Just made a big step forward on my commitment to “get” SmartBoards by visiting Tom Barrett’s Idea’s to Inspire site! Each page on the site has a slideshow on a specific tool. I started with his Interesting Ways to Use ICT in Your Classroom tab, where I was thrilled to discover 38 Interesting Ways to Use Your Interactive Whiteboard. Between ideas, tips, and links, I’m excited and almost ready to start training others on the effective use of SmartBoards. All of Tom’s slideshows, including Google Docs, Google Earth, Twitter, and more, are outstanding resources to incorporate into to your teacher training toolkit!
Be sure to checkout the Curriculum Ideas tab and the Techy Tips for Non-Techy Teachers tab.
I read Tom’s blog and also follow him on Twitter. I guess this is part of the Web 2.0 magic that members of my PLN do not need to be in my time zone or continent.
March 21, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Not only does he post outstanding resources, but he is also a very helpful person. He has talked me a few times when I was stuck or needed guidance. Hats off to him and his hard work!
March 22, 2009 at 8:33 am
Melissa, thanks for your comment – which took me to your post on your podcasting journey. What a great example to share with other teachers! I’m sitting down today to play with iTunes. Up till now, I’ve been showing teachers how to upload their podcasts directly to their Edublogs sites and also how to use Gcast for podcasting from their cell phones. Saturday I ‘ll be doing a workshop with teachers who are using Blogger, which does not allow a direct upload, so I’m thinking of showing them Box.net and then iTunes.
I agree…Hats of to Tom for all his resources and support!…But I’m also counting on adding you as a resources, since you’re a little closer time zone wise:-)
Gail
March 22, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I was going to share something I saw on Classroom 2.0 which was discussion about the effectiveness of IWB (http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/are-interactive-white-boards). It’s good because it points out the pitfalls, and issues from a number of teacher who used them including IWB vs. tablet. No hard and fast conclusions, but I think it hits some really salient points. I’m going to share it at a district PD I’m giving next month along with Marzano’s findings he presented at NECC.
March 22, 2009 at 3:54 pm
One of my main concerns with SmartBoards is the design itself. Via a response to my post on SmartBoards and in the Classroom 2.0 forum I see positive mention of the Polyvision Eno – which “gives the front of the room back to teachers.”
Thanks for the link, Alice. I’ll start following that discussion too.
April 4, 2009 at 10:26 am
Thanks for your kind words about my ‘Ideas to Inspire’ site. The amazing presentations are the collaboration between lots of amazing teachers around the world, many of which were started with Tom (who is, as you say, a star!), with updates from lots of members of his huge Twitter network.
If anyone has any ideas that they could add to any of the presentations, please contact the person who started each presentation – their contact details are usually on the last slide. Thank you!
April 4, 2009 at 10:42 am
Mark,how funny that you would post a comment just now. Only minutes ago, I was writing a new post about Twitter and included Ideas to Inspire. In revisiting the site today, I realized I had missed your name. I’m heading back that post right now to add it in.
Again, thanks for a wonderful resource!
Gail
Pingback: IT Ramblings #5 | U No IT