EdTech Avenue

Karen is the Technology Coordinator at a school the same size as mine – 320 students.  Tux Paint is an Open Source software package – completely free.

“It’s not about the Tech, it’s about the Teach.”

Over 80 languages available – can be changed easily in the configuration for students needing alternate languages.

It’s a paint program, so images once placed can not be moved or manipulated – only erased.

Great selection of stamps, shapes, colors and variations of all – much like KidPix but free.

http://nets4students.wetpaint.com/ is Karen’s website.  She is a participant in the Johns Hopkins University certificate program mentioned in my earlier post about new NETS and resources.

Templates can be created and shared over a network.

Karen has a Wiki on her site also, with some basic instructions and tips.

Students are sometimes confused when they see the text (Aa) tool and look for the rest of the letters. Karen teaches them that it means you are using the Alphabet and will need to use the keyboard.

Base file type for Tux Paint “Starter” (template) is PNG.  Templates need to be saved as a PNG and make it transparent.  There’s a free program on her Wiki you can use for that.  GiMP can also be used.  Files are also saved as a PNG from TuxPaint to be used outside of the program and inserted, etc.

A separate page off of Karen’s wiki has curriculum ideas – too many to list here!

Simple clicking creates a slideshow of any selected TuxPaint images… wow!  This could be used for very simple animations with older students.

Hiding at the right of the color palette is a link to the wider array of colors.

Fill “bucket” is under the Magic tools.

This was a terrific session!

I chose this session for more personal than professional reasons.  I do read Wes Fryer’s blog fairly regularly and have an interest in how he has included his children in his learning and sharing community throughout his professional blog and now this “family learning blog,” and I wanted to learn more.

Supporting handouts at http://handouts.wesfryer.com/familylearningblog.

Ok, this is already right up my alley, and the session hasn’t even started yet!  Wes is on a video chat with his daughter Sarah, who is staying with her grandparents.  She will participate in the presentation today.

Wes is using free resource “Poll Everywhere” to take a poll of the use of blogs in schools of the attendees.  http://poll4.com

Showing picture of the fmaily together in a room – almost everyone is on a computer or device of some kind – looks a lot like what happens at my house.  Because they are so connected, it allows them to be more connected as a family as well.  “Nokia: Go Play – 4th Screen” video (YouTube).

Free website called “Contxts” used to distribute contact information, links, etc.

It’s about internet safety – we have to prepare kids for the unfiltered world wide web.  Screen time and other issues are constantly changing with technology.  These screens can connect us.  His kids are reading and watching movies on their mobile devices instead of our “traditional” methods of delivery.

Sarah is now introducing herself and telling us about her activities.  She likes gymnastics and likes to swim; she is going into 4th grade.  She started a show on the internet – an international cooking show (separate Wiki page as well as on the blog AND edublogs.tv)!  The last episode was on banana bread.  She was inspired to be a chef by her mom and grandmother cook (and dad).  She also learned about cooking on TV.  She wanted to do that – put the steps in order and show it.  They recorded it and she edited in iMovie.  She logs into their blog on her own and can add pictures “and stuff.”  She wrote about gymnastics, a poll and a SMARTboard picture this month.  She doesn’t write on her own every week, but Wes encourages her to…

What: http://fur.ly/1rj (free site to shorten multiple URLs into one) to show various posts on the blog.

• Post 1: Daughter is reading what she wrote as an “audioBoo.”  Can map your location – brings up issue of security and privacy – know what you are publishing.
• Post 2: Essay written for school now shared with family.  Evidence of learning and profile item for end of 5th grade.
• Post 3: Sarah’s cooking show post.  She’s used skills like creating music for the background in Garage Band and iMovie to edit and make some steps go at a faster speed.
• Post 4: Teachable moments come up – this one was a comment that was actually spam – teaching a child about why that comment might be dangerous.  The web address in the comment did not resolve, and the IP address of the person’s IP address.
• Post 5: Video from their trip to the medieval festival just after his daughter’s first ride on a camel – value of catching this excitement in the moment instead of later after it’s subsided.
• Post 6: Mother’s Day podcasts.  We need personal connections to technology use before we can get to the higher learning of integration.  He went into his 3rd grader’s class and asked 10 questions of the students, and posted the digitally recorded, no-edit, podcasts.  Inflection, enthusiasm and energy can’t be captured in a hand-written card, no matter how cute.
• Post 7: Talking about the Chilean Pudu at the zoo.
• Post 8: Webspiration character map of Jackie Kennedy Onassis by Sarah.
• Post 9: Book review by Wes’s son.  No hang-ups about mis-spellings, etc., just get them writing. (That would be hard for me.)
• Post 10: A drawing by Wes’s daughter – digital photos of the drawing.  Archives their work, could even add audio.
• Post 11: Podcast (with script transcript) about the glory of being the “snack leader” in preschool.  This is a kind of a spoof, but adorable!  He shared this with the teacher (an opportunity to show them the usefulness and ease of creating and sharing of audio).
• Post 12: Some posts are assignments – 12 ideas shared here.
• Post 13: Book podcast via Ustream by another family (Dawn Decker).  Opportunity to see what they saw (the video), and he was able to see comments from others and changed his understanding of what his learning is and how it affects others.

Edify these kids in their own interests and passions.  It’s fun!  These grandparents have a bigger and clearer window into the lives of their grandchildren.

What do they use?  What can you use?

• WordPress or Blogger
• AudioBoo
• GEOgraffiti (create a story that goes with a place) “Voice Mark the World”
• Plugins are listed on his website (Twitter Tools will post to Twitter when posting to the blog)

Here’s the wave, will you surf, swim or block the waves?  Swimming is dangerous because dangerous things can happen.  But how did you learn to swim?  Did a teacher tell you how or did you get in the pool to learn?  There are life jackets, lifeguards, rules, boundaries… just like out on the web.  Discuss and teach through USING these tools with your children.  You can moderate and block or allow and teach… or anything in between.

ISTE has developed a new “Seal of Alignment” for those programs who are validated by ISTE.  These can “meet” or “support” specific standards.  They examine the quality and treatment of those programs and the rigor they put into it.  Not just the product but how it is implemented is assessed.  “Quality and Alignment Assurance”

Adobe Curriculum:  Includes instructor and student materials for their product including worksheets, presentations and an assessment piece.

IC3 (Internet and Computing Core Certification): Global standard certification program that measures digital and computing literacy.  Launched in 2002.  Currently updating for the new NETS.  Certification Resources include assessments, approved courseware and practice tests.  Schools using this as test-out options, course placement, final exams, and professional development.

eMINTS (enhancing Missouri’s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies): A professional development resource center for schools and districts, adapting to meet local needs where necessary.  Bernie Dodge is a member of their advisory board, so they work at helping schools use webquests to meet standards.  They offer a full professional development series (2-year program).

School of Education at Johns Hopkins University: Offers an online program for a certificate in school administration and supervision, in partnership with ISTE.  This program meets fully the NETS-A standards.  They are preparing school administrators to be technology leaders.

How do you use a product and implement into your curriculum?  Learning.com rep speaking as an example being used in the Klein ISD.  Klein ISD rep speaking on use — Every student has a subscription to EasyTech from Learning.com.  This is classified as a textbook.  Fully aligned to the standards.  They developed a scope and sequence as an integral component of core content instruction (this is what we do at BT, not separating tech out).  EasyTech Lessons are then assigned for skill development.  Activities are assigned for application of skill and tied to learning objected of the core curriculum.  Technology grade is added to the report card to let parents know how they are doing in the technology mastery of skills.  Read about this program in the latest edition Learning & Leading with Technology (included in the NECC welcome bag, June/July issue, page 12).  Schools who subscribe to Learning.com’s EasyTech will now be able to share content across the system.

PBS TeacherLine: Capstone Certificate Program for teachers, aligned with NETS-T.  Year-long online professional development for teachers who are familiar with technology integration in the classroom.

Thinkfinity.org:  Tens of thousands of free resources to educators, students, and parents.  Also free professional development for how to “effectively integrate Thinkfinity online resources to enhance curriculum instruction.”  Integration Framework: Who uses the resource?  What stratgeies are going to be used – cooperative learning? discovery approach?  What classroom configuration will work best to employ this activity?  What does this activity look like for students?  How will you know if the activity is successful?  (Webinar in July on the Integration Framework.)

Research Study

We need to have a better awareness on how to educate on cyberbullying.  Graduate students in counseling and education came together in this project.  Cyberbullying “refers to bullying via electronic communications tools.”

Seven Types

1. Flaming
2. Harassment
3. Denigration
4. Cyberstalking
5. Impersonation or Masquerading
6. Outing or Trickery
7. Exclusion

Trends
Age: increases in elementary years, peaks in middle school, declines in high school
Gender: girls more likely to be online and cyberbully

Broadband Data Improvement Act in 2008 included Title II “Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act.”

Phase I: Adapted previous survey by Li (2006, 2007).  More than half were aware of someone being cyberbullied most were not reported to an adult.  Slightly more boys than girls were both bullies and being bullied, most happened outside of school, over half were not reported, and situations typically happened on average about 4 times.

Phase II:  Focus Groups to further inform survey data, explore the student views and experiences to collect information to use in creating scenarios.  Found commonalities and put in three categories – Reactions, Knowledge, and Coping.  Results said most cyberbullying would take place between the student and someone they know, and most were due to a misunderstanding.  The most common answer for who they would talk to about it was the school counselor, also stating that they felt more adults need to be educated about cyberbullying.

Phase III: Virtual Scenarios fully “acted out” using avatars in Second Life, based on phases I and II: (1) Gossip Goes Virtual and (2) Mark Visits the School Counselor.  Students watched the scenarios and offered feedback.

Recommendations for parents: understand what it is, educate children, be aware, be involved.

Resources:

• CyberSmart Curriculum
• NetSmartz
• iSafe

Showing video of Second Life Scenario, “Mark Visits the School Counselor.”

Q&A
Second Life was used for the video scenarios to link the technology and counseling worlds, this seemed the easiest place to do this in a place that is away from the true counseling and reporting of cyberbullying in person to make it more comfortable for students.

More scenarios are hoped to be added later.

The scripting process for the video scenario used words from students in the focus group sessions. They reviewed feedback from the focus groups and used data and phrasing spoken by the students to create the scenario.

Focus Groups were recorded using digital audio and transcribed later.

MovieTeacher46.com has a list of movies where bullying takes place to use as a discussion starter.

In this session, my main goal is to gather sites that will be helpful to our teachers who have a growing need for bilingual resources for their students.

http://www.lorilopez.info is her portal site of FREE resources.  Here are some she highlighted:

• Flash Quizzes for Grammar – http://a4esl.org/q/f/
• Internet Picture Dictionary – http://www.pdictionary.com/spanish/ (there is also an English one)
• ABC Espanol – http://www.poissonrouge.com/abcespanol/index.html (interactive!)

I am not going to list all the sites here as they are all on Lori’s portal.  There are some incredible resources here, but make sure you leave yourself time to really explore some of them.  Others she highlighted are:

• Storyplace
• Zoo Madrid
• Maya & Miguel
• PBL Checklists (also in English)
• Pasadena ISD (has presentations (PowerPoint) for instruction in English and Spanish)

Here in D.C., NECC is off to a bright and early start.  I actually skipped out on the opening keynote and reception last night and instead took a trip out to see the Pentagon Memorial.  I think for me it was a good choice.  I’m trying to find a balance between seeing our nation’s capital and working hard to gather information to further our technology program at Blessed Trinity.  I have picked sessions based on what our needs are and have also noted some sessions to view later with the fairly new feature that allows video-on-demand for some sessions.  Here are the sessions at the top of my list – my “top five” if you will:

• BET on Technology: Bilingual Educational Technology
• Cyberbullying: Using Virtual Scenarios to Educate and Raise Awareness
• New NETS, New Assessment
• The Answer to NCLB Tech Literacy: Web-based Technology Literacy Projects
• Differentiating NETS*T: Moving Teachers Toward Transformative Technology