EdTech Avenue

Monday, 3:00 p.m.
Cristin Frodelia & Andrew Chang, Google

This session was not live-blogged due to the lack of Wi-Fi in the theater. It surprises me that after all these years, NECC still struggles with getting dependable Wi-Fi at every session. It’s really too bad. I like to be able to go directly to referenced websites during a session so I am in line with what the presenter is showing me as well as to see if I need to take notes on everything or if some items are on the session information page. I would think it would have been especially helpful in a commercial session for online tools…

This is also the first time I’ve had to plug in my laptop today. It lasted two full sessions as well as a few times throughout the day, I’d say at least 3 full hours!

Technology needs to keep up with how we are working today. Collaboration is key but is difficult when working with technology. Building infrastructure for a network to create a system for sharing documents was expensive and a lot of work. That’s the idea that pushed the creation of Google Docs and got them into education.

“Cloud Computing” is Google’s term for this - data and applications are available on the internet for multiple devices and operating systems.

Security Concerns?

• they will not share your data unless you ask or for necessary infrastructure necessities, or if something harmful is found
• keep your data as long as you want
• remove your data when you ask
• enable you to use your data elsewhere

Free Apps:

• Docs (Word Processor, Spreadsheets, Presentations) for collaborations and version control
• Mail, Chat and Calendar

Paid Apps for security compliance - not sure what this is; they didn’t expand on it

Google Apps for Education

• free for all of your users
• No advertising for students, staff and faculty
• 6.8 GB (and growing) mail quotas
• domain name
• phone support

I can see applications for my school right away - faculty committees, teacher web pages, faculty collaborations, curriculum maps, lesson sharing…
Can create documents and sites, assign users and rights all in one place. It’s user-controlled.

Arizona State University is using Apps now with 65,000 students. It took 2 weeks to deploy. Opt-In User Migration was student-driven. It saves them about $65,000 annually.

Huge benefit is with support and upgrades - online apps update automatically without extra work for me, short of training on major changes. Support and maintenance is done by them.

Docs works with any device with any internet connection on any internet browser. Don’t have to email them back and forth or worry about which version is the most recent. No worry about version variations between home and school. For me, that would also eliminate students moving files and folders around on the network and “losing” them. It saves changes automatically and logs who made what changes, so teachers can track who worked on which part of a project. Teachers are hearing that students are more engaged when collaborating online - that’s what they’re used to doing right now. Students can then invite the teacher to view the document (hand it in) and the teacher can work on reviewing, commenting and grading it from their own computer wherever they are. If students are directed to save a specific way, documents can be sorted by the teacher. You can see when students have worked and saved and track progress. Students can then easily publish their work to the web, accessible to the class, school or to the web. I would bet we could create groups for parents to see their child’s work too. All of these features are available not just with word processed files, but also spreadsheets and presentations. Forms can be emailed and automatically processed in the spreadsheet! Presentations can be played by all students individually with a chat window to ask questions and make comments - students are engaged. Spreadsheets make planning & admin tasks easier. Sheet with each student’s name, then from class to class a teacher can make notes about good work by students; admin can look at the end of the day and announce good work. I would be able to use this for data about students who register and/or withdraw throughout the year.

Organize field trips - teachers could check students off and admin can see it. We might be able to use this for our school lunch program!

Monday, 2:00 p.m.
Juan Camilo Rozo

live blogged

Presenter is from Bogota, Columbia, and is giving quite a bit of background about the city, society, economics and education. He teaches in an international school.

Using Blogs

• Have a class blog to post assignments, deadlines, information, etc.
• Create a “summary blog” and have students take turns posting a summary of what was covered each week.
• Have students create individual blogs and post their work there (use the comments section to give students feedback).
• Create a “best productions” blog to display the best work you receive. Not sure if I like this for my school. I can predict lots of parent complaints of favoritism.
• Use as a journal.
• Have students find blogs about their hobbies and interests to practice reading English. Not intended to be used as educational classroom material but good practice. Write a summary of what they read and include a link.

Using blogs instead of written journals is motivating to students - they are more willing to do it when they will be published and out there on the web.

List of examples presented. I won’t list them here - see the conference session information for links.

Challenges may be that students will begin chatting online and posting in a more informal language, but it is part of the teaching process to remind students that they are being published and should use formal language.

Using Podcasts

Benefits: can listen to it while doing other things, adds a new dimension and learning style, and has efficient access to hundreds of topics in one application. Other benefits would be the passive download and free subscriptions.

Creating a podcast is simple and free. Need only a computer and a microphone to record. There are free podcasting websites and free software (Audacity is a popular one in education right now).

• Spice up your lessons with surprise activities and listening activities (example was for students who thought they “knew everything” about English; he recorded samples from various dialects and styles of English, as well as foreigners speaking English, and these students could not understand any of it!)
• Communication with school community
• Book discussions (students take turns talking about what has happened in the book thus far) help students review at the same time as they hear English and practice speaking.
• Book reviews
• Post assignments to review what has been done over the week or post student work or presentations, etc.
• Interviews
• Student audio plays

Presenter giving examples of podcasts his students have created. Students had to write scripts, choose which one was better, choose music and sound effects. There is an English podcast published weekly for ELLs by someone from England and someone from the U.S. living in Japan. Has examples of English spoken by these two men as well as recordings of other dialects and accents - “The Bob and Rob Show.” There should be a link on the conference resource page.

Using Wikis

Open content management system - anyone can edit it.  It tracks who made what changes and when because users are required to log in.  Different from blogs, wikis are edited, not commented, and organized by topic rather than date.

Presenter used example of wiki pages created by users of the ePC including information about how to do lots of things with this computer.  It’s a community of people with a common interest creating their own reference desk!

Lots of free sites to create wikis are available on the session information page.

• Movie/Book reviews
• Collaborative stories about a topic
• Classroom reviews - tests or what was done that day/week
• Tips
• Write a novel

We didn’t really get to video production, but the presenter is very excited about it because of new accessibility of good tools for video.  Very motivating for students and requires them to use many skills (write script, read and review, listen, cooperation and collaboration, multiple intelligences).  Can use cell phone, digital camera or actual video camera.  Software - Movie Maker (Windows) or iMovie (Mac) are both free.  Videos can be made using still images, text, motion video, or a combination of any or all of these.

I tried to get into the 11:00 Moovin’ to Moodle session, but it was full by the time I arrived at 10:50.  There were several disappointed attendees around the Hyatt ballrooms standing outside doors that said, “Session Full.”

Monday, 8:30 a.m.
Tammy Worcester, ESSDACK
www.tammyworcester.com

live blogging - I arrived at 8:15 and the room was already almost full! This is a spotlight session, which tells me to arrive early for any other spotlight sessions on my schedule.

This is a bit of a commercial session but seems to be more for books of ideas rather than software. Supposed to be free software you already have.

Website has many resources, technology tip of the week, handout for her sessions here and at other conferences. Has a mailing list option as well. She has written a series of books published by Visions. Information is on her website.

Word Processing activity - The Tall Tale
Typical lesson is to read to students, discuss, then have students write their own. Using word processor, write the story then put into 3 columns, print, cut, tape together to make “tall” tale.

T-rrific
Using PowerPoint, change orientation of page then add WordArt, “I’m T-rrific <enter> Because:” and put that about 1/3 down the page. Add text box beneath title, and have students write reasons why they are T-rrific. Quick tip: to change font size, Ctrl+Shift+< or > (PC) or Apple+Shift+< or > (Mac). Fold in half vertically, tear out a little U at the top of the fold, then a rectangle on the side of the edges - unfolded it looks like a T-shirt! Works for intrapersonal intelligences. Paper can be painted, colored or tie-dyed.

Presenter is using Parallels… haven’t seen that in use yet!

Building Health Bodies
Using PowerPoint, create 2 slides. On the first slide create a rectangle on the left half of the slide. Type the title and make it larger, format as you like. Add a smiley face on the right half of the slide. On the second slide, create four rectangles. One short long one across the bottom of the page, then duplicate (Quick Tip: Apple+D will copy/paste in one step) above. Make two slightly smaller rectangles above those on the left. Print and cut. Rectangle title is body, smiley face is head, large rectangles are legs, smaller ones are arms. Print 2 slides per page for smaller “people.” Could expand to family, class, etc.

Greeting Card
In PowerPoint, change orientation to landscape, and create 4 slides. First slide use WordArt to create front of card, make it the size of the slide and turn it upside-down. Nothing on slide 2. Slide 3 can have clip art, etc., and slide 4 should have a text box with your message, formatted as you like - make the text fairly big. Print as handout, 4 slides per page. Print and fold as a card.

Printing on Sticky-Notes
In PowerPoint, change size of the slide to 7.5 x 7.5. Add whatever you want printed. Duplicate to 4 slides and print 4 slides per page. Put sticky notes on top of what you printed, then print again. I have some tips for how to print this better and use a different type of template - will add after session. Presenter says please note this might jam up your printer; she won’t take responsibility! Good uses are: “proofreading checklist” to put on student papers, don’t forget - library books, field trip money, etc. I can see using this for messages I need to leave on teachers’ monitors after I’ve worked on their computer!

Fact Flipper
In PowerPoint, create slides about a topic where students will ask questions and reveal the answer under the question. Slide 1 is the title for your project and introduction to activity. Slides 2-6 has questions, slides 7 is blank, slides 8-12 are answers (keep in order). Print handout 6 slides per page. On first page, cut apart questions but leave a strip on the top. Tape on top of answers.

Pictograph
Creating a spreadsheet of data about dogs, cats, fish. Changing bars in the chart to the pictures of each animal. Cute! Other formatting in fill effects allows you to scale the picture and stack them - this is great! Good for visualizing data and counting, comparing, etc.

Algebra Challenge
Solve for ‘S’ - numbers each in a new cell as part of equation. Conditional formatting is used in a spreadsheet so that if correct answer is entered, cell fill color changes to green. One attendee just suggested similar use for interactive crossword puzzle. Could also have older students create these for younger students to use.

Power of the Penny
Would you rather have a million dollars or a penny that doubles every day for a month? Use a spreadsheet to calculate how the penny grows each day. Column A will be used for the Day, column B for the Amount. Format column B as currency. Fill column A. Type ‘.01′ in cell B2 and use a formula to calculate (=B2×2), then fill down about 8 days to see where you’re at. Fill halfway and re-assess… talk with students about projecting the rest. Fill just one more day and talk with students again, then fill the rest to see where you end up! Then use AutoSum to find out how much you’d have total. Expand to wanting to spend evenly as long as you think you’ll live, use formulas to figure out.

Sense Poetry
Example in PowerPoint is series of slides; title is “Happiness is…” with each slide something like “Happiness looks like,” etc. with pictures and text that students write. This example is in black and white - looks sleek. Presenter is showing how to make a color image grayscale in PowerPoint. Attendee just said she uses this and prints handout 6 slides per page and creates a book, cutting each slide with a little edge on the left for the staples.

Choose Your Ending
Use PowerPoint to create a story. Use action buttons at one point to go to three separate options. Create the slides with the three different endings, then create action buttons that link to those slides. Can create an action button out of clip art, text, or shapes. Go to Slide Show menu, and choose Action Settings to set up the links.

Mouse-Over Map
Example is layers of the earth.  Circle showing the layers, and when students moves the mouse over each layer, a description of that layer pops up on the screen.  Under Action Settings again, there is a Mouse Over option at the top.  Create 5 slides with labels to keep track of which is which.  Add circles to one slide.  Each circle is an action button - set up the link.  Select the entire circle set and copy; paste on each slide.  Add arrows, text boxes, etc.  This one also had some highlighting on each circle for more dramatic effect.  Could use this for a map of the states, or for parts of the body, etc.  I can see this easily used with our 4th graders for their states project or the volcano project instead of using Paint.

Terrific session - great ideas!  Can’t wait to take them back to my elementary teachers… thanks, Tammy!

I arrived this evening in San Antonio with my family.  We didn’t get in and settled at our hotel until about 6:00, so I just went to check in at registration and that was it.  I look forward to reading about the keynote but decided to have a quiet evening instead of braving the lines at the reception.  After all, with this being the first time we’ve taken our four-month-old on a trip, I thought maybe having him get to bed at a decent hour would be a good start to the week.

I’m looking forward to a busy, possibly overwhelming conference day tomorrow.  I am going to try to make it to an 8:30 session.  Right now I’m debating between Wonderful World of Wikis, Quick and Easy Computer Activities for Kids, or Everyone Needs a Little T.L.C.  I think I’ll decide in the morning.  I’m too tired to look them up now.  I have two choices for the 11:00 session: Moovin to Moodle or Web Site Investigator.  Then I have to choose between three sessions for the 12:30, 2:00 and 3:30 sessions, if I last that long!  I’m leaning towards attending Using Blogs, Podcasts and Other Tools in the ESL/EFL Class at 2:00, and Energize Your Classroom with Google Tools at 3:30.

Network with other tech coordinators from small schools in the group I created on the NECC 2008 Ning network.  I’m trying something new - you should too!

This year’s NECC will be slightly different for me as I get back into the groove of work. I’ll also be bringing my family with me for the first time, including our new little one. It’s been a few days of getting packed up, but I feel like we’re just about ready! We will not be arriving until Sunday so we can attend a friend’s wedding tomorrow, so I’ll miss EduBloggerCon once again. Maybe next year…

I’ll be live-blogging my sessions as I did last year and will try to get my tentative schedule posted before the sessions start on Monday.

I also joined the online NECC 2008 community and created a group called “Small School Tech Coordinators” in hopes that I can network with others in our similar situation of low enrollment and tiny budgets.

View my page on NECC 2008I do feel a bit more connected this year after having a full year of blogging and reading blogs under my belt. I started my blog in February of 2007. I haven’t posted nearly as often as I want; I always say I’ll try to do better, and I will keep trying. I have found that I probably need to have a posting-day and or time to get used to posting on a regular basis. I frequently start with my RSS feeds in Google Reader and end up not posting myself because I either run out of time or figure someone else has already covered it. I have to just get over that.

Stay posted here for posts and photos from NECC 2008! I will likely also be using Twitter - I’ve had an account and followed others for a while but haven’t sent Tweets myself!