A Sampling of Comments

We’re in the home stretch of a tremendous 2012 MACUL Conference. I’d thought I’d share some of the comments I have picked up over the last day and a half.

“There’s a lot of people here!”

Yes, there are. This year’s conference is the largest GR conference in 12 years and the energy is in the air.  Of course, high numbers also mean full sessions and I’ve heard a few grumbles here and there.  You can be sure that the MACUL Board does put considerable time and effort into making decisions regarding sessions.  It’s a difficult job for sure.
Carousel Riding - Shirley, Jane, Bob & Carol

“What a great place for a party.”

If you missed the MACUL Night at the Museum last night, then you missed delicious food, a rockin’ band, and a very cool venue for mingling and having deeper conversations. The carousel was open and spinning…it’s fun to see 25 adults on a carousel.

“That session rocked!”

Above all, the MACUL Conference is about sharing ideas and experiences and from the sounds of things, this year’s presentations were top notch. Whether you went to Featured Sessions led by Leslie Fisher or Doug Johnson, or a teacher-led session from people like Brad Wilson or Jason Valade, there’s a lot of expertise here. If your brain is not exploding then you’re not doing MACUL right!

A Little Something from Waffle Bytes

Melinda Waffle from Calhoun ISD blogged some great notes and resources from Leslie Fisher’s “The Web You Might Not Know About.” Instead of posting a link to her blog, she’s graciously allowed the post to be re-published here on MACUL’s blog.  Thanks Melinda!

*****

AT MACUL 2012 Conference attending the Leslie Fisher session:  The Web 2.0 You Might Not Know About…
(Finally up after my battery died 15 minutes before the end of the session…)

RockMelt – Free browser for Mac or PC
Social media browser – connects to social media but leaves you on current page

Evernote Clearly can be attached to any web browser – will extract story out of web page and save to Evernote; schools.evernote.com for school accounts; can now add audio recordings; bought skitch app for drawing; solution for iPads in multiple hands (teacher on student accounts); Evernote Peek adds flash card capability for iPad

Twitter – soapbox moment about uses for Education :-)
Added ability to receive tweets with no twitter account, uses text messaging.  Use twitter widgets to place tweets onto webpage (real time updating…).

www.coveritlive.com – backchannel room, can go to it at anytime to see as is.

www.todaysmeet.com – free backchannel chat, pretty open

www.gosoapbox.com – allows interaction between speaker & the audience; create questions, vote to promote; similar to the Purdue’s Hotseat.  No longer free

typewith.me – collaboration site online; can load a pdf on there and collaborate it. Can now get up to 100 people into the room, can be in room on mobile device; has time slider to review material.

www.pinterest.com – tool for sharing resources; virtual pinboard; organizable by topic, ideas, etc

Wunderlist – To Dos in one location (any platform); collaborative to dos;

Zamzar – file conversion site (free!)

en.linoit.com – online cork board to post stickies, other resources, etc; it’s an iPad it

www.scoopit.com – organize a topic in one place; create boards, when browsing can add links from sites to your boards; people can subscribe to the board (schools using as school newspaper)

join.me – simple group meetings; change, or take control of the screen

www.weebly.com – create websites easily; two sites you can create for free; weebly for education – the teacher can control privacy

www.wufoo.com – create drag & drop forms online;

Eventbrite – schedule events easily; keeps track of waiting list on limited room events.

www.classdojo.com – student engagement & reward tracker; teacher can load behaviors & students for tracking

www.smalldemons.com – learn more about literature

www.remind101.com – teacher creates account; others join via text/email; no phone/emails exchanged and the teacher can communicate with students/parents

wiffiti.com. – message board.

www.jetjaw.com – polling/feedback online, can conditionalize by answer

www.kaywa.com – QR Code management

www.polleverywhere.com  – new wordle support (see word cloud of open ended question answers)

www.storify.com – take tidbits from everywhere & mash together

Leslie Fisher Web 2.0 You May Not Know

After a great keynote session this morning, I wanted to sit in on another Leslie session.  So, I went to the Web2.0 You May Not Know session and my fingers are sore from typing notes on the different tools.  She has done a great job of highlighting useful tools that educators can use, the great thing about these tools is that many of them are free.  During the session, she highlighted tools that teachers, technology consultants, and students alike can use.  What is great about many of the tools is that they are interoperable among PCs Macs, mobile devices and tablets.  For more information on the session or links to the tools, click on the following link and scrolling to “The Web 2.0 You Might Not Know About”: Leslie’s Web 2.0 Tools

Student Showcase

It’s great to have excited students share what they can do using technology. The Student Showcase is something that everyone needs to see. Video projects, tablet uses, innovations beyond what you’d typically expect are the norm.  My son’s school, Stewart Elementary, using a variety of technology to produce the Stewart Student News. Check out their SchoolTube Channel.

The Stewart Student News highlights students, teachers, and their activities in school.  Fall Festival, Variety Show, Student of the Month…it all makes it into the newscast!  Thanks to MACUL member Brad Wilson for mentoring these students!

Opening Keynote Live Blog – with Leslie Fisher

2012 Closing Keynote – Rushton Hurley

MACUL so far for a “newbie”

So, I arrived in Grand Rapids earlier today, got registered for MACUL 2012 and was so glad that I did this early after seeing the line for check in at the hotel.  Since I work with the person that planned the Social Media Cafe, I helped set that up, then realized that there are so many things going on behind the scenes before the event begins.  I went to a TechSmith event at the B.O.B. tonight and it was a great networking time and gave me a chance to meet others that are involved with technology in education.

Right now I am going over my presentation to see if I have it all ready for tomorrow.  Are we ever really ready?  I am looking forward to tomorrow with excitement for the keynote session and my own.  Looking at the schedule, I am overwhelmed by the large number of great sessions that are planned.  I have a couple that really stood out starred and those are the ones I will try to attend.  There are so many awesome things to do here at MACUL, the sessions, exhibitors, the Social Media Cafe, and the evening events as well.  This will be a fun couple of days.

Did You Vote Yet?

As a MACUL member, you are eligible to vote online in the MACUL Board of Directors election, so check your email for a link and instructions.

The polls are open now through April 15 at 11:59 p.m. In this year’s election, you are asked to vote for up to 5 of the 7 candidates that are running for the MACUL Board of Directors for a 2012-15 term.

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Special Interest Groups are Rocking Pre-Cons!

No one is more excited about the first day of the MACUL Conference than the Special Interest Groups. All the time and energy put into planning a great hands-on experience for all attendees finally comes to fruition today.Even though is probably too late for you to make an afternoon session, check out some of what is available today.

  •  Python Programming
  • Get Started with the Excitement of Challenge-Based Learning
  • Video in the Classroom
  • Writing Basic Applications for Mobile Devices
  • Creating Accessible ePub Documents for the iPad
  • Windows 7 and Office 2010 Deployment
And there’s many, many more.  What a great assortment of topics from newbie to techie and everything in between.
Special Interest Groups are made up of people just like you, who have an interest in using technology in the classroom.  MACUL’s SIGs are:
Thanks, SIGs, for a job well done!

Rock Our World at the MACUL MEA Student Tech Showcase – Video Abstract

Visit the MACUL MEA Student Technology Showcase Thursday March 8, 2012 11:00am – 1:00pm @ DeVos Place
My second graders will be sharing our experience participating in Rock Our World – A Global Collaboration Project where we made music with students all over the world! www.rockourworld.org

I will also be presenting a session detailing Rock Our World on Friday March 9, 2012 1:00pm – 2:00pm @ Governor’s, Amway. For more information visit http://harju.wikispaces.com/Rock+Our+World+11-12 

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