NECC Podcasts are ready

The first two recordings from NECC are ready. You can either revisit the posted notes from Tony Vincent’s iPod presentation or Alan November’s global learning presentation or visit me on iTunes at the Final Curve podcast. Look forward to a few more podcasts from NECC and future podcasts from Dallas.

Enjoy your day,

iPod ban–follow up

Previously I posted on the knee jerk reaction by many school districts to ban iPods in schools. On my way home from NECC I was catching up on some of my podcast subscriptions and listened to Eric Langhorst’s podcast on this topic. I agree completely with Eric’s view on the educational benefits of iPods. To further add to the conversation, my school began last year an iPod initiative at our school issuing an iPod to all our freshman. I have previously posted on the initial results of this program and for those interested I will be updating on this blog the results of this program as it continues during year two. After the information I received at NECC I expect year two, with both freshman and sophomores participating, to be even more successful.

Alan November–NECC 2007 Notes

Expanding Boundaries of Learning: Designing Rigorous and Globally Connected Assignments

Alan November

Recording of presentation

Location: GWCC Murphy 1 Tag: n07s722

 

Questions by Alan

 

1. Have you traveled outside U.S.

   1. Yes

2. Will you students compete globally?

   1. Yes

3. Do you students connection w/ others outside U.S.?

   1. Yes

4. Do you students have a global work ethic?

   1. No

5. Have you been to a presentation by someone not from U.S.?

   1. Yes/no

6. Web 2.0 tools blocked

   1. Majority block 3

7. Who currently owns the learning?

   1. 38 government

   2. 26 teachers

8. Who should own the learning?

   1. 95 students

 

Alan

Shares idea that students should own learning.

• Not a technology issue

• Question is global work ethic

Brother MIT educated engineer

• Team is now in shanghai

• Once he is done training unsure what to do

• Not motivated to work on own, organization dependent not self directed

• Culture of school is dependent on students to be managed

• Should reverse dependency to interdependence

• Daughter’s graduation speaker said students ready to conquer the world

• Alan states student able to but only ready to take courses

 

To create students who control learning teacher must create authentic audience

• Research says students need instant feedback

  • Students recording poems needed second takes

  • Not happy with first recording

• Students need global, not paper, voice

  • Students need to be taught courage with their voice

• Teacher from Maine, Bob Sprinkle 3rd grade

  • Every Mon producer review of academic matter from previous week

  • Jobs: writer, reader, producer, actor

  • Kids rotate

  • Evolved into math corner, writing show, everyone wanted their own show

    • Student show work ethic

    • Must know content to create show

  • Teachers do not need to know how to podcast, kids will do this

  • Teachers need to know when and what to podcast

Marco Torres

• Video produced by former students who graduated already

• Students realize the need for a change in the system

  • Technology allows students to be with teachers

  • Teachers are not ready to hand over classroom

 

Teaching in a prison school

• Student motived by real problems

• Motivated those who do not want to learn

Teaching American history in Lexington

• Should we teach American version or British version

• If you confront people with a version of the truth they do not know they interact

• Have students find this information

• Textbook limits this information

• Allows students to build curriculum and build research skills

Great Gatsby

• One version read across the world

• How do those outside the US view the work?

• Then you can fully understand impact of book

• Students own learning when they bring in the assignments to complete rather than given assignment

 

Do not need technology integration team, rather global integration team

 

Hiroshima

• Read essays by student in Japan written in English

• Need to understand views of others

• Can hold debate via Skype

• Class debate or debate b/w two cultures: which is more authentic?

 

Searching for authentic audience

• Need to understand how to search properly

• Using country code when searching

 

Closing

• Underestimated ability of students

  • Need job and can create podcasts

• Need for global audience

  • Fill iTunes will content rather than block it

• Need global interaction

  • Skype groups

  • Ability to receive comments from audience listening

• This will allow for boundaries to go beyond time and space

• RSS will allow for control to shift to students while viewing results

I Didn’t Know You Could do That with an iPod–notes

Below are my notes from Tony Vincent’s presentation. I have a recording that I will upload later. I will also load this to GoogleDocs. This will probably not happen until tomorrow as I try to get to a couple of more session today and I am flying back to Dallas tonight. Overall it was great. As those attending, especially those sitting on the floor or standing in the back against the wall.

 

UPDATE: Recording of the presentation. Also available at the Final Curve podcast.

 

 

 

I didn’t know you could do that with an iPod

 

www.Learninginhand.com/ipod

Tony Vincent

Omaha, NE

Fifth grade and tech specialist

 

Blog Tag(s): necc, n07s611

 

 

Last year left school to do presentation and conferences full-time

Join retired teachers at Willowdale Elementary School

 

Things you may not know–beyond audio and video

1. Audio tip
   1. Transfer all CD from music programs to iTunes
   2. Go into preference
      1. Choose advance tap and import
      2. Import CD and eject
         1. Sucks all music off CD and then ejects when done
2. Podcasts
   1. Learning in Hand–Troy’s podcast
      1. Downloading videos
      2. Customizing the main menu
      3. iPod shuffle tips
      4. Hard disk mode
      5. iQuiz
      6. Notes
      7. The 5 Rs of Troubleshooting
      8. RSS Feeds
      9. Slide Shows
      10. Understanding DRM
      11. Voice Recorders
      12. Free Audio on the Web
   2. Raido WillowWeb
   3. Out City Podcasts
3. Sync Address Book and Calendar
   1. Select iPod on left tab
   2. Under Contact you can sync Calendar and Contacts
   3. Click apply when done creating settings
   4. On iPod go to Extras, then Calendars
      1. Flag means event
      2. Scroll to and select with center button
   5. On iPod go to Extras, then Contacts
      1. Works the same
      2. Section for notes on Contact section
      3. Students can create glossary by replacing contact information with words and definitions
      4. Create historical contact for historical figures
4. Photos
   1. Created States PowerPoint
      1. Converted to jpeg
      2. Create folder titled State flashcards
      3. May need to rename individual files to ensure leading zeros to keep in desired order
         1. Ex. 001 not simply 1
   2. Select photos tab
      1. Select all or State flashcards folder
      2. Sync photos
   3. On iPod select photos
      1. Go to State Flash Cards
   4. Can be teacher made or student created
   5. Can use any PowerPoint or flash card idea
      1. Need to remember text side
   6. A group created a tip calculator using images
      1. It looks as if it is calculating, but is actually a series of images
      2. Title slide stated to spin to begin
   7. ColorWheel
      1. Same idea
5. Hard disk mode
   1. Flash drive or external hard drive
   2. Connect iPod
      1. Check enable disk use
      2. Works just as a normal flash drive
      3. Must now manually eject disk
         1. My computer–drive F or E
            1. Can create folders for storage organization
         2. Can eject via iTunes also
6. Notes
   1. Create notes for viewing on iPod
      1. List of Prepositions
      2. Text document only
      3. Under Hard disk mode drag and drop to Notes folder
   2. Create a list of preposition, vocabulary words, ect
   3. 4000 character limit per file
   4. www.ipod-notes.com
      1. Will convert to a series of files
   5. www.iPodPress.com
      1. Cost money, but lots of documents for viewing
      2. US Constitution–free doc
      3. References, cliff notes, etc
   6. www.anchorfree.com
      1. Zips a file showing wifi locations in a give areas
      2. Free
      3. No maps all text
7. RSS feeds
   1. Mac users
      1. iFeedPod–free
      2. does not run with iTunes, separate program
   2. PC users
      1. iPodSync–$17 cost
      2. Runs same as above, separate from iTunes
   3. Connect iPod
      1. Launch iFeedPod or IpodSync
      2. Does not use iTunes
   4. Syncs all RSS feed entered
   5. Eject iPod from computer
   6. Go to notes
      1. Loads new notes, could take some time to load
   7. Sorts by blog feed
8. Quizzes
   1. Video iPods only
   2. Under games on iTunes–$0.99
      1. Pay for quiz, can sync on multiple iPod if synced on same computer that you downloaded
   3. iQuiz maker–create your own quizzes
      1. Will drain batter
      2. Create quiz with multiple choice answers
         1. Can design to display correct answer if answered incorrectly
         2. Can play multiple times
            1. Keeps track of how you do each time
            2. Displays latest, record, or average
      3. www.iquizmaker.com
         1. Mac or PC
         2. Multiple choice, true false
      4. www.iquizshare.com
         1. Share the quizzes your create
      5. Kaplan has released similar program
         1. $4.99 each program
9. Interactive Content
   1. Choose your own adventure type game
   2. iWriter–$30 for Mac of PC
      1. www.talkingpanda.com
   3. www.Mogopop.com
      1. Another alternative
10. Much more available his podcast and website

New Tools, New Schools: Starting the …

New Tools, New Schools: Starting the Conversation about Web 2.0

 

 

 

Gwen Solomon, TechLearning.com with Timothy Magner, Will Richardson, Lynne Schrum and David Warlick

 

Technorati tag: necc, n07s702

 

 

Richardson

• Blogs motivate kid, real work changes classroom
• Kids need to become learning environment
• Challenges, yeah buts,
  • Lack of tech, admin understanding, time
  • Even though a lot of teacher who use these tools, pedagogy has not changes
    • Transfer from paper to cpu
  • Skills require deep understanding by teachers and admin in their own practice
  • Halfway down the road
    • Understand tools
    • Need to understand pedagogy

 

Warlick

• Staff development–topic
• The kids are different, teachers are not
• It is about respecting the audience
  • On-line handouts via wikis
  • Share password, respect audience to add to content
  • Tag presentation to draw in audience
• Aggregator for del.ic.ious
  • NECC is emergence of learning, cannot turn around without learning
• No one tool, always something new to facilitate learning

 

Schrum–higher ed representative

• Technology is fun, but does it improve student learning
  • Not a lot of evidence on the bottom line, which is unfortunately test scores
  • How do we document this success
  • Everyone has stories, need documentation
  • How do we get the story out
• Pre-Service piece
  • Need models
  • Research does show that educators will do anything to help students learn if they believe a task works
• How do we do this?
  • Good models specific to content
    • Math, social studies, etc
    • Tools and teaching in each subject is different
    • Key is collaboration
    • Researchers willing and desire to work with teachers who use this new technology

 

Gwen Solomon

• Need for models
• Wonderful new tools, give new capabilities to teachers and kids that provide new experiences
• One thing if principals and administrators tell teachers something works
• Different if teachers tell each other, via stories

 

 

Timothy Magner

• Everyone today went through industrial education for industrial society
• None of us has idea who information school looks like
• No common entry point
  • People know what school is like (football, prep assemblies, etc)
  • People know what Web 2.0 is
  • What is school 2.0?
• School 2.0
  • Links home, school, community
  • Potential to fundamentally alter school
  • Cannot embrace everything or will lose mission, must embrace some to change dynamic of structure
  • What are students going to do in 6 hrs that will meet their needs?
    • Empowering education system not buying cool toys no one can use
  • Global community discussion
    • Teachers, administrators, parents–all must be involved
  • Visual world, need to create a common visual of this idea
    • Sketch is just that, must allow for something to be erased, added, collaboratively creative

 

 

 

• Gwen Solomon, www.TechLearning.com

 

• Send your stories, experiences to: Gwen_and_lynne_book2@yahoo.com

• David Jakes
  • Five guys on skype chatting about the panel while it is going on
  • Using it as idea to bounce ideas off each other
  • Using web 2.0 as professional development
• Richardson
  • Must use the tools to understand networking
    • Myspace for better of worse is networking
  • How to engage ethically, safely is question
  • Teachers must be comfortable in personal, professional way
    • New tools transfer the power of learning
    • Teachers must engage in the technology so they can express the power of transfer to students
• Magner
  • Technology allows for a lot of informal learning
    • Using Google to answer a question at lunch
  • Artificial discussions b/w home learning, after school learning, in-class learning
• Schrum
  • Until people are comfortable in using these technologies they will not using them

 

 

• Garrett (Gary) Brown–Sydney
  • Want to embrace web 2.0, noting will be blocked
  • Leadership team is required to blog as professional development
  • Building schools with open plans and learning teams
  • Seen bad uses of web 2.0 just for the sake of using web 2.0
  • Invite anyone who wants to join
    • Catholic school
  • School director taken some flack for opening all site
    • Principals discuss openly what myspace accounts and videos on youtube he or she has seen with students
    • Deters students from improper use of such tools
• College student from Washington
  • Wants social network that will allow students to work and study together
  • Implementing www.scriptovia.com
  • Plagiarism is an issue
    • Have been working with www.turnitin.com to combat this
  • Looking for teacher input
• Skip Olson, Minneapolis–retired guy
  • Sees schools as spirit killers
  • Unless we change the business of school as learning environments…
    • 9-3, aug-may
  • these wonderful tools and opportunities will be shut down at school door
• John Henderson, 32 years old
  • Did not know a world where VCR was difficult
  • Right now parents and students are becoming the same way
  • Do not know if we can be patient enough to wait for schools to change
• Parent, created website for his kid’s school
  • Website was form of communication
    • Dates, handouts, volunteer opportunities
  • Parents now pushing teachers to keep up
  • www.Thegroupery.com
• Parent/Rutgers University instructor
  • Key is pre-service teachers
  • Have no idea of Web 2.0 apps
    • Google docs
  • By spring they are comfortable and have their own stories
• Scott Garagan, Pennsylvania
  • Job is professional development
  • Face time is an issue
  • Library sites are great
    • Maryland create system to teach web 2.0 applications
    • Step by step, check the box system
    • Twenty-three tasks to complete
    • Library 2.0–google to locate
• Question for panel members
  • Potential entrepreneur educators, is this something on the horizon that will challenge the current design
  • Lynne Schrum
    • No, system of education is so engrained that it does not allow challenges
    • Some charter school, but not much difference
  • Tim Magner
    • A lot of new models in charters, home school, etc
    • Challenge is how to make alternatives within the system
    • It is like diet and exercise
      • Must have incentive to make change (i.e. new swimsuit)
    • 2/3 People without kids in system, they do not see the need for change to system
  • Gwen Solomon
    • Web 2.0 tools will force systemic change
    • Again hitting the need for models
• Edutopia has several video examples on-line
  • Ex. acme animation hooks up students with professional animators
• Teacher from N. Carolina
  • Used United Streaming to demonstrate glass blowing
  • Kids where reading story, character was glass blower, they had no concept of the glass blowing industry
• David Jakes
  • Two minutes to tell what it is to be an American
  • http://www.jakesonline.org/

 

The Discussion of Web 2.0 and School 2.0

So I am a little frustrated because I have been better about typing blog posting, but I have not been able to submit them because by old blog has been having issues. After giving it some time I have decided to abandon the old site and create a new site. I will be uploading my previous post just as soon as I can get logged-in to the site. Anyway, on to bigger things.

Yesterday I particiapted in a great full-day training session with SMART Technologies (post to come). Our school began using SMART Boards shortly after I began at the school, and I have had a SMART Board for a year and a half. I do not want to ruin the anticipation post divulging my content now, but it was a worthwile session.

Considering this, today was my first day at the sessions at the GWCC. I started of with a bang. I attended the Web 2.0 panel discussion hosted by Gwen Solomon of TechLearning.com with Timothy Magner, Will Richardson, Lynne Schrum and David Warlick. The quality of the information sitting behind the tabel is great. Also of great quality is the variety and quality of ideas in the audience. The overall theme I took away from the discussion is that we must demand and force a change in the education system. The views from the panel represented an empowering statement. Will Richardson make the statement of the day by saying that blogs and similar technology empower students by creating real work. The problem lies in the “yeah, buts”. To me this is a great attitude. While plenty of people are willing to embrace new technology, too many people allow obsticales to deter their motivation. This to me in the problems.

I agree with those who stated that school is in need for reform. To me this is a leadership issue. Either you are willing to adapt and make the change or you are not a leader. I admire school districts such as Garrett or Gary Brown from Sydney who spoke during the session. Apologies for the first name, difficulty to hear somethings clearly. Mr. Brown explained how his district choose not to battle with blocking websites and opened everything. Rather than just stick their head in the sand, they educate their students on the information available on these site and their administrators use this technology. This is great leadership. ( Mr. Brown, send me your email and I will not only correct your name, but would love to stay in contact with you.)

Aside from leadership is the issue of models. I agree that colleges are the best at resisting change. As Gwen Solomon stated currently exists a need for models. While many in education are doing great things, we need to provide universities with models to use for training purposes for upcoming teachers. So I encourage everyone reading this blog to email Gwen with your best story. By sharing the stories we can change the culture and begin the EDUCATION REVOLUTION.

Below are my published under GoogleDocs and I will soon have the podcast recording I made.

Enjoy your day,

New Blog site

I am at NECC trying to post a couple of blogs postings before I attend a web 2.0 panel.  Unfortunately I am having issues with my edublog account.  I have been having this problem for the past couple of weeks and out of frustration I am going to transfer my blog to this site.  I am looking to be more consistent this year and after one day at NECC I have enough ideas that will last me until the end of the first quarter of school.  Anyway, I trust the transition for those of you who subscribe will be easy.   Those new to this blog, welcome.