“It’s a simple idea: Inspire Action. Change the world. Have Fun. Because doing good shouldn’t feel like a chore.”
Alldaybuffet.org is a site created to connect people with causes that matter.
Enjoy.
Sylvia
Kern Kelley’s students in Maine have created a web-enabled comic book style help guide for the Google Doc applications they are using. Kern blogs at The Tech Curve, and I’ve written about Kern and his students before, they are very involved in student-centered ways to use technology.
Direct link to: Overview of the Google Online Applications
This is a terrific project for students, and useful for a school! Since you create it yourself, students can add customized details about your server and network, remind readers about the Acceptable Use Policies, and make suggestions for using these tools.
I’ve blogged about student-created video help guides before, and all the reasons that these are terrific projects for students. These comic-book creations are another idea to accomplish the same goals!
The online PDF viewer is called Issuu (pronounce “issue”). It’s a new, free Web 2.0 application. You upload a PDF and it converts it to a very slick looking viewer. There are tools to share these through email or embed them in a blog, Facebook site, or other ways. It’s new, so take care in its use with students. The user agreement does say you have to be 18 to upload. I didn’t see anything “bad” in the PDFs that are shared on the home page, but you never know.
Sylvia
The Library of Congress has a blog. Not only do they have a blog, but actual useful information is posted on it on a regular basis! Amazing!
The latest announcement is that they have added 3,000 images to Flickr, the photo-sharing site. In My Friend Flickr: A Match Made in Photo Heaven, they explain:
“…the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity.”
Here’s the beauty of this - not only will these images be more available, the global community of viewers can give back to the project by tagging and commenting on the images. In a sense, the Library of Congress is allowing the whole world to be guardians of our shared photographic history.
They are starting small, only 3,000 out of their collection of 14 million prints. But these are from some of the most popular collections and are completely without copyright restriction. It’s a start.
Hopefully they will add more content soon, because even though 3,000 sounds like a lot, you always need a lot of content to make people feel like they will find what they are looking for with one visit. It’s hard to run a limited “pilot test” with things like this, because if the problem is not enough content, that’s the one thing you won’t find out.
Sylvia
Google has announced knol (short for a unit of knowledge), a new service in very early testing. It will consist of free articles about any subject, each authored by one person. The tools will allow for community participation in form of ratings, comments, and other social tools.
Like Wikipedia, this is about a world-wide community collaborating to build better access to knowledge.
However, unlike Wikipedia, knol will be about unique authorship. Each author creates and owns a knol page, and can collect ad revenue if he or she wishes. The community aspect comes from how high these pages show up on searches.
Also unlike Wikipedia, knol will be completely open. There will be no editorial committee deciding that your topic is not worthy or your prose too dense. You can write a knol about science, your Aunt Betty, or your explanation of how to change a light bulb. In fact, 70 people can write a knol about how to change a light bulb. The one that “wins” is the one that people rate the best. But even if yours is last on the list, it’s still there.
Google promises that their tool will be fair and free; that you won’t be able to game the system so your knol always comes out on top.
Wikipedia has raised one set of questions for educators working to teach students about quality content and the validity of information sources, and this is going to add a whole other dimension to the discussion.
We live in interesting times, don’t we? What fun!
Sylvia
Working as the customer support lead for the company Generation YES I hear comments and questions from a variety of teachers. Many times I am asked the question ” What is the big deal about blogging?” and ” How do I use a blog with my classroom?”
I understand how it is hard for some teachers to know how to use these newer forms of communication effectivly. Since most of today’s students are acustomed to blogging and use blogs on a daily basis it is important for teachers to learn how to use blogging as a classroom tool. For those of us who where in school before the word “blog” was even in existance here is a short, and entertaining video may bring you up to speed.
This video was produced by the creative crew at CommonCraft, Thanks Lee!
The International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) is an online clearinghouse for collaboration projects for K-12 students, focusing on international issues. There are many ongoing opportunities; most are free. From their latest newsletter:
1. MOROCCAN CLASS SEEKING PENPALS. A teacher in Laayoune (city in southern Morocco) is seeking penpals for students aged 16-20 who are studying English. They are looking forward to having new friends and exchanging views with them on different issues. Interested teachers can contact Mohamed Lehjef at smartenglish2007 [at] hotmail.com.
2. STUDENTS UNLIMITED PROJECT WELCOMES NEW PARTICIPANTS! Join students ages 12-18 around the world in a global 
service project. The Students Unlimited Project is an ongoing project with action plans and guides that are flexible and allow teachers to find their own vision.
3. EYE TO EYE ARTWORK FROM AROUND THE WORLD. Eye to Eye is a global student-produced postcard exchange for ages 5-18. See recent contributions from East Jerusalem in the Gallery and join in with artwork from your class!
The Google Highly Open Participation Contest
Google has announced a new effort to get young people involved in open source development. Student contestants will have the opportunity to learn more about and contribute to all aspects of open source software development, from writing code and documentation to preparing training materials and conducting user experience research.
The contest is open to students age 13 or older who have not yet begun university studies. Students will learn about all aspects of developing software - not just programming - and be eligible to win cash prizes and the all important t-shirt!
Get started here, or read the Official Contest Rules and the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. Get ready to have some fun!
From Google Docs:
Teach Collaborative Revision with Google Docs
Revision is a critical piece of the writing process—and of your classroom curriculum. Now, Google Docs has partnered with Weekly Reader’s Writing for Teens magazine to help you teach it in a meaningful and practical way.
Focusing on group work, peer editing and revision skills, Google For Educators offers a tutorial, several articles, and PDFs on using the collaborative features of Google Docs in the writing process.
A link not to miss is The National Council of Teachers of English powerful statement of Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing. These guidelines can inform teaching practice using technology - blogging, wiki use, or collaborative documents by focusing on the writing process, not the tool.
Here’s something fun to watch: WikipediaVision. This is a visualization of Wikipedia edits happening in real-time. It gives you a real sense of what a global enterprise this is, and how varied the topics can be. In a few minutes, I watched as people edited sports, music and TV trivia, scientific articles, revised the Betsy Ross entry, and much more. (Be aware that while Wikipedia screens content, it does allow explicit language when necessary and some yucky medical terminology. Surprises may pop up.)
It tracks the anonymous edits to the English language version of Wikipedia and flags them on a world map. Why and how? See the FAQs.
The reson this is possible is because of “open APIs”. An API is the way computer programs talk to each other. When companies like Google and Wikipedia release the secrets of how to connect to these programs, people like László Kozma, a grad-student at the Helsinki University of Technology can put together interesting new interfaces like WikipediaVision. Wiki cool.
Sylvia
Earlier this week TechYES advisor Dennis Ostrowski from Saratoga Central Catholic school in Saratoga Springs, NY wrote me explaining an exciting project his seventh graders are incorporating into their second TechYES project. It is called the future cities project and is now in its second decade. The National Engineers Week Future City Competition is a program developed for seventh and eighth grade students to help them discover and foster interests in math, science and engineering.
Students use SimCity 3000 (Yes a game!) to design and plan a future city, then take a section of their city and build a 3D model using as much recycled material in the model’s construction as possible, and write an essay on a topic. One team from the school will be chosen to represent the school at the regional competition. Regional winners go on to the national competition.
I was so delighted to learn that Dennis is utilizing this great opportunity for his students and they will be part of a national competition. Dennis said “the student take possession of their learning and apply many skills.” which I believe is the ultimate goal in any learning situation. This is only one example on how TechYES can be flexible enough to support and be integrated into a larger, more complex, group project.
The point I am trying to make is when this project is complete in January and the students submit their city to be judged, these students will we walking away with more then just a fished city. Through this process students will have developed and applied skills such as; brainstorming, gathering information, organizing information, communication, constructing thoughts into actions, writing, problem solving, presenting, and teaching. All skills we hope every student gains through their education. Another benefit to this example is all of Dennis’s students will be TechYES certified which gives each student credibility towards meeting the No Child Left Act that requires all students to be technology literate by the time they complete the 8th grade. Way to go!
Dennis was able to bring in a local engineer consultant who is advising the students. Dennis said, “He came once and the students ask questions via email. The process is very TechYES friendly.”
I encourage more educators to look towards competitions to integrate into your curriculum. Adults can sometimes get too involved in “ Advising” these competitive national contests and that is why I feel the element of TechYES will certainly keep this competition student driven. Students are earning their TechYES certification which keeps both the students and teachers accountable for maintaining their role.
Check out http://www.futurecity.org/contact_regionalweb.shtm to find out more information on where your state’s regional competition is held. Good luck!