What a way to end my first NECC Experience with a great BYOL on Digital Citizenship. Although the technology leaders have discussed Internet Safety and Technology Literacy this year…Digital Citizenship was not really part of the discussion….it will be and now I can chime in with something intelligent (doesn’t happen very much for me…but I love meetings!) because I was presented with resource after resource from three presenter that knew their stuff.

This session featured more “Backchanneling” with a resource called – http://www.chatzy.com/. I loved it, but did I hear what the presenters were saying…somewhat…no, not really! Although this could be a helpful tool in the classroom…maybe! I was impressed how the presenters would answer questions,  via Chatzy. While the other presenters were presenting. It was also cool to have everyone in the room have the ability to share links of what they are doing with Internet Safety & Digital Citizenship at their schools.

I did walk away with a lot of stuff I plan on using as a teacher and plan to share with others who see the importance of preparing our kids (no matter how young or how much social studies they need to learn) to members of a global online society.

BTW-I also Twittered all the links that were shared and freaked out a few of my twitter followers…I twittered more in that hour then usually twitter in a month.

1-      Diigo (http://www.diigo.com/) – Delicious who?!?! This social bookmarking resource rules. You can create groups and share out your llinks…Please join my EdTEch Group @http://groups.diigo.com/groups/fccps_ed_tech

2-      Woogi World (http://www.woogiworld.com/) – Like Club Penguin (Social Network for kids) without the Disney vibe. Still need e-mail accounts register (so a site to promote with fams).

3-      SecretBuilders (http://www.secretbuilders.com/) – Second Life/Worlds of Warcraft  for kids – Soon will have a education version where accounts can be created.

4-      Dizzywood (http://www.dizzywood.com/) – Virtual world for teens…free to start by then they get with monthly fees to get the cool stuff

5-      Adina’s Deck (http://www.adinasdeck.com/) – Great DVDs for middle and high

6-      Digiteen Project (http://digiteen09-2.flatclassroomproject.org/) – Awesome resource for middle schools working in a global collaboration. Lists the 9 Digital Elements of Citizenship

a.       Access

b.      Communication

c.       Literacy

d.      Security & Safety

e.      Etiquette

f.        Rights & Responsibilities

g.       Law

h.      Health & Wellness

i.         Commerce

7-      DigiParent (http://digiparent.ning.com/) – A great way to promote social networking with parents…making them join and social network.

8-      http://sites.google.com/site/vcisresources/Home/resources-for-students/ru-cybersafe – A great poster for the lab and classroom-I hear that Sparrgrove has a great poster printer!

9-      Teacher Wiki – http://southozsue.wikispaces.com/Digital+Citizenship – great stuff

10-   Teacher (from Illinois) Wiki – http://mrsa.wikispaces.com/Internet%20Safety%20Curriculum%20Resources – VA required Internet Safety to be taught in all schools in 2006…Illinois in 2009

11-   Teacher Wiki – http://ad4dcss.wikispaces.com/ -

12-   Okay…Okay, who is going to weed through this stuff for the good stuff?!

I love sessions that make you think and give you work to do…highlighting these resources with the right teachers at the right time is now the challenge.

Exciting time…are our students ready for this type of news…YEP! So we need to be!

As you might have noticed, I am a bit of a Scott McLeod fanboy…totally awesome that he posted on my earlier blog post.  I find his blog and twitter to be very helpful as a future administrator and current edTech leader. In my opinion one the biggest challenge edTech leaders have is effectively communicating the need for change to District and School Administrators. Resources like Dr. McLeod help that conversation.

Dr. McLeod’s presentation (many key points are taking from the book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton Christensen) details that ‘Personalized Learning’ is K-12 Education’s disruptive innovation (As compared to another example of a disruptive innovation – Cell Phones to Land Line Phones). What are we doing now that allows students of FCCPS to personalize their learning to meet learning goals? Do we give them the freedom to explore/extend assignments? What tools and resources do we make available to them at school and promote for home use? McLeod and Christensen suggests starting with underserved students groups to pilot digital technologies that foster personalized learning (disruptive innovation)…do you know any?

Check out the presentation (although the one @NECC on Monday involved more discussion) for more information.

Wow…Looking forward to my first NECC. I am looking forward to meeting the bloggers I follow on Twitter and their blogs.

Scott McLeod (Twitter – mcleod )@ http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/

Lecture -  Effective Leadership in an Era of Disruptive Innovation

Vicki Davis (Twitter – coolcatteacher) @ http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/

BYOL – Digital Citizenship: Tools, Resources, and Best Practices

John Hendron @ http://www.johnhendron.net/digest/

BYOL – Best Practices for Teacher Blogging

Susan Jinks (Twitter – sejinks)

Poster – Moving Mainstream Technologies into the Classroom

Just to name a few sessions I look forward to.

The high school student that described their learning described how I learn as a tech savvy adult…without restrictions that students might face at school and home. Recently a friend Twittered about his frustrations of learning at school;

writing english research paper for a “newspaper” project that our teacher only wants us to use microsoft publisher for. i tried to tell her that microsoft word is just as powerful and that we could essentially have the same end product like @bochi23 always says, but she wouldn’t listen, this is why i dislike my english teachers so far at gm…they are closed minded!

How many of our students can go beyond what we expect or require? As teachers we should guide learning, not restrict it. My high school friend could have created something that would help change the “newspaper” project from just being the same project that has been assigned year after year to sometime better. When do we let the student lead and allow them to teach us?

What if Jacek Utko was forced to follow restrictions…?

I encourage students to question their restrictions and requirements and push the limits within the structure of their learning environments. I see my role as an edtech leader to also challenge the “traditional” classroom and the aniquated way some of our colleagues teach. The student in the first video learned despite the restrictions they might have encountered at school. Do we really want our student to learn despite us?

Read here for the full Wired article>>>

Gizmoz allows you to animate yourself in several different ways. The example below puts me in one of my favorite music videos.

Trek Yourself allows you to upload a photo and turn yourself into a Star Trek character. I only wish that it had options from the original TV show…cool, old school aliens.

In the beginning of the year I came across this source. I have yet used it with kids, because it has some mature elements and I am trying to find a way to filter them with the kids other than just giving a warning. I created this welcome message from Vincent to share with the staff in the beginning of the year. Very quick, simple and fun.

GoAnimate is true to its motto “anyone can animate”. This web resource allows you to create animation using a variety of provide themes and characters. You can also upload your own photos and art to add to the animation.

GoAnimate.com: Welcome Back

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It’s free and fun!

Any other ideas for other tutorials?Let me know by add a comment for this post.

I explained that they can also create avatars using generators. Some use images of you or allow you select attributes that you might have. Here are the links I shared…have fun and share with your kids.

Please share (post a comment) any sites that you know of that I did not share.