If you haven’t seen the Light-bot app from created by Danny Yaroslavski you need to check it out.  I first came across this app during the recent Hour of Code campaign.  My middle school students loved the app so I thought I would try it with my daughters (both elementary age).  They are both still asking to play with the app weeks after they were first introduced.  I have to admit I have developed a slight addiction to the app myself.  Light-bot is a programming puzzle game: a puzzle game that uses game mechanics that are firmly rooted in programming concepts.  Light-bot lets players gain a practical understanding of basic control-flow concepts like procedures, loops, and conditionals, just by guiding a robot with commands to light up tiles and solve levels.  There is both a free (lite) app and a full version for $2.99.  I highly suggest the full version.  Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments section below. Lite Version - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/light-bot-lite/id659285751?mt=8 Full Version - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/light-bot/id657638474 Google Play Lite Version - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lightbot.lightbotlite&hl=en Google Play Full Version - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lightbot.lightbot&hl=en

Christmas break is great for many reasons, but as a teacher I love the opportunity to have time to watch, read, and learn more about my profession.  One such video that really made me think is a TEDx video by Grant Lichtman.  If you are unfamiliar with TED or TEDx videos then I am glad you are reading this post.  TED Talks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at the TED Conference with the world. Under the moniker "ideas worth spreading," talks were released online and rapidly attracted a global audience in the millions. Indeed, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TED Talks, with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world’s most inspiring voices. As of November 2012, TED Talks have been viewed more than one billion times. The TEDx program gives communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDx events are planned and coordinated independently. A summary of Grant’s TEDx talk: The rate of change in the world demands that we re-imagine and restructure the foundational learning relationship among students, teachers, and knowledge. In September 2012, pursuing a decades-long passion for transformational education, Grant packed up his Prius and set off on a solo, nationwide research tour to discover what schools are doing to prepare students for an evolving future. Find out what he learned from three months on the road visiting 21 states, 64 schools, and the great ideas of 500 educators. As always please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Farmers Insurance is giving away up to $1 million dollars in increments of $2,500 to classroom teachers across the country in their "Thank a Million Teachers" campaign.  This is a tremendous opportunity for teachers across the nation!  You have to be nominated by a student, teacher, or individual that wants to say thanks for all the work you do for children.  Once nominated you are eligible to submit a 1,000 word essay on how you would use the grant.  Grant proposals are weeded down and then a voting round starts.  The teachers with the most votes in each state will receive $2500.  The website to thank a teacher is: www.thankamillionteachers.com In 2013 Montana and Nevada were chosen as pilot states.  Through a great network of coworkers, friends, and family I received the most votes in Montana and tomorrow I will be helping launch the national campaign by riding on the Thank a Million Teachers float in the Rose Parade. Watch Twitter (@mikegusto) as I will be tweeting pictures and behind the scenes happenings!  Follow the hashtag #ThankATeacher to join the conversation and spread the word about a teacher who has made a difference in your life.  The parade begins at 11:00 am EST/8:00 am PST on January 1st.  I am so excited to be part of a program recognizing the amazing job teachers across the country do everyday. Below is my proposal and this link will take you to the other successful proposals in Montana and Nevada. Recognizing Greatness Everyday A positive school community is vital to successful academic achievement in students. We are working tirelessly to find ways to recognize greatness at our school. Our plan is to create a digital display showcasing student greatness. By combining a multimedia computer, camera, Apple TV, and a digital display we will be able to achieve our goal. Our student council has already acquired the display and this grant would go toward finishing our vision. Our student leadership team will be tasked with documenting student greatness throughout our school. Our weekly leadership meeting will plan areas of focus for the week. Areas of focus will be in the classroom, in activities, and around town. We will profile 12 middle school students each week on the digital display. By utilizing these tools, students will create video loops to display greatness. This will allow our students to feel connected to the school community and will foster a positive school atmosphere. As always please share your thoughts in the comment section below.  

Just before the new year, I joined two other educational technology prognosticators, Wes Fryer (@wfryer) and Jennie Magiera (@MsMagiera), for a Google Hangout to look at the "2014 EdTech Crystal Ball."  The conversation was interesting, fast-paced and informative! My thanks to Wes for organizing the Hangout! Happy new year from all your friends at NCCE!

Are you resolved to expand your tech-savvy in 2014?  Let’s get started this weekend!  One of the tools that I recommend to all teachers of all levels is Evernote, one of the most productive and versatile tools available to you and your students. What is Evernote? Evernote is like a digital brain: Why Evernote? I know there are literally hundreds of tools that collection information, however, I like Evernote as one of the best options for a variety of reasons: Cross-platform: There are Evernote clients for nearly all modern devices, including devices like the iPod Touch, iPads and other popular classroom devices.  It also works in a simple web browser, so, you can use Evernote with a laptop, desktop or ChromeBook without installing any software. Multimedia:  Evernote not only captures text and images, but, you can also use it to capture audio, full webpages and even PDF documents. Free: Although there is a premium edition of Evernote (and it is worth every penny), you can access all of the main functionality for free. Get started this weekend! Getting started it easy!  Download the desktop app for your desktop or laptop at http://www.evernote.com.  An account is free.  You should also download the mobile app on your smartphone and/or tablet (available in the iOS App Store, Google Play Store, Blackberry World store and Windows Marketplace). There are two great resources available for those looking for some Evernote basics.  This excellent video from the University of Wyoming Extension services gives a great introduction to the platform: For those looking for a written reference, Mark O’Neill has posted an excellent "Unofficial Manual" at MakeUseOf. Are you using Evernote to be more productive as a teacher?  Are you using it with students?  Hit us up in the comments and share your great Evernote tips! Want to Learn More? I am offering "Hands-On with Evernote: The Swiss Army Knife of Digital Tools" as one of  hundreds of learning opportunities at the Northwest Conference for Computer Education in Seattle, Washington, March 14-16, 2014.  For more information or to sign up, go to the NCCE website!  Or, you can have this content customized for your district and delivered to you either online or face to face… contact us for details!

Scanner Pro is a $6.99 app that is currently Free in the iTunes store.  This is one of those handy utility apps ever teacher/student needs.  Scanner pro lets uses an iOS device’s camera to scan documents, complete with real-time border detection for perfectly-sized scans, and stores them as PDFs in a variety of cloud services, including iCloud and Google Drive.  Great app for scanning writing, artwork, or other paper based student projects.  The app has the ability to send the scan as a fax through an in-app purchase.  Grab it while it is free and let us know how you are using it in your classroom. Scanner Pro by Readdle for iOS

Typing is one of those skills that takes practice.  If you have ever tried to teach typing you quickly find that the greatest challenge is keeping students engaged in the practice process.  The absolute best site I have found for typing engagement is NitroType.  NitroType is a fast paced, multiplayer game where users "power" their race car by their typing speed.  Players can earn up to three nitro’s per race (used by pressing the enter or return key) to skip over a word.  Winning races earn the player virtual money to spend on new cars and customizations.  While the individual cars do not have any special abilities I have been impressed with how motivating collecting the different cars are to students.  In addition to collecting new cars, NitroType uses achievements as well as any game on the market.  There is a great balance between easy to very hard achievements.   Achievements have virtual money and the occasional collectable car to add to your garage.  Students can sign up for an account to save their progress through registration on the site or connecting their Facebook profile.  NitroType gets an A+ for signup as it does not require students to have an email address to acquire an account.  (As I have mentioned in other articles, this is a HUGE deal to classroom teachers).  Students can race against their friends or anyone around the world through a friend matching system.  Students must first approve a friend request to to add another user to their "friends list".  As with any online game, a discussion about safety and only friending people you know is important.  Being able to "race" against your friends is the second big motivating factor with this program.  Students can race against computer controlled cars and the AI is tuned perfectly to push typist without crushing the fun.  You can experience the whole game for free, but there is an option to become a "gold" member by paying a one-time fee of $10.  Gold status gives you an exclusive gold car and $5,000,000 in cash to purchase many of the available cars.  This is another area that Nitrotype really does well.  You can work your way through the game for free and through leveling and achievements earn enough cash to purchase everything in the game.  If you choose the gold option, you still have to level up (by participating in races) to unlock new cars. Like anything there are always improvements that can be made and Nitrotype is no different.  The game can freeze up your web browser occasionally due to all the scripting that runs in the background powering the site.  I have found this is the most problematic running in Firefox.  The best fix is to completely close out the web browser and relaunch to start racing again.  I would like to see the game tweak the cars so that they have a unique ability.  Things like ability to hold an additional nitro, a one second head start, etc.  This would add another layer to the game that would help some of my slowest typist complete with my better typist.  The last thing to be aware is Nitrotype does not have a practice or instruction section.  This site is intended for students that have had basic instruction in typing. Nitrotype is a well balance game that completely engages students.  About 85% of my students choose to work on Nitrotype at home on their own.  That is probably the best measure of a sites popularity.   Nitrotype pushes students to improve their typing speed while maintaining the importance of accuracy.   If you have been looking for a site to move your students typing to the next level, Nitrotype is the place. As always, share your comments below.  

Nerdist, one of our favorite podcast networks (including both irreverent and informative programs like the Alton Browncast), is releasing a new podcast today that might be of interest to those interested in getting girls connected to STEM content. Danica McKeller, former child actor and UCLA-trained mathematician, is the author of four books on mathematics that are aimed at girls, like Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail. Today, she releases a new video channel called "Math Bites," which promises to bring the Nerdist irreverence to math topics, like this video which sings pi out to 75 places: With McKeller’s solid academic credentials, I am hopeful that this channel can provide interest bits (or should I say bites?) of mathematic content to help amuse and inform. Check out the release today on Nerdist’s YouTube channel here.

Many NCCE members have received training through NCCE’s training on the Library of Congress and Teaching with Primary sources.  The Library of Congress is offering a 5 day summer institute to take your training to the next level.  In this five-day program for K-12 educators, Library of Congress education specialists facilitate sessions modeling strategies for using primary sources to engage students, build critical thinking skills, and construct knowledge. Participants then consider, discuss, and develop applications to their students, their classrooms, and school libraries. Participants draw from among the millions of digitized primary sources from the Library’s collections to design and refine a specific primary source activity to implement in the fall. While the emphasis is on teaching strategies, participants also have opportunities to meet experts within the Library and visit the Maps; Manuscripts; Prints & Photographs and other Reading Rooms to gather information and resources to use in developing their activities. 2014 Institute dates are listed below: June 9-13        Institute session #1 July 7-11         Institute session #2 July 21-25       Institute session #3 The complete 2014 Summer Teacher Institute Syllabus: 2014LOCSummerTeacherInstituteSyllabus For more information and application go to: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/teacherinstitute/about-teacher-institutes.html Explore more resources on the Library of Congress YouTube Page: http://www.youtube.com/libraryofcongress

If you have used Evernote before, you can easily see the power of this tool in the classroom.  For those of you who haven’t seen Evernote, here is a quick overview: I am a big believer in allowing students to have as many field experiences as possible, but I think one thing many educators would admit is that often we don’t do a good enough job of tying that experience back to classroom study.  Many students miss the connection between the field trip and the course study because there isn’t enough overlap in activities.  How can Evernote help? Well, let me tell you how a few 7th grade teachers used it on a recent field trip up to Mount Helena.  This field trip supports their Science curriculum by requiring students to study the different types of indigenous plants in our area.  Using an iPod Touch loaded with the Evernote app, students have a list of different grasses, trees, and shrubs that they must take pictures of and save in their Evernote account. Technical How-to: One of the great benefits of using Evernote on an iPod touch with students is that Evernote will stay logged in and save information even when you are in Airplane Mode.  The key thing to remember is that you must have students login to Evernote while you are attached to a wireless network.  As soon as you login, you can switch to airplane mode and then work in your Evernote account.  When you turn airplane mode off and rejoin a wireless network, Evernote will sync the new data to the cloud and you are off and running.  This feature is obviously key when you are in an area (like a mountain) that doesn’t have wi-fi. The first thing I like about this use is that the teachers were conducting Authentic Assessment.  The other point that I like is that by using a digital tool for data collection (in this case pictures) students now have a depository of first person research to take their learning further.  That is exactly what these teachers did next.  After their field trip to Mount Helena, the science classes went to the library and used Comic Life to create a presentation of their findings.  By using Evernote, which syncs to the cloud, the teacher needed to only tell their students to login to their Evernote account to retrieve their pictures.  Any of you who have had to deal with file management in the classroom realize this is a VERY big deal. By having students create their own accounts in Evernote, record their own information, and present their findings, these teachers are setting the stage for 7th graders to act like scientists.  In addition, there was no divide in the learning.  The field trip became an essential piece to the learning process. How have you used Evernote with students?  Please share your experiences in the comment section below.

I came across a great site to use with elementary or middle school students in all curricular areas.  Teach Kids News is the brain child of Jonathan and Karen Tilley and Joyce Grant.  Jon and Karen would present news stories to their son’s class and decided to dedicate a website to share news with children all over the world.  Daily articles are written with elementary readability in mind and every article concludes with discussion questions for the class.  I am very impressed with the range of content covered and see tremendous opportunity for integrating in every content area.  Even if this is a site you use once a month, it is a must to have in your "teacher toolbox". Check it out @: http://teachkidsnews.com/

Last week in Las Vegas, technology vendors touted their wares at the International CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show).  I am not a tech journalist, but, have read many accounts that the trade show is both amazing and a bit of a war of attrition.  There are thousands of vendors floating hundreds of thousands of project, both real and aspirational. Items introduced at International CES are not will not necessarily be released, and some (many?) don’t make it off the drawing board.  However, the most talked about ideas here can be next week’s or next year’s must-have gadgets.  That also means that the hot gadgets could end up next week at a school year you! There are hundreds of "summary" videos and articles, but, the best one I have seen is from Engadget, in this week’s "Engadget Show." Enjoy… click HERE.

For those that have a long weekend this weekend, we hope you enjoy your well-deserved time off!  If you haven’t heard the whole "I have a dream" speech before, it is worth your 20 minutes…

Google Drawing was added to the Google suite of tools in 2010, but I have found this tool has not made it into the mainstream for many users. The name may be part of the problem as many people assume it is just a "drawing" program.  Google Drawing can be so much more!  In fact, it can take care of most of your image needs. Often students and teachers want an quick and easy way to place text over a picture for projects.  There are many programs out there that can handle this task but many (like photoshop, illustrator, and gimp) are way too complicated.  Google Drawing fills this void.  To illustrate this let’s look at the graphic I used in my post about using Evernote on field trips: In this picture there are three things happening: The main picture of Mount Helena, the text overlay stating "Field Trips with", and finally the Evernote graphic logo.  This was all put together using Google Drawing in about one minute.  Let’s take a look at how this worked….         How To: First make sure you have a Google Account.  Once logged in, go to your Google Drive.    In your Google Drive, click on the  button and choose Drawing. In your Drawing, click the add picture button:   I already had saved my picture of Mount Helena to my desktop, so I just need to browse my desktop and open:   Now my image of Mount Helena has been added to my drawing area and I am ready to add text over the top by click the Textbox button:   As with any text, you can change the Font, Color, Style to achieve the look you want.  After I set my text, one more click on Add Image and I grabbed the Evernote logo that was on my desktop.  Under the "Arrange" menu you can send pictures forward or back to make your layout work the way you want.  Each picture can be resized or rotated by clicking and dragging on on of the corners of the image (use the circle to rotate the image)   You may have noticed the checkered background behind the images.  That is the canvas area and it needs to be resized to only be as large as my imported image.  If you don’t resize the canvas background your image will have a big space before or after that will cause you problems when you work with the image later.  To resize the canvas, click and drag the bottom right corner of the canvas to the edge of your picture.  This will make the saved image the size of the imported picture and the new image will act as expected when you use it with text.   After resizing the background canvas you can export the image as a .jpeg and use it anywhere.  Remember copyright implications when working with pictures. As always, share your thoughts in the comment section below…

In this episode of the Ask-a-Tech-Savvy Teacher podcast, I evaluate ClassMint, a web-based note taking platform.  I am on a quest to find the best apps that a teacher can use with a class set of ChromeBooks… will this app make my list?  Watch to find out! ClassMint.com  

NCCE member Becky Keene was recently featured by Comcast, talking about 1:1 environments and professional development.  Enjoy!

EDUCATOR, CONSULTANT, AUTHOR Jeff Utecht is an educational technology consultant, educator and author. He holds a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus in Technology as well as his administrative certification through Washington State. Jeff began his career in the Elementary Classroom at a public school in Washington State. In 2001, he was the recipient of a Bill and Melinda Gates Grant called the Technology Leadership Program. This marked the beginning of his journey with technology and learning. Over the past 10 years, Jeff has taught at International Schools in the Middle East and Asia. Moving from a classroom teacher into technology facilitator roles and administrative positions, Jeff began sharing his passion for learning via his blog The Thinking Stick. In 2007, he was invited to create an innovative conference focusing on learning and technology; the Learning 2.0 Conference was initiated. He also began consulting with East Asia Regional Council of Schools. Continuing to share his vision, Jeff provided regular articles and blog posts for Tech&Learning publications, authored chapters in numerous books, worked as the educational consultant for a wiki company, and began speaking at schools and educational events around the globe. He has worked with politicians in Washington DC and participated in The Educational Project at the invitation of the Prince of Bahrain. In 2010 Jeff was invited to present at the first TEDx conference in Bangkok, Thailand.   As Jeff’s online presence grew, his blog reaching over 10,000 subscribers and his Twitter account growing to over 13,000 followers, he fully embraced the power of connections. Based on his own experiences of using technology for learning and connecting with people around the world, Jeff published his first book for educators titled Reach in June of 2010. He has continued to consult with web companies, educational organizations, and most recently has co-developed a Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy program for educators. Jeff is a Google Apps Certified Educational Trainer. In tandem with his values of collaboration and open source, he created the Google Ninja Program. This free program designed to support students and educators in their learning of the Google Applications is now widely used around the globe. It is Jeff’s belief in learning and future generations that continues to drive his passion. To learn more about Jeff Utecht, visit his website. Come see Jeff at NCCE 2014 in Seattle: WEDNESDAY PRESENTATIONS: WP36 - Flipping Your Classroom (Reverse Instruction): Getting Started with Flip  THURSDAY PRESENTATIONS: T213 - The New Web: An Administrator’s Guide T312 - Moving From Sorting to Searching FRIDAY PRESENTATIONS: F114 - Google Apps in the Classroom FP94 - Preparing to Enter the Digital Classroom

We are honored to have Chelsie Jolley share her experience and knowledge of Geocaching with students.  This post was prompted by our Meet a Tech Savvy Teacher section of our podcast.  The full video interview is located at the end of this post.  Enjoy: Geocaching is a great way to both encourage students to be active in the outdoors and enhance students’ learning outside of the classroom! Geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt that uses GPS technology to bring someone to a certain location. Typically a container is hidden at this location with various contents. My adventures geocaching with students began while teaching first grade. When I introduced my first graders to geocaching, I began by introducing compasses. We would practice using them, sometimes make our own, label the walls of our classroom with the cardinal directions, and even explore our playground to identify landmarks for each direction at our school. For my students in Helena, Montana, they knew that if they wanted to go north, they should follow "The Sleeping Giant" - a mountain formation visible on the horizon. Here in Minnesota, my students know the St. Croix River is to the east. These lessons tie in nicely with geography standards. We used our walls in the classroom, labeled with cardinal directions, to play a game similar to Four Corners. Students liked using The Fruit Machine to help decide which wall would be selected. Eventually, the labels came down, and students had to first correctly identify the cardinal direction they were standing at before a wall would be selected. The game would also evolve into Four Corners, helping students correctly use the intermediate cardinal directions (NE, SE, NW, and SW). After students mastered the cardinal directions, we  would learn about maps. One activity my students really enjoyed is to make a map of our classroom together on a SMART Board and hide a geocache in the room. Several students would go into the hallway while the rest of the class helped hide the container and mark its location on the map.  This was a perfect opportunity to teach students to use a tool to help you get close to your location, but then use your own eyes to find the container. A second rule we would practice is not to ruin the surprise for others. This helped reinforce patience among my students. We typically then expand our mapping skills to our playground. Sometimes we also incorporate Google Earth to get a bird’s eye view of our playground or compare our maps. My third graders even create a scale for their maps. The past two years, we have done an activity using our scales to find locations on our playground using the maps. When students have mastered mapping skills, I usually teach students about latitude and latitude. We explore what coordinates are, comparing the coordinates of our school to other places and playing games like Battleship. Finally, I teach students how to use the GPS receivers. We then walk through a geocache together to make sure students know how to use the GPS receivers. After students practice using the GPS receivers in the large group activity, they are ready for geocaching in small groups. Everyone in the small group has an assigned role, which rotates after each geocache so that all students have a turn with each role. Some common roles I assign are navigator, seeker, reader, and recorder. The navigator holds the GPS receiver and is responsible for directing the group toward the geocache. The navigator walks first. All group members search for the geocache when the navigator indicates the geocache is within 20 feet. The seeker grabs the geocache once it is found, and hides it in the same spot when the group is finished. The reader opens geocache container and reads its contents. Finally, the recorder writes down the clue gleaned from the cache, or whatever information is necessary according to the geocache activity.  I typically make my own geocaches that are only used with my class. I mark coordinates on the playground and upload these locations to the other devices. I recommend procuring 5-10 GPS receivers for your classroom. I have had good luck with Geomate Juniors, as they are easy to program, easy to operate, and inexpensive. However, I recently received several Garmin eTrex, which allow my third graders to do more advanced activities, like hiding their own geocaches and finding the perimeter and area of our playground. I integrate a variety of disciplines into geocaching activities. I often make the information from the geocaches a code for a padlock. This way, when the students return to the classroom, they can use the clues to decipher the password, unlocking a chest with a surprise in it. I also vary what is hidden at each location. Sometimes I hide a container, and sometimes I hide a QR code that needs to be scanned for further directions. Here I list just a few of the many possibilities for enhancing learning through geocaching:  MATH Students use rulers to measure objects at locations Students read clocks and write down the times Level-appropriate word problems Level-appropriate calculations  READING Students create fractured fairytales Students read passages for the main idea Students sequence events  SCIENCE Students identify different trees, making rubbings and describing leaves of each particular tree. Students describe and analyze soil samples. Would the soil here work well for planting? Why/why not? SOCIAL STUDIES Drop off classroom travel bugs into active geocaches with a specific mission. Use a travel bug log to map where the item travels and ask for photos of the travel bug’s new location to study the environment. When we did this, our travel bug went from Montana, all the way to Germany and Australia in just a year!  TEAM BUILDING Students collect pieces of a tangram at each cache, and assemble a tangram picture as a group at the end Students scan QR codes at each geocache with instructions for a silly photo they need to take  Not only can geocaching be beneficial at school, but I have even used geocaching to extend beyond the school grounds. While teaching first grade in Helena, my students and I made an annual field trip to the foothills of the mountains. Here, students would take turns geocaching as we hiked up to a lunch spot. In order to hike on the trails, students learned trail etiquette. We spent story time sitting in a circle and went on a nature scavenger hunt in small groups where students used digital cameras to "collect" the items. At the top of the path, the first graders took turns searching for a real geocache - one I had not created for them - and could take a prize from the cache. In addition to this field trip, I have often created a geocaching booth during school-sponsored family events. Families could borrow GPS receivers and go geocaching on the grounds. It has always been a big success! Our Interview with Chelsie:  

TEACHER, MOUNT SI HIGH SCHOOL SNOQUALMIE VALLEY, WASHINGTON Joe Dockery Joe Dockery teaches a variety of multimedia courses in the High Tech Learning Center at Mount Si High School in the Snoqualmie Valley School District. He is also in charge of technology staff development and online summer school and manages the high school website. Dockery also consults and trains across the United States on the use and design of electronic portfolios, webcasting, and video production. He has taught courses for Washington State University, The Learning Space, and a variety of school districts. A cornerstone of his teaching is his ability to weave community service into all aspects of his curriculum and to provide his students with authentic learning experiences. This work has earned him a Washington State Golden Apple Award and the Radio Shack National Technology Teacher of the Year Award. Dockery has a Master’s in Teaching and a certificate in Distance Learning Design and Development from the University of Washington. He also has helped to develop the largest high school film festival in the Northwest. He was featured in 2011 by TechSmith as one of "20 to Watch," giving an excellent interview on how he uses video tutorials in his classroom.  He also writes for School Video News, and has recently published articles ranging from Audio to Gear Recommendations. You can find out more about Mr. Dockery at his excellent Weebly site here. Come see Joe at NCCE 2014 in Seattle: Wednesday Workshops: WA21 - Introduction to Adobe Premiere Pro CC WP31 - Introduction to Adobe After Effects CC Thursday Workshops: HP71 - Adobe Photoshop Projects for the CTE Classroom Friday Workshops: FA81 - Painting with Photoshop & a Wacom Tablet Thursday Sessions: iPad 101: The Basics Everyone Should Know Top 10 iPad Media Production Tools for the Classroom

Eric Sheninger is an educational administrator who is passionate about establishing and fostering learning environments that are student-centered, collaborative, flexible, and prepare all learners to succeed in the 21st Century. Eric firmly believes that effective communication, listening, support, shared decision making, and the integration of technology are essential elements necessary for the transformation of school cultures.  NCCE is honored to have Eric Sheninger keynote our conference this year! We caught up with Eric to find out a little more about this dynamic educator. Name: Eric Sheninger Location: New Milford, NJ Current Job(s): High School Principal Current computer: iMac, Macbook Pro, Chromebook Current mobile device(s): iPhone, Droid Razor One word that best describes how you teach or work: Risk-taker Follow @NMHS_Principal What apps/software/tools can’t you live without? Obviously Twitter, but also Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Dropbox, and Zite. Show us a shot of your mobile device’s homescreen!   Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can’t you live without? My portable chargers for all of my devices What’s your favorite organizational tip, app or advice? I am a huge fan of edweb.net; they have put together some fantastic, FREE learning communities consisting of live/on-demand webinars, discussion forums, blogs, etc. Check out the Leadership 3.0 community that I co-facilitate http://www.edweb.net/leadership What’s your best time-saving trick? When it comes to social media integrate it into professional practice. This allows you to do what you already do in your respective position, but in a more effective and efficient fashion. ● What’s are your most valuable classroom/work routines? Being consistent and transparent when it comes to the strategic use of social media to engage stakeholders, enhance school culture, and grow professionally. What’s your favorite way to connect with social media? Twitter baby! Love how 140 characters not only fits into my frenetic time schedule, but packs so much punch. What app or web service doesn’t exist that you wish someone would develop? A hologram platform that would allow me to attend events and meetings from anywhere. What are you currently reading? The Element by Sir Ken Robinson Who influences you in education? Everyone in my PLN Eric has emerged as an innovative leader in the use of social media and web 2.0 technology as tools to engage students, improve communication with stakeholders, and help educators grow professionally. Eric is a Bammy Award winner (2013), NASSP Digital Principal Award winner (2012), PDK Emerging Leader Award recipient (2012), winner of Learning Forward’s Excellence in Professional Practice Award (2012), Google Certified Teacher, Adobe Education Leader, ASCD 2011 Conference Scholar, co-author of "Communicating and Connecting With Social Media: Essentials for Principals" and "What Principals Need to Know About Teaching and Learning Science". He is also a writer on education for the Huffington Post, co-creator of the Edscape Conference, sits on the FEA Board of Directors, and was named to the NSBA "20 to Watch" list in 2010 for technology leadership. Eric now presents and speaks nationally to assist school leaders in embracing and effectively utilizing technology. His blog, A Principal’s Reflections, was selected as Best School Administrator Blog in 2011 by Edublogs.

I just started another semester teaching "Instructional Media and Computer Applications" at the University of Montana, where I am a doctoral candidate and campus employee working for the state virtual school. My students are pre-service teachers, usually sophomores and juniors, that are declared education majors with dreams of their own classroom.  The energy is palpable in the room: these people are ready to go out and educate the next generation of students.  However, I am struck, as I am every semester, with two interesting dynamics. I always do an attitude survey to start my semester to determine where my students are starting in their perceptions and beliefs regarding educational technology.  While their answers are often interesting, I am most struck by the answers to these two questions: "True or False: My K-12 teachers were, on balance, ‘good’ with technology." and "True or False: My college professors are, on balance, ‘good’ with technology." The answers are consistent across the four times I have taught this course: students believe, by a clear majority, that their college professors are better with technology than their K-12 teachers.  Of course, I have an interesting vantage point here.  I serve as an adjunct professor at my university and I came from K-12 and spend a lot of time in K-12 classrooms.  I don’t believe that there is really a large difference between the technology skills of college professors and K-12 teachers.  Indeed, this question ignores that fact that there great individual difference amongst the professionals in both camps. When I listen to these students, now about to becomes teachers themselves, talk about their own experiences, I am reminded: our students are paying attention.  The decisions we make matter.  The skill sets we use in our classroom do leave a lasting impression. The work you are putting in as a teacher to become a better teacher, whether that involves technology or not, is both noticed and appreciated by your students. On a separate topic, these students overwhelmingly tell me they prefer to read on paper over a screen.  But, that’s a subject for another post. Have a great weekend! Image: Brian Hillegas

Follow @MrMacnology Jeremy Macdonald spent the last eight years as an elementary classroom teacher in Klamath Falls before taking on a new position in Bend, OR. Three of those years were spent as a half-time instructional coach & half-time teacher, helping manage various edtech grants that provided 2:1 and 1:1 devices to grades K-6 at Mills Elementary School. Jeremy spent his last year in the classroom as an ESL and intervention specialist. He currently is the Integrated Technology Systems Coordinator for Bend-La Pine Schools. Jeremy helps provide professional develop to staff in classroom technology and innovative learning strategies. He is also a team member of the Oregon Virtual School District, providing PD to Oregon public schools, and works closely with the Alliance for Excellent Education, the creators of Digital Learning Day.       To learn more about Jeremy Macdonald, visit his website. Come see Jeremey at NCCE 2014 in Seattle: WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP: WA25 - Practical PD: Simple and Worth Their Time     THURSDAY WORKSHOPS: HP74 - Language Development Through Tech (ESL) HA64 - Beginner’s Guide to Classroom Technology

Many teachers have heard of Khan Academy related to Math instruction, but did you know that Khan has a course completely dedicated to learning coding?  The Computer Programming course is broken down into 13 units with an average of 5 lessons per section.  The units are: Intro to programming Drawing basics Coloring Variable Animation basics Text Functions Logic and if Statements Looping Arrays Objects Object-Oriented Design Become a better programmer I have been slowing working my way through the curriculum and can recommend this course starting from 3rd grade on up.  Obviously, the younger grades will need more support, but Khan uses their proven pedagogical practice of teaching (through video) and then having you immediately start practicing.   By  immediately being able to view the code they are writing, student receive instant feedback of both their successes and errors. Khan even highlights coding errors so students can see their mistakes immediately. Naturally, each unit becomes more complex and it is important for the teacher to remember that then end goal of this course may not be completion, but rather exposure to the process of coding.  When I poll my students of what they want to be when they grow up, I often hear "I want to make video games".  The problem with this and many professions students throw out is they have little understanding of what skills the job requires.  By the end of unit two, my students have a basic framework of the skills required to make a game and they realize it is something they will really have to work towards to become proficient. At the homepage of the Computer Programming section, Khan has a link to "Browse Programs".  This is nothing short of magical for students to view.  This section allows students to view other programmers work and interact with their programs. What sets this apart from everything else out there is Khan leaves the actual coded program on the left hand side of the screen.  In addition, students are allowed to change the code anyway they would like and "Save as a spin-off".  This offers an endless amount of tweaking with actual running programs.  Below is an example of a version of the game Cut the Rope made in Khan Academy and freely available for students to manipulate.   If you are a Google Apps for Education school, using Khan is very easy.  Khan will let students log in with their Google Apps for Ed account and they are off and running.  If you don’t have Google accounts for your student (You should really look into getting them), Khan has its own log in system that doesn’t require student emails.  You can also use the Facebook log in system if many of your students have an account.     After students are logged in the first thing you should have them do is add you as their coach. The first screen students come to after logging in the dashboard.  On the left hand side of the screen are options for the student.  The last option is coaches. Once the student clicks on coaches link, there is a field to add the email address of their coach.  Have the students add the email address of your account and you are set.  You have full access to reports, grouping, and class data.  These stats apply to all units of study in Khan. Even if you have only one computer in your classroom, the Computer Programming section works great as a station. In addition, students can access all of this content from home 24/7.  Adding this option to your class is a great way to extend the momentum around the hour of code and engage a new generation of programmers. As always, share your comments or stories of how you have used Khan Academy in your classroom in the section below.

Today, February 5, 2014 is Digital Learning Day, a day of national focus on digital learning in the K-12 classroom.  There are events going on nationwide focusing on best practices, the place for "digital learning" in our nation’s classrooms and a series of live online events. Of particular interest to the Tech-Savvy Teachers are the student debates hosted by the Digital Learning Day organizers involving students on three topics: Breaking News (10:30a Eastern, 7:30a Pacific): Can CNN, PBS, the New York Times keep up with breaking news or is social media the future? Digital Footprint (12:30p Eastern, 9:30a Pacific): Should colleges be allowed to take your ‘digital footprint’ (social media presence, Google results, etc.) into consideration when making their admissions decisions? Coding Literacy (1:30pm Eastern, 10:30a Mountain): Should students be required to learn code (and computer science) in high school? We are particularly excited that these are student debates, as their voices could add interesting perspective to all of these topics.  All will be hosted on Hangouts-on-Air (these might be interesting to watch just to see this tool in action) and I presume will be archived. See here for more information and up-to-date links! Enjoy!