Educational Technology Weblog » classroom resources

netTrekker Safe Search Awards

Kim Cavanaugh — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:02:25 +0000

We should all be PROUD!!!

The School District of Palm Beach County has been recognized by netTrekker for our commitment to keeping our students safe online and providing educationally sound Internet resources for our students and teachers. Each year netTrekker recognizes the top 100 Districts based on the usage of their educational search tool, and this year WE RANKED # 7 OVERALL!!

To see where we ranked compared to some of the other districts in Florida and the nation click on the award.

As a reminder,

netTrekker is available to all students, teachers, and family members of the School District of Palm Beach County, and is available via a link on the Learning Tools website. This is a direct link from school, and inquire at your school to learn more about access from home!

To learn more about netTrekker… check out the netTrekker Support Page, and KEEP SAFELY SEARCHING!!!

What’s the Difference Between Technology Tools and Printed Activities?

Kim Cavanaugh — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:07:27 +0000

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

If a teacher or a school wants to spend money on an online service is that different than buying a resource or activity books?
Do light-weight technology tools serve the same function as reproducibles and other traditional activities a teacher might want to use?
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.)

Vintage Postcards at the Florida Photographic Collection

Kim Cavanaugh — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:13:09 +0000

I’ve been working on a new header image to replace the stock photo that used to be up there, and I thought I’d go for a vintage look that celebrates our community here in Palm Beach County. I remembered that there is this awesome collection of free vintage postcards maintained by the State of Florida, free for use by anyone who cares to download them. Here’s one of those lucious hand-tinted postcards that were prevalent back 60 or 70 years ago. You can visit the Florida Memories Postcard Collection and do a keyword search to find your own. This is just one part of the collections found at the awesome Florida Memory Project, where you can find all sorts of goodies, including audio files of folk music, timelines of Florida history, and an interactive classroom. Way cool!