Is it a fallacy to think that you can enroll your child in Virtual school and not provide professional teaching experience as a backup?  Added to the challenge of
being your child’s Academic Learning Coach, you must also be responsible for the
socialization and enrichment activities necessary for the development of a well
rounded student and citizen.  How are you going to survive?

The professional teaching staff at New Wave OLC can come to the
rescue!  Our unique approach to the ebbing Virtual Education movement can transcend your child from traditional to Virtual with success.  We are a
New Wave of learning.  Catch the Wave.  Blog us for specifics.

-John Vaslowski

If you are not familiar with word clouds, than here is a new idea to add pizzazz
to projects that will be upcoming this year.  Wordle offers Free software than can be utilized by teachers, academic learning coaches, or students.  What a great way to use an unique idea for all types of reinforcement.

You simply input a bunch of text, URL, or del.icio.us tag and Wordle creates the word cloud for you.  Simple, easy, and fun!  What a wonderful way to incorporate technology into your various lesson activities.

"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide.
The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the
source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color 
schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. 
You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with
your friends." - Wordle

Here is a valuable site for Academic Learning Coaches.  Pause for Later is a God send when trying to organize an already busy lifestyle and aiding your child's education at the same time.  With this FREE website you can download videos and pause them when the need arises. 

Simply sign up, and download appropriate video content.  This way, you can view the material with your child, ask appropriate questions to ensure comprehension and pause it if dinner is calling.  Then come back to the exact spot you left off.

Remember, being an Academic Learning Coach can be stressful.  You may have added this to your already full plate not realizing the time it demands.  Anything you can do to take the stress off will be beneficial to you and your child.  Being there only a short time ago reminds me of all the tools I deemed necessary for my own survival.  This one is tops!

I found this fabulous ariticle in Tech and Learning discussing 30 Online multimedia resources.  I could write about these separately, since I've utilize most of them, but feel this blog would be more useful to bookmark by including all at the moment.  Click through and get your favorites for the next school year!

Welcome to the another in a series of PBL Mania Posts here at Tech & Learning. For the next few weeks I am celebrating Project Based Learning. In this post I will
introduce you to some multimedia mega-sites found on the web that can be used in the PBL classroom.  Before reading  please take a moment to visit and subscribe
to my 21centuryedtech Blog by email or RSS and also give me a follow on Twitter at mjgormans.  You will not want to miss this series or future posts involving STEM, Flipping the Classroom, Technology Integration, Common Core, and 21st Century Skills,  So Sign Up Now! As always… thanks and have a great week.  - Mike Gorman (http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/ )
  
In this PBL Mania Post I explore Online Multimedia Resources. These fantastic
mega-sites can provide lessons and formative assessment activities for PBL. The
power of project based learning integrated with this type of  online technology
allows teachers to provide multimedia that can be used individually, in groups,
or even at home. The multimedia may be a movie, sound clip, picture, simulation,
reading, or game. In PBL, the multimedia may be an entry event, a tutorial, a
basis for further discussion and inquiry, or a tool that measures student
understanding. It could possibly even be an assignment or activity for students
to investigate at home. Best of all, students can even be in control of the
speed of delivery and even control their own remediation by repeating sessions.
Multimedia can be used to flip the classroom, allowing students to participate
and formulate their own inquiry through teacher facilitated posts in content
delivery systems such as Edmodo or My Big Campus. Let's take a look at some of
these large mega resource sites.

WGBH Teacher Domain - Teachers' Domain
is a free digital media service for educational use from public broadcasting and
its partners. You’ll find thousands of media resources, support materials, and
tools for classroom lessons, individualized learning programs, and teacher
professional learning communities.

PBS Teachers – Launched within the last year, PBS
Teachers is an awesome place for all kinds of educational multimedia. PBS
Teachers is PBS' national web destination for high-quality preK-12 educational
resources. Here you'll find classroom materials suitable for a wide range of
subjects and grade levels. They provide thousands of lesson plans, teaching
activities, on-demand video assets, and interactive games and simulations. These
resources are correlated to state and national educational standards and are
tied to PBS' award-winning on-air and online programming like NOVA, Nature,
Cyberchase, Between the Lions and more.

The Khan Academy – At Khan, students and teachers are encouraged to “Watch… Practice… Learn almost anything for free”. The academy has a library of over 2,700 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 276 practice exercises. They make it clear that they are on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace. So many people watch the Khan Videos but overlook their amazing Practice Sessions. If you have trouble because of school filters blocking Khan, look into My Big Campus… also in this article.

YouTube – Let’s not forget YouTube and its amazing searchable collection. These videos can be used for teaching a concept, providing an entry event, or providing the catalyst for a discussion that climbs the Bloom’s Taxonomy ladder. Having trouble with those school filters?… check out My Big Campus and You Tube Education.

Thinkfinity – This site is worth an entire write-up in itself and will provide a wealth of activities for PBL products. You will find quick and easy access to the highest quality teaching and learning materials. Verizon Thinkfinity offers comprehensive teaching and learning resources created by some amazing content partners which are the most respected organizations in each academic subject area and literacy. The easy-to-navigate K-12 resources are grade-specific and are aligned with state standards. This truly is an amazing online community where, along with great resources, you can network with friends and other teachers, and share ideas, plans and advice with others in the education community.

NeoK12 - Take a look and you will find a vast collection of resources and Web 2.o tools that might fit into any lesson. Along with pictures and videos that have been teacher selected, there are also some other amazing features. You can allow your students to create their own mashup presentations using Flickr and Wikipedia. There are quizzes, interactive diagrams, and games that can provide for formative assessment and problem solving.

Watch/Know/Learn - Imagine hundreds of thousands
of great short videos and other media, explaining every topic taught to school
kids. Imagine them rated and sorted into a giant Directory, making them simple
to find. WatchKnowLearn is a non-profit online community devoted to this goal.
Presently this community has over 30,000 videos and is growing every day through
contributions from teachers across the globe. The co-founder of Wikipedia has
launched a Web site designed to offer free access to thousands of
education-related videos for students ages 3-18. Larry Sanger, who helped create
Wikipedia states the site,  "will allow students and teachers to sort through a
library of online videos by content, and pick out what they need". Topics range
from math and science to history. The site is meant to house and organize videos
that are free and available online, yet which many educators may not have the
time to search for or may find difficult to locate

NBC Learn - While this is a pay service, I am providing a link to some of their free material that might just connect to your standards. NBC Learn is staffed by veteran NBC News producers, who have created scores of original stories and Town Hall events around the country, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, and others. The free area includes award-winning collections; Chemistry Now, Changing Planet, Science of NFL Football, Science of NHL Hockey, Science of the Winter Olympic Games, and Finishing the Dream. Videos and archival news stories are correlated to state standards and the Common Core.. Videos are generally short — less than six minutes in length — enabling instructors to engage and enlighten their students without wasting precious class time.

Discovery Education - This outstanding pay service also has a section that
is free, found via this link. Discovery Education offers a broad range of free
classroom resources that complement and extend learning beyond the bell. Foster
deeper engagement and provide opportunities for students to take charge of their
own learning with high quality, engaging, relevant tools designed for today’s
busy teachers. Take a moment to explore Discovery's programs and contests, interactive games, puzzles, lesson plans, videos and more.


Smithsonian Channel -  From one of the greatest museums comes a network, and this website filled with some amazing clips, games, and activities that might just provide the right spark for some PBL.

National Geographic - Find some amazing videos, pictures, segments, and stories that could be used to spark interest or engage inquiry. Whether it be a discussion starter, an informational lesson, or a question raiser, you will find some awesome content at this site.

History.com - This is an amazing site that is sure to provide a game, video clip, or article that will engage students. Whether it be a hook to begin a study or some outstanding information to sustain learning, it is definitely worth a look.

C-SPAN Video Library - A great collection of both short and longer video
clips that allow students to explore the workings of government. Did you know
that CSPAN also includes American History TV, Book TV, Campaign 2012, and Washington Journal? Best of all, check out a large number of resources on CSPAN
in the Classroom.

BBC Learning for Teachers - What an amazing amount of activities and resources, including over 9000 video clips. Enjoy a visit... you might just stay awhile!

PicsForLearning - Not everything has to be video. Perhaps you wish to use a still image to facilitate a discussion and promote inquiry.

iTunes Education Podcasts - Countless numbers of videos and series' that cover every educational topic  imaginable.


Pulse of the Planet - Each weekday, the Pulse of the Planet radio series provides its listeners with a two-minute sound portrait of Planet Earth, tracking the rhythms of nature, culture and science worldwide, blending interviews with extraordinary natural sound.

Center for Civics Education - Make sure you discover these amazing 
podcasts, slideshows, and videos. Not to be missed is the 60 second civic education podcast series.

Newton's Apple- Discover the fascinating science of the world around us
through over 300 video clips. Browse the categories, or enter a question or a
keyword in the search box. There are a number of videos with resource guides
included.

American Field Guide - Over 1400 short video
covering all areas of science.

Exploratorium TV - Browse hundreds of webcasts, video clips, podcasts, and
slideshows from the Exploratorium's collection of original programming, from
remote scientific expeditions to fun hands-on activities.

Chemistry Video Collection - Excellent selection
of videos that relate to chemistry. Contains experiments and many simulations
that might not be able to be demonstrated in a standard school lab.

Science Hack - Every video on this web site is screened by scientists to
ensure accuracy.

Math Interactive- MathActive lessons are Flash-animated math modules
designed for grades K-12. Each module features content that touches a geometry
performance objective from the Arizona Academic Standards for mathematics.

Sports Science - Awesome collection of short videos that will engage kids in science and math from the people at ESPN.

Science Videos - A selection of engaging videos and podcasts from the creators at the New York Times.

Copernicus Project - Selection of short biology resources and videos.

How Stuff Works Science - Excellent collection of videos that cover interesting and engaging topics across the science curriculum.

Ted Talk - What an amazing place to begin some deep and meaningful conversations and thought. In fact, there are some amazing videos if you are working on the skill of collaboration. Or, check out the hundreds of other categories.

Science For Kids - Cool place for videos and activities. But wait... while you are there check out Kids Math Games and Fun English Games. You will find a gold mine of resources that can be put into a unit to help your students master content in a project.

Google has just announced a new tool in search: The Knowledge Graph. It will be completed in the next few days for all users. The Knowledge Graph adds new queries to your search. Panels will be on the right side of the search results page with additional, factual, information about the title you searched. This will have more relevant, factual information about your search (like historical, biographical, news, etc.) and list related links. Google will also have you clarify exactly what you are looking for to help you better find what you need.  This should put an end to the drudgery of search hours of useless information on the Internet.

I know as a parent, our enthusiasm would dwindle once we began the research phase.  Countless hours of perusing the Internet to find ONE source of valuable information proved fruitless many a day.  I'm sure with the added links, searching will primarily be honed for the initial project idea

Woices is an interesting tool for sharing "echoes" that are linked to specific geographic locations or real-life objects.  This would be a great themed approach for a history project.  Just upload and give everyone the "featured tour".  You just upload and produce your own app.  Then send it out for others to view. There is even a bit of cash in this!

How It Works

1. Sign upSign up for a Woicesguides account. It's completely
FREE.

2. Create your guideUse Woicesguides smart guide building engine to create your guide.

• Upload     your
  custom maps or use Google maps.


• Define     as
  many levels (in case of indoors guides) as you need.


• Place     points
  of interest on top of the maps.


• Add media (audio, text, images,...) to every point of interest.


• Upload    
  images to customize the guide look and feel.


• Add    
  additional interesting information for your visitors.

3.Submit it for publishingSend the guide for publishing. Woicesguides will automaticaly compile and create the guide from your materials and design.


 4. Get the guide pubished in all major mobile app stores
Woicesguides will publish the guide in every major mobile app store*. Right
now, Woicesguides publish to AppStore, Android  Market and BlackBerry
App World.

At the last stage of the guide creation you will be asked whether you want to
charge users for the final app or not:



 

If you're a BrainPOP fan, you can now own the app.  Log on your smartphone and download the new featured movie app.  This app provides free timely and calendar-aligned digital content that rotates daily.  It covers a range of relevant topics including current events, holidays, and historical figures. 

The app also features a daily movie and quiz.  Judges loved its "extremely well-alid-out content" and the availability of movies about many subjects.  They said that students will appreciate the ease of use and the content.

If you already have a Gmail account, then take a look at the latest article from Tech Learning which gives accolades to Google Drive.  Here you'll have a one stop system to upload and download all of your documents even on the run.

Google Drive, Google's online file storage system, is now
live. With it you can upload and access all of your files including videos,
photos, PDFs, Google Docs and more, just like with Dropbox or Sugarsync.

Google Docs is integrated with Google Drive so you can work on all your documents, presentations and spreadsheets, as well as share
content and then add and reply to comments on any file (PDF, image, video, and
so on) and receive notifications when some one else comments on a shared item.
It has added some social networking features to cloud file storage. Drive will
also recognize text in scanned documents. (similar to what Evernote does).

One other nice feature is that you can open all these types of files (over 30
different ones) right in your browser, even if you don't have the original
program the file was created in on your computer. That's a big afeature.

You can access your files on the web and install the Drive on your Mac or PC and your Android phone (iOS app coming soon). There is also a screen reader for blind
readers.

You can also search your files easily by keyword, file type, owner and more.
Not surprising that you can search like this since it isGoogle.

If you have that wonderful Microsoft Word 2007 and are having issues opening
earlier versions, watch this video:

Opening Word 2007 Earlier Versions at Atomic Learning. 


This tutorial offers quick, step by step instructions that will take you just minutes to open that attachment.  Do be sure to book mark it so that incase you need it again. 

Here is another article by David Kupler which has great insight on new websites
for the gathering of clipart.  Do check out some of these for instituting
classroom activities. They make projects fun!

A while back I did a top 10 sites for finding images and clip art for education.  However, a lot of things have changed since then and a few of those sites no longer exist.  A handful of new and exciting sites have been developed for education for finding images, which led me to creating a new list. Keep in mind, when searching for images for students it is always a good idea to have adult supervision/filtering
solution.

The following list is in alphabetical order.

15 Sites for Finding Images and Clip Art for Education

1. 3D
   Toad- A innovative site with interactive
   360-degree rotatable
   images.



2. Behold- A
   nice search engine to use with adult
   supervision for finding images on
   Flickr.



3. Find Icons-
   A great site for finding free icons to
   use in the classroom.



4. FreeFoto- A wonderful site for 1000s of free photos
   
   that can be used by students.



5. FreePhotoBank- A excellent site for free stock
   
   photos.



6. Google
   Images- A great way to search for images as
   long as the safe
   search filter is turned on.



7. humanline- A new site for teachers and students for
   
   free images for art, history, science, etc.



8. ookaboo- A great way to search for free stock photos
   
   on a wide variety of subjects.



9. OpenClipArt- A nice site for free clip
   
   art.



10. Pics4Learning- One of the most popular image sites
    
    for finding images for education.



11. Picsearch- A excellent place for finding images as
    
    long as being used with adult supervision.



12. School Clip
    Art- Doesn't get much better then this
    for free clip art for
    students and teachers.



13. Sprixi- A great way to search for images with adult
    
    supervision.



14. Veezzle-
    A free stock photo search engine and
    community.



15. Visual
    Dictionary- Not only a great place to find
    educational photos,
    but also offers descriptions and more.

David Kapuler is an educational consultant with more than 10 years of
experience working in the K-12 environment.