Session 2 - Pick topics for Session 3 here

Connie and I had a great time with all of you Tuesday. Seems we're all enjoying learning from one another.

Here's a topic to blog post that will help us plan the last session.
Which one of these hands-on activities would you most prefer to take part in:
1. Online bookmarking and the digital social network (del.icio.us as a tool for organizing online information)
2. Creating tables in Microsoft Word for organizing typed information
3. Making your own class wiki from start to finish
4. Better Powerpoint presentations (how to avoid Powerpointlessness)
5. Creating your own webquest
6. Using Microsoft Publisher to produce a variety of documents - newspapers, posters, fliers, etc. (Note: you may not have Publisher on your PCs. It is not always included in the Office Suite, so check before you choose this one.)
7. Using Freewebs for student webpages.

Remember that our emphasis will be on classroom implementation, not just personal productivity. So when you choose, be mindful of how you envision using the skills with students. Please choose only ONE (we will have time to do more than one, but will only plan on those that get the most attention here) and add how you think it might be helpful in your teaching.

Remember to add your name to your comment. Thanks.

Internet Dangers

What are the greatest dangers of the Internet? How should schools address these dangers?

BlackBerry

An information problem arose during the session Tuesday: Where did the name for the wireless device BlackBerry originate?
Well, after a bit of researching (on the net, of course) I can find one explanation, which shows up on lots of sites, with no firm citation. Here's Wikipedia's version:

"RIM settled on the name "BlackBerry" only after weeks of work by Lexicon Branding Inc., the Sausalito, California-based firm that named Intel Corp.’s Pentium microprocessor and Apple’s PowerBook. One of the naming experts at Lexicon thought the miniature buttons on RIM’s product looked "like the tiny seeds in a strawberry," Lexicon founder David Placek says. "A linguist at the firm thought straw was too slow sounding. Someone else suggested blackberry. RIM went for it." (From a Bloomberg article by Anthony Effinger).[citation needed]"

Plausible. Likely, I'd say. But true? I don't know. Can anyone find out? Does anyone want to? :+) I'll just leave it out there. Brownie points for posting ANYTHING about this topic.

spk
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The snow's coming - good day to set up a blog!

I'm just waiting on the weather and reflecting on our first session. Connie, John and I agreed that today's session was a valuable one for all of us. Your evaluations were encouraging and enlightening. We hope to be able to address suggestions for improvement and to keep moving forward with what worked today. Since we all come to this with different backgrounds and tech skills, it's impossible to meet everyone's expectations, but we will try to provide meaningful learning for all.

I hope you have luck with your action plans, and that you connect with others in your buildings who can help you in your efforts. Here's a pretty good place to "blog" how that's going. If you have a minute, let us all know with a comment here.

See you all in March - if we survive "the big one" tomorrow.

spk
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Second topic

Please react to this statement: "If all our children learn to do is read, they will not be literate." David Warlick

First topic

This blog serves as a place to interact around various prompts related to information and communication technology (ICT). To add your thoughts, click the Comments link below this post (entry) and type. Be sure to add your name at the end of your comments.

Please briefly describe your personal connections with technology and respond to the article about Jon Stewart and Brittany Schmidt.

Welcome!

Welcome to blogging for the Cross-School Seminar. This blog is a place for all of us to post some thoughts and reactions while we learn about one of the most important new sources of information available online. While blogs are most often public journals with a single author, ours will demonstrate how a blog might be used with a group of learners to share information.

For a great site on blogging for the classroom visit Educational Blogging 101 - a wiki (we'll get to that, too) about blogging in school. Lots of very good links there. Note especially The Daily D on the link to Class blogs.

To keep this one organized for the entire class, I'll be posting a prompt before each session to which you will reply or "comment." It will be interesting to see how each of our voices comes out here even though we will be able to talk to one another in our sessions.