Gone "Digital" Native

Support Your Local Co-Op

2013-06-08T13:55:00.001-07:00

Due to budget cutbacks, our Staff Development department is going to be much smaller. As a result, schools are going to have to look to themselves for professional development. I had the pleasure of working with the staff of Coquitlam River Elementary once or twice a month for this year on integrating technology into the classroom.

One of my last suggestions was to have people put up their hands and give a 30 minute session on some sort of technology in the classroom idea. Two teachers said yes, with the first teacher volunteering to present on using MS Word’s “Book Fold” feature .

The format was to create a lunch hour “Lunch and Learn” 30 minute workshop, complete with a student sample, written instructions, a digital template so you don’t have to make it yourself, and of course a demonstration of how to create a book using the book fold feature.

This lunch hour workshop adds no time onto the teacher’s day, makes for “easily digestible” concepts, and provides support so teachers can use the idea right away.

But how many teachers are interested in integrating technology into their classroom? I found that about half the teachers would be interested in attending this particular workshop. But I also thought that a number of teachers at three other schools within a five to seven minute drive of Coquitlam River Elementary would be interested in creating books with their students using MS Word.

I asked principals to inquire with their staff to see if one teacher was interested in attending. The principal would go into the teacher’s class on the Friday, 15 minutes before lunch. This would allow the teacher to get to the host school, sandwich and laptop / notepad in hand.

Four teachers attended from the three other schools, as well as four members from the host school’s staff.

If you count the principal, we then had 9 people attending this workshop. And when I asked teachers from each of the schools that attended, they all:

Enjoyed the topic
Appreciated the strict adherence to the timeline
Made a commitment to using the idea, sharing it with a colleague, or sharing it at a staff meeting
Would be willing to share a 30 minute idea of their own on using technology in the classroom at their school, and invite teachers from the other 3 schools to attend.

Principals were also really supportive of this idea going forward, especially as there will be fewer professional development options next year. They have committed to encouraging a teacher, (or perhaps more than one) to share a 30 minute lunch time workshop, to communicate this workshop with the other members of their pro-d Co-Op, and to cover a teacher’s class 15 minutes before lunch to allow a teacher to get to their neighbouring school to attend the 30 minute workshop.

What I wonder about next would be the importance of providing handouts online and perhaps screencasting to support teachers sharing a lesson they learned at a staff meeting. That would be like bringing the teacher who taught the lesson to 3 different staff meetings at the same time!

But regardless of what technology is used, local schools banding together to provide pro-d for each other sounds like a sustainable model, and I am looking forward to see what September will bring.

Incidentally, the next 30 minute workshop will be in September, and the topic is “Pinterest for the K-5 Classroom.” Stay tuned!

We’ll Know We’ve Changed Because….

2013-04-14T11:05:00.001-07:00

The title of the blog post is the last part of the inquiry process that I use when working with teachers on technology learning teams. It’s about gathering evidence that the changes you made in your classroom has made a difference compared to the method you were using before.

At the beginning of a Technology Learning Team journey, a lot of participants become concerned with learning about how all the features of software and hardware work. This is normal, but I don’t think we should stop our thinking there. Usually having a focus from the outset on what kind of data we can gather that will tell us if the technology has made a difference with our students’ learning.

One of the things people could look at is how their teaching impacts one student. This is a perfectly valid inquiry – do teachers not spend a lot of time on a small percentage of the population?

Here are some things people could measure when it comes to technology making a measureable difference:

Problem	Strategy	Outcome
A student has trouble with losing their work, or does not hand it in on time.	Teacher has student use their SharePoint virtual classroom to launch, edit, and save their work right in a document library on the website. With the right settings on the folder, only the student and the teacher see that student’s assignment	The student doesn’t lose work, and is able to work on it anywhere they can access the internet. The teacher can give feedback while the assignment is still in progress. The work is always in the folder, and is therefore “handed in” to the teacher on time. It may not be quite done, but at least the teacher can do a timely assessment and see what the student is capable of doing within a given time
Student has a lot of trouble with written work	The teacher gets the student to use some form of technology like SMART notebook or Explain Everything (iPad app) to show their work. Teachers may need to help students get started with the software, and rehearse their narrations before recording.	Students can use images, some text, and their voices to narrate and show what they know. This results in teachers’ getting a better picture of what their students truly know (and what they don’t know). This leads to more accurate assessments, and better follow up strategies.
Teachers wish to improve communication between school and home about homework and special events	Teacher uses an online homework calendar that supports RSS. At the next parent night, parents put their email address on a list to subscribe to the teacher's calendar on their computer or smartphone. Using MailChimp or a program like it, RSS feeds can be turned into email messages (fine if your parents don’t mind their email address being used by MailChimp).	Parents check their, reader app, their inbox, or their phone and get the latest homework and updates on events in class. This could mean that more kids could show up with homework completed, or better prepared for field trips. There might be more parents participating as volunteers and drivers at events as the calendar updates serve as reminders of coming events.

I think that technology does not offer a blanket solution that revolutionizes every child’s learning in the same way, and every day. I do think that thoughtful use of technology can make a difference in different learners’ lives, which add up to saving the teacher time and effort and improves that student’s learning.

That sounds like good data to me.

A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing–Perfect!

2013-04-07T11:38:00.001-07:00

Teachers who are masters of instruction in an area have a feeling of comfort in the classroom. I have learned that these types of teachers may be more likely to teach in different ways, and more likely to accept work in different ways. Mastery of an area of instruction isn’t everything, but it sure helps. I am reminded of the saying “a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.” The thinking is that knowing a little about something and then doing something with it could mean you don’t know enough to get yourself out of trouble.

Except in the area of educational technology. In some cases I think it might be enough that teachers are aware of what software can do, model a little bit of how it works, and then let students get at it.
In recent visits to classrooms, I have been modelling the use of OneNote for students to create projects. After I have helped the students get started with the software, if I taught one person one thing (right click vs. left click) that person answered the question when it came up again. The teacher in the room focused on creating groups that worked, brainstorming topics, providing starter questions, and modeling thinking like a researcher. If we had a technology question after the first 30 minutes, we dragged other kids in to solve it.
It’s true a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, but when it comes to educational technology, it could be a “disruptive” thing. And sometimes that’s a good thing.

Desktop Computers Aren’t Dead–Tablets Brought them Back

2013-03-16T09:20:00.001-07:00

Our district began an initiative to replace teacher desktops with laptops. The goal is to give teachers powerful devices they can take anywhere. Good laptops cost about a thousand dollars, though. So schools would share costs with the district. The district would pay ~1/3 of the cost of a laptop, and the school would pay ~2/3. Schools get good equipment at an affordable price for their teachers, and as part of the agreement teachers would take 6 sessions of professional development over the course of the year, and share a lesson or a blog post at the end of the year.

The thing is, teachers didn’t always get rid of the desktop.

Some teachers connected theirs to a projector or SMART board if they were lucky to have one. Now they don’t attach and detach cables as often. Some keep them at their desk, but take the laptop to meetings, pro-d days, and home. The battery life is 2-3 hours, but that’s typical.

Some teachers don’t bring their laptop home though – even though it is a smaller sized laptop, they still find it heavy. This made me go bonkers first – but hey perhaps this should tell us something.

This makes me think that perhaps the solution is not buying one expensive laptop. Instead, schools should buy 2 cheaper devices – A desktop / tablet combo.

We already know how to manage desktops. They cost ~$250 for a refurbished desktop (or less) with 4GB of ram and a dual core processor. Fixing and upgrading desktops is easy – just a few screws and your fingers are all you need most days.

(Photo from dell.ca)

Team this up with a $600 tablet, and you have great computing power for well under a thousand dollars.

(photos from apple.ca and microsoft.com)

Teachers typically work in one classroom. For their larger computer tasks, they can go to the desktop. Its got the power to do video editing, and 4 gigs of ram for running larger applications like Photoshop and SMART notebook.

But don’t sit there all day – pick up your tablet and go from desk to desk, presenting info, looking up stuff, sending quick messages, and making assessments.

Take the tablet to meetings. Take it on field trips. Take it home.

I don’t have a preference at this point over Windows RT or the iPad. Both have long battery life, light weight, and durable bodies. Both give our IT department fits because they can’t yet manage them the way they can other devices. While this doesn’t mean teachers should stop using them, it does slow the works down considerably.

Which means for now we offer the laptop as the best single device solution. But for the classroom teacher, the best long term solution may be two cheaper devices.

How Kids Can Make their Own Textbook

2013-02-09T20:51:00.001-08:00

If I waited until I had the perfect idea, I probably would never blog anything. So here is another partially formed idea:

Why not ask kids to make a 21st century textbook as a reflection of their learning?

Kids making a textbook – this isn’t perhaps new. But it’s new to me, and I have motive and opportunity. So, this is the plan. It began with watching Sugata Mitra’s video on Child Driven Education.

What do children need to learn? Do they need a teacher?

Next I watched a video about a kid named Caine who made his own arcade out of cardboard boxes. What heart this kid has.

Open for business!

Then I thought, what if I just gave some elementary kids the a few tips on how to use some technology, like SMART notebook or SnagIt for making screen casts and screen capture (both available in many of our schools). Then what if I asked them to make a textbook – on anything. I would provide them with very little information.

Then I will go away – maybe for a couple weeks. Then I’ll go away again, and come back later. Here is what I have planned to tell them:

What is a good textbook?

1.) Contains a lot of useful facts and information on a subject

2.) Doesn't just help teachers teach, but rather it helps students learn!

3.) Can have more than one author

4.) The work belongs to the author

5.) Might make people want to take your course

6.) Looks good

What form could this text book Take?

1.) a book with words and pictures

2.) a game where as you learn you keep playing. If you don't learn, restart.

3.) a bunch of movie clips

4.) a pop up book

5.) a computer file with text, pictures, audio and video.

6.) something else

Most importantly - what is the subject?

Something you know a lot about, and will teach others about
Something you have collected information about from more than one place
Something that gets you excited, and might get other excited too

Some suggested topics:

Science Experiments
Minecraft?
The Rules of Building Things
Things People Eat
Wilderness Survival
Things that Eat People
Greatest Disasters in History
How to be Brave

A few requests:

Make it shareable at school - no bad words, nothing too violent or offensive
Make something you are proud of, and your grandmother would be proud of as well
Be an expert, or become an expert, on your topic

That’s it. I have 3 schools lined up to try this with. Let’s see what happens.

Mixed Bag of Technology

2013-01-30T14:32:00.000-08:00

At a recent pro-d day workshop on the iPad, during the question and answer session I was asked twice by different administrators, "which technology should I buy for a class set?" I could only ask a question in response to their question - "What do you want to do with this technology?"

I explained that perhaps what people need is not just one class set of the same technology, but different technologies. What if there was a projector in every classroom (very important in my opinion), and then the teacher had a document camera, a couple iPod touches, 5 tablets, a teacher laptop, 5 desktop stations in the room, and a teacher website with online folders for both staff and students. This might offer more capability than just one kind of technology, but it would mean putting some things in place before hand:

1.) A Pro-D plan. No hardware or software without a plan to ensure teachers can learn about the tool in a supportive environment. Whether it is through screecasts, workshops, or some form of coaching, having a pro-d plan means the money you invest in a tool does not go underutilized.

2.) A shift in thinking that all students have to do assignments the same way, or even at the same time.

One of the teachers I hope to work with has a mixed bag of technologies in his room. He is in a middle school class, with a portable SMART board, projector, a laptop, and 2 desktop computer stations for kids. The students bring laptops, tablets, and iPod touches to school; Whatever they have, they bring.

My goal is to get together with him, and find where the different technologies intersect. Perhaps he could be screencasting math lessons on the SMART board, and posting it to his website. Perhaps his students could be using their iPads to project their work, and lead a discussion in class. I am sure he is doing some of these things, as he is a masterful teacher. At the very least I will come away with great ideas one how a mixed bag of technologies can come together to create something greater than the sum of their parts.

A Season of Conferences

2012-10-31T13:59:00.001-07:00

7 days and 3 conferences.

Good thing I took my vitamins!

CUEBC

This has traditionally been my favourite pro-d of the year, and this year it did not disappoint. John Oliver Secondary in Vancouver played host to one of the busiest, most jam-packed conferences I have attended. This year, I had the pleasure of helping to organize the conference as part of the executive, however Ian Jukes was a compelling keynote speaker. I really thought he did a great job of using data to support his views. I am sure the teachers in the Okanagan and other districts that streamed the keynote found it equally riveting.
Gary Toews of Abbotsford did a workshop on the iPad in Abbotsford classrooms, and somehow 60 people managed to jam their way into the room! But, for me my one big take away was the presentation by Carolyn Durley and Graham Johnson on the flipped classroom. The flipped classroom doesn’t mean using technology as the focus of the class; it’s about using technology like screencasting to change the way you spend your face-to-face time with students. If students spent their time at home watching your lessons in video form, how would you spend all that time you used to spend lecturing differently?

Microsoft Connected Learners Conference

This is an invitation only conference for Canadian educators and IS staff that takes place once a year. This year it was in Woodenville, Washington, near Microsoft headquarters in Redmond. I was really glad it was so close, as I was able to hitch a ride down with our manager of IS, Brian Kuhn. The conference was in a great hotel, and I don’t think I saw the outdoors for 2 days. I just went from my room, to the conference room, to the sitting lounge for meals, and then back into the conference room. The content was mixed between educational uses of technology, to much more technical issues.
Some of the take-aways I have from this conference include
a)Students in Washington state have access to a statewide Microsoft certification program for applications, such as Word and PowerPoint. This is something a lot of industries want, including the application from Google for an analyst position!
b) Windows 8 looks great on a tablet, and decent on a desktop. The windows RT does solve some problems we have with using the iPad in schools, such as supporting multiple users, having conventional hdmi and USB, and I like the interface. The apps aren’t there yet, but I think they will come in time.
c) Kelowna is the second district to leverage cloud computing with Office 365. This means their teachers and students can take advantage of a lot of great apps and storage – free. They informed their parents with waivers, and things seem to be going well for them. I hope our district can follow suit.

ERAC District Contacts

This was a great conference where we discussed the difficulties around using cloud services, and I am of the opinion that waivers will satisfy FIPPA requirements for using services in the US. BC has the strictest laws against privacy, and in some ways I am very glad about that. However I think that informing parents and students should be enough to make educational use of some great services such as Office 365. I know many teachers want to use Edmodo, but what if our district could offer Wordpress/Buddy Press websites hosted on our network? That might offer an easy to use, aesthetically pleasing alternative to SharePoint. This is what Delta school district is doing, as you can see at DeltaLearns.

Having been through these great learning experiences, I am excited to think of what I can bring to my learning teams now that meetings are underway.

Teachers as Learners

2012-10-01T22:46:00.001-07:00

Teach Your Teacher Something

My school district are in the process of purchasing district license for some professional quality multimedia software. This is good news, as not only will teachers be able to use professional quality tools to produce their teaching materials, but our students will too. Granted, some of our younger students may not need such powerful tools, but one of my colleagues pointed out, we need to give tools to kids that scale up, and do not limit their creativity, just because we perceive kids to have limited abilities.
I was concerned that I am going to have to learn an awful lot about an awful lot of software titles. I mentioned one task I was interested in learning how to do with the new software. Our Information Services Manager, Brian Kuhn said he needed to learn something too, but got his info from a 14 year old kid on YouTube.
As I left the building I thought, “Hey, I know where I can find 14 year old kids who know something about technology”. I pulled into the high school next door, and started asking teachers to keep an eye out for kids who display talent and initiative with using technology.
I would like students to provide professional development around technology for teachers. I am proposing that kids create screencasts for teachers, illustrating ways that teachers could use technology in class, perhaps in ways they had not previously considered.
I would like high school kids to get Graduation Transitions credit for it, or possibly create an Independent Study course for it. Perhaps I can turn it into a contest, and offer some “swag” for the best screencasts. Stay tuned…..
Not only would I be tapping into the capacity of our students, and building a useful library of how-to videos, but I would also be creating opportunities for kids to show alternatives to the traditional essay as homework. Furthermore, we would be living up to one of our core beliefs in our district – that we are all life long learners.
Kids as teachers, teachers as learners.

Follow up: I think I will call it "Another Way to Show What You Know" - make it about students and about their learning.

The Silent Masses

2012-09-29T08:48:00.001-07:00

Laying a Foundation for Inquiry

I have been given the great opportunity to work with a group of teachers from an elementary school that have wanted to start using technology in their practice. The principal releases the entire staff fro 45 minutes by taking all the students into the gym, and bringing in guest presenters such as Mad Science to entertain and astound.

When I began working with my 6 teachers in our first session, I had made 4 questions to answer on a website in an online form. I asked the following questions:

1.) What is your name?

2.) What is an area of technology you are curious about?

3.) What fears do you have about technology, or obstacles to using technology do you foresee?

4.) Where do you think you might like to use technology first?

I sent everyone the link to the page. 4 out of the 6 teachers had difficulty filling in an online form. They didn’t know you had to click in the box before typing.

Before you leap to conclusions that these teachers all must have begun teaching before technology was commonplace, one of the four teachers was a year ahead of me in my high school.

My plan is to make technology mean something to each of them. I have begun by having teachers use the photocopier to scan a a paper copy of a unit they might use this fall into digital form.

This is an important first step. No matter what kind of technology they use, having resources they are familiar with means they don’t have to start from scratch. This also means that teachers can better share and remix resources amongst each other. One of the teacher has over 70 boxes of resources, and feels it is her role to be a resource for new teachers. How much more could she share if she could pass resources on digitally? How could they be remixed and kept current?

The next step is remixing content. Chop and slice what you need, mix it with other sources, and make something new out of it.

To be continued.

Celebrating Professional Development For Teachers, By Teachers

2012-05-07T07:34:00.001-07:00

Recently I have been reading some email exchanges where some teachers have been emailing their thoughts about our Learning Team Celebration to all the teachers in the district, as well as all the administrators and the District Leadership Team. I have had to use the district distribution list, but only on a few occasions to inform teachers about professional development events happening in the district. I don't think that it is an appropriate place to begin political discussions.

I am going to use my blog to weigh in on the matter. I don't know how many people read my blog, but I know they come here because they choose to. I will put it out to twitter, and let people who follow me know that I wrote a blog post in case they wish to take a few minutes and check it out. I don't expect my employer to provide me with a vehicle to share my opinions with every teacher in the district.

For those of you not familiar with our district, we use an Action Research model for teacher professional development when we run a learning team. Teachers can apply to be on a learning team, where they would like to examine some sort of inquiry over the course of a year. It could be something to do with technology, examining the way they teach math, or something related to assessment practices. It is something that each teacher chooses for themselves, and it's based on the needs of the teacher and of the kids in front of them on a day to day basis.

Learning Teams meet 6 times a year, and are typically provided release time for 3 of those sessions, matching it with 3 meetings on their own time, usually after school. I have had the pleasure of working with 8 learning teams this year, with the teachers on these teams focusing on an inquiry around how they are incorporating technology in their practice, and how it impacts student learning.

Every year in may, all the different learning teams gather at Winslow Center in mid may, and put up displays and pamphlets and videos / slide shows based on what they learned that year, and how it made a difference to their students. There is a buffet, and teachers have a good time networking, exchanging ideas, and gathering new ideas for next year. The executive members of the Coquitlam Teacher's union and the District Leadership Team and honoring the the work of these teachers. It is deserving of a celebration.

Under Bill 22, the ministry of education has said they will write our contract to ensure the alignment of professional development with teaching needs.

What will that look like? Does this mean that the Ministry of Education, they will dictate to teachers what kind of professional development teachers do, and how they do it? If so, how can they ensure that this meets the needs of individual teachers, who are trying to meet the needs of the students in front of them? I am in favour of professional development for teachers, by teachers.

I hope to see you at the Learning Team Celebration on May 15th so we can recognize the efforts and achievements of the many great teachers in our district.

Teachers Learning to use SMART Boards need the Right Photocopier

2012-05-01T21:52:00.000-07:00

(from SMART Technologies)

I had great conversations with some elementary teachers on a learning team today. Their team is adopting SMART boards in their classroom practice. Some have a bit more technology in their backgrounds than others, but all are fine teachers. One of the most interesting comment I heard today, (and yesterday, and in a few other sessions recently) was the lament that some really great activities took a lot of effort to produce, but were very quickly "consumed" by the students. Half an hour to make, 5 minutes in front of the students. Reminds me of when I make pasta for my family!

Learning new technology can be a challenging and even intimidating. But having to create your resources from scratch? A really depressing thought. No wonder some teachers are reluctant to take on new technology.

One piece of technology teachers in our district should get familiar with is our new photocopiers. Just got them last month. But not because they print really sharp copies. It's because they scan.

(photo by fplgnome @ flicker - CC licenced work)

When you put a page, or more importantly, an entire file folder of pages on the feed tray and hit scan, the new copier asks you to put in an email address, such as your own. Then, you get your scans as a PDF file in your inbox. I timed it - took less than 30 seconds for a single file to get to my phone. Now - throw the paper file in the recycle bin.

Don't flinch. You don't need it anymore. It's now an electronic copy, and is on a server backed up by another server. It's safe. And easier to share. And - you can put it on your SMART board.

This means that teachers can learn how to use a new tool, but use resources they are familiar with.

I don't believe in taking new tools and try to make them work in the same old ways. I think that we should use technology to do some great teaching in ways we couldn't do before we had it. But, in order to help teachers adopt these new technologies, I think it would be a good practice to take lessons and resources they know, and put them on the SMART board. It helps them to focus on learning how to use the tool, and feel comfortable that they are are going to be able to offer the same quality of instruction they did before they had the SMART board.

Besides, who knows how their old lessons will evolve once students and teachers can write all over them on the SMART board, add clip art, video, and link out to current resources on websites.

Who would have thought that the right photocopier can help shift teacher practice?

iPad Vs. Windows Tablet–Please don’t Shoot!

2012-04-01T22:45:00.001-07:00

As a classroom teacher, I would love to use the iPad. As the technology coordinator for the district – it’s a bit problematic.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my iPad. I don’t love it because it’s an apple product – but rather that it is a well made product. I don’t love it because it is bling - but because as a tool, it does the job and does it well.

I love the modern tablet, especially the iPad. It has a 10 hour battery (optimal). This means kids don’t have down time mid day. It has access to a half-a-MILLION apps from the iTunes store. There is a growing community of apps just for education, and some of them are supah-cool! It has a camera, mic, and speakers, and is easy to use for simple multimedia projects. Some people have said to me that there is no way that someone would use the iPad to film with, but I have seen it on numerous occasions, and done it myself.

As the technology coordinator, I am concerned with deploying equipment to kids. I want reliable, long-lived equipment that meets the needs of kids and teachers.

The problems with deploying the iPad on a large scale, is that it wasn’t intended for this. It was intended to be an individual consumer device. In order to put apps on it, we must create a unique iTunes account for each iPad. Then, I must install each app 1 at a time. And I must pay full price for each app, as there is no volume licensing for these apps in Canada. This will have to be done by the teacher, and if the teacher is fortunate enough to have 30 iPads in a class, then they might have to do this work. I am told the IT department cannot do this remotely. Also, repeat this process to do updates. And you need to buy an extra piece to attach it to a projector (called a “dongle” – a name I can’t stop snickering about. )

When students are using school purchased iPads, they must email the work off, if they want to get their work off the iPad. But if they share iPads (say you can only buy a class set of 15) and you can only put one email on an iPad, who’s email goes on the iPad? A generic one? How does the teacher keep track of the work? We can’t save it to our network drives, and we can't upload it to the marking bin on a teacher’s SharePoint website.

It’s doable, as Surrey School district has deployed 1500 iPads this year.

Looking at the Dell ST, I think I have a solution to some of these problems. It costs more than an iPad, but not by too much. It currently runs on Windows 7 but it will also run Windows 8. I tried it. I have a district wide license for many of the software titles we could put on it, like MS Office. In the long run it could be less expensive to operate.

The IS department can image them like they image a laptop, and remotely update them.

When a student logs in, their individual network drives and email accounts are loaded – like a laptop. No questions as to how the student can get their work off, and sharing them between students is easily accomplished.

It comes with a USB slot and an SD card slot. It has an HDMI port, so you don’t have to buy a dongle – this will work with your projectors.

It has a rubber and plastic backing, and won’t slide off a sloped student desk. You can access the battery with out a proprietary tool – just use a flat head screwdriver to pop off the cover and Phillips screwdriver to remove the battery.

It has all the strengths of a laptop, and the ease of use of a tablet. Two downsides.

I have experienced lags in on screen keyboard performance. This could be attributed to the fact that I loaded an untested Operating System. If the glass interface was not sensitive enough, and meant that every keystroke didn’t register, that alone would be reason enough not to deploy it, but I would think this is not the case as Dell would not likely make this kind of mistake.

The second problem is that while Windows 8 can load both programs and apps from the store, there aren’t half a million apps in the store. Some of those apps provide a really unique educational experience. There are 65,000-ish according to the Vancouver Sun, but I would call this a growth market. But, still a small number compared to the iTunes store.

This tablet bears consideration. I think it would be best if teachers knew what each tablet could do and then make an informed choice based on good information.

I wonder who would choose which tablet for their class and why?

Teachers Adopting Technology

2012-01-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

As a learning team facilitator, I have the privilege of working in a variety of classrooms around my school district. So periodically I am going to write about outstanding teachers using technology in their classrooms in SD43 Coquitlam. I think I will begin with a teacher that was on the first learning team I ever facilitated.

Naomi is an elementary Student Services teacher. 4 years ago Naomi began by joining a technology learning team, which I had the pleasure of facilitating as a classroom teacher released for this purpose. Naomi was perhaps a bit tentative, about her use of technology, but she make a commitment to forge ahead by using technology a bit more with each passing week, month and term.

Today, Naomi is leading the learning team at her school as well as getting special needs students to write wikis to improve not just their skills, but their attitudes towards writing. She also uses Smartboards in her practice, and continues to learn new things about them as well. Naomi is also bravely putting herself out there by writing a blog. This is what 21st century teachers do, and I am proud to call her my colleague.

Windows Phone vs. iPhone–The Winner for Teachers

2011-12-17T14:47:00.001-08:00

My district has been offering two new phones to administrators and managers; the Windows 7 (Mango) phone, and the iPhone 4S. They also offer some less fancy options that may appeal to people who “just need a phone”. But which of these two options would be best in education? I got to handle both of them, and then went and consulted some very smart guys who sell phones for a living.

Usability

Both the phones have a great interface. I am used to the arrangement of the icons on screens on the iPhone. This has been around for years, and it is what people have come to expect. A very short learning curve – and consistent with the iPad.

(photo from apple.com)

The windows phone uses tiles, and like icons they can be rearranged. However, because of their large surface, tiles can display a small thumbnail of information – like when someone posts a new photo on facebook. You don’t see a notification – you see the photo! Pretty cool. I would say as far as accessibility and navigation, they were both pretty smooth. The Windows phone (an HTC HD7) has a slightly larger display – easy on the eyes and easier for texting with.

Overall – Tie.

(photo from rogers.ca)

Durability

The iPhone 4 and 4S are made of a durable glass. The front and back are made of the same durable glass – but it’s still glass. If you drop it, you will crack it. According to the sales guys, you must put it in a case. Apparently, some people have a different case for their iPhone for each day of the week. When I asked the sales guys in different locations why they thought apple went with glass as opposed to the original metal back, they said '”look and feel”.

It does feel really good in the hand, but would I keep it out of the case?

The HTC HD7 Windows phone has has a combination of plastic and metal back. It has a little hinge around the camera which is intended to prop the phone at an angle like a desk or bedroom clock. That’s all well and good, but anytime you build a part that moves, that part will potentially break. But, this part will probably last for 3 years, and after that people will move on to a new phone.

Edge – Windows phone.

Social Networking

Commercials tout that Windows and Microsoft products are for business-y people, and that iPhone is for people who want to have a phone for work and play. While there are apps for every social network in the iTunes store, the Windows phone makes connections between the people you know, all the networks they are a part of, and seamlessly allows you to follow your conversations with them throughout many social networks. Someone sends you a message through LinkedIn, but you can also see other ways they have communicated with you, such as tweets and email. All at one point of contact – the person’s picture.

No one else has this. There is no app for this. Android can’t do this. Seamless integration of multiple networks. Slick.

Edge – Windows phone

Productivity and Multimedia

I love the idea of iCloud. It’s just like Mesh by Microsoft. Haven’t heard of mesh? I am not sure a lot of people have, but it is Microsoft's cloud solution. Its been around for a couple years now.

However in our district, we try to be conscious of FIOPPA – a law that tells us not to host our students information on 3rd party server in the states. So sending our student’s report cards to a US cloud service is not allowed. However, our district uses SharePoint websites to post lessons, homework, and host documents. Once we move to SharePoint 2010, we could use a Windows Phone to send files to and from our own internal SharePoint sites.

Edge – Windows phone

When it comes to camera and video, I liked the iPhone better for making minor edits to my photos. Facetime is also something that is not available on other platforms, but I wonder if I could put Skype on a windows phone, and video conference that way?

Edge – iPhone

Apps

The windows phone market is not as big as the iTunes store. Also, there are a lot of really good apps in the iTunes store specifically targeted towards education. Also these apps, and the iPhone itself dovetails very nicely with the iPad. Currently, there is no good windows alternative for the iPad, which is being brought into classrooms everywhere by students and teachers alike.

Will there be more growth in the Windows Market? I think yes, but for now:

Edge – iPhone

Final Verdict

Who should buy a Windows phone? I think educational leaders should. It would be great for networking, and securely moving their digital resources around our district. I would like to see my district leaders building a pln, and always carrying their presentations, important documents, and professional reading with them. How cool would it be if the superintendent of schools had a lull between meetings, so they pull out their phone and get caught up on some reading or paperwork?

So who should buy an iPhone? It’s all down to personal choice, but I think teachers should still pick the iPhone over the Windows phone (for now). It has more apps, including apps that are made for education. It works with the iPad and iPod touch which many students are bringing into the classroom. Just don’t drop it, and always keep it in a case.

My next phone will probably be an iPhone. But for now, I have to perform a factory reset on my Android phone. For the second time. Argh.

Right Now–Desktops aren’t Dead

2011-11-28T10:02:00.001-08:00

(Great song – edgy video from 1992)

What is the power of one computer in a classroom.

When I “relocated” a computer from one spot in our school to my desk in my classroom (2004?) – and connected it to the Internet it, opened a window. Every day, we gathered around my desk, and we looked. Let’s see what penguins in Antartica are doing right now. I wonder what the Eiffel tower looks like right now. I wonder if we posted one of our stories right now, would someone read it off the website.

One of the things that makes computers in the classroom great is the capacity for right now. It doesn’t matter what the device is, but the ability to make stuff happen right now. Maybe what we need right now are more desktops in classrooms. They are cheap, they connect to the internet, they last a long time (usually).

The iPad, the iPhone, all flavours of Android Tablets, Android Phones. Laptops, and some of the more durable netbooks. These devices are coming into our schools right now. Read about the future of technology, and right now doesn ‘t seem like the right time to buy a desktop. Right now people think schools should use laptops or tablets, and not get desktop computers. I am not yet sold. If you have a small budget, don’t dismiss the power of one computer in the classroom.

CUEBC 2011 - Fabulous Opportunity

2011-10-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

I had a great experience at CUEBC (Computer Using Educators of BC). I had a great facility to teach in (thank you Dave McCristall and Dennis Wong). Terry Fox Secondary in Port Coquitlam offered not only an easy to navigate school, with some pretty interesting workshops to attend.

The keynote speaker David Warlick showed me how today's kids don't have a ceiling (or walls) around their learning anymore - except the ones schools place around them. Ouch! But he has an interesting point. I am on twitter with another educator who has challenged his kids to create examples of 21st centruy learning, but not use camera phones. I think this might be failing to recognize the camera phone for what it could be. I will politely raise this issue with him, and hope he will have a discussion with me.

I also attended David's workshop where he drew the analogy of his own professional learning network as being like a garden. What I took from this very well crafted presentation (although there were a few technical glitches) was the need for me to do some more professional reading - reading more blogs of other teachers. I came away from his workshop thinking that in order to progress in my profession I need to read what other great educators are doing, comment, write more myself and then find some way to share what I am learning.

During an awesome lunch, I did something I had not planned on. I volunteered for a position on the executive. The position involves putting out a newsletter for CUEBC and promoting awareness of CUEBC and the work of it's members, or issuses surrounding technology in education to a broader audience. CUEBC has a twitter account, so I think this is where I will begin. I think this will force me to carve out time to do more professional reading - so I can pass it along.

My second afternoon session was with Orwell Kowalyshyn as he showcased some of the exciting things happening in our province's largest district of Surrey. They have distributed over a thousand iPads to teachers, and he showed some of the apps that teachers were using. My district distributed laptops to almost a quarter of our teachers. I wonder about the differences between putting an iPad into teachers' hands vs. putting a laptop in teachers' hands?
I enjoyed the chance to talk to vendors. None of them pressured me, all just wanted to talk. I thought the demonstration of SMART technologies gave me a lot to think about. How does this SMART table fit into classrooms? How can SMART boards be better used by students and teachers alike, and transform people's teaching styles because it can do things a regular white board cannot? This is a device that the majority of teachers I work with on learning teams are exploring.

It was my fifth trip to CUEBC, and I look forward to going again next year. I hope some of you will join me.

Getting Comfortable with Discomfort

2011-10-19T10:07:00.000-07:00

In my new role as a learning team facilitator, my job is to not tell teachers what they need to learn about technology, or tell them how they need to teach in class. I don't know how all the technology in the world works; how could I? Instead, I have to help teachers focus on an inquiry. We must ask ourselves "How does this use of technology impact student learning?"

When I have listened to teachers in our Learning Team meetings, I hear them say "We are really concerned that we won't learn enough of the 'how-to's' when using technology (be it interactive whiteboards or SharePoint classroom websites)."

I have to send the message "You don't have to know everything - just enough to jump in with both feet, and start swimming".

To create some of the resources I am providing for teachers, this month I have had to learn to use two new pieces of software, Camtasia (makes screencasts and edits video) and SnagIt (grabs pictures of your screen and edits them). I have recieved no formal training in either program, but my co-worker and mentor Martine showed me how to get started. Then I had to figure out not only what I was going to say or teach in a tutorial about different pieces of software (Outlook for email or MS Word), but I had to learn how to use the software as I went. This made me feel uncomfortable, as I wondered "Am I doing this right? What if I have to redo this? How long will this take?!?"

Techsmith sent me some emails with links to screencasts showing me how to use different features in SnagIt, such as how to search efficiently through your screenshot library. When I got the email I thought "Oh no....I don't have time for this! I am way to busy! How long will this take?!?" But then I clicked it, and it only lasted about 5 minutes. I got the idea, and began applying the skills right away - not perfectly, but good enough to get the idea across.

This feeling of discomfort was the feeling of me learning something. I have to get comfortable with this feeling of discomfort because this is what my colleagues feel each time they begin to learn something new with technology, and in this way I can relate to them. I must have faith that each time I learn something new about technology, it will benefit me somehow, and I must be patient even if I can't see the "when" right away.

I'll just start using it, and see what happens.

Forecasting Marks

2011-09-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have to just get out of the way, and let your students work. Sometimes you must creep around the classroom, observing but unseen....like a NINJA! If your students see you, tell them "you can't see me, I am a ninja" and move on.

I tried to stay out of the way as when I walked around, the majority of the questions needed to be answered by reviewing my instructions, the screencast, or the samples of work I provided. By getting out of the way, or forcing the students to walk across the room to get my help, often students would talk to a neighbour or just review the instructions themselves.

But sometimes, it pays to go around the room and make forecasts. Because of the nature of my course, I would often get 120 assignments at a time on my desk. My course was short, approx. 7.5 weeks, so I had to mark all the assignments, and turn them around really quickly. So, to save myself time, I would take my markbook around the room with me, and then talk with students about their work. I would always refer to the criteria, or the broad strokes of the assignment. I was careful not to compare them to any other students, but to what I felt they were capable of accomplishing in class, if they applied themselves. I would then "forecast" their mark, usually a score out of 5 (Not Meeting Expectations, Minimally Meeting, Meeting, Fully Meeting, or Exceeding Expectations). Often, students would ask, how do I get a higher score? I would then ask them to think about their work ethic, quality of work, the criteria of the assignment. They usually found their own answer. Sometimes when they were doing really well, we would talk about "taking it to the next level" and I would tell the kid to relax, they are doing well, but what could they do to go beyond the assignment based on their interest.

As a result, I saved myself time on marking (changing forecasts is easy if you write in pencil, or save it to a spreasheet), and I usually got better quality work from my students when they turned it in at the end of the given time.

Assessment comes from the latin "to sit beside". I think that this method of gathering marks was my favourite. It enabled me to focus kids on what mattered, and I got to know them better.

Colorful Writing Practice

2011-09-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about how to help struggling writers using technology in the classroom. One thought I had was about was probably the obvious choice - MS Word. True you could use any word processor, but this is what I am given, and lots of people have it in their homes. So, I use what I have.

Kids who have problems with handwriting (or even teachers, like yours truly) like using word processors because when you strike the key, the letters always look the same time after time. But there are other ways to use the word processor to help.

As a primary teacher, I used to walk around the class, and I would help kids by scribing some of their work if it looked like they needed help keeping up, getting ideas down before they forgot them, organizing their sentences, or to just keep the momentum of their writing going. Not every kid needed help, but there was only one "me" walking around. A bit of legwork needed, for sure.

I was thinking, what if we put a struggling writer in front of a computer. Then, when I needed to help scribe, I could just type what the kid dictates. I can type way faster than I can write, and as their typing speed improves they would need less help. But, also perhaps I could change the color of my text. If they wrote in one color, and I wrote in another color, when you zoom, back you could see how much you are helping the student, and how much they are capable of themselves. Over time you could compare this with other assignments, and have a quick visual check by looking at the size of the color blocks to see if the student is writing more on their own, still needing the same amount of support, or needing more support. You could see if they always need help in the beginnings, or the endings of stories - and if that were the case, you could make that a focus in your next writing lesson.

Below I have taken 3 samples (not real writing samples at this point) and zoomed out. In the first sample we see lots of green, the teacher's writing color. The next one has less green, and the third sample has less still, with much of the green appearing at the ends of paragraphs and the story itself. This might mean the student is improving in being able to write more details, but needs help writing concluding statements.

Now if only I could find someone who could try this out, and tell me if it helped them and their students with writing.

Technology is Not a Blanket Solution

2011-08-12T23:25:00.000-07:00

I think I have hit upon one of my talking points for the coming year - each use of technology in the classroom is not intended as blanket solution for all the students in your class.

In a recent discussion with a colleague, he raised the idea of using twitter in the classroom, only to shoot down the idea because he was worried about how the one kid in the class, the one without an iPod, smartphone, computer, or POD would feel. This to him was reason enough not to attempt such a use of technology in his classroom.

When a kid forgets his lunch, we put a shout out to the class, and everyone is happy to kick in. When a child can't go on a field trip, the school foots the bill. We can't use this as a reason to not eat lunch, go on a field trip, or to use technology in new and exciting ways in class.

I have proposed having parents who have smartphones subscribe to teachers' homework calendars on the teachers' public website. Yes, I realize not all parents have smartphones - but if only a few parents have smartphones, and their kids have a habit of forgetting to write down or do their homework, then this reduces the number of students I have to chase down to get their work. This improves my working conditions, improves the parent's feelings of involvement, and will improve that child's education.

Technology in the classroom has the potential to improve education by meeting the needs of small groups of students, such as "the absent minded professors" group of kids. Technology offers us ways to personalize learning in the classroom.

How Easy is Easy Enough?

2011-06-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

I remember hearing something about the company Palm. Back when palm pilots were all the rage (yep, I had one) I read that there was a real concern at about how many clicks it would take to do a task. Any more than 3 clicks, and the company considered it a problem. I think this kind of thinking needs to be employed in schools as they incorporate technology. In this particular instance I am thinking about parents.

It's for the We use SharePoint websites for our classroom websites in our district. They are incredibly powerful and incredibly useful. Our district is always working at making them look better, and more user friendly. I think one of the ways we could start using our homework site is to set up our publicly viewable homework sites so that parents can rss them to their smartphones. This would mean that whenever a teacher posted their homework to their class website, parents would get it in their inbox on their iPhone, blackberry, or HTC. Any smartphone could do this. So can an iPod touch. I checked.

You don't need to have a smart phone or iPod to subscribe to a website by rss. You can do it on your computer. However I think of the power of a parent who can just pull their phone out of their pocket and say "Hey don't you have math homework today, page 197 #1-15?" Middle school students mean well, but there is a lot going on, and I want to make it easier to support them.

Yes, a parent could find my homework site. They just go to my district site, click on school sites, click on my middle school, click on staff directory, click on staff, and then click on my homework site link, and then click on Homework Calendar. That's a lot of clicks. If they are savvy computer users, they would bookmark the site. Too many clicks to do on a regular basis.

Parents might not make regular use of my homework site then.

Better just to send all my parents the rss feed link at the start of the year at parent orientation night, and walk them through putting it on their phone. I see parents using their phones all the time. They have them on their person and they are comfortable using them.

Let's make it easier for the parents to support their kids' learning at home. It might mean I don't have to chase down so many missing and late assignments.

Making Authentic Assignments

2011-06-22T05:31:00.001-07:00

My marks are in, my students feel like they are done. Problem - they keep showing up to class. The year isn't done, and while I am not likely at this point to change a lot of student marks, I feel as though teachers must still hold the possibility of low marks over kids like some sword of damocles . Instead I have said at the beginning of the class that this final assignment is not for marks. At least once a class someone asks me "is this for marks?" I reply that not everything is for marks, but everything in this class is worth learning.

Some students are making animations using new software that I am unfamiliar with. I know just enough to get started with Flip Boom animatior classic, but not enough to really teach it well. So I decided to crowd-source it , and have kids teach me how it works and how it doesn't.

One of my students is teaching class. She is 13 and has done a lot of research on her own about advertising. She taught my class a lesson about what ads are, what goes into an ad, the layout of an ad, a rubric on how to judge if you have made a successful ad, and then prepared some examples. She walks around the class, helping others, and I come in when needed. Otherwise I sit at my desk, and keep out of the way on this one.

I am contemplating taking this a step further. I wonder if some of these kids sent their ads in to the brands they have chosen as spec ads, would any of them respond? Would they encourage my students? Would any of them pay my students for their project? What kinds of copyright would I have to sort out to make that happen? I guess I will have to keep thinking about this.

What I can say is with the year winding down, my students for the most part are still learning even though the kids are nuts for the summer weather. And that is not too bad, I say.

Changing My Marking For Better of Worse

2011-06-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

When I began my position at Moody Middle I had kids printing out their first assignment. When I looked at the pile of paper from the first 4 of 6 blocks on the first assignment, I saw several problems.

1.) Wow, this is a lot of paper. They aren't going to keep it.

2.) Once they printed the paper off, it was not going to be easy to make changes and make corrections.

3.) Once I wrote my comments on the paper, they would only read the comments if they were negatively surprised at the mark.

So then I started using the online "hand-in bin" on my classroom sharepoint site. I would write in the comment box on the student's hand in form, which only they can read. This reduced the paper. But, there were still some problems:

1.) Students didn't read the comments unless they were negatively surprised by their marks.

2.) Students didn't make changes or corrections to their work after handing in their work, even if they knew what they needed to improve upon or correct.

Now, I mark in a couple of different ways. Sometimes I record my voice into their MS Word document as an embedded object, and the kids listen to my comments. I don't say the mark until the end. Mostly, I have just do a lot of loops around the room, and mark students with inconsistent performance first, lower achievers second, and high performers third. But, I call up my high performers to my desk for a ten second "whatchagonnado" chat at the start of the assignment, and periodically I ask them to share ideas mid assignment. Then I have other students weigh in on those ideas, so we are all on the same page.

In the first days of teaching, I have to repeat the instructions and criteria daily. I never show really good examples of completed work, or else I get 30 copies of the same example - mine. I teach the kids about how to self-assess, and stress the importance of being able to justify the mark they give themselves based on the goals of the assignment.

Marking now takes a couple days for some major assignments. Sometimes 3 days. I have just finished one of those weeks. It's tiring, but I think the fact that marking major projects has become a conversation has paid off with improved learning. And, I feel I have connected better with my students this way as I only get to know them 8 weeks at a time.

Worth it.

My ESL Strategy Worked!

2011-06-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

Two days ago in my classroom I saw a girl in my class using the Google Translate button to translate a lesson I was teaching. She selected her home language - Korean - and then began to hover the mouse so that she could see the English translation of the Korean sentences she was reading. So not only was she learning my lesson, she was learning English as well.

I didn't know that her level of understanding of English meant that she was having difficulty understanding my lessons; she just sat there very quietly doing her best all along. So, this idea helped one student. I wonder if it will help more. But, being able to plug google translate in so easily makes it worth the small effort to add it to my lesson pages. I wonder if there are more kids using it that I don't see?

Work in Progress

2011-05-09T11:40:00.001-07:00

It has taken a couple years, but I think one of my ideas is going to take off in our district. When talking with Aboriginal Ed teachers and youth workers over the last couple years, they have pointed out to me that the Aboriginal / First Nations populations in schools tend to have a higher-than-average incidence of problems with literacy and a higher-than-average incidence of Learning Disablities in our schools.

I also was really quite taken with the culture of oral history in the first nations peoples of BC. I thought that if we could remove the demand for so much written text, I think a lot of our first nations students would have some great stories to share. Also, our aboriginal ed teachers told me of the importance of art in the first nations communities. I think I have found a way to tell stories orally with art in our schools using technology.

Two Aboriginal Education teachers are signing up at voicethread.com for an account. They are going to then post some of their artwork, and tell the story behind it using microphones. For those of you who don't know, voicethread is kind of like a slideshow online, but one that you can narrate with a microphone, and invite other people to participate in with you by adding their narration to your story.

My goal would be to have students create a story with their artwork online, and then narrate it. This reduces the demand for written work, allows the student to tell their story in a detailed fashion, and to display their artwork to the world. They could then invite others to comment on their artwork and stories. My thought would be to have an elder or knowledgeable member of their Nation login from wherever they are in the world (Queen Charlotte Islands, Northern BC, Manitoba perhaps) and then add what they know to the story, provide missing details, or offer encouragement to these students. I will keep you posted how things progress.