Connect+to+Tech


 * Blogs**


 * Saturday: Starting a blog** - for the purposes of this institute, we are going to use a blog platform for you to record your thoughts.

[|Edublogs] - free blogging platform that specializes in providing blogs to teachers and students. Edublogs is easy to use and has [|video tutorials] to help you get started! If you prefer a printed manual consider [|Introductory Manual for Edublogs] (27 pages) produced by [|Gail Desler] or [|Blogging with Edublogs] (49 pages) produced by [|Janetta Garton]. Or, check out [|Getting Started with Edublogs] for a comprehensive one-stop jumping point about blogging and Edublogs.

//classroom-focused blogs// [|K-107 Internet Classroom] - Chinese classroom blog [|deutschlernen] - a unversity level German class blog [|How Beautiful You Are] - a first grade classroom in California (caution - sound automatically plays) [|Kinderkids Classroom] - kindergarten blog in a New Hampshire school [|Kirklandneuk Primary Blog] - French class in a UK primary school [|Las Palabras Son Poder] - a high school Spanish teacher blog [|Mr. Mayo Student Weblogs] - each student has his or her own blog [|Songhai Concepts] - a Philadelphia information technology class blog [|Two Stars and a Wish] - French class blog from Newport, Isle of Wright, middle school level (more or less)
 * Sunday - Blog review**

//education-focused blogs// [|Moving at the Speed of Creativity] [|Cool Cat Teacher] [|David Warlick's $.02 worth] [|The Fischbowl] [|Mr. P's Blog] - a principal's blog [|Weblogged]

Blog this daily task

Here are two interactive copyright activities: [|JISC] uses scenarios and is more relevant to post-secondary; [|Cyberbee] uses simple questions and answers.
 * Copyright**

[|Technology & Learning Magazine] has a great article about copyright and a [|handy chart] (PDF).

Where can you find materials to use? [|Creative Commons] - an excellent starting point, where you can search popular sites for items that give permission for use. [|Library of Congress] - has terrific collections of artifacts


 * Copyright Safe Audio, Images, Etc.**

Need an easy way to create citations? Use [|Citation Machine].

This [|Google quick reference] has many useful shortcuts.
 * Locating and Sharing Information**

[|del.icio.us] will be the place where we will create a network of shared resources. [|Commoncraft]has a nice video about getting started with del.icio.us: media type="custom" key="872497"
 * Social Bookmarking**

Visit [|Cindy's] and [|Cherice's] pages.


 * Your task:** Open a del.icio.us account, tag at least 3 sources you will find today. Bonus task: Figure out how to make your del.icio.us tags appear on your blog. (Hint - in your blog admin panel, go to Design, Widgets, and scroll down - look for del.icio.us)


 * Collaborative Authoring

Wikis**: Wikis offer an environment where many users can coauthor documents in a web environment, including embedding media. [|Wikispaces] and [|PBWiki] are two common platforms. Wikis can be public or private, pages can be made editable or locked.


 * Google Docs:** [|Google Docs] offers an environment where many users can simultaneously coauthor documents in a web environment, in documents, spreadsheets, multimedia presentations. The Docs can remain private or can be published with a URL created to disseminate to others.


 * Synchronous Communication

Chat**: There are several chat clients. [|Google Talk] is easy to install. If you are a guest on another computer, or on a public computer, [|Meebo] will allow you to chat from within a website.

Read [|Cool Cat Teacher Tips for Skype in the Classroom] for one teacher's experience getting started with Skype and Wesley Fryer's [|Tools for the Teks] for a more technical article if you happen to be having technical difficulties (this article is a bit dated, but the info is still applicable). School Library Journal has a nice article in [|See me, Hear me: Skype in the Classroom].
 * Skype**: [|Skype] is a voice over IP (VOIP) application. With a microphone and headset you can talk with others from around the world via your computer. It is also possible to have conference calls in Skype - over 5 people the functionality is reduced.


 * Podcasting**

Podcasts are often published within blogs and/or distributed through iTunes. National Public Radio has an interesting story about [|podcasting in China].

Listen to samples from some of the following podcasts:

//Podcasts for language learning// Chinese Lessons with [|Serge Melnyk] [|World Languages Podcasting] [|Chinese Pod] blog and [|Chinese Pod] lessons with Ken Carroll

//Podcast in business// [|Lehman, Lee & Xu] [|Technomic Asia]

//Creating an audio file// Are you on an Apple computer? You can't beat Apple's tutorials for [|creating a podcast] in iLife 'O8. Are you on a PC? [|Audacity] is the audio recording and editing program for you!


 * Digital Storytelling**

[|VoiceThread] is an interesting, easy to use web-based environment for digital storytelling and there is an [|education portal]. [|Langwitches]describes how she used it with her students and how to get started. You may find this [|VoiceThread Tutorial] movie informative to get started also. Read more about how educators are using VoiceThread. Check out this [|day in a thread project.] Here is a [|student example in Chinese] and a [|student sample about the zodiac animals]. This [|example] has a teacher record a speech sample and the students repeat and record and here students can hear [|colors].

Use our Juan story to practice commenting.

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Tired of visiting multiple blogs or websites to read content? Use the RSS feature to make the content come to you!. [|Google Reader] is a place to collect the "feeds" from various websites, saving you time and energy. The latest information posted on the website will come to you. When you see the RSS symbol,, you can click it to generate the feed url - add that url to your feed reader. Now you can simply log in to your Google Reader account to read the updated blogs and website.
 * RSS**

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