Tech4Teachers

Technology Tools and Lesson Ideas for Teachers

Do What I Say, Not What I Do

February 11, 2012 No comments

How often do we tell kids to just, “Go look it up on the Internet”? When we do we are making the assumption that they already know how to search and find the information they need.  But what happens if they don’t? Here’s what you get…

Observed from actual students this month:

  • A student searching for images depicting modes of travel used by 49′ers to get to California during the gold rush went to Google and typed: travelling to california.
  • Another student who was working on their state report wanted to find out the average climate for their state and searched: weather for Illinois

Do you think these students received the results they were expecting? Here are some other searches I observed:

  • massachusetts land
  • poler pears
  • soccer the sport
  • all about the gold rush history
  • general description on michigan

What kind of results do you think they got? “Massachusetts land” yielded more real estate results than info about state geography. ”Polar pears” worked okay thanks to the “did you mean” feature that corrects for spelling errors. The last three on the list gave the students fairly acceptable results, but these results could have been achieved with considerably more abbreviated search terms.

Once these kids had gotten over the hurdle of getting the right search terms, the next challenge for them was actually finding the information they wanted. Watching kids search the web looks a lot like channel surfing. They click on the first search result. If “the answer” doesn’t fall out of the sky and into their lap in 5 seconds, they hit the back button and go to another site or type in a new search. Most never scroll down. They rarely click other links. And if the page comes up all text they’re off to the next site faster than you can say “Google”.

Finally, when students actually DO manage to find the information they need, what do they do with it? One unfortunate answer was captured quite nicely in a tweet from this morning:

SO…my final question for you today is this.

What can we do to to help kids find and use information efficiently and appropriately?

In my mind it starts with teachers modeling proper search techniques and demonstrating appropriate use and citations in the classroom. Don’t just tell kids to go look it up in the Internet, show them. Help them take the question they are asking and break it into key words for searching. Then demonstrate how to navigate pages, look at information critically to find the answer to their question. Finally show them how to use that information properly and cite the source. Let them see you do it. I love this quote from Bill Selak, retweeted several times at EdCamp OC/LA last month.

By the way, do you want to really frustrate an elementary student? Tell them to take something (from a book, a web site, whatever) and put it in their own words. Look at it from their point of view. You’re asking them to take something that’s already written and change it when it looks just fine to them. The flaw is not in the student, but in the assignment. Ask a kid to write a report, you might as well be telling them to copy and paste. Rather then just asking them to regurgitate information, require them to take that information and create something new and original. (See my post “Fight Plagiarism with Creativity”)

Do What I Do, Not What I Say

Just like the media makes living out of catching politicians who say one thing and do something else, kids are pretty good at noticing when we tell them to do something, but then don’t do the same thing themselves. Your actions speak louder than your words.

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Straight From the Textbook

January 19, 2012 1 comment

Note to Reader: With all the chatter today surrounding the announcement of iBooks and a new era of digital textbooks, I found myself asking the question, what if textbook companies defined the role of a teacher? Hopefully the following excerpt from an imaginary elementary textbook is more false than true.

Chapter 14 – What is a Teacher?

Build on What You Know
Do you have a school in your community? Maybe you have even attended a school. Did you attend a large school or a small school? What do you call people who work at schools?

 

Teachers

In your classroom, the person who stands in front of you and tells you what to do is called a teacher. A teacher’s job is to give you information you need to get a good grade on the test. If you get good grades on enough tests, then you will graduate to a higher grade where another teacher will give you more information and more tests. 

Did you ever notice that the textbook a teacher uses looks different from your textbook? A teacher’s textbook is special. It is bigger and usually has a big spiral wire that holds it together. The teachers textbook has more information than your textbook. This extra information is called curriculum. The curriculum is all the other stuff your teacher does that is not in your textbook. The worksheets you do are part of the curriculum. Sometimes the curriculum contains extra stories, activities, or even games for you to play. The curriculum tells the teacher what to do and when to do it.Where does a teacher get their information? Their information comes from textbooks.Textbooks have all the information you need to know to get a good grade on the test. The information is organized into units and chapters. Each chapter begins with Key Terms. These are words you need to know. Chapters end with questions that you need to answer and turn into the teacher. The teacher looks at your answers to see if you understand what is written in your textbook before giving you a test. When you take a test, you are not allowed to look at the textbook to answer the questions. So before taking a test it is a good idea to memorize the information.

Digital Textbooks
Digital textbooks are textbooks that are not made out of paper. They are electronic and can be viewed on a computer or iPad. They have all the same information as paper textbooks, but also can have video clips, activities, and sometimes even games that work a lot like computer or video games. Some digital textbooks even let students take tests online.

LESSON REVIEW
Where does a teacher get their information?
Why is it important to memorize information?
What is a teacher’s textbook called?

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION
If everything a teacher needs is included in their curriculum, why do you think some teachers use other resources outside their textbook?

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Interview an Elf

December 6, 2011 2 comments

It’s that most wonderful time of the year. Here at my school it means it’s time to bring out my annual holiday project – Interview an Elf. This is a simple activity that brings lots of laughter and joy to elementary kids.  It’s also easy, and can be completed in less than 30 minutes of computer lab time.  Here’s the recipe for this “holiday classic”.

Ingredients:

It’s the week before Christmas and you will be interviewing an elf at Santa’s workshop. You will be the voice for both parts. Record yourself interviewing yourself. Play it back to hear the interview. As you listen, watch the timeline and make note where the elf is speaking.
Highlight the parts where the elf is speaking. Go to EFFECT and select CHANGE PITCH.
Raise the pitch of the elf part. How much you raise it depends on the natural pitch of your voice. Typically you only need to raise it 20-30%.  Listen to the result. If it works, repeat for the rest of the elf parts.


Additional Sweetness:
If you want, you can add sound effects to “sweeten” your interview. I found workshop sounds, sleigh bells, and Santa’s “Ho, Ho, Ho” at Findsounds.com.


Be prepared for lots of laughter in the lab when you try this activity. Kids have a blast creating their interviews. I always allow them some play time to experiment listening to their voice at different pitches – you’ll want some play time too!


For more help using Audacity, check out my wiki with helpful videos explaining how to edit audio and add effects.
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A Thankless Job

October 6, 2011 1 comment

The second law of thermodynamics states that everything tends toward disorder and chaos.

One of the most thankless jobs at a school is that of maintenance. It is the job of the maintenance department to attempt to hold back the ocean with a broom – to fight entropy. Do your job right and nobody notices, but when something breaks or goes wrong who gets all the complaints?

Another thankless job is that of the IT department. When everything is working, nobody notices. When something goes wrong who gets the angry phone call? So many of us see the IT department as the villain, placing network security over personal teacher and student productivity. We see these people as cranky, impatient, and condescending whenever we stop them in the hall with a “quick question”. I know I’m guilty of more than a few complaints about IT. I’ve vented numerous frustrations about them on Facebook and Twitter, but would I ever want their job? Never.

Imagine what your day would be like if every encounter you had with your co-workers was another complaint and one more thing to add to your never ending “to-do” list.  Have you ever tried to talk to someone over the phone and walk them through the steps to fix something on their computer? Seriously, I’d rather rub a cheese grater on my face than have to spend all day doing telephone technical support. I’ve often stated that if something ever goes horribly wrong and instead of Heaven I go down to the other place, my eternal torment would no doubt be an endless line of people who “can’t print”.

Maybe you don’t like your school IT people. Perhaps you’re positive they hate you and try to avoid you at every opportunity. What are you gonna do?  If I may, let me suggest you follow Otis Redding’s advice and “Try a Little Tenderness”.  Say “Thank You”. Bring them a cookie. Let them know you appreciate what they do. Your’s could be the only kind words they hear all week. Who knows, the next time you submit a trouble ticket your kindness will be remembered and you may get moved to the front of the line.

 

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Back to School – Are You Ready?

August 14, 2011 No comments

IMAGINE…

You walk into class the first day, ready to teach. You look out across the room, examining the the group of learners you see before you. What do you see? Usually it’s a combination of the following…

  • Golden Retrievers – Sitting in the front row. Always wanting to please and requiring constant affirmation. “Is this right? Is this what you wanted me to do?”
  • Storytellers – Constantly have their hand in the air, not because they have a question, but because they need to tell you about something that happened to them once – or maybe it was someone they know – or maybe it was someone on TV.
  • Otters – They don’t care what they’re doing, as long as it’s fun. These are the ones that were talking when you were were giving instructions so they have to ask the person next to them what you said. Then because they are talking to the person next to them, they miss the next thing you said so they need to find out what to do from the person sitting on the other side. Usually when you’re all done, an otter will ask, “Can you explain that first part again?”
  • The Insecure, “Hanging by a Thread” Emotional Mine Field -  Ready to snap at any moment. One wrong comment or look can set them off. Tread carefully.
  • The Eye Rollers – Don’t want to be here. What ever you’re saying must not apply to them so they don’t care. They usually sit in the back of the room with…
  • The Know-It-Alls -  Who are not paying attention to you at all and are working on something else or constantly staring at the clock wondering when you’re going to be done. The two most common replies from both of these types  are “Fine” and “Whatever”.
  • The Space Cadets – Their body may be in the room, but their mind is in a galaxy far far away…
  • The Organizationally Challenged – You don’t see them in the room because they’re running late. When they do arrive, you can’t miss them stumbling in and juggling four times as much stuff as anyone else. After they’re settled and ready to pay attention, that’s when they realize the one thing they need is back home on their desk.
  • The Defense Attorneys -  Known by their familiar battle cry, “That’s not fair!”  These are the ones that will put more time and effort into arguing why they shouldn’t have to do something than it would have taken to actually do it in the first place.
  • The Perfects – Perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect teeth. These are the ones that really DO know it all. They’re always one step ahead of you and are your built-in spelling and grammar checkers.  You’re just one more rung on the ladder they’re climbing for future success and ultimate world domination.

Are you getting a mental picture yet?

Wait a minute! I forgot one important detail. Imagine that room you are in is not filled with students, but with teachers, and YOU are leading their back-to-school technology training.

Ever notice that a group of teachers is not that different from a group of students? Each one has their own issues and idiosyncrasies. Each one has their own unique set of experiences and learning styles. With a group of students we all know the importance of building relationships, building trust, and getting to know the way each student learns so we can tailor our instruction to help them meet our educational goals.  Yet so often professional development for our teachers is delivered in a pre-packaged, one-size-fits-all technology in-service.

This year our school principal has us reading “Leading and Managing A Differentiated Classroom” (http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108011.aspx) As I’m going through the book I can’t help but think that teachers need differentiated instruction too.  Just like with our students, our goal with professional development is make sure that all our teachers master the skill we are presenting. If we want to do that effectively then we need to design a flexible technology training that takes into account the various strengths, weaknesses, and learning needs of our teachers.

For the Golden Retrievers it could mean providing that extra affirmation and feedback they require, but it also might mean answering their questions with other questions getting them to think through what they are doing and helping them to become independent learners and problem solvers.

For the Otters it might mean stopping every once in a while and asking them to echo back what you just said. or have them explain or “re-teach” the last few steps to the rest of the group one more time for reinforcement.

For the Emotional Mine Fields and the Organizationally Challenged, it may mean taking time to meet with them individually to find out what is going on outside of work. We know from Maslow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow’s_hierarchy_of_needs) that higher level learning cannot occur if a student is lacking one or more basic needs (physiological, safety, love/belonging). Often times we don’t know all the crap that our fellow teachers are dealing with, so learning to empathize with their situation can help you understand better how you can help them learn.

The Eye-Rollers and the Know-It-Alls need you to show them how they can use what you are teaching them next week. Help them understand the relevance of what you are presenting and that this is not just one more thing that’s going to go into a desk drawer never to see the light of day again.

How do you deal with the other types of learners? I haven’t finished the book yet.  What strategies might YOU use to help them?

Not everyone in the room is starting with the same technology skill set, and not everyone is going to take what you’ve taught them and use it in exactly the same way. How boring would it be if they did? I suppose the important point to remember when leading your teacher trainings is not to focus on the technology, but rather all the wonderful faces in the room. Let them know it’s not about the tool, its about them.  Let them know you’re not just teaching a skill, you’re helping them to grow as professionals.

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What is Your Kryptonite?

July 24, 2011 9 comments

I’ve never seen “Waiting for Superman” and I don’t intend to. I’m tired of hearing about what’s wrong with education. I prefer to focus on what’s right. I’m not waiting for Superman, in fact earlier this month I was blessed with the opportunity to spend a week getting energized by the light of over 100 Star Educators at the Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute (DENSI). Every teacher in attendance was a bona fide superhero. As we shared, worked, learned and played together I could see that each one of us was gifted with their own unique super power. Combine those powers and you have an unstoppable force strong enough to solve just about any problem in education today – or at least that’s how it seemed.

"Up, up, and away!"

We made videos and built presentations. We got to meet and be inspired by big name experts like Danny Forster, Steve Hargadon (who we renamed “HargaDEN”), and Hall Davidson.  We conferenced and we un-conferenced. When the scheduled events ended, the learning continued though impromptu “sessions” in the dorm rooms before breakfast and late into the evenings. Sleep was not a priority. Why sleep when you can spend that valuable time learning?

The only problem with this amazing week is that it had to end. In a perfect world, all of us superheroes would just stay there in San Diego, living, learning, and playing, but a perfect world has no need for superheroes. A superhero’s work is to fight for truth and justice, to right wrongs, solve problems, and protect the innocent. In the end each us had to leave and go home to our own schools and districts to face our own challenges and deal with the inevitable post-DENSI depression.

Every superhero has a weakness. For Superman, it’s Kryptonite – that substance that drains his energy and makes him feel powerless. As a teacher and tech leader, what is your Kryptonite? Perhaps it’s one of these…

  1. Internet Filters – It’s happened to all of us. You’ve got a great idea for a lesson or activity that will really motivate your students and get them excited about learning only to find that the site you need to use is blocked.
    When a superhero faces a force shield, he does not give up and go home. He finds a way to go through it, go around it, or turn it off. Work with your school and district IT to get the site unblocked. As a teacher and an adult you have the right to override a school Internet filter or have have sites unblocked for you and you don’t even have to provide a reason. (See “Dispelling Myths about Blocked Sites” and “Knowledge is Freedom“)
  2. Consistency and Fairness – Ever been told that your class can’t do something unless all the other classes decide to do it too? How often do we sacrifice creativity and innovation for the sake of consistency?
    Superheros are sometimes required to go solo, moving forward where others fear to tread. Lead by example. Blaze a new trail for others to follow.
  3. The “Almighty” Inflexible Schedule – Does your education dictate your schedule, or does your schedule dictate the education? This is especially true if you are departmentalized. I know I’ve missed the opportunity to participate in numerous live events and webinars because it didn’t fit into the schedule or happened during break or ”switch” times.
    A superhero sees what needs to be done and fights for it. Often times this involves making personal sacrifices to bend the un-bendable. You may need to give up part of your lunch or prep time, or offer to cover for another teacher, or promise give up time out of your own class later on. If the opportunity is truly worth it, a superhero will find a way.
  4. Lack of Administrative Support – Do you live in constant fear of trying something new or innovative with your students because you know that if it doesn’t work or if someone complains that you’ll be left “hanging out to dry” by your principal or administrator?
    Superheros must sometimes work outside the law to do what is right. Don’t let fear of getting in trouble rob your students of a valuable learning opportunity. True innovators and those who make a difference are risk takers. Think of the inspirational stories of Jamie Escalante and Erin Gruwell.
  5. Fear of Failure – What if it doesn’t work right the first time you try it?
    Don’t give up. A superhero demonstrates mental discipline and chooses to focus on the learning goal rather than what could happen if he fails. When he does fail (notice I said “when” and not “if”), he doesn’t give up, but learns what didn’t work, makes changes and adjustments, and tries again.  We learn more from failures than successes. Besides what better way to model to your students that failures are just part of the learning process?

If I learned one thing at DENSI, it would be that even though I sometimes feel that I’m fighting the good fight all by myself, I am not alone. When the Kryptonite of the real world robs me of my power and energy, I can reach out to my fellow superheroes. Help is only a text, a tweet, a skype, a direct message, an e-mail, or a just phone call away.

Thank you Discovery for a wonderful week in San Diego and for helping me build a powerful circle of Superfriends.

Professional Development, Thoughts ,

3 Cool iPad Apps Shared at ISTE

July 2, 2011 No comments

My ISTE Experiment

For the last few years I’ve lugged a big backpack around the ISTE Conference. The backpack contained all the tech I “thought” I needed for the conference: Laptop, speakers, chargers, power cords, camera, cables, adaptors, batteries. All in all it came to about 15 -20 pounds. By the end of the day it seemed more like 50.  This year I wanted to see if I could get by with just my phone and my iPad – no backpack. Turns out it worked. I was able to check e-mail, Tweet out during sessions, check Facebook, and take notes. With my phone I was able to snap pictures and grab QR Codes. I even carried a mini charger in my pocket just in case, but I never needed it.

I also picked up some great apps that were shared by others at the conference. Here are the three coolest ones.

Type Drawing

To put it simply, Type Drawing is drawing with words.  You type in a word, then draw with it. The faster you draw the bigger the letters. Draw slowly and the letters get really tiny. By changing words and colors you can get some really interesting creations. Imagine telling kids to make a picture with their spelling words. Thanks to Bridget Belardi for sharing this.

 

Band

Kevin Honeycutt shared this at one of his sessions. Sure it’s got a digital piano and drums, but what grabbed my attention was it’s feature that lets you create and play your own 12 Bar Blues. Watching Kevin create a simple blues song in just minutes was enough to tell me I HAD to have this. By the way, if you ever get a chance to hear Kevin speak, DO IT. You won’t be disappointed. I was happy that his was my final session at ISTE. I left energized and inspired.

Noteshelf

Thanks again to Bridget for showing me this gem.  Noteshelf is the best app I’ve seen for note taking on the iPad. It lets you write notes, quickly and easily. It has a zoom feature that helps you write small to fit more info on one page. If you want to make your notes look “cute” there’s a pull down box with hundreds of little smileys and icons for jazzing up your note pages. Noteshelf also lets you bring in pictures from your iPad photo library. Using multi-touch, those images can be moved, resized, and rotated.

For handwriting notes on an iPad you really need a stylus.  I picked up a little Pogo Sketch stylus at Amazon.com for under $10. Noteshelf has a “wrist protection” feature that lets you rest your wrist on the iPad while taking handwritten notes. I tried it. It works.

The best part about Noteshelf is that it connects to the cloud. Notes you take can be uploaded to Dropbox or Evernote. I tested it by creating the note below, sending that note to Evernote. Once it’s in Evernote your handwriting is searchable. I was able to search for keywords and it recognized my writing.

I really want to use Evernote more, but for me note taking means writing and Evernote doesn’t let me do that. Now that I can write my notes with Noteshelf, send them to Evernote, and search what I’ve written I’ll be using this powerful cloud tool much more.

 

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End of an Era

June 18, 2011 4 comments

We all have those pivotal moments in our life. Those times when you realize you need to say goodbye to the old and embrace the new. This week it was time to end a long standing relationship and make a big decision to move on to something better.  This week I changed my default browser from Firefox to Chrome.

Now you may be thinking, “This is no big deal”, but understand that my relationship with Firefox/Mozilla goes back more than a decade – back to when it was just Netscape Navigator. Sure we had some good times over the years, but the new opportunities offered by Chrome finally persuaded me to close one chapter of my life and begin a new one.  What was it that convinced me? Here are some reasons…

Browser Sync – When logged in with your Google account, you can set up Chome to sync so that all your bookmarks, themes, apps, saved passwords, and various settings are shared automatically between computers. Just start syncing in your Chrome preferences on all your computers and link it to your Google account. I’ve become accustomed to my browser remembering username or e-mail when I start to type it on a form. With Sync, a username I type in on one computer, is remembered on my other one. I like that.

Apps – The latest version of Chrome allows you to add “apps” to your browser. Your apps appear when you open a new window or tab. Some apps are free, others you pay for. If you’ve used the Mac App Store or purchased apps from iTunes, the experience is similar. Some apps will even run offline. I’ve got to think that this is something that Chrome needs in order to make the Google Chromebook a viable netbook alternative.

Free Angry Birds – Okay, I’ve got to admit that even with these cool features there had to be something significant to woo me away from Firefox and get me to try and explore Chrome.  A free Angry Birds app that would only run in the Chrome browser was the perfect bait to lure me in.

 

While those were the big three factors that convinced me to change my default, there are a few other things I’ve discovered I like about Chrome since I’ve made the switch…

  • Speed – Chrome just seems to run faster and load pages quicker than Firefox. ( I hear it’s significantly faster than Internet Explorer too.)
  • Compact Toolbar – The toolbars and tabs have been compacted to maximize screen real estate for viewing web pages.
  • Improved Browser Extensions – One thing I love about Firefox is all my browser extensions. Diigo, AdBlock Plus, and several more of my favorite extensions now work in Chrome.

NOTE: Now I haven’t stopped using Firefox completely. I have not deleted it from my computer. In fact I still need it to work with my Moodle 2 pages. It’s just no longer my #1 browser choice.

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An Explosion of Expression

April 18, 2011 2 comments

Every Spring our school holds it annual Expression Explosion. This is an evening when all classrooms are open for parents to visit a showcase of student art, projects, and writing portfolios. Teachers spend hours decorating their rooms, meticulously displaying student work and preparing the obligatory repeating slideshow of images on their classroom projector. Essentially our school goes into “museum mode”. Parents and kids wander from room to room, spend a few seconds looking at the displays, say, “Oh, that’s nice,” and move on. Teachers are in the room acting as docents ready to greet visitors and answer questions about the student work.

This year in middle school we decided to try something different. Because our 6-8 grade students each have their own computer, many of the their projects are in electronic form and, much to the dismay of the teachers, not the type of thing that can be printed and put on a pretty display in their classrooms. (It’s really difficult to print sound and video.) Our solution? Switch from “museum mode” to “exhibit hall mode”. Since the work being displayed is created by students, why not let them share it?

So this year in addition to the classroom displays, the middle school teachers set up a projector, screen, microphone, and chairs in the middle school atrium. Various student projects from different subject areas across all three grades were selected. A presentation schedule was created and for two hours students were the stars, sharing their projects, how they created them, and what they learned in the process. Parents and fellow students were in the audience as they shared their wikis, PhotoStories, Prezis, videos, and Power Point presentations.

It was awesome! The kids, even the shy ones, did a fantastic job. The pride they showed in their work was evident. Each was rewarded with applause and compliments from their parents, peers, and teachers. Instead of static displays, attendees saw active presentations. Instead of teachers explaining the projects, students were explaining their learning. Our only regret – why didn’t we do this sooner?

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iPad Therefore I Learn?

March 29, 2011 1 comment

Jumping on the iPad Bandwagon?
Earlier this year, a large prominent high school in Orange County announced that next Fall every student would be using iPads. In the past few weeks, three other schools in my area have announced that they are going one to one with iPads next year as well. This has no doubt created a buzz around my school from both students and parents asking if or when WE will be going to iPads.  Should we? I don’t know.

A lot of people, including me, love the iPad. It is a powerful device with great potential for learning. With the recent release of the iPad2, there has definitely been a lot of media hype around the device and the power it has to transform a school. Part of me has to wonder though if all of the schools making this switch are doing so with a sound education and implementation plan in mind, or if it is a move based on pressure to remain competitive in the market and increase enrollment. I would like to ask these schools,  “Why now?” and “How will your iPads be used to empower students?”

Our Story
In 2008 our middle school went 1:1. For us, the time was right. We had been using mobile laptop carts for the better part of four years. Our teachers and students were familiar with the software, and the demand for more time with the laptops to work on class activities and projects surpassed the availability of the carts.

We selected a machine that all middle school students could use, one that our teachers felt comfortable with, and one that we could manage and support. One rationale for going 1:1 at that time was that if we didn’t, students would likely start bringing their own devices with them to school anyway. By implementing our program at that time, we could control what they used and make sure both hardware and software was the same for all students. “One image to rule them all.”

Three years later, all of our middle school students and teachers use tablet PC’s. They all have the same software and use the same tools for assignments and projects, and we have admin rights.  We have control. We have also had to hire extra staff to deal with support, warranty & accidental damage issues, and to do anything on the student machines that require administrative access. There have been some issues, but it’s worked pretty well for us so far.

If we were to try to implement this same program today, I’m not sure we could pull it off. Too many kids already have some sort of device, netbook, tablet, or laptop. We would be in the awkward position of having to tell parents, “Hey, you know that computer you just bought your kid? Well, they won’t be able to use it at school. Instead, you MUST buy the one WE require you to use.” Sounds kind of ridiculous, if not a little arrogant, saying that if you’re child is going to be able to learn at our school that they MUST have this device.

The Forecast for the Future Looks “Cloudy”
Currently most of the work our students do is saved on their computer. From Office docs, to PhotoStory and MovieMaker projects, to OneNote notebooks, everything is saved in their “My Documents” folders. Kids are responsible for backing up their own documents, photos, and music. How many do you think actually do that? What happens when their computer gets dropped, or they spill a Pepsi on their machine? They get a loaner computer to use while theirs is repaired, but if they didn’t back up their stuff, in many cases that assignment or project is lost and needs to be redone.

Online tools like Google Docs, Voicethread, EDU Glogster, Aviary, Moodle, and many others do not save student work in their My Documents folder, but rather on the Internet. By saving to the Internet, or rather “the cloud”,  work can be accessed anywhere and the computer becomes less a device to store your stuff and more a device used to access and work on your stuff. If your device gets dropped in the pool, your stuff is safe. Just get another device, sign in, and your back in business.

We’re already using several different web tools with our students. As we move more and more to cloud based apps and storage, the need for a specific device becomes less important – along with the need to manage that device and make sure each device has the same OS or software. What’s important is that the device you have, whatever that device may be, enables you to access and work on “your stuff”.

Going Platform Neutral
SO…here’s my somewhat radical thought. What if, in 2 or 3 years, my school reached a point where pretty much everything we did was cloud-based? Then it wouldn’t matter if a student brought a PC, Mac, tablet, slate, Android, or iPad as long as the device they had would allow them to access their class content, and complete their class activities and projects. Instead of telling parents, “You MUST buy THIS device.” We would tell them, “Your child must have ANY device that allows them to do the tasks required of them at school.”

For some students that might mean they use a small tablet. For others it could mean a full blown 17” laptop. Students could choose the device that best fits their learning style. Sure, iPads are cool, but I’d bet if you asked every kid there would be more than a few who would prefer to use something different. Purchasing and servicing student devices would become the responsibility of the students and the parents. The school would just need to have a few loaner devices available for students who have “issues”. Just like you have extra textbooks in the back of your room now.

Making this switch would also mean a bit of a mindset change for teachers as well. Some of the projects they do now would need to be adjusted to allow variable devices and web 2.0 tools. For example, rather than assign a project that requires kids to “Make a Power Point presentation about _______.” They would assign a project that requires kids to, “ Make a presentation about _______.” The student would be responsible to choose the best tool that allows them to demonstrate that they know the content. (ISTE NETS-S 6b).  Students would be responsible to select and learn the tool, teachers would be responsible to teach and assess the content. While teachers would need some basic familiarity with a few web-based tools so they could make recommendations to students who need help deciding, the onus would be on the student to use the resources available to them to learn to use and troubleshoot the tools. (ISTE NETS-S 6c)

Is the iPad Just Déjà vu All Over Again?
As I said before, I think the iPad is an incredibly powerful tool for learning, but as I look at those middle schools and high schools jumping in and going one to one with iPads, it looks like the same thing we do right now, just with a different device. Everyone, regardless of preference or learning style, is still required to use the same device with the same apps. What happens when the next hot new device comes along?

If I’m right, and the cloud computing trend continues, then doesn’t the device become less important? Wouldn’t we be better off getting our schools, teachers, and students prepared to work with any device? Our students would learn how to use, troubleshoot, and be productive with a device and tools that fit their own personal learning style. Our administration and IT would get out of the computer sales and support business and focus efforts and budget on providing a solid, high-bandwidth wireless network at school. And our teachers would focus on designing projects and activities that have the same academic requirements but allow students a choice of tools. When we ask them to write, we don’t tell them what kind of pen, pencil or paper to use, do we?

Thoughts , , ,
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