Matt Granger's Blog (29)

I love the concept. The cost is going to keep it from becoming a reality. I read today that in Illinois, 47% of the students live in "low income" families. That is defined as below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. With those numbers, tools like this in many students' homes is unlikely.

SMART is always looking to the future with it's hardware and software, but the money issue will only get more and more prevalent, in my opinion. And true technology integration,…

Last year, as a SMART Exemplary Educator (SEE), I was able to take the online SMART training courses to become a SMART Certified Lesson Developer (SCLD). I was very pleased with the courses overall.

They also have several free courses available. One in particular, Skill Level 1-Engaging Students Through Discussion, was very helpful. In this free, 20 minute course, it talks…

I was able to download an Aegom SMART Notebook file about your skin. If you would like to download the sample, you can as well.

It has some interesting features. There are clear instructions for all of the activities. There are a few animations that explain the skin and the parts and what they do. The content is appropriate for 4th grade and above, in my opinion. 

I presented again last weekend at the Tatnall School SMART User Conference in Wilmington, Delaware. The conference is organized by SEE and SBRev member Greg Mentzer. He did a marvelous job with the organization and logistics. There were 500 participants and close to 70 presenters. 

Everything from participant check in and lunch to presenter needs and volunteer staff runs so smoothly from a presenter's point of view. I know Greg would be the first to say that he couldn't do it without…

Here is the heavily edited version of the interview I did while I was in Calgary at the SEE Summit. I say heavily edited because I don't think I did a very good interview. I was too spazzy. But they did a great job editing it.

Here's the Ed Compass Blog post about…

From the feedback during the meeting in October, it seems that a lot of people like the Saturday meeting time. I realize that there is no perfect time, but I'd still like to get some feedback about the meetings and times. Please go to the SBRGVUG Survey (not active yet) and provide your ideas and preferences for meeting content and times. 

Since this is supposed to be a global user group, I do want to make the times somewhat friendly for European and Australian members to…

So, Anymeeting.com let us down. We had so much trouble passing control to the different presenters and being able to hear them, that we lost a lot of time. Now I am looking for another platform to use. Ludmila suggested wiziq.com, which I've checked into a little. Sue offered an Elluminate meeting room from another ning, but we would be strongly encouraged to join that ning as well to use that. Bridgit has been suggested, but…

I've posted this on several of the forums with questions about Lion and Notebook so it is found frequently in searches and in the latest activity.

I was going to talk about this issue on the last SBRGVUG meeting, but we had issues with the free service I was using and never got to it.

These are different companies releasing software. One can change something in the architecture of their software, change the way something has worked for a while, and it…

So, I got into AnyMeeting.com, the free platform I was using for the meeting at about 7:10 to make sure I had everything set. I did and was ready. At 7:30 I was baffled as to why I was the only one there. 7:35, same thing. 7:38, I realized that, even though I had screen sharing started, I hadn't clicked the "Start Presenting" button. So, to those who tried and got the message that it wasn't available, I'm sorry. I blew it.

Once I…

I was awakened this morning at 8:37 by a call from my former assistant principal who left to be the principal of a K-8 district with two schools. She asked if I had time to stop by and talk to her and the superintendent about a technology job. Their person just quit out of the blue. I said I'd be there in an hour. The superintendent and the part time district finance person were looking at the budget trying to find how they would pay me. Unfortunately for me, I've taught for 21 years so I…

This summer was the third SEE Summit, but just the first time I was able to apply. The first two years I already had summer plans when the dates were announced. So when I found out that the dates worked for me this year, I applied as quickly as possible. And it only just barely fit in. It was the only week in July that I had free.

It was awesome from the moment I came out and was met at the airport by Laura from SMART. She was with us all week making sure the food was ready…

I flew into Philly Friday night to be in Wilmington, DE Saturday to present at the Tatnall School SMART User Conference. Revolution member Greg Mentzer started the conference three years ago. Wow! What a fabulous conference. If you live anywhere in the area, make sure you come next year.

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