This cool new resource by the Duke University Law School explains copyright, public domain and fair use in the digital age, through an innovative approach; by comic book. Look under the Nortel LearniT Support iT category, under Discover iT to see the full comic book.
The ‘Millennials’ Usher in a New Era
cnet News: November 17, 2005
Another news posting highlights the phenomena that the generation born after 1980 have a ‘digital native’ sense of technology and it’s place within their learning, communication, ntertainment and, of course, social life.
The author does a good job of not just explaining the phenomena, but really why everyone believes it has the potential to accomplish what we haven’t been able to architect on our own.
Nortel’s work to support new and innovative approaches to technology powered learning are showcased in their new site.
Case studies, profiles and background on campus/school environments that are well-positioned to take advantage of Nortel LearniT are showcased.
Nortel LearniT is pleased to announce a programming partnership with the Media Production Program at Orlando Tech. The school, a part of the Orange County Public School System in Orlando, Florida, is dedicated to preparing students for 21st century careers.
Under the direction of Television Production Supervisor, Mr. Paul Read, students from the program will produce sessions from this years International Student Media Festival (ISMF). The sessions focus on developing core technology skills among students and teachers. The finished sessions will be distributed through the Nortel LearniT portal as a part of its Support iT repository.
Cathy came across this great resource of resources. This collection is maintained by an education professor who reviews all submissions and does the catalogging and categorizing.
This is a terrific tool that teachers, students and parents could use to find key teaching resources as well as supplemental instructional materials.
The people from the company who manufactures the SmartBoard have done a great job in putting together very effective, brief, mediated tutorials on how to use their products, with an academic focus. http://www.smarttech.com/trainingcenter/tutorials.asp
I think that in addition to this approach, having students and teachers, create their own version of such ‘mini-tutorials’ via digital video, would further enhance other users experiences. It is our desire to foster such a creative, and useful approach to training others on how they are successfully using technology in engaging and effective ways.
A recent inquiry from an 8th grade social studies teacher about what could Nortel LearniT offer them resulted in the following reply. I thought that I’d share that so others could see what may be helpful in getting started using Nortel LearniT.
Nortel LearniT has hundreds of free lesson plans, video tutorials and other teaching resources that are designed to integrate the use of technology into your subject based instruction. If you are new to our site, I would encourage you to take a minute to look at our Getting Started page and a short (just over 1-minute long) introduction video there. It will explain where to look for what resources would be of interest to you on our web site. http://www.nortellearnit.org/LearnitGet_Started.aspx
Once you’ve seen the basic structure and navigation tips for our site, please feel free to explore. One suggestion to help your exploration is to look at the left most panel drop down window and select a technology topic that interests. you. If you’re not sure, start with Discovering the Internet; it may be basic information for you, but it will allow you to see the format for most of our video tutorials.
Next, do a search in the Lesson Plan center section of the site. Look for something that might be of interest to what you’ll be covering in class a few weeks or month from now. I like the lesson plan on Political Cartoons and it features a hands-on project using digital imaging skills.
As you find resources in these two columns you will notice that the 3rd, right most side panel will present an assortment of related or supporting content. Here you will find items to print, evaluation tools and different types of videos, those produced by other students, that sowcase the projects that they have been involved with. Take a look at the “Kids in Action” video on Student Perspectives on Presenting with Technology. I think your 8th grade students will enjoy seeing what other kids did with Powerpoint projects in their classes.
After you have had a chance to explore our offering, I’d love to hear your opinion as to whether there is anything that you are able to use. We’re always hungry to get feedback from teachers, and we’re always looking for new ways to help educators have great experiences with the technology in their classrooms.
I have been a fan of the work that the Benton Foundation has done for years and this is no exception. The Digital Divide Network is the Internet’s largest community for educators, activists, policy makers and concerned citizens working to bridge the digital divide. At DDN, you can build your own online community, publish a blog, share documents and discussions with colleagues, and post news, events and articles. Membership is free and open to all. Check it out online at: www.digitaldividenetwork.org
It seems like there is a new report out every week about video games and learning. Some tout it’s potential to positively impact learning, while others raise concerns about being ‘too soft’ an approach to teaching our kids. Last week I had the pleasure of learning about an exciting gaming project being co-developed by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Disney Online.
Hot Shot Business is a free Internet simulation game for 9-12 year olds that teaches kids about running their own businesses. The game blends the fun of interactive gaming, with important, real-world lessons that teach kids entrepreneurial concepts.
In the same vein as the Oregon Trail, Roller Coaster Tycoon and other simulation games, Hot Shot Business aims to engage, but to pack some valuable experiences in those having fun.
Take a look at the site yourself and tell us what you think about this approach to teaching and learning.
This NSF funded project does a good job of bringing together the elements that engage and allow for interaction that builds learning. Teachers’ Domain is a project by the Public TV station in Boston, producer of many of the leading scientific programs on PBS (like NOVA) and was built to showcase how their TV programs could be restructured to have more value online.
What interests me most is the design of the ‘courses’ that support the teaching of specific subjects. It is through the subject pedagogy that technology is embedded, and hence, the literacy skills are integrated.
What Nortel LearniT could and should provide are short tutorials that work around ‘templates’ of the materials that we can collect and/or provide that allow other teachers to do the same thing, but with other rich media materials that they have available. Growing adoption of rich media repositories from Discovery Education (United Streaming), NASA and others, are ideally postured to work with this strategy. What needs to be built, are the ‘roadmaps’, such as the structure within Teachers’ Domain, that allows teachers to build a true learning experience around their core subject resources.
Do you know of other examples of similar online training using rich media collections?