Upcoming Presentations

Here is an update on my upcoming speaking engagements:

I've been accepted to speak at the New Jersey Association of School Librarians Annual Fall Conference, October 29 - 31, 2006 in Long Branch, NJ. The talk is called: Essential Internet Savvy: Tips & Tricks; it is Monday,10-30-06 from 1:30 pm- 2:45 pm.

I've been invited to speak to the Montclair chapter of Delta Pi Epsilon. More details to follow.

I've submitted to the New Jersey Association for Educational Technology Annual Fall Conference 2006: Are We There Yet? Digital Immigrants or Digital Natives? on Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at Georgian Court University, Lakewood NJ.

I'll be presenting a talk to the Greater Wayne chapter of Mothers & More on August 15th at 7:30pm. The talk is called: 10 tips on how to pick a good school.

I've also been invited to speak on a panel at FETC . No details yet.

Finally, I'm working on submitting a proposal to NECC 2007 in Atlanta, June 24-27, 2007.

I'll post upcoming publications as I get more information.

Blogs, MySpace and the Classroom

I received a post from a listserv I subscribe to: TLT-SWG moderated by Steven Gilbert. Links to the full text of the articles are available on their website.

I've excerpted pieces from the post:

REAL QUESTIONS: Can we find ways of using these new “Social Networking” or “Web 2.0” tools responsibly?

To improve teaching and learning?

DO YOU KNOW OF CONSTRUCTIVE EXAMPLES OF EDUCATIONAL USES OF MYSPACE OR FACEBOOK?

1. “Most students today arrive at college assuming that a Google search is the first choice for doing research, that MySpace is the model for creating online content and building peer communities, and — perhaps most important — that multitasking with various electronic devices, often from remote locations, is the traditional way to do class work.” - “Beyond Google: What Next for Publishing?” Kate Wittenberg of EPIC, the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia U.,< kw49@columbia.edu

2. [From a middle school teacher] “Unlike my generation, which tends to use MySpace to keep in touch with friends across the world, the generation of students I teach uses MySpace as a prolonged, entirely unsupervised locker break. This adolescent MySpace is filled with profanity, dangerously personal information, sexually explicit pictures, drug references and, in some cases, even pornographic videos. Usually these posts are riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. But the message is clear: Anything goes. During this locker break, there are no hall monitors, no teachers watching for trouble and, clearly, few parents who are anywhere nearby.” - “MySpace Gone Wrong,” Cheryl MacPherson, of Gunston Middle School, < macpherson@apsva.us >

3. “…MySpace.com is planning new restrictions on how adults may contact its younger users in response to growing concerns about the safety of teenagers who frequent the popular online social networking site. …MySpace has no mechanism for verifying that users submit their true age when registering. That means adults can sign up as teens and request to join a 14-year-old's list of friends, which would enable the full profiles. …Driven largely by word of mouth, MySpace has grown astronomically since its launch in January 2004 and is now second in the United States among all Web sites by total page views, … The site currently has some 87 million users, about a quarter registered as minors, according to the company.” - “ MySpace Plans New Restrictions for Youths,” Anick Jesdanun,

Tools for Teachers Showcased at NECC

NECC is one of the best conferences for teachers interested in educational technology. If nothing else, the exhibit hall is jam-packed with all kinds of resources, from furniture to books to ipods to software to t-shirts!

Next year's NECC is in Atlanta, GA. The call for proposals to present opens September 6. Why not get your proposal ready now?

Here is a review of some of the more exciting resources for teachers in the enhibit hall this year: NECC Highlights: Top Web Resources for Teachers By Peggy Benton

Maine extends laptop program with Apple

July 5, 2006— Maine has signed off on a $41 million contract with Apple Computer Inc. to provide new laptop computers to more than 30,000 seventh- and eighth-graders and their teachers, extending the school laptop program for another four years.
Maine was the first state to equip students statewide with laptops, and officials say the initiative remains the biggest of its type in the nation.

To read the rest of this article, go to e School News Online: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6419

Ogling Google

This is Google's new server facility in The Dalles, Oregon. The photo was published a few weeks ago in the New York Times along with an article by John Markoff and Saul Hansell (you can search for the article but need to register for free on the New York Times site to view it). The facility, which is under construction, is only one of several Google data centers, but may "soon be one of the world's most powerful supercomputers".

Job Posting

I received this information from Art Fanroth. If interested, please contact him directly at afanroth@classlink2000.com or (201) 271-1010 ext. 110
(Let him know I sent you!):

ClassLink Overview

A Universal Learning Environment is where technology and education come together to deliver the benefits of communication, collaboration, reporting and assessment within a single interface.
ClassLink is the only educational technology management solutions provider to facilitate the creation of Universal Learning Environments in the K-12 marketplace.

With ClassLink, schools and school districts can achieve their technology potential, inside and outside of the classroom. We help schools embrace a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, technology platform that fosters an atmosphere of real-time collaboration among students, teachers, parents, IT management and administrators.

Designed to accelerate learning, ClassLink saves schools money by leveraging their existing technology, as well as time, by drastically reducing the need for maintenance and monitoring of classroom technology.

Position: Director of Education

Responsibilities:

Director of Education will be responsible for the overall direction of education department including curriculum design and training as well as the research and identification of current trends in educational technology and methodologies. Responsibilities will include professional development, product management, curriculum design, publication within educational journals, presentations at conferences and client presentations and ongoing research projects.

The ideal candidate will have classroom experience, management experience and an in-depth knowledge of educational technology and integration. Job includes travel.

Must be assertive, high energy, independent, results oriented and possess a strong sense of urgency. The ideal person is intelligent, motivated, and has superior interpersonal and communications skills. Must be able to lead, communicate, direct, coach and supervise.

Specific tasks and responsibility will include but not limited to the following:

1. Professional Development and Product Training
• Develop and deliver high-quality educational technology curriculum to K-12 students and teachers.
• Responsible for the research, design, development, and management of professional development program (web based, virtual classroom and instructor-led, etc. training methods).
• Provide direction regarding the coordination of all training details including hiring/coaching instructors, scheduling and course materials

2. Product Management
• Lead product presentations at related conferences, marketing events and speaking engagements
• Collaborate with VP of Product Development in product design and development concepts
• Conduct client Beta Testing and all application testing
• Analyze product feedback for educational purposes

3. Research and Publications
• Oversee company research initiatives
• Continuously publish in educational journals and periodicals
• Provide on-going educational research and analysis

4. Special Projects
• Respond to RFP’s and grant writing as needed
• Manage ClassLink Scholarship Program annually
• Conduct internal workshops as needed
• Participate in sales process

Qualifications and Specific Skills Needed:

• Masters degree preferably in education
• 5+ years in-classroom teaching, curriculum development, experience running professional development groups, management of others
• Ability to comfortably speak to large groups
• Willingness to travel
• Exceptional communication skills.

Technical Qualifications:
• High degree of computer literacy
• MS Office Suite (esp. FrontPage, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• HTML, Dreamweaver
• Adobe Suite
• Camtasia

teachade (beta) launches

I've joined a new site for teachers called: teachade. I've set up a group for all of my NJCU students called "Z's Learners," (based on the name my Distance Learning students called themselves in a recent Tapped In session).

I've also set up two groups for English and Language Arts teachers (one for secondary teachers and one for elementary teachers). I will serve as a mentor for these groups. I encourage your participation: post sites, upload resources, share learning moments, invite friends, etc.

I encourage you to join these groups as well as others that are there and soon to come! You can be on the cutting edge! The beta site just launched yesterday (to be unveiled at the NECC conference on Wednesday in San Diego) and will prove to be a fertile, exciting environment for you to share knowledge and resources. It is, in essence, the "virtual place" I've often said I wish existed for teachers.

Here is the first "Learning Moment:"

Learning moment of the day
Welcome to teachade. Our mission here is to provide you with a web site that supports your professional work, and provides an engaging place to discuss teaching.

We believe that the opportunity created by new web technologies offers tremendous benefits. Uploading weblinks and sharing content among a community of like minded individuals will save time. Engaging in discussions about useful topics can support personal growth, improve the practice and benefit students. It can also be fun. Ultimately, the virtual conversation among you will change education for the better.

Use of the site and membership to teachers is free. We maintain the site through the support of commercial members who value the opportunity to participate. By the way, the "ade" in teachade stands for something: authoring, dissemination environment. In short, it is a place where you can create and share.