On an e-journey with generation Y

To encourage staff to use web2.0, we have started with what they may find useful, personally

What we have done:

• all have opened up a http://del.icio.us account (social bookmarking)
• pd sessions on resizing and maniputlating images, using www.irfanview.com
• using photostory for digitalstorytelling

What we are doing:-

• 10 minute spot pd at each full staff meeting eg using skype, ms communicator, ipod demos, using clickview videos, getting the best out of search engines etc
• ‘walk in, walk out Wednesdays’ A suggestions by Jess McCulloch, based on an idea of @kimcofino whereby we make ourselves available in the computer lab for any staff to come in, work on their needs and ask us for help where required. Starts tonight, so I shall update this after the session.

Reflections on first session:

Constraints: Notice of session was only given in the morning, so due to other commitments and Jess’ absence in Aararat, we had two staff.

However, this worked well.  Advice was required on

• email downloads, signatures on forwarded emails,
• grabbing music from a usb and placind into suitable format on the network for Powerpoint use and
• location of files for student retrieval

The three of us worked together on using our newly established intranet with MS Sharepoint and on further required developments on the site. Despite the low attendance, it was a very wothwhile endeavour and if you checkout Sue Waters comments below, we shall see about providing some food for participants in future. Hmmm…..now whose budget should that come out of………………?

 Afew problems blocked our way today……

 I was able to have the grade 6s for two lessons and at long last, I feel that we are close to accomplishing our goals - one of which was to produce the highest possible quality podcasts that grade 6 students might achieve. 

Two podcasts are now completed and and made into mpg format through Sony Vegas Movie Studio. We also saved them as email files to reduce them to ‘usable’ podcast size, but we will experiment to see which size is small enough to still allow quality in the images. One of the girls has missed a number of classes. So, she has been working on creating her impression of Mt Rouse and used MS Paint to create a great image to be used in some of the casts.

Using the notes provided by Andrew Douch at a recent inservice in Warrnambool, we then tried to use iTunes to import these podcasts. However, we are uncertain how to get a movie format version in there as it seems to accept wav, mp3 and other codes related to audio files. So we will continue to enquire about the best processes to be used. Unfortunately, we have changed our internet service providers at school, and our new ISP has blocked so many sites including iTunes, so it is back to my laptop!!! Students were unable to save their work, as our file server is full. Guess too much multimedia happening in our school and the school magazine being produced. So, work is saved on the desktop which then requires students to use the same computer - a problem with our pod as it is often open to all students to access.

Year 9/10 students have settled into their final tasks for assessment - some choosing to complete digital movies, some game making and a few podcasting. Two girls went to the elective music class to record the Australian national anthem, using Acid 3.0. On returning to the lab, they converted the audio to mp3 format and commenced uploading it into iTunes. This will be posted onto  wikis being created with USA and NZ classes. Podomatic will be used to host the files. Two year 8 girls also completed a voicethread on some of our school’s physical features. I tried to upload them onto a wiki at http://isurff-friends.wikispaces.com/ but it needed the girls to share it with me first. Oh dear, I shall have to retry tomorrow. JoNelle is going to use it as a demo at a conference she is presenting at. Tomorrow is another day and another challenge!!!

I love web 2.0, but oh, it can be so time consuming especially when you are trying to learn everything at once. Having said that, it also open up the most amazing doors.

Our grade 3 and 4s contribute to the webkinz blog. As I had been absent for some weeks, I decided I had better blog an update on Patch’s adventures - only to find that my guest administrative rights had expired. So, I emailed Tracy who is in charge of the project and she found that all guest administrators had also fallen victim to the same fate. In the meantime, two teachers at her school want to set up penpal relationships with our grade 3 and 4 and with grade 5s. There is so much to be learned in real geography, cultural and every day lives. Year 7s are working on the digital stories project with Gail Casey and her Korean students, year 8s are working on creating digital videos with Las Vegas and year 9 and 10s will also produce digital videos or stories. All groups are working on google doc spreadsheets and sharing these with a school in Florida. The data will compare the ownership of electronic communication devices and the difference between the two countries. With this virtual and global interaction, students come up with the questions they want to research further on each other’s countries, schools and daily lives and the learning becomes very student driven - surely the way our education should be!!!

Still stressing about the uploading of our enhance podcasts, I posed a question to a discussion group of classroom20 and also replied to another re the hardware, software and hosts that we use for podcasting.  From this discussion our students have been invited to participate in sharing podcasts with Kevin H and his class at http://youthradio.wordpress.com The grade 6 students were really excited when I informed them of this. However, we are still trying to finalize their podcasts on the volcanic region. Some are so good, others are very entertaining but show little information and other groups are just slow and need constant monitoring and feedback. However, we only have one more week to completion date. I will try and take them in small groups for several lessons this week as we want them to be of the highest possible standard.

Unfortunately, our relatively quick holiday of just under 2 weeks to London, Hungary and Romania turned into an absence of a month. My husband was bitten by a dog in Hungary and required urgent surgery in Budapest. This required a hospital stay of 5 days so we missed our flights home and then could not get flights until the first day of the school term. So my mind is scrambled trying to cope with VCE exam revision etc.

The grade 6 students have had fun “losing” all sorts of work that they have done by not saving correctly. So some classes have been used frantically trying to see whether they are in My Documents or other unusual places. On the whole, though the student’s podcasts are coming along really well and I am so pleased with them. The stronger students have actually put their images up as well. The hosting of these podcasts and enhanced podcasts is now being considered and various opinions are being sought via www.classroom20.com and other mailing lists that I subscribe to.

Yesterday I also joined ozteachers at http://lists.rite.ed.qut.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/oz-teachers as that was highly recommended by Anne Baird when I rang her for some advice.

One of our middle years teachers organised an ICT showcase for parents of primary school students. The showcase was held yesterday and was most successful. Approximately 50 parents were in attendance and all the p-6 students watched the show via our library smartboard. The day commenced with a morning tea for staff and parents.

I had teed up a skype videoconference linkup with Chrissy from Taradale  in NZ (north island). For once the technology ran smoothly although at first the number was engaged. As I tried to redial, Chrissy rang through to me and she was so good at being intereviewed. She told us a little about her class of 16 boys and 16 girls who were at PE. Her class has been involved in some really exciting global projects already. Then I asked for questions from the audience. Unfortunately, no parents were forthcoming but three of the smaller students were waving their hands in the air.

Trevor, in grade 4, was the first and I thought in dismay I should have chosen someone else as he is a bit of a lad. Anyway, he spoke to Chrissy using a word we had not heard before but Chrissy immediately greeted him back and we realised that it was a maori greeting. He wanted to know how long she had been skyping. The reply was 7 months. Trevor was then asked how long he had been using skype and with puffed up chest and shoulders, he replied “I just started today”. We could not have set up a better start to the show. The show then continued on with sample work completed by the various year levels, with the grade 3 and 4 fathers day photostory productions the big success of the day.

One of my grade 6 students presented her podcast. I was so proud of it as it  was of a very high standard and exactly what I hoped these students might be able to produce. The grade 3 and 4 students opened up their webkinz pet in front of the audience and promptly named him Patch.

Then it was classes as usual in the afternoon. My grade 6 class completed their backyard blogs and continued on with their podcasts. Unfortunately, we were to create our vokis to upload to the NZ wiki but the site has unfortunately become blocked. OOHhhh!!! Thought is was a great idea. See it at www.room18tis.wikispaces.com/NZAP

Fifteen grade 6 students and several staff journeyed to Penshurst, approx 20 mins drive, today. We spent the most enjoyable day with some of the volunteer staff from the volcano discovery centre. Students were given a short talk by Val, and then Mylie and Jill helped us to fill in some information sheets. These sheets were completed as students walked around the centre.

It is such an amazing centre when you consider that it is opened by volunteer staff from a pool of 30. (Penshurst itself only has 500 residents.) It was opened in 2003 and is still going strong. Students also saw a volcanic bomb which was on loan to the centre. We spent approximately 50 minutes in the centre and then travelled to the water gardens for lunch.  As the day had started off miserably weatherwise, we all had raincoats and wet weather gear, but by lunch the sun was shining and Penshurst was so photogenic. Our family travels through Penshurst many times but we rarely stop, but after today’s session we will certainly return and bask in its countrified beauty. Mt Rouse towers on the edge of the town.  People have replanted trees on the mounain, it is nearly springtime and the countryside is that magical colour of green after the recent, timely rains.  The students soon found the playground after eating their lunch and then we walked to the natural water spring which supplies the township with water. From there a little stream flows through the developed botancial gardens complete with a gazebo.

It was back on the bus again, with Mylie and Jill as our guides. We proceeded to one of the three quarries where we saw where the basalt met the scoria flows. The removal of scoria and stone from the quarry and bared the cliffs that show this rather unusual feature. Geoligists and geography students come to Penshurst and spend time here studying this unusual volcano. Then, it was onto the crater where we saw great numbers of kangaroos jumping away, across the top of the crater. There is still some water in the base of the crater, although grasses and weeds tend to hide its existence. The previous dry years, have ensured that the water has virtually dried up. The bus then took us around the second crater up to the carpark. This allowed us to climb all the way up to the top where we witnessed the most amazing views across to the Grampians in the north, Mt Napier to the east and Mt Shadwell to the south west. The stony rises could be clearly seen and the original flow of lava trail could be discerned on its pathway to Port Fairy’s Pea Soup beach in the south.

One of our staff members, Jane, brought three samples of volcanic stones into the grade 6 classroom. Her Dad used to work the quarry at the base of Mt Rouse in Penshurst. Jane has so much to tell the students about her childhood and experiences and she continues to have a great love for Penshurst and its unique features.

As an extension to maths, the classroom teacher measured and weighed these volcanic rocks. Students found other similar sized rocks around the school to compare the weights and possible reasons for the variations in weight.

Photos below show some of the rock samples.

Have been away helping to supervise year 11 students in Melbourne for four days. They complete a wonderful and rather unique 2 week work experience program. This meant I have not been at school much this week.  However, I have enquired about some global classroom projects and possible involvement in them for some of my other classes.  Authentic tasks are always more motivational for students.

Have also been trying to conquer blogging and the coding that goes with them. Guess one day my blogs will look good and all will be categorized well.  Grade 6 students are busy word processing their blogs and I hope to attach them to my other blog at www.backyard.globalstudent.org.au Their blogs will describe and discuss  their backyards.

Students made their demo podcasts into mp3 files today. First we had to download a lame code for audacity. They then imported their podcast into MS Moviemaker and commenced inserting the opening title and  appropriate images.  They will experiment with text, titles, video transitions and video effects. Some will have to go back and get their sound balance correct in audacity. Anyway, they are enjoying learning and experimenting. Some have such great voices for audio output. Timing of images is always difficult.  The parents will meet with me in the computer lab for an hour this Wednesday for an information evening. This will allow us to discuss what we hope to do, look at possible security issues and give them a chance to ask questions. Students will accompany them so they can demonstrate the software we are using.

The year 10 students are working with their history teacher on the history trail around Hawkesdale. They now have access to some old photos and scanned documents which a member of the historical society has alread saved digitally.

Have now joined www.classroom20.com which is just so good. I have already joined in some of the forums and discussion groups and the wealth of knowledge out there is huge. Already, I have made some friends and one teacher from NZ wants to work with me and her class of students. She has already made movies with a Malaysian school. My year 7 group will be about the same age. An authentic task with a realistic audience is just so much better than textbook tasks.

Have also commenced a backyard blog at http://backyard.globalstudent.org.au/wp-admin/post-new.php where I hope that our students can discuss and show what is in our backyard. It will also allow us to upload our podcasts for people to listen to and view.