Be Careful of What You Wish For

For years, many in the EdTech community have been wishing for the day when students would come to school with a digital device that would serve as textbook, notebook, research tool, and homework folder all rolled up into one small, lightweight package. With Apple's recent eTextbook announcement along with (surprise, surprise) President Obama's call for students in the United States to use digital textbooks in the next five years you would think the day of jubilee has come. However, instead of shouts of joy, I seem to be seeing complaints about this move to the digital student. The funny thing is many of the arguments are the ones I used to hear from teachers who did not want to embrace technology at all.

The complaints I am hearing are the likes of the Adobe PDF format is too hard to work with or iPads and the necessary accessories will cost too much. One argument I can agree with partially is do we really need textbooks at all? It seems to me the attitude is that unless every student can take part in the new educational digital revolution then forget it, we won't play. What are people thinking? Steve Jobs was going to leave an iPad to every student in his will? This is the type of thinking that hampers education to begin with. Why don't we outlaw new safety features on cars until every car has them instead of seeing them on luxury cars first? Because we know these features will eventually come down to the masses as standard features eventually if they work. We should not act surprised about this digital education revolution either. If you read Steve Jobs' biography you got a clear warning that education was one of the next things Jobs wanted to reinvent. Actually, Jobs has been talking about this for many years but the pieces have now come into place.

Okay, we know there are not that many interactive textbooks, iPads in the hands of students, teachers trained to take advantage of these advances, and school districts that have the infrastructure to handle the rush of mobile devices. Well new content will start flowing with iBook Author. Also, there will be other products that will do the same thing for other platforms by the end of the year. As far as getting iPads into the hands of students, I am willing to predict that the iPad 3 will be the top of the line device but Apple will still sell iPad 2's at a cheaper cost. Apple is still selling iPhone 3GS's and iPhone 4's and they are plenty serviceable. Google and the Android supporters will not go sit in the corner and sulk? They should have something out before the end of the year if they wish to compete with Apple. Remember too that five years in the tech world can see many changes. Teachers have been warned for years this day would come so if they are not ready, it is probably their fault and they better start cramming. The new digital tools will change the way teaching in the classroom is carried out. 20th Century practices will not work in 21st Century tools. Likewise, districts should have seen this coming too. Some have taken steps to welcome the new technologies but I am sure the recent announcements also caught many unprepared. Do we really need to continue investing in interactive whiteboards?

There it is, the time is at hand to put up or shut up. When I was stationed in West Germany during my Army days, the idea of a divided Germany was a given fact even though West German propaganda talked about reunification. When I left West Germany in 1988, everyone (including myself) thought the East-West border would continue to divide Germany for many years to come. However, within two years the Berlin Wall was down and Germany was reunified surprising many people (again including myself) that it actually happened. Well the wall between old and new, analog and digital, paper and eReader has been torn down. It is now time for us to quickly gather our wits and forge the new future we have dreamed about but did not expect to happen.

You Can't Afford Apple's Education Revolution Gizmodo

What's Wrong with the Dept. of Ed and FCC Digital Textbook Push? Hack Education

A Mobile Life For Me

This year I have been using tablets in and out of my classroom for a variety of tasks and I have loved the experience. I have been switching between my Acer Iconia A500 Android tablet and the Apple iPad 2 received for winning the TIP's award. Saving time when it comes to grade reporting has to be the biggest reason for using a tablet alone. I loaded Splashtop on both tablets I use along with my laptop. A few taps on the screen I have my laptop's screen on my tablet screen. This allows me to enter grades in both Edmodo and our Power School gradebook as I check student work during class, a huge timesaver. Also, I can pull up the e-book we use for learning Scratch programming and can go over questions students have which is also nice. Needless to say, I plan on making more use of using tablets in my classes and other teaching duties. It is the mobile life for me!

Here are a few applications I use with either my Acer tablet, iPad, or even my iPhone 4S and how I use them:

• Read school email but not reply (it is forwarded to a Gmail account I created when I was a tech coach).
• Take attendance through Splashtop.
• Show a presentation using either Quick Office, Keynote, or Splashtop and either an HDMI cable, VGA adapter, or WiFi connection.
• Communicate with students and other teachers via Edmodo. While the Android and iPhone apps are nice the iPad app is the full Internet version. I wish the Tablet app would do this too.
• Write reports, memos, or other documents with Quick Office. Just don't expect forms to come out the same way.
• Shoot and edit videos with iMovie or Slice.
• Blog and share pictures with my students, parents, or teachers using Blogger or the Squarespace apps for iOS and Android (glad this one is available).
• Take notes in meetings with Evernote.
• Run a quiz or do exit tickets with Socrative.
• Surf the Internet for lesson ideas although it is limited due to access restrictions.
• Read and share ebooks.
• Share videos downloaded from YouTube or Streamline.
• Grade student work with Edmodo and/or Splashtop.
• Confer with other Education Professionals with Twitter, Google+, and/Edmodo.
• Quickly divide the class into teams with Team Picker (iOS) or Random Student (Android).

There are probably many more things but I just can't think of them right now but feel free to leave a comment to share how you use your phone or tablet in your classroom.

SC EdTech 2011

A little over three weeks ago I received a phone call from Don Cantrell of the South Carolina Department of Education. He called to tell me the South Carolina Association of Education Technology (SCAET) had been trying to contact me since September to inform me that Bluffton Middle School's Computer Technology 6 course (which I had mainly written) had won the Technology Innovative Program Award. To make a long story short, our school's core technology team along with our principal were going to Myrtle Beach to attend the SC EdTech conference and accept the award. 

The theme for this year's conference was Unwired and Unplugged and most of the sessions were about the use of mobile devices in the classroom. Once the conference was pretty much over, many of the veteran EdTech people felt this was a down year for the conference and some complained it was a waste of time. As I have had time to sit down and reflect on what transpired over the three days at Myrtle Beach I don't think it was a total waste and here are my reasons why:

• The use of mobile devices such as iOS and Android devices have basically taken education by surprise with the speed of adoption by the general public. It shouldn't have but it did. Now school districts are going to be in disarray in trying to justify the continuation of money spent on laptop carts, computer labs, and interactive whiteboards. Mobile devices are the wave of the future so teachers are going to have to learn to deal with it.
• Most of the sessions were about what apps teachers can use in the classroom. Apps are proliferating at an exponetial rate to even attempt to recommend certain apps to use. While a few apps seemed cute, teachers really need to know how to find and evaluate apps for themselves to determine what is best in the classroom. Also, teachers need to do a better job in keeping up with the latest technology developments. This leads to my next point.
• Unlike laptop carts, mobile devices such as iPads and other tablets, iPod Touches, iPhones and Android phones do not work well in a unified controlled system like computer do. Mobile devices are designed to be, well, mobile. This means each device needs to be tailored to the unique needs of the individual. This means more differentiation of instruction for teachers. However, learning how to use these individual apps will have to fall to the student because different mobile operating systems act in different ways. Even the apps in different OS's behave differently. For example, the experience in using Evernote is way different on an Android device verses a iOS device.
• Again, most of the technology demonstrated at EdTech this year is still fairly new. I have to give credit to all who bravely stood in front of groups to do the sessions. At least they tried. I do have to say the group presenting the creation of videos from the College of Charleston did the best job. The one thing I was looking for was how were devices integrated into the classroom. This group did that by explaining what the assignment was, how it was evaluated, and how they let students use the tools they thought would be the best to use. Why force someone to use Windows Movie Maker if the student has a Mac with iMovie. Better yet, if a student has an iOS device such as an iPhone should they not use iMovie for iOS or Splice? It is the finished product that counts. That is what I wanted to see. 
• Even if you go to a bad session (and I went to a few) you can always get something from it. Even if it is not how to do certain practices. The college professor that led the Online and Hybrid course session did have some good insights on course management techniques that she learned the hard way. While I felt a few problems were self-inflicted, others are good to keep in mind. 
• Wireless carriers are going to have to pitch in and help. I have seen AT&T and Sprint come up with management tools for wireless devices but they will have to come together and adopt a single standard if schools will have safe use of student-owned devices (BYOD). Both companies have told me they have solutions but they cannot be balkanized like the carriers themselves. 
• SC EdTech is not usually a conference that showcases the latest technologies but there were a few nuggets that impressed me the most. Augmented Reality reading, vocabulary and writing aids. It was cool watching an alligator shake his head no when you asked him if he ate grass. The latest in robotics programming that could tell a good story and dance up a storm. However, at $16,000 per unit for something I might could get at Target for $200 I will stick with Lego Mindstorm. Multi touch HD displays. I have been waiting on these for awhile and I hope my wait is almost over. This also spells the beginning of the end of Interactive Whiteboards as we know it. One technology that was not at EdTech but has been talked about, The ability to wirelessly mirror an iOS device to an Apple TV device. If the Apple TV was not HDMI only I would already have one in my room but there are alternatives.

The bottom line is that South Carolina educators, like other educators across the country are trying to deal with game-changing advancement in technology. I feel the time has come for students to start ditching traditional textbooks and bring their own mobile devices to school Teachers are going to have to start planning on how they are going to incorporate these devices in their classrooms and telling students to put them away will not cut it. If those who attended SC EdTech this year were not happy with their experience they need to realize the conference was asking presenters and attendees to venture into a totally unfamiliar area. 

What is a 12 Year Old to Do?

photo © 2006 D. Sharon Pruitt | more info (via: Wylio)
Earlier this week Miguel Guhlin shared on his blog this question: Is it ethical for a teacher to have a student lie about his or her age when signing up for a website? My first thought is why not? The 13 year old age restriction before being allowed to sign up for a site is almost the Internet version of removing a mattress tag or maybe following the 55 mile per hour speed limits on Interstate Highways. Yes, its the law but is it really strictly enforced? The age restriction was placed by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 otherwise known as COPA. This federal law says that websites cannot collect information on children under the age of 13 without parental consent. This law also says that children under the age of 13 cannot be marketed to via electronic means such as email. Instead of taking measures to protect children and obtain parental permission, most sites just forbid children under the age of 13 from signing up for a service as part of the terms of service. If a child is found to have violated the terms of service by signing up then the company will terminate the account. The purpose of the law was not to prevent children from signing up for websites or email, it was to prevent information to be collected and used to market to children. However, most people interpret the law that signing up a child without parent permission or violating the terms of service is illegal. Not true.

Now back to the original question, is it unethical for a teacher to get a child to lie about their age to sign up for a website? Yes. However, do we as teachers do unethical things to get our jobs done? All the time. One of my grad school professors said that "teachers need to be great thieves." We usually have to do unethical things all the time to get our job done. Is it ethical to ask parents to bring in tissues, hand sanitizer, and other items on a supply list because the school does not have the budget to provide those items? We would be upset if we went to have surgery and the surgeon told us that we needed to bring the surgical instruments? Still could we be held accountable and risk our professional career if we had a student sign up for a site against a parent's wishes? Yes again. This is why I always recommend that teachers inform parents about what they plan to do using the Internet. My students have to have an acceptable user policy (AUP) signed by themselves and their parents. If a parent does not wish for their child to participate in an activity then I have to find an alternative assignment. Does that cover me ethically? I think so because I made a reasonable effort to inform parents of my intentions but others may disagree. In may way of thinking, in order to teach students how to use the Internet safely, students need to use the Internet.

However, Miguel's post and discussions gave me pause and food for thought. Where are websites that are appropriate for children under 13 years old that can be used in schools for educational purposes. Sadly, I could not think of one so I created one but I need your help. I created a wiki called Sites for Younger Students where we can enter links to websites that are appropriate for younger children. Anyone can edit the page but I do ask that you enter the link and give a brief description of what the site does. Please make sure the sites are educational or can be used for an educational purposes. Also, please share the link to this wiki because I am sure there are many elementary and middle school teachers looking for sites that can be used in their classes. Thank you for helping out with this project because working together we can help all children.

Update: Miguel updated his discussion with some useful information. You can read it here.

Google+ School Equals?

Image from GoogleGoogle+ has captured the attention and curiosity of many people around the world. This is Google's latest attempt at creating a social network to compete with both Facebook and Twitter. Google+ is currently in a beta test right now and it is a real beta test because invitations are needed to create Google+ accounts at this time (we all know Google never releases a product out of beta). I was fortunate enough to receive an invite from an EdTech friend who likes to use me as her personal guinea pig which I usually don't mind. The concept is basically like both Facebook and Twitter, just enter whatever you want to share with your network. This can be links to articles to ever popular what you had for lunch on a given day. Right away the big difference is you can direct your message whatever group or circle you wish to see it. Circles are groups of friends, followers, or whatever you call the people you share your life with online. I like the circle concept Google uses because circles can be created for whatever purpose you need. For example, everyone has a everyone and public circle. Along with those circles I also have Acquaintances, Friends, Ed Tech, Family, and Work circles. Whenever you wish to add someone in Google+ you can just drop them into whatever circles you wish him or her to be in.. Then when you post a message just choose the circle who gets the message. Sounds like a social networking teacher's dream right?

Not so fast. While I do have segregated circles involving a Personal Learning Network (PLN) and teachers I work with, I don't think you will be seeing a student circle anytime soon in my group of circles. While the privacy settings on Google+ look a lot better and simpler than on Facebook, I am still not trusting Google totally yet. Also, While your messages might be delivered to select groups which would not include students, what about their messages? Until they learn about what information should be shared and to whom you will might get blasted with student messages including some inappropriate ones. Of course, you might let a message slip through as well. I still like that high wall that separates me from my students online and I don't think the circles are a high enough wall. Finally, what about turning-in assignments? Yes, you can chat on Google+. Yes, you can exchange links to website too. Yes, you can even post assignments on Google+. However, you really should not post a grade on it or discuss the work on the site and I would think having to search for each student to send a message would become tiresome. While schools and their media centers can use this effectively, I think teachers should stick to learning social networks such as Edmodo or Schoology for the time being.

Personally, I am excited about Google+ and the promise it has as a social network. It will be great for PLN's. Will it be the Facebook "killer"? Not anytime soon. However, Twitter is the social network that should worry. Google+ does not have the same restrictions Twitter has on space. You can insert a link and know where it is going which beats just looking at those URL shorteners which are handy but potentially dangerous since you don't really know where the link will take you or what it can do to your computer. Big pluses in my book. I also, hope some of the collaboration tools from the defunct Google Wave will make it to Google+ to turn a potentially great communication application into a great collaboration application as well. If you wish to join one of my circles just look me or teacherbytes@gmail.com up.

Thoughts from the Upstate Technology Conference 2011

The 2011 edition of the Upstate Technology Conference just wrapped up for another year. UTC has become one of my favorite conferences because of the quality of the sessions and keynotes. This is the result of the hard work of the Instructional Technology Staff of the Greenville County School District. Not is this hard work done to provide quality educational technology training for Greenville teachers, they also invite anyone to attend free of charge. Those Greenville folks know how to share and collaborate!

I was fortunate enough to give two presentations. One was on using mobile devices in the classroom and the other was on using Edmodo to communicate with my students. In the session on mobile devices there was some great discussion among the participants. It surprised me that the group mostly accepted the fact that technology is becoming more mobile and it will filter into the classroom soon. The biggest discussion was around how to do manage students to make sure they stay on task. There was agreement with the analogy of when paper was introduced to students to use there was some resistance by teachers who feared there would be doodling and note passing going on. We don't see spiral notebooks be taken away and teachers have developed classroom management techniques to combat these problems but it has not gone away. Students texting each other just presents new challenges in classroom management but this group seemed up to the challenge. The group also thought about ways to incorporate the mobile devices and agreed that school-funded 1:1 initiatives will never happen. Parents are going to have to pony up the money. As far as Edmodo was concerned, this group was very accepting and liked the idea of a way to interact with their students online in a variety of ways safely.

When I was not giving presentations I was attending some to see what others are doing. With the large list of opportunities it was difficult to choose six to sit in on. One thing the planners of UTC did was to bring in some fresh ideas. While podcasting is a great classroom tool, do we need more of it? Sprint had an interesting idea of managing content with the Sprint ID Pack which allows IT managers to select which apps will be allowed for a business or school. This will need work if students are allowed to bring their own mobile devices but it is a start. The next session allowed me to see an application I am considering for Computer Tech 7 at Bluffton Middle School, goAnimate4Schools. It was good to hear how a teacher in Greenwood, SC used this application with her students. A session of some web applications stimulated my thinking towards looking at some more offerings for my Computer Tech 7 class. This might become a two-year class with all of the possibilities. I gave some time to the historian in me as I learned about the Library of Congress's program to video interviews America's war veterans to get their authentic story. I love researching primary resources in history and this would be a way to engage student to help create those sources for future generations. Finally, my good friend Shirley Smith reported on South Carolina's e-Textbook experiment. She brought two participating teacher from the project to tell their story. One had netbooks and the other had iPads with textbooks loaded on them. One thing that stuck out was that the teachers really did not need the textbooks when they had other resources at hand. While did not go to the session on QR Codes, from what I hear they may be over used by teachers. Turing-in homework assignments as QR Codes? Really?

I still have a lot to digest from the two days at UTC and will over the summer. I am also looking forward to next year as I get to always see old friends and make new ones. Thanks Greenville for your hard work!

SCETV is more than ferrets

photo © 2006 Sarah Marriage | more info (via: Wylio)
This past week I had the pleasure to give two presentations at the South Carolina Educational Television Spring Teacher Technology Workshop.  Teachers from across the Palmetto State come to Columbia to learn technology skills that will help them grow as educators and look for new ways to improve classroom instruction. For many teachers these workshops are the only way they are able to get any technology training. Some districts are so focused on giving priority to training that will help get test scores up. Other districts have spent lots of money on technology but failed to budget enough money for training or had to cut that part budget to save money. You have to applaud these teachers for taking their own time to better themselves. Unfortunately, more budget cuts at the state and even federal levels may may eliminate these workshops and the other valuable educational related services provided by SCETV. These are the things the majority of South Carolinians do not see. Unfortunately, when many people (and legislators) look at SCETV they only see Barney, Big Bird, and ferrets.

Ferrets? Barney, yes even if many adults want to do evil things to that unfailingly cherry dinosaur. What adult has not grown up learning how to count and recognize letters by watching Sesame Street? But ferrets? Yes, ferrets. A recent Facebook discussion I was privy to started when someone criticized SCETV of wasting taxpayer money because of a show about ferrets. The discussion became somewhat heated as those for and against SCETV weighed in on the topic. Here is a newsflash, the ferret program was not paid for by taxpayers. It was paid for by donors and foundations which includes individuals who may only give maybe $20 or corporations who may give millions. What the taxpayers pay for, according to an SCETV brochure, includes the network’s infrastructure such as towers, transmitters, buildings, and employees to make it all work. What the brochure did not mention is the many other things SCETV does that is not seen on regularly scheduled television and radio programing. So I thought I would mention a few of the SCETV programs do to help schools and teachers besides the technology workshops that most people outside of education did not know existed.

Teacher training: While I have already mentioned the technology workshops SCETV puts on twice a year, SCETV has two trainers who crisscross the state giving workshops to schools and various educational conferences. The dynamic duo of Debbie Jarrett and Donna Thompson work tirelessly to show teachers how to use the tools SCETV provides teachers to make instruction more informative and enjoyable for students. Debbie and Donna not only talk about SCETV services they also teach teachers how to use technology tools such as Microsoft Movie Maker, Photostory, podcasting, and other media creation tools to create digital storytelling projects. They are so good at their job, in a legendary tale, they went into a training session and did not know it was about the new Movie Maker Live but did not miss a beat as they showed how to make it work. For a private trainer to come and do the same thing it would cost $200 per hour or more.

ETV Streamline: This has to be one of the best things for teachers by far. This site has thousands of hours of free programing for teachers to copy and use in the classroom. Lesson plans with assessments can be created using the site and the programing is broken into clips so time is not wasted watching parts of a program that is not relative to a lesson. Students can access these clips for viewing at home and take online assessments. In my opinion this is a very underutilized tool in a teacher’s toolbox. If private companies provided this service they would charge each school thousands of dollars for this content. Actually, they may not want any copying of video due to piracy concerns.

Media Share: This is part of Streamline that is so good it deserves its own mention. Teachers and students can create and share online any media they create for viewing only by other Streamline members. This provides security for students if they produce audio or video projects for school. Teachers can select who can see the media such as school, district, state, or national. This is a great resource for sharing great teaching ideas or developing training materials that are school or district specific. There is YouTube and it has great content but do we really want to send students looking around there?

KnowItAll: A web portal for K-12 students, teachers, and parents to search the Internet safely. This includes appropriate videos, games, curriculum, assessment tools, websites recommended by the South Carolina Department of Education and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. There are other web portals out there but to make money they collect Internet surfing data to sell to marketers or do outright advertising.

OneplaceSC.org: This SCETV site brings all of the SCETV Internet offerings for educators into one easy to remember place. All of the resources I mentioned above are only a click away and I only have to remember one website to visit. Definitely worth its weight in gold.

Discovery Educator Network: Here is a great example of public and private working together and depending on each other. DEN is a network of teachers who collaborate and share instructional ideas with each other about technology, media, and other practices used in the classroom. SCETV promotes its services and hosts events for DEN teachers to gather and share ideas face to face. There was such a meeting at the technology workshop where member teachers showed off their favorite technology gadgets, websites, or ideas in a fun “American Idol” type forum. I came away with some ideas to use in my class and items on my wish list. DEN also has the Star Educator program which is a network of teachers who conduct trainings at their school or district on using Streamline or other Discovery services. SCETV provides help and ideas to assist this special group of technology savvy teachers.

There are more services SCETV provides to educators and other groups as well such awareness of our natural resource but there is only so much time and space to list them all. If people would get past the ferrets and could see what SCETV does for the schools alone the taxpayers of South Carolina would see they are getting a bargain. Of course there is great programing on the channels too and it is not all about ferrets. Speaking of ferrets, I like ferrets and wished I had seen the program. My son had two ferrets and they provided our family many hours of entertainment as we watched them play around the house. Ferrets need love too and I am glad SCETV was there to provide it!

History Can Wait

Recently, I heard a case for allowing students to use social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in the classroom. The claim is history can be shown being made in real time by those involved. While the argument is a good one, I am not convinced it justifies allowing students to use popular social networks in school. 

A better solution is to allow teachers to use  Facebook or Twitter, which I believe is a better solution, to search for the information then show it to the students. This gives teachers time to prepare for discussions and filter out anything that should not be seen or heard. For those who still believe students should see the information on their own, post a link or RSS feed into a learning social network such as Edmodo or Schoology.  Again, this the teacher better control over what the student sees. 

The recent wave of anti-government protests that have swept across northern Africa are a great opportunity for students to see events unfold in real time though social network postings. However,  teachers should be cautious in how these postings should be used. There are still many administrators and parents who would not be wild about the idea of students being allowed to Tweet or Facebook at school. In my own experience, I would spend lots of time discipling students instead of teaching if they were allowed to go on Facebook by their own admission. Great teachable moments still need some measure of planning and control. With this planning and control the educational experience will be better for everyone involved. 

Tech Course for Everyone!

Dr. Dereck Rhoads, new principal of Bluffton Middle School, outlined his vision for a technology course to be offered to 6th and 7th graders of the South Carolina Lowcountry school. The reason Dr. Rhoads gives is "As technology revolutionizes our world, schools must seek ways to prepare and equip students with the skills to compete in an ever-demanding global economy."

Here are the features of Dr. Rhoads' vision that are extrodinary:

• Every student at Bluffton Middle School will take this technology course and create a digital portfolio. 
• This technology course will be based on ISTE NETS and the South Carolina Internet Safety Standards.
• Wants students to use Web 2.0 applications to create assignments for core academic classes to demonstrate the practical application of the tools.
• Students will learn how to evaluate information found on the Internet and use it appropriately. 
• Wants students to understand what Media Literacy means and how to decode its messages.
• Stress cyber safety to students as they use the technology. This will include how to use Social Networks, such as Facebook, properly and maintain privacy that will prevent problems later in students' lives.

I know there are other courses in technology that may incorporate some of the points above. However, I have never heard of a course that incorporates all these points. Whoever takes on the task of creating and teaching such a course will have a big job ahead of them. Dr. Rhoads will need to find someone creative enough to make his dream a reality. If anyone has any ideas on what should be included in this course please share them in the comments. 

Click here to read Dr. Rhoads' blog post on the technology course at Bluffton Middle School.

Wi-Fi Smuggeling

Quick, how many of you brought a television, VCR, DVD player, and/or computer from home to use in your classroom? Maybe you still do. Crafty teachers do all kinds of things to get equipment to help them do their job better even if it means spending their own money. One of the first DVD players I saw in the "wild" or outside a store was when a fellow teacher brought one in to show movie clips to her class. An announcement at a recent Tech Coach meeting about YouTube being throttled took me back to those times. Due to bandwidth restrictions, teachers will need to download YouTube videos at home then bring them to school. We have often discussed how our district's pipe of information is not as big as it should be and the YouTube announcement is another confirmation of this fact. Current economic conditions will not bring any relief to this problem soon. So what might happen? Teachers and students will start smuggling in their own Wi-Fi to use when school resources won't get the job done.

This is not as far fetched as one might think. Wireless carrier Sprint is selling the Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot which takes a high-speed wireless signal and converts it to a WiFi Signal computers, book readers, gaming devices, iPods, or any device that needs a Wi-Fi signal can use. Sprint's device is not the only mobile hotspot on the market either. The wireless industry would like to become regular Internet service providers and are working hard toward this goal. At last year's South Carolina EDTech conference, AT&T gave a demonstration on using iPhones in a variety of classroom activities. As wireless speeds increase and costs decrease (one can dream) teachers and eventually students will start bringing their personal Wi-Fi connections with them. This will put districts in a tough spot as pressure will grow to allow students to bring their own computers if districts are not willing to participate in one-to-one initiatives. Many districts have practically given up the battle of preventing students from bringing cell phones to school due to parental pressures regarding security and convenience. Imagine the school board meeting where a parent complains his/or child's computer was taken away because it accessed a wireless signal while doing schoolwork. Will it be worth the fight?

I am not the first person to think on this either. The award-winning Teach Paperless blog highlighted the ability of Android's Froyo firmware upgrade to allow for tethering, if the wireless companies allow it. Michael Kaechele wrote about student-owned Wi-Fi in his blog. Kaechele's post raises some interesting questions:

• Will this type of technology make cable connections obsolete?
• Is paying to put Wi-Fi hotspots in school buildings also a waste of money?
• Will schools allow students to use this technology or pay waste money on equipment to block the signals? Author's Note: It is illegal in the United States to block wireless signals.
• Will this help end the filtering debates and make CIPA irrelevant?

While the above questions are excellent and need to be addressed soon. The wireless genie is out of the bottle and finding its way in devices such as the iPad, nook, Kindle, netbooks, and other devices schools desire. Do we continue to move forward or do we hold back? I would like to know your thoughts.

Going Through the Door

I have been thinking recently that educators and parents are staring at an open door called Technology Integration. Both waiting for the other to step through first but neither are volunteering to take first step either. Educators don't want to go first because of fear of parent complaints of not having the means support educational technology assignments at home or unwillingness to find ways for students to get to computers. Parents are unwilling to step through because they have not seen schools assigning technology-based assignments, so why should they go through the expense if it is not needed. While both sides stare at the opening students continue to suffer because they are not exposed to some great educational opportunities.

Two recent projects I worked on with teachers and students showed both sides they can enter into a wonderful experience much like Alice did falling down the Rabbit Hole or going through the Looking Glass to get to the Wonderland Lewis Carroll wrote about. The first project had students creating wikis about Alaska for a sixth grade reading class. The other was a blogging project that was part of a larger cross-curriculum eighth grade English-Science research paper. Both teachers reported their respective projects were more successful than they believed possible. Even better, the teachers and their students want more.

While this feedback from the two teachers would be considered great news news, there is more. In both cases the projects were done with minimal computer lab use. To accomplish the assignments students used computers at home, in the classroom, public library, and friends' houses to get the assignments done. Why no computer labs? There were none available. This proves something I have been saying to teachers for the last few years: With enough creativity, ingenuity, and determination a technology-based project can be accomplished successfully without a computer lab. Now I have anecdotal proof to show it can be done whenever a teacher says it can't. Parents now see teachers are giving the assignments and will make the necessary investments to support their children. The welcome mat is now out so both parties may now enter into a wonderful new world.

The "New" Face of Education?

Okay, I guess I have become an Apple Fan Boy, drinking the Kool-Aid Steve Jobs sold at yesterday's iPad announcement. My wife is almost ready to divorce me because I told her we are getting one of these and there will be no discussion about it. My teenage son will have something new to hate me for because his days of having the coolest and latest technology are numbered. Sometime in March I will be standing in line on what is sure to be a near freezing raining days waiting in line to get an iPad. After that I will be headed for the unemployment line because I missed too much work. Yet, I do feel compelled to get an iPad. This is the type of device that will eventually change face of education as we know it.

Funny but I do feel a bit of irony that we are actually headed backwards in time. Students used slates such as the one pictured for various class assignments in the 18th, 19th and early 20th Centuries. Colonial students carried a tablet called

a Hornbook. The name of these books comes from the animal horns used to make the learning device. These are the probably the first educational materials to have "apps". The apps might include the alphabet, numbers, vowel and consonant sounds, and the Lord's Prayer. Later tablets became truly interactive because students could write on them using chalk. Students used these devices to learn to read and write for many years until Big Chief notebooks and actual real books became the staple of all classrooms.

So what does the iPad have that could revolutionize education? First off the device is realitively inexpensive. With the $499 starting point it is in the reach of many families. As time goes on this price is sure to come down. Look at what has happened with iPods over the last few years. Other companies, such as Google will also manufacture similar devices which should lower the price. Next  it has a book reader with titles you can purchase from the iTunes Store. During his demonstration, Steve Jobs said textbooks would be coming.

Apple says the device weighs 1.5 pounds. Expect lots of studies to come out for the first time again about how textbook laden backpacks are harming the backs of young people. The iPad can surf the web which means students can access more information than what is in the textbook. Expect an explosion of apps for education to go along with the over 140,000 apps already in the iTunes App Store. Video and audio can be shared to create a true multimedia experience.

While the iPad is not a perfect device, this is a huge step in the right direction. There are some things that should be on future models. For examples, a webcam would be nice for adding to presentations or distance learning. An ability to show the screen on another display such as an interactive whiteboard would be nice too. There are some other tools that could and probably will be thought of as time goes on.

Get ready teachers, students will want to bring them to class. Administrators, teachers will want class sets. Network Administrators, start figuring out how to tie this devices into your networks. Everyone, start thinking of ways for students to use them productively. The educational device of our ancstors is making a comeback.

What can Avatar teach us about technology integration?

Photo courtesy of Avatar photo stream on Flickr

Over the holiday break my wife and I saw the 3-D version of Avatar. If you have not seen this version of the movie, go watch it to see how the use of technology gives the audience a better experience. What movie makers can do to enhance films is amazing. At least that was what I thought after watching the movie. After reflection, I have thoughts about Avatar. However, remember I said to go see the movie for the technology, the movie as a story is something different. 

The plot is an old story. A group of natives happen to be sitting on some valuable real estate and won't give it up because of some spiritual connection to the land. An organization, who stands to make lots of money off the land, decides the natives have to go and attempts to use it's technological superiority to evict them. Sounds like Dances with Wolves and other movies of that sort? How about history? North and South American conquest by Europeans. Africa and Asia too. Stories always have some hero who either by chance or design mixes with the native population, learns it's ways, then adopts the native culture. The hero learns of the impending onslaught and leads the natives in a defense of their land and way of life. Usually, the natives win the battle but history says the natives will be crushed in the end.

However, what grade would you give the story itself? While the story was entertaining I thought it was average. All I hear in the press is about the 3-D technology used in the movie. After my reflection I asked myself if the technology glitz mask a mediocre story? Would I purchase this movie when it comes out on DVD or Blue Ray (which I don't have yet)? Would I see this movie a second time in a theater without 3-D? The answer I came up with is probably not. 

After this reflection that I thought of what I always tell teachers about integrating technology, don't get caught up in the glitz. No amount of technology will make up for a poorly written content. Yet, I have seen teachers give high marks to an otherwise average or poor project because it was a blog post, podcast, video, or some other technology because technology was used. Nothing beats good planning and writing, something teachers and now movie critics need to remember.

Enjoy Avatar. See you at the movies!

Podcast January 6, 2009

Teacherbytes January 6, 2010

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Teacherbytes 1.6.2010
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Shownotes on the Teacherbytes Podcast website

Teacherbytes on December 31, 2019

Over the past several days there have been many retrospectives of not only the year 2009 but of the 200X decade. There are also predictions of what is the come in 2010 and the next decade. Okay, here is another one for you. Feel free to bookmark this post and bring it up on December 31, 2019 and rub it in my face. How good am I at prognostication? Let’s see, I thought notebooks would be $100 or less by now and the PSP might make a good educational technology tool (I am still holding out on the $100 notebook but Sony has greatly disappointed me). For this exercise I will try to remember how things were in 1999, look at how they are today, and try to see what might pass in the next 10 years.

Classroom Displays

In 1999 Hilton Head Island High School still had chalk boards and I had to breath in chalk dust as I taught Social Studies. If there was any video to be shown it was done on a television with a VCR attached. For me to display anything from a computer it still took a digital to analog signal converter to do it. Not that it mattered, the only thing I could really show was PowerPoint slides. There was not much else to view from the Internet.

Today almost all the classrooms in H.E. McCracken Middle School and in fact, the Beaufort County School District now have either Smart or Promethean Interactive Whiteboards. Each board is connected to the Internet which can now show much more than PowerPoint slides. There are many sources of video and other content to help teachers make learning more meaningful. Students can interact with these boards with classroom response systems.

In 2019 I see classrooms having large thin panel displays similar to OLED Televisions. These displays will have a touch interface much like what has been seen in movies like Minority Reports. Students will also interact with these displays from their seats or homes via handheld slate devices similar to iPhones.

Student materials

In 1999 students loaded up bookbags with heavy textbooks, notebooks, and writing instruments. Maybe they carried calculators or a lucky few had cell phones. The weight of the bookbags are almost a crushing weight. There are fears of potential back problems that may afflict students in later years. Some students may have desktop computers at home and even fewer have access to the Internet.

Today things have not changed too much for students. They still carry heavy bookbags with the same items found in 1999. Almost all students have cellphones but they almost universally banned from schools. They sneak them out in class to interact with each other because their teachers probably don’t let them interact in class and engage in the lesson. These cellphones now have far more computing power than was available on my computer 10 years ago. Students probably now have their own notebook computers but are generally discouraged to bring them to school because of fears of what they may do if allowed to access the Internet or afraid of other liability issues. This equipment almost is never engaged with the classroom interactive displays.

In 2019 students will bring either a powerful handheld device or slate that will have both Internet connectivity and their Math, Literature, and English Language Arts textbooks stored in them. Science and Social Studies textbooks will not be around because students will be researching the information they need for assignments from the Internet. Information is changing so fast teachers and publishers have just about given up publishing textbooks in those two subjects. Their devices will tap into the interactive displays mentioned above for students to display homework or projects or work a problem for other to see while the student is still seated. The teacher can pull up a student’s display onto the main monitor at any time. Audio and maybe video will be recorded for playback and linked to notes students take on their devices.

Media Creation

In 1999 video camcorders were large devices that mostly produced analog images. It was hard and time consuming to edit these videos into anything useful in class. Cameras were mostly film variety but digital was becoming more popular but bulky and what could be done with the pictures? Sometimes they got posted on a posterboard for a project. There was very little space to store both digital video and photographs.

Today, cameras and camcorders are in phones or devices that can fit in the palm of your hand. There are many apps to edit the media created both on a computer or online. Storage is easier thanks to large and cheap hard drives or flash drives. Pictures can be placed into apps such as Photo Story to create entertaining shows. Video can be uploaded to video sharing sites such as YouTube where the content can be embedded into webpages, blogs , or wikis. Teachers can record what they present on their Interactive whiteboards and share it for students to review if they wish.

In 2019, media creation will be blended with computing devices such as cameras and camcorders are with cellphones today. The biggest difference is video will be streamed live. This means students may not have to be physically in a classroom for instruction to go on. There still will be classrooms with teachers and students but students and teachers may be matched up so strengths and weaknesses compliment each other. Media creation may be the most common way assignments are completed both in and out of the classroom.

Assessments

Okay I am not going to bore you except to say assessments have not changed much in the last 10 years. The only exception is some assessments are completed on a computer so test data can be accessed quicker. However, in 2019 No Child Left Behind will be an ugly memory (one can dream). Assessments will be done by special software which can take portfolios of student work and gauge how the student is doing. These assessments will be ongoing constantly giving students, teachers, administrators, and parents feedback and data they need. Not only will items assessed today be assessed in 2019 but collaboration effort and quality of resources used are judged too since they are critical skills in the 21st Century workplace. Gaming will also be used to assess students in some circumstances.

There you have it in one neat package. My review of the last ten years, how things are today, and my predictions for the next 10 years. Please enter your thoughts or predictions in the comments. I think I will place the URL for this post in Google Calendar set for December 31, 2019 so I can think about and see just how I did. Hopefully, all you will have a happy and prosperous New Year. Also, I might as well wish the same for the coming decade. Let’s make a date to meet back 10 years from today to see how well we did.

Happy New Year!

Books on they way out? Teacherbytes December 30, 2009

I hope everyone had a great holiday but is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come pointing its bony finger at the demise of traditional, paper books or students armed with smartphones invading your classroom. Is doom and gloom what some teachers see as more technology comes their way and they can't seem to stop it? No but here are glimpses of what the ghost is pointing to.

Another sign of the apocalypse

Some will see this as another sign the apocalypse is coming but on December 25th Amazon reported more e-books were sold than physical ones. Before you head off to your bunker to wait out the doom you should realize the Kindle was the most gifted item in the history of Amazon. While in the near future traditional books should not worry but if more e-readers are coming, and speculation says 2010 will see a flood of them, then will we have neighborhood bookstores by the end of the coming decade? Yes but they won't look like they do today. Source Engadget and Mashable.

More on Pico Projectors

Pico projectors started coming out in 2008 but have not made much of an impact yet. The biggest reason is you almost need a completely dark room to see a mediocre picture at best. This is starting to change, slowly. RoyalTek announced the RPJ-2000 which is supposed to be the first of five new pico projectors coming out in 2010. The $315 device can project a 65 inch image at 640x40 resolution with 14 lumens of brightness. A very dark room is still needed but it is getting better.  You will also need a $43 converter kit if you have a Mac. Pico projectors can be useful for teachers who are not assigned to one classroom or does not have access to a regular projector or does not want to lug around a projector. Source: Engadget

What can you do with a pico projectors?

Other than the obvious Logic Wireless has the 150LGW Projector Phone. This little device sold at Skymall (the catalog you browse waiting for your plane to take off) will set you back $499. The projector is said to project an image up to 64 inches but no word on resolution or brightness. The phone is built to be a portable office with dual SIM card slots so you can use it on different carriers and Quad Band GSM. Software for the Symbian-based phone includes a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF viewer. This is the second phone to be bundled with a projector. The other phone is the LG eXpo which will offers a projector as an option. Cell phone use in classrooms is coming, just think about the first time a student pulls out one of these to show their project. Source: Engadget

Get it while it's hot!

Apple dropped the price of its entry-level MacBook to $728 for educators and students. It is not known how long this price drop will last so if you still have some Christmas cash left and are wanting to dip into the Mac waters this might be your chance. Source Engadget

Verizon sees slates everywhere

Last week OLPC announced they are working on a thin tablet PC for the education market. Almost everyone is speculating on the rumored Apple slate computer which is supposed to be announced early next year. Well Verizon apparently wants to take advantage what many think will be next computer craze and make sure you can access the Verizon network on slates like you can on some netbooks. Source: CNET

Easy Shot Videos

Concord Keystone is going to announce the Easy Shot Clip camcorder at CES next month. Specs on the $70 camcorder is it can shoot 640x480 at 30 frames per second. The 2GB memory will allow for up to 2 hours of video. All this will be in a 2-inch package you can hang around your neck or mount in various places. This could be useful to have to quickly shoot video of class activities that may be unplanned. Source: Engadget

I'm Back

Earlier this year I announced my blog would move to Edublogs.org. However, due to some recent problems I have experienced and changes in my situation, I am moving back. It is good to be back home. You may still visit my Edublogs site for posts done in the interim.

Moving On

This semester I will be teaching a course to 6th graders on Web 2.0 Media Communications. The students will learn how to use blogs, podcasts, webcasts, and online videos in their classes. For the blog part of the class, I have selected Learnerblogs for the students, Edublogs product. To keep things together I am moving Teacher Bytes over to Edublogs as well.

Here is the new link to Teacher Bytes: http://teacherbytes.edublog.org
Please update your news feeders and bookmarks.
Here is the first posting on Edublogs: http://teacherbytes.edublogs.org/2008/01/19/maybe-time-for-a-change/

See you on the other side.

John

New Year's Prediction: Laptops for Everyone

One trend we should see in 2008 is notebook prices will drop. Last year MIT's One Laptop Per Child group finally started shipping its XO to developing nations. This was supposed to be the $100 laptop marketed to help children of developing nations acquire technology. The XO wound up costing around $200 but it did prove functional laptops could be manufactured at a cheaper cost. Intel is also marketing its own low-cost machine to other countries and ASUS is selling low-cost laptops on the open market.

Well the genie is now out of the bottle. Engadget reported former OLPC Chief Technical Officer Mary Lou Jepsen has left the group to form her own company. The goal of her new start-up, Pixel Qi, is to produce a laptop with a cost of $75. While a $75 laptop might be a bit of a stretch for now, even producing one for $150 would be step in the right direction. Also, Pixel Qi plans to sell its machines on the open market, something both OLPC and Intel are not doing right now. If the machine works well new customers will be lured in by its price. This will force other manufacturers to produce lower cost machines as well and parents who have been reluctant to buy laptops for their children may start if the costs are below that of a Nintendo Wii or iPod.

OLPC is making a mistake by marketing its XO to other countries, although Birmingham, Alabama schools are making a large purchase. Schools districts wanting to start One-to-One programs but were afraid of the costs might be willing to take the plunge. This would lead to a lower cost of the XO because of economies of scale. OLPC will eventually realize they need to market to American schools to stay alive but will it be too late as the competition heats up?

Sony PSP To Get A Keyboard, Finally

According to an ARS Technica posting, Sony announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) the PlayStation Portable (PSP) will finally be getting a keyboard. This is potentially good news for educators since the PSP already has wireless Internet capabilities. Students can now use online applications such as Google Docs to do assignments along with some Internet research. Other features of the PSP include video, audio, RSS support and newer PSP 2 models have video out ports to go along with its gaming function. Sony also said the PSP will also be able to use Skype which allows voice communications over the Internet which would be good to communicate with other classes. Camera and GPS support are also coming and could be useful classroom tools. The only thing the PSP will lack is a book reader which may not happen anytime soon because Sony already markets an electronic book reader. However, the fact that Sony sees the PSP as something other than a gaming and music player is a step in the right direction.