The good thing about bad PD...

Recently I had the chance to attend a PD that was suppose to be on a series of cool tools you could use within (and outside) the classroom. The PD was attended by those from my school who were fairly familiar with integrating IT tools within their classroom and we went in anticipating a sandbox style session where we got shown a series of useful tools to then play/create with but instead we got a talkfest. In 4 hours we got exposed to only 3 tools and I spent most of it internally screaming for the speaker to "get on with it". At the very least it gave me insight to what it's like for our gifted students who sit through lessons on content they already know.

The tools shown were handy but nothing new or cutting edge, but the great thing that I personally got out of the session was a desire to do something better than what I was being exposed to. So rather than spending my time sandbagging the presenter I'm going to explore and share the tools on here.

Recording lessons for students.

Tools: Audacity, Screencast-O-Matic

Audacity

Use Audacity to record a series of your very own podcasts, then upload them somewhere handy for your students to download and listen to. You can use your school's internal network, Dropbox or your own website/blog to host the files. The benefit of Audacity over other voice recording programs is that you can edit your work and add in layers. This means you can have a jaunty little jingle at the start of each podcast, sound effects or just connect a series of different recorded conversations together.

Screencast-O-Matic (website)

Screencast-o-matic allows you to select part of your screen to record what you're doing when you do it. Draw complex diagrams, use your favourite programs and don't be limited to what certain other screen recording programs have. The program is web based and requires flash (sorry iPad fans) but it's darn nifty in its ability to adjust to what you would like to do as opposed to forcing you into a corner like many free programs tend to do. The files save as a video naturally but you get three options on what you would like to do including uploading to YouTube or downloading for personal use elsewhere.

Website building

Tool: Weebly.com

Now website building and hosting is nothing new for most of us, it's certainly nothing new for me. I went through the geocities craze back in the day with the feeling that I was clever being able to code and create my own website complete with animated gifs and midi files playing in the background. So it would be that we would eventually get introduced to one of the numerous free website creating/hosting sites known as Weebly.

Whilst the guest speaker went on about the virtues of Weebly (there are some) I decided I could sit bored with the experience or I could just get creating and see how much I could do whilst he continued to talk. I picked a potential class that I could teach in the future and got designing.

The pros for Weebly include:
Drag and Drop function to assist those (student or teacher) who have never built a website before.
Plethora of template and design options.
Minimalistic branding.
Free.
Offers a paid option to have your own domain name.
Anyone could use this.

The cons for Weebly include:
Drag and drop only assists in helping someone learn visual design concepts of a website, doesn't allow the option of challenging those who would like to further their understanding of website building.
Obsessive email updates. Like an over-attached lover that just doesn't know when to draw the line between connecting with you and smothering you I can safely say that since signing up (under 2 weeks) I've had 4 emails telling me that my website wants me to come back to it, that I can increase my viewing statistics and that there are other new key features.

A Weebly website attempt

So whilst our guest talked on I put together a website that had a home page, a code of conduct for class page, a blog page (added a blog posting on it once I got home), a resources page and an assessment tasks page. Safe to say that Weebly is dead easy to use.

To website build or to not?

Website building is naturally an easy thing to do these days in some regards (the harder part being to design well), however the conversation regarding website building is often one that isn't explored well by others. When getting students to create websites there needs to be the fundamental question of "why am I asking my students to do this?" If it's just for the sake of doing it... well then you're doing it wrong. If it's to allow students to explore a new way to express themselves... well then you're on the right path.
Another question worth asking is how will you support those who struggle with either poor literacy skills or poor digital skills? For students it's one thing for the teacher to read your bad spelling and grammar in an essay, and quite another to have it published for family and peers to witness as well.

As for the question on whether we as educators should have our own websites? My thoughts are simple... Yes only if you plan on using is consistently. It's not as powerful if you allow it to appear like your latest new gimmick only to be abandoned when the next cool trick comes rolling out.
I'm planning on running a weebly website next year for curiosity's sake to see how popular/useful it will be for my students. I'll let you know how it turns out.

What I learnt from my day at the VITTA conference!

So today I had a rare chance to go off and get immersed in some Professional Development. I took myself across Melbourne to Caulfield Race Course to my first foray into the VITTA (Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association) Conference. I was to hear from two keynote presenters and from 4 other speakers on an array of topics all related of course to the use of technology in education. I was excited, I packed my iPad, my android phone (Samsung Galaxy III) and pen and paper (just in case). These are the thoughts that I came away with:

What I learnt from my day at the VITTA conference!

Factory Model is out... Creativity, global awareness and entrepreneurship is in!

The old model of marching students into class, having them sitting in rows, asking them to open their brains and teachers then attempting to stuff as much information as we can in before running a memory test is no longer an acceptable mode in which to prepare our young for the future. Instead we heard at the VITTA conference Professor Yong Zhao reiterate what we are fast becoming to accept is the ideal future for education within a school environment and that is a shift to developing individuals that are creative, passionate and globally competent. Individuals who are confident in their abilities, willing to take risks, able to connect with others to develop friendships and of course be alert to their world in order to make the best decisions possible. As we make work places more and more efficient we lose more and more jobs so those students we prepare for the "factory" life will find it harder and harder to find long term employment.

The factory model prepares worker people for the unlikelihood of gaining a job.

Twitter really is a big deal...

Every serious presenter had a twitter account and used it. This is how the world is interacting and we need to embrace and accept this. In fact as we were sitting in our conference listening to key speakers the twitter world was afire with conversation regarding the Mars Landing. The first keynote speaker discussed using twitter for Professional Development and networking. The next presenter I saw discussed it in a similar way, and also for using with a class. The next presentation I went to was about the global classroom and a teacher from a rural school discussed how she used Twitter to network with teachers across the globe to enrich her classes (and in the process her school). Through twitter this teacher was able to connect with teachers overseas as well as professionals in a variety of fields to match what the students were learning, including an explorer in Antarctica.

Mobile Phone / Tech Policies need to be revisited/revised...

Every few years we as educators take the time to review the resources that we are using (usually textbooks) and we make a decision to upgrade/change/develop those resources to best suit where the students are at. Some schools have even decided to introduce iPads/tablets or netbooks to their change. One thing that became abundantly clear from the sessions I sat in was that there were many passionate teachers who had brilliant ideas on how to engage their class using technology, only to be hampered by restrictions and policies. Many were whispering in the corners of conference rooms how their students aren’t allowed mobiles at school “but I ask them to bring them in and use them anyway”. These confessions could be construed as naughty teachers breaking the rules and not supporting the “policy” and maybe some are being deliberately cheeky but knowing this is happening just means a bigger question. “Why are so many teachers encouraging students to SBYOD (Secretly Bring Your Own Device)?” The answer if you haven’t already figured it out... is because it is obviously resulting in engagement in the lesson at hand. No teacher is going to invite more distraction into an already over stimulated environment (I’m assuming that all teachers are endeavouring to have engaging, interesting and challenging classes to begin with). Students and teachers alike should consider exploring and understanding Digital Citizenship and what is a responsible use of online capable devices so they can then begin to develop an agreement that will allow more flexibility in regards to bringing mobiles into the classroom.

Do you SBYOD?

The classroom is not square...

As teachers we’ve always known that learning doesn’t just occur in the classroom, however the way our schools are designed, planned and budgeted for often leaves us designing lessons that fit a timetable of so many lessons per week for x amount of minutes. Students are expected to walk through a door and instantly switch onto their subject. They’re expected to remember what was discussed previously and in some cases prepare for a future moment in the week when they will have a chance to revisit the subject again. In some cases we attempt to assist this behaviour with “homework” which may or may not be completed by the student and may or may not result in any actual “learning”. A constant underlying message during the sessions at today’s VITTA conference was that the classroom can and most likely should be extended outside the confines of the square room that we use to gather with our students. This can be done a variety of ways including the use of online collaboration tools for outside class hours, to the use of communication tools to connect with the world outside of the classroom/school/state/country. So if you’re not too sure, start small... get your students on Edmodo, use twitter or even explore what your school already has and start designing an online version of your class. Invite a colleague to “guest teach” via skype or even better just record your own podcast or start a blog for students to follow.

All in all I found the day a great exercise of the mind and it was nice to know that I wasn't the only one finding the I.T policies and procedures in my school challenging. It was great to connect with a few people through twitter and hopefully I can take back what I learnt from the day to share with my colleagues and develop more exciting and interesting dialogue.

Peace!