In my Sunday assignment, my task was to create a digital story using only a cell phone. For this task, I used an app on my iPhone called "Stop Motion." This particular app allows a person to incorporate slow motion photography to create a movie.
This was really an easy and neat program to use. I typed my story one word at a time and took a picture of each shot. I rigged my iPhone to an old video tripod to hold it stationary while I took a shot of each word. I incorporated pictures of myself at different stages of my life to fit into the story line.
For my audio, I downloaded a "creative commons" song named "Cute" from a website called bensounds into my iTunes library through which I added to the app. The program also allows you to choose themes, opening screens, word images, and credit screens. The base program didn't have themes and word images, so I downloaded an upgrade for $1.99.
The program "Stop Motion" renders your movie. Once this was done I saved the movie onto my camera roll and then uploaded it into Google Drive. At my school we have a set of fifteen iPads that I will be loading with this program. I can see using this program easily with students.
I hope you enjoy my movie - "Nicole's Story" (I knew I would be an educator when...)
References
Bensounds. [royalty free music - mp3]. Cute. Retrieved from http://www.bensound.com/
Stopmotion App. Retrieved from https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/stop-motion-studio/id441651297?mt=8
Learning
Learning - Best done in groups
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Friday, May 29, 2015
EDIM 514 - Mobiles in the Classroom Interview
This week for my "Internet Tools for Teaching" assignment, I was asked to find a teacher who has used cell phones in their classroom. I inquired with the collaborative lead teachers and colleagues from other schools in my division and found a colleague that has used cell phones in the classroom. Stephen Womack (@stephenwomack) teaches high school English at a neighbouring school. I interviewed him through email.
The first question I asked Stephen was "How have you used cell phones in your classroom?"
Stephen:
When I first started teaching in 2007, I made it my mission to try to use cell phones in a meaningful way. I thought of cell phones as having the potential for both a means of expression (ie. contributing to the class in a meaningful way) and a means of reception (ie. reminders of due dates and assignments). Back then, the options were more limited so I had to get creative. I started by using a service called “lettermelater” wherein I could get student cell phone numbers and carriers so that I could email a text to their phones. I could schedule them weeks or months in advance. I then switched to Remind101 a few years later, but, with that service, I couldn’t isolate students in order to send them individual texts.
I also started using “Polleverywhere” sometime around 2008-2009. I had used it for students to text questions to a TV permanently set up in the corner of my class. I also used it for students to text thesis statements to the SMARTboard and then we could analyze and break them down with relative anonymity. That last use is the only one that is still a part of my practice.
The expressive uses became mostly a mockery and an exercise in inappropriate comments through their relative anonymity. No matter how much instruction and scaffolding I provided, the comments were still inappropriate, rife with errors, and dismissive of the educational exercise.
The receptive uses became a crutch. Any due date that I gave the class would be written on the board, on the assignment sheet, and then texted to them a few days before the assignment was due. If the text didn’t arrive, the students would blame the absence for their inability to complete the work on time. Even if it did arrive, the students would complain about the arrival date because it was either too early or too late for them to get the work done. Since my goal is to help students to become independent learners, I realized that I was contributing to a debilitating dependence.
As a result, I have abandoned the gimmicks, and I simply give students my cell phone number on the first day of class. It has been the only functional use that I have found for cell phones. If they are late or if they missed class, they text me. If they have a question about an assignment, they text me. If they haven’t come to class for a couple of days, I text them. It is authentic, and, so far, I have had no students abuse the privilege. I have actually had more issues with students knowing where I live (and showing up at my house) than I have with students knowing my phone number.
In all, I think that the most valuable use of cell phones (and, honestly, of technology in general) is the optics. If students see me, the teacher, as being current, up-to-date, or even trying to engage in something that they care about, it helps me to build meaningful relationships with them, and they are more likely to give weight or importance to my class. Beyond that use, everything that I have tried has had, in my opinion, many more drawbacks compared to the benefits.
The only use that I have now for my cell phone is for my own personal or professional use (ie. ZipGrade and Plickers), and I don’t involve their phones at all.
The first question I asked Stephen was "How have you used cell phones in your classroom?"
Stephen:
When I first started teaching in 2007, I made it my mission to try to use cell phones in a meaningful way. I thought of cell phones as having the potential for both a means of expression (ie. contributing to the class in a meaningful way) and a means of reception (ie. reminders of due dates and assignments). Back then, the options were more limited so I had to get creative. I started by using a service called “lettermelater” wherein I could get student cell phone numbers and carriers so that I could email a text to their phones. I could schedule them weeks or months in advance. I then switched to Remind101 a few years later, but, with that service, I couldn’t isolate students in order to send them individual texts.
I also started using “Polleverywhere” sometime around 2008-2009. I had used it for students to text questions to a TV permanently set up in the corner of my class. I also used it for students to text thesis statements to the SMARTboard and then we could analyze and break them down with relative anonymity. That last use is the only one that is still a part of my practice.
The second question was "What is your school policy regarding cell phones?"
Stephen:
Our school doesn’t have any definite school-wide cell phone policy. It is left up to the individual teacher to make the decision about how much or how little to use them.
Next I asked Stephen "Have there been any challenges in using mobile technology in the classroom? He also answered the questions "What have you learned from your experience and is there anything you would change or have already changed" in the response below.
Stephen:
I have almost entirely stopped using cell phones in my class. The challenges have never been in terms of policy: I have never had restrictions placed on me by my school. In reality, the opposite was the case: the students themselves were hesitant, at best, to use the technology that they perceive as only personal in any sort of meaningful way.
The expressive uses became mostly a mockery and an exercise in inappropriate comments through their relative anonymity. No matter how much instruction and scaffolding I provided, the comments were still inappropriate, rife with errors, and dismissive of the educational exercise.
The receptive uses became a crutch. Any due date that I gave the class would be written on the board, on the assignment sheet, and then texted to them a few days before the assignment was due. If the text didn’t arrive, the students would blame the absence for their inability to complete the work on time. Even if it did arrive, the students would complain about the arrival date because it was either too early or too late for them to get the work done. Since my goal is to help students to become independent learners, I realized that I was contributing to a debilitating dependence.
As a result, I have abandoned the gimmicks, and I simply give students my cell phone number on the first day of class. It has been the only functional use that I have found for cell phones. If they are late or if they missed class, they text me. If they have a question about an assignment, they text me. If they haven’t come to class for a couple of days, I text them. It is authentic, and, so far, I have had no students abuse the privilege. I have actually had more issues with students knowing where I live (and showing up at my house) than I have with students knowing my phone number.
In all, I think that the most valuable use of cell phones (and, honestly, of technology in general) is the optics. If students see me, the teacher, as being current, up-to-date, or even trying to engage in something that they care about, it helps me to build meaningful relationships with them, and they are more likely to give weight or importance to my class. Beyond that use, everything that I have tried has had, in my opinion, many more drawbacks compared to the benefits.
The only use that I have now for my cell phone is for my own personal or professional use (ie. ZipGrade and Plickers), and I don’t involve their phones at all.
I would like to thank Stephen in participating in this interview on use of cell phones in the classroom. I really like and agree with his statement about staying current and using technology to help build meaningful relationships with students.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
EDIM 514 - Discovering Something New
For my Sunday assignment, I am reviewing three
online sites. Headmagnet, iPiccy, and
Big Huge Labs. Headmagnet is an online
study tool. iPiccy and Big Huge Labs
allow online photo editing.
In the edutecher.com site, I found an online study tool called Headmagnet. I have been interested in finding sites for study purposes. This is tool allows a person to create lists of items a person wants to remember. You create a new list and then you create a new item within the list.
For example, I created an item asking if “tungsten is
classified as a metal or non-metal." I
could then type in the answer. It is a metal element. Once you have
questions in the list you created, you can choose to study. You can set the time and the number of
questions you want to study. You can
choose to type in the answers or verbally go over the answers. One thing I found that I did not like about
the tool is that if you spelled a word wrong or didn’t type in a phrase
exactly, the program would mark the answer wrong. I emailed the developer about whether they
can get the program to recognize answers that are close.
Once a person studies, the information is saved to
your “brain.” This section of the
program keeps track of the answers you got wrong. I like that it pulls those questions up for a
review. The only issue again is that if
you spelled something wrong, the program would assume that you didn’t know it
and it would be on your review list.
The other neat thing is that the lists you create
can be shared with friends. You can also
explore lists that other people have created.
Another issue I found was that I invited myself through another email
and I didn’t get the invitation. I
emailed the developer about this as well.
There is a free version of the program. You can upgrade for about two dollars US to
get more features like the ability to print your lists. It will be a program I will show my students
if they want to create and share study lists.
The second site I am reviewing is iPiccy. This review of this online tool appears in
the “untangling the web” book. My first
look at the site leads me to say wow! I
have never used such an easy photo editing tool. You are able to upload pictures and then edit
them. You can edit the pictures and then
add a bunch of filters and frames. You
can resize images and they don’t go blurry or get full of pixels. This is an awesome feature in itself! You can adjust exposure, colors, hue &
saturation, dodge, burn, liquefy and so much more. You can make collages and then save the
pictures to your desktop. I have used
different online photo editors to make family collages and always had to fight
to get the project done. This tool will
be so easy to use. I didn’t have any
challenges using this site.
This editor is free.
I love the fact that you do not have to register to use the basic
features. You need to register (it is
still free) to use some of the advanced features like the mirror frame I
included. I will definitely be using
this tool with my students. This is a picture of my school that I took and edited using iPiccy.
The last site I am reviewing is Big Huge Labs. I found this under Kathy Schrock’s online
tools website. This is just a really fun
site. You can take pictures and make
them into billboard posters, stamps, motivational posters, jigsaw puzzles,
trading cards, magazine covers, and posters.
The list of things you can make are endless. You can also order finished products of the
items you create. I could see myself
using this with my science students.
They could create motivational posters of the functions of a cell as an
example. Again, the products can be downloaded to a computer.
This site is a free site, so it is definitely useful with students. It has a bunch of ads on the site. If you pay a fee, you can have the ads removed. You can also download high resolution pictures in the paid version. This site worked well with iPiccy. You can edit the photo with iPiccy and then put your photo into a project. This is an example of the puzzle feature using the picture of my school.
References
Bellow, A. Edutecher.
Retrieved from: http://edutecher.com/
Bondarchuk, N. (Photographer). (2014). BCHS [Photograph]
Big Huge Labs. Retrieved from: http://bighugelabs.com/
Dembo, S., & Bellow, A. (2013). Untangling the web: 20 tools to power up
your teaching. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.
Headmagnet. Retrieved from: https://headmagnet.com/
iPiccy. Retrieved from: http://ipiccy.com/
Schrock, K. Kathy
schrock’s guide to everything – online tools. Retrieved from: http://www.schrockguide.net/online-tools.html
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
EDIM 514 - Fill Up Your Toolbox
This week’s “Friday”
assignment is called “Fill your toolbox.”
I am investigating a URL shortener called Ow.ly, a QR code generator
called Delivr, and a bookmarklet tool called Quietube.
I have used URL shorteners in previous Wilkes’
classes, especially when creating and annotating images. The only URL shortener I haven’t used on the
list is Ow.ly. This program is similar
to goo.gl and tiny.url. You are just
asked to copy a URL you want to shorten and paste it into the program. The interesting difference was there was a
check if you were a human test in order to shorten the link. I had to match a baseball to a bat and a
tennis ball to a tennis racket. I have
shortened the URL to my school website to http://ow.ly/NayGH
The second assignment was to generate a QR
code. I have used the QR code reader on
my phone to link to websites but this was the first time I created my own QR
code. My grade nine science class will be
learning how to write the formulas of binary ionic compounds. I found an online quiz to make as a QR
code. Once they complete the lesson on naming binary ionic compounds, I will have them complete this quiz and record the results as a formative assessment. The website Delivr seems to be very user
friendly. I will have to think about how
I can incorporate QR codes into all of my classes. You were also allowed to create a shortened
URL of the link in case a person does not have a QR reader on their mobile
device.
The final tool I looked at this week was
Quietube. This is one great bookmarklet I will start using daily. You just drag the Quietube bar from http://quietube.com/ to your toolbar. Once it is there and you find a YouTube video, you click on the Quietube icon in your toolbar and it opens up an adjusted view of the YouTube video. You can then save that link onto a website for future reference.
I found a YouTube video of the formation of an ionic compound (a concept I have to teach to my Science 9 class) and made a Quietube link to show my class when we watch the video. The comment sections are removed and the “watch the next video” was removed which is a very good thing. My classes always want to watch the next video. Now using Quietube, they will not see the next video. There are still some advertisements, from Vimeo and Google, but they are better than gun advertisements you see on YouTube.
I found a YouTube video of the formation of an ionic compound (a concept I have to teach to my Science 9 class) and made a Quietube link to show my class when we watch the video. The comment sections are removed and the “watch the next video” was removed which is a very good thing. My classes always want to watch the next video. Now using Quietube, they will not see the next video. There are still some advertisements, from Vimeo and Google, but they are better than gun advertisements you see on YouTube.
References
Delivr. Retrieved from: http://delivr.com/
Ow.ly. Retrieved from: http://ow.ly/url/shorten-url
Quietube. Retrieved from: http://quietube.com/
Sunday, May 17, 2015
EDIM 514 - Digging Deeper into the Mainstays
One of the tasks in this week’s assignment is to
research online web 2.0 sites to use in the classroom.
Social Online Tool: Edmodo
The first site I am investigating is Edmodo. This is considered to be a “social”
technology site. I first used Edmodo in
2013 with a number of my science classes.
I thought it would be good to re-research this tool and discover what is
new with the site since I last used it with my classes.
Edmodo is a closed social networking tool that a
teacher can use with their students. As
a teacher, you have the ability to give assignments, assign poll questions, and
complete quizzes within the site. One of
the big pluses to using this at the time was the ability of the site to connect
with my Google drive. This site allows
you to upload files to the Edmodo library however one of the limitations that
still exists is that you are not able to organize items in your library into subfolders.
At the time I was using Edmodo, there really wasn’t a good calendar feature in the site. I was happy to see that this has been approved. Any assignments or tasks can be recorded on a calendar that can be shared with students. I also discovered that when I sent a calendar notification, it will email the student (as in setting a test day.)
The other main reason I wanted to look at Edmodo
again was because of the large number of free apps that you can assign for
student use. I teach science, so the
free apps through Edmodo include C K-12 Science practice and Biology,
Chemistry, or Physics questions and answers.
There is access to “Pixton” comic maker and “Photos for Class” that
allows students to choose images to use in projects that are “Creative Commons”
photos. This area has definitely
improved from when I last used the site.
As I was browsing through the site as both a teacher
and a student, I noted that there was now a parent app that could be downloaded
for parents to see what was going on in their child’s classroom.
Overall, I think I may need to reconsider using Edmodo for my classes next year.
References
Edmodo. Retrieved from: https://www.edmodo.com/home
Presentation Online Tool: UTellStory
The second site I am investigating is
UtellStory. I discovered this
presentation tool in “Kathy Schrocks” Online web 2.0 tools blog.
This particular site allows a person to create a
large number of image slides, text slides, video slides, or form slides (which
allows a person to create multiple choice questions to the presentation.) Once images (jpeg or png images) are
uploaded, you can add captions to the pictures.
Audio can also be added to each particular slide. You can also select “creative commons” images
from Flickr or using image URL’s from a particular website.
As I logged into this site, I found that it was very
easy to use the program. I signed up for
the free month trial for “educator’s access.”
This allows a teacher to create classes and sign up 50 students for a
one month trial. The one downside to
this program was that you had to put all of the student’s information into the
program first before they could login.
Once their information is put into the program, a link will let the
student login.
I really liked that this then becomes a closed site for the student’s projects. The information on the home screen of UtellStory was that the student account could be transferred to a regular account after leaving a class. The cost of the “educator” version of this tool was $4.99 a month or $50 a year.
I really liked that this then becomes a closed site for the student’s projects. The information on the home screen of UtellStory was that the student account could be transferred to a regular account after leaving a class. The cost of the “educator” version of this tool was $4.99 a month or $50 a year.
This is definitely a tool I will try using with my
students while I have the free month trial.
References
Schrock, K. Online
tools and web2.0 applications. Retrieved from http://www.schrockguide.net/online-tools.html
UTellStory. Retrieved from: http://www.utellstory.com/show/home
Curation Online Tool: Symbaloo
The final site I am investigating is Symbaloo. This is a curation site where you save links
in the form of a tile on a page. This
gives a person a visual reference to weblinks.
I have used other curation tools such as Diigo before and therefore have
found Symbaloo similar to using Diigo.
To add a tile, you need to click on an open space,
paste the url of the website, choose an image background, and add a title. I found that Symbaloo has a Chrome extension,
which allows it to have a “clipping” tool right on your menu bar at the top of
your screen. This allows the information
to be saved quickly to your webmix.
The other thing that I liked about Symbaloo is that
you could search webmixes that other people have created on a topic of
interest. You can see what links other
people have found on a particular topic.
Overall, I can see that using Symbaloo would be a
great idea if you like the visual reference system of tiles to organize your
web links.
References
Symbaloo. Retrieved from: https://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13eOcLj6h4
Dembo, S., & Bellow, A. (2013). Untangling the web: 20 tools to
power up your teaching. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.
Friday, May 15, 2015
EDIM 514 - Using New Technologies
Today I got to spend the day at Denapalooza (learning and networking with technology minded people) in Edmonton with my awesome friend and colleague, Lorna Hiemstra (@lhiemstra). I worked for a year with Lorna as a collaborative learning coach. She is a principal now and teaches at a small rural school in my school division.
I asked Lorna how she decided what technology tools she should use with her students. Very recently, she was looking at forensics activities to do with her science class. She used Alberta Core Resources and found an online activity which she shared with her students through Google Classroom. She also likes using Discovery Education resources. She is going to use a Board Builder tool in Discovery Education with her students next week.
The second question I asked her was what "obstacles" did she have to overcome in order to use the tools? She replied that both of the resource tools that she used were provincially approved and district approved so there wasn't really any obstacles. She did say that she had one student who could not remember his Google Classroom password.
Finally, I asked Lorna what advice she would give a teacher to help them replicate her efforts. She said she gets some good ideas from Twitter. She doesn't have the time for just "Googling" resources. She said to use resources that are already approved for your school division. Her final comment on the subject, which is so true, "we don't need to reinvent the wheel anymore." She feels that networking and learning from other people is so important.
Thank you Lorna for helping me complete my blog assignment.
References
Alberta Collaborative Online Resource Environment. Retrieved from: https://www.albertacore.ca/EQ-CORE-LDAPAuthentication/Welcome.jsp
Discovery Education. Retrieved from: http://www.discoveryeducation.ca/
Google Classroom. Retrieved from: https://classroom.google.com/h
I asked Lorna how she decided what technology tools she should use with her students. Very recently, she was looking at forensics activities to do with her science class. She used Alberta Core Resources and found an online activity which she shared with her students through Google Classroom. She also likes using Discovery Education resources. She is going to use a Board Builder tool in Discovery Education with her students next week.
The second question I asked her was what "obstacles" did she have to overcome in order to use the tools? She replied that both of the resource tools that she used were provincially approved and district approved so there wasn't really any obstacles. She did say that she had one student who could not remember his Google Classroom password.
Finally, I asked Lorna what advice she would give a teacher to help them replicate her efforts. She said she gets some good ideas from Twitter. She doesn't have the time for just "Googling" resources. She said to use resources that are already approved for your school division. Her final comment on the subject, which is so true, "we don't need to reinvent the wheel anymore." She feels that networking and learning from other people is so important.
Thank you Lorna for helping me complete my blog assignment.
References
Alberta Collaborative Online Resource Environment. Retrieved from: https://www.albertacore.ca/EQ-CORE-LDAPAuthentication/Welcome.jsp
Discovery Education. Retrieved from: http://www.discoveryeducation.ca/
Google Classroom. Retrieved from: https://classroom.google.com/h
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
EDIM 514 - Internet Licensing
For my Internet tools course, I have created a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike liscence. I do not want anyone to use my blog to make money off of it. If they like something on my blog, I would want them to be able to use it to make something new. In the spirit of sharing in education, I would want them to be able to share what they have created as well.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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