I thought that we'd start with an inspirational, opening 'comment from Angela, (a teacher from last summer's class):
You can read the rest of class's comments from last year, here.
Angela Tarr said...
Somehow I managed to survive. I was not a very good teacher those first few years; I struggled. After ten years of teaching, I asked to switch to another grade level when a teacher in my department quit. (Not retired, quit.) The other teacher who taught this grade level in my department shared everything. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. She said she had already done the work, why should I start from scratch? She and I had very different styles, so I wasn’t totally comfortable using her exact plans and assignments. (Since I was working on a master’s and had two young children at the time, she suggested that.) I adapted most of her materials to suit my teaching (and learning) style. Her gift of a place to start other than ground zero was huge for me. I could go to her and ask questions, observe her in the classroom, get help.
When I moved into the library five years ago, I handed fifteen years of materials over to my 22 year old replacement. I volunteered to do anything she needed me to do to get her off on the right foot. I answered questions, came to her classroom a couple of times to present introductions to units, anything she needed. In her first year she was better than I was at five or six years of experience in the classroom. I’m not taking the credit for her success; she works hard. I will pat myself on the back for giving her some tools to work with to get rolling. She’s the classroom teacher I wish I could have been.
Isn’t this what OER is all about? Sharing? Learning from the experience of others? Why should we start from scratch? (Unless we want to, or the learning situation is better served by doing so.) Granted, I didn’t have the internet when I started teaching. I could only share locally. Now we can share globally. We have amazing tools to work with. We need to use them. Our districts need to let us.
=============================================================
This week we'll be covering how to create an OER from scratch. Once again we'll be accessing Curriki's "Open Educational Resources Integration" project. For this session we'll be accessing the module created by Dr. Michael Searson, the Executive Director for the School for Global Education and Innovation. You may read more about him here.
Mike created a CC licensed module aimed at both pre-service and in-service teachers. His module will be particularly useful to you b/c you may very easily use it to guide yourself when you are training, or educating, others on OER's. I've just gone through his module again and updated any dead links that I could find, but please let me know if you can't access something. You may find all of the links in our syllabus under the Session 7's details.
Good luck and have fun!
DF
PS--Please also place your brief description of your midterm assignment under this entry's comments section. There is a word limit, so if it is long you may have to break it up into two or more 'comments.'
Details and requirements are in the syllabus. (If you have a suggestion for modifying this to better suit your setting, then please pass your idea by me first.)
PPS--Next week is URI's Spring Break (3/11-3/18), so there won't be any class. This is good news for those of you that want a little extra time to work on the midterm. Please complete it before Session 8 (3/20).
32 comments:
I feel I should clarify:
This course is fantastic. It has opened up a whole new direction for me that I was only peripherally aware of, but through the material Dave brings to us, it comes into sharp focus. Take for example Curriki; I joined when it first began because I'm interested in new things and try to keep current. But I had no idea of the whole OER movement so I had no context to understand it's power. I wasn't taking advantage of it at all. It was another 'interesting link. to explore. This course makes connections for me - (that's good teaching.)
I think what happens to me is that I have four to six hours a week that I can explore this new world, and as Dave mentioned, one fascinating link leads to another and before I know it, it's time to make dinner or go to school, etc. So time just 'slips away.' I rely on the comments of you, my fellow students to highlight resources I may have missed and I love hearing about how you are using and thinking about OER and technology integration, or how you may try using it.
I think what will happen for me is that after this course, I'll be able to find one or two resources that I'll really count on and use regularly, like curriki or CK-12. Speaking of keeping current, what professional group(s) do you, members of our class, belong to or recommend?
After doing the work for this week, I just realized that all the reasons for using OER's are simply common sense if we want to help our students to be successful in the future.
One of the reasons to use OER's would be that by sharing, we encourage others to share. We all benefit from others' ideas. Putting all our knowledge together is a very powerful tool.
I also find extremely helpful the fact that we can create groups to work together to build curriculum in the same department and even across departments. In this way, we offer a more rounded education to the students. Subjects are not isolated blocks, but part of a whole.
A third advantage would be that the materials are always updated.
I love that we have a basis to start with and we do not have to reinvent the wheel. We also have the possibility to adapt materials to our students, their learning style and our teaching style.
I do not want to forget the abundance of resources that are offered in OER's (more for some subjects than for others, but we will all get there), and they are FREE!!!
The challenges would be the time needed to elaborate materials and curriculum from scratch. Teachers are also reluctant and/or afraid of novelty. Finally, we need a better knowledge of different programs and software. This can be solved over time, with professional development sessions and a lot of encouragement. Schools definitely need to commit to this, and help the faculty by allowing them time to work together and collaborate in the creation of materials.
Why should we integrate technology in our classroom? Well, because that is what our students are used to; whatever, whenever, wherever. If it comes wrapped in technology, we have some of the battle won.
Allowing students to create equals engagement and critical thinking. Isn't this our ultimate goal? To form life long learners?
Technology in the form of wikis and blogs, for example, makes the students active contributors to the class and empowers them. It is not something imposed to them, but they are part of their own learning progress. They have some control over it, for a change.
We cannot forget that they are "Digital Natives" and,... we are not. This is their world and we have found ourselves here. As any other immigrant, it is our responsibility to adapt to the rules of this new world. We have to embrace technology and use it to our and our students' advantage.
Challenges? Ourselves. Sure students may be using their devices to play "Angry Birds", but we have to keep them engaged, so they do not need anything else. They cannot be just seating there, being fed content that means little to them. Everything that is new requires trial and error. We have to take everything with a pinch of salt, do not take things too seriously, and eventually, it will work out. Our students will surely enjoy giving us a hand with all our mishaps!
I DVR'd 60 minutes this week and was watching last night. I was about to fast forward past the segment when something caught my attention. What do you know it was all about Digital learning, specifically Khan Academy. Mr Kahn is a really interesting and engaging person who definitely "gets it' when it come to the idea that educators are effective to the degree we can inidividualize and coach instead of lecture. The segement talked about flipping the classroom.
I also DVR'd that. If anyone is interested they can watch it here:http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7401696n
I'm currently in the process of piloting my school with the program as well. I'll keep you posted on the success and pitfalls, but so far the feedback on the data that the program collects is fantastic.
I too watched Sixty Minutes last night and loved the Khan Academy segment. I used it today by teaching a third grade class how to navigate to Dr. Khan's academy and how to select appropriate multiplication lessons. This particular class of students has a wide range of skill in multiplication. It was effortless to customize the lesson from the students just beginning to get a sense of multiplication to students confident in multiplying two and three digit numbers.
This afternoon I attended a district wide technology meeting. The agenda items were: BYOD (Bring your own device), Cloud Computing, C-12 Digital Textbooks and mobile computing! Wow - What a surprise. I shared information about Curriki and about this course. People on the committee seemed to think that a five year plan was wise for our district.
A 7th grade social studies teacher was intrigued but was skeptical that e-textbooks are available for ancient history for 7th graders. So I'm on a quest to see what material exists.
There are many benefits to constructing curriculum within an OER environment. First of all, just like Mercedes said, people all over the world can share high-quality educational materials. OER allows teachers to share with their own knowledgeable colleagues who they may not otherwise have the opportunity to collaborate with. The second benefit to using OER is that it is free! This comes at a perfect time since in our current economy some people are struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps the most beneficial part to OER is the impact on our students, since our main goal is to provide the best possible learning experience we can for them. Besides the fact that OER can be updated on a regular basis so the resources students are using should never become outdated, students who struggle might benefit from using resources that are differentiated in terms of difficulty and learning styles.
With any exciting change, there are always challenges. For instance, in the initial stages of creating OER materials, there is a need for various technological resources. I know that this will be a problem for many teachers wishing to incorporate OER into their classrooms. With technology, there is always something new and it is difficult to keep up with in our schools. There also may be a lack of funds necessary to hire IT professionals, and if we rely on the teachers in our buildings who happen to be tech-savvy, these teachers are bound to become overwhelmed. Also, the creation and maintenance that OER requires is a huge commitment on the part of contributors. While it is wonderful to be able to share materials with others, it is one more thing for teachers to add to their already overflowing to-do lists. I think it may be a struggle to get many people to contribute to OER unless we offer them the time and training to do so. Furthermore, OER pose the possibility for inappropriate posts, so there is a need for someone to “police” the online resources. Another potential problem is that some people may lack high-speed Internet connection or even any access to computers at all. In addition, it may be challenging to incorporate OER into a classroom because the materials may not fit within the curriculum. Therefore, OER may best be used as a supplement rather than a replacement for coursework.
Perhaps the most crucial factor that needs to be considered before remixing OER includes considering the needs and skill levels of the targeted audience. It is imperative for the content in the OER to be relevant, and it is important for the contributor to continually review his or her product when using multiple resources. Just like research for a term paper, when we contribute to OER we must make sure our information is being gleaned from accurate sources. For those in the foreign language field, it will be important for them to use an editor and recheck with a native speaker for clarity. It may also be helpful for such teachers to check with OER developers to see if alternate languages are available. All OER contributors need to check the license to verify that reuse and modifications are permitted and to make sure the OER is accessible to all. While we should expect challenges when remixing OER, if we stay on top of our product and consistently review our work, we will be more satisfied with the end result. It seems as though the most helpful place to look for answers is on the Curriki.org website itself. On the site, there is a plethora of tutorials and links to guide people through the OER process.
I loved the “Pay Attention” video! I don’t want to be redundant, but there are so many reasons why new media should be integrated into classroom curriculum. Young people these days are born into a digital world, and they learn by doing. As educators, we have to realize that we should not be placing emphasis on having students memorize material for a test only to forget it later. We need to be teaching our children to think, and they need to be engaged if they are going to learn anything at all. It shocked me that students ask one question every ten hours in class. It will be difficult for us to prepare our students for jobs that don’t even exist yet if they aren’t even allowed to create an original thought. Another alarming statistic is that 28% of twelfth grade students think school is meaningful. Rigor, relevance and relationships should definitely be a priority for us in our schools. I also like the idea of “whenever, wherever, whatever from “A Vision of K-12 Students Today”. We need to encourage lifelong learning. What better way to do it than to incorporate technology that people carry with them at all times?
Finally, my midterm proposal centers around the implementation of Flexbooks. In my proposal, I discuss the importance of keeping up with technology and the fact that Flexbooks are free and can be updated indefinitely. I also stress the idea that Flexbooks are customizable and therefore more appropriate for all types of learners. With Flexbooks, I state that students are allowed to master material before moving on because they can work at their own pace. My proposal also mentions that Flexbooks allow us to incorporate audio and visual functions because differentiation is so important. In addition to emphasizing the benefits of Flexbooks, I addressed some potential problems with implementation and tried to provide some suggestions for alleviating concerns. For example, I made it clear that we would be at the forefront of education if we started implementing Flexbooks, which I know is something that schools want to strive for. In mentioning that professional development would need to be provided to all involved, I reiterated the collaborative nature of Flexbooks, that will all be learning together, and I suggested using our Professional Development Days for Flexbook maintenance so that the district would not have to incur additional costs or worry about paying teachers to update the Flexbooks. All in all, I truly believe that Flexbooks could be a great addition to any school district, and I also think that eventually every child will be using some form of a Flexbook in his or her school.
Page 2
Tina Fournier has been a teacher of English language learners for 10 years. She will use these devices to work with our ELL students to learn English and acquire literacy as well as be able to translate classroom curriculum. iPads can teach English language skills at many different levels. Media technology helps to make language learning more applicable and more fun! She will share her successes with other ELL and classroom teachers.
Laura Coburn has been a classroom teacher and a Library Media Specialist for 13 years. In her previous position in New Jersey she ran the library and the computer lab and has extensive knowledge about media and technology. The NES library will be used to house and monitor the use of the iPads. In addition, the library will create and maintain a database of student authored work, Small groups of students will be able to check out the iPads and utilize them for small group or one-on-one instruction, such as ELL, SPED, Speech and focused interest groups. This will be particularly helpful when the NES Computer Lab is full.
Janie Hobson-Dupont has been the Instructional Technology Integration Specialist at NES since 1989. She connects and integrates classroom curriculum with web resources, applications, and digital tools of all sorts to engage students and enhance student learning.
Together, as a team, we have concluded that the iPad is the best device which meets the educational needs of our diverse students with a wide variety of needs.
Please pay particular attention to describing how this project is innovative and how it will enhance the curriculum in a new and creative way.
iPads and eBooks are intrinsically engaging, inviting students to learn in a whole new way, and challenging us to reexamine how we teach. We observe students actively engaged and compelled to explore when using an iPad. The iPad is changing the way students’ learn and interact with the world. They are the native digital generation and thrive when provided with dynamic learning tools like the iPad which deliver educational apps, digital media and eBooks. It is not an exaggeration to say that currently there is a paradigm shift underway referred to as the Open Educational Resource movement, which includes many types of educational digital resources available for free and reside in the public domain. These include textbooks, software, streaming videos, interactive activities, and learning modules that can be used in their entirety or repurposed. We envision our students at NES adding to this digital warehouse of shared resources through their research and writing of eBooks.
How to create an eBook
Apple’s Pages software on the iPad gives a writer all the tools needed to write text, include graphics or drawings, and design and create an eBook. Creating an eBook is as simple as adding words in the text placeholders and dropping illustrations or photos into the graphics placeholders. Pre-writing ideas can be created in Outline mode. This outline is then easily reformatted into a word document. Different fonts, font size and font color are available. You can adjust line spacing and paragraph alignment. Headers, footers, footnotes, and bookmarks can be added with a few clicks. You can insert section, layout, and page breaks from a pull-down menu. Pages automatically checks your spelling, proofreads the document, and generates a table of contents. And there you have it: a beautifully designed, professional-quality eBook created in minutes.
With the introduction of Siri, comes the future promise of true voice command recognition in the not so distant future. The potential of future apps such as text to speech, and speech to text, voice recognition, and other apps that use motion like the accelerometer to control gesture, can only become more impressive. With the current pervasiveness of smartphones and other tablets, the importance for learning to control personal devices using multi touch will become the norm for all areas of life, and the predominant way people learn.
Page 3
Educational Benefit to Children: What do you expect the students to be able to do, say or think following the work of your project? How will this project advance the instructional goals of the school or school system? How many students do you estimate will be directly impacted by this award? Please list all key learning objectives.
This project is designed to integrate the needs of all 640 NES students. The plan takes the same technology and tailors it to individual needs of all students both academically and developmentally. It’s a great way to think about how best to utilize emerging technologies for differentiated student instruction. Research suggests that differentiated instruction is a necessary component for all student achievement.
When presented with an iPad and amazing educational, interactive, high quality apps which allow students to author their own eBooks, children experience an overwhelming desire to interact with them. We have observed that iPads have this quality of ‘instant engagement.” The experience might be described as entering a virtual world that you hold in your hands…researching, writing, and learning. iPads provide both visual and audible learning in an irresistible package that intrigues young minds.
Additional pertinent informational points:
Technology tools for learning only reach their potential when their design meets educational intention. For this reason it is necessary to review some practical considerations:
• A laptop may have a battery life of four hours, making it necessary to charge in the middle of the school day. iPads have a battery life of 10 hours, which will easily last through an entire school day. At the end of the day the teacher using the iPad lab will set all iPads in the rolling lab to charge overnight.
• The iPad lab will be accessioned into the library collection and signed out at the library desk.
• Teachers will be able to sign up in advance for the iPad lab through the Nantucket Public School public calendar feature in Outlook.
• Our budget includes the App Pages, which is a productivity suite similar to Microsoft Office, which can read and save as an MS Word document, and can be directly published into an e-book format. eBook technology is evolving and getting better and more ‘standardized’ each month. Right now there are two formats that eBooks are published in: file format and DRM format (sort of like VHS and Beta formats of the old VCR tapes. Pages can be exported as an ePub document.) In addition, we are learning about an exciting new area of Open Educational Resources (OER) which offer free digital curriculum materials and free customizable digital textbooks available to any teacher or student able to access an internet browser.
• All iPads come with a built in microphone and a utility, allowing students to record and listen to themselves reading text and their own writing, giving them instant feedback with a modicum of privacy through the use of headphones (also in the budget.) With the use of a headphone splitter, the teacher can ‘plug in’ and listen along to what the student is hearing.
• This budget includes 35 iPads with Smart Covers. Smart covers allow iPads to rest in an inclined position, making typing directly onto the iPad easy allowing student to write, save, print and publish all genres they learn about in Journey’s Literacy Program.
• The entire lab will be housed in two rolling carts capable of charging, syncing and updating all 40 (the NES Library currently had five iPads) iPads at the same time.
• Also included in the budget is a small wireless printer for each cart with extra ink supply suitable for use in a single classroom setting,
• An Apple protection plan which will insure iPad repairs for three years.
• Four VGA Adaptors which allow an iPad to be easily connected to a LCD projector.
• We have included an App volume voucher for $500, allowing the Library to purchase most apps at a 50% discount, which is a feature only available to schools.
page 4
Educational Benefit to Children: What do you expect the students to be able to do, say or think following the work of your project? How will this project advance the instructional goals of the school or school system? How many students do you estimate will be directly impacted by this award? Please list all key learning objectives.
This project is designed to integrate the needs of all 640 NES students. The plan takes the same technology and tailors it to individual needs of all students both academically and developmentally. It’s a great way to think about how best to utilize emerging technologies for differentiated student instruction. Research suggests that differentiated instruction is a necessary component for all student achievement.
When presented with an iPad and amazing educational, interactive, high quality apps which allow students to author their own eBooks, children experience an overwhelming desire to interact with them. We have observed that iPads have this quality of ‘instant engagement.” The experience might be described as entering a virtual world that you hold in your hands…researching, writing, and learning. iPads provide both visual and audible learning in an irresistible package that intrigues young minds.
Additional pertinent informational points:
Technology tools for learning only reach their potential when their design meets educational intention. For this reason it is necessary to review some practical considerations:
• A laptop may have a battery life of four hours, making it necessary to charge in the middle of the school day. iPads have a battery life of 10 hours, which will easily last through an entire school day. At the end of the day the teacher using the iPad lab will set all iPads in the rolling lab to charge overnight.
• The iPad lab will be accessioned into the library collection and signed out at the library desk.
• Teachers will be able to sign up in advance for the iPad lab through the Nantucket Public School public calendar feature in Outlook.
• Our budget includes the App Pages, which is a productivity suite similar to Microsoft Office, which can read and save as an MS Word document, and can be directly published into an e-book format. eBook technology is evolving and getting better and more ‘standardized’ each month. Right now there are two formats that eBooks are published in: file format and DRM format (sort of like VHS and Beta formats of the old VCR tapes. Pages can be exported as an ePub document.) In addition, we are learning about an exciting new area of Open Educational Resources (OER) which offer free digital curriculum materials and free customizable digital textbooks available to any teacher or student able to access an internet browser.
• All iPads come with a built in microphone and a utility, allowing students to record and listen to themselves reading text and their own writing, giving them instant feedback with a modicum of privacy through the use of headphones (also in the budget.) With the use of a headphone splitter, the teacher can ‘plug in’ and listen along to what the student is hearing.
• This budget includes 35 iPads with Smart Covers. Smart covers allow iPads to rest in an inclined position, making typing directly onto the iPad easy allowing student to write, save, print and publish all genres they learn about in Journey’s Literacy Program.
page 6
Evaluation: How will you measure progress toward your learning objectives? What before and after data can the NGCF expect to see?
Evaluation Ideas:
• The number, the length and the quality of student writing when using the iPad. How many high quality eBooks do students write?
• Library sign-out records.
• The enthusiasm of students --- Student surveys focused on their feelings about writing in general. Repeat survey after iPad writing experience.
• Provide before and after samples of writing for students who are learning the language.
• Community / parent feedback through home access to our school’s website in the form of a survey and informal emails.
• Integration into the Journey’s reading program as evidenced by genre writing by students in the form of stories, plays, poetry, and informational text.
• Pre and Post Teacher use surveys - Pre-use survey: who will use the iPads and what for? Personal narratives in March; poetry in April; social studies / science through out the year. Post-use survey: how did the iPad activity go? Did you meet your instructional goals? What future support would you like?
Community Education: How will you and your students share the results of this project with the community? How will you share this project with colleagues?
• For English Language Learner and SPED parents: Demonstrate effective learning apps.
• Model iPad applications after events like Autism Speaks.
• Include eBooks in events like Author Teas / Author Nights. Possibly at Bookworks or the Nantucket Atheneum.
• Meet the author events, in which each student has an iPad and shares their writing to a gathered audience.
Built into the timeline in year two there will be workshops for colleagues, and parents, with on-going technical support, completed student publications, community outreach of student publications. During Guest Reader day use iPads to share student work with other classes. Share our work with residents of Academy Hill Apartments, and Our Island Home. During Year three’s plan incudes partnering with other schools also self publishing and share student authors’ work.
Use Mrs. HD’s website to share student projects, student authored eBooks downloads available for parents, families and community.
Funding: Please include the total amount requested, as well as a detailed summary of anticipated expenses. Funds to be available: June 2012. The iPad 3 has the same price point as the iPad 2. Since funds become available during the summer of 2012, presumably we will order the latest version of iPad available.
Apple Quote (see attached): plus 1 MacBook Air necessary for syncing and updates $28,572.70
40 headphones for school use (not earbuds) $428
10 Stereo cord splitters $84
Estimated Amount: $29,084.70
3/13/2012
Page 2
Tina Fournier has been a teacher of English language learners for 10 years. She will use these devices to work with our ELL students to learn English and acquire literacy as well as be able to translate classroom curriculum. iPads can teach English language skills at many different levels. Media technology helps to make language learning more applicable and more fun! She will share her successes with other ELL and classroom teachers.
Laura Coburn has been a classroom teacher and a Library Media Specialist for 13 years. In her previous position in New Jersey she ran the library and the computer lab and has extensive knowledge about media and technology. The NES library will be used to house and monitor the use of the iPads. In addition, the library will create and maintain a database of student authored work, Small groups of students will be able to check out the iPads and utilize them for small group or one-on-one instruction, such as ELL, SPED, Speech and focused interest groups. This will be particularly helpful when the NES Computer Lab is full.
Janie Hobson-Dupont has been the Instructional Technology Integration Specialist at NES since 1989. She connects and integrates classroom curriculum with web resources, applications, and digital tools of all sorts to engage students and enhance student learning.
Together, as a team, we have concluded that the iPad is the best device which meets the educational needs of our diverse students with a wide variety of needs.
Please pay particular attention to describing how this project is innovative and how it will enhance the curriculum in a new and creative way.
iPads and eBooks are intrinsically engaging, inviting students to learn in a whole new way, and challenging us to reexamine how we teach. We observe students actively engaged and compelled to explore when using an iPad. The iPad is changing the way students’ learn and interact with the world. They are the native digital generation and thrive when provided with dynamic learning tools like the iPad which deliver educational apps, digital media and eBooks. It is not an exaggeration to say that currently there is a paradigm shift underway referred to as the Open Educational Resource movement, which includes many types of educational digital resources available for free and reside in the public domain. These include textbooks, software, streaming videos, interactive activities, and learning modules that can be used in their entirety or repurposed. We envision our students at NES adding to this digital warehouse of shared resources through their research and writing of eBooks.
How to create an eBook
Apple’s Pages software on the iPad gives a writer all the tools needed to write text, include graphics or drawings, and design and create an eBook. Creating an eBook is as simple as adding words in the text placeholders and dropping illustrations or photos into the graphics placeholders. Pre-writing ideas can be created in Outline mode. This outline is then easily reformatted into a word document. Different fonts, font size and font color are available. You can adjust line spacing and paragraph alignment. Headers, footers, footnotes, and bookmarks can be added with a few clicks. You can insert section, layout, and page breaks from a pull-down menu. Pages automatically checks your spelling, proofreads the document, and generates a table of contents. And there you have it: a beautifully designed, professional-quality eBook created in minutes.
With the introduction of Siri, comes the future promise of true voice command recognition in the not so distant future. The potential of future apps such as text to speech, and speech to text, voice recognition, and other apps that use motion like the accelerometer to control gesture, can only become more impressive. With the current pervasiveness of smartphones and other tablets, the importance for learning to control personal devices using multi touch will become the norm for all areas of life, and the predominant way people learn.
Page 3
Educational Benefit to Children: What do you expect the students to be able to do, say or think following the work of your project? How will this project advance the instructional goals of the school or school system? How many students do you estimate will be directly impacted by this award? Please list all key learning objectives.
This project is designed to integrate the needs of all 640 NES students. The plan takes the same technology and tailors it to individual needs of all students both academically and developmentally. It’s a great way to think about how best to utilize emerging technologies for differentiated student instruction. Research suggests that differentiated instruction is a necessary component for all student achievement.
When presented with an iPad and amazing educational, interactive, high quality apps which allow students to author their own eBooks, children experience an overwhelming desire to interact with them. We have observed that iPads have this quality of ‘instant engagement.” The experience might be described as entering a virtual world that you hold in your hands…researching, writing, and learning. iPads provide both visual and audible learning in an irresistible package that intrigues young minds.
Additional pertinent informational points:
Technology tools for learning only reach their potential when their design meets educational intention. For this reason it is necessary to review some practical considerations:
• A laptop may have a battery life of four hours, making it necessary to charge in the middle of the school day. iPads have a battery life of 10 hours, which will easily last through an entire school day. At the end of the day the teacher using the iPad lab will set all iPads in the rolling lab to charge overnight.
• The iPad lab will be accessioned into the library collection and signed out at the library desk.
• Teachers will be able to sign up in advance for the iPad lab through the Nantucket Public School public calendar feature in Outlook.
• Our budget includes the App Pages, which is a productivity suite similar to Microsoft Office, which can read and save as an MS Word document, and can be directly published into an e-book format. eBook technology is evolving and getting better and more ‘standardized’ each month. Right now there are two formats that eBooks are published in: file format and DRM format (sort of like VHS and Beta formats of the old VCR tapes. Pages can be exported as an ePub document.) In addition, we are learning about an exciting new area of Open Educational Resources (OER) which offer free digital curriculum materials and free customizable digital textbooks available to any teacher or student able to access an internet browser.
• All iPads come with a built in microphone and a utility, allowing students to record and listen to themselves reading text and their own writing, giving them instant feedback with a modicum of privacy through the use of headphones (also in the budget.) With the use of a headphone splitter, the teacher can ‘plug in’ and listen along to what the student is hearing.
• This budget includes 35 iPads with Smart Covers. Smart covers allow iPads to rest in an inclined position, making typing directly onto the iPad easy allowing student to write, save, print and publish all genres they learn about in Journey’s Literacy Program.
• The entire lab will be housed in two rolling carts capable of charging, syncing and updating all 40 (the NES Library currently had five iPads) iPads at the same time.
• Also included in the budget is a small wireless printer for each cart with extra ink supply suitable for use in a single classroom setting,
• An Apple protection plan which will insure iPad repairs for three years.
• Four VGA Adaptors which allow an iPad to be easily connected to a LCD projector.
• We have included an App volume voucher for $500, allowing the Library to purchase most apps at a 50% discount, which is a feature only available to schools.
Page 4
Timeline: What is the timeline for this project? Please indicate approximate start and end dates and the dates for major milestones, activities or events.
Year One: Formation of core team with meetings, completed plan, acquired technical expertise of e-book publication , completed materials list, completed application for funding. Writing of teacher survey to be used the following year.
Year Two: Funding award in hand,
• Purchase materials during the summer of 2012,
• Presentation of professional development workshops for colleagues August - June 2012,
• On-going technical support of colleagues, August - June 2012,
• Completed student publications, and community outreach of student publications. October - June 2012,
• Teacher survey - who will use the iPads and what for? August-September 2012.
• Personal narratives in March; 2013 poetry in April 2013; social studies / science, according to unit and grade level. Examples may include Guest Reader day.
• Use iPads to share student work with other classes.
• Share our work with residents of Academy Hill Apartments, and Our Island Home.
• Write the final evaluation tool for use during the next school year.
Year Three:
• Partnership. This can be done by partnering with other schools as well as self publishing and sharing student authors’ work.
• Complete the final evaluation and re-assessment by core group.
• Seek funding for additional technology.
Evaluation: How will you measure progress toward your learning objectives? What before and after data can the NGCF expect to see?
Evaluation Ideas:
• The number, the length and the quality of student writing when using the iPad. How many high quality eBooks do students write?
• Library sign-out records.
• The enthusiasm of students --- Student surveys focused on their feelings about writing in general. Repeat survey after iPad writing experience.
• Provide before and after samples of writing for students who are learning the language.
• Community / parent feedback through home access to our school’s website in the form of a survey and informal emails.
• Integration into the Journey’s reading program as evidenced by genre writing by students in the form of stories, plays, poetry, and informational text.
• Pre and Post Teacher use surveys - Pre-use survey: who will use the iPads and what for? Personal narratives in March; poetry in April; social studies / science through out the year. Post-use survey: how did the iPad activity go? Did you meet your instructional goals? What future support would you like?
Laura Coburn, Jeannie Printer and I all work at Nantucket Elementary School. We are part of a team that has been working on a grant proposal which we are submitting as our midterm.
If you cut and paste this link into your browser address bar you should come to an image of an iPad. Click on the iPad and you should be linked to our midterm. Let me know if this doesn't work.
Janie HD
http://www.nescomputerlab.com/nescomputerlab/DigitalMidterm.html
My midterm is a document that I would present to my administrators and distribute a copy of it electronically. If this were a real situation, I would prepare a prezi to go along and make the presentation a lighter experience.
I try to educate my school's administrators about what are OER's and the advantages of using Curriki and Flexbooks. I presented the benefits for both students and teachers, as I believe that they go hand in hand.
I added hyperlinks to add extra information. I included articles and videos from our class.
Here you have the link to my midterm.
Simply cut and paste to your browser. Let me know if you have problems to access it.
https://docs.google.com/a/lasalle-academy.org/file/d/0B4nzsT6eFrQLLWs0ZUFoQ0dTSUtKYzh2T1VsSmNfdw/edit
Lots of food for thought in this week's session. The topic of OERs is getting deeper and broader and more encompassing. The motivation vignette was a good and fun intro. There were so many spliced segments to that video I'm sure the two actors were cracking up with their poor acting skills, but they got their message across. This would be a great intro video on OERs to show any school faculty.
Searson's learning module on Curriki guides the reader through the development of an OER. I appreciated the useful links at the end of the module and was happy to see elementary level resources featured, especially the openoffice.org site. Audacity.sourceforge.net would be helpful to those contemplating or already using podcasts!
What amazed me after reading the Open Ed. Resources Serve the World article was looking up the publication date. 2005! Mrs. Hobson-Dupont commented that she had no idea of the OER movement. I had never heard of it either and I assumed it was more in its infancy stage.
I did some exploring on the MIT Open Courseware site (in existence since 2002!) and found I could access 2000 courses. Exploring further I looked through the courses offered in Literature. Amazing, amazing offerings. My cousin is a retired English Lit. professor from Villanova. I would love to have a conversation with him and get his opinion regarding OERs. I believe a quote in the article sums up the OER movement: "Increasing educational options can help people help themselves." In simplicity it is a "pay it forward" approach to educating the world.
Meeting individual student needs through differentiated instruction is a major reason to create curriculum within an OER environment. A course on algebra could be created with varying chapters and degrees of difficulty depending on the student. Of course the challenge would be finding enough material on different academic levels to create an entire course curriculum. Another advantage is the ability to pick and choose chapters from highly regarded sources to create a synergistic end product - the final product is better than the individual components. The challenge is the time consumed by reading and evaluating a vast collection of resources. Still another reason for using OERs to construct a curriculum is the timeliness of the material. Textbooks are outdated before they are even published. OERs are constantly changing and remixing and are able to address contemporary learning strategies and integrate state-of-the-art technology.
The video, "A Vision of K-12 Students Today" kept repeating the same message...teach me to think, engage me. The word "engage" has many meanings, but the definition I would use in education (thank you, Merriam-Webster) is: to induce to participate. If we can get students motivated to actively participate in their learning through technological tools, whether they are cell phones, ipads, podcasts, or Web 2.0 tools, then as teachers we are doing our jobs. Another YouTube video offered on the same page was titled "Are you a Teacher or Educator?" Food for thought.
To engage a student is the number one reason for integrating new media into the classroom curriculum. I think more and more students have become a combination of visual and auditory learners who rely on both approaches to learn. Technology offers these learners a variety of ways to explore curriculum content. Educators (notice how I've changed the noun?) need to prepare their students for their future - a future that I'm sure will be filled with all kinds of technological advances that we can't even envision - so NOT utilizing new media is doing a disservice to students. Finally, the elementary teacher's challenge of meeting the individual intellectual and academic needs of his or her students can be more attainable through the use of media tools. This fresh approach breathes life into learning! Which brings me to my mid-term proposal....
If you have read Mrs. Hobson-Dupont's entry for March 16th, and had a chance to visit the link, you will see that we are steering a bit off-course with the mid-term requirements to focus our energy in the area of ipad technology and their integration and usefulness in developing student writers through the production of student ebooks. In a school that is slowly but surely becoming technologically up-to-date, this project is a giant leap for the staff and students.
I agree with Mercedes's comments on the advantages of OER. I work at a small private school (about 200 students), and we pride ourselves on our small class size and focus on students as individuals. I think that implementiong OER resources would help us take this focus to a new level, so I wrote my midterm proposal about flexbooks/electronic textbooks.
I think the advantages of flexbooks in offering a range of resources is really amazing - students can select from a range of readings, videos, activities, and more that offer extra review, extra challenges for "gifted" students, and just alternative modes of learning. I can think of many ways I would have enjoyed these types of opportunities as a student!
The "Pay Attention" video helped me focus on the ways today's students learn, and how traditional textbooks just aren't going to suit their needs. I hope OER resources continue to spread and help schools to improve and connect to students with the types of technology they use by choice.
I drafted a proposal for our district to implement eBooks. In particular I focused on CK-12, just because I feel there is so much potential with this one organization to help a district in a pilot program for the introduction of eBooks.
Copy and paste this link and it will bring you to Google Docs
https://docs.google.com/a/westwarwickpublicschools.com/document/d/1gaBLdj43wLNjVxlZeFV3XDuhptNsUaOBPja0G8Jpahs/edit
I had technology problems when it came to writing this proposal! I tried to embed video clips that Dave had used in some of our sessions, but to no avail :(
I am overwhelmed by the depth of resources. Feeling like I'm swimming in very deep water....
I am helping two (possibly three) teachers deploy free text to speech tools for their struggling readers. The 'halfway' point of my proposal, currently a work in progress, can be reviewed at http://goo.gl/B2D1F.
Thank you Art for all the valuable information about text to speech. You have done a lot of research into the area and have worked out lots of the kinks. I recently discovered Read Please - Free. You download it onto your computer and using copy and paste, it will read you anything, but the quality isn't great. I am going to try Chrome and iSpeech. Thank you.
I am jumping around a little bit between sessions 7 and 8.
Three reasons to construct curriculum within OER:
1. It's cool - does that count?
ok
1. It simplifies the process of differentiating content for students with a wide range of abilities. The challenge is the time it would take to create content.
2. It's free - the challenge is administration may be wary of 'free resources' and text book companies will go the same route as the music industry.
3. It supports teachers helping each other, without regard to geographical location. Again, perhaps it is time consuming, but cumulatively, resources will build and ultimately be a huge time saver.
2. It's Free
And... why integrate technology?
1. Technology has this intrinsic, compelling way of drawing these 'digital natives' in. copy and paste this into your browser to see a video that we made to demonstrate this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSmm9Kgq8bo&feature=g-upl&context=G2303f7dAUAAAAAAAAAA
2. The world 'is going' digital. This is how all people will be accessing information. Our students need to be taught how to distinguish between high quality and low quality content.
3. It's cool.
Week 7: Good Reasons
To create major changes in our world and a more just society, OER curricula need to become an integral part of elementary, secondary, university, and adult education. The goal is to provide education without borders and boundaries, and this includes bridging the digital divide. Big reasons: OER could eventually create peace between cultures, a clean and safe environment, political justice and a long list of other positive changes; education is the key, and OER is a solution.
When I was browsing lbiblio.org, I learned about the death of Michael Hart, the founder of Project Gutenburg, the free ebook archiver. Over 38,000 free ebooks which can be downloaded or read online. His obtituary said it best:
“What made Mr. Hart a hero to many of us was his pragmatic (even dogmatic) adherence to radical openness, via open standards and free access to literature, championing the philosophy that humanity's historical heritage belonged to, well, humanity itself. That, of course, is the underpinning of the argument for open-access science, humanities, social sciences, and every other field of study, and Mr. Hart's example became a touchstone.”
There are many places in the world without computer access - but philanthropists like Bill Gates have provided assistance and, in the future, I trust others will. There are many educators initiating education projects around the world. For example, my director opened a school in Nicaragua in 2008, and continues to support the needs of the community with the help of outside donations.
At the recent technology conference at Rhode Island College, Jeff Mao, the Maine Learning Technology Policy Director, explained how they focused on research to identify high quality OERs. They have used delicious, the social bookmarking tool, and all resources are listed in: http://www.delicious.com/syntiromsn. “These will help teachers to be able to find, catalong, categorize, and add other informative data to quality resources.”
As Mercedes said, sharing with other teachers as well as administrators has become so difficult with our full schedules. If we could focus on OER at professional development meetings each week, imagine how much we would accomplish as a team. There will be some who might question the possibility of a successful outcome, but that was seen when computers were introduced as well.
I feel creativity has suffered in our current public school system. We now focus on test scores and place most emphasis on math and science. It seems that practicing Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences Theory is now on hold. I know I’m off topic here, but maybe with teachers working together in OER, some creative juices will begin flowing again.
Gardner's theory argues that students will be better served by a broader vision of education, wherein teachers use different methodologies, exercises and activities to reach all students, not just those who excel at linguistic and logical intelligence. It challenges educators to find ‘‘ways that will work for this student learning this topic’’ (Gardner, 1999, p. 154).
I will continue my comments in another post: Google's rules.
Continued:
Integrating new media in our schools could only enhance a digital natives’ learning ability. I have not met a student who does not enjoy utilizing technology and new media. The joy of learning has been enhanced, and the excitement is demonstrated in videos and projects. The parents of those students also need new media integrated into the classroom curriculum. In Adult Education, using technology can be more difficult as students are uncomfortable at first, but in order to survive in this society, it’s a must. Some adult learners have a greater fear of failure; teachers need to tread lightly, provide extra time to practice, and give one on one attention. Adults take longer to learn; navigating new technology is complicated. Once they become comfortable and discover what they can do, the outcome is inspiring. Most adults who experience computer classes for the first time are highly motivated and look forward to learning all that is offered. They are able to return home and work side by side with their children. As the funding for Adult Educations slips away, distance learning programs can make up for the programs that have closed. OER would allow for lifelong learning; students would not have to rely on our economy's stability.
To create major changes in our world and a more just society, OER curricula need to become an integral part of elementary, secondary, university, and adult education. The goal is to provide education without borders and boundaries, and this includes bridging the digital divide. OER could eventually create peace between cultures, a clean and safe environment, political justice and a long list of other positive changes; education is the key, and OER is a solution.
When I was browsing lbiblio.org, I learned about the death of Michael Hart, the founder of Project Gutenburg, the free ebook archiver. Over 38,000 free ebooks which can be downloaded or read online. His obtituary said it best:
“What made Mr. Hart a hero to many of us was his pragmatic (even dogmatic) adherence to radical openness, via open standards and free access to literature, championing the philosophy that humanity's historical heritage belonged to, well, humanity itself. That, of course, is the underpinning of the argument for open-access science, humanities, social sciences, and every other field of study, and Mr. Hart's example became a touchstone.”
There are many places in the world without computer access - but philanthropists like Bill Gates have provided assistance and, in the future, I trust others will. There are many educators initiating education projects around the world. For example, my director opened a school in Nicaragua in 2008, and continues to support the needs of the community with the help of outside donations.
At the recent technology conference at Rhode Island College, Jeff Mao, the Maine Learning Technology Policy Director, explained how they focused on research to identify high quality OERs. They have used delicious, the social bookmarking tool, and all resources are listed in: http://www.delicious.com/syntiromsn. “These will help teachers to be able to find, catalong, categorize, and add other informative data to quality resources.”
As Mercedes said, sharing with other teachers as well as administrators has become so difficult with our full schedules. If we could focus on OER at professional development meetings each week, imagine how much we would accomplish as a team. There will be some who might question the possibility of a successful outcome, but that was seen when computers were introduced as well.
I feel creativity has suffered in our current public school system. We now focus on test scores and place most emphasis on math and science. It seems that practicing Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences Theory is now on hold. I know I’m off topic here, but maybe with teachers working together in OER, some creative juices will begin flowing again.
Gardner's theory argues that students will be better served by a broader vision of education, wherein teachers use different methodologies, exercises and activities to reach all students, not just those who excel at linguistic and logical intelligence. It challenges educators to find ‘‘ways that will work for this student learning this topic’’ (Gardner, 1999, p. 154).
tiMy midterm assignment is a document informing my principal on OER and the benefits of utilizing on Curriki. I have had several conversations with him regarding OER resources and have worked with my assistant principal regarding integrating more technology into the classroom. I was really fascinated in using Curriki's online courses as a way to supplement my courses and help struggling learners. With this additional support, these students seem to be more prepared for my classes.
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