Category Archives: Education

Threes Tuesday

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1.     http://storybird.com

What is it? Collaborative story-telling website

Use it:

  • create a story

Integration: Any subject but especially language arts

Purpose: Students can work with each other to create a story. If the focus is on storytelling and not drawing/artistry, this tool is useful in that it provides students with images to use.

2.     http://www.bibme.org/

What is it? A bibliography creator 

Use it:

  • easily create a bibliography using MLA, APA, Chicago or Turbian using online databases
  • view citation guides

Integration: All subjects

Purpose: This tool accesses online databases to automatically complete some of the required information for your bibliography. The citation guides also teach students about methods of attribution.

3.     http://www.wordle.net

What is it? World cloud creator

 Use it:

  • artwork
  • spelling/vocabulary
  • data/literature analysis
  • poetry

Integration: Any subject

Purpose: Create a graphical representation of the relative frequency of each word in a list/paragraph. This may be useful for analyzing texts, or for emphasizing meaning.

Tip: Try double clicking, right clicking on a word, and advanced options

App Spotlight

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The list of currently free apps is updated each week. Highlights this week include Purple Frog to teach social skills including caring, DoReMi 1-2-3: Music for kids which focuses on music, Mathzilla for elementary Maths. Cookie Next Door which encourages creativity through Storytelling, and PixStop for Stop Animation. Please visit the web page for additional apps that are currently free.

For more recommendations and reviews of apps for iDevices in the classroom, see http://tips2012.edublogs.org/category/app-recommendations/ and http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/Blooms+Taxonomy+with+Apps.

Keeping Safe, Wirelessly

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Children are brought into the world of technology even before birth, with ultrasounds posted on Facebook, and baby names crowdsourced online. Is it no doubt then, that the wireless spans the whole family?

Image courtesy of CTIA-The Wireless Association. Click to see the whole info graphic.

Image courtesy of CTIA-The Wireless Association. Click to see the whole infographic.

Wireless is wonderful in that it allows anytime anywhere connections and learning. These affordances come with (the usual online) dangers and it’s important for adults and children to take steps to mitigate these dangers.

Before giving a wireless device to a child, explore the available parental restrictions and other safety settings available. You may find helpful resources at http://www.growingwireless.com. I’m most familiar with the restrictions available in iOS because I’ve set those up at my school.

It is important to enable restrictions on mobile devices, especially when you will be using them with young children. Apple iOS allows you to restrict applications, content, privacy, and game center. Get help for setting up these restrictions at http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4213. I think that turning In-App Purchases off and Requiring Password Immediately are important to prevent children from (even accidentally) making purchases. I also turn off Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, Game Center, Bluetooth Sharing, Location Services, and all explicit content, disable account changes, and disable deleting apps whenever my nieces and nephews are playing with my Apple devices.

Sample settings for content restrictions.

Sample settings for content restrictions. 

Who Are You?

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Who's behind the mask?

Image source: Behind the Mask by Chris Martin Sudios, CC BY 2.0

I recently read an article on the CTV website about a study that shows strong correlations between liking something on Facebook and a myriad of personal demographic information including racial identity and political affiliation. Google personalizes results so that we are liable to get caught in our own filter bubble. Our engagement in social media and social networks helps us define our identity, but it also shapes our identity. When you do a search about yourself in Google, the results you find are who you are, or at least dimensions of who you are. The danger of identity in the online world is that it is difficult to authentically and honestly represent yourself. On the flip side, it is challenging to get the complete picture of who a person is. Yet we feel that we know someone after having interacted with him online. However, the snapshots that we get when we interact with someone online or learn about them through search are just that, snapshots. If you engage in the online world, recognize the challenge that you have to represent yourself. Get out of your close knit, comfortable space sometimes to allow other dimensions of your personality to show. Acknowledge the difficulties of getting to know someone online. Be careful not to fill in details from your own imaginations/expectations.

My Totally Real Online World

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Web 2.0 Digitage by ocean.flynn on flickr

What’s your real life?

I was recently speaking with my grade 6 students about online versus “real life” bullying and had difficulty picking the “right” words to talk about the issue. I shared with students that my online life feels is real to me. When I have a conversation with family using Skype, write a blog post about my travels, share my experiences on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc., it’s a real experience, and I’m living my real life.

Two weekends ago, I was in Tokyo for a Google summit. During his keynote, Jim Sill said that we used to be living in a material world and we’re now living in a youtube, Instagram, etc. world. We could say that we’re living in an information world; it’s not such a stretch to say that we live largely in a digital world. One of my students suggested that a person who is cyberbullied can simply close all his/her online accounts. This lead to a good classroom discussion about whether or not a person can live completely removed from the digital world, and whether participation in the digital world is a “right”. I shared that I would feel very isolated here in Japan if I couldn’t use social media and other technology tools to keep in frequent contact with family and friends all over the world.

I read an article browsing through Pulse this morning that talked about how Facebook has healing power and can help people restore their self-esteem. On the flip side, there are people whose lives are adversely affected by online attacks. The opposite of real is imaginary, and while I can take on imaginary personas online, I often use the digital world as an extension of my physical world. If we remove the distance between the digital world and the real world and acknowledge the relationship that exists between them, we realize that kindness, caring, responsibility, love and all those other attributes of a meaningful life matter whether we are online or in the physical world.

Let Children Scratch

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scratch1.4Scratch was created at MIT. Mitch Resnick explains that Scratch is a tool that can help children navigate the creative thinking spiral, which is made up of imagine, create, play, share, and reflect in a circuit. Scratch is a great program to use to introduce children to computational thinking and programming. It can be used to engage children in creative computing, where they are not just consumers, but creators and collaborators.

In this media rich society, children spend a lot of time consuming information, browsing the web and conducting research. Children interact through searches, making choices and engaging in chat. Are we supporting them in creating and remixing? How creatively do we use new technology? Do we help children collaborate, reason, think critically, develop computational thinking, reflect, invent?

Scratch is considered social because it has sharing built in. MIT has a website for scratch and that website allows creators to upload their products, critique projects, collaborate, support. Projects ran in the web browser and can be downloaded and modified. The community is motivating because users can receive feedback and advice. Creators can be inspired by other projects, and collaborate by borrowing code, adapting or building upon programs, or working with others to create projects that the couldn’t make individually. Scratch allows the creation of network by showing which projects are related to each other. Scratch also has language support for a variety of languages.

Scratch is meaningful because it allows diversity and personalization. Users can create many different types of projects to meet their interests and learning styles. They can personalize projects by importing media, and create projects that are inspired by the real word or by their imagination.

Scratch is tinkerable. Programs are created through the use of blocks that snap together, so children can create through iteration and trial, leading to an emergent design. Scratch encourages experimentation and play because children can have a messy (virtual) work space. They can learn by doing because changing instructions during program execution leads to an immediate effect.

The current version of Scratch runs locally on a computer. The next version will have even more features and interactivity built in:

 

Want to try it out? Here are some resources:

 

ICT in the PYP

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The most important skills for being a lifelong learner who can make effective use of technology are:

  • risktaker
  • resourceful
  • curious

I have a girl in my class right now who has limited experience with computers but I love the fact that she is curious and ask questions in a continuous quest for understanding. She loves the opportunity to try new things on the computer. This engagement is great motivation for her learning.

I try to model problem-solving strategies to my students and my colleagues. I frequently point out to people that I don’t know the answer, but rather than I figure out the answer by trying things (often based on prior experience or curiosity), and searching the web and other resources for help. However, I wonder if there is a certain amount of familiarity with computers that helps people develop efficacy and agency for their own learning using computers; I suspect a reciprocal relationship.

This morning, I’m preparing a presentation for elementary teachers at my school. The presentation is on ICT in the PYP. The IBO advocates for technology being integrated into the curriculum to transform teaching and learning. Transformation feels like a buzz word in education. Do we have a handle on what it is? what it looks like? how we do it? What do we need to remove, add, change for transformation to occur? Can a school just jump to transformation or does transformation occur at the end of or as a consequence of a journey?

In our staff meeting on Wednesday, we’ll be discussing what technology integration could look like at our school. My plan is to work with teachers to map out some technology integration goals at each grade level, identifying a variety of tools that can help us achieve the goals. Below is the visual part of my presentation. We’ll be collaboratively working on a number of Google documents for most of the hour long session.

Using Copyrighted Material in Education

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Creative Commons Logo

Creative Commons Logo

I share Creative Commons Search with all my students and ask them to use if for finding multimedia. I do that because it’s the easiest. I also talk to them about fair use, but we seldom apply it for material that will be put online. In my previous post on Creative Commons and Copyright, I didn’t even mention fair use. I suspect that this is a common state in education, and that many educators, like me, are confused about copyright and fair use. This is particularly true for international educators who may have difficulty figuring out the laws of the local country.

The Difference Between Creative Commons and Fair Use

Creative commons allows creators to assign licenses to their own work. Creators can decide who can use their work and how. Fair use, on the other hand, allows creators to use copyrighted material, in accordance with particular considerations.

Just because an image or a song is available online doesn’t mean that viewers can use the multimedia in creations. Citing a copyrighted item does not give us the right to use it. The multimedia is meant to be viewed, not downloaded and/or used. You have to determine one of two things to be able to use multimedia that does not below to you: Creative Commons license or Fair Use.

4 considerations in determining fair use

  • nature of the use
  • purpose of the use
  • amount of the use
  • affect on potential markets

The most important consideration in considering fair use is transformativeness. The new creation should add value to or repurpose the copyrighted work that it uses. As a result of the added value and transformative nature of the work,

the cost to copyright holder < benefit to society.

Resources (USA):

Guiding Children’s Technology Use

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20130125-190606.jpg
Straight path …. by Sarah Gadd

A few weeks ago, the tech team at my school sent out a survey on technology use to to our stakeholders who are parents. We had a low response rate with only 53 responders. It’s been interesting for me to read the responses and get glimpses of what parents worry about, and what they’re hopeful for.

How Parents Limit/Control Technology Use

We asked “What rules do you have at home to guide your child(ren)’s technology use?”. Parents could skip the question if so inclined. Some parents had no concerns and/or no rules. Other parents took some actions:

  • Time limits for technology use.
  • Technology only used in public spaces (except with permission).
  • Parents have passwords to Facebook and e-mail accounts and check child’s activity.
  • Online activities are frequently checked with the child’s knowledge.
  • Limits on viewing content.
  • Limits on types of information/comments that child can post.
  • Technology only for homework use on weekdays.
  • Limited “fun” time for computer use on weekends.
  • Child uses parent’s account on the computer.
  • Regularly monitor the websites that children visited and explain to them what they can do and can’t.
  • Use Netnanny or other tool to filter access and block particular (kinds of) sites.
  • Screen time (all devices) is limited and done in the company of an adult.
  • No downloading without permission.
  • Game playing can occur on weekend when permitted.
  • Cut-off time for bed.
  • Required breaks away from the technology.
  • Limit the amount of time he can use the computer.
  • Screen time is limited to approx. 30 min/day, regardless of whether it is TV, games or computer
  • PC use is for school work.
  • Use computers only after homework is finished.
  • WIFI turned off when child uses iPad unless parent with him.
  • Spy on child’s Facebook account.
  • Recreational technology uses only allowed if grades maintained above a certain threshold.
  • No technology in the bedroom.
    Do regular homework before iDevice learning.

Most responders have rules about time spent using technology devices. I’ve written before about the importance of having agreements with children to guide them in using technology responsibly. I think that it’s important to be proactive rather than reactive where possible. If you do not have an agreement with your child(ren) on their technology use, I urge you to create one if your child independently uses a technology device. (Note that you may need more than one if you have children of various age ranges.) Here are some ideas for developing agreements with your children:

  • Sit down for this discussion in a comfortable space at an appropriate time (check for negative emotions, tiredness and other feelings that could compromise the discussion).
  • Discuss when (at night, on weekends, during the school day, etc.), where (at school, in public spaces, at the dinner table, etc.), and how (downloading apps, installing programs, creating accounts, surfing the web, playing games, chatting, texting, etc.) the children are allowed to use the technology.
  • Consider scenarios that may occur that present a moral dilemma (it is a good idea to discuss this issue with friends or research online beforehand for some ideas).
  • Discuss possible reactions/solutions to the moral dilemmas.
  • Discuss the impact of reactions/solutions and prioritize them
  • Discuss additional factors that might make it hard for your children to make good choices (peer pressure, concerns about personal safety, etc.)
  • Write down the guidelines/agreement and keep it visible (especially for older children)
  • Discuss (and possibly write down) consequences for not following the agreement.
  • Have a maintenance/review cycle for the agreement.

Limiting time and having an agreement is only part of guiding your child’s development in the digital world. Regularly discuss his/her life with her. Know what accounts that he holds and what options he has for participation in those spaces. Discuss her virtual friends. Discuss situations that come up in the news and share your perspectives and points of view. Be part of his/her digital life, where possible. This may mean playing World of Warcraft or Minecraft to know what it is, visiting PInterest and reading about how it works, exploring Tumblr, etc. I intend to look up Zorpia because I’ve gotten a number of (possibly unintentional) invites from students to join it recently. I anticipate that it’s another social network (and I certainly don’t need another one of those in my life) but I’ll look it up to find out what it’s all about. It’s my responsibility as an educator, and yours as a parent, to know what children are doing online, to think about how I can help them traverse the online world safely, to teach them to be a good (digital) citizen. I hope that you’re on this journey with me.

Technology Rules

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Perhaps you bought a new technology device for your son or daughter this summer. What rules accompanied the new device? It is a good idea to make contracts with your child about the use of technology. Three tips for contracts:

  • Create the contract with your child. You may have non-negotiable expectations but make sure that there is some opportunity for your child to provide input into the rules.
  • Provide guidance on how to use the technology safely and responsibly.
  • Model the behavior that you expect your child to demonstrate when using your own technology.

What do you think about this mom’s approach. Is it too much or just enough?