Weekly Byte 1.23.10

I am working diligently to make this truly a weekly byte. There has been some commentary on the fact that it is not always weekly so bear with me Mike and Melissa!
Technology is rolling along here at FR and in Westmoreland County. Last week we had the Science Technology collboration day at Derry Senior High School. Mark, Dottie and Teresa participated and found it to be helpful to see what others are doing in their content area in the county. Many valuable science tools and best practices were shared. Here are two links to wikis from the workshop: http://derryareahighschoolcff.wikispaces.com
http://derryarea.wikispaces.com/
Please feel free to access and use these tools.
The next content area Tech Day will take place at Burrell Senior High School on February 12th. This day will give Social Studies teachers the opportunity to share technology tools and best practices. Please email me if you would be interested in attending.
Teacher Highlights
The Ninth Grade Academy Tech Unit is in full swing! We have been working together on Moodle and Glogster in the Success 101 classes. So far things have been going well. There is now a NGA Moodle page with video tutorials on how to use these tools. Students and teachers have enjoyed the unit and are learning alot. Next week we will be using Google Docs and comic creation tools!
Teacher Highlights 2
This is really cool! Mr Earl and two senior students participated in a video conference call using Skype! The students and Mr. Earl spoke with an admissions person from the University of Georgia through Skype. Georgia performs these "interviews" online to make it easier for them to meet with prospective students.
Website of the Week
Dabbleboard.com
Dabbleboard is an online collaboration application that’s centered around the whiteboard. With a new type of drawing interface that's actually easy and fun to use, Dabbleboard gets out of your way and just lets you draw. This tool would be useful to allow students and teachers to collaborate in a free online environment. It works just like a promethean board but without the cost of the hardware. Students could work in groups to plan projects. Very cool!