A thought provoking video from a high school student.  With the recent introduction of the Apple iPad (which has an available keyboard) this too could be used in such an initiative. More information can be found at https://www.ischoolinitiative.com

A great new tech tool that can be used in the classroom...check it out!

Lesson ideas:

• record speaking projects in various languages
• describe how something works as a form of testing a student's knowledge of a subject
• record findings as a part of a science or nature walk
• post classroom activities to your blog
• record brief lesson descriptions or extra help for student use

Here are the spelling bee words to study for the class spelling bees to be held on Thursday and Friday, January 21 and 22.  Three winners will be invited to participate in the Middle School Spelling Bee to be held on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 1:45 PM.  Two winners will then go on to the Palm Beach County Spelling Bee held at St. Andrews.

5th grade students using Skype (Video conferencing tool) to reconnect with a former classmate now living in Israel. What a great learning experience for them!

We have recieved a number of calls from parents requesting how they can watch the Presidential address to America's schoolchildren.  Well, here it is!

Additional links & information can be found at the Whitehouse.gov website.  Full text of the speech can be found here.

One of the most frequent questions I receive as a Network Administrator is related to passwords.  The questions range from "why do I have to change my password?" to "can I use my phone number or child's name as my password?".  Here is a great article from WPTV that I found at http://www.wptv.com/content/specialreports/story/How-to-pick-the-right-password/J9iZdLZ2CEadHMQnsyl6eg.cspx

You don't get very far these days without a password.  Computer logins, e-mail, bank accounts, travel websites, online retailers, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Digg all require a password to keep your business private. But how much thought do you give to that magic word?

The idea is to keep other people from having access to your stuff.  The problem is, many of us are a little lazy about picking a password that's really secure.

"We take the easy way out. We either keep one password for all of our accounts, or we come up with passwords that are very common."

Sergeant David Fleet of the Hillsborough Sheriff's Cyber-Crime section says one in seven of us will be the victim of identity theft. And most of us are way too hasty in choosing a password that will really protect our privacy.  In fact, he encounters lots of cases where an identify theft victim had their passwords written on a sticky note pasted right on the computer.

"If you want to hide a key, you don't hide it under your front door mat. So why would you put your password right next to your computer," Fleet asks.

The worst passwords?

Using an obvious password is almost as bad.

Topping a widely accepted list of the ten worst passwords, is the word "password". Easy to remember, but easy to guess.

Consecutive numbers, letters and adjacent characters on the keyboard also made the same list, along with "monkey", "myspace1", and oddly, "blink182".

It's also a bad idea to use your name, birthdate or kid's names. Bad guys can look that up.

The editors at PC Magazine say if you use a password like "password", you might as well just hand your wallet over to the first person you pass in the street.  Sgt. Fleet says your password shouldn't even be a word.

"If you use any kind of word in a dictionary, there are programs out there that look for words. They put words in the password, very automated, puts them in and keeps trying  different variations until they get the right one. So obviously using words or proper names is an absolute no-no for security," Fleet warns.

The best passwords!

So how do you create a fool proof password? Experts suggest you use all of the following in your password:

• Letters and numbers

• Combine upper and lower case

• At least 1 symbol

 

Here's a good trick

To make it easier to remember, use the first letters of a simple sentence like "my favorite holiday? The 4th of july", which gives you "mfh?t4oj".  It's an eight character password with everything a good password needs to keep your information and your identity safe.

If you'd like to test the strength of your password, Microsoft has a password checker on their website.  Click here to see if your password passes their test.

Remember that your first line of defense in this highly electronic world is your password.  Let me know if you have questions about this or other security issues.

 

http://www.techlearning.com/article/17340
-- By Laura Walker. Read more on her blog and follow Mrs. Walker on Twitter

Why should educators get involved with Twitter? Here are nine reasons.

1. Together we’re better
Twitter can be like a virtual staffroom where teachers can access in seconds a stream of links, ideas, opinions, and resources from a hand-picked selection of global professionals.

2. Global or local: you choose
With Twitter, educators can actively compare what’s happening in their with others on different continents. GPS-enabled devices and advanced web search facility allow searches that tell you what people are tweeting within a certain distance of a location, so if the other side of the world isn’t your bag, you can stick with your own patch.

3. Self-awareness and reflective practice
Excellent teachers reflect on what they are doing in their schools and look at what is going well in order to maintain and develop it, and what needs improvement in order to make it better. Teachers on Twitter share these reflections and both support and challenge each other. 

Read reasons 4-9 here...

New report describes the emerging technologies that will shape K-12 education in the near future By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor eSchool News
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=57910

This is a great article that should trigger some thoughts about what is next in educational technology.

Collaborative environments, cloud computing, and "smart" objects are among the technologies that a group of experts believes will have a profound impact on K-12 education within the next five years or sooner.

The group, called the New Media Consortium (NMC), has come out with an annual report on emerging technologies in higher education for the last several years. This year, for the first time, NMC has issued a K-12 version of its "Horizon Report" as well.

The article goes on to say;

"This is the first report we have developed with a focus on emerging technologies for elementary and secondary schools, and we hope that K-12 educators will use it as a resource for robust dialog and technology planning," said Larry Johnson, NMC's chief executive. "The technologies we identified have the power to transform teaching and learning both in the short and long term."

The six technologies detailed in the report are...

- One year or less: collaborative environments and online communication tools

- Two to three years: mobile devices and cloud computing

- Four to five years: smart objects and the personal web

To continue reading please visit the eSchool News website for the full article.

read more...

from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24308/
by Dave Nagel

There's a significant disconnect between students and educators when it comes to perceptions of technology in K-12 education, according to Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow. Evans discussed results of the latest Speak Up Survey Thursday afternoon at the FETC Virtual Conference & Expo. Among the findings: There's a trend toward students using technology to take hold of their own educational destinies and act as "free agent learners."

The 'Digital Disconnects'
What this year's survey found was that "there continues to be a digital disconnect, shall we say, between the way students are learning and living outside of school and the way they're interacting with technology inside of school," said Evans. "In fact, students tell us that they have to power down to go to school, and then, at the end of the school day, they power back up again--a real disconnect in the way students are viewing technology from the adults in their educational lives."

This finding was consistent with findings from previous Speak Up survey reports in recent years.

What are these disconnects?

...continue reading

An article posted in THE Journal April 2009;

Study Ties Student Achievement to Technology Integration

by Dave Nagel

Technology adoption is on the rise in America's K-12 schools, and it's having a positive impact on learning outcomes. That's one of the findings from a new national trends report released Thursday by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA).

Continue reading...