Some nice posters to get the year started right.

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/08/50-wonderful-educational-posters-for.html?m=1

Week 5- Summer of Learning 2.0- Final Week!

Thumann Resources by Lisa Thumann 

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July.  I enjoyed my time in West Virginia and returned with my family + my 16 year-old nephew!  I've been playing tour guide and hitting all of our favorite tourist hot spots.  It's been fun, but I got a little behind on my blog commenting.  I played catch up this morning and will finish the rest tomorrow.

Moving on, all remaining activities were shared with you on 4th of July.  So, all you have left is to report on a hot topic in educational technology and your final reflection.  I've enjoyed reading everyone's blog posts and seeing your comments on the blogs of others.

I've seen a few of you use the hashtag #d113learning20.   Has anyone participated in an EdChat?  This evenings #iledchat was about 20% time.  Great resources can be found in the ILEdChat Google+ Community- be sure to join!

Please continue to use the Google Spreadsheet to check off your progress.  Looking forward to your final reflections.  

All work must be completed by July 22, 2013.  If you foresee having any problems meeting the deadline, please contact me.

Week 4- Summer of Learning 2.0- Final Countdown

Happy 4th of July.  Here's next week's blog post to get a head start on your final legs of the journey!

________________________________________________________________________

This week's topics are Formative Assessment and anytime/anywhere learning.  You're going to be taking an assessment via socrative, participating in a padlet and using Flubaroo.  You will also be choosing to attend the conference session of your choice while in your PJs!

http://www.english.orfury.com.br

Formative Assessment
There are many web tools out there, but we will dip our toes in the water by experimenting with three tools that are solidly in the lead (in my book, anyway)-  Google Forms and Flubaroo, Socrative and Padlet.

Professional Development in your PJs
The site featured on the wiki for this week is K12online.org, but there are additional resources online. You can google or youtube (yes, I just used both words as verbs) any topic, find conference handouts on the presenter's website, or follow a Twitter #hashtag. What sets the k12 online conference apart is that there are years of resources in one place. It's a "flipped" conference. 

Mark your calendars, the 2013 conference is taking place in October. Stay tuned! Also posted this week is your final assignment, a digital story reflecting your experience on this journey. Details are on the wiki. So, here is what's left of this course... 

1. Formative Assessment
2. Online conference
3. Digital story-due July 22 
4. Hot topics in EdTech 

All work must be completed by July 22, 2013.

Please continue to use your Twitter and Google+ professional learning networks.  If you post to Twitter, use #d113Learning20.  Make sure your Twitter profile is set to public so that your Tweets are searchable and visible to the group.

Summer of Learning 2.0 - Week 3

Hope you are finding time to enjoy the summer and that your basements are dry!   

Did you pick up a few twitter followers this week?  Add any circles or communities to your Google+?  Hope so.  Continue to build your Twitter and Google+ communities through the summer. 

Week 3 Is starting to look at some WebTools for presentations and places to find free resources for your classroom. Whether it's teacher presentations or student products.  These are three tools every educator should have in their tool box-  Prezi, Voki and Animoto.  Your first blog post for this week will be after Activity 10, Animoto.

The second part of the week is more free stuff.  This time, it's not about the tools, but places to find free resources for use in the classroom.  Every educator in the 21st Century should be able to find things for free, vet them and know how to give credit where credit is due.

I'm sure you've searched YouTube and found videos you've liked, possibly even shared them with your students.  Have you found entire textbooks?  Animated lessons?  That's what you will be exploring this week with Activity 11 (Creative Commons) and 12 (OER).  

The resources for Activity 12 are science and math heavy, that just seems to be where the OER world is going deep.  For those of you outside of math and science, spend some extra time in Creative Commons area of Activity 11 and exploring the MIT content of Activity 12.  

I have a favor to ask this week, in posting comments to your blogs, I have to enter captchas every time.  Those are the jumbled up words and numbers that verify whether or not you are human.  If you watch this short Jing (screen capture) you'll see where to turn these off in the "settings" of your blog.

Note:  One resource not covered in the activities for this week is iTunes U.  iTunesU is a great resource, but is limited to Apple users, the content does not work on PC's or other tablets.  If you have an iPad or a Mac, it's worth exploring.



After this week- only 4 more activities to completion of your Learning 2.0 voyage!

Summer of Learning 2.0- Week 2

I hope the activities of Week 1 have given you a taste for what web tools really have to offer.   The possibilities are only limited by your creativity, willingness to learn more each day and of course, time.

It's been great to learn a little about each of you from your blog posts and it's great o see you  commenting and sharing similar experiences with one another.

This week is about Google and building your professional learning network (PLN).  You will explore Google Apps for Education, Google Chrome, Google+ and Twitter.  Spending your exploration time completing a scavenger hunt will acquaint you with the many features of Google Apps for Education.  From there, you will get "under the hood" of your Google Chrome Browser.  Have fun with Google.  I'm "Giddy for Google" and I think it's contagious.

The second part of this week's work is about communication and making connections.  We learn best when we teach others, but we also learn more when we have a larger community of learners to pull from. This is where social media comes into play.

My use of social media for learning via Twitter, Facebook and Google+ has grown exponentially over the last three years.  I started as a "lurker" and have evolved into a more active tweeter, re-tweeter and share-er on all three social platforms.  Building my professional learning community online has allowed me to make stronger connections to these people in person.  Several of my online connections have even led to leadership positions in the EdTech community.

For our PLN exploration, we're focusing on Google+ and Twitter because these two networks are used  more for professional connections than Facebook, particularly in Education.  LinkedIn is another professional network, but it is more static, like an easily updated resume.  The dynamic properties of LinkedIn haven't taken off as profoundly as the other two, but it's still a good resource to have yourself "out there" with a web presence.

As we progress through the course, please remember to check off the activities on the tracking spreadsheet. Keep reading each other's posts.  You'll learn a lot from the reflections and comments shared via our Learning 2.0 blogging community.  Comment on at least three blogs each week and try to spread your comments around the class.

Link to Wiki Activity Page
Link to Tracking Spreadsheet

Several of you  have sought me out for some help via email this week, keep doing it.  If you need me, I'm just a click away.

Summer of Learning- 2.0- Week 1

Week 1- Learning 2.0 for D113 has launched!

Class is underway.  Remember, this summer, the class will be running at a fast pace of double-time.  Week 1 includes a look at Life Long Learning, Shifts in Education to a drive for 21st Century teaching and learning and getting started with your blog.

We'll be working in several different platforms during this class to expose you to a variety of resources.  We'll be using Google +, Edmodo, Blogger, Google Sites and Wikispaces. 

Each week will start off with a blog post to let you know that the new resources are ready to be viewed and to prompt you to move forward.  The blog post can be viewed directly from this link and we will also be sharing blogs via a Google+ community (in week 2).

Here is a list for week 1

Week 1- June 17
Introduction
Blog Post

• Activity 0 - (REGISTRATION) Learn about the course, open a Gmail account and install Google Chrome (this must be done by March 4th)
• Activity 1- Review some strategies for Lifelong Learning
• Activity 2 - Learn a bit about Web 2.0, and Why it Matters
• Activity 3- Start Blogging 

It's important to keep pace with your classmates because there is a conversation going on throughout the course.  Each week you will post to your own blog and comment on the blogs of others.  Links to other blogs will be accessible via this blog and will also be shared in our Google+ community.

Course resources are found on the District 113 Learning 2.0 Wiki and a course tracking sheet was shared with you via your Google Drive.

Please, contact me via email, phone or google hangout/chat if you are stuck at any time during the course. 

Good luck, explore and have fun!

It's Nearly a Wrap- Final Week of Learning 2.0

It's been a journey.  One last piece to the puzzle, a look to the future.  What's "HOT" in Ed Tech?  This week, you will do a little internet research to find out about some hot topics in educational technology.

Topic choices are listed on the wiki, but feel free to research other topics if you believe them to be relevant to our work in Educational Technology

http://d113learning20.wikispaces.com/Hot+Topics+in+EdTech

Be sure to complete all work for this course by May 13.  If you are having trouble meeting the deadline, please contact me.