Educational Software Blog

VoiceThread is an interactive tool that allows for the sharing of group conversations and discussions on a browser-based web application, without the use of software.

Basically, VoiceThread is a multimedia slide show that can hold images, documents and videos. People can leave comments and collaborate by leaving messages with voice, text, or audio and video file. Users can even "doodle" with basic drawing tools at the same time they comment. All VoiceThread files can be embedded to show and receive comments on other websites and exported to MP3 players. You can add discussions to classroom websites, blogs or other educational media.

VoiceThread is great for students to collaborate on group projects. It supports dozens of standard file formats as well as PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. One account can have many identities, so a whole classroom can come together on a project. Each participant can give their separate perspective on a subject. VoiceThread is also a great way for students to collaborate with different solutions for the same problem.

Users first upload images, documents or videos, which are added to the VoiceThread. This is saved and the URL is available for sharing purposes or to be exported. VoiceThread can then be used to start discussions about coursework or assignments.

In the example below, students and users give their solutions for solving a simple math problem.

Comment moderation allows for picking and choosing of what comments are to be shown. The VoiceThread site is user-friendly and great for group meetings or projects. With active participants, the possibilities with VoiceThread are endless.

VoiceThread is a unique way for classrooms from all over the world to connect. With a variety of ways to add new content and its user-friendly navigation, VoiceThread would be a great addition to any classroom.

Story Time Video Podcasts and Free Teacher Resources by Learning Today

Even though President Obama's 2011 budget calls for an increase of $3.5 billion in education, he has proposed to eliminate the sole source of educational technology funding, EETT, which provides $100 million annually in direct funding for the use of technology in education. This has a lot of education groups concerned, for obvious reasons.

You may have been following the debate but here's an infographic for those of you who need to a quick recap.

CoSN and ISTE Speak Out

CoSN and ISTE stress that the consolidation of the Enhancing Education through Technology (EETT) program strips our nation of the sole source of dedicated federal education technology funding. ISTE CEO Don Knezek urges that "education technology is the lifeblood of lasting school improvement" and technology should be "the backbone of school improvement". The infusion of technology and education provides students with the necessary skills to become college and career ready and compete with their peers around the globe.

OSTP Retorts

In a document released February 1, 2001 "A New Foundation for 21st Century Learning: Education Technology Investments in the 2011 Budget" the Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) insists "The President strongly believes that technology, when used creatively and effectively, can transform education and training in the same way that it has transformed the private sector." The document illustrates that the proposed elimination of EETT does not mean the end of federal commitment to educational technology.

Instead, educational technology will be integrated across a broad range of programs. Funds for technology-based interventions total over $22 billion. Programs rewarding non-intervention technology efforts such as Investing in Innovation and Cyber Learning Transformation Education will total $540 million. States and LEA will have stronger incentives to use funds for cost-effective technology strategies.

Finding Common Ground

Education groups and the executive office actually share the idea that the integration of technology in education will be the driving force to move American students from the middle of the pack to the top of the pack in the next decade. Education groups acknowledge the Administration's commitment to technology, but urge the Administration and Congress to make the integration of technology funding meaningful and to support a separate, directed educational technology program, the ATTAIN Act, EETT's proposed successor.

As teachers and administrators, how do you think this debate will affect you and your students? Should technology even be the driving force of educational reform?

Read more in support of the Office of Science and Technology Policy

http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/02/01/feds-2011-budget-makes-strong-commitment-to-technology.aspx

http://blog.ostp.gov/2010/02/01/fy-2011-rd-budget-investing-in-innovation-today-to-meet-the-challenges-of-tomorrow/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/educate-innovate

Read More in support of Education Groups

http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/02/03/Education-Groups-Extremely-Concerned-over-EETT-Cut-in-Obama-Budget.aspx?Page=1

http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=25374

http://www.cosn.org/Portals/7/docs/Press%20Releases/2010/CoSN%20Budget%20Statement%20FINAL%202-3-10.pdf

As everyone knows, educators and parents are always looking for new and fun ways to get their children to read more.

Storyline Online is an online, streaming video program that features members of the Screen Actors Guild reading award-winning children's books. You can choose from dozens of stories that range in topic and theme.

Storyline Online is great because some of the actors that are reading the stories are the same ones that students watch on television every day. What better way to connect to a story than to do it with someone they admire.

To listen to a story, all you have to do is browse through the titles and click on one that you want to hear. A picture of the book, a summary and the actor who is reading the book are all provided once you click on a choice. Clicking on the reader's name will provide you with a biography of the actor.

Once you click on the book, a video screen pops up. The actor who is reading the story will appear. You can choose to have captions on or off. This is a great tool for a teacher who wants to throw something a little different into their everyday story time. I listened to a few of these stories and think it's a very kid-friendly and interactive way to listen to stories.

What's great about this site is that it also provides you with discussion questions and activities that you can do with your whole classroom.

Kids enjoy story time, but when they see someone they look up to reading the story, they are even more intrigued. This interactive form of story telling combines reading books, video and audio all in one. The audio aspect of the story gives students an opportunity to develop basic comprehension skills.

So even if you are not in Hollywood, you can still hang out with the stars and enjoy a good story at the same time!

Story Time Video Podcasts and Free Teacher Resources by Learning Today

Interactive whiteboards are effective learning tools for whole class instruction. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your interactive whiteboard:

• Place a carpeted step in front of the whiteboard so smaller children can comfortably reach high up on the board. The top step should be wide enough to stand on.

• Use an IWB pen to drag items on the screen without selecting them first (as with the mouse).

• Install Google Earth and use the pointer to zoom in on a particular place on the globe relevant to the lesson you are teaching.

• Reduce your in-lesson preparation time by preparing and saving activity files before class.

• Velcro the remote control, eraser and pens to the whiteboard.

• Have your students use a soft mallet on the whiteboard instead of their fingers.

• Recalibrate your whiteboard before each lesson.

• Save your lessons so they can be presented to students who were absent or as a review.

Subject: Reading

Subskill: Reading Comprehension

Concept: Prediction

Grade Level: Middle Elementary

- Since the title of the story is "The Stonecutter, can you guess what this story is about?

Clink! Clink! A man was working by the roadside cutting stones. Clink! Clink! The Emperor walked by dressed in very nice clothes. "I have been poor all my life," the man thought to himself. "I wish I could be the Emperor. I want to be rich and powerful."

Poof! The man became an emperor dressed in beautiful clothes. The townspeople carried him through the town in a fancy chair. The man felt so happy.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, dark clouds rolled in and covered up the sun. Then it began to rain all over the man and his new fancy clothes. "What was I thinking?" the man said. "It is the cloud that is more powerful. I want to be a cloud."

- Here's another questions: What do you think happens next?

Poof! The man became a cloud.

He sent rain down to the earth. He was so happy. But then it became very windy. The man could feel the wind blowing him around. "What was I thinking?" he said. "It is the wind that is more powerful. I wish I was the wind."

Poof! He became the wind.

He blew the trees and the leaves around. The man was so happy. Then he saw a huge mountain. The mountain did not move with the wind. "What was I thinking?" he said. "It is the mountain that is more powerful. I wish I was the mountain."

Poof! He became the mountain and he felt strong. The wind could not move him. The man was so happy. "Nothing can be more powerful than me," he said.

Suddenly he heard a noise at the bottom of the mountain. Clink! Clink! He looked down and saw a man. The man was cutting away at the mountain.

- Now try answering this question: How do you think the man feels when he looks down and sees a stonecutter chipping away at the mountain?

"Oh no! What have I done? I wish I could be myself again."

Poof! He became himself again. Only now, he was the happiest stonecutter in Japan.

- Now that the story is over, what do you predict would happen if the story continued?

Reading Curriculum and Reading Games by Learning Today

"In the 21st century, one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education." President Obama spoke these words at the State of the Union Address expressing the necessity to renovate No Child Left Behind. NCLB focuses on the use of standardized test scores in schools to measure student achievement.

2014 Proficiency Deadline to be Elminated 

The revision will affect how each school is labeled as either performing or underperforming. It will also aim at getting rid of the 2014 deadline to bring every American child to academic proficiency. Also included will be a focus on school safety plans and increasing active parent involvement via community assistance and adult education programs.

The Pros and Cons of NCLB

Results from an October 2009 nationwide math test showed that student achievement grew faster before the No Child Left Behind law, when states established most education policies. Only slight increases in scores have occurred since the law has been passed.

U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan and staff traveled the country in an effort to determine the pros and cons of NCLB. The goal was to take input from Congressional leaders and educational experts and create a plan to attract bipartisan support.

Currently, the education law states that the 98,000 public schools need to make "adequate yearly progress," determined by student test results. If these reading and math requirements are not met, schools must present students a chance to transfer schools and offer free after-school tutoring. If schools continue to perform poorly, staff may be dismissed and schools may even be closed.

A Revised School Rating System 

Department of Education officials have also requested elimination of a school ratings system to judge yearly progress and test scores. "They were very clear with us that they would change the metric, dropping adequate yearly progress and basing a new system on another picture of performance based on judging schools in a more nuanced way," said Bruce Hunter, director of public policy for the American Association of School Administrators.

Schools are now graded on a pass-fail report card each year, which administration believes is not a true factor in measuring school performances. Under administration's proposals, a system would divide schools into categories to recognize successful schools and give money to those that need help. Schools are hoping to form national standards that would help prepare students to enter college or a career once they graduate high school. These goals would ensure these students are ready to enter the "real world."

$4 Billion for Education in 2011 

President Obama also addressed the importance of inspiring children to succeed in school and improving those failing schools. Obama plans on asking Congress to provide up to $4 billion towards education in the upcoming 2011 year. A portion of these funds will be used to reduce class sizes and hire more highly-qualified special education and math teachers.

Many people have applauded NCLB for its attention on achievement gaps, but there have been some complaints from educators on impossible goals for students and schools and the embarrassment students and educators face when they don't meet standards. Around 30,000 schools have been categorized as "in need of improvement," which basically means they are failing, but there has been nothing done about this.

Administration officials are now working towards organizing a new rewrite maintaining the law's focus on closing the achievement gap between minority and white students and increasing and rewarding teacher quality.

President Obama's message is simple, "instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success."

Photo from WI Guard Pics

Article by Lauren Grossberg and Amanda Kenuam

Free Teacher Resources by Learning Today

Sharing stories has never been so easy. Bookr is a simple interactive tool that can be used by teachers and students to create photo books from images from the picture sharing site Flickr.

With no sign up or registration required, it makes for a quick and easy-to-use tool that all students can utilize. Simple instructions allow for even elementary students to use this tool. All you need to do is search for images with keywords or tags, choose the ones you want to use and write the captions.

When a book is completed, it is presented in animated flash as a flippable book. These files are perfect for projectors and interactive whiteboards with whole class instruction. Students can even email their books to teachers where they can publish them on class websites or blogs.

With its simple instruction and usage, students can quickly learn how to use Bookr. The stories they make can be read aloud to a class where they can learn how images help build spoken words. Current themes like "A Day at the Zoo" or "Outer Space" that a class may be working on can be emphasized by making one of these story books.

Teachers can find many ways to utilize this tool. It can serve as a visual guide in helping memorization of vocabulary. Books and stories can also be shared. If one teacher makes a book helping children to learn the ABC's, it will be available for other teachers to use in their lessons, too.

In the Bookr archive you can see examples of some of the books people have already made. It is definitely a fun activity that students can use to build story telling or creative writing skills.

Try Bookr here!

Story Time Video Podcasts and Free Teacher Resources by Learning Today

With Apple always being ahead of the game in music, movies and other entertainment, it is interesting to see the effect they now have in the educational field. On Wednesday, Apple fans were hanging off the edge of their seats as they witnessed the revealing of the new tablet computer, the iPad. This Wi-Fi enabled device has 10 hours of battery life on its 9.7-inch screen, weighing in at only 1.5 pounds. It uses the iPhone operating system so education companies that have iPhone apps can now make the same information available on the iPad.

The iPad could work wonders in the classroom, especially for k-5. Since the device is so easy to use, younger students will find it easy to navigate and use. The newest ability to purchase books on the iPad could get rid of some of the problems students face like forgetting books at home or not wanting to carry such heavy books around. "More than that, though, the tablet will completely integrate education and technology, allowing for easy access to e-textbooks and online teaching," stated Jenny Williams at GeekDad. The idea of digital books is a great step forward for digital learners and tech savvy students.

Apple founder, Steve Jobs, explained how the device is useful for reading books, playing interactive games or watching video; all things teachers are doing in classrooms everyday. Popular publishing companies are already signing up to have digital books available in the iBooks store, encouraging students to download books or texts for school.

With the amount of time children spend on technology, it would only benefit their education. Interactive learning games could be displayed with high, vibrant colors. The touch screen would allow for them to move with ease through each lesson. Since children are already using this technology out of the classroom, incorporating it into the classroom would only be beneficial. Hooking up the iPad to projectors and interactive white boards would bring class presentations to life. The ability to record voice notes and podcasts can also contribute to many lessons in the classroom.

Although many sites and videos can be used with the iPad, there are some downfalls, like the inability to multi task. David Andrade brings up a great point in his blog, Educational Technology Guy, about the lack of multi-tasking making it difficult for students to use the iPad. He stated "That's right, no mention of multi-tasking on the iPad. For me, this is not good. It also has a virtual keyboard only. These two things make this less of a productive or educational tool. I can't imagine a student doing research and creating content and projects on a device that doesn't multi-task. Every time they left an app, it would close. It would also be difficult to do much typing on a virtual keyboard that is flush with the screen instead of tilted." In addition, no compatibility with Flash means the many interactive games and lesson plans that so many students and teachers use will now be useless. No camera or phone will also limit the things students and teachers can do with it.

According to Apple, The iPad will be available in two months. Although you can purchase this highly-anticipated device soon, they are always quick to come out with second and third generation products.

There is already talk about iPad competition. Mashable gives readers a look at some of the most competitive products. The HP Slate and the rumored Google Tablet are just a few of the many devices that are going to give the iPad a run for its money.

The creativity and innovativeness of Apple has brought us so many devices to date. The possibilities for what is to come next are endless. As students begin to use these technologies, we will learn new and ground-breaking ways to improve them in the future.

In what ways it enhances education remains to be seen.

Photo from Apple.com

Free Teacher Resources by Learning Today

Teaching children with special needs can be a challenge at times. Michael Leventhal, who uses technology to teach children with special needs, is currently assisting a collaboration to promote the use of video modeling at home and in the classroom.

An article written by Leventhal describes how there has been recent research on video modeling and teaching children with autism. Video modeling, where students learn by watching a model on a video demonstrate a certain skill, has led to successful results because of the fact that kids love to see themselves and others on video.

This method has been tested in areas such as communication, disruptive classroom behavior, stuttering, public speaking anxiety and treating children with autism, just to name a few.

Videos can be a great learning tool. Between computer games, television shows and interactive school lessons, video modeling can only contribute to engaging children in an educational way.

Here is an example of a basic life skill (covering your mouth while you sneeze) demonstrated through the technique of video modeling. Find more videos like this on Technology Integration in Special Education as well as resources to help use technology to teach children with special needs. With just a simple video or digital camera, anyone can make a video and customize it to meet each child’s specific needs. Teachers and parents can get creative with these videos and really make it fun for each child to learn by example. Although there is not heavy research on this area, it is always encouraged to try new teaching methods.

There are currently about 240 groups and people who are blogging, tweeting and researching the use of video modeling to teach autistic children. There have even been studies at Indiana University demonstrating that videos like the one above are effective in helping children with autism and other disorders develop social and daily living skills. If we lead by example, we can hopefully teach this way too.

Subject: Reading

Subskill: Reading Comprehension

Concept: Fact and Opinion

Grade Level: Middle Elementary

Omar loved catching insects and lizards. He put them in jars and kept them as pets in his room. Then one morning, Omar's mother opened his bedroom door and said, "It's time to set all these creatures free. It looks like a zoo in here, and the smell is stinky!"

"Yes, Mom," said Omar sadly. Then he took his jars of insects and lizards out into the backyard and set them free.

"They'll be happier outside anyway, Omar," his mother yelled from the porch. "Now you must promise never to bring anything else into the house to keep as a pet." Omar promised. He knew his mother was right, but he still felt sad.

Later that afternoon, while throwing pebbles into the pond, Omar noticed a tiny green frog. He bent down, opened his hand, and the tiny frog hopped onto his palm. "Oh, I must take you home, little frog," said Omar. "I'll take good care of you. Your name will be Frankie the Frog. Don't worry. My mother won't find you. I'll hide you under my bed."

And so he did. Frankie the Frog lived in a glass box with pebbles and water under Omar's bed. As the weeks passed, he grew big and strong from the insects that Omar fed him.

Then one day Omar's mother went into his room to vacuum the floor. Frankie the Frog became very frightened by the loud noise. He pushed the cardboard top off the glass box and hopped out.

"Aaahh!" screamed Omar's mother as she felt something land on her foot. She looked down and saw a big green frog. "Yikes!" Omar's mother screamed again. "Rrrbit!" said Frankie the Frog as he hopped away out of the bedroom.

Just then Omar came home from school. He knew right away by the look on his mother's face that he was in trouble. Then he saw Frankie on the kitchen table. "Don't worry, Mom. I'll catch him," said Omar. But it was not so easy.

First Frankie hopped onto the sink. Then he hopped onto the chair. Next, he was sitting on top of the washing machine. Each time Omar got close enough to catch him, Frankie would jump away at the last second. Omar chased Frankie around for hours. Finally, Omar snuck up behind Frankie and cupped his hands around him as he sat on the computer keyboard. "Gottcha!" he exclaimed.

As he walked back to the pond where he first found Frankie, Omar could hear loud croaking sounds. He set Frankie free on a lily pad, and Frankie immediately dived into the pond. Omar said, "I know you are happier out here with the other frogs. I'll come by to visit you tomorrow."

Omar had a lot to think about as he walked back towards his house. He realized that he had learned some important lessons that day. Omar did not do what was best for Frankie the Frog by keeping him in a box under his bed. He also learned the importance of being honest and keeping a promise.

Here are some questions to ask after listening to the story:

Reading Curriculum and Reading Games by Learning Today