2009+Conference+Sessions

** A summary of sessions we attended: **
> login: tl09 > password: tl09 > click on **Creative Uses and Examples** > There are tons of different resources on this website, although they are difficult to find. This is actually a syllabus for an online class. Some of the things I have found so far
 * How a Virtual Learning Environment Can - An Should - Help Learners** -- Jeff Borden, Pearson eCollege
 * go to [|http://eteaching.ecollege.com]
 * **Week 9 Resources List -** tons of different websites organized by disciplines, **Mind Mapping, etc.**
 * **Week 13** to learn about Social Networking Sites including blogs, twitter, YouTube, Wordle, Wikis, etc.
 * **Web Tools Examples** to learn about different widgets you can use in your blogs
 * **Week 7** online Microscope, Maps of History
 * **Week 8** information on Podcasting

Other things I learned from this session:
 * When googling for content specific things use the following format: (content area) + simulation, (content area) + applet or (content area) + game, etc.

Visualizing Text -
 * 21st Century Learning with the 3 V's: Visual, virtual and Verbal** -- Aida Awad, Maine Township High School
 * [|www.wordle.net] [[image:wordle_example.jpg]]
 * [|www.tagcrowd.com]
 * [|www.googlelittrips.org] - take text from a book and merge it with google earth
 * [] - already made google lit trips

Visualizing Data-
 * [] - takes numbers and other data and 'Wordles' it
 * [|www.gigapan.com] - takes a series of pictures and makes it into a panorama picture, make your own or search for others

Geospatial Visualization Tools
 * [] - google earth tours
 * [|www.flowingdata.com]
 * [] - a periodic table of different ways to use visualizations


 * Using Student Responders to Guide Instructional Decisions Through Ongoing Formative Assessment and Higher Level Thinking Skills** - Lisa Carlson & Mike Hoffman, Minnetonka Schools

This session discussed ways to use Senteos or other 'clickers' in the classroom. They really stressed that formative assessment should be an intregral part of the classroom. Some ideas I learned: > || The || big || dog || ate || slowly. || Use Senteo in multiple choice mode to find the verb.
 * Assign homework to students as normal. The next day have 5-8 of the homework questions set up in Smart Notebook/Senteo. Student enter their answers into the Senteo. They can do this before class has even started. Then the teacher can 'total' the responses and determine if the students are ready to move on or if reteaching is needed.
 * If you need to reteach a concept use the students that got the answer correct, to help with the reteaching.
 * Have students create videos using flip cameras. Embed questions about the videos. For example have students create a video about their science experiment. They will be more invested in the activity, since they created the video.
 * || A || B || C || D || E ||
 * After asking student multiple choice question on Senteo, ask them to use the Senteo to rate how confident they are in their answer 1-completely confident to 5-complete guess. Teacher will have a better idea on if it was a luck guess.
 * Smart Notebook/Senteo creates chart and graphs of the student's responses. Use those graphs/charts as a part of your lesson to find mean, medium, and mode, etc.
 * Use Senteos to make predictions, generate class discussion/debate, surveys, etc.

Some general comments about writing test questions:
 * Readability - aim for you lowest readers, you want to test them on their knowledge of the content not their ability to read the question.
 * Avoid Context Clues - a/an, present vs. past tense, etc.
 * Use **always** and **never** with caution
 * Highlight critical words (i.e. most, least, except, not)
 * Write questions in your own words