Going ‘dotty’ with a mobile teacher!

Hands were up all over the classroom from students new to Scratch trying to complete their sprite. Patiently the teacher moved around the room, answering those questions.  But………….. the teacher ……..

1. was not in the physical classroom, but moved around the room, on the screen of an iPad using skype
2. lived 1000’s of kilometres away in Boston USA (my class is in south eastern Australia)

Taking it back an hour…..Sometimes, I think nothing more amazing can happen with technology in the classroom, but it continues on! I had just been chatting on skype to Lorraine Leo who had encouraged me to get students involved in the World Museum Dot Project for International Dot Day. However, I am not at all confident or competent with Scratch. Then, the bell went and it was time to teach year 7 ICT.

Thinking this was a great and simple way to introduce students in Year 7 to Scratch, the students as usual push the software tool to the boundaries to create what they want their desired outcomes. And so, the students had lots of questions. Most chose to use the editing pad in Scratch but a few created a dot in MS Paint, some sprites had to be cropped, some had mutliple sprites using them to combine into one etc! Unfortunately, I could not answer the questions and my first reaction was to skype Lorraine and see if she was still online. This is a class of 26 students and I had to lend one of the students my laptop as he did not have access to a desktop or netbook. 

Yikes! that meant I could not use my laptop to skype, as I usually do! I suddenly remembered my iPad and quickly logged onto skype on it. The front camera was used to introduce the student to Lorraine and then the back camera was used by the student to show Lorraine their screen whilst talking through their questions and problems. As Lorraine finished speaking to one student, she was passed onto the next. Sometimes a second student had to hold the iPad still, so that the requesting student could use the keyboard and computer screen to do what Lorraine was telling them.

Three heads, four hands collaborate to solve the problem!

At one stage, two girls took Lorraine out into the corridor so they could quite clearly hear her instructions. The 50 minute lesson soon finished and most students completed their sprite ready for me to upload to the World Museum site.

Highlights of the first time use of skype on an iPad in the classroom.

• The intriguing part was that they students did not bat an eyelid or even look  amazed! They just treated Lorraine like their teacher in the physical classroom and not the virtual one that she was, one who lived worlds away, in another day and another time zone.
• the mobility of the iPad meant that the students could remain in their seats and share their work
• the problems were solved NOW. Time was not wasted trying to find answers etc.
• the two camera options on the iPad were fabulous to work with in this environment.
• individualized learning at its best.

Thanks Lorraine for being a great team teacher for us and giving up your precious night time. We are successfully ‘dotty’ now! Have you used a mobile teacher? If you have an iPad how do you use the functionality of the two cameras? How can we take such an experience further?

eT@lking: What the #####? The all important hashtag and Twitter!

When: Wednesday, 12th September, 2012, 8-9pm

About this session: This will be a presentation and exploration of how to set up, manage and promote and get involved in an online community using twitter #hashtags. This presentation, by Jason Graham, will share experiences of how to create or join an online community using Twitter.

About our presenter: Jason Graham, a Canadian, who calls Melbourne home, currently working in Indonesia. Jason is the Learning Technologies Coordinator and Grade 1 teacher at Bandung International School, PYP Workshop Leader. He classifies himself as a “Disruptivist since 1971”. You can read posts on Jason’s blog.

Please join us and share in the conversations or should that be #tags! Here is a link to the recording. Thanks to Jess McCulloch for organising this session.

What questions would you have? What are your favourite hashtags? Why do you use them? When do you use them?

Skyping on a whim with Ipoh, Malaysia

@kidworldcitizen tweeted a question as to what was “your favourite tool to teach students about the world” and below is my response which was retweeted by @durff

My classes and I have enjoyed many teachable moments that have been completely unplanned, but just happened at times when I had a class or was free to be able to speak to other global classes. One such event was a recent linkup with my friend Veronica Woo from Ipoh, Malaysia. Veronica had visitors who she was showing around her school and she hoped that I and my classes might skype in to show them the power of videoconferencing. Unfortunately, I was too late noticing the request, but as we both had classes at the same time, we were able to link up the students. I have a small group of girls who enjoy communicating with others. Small groups work well as they have support from each other, can share the interpretation of communication and are in an intimate environment where they have ownership over their learning and questioning.

See Rachel’s reflective post for the student point of view. Note that our school teaches mandarin Chinese as a second language but these girls in year 10 no longer study it. The Malaysian students tried to teach some word isn mandarin, as they attend a Chinese school. The conversation was more relaxed when our girls started to show and share objects over the camera. Curiousity then overtook any shyness.

Learning on a whim is one reason why videoconferencing with tools like skype can be so engaging.

The image below was sent to us from Veronica. This is how we look from the other end of the web camera.

Tech Talk Tuesdays: Tech Talk Tuesdays: Implementing the 1:1 Environment – the challenges, successes & moments of madness!

When: Tuesday 11th September, 2012, 4-5pm, Melbourne Australia time (gmt+10)

About this session: David Simpson will share his experiences in implementing a 1:1 environment in his school. He will outline the process that my school has followed for the whole-scale introduction of 1:1 computing in a large Government secondary school in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.

This implementation has not been without challenges but has been in place for 6 months and the benefits are becoming clearer with each passing week.

This session would be ideal for anyone that has been down this road or is thinking of heading this way. The areas discussed will move beyond 1:1 in the classroom and also into broader areas of management, security, resourcing (booklists, etc.) and teacher pedagogy.

About our Presenter: David is eLearning Leading Teacher at St Helena Secondary College, Victoria, Australia

Here is the recording of this session.

International Dot Day

Mannith’s Dot (grade one)

International Dot Day, Sept 15th, is an initiative of FableVision Learning. The idea of celebrating a day where creativity is encouraged and for students to realise that they can make a difference to the world, is based on a book by Peter Reynolds called  “The Dot”.  It traces the story of Vashti who refused to believe that she could draw. She drew a blot of dot to make her point, but the next day found that her teacher had placed this dot in a gold frame above her desk. Knowing she could do better than that, Vashti drew many art forms of her dot and encouraged other students to be creative. See a youtube clip of The Dot

Teachers, students and classes all over the world are encouraged to take part in International Dot Day with their own creative projects. Classes at our school will take part in two different projects:-

1. World Museum Dot Project – students will create a sprite dot using the Paint editor and then sign it. It will be saved and uploaded to the World Dot Gallery together with other dots from around the world.
2. Dots Around the World Collaborative  by Chrissy Hellier  Students in this project will us an iPad to create their dot. A number of apps have been suggested but my classes will use Doodle Buddy which is free and readily available on their class set of iPads.

See the flickr slideshow of the dots created so far by Grade Prep/Ones (Year 9 students will also be participating.)

How we did it:-

1. Watched the youtube video on the Dot (as we do not have the book)
2. Discussed ways of creating dots on Doodle Buddy and the possible need for a plain background. Learnt how to get a plain background
3. For the scratch dots, we watched the movie, visited the world museum site to see how it will look. Download the image and saved in the school network drive. Students then created their own dots and signed them.

Highlights:-

• simple projects that can be completed in one 50 min lesson
• The prep/one class were thoroughly engaged creating their dots. The dots can be saved to the camera roll and then emailed to the teacher account for sharing further.
• Each student has created a completely different dot(s)
• The dots were shared in a dropbox folder and also uploaded to flickr.
• Chrissy Hellier was generous with time and has commented on each student dot.
• Even the older students were highly motivated and took up the challenge
• Meeting and linking up with others who were involved
• Skype videoconference linkup with Chrissy’s class in Bangkok

Are you taking part in International Dot Day? What suggestions would you have to celebrate this day?

Many people ask where they get started in connecting with others. Projects like these are very simple but give a great introduction to the power of technology.

Please Don’t Tell Me What You Had For Breakfast!

Dont tell me what you had for breakfast, I would rather know about your favourite eLearning adventures.

This was a tip written on the whiteboard a participant at the recent  Tech Talk Tuesday webinar Guided Tour of Twitter!

There is always keen interest shown in twitter and this webinar walked through some of the basics of twitter. Participants ranged from experienced users of twitter through to absolute beginners. What is twitter? Twitter is a conversation in 140 characters or micro blogging. People are no longer addressed as Miss, Ms, Mr, Sir, Dr etc Everyone is simply @. Some great introductory  videos on twitter come from Common Craft Twitter and Twitter Search

You can listen to the recording of this webinar by clicking on this link or read some of what was covered from the following:-

Your Twitter handle (username or id):

• be consistent with online usernames (where possible)
• discussion re actual name cf with a pseudonym. Consider ease of spelling, size of usernames as twitter only allows 140 characters.
• ensure you fill in your profile to make you worthwhile to follow, share your passions, your online space and add an appropriate pic or avatar of yourself.

Tweets

• recommendations for the first tweet (s) eg I am new to twitter. What is your most important tip to get started? or If you could change your life in 140 characters, what would you say?
• Start with a question
• how to tweet
• how to keep tweets to 140 characters – use concise language, easily recognized abbreviations, a web address  shortener eg bitly, tinyurl or apps such as tweetdeck which can automatically shorten urls.
• tweets can be about events, share resources, experiences, advice, ask questions, seek an audience, promote and provoke discussion  and some are just plain dull and boring etc
• lengthy conversations between several individuals should be relocated as direct messages

Making sense of twitter – Follows

•  newbies should follow at least 50 people or organisations. Twitter can be a series of conversations and a participant will only see tweets from those they follow. If a lengthy conversation is in progress, following only one of those individuals will be confusing
• Find an experienced mentor, get them to suggest some people to follow
• Follow some organisations eg museums, NASA, astronauts as these tend to make stand alone tweets.
• Twitter will suggest several people to follow each time you login.
• Follow people, click on the follows link in their page and follow others who share similar interests to you.
• See who selected organisations follow and choose some of them

Followers

• It is important to gain attention and followers
• Follow a variety of people and do not choose all “A-Listers”. Many of the most popular tweeters may not follow back as they have already gathered a great twittersphere
• Grab attention of people you want to follow you, by tweeting to them using their twitter handle (twitter id ie @……)
• Visit blogs, look for twitter handle, share link to an interesting blog post, referring to their twitter handle.
• Ask questions of selected tweeters using their twitter handles.

Creating lists

• it is useful to place those you follow into lists, especially as your twitter network grows
• Sue Wyatt kindly walked us through her lists and how to create them.
• People can subscribe to lists
• Worth doing to keep track of various interests of contacts

Hashtags

• are of increasing importance for categorizing and following particular topics
• allow conversations on particular conferences to be followed or particular areas of education eg #ipaded #kinderchat #edchat #innovchat #vicpln #ozseries
• search engines will also pick up these hashtags

And use Twitter ….

• as a search engine: many use twitter in preference to google – it is live, immediate; guage people’s feelings, experiences etc
• use it to source delicious bookmarking sites and useful information for classes etc

From the chat:-

Tips: Follow people who are similar to you; pick one or two respected educators, follow them, then see who they follow; please do not tell me what you had for breakfast, I would rather know about your favourite eLearning adventures

• Digifoot Twitter Activities and Resources
• Teaching Shakespeare with Twitter
• Peggy George I want to know who I’m connecting with because their tweets to me are seen by all of the people who follow me.
• I use twitter more as a collation and research tool:)
•  To keep tweets to 140 characters: I don’t bother with proper syntax or punctuation, no caps or joining words; symbols and numbers to replace words like & for and; 
• Follow #dotday as International Dot Day is coming up
• Some hashtags to follow as collated by @cybraryman
• #stubc12 is the student blogging challenge
• Twitterfall or tweetchat will keep track of hashtags or chats
• time is always an issue which is why you need a management plan or tool like TweetDeck, Hootsuite, TwitterFall, etc. (Peggy George)

Immersive Education and Virtual Worlds – eT@lking in Review

What an intriguing and interesting session this was. Jane Talyor shared her experiences at the Immersive Education Conference in Boston in June 2012. She shared cutting edge use of technology, augmented reality and virtual worlds and more and its potential in education. Jane and Mic Lowne, who moderated this session teach at  Wooranna Park PS with amazing learning spaces. Below are some of the links shared.

Here is a link to the recording.  Shamblesguru, one of the participants from Chiang Mai, Thailand shared many useful links as well.

From Jane Taylor

• Immersive Education
• Save Science Real Assessment in a Virtual World
• Makey Makey
• NASA games

Youtube videos

• Project Glass one Day
• Eco Muve a curriculum created by Havard University
• MakeyMakey – an innovation kit for everyone
• Models from the Google 3D Warehouse

From Shamblesguru

1. Apps for android devices
2. Chirp sings information to another iDevice
3. Virtual Student Fair
4. Augmented Reality App – one there will teach nutrition
5. Teach Digital and the The 10 Cube Challenge: Using Virtual Worlds To Foster Creative Thinking
6. EcoMuve by Havard
7. Wonderland
8. Link to Sim on a Stick – Virtual Worlds on a USB stick
9. Free Augmented Reality App 3D Spacecraft from NASA
10. Scoopit Teacher CPD Online

From the chat

• Simon shared Cloud Party Time (requires Facebook login)
• Learn Scratch Resources

eT@lking Webinar: Immersive Education and Virtual Worlds

This week we will be joined by teacher Jane Taylor from Wooranna Park PS.  Earlier this year Jane attended the Immersive Education Summit in Boston, MA. and has agreed to share with us some of her findings from the conference.

When: Wednesday 5th September, 2012

Where: The link to our Blackboard Collaborate room.

About the Session: The world of virtual worlds, immersive education and augmented reality is constantly growing and expanding.  In this session Jane will talk about some of the exciting opportunities for teachers and students including Open Wonderland, Scratch, EcoMuve and many more.

Where do we start with Connecting the Early Years’ Classes?

Recently I got an email from Simon and part of this email read as follows:

We (our grade 1/2 class) have embarked on a Studies of Asia component over the last few years and we really want to take this to the next stage and start communicating and skyping with other schools throughout the Asian region, especially but not limited to the area though. 

I guess I was just wondering if you might have any suggestions of how best to proceed and/or tips on who we might be able to contact. I’ve signed up to Hello Little World and have looked at the Global Classroom and Skype Education sites, but I guess I’m having trouble finding classes of kids of around the same age and am wondering how best to proceed.

Here is my response:-

As you teach grade 1/2 and are new to global connections, I would suggest you start with organised global projects, so that you learn the processes of global collaboration, make some strong connections and from there branch out to where you would really like to be. Below are three suggestions. These projects are run by others, you will be grouped with schools from USA and hopefully other countries (we got an International School in Thailand in the K-2 Building Bridges project) and the participants are all teachers wanting to connect.

1. K-2 Building Bridges – a Flat Classroom Project The application to join this project is at the bottom of the page. Entries close soon and there may be a cost to cover administration and project manager costs. You will need to attend online meetings once a fortnight or so, or listen to the recordings.  I loved this project and learnt of so many new tools and worked with a group of people who were enthausiastic and creative. My prep/one classes were grouped with two schools in the USA and one from Thailand.
2. There are some wonderful projects listed on the kinderchat site.  This is an enthausiastic kinderchat group for the early years of schooling. Make sure you follow them on twitter. Ben Sheridan presented on his global classroom projects for eT@lking. The link to  the recording is here.  Further resources from kinderchat: Kinderchat Symbaloo, Kinderchat Wiki,
3. Kinderchat also has a  great skype play google site where there are lots of ideas for play with online tools including skype, blackboard collaborate etc.
4. Projects by Jen are great for the primary years and there is one on Oreos at the moment, but check closing dates for projects. Jen is from the USA but  has project participants from all over the world.

Some #tags to follow on twitter are: #kinderchat, #ece, #earlyed #skypeplay Further resources from kinderchat: Kinderchat Symbaloo, Kinderchat Wiki,

What would you suggest? How can people get connected? Do you have any global projects to suggest?

Tech Talk Tuesday: A Guided Tour of Twitter

Please note that this session is now rescheduled for Tuesday, Sept 4th. (It was originally publicized for Tue Aug 28th)

When: Tuesday 4th September, 2012 4-5pm (Melbourne, Australia gmt+10)

About the session: Twitter has been advocated as a favourite tools for professional development and networking, by many users.  As a follow up to a previous session and as a means of finishing and highlighting Connected Educator month, twitter will be revisited.

The nature and direction of this session will be determined by participants and their needs. What is a tweet, how do you keep it to 140 characters, what makes a tweet, how do you find people, organisations etc to follow, how do you keep track of tweets and hashtags etc. Come along with your questions, your experiences, things to share and let’s continue to be connected.

Here is the link to the recording of this session

What questions would you have about twitter? What knowledge could you share? Has twitter had an impact on you or your classroom?