Digital Learners

I realize it's been a while since my last post. If you read that one, you know that my father was very ill. He passed away about a month ago and I haven't been motivated to write anything. However, I love this video that I had to watch for class and must share it with you. It's absolutely captures what we ought to be doing with technology in schools. Enjoy!



I attended a Learning conference this week called the Learning Innovation Network. Stay tuned for a review of the 2 day conference...

Podcasting for Posterity

Today's entry is not really about ed tech except in the context that I taught my father a new technology. You see, he is currently fighting a terrible disease and he wanted to be able to capture his memories for generations to come. At first, he requested that we buy some kind of voice-recognition software because he is really too tired/weak to type (and he's never been that a great a typist, by his own admission, to begin with). I explained that this software needed to be trained and he really didn't have the patience for that. Besides, I had a better idea. Why not record his thoughts and memories using the voice memo feature of his iPod video!? I bought him a special mic that works with his device and showed him how to use it and we even recorded the first episode interview-style! He loves it! Now, I'm the one who is converting the files to .mp3 and uploading it to his newly started blog (also created by me), but I think that's ok. He's very excited to be podcasting his memories for posterity and gets this burst of energy when he is recording the stories. It makes me feel great that there is something I can do for him which he is able to enjoy during this difficult time. Dad, I love you very much!

Please check out Lloyd's Land and post a comment so that he knows people are listening. Thanks!

Sun goes for Gold at the Olympics

Sun Microsystems unveils a new Facebook application created by Zembly (Sun's social network for developers of social applications) called myPicks Beijing 2008.



This Facebook game allows people to predict winners in the 2008
Summer Games on behalf of themselves and their countries.

• When you first add the application, identify yourself with your country.
  If your predictions are accurate, you win points. All points accumulated are also credited to
  your country.
  
• You can view the leaderboards of countries & individuals. You can also see how
  your friends are doing and how your fellow countrymen are doing.
  
• Using Zembly, this Facebook app scales to a very large number of users playing simultaneously so be sure to invite all your friends!
  

Use the widget to get some quick stats on the number of people playing the game for a particular country. The widget then takes you to a page that explains the game and then allows you to go to the location in Facebook where you can play the game.


Go for the Gold!

Social Networking Tools in the Classroom

This video report provides a review of social networking and Web 2.0 usage in the classroom. This was my midterm project for one of my classes as part of my Master's program in Ed Tech, but I thought you would all enjoy seeing and listening to some of the exciting ways that teachers are utilizing these tools in the classroom. This video report highlights three different perspectives.

• Jen works for an education non-profit that services many schools in the New York City school district. Her job is to integrate technology into the curriculum at many different schools in the district.
  
• Liz is an Instructional Technology Specialist and Director of 21st Century Learning outside of Boston, MA and she discusses technology integration at several schools in which she has worked.
  
• "Linda" is a teacher in a 5th grade classroom on Long Island, New York known as “North London” collaborative. She, along with a co-teacher, are utilizing technology in innovative ways to enhance learning(Names changed).

I invite you to comment on this video, especially to add ways that you are utilizing blogs, wikis, podcasting and other social networking & web 2.0 tools in your classroom.

Homework Help

Hi everyone,

I'm reaching out to you because I need some assistance with 2 projects I am working on for my Master's program.

1. Calling all tech coordinators: If you are a tech coordinator in a school or school district, I'd love to get your feedback. I need to compose a wiki entry of about 2000 words on a particular sub-topic relating to computer networks at schools. I'm leaning towards one of these topics.

• Desktop Choices - How do you decide if you are going to deploy PC's or Mac's? Have you considered thin client alternatives? Do you use virtual machines? When and Why laptop carts? Etc....
• Support - Who provides it? How do you manage it? Do you get students involved? Etc...
• Social Networking - Is it encouraged or discouraged? Where and when is it appropriate? Are the community and/or parents involved?
• Vendors - How do you choose who to go with? How do you get your best pricing?

I'm also open to other options. Feel free to check out the table of contents for topic choices. Which would you most want to read about? Also, would you be open to reviewing my write-up when it's complete?

2. Calling all Educational Technology Specialists: If you are a computer teacher or are integrating technology into your own or other teacher's classrooms, I'd love to interview you. I need to create a 10 minute video posting on a specific topic. The topic I am targeting is the use of Social Networking in the Classroom. Questions I'd like to pose are:

• Blogs - Are you maintaining one for student usage? Do your students maintain their own blog? What are you using them for?
• Wikis - Do you have a class wiki? What do you post on it? Do your students contribute?
• Twitter - How do you utilize twitter in the classroom? Have you introduced your class to YouthTwitter?
• Skype - Have you used skype to enhance a lesson? In what way?
• Other - Are you doing podcasting with students? What other social networking tools are you using? Would like to use?

I hope to "film" at least 30-40 minutes of footage for the 10 minute video. I'm thinking we can use webcams to accomplish the video regardless of your location. Alternatively, we can use Skype to record audio and I can supplement with Powerpoint slides. Please let me know if you are open to being "interviewed". Thanks very much!!

My Life as a Shadow - Part III

My most recent shadowing opportunities were at Denton Avenue School in the Herricks School District and at Solomon Schecter Day School in Jericho. One of the things I love about these observations is that they are all so different from each other and I have learned so much from each event.

At the Denton Avenue school, I observed in a 5th grade inclusion classroom taught by twitter friend, @LParisi (blog) and fellow twitterer @csouthard (blog). I actually came to have this opportunity through twits with Lisa and I am very grateful for it. Their classroom is unlike any other that I have yet observed in. I was introduced to the class as someone who wanted to be a "computer teacher" and they all told me that I had come to right class then! They knew that they were doing something special in the class and they loved it!

The day I went was "Flag Day" which is a big deal in this particular school. Ever since 9/11 they have a huge assembly, everyone comes dressed in all sorts of red, white & blue, and they have a barbeque for lunch. Not having much notice, or items in my closet, I wore a black NASA shirt with red, white and blue sequins. The students noticed right away and told me that they had been doing a unit on NASA and the space program that involved multimedia interaction and immediately asked the teachers if they could watch more of it today. But, that was not on the agenda. The assembly took up a lot of the morning. I learned that the flag outside the school was one of the flags that flew outside the capital on 9/11. Kids who were in the band played American songs and the Human Relations club gave some special recognition and awards. The teachers surprised the kids with a slideshow and songs.

When we got back to the classroom, they went to work on their "Cinderella Stories". This came out of a lesson on Settings. They were to write their own story in MS Word and then draw bodies representing the characters in their stories. They were encouraged to use the internet to get styles of clothing, etc... to copy as they drew. Then they took pictures of their fellow classmates and teachers (and even asked me to be in one! - which was really cute) and attached the heads to the bodies. Then they were to scan in each of the characters, edit in Photoshop if necessary, and use PhotoStory to animate the story. They also needed to record voiceovers for each scene. This was a totally impressive use of technology and while the students were at different levels of skills and some more or less ahead of others, they were all enjoying it.

After lunch, we had the "Morning Meeting". They normally do this in the morning hence the name. The first part is the greeting. A few kids have to decide what the greeting will be. Today we all went outside and went around a circle in "snake formation" introducing ourselves and saying good afternoon. This, along with the Human Relations Club, I see as ways to teach respect and kindness (as well as professional behavior). The second part of the meeting is "podcasting". Each day 2 or 3 students will tell a story about something and ask for questions and comments. The questions have to be relevant and not "all about me". The person telling the story is speaking into a voice recorder for uploading to their own personal blog. They use classblogmeister for this. They were very disappointed to learn that they would not have access to edit these blogs after school was over. So, the teachers offered to teach them how to use their own personal blog, assuming they get a signed permission slip from a parent. Part of the lessons they learned in creating their own blogs was about what it means to be a good online citizen and why cyberbullying is bad. For their podcasting, they use Audacity to edit audio and either GarageBand or Gcast to upload student podcasts. I was asked to participate in Morning Meeting by telling my own story of where I was on 9/11 (in the World Trade Center). Most of the students asked a lot of good questions. I was impressed.

At this point it was almost the end of the day. While the students are waiting to be called for dismissal, they play "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?". At one point there is a question on how something is spelled. One child went to the dictionary but another child went right to the Franklin Talking Dictionary on the teachers' desk and found the answer the fastest. These students are definitely comfortable with the integration of technology in the classroom.

This particular class has won several awards for their use of technology which includes such things as a joint project using Skype with a class in the Midwest, among other things. The teachers are well known for the high quality of technology integration. Some things I learned throughout the day include:

• Email is used extensively. They collect emails at the beginning of the year and they are expected to use it to retrieve homework assignments and the like.
• They make extensive use of the SmartBoard. For example, they often play a Jeopardy type game for learning math or science, etc...
• The teachers use a lot of methods that they learned through "Responsive Classroom" training, which they highly recommend.
• The Herricks school district is extremely supportive of this classroom and its teachers.
  

From a professional development perspective, these teachers attend a lot of conferences. They submit proposals to speak at conferences like SCOPE and Teaching & Learning Celebration. They teach at Teacher Centers and Board Meetings. They use Google Docs to take notes at conferences so it makes it easy to blog on it later.@csouthard is currently going for a Masters in Ed Tech.

To get a glimpse of some of projects being worked on this classroom - dubbed South Paris Collaborative - check out their website.

A few notes on my day at Schecter (This is where my husband works). Unfortunately I attended during the last week of school so not much learning was going on. I met with the computer teacher (the students go to the Computer "Special" once per week). This day was 1st graders and they were just playing some online games and also using KidPix. They did crave attention and I helped some of them make Father's Day cards. The rest of the time I spent in my husband's classroom doing low-tech activities like reading them a book and helping them to write letters (with pen and paper!). I was invited back next year to see more of what they are doing with technology.

EdTech Tools from the Cyberbullying Conference

I'm going to try to categorize some of the tools that were highlighted at the conference and provide links to useful information.

Skill Building

• Oracle’s ThinkQuest contests - Students work in teams to build innovative and educational websites to share with the world. Along the way, they learn research, writing, teamwork, and technology skills and compete for exciting prizes.
• Oracle's Think.com - Collaboration around the world.

Collections of Lesson Plans / Online Safety

• ThinkFinity from Verizon - General lesson plans and educational activities
• TeachToday - Lesson plans around online safety
• Cartoon videos - Stop Cyberbullying videos
• Lesson plans from the Anti-Defamation League on online safety and social justice.
• Have students take the Social Networking Quiz
• KidZui is the Internet for Kids! Let them search kid friendly sites knowing they are safe.

Professional Development for Educators

• CyberSmart - 21st Century Skills

Hope this helps!