If you don’t belong to ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development), you might have missed this article, Learning with Blogs and Wikis, in the February 2009 issue. Bill Ferriter makes a convincing case for educators to use technology to further professional development. Definately worth a few minutes to read. There are tips to get started with reading blogs, links to educational blogs that he follows, links to blog sites if you want to get [...]

I participated in a video conference this morning using Skype (Version 4.1.0.166 for PCs) and learned a little trick that I thought I should pass on. If you are having a conversation with someone, and want to add more text or edit your previously sent message, press the Shift key and the up arrow key at the same time. This two-key combination brings your last message back into the composition area so you can rework [...]

While teaching a graduate class on integrating technology into classroom instruction last week, one of the participants asked me how they could take a screen shot of a web site for a project. I know that both Mac OS and Windows XP have screen shot commands, but my answer was FireShot. FireShot is a Firefox extension that creates screen shots of web pages. You can choose if you want the whole page or just part [...]

I spoke to a colleague this morning about setting up a WordPress blog. During the conversation, he mentioned the he is currently using Twitter to keep parents/guardians updated about what is happening in his classroom. That prompted me to look for a WordPress plugin that would send a tweet each time there was a new blog post, thus saving the teacher having to create two entries – one for his blog and one for Twitter. [...]

PBS Teachers® and Classroom 2.0, with support from Elluminate,are partnering on a series of free monthly webinars designed to help preK-12 educators learn new ways to integrate online instructional resources in the classroom and engage students in curriculum lessons. Some past events are archived and available for download. Check it out! View all PBS events.

I just downloaded Edutopia’s Ten Top Tips for Teaching with New Media, and thought you might find this resource useful, too. Edutopia provides educators with the information and inspiration needed to create schools for the 21st century, and this resource provides succinct tips on how you can use the latest technologies to prepare your students for success — from tips that will “Break the Digital Ice” to how to start “Working Better, Together.” Download your [...]