FOSSED/technologyteacher.me Registration 2013

   

Conference July 8-10 2013!

Register today!  Click Here...

(NOTE:  MailArchiva How-To has moved to "Past FOSSed Course Materials" in the menu on the left)

The ALL NEW TechnologyTeacher.ME 2013 is shaping up to be the best ever!  It's our 11th ANNIVERSARY!  Lots of new topics, sessions, and presenters!  As the world of technology changes...so do we!  One important thing hasn't changed though...the price.  Thanks to the fine folks at Gould Academy, we've been able to keep the price of the conference low again this year.  Yup!  That's right!  Just $395 includes EVERYTHING!  The conference, your room, your meals, and even the banquet!  ($355 for off-campus participants)  You'll get a chance to immerse yourself in the experience that is FOSSed.  Come, join us this year!  Learn all about new hardware, MLTI, Google Apps, Open Source, and Web 2.0 technologies and how they can translate into better learning for your students as well as substantial money savings for your schools!  

http://www.technologyteacher.me/

 

5 Myths About Writing With Mobile Devices

Posted by Ian Jukes on May 26, 2013

“Take your writing on the go? You're not alone—personal technologies allow us to record our thoughts and opinions as a new journalistic mobile medium. In that regard, they're far more useful than they're given credit for, as you'll read in the following Edudemic article from Beth Holland.”

via Edudemic
A few months ago, shortly after the first EdTechTeacher iPad Summit, I spent the day with a college friend out on Cape Cod. In telling me about her daughter’s class iPad pilot, my friend seemed both excited and hesitant. At one point in the conversation, she turned to me and said, “The one thing I hate, though, is that writing just stinks on iPad.”
Initially, I took a bit of a defensive position and prepared to launch into my iPad is NOT a computer schtick. However, the more I listened – and have since listened – to not only my friend but also educators in workshops, webinars, and conversations, the more I realize that parents, administrators, and even teachers fall victim to 5 Myths of Mobile Writing which lead them to believe that this critical facet of education cannot seemingly occur on a mobile device. See More

http://fluency21.com/blog/2013/05/26/5-myths-about-writing-with-mobile-devices/

LePage aimed to shut down school laptops program

LePage aimed to shut down school laptops program

By Colin Woodard cwoodard@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

Gov. Paul LePage considered shutting down Maine's school laptop program last fall but was persuaded not to by his education commissioner.

click image to enlarge

Oak Hill Middle School seventh-grader Eric O'Connor, left, works with Carrie Ricker School third-grader on a MacBook on May 14 in Litchfield. Gov. Paul LePage sought to eliminate Maine's middle-school laptop program, according to emails received by MaineToday Media, but was persuaded against that move by Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen.

Staff file photo by Joe Phelan

Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store

Emails between Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen, his staff and the governor's office indicate that LePage has been extremely skeptical of the program, known as the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, which buys laptops for all public middle school students and negotiates low prices for school districts to lease laptops for high school students. MaineToday Media obtained the emails as part of a public records request.
The state's multi-year contract with Apple to supply, support and maintain tens of thousands of public school laptops and the networks they rely on expires this year. As Bowen and his staff last year prepared to put out a competitive bid for a new four-year contract, LePage told Bowen he was not convinced they should do so.
Emails show the governor was persuaded to allow the process to move forward only after being assured he could "shut the whole thing down" if he didn't like the bids that came in.
The correspondence sheds new light on the weeks-long delay in announcing the winner of the new laptop contract this spring, as the governor's office reviewed the bids. The delay — and the surprise announcement that school districts could choose from any of five proposals — has caused anxiety and confusion for schools, many of which already had their budgets set.  MORE...

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/LePage-aimed-to-shut-down-school-laptops-program.html?pagenum=1

What It Takes to Become an All Project-Based School

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/05/what-it-takes-to-become-a-project-based-school/

In many schools, project-based learning happens in isolated cases: in certain teachers’ classrooms here and there, or in the contexts of specific subjects. But for students to benefit from project-based learning, ideally it’s part of a school’s infrastructure — a way to approach learning holistically.

For one quickly growing network of schools, project-based learning is the crux of the entire ecosystem. New Tech Network, which was founded 15 years ago, is taking its school-wide project-based model to national scale. The organization, which offers a paid program for schools to use its model, began with a flagship school in Napa and has grown to 120 schools in 18 states, most of which are public schools.
The network has not only grown in size, but also in notoriety. President Obama visited Manor New Tech High School in Texas last week, as part of an effort to promote an education agenda focused on producing graduates that can compete in today’s global economy.
The nod from the president comes at a time when New Tech is attempting to position itself as a successful model to follow. But rather than relying on test scores and such quantifiable numbers to prove its value, New Tech’s own 2013 annual report frames success by focusing on deeper learning that can’t be measured by standardized test scores and their college readiness. Yet it’s that lack of emphasis on test scores, an all-consuming worry for many districts, that makes it more difficult for the organization to pin point numbers to tell its story.   More. . .

Leadership Lessons from James Kirk

This is from a Forbes Article.  Leadership Lessons from James T.  Kirk
For all of you Trekkies out there and those of you who may not be, some really great lessons on how to improve leadership!

An Interactive Look At The STEM Gender Divide

 Posted to Edudemic by Katie Lepi on 2013-05-16

inShare4

We already know that STEM education is important and that STEM based jobs are going to be a huge part of our future. So let’s take another look at the STEM gender divide through an interactive visualization. Women have been historically underrepresented in these fields, and that trend continues today. This handy infographic is interactive and shows the % difference in answers of boys and girls who agree with statements about STEM. Some of these statements apply much more broadly than just to STEM (for example: This school makes me feel confident about who I am – boys responded 18.8% more positively than girls).

A Few Takeaways

• Girls answered only 9 questions more positively than boys.
• The biggest positive % response from girls was to the statement: “I do summer homework” (9.7% higher)
• Boys answered questions regarding interest and ability in engineering and technology quite positively compared with girls (19%-33% higher than girls)
• The only  broad group of questions that girls answered more positively than boys was “School Activities”, which includes statements like “I do early college coursework” and “I do activities to learn about college”

 Click the image below to view the full-width interactive chart!

http://edudemic.com/2013/05/the-stem-gender-divide-an-interactive-infographic/

Why The Net Matters

Here is a link to David Eagleman's website. He is the author of the book Why The Net Matters an interesting read.

Multiple Intelligences Assessment

Here is a great Multiple Intelligences Assessment Tool from Literacy Works!