[YouTube Thursday is a series featuring our favorite educational channels on YouTube.  We believe in the power of video, produced by professionals, teachers and students alike!] I was recently referred to this video on YouTube, which takes the slow-motion video trend in mobile video and applies it to dropping a cat.  That’s right… dropping a cat: This sounds potentially worse than it is… he is using GiGi, the stunt cat (or so he says ) and appears to have done his research.  In the end, he takes this fairly amazing slow motion video and applies the laws of physics to determine why. This is one of the most watched videos on the SmarterEveryDay YouTube channel, where Destin "explores the world using science."  The videos are short, pedagogically sound and entertaining in an understated way.  There are over 120 videos covering a range of science topics. Some of my favorites: 4th of July Fireworks Chemistry Slow Motion Jellyfish Stinging (careful… creepy needle imagery… ) and AK-47 underwater at slow motion! There is a fun "maker" aspect to the videos and provides some interesting "how to" backstories on the setup.  While the videos maintain a nice, informal tone, there is high production value so you can focus just on the content.  SmarterEveryDay via YouTube   The post YouTube Thursday: SmarterEveryDay appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Shutterfly is launching an amazing classroom resource called Shutterfly Photo Story.  Most of us are familiar with the high quality and fast turn around Shutterfly offers for pictures, picture books, and calendars.  Now, Shutterfly is taking their expertise to empower students from all over the country to tell a photo story with their iPad app: Shutterfly Photo Story. What is Photostory? Shutterfly Photo Story inspires students to do their best work by showcasing completed projects in a published book. A fun new way to incorporate technology in the classroom, our iPad app aligns with the English Language Arts Common Core Standards for each grade level. Easy and intuitive, Photo Story helps students document their projects and stories with text, photos, audio clips and Doodles. Click to view Daniel’s Story I was fortunate to have the Shutterfly Photo Story team show off their product and discuss the inspiration for this project at ISTE 2014.  The team wanted to take what they already do (a market leader in personalized digital photography products and services) and provide a personalized learning opportunity for every student in every grade level.  I was impressed with the amount of research and testing the team conducted before releasing the app.  The Photo Story team worked with Alice Christie, Ph.D. and Helen Padgett, Ph.D. of Arizona State University along with the research firm of Walkington/Sugarman Education Sales Advisors to run pilot projects across the country.  Some of the interesting findings in the pilots were that Photo Story was used across the core curricular areas.  They received very favorable feedback on the quality of the final book.  On a 1-10 scale, teachers and students rated the value of the physical book at 9.45. This leads me to why I am so excited about this product.  There are many apps that can create digital stories on an iPad, but Shutterfly Photo Story sets itself apart by the beautiful physical book that is created as an end product. Allowing students to create something digitally that is then manufactured into a physical book is a great way for students to experience the entire product development cycle. Many tech savvy educators will admit that creating something tangible (with or without computing) will always be just as important as creating something virtually. You may be thinking (as I was) "This is great, but I am scared of the price".  I was happy to hear that prices start at $10 per book.  When you stop and think about the amount of colored ink you go through to create a similar project (of vastly inferior quality) the $10 price point is excellent.  (Full color printing still costs about $0.40 per page)! Plus these end products have lasting value over many other products we produce in schools. Shutterfly has created a whole website dedicated to the Photo Story app.  The site contains tutorial videos on how to use the app, lesson plans that cover all core subject K-8, and examples to spark your imagination.  In addition to the website, Shutterfly added something to every book that sent our tech-savvy radar blaring: Each book contains a QR code in the back that links to a virtual version hosted on Shutterfly’s servers.  Can you imagine one of your students being able to share their story with a relative across the country?  OR Building a virtual library year after year of your 4th graders stories? OR Your 6th graders creating a photo story of the solar system to share with 4th graders across the country?  The possibilities and engaged learning opportunities are endless. Shutterfly is still looking for interested classrooms to run additional pilots.  If you are interested, visit the Photo Story classroom website at: http://www.shutterfly.com/photostoryclassroom Have you used the app in your classroom or had books printed?  Please share with the NCCE community you experiences by adding your comments below! The post Shutterfly Photo Story iPad App Preview appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Tomorrow, September 12, 2014 is the deadline to submit your presentation proposal! PRESENT AT THE LARGEST EDUCATION CONFERENCE AND EXPOSITION IN THE NORTHWEST! NCCE is seeking proposals from educators, consultants, and corporate partners for the 44th Annual Conference and Exposition in Portland, OR at the Oregon Convention Center, March 18-20, 2015.   Through the annual conference, NCCE delivers innovative programming to Northwest educational leaders. NCCE 2015 is expecting 1800 attendees and over 130 exhibiting companies. You’re invited to share with our conference audience your knowledge and expertise on a variety of topics covering a wide range of academic disciplines in K-12 education.  CONFERENCE STRANDS EMERGING TRENDS Information about new ideas and innovations, such as online and blended learning, gaming, DIY and maker activities, OER, MOOCs, Big Data, BYOD, and mobile device management.    LEADERSHIP A showcase of issues that are important to superintendents, principals, IT and curriculum directors, and other school leaders, such as Common Core State Standards, new assessments, legal and policy issues, equity, connected leadership, new models for professional learning, and moving beyond textbooks.    PROMISING PRACTICES Presentations from field practitioners about what’s working in their classrooms, including STEM, ELA and the humanities, ESL, SPED, and more. The primary focus for these sessions should be on instructional methods and student learning, not just on technology.     TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE Planning, management and resources related to infrastructure, mobile learning, cloud-based computing, security, and policies that support effective teaching and learning.   TOOL SHOWCASE Demonstrations of great hardware and software solutions, including iPad apps, Web 2.0 tools, and more.       PRESENTATION TYPES    NCCE 2015 offers a variety of speaker sessions each day of the conference.    WORKSHOPS- 2 hours Hands-on presentation offered by an individual or a team of presenters. Participants will actively work with the tool or process being explored.    SESSIONS- 50 minutes Lecture-style presentations that address all areas of the curriculum and appeal to a variety of teachers. Sessions may be given by a single speaker, team or panel who can address the needs of the novice user of educational technology as well as the more experienced professional.   EXHIBITOR SHOWCASES Sessions offered by exhibiting companies to present products and services available on the show floor in an in-depth, informative, and non-sales atmosphere.   WHY PRESENT AT NCCE 2015? Opportunity to share best practices and hot topics with peer community Reach a target audience of Northwest educational and technology leaders Career and resume building opportunity Primary Presenters receive discounted registration Workshop Presenters receive a stipend for a 2-hour workshop, if not vendor-affiliated  *Deadline to submit is Friday, September 12th at MIDNIGHT PST. Proposals will be reviewed by NCCE’s conference committee and selected based on their alignment with conference strands, recent trends, and best practices. Notification of acceptance will be sent out in the fall.   The post Deadline to submit for NCCE 2015 is tomorrow, September 12, 2014! appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Grants, Competitions and Other "Winning" Opportunities             Supplement Your Stretched Budget GetEdFunding is a free and fresh website sponsored by CDW•G to help educators and institutions find the funds they need in order to supplement their already stretched budgets. GetEdFunding hosts a collection of more than 2,900 (and growing) grants and other funding opportunities culled from federal, state, regional and community sources and available to public and private, preK-12 educators, schools and districts, higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations that work with them. GetEdFunding offers customized searches by six criteria, including 43 areas of focus, eight content areas and any of the 21st century themes and skills that support your curriculum. After registering on the site, you can save the grant opportunities of greatest interest and then return to them at any time. This rich resource of funding opportunities is expanded, updated and monitored daily. Click Here to Visit Website Honor Exemplary Reporting The National High School Yearbook Adviser of the Year award program, sponsored by the Journalism Education Association (JEA)/ National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), honors outstanding high school yearbook advisers and their exemplary work from the previous year as well as throughout their careers. A $1,000 award for the winner’s school, and up to four $500 awards for Distinguished Advisers’ schools, may be used to buy equipment for the yearbook classroom or to fund student scholarships to summer workshops. The Yearbook Adviser of the Year will have travel and hotel paid for the spring JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention, where he or she will receive the award. The recipient will also receive a $500 prize. Deadline: October 15, 2014 Click Here for More Information Imagine New Uses for Data NASA has launched a contest that gives the public access to the space agency’s earth-science data on the Open NASA Earth Exchange platform. The OpenNEX challenge invites the public to imagine and build new uses for the vast amount of data to design and implement concepts that enable climate resilience. There will be $60,000 in prize money available to participants as a reward for their innovations. Deadline: November 15, 2014 Click Here for More Information The post Grant Opportunities September 2014 appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Would you like to take your students on the field trip of a lifetime?  You can this year for free with GoNorth! PolarHusky.com offers students ages 6-18 amazing learning opportunities with live updates from the field February through May every year.  I wanted to highlight this outstanding program now so you all had time to research and plan for this great learning opportunity.  Here are some details: Free to the entire K-12 community and our worldwide audience of all ages, our programming use the allure of long Arctic journeys pulled by powerful sled dogs and paired with Arctic research as the vehicle to explore natural and social sciences while we experience cultures and life in the Arctic. Since 2000 our adventure learning expeditions have circumnavigated the Arctic to observe, experience, and document traditional ecological knowledge and collect previously unknown in-situ environmental realities - while collaborating with K-12 students and teachers in state-of-the-art online learning environments. Every year inquiry-based curricula is developed to center on an environmental issue that changes to reflect the expedition’s current Arctic locale and associated indigenous cultures. Field data is incorporated in the curriculum generating a unique opportunity to learn real science with real people and real data. Data collected on the trail support us all in understanding natural and social sciences from an indigenous cultural perspective as well as the science community in their development and validation of models and theories. This is one of the best virtual field trips currently available. Both eSchool News and Edutopia have written about the its quality and engagement for students.  In addition to this years adventure "Racing Beringia" PolarHusky has archived the pervious 14 years of adventures. I would highly recommend going to: http://arcticblast.polarhusky.com/register to register for your account and receive access to previous years sites. In addition, the Racing Beringia website will give you great insight into the curriculum materials.  This year is a continuation of content from Racing Beringia so you could use the previous years events to prep your class for the new content starting this February.  If you decide to use this curriculum or have used it in the past, please share your experiences with the community. The post Explore the arctic live this year with PolarHusky.com Virtual Field Trip appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

The time has come for an overhaul of the NCCE blog.  We will be working over the next few days to bring a new look to the site.  The new theme will display more articles on the front page and make the overall navigation of the site easier then ever!  Things may be a bit wonky over the weekend The post Excuse the mess…. Site Update over the weekend appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

I was recently during lunch at a training, "what is the one tip that you think would help nearly everyone using technology that nobody knows?"  I found the question fascinating and thought long and hard about the concept and have bounced this one off of professionals that I consider quite tech-savvy and found that it isn’t universally known: Use Control-Z to correct mistakes! In almost all programs and with almost all commands or actions, you can press Control-Z (or Command-Z on the Mac) to undo that action.  It works in so many excellent ways, but, here is a couple of examples. Delete the wrong part of a photo in Photoshop?  Press Control-Z to take it back! Change the formatting in Word and now the document looks horrible?  Press Control-Z to go back to your last formatting! Did you past something from the Internet in Word, Google Docs or Excel and it doesn’t fit or funkified for formatting?  Press Control-Z to eliminate it! Many users believe that a bad click or action is permanent… not so!  Try Control-Z… and relax! What’s your favorite quick tip for teachers?  Hit us up in the comment section below and we may feature your tool on the blog! The post Tech-Tip Tuesday: Use the Keyboard to Correct Quick Mistakes appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

[YouTube Thursday is a series featuring our favorite educational channels on YouTube.  We believe in the power of video, produced by professionals, teachers and students alike!] I was recently looking for a video to show my wife that had made the viral rounds… the infamous "what happens of you boil a bottle of soda" video.  (For the record, it is disgusting, as this will show you.  And… what is happening there is real… I tried it with a two liter bottle of Pepsi and was totally grossed out!).  Hidden in the search results was this video channel, "Grant Thompson - the King of Random."  I am not sure if it is the dead pan delivery, or the almost science-but-sometimes-just-disgusting videos but I was immediately hooked. Here are some favorites: There are a lot of videos are are listed as "survival skills," and my favorite is the video how to start a fire with a bottle of water: ..or these quick tips: I would describe the videos as part irreverence, part science and part dry-delivery entertainment.  In any case they are amusing… and a bit educational. Random, indeed. Grant Thompson - the King of Random via YouTube The post YouTube Thursday: The King of Random! appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

This writing prompt will be near and dear to your students hearts: The Cell Phone.  Did you know that the handheld cell phone has been around for over 40 years!  In this writing prompt students are asked to create the "IT" cell phone of 2025.  The catch: They have to use their best descriptive writing skills. Absolutely no pictures. An extension activity:  Take the writings and make three copies of each. Next, give a copy to 3 students and have them draw the phone as described.  This is a great way to demonstrate to students how descriptive they are in their writing.  If the 3 drawings look fairly similar then the writing used good description, if not your class will have a good laugh! Another extension:  Web Designer Depot has a great blog post on the evolution of the cell phone from 1983 -2009 if you want to go into more detail. The Writing Prompt: Did you know that the handheld cell phone has been around since 1973?  We have seen amazing changes over the past 40+ years.  In 2025, what features, look, materials, abilities, size, battery life, functions, .etc will be the norm?  User your best descriptive writing, No Pictures.  Pant a picture in your readers mind with your detailed description of the most popular phone of 2025.   The post Tech Savvy Writing Prompt: Cell Phones appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

[YouTube Thursday is a series featuring our favorite educational channels on YouTube.  We believe in the power of video, produced by professionals, teachers and students alike!] I was recently doing some reading and research on the phenomenon of Internet trolls to help support a presentation I am working on about facilitating positive communication in digital learning environments. [Side note: Don't know what a troll is? Wikipedia has you covered.  I use this specific article with every college social media and educational technology class I have taught as inspiration for discussion about this behavior.]  I ran into this fascinating video about "trolls" that hand around the comment sections of many newspapers and news sites: (Seriously… watch this whole video.  It is good.) This video is part of the excellent web series BrainCraft, which is now produced by PBS Digital Studios.  The videos are short form videos covering topics related to psychology and neuroscience with an just enough polish to be very watchable without losing the engaging edge of independently produced content.  With only 37,000 subscribers, the channel hasn’t exploded into the subscription stratosphere but appears to have more stability with its association with PBS. Here are some excellent examples from the library: Is Google Killing Your Memory? (Spoiler: It’s complicated. Sleep Drunkenness Explained   All in all, these are excellent videos for those teaching psychology, biology or those looking to inspire conversations with your students about their brains. BrainCraft via YouTube The post YouTube Thursday: BrainCraft from PBS Digital Studies appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

I <3 this video!  David Pogue is a prolific tech reporter who now hangs his digital hat at Yahoo Tech.  This TED talk from 2013 highlights 10 technology tips that everyone should know, but, not everyone does.  These are great, time-saving tips.  I even learned something!  Enjoy and have a great weekend! The post Weekend Project: Learn 10 Tech-Savvy Tips from David Pogue appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Good morning from the Tech-Savvy Teachers!  We want to start our your week with a bit of technology inspiration.  We are big fans of David Allen’s excellent book and organizational philosophy: Getting Things Done.  If you haven’t read the book, the $8.44 you will spend for the Kindle version (or, buy a used copy for just 1 cent!) is the best money you will spend to inspire the development of workflows and, as Allen says it, "stress free productivity." In this week’s episode of the excellent Mac Power Users podcast from 5 by 5, David Sparks and Katie Floyd talk with Mr. Allen on technology and productivity, including a nuts-and-bolts look at his own technology-dominated systems for getting things done. The discussion is obviously iOS and Apple-focused, however, the information on technology applies across the technology universe. This is great fodder to start the week.  Have a good one! 219: Getting Things Done with David Allen via Mac Power Users The post Be awesome this week: David Allen on Getting Things Done with Technology! appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

How do you foster investigative learning in your classroom? Interest based learning has been a popular research topic in the Ed Tech community over the past 15 years.  Research has shown that when students have an interest in the topic of study, the students own curiosity creates motivation to learn the topic.  The challenge to this is that students interest vary so drastically it can be difficult to create lessons that trigger everyone’s curiosity.  One tactic to encourage interest based learning in your classroom is to incorporate the website DIY.org. DIY is a platform for students to discover Skills and share what they make and do with a global community. Educators everywhere are using DIY to explore skill-based learning and introduce collaboration into their classroom - during homeroom, Genius Hour, after school, and even regular classes. Blend the DIY Skills platform into your core curriculum, or let your students explore new subjects while practicing skills. Think of the spark you would ignite in your students by giving them the time and space to pursue their interests, take risks, and publish original works.  DIY.org reports over 100,000 active students collaborating, creating, and giving authentic feedback. In addition to the website, the DIY app (iOS) gives students the freedom to easily share their findings and creations with the DIY community.  Let us know if you try DIY in your classroom in the comments section below. The post Encourage interest based learning with DIY.org appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Now in its 7th great year, the incredible excellent K-12 Online Conference begins this week!  The K-12 online conference is a free professional development event that publishes excellent content created by teachers, for teachers on how to up your game with in your school or classroom. Each year, the conference chooses strands to organize their presentation, and this year’s topics are excellent for teachers of all skill ability teaching all grades, including Gamification, Stories for Learning, Passion-Driven Learning, and STEAM. The topical presentations starting next Monday, but, the conference kicks off this week with a keynote address from Wes Fryer, a friend of the tech-savvy teachers and well-respected professional development trainer and teacher.  In his address, he speaks about the need to ignite innovation in the classroom and pulls in some great voices from across the learning landscape, including someone you may recognize from NCCE: Enjoy this year’s conference!  Check our our commentary on Twitter, or check back here for our favorite presentations! K-12 Online Conference The post Excellent Free Professional Development: the K-12 Online Conference 2014 BEGINS! appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

I am honored to be presenting several sessions this week as part of my day job, Assistant Director/Curriculum Director of the state public virtual school in Montana.  I will be part of the team putting on the Online Teacher Symposium at the MEA-MFT Fall Teacher Convention in Missoula, Montana.  As part of that event, I will be presenting a new presentation focusing on teacher communication in digital environments, along with Susan Quinn, the Digital Learning TOSA for the Great Falls Public Schools and MTDA lead teacher. Here are our slides: This topic is very interesting to me and I will be developing future trainings.  If you are interested in having me present this in your district or for your program, please contact NCCE to discuss! The post Presentation Slides: Finding the Teacher Voice in Online Courses appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Happy Friday from the Tech-Savvy Teachers!  We leave you this week with this amazing TED talk from Toby Shapshak, the editor of Stuff Magazine on innovation and invention.  He points out that many of the technological innovations of the developed world today was actually inspired by necessity in Africa.  This talk gets at the core of inspiration.  Enjoy and have a great weekend! The post Weekend inspiration: Africa is the mother of technology invention appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

The K-12 Online Conference is in full swing this week, and I was particularly inspired by Ben Wilcoff’s presentation, "6 Second Stories for Learning" where he makes an eloquent point using Vine videos that our goal is to capture moments of learning.  Here is his presentation: This is one of many excellent, free online videos posted in the next two weeks as part of the conference.  View, think and respond using comments and social media. Have a great week! 6 Second Stories for Learning via K12 Online The post Be awesome this week: Ben Wilcoff’s "6 Second Stories for Learning" from the K-12 Online Conference appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

As part of the K-12 Online Conference, Jeffery Bradbury (@teachercast) has shared a very powerful example of the power of having your own PLN: What happens when an educator starts educating outside of the classroom? Why do so many teachers spend their free time blogging, podcasting, conference presenting and much more? What if the work they are doing outside of the classroom is impactful to their work inside of the classroom? What if… the work that happens inside the classroom is transferred back to the work happening outside of the classroom? In this presentation, Jeff Bradbury takes a look at a very personal subject all based on the work happening both in and outside of the classroom walls. Check out more about Jeffery and his Teachercast site! The post PLN Power: A Personal Story appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

By itself, technology can’t teach all learners as it is a tool or platform for learning, not the wonderful, messy process of learning itself.  However, in the hands of a gifted teacher, it can break down barriers making student learning accessible for emerging learners. I love this presentation released today from the K-12 Online Conference by Cheryl Steele Oakes on "Digital Tools for Challenged Learners."  It details some of the tool she uses to help challenged and emerging learners use technology to be more successful in their learning environment:   This presentation includes tools I have not seen in action before, and is well worth your 16 minutes!  Enjoy. Digital Tools for Challenged Learners- Leveling the Playing Field! via K-12 Online Conference The post Using technology to reach all students: "Digital Tools for Challenged Learners" from K-12 Online 2014 appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Looking for a platform that works within Google Apps for Education and supports computers, iPads, Chromebooks, and Android tablets?  You need to check out SMART Technologies latest platform: SMART amp.  SMART graciously gave us a preview of this exciting new platform at ISTE this year and we are VERY impressed with the open nature of the platform and the vast support of devices.  SMART amp’s goal is to accomplish every teachers goal, learning in the classroom: SMART amp is designed specifically for educators. Its power is unlocking the potential of technologies that aren’t. It enhances collaboration, content creation, communication, sharing and assessment from anywhere, on whatever device is being used. The video below does a great job of framing how the software can work in your classroom:   SMART is offering a free 90 day trial to test the platform for yourself.  We highly recommend taking the time to collaborate with SMART amp! The post First Look: SMART amp appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

You’re probably familiar with this scenario: students are assigned a research project, they go online to find their facts, and you are given a bibliography with good online resources that students found. When you ask students to show you where the information can be found on the website, they shrug and say "I don’t know - but I know I read it." Linking to an entire webpage may be good, but getting to students to point to a specific part of the web page they used for research is better. Welcome CiteBite to your research tools. CiteBite doesn’t just link you to a web page, but to the exact part of the page you are quoting (or referencing, or want someone to read when they visit the link). No registration necessary, CiteBite works by a)pasting the text you want to quote and b)pasting the URL of the site. Within  a few minutes, you have a unique URL that will highlight the text you quoted on the page itself. Compare this link (a list of quirky Amazon product reviews) with this one ( my favorite review on that same page).   Users can create hyperlinks to reference specific resources for  research papers, emails, presentations, and any other method for sharing information. Teaching students to hyperlink to an electronic source they reference helps create authority and promotes Digital Citizenship. It encourages them to use information effectively and know the source they are citing. Go try it yourself at http://www.citebite.com. The post From the Tech-Savvy Librarian: CiteBite for Research appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Thursday, October 30 • 4:00pm - 5:00pm EST Connected Educators Webinar - ABCs of Advocacy:  Making Our Voices Carry Election day is days away and advocating on behalf of education technology has never been more important. Gain a better understanding of the education issues under debate in the nation’s capital and state legislatures across the country. Learn about the successful advocacy strategies used by ISTE members, develop your advocacy action plan and discover the wealth of tools and resources available via the ISTE Advocacy NetworkRegister here | Attend the webinar here Speakers: Amy Perry-DelCorvo, CEO/Executive Director, NYSCATE Wendy Haskell, President, MASSCUE, and Director of Technology and Libraries, Falmouth Public Schools Chris Johnson, Chair, Advocacy and Public Policy, AZTEA, and Assistant Professor, University of Arizona Ally Bernstein, Associate Federal and State Legislative Counsel, Bernstein Strategy Group The post Connected Educators Free Webinar - ABCs of Advocacy appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

Happy Friday tech-savvy teachers!  I leave you this week with an incredibly interesting story from the excellent WNYC Podcast, New Tech City, on the open question of the amount of screentime that is appropriate for younger kids. This topic is, of course, very near and dear to classroom teachers as more and more technology is available to assist (or distract from?) learning in our classrooms.  Manoush Zomorodi takes a novel approach with this story: she asked the titans of Silicon Valley to weigh in: how much screentime do geeky parents allow their kids?  The answer may surprise you: Enjoy! The post Philosophical Friday: New Tech City Takes on Screentime for Kids appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.

The largest ed-tech conference in the Northwest is now accepting registrations! Register now to qualify for early registration fees and secure your spot for 2015’s leading experience to learn, lead and innovate.   INDIVIDUAL PRICING (before 2.20.2015) Full-Conference - $350 ($375 for non-member) One-Day            - $175 ($200 for non-member) Make Your Future Summit (summit only) - $220 ($245 for non-member) NEW! Full-Conference and Summit - $455 ($480 for non-member) GROUP REGISTRATION-THE WHOLE ‘OHANA! Opens November 20, 2015 NCCE 2015 offers an incredible networking experience and hundreds of professional development opportunities for your entire team. If your school or district brings five or more individuals, you can take advantage of our incentive program. To qualify for group rates, the group must be staying within the NCCE housing block. Group rates are for full-conference registrations and are the same price for members and nonmembers. GROUP PRICING STRUCTURE 5-9 Registrations- $330/per person 10-19 Registrations- $315/per person 20+ Registrations- $300/per person   LODGING MAKE YOUR RESERVATION TODAY!  NCCE has secured an exclusive group rate for $149 per night at the Doubletree by Hilton Portland. The discounted conference rates at this hotel are available until 2.22.2015 or until the limited hotel block is sold out.   The post NCCE 2015 Conference Registration now open! appeared first on NCCE's Tech-Savvy Teacher Blog.