Image Projector

At a recent Technology Mentor conference one of my colleagues presented his version of a "home-made" document camera. Teachers are always asking for new technology to use in the classroom. There have been a lot of requests for document cameras (such as the major brand names). We have purchased document cameras but the cost does not allow us to provide everyone with one. This video shows how a little ingenuity and not a lot of money can create a pretty decent projector for your classroom. It's creative. This camera was one of the hits of our conference if ony because we are always looking for a low cost way to meet the needs of students in the classroom and this one does it!

A World-Wide Audience

We often talk about students writing for an authentic audience. I mean how many of us wrote a paper for a teacher when we were in school to only have the teacher read it, mark it and hand it back to us. Then what happened? We looked at the mark and then tossed the paper. How many tossed papers would others have liked to read? A lot I think. Now there is a blog I found today that brings students out of the classroom and gives them an authentic audience. They are creating "This I Believe" essays and posting them as podcasts. Oh, but wait, in case you think they were just recording their thoughts off the top of their heads...no! Their completed essays are also there in text.
These students have some amazing things to say. Listen for yourself. This is the kind of learning we all should be striving for in our classes!

Did You Know?

If you have seen the old version of "Did You Know" but not the new version, it's worth a look. Updated and still engaging, I think it really shows what we as educators need to strive for as we educate 21st Century students. Click on the play button and spend the next 8 minutes thinking about how we can work together to change the face of education.

Open Office

OK, I tried Open Office today for the first time. I know, I am behind the times, but I have been hooked to that "other" office program and never had a chance to really need to use Open Office. I got a call from a teacher who had some questions about it. I downloaded it and all of a sudden I was surprised for the first time in a long time. Yes I find it has a few problems, but I can't really complain with the price. I know there are people all over the place who will think that this 'open source' software is full of bugs. Quite possibly it is, but that is the chance we take with open source. I've read a few blog posts today from people who are not fans of Open Office. That's fine. I understand that, but I am looking at the glass half full and think that if it serves me only 50% as well as my expensive software, then I'm fine with that. We all have to judge for ourselves. I am a fan of any program that allows me to create PDF files. Small techy things amuse me!! If you haven't tried it, give it a go. I am only at the beginning stages. maybe in a week I will be deleting it and never want to use it again. Hmmmm, I've wanted to do that with the "other" office program for years!

Screencasting

I've been working with middle level students lately and we have been creating screencasts in math. Let me first say that each student has a notebook computer to work on, so this is made easier than going to a lab. Also, let me say that I am working at a 1:2 ratio of teacher to student. This makes things even easier! My current teaching position allows me to do this. However, I can say this without hesitation...When I have a full classroom of students again, I will try it with the entire class. The students love it and it easy for them. Let me explain the process. First we had to give them a theme or idea to make it easy for the students to build the screencasts. In our case, we use mental math strategies as a starting point.
From here the students wrote their scripts (writing in math!!) and then practiced with the software we were using for our projects. That's it! The students then recorded their screencasts to be posted on our learning website. Students as teachers! It's a great thing. Plus these students will never forget their chosen concept.

OK, so what software did we use. Well there is a lot out there to choose from. If you are fortunate to have SMART Notebook software there is a program called SMART Recorder that you can use to record and the save as a movie file. This file has the added benefit of being able to be brought into Windows Movie Maker to be edited if you want. I have been using Jing a lot lately. I like it as well. An today, thanks to November Learning, I discovered ScreenCast-O-Matic. This is a fully on-line creater that is super easy to use and has the added feature of letting you hide the mouse on your screen.
If you would like to take a look at some of the work the students are doing, check out the wikispace we have created at thelearningfactory

Creativity and Education

OK, so this video from TED is not exactly new, but it does tell us something about creativity in education. If you haven't been to the TED site, you must go. It is full of inspiring and thought-provoking videos that challenge the mainstream ideas of many of today's toughest challenges. Sir Ken, does just that.
In this video he says that we are "educating kids out of creativity". Students today want to be engaged in activities that teach. I think every educator needs to listen to Sir Ken and then think of one way they can change their practice this year.
Our students need us to.

Learning for a Purpose

What does this picture have to do with the title?

Wow!! I can't believe I started this post and then got so busy that I totally forgot to finish it.

Look at the above picture. It looks like a wire with a farm in the background, right? Well, it is. It's also something else. There is learning going on here. Self-directed learning at that. I can give anyone a camera and tell them to take pictures. When I get them back some will be good and some will be OK, but probably very few will be great.

However, give them a purpose and you will get results. This is what I did in this case. I worked with a group of students on digital photography with the knowledge that each one of them would be entered in a wonderful photography contest. The River Valley Photography Contest is a great place for students to showcase their work and get recognized.

In this case, it wasn't a case of 'I'll take the best two or three shots'; they knew that each one of them would have an entry in the contest. With that in mind, I gave them the contest "themes" and they were off.

Sure, I got blurry photos, off-theme photos, crazy pictures, funny pictures, but I also got excellent photos and a group of grade 6 and 7 students who were engaged and could tell you a story about each picture.

The photos are now entered in the contest. They were engaged in their learning, and I believe that they will remember this one activity for a long time. So much fun!

Project Based Learning

If you don't know by now, I am a fan of Project Based Learning(PBL). However, it has to be for a real purpose and well linked to the curriculum. Students like well planned and organized PBL assignments. Where is the technology angle? It can be anywhere as long as the project is not about the technology, but includes the technology as an embedded part of the overall outcome. Technology is not going to make the project successful. It is a tool to help students when they are working on their projects. Here is a PBL assignment I have had in my head for a long time. I think its easy, engaging and involves just the right amount of technology for the one computer classroom.

OK, so here it is. Lets say that you are having students writing essays, poetry, short stories, etc. In the regular classroom these writings end up on the teachers desk, get marked, are handed back and then finally end up buried in a locker or in the trash. Now, let's put it all together in a PBL assignment.

In this case, the teacher tells the students that they are going to be writing for a purpose this year/semester. They will all be authors; published authors. This year they will write knowing that the best work will be published in an anthology. This book will be published and made available for sale. The teacher collects the works, maybe working with the students to create a theme, etc.

As the year or semester passes the works are collected. Students know the ending...the best get published. They have a reason to write. A real purpose. Finally the works are collected in a document. The teacher then creates the book on a site such as lulu.com and that's it. A real published book. What student does not want to be an author?

The idea is simple...The technology involved is simple...The results are real...

PBL Rules!

Anytime Learning

If we ever had to wonder if students are engaged in learning after school hours then this image says it all. I had to post this image (even with the names washed out) because I feel it is a concrete example of what students are doing after they leave the walls of the school. They are engaged in their own learning and the learning of the others in the class.
I think we should understand that our students are interested in learning, they just need it to be engaging and interesting. If we meet them where they want to be, we will see more of what is in this post; learning after school hours with the teacher as the facilitator.

Good stuff!

"I've got one computer...What can I do?"

It's a question I hear all the time. How can a teacher possibly be expected to integrate technology and reach students who want to use technology? The answer is not an easy one, but the possibilities are out there. Lets look at one case example:

In an elementary classroom the teacher has a computer at her desk and one older iMac sitting on the table. She also has 25 students. Not exactly the ratio we would like to have in order to make a go at using technology in the classroom. The thing is, there are lots of neat ideas that could be used in the classroom. Providing she has access to a multi media projector she could create a jeopardy game of math facts. Groups of students could be set up at a podcasting "center" to create a lesson of the day podcast. This could rotate daily so that each student will have a chance to participate in making the podcast. The teacher could use iTunes podcasts (video or audio) to enrich the curriculum.

The possibilities are there. Creativity is the key for the most part and students will enjoy the change of pace.

Enjoy!

Conferences and Stuff

I was just at the ACTEM conference in Augusta Maine a couple of weeks ago and I have to say it was probably the best conference for the money anywhere. The focus, of course, is on educational technology and the sessions were for the most part excellent.

I have to say that the session that intrigued me the most was presented by Jim Moulton on project based learning. He really brough it home that we are not teaching 21st Century skills, but skills for any century. He went on to show a myriad of areas where teachers can engage students. The projects could be for schools where 1:1 laptops exist to the "one-computer" classroom. I was impressed with his knowledge and understanding of what it is like to be an educator in the classroom.

ACTEM 2008...A must see!