NCAECT – Day 2




Another great day, but I’m beginning to get a bit tired. My old bones aren’t used to getting up at 5:30 when I didn’t go to sleep until at least 2. Maybe 20 years ago, but a bit over 40 and I can’t run with the big dogs.

Today, I was able to sit in on David Warlick’s session about web 2.0. I learn something new every time I’m in one of his sessions. He was presenting with Francis Bradburn, from DPI, and they allowed us to lead the discussion. Loved the idea of teachers (and some Central Office folks) teaching teachers. I left a comment on David’s blog saying that we never get the time to just talk to each other. What a wasted resource.

We have all this information inside us waiting to share with others. I always tell my mentees, during class change step out into the hall. Not only for a presence with the students, but also to ease-drop on the conversations that the more experienced teachers are having. Plethora of information just hanging there for the taking.

Here are my notes from the last day. Still using Google Docs, but I discovered that not all of my bullets are transferring to my blog. Oh well, you can get the jest from the notes.

NCAETC Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Google Ooglers 2
Anthony Woodyard woodyaa@gcsnc.com mrwoodyard@gmail.com
Joanne Gilmore gilmorj@gcsnc.com joanne@gilmorepage.com
Guilford County Schools

1. Gmail & Google Talk

  • www.gmail.com
  • www.google.com/talk
  • open invitation
  • POP access/storage space
  • Chat
  • mobile access
  • file and photo sharing

2. Personalize your home page

  • www.google.com/ig
  • Google gadgets
  • RSS feeds
  • Google reader
  • Google desktop
  • Picasa Web Album

3. Google Books

  • www.google.com/books
  • Shakespeare collection
  • other books
  • copyright infringement

4. Google for educators

  • www.google.com/educators
  • Classroom activities/ Posters (educational videos)
  • Librarian Center
  • Teacher community/ Google groups

5. Docs & Spreadsheets

  • www.google.com/docs
  • collaboration / importing
  • convert and save documents
  • view as html

6. Google Earth/Google Maps

  • www.google.com
  • www.google.com/earth
  • KML File integration (Lord of the Rings, Stonehenge)
  • sharing places with Google community
  • building footprints (sketchup) & traffic info
  • “Click to Call” & multi-point driving directions
    • click on a location and enter your phone number (cell) and Google will make the call for you
    • not residential – yet
  • default location is set and will open in that setting
  • multiple driving directions

7. Page Creator/Google Aps

  • pages.google.com
  • www.google.com/a

8. What’s next?

Take it to the Net – Computer skills Literacy
Gaston County Schools
Roxie Miller
responsible for computer skills test

  • 53 schools ~ 33000 kids, 11 middle schools, 9 high, 1 alternative school
  • 04-05 96% performance and 91% multiple choice
  • 05-06 66.2% on online test
  • now 8 technology facilitators
  • new resources
    • notebook/CD
    • web site
      • all pull down menus
      • www.gaston.k12.nc
      • ncdesk activities with teaching lessons included
      • pre-test, activities, & post test
      • tutorials are in a program similar to Camtasia
      • how-to’s have instructions that can be printed and given to the students
      • print directions
    • EasyTech
    • TLA – TechLiteracy Assessment
  • pre-test
    • questions are above the NC Desk application and has the submit button
    • does score at end, but assigns points per step (long way vs. short way)
  • mini-lessons
    • independent work
    • bullets
    • margins
    • spell check
    • headers and footers
    • print area
  • multiple choice quizzes
    • both old and new test versions
  • 5th grade benchmark was all multiple choice
  • 7th grade benchmark was performance and multiple choice
  • Tech Literacy assessment
    • in grades 5 & 7
    • booth in vendors
    • pre-test and post-test are same test, but questions are re-arranged
  • netcomlogic
    • simulated nc desk
    • 3 middle schools ~ $3000 if hosted on their server
    • ~ $10000 if on your server, but you can add questions
  • learning.com easy tech
    • cost $11 per student
    • use for skill instructor
    • teachers can review for themselves
    • interactive tutorials
    • activities
    • quizzes
    • practice
    • divided into k to 8
    • has layout and lesson plans after they have taken the test for test for understanding
      • lesson plans are ~ 45 minutes
      • regular classroom teacher can (and should) use this to integrate
      • quizzes
      • 30 day free trial
  • scores sky-rocketed after using the programs!
  • top schools on computer test are also top on state test
    • direct correlation

Roxie Miller rmiller@gaston.k12.nc.us
704-866-6225
www.gaston.k12.nc.us/departments/techinstr/CST/comp_skills_test.htm
gaston.k12.nc.us

  • instructional technology has testing resources
  • Daily Oral Computer Skills

Web 2.0 Challenge and Opportunity
Francis Bradburn DPI
David Warlick

online handouts

Web 2.0

  • blogs
    • students are learning to communicate
    • world-wide audience, not just for the teacher
    • publishing
  • wiki
    • write chapters of wikis instead of writing research papers
    • collaborating
  • social networking
    • elgg.net
    • can be classroom instruction
    • collaborating
  • podcasting
    • communicating
    • communicate with multi-media
  • all the new web2.0 skills are about literacy (reading and writing)

Think About Its

  • web 2.0 is a literacy skill just like reading and writing in traditional environment
  • professional development engines
    • we learn from each other
  • safety
  • classroom management
  • no longer sage on stage, but still be the mentoring center

Ideas

  • battle of the books
  • poetry writing
  • wikis for technology plan throughout the county
  • blogs for calendar voting
    • good and bad points
    • includes parents
  • blog or wiki
    • for lessons
    • teachers make wikis for lesson plans instead of turning them in to admins
  • media coordinators
    • post information
    • copyright information
  • board of education
    • posting policies

Some tech departments have banned blogs and podcasting

  • some tech depts are building their own blog sites and wiki sites
  • teachers need to be proactive and monitor students
  • staff development all the way up so the fear issue is addressed
  • summer leadership program for superintendents and principals addressing this issue

Warlick

  • “if we neglect to do anything we are putting our heads in the sand and allowing our students to basically learn on the streets”
  • “not teaching students about the Internet is like teaching a child to walk and not teaching them about the street”

Professional development in a wiki

  • teachers can pick and choose which professional developments they want to participate in on their own time
  • similar to eBistro, but on a wiki
  • Kim and Danita’s technology wikis have instructions already

Parent Education Programs

Cyber Safety

  • Nancy Willard
  • the worse thing you can do is scare the parents
    • they might overreact
    • if kids see this the are less likely to communicate with adults when they have a question
  • don’t scare, but inform
  • iSafe
    • great videos on safety

Perfect analogy with what we do or don’t do with sex education

Bradburn

  • “If we don’t get on board with technology, we will lose our student’s standing worldwide”

Introducing Non-F2F Learning:Free Web Tools for Online Collaboration
Harry Marriner
Keenan Tusing
Pender County Schools

Tech Camp

  • Expose students to interactive and collaborative online tools
  • Create presentation using non-face to face communication
  • after school for AIG students
  • kids can’t talk face to face, but had to communicate to others in other ways
    • Gaggle email
    • all located in separate parts of the building

Writeboard

  • www.writeboard.com
  • can be collaborative – similar to wikis

Blogs

  • edublogs

Chat Rooms

  • www.campfirenow.com
  • group chats
  • can have up to 4 accounts free, more than that is paid
  • can send files in chat

Wikispaces

  • collaborative spaces

Collaborative drawing

  • www.imaginationcubed.com
  • kids can draw with each other
  • good for lower levels

Other Resources

  • www.classchatter.com
    • allows class to communicate through student blogs without student email accounts.
    • You create a classroom, add names of students, give them a password to access the site.

Internet Policy

  • violate policy – take away Internet
  • if a child misbehaves in the cafeteria, would you take lunch away from them?
  • acceptable use procedure

Mobilizing Education
Elliot Soloway and Cathleen Norris

closing session

  • the next big thing is mobility
  • mobilizing access
  • mobilizing the pedagogy

has technology changed in the last 10 years in K-12

  • no
  • 60% of teachers have 1 computer or less in their classroom
  • 65% have access to a computer lab less than 1 time per week
  • no access = no use = no learning
  • current tech is not the future
  • the future can not be like the past

55,000,000 kids in America

  • the only way kids are going to get computers in their hands is by giving them a smaller more mobile handheld
  • question of will not of money
  • Palm makes one for $88, but you need to purchase keyboards
  • 7″ screen is ~ $400
  • handhelds with high screen resolution
  • $100 laptop computer, not really a laptop
  • cell phone
  • what will it be tomorrow?

Schools don’t want technology, they want curriculum

Holy Grail: Technology integrated into curriculum

1 to 1 laptop initiative

  • difficult to maintain
  • need to be durable
  • Bill Penuel studied laptop
    • most kids are using laptops for word processing, web browsers, email, and chat

Degree of integration – laptop/desktop

  • teacher assignment in Word
  • student word processor, browser etc
  • adapted for technology and learning
  • built for business, not kids

Degree of integration – mobile/handheld

  • teacher integrated instruction
  • student integrated instruction
  • desgined for technology and learning
  • manage instruction
  • autonomous learners

Integrated Instruction Framework

  • mobile technology
  • low cost and viable

Handheld centered classroom

  • each child has a handheld
  • software
    • key to making the handheld learning environment
  • give kids a rubric
  • activity
  • differentiated instruction
  • extensions for AIG kids
  • personalized instruction
  • multidisciplinary
  • reflective learners
  • ease of use

New opportunities

  • many hands
    • kids working together
    • shared “whiteboard”
    • collaboration
  • swivel and beam
    • peer editing
    • beam to another in the room
    • brainstorming
  • animate and annotate
    • emphasis on content and not on production
  • remix generation
    • mashups
  • evolution not revolution
    • do what you did, but do it a bit differently

Year 1:

  • use existing curriculum
  • paper and pencil

Year 2:

  • exploit affordances
  • ePaper and ePen

Portfolio Manager

  • distribute
  • collect
  • grade

why 1:1?

  • do you share your computer?
  • what works? personal model
    • graphing calculators
    • every child has their own

can 1:1 handhelds lead to increased scores?

  • research
  • 3 teachers in 3 different schools
  • 1st year no change
  • 2nd year handhelds did 13% better than students without handhelds
  • scientifically based research (SBR)
  • took teachers 2 years to get into the flow of using handhelds

Alvin, Texas & Goose Creek, Texas voted for every student to have a handheld

It’s going to happen

  • every child will get a computer
    • they will bring their computers in
    • might be cell phones
    • 1 child : 1 pencil
    • 1 child : 1 book
    • 1 child : 1 computer

When is every child in NC going to get a computer?

  • 1 year? 3 years? 10 years?

Handhelds range from $88 (but buy a keyboard) to $350 Chevy to $500 Cadillac

  • ~ $10,000 per classroom

Longterm cost is near zero because there is no upkeep

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