When you hear the word wiki, you probably think of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia anyone can edit. Wikipedia may be the largest wiki, but educators are creating their own wikis, large and small, to improve learning, communication, and collaboration.

A wiki is a website designed for multiple people to collaborate by adding and editing content. Some say wiki is a acronym for What I Know Is since a wiki as designed for multiple authors. However, the word wiki is actually Hawaiian and means quick. Wikis really are a fast way to make a web page or site. If you can use Microsoft Word, you can use a wiki.

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Comedian Don McMillan delivers a short sketch about the misuse and abuse of PowerPoint. As a professional who probably uses Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote regularly, it's a good idea to avoid the mistakes Don outlines in his comic routine. If you have students use slideshows as visual aids in classroom presentations, it's important to teach them about what makes good and bad slideshows. Watch the four-minute video of Dan's comedic take on bad PowerPoint presentations:

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"Action is eloquence." ~William Shakespeare

"Talk doesn't cook rice." ~Chinese Proverb

There's so much that needs to be done to support teachers to perform at their best, I sometimes don't know where to start. But what I do know is that we have to take action. We can't afford to get bogged down in endless theoretical debates that don't produce actual steps to be taken. Looking at the landscape of education in Arizona, there ought to be more change happening. Of course, there are significant obstacles, including the recent and extremely acute budget cuts. But the truth is some arguments simply go on and on and never produce real outcomes.

If we're not happy with our professional development, we educators need to take charge and do something about it. We can't wait for outside entities to get this accomplished for us. We can't waste the time. Our mission is too urgent. Students don't stop going to school. They can't take a decade off while we sort it all out. For students, the opportunity to learn is now. Or never.

That's why here at the Center we're focused on action. We talk to educators, find out what they need and put together programs that speak to these needs. We have a healthy impatience with postponement and delay. In a sense, action is our study, because by providing new professional development we can see what works and what doesn't. And in the process, teachers are learning, being rejuvenated and gaining new tools to excel.

Now, as we're planning for next year's professional development calendar, we want to hear from you. Share your thoughts with us on teacher quality and professional development. What do you need? What type of program or training would make a real difference in your practice? Give us your input. Respond directly to us by email at info@azk12.org. Or visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/azk12 to tell us what type of support you'd like to see included in the future. We're ready to take action.

We’re celebrating our 10-year anniversary at the Arizona K-12 Center this year. Just the fact that we’re still here, providing quality professional development for teachers, is something to feel good about. Too often, we launch new efforts in education, but don’t stay committed long enough to realize real results. And as we all know, you don’t change schools and student performance overnight. Fortunately, the state has allowed us time to grow and establish programs that empower teachers to enhance their practices and be at their best for their students. And we are grateful for this.

I personally joined the Center five years ago. What started as an exciting new opportunity now feels more like a calling. The privilege to collaborate with colleagues in order to create resources teachers really need is one I don’t take lightly. It’s been a thrill to see teachers grow professionally and connect with other educators who share their passion. It’s been especially satisfying to watch teachers become empowered and take on the leadership roles so critical to our schools.
Continue reading "Staying Power: Ten years and counting."

Of course you can find the Arizona K12 Center online here at azk12.org. But like other organizations, you can find the Center on the social networks Facebook and Twitter.

On Facebook, click on over to the Arizona K12 Center page at facebook.com/azk12. Not only can you read updates from the Center itself, but you can connect with more than 500 "fans" who are friends of the Center and education in Arizona. The page's "wall" includes updates about the Center, information about upcoming events, photos, web links, and musings. If you're a Facebook user, be sure to click the Become a Fan button so Arizona K12 Center's posts appear in your personal News Feed.
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Posterous is a web publishing service that bills itself as "the dead simple place to post everything." Like Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, and countless others, Posterous is a blogging platform. Unlike others, Posterous focuses on publishing by email.

The subject of your email is the title of the blog post. The body of the email is the content of that post. Once the email is sent, it's instantly published online. In fact, to get started, all a user had to do is email their first blog post to post@posterous.com and a blog is automatically created. Posterous sends an email back confirming that the post has been received and that a new blog has been created. The message includes a link to the new blog and information about optionally setting a password and other options.

Continue reading ""Dead Simple" Blogs and Podcasts with Posterous"

Skype is a popular videoconferencing tool. It's free and more and more educators are seeing the value of making connections locally, regionally, and globally.

Silvia Rosenthal Tolisana, a 21st Century Learning Specialist in Jacksonville, Florida, has plenty of experience using Skype in classrooms. Silvia created a video for the 2009 K12 Online Conference titled "Around the World with Skype" where she shares step-by-step instructions on getting started. More impressively, she gives advice from real teachers on how to prepare a class for successful Skype connections.

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The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. The K-12 Online Conference is a free and open to anyone. The 2009 sessions have been posted. The sessions are for educators by educators from around the world. All session are online and most can be downloaded from the K-12 Online Conference podcast page in iTunes. You're welcome to simply view the session or participate by adding blog comments or joining the conference's Ning social network.

I haven't had the chance to view all of the session yet, but I would like to share four that I have enjoyed.

Continue reading "2009 K-12 Online Conference"

My students loved playing game shows. They are a great way to bring novelty and variety into the classroom. The questions, competition, and fun can make reviewing content something to look forward to. When I first started teaching I used a pocket chart with note cards. The note cards were arranged into categories and had a point value on one side and a question on the other. Students were divided into teams and I played the part of the host, complete with a sports jacket. Everyone looked forward to game show day, even though it meant a test was coming up.
Continue reading "Game Shows in the Classroom with JeopardyLabs"

We've all sat through our share of presentations that heavily relied on slides filled with bullet points. Rarely does anyone look forward to or remember much from these types of presentations, yet they are very common. It is frustrating for audiences to witness the speaker turn away from them to read from the projector screen. Nonetheless, presenters often rely on their slides for what they are going to say. Bullet points are routinely used because some presenters think by including so much information that they are being thorough. Another reason for slides with loads of text is that the presenter can print them out for an instant handout.

PowerPoint and Keynote are the two big names when it comes to presentation software. PowerPoint is part of Microsoft Office for Windows and Macintosh. Keynote is part of iWork and is only for Apple computers. Both pieces of software are guilty of guiding users toward using slides with titles and bullet points. Their slide templates are filled with layouts that include text boxes for titles and bulleted lists. Despite their tendency to lead users toward creating "death by bullet point" style slideshows, PowerPoint and Keynote support Presenter view. In Presenter view, also known as Presentation Mode or Presenter Tools, the speaker views his or her notes privately on the computer's screen while the audience sees only the slide on the projector's screen.

Continue reading "Presenter Notes Improve Slideshow Presentations"

Today's teachers typically use more than one computer. They often access their files from home, the classroom, and computer lab. Many educators have at least one flash drive for saving and transporting files. Some even clutter their inboxes by emailing files to themselves. There's a free solution to accessing files on multiple computers that is practically invisible to the user: Dropbox. No discs, drives, or emails are necessary. All you need is an internet connection.

Continue reading "Dropbox for File Syncing and Online Backup"

When you think of comics, you probably think of characters who wear tights and can fly. Sure, many comics are about super heroes, but comics can be about any topic. The combination of text and drawings in a comic make them a powerful communication medium. In fact, when Google released its Chrome web browser, it commissioned a comic book to tell the press and public all about their new product. There's no crime-fighting or capes in Google's comic. Instead, it features normal characters showing and telling why Google made its own browser and why they think it is better than other browsers.
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The Arizona K12 Center is offering a new Technology Integration Series class, Google Tools. The workshop meets four evenings, and it is packed with Google goodness. I (Tony Vincent) am the instructor, and I am very excited about the services Google provides. Participants can look forward to plenty of classroom examples and hands-on time. Below is the description of the Google Tools class.
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Wallwisher is a website where you can make an online bulletin board where anyone can post virtual sticky notes. It can make a great discussion, brainstorming, survey, question, or assessment tool. The teacher can start a new wall and one or many people can post sticky notes to the wall.

Educators are using Wallwisher in different ways. For example, Steve Kirkpatrick's elementary students in Salford, U.K. posted to their Dinosaur Question Wall. Questions like "Which Baby dinosaurs were the biggest after they have just hatched?" and "Were there any swimming dinosaurs?" will serve as research topics. Similarly, Kathleen McGready's students posted what they know about dinosaurs to their What did you learn about dinosaurs? wall. Twelfth grade biology students in Andrew Douchy's class brainstormed what they already knew about evolution before beginning to study the topic in class. Jim Hansen has a wall called From the Desktop of Mr. Hansen where he posts announcements. Jim's wall is embedded as a web widget in his New Searles 234 class blog. James Hollis asked SMART Board using educators on Twitter and Ning to post their thoughts on the wall he started called Why Do Teachers Love SMART Boards.

Continue reading "Wallwisher for Collaborative Virtual Sticky Notes"

Discovery Education has posted a series of videos all about Web 2.0. Hall Davidson and Steve Dembo host seven short videos that explain the concept of Web 2.0 and how these new web resources can be used by educators. Together the videos total about an hour of viewing time. The videos have been embedded below.

Introduction to Web 2.0

Resources mentioned: Wordle, GoAnimate, and SecretBuilders. 

Continue reading "Videos About Web 2.0 Tools"