The Daniell Middle School 8-1 Band recently had the unique opportunity to receive feedback on their performance, directly from the composer. Using online video conference technology, the band linked up with Larry Clark, composer of “Whispers,” one of the band’s selections for its March 27 large group performance evaluation. The band played “Whispers” for Clark, who listened from his home in Florida and provided suggestions for improvement.

Mr. Clark spent additional time chatting with the Daniell band, sharing his background and inspiration for composing “Whispers.” He also allowed students interested in choosing music careers to ask questions about his career as a professional musician and composer.

Mr. Koji Mori and Mrs. Chrissy Holbrook, Daniell’s band directors, also use video conferencing between their own band groups. During 6th grade classes, woodwinds have class in one band room while the brass and percussion sections have class in the other. Both sections use webcasting to perform for one another, as student musicians share ideas and challenge their peers to perform at the highest levels of excellence.

Watch a video of the Daniell 8-1 Band’s performance for composer Larry Clark:

The team at Best Buy store #501 in Kennesaw worked hard this summer to ensure that Kennesaw Elementary School was among the handful of schools selected to benefit from the Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow contest.

General manager Phillip Reid and his technology team were special guests during a surprise assembly at the school Tuesday, Dec. 4, during which the Best Buy team presented ten open-box computer systems for student instruction and treats for Kennesaw students and staff.

Floyd Middle School’s Robotics Team, the ShuffleBots, developed a solar-powered cooler for the FIRST Lego League (FLL) competition held at Walton High School last December. Supported by Partners in Education at The Southern Company, the ShuffleBots made a recent visit to the Technology Showcase at Georgia Power headquarters to show off the Cool-X 9000 robot. Click here to read more (PDF).

The robotics teams at Kell and Walton high schools were part of a three-team alliance that won first place at GRITS, the Georgia Robotics Invitational Tournament and Showcase held October 15 at the Museum of Aviation in Warner-Robins. The Winning Alliance of the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship was: Team 1311 “Kell Robotics” of Marietta, GA; Team 2974 “Walt” of Walton High School of Marietta, GA; Team 1319 “Flash” of Mauldin SC.

GRITS is an off-season event held by GeorgiaFIRST, the regional operating committee for FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). More than 500 students on 23 teams from Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee competed in the tournament. See below for a video of the competition, courtesy of the Walton robotics team:

FIRST is a not-for-profit founded by inventor Dean Kamen to celebrate science and technology via robotics competitions worldwide. The 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization offers innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math while building life skills. Teams hone their skills by excelling in their regional tournaments in competitive play, sportsmanship, and the development of partnerships among schools, businesses and communities.

The Cobb County School District this week hosted an education technology symposium for technology provider Blackboard K-12. Representatives from Blackboard, along with instructional technology professionals from Cobb and other school districts conferred Sept. 20-21 at the Marietta Conference Center and Allatoona High School to discuss emerging trends in online learning, curriculum delivery and communications.

Blackboard officials learned the practical ways school systems use their platform and gathered feedback on what instructional and operational needs will need to be met in the foreseeable future. Representatives and educators engaged students from Allatoona High School Sept. 21, to gain a better understanding of how students perceive and use technology.

Symposium attendees continued the discussion online, connecting via the #cobbsymposium hashtag on Twitter.

The Cobb County School District uses Blackboard solutions for online learning and employee training. Below are some of the ways the District makes use of Blackboard:

• The Cobb Virtual Academy provides fully online, whole courses for credit taught by highly qualified teachers. Instruction is delivered using Blackboard and a vast array of digital resources and content. The courses
  include engaging assignments, interactive teaching tools, performance tasks and assessments that allow the instructor to monitor the online student’s educational progress.
• The District’s beginning-of-year training materials for principals and administrators are archived on Blackboard, creating a repository of operational information and important documents accessible anytime.
• Special education nursing supervisors shifted their training modules and required testing for nurses to the platform, increasing the efficiency of delivery and ensuring that nurses maintain important certifications.
• The Office of Accountability moved its face-to-face training for testing administrators online, reducing expenses and administrators’ time away from their school buildings.
• Training for local school bookkeepers and After School Program staff has been moved online to Blackboard and Wimba sessions.

Blackboard has helped Cobb County Schools save thousands of dollars in expenses and develop invaluable, reusable training resources.

Symposium photos courtesy of Jennifer Noymer of Blackboard.

Students in the Birney Elementary Technology Club were recently invited by the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) to make its second presentation for the national ISTE conference in June. The club will travel to Philadelphia, PA, where students will share the processes they used to create videos for SchoolTube and explain why they chose each video topic. Birney’s club presentation will help educators in attendance learn video production and teaching techiques they can bring back to their own classrooms.

Last summer, the club impressed ISTE attendees with their video, photography and music entries for the PTA Reflections contest. The Birney Technology Club is advised by media specialist Shawn Kirby.

Sample a preview of the showcase Birney’s Technology Club is preparing for the 2011 conference.

On Feb. 28, students in English classes at Campbell High School had the opportunity to learn about New Media from Ameet Doshi, Engagement Librarian at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Doshi talked to students about information literacy and technology skills needed as college freshmen.

At Georgia Tech, Doshi uses many creative methods to involve students, including operating the world’s only ‘Rock and Roll Radio Research’ show on WREK-Atlanta. His show “Lost in the Stacks” combines music and interviews to involve faculty, students and staff. His other interests include sustainability in library buildings, gaming theory, and most efficient use of current technology. Doshi stressed the importance of computer use for college freshmen, but counseled against buying the latest technological gadgets unless they are specifically needed.

Following Doshi’s presentation, students got to experience the use of e-reader tablets, courtesy of the local Barnes and Noble store. Digital Coordinator Diane O’Donnell showed how the tablets can be used for books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks, Internet access and file storage.

In its first year of competition, Teasley Elementary’s third grade Robot Warriors Robotics team is one of 16 teams finishing highest in the FIRST Lego League Super Regionals last month at Southern Polytechnic State University. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) challenges students in elementary and middle schools to compete in the areas of: robot design, programming, team collaboration, and a research project presentation. Teasley’s team created a Lego biomedical device that would allow people who suffer from retinal detachment to see. The Robot Warriors took home the top award, plus 2nd place for Core Values and the Judges’ Rising Star Award. They will advance to the state competition this weekend at Georgia Tech.

The Kell High School Robotics Team continues to earn accolades, taking 1st place for student submission for modeling and simulation at the Interservice/Industry Training Simulation and Education and Simulation Conference (I/ITSEC). More than 19,000 people from 61 countries attended the modeling and simulation technology event, many representing the U.S. military. I/ITSEC has a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)  initiative to support and promote activities encouraging studentsí interest and pursuit in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Kell took part in the Future Leaders Pavilion, which highlights the work of students from across the nation involved with engineering, computer sciences, mathematics, and modeling and simulation. The team presented the Oil Recovery and Capture (ORCA) system currently under development. See the earlier CobbCast coverage of the ORCA project.

The team also learned this week that it will receive a $5,000 NASA grant, as part of a cooperative agreeement with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST). The grant will be used to help the team compete in the annual FIRST Robotics competition, in which teams of high school students have six weeks to build robots using identical parts kits. The 45 regional competitions culminate with an international championship in April 2011.

Wheeler magnet program students Allison Brackin, Charles Crawford, Samuel Horace Gantt and Iyana Moore are recipients of a special laptop grant from Google!  In support of science, technology, engineering and math education, the company awarded Lenovo G550 computers to promising students from more than 600 schools nationwide. Each laptop includes a 200GB hard drive, 3GB RAM memory, webcam and a full software suite.