I watched teaching web 2.0 everything you need in one place by Wendy Drexler. The presentation began by stating that it's not about the tools but about student learning. What a great idea to have placed at the forefront of this video.  She then talked about technology integration and gave four steps to integration:

1. Awareness

2. Experimentation

3. Collaboration with colleagues 

4. Initiate unique projects, lessons and activities

This video was not a video that was filled with many life changing ideas but there was one thing that was included that may change the way I teach forever.  This thing was a wiki called teachweb 2.0 and it is filled with a wealth of tools and web sites for teachers to use the web and especially the interactive web. the whole wiki is geared towards teachers and education with each entry having a swot rating system to help teachers with the implementation of the tools. Swot stands for Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats. This is a great way to see if a site or tool will be what you need to accomplish learning in your class and what to highlight or what to watch for while using with your students. I can't wait to find some time to dive into this wiki further, Check it out!

teachweb2 » home

Wendy Drexler St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
Blog: http://www.teachweb2.blogspot.com

Video-Conferencing It’s Easy, Free and Powerful

I watched a presentation on video conferencing by Brian Crosby, an elementary teacher for 26 years that teaches sixth grade in Sparks, Nevada.  He stats that for technology to be effective it must be used effectively, too often technology is used for the WOW factor to grab the attention of students but once the newness wears of students become bored with technology and technology becomes nothing more than just an expensive dust collector.  Brian gives examples for using video conferencing such as for including a student that cannot attend school due to an illness, Sharing an expert of hard to schedule presenter, practicing oral language skills, to do collaborative projects which analyze, critique and provide feedback. He also gave some basic tools needed to video conference such as skype, web cam  and a mic. I really like his ending quote "remember learning is messy", this is so true when trying new things.  If you would like to see this video or visit Brian's blog they are listed below.

K12 Online Conference 2008 | Getting Started “Video-Conferencing It’s Easy, Free and Powerful”

Brian Crosby Reno, Nevada, USA

Blog: http://learningismessy.com/blog