The Eighth Floor

Mobile Learning

admin@eighthfloor.org — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:04:37 PST

Have you ever used a cell phone for educational purposes?

Create interactive meetings at Poll Everywhere

The English Companion Ning Site

admin@eighthfloor.org — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:26:39 PST

In doing some digging for a new class I am teaching (insert shameless plug here-- Social Networking Tools for Educators - Nov 11th at 4:30) . . . back to the conversation . . . in doing some digging for a new class, I have run across some great resources. The English Companion Ning is one in particular. I really wish this sort of resource had been around when I first started teaching. What a great place to bounce ideas off of others testing the same waters you are. I have seen ning sites for just about every subject.

One of the things that I like about ning sites is that they allow the greater lump of members to self-select into smaller, focused groups. For example, I can belong to a group within the larger group that focuses on teaching English with technology. What's not to love about that?

Of course, we have started a ning site of our own at the Eighth Floor, and we have started to create a few groups that are gaining momentum, slowly but surely. We have a group for our advisory committee and we have a group for anyone interested in SMART tools in the classroom. If you have an idea for a group, get in there and make it happen!

If you want to know more about ning sites or social networking tools in general, check out some of the sites I've been rolling around in - http://delicious.com/lamorris/socialnetworking . And if you are interested in more conversation, come join the class next week.

Just sharin'
Lee Anne

VizZle for Special Education

admin@eighthfloor.org — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:45:08 PDT

Often Special Education teachers are left out in the cold when it comes to new technologies and classroom resources. While reading through a few tech journals this morning, I found VizZle, a web resource for Special Education teachers. This resource allows teachers to create and share visual resources for special education and autistic students. Resources are also available on the VizZle website. If you follow the link to their parent website, there is a video you can watch to see the benefits of this product. You can also sign up for a free trial. The coolest thing about this resource is that it is compatible with Interactive Whiteboards like the Smartboard. You can also check out a tutorial on their website, here.

Smart Notebook Express

admin@eighthfloor.org — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:09:39 PDT

Have you ever been at home and you wanted to view or edit your SmartBoard files, but you didn't have Notebook loaded on your computer? Or say you were using a public computer and you were browsing through lessons on the web, but you couldn't view them without Notebook? Smart has a solution for you. Still in the beta stage, Smart has introduced Smart Notebook Express. This site allows you to open and edit files on your computer, as well as view files on the internet. functionality is a bit limited at this time, but you have the ability to type, write and draw on pages using Smart tools. Check it out today and give them a little feedback. Your comments may be used to make this resource better.

What are you using your LCD projector for?

admin@eighthfloor.org — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:54:58 PDT

Looking for ways to use your projector besides the same old powerpoint? Take these tips from Tech and Learning: http://techlearning.com/article/17198 If you have tips of your own, comment on this article. Tell us what you do that's outside of the box. We'd love to hear from you.

The Smart Table

admin@eighthfloor.org — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:40:05 PDT

Recently Smart (maker of the Airliner and the SmartBoard) released the Smart Table. This tool allows elementary educators to create themed lessons that can be pushed out to a stand alone table. Because the table has a multi-touch feature, several students can interact and work through the lesson at the same time. Smart has produced a video to introduce the product here:

If you're interested in how the table works, call the 8th Floor and sign up for our Smart Table class. Classes are available on October 22nd and November 5th. This is a new offering, so classes will fill up fast!

National Board Certification

admin@eighthfloor.org — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:09:35 PDT

Are you working on your National Board Certification? If so, you will probably be interested in a class we are offering on the Eighth Floor this Thursday after school.

Technology Tips & Tools for National Board Certification

Being organized is never easy. Whether you are a first-time candidate or renewing your certification for the National Boards, you need this class. We will discuss tips and technology that will help you get and stay organized throughout the certification process. Innovative uses of technology for entries will be shared. Bring a flash drive to class.

Oct 3rd, Thursday, 4:30 - 7:30 pm

If you are a member of the Eighth Floor consortium, contact your Advisory Committee member for enrollment procedures or contact Phyllis Lawson on the Eighth Floor, phyllis.lawson@tulsatech.org.

Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

Upside Down and Inside Out

admin@eighthfloor.org — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:34:32 PDT

This comes under the category of COOL TOOLS. I'm not sure what purpose a tool like this has other than to just be fun, and when is that ever wrong. It has the added bonus of reminding me of a Diana Ross song . . . upside down, boy you turn me inside out and round and round.

http://www.sevenwires.com/play/UpsideDownLetters.html

Go check it out and send someone and upside down and backwards message.

It occurs to me that much of my communication is tumbled just like that, with no help from JavaScript!

Just Sharin'
Lee Anne

Text Texted Texed Tuxted

admin@eighthfloor.org — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:53:52 PDT

I am enjoying my Writing II class on Monday nights. They are a rare weave of adult students. They keep me on my toes, and I’m trying to keep them on theirs. Last night we got into a discussion about nouns that have become verbs as of late. The discussion started as a question about the past tense of the verb form of “text.” Is it “text” or “texted” or “texed” or even “tuxted”? Good question! I went with texted – I assumed it was texted. The truth was, I didn’t really know for sure. That was what felt natural and what I had probably heard the most. Many of the students felt that texted was unnatural and that just plain text was correct. Okay. Gee, I suppose it is possible I could be wrong. They wanted me to go right for the computer to find the answer. Honestly, that was my first impulse, too. But, the computer wasn’t going to tell me why I assumed that text would be a regular as opposed to an irregular verb as it made the transition from noun to verb. We came up with other examples of similar noun to verb words: Google, Twitter, and email. We played with those in past tense. There is Googled, Twittered, emailed. So, there is a pattern. Wouldn’t it follow that we would say texted? We came up with all kinds of noun to verb examples that were “regular.” For the life of me, I couldn’t come up with an irregular example. There have to be instances out there. We did eventually go to Dictionary.com to see what that resource had to say. They defined it as a transitive verb: texting, texted, texts.

Does it surprise anyone that in my search for the correct form of “text” in the past tense that I emailed a friend, Googled information, Twittered for others’ thoughts, posted on Facebook, and now I am blogging about it? In the end, all I had to do was trust my instincts.

Just thinkin’
Lee Anne

Are you Ready for some Eighth Floor Classes?

admin@eighthfloor.org — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:51:21 PDT

It is incredibly hard to believe that we are almost into September, but in fact, we are. With September comes the start of our classes here on the Eighth Floor.

We are pretty proud of our schedule this coming semester.

We have packed in more classes than ever.

We have quadrupled our Smart technology offerings.

We continue to offer our most popular courses.

We have added six new classes: Using the Smart Table, Social Networking Tools for Educators, Cell Phones in the Classroom, Easy Internet Search Techniques, Skype - Bringing the Outside In, and Technology Tips and Tools for National Board Certification.

Enrollment will start tomorrow, Friday, August 28th, 2009. Check out our list of classes: http://www.eighthfloor.org/class.html

Just Sharin'

Lee Anne

Is social media a fad?

admin@eighthfloor.org — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:44:50 PDT

What About Blogs - August 2009

admin@eighthfloor.org — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:32:32 PDT

What About Blogs?
Welcome to the Eighth Floor class about blogging in education. As a collaborative and constructive tool, blogs have found their place in education. As educators, we are using them as learning tools not only for our students, but also for ourselves. Our objectives for this short workshop are to become familiar with blogs as a Web 2.0 tool, explore uses for your classroom or professional development, and set up a practice blog of your own.

Blogs in Plain English

Lee LeFever of the Common Craft Show

So What’s a Blog?
Let the 6 & 7 year olds from Room 9 at Nelson Central School educate you about what they think a blog is and why they love using them!

Top 10 Reasons to Use a Blog in the Classroom

Education Professional Development Blogs
Weblogg-ed - A blog by Will Richardson
Moving at the Speed of Creativity - A blog by Wesley Fryer
Blog of Proximal Development - a blog by Konrad Glogowski
Blogs about Educational Blogging - a wiki by Support Blogging.com

Classroom/Student Blogs
Mrs. Arnold's Class (2nd grade)
Mrs. Fine's Fouth Grade Gate
Elementary Writing
High School Sports Blog
Arthus - NewlyAncient (high school student blog)
AP Calculus AB (An interactive log for students and parents in my AP Calculus class. This ongoing dialogue is as rich as YOU make it. Visit often and post your comments freely.)
The Good Habits Blog (blog for students and teachers)
Mrs Cassidy's Classroom Blog (elementary)
Blogical Minds (This is a blog created to explore what happens when 5th graders blog and converse about literacies in class and beyond)

Google Search for Blogs
http://blogsearch.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wb

Check out the following education/safety focused postings and articles:
MySpace Education
Change Agency BlogSafety.com
Blogs, Fair Use, and Paying to Play

Blogging Tips and Tricks:
Science Blogs in Middle and HS classrooms
Web Blog Basics Blogs - Anatomy
Blogs for Learning
Evaluating Blogging
Blogging Best Practices Top 10 Blog Writing Tips
Use of Blogs in an Online College Classroom

Let’s Talk About Blogs

How is a blog different from a website?

How is blogging different from other types of writing or online communication?

Why do you think you or your students might be attracted to this as a form of expression?

How might you use a blog in your classroom or for your professional development?

What obstacles might you face using blogs with your students?

The first step to being a good blogger is to be a good blog ____________?

___________________________________________________________
QUESTION!

Since this is a class about blogging, we thought you might want to do a little, well, blogging. So, what are some advantages to using blogs? What are some disadvantages? What can you do to minimize the disadvantages? ___________________________________________________________

Add your comment to this post. Take a minute to think about the above questions. (Or share something else, if you choose, like an idea you're already have for using blogs) Click on the "comments" link below and then type your answer. You can comment as "anonymous or other." Be sure to include your name somewhere so we know who you are. Read others’ comments and feel free to comment on their comments!

Thanks!
Lee Anne

How do you know that?

admin@eighthfloor.org — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:17:09 PDT

I get asked during almost every class I teach up here on The Eight Floor, “How do you know that?” I always give the same answer, “I have no idea I just do”. So, for some reason I remember those little key strokes, back door tips and shortcuts. I can’t always remember how old I am or my phone number but that stuff sticks.

For those of you who don’t have the gift for remembering useless little facts I found a really cool Web site that will help you out. Custom Guide, Learn on Demand offers free Quick Reference cards for all of the popular software titles.

From the Custom Guide Web site here are some of the ways you can use their materials;

Distribute them at your organization.
Forward them to users with support issues.
Post them on your organization's Website.

Also by signing up you can be notified when new Quick References are released — and get a free Online Learning evaluation.

New year a new opportunity

admin@eighthfloor.org — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:49:32 PDT

"I bet deep down you still wish your mom would take you clothes shopping every August for the new school year."

Bridget Willard

As summer starts to wind down (not the temperatures, just the fun) I found myself thinking back to my first days back to school. I asked my daughters if they were ready to get back in to the groove and back in school. Of course the answer was "no"… but then we started talking about all of the possibilities that layout in front of them in the coming year. My oldest will graduate from the 8^th grade, last year of middle school and according to her the year her class "rules the school". One more chance to try to win the speech contest, get a leading part in the school play, field trips, basketball the list started getting bigger and bigger. After awhile I think both girls were ready to get after this last year!

I remembered the excitement of a fresh start with new notebooks, clothes and renewed energy. So I went out and did a little research to see what others are doing to get ready for the new school year and found the 101 THINGS YOU CAN DO THE FIRST THREE WEEKS OF CLASS.

Take a look and add to the list!

Ning Nong . . . Eighth Floor Calling!

admin@eighthfloor.org — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:26:19 PDT

We have been trying to find a way to expand our time “in the classroom” here on the Eighth Floor. We want to have more interaction with the consortium members and other people who are doing what we do. With just two full time instructors, we are usually stretched pretty thin and don’t get to interact with folks outside of class too much. We also don’t have a whole lot of time to continue our own education. But, I think we have found a way to make it better! We have set up an Eighth Floor Ning site. It’s kind of like MySpace or Facebook for educators. You can post pictures, leave messages, post videos, start discussion forums, just hang out and lurk, and much more.

We’d like to invite everyone to join. It requires no more time than you are willing to spend, and you end up with a relevant learning network.

http://eighthfloor.ning.com/ You will see a link asking you sign up on the upper right of the screen.

Give it a shot and let us know what you have on your mind!

Just Joinin’
Lee Anne

I Need a Donor to Choose ME!

admin@eighthfloor.org — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:32:18 PDT

I had the opportunity yesterday to BE the student - an opportunity that is becoming all to rare these days. I participated in the Tech Talk Forum (gr K-8). The bulk of my experience in the classroom is working with teens and adults, so I take any opportunity I can to get connected with what's going on in the lower grades. Brad and Edith Dishman, part-time instructors on the Eighth Floor and full-time wizzards in Owasso, facilitated the course. What fun! I am very impressed with what they are doing in their elementary classrooms with Skype and wikis and many other technologies.

Besides sharing tools and talking "what ifs," many people shared great resources, software, and websites. I have way too many new things to check out now!! Edith shared a site I know everyone will want to know about - Donors Choose http://www.donorschoose.org/homepage/main.html?zone=323. This is an online resource that connects donors with teachers who need "stuff." For example, check out what Mrs. V. from southwest Oklahoma got: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?zone=323&id=258339. Thanks so much, Edith, for sharing this resource - it's wonderful!

If you know of a site that is a must share . . . please do!

Just sharin'
Lee Anne

Won't you be my Facebook Friend??

admin@eighthfloor.org — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:52:46 PDT

Clearly, I am s sucker for opportunities to build my learning comunity. I have finally committed to creating a "professional" Facebook account. I've blogged about how much fun I've had with Facebook and how it has become a great way for me to keep in touch with family and friends. I didn't want to mix personal and professional, so I am not. I have found that there are some great professional development groups on Facebook and that it can be a wonderful vehicle for learning. So I'm in, hook, line, and one more thing to keep up with!

Scott and Lisa have also created profiles. Won't you be our friends? :-D

Lee Anne Morris's Profile Create Your Badge

AND . . . Lisa created a great new Eighth Floor group page, which you must also join. You can help us figure out what to do with this thing!

Setting up an account is pretty darn easy. If you have questions about joining the Eighth Floor group, let us know.

http://www.facebook.com/

Just sharin'
Lee Anne

The Importance of Being Clickable

admin@eighthfloor.org — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:58:08 PDT

In the last few weeks I have had to move my office twice (we got new carpets). Most people might think this is just a necessary annoyance. I agree; however, I also see it as an opportunity to purge, purge, and purge. In the process I have come across several little jewels that I tucked away or “piled” for one reason or another, articles to read, lesson plans to spark my thinking, post-its with wild ideas, etc. One of the articles I saved was from the November 2007 edition of Technology and Learning. The article is “The Importance of Being Clickable.” By technology standards, 2007 is a LONG time ago. However, the idea of being clickable is becoming increasingly relevant – especially if you are job hunting as so many are. How aware are you of your online persona? Do you have one? Do you think you should? I would be willing to wager that if you Google yourself, you are out there. You are somebody in cyberspace if nowhere else!

So, I Googled my myself. (When did that become a sentence that makes sense?) Lee Anne Morris is not an overly common name, so I had several hits on the first page that were about me. When I added Tulsa or Oklahoma to my search, it was pretty much all about me. (and when is that not good! :-D ) Even for someone who teaches tech integration and breaths Web 2.0, I don’t have an impressively large online presence, but I’m there. I am professionally clickable! I can tell quite a bit about me from seeing the social networks and learning communities I participate in. I can see evidence that I am learning from and contributing to my profession. So I am okay with how I am representing myself with my online persona.

Take a minute to Google yourself. (Still makes me laugh.) What do you find? What more could you do during the summer to be more “clickable”? You know I am going to suggest you take classes on the Eighth Floor, so you might as well at least check out all the spectacular classes we are offering.

http://eighthfloor.tulsatech.edu/class.html

Besides taking classes on the Eighth Floor, what could you do or what are you already doing? We need to know!

Just thinkin’
Lee Anne

Get Your Learn On!

admin@eighthfloor.org — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:32:06 PDT

Wow, is it really possible that the semester is coming to an end . . . at some point . . . please? We are having an amazingly busy spring here on the Eighth Floor. It is fun, but busy. I had an absolute blast yesterday with the ladies at University of Oklahoma learning PowerPoint - I wanted them to know that. They are always a fun, eager crowd. Yesterday afternoon, I taught the Digital Pictures Projects class to another very fun group of women here on the Eighth Floor. Along with several tools that foster digital storytelling, we played with the Animoto.com tool. Now, that was a blast! Go check it out.

As the semester winds down, I get time to focus a little on my OWN learning, or as they say, "get my learn on" – I wasn’t born this smart, ya know! People always want to know how I know all this stuff. One of my best resources for “what’s going on” when it comes to technology and education is Classroom 2.0. I know many of you have heard me talk about this social networking group. The folks here are a huge part of my learning community. Because I am such a sharerer, I wanted to tell you a little more about what goes one here.

Classroom 2.0 is a social network for those interested in collaborative technologies in education. One of my favorite parts is the Classroom 2.0 LIVE. These are real-time online classes offered in Elluminate (easy for beginners – they have directions). The workshops are about an hour long and full of great resources and relevant information. If you can’t attend the real-time class, you can go to the archives, which is where I usually end up. Hey, it’s asynchronous learning at its best!

Here’s a sample of what has gone on:

Digital Storytelling-Special Guest: Rushton Hurley 04/18/2009

NECC Unplugged/EduBloggerCon-NECC 2009-Facilitators: Steve Hargadon & Wes Fryer 04/11/2009

Screencasting-Presenter: Lorna Costantini 04/04/2009

Podcasting, PodStock and Ning-Special Guest: Kevin Honeycutt 03/21/2009

Moodle in Education-Special Guest: Miguel Guhlin 03/14/2009

Twitter for Teachers-Special Guest: Rodd Lucier 03/09/2009

Social Networking/Ning and More-Special Guests: Steve Hargadon/Rick Ruden 02/28/2009

VoiceThread-Special Guest: Colette Cassinelli 02/21/2009

Skype for Collaboration-Special Guest Wesley Fryer 02/14/2009

17 Jan 09 - Google Forms 01/26/2009

I encourage you to poke around. There is one today on open content in education. I will be hitting the archives next week to hear that one.

If you are already a member of Classroom 2.0 or sign up in the future, add me as a friend!! Hopefully you can find me . . .Lee Anne Morris or lamorris.

BTW – The Eighth Floor summer schedule will be available very soon. Enrollment begins Monday, May 4th, 2009. We have some exciting new programs this summer. Keep checking the website!

Just Sharin’
Lee Anne

admin@eighthfloor.org — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:35:59 PDT

Scott has been playing with a groovey little text message voting tool called Live Audience Polling. Are you interested in playing along? It's kind of like when you vote for American Idol. You get a number to send the text to and you have to start your text with different number followed by your answer.

Here's a question you can answer and contribute to our pole: Have you ever used a cell phone as a learning/teaching tool in the class room? Any thoughts beyond yes or no?

To send a message, Text 52020 plus your message to 99503. Give it a shot. Text us your answer!

As they say in Massachusetts, wicked easy.

Just Playin'
Lee Anne

ODLA - Oklahoma Distance Learning . . . and then some!

admin@eighthfloor.org — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:38:04 PDT

Yesterday I attended and presented at the ODLA conference in OKC. It was fun . . . and believe me when I tell you that is not something I say very often about presenting at conferences. But it was fun. I think I know why, too -- for three reasons.

One, I got to present with two instructors I work with A LOT here on the Eighth Floor, Dana Linda and Linda Jones. We facilitate the Online Learning Series together each semester. We have this team teaching thing down to an art and it always feels good to fire up the classroom with them.

Two, I got to talk about online learning, and I LOVE to talk about online learning. Our topic was The Critical First 48 Hours. Great topic - Dana's brilliant idea. If our good intentions bear fruit, we'll post our presentation at some point. (go ahead - hold your breath)

Three, I met some seriously cool people from around the state that have jobs similar to mine. There was SO much to talk about. Just a few short years ago, I rarely met folks who had teaching positions similar to mine. I am excited to see instructional design and technology integration finding a permanent home in educational institutions across the state.

Bonus, I expanded my professional learning network. From that, I have some fantastic shares, but one really good "share" that I can't just keep to myself. It would be wrong. Kelly Fitzmorris from OSU Stillwater sent me a list of Web 2.0 tools she created. It is quite well done. She gives short explainations of various tools and groups them by purpose. A few of the tools are new to me, and I can't wait to play with them. Take a minute to have a look. http://osuweb20.blogspot.com/

Scott also has a really good "share." He went to a presentation on mobile phone tools for the classroom and is already planning a class for the fall. The presenter was Jim Britton from NSU and here are some links you might be interested in - just sayin'.

http://technology4teachers.com/ ( link to his web site with PPT)
http://textmarks.com/
http://polleverywhere.com/
http://twitter.com/
http://tweetlater.com/
http://crowdststus.com/
http://winksite.com/
http://qik.com/ live video streamed

The ODLA Fall Conference is in Tulsa on November 12th. Pencil yourself there!

Just Sharin'

Lee Anne

YouTube Launches Higher Education Landing Page

admin@eighthfloor.org — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:57:54 PDT

Now this is cool. YouTube has launched a higher education page. (link to YouTube EDU - http://www.youtube.com/edu) Here is the very short article from Campus Technology

YouTube Launches Higher Education Landing
Page
·
04/01/09
You Tube EDU aggregates video from colleges and universities. The launch was made quietly this past week, but with contributions from Dartmouth, Stanford, University of Minnesota, UNC Chapel Hill, Purdue, Harvard, VirginiaTech, and more than 100 others, the site stands a chance to get attention easily. There are already more than 20,000 videos on YouTube EDU. Content is varied, ranging from lectures on quantum physics to "Snow Day in Chapel Hill." With no plans for indexing the videos with a controlled vocabulary (confirmed by Obadiah Greenberg of the Strategic Partnerships team at YouTube) it's starting out eclectic but browsable--typical YouTube.
Many of you may be aware that YouTube is not the only vehicle for watching and uploading videos for your students. TeacherTube and SchoolTube may be more appropriate. I have found a number of videos on TeacherTube that I use in the classroom. Educational sharing at its best!

I poked around a little. For the most part the topics are strongly scholastic – good news. The quality of some of the videos wasn’t great – but the topics are fantastic. Check this one out on Googling the Brain on a Chip.

If you know of any other “tubes,” please share!

Just Sharin’
Lee Anne

Is Encylopedia Britannica a Wikipedia Wannabe?

admin@eighthfloor.org — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:10:35 PDT

Do you think Encyclopedia Britannica can do what Wikipedia has done? I guess they are going to try, but I admit, I am a bit skeptical. When I first skimmed over a post in the AppScout blog, I was intrigued, even a little excited. I thought this was a great idea, for EB to adapt to a new way of learning and free information – very altruistic of them, in fact. But, then, I started to think about it and read some of the comments made on the post, especially the ones made by Tom from Britannica. I love that there is always another side to “things.” And, there is absolutely another side to this thing.

From what I can understand EB has created an online version to which users/readers can contribute. When folks make contributions, the EB staff will review that information and, I guess, regurgitate it online. Essentially, you submit what you have to offer, and they decide if it is worthy and correct – they edit it. At least I think I get the process, according to Tom from Britannica. Again, it sounds great to me at first, but the more I think about it, I’m a little disappointed by what they are offering. If I feel I am expert enough to contribute to a page or topic, do I really want them editing my contribution? What if they missed my point? Will they ask ME if what they are publishing is in line with my thoughts – true? How is this really a contribution from me if they make all the decisions?

And another thing . . . I don’t believe EB is free. That’s not very “Wikipedia like.” What’s wrong with EB just being EB? How financially necessary is it for them to compete with Wikipedia? Hang on . . . Who thinks it is totally bizarre that I am suggesting Encyclopedia Britannica is competing with Wikispaces out of financial desperation?

So, what do you think? Will EB’s answer to Wikispaces keep them relevant?

Just sayin’
Lee Anne

Open 24 Hours!

admin@eighthfloor.org — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:47:47 PST

“The only scarce resource left today is your attention span. How do you choose to use the next 24 hours?” Richard Malinski

I recently stumbled across this short documentary and can't stop thinking about it. There are so many ideas here that I don’t know where to start, so I am going to set you loose on the video, Information Bombardment. What do you think? Can you be open 24 hours?

Just Sharin’
Lee Anne

Teachers Love SmartBoards!

admin@eighthfloor.org — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:27:55 PST

Our SmartBoard classes are among the most popular we offer on the Eighth Floor. Every semester, classes fill with long waiting lists. SmartBoards are just one of those kinds of tools that everyone can use. We have SmartBoards in two of our classrooms, and I find myself walking over to them when I want to REALLY show or discuss something on the screen. This is much better than making everyone's eyes jiggle when I shake the mouse pointer at whatever I think is so important. So, in order to get better at using the SmartBoard when I am teaching, I've been taking the SmartBoard classes we offer - I know, you guys think Scott and I already know everything, don't you. I'm gonna come clean, we don't. Well, actually, Scott might . . . I DON'T. The classes are fantastic and the teachers are fantastic!! Pam Burgess and Shaun Beard teach the bulk of our Smart classes.

Okay, so why am I tell you all this? SmartBoards are a deep and wide tool. Once you get a taste of what is possible, it's almost like you can't get enough! Sometimes, when you want more information on something, it can be hard to find a solid resource with a lot (not a little) for just about everyone. Earlier this week in the What About Blogs? class, Deana McCloud from Pryor shared a blog with us, and now I am going to share it with you. I poked around for a bit - it's cool. :-D

http://smartboards.typepad.com/ - called, Teachers Love SmartBoards!

It looks like the author posts about once a week - so not so overwhelming that you can't digest the ideas he shares. If you know how, I recommend subscribing, - if not, at least save it to your favorites and visit it about once a week. If you decide that you think it is a worthwhile resource, share it with others!

If you have a Smart resources that you just love, PLEASE share it with us!

Just Sharin'
Lee Anne