First Week of K12Online Conference

The K12Online Conference closed last week. Prior to the start of the conference I setup a RSS feed for the conference blog through Google Reader and also a subscription to the audio only podcasts through iTunes.

The first week's two strands, Getting Started and Prove it, each had 10 presentations scheduled. Only 1 was cancelled, and it seems that I didn't get the audio podcast of 4 sessions. It appears that one of the four was a wiki-based presentation w/o audio. I'll have to download the other 3 individually from the presentation's blog post link.

So...I have listened to 15 podcasts from the first week. And relistened to 6 that I found interesting. I have had time to view/listen to the video for only 2 of the 6 and explore the resources that presentors made available.

"Free Tools for Universal Design for Learning in Literacy" by Jennifer Kraft was the first presentation I found valuable in the Getting Started strand. Ms Kraft has organized resources in support of literacy using Glogster. E-books, concept mapping and research tools I am familiar with and use myself, however, I had not heard of most of the tools in the text-to-speech, text-to-MP3, or speech-to-text categories. In fact I would have associated these resources as assistive technology, mainly for use by students with physical disabilities. The presentation explains the many different tools and applications that can be used to help students with reading difficulties participate and learn in class in spite of their problem. Ms Kraft opened my eyes about these free and online tools and how effectively they can be used. The cost for me will be the time spent learning how to use them. As an aside I also found Glogster a great tool in itself that I'd also like to explore.

Another presentation in the Getting Started strand that I really enjoyed was "What Did You Do in School Yesterday, Today, and Three Years Ago" by H. Songhai. Mr Songhai discusses how to make educational use of the many digital handhelds that today's young people can't seem to live without, i.e. cell-phones, mp3 players, digital cameras, etc. His presentation explains how students can document and archive what they do and learn. My first thought was remembering how I worked with students gathering material for a portfolio showcasing their high school career. It included mainly print media with perhaps some pics or photos or artwork included. Portfolio 2.0 has arrived!

More to come...

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K12 Online Conference 2008

The K12 Online Conference begins Monday, October 13th with a preconference keynote by Stephen Heppell. His keynote will be posted on the conference blog at 12 pm GMT. In case you didn't know GMT stands for Greenwitch Mean Time which is about 5 hours later than the US central time zone.

If this will be your first time I highly recommend browsing the FirstTimers section.

And now I direct you to Sue Water's blog post, "Are You Attending the K12 Online Conference?" She has done a masterful job explaining the conference, it's program, and how to participate.

Don't miss out on some great sessions and opportunities to learn at your pace.

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Banned Books Week-It's Here

Banned Books Week, September 27 - October 4, 2008 is here. Take the time to reflect on your freedoms and rights. Participate in events planned at your local library. The ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom has a list of resources available here as well as a great motto, "Free People Read Freely".

Below is a video produced by AL Focus, the video home of American Libraries magazine in honor of Banned Books Week.

Banned Books Week Banner

Banned Books Week Banner
Originally uploaded by DML East Branch

Wow!! What a cool banner.

Would love to know how it was made.

What banned book will you be reading during Banned Books Week, September 27 - October 4?

K12 Online Conference 2008

This is a conference by educators for educators around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice. A goal of the conference is to help educators make sense of and meet the needs of a continually changing learning landscape.

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 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.

It's FREE and will be available 24/7.

There are again 4 strands:

• Getting Started,
• Prove it!,
• Kicking It Up a Notch, and
• Leading the Change.

Check out the PreConference and Keynoters and Presentors in each strand. Subscribe to the RSS feed for the teasers so you can plan which sessions you'll want to attend.

Don't miss out on a great opportunity to learn!

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