NCES Releases Elementary/Secondary Information System

February 25, 2011 By Jason Rhode Leave a Comment

ELSi ScreenShotNCES has just released a new web application, the Elementary/Secondary Information System (ELSi). ELSi is comprised of three separate tools, which allow users to quickly view public and private school data, view commonly requested tables and create custom tables and charts using data from the Common Core of Data (CCD) and Private School Survey (PSS). ELSi utilizes frequently requested variables and tables—it’s a fast, easy way to obtain basic statistical data on U.S. schools. ELSi gives the user the ability to create customized tables by choosing row variables, column variables and filters to refine the data.

To view this new tool, visit: http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/

This web application is a product of the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Education.

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How to Create Custom Twitter Widget and Embed in Blackboard

April 11, 2010 By Jason Rhode 1 Comment

This screencast demonstrates the easy steps to create a custom Twitter widget and embed in Blackboard

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Digital Nation: Distracted by Everything

February 16, 2010 By Jason Rhode Leave a Comment

PBS recently aired a Frontline episode called “Digital Nation,” about how technology is transforming our country and our global culture…. and completely distracting us. The fourth section of the program is particularly applicable for those who teach children today.

Have you personally found that as your use of technology has increased, you are more easily distracted? These are certainly timely issues to consider, especially as technology isn’t going away.

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Diigo Educator Accounts

January 29, 2010 By Jason Rhode Leave a Comment

I just found Diigo Educator Accounts, which are special premium accounts provided specifically to K-12 & higher-ed educators. Once your Diigo Educator application is approved, your account will be upgraded to have these additional features:

  • You can create student accounts for an entire class with just a few clicks (and student email addresses are optional for account creation)
  • Students of the same class are automatically set up as a Diigo group so they can start using all the benefits that a Diigo group provides, such as group bookmarks and annotations, and group forums.
  • Privacy settings of student accounts are pre-set so that only teachers and classmates can communicate with them.
  • Ads presented to student account users are limited to education-related sponsors.

Learn more >>

I’ve personally applied for my own educator account upgrade and I encourage anyone else with a Diigo account to do the same. In doing so, you’ll be able to continue to use your Diigo account that you’ve already setup but you’ll have additional teacher-only features that may be even more helpful to you and your students as you use Diigo in your teaching.

You can find me on Diigo at diigo.com/user/jrhode

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Ideal Online Social Networking Course

December 8, 2009 By Jason Rhode 1 Comment

I’m collecting ideas and suggestions for a 1 month professional development course I’m designing that will cover social networking strategies for distance learning.

Here are a few details about the course…

  • 4 week course taught as an advanced online seminar offered by Illinois Online Network as part of the Making the Virtual Classroom a Reality course series
  • 4 modules, 1 week per module
  • 5 to 10 hours per week of engagement and interaction time to justify 4 continuing education units that would be granted for it
  • all required “textbook” readings should be freely available online
  • Moodle will serve as the learning management system for the course, but other free social networking technologies can be incorporated where they add value to the course
  • target date for course to launch: March 2010

What would the ideal online social networking course consist of? What texts/readings should be included? What technologies should be discussed? What activities should students engage in?

Leave a comment here with your ideas, suggestions, and resources! I’m also collecting suggestions on Google Wave at the wave titled, “Ideal online social networking course?” that is available by searching with:public tag:ion

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