ICT Assist for You

Assisting you to be more Web Wise

Guest Blogger Greg Colles – 6 Web2 Tools for the Classroom

Jul 27

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Productivity Tools | No Comments

Introducing my guest blogger, Greg Colles who has generously shared his ideas in how Web 2 tools can support Inquiry phases suggested on I-minds website (http://www.wix.com/kayc28/inquiring-minds#!)

Greg is the Religious Education Consultant for the Lismore Catholic Schools Office and has recently completed the diocesan Beyond Web 2 on-line course. He chose to investigate how Web 2 tools can support the various Inquiry phases where students are encouraged to find solutions through a process of articulating questions, shaping ideas, locating and selecting information, analysing and synthesizing their findings to share with peers and thus reflect on what they have learnt.

If you are looking for ways to integrate Web 2 tools into your Religious Education lessons then you will enjoy these ideas from Greg.

 

6 Tools 6 Ways

Launch Phase: Bubbl.us  is a simple and free web application that is fun to use and allows teachers and students to brainstorm online. Teachers in Religion classes could invite students to share their ideas or participate in whole class or small group brainstorming sessions. Students can use Bubbl.us™ to create colourful mind maps, and share and work with others online. Examples: C7-3 God and People in Creation Students, in learning teams, create a group words and pictures concept map of ways in which positive and destructive actions affect God’s continuing creation;  A9-1 Literary Forms in the Scriptures Students, in learning teams, create a group words and pictures concept map of various literary forms in the Scriptures.

Access Phase: WordSift  is so simple to use and the results are really engaging. You  paste any text into WordSift. The program helps to quickly identify important words that appear in the text.  The Visual Thesaurus facility is an excellent tool. You click on one the words that have appeared in the sifting and  the program presents other links  to study as well  an possible meanings of the word. Example: A10-3A Synoptic Gospel – copy a summary of  an introduction to the Gospel of Mark  into WordSift and then ask students to identify main ideas, themes, intended audience, or to develop questions that could be asked about the introduction.  Students mark specific words as vocabulary words so they stand out in a different color. Students copy the passage into  Wordle. in small groups write or draw a page using the words in the cloud. Using the Visual Thesaurus® display students in groups are allocated specific words which they click on to identify and discuss related words.

Develop Phase: Tiki-toki is a fantastic online interactive timeline creator. I think that it is much versatile than Timetoast as you are guided  through the whole process when creating the timeline.  Text, images of your own or  from Flickr and You tube clips can be added to the timeline.  You do need to register, but this is one of the easiest registering processes Ihave found.  Of course there is an upgrade offer that provides extra features (which does cost). RE teachers could use this interactive online timeline to present historical events in an interesting and engaging way. Examples  A10-3  A Synoptic GospelThe  final week of Jesus Christ according to a particular gospel writer;  B8-3 Early Christian Communities Establishment of the early Church in the first 2 centuries.

Demonstrate Phase: Fotobabble  enables students to create “Talking Photos” in just three clicks. When students add their voice to an image it gives the image life and creates a more memorable experience for everyone. Students could take photos or use images that they have collected online (noting  permission).Examples: D9-3  Mary Students explain the meaning of icons or paintings of Mary. D10-2  Eucharist Students observe ritualistic actions during a celebration of a class Eucharist. Students may be given a particular part of the Mass to observe closely. The teacher, with the permission of the priest, takes digital photographs of significant ritualistic actions during the Mass. After an investigation students use Fotobabble™ to record the meaning for the ritualistic actions observed.

Evaluate Phase: Polldaddy enables teachers to set up an online survey in minutes and start collecting responses in real-time. Teachers can conduct a survey with  to get a discover what students know about a specific topic. Questions can range from simple CODE BREAKER questions to more complex TEXT ANALYST questions. Examples: E8-2 The Influence of Jesus: Use Code Breaker questions to see what students understand about a scripture passage about Jesus; E10-1 Personal Moral Responsibility: Conduct a survey ™ to get a discover what students know about factors which affect personal moral responsibility or a range of issues requiring moral decision-making.

Reflection Phase : Edmodo  provides teachers a safe and easy way to connect and collaborate, offering a real-time platform to exchange ideas, share content, and access homework, grades and school notices. Teachers must provide the group code to students for them to join their class. Examples: A8-3 The Setting of the Gospels: Inquiry activity Create a “Israel at the Time of Jesus’” group and send everyone in the class the group code so they can view powerpoint, glogster, video summaries of student inquiry projects.  A great Virtual Exhibition to showcase student work; C9-1 Images of Good and Evil OR E10-3 Working for Justice in Australia : In the News:Create a Current Events Group and allow students to post articles and blogs that are relevant to this topic.  Review posts at the beginning of each class.

 

 

3 Ways to Generate Blog Images

Jun 12

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Cool Tools | 3 Comments

Ok time to generate some  fun!I hadn’t experimented with these online tools to manipulate images and graphics before this week. These image generators are just the thing to put together an imaginative and creative image for your blog post or seminar presentation in just a snap! These graphics are a motivating way to deliver relevant  information and at the same time add some fun your Web sites or blog. I chose three from a comprehensive list to create some simple clip art images.

So here are my three attempts to create my materpieces…

 

The first generator I used was from Dummies Book Cover Image and managed to create a “Dummies Guide toImage Generators” book cover. So embarrassed at the number of times I couldn’t find a particular ‘Dummies’ book – it was probably an image created in this generator!!

Most of my time was spent working out how to disable ad blockers to download and save the image! As this was the hardest image to download, I put it first on the page!

 The second Image Generator was  PostIt Note Generator. Pretty cool idea. I often wondered how the heck people managed such magic.

………
The third Image Generator was  Font Image Generator . I could create images from text to make banners or headings for a blog, scrapbook, or social networking sites. There are so many ideas available for teachers to create motivating images for classes. Have a look at Image Chef, ToonDoo and CoolText sites for more inspiration. Although I do warn you that people have been known to enter these sites and forget to come out for lunch!
………

I suppose there are only two rules for creating images in any Image Generator:

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10 Simple Steps to Write an Email

Jun 7

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Networking, Productivity Tools | No Comments

Writing an email is like writing or typing a letter so all the basics still apply in the digital world too.

Keep the Subject line simple and to the point. Best rule is one topic = one subject line. Some company personnel receive 500-600 emails a day so your subject line that says ‘HI’ is really hard to track back to at a later date!

Remember the recipient is still human so your message needs to be clear and concise. 

1.  Write 

Emailing is an extremely popular method of communicating and there are few basic types of emails that you may encounter:  self-rewarding email gives the recipient information or a compliment, enquiry email requires a reply from the recipient to answer your questions, dialogue emails  will keep the lines of communication open.

2.  Contacts

‘Contacts’ refers to your recipients. Instead of writing out each recipient’s email address when sending an email, you can locate it from your Contact’s list or Address Book in your email software program. Once you have added your contact details to your Address Book then you can also create a ‘Group’ to categorise a group of friends, family or work associates.

When you wish to send your email to a group you need to select the group name from the list in order for those email addresses to be included in the ‘To’ field.

3.  Attach

An attachment is a file (a word document, PDF, video, picture) that is ‘attached’ to your email message. When there is an email attachment you will see a paper clip icon.

 

 

 4.  Send

When you ‘Send’ your email it simply means that your email is sent to your desired recipient/s.

You can chose to send it ‘Priority’ by selecting this option from your email tool bar and your recipient will see that your email stands out either in bold print or with an icon (eg a flag or an exclamation mark) In other words the email is marked as very important and should be read immediately.

5.  Forward 

When you ‘Forward’ an email it means you copy the e-mail and send it on to one recipient or a number of recipients.

6.  To CC or to BCC? 

 

You may want to include another recipient in the Cc (carbon copy) or Bcc (blind carbon copy) fields.

When you use the Cc field your email sends copies of your message to secondary recipients.

Bcc is used when you want to conceal additional addresses from the complete list of recipients

7.  Reply 

Select the desired email message and open it. Locate ‘Reply’ from the message menu and a new message window will open. The recipient’s address will appear automatically in the ‘To’ field. You will notice that the subject line is the same as the original message and this is important when responding on a specific topic. You and your recipient can read the whole conversation in the body of the email. This is called ‘continuing the thread’.

8.  Reply All

Use ‘Reply All’ cautiously and only when your reply is necessary for all your recipients to know your response. You only use ‘Reply All’ when you are confident that “all” your recipients will be interested in your response.

If you do want others to have a copy of your response then you select specific recipients and add their email address to the ‘Cc’ or Bcc’ fields.

9.  Print

 

When you want to print an email message then you need to highlight the message and click ‘Print’ from the email tool bar. Alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-P

 

 

10.  Delete

If you want to delete an email message from your inbox or folders then you need to first select it by clicking on it and hit the Delete Key (Del) on your keyboard or use the delete icon on your email tool bar.

Most email software programs do not permanently delete a message; they just move them to their trash folder.

Only when you are sure that you want the message deleted permanently you can delete it from the trash folder. If you want to delete more than one message hold the Control Key (keyboard key ‘Ctrl’) down while you click on a number of email messages.

If you want to delete a list of messages then hold the Shift Key (keyboard key ‘Shift’) and click on the first message and then go to the last message on the list and while still holding the Shift Key down, click on that message. A whole block of messages will be selected.

Both these methods work when selecting multiple files or folders on your desktop.

 

Happy emailing!

Clipart from http://openclipart.org

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Coming! Ready or Not!

Feb 2

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Becoming Web Wise, Towards the Future | 2 Comments

Digital media is a ubiquitous reality for 21st century students. Are teachers preparing themselves to acknowledge this reality? Preschoolers who are competent in handling iPods, iPhones, iPads, computers and video games are preparing to enter our classrooms. Will we be ready? It is imperative that we must be ready to welcome these children into our learning environments.

At nearly two years old Amelia confidently demonstrates her favourite iPhone app to her 2 month old brother Flynn. What kind of education will these ‘digital natives’ (aptly named by Mark Prensky in 2006) expect when they enter 2015 and 2017?

OR…

Many teachers acknowledge that they have difficulties in keeping up with their tech-savvy students in primary and secondary schools. With new ways of connecting and communicating, students are leaping ahead into the frontiers of 21st century technology and leaving some of their teachers behind grappling with the bare minimum skill set of sending and receiving emails and sourcing information on the Internet.

McKinsey research identified four critical approaches that high performing schools utilised to assist teachers to improve their skills:

1. building practical skills during the initial training

2. placing coaches in schools to support teachers

3. selecting and developing effective instructional leaders

4. enabling teachers to learn from each other

School administrators are seeking new ways to build teacher confidence and expertise in ICT. Varied approaches are offered to teachers – online moodle courses in digital citizenship and digital literacy, Web 2.0 workshops and inservices, teachers are invited to develop a mentoring role within their schools, staff meetings agendas incorporate in-school professional development and after school groups often evolve where teachers mentor each other.  Teachers must readily avail themselves to learn about new technologies so they can do more than utilise technology but help students to become responsible digital citizens.

Failing to keep up with our students will only encourage a new community of digital orphans who are left unsupervised in their technological world. It is understandable that experienced teachers are initially confronted with the notion of using Web 2.0 tools in their classroom environment, however excellent teachers change their pedagogical style to embrace these new technologies. By continually tweaking our pedagogy we can ensure that our classrooms are innovative and energised in order to support a creative, collaborative, connected environment where students engage in critical thinking and problem solving.

They’re coming!

Are we ready or not?

 

 

‘iPhone Kids’ image: Elyse (Glover) Wilson. With thanks.

‘Classroom’ image: pics.tech4learning

‘Running’ image: flickrcc.bluemountains

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‘Ask 3 then Me’. Tapping into the wisdom of many.

Jul 17

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Networking | 3 Comments

ask 3 then me‘Ask 3 then Me’. Tapping into wisdom
‘Ask 3 then Me’ is a strategy often used by Primary / Elementary teachers to encourage students to trust their own judgement and to be more self- reliance when working independently.  When facing a problem, students are required to ask three of their classmates before asking the teacher.
We ask our students to use this strategy but forget to employ such sanity savers  as learners in a technological situation.
Think about ways to work smarter. Whether you engage in technology in the classroom, staff workroom or enrolled in an online course, this strategy will come in handy for you too. In a school environment you are surrounded by so many knowledgeable people and online support.
As an online mentor for educators in the Lismore Diocese in NSW, I hear the frustration, embarrassment and doubt from participants as they struggle with online instruction. So many times I read lines like “I feel out of my comfort zone”, “totally overwhelmed”  and “I feel lost”.  I give my online participants my contact information and virtual office hours to be available for support but I also encourage them to seek answers through other channels first:
ASK 3 OF THESE THEN ME
•Post your questions to the appropriate discussion boards. It is surprising just how many others not only share your issue but have solutions that might work for you as well. Other mentors and technicians regularly check these online thread to offer support when necessary
•Ask ‘Aunty Google’! She is a virtual wiz when it comes to the trick stuff. Just type in your question EG ‘how to add an image to post in Edublogs’ and you will be directed to a list of helpful weblinks for Edublogs.  What do you think your online mentor is doing when you ask your tricky question? Trust me … we are Google-ing it if we are unsure!
•Check out YouTube. If you ask the same question as above but add the words ‘video tutorial’ you will be directed to YouTube where a video tutorial can take you through the process step by step.
SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS (Mia Hamm)
Mia Hamm is a retired American soccer player b. 1972.Hamm was born with a club foot and as a toddler she wore corrective shoes. She scored more international goals in her career than any other player (male or female) in the history of US soccer. Hamm has authored ‘Go  for Goal: A Champion’s Guide to Winning Soccer and Life’
There’s no doubt about it – when it all starts falling into place you tend to become even more successful. Because you are following the instructions and doing the right things you are rewarded with more success, you become more confident and more optimistic about what lays ahead in your course.
But how do you reach that level of comfort?
Treat yourself as gently as you would any learner in your classroom!
Trust your own judgement
Employ the ‘Ask 3 then Me strategy
Regard failure as part of any new experience. As long as learning takes place it is a valuable to the learning curve
Cherish your successful moments. Build on them. Celebrate them.
20 MINUTE RULE
When all else fails apply my sanity saver tip I call the ’20 minute rule’. If after 20 minutes on your computer you have not succeeded in cracking your technical, software or hardware problem – then either walk away. Get a cuppa or sit in the sun or do a household chore.
When you return to your computer, that little ‘mental break’ will give you either a tiny spark of inspiration from something you remember reading or enable you to return refreshed and stretched to try to attack that same problem for another 20 mins. If you are still unsuccessful then you must convince yourself that it simply is not ‘just you’ at fault. Ask help from a friend, Google, discussion / support forums or your online mentor.
It’s amazing the number of issues I solve when hanging out the washing!

‘Ask 3 then Me’ is a strategy often used by Primary / Elementary teachers to encourage students to trust their own judgement and to be more self- reliance when working independently.  When facing a problem, students are required to ask three of their classmates before asking the teacher.

We ask our students to use this strategy but forget to employ such sanity savers  as learners in a technological situation.

Think about ways to work smarter. Whether you engage in technology in the classroom, staff workroom or enrolled in an online course, this strategy will come in handy for you too. In a school environment you are surrounded by so many knowledgeable people and online support.

As an online mentor for educators in the Lismore Diocese in NSW, I hear the frustration, embarrassment and doubt from participants as they struggle with the initial online instruction. So many times I read lines like “I feel out of my comfort zone”, “totally overwhelmed”  and “I feel lost”.  My contact information and virtual office hours (for support) are well published and participants know I am happy to help outside these hours when they are totally frustrated. I  also encourage them to seek answers through other channels first. Here is my twist on the original strategy:

ASK 3 OF THESE THEN ME

ask 3 then me

•Post your questions to the appropriate discussion boards. It is surprising just how many others not only share your issue but have solutions that might work for you as well. Other mentors and technicians regularly check these online thread to offer support when necessary

•Ask ‘Aunty Google’! She is a virtual wiz when it comes to the really tricky stuff. Just type in your question EG ‘how to add an image to post in Edublogs’ and you will be directed to a list of helpful weblinks for Edublogs.  What do you think your online mentor is doing when you ask your tricky question? Trust me … we are Google-ing it!

•Check out YouTube. If you ask the same question as above but add the words ‘video tutorial’ you will be directed to YouTube where a video tutorial can take you through the process step by step.

SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS (Mia Hamm)

Mia Hamm is a retired American soccer player b. 1972 with a club foot and as a toddler she wore corrective shoes. During her career, she scored more international goals than any other player (male or female) in the history of US soccer. Hamm has authored ‘Go  for Goal: A Champion’s Guide to Winning Soccer and Life’.  I think we can safely say Mia knew a lot about building on her success.

There’s no doubt about it – when it all starts falling into place you tend to become even more successful. Because you are following the instructions and doing the right things you are rewarded with more success, you become more confident and more optimistic about what lays ahead in your course.

How do you reach that level of comfort? Treat yourself as gently as you would any learner in your classroom!

  • Print out the instructions and sit them beside your mouse for instant referral. Add notes.
  • Trust your own judgement
  • Employ my ‘Ask 3 of these then Me’ strategy
  • Regard failure as part of any new experience. As long as learning takes place then it is a valuable step to your learning curve
  • Cherish your successful moments. Build on them. Celebrate them.

20 MINUTE RULE

When all else fails apply my sanity saver tip that I call the ’20 minute rule’. If after 20 minutes on your computer you have not succeeded in cracking your technical, software or hardware problem – then walk away. Get a cuppa or sit in the sun or do a household chore.

When you return to your computer, that little ‘mental break’ may just give you a tiny spark of inspiration from something you remember reading or enable you to return refreshed and stretched to try to attack that same problem for another 20 mins. If you are still unsuccessful then you must convince yourself that it simply is not just ‘you’ at fault. Ask help from a friend, Google, discussion / support forums or your online mentor.

It’s amazing the number of issues I solve when hanging out the washing!

Images from http://www.openclipart.org

Poster ‘Ask 3 of these then Me’ by Lesleigh Altmann

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Bursting the Bubble

Mar 16

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Becoming Web Wise | 1 Comment

bubble


 I have just read Judy O’Connell’s inspiring blog post  called ‘Digital Divide’ where she highlights the growing concern of the digital divide between student’s technical knowledge and that of their teachers. So THANKYOU Jude for highlighting this glaringly obvious issue.

Teachers and parents need find opportunities to bring themselves up to speed on the educational, social and networking tools available to our youth. Our students are so tech savvy but still far too naive. They must have adults to help guide their decision making. Another interesting read is  ’Always Connected‘ report written by Aviva Lucas Gutnick, Michael Robb, Lori Takeuchi and Jennifer Kotler. Outlined are snapshot findings, media usage is traced throughout recent decades and startling key findings.

Now that internet connection is so mobile and so private and so very very hard to monitor, the lack of knowledge of supervising adults compounds the growing divide. Who in their right mind would take on an upper primary or secondary maths class if they themselves cannot function past their 3X tables? Sadly it can happen with technology at every level.

I now work with those educators who are willing to put their hand up for online mentoring in web 2 tools where basic ICT knowledge is a perquisite for the course. Passion and thirst for knowledge essential. It never ceases to amaze me that even the ICT literate adults are gobsmacked at the variety, power, availability and ease with which these web2 tools can be utilised for education.  And so the seed is planted. And grows. The questions and discussions inevitably turn to adult responsibility and student digital citizenship.

In term 4, 2010, a 10 week Web2 Tools online diocesan course was offered as a trial in the hope of drawing in about 20 teachers seeking Institute Teacher accreditation and we were swamped with 70 applicants! A reality check gave 52 applicants the opportunity to do the first ever Web2 Tools for Teachers course. 44 completed the course amongst the pressures of the final weeks of the year.

This year I am working in team to create more such courses and mentor up to 100 participants a term in Web2 Tools, Beyond Web2 and Digital Citizenship. Nearly 90 people from the teaching ranks, principals, assistant principals, teacher librarians and CEO personnel are working on line this term. A few of those 8 teachers who did not complete last year’s course will join the current group mid course. More teachers have asked to join future courses along with CEO leaders, principals, assistant principals, teacher librarians, SSOs (support staff for IT) and teachers aides.

Now we are happily scrambling to support these educators to close that divide through online mentoring. The success of these courses spread through word of mouth: teachers who were keen to learn more and support their students have encouraged others to jump on board.

They are out there and we are here.

By accident or design we need to find ways to break the bubble of  ’not knowing what they don’t know’ and close that gap.

Back to Bowra for the iPod Touch.

Mar 13

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Classroom Tools, Kids in Charge | 1 Comment

The return of the iPod Touch




iPod Touch devices are back on the agenda at our little Catholic primary school nestled in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales. Now we are on the search for great ideas for use in the classroom and more up to date apps.  We are on the march to find inspiring ideas: The list is evolving below so why not start with one of Tom Barratt’s Interesting Ways series:

28 Interesting Ways to Use an Ipod Touch in the Classroom

More links:

Don’t Flip Out!

Mar 13

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Classroom Tools, Kids in Charge | No Comments

Using FLIP Cameras in Your Classroom

market-leverage-flip-camera

Have you ever come across a piece of equipment in the back of the cupboard and promised yourself to dedicate time to get it incorporated back into your classroom learning environment? Recently I’ve heard such ponderings on the best way to use Flip Cameras in the classroom. Armed with only a little mentoring experiences of my own, I turned to Tom Barratt’s ‘Interesting Ways’ series of collaborative classroom ideas.to pull some information together for my colleagues. Browse Tom’s website for yourself and be prepared to be inspired!

So – what is a FLIP camera?

FLIP cameras are small handheld video cameras that can record 30 or 60 mins worth of video. Connect to your PC with a USB plug that “flips” out from the side of the camera. Although I personally feel that this Flip out USB plug is its most vulnerable point. The functions are basic, but the ease of use will put you at ease as you will not be confused with the bells and whistles “regular” camcorders have.

Why use FLIP cameras?

Instruction on how to use the cameras may take you 2-3 minutes to explain to your class but in reality, it will take students much less time to get it up and running!! Pulling the files off of the camera is easy – just plug it in and use the FLIP software. It will install automatically to save the videos in a specially created folder. Video files can be converted to  .avi files produced by the FLIP camera into a file type that can be uploaded to a blog or website.

flip-mino-specs

1. Instructions for using the camera

Turn on: 30 minute flip  slider button on the side Recording: Push the red button to start, push the red button to stop. Zoom with the + or – buttons. Watching your recording: Push the Play button and arrow through videos using the right and left buttons Delete a recording: Push the delete/trash can button

2. Using it in the classroom

I worked with teachers to us the Flip Camera inspired by Tom Barratt’s ‘Camera in your Pocket‘ series during our mentoring sessions in each stage class group. Each week about 12 students worked with their grade teacher to learn how to use the Flip Cams and either video an area or each other during a HSIE focus. The video footage will be uploaded into the school network to share with the rest of the school.

3. Pulling the files off of the camera

On the side of the flip camera, you will see the slide that ‘flips’ the USB plug out. Plug the FLIP camera into the USB port on the computer. Wait a moment for the “what do you want to do” window to open. You have 2 options: either use the FLIP software or Drag and Drop the files. Instructions for each option.

4. Editing your movies
The FLIP comes with software that allows you to do some basic editing of your videos. If you need more advanced editing capabilities, use Windows Movie Maker or your favorite movie editing software to add titles, trim clips, and compile all clips into one video.

5. Converting your files to use

Visit http://media-convert.com or http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html to download free software to convert the .avi file to a .mov or .wmv for a powerpoint or your blog. You can also convert the file to .mp4 or .flv

sml Flip1

6. More Handy Resources

Managing and storing iPod Touch lab on a budget.

Jan 29

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Classroom Tools | No Comments

So how can we do it at St Mary’s?

Our school is a very small Catholic primary school on the Mid North coast of NSW in Australia. Our student population is around 48-50 students each year. Most of these students are from the Indigenous community from around the  Bowraville district.

At St Mary’s ‘limited budget’ does not mean ‘limited expectations’! Our school vision is ‘Do Your Best” and so with vision and ingenuity born from necessity, our school principal, Claire Mellon has been able to purchase 6 iPod Touch devices as a trial. To say that we are excited is an understatement!  Although we recently purchased 15 ASUS netbooks as part of our National Pride grant, we believe that the iPod iTouch offers something extra for our little school environment. This is a step towards the ‘learning in hand’ environment where students are exposed to the ‘in your pocket’ mobility on a daily basis.

iTouch in hand

In regular discussions with Claire, we decided to go with the technology that would fit comfortably in their learning world. Researching into ways other students around the world picked up this device, we found that school’s IT Coordinators reported that students used the iPod Touch with ease.  We are in our new school with wireless saturation so we are (quietly) confident that  the iPod Touch screen and keyboard will give students an immediate access to the Internet in their ‘pockets’.  It seemed the only  non-phone option for us this year.

mac_labs_ipodcart022809

So how do we store these little critters? I investigated the iPod cart to store and manage the sync process of multiple iPods comes at a price (over $2000 for the cart. $7,000 if you buy all the iTouch devices to go with the cart).  I hope that one day we can purchase such an impressive unit – have a look at the specs!

This little cart resembles our netbook cart that stores and charges each unit. The price of which could be well outside our budget at St Mary’s for quite a while. So where to from here? How do we expect to manage multiple iTouch devices? I am sure other school communities face the same dilemma. How can we store and manage and sync multiple iTouch devices?  Until this afternoon, I believed that multiple devices could only be synced to a Mac. Apparently I was in the dark!

This is entirely DO-able at St Mary’s Bowraville!  But I am so pleased to come across this post in the blog ’Classroom20′.

ipodoctupusdiagram

Follow this link  ….. http://www.classroom20.com/ site.

I think that this method could be our direction now that we have a mini lab of iPod devices for our small school.

Any more ideas that would help us begin our journey would be greatly appreciated.

Experimenting with iPod Touch

Jan 29

Posted by Lesleigh Altmann in Classroom Tools | 5 Comments

New iPod Touch needs new Apps: what to download for our little school community?


iTouch


This will be our first venture into using our school iPod Touch. We have been able to procure 6 iPods and we need to work on the best way to utilise them.  Researching available iPod models and appropriate APPS (or Applications) can be a real challenge and there are many informative blogs and wikis out there to Google. Here is a link that I found most useful as it displayed the options for each iPods in a simple comparison chart.

Have a look at this link if you are still undecided which iPod model is best for you -

Also this is an interesting link : 100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn.

 

Our first step into iTouch use was to download appropriate APPS for our students. A very basic level to use these devices, but it is a very good start. This link helped us create an ‘account’ with iTunes without using the Principal’s credit card! How to Create an iTunes account without a credit card

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iTunes bar

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A few years ago we purchased 15 ASUS eeePCs with 1GB of memory, 150GB hard drives and a 5 hour battery life and are thrilled with the prospect of working with these new tools. However, we don’t want our school environment to be exclusive to a singular device. Our IWBs,  desktops and netbooks will give students an opportunity to compose and produce work, access the Internet and engage in our licenced and free software in their classrooms. However, we believe that the iTouch can offer that ‘in your pocket’ mobility that can also offer easy access to the Internet and to a wide range of APPS that can be just as easily used in class room, on the sport / PE field and on excursions. Once the device is synced correctly,  the Apps work offline and this is of immense interest for us at St Mary’s.

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apps bar1

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So we will start experimenting with our iPods this term. We can envisage how easily the students will enjoy their new devices , using the touch screen with ease. For students who need reward, self confidence and self esteem, this device has already proved to be an invaluable tool. We now have 6 to share between our 3 classes as a trial!

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There are so many tools out there for the iPod Touch. But I do believe that there are a unique combination of factors contributing to the right iPod choice for us. We had to factor in the the size of the unit; what kind of APPS that teachers could choose from; the student input into choosing APPs;  the touch screen with the resizing ability; the access on and off Internet for information. So the iTouch won in favour of the amazing functionality as a learning device.  Exploring the APPS available on iTunes will give us a wide variety of applications for our students who, for the most part, are in need of motivation for engagement. I have downloaded many of these APPS but next week will add to our repertoire on our one-and-only iTouch device.

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There are an abundant number of Apps available and with them comes the warning that not all Apps are great educational tools. Some are just snazzy new ways to do more ‘wroksheets’. There are a few sites that I managed to find to help a discerning novice like me! These two sites were very helpful: Apps for K-12 and iPhone and Kids. There are so many Apps coming out each month and so I put   AppMiner on my RSS account to keep updating me with new ones.

Here are a few ideas for our first To-Do-List- to download APPS for our K- 8 students:

Clock, Calendar, Notes, Calculator, Compass: all are basic yet essential tools
Yellow Pages and Australian Postcode book:both are a must for an Aussie iTouch
Safari, many bookmarks made from Internet spots
Blanks, words are not easy at this level but popular for use and competition
Procrastinate, organizational tool a favourite for staff in some schools.
Pocket Phonics, Match, Trace it, Wordsearches – many apps for student’s skill development
TicTacToe,Draughts, Chess, Code Cracker, Join the Dots, Connect Four: give strategy stimulation for one or more players
FlipBook Lite, language arts teachers are using to construct interactive small projects
GoogleEarth, virtual field trips, collaborative groups, across content areas
Capitals & Countries- both these apps lists capital cities around the world and countries with their basic stats
Braintuner, skills at low level, speed and competition good aspect of appPI83, very similar to to TI83 being used in classrooms
WordWarp, favorite word game
Dice, math tool for statistics and probability
Lose it!and Pedometer: reference for Health/PE
NikeTraining, Health/PE, videos used to show proper technique, to recommend routines for students away from school building
Dice3D, math tool for statistics and probability
CoinToss, math tool for statistics and probability
Coin Toss World Edition, math tool for statistics and probability also compares the coins from different countries displaying culture and history to integrate math and social studies content
WordBook dictionary, Thesaurus tools – a number are available for across content tool
Mini Pianos, Drum Kits and Guitar chord tutors – several apps to give creative students an opportunity to learn more and accompany music
Whiteboard, student collaboration tool across content areas
Flashgram, used for parts of speech although the presentation is for younger students
ChemTouch & Formulas – both offer handy formulas, Periodic Table and Amino Acid reference chart for Science for our Stage 4 students
Spell It, Spell Check, Spell Bee- 3 app games in two levels for differentiated abilities
Enigmo – a fluid dynamics based game. Good for puzzles and strategy.
Spore – there is a free version that gives you one or two levels to play and is a good starter activity for a jump into evolution.
Hanoi – simple Hanoi disc game where you have to figure out how to move the stack of discs from one side of the table to the other.
Tanzen – yet another puzzle, spatial awareness game
Quick Graph- dynamic graph and plotter – supports functions and easy to use calculator. Not as good as premium versions of graphs, but suffices for most class use.
iThought & Blue Sky- both are excellent concept mapping tools
TED- collection of videos from the TED conferences. Great for short clips, how assignments, or inspiration.
Kindle for iPhone if you have access to kindle or purchasing through Amazon, this can be a great way to read parts of novels. Just released but look for more future support of magazines, newspapers etc. where I think any class can get the students engaged through the written word.
InquisitorA good alternative for fast searching on the Internet. Gives more helpful descriptions of each link as opposed to the generic Google info.
The Game of Life, Cellular Automation
Basic Math, add, subtract, multiply, divide quiz
IQuotation, quotation database by category, author and favorite
Idioms, everyday idiom database
StoryLite, personalized adventure stories
Genius, typing program
  • Clock, Calendar, Notes, Calculator, Compass: all are basic yet essential tools
  • Yellow Pages and Australian Postcode book:both are a must for an Aussie iTouch
  • Safari, many bookmarks made from Internet spots
  • Blanks, words are not easy at this level but popular for use and competition
  • Procrastinate, organizational tool a favourite for staff in some schools.
  • Pocket Phonics, Match, Trace it, Wordsearches – many apps for student’s skill development
  • TicTacToe,Draughts, Chess, Code Cracker, Join the Dots, Connect Four: give strategy stimulation for one or more players
  • FlipBook Lite, language arts teachers are using to construct interactive small projects
  • GoogleEarth, virtual field trips, collaborative groups, across content areas
  • Capitals & Countries- both these apps lists capital cities around the world and countries with their basic stats
  • Braintuner, skills at low level, speed and competition good aspect of appPI83, very similar to to TI83 being used in classrooms
  • WordWarp, favorite word game
  • Dice, math tool for statistics and probability
  • Lose it!and Pedometer: reference for Health/PE
  • NikeTraining, Health/PE, videos used to show proper technique, to recommend routines for students away from school building
  • Dice3D, math tool for statistics and probability
  • CoinToss, math tool for statistics and probability
  • Coin Toss World Edition, math tool for statistics and probability also compares the coins from different countries displaying culture and history to integrate math and social studies content
  • WordBook dictionary, Thesaurus tools – a number are available for across content tool
  • Mini Pianos, Drum Kits and Guitar chord tutors – several apps to give creative students an opportunity to learn more and accompany music
  • Whiteboard, student collaboration tool across content areas
  • Flashgram, used for parts of speech although the presentation is for younger students
  • ChemTouch & Formulas – both offer handy formulas, Periodic Table and Amino Acid reference chart for Science for our Stage 4 students
  • Spell It, Spell Check, Spell Bee- 3 app games in two levels for differentiated abilities
  • Enigmo – a fluid dynamics based game. Good for puzzles and strategy.
  • Spore – there is a free version that gives you one or two levels to play and is a good starter activity for a jump into evolution.
  • Hanoi – simple Hanoi disc game where you have to figure out how to move the stack of discs from one side of the table to the other.
  • Tanzen – yet another puzzle, spatial awareness game
  • Quick Graph- dynamic graph and plotter – supports functions and easy to use calculator. Not as good as premium versions of graphs, but suffices for most class use.
  • iThought & Blue Sky- both are excellent concept mapping tools
  • TED- collection of videos from the TED conferences. Great for short clips, how assignments, or inspiration.
  • Kindle for iPhone if you have access to kindle or purchasing through Amazon, this can be a great way to read parts of novels. Just released but look for more future support of magazines, newspapers etc. where I think any class can get the students engaged through the written word.
  • InquisitorA good alternative for fast searching on the Internet. Gives more helpful descriptions of each link as opposed to the generic Google info.
  • The Game of Life, Cellular Automation
  • Basic Math, add, subtract, multiply, divide quiz
  • IQuotation, quotation database by category, author and favorite
  • Idioms, everyday idiom database
  • StoryLite, personalized adventure stories
  • Genius, typing program

What are you using in the way of APPS for your iPod device?? Can you shed some light on some more useful APPS before we move on to adding Microsoft docs and Podcasts to our storage??

Next job will be to look into the podcasts that are available on iTunes for students. WETA Learning Media is also available on iTunes and use story to bring topics to life in HSIE, Science and Health. Three in particular have caught my attention:

Hooked on Phonics: uses images and songs to teach rhymes, phonics, letters and reading for early readers.

Global Wonders: a video podcast introducing students to the cultures of the world with entertaining cartoon characters, actual video and images from other countries.

CNN News: This is a 10 minute, commercial free, news platform for students in Stage 2. Interesting to see what kind of news it will bring into our classrooms for current event discussions.

I also found some great  ideas shared on Twitter this week:

Tony Vincent’s “Learning in Hand”

80 excellent podcasts for every kind of classroom

Deirdre’s “iTouch Learning

Live Binders

Create your own lessons

Lots more APPS from ICT@C

UTECH Tips gives more ideas for APPS in the classroom

Looks like we will have some Busy Bowra weeks ahead of us!

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