WAY COOL!

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SpinSpotter: A newsrooms tool for exposing bias and spin? - editorsweblog

• 
  How objective and spin-free is our news? There is much conjecture that media spin is damaging the relationship newspapers have with their audience, with a recent UK survey indicating that just 43% of the population trust newspapers. With the armies of Communication Directors, PR professionals, lobby groups and political parties battling the press with dizzying budgets and ready-made press releases, is the truth getting through?


• With this problem in mind, a new online tool called "SpinSpotter" has been launched. It promises to - once it is fully launched and out of beta testing - scan articles and expose bias, misreporting and spin in the news online, for example a political piece that gives a one sided story or uses colourful language that exaggerates the facts.

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Top News - On the way: Nation's first tech-literacy exam

• Tech literacy to be added to Nation’s Report Card beginning in 2012


• For the first time ever, technological literacy will become part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation's Report Card, the test's governing board has announced.


• Beginning in 2012, the test will measure students' proficiency with technology in addition to reading, math, science, history, writing, and other subjects. The new test will mark the first time students' technology literacy has been assessed on a national level.

WOW!! Great site! Maybe free audio book downloads is something 2 consider putting on FRHSD Media Center Pages...

BTW- I LOVE this website (Openculture)- have used them numerous times- consider RSS'ing them if u like what u see-

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Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free | Open Culture

• Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free

While everyone is so concerned with banning Wikipedia.....

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Wikipedia bans Ridgefield High School after profane edits - NewsTimes.com

• Wikipedia, the online collaborative encyclopedia, has had a block in effect since last October that makes it impossible for users of Ridgefield High School's Internet address to edit its entries.


• 
  Wikipedia allows readers to edit information in articles, but some Ridgefield High students had been abusing the site. Since September 2005, vandalism had occurred on Wikipedia listings from the school ranging from brief obscene comments to obscene and pornographic comments about specific female students.


• "It looks like the comments were being volleyed back and forth during a class by the dates and times they were posted on Wikipedia."


• 
  "The last entries on Oct. 15, 2007, were made during a Social Studies class that consisted of seniors,"


• 
  "This is disgusting behavior and unfortunately, it goes beyond the days of graffiti on bathroom walls," Low said. "Now it has a townwide audience, a nationwide and even an international audience. I don't think kids are aware of that."
  • Another example of how we need to help students understand the power of their online identity & the importance of protecting it! comment by Heather Sullivan

Check this out-

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Top News - eSN recruits student broadcasters

A VERY cool digital storytelling idea!

• eSN recruits student broadcasters 'Student Video Network' gives kids the chance to become ed-tech reporters


• Student broadcasters across the nation are getting a chance to be seen and heard by several thousands of education stakeholders, thanks to a new video news network created by eSchool News.


• As students gear up for the new school year and learn how to use sophisticated video production equipment, they'll also be reporting breaking ed-tech news through eSchool News' new Student Video Network (SVN).


• Every week, students interested in video production, and schools interested in highlighting their students' talents, will receive information from eSchool News on the most popular, and relevant, ed-tech stories. From there, the participating schools' production teams will shoot a script based on those stories and use their creative judgment in integrating graphics and photography into the news report.


• For more information on how to get involved, please contact Gregg Downey at eSchool News.

Interesting...

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Carbonrally – climate change community focused on fun, social, and competitive challenges

Interesting...

• Reduce global warming by taking quick & easy challenges.
  Compete with others in your area and around the world.


• 
  Challenges are simple actions you can take to prevent climate change. A new Featured Challenge is published every few weeks.


• 
  Over 490 teams of company colleagues, friends, and school-mates are competing now to lead the community in CO2 reduction!

A possible Grant opportunity...Please take a look & let me know what you think.

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Deadline Grants - Technology in Motion 2: Community of the Future

• $400,000 in video software and hardware
  


• This grant program is designed for teachers to use in multimedia courses as a structured curriculum to engage middle and high school students (grades 6-12) in the tools and techniques of professional video and audio production. 


• Under the Community of the Future theme, students can share their vision of how technology will shape their neighborhoods in the years to come and are encouraged to interact with their local city council, mayor, city employees, community centers, or other groups to create their film.


• Contestants are required to use the provided Vegas Pro 8 software to produce their videos, but all other creative details are up to the students' own creativity. 


• Every school that submits a qualifying "Call for Entries" form by Oct. 15, 2008, will receive film submission guidelines and a Technology in Motion launch kit. The kit will be mailed on December 1, 2008 and will include a free copy of Sony Vegas Pro 8 Promotional Edition video editing software, a free copy of Sony Cinescore Promotional Edition soundtrack creation software, free Sony Vegas Pro and Sony Cinescore video tutorials, 1,001 royalty-free, motion picture sound effects, an assortment of Cinescore themes for royalty-free soundtrack creation, and a free electronic copy of the Vegas Pro 8 Digital Video & Audio Production teaching guide.

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Special Reports - eSN Special Report: Virtual Desktops

• How virtual desktops will revolutionize personal computing


• As technology becomes an integral part of a school district’s infrastructure, many schools are moving toward personalized instruction, where students get to learn at their own pace within the classroom environment. To accomplish true personalized learning, however,
  “we have to move beyond textbooks,” says Michael King, vice president of IBM’s global education industry. “And the PC, as it stands today, is the wrong model for that.” King points to the complexity of having thousands of computers throughout a school district. Between administering patches and software upgrades . . .

An good read with some interesting & useful stats-

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Is Wikipedia Becoming a Respectable Academic Source? « Digital Scholarship in the Humanities

• Last year a colleague in the English department described a conversation in which a friend revealed a dirty little secret: “I use Wikipedia all the time for my research—but I certainly wouldn’t cite it.”  This got me wondering: How many humanities and social sciences researchers are discussing, using, and citing Wikipedia? 

Have you seen this site? It's a great way to make fun digital story projects (& it's REALLY easy). You can upload your own music or choose from their library.

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- Animoto For Education -

• 
  Add Animoto to your classroom's digital storytelling kit.

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Multitasking: Scan Toaster Prints Text, Photos From the Internet onto Your Bread

• Scan Toaster Prints Text, Photos From the Internet onto Your Bread

If you start out your day with toast, you'll love this!

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Multitasking: Scan Toaster Prints Text, Photos From the Internet onto Your Bread

• Scan Toaster Prints Text, Photos From the Internet onto Your Bread

Thinkfinity Resource:

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Share More! Wiki » Anthology/Slide Thinkfinity into the Curriculum with Diigo Slides?

• How can you track all Thinkfinity resources?


• Using Diigo.com—read a description of this here—you are able to easily create lists of bookmarked resources and activities you want your students to use, or that you want to share with other educators.


• Bookmark, highlight key portions of the Thinkfinity resource pages, add comments to them sites and then share them via the Web. Instead of having to click your way—or having your students click—through multiple web pages, you can save instructional time by going directly using the Slides feature of Diigo.


• How can you use the List and Slide features of Diigo to present Thinkfinity resources to others?


• “List” is a great way to organize, share and display specific collections of bookmarks. Once you add bookmarks to your list, you can easily drag and drop items to arrange the order in any sequence that you’d like to present.

This is a fun site for the summer- Enjoy!

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About Coverville

• Coverville
  is a podcast, produced three times a week, that focuses on cover
  songs


• The show features a combination of music and information
  about the music, delivered in a very relaxed, informal style. On average,
  each show runs about 35 minutes and features six selections. Information
  about the performing artist, and source album is provided, along with
  information about the artist being covered.

Wonder if it's a hybrid :)

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BMW Makes Car out of Cloth!

• BMW Builds a Car Made From Cloth
  • that is fascinating comment by Stvalentine Stvalentine

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MyCast your digital media with Orb 2.0 remote pc access software

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Top News - Student videos demonstrate ed-tech's value

• For the educators and ed-tech advocates who work tirelessly to ensure their students have access to a 21st-century education, here's the good news. We have yet more tangible proof that education technology is helping kids learn.


• with major funding from the Pearson Foundation, eSchool News created the Empowered Education Awards (EEA): to give students the chance to answer the skeptics.


• We've pared down these responses to the three most creative and original videos in each category: elementary, middle, and high school. The finalists' entries are posted to our web site, and we'd like you to help us choose the winners. (To participate, go to http://www.eschoolnews.com/empowered, watch the student videos, and rate each of the nine finalists; winners will be announced in September.)

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Plug-In Hybrid Leads Toyota's Drive Beyond Oil | Autopia from Wired.com

• a sweeping plan to produce cleaner, more efficient cars -- beginning with a plug-in hybrid it will produce by 2010.


• makes it clear Toyota has no plans of ceding the green mantle to General Motors. It also underscores how quickly the race to build a viable mass-market electric car is heating up.


• The company's ambitious "low-carbon" agenda includes cranking out 1 million hybrids a year and eventually offering hybrid versions of every model it sells.


• "Without focusing on measures to address global warming and energy
  issues, there can be no future for our auto business,"


• In other words, the two biggest automakers in the world realize petroleum's days are numbered.


• oyota is betting heavily on batteries to increasingly augment gasoline.


• The plug-in hybrid coming in 2010 will use lithium-ion batteries and will "be geared toward fleet customers in Japan, (the) United States and Europe,

FYI: nice article that has quotes from Teryl Magee!

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Online Videoconferencing - Education Articles

• Teryly Magee, a teacher from the Dogwood Elementary School in Knoxville, Tenn., describes the benefits of using Skype and iChat: "Web 2.0 videoconferencing brings fun and learning to the children in my urban classroom. Instead of vicariously learning from textbooks or Web research, my students get firsthand information from the people who actually live in the places they are studying. Using Skype and iChat, my children have experienced locations such as New York, California, Illinois, Oregon, Michigan and Wisconsin," she says.
  • nice quote, Teryl! comment by Heather Sullivan


• Similarly, Skype is being used for professional development applications, says Laurie King, technology coordinator of Arizona's Dysart Schools. "Skype's availability, zero cost and ease of use make it a fantastic collaborative tool for students and professional learners alike," she says.

my favorite new web toy(I mean tool!)- 3D browsing is coming along nicely-

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PicLens | Immersive Views Across the Web