Cell Phones in Education?!

I came across a tweet from @lkolb(Liz Kolb) regarding Poll Everywhere so I decided to do a little exploring. Essentially, one can collect data with a live audience and display the results on the spot. So on a whim, I emailed a few people, tweeted about it, and asked my students to participate in my beta test of poll everywhere.

Results:
The directions were tough to follow for nontexters but after I talked them through it, it made sense.
American Idol fans don't seem to have a problem. :-)
Students w/o phones can respond via a pc for open ended questions.
I was impressed by how fast the information appeared on the website.
My students were excited because I allowed them to use their cell phones in class.
One can export the results in a .csv file

See clip of results:



Potential:
This technology certainly has a great deal of potential. I may introduce it during student elections or perhaps for an alumni function but for the time being it will be for nonacademic purposes until I have additional time to explore its capabilities.
Also, as a recent Blackberry adopter, it has become clear to me that the smartphone will continue to grow in market share which will only increase and improve the capabilities of these devices.

Good Timing:
This article came out today from the Daily Press: Cell Phones get top marks in education

And yes, I read it on my phone.

Creative Thinking and Problem Solving

A few months ago Darren Kuropatwa suggested an activity as part of the Powerful Learning Practice. In his words, the activity was going to be "something along the lines of" Presentation Tennis.

Specifically, here is what Darren asked us to do.

We will collaboratively create a 20 slide presentation (not counting the title slide) called "Teaching Well". 20 slides in 10 pairs of contrasts: "Teaching well is more like < slide 1 > than it is like < slide 2 >." or however else you want to create contrast.

Each day one slide is added to the deck that builds on those that came before. The final 4-6 slides must bring the presentation to some sort of close.

The collaboration continues after the deck is done. The completed slide deck will be uploaded to SlideShare.net as a "Master Deck". To view our final project, click here

Time to Model

I was so impressed by the results of that activity that I decided to adopt the strategy and use it in my 8th grade computer class. The goal of the activity was to have each student develop a slide(a few made 2)that depicts what it means to be a creative problem solver. They were required to have an image and a quote that would assist them in depicting what constitutes creative thinking and problem solving. To view the slideshow, please click here.

I hope you enjoy my students' perceptions on this topic.

Ninging it

With the popularity of Nings increasing, I've been giving some thought on how we can leverage them within our courses at our respective schools. I belong to several Nings that are extensions of my PLN and they have proven to be valuable resources time and again. But what makes them so valuable as a resource is the broader network of individuals that participate in the various nings.

The ISENET ning for example, was developed by @demetri has become a tremendous resource for educators around the world. Although I tend to stay in groups related to technology, there is a group for just about any facet in education. This ning is 1800+ members strong.

So how do we leverage the collective wisdom of educators around the world? I believe teachers need to open up their nings to other teachers and resident experts in the fields being explored within their ning. The ning is a powerful tool but if used solely for the class of students being taught, then the classroom walls have moved only slightly. A concept I have learned over and over again in the International Cohort for PLP Ning.

A few weeks ago, Debra Garcia at Fredericksburg Academy asked if I wouldn't mind joining FAT BIO(Topics in Biology at Fredericksburg Academy). I accepted the offer and was thrilled at the opportunity to read and participate in topics related to Biology.

You see, before I moved into the world of educational technology I was a MS science teacher but my degree is in Biology from the College of William and Mary. Although I have a new found passion for educational technology, I will always be a science guy first-look out Bill Nye.

The ning is indeed a wonderful opportunity to share but I say let's move beyond our classrooms a little more and ask a colleague from another school, university, or profession to share their experiences with your students.

I hope school's of education consider this model because there are lots of grad students who could certainly benefit from this type of experience.

Care to fall off the flat world with us?

Below is an annotated version of the video skype session St. Christopher's School had with Toorak College regarding the Australian Bush Fires. The video is just under 20 minutes but one can certainly sense the energy, compassion, and the desire to work together to make a difference.

How are we helping? Toorak College suggested that we support Chum Creek Primary School. This is a small school that suffered tremendous damage and it is our desire to assist Chum Creek acquire a new playground and to send drawings developed by our lower school students to support their students.

Interested in helping the students of Chum Creek?
Please send notes of support or checks made out to:

Australia
Chum Creek Primary School
care of Michael Corr(principal)
705 Chum Creek Road
Healesville 3777

Mastering Old Tech-the PPT Dilemma

My class recently completed what most instructors would say as the dreaded PowerPoint Assignment. However, despite the groans I have heard from colleagues, I continue to use and exploit this tool so my students can learn about the flexibility of this program. Let me start by saying that I teach a computer applications class to a group of 8th graders but despite the very 20th century title for the course, I make every effort to allow my students to explore their imaginations, engage in creative problem solving, while appealing to the affective aspects of their learning. I have the benefit of not having a formal curriculum which allows it to change dynamically from trimester to trimester or from assignment to assignment.

Back to this dreaded PPT assignment. The first thing we covered were issues that can make a PPT presentation ineffective. We brainstormed different concepts using Inspiration and then launched into the assignment entitled the "Lousy PowerPoint". The assignment itself is nothing new. Many teachers have asked their students to create Lousy PPTs, but my goal was to also incorporate many of the "wiz bang" options available to users.

After developing presentations that exaggerated and highlighted poor presentation skills my students were then asked to redo their PPTs so they could be delivered effectively in front of an audience.

As my students were developing their new and improved PPTs, I was struck by how much they picked up from designing and critiquing each others lousy PPTs. So, is the oral presentation dead? I hope not because public speaking is a valuable skill that should be groomed and practiced regularly. Presentation software has unfortunately been misused by so many users that many teachers blame the product rather than the instruction. Guidelines and rubrics are all fine and good but the true essence of creating an excellent presentation is having good public speaking skills. So let's be sure to include those items in our guidelines and rubrics too. After that, it is all a transition away.

Helpful tools for presenters:
-rehearsal time
-wireless mouse
-wireless keyboard
-speakers
-internet connection
-practice space that mimics where the presentation will be given

I Almost Fell off the Flat World

On Feb 24, 2009, I believe I almost fell off an increasingly flat world.

It started late in the afternoon when students in our missionary society at St. Christopher's School, were engaged in a video skype session with Toorak College in Australia about the bushfires in Victoria. However, before the session started, @jennyluca and I struggled to get our skype connection up and running. As we continued to try and get skype to function, we utilized Twitter to post our status to each other should the connection fail. Well, someone was looking out for us because right before our planned start time, skype started working.

So how did it go?

Words cannot describe what a wonderful opportunity it was for our boys to hear firsthand from our Aussie friends. All of the speakers from Toorak did such a fabulous job in conveying the situation in Victoria that I believe our boys were able to take in the true essence of the magnitude of the catastrophe.

On a purely educational slant, there were many cross curricular items that our boys were able to glean.

• Word choice and spelling-English spelling versus American English taken from Australian Newpapers
• Time zone differences-Toorak was a day ahead and we spoke to them at 8am to our 4pm
• Use of the metric system: celsius for temp, km for distance, mm for rainfall. I used to teach science
• Geography
• Biomes
• Wildlife: gotta love the question about comparing deer to kangaroos
• Flora

Now what?

Our missionary society is now brainstorming all sorts of ideas on how they can best be a part of the global effort to help those in need. When their work is complete, I will follow up.

It really is a holy time of year in the christian calendar.

It was Ash Wednesday when we spoke to Toorak yesterday and today it is Ash Wednesday for us.

Peace

Join us to work together 2 make a difference for fire ravaged Victoria: Title taken from Jenny Luca's Blog

After reading Jenny Luca's post about the bush fires in Victoria, I felt the need to pull together our boys and I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for our boys to hear first hand from our Aussie friends and see if there was anything we could do as a school.  My call to action started by discussing the possibilities of holding a video Skype session with the missionary society officers from our lower, middle, and upper schools at St. Christopher's School and with the students of Toorak College.

But in the true spirit of PLP , why should our effort be limited by just using skype for our 2 schools! Join us this Tuesday, February 24 @ 4pm Eastern Standard Time and 8.00am Pacific Eastern Standard time. Watch via ustream.tv as the students from both of our schools discuss the needs of the area and speak with a member of the Toorak community who lost a home.

Search for stchris_tv once in ustream.

Please read more here on Jenny Luca's blog: http://tinyurl.com/akja8h or visit Jenny's Ning @ http://workingtogether2makeadifference.ning.com/

Yours truly,

Jenny Luca and Hiram Cuevas