Please join us - K-12 On Demand Video: Getting ready for wide-spread usage

Please join us for a full day hands-on workshop on October 30th for educators and administrators to learn about the educational uses of video.

The intention of this workshop is to:
- increase awareness of current K-12 video usage
- have participants create, upload, catalog, and publish a video using Ensemble
- discuss and demonstrate the new features of Ensemble v3.0
- develop practical knowledge about how to create an environment for wide-spread video usage

Register for this event here!

Contact Amy Spath for more information aboout this event!

Videoconferencing Experience at ESM High School

Yesterday I observed a very powerful videoconference activity in Keith Ward's English class. The students had read Persepolis, a graphic novel about story of a young girl's life under the Islamic Revolution. The class connected with a class of college students at SUNY Cortland who were participating in a Young Adult Literature Course. The college students had also read the graphic novel. The groups took turns asking each other questions about the novel and thoughts about the use of pictures in the story. There was a small panel of guests at ESM who answered questions about graphic novels. The panel consisted of an artist who is working on a graphic novel, a writer of a graphic novel, and a representative from Cloud City Comics.

It was very interesting to hear the students from SUNY Cortland asking the high school students what their thoughts were about graphic novels, why they enrolled in the class with Keith Ward, and what they thought made a good class. Some of the students from SUNY Cortland mentioned that they were going to become a teacher and were very interested in the students' thoughts. The college students also asked the high school students what they were reading outside of class and what graphic novels or comics they should read next.

What a great experience!

CNYRIC Open House Big Success

The annual CNYRIC Open House held on 9/23/09 was a big success. Titled, "Creating the 21st Century School District," the event featured over 40 vendors, 20+ one-hour workshops, and keynote speaker Steve Dembo, from Discovery Education. Steve's keynote address, "The Power of Glass Schools," focused on the limitless learning opportunities now at our fingertips with Web 2.0, and the benefits of transparent learning environments. An estimated 175-200 attendees showed up to the event...and feedback so far has been very positive. Thanks to everyone who participated...we look forward to another great event next year!

K-12 Blackboard features CNY teachers' screencasts!

Dan Lake, a long-time member of the ITD team has worked with area teachers to develop narrated screencasts in which area teachers show how they support learners in their online learning environments. They demonstrate how they change certain teaching practices using online tools provided through the CNYRIC’s Blackboard service.

The President of Blackboard.com’s K-12 unit liked what our teachers had to say, and she included mention of their testimonials and a link to them in her September newsletter, which is distributed worldwide to K-12 users of Blackboard.

Newsletter Link: http://www.blackboard.com/Solutions-by-Market/K-12/Learn-for-K12/Newsletters/September-2009.aspx?contactID=121080041

These screencasts have been posted by Dan at an emerging “Best Practices” user group site.

Screencasts Link: http://connections.blackboard.com/posts?postTypeName=Effective+Practice

It is with no surprise that we find comments there, such as this in response to work done by Charles Clinton at J-D High School:

“Thanks a lot. That's a very good idea. In fact I was searching how to mix the use of Smartboard with Blackboard.” -Yasser Massoud from Saudi Arabia.

Web 2.0 In Plain English

Want to learn about Web 2.0 applications like wikis, podcasts, and blogs? Let Common Craft explain it to you "In Plain English." Common Craft Videos make complex subjects easy to understand.

NYSED Regional Technology Plan Forum

Come meet the new NYS Director of Educational Technology, Larry Paska, on October 14, 4:00, at Roxboro Road Middle School. This is a community forum open to all...come to learn more about the future of technology in NYS and share your feedback. Please register by October 9th...click here to register.

Web 2.0 Tools in Context - by Dan Lake

ITD Team Member Dan Lake was recently published in DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS, a partner site hosted by Technology & Learning (an online magazine), published by NewBay Media, LLC and supported by HP and Intel. His article, "Web 2.0 Tools in Context", can be found here .