heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com

Teachers who are interested in blended learning are seeing many new Web 2.0 tools come and go these days. One of the most promising tools that recently launched is haiku LMS. This learning management system delivers a robust series of features so that teachers can seamlessly integrate the Web with classroom instruction. As the makers of haiku LMS say, “The message, not the medium, is what we are about.”

The user-friendly interface of haiku LMS means that teachers and students can adopt the new system with little to no training. Individual teachers can create and administer course content, assignments and assessments. Both students and teachers can easily collaborate through the system, exchanging messages and homework assignments.

haiku LMS offers enterprise-level service and support. Administrators can even implement the system throughout a school, rather than starting an account for a single class. Naturally, there are different fees attached to the various levels of support. Although there are open-source content management systems available for free, some teachers may opt for a commercial service like haiku LMS, if only for the professional support.

There has been a lot of positive feedback on this streamlined management system (self-described as “zen-like”). Various testimonials from educators are advertised on the site’s homepage, as people have been testing the system since its 1.0 launch in 2006. Things are constantly being updated and improved on with haiku LMS and I highly recommend it to teachers everywhere. A 60-day free trial, completely risk free is offered.

Note: All views are those of the guest blogger. The author of this blog does not endorse any products or services mentioned in the post unless otherwise noted. The reader is responsible for checking all offers and link authenticity before entering into any agreements or purchases.

I do get a chance to read my RSS feeds and wanted to share some of the best reading that I get to do during lunch or late at night. Here is my list of the top 5 feeds I like to read:

1. Problogger
2. Zenhabits
3. Weblogg-ed
4. Zero Day
5. Education IT

The above are my 5 must reads from the 31 feeds that I have in Google Reader, but I do have 2 other favorites that I like to follow so I would like to share them also….. Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub and the “The Official Dilbert Website.”

Enjoy

Technorati tags: Education, Technology, Blogging

To absolutely no one’s surprise, youngsters prefer interactive systems to passive ones. Therefore they love technology and yes, they do exhibit fairly strong basic technology skills.

However, the report indicated that these users are anything but “expert searchers.” In fact, the report indicates that younger users have real difficulty choosing good search terms.

Source: Student Shortcomings - Anything but Masters of Technology — Open Education

What I see everyday is that the students are told to search for information, but are not taught how to search. Yes, the kids today can use the technology, but have they been taught to use it efficiently? They have been given the tools, but not taught how use them. It’s the same as giving someone a baseball, a bat and glove, then telling them to go play baseball. Of course they can’t do it because we haven’t given them the proper training.

Media centers, or libraries are not teaching how to do research anymore. I had a lot of training in the Dewy Decimal system, how to use the periodicals and microfilm while I was growing up. Why aren’t we teaching our kids how to do a good online search or how to research something? If we want our children to do better, to get better grades, to be able to do better in the world we need to give them the knowledge of how to find what they need and how to sift through the data to get the best information.

It’s not about passing tests because you can teach to a test. It’s about teaching them how to read, how to write and how to use the tools to get the proper information to make informed decisions.

Technorati tags: Educational Technology, Education

I also like to not re-invent the wheel as I have other things to do.

Source: Teacher’s Productivity Hampered by technology. No love. | 43 Folders

This to me shows a lack of understanding your students, the world around you and the need to grow with the newest developments in society. Why don’t we just go back to no calculators, typewriters, and the belief that the world is flat. I’m not sure if this teacher even knows what his students do in their spare time or what technology they use on a daily basis. It’s the digital age, you need to grow with the target audience. You need to learn how to grab their interest, which is best done with the technology that the kids are using and are best suited too. Not what you as a teacher are comfortable with.

Not only that, but moving to the new technology will in the long run make a teachers job easier. So you have to spend a little time an effort to make the change now, but you will make it up in saved time and better student participation and achievement. If you are not willing to grow, you are going to rot. Leaders take chances, leaders are on the bleeding edge of technology, leaders see the goal and grab for it with both hands.

The teacher in afore mentioned article has none of these character traits that I can see. Another Dinosaur that will freeze and become a fossil because he could or wouldn’t adapt, add to or change his teaching style. He already has enough to do and thinks that the wheel, US education, is fine as is. I hate to bring it up, but the US is one of the worst countries in education. It won’t get any better while we have teachers that think this way.

Technorati tags: Educational Technology, Education, Technology

As a career educator and former Superintendent of Manatee County Schools, I am adamantly opposed to the Jan. 29 constitutional amendment for property tax reform because I firmly believe that if passed, it would pull the rug out from under schoolchildren in Florida.

Source: For schools’ sake, vote no on property tax amendment

It looks like the Amendment is far below the 60% super majority requirement to pass. According to a poll in the GainsvillesSun.com only 45% of Floridians likely to vote are in favor of the amendment, with 34% against and 21% undecided. It is unlikely that 15% of the undecided will vote for the amendment. A statistical analysis of the 79% decided voters shows that 11.96% of the undecided would vote for the amendment if the proper probabilities fall as they should. This gives the amendment just 56.96% of the vote, falling 3% short if every undecided votes the way they should.

My thoughts are that it will get just under 50% of the vote.

Technorati tags: Amendment One, Taxes, Florida

The proposed amendment that voters are considering between now and Jan. 29 has serious flaws:
It doesn’t provide tax reform.
It doesn’t eliminate inequities; in fact, it exacerbates them.
And it would further restrict the ability of local governments — the governments closest to the people — to respond to community needs.
We recommend voting NO, against proposed Revision No. 1.

Source: Sarasota Herald Tribune Editorial Staff - Vote “No” on Amendment 1

What other organizations are against Amendment One?

Here they are:

Florida AFL-CIO and affiliated unions
Professional Firefighters of Florida including our local firefighters
SEIU - Service Employees International Union
Teamsters
Florida Police Chiefs’ Association
Florida Tax Watch
Florida League of Cities
Florida Association of Counties
Florida PTA
Florida League of Woman Voters
Human Services Coalition of Miami-Dade
Florida ACORN
Sarasota Classified Teachers Association

Technorati tags: Amendment One, Florida, Taxes

When the Florida legislature looked at doubling the Homestead Exemption several years ago they found that some of the poorer counties would pay little or NO property taxes due to their low property values? That meant that the property taxes collected in richer counties like Sarasota would be used to pay for schools in counties not paying property taxes. Are you willing to subsidize the schools in other counties?

Vote No on Amendment One on January 29.

Technorati tags: Florida, Vote, Amendment One, Politics

Why talk about this in an educational technology blog? Because the increase in the exemption will cut school funding, which will have to be made up somewhere or we will see drastic cuts in technology projects, teachers, other staff and an overall decrease in the available quality of education we can give our children.

Here are a few of the hard numbers from the state of Florida themselves.

• Experts project that the amendment will cost public schools $204 million next year and $2.76 billion over five years.
• The impact on Sarasota County schools will be $3.5 million for the 08-09 year and $42.7 million over the next 5 years.
• Experts are estimating a change in property values for 08-09 will be 4% to 7% lower than this year. That is a reduction of collected funds for schools from $17 million to $29.7 million.
• The Legislature has promised that schools will be held harmless. That means that the revenue lost by this amendment will have to be made up by an increase in millage rates. This will make voters angry and hurt the passage of the 2010 school referendum.
• For those with “Homesteaded” properties, the assessed value of your home will go up by 3% even with the amendment passing and you will still pay more in school taxes.

Technorati tags: Florida, Vote, Amendment One, Politics

We have mandated class sizes in Florida, but unfortunately the districts use loopholes in the way you average or count classes to say they meet the class size when they really don’t. What does this say about our efforts for “No Child Left Behind?”

Technorati tags: Class Size, Education, FCAT

Personally I’ve used both in our district, but we have went strictly ActivBoards in the whole district this past year. They have been a big hit, I would hope so when they cost $14 million, with the staff and the students. I look forward to seeing us increase our grades on the FCAT this year.

Technorati tags: Educational Technology, Education, Promethean, ActivBoard, SMART Boards