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Blog research

In coming up with good information to have on this website I not only have to delve into my own knowledge base, but I also find myself cruising the web to see what others are doing. One such mentor I turn to runs The Thinking Stickover at ISB, here in Thailand.

Jeff Utecht has come across my path a few times. First, at an Earcos conference in Malaysia, then at another ISTEC meeting I hosted at Concordian International School.

Most recently I have heard him talk at the TEDxKrungthep Event that I helped coordinate from a web presence point of view. I ended up making the website and helped to make everything “live” through video streaming and constant Facebook and Twitter [no, I’m not linking these] updates. Lots of fun and work.

But back to my point of research and I am constantly looking for good sites, neat tricks, great time saving devices, and excellent linking and syncing software and applications. If you have any ideas, please add comments.

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Posted by Dr. Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org on February 7, 2011 in Technology

Tags: Blogging, Education, Online, Online Resources, Research

Online Learning Resources

05 Feb

I was asked a question today from a colleague about what online learning resources there were for only a dollar. The answer is better than you might think. I typed in Google, “Free Online Courses” and came up with a whole bunch of viable options. At the top of the list was http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourseswhich has options for Archaeology, Architecture, Art History, Classics and Classical World, Cultural Studies, Economics, Foreign Languages, Geography, History, Journalism, Law, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, Sociology, Urban Studies. and many, many sciences.

While I was leaving through the website, there was one in the back of my mind which I couldn’t remember, but which taught me a lot about mathematics. The next email, believe it or not, was a request to have a program installed which worked alongside the website I was trying to remember. That website of awesomeness was http://www.khanacademy.org/ Check it out for yourself and learn something well about something important.

Using Google Docs for students with colored criterion

18 Jan

I have found a fantastic way to use Google Docs with students. Google Docs allows us to share documents like Word through the cloud. We can edit at the same time allowing the sharing of information back & forth.

What this enables me to do is create color coded criterion.

The students take this criterion and color code their answers to show they have covered all parts. It allows very quick examination from a student and a teacher to see where something may have been missed.

Feedback from the students also has demonstrated they like this way of doing things. I have encouraged them to take this idea beyond Google Docs to better examine chunky sets of instructions.

New job title: Tech Integration Specialist

15 Jan

As many of my Concordian fellows know, I have come to a juncture in my road of education. I will be leaving Thailand in order to move on to Turkey. Doing so, I will also change job positions from a technology teacher for grades 6-10 in the MYP to a technology integration specialist for PYP.I look forward to the challenges it will bring working more closely with colleagues and getting back to the PYP.

One of my first jobs will be to gain to knowledge of many of the teachers I am working with right now. I will send out a survey to see what kinds of things technologies they are implementing in their classrooms now.

I will also talk with people from my ISTEC group here in Thailand, possibly leading me to talking with other integration specialists from NIST and other schools.

A subsequent approach to formative learning in my new school will be to do the same with my new colleagues. I am planning that it will prove positive in order to help guide my own working experience for the integration.