Transferring Large Files

A resource we wanted to share with you is wetransfer.  This is a site where you can quickly transfer up to 2 GB of data just using email addresses.  They hold on to your files for about a week and then the transfer link is no longer active.  This is a site for transferring only, not for hosting files.  We have been using it successfully for the last few years to avoid having to carry around memory sticks large enough to handle big files.  Many school districts have a policy on email attachments and this is a good work around.  One thing we must mention is that the person on the receiving end must download the files as soon as possible because the link will expire after a few days.   Have fun!…

Tracking Trends Through Keywords and Ngram Viewer.

Google's Ngram Viewer allows students to  search keywords in millions of books and find trends over time. The Ngram Viewer has advanced options, such as searching for particular keywords as specific parts of speech or combining keywords. Just in case they ever wondered how popular detectives were in Victorian times, now they can. In the example below, a search for democracy yields results from the 1700's to almost present day.  For examples of how this is used in classroom setting read this quick blog post about the cultural evolution of words: NGram Viewer and five million books reveal hidden evolution of words.

Reflections on MOOCs

This is a guest post from Jen Lee, an aquaintence  of mine from South Jersey who agreed to share her elearning experiences with us:

I took two MOOC courses at Coursera.org in the Fall of 2012, and am currently enrolled in another right now during Spring 2013.

I took "Learn to Program: The Fundamentals" from the University of Toronto, which offered a certificate of accomplishment for those achieving a grade of 70 or higher.

I took "An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python" from Rice University, which did not offer a certificate at all.

Currently, I'm taking "Learn to Program: Crafting Quality Code" from the University of Toronto. This is a followup to the first Learn to Program class, with the same instructors, and also offers a certificate of accomplishment for those achieving a grade of 80 or higher.

In all of the classes, there were video lectures with the professors explaining things in a very clear way from start to finish.  There were no books required; all the learning was done through video lectures, exercises, and assignments.  There were lots of programming tasks to complete, and quizzes to take. The students took to the forums, talked about everything, asked for help, offered help, set up google and facebook study groups, and generally posted a LOT. The forums were constantly buzzing with activity. Since there were SO many people, types of people varied drastically. There were complainers, there were people who kept asking for extensions on dates, there were people who made fun of those people, there were people who helped everyone out, there were people who asked a ton of questions, there were people who answered a ton of questions. There were people who were obviously seasoned programmers, so much that we all wondered why they would take a beginner class.  There were people who just didn't understand the material who were struggling along the whole time. There were critics and supporters. People who loved the professors and people who hated them. People who thought the course was too easy and who thought it was too hard. The forums were a great source of information, and entertainment. Socially, it was comfortable and familiar. Especially because a good portion of people were taking both classes at the same time.

In the Rice University course, the team of professors (there were 5, though only 2 main ones) encouraged students to make their own videos explaining the course material for that week and post it to the forums. The student with the videos that were the most popular at the end of the course would win an iPad.  I can see that they didn't know quite how popular that contest would be. Lots of students made videos, and a few made videos several times a week for the duration of the 7 week course. In the end, it tied... between a 19 year old girl... and a 12 year old boy. All these adults trying to learn programming... and a 12 year old boy was teaching them how. He was truly an inspiration, even to my kids, who have now taken an interest.

The professors interacted more than I would have expected. In all cases they did have community TAs to help people who needed it. But the profs monitored the forums regularly and commented a LOT. The forums helpfully marked which threads had a professor response included, so that was a nice feature. 

Personally, I learned a lot in those classes. I enjoyed programming so much that I decided to enroll in the local community college to pursue a degree in it, purely because I like it and I would love to have those skills. Currently I am enrolled full time in the community college, with mostly online classes, and I'm still taking a MOOC from Coursera because I love it, and because that programming language (Python) is not offered at ACCC.

The online classes I'm taking at an actual college are jolting, coming out of Coursera. The online classes in programming at ACCC are more like self-taught courses. Here's the book, those are your assignments, these are tests and quizzes, here are the due dates for everything, now GO. It's nothing like Coursera. At Coursera, the video lectures and programming assignments are not released all at the beginning; they are slowly released as the course progresses. So, even advanced programmers can't move ahead and finish the course in the first two weeks. They have to stick around with the rest of us and do what we're doing... which is great, because the forums wouldn't work if only the slowest students were there posting and the faster students had already moved on. The faster students are the ones who have the patience and the knowledge to help the rest of us through the problems that we don't understand.  At ACCC, you ask a question, and there's no one really checking the forums anymore to even answer.

I realize that online classes will likely never fully replace traditional classrooms. However, the model used at Coursera is very efficient, very conducive to learning, and well liked by many. The do-it-yourself model probably doesn't work well for students who are not self-motivated or who do not learn well by reading a textbook alone.

I don't have full statistics for the courses. At the end of the first Learn To Program class, though, the professors did post a summary, which gives some interesting data. Here it is:

The number of people who earned a certificate: 8243



The number of people who submitted each piece of coursework:



E1    38502

E2    25368

A1    18222

E3    17104

E4    14991

A2    13236

E5    12657

E6    10658

A3     9336

E7     9283

Exam   8938

The next two sections count the results only for people who wrote the final exam.

coursemark  how many earned that mark

[0-10)        44

[10-20)       59

[20-30)       92

[30-40)      106

[40-50)      114

[50-60)      167

[60-70)      331

[70-80)      747

[80-90)     1840

[90-100)    4592

=100:        766



exammark      #    # earned cert    # did not earn cert

(0-1)         0             0             0

[1-2)         0             0             0

[2-3)        58             7            51

[3-4)        39             3            36

[4-5)        64             8            56

[5-6)       103            15            88

[6-7)        79            29            50

[7-8)       109            49            60

[8-9)       168            98            70

[9-10)      233           180            53

[10-11)     409           357            52

[11-12)     735           661            74

[12-13)    1360          1278            82

[13-14)    2349          2247           102

14         3152          3055            97

We correlated the Week 3 Workload survey responses with course completion by category. The categories were:

   "I had never programmed before.",

   "I had written a few small programs or tried to take another programming course but didn't complete it."

   "I had completed an introductory programming course."

   "I have significant programming experience."

In the following table, we list:

* the category

* how many people in that category who wrote the survey

* how many people in that category still in the course

* how many people in that category still in the course (as a percentage)

* how many people in that category who earned a certificate

* how many people in that category who earned a certificate (as a percentage)

   category    survey  # done  %       cert    cert %



  beginners     4167    3596   86.3     1386   33.26

     novice     3335    3067   92.0     1666   49.96

       some     2681    2434   90.8     1431   53.38

experienced     1806    1683   93.2     1136   62.90

   everyone    11989   10780   89.9     5619   46.87

We are impressed be everyone who earned a certificate, especially the beginners and novices. You should be proud of yourselves. Well done!


Update on Blog Post

Hi!

Just wanted to update you on some MOOC info...

I finished my third MOOC this semester. Still loved it. This one was shorter (5 weeks as opposed to but it was still full of great information.

I was just browsing upcoming classes on Coursera and I discovered that they are now offering something called "Signature Track". It's a paid option for a MOOC that will run right alongside the regular MOOC offerings on Coursera, but they will be using typing patterns plus a webcam to actually determine that the person that is doing the coursework is in fact the person who has registered for the course. I'm guessing it's one step closer to actually getting MOOCs to be recognized and accepted as credit at brick and mortar institutions.

What I find strange about this much security is that the classes I'm taking online at ACCC don't require any sort of validation like that. It's pretty much "Go buy the book, here's a list of your assignments and due dates, email someone if you need any help." So, to me, the Signature Track at Coursera seems like complete overkill.

But, it is what it is. If it gets us closer to MOOCs being accepted as credit, I'm all for it.

Here's the information on the Signature Track:
https://www.coursera.org/signature/guidebook

ibooks as cross-curricular projects

You can find the class ibooks in itunes U

The cover of the
Digestive System ibook

For an example of cross-curricular learning of biology and language arts as well as technology integration and 21^stCentury Skills, we recently found a third grade class from Charlotte-Mecklenbug schools that used ibooks to create publications on the major human body systems.  Students researched in small groups, pooled their findings, and then created their pages for the ibook that was published on itunes University.  There are engaging voiceovers, videos and fun facts embedded in the book, as well as some original student artwork. The books can actually be opened other apps, such a Kobo, or uploaded to your notebooks, folders, drives and libraries in Evernote, Dropbox, Google drive and edmodo for sharing.  We were able to view the published book in the itunes University app and in Kobo.   The teacher, Mrs. Gallo, includes her lesson plan.  The link to view their books is https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/mrs.-gallos-class-human-body/id646038195?ls=1.

The students managed to embed video and audio
as well as text.

Students Merging Multiple pdfs Into a Single pdf

Drag or select the files you want to merge

Select multiple pdfs you want to merge.

  If you do not have access to Adobe Acrobat Pro, and your students need to merge pdf files into one pdf, there are some free web tools available to complete this function such as PDF MERGY .  Simply put, you select the files using drag and drop from your computer and initiate the merge.  It will put the documents in the order you placed them and upload the file to an unencrypted remote server for a brief time.  You can even use documents from Google Drive and Dropbox. Then you save the merged document to your computer or     Google Drive. 

The order of the documents in the merged
file will match the order you see on the screen.

  Do not use with confidential files, even though they delete the files almost immediately, it is not secure to upload sensitive or classified information. The site is still in beta and can be used with  any browser that supports recent HTML5 standards. Namely: Chrome 7, Firefox 4, Safari 5, Opera 12  and even IE 10,  or any newer version of those browsers. 


 This type of program is a problem solver for collaborative work, many times, students work in small groups to complete a project, if they each make a pdf of their work, they can merge then into a single file to publish.  Most types of documents can be saved as pdfs, including powerpoint files. 

You have the choice of where to save your merged file.

FastFig- Computational Powerhouse for Students

FastFig is a Mathematics Word Processor that eliminates the need for pencil and and paper in math physics and engineering.  It is browser based and has a problem-solving workflow that s easy to use, as simple as a word processor unlike some of the more complicated solutions on the market.  Students can type and solve problems, and FastFig can tell what is text and what is mathematics. When students make mistakes, they can go back and fix them and the workflow will adjust and update automatically. It handles basic math through Calculus and beyond. The ability to share work makes it easier to send work to teachers and collaborate with classmates. Classroom uses include demonstrating solving problems and correct syntax on interactive whiteboards or projectors. Backwards teaching is possible using this site by typing in a problem and allowing FastFig to solve it. Then, as as class you can explore the steps required to solve the problem. Students at home doing homework can use this site to check their answers. Share this site with students as a resource for checking homework answers. You can create an account using Google, Facebook or your email. There are some basic tutorials on the site to get you started.

Keyboarding in a Digital Age

It is not keyboarding practice the way we learned as 6th graders, Drop Typing appeals to the Minecraft generation. In fact it was created by Markus Persson, the original Minecraft guru. This addictive touch typing game is full of optical illusions and music. It does require the unity web player download, but it runs on Mac OS, Windows and Linux. As you type, the blinking letters drop off the screen., but if you hit the wrong key the game speeds up and stops completely if you are typing too slow.

Protecting Student's Digital Identities

Many thanks to Glenn Hervieux, Technology Coordinator for Siskiyou Union HSD, for this share in Diigo: Use this helpful Common Craft Video to explain to students how they can protect their digital identities. The simple explanation and helpful visuals teach the risks every time students post online to any service.

Exciting Changes in Google Drive Collaboration

While sharing collaborative documents in Google Drive, you might notice the faces of your collaborators up in the top right-hand corner.  When you mouseover their faces, their profile will appear and you can easily add them to your circles in Google+ without having to leave your document.

The visual display also includes the chat feature, which is represented as  speech bubble, and once clicked upon, immediately opens the chat window.  These two simple changes permit us to communicate easier.

There are more changes coming in the next few days and we will keep you posted as we

 hear about them.

Fun Literary Elements Lesson using Youtube

Use this video as a hook in a lesson on Figurative Language.  After reviewing the video as a class, and discussing figurative language, allow students to examine their own favorite songs (School appropriate) to identify literary elements to share with the class.

Copyright Friendly Images to use for Student Multimedia Projects

                         

Search through the many topics available to find copyright friendly images for your students to use in their projects and presentations.   What is especially helpful is the metadata that comes with each picture for citation purposes.  

Searching YouTube Teachers for the just the right video to use with your class.

Have you been using YouTube Teachers with your classes?  It is easy to search this channel for content area and grade level to find helpful video to use with your class.

Find the "Classroom Videos."

Choose content area and grade level, don't forget to use the expand +.

    

Select the topic you are looking seeking.

There are many informative videos to be found, we
will feature them in the coming blog posts.

Recorder Master in the Music Classroom

This blog post comes to us from Fairfield Township School in Bridgeton, New Jersey.  Mr. Kenneth Rafter is the Music teacher for Grades 1-8 and integrates technology on a daily basis.  We caught him with this fun activity involving  'Recorder Master' from the www.joytunes.com.
     --------------------------------------------

 "Students use the game "Recorder Master" to enhance and reinforce recorder skills. At the same time it is a fun game that the students enjoy.  Recorder Master teaches proper breath control which on the recorder is very important in obtaining a good tone quality.  The game can be described as what I call a cross between Super Mario Bros, Angry Birds, and Guitar Hero.  The objective is to have students perform various tasks on the recorder and collect music notes throughout the game.  As students collect the notes they earn points that can advance them to harder levels. This activity meets 3 of the National Standards for Music Education: 

1) Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music2) Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music3) Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

Great use of Pinterest- 200 other ways to say went

Source: blog.writeathome.com via Discovery on Pinterest

Student Insight Into Assignments

Now that all teachers have access to the latest version of edmodo, there are numerous upgrades to the product of which educators need to be aware. Insights is one of the many new features and provides  teachers real feedback on how students feel about the assignments they are completing.  If you are using the latest version with your students, they are now required to post a reaction to assignments and quizzes. They do have the option of posting reactions to your posts and those of their peers. The insights link on the new home page shows teachers how their classes are trending; they can see overall performance at a glance, most active groups and which content was the most popular for the week.  Reflective teachers can use the insight information from assignments and quizzes to adjust future assignments based on student reflections. If you need help with the latest version of edmodo for your classroom or school, you have the option of asking for our coach-mentoring services or you can come to one of our updated edmodo workshops.

Edmodo - The Perfect Learning Management System

 Our  Guest Blogger today is Faraja Thompson, at present a Technology Literacy Teacher at Maplewood Middle School in Maplewood, NJ.  We first met her through the Talent 21 Grant where she was a Technology Integration Specialist for Roselle Public Schools.  
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reprinted with permission of Faraja Thompson 2013

Edmodo - The Perfect Learning Management System

I signed up for Edmodo in spring of 2011, while working full time as an integration specialist/teacher mentor.  At the time, I did not foresee what an integral part of my life this learning management system (LMS) would become.  I made a couple of teacher connections, figured out ways to earn badges on my profile, and set up a few sample student accounts--that was about it.  But my perspective changed over the summer, as I made preparations to teach three brand new middle school technology courses.

The first marking period of use served as an experiment for my students and me.  We learned how to navigate our class page and to filter messages and assignments.  We learned that carefully choosing and recording usernames and passwords helped us avoid having to repeatedly sign up for new accounts, due to forgotten log-in information.  Students socialized on a special group I created, the Tech Ed Lounge, rather than clutter our class group feeds with unrelated comments.  Meanwhile, I continued making connections with other teachers and exchanging educational ideas on the community pages.

During the second marking period, we discovered intricacies of the library backpack and small groups.  This is when major collaboration and peer editing efforts began.  Students started storing files in the backpack, using it as an online flash drive.  They posted URLs of Google Docs and other real-time collaborative editing (RTCE) tools on their small group pages, so that only four or five group members would have access, for working together on assignments and for commenting constructively on each other's essays.  It was around this time that I began discovering teacher-created groups, such as Flip Share.

By the third and fourth marking periods, our Edmodo use was in full swing.  Students turned in all project tasks, classwork, and homework using Edmodo assignment boxes.  Suddenly, my desk was neater, my tote-bags--lighter, as paper became obsolete in the computer lab.  In exchange, I found myself taking time--normally spent socializing on Facebook with family and friends--to grade, create new assignments, moderate the tech lounge, and exchange ideas with teachers from around the world on Edmodo.

Thank you for reading!

Upcoming Edmodo Workshops!

Thu - January 10, 2013

Introduction to Edmodo: Safe Social Networking

---

Wed - January 30, 2013

Introduction to Edmodo: Safe Social Networking

STEM in Journalism

Not every student who pursues a science degree winds up as a scientist, in this lively google hangout, deSTEMber In the Field Friday Roundtable Science & Journalism, you will get a chance to meet Science majors who became Journalists. As a group they have taken an unexpected path to sharing their passion for science with others.

Watching high school students try to make decisions about their futures becomes a little easier when one realizes that even though they have to choose a major in college, they are not necessarily locked into traditional careers. 

Time To Play With Videoscribe!

Our first guest blogger of 2013 is Jeanette James, a teacher from New South Wales in Australia.  She comes to us through the SRI & ETTC's professional learning community on edmodo. 21st Century classrooms require us to break down traditional classroom walls and collaborate with schools all over the world.

Clearly Jeanette had time over the holidays to rest, relax and most importantly, play with one of the available options of videoscribing software. We will be bringing you the perspectives of many K-12 educators as they show off their technology integration adventures. 

 If you are interested in taking a workshop where you can learn how to use Web 2.0 tools, visit our training calendar page to find the right workshop for you!
_________________________________________________
Reprinted Permission of Jeanette James 2013

Time to Play!
Time to Play! The holidays are truly epic!  Simply put, the access to TIME allows me to play! When I can play, I learn.  Tonight, I played with a new product called Videoscribe. See below for my first creation using this tool.

Happy New Year all, thanks for all the fun in 2012.
@7mrsjames

Testing Facebook Badges

Sometimes you need a stinkin' badge

SRI & ETTC

Create Your Badge

Sri Ettc likes

SRI & ETTC

Create your Like Badge

My Macbook Pro Was Possessed!

Today was the weirdest day. I was sitting at my desk and was working on my pc.   I also had my Macbook Pro open and about halfway through the day I noticed that strange foreign music was playing out of it.  At certain moments the screen kept changing. I almost freaked out when I saw the pink screen of death flash for a moment.   Pictures were flashing up that I had nothing to do with anything  I had on the computer and I really thought that it was possessed. I started thinking about a when I could fit a trip into the apple store, but after a few minutes the activity stopped. All was fine for a little while.   A few hours later I received a phone call from the main campus and it was a woman who told me that she could see my MacBook Pro come up on her iPhone when she tapped her home button three times from the locked position.  She said she noticed it in a meeting and that everyone in the room could see it on their phones as well.  They noticed a square with a triangle on it and when they tapped it  they could see my computer name.  

I tried it out myself with my  iPhone and realized  it was happening there too.    I immediately checked my sharing settings in system preferences and they were off.   I checked my bluetooth and shut that off.  It was still there on my phone.  I could not see anything on the phone, just the listing that my computer was there.  I closed all my programs out and restarted my computer. 

It took me an hour to figure out I left my AirServer on and anyone on the same wireless account with an ipad or iphone could start broadcasting to my Macbook Pro. The people in the meeting were broadcasting al their iphone stuff to my Macbook Pro all day.  Unbelievable. 

 In case you do not know what AirServer is, it is an affordable app ($14.99 for 5 downloads) that you download to your computer so that you can Mirror broadcast your iphone or ipad to whatever computer is on the same wireless connection.  No dongle is needed to mirror on a laptop or macbook if they have the app on them.  HOWEVER, if you fail to shut it off, other people can also broadcast on your computer.  I was a mile down the road, but sharing the same wireless connection because it was networked.  I am so relieved I do not have to contact the Vatican or the Apple store, I simply have to remember to quit when I am done mirroring. I can see how easy it is to have students share their ipads while in a classroom, but they can also take over if they like unless their teachers remember to quit AirServer.

The New Edmodo- EdmodoCon 2012

EdmodoCon 2012 was thrilling this morning as we watched the Keynote presentation given by Nic Borg.  I was excited to see all the new features that would be available to conference attendees before they are rolled out to everyone else, but also wished that the rollout happened earlier in the summer so all teachers could start with it in the new school year. They kept the new edmodo completely under wraps, so this first presentation was a revelation. There were no hints on the blog.
 I was thinking of the day before, when over 40 teachers walked away from my training classroom, ready to start using the current edmodo interface. I want them to have the latest and greatest version and since I invited them all to edmodocon 2012, at least some of them will know about the changes that are coming our way.  Although the calendar and Gradebook will have an updated look and functionality,  (We can soon track badges!) the most exciting features will be Apps, Discovery and Insights.  I have had Apps for a while now and can't wait to try them out with real students this fall instead of my test students, although many teachers complained about the prices associated with them.  I know that a lot of districts already pay for some of the apps that are being linked with edmodo.  The benefits are that students have one login to access both edmodo and apps. The work they complete using  the apps will be tied in with edmodo assignments and gradebook.  Discovery is a feature that will enable teachers to post their topics and search for topics in a much more user-friendly fashion. Think of google search capability within edmodo, in a visually appealing format.  Collaboration will be much easier from now on, without having to scroll through groups and communities. Insights is one of the features we have been asking for. We wanted "like" buttons, and now we will have a choice of reflection buttons that can help us know what students respond to, and what they have trouble with.  They can reflect on their assignments and I can't wait to see the output of this feature.  Valuable data about how our students learn will only help my teachers be better at what they do, and the students will have that reflective piece for themselves. Get ready for a new look, better functionality, and many of the features we have been looking for. As soon as I get my beta invitation, I will update you on how they all work.

I Trashed my Clicker at ISTE 2012

 I had a bit of fun trashing my clicker in San Diego this past June, I have great aim and was intriqued by the product they were offering.  Quick Question is great for classroom formative assessment - students use any web enabled device, no 'clicker' required!  iPads, smartphones, laptops, netbooks, etc - they all work.  Instantly assess your students using Yes/No, True/False, Multiple Choice, or Text (Free response) questions.  Use Quick Question as a class discussion starter, exit tag, or anytime you need to know what your class knows.  Teacher accounts are free, and students don't need an account.  Have a teacher friend or colleague that would like Quick Question?  Have them sign up at www.naiku.net/quick-question.  It's free!

SMART Response Assessment Strategies Workshop

SMART Response Assessment Strategies- DEMO ONLY
Formative assessment enables educators to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. Use SMART Notebook software, SMART Response interactive clickers, and accompanying Teacher Tools to see how well each student has understood lesson material. Learn how to use the clickers to engage your students, create question sets that will increase their performance, set up class records, and establish effective assessment strategies to raise student achievement. Learn how to modify your lessons based on quick and easy responses from your students. Target your lessons for success while engaging students of all ages.

Audience: All Educators
Workshop Code: TIPS13009
Dates: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
From: 9:00 to: 12:00
Cost: $106 OR 4 ETTC Hour(s). For info on membership, call the ETTC.
Instructor: Michelle Wendt
Location: SRI & ETTC - Meeting Room #128


Location:
Southern Regional Institute & ETTC
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Parkway Building
10 West Jimmie Leeds Road
Galloway, New Jersey 08205
Directions


Here is the Registration Link.

Music Research Project Glogster Rubric

• Interesting rubric for a glogster multimedia project for music teachers that enjoy a one-to one device program or have access to a computer lab.
  
  
  
  
  
  Music Research Project Glogster Rubric this is the link to the actual pdf.
  
  

Minecraft and the Common Core Standards

Here is the other topic I have begun on scoop.it.  

 There is going to be a lot of interest in this topic as teachers scramble to justify a reason to use minecraft to their administrators. We know the kids are into it, we just have to tap into the magic that is inherent in the product. After my son and his friends spent weeks building pre-history village for social studies (after- school) and making sure the details were meticulously correct for the time period, I knew that it had amazing potential.

Minecraft and Digital Storytelling

This is my first scoop.it, thought I would go with a topic that has lately been on my mind as I see more and more schools start their own minecraft servers.

If you are a scooper, please feel free to suggest items for it.

Top Rated Educational Apps from ISTE 2012 and "Shlogin"

After a little pre-conference sightseeing and the ISTE Unplugged'd SocialEdCon,   I attended the SocialEdCon After-Party hosted by StudyBlue at the Marriott Marquee in San Diego. What a great group of people I met!  In fact I kept running into the same faces all during the conference, which made me feel right at home.  I met the friendly Jerrilyn Jacobs, a Media Arts Educator from Encino, California and we spent quite awhile together sharing our experiences and challenges with multimedia projects. We had a chance to app-share with each other and the rest of the crowd and Zach Galin just released the list of top apps that all us educators and business people voted as the most critical to what we do.  If you don't know these, perhaps you should. At least 4 are always at the top of my own list. Here they are... don't forget to check out the honorable mentions at the bottom.  I will be looking into the apps I currently am not familiar with to see what I am missing.




Also of note was the incredible opportunity afforded us by Startup Weekend. Educators were pitching the rest of us their 1 minute appeals for products or services that they think  need developing for our market. It was truly hysterical, but most ideas were valid.  We voted on 5 teams won the opportunity to attend a StartUp Weekend to develop the ideas they came up with that we voted on.  My favorite idea did not get picked, it was for "Shlogin,"  an app that would allow at least 5 users to login on an ipad or tablet;  tell me that is not desperately needed! We have students that change the settings on each other all the time. The winners had great ideas, but that was the one I was yelling for.  I included a picture of that teacher, it is a little blurry, but I was cheering pretty hard. Next year I hope to get a chance to try my own ideas out on the crowd.  I would love to be part of another startup.  

Rock Stars of ISTE 2012

All year long I am on the computer, checking out blog posts, tweets and wiki updates from other professionals in the Technology Integration field.  Since we come from all over the world, it is rare that we get to meet one another face to face.  Luckily I had the chance to meet one of my gurus at the ISTE 2012 conference in San Diego, Lisa Johnson.  Lisa is a self  proclaimed appaholic and is the creator of techchef4u, where she shares the lastest free IOS apps for educators on a daily basis. I have been following her on Google+ since I first signed in and have no idea how I originally hooked up with her contact information in the first place.  Anyway, at the ISTE conference she was hosting a poster session a few boards down from ours and I was able to catch her in action. After battling the swarm of people around her booth, we had a chance to speak for a few minutes. She shared one of the latest tools in her arsenal,  iCardSort, and even gave some of the partcipants a redeem code.  Ask me for the code for the app and I will share it with you.

In case you have need of information on apps for educators and classrooms, be sure to get the the techchef4u app for yourself, you can also follow her on blogtalkradio.com where she has hosted over 36 episodes so far. they are archived and always ready to play, or you can participate in her next show. You can check out some of her sessions below.

Listen to internet radio with Techchef4u on Blog Talk Radio