Natural Play and Learning Spaces

This announcement is reposted from EarlySpace. Sorry if you find the font annoying.

Are you concerned that your students don’t spend enough time outside? 

Are you worried about what Richard Louv calls “Nature Deficit Disorder”? 

Are you ready to DO something—but aren’t sure where to start?

I can help!  I made a little video that you might like to check out. 

It’s about connecting children to nature and creating natural play and learning spaces.

Click here to watch the video (it’s very short)  www.createoutdoormagic.com 

Don’t miss out on this valuable opportunity to learn about creating the outdoor spaces your children deserve.

 (My winter DIY Natural Play Space Coaching program starts in January-- don't miss your chance to be part of it!)

Nancy Striniste, MLD

EarlySpace, LLC

earth-friendly people-friendly landscapes

office 703-532-0018

cell 703-989-5426

designer of 

The 2012 DC Metropolitan Council of Governments 1st Prize Green Garden

and 

NoVA Outside 2012 Green School Award Winning Natural Playspace

Visit www.earlyspace.com to start creating your dream landscape-- 

and to subscribe to Earth-friendly Landscape News.

Please look for EarlySpace on Facebook

Marymount STEM Club Event - Dec. 7

I don't know if this is a matter of convenience or a recognition of the connections between the STEM workforce and the economy, but Marymount's STEM and Econ clubs are co-mingling.  As some of you know, Maryount University has a growing relationship with the Washington Academy of Sciences.

Upcoming AYPF Discussion on Disconnected Youth

www.aypf.org Invitation American Youth Policy Forum Invites you to our upcoming Lunchtime Forum and Discussion Beyond the Numbers: Data Use for Continuous Improvement of Programs Serving Disconnected Youth Over the past several months, AYPF has conducted in-depth studies to examine how three high-achieving youth-serving programs utilize data as a tool for continuous program improvement and ongoing accountability. Key research questions included: how has the organization’s use of data evolved over time; how is a comprehensive data management system serving the dual purposes of program improvement and compliance with reporting obligations; and what information is most useful to drive program improvements. This forum will serve as the release of our report, Beyond the Numbers: Data Use for Continuous Improvement of Programs Serving Disconnected Youth.  Following a brief presentation from each program, our panelists will engage in a conversation about the successes and challenges around data use at their programs as well as explore the common themes. The three profiled: Diploma Plus Network, Our Piece of the Pie, and Roca were selected because of their proven track record of success in serving the needs of disconnected youth.  *     *     *     *     * DATE:  Friday, December 7, 2012 TIME:  12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. LOCATION:  Capitol Hill, Room TBA RSVP:  Please Register Here Box lunches are provided on a first-come, first-served basis, to those registered. *     *     *     *     *

Top 100 Technology Tools for Last Year

As the Center for Learning and Performance Technologies prepares its list for 2013, where do you stand on the old list?  Keep in mind, the process for identifying these tools means they actually reflect last year's results.  Their list of 50 to Watch seems to have disappeared.
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From Jane:
This year  I’ve highlighted where the Top 100 Tools are mainly being used – ie for Personal/Professional use, in Education and/or in the Enterprise.  (Please note that the absence of a checkmark in a column does not mean that the tool is not, cannot or should not be used for that purpose!)

January 2012 List

↑↓	rank	Tool	Notes	Pers	Edu	Ent
=	1	Twitter	Social network & micro-blogging service	✔	✔
=	2	YouTube	Video-sharing site	✔	✔
=	3	Google Docs/Drive	Office suite and data storage service	✔	✔	(✔)
↑ 11	4	Google Search	Web search engine	✔
=	5	WordPress	Blogging/website tool	✔	✔	✔
=	6	Dropbox	File synchronization	✔	✔	✔
↓ 3	7	Skype	Text and voice chat tool	✔	✔	(✔)
↑ 11	8	PowerPoint	Presentation software	✔	✔	✔
↑ 5	9	Facebook	Social network	✔	✔
↑ 1	10	Wikipedia	Collaborative encyclopaedia	✔	(✔)
↓ 3	11	Moodle	Course management system		✔	(✔)
↑ 5	12	Evernote	Note-taking tool	✔
↓ 4	13	Slideshare	Slide sharing site	✔	✔
↓ 7	14	Prezi	Presentation software	✔	✔
↓ 3	15	Blogger/Blogspot	Blogging tool	✔	✔
=	16	Google Reader	RSS aggregator	✔
↑ 9	17	Google+ / Hangouts	Social network/video meetings	✔	✔
↓ 5	18	Diigo	Social bookmarking/ annotation	✔	✔
↑ 23	19	Word	Word processing software	✔	✔	✔
↑ 11	20	Yammer	Private social networking engine	(✔)	✔	✔
↓ 11	21	EduGlogster	Interactive posters		✔
=	22	Edmodo	Educational social learning network platform		✔
↓ 2	23	LinkedIn	Professional network	✔		✔
↑ 9	24	Scoopit	Curation software	✔	✔
↑ 5	25	TED Talks /Ed	Inspirational talks/lessons	✔	✔
↓ 8	26	Jing	Screencasting tool	✔	✔	✔
↓ 7	27	Gmail	Web mail	✔	(✔)	(✔)
=	28	Camtasia	Screencasting tool		✔	✔
=	29	Audacity	Audio recorder/editing tool	✔	✔	✔
↓ 7	30	Wikispaces	Wiki hosting platform	✔	✔
↓ 6	31	Voicethread	Digital storytelling platform		✔
↑ 27	32	Adobe Connect	Web conferencing software			✔
↑ 10	33	Google Sites	Web/wiki hosting platform	✔	✔	(✔)
↑ 10	34	iPad and apps	Apple tablet and apps	✔	✔
↑ 10	35	Google Chrome	Web browser	✔
NEW	36	Pinterest	Virtual pinboard	✔	✔
↑ 9	37	Articulate	E-learning authoring software		✔	✔
=	38	Google Maps	Interactive maps	✔	✔	✔
↓ 12	39	Animoto	Video creating software	✔	✔
↓ 3	40	Tweetdeck	Social media dashboard	✔
↑ 32	41	Hootsuite	Social media dashboard	✔
↑ 5	42	Snagit	Screen capture software	✔	✔	✔
↑ 5	43	Adobe Captivate	E-Learning authoring software		✔	✔
↑ 20	44	Livebinders	Digital organizer	✔	✔
↑ 20	45	Sharepoint	Collaboration platform		(✔)	✔
↑ 6	46	Mindmeister	Mindmapping software	✔	✔
↑ 19	47	iTunes and iTunesU	Audio/video player / course distribution platform	✔	✔
↓ 24	48	Delicious	Social bookmarking tool	✔	✔
↑ 20	49	Outlook	Email client	✔		✔
↑ 10	50	Blackboard Collaborate (previously Elluminate)	Web conferencing software		✔
↑ 23	51	SurveyMonkey	Survey software	✔	✔	✔
BACK	52	Google Scholar	Search engine for scholarly works	✔	(✔)
BACK	53	Adobe Photoshop	Image editing software	✔		✔
BACK	54	WebEx	Web conferencing software			✔
↓ 20	55	Google Apps	Branded Google apps	✔	✔	✔
↑ 18	56	Khan Academy	Video learning platform		✔
NEW	57	Google Translate	Online language translator	✔
↑ 24	58	Quizlet	Flashcards & study games		✔
↓ 3	59	Scribd	Document sharing site	✔	✔
↓ 24	60	flickr	Photo sharing site	✔	✔
NEW	61	Flipboard	Social magazine for iPad etc	✔
NEW	62	Bing	Web search engine	✔
↓ 6	63	Ning	Community platform	✔	✔	✔
↓ 13	64	Screenr	Screencasting tool	✔	✔	✔
BACK	65	Firefox + addons	Web browser	✔
NEW	66	Instapaper	Read it later tool	✔
↑ 2	67	Udutu	Collaborative course authoring		✔	✔
BACK	68	MovieMaker	Movie authoring tool	✔	✔
BACK	69	Mindjet (prev MindManager)	Mindmapping tool	✔
↑ 12	70	Kindle	E-book reader	✔
↑ 29	71	OneNote	Note-taking software	✔
↓ 18	72	Wallwisher	Online noticeboard		✔
NEW	73	Zite	Social magazine for iPad	✔
↓ 19	74	iPhone and apps	Apple smartphone and apps	✔	✔	✔
↑ 7	75	Poll Everywhere	Live polling	✔	✔	✔
↑ 14	76	Pocket (prev Read it Later)	Read it later software	✔
↓ 3	77	Edublogs	Educational blogging platform	✔	✔
↓ 29	78	Vimeo	Video sharing site	✔	✔
↓ 40	79	Wordle	Word cloud generator	✔	✔
↓ 39	80	Symbaloo (and Edu version)	Visual bookmarking dashboard	✔	✔
=	81	Excel	Spreadsheet software	✔	✔	✔
↑ 8	82	Paper.li	Curation tool	✔
↓ 15	83	lino.it	Sticky note service	✔	✔
↓ 44	84	Voki	Speaking avatars		✔
↑ 5	85	Buddypress	Social engine (WordPress plugin)		✔	✔
↓ 28	86	eFront	Course/Learning Management System		✔	✔
↓ 26	87	OpenOffice	Office software	✔	✔
↓ 54	88	PBWorks	Wiki software			✔
NEW	89	Learnist	Pinboard learning sites	✔	✔
NEW	90	MentorMob	Create Learning Playlists	✔	✔
↓ 24	91	Mahara	ePortfolio/social networking platform		✔
NEW	92	Doodle	Event scheduling	✔		✔
BACK	93	Keynote	Presentation software	✔		(✔)
↓ 6	94	Android phones and tablets	Devices using Google mobile operating system	✔		(✔)
↓ 6	95	Blackboard	Course management system		✔
BACK	96	Tumblr	Micro-blogging platform	✔
NEW	97	Quora	Q&A platform	✔
NEW	98	Windows Skydrive	File synchronization	✔
NEW	99	Popplet	Visual bookmarking	✔	✔
↓ 6	100	iMovie	Video creation software	✔	✔