The Need for Change

I can't remember who always says this, but this is why *I* read blogs for professional development.

If you do one thing today, visit Wes Fryer's Speed of Creativity blog and read this post!

He sums up the need for education change very clearly. Wes articulates what's on the mind of so many educators. He points to resources and makes reference to other conversations for clarity.

I will be sharing this with my the entire educational team in my district. I can only hope that this post moves you to action as well.

KP

Out of Touch? 2007 Edublog Awards

First, congratulations to Jim G. for being nominated in the ¨Best Resource Sharing" blog category.

I do keep a lean aggregator but I USED to think that I had many of the top bloggers on my radar. As the nominations were announced I now see that I was mistaken.

Here´s how my aggregator faired:

Best Individual Blog- I have subscribed to 4 of the 10
Best Group Blog- 2 of 5
Best new blog- ZERO!
Best resource sharing blog- 2 of 5 (Go vote for Gates´ TipLine)
Best teacher blog- 1 of 10
Best librarian / library blog- Zilch
Best educational tech support blog- None here
Best elearning / corporate education blog - Nope, none
Best educational use of audio- nada
Best educational use of video / visual- Not even one
Best educational wiki- 1 of 5
Best educational use of a social networking service- 1 of 5
Best educational use of a virtual world- zero here, not a second lifer.

So how did you fair in your aggregator?
Just when you think you're winning in the rat race, along come a whole slew of faster rats!

KP

Blog by Invitation Only

As more and more laptops roll out across Pennsylvania with the Classrooms for the Future program I am becoming more aware of PA edubloggers.

I definitely see more teachers trying their hand at blogging and especially wikis.

Today I saw something in a blog that I have not seen before. A blog by invitation only!

I understand why someone might choose that option if they were concerned about privacy. Then why blog? The global community is the true power behind blogging. You essentially cut off the worldwide audience who can provide a steady stream of insightful feedback.

Is this technique common? I wonder how many educators use this feature?

MacBook Remote Control with PowerPoint

As part of Pennsylvaniaś Classrooms for the Future initiative many teachers are receiving MacBook laptop computers. The MacBooks come with a very simple remote that works nicely with Keynote and other iLife and iWork programs.

Many of our classroom teachers have invested a significant amount of time in preparing PowerPoint resources for their classroom. They have asked about the remote control with PowerPoint.

I am pleased to share that there exists a freeware program that extends the functionality of the remote to PowerPoint and much, much more.

iRed Lite is freeware for today. The author has announced plans to make the software into $12 shareware very shortly. Get it today!

Our technical staff has not had a chance to test iRed Lite with our MacBooks. I would like to hear if you have deployed this software for your teachers.

In doing some reading, I think I will try iRed Lite for delivering web-based presentations. I would like to see the software be able to switch tabs in Firefox. That way, the presenter just opens various screens on separate tabs. This one looks like it has potential.

Here is a post about more options for your Apple remote:
http://www.123macmini.com/news/story/501.html

No Time to Try Second Life?

If you cannot find the time to catch up in RL (real life) then certainly you have not had the time to try Second Life.

Here is a glimpse of what you can expect, initially at least:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flkgNn50k14

Thanks to the Internet Time Blog for sharing this.

KP