DiSiena - Research Assignment

Here it is!

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=df4j4v37_63srqfhgn&pageview=1&hgd=1&hl=en

Polizzi Research Paper

because no one likes the 13th

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dggwkz72_404ff4s7qgq

Veronica's Research Paper

The link to my Research Paper is posted online at:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcfsjzzs_2g5q726fs

In it has the pros and cons of some of the technology that students will use independently or with teacher guidance. It also has some insight on communication and the cultural direction we are headed in.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16169456@N06/2478121923/

Please read the following before submitting your final research papers:

Transparency=Leadership
Transparency and Open Government
Visualizing Open/Networked Teaching

Part 1:
Your final research paper is due Wednesday May 13th. Please submit your paper via Google Docs. Once your paper is completed as a Google Doc, publish it as a web page. (Use this screencast if you have any questions regarding these steps.) Then Create a NEW post on this class blog and briefly summarize your research. Include the link to your published research paper. Include your first name_last name (Rob_Lyons), edtech, school2.0, Iona, and Lyons as labels for your post.

Part 2: What does transparency mean to you? Is transparency in education an asset or a liability? Do you consider yourself "Well Googled"?

Iphone

I wanted to share another experience I witnessed in my study hall. The students were talking about the Iran and Iraq conflict. There was a little debate as to whether they actually shared a border, or if there was a river in between them..etc.. One student took out his Iphone and google mapped Iran and Iraq and said "I'll end this right now" and basically showed them with evidence by zooming in that they were bound by land and not by a geographical barrier. I thought this was really impressive. In can definitely see students get confused as to why certain countries have conflict with others if they do not know the geographic location of them and to be able to see it in real time (or close to it) makes it that much more real for students and much more meaningful.

Jing Tutorial for Interactive PowerPoint

Now that I am an author on this blog, I can finally post. I created a tutorial for an interactive PowerPoint for a Math Jeopardy Review Game. I created a template for Jeopardy a few years ago and I've been using the same one - just changing the content of the game. This latest one was a review collaboration with the science teacher on my team when we had an extra hour with the students before a field trip. It's a math and science Jeopardy- and the tutorial shows how to create hyperlinks to navigate through the game. Here is the link. You might need to adjust the window a little to view the whole screen.

http://www.screencast.com/users/ddisiena/folders/Jing/media/ebdea456-fa7e-4621-bc23-589195c0c354

Presentation -How to insert 'Jing' on Slide Rocket

Here I am showing how to upload video/jing on slide rocket. I found it is a lot easier to do on slide rocket than on microsoft ppt. In doing so I included a recorded tutorial that could potentially help my students using this dynamic geometry software called "Geometer Sketchpad" which I use on a regular basis. It is really cool that I can create my own tutorials... we can definitely use this in our classrooms. Hope you like it.

www.screencast.com/users/VCambra/folders/Jing/media/325a248a-f64d-4cdd-a67f-43227057e2e2

Thoughts on DimDim Session (and a rant)

I think we saw the potential of this technology, I don't think my middle schoolers would stick around through all of the trouble shooting. One thing our conversation and interaction have me thinking about is the influence technology will have on our traditional school day and our traditional school roles. Veronica spoke about giving extra help after school online for a student. What if a school set up an iChat account or AIM account for extra help. Teachers could be offered 1st period off if they man the online help desk for an hour after school.

What would teachers think of this?

What would students think of this?

What would the union think of this?

Technology opens so many doors I just hope we let ourselves step out of the old boxes.

This week Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a room of 400 students that we need a 6 day a week 11 month school year. So now instead of a 180 day broken school system you have a 250 day broken school system. Duncan didn't get booed by the students when he said this he got blank stares, the students realized that the head of US Education didn't GET IT. I was disappointed when Obama picked Duncan. Ed Tech funding was cut and its seems like merit pay, vouchers, and longer school years are being explored by the administration.

I don't think these platforms get to the root of the problem. It is not like I am running out of time in my classroom and my kids are short on material. I do not have the tools to teach effectively for the 21st century and my hands are tied by standards that may or may not apply to the 21st Century. We need to assess what we are teaching and how we are teaching, not that we have to teach harder. To me this is putting blame on the teachers and the students. "You guys are not teaching or learning well enough so do it longer." Duncan is not looking at the fact that we are being told to teach material (in an out dated manner) that doesn't fit into our present world so the students tune us out because they realize it is not relevant.

Rethink teacher and student roles, don't keep them in the same role for more days a week. Students should become more of a teacher and teachers should become more of a mentor (assessor). Learning should become more efficient in the digital age. More time should be spent on electives, internships and community service not math and english. Six day weeks and 11 month years is a punishment for teachers and students. Secretary Duncan could of said we are going to change what learning and teaching is instead he is choosing to pick up where NCLB left off.

Jing Tutorial

Here is the link to my Jing Tutorial on Screencast.com.
I made a video for a Multimedia Jeopardy PowerPoint.

http://tinyurl.com/c85nu3

I was only able to give a brief overview of how to make a Jeopardy PowerPoint in the 5 minute limit.
I think Jing is a great free tool. I use the SmartBoard Recorder to make my screencasts, I like having the option to record the desktop, selected area or a window.

Fluid Learning - Required reading

Mark Pesce is a Sydney based consultant, writer and lecturer. His consultancy, FutureSt, advises media companies in publishing and broadcasting on strategies for forward movement in an ever more fragmented and converged media marketplace.

Please read this blog post regarding Fluid Learning. Do you agree with Pesce's reccomendations of Fluidity and Flexibility? What are the advantages? What are the dangers? Is it even feasible?

Sharing an experience with you all....

I was teaching a lesson today on orthographical views of cubes (some teachers just teach this using logic) I decided to use manipulatives to teach this lesson. These manipulatives were actually my sons building blocks, since my school does not have proper geometric resources/manipulatives. I asked my students to get into groups of three (letting them have the choice of who their group members would be), the quote "smart" students (definition of "smart" is what the students use) grouped themselves together immediately, "average" students grouped themselves together etc. Theses students are great geometry students and are very talanted at various algebraic manipulations. I placed the first set of orthogonal views and had them create the originating figure that it came from, to my surprise the "smart" students had the most difficulty recreating this structure and the rest of the class did well. I provided another problem on the board for them to reconstruct the structure, there was some progress but the "smart" students took a little longer. It then hit me.... although we have been working with shapes all year the students were never responsible for creating. It seemed ironic, to the students, that this happened; but it made me feel even more responsible for contributing to these students R-brained ability... Did any of you notice this in your classroom? It is one thing to read about it and it is another to witness it.

100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner

A learning style is a way in which an individual approaches learning.  Here are some great tools that can be used to attempt to cater to these individual learning styles, no matter what it is.

Top Five Presentation Tips

I decided to use Google Presentation since no one else choose this free service. Google Presentation is part of the Google Apps suite. I am a Google Certified Teacher and have set up teachers in my district with Google accounts. Our district is looking at using Google Apps for Education as a solution for our online needs. Google Presentation is not as versatile as PowerPoint or Keynote (my preferred paid presentation software) but it does have a couple of features that are unique. Within Google presentation you can collaborate on a slide show. This feature has been valuable for teachers and students in my district. You can also take instant messages from presentees during your presentation. These messages pop up along side the presentation. I think this is the next step for presentations. This interactive component has already been done in a couple of presentations I attended. It enables questions to be asked in real time as well as information added to the presentation. Someone can participate in the presentation remotely. I included multimedia in my presentation tips. I think this should include interactivity in the future. People should be able to collaborate or participate in your presentation. This can be done with Google Presentation, Twitter, Poll Everywhere or Wiffiti.

http://tinyurl.com/cva7g6

The Finer Points of an Effective Presentation

Rather than use Powerpoint, I constructed my presentation on Zoho.com, which Rob had directed me to. It might be interesting to compare Google tools with this open source office suite, as Rob had mentioned to me that several companies are using Zoho as their standard presentation software. I found there were some limitations to using this open source application, such as certain features like slide transitions that seemed not to be available. Although I find many of these features to distract from one's presentation, as I dread the time and energy students spend on including them when they offer no value to the overall presentation, given the nature of this assignment these features would have been helpful to incorporate as a demonstration of what not to do. Regardless, the finished presentation was converted to a .ppt file.

http://www.slideshare.net/brentharrington

Top Five Presentation Tips project

Using a free online presentation app of your choice create a powerful and informative presentation which discusses the finer points of effective presentations. Include your Top Five Tips for better presentations. Please refer to the links posted and on the class Blackboard site. The 1 Hour PowerPoint podcast has a lot of useful resources as well as a supplemental website for further research. At the completion of this task, export your presentation and upload it to slideshare.net. Please contact me ASAP if you have any questions or issues with this project.

The Conceptual Age - reflection

By now you should have read Part 1 - The Conceptual Age from A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink.  Dr. Gary Stager has spoken out critically about the evangelism of Daniel Pink by the educational community.  Please read his current blog posting regarding Daniel Pink and his Keynote delivery at the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo & Conference.

Does Pink validate your beliefs of the world that we live in today, or for what the future holds for our students?  Do you agree with Dr. Stager's assertion that " too many of the Web 2.0/School 2.0 community have given up on the promise of school.  Media mashups and video games are discussed as substitutes for the discipline and powerful ideas required to play an instrument, write a novel, build a mathematical model, design a computer application, construct a robot, or make sense of a rapidly changing world."  How does Daniel Pink shape your vision for 21st Century learning?  How does Gary Stager? What does all of this have to do with our discussion of integrating multimedia on your classroom?

Copyright and Fair Use Part 2

Is there a Copyright Filtering provision in the Federal Stimulus Package? This Action Alert hit the Internet early this morning.  

This is something we should keep an eye on.

Copyright and Fair Use

ISTE NETS-S 2008 Standard 4 calls for Promotion of Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility.  Performance Indicator A identifies advocating, modeling, and teaching safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

Can students legally use copyrighted material in multimedia projects?  Can these works be posted on a school website?  Is copyright a tool for censorship and monopolistic oppression, or a measure to secure a fair return for an author's creative labor?

Consider this article before you respond.

Something to consider when revising your school AUP

School AUP 2.0

Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners

I thought I'd pass this along to you guys.  Something to keep in mind if you're planning a new lesson...

Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners

Let's Stick To What We know

The future is unpredictable. It is safe to say that our students will hold jobs that do not exist today.

Read Part One - The Conceptual Age from A Whole New Mind - Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future by Daniel Pink

Now consider what values and skills we as educators need to instill into our future stakeholders. How do we leverage technology, especially powerful multimedia tools, to construct learning environments which foster these values and skills.

What is multimedia?

What does multimedia mean?  Why is it significant in education?  Why does it benefit our profession?  Please avoid the obvious when responding to this question..