Technology

US high school students want to SKYPE

mary w — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:34:51 GMT

I teach multimedia classes in a small rural school district in central NY and I am looking for a group for my students to "practice" using skype with as well as other multimedia collaboration methods. We can be very flexible as to projects, etc.

Skype

Jenny B — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:10:54 GMT

I teach a global communications course to 7th and 8th grade students. We are interested in utliizing Skype to communicate with other schools. Is anyone interested? We are very flexible and would be willing to accommodate time zone differences.

Interactive White Boards?, USA

Austin H — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 02:38:20 GMT

Hello All, I am an involved parent and I would like to get some feedback from this community on the use of interactive white boards in the classrooms. Do teachers find this useful? These devices are expensive. Are they worth the money? Thanks! Austin

Windows Movie Maker?, USA

Patricia M — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 14:25:52 GMT

Has anyone used Windows Movie Maker as a classroom tool for students? I use PowerPoint, but thought it might be nice to use the free slideshow software to educate students of its availability. It is not that sophisticated so I'd want to keep my project simple. Patty

Technology in Kindergarten, USA

Kristen B — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 07:27:43 GMT

Hi, my name is Kristen and this is my first year teaching Kindergarten. I was reading some of the other messages regarding how to incorporate technology in the classroom. My only problem is that I have a hard time relating some of it to 5 year olds. Does anyone have any good ideas on using technology in a Kindergarten classroom? I would appreciate your help. Kristen

Integrating technology in teaching using ePals

Jill K — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:47:31 GMT

Hello everyone!

We are a group of students in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina in Canada. We are studying to be teachers. We are currently working on a project on the use of technology in teaching. The focus of our project is ePals and how it is being utilized in the classroom. We would love to hear from anyone (teachers, students, parents) about the positives or negatives aspects of using ePals. We look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you,
U of R Students

Technology and Language Learning

Nicolas P — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:52:26 GMT

My name is Nicolas, I am studying to become an English second language teacher in Quebec, Canada.

I have classes at University that try to promote the use of technology when teaching a second language. I personally think that using computers to improve one's second lagnuage is a very effective method.

I would like to know if other teachers use technology in their classroom, why or why not.

If you do use technology in your classes, what kind of activity do you do?

Thank you for your interest.

Nicolas

Columbian Students Seeking Collaborative Project (Proyecto Colaborativo)

lety alexandra v — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:56:25 GMT

HOLA: Soy profesora de Informática de escolares de Octavo Grado en Bucaramanga, Colombia, me gustaría contactarme con colegas que deseen compartir sus experiencias pedagógicas y podamos intercambiar recursos con nuestros estudiantes, para que interactuando virtualmente puedan conocer mejor la cultura, costumbres, valores y demas riquezas que tienen nuestras regiones y paises.

Lety alexandra valencia

letyalexandra2@epals.com

ICT Integration in Education - International Symposium

Aida C — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:20:49 GMT

Hi,

I'm Aida Ciuca and I teaching computer science (including computer programming ) in "Henri Coanda" High School, Craiova, Romania.

We would like to know if your school is interested to participate on "ICT Integration in Education" - International Symposium.

How computer resources make teaching a succesfull for teachers and students?

Teachers and students can participate.

My email is aida.ciuca@epals.com

Kind regards!

Multi Media in the classroom

John F — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:53:25 GMT

How do you make the most of PowerPoint and other multi Media software in your classroom? If at all.

Do you develop your own shows?

To what end?

Is there room for more of this type of technology supported learning in schools?

John F

Swapping ICT Lesson plans, Malaysia

Jenny T — Wed, 08 Jan 2003 14:55:57 GMT

Anyone out there like to swap ICT lesson plans for Key Stage 1 and Key stage 3? Please email me: jentyh@yahoo.co.uk If you know of any good websites with these lesson plans, please do let me know as well. Thanks! -Jenny

Effective Teaching

lisa k — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:11:34 GMT

Technology is constantly changing. The www has now evolved into “Web 2.0” and is the second wave of the World Wide Web. Most of us still follow the textbook type of teaching, where the students are made to by-heart, recite and write what is taught by us. As teachers, how evolved are we in terms of incorporating technology with the curriculum?

In an era of global connectivity teachers should be actively involved to make the students aware of the digital tools available and how effectively they can be used for learning purposes.In order for myself to be effective, I started by creating colorful power point presentation to grab their attention. Off-late I have also started using online platforms to make learning a group activity, where students interact with each other and learn to create videos, photos and flash cards online effectively for learning purposes. Teachers should continuously re-invent themselves and should desire to be creative in classrooms by using the latest web tools.Such learning methodologies creates a sense of “self directed” learning and problem solving attitude among students.We can also check http://kathyschrock.net to learn about different teaching techniques used by different teachers. And other nice website http://www.funnelbrain.com, I came across for collaborative studies. I would like to know what are the methodologies used by other teachers across the globe.

How do you integrate technology with reading?

Erin S — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:05:08 GMT

Hello! I am a fourth grade teacher from Delaware. I am trying to find new ways to integrate technology into my reading lessons. I find that this usually focuses more on writing. I would love suggestions and ideas. Thanks! ~Erin

Teaching English through Movies

Ludmila T — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:26:41 GMT

Hi, I'm from Ukraine. I'm a teacher of English. Who knows where can I search films, movies in English? As well, do you have any ideas to share about using movies to teach English?

Thank you.

What type of technology do you use most in your classroom?

Tim B — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:07:32 GMT

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

SchoolBlogs and RSS Feed Question

Roxann N — Tue, 05 May 2009 05:06:29 GMT

Does anyone know if it is possible to add an RSS feed to a blog created in SchoolBlogs. I note that RSS is available for the forums, but haven't seen it on any of the blogs, nor have I found any direction on how to add this important feature. Thanks for any info!

Participation problems

stephanie p — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:00:04 GMT

I am actually a student in Teaching English as a Second Language at University Laval in Quebec. I am on my way to be a teacher and I am kind of scared about using CMC in my class. Obviously, CMC modes seem to have many beneficial effects that could enhance two types of language learning: general language learning and language competence that CMC modes themselves require. However, what happens when students do not want to participate or participate but in an uninterrested way? Is it possible to use CMC with groups with problems? Does someone ever encountered difficulties using CMC? In my opinion, CMC is a modern language teaching/learning. On one hand,Iwould really like to use it in the future, but on the other hand, I do not want to idealize this way of teaching and finally realize that it is only effective on one kind of student...

Thanks for helping me!

Stephanie, a future teacher

Using Email to Help 2nd Language Learning?, USA

Mike M — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 05:21:43 GMT

My students want to learn even the basics of a foreign language. They are amazed that students in other parts of the world can speak 2 or 3 languages. What are some ePALS-email ways to help them teach each other?

Communicating with Technology

Megan B — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:24:51 GMT

Using Technology for Communication

Discussion Forums:

Discussion boards are an easy way for teachers to connect to one another. ePALS is an excellent website. It allows teachers to search by category or post by category. This way a teacher may have a specific question but can get it answered through another teachers post. However, this discussion board is also available to students. This is a good idea to implement into the classroom. If a student had a comment about what they have recently learned they could post it on the forum and wait for classmates reply. A good idea for history would be for students to be placed into groups and assigned a topic/person. Then, the group could post information about their subject while the other groups would be responsible for reading their classmates text and responding to it with any questions or comments.

Interactive Chats/Messaging:

Interactive chats are a good idea. However, I would not allow students to use them because of safety reasons. However, if a teacher had a question that they wanted an immediate answer to then somebody on the discussion board may be able to answer it. Using this method would ensure that the teacher did not have to wait for somebody to read and post to their forum. Instant messaging is also a good idea for teachers. Especially if all he teachers of the same grade level had an IM together such as MSN. Then, if they had a quick question or comment they could IM one another and find out instantly. This would ensure also that the teachers of the same grade level were staying on the same task and time schedule.

Videoconferencing:

This is a wonderful idea! Especially for a school with low socioeconomic status. They, instead of having many field trips, could connect with someone in field who is an expert and chat with them. A teacher could also do this. If he/she wanted to become more of an expert on a subject they could find someone who is, chat with them and then gain more knowledge.

Podcasting:

This could be a really fun idea for students. Podcasting just may give some students the creative license they need to make a subject interesting. For instance, teachers could give students a subject and let them be creative on how to podcast the subject. For example, students could create a skit. I would definitely use these programs in my classroom. I believe students would have fun knowing they could present material in a different way that would reach other people.

Questions from a soon-to-be teacher, USA

Sara R — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:09:27 GMT

Hi, my name is Sara and I am graduating in December 2008 from the University of Florida with my bachelor's in Elementary Education. I am currently enrolled in a course that focuses on technology in the classroom. The information we are learning is practically breath-taking to me, as I never knew how much we could really do on the computer. Not only that, I never knew how much was really available to us, as educators, through the internet and computer software. I was wondering how technology is implemented in other countries. Is it used frequently in school systems around the world? Do you use smartboards and individual computers, or more like overhead projectors and other tools like that? Also, how do you encourage your students to use this site? Do you use it to gain information and share thoughts with others, or do you find your students engaging in it as well? I grew up in a pretty affluent neighborhood, and with my current status of student, I have not had so much hands-on experiences in the classroom, and when I am, I haven’t seen so much use of technology. I think the technological world is growing so fast that it’s almost hard to keep up with it and I was just wondering how you best keep up with it in your classrooms and your communities. Thank you!

American Secondary School Technology Class seeks Video Skyping with Clasrooms from other Countries

Jacob C — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:23:31 GMT

Hello,

I'm a an Technology Instructor at an American Secondary School. We are looking for other high school age classrooms to discuss technology and experience each others cultures. We would prefer it if you these other classrooms spoke English. But we can try anything. We are interested in using Skype video conferencing and hope to hear from someone soon. Please reply if you are interested. Let's get connected.

Thanks,

Jacob Crowder

Internet Safety, USA

Susan B — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:41:29 GMT

I would like to know how classroom teachers are protecting their children from cyberbullying and other Internet safety problems. It is a serious problem and I believe that educators, as well as parents, need to be very aware of the dangers of the Internet for children. Thank you for sharing your concerns and methods for protecting children.

Teaching with 1:1 Laptop Access

Epals Moderator — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:45:33 GMT

The Maine Department of Education has been in the forefront of integrating technology into classrooms statewide. Since 2001, the Maine Learning Technology Initiave (MLT) and the Maine International Center for Digital Learning have supported individual laptops and wireless access for all middle and high school students. The availability of computers has opened a wide variety of avenues for Maine teachers. We invite Maine teachers to share your experiences with 1:1 technology. How have you integrated technology into your classrooms? How have your students increased their digital literacy? What can you share with ePals teachers worldwide?

Computers in Primary Grades?, USA

Chris B — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 19:27:59 GMT

With so much emphasis put on mathematics, reading/LA, and social, it doesn't leave a whole lot of time for other areas. What are primary level teachers doing with technology in their classroom/labs? In the school I teach at, we are basically asked to cover keyboarding. I would like to know wath other primary level teachers are doing with technology/computers? Thanks, Chris

What to Consider When Planning a Discussion Forum Based Task

Andre S — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:28:37 GMT

Hello all,

I am a student and future ESL teacher at Laval University in Quebec City. I am exploring the use of discussion forum based tasks and would like some feedback on this area. What must we plan for when creating such a project? What are the dos and don'ts? What problems might we be confronted with? I have come up with my own assumptions in this area but I would like to get some feedback from others who have done this before or even those who haven't. Thanks for your feedback in advance.

Andre