Technology+Integration

toc

=Langwitches= (Interested? Supported? Let's Move on to Taking the Reins)

Official Site:
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About:
Langwitches Blog is owned by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano. She is a Technology Integration Facilitator and 21st Century Learning Specialist. The thoughts and ideas of Silvia and her followers are shared on this blog covering various topics such as tweeting, Word Press, Bloom's Taxonomy, internet usuage, curriculum mapping and much more.

Benefits:
Langwitches provides access to educational professionals that specialize in technology integration. Silvia has a consulting business and provides national and international conference presentations, consultations and teacher training sessions in English, Spanish and German. Some of the topics she presents on are: digital story telling, using Sype to connect with learning partners around the world, IPods, internet safety and digital footprints just to name a few.

Evaluation:
This is an excellent site for exploring technology in education, the newest ideas and sharing with professionals that work in technology integration.

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=Views From the Lamb's Head= (The Continuing Discussion of Cell Phones in Schools, 12-16-09) =Official Site:= [|http://misterlamb.blogspot.com]

About:
Jim Lamb a math teacher and technology coach from Central Pennsylvania owns the site. The purpose of the site is to give Jim and his followers a forum to share their personal views on education, technology, math and other topics that interest them.

Benefits:
Jim and his followers provide thought provoking post on topics such as cell phones in school, Google, classroom management, parent-teacher relationships, math instruction, politics in Pennsylvania as they relate to education and so on. His site also has a Blog Roll that provides links to 20 additional sites of interest that cover various topics in education and technology.

Evaluation:
This site is a good blog for sharing personal insights and thoughts with like-minded educators and professionals.

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Website:
[|http://www.skype.com]

About:
Skype is a full functioning communication program that allows users to interact by voice, by text, or by video with voice. Just recently, Skype was acquired by eBay, the online auction giant.

Benefits:
Unlike a phone, making long distance phone calls through Skype is free, as long as you are calling other Skype users. For a small annual fee, users have the option to purchase an unlimited use phone line for national calling as well as purchase Skype credit to allow them to call non-Skype users internationally. The call quality is suburb, even better than some cell phones and land lines.

Classroom Uses:
Skype can be used to connect with other students across the country or the world. You have the option to use the video or just the voice. It essentially turns your classroom into a long distance learning lab. This gives students the benefit to explore different cultures and interact with students from all different backgrounds. Skype can even be used to communicate with scientists, family members fighting in the war, and so on.

Evaluation:
Skype is relatively easy to use, but could be a bit cumbersome for a computer novice. Another downside is that the software must be downloaded for it to work. On the plus side, the call quality is excellent and so is the video.

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=Always Learning - Teaching Technology Abroad=

Website:
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Description:
Kim Cofino is a technology teacher and has been teaching at schools around the world for the past 9 years. In this blog, she reflects on her teaching and learning while also sharing her knowledge of technology in the classroom with others.

Resources:
Some of the topics that are discussed in this blog are things like: Connecting students and having them collaborate together, teaching the basics of technology in the classroom, different tools to help you incorporate technology into the classroom, and many more!

Evaluation:
This blog is one to read to really get you thinking about technology and the importance of it. This blog discusses a variety of topics which makes it a great place to visit! Kim Cofino is very knowedgeable about technology and does a nice job of teaching others in her blog.



= = =Technology for You and Classroom= = =

**Website:**
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**Description:**
Are you unsure of how to begin integrating technology into your classroom? This blog gives educators a brief overview of many different ways that you can integrate technology into your classroom. The author also discusses the pros and cons of some of those technologies. The author of this blog is an instructor in computer information systems classes in South Dakota.

**Resources:**
This site shares and discusses the different technologies available for the classroom including SMARTBoards, Blogging, Wikis, email programs and Google Reader.

**Evaluation:**
The author of this blog has just started blogging so there are just a few posts to date. The webpage gives a great introduction into different technologies that can be integrated into the classroom though, so it is a good one to go to if you are in the beginning stages of using technology and you are interested in learning more.



= Slashdot: = News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters.

Website:
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Description:
This site is great to stay current on new technology and current, non-censored news.

Resources:
Besides being interesting and informative, there are many resources that include links to the [|fbi], [|newspaper] , [|themedia] , [|science] , [|technology] , [|internet]

Utility:
This could be used daily as a way to get students interested in your class. You could spend two minutes talking about a story or post. This would get the students excited about learning

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=Technology in the Classroom:=

Official Website:
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About:
This is not your standard education blog. It almost seems to be an aggregator put together by The Business Exchange with the topic of Technology in the Classroom. Topics come from many various sites across the net including Wikispaces, Blogger, Wordpress, and many others.

Evaluation:
The site is well organized. It has nice brief descriptions of the current blog it is featuring and also shows which blog platform it is hosted on.

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=The Principal and Interest=

Website:

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Description:
The author of this blog is Dave Sherman who is a principal in Illinois. He discusses topics related to commuting in the classroom, cell phone and their use in the classroom, issues relating to principals and families. His blog is a reflection of his experiences.

Resources:
This blog gives some helpful suggestions and advice relating to using technology in the classroom. This author shares his experiences and learning through this blog. If you are interested in integrating technology into your classroom, more specifically integrating computers, he blogs about lessons he has seen and tried with his students.

Evaluation:
I believe that this is a good blog to look into if you are looking to read more about other people's experiences relating to computer and technology use in the classroom.



=Webblogged_On My Mind_Whats changed?=

Description:
Will Richardson blogg is dedicated to discussions and reflections on the use of Weblogs, wikis, RSS, audiocasts and other Read/Write Web related technologies in the K-12 realm, technologies that are transforming classrooms around the world.

**Resourses:**
Will has all sorts of resources available from his site that include, but are not limited to; Wiki Links, New Internet Literacies , Podcast, Vodcast, Screencast, LiveStream Nation , Weblogs in Schools , , The Future of Blogs , Social Learning and Safe Learning , A Shifting Notion of What it Means to Teach , Creating Live TV.

Utility:
This should be used for casual reading and reflecting. I found the blogg because Will was challenging what has really changed in schools.

**Rating:**


**Tammy's Technology Tips for Teachers** []

This web site was created by Tammy Worcester, who is an Instructional Technology Specialist. It has many ideas for teachers and integration of technology in thier classrooms. You can subscribe to her mailing list and even get daily technology tips. It is very well organized with tabs at the tops of the home page for ease of navigation. There is also an RSS link to sign up for her blog.
 * Description: **

This site could be of great use for teachers who are looking for ideas on integrating technology in their classroom and are having a hard time getting started. It provides some very basic ideas along with some very in-depth ones as well. Resources are also provided by subject, making this site a great resource for teachers of all subjects.
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=The Tech Savvy Educator= []

Description:
This site is maintained by two teachers from Michigan. Both are elementary teachers. The site focuses on ways teachers can implement technology into their classrooms.

Evaluation:
At first glace this site looked promising. However, the site is rarely updated and there are other sites out there geared towards the idea of techn ology integration that are more valuable.