Tech Chick Tips

Tips and tricks for teaching 21st century students using 21st century skills from two Texas educators obsessed with anything digital! RSS Subscribe to RSS

Podcast

We have a podcast now! Yeah, we’re big time now! Subscribe and make us feel special! The link to the feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/TechChickTips. That will take you to a page kind of like this one with an episode guide and another way to subscribe. If you use iTunes, click here to subscribe, and if you use other podcast catchers, you might be able to click here to subscribe automatically. Alternately, you can click on the links below to listen without subscribing at all… But we’d MUCH rather you subscribe!

Episode 42
So we felt guilty about the lapse between episodes 40 and 41, so we’re following up 41 with 42-brief, but still full of the goodness you’ve come to expect! *uh…any extraneous noises may be Anna’s kids, but there really aren’t many–they did a great job and were quiet while we recorded! :-) {update by Anna: Let’s play “listen for the kids!” First person who hears them arguing in the background gets a free t-shirt!}

Click here to listen

Shout Outs:

* @njtechteacher for Panwaba even though it was already on our list. Thanks for sharing ideas!
* @dmcordell for Student 2.0 site.
* @katiemorrow is a new follower and is a new blogger–go by and encourage her AND learn from her!
* @BarbInNebraska and @cnansen for helping us call out a plagiarizer!
* Our Twitter network for contributing links on search engines that we added to ours for our upcoming article (SLJ-available April 1st).
* btw…if you’re not on twitter yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! What a great learning resource!

Resources

TweetMap
http://www.mytweetmap.com/
Twitter and Google Maps mashup that works as a Twitter client and allows you to see where your Friends’ tweets come from (thanks to @cnansen for sharing his students’ work).

TeachStrong
http://teachstrongnetwork.ning.com/
An online Professional Learning Community for educators interested in becoming stronger teachers through the use of digital technologies.

BeFunky
http://www.befunky.com/
Two free online applications which will allow users to create self-expressions. “Cartoonizer” re-creates images/videos by turning them into digital paintings, cartoons and comics. Uvatar (coming from avatar where u represents “You”) which helps to create an exact illustrated representation of its owner. We think the cartoonizer may be helpful for creating avatars for students to use to protect their identity.

Electronic Student Portfolios
http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic82.htm
Fairly comprehensive listing of URLs all about portfolios for teachers and students.

Diigo
http://www.diigo.com/
Bookmark and highlight the web. Add sticky notes. Access and search your findings from any PC or iPhone. Create groups to pool resources for specific projects.

Bonus song: Ctrl Z by Popple

Episode 35

Our supplemental podcast to our latest feature article in the School Library Journal, Listen Up!, is now online. Some sound issues, I’m afraid, and then the end was double-compressed (don’t ask!) but I think you can hear it fine enough.

This podcast’s links can be found at this link instead of here on the main page. There are MANY links. The topic of this podcast was… podcasts. Podcasts to use in your curriculum. And by the way, maybe we’ll off a special prize to the person who can count the number of times we say “check it out!” I think Helen cut a few of them in post production! :)

Episode 34

Shout-Outs

  • Lorie–we love you and are thinking about you!
  • Joel Adkins–correct location–really, he’s in Eanes ISD, not Deerpark!
  • All out listeners–we’re thankful for you!

Resources

Cyberethics for Kids
http://www.cybercrime.gov/rules/kidinternet.htm
Ethics modules with scenarios that kids can respond to, while learning more about ethics, copyright, and fair use.

Scratch
http://scratch.mit.edu/
Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web. Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, students learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.

Elluminate
http://www.elluminate.com/
Elluminate, Inc., a leading provider of live eLearning and web collaboration solutions, announced that it is offering any K-12 academic institution free, unlimited access of Elluminate Live!® Lite Edition™ for one year. The product, which features full-duplex audio, shared whiteboard, public/private chat, math symbol library, graphing calculator, and advanced moderator tools, adds live interaction and collaboration to coursework. Also includes a moodle integration plug-in. (Click here for the press release)

Yugma
http://www.yugma.com
The name Yugma is a word from the Sanskrit language meaning “the state of being in unified collaboration.” Yugma is a free web collaboration service that enables people to instantly connect over the internet to communicate and share content and ideas using any application or software. Free and Premium versions available.

FreeRice
http://www.freerice.com/index.php
Earn rice for people around the world while building your vocabulary. This not-for-profit site lets you test and build your vocabulary, and for every word you get right, advertisers donate 10 grains of rice. Go forth–learn and donate rice!

Integration Ideas

Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg (portfolio edition)–great way to spark creative writing! Could use any book, really, but this one just caught our interest. *Update–just went to Chris’ site and he’s having a story-writing contest for this book (talk about perfect timing)! Open to grades 2-8, stories must be submitted by January 15, 2008. After your students write their stories, have them create a digital version to share with their peers and families.

Episode 32

Quick episode, but we have so much to share that we have to get this out to you (that and we haven’t posted in a while! sorry!). We’re at Tech Forum 2007 in Round Rock, TX, learning with some great speakers which you’ll hear more about later.

Resources

http://twitter.com
Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing. It is about that social network, but it’s also about learning. We’re amazed at all the little “twitbits” that pop up in conversations with people we follow. Feel free to follow us as we explore this tool (digimom and techchick94).
http://voicethread.com/
This is a cool online tool that allows you to import images, documents, and videos and then add voice to it to have collaborative conversations.

http://flixn.com/
Another online tool that allows you to create quick video clips that can be shared from the flixn website. All that is needed is a free login, a webcam, and you’re ready to go!

http://www.oercommons.org/
OER Commons is a teaching and learning network, from K-12 lesson plans to college courseware, from algebra to zoology, open to everyone to use and add to.

http://blog.ted.com/2007/08/100_websites_yo.php
100 websites you should know and use! An ultra-fast-moving ride through sites in many different areas, from art, design and illustration, to daily news, blogs and curiosity.

http://www.ruckusnation.com/
Online idea competition to get kids moving! Looking for cool new ideas to get kids active–you could win $$! Competition is open to anyone (kids and adults) and deadline for submission is Nov 20–you do have to register your team, so check out the site for all the details.

Google Presentations
http:docs.google.com (click on New and select Presentation)
New tool from Google. Simple interface, with limited features. No transitions or fancy stuff, but we think this allows for more focus on the content. Our favorite part is the collaboration–you can work on the same project, just like Docs and Spreadsheet. In addition, you can invite people to a live chat when you present your project.

Kidcast: Creative Podcasting Activities
http://www.ftcpublishing.com (under podcasting resources)
New book from KidCast podcaster Dan Schmit–if you know the basics of podcasting, you’re ready for the next level. This book comes with innovative ideas to integrate podcasting into your classroom.

HotChalk
http://hotchalk.com/
Web community for teachers. Create class web pages for assignments, post messages, manage grades, etc. Collaborate in the online teacher community. Supplement with lesson plans from their archive. Access resources which include multimedia from the NBC archives (free until Jan ‘08). Professional development also available (one course free with registration).

PaintBrush
http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/
Mac OS X paint application. Can open and save to most major image formats, including BMP, PNG, JPEG, and GIF. Simple, easy to use, and FREE!

Animoto
http://animoto.com/
Web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using high-end motion design. Uses your images and music to create a custom movie trailer style video, then email to share. Beta was designed by real TV and film producers, and no two videos are ever the same. 30 second videos are FREE! Very cool!

Insomnia
http://www.apple.com/education/insomnia/
24 hours to create a 3 minute masterpiece…who wouldn’t want in? Apple is back with its 2nd annual Insomnia film festival. Details will be released 9 AM EST Oct 13th…you (and every member of your team) could win a MacBook Pro, Final Cut Studio 2, Logic Studio, and Shake! 6 days, 18 hours, 40 minutes, 30 seconds and counting…

Screencast-o-Matic
http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
Beta web app that is a free and easy way to create a video recording of your screen (aka screencast) and upload it for free hosting all from your browser with no install.

Autographs For Education National Signature contest
http://www.sanfordcorp.com/sanford/consumer/sharpie/afe/schoolsuppliesfrag.jhtml
Win $5,000 in school supplies by collecting signatures. You have until Dec 31, 2007. Sharpie also has some great lesson plans available so check it out!

“Google Book Search” Layer
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2007/08/new_google_earth_boo.html
New “Featured Content” layer shows little book icon placemarks when you zoom into different places around the world. These placemarks are results from search of places found mentioned in books indexed by Google’s search engine. We think this is cool, but it would be even cooler if your class created their own layer with places from books they are reading.

Both Wikispaces and PBwiki have great educator resources such as protected/upgraded spaces, tutorials, examples, and more. Both also have new widgets (Wikispaces/PBWiki) that allow you to include calendars, videos, chat and more on your wikis.

Integration Ideas

  • Talk about the technologies of today compared to 25 years ago, then have students compare to what we have today and describe how it might be different in 25 years.
  • Listen as we discuss having a digital mindset–what does this really mean? Sound off on the forums.
  • Great way to integrate digital storytelling in your content–rewrite fairy tales, embedding content, so that you learn while reading familiar stories.
  • In the interest of cyber-safety have students “simpsonize” their photos to use as their avatar with their radio/stage name. It’s free and fun!

Episode 31

Here are the episode notes for Episode 31…it’s interesting with Anna’s kids in the background, but we had a lot of fun, and best of all, you get to enjoy the bloopers reel!

Resources

Google Presentations
http:docs.google.com (click on New and select Presentation)
New tool from Google. Simple interface, with limited features. No transitions or fancy stuff, but we think this allows for more focus on the content. Our favorite part is the collaboration–you can work on the same project, just like Docs and Spreadsheet. In addition, you can invite people to a live chat when you present your project.

Kidcast: Creative Podcasting Activities
http://www.ftcpublishing.com (under podcasting resources)
New book from KidCast podcaster Dan Schmit–if you know the basics of podcasting, you’re ready for the next level. This book comes with innovative ideas to integrate podcasting into your classroom.

HotChalk
http://hotchalk.com/
Web community for teachers. Create class web pages for assignments, post messages, manage grades, etc. Collaborate in the online teacher community. Supplement with lesson plans from their archive. Access resources which include multimedia from the NBC archives (free until Jan ‘08). Professional development also available (one course free with registration).

PaintBrush
http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/
Mac OS X paint application. Can open and save to most major image formats, including BMP, PNG, JPEG, and GIF. Simple, easy to use, and FREE!

Animoto
http://animoto.com/
Web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using high-end motion design. Uses your images and music to create a custom movie trailer style video, then email to share. Beta was designed by real TV and film producers, and no two videos are ever the same. 30 second videos are FREE! Very cool!

Insomnia
http://www.apple.com/education/insomnia/
24 hours to create a 3 minute masterpiece…who wouldn’t want in? Apple is back with its 2nd annual Insomnia film festival. Details will be released 9 AM EST Oct 13th…you (and every member of your team) could win a MacBook Pro, Final Cut Studio 2, Logic Studio, and Shake! 6 days, 18 hours, 40 minutes, 30 seconds and counting…

Screencast-o-Matic
http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
Beta web app that is a free and easy way to create a video recording of your screen (aka screencast) and upload it for free hosting all from your browser with no install.

Autographs For Education National Signature contest
http://www.sanfordcorp.com/sanford/consumer/sharpie/afe/schoolsuppliesfrag.jhtml
Win $5,000 in school supplies by collecting signatures. You have until Dec 31, 2007. Sharpie also has some great lesson plans available so check it out!

“Google Book Search” Layer
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2007/08/new_google_earth_boo.html
New “Featured Content” layer shows little book icon placemarks when you zoom into different places around the world. These placemarks are results from search of places found mentioned in books indexed by Google’s search engine. We think this is cool, but it would be even cooler if your class created their own layer with places from books they are reading.

Both Wikispaces and PBwiki have great educator resources such as protected/upgraded spaces, tutorials, examples, and more. Both also have new widgets (Wikispaces/PBWiki) that allow you to include calendars, videos, chat and more on your wikis.

Integration Ideas

  • Talk

    about the technologies of today compared to 25 years ago, then have students compare to what we have today and describe how it might be different in 25 years.

  • Listen as we discuss having a digital mindset–what does this really mean? Sound off on the forums.
  • Great way to integrate digital storytelling in your content–rewrite fairy tales, embedding content, so that you learn while reading familiar stories.
  • In the interest of cyber-safety have students “simpsonize” their photos to use as their avatar with their radio/stage name. It’s free and fun!

Episode 30

Resources

EarthCache
http://www.geosociety.org/earthcache/
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=gczp2n (for the definition)
An EarthCache is an educational form of a virtual cache. The reward for these caches is learning more about the planet on which we live - its landscapes, its geology or the minerals and fossils that are found there. Very cool for authentic earth science topics. This would have been great in our supplemental podcast, but we missed it. Also check out our friend Silvia’s blog for more on travel bugs and some great ideas to geocache with elementary students.

Google Sky
http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html
The latest version of Google Earth 4.2 now features Google Sky which shows the celestial bodies that we see in the sky–think constellations, planets, galaxies, etc., including images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Mahalo
http://www.mahalo.com/
Mahalo is a human-powered search engine that creates organized, comprehensive, and spam free search results for the most popular search terms. Our search results only include great links. Pre-done searches, but you can get Google results. Can do a side-by-side with Google using Mahalo Follow (free download).

Archive.org
http://www.archive.org
The Internet Archive is a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Provide free access to text, audio, video, and more, including university lectures, famous speeches, and public domain books. Probably more of a teacher resource, as there are lots of resources, some of which may not be appropriate for kids.

Preezo
http://preezo.com/
An Ajax web application that gives you the power to create and share professional quality presentations over the web without software or plugins. Simple, but lots of potential.

iLife ‘08
http://www.apple.com/ilife/
http://www.apple.com/ilife/whatsnew.html
All new updates, extended features, and major changes. We’ll be featuring more in the coming months as we play more with the new software.

Integration Ideas:

  • Using photos of kids for job charts, pictographs, pre-readers, etc.
  • Disposable cameras for students
  • Keeping parents updated via podcasts
  • Classroom image gallery/wiki/moodle/blog, etc

Discussion

Thanks for listening–please don’t forget that you can register on the forums and post questions, comments, responses, etc. We’d love to hear from you!
Episode 29
SLJ Geocaching–this is the companion podcast to supplement our School Library Journal Geocaching feature article!

Episode 28
Review of ADE Camp–we’re bleary-eyed, brain-dead, and downright exhausted–but so excited about our week at ADE Camp!! The experience was life-changing, and given a time machine, we’d do it all again! We are so blessed to be a part of this group. WOW!

Episode 27
Happy Anniversary! It’s been one year since our first episode, and what a year it has been! Thanks and appreciation to all of our listeners and subscribers–we’ve enjoyed sharing our passions with you and interacting with many of you via the forums and email. We are totally looking forward to another great year, and as always, please let us know what you want to hear!

For this episode, we dragged out all the cool gadgets and tech toys that we carry around in our backpacks and purses! These are our faves and a few of the toys that we wish we had. We would love to hear about your favorites, so share on the forums or drop us a line via email. Stay tuned for our next episode–on location in California as we head off to ADE camp!

Gadgets

Episode 26

Shout-Outs

  • Kudos to Dan Schmit for putting together a great podcasting contest, and thanks for asking us to help with the judging. There were over 150 entries, and we want to congratulate all the winners! Check out http://www.intelligenic.com/blog/ to see a list of winners!

Resources

http://www.geogebra.org/cms/
GeoGebra is a free and multi-platform dynamic mathematics software for schools that joins geometry, algebra and calculus. Points, vectors, constructions, equations, and more. There’s also a wiki with a number of educational resources, lesson plans, and more!

http://www.stellarium.org/
Stellarium is another free and multi-platform software that shows a realistic 3-D sky on your computer. Site includes a wiki for learning about the application and an Education link at the bottom of the page that links to an external site with lessons sorted by grade level.

http://www.mindmeister.com/ Collaborative Mind Mapper allows people to hold online real-time brainstorming sessions and manage and share your mind maps online.
http://www.iquizlibrary.com/
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/collection.php?collectionID=860
iQuiz is a new game for the iPod - only $0.99. You can create your own iQuizzes to use on the game. These sites are collections of iQuizzes for educational purposes. Well, not JUST educational. Also http://www.iquizmaker.com/ to have kids create their OWN quizzes - a much better way to reinforce their learning.

http://map.talleye.com/index.php
Tall Eye lets you set two points on a Google map, and it will create a straight line connecting those points and then all around the world. On a flat map the line will make a sine wave because of the curvature of the earth. Will open in Google Earth.

http://www.mymapsplus.com/
My Maps Plus provides users the ability to create your MyMaps with Google Maps and get code to embed into your web site. Includes “Big Map of My Maps” which is a map of the mymaps.
http://www.writingfix.com/
WritingFix provides writing prompts, some in small increments, based on 6+ writing traits. Check out the section for teachers and students and the left-brain/right-brain prompts. Great for quick ideas, as well as prompts based on popular books–inspiring for kids and adults! Here’s the link to the “shoes” prompt we love so much, and this is Brian’s blog at “Learning is Messy” where Anna first read about this prompt. He has a great extension to this idea posted that uses digital photography and Flickr.

Integration Ideas

  • Summer reading–use a wiki or blog so that students can discuss what they are reading and continue to write!
  • Summer reading/learning–kids can podcast what they are reading about or share websites that they find interesting. CrowdAbout might be a good tool to use for this.
  • Write a collaborative novel with your students! PBWiki and Google Docs would be good tools for this!
  • Teachers–summer is a great time to extend your learning by reading those journals, trolling blogs, writing your own thoughts and listening to podcasts–like ours!

Don’t forget our feedback line–206-350-3990–-we want to feature you on our podcast!

Episode 25

Shout-Outs

  • Ryan from Las Vegas, NV, for another mic donation. His website, Teachers and Tech, is all about turning teachers into Geeks (we love that idea and can’t wait to learn more!).
  • Virginia Tech–we’re saddened by the tragedy and our sympathies, thoughts, and prayers go out to everyone involved.

Resources

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/
Free online make your own comics site. Simple and to the point–great for keeping kids focused on the writing–not the bells and whistles!
http://www.gfschools.org/education/components/docmgr/default.php?sectiondetailid=12216&catfilter=1120#showDoc
“Grammar Girls goes to Middle School”–a middle school class is doing their own version of Grammar Girls–very cool!
http://leadertalk.org/
LeaderTalk is the first group blog written by school leaders for school leaders.

http://www.randomkid.org/
RandomKid believes in the power of anyONE to make a difference. With an 11-yr old CEO, this 501(3)c non-profit organization started out fundraising for Hurricane Katrina. Site helps kids develop their ideas to solve/help real-world problems. Also builds leadership skills needed to orchestrate their idea.
Google Spreadsheets offers a dynamic chart/graph option now, and we hear rumors of a presentation module coming in the future.

Discussion and Random Thoughts

  • Great Teaching & Learning Article about how digital natives are different and why we have to teach differently! Great for those who need to read about the Teaching the MySpace Generation
  • Dan Schmit, has a new edition of his KidCast: Podcasting in the Classroom book. You can order at FTC, but you have to request the 2nd edition. Email Dan and “encourage” him to finish his podcast ideas book–tell him the TechChicks sent you!
  • Just read this article stating that more women are on online than men. Just a reminder about Women of Web 2.0 was started to give women a voice on the web (of course men are allowed to!). We know we’re out there so speak up and get involved!
  • Another example of Web 2.0 and the power of collaborative voice–you can vote for who you think should be featured in Time magazine’s Top 100 list

Don’t forget our feedback line–we have a new number! 206-350-3990–we want to feature you on our podcast!

Episode 24

Excerpts from our interview with Eric Curts–check out his link and podcast at http://www.northcanton.sparcc.org/~techresources/
We had to edit out some audio difficulties, but you can hear the entire interview here. Thanks for your time Eric!
Episode 23

Shout-Outs

  • Muchas gracias to our friend, Marco for our new intro bumper–what do you think??
  • Phyllis in Virgina for another contribution to the mic fund!
  • Craig for recommending us and being another ADE class of 07 and correcting our pronunciation of Sacajawea (we think we still need an audio recording rom him!)
  • Cybercompliments–thank you, Silvia and Frank!
  • Thanks to Eric, who was gracious enough to let us interview him via Skype. This was the first time we recorded via Skype, and although we thought we had it, the final recording needs some work. So, stay tuned for episode 24 to hear his interview.

Resources

http://www.brainpopjr.com/
Free until May! Subscription-based animated video service that has great content.
http://www.zamzar.com/
Free online file conversion–convert documents, images, music, and video FROM various formats TO various formats. Emails you a URL (that is live for 24 hours) where you can download your converted file.

http://maps.google.com/maps
Make your own maps on Google. MyMaps is a new feature that makes it quick and easy to create your own custom Google map just by pointing and clicking. You can add placemarks, draw lines and shapes, and embed text, photos and videos.

http://www.terraclues.com/
TerraClues is an online game that makes use of the popular Google Maps technology. The goal is to find hidden markers placed on the world map by solving a series of clues. Clues can range from simple text descriptions to actual photos of landmarks or map screenshots. You can play current games or make your own and share!

http://witchesandwiki.pbwiki.com/
Witches and Wiki is the first interactive novel via wiki, about 13 authors. Just write for a password so that you can contribute.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1601837,00.html
Q&A article with Jimmy Wales, co-creator of Wikipedia. Talks about the validity of Wikipedia and other things.

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Main_Page
Citizen’s Compendium is an open wiki project aimed at creating an enormous, free, and reliable encyclopedia. Requires real email addresses and has accountability because there is no anonymity.

Don’t forget our feedback voice mail line 206-888-6851 206-350-3990–we want to feature you on our podcast! [something went wonky with our original number! So here's our new one!]

Episode 22

Shout-Outs

  • Holly from Texas, thanks for donating to the mic bank! She wants to hear us better!
  • Our friend, Matt, at Apple. He brought us copies of Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind to celebrate our ADE honor. That’s right–we’re part of the Apple Distinguished Educator Class of 2007! Thanks to Matt and to all of you who sent us encouragement, well-wishes, and comments. We added your recommendations to our applications, and we’re sure they heard you! Thanks again!!
  • We love librarians! Really!
  • Lorie is writing an article about Web 2.0 tools for a group of faculty. She wants to know what is your favorite Web 2.0 tool? How do you use it in the classroom? Here is a link to many Web 2.0 tools: http://www.go2web20.net/. Log it in to her post at our forums and post a response to her.
  • Thanks for feedback! We’re adding some comments to the end of our podcast for you to share.

Resources
http://www.technospudprojects.com/Projects/eggroll2007/eggroll2007.htm
The Great Egg Roll 2007–another collaborative project by Jen at technospud. Hurry! Project runs from March 26-April 13.

http://www.teachertube.com/
YouTube for teachers (maybe your district won’t block this one!)–safe place to post and watch videos for teachers and students.

http://www.pbwiki.com/
Very simple website for your class that multiple people can edit. Think wiki with no ropes attached! No email address needed. Kids can use an alias. One password for the whole site. Locks multiple users out of page to prevent overwriting editting.

http://ecamm.com/mac/conferencerecorder/
Conference Recorder for recording video iChats for vodcasting. Will also take QT movies and convert to mp3 for the audio only. Lots of other plug-ins at the site. Not free, but definitely inexpensive!

http://10base-t.com/
DropCopy–just a cool app! Only on the Mac, but allows you to drag and drop files to mutiple users on your LAN. Also see IP Broadcaster and IP Scanner–two more helpful apps that we love!

http://plasq.com
Comic Life - beta in April for Windows users–watch here for more news!

http://toondoo.com
The Online Cartoon Strip Creator

http://www.21classes.com/
21 Classes lets teachers set up and manage a multi-user blog solution with independent blogs for students. Easy. No student email addresses required.

http://www.schoolr.com/
Schoolr is touted as “the only resource you’ll need.” Find Google search, Wikipedia search, dictionary, thesaurus, acronym search, urban dictionary, encyclopedia, citation builder, book summary search, text translater and unit converter all on one page.

Commentary
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2007/03/march_30_participate_in_stop_c_1.html
Stop Cyberbullying Day is March 30th! We have to take a stand and speak out against what is happening. Freedom of speech does not mean you can harass and force people to hide out in their houses. Use March 30th to talk with your students about cyberbullying–what to do if they are being bullied and how not to be a cyberbully. This is not just kids, but everyone! (don’t forget to tag your online entries with stopcyberbullying)

Don’t forget our feedback voice mail line 206-888-6851–you might be the next person featured on our podcast!

Episode 21

Shout-Outs
Sylvia in FL for being our first K7 caller! Thanks for the feedback–we LOVED hearing our listeners’ voices!
Wayne in CA for also leaving us K7 voicemail and contributing to our mic fund!

Resources
http://www.chacha.com/
Search Engine with a twist! Relies on “human intelligence”–really–if you want, you can search with a guide via chat! HUGE implications for kids! You can do a simple search on your own, or connect to a guide and have someone help with your search. This is definitely not for veteran surfers, but we see huge potential for students and parents who might not be as familiar with using the web. Shout-out to Chris for helping us with our guided search!

http://www.evoca.com/
Online podcast creation tool with all kinds of additional features. Create sound files with a phone, computer mic, or Skype. Organize files with albums, groups, and tags. Share files via phone, email, RSS, blog, podcast, or download to an iPod. Search audio word for word or via tags. Two levels of membership, free and professional. Share your voice–might be a good option for those that don’t have tools readily available for making podcasts or capturing student/parent input. Free level is limited to 60 minutes of recording.

http://www.pow-pak.com/
From new out-of-lurkdom-forum member, Eric Curts of Indiana–free web design, podcasting, blogging, website authoring tool for your web server. Creating blogging and podcasting pages is easy, and even features an auto-generate RSS feeds. Check it out–thanks for sharing this with all educators, Eric!

http://memorizable.org/
This site is the home of memorizable tables, which are an efficient flashcard-like way to memorize information on a web page. Wiki-based tool that is totally cool. Lots of already-created tables and very easy to create your own!

http://tumblr.com/
“Tumblr is your friendly, free, and terrifically easy tool for creating tumblelogs.” Tumblelogs are like blogs, but easier–just click to insert text, images, etc. Very structured, so great for first-time bloggers. One pro/con is that you cannot receive feedback.

http://crowdabout.us/
“Crowdabout makes podcasts interactive and conversational. While listening or viewing in the online Conversational Player, you can talk back and add your own thoughts to those of crowds of other people listening to the same shows. Share ideas, correct mistakes, debate the finer points, offer advice, shout out to homeys, leave some love…whatever your motivation, crowdabout makes the conversation possible.” Our crowdabout site: http://crowdabout.us/digimom/myshow

Integration Ideas for Women’s History Month:

  • photo timeline in iPhoto/Picasa (you can either provide images, have students look for their own; products can either be a slideshow or a book)
  • photo collage of women who have made an impact in any area (math, science, politics, etc.)
  • NetTrekker famous person search is great for finding people to research (subscription-based student-oriented search/resource website)
  • biography in comic form–great for writing/summarization (using Comic Life or PowerPoint)

Episode 20

Shout-Outs
Bruce Wayne B–Receda, CA–one of our newest members on the forum–thanks for posting!

http://www.thinkquest.org/
ThinkQuest inspires students to think, connect, create, and share. Students (ages 9-19) work in teams to build innovative and educational websites to share with the world. Along the way, they learn research, writing, teamwork, and technology skills and compete for exciting prizes. Diverse teams and globally relevant themes are encouraged. Competition is still open until mid-April.

http://litesum.com/
Searches wikipedia and gives you instant wiki summaries. Don’t have to go to the whole wiki page, get a summary to see if that’s what you’re looking for or click to view the wikipedia entry. Created by Jake Jarvis, a freshman in HIGH SCHOOL. Brilliant kid. See more at http://jakejarvis.com/.

http://tuxpaint.org
Open Source drawing program. Free. Let’s kids be creative and draw. FREEware! Simple interface, cross platform. Stamps, paintbrushes, etc. Can also import pictures or draw from scratch. Includes other languages. Thank you Connie from KISD for the link!

http://word.sc/
Word Source - a social DICTIONARY. Cool for kids! Get to the word by adding it to the end of the url (i.e. http://word.sc/pelican). Thesaurus and fun stuff like tagging a word, hangman, or jumble. You can upload pictures to represent the words in the dictionary. Can also cite words to cite word source properly as a reference.

http://teachersteachingteachers.org
Cool concept–it’s exactly the type of social network that we’ve been talking about. Four teachers–Paul Allison, Lee Baber, Susan Ettenheim, and Thomas Locke–are mainly responsible for this blog, podcast, and webcast. They say, “We have two purposes: developing teacher knowledge and leadership in our own schools and districts and putting this knowledge and leadership to work to improve student online reading and writing through the use of blogs, wikis, podcasts and webcasts.”

Don’t forget our feedback voice mail line 206-888-6851–call us! (It’s less busy than American Idol’s phone number!)

Episode 19

Episode 19 is uploaded! It’s our longest yet, but we had a lot to cover. Our future episodes should be more in the 20 - 25 minute range, but this one is worth a listen. Here’s what we talked about…

*We have a few more interviews from TCEA to follow general podcast…

  • David from Google–nice to chat with him about all the Google tools and Google Academy for Teachers–please bring it to Texas!
  • Wayne–new teacher from Killeen; energized and excited about what he’s learned at TCEA
  • Brenda from Hickory Creek; and just for fun, Brenda, here’s the link to the UK ads for Mac: http://www.apple.com/uk/getamac/ads/

Tim Wilson — Apple Distinguished Educator friend who’s spearheading the podcasting of TCEA. We learned a LOT about equipment and can’t wait to talk to him further! For the Apple podcasts, go to http://ali.apple.com. In the right sidebar, under By Media find Podcasts, then Conference Connections then TCEA 2007. Or just click here.

Our take on David Warlick’s TECSIG lunch keynote.

St. Patrick’s Day Project
http://www.technospudprojects.com/Projects/stpat2007/stpat2007.htm
Grades PreK - 3

Porta Portal. Social bookmarking but with threaded tags - makes a neat view
http://www.portaportal.com/

IMified
http://www.imified.com/
A way to post to your blog via IM, but also set reminders to send to your IM. If used with forwarded IMs to mobile, great for reminders.

Finding reusable media
http://lifehacker.com/software/creative-commons/geek-to-live-6-ways-to-find-reusable-media-197538.php
Six ways to find media you can legally use in presentations and other non-for-profit media.

GIMP
http://www.gimp.org/
Photoshop capabilities for free. Open Source, most of the same features as the pricey Photoshop. A way to get an entire lab using professional software on a budget.

Picnik
http://www.picnik.com/
Photo editing ONLINE! Curves, exposure, red-eye. Another free way to do photo editing with your class. Can pull from flickr account, yahoo, internet, or your computer. still in beta, new features being added

Block Posters
http://www.blockposters.com/
Free web app that lets you turn any image into a wall poster. You upload image, tell it how many 8.5×11 sheets you want it to cover, it splices and gives you image back as several images for you to print and piece together. Great for maps from Google? Maps in general? Great math lesson - how big with the end result be? How many pages will we need to cover this wall space?

PowerPoint on an iPod
http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/16/how-to-put-powerpoint-on-your-ipod-photo/
Export your PP to jpg. put in a folder and synch to your ipod. Attach iPod to tv or projector w/ cables. great for not having to haul a laptop. will work wtih other mp3 players that can show photos, of course

Photocasting in iPhoto - subscribe to photo albums and get current updates in iPhoto as they happen. Different from static web sites that don’t really change.

  • Flicker -> iPhoto - just paste the Flickr RSS feed into the box and submit.
  • Flickr2Photocast - enter a username and/or tags and/or text and say how many pictures you want and how to sort.
  • Photocastr - authenticate yourself and you can subscribe to your own feeds, or just use tags on all photos, or go by interestingness or group you’re subscribed to.

ePals
http://www.epals.com/
A classroom exchange program to assist in linking up with buddy classes across the globe. Anyone using this? Tell us what you think!
Del.icio.us
http://del.icio.us
Get an account and anytime you find a site you think we’d find interesting to talk about on our podcast, tag the site with fortechchicks and we’ll be looking. You can search for the same and see what we have in the hopper for upcoming episodes!

Like our show? Then give us a review on iTunes! Call our feedback line and tell us what you think! 206-888-6851. Not toll-free so use your cellphone.

Episode 18:

Live (aren’t we always live for us?) from TCEA! We talk about TCEA and our sessions and then one that I went to and then share some interviews we gave.
Links:

Episode 17:

Shout-Outs

  • Shout-out to Dee Martin of the “Thoughts Have Wings” blog. We’ve been communicating with her, and will be able to meet her at TCEA, in Austin!! We’re very excited! Let us know if you are coming–maybe we’ll think of a meeting time and place for happy hour one afternoon (or if you can think of one, email us!!).
  • Shout-out to Nathan–he posted a great resource that we share later in the podcast. Thanks, Nathan!!

Resources

  • iTube
    • iTube is a simple, easy to use Windows (yes, Windows–for those of you who don’t have a Mac to enjoy!) program that enables you to download movies from major video sharing sites (YouTube, DailyMotion, Metacafe, etc) and use them on your desktop.
  • Long URL hints (MacWorld Article)
    • This article refers to long URLs that you might receive in emails and how to send them so that the entire link is “hot.”
  • BookPALS Storyline Online
    • Famous people reading popular children’s stories. Hopefully this will inspire you to create your own stories that can be shared via iTunes.
  • Content Generator - (thanks Nathan!)
    • Fling the teacher is free. Students create multiple choice quizzes and then get an URL for their quiz which becomes a game.
    • Examples from Nathan:

  • Fiction Press
    • Growing network of over half a million writers/readers, and home to over 900,000 original works open for comment/critique.
  • IMSafer
    • Monitors the instant messenger conversations of your children to help balance protecting children and respecting their privacy–notifies you when your child is engaged in a potentially dangerous conversation on IM.

Thoughts

Integration

  • Flickr Math
    • be sure to scroll down and check out the rubric that was used
  • Links to the photos used in the lesson

Episode 16

Updates

  • Here’s a link to our School Library Journal article on YouTube. It’s short, but it’s our first “published” work and we’re a wee bit proud. Keep your eyes out for our next article in SLJ–the topic will be Google Earth!

Resources

  • Curriki.org
    • Curriki is a community of educators, parents and students working together to develop interesting, creative and effective educational materials that the global educational community can use for free.
    • Curriki is based on an open source technology, a Wiki, which makes it easy to post materials online. When community members view the resource pages, they are able to comment, edit, and group together content to create a lesson, course or curriculum.
    • Other technologies will be available in the future, such as bulletin boards, blogs and podcasts to enable collaboration between contributors and users of the content to improve the curricula.
    • Curriki groups provide a way for educators to get together and exchange ideas, discuss issues and targeted resources, or just to talk about what has worked (or not) in your efforts to educate and In your desire to spread the word
    • The initial focus is on K-12 curricula in the areas of mathematics, science, technology, reading and language arts, and languages.
    • It still seems to be in its fledgling stages, but this is the the time for everyone to jump on board–it’s free to register, then contribute your expertise. This resource will only be as good as its members make it.

  • Allows you to “clip” any portion of a web page that you want to reference. You can then add your own notes to the clip you referenced.
  • Information can be transferred between notebooks by clicking and dragging.
  • Notebooks can be private, shared with invited collaborators, or made public so that anyone with web access can view.
  • Google Notebook is similar to Furl which lets you cache web pages.
  • Good article for finding out more about Google Notebook and similar web tools: http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3606691
  • Online study guides from Barnes and Noble, covering a wide variety of subjects and topics that are FREE
  • Similar to CliffNotes
  • Many options available (notes, charts, iPod audio files, etc.)
  • Mobile version allows you to send a text (SMS) version for free and receive an MMS response (standard text and multimedia message charges apply).
  • Not everything is free, but well worth checking out.

Thoughts

  • Einstein’s has been quoted as saying, “Never memorize what you can look up in books”. Remember that learning how to FIND the answers is more important than KNOWING the answers–we have to teach students how to filter through the good, the bad, and the ugly.
  • With so much information out there, we need to know how to access, process, and possess (find information, figure it out, and then fit it into our understanding)…

Integration

  • Photoblogs-Use photoblogs as a launching point for writing. If a picture is worth a 1000 words, write 1000 words about that picture. Inspire students –stories can be fiction, non-fiction, persuasive, narrative, expository, etc.
  • Use Google Earth’s timeline feature to show Martin Luther King’s travels/speeches across the south.
  • Track weather in various locations–use a spreadsheet or photo applicatio
    • This is a great activity when you’re snowed in!
    • Take pictures and keep a photo journal of what the weather is like…compare with classrooms in different climes.

Faves and Craves

  • The iPhone is our new #1 crave–talk about revolutionizing how we use tools! This phone has everything in one (iPod, PDA, cell phone)–anyone want to get us two so that we can review them?!! (*Plus, don’t you think we deserve iPhones after dedicating ourselves to producing this podcast in Anna’s van with 28 degree temps!!)

Episode 15

Shout Outs

  • Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! (OK–so we’re posting the notes after Christmas, but hey, better late than never!)
  • Kathy Shields and Small Voices podcast
    • Kathy’s Kindergarten class has a great fledgling podcast–we can’t wait to hear more!
  • NeoEarth Counter
    • This is a new webcounter that we were trying out on our site, so we did a shout out to 3 places that came up on our map. You can find NeoEarth and two other similar counters at NeoWorx.
      • Note–we’ve since found out that there are two different versions of NeoEarth–a free (only counts daily visits) and a premium (accumalative tracking).
    • Good day to Germantown, Australia!
    • Gutentag to Augsburg, Germany!
    • Howdy to Glen Saint Mary, Florida!
  • We mentioned the Degree Confluence Project–it’s very cool so check it out!

Updates

  • Charlotte’s Web
    • As listed at the website: “On December 13, 2006, 547,826 readers in 2,451 locations, 50 states and 28 countries, gathered together to break the Guiness World Record for the “Most People Reading Aloud Simultaneously in Multiple Locations”
    • Yay to Anna–her school was one of the participating groups that made it happen!
  • We’ll be at TCEA (Texas Computer Educator’s Association) this coming February in Austin, TX. If you can come, here’s where we’ll be presenting:
    • Date: 2/6/07 Time: 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM Room: Room 5C Session #7548: Take Your Lessons to the Next Dimension with iPhoto!
    • Date: 2/7/07 Time: 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM Room: Room 5A Session #7573: Where in the World Are We? (Podcasting with GarageBand)
  • If you are coming, shoot us an email (techchick ( at ) techchicktips (dot) net). Maybe we can get together on 6th Street one night!

Resources

Integration

  • For New Year’s Day, here’s an idea for working with resolutions–students can write their resolutions, create a plan for accomplishing their goals, and then include a digital photo of themselves either to identify their work or show them working towards making their resolution happen. This helps students with goal setting. Applications like iPhoto, Picasa, and Word are all possibilities.
  • Chinese New Year–2007 is the year of the pig! (i.e. http://www.chinapage.com/newyear.html)
    • This is a great excuse for helping students to make global connections.
    • As per “The World is Flat”, students need a global awareness–this is a great opportunity to set up an email/penpal exchange or maybe a wiki where your students and students from China both contribute to a compare/contrast of New Year’s traditions!
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day–”I have a dream”
    • Students write about their dreams
    • Use wikis, blogs, podcasts…etc., etc.–there’s so much that could be done here! It’s all about giving students a voice!

Episode 14

Shout-outs to new subscribers, cool projects to join, and ideas for integration–didn’t sound like much, but we had lots to say!

Shout Outs

  • Lisa B in Florida! Thanks for signing up with us! And for sharing your idea about using podcasts as an alternative for spelling tests.
  • ated (AKA Liz A) from Beaverton, Oregon. Sorry–we don’t have a regular schedule for our podcasts. We try to roll one out about every two weeks, but it sorta depends on what life throws our way! Thanks for the words of encouragement–it motivates us to podcast more often!
  • Jennifer of Women of Web 2.0–well, we should have shouted out to you! We mentioned you quite a bit and featured some of your ideas and collaborations–way to go Jen–keep up the great work!

Charlotte’s Web

Resources

  • del.icio.us — what to do when the site is down!! We talk about the Export feature and how important this is–especially if you have a workshop in two hours and the site is unavailable-yikes!
  • http://www.pickle.com — flickr on steroids…we’re still exploring the ins and outs of this, but it seems to hold potential–online storage and sharing of digital images and videos from a camera, camcorder, or your cell phone! We really love the feature of emailing directly into an album. We’ll be exploring this more in the coming months. -Update 4/7/08- Pickle.com is retiring. :( Boo hoo.
  • http://isquint.org and http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/ — two apps for converting videos (for iPods and other formats). iSquint is FREE and very easy to use, but limited in scope. VisualHub is inexpensive (IOHO) and gives you lots of options for converting.
  • ChipIn - (as described on the ChipIn page) The ChipIn widget is a simple Flash application that allows you to keep people up-to-date on ChipIn events you organize to collect money. The widget works with any Web page and many popular social media Web sites. It gives you a secure connection to raise money for just about anything. Now, don’t get us wrong–we’re not going commercial, but we thought this was cute, and we need a good mic for our podcasts, so we thought “why not”? So if you’d like to donate, click on the ChipIn logo on our homepage. If you just want to use the ChipIn widget on your site, we’d love to hear what you’re saving for. :-)

Integration

  • Directory of Heroes: http://myhero.com/myhero/go/directory/index.asp–this site came up as a result of us looking for a site to go along with a technology integration project we were working on. It list all types of heroes, famous and everyday people who make a difference to people.
  • Christmas list using spreadsheets–students can use any spreadsheet application (Excel, AppleWorks, Google Spreadsheets, etc) to create their Christmas list. Then, items can be sorted by price, by priority, alphabetical–lots of different ways! Another (unselfish) application of this idea is to create their shopping list of what they want to get others.
  • Students can also create a Christmas wish list by gathering photos of what they want and put them in a photo organization application like iPhoto or Picasa. Then, using a catalog type of layout, have students describe the image and write a short persuasive essay about why they want that item. Limit kids to one page each and this could be a cute book…”All I Want for Christmas…”
  • http://emailsanta.com -fun site! This could be used to encourage kids to write–they can write a letter to Santa, send an email from their pet, vote for different things, download color pages, and lots of other things. Our favorite was the “Naughty or Nice” list–we’ll let you guess what we were! :-)
  • Remembering Our Troops: http://soldiersangels.org/adopt_a_soldier.php –this is a good time of year to think about our soldiers overseas. At this site, your class/grade level/school could adopt a soldier. You commit to 1 card/letter per week and 1 or 2 care packages a month. Not only does it help promote student writing skills, but teaches kids to think of others. Kids will have fun thinking of cool things to send to soldiers (hand-made drawings, stories, etc). Check it out and get involved.

Episode 13

A little longer than most, I think we were just excited about what we had to say. I don’t have time to work on the episode links or provide all of the extra stuff we promised, but here are some links to get started and I’ll add the rest in the next couple of days. I hope to get it toobed this weekend, too. Shout Outs

  • Tony from Oregon Utah! Thanks for coming out of lurkdom! And we’ll correct ourselves on the next podcast. We were in the district and couldn’t get to innertoob to verify where you’re from and we said the wrong state. But just think, our mistake gives you another shout out! Sorry!
  • Tim Lauer, principal of Lewis Elementary. A principal who blogs about technology?! Yay!

Podcasting in the Classroom

  • Dan Schmit - I thought Dan’s keynote from Beyond4Walls was podcast somewhere but I can’t seem to find it. If I don’t find it in the next couple of days, I’ll upload our recording (assuming Dan’s permission) and share it here.
  • Classroom ideas
    • spelling words
    • audio reports
    • word of the day
    • audiobooks from the library
    • LibriVox - record and publish books from the public domain
    • liar’s club

Gcast vs. Podomatic - Anna sez consider how hard it is for kids to dial all those numbers with Gcast. Is toll-free worth all the extra effort versus using a long distance number that doesn’t required dialing all these extra codes

Slideshare.net - for sharing PowerPoint presentations. Why reinvent the wheel? Someone may have the PowerPoint presentation you’re looking for. Also a nice way for students to share their work!

Google Stuff

  • Google Maps Click to Call - found this tidbit from Tim Lauer’s site, but this link takes you to Google’s own FAQ on the feature.
  • Google Earth
    • Layering maps
    • Google Tours - create a folder of Google placemarks and put the items in the order you want to present
    • Create a tour of your life
    • your genealogy
    • historical locations
    • Save as a movie file! Only with Google Earth Pro but this link says schools and districts can get it free!
      • Podcasting by Phone - sites that allow you to podcast automatically by phoning in. We’ll be posting a comparasion chart to the web site soon(ish)
        • GCast - GCast provides a toll free phone number for you to call and enter a security code to automatically call in your episode.
        • GarageBand.com - The sister site for GCast with great free music for podcasting
        • Podomatic - Can set to auto podcast mail received with an audio attachment, but doesn’t provide a phone number to use.
        • K7 - set up a free account for voice messages. They can be emailed to you as attachments and/or stored in your K7 account.
      • InnerToob - Not sure the best way to describe this. Just use it! You can add comments to a podcast that are time-stamped at specific locations. Kind of turns a podcast into a blog. A blogcast!
      • Flock - a great Internet browser that incorporates so many Web 2.0 tools. It’s still in beta so back up regularly, but use it! Awesome, awesome!
      • CyberSmarts - Free lessons to use with K-8 children that discuss Internet safety, manners, advertising, research and technology.
      • iTunes Free Stuff - When we found this tip, the iTunes Music Store would not allow you to view BOTH the Just For You links AND the iTunes Free stuff links. But they’re both on my main music page NOW so maybe that got fixed. Either way, control click this link and download it to your computer if you have a Mac. Then you can just double-click to launch and it will open iTunes and take you straight to the iTunes Free Downloads.
      • Photo Ideas
        • Masks - It’s the season! Have the students take pictures of themselves and use a drawing tool to color on a mask, or use other images to overlay masks and costumes.
        • A Day in the Life of - students take pictures at various points of their day.
        • Hobo Depot - extend the day in the life of idea by recording temperatures. Share with other States, other countries!
        • US Census - use photos to make a visual representation of the US population!
      • Google Docs & Spreadsheets - We mentioned this last episode, but we’re mentioning it again. What a GREAT tool for collaboration!
      • Egerton Boyz - A father and sons band with some AWESOME kids’ songs! We played Slugbug on the podcast.
      • TubeSock - Save YouTube videos to your desktop
      • Motivator - Create “Motivation” posters with your own image and your own text.
      • Pandora - A radio station that learns your tastes
      • iPhoto Tips - Advance tips for photo editing.
      • Women of the Web 2.0 - A place for women using Web 2.0 applications in education
      • Google for Educators - A site by Google for educators using Google tools.
      • Google Docs & Spreadsheets - This deserves its own bullet. Create documents and spreadsheets on the web, share them, save them in other formats.
      • Blogs
        • EduBlogs - Free blogs for educators! Free assessment tool and wikispace, too!
        • Learnerblogs - Free blogs for STUDENTS! Posting is protected, but viewing is NOT.
        • Blogmeister - Blogs for educators with complete control BY the educator.
      • Wikis
        • Wikipedia - A free online encyclopedia that ANYone can edit open to EVERYone.
        • Wikispaces - Create your own wiki area. Ad free for educators
      • Podcasts
        • EPN Web - Directory of educational podcasts listed by category.
        • Math Podcasts
          • Classmate Math - do a search on the iTunes Podcast Directory for “classmate math” and you’ll find a collection of K-12 video podcasts on various math subjects.
          • Math Factor - do a search on the iTunes Podcast Director for “math factor” and you’ll get a weekly math conversation and puzzle
      • Misc
        • David Warlick - An educator and author on instructional technology
      • Contact Sheets
        • iPhoto - this link takes you directly to the printing portion, but it’s not exactly what you need to print contact sheets. If you need help there specifically, please email us!
        • Picasa - free photo managing software for the PC. Very awesome - certainly for the cost! We don’t know off the top of our head how to do the contact sheets, but if you need us to figure it out, email us!
        • ACDSee - not free, but if you’re serious about managing your photos on a PC, check it out.
      • DOPA
        • TechCrunch - this link takes you directly to an entry specifically about DOPA, but bookmark the main site because it’s an incredible technology resource! But for DOPA, read this page and follow the link it gives out, too.
        • SaveYourSpace - Have your say on DOPA and be part of the digital signatures to be sent to Congress.

      • Episode 12

      This episode is our interview with Wes Fryer. Wes had a session at the Beyond4Walls conference we went to on Friday about Copyrights and LEGAL downloads. But we don’t talk about that in this interview. We will talk about that in a future podcast. This was an interview about Wes and podcasting. More music from Podsafe Music.

      Episode 11

      In this episode, we share our interview with Dan Schmit, of Kidcast fame. Dan was the keynote speaker at the Beyond4Walls conference in Farmers Branch, TX, on Friday, November 3rd, 2006. Dan and Anna have been working together on the “Where in the World” podcast since last Spring, so it was great to finally get to sit down and talk. We also mention Wes Fryer’s website and use music from Derek K. Miller (”Had a Plan, Had to Change It”) from the Podsafe Music Network. Join us next week for our interview with Wes Fryer.

      Episode 10

      This episode was mostly ideas and thoughts and less on sites to share, but here there are. First, thank you to Maria Henderson for inviting us to attend Beyond 4 Walls: Podcasting in Education in Dallas, Texas. And Whoo hoo! We met Dan Schmit and interviewed him and Wes Fryer (who we kind of met last February)

      Episode 9

      Episode 8

      Episode 7

      Episode 6

      Episode 5

      Did you think we forgot about you? Never! There were a lot of changes in our own little world so the podcast had to take a backseat. But we’ll try to be more regular again. This week we talked about blogs and wikis and podcasts (oh my!)!

      Episode Links:

      Episode 4

      Wow! Now we’re COMPLETELY unscripted! We don’t talk about much this time, but we have a lot to say. A tip for the classroom with photos, and lots of stuff on DOPA. Please have a listen. This is has the potential to have a huge negative impact on public schools.

      Episode Links:

      Episode 3

      Our first (mostly) unscripted episode. We figure you can read just as well as we can so why should we read to you? This was our first attempt to mostly just TALK to you.

      Episode Links:

      Episode 2

      An update from our latest workshop, information on the Where in the World geography quiz project, a great site for learning to create your own podcasts, and information on being legal when using music in your projects. Oh, and listen/view our sample podcast for Where in the World!

      Episode Links

      Episode 1

      Our premiere episode! Meet Helen and Anna, your Tech Chicks!