The technologies listed in this section are here as a result of a survey sent out to teachers in a rural school district in western new york. Out of ten common technologies, the teachers surveyed indicated they wanted to learn most about the five I’ve included here. After narrowing down the list to just five, my goal was to then provide educators with the basics for each. If you have never used something before, it helps to at least see it in action before trying it yourself. With that in mind, I put a video camera in the hands of my almost 9 year old son and started to film. I also utilized an excellent program called Adobe Captivate to create the Web-based tutorials you see in this section.
Once you’ve gained a general understanding of how each of these technologies works, I suggest taking a look at the “Content Area” section to see how various teachers have used them in their classrooms. There are at least three examples of each technology for every content area. These will hopefully plant a seed in the minds of those teachers that haven’t been ready to begin integrating technology into what they do.
Any of the tutorials I provide in this section are in a Flash format and require Adobe’s Flash player plugin for your Web browser. While most people have this plugin already, there are always exceptions. If you are having difficulty viewing any of the tutorials, please click HERE for the appropriate Flash player plugin.
If you do not have Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your computer, you may also need Microsoft’s PowerPoint viewer. This allows you to view PowerPoint presentations without the need for the program. To download the viewer, please click HERE.