010
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Creative Ways to Use Podcasts in the Classroom
This blog post does an excellent job outlining essential ideas of podcasting as an instructional strategy – both by teachers and students.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Daily Diigo Bookmarks 08/09/2010
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Emotionally intelligent copyright notice | Daniel Pink
From Blog: Jennifer Caleshu of the Bay Area Discovery Museum send this “copyright caution” (interesting that it’s not a “warning”) from a course reader in her Haas MBA program:
COPYRIGHT CAUTION: As you know, copyright protection of original intellectual property is a big deal, particularly to the content authors and publishers. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that unauthorized copying or sharing of files, passwords, or access is prohibited. Bluntly, this activity is illegal. As with most things in life, it’s best to just do the right thing.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Prepping for New Teachers
I’m officially back at school tomorrow and have a ton on my plate. As a division tech coordinator, I’m back at school two weeks earlier than the rest of our faculty to make sure all is in order for them to start. In about two weeks, I have my official time to work with new teachers during their orientation. Ironically, I’ve already worked with my new folks to get them started with their email accounts and help them understand some of the resources they have available to them in our school.
What makes my school so special? We’ve had a 1:1 laptop program for the better part of the last decade, so the bar is pretty high for teachers to make effective use of technology. What’s on my “must cover” list?
- Acceptable Use Policy – For both faculty and students (and interpretation for what this means in the classroom)
- TabletPC essentials – Care & feeding, daily use, what makes a tablet different, implications for the classroom
- School email (Outlook and OWA) – how-to and expectations/guidelines for use (and common practice)
- Attendance – We use JMC; teachers take attendance several times per day
- Electronic gradebook – Officially, we use JMC, but we don’t allow access off campus, so many teachers use GradeMachine software
- Network navigation - We have a Windows network with a separate folder for each section of classes for content management. It takes a little to understand the structure, but it’s great in the classroom and allows tons of collaborative capability.
- Website account – Access info, maintaining classroom website, expectations
- Curriculum map – We use Rubicon Atlas. It’s really helpful for new teachers coming in to see the curriculum maps created by the teachers who’ve been there a while.
- Tools available -Hardware used by students, peripherals (cameras, vid cams, doc cams, projectors, etc.), software on student and faculty images
- Classroom management – In every classroom, you need to have a plan for how things will work. In a laptop school, this is especially true. I share resources like this with my teachers.
- What if plan – Help teachers understand what to do if… Projector doesn’t work, Internet is slow, they get weird pop-ups, they forget their charger, etc.
- Documentation for students – I have pretty much the same help documents for adults as I do for students. It helps teachers understand the student experience in a 1:1 school. New teachers and students new to tech have a lot of the same issues. Good teachers are usually ok learning with their kids
I’m hoping to get through about half of this during my 90 minutes typically slotted for tech during orientation, but I know the newbies will be overwhelmed. It’s really a time to intro the tools and tell teachers to start their list of questions. Once they get a handle on the basics, we can talk about how it transfers to the classroom. My school doesn’t have a formal mentoring program, so I consider myself the Welcome Wagon and always make sure they know where the chocolate is
What else should new teachers know about technology? What else should be on my list?