AEA's Webisite

For those of you who have not been to the AEA website recently, it looks very different than the last time you most likely saw it. The thinking was to have a more “user friendly” site to the public.

Things you might be looking for:

Online Resources and the Databases:

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select, “media library.” This will take you to a number of different links. “ComCat”- this is a way to do interlibrary loan through the school library. If you are interested in this we will need to work to set up a school account, so please talk to me. “Media Net” is the AEA catalog of books, DVD and other resources. “Online Databases” are the databases that I have been highlighting over the last year. “World of Media” is the newsletter article and blog that AEA puts out about using technology and resources in the content areas.

 

Online Databases: I am in the process of revamping the main library page, the elementary library page, and the MS/HS library page. I will have all of these databases linked from the library page. If these are databases you frequently want students to use, you also could link them from your own web pages or have a link to the library page.

World of Media

Did you know that World of Media that comes from the AEA each month is now available online?
http://wom.aea11.k12.ia.us/

World of Media is set up into curriculum areas and offers tips of online resoruces and using these resources in your content area. While many of the tools that are out there are great for all areas, this does explore all areas that people may teach. This is also a great way to see what others are doing that is innovative with technology, creative use of technology, and is also student centered.

This is currently set up as a blog. It has older "world of media" going back to 2008. At this point you can not search for topics, but all of the posts are in the "in this issue" and by clicking on the arrows you can easily browse the titles of articles in that month's issue. Many of the short articles include links for the sites they are suggesting.

Discovery Science- DE Streaming

Also part of Discovery Education is Discovery Science. This is only currently available through Heartland (www.aea11.k12.ia.us) under the “resources and research tools”.[You can access it through Iowa AEA online (http://www.iowaaeaonline.org/) but since you have a Heartland AEA online you will be directed to Heartland's extra features, i.e. DE Science.  After you log in, you will have the option of going to DE Streaming (which I featured in the previous blog post) or DE Science. After clicking on DE Science, you will have the option of “elementary” or “middle school”.

Under the Elementary Science you can search: earth science, life science, and physical science. These are broken down into smaller topics with tabs and pictures. In the elementary section when you start to get information there are four levels “learn, explore, demonstrate, and extend.” There are also is a glossary of terms off to the right hand side of the page.

Under the Middle School Science you can search: physical science, life science, earth and space science. In the middle school there are virtual labs, explorations, interactive videos, integrated science simulations and more under the “Interact” tab. Under the “watch” tab are video clips and under the “read” tab are articles. Many of these could be teacher directed or student explored. * For those of you that teach the elements - chemistry or physical science- under the middle school section there is a "feature" with an interactive periodic table.

Discovery Education Streaming- DE Streaming

Discovery Education Streaming [also called DE Streaming or United Streaming]
Many of you are already using DE Streaming to show video clips on particular topics. For those of you that may not be familiar with DE Streaming, this is one of the many resources through Iowa AEA and Heartland AEA (www.aea11.k12.ia.us). Video clips are available on numerous topics. Besides showing the videos in class, these videos can also be a dynamic way for students to research about topics in your class. It is VERY easy to search topics. You can also download videos that you want to use over and over and save them to your computer. If you want a video clip at the last minute, this could be helpful. (There are clips for library and using the library, so you should be able to find almost anything that you want).
The videos that are available range from short (less than 1:00) to full length programs being 30 minutes to 45 minutes and some are even an hour. Many of the full length videos are divided into segments so you can watch a 5-10 minute part instead of the entire full length vide. Some of the videos that are in the 2 minute- 4 minute range are great for giving brief explanations on topics. One of the advantages of DE streaming is that you can pause and restart the video. If you are asking students to take notes from the video clip, if all students have a laptop, or are working in one of the computer labs, all students can work at their own pace. When they need to pause to take notes, or write something down, they can. [On a side note, having all students trying to access the same video can really slow down the down loading/ buffering of the video. If you have multiple videos that students are supposed to watch and have students start with different videos, it helps with the speed of downloading of videos].

Using the bookmark feature in Google Docs

If you are using Google docs and would like the option to have multiple assignments in one Google doc you can. You can create bookmarks. By clicking on the link, it will take you directly to that part of the document.
How to create the bookmark:
1. Insert your cursor where you would like to create the book mark or highlight the text where the bookmark will start.
2. On the menu bar of the document go to “Insert” and go down to “Bookmark”
3. A new window will pop up in the doc. It will ask you about naming the book mark link. After you have named the bookmark (or used the name of what you have highlighted), you simply click insert.
4. To add this to the beginning of the document, you will create a link.
5. On the menu bar click on link. Make sure you click for the circle “bookmark”.
6. You will have a drop down menu of the bookmarks you have created with their names. (Point out to students their bookmarks if they use this should have different names).
7. Then in the “Text Display” box type what you want to appear for the document.
If you are using Google docs as a way for students to turn in assignments, using the “bookmark” tool could be a good tool to use for assignments that are reoccurring. Instead of getting 25 new documents shared with you every week, 25 documents will be updated that are already in your Google docs each week. For example if you ask students to turn in an article every week with a reflection, they can keep adding to the same Google doc and add the bookmark where this week’s article starts. You also could use this for journaling and reflections on a literature reading. When we do go to 1-to1 you also could encourage students when taking notes to book mark notes by date, or by subject at the top. It then is easy to add to the notes, or to find something you may be looking for.

SIRS Researcher

In a previous post, I did highlight the use of SIRS researcher as a tool for major research topics, in particular research papers. I compared this to the new “Point of View” that was added to EBSCOhost this year. This can be accessed through AEA11 www.aea11.k12.ia.us under the resources area. It also can be accessed through Iowa AEA online www.iowaaeaonline.org.

Last time I blogged about this resource I mentioned that SIRS can help in the development of a thesis topic in addition to providing pro/con articles to give both sides of an argument.

When you first get to the information on a specific topic there is a Yes/No box. There are links to articles showing support and opposition of this controversial topic. There are also research tools to the side including: Timeline, Global impact, Statistics, Research guides and note taker. The Timeline, Global impact, and Statistics tools can be helpful in gathering information for the information, project, or report. The research guides and note taking tools are helpful in the organization of material. Below these aids are the list of articles and additional information.

Additionally, SIRS like EBSCO and Worldbook allow students to email any articles. SIRS also has the read aloud feature that many of the other AEA resources also have.

Task feature on the Google Apps Calendar

This is a great way to keep a running to do list for your self. It is easy to add to the list items to do. There are no sticky notes stuck to your monitor that might fall off. Besides the basic “Task” List, you can create an unlimited amount of to do lists. (Like everything else with Google Apps this can be accessed at home or here at school).

To create the to do list (if you have not opened up “Tasks” or if you have closed it previously) click on “Tasks”. This will add a task box to the right of the calendar. Under you default list you can simply click and start typing. If you are wanting to add additional information or a due date so that your task will appear on the calendar, you can go into “edit details”. To edit details in a task click on the task, and you can go down to “Actions” or click on the small “>” arrow to the right of the task. You can enter a due date. By doing this it will appear on your calendar. It will appear different than other calendar items. It will appear in the all day area and will have a check box by it. Also you can enter notes to give your self additional information or reminder about the task.

If you want to create multiple Task lists and you are wanting items to appear on the calendar, note that they will not appear on the calendar unless you have selected that task list.
At this point I do not see a way to share task lists, so if you are wanting students who are working on a project to share a list, or for coaches or departments to share lists of things to do, at this time, other than to have everyone enter it into their own calendar, I don’t see a way to do this.