Designer Series Paper On-Sale Now!

Check it out at https://peggysteinbronn.stampinup.net/

Use Hostess Code G6NRQUNU for orders under $150, not counting taxes and shipping.

Hello

Welcome to my stamping, card making, paper crafting idea page.

I love paper crafitng and have recently started card making after a few years “off”. I did some stamping and card making many years ago but took time off when family obligations, a move, and other stuff seemed to take over my life. But I am back at it again.

I decided to make cards again when I wanted something special cards to send out when I couldn’t find any at the stores that I liked. Besides, a hand-made card is more like a gift in the mail. At the same time I also decided to become a Stampin Up Demonstrator. I love sharing with others and it seemed like a good fit for me.

I hope you will join me in my card making adventures. It doesn’t take much to get started–paper, a stamp, an ink pad and a paper trimmer or scissors. If you need help getting started, please contact me or visit my page at https://peggysteinbronn.stampinup.net/

What is your summer professional learning plan (PLP)? Do you have one? Usually summer is the time to kick back, relax, and be a little bit lazy. But I find that summer gives me time to dig into some things I have been wanting to tackle but just haven’t made time in my schedule to do.

Should I learn a new software program, read a lot of books (both recreational and professional), organize and develop a new online course for PD, or revise a current online course? The list could get longer than my time to make anything happen.

Ahh–let me think about it for a little while first.

Ok–now on to an action plan. First of all, why have a PLP? Don’t I already do that for my principal and the school district? Yes, you probably do. But applying those same ideas to a plan for the summer will help to make what you may have already done, or plan on doing, stronger.

In its simplest form a PLP allows you to:

• Assess your current level of professional knowledge in terms of a list of competences relevant to your specific professional job
• Compare these with what competences might be needed to complete current and
  future tasks
• Identify any gaps between what you have and what is required
• Set objectives and a timescale to fill these gaps
• Plan ways of meeting these objectives

Look at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats–commonly called SWOT. After you have identified some specific developmental goals, then write some SMART objectives: specific, measurable, achievable, resourced, and timed.

Ask yourself the following questions about your PLP:

1. Are you constructing new knowledge from professional learning experiences?
2. Are you applying learning to classroom practice?
3. How will changes in teaching impact student learning?
4. Can you measure return on your investment in professional learning?
5. Does your PLP support the student achievement results you are seeking?

Your summer PLP doesn’t have to be a huge project–it could be as simple as reading a professional book that you haven’t had time to read yet–and then planning what effect this new information/knowledge will have on your teaching and perhaps, creating an actual plan to follow through with it when you begin teaching again.

So–time to make my PLP.

Let me know what your ideas are by adding a comment.

Twitter: AeaPDOnline
Web Site: www.iowaaea.org

Follow the conversation about the organization/formation of imug (Iowa Moodle Users Group) on Twitter, using the new hashtag, #imug.

NOTE: Although I will be here all summer, the Friday Feature is taking a break and will return in August. Enjoy your summer learning.

Here are some links to help you get started:

Voice Thread

• VoiceThread for Online Teaching and Learning: Practical design strategies & student perspectives
• Using VoiceThread for Digital Conversations
• So…You Wanna Use VoiceThread

Let me know if you try using it in your online course(s) by adding a comment.

Twitter: AeaPDOnline
Web Site: www.iowaaea.org

Follow the conversation about the organization/formation of imug (Iowa Moodle Users Group) on Twitter, using the new hashtag, #imug.

There are lots of “tools” available on the Internet for both students and faculty to use in the pursuit of learning. How do you choose? Do you just keep “Googling”?

What is your strategy for finding easy-to-use, online tools that help you with teaching and/or learning? I think it would be interesting to hear how other educators and/or students find tools that assist in their work.

I have tools that I like to use and I always like to share them with others.

These are my TOP FIVE PICKS:

• Pho.to—an online image editing in your browser.
  http://pho.to/
• Jog the Web—a place to store a list of links that can be organized by topic, and it helps you better share, show and comment any web pages on the Internet. http://www.jogtheweb.com/
• Voice Thread—provides a place to have group conversations around images, documents, videos and allows people to leave comments in 5 different ways. http://voicethread.com/
• Audio Boo—record and upload audio to share with others. It is so easy to use too. http://audioboo.fm/
• Jing—provides a way to take a picture or make a short video of what you see on your computer monitor and then share it. http://www.techsmith.com/jing/

Your Turn:
What are your favorites? Add a comment and share.

Twitter: AeaPDOnline
Web Site: www.iowaaea.org

Follow the conversation about the organization/formation of imug (Iowa Moodle Users Group) on Twitter, using the new hashtag, #imug.

Last week I wrote about using Twitter as a professional development tool. Here are some links that will take it to the next level, using Twitter in your classroom with your students. .

Twitter Resources

25 Ways To Use Twitter In The Classroom, By Degree Of Difficulty

20 Twitter Hashtags Every Teacher Should Know About

Why Twitter should be a part of your PLN

Twitter in Plain English

The Ultimate Guide to Using Twitter in Education

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Education

Cure What Ails You: A Dose of Twitter for Every Day

Let me know if you try using Twitter with your students, or have any resources you would like to share, by adding a comment below.

Twitter: AeaPDOnline
Web Site: www.iowaaea.org

Follow the conversation about the organization/formation of imug (Iowa Moodle Users Group) on Twitter, using the new hashtag, #imug.

Do you Tweet? I didn’t get it, at first. What was the value of sending out short messages that told anyone who wanted to “follow” you what you were doing at almost the exact moment you were doing it?? I jumped on the bandwagon, but only because I was teaching a course on the integration of technology in the classroom. I was working with students who were considered to be more tech savvy than my generation. But what I found out was surprising–they weren’t tweeting, at least most of them weren’t using it. They were, however, very Facebook savvy.

But I decided to continue to use it–mainly I was just “lurking” for quite a while. I followed some educators and looked at who they were following and my list kept growing. Then I actually “tweeted” a bit–it was for my students (at least that is what I told myself in the beginning). Then that course ended and I found that I was still reading and following and I continued tweeting. So in the end I became aware that I was finding, through Twitter, a lot of excellent resources that I may never have found if I had not been following someone else. And, to my surprise, occasionally, someone would RT (retweet) something I “tweeted”.  That was an incredible feeling of accomplishment.

Twitter is an excellent way to wade through the Internet to find “stuff” that you may not have ever known about. I consider it a way that I create a professional development opportunity for me that is very personal. I follow people who have the same interests, both professionally and personally, that I do.

Here is a link that uses a very creative way to express the benefits of educators being on Twitter:

If you were on Twitter

So, what’s your excuse? At least dip your toes in the water. It won’t hurt you at all–you might even like it a little bit, as well as enjoy it.

Hope to “tweet” with you soon.

Twitter: AeaPDOnline
Web Site: www.iowaaea.org

Follow the conversation about the organization/formation of imug (Iowa Moodle Users Group) on Twitter, using the new hashtag, #imug.

Interesting idea–making a graphical representation of your syllabus. I came across this idea by clicking on a link within a Tweet from someone I follow on Twitter. It lead me to this site: http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/graphic-display-of-student-learning-objectives/27863?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en.

The article is worth the read and isn’t very long. It includes examples of what it actually could look like. It provides a clear reference to outcomes and connections of specific assignments to those course outcomes.

The author of this article goes on to say that using a graphic display is a way to “keep student learning in focus“. There are benefits for the students as well.  “Graphical displays are clearer to visual learners, they show how a course is organized, and they function as a map to a course.“

Note: Click on the link to the article to view examples of the graphical display.

How can this apply to your online course? Sometimes online students don’t seem to “get it”. They appear to just wander through the course without making the connections, in spite of our best efforts, to the course objectives/outcomes/essential learnings. Providing a visual representation of those connections to specific assignments may be enough to get the learner to focus their learning and they will see that “none of the course assignments are random or arbitrary.”

Challenge:
As long as you are thinking about revising your summer online course, think about adding a graphical image of your course objectives and assignments. It could be just what you and your online students need to move their learning, and yours, forward.

Talk to me. What do you think? Worth trying?

Twitter: AeaPDOnline
Web Site: www.iowaaea.org

Follow the conversation about the organization/formation of imug (Iowa Moodle Users Group) on Twitter, using the new hashtag, #imug.

So, let’s make a plan.

Think about the following:

1. What have you tried in your online courses that may not have worked as well as you had hoped?
2. What have you wanted to try but just weren’t sure how to go about it?
3. Is there a technology tool that would help you accomplish your goals as well as meet the course objectives?
4. Is there a Web 2.0 tool that you just haven’t had time to look at, try out, or integrate into your online course yet?

So, here’s the challenge: Answer the questions above and try something new. But the catch is that it must fit in with the overall goals of the course–think of course objectives/outcomes first and then find the technology tool that matches up (if there is one). There’s no rush–you’ve got all summer.

FAQ’s

How can you learn to use that new tool?

There are lots of websites that provide information about the Web 2.0 tools and usually the website of a tool has all sorts of tutorials and help-guides.

How do you choose a tool?

I usually find a tool based on the blogs I read regularly. There are many educational blogs that provide ideas, lesson plans, etc. for using various online tools. It is up to me to figure out if they would work in an online environment and how to make it easy for my students to use. Usually students don’t mind trying something new if they understand why they are using–the value added.

Where can I find Web 2.0 Tools with ideas?

There are tons of websites with all sorts of tools and corresponding ideas. You can find them easily by doing a search using your favorite search engine. If you follow any blogs, a list may show up on one or more. If you are a Twitter user you may find ideas from the tweets you follow. The following links may get you started but remember, you may have to make some adaptations for using them in an online teaching environment:

• 101 Web 2.0 Tools Teachers Should Know About
• The 35 Best Web 2.o Classroom Tools Chosen By You
• Web 2.0 Teaching Tools
• Cool_Tools_For_Teaching_Online (pdf)
• Top 20 Web Must Haves for Every 21st Century Classroom
• Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators
• 100 Essential Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers
• Web 2.0 Teaching Tool Links
• Web 2.0 Tools
• Web 2.0 Tools for Math Educators
  

I would love to hear back from you and find out what you tried. Let’s talk soon!

Twitter: AeaPDOnline
Web Site: www.iowaaea.org

Follow the conversation about the organization/formation of imug (Iowa Moodle Users Group) on Twitter, using the new hashtag, #imug.

Ten Reasons You Should Use Social Bookmarking

1. Save any site you find using multiple computers (home and school) to one resource.
2. Access your bookmarks anywhere you have web access.
3. Continue to access your bookmarks even when your computer crashes or you get a new computer.
4. Share web sites with your students or peers.
5. Search your bookmarks by keywords and tags.
6. Use related tags to narrow or extend your searches.
7. Display your saved web site links by category.
8. Learn about new sites from your other users.
9. Subscribe to other users’ bookmarks.
10. Check out recently posted and popular sites.

Adapted from the document ‘Simply Delicious‘ by David Muir
d.d.muir@strath.ac.uk
http://del.icio.us/DavidDMuir/
http://edcompblog.blogspot.com/

Check out this SlideShare:  Using Diigo in the Classroom

Video Tutorials:

Diigo V5: Collect and Highlight, Then Remember!

Diigo V4: Research ~ annotate, archive, organize

Watch this video about Diigo:

Diigo also offers Educator accounts. And here is what’s new in Version 5.

Social Bookmarking: Making the Web Work for You

Diigo is only one way to use Social Bookmarking–and it happens to be the one I like, but there are others out there with some of the same features. Find the one that works for you and share your bookmarks with your online students.

Twitter: AeaPDOnline
Web Site: www.iowaaea.org

Follow the conversation about the organization/formation of imug (Iowa Moodle Users Group) on Twitter, using the new hashtag, #imug.

I know you have probably heard of it and perhaps you may even been using it. But, exactly, what is it? How can bookmarking web sites be “social”?

According to Wikipedia:

“Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online.”

The description goes on to say

“In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domains. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search engine.”

So, what is a social bookmarking system? Well, for one, Diigo is just such a system. And I love using it! It is my “go-to-place” for searching out ideas, web resources, and links I can share with others. I don’t have to worry about which computer I used to bookmark a particular web site. All my bookmarks are easily accessed from any computer–as long as I am connected to the Internet. Another great feature is that I can easily organize and share my bookmarks with anyone–family, friends, or students in my online classes–anyone.

I can also join groups through Diigo. That means i have access to any bookmarks shared by group members in the groups I have joined.

This YouTube video explains Diigo:

The Diigo web site also has some great video tutorials about how it all works. Check them out at http://www.diigo.com.

This web site, Using Diigo in the Classroom, shows ways to use Diigo with students and as well as ways to extend your own professional development by using it. This site also includes lesson plans and videos to assist the teacher with incorporating this great tool into their own organizational toolkit.

So, check it out, join a Diigo group or create one for use by your students. Even your online students will benefit from this great web tool. Then you can tell your colleagues that you are working in the “cloud” on your computer, your iPad, and/or your smartphone.

Twitter: AeaPDOnline
Web Site: www.iowaaea.org

Follow the conversation about the organization/formation of imug (Iowa Moodle Users Group) on Twitter, using the new hashtag, #imug.