For more information about BLC09 and to register, visit novemberlearning.com/blc.

EduBloggerCon is based on the idea of an “unconference,” and is being organized by its participants in real time using a wiki. Another way to describe this event is as a “collaborative conference,” where the conference attendees help to build and create a terrific learning experience. The sessions developed for EduBloggerCon will be based on the submissions of sessions that attendees have indicated they are willing to facilitate or would like to learn about.

To learn more about EduBloggerCon, visit this site.

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Dear NL Communities User,

Several years ago, we introduced a new, free blogging system, November Learning Communities. At the time, this system was one of the premier educational blogging tools available. Educators worldwide joined us in expanding the boundaries of learning through thoughtful writing and global connectivity. However, with ongoing developments in Web technology and more options available in blogging software, our system no longer offers the premium service that we want to provide. Therefore, we have decided to discontinue our November Learning Communities software, effective August 1, 2009.

As a user of our software, we know you are probably disappointed and have several questions in mind. Below, we will address what we think will be some of your most pressing concerns. If you have others, please contact Brian Mull at brian@novemberlearning.com.

Why is November Learning discontinuing the November Learning Communities software?
As newer, more advanced Internet browsers are introduced, shortcomings within our software are being exposed. We are at a point where newer technologies have surpassed the capabilities of our current system and where upgrading is no longer a viable option. We believe that we need to take action now so that we save you even more frustration in the future.

What will happen when the software is shut down?
On August 1st, the server that manages all of our blogging installations will be shut down. You will no longer have access to anything within your blog. Posts, comments, etc. will be inaccessible.

Is there a way to archive all of the posts on our blogs?
In short, no. Newer blogging systems offer the possibility of exporting blogs to bring to another service. Our outdated software does not. We have not found a clean method of exporting blog posts within this installation. The only way to keep your blogs intact and preserve posts and comments would be to copy and paste them elsewhere. We realize that for those of you who have been writing on you blogs for years may have amassed many postings, and a simple copy and paste will be difficult or impossible. Again, we apologize for this.

Are there any other blogging services that November Learning recommends?
There are several options that we can recommend to help you set up new blogs if you choose. They include:

• Registering within our new community which features individual blogs (http://nlconnect.novemberlearning.com)
• Edublogs (http://www.edublogs.org)
• Class Blogmeister (http://www.classblogmeister.com/)
• ePals School Blog (http://www.epals.com/groups/about/page/schoolblog.aspx)
• 21Classes (http://www.21classes.com)

We are not endorsing any one of these in particular, and there are certainly other viable options available. You will need to explore and see what option will work best for you and your situation.

Again, we understand that for many of you, this announcement comes as an unpleasant surprise. We assure you that we did not make this choice easily. After numerous discussions, we believe it is in everyone’s best interest to have you transition to other alternatives. We hope that by giving you several months’ notice, you will have ample time to weigh your options and make a decision on what course of action you choose to take.

If you have further questions, please contact Brian Mull at brian@novemberlearning.com.

Find more videos like this on NL Connect

Alan challenges us to think about the emerging role of “student as contributor” and to globalize our curriculum by linking students with authentic audiences from around the world. (For more on this topic read Alan’s article, Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm.

He also discusses three myths regarding the impact of technology on student learning:

Myth #1: Technology is going to be the great equalizer of society.
In reality, technology is actually polarizing society.

Myth #2: The Internet is going to provide a diversity of opinion. We will have an input of ideas from around the world and generally have a better educated society.
In reality, people are going to the web to get their “version” of the truth.

Myth #3 Technology is going to make kids smarter.
In reality, it’s a distraction. Overall we are missing out on critical thinking.

Questions:
1. What types of real jobs can we give our students? Share your stories.

2. What do you think about Alan’s concept of authentic work and the shift of control from teacher-centered classrooms to student-centered?

3. What are your thoughts on the three myths? Do you have any myths of your own?

We have created a new handout on our resources page which can be viewed and downloaded here. For a brief introduction to the Poll Everywhere service, we have created a video that is available on TeacherTube and YouTube.

To kick off the series, Alan November sits down with Sonny Magana to discuss student-centered learning, dynamic learning communities and 21st century learning environments.

The discussion will be divided into three parts (only the first has been released thus far) that include:

Part 1: Empowering Students with Technology: Emerging Trends and Tools
In part one of this series, Alan explores new and emerging trends in technology integration and discusses the kinds of information and social tools that support student-centered learning.

Part 2: Reinventing Schools
In the second episode of this series, Alan November will discuss the need to transform today’s classrooms from institutions of passive information absorption to dynamic learning communities where students not only take ownership of their own learning, but contribute to the learning of others.

Part 3: A New Literacy
In the final installment of this series, Alan November will share key ideas from his recently published book, Web Literacy for Educators and provide guideposts for educators on their journey towards 21st century learning communities.

To listen to the first installment now, visit the Innovation in Education site.

You can visit and join this community from any page on our Web site or directly at http://nlconnect.novemberlearning.com/.

Through this professional learning network, you will have the opportunity to share useful resources and reflect on your teaching and learning experiences through the use of a personal blog. Additionally, through our forum you can share ideas, ask questions, find project partners and learn what tools other educators find valuable.

It will take some time for this community to develop. Don’t let that discourage you regarding the usefulness of this network. As members of the November Learning team present workshops across the country and around the world, we will be regularly introducing teachers to this network. This means that there will be a constant stream of new users and ideas. Please do the same within your schools. Everyone has something to contribute.

Should you have any questions about how to navigate this new site, post a message in the forum, or let us know. We have many experts, already a part of this community, who are there to lend a hand.

The tutorial below explains how to get a Google Maps account, find the Google Map overlays and add one of these overlays to your own map.

To view this video, I highly recommend that you click on the full screen icon at the bottom right hand corner of the video window. You will see it when the video plays and you hover your mouse over the video window. This video is also available on YouTube and TeacherTube.

Not all students are alike. Based on this knowledge, differentiated instruction applies an approach to teaching and learning so that students have multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas.

Teachers some times think they are being asked to “water” down the curriculum and that differentiated instruction is for the special education or slower students in the class. It is really for everyone. The recent cold weather brought me to a great example of differentiated instruction on a personal level. When I want to know the weather forecast for my city I always use the National Weather Service (NOAA) web site (www.weather.gov).

During may last visit to the site, I thought this is a great way to look at differentiated instruction. People like different representations of the weather. You may like one or more of the following four or more ways the weather is represented on the weather.gov site.

Method One:

Images and brief text:

This is a pretty typical way the weather is represented in the newspaper and on popular weather websites. It gives you a nice glance at the five day forecast.

Method Two:

More days, but all text.

Notice that you get a little more detail. It takes a little longer to read the forecast than to look at the images.

Method Three:

The big picture using radar and Satellite Images.

A bigger picture and more complicated. You have regional radar and wide satellite images and if you know weather patterns or watch the radar loop, you can see the movement of storms.

Method Four:

This is the forecast I use. It makes the most sense to me. You can find it under “Additional Forecast and Information” the third listing on the left, Hourly Weather Graph.

You will get these two graphs and five more. The two graphs shown here show an hour by hour view of the temperature, wind chill, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, and wind gust. The other five graphs show more data. I like it because I can view the change in the forecast over time.

How does this relate to differentiated instruction? If you read through this long-winded (pun intended) post, you most likely thought of the method you like best. You picked the one that gave you the information you needed to know and a way you can grasp what the weather forecast is for the next few days.

I happen to like Method Four. Then again, maybe I am just the slow kid in the class. Wouldn’t it be great if we took the power of technology to help represent information in different ways for different students? Instruction using audio, video, text, animations, pictures, or a combination of all of them. We don’t need to create all the content. Some is created and if we learn to share we can all create part of it.

Jim

PS Special thanks to Brian Montgomery from the National Weather Service for teaching me more about weather than any science teacher I ever had in school.