The Big 10 (Most Influential People in EdTech for 2011)

Tech & Learning, a print and online publisher, presented their list of the most influential people in educational technology for 2011.  If you are a teacher who is passionate about technology in education, you might want to learn more about these 10 people.  Each person has a unique area of expertise and a passion for technology.  Read more about each person by clicking the title link for this article.  Each person and their title are listed below along with a link to a related site:

Doug Levin - State Educational Technology Directors Association executive director
Karen Cator - director of Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education
Gregg Festa - ADP Center for Teacher Preparation and Learning Technologies (This is a ning that may be blocked by school district filters.)
Ann Thompson - editor of the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education
John Kao - innovation activist
David Warlick - Landmark Project consultant
Salman Khan - founder of the Khan Academy
Punya Mishra - co-chair of the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education (SITE)
Jonathan Ive and the Apple Design Team - iPad pilot program at Oklahoma State University
"Google for Educators" Development Team - includes Julia Stiglitz, teacher; provides classroom resources for teachers

Get Something for Nothing (ASCD resource)

ASCD put out a list of free educational resources that teachers might want to explore during summer break.  Use the article link (above) to access the full article or browse a couple of the resources listed here:

Free Resources for Educational Excellence - http://free.ed.gov
K-12 resources listed at this site are categorized both by subject (Arts & Music, Language Arts, Math, etc.)  and by media type (animations, primary documents, photos, and videos).  A search box allows users to enter their own keywords for finding resources.  When accessing a new categorized resource such as this, it might be helpful to begin by choosing a category and drilling down to see how information is organized and the types of results within each category.

For example, starting with Arts and Music, a user can drill down to Visual Arts, then to Photography to find 34 resources.  Four resources are featured and all 34 resources can be displayed.  One of the topics is Mathew Brady Portraits, which is cross referenced in U.S. History Topics and U.S. Time Periods.  Users are directed to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and Mathew Brady's Portraits.

Take some time to browse the collections to find quality resources for your students.

Thinkfinity - http://www.thinkfinity.org/
Here is another high quality site where educators can find free lesson plans and educational resources aligned to state standards, provided by partners with expertise in each content areas.  Content partners include National Geographic, Science NetLinks, EconEdLink, ReadWriteThink, LiteracyNetwork, ArtsEdge, Smithsonian's History Explorer, Illuminations (Math), EdSitement and Wonderopolis.  Resources can also provide parents and students with access to educational content in the At Home & AfterSchool area.  Summer might be the time to begin organizing resources to integrate into key lessons for the upcoming school year.  Take some time to explore Thinkfinity this summer!

These two resources could keep educators busy during the summer collecting valuable resources to share with students.  If you are interested in more information like this, click the article link to read the entire ASCD article and access to additional resources.

Summer Goals

Summer is almost here in our district.  Seniors are attending for their last day today and all students are wiggling in their seats anticipating the last day before their release to summer time activities.  As an educator, many of us look forward to a more relaxed pace of life in the summer.  Yet, as professionals we are always seeking to learn more about our students, the process of learning, technology and other relevant educational topics.

The following resources provide me with a "go to" list for summer.  I hope others can use it for their personal goals as well.

• Teacher Reboot Camp offers What Will You Learn This Summer?  26 Professional Development Resources.  Here teachers can choose from free programs, live events (including webinars and online presentations), and free online classes.  
• If you are a teacher interested in blogging, check out Kick Start Your Blogging at the Teacher Challenge site.   Check out the Free Tools Challenge at this site where you can learn more about Web 2.0 tools including Wordle, Glogster, VoiceThread and more for a total of 26 tools.  Currently these challenges are on the left sidebar of the site.
• Edublogger offers Our trips for getting blogs ready for the end of the school year.  If you are new to blogs, this discussion may provide some information about how blogs are used not only during the school year but over the summer, too.
• Edutopia is full of rich resources including blogs, polls, group discussions, videos, articles and connections to other educators.  Topics cover more than educational technology including project-based learning, social and emotional learning, assessment, classroom management, STEM, and the arts.  Here is a direct link to the Summer Professional Development Blog Series.
• If you are curious about all of the talk of iPad use in the classroom, you might enjoy 58 Ways to use an iPad in the Classroom by Tom Barrett - a Google presentation.  The number '58' is a moving target.  I've seen this presentation move from 53 to 56 to 58 in a matter of months.  This presentation offers two things - an overview of iPad use and a nice demonstration of Google presentation.

I will continue to add a few more resources as they come across my desk.  Enjoy your summer and have fun learning within your chosen topic.