The Digital Camera Reconsidered for Classroom Use

 
At the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) conference this year I caught the tail end of a workshop about using digital cameras in teaching, given by Brian Gross, Mike Kittel, and Brian Heeney (all from Delcastle Technical High School in Wilmington, DE). They had some terrific ideas for using digital cameras in the [...]

A Community Within a Community

I just returned from the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) meeting in Denver, CO. In advance of the conference, through a biology teaching listserv, a group of five of us decided to join forces at the NABT this year, in order to cover more sessions.
We met on the first evening and mapped out a [...]

Using QR Codes in the Classroom

Raise your hand if you know what that funny looking black and white thing is on the brick wall above.  That is a QR code. What, you may well ask, are QR codes?  QR = Quick Response.  A bit of an unknown here in the U.S., but they are all over Japan (and have been [...]

Screenshots – How to Make Them and How to Use Them

Do you know how to take a picture of whatever is happening on your computer screen (known as a “screenshot”) and then play around with it and fancy it up?  If you do, find another entry on my blog to browse.  If you don’t — read on!
Taking a screenshot (and then futzing with it) can [...]

New Literacies: Inside and Outside School

“We are living in the middle of the largest increase in expressive capability in the history of the human race.”   Clay Shirky

I can’t help but notice the startling contrast between the world inside school these days and the world outside of school.  Outside of schools, students are talking about music they’re producing, online communities [...]

Build a Book Online

Here’s an online utility that you might want to consider using for student projects – – online book creation sites.  Sites like Lulu, XLibris, and Bookemon are free utilities that allow you to create a book, using your own assets (text and images).  These sites are well designed, easy and intuitive to use.

In order to [...]

Social Networking and Contagion

If you haven’t yet read the Sunday NY Times article on social networks (written by Clive Thompson) and their relationship to behavior, do it. Stop what you’re doing now (alright, maybe finish reading this post) and go read it.  You’re going to love it.
To recap briefly…for years, social scientists have been looking for an extensive [...]

Mentoring

I just returned from a short trip to Sacramento to visit my mother (who turned 70 this year – happy birthday, Mom!) and my stepfather, Dale.  They live in a duplex in the South Land Park neighborhood of California’s capitol city.
Not long after moving there, Dale found a small community of like-minded people at the [...]

Chris Lehmann FCC Talk

Here’s a UStream video of a wonderful presentation from Chris Lehmann, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA. He gave a talk at the FCC National Broadband Planning Workshop yesterday (8.20.09) in Washington, DC. Here’s his blog entry about the talk (which includes a draft of his notes). Inspiring. [...]

Second Life Continuing Medical Education Pilot

On June 15, 2009 Boston University School of Medicine hosted its first ever Continuing Medical Education (CME) event in the virtual world of Second Life.  The workshop, Adding Insulin in Type 2 Diabetes, was intended for practicing physicians to improve treatment of their diabetic patients.  I was fortunate enough to work as one of the [...]