Tech Planning

 

The following web site looks at tech planning from a skills viewpoint.

10 Technology Skills Every Student Should Have

Many of these skills are incorporated into the 21st Century skill set and the NETS standards. Skills #1 and #11 are incorporated into the national library standards and even to some extent in the common core standards.

Because many of these skills will help a student be a life long learner and be able to adapt to changing technology, they provide a starting point for curricular and technology decisions.

Is There an App for that?

Today, I read the blog, How We Developed a Mobile App for Our School District, You Can Do It Too. The Judson Independent School District used Conduit to create a mobile app (JISD Connect) that aggregates several of their online sites. By using Conduit, the app pulls from existing resources such as Facebook, Twitter, Picasa images, RSS feeds, YouTube, and more.

Since the author claimed that I could ‘Do It Too’, I decided to try and create an app for the district. Right away, I ran into problems. The district web site does not provide RSS feeds. I could pull data from Facebook and Twitter — but those accounts are for Nemaha Valley High School and not the district. So, I started working with a Nemaha Valley High School app that would pull the Twitter and Facebook feeds. Knowing that there are great articles on the NVHS side of the district web site, I investigated converting the site to an RSS feed. I was able to do that with a trial account on Feedity. That allowed me to add the web site to the NVHS app — with some issues. Unfortunately, the ‘read more’ links at the end of article blurbs show up as feeds. Eliminating these detractors will take more time and possibly a more expensive account level.

 

Link to trial mobile app for NVHS: http://mob.conduit.com/e8fd1280-84df-4455-af21-cceb264110f5

My second trial at app creation was using a teacher blog or web site. Knowing that my blog had RSS feeds enabled, I experimented with it. I was able to add the blog and my twitter account to the app.

Link to app created from my blog and Twitter account: http://mob.conduit.com/00bda316-0a4d-4339-b53e-05b9a5e2353b

Since most of our teachers are now using Google Sites instead of the wordpress blog, my next experiment was to see if I could turn a teacher site into an app. I found one teacher, Kelly Williams, with RSS feeds enabled on two sections of his site. I was able to use those feeds to create his app — but it isn’t pulling the feeds from his home page.

Link to mobile app for Kelly Williams’ web site: http://mob.conduit.com/86513feb-8a6c-4c4b-97ee-2d6dde6b6d04

So, can we do it too? Yes — But. In order to make this work, we need web sites with working RSS feeds or access to a feed converter such as Feedity ($39), active Twitter accounts, active Facebook pages (not accounts), etc. We will also have to register to be an app developer for both Apple ($99) and Android (Google Play $25).

Thinking that I could easily create an app from the NV Forensics Facebook site, I played with that one only to discover that it won’t work. I’m guessing it isn’t working because NV Forensics is a ‘person’ that has to be friended — not a page.

Is this worth pursuing? YES! Even though there are issues, having an app for the district, building or teacher web site will be worth the time, effort and cost.

NV’s Hoppin’

Moodle, wiki, googleapps, tweat, netbooks — these are all terms being used by teachers and students alike this past week. It seems that the new netbooks (tiny computers) have been just the excuse needed to accelerate the integration of technology throughout the curriculum. By embracing the netbooks so rapidly, the teaching staff has demonstrated a willingness – no, an eagerness, for one-to-one learning. During some classes, one can find student desks neatly arranged with manipulatives and netbooks as the teacher demonstrates on the interactive board and the students practice on the computers.

Not only have the teachers embraced the new computers, but they are embracing various aspects of the Web2.0 to engage students. Mrs. Meyer is continuing to use a blog to post class notes from her math classes and Mr. Thomas has started to post notes from his math classes. In accounting, the students are collaborating to post class notes on Mrs. Baker’s class wiki. Mr. Hill’s art students are using Moodle to study art history, learn vocabulary and take quizzes. Mr. Wertenberger and Mr. Hermreck have gone paperless with their current projects. Mr. Wertenberger’s carpentry students have utilized their Google email to submit their recent essays. And only Mr. Hermreck could expect students to submit an essay on Moodle based on a bunch of random numbers. French 2 students are creating promotional travel videos using PhotoStory for Mrs. Enneking. Mr. Terpening is busy learning how to use the new flash movies for his anatomy class. This week also saw the posting of the first student produced YouTube video on our new YouTube Channel.

Even though we didn’t upgrade any servers or make other major changes to the computer network, several systems within the school have changed creating a learning hurdle for some (including me). We have replaced our photocopy machines with networked copiers in the hopes of reducing our printing costs. Another major change for the building was the addition of phones in the classrooms and voice mail. The main classroom area is also experiencing the trials and tribulations of a new computer controlled HVAC system as they fine tune the programming of that system.

Yesterday, the gremlins paid a visit to the school as several systems that had been working stopped working for some reason. During the day, we lost one interactive board, one projector, printers on the netbooks and the ability to print to the office photocopier. In addition, a teacher lost some but not all of the controls to his interactive board. Needless to say, the gremlins made sure I had plenty to do.

Although it seems like the library side of NVTekLib takes a back seat to the technology, the library has made some changes to promote personal reading. Over the past few years, a concerted effort has been made to purchase titles of particular interest to boys. Last year, we took the plunge and totally rearranged our fiction section. We had observed that students liked having the new books in a separate area. We’ve maintained that practice and actually keep two years worth of purchases separate from the rest of the collection. However, the big change was to arrange the books by genre instead of by author. Thus, we have sections for romance, young adult, humor, mystery, suspense, horror, adventure, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, sports, westerns and war. Although this arrangement makes it harder for me, the librarian, the students appear to like it since they migrate to a specific area and browse titles. It has been particularly gratifying to see guys open their library book when there’s just a few minutes left in class or lying on the floor during seminar reading.

The start of this school year has definitely kept me hopping – but  it has been a good start.

21st Century Skills: How do we get there?

Enhancing Student Creativity

As I sat in various presentations at the MACE conference last week, I envisioned how the various web sites and software tools being demonstrated could be utilized to enhance student projects. Capitalizing on the poetry the freshman recently wrote over the book, The Outsiders, I decided to experiment.

My first experiment was to use the Wordle. website to create a picture to illustrate one of the freshman poems. Wordle utilizes words to create a picture. The size of each word in the picture is determined by the number of times it is entered. Thus, if one wants a word to dominate the picture, that word is entered numerous times. Below is the resulting picture:

Behind A Wall – Poetry Cloud

The orientation of the words can be altered, but the positions of individual words within the cloud cannot be manipulated. The user can select from a variety of color combinations and font styles to personalize their cloud. Using a screen capture program such as Gadwin, the picture can be saved as an image and added to the word processed copy of the poem.

My next experiment centered around the use of voice. Ideally, this would involve a recording of the student reading his/her poem. With the Voice Thread web site, one can record the reading of the poem directly from the computer. A picture can be uploaded as a visual behind the poem. A very creative student could divide their poem into sections and record each section with its own picture backdrop.
http://voicethread.com/share/390368/

If a student wishes to enhance the visual presentation he/she could use PhotoStory or MovieMaker. With each program, individual pictures can be added to a timeline. The audio can be recorded with the handheld voice recorders. These recorders create a “.wma” file which can be added to the timeline. If desired, MovieMaker would allow for the addition of music behind the voice. PhotoStory saves the file in the “.wmv” format and MovieMaker creates a “.wp3″ , “*.avi” or “*.wmv” file. All can be viewed with Windows Media Player.

• Movie Maker Example
• Photo Story Example

The final experiment was with the Animoto web site. This site is a quick way to create 30 second clips utilizing pictures and music. In order to use the audio clip created with the digital recorder, it was necessary to convert it from the “.wma” format to “.mp3″ format. This was quickly done utilizing the ZamZar web site.  With this particular project, the length of the poem was longer than the 30 seconds allowed by the free version of Animoto. Thus, the audio fades away before the poem is finished. This site would be an easy way to visualize a shorter piece of student work.

http://animoto.com/play/QoECFl7Qo2INLERgHvg9tA

None of these projects were difficult to complete and each could be completed in a class period if students have a clear idea of what visual imagery they wish to use. Some of the projects could be shared via the web depending on the file formats required by the various web sites.

 

Challenged by Milt

During Milt Dougherty’s presentation at the 2009 MACE conference, attendees were challenged to move from Education 1.0 to Education 2.0. In 1892, the Committee of Ten studied the high school curriculum in relation to success in college, particularly Harvard. The curriculum recommended by this study is fundamentally the curriculum found in most high schools today. Not only do we organize our high schools around this 100 year old curriculum but it drives much of the testing dictated by NCLB. As society rapidly changes due to the influences of the information age and outsourcing of jobs, one needs to question when the educational system will be willing to make significant change.  The following video may capture the challenge faced by those advocating change in education.

 Bronze Age Orientation Day

Just as the Internet has become web 2.0 to capitalize on globalization, education must also advance to incorporate the following types of skills:

• Focus on individual
• Career focused
• Global perspective
• Engaging / relevant to student’s world
• Personalized / customized
• Challenge to student / teacher

This type of change is demanded by the change in the job market during the past 50 years. In the 1950′s, 80% of the jobs called for unskilled labor. By 2000, 85% of the jobs called for skilled labor which requires training beyond high school. With the current economic situation, many people are losing their jobs. Job seekers are discovering that in order to get a new job, they need a skill set that is dramatically different. In order for students to prepare for this rapidly changing job market, education needs to get beyond the 1892 curriculum and focus on the skills that will help students be gainfully employed throughout their adult life. These skills include:

• Technical fluency
• Communication skills – Verbal Proficiency
• Collaboration skills — Leadership. Coordination, Teamwork, Interpersonal skills
• Problem solving skills – Ability to apply learning creatively to solve complex problems
• Analytical and Thinking skills
• Gumption — Self-direction and Reflection
• Initiative and Ambition
• Inquisitiveness
• Creativity

Unless we are willing to radically change education to incorporate this skill set, our students will be surpassed by students from China and India in the job market.

Are we willing to change?

NCTE Proposing Shift in English Curriculum

Toward A Definition of 21st-Century Literacies Annotated

tags: information_literacy

Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and
  cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of
  purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous
  information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments

2008 NCTE Annual Convention Welcome Annotated

tags: information_literacy

These many shifts are enough to have our heads spinning, but I want to propose one more, one that is intimately tied to the social dynamic of our students’ lives. We’re teaching the Millennium generation, that group of kids who arrived at school as “digital natives” who have a new set of 3 Rs in mind: Relevance, Relationships, and Responsiveness. They live in a digital world in which they turn on, turn up, and tune out with a mere tap on a touch pad. These kids connect with people around the school, city, country, and world as they IM, “friend”, text, game, podcast, and blog. When it comes to preferred technology, they tend (to borrow from the song) to love the one they’re with, so if cell phone is in hand, text messaging is great; if they are online, IM is what counts. Their technology, like them, is mobile and is as much about connecting to people as it is connecting to information.

Weblogg-ed » Connective Reading Annotated

tags: no_tag

If nothing else, this goes to the heart of connective reading and connective writing that we’ve been talking about here and elsewhere now for years. Reading and writing is still about the ability to understand and to create texts of various types, but it’s increasingly more now about connecting to other ideas, other people, and other conversations.

The Fischbowl: NCTE – “Shifting” Toward a New Literacy Annotated

tags: no_tag

Now, I know some folks will cheer when they read these, and others will vehemently protest. I think it’s important to remember that they aren’t throwing away the “old” literacies, they are just expanding what it means to be literate. But what I think is most important about this is the fact that NCTE is apparently basing their convention around these ideas. I think this is a major shift. This is not ISTE promoting NETS, or a coalition of folks from corporations wanting better prepared employees, this is NCTE – perhaps fundamentally redefining literacy and how we teach our children. Perhaps I’m reading (pun intended) too much into this, but I think this is huge.

What in the world is Curriki?

Curriki is a global education learning community, where teachers around the world contribute and share resources. The goal of curriki is to create quality resources for the benefit of students around the world. This online environment was created to support the free distribution of classroom resources. Essentially, it is a wiki for curriculum – thus the name curriki. Membership is free, but users do need to register.

Curriki has resources in the following subject areas (quantities as of Feb. 2008):

• Arts – 703 resources
• Career and Technical Education — 679 resources
• Educational Technology — 802 resources
• Foreign Language — 520 resources
• Health — 878 resources
• Information and Medial Literacy — 302 resources
• Language Arts — 1667 resources
• Mathematics — 1614 resources
• Science — 2396 resources
• Social Studies — 1690 resources
• Uncategorized — 2950 resources

One of the lessons previewed was a “Virtual Biology Lab” over cell biology. This lab, created at Rutgers, begins with a lesson on the microscope and quickly moves into viewing actual images as seen thru a compound microscope. One of the images was a short movie clip of Euglena which captured the movement of the Euglena under the microscope lens.

Another lesson previewed was an AP Calculus lesson on functions. This lesson incorporated text, voice and animation to present the topic. The contents of an entire course in AP calculus were available in this format.

The AP Calculus curriculum is one of many contributed by the National Repository of Online Courses. Like the AP Calculus course, the lesson on Jim Crow Lawsfrom the AP US History course incorporated voice, images and primary sources to present a topic. Courses are available in science, social science, and math. These courses can be accessed thru Curriki or thru Hippocampus.

A featured partner of Curriki is Next Vista for Learning. Next Vista is an online library of free videos for students and teachers anywhere in the world. The collection is divided into 3 sections: Light Bulb, Global Views and Seeing Service. The Light Bulb area contains short videos (less than 5 minutes) in a variety of curriculum areas. The video on Newton’s First Law of Motion could easily be used for seat belt education as well as a science class.

Curriki does offer grants to develop online courses called Curriki Master Units. Currently these grants are targeted toward middle school math. The target area appears to change monthly.

Through its groups feature, Curriki incorporates some aspects of social networking. Examples of groups include Middle School Science, K-8 Math Collaborative, Adolescent Literacy Forum, New Teacher Group and an Interactive Whiteboard Group.