iGoogle

When you log into your Google account you probably check your calendar or Gmail and then stop there. But have you noticed the other Google applications? There are many wonderfully useful and fun tools. In fact, you can completely overhaul your Google home page's bare-bones look with a galvanized iGoogle. This page can be customized with features called gadgets. These gadgets can let you read up to the minute news articles from your favorite web sites, track gas prices in your neighborhood, scan movie theater times, check the local weather, and more. So if you're looking to reinvent your wimpy Google home page. Shove it into a phone booth and transform it into (Super) iGoogle!

I'm A Sucker

So I'm hurting inside. Last Friday I learned that my application to the Google Teacher Academy was rejected. Three teachers from our district applied for one of the 50 slots and all three were denied. I really wanted this opportunity. I mean at first I was indifferent, but then I really wanted in. I wanted to be inside the fishbowl, learning from the Google Masters and sharing my newfound knowledge and expertise with friends and colleagues. But now I won't get that chance. Now I'm just jilted applicant "#2038." Strangely though, since being given the cold Google shoulder, I find myself more aware of Google applications than ever. I'm gobbling them up like salty cashews. Google is so much more than a search engine or a calendar. And in the coming weeks, I'll share with you what I've learned... since the fateful day that my GTA application was filed in Google's database under "S" for Shred or perhaps "I" for Incinerate. In the meantime, take a look at the video I produced for the application. It required some soul searching, which I haven't done in a while. And it feels good. So thanks Google, for the opportunity. Really. I hope we can still be friends.

Fun Photo

Want to have a little fun with a digital photograph? Try a web site called Dumpr. It allows you to upload a personal photograph from your computer and into one of several design templates like the one shown here to the right. You can then Save the new image to your computer, share it on your social networking or photo web site (such as Facebook and Flickr), or email it. And it's free!

Moving Forward

If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow.
- John Dewey

Author and Educator Scott McLeod publishes a web page (a wiki to be precise) called Moving Forward. It's a collection of articles, blogs (weblogs), and tutorials underscoring the importance of preparing today's children for 21st century challenges through contemporary learning experiences and technology resources.

Today's young learners are online, connected, wireless. They accessorize with cell phones and iPods. They build informational and social networks that extend beyond their neighborhood, beyond state lines, across oceans. They learn and share cultures, languages, stories, and songs with people they've never met. They produce and publish original material for a worldwide audience. And if they're not doing this now, they will -- soon. Oh, one more thing. Much of this activity is done without adult involvement.

This is our world, where "digital natives" run free and "digital immigrants," the rest of us born before the 20th century's twilight years, are left in their wake, a little befuddled, and maybe even a bit envious of their tech savvy and joy. But the immigrants are not without a role in this globalized and technology-infused (if not enriched) world.

In this "New World," there's still a place for "Old World" values. It is incumbent upon adults today, teachers and parents, to help children navigate through this world safely, responsibly, and respectfully as citizens of the world; to develop their own technology savvy, to learn the language of their children, and impress upon them the obligations of family, community, and citizenship.

The world has changed. It has been changed by new technologies, getting newer everyday, giving birth to a world that according to Thomas Friedman is now Flat (again!). The purpose of the Edgewood TechBlog is to help immigrants with this responsibility of preparing our children for 21st century challenges. Each post will feature technology news, resources, tutorials and tips, or members of the Edgewood community who are getting us Moving Forward. I hope you find this blog useful.

Until the next post, just know that while this challenge is daunting, things could be worse.