Tuesday, January 31, 2006

A blog is a wonderful tool for educators. But what exactly is a blog? The simplest definition is that it is an updated website (sometimes as often as several times a day) of dated entries that is arranged with the most recent entry appearing first. It is simple to use, can be a free resource and one of the most significant ways it differs from a web page is the ability to add comments to each posting.

The quintessential education blogger is Will Richardson whose passion is to write about how free technology tools (blogs, RSS, wikis, podcasts, etc.) have the capability to transform education. Will's blog describes cutting edge examples of how education IS being transformed.

Many educators are adopting these tools as instructional and integration tools in the classroom. Blogs serve many purposes for teachers. Walter McKenzie in the Fall 2004 MassCue Newsletter "On Cue," describes five possibly options for educational blogs. These include:
Blog as Classroom Chronicle, Blog as Daily Journal, Blog as Anthology, Blog as Communicator, and Blog as Collaborator. It's such an exciting time to be an educator and use incredible tools with unlimited potential in the classroom. Explore, Play and Create!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

The Alliance for Technology Access includes a great article, with links, called, "Technology Tips for Differentiated Instruction." I'm recommending it here because it includes using tools that are readily available in many school systems. There are examples, explanations and suggestions for use.
Some of the categories include Talking Text, Electronic Text, Word Features (I'm a huge advocate of using the features built into MicroSoft Word since it is easy to use and readily available) and Enhanced Text.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Many school districts are interested in improving the provision of assistive technology services for their students. Two excellent resources to help guide school districts can be found at Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services and www.wati.org. These websites are well worth exploring and provide a wealth of information.