Learnport is a professional development portal with much to offer. Not only are there multiple courses available that offer CEU credits, but there are also reports on research being done in the educational system with results and place for feedback. I read a report on blended teaching and its impact in education. Grand Rapids Public Schools figured chiefly in this report. Since I am involved in the blended geometry program I found it interesting to see what the reports showed. The blended program used in our school has been a frustration to most of the teachers and many students are confused by the way GRPS is implementing it.
I went through the tutorial on how to register but could not find a link that actually allowed me to register. When looking at registering through NetTrekker, they want a school code number and I've already asked several teachers about that and they have never heard of it., so, long story short, I was not able to registrer to Learnport, but would certainly like to pursue doing so. It is a fantastic resourse for continuing education at an affordable price.
I have accounts with both Facebook and Twitter. I will make my first tweet today. I am one of those who think carefully about what I say before I say it on-line, so a "I'm having coffee" is not what I would consider a worthwhile tweet. I appreciated the examples Ron gave on how he tweets and I can now see it as a valuable resource. Facebook is probably more widely used by students than Twitter and I've already seen that it can be an effective tool in education. When students have been friended by their teacher(s) they keep up with them regularly. My son checks several of his teachers' Facebook pages regularly. With Twitter and Facebook you can take something the students love and utilize it for their education. With Twitter you can enter into a "conversation" based on your interests, and students can be directed and learn to use Twitter in an informative way, not just for gossip. Educators must utilize the tools the students love to use, and Facebook and Twitter can both be positive educational additions to their learning experience.
The cons to using these sources would be the temptation for students to ignore what you are trying to do in education and just use the time to tweet or talk to their friends. Facebook is one of the sites students are most frequently caught trying to get around blocks to access. YouTube is right up there as well and is another tool that can be very beneficial to education if you can keep them focused.
I have submitted my application to MACUL space. Funny, when I was filling out the registration, it did not accept my zip code. Strange, for "city" they actually asked for Hometown. Since I couldn't figure out what that would have to do with registration and the zip code I would have to offer would further not correspond with the school I am working at, I changed it to Grand Rapids and had to finally change to zip code to one that is in GR, but not mine. Hmmmmmmm...
I spent a lot of time pouring through TWICE, Two Way Interactive Connections in Education. Since literacy is my passion, I absolutely love this site and all that it offers the educator as well as students.
Their main program, ASK (Author, Specialist, Knowledge) brings video conferences to students with authors or specialists in an area that students have been reading about in a novel. This is an excellent resource to promote reading for understanding, journal writing, and interviewing.
The cost of TWICE is $200 ISD/ESA (all districts served by ISD/ESA are TWICE members)
or $75 per Individual school/District
ASK has a fee of $40 for TWICE members or $80 for non-members.
Ask was developed by Dr. Kettel . If you have ever planned a field trip, this is pretty much the same thing, only you never leave your room. Each author or specialist is available at set times and it is a shared session, with not more than 3 classrooms participating at one time. Because they like to make sure that sessions will be fully booked, they encourage you to get on the waiting list if the time slot you wanted in unavailable. Openings happen frequently and you may still get that first slot you wanted. They wil give educators step by step guidance for successful videoconferencing. There are also opportunities to partner with classrooms in other schools and make it a joint project between schools.
Professional Development classes are also available in Videoconferencing, Best Practices & Research Videos are examples, with emphasis on videoconferencing.
If I had my own classroom right now I would love to introduce my students to videoconferencing and collaboration with students from another school. What an exciting way to bring a new light to literature for your students. TWICE gives you the tools, the how tos, and sets you and your students up for success. This is something that I would purchase myself if my school did not have it. I give it 5*! (yes, and an exclamation point, I loved it that much). My contribution to this interactive site would be in the form of participation and feedback. Because I believe this can be highly effective I would also encourage other educators to look at it and see if it would fit into their curriculum.
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