Multimedia & Internet School

Innovative Learning Conference 2008 Seeks SpeakersNews/Breaking News, Posted 13 Feb 2008
Google Announces Doodle 4 Google Competition and PrizeNews/Breaking News, Posted 13 Feb 2008
Elluminate Releases Open-Source Integration to Bring Real-Time Collaboration Tools to Moodle UsersNews/Breaking News, Posted 12 Feb 2008
Learning.com Launches Curriculum to Teach Online Safety and Communication SkillsNews/Breaking News, Posted 07 Feb 2008
Califone Introduces AV Tutor and Digital Cartridge Programs to Help Develop Core Reading SkillsNews/Breaking News, Posted 06 Feb 2008
PBS TeacherLine Introduces Courses to Help Teachers Support English Language Learners in the ClassroomNews/Breaking News, Posted 06 Feb 2008
Inspiration Launches Kidspiration 3News/Breaking News, Posted 06 Feb 2008
H.W. Wilson Adds Biography Index Retrospective: 1946-1983 to WilsonWebNews/Breaking News, Posted 06 Feb 2008
MMIS Xtra News: February 2008 iPod Shuffle Winner AnnouncedNews/Breaking News, Posted 01 Feb 2008
Scholastic Launches Children’s Book Search Tool: Teacher Book WizardNews/Breaking News, Posted 30 Jan 2008
SMART-created Lesson Activities on Curriki Web SiteNews/Breaking News, Posted 29 Jan 2008
Video Professor, Inc. Releases “Protect Yourself Online: Viruses, Scams and Social Networking”News/Breaking News, Posted 29 Jan 2008

Display All: Breaking News ITI Cross Links Free Resources Cool Links
Features

-->

The Power of RSS: Instant Information Updating Based on Quality Searches
RSS allows you to keep up with just about anything that you want to on the web. If you want to stay focused on the latest blog posts on the effect of global warming, RSS can help. If you just want to be updated whenever The New York Times publishes its latest book review, RSS can help. And, if you want to know when the next Dave Barry column appears, RSS can help. The greatest part of RSS is that it can do all of this in one place, without your needing to parade all over the web looking for the new content. RSS is a continuously updated customized online newspaper, and it can not only help you in locating new information (in fact, the content comes to you, not vice versa), but it can help you do it in a quarter of the time.
Editorial/Features Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 By Steven Cohen
Is That ReallyTrue? Urban Legends and Information Evaluation Skills
These days, students are inundated by information in all formats and from all corners of the world, and they are apt to believe what they see, hear, or read without carefully evaluating it. At her school, Debra Gniewek and her colleagues frequently review website evaluation strategies with students and even have some “quick and dirty” methods to help them develop information evaluation skills. Still, they find the students are sometimes too trusting of the information they find on the World Wide Web. To address the problem, they created a unit in which the students study urban legends, which has proven useful in helping them look at information with a more critical eye. The students are genuinely drawn to this modern folklore, one that illustrates the most profound fears of society.
Editorial/Features Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 By Debra Gniewek
A Look At ... Supplemental Classroom Electronics
Remember folder games and puzzles? Teachers have always used instructional aids of one kind or another to supplement instruction, such as calculators in Math class, games, puzzles, math aids, and other devices for small group or individual work. In recent years, computers and computer-related electronics such as MP3 players, hand-held devices, keyboards, projectors, whiteboards, and a diverse collection of additional electronic instructional aids have become available. Charlie Doe's Look At ... roundup this month sorts these supplemental electronics into categories and describes an array of them for your information.
Editorial/Features Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 By Charles G. Doe
The Summer Travel Blog: A 2.0 Travelogue to Bridge Summer “Down Time” [Available Full-Text, Free]
Do you still remember the thrill of receiving a summer postcard from your teacher? How exciting it was to open the mailbox and find that personal piece of mail waiting—and to realize that your teacher was thinking of you. Perhaps the photograph on the face of the card led you to the encyclopedia to learn more about a particular place, while a handwritten line or two described a cultural experience, unusual food, or new language. Travel postcards, sent by thoughtful teachers over the years, have broadened the world of many a child. Yesterday’s postcards have gone high-tech. Weblogs, or blogs, enable today’s teachers to send a new kind of post, sharing their travel experiences as they unfold. Blogs provide an up-to-the-minute opportunity for teachers to continue to educate their students through semester breaks, to interact with their school communities, and to share experiences and locales that encourage understanding of the broader world. And those 21st century postcards come complete with the ability to upload and publish journal entries, photos, slideshows, audio, video, and educational links.
Editorial/Features Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 By Johanna Riddle

Column

-->

THE MEDIA CENTER: Staff Development--Still an Important Role
Technology staff development isn’t receiving the attention it once did in professional journals or at professional conferences, but the need hasn’t gone away; it has simply shifted along with technology and our roles. Staff development continues to be an important role for us because, as an Illinois language arts teacher explained, “not all teachers are on board with technology.” She added that, to such teachers, “incorporating technology into instruction is someone else’s job, and the skills are either not taught or [are] fragmented.” Teachers are also now expected to use instructional management tools in more ways, such as understanding student assessment scores. Quite often if media specialists don’t assume a leadership role in providing technology staff development, it simply doesn’t get done.
Column/The Media Center Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 By Mary Alice Anderson
EDITOR'S NOTES: The Year Ahead, in Print and in Conference
Column/Editor’s Notes Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 By David Hoffman
CYBERBEE: Reading Reconnaissance
Finding just the right book that will grab a student’s interest is like looking for Waldo. Tracking down books that correlate with specific curriculum areas and topics for study can be daunting. What is a library media specialist to do? Use every tool in your arsenal as well as lessons and booklists that have already been prepared and are just waiting to be uncovered by the savvy searcher. This collection of websites will serve as a starting point in your quest to recommend the best books to meet the needs of students and teachers.
Column/CyberBee Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 By Linda C. Joseph
BELLTONES: Celebrating Communicating--To Blog or Not to Blog?
Mary Ann started her own blog recently and since then she has seen some comments that suggest the blogosphere may be imploding, exploding, or otherwise meeting its demise. So this month, with survey results in hand, she explores the question "To Blog or Not to Blog?"
Column/Belltones Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 By Mary Ann Bell
THE PIPELINE: Did You Hear That? The Internet Firmament Is Shifting
Stephen Abram travels a lot. When he returned from several months of voyaging around the world in 2006, the internet looked the same as it had on his departure. The same could not be said upon his return from his fall 2007 travels, however. In this month's column, Abram recounts internet-related events from late last year that suggest things are changing ... a lot!
Column/The Pipeline Posted 01 Jan 2008 - Jan/Feb 2008 By Stephen Abram