Teaching and Learning in the 21stC

The SAMR model has been around for a while, but I think it is time for a revisit. Most of us have been working with some element or other of 1 to 1 access, but has our pedagogy – the way we use the technology to teach in our classes – changed or shifted in that time? I would like you to take some time to reflect on how you are using ICT in your classroom. Think about which level of SAMR you are at, and what steps you can take to get to the next level.

First what is SAMR? was developed by Ruben R. Puentedura  who has shared a wealth of pedagogical development resources on his website.

 Substitution and Augmentation look at keeping things basic, but enhancing the learning, while Modification and Redefinition Transform Learning opportunities for our students.

 In substitution technology is a direct replacement for non technical/digital tools. There is no real change to how the learning occurs. Function remains the same.

Examples: Students use the Internet to search information, as they would have done with encyclopedias in the past. They write up a word document assignment, adding in images collected from web sites and print this out as evidence of their learning.

In Augmentation technology is a direct tool substitute, however function is improved.

Examples: Using Google Maps or Nearmaps (in Australia) students can view  up to date changes of global issues. Learning is supported by students being able to view multi modal learning objects, and enhancing the function of the learning. Students are able to play online maths games, and get immediate feedback on results. improving the function through the immediate feedback.

Modification allows for learning tasks to be significantly redesigned through the use of technology.

Examples:  Instead of presenting a poster on a famous person students can create a multimedia presentation, or website which includes video, text and images. This transforms the learning, and students develop deeper thinking about the subject when a range of modalities are used.

New tasks, previously not even thought of or possible can now be created through the use of ICT.

Example: Students with a topic of civil unrest use Twitter to follow the hashtag #Eygpt (which was the hashtag used during the 2011 and recent civil unrest). They post a question onto Twitter with the Hashtags #Eygpt #Freedom and follow the responses. They end up connecting with a woman on the streets of Cairo, who is a lawyer, and Skype chat with her about what the civil unrest in Eygpt is about. (This is based on a true story) Students can connect with others around the globe and create truly powerful transformative learning opportunities.

I think I use all elements of the SAMR Model… the most transformative in my classrooms has been using Google Drive for students working on a collaborative task to be able to edit together (they are still getting their heads around how that one works, and it is easier for them to slip back into old paper based habits, but after a miss-saved document went missing they are starting to really see the benefits.) The live blogging we are doing sharing processes and products on our blog and on YouTube are pretty exciting. And creating electronic portfolios, as they develop their work – this has been fantastic, as they are finishing off their folios, realising they didn’t take photos, but they are all available on our group Flickr page. I am giving my students the option for producing a presentation on a Fashion Designer… they can present it as a website, podcast, powerpoint or keynote, which will be presented to the class.

So… you have the tools in your classrooms, the kids have the tools in their pockets, what is stopping you from transforming the way your students learn? The most important person in the classroom should be the learner, and we all know that the most engaging learning is the deepest. We are all learners…so add a comment here, particularly those who are using iPads, netbooks and laptops, to share with us which stage(s) you are up to? How are you transforming your classroom?

I have had the the iPad2 for a few months now, and thought I would share how it is transforming my classes, and the way I reflect on my teaching, and my students achievements.
So….here are my top 10 iPad features or tools which make my life easier.

My Number 1 feature is the camera, which allows me to record assessment tasks, students working, video myself to create podcasts of processes or procedures they may like to refer back to. I do take into account student privacy, and most photos of them at work are just hands and garments, and I check with them to make sure I have their approval to post images to our shared group on Flickr, blog posts or YouTube, and our Facebook group.

My number 2 goes to Evernote: the must have app on all devices, android phone, iPad, tablet, pc, MacBook, or any computer connected to the Internet. I am able to take notes, and they are then stored in the “cloud”, allowing me to be able to access them from any computer. I can also publish my notes on a range of platforms. For example is notes I make while doing professional learning can immediately be tweeted to my followers on Twitter. You can search through Evernote to find a specific topic or discussion very easily.

Number 3 blogging and reflecting: I am writing this through the WordPress App, which allows me to have easy access to all of my WordPress based blogs (this includes the DEECD’s Global2 and Edublogs as well as WordPress itself). I have ready access to all of my blogs and am able to quickly and effortlessly reflect on learning, achievements, outcomes, ideas and share with my blogging community.
As a part of my VCE Unit 2 Product, Design and Technology course students are investigating the use of ICT in a team based approach to working, so my Textiles blog has regular guest bloggers from the class, reflecting on challenges and projects, sharing the development of their work to each other, as well as a broader community. They are able to take photos and add comments as to how their challenges are progressing. I have shared this blog with the college community, and parents, to have authentic and immediate understanding of what tasks the students are working on.

Number 4 Authentic Assessment: I have been using the Easy Portfolio App (developed by a Victorian teacher – Jarrod Robinson aka the PE Geek) to create my own portfolios of student achievement, which I use when writing reports. This allows me to have a voice recording, add images, documents and links to allow the student to demonstrate levels of understanding. At the end of the unit I will email the portfolios to them in PDF form, so they can add to their own portfolio. I used this for semester 1 reports, and found it was a great way to ensure relevant, authentic, achievement based comments.

Number 5 Sharing: Dropbox is a must have App for the easy sharing of documents or images created on the iPad. Like Evernote, you can put it on all devices and share your documents and files through your secure cloud. You can also create links to files which others can access, saving postage on emails…hehehe…or if you wanted to share a document with people who’s emails you don’t know.

Number 6 Internet: the fact the iPad is so quick to launch allows you to get on to Daymap really quickly to mark rolls, check bulletins etc. Moodle, the Ultranet and email are all ready to go at your fingertips.

Number 7 feedback: Socrative, excellent immediate feedback to students, create quizzes to determine starting points, or exit questions to see how well topics covered in class were understood.

Number 8 creativity: Augmented reality…I am creating a range of triggers and videos which will become a virtual tour of the school at work. I also am looking at using it for some of the mundane classroom tasks like “threading the sewing machine and bobbin”…
Explain everything and Show me are two apps I am exploring to create Support videos for students, and to get them demonstrating their understanding of a range of concepts covered in class. Some fantastic music apps like GarageBand, allow you to create your own music to accompany ideas or podcasts without having to worry about copyright infringement
Inspiration and Popplet lite are great mind mapping tools, allowing you to share your thoughts in an ordered way.

Number 9 lifelong learning: ITunesU is a most fabulous tool for those lifelong learners…allowing you to explore a wealth of inversion standard courses which are open and ready for you to participate in. SCOTutor is an App all about learning to use your iPad….great resource.

Number 10 curating information: Live binders is a an app and website which allows you to “collect” information and then store it in topic binders. I was participating in a MOOC and used this to collect all of my resources on the topic. You can have them open, so you could share yours with a class, or students could share with you. The app makes it very easy to collect and curate the information. DIIGO and ScoopIt are also great tools for curation.

My “to explore and try out more” list includes Nearpod, Wunderlist and others as I discover them on ScoopIt, blogs and Twitter.

What are your favourite tools or features of the iPad? Do you have a top 10? I found it hard to limit it to so few… Always trying new ones out!

It’s cold and wet, perfect for sitting at home and getting computer things done… but many of the college remote sites are down, so you can’t set up Moodle… what to do???? How about creating your own app? Seriously…. If I can do it anyone can. There are a heap of programs out there, but a simple one which allows you to build a web app (which means you don’t have the red tape of the App Store hoops) and can be modified as you go… is iBuildapp.com I have created an app for my courses, which parents and prospective students will be able to access on their phones. I have included information on my courses, a gallery of work examples, links to VCAA details and contact information to view it use your QR code scanner on your mobile phone

Use a barcode or QR scanner and the app will load to your phone

Or on your phone go to http://ibuildapp.com/web-Textiles+at+Sandringham

It is a mobile web app, so won’t work on the computer… Would be great to have a few staff creating them for the upcoming subject selections… if you want to try I will run an afternoon session early in Term 3.

Also those of you with iPads… seriously need to get your hands on Portfolio and Easy Assessment… both by Jarrod Robinson, a secondary PE teacher in Boort (country Victoria) They are brilliant… and what I will be basing my mid semester interviews on… He has also created a range of apps for VCE PE and sports, well worth a look for those teaching those areas… More hints and tips on the iPad blog soon… ohhhhh with tons of augmented reality ideas too

My List: A Collection on “ipads” (ipads,ipad,ios,apps) | Diigo.

Oh this is cool, I have added the “Press this” button to my bookmarks bar, so I can share what I find on the web directly to my blog… sensational.

Diigo is a fantastic social bookmarking tool, which can be used to share sites with groups, or just to store your bookmarks in the cloud, so you can access them anywhere… if you create a Diigo account, make sure to add me as a friend/contact “starnott” so we can share.

Blogging and bloggers are a vibrant part of the online communities many of us belong to. Technorati investigates what is going on in the blogging world with their “State of the Blogosphere” report. As well as you and I and our blogs, there is much blogging going on in the corporate world. Every company seems to have a blog link on their website, where media news and reviews are often posted. There are even people who get paid to write blog posts…for a writer, what a wonderful opportunity…

What better way to get your class going with their own blogging adventure, than to be a part of a global student blogging challenge. It’s not to late to join in. Simply pop along to the Edublogs Student Challenge information page, and look around to get some ideas if you have not blogged before.

Totally confused about what a blog is and where to start, check out the Redback Project blog for some info on what a blog is, and what it is used for.

So you just want to jump straight in and set up your blog? Go along to http://global2.vic.edu.au this is an Edublogs campus site set up by the DEECD, so you get all the safety and functionality of an edublogs subscriber, with none of the cost (if you are a Victorian Government or Catholic school).

Kathleen Morris has put together a brilliant “Getting started with blogging” post on her Integrating Technology blog, so for the nitty gritty on setting up your blog take a look.

Blogging is a great way to let parents see the good stuff that happens in your classroom. It is also a valuable reflection tool for your own ongoing learning. Developing a professional blog where you can reflect on your reading and learning is another weay you can record your professional learning hours for VIT registration.

Feel free to post questions here… the comments, feedback and dialogue is just part of what makes blogging so very powerful, and a fun way to learn, regardless of your age.

What do you enjoy about blogging? What is stopping you from blogging? What is stopping you from getting your class into blogging?

I guess it sounds like a bizarre title… probably even more bizarre if you haven’t heard of QR codes. Even if you don’t know what they are you have probably seen the little boxes in the newspapers and magazines which invite you to see extra bits of information. These are QR (quick response) codes. They work in the same way as bar codes, by using a QR reader to access more information on a particular topic.

QR Codes

To access the code information you need to have a phone or other mobile which can take photos. You have to load a QR code reader application onto your phone, (so it does have to be a bit of a smart phone… mind you my phone is only a bit smart and it works a treat. I use Lynkee however I did have to test out a couple before I found one that worked well for my phone. There are heaps of Android phone or tablet and iPhone/iPod touch/iPad2  QR code reader apps, most of which are free. I have used QR Droid Private on the Acer and Lenovo tablet, and found it reliable and simple to use.

Why use the QR code? Why not just put the information out there in the first place? Many reasons – to engage the learner/audience – a hook with a need to investigate, to put a lot of information into a little space, multimedia content, web address…all without having to type anything into your phone/device… which can be a drag with some longer web addresses in particular.

The information contained in a QR code can be wide and varied – a simple web address as in the newspaper examples above, a v-card (virtual business card, with contact info which can be imported directly into the person’s phone/device contacts, textual information – words, paragraphs, stories, an entire book, etc… email details, images, an event (vCalendar), iTunes link, YouTube link, Googlemaps link and much more. How you can use it in the classroom will only be limited by your imagination.

A quick internet search will produce a ton of QR code generators. I have used
QR Stuff and snap.vu and Kaywa which are simple and straightforward. You simply put in your text, web address, phone number, etc and it is converted into a QR code. You can even change the colour your code is generated into.
I used the QR codes on handouts at our recent VCE Expo night, where the QR code linked to the VCAA website information on my subjects – VCE Design and Technology and VETApplied Fashion. It meant parents and students could “read” the code with their reader, and go directly to the information.

So on to the second part of the title of this post: after discussions about moving from campus to campus and people not feeling confident about finding their way around, I thought it could be fun to post some QR codes around the place with information about who, what where etc. I will be adding challenges as we go, so, started exploring and have some fun, maybe learn a bit about the different campuses. So start with decoding the QR code posted above, and join in the fun.

Some links to other examples of how QR codes are being used follow… how would you use QR codes?

Turn a paper based book into an interactive book

41 interesting ways to use QR codes in the classroom

I have spent these holidays catching up with reading and getting my head around the new Google Plus… which I had an invite to a while ago, but had few people I knew using it… so it was left on the backburner as the end of term chaos consumed life.

So Google + wow… I have been using Twitter since the early days, and have loved how I can expand my professional learning network by following people whose tweets I find interesting and relevant. I have eLearning connections all over the world now as a result. The only thing is that most comments are limited to 140 characters – which can be good, a bit like a haiku, you really have to think about how you say what you want to say, to get the full meaning and context.

Facebook I have mainly kept as a friend space… not wanting to bore my non techy friends with tech stuff… and vice versa with my other pastimes. I did create a “school” facebook account this year, because with a range of other tech issues and unreliability I at least knew all of my students would be able to log in and see my reminder posts etc.

The benefits so far with what I have played with and seen on Google+ is all the great things about twitter…lots of sharing of ideas with people you allocate to circles… you can also share publicly with the world. You can share your thoughts or ideas with as many or few people as you like by simply selecting the relevant circles.

Google+ is still in testing… but so far it’s looking very good for educators wanting to develop their skills and knowledge with educators worldwide.

One of the features is a “Hangout” where you can get together with others and have a face to face chat over the internet. At the moment I believe up to 9 people can be involve, but this can present a great range of sharing opportunities not only locally but globally.

I was luck enough to participate in viewing a hangout session about Digital storytelling.  There were educators from all over the US who shared with us how they have used Digital Storytelling to get students to develop not only their literacy, but a wide range of skills including digital citizenship.

VoiceThread allows you to collaborate via text voice or image as you and your class discusses images, either as a starting point, or analysis of an artwork. There are education versions, which allow students to post with more security http://ed.voicethread.com/

Youth Voices Youth Voices is a school-based social network that was started in 2003 by a group of National Writing Project teachers. They have found that there are many advantages to bringing students together in one site that lives beyond any particular class. It’s easier for individual students to read and write about their own passions, to connect with other students, comment on each others work, and create multimedia posts for each other.It’s also an opportunity for educators to develop their knowledge about curriculum and digital literacies.

Storybird is a lovely site which has artists who collaborate by providing artworks which can be used to stimulate and illustrate story creation.

Teachers Teaching Teachers check out here for the next talk

GoogleLabs is being phased out… but has an amazing set of resources… imagine 3D Google earth for the body…or the Google Art Project, giving you tours of the worlds greatest galleries…Get in quick!!

Sketchfu is an online drawing and sharing program… very easy to use, and some great artworks to stimulate ideas.

Handling the enormous amounts of information is something we have to try to help our students resolve… Where do you find reliable sources? How do you know what is reliable? Where do you store the information. The easiest way is using a social bookmarking platform such as Diigo, Delicious or Google, where you can save your bookmarks on the cloud, and always have access to them, using keywords and tags to search for them.

Another couple of apps I came across over the break have been Scoop.it and Storify both allow you to create a “feed” of information on a specific topic.

With Scoop.it you can have a tool which sits within your web browser, and allows you to scoop any relevant topics for your area of interest. You then add new links each day or week, or when ever. Others can follow your topic, and add further relevant “scoops” to your page. You can in turn follow others who are “curating” topics which interest you. The topics are wide and varied.

Storify uses a range of social media such as Twitter, facebook, Google+, YouTube etc to draw information together to form a “story” on a specific topic. This could be a unit of work you have created with your students, or it could be the information you want your students to explore.

Both of these would be great ways for students to collaborate and sift though information to create a really useful knowledgebank of information.

Whatever way you want to delve into the digital classroom of the 21st Century, don’t imagine it can just happen… it needs a lot of pre-planning and organising by the teacher to ensure students don’t get lost in the information, or the technology.

Well… some correction to get done…..

Podcasting is a fantastic tool for educators and learners. It provides opportunities for teaching and learning using different ways of learning to what traditionally is used. This provide scope for learners to engage in learning a range of places and times, not just in the classroom.

What is Podcasting?

Podcasting was initially an audio file which was shared through the internet. Now technology advancements have meant other rich media including images and videos can also be included.

There are many different sites for you to find podcasts on a wide range of subjects including language, history, science, education, radio shows, tv shows, technology, commentary etc. You can subscribe to podcast series you enjoy through iTunes etc, and they are automatically downloaded into your iTunes library when new ones are added by the creator. Podcasts can be downloaded to your computer, then put onto your iPod or MP3 player and listened to or watched when you wish.

Or you can create your own podcast, by pressing the record button on your computer’s sound program ( Audacity – PC or Garageband – Mac), or iPod or MP3 player or other digital recording device, create an MP3 (audio only) or Mpeg4 (audio and images), send the file via email or direct upload to their iPod or MP3 player, to share with specific people, or to the internet to share with the world.

How to use podcasting in your classroom

Podcasts can be used in many many ways, here are just a few.

• direct recordings of a lesson. Just press record at the start of the lesson, and students will have your notes to go over as they need it. Great for exam revision or students who are not present for the lesson.
• using podcasts to generate discussion topics. Find a relevant podcast, and share with your students. Discuss issues etc.
• Exam revision/key concepts – use simple slides and voice recording to highlight key points students need to revise for exams etc. They can then listen anytime any place – how much cooler to be listening to your iPod on the bus than reading a textbook or school notes.
• Specific skills – whether threading a sewing machine or using a lathe, it is very handy to have a visual aid to assist  when students are required to complete a task independently. I have seen some very interesting podcasts used in TAFE to assist students in the building trade areas covering a range of skills and OHS issues
• Presentations – instead of writing responses they can be spoken and submitted, this can be particularly useful for students who have difficulties with the written word, thus catering for students individual differences.
• In language classes students can listen to authentic sounding linguistics of the languages they are studying.
• Classroom radio – issues facing the students are discussed and uploaded to share with other students, great for preparing debates or analysing issues.
• Excursion reflections – as podcasts can be made on many portable devices including mobile phones and iPods/MP3 players real time reflections of an excursion can be made as they are happening.

There are of course many more potential uses.

The nitty gritty

Creating your podcast – you can use a range of tools, the simplest (unless you have a cool mobile phone or voice recorder) is to use your computer to record it, as you can edit it – I usually get it quite shorter taking out all of my ums and ahhs. Creating a podcast was once to domain of Mac users, who were able to seamlessly create and upload their podcast to iPod. It did not take that long for the PC users to catch up and it is just as easy now on either platform. I have created vodcasts (video) and podcasts on my PC, and now am exploring using the Mac.

On a PC you can use Audacity – an opensource audio editing software. Record your audio, to add images I have added my audio track to either Moviemaker or Photostory3. Save your file as an MP3 (audio only) or if you used moviemaker the smaller file size movie file, there are a range of options with differing results, best thing is to try what works best for you.

On a Mac you would use Garageband – File -> New -> new podcast. This gives you a series of options. The top track is for images, then you have different audio tracks and  a track to add accompanying music. You then “Share” and can add it straight to your iTunes library, or save it to your computer as the appropriate file type as with the PC version, ready to share with the world via the internet.

Getting your podcast onto the internet.

You can set up an account with a site like Podomatic which is a repositry for you to upload your podcast files. Once you have uploaded your file, you will be able to share the URL (web address) with people you want to share your podcast with. You are also able to have your podcast added to the iTunes Podcast list, through your podomatic account.

You can upload your podcasts to your blog

You can also share your podcasts through places like PodcastAlley, where you add your podcast’s URL to their site, and others can listen/watch your podcasts.

Useful sites

- Your blog, a useful place to post your podcasts

- Podomatic, allows you to set up a space to upload your podcasts

- Podcastalley, showcases a range of podcasts

- iTunes, huge range of podcasts allowing you to subscribe to them, importing them straight into your iTunes library

I hope this rambling has made some of the potential of podcasting more understandable for new users. I have added some podcasts created in a few minutes using both Audacity and Garageband, so whether you are PC or Mac you can have fun either way

My Podcasts

This end of the year should be winding down, but somehow it always ends up being crazier than usual. Anyway, next Monday and Tuesday I am presenting at the VITTA conference, one session on Cool Web 2.0 tools and the other sharing the “Redback Project” engaging staff to explore some tools, and show them how they can actually make life easier. I always get a bit apprehensive when I present at something like the VITTA conference, because although I use all these tools, and I guess I have become a bit of an early adopter, and innovator in the classroom…. I am generally talking to IT teachers…  They know… stuff about computers… way more than me… anyway I generally go in over prepared, and nervous, and hope my point gets across….

The theme for this year’s conference is “Shift Happens: Technology alone will not save us”

The Redback one hopefully will be good, I hope it makes sense to other educators, and I know those of us who have already embedded so much of these we can forget what a challenge it is to get started with these tools, I think that is the kep point, keeping it all simple, taking little steps, and before they know it the participants have completed a range of tasks using Web 2.0 tools, and are starting to feel the confidence, and the desire to take them further.

Where do you start with the amazing range of tools available to us? I am going to take people through some of my favourites, and looking specifically at how they can be used in the classroom…

• starting with blogs and wikis and moblogs
• communication and sharing – del.icio.us, Diigo, Twitter and Clipmarks
• Keeping track – RSS and Google tools
• Social stuff – Ning
• Other stuff… mobile technologies, fun stuff, and where to go to find things Go2Web2, Go2Web2 Blog  and Killerstartups
• Global Teacher

I only have an hour, and I think I will be racing to cover it all… so will put my thoughts, discussions, links on my Redback wiki, as some good starting off points for that as well.

New venue this year… so I think I get to go on the new freeway… Looking forward to it I always get a heap of great ideas… and love being able to give back with some ideas of my own.

This past week has been a whirlwind…

having been offered the wonderful opportunity to become eLearning leader at a new school, which has a strong focus on the arts, and the emotional turmoil that comes with that, after having been in Langy for 21 years…

So my head has been a bit crazy…. plus a busy end of term, with Year 12 folios coming in, and now finally maybe I can take a breath…. on holidays… up at 6am to welcome the pool diggers and electricians.

It’s windy and diggy and noisy, and they have hit a pipe that wasn’t there on the plans… ughhhh… so now waiting for the plumber while they dig the rest of the pool out.

Back onto theing more eLearning…. the Redback project is going well, those who have taken up the challenge are having a ball… many way out of their comfort zone… but it’s a good thing…

I had some great feedback on the video tutes I have created, and will spend some time making more of those. I have found Jing to be really great… but a bit dodgy when trying to upload at school…. thank goodness for mobile broadband…

welll I better go and organise things… still just flitting around…