Newbies at NYSCATE Conference

As a strong believer of bridging gap of digital divide, I am so excited to see many new approaches in classroom teaching using technologies or sometimes just those new "babies" at the NYSCATE Conference at Albany.

1. Ms.Linda Brandon from Lakeland CSD, introduced an application of using ipod as a teaching and learning tool with podcasting. Many students have ipod. Why can't they use this device in their learning? This approach is particularly applicable to ESL or language classes. Students can broadcast their own audio files. It is an exciting tool for both teachers and students. However it takes some guts to try in classroom teaching as educator.

2. Some exibitors at the conference show some nice equipments for classroom teaching. One small device is to connect multiple keyboards to one computer. Multiple users use one computer. This setup encourages the co-oporative learning style among students. They can write together, work on the project together. It makes group learning more efficient.

3. Another vendor demonstrates a software which reads highlighted text on the screen. Spelling is part of the program. It features with a dictionary. Web pages and online content can be applied too.

4. "My Access" is an online student essay scoring program. It scores by rubrics aligned with national and state satardards. Teachers can make comments on essays. Data can be collected afterwords. It provides data with great accuracy and convenience to teachers.