Bill Sheskey Blog » Digital Literacy Tools

iPad 2’s Impact on Digital Literacy

Bill Sheskey — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:43:44 +0000

iPad 2 will be another game changer in the classroom! The cameras, iMovie, iPhoto and GarageBand additions are going to be very valuable tools in digital literacy and active literacy projects. I see student documentaries, visual books, and PBL media production as immediate applications.

Here are three links to review:

CNET Review with Steve Job’s presentation from today: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20038297-266.html?tag=rtcol

The Apple Store video has great visuals and demos the iMove and GagareBand applications nicely…

http://www.apple.com/

The engadget.com live blog from the iPad 2 announcement:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/02/live-from-apples-ipad-2-event/

Organize Your Web Searches

Bill Sheskey — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:58:15 +0000

Need an easier way to organize and present web-based information? LiveBinders allows you to collect, organize, and present information in ONE location. No more clicking back and forth between documents, PowerPoint presentations, white board lessons, and websites. Like an actual notebook, LiveBinders, organizes your information in tabs (much like dividers) and makes it easy to switch back and forth between all of your presentation resources. Best of all, it is a FREE tool! Click here to get started today…

20 Great Web 2.0 Tools

Bill Sheskey — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:07:07 +0000

I hope that all is well with all my friends and colleagues as the school year comes to a close. We are facing serious budget challenges in South Carolina but it just makes us work smarter. You will be getting new announcements about the June conference in Charleston and new opportunities being built around the Curriculum 21 book.

As always, I like to share something I have found. Thank you to Simon Ward for creating 20 Easy Web 2.0 Tools. Some of our all time favorites are there and I found some new ones as well. Let us know how you are doing!

Easy Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers

View more presentations from pingable.

Journey of a school web site…

BCSD Media Specialist Cohort Evaluation

Google Custom Search

Bill Sheskey — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:23:53 +0000

Today I have the opportunity to share Google’s Custom Search tool with media specialist and teachers in the Beaufort County Schools in South Carolina. In the search bar, type in search terms for anything related to the Haiti earthquake. Then type in any thing not related to the Haiti earthquake and see what happens. You can build your own search engines for specific research that you want students to do and reduce the risk of them getting away from the specific search task that they are assigned. See this and other powerful tools at the Google for Educators resource site

New XtraNormal Application

Bill Sheskey — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:57:00 +0000

Those of you that have participated in a workshop with me in the last 6 months have seen my demonstration of the XtraNormal web tool to create fun cartoon style videos by just writing a script. We shared it to introduce yourself, new topics or new units. XtraNormal has now released a new tool called “State”. It takes their web based video application that you can now download and create videos without being connected to the Internet. There aren’t as many free characters and avatars as before but you can do much more animation with the characters in the new application. Plus it exports the video nicely to your computer. Those of you who like XtraNormal now will love this tool. Check it out and let me know how you like it.

XtraNormal’s new application called “State”. Read more… Your students will enjoy expressing themselves with this fun and easy tool, so will you!

Google’s Wonder Wheel

Bill Sheskey — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:47:40 +0000

Last week Barbara Nesbitt, one of our November 14 Digital Literacy Conference presenters shared Google’s Wonder Wheel tool with me. I have been using it extensively ever since for more advanced Google searches.

It is a pre defined mind mapper which helps the user get all the related search results in a wheel shaped like display and is similar to mind mapping software like Inspiration.

At the CMI Regional Conference last week Ann Johnson and I used bubbl.us to guide our participants in their curriculum mapping implementation plans. It is a free web based concept mapping application that is simple to use. Try it out, it is fun!

Day 2: New Jersey CMI Regional

Bill Sheskey — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:25:38 +0000

Day one here in Monroe Township, New Jersey was a great experience. The sharing of knowledge, best practices, and 21st century strategies to engage and motivate students is inspiring. It is amazing how we are finding new tools every day. Heidi shared a powerful tool called Gap Minder. It is another example of a cloud computing site that pulls data together and then organizes that data into a dynamic visual display that is easy to navigate. As always, Heidi emphasizes that it is not just about sharing these interactive resources, she challenges us to use our knowledge of the curriculum and apply to these tools to specific activities to engage our students.

Today we will be exploring Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 resources that you can challenge your tech savvy students with. I look forward to the day and the learning that is going to take place.

New Jersey CMI Regional Conference

Bill Sheskey — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:58:00 +0000

Welcome to the Mapping Digital Literacy Session on Day One. Here are the web resources that I am sharing:

Teacher Web Pages

Superintendent’s Blog

ASCD Blog

Sample Blog

Answer a quick question for me. On an average day, how many students do you work with in all of your various activities? Click here to submit that number…

At the completion of this session please let me know what you thought about it and leave your e-mail if you would like more resources like these shared today. Click here…

Your conference resources!

Bill Sheskey — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:05:54 +0000

We have organized many of the conference web based resources from last Saturday and linked them on to the conference site for you. Many of these sites were shared by the presenters and they have all been reviewed for instructional value by our team. Click here for the direct link and add them to your browser “favorites”…

These resources will be updated regularly for you. Enjoy and engage your students!

Welcome to the Digital Literacy Conference!

Bill Sheskey — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:35:10 +0000

We made it! When you check in, go ahead and open up your cameras and connect your laptops to the Internet. The wireless network is CFC.

We will play with our cameras for a few minutes? Who is the reading the directions and who isn’t? I always find that interesting.

Here is what happens at the opening session:

1. I ask you to reflect on why you are here.

2. The presassessment survey is reviewed.

3. Presenters are introduced.

4. Last minute announcements.

Oh by the way, Could you please answer a question for me…
Click here to read and answer the question…