September 28, 2006 by jmmblake.

I know it is not cool to post stuff from other online sources, but Digication is really interesting to me.  Hopefully, I will be able to try this in my school.  I have been using Moodle in my classroom for awhile, and will continue to use it.  Our school uses eChalk that can be used by teachers to facilitate threaded discussions.  EChalk has a course calendar, and many other features.  However, some teachers think eChalk is not easy to use.  I disagree, but understand the reason teachers do not like to use it.  It is just something else for teachers to have to find time in their busy day to manage.  From listening to the a podcast about Digication hosted by Leo Laporte, Jeff Yan described many of the features below that teachers can use with their Digication.

Free Online Digital Portfolio Empowers Students, Educators and
Academic Communities to Easily Publish Information to the Web with a
Professional Look and Feel

Providence, RI, - September 12, 2006 - Digication™, an
entirely new concept in educational software that is simple by design,
today announced the availability of Digication Spotlight. Available for
free, Digication Spotlight is an online digital portfolio and safe
social network for school communities and alumni across the nation.
Unlike other social networking communities where certain online
behaviors have led to the development of a negative digital identity
and restricted access at schools, Digication is offering something
completely different.

Digication Spotlight targets the academic community, and presents an
opportunity to showcase their work, expertise and personality to
employers, colleges, grad schools, teachers and other students.
Digication Spotlight is an academic network for K-12 and higher
education where teachers, students and alumni can create “Spots” to
post their original writing, art work, photos, movies, music, important
papers, upcoming events and interesting ideas.

“Social networking has tremendous potential to facilitate the
exchange of thoughts and ideas, but its current evolution focuses
greatly on communicating one’s personal life and has received tough
criticism due to the flood of questionable content and inappropriate
interactions taking place in these communities,” said Jeffrey Yan, CEO
and co-founder of Digication. “Digication Spotlight is an academic
network of high quality users, who post high quality content. While
many people have damaged their digital identity by posting suspect
information to social networking communities, Digication aims to
produce the opposite effect. Building a Spot is an opportunity to
construct a positive digital identity by showcasing academic
achievement in a setting fit for potential employers, parents and
peers.”

Stepping into the Spotlight

Digication Spotlight provides an
outlet to showcase academic projects and events with a professional
look that is flexible and customizable. Simple by design, users can
access the intuitive Web-based publisher by visiting www.digication.com
and immediately have access to all the tools necessary for creating and
managing their personal or group-based Website or Web portfolio.
Creating a Spot is an opportunity to stand out and attract attention to
academic achievement and performance, and receive praise and
acknowledgment for hard work and success.

Digication Spotlight provides an easy to use and professional looking
means to publish Spots containing information to be spotted by friends
and colleagues such as:

• Community Acknowledgement - Spotlight showcases student creativity and success in a manner perfect for the entire academic community to share.
• Accreditation - Spotlight provides a platform for
  archiving and publishing student work for accreditation purposes
  aligned to defined standards.
• Student and Teacher Organizations/Clubs - Spotlight empowers users to build an organization’s Website to display information about notices and upcoming events.
• Academic/Professional Advancement - Spotlight allows you to showcase the results of a research project or grant for colleagues to review.
• Career Advancement - Spotlight is an opportunity to
  show employers real experiences and academic achievements in support of
  a potential job opportunity.

“The design of Digication Spotlight allowed me to develop a
professional looking, easy-to-navigate Spot to organize and showcase
student work (http://spotlight.digication.com/artmonkey),”
said Tiffany Doran, an art teacher at Smithfield High School in Rhode
Island. “The main areas I have focused on with the Spot are class
assignments for the different courses we offer, and senior portfolios.
I have found the students love to see their work online and can’t wait
to show their friends and families. Digication Spotlight has generated
a tremendous amount of positive publicity and feedback for the Art
Department, and we have even received commendation from college
admissions counselors.”

Digication Spotlight is part of the Digication Suite of products. The
Digication Suite opens the lines of communications by combining
elements of social networking and learning management systems to create
a secure, private community that can learn and grow both inside and
outside the classroom. Also available as part of the suite, Digication
Campus provides educators with a Web-based classroom that facilitates a
collaborative educational experience, that like Spotlight is simple by
design.

Pricing and Availability

Digication Spotlight is available
for free to the first 1,000 users at any U.S. accredited institution,
and can be signed up for as an individual or as part of an institution
by visiting www.digication.com. Digication Spotlight is a result of years of development and testing within educational institutions across the country.

About Digication

Digication represents an entirely new concept in educational software
that is simple by design. Easier to master and simpler to use,
Digication provides all the connectivity, file sharing and e-portfolio
tools educators and students want. Designed by educators to serve the
core needs of educators, the Digication Suite opens the lines of
communication by combining elements of social networking and learning
management systems to create a secure, private community that can learn
and grow both inside and outside the classroom. Current product
offerings include Digication Campus, a Web-based Learning Management System (LMS) designed for classrooms and internal school communities, and Digication Spotlight,
an online digital portfolio and safe social network for school
communities and alumni across the nation. Digication is headquartered
in Providence, Rhode Island. For more information, visit www.digication.com.

technorati tags:Moodle, social, k-12

Blogged with Flock

Posted in Moodle | Print | No Comments »

September 27, 2006 by jmmblake.

The Southeast Education Alliance for Professional Development sponsored a wonderful presentation today in Wilimington, NC.  The title of the presentation was “Practical Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gap,” with Larry I. Bell, National Education Consultant. 

I was simply blown away by his energy and really practical strategies.  After about the first hour, my mind began to focus on how I was going to use one of his main tools in my classroom.  I have been using Moodle in my classroom for almost two years now.  My students like Moodle activities like Hot Potatoes J Matching but they get tired of it.  I have struggled with creating reading activities that engage my students.  Mr. Bell has a reading strategy he calls “UNRAAVEL”. 

Let me try to outline how I plan to initially implement this in a Moodle lesson.  I am not sure how it will work, but I will be blogging about it soon.  The first step is to find an appropriate reading passage.  This could be a challenge.  Let’s say for now that I have an original story about a science concept.  More than likely, I will use materials from Wikipedia, or our textbook, it I can acquire permission from the textbook publishers.  Since I am not opening the class outside my classroom, I  am banking on traditional fair-use protection of copyrights.  Our Moodle site, WCS WebCampus

is password protected.  Anyway,  Moodle has a module called a lesson.  In the first part of the , students will first see the reading passage.  Next, they will have to complete a series of edits to the reading passage.  Finally, they will answer a multiple choice question about that passage. 

I am just in the initial thinking stage about this process, but I think it will work.

technorati tags:Moodle, professional, Development

Blogged with Flock

Posted in Moodle | Print | No Comments »

September 10, 2006 by jmmblake.

Reading my Earthlink Reader this morning and I ran across this really cool tool for classroom use. Love everything about it except the high price. Hopefully, other companies will come out with cheaper copies of this or FFV will make a home version.

Fast Forward Video has just begun shipping the imaginatively named NDT 200, a new hard drive-based digital video recorder for video professionals in the field. This $1,500 DVR plugs into existing video cameras and can record footage onto its removable drive. It has an iPod-like interface on the front, with a jog wheel and screen to access various files. The NDT 200 records in QuickTime or in FFV secure video formats and has various selectable compressions ratios, ranging from 4:1 to 30:1, and supports dual channel audio, and analog composite and S-Video inputs and connects to a computer via USB 2.0.

myEarthLink Reader - All Recently Updated

technorati tags:NDT, DVR

Blogged with Flock

Posted in Ed Tech | Print | No Comments »