At just about the time we’re seeing a significant presence of SMARTboards (and its similar cousins) in the classroom, SMARTtech has released the SMARTtable, targeted at primary grades users. The SMARTtable uses multi-touch technology meaning that you (and even a helper) can interact with display at different points on the screen at the same time, as opposed to the single point like a mouse or marker. As the name implies, the surface is horizontal.

Before you start lobbying for one of these in your classroom, it’s important to note that not only is this a new technology that could probably use a little more time to be refined, it will also set you back about $8,000.

My intial take on this is that it has a lot of potential. Some of my favorite new gadgets on the market are those that include multi-touch - most notable among these is the iPhone and iPod touch (neither of which do I own). I expect some really exciting things from multi-touch in the nearer future. The interactive nature of this tool probably even exceeds the SMARTboard, which, despite its interactive reputation, still is really usable by only one person/finger/marker at a time.

The two tools are likely to develop in different directions, meaning that it would be useful to have both, but probably not economical. And despite its potentially high ranking on the “tech-toy appeal” scale, like all other educational technologies, one question still must be answered: How does this technology improve instructional practice?

This is fun stuff.

National Geographic has a neat little utility, Wildlife Filmmaker, that lets students create their own wildlife movie using video, sound, and music clips built right into the site. Students can add their own captions and save (though not download) their movie.

No registration is required, no fee, just easy movie editing fun using basically educational content.

It probably best suits primary grades students and some intermediate situations, but the interface is fitting for all ages.

[via Digital Inspiration]

The report explores writing skills, frequency, and attitude as they relate to student’s access to technology, including cell phones, the internet, and computer availability.

There were many findings that will not surprise most readers, particularly when considering the impact of gender and socio-economic factors, but some helpful factors to include when developing instructional activities for these age groups.

“Teens said they are motivated to write when the can select topics that are relevant to their lives and interests, and report greater enjoyment of school writing when they have the opportunity to write creatively. Having teachers or other adults who challenge them, present then with interesting curricula, and give them detailed feedback also serves as a motivator for teens. Teens also report writing for an audience motivates them to write and write well.” (emphasis mine)

Also from the report, “Summary of Findings at a Glance”

“Even though teens are heavily embedded in a tech-rich world, they do not believe that
communication over the internet or text messaging is writing. [The report later suggests that students hold writing in higher regard than typical communication.]

“The impact of technology on writing is hardly a frivolous issue because most believe that good writing is important to teens’ future success.

“Teens are motivated to write by relevant topics, high expectations, an interested audience and opportunities to write creatively.

“Writing for school is a nearly every-day activity for teens, but most assignments are short.

“Teens believe that the writing instruction they receive in school could be improved.

“Non-school writing, while less common than school writing, is still widespread among teens.

“Multi-channel teens and gadget owners do not write any more — or less — than their counterparts, but bloggers are more prolific.

“Teens more often write by hand for both out-of-school writing and school work.

“As tech-savvy as they are, teens do not believe that writing with computers makes a big difference in the quality of their writing.

“Parents are generally more positive than their teen children about the effect of computers and text-based communication tools on their child’s writing.

“Teens enjoy non-school writing, and to a lesser extent, the writing they do for school.”
Source: Lenhart, Amanda; Arafeh, Sousan; Smith, Aaron and Rankin Macgill, Alexandra. Writing, Technology and Teens, Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project, April 24, 2008.

Although the report weighs in at about 83 pages, the Summary of Findings captures the essence of their findings in about 7 quick pages.

And speaking of writing, I want to point you to this innovative use of volunteers in teaching student writing skills. The video is part of a series known as the TED Talks (Technology, Education, and Design), which have featured some of the most remarkable contemporary speakers around. [Thanks, Chris, for passing on the link.]

[Video missing? Visit the link above to go to a more filter-friendly option.]

Podcasting in Plain English explains, in about 3 minutes, the essential hows and whys of podcasting. The process is pretty easy and really requires only a microphone and some free software in addition to the equipment you probably already have in your room.

(Reading this post via email? Click here or visit TeacherTube to view the video.)

From an educational perspective, what I like best about podcasting is not the actual recording and editing of the final product - that’s just a bonus. The real value of podcasting in the classroom is the research, writing, and revision process that goes into preparing for the production process.

Contrast this with a typical “report” assignment:

• Writing for an authentic, unlimited audience vs. writing for the teacher’s red pen
• Revision for my personal best before my audience vs. a better letter grade on my paper
  
• Working toward choosing key ideas to keep it to a reasonable length vs. meeting a minimum length
• Focus on a clear, well-paced delivery vs. ?

The production part of the podcasting process is relatively easy and represents the smallest portion of the time invested. The majority of the time commitment goes to solid writing processes. I’ve seen some unexpected students really shine in this type of activity.

Are you or your students podcasting? Post a link to your podcasts in the comments!

Good options for primary source documents are always a plus. Primary sources presented well are even better. Take a look at the National Archives’ Digital Vaults Collection.

“Digital Vaults gives you and your kids a place to find raw materials that are arranged in ways that may make more sense to them. The site is set up a bit like a social network. Data is organized by tags and linked to both the tags as well as other resources. Like a social network, you can make your favorites documents / materials your “friends,” search for new “friends” by using tags and create “mashups” using primary sources.” (History Tech blog)

If you’re looking for support materials for students and teachers, including lessons plans for use with primary source documents, visit the Vault’s Educators and Students page.

I’ve been revisiting blogging tools lately with some of the afterschool classes we’ve held. My go-to blog for classrooms has always been Landmark Project’s BlogMeister (classblogmeister.com). I like it well for it’s ability to tightly regulate student publishing and comments and limit the audience, particularly for elementary users. The interface is a little clunky, but it works very well. It’s easy to set up students in your class with their own blog and I feel generally comfortable using it with even young students because of the moderation options.

Lately, I’m also becoming more impressed with Edublogs (edublogs.org), particularly based on the improvements they’ve made. Sporting a clean interface using powerful blogging software, WordPress - the same software I use to author this blog - they’ve created a professional blogging environment that’s education-oriented and still plays well with our filters. Furthermore, you can directly upload photos, audio, and video to your Edublogs space which is a really helpful option not present in BlogMeister.

Choosing:

I like BlogMeister for it’s management of student blogs as part of the teacher blog interface. That would be my first choice if I decided to allow students to have their own blogs for school-related publishing. Edublogs supports student blogs, but they have to be individually managed.

Still I like Edublogs for its numerous feature options and polished look - these feature make EduBlogs my preference for the other three publishing scenarios I mentioned yesterday.

Both of these tools have been filter-friendly in most cases, an important aspect for schools.

Remember:

Don’t forget, before you do any public publishing, it’s always a great idea to keep your administration in the loop.

1. What would I write about?
2. Am I able to keep up with it?

There are a handful of models that could work well for you professionally, depending on your personality, classroom, and writing style. Think about how any of these might fit you. They range from individual professional, to classroom professional/student, to individual student.

Professional Discourse

An aspect of being a master learner is the reflection and revision process. The use of a professional blog can be a good outlet for discussing professional experiences and learning. Beyond simply writing for the journaling and refinement of your own thoughts, this process can open up the door for opportunities to connect with others who have similar interests, concerns, challenges, and victories. Allowing for comments of others can invite outside insights into what might have otherwise been a one-way conversation. Reading the professional comments of others can be a good way to connect with the real professional experiences of other educators in shoes a lot like yours. This is especially beneficial if you’re only specialist in your field in your building or district.

Remember, of course, that what you write online should never be considered private or anonymous. Instead think of this as an informal addendum to your resume. Be professional. (See also: Professional Safety Online)

Related reading: “Reluctant Bloggers”

Community/Student Communication (Newsletter)

As an educator, you have two audiences with a vested interest in what’s happening in your classroom: students and community/parents.

A blog for students might include homework and class notes, study guides, and extended reflection and dialogue on subject materials. Comments can be used to offer students a chance to respond to any of the above topics. Keep in mind that most blogging tools have the ability to moderate comments to various degrees, so you can retain control of what appears on your blog.

Community and parents are your second potential audience. Your blog can be a means to better communicate with those outside your school on a regular basis through updates on projects, information on what’s being taught, and highlights on school successes. Since the expectations for substance are different for a blog post versus a newsletter, it is easy to quickly post information as it comes available, while still retaining the option to include longer, more detailed articles about your classroom when the occasion arises.

Student blogging

In just the same manner that you can become the author/owner of a blog, your students can also become authors. I’m a big fan of mediums that allow students to produce work for a real audience instead of a red pen. Blogging allows the student to write for a potentially unlimited audience as well as receiving feedback from readers. Just like any writing activity, students will produce their best work when writing about topics of personal interest.

This is, admittedly, one of the more difficult blogging undertakings in that there’s a fair amount of work in moderating and supervising student blogging projects. I would suggest that any school-sanctioned blogging activity be structured such that there are requirements and guidelines for publishing. Again, more in the next post.

Be sure that you have clearance (i.e., student release forms) and that reasonable safety precautions are taken before getting started with such a project.

Student-contributed newsletter (shared blog)

A hybrid model of authorship may work best in many classrooms. This model would feature a single class blog where the teacher invites individual students to submit postings for publication. Possible topics could include:

• a daily report of classroom activities;
• commentary on current content matter;
• links to current events that tie-in to classwork; and
• share student work sample, etc.

The downside is that there is slightly less student ownership than the “Student Blogger” approach mentioned above, while the upside is that the management needs are significantly reduced.

The process here could simply involve the student typing their post in Notepad where the teacher will later review the post and copy it to the classroom blog (I recommend Notepad here because programs like Word tend to bring a lot of extra back-end garbage with it when copied and pasted).

I think this is what I would be most likely to use if I were still in the classroom.

Which fit is best for you? EduBlogs, which I’ll discuss in my next post, has a nice list of “10 Ways to Use Your EduBlog to Teach” that might give you a few more ideas related to this and the other models.

Tomorrow: Two blogging tools worth a look

Image citation: Orbitgal, “bulletin board” Orbitgal’s Photostream. 5 Oct 2007. 9 Apr 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/orbitgal/1492216791/>.

Digital Culture: Teens Take Advantage of Online Privacy Tools (6:37)

Digital Culture: Teens’ Online “Friends” Often Number in the Hundreds (6:13)

Referenced parent resources from the “Online Friends” piece (some of which have educator information as well):

• GetNetWise (getnetwise.org)
• NetSmart (netsmartz.org)
• ConnectSafely.org (connectsafely.org)

Image citation: ::: Billie / PartsNPieces :::, “Privacy Fence Smashed” ::: Billie / PartsNPieces :::’s Photostream. 29 Dec 2005. 4 Apr 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/partsnpieces/79097894/>.

If you’re feeling in the dark about copyright and intellectual property, join the club.

The more I’ve attempted to study copyright the more muddied the water becomes. The simple explanation is that consumers want unlimited use and corporate copyright holders would prefer if you had to pay something every time you use the material in any capacity.

Digital technologies have made an already gray issue even more gray (is that possible?). There are some basic guidelines for understanding Fair Use list in the links at the end of this post, but there’s still a lot of room for interpretation.

Lately, the topic has surfaced in a number of different blogs. There’s a lot of discussion among people trying to get their heads around the issue - people who are pretty conscientious about copyright. Here’s a roundup:

• Copyright Confusion, Kristen Hokanson, The Connected Classroom
• The Subversive View of Copyright, Doug Johnson, Blue Skunk Blog
  • Reaction to My Last Post on Copyright, Doug Johnson, Blue Skunk Blog
• Fair Use and Transformativeness: It May Shake Your World, Joyce Valenza, School Library Journal
• A Broader Use for Fair Use, Will RIchardson, Weblogg-ed
• Reclaming Fair Use, Tim Wilson, The Savvy Technologist
• The Cost of Copyright, David Warlick, 2¢ Worth

And for another very interesting perspective on student views as they related to ethics and intellectual property:

• The Generational Divide in Copyright Morality, David Pogue, The New York Times

Keep in mind, those are just opinions and interpretations of non-lawyer types, but they are people who are looking hard at the issues.

For some more “authoritative” opinions on the matter see:

• U.S. Copyright Office (copyright.gov)
• Copyright Kids (copyrightkids.org)
• Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center (fairuse.stanford.edu)

Someday, perhaps, this will all get worked out. In the meantime, continue to teach your students to respect copyright from both the position of the consumer and content creator. Invest time in allowing the students to invest themselves in work that they find worthwhile and then have the discussion around intellectual property. This should help bring a little balance to the discussion.

Coming up next week: Blogging Tools and Topics

In case you’re wondering, the image above is use in according with a Creative Commons “Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works” license.

Image citation: j.kolo, “Gray Scale” j.kolo’s Photostream. 8 Dec 2006. 3 Apr 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/jessica-jo-jo/318896731/>.

WVIZ/PBS TeacherLine
(http://www.wviz.org/edsvcs/teacherline/TriCountyModules.asp)

• Spring HQT session begins April 7. $300
• Summer/Summer HQT Session I begins June 10. $200/$300
• Summer/Summer HQT Session II begins July 1. $200/$300
• Registration for TeacherLine courses available up until the course begins

eTech Ohio eLearning
(http://www.etech.ohio.gov/programs/elearning/)

• Summer registration deadline: April 23. Courses begin June 15. $50