I was interviewing for a teaching position in Pennsylvania, and was asking about the school's current technology. My interviewee informed me that EVERY CLASSROOM HAS A SMART BOARD!!! I was amazed and excited to see that some schools are really grasping the technology available to them. I wasn't been lucky enough to have a SMART BOARD in my classroom for first two years of teaching, but know from experience and from knowledge learned in a graduate course, that these boards can REALLY increase classroom participation and greatly benefit the learning environment in the classroom.

Blackboard updated.

As a student at Albright College for a semester, I utilized Blackboard. It let me check my current grades, message other students in my course and the professor, and access course information needed for assignments, among other things.

Now, Blackboard is being integrated into the iPhone applications. As mentioned in the Blackboard Press Release, students at schools (both collegiate and K-12) are able to access their schools' Blackboard site from their iPhones. One student mentions a positive of this collaboration as being able to check the site like he checks his e-mails.

I agree with this student in that it is making life easier for students who first have an iPhone, and secondly use Blackboard with their school. When I was in college, I found myself checking my e-mail quite often soon after a test to see what my grade would be. Now, some students will be able to access this information from anywhere using their phones.

The other piece I find especially useful is that if a teacher shares a website or information during class that is located on Blackboard, students can easily get to that information now, no matter where they are. This would be particularly helpful if the student were studying somewhere without an internet connection.

Of course, if students do not own an iPhone, they will be unable to reach Blackboard unless on the computer. These students may see how helpful their friends' iPhones are and decide to purchase one also. Hopefully this currently Beta application will grow and allow users of other phones access in the near future.

EARTH HOUR!

Let's do it! March 28th, at 8:30 P.M. turn off the lights, the computer, the T.V., anything connected to the wall.

EARTH HOUR- This huge initiative is amazing. We all want the world to be around forever, but we need to take action in order for that to happen.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke about the message EARTH HOUR will send. I believe that not only those who don't participate will see the impact. The world will be united for that hour in demonstrating their support of non-other than our planet and how much we really do care about it. Though we continue our use of gas-powered cars and other atmospheric hazards, we know how harmful they are.

Personally, I can't wait to see what happens in a few days, when those around the world unite for the world.

Video Games in the Classroom

If you ask any student today what they're doing when they get home, the answer is usually watching t.v. or playing video games - after their homework is done of course. So, why not bring video games into the classroom and let children learn through play?

The Chatham Education Foundation (CEF) has been giving teachers grants for a variety of games they can use in their classrooms for more than a decade.

Teachers have been using video games to let students build Rome, explore different ecological problems as ecologists, role play in the rain forest, and much more. If a teacher can choose a topic and imagine a game, a video game can be created to achieve the teacher's goal. Of course, it takes time and money to create such games, one thing most teachers lack. As mentioned in The iGenteration, growing up digital, the CEF has been providing the money needed to create these games.

In the future, whether an extension of SecondLife or other video games are created, I can only see benefits for those teachers willing to bring video games into their classroom to enhance their students' learning.