A somewhat disturbing report on the growing power of the audience.
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/10/09/how-speakers-should-integrate-social-into-presentations/
We have less to worry about than those at educational conferences (our school bans cell phones from the classroom - although I'm sure surreptitious texting still occurs), but the ability of students to communicate with each other is going to grow - and it's becoming less and less intrusive every year.
I'm thinking of encouraging a back channel now, perhaps through a classroom Ning, that I can observe and students can post comments to as a form of feedback. Encourage it as a positive tool before it grows into a virtual heckling device.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Activated Complex - Demonstration
Chemistry video for Reaction Kinetics: activated complex.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Technology Training - What's the point?
If excellent teacher's can teach without technology, what's the point of technology training?
Newspapers didn't appear to see it coming - who really could imagine people writing for free, and then attracting enough readers to hurt newspapers? Blogs offered a way that anyone could voice their opinion, and while the criticism that 'everyone' means that the bulk of blogs are inadequate, self-indulgent or unprofessional may be true, it misses the point entirely. People don't read all blogs, they read a limited number. As an almost evolutionary process, the good (or at least the readable) are sorted from the bad, and the critique now looks a bit weak - the blogs people read frequently exceed the quality of newspaper articles in knowledge, depth, understanding or entertainment. Unlike newspapers, blogs also allow the readership to comment, inform, correct and even chastise the author. This is not arguing that blogs are "better" either. Blogs simply out-compete newspapers in many traditional newspaper niches where it matters - readers.
This has a lot to do with education. When I started teaching schools still required many traditional teaching supplies: textbooks, pens, paper, chalkboard, desks, etc. The generational difference between teachers seemed one of form rather than function - I kept my grades, lesson plans, lessons and notes on a computer, other teachers used planners, agendas, and binders. We were still, however, doing the 'same thing' in many respects. The new environment, however, is new in function as well as form. Seven million (full text) books are available through Google Books. Wikipedia is the world's largest, and most current, encyclopedia. iTunes has iTunes U and YouTube has YouTube Edu, both of which offer lectures by professors. In many cases textbooks no longer need to be purchased for class. Films, examples, and demos can be viewed without a video or DVD, and for free. The quality can be equal to (or superior) to purchased items in many areas. Alternative lectures of the topics I'm covering in class are widely and freely available. Facebook, Myspace, and now Twitter have changed how we share, communicate and collaborate.
Experimenting with videos and digitizing class notes creating some video's of class topics has made for some interesting insights.
For example, some YouTube author has created a video entitled Parts of the Brain. It's not great, and is mostly just a dry re-statement of the parts with a diagram to show where the parts are located. Despite that, they've received a modest number of views (2000+), and some favorable comments. The conclusion to this anecdote is not that we should be providing/creating YouTube videos to our students. The conclusion is that soon, if not already, there will be available to our students resources that specifically engage them, as a unique individual, to learn a particular topic. One student commented "Thank you so much for being the kind of instructor that I'm paying for and NOT RECEIVING!!!", which highlights the issue directly. Although the videos may not be good, they did meet the needs of specific individual students. Given the ever-expanding amount of resources available, at some point resources that cater to an individual's learning style will be easily available. Using generalized teaching methods geared to a 'class' seem inadequate. As the encounter between blogs and newspapers demonstrated, people prefer to choose what works for them, rather than accepting what works for most.
So what, exactly, am I providing in the classroom that's not available elsewhere for free?
Many students walk into school with an impressive amount of computing power. When helping a student after class we had a disagreement about what I had taught. She consulted her iPhone, had the class notes downloaded and double-checked. She also had the review website I had suggested bookmarked, as well as several educational videos. Yet, with this impressive demonstration of resources, she was sitting on a couch in the common room, working over chemistry problems with her teacher, in her free time. No amount of Twitter, email, or virtual resources is enough to replace the basic need for a teacher/student mentor relationship.
While blogs may be causing problems for the New York Times, some magazines that have embraced the new technology (Discover, Seed) are flourishing. It appears to me that the NYT used the web as an extension of their newspaper, but Discover and Seed used blogs themselves to offer something different from their magazine. I don't know if it will work in the long run, but in the short run it has been much more successful.
New technology doesn't replace teachers, but it does shift how we might think about teaching. It seems that many of the teaching methods I still use, and was taught, were invented in a time when the student environment was resource poor. Much like the NYT, simply shifting what we do on paper to doing the same thing with technology is only one evolutionary step. Of more pressing importance is how to change the nature of teaching itself so that it keeps what still works, and adapts what does not to the new environment. For example, one twitter user pointed me to an article in which a college professor no longer gives lectures (no link, sorry). All of the class time is devoted to giving extra help and tutorial help, going over common mistakes, or hands-on learning opportunities. Rather than assigned homework, lectures are assigned, so that students are expected to show up having listened and made notes on the next days topic. As an adaptation to a resource rich environment, this seems intriguing. Unfortunately, as with all adaptations, whether or not it will be ultimately successful is uncertain.
An online poll asked "Can a teacher be a good teacher without using technology?". I think it unsurprising that the majority answered "Yes". The purest form of university I've ever heard defined is as a log, with a teacher at one end, and a student at the other. The follow-up question, “Is a teacher, who is not using technology (computer, internet, etc.) doing his or her job?” resulted in a rather emphatic "No".
If I am not providing my students with resources they can easily access, and if I'm not providing a learning environment where individualized resources from outside are encouraged and utilized, I am not serving the needs of my students. By today's standards, I risk becoming the New York Times - not quite good enough. The environment has changed enough, particularly in today's economic climate, that what schools and teachers evolution will eliminate is not entirely clear. It is never enough to be the best, as what's 'best' depends on the environment, a variable that appears to change more quickly with each passing year.
We have started a technology initiative, and I was compared (favorably I think) to a Bulldog in terms of herding it along. I thought a bit of explanation might be in order. The purpose of the initiative is not to learn a 'thing', like a tablet, a specific set of programs that can improve what we do in the classroom, or even new teaching methods. Its purpose is to take excellent teachers, and help create more familiarity with the environment, and provide more opportunities to learn technology. If this means that no new technology 'things' are used in the classroom, then that's fine. Being able to critically assess and experiment with new technology - adjust to the changing environment, as it were - will be more important in the long run than simply learning a new 'thing'.
Two quotes from Tom Whitby from Twitter:
"I have tunnel vision when I do tech training. I apprch it with 1 Ques: How can this help kids learn? If I can't use it I don't learn it."
"If teachers employ the technology to teach there would be less of a need to teach technology. "
While there are a great many resources out there and a great many excellent teachers with tips on how to use those resources, I do not see a consensus or agreement on what approaches are necessarily 'good'. I certainly can't claim that I've discovered any amazing way to help students learn more, or faster. The more of us there are looking, collaborating, testing and experimenting, however, the better the chance the environment can be harnessed rather than just waiting to see what evolution does. As is common with a changing environment, there seems to be a great many ideas about how to best capitalize the new resources, and it's certain that a great many of them will turn out to be wrong in addition to a great many of the traditional resources and methods. If there's one thing biologists know about evolution, it's that it's not very kind to the individual species participating. Unlike organisms, however, we have the advantage of being a bit more Lamarkian about this process, borrowing, adapting, and changing on the fly as successful strategies are proven. If you're not, however, learning the technology you don't have that advantage - and are subject to a more Darwinian form of elimination.
And that's the reason I think technology training is a serious issue.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Newspapers didn't appear to see it coming - who really could imagine people writing for free, and then attracting enough readers to hurt newspapers? Blogs offered a way that anyone could voice their opinion, and while the criticism that 'everyone' means that the bulk of blogs are inadequate, self-indulgent or unprofessional may be true, it misses the point entirely. People don't read all blogs, they read a limited number. As an almost evolutionary process, the good (or at least the readable) are sorted from the bad, and the critique now looks a bit weak - the blogs people read frequently exceed the quality of newspaper articles in knowledge, depth, understanding or entertainment. Unlike newspapers, blogs also allow the readership to comment, inform, correct and even chastise the author. This is not arguing that blogs are "better" either. Blogs simply out-compete newspapers in many traditional newspaper niches where it matters - readers.
This has a lot to do with education. When I started teaching schools still required many traditional teaching supplies: textbooks, pens, paper, chalkboard, desks, etc. The generational difference between teachers seemed one of form rather than function - I kept my grades, lesson plans, lessons and notes on a computer, other teachers used planners, agendas, and binders. We were still, however, doing the 'same thing' in many respects. The new environment, however, is new in function as well as form. Seven million (full text) books are available through Google Books. Wikipedia is the world's largest, and most current, encyclopedia. iTunes has iTunes U and YouTube has YouTube Edu, both of which offer lectures by professors. In many cases textbooks no longer need to be purchased for class. Films, examples, and demos can be viewed without a video or DVD, and for free. The quality can be equal to (or superior) to purchased items in many areas. Alternative lectures of the topics I'm covering in class are widely and freely available. Facebook, Myspace, and now Twitter have changed how we share, communicate and collaborate.
Experimenting with videos and digitizing class notes creating some video's of class topics has made for some interesting insights.
For example, some YouTube author has created a video entitled Parts of the Brain. It's not great, and is mostly just a dry re-statement of the parts with a diagram to show where the parts are located. Despite that, they've received a modest number of views (2000+), and some favorable comments. The conclusion to this anecdote is not that we should be providing/creating YouTube videos to our students. The conclusion is that soon, if not already, there will be available to our students resources that specifically engage them, as a unique individual, to learn a particular topic. One student commented "Thank you so much for being the kind of instructor that I'm paying for and NOT RECEIVING!!!", which highlights the issue directly. Although the videos may not be good, they did meet the needs of specific individual students. Given the ever-expanding amount of resources available, at some point resources that cater to an individual's learning style will be easily available. Using generalized teaching methods geared to a 'class' seem inadequate. As the encounter between blogs and newspapers demonstrated, people prefer to choose what works for them, rather than accepting what works for most.
So what, exactly, am I providing in the classroom that's not available elsewhere for free?
Many students walk into school with an impressive amount of computing power. When helping a student after class we had a disagreement about what I had taught. She consulted her iPhone, had the class notes downloaded and double-checked. She also had the review website I had suggested bookmarked, as well as several educational videos. Yet, with this impressive demonstration of resources, she was sitting on a couch in the common room, working over chemistry problems with her teacher, in her free time. No amount of Twitter, email, or virtual resources is enough to replace the basic need for a teacher/student mentor relationship.
While blogs may be causing problems for the New York Times, some magazines that have embraced the new technology (Discover, Seed) are flourishing. It appears to me that the NYT used the web as an extension of their newspaper, but Discover and Seed used blogs themselves to offer something different from their magazine. I don't know if it will work in the long run, but in the short run it has been much more successful.
New technology doesn't replace teachers, but it does shift how we might think about teaching. It seems that many of the teaching methods I still use, and was taught, were invented in a time when the student environment was resource poor. Much like the NYT, simply shifting what we do on paper to doing the same thing with technology is only one evolutionary step. Of more pressing importance is how to change the nature of teaching itself so that it keeps what still works, and adapts what does not to the new environment. For example, one twitter user pointed me to an article in which a college professor no longer gives lectures (no link, sorry). All of the class time is devoted to giving extra help and tutorial help, going over common mistakes, or hands-on learning opportunities. Rather than assigned homework, lectures are assigned, so that students are expected to show up having listened and made notes on the next days topic. As an adaptation to a resource rich environment, this seems intriguing. Unfortunately, as with all adaptations, whether or not it will be ultimately successful is uncertain.
An online poll asked "Can a teacher be a good teacher without using technology?". I think it unsurprising that the majority answered "Yes". The purest form of university I've ever heard defined is as a log, with a teacher at one end, and a student at the other. The follow-up question, “Is a teacher, who is not using technology (computer, internet, etc.) doing his or her job?” resulted in a rather emphatic "No".
If I am not providing my students with resources they can easily access, and if I'm not providing a learning environment where individualized resources from outside are encouraged and utilized, I am not serving the needs of my students. By today's standards, I risk becoming the New York Times - not quite good enough. The environment has changed enough, particularly in today's economic climate, that what schools and teachers evolution will eliminate is not entirely clear. It is never enough to be the best, as what's 'best' depends on the environment, a variable that appears to change more quickly with each passing year.
We have started a technology initiative, and I was compared (favorably I think) to a Bulldog in terms of herding it along. I thought a bit of explanation might be in order. The purpose of the initiative is not to learn a 'thing', like a tablet, a specific set of programs that can improve what we do in the classroom, or even new teaching methods. Its purpose is to take excellent teachers, and help create more familiarity with the environment, and provide more opportunities to learn technology. If this means that no new technology 'things' are used in the classroom, then that's fine. Being able to critically assess and experiment with new technology - adjust to the changing environment, as it were - will be more important in the long run than simply learning a new 'thing'.
Two quotes from Tom Whitby from Twitter:
"I have tunnel vision when I do tech training. I apprch it with 1 Ques: How can this help kids learn? If I can't use it I don't learn it."
"If teachers employ the technology to teach there would be less of a need to teach technology. "
While there are a great many resources out there and a great many excellent teachers with tips on how to use those resources, I do not see a consensus or agreement on what approaches are necessarily 'good'. I certainly can't claim that I've discovered any amazing way to help students learn more, or faster. The more of us there are looking, collaborating, testing and experimenting, however, the better the chance the environment can be harnessed rather than just waiting to see what evolution does. As is common with a changing environment, there seems to be a great many ideas about how to best capitalize the new resources, and it's certain that a great many of them will turn out to be wrong in addition to a great many of the traditional resources and methods. If there's one thing biologists know about evolution, it's that it's not very kind to the individual species participating. Unlike organisms, however, we have the advantage of being a bit more Lamarkian about this process, borrowing, adapting, and changing on the fly as successful strategies are proven. If you're not, however, learning the technology you don't have that advantage - and are subject to a more Darwinian form of elimination.
And that's the reason I think technology training is a serious issue.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Just 13 things - Tablet specific
Five things to try on your HP 2730p tablet. (Rather specific I know, but there are reasons.)
9.) Play games.
The best way to get used to the pen is to do something fun. The games section has “Inkball”, which is mildly amusing (I ended up playing it for a ½ hour, but I’m also easily amused).
10.) Check out the Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC (located in “All Programs” after you hit the Start button). There’s Ink Art, Ink Crossword, and the “Snipping Tool”. The snipping tool actually quite useful, I use it to take ‘clips’ of articles or pictures I’m reading and stick them into OneNote 2007 if I’m doing research.
11.) Download your own “Experience Pack”. As an operating system, XP is fairly old. As a result, there is a whole whack of resources that have been created for it, that you can download and install. Remember, to install anything, you will need to be logged in as the Admin user on your tablet.
Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/tabletpc.mspx and take a look at what’s available. There’s art tools, a drawing animator, a physics illustrator, a bunch of games, a Music Composition tool, and a bunch more. My personal favourite is the “My Font Tool”, which allows you to make your own font – in your own handwriting! I managed to fool my Bio12 class for a week that I finally learned how to write in a straight line by preparing some notes in “Neufeld Font” on the Smartboard.
12.) Explore all the buttons and settings.
When I got my first laptop, I noticed that whenever I was typing, occasionally the mouse would ‘jump’ around and I’d end up typing in the middle of a previous sentence without realizing it. This was frustrating, and I thought my laptop was defective until I finally found the culprit – my large thumbs. While typing my thumbs would hit the Touchpad.
If this happens to you, there is a way to shut off the touch pad when you’re not using it. Press the Function key located on the bottom left:
And then press the F5 key at the same time, located at the very top leftish:
The light above the F5 key should turn on, and be amber in colour. This is to remind you that the Touchpad is off. Since you have a pen, you essentially already have a mouse, and don’t need a Touchpad unless you prefer it. I hate the touchpad with a passion usually displayed by two year olds towards their vegetables. To turn it back on again, hit the same key combination (fn + F5) again, and the amber indicator light should shut off.
13.) Turn on the light.
Lastly, I don’t know if you noticed, but your laptop comes with a light to illuminate your keyboard at night. I think it’s kind of unnecessary and gimmicky (and therefore kind of cool), but in case you haven’t noticed it, press the little square button at the top of your screen as indicated. The light should pop out, and illuminate your keyboard. Just push the light back in to shut it off (I have no idea how quickly this drains the battery – I assume relatively quickly).
I thought that might be of use to some of you – it took me awhile to figure it out. I still haven’t found the off control for the nub (labelled “Pointstick” in the diagram), so if anyone knows how to shut it off, let me know.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
9.) Play games.
The best way to get used to the pen is to do something fun. The games section has “Inkball”, which is mildly amusing (I ended up playing it for a ½ hour, but I’m also easily amused).
10.) Check out the Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC (located in “All Programs” after you hit the Start button). There’s Ink Art, Ink Crossword, and the “Snipping Tool”. The snipping tool actually quite useful, I use it to take ‘clips’ of articles or pictures I’m reading and stick them into OneNote 2007 if I’m doing research.
11.) Download your own “Experience Pack”. As an operating system, XP is fairly old. As a result, there is a whole whack of resources that have been created for it, that you can download and install. Remember, to install anything, you will need to be logged in as the Admin user on your tablet.
Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/tabletpc.mspx and take a look at what’s available. There’s art tools, a drawing animator, a physics illustrator, a bunch of games, a Music Composition tool, and a bunch more. My personal favourite is the “My Font Tool”, which allows you to make your own font – in your own handwriting! I managed to fool my Bio12 class for a week that I finally learned how to write in a straight line by preparing some notes in “Neufeld Font” on the Smartboard.
12.) Explore all the buttons and settings.
When I got my first laptop, I noticed that whenever I was typing, occasionally the mouse would ‘jump’ around and I’d end up typing in the middle of a previous sentence without realizing it. This was frustrating, and I thought my laptop was defective until I finally found the culprit – my large thumbs. While typing my thumbs would hit the Touchpad.
If this happens to you, there is a way to shut off the touch pad when you’re not using it. Press the Function key located on the bottom left:
And then press the F5 key at the same time, located at the very top leftish:
13.) Turn on the light.
Lastly, I don’t know if you noticed, but your laptop comes with a light to illuminate your keyboard at night. I think it’s kind of unnecessary and gimmicky (and therefore kind of cool), but in case you haven’t noticed it, press the little square button at the top of your screen as indicated. The light should pop out, and illuminate your keyboard. Just push the light back in to shut it off (I have no idea how quickly this drains the battery – I assume relatively quickly).
I thought that might be of use to some of you – it took me awhile to figure it out. I still haven’t found the off control for the nub (labelled “Pointstick” in the diagram), so if anyone knows how to shut it off, let me know.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Just 8 Things
5.) Develop a Personal Learning Network (PLN)
One of terms bandied about with respect to professional development and teachers is the concept of the PLN, or Personal Learning Network. Although it includes your traditional learning network of friends, collegues, and acquantances with whom you share ideas, a PLN also incorporates web media and especially social networking with things such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, wikis etc. What makes it so powerful is now you can be connected not only locally, but globally with colleagues who share with you common interests and ideas, but also in diverse settings and with different challenges. The breadth of specialized knowledge, relevant to you, available is what makes a PLN so special. Developing a PLN can take many forms. The first, if you've started reading blogs, you're already familiar with. Seeking a collection of relevant and interesting blogs that offer useful advice is a good first step in developing a PLN. Creating your own blog, and then keeping it regularly updated, takes time and patience, but can be part of the process as well. When writing your thoughts and ideas you change the participatory pathway so that you are contributing, as well as taking, from the flow of ideas. Whether or not someone reads your blog is almost beside the point: putting your ideas and thoughts in a public forum for critique carries many of the same benefits of recording a journal. If writing a blog seems like too much, the vast majority of blogs also offer the ability to comment and give feedback to the author. Use this feature.
Blogs themselves, as previously mentioned, are not the entire story when it comes to PLN's. When it comes to social networking, I'm going to start with Twitter.
6.) Join Twitter - http://twitter.com/, Sign up for an account, Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/neufeld by clicking the Follow button on my page, go to Twitter4Teachers and look for some other helpful people to add to your PLN. That's really all there is to it, if you'd rather stop reading.
When it comes to PLN, it's hard to explain why, exactly, twitter is so useful. When collecting useful blogs for advice, it was like dipping into a stream of knowledge. When I first tried twitter, I 'followed' a few people, but didn't see much benefit or point. People 'tweeted' about what they were having for dinner or other irrelevant bits of personal material. Then I found a couple of sites that listed teachers who tweet. Rather than a gentle stream of knowledge, it was akin to looking down the end of a fire hose and wondering where the water was, and then having it blast into your face. The person I have to credit for this introduction is Grant Potter who taught a pro-d course on Twitter I attended.
Frankly, if you do nothing else, join Twitter. It's relatively new, and given that I don't know if something newer and better will come along, but I do know I've accumulated more useful resources in a few months of Twitter than I accumulated in years of searching and using things like Google. Twitter is ultimately a very simple tool for cooperation. I must also say, for awhile, you will believe that it's the stupidest and most useless thing on the Internet. That's normal and common. Just keep at it, and you will be assimilated.
First, some links to give an overview: Nine Reasons to Twitter in School, an article trying to explain why it's not a waste of time, Can we use Twitter for Educational Activities, 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom, Twitter in Plain English, The Twitter Song, and even primary schools in England are considering teaching twitter and wikipedia as essential new tools.
So, what exactly is Twitter? It's a form of microblogging ("micro" = small, "blogging" = we already covered). Even if you haven't text-messaged anyone yourself, you are probably vaguely aware that your students do that. Twitter is simply a method by which you can send text messages (140 characters max). The difference between regular text messaging and Twitter, is that you're not text messaging any particular person, and you can message not only from your phone, but also your computer, and a record of your messages (called "tweets") are kept in your Twitter profile online (making twitter a searchable database as well as a texting service). If anyone "follows" your Twitter profile, they will automatically be messaged when ever you send a new tweet, and vice verse. As well, you're not limited to text, but can send links, photos, audio clips.
Although it sounds much more restrictive than regular blogging, the restrictive nature usually makes microblogging more topical, and more useful. I mean really, how many people are still reading this email/blog? I've gone on and on, and in a typical busy school year who really has the time to read all of that, let alone write it? Twitter forces people to be succint, and communicate only the most critical bits.
This is, of course, if you are following what I consider 'good tweeters'. Twitter itself doesn't seem to really help this, as the question it offers at the top of the entry box is "What are you doing?". As an example of such, I did find a twitter user who tweeted he was excited about having prawns for dinner, then he tweeted about how many prawns he ate, and how good they tasted, and lastly he tweeted about how sick he felt, and how he shouldn't have eaten those prawns. Unless you're his Mom, I rather suspect this isn't all that interesting to anybody. If you're not finding interesting stuff on Twitter, stop following The Prawn People.
There are a few people I follow who do offer tidbits of their life, like Adam Savage and Grant Imahara from the Mythbusters. Their life sometimes seems a tad more interesting than mine, and they often tweet pictures from the set and updates on what new episode they're working on.
Beyond those, however, I follow a number of people. Here are some of those that I've found most valuable.
http://www.twitter.com/grantpotter - Useful Web 2.0 resources, commentary
http://twitter.com/sanmccarron - Science teaching resources
http://twitter.com/ChemEdLinks - Chemistry and Web 2.0 resources
http://twitter.com/MySMARTSpaces - SmartBoard resources, UK based
Which brings me to:
7.) Find some Twitter friends to follow!
Best place to start is Twitter4Teachers, which lists teachers that tweet by subject area. As well, I have found 515 Scientific Twitter Friends useful too. Once you begin, you will find there is a rapidly expanding kit of resources for the tweeting teacher, particularly as we ‘follow’ each other. As a group of colleagues, when I find a useful link, tool, or idea, the only real method I currently have to share it is to email the entire faculty. This clutters up your inboxes, and is probably considered spam by many. If, however, my colleagues and I were all part of a Twitter group, I could tweet the link, tool or idea, where it’s easily ignored by those that aren’t interested, but picked up by those that are, cutting across barriers such as time, space, and (most formidable of all), department.
8.) Develop your tweeting skills
If you've started using Twitter, and want more to explore, work your way through the Top 100 Tools for the Twittering Teacher.
There is a lot I haven't covered, how to personalize your page, useful Twitter tools, etc, but if you've started you'll find a plethora of links to help you.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
One of terms bandied about with respect to professional development and teachers is the concept of the PLN, or Personal Learning Network. Although it includes your traditional learning network of friends, collegues, and acquantances with whom you share ideas, a PLN also incorporates web media and especially social networking with things such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, wikis etc. What makes it so powerful is now you can be connected not only locally, but globally with colleagues who share with you common interests and ideas, but also in diverse settings and with different challenges. The breadth of specialized knowledge, relevant to you, available is what makes a PLN so special. Developing a PLN can take many forms. The first, if you've started reading blogs, you're already familiar with. Seeking a collection of relevant and interesting blogs that offer useful advice is a good first step in developing a PLN. Creating your own blog, and then keeping it regularly updated, takes time and patience, but can be part of the process as well. When writing your thoughts and ideas you change the participatory pathway so that you are contributing, as well as taking, from the flow of ideas. Whether or not someone reads your blog is almost beside the point: putting your ideas and thoughts in a public forum for critique carries many of the same benefits of recording a journal. If writing a blog seems like too much, the vast majority of blogs also offer the ability to comment and give feedback to the author. Use this feature.
Blogs themselves, as previously mentioned, are not the entire story when it comes to PLN's. When it comes to social networking, I'm going to start with Twitter.
6.) Join Twitter - http://twitter.com/, Sign up for an account, Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/neufeld by clicking the Follow button on my page, go to Twitter4Teachers and look for some other helpful people to add to your PLN. That's really all there is to it, if you'd rather stop reading.
When it comes to PLN, it's hard to explain why, exactly, twitter is so useful. When collecting useful blogs for advice, it was like dipping into a stream of knowledge. When I first tried twitter, I 'followed' a few people, but didn't see much benefit or point. People 'tweeted' about what they were having for dinner or other irrelevant bits of personal material. Then I found a couple of sites that listed teachers who tweet. Rather than a gentle stream of knowledge, it was akin to looking down the end of a fire hose and wondering where the water was, and then having it blast into your face. The person I have to credit for this introduction is Grant Potter who taught a pro-d course on Twitter I attended.
Frankly, if you do nothing else, join Twitter. It's relatively new, and given that I don't know if something newer and better will come along, but I do know I've accumulated more useful resources in a few months of Twitter than I accumulated in years of searching and using things like Google. Twitter is ultimately a very simple tool for cooperation. I must also say, for awhile, you will believe that it's the stupidest and most useless thing on the Internet. That's normal and common. Just keep at it, and you will be assimilated.
First, some links to give an overview: Nine Reasons to Twitter in School, an article trying to explain why it's not a waste of time, Can we use Twitter for Educational Activities, 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the College Classroom, Twitter in Plain English, The Twitter Song, and even primary schools in England are considering teaching twitter and wikipedia as essential new tools.
So, what exactly is Twitter? It's a form of microblogging ("micro" = small, "blogging" = we already covered). Even if you haven't text-messaged anyone yourself, you are probably vaguely aware that your students do that. Twitter is simply a method by which you can send text messages (140 characters max). The difference between regular text messaging and Twitter, is that you're not text messaging any particular person, and you can message not only from your phone, but also your computer, and a record of your messages (called "tweets") are kept in your Twitter profile online (making twitter a searchable database as well as a texting service). If anyone "follows" your Twitter profile, they will automatically be messaged when ever you send a new tweet, and vice verse. As well, you're not limited to text, but can send links, photos, audio clips.
Although it sounds much more restrictive than regular blogging, the restrictive nature usually makes microblogging more topical, and more useful. I mean really, how many people are still reading this email/blog? I've gone on and on, and in a typical busy school year who really has the time to read all of that, let alone write it? Twitter forces people to be succint, and communicate only the most critical bits.
This is, of course, if you are following what I consider 'good tweeters'. Twitter itself doesn't seem to really help this, as the question it offers at the top of the entry box is "What are you doing?". As an example of such, I did find a twitter user who tweeted he was excited about having prawns for dinner, then he tweeted about how many prawns he ate, and how good they tasted, and lastly he tweeted about how sick he felt, and how he shouldn't have eaten those prawns. Unless you're his Mom, I rather suspect this isn't all that interesting to anybody. If you're not finding interesting stuff on Twitter, stop following The Prawn People.
There are a few people I follow who do offer tidbits of their life, like Adam Savage and Grant Imahara from the Mythbusters. Their life sometimes seems a tad more interesting than mine, and they often tweet pictures from the set and updates on what new episode they're working on.
Beyond those, however, I follow a number of people. Here are some of those that I've found most valuable.
http://www.twitter.com/grantpotter - Useful Web 2.0 resources, commentary
http://twitter.com/sanmccarron - Science teaching resources
http://twitter.com/ChemEdLinks - Chemistry and Web 2.0 resources
http://twitter.com/MySMARTSpaces - SmartBoard resources, UK based
Which brings me to:
7.) Find some Twitter friends to follow!
Best place to start is Twitter4Teachers, which lists teachers that tweet by subject area. As well, I have found 515 Scientific Twitter Friends useful too. Once you begin, you will find there is a rapidly expanding kit of resources for the tweeting teacher, particularly as we ‘follow’ each other. As a group of colleagues, when I find a useful link, tool, or idea, the only real method I currently have to share it is to email the entire faculty. This clutters up your inboxes, and is probably considered spam by many. If, however, my colleagues and I were all part of a Twitter group, I could tweet the link, tool or idea, where it’s easily ignored by those that aren’t interested, but picked up by those that are, cutting across barriers such as time, space, and (most formidable of all), department.
8.) Develop your tweeting skills
If you've started using Twitter, and want more to explore, work your way through the Top 100 Tools for the Twittering Teacher.
There is a lot I haven't covered, how to personalize your page, useful Twitter tools, etc, but if you've started you'll find a plethora of links to help you.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Monday, July 20, 2009
Just 4 Things
Part two of a theoretically infinite series, a couple more things you can do before classes start in September. Pick and choose or ignore. If you're wondering about the numbering, read the previous article.
3.) Listen to Podcasts.
If actually reading seems like too much work, then a perfect alternative is podcasting. A podcast is equivalent to a radio show that you can download onto your computer, and many portable devices such as iPods, and listen whenever and wherever you like. With the right equipment (i.e. a computer and a microphone and/or video camera) anyone can become a podcaster, and as a result there are many podcasts and multiple topics to choose from.
For a quick overview, try Podcasting in Plain English. Actually, going through the "Plain English" video series would make its own complete pro-d course.
So, download iTunes and install it (if you don't have it already), and click on "Podcasts". There are podcasts for keeping up with subject areas (aka Chemistry , and The Introduction to English Learning Podcasts has a good introduction to podcasts, and links to several podcasts for English teachers and students) and educational pro-d, but of particular use can be podcasts for students. A ridiculous amount of our students have an iPod and seem to enjoy using them - much to our chagrin sometimes. Rather than fighting this very expensive and versatile piece of equipment, finding ways to use may be more productive. Supplementary or assignment material for class as a podcast can then be downloaded and listened to in the same way as their favorite music. I was first introduced to this by a student who had found a series of biology lectures as a podcast (I didn't get the link, sorry), that corresponded to the anatomy lectures for Biology 12. Whether or not the school network allows students to connect to the iTunes store to receive podcasts, many teachers have their own private Internet connections, from which they can download content and then make it available at school, whether through Moodle or another medium. A reasonable 'first list' is at the Podcast Awards, and it includes a section devoted to education.
Podcasting essentially democratized audio content, with all the benefits and drawbacks that this implies. The popularity of blogging, which turned anyone into an online news commentator, caught the media establishment sleeping at the wheel (heard of any newspapers going out of business lately?), and the industry is trying not to make the same mistake with podcasting, which lets nearly anyone "broadcast" on the Internet. Traditional media have embraced podcasting, and have been quick to adopt it as well. CBC has a large number of podcasts, as does Scientific American, plus there's some great comedy as well. Most 'formal' news and entertainment organizations now have some kind of free content available through podcasts.
Of particular use is podcasts for second-language learners, whether that's ESL, French, Spanish, Mandarin or German. In addition to regular programs in other languages (i.e. the CBC has numerous French podcasts), simply typing "Learn French by Podcast" into a web search engine or the iTunes store, and numerous free programs pop up. The BBC has, for example, a 'learn Spanish' section that includes a series of podcasts (actually the BBC has a similar series for several languages).
Much like creating your own blog, you can create your own podcast. Far from being simply a mode of entertainment, podcasts now present a wealth of educational material, and can be structured to meet an individual students' learning style and desires. The ability to repeat a concept or a lesson, critical for those IEP students, allows significant opportunities for repeated reinforcement and review. Instructors are podcasting specific ideas and constructs, broken into manageable chunks and (like all electronic media) are potentially available year after year, everywhere your students are.
4.) Create your own podcast.
If you need something done right, and specific to your needs, you sometimes have to do it yourself. Whether it's podcasting lectures, or specific items for learning or discussion, or even a guest lecturers talk, podcasting can be as easy as blogging.
When podcasting, it is essential to have good material. Don't worry overmuch about your style or delivery - presenting quality material is more important than production values. There is a problem with copyright if (for example) you wish to podcast a guest lecturer or speaker. A copyright waiver form would be an essential part of doing so. Our school doesn't have an official one yet, but I use a printed version from the Creative Commons when necessary. If you are going to publish someone else's work, you will need their permission, in some form.
There are some specific technical requirements. Although blogging just requires a computer and internet connection, podcasting needs audio equipment. There is the Audacity software (free and open source) which can record podcasts and convert them into mp3 files. Even if your laptop comes with a microphone, buy a separate one. A USB microphone is usually pretty cheap, and the increase in sound quality is substantial - I've found wireless ones for under a hundred dollars on sale, which gives the added ability to record without wires and allows you to move about a classroom. After that it needs to be uploaded online. If it's not possible to host it at your school site, type "Free Podcast hosting" into Google and numerous resources will appear.
Lastly, an RSS feed (more on those in a later article) is needed to stream the podcast. This is what makes a podcast different from simply hosting an audio file - the RSS feed updates potential listeners that a new podcast is ready. This can be as simple as creating a blog, and then linking to the podcast in the blog, as blogs often have their own RSS feeds.
At that point you have a podcast. Getting it into iTunes is another step (if you so desire), but not one I am in any way an expert. Check out Apple itself on how to do it generally, or this article on how to use Google's free blogging service to set up the podcast feed for iTunes.
So, essentially thus far, pro-d this summer is reading blogs on material you already like, and listening to content via podcasts you already enjoy. The next article will introduce the personal learning network.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
3.) Listen to Podcasts.
If actually reading seems like too much work, then a perfect alternative is podcasting. A podcast is equivalent to a radio show that you can download onto your computer, and many portable devices such as iPods, and listen whenever and wherever you like. With the right equipment (i.e. a computer and a microphone and/or video camera) anyone can become a podcaster, and as a result there are many podcasts and multiple topics to choose from.
For a quick overview, try Podcasting in Plain English. Actually, going through the "Plain English" video series would make its own complete pro-d course.
So, download iTunes and install it (if you don't have it already), and click on "Podcasts". There are podcasts for keeping up with subject areas (aka Chemistry , and The Introduction to English Learning Podcasts has a good introduction to podcasts, and links to several podcasts for English teachers and students) and educational pro-d, but of particular use can be podcasts for students. A ridiculous amount of our students have an iPod and seem to enjoy using them - much to our chagrin sometimes. Rather than fighting this very expensive and versatile piece of equipment, finding ways to use may be more productive. Supplementary or assignment material for class as a podcast can then be downloaded and listened to in the same way as their favorite music. I was first introduced to this by a student who had found a series of biology lectures as a podcast (I didn't get the link, sorry), that corresponded to the anatomy lectures for Biology 12. Whether or not the school network allows students to connect to the iTunes store to receive podcasts, many teachers have their own private Internet connections, from which they can download content and then make it available at school, whether through Moodle or another medium. A reasonable 'first list' is at the Podcast Awards, and it includes a section devoted to education.
Podcasting essentially democratized audio content, with all the benefits and drawbacks that this implies. The popularity of blogging, which turned anyone into an online news commentator, caught the media establishment sleeping at the wheel (heard of any newspapers going out of business lately?), and the industry is trying not to make the same mistake with podcasting, which lets nearly anyone "broadcast" on the Internet. Traditional media have embraced podcasting, and have been quick to adopt it as well. CBC has a large number of podcasts, as does Scientific American, plus there's some great comedy as well. Most 'formal' news and entertainment organizations now have some kind of free content available through podcasts.
Of particular use is podcasts for second-language learners, whether that's ESL, French, Spanish, Mandarin or German. In addition to regular programs in other languages (i.e. the CBC has numerous French podcasts), simply typing "Learn French by Podcast" into a web search engine or the iTunes store, and numerous free programs pop up. The BBC has, for example, a 'learn Spanish' section that includes a series of podcasts (actually the BBC has a similar series for several languages).
Much like creating your own blog, you can create your own podcast. Far from being simply a mode of entertainment, podcasts now present a wealth of educational material, and can be structured to meet an individual students' learning style and desires. The ability to repeat a concept or a lesson, critical for those IEP students, allows significant opportunities for repeated reinforcement and review. Instructors are podcasting specific ideas and constructs, broken into manageable chunks and (like all electronic media) are potentially available year after year, everywhere your students are.
4.) Create your own podcast.
If you need something done right, and specific to your needs, you sometimes have to do it yourself. Whether it's podcasting lectures, or specific items for learning or discussion, or even a guest lecturers talk, podcasting can be as easy as blogging.
When podcasting, it is essential to have good material. Don't worry overmuch about your style or delivery - presenting quality material is more important than production values. There is a problem with copyright if (for example) you wish to podcast a guest lecturer or speaker. A copyright waiver form would be an essential part of doing so. Our school doesn't have an official one yet, but I use a printed version from the Creative Commons when necessary. If you are going to publish someone else's work, you will need their permission, in some form.
There are some specific technical requirements. Although blogging just requires a computer and internet connection, podcasting needs audio equipment. There is the Audacity software (free and open source) which can record podcasts and convert them into mp3 files. Even if your laptop comes with a microphone, buy a separate one. A USB microphone is usually pretty cheap, and the increase in sound quality is substantial - I've found wireless ones for under a hundred dollars on sale, which gives the added ability to record without wires and allows you to move about a classroom. After that it needs to be uploaded online. If it's not possible to host it at your school site, type "Free Podcast hosting" into Google and numerous resources will appear.
Lastly, an RSS feed (more on those in a later article) is needed to stream the podcast. This is what makes a podcast different from simply hosting an audio file - the RSS feed updates potential listeners that a new podcast is ready. This can be as simple as creating a blog, and then linking to the podcast in the blog, as blogs often have their own RSS feeds.
At that point you have a podcast. Getting it into iTunes is another step (if you so desire), but not one I am in any way an expert. Check out Apple itself on how to do it generally, or this article on how to use Google's free blogging service to set up the podcast feed for iTunes.
So, essentially thus far, pro-d this summer is reading blogs on material you already like, and listening to content via podcasts you already enjoy. The next article will introduce the personal learning network.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Just 2 Things - Part I
A major project kept me away from blogging for a long time - luckily that's slowly winding down. Part of that project involves a focus-year for professional development for our school on technology. If it seems odd that I'm blogging about the importance of reading blogs...this was also emailed to my colleagues. Hopefully I don't end up in somebody's permenant blacklist for spam.
This is for those teachers that would like a head start on their pro-d, before classes, marking, and the usual marathon starter gun goes off. Funnily, most of the things you can do as 'pro-d' also qualify as an enjoyable summer's afternoon, so in this series of blog posts I will very roughly outline a few suggestions. Pick and choose or ignore.
1.) Start Reading blogs.
Whether it's in education, or your own interests, simply becoming more familiar with the ever increasing blogosphere would be a great investment in time. There are is a blog for every interest, some of my personal favorites are Bad Astronomy, Pharyngula, Skepchick, and Skepticblog, all of which keep me loosely up to date on science and critical thinking and any Internet memes that happen to be flying about. And if a student asks me an off-the-wall question about the Moon Hoax, I might have a chance of answering it.
Educationally, the following is my current list of education-based blogs that I'm reading:
I also have my own blog, which is either linked in this email, or you're reading this article in it. It contains such amazing advice I find I often have to hid it amid poor grammar, spelling and logic just to ensure Blogger isn't overrun with readers.
You may have noticed a particular theme running through my recommendations, vaguely along the lines of science-based resources. On the Internet, however, if you can think of a resource, somebody else has either invented it, or written about it. From the Blog "Making Teachers Nerdy", I found a much better list than my own: "Educational Blogs You Should Be Investigating", covering a wide variety of interests, plus 50 Must-Read Up and Coming Blogs by Teachers, and focusing on educational technology, check out 20+ Must-Read Education Technology Blogs. Beyond that, it would be useful if, having found some great blogs in your own subject area, share their recommendations here in the comments section for everyone else.
So, when your significant other mentions that some chore needs to be done, or certain relatives need visiting, you can slump your shoulders slightly and claim that you've already got some critical work to do for next year. And then snuggle up with your laptop/desktop and some good reads. My wife is probably far too busy to actually read my posts, so I should be able to still get away with this for some time yet.
2.) Write your own blog.
You didn't think blogs created themselves did you? And you don't think your own thoughts are important enough to publish? Nonsense. If everyone had that kind of attitude, the Web wouldn't be the kind of place it is today!
Seriously, even if you never intend to blog, investigating how it's done is useful in and of itself. I know of two people that write private blogs, viewable only by themselves, as it can never be 'found' in the house, and is accessible for writing anywhere there is an internet connection. I write a family blog with family photos that's only my immediate family can see. Whether you write for an audience of one or one million, or are even just exploring the process, set up an account and start.
There are many free alternatives for blogging, obviously I'm most familiar with Blogger, but there's also Live Journal and WordPress as two others that immediately come to my uninformed mind. Like always, somebody else has already created a great list of 40+ Free Blog Hosts.
Of course, I can't quite leave it at that without a word of warning. As will be true of anything that involves people putting content on the web, rather than just receiving content, use good judgement. As a rough guideline, if you wouldn't want to see it attributed to you on a public billboard, don't put it on the web.
Remember, nothing suggested is mandatory. If you find one blog with one article that was useful, you're good.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
This is for those teachers that would like a head start on their pro-d, before classes, marking, and the usual marathon starter gun goes off. Funnily, most of the things you can do as 'pro-d' also qualify as an enjoyable summer's afternoon, so in this series of blog posts I will very roughly outline a few suggestions. Pick and choose or ignore.
1.) Start Reading blogs.
Whether it's in education, or your own interests, simply becoming more familiar with the ever increasing blogosphere would be a great investment in time. There are is a blog for every interest, some of my personal favorites are Bad Astronomy, Pharyngula, Skepchick, and Skepticblog, all of which keep me loosely up to date on science and critical thinking and any Internet memes that happen to be flying about. And if a student asks me an off-the-wall question about the Moon Hoax, I might have a chance of answering it.
Educationally, the following is my current list of education-based blogs that I'm reading:
- 2¢ Worth
- A Plethora of Technology
- always learning
- Change.org's Education Blog
- Countdown to Teachhub
- Dangerously Irrelevant
- Generation YES Blog
- HeyJude
- Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech
- James McConville
- Moving at the Speed of Creativity
- open thinking
- Practical Theory
- The Fischbowl
- The Thinking Stick
- Weblogg-ed
I also have my own blog, which is either linked in this email, or you're reading this article in it. It contains such amazing advice I find I often have to hid it amid poor grammar, spelling and logic just to ensure Blogger isn't overrun with readers.
You may have noticed a particular theme running through my recommendations, vaguely along the lines of science-based resources. On the Internet, however, if you can think of a resource, somebody else has either invented it, or written about it. From the Blog "Making Teachers Nerdy", I found a much better list than my own: "Educational Blogs You Should Be Investigating", covering a wide variety of interests, plus 50 Must-Read Up and Coming Blogs by Teachers, and focusing on educational technology, check out 20+ Must-Read Education Technology Blogs. Beyond that, it would be useful if, having found some great blogs in your own subject area, share their recommendations here in the comments section for everyone else.
So, when your significant other mentions that some chore needs to be done, or certain relatives need visiting, you can slump your shoulders slightly and claim that you've already got some critical work to do for next year. And then snuggle up with your laptop/desktop and some good reads. My wife is probably far too busy to actually read my posts, so I should be able to still get away with this for some time yet.
2.) Write your own blog.
You didn't think blogs created themselves did you? And you don't think your own thoughts are important enough to publish? Nonsense. If everyone had that kind of attitude, the Web wouldn't be the kind of place it is today!
Seriously, even if you never intend to blog, investigating how it's done is useful in and of itself. I know of two people that write private blogs, viewable only by themselves, as it can never be 'found' in the house, and is accessible for writing anywhere there is an internet connection. I write a family blog with family photos that's only my immediate family can see. Whether you write for an audience of one or one million, or are even just exploring the process, set up an account and start.
There are many free alternatives for blogging, obviously I'm most familiar with Blogger, but there's also Live Journal and WordPress as two others that immediately come to my uninformed mind. Like always, somebody else has already created a great list of 40+ Free Blog Hosts.
Of course, I can't quite leave it at that without a word of warning. As will be true of anything that involves people putting content on the web, rather than just receiving content, use good judgement. As a rough guideline, if you wouldn't want to see it attributed to you on a public billboard, don't put it on the web.
Remember, nothing suggested is mandatory. If you find one blog with one article that was useful, you're good.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Friday, July 10, 2009
Laptop Survey
This presentation was given to faculty by myself as part of a year-long exploration of technology and its future at our school. It does tend to focus on tablet computers heavily at one point, as it is the only type of laptop most teachers were unfamiliar with.
For the record.
This laptop presentation is not intended to outline a particular plan or point of view. It is intended to help give "informed consent" to what a future plan would involve. I will be happy with anything, but different choices will have a different impact on our school, and our technological environment.
The first point is that we are, practically speaking, already a laptop school. In Privett the vast majority of students already have laptops. Our students and their parents have already made the financial investment to provide this technology.
This means, if a teacher asked the class to bring their laptops, we would (at a minimum) have $20,000 worth of technology available. In one classroom.
Under our current system, however, we have little input and influence on what technology could be brought to the classroom, and therefore we are limited in our response to the technology.
Looking at laptops is not looking at new or cutting-edge technology. There have been multiple studies and examples of schools using laptops, and there is both research and a history. The results are fairly clear.
Many school and districts have given up on their laptops initiatives. The laptops prove to be too costly, underutilized, and even an impediment to learning. There are clear dangers in adopting a laptop policy.
There are, however, schools that have successfully adopted laptops. These students can demonstrate higher test scores, improved engagement in the material, more collaborative and experiential learning opportunities, as well as an improved emphasis on creativity. For some schools, these initiatives have clearly been worth the investment in both time and money.
So, what does this have to do with us, if we're talking about student learning? The #1 factor in whether a laptop program/policy is a success is teacher training. Any school that just hands laptops to students and teachers and expects 'the magic' to happen has guaranteed failure. Our focus must be on improving the students' learning, we want to plan ahead, and take this in small steps, but the first step we make has to include ensuring teachers are trained and comfortable with the technology first.
A key point is to understand that all laptops are essentially the same. They do the same things, but it is important to understand the differences. We are already a Windows PC school, but we could convert to Macs, or even introduce Tablet PCs. The prices you see are given to show a relative sense of proportion, and not necessarily the cost of an actual laptop we would introduce. Our criteria may be different. It does, however, give a sense. Macs are much more expensive than PCs, but are more durable. Windows PCs would require less training, and have more access to software and hardware. These are points to consider when you know what we want to get, but both types can do exactly the same things. The only option that actually fundamentally different is the Tablets. Tablets allow students and teachers to simply write, as we always have, but in conjunction with all the advantages of going digital. Tablets support current as well as future pedagogy.
To summarize, we are focusing on the teachers, as it is the teachers that will need to respond and lead the technology in the classroom. This does not mean that we must know more than the students, but it does mean that for such an initiative to be successful the teachers require the skills to respond to the technology brought to class. Currently we have a "Tower of Babel", which makes our response limited, and difficult to train for. Laptops are like languages. It doesn't matter if we decide to speak French or Spanish, but it will matter further down the road when we're trained to use a common language in our teaching.
Once you do have a common platform, there are some really neat things you can do. Laptop management software can allow a teacher to observe what each student is doing on his or her laptop. There are obvious classroom management abilities (such as returning to task students on Facebook), but that's only a small part of what's possible. A shy student, who does not want to admit to the class that he or she doesn't understand, can text message the teacher. The teacher can respond by message, or by drawing on the student's screen to show them what to do, to ultimately taking control of their computer and showing them directly. The teacher's screen can be broadcast to the entire class, or (if the majority of the class isn't confused about a problem) can broadcast another student's screen who is doing the work successfully. If there is an class test, specific applications and web sites can be blocked. If you want your students to write without a dictionary, you can force a standard text editor, or if they're writing an online test, you can block either key websites, or all websites except for the ones you wish access to. It can also become a collaborative space. In a "Think, Pair, Share" exercise, students can put their own thoughts onto a page. Then they can be put into groups (randomly and automatically if wished), and share a collaborative writing page. What one students types/writes on their Tablet is shared with the other members of the group, but not yet with the entire class. Then it can be broadened to the entire class. This does not replace discussion, but enhances the collaborative nature of a discussion. When the students walk away, they all have a duplicated set of all of their notes, and had a part in creating the groups common page. The need for a group 'secretary', who writes but does not participate, or for the students using time simply copying the secretary's work, is eliminated.
The potential here is enormous.
This section is just a few ideas that I've observed online, and either I have done, I want to try, or I have seen it done very well. The focus here is on the students participating in these task, this presentation doesn't even address the potentials in teachers participating (collaborative group teacher wiki on Pro-D anyone?).
Students blogging, as a concept, seems to have taken off in the past few years. Teachers are finding that when students are writing for an audience, whether that is a few of their classmates, their class, the school, or the entire world, they tend to become more engaged in the writing process. There is a difference in quality between an essay written to get a mark, and an essay that was written to be read.
We are all familiar with the most famous Wiki of all, Wikipedia, a place where strangers have collaborated to create the world's encyclopedia. Having students create a Wiki, whether to create a class web-page, textbook, or other class project, can track collaborative progress within a class, and allow collaboration across time as students contribute each year.
This example shows something I found quite interesting. These students are required to provide a major contribution, defined as providing a solution to a math question, including step-by-step instructions as to how the answer was arrived at. Not only does this demonstrate understanding, it provides a growing resource to other students.
More creative and collaborative assignments are not only possible, but increasingly necessary. The above picture is a screenshot of a protein synthesis screencast that was assigned in my biology class. The screencast contains unique drawings, is narrated in the students' voices, and is an expression of their creativity as well as their knowledge. Which students actually understand the material, and which do not, is readily apparently. As a bonus, future students will have a resource to help review protein synthesis explained in the words of other students. Compare that to a traditional poster assignment, where copied text and plagiarism is difficult to detect.
Immediate access to the Internet allows preparations outside of class, access to virtual environments, and better preparation for the future.
One of my previous students returned and complained about how much of his university prep involved online systems. Assignments, quizzes, and tests for many courses are all online, with no offline alternatives offered. While the argument that we should "do what universities do" is a poor one (our primary goal is to teach, which may or may not be the same as the university), we should ensure that our students are prepared for both online and offline learning environments. The first time a student writes an online test should not be on either a standardized government exam, or at university.
This screen serves as a stand-in for the multitude of websites that essentially offer high quality field trips. This particular site offers very detailed scans of the "Iceman". Particularly fascinating are the tattoos visible, which immediately piques student interest. What do they mean? Who was he? Traditional museums are putting many of their resources online as well, putting relevant and interesting material right at their fingertips.
This was a particular project I thought was interesting, and I included it as an idea of what you can do once you are comfortable with the tools and methods of the collaborative virtual environment. This teacher has the students creating a wiki about the Crusades, and are combining this project with Google Earth to provide a three dimensional feel for the subject. Wiki's can be created free if your school doesn't already allow a method to host one, and Google Earth is (of course), free as well, and it's providing an "experience" of the crusades that would be impossible with traditional teaching methods.
An online class management tool, such as Moodle, has been very useful. Ultimately it's a quick way to make a class webpage, but it comes with a variety of tools, such as creating wikis, uploading files, allowing students to submit assignments electronically (and hand them back electronically!), as well as just organising the links.
In terms of supporting IEPs, the text book is not only uploaded, it's also uploaded in a second format that can read the text aloud to students who require that service, and to any undiagnosed IEP students who find they simply learn more when they have that option. As well, I love that it puts the responsibility for missed classes squarely on the students. If a worksheet is missed, or notes are missing (or they forgot to take their textbook with them while they were gone), it's all there on Moodle.
There are so many applications online now, that I have started operating on the assumption that if I can think it, somebody out there has already made it, and has probably already made a free version (although sometimes you get what you pay for). The above app is a flash file that mimics a titration lab. While I would much prefer that a student actually get to use the glassware, sometimes that's impossible. Further, the student who would like to "re-do" the titration for review before a quiz or test can have the option of working through the procedure virtually, rather than just copying data out of the textbook as a practice problem.
Recalling what I mentioned previously about getting our students used to online testing, it also offers further advantages to the teacher. Certain responses (multiple choice, matching, short answer, etc) are machine marked, and tracked. Even for short and essay answer-type questions it's useful, as common mistakes can have detailed teacher responses copied and pasted to each student that made the same mistake. As well, once marked, the exam is available for study purposes (with feedback), and cannot be lost. There are some limitations with this type of testing, but there are some definite advantages as well.
While everyone is familiar with laptops in general, I often find that tablets are not commonly known, even within education. A tablet is essentially still 95% laptop, and everything you can do on a laptop, you can do on a tablet. The tablet functionality is that you can write on the screen, with a stylus (aka pen) or (on some of the newer models) your finger. In XP, Vista, and Windows 7 the ability to write directly within programs has been integrated into the operating system, as well as programs such as Microsoft Office. For a teacher, more than any other user, this is a critical improvement as it gives the computer almost all the advantages of paper, in addition to that of the laptop. Unfortunately Mac does not have a tablet edition, although rumors appear every year. I won't go into details of what tablets are and the different types, other than you can fold down the screen so that you can write on it directly with a special pen.
Using a tablet can be just like using any piece of paper. If your students hand in their essay's electronically, you can mark them just as you would actual paper documents. This feature is within MS word, although if you don't have a tablet the functionality is not present. The picture above is of MS OneNote, which is essentially a binder for collecting notes. I have found being able to draw diagrams and mind-mapping in meetings to be very useful - I used to take a piece of paper with me along with my laptop. Now I just open up my tablet, and type and write interchangeably. The handwriting recognition is getting quite good, and better in Windows 7. As well, even if all your notes are in your handwriting, you can still electronically search all your notes, as it will search both your handwritten and typewritten notes. I used to have 20 binders for school. I still have them, but after 2 years with my tablet, all of the needed info is on my computer, and the binders are gathering dust as my backups. Microsoft OneNote would make the perfect student binder.
Every notice that the introduction of computers increased the use of paper, rather than decreasing it? With the ability to write, actually reducing paper use become possible if that is a goal you wish to achieve. As a teacher I have assigned some "electronic only" assignments this year, in an attempt to reduce total paper consumption by marking them directly on the tablet. This takes some getting used to, and like all things gets smoother with practice. The amount of paper consumed by our school every year makes this feature particularly appealing.
The above is Microsoft Word 2007, and how it can be used to mark up a document. As you can see, the editing is very similar to marking up a piece of paper, and about as easy.
This is a rather silly picture, showing unhappy student with all of his binders for school (those really are all of his binders). All of that can be replaced by a single tablet, and a program such as OneNote. Imagine having both textbooks and binders in one place, as well as backed up! Train students to use the network for saving their work, and there are no more excuses. (Realistically, fewer excuses.)
This is just a picture of OneNote when I first started thinking about this presentation. As you can see, the ability to 'just write' allows the same flow of ideas as a piece of paper - you're no longer tied to the linear format of the glorified typewriter which is the laptop.
As collaboration and tablets are becoming more common, functionality in software is starting to catch up. OneNote (above) allows for two authors to write simultaneously. The red writing above is from one user on a tablet, while the typing is from another author on a desktop in another area.
All of these ideas and possibilities are interesting and have the potential to greatly increase efficiency and available resources and techniques, but it wall comes back to the focus on the teachers. Is there time for training? Is the administration behind it? There are many schools that have given up on their laptop programs, or where teachers have felt pressured to teach to teach with technology. There are many excellent teachers are teaching techniques that need nothing more than the student-teacher relationship. Any new technology, whether that's paper, a blackboard, or a tablet, should not replace good teaching practice - it should only enhance it. A key first step in this process is giving teachers the time and the training to fully investigate and learn the technology in order to see where it would be the most useful.
There is a lot of debate, with any laptop discussion, about what is "best". Windows PC? Mac? A tablet only comes as a Windows PC thus far, but even so this debate is largely artificial. All laptops can do whatever other laptops can do. Ultimately it doesn't matter if you go Windows PC or Mac. There are Mac enthusiasts who will talk at length about how a Mac reads your thoughts and does what you wish, and Windows PC users who love the billions of programs available. Truthfully, both are relatively easy to use, you can get programs that do what you wish on both. Rather than listening to your vendors, take a look at the skills of your teachers. What can they use, and what are they used to? Unless you have a faculty that is totally new to computing, building on an already existing foundation will save in the one area that really matters: training time.
Cheers,Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Friday, March 20, 2009
Amplification
Much of my focus lately has been on technology in the classroom, which is likely a result of our current school focus on determining what, and how much, technology the school should consider investing in for the future. We recently spent time discussing the issue as a faculty, and I'm going to use the space to reflect a little.
One major point that struck me, in listening to the reflections of others, is how difficult it is to communicate just how much technology can (and in many cases has) transformed teaching practice. It is not that technology just offers different types of assignments and a greater variety of resources, but that the very nature of interaction between teacher and student can change. A repeating source of concern with technology, which appears to have started with Socrates complaining books would ruin people's ability to memorize, is that technology will decrease human interaction. The new potential of the much touted "Web 2.0" is, however, in the amplification of interaction. Face-to-face, for teaching, is essential, but that interaction in the classroom for a traditional lecture is often unidirectional (teacher to student), with the chance to ask questions (student to teacher). It also tends to happen one student at a time.
Without changing the style of teaching, what would a traditional lecture in which the technology is embedded as a tool look like?
I already use a Smart Board for lectures, and a personal laptop. If the students all had a similar tools and were taking notes on (for example) an equilibrium problem involving ICE tables, it wouldn't look that much different to an outsider, other than the pen and paper being exchanged for pens & screens. (It's my imagination, I'm assuming they're all using tablets.)
In the lecture I'm setting up a particular equilibrium problem on the Smart Board. I have a wireless mic recording my lecture, and the Smart Board is combining the audio with video of the Smart Board for the two students who are away at a regatta (something I already do), and I'm also webcasting the presentation to a student stuck backstage during the musical rehersal. While the teacher workstation is doing this, my laptop is running classroom management software that shows me updated thumbnails of what each student is doing. Running alongside this is a messaging system that records text messages that the students are sending (via moodle or twitter) about the class. I notice after setting up the problem that Ron hasn't managed to get started, and walk over to check what's going on. A few text that they keep getting the wrong answer for the initial concentration, and wonder what they're doing wrong. Denny, who's finished, texts a possible reason (they've forgotten to divide by volume). Scott is consulting the class wiki that was started a few years ago, and is looking up another example with the warnings and caveat's that other students have written. I've finished with Ron, and I reveal two more practice problems on the board, and quickly flick through screens to ensure everyone's on track and notice that Bettyanne's used a completely different method to arrive at the solution. I flash her screen to the Smart Board as an illustration.
To an outsider, it really wouldn't look much different than what I do now. There's a lesson, some practice problems, students working on material, and a teacher wandering around teaching and assisting. The connections, however, have been amplified. Alongside the traditional 'hands-up' question/response, there are students connecting with each other (via messaging), connecting across time (via the wiki and recorded video notes), and across space (via the livecasting). The options available to the teacher have also amplified, from messaging, wikis, broadcasting, to quickly checking on struggling students and recognising and utilising students who've had some initial success. This is without even considering how laptops can transform the traditional lecture into doing anything different. The use of classroom management software gives me a bird's eye view of what everyone is doing, giving me quicker and more accurate feedback on how my lesson is going.
For all of this to work in the previous utopian vision, a lot of things have to already be present. A reliable IT infrastructure, and adequate teaching training for starters, but this vision must be contrasted with the dystopian alternatives. If technology is permitted to evolve, students will continue bringing their own tech to class, using them without teacher management or involvement, surfing the web and playing tetris between taking notes and texting their friends. Of course, we might feel forced to react to the potential for distraction, and ban all student tech from the classroom.
The Red Queen effect is writ large across this issue.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Resource List
Twitter
14 Twitter directories to find new friends
We Follow
Qwitter
Schools that twitter
Smart Board (Interactive Whiteboards)
How can children really benefit from using Interactive Whiteboards
Customized Jeopardy Games
SMART Board Revolution : A Revolution in Education
Blog - Smart Boards in the Classroom
Flash Games for the Classroom
Teachers Love Smart Boards
Starting to 'get' Smart Boards
New Notebook 10 Professional Development at Teacher Online Training
Podcast310: All a Twitter about Twitter: Micro-Blogging as a Professional Networking Tool by Beth Knittle (MASSCUE 2008)
Multimedia
eGames Generator
Subject Resources
Wheatgrass Placebo from Skepticblog
General Chemistry - UC Berkeley Webcast
Alphabet geometry : introduces geometry concepts to your students by relating them to something they're all familiar with, letters
Wiki-teacher - Wiki-Teacher is a forum for teachers to share their collective intelligence through their resources, insights, and practices.
Curriki - Curriki is an online environment created to support the development and free distribution of world-class educational materials to anyone who needs them.
Undersea eruptions near Tonga / Youtube
Virtual Field Trips
Biology in Motion
Understanding Science : How Science Really Works
Butterfly timelapse videos!
Redefining DNA: Darwin from the atom up
Academic Earth - online lectures
Classroom 2.0
Create Your Own Student-Friendly Search Engine with Google
What is Cloud Computing?
Microsoft DreamSpark : DreamSpark is simple, it's all about giving students Microsoft professional-level developer and design tools at no charge so you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology - or just get a head start on your career.
Blog Resource Apture
Moodle-izing
Using Social Networks Professionally
Please Sir, how do you re-tweet? - Twitter to be taught in UK primary schools
Articles
Dallas ISD records show school held 'cage fights'
Bill would combat 'nature deficit disorder' in school children - Stupid label, nice idea.
Warning over narcissistic pupils
Paying attention is a more important skill than you might think - and new evidence suggests it can be taught
Studies show children can complete treatment for peanut allergies and achieve long-term tolerance
What is the Point of Science Education?
The importance of stupidity in scientific research
Wireless Electricity
Your printer is spying on you
Playlist for grading
Fresh research showing the damage of filtering 'real world' technology
Learning Theories
One major point that struck me, in listening to the reflections of others, is how difficult it is to communicate just how much technology can (and in many cases has) transformed teaching practice. It is not that technology just offers different types of assignments and a greater variety of resources, but that the very nature of interaction between teacher and student can change. A repeating source of concern with technology, which appears to have started with Socrates complaining books would ruin people's ability to memorize, is that technology will decrease human interaction. The new potential of the much touted "Web 2.0" is, however, in the amplification of interaction. Face-to-face, for teaching, is essential, but that interaction in the classroom for a traditional lecture is often unidirectional (teacher to student), with the chance to ask questions (student to teacher). It also tends to happen one student at a time.
Without changing the style of teaching, what would a traditional lecture in which the technology is embedded as a tool look like?
I already use a Smart Board for lectures, and a personal laptop. If the students all had a similar tools and were taking notes on (for example) an equilibrium problem involving ICE tables, it wouldn't look that much different to an outsider, other than the pen and paper being exchanged for pens & screens. (It's my imagination, I'm assuming they're all using tablets.)
In the lecture I'm setting up a particular equilibrium problem on the Smart Board. I have a wireless mic recording my lecture, and the Smart Board is combining the audio with video of the Smart Board for the two students who are away at a regatta (something I already do), and I'm also webcasting the presentation to a student stuck backstage during the musical rehersal. While the teacher workstation is doing this, my laptop is running classroom management software that shows me updated thumbnails of what each student is doing. Running alongside this is a messaging system that records text messages that the students are sending (via moodle or twitter) about the class. I notice after setting up the problem that Ron hasn't managed to get started, and walk over to check what's going on. A few text that they keep getting the wrong answer for the initial concentration, and wonder what they're doing wrong. Denny, who's finished, texts a possible reason (they've forgotten to divide by volume). Scott is consulting the class wiki that was started a few years ago, and is looking up another example with the warnings and caveat's that other students have written. I've finished with Ron, and I reveal two more practice problems on the board, and quickly flick through screens to ensure everyone's on track and notice that Bettyanne's used a completely different method to arrive at the solution. I flash her screen to the Smart Board as an illustration.
To an outsider, it really wouldn't look much different than what I do now. There's a lesson, some practice problems, students working on material, and a teacher wandering around teaching and assisting. The connections, however, have been amplified. Alongside the traditional 'hands-up' question/response, there are students connecting with each other (via messaging), connecting across time (via the wiki and recorded video notes), and across space (via the livecasting). The options available to the teacher have also amplified, from messaging, wikis, broadcasting, to quickly checking on struggling students and recognising and utilising students who've had some initial success. This is without even considering how laptops can transform the traditional lecture into doing anything different. The use of classroom management software gives me a bird's eye view of what everyone is doing, giving me quicker and more accurate feedback on how my lesson is going.
For all of this to work in the previous utopian vision, a lot of things have to already be present. A reliable IT infrastructure, and adequate teaching training for starters, but this vision must be contrasted with the dystopian alternatives. If technology is permitted to evolve, students will continue bringing their own tech to class, using them without teacher management or involvement, surfing the web and playing tetris between taking notes and texting their friends. Of course, we might feel forced to react to the potential for distraction, and ban all student tech from the classroom.
The Red Queen effect is writ large across this issue.
Cheers,
Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School
Resource List
14 Twitter directories to find new friends
We Follow
Qwitter
Schools that twitter
Smart Board (Interactive Whiteboards)
How can children really benefit from using Interactive Whiteboards
Customized Jeopardy Games
SMART Board Revolution : A Revolution in Education
Blog - Smart Boards in the Classroom
Flash Games for the Classroom
Teachers Love Smart Boards
Starting to 'get' Smart Boards
New Notebook 10 Professional Development at Teacher Online Training
Podcast310: All a Twitter about Twitter: Micro-Blogging as a Professional Networking Tool by Beth Knittle (MASSCUE 2008)
Multimedia
eGames Generator
Subject Resources
Wheatgrass Placebo from Skepticblog
General Chemistry - UC Berkeley Webcast
Alphabet geometry : introduces geometry concepts to your students by relating them to something they're all familiar with, letters
Wiki-teacher - Wiki-Teacher is a forum for teachers to share their collective intelligence through their resources, insights, and practices.
Curriki - Curriki is an online environment created to support the development and free distribution of world-class educational materials to anyone who needs them.
Undersea eruptions near Tonga / Youtube
Virtual Field Trips
Biology in Motion
Understanding Science : How Science Really Works
Butterfly timelapse videos!
Redefining DNA: Darwin from the atom up
Academic Earth - online lectures
Classroom 2.0
Create Your Own Student-Friendly Search Engine with Google
What is Cloud Computing?
Microsoft DreamSpark : DreamSpark is simple, it's all about giving students Microsoft professional-level developer and design tools at no charge so you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology - or just get a head start on your career.
Blog Resource Apture
Moodle-izing
Using Social Networks Professionally
Please Sir, how do you re-tweet? - Twitter to be taught in UK primary schools
Articles
Dallas ISD records show school held 'cage fights'
Bill would combat 'nature deficit disorder' in school children - Stupid label, nice idea.
Warning over narcissistic pupils
Paying attention is a more important skill than you might think - and new evidence suggests it can be taught
Studies show children can complete treatment for peanut allergies and achieve long-term tolerance
What is the Point of Science Education?
The importance of stupidity in scientific research
Wireless Electricity
Your printer is spying on you
Playlist for grading
Fresh research showing the damage of filtering 'real world' technology
Learning Theories
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