Turn an iPad into a Document Camera

For years I have been wanting a document camera for my classroom, but simply couldn't justify the price.  I recently discovered how to turn an iPad into a document camera.  Below are the step-by-step directions and pictures.

Tools
iPad
Apple TV

1) Turn your iPad camera on

2) Flip the camera direction around so it is capturing you

3) Hey look, that's me!

4) Connect to the Apple TV

5) That is what the students see, a projection of what the iPad camera is seeing

6) This is what I see, me in front of the iPad camera

It is that simple!  It was quick and easy to set up, and now my students can see all the small things.  This whole set up may be enhanced with some sort of iPad tripod where I can securely adjust the angle.

MLTI iPad Apps iBook

I have attended several meetings and conferences this fall since the roll out of the iPads as one of the devices offered in the state-wide one-to-one program.  One of the constant challenges that I have heard from classroom teachers is being unsure what all of the apps that come pre-loaded on the iPad do. Often I have heard suggestions to "just Google the app", but many classroom teachers simply don't have time to look up the 100+ apps.  Below is a link an iBook that I wrote in response.  Simply put, the iBook is a "just Google it" summary of each app that comes pre-installed on an MLTI issued iPad.  I turned to the MLTI RFP, the Apple iTunes store, and a few other websites for descriptions.

                                            MLTI iPad Apps iBook
                                            MLTI iPad Apps PDF

Digital Docent - The Bridge to Connect Digital Generations

Digital Docent - The Bridge to Connect Digital Generations

Sarah Irish

Recently I have been learning more about and giving presentations on the students who walk into our classrooms every day.  A common phrase uttered by teachers is "my students today just can't ______ like they students in the past have".  What I have found from my learning is that the students in todays classrooms simply aren't wired the same way students used to be, so that means they don't learn always naturally learn in the same ways.  

The students who come to school today are accustomed to interacting with the world in a digital way, they are known as digital natives.  "They were all born after 1980, when social digital technologies, such as Usenet and bulletin board systems, came online.  They all have access to networked digital technologies.  And they all have the skills to use those technologies” (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008, pg. 1). 

On the flip side, there is a second term used for people are do not interact with the digital world as natively, they are known as digital immigrants.  “A person who has adopted the Internet and related technologies, but who was born prior to the advent of the digital age” (Palfrey & Grasser, 2008, pg. 346).

I would like to introduce a new third term: digital docent.  When you go to any museum in the United States the who gives tours is known as a docent.  The word docent is from the Latin word docēns, which means to teach.  These are the people who grew up on the edge of all of this technology.  They can connect with how both the digital natives and the digital immigrants view the digital world. 

Currently in the education world there are is a huge push to integrate technology into the classroom.  The challenge is that many of our current educators are digital immigrants. This isn't a bad thing, it just adds another challenge when trying to integrate technology.  The digital docents who are also teachers are essential to ensuring the successful integration of technology.  It is their job to act as the bridge between the digital natives and digital immigrants.  The digital docent has the capacity to teach as the Latin root of the word suggests both of these groups.  The big question is how best to facilitate this teaching bridge.  

Digital Natives Resources

Marc Prensky Essays

http://marcprensky.com/marcs-essays/

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering For Real Learning Introduction

The Reformers Are Leaving Our Schools in the 20th Century

Suggested Reading List

• Marc Prensky Essays
• Jukes, McCain, Crockett Understanding the Digital Generation: Teaching and Learning in the New Digital Landscape

Palfrey Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives

Technology as the Bridge for Customized Learning

Customized Learning is not a new concept in education.  In the 1920’s, Mastery Education was introduced where students could move at their own pace until they had mastered a set of standards.

Entire textbook series were created in order to allow for this.  So why did Customized Learning die out the first time?  Money.  A school needed to be able to invest in this new series of textbooks.  In the 1960’s, Bloom and his protege Block reintroduced the idea of students progressing at a pace that was appropriate for them and demonstrating mastery of a skill.  So why did Customized Learning die out the second time?  Again, money was an issue, but there was also a resistance to educational reform.

It is 2013, and Customized Learning in education is here for a third time.  What makes it more possible this time?  Technology.  This is the bridge that allows for Customized Learning to happen in our 21st century digital classrooms.  Rather than having to purchase an entire series of textbooks as schools had to in the 1920’s and 1960’s, technology is already at the fingertips of all of our teachers and students. Customization has what it needs to finally be implemented.  

There are two types of technology use in Customized Learning.  First, there is technology to track student progress through the standards that students, parents, and teachers can access.  Second, there is technology to demonstrate and facilitate learning.  This second type of technology is utilized by students to demonstrate mastery of a standard or to demonstrate an activity that students work through to prepare for standard mastery.  Although Customized Learning utilizes technology, it does not replace teaching, facilitating, and guiding from teachers.  Students still interact with peers and teachers in a Customized Learning classroom, but technology allows for the facilitation of learning at their pace.

References

Khan, S. (2012). The one world schoolhouse: Education reimagined. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Parry, J., Hall, N., & Peel, P. (2012). It's inevitable: Customized teaching and learning a fieldbook for and from the field . CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

21st Century Skills

This is a cross post from www.irishmathclass.com, my classroom blog.  Tonight I was getting caught up on email and Internet reading when I cam across this - A Parent's Guide to 21st Century Learning. This guide got me to thinking about how important 21st Century Skills are and that it we as educators really need to help educate parents on this topic.  

Google Calendar Enhancing the Home/School Connection

Since the dawn of time teachers and parents have been trying to make better connections between home and school.  When parents ask their child "What do you have for homework tonight" the child either can't remember, or gives the default answer that they don't have any.  Google Calendar can help solve this problem.  


Google Calendar is a free online calendar website where you can keep your personal calendar, a shared calendar with a group of people who can all add to it, or a shared calendar with people where online one person can add to it.  


As a teacher with a Google Calendar you could create a calendar where you enter assignments and then share this calendar with students and parents.  You could also embed the calendar with assignments into a classroom website.  Below are the steps for creating a Google Calendar, steps for sharing the calendar with students and parents, and the steps to embed the calendar into a blog or website.  In order to create and share a Google Calendar you need to have a Google account already set up.  If you don't have one, follow these directions.     

Steps 1 & 2

Creating A Google Calendar

To create a new calendar, just follow these steps:1) Click the drop-down arrow to the right of My calendars
2) Select Create new calendar
3) Enter information about your new calendar
4) Click the Create calendar button

Steps 3 & 4

All of the calendars you create will be listed under My Calendars on the left side of your page. For each of the calendars, you can add, delete, and edit events any time you like.

Please note that there's a limit to the number of calendars you can create at one time. If you're receiving an error message when creating additional calendars, please wait 24 hours before trying again.

Sharing Your Google Calendar

Setps 1 & 2

1) Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the calendar that you want to share

2) Select Share this Calendar

Steps 3 & 4

3) Check the box to make the calendar public

4) Click Calendar Details

Step 5

5) In the Calendar Address area select the way the user of the shared calendar user will view the calendar.  

• Select iCal if the user is going to view it in Apples program iCal.  
• Select XML if the user is going to view the calendar in another calendar program.
• Select HMTL if the user is going to put the address into an internet browser to view the calendar.  

6) Copy the address in the box that pops up and share this with the people you want to share the calendar with.  

Step 6

Embed the Calendar In A Blog or Website

Steps 1 & 2

1) Click the drop-down arrow to the right of the calendar that you want to embed

2) Click on Calendar Settings

Steps 3 & 4

3) Select and copy the code 

4) Paste the HTML code into your blog or website

A Second Look At Second Life (Irish)

Video Presentation for a Professional Distance Education Conference:

At professional conferences, the keynote speaker is often introduced through the presentation of a short video that focuses the audience’s attention and provides background and insight on the speaker’s topic. This year, you have been given the honor of participating in a distance education conference by introducing the keynote speaker’s address. Your introduction may focus on any aspect of distance education that you find timely and interesting. In order to introduce the speaker, you are required to develop a 5- to 6-minute video on the distance education topic you selected. 

You will work independently throughout the course to develop your Video Presentation. You will demonstrate:

• • The key aspects of your topic 
• • The best practices and authentic application of your topic
• • A strong research base for your topic
• • An organized presentation that follows good visual design principles

References:

You will read a minimum of six research studies and/or scholarly articles on the topic of your video production published in the last three years. Each annotation should summarize the key findings of the research study, report the sample and methodology used, and critique the study. Use APA citations and reference formatting. Put your annotations in the Dropbox, along with a note to your instructor that your final video is posted in your blog.

Static-Dynamic Continuum of Technology (Irish Module 5)

Like so many things, technology use exists on a continuum: static to dynamic.  Static technologies are those that allow the user to capture information.  Dynamic technologies are those that allow the user to generate their own original thoughts.  It isn't that one is better than the other, it is more that you need to ensure that there is an appropriate balance of the two.

If you think of it as the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, through the efficient use of static technology the learner will eventually be able to use dynamic technology.  Just as you would never create a lesson that only uses one level of Bloom's Taxonomy, you would also not create a class that uses only one type of technology.   

Engaging Learners In A Digital World (Irish - Module 4)

Durrington, Berryhill, and Swafford (2006) stated that "to encourage high student interactivity in an online setting, the learning environment must be supportive, open, and respectful" (p. 191).  In the digital world that we live in today technology is a highly integrated part of most people's everyday lives.  In order to create the supportive environment that Durrington, Berryhill, and Swafford discussed technology is a critical element to include.

One project that I have been working on with a coworker is presenting free web 2.0 tools to the staff of the school that we teach at.  The goal of the monthly trainings is to show a variety of web 2.0 tools from several different types of use.  We have created a website that organizes all of the tools by category, gives a brief overview of the tool, provides a few suggestions of how the tool could be used, as well as any helpful resources.  The trainings that we have provided have been well received by the staff, and they are beginning to be more comfortable with the technology, as well as utilizing it in their daily teaching.

Email has become one of the standard ways to communicate through the internet, but there are many other ways to communicate.  Communication can occur either in real time, or through postings.  Wikis and blogs allow people to make an initial posting, and then receive feedback from others.  Skype allows people to communicate in real time through either video chatting or audio chatting.  It also allows single people or groups of people to connect with each other.

The internet has expanded the potential for collaboration through shared documents such as Google Docs.  People can also collaborate in wikis on a common topic.  Blogs allow the orignal person to post thoughts on a topic, and then people to collaborate through the comments posted.  There are also several graphic organizer websites that allow users to collaborate on ideas.  The website used to create the embedded graphic organizer is one that allows users to collaborate on a common document.

Content is a quickly growing area of the internet.  According to Did You Know there are 540,000 words in the English language, that is five times the number of words during Shakespeare's time.  With this increase in words has also come the growth in the amount of content knowledge.  The challenge in the digital world is being able to access all of the content available.  Wikipedia is a good resource for an overview of a variety of content.  There are many specialized organizations that create and share new content.  Many of these organizations also publish journals that are available online.  Another place that has a large amount of content is online forums.  A forum is a place where people can post a question or problem and then others make comments back.  This online forum format helps to create a lot of content in specific areas.

The Achilles Heal and Collaborative Projects (Irish - Module 3)

Collaborative, or group projects have always been the Achilles heal of the assessment world.  In case you forgot, Achilles was a mighty Greek fighter who was killed by a fatal arrow wound to the sensitive heal area.  Although Achilles was a strong warrior, this weak part of his body ended up being his downside.

The reason why collaborative projects are the Achilles heal of the assessment world is the challenge that they pose to assess.  With many people contributing to the final product it can be challenging to know if the work was done equally, fairly, and represents the thoughts and ideas of the entire group.  Although, with careful planning and guidance on the part of the instructor collaborative projects don't have to be the Achilles heal.

Palloff and Pratt (2005) outlined a three step process to support the collaborative process: model, guide, and then evaluate.  In the modeling phase the instructor works with the students to show them what good collaboration looks like.  During the guidance phase the instructor could meet virtually with the group to determine the roles of the members, the outline for the tasks, and an overall plan for the project.  During this phase the instructor is there to guide the group in their mission.  The final evaluation phase the is a chance for the instructor to meet with the group as a whole, as well as the individuals to assess the end product.

One of the largest challenges in a collaborative project is the role of each individual not always having an equal part in the final product.  One of the befits, as well as challenges to working collaborative is that everyone brings different skills to the table.  Different skills does not always mean that everyone will have an equal amount of time invested in the final product.  The role of the instructor when it comes time to assess the product is to determine if everyone contributed their best to the product.  Palloff and Pratt (2005) suggested that in a collaborative project that each individual create a portfolio of their contributions to the product.  This portfolio, as well as the group and individual conversations can aid in the assessment of the final product.  

Another challenge to collaborative projects is a member not wanting to network or collaborate in the learning community.  When this lack of engagement happens with one member of a collaborative group the entier group and struggle.  It is the responsibility of the group to reach out to both the instructor and that group member.  The rest of the group should not be penalized if one member of their group does not want to engage and work collaboratively.  If the instructor has taken the advice of Palloff and Pratt and worked supporting the group through the three phases of the collaborative process then the chances of having a non-committed group member is less likely to occur.  

Second Life Storyboard (Irish)

Updated and revised storyboard.

Shift Happens (Module 2, Irish)

The Shift Happens folks have been producing thought provoking videos since 2007, they currently have produced five versions on the same theme.  The theme is the globalization and shifts in society.  The question I always come back to when watching these is how do we as educators answer to these shifts?  Below is the fourth version of their video, published in fall of 2009.

One of the key points that Shift Happens continues to hit upon is that "individuals have more control, more capacity to create and to connect than in any era in history" (Siemens, 2006, p. 72).  With the vast amount of information available to humans at their fingertips, learning at this point in history is radically changing.  Siemens outlined in the video Future of Distance Education that one of the hallmark characteristics of the identity of distance education is collaborative interactions.  With the increased possibilities to connect with other people the potential for collaborative works are at an all time high.

The Internet is the main engine that has expanded the possibilities to collaborate.  Prior to the Internet connecting with others was limited by the network of people that you worked with, or knew.  Today, collaboration is limitless.  So the potential for collaboration has evolved from the network of people you knew within your own physical space, to the never ending reaches of the Internet.  There are social networks where a person can connect with people who share their same interestes.  There are countless blogs, forums, and websites dedicated to the most obscure topics.  From these blogs, forums, websites, and social networking sites come the potential for collaboration.

Once the connections have been made via the Internet to collaborate, the people do not ever actually need to meet in person to accomplish their work.  Through the use of video conferencing tools such as Skype, or online chat programs such as AOL Instant Messanger, and online collaborative word processing software such as Google Docs a collaborative project can be completed without ever having to meet in person.  Prior to the advances of the Internet these collaborative projects would either have to be emailed back and forth through attached documents, or mailed through the postal system.  With the advances of the Internet collaboration is literally at a persons fingertips and only limited by the imaginations of the people working together.

You Say You Want An Revolution? (Irish Module 1)

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right





The lyrics to the Beatles song Revolution seem fitting when discussing the need to evolve distance education for the next generation.  I highlighted the phrase change the world and evolution in the song lyrics because in the situation of distance education there is going to beed to be change in the world in order for distance education to evolve for the next generation.

Simonson outlined in the video Distance Education: The Next Generation that the concept of distance education is not new.  The first form of distance education happend through correspondent courses, and then over time these courses migrated to the internet.  Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned thinker in education, inovation, and creativity stated during a TED Talk interview in response to the quality of distance education:

There’s been a tendency in universities to try and cash in on the interest in web-based learning. A lot of them have been dumping programs online: lecture notes, videos of talks, and so on. They’re of variable quality. Some of them are great, and some aren’t. In a way, TED is a great example of how distance learning can work well. TED doesn’t have a formal curriculum. But it has new ideas about getting ideas across in a powerful, condensed way, with high-quality visuals, and then syndicating that. TED has shown us a dramatic appetite for new ideas presented in an interesting way.  


Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Coleman outlined five impacts for instructional design: 1) quality, 2) needs assessment and measuring outcomes, 3) connecting training, performance support, and the management of knowledge, 4) improved instructional systems methods, and 5) looking again at learning models.  These five impact areas that Moller, Huett, Foshat, and Coleman outline are universal to a variety of distance education settings, they are applicable to the business, K-12 education, and college environments.  


In order for distance education to meet the five goals that Simonson outlined in the video Equivalency Theory.  these five goals are: 1) to provide equivalent education as face-to-face environments, 2) potential increased return on investment, 3) increased convenience for students, 4) increased motivation to learn, and 5) increased access.  


I agree with all of the suggestions of Robinson, Simonson, and Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Colman. Without improvements distance education will not be able to live up to its potential.  With all of the advances with technology within the last 10 years it is now possible for distance education to provide an equal or improved learning experience to face-to-face learning.  But, without the changes outlined then distance education will continue to be for most situations glorified correspondence studies existing in isolation.  


We clearly have all of the necessary technology tools, as well as the knowledge about how distance education needs to be improves it is time to stop singing about an evolution and actually start the evolution!


Enjoy ~SJ  

Emerging and Sharing

I am proud to admit that I am a technology geek.  If there is a new technology product, website, or tool on the market I love to learn how it works and figure out how to include it in my daily life.  As a classroom teacher it is my goal to incorporate as many technology applications as I can effectively.  When selecting technology for the classroom it is important to find tools that are appropriate as well as useful for all students.  It is important to not expose my students to tools that will require them to pay any fees, while also keep their identity safe on the internet.

Tools that live in a cloud are one of my newest technologies that I try to share with as many people as possible.  Cloud computing is an amazingly powerful tool since it is often free - thanks Google, as well as available from any location.  Cloud computing meets the requirements of being gender, culturally, and socioeconomically sensitive.  There are no fees associated with cloud computing, as long as a person has access to a computer their cloud is at their fingertips.

For my final project in EDUC 8841 I created a video on how to utilize the power of the cloud.



Enjoy ~SJ 

DVD's vs Streaming Video

I have not been a subscriber to satellite TV or cable for over five years.  I made the choice years ago to get rid of cable for financial reasons, and have not regretted my decision yet!  The only downside to not having television programming is that I cannot always keep up when people are talking about television commercials, or the latest reality TV show.  But, I have even found a solution to this.  

Just because I choose not to have cable, does not mean that I don't watch my fair share to TV.  I am an avid supporter of Netflix.  I have an extensive list of DVDs in my queue, over 100, and have streamed my fair share in a week.  I was a member of Netflix before I officially decided to give up cable, and it was one of the supporting reasons why I thought I could survive without cable.  As Netflix has enhanced its streaming options, I too have streamed more programs.  When it was time for me to find one of the required movie for the module 4, I quickly turned to Netflix.  One thought that went through my head was, "what if Netflix doesn't have one of the movie on the list?  Where am I going to turn?"  Thankfully Netflix didn't let me down.  

  

So are DVD and streaming video the next Red Queen, or are they an example of increasing returns? Dr. Thornburg defined an increasing return as "two technologies that hit the market at the same time.  By chance, one technology gets locked in and drives the other to extinction" (Laureate Education, 2009).  By this definition, the two technologies would need to hit the market at the same time.  DVDs became popular in the mid to late 1990s.  Streaming video emerged ten years later.  Due to the fact that they did not enter the market at the same time they are not an example of an increasing return.

Dr. Thornburg defined a Red Queen as "huge competition existing between two technologies, in the process all other competition is left behind"  (Laureate Education, 2009).  By this definition streaming video would need to be clearly competing with one source for DVDs.  At this point in time Netflix is the leader in streaming video, but there are several other sources.  iTunes is one place that you can acquire digital versions of media.  Also, at this point in time there is not one source for DVDs.  People are still choosing between renting them through several different companies, or to purchase them.

From my vantage point it seems that at this point in time in regards to McLuhan's tetrad, streaming video is making DVDs obsolete.  Within the next five years I would predict that very few people are still watching the video entertainment on DVD, and are turning to the streaming option.   

Enjoy ~SJ 

McLuhan Tetrad In Audio

I am an avid listener to NPR and Prairie Home Companion is one of my favorite programs.  Yesterday morning while I was listening to PHC Garrison Keillor did a rendition of Little Deuce Coupe which can be heard here. 

It seems that almost every day I hear someone complaining about high gas prices and how much it costs to run their car.  I happily chime in with "Glad I own a Prius" and then tell them my most recent gas millage (which is currently climbing to over 48 mgp!). 

Since one of the themes of the course Emerging and Future Technologies was how one technology takes over for a previous one, I found this song only timely and fitting.  In today's society it seems to be more important how many mpg your car gets then how many horsepower the engine has.  This rendition of Little Deuce Coupe seemed like an audio version of McLuhan's tetrads.  I know the Prius isn't a "cool" car, but it does make a great conversation starter, and it is great on my wallet right now. 

Enjoy ~SJ
* This is simply a blog post that seemed to fit for the class that I wanted to share.  It is not intended for the Module 5 assignment.

Second Life: A Disruptive Technology

Christensen, author of
The Innovators Dilemma

Clayton M. Christensen coined the phrase disruptive technology in his 1997 book The Innovator’s Dilemma.  The term disruptive technology refers to a technology that "the process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves ‘up market’, eventually displacing established competitors" ("Clayton Christensen," 2009).  It is important to recognize with disruptive technologies that it is not the technology itself that makes it disruptive, but rather the impact that it has that makes it a disruptive technology.  PC World listed the ten most disruptive technologies as of 2008 as: entertainment on demand, inexpensive digital camcorders and YouTube, open source software, MP3 files, blogs, inexpensive portable file storage, cloud computing with mobile devices, high speed wireless internet, the Internet, and smart phones.  It is critical to understand that just because the word disruptive has a negative connotation, disruptive technologies do not have a negative impact.  A disruptive technology simply shifts how we do a task, or interact with media. 

Second Life is a virtual world filled that is populated and created by its users, and was created in 2003 by Linden Lab.  Second Life allows users to create a virtual character that interacts in a virtual world.  The founder of Lotus 1-2-3, Mitch Kapor stated “Second Life is a disruptive technology on the level of the personal computer or the internet” (As quoted by Nuthall, 2008).  The reason why people are claiming that Second Life has such potential at being a disruptive technology is that it radically shifts how and where people can interact socially.

Second Life replaces that traditional environment for people to interact in.  Through the Second Life world people can attend classes, meetings, stores, and parties.  Now people from all over the globe can get together in a virtual environment to interact.  In a 2008 TED Talk, Philip Rosedale (founder of Second Life) summarized the popularity of Second Life with two aspects: it is a new way to socially interact with information, and since it is a virtual world with images language becomes less of a barrier. 

There seems to be a lot of hype about Second Life in the technology world, but in the real world Second Life does not seem that popular.  Personally, I know very few people who have heard of Second Life, never mind use it on a regular basis.  It is going to take a many years before Second Life is a fully adopted technology.  Once Second Life is a fully adopted technology it is at this point that a new technology could be developed that disrupts Second Life. 

In the academic world Second Life has the potential to offer courses to students who live in rural areas with limited academic offerings.  With deep budget cuts affecting academic offerings at many high schools across the country Second Life is an inexpensive option for students to take a larger variety of courses.   

Enjoy ~SJ