Sunday, February 27, 2011
iPads in education resource
Interested in iPads in education? The following is a link to an "iPads in Education" Ning: http://ipadeducators.ning.com/main/invitation/new?xg_source=msg_wel_network
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Web 2.0 Tools & Mobiles
Check out this video from Discovery Education. Great ideas for using Web 2.0 tools and mobiles in the classroom.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
StoryKit
StoryKit is a free App available from iTunes that I recently introduced to a third grade class. It allows students to create their own digital storybooks by adding text, drawing pictures, importing photos, and creating sound effects. The student's story is saved within the app but can also be shared via email.
In addition to students creating their own electronic books, there are four books pre-loaded into the app: The Three Little Pigs, The Three Bears, Humpty Dumpty, and The Rocket Book. These books can simply be read as eBooks, or they can be rewritten and rearranged to create all new stories. This feature is great for teaching sequencing! While the pre-loaded stories lend themselves to students in lower elementary grades, the app can easily be used by older students and even teachers to generate their own projects and/or content. This might be a fun way to incorporate journaling? Give it a try, the price is right, and I think you will love it!
In addition to students creating their own electronic books, there are four books pre-loaded into the app: The Three Little Pigs, The Three Bears, Humpty Dumpty, and The Rocket Book. These books can simply be read as eBooks, or they can be rewritten and rearranged to create all new stories. This feature is great for teaching sequencing! While the pre-loaded stories lend themselves to students in lower elementary grades, the app can easily be used by older students and even teachers to generate their own projects and/or content. This might be a fun way to incorporate journaling? Give it a try, the price is right, and I think you will love it!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
2011 Horizon Report
I recently read the 2011 Horizon Report which identifies and describes six emerging technologies likely to have a significant global impact over the next five years. The technologies identified this year include electronic books, mobiles, augmented reality, game-based learning, gesture-based computing, and learning analytics. Much to my surprise, I found the report both interesting and engaging in addition to containing an abundance of useful resources. Since the Horizon Report focuses on the higher education environment, I am curious as to how these trends translate to K-12 public education which is my field. If there is a similar report that addresses these trends in K-12 education, I would appreciate knowing about it. Perhaps there is little difference between the trends/timing for higher ed and K-12.
I feel that the two near-term horizon technologies, eBooks and mobiles, are already making a significant impact in the classroom in my district. Students use iPod Touch devices across all grade levels and content areas for research, direct instruction, projects, and many other activities. On p.14 of the Horizon Report, the 100 Most Educational iPhone Apps provides a list of educational apps that any teacher integrating mobiles will find useful.
eBooks have just started to gain momentum in our district with the use of online textbooks and a variety of eReader apps available for iPods and iPads. Classroom Kindle sets have also been purchased at two district schools thus far. I believe the use of eBooks will grow significantly in education in the near future as a result of more academic titles becoming available and the fact that publishers have begun to “uncouple print and electronic sales of textbooks.” (p.9) I agree with the Horizon Report that the content and social interactivity available in eBooks are the keys to their popularity as opposed to the devices themselves. There are numerous “Reader” devices available in the market today that perform similar functions. I personally prefer the multifunction devices, like the Apple iPad. The more things I can accomplish with one device, the better!
There are a number of challenges with moblie devices in K-12 education from an IT standpoint. One challenge is providing a one-to-one student-to-device ratio. With today’s budget constraints, funding for the devices is not currently available and will likely not be available in the near future. Grant opportunities are a possibility. A second challenge is the use of personal mobile devices by students. The one-to-one ratio could be achieved if this were allowed, but at the present time the school district in which I work does not allow personal devices (teacher or student) to access the school network, and most schools have a no cell phone/mobile policy for students due to the fear of students using the devices for purposes other than education and disrupting or not paying attention to instruction. On p.3 of the Horizon Report the point is made that, “...individual organizational constraints are likely the most important factor in any decision to adopt...any given technology.” I see these organizational constraints first-hand.
In addition to organizational constraints, K-12 education must adhere to federal privacy laws regarding students and families (FERPA) and the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) among other laws. CIPA requires that students have filtered and logged Internet access in K-12 public schools. If students come to school with personal mobile devices or eBooks equipped with wireless access from outside sources (3G, 4G), Internet access is unfiltered, and the school system has no means of filtering or logging student activity. The only way that mobile devices can be configured to the district’s network to comply with federal law is for the devices to be purchased and managed by the school division.
The Horizon report lists Augmented Reality and Game-Based learning as mid-term horizon technologies with the time to adoption being two to three years. Interestingly both of these technologies are widely used on mobile devices. The visual and interactive nature of AR along with the use of real world spaces creates a highly engaging learning experience for today’s digital natives. I have limited experience with AR, but on the two occasions where I have completed an AR activity and the one time I was able to work with AR software, I was fully engaged and motivated. Being able to use AR when visiting historical locations tagged with information that allows learners to see pictures and information from the past seems like an excellent way to bring history to life and provide the real world connection that educators strive to make.
Game-Based learning can include anything from simple paper-and-pencil games to massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. In my 22 years as an educator I have used both non-digital and digital games with students and find them to be highly motivating and engaging. My students particularly enjoyed using Jeopardy-type games for content review in collaborative teams. Many students also enjoy the competitiveness of games and put forth a great deal of effort to win. According to the 2011 Horizon Report, “...as game designers continue to explore new ways to integrate serious topics and content area in engaging formats, gaming will become more useful and prevalent in higher education.” I concur that gaming will become more prevalent in the educational setting, and the trick will be to embed content and skills in such a way that learners don’t perceive the game as formal learning. Simulation Games for Business Students is a clever use of an “off-the-shelf” game in education.
The far term horizon technologies of Gesture Based Computing and Learning Analytics are not areas that are currently on my radar with the exception of my use of iPod Touch and iPad devices, our family Wii, my son’s X-Box Kinect, and a UDraw Tablet used by an Art teacher at one of the schools I serve. I look forward to the future of Gesture Based Computing and see great promise in its use for students with disabilities. Learning Analytics is certainly a powerful tool, but I have concerns regarding the misuse/overuse of data in education. Data doesn’t always tell the whole story, but when used in conjunction with personal student interaction, it can be very helpful in determining an appropriate learning path. I typically find that getting to know a student and working with a student individually gives me the most useful data.
I feel that the two near-term horizon technologies, eBooks and mobiles, are already making a significant impact in the classroom in my district. Students use iPod Touch devices across all grade levels and content areas for research, direct instruction, projects, and many other activities. On p.14 of the Horizon Report, the 100 Most Educational iPhone Apps provides a list of educational apps that any teacher integrating mobiles will find useful.
eBooks have just started to gain momentum in our district with the use of online textbooks and a variety of eReader apps available for iPods and iPads. Classroom Kindle sets have also been purchased at two district schools thus far. I believe the use of eBooks will grow significantly in education in the near future as a result of more academic titles becoming available and the fact that publishers have begun to “uncouple print and electronic sales of textbooks.” (p.9) I agree with the Horizon Report that the content and social interactivity available in eBooks are the keys to their popularity as opposed to the devices themselves. There are numerous “Reader” devices available in the market today that perform similar functions. I personally prefer the multifunction devices, like the Apple iPad. The more things I can accomplish with one device, the better!
There are a number of challenges with moblie devices in K-12 education from an IT standpoint. One challenge is providing a one-to-one student-to-device ratio. With today’s budget constraints, funding for the devices is not currently available and will likely not be available in the near future. Grant opportunities are a possibility. A second challenge is the use of personal mobile devices by students. The one-to-one ratio could be achieved if this were allowed, but at the present time the school district in which I work does not allow personal devices (teacher or student) to access the school network, and most schools have a no cell phone/mobile policy for students due to the fear of students using the devices for purposes other than education and disrupting or not paying attention to instruction. On p.3 of the Horizon Report the point is made that, “...individual organizational constraints are likely the most important factor in any decision to adopt...any given technology.” I see these organizational constraints first-hand.
In addition to organizational constraints, K-12 education must adhere to federal privacy laws regarding students and families (FERPA) and the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) among other laws. CIPA requires that students have filtered and logged Internet access in K-12 public schools. If students come to school with personal mobile devices or eBooks equipped with wireless access from outside sources (3G, 4G), Internet access is unfiltered, and the school system has no means of filtering or logging student activity. The only way that mobile devices can be configured to the district’s network to comply with federal law is for the devices to be purchased and managed by the school division.
The Horizon report lists Augmented Reality and Game-Based learning as mid-term horizon technologies with the time to adoption being two to three years. Interestingly both of these technologies are widely used on mobile devices. The visual and interactive nature of AR along with the use of real world spaces creates a highly engaging learning experience for today’s digital natives. I have limited experience with AR, but on the two occasions where I have completed an AR activity and the one time I was able to work with AR software, I was fully engaged and motivated. Being able to use AR when visiting historical locations tagged with information that allows learners to see pictures and information from the past seems like an excellent way to bring history to life and provide the real world connection that educators strive to make.
Game-Based learning can include anything from simple paper-and-pencil games to massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. In my 22 years as an educator I have used both non-digital and digital games with students and find them to be highly motivating and engaging. My students particularly enjoyed using Jeopardy-type games for content review in collaborative teams. Many students also enjoy the competitiveness of games and put forth a great deal of effort to win. According to the 2011 Horizon Report, “...as game designers continue to explore new ways to integrate serious topics and content area in engaging formats, gaming will become more useful and prevalent in higher education.” I concur that gaming will become more prevalent in the educational setting, and the trick will be to embed content and skills in such a way that learners don’t perceive the game as formal learning. Simulation Games for Business Students is a clever use of an “off-the-shelf” game in education.
The far term horizon technologies of Gesture Based Computing and Learning Analytics are not areas that are currently on my radar with the exception of my use of iPod Touch and iPad devices, our family Wii, my son’s X-Box Kinect, and a UDraw Tablet used by an Art teacher at one of the schools I serve. I look forward to the future of Gesture Based Computing and see great promise in its use for students with disabilities. Learning Analytics is certainly a powerful tool, but I have concerns regarding the misuse/overuse of data in education. Data doesn’t always tell the whole story, but when used in conjunction with personal student interaction, it can be very helpful in determining an appropriate learning path. I typically find that getting to know a student and working with a student individually gives me the most useful data.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Objective: Fluency
I recently started a project with a second grade class that involves using iPod Touch devices to improve reading fluency. The teacher has six iPod Touch in the classroom for student use. Our first obstacle was to find audiobooks appropriate for second grade students. We did not have much success in this area, so I decided that we should create our own audiobooks. Using a digital audio recorder and leveled books from the classroom reading program, I read the books aloud and created digital audio files that I then uploaded to iTunes in a playlist entitled "Audiobooks." I then synced the playlist to the six iPod Touch. (I must admit that I don't care for the sound of my own voice, but after recording a few books, the teacher was very happy with the content, so I agreed to be the "reader.")
The students' use of the iPod Touch and audiobooks goes something like this...at the beginning of each week, students are assigned a book based on their reading level. On Monday, students read the book to themselves, and then read it aloud using the Voice Memo utility to record their reading. The teacher then listens to the recordings on the iTouch and completes a running record evaluation for each student. On Tuesday students listen to the audiobook recorded in my voice on the iTouch while following along with the actual book in front of them. Students can listen to the audiobook as many times as they would like. On Wednesday and Thursday, students again use the Voice Memo utility on the iPod Touch to record and then listen to their own reading. The final student recording is again evaluated by the teacher using a running record. The goal is that the running record at the end of the week will show great improvement over the running record done at the beginning of the week.
We have found that the students are highly motivated and engaged in reading when they are using the iPod Touch, and thus far student fluency has improved. In addition to the gains for students, this project has shown me that it is fairly simple to create my own content for the iPod Touch.
The students' use of the iPod Touch and audiobooks goes something like this...at the beginning of each week, students are assigned a book based on their reading level. On Monday, students read the book to themselves, and then read it aloud using the Voice Memo utility to record their reading. The teacher then listens to the recordings on the iTouch and completes a running record evaluation for each student. On Tuesday students listen to the audiobook recorded in my voice on the iTouch while following along with the actual book in front of them. Students can listen to the audiobook as many times as they would like. On Wednesday and Thursday, students again use the Voice Memo utility on the iPod Touch to record and then listen to their own reading. The final student recording is again evaluated by the teacher using a running record. The goal is that the running record at the end of the week will show great improvement over the running record done at the beginning of the week.
We have found that the students are highly motivated and engaged in reading when they are using the iPod Touch, and thus far student fluency has improved. In addition to the gains for students, this project has shown me that it is fairly simple to create my own content for the iPod Touch.
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