Amazing WhiteBoards

So you finally got that interactive whiteboard...here's how to make the most of it in your classroom. Click on the link to read the article:
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3751711
Will you be an effective whiteboard user in your classroom? Which of the ways mentioned in the Scholastic Instructor article "Amazing Whiteboards" by Jen Scott Curwood (May/June 2009) would you consider using? Why? What other ways could you think of to use a classroom whiteboard to engage and enrich the learning experience i nyour classroom for students?

The Networked Student

This is a true story about a networked learning project that took place in Wendy Drexler's high school Contemporary Issues class. Each student built a personal learning environment focused on a specific contemporary issue. This is also the culmination of her professional learning as part of the CCK08 Connectivism course offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes in the fall of 2008. She is planning to continue to experiment with networked learning in the middle grades in the coming school year. While the video offers a social studies example, this format is applicable to all subject areas.
Do you think you might adapt any or all of the connected learning strategies and opportunities that Wendy Drexler used?

One Laptop Per Child

To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children, the “One Laptop Per Child” initiative provides each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning. When children have access to this type of tool they get engaged in their own education. They learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future. Go to the website: http://laptop.org/en/ and watch the video by clicking on the number 1“Vision” link. Why do you think the five principles are so important to the program and to the education of children throughout the world? Speculate on what you think the long range benefits of this program will be?

Digital Kids

Watch the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsSqCRsaV78
How would you engage digital kids in the classroom?

The Crowdsourcing Project

Watch this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubxAMrnKmkM

Can students link together like neurons in their quest to learn "by any means necessary" forming connections with each other to create learning pathways and networks in new, unique ways? Do you believe in the power of crowdsourcing? Explain your answer.

Digital Natives in Tomorrow's Classrooms

After reading the article featured in the University of Pennsylvania's Gazette http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/1107/feature3.html please consider the following questions and post your answers as comments:

Are you one of the digital natives described in the article? If you are, which technology tools do you regularly use? Do you think your professors can relate to you and teach you meaningful content? Would it be helpful if your professors developed content for the digital tools that most "natives use regularly? How will you develop meaningful learning experiences for your students?

Look at Dimdim

Look at Dimdim: http://www.dimdim.com/

Dimdim provides web meeting software. Here is a chance to make the world a smaller place - by creating a simple, free service that lets everyone everywhere communicate using rich media in real time. And not only would Dimdim be easy to use, it would also be free so web meetings could be democratized and made available to everyone. Enabling people around the world to show pictures, PPTs, PDFs, screens, even video as part of their conversations with no desktop client (like Skype or Outlook) is technically very complicated and often at the mercy of the internet connection speed or the power of the CPU. Today anyone can signup and hold their own web meetings using Dimdim Free. So simple anyone can use it. Unlike other web conference products, Dimdim does not require users to install software on their computers to attend web meetings. Users can start or join meetings with just a few clicks. Dimdim is available for free so everyone - not just big companies with big budgets - can use it. And Dimdim is available as open source software so you can extend and improve it freely. Dimdim already integrates with other software and can be extended easily. And Dimdim is extremely flexible, available in hosted and onsite configurations and easily customizable.

How would you use Dimdim in your classroom, outside your classroom, during and after school hours or for other educational purposes?