Filed under the “why didn’t I think of that” category comes this ingenious and practical idea of scheduling translators for our upcoming parent-teacher conferences.
One of our building’s clever secretaries brought this idea to me (since I’m the one who is supposed to know these things) to see if it would be feasible to create a Google Calendar to schedule the translators for our ESL and ELL student’s. Since we have limited translators, it becomes rather hectic around conference time to coordinate where the translators need to go and which teacher’s actually need them for conferences. The system previously employed involved a lot of paper, a lot of writing, and a lot of questions as to who was actually available and at what times. Using Google Calendar, teachers are now able to see when the translators are available and who is using those translators much easier.
Google Calendars: So easy, a cave man could do it.
On the logistical side, our secretary – the Heroin of this story – created one Google calendar account and set up all the different translators as different calendars. Then, at a staff meeting, she explained how to use the calendar system with me playing the role as a very masculine Vanna White.
Although this seems like a simple idea enough on paper (or monitor, as it were) this is one of those things that is effective in it’s simplicity. Like, a Roomba…..for example.
Steve Jobs would like me to believe the new iPad will change my life. I’ll never get another ailment in my life, I’ll never need to change the brake pads on my Mercury Sable, and my cup will overfloweth. The iPad is not just the device I want, it’s the device I need. Why? Because Apple says so, apparently, and the great Sage of the technology universe has told me I need it. Maybe I’ll buy an iPad eventually, but the more immediate question for me is, do I buy iPads for my class?
What kind of devilry am I up to? Read an eBook on the iPad to find out...
See, not that long ago, I applied for and received a grant to purchase a classroom set of iTouches. I was all set to order the iTouches, but I decided to hold off until the mega Apple event slated (pun intended, of course) for January 27, 2010 A.D. Like everyone else on planet earth I was expecting Jobs to unveil a tablet device. But, what I was really hoping for was a refreshed iTouch. Specifically, I was hoping Apple would include a camera, which would open the door to a lot of really cool possibilities in a classroom setting. Seriously Apple, you can fit a video camera in the Nano but not the iTouch? Really?
Alas, they didn’t. At least not yet. But I can’t wait until August, I need to make a decision now.
So now the internal narrative becomes iTouch or iPad? iDon’t know.
To be sure, the iPad is a very intriguing piece of hardware. It appears to do a lot of things well. It might be really great for me, but will it be great for my classroom? Although it’s big and beautiful, I think a strong case can be made for a classroom set of iTouches as well.
iPad
Pros
eBooks
For me, this is probably the single biggest reason to buy the iPad. The idea that I could download a bunch of books onto one tablet as opposed to having a giant bookshelf full of large cumbersome and heavy books is a very attractive idea. Cost wise alone, I’m guessing that I could replace all of my textbooks with iPads and find a cheaper yet still effective eBook for my curriculum and still have change left over. From what I’ve seen on video, the UI of the iPad as an eReader looks really, really smooth and natural. It may take a while to get a student familiar enough with a Kindle to use it effectively, but nearly every kid ought to be able to figure out how to swipe their finger to turn a page.
Apps
The blessing and curse of the iPad, is that it’s essentially an iTouch on steroids. The blessing side of that coin is that it can run all the apps an iTouch can. So, anything I was thinking about doing in my class with an iTouch, I could – in theory at least – also do with the iPad. The apps become a nonissue, and, I would be shocked if some enterprising soul didn’t take advantage of that screen real estate and develop some killer educational apps for the iPad.
Cons
No Multitasking
I suppose I can accept that the iTouch can’t multitask, but the inability of the iPad to multitask is ludicrous. Imagine I wanted my students to explore battlefields of the Civil War in Google Earth then write a post about it in a class wiki or blog. They couldn’t do both at once. I teach 8th graders. They’re not perfect, they forget things and they want to explore and create. A lot. The ability to freely switch back and forth between two applications is necessary. Heck, I need to switch back and forth between multiple applications at once.
No Flash
The iPad is touted as having “the best web experience ever”. That is categorically bollocks. The best web experience, is on a laptop or desktop. If I can’t play Adobe flash video files, that means I can’t access 70% of video content on the web. If I wanted my students to watch a video from CNN.com about the tragedy in Haiti, they couldn’t do it. Now I understand that I couldn’t do this with iTouches either because they also do not support flash video. But the iPad is much more expensive. Do I really want to shell out that much more money? We already have laptops.
Limited Input
I honestly think a student cold type on an iTouch faster than on an iPad. The iTouch is smaller, and therefore fits in two hands easier. I don’t see a student typing on an iPad with one hand unless they’re hunting and pecking, it’s too large for that. It is possible to hook up a keyboard via Bluetooth or buy the keyboard dock, but again, that’s going to cost more, and if that’s what I want, why not just use a laptop? There aren’t any USB ports either. So whatever is created by a student has to be created on the iPad and shared over the web. This isn’t a totally awful idea, but think if you wanted students to make a video. They can’t do it because there’s no camera. They also couldn’t upload anything to the iPad because of the USB omission. Blech.
Mobility
An iPad is larger for obvious reasons. I can easily envision students sitting at their desks using an iPad. But, that’s the problem. What I can’t envision, are student’s carrying these all over school. I’m already fearful of having kids sitting on the floor with these or knocking it off their desk. The whole point of an iTouch, is it can fit in your pocket. It’s small. It allows the owner of said device to go wherever they want with it. If my student’s are going to be confined to a classroom, wouldn’t it be smarter for them just to use a laptop?
It’s not a fair comparison to pitt the iPad vs. the iPhone. I think that’s just a bit apples and oranges. But, a case can be made for the iTouch vs. the iPad. Here’s the crux of the contention: the iPad can do everything an iTouch can do, and a bit more (Books, in particular). But can the iPad do those things so well that because of the cost I’d want to get half a classroom set instead of a full classroom set of iTouches? Especially when I can check out a laptop cart from our media center that can do all of these things and much, much, more?
This week I attended a workshop downtown Minneapolis hosted by the MASSP. The workshop was Anytime, Anywhere Leadership! Mobile Learning and Web 2.0 Tools for School Leaders hosted by Kipp Rogers.
Is this a useful tool for education?
Kipp is a principal at Passage Middle School in Newport News, VA. Prior to becoming the principal at Passage Middle School, Kipp was a classroom teacher for 9 years. He now runs workshops all over the country in addition to his principal duties at Passage Middle School. As the name implies, the point of the workshop was centered on mobile learning, and in particular using cell phones in class. Most of the activities we did together were texting based with our cell phones. We were also encouraged to bring a Nintendo DS if we had them.
Although Kipp gave us a lot of information on what he how he has used cell phones in the classroom and why he believes they are effective teaching tools, some of the highlights for me personally were:
Drop.io Drop.io is a free private file-sharing system that allows users to easily create a place to store things and share them with multiple users for easy collaboration. What’s interesting in terms of cell-phones, is that a number is generated that you can call and record a message. Once that voice message is on Drop.io, you can take the html from that recorded audio and embed it on a different site. The idea that any student could create their own podcast of sorts this way and embed it on to a wiki or blog is very intriguing. Only downside that I saw: the phone number listed was long distance, so, costs extra.
Poll Anywhere I have ActivExpressions that I use with my Activboard, so I don’t have a huge need for a polling service like Poll Anywhere. However, if I didn’t have those Expressions I could definitely see the benefit of using Poll Anywhere. It’s easy to use and quickly allows a teacher to see and interact with student ideas.
Cell Phones are Mobile, So BE Mobile An exercise we did was to go outside of the conference room and take pictures with our cell phones. We then uploaded these to a site and shared the information with other people on our team. If it is structured well, this can be a lot of fun and students could learn a lot from it. The whole point of a cell phone, is have a communication device with you wherever you go. If students are confined to stay in their seats during an entire class, it limits the potential learning opportunities and uses for these devices.
Kipp presented these ideas very well and I was encouraged by the potential for using cell phones in class. I often get frustrated by technology that is viewed as a “must have” in the classroom by some, but there really is not meat to it. It’s all flash, and learning doesn’t really take place. But, as these ideas were presented, I definitely had some cool musings rattling around in my brain for things I could do in my class that students would actually learn from.
That being said, I’m not sold on cell phones in the class…..yet. A few questions still remain before I hop on the bandwagon.
Full Disclosure: I had to leave the workshop early, so some of these questions may have been addressed in my absence.
Equity It’s a gross exaggeration to state that “ALL kids these days have a phone and know how to text” as many teacher often do. Not true. I have a lot of students that know how to use a cell phone, and many that don’t. Some kids text faster than they write, and other kids text too slowly to make it worthwhile.
Who Foots the Bill? Cell phones aren’t cheap and neither are the plans they depend on. If classwork is done in class that requires texting (or voice calls for that matter), is it fair to have student’s or there parents absorb that cost?
School Policies What is a logical and practical way to carry out a cell phone policy for a school that now is against the usage of cell phones? What if not all teachers are on board?
Do Student’s Need To Use Cell Phones? A lot of the argument to be made for increasing technology use in the classroom is that student’s will need to use these skills in the future. Will they ever text Google as part of their job or during their college careers to get an answer? Is the type of “collaboration” that is done with cell phones in k-12 schools the same type of collaboration that will be used later in life? I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a colleague in this way using a cell phone, and can’t think of a time when I would want to. A smart-phone, maybe, but not just a regular phone.
While I see the potential for cell phones in the school, I think there is a lot of logistical wrangling with the school itself that needs to be addressed before they phones are allowed in the classroom. My classroom, at least. I want them to be meaningful and impactful for learning, not just a new toy to play with, a diversion.
Do you use cell phones in your class? How? Are they beneficial to learning? Please, ring my bell….
Epic Epoch has started a podcast to give you an auditory flavoring of the literary musings you love so much. (Too much of a stretch?)
Discussed in episode 1 is Google Sites as used in a class wiki project, using Google forms for quizzes, and speculative rumors on the upcoming (stop denying it Apple) Apple tablet.
The explosion of internet video is probably the best thing to happen on the Internet since the last explosion of something equally radical (Chocolate Rain anyone?). There are so many good video sites out there, and any serious company/website worth its weight in binary has video to show. Heck, even The Home Depot gets this.
So, with so much video content out there, what’s a teacher to do? How does one navigate through the sea of available videos or use a video service that is right for school? Here are my three favorite (and semi-obvious) sites and why.
Feel free to listen to YYZ while reading VVY, it makes this post that much more Rush-tastic.
Vimeo
If you’ve never used or properly explored Vimeo and you love video/film, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not checking it out. Vimeo is the most beautiful video site out there. The quality of the videos found on Vimeo is so high, its almost intimidating. I think of Vimeo as the hottest girl at school: you really, really want to go out with her, but you’re too intimidated to ask her out, so you play minesweeper on Windows 95 by yourself at home. (Author’s note: I believe I married the most beautiful woman on the planet, and yet I still don’t use Vimeo. Hmmm. Enigma.) At it’s worst, Vimeo offers gorgeous HD videos you won’t be able to use in class. At it’s best, it’s an indie film making channel. While there may be some great videos out there to use in a day to day class, the types of video Vimeo offers are a little more niche. I could easily see this used as a platform for a AV or film class or after school group, or if there was an in-depth project that didn’t need a lot of sharing.
Viddler
Viddler is the middle child placed squarely between Vimeo and YouTube. It doesn’t have the quality film making of Vimeo nor does it have the widespread appeal and ease of use as YouTube. That being said, it’s still useful and definitely handles uploading video content extremely well. One thing I really like about Viddler viewers can make video comments at specific points during a video, and it’s really easy to do. I experimented with this idea last year when I made a video about the Constitution as an intro to that unit. For a few extra credit points, I had students comment on the video to see what happened. Comments came slowly at first, but after they saw how much fun their peers were having, they wanted their face on the video.
(To see the video with student comments and interaction, click here)
Although there are some videos on Viddler that could be used in the classroom, I would use Viddler more for controlling the end result and for student interaction. Unlike YouTube, it’s nice that you don’t have to deal with annoying links or adds from videos totally unrelated to the video you’re showing or videos that may be inappropriate.
YouTube
There’s not a lot that can be said about the behemoth that hasn’t been said or explored already. There are a million obvious pros:
Students (usually) know how to use it.
It’s pretty easy to upload to.
There is tons of content.
Videos can easily be shared.
Personally, the biggest advantage of using YouTube over one of these other services is how easy it works with existing student Google accounts. Student’s can make their own YouTube account and have it share a log in with their Google account, which makes it really convenient to post YouTube videos to other sources like a Google Doc, Site, Presentation, etc. Requiring a student to use YouTube is a lot easier than teaching them to navigate through Vimeo or Viddler.
All video services have their pros and cons. You really can’t go wrong with any of these three services, though in a pinch, I’d probably take YouTube just for it’s easy of service and content with Viddler a close second for it’s on video interaction ability.
What do you use? Is there a great service out there I’m missing? Let me know, drop a line.
One of the more frustrating things involved with integrating technology into curriculum is to see it done poorly. Even more frustrating, is to see teachers rave about what a great job they’ve done implementing these technologies with no evidence of actual learning taking place.
Edtech offers so many great and creative ways to engage students in learning, but, to make that learning have some longevity, the technology used in class needs to be used effectively. Just because a website on the Internet has the word “edtech” doesn’t make it automatically worthwhile. It means that it could be worthwhile if it was used effectively.
I’m reminded of this when I watch the hilarious Digital Short from Saturday Night Live, “Shy Ronny”. The best beats, glossy production, and popular backing vocals can’t even save Shy Ronny. Similarly, the website with the most whiz-bang effects, or the trendiest piece of hardware that thousands of dollars bought can’t save a classroom in dire need of a creativity injection if the teacher doesn’t know how to properly use it, and doesn’t care to learn.
I do understand that new technologies and practices need to be tested out and refined in class. I too get excited about trying something new in class only to find out it didn’t work as I intended. If, however, I don’t try to improve the learning objectives and the implementation of the new technology, it becomes worthless to student learning.
What’s troublesome about this mindset in many classrooms, is that the more teachers try to adopt technology in their classrooms, the more many teachers are content with just leaving it at the experiential level. Learning does need to take place, and it needs to happen around the concepts and ideas a teacher is specifically licensed to teach. If it’s just for the experience of having a student “try it out”, what’s the point?
Many blokes have used Google Sites in the past as an effective wiki site for their classes. I’ve giving it a whirl tomorrow for the first time. In the past, I’ve used PBWorks, but have come to the conclusion that since all my students have Google accounts already, and since they can use other Google apps seamlessly (I.E. Docs, maps, YouTube, etc.), Sites just seems to be the most logical choice.
The purpose of starting this class wiki project is:
This class wiki will help you understand how the United States dealt with its status as brand new nation. In the early years of our country, a government needed to be established, rebellions and wars were waged, and the wheels were set in motion to move the nation across the entire continent.
Your goal in completing this project is to add to the collective classroom knowledge of early American History. Your wiki page will provide information on an important topic from this period in our nation’s history. You will create your page with a partner and you will present your page to the class. You will also need to visit your topic page from another class and provide comments.
When all is said and done, you will be knowledgeable about all of the topics covered in our project. It’s interactive, techno-savvy, and fun!
Below are the due dates for different aspects of the wiki project and details on how to get started and what you need to accomplish. Have fun!
Last year was the first time I did it, and although there were some bumps in the road (inevitable) it worked really, really, well, and the students really liked the freedom and creativity it provided.
Take a quick gander at our site, and tell me what you think!
Recently I became a Google Certified Teacher. Huzzah. Huzzah indeed. I’m eager to share what I’ve learned with other educators who think they might be able to leverage Google’s tools to benefit student learning. So, if you have any questions, ask away!
At the beginning of Dec. (‘09) I attended the Google Teacher Academy in Washington D.C. My intent on going was to: A) learn more about the offerings of Google and gain a better understanding of how I could use Google apps in my 8th grade U.S. history class, and, B) pick the brains of fellow educators from around the country who are also doing great things with technology in their classrooms.
Worth it. Totally worth it.
The entire experience was the best professional workshop I’ve attended. Ever. Unlike a lot of workshop/conferences I’ve been to, GTADC equipped me with tools I can use in my classroom today, and it allowed me the creativity to think about how I could implement these skills into my curriculum.
Some of the highlights:
I teach 8th grade U.S. history, so the implementation of Google Maps AND Earth was phenomenal. The point is not to just show students places on the earth, but to interact with them and expand them. A presentation on Google Lit Trips sealed the deal for me. Instead of just showing where battles of the Civil War were, I plan on having students add details into Earth about the surrounding areas and putting the battles in chronological order.
Speaking of the Civil War, how cool would it be to see a 3D modeling of Antietam, Gettysburg, or any other battle site of the Civil War? SketchUp would allow me (or the students) to create one of these and bring the battlefield to them.
In past years I’ve set up a wiki from PBworks for a collaborative project where students research different events that followed the writing of the Constitution. This year, I’m determined to use Google Sites. My students already have Google Accounts, so there’s really no point in using a new service where they’d have to remember a brand new login and password they may use only once. Plus, since their login will work with Google Maps, Docs, etc., there’s near limitless possibilities for embedding these existing tools into their own site page.
Since I don’t teach math, I’ve stayed away from using Google spreadsheets a lot because well, math is icky. Really, it is…. After having a grand tour of it however, I’m ready to sing its praises. While I’m not too interested in plotting and graphing points along an X and Y axis or managing different mathematical formulas (icky, like I said), I am interested in seeing different statistics from different countries over time. Life expectancies, GDP, literacy rates, etc., are all different things one could graph into a Google Spreadsheet. AND THEN, you can insert a gadget into that spreadsheet to make it look really cool and give it some animation over time. AND THEN, you can insert that spreadsheet into a site or have multiple students collaborate on it. Really cool stuff (and not icky at all).
Because of a generous grant in our district, I will soon be receiving a classroom set of iPod Touches. In between guest speakers and breaks at GTADC, I spent a lot of timing picking the brains of teachers (like him and him) who know what they’re talking about and teachers who can help me make this leap. Although it wasn’t sponsored by Google, networking with so many fellow educators from other points on the map was really encouraging and inspiring.
I could go on and on about the awesome things I experienced, but sooner or later I’d run out of bullet-points.
The last thing I’ll say, is that before attending, I was skeptical. And perhaps maybe even a little cynical, and I know I’m not the only educator out there who’s ever had this sentiment. Even though I wanted to go and applied to go, I was leery of drinking the Google Kool-Aid and having them use me as a conduit to hook my young and impressionable students into using their free products for life. After I got there and went through the process, it became evident to me that I should really use these Google Apps for Education for what they are: products (FREE products mind you) to help students become engaged and learn. What’s wrong with that? Why is the outcry not as loud for text book publishers who have been price gouging school districts for decades? Microsoft has been doing this for years, and even Apple fanboys have to admit that Apple’s expansive play into education is rooted in turning a profit first and providing an educational experience second (seriously, if nobody made any money in it, no company would ever bother with us plebes in the lowly public sector). So, if Google is going to offer me and my students something for free to make their learning experience that much better, I’ll take it.
After all, when I was in high school we only had Coke machines, and now I prefer Pepsi. Turns out I can make decisions for myself. Who knew?
