New Years Resolutions. Will we keep them ?

With the ending of the old (2012) and the start of the new (2013) , everybody discusses what they are going to attempt to do in “education”. The reason I put it in quotation marks is because - although we are talking education - for the purpose of this blog - I am referring to education with a technology bent or using technology to achieve my aims in education.

I want to be better organised this year ( don't we all ! ) and use technology more efficiently. 

I have mentioned a few program's that I tend to favour but this year I want to take this even further. 

So what am I planning ? 

This year I hope to utilise Evernote a lot more productively. I already use this for my private use and have it installed on all my devices. I use the web clipping function for clipping articles I read, putting them into related Notebooks ( mac shortcuts, educational theory, ipad use etc). The email function to send things directly to Evernote and so on. 

Inside my Evernote  - for classroom use, I have set up a Notebook for each student labelling them with the students name. I have one large Notebook called "Year 5 2013". Inside this one I have a Notebook for each student labelled with their name ( Fred Smith etc). This is where I will keep records on my students. One note will be for monitoring ( any observed behaviours, meeting with parents, health issues). Other notes will be per subject, where I will have work samples and observations.  Therefore an English note will contain an example of their book work, photographed using my phone or ipad - whether it be handwriting or grammar (because the program is on all devices it will go directly to that students folder. You don't have to save it elsewhere and move it).  They can email work samples from the computer and I can attach them. Over the semester I will build up enough samples and observations to make report writing easier. The killer feature - all in the one place.  

The other aspect I have done is to set up each student with their own account. Because cloud based solutions are a legal nightmare for students under 13 ( in other words - all Primary School students) I sent a note home to parents explaining what I hoped to achieve and asking permission to set up accounts for the students. This will be followed up by a parent information evening in the first weeks of term. I contacted Evernote and teachers are able to set up accounts ( with parent permission). I chose the free accounts for this as I am not totally sure how this aspect will pan out over the year. I asked permission from parents before the holidays (and all agreed) and will have them set up before he new school year starts. Probably the biggest educational push here is going to be “organisation” . Teaching the students have to organise Notebooks and keep subjects in order. 

I have used Edmodo for the past 2 years and it has replaced my class website/blog. For those who don’t know it - it is a virtual classroom facebook type program (available on all platforms). My aim is to use this more efficiently. I hope to be better organised on assignments and quizzes. The beauty of Edmodo is that it keeps tack on students scores -so you can build up a record for report time. If a student submits an assignment, you can mark and comment on it within Edmodo. Last year I found the students submittted their assignments in different forms. Word (can comment in Edmodo)  Pages, (cant ) and PDF (can). My aim this year is that all students will submit their assignments in PDF form. Therefore they can use any platform and Edmodo can read it. I am also going to set up a sub class for an extension group (something I didn’t have before). Students enjoy the facebook/blog aspect of Edmodo (it is totally closed by the way - no one can see in - therefore safe and don’t need parent permission. Although you can give parents a code to view what their children are doing). Although I won’t limit their posts - I will clean them out one a month - just so it doesn’t get too cluttered. 

I run an “iPad User Group” for educators in my district. We have a wiki for information and resources - but it tended to get cluttered, disorganised and a general “dogs breakfast”. I will examine the possibility of setting up an Edmodo classroom for our group. Some groups use it for teacher PD but I’m not 100% sure I will carry this through.

On a more creative note (so it doesn’t appear it’s all about grades, scores and assessments) - I plan to set up an “Internet TV channel”. Sounds grand - doesn’t it ? Last year we purchased a green screen and lights. The two mac classes have flip videos and tripods. The idea is that the students will be able to give news reports, show projects being worked on etc. The editing will be done in iMovie (both macs and ipads). A channel will be set up on YouTube and linked to the school website. This will be totally students work. To make it “doable” I am only think of maybe three postings a term. Otherwise it becomes a headache and doesn’t get done at all. 

We have already started using Apple TV’s (ATV) in some classes. It appears to be ok but with a few minor hitches. The advantage of the ATV is that you can show anything on ipads or macs. I need to follow through with this to ensure that every student can immediately show their work from their laptop. I will post more about this at a later stage.

iBooks Author and iTunes U. This year I need to get serious regarding iBook author. This is  such a fantastic program that I really haven’t fully explored and followed through with (laziness , time - I can give a thousand excuses). It is a fantastic way of presenting a unit of work combining reading, pictures, quizzes - I do really need to follow through. I also want the students to have a go at iBook Author to construct their own texts. My class have produced ebooks for the younger classes through Pages. The younger students view them  on the ipads. iBook Author (which I have installed on all their macs) can take this to a much more interesting level. I want to experiment with iTunes U as well. Maybe a unit of work that can be repeated in following years or shared with others. 

I am basically setting up my delivery to be usable on both computer and ipad. The reason is that we are finishing our 3 year cycle with the mac laptops. Do we replace them for the senior class or go with ipads ? I am hoping to trial a class of one on one ipads later this year. In the meantime we have 15 ipads which I can borrow from the Infant classes so I can experiment. 

I continue to do most of my planning and day book through Growly Notes  .I still wish they would make an ipad version - I really love this program and use it a lot !  I may introduce this to the students for their macs. 

These are just a few of my New Year Resolutions regarding Technology in Education. I have only mentioned a few, with the aim of, hopefully, carrying them out. One of the bug bears we all have as teachers - is over planning ! Or not carrying through with ideas. I am hoping that these will all come to fruition.

What are your New Year resolutions ? 

"The Bold and the Beautiful" - Inspiring Youth

Sometimes us “older or more experienced ” people can get a little cynical about up and coming younger expertise. We can yawn widely and say “ yeah  - seen that” or “not fully thought out - so won’t really last”. 

I must admit I get excited and stimulated  by younger people who either appear to have their @#$ together or come up with some enthusiastic and original idea. I had the privilege  of working with two young teachers who had their craft together so well, and displayed such enthusiasm for the job that they were granted  with awards for excellence in teaching within the first 5 years of teaching. They certainly deserved it.

When we look at what is thrown at us in the media - I often wonder what sort of society we are striving for. There is a strong desire to become famous - for “being famous” - and someone has to be “voted out” to make your achievement worthwhile. Sounds like I need a Bex and a good lay down ! But - thankfully not all youth see the world that way. I would like to share some of the youth I have come across (not personally) who I find quite stimulating.

The first one is a young man who I have followed since he was 15. Joey Lawrence is a young Canadian who has a keen eye for the visual. I first came across him on a photographic site -  dpchallenge. Young Joey was competing with the grown ups (and winning ) with a reasonably cheap camera. He was a master of both photoshop and photography at quite an early age. The thing I loved about this kid was he wasn’t afraid to experiment. He also made little videos with his friends and posted them for people to look at. I tipped at the time (and I still feel this will happen) that this guy will someday be a very well renowned film maker. One day (as a 16 yr old - I think ) his camera got broken/lost/stolen - can’t remember which, but he decided to make a DVD of his photoshop techniques and sell it (for $25) to people on dpchallenge to raise money for a new camera.  It , of course was an instant hit - and gave him money for a new camera. The rest is history  (which I will fill you in on in a moment). As an educationalist - this boy intrigued me. Although I think he thought his formal education was rather immaterial to where he was going in life , I couldn’t help feeling - if I taught this boy - I would be extremely proud of where he was going - he had the concept of “life long learning”. Isn’t this what we are trying to achieve ? It isn’t about what academic qualification - it’s about a curiosity to life - a desire to learn new things. This is the real world ! Not the one judged on whether you have your Masters in Educational theory or macramé !

Joey started to get a reputation for himself and picked up work in the US as a professional photographer. A lot of the younger people would be aware of his work as he did the promotional posters for the “Twilight” movies. He started to travel a lot - visiting far off and remote locations. He developed a “National Geographical “ type interest in portraiture but unlike the approach of someone like Steve McCurry (remember the Afghan Girl - National Geographic) who took everything in natural light - Joey thought - “if I was to do a portrait of someone in the west , I would use studio lights to achieve the best outcome for myself and the subject. Why not do the same for the back woods warrior in the outback of Somalia ?” He went to very out of the way places carrying battery powered lighting to produce stunning images of people who would not be normally photographed in this manner. His work is certainly breath taking and inspirational. This young man seems to be living life to the fullest, following his dreams and continually evolving and learning. As an educator - these are the aspects I would love to instill in students. Unfortunately, we often fall short of the mark. 

See Joey's work here: http://www.joeyl.com/

The second young person to inspire me is a young lady from India. Shilo Shiv Suleman is an illustrator, storyteller and iPad book creator from Bangalore in Southern India.This young lady combines “conventional” art with technology in an interesting and beautiful way. This lady used the technology of the ipad to create a beautiful piece of art - combining  story telling, art, interactivity and technology. Her app ”Khoya " is a fantastic combination of all these aspects. Armed with pencils, paper and an ipad she has travelled India collecting and making art and story. As she says herself "I'm allowed to be a digital gypsy of sorts. My office can become a small little grove under a giant banyan tree." Shilo seems to have gained her resilience, enthusiasm and love of learning from her mother rather than any school situation. But then again, as educators we should be endeavoring to enhance, foster and encourage this style of learning. Have a look at her TED talk and play with her app “Khoya” and you will understand what I mean. A combination of the traditional, spiritual, artistic and digital - the new India.

The third young person I will mention is a young fellow from Newcastle (Australia) who has travelled the world (mainly in troubled spots) photographing the people affected by local events. Connor Ashleigh developed a strong sense of social justice when he went on a school excursion to Cambodia helping with house building. Maybe here we have a direct link to an effect generated by his formal education. I would like to think so, but with education we can never know for certain. Connor has combined digital storytelling with travel and a strong sense of social justice. He developed a love of photography on a visit to India. He has reported stories from the birth of a nation (Southern Sudan) to the suffering in Palestine and a slice of life from his own home town. 

http://conorashleigh.com

You may notice a personal theme here. These three people combine the visual, travel and a love of learning. They also combine these with a sense of sharing. They are educators in their own right. Joey L has made teaching DVD’s to help people master Photoshop as well as sharing techniques on his blog. Shilo has taught children art, shared her knowledge at TED talks as well as designing a fabulous teaching aid in the app “Khoya”. Connor has conducted classes sharing his stories as well as his images. He has presented classes to young High School students to help inspire and share techniques.

None of this really has any connection to the traditional classroom - but despite the shortcomings that we have to work with in education, at the end of the day we hope to give  our students a few basic skills (more attitudes than skills). To develop resilience, a love of learning, an ability to share a story  and a sense of connection with real people. These are the things I hope for my students. It has no connection what-so-ever to their NAPLAN results or academic qualifications. 

Can you imagine the classroom with these three ! “Joey - stop fiddling with the blind to see where the shadow falls ! Shilo - stop scribbling on the cover of your exercise book and Connor be quiet and stop chatting to Mary about her having no friends !”    Interesting ! 

iBooks, Textbooks, iBooks Author and Education.

Apple have come along and changed the game again. I must admit I was quite excited about the announcement today regarding the education aspect of what they are doing - for a number of reasons.

Firstly - I was pleased to see a commitment to Education by Apple. For many years Apple seemed to be embedded in Education and the creative side of computing (with Windows taking care of corporate and personal). That seemed to all change with the introduction of the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Suddenly their focus was personal items. Your iPhone, your iPad - if you can use it in the corporate or educational world - fantastic - let us know how you are doing it ? From day one, educators saw the potential of the iPad in education - but were more or less left to their own devices on how to utilise, deploy and administer them. Australia, for example is still waiting to obtain educational licensing for apps. I thought that todays announcement singled a return to at least some interest in education.

Secondly. To me the real power of the iPad was not going to be fully realised until teachers were able to construct their own apps or have a direct say in the materials that they wanted their students to use. Yes, you could construct your own apps but the skill needed was beyond most peoples ability and patience. Plus the waiting to see if it would be approved by apple.
Enter "iBook Author". This little gem will allow anybody to construct their own course material, with a minimum of fuss and deliver it directly to their students. My understanding at this stage is that you can construct your own ibook and put it through the ibook store (with apple's approval) or simply deploy it directly to any iPad under your administration. This has to be the biggest break through for educators since the iPad was introduced. iBook Author i is a "Pages" type program that allows you to construct your own ibooks including video, audio, interactive media, keynotes etc. It has the same layout as Pages - therefore is very easy for anyone familiar with iWorks to operate. Just what we have been waiting for. I also wonder if it is going to be the introduction of a new iWorks (iWorks 2012 ) ? It even has a preview - which allows you to link to your iPad or iPhone to see what the end product will look like. After trying to construct ePubs through Pages 09 - this is a very welcome feature. You need to use iBooks Author on a mac running Lion. There has been some early criticism over having to run it on a mac and the end result being only usable on the iPad (not Android) - but hey - what do you expect Apple to do !

Thirdly, related to number two, having actual book companies coming on board to construct actual text books that will be usable in the education environment. Most companies see this as a good thing and are willing to invest the time and resources into producing quality, usable texts. This was something I expected when the iPad was first released , but never really happened. It does seem that now this will finally get under way. Quite a number of publishing houses have come on board and hopefully the number will grow.

The next aspect that excited me - was that of iTunes U . I had been an extensive user of iTunes U but it always seemed like it was buried away and not often updated. I was pleased to see it now has it's own app for the iPad. It stores any podcasts you have downloaded. This elevates it's profile - therefore I will assume a lot more material will start to appear - and relative to other countries outside of the United States.

All in all an exciting day for educators. While the bulk of the population will wonder "where is the new iPad?' or "what are the new specs of the new mac pro?" - educators will be excited about todays releases (at least I am). New iBook app ; iTunes U app ; publishers on board for text book publication and iBook Author program for mac - to construct your own interactive ibook material.

Let's now see how the year pans out.

FlipSnack and Edmodo

I have been trying to sort out aspects that might be useful for my teaching next term. Two things that I came across that I feel will be very useful.  One is a sight called "FlipSnack". These guys can convert your pdf files into flip books. I think this would be extremely interesting for students to publish their stories or booklets in a different form.  Here is the link: http://www.flipsnack.com/.  An example of the flip book is given below. If you find it takes over your whole screen - just hit the escape button to bring it back.

The other aspect that has me quite excited (and I want to check out fully) is "Edmodo". This is an extremely interesting social education network. It can be set up for class or school use.  It is a place where you post student assignments, homework, discussions - including any form of media. You can have students post their assignments to the site as well as give them grades and feed back. It is all secure. You can set up class or subject groups. Well worth a look.  I have been looking around for alternatives for my class web site. I maintained a iWeb class web site and blog this year - but with the demise of iWeb with Lion - I thought I would scrap it next year. Therefore - either back to Google sites or something different. Edmodo looks like it could be an exciting and viable option. Check it out.
http://www.edmodo.com/home

Ah - are we too old to learn ? I don't think so ! Marco Torres and Beyond Chalk.

The last week have been extremely stimulating and has lifted my spirits in regards to education and the use of technology. Notice that I wrote "education" first. Gone are the days tinkering for technology for technology sake.THe modern approach is " I want to do such and such - what tools can assist me ? " Not " How am I going to make technology fit into the task I have to do ?" This is certainly not the thinking of students today. This was exemplified by an example I heard today, which was reflected within my own family. On two occasions my son was bought a wristwatch by well intentioned relatives.  They both have never been worn. He has always used his phone to tell the time. Today I heard a similar story of a young lady who gave  her niece a wristwatch - only to be asked "What else does it do?" Kids today - or should I say - reality today.

Last week I went to a very stimulating presentation by Marco Torres, a LA educationist, film producer, and keynote speaker at numerous International Technology and Education Conferences. It was a day of stimulating thought and discussion. He was a man who appears to be one of the people who initiated  the Apple “Challenge Based Learning” (have a look at the Apple Educational website). He also produced a number of the “Myth Busters” TV series and the show is based on the Challenge Based Learning concept. When you look at the show you certainly see two guys learning ( not two guys teaching). Many of the aspects he spoke about are too involved to go into here - but as a brief summary these are some of the points that struck a cord with me. 

He spoke about people who have a passion for what they do. One thing they all had in common - they had a hobby ! He had made a study over a number of occupations and the most successful and passionate people were the ones who had an outside interest. They were able to make associations or connections with their interests and their jobs. He found the same for the teaching profession. If you want to be a remarkable teacher - get a hobby!

He also gave many examples of students who were not overly academic - but had drive and passion. The ones who were curious and endeavored to take things one step further. Really - the mode of which we should be teaching. The approach of the modern learner is  “ Learn, Create, Share”. We should be accommodating this style - not fighting against it because its not the way we have always done things. 

If I had to sum up two brief aspects I got out of his talk it would have to be “Teach Curiosity “.  Fits very comfortably with the concept of “teaching for life long learning”. When it all boils down - it is the main skill we can give kids in this every changing, turbulent world. 

The second was “Solve and issue and tell a story”.  His web site is rather chaotic but worth a look. Also if you get a chance to hear him speak or attend his workshops - I highly recommend it. His web site is http://torres21.squarespace.com/

The second workshop I went to was of a more practical, hands on style. It was presented by “Beyond Chalk” - a group I have had dealings with before. This was more about “you want to use the technology for your students - here’s how”. Beyond Chalk are a group who use young, enthusiastic and knowledgeable presenters - no easy task considering the aging teacher population (in Australia at least). I always come away from these sessions invigorated, enthused and more knowledgable. Tori, the young lady presenting took us through various aspects of working with the mac platform to help and enhance our students learning. Very practical, student focussed and a spurt of student focussed enthusiasm. I always come away impressed and invigorated.  

http://www.beyondchalk.com/

If you get a chance to attend any of their workshops - if you keep an open mind, - you will certainly get something out of it.

Ah - it's good to be stimulated and invigorated !

WEB 2 PROGRAMS AND IPAD APPS

Many of us spend a lot of time cruising the web for suitable programs to help with our teaching. We all tend to appreciate help - if someone can suggest a program or app - that might fit our needs. Like a lot of others, I too, have started trying to keep a list of things that might be helpful. Like others as well, I tend to have them all over the place.

Will any of this make any difference to Education ?

Two things,  that some people might find helpful, I have included here.
The first one is a list of Web 2 programs. These are programs that anyone can use  (windows or mac). I have listed them here (with screen shots) and although not extensive (only 11 pages and being added to all the time) someone may find them useful. The following pdf is the list.

WEB 2 Programs

I have also included a list of ipad apps that my be useful. You may want to check the "ipad 2" page (which tends to be neglected a bit - as this blog seems to have taken a different direction) for a few questions regarding schools introducing ipads.
But I have included a list of apps that we are looking at regarding our school introduction of ipads. It also has a list for Asian Studies (that I have mentioned on the other page) because of my connection to the Asia Teachers Association.
So - it is a bit of a mixture. Infant apps ; primary apps; and apps for Asian Studies (mainly Secondary). Hope it is helpful.

iPAD APPS THAT MAY BE USEFUL