Educational Technology Weblog

I often come across a link that I will share with a particular department, or group of teachers. I think this would be an example of one that may be of interest to many elementary, and select secondary teachers.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ is a site that has many fun and free educational games that cover many different subjects. This site was highlighted by CNN as a “Fun Site of the Week”, and I can see why.

If you take a few minutes to explore this fabulous resource, you will find everything from Astronomy to Zoology, from basic math operations to pre-algebra, from history to health, and even SAT vocabulary builders.

Whether you’d like to use this during your scheduled lab or computer time (although there are a few blocked advertisement banners, yes this site is currently available inside our firewall!) or by providing links to specific games as supplemental resources on your Edline pages, I can’t think of anyone I know who would not see true value in providing these fun and effective options for their students!

Sometimes technology can provide things that are simply FUN! Thank Goodness!! One of the niftier web apps I have come across lately is called … BIGSTAGE….

This program is a Beta right now which means that it might not be perfect, and that the developers hope to learn about how users use and like/dislike their program. At www.bigstage.com you can create a free account and do stuff like…

OR EVEN…

This is a screenshot of a video clip “Starring ME” that you can watch at

http://www.bigstage.com/anvideo.do?method=viewAsset&assetId=76880

If you upload three photos of your face, it does an admirable job of creating a 3D avatar with your likeness… VERY COOL!!

We’re happy to announce that the Palm Breeze Cafe is back online for a new school year and can currently be seen on Comcast Channel 19 in Palm Beach County as well as in the classroom using the webcast from The Education Network. (You’ll recall from last year’s season-ending cliff hanger that Lee Keller and I were doing our best to examine whether or not technology can have an impact on learning.) And of course, we’ll be doing our weekly live, online video conference from the Cafe on Wednesday afternoons for our teachers and media specialists and giving away lots of free software during those sessions. Our first live session will be held on Wednesday, September 6th.

We’re happy to have a brand new set for this year’s show as you can see in the segment below. Hey, we get to stand up this year! Not to mention the addition of a new dynamic member to our team. You’ll definitely want to drop in the show to see our new star! (Hint: She’s a classroom teacher from a school with the initials BRMS.)

As always Palm Breeze Cafe focuses on instructional use of computers and the web and how teachers, parents, and students can use technology in their educational endeavors.

So, watch the clip, and if you can, try to join us on Wednesday afternoons where we have a live discussion to go along with the video clips that we pre-record. It’s a unique experience and one worth taking time to attend. You can see our schedule of upcoming shows at the Palm Breeze Cafe home page.

And finally, we’ve added an entirely new show this year, based on requests from our audience. Our new show is available on T.E.N. only at the moment, but look for episodes of Computers for the Completely Clueless coming to a video hosting service near you soon. This show focuses on computer basics, with Lee and I doing our best to inject a good dose of humor and fun to the topic.

(crossposted here: Geekymomma’s Blog)

Big Huge Labs has a bunch of free tools for doing cool stuff with your digital photos. Why not start the year in your classroom with a photo of yourself on a magazine cover or a motivational poster?

Then have the students take pictures of themselves with a digital camera and create their own for “Back To School” night?

This site may be blocked at school, but is worthy of checking out from home. Students can write down the information they want in the pictures and the teacher or a volunteer can create the magazine or motivational image. These can be printed or added to your Edline website very easily.

Have fun!

 Our team just saw a preview of a new technology tool that is hosted online and has saw awesome capabilities that could easily be used in a classroom environment. (More on this later.)

During these discussions we always bump up against practical concerns that our district has to face. But as we discussed these today some questions arose that seem appropriate for us to ask to a larger audience. (That would be you. See that comment link?)

Here’s the big question though: Is there a fundamental difference between a technology-based tool, particularly those that we label as “Web 2.0″, and more traditional instructional resources like those you’d find in one like the book pictured here? And a few more questions

1. If a teacher or a school wants to spend money on an online service is that different than buying a resource or activity books?
2. Do light-weight technology tools serve the same function as reproducibles and other traditional activities a teacher might want to use?
3. Beyond the barrier of access to a computer are there other questions that arise in the classroom when teachers are thinking about using technology tools to enrich their curriculum?

Those are just a few thoughts that came up in our team discussion. Do you have more of your own? We’d love to hear from you!

(The pictured activity book is from Teacher Created Materials. A great web site for finding these kinds of traditional activities and much more.)