PATINS UDL Project

On Thursday, March 4, 2010, from 3:30 – 4:30 PM Eastern time (2:30 – 3:30 PM, Central time) David Davis, from the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System (FIDLRS), will present on the topic of 21st Century Skills for Students with Disabilities at the PATINS Project Island in Second Life. The presentation will include time for discussion and questions.

Participants will need to create an avatar in Second Life (a 3-D virtual world on the Internet at http://secondlife.com/)  prior to attending the presentation and any of the PATINS Coordinators can assist you in doing that if you need some help.

There is information about getting started in Second Life on the PATINS web site in the Technical Training Videos & Tutorials section at http://www.patinsproject.com/videos.html

and online at a Getting Started page at  http://static-secondlife-com.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/en/Second_Life_Quickstart.pdf

The presentation will take place at the PATINS Project Island location which is  http://slurl.com/secondlife/PATINS%20Project%20Island/149/30/32

Contact any member of the PATINS staff for assistance in interacting in  Second Life any time.

Go to the Awesome Highlighter web site for a free online highlighting tool. This web site lets you highlight text, pictures or video from a web page and then access it later via a web address they assign or email it to yourself or share it via Twitter, Facebook, Delicious or Wordpress. You can add notes to the highlighted pages as well. A record of your highlighted pages is kept for later reference.

This is a great research tool. Check it out at

http://www.awesomehighlighter.com/

Ray Kurzweil has developed a new, free,  software product designed to read books called Blio.  It is scheduled to be released in February and should be compatible with PCs, iPod Touch and iPhone.  It will bring text and images to the device and read aloud with highlighting.

There is a video interview with Ray Kurzweil about Blio at  http://teachingall.blogspot.com/

You can sign up to receive information about Blio at       http://blioreader.com/

You can read more information about Blio at  http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/blio-ray-kurzweil-book/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

On the Digital Wish web site, there is information about getting Flip Video Camcorders (120 Minute version) on a 2-for-1 deal.  You can get two of these camcorders for $150. This is an offer for schools only.

Go to

http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/product?id=4310

The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) has developed a Science Writer. This is a FREE tool that can help students who struggle to write science lab and class reports. It is geared for use by middle and high school students and has multiple layers of support that can be used as needed by the student.

Click here to go the CAST’s Science Writer website and Take a Tour to see if it will help your students.

Now is your chance to advise the U.S. Department of Education as it develops a vision for how information and communication technologies can help transform American education in the 21st century.

They want you to share information about technology tools, exemplary research, and online technology success in the categories of productivity, teaching, assessment and learning.

A draft plan is expected in early 2010. A team of experts is looking for insights from people who actually use technology to teach (that’s you!) to help them understand how to improve education through the innovative use of technology that can be used in and out of school… all day, every day. You all have important stories and information to share.

Please click here to contribute your recommendations and to see what others have recommended.  Deadline to contribute is December 6, 2009!!

Check out the Teacher’s Network Technology Grants web site. It has a frequently updated listing of private and public technology grants.

At least a dozen grants are listed and change from time to time depending on deadlines. The opportunities range from actual grants to high tech equipment giveaways of products like cameras or video microscopes.

Sometimes the grants offer travel funds for school staff to attend seminars or to learn from others who are using certain technologies in their education world. Some grants are available for camps for students. The list also gives basic descriptions, deadlines, eligibility, maximum awards, and websites to get more information.

Teachers Network has been in existence for 25 years. For those who don’t know how to apply or write a grant proposal, the website offers that advice. Some of the articles available are: 10 Tips for Grant Proposals, Why Proposals Get Rejected, and Funding Our Classrooms.

Teachersnetwork.org also shares other websites that can help educators be successful at grant writing. You can also find more financial resources for technology and other needs through the lists of websites

I found an unexpected resource on the Really Good Stuff web site with this classroom activity.  The plans are to have students create games that will help celebrate the 100th day of school using a variety of items . What an interesting and fun way to work with the calendar and numbers while writing directions and explanations.  No expensive technology is required.

Click here to see the activity explained.

The Really Good Stuff web site has many articles and lesson plan suggestions in their Resource area, as well as the opportunity to ask questions of other school professionals using the site.

On the CAST web site there is a feature called UDL Spotlight. They are focusing on the Columbus, Indiana, school district!

http://udlspotlight.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/a-district-implements-udl/

They have interviews with administrators and teachers explaining how UDL has helped and continues to help them improve classroom instruction for all students. They implemented UDL to modify curriculum development and teaching in every classroom. UDL is giving everyone in the district a way to work together toward the same goal of improved achievement for all students.