YouTube – Is ANYONE listening to students? Students Speak Up About Education Technology.
Academic Musings & Tech for Learning Another excellent Edublogs.org weblog
YouTube – Is ANYONE listening to students? Students Speak Up About Education Technology
July 15, 2010 — Lynne M BaileyMaybe We Should Pay the Parents
June 2, 2010 — Lynne M BaileyThe Answer Sheet – Chicago’s teacher performance-based pay didn’t work — new analysis reports on a preliminary study released today by the Mathematica Policy Research Inc. showing that there is no evidence (yet) to support paying teachers by improved student (reading & math) test scores.
Valerie Strauss notes that the US Education Department recognizes that reforms, such as TAP [Teacher Advancement Program],take time to prove their effectiveness. She asks,
Why is it, then, that education officials can recognize that reforms take a long time even though they are pushing states to undertake reforms right now that have no research base of success?
And you should, too.
It would have been better for America’s schools if he had waited to find out what really will help kids do better in school before forcing changes that we have no reason to believe will work.
Other schools have used methods to improve schooling that have nothing to do with performance-based pay. See my previous post, How do schools close the achievement gap, which looks at how three very different schools closed that gap.
Collaboration and a common vision were significant threads in those success stories. Some schools have achieved improvements by giving students financial rewards, and some studies point to the importance of a positive parental influence/home life in producing student success.
I feel that our pushing states to adopt performance-based pay, measured by standardized student tests, is an extremely misguided policy, and it has no basis in fact. But, it’s easy to measure, and so far it’s failing. Why would I want to put a strategy into practice across an entire system that has no success rate? What do you think?
Mouse Mischief Help and How-To
May 10, 2010 — Lynne M BaileyFrom Microsoft – a free PowerPoint plug-in. This is an affordable alternative to clickers. Unfortunately I’m not in a position to test it out in a classroom. But, as you can see from this video, it’s working pretty well. What do you need to use it?
- Projector or Interactive White Board
- PowerPoint software (2007 or 2010 version) with the Plug-in
- Mouse for each user
- USB hubs to connect mice to teacher’s computer
- An interactive lesson/question
WIN A CLASS SET — Enter by May 21 – 25 Mice+ MS Office + USB Hub
I just recently saw a 7-USB hub for sale on Newegg.com for $20. If the teacher’s computer has 4-USB ports, then you can connect 28 mice to it. My immediate concern is signal crossing, or wire crossing, of the mice. But it looks like it’s working pretty well with wireless mice in the class shown in this video.
This looks like a really great tool to get some interactivity going on in the classroom with low costs, especially if you already have the computer mice. I have bought nice ones on sale for $20 each, and maybe they can be shared with some other classes- or perhaps used in groups, so that you only need five or six at a time.
Here are a few resources currently available:
- eSchool News article (check the comments)
- Download site
- Mouse Mischief YouTube Channel
- Microsoft MouseMischief Help and How-T0
What do you think of this? Is it a good alternative to clickers? If anybody’s used it, I’d love to hear about it.
Make Newspaper & Animated Clips
May 3, 2010 — Lynne M Bailey
Sample Newspaper Clip
Read all About It – on this post at the School CIO website, Make your own Newspaper. But that’s just half the story – you can also have a bit of fun, too, creating some animated GIF’s.
Here’s the animated talking cat.
They do make good attention getters. Try it out at the Fodey.com website.
The 4-C’s: More Important than the 3-R’s?
April 27, 2010 — Lynne M BaileyHow different are today’s standards [ISTE | NETS for Students] compared to the last 20th century? Certainly they do incorporate many differ
ent tools, but I think one of the biggest changes is inclusion of collaboration skills. Communicating, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity are often cited as today’s must-have skills.
A recent article in Chief Learning Officer discusses the AMA survey of over 2,000 managers and executives about the importance of the 4 C’s to their organization. The Four C’s Critical for Today’s Workforce article reported agreement that these skills will become even more important to organizations in the future. The survey found that “… employees are measured in communication skills (80.4 percent), critical thinking (72.4 percent), collaboration (71.2 percent) and creativity (57.3 percent) during annual performance appraisals.” The pace of change, global competitiveness, how work is accomplished and the way organizations are structured were cited as reasons these these skills and competencies are critical for business success.
But what about school? Some teachers avoid ‘group’ work because of the tendency for student participation to be uneven. Yet, cooperative learning and project based learning groups are effective strategies to help develop these skills. Planning for such projects take work, but there are resources out there to help teachers put together such learning experiences.
This blog post, by Suzie Boss on Edutopia, Perfecting with Practice: Project-Based Teaching, is an excellent overview of the process and includes links to great resources. I especially like the advice from experienced teachers about creating some ‘buzz’ about a project before it starts, and introducing students to the project concept and foundational skills before beginning a major project.
Change is constant, and to prepare today’s students for the future, we need to find ways to help them develop collaboration skills. What strategies have you found to be effective?
UPdate: The article in Chief Learning Officer is no longer available for free online. But, the AMA article is available at http://www.amanet.org/news/AMA-2010-critcal-skills-survey.aspx and there is a link to the actual study.
Make Your Own Digital Books!
April 16, 2010 — Lynne M BaileyTech & Learning publi
shed a Top Ten list for creating digital books, Top 10 tools to create digital books, but neglected to put in the links.
I’d also like to add some info here about UDL Cast Book Builder, which does more than let you create an online book. The teacher-author can use their wonderful, talking Reading Prompt Characters to create question and answer guidance to the audience for developing comprehension skills. In fact, it’s probably number 4 on the list, and that’s what I’ve linked it to.
I used the UDL Book Builder to create a story about Olivia … she’s a Ladybug that lands on a computer mouse. You can read it here.
Here’s a reprint of that post with links:
1. Mixbook: The best site for creating a book to either share with others digitally or order in the form of hard copy. Also, educators can create student accounts for better management.
2. BookRix: One of the best sites for advertising your digital book; very user-friendly, and a nice social environment.
3. Panraven: A nice site for creating, sharing, and purchasing your digital book.
4. Book Builder: Site for creating digital books.
5. PDF Flash: Upload a PDF to create a professional-looking Flash-based digital book.
6. MyPublisher: Free software that allows users to create colorful photo or digital books.
7. Tabblo: Create a user account to make digital books with photos.
8. SmileBooks: Create beautiful storybooks online or download their software to store on your hard drive.
9. Blurb: Site for making photo books to order.
10. Lulu: Create print or ebooks with this user-friendly site.
Free Software 4 Autistic Students
April 1, 2010 — Lynne M BaileyBack in 2007, the United Nations General Assembly declared April 2 as World Autism Day to raise awareness of, and encourage early diagnosis and intervention. It’s a very serious challenge for many students, and for society to develop successful methods and strategies for autistic individuals to lead personally rewarding lives.
It’s estimated that one out of every 100 children in the United States has some form of autism, and that number is escalating at a frightening pace. The federal government says autism is increasing at a rate of 10 percent to 17 percent each year and could affect some 4 million Americans in the next decade, placing an enormous strain on school systems charged with educating students diagnosed with the disorder. [eschoolnews.com]
For using the Internet a free software package, Zac Browser, is the “first Internet browser developed specifically for children living with variants of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, PDD not otherwise specified and PDD-NOS, also called atypical autism.” You can read more about it and download it at www.zacbrowser.com.
Google’s Sketch Up is apparently quite a hit with Autistic children. The University of Utah’s Department of Family and Consumer Studies conducted a workshop to discover just how compelling and engaging creating 2-D/3-D drawings and structures can be for Autistic kids.
In addition to Google SketchUp’s creative possibilities, the program might be used to help autistic children more socially adept. For example, children could draw mock-up scenarios of environments that make them uneasy, such as a dentist’s office. Source: http://www.sltrib.com/
Parents with autistic children interested in learning how to use Google SketchUp may view the U’s Family and Consumer Studies online lecture at www.fcs.utah.edu. For notices of future programs and more information, e-mail sandy.stark@fcs.utah.edu.
The good news about both these applications, is that they are free. Have you tried these? What results did you see? Are there any other free programs have you used successfully with autistic students?
World Autism Awareness Day – April 2nd, 2010 | The Autism News.
Prezi in the Classroom
March 14, 2010 — Lynne M BaileyPrezi… the ZOoooOMing Presentation Web 2.0 tool, is very unique and flexible way to present information and you can get a free account at Prezi.com. I first heard it about at a Classroom 2.0 Webinar, and then I saw it in action last October when Will Richardson used it at the LI Tech Summit. Since then they have modified the tools a bit and made a downloadable beta version available for paid users. Prezi is built on the Adobe Air platform, so it works on PC’s and MAC’s, but you’ll need a high level of RAM. Check here for specifics. They can be downloaded and shown from any computer, even if it’s not connected to the Internet. You share your Prezis, embed them in blogs and web pages, and form groups within the Prezi website for sharing and collaborating.
Simple editing, just double click to type, and click on the style you want to use.
It’s really pretty simple to learn the basics. Prezi uses a unique Bubble Menu with five basic commands – Write, Insert, Colors, Frame, Path & Show. There are great Prezi how-to’s on the site and some amazing Prezis you can watch. To use Prezi you must first create an account.
- With 1 click on an item, the Zebra Transformation Tool appears and you can scale and move the item. That’s the Bubble Menu in the top left corner.
Free educational accounts are available that allow students and teachers to keep their Prezis private and they get 500 MB of storage for uploading inserted images and files.
I showed Prezi to an 8th grade class and they tried it out a few days ago. We ran into a minor, but potentially timely glitch, when the students did not receive their activation codes right away. I would recommend allowing time to create these accounts before you want to start using it in earnest. Other than that, they dove in and tried it out. Follow up with a review of the editing tools, then putting frames around related items that you want to show together. The more you use it, the more you learn about it. All kinds of media and files can be inserted in a Prezi and users can find a very good manual online. You can use Prezi as a free-form brainstorming tool, but I think it’s best you have content in mind.
One thing I liked, and sometimes disliked, about Prezi is that there are only a few different color variations available, but they can be quickly changed. There is no endless editing of fonts, or choosing different animations. This can keep students focused on building content and media rich presentation. It’s also easy to use Prezi for building timelines. Unlike PowerPoint, there aren’t any separate pages, just a very large canvas you move around with by scrolling with your mouse. Prezi zooms in on text of any size when you are presenting, and then displays just that information so it looks like it is on it’s own page. You can spend a good deal of time arranging and framing your content, but you can also use many existing Prezis as a template for your own.
Students used a graphic organizer to jot down their “faves.” I collected them at the end of class and created this Prezi of some of their favorite things.
NYSCATE Hudson Valley Conference
March 9, 2010 — Lynne M BaileyIt was a busy week/end for educational conferences. The ‘big’ ones included the WNET(PBS) Celebration of Teaching & Learning in New York City and the annual CUE (Computer Using Educators) Conference in Palm Springs, CA. A little farther north of NYC was the annual NYSCATE regional conference for the Hudson Valley in Wappinger Falls which I attended for the first time. This was a terrific one-day event with an assortment of 1-hour sessions, and 2-hour hands-on workshops and an excellent casual lunch in the school cafeteria. [Apple Crisp & Ice cream for dessert!] . A great value at $40 – plus some raffle tickets.
Personally, I got to Using Online Financial Literacy Sources, “Don’t just Google for Lessons, USe Google to Teach Them, and the 2-hour workshop, Engaging Students with Audio Recording & Editing. James Daily & David Mileham drove down from Erie, NY to talk about using Google. In particular they reviewed creating personal maps (which don’t need the download or bandwidth of Google Earth), creating Google forms, some visual ways to search and good tutorials at http://www.googleguide.com/.
Kathy White’s talk included some real gems. There are many excellent finanical literacy online. Students love games and Tic Tac Toe Taxes on the www.Econedlink.org site is quick, and great for IWB’s. Another site she recommended with great games is at Practical Money Skills. These include Financial Football, Financial Soccer, Road Trip to Savings and Ed’s Bank for different grade levels. Kathy also presented some excellent video collections. They included selections from Fool Proof Online and Money Talks 4 Teens. We watched a great short about what happens to one student when they bounce a check for a pizza from Fool Proof (you have to register to see it) http://highschools.foolproofonline.info/modules/when_it_hits_the_fan/board08.php.
In my hands-on session about recording audio, we used PC’s and Audacity, a very full-featured free software recording program. Angelo Urrico from Dutchess County BOCES facilitated the workshop and we discussed hardware requirements, learned basic recording and editing tools while producing short interviews with each other.
Held at the Roy C. Ketcham HS, the atmosphere was professional but friendly and warm. Many educators there knew each other and the coordinators did a great job. At the end of the conference there’s a traditional raffle, and you can buy extra tickets, with a great selection of prizes, including the ‘small stuff’ like t-shirts, travel mugs, and some big ones – Acer Mini-notebook and a new Dell Latitude Laptop topped the list. I even won one of the really nice travel mugs!
PimPamPum: Flicker Pics + Your Story
February 28, 2010 — Lynne M Bailey
Reading about a Kindergarten project on Ning brought me to Pimpampum.net and it’s collection of web 2.o Flickrtoys, which use images from Flickr to create fun projects. I have written about Flickr toys and tools before, and this is another great way to work with Flickr.
With Bubblr you can create cartoon style graphic novels. Poetry projects could be enhanced with Phrasr. It takes your words and search for interesting photos to match.
One tool which requires a bit more input, bookr, allows users to create an online book project. Students can fill in the text and search and insert specific Flickr images. The images also can be your own, of course. The example mentioned in the Ning forum by Jenny Murphy used pictures drawn with KidsPix. Each page has one kindergarten student’s drawing and some text creating a book about Healthy Eating. I can imagine using this tool for a variety of projects across the curriculum and it’s great that parents and friends can see student work.
The creators at Pimpampum are only using images with creative common licenses, making it free of copyright restrictions. Have you tried this with your students? How could you use this tool for one of your classroom projects?
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