Digital Doors was created as a place for me to blog and share resources that I think would be helpful for teachers integrating technology in meaningful ways in their classroom. My goal would be to write a blog post a week, but with my busy schedule, that doesn't happen. I write when I can and rely on nifty tools to help me share what I am finding when I don't have time to write.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

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Welcome to Week 8 of the Web 2.0 Wednesday Challenge.

Congratulations to Lisa Harpel at Mount Vernon High for winning the drawing for the Week 6 Challenge:Discovery Streaming. She checked out some of the great resources available through Discovery Education Streaming. Lots of talk about the Week 7 Challenge: Wordle. If you haven't given it a try yet, you should. It is really a lot of fun and would be a great discussion starter in a classroom. Check out the Wordle gallery we have so far. We will be drawing for a winner on October 29. So you still have time to get into the action.


Week 8 Challenge: BigHugeLabs.com Building on all the creative responses to our Wordle Challenge, we will take a look at some other creative and fun tools on the internet. Big Huge Labs has lots of fun things to do with your photographs. Many of these activities have great applications for the classroom. You can create badges, magazine covers, inspirational posters and more. For this challenge, you will need access to digital photos. You can either use your own, or find photos online to use. These tools are created to work with Flickr, a social networking site for sharing photos, but you can also use your own photos located on your computer or memory card. If you have photos available, this challenge can be completed in less than 5 minutes. You will probably want to play more than that though because their are lots of fun tools here to explore.

Challenge:
1. Create a jpeg image using one of the Big Huge Labs tools.
2. Send your image as an attachment to me at mthornburgh@mv.k12.wa.us
3. Share how you might use this in your classroom.
4. Bonus: Post your creation on your blog, wiki or website and share the link.


I will share your creation and your ideas on our challenge page. One lucky participant will win a fun and useful prize.

Join us today at the District Office to participate in a Webinar with Bernie Dodge. The creator of Webquests. Webquests are online teacher creative activities that lead students through a topic of study. Many are project based providing students with resources to help them develop and complete a project. He will be sharing about the evolution of Webquests as Web 2.0 tools have become readily accessible. The Webinar will begin at 4:00 pm in the District Office Tech Lab on the 3rd Floor.

Saturday, October 25 we are hosting a Discovery Educators Network Virtual Conference Local event at the District Office. Take a look at this blog to find out more and to register. If you can not attend in person, you can register to attend all or part of it virtually. Not to bribe you into coming in on a Saturday.... but breakfast and lunch will be provided, clock hours are available and there are some great door prizes. Space is limited so be sure to register at Discovery if you plan to attend.

Check out the Tech Training offerings at the District Office for this year. You can sign up for one class, or a bundle of classes for clock hour credit. In addition to these classes, I am willing and excited about working with you on setting up projects in your class or helping you connect with other classes for collaboration. Give me a call at 3011 if you have an idea or would like my support on a project you are doing.

Another virtual opportunity is the K12Online Conference going on for the next few weeks. This is a conference that takes place completely online. Educators from around the world share podcasts and video presentations. These presentations are all archived so that you may watch at your convenience.

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