TAL Weblog News

K12 Online Conference

Jane — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:10:18 GMT

The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. The 2008 conference theme is "Amplifying Possibilities". This year's conference begins with a pre-conference keynote the week of October 13, 2008. The following two weeks, October 20-24 and October 27-31, forty presentations will be posted online to the conference blog (this website) for participants to download and view. Live Events in the form of three "Fireside Chats" and a culminating "When Night Falls" event will be announced. Everyone is encouraged to participate in both live events during the conference as well as asynchronous conversations.
~ K12 Online Conference

Pix1r

Jane — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:32:59 GMT

"This free, beta site is a useful photo editing service. No registration or login is necessary. Edited pictures are saved on the computer and are not public for viewing. Use this site to create montaged images, resize photos for emailing or use on wikis, etc, or simply because your camera files are too big to store." Teachers First
Found via Teachers First Edge Review

Place Spotting

Jane — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:25:11 GMT

"TeachersFirst Edge Review: For ANY technology user -- an EASY way to try making your own online content for the first time! At this site, students get practice using Google Maps' satellite technology and user-created hints to locate a place from a Place spotting "quiz" as pictured with a Google map. A world map below the "quiz" location image allows them to explore the globe and zoom in to pinpoint the location shown in the "quiz" map. Students use hints to narrow their search area. Be aware, MOST of the hints are in English, but there are a few in other world languages."

Found via TeachersFirst Edge

Boolify

Jane — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:08:18 GMT

The Boolify Project was created to help teach users how to build better searches.

"Boolify makes it easier to for students to understand their web search by illustrating the logic of their search, and by showing them how each change to their search instantly changes their results."
- Boolify

Found via TeachersFirst

Google Earth Scavenger Hunt

Jane — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:49:33 GMT

Take a virtual field trip and search for famous landmarks and places using Google Earth.

Found via: The Tech Savvy Educator

Math Jelly of the Month

Jane — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:12:15 GMT

"Each "Jelly" is a math learning object drawn from the new BC Pilot Math program. They are animations, games, workbooks, interactive activities and Concept Capsules you can use in the classroom and/or provide to your students."

BCEd Online Resources

Whatis.com

Jane — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:54:17 GMT

IT encyclopedia featuring word of the day, knowledge exchange, product demos, blogs and search.

Found via: What's New in PinkFlamingo's Resource Lists?

Take a voyage with the Space Shuttle Solaria

Cam — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:14:17 GMT

On Tuesday March 4th, 2008 David Michayluk's grade 6 class from Jack Hulland Elementary will be blasting off into space. This 12 hour simulated space mission has been designed to have students experience what it is like to be part of a shuttle crew or work in mission control.

On Mission Day, our astronauts will lift off into space to experience the wonder of space exploration while carrying out many of the functions most astronauts do. They will exercise, conduct experiments, keep journals and much more under the guidance of the Mission Control team.

We invite participation from other classes and interested members of the public. You can simply observe throughout the day , or interact with the students by either asking questions or joining the discussion area. Educational links will be posted on the website to help organize space activities surrounding this activity. Join us and see just how possible and wonderful simulations can be.

To join us in our journey please aim your web browser at:

Solaria 2008

Yukon Quest Student Challenge

Cam — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:20:16 GMT

On Saturday, February 9, 26 dog teams will leave Fairbanks, Alaska for Whitehorse, Yukon in the 25th annual running of the Yukon Quest 1000 Mile International Sled Dog Race.

Now students and teachers can participate in some quests of their own by visiting our Student Yukon Quest web site. The site features a number of activities:.

1. Reading Quest - student teams race the mushers to Whitehorse. This activity is designed to help teachers set up a Reading Quest within their school or in their own classroom.

2. Writing Quest- students respond to Quest-themed scenarios. Teachers are encouraged to submit other scenarios they or their students create.

3. Math Quest - students create and provide solutions for their own Quest math problems that teachers post to the site.

4. Musher Message Board - students can this section to send a message of encouragement to their musher and to discuss their progress on the trail with other students.

5. Weather Tracking Activity - students graph the weather for a race checkpoint.

You must be a member of the site in order to post a response to a writing scenario or to add to the math question bank. You need a valid email address to join. Teachers who would like to use the site with their entire class can contact Cam Good @ TAL who can assist you with the registrations.

Additional educational resources packages are available. Contact Cathi Dunham for more information.

To join our site and follow the dogs please aim your web browser at:

Yukon Quest Student Challenge

MIT Course Materials for High School

Cam — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:20:04 GMT

MIT moved 1800 of their courses and resources online a couple of years back. Now they have added a section for High School students and teachers.

Check out videos of competitions at MIT like the Solar Decathlon. Ever see a bullet smash through a rose dipped in nitrogen? Check out the Strobe Project Laboratory. Studying for the Physics AP exam? Watch an MIT professor explain pendulums by swinging across his classroom.

Found via The Teacher List

4Teachers - a new look

Cam — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:19:51 GMT

4Teachers have redesigned their site and seem to have added a few more useful tools since I last visited. Well worth a look.

Teachable Moment

Cam — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:22:14 GMT

We had an earthquake in the Yukon this morning. I'll bet our colleagues in Mayo, Pelly Crossing and Carmacks felt it. That is if anyone can feel anything in Pelly this morning where it was reported to be -51ºC)

You can get some info on this local quake here. And they have some good information on earthquakes here. And the CBC has an article here.

My thanks to Peter Menzies @ Tantalus School for the link.

It's All a Question of Scale

Cam — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:22:05 GMT

Sometimes students can have a hard time visualizing just how big ior small something is. Universcale is a Nikon flash site that provides a comparative scale of known objects from 10^-15 meter up to 10^27 meter.

My thanks to Rick @ ITSS for the link.

At At What Temperature does a Blog Post Freeze?

Cam — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:13:09 GMT

January has been an insanely busy for everyone here at Technology Assisted Learning. I have been neglecting this blog. I would love to blame it on frozen blog posts (click the picture to see today's weather - look for the wind chill - leaving me to wonder how those daisies are surviving) but the reality has been a lack of time.

I now have a backlog of 18 items in my del.icio.us blogme tag. Feel free to browse through all the things I was hoping to write about.

Animoto

Cam — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:40:56 GMT

Animoto is another fun online tool. This one specializes in creating unique slideshows using your pictures set to music. It will hook right in to your Flickr accound (and a number of other photo sharing sites as well) or you can upload images. There is a reasonable library of licensed music, and you can also upload student created Garageband tunes. The site requires registration and you are limited to 30 second videos with the free account. below you'll find my test video using some pictures I have in Flickr from the Space Shuttle projects.

Online Photo Sharing in Plain English

Cam — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:20:42 GMT

Another great short video from the CommonCraft Show. This time the focus is on backing up and sharing your photos on the web using online photo sharing services like Flickr.

Primary Voices

Cam — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:57:16 GMT

Darby Newnham and Jill Potter at Elijah Smith Elementary have an interesting project on the go this year.

Welcome to Mr. Newnham's Grade Three online student story library! Students have been practicing writing strategies and building their skills to become master authors by the end of the school year. This website not only allows the student to work on the mechanics of story writing, but also helps the student to become a fluent reader. Best of all, we get to share our creations with friends and family!

So take a minute from your busy day to go and listen to a student read. Then be sure to leave a comment. I know they'll be thrilled to hear from you.

And the winner is ....

Cam — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:12:33 GMT

Merriam-Webster announced the winner of their word of the year yesterday and all I can say is ... w00t.

Merriam-Webster President John Morse said "w00t" reflected the growing use of numeric keyboards to type words.
"People look for self-evident numeral-letter substitutions: 0 for O; 3 for E; 7 for T; and 4 for A," he said. "This is simply a different and more efficient way of representing the alphabetical character."

Now I realize that this might upset some people. I mean, how can it be a word - its got zeros in it. I see it as evidence that the our language is alive and doing well. All languages change and evolve. For an entertaining and illuminative spin on this, take a look at this presentation done by Erin McKean, editor-in-chief of U.S. Dictionaries for Oxford University Press, at Pop!Tech.

Edublog Awards 2007 Winners

Cam — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:24:21 GMT

The 2007 Edublog Award winners have been announced. I was pleased to see that Karl Fisch's Is it Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher was the winner for most influential post of the year.

If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't
know how to read and write.

And this may be a good time to remind Yukon teachers that TAL's winter workshop series is accepting registrations. There is no better time to get professionally developed.

Merriam-Webster's 2007 Word of the Year

Cam — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:50:29 GMT

I was disappointed to learn that I'd missed the voting deadline for Merriam-Webster's 2007 Word of the Year contest. Past winners have included blog (2004), integrity (2005) and truthiness (2006). You can still view the list of candidates and the winner will be announced later this month. I have my fingers crossed for:

w00t (interjection) : an interjection expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay"
w00t! I won the contest!