Smart Scenes on Storyboard ThatStoryboard That (www.storyboardthat.com) has an awesome new feature for over 70 scenes in the Storyboard Creator. "Smart Scenes" are customizable background scenes with artistic effects, like time of day and weather. Now you can take the same scene and change it in many ways. Each scene has different options; sometimes you can remove/add furniture or objects, open/close doors, turn lights on and off. Some scenes have unique changes, like drawing stage curtains or turning bubbles on in the hot tub!   To see what the options are for a particular scene, click on the blue "Edit Scene" button on the image editing palette.A pop-up will show the options as well as a preview of the edited scene. In this example, you can change time of day, weather, street lights, and windows.  If you choose a "See-Through" option, you can layer other scenes and characters behind the main scene to appear inside the building. With these new capabilities, you have even more creative freedom than before! If you haven’t already, go check it out and see what you can do!Click here to create a storyboard now!

Choosito is a new search engine for education that I found out about from Technology & Learning.  This is a great way to search the web in a safe way as well as library resources.  Best of all, all search results display a reading level which makes it similar to Nettrekker and ideal for education.I highly recommend checking out Choosito by clicking here!!!Below is a brief demo...For my Pinterest board on Search Engines click here.

Quizalize is a fantastic learning tool for educators to create game based learning quizzes.  What separates Quizalize apart from similar sites is the detailed reports generated as well as how easy it is to differentiate instruction and see how each student or class is doing on any given topic.Also, Quizalize features a new dashboard integrating Zzish, which allows teachers to track student progress in real-time, while generating detailed reports and seeing exactly which questions were answered correct and which ones were answered wrong w/ their "given" response.  This innovative dashboard makes it easy for educators to integrate Quizalize into their classroom and can be used for any curriculum or subject.Finally, Quizalize allows for teachers to create "team" games where a classroom can be divided in half and students can answer questions anonymously while not having to worry about being embarrassed getting wrong answer.  This is a great way to engage students and introduce game based learning as well.I highly recommend checking out Quizalize by clicking here!!!*Quizalize is an advertiser of Technology Tidbits.

You'd love to come visit now, wouldn't you? It’s a Monday, it was a relatively uneventful weekend for me, but I did manage to create a little bit of ds106 art. The current incarnation of ds106 recently received a large influx of students from Japan last week, and they’ve been blogging, creating art, and accomplishing new assignments at an amazing rate, so I decided to take Michael Branson Smith’s advice to complete one last Visual/Design assignment for this portion of the course. Behold, the "minimalist travel movie poster" inspired by this assignment for ds106. Alright, in full fairness, it was actually inspired by some artwork from artist Justin Van Genderen, a graphic artist that seems quite fascinated, and masterful, with manipulating iconic images and scenes from pop culture, specifically science fiction cinema. I wanted to do something similar, and pay homage to cult-favorite "The Princess Bride", turning the treacherous fire swamp into a seemingly attractive tourist destination. I found the assignment incredibly challenging, as I forced myself to try to make this as minimalist as possible, with the end result still lacking in my opinion. I feel as though I didn’t strip down the image enough, and while I cheated and remixed the icon for the fire, and took the little bit of spanish moss from another image, the overall effect just isn’t what I was looking for. At any rate, the point to this post (if there is one) is that teachers need to PLAY more, and USE less. When we simply "use" tools that have been handed to us either physically or digitally, it can often become quite easy to become critical of their design, without any attachment to the actual creation process behind them. Whether it’s a new digital "whizz bang" interactive on the web, or a graphic organizer that’s been designed to help writers design and formulate better arguments for a persuasive essay, too often teachers can become discouraged with the limited abilities of a learning tool, and write it off as junk, without considering the hours, the research, the creativity, and the expertise needed to put together a working toolkit for instruction. It’s actually one of the reasons I was attracted to ds106 in the first place…..it’s forcing me to explore new tools, and surrounds me with a supportive community, that encourages me to create more. Case in point, this assignment alone went through 3 major revisions during the creation process, and several of the ds106 people pitched in to comment, inspire, and push me forward. Thanks Jim Groom, Michael Branson Smith, and Dr. Garcia! Oh, and the "magic" of the fire swamp? That it took the courage, fortitude, and teamwork for the protagonists to survive it, much the same way that educators come together to support one another’s creations and endeavors in the classroom.

It’s Friday, I’m burned out, and this video single handily restored my energy! It’s brilliant in its honesty, sincerity, and technique. I have a feeling that if you happen to be a student in Tricia Fuglestad’s classroom, you’re blessed each and every time you find yourself in a creative mood with a teacher that not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. Just take a look at her video for proper "glue safety" in the art room, something that’s near and dear to my wife’s heart as an elementary art teacher. If you want to see a teacher practicing great 21st century skills by opening up her classroom to the world, go check out her wiki, FugleFlicks, and check out some of the creativity that she brings into her teaching.

In my never ending quest to find an engaging way to bring the real world into the classroom, I captured some video of my children and I playing with one of those massive rolling granite sphere water fountains. I’ve never really been intriqued by the tiny little desktop versions of these fountains, where a small amount of water is able to "float" a tiny granite sphere the size of a baseball, and then allow it to rotate freely. The stones usually fit in your hand, and the entire effect seems clunky and obvious. However, when you come across a stone sphere that’s more than half your height, and most likely weighs several hundred pounds, you realize there’s no possible way any one person could cause it to move or rotate with one hand. Yet all it takes is a little bit of gurgling water to set it in motion, and that’s when I become curious. While most of the videos people have added to the video story channel on Vimeo involve math, I feel like there’s a compelling way to use inquiry to help guide and engage science exploration as well. As a science minor, and a former middle school science teacher, I always love to make science concepts hands-on, relevant, and interactive. This giant "floating" sphere fits all of those criteria as you can find many of them in large urban malls or gardens, where (as you can see in the video) people are welcome to touch and play with it. Although I added a few questions to the end of the video, I’m curious to know how someone else might use a video like this to spur discussion on the topic of water, friction, pressure, or forces in a science classroom. Check out more video story problems for math and science on the Video Story Problem Channel on Vimeo! You’re also welcome to start producing your own (or get your students producing some), and come join us!

Whether it’s in schools, large enterprises, or small businesses, far too often professional development or training with technology is relegated to a one-time "sit and get" workshop in which the participants are expected to absorb, memorize, and master often complicated software, routines, and workflows which may be completely alien to them (to put it mildly). Far too often, teachers are subjected to these "one off" workshops by the very people that are employed to help them make sense of the mountain of technological tools that are available today. As the K-12 EdTech Coordinator for my district, I too have committed this heinous crime, often putting technology ahead of the interests and needs of those sitting in my session. However, having come from 7 successful years of teaching technology (alright, so let’s consider them moderately successful), I’ve been able to reflect on training that I’ve conducted for teachers in my district, as well as scrutinize the training conducted by specialists we’ve brought in from outside contractors. Below are a few of my musings that I’ve come to realize have some merit in creating effective technology PD. The Buddy System The buddy system….faithful tool of summer camp counselors, boy scouts, and the United States military, is quite often the most overlooked aspect of technology PD. Whenever I conduct a training session, or put together a workshop, I’ve found that it’s important to think about "afterward" before you even start. When the workshop is over, and the people in your session are out in "the real world" again, dealing with new technology, or new instructional strategies using tech, it doesn’t matter how well they paid attention or how meticulous their notes are, they’re going to need a buddy! That could be me, but it could also be a teaching partner or co-worker, or even a small group or teaching team. If there’s no obvious mentoring happening within the group, or no clear relationships in which people can depend on one another for coaching, then I’ll try to clear my calendar and make myself available for the next few days or weeks at regular times so I can "check in", offer "just in time" help, and better explain confusion about the disparity of the isolated workshop environment and the real world application. For example, yesterday I led a day long "Mac OSX Basics" session for a number of people in our district’s central administrative office to prepare them to switch over from Windows to Mac this year. I encouraged them to switch their desktop iMacs from their Windows bootcamp to the Mac side this morning in order to start using what they learned in the workshop right away. I made sure that my calendar for today was completely clear, and the level of anxiety in the central office has decreased dramatically because I was here to help coach them through some of the little quirks they’ll have to get used to in the new work environment, reassure them when they hesitate to make a click, and generally encourage them; basically everything that I would have done in the classroom with my students to help them feel confident. Agendas Are for the Birds I’ll probably take the most heat for this tenet, but I’ve found that agendas can often cause and produce just as much anxiety (if not more), than the anxiety workshop attendees bring to the table themselves when learning something new that they’ll be expected to perform with some success the very next day. I’m not advocating that we eliminate agendas all together, but rather toss out the overly complicated, highly detailed, tightly structured agendas. Instead, provide workshop attendees with a simple list of the learning goals for the day. They don’t need to see all of my notes about how I’m going to help them understand iMovie or Gmail, they just need to know what they should be able to accomplish at the end of the workshop. In fact, if my agenda is purposely sparse, it allows the workshop to be much more flexible, providing time for attendee questions to be answered in more depth, and often when more appropriate than when "I think" they should pop up. Too often I see presenters make this mistake, of structuring the entire day, so that each tool or strategy they cover are presented in a linear fashion, ignoring whether or not the attendees are ready for it. Being able to "go off script" is a LOT easier if the script is more of just a guideline rather than a rigid script. Quite often, I’ll use a wiki to help with this type of agenda, especially for a multi-day workshop. It allows me to create just a few pages with some big learning goals, and then fill in as needed. Last year we had a large number of new teachers to the district, and I needed a way to help introduce them to all the technology in the district, but I didn’t want to bore them on simple things like how to use the phone system. I created a New Staff Technology Orientation wiki that allowed me to flow from topic to topic as dictated by the comfort level of the group. I was able to introduce all of the important pieces of technology I needed, while "off loading" some of the more mundane aspects (how to scan a document with the multi-function printers) through the use of video tutorials and documentation that I uploaded to the wiki. It also allowed me to easily make changes throughout the training, as people requested additional documentation or resources that I hadn’t initially provided. However, most importantly, it gave me a living breathing document that I could use to publish future documentation and resources (which I have done) as other issues and questions popped up, or technology changed. Work Backward to the Technology I’ll close on this last piece of wisdom, that while gleaned from spending far too many hours reflecting on my instruction, is a universal truth that has propelled corporations (including Apple) to great heights. The absolutely worst type of technology PD you can deliver to anyone, teachers included, is when you want to show someone all the "whizz bang" magic that you can do with a piece of software, rather than focus on what types of experiences or achievements are possible with said piece of technology. You don’t want to promise a group of learners that they’ll be able to learn every little advanced feature of Photostory, or every trick available in Google Docs. You can’t deliver on that promise, because you can’t determine what they will or won’t remember, or "learn". You can however, deliver an experience, a process, a product or project that will give learners a sense of accomplishment using just a few tools. you can create incredibly moving pieces of video by simply adjusting the speed of the video clip, or revolutionize meetings with a shared Google Doc and comments. The late Steve Jobs addressed this in response to a rather pointed, and venomous question about his "tech cred" at a 1997 conference dedicated to engineers developing software for Apple computers. He puts it much more eloquently than I can at the moment, so while the video is grainy, I encourage you to watch below with open ears. The point I’m trying to make comes about halfway through when he’s talking about all the awesome technology that’s available to us, yet doesn’t matter if you can’t show how it will remarkably make the user experience better. Start with the end goal, the experience you want teachers and students to have in the classroom, and then build your PD backwards from that. This is probably the hardest guideline for me to follow, as I often let really cool "look what I can do" moments sneak into my workshops, conversations, and dialogues, and that’s wrong! It’s not about what I can make the tool do, it’s about what those in the workshop will be able to accomplish with the tool. Closing Thoughts If you focus on that user experience, and orient your technology PD workshops based on how the technology will enhance what your attendees do, make sure they have support after the workshop, and remain flexible with your schedule, you may not cover every last menu item, every advanced option, but what you do cover will most likely be more beneficial, and longer lasting in the long run; a strong positive relationship with your attendees that will serve as a strong foundation for which to build future technological, and instructional expertise. image credit - HELP - http://www.flickr.com/photos/49889874@N05/5645164344/sizes/m/in/photostream/

A long time ago, in a pre-computer media landscape when copying and pasting meant you actually got to play with scissors and glue, teachers and students created multimedia projects with little regard to copyright law. Images from magazines, corporate logos, and other media were used with reckless abandon to create visually and aurally pleasing projects. Before the dawn of the internet, these types of projects were hung in hallways, classrooms, and refrigerators with great care, and for the most part, didn’t cause much of a stir with copyright holders. However, with the proliferation of dozens of social media sharing websites, many educators’ lack of clear understanding of copyright law and fair use (at no fault of their own, it can get complicated), and the ability for all of these wonderful projects to go digital and posted to the web, the battles and issues with copyright holders can produce paralyzing anxiety over what can be remixed, repurposed, and shared online. So I thought, what the heck, let’s make things simple today, and share 13 resources that host copyright free materials (images, videos, photos, music, etc.) for use in any project that you want to publish anywhere on the web, and not have to worry about any legalities. Audio   Free Sound Project What’s There: Big database of user created sound effects, foley effects, music clips, instruments, and more. Freedom to Use: All audio clips on the site have Creative Commons licenses, so while some can’t be used for commercial purposes, all of the sound clips can be used for educational projects with just an attribution to the creator. Why I like It: It has create short clips of instruments and notes that I can string together to create background music or effects. Also love that you can preview all of the clips in the browser before downloading, and use their large collection of sounds effects for great foley effects in my videos or podcasts.   JewelBeat What’s There: Nice collection of royalty free music. Freedom to Use: Once an audio track is purchased, it’s yours to use for ANYTHING, with just a simple attribution in the credits of the project. Why I like It: It follows the iTunes model of "pay per track", but unlike iTunes you can use the track you purchase for just about anything. While it’s not actually free (99¢ per track isn’t exactly breaking the bank though), you gain the right to use the tracks you’ve purchased for any of your projects, whether they’re commercial or not. You get the rights for 99 years, so chances are you’ll be gone before you need to worry about anything.   SoundCloud CreativeCommons What’s There: Growing collection of sound clips, sound effects, and audio tracks. Freedom to Use: All of the tracks in the Creative Commons section of SoundCloud are available for you to use with attribution, although some are limited to non-commercial projects only. Why I like It: SoundCloud has a unique media player that allows you to embed sound and music clips into other webpages. It also allows users to comment on the sound clips, directly on the media’s timeline, so you can leave a comment in time with the music at a particularly nice section of the clip. Like all good social media platforms, you can follow audio creators you like, so you can keep up on their creations.   Vimeo Music Store What’s There: Growing collection of background music for video projects on Vimeo. Freedom to Use: While there are many paid tracks in the Vimeo music store, searching just the Creative Commons or FREE tracks will reward you with a bountiful list of tunes using a Creative Commons license that only requires you to give attribution for the music you’re using. Why I like It: I already use Vimeo quite a bit, so it’s nice to have these tracks at my disposal from such a creative community. However, even NON Vimeo users can download the FREE tracks without having to login, so that’s an extra bonus! When downloading the track, a little pop up reminding you of the exact license of that track, so you know what you can and can’t do with it. Still Images   Pics4Learning What’s There: One of the oldest, and still growing,  collections of free images for education. Freedom to Use: The images found on Pics4Learning are all owned by the original photographers, but they’ve allowed Pics4Learning to share the images for use in any classroom, and shared in any media project, no matter where it’s posted, so long as the images aren’t used for any commercial purpose. Why I like It: Pics4Learning is the "great grandaddy" of free media resources for education. It’s easy to navigate through the categories of images, or search using keywords. As an added bonus, each image comes with a pre-formatted citation, so citing the images is as simple as a quick copy and paste.   Open ClipArt What’s There: A large collection of free clipart, all part of the Public Domain. Freedom to Use: All of the images on this site have been donated to Public Domain, so they’re all free for the taking. Why I like It: Since the entire collection is comprised of Public Domain images, you don’t even have to cite your resources if you don’t need to. Although I would certainly make sure students are still citing their sources, there’s no attribution you need to give, and you can take, remix, or change anything you want from this site. Extra geeky bonus! All of the images are available in the SVG and PNG format, so you can grab the PNG version for most uses, or the SVG format if you want to manipulate, or alter the images.    Flickr Creative Commons What’s There: A GIANT collection of free images to use, submitted by people all around the world. Freedom to Use: Everything in the Creative Commons section of Flickr is free for anyone to use. All of the licenses are very clear, and will tell you if you need to give attribution to the photographer, and whether or not you can change it, or use it for commercial purposes. Why I like It: As of the time of publishing on this post there are close to 30 MILLION images on Flickr that are free for anyone to use, for any purpose, public, commercial, or otherwise, and all you have to provide is attribution to the original photographer. Can’t get better than that! Video   Next Vista For Learning What’s There: Online library of free short videos for students, teachers, and learners created by students, teachers, and learners. Freedom to Use: These videos are all free for students, teachers, and educators. Why I like It: The videos are all under 5 minutes (one of the Next Vista’s main stipulations) so that you can find relevant video that fit well into a discussion and don’t abuse the attention span of viewers. Videos are all created by other learners, so students get to watch other students, not adults. Did I also mention that the entire site is free? Videos all include a handy download link for offline usage.   Internet Archive - Movie Archive What’s There: Hundreds of thousands of public domain video clips, films, community submitted clips, and older historical news reels. Freedom to Use: "Near unrestricted" use of the videos on this site is its main selling point. Some videos are only available for streaming, but all downloadable videos are in the public domain, and available for use in any media projects. Why I like It: I was first drawn to this site for it’s amazing collection of those old corny instructional films and public service announcements, but have used it for much more since then. There are thousands of great short video clips in the Arts category that would be useful for abstract video backgrounds during student news casts. From sports videos to animations and cartoons, there’s a LOT to dig through. Some of the content might be more appropriate for older students, so check it out before heading there with your class.   National Park Service B-Roll Video Archive What’s There: Public Domain video clips from a number of different U.S. National Parks and Monuments. Freedom to Use: Public Domain video means you can download, remix, republish, and use this video in any media project you want to. Why I like It: This site has great footage for shots of nature and famous landmarks, monuments, and parks around the U.S. so it would work well for video reports, video essays, or just some really nice scenery. All of the footage is professional quality, and available in H.264 format, so it’s highly compatible with lots of software. These are by no means an exhaustive list of sites that host copyright or royalty free media for special projects, but I find myself going to these sites quite often when looking for media to put into projects that I intend to publish on the web, and share with the world. When I don’t want to worry about seeking permission, and just need something fast that I can safely provide attribution for in the credits or notes, these are the places I head to. They’re great for use with students and other teachers that might be looking for some stock places to go to get media for special projects, video essays, or video production classes that need lots of media on a regular basis. More importantly, it’s great to share these resources with teachers and students that find themselves confused or apprehensive about copyright fair use, and want to start simply, with media that clearly states how they can be used fairly.

Dear Scott, I am quite often a rather proud, indignant, opinionated, and combative individual. Despite my best attempts to overcome my personal defects and character flaws, there are times when I am unable to present myself in a manner that is befitting a professional. Last night, in part due to a large amount of stress in both my personal life and professional existence, I lashed out and attacked you for seemingly petty and insignificant reasons. While The discussion we had during the EduNationCast was quite cordial, and rather agreeable, the argument that followed via Twitter was both unbecoming of me as an educator, and humbling as a human being. I crossed the line between discussing what may or may not be a serious difference of professional opinion, wrote veiled innuendos, and argued from a position that is beneath both of our stations. In short, I apologize for: Questioning your moral character Venting long held frustrations with the ed tech industry upon you Venting long held frustrations with cyclical nature of "the latest tech fad" in our culture Implicating you as an Apple "lackey" In truth Scott, I do not know you well enough to even begin to critically  question your professionalism, let alone your personal moral fiber (and even if I did know you well enough it would be deplorable to do so). I mixed equal amounts of skepticism, bitterness, and shear exhaustion, and produced a toxic brew of ignorance and vitriol that has done nothing but damage the budding professional relationship we have. My frustration with IWB skeptics long disillusioned with poor instructional IWB practice has produced an equally skeptical reaction about the coming wave of iDevices in our classrooms, but that professional skepticism should not have boiled over into the accusations and hurtful comments that I made about the direction of educational technology, and your involvement with Apple. I highly respect what you have accomplished both before your distinguished appointment by Apple, and now during your relationship with them. Much of my feelings about the nature of vendor and teacher relationships can be summed up in Tom Woodward’s post about the increased danger of  how a company might "use you". As an Apple Distinguished Educator himself, I have to weigh what Tom says about relationships with vendors, and what their ultimate motives are very carefully. That having been said, it was in poor taste, and completely unflattering of me to question you in such a direct manner last night, Scott. Please accept this open apology to my equally open tirade of bitterness and skepticism yesterday evening. No one deserves to have to endure what I wrote, spoke, and felt. In closing, I would like it to go on record that I am a fan of all avenues of technology being explored in schools, as long as the focus is on good pedagogical practice, and will strive in the future to be mindful of how bottling up feelings and emotions only leads to me lashing out against my fellow educators who are doing amazing things to help learners. Sincerely, Ben image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickkiteley/2907434143/in/photostream/

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Sean Dardis, Dave Mills, and Betty Sundling to the Video Story Problem channel over on Vimeo! They earn the award for "most courageous teachers of the week" in my book for taking the first step in exploring how to make math a little more engaging, and a bit more relevant to students. The three are all 6th grade math teachers in Mattawan, and while they’ve always done a fantastic job of developing strong relationships with students, they’re exploring how they can use media to help connect with the more visual learners that are present in many schools these days. The main goal of this little video story problem project is to try and bring the real world into the classroom through math, and this brownie problem is a great first step towards that. It’s simple, direct, and tosses in a bit of cheekiness for the students to enjoy. More importantly, it will serve as a great model for when some of their students start creating their own video story problems (I’ve heard rumors of it happening sometime this year). They have a few more videos coming shortly, so please go check them out, and offer some comments on what works for you, and how the videos might be tweaked to offer other angles of attack for students to understand the basic concepts. I really love bringing these problems into the classroom as it shows the students that the teachers care about them enough to make something just for them, and opens the door for a larger conversation to take place about math, rather than simply solving the problem.