To read more about SMART board click here.

Read more about the doctor information here.

The first question asked by Mercer was, “Why should elementary teachers bother to use video?”  Needleman’s response was that students are dropping out of school.  By engaging students in enjoyable projects, like the video project, in elementary school, they are more likely to remember the positive experiences of school.  If they remember these experiences they will decrease their chances of dropping out of school later on.  Also, it gives the students and opportunity to work on their reading and writing skills in a fun way.

The second question was, “Where should we (first year teachers) start?”  Needleman’s response was to do one video project a year.  Also, do a format that is familiar, such as a commercial. 

The third question was, “Why is it so important to have instructional objectives?”  Needleman’s exact response was, “to cover your butt!”  Many teachers try this project but do not relate it to what they are teaching.  This can get a teacher in trouble.  Also, an instructional objective gives a person an idea of what skills this project is going to work on.

The fourth question was, “what do you do with a Mac Computer?”  Needleman discussed the program that he used called “I-Movie.”  Mercer then explained that she uses two programs, Photo Story and Movie Maker, on her PC computer.

The rest of the podcast was just troubleshooting questions, such as audio, video cameras, and still images.  No new information, in my opnion, was discussed.  This podcast more or less explained why it is important to use video projects in elementary school.

To listen to this Podcast click here.

http://www.edtechtalk.com/

Creative Commons license are valuable to society for many reasons.  Looking at it as a future teacher, it gives teachers the ability to legally copy or print important papers for class to help explain a difficult topic.  It also allows students to quote information in their essays or homework.  Say a class is learning about a volcano and instead of the teacher putting him/herself in danger to take a picture of one, now he/she can get on the Internet and show the class a picture of one.  With Creative Commons licenses, students’ (who are our society’s future) knowledge will be able to expand to new lengths then ever before.

For more information about Creative Commons click here.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

The Wow-Pen can really help in teaching a class or in education in general.  Now, teachers can use PowerPoint notes or internet information and have the capability to write on it while lecturing.  For example, a teacher is teaching his/her class about volcanoes.  The teacher had created a PowerPoint slide about the parts of the volcano and was projecting it onto a screen for the class to see.  As he/she talks about the magma flowing up towards the top of the volcano he/she draws arrows to show the movement.  Once at the top of the volcano, he/she writes on the screen that the magma is now called lava.

Besides the practical uses in the classroom lectures, teachers can use the Wow-Pen to transfer their handwritten notes to text on the computer for future use.  The Wow-Pen also presents another way that teachers can record grades.

Students themselves can use the Wow-Pen as well.  Not only can they transfer their own notes from handwritten to text, but they can also use it to write an essay or homework assignment if they are not very good at typing.

Click here for more information about the conference and why it was created.

To learn more about the functions of the Wow-Pen or to purchase one click here.

·         Course content dissemination tool-portable access to course contents

·         Classroom recording tool- recording people talking (lectures)

·         Field recording tool- record field notes and interviews

·         Study support tool- the ability to look back at recordings and notes for studying

·         File storage and transfer-the ability to backup other files

For more information about the Duke iPod First Year Experience click here.

To learn more about the iPod click here.

To purchase an iPod click here.

For more information about calculators click here. To purchase a calculator click here.

It can be quite a difficult choice when it comes to whether teachers should or should not be allowed to have their own MySpace or Facebook accounts. If allowed, teachers could become friends with their students and possibly become aware of a child who is thinking about suicide or killing another person. By using these sites it might lead to a decrease in school shootings or deaths in general. If the teacher is not allowed to use these accounts, it removes the risk of them losing their license, getting suspended, or even being incarcerated because of inappropriate actions on the sites. In my opinion, the O.E.A. (Ohio Education Association) is doing the right thing by strongly urging teacher to have neither the MySpace nor Facebook accounts. I am a member of both sites and have seen what people post in their blogs. All it takes is a couple words to ruin a person’s, or in this case a teacher’s, life forever. Yes, these sites are enjoyable, and I am not looking forward to the day I get rid of them, but we all know that we live in a world where there are some people who are not nice and who will try to hurt a person’s reputation. I do think it is great that teachers want to become more involved in helping their students. Maybe, instead of MySpace or Facebook, the O.E.A. should have schools create their own chat rooms. This site would be monitored at all times by the school. This way, students have a way of talking with their teacher about a homework problem or a problem at home. This would also protect their teacher’s reputation and job because teachers and students would be less likely to get on to an inappropriate topic while the schools are monitoring them. It is sad to say but we live in a world where no one is fully protected from the verbal, mental, or physical abuse that others inflict. By not allowing teachers to have MySpace and Facebook accounts, these abuses could be lowered.