Posted by: soul4real
This summer I worked on my summer project, which basically was to learn as much about video as I could in 4 weeks. I did some research about video formats, codecs, commercial and open source editing programs, online and free editing programs, video sharing sites, video cameras, and system requirements for working with video on both the Mac and PC. I compiled all the information over on my Coop’s Word Wiki. During the project I played with the 6 video cameras I own and talked about the process from shooting video to editing to posting the video online. You can read about it all on my blog: The Maricopa Experience or by clicking the links below. Enjoy.
Posted by: soul4real
This is the second post in a series of posts about moving from Blackboard, our current CMS in the district, to Web 2.0 sites. The first post, Moving from Blackboard to Web 2.0, Part 1, is about how I used Zoho Writer, Notebook, & Show to compile my course content into one place. This post shows you how I’m using Zoho Notebook as a writing portfolio for students and as a way to collect assignments from them.
As mentioned before, Zoho Notebook allows for users to create a notebook that can include a number of different pages. Each page can be created adding either a sheet, writer or web page. Sheet pages are spreadsheets, writer pages are word processor pages created in Zoho Writer, and adding a web page embeds the site into one of your notebook pages.
You can also add a blank page which then can have numerous elements added to it and can be edited just like a Writer page. The picture to the left shows all the options available to build a page. I like how the Add Audio and Add Video options automatically build a player for the media right into the page, and add HTML makes it possible to embed just about any kind of widget from anywhere on the web. The add video option requires that you paste the embed code from the site where you posted the original media, meaning you can’t upload video directly to the Zoho site. There is, however, the option to upload audio files to Zoho, although I couldn’t get it to work for me. Best bet is to upload the media elsewhere and add the URL to file into the page. It creates a nice player for you so the file can be played right on the page.
Students are required to sign up for Zoho and create a notebook. With each major assignment they are required to create a page in the notebook and post the assignment in the page. The notebook will then have tabs for each of the assignments, and thus be a collection of their work. Student can then “share” their notebooks with me, which allows for me to view and grade their work. Zoho gives you two options for sharing, and students need to be sure to share using the Read/Write option. That way I can add comments to their notebook and help make corrections.
This brings me to one of the things I’m not too excited about in Zoho notebook. There really isn’t a good way to add comments to a page. You literally have to add a text box over the original content, which makes both the note and the page difficult to read. Currently I’m downloading the pages that need to be graded, grading them in Word using the tracking and comments features, and then posting the graded work back on the students notebook as an attached file. This only works if the student used a Writer page to post the assignment. If he/she used a blank page and added text, then I have to cut and paste the assignment into Word.
I’ve also had a little trouble with the links I get in the notices from Zoho. Whenever someone shares a notebook with you, Zoho sends you an email alert with a link to the notebook. The link takes me to my Zoho Notebook, but the shared notebook never displays. I can see it, but I have to click on my Shared tab for it to show up. All the notebooks shared with me are compiled in one spot, and I can open then all in tabs in my Zoho site.
Here is a shot of 4 student notebooks tabbed across the top, and a view of the first student’s notebook with her assignments tabbed on the right (click to enlarge). This makes it easy for me to click on a name at the top and then review his/her work by clicking on the tabs on the right.
It’s not even close to being perfect, but surprisingly it’s working well. We’ll see how the students are liking it after their midterm poll. Until then, we’re moving on to the next step in our move from Blackboard to Web 2.0. - social network as CMS.
Posted by: soul4real
I made my move finally to ditch Blackboard, our course management system (CMS) of choice in the district. I don’t even want to start talking about why I must leave it behind. I’ll just stick with the story that I prefer to blaze my own trail. Yes, that works fine for me. No headaches thinking about it that way.
So my biggest need moving from a CMS is a gradebook, quizzing/testing capabilities, and content management. I just need a place to keep my stuff. I have already moved all the other essential course elements out of Blackboard in favor of a blog, wiki and social network. I haven’t used all three at the same time, but I’ve tried all three. My top choice is the social network because it incorporates more of the course elements I want to maintain, and the only thing really missing is a “wiki like” tool. It’s not so much the collaboration aspect of a wiki that I’m looking for, but more of a place to manage course content. I want to be able to easily and quickly edit course content and make it available. A wiki allows for me to do that, but so does Google Docs and Zoho.
So what’s it going to be? I’m going with Zoho for now, so let me tell you why.
Zoho has a whole suite of productivity and collaboration apps, and I like the way they all work together. It has the usual word processor, spreadsheet and presentation apps, but it also has a notebook that is much different than Google’s notebook. It works more like a content management or webpage than normal notebooks which usually just give you a place for your notes. Zoho Notebook allows you to build content which can be quickly and easily organized and published or shared with your class. Here’s a video showing how Zoho Notebook works.
The biggest advantage that Zoho has over Google Docs and other online suites is that it makes it easy to group your content and documents in one place that is easy to view. It even looks a little like a CMS. Zoho creates these tabs in a notebook that you can label. New pages and tabs can be created by adding any of the Zoho apps. For instance, if I want to add a spreadsheet to the notebook, there’s an option to do so on the right side menu. I can also add a word processor document, called a Writer page, to the notebook, an outside website page which gets embedded into the notebook, or I can start with a blank page and build. Now this is where the Zoho Notebook shines. It allows for you to add all kinds of things into a blank page, most notably html, which makes it possible to add widgets to a page. There is also an add RSS option which creates a RSS widget.
So I set up my summer ENG101 course in Zoho and published it so I could share it with you. I don’t have to publish the course. I can just share it with only the students in the class making it private as well. I created pages for my syllabus, videos, modules, daily schedule, module I, module II, module III, module IV, Handouts, and Final Exam. I created most of the pages in Zoho Writer and then added them to the notebook, however, the handouts page is unique. I added a blank page and then added the pdf files (handouts) to the page. I will make this page private and share it with students instead of making it public for copyright reasons, but it’s great how you can upload and share files on a page.
An important feature for me is also the ability to add video and audio podcasts to my pages. Zoho Notebook makes it easy to do that. I created a “Daily Podcast” for students and posted them on the “Daily Activities” pages, and I created a video page to post videos. There’s also an example of a presentation that I added to my page using Zoho Show.
Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how Zoho is working for me. I can’t say that there hasn’t been a few obstacles and bugs, but it is still in beta. In my next post, I’ll talk a bit more about that and how I’m using Zoho Notebook as my method of collecting student assignments and building their writing portfolios.
*Blackboard image from: http://www.downes.ca/blackboard_patent.htm
Posted by: soul4real
Several presenters made their slides available on Slideshare, and a few are even Slidecasts (slides+podcast). Click the link to view the slides.
Posted by: soul4real
Presented by Alan Levine (Vice President, New Media Consortium Community and CTO)
Resource Site: http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/50+Ways
Posted by: soul4real
Video of Alan Levine’s presentation at the conference. The video starts early showing Alan getting his presentation ready. Just fast forward to the good part.
Posted by: nooccar
Luncheon Presentation: Julie Evans, CEO NetDay/Project Tomorrow “Listening to the Voices of Tomorrow’s Students: K-12 Students Speak up about Education and Technology”
We should be preparing teachers for the students of tomorrow, but why should we? Because today’s students are our future. We must listen to them to understand how to create a path to the future. For Evans’ research she surveyed students, teachers, administrators on schools usage of technology, efficiency, etc.
Every participating school has access to data on future trends, and technology, and THOUSANDS of schools nationwide have participated in the New Day survey. Technology has changed the way teachers deliver content, how info is expected to be given back, and how the students interact with future.
The data Evans shared was for National, and specifically, in Arizona.
The researchers asked district administrators “What is driving your schools?” The responses included:
a) Funding! Funding! funding! There is not enough funding in our schools to utilize all of the technologies desired
b) Test scores and No Child Left Behind
c) Increasingly parents are more involved in k-12 education then ever before
d) Teachers: the retainment of high quality teachers
e) Safety
Samplings are shaking up the way information is delivered. Currently the data is standards based, a role of education where the stakeholders are the administrators not us. We need to expect success for all and remember there are different types of learners.
Today’s students are born post 1982. This is the 1st generation ever to have better educated moms than dads. 34% DECREASE in unstructured playtime – kids looking for structured playtime, carry overs into school and work time, are USE TO being told how things are to be done.
These kids fall into various categories that include:
- special – high self esteem
- sheltered -expect to be protected
- confident – will fix the world
- team oriented – group projects and collaborations are the “norm”
- conventional
- pressured – always working on multiple things, multi-tasking
- achieving – reaching higher then ever
In a recent poll of high school students, researchers working with Evans found that:
- 85% say their generation will PROVIDE the next Bill Gates
- 67% say they KNOW the next Bill Gates
- 27% say they ARE the next Bill Gates
One of the main reasons found that students today feel this way is that they collaboratively learn “anytime, anyplace, anywhere, any pace” through structured activities and more importantly when they know the relevancy with real world. “How will this effect me?” is one of the most common questions asked by students today.
360, 000 student, parents, teachers, admins nationally were surveyed over the course of this research. The survey asked about learning and teaching with technology, web 2.0 and 3.0, 21st century skills, science instruction and global competitiveness, and emerging technology: mobile device, gaming, on line learning, and designing the 21st century class.
Evans also found that in todays current society, “Digital Disconnect” is alive and well. Digital Disconnect is the ever growing gap between todays students learning and living. And boy it is growing; between students and teachers, advanced tech and others, between boys and girls; between older and younger students, the gap has never been larger.
For our students, Internet connectivity and availability has skyrocketed, especially in the classroom setting. In 1994, 1% of US classrooms were “hooked up” to the internet. In 2002, 90% had connectivity, and today in 2008, it is speculated that almost 99% of US classrooms have Internet capabilities.
Existing students have little impact on tech in future classes, and must turn to young student (3rd graders, etc) to find out about how we will be teaching in future./p>
Evans asked “how do you assess you’re own tech usage?” to the group.
~1 or 2 novices raised hand
~10 “average” with technologies
~100 “advanced” w/ tech
However, when she posed same question to students, many students claimed only an “average” tech usage ability. Todays students are involved in robotics, internet and console gaming, cell phones, etc. While they may be Advanced Users to teachers, parents, adults, etc, they claim to only be “Ok” or “Mediocre”. What they do on a daily basis that is “advanced” to some is merely “normal” to them.
Moving along into the technologies found in todays students pockets, Evans discovered most are being used for gaming, downloading of music, communications, personal websites. Arizona students, following the national trend, are most often found using the tech for music downloading. There is no, and has never been, gender bias (that can be found in recent research) in the downloading of music, and, followed by “gaming” (ether on-line, via console, hand-held’s) no bias found in students 6th grade and under.
Communication also account for a large chunk of technology usage. However, according to conversations Evans had with students, email has fallen the way of a transportation device only (’emailing is just for grandparents’). Students have begun using email to send a file to themselves, while relying on instant messenger’s and other instant communication protocols for actual talking and information sharing. Personal website (Myspace, Facebook, etc.) usage and maintenance has also decreased recently, with only 41% students in 6-8 grades having a current one, while 64% of students 9-12 grade do. Truly “Advanced tech” kids normally DON”T have one.
Top 5 Usage’s of Tech:
1. writing assignments
2. On-line research
3. checking assignments/grades
4. creation of slide shoes, videos, web pages
5. email/i.m. classmates about assignments
How satisfied are students with tech at school?
1. filters and firewalls block sites needed
2. teachers limit our tech used
3. school rules against tech use – cost associated w/ tech, kids know costs but time to use
4. Rules prohibiting email and I.M. use – “ludicrous” to no allow access to Email
5. Internet access is too slow – too slow or not available
What can schools do?
1. let me use own tools (smartphones, laptops, etc)
2. Give me unlimited access (students often bring OWN network)
3. Let me access projects anywhere
4. Provide with communications tools
5. Give me access to the school network – even from home
Students want own the schools to provide communications (accessible E-mail address, Instant Messenger, etc) if they are not allowed to use their own. Most prevalent emerging technology found in classrooms include mobile devices such as cellphones, laptops, multimedia players, smartphones, and PDA. The proliferations of tech is staggering. Students from kindergarten to 12th grade have full access to all of those devices. Next time the poll is sent out, they will include PDA’s/Smartphones on the Kindergarten to third graders list.
How are mobile devices working in school’s?
- Communications – email teachers, classmates, access personal websites “let me use computer in my pocket”
- Collaborations- projects and calendars. “Get togethers at friends house’s” no longer
- work well for todays students. It’s all done on line, so teachers have got to ADAPT ADAPT ADAPT
- Creativity and Productivity – create share docs, research, downloads, ed games
Students use business culture words such as “productivity,” “efficiency,”and “collaborations” when referencing technology in conjunction with homework assignments.
Today’s students WANT to take on line classes. Middle school aged kids (3-12) want to take classes on-line because it helps them learn about subjects, and get extra help. High school aged students want on-line classes to get the ability to take a class not offered in person, work at own pace, get extra help, fit their busy schedule, and receive college credit. The number one on-line subject taken by students of all ages is MATH.
64% of students actively “game” on all different devices, ranging from cell phones, computer games, console players such as X-box, Playstation, Wii) , hand-held (Game Boy, PSP), web based single player games, and Massive Multi-player On-line Role Playing Games (MMORPG).
Is your school doing a good job about preparing for future jobs?
Principles and Administrators resoundingly say “Yes!” (60+%) while Advanced tech using students and parents say “NO!” AZ students says that the #1 tool that would impact their learning would be:“Give me a laptop for my personal use at school and home!”
When asked “Is school interesting?” and “Do I feel safe?,” almost 50% of elementary school kids “Yes, it is interesting.” Interestingly enough, 34% of high school aged students say. Elementary school kids also feel more positive about school in general than high school students do. Some trends to watch out for are the over-generalization of technology-using students. “All students have Internet access,” “all students will know [given process] already,” are pitfalls teachers need to be wary of. Students also are prone to bringing multiple computers to school (be them cellphones, laptops, or MP3 players).
Kids are also more adaptive than ever before; they can absorb the technologies quickly. They also want to know the RELEVANCY of what they are being taught! How does it affect them? What does it have to do with their tech-prone lives?
The #1 trend amongst students found nationally is the “Free Agent Learner.” This is a student who feels that they don’t need teachers. They don’t need instruction. All the information in the world is available to them through the use of technology at their fingertips. How do we reach these students? How are we able to get through to them? These are the students that we are going to be teaching too and will be increasingly prevalent in our classrooms.
More information can be found www.tomorrow.org
Posted by: nooccar
Posted by: soul4real
Posted by: Biray Alsac
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I made my move finally to ditch Blackboard, our course management system (CMS) of choice in the district. I don’t even want to start talking about why I must leave it behind. I’ll just stick with the story that I prefer to blaze my own trail. Yes, that works fine for me. No headaches thinking about it that way.
