reflecting on innovations

Amy introduced us to and gave us time for a quick explore of 3 programmes available from go2web20.net. There are many programmes on this site and it was great to have time to play a little.

 Fotoll A program in which users are able to create an online poll using pictures. An example is Barack Obama or John McCain? It has a very easy to navigate interface that is simplicity itself. There is a useful facility where users are able to add comments. I found it fun to use. Would I use it with a primary school class? No way. Why not? It is called “Duty of Care” and there are too many unanswered safety issues with this program. Western Australian Catholic Education’s portal is Editure/ MySuite and polls are able to be set up in the “vote for” property. It’s safer and controllable.

  Kerpoof  This program makes it very easy to create a drawing, picture, card, movie and other publications. Members begin their story by choosing a scene. They are able to add characters, speech bubbles and interesting extras. When making a movie they begin by selecting a storyline and a scene. There are reassurances of the safety of students using the program but I found little to support these. The main problem I have is with the closed nature of the program. The storylines, scenes, characters and extras are all preset and rather contrived. It is for this reason that I would not use it in a primary school classroom.

 Pikikids Creating your own comics could hardly be easier. Such clear directions and simple interface make this program very tempting. It provides a large range of comic layouts to choose from. There are two ways of uploading pictures; firstly, pictures can be uploaded from a computer which allows students to create their own digital pictures or use scanned, original drawings. Secondly, users can search for a picture on Flickr and this is where the problem lies. Let’s face there are some photos on Flickr which are quite unsuitable for students to view. Pikikids can be kept private but there is still the browsing for image problem. I would like to see the creators of this program develop a school version where the students are unable to browse Flickr then I believe more schools would use it.

Last Thursday Adam and Joel had the class zooming around the earth and floating through the heavens. How exciting! We went from the pyramids in Egypt to the front of our house in our street then looked up to see what stars shone over our place. The whole world and beyond was there on the computer.

I have used Google Earth with students before and it is an excellent program. Every time I use the program it has developed new features. There are so many of classroom applications. Consider:

• SOSE - The students would get a real sense of where in the world they were.
• MATHS - Coordinates, directions, mapping, measurement of time with the light/shadow feature
• ENGLISH - reading, writing add the features of your place. Find the features of others
• SCIENCE - discover fault lines and volcanoes
• The layers section is great as it enables you to see 3D buildings, weather geographical features and a gallery of information such as historical maps

Check 10 Cool and Easy Things You Can Do In Google Earth

 I have concerns that information being loaded by anyone but think the education forum has real potential. http://earth.google.com/outreach/edu_culture.html . Having said that, students could enter their videos, podcasts and research into Google Earth – a real audience – how relevant is that!

Kym and Tracey did a great presentation on different online resources. It is such a broad topic that we could have spent a week looking at the resources they found. It was interesting to hear about safe search engines being created for young students.  Zoeybot is one such search engine. It is still being developed but I found it quite unsuitable with its distracting chatty robot and information written at an adult reading level.

Their range of sites the girls found that were recommended for children were an absolute eye opener. Some were totally unsuitable for anything other than a porn site. Just goes to prove teachers and parents have to check everything their children access on the internet as well as teach the children appropriate actions when they come across inappropriate material.  

I think that many teachers, schools and education systems have developed a range of tools allowing modified searches, for students to use. Far better to use webquests, specified websites and MyInternet properties (in Catholic Education) than let the students randomly search.  Let’s not forget the valuable lessons on using the advanced features of search engines  to teach children how to become more exact in their searching.

I thought Robert and Chris had been hired by Turning Point to sell their product – I think everyone in the room would have bought Clickers for their school – their presentation was so good. How enthusiastic were they? They had us all using them quickly and successfully in a class demographics exercise.

The Clickers are very easy to use and give instant feedback to the student and teacher. The software can be set up so that teachers can identify individual student responses. On the positive side they do save paper and marking. I like the way all students participate and interact with the technology as well as being able to set questions. They interact with PowerPoint well and an interactive whiteboard – although a board is not necessary for them to work.

On the down side my biggest issue would be with the closed question format. They really only allow multiple choice and yes/no, true/false answers. The cost of setting up the hardware and software would be prohibitive for some schools.

It seems to me that Clickers are the toy of the moment though. Every IT conference I have been to in the last 2 years or so has had a company promoting their particular brand of Clicker.  The last ACEC conference in October this year had at least 2 companies competing for the market.

Do Clickers have a place in a primary school classroom? I can see some use in quick quizzes, mental maths, general knowledge situations. Would I buy them for my school? I would rather spend the money on digital cameras, Inspiration licences or a laptop. Perhaps someone can convince me otherwise?

Justin’s excellent, informative presentation on online photo sharing has given me something else to play with – my life is now tied to a computer! As Justin told us there is a huge range of online photo sharing sites. The two he covered are particularly easy to use. I had already used Flickr to pour over the photos of my niece’s new-born baby. Though I am now hooked on Photobucket as there is so much more available for free on this site. Slideshows, sharing, videos, levels of privacy and heaps of space – it seems to have everything I need. No more having CDs burned while I am on holiday – just a quick duck into an internet café and upload the lot. That is if I manage to go away without a laptop – which is becoming more and more unlikely.

As for use in Education – hmmm. There’s the issue of children’s photos on the internet that is a major hurdle to overcome. No matter how secure the site some parents are not going to let it happen. They have that right. Then there is purpose. The first one that came to mind was Travel Buddies – it is the perfect setup for that to happen. Then wouldn’t a blog serve the same purpose? Then of course there is the issue of content. There are many photos and videos on these sites that are inappropriate for school children, particularly primary aged children.

In summary, I believe the online photo sharing sites do help bridge the digital divide in that they are easy to use and access. As for use in the primary classroom? I am yet to be convinced .

I won an iPod Classic around 2 years ago at a library conference. My family despaired of me because (until a few of weeks ago) I had 35 songs on that iPod – that’s right 35 songs. Then I had to become an “expert” on using mp3 players and iPods in education. Talk about “at the moment” learning!

Where to start? The mp3 player/iPod is a mini portable everything. Consider these scenarios:

 Recorder – to record that interview with a guest speaker, grandparent; Complete the orienteering exercise my classmates created

Video player – to watch that movie on long division your teacher recorded on the Smartboard last week, or that You Tube video on PowerPoint; watch a vitual tour of the pyramids for SOSE, show my parents the video of my demonstration

Podcast player – listen to the latest podcast from the Indonesian language site and practise a bit of listening and speaking the language, or the podcast from your librarian on how to use Alice to find and reserve a book;

Portable quiz – play a barrier game in English group activities, construct a quiz on quizzler for my class to do after my presentation

Audiobook player  - I’ve always had trouble reading so I can listen to the book my teacher recorded for me and read it at the same time

Flashcard player – practise those sight words I am having trouble with.

Music player – listen to the Mozart Symphony I have to reflect on for my music assignment.

Of course, if I am stuck on a word, I can always check up on my dictionary and encyclopaedia.

As a consequence my iPod is now fuller and used consistently.

IEP – I can have my own Individual Learning Programme on my mp3 player.

Having said all that if I was going to purchase an mp3 player I would be looking at other models rather than an iPod as the sync problem is annoying – I like the drag a drop features of my husband’s LG mp3 player – and it’s not reliant on iTunes. Sure, there are ways around iTunes but they can be tricky and why bother when another version of mp3 player is easy and cheaper than an iPod.

As for classroom use – I would love a set of mp3 players for my class because they can be used for all the above activities and they are small and portable.

While I was off exploring New Zealand big things were happening within my class at Curtin. Mathieu and Simon gave an inspiring presentation on Youtube and Teacher’s TV. I am so sorry that I missed it as all the reports I have heard said they did a magnificent job. Not only did they cover the educational uses of these sites they also covered copyright and told everyone about Keepvid. As I had missed the presentation I had to check it all out for myself.

Youtube covers the whole spectrum of videos – I think it would take more than one lifetime to even watch what is loaded on the site at the minute. I like the way you can search for topics and how you can set up your own account. As far as use and access in schools I think that teachers should have the only access so they can select and identify videos that are relevant for their classes. There are too many unsuitable videos for students to have access. It’s back to Duty of Care.

Teachers.tv is a fantastic site covering every area of school life. It is great that people can set up their own login. This is definitely a site for teachers to access with podcasts, lesson plans, tv shows and videos. It is a British site and an Australian version would be even better.

Keepvid is the answer to using Youtube and other videos from the internet with your class. It is Freeware to download which enables you to download and save videos directly from Youtube and other internet sites.  Takes the risk out of the equation in a classroom. And it’s easy to use.

 I believe all these resources will help bridge the digital divide as they as easy to use and relevant to classroom teaching (I mean, just how long have teachers been using videos as a teaching tool!). Thank you Simon and Mathieu

Christina and Sarah shared their thorough research on podcasts with us. There are so many programs with which you can make a podcast and most of them are free!

I make a very basic podcast on podcasting and found the process quite simple. I used Audacity to record then exported the file as an mp3 (it was here I had to download lame to do the conversion). I tried using Podomatic but it would not complete the upload for some reason. I believe it would be much easier to use Garageband on a Mac machine. Although many schools have a Windows based network it would be good to have a Mac on hand so that making audio files and movies is simplified.

A Podcast Podcast

Sarah’s and Kate’s great presentation on Smartboards allowed our class to become more familiar with the major features of this product. They did really well to cover so many aspects in the limited time they had. I have long been a fan of Interactive Whiteboards and their use in the classroom. Smartboards in particular have developed excellent software which allows users to develop their own interactive, multimedia files as well as use the Smartboard with other programs and the internet.

There is much documentation supporting the fact that the use of IWBs in the classroom does increase student interest and enthusiasm for school. Richardson Primary School in the ACT is one of the first Australian examples. I think IWBs are a very effective tool to assist and support learning –   in whole class, small groups and individual settings.

As Lauren and Kate pointed out the cost can be prohibitive. The UK Government spent over £50m implementing them in primary and secondary schools in the UK – I wonder if the Rudd Government is considering an implementation plan of a similar scale?

Another concern I have is that if the boards are implemented the same way the “computers in schools” were in the early 2000s. Teachers have to be given time and support for Professional Development, peer enhancement and experimentation or we could just end up with “chalk and talk” albeit electronic.

Facebook and MySpace seemed to be the answer to everyone’s communication issues – a central place to keep up with family and friends, to share all your photos and videos (without even having to resize them!), to reconnect with people for the past, in fact share your life and experiences – with ……..??? All you need is a valid email address.

Privacy is not an issue as you can only see the profiles of confirmed friends and people in their networks. I am amazed at the students at my school who have over 300 confirmed friends – how can they possibly know so many people as close friends? Maybe they are some of the 90 million users? Could it be that friends invite friends of friends of friends? Remember Corey Delaney from Melbourne?

Ok I find this really, really scary – especially when connected to primary school children. All I can see is the “dark side”.  How can these children know over 300 people? Or even 50 people? Just who are some of these people? Ask the police what they think. Think of some of the photos and videos you have seen in Facebook and MySpace – do you want children even seeing them let alone uploading any themselves? One parent’s experience is here. I have found children to be very trusting and they invariably use their real names, addresses and even phone numbers. 

To be fair both sites do have some cyber safety features and do try to act quickly if an occasion arises. Check MySpace and Facebook safety features.

Not only are there concerns regarding cyber safety there are even more concerns over who is behind these sites. Facebook has strong links to the CIA, and PayPal Mafia, whereas MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Why are these people, companies involved? Could it be to gather information, control adverstising and influence users? Facebook states they have a right to use and sell your information. Whereas MySpace states their users can modify their profiles to limit who has access or contact.

So you have decided to close your MySpace/Facebook site. Be very careful. Users of Facebook have to contact the website to request their accounts be permanently deleted  - if you choose deactivation all your information remains on their server. Whereas when users join MySpace they agree that MySpace has a the right to maintain a copy of their data after an account is cancelled.

So, I would have to agree that MySpace and Facebook do a lot to bridge the digital divide in younger people but I believe the risks are to high to use either of them in a school setting. Thank you, Hayley and Rebecca for making us aware of the dangers lurking in these sites.