Education dot com - tons of educational resources

Education.com is a site I found out about last week. The site has a very diverse range of articles, resources, and links on a variety of educational topics.

The site has activity ideas, worksheets, articles and links to other resources. The "Education A-Z" section has hundreds of articles and links on all kinds of educational topics, ranging from Aspergers to back to school ideas to memory research to youth organizations. It is a veritable cornucopia of information.

The Science Fair section of the site also has some great tips and ideas for students and teachers. There is even a contest for science fair projects.

Education.com is definitely a resource all educators should check out.

Upcoming Free Educational "Conferences"

There are some very cool educational "conferences" or "unconferences" coming up that everyone should check out. These three are all in the Northeast (NY, NJ, and MA). They are all FREE!

EdCampNYC - EdCamp NYC is an unconference about K-12 education issues and ideas. It is Saturday, December 4th, 2010 and will be held at the School at Columbia University in NYC. You choose what sessions you want to attend and you can even leave a session and choose a different one. They are not presentations so much as conversations and a sharing of ideas and concerns. 

NTCAMP - NTCAMP is also an unconference focusing on K-12 education issues and ideas. It is Saturday, February 26, 2011 at Burlington High School in Burlington, MA. It runs from 8am - 4pm. There will be a variety of sessions and discussions throughout the day for anyone in the education field. It is NOT just for "new" teachers. 

TeachMeetNJ - TeachMeetNJ is another unconference. This one is being held on Saturday, March 5th, 2011 at Rutgers University in Piscataway, NJ. There will be around 100 different sessions. Sessions will be different lengths and very interactive. There is going to be a dedicated Blogger’s Cafe/Networking area. It is a place to meet other people, hang out, try new tools, and relax.

Palm Pre coming soon?

I'm a Palm fan. I have been using Palm products for 12 years, starting with a Palm III, moving to a Palm Tungsten T3, then Lifedrive, then TX, and currently using a Palm Centro on Verizon. I've always thought that Palm had the best PIM (Personal Information Management - calendar, tasks, memos, and contacts) system of any PDA or smart phone. I use my Centro for everything - Calendar, Contacts, Memos (over 1600), Tasks, email, web browsing, text messaging, games, productivity, lesson plans, and even as a phone.

I've been anxiously awaiting the Palm Pre. Palm announced their new smart phone back in January. The phone has a new operating system (webOS) and a great form factor (touchscreen with a slide down QWERTY keyboard). The applications and operating system look great and all the industry analysts are calling the Pre an "iPhone killer". 

The problem - it still hasn't been released and I'm dying to get one. It will be released on Sprint for the first 6 months, and then go to other carriers after that. Palm has announced that it will be released in the first half of 2009. There are indications that the release is imminent. There are commercials being filmed, reports of Sprint employees being trained on it, and reports of Pre shipments being sent out to stores. 

I'm hoping it will be out soon. I love the idea of a smart phone as an educational tool, and I think that the Pre will be a great educational tool.

For more info: www.palm.com and www.sprint.com 

Disclaimer - I do own Palm stock.

FETC Virtual Conference going on right now!

I'm attending the FETC Virtual conference right now. Come and join me.

PC to TV

Don't have an LCD projector in your classroom? Have access to a TV with a pretty large screen, even an old one? Then you are all set.

There are devices available that will enable you to show what's on your computer on a TV. You need a PC to TV VGA converter. You plug in your PC video output and audio output into the device and then the other cables get hooked up to your TV. This enables your whole class to see what's on your computer.

I helped one teacher her set that up in her room. She had a very old TV, but we were able to do it. Now she doesn't have to try to sign out a multimedia projector, she just uses the old TV.

Saves money and recycles an old TV.

The converter boxes range in price from around $40 to $100. Wal-mart, Target, Best Buy, Tiger Direct, all carry a version of them.