Five key factors to consider when choosing a tablet

I read an article called, "How To Choose the Right Tablet For Your School".  It lists the five key factors to consider before choosing a device for your students.

Overall, keep this in mind before you choose a device - it is the way you teach and interact with your kids that matters the most.  Place your materials online, structure your lessons to take advantage of the Internet, have your kids collaborate on projects, and offer immediate feedback if you want your classroom to truly change. Ultimately the device shouldn't matter in the end.  You can create a one-to-one program with Kindle Fires ($200), netbooks ($300), Chromebooks ($400), or the new iPads ($500) if you have the right people and the right motivation.

The five key factors from the article are:

1. Consider your learning goals - your focus needs to be on improving instruction 
2. Figure out your digital curriculum strategy - teachers need to build their curriculum first before a device is chosen
3. Pick your management style - determine if or how or who you will manage the devices
4. Set your price point and refresh cycle - know from the start how many computers you will buy each year
5. Choose your top features - each device has different features; know what you need before you choose

Subscribe to news sites using your cell phone

One of the best changes in technology in the last two years involves improvements made to our cell phones.  The cell phone has become the center of information for many people.  We use apps to have the information delivered straight to us, rather than having to go to different sites to get information.  Groupon deal of the day?  You can check their site daily, or you can subscribe on your phone and have that little DING go off telling you that a new deal has arrived.  Your friend just announced on Facebook that he got engaged.  Yes, you really found out through Facebook.  Did you get the alert on your phone as soon as he posted it, or did you find out two days later when you logged on?  The cell phone has become the instant connection to news that is important to us.

Subscribing to news sites can be a little harder, but as usual, someone has an app for that.  It is called an RSS Reader, and you can download one for your Android or iPhone.  To use the app, you visit the web page where you read your news, open your RSS Reader app, and click on a "subscribe" button.  Any time a new article is posted it will automatically be sent to your phone.

I can download all the latest news from D211 by subscribing to their new blog called D211 Post, a new blog that is very mobile-friendly. 

Click here to download "Feedly" for free on your Android phone.

Click here to download "Free RSS Reader" for free on your iPhone.

iPad Integration by Chris Grattoni

The most thought-provoking breakout session I attended at the ICE Conference on Friday, March 2nd was entitled "iPad Integration." The presenters used this time to outline a variety of apps that can be used to facilitate learning in the 1-to-1 classroom.

Perhaps the most enticing was the eClicker Response System. This app is reminiscent of the CPS clicker remotes that many of us have used in our classrooms. However, having this system on a 1-to-1 device overcomes the main challenge of the CPS remotes: the logistics of handing out 32 remotes to your students and tracking who has which remote. Now the students will come into class with their remote, and we will know how each individual student responds. Teachers can gather formative assessment data throughout their lessons and identify individual student who need additional help. The students get immediate feedback on how well they understand the material.

Next, the presenters showed us two apps that students or teachers can use to record their voices over content written on a digital whiteboard: Chomp and Show Me. In a math classroom, we could have the students record their explanation of a homework problem or a summary of an important mathematical idea! If they uploaded the video to a Moodle or Sharepoint page for the course, the teacher could use the videos to assess the students' learning, while students could watch the videos of their peers to assist with their own learning.

There were many other apps we looked at during this session, but the next one that really got me excited was Stick Pick. This app is just like the jar of Popsicle sticks that teachers used to keep on their desk so they could call on students in a truly random manner. But Stick Pick goes one step further! You can use the app to record whether the student you called on gave a correct answer, and you can use the app to give you question prompts that use Bloom's Taxonomy.

Finally, one of the session attendees told me about GoodReader, which can be used to ink on PDF documents. We will need an app like this in a math classroom if we want to go truly paperless in the course. Another person sitting next to me told me about some apps out there that allow easy tablet access to Moodle.

I was very impressed not just at the knowledge of the presenters at the ICE conference, but at the passion and knowledge of those attending. I was learning between sessions as well as during them.

IAPPS: Coache's eye, apple TV and evernotes.

Duirng the presentation on IAPPS, several teachers showed and suggested several apps that they use in the classroom.

coaches eye was one that i think could be of great use to the coaches at d211.

Another piece of technology that could be useful is apple TV. The presenter mentioned that you can mirror the teacher IPAD through apple tv. this could be useful in the classroom.

Evernote appears to be an awesome way students can create interactive notes.

IAPPS

March 7^th ipad 3

Better than blue ray, thicker, better camera, 4g, faster processor, 128g, apple tv to screen, projector with HDMI

Edutecher.symbaloop.com, ipad apps

30 dollar vga adaptor

Panaromic 360 (1.99), image

Flipclass room apps

Showme, create a picture, with audio, share with network, creating content that you tie in with lesson, seconds to create, second to share

Showme channel, share videos from device

Evernote peak, create notes or notebooks, great way to study, the students create the words

Storybuddy

Bit.ley/ICEAPPS

Appfinder

Iear.org

ICE Conference Thoughts

Below are several apps that can be used with the IPAD. I provided a list that categorized by topic. Several of the apps are free and there are some free app finders included.

Bottom line, there are several apps available for the ipad that can be integrated into the classroom in several ways. I was especially intrigue by the apps that allow the user to integrate sound and video seamlessly together.

Ipad integration

Applications

·         Appsfire.com

·         Appstart

·         Appsgonefree

o   w/ push notification for daily free apps, can volumize it, NCTM, around holidays

·         ipadeducator

·         iear.org

·         appsineducation.blogspt.com

eclicker response system

·         eclicker is free

·         host is 9.99, then you can put it on the student machines

·         up to 30 students can be hosted at once, the closer 30 but it slows down

·         send question and pushes to device (can be timed, and gives feedback on performance)

·         bonjour needs to be disabled for the e clicker to work on the network

·         you can bring your own device, iphone or itouch, not android or blackberry

Show me or screen chomp

·         free app

·         math, English (sentence structure), geography (maps)

·         great for alternative assessment

·         you can search for teacher and student work

·         www.showme.com

Flashscards Deluxe

·         3.99

·         Create flashcards with quizlet.com (Free)

·         Create cards with real pictures from flicker

·         Create or search for shared cards

·         Kids can assess themselves

Animation creator and flipbook

·         Creater 0.99

·         Flip book 4.99

·         Create animations to tell a story

Thinking

·         Creative genius 0.99

·         Sparks thinking

·         3d math, get’s students to think about math operations

Math

·         Motion math HD 2.99, good for fractions, decimals, percents. Use a ball to provide intervention, used for all levels

·         Factor samuri, free, slice through numbers until they are prime, similar to fruit ninja

·         Success maker speed games, 1.99, rti intervention, tracks progress        

Reading

·         Tools 4 student 0.99

·         Graphic organizers, used over and over again, can be emailed, monitors comprehension. Can be used across disciplines

·         Good for monitoring progress

Madlibs is a good way to teach using the ipad!

Spelling

·         Spell board is 4.99

·         Create spelling lists

·         Good language practice, good practice with words, can share practice between devices, logs time spent on practice sessions

Story writing

·         Storyrobe is 0.99

·         Record a story, 3 min long, share by email, record story and draw picture

Science

·         Oresome elements is free, periodic table app

·         Simple physics 1.99, figure out things work – simple machines, build and test

·         Build a bird free, teachers about structure and function

·         Hudson alpha is free, Icell 3d view of organism (animals, plants, and cells)

Social studies

·         Wordfoto 1.99, allows 10 words become part of a photo, great for vocabulary

·         Britannica kids apps are 4.99, several for social studies and science

Teacher tools

·         Stick pics, 2.99, questions starts based on blooms taxonomy

Flipped Classroom

Flipped Classroom

The basics of the flipped classroom:

·         Students watch lecture online or on a mobile device

·         Students complete homework during class time

·         The rationale is that students cannot ask for help with homework at home, but can receive instruction at home through the use of technology.

·         Some lessons even involved taping in class activities

·         I think this could be implemented in co-taught math classes

·         Used for laboratory experiments when students miss class.

·         http://www.screencast.com/

Tech for the Behavior Needs Classroom

Tech for the Behavior Needs Classroom (Kelly Geigner)

Kelly discussed some of the high and low tech options for students her school.  The school is a self-contained behavior needs school with a small population (just over 30 students) and limited access to technology.  The sites she discussed were mostly free sites.  They involved little set-up or preparation and most of them could be incorporated into short lessons.  I’ve already used www.wonderopolis.com in one of my Science lessons.  A list of sites I found interesting are listed below, but a complete list is available at her blog (www.teachertracks.com)

Smart sync software

Picasso head

This is sand

Dogo news

Wonderopolis

10x10 news

Career information systems

When will blogging officially be dead?

I've read numerous times that blogging is a dead medium.  No one writes blogs anymore, they say. No one reads blogs anymore, they say.  Everyone is on Twitter and Facebook, they say.  Blogging is not a form of social media, and social media is where things are at, they say.

I started to have the same feelings - that the blog had passed its prime.  I recently began using Twitter as a communication and professional development tool, and soon I will use it to get kids to participate in discussions on the one to one program in our district.  I have a Google+ account which I use for creating communication groups for my various committees.  I contribute to wikis, save web sites to Delicious, post videos on YouTube, and use Google Hangouts and Skype for video chats.  And of course, I have a Facebook account for my personal use (sorry, but there's no way I am bringing my work life and my semi-dormant Rock Band obsession together into the same location).   With all of this going on, why would I ever return to blogging?

The answer is simple: a blog is the only place to lay out a fully-formed thought in one space that is easy to find, easy to search, and easy to manage.  It is easy to spit out fragments of ideas or to retweet someone else's post.  If Snooki can do it, so can I, right?  It takes time to write a blog, and it takes time to read a blog just like it also takes time to comprehend an idea and it takes time to form your own opinion.  Tweeting takes a minute to write and a minute to read - and it takes one minute before you move on to the next thing.

Besides, blogging is not dead.  It has evolved and gotten better.  Are you posting photos with captions on Tumblr?  That's blogging.  Are you publishing a web site on WordPress?  That's blogging.  Twitter is even technically a form of blogging in the short form - it reaches more people but contains less content.

Blogging is a lot like Facebook if you think of it.  They both give you the ability to post several sentences coupled with photos, videos, and URL links.  The difference is what surrounds your writing.  On most blogs, your posts are surrounded by links back to your other posts.  Your blog does one thing - highlights your writing.  In Facebook your posts are surrounded by photos from your grandma's birthday, offers for better cellular service, and your friend's latest high score on Bejeweled Blitz.  Yes, I know you are good at Words With Friends, but do you really need to post your score every day?  Some of these things are good, others are a distraction, and some simply don't make sense.  Here are the posts my friends sent out today:

• A video of Darth Vader wearing a kilt, playing the bagpipes and riding a unicycle
• The score from the Celtics game
• A photo of my friend with his arm around a guy dressed like a Subway sandwich
• Green Day announcing their latest tour dates
• Harvard's latest video called, "On the cutting edge of history - Innovation at Harvard"

There is something simple about using a blog.  I think its simplicity makes it powerful.  Write.  Write every day.  Write something meaningful.  Write something worthwhile.  If people like it, they will keep coming back for the words you write and not for any other reason.  Keep using Twitter, Facebook or any other social media form to send out your blog articles to your friends and colleagues.  But don't give up on blogs.  They're not dead yet.

Chromebook or iPad2?

Now that Apple has dropped the price of the iPad 2 to $379 we finally have a real horse race as we begin to pick a device for our one to one pilot program.  At a similar price point, we can now truly compare both devices in the most important areas - compatibility with curriculum and resources, access to new resources (i.e. apps), functionality of the device, and the ability to easily manage thousands of devices.  Both devices have advantages and disadvantages.  Both devices will serve our needs.  Both devices will do most (but not all) things we want to do.  Both devices will require us to give up something we really want to do because it simply will not do everything.  In the end, though, we won't go wrong with either one.

We are still responsible for choosing the BEST overall device.  At the end of the day, everyone involved in the one to one program will have to stand up and say that we made teaching and learning better and that we spent millions of dollars responsibly.

My personal opinion is that teachers should be able to choose the device their students use next year.  What better way to test a device's compatibility with ALL the web sites, electronic books, videos, learning management systems, interactive activities, and virtual science labs that we use in ALL of our classes than to put them to the test with actual students for an entire year? We know we will get some Chromebook users and some (i.e. MANY) iPad users, and whichever device that is not chosen in the long run won't go to waste.  There are plenty of other uses for Chromebooks or iPads in the library, in check-out carts, or in classrooms that are not yet part of the one to one program.

Stop Consuming and Start Creating

presented by Katie Seveska, Becky Labbe, and Courtland Funke

PDF list of Materials

Quicktime Movie of Presentation

The description stated that the session would focus on generating teacher created contend and student created work, and it certainly lived up to expectations. While the presenting team works at the elementary level, the concepts of simplicity and efficiently generating content apply to any level. The session used some simple apps for the iPad, along with the hardware, to help students create projects quickly and with minimal intervention. Some apps were also discussed that facilitated this creation.

The first app presented was Sonic Pics. This is a slideshow program that allows simple voiceovers. Simplicity is the name of the game, and this app fulfills that both in its ease of use and its compatibility with other computers. Students could take pictures of what they are doing, whether it is a field trip, group project, or homework, and then report on it using the voiceover feature. The second app, Moodboard, worked on a similar principle, but uses still images to build a bulletin board type story. Not as useful, in my opinion.

Photosync was the key to many of their successes. It is a program that allows the Photo Gallery to sync with a computer on the same network. With the push of 3 buttons, student’s projects were uploaded to the classroom workstation. Any app that would not export a finished product was put onto their Do Not Use list, and so every project that a student wanted to make can be uploaded. This program is similar to Dropbox, but does not use the cloud. It can, but it is faster and safer to skip this step. The only caveat was that they found the device and computer had to be on the same network, and they had split their network between devices and computers (they quickly changed this back).

Other programs such as Skype and Facetime were discussed, and you can find out more about these by watching the quicktime video. As a Choir director, this presentation sparked some thoughts about advantages and disadvantages of the iPad in a choir setting. These included: Sound Isolating qualities are excellent – students recorded voiceovers in Sonic Pics while on a Bus, and you can barely hear any road noise. Recording quality is very good – Little to no distortion, as there is on a smaller device with a small mic packed in. Record portions of class for home practice – Post videos online, then have students practice with them. Students can even record their practice sessions on the iPad to turn in at a later date. Section leaders are trainers – teach other students how to record class for posting. Voiceover for the assignments – no typing necessary for the teacher, simply speak in the directions.

Flipping the Classroom

This was an excellent presentation done by two middle school teachers in Kenilworth.

I have thought about doing this in the past, but after seeing the presentation, I am certain that this is something I will do.

Things they use:

Screencast -- video hosting site
YouTube
Camtasia

They emphasized an the considerable amount of increased instruction time and measurable increases in student performance.  Their own videos are posted on screencast and encourage the use of other educational instructional videos such as Khan Academy or some others.  The advantage is that students can play the videos at their own pace, pause, fast forward, or rewind to view again.

The presenters discussed that from time to time students do not have time or the ability to watch the videos at home.  They said the students go the to the library before school or during thier lunch or study hall to view them.

Next week, I will experiment with this in my AP Government Class.  I will record a powerpoint lecture -- both audio and video -- post the video to Edmodo, and then do more applications in class.

Learning to Fly...Piloting the 1:1 Flipped Classroom

Top Ten Things I Learned While Flipping a Classroom within a 1:1 Environment

Course: World History

Unit: French Revolution

Duration: 2 Weeks

Students: Freshmen and Sophomores

Level: Mainstream

Homework Transmission: Box. net and Good Reader

Web Tools: 

• http://www.timeglider.com/ (digital timelines)
• http://www.pixton.com/ (comic strips)
• http://www.xtranormal.com/ (custom animation)
• blogs (SharePoint)
• discussion boards (SharePoint)

Location: Media Center

Devices used: Tablets

Classroom Portal: SharePoint

File Management and Word Processing: Google

Assessment Tool: www.socrative.com

10. My students were't as tech savvy as I first thought. Their tech skills were limited to social networking, gaming, and entertainment. The concept of using technology to create and learn was very new to many of them.

9.  Be patient, there were many obstacles that I wasn’t ready for.

8.  There will come a time when you will have to tell a student, “figure it out”.  Working within a 1:1 environment is an exploration for both the students and the teacher.   Guide them, but allow them to explore and make mistakes.

7.   Your worst student will do better, and your best student will be challenged.

6.  “Make-up work” was not done during class time.  My students were asked to meet either before/after school or during a free period if they needed extra help or time.  This forced the students to take ownership of their studies and their learning.

5.  Student interest in Social Studies increased.  The project based learning allowed for students to learn history in a way that made sense to them. 

4.  As a Social Studies teacher, I had to create lesson plans that were far more abstract than ever before.   

3.  Differentiated instruction is implemented with greater ease and with more frequency when compared to a traditional classroom.  

2.  You are driving in the Daytona 500, so leave your scooter at home.  The devices, software, and technology used must be up-to-date and run smoothly, because tech problems can feel like driving on a flat tire.

1.  Students will learn more than the teacher could ever hope to teach them.

Doing the Flip: A Flipped Biology Classroom

The last session I attended on Thursday was one presented by Chris Gales and James Workman from Downers Grove South High School.  They decided to flip their biology classrooms in August for this school year.  They settled on Camtasia to do screencasts for their students which they have them watch 2 or 3 times a week.  They don't have a 1 to 1 program but almost all their students have computer access.  They found that in the first quarter alone that they were able to do 4 more labs that they had always dreamed about doing but never had time for.  They stressed that it takes a lot of time outside of class to make their own screencasts and to rethink what and how they teach topics.  They have a great deal more time in class to work with students individually, conduct short formative assessments based on their screencasts and have learned a lot about technology.  Students can watch a screencast multiple times and take notes at their own pace.  They come to class the next day with questions.  They said that they are able to talk to each student almost every day.

 

Next year I am hoping to be part of the 1 to 1 program.  I most likely will make some screencasts but also look for things that are already made such as from the Bozeman site and Khan Academy.  They talked about some pitfalls, the time committment, the excitement their students have and they have for the process and how much fun it is to re-invent how they teach.  I am really looking forward to this same opportunity with my AP Biology students next year and having more time in class to implement the inquiry labs that are part of the new AP Biology curriculum.   Lots of great ideas!

 

iPad E-reader App

One of the sessions I found useful was led by Cathy Baker from Elmhurst. She showed us many different e-reader apps for the iPad and discussed the benefits and drawbacks of each. She showed us some of the nuances of the apps, which could save many of us the effort of having to play around with it ourselves. For example, she showed how to use the text-to-speech function in iBooks by turning on the sound function through settings. She also showed how other apps could be more useful, such as using the app Kobo for pdfs, highlighting, and also tracking reading stats.