What is a Charter School?

By Paul Silli

According to K-12.com (2010), Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive tax-based money – but are not subject to some of the rules and regulations that apply to many public schools. They still are accountable to earn acceptable state standardized test results, but are attended by choice to the public without private-fee tuitions.

Charters provide an alternative to public schools. Some parents are searching for new options for their children. For example, unlike many public schools, charters often “specialize” in certain educational fields such as the arts, sciences and mathematics.

Many charters become so popular that parents swarm to have their kids enrolled. Due to an often overwhelming number of applicants, some charters have to allocate a lottery system to admit new students.

Today, charter schools are a great opportunity for students to learn and enhance skills while still gaining the fundamental education that is offered at a public school. This may contribute to why there is an increasing demand to have more charter schools built within the public education system. Charter schools are growing in numbers and appear to be a developing trend.

Filezilla for FTP Host Editing

filezilla_logo[1]By Paul Silli

Hey, to all you FTP’ers out there! I am somewhat new to using FTP site editing for uploading & downloading files such as: .docs /.ppts /.pdfs and jpegs. My main domain and website host is at fatcow.com.  It was recommended that I use Filezilla (client version) to install onto my pc so I could easily upload files to my host site, and then create direct URL links to the files so people could access my work on the Internet.

filezilla screenshotThe Filezilla program is Open Source, meaning it is free for private use. It is easy and fun to use. However, it will take some time to learn (For example, dragging and dropping your files into the proper folders through its multiple layered windows); but the program works well.

For all of your FTP solutions, both a client and server-based version are available. There is Filezilla help support through its forums and wiki trackers. If you are new to FTP, you may want to give it a try. Let me know what you think. 😉

Educating Students using Twitter

twitter11By Paul Silli

Your students have already gone home for the day, and you forgot to remind them that homework is due tomorrow. A state of frustration runs through your mind knowing this assignment is key for them to turn in because it’s a major component of their final project. What can you do? Twitter them! Twitter has become one of the most popular micro-blogging applications. It is a free Web 2.0 service with near one million users called “twitterers” who can send and receive text messages via the web, short message service (SMS), and by instant messaging through cell phone communications.

 

For example, if you did forget to inform your students about an assignment, all you would have to do is login to your twitter account, type the message in the text box (you are allowed 140 characters per message), and then send the message directly to your students via cell phone text messaging. As you may know cell phones are a great educational tool – and just about every student has one. Using them as activity reminders is a wonderful, innovative method.

 

For students to get your messages they would need to subscribe to your twitter “feedwhich is a free application where students are only charged by their text messaging service which in most cases, they already have… I’m sure you’ve seen them texting messages to their friends all over campus. 🙂 

 

What exactly is Twitter?

According to Wikipedia online, twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets while on the internet or by use of a mobile phone service. Tweets are text-based posts which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them.

 

For the past year many educators as well as popular newspapers, and TV shows have been using Twitter to connect with one another to share ideas and resources.

 

How to Sign Up for Twitter?

To get an account simply create an ID, password, and have a valid email address. Once logged in you can add pictures to your profile, and customize your color background. Then you can get online to find friends within the twitter network. To broaden your network tell your friends, co-workers and students to create a twitter account, and then they can subscribe to your feed so you can communicate with each other.

 

→ How else can Twitter be used in Education? Please add your comments.

 

Top 10 Research Topics for Education

research_gameeducation11By Paul Silli

Below is a list of broad research topics. These subjects affect many parties within a school setting.

 

1. Learning new research tools/methods, Student Access, Internet & Public Libraries: It would be interesting to research the variety of possible solutions, including filtering, online-search, restricted access, blocking software for student’s in class or at the media center, training, parental permission procedures etc… to learn what teachers can do to improve research skills for students and staff.

 

2. Improved Integration of Technology into Lesson Plans: Learning new ways to incorporate technology into learning across the board for teachers (all school subject areas /grade levels) would be beneficial to education.

 

3. School Crime: What can your school do to reduce theft, vandalism, assault, verbal harassment, physical harassment, abuse, fighting and other issues that hinder learning for students? Researching the causes, effects and outcomes of this topic — and hopefully finding new ways to reduce crime in your school would be a worthy task.

 

4. School Safety Improvements: How can your school create new safety methods to better protect your kids & faculty? From running in the hallways – to how your school dismisses students at the end of the day could be reviewed to find new ways to improve safety. 

 

5. Class Tardiness: Why are students late to class? How are teachers and learning affected by student-tardiness? How can this issue be reduced? What can you do as a staff to deal with tardiness? Learning how to create a “unified tardy policy” for your school would be a tremendous effort.

 

6. Truancy (Overboard absences): Often teachers have different policies, punishment/consequence, and develop a different overall outlook when dealing with students who are excessively absent from class and/or school. What is the underlying cause of this issue? How can you collectively work toward improved student-attendance?

 

7. Enhancing Methods to address the Needs of  Diverse Learners: From gifted to non-English speaking students — there are often extreme diverse populations on school campuses. What methods, policies and strategies are in place — and could be created or improved to aid in the learning of your diverse learners? How can using technology shorten this gap and improve learning? 

 

8. Incorporating More School Community Service Programs & Promoting Parent Volunteering: What can your school do to improve community service programs? How can you attract more parental-volunteer-involvement? What have you been doing… or what can you be doing to enhance the learning for students by showing them the value & need of community service activities?

 

9. Improved Integration of Web 2.0 Technologies into Curriculum: How can your staff utilize more programs such as implementing Web 2.0 tools within your curriculum to improve learning? Is your school doing “enough” to engage-learners by using a rich variety of methods to teach students?

 

10. Your School /District /State often has to deal with Censorship Related Issues: It  would interesting to learn the boundaries of Censorship as it pertains to a collection of documents, position papers, research reports etc… It would be beneficial to review how the Privacy Act and the “Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act” affect learning for students. Are these laws in anyway infringing on certain civil rights to better educate students? You also could broaden your scope by researching  how Censorship comes — as a guide for teachers, librarians, booksellers and others who disseminate the printed word…

 

Technology In Education Conference 2009

event_logo1By Paul Silli

Hello to all you fellow teachers and techies out there. It’s that time of year again to “plan ahead” for the premier technology conference in the state of Colorado.  Please mark these important dates: June 23-26, 2009 – at Copper Mountain, Colorado.

What is the TIE Conference?

Technology in Education (TIE), is a Colorado-based organization founded in 1986 by a group of teachers with a vision to host a conference focusing primarily on the role technology plays in education (TIE, Online). It is a fun, four-day conference where attendees learn many new,  innovative methods using  technology in the classroom or corporate training setting.

The cost is $315 which includes: Exhibit Hall admission, Keynote & Featured speakers, 200+ interactive sessions, Conference orientation,
Free onsite wireless network for attendees, use in convention center meeting rooms, Complimentary Internet/e-mail stations in the CyberCafe,
TIE Conference t-shirt, Lunch every day of the conference (except Friday) and breakfast on Thursday, and a formal TIE dinner party on Thursday night.
 
Today, TIE has become the leading statewide conference helping teachers integrate technology tools, technology competencies, and information literacy skills into a standards-based curriculum. TIE is organized and managed by a governing board of nine volunteers. Its major objective is to host the four-day, hands-on technology conference in a beautiful mountain community during early summer that models the use of technology integration in the classroom…  For more info about TIE or to register visit:
http://www.tiecolorado.org/Welcome_312.htm. I hope to see you there!

Teacher Technology Survey

 By Paul Silli

We really need your opinion. The below survey link is being conducted to gain important information about your experiences as a teacher. You are asked to kindly provide your “perceptions” about technology and how you use it with your students (14 questions). The responses to this survey will be analyzed by our IT-Staff to improve the quality of learning for our school. Your responses are confidential. Big thanks for participating. 

Storyboard Presentations: Ideas in Graphic Form

By Paul Silli

A presentation without a storyboard is like a wagon without a horse. Storyboarding should never be at the beginning of any creative project because you cannot get to this stage unless you have a clear vision of what you want (Indezine Online, 2). If you are undertaking a project for yourself or for a client, there would be little to be gained in using a storyboard without ideas – the storyboard is an element to capture and refine your thoughts.

What exactly is a storyboard? It is an organizational layout, that is put on paper or created on a computer as screen-shots. A storyboard is both abstract and physical. The abstract storyboard is a visualization or source of inspiration; and the physical is when you put your thoughts on paper in a timeline, graphical format. For instance:

Storyboard Example 1

In this example, the upper part shows a layout of the screen. The two middle boxes provide space to describe the interaction of buttons and text fields. Comments are added to detail the color scheme, text attributes, audio, and details for the programmer (Maricopa, 1).
Storyboard Example 2
For this example, you see two screen representations, one for the computer and one for a second screen that would detail a video (this was typical for multimedia where video was shown on an external device such as a VCR or a laser disk player). Again, there is space to define the interactive features, and the nature of additional media (Maricopa, 2).
Storyboard Example 3
This example provides a larger area for the representation of the computer screen, but provides plenty of room for describing what is needed. By having these areas on both sides, the storyboard artist can also use arrows to link descriptions to parts of the screen (Maricopa, 3).

No matter which storyboard format you choose, the following info should be included:

  • A sketch or drawing of the screen-shots, pages, or frames…
  • Color, layout/placement, and size of graphics included…
  • Actual text, title excerpts, if any, for each screen, page, or frame…
  • Color, size, and type of font, if there is text…
  • Narration, Animation, Video, Audio, other media, if any…
  • Audience interaction: target market directed…

Please visit: http://www.umass.edu/wmwp/DigitalStorytelling/Storyboard.htm, to see a storyboard worksheet that may help you develop your ideas.

Tips for Performing Research Online

Back to School Already

By Paul Silli

 

The following may be helpful to you in preparing to research and write a report project.

 

Select a Specific Topic

Find a subject that is limited enough so it is manageable to work with in terms of the requirements of your assignment, the resources available, and the time-frame from which the work must be completed. Some preliminary research is necessary to determine what sub-topic is of interest to you, and for which there will be adequate available information.

 

Searching for Information

Unlimited info on any topic in the world may be found by using an online database:

  • There are many search engines on the World Wide Web. For example, some are directories that provide broad information such as Yahoo; while others are more complex and combine search terms. It is a good idea to search more than one database and compare the information you collected to make sure the data is factual and accurate. Two very good search engines for academic research are: Google and Ask-Teoma. You also could do research using your local public library resources.  
  • Each search engine on the Web searches in a unique manner, and will have instructions on the main page on how to effectively use its particular tool. See Google Scholar to improve your search matches for educational areas. You can visit Google Cheat Sheet for search help.

Top-10 BEST Research Tools visit: http://xooxleanswers.com/topten.aspx

Are Smart Boards SMART?

By Paul Silli

First, what in the world is a Smartboard? If you don’t know… according to Wikipedia, a Smartboard or interactive whiteboard is a large, touch-controlled screen that works with a projector and a computer (Wiki, ref-3). The projector throws the computer’s desktop image onto the interactive whiteboard (usually in the front of a room), which acts as both a monitor and an input device. Users can write on the interactive whiteboard in digital ink or use a finger to control computer applications by pointing, clicking and dragging, just as with a desktop mouse.

Now that you know a bit about this new technology, I refer back to my original question. Are Smart Boards smart? Maybe yes, or perhaps no!

There is no doubt that this colorful-board technology rocks for educational uses. You can have a student come up to a board in front of a class, and by using his or her fingers, can interact with it to perform many “hands-on” activities. But where this technology falls short — is in the depth of your pockets. You see, Smart Boards are very expensive to purchase for an average K12 School. They cost about $1,200 to $3,000 per unit, and that does not include the cost for a fast computer to run it, and you also will need a modern projector to show the image onto a screen — Visit this link for: Estimated Costs, (near $5,000).

Unfortunately, most schools, especially the one’s I have visited, do not have the essential budget to pay for such a techie-device. And for those schools that do have the budget, and decide to buy a Smart Board, often do not have the needed technical support to teach the teachers how to use the boards. Sadly, in many schools, Smart Boards just sit in a media center storage area collecting dust because staff members simply do not know how to use them.  

What is the value of educational technology if it is so overpriced that most of the public can not afford to use it? Technology needs to be cost efficient and user friendly if it is to be “innovative.” 

To see the many benefits of using a Smart Board visit LEARN: http://www.learnquebec.ca/en/content/pedagogy/cil/teach/smartboardworkshop/

What is Instructional Design?

By Paul Silli

Instructional Design and Technology is a comparatively new field dedicated to applying what is empirically understood about how humans learn and improve upon performance to the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of learning and performance support products, processes, and environments (eLearning, ref-7).

Instructional technologists understand and leverage technologies as both product (such as a Web-based course for distant learners, eLearning, or print-based job-aids for the workplace) and process (such as a formative approach to learner assessment and evaluating if a work was successful). Instructional technology is a unique, multidisciplinary profession that practices a variety of settings including industry, pre to K-12 schools, higher education institutions, to government work.

To further define the term, according to Wikipedia, Instructional Design is the practice of arranging media and content to help learners/teachers transfer knowledge most effectively. The process consists broadly of determining the current state of learner understanding, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some media-based “intervention” to assist in the transition.

There are many positions that reflect the practice of this incredible and growing field such as instructional designers in special technical training/curriculum, or performance consultants in industrial settings, and as professional teachers or technology coordinators in K-12 Education.

Why Hire an Instructional Designer?

  • Subject matter experts aren’t always effective as instructors in design implementation.
  • Teachers don’t always have the needed time to develop new curricula.
  • Instructional Designers know the systems for teaching a variety of students, from at-risk kids to working adults in the corporate field.
  • Instructional Designers can design instruction that works within the limits of your situation, such as restricted budgets, high teacher turnover, corporate needs, or specific learner development.