netTrekker Blog

Tell Us How You’re Using Web 2.0 Contest – Winner Announced

In our recent blog contest, we asked you to tell us how you’re using Web 2.0 technologies in your classroom to enter to win a free netTrekker subscription & free webinar.

Congratulations to Nate Guteras for sharing the example below. Since it looks like Nate is already a netTrekker subscriber, he’ll get to give the netTrekker subscription & webinar as a gift to a friend in another school that doesn’t have netTrekker yet.

Nate’s Example
We use netTrekker and Musek12 (web 2.0) along with Gaggle.Net to post and exchange projects with my students. First they see the assignment on Muse or Gaggle Net with a rubric. They conduct their research using netTrekker.  If they need to work in small groups they can exchange ideas via e-mail or discussion boards within the sites. Then they post their citations and projects to Muse or Gaggle. netTrekker helps make learning interactive and boosts higher order thinking of my students and their parents.

Nate, please contact lhannah@nettrekker.com to redeem your prize!

Tags: "web 2.0", contest, netTrekker

Glogging It

This past weekend I was invited to hang out with the Florida Discovery Educator Network at SeaWorld for a great learning event. The teachers learned how to create a waypoint for geocaching and how to create a Glog as a way to share what they have learned. Being the netTrekker fanatic that I am, I created a SeaWorld folder with resources, a link to a map to use with geocaching in the classroom, classroom project ideas and a link to my Glog. Unfortunately, you can’t access this project folder unless you are at my school. However, if you want a copy of it, leave a message of how to reach you and I’ll move the folder to your school or district.

Aside from catching up with good friends and making new ones, the fun part for me was creating the Glog. I chose to do one on Polar Bears. Unfortunately this exhibit was closed (SeaWorld is getting ready for sharing their Polar Express), so I couldn’t add any photos I took first hand. However, netTrekker did point me to a great video and some interesting facts.

For those of you new to Glogster, it’s a way to posterize your knowledge with graphics, text, video, images, and even sound! (The sound I found in a resource under References!) The even better thing is that they now have an “edu” version. If the regular version of Glogster was once blocked, I encourage you to see if this version can now be made available. It’s a great way for students to be creative in sharing their knowledge.

Quick note about the video, I ended up using the link from YouTube. The same video is on a website found in netTrekker, but it didn’t have the link-ability that YouTube has. Sorry about that!

My Portfolio is a great way to organize complete projects. One of the things you can do is add links to outside resources, which is especially a safe and easy way to have students post their projects. The link(s) you add will not show up in netTrekker as a whole, but rather in your portfolio, for your students to view.

Anyone up for a free webinar on Glogster? I’d love to share what I learned! Or contact your account manager to learn how to book your next professional development with us to learn how to integrate netTrekker with many great tools out there!

Tags: DEN, Glogster, netTrekker, polar bears, professional development, SeaWorld

Is Your netTrekker Authenticated?

The best way to get someone to do something is by making it as easy as you can and removing as many obstacles as possible.  So, wouldn’t it be nice if your students and staff could get into netTrekker from school without having to log in?  Well, it’s likely they can.

Many of netTrekker’s subscribing school districts choose to access netTrekker through IP Authentication.  This means that when students and staff go to netTrekker from a school computer, it automatically takes them into netTrekker without having to enter a username or password.  In fact, most of netTrekker’s districts with the highest usage access netTrekker in this manner, which you can imagine accounts for a certain amount of their success. 

There are certain limitations regarding who can use this method, but if your entire district subscribes and you have a static IP range, you should look into it. 

Click Here to go to where you can learn more and even complete our online form in order to set this up for your school/district.  If you have questions, feel free to email us at contactus@nettrekker.com.

If you’re school or district uses IP authentication, feel free to leave a comment and let others know if you feel this is something useful to pursue.

Tags: authentication, IP, netTrekker

Resource Round Up

We are often asked how a teacher can recommend a site or other great resource for netTrekker. These resources are often either great state or local websites, resources for very specific science topics, great book links, sites that are available in other languages, and great cultural resources. Sometimes it’s just a great personal website with lots of curriculum connections. We want to include these resources, and so we are pleased to announce a very easy form for you to submit them for our content editors to review, align to standards and have added to netTrekker for every student and teacher to use.

To submit a resource, you will need access to netTrekker Village. That means you need to be a member! Once you are a member, check out the form under Events titled “Resource Round Up“. Fill in as many details as you can and submit it. Make sure to include your name and a legitimate email so we can contact you once your resource is added in, or in case we need more information.

While you are at netTrekker Village, take a look at the new events added to the calendar. If you would like to host an event, in order to share a website tool found in netTrekker or a great lesson, please contact Danielle Abernethy. We’re hosting topics such as Museum Box, Social Networking, and netTrekker specific. Join us for one or more today!

By submitting new resources or taking part in an event, you help make us stronger and more resourceful for all of your research needs. To say thank you, you will automatically be entered in our monthly Power Networking Contest.

Tags: content, curriculum, events, museumbox, netTrekker, netTrekker Village, resources, social networking