Part of the Cool Sites series

Photo adapted from Flickr by kevindooley licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

Summer has officially started for many of you! I know that you will probably be relaxing for the first few days, but eventually you may feel the need to be inspired and motivated for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year! Social media provides us with incredible opportunities to choose the way we want to develop professionally. You can choose the topic, the medium, and who you want to learn from. You can choose the way you like to learn, because social media provides us with several multimedia experiences, such as webinars, LMS, live video, and more. The experience is usually dynamic and motivating because you are learning with others around the world! Additionally, you will be developing your Personal/ Passionate Learning Network (PLN).

Professional Development Opportunities to Choose From…

Free Programs:

• The 30 Goals Challenge- Over 5000 educators have participated in the 1st and 2nd editions of this global challenge for educators with the premise of getting you to complete 30 professional development goals by 2012. These are short-term goals, such as guest posting, changing your classroom environment, providing effective feedback, establishing an online presence, and more. How do you participate?
  • read the 30 challenges here!
  • add a video blog as a response on The 30 Goals Youtube Playlist
  • add your blog posts and thoughts to the 30 Goals Facebook group
  • add a comment or link through Twitter using #30goals as the hashtag
  • Got a smartphone?
    • Subscribe to the podcast through iTunes! Scroll down the page to see the button!
    • Subscribe to the Youtube Channel then click your Youtube icon, go to more, and the most updated videos will be listed under Subscriptions!
  • Download the free e-book if you want to accomplish the 1st edition goals.
• SEETA Courses- The South Eastern Europe Teachers Association offers several week courses with a guest author or expert in the field. You will have to register, but the courses are free!
• 31 Days to Become a Better Edtech Leader- With his vast experience, Terry Freedman offers excellent goals to accomplish each day that help you use educational technology effectively. Goals include conducting a SWOT analysis to organizing an inservice! Here’s a handy list of each post and the links.
• The 23 Things Project- Take Steven Anderson’s 10 week course that shows you how to use various web 2.0 tools effectively in the classroom.
• ASCD Free Summer Boot Camp- Webinars by various guests. First one is Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul
• Arts Integration E-Course on Education Closet- Registration is happening now for an online arts integration professional development course this summer. This was submitted by Susan Riley!
• Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning (IT4ALL)- provides free online workshops on Moodle for Teachers (Orientation, Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced), Professional Electronic Portfolios (PEP), WebQuests, Facilitating Online Classes, Grant Writings, TESOL, Integrating Technology and using Web 2.0 in the classroom. This was submitted by Nellie Deutsch!

Attend Live Events in Real Time!

You can attend several free conferences, webinars, Twitter chats, and presentations online with your PLN! These usually last one hour, but many conferences also offer free all day live streaming of their keynotes.

• Free Friday Webinars- Thanks to the American TESOL Institute, I conduct free 30 minute online webinars on the Adobe Connect platform every Friday at 4pm EST (New York Time), 3pm Austin, TX, 1pm LA, California, 9pm London Time, 10pm Paris Time, 11pm Athens/Istanbul Time, Sat 8am Sydney time, and Sat. 6am Tokyo time. Check your time zones here!
  • This is the Adobe Room to join! http://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell/
  • You can even join on your smartphone using the free Adobe Connect app!
  • Check out the Livebinder resources that accompany these presentations!
  • Catch past video archives here, http://americantesol.com/cafe/
• Attend the free Reform Symposium E-Conference along with 8000 other educators from over 50 countries. This takes place Friday, July 29 to Sunday, July 31, 2011 and we hope you will join us for what promises to be our biggest yet global online conference for everyone concerned with education. With up to 60 presentations and 12 keynote speakers it is sure to be an incredible event!
• The Educators’ PLN Ning Live Chats with Guest Experts- The Educator’s PLN is a great place to interact and learn from other educators. Join us for free live chats with various authors. In the past we featured Alfie Kohn, Howard Rheingold, Diane Ravitch, Chris Lehmann, Steve Hargadon, Jim Burke, and others.
• Watch Live Streams of the 140 Character Conference- Jeff Pulver has been amazing in getting celebrities, educators, and leaders in various fields to speak passionately about how social media is revolutionizing their fields. If you cannot attend physically, then attend virtually. Jeff live streams the talks! Follow the hashtag, #140Conffor continuous updates.
• Edublogs Live Events- Every week, attend a free webinar on various topics. Usually, Jo and Phil Hart hosts these free webinars that cover effective use of web 2.0 tools or instructional methodologies.
• Future of Education- Join Steve Hargadon live as he interviews some of the greatest minds in education. Past guests included Sir Ken Robinson, Alfie Kohn, Diane Ravitch, and more!
• Classroom 2.0 Live Events- Every week, attend a free webinar with an expert in a field or listen to some great authors speak live and ask them questions.
• Simple K12 webinars- Attend free webinars with experts on various topics.
• Attend Second Life Live Events- Second Life has several educational groups that meet weekly for free conferences, talks, workshops, and more. Download the software and register for free. Consider joining these educational groups:
• ISTE on Second LifeDiscovery Educator NetworkEDTECH RetreatEDTECH CommunityVisit Edunation Island- a safe place for educators
• #Edchat- Join over 2000 educators every Tuesday to discuss various topics you get to vote for and suggest.
• Education Chats on Twitter- Find out the dates and times of educational conversations that occur on Twitter.

Free Online Classes:

Ever dream of studying at Stanford or MIT or being taught by George Siemens? Well you can attend several free online courses taught by authors, subject matter experts, and university lecturers. Below are useful links to find a free online course in any subject!

• MOOC- Massive Open Online Courses where 1000s attend for free through discussion forums and free webinars. Follow the hashtag #MOOC for the latest MOOC. University professors, TED speakers, and notable educational theorists moderate these courses. You learn from the very best in our field! Topics range from Personal Learning Networks to Mobile Learning!
• MIT Open Course Ware offers over 1900 free online courses in over 20 subjects. You can subscribe by RSS or get e-mail updates.
• Stanford on iTunes- Download courses, faculty lectures, interviews, music and sports that will play on your iPod, iPad, iPhone, Mac or PC.
• 17 Universities with free online courses- Find out how to access these free courses from some of the most respected universities in the world! This article also describes the experience of learning through these online classes.
• 250 Free Online Courses- Find a list of several more free online courses from the top universities categorized by subject.
• Edufire Free Live Online Classes- Register for free and have access to various topics such as using various web tools or learning a different language. You get a live tutor on a video.

Find several more professional development opportunities by clicking on the tabs of Mike Fisher’s Live Binder.

Challenge:

Try any of these professional development opportunities and blog about your experience. Blogging helps you reflect and decide how you can apply this learning to improve your instructional methods.

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

What are your favorite ways to learn online? Did I miss any other great professional development opportunities?

Wow! It’s 2011! 2010 rushed by so fast. Sorry for not posting in 18 days but quite a lot is taking place and I have been trying desperately to catch up! Usually, I do an update of each month but since it’s the New Year I’ve decided to also update you about the year and upcoming 2011 projects. Sorry if this becomes a long post, but as you know there are several tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp that I don’t want you to miss.

December Recap

Your favorite posts based on comments and overall traffic:

• 14 Apps That Should Accompany You to the Next Conference!
• Let’s Play! 20+ Sites for Young Learners
• The Beauty of Sand!
• My Favorite Tech Tools, Apps, and Resources This Month-
  • PodOmatic- Easy way to podcast for free with embed and iTunes option.
  • Mindblowing- Gather audio, video and photos into a colorized mindmap. Enter the main topic, title, or theme in the main node then create branches with images, audio, or video attached. Send the mindmap with the attachments through email. Free version available on the iPhone. This is my recent review of this app which gives several ideas on how to use it with students.
• Interviews!
  • Building the Twitter Academy: Interview with Kelly Tenkely
  • Student Perspectives on Digital Natives & Technology in Schools
• My Guest Posts!
  • Living My Passion- Giving this interview was really motivating for me. I really loved the questions asked.
  • Bullies, Victims, and Voices- Posted on the Cooperative Catalyst blog! Lessons learned about dealing with bullies from my father.
  • Education Needs Reflective Educators- This was a repost on the Project PLN Ezine that comes out monthly.
  • 2ft Tall Tropies- This podcast/prose was written for my father, a championship bowler and inspiration in my life.
  • I write the weekly summaries for Parentella’s #PTChat, the parent and educator discussion, which occurs every Wednesday at 9pm PST. I also write posts covering the educator panels at the 140 Conferences.
• My Wikis and Presentations:
  • Blog4Edu- Several Blogging resources! If you need help gaining a wider audience or would like to have a crew send anonymous feedback on how to improve your blog please visit this great project!
  • We Connect- Updated! This is my PLN wiki where you will find several resources, tutorials, videos and more on helping educators join a PLN. Please feel free to use the resources in your presentations on PLNs and social media.
  • Technology 4 Kids- Updated with new resources and pages!
• Other NEWS!!
  • Thanks to American TESOL I will be conducting free 30 minute online workshops on various topics every Friday at 4pm EST (New York Time), 3pm Austin, TX, 1pm LA, California, 9pm London Time, 10pm Paris Time, 11pm Athens, Sat 8am Sydney time, and Sat. 6am Tokyo time.:
    Join me in this Adobe Room at the time http://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell
  • Happy to announce The 30 Goals Challenge, 2nd edition will be on bookshelves by the end of the year! Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Over 4000 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here, print it out, share it with your staff! Join our new Facebook Group, 30 Goals to receive support and mentorship! Thanks to Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul, for her help in co-moderating this group!
  • Heike Philps, Berni Wall, and me are heading to the prestigious ELTon awards in February! This is an incredible awards ceremony held in London on a blue carpet with spotlights. We would like to thank all participants, volunteers, and presenters who have been part of the Virtual Round Table free E-Conference for educators! Wish us good luck and hopefully we bring home the prize

2010 Favorite Posts

Your favorite posts based on overall traffic:

• 25 Resources About Personal Learning Networks
• What Will You Learn? 35 Professional Development Resources
• Free E-books and Resources!
• Learning Beyond Walls: 21 Skype Resources
• 14 Apps That Should Accompany You to the Next Conference

You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Perhaps you have been busy organizing your classes or preparing for the end of the semester! If so, you may have missed some of the tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp.

What you might have missed…

Your favorite posts this month based on comments and overall traffic:

• Educators as Collaborators: 25+ Resources- Are you thinking of having your students collaborate in teams? Check out these tips and free resources for getting your students to collaborate with their peers in their classroom or worldwide!
• Education Needs Reflective Educators- Read about the Blog 4 Edu (The Blogging for Education project) project, a Twitter account (@Blog4Edu), wiki, Posterous blog, and Facebook page to help support bloggers, blogging projects, and blogging challenges. Our vision is to persuade as many educational stakeholders worldwide to blog.
• My personal favorite post this month was, Sharing Our Voices & Reaching Our Audience- In order to get buy-in from other educators, our administrators, and the general public, we have to show them the impact of our online professional development on our teaching and the impact on the students. We need to communicate our passion effectively. We have to persuade, convince, and change minds. Changing minds means we have to get folks to listen. Therefore, I’m collaborating with other educators in starting a virtual Toastmasters to improve our speaking skills! Our first meeting will be on Saturday, December 18th at 12noon EST, 9am PST, 5pm GMT, 6pm Paris, 7pm Athens/Istanbul, 2pm Argentina Time! Enter the Elluminate room here, https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/dropin.jnlp?sid=vclass&password=LPCBZLAT4D3Y921591JT! Thanks to Edublogs and Elluminate for the opportunity! Fill out this form if you’d like to receive updates or help organize the event!
• My Favorite Tech Tools, Apps, and Resources This Month-
  • Posterous- The easiest way to blog through e-mail. Watch a video tutorial here!
  • Dragon Dictation- I work on so many projects, it is awesome I can use this app to give my fingers a rest and speak my tweets, emails, and blog posts. It’s a free iPhone app!
• Interviews!
  • How Do We Animate Lessons? Interview with Ken Wilson
  • What Does the Innovative School Look Like? Interview with Dr. Tom King
• My Guest Posts!
  • Passion: PASS It ON- This post was part of the excellent Passion series on Angela Maiers’ blog.
  • How Do We Motivate Students to Collaborate with Peers Worldwide?- This is the #Edchat summary posted on Berni Wall’s blog!
  • #Edchat: The Education Conversation- If you’re new to #Edchat, the largest education conversation on Twitter, then read this post with tips and ways to participate from the Really Good Stuff blog!
  • Learning Beyond Walls: Games and Wikis- This was a repost on the Project PLN Ezine that comes out monthly.
  • Goal Setting with English Language Learners and Motivating Adult Learners Using Skype- This post was shared in the BE/ESP Blog Carnival by Anne Hodgson.
  • Goal Setting with English Language Learners and Motivating Adult Learners Using Skype- This post was shared in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) EFL/ESL/ELL Blog Carnival by Sabrina De Vita.
  • I write the weekly summaries for Parentella’s #PTChat, the parent and educator discussion, which occurs every Wednesday at 9pm PST. I also write posts covering the educator panels at the 140 Conferences.
• Guest Posts
  • Everybody Can Paint by Sabrina De Vita- In this post, Sabrina shares an incredible classroom learning experience when one of her students took over as the teacher.
  • If you would like to contribute to this blog, please follow these instructions in this Google Doc.
• My Wikis and Presentations:
  • Blog4Edu- Several Blogging resources! If you need help gaining a wider audience or would like to have a crew send anonymous feedback on how to improve your blog please visit this great project!
  • We Connect- Updated the ELT page! This is my PLN wiki where you will find several resources, tutorials, videos and more on helping educators join a PLN. Please feel free to use the resources in your presentations on PLNs and social media.
  • Technology 4 Kids- Updated with new resources for Global Collaboration and Drama Resources!
• Other NEWS!!
  • Thanks to American TESOL I will be conducting free 30 minute online workshops on various topics every Friday at 4pm EST (New York Time), 3pm Austin, TX, 1pm LA, California, 9pm London Time, 10pm Paris Time, 11pm Athens, Sat 8am Sydney time, and Sat. 6am Tokyo time.:
    Join me in this Adobe Room at the time http://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell

Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Over 4000 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here, print it out, share it with your staff! Join our new Facebook Group, 30 Goals to receive support and mentorship! Thanks to Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul, for her help in co-moderating this group!

Please feel free to use any of the resources shared here or in the wikis because the ultimate goal is to get other educators involved in our PLN.

You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

I hope you moved your clocks an hour behind. Perhaps you have been busy organizing your classes, carving pumpkings, or dressing up this month! If so, you may have missed some of the tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp.

What you might have missed…

Your favorite posts this month based on comments and overall traffic:

• Learning Beyond Walls: 28 Resources for Your Students to Connect Globally- Are you thinking of having your students connect with students in another country? Check out these tips and free resources for getting your students to collaborate with their peers worldwide!
• Survival Tips for Teaching Kids English: 30 Tips and Resources- Are you new to teaching children or struggle with classroom management? Check out these free resources and my Pecha Kucha video! You’ll laugh, relate, and possibly find some great ideas to inspire the little angels in your classroom
• My personal favorite post this month was, How a Whisper Becomes a Roar- What do we need for education transformation? I believe we need educators, parents, and students in our social networks to collaborate and share our ideas in order to be heard. Collectively, if we collaborate, we have a pretty powerful voice that should lead education transformation.
• My Favorite Tech Tools, Apps, and Resources This Month-
  • Wiggio- I will definitely blog about this fantastic free tool for collaborating on group projects. Included are calendars, updates, scheduling, a virtual video meeting place and so much more! I love this tool!
  • Wetoku- Are you enjoying the interviews? I use a free tool, Wetoku, to conduct and embed the interviews. This is so easy to use and I love the side by side cameras.
  • Story Robe App- With this free app students create a story on the Iphone or Ipod Touch by using pictures or videos they upload. Then the students narrate the story with their own voice and publish it on Youtube or email the story to their parents, teachers, or others.
• Interviews!
  • Mobile Learning with Kids! Tips and Resources by Scott Newcomb
  • Effective Leadership: Interview with Patrick Larkin
  • Using Skype for ELT Lessons: Interview with Marisa Pavan
  • Teachers as Leaders and Continuous Learners: Interview with Dr. Doug Green
  • Blogging with Students: Interview with Greta Sandler
• My Guest Posts!
  • How a Whisper Becomes a Roar- This was a repost on the Peoplegogy blog.
  • Global Netweaver, Curator, PLN Builder- Howard Rheingold interviewed me about educators building a Personal Learning Network (PLN). I really enjoyed this video interview with Howard who been an inspiration for educators worldwide.
  • Mobile Motivation: 17 Digital Storytelling Apps for Kids- In this post for Tech and Learning, I share resources for using digital storytelling apps with your students.
  • Learning Beyond Walls: Games and Wikis- This was a repost on the Project PLN Ezine that comes out monthly.
  • Learning to be a Better Educator- This post was shared in the ELL Blog Carnival by Ms. Flecha.
  • My Cooperation vs. Competition post was featured in ESL-Library’s Follow Friday blogs.
  • My blog was featured as one of the top 50 for special education.
  • I write the weekly summaries for Parentella’s #PTChat, the parent and educator discussion, which occurs every Wednesday at 9pm PST. I also write posts covering the educator panels at the 140 Conferences.
• Guest Posts
  • ELearning on YouTube by Kimberly Bowen
  • 5 Reasons Schools Should Switch To Online Tests by Shankar Ganesh
  • If you would like to contribute to this blog, please follow these instructions in this Google Doc.
• My Wikis and Presentations:
  • We Connect- Updated! This is my PLN wiki where you will find several resources, tutorials, videos and more on helping educators join a PLN. Please feel free to use the resources in your presentations on PLNs and social media.
  • Technology 4 Kids- Updated with new resources for Digital Storytelling and integrating Mobile Learning to help language learners!
• Other NEWS!!
  • Thanks to American TESOL I will be conducting free 30 minute online workshops on various topics every Friday at 4pm EDT (New York Time), 8pm GMT:
    - Using Wikis to Integrate Effective Online Tasks for Learners, Nov. 5th
    - Cooperative Learning to Motivate & Effectively Manage Young Learners, Nov. 12th
    - Enriching the Young Learner Classroom with Drama Tasks, Nov. 17th
    - Using Graphic Organizers to Enrich Discussion, Nov. 26th

    This is the Adobe Room that you can join http://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell

  • I will be presenting at the TESOL France Conference in Paris from November 26th-28th. I will be presenting, Global Class Projects: Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom.

Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Nearly 4000 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here, print it out, share it with your staff! Join our new Facebook Group, 30 Goals to receive support and mentorship! Thanks to Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul, for her help in co-moderating this group!

Please feel free to use any of the resources shared here or in the wikis because the ultimate goal is to get other educators involved in our PLN.

You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Part of the series: Cool Sites by Guest Author, Shankar Ganesh

Make no mistake – there’s an evolution happening in education right now. Schools are increasingly embracing technology to enhance learning in their classrooms. Still though, a few processes, like examinations, for example, are done in the traditional way. It’s time schools get rid of the plain old pen-and-paper way of testing and move to online tests. Here’s why:

1. Time Saver

Since online tests are self-graded, Professors can be relieved of the burden of evaluating test sheets manually. There’s also a good chance that students will complete online tests quicker, once they get accustomed to the process.

This is perfect for public schools and universities – all the time saved can help instructors focus better on preparing lessons and course material. Students get their results in no time – enough motivation for them to get involved in academics.

2. No Logistical Challenges

Believe it or not: conducting paper-based exams is logistically challenging. Test times have to be scheduled and test sheets have to be gathered. There’s plenty of work involved and there are chances things could go awry.

An online testing platform eliminates all that cumbersome work. Scheduling tests can be done at the click of a button. Students can be batched and questions can be replicated in random order for each of those batches with little effort.

3. Multimedia

Schools have embraced multimedia by the way of instructions. It’s time to bring all that interactivity to tests. Multimedia is a great choice for authentically assessing a candidate’s level of understanding. Plain paper is inadequate in that respect and it should be chucked.

An online test can be embedded with relevant multimedia elements to make it more challenging, unique and fun for students. More student engagement, guaranteed. It’s not like assembling projectors in classes. Embedding videos and pictures is a piece of cake.

4. Low Cost

Development and delivery of online exams is much more efficient and cost effective when compared to distribution of paper and pencil-based exams. There’s not much effort involved in reproducing questions for tests if they’re done online. Scoring isn’t expensive as well – it is all automated.

In addition, online tests take away the costs involved in storing the enormous volume of data that is associated with the analysis of student scores and report generation. Online tests are your best bet.

5. Reduced Cheating

Better scores translate to more rewards in the US and according to experts, one to three percent of teachers tamper with students’ test scores every year. No disrespect to educators, but that means a few thousand teachers indulge in “actual cheating” annually (NYTimes story).

On the contrary, evaluation in online tests is completely automated – the computers know nothing about the candidates. There’s no way to skew answers and this is possibly the best way to do away with cheating in exams.

————————————————————-

Shankar Ganesh is a young blogger from India. He’s pursuing his bachelor’s degree in engineering in India, and is currently working to make sure that more teachers and educators get to know about Zoho Challenge, Zoho’s sweet quiz maker application.

Perhaps you are returning from your holiday or vacation like I am? If so, you may have missed some of the tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp. Many of these resources will help you with the upcoming school year! I apologize that I haven’t kept up with the blog much this month. I was busy getting my CELTA and teaching refugees in Athens. By next week, I will get my act together!

What you might have missed…

Your favorite posts this month based on comments and overall traffic:

• Learning Beyond Walls: 21 Skype Resources- One of the greatest tools you can use this school year is Skype! These resources will help you use Skype effectively with your students!
• Children and Cardboard Boxes-Students are discouraged from using their imagination and creativity in schools. Lecturing and continuous drill work are some of the problems with the education system. Read more how we can transform our classrooms so students continue to create.
• My Favorite Tech Tools & Resources This Month-
  • Wikis- In this post, I share with you ways to make your Wikis more interactive for students. Wikis are free web pages for educators that allow students to edit and work collaboratively through several embeddable tools!
  • Screencast-o-matic- This free screen recorder allows editing, uploading to Youtube, and more! I love this free tool for making video tutorials!
• Guest Post!
  • To Grade or Not to Grade by Tom King- Tom shares a video of his remarkable Saturn school where the kids excelled without grades! I love listening to the students on the video!
  • If you would like to contribute to this blog, please e-mail me at ShellyTerrell at gmail.com. If you would like to contribute to the 30 Goals Series, please complete this Google spreadsheet.
• My Guest Posts!
  • Planting Seeds of Belief- In this post on the So You Want To Teach Blog, I talk about encouraging students and educators. Let’s begin to support each other, especially, since educators often are under fire.
  • My Interview at the Linguistic Consultancy Blog- In this interview, I share resources for new teachers, especially those beginning to join educator communities.
  • Thoughts on Education Reform- In this post on the Peoplegogy Blog, I share my thoughts on education reform in response to Will’s thoughts. We disagree on many points and agree on others but I love that we can share different perspectives respectfully.
  • Fighting Those Demons- In this post on the Twitter Exercise Motivation Team Blog, I share my favorite video that inspires me to run. Read more exciting posts to motivate you as an educator to keep fit on this fantastic blog full of various perspectives from a supporting community!
  • Life’s A Carnival: Ed Buzz- This was a great education blog carnival I was happy to be part of and I hope you try submitting a post!

• My Wikis and Presentations:
  • We Connect- Updated! This is my PLN wiki where you will find several resources, tutorials, videos and more on helping educators join a PLN. Please feel free to use the resources in your presentations on PLNs and social media.
  • Technology 4 Kids- Updated with new Skype resources! Ozge Karaoglu and I developed this wiki to help educators integrate technology effectively for young learners. Read about digital storytelling tools, Glogster, Voicethread, and more!
  • Children’s English classes- Updated! Search by theme for book ideas and games for children ages 4 to 10 years-old.
• Other NEWS!!
  • I will be presenting at various conferences with many online opportunities for you keep a look out! This month you can watch my webinar presentation at the KU Village Conference featuring other great speakers- Dr. Alec Couros, Steve Wheeler, Alan Levine, Steve Fadden, and Connie Knapp.
  • I write the weekly summaries for Parentella’s #PTChat, the parent and educator discussion, which occurs every Wednesday at 9pm PST.

  Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Over 3000 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here, print it out, share it with your staff!

  Please feel free to use any of the resources shared here or in the wikis because the ultimate goal is to get other educators involved in our PLN.

  You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Part of the Cool Sites series

Image courtesy of @teflpet.

In the picture above you can see a great friend of mine, Emma Herrod, and her son who have video-conferenced with my classes and workshops. When the teachers in my last workshop interviewed Emma via Skype about our interaction through Skype they were excited about technology. Most of the teachers had been reluctant towards technology but Skype is one of those fantastic free tools that gets teachers new to technology motivated to try the technology. For this reason, I love to show teachers and administrators Skype. Skype is one of the top tools I introduce to teachers, administrators, and my students. This tool has tremendous learning potential, is free, easy to use, and has incredible buy-in.

I have been fortunate to have people in my Skype network who will Skype with me at the spur of the moment or make themselves available for my various classes in Germany. This year I have been fortunate to Skype in the following ways:

• Emma and her son Skyped my class of 5 year-olds. Her son taught my young language learners how to make an origami box.
• Emma also Skyped my adult learners to answer their questions about the UK elections and to teach them British idioms.
• Steven Anderson has Skyped my administrators, teachers I’ve trained, and adult classes. Topics usually include what makes a great Skype lesson and the ideas for integrating Skype in schools.
• Matthew Farber‘s sixth grade class Skyped my adult class and answered questions about the differences between Germany and the US.
• Candace Townsley‘s sixth grade class Skyped middle school students, my director, and toddlers about the Wild West.
• I have Skyped with several educators to train them online or their staff. Please feel free to ask me to Skype with your staff! I love doing this!

In the process of training teachers to integrate Skype effectively with their classes and using Skype to get my German students to interact with students worldwide, I have found several incredible resources. Feel free to share these resources with other teachers. Consider showing Skype to teachers taking the first steps with technology and who may be very reluctant to try integrating technology in their classrooms.

Skype in Education

Technology 4 Kids Wiki: Skype Resources
Using Skype at School (The Dummies Series)
Skype in School Wiki
50 Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom
Student Inter-school Debating with Skype by Lois Smethurst
Giving Students Skype Jobs by Langwitches
Skype an Author Wiki
10 Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom
Motivating Adult Learners: Skype an Expert

Finding Classes to Skype

List of Classrooms Ready to Skype
Want Ads by Classes Wanting to Skype for Specific Project
Skype Other Classrooms- List by Sue Waters
EPals Global Community

Recording Skype Sessions

Automatically Recording Skype Calls with MP3 Skype
15 Apps for Recording Skype
Using PowerGramo

More Resources

Improving Skype Calls by Sue Wyatt
How to Produce Video Interviews for Your Blog With Skype
Using VuRoom to Hold A Skype Conference
Make group video calls with up to 10 people with the new beta version of Skype for Windows

Langwitches Presentation: Around the World with Skype

One of the best Skype webinars I have seen! Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano’s Presentation, Around the World with Skype!

Challenge:

Try any of these resources and blog about your experience. Blogging helps you reflect and decide how you can apply this learning to improve your instructional methods.

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

What are your ideas for integrating Skype into the classroom?

Part of the Cool Sites series

Many of you have started school already and are integrating new technology in your curriculum. Wikis are one of my favorite tools for encouraging learning beyond the classroom walls. I’m sharing with you this post I originally wrote for one of my favorite blogs, ELT Digital Play, back in May. I hope you find the tips useful when creating your class wiki!

Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom Walls

Did you know that the average time spent playing video games per week is 18 hours? Imagine if your students spent 18 hours a week practicing their English or studying your subject voluntarily. Perhaps, you won’t be able to persuade your students to practice English for this amount of time, but you can get them to practice their English outside the classroom in a fun way! Many of the free games online are fantastic for language learning. My class time is highly focused on having students speak English, therefore, we rarely spend a lot of class time playing online games. Instead, the games are put on my class wiki for students and parents to enjoy at home. These games are optional, but I find that most of the children will play them at home with their parents guidance.

So what do you put in a wiki?

A wiki is like a class website, but easier to design. Wikis are free for educators and are advertisement free if you sign-up at Wikispaces for Educators or PBWorks for Educators. Both of these sites provide you with a variety of tools to embed (insert on your wiki page) to help students collaborate and build a language learning community full of resources. Below are some ideas to consider:

• Have a translation button to help students and parents understand the website
• Use video tutorials like the one below to help students and parents navigate the wiki

• List the vocabulary and grammar the students are supposed to learn with each game
• Conduct a parent workshop to teach parents how to help their children play the games and reinforce the language at home
• Supplement the games with related songs, stories, finger plays, activities and/or videos
• In the English Story Time wiki, I list an English story the student can read that relates to the theme in the game.
• Have students use other web 2.0 tools to provide support and excitement for the game
• Have students design their game characters using the Voki website or upload drawings of their characters in Blabberize
• Have students write reviews of each game and how they believe the gaming experience can be improved. Encourage the students to share this with the game designer, because they will be motivated if the game designer responds.

Adding the “social” to game-based learning…

Have you watched anyone recently play a game on their Wii or PS3? You will notice that these games have virtual worlds and that players can speak through headsets to other players that are located in another part of the world. Several of our students already play these games and they enjoy them, because they get to compete with others, complete tasks with others, and interact with others. Language is learned through social interaction so it is important to add this dimension to the games we choose for our language learners to play. Wikis are great tools for adding the social networking aspect to your game-based curriculum.

• Embed a Wallwisher so students can easily add in gaming tips
• Embed a Google Doc where students add tips and tricks to pass certain games stages.
• Embed a forum where students can discuss game strategies. Wikispaces comes with a discussion page.
• Have students create graphs and charts on your computer’s software and post them on the wiki. These graphs can chart their progress on their games like how much time they took to complete a level.
  • These graphs add a competitive edge as students compete to raise their rankings.

Useful links:

• WowinSchools Wiki
• Video Tutorial- Creating a PB Works Wiki

“If the child is not learning the way you are teaching, then you must teach in the way the child learns” - Rita Dunn

Challenge:

Try integrating wikis or games into course content to motivate students to learn beyond the school walls.

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Perhaps you were fortunate enough to take a holiday or vacation? If so, you may have missed some of the tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp.

What you might have missed…

Your favorite posts this month based on comments and overall traffic:

• Tips and Tools to Manage Your Twitter Time- Social media doesn’t have to overwhelm you if you know the tools that make your time more manageable!
• Favorite What Did They Tweet Series-Watch Seth Godin speak about education reform, share this amazing If You Give a Teacher Twitter Prezi, and find a cool way to make a nice page on Facebook for free.
• My Favorite Tech Tools & Resources This Month-
  • The StoryKit app- This free app let’s kids edit classic books, add narration, and share new stories online
  • Blast Follow- In a few clicks follow all the users of a hashtag on Twitter!
• Guest Posts- A heartfelt thanks to all my guest bloggers this month! Please leave them comments on their fantastic posts!
  • My Reign is Over by Kevin Creutz- Kevin let his students decide the curriculum for an entire day and was amazed by the results. This was part of the 30 Goals Challenge.
  • Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas? by Marti Sides- Marti describes how one action creates transformation and change around you! This was part of the 30 Goals Challenge.
  • Passing on the Baton in the Name of Reform by Tom King- Tom encourages to go beyond mentoring and supporting each other! This was part of the 30 Goals Challenge.
  • Giving In Is The First Step Towards Failure by Marisa Pavan- Marisa describes her first steps using technology with her students! This was part of the 30 Goals Challenge.
  • The Best Kept Secrets of Highly Successful Edu-Bloggers by Karenne Sylvester- Karenne provides us with useful tips for blogging.
  • Xtranormal: Text to Speech Video—A Few Uses by Kathy Niebuhr- Kathy shares innovative ways of using Xtranormal to inspire students with reading projects.
• If you would like to contribute to this blog, please e-mail me at ShellyTerrell at gmail.com. If you would like to contribute to the 30 Goals Series, please complete this Google spreadsheet.

Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Over 3000 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here, print it out, share it with your staff!

Please feel free to use any of the resources shared here or in the wikis because the ultimate goal is to get other educators involved in our PLN.

You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Part of the Cool Sites series

After an Edchat conversation about education reform,Chris Rogers, Jason Bedell, Kelly Tenkely, and I collaborated to organize The Reform Symposium, a 48 hour free e-conference for educators that will begin Friday, July 30th at 2pm PDT (LA Time) and end Sunday, August 1st at 2:30pm PDT (LA Time). The entire conference will take place online in Elluminate web rooms and will feature 20 presentations (30 minutes), 14 keynotes (1 hour), and 1 panel discussion (1 hour) on the this year’s theme, Innovative Practices in Education. Presentations will focus on the effective use of technology and various issues for education reform. This free virtual conference is more than any of us imagined and opened to learners worldwide! All you need to attend is an Internet connection!

Many of you are on summer vacation so why else should you attend this free e-conference?

1. Attend in your PJs for free!

Perhaps you weren’t able to attend conferences due to costs, travel, or a busy schedule. This conference is virtual and no one will see you so feel free to wear your most comfortable clothes, log in, and watch the speakers. It’s 48 hours almost continuous so you will be able to fit this in your schedule. You will be able to chat with other participants worldwide and if you have a mic you can even try to ask the presenter a question!

2. Be Blown Away by the Keynotes!

We have such an amazing line-up of Keynotes and topics that will inspire you! These include Steve Hargadon, Sue Waters, Angela Maiers, Richard Byrne, George Couros, Shelly Blake-Plock, Terry Freedman, Steven Anderson, Tom Whitby, Jo Hart, Phil Hart, John C. Carver, Patrick Larkin, Paula White, Monika Hardy and her students, Russ Goerend, Nate Kogan, Lisa Dabbs, and Janet Avery. Our presenters come from various countries such as Australia, the US, the UK, and Canada. They have presented and keynoted at conferences such as ISTE, NYSCATE, 140 Conference, and Educonn. You get to interact with them for free in your pjs! How cool is  that!

3. Be Inspired by the Presentations!

We have 20 presentations about topics like abolishing grades, Skyping with classes, Twittering with your k12 classes, integrating games in your math classes and more! You will see student examples and discover how teachers worldwide are engaging students. We have presenters from various countries including the UK, Germany, Italy, Australia, Portugal, the US, Canada, Greece, etc. Presenters include Mary Beth Hertz, Kevin Jarrett, Mike Hogan, Marisa Constantinides, Maria Anderson, Karenne Sylvester, Jerry Swiatek, Scott St. Pierre, Cory Plough, Silvia Tolisano, Alexandra Francisco, Joan Young, Kevin Creutz, Judith Way, Janet Bianchini, Dorie Glynn, Kelly Hines, Joe Bower, Nicholas Provenzano, and Tim Gwynn.

4. Win Amazing Prizes!

By registering on the website for free your name will be entered in a raffle to win one of these prizes:

• Edublogs will give away 10 free 12 months Edublogs Pro subscriptions. Features include: 10gb storage, no ads, privacy options, premium themes, and much more!
• SimpleK12 will give away ten free memberships to the EdTech UNconference, each valued at $200.
• ToonDoo will give away five $100 coupons which can be used to setup licensed ToonDooSpaces. They are private, walled social networks where students and educators can create and share comic strips within their schools or classrooms.
• Microsoft Education will give away a brand new Xbox 360 to one of the participants who participates in the most Reform Symposium sessions. Those who attend and participate in the most sessions will have their names placed in a drawing.

5. Get Continuing Education Credit (CEU) for Free!

Getting CEU or professional development credits for your certification can be time consuming and expensive! By attending this virtual e-conference and filling out these forms you may be able to save yourself time and money. Plus, you will be able to choose which presentations you want to attend at a time that is convenient for you. All our presenters have presented at conferences, workshops, or at their schools so they offer some of the best interactive presentations you will see!

6. Develop Your Personal Learning Network (PLN)!

Register for free on The Reform Symposium website and get connected with educators attending and presenting at the conference. We have over 300 educators signed-up who will be chatting with you online, exchanging ideas, and so forth. You can easily chat with them during the presentations, respond to blogs, write your own blog, and comment on their profiles! You will be surrounded by those who are passionate about improving education!

Challenge:

Attend at least one of the free sessions!

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Which presentations are you excited about?