I may have just found the perfect tool and solution.

Orchestrate is an online task manager created by a guy named Yongfook. He created it out of a personal need to manage multiple tasks easily. Essentially, you can create any number of task lists, which are subjects, projects, etc. These are always visible on the left side of the screen. You can pull one or more of the task lists to the right side of the screen where they open up into simple lists with check boxes. Adding task lists or items to the list is as simple as typing it in a small text box and hitting return. It is incredibly simple to use and elegant in its simplicity. When you check a box, it smoothly moves the item to the bottom of the list, greys it out, and makes it smaller.

Here are a couple screen shots.

Here we have the Task List. It tells you how many items you have completed and how many are "pending."

Next we have the actual to do lists. You can hide these if they are not currently what you need, but they the list title will always appear in the task list above.

During the last week, I've had it sitting open in a tab in FireFox and have found that with it right there, instead of another application, I am referencing it more often AND the tab is constantly in view (unless I have more then about 10 tabs open, which does happen sometimes...).

While not necessarily a community Web 2.0 application, it shows what many, including Will Richardson, have been saying. The web is the new OS. I think I originally found Orchestrate on Techcrunch.

technorati tags:web2.0, orchestrate, organization

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Teacher Magazine has given me the honor of participating in their new Ask the Mentor column this month. Readers are asked to post questions about technology integration in the classroom. After a couple weeks the editors will select a number of the questions that I will answer. The answers will appear online and in the print edition of the magazine. If you want to post a question, please visit the Ask the Mentor web page.

For those of you visiting from that site, let me give you a short overview about my experience integrating technology into my classroom.

• WebQuests - This was really my first experience bring computers into my instruction. I was lucky enough to end up in a class that what was Bernie Dodge's second use of WebQuests back in 1997. For the next five years, I worked with Bernie developing WebQuest related staff development for the San Diego City School District. I've written and integrated WebQuests into my world history, United States history, and geography classes.
• Classroom Web Pages - I create my first classroom web site in 1997. Since that time I have had a web site for my classes that has included grades, notes, calendars, assignments, and resource links.
• Classroom Presentations - I regularly use PowerPoint for direct instruction, combining video clips and images with words. Inspiration is another great tool I have used for class brainstorming sessions.
• Digital Video - For both my world and United States history courses, I have implemented a major digital video project. I've received three different grants to support these projects.
  
• Blogs and Wikis - While earning my MA in Educational Technology, I began researching the use of blogs and wikis in the K-12 classroom. Over the last two years I have implement three different wiki-based projects (see my NECC presentation). I have kept this blog for almost two years and have been reading blogs for three years. This fall, I will begin using blogs with my students.
  
• Moodle - This past year I began using Moodle, a learning management system. Unlike a static web site, it allows students to interact online through forums, blogs, and messaging. This coming school year I am expanding my use of Moodle.
• ahistoryteacher.com - You can explore this web site for more examples of my work. Use the navigation on the left side of the screen.
  

While I do teach at a "nice" suburban school, we are not technology-rich. We constantly struggle with a lack of resources (e.g. one open lab for 2400 students). I know many schools have much more technology while others have less.

Thanks for your interest and if you have a question, please visit the Ask the Mentor web page.

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After nine years in the same classroom, I decided I wanted a change of scenery. So I have spent about 20 hours in the last week moving and settling into a new classroom that is only 100 feet away. Absolute craziness. I can't imagine ever moving to another school. I have acquired a large number of things related to teaching over the last ten years, and it seems all of them, plus numerous student projects, old stereo equipment, books, curriculum materials, old textbooks, food never picked up during past food drives, posters, ancient computer equipment, and extra copies, ended up on one of seven cabinets that line one wall of the room.

The one thing I am loving is being able to do everything exactly how I want it. I wired my stereo all at once, hid the wires in the lowered ceiling, and even ran wires down the wall in a runner. My desk is set up exactly how I want it. My cabinets are nicely organized, with a clear system that defines what is in each one. I threw out five or six trash cans worth of materials I haven't looked at in years, gave away several pieces of funiture, and nicely filed information from courses I don't currently teach away. 

I won't be completely settled by Monday when the kids arrive, but it will be more then workable. I can't wait to actually start working on curriculum.

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On Monday I taught a workshop called Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts to a room full of teachers from my district. I knew I was taking on a lot by trying to include all three topics (and RSS), but little did I know that I could have called it just Blogs and that would have been just fine. I spent the last fifteen minutes explaining the concepts behind wikis and podcasts, providing them with a set of resources for personal exploration.

Since NECC I have been focusing a lot more on reading the ed tech blogs out there (see sidebar). I immersed my self in Web 2.0 technologies - I've played with Writely, YouTube, and explored WordPress for the first time. I was in a pure ed tech state of mind.

I ended up experiencing a strange sort of culture shock. Most of the participants had never read a blog. There were some who struggled with basic Internet use.

I started the workshop off with an overview of Web 2.0, discussing the greater implications, the philosophy behind it, and its potential impact on education. Inspired by Dean Shareski's workshop wiki, I decided to start with RSS. As the participants began to set up a Bloglines account, with varied difficulty, I realized how far educational world still has to go. NECC attendees get it, that's why they are there. Many don't understand and do not have the time to do it on their own. Schools and districts don't have the time or money. Budgetary constraints keep teachers doing what they have always done.

The diverse set of teachers who spent six hours in front of their computers with me on Monday started to get it. Instead of delving into wikis and podcasts, most set up an account on WordPress.com and really look at how they might incorporate it into their classrooms - in two weeks when school starts. Everyone seemed to really be focused on trying to understand this technology in their specific context. English, art, PE, social studies, science, and special education were all represented.

In the end it really made me realize we have a long way to go. I don't believe my district is any further ahead or behind technologically then the average district. These teachers represent the masses.

The digital divide is wide and deep.

As an aside, I developed a Blogging WebQuest for the workshop. First, the participants explored the nature of blogs in contrast to the mainstream media. We used the conflict in the Middle East as the content. Second, they looked at current uses of blogs in education and categorized their use. It worked well, providing a conceptual understanding while utilizing the technology being examined (they had to post to a blog as well).

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The ever-brilliant US Patent and Trademark Office has apparently granted Blackboard a patent for...well...pretty much anything remotely related to learning management systems. (e-Literate: Blackboard Patents the LMS)

With dozens of learning management systems, both commercial and open source, out there, I wonder how far Blackboard will go. Can they stop an open source movement like Moodle which has legs that stretch far beyond Moodle.org.

My pessimistic, people-suck side (as a history teacher, I've seen a number of instances throughout the ages where people haven't always done the "right" thing) thinks that Net Neutrality, DOPA, and now this will really change this place called the Internet. I hope I don't look back at 2006 as a time with great potential that was crushed by corporate interests and government regulations supporting corporate interests.

Who is listening to the people these days?

technorati tags:dopa, moodle, blackboard, web2.0, patent

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