Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition #edtech #spedtech #assistivetech

The Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition, a publication of the New Media Consortium, identifies key trends in educational technology for the next five years, critical challenges, as well as technologies to watch.


Key Trends:

1. The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators.
   
2. As IT support becomes more and more decentralized, the technologies we use are increasingly based not on school servers, but in  the cloud.
   
3. Technology continues to profoundly affect the way we work, collaborate, communicate, and succeed.
   
4. People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to.
   
5. The perceived value of innovation and creativity is increasing.
   

Critical Challenges:

1. Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and profession.
   
2. Economic pressures and new models of education are presenting unprecedented competition to traditional models of schools.
   
3. The demand for personalized learning is not adequately supported by current technology or practices.
   
4. A key challenge is the fundamental structure of the K-12 education establishment — aka “the system.”
   
5. Many activities related to learning and education take place outside the walls of the classroom and thus are not part of our learning metrics.
   

Technologies to Watch:

• Near-term Horizon
• Cloud computing
• Mobiles
• Second Adoption Horizon
• Game-based learning
• Open content
• Far-term Horizon
• Learning analytics
• Personal learning environments (PLEs)

To learn more, read the entire Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition.

What could these trends, critical challenges, and suggested technologies mean for special education?  Stay tuned, as I am working on a post in which I will share my thoughts.

-  Jeremy

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MSNBC: "Future of Technology" #edtech #spedtech #assistivetech

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

An Open Letter to Techy Teachers by @thenerdyteacher #edtech #spedtech #assistivetech

Being known around school as the "techy" teacher often means a lot of requests for help from co-workers who are less tech-savvy, writes English teacher Nick Provenzano.  Nick offers some tips for being helpful in a tech crisis.  His advice: Listen to the problem, teach your colleague instead of just fixing the problem and always check back to see if more assistance is needed.

Read the full article by Nick from edutopia.

-  Jeremy

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Updated Blog Roll #edchat #spedchat #spedtech #assistivetech #SLPeeps #SLPchat #OTpeeps

Our updated blog roll is now posted under the Recommended Blogs tab above.   Over the next several days descriptions of each blog will be added.

READERS:  Do you know of any great blogs that we have not yet discovered?  If so, please share by commenting below!


-  Jeremy


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Livescribe Ambassador Program (@LivescribeK12) #edtech #spedtech #assistivetech #spedchat #slpchat

I am excited to share some news that I just received via e-mail. I have been accepted into Livescribe Education's Education Ambassador Program (LEAP)!

What is Livescribe?
Livescribe is a low-cost mobile computing or smartpen platform. The Livescribe revolutionizes writing by recording and linking audio to handwriting. In other words, this smartpen provides users with the capabilities of capturing, connectivity, and archiving similar to a mobile computer.

What are the benefits of being a Livescribe Education Ambassador?
After you have been accepted you receive a refurbished Livescribe smartpen and dot-paper notebook, a complimentary registration to their online course "Smartpen 101", K-12 Idea Book, as well as monthly newsletter with new teaching ideas.
In return, you are asked to create and submit a pencast within 30 days showcasing your ideas for how the Livescribe could be used in the classroom.

Can You Become a Livescribe Education Ambassador?
Unfortunately, the Livescribe Education Ambassador Program is currently full. However, if you would like to to be considered for future opportunities, go ahead and fill out their application.


My Ideas & Pencasts - Demonstrating the Benefits of Smartpen Technology for Special Education

As part of this experience being a Livescribe Education Ambassador, I will be blogging about my ideas for using the Livescribe smartpen with students receiving special education and sharing my pencasts here on the Teaching All Students blog. Stay tuned!


Livescribe's Other Education Programs:

1. Livescribe Innovative Teacher of Excellence (LITE) Program - recognizes innovative teachers that use Livescribe products in their classrooms and share their bright ideas.

2. Smartpen Loaner Program - allows educators who present at conferences to borrow a class set of 25 smartpens for demonstration purposes.


- Jeremy
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#spedtech = NEW hashtag about special ed. & technology #edchat #edtech #spedchat #assistivetech

For those of you who use Twitter, I want to share a new hashtag created by Samantha Fecich (@SFecich).  Samantha is a former special education teacher who is now a PhD student at Penn State University.  The new hashtag is #spedtech.  The purpose for this hashtag is to facilitate discussion about the use of various technologies in special education.  At first I was curious as to the need for another hashtag in addition to #assistivetech.  However, Samantha explained to me, "There is a huge field out there all about technology and special education adaptations need to be talked about. Not just AT."  I am interested to see what discussions are elicited and what technologies are shared using the #spedtech hashtag.


-  Jeremy

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20th vs 21st Century Classrooms - Which one describes your classroom or school? #edchat #edtech

I thought this was an interesting comparison of 20th and 21st century learning environments by the staff at the 21st Century Schools site.

20th vs 21st Century Classrooms

READERS:  Which column best describes your classroom or school?  Please share your thoughts by commenting below.


-  Jeremy

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High-Tech Teaching in Low-Tech Classrooms - How? #edchat #edtech

As 21st-century educators, we are expected to help students master the technological tools they will encounter in society and the workplace.  However, in many districts, teachers are lucky if their classrooms have one or two computers.  So how can teachers be high-tech with limited tools?  How can we best use limited resources to support learning and familiarize students with technology?  Well, this article from EdWeek offers some general tips as well as tool suggestions by subject area.

Readers - What are some strategies you have used when faced with limited access to technology?  Please share your thoughts on this challenge faced by many educators by commenting below.  I will post about and share what I have found to be successful in my teaching experience so far with regards to using limited resources soon.


-  Jeremy

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#LeadershipDay11 - All the Posts

There have been so many posts for #Leadershipday11.  I have not even had a chance to look at them all, but if you are interested in checking out the posts head to this spreadsheet - Leadership Day 2011 Posts.

Patrick


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UDL and Mobile Apps - new blog by Kathleen McClaskey

UDL and Mobile Apps is a new blog by Kathleen McClaskey. Kathleen describes this blog as "an open discussion and sharing of how mobile apps can be used to create digital learning environments using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework." She poses the following questions to guide the discussion: "We now have the opportunity to level the playing field for all learners but how can we accomplish that? What tools can be leveraged? Can apps be instrumental in personalizing the learning of students?"

In her initial post, Kathleen provides readers with an overview of UDL. She discusses related legislation and policy documents like IDEA and the U.S. Department of Education Technology Plan. To learn more about UDL, she directs you to the UDL Center.

I have already added Kathleen's blog to my Google Reader and look forward to the discussions about UDL and mobile apps!

- Jeremy

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Ways to use Flip Camera

Inspired by Tom Barrett's (@tombarrett) Interesting Ways series, Richard Byrne of FreeTech4Teachers created the Many Ways to use a Flip Camera.  He's invited anyone who has a great idea to share it on the Goolge presentation.  Or feel free to pass it around to your colleagues!  It's full of great ideas!

For those of you viewing in a RSS reader, you may need to click through to view the embeded presentation.

Patrick

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Classroom Management Software

Recently a conversation took place on Twitter between several individuals, @shareski, myself, & @mbjorgensen concerning Classroom Management Software.


The start of the conversation came from @shareski, who stated that "Never been excited about demos that show how to control or lock student computers. We can do better." This stuck a chord with me and I responded, "If we're always controlling what they see, when do they learn to think for themselves? Just my opinion!" From my recollection @mbjorgensen felt that there was a place for such software, and posted a response on his blog, Jorgie's Learning Blog.


I've read the post, and agree heartily, there is a place for such software, especially in a computer lab setting. I've not spent much time in computer labs, and actually never considered the uses for such software. I love projecting the monitoring software so that students can self-monitor! It also seems very useful to help students collaborate from across the room.


I do also want to admit that I took @shareski's comment a little differently than @mbjorgensen. When I read the original comment I was thinking about filtering type software. I do agree there are certain sites that are not for student use, but we also have to start teaching students to be intelligent consumers. There is a lot of bad stuff out on the net, if we filter everything students will never learn how to navigate safely on their own.


I want to end by saying, I respect and follow @mbjorgensen, but this is one of the limitations of a platform like Twitter. I think both @mbjorgensen, & myself had different takes on the same comment. Twitter is very useful, I constantly find new and exciting information on Twitter, but the conversation can be confused. Thank you Jorgie for your comments, and clarifications! Please check out @mbjorgensen at Jorgie's Learning Blog and @shareski at Ideas and Thoughts from and Educator.




Patrick


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