Teacher Bytes

This blog has moved to http://www.johnwoodring.com/teacherbytes/

If you had seen me running this past Saturday morning you would have thought I was running alone, lost in the music of an MP3 player. Normally you would be correct. In reality I was running in a 10K race against over 86,000 people from around the world.

The event I participated in was the Nike+ Human Race 10K sponsored by Nike. This was a virtual race around the world where people could sign-up and run anywhere they wanted. All you had to do was sign-up for the race. Then on October 24th run 10 kilometers measured with Nike’s Nike+ system. Once you finished your 10K you synced your iPod or Nike+ armband and the results were posted on the Nike Running website. I believed I finished 17,522nd achieving my goals of finishing the race and not finishing last. Not bad for someone who battled injuries during the last month.

This was not the only virtual event I attended in the last few days. Friday, I was asked to assist a District consultant as he did a Web 2.0 training session for Media Specialists and their assistants. Half of this group met in Hilton Head (where I was located) and the other half were in Beaufort. This was the first chance we had to use our district’s new video conferencing system. It was interesting watching this man attempt to work with the group in Beaufort.

You could tell he was not used to using a video conferencing system. I warned him doing virtual training could be disconcerting before we started. This was based on on my experience using WizIQ for some training sessions I conducted. For one thing, our consultant liked to move around and was not used to using a TV camera. If you use a video camera you have to be relatively still otherwise you might make your audience sick with the camera panning rapidly. Another problem he seemed to have is he likes to feed off his audience. With video conferencing or other distance learning you have to trust your group is with you. It was interesting (and amusing) to watch this unfold.

As technology progresses we will have to learn to work in a virtual world because all of our students will not be located in one physical location.

I am tired but happy to be back with my family after returning from the 2009 South Carolina Educational Technology Conference in Myrtle Beach. The last three days have been a whirl of learning, connecting with old friends, and making new ones. Here are some of my thoughts and observations of the time I spent in Myrtle Beach in no particular order.

The biggest trend coming over the horizon is the use of mobile phones in the classroom. While this might not be a new idea, I believe many educators are rethinking their stance on their use. Okay, it not breaking news that almost every student has a mobile phone these days. However, instead of taking them away maybe we need to look at how we can use these devices in the classroom. Today’s cellphones are essentially mini-computers. They can access vast amounts of information from the Internet and kids could probably type essays using their thumbs faster than writing them on paper. Of course rules would have to be set governing their use. With budget cuts reducing the availability of more computers in the classrooms this is an idea with more study.

Speaking of budget cuts and the economy, attendance was way down this year. Many of my friends around the state were not able to come. Vendors did not have the usual cool “schwag” you usually see at the conference. This could be a blessing in disguise. I had the pleasure of meeting many new people who I now communicate with over Twitter. Since the vendors did not have much to offer, there seemed to be more participation in the sessions.

I have challenged people to show me a serious educational use for Facebook I would consider it. Nobody took me up on my challenge until I saw how a USC-Sumter Economics professor used Facebook groups to extend class discussions to the popular social network site. The professor also used her groups on Facebook to give out class information too. I was so impressed I created a Facebook group for my school.

Congratulations to my good friends Mary Ann Sansonettie and Chris Craft on receiving the Making it Happen Award. This award was deserved to two educators who are passionate about using technology in teaching. Both educators are a great inspiration to me personally.

Hopefully, I will be back next year to help solve the great mystery which will be the theme for next year. Until then, I will be exploring many of the things I learned at this years conference. I hope to see everyone in Myrtle Beach next year.

I am teaching a group of fellow teachers how to create different web presences for use to communicate with parents.

My so-called iPod life
Yesterday at my son’s cross country meet I grabbed my iPod Nano to time his race. While I was fooling around with the iPod I got to thinking about what the device meant to me personally.

The list of ways the iPod affects my life include:

Entertainer with music and movies.
Informer with podcasts
Literary device with audio books (Treasure Island yesterday)
Gaming device (yes the Nano can have games)
Motivator with my Nike+ workouts
Coach with Nike+ again. I can download programs that can help me run a 5K to a marathon.
Stopwatch
Watch
Companion on long trips.

I am sure many of you have done some, if not all, of the above list. Also, there are some things I have left off the list. I hope you would please share.

I just wanted to share with you that I will be moving this blog back to Blogger. You may see my blog at

http://teacherbytes.blogspot.com

Please change your readers to this URL. Thank you.

I just got though watching the Nintendo presentation at the E3 Expo and came away with two thoughts. First, Nintendo might have read my previous blog post about the possibilities of the Nintendo DS becoming an educational tool. Company officials talked about the various uses outside of gaming such as looking up airline information at airports, keeping track of baseball scores and ordering food at Safeco Field in Seattle. It was further intimated that Nintendo was doing a variety of tests to see what a DS could do.

The other announcement that intrigued me was Wii Music. This game allows four people to play a choice of 50 instruments to make music easily. The demonstration had Nintendo officials jamming to the theme of Super Mario. Unlike Guitar Hero or Rock Band, Wii Music allows players to have more control over their music by using the Wiimote to play an instrument. The software takes advantage of the balance board to help play drums. Finally, one player can play a song with different instruments then combine the effort to make a music video of a virtual one-man-band.

Wii Music might become a useful tool for music teachers to introduce students to making their own music then gradually move up to real instruments. Who knows, you might see a group of students playing in a Wii Music band on some parent night in the near future.

According to rumors spread by Engadget, PC World, and other sites there may be a new Nintendo DS for teachers to start collecting from students this coming school year. Speculation is an unveiling will take place this week at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles. Some sites have hinted the new DS will be thinner by taking out the slot for Gameboy Advanced Games. Other speculations is that it will have music and video capabilites. All I know is that my family is postponing a trip so my son can see the Nintendo news conference on Tuesday to see what is in store for the next year and I now believe the DS could become a welcome device in schools.

In the past I have touted the Sony PSP as a device that, with some modifications, would make an excellent educational device. Sadly, Sony is still not seeing the potential of the PSP as it has been relegated to the back in favor of Blue Ray and the Play Station 3. Nintendo and its gaming design affiliates have impressed me over the last few months withs its efforts by producing educational related-software. In Japan, Nintendo is aggressively marketing the devices to adults with various brain-stimulating games such as Brain Age and language tutors. This is carrying over to the United States as well. Who knows, the recently released Guitar Hero On Tour might inspire students to play musical instruments.

How could the DS become the educational device I thought the PSP could become? It will need some modifications for this to happen. First, the device would have to be able to play audio and video media, which I think it can already do. The problem would be memory which could be solved by adding a SD card slot. Nintendo already uses SD cards with its Wii gaming system. Second, Nintendo should not eliminate the GBA slot, something I don’t think they are going to do anyway. Guitar Hero On Tour and My Weight Loss Coach use the slot as an I/O device. Why could the same slot not be used for a keyboard? This means Nintendo would have to create word processing software or build in a web browser into the device’s operating system so it could use online apps like Google Docs. The stylus and handwriting recognition does a pretty good job too of creating text. Speaking of the stylus, an e-book reader would be a natural for the DS. Readers could use the stylus to make notes and highlight text. There are probably other modifications that could be put on this wish list so feel free to add them with your comments.

Nintendo has signaled it wants its DS gaming system to do more than just play games with software that is aimed at teaching and games that could be considered edutainment. The DS could become an educational platform of the future if Nintendo added better web browsing, text imput, audio/video media, and book reader capabilities to the device. Plus the DS is cheap and already in the hands of kids all over. Can you imagine hearing teachers telling students “Get out your DS” as they start a school day in the near future?

Last week I had the pleasure of doing two presentations for the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA) at their annual Summer Leadership Institute in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This is the event where school and district administrators gather to learn new things they can take back to hopefully improve education for their students. It was a great experience meeting with these people and getting a look at what is important these professionals at the management levels. There were two things that struck me during the four days I was in attendance.

First, unfortunately there is little in the way of literature marketed to administrators about technology integration. In fact I saw nothing on the subject. The conference operated a bookstore in one of the hallways. As I perused the titles I saw a multitude of subjects including but not limited to motivating staff, raising math and literacy proficiencies, management styles, and interpretation of test scores. The closest thing I saw to technology integration was a book about electronic portfolios and two books on bullying that had chapters on cyberbullying. This is disturbing to me because I heard the same story from other technology intergrationists or coaches: technology innovations are not getting administration support needed to be successful. Granted that administrators have other concerns than technology to run their schools but to find no books on the subject for sale was disturbing.

On the bright side, breakout sessions dealing with technology were very well attended. My cyberbullying session was near capacity and I was happy with the numbers in my session on using wikis as lesson plans. The audience was engaged, asking very good questions and taking notes on what I was talking about. Other sessions I sat in on did very well too. I found out that many schools in South Carolina are in the process of installing interactive whiteboards, another encouraging sign. The impression I came away with was that administrators do want to do more with technology but are not sure how to proceed. At least this is a start and more important a hopeful sign of things to come.

For those of you who has been reading this blog for the last few months you know that I taught Web Media Productions to a group of 6th graders. The semester is over, the grades are in, equipment packed away, and I have taken time to reflect on how the experiment went. As I look back and look ahead, I have come to this conclusion: it was a successful failure.

To recap, in January my principal asked if I could take one class of 6th graders and do something with the various technologies I have been advocating for the past year and a half. The class would be using blogs, podcasats, wikis, video, and other Web 2.0 tools to complete a variety of assignments. These assignments included school news and in work in each student’s academic classes. My purpose was to demonstrate to teachers and administration how technology could be integrated into everyday assignments and no computer labs would be necessary.

Here are the things I liked:

• The students enthusiastically worked with the technology. Other teachers who observed my students told me they were impressed at how much pride the students took in doing their work. Very few times did I have to discipline a student. There were three students who failed the course but even they did very well when they did their assignments. Also, these students were having troubles in other classes as well.
• Students took ownership in the course and quickly realized their work was out for everyone to see. Some took longer than others but got the point when I was constantly commenting on writing skills, spelling, punctuation, etc…. It started driving home the point their ELA classes mattered. There was also one funny time when one of the students got a response back on her blog from someone outside of school. It scared her. In another incident, a student e-mailed me that there was some inappropriate content attached to one of our videos on YouTube and wanted to know if I could take it down. He was proud of the work he and his classmates had done and did not want it ruined if it could be helped.
• Students realized they were an equal partner in the class. When one of the students taught me how to do something on the blog he later told me that was the first he felt what he knew was important. He when scared when he taught me what I needed to know but bought into the class when he realized I listened to him as a student should listen to a teacher. It was the first time it had ever happened to him. The students worked as a team to solve problems. However, I would send other students to help answer questions and sometimes I let them work it out on their own.

Here are some of the things I did not like:

• Not all of the teachers participated or cooperated. Even after I explained what I was planning on doing more than a few would not help with sharing computers. Even though teachers shared what they were doing in class and gave feedback on my ideas, almost all of them did not follow-up on work students did for their classes. One even got annoyed when she was asked to allow students to do a survey so graphs could be generated, the unit she was on at the time.
• Only two teachers asked how I did something or asked the students to explain what how they did an assignment. Sad considering this was an exercise in showing what the possibilities are.
• While administration was supportive and gave me a free hand to run the course as I saw fit, they only saw half of what the course was about. They loved the videos that were produced. So good the principal has assigned me to do this class on a full-time basis. The idea was for the teachers to see how to do things not me do it for them. In other words, in spite of trying to teach everyone how to fish, now I will be called on to video things in other classes instead of the teachers doing it themselves. This is why I call it a successful failure.

Things I would do differently:

• Say no! At least it sounds good but I loved my students.
• Have a couple of days where we would do nothing but sign up for the accounts needed.
• Make wikis the first assignment so students would have a better overall portfolio platform.
• Work more with audio podcasts but I am sure there will be pressure to get videos out.
• Make sure to have an individual video project so every student would have to demonstrate basic videoing skills before moving on to other tasks.

I am now in the process of designing what I like to call the Multimedia Activity Center or MAC for short (goes well with McCracken Middle School). As this summer project moves forward I will be blogging about that adventure. Don’t worry, I will also be blogging about technology integration as well. It is going to be a busy time.