DEN Blog Network

Better question would be where won’t we be??  I’m looking at the list of STARs that are presenting at NECC and I am blown away by the numbers.

Hall and I are each presenting a few times.  Hall is being featured as a spotlight presenter this year and will be doing two sessions that you won’t want to miss.   On Tuesday at 3:30, he’ll be presenting It’s In Your Pocket: Teaching Spectacularly with Cell Phones.  I’ve been working on that one with him, and it looks to be incredible.  I may even be doing a little guest appearance with him!  Then on Wednesday at noon, he’ll be presenting The Man Behind the Curtain: Really Simple HTML for Non-Wizards.  I’ve seen this one before and it’s a blast.  Don’t get stressed out by the word “HTML”, he really does make it easy to get very impressive results.

For myself, I’ll be presenting Policies, Safety and Social Networking on Wednesday at 1:30pm.  It focuses on the need for schools to update their policies to reflect Web 2.0 sites and social network and provides examples for how to do it safely while maintaining high standards.  I’ll also be speaking on two panels.  The first is Podcasting & Podcatching for the Absolute Beginner on Monday at 11:00am, and the second is Social Networking in Education on Tuesday at 2:00pm.  Hope to see you there!

As if five sessions by the DEN team weren’t enough, that’s just barely scratching the surface!  The following list are all sessions featuring STAR Discovery Educators!

Sunday, June 29, 2008 Concurrent Sessions, Workshops, Poster Sessions

• 7:00 PM Martha Thornburgh Mathlincs: A Collaborative Math Project with a Global Span

Monday, June 30, 2008 Concurrent Sessions, Workshops, Poster Sessions

• 8:30 AM Fred Delventhal, Elaine Plybon, Nancy Sharoff, Lori Abrahams, Anne Truger, Beth Knittle Creating a Personal Learning Network in Second Life

• 8:30 AM Ben Smith, Jared Mader The Tech Based Science Classroom

• 8:30 AM Stephanie Anderson Learn to Podcast and Video Edit Now!

• 11:00 AM Susan Anderson, Jim Holland Breathing Life into Your Curriculum: Google Earth Advanced Placemarks

• 11:00 AM Charlene Chausis Off Task: Web Sites and Web Tools You Didn’t Know You Needed

• 12:30 PM Grace Smith, Stephanie Throne Differentiating Instruction with 21st-Century Tools/NETS•S in Encore Classrooms

• 12:30 PM Michelle Hutton Python: Learn Programming the Fun Way

• 1:00 PM Anne Truger Re-Energize Your Curriculum with Clay Animation

• 3:30 PM Ben Smith, Jared Mader Student Creativity and Innovation in Schools

• 4:45 PM Stevie Kline Panel Participant in Bernajean Porter’s: Digital Storytelling: Becoming StoryKeepers

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 Concurrent Sessions, Workshops, Poster Sessions

• 10:00 AM Susan Anderson, Jim Holland Hidden Treasures in Your Curriculum: Geocaching for Students

• 11:00 AM Vicki Green, Kathy Andrzejewski Differentiated Instruction-One Click at a Time

• 12:30 PM Michelle Hutton Computing Outreach: Getting Students Excited about Computing!

• 12:30 PM Ben Smith, Jared Mader The How To Workshop for New Technologies

• 1:00 PM Beverly Plein, Joanna Ebert Think Big, Think Global, Think 21st-Century Skills

• 1:00 PM Nancy Sharoff Visual Literacy and Web 2.0: Implications and Applications for Education

• 1:00 PM Kristen Innes, Jen Kiddle Technology, Art, Music: Integrating across the Curriculum to Meet Standards

• 1:00 PM Jim Holland, Gaby Krumm Print, Cut, Fold: Creative Technology Projects for all Curricula Areas

• 3:30 PM Carol Anne McGuire Rock Our World: Global Collaboration buzzword or educational reality?

• 3:30 PM Alma Row The Price Is Right: Free Online Resources for Educators

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Concurrent Sessions, Workshops, Poster Sessions

• 9:00 AM Cheryl Lykowski Global Explorers-Where Students Are Making The Global Connection

• 9:00 AM Mary Amtsberg, Jean Thorpe Blogging, Podcasting and Smart Boards - Oh My!

• 9:00 AM Heather Hurley, Wendy Heller Make Your Mark with SMART! Implementing SMART Classroom Tools

• 9:00 AM Jim Holland, Susan Anderson Google Earth: Real Science, Real Word, Real Fun!

• 12:00 PM Lisa Parisi, Christine Southard Harris Burdick Online Writing Project

• 12:00 PM Michelle Hutton Python for Fun Introductory Programming

• 12:00 PM MaryCarole Strother iLearners in an eWorld

• 12:00 PM Kenneth Shelton Technology Integration Station “Your next stop to innovation”

• 1:30 PM Carol Broos It’s Music: Compose, Post, Share, and Comment

• 1:30 PM  Robin Ellis The Walls Came Down: Incubating Collaborative Learning Environments 

Whew!  Did I miss anyone?  If so, please leave a comment and let me know!  And definitely make it a point to check out your fellow STAR Discovery Educator’s presentations and support the network!

Enjoy the update!

Discovery Education is excited to announce many new GREAT additions coming your way to streaming! This includes the long awaited and asked for Student Center where your students will have ability to log on and download media, better correlation with your state standards, more refined search, an update builders and my content, not to mention that the base package has increased to 5,000 titles!

To learn more about the these updates, please join us for a STAR Streaming Update overview by logging on to one of the webinars on Thursday, June 26th listed below.

For additional questions please contact Jannita at Jannita_Demian@discovery.com

Hope to see you there!

STAR Streaming Update
11:30 am, PDT or 2:30 EDT
Click here to join. No registration or password required: https://discoveryed.webex.com/discoveryed/onstage/g.php?d=556861250&t=a

STAR Streaming Update
12:30 pm, PDT or 3:30 EDT
Click here to join. No registration or password required: https://discoveryed.webex.com/discoveryed/onstage/g.php?d=556636663&t=a

STAR Streaming Update
3:30 pm, PDT or 6:30 EDT
Click here to join. No registration or password required: https://discoveryed.webex.com/discoveryed/onstage/g.php?d=556875536&t=a

Discovery Education and Wilke’s University are launching a new online master’s degree program in instructional media!  This has been in the works for a quite a while now, so I’m thrilled that we can finally announce it.

The 30-credit instructional media program will prepare teachers to engage today’s students in learning through digital media.  It will educate teachers to become specialists who can effectively blend academic rigor with the latest technology, from video to Web 2.0 to virtual field trips.

Courses will focus on topics such as digital storytelling, using digital media in the classroom, using technology to support creativity, and applying brain-based theories of how students process information to technology integration.  Kathy Schrock, a nationally known leader in technology integration in the classroom, will design “Internet Tools for Teaching” scheduled to begin in spring 2009.

I can’t speak for current teacher prep programs, but I can say that the technology preparation I received while getting my education degree was nowhere near adequate to leverage the incredible tools that are available today.   This program will help teachers maximize technology to improve their ability to educator their students.

“The program is designed to help all teachers effectively integrate media-based technologies in helping their students reach new heights of academic success,” Speziale said. “This is one of those special programs that can have an immediate transformative effect in a teacher’s classroom.”

In most states now, teachers are required to earn continuing education credits to maintain their certification.   There’s no better way to stay certified, move up in the pay scale, and learn how to be a more effective teacher using technology, than by earning a master’s degree.   And if you’re going to earn one,  you can guarantee that Discovery Education is going to stretch your thinking.  And we couldn’t have picked a better partner than Wilkes University, one of the leaders in graduate teacher education.

Wilkes University is currently accepting applications for the Fall 2008 semester. Prospective students are encouraged to visit the university’s website at www.wilkes.edu/instructionalmedia, where they can find additional program information and sign up to receive application alerts via email. All Wilkes University Graduate Education Programs are accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

See you in class!

Enjoy the weekly update for June 13, 2008.

The final results are in and in an impressive, last week, come-from-behind victory, Kim Randall’s West Squad finished first for DEN Spring Training 2008.  The West’s unbelievable run was spearheaded by the super strong showing from California whose LC won the Day of Discovery featuring Hall of Famer Davidson by recruiting 152 STARs.

In other news, Matt Monjan (Mid-Atlantic Manager) was furious, threw a virtual base across the DEN’s Second Life infield and demanded a recount. 

Anyhow, if you reported at least three events from the beginning of the year until now you will receive a DEN water bottle.  We are in the process of ordering new bottles as we speak and expect them to ship at the end of this month.

If you recruited a new STAR DE during spring training make sure we know about it by completing the STAR Recruiter’s form by Monday, June 16th.  After we have all the names in we will send out those awesome DEN baseball jerseys. 

Is there an award for winning the most awards?  If so, Discovery Education would HAVE to be in the running.  Last week we added to our total by snagging no less than four Association of Educational Publishers Awards!

The Planet Earth Education Edition, Discovery Education Health and the Allstate ‘Drive It Right’ program all won Distinguished Achievement Awards,  while Discovery Education’s Corporate Brochure received a Beacon Award.

From the Press release:

The Planet Earth Education Edition combines the highly acclaimed Planet Earth series from Discovery Channel with a variety of educational resources.  The DVD set includes 14 programs chaptered into core-concept clips, including Pole to Pole, Fresh Water, The Future: Saving Species, Deserts and more.  In addition, the set includes more than 30 teacher’s guides spanning grades 3-12.  Each guide provides educators with learning objectives, discussion questions, academic standards, and more than 30 writing prompts to spur student creativity.  The package also contains 11 animal guides and posters in PDF format, sized for printing-on-demand.  Planet Earth also is available online through Discovery Education streaming Plus.

‘Drive It Right’ is a powerful video that delivers the important message of teen safe driving – from teens who have firsthand experience with car crashes.  The DVD was used in a co-branded Discovery Education and Allstate campaign to promote safe driving practices.

Discovery Education Health is an online health and prevention resource for K-12 educators.  Offering 16 curriculum programs that cover nine key topic areas as well as a collection of videos, lessons, teacher’s guides and worksheets, Discovery Education Health is currently used in classrooms nationwide.

The 2008 Discovery Education Corporate Brochure is a marketing piece that provides a clear overview of all services that the company offers to educators and administrators and highlights the key benefits these solutions provide to potential customers.

Congrats all around!

Now how do we get nominated for a Grammy?

There is only one week left for DEN members to submit their video entries to the DE/3M Young Scientist Challenge and Teacher Challenge.

The Teacher Challenge is open to educators of ALL grade levels.  Any educator can submit their 1-2 minute video to try to win the trip to D.C. along with other prizes including special access to a webinar next year with the Mythbusters!

So what are you doing for the next 1-2 minutes?  Grab a camera and submit your entry! 

Visit the challenge and enter right now!

Two resources for you to help you and your students through the process.  We’ve created and archived a couple of webinars that should answer just about any question you may have about the challenge.

Student Information Webinar

Teacher Information Webinar 

Enjoy the update for June 6, 2008.

Next week, you’ve got two fantastic webinars to participate in. The first is the latest in our Discovery Connect series, as we get you up close and personal with the executive producer of When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions. But that’s not all! We’ve added a very special guest to the roster: Shuttle veteran astronaut Eileen Collins! You and your students will get to hear from an actual Space Shuttle astronaut and ask her your questions about her experiences. Can you think of a better way to wrap up the school year? This webinar is for both teachers AND students, so gather up your classes and get ready for a truly ‘out of this world’ experience.

This webinar will be on Wednesday June 11th at 1pm Eastern. Click here to read the full details of this webinar.

The second webinar features our resident expert when it comes to the world of Digital Storytelling, Joe Brennan. He’ll be presenting a webinar entitled, Lights Camera Publish!

I have always thought that one of the greatest benefits of students making their own videos was that they get viewed by an audience. Not only is the learning shared then, but the preparation and production value goes way up. It’s hard to generate that same amount of enthusiasm for those private transaction assignments between teacher and student that are tests and written assignments … So whether you have competed, plan to compete, or are just lurking in the wings, you can learn a lot from contest participants’ videos. From the simplest stories done with still cameras to full blown school studio productions, any class level and subject area can benefit from watching and/or creating their own cinematic mini-epics.

This webinar will take place on Tuesday, June 10th at 7 pm Eastern. Click here to register!

Cost for these two incredible webinars?? Nada! Zilch! Zippo! Nothing! Don’t you just love Discovery Education webinars?