I had the opportunity to run my first New Teacher Orientation sessions this week for teachers across our four campuses. We had two days of training available to about 50 new teachers; the first day was spent on mandatory applications and the second focused more on tech integration. I decided to query my Twitter network this morning to see if they had any good advice for teachers new to a pretty technology-rich environment and here's the list of tweets I compiled. I'm not listing names associated with the tweets to protect the innocent (just kidding) and because I think it's interesting to look at the response with the bias of knowing who suggested these ideas. Let me know if you have any other suggestions and I'll be happy to add them to this list!

NOTE: Responses below had to be kept to 140 characters in Twitter. Hence, the brevity and abbreviations.

What's a simple way to start infusing your curriculum with technology? What's a good starting point? Do you have a fav collab project?

Courtesy of my Twitter Network:

• Suggest they take a part of their curriculum that they know well.... & consider if it could be made more collaborative, interactive, or personal for the students... then the tech tools are a win... 

• Need a GREAT project? Use Glogster to create and publish a WOW multimedia poster on any academic topic!http://tinyurl.com/3m799m 

• I've been thinking a lot about NETS-making tech "transparent and routine."  For tech neophytes, it's got to be non-threatening. so I've used GoogleGroups and GoogleDocs for out-of-class discussion and collaboration.

• As a language teacher, epals.com has been invaluable with connecting my students to native speakers.  Also, wikis & google earth

• Every faculty member has del.icio.us account-didn't support browser bkmrks when gave new machines-made em use del.icall summer collaboration and planning was done on wiki or google docs-all tech supprt documentation on wiki-students/teachers add 

• Visit ISTE student profiles. Pick a unit to enhance w/them. See http://tinyurl.com/6eybas 

• We start many a noobie on sharing online bookmarks, understanding how to share and access others bookmarks and subscribe to them.

• Use technology to reach it?  Sometimes I think when they see how well the objective is reached, and how engaged the students are

• We use wikis & google tools a LOT for collab started as tchr driven switched 2 stud recommend gaggle too

• Blogs would be my top suggestion... very collaborative.. easy learning curve... lots of possibilities. 

• My teachers found the http://1001tales.wikispaces.com collaboration to be a powerful and easily integrated project.

• locating images for a timeline project? posting a question of the day on a class blog? recording and sharing language mp3s?

• I started last year with podcasting and posted their work on the web, just like students in my class do. This year I showed teachers how to post and use a ning. They LOVED it. I call it Facebook for teachers.

• Set up Google Apps for Ed acct. for older students. Demonstrate the powerful uses of apps. Learn to organize

• Start with wikispaces. Look for other examples. Keep it simple & collborative. Kids work in teams to build wiki. Maybe info one?

• I'd say using tools such as Voki and Voicethread have been a good start for me :o) 

• Tchers have 2 start by letting go of the idea that they are "integratin tech" change to using tool for effective instruct ,that said...phone in response casts to gcast, post assign 2 wiki let kids discuss, storytelling 4 slide...feel post coming on:)

• The easiest way for this writing teacher is to pick a topic, any topic, and podcast students
• another starting point is to use VoiceThread to accomplish that.or start blogging and ask them to share their poetry (quick, simple success) then post that online. Have them drop poems into PPT Poetry then put it online with VoiceThread and invite feedback from other teachers' students on the poems, serious or fun.

• Take them to Thinkfinity.org and let them use the story mapper or bubbl.us to map a poem, story, nonfiction text

• Do something simple that can be successful and allow person to see tech can support and make easier initially...find easy web sites that kids can do (my background is EC) that excite them. Find place so they communik8 (such as ask an expert)

• Online enviros such as nings or wikis offer the most flexibility for just about any kind of content; images, video, audio,text

• basic start would be w digital camera and bulletin bd then putting pics into projects, especially w a technophobe....take a look at what is happening and see what could be done w tech--morning messages, sign in on the computer, parent notes etc.

• I think that there is incredible power in planning learning with other teachers, and inviting student input :-)

• I think wikis are an easy way in for teachers. they understand the collaborative nature of them. So do kids

• I think blogging is a simple way to start for humanities teachers. It's writing for an audience. That makes sense to teacher