netTrekker Blog

A Byte of News

Did you know that netTrekker d.i. publishes a newsletter every two months with great articles about how to use netTrekker d.i., implementation tips, and news from our partners? If you haven’t already, you can subscribe here.

Our last newsletter was published and sent out earlier this month. You can check the archives for any newsletter you missed.

Tags: netTrekker d.i., newsletter

Yes, or no, to Wikipedia

During our implementation calls, the Customer Relationship Specialists cover the Admin Tools, including the netTrekker d.i. settings. Here the administrator can block the 1200 plus Wikipedia resources from showing up in the search results. On one of my calls yesterday, the district administrator asked me why netTrekker d.i. included Wikipedia in the first place.

That’s a great 21st Century question! Recently I attended a session on Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century presented by David Warlick. He addressed the use of Wikipedia in schools. He pointed out how Capital Hill aides were busy mutilating opponent articles in the days leading up to the 2006 election and how articles now have warnings of potential inaccuracy. He then said he’ll just go back to the good old days of “accurate textbooks”, but then pointed out that not all textbooks are accurate or unbiased and can quickly become out of date. Using Wikipedia is more than teaching fact and opinion. This resource serves as a working skill of evaluating a source and validating the information found on those pages. (This is my summarized understanding from what I learned attending this session.) You can find a copy of David Warlick’s presentation in podcast form from GAETC here. http://podcast.ksuettc.org/

This morning on Twitter I found another great blog entry on the use of Wikipedia at Dangerously Irrelevant. Check it out if you have time. The blog is written by Dr. Scott McLeod of Iowa State University.  

So while Wikipedia is a great 21st Century resource, we also understand that many schools are reluctant to allow students to have access, and netTrekker d.i. respects that decision. That’s why we give our subscribers two ways to filter out the search results. The first one is through the Advanced Search Options and the second one is by having the ADMIN setting this filter for the school level. To learn more about Wikipedia in netTrekker d.i., check out our HELP section.

And if you do choose to use a Wikipedia article in a project, consider adding the Digital Literacy Template that is wonderful for getting students to learn how to evaluate a source before using it. It’s perfect not only for Wikipedia entries, but all websites.

How many of you use Wikipedia in your classrooms? If you don’t mind, leave a comment below on how you use it.

Tags: 21st Century Learning, Admin Tools, Wikipedia

Layering Time

I can learn more about Seaborgium, a discovery during this time frame for chemistry, by clicking on the

link in this Timeline. And trust me, I know nothing of Seabogium, so those eleven resources have a lot to teach me!

How do you use the Timeline Feature in your classroom? Share your ideas in the comment box below.

Tags: Conferences, Features and Tools

Look Who’s Talking

Georgia is one of three states that earned an A on their technology report card, and after attending some of the great sessions here at GAETC, I can see why! The last session I attended yesterday was by Tony Vincent (who’s not from GA, but definitely an “A” presenter). His “Ten Tools For Teachers” was fun and engaging. I was itching to get back to the hotel to play with one of the tools he showcased, Gizmoz.

I finally got to it this morning. Gizmoz is a tool that lets you animate yourself, or other images. I decided to do a Famous Person Search in netTrekker d.i. for famous males from the 18th Century, that were politicians and American. My results had 127 people and so I selected the most famous, George Washington. I used a Weekly Reader resource to learn more about our first president and then wrote a simple “who am I” type script. I found an image that used as much of Washington’s face in our image search and then headed over to Gizmoz. I loaded the image, added my text, selected a background, and then rendered the video by clicking save. Click here to see my example.

Give Gizmoz a try and let us know how you’re using it!

Danielle Abernethy
Customer Relationship and Training Specialist

Tags: tools

What’s all the Twitter of a PLN?

Twitter. What a strange word, but one I have come to fully appreciate this past year. Twitter is the basecamp to my Personal Learning Network, commonly referred to as “PLN”. My PLN keeps me up to date and gives me a connection to what’s going on in the world of education.

One of the members of my PLN include John Lien of Orange County, Florida. John has shared some awesome links and integration ideas with me over the year simply by posting a 140 character Twitter Response. John was also netTrekker’s first Twitter follower. Another important PLN member is Tim Childers of Tennessee. He and I met once in person, but I learn so much from him online and feel comfortable going to him with quick questions. He was even the first member of the new netTrekker’s Facebook Group.

There are so many other social media gathering spots that PLNs share today. netTrekker will be joining those places so we can learn from each other. Meet us today on Twitter, Plurk, and Facebook to help create a learning network for all netTrekker users.

Tags: PLN, Training