Technology: An Educational Issue?

BioBook

2012-01-18T12:50:00.001-05:00

The BioBook is an iPad and web-enabled interactive biology textbook for college level. Educators can track individual student progress and develop content from a national database of educator-contributed material. Students can explore concepts following branched, interlinked idea paths. Unlike storybook formats, chapters are structured into threaded learning where all students start with the

Noteshelf app for iPad

2011-11-28T23:00:00.001-05:00

Noteshelf is an awesome app for note taking on the iPad. It lets you write notes, organize all your notebooks each with a cover and title, protect groups of notebooks with a password, and rearrange pages between notebooks. Does any student need copybooks and pens anymore? Do teachers need to carry paper notebooks around at conferences? Add fun to your notes using the smileys and icons that come

Create EduGames Online

2011-05-03T16:59:00.005-05:00

Gamestar Mechanic is a game-based digital learning platform designed to teach the guiding principles of game design and systems thinking in a highly engaging and creative environment. Gamestar Mechanic was designed with the understanding that game design is an activity that allows learners to build technical, technological, artistic, cognitive, social, and linguistic skills suitable for our

Using Apps

2011-05-02T12:41:00.005-05:00

Educational organizations are finally embracing apps for smartphones such as the iPhone and tablet computers, such as the iPad. Learning with apps is often more convenient in this mobile world. Many of these apps are free to use for educational purposes.For example, an app to get students thinking about how biomechanics and anatomy are related is the Vernier Video Physics app. Students can

Student-Produced Videos

2011-03-17T09:44:00.003-05:00

Elev8ed.org is a site for students to submit videos that:- Offer new ideas for what education could be, and/or- Inspire others to transform education, and/or- Propose actions to improve education in the community.Ask your students to check it out and see if they are interested in participating. There are lots of sample student productions to view.

Free Forensic Webinars

2011-01-15T20:32:00.003-05:00

Ward's is offering free webinars on teaching forensics. See the schedule at the bottom of the link provided. The webinars are presented by Professional Development Academy experts,featuring the same content and interaction as live workshops, but without the cost of presenter travel fees. Webinars are broadcast live via the internet to your school building or multiple sites within your district.

Student Video Contest

2011-01-13T23:53:00.002-05:00

Population Connection is hosting a video contest for high school students that challenges students to create a public service announcement that illustrates the impact of population reaching seven billion as it relates to environmental and global issues. Students can win cash prizes, the deadline for entries is coming up on March 1, 2011. If at least 10 students submit videos, they will send

Interactive Science/Math

2010-12-18T09:57:00.003-05:00

Howtosmile.org, from the University of California, is an online collection of thousands of hands-on interactive science and math activities dedicated to making learning exciting and engaging for everyone. All activities are freely accessible. Howtosmile.org, funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the National Science Digital Library, brings together a consortium of science museums

Skype for the Classroom

2010-11-16T09:55:00.002-05:00

Skype is developing a free online directory to make it easy for teachers to connect with other teachers and resources from around the world. The directory will launch in December 2010 in English only. Once you sign up with your Skype account and create a profile, you'll be able to search for other teachers and classes by subject and region. You can also share inspiration and tips to help students

Timetree of Life

2010-11-14T06:23:00.005-05:00

The Timetree of Life contains electronic files of articles and figures from the book The Timetree of Life (2009), Oxford University Press, and a wall poster. These resources are copyrighted but are provided free for personal, research, or educational use.TimeTree is a public knowledge-base for information on the evolutionary timescale of life. A search utility allows exploration of the thousands

Web Video & Innovation

2010-10-14T10:16:00.003-05:00

TED's Chris Anderson says the rise of web video is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation -- a self-fueling cycle of learning that could be as significant as the invention of print. But to tap into its power, organizations will need to embrace radical openness.

Blogging for Teachers

2010-08-13T11:30:00.002-05:00

Blogsjuly16View more presentations from 4thgradeiscool.

TweetDeck

2010-07-19T09:03:00.005-05:00

TweetDeck is a personal real-time browser, connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Buzz and more. The download is free. You can also sign up for a TweetDeck account, which allows you to add columns and Twitter Lists straight from the TweetDeck Directory, as well as rate and comment on all the lists you find. You can also participate in the

Blogging Tips

2010-07-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

32 ways to make your blog suck lessView more presentations from Scott Hanselman.

Tech Standards

2010-07-02T07:06:00.002-05:00

The ISTE National Technology Standards for Students say that we should be preparing students so they can effectively use technology tools and demonstrate…1. Creativity and Innovation2. Communication & Collaboration3. Research and Information Fluency4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making5. Digital Citizenship6. Technology Operations & Concepts

Jeopardy Labs

2010-05-11T14:53:00.003-05:00

JeopardyLabs allows you to create a customized jeopardy template without PowerPoint. The games you make can be played online from anywhere in the world. You can build your own jeopardy templates or browse other jeopardy templates created by other people. It's free, without login requirements.

Science Buddies

2010-05-04T12:14:00.003-05:00

Looking for information about a hypothesis or chromotography? Or maybe the scientific method or how to build a wind tunnel? The Science Buddies website is full of reference materials and Project Ideas, particularly for free science fair ideas. There are: Over 900 Project Ideas to choose from.The Topic Selection Wizard will recommend a science fair project idea that is just right for a class/

Making Tracks Challenge

2010-04-21T14:40:00.002-05:00

Making Tracks Challenge provides downloadable nature guides and species lists for hiking trails throughout the United States. It offers resources for students to make their own educational nature trails on school grounds or in nearby communities and the site will automatically generate an illustrated field guide for their site. It has more than 2,000 species in the database already but users are

MIT OpenCourseWare

2010-04-19T23:53:00.003-05:00

MIT OpenCourseWare is a collection of over 1,800 college-level class materials offered at no-cost to the public. Upgrade your knowledge and skills by studying the lecture notes, completing assignments, reading study guides, and watching lecture recordings. All classes are available through the official Massachusetts Institute of Technology's OpenCourseWare website.The courses are designed for

Kidblog

2010-04-12T11:56:00.005-05:00

Kidblog is designed for elementary and middle school and it's free and simple to set up. Teachers will notice the ease of creating and maintaining blogs if they have tried other blogging platforms like Blogger or Wordpress, which are not always easy for younger students. Kidblogallows students to publish posts and participate in discussions within a secure classroom blogging community. Teachers

High-Tech Nature/Science

2010-04-01T11:10:00.006-05:00

Science and Nature magazines will co-launch an open-access, online-only journal in April 2010. The name of the Journal is being decided by text-message vote by the public. Preprints will be posted on a special social networking Web site where scientists registered in the newly created Faculty of a Million can vote for acceptance by pressing a "Like" thumbs-up button or reject the paper by

Internet Bird Collection

2010-03-26T11:33:00.006-05:00

The Internet Bird Collection (IBC) is a non-profit endeavour with the ultimate goal of disseminating knowledge about the world's avifauna. It is an on-line audiovisual library of the world's birds that is available to the general public free of charge. The online collection consists of over 40,000 videos, about 20,000 photos, and almost 5,000 bird sound recordings.Photo: Horned Sungem (Heliactin

GEON Mentors

2010-03-26T11:22:00.007-05:00

Why not invite a geneticist to visit your classroom? You can search the Genetics Education Outreach Network (GEON) to find a genetics professional in your area. GEON members include scientists, clinicians and counselors who are eager to work with K-12 students and teachers.Nearly 650 members of the genetics scientific and counseling community have volunteered to be a part of this unique resource

Zine the Science

2010-02-23T11:14:00.005-05:00

Imagine a mini-magaZine you make yourself. Now make it smaller – from a single 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper to make an 8 page booklet that fits in the palm of your hand. You'll be amazed how much entertaining science can be packed into a zine and shared with the world! After three rounds of reading, laughing, and learning a lot of science, a panel of six judges selected the winners of the Year of

SPILL: Learning by Avatar

2010-02-23T10:53:00.003-05:00

SPILL is a Business Simulation that takes place in a 3D world that teaches students how to apply business skills to environmental remediation. In the 3D city there has been an oil spill. Students design avatars and collaborate in teams inside the Virtual World to apply business skills, learn, clean up the spill, and win. Underwritten by Deloitte and provided to teachers at no cost, this new

AIBS Webinar Series

2010-01-26T15:11:00.005-05:00

In January 2010, the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) launched a series of webinars, under the banner of Practice What You Teach. The series is a joint effort of AIBS, NABT, UCMP, and IBP to support the community of educators teaching introductory biology. Each webinar will offer information about an exceptional teaching resource or pedagogical technique and provide the

Citing Electronic Resources

2010-01-24T20:01:00.005-05:00

Citing an Internet resource is almost the same as citing a book or periodical. There are different rules for different types of citations, depending on whether you follow the MLA, APA, CSE guidelines or other authoritative style manual. Electronic resources vary, e.g., web pages, live chat, listserves, etc. and each type is cited differently. What they all have in common is that your citation

Vidque: Video Curator

2010-01-04T12:10:00.003-05:00

Vidque aims to help users curate their own collections of the best videos available on the Internet. You can grab videos from sites such as YouTube and TED and put into your own collections.Vidque is different from other video collection services such as VodPod in that it tracks your video preferences to help you find more videos. You can also follow other users, share videos, and rank videos. As

FoldIt: Protein Folding Game

2009-12-11T10:30:00.005-05:00

Foldit is a challenging, fun, protein folding game. The number of different ways even a small protein can fold is astronomical because there are so many degrees of freedom. Figuring out which of the many possible structures is the best one is regarded as one of the hardest problems in biology today. Foldit attempts to predict the structure of a protein by taking advantage of humans'

Tech Tools for Schools

2009-12-08T12:53:00.003-05:00

Technology Tools for Schools Resource Guide provides definitions of key technology components and relevant examples, where appropriate as a glossary for educators. The guide also presents essential implementation and infrastructure considerations that decision makers should think about when implementing technology in schools. Technology enhances administrative, teacher and student capabilities

Science Policy/Public Affairs Webinar

2009-12-02T14:05:00.006-05:00

Communicating Science Primer: An AIBS policy staff publication that helps scientists better understand and work with reporters. Available at the AIBS bookstore.Undergraduate and graduate students, as well as early career professionals in science, often contact the American Institute of Biological Sciences seeking information about alternate science careers. A growing number of individuals are

Edublog Awards

2009-11-30T19:33:00.004-05:00

Edublog Awards celebrate the achievements of edubloggers, twitterers,podcasters, video makers, online communities, wiki hosts and other web based users of educational technology. In order to nominate blogs for the 2009 Edublog Awards you have to link to them first! Nominations close Tuesday 8 December, 2009. Voting ends Wednesday 16 December, 2009. More information and entry form available

Student Copyright Awareness

2009-11-25T08:41:00.002-05:00

Intellectual Vengeance is a film about plagiarism included in Lesson 1 of Creative Thinking. This resource unfolds with a student who deliberately plagiarizes a paper for another student, thus tarnishing his reputation.Northern Kentucky University (NKU) has developed lesson plans and videos that teachers can use to teach students about plagiarism, copyright, and fair use. Tied to national and

Copyright-Friendly Wiki

2009-11-24T01:38:00.002-05:00

Copyright Friendly is a wiki with links to copyright friendly images and sounds. You may not need to ask permission to use them when publishing them on the Web for educational purposes, but it's a good idea to check and to cite or attribute these resources to their creators. If you see any copyright notices on the source pages, read them for further instructions. There are also links to resources

Free Educator Webpages

2009-11-05T22:18:00.005-05:00

Here are 10 places where educators can build and host their website for free. Note that signing up for an account is always free for the links below, but some providers offer the option to upgrade for a small fee.1. SchoolRack: create a classroom website or educational blog for students, parents, and colleagues to visit. 2. Yola: free website builder, no matter how much content you add.3. Webs:

Wish List? Tweet It

2009-10-07T23:11:00.004-05:00

Richard Byrne, a social studies teacher in Maine, was able to attend the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Washington, DC the summer of 2009, thanks in part to twitter and other online technology. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which organizes the annual conference, launched the Newbie Project. It’s co-founder, Beth Still, used the power of

Evolution Symposia Media

2009-10-07T16:26:00.006-05:00

The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), in conjunction with the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), will again co-sponsor an evolution symposium at the 2009 National Association of Biology Teachers(NABT)professional development conference. The symposium will be held on Friday, November 13 in Denver, Colorado. "Evolution in Extreme Environments" offers presentations and

Interactive Tree of Life

2009-09-02T10:22:00.004-05:00

The Wellcome Trust has created a visually-appealing, interactive tree of life where one can manipulate different views, see a trace of the lineage's path, and zoom in on particular animals. The site is called, simply, Tree of Life.You can also download the Tree of Life video (as seen here) to view, share with friends, or post on your blog or website. Create your own version of the video with the

Process of Science

2009-09-02T10:06:00.008-05:00

How do we help students to gain not only content knowledge but also process knowledge, i.e., how we know what we know? There are online resources for integrating the process of science into your teaching at all levels, using a variety of different techniques.VisionLearning provides information and activities for:What is teaching the process of science?Why should I teach the process of science?How

Understanding Science

2009-08-10T19:36:00.005-05:00

The Understanding Science web site challenges educators to exploring the nature and process of science. You will find classroom activities, a K-16 conceptual framework, and tips and strategies for integrating the process of science into your curriculum.In addition, the site offers case studies, interactive resources, checklists, and informative, short articles. Understanding Science is a fun,

Web Conversations

2009-08-08T19:27:00.003-05:00

The Future of Education is a web site hosting a free-to-participate interview series and discussion community. This community is devoted to providing an opportunity for those who care about education to share their voices and ideas with others. It's a place for thoughtful discussion on an incredibly important topic. The site was started by the founders of Classroom 2.0, the social network for

Science Images Search

2009-07-06T19:59:00.005-05:00

Searching the Internet for free science-related photos? Everystockphoto.com is a license-specific photo search engine. Currently it indexes and searches millions of freely licensed photos, from many sources, and presents them in an integrated search. Everystockphoto.com was launched in April 2006, and is owned and operated by Vibrant Software, located in Vancouver, Canada. Membership is free and

Ocean Gazing Podcasts

2009-07-06T19:45:00.004-05:00

University of Washington oceanography professor John Delaney is featured on the first Ocean Gazing podcast .The Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence Networked Ocean World (COSEE-NOW) has launched of a new biweekly podcast: Ocean Gazing. The podcasts investigate some of the ocean's secrets, for example: find out how to detect underwater earthquakes, take photos of some of the smallest

Academic Earth Videos

2009-06-18T18:45:00.002-05:00

Academic Earth, a social entrepreneurship venture focused on expanding the availability of high-quality educational opportunities for people around the globe, has launched AcademicEarth.org. This site offers free access to online video of full courses and guest lectures from leading educational institutions including Yale, Harvard, and MIT. The catalog of videos, spanning nearly all academic

Podcast Resources

2009-06-18T18:31:00.004-05:00

Podcasting is a technology that helps bridge the gap between content delivery and today’s “digital native” students. Podcasting is a method of making audio or video content available regularly via the Web. It blends topical research and knowledge collection with a radio- or TV-style presentation that’s perfect for the attention span and learning style of today’s students.In The Educator's Podcast

Science Advocacy Tool

2009-04-10T23:27:00.004-05:00

The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) has made it easy for you to become a science advocate. The organization's Action Center lets you send messages to your elected US officials to let them know how you feel about how their votes are affecting science. For example, you can find your Senator by simply entering your zip code and then thank your Senator for supporting science. You

BioQuest Investigative Cases

2009-04-09T09:34:00.008-05:00

The Investigative Cases Center (ICBL) of the BioQuest Curriculum Consortium offers a variant of Problem Based Learning. Investigations are combined with technology, including software simulations and models, data sets, and internet-based tools. The investigative cases draw from realistic situations. Some examples of cases:A Case of Mistaken Identity: ethical issues arise as an adopted sister is

2009: Year of Science

2009-03-10T13:01:00.003-05:00

The official Year of Science web site offers educational resources for many disciplines -- from astronomy to zoology. The site was launched to support public understanding of the process and nature of science in an exploration of "how we know what we know." Each month features a different scientific field, providing online and downloadable resources for educators, students, and the general public

Darwin Online

2009-02-14T15:15:00.008-05:00

We celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin (1809–1882) this year. Educators will find a cornucopia of classroom activities online that illustrate Darwin's extraordinary life and achievements. The following are a few recommendations.- About Darwin: View maps of the historical journey of the HMS Beagle and a timeline of Darwin’s journey and research data.- AMNH exhibit: Discover the man and

Twitter for Educators

2009-02-09T13:34:00.005-05:00

Twitter is a free service that lets you keep in touch with people through the exchange answers to a simple question. What are you doing? Where's the next workshop? Twitter has become a popular microblogging tool. It can be accessed a variety of ways, such as via the web or instant messaging services. Why is it useful for educators? Consider these possibilities:1. Quick networking: Your one

Benefits of Social Networking

2009-02-03T12:12:00.004-05:00

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered the educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The study found that, of the students observed, "94 percent used the Internet, 82 percent go online at home and 77 percent had a profile on a social networking site. When asked what they learn from using social networking sites,

Science Glossaries for EL Students

2008-11-13T21:31:00.005-05:00

Do you know that Google has a translation tool? On the Google search page, in the navigation options, click on "more". At the bottom of that pull-down is the "even more" option. Choose it to find a list of tools. You will fine Translate in the section titled Communicate, Show & Share. Type your text in the field provided and choose the appropriate language.Another free, online tool comes

Slideshare & Effective PowerPoint

2008-09-14T20:26:00.009-05:00

Slideshare is the the world's largest community for sharing presentations. Membership is free. It is a great way to get your slides out there on the web, so your ideas can be found and shared by a wide audience, or to find slideshows for your research or teaching. You can share slideshows publicly or privately, download presentations, and embed them in your blog. Most experts agree on guidelines

BEN: Digital Biology Education Library

2008-07-21T20:15:00.006-05:00

Biosciednet.org, or BEN for short, is the biology education pathway of the National Science Digital Pathway. Over 11,187 reviewed resources to date, covering 77 biological sciences topics, are available. BEN resources can help you engage student interest, shorten lesson preparation time, provide concept updates, and develop curricula that are in line with national standards for content.You can

Free Blog Platforms

2007-03-28T18:26:00.001-05:00

If you would like to try blogging, Blogger.com is free. It's what I use for my blog. In future posts I'll explore some educational uses of blogs, but for now here's a way to play in the blog sandbox. If you want your students to blog, you should try it out first. Blogger offers ready-made templates that you can customize to your liking. No HTML knowledge is required. You can choose to limit who

Digital Libraries

2007-03-26T17:42:00.000-05:00

A digital library is a library where collections are stored in a digital format rather than print or microfiche formats and which are accessed by computer. They are libraries in cyberspace that can be used by anyone at anytime and anywhere. Some digital libraries are designed specifically for educators, providing teaching and learning materials. The educational virtual libraries are credible

Copyright & Ed Tech

2007-03-25T21:35:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted on my blog. I completed my UFL course on educational technology since my last post and I've started a new one -- about distance education. I've learned something new about copyright as it applies to education. Section 110(1) of the American copyright law has always provided educators with the right to display or play the materials of others in a formal

Digital Natives and Education

2007-02-18T14:28:00.000-05:00

My previous post mentions digital natives. If you're wondering who they are and, if you are a teacher, what it means to teach digital natives, think about this video created by the YouTube user khokanson:To learn more about the topic, read Marc Prensky's excellent article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. (PDF document)

Web 2.0

2007-02-18T13:38:00.000-05:00

Some of you may be wondering what I am learning in my online course at University of Florida. In a nutshell, the course is about understanding the learning needs of the generation nicknamed "digital natives" and exploring how to apply technology to teach them. The following slideshow sums it up pretty well. It was created by GladsteinS using Slideshare. Click on the show's embedded links to learn

Save the Internet

2007-01-30T14:25:00.001-05:00

I was browsing through YouTube when I came across this activist video. I read about this issue in newspapers but didn't hear much more about it. The issue is about Internet providers wanting to set up a two-tier system: pay more for high-speed special treatment, or less and get lesser service. The video asks us to help support "Internet Neutrality." I hope the activists accomplish their mission.

Blogging Books

2007-01-30T00:37:00.001-05:00

With this fifth post, I am completing all the technical blog tasks of my UFL online course. I'd like to recommend some books that teach basics about blogging and how to use a blog in an educationional setting (we used the first book in the list below for our UFL online course): Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson (Corwin Press, 2006)Classroom

Sharing Multimedia

2007-01-29T22:09:00.002-05:00

One of my assignments in an educational technolog course was to embed multimedia I created (as opposed to pre-existing multimedia, which I have embedded in the previous post "Enjoy the Video"). This worksheet was designed using the free diagram drawing tools on Gliffy.com (click worksheet to view larger image). I have created a website/blog evaluation worksheet for students based on Kathy

Enjoy the Video

2007-01-27T23:29:00.000-05:00

Today I spent several hours trying to include a video or interactive game in my post. I discovered that Blogger won't accept certain html code from other sites. The video above was easy to insert because it came from YouTube, a web site that has figured out how to avoid code glitches for the not-so-tech-savvy user. Does anyone have any hints about which code works and which doesn't?I hope you

Visual Media

2007-01-24T23:42:00.000-05:00

In order to add graphics to this blog, I have signed up for so many accounts that there is no way I will remember them. Does anyone have suggestions for managing graphic online sources to use in blogs?My daughter took this great photo. View more Oh Lenna photos at flickr.Flickr is an excellent source for photography. You have to sign up for an account, but it's free. Once you're in the site, look

Welcome

2007-01-24T17:18:00.002-05:00

Hello, visitors. This blog started out in 2007 as an assignment for an online course about technology in education. In July 2008 it became the official blog of the web site, ActionBioscience.org. Now, it's my personal blog again.Like many adults, I struggle to understand new technology. Teachers don't have the luxury of resolving this issue at their own leisure. They have to know about technology