Terminology - I've got lots to learn

Well, I went to NECC determined to learn to Twitter. I have an account, but I can't say I have been successful yet!

Here are some of the new terms that I heard and am trying to learn:

Twitter, Tweet, etc.: Tweets are text based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to other users - known as followers - who have subscribed to them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, SMS or external applications. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter)
Ning: a site that lets you create your own social network (like Facebook or MySpace).
Back-Channeling: the practice of electronically passing notes among some or all of the audience/students during a lecture or discussion. Common back channeling devices are Meebo and Twitter.
Voice Thread: a way to have a group discussion about video, documents, etc. that is recorded and saved. (www.voicethread.com)

Web 2.0 - 2 Workshops I Attended

Well, I spent quite a bit of my time trying to get a grip on how to use Web 2.0 tools in the district with students. The challenges for me are security, educational value, cost, and ease of use. Free tools are wonderful - but I have to make sure that if I get 600 teacher and 8000 students using the tools, that the tools will continue to be there once they have become a part of their learning process.

Web 2.0 - The Ripple Effect (presented by Cheryl Lemke, the Metri Group)

I took away three things from this:

1. Don't duplicate bad teaching pedagogy digitally. Notice in the diagram below, the typical class discussion is the teacher asking questions, the students answering questions. If the interaction was truly a sustained discussion, it would look more like the diagram on the right. Unfortunately, it is easy to blog duplicate the same problem when blogging. Be sure that your blogs are open ended and allow for sustained discussion.

2. Voice Thread (http://www.voicethread.com/): new term to me - it is a way for participants to record their observations instead of typing them. Very interesting options for students, particularly those who may have trouble with the written word.

3. Scratch: this is an incredible free resource for younger students to do some simple programming. I've got it downloaded and look forward to playing!

Classroom 2.0: What is Web 2.0's role in Schools? (Steve Hargadon)
Well, this turned out to be a debate about back channeling - in this case, there was a panel of 7 experts discussing different aspects of Web 2.0. On the screen was a Chatzy discussion - everyone in the audience could participate via their laptops. What was interesting was how abrupt the tone of the conversation was on the chat. It did not match the verbal discussion at all! I wonder if this is typical...
It would be interesting to see if you could set this up in a high school classroom where there is a class dicussion going on, but students are able to use their cell phones to post to a "back-channel".

Skype Me!

This workshop was very interesting!! I went into the room knowing nothing about this software. Once, I loaded the software, it was Skype time. This allows you to talk and see the person on the other side. Just need software, email, and a web-cam. But, e-mailing will work. I was able to meet and talk to a Technology Coordinator from Illinois. It was great!
Now, I can talk and see my friends and family from other states and not leave the building.

On Sunday, I attended another workshop on Portfolio's. It was also interesting. I am going to use this in my class next semester.

Then, it was exhibit time!!!

I was lucky enough to see an Elvis impersonator. I spent a few minutes there to take a few pictures. The workshop exhibits include Adobe Illustrator, Tech4Learning -Frames, Onsourse Lesson Planner and many others. The exhibits were marvelous. My wish list consists of: Smart Board, small Dell PC, and a web cam for the Skype.

It was a great learning experience.

paula roberts

Second Life

My workshop on Second Life was absolutely fabulous! There were only about 8 participants and 6 facilitators ( I particularly liked the one from Australia...). We were able to create our SL account, avatar etc. It is so cool to fly and jump around in visiting the different locations in SL. I also learned about all of the educational communities in SL. This is an awesome place to visit, and I highly recommend it to all.

Thinkfinity...

So during one of my many walks around the Exhibit hall...I stopped at Thinkfinity.......

Well the only real reason I stopped was because I saw Eric Close from "Without a Trace".....If you read Thomas's blog you will know that he works with the Verizon foundation and was there. Well as I was standing near him...I took the time to learn about Thinkfinity. I had no idea this was out there. They provide so many resources for teachers and they are free. Sometimes they say things are free and they really are not, but these are. I ended up checking out the website and found some great lessons that I can use among other resources. They are truly providing great resources to help our students.

And I did meet Eric Close...

http://www.thinkfinity.org/

Learning about Flash...

On Monday, I attended an all day workshop on successfully creating Flash based animation for the classroom. What can I say but, WOW! This was a basic course with Flash and it allowed us to import images, use motion animation techniques and work with video, etc. I hadn't done a lot with Flash before this and so it was a lot of new information. I definitely learned a lot and will be looking for more opportunities to learn more about Flash. One of the great things about this course was that the instructor really knew a lot about Flash. It helps when the instructor is really knowledgable like he was. He also created a moodle site for us to join that contained all the information that we used in class and other resources in order to help us in the future. There are actual science support files for us to use and view as well. I can defintitely see myself using Flash animation in science to create things that go with what I am teaching. Bottom line: this workshop got my mind going with the possibilities with Flash and can't wait to do more with it.

Distance Education

Have you heard of child prodegy, Adora Syitak? She has been described as the world's youngest author and distance learning instructor and could be found at this year's NECC conference in the exhibit hall at the Promethean booth. She was available to tell her story which included how she got her start with video conferencing. Interestingly... it all began at TISD through the efforts of Paula Yezak who first heard about her through her appearances on several television news programs. Paula initially worked with her to find equipment for her home and to arrange her very first video conference with our elementary TISD GT students. To learn more about this amazing young individual contact Paula and/or visit Adora's web site at:

http://www.adorasvitak.com/Main.html

Captivate Me!

Paula and I were honored to be invited back to present at NECC this year in order to teach a hands-on workshop entitled: Captivate Me! This was our second year for this presentation as we initially presented it in San Antonio last summer. For the 2008 Adobe Captivate presentation, our workshop received a designation of "Best of NECC". This was quite a distinction and it meant that all of the slots for this year's workshop filled up well over two months in advance. Needless to say we had a very full house and were even fielding requests for placements on a waiting list.

Naturally we wanted to be perfectly prepared, so on Saturday afternoon after my arrival in DC, Paula and I spent several hours at the Conference center preparing our lab and testing equipment. We rehearsed again later so that by Sunday morning we were certain that the technology and our handouts would work smoothly and of course both did! The workshop went off without a hitch and we were able to complete every single activity we had planned. Things couldn't have gone more smoothly!

For those of you who are interested in learning more about our workshop... This year it covered the current version of Adobe Captivate 4 software which is used for the development of online eLearning materials. Last year's presentation covered Adobe Captivate 3, the previous version. Both versions offer opportunities for screen capture for the creation of online demonstrations, tutorials and assessments.

To access our listing on the NECC website, please visit the NECC 2009 site and search for Captivate Me! under the program search or copy and paste the URL below into a brower window:

http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2009/program/search_results_details.php?sessionid=43671899&selection_id=48097485&rownumber=1&max=1&gopage=

You may also go directly to http://www.worknsmartr.com/captivate
for the correlated workshop web site where you will find samples, examples, handouts, and student files. Also be sure to see Luann's earlier post for photos etc.

Wednesday Wondering

So another three hour workshop I attended was a Pixie workshop: Digital Storytelling for Beginners. presented by Katy Hammack and Laura Spencer from Santee School District in California on Monday, June 29, 2009 4:30 – 7:30 PM. On Tuesday I attended a 30 minute mini-session at the Tech4Learning booth so I could get five free copies of software, including Pixie 2. The mini-session was basically an overview of how teachers have used the program in student projects. The workshop was learning the program.

I find that Pixie 2 is a lot like KidPix but with elements of Powerpoint. For example, the student can create a series of slides with simple draw tools, stickers and text, then turn the series into a podcast or movie. An added feature is that sound can be inserted or recorded with each slide.

The main drawbacks for me are that graphics cannot be easily altered and all the slides can only transition at the same rate.

The exhibits were a lot of fun the last two days, and I have several ideas to pass along to various colleagues--on writing, free online tutoring and comic book creation, products and solutions for the Director of Technology to consider. I was also able to speak with a few vendors about the products of theirs I use or would like to use:

• How the server version of Micrograms purchased for my campus is not working well; and
• Has Verizon considered dialoguing with Apple? (The answer is, yes, and wait a year or so.)

That has been a great opportunity: To discuss with vendors how the product has worked or hasn't worked for me--or to encourage collaboration with other vendors.

ADOBE BOOTH (Monday, June 29, 2009)

To my surprise I end up loving the Adobe presentation on "Containers". It is amazing how you can create a container (file) that holds every single document including diverse media such as videos, audio, PowerPoint presentations and others. Is there any way for the teachers to have access to Adobe (not only the reader) for at least one computer at home? If they are able to check out and install Microsoft Office in one home computer, they should be able to do the same with Adobe... Don't you think?

CONSTRUCTIONISM, DUCT TAPE, AND PREPARING CHILDREN FOR THEIR FUTURE- David Thornburg (June 30, 2009)

The Presenter defined "Duct Tape"as the Ability to Create Under Pressure. He also suggested to Promote certain level of Anxiety in your students to promote Productive Flow of Learning and to repeat this cycle all over to prevent Boredom and Behavioral problems. Recycling materials will Force students to be Creative. He also suggested some websites to help teachers in the process of promoting creativity in their classrooms:

• http://www.instructables.com/
• http://www.connexions.org/
• http://www.archive.org/index.php
• http://www.free.ed.gov/template.cfm?template=About%20FREE
• http://www.tcse-k12.org/

It was a great presentation!

Tuesday's Child

His name is Eric Close. He is the son of Glenn Close. He stars in "Without a Trace." He volunteers for the Verizon Foundation, which rescued MarcoPolo (World.com and MCI), supports Thinkfinity, and contributes to many charitable causes, such as one for battered women.

Her name is Veronica Davis. She is a former student of mine, grades three through five. She was helping me acquire the 52 punches in the huge card that led me around the Exhibits for two days.

We were passing the end of Aisle 1700 and Miss Veronica stammers as she practically trips over her feet, "Isn't he that actor on TV?"

I turn to look and say, "He does look a little like Eric Close, but nah."

"Eric Close!" she shouts. "That was the name on his name tag!"

"I don't think it's the Eric Close," I reply as I casually take out my iPhone to snap a picture anyway.

-----

Anyway, products to consider:

• Deep Freeze protects computers by allowing teachers to install freeware/shareware, but on the re-boot the next day, the installation will not be there. The Technology Department must allow installations. Also, the software prevents 99% of viruses.
• Eno puts out an interactive white board that is made indestructible, magnetized steel and has a lifetime warranty, a detachable magnetic menu, and operates by pen, tablet, or wireless computer. Very impressive.

There were a lot more, including a security and protection software that can filter email through message content even and a free online comic book resource affiliated with Garfield the Cat that is an interactive writing, tutoring, and publishing resource--among other things.

Okay, okay! Veronica says this is becoming a novel. Must go.

Creating Portfolios in GoogleSites

I learned many new things in this class on Monday. We made templates already correlated to our middle school technology TEKS and are ready to proceed with these to help students create some online portfolios. Prof. Zeitz had lots of these items ready for us. It was a great learning experience.

Brick and Mortar Debate

I went to the Bricks and Mortar Debate (in other words, should we have physical school buildings or go completely online). What was very striking in this debate was the comments made by Gary S. Stager (http://www.stager.org/). The primary point that I took away from this is that we need to be very careful not to implement technologies that simply make ineffective ways of teaching "slicker". One point he made was that white boards simply digitize the teacher as the lecturer - not building students as self-directed learners.

Reminds me again that responsible purchasing of technology in TISD is dependent on the changes and innovations that occur in instruction. If a teacher is still the "sage on the stage" -lecturing students instead of letting students actively engage, it doesn't matter what technology you add. The technology can enhance and faciliate instruction - bringing it to the 21st century, but the teacher has to be willing to take the risk and create that learning environment.

Electronic Portfolios with Adobe Acrobat

What a great class. I did not know I knew so much about Adobe Acrobat. What version do we have. We used 9.1 in this class. The instructor said that version 8 and this one support being able to make comments onto PDF files like making a form that needs to be completed and returned. How cool it that. I did not know that. You can make PDF files from a word doc. from a website and from other forms you have made. All this before our break. More to come.

Monday Madness

Eating one meal a day seems to be the only option for this convention....

Anyway, I attended my first three hour workshop Monday morning, 8:30 – 11:30 AM, Make It and Take It: Blogs, Wikis, and More, presented by Gail Lovely. Although there were connectivity issues, I was able to set up a wiki for potential uses in the classroom, most likely as a presentation tool with links and graphics and attachments needed for lessons. I was also able to create a blog site, which I think will be more useful and child-safe for use with my students this coming school year as I implement the Intel unit I created during the hybrid course. I think I like it better than the one I created during the hybrid training at edublogs. The facilitator for this workshop thinks edublogs has issues--I'm sure being child-safe would be one of them. Beside, students won't have to have an email address for the yolasite in order to blog, unlike the wiki wetpaint site.

More later on the other workshop I attended as well as my experiences with the exhibits.

Sunday in the Park

Actually it was the National Mall....

Anyway, since there were no exhibits Sunday, I went for a v e r y l o n g walk with Anna Marie. We went to the Capitol, the Botanic Gardens, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial among others. This was very exciting and educational for me personally and I hope to share some of the pictures with my students--perhaps using them in a slideshow for a patriotic program this coming school year.

Intending to go hear the key note speaker for the convention and attend a gathering that afternoon and evening, we got back too late for one and I didn't wake up from a much needed nap in time for the other. Uh-oh and Oops! So, instead I perused the convention program booklet and made sure I knew where my workshops were the next day, planned out how to visit the exhibits, and looked at free workshops for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Second Life

I went to a class on Monday about Second Life. Second Life is kind of like a virtual Facebook of sorts. First of all, it is free, you set up an account and then create your Avatar. Your Avatar is your "little person," or digital reflection of yourself. There were some connectivity issues so we were not able to set up our own. Education folks worldwide have created locations in this world that you can go to or take your students to in order to learn from each other or virtually visit historical or famous sites. For example, we went to the Alamo and walked through it and it was very well done. There are many, many groups that you can join that will guide you on how to find places to go.

SUA206 THE POWER OF GLOBAL COLLABORATIVE LEARNING- Mali Bickley (Sunday, June 28, 2009)

Technology when use "the right way" can be extremely powerful. This was probably one of the most interesting and inspirational workshops in my opinion... The presenters were great, they share real life experiences of their students in Canada and how collaborating with classroom in other countries have empower their students learning. We had the opportunity to take a close look at several projects, but one that caught my attention was "My Hero Project". Please take a moment to explore the site and learn a little bit of how powerful collaborative learning can be...

Educator Soptlight: Mali Bickley

Paperless class

WOW! It was fantastic. It showed me how I can still use my pocket pc's and the other technology we have to decrease the amount of paper I have used for teaching. I made an officelive account and sort of learned how to use it. I have decided to use it instead of google docs for my intel project. It will be easier and support it better.

Exhibits

I was overwhelmed and overloaded and did not talk to half of the half of exhibitors. I never dreamed there would be so many.
I am going to try to make a plan of who to go to tomorrow.

Exhibit Hall...

I went through the exhibit hall this morning. There are so many things out there. There will be lots more time tomorrow to see more. I was able to sit through brief thing on Qwizdom. I am always impressed with those interactive learning systems and what they could do for your classroom. I also saw a very cool thing by plasq. It allows you and your students to create a comic books. Very interesting!!!! I think it could bring in those kids who hate everything....They might actually do it through this.

I am attending a workshop all afternoon called Animation and Learning.... I think it should be fun and interesting.

Until next time....

1:1 Laptop Initiatives

Beyond 1:1 – 21st Century Learning in a Textbook-Free Digital School
Bill Morrison, Rapides Parish School (LA)

This workshop was done by a team of teachers and administrators from Bolton High School Digital Academy in Lousianna. The high school has 600 students. They spend a million dollars, but in 55 access points, provided 1:1 Mac laptops for students and teachers, and don't use any textbooks - the teachers create all of the lessons from digital resources. Key statements made:

• Not a technology program – it is a 21st Century learning program
• Testing is still paper and pencil
• Full time technician and instructional technologist at the campus
• Important to have solid laptop agreement
• 1 hour orientation for parents, 3 hour orientation for students
• Kids can have photos and music, but not backed up on server
• Content filter available at home and school
• Keeps a couple of spare computers for students to use when there are problems
  

Social Networking

Social Networking into Collaboration and Synergy
Jamie McKenzie (From Now On – The Educational Technology Journal) (WA)

Jamie emphasized that social networking ins not just turning kids (or adults) loose on wikis and blogs. Social networking involves monitoring and scaffolding. He talked about a site called "Visual Thesaurus" (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/). Incredible site! Take a look!

Digital Storytelling

So far so good. I have attended two classes and I have something on both to take home. I will need to do some more practice on digital storytelling, but the instructor gave us some sites my teachers might like.

The bad thing is that the network keeps going in and out in the class I am in work.

Captivate Me! Workshop

Terry and Paula conducted a workshop called "Captivate Me! Create Engaging Online Tutorials and Assessments." They had a full house! I'm attaching some pictures I took. I'll let them fill in the details of the workshop.
http://www.worknsmartr.com/captivate/

Building Simulations, Games, and 3-D Modeling

I attended an all day workshop on Sunday called "Building Simulations, Games, and 3-D Modeling Using Excel, Alice, GoogleSketchUp, and NetLogo". I went with the intent of finding out more about programs that we would use in summer enrichment "technology camps". I was probably most intrigued by Alice. It is a free 3-D animation program that is very simple to use. Students could be engaged quickly and create their own "worlds". The educational advantage to the program is the introduction to programming logic - if you do this, then this happens. Great way to teach some higher order thinking and problem solving in a fun, game-oriented way.