Create Short Animated Videos for Learning With the Tellagami App

Through a teacher and an educational technologist in my school district, I've recently discovered the Tellagami app for creating short animated videos. The video below is only the third Gami (the app maker's term for a finished product) which I have created. I was able to learn the app very quickly this weekend in preparation for introducing it to secondary fine arts teachers from my school district this morning. I won't take time in this post to teach you how to use Tellagami, because the app gives you a very nice tutorial the first time you launch it. There are also good instructions included on the Tellagami website. 

Check out my Gami (it's only 26 seconds!), then scroll down to learn more about what I like about the app and some ways I think it could potentially be used in teaching and learning.

What I Like About Tellagami

• The app is free  for both iOS and Android mobile devices, which makes it ideal for both 1:1 and BYOD learning environments. I created the Gami above on my Galaxy Note II Android smartphone.
• You do not need to create an account to use Tellagami.
• The app has a few choices for customizing your avatar, which helps keep a focus on the final outcome of the product.
• There are a few backgrounds to choose from in the app, but you can also doodle your own background,  select a photo stored in the photo library on your device, or take a photo while you are creating the Gami to use as a background.
• There is an option to directly record your voice or type what the avatar says and let Tellagami add the speech with a computerized voice.
• The maximum length of a Gami is 30 seconds, which lends itself to succinctness.
• There are numerous ways to save your Gami, including directly to your device as a QuickTime (iOS) or MP4 (Android) or sending a link by email without saving to your device.
• An advantage of sending by email without saving is your Gami gets uploaded to the web, and you get a link that you can Tweet or share on Facebook or in a text message. You can follow the link to get an embed code if you want to post the Gami on a website. This is the procedure I used to add the Gami above to this blog post.
• An advantage of saving the Gami to your device is you can then upload the movie file to a website of your choice such as YouTube or a blog. Here is the Gami I created as a demo during a fine arts teacher inservice this morning, saved as a a file to my iPad, and then uploaded to YouTube.

Ideas for Using Tellagami in Teaching and Learning

• Any teacher or staff member could create a Gami to add to their website or blog with a brief welcome/introduction message.
• A foreign language teacher at one of our high schools lets students speak via Gami because it is less intimidating than standing up in front of the class.
• Create a public service announcement (PSA) on a health, wellness, or safety topic.
• Create a book teaser/trailer to get peers or students interested in reading a book.
• Explain a problem, process, or procedure. This Gami uses a screen shot created with the Educreations app to explain a math procedure.
• Create a news report recounting the important facts of a current or historical event.
• A possible advanced use could include recording several 30 second Gamis and then editing them together into a longer video. This might be a way to get students to create a collaborative presentation, with each student recording a Gami for their part.

What Other Ideas Do You Have?

Have you used Tellagami before or had an idea spark from the examples above? If so, please share your ideas in the comments, and please include links to any Gamis you have posted on the web!

********************************************************************************************************
All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

Device Implementation - #TECSIG Fall 2013 Breakout Session

Participants & Their Questions:

Sandy Kendell, EdTech Coordinator in a 4A District - We have implemented one iPad for every teacher K-12 and we are rolling out BYOD grades 6-12.

• How do you manage iPads efficiently while still giving individual users latitude with their devices?

Bruce Ellis, Director of PD TCEA, former Director in a LARGE URBAN district.

• Questions: iPad management at a distance, tweaking the conflict between using them as shared devices vs. 1:1.
• Information on implementing Android

Anonymous Inst Tech Coordinator from a Fast Growing suburban school district. Implementing 1:1 for 3rd through 12th grade students. Not committted to a device yet. Evaluating what to do PK-2. 3rd - 5th in Spring and 6th - 12th in Fall. 6-12 will take home.

• How do we go about doing this? Procedures? Would like to visit with people who've done it successfully.

Millie from a small rural CenTex district. 1:1 with Macs in HS. 4th year. 7th & 8th also one to one but don't take home. PK-6 sharing iPad carts. All teachers have Mac Books. PK- 6 teachers all have iPads too.

• Just moved in to new elementary schools. Teachers have had Windows laptops. They are getting Macbooks on Monday morning and need training! 
• Teachers will have two "computers" in the classroom. What device should it be? What do they want it to do?

Molly Valdez, San Antonio ISD. Did a Kindle Fire deployment last year. Good but kinks. Students liked the size of the Kindle.

• Anyone else using that device?

Mark Gabehart, Round Rock ISD - Forming a tablet committee to develop specs on what they want tablets to be able to do to support curriculum and teacher efforts.

• How do you go about supporting a variety of tablets in your school district?

Joel Adkins, Pleasanton ISD - Just here to help answer questions! :-) Policy is now not writing policies. Any device is supported!

Tim Holt - El Paso ISD - multiple roll outs - iPads, Chromebooks, BYOD, a stew of things happening in the district.

• How do you keep a balance in the control without losing purpose?

Tanna Fiske - @fiskeclass on Twitter - EdTech from Eanes ISD - Fully 1:1 K-12. Has done cart scenario in past as a classroom teacher. Just wants to see where everyone is.

Timn Yenca - @mryenca on Twitter - EdTech from Eanes ISD. Looking at different MDM solutions for 1:1. Anticipating Apple's MDM solution coming in Fall.

Bryan Fuqua - Robinson ISD Tech Director - All teachers have iPads, BYOD at jr. high and high school. Different carts all over the place. Exploring 1:1.

• How have others decided on what device to go with? Who all had input? Staff? Teachers? Community?

Caleb Basinger - Systems Engineer with Apple, here to help!

ANSWERS/SUGGESTIONS/IDEAS:

• Have heard New Braunfels ISD has gone 1:1 iPads and are a very good resource.
• Eanes ISD does site visits. Includes teachers panels and technical information. Try to share their successes.
• Belton ISD - 1:1 iPads and Chromebooks. They do scheduled tours
• iPad Carts vs. Small Pods of iPads in classrooms - In Sandy's opinion (a few people agreed), pods of iPads are more robustly used because teachers have consistent access.
• A shared cart often winds up being monopolized by one or two teachers
• Another option is an iPad Cart shared and dedicated to each classroom on the grade level for six weeks or another specific type of time.
• Security - Joel's district blocks porn, gambling, and murder. Keep it flexible so tech is not an obstacle to prevent teachers from being flexible in the classroom.
• Basic image on iPads, then use Apple volume purchasing for teachers to customize the apps they want on their iPads. Help teachers learn how to assess apps.
• Devices going home - not filtered by most districts. Can be pointed back to the filter on the district network by global proxy, though.
• Kindles have been difficult to globally manage. They have to be touched.
• Consider hiring contractors to help set up devices.
• In elementary classrooms - iPads seem to be the device of choice.
• Right now, it's really a browser war. Something work well in Chrome or Firefox or Explorer. Use what works for you to get the task done. - Joel Adkins
• Don't forget bandwidth! And access points!
• Educate your stakeholders on bandwidth.

****************************************************************************************
All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

Parent Communication in a Mobile Device Initiative - #TECSIG Fall 2013 Breakout Session

Eanes has had 67 parent meetings since starting their 1:1 initiatives 3 years ago.

http://www.eanesisd.net/leap/parents

http://www.georgetownisd.org/BYOD
http://www.kvue.com/news/Georgetown-students-use-personal-phones-tablets-in-class-as-part-of-technology-initiative-227131641.html

Parent  Concerns:

Equity - What if all students don't have devices? - Need to assure we are helping teachers plan for that.
Distraction - What about off task behavior? Be ready for it at first, make lessons shorter. Novelty will wear off.
Screen time - Studies have shown interactive screen time is very engaging - http://goo.gl/7gFct3 - kids brains are changing.

How can we help educate parents also? So we can work together as a team for kids. Ex: Modeling appropriate use of technology.

What about parents who don't have access? How do we communicate with them? This is a big challenge. No big answers here.

Parent support is essential for long term financial sustainability of programs. 

Philosophical Videos for Thinking About Place of  Tech in Our Lives - tangent that came up in this session:

• http://vimeo.com/70534716
• http://teamcoco.com/video/louis-ck-springsteen-cell-phone
• http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/09/05/219266779/our-cultural-addiction-to-phones-in-one-disconcerting-video

****************************************************************************************
All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

Parent Concerns in a 1:1 iPad Initiative

Used With Permission
 Under a Creative Commons License

Last Sunday, I received a note via the contact form on my blog that was a first for me in many ways. It was the first time I had ever been contacted by a parent via my blog, the first time I could not put a comment out of my mind until I had addressed it, and the first time I ever thought about the impact a school's 1:1 take-home technology initiative could have on a family.

With the permission of the parent, I share here the note she left for me, slightly edited to keep her identity confidential:

My son was issued an iPad. I wasn't able to make the iPad meeting at school. I am in panic mode. I want to embrace the new technology but I also want to know how I can set limits. Before we had strict "screen time" rules. Now he just says he's doing homework or studying but it is taking all night (4-6 hours) so I'm convinced he's being distracted by other things on the iPad. I miss him, he is always plugged in when he is home. 

Your name came up when I searched under School District, iPad. Can you point me in the direction of a good book, article or person who might help? 

Thanks

In all of the amazing things I've been reading over the years about 1:1 initiatives, this was a side of the story I had not read about or managed to consider on my own. 1:1 should bring a paradigm shift to the classroom, but it can also impact family dynamics in a profound way.

The phrases "I am in panic mode" and "I miss him, he is always plugged in when he is home" tugged at my heart. I went to church, hung out with friends for lunch, and ran some errands, but all day I was thinking about what, if anything I could say to help this parent.

Below are the contents of the email I sent back to "Ms. Jones", again edited slightly for confidentiality.  It really was this long and this detailed! I share it here in hopes that it will stir your thinking and provide ideas to educators and parents on how to support students in the home aspect of  implementing of 1:1 learning.


Hello, Ms. Jones,

This email is in response to the comments/questions you left for me via my blog at http://edtechsandyk.blogspot.com. 

I am glad you see the potential of this technology for your son's learning and that you reaching out for answers in a situation that is new to the teachers, students and parents at your son's school!

iPads in education are very new (the device itself has only been out since March 2010), and I can't think of a specific book or article at the moment that would address your concerns. Based on my overall experience as a former classroom teacher and now an edtech specialist, I have a few suggestions for continuing to address the situation you described in your comments above and seeking balance for your son and your family. This email started getting long so I separated my ideas into sections below.

Communicate With Your Son's Teachers

As a former classroom teacher myself, I cannot stress enough that one of the most important things you need to do is communicate with your son's teachers. Share your concerns with them just as you did with me in your comments above.  Ask what kinds of activities you should be expecting to see him doing for homework on the iPad and how much time you should be expecting him to spend on homework. 

As you approach his teachers, remember that  teaching and learning with the iPad is new to your son's school and his teachers. Everyone is excited by the possibilities of the impact this technology can have on learning, but they are all in the process of learning the best ways to do it together. Approach this conversation from a perspective of being a partner with your son's teachers in his education.

I would also ask if there is a way to gain access to any resources that were shared during the iPad meeting the school held and/or if the meeting was recorded for parents who could not be present.

As an aside, you may be helping other families in this process. There may be others with your same questions who have not spoken up yet. It is possible your son's school and teachers are not aware of these issues yet, and they need to assess if this needs to be addressed in future parent communications/outreach.

Communicate With Your Son and Set Limits

Continue talking with your son about your concerns. Even though the school is providing this wonderful learning tool, it is still not healthy for him to be buried in the screen all night. Your son may push back on some of your comments, but that's partly his age. He is internalizing more of what you say than you may realize.

As your son's parent, I believe it is still your right to limit screen time if you feel your son is spending too much time with his iPad. Realize he probably does need it for homework, but if he was not spending four to six hours on homework pre-iPad (as a former middle school teacher that amount of time seems excessive to me), he is possibly being distracted. His distractions may be non-productive "play" time or they could be self-directed learning. Either way, he should be focused first on completing his assignments. 

You may have to make a rule that at 8:00 PM or 8:30 PM (or whatever you feel is a reasonable amount of time before his bedtime) the iPad gets put on the charger for the evening and doesn't get used again until the morning. The charging station should probably not be in your son's bedroom if you choose to do this. A rule like this will hopefully help your son focus on getting his homework done before the "iPad put away" deadline. You will also have to be firm on the deadline; he may have to suffer the consequences of a few incomplete assignments or low test grades before he adjusts his time management. (If you choose to do this, please be in contact with his teachers about it so they will understand why some assignments may be incomplete.)

Put Some Supportive Structures in Place at Home

Used With Permission
Under a Creative Commons License

Establish a homework area in your house that is NOT in an isolated area. Perhaps at the kitchen table or in the living room. It should be an area where other members of the family will at least occasionally be but where there won't be distractions. Realize this may impact how the rest of your family utilizes the space during homework time. For example, if there is a TV in the room it might not be on during this time. Homework should always be done in this area whether it requires the iPad or not.

Over the course of the evening, check in once or twice with your son.  Ask him what he is working on for his homework and ask him to show you how he's using his iPad to do it (if he is using the iPad at that time; check in even if he isn't using it!). If you can do this in an "I want to learn about the iPad and how it's helping you learn" attitude as much as possible, as opposed to an "I'm policing you" attitude, the communication will probably go better.

As Time Goes On, It Will Probably Get Better

Realize that with time some of the "newness" of the iPad will wear off and your son should grow in his ability to self-regulate. As he matures, you may be able to back off on a few of your rules. I would probably keep some structure in place at least through the first semester, then re-evaluate in the Spring.

I am reminded of a presentation I attended this summer where high school students talked about their first year in a 1:1 iPad environment. They said the day the iPads were issued, lunch time was silent because everyone was buried in their screens! But over time the novelty wore off and people started talking with each other again. The students also noted that even in class they were sometimes distracted by their devices, but they learned quickly that they couldn't afford to continue being inattentive and still keep up their grades. Your son is in middle school, but with time and your support, he too will grow and mature in his technology use.

Concluding Thoughts

Ms. Jones, you may have gotten way more than you were asking for in this email. If that is the case, I apologize. But your questions/concerns struck a chord with me and I wanted to share what I was thinking. I've been thinking about this response all day!

I hope you find these suggestions valuable and that you will reach out to your son and his teachers to partner in finding solutions to your concerns.

Good luck as you and your son move forward on this new learning frontier!

I was relieved to receive the following reply from Ms. Jones yesterday:

Hi Sandy

I was blown away by your response. Thank you so much for taking the time to help a stranger. Of course you may quote my original email.

Like you, I believe many parents are facing the same issues. I really appreciate your advice and plan to implement some of your suggestions.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Thanks again,

Ms. Jones

Yay! I didn't completely overwhelm her, and I can't wait to hear back from her!

What Would You Say? What Are You Doing In This Arena?

What other advice would you give Ms. Jones and parents like her who undoubtedly have similar questions? Do you disagree with any of the suggestions I made?

Used With Permission
Under a Creative Commons License

Keep in mind, the child being able to say, "I'm working on my homework" is somewhat of a game-changer when it comes to supporting and setting limits. How easily could you tell your child to just put the technology away when it could be impacting their grades?

If you are in a school or district that is doing one-to-one, are you making parent/family support part of your implementation, and if so, how?

I hope you'll contribute in the comments section below!

1:1 iPads and Digital Learning in Belton ISD

Image Source

On Tuesday, June 19th, 2012, I attended iPadpalooza at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. This conference about all things iPad in education was co-sponsored by Eanes ISD and TCEA.


The first session I attended at iPadpalooza was presented by Instructional Technology Coordinators Terice Schneider and Vicki Ventura of Belton Independent School District. They gave an overview of how Belton began experimenting with BYOD and small 1:1 implementations over the past two years, culminating in opening a brand new middle school (grades 6-8) with 1:1 iPads for students in the 2011-2012 school year. Belton ISD is very generous to share information about their innovative projects. You can get a good synopsis of what has been happening in their district on their 1:1 initiatives web page.  Terice has also been posting some very insightful, practical implementation information on her blog. These are both valuable resources anyone considering 1:1 programs of any type should bookmark and refer to regularly!

Full Disclosure: I have a great deal of faith in the information Terice and Vicki share because I was privileged to work with them for several years when I was a  classroom teacher and campus technology facilitator.

In addition to the wonderful resources I've linked to above, here are my notes from their iPadpalooza session.

Lessons Learned from and Tips for 1:1 Implementations

Staff Development is KEY!!! It's much harder to fix the mistakes you make in staff development than to do it right the first time.

Belton is paying for most of their implementation through the Texas Instructional Materials Allotment (IMA). Some district funding also has to be kicked in. They are no longer buying things like dictionaries and calculators because apps can do these things. They still have calculators for state testing until the Texas Education Agency recognizes the home button can now be disabled in latest version of iOS, essentially locking students out of other apps on their devices.

When Belton tried BYOD, use in classroom was at teacher discretion. Devices were not being used. When 1:1 iPads were being implemented at a brand new middle school, only FOUR teachers volunteered to go to the new school where this was happening. The rest were assigned to the new campus. (Read between lines: There was a strong reluctance to implementation at the new campus).

Teachers also had to transition from Windows PCs to Macbooks with only  1/2 day of training in addition to several days of learning about the iPads and integration approaches. Teachers were VERY STRESSED. There were tears. Coordinators learned from this not to try to do too much too soon when it comes to staff development. Take baby steps!

Leadership is key - Principal and superintendent must be on board. You can tell somebody what to do, but you can't make them believe something. You have two choices - move them to a new position or convert them. They had one teacher with 40 years experience and she volunteered to move to the new school and embraced the 1:1 model. Other teachers with similar years of experience retired after training because it was too much for them.

After the school year began, district tech staff had to back off a bit at their middle school and allow teachers to build a culture (they were at a brand new campus building a new culture on top of everything else). Encouraged simple implementations like posting handouts to their websites that the students could download. Or making flashcards for review. Allowed teachers to explore and reach back out for more training when they were ready for more.

By the end of the implementation year, approximately 80% of the middle school teachers were able to move into truly using the iPads in instruction. Give teachers permission to start with supplementing, then replacing, then truly changing instruction. Teachers do not want to look stupid. Give them permission to learn with and from their students.

Next year, the high school is going 1:1. Gave high school teachers iPads ahead of time. Did four one hour sessions to get them comfortable with the iPads. Teachers can do Facebook, Pinterest, etc. - whatever will encourage them to get comfortable with the device. In summer staff development, brought in teachers from middle school to teach the high school teachers. Having experienced teachers teach other teachers provides more credibility and opportunity for sharing practical tips. Training of the high school teachers has been a marvelous experience and drastically different than the middle school teacher training of just a year ago.

The district had a budget of $40 per iPad for apps at the middle school.

Vicki and Terice have an iPadU (staff development) agenda and other documents which they will gladly share.  Belton will let us use/steal everything they have. We can email them for editable copies of their stuff. Many of their resources and their contact information can be found on this web page (also look for more pages in the left-hand navigation of the website.)


Digital Learning in Belton ISD


In spite of the challenges of the first year of large-scale implementation, the 1:1 initiatives have been fruitful in Belton ISD. The video below gives a great overview of the impacts felt by students and teachers alike.

1:1 iPads In A Third Grade Classroom

Photo Source

On Tuesday, June 19th, 2012, I attended iPadpalooza at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. This conference about all things iPad in education was co-sponsored by Eanes ISD and TCEA.


Laura Wright, a third grade teacher at Eanes Elementary School, gave a wonderful presentation with many practical tips for implementing the use of 1:1 iPads in an elementary setting. Ms. Wright used the iPads in her classroom during the 2011-2012 school year. Each student had access to an iPad, but the devices did not go home with the students.

On her website, Ms. Wright provided a synopsis of all of her tips in a downloadable document. She also posted a video which gives you a peek into daily life in her classroom. You should check these out; this teacher knows her stuff and I learned a great deal of practical, useful information from her.

Practical Tips for Using iPads in the Classroom (My Notes from the Presentation)

During the presentation, Ms. Wright asked us to download an app called Nearpod, which is a relatively new app. Free. Using this app, students see on their iPad a presentation which is being sent out from the teacher's iPad. Students cannot advance the presentation because the teacher is in control of the presentation. Nearpod can deliver tests and videos  and also be used to take polls. There were some glitches with Nearpod during the session, but Ms. Wright says overall it has worked well and is still a new app that is continuously improving.

Ms. Wright stressed that you need classroom routines in place before using iPads.

In the classroom, students use textbook stands for their iPads. They use the small size of these stands.This keeps the iPads out of way of other student materials. But keeps iPads on desks all day so as not to lose teachable moments.

In presenter's classroom, students get all their materials out in the morning and randomly go to iPad cart to get their iPad out. (Don't create a line of kids at the cart!)

Keep iPad in textbook stand on inside corner of desk. Less chance of iPad getting knocked on the floor.

Plug ear buds into iPad all day long even if they aren't used: keeps iPads muted when using apps. Use a hanging wall chart w/pockets to keep ear buds organized.

Ms. Wright does not recommend using iPad on flat surface because students can't type and have eyes on teacher at the same time.

"Grab and close" to get students to get out of an app. iPad cover needs to be closed so you know the students are listening.

If you have snacks in your classroom, if you can get junk on your iPad from your snacks or has any liquid, it can't be on the desk with the iPads.

Selected students called "Tech Teachers" help peers in classroom. Teacher does not need to know everything about every app.

Took an hour a day to explore apps with students during the first week of school. Ask individual tech savvy students to investigate an app for you before you decide to use it with all of the students.

Use collaboration and let students help each other. There will be movement in your classroom.  An atmosphere of learning and collaboration will evolve. Exciting if you allow collaboration to happen.

Personalize! Give them control to change their screen savers. Ms. Wright noticed students would change their screen savers throughout the year based on what unit of study was going on. Students will take more ownership and better care of the iPads if it is personalized.

Ban the word "play" as in we are going to "play" with the iPads today. Distinguish between home use of personal devices and school use of this iPad.

Use art programs for math warm-ups every day. Let students share their favorite art program. If they are more comfortable with an app, they will use it better and learn better.

Post QR codes around the room for search engines and large units of study. Create a safe path to Internet sites! (This works well with a small group of iPads too if you are using them in a center.)

Presenter says since she's had iPads she has not set foot in a computer lab.

Settings & Apps Ms. Wright Recommends:


In iPad Settings go to General - Accessibility - Multiple settings to help kids with special needs (or anyone). Turn on AssistiveTouch - can create new gestures for someone with motor issues. But Assistive touch in general puts a home button on your iPad screen. You can rotate, lock screen, etc.


Ms. Wright has a single email address/iTunes account assigned to all of her iPads. Uses that to download apps and it goes simultaneously to all iPads in the classroom


A Fact Every Day - App that engages Kids.

Glow Draw - favorite drawing app for math warmups. Black screen and glowing colors for doing the warm-ups.

Math Bingo - Consistently rated as a top math app. Uses every day for skill building and saw improvement in test scores. Has kids use this during warm-up time each day and record their scores so they can improve their score each day.

Arcademics - students can play racing learning games and compete against each other. Most are 99 cents but sometimes they come up for free.

Scribble Press - Another drawing app. Includes built in books you can create from.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also be interested in my previous posts on teacher experiences and student experiences in 1:1 iPad classrooms.

Teacher Experiences in a 1:1 iPad Environment

On Tuesday, June 19th, 2012, I attended iPadpalooza at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. This conference about all things iPad in education was co-sponsored by Eanes ISD and TCEA.

Early in the day I attended a panel where I heard the perspectives of four students who had been participants  in a 1:1 iPad pilot which took place at Westlake High School during the 2011-2012 school year. You can view my notes from that panel here.

After hearing about the pilot from the student perspective, I was eager to hear from teachers who had been involved in the project. So, for the last session of the day, I attended a teacher panel. The panel included three English teachers and one science teacher, who told a little about their experiences and took questions from the audience. Below are my notes on the thoughts/experiences which they shared.

A little background: Because of the timing of the approval of the pilot and the time needed to purchase the iPads, the 40 teachers involved received their iPads approximately three weeks before the 2011-2012 school year started. For the majority, this was their first experience using an iPad.

The Teachers' Experience

Two paths to take - embrace it and run with it even thought it is scary or forget it and let others take all of the risks.

Be willing to look foolish and collaborate. Students will have to help you. A mental shift has to occur. Teachers are no longer the keepers and disseminators of knowledge but become facilitators of learning. iPads kick this shift into high gear. (Emphasis in this paragraph mine because that comment stood out so much!)

Academic integrity issues come up. It's possible students can take screen shots of your online quizzes and share with students later in the day. So, put different questions on quizzes for each class.

One trick is reorienting the desks so teacher can see the screens during certain types of activities. It's also important sometimes to say "put your iPads away" when they are not necessary.

Part of the role as educators is fostering face-to-face communication. Closing the iPad and looking people in the eye to converse is important sometimes. Don't feel pressure to have the iPads out all the time.

If the iPads are going to be out, what are we going to be doing with them that makes them useful to learning right now? It takes time to understand this and shift curriculum in the classroom.

Initial misconception was they had to do everything all the time every day with the iPad. It's ok to take baby steps. Take on one thing at a time. First, focus on getting content to the students via the iPad. Then, tackle collecting work via the iPad, etc.

Students are really forgiving as teachers are learning the iPads and like to help.

It's ok to tell the kids to "power down" when they need to focus on you in the classroom. Get their faces out of the screens.

In science one teacher had about 75% of her kids doing things completely paperless and turning in assignments through New Annotate or Google Docs. Sent assignments back to them with grades and comments.

iPads were really beneficial for "backpack filers" (the students who traditionally keep everything "filed" [stuffed] in their backpacks). Now teacher can tell them it's probably on their iPad and if they can't find it they can download it again from the website.

Establish expectations early on. For example, they WILL use their school issued email and they WILL set it up correctly. Put a correct name in there so the recipient knows who is sending the email. English teacher says she will focus on this requirement at the start of next school year instead of giving students the choice to use school or personal email throughout the year. It won't be ok to say, "Oh, I don't check my school email."

Nuts and bolts of using the iPads are not always intuitive for the students. Example: setting up correct servers for apps and WebDav (the app used to access shared network folders). One teacher says she will spend the beginning of the school year getting a lot of those things set up. Through trial and error this first year, they learned a lot about better ways to roll out the iPads.

Teachers also have definite thoughts on when the iPads are taken up. District technology decided to take them up a week before school was out, but finals weren't over. There was some "civil disobedience" as a few students opted to keep their iPads past the turn-in date so they could study properly.

Not all students are proficient with or prefer the iPads; some still prefer paper. One teacher tells students it is their responsibility to print the documents out at home if they prefer paper. She thinks as students get iPads earlier in their high school careers (Eanes is expanding the program to include all freshmen and sophomores next year) comfort levels will increase.

Even with all of the awesome apps, email is one of the best tools they have. They work a lot with kids on proper format, using school email not personal, etc. Some students changed their personal email accounts after being allowed to use them and realizing that their addresses weren't ones that they would give to an employer or professor. (Example one teacher gave was "sexygirl34" as an email address she was not super comfortable sending to.)

Science teacher says she often lectured from apps instead of her PowerPoints. For example, when looking at anatomy of foot, she can use an app to turn a 3D model on her screen and talk about it. Better understanding for students!

Science teacher really loved Google Docs for making quizzes for her students. Used Flubaroo script to set up automatic grading. There is a YouTube video for learning to use this.

Teachers are saving tons of time in the copy room. Electronic docs also good for making corrections if a mistake is found in a handout.

English teachers use Notability app to organize student documents.

40 teachers in pilot this year, so there were no specific campus requirements for how much teachers needed to do with the iPads. As they move forward with all students receiving iPads, more requirements may come along. It was a good way to start since they were figuring things out on the fly.

Kids are still kids, even with iPads. Sometimes you have to say "time out" and take the iPad away if they are off task. It's part of them growing and learning.

More on the 1:1 iPad Teaching and Learning Experience

The panel was amazing. I truly enjoyed the honesty of the questions and the answers and getting a peek into the transformation that the teachers experienced during their 2011-2012 school year.

If you would like a similar peek in addition to my notes above, I encourage you to watch the video below. It was put together in January of 2012, just half-way through the school year, for a presentation to the Eanes ISD School Board.


WIFI Update from Westlake Chaps on Vimeo.

Student Experiences in a 1:1 iPad Environment

On Tuesday, June 19th, 2012, I attended iPadpalooza at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. This conference about all things iPad in education was co-sponsored by Eanes ISD and TCEA.

One of the sessions I attended was a student panel. Four rising seniors from Westlake High School shared their experiences as part of a 1:1 iPad pilot which took place at WHS during the 2011-2012 school year. During this pilot, Eanes ISD issued iPads to all juniors and seniors and a few sophomores, over 1000 students in all. Forty teachers were also involved in the initiative, which challenged all parties to integrate mobile computing devices into teaching and learning.

Below are my notes from the student panel. First, each student shared his or her favorite apps for learning. Then, they took open questions from the audience. The students were very articulate, and I enjoyed learning about their experiences, both the positives and the negatives. Overwhelmingly, the experience leaned to the positive!


The Students' Favorite Apps

Note: As the students plugged in their iPads to the projector to demonstrate their favorite apps, I loved seeing the personal apps they had installed - Facebook, Netflix, etc. Score some points for personalization!

Goodreader - Annotating app. Allows highlighting and taking notes. Usesd it in math for writing on test reviews. Used it in reading to annotate novels, readings, etc. Allows you to toggle between documents easily.


iBooks - Can also annotate and highlight and add notes.

SidebySide - Allows you to open two windows next to each other. Example shown was two web browser windows.

WHS has an app called Self Service so students can pull down apps that were purchased for them by the school/district.

Wolfram Alpha - great for math. Has calculators for math and science. Was able to do intergrals in Calculus. Nice big scientific calculator keyboard.

Graph Calc HD - type in equations, graph them and compare the graphs

iMovie - created presentations for class assignments

Splashtop - connects your iPad to a computer via the Internet. Example - forget Word doc on computer at  home. Access computer via Splashtop, then get the Word doc off of home computer and drop it in Dropbox, then access document in Dropbox app on iPad. Or Email doc from home computer. Helpful for using things that go beyond capabilities of iPad. Photoshop, etc. Can hook to multiple computers.

WebDAV Nav - Access network shared folders from you iPad. This was provided by the school. Example - PDF of French textbook accessed this way.  Avoids copyright issues of putting textbooks online.

In Class - For class organization. Includes a calendar. Set due dates for assignments that will remind you with something needs to be turned in. Keep notes and save documents within the app. Put in profiles for each of your instructors. Room numbers, office hours, etc.

Audio Note - Allows you to record lectures in class and take notes. Example: Listen to teacher speaking and review the PowerPoint.

Quizlet Deck - Electronic flashcards. Can find card decks created by others and use them too. Compatible with Quizlet.

NoteTaker HD - When teachers provided PDFs, students could use a stylus to take notes.


The Student Experience

At this point, I stopped taking copious notes and started capturing the students' comments on their experience via Twitter. Below I have embedded a Storify which I used to preserve their thoughts. The Tweets are presented in slide-show format. Click the arrow to the right of the slide numbers to move through the show.

If you enjoyed the information in this post, you might also be interested in my post about Teacher Experiences in a 1:1 iPad Environment.

Is BYOD A Cop-Out for Schools That Should Be Providing Technology to Students?

Image Source

This morning, I read an excellent article from The Journal called Why BYOD, Not Banning Cell Phones, is the Answer. I bookmarked it, because it lays out in detail the positive aspects of BYOD and gives great strategies for helping teachers help students use personal devices in learning.

Then, I started reading the comments. And one of them drew a response out of me. A response that got so long I decided it was blog-post worthy. First, the anonymous comment:

This article is about the advantages of one-to-one contact with technology in the classrooms, not BYOD. BYOD is only one method one getting one-to-one. It is also the method which makes students responsible for bringing their it own learning resources. We don't expect students to purchase their own textbooks or desks, why devices? Schools need to step up and provide devices for students if they think they are required for 21C learning.

Granted, I have not personally gotten to experience a BYOD environment yet, but I have been doing extensive reading on it in hopes of being involved in a BYOD project in the near future. Based on my reading, as well as attending presentations and talking directly with educators involved in BYOD, I've formed some understandings. So, in regards to the anonymous poster who commented that "Schools need to step up and provide devices for  students if they think they are required for 21C learning," I would like to point out a few advantages of allowing students to use their own devices.

First, it's personalized. The student can manage their own settings and choose their own tools for accomplishing their tasks. The device is also seamlessly integrated into their life; it is not a device "for school only". The student can use it during the day to enhance his/her studies, and use the same device outside of school to do homework, keep in touch with friends, pass the time with a game or ebook, and keep school assignments and personal obligations on the same calendar. Students are also more likely to care for and respect a device they personally own as well as devices their peers own.

Second, it's real-world. More and more businesses are expecting their employees, especially ones who work from home or the field (telecommute), to provide their own devices for work. The enterprise may provide web-based applications and virtual desktop solutions so everyone has access to the same suite of tools, but the hardware is owned by the employee and is the responsibility of the employee.

Third, it is a more cost-effective use of taxpayer money in an era when states are consistently cutting back on education funding. Most schools/districts will never get to a sustainable 1:1 model due to cost of maintenance and replacement. If students can bring their own devices and the schools simply have to provide bandwidth and supplement for those who cannot provide their own equipment, the chances of classrooms moving into more connected, technology infused learning are greatly increased. Schools have always expected students to bring tools required for learning - paper, pencils, notebooks, folders, rulers, etc. while providing the content. And we have supplemented for those who could not afford their own tools. Today's tools are more sophisticated, but personal ownership of the basic tools of learning is not a new concept. 

What do you think? Are schools copping out when they make moves toward BYOD? Please add your contribution in the comments below!

A Principal, a Superintendent, and a 1:1 iPad Initiative

This is a nice interview with Principal Patrick Larkin and Superintendent Eric Conti on the 1:1 iPad initiative currently going on at Burlington High School in Massachusetts. This is definitely of value as a "why-to-do-it" resource.

I particularly love what they have to say about letting the students have their own iTunes accounts and letting them load their music and apps on the devices and the learning opportunities those decisions have created in regards to responsibility and balancing appropriate use of the devices. Another interesting point - technology integration has increased because teachers can no longer say that there is an issue with student access to technology.

I'm posting to my blog to share with you and so I do not lose track of it for future reference. Hat tip to Tom Whitby of the Educator's PLN for bringing my attention to this by posting and Tweeting the video.

Do you have similar resources bookmarked or curated somewhere on the web? Please share links in the comments so we can all learn together!

Technology Alone is not a Silver Bullet for School Improvement...

On Monday, February 13th, the New York Times published a story which profiled Mooresville Graded School District in North Carolina. They have implemented a 1:1 laptop program for students which due to its success in improving student achievement has become a model that is being looked at by schools across the nation.

The article was intriguing to me in at least two aspects. First, because it reported that in order to afford the cost of the 1:1 program the district actually downsized its staff and increased class sizes. Second, because graduation rates, attendance, and test scores have increased in the three years since the 1:1 initiative was begun.

My immediate thoughts: "Yikes! They increased class sizes and let go of teachers to do this!" and "This district has figured out how to do a technology implementation. I wonder if their model can be duplicated?"

Which is why I'm really glad I also came across this post on MacRumors which referenced the NYT story. In particular, I was glad to read a response to the post written by mgsdteacher, a teacher in the Mooresville District.

In addition to better explaining how the staff downsizing was accomplished, Mgsdteacher brought my feet back to earth and reminded me that an investment in technology alone will not bring about school improvement. In spite of the NYT article title, my brain went there! It is tempting to wish it were so. So tempting that schools all over our country regularly gamble on technology implementations with gusto.

I don't usually copy another person's words at this length and repost them, but in this case, I wanted to give Mgsdteacher a wider audience to the extent that I can. This teacher's words have me thinking in a way the NYT article alone did not and will probably result in a follow-up blog post. But for now, I give you the words of Mgsdteacher and ask you to process them on your own. (Whoever you are, Mgsdteacher, I hope you don't mind my re-posting of your words here and that you'll let me know if you find them and you do mind.)

Based on this teacher's perspective, what do you think are the keys to school improvement in Mooresville Graded School District?

I am a teacher in MGSD. I have been here since 2003 and I am "digital native" but I have taught here both before and after the laptops.

I wanted to address a few things.

First, North Carolina does not have teacher unions. There are teacher unions, however we are a right to work state and so they have little power and/or influence. Fewer than half of our teachers I would guess are members of the NCAE (I am not).

Yes, we have had layoffs. No, they were not directly correlated to the purchase of the laptops. Like every school district in the country, the recession led to a drop in sales tax, therefore our state funding decreased, there our budgets were cut by huge amounts. We have cut back on office supplies, textbooks by not purchasing them, etc. Salaries are the largest part of our budget and I would encourage everyone to view our annual report which details our budget. Many of the positions lost were retirements or people leaving the district of their own volition and whose positions were simply eliminated as opposed to being filled. In addition to our own technology budget, we have a substantial grant from a large national employer who has headquarters in our town.

Yes class sizes have grown. However our administrators have done an outstanding job at raising the class sizes of electives and honor level classes where students are better able to absorb the changes. Our lowest performing students have the smallest class sizes.

Our test scores are based on the accountability tests written and administered by the state of North Carolina. We use our own internal data as formative assessments at regular intervals to prepare for those state tests. The data reflected in the article comes solely from the state and is easily accessible on ncpublicschools.org (click on School Report Cards). It is not a test we made up to make ourselves look good.

In terms of the interaction - one thing not mentioned in the article is that at the same time we did the 1:1 conversion we also adopted a program called Capturing Kids Hearts. It involves making a personal connection with a student because until you capture their heart, you can't capture their mind. We all develop social contracts with our students, we greet them at the door every day, we share Good News on a regular basis, and truly get to know our students and let them know we care about them. Many of our students have found this to be a safe, comforting environment because the interaction is so much greater. Technology has freed up some of our back-end time so we can take more time to get to know kids, work with them more closely, target their weak areas sooner and get them the help they need. I feel I know my students better and interact with them FAR more than I did previously. My kids email me all the time with questions, when they are at home working on homework, they know they can email or instant message me on Angel, and they get the help sooner and faster.

Additionally, the things I ask my students to do in class allow me to truly see their creativity shine, and demonstrate their true gifts, and their actual learning, so I learn to see the student behind the textbook so to speak. Again, the things they can do with the technology allow me to see a richer, more complex person that answers on a worksheet. It allows me to have a personal insight into my students' lives. I absolutely can confirm that I have touched more lives as a result of this technology being available. Not just the bright, smart kids that everyone loves to work with - also those who feel they are worthless, have no parent support, have no one to give them kind or supporting words, or show no interest in their school lives or work.

In terms of what we teach - it varies from subject to subject however in my department we are focused on proficiency-based learning where students demonstrate through their blogs, digital portfolios and performance assessments what they have learned. They all perform at different levels, and they have different assignments based on their abilities. We use a lot of project-based learning where students are involved in collaborative problem solving of real-world problems. We are nurturing higher level thinking skills and empowering kids to reflect, push themselves, and think creatively. I would encourage to watch some video of our teachers in action as we were recently profiled at Digital Learning Day. You can find those videos here: http://www.digitallearningday.org/DLD2012. We are profiled in the leadership and instructional strategies section.

I am honored and blessed to work in such a district where we have made a priority of reaching every child, every day and I appreciate the opportunity to share my insights with all of you.

Let me add to that I left a highly lucrative career to take a 50%+ pay cut to become a teacher. (I am still not yet to the salary I was making in 2002 when I became a teacher). There are no bonuses, no merit raises, no title upgrades or promotions. But my students who tell me I have made a difference in their lives (and one class made a surprise website featuring video tutorials of the impact I had made on them - purely unsolicited and unexpected) - that is why I do what I do.

Original Source of Mgsdteacher's Words

Distraction 2 Reaction: BYOT (BYOD) Success!

Notes from TCEA 2012 Presentation by Eanes ISD Tech Group and Carl Hooker, Director of Instructional Technology, Eanes ISD


Presentation posted at: edtech.eanesisd.net/tcea


Research Behind BYOT


2011 Horizon Report K12 Edition - Published every year. Compilation of research by respected educational technologists across the nation. Publicizes key trends and challenges and predictions for adoption educational technology. Key trends from 2011:

• People expect anytime anywhere access
• Resources becoming more cloud based
• Abundance of resources make it more challenging for us to function in the role of educator as we know it.
• Support of the technologies we use are becoming more cloud based than server based.

Challenges

• Current tech practices in schools do not support the demand for personalized learning.
• Digital media literacy continues to rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and profession.
• Many activities related to learning and education take place outside walls of classroom.

Mobile devices are predicted by 2011 Horizon report to be in mainstream in one year or less.

Fun Stat: Teens text on average 3339 per month. People over 65 average 32 text messages per month.

m.socrative.com - Resource used during the presentation. Allows teacher to push questions out to students regardless of device as long as they have web access. Can be teacher paced or student paced. Shows live results. Also emails results to teacher.

Research shows 60% of low-income students carry a mobile device of some sort.

Look for awesome infographic in the Prezi (linked at the top of this post) about how people use their mobile devices based on age range.

90% of people in the U.S. have a mobile phone. Approx 5.9 billion people worldwide will have mobile phones by 2013. 1/3 of all mobile users owned a mart phone in 2010. 73% of children have books in their home. 80+% have mobile phones. (See infographics in Prezi).

By 2014 mobile internet should TAKE OVER desktop internet use. By 2014, mobile will be the DOMINANT source for the internet SURPASSING laptops & desktops.

We used to hear about the digital divide. Now we have an "App Gap". This is important to think about because teachers must teach to the lowest common denominator of tech in the classroom.

Horizon Report predicts that concerns over BYOT will be outweighed by the advantages.

Concerns About/Challenges With BYOT 

• The kids will cheat! (Like they've never done that before...) One participant in the session noted it's easier to catch kids cheating digitally because the evidence is on the device.
• Instructional time can be lost while figuring out how to get multiple types of devices connected to the same resource
• Online testing not compatible with all devices (ex: iPad)

Eanes ISD will post a copy of their BYOT policies to their website along with the presentation link. It includes usage guidelines and possible consequences. Teachers found there were FEWER discipline problems because devices were out on the desk out in the open instead of having "sneaky use" under the desk.

AWESOME IDEA: Students at the elementary level had to apply to BYOT, indicating how they would use the device for learning. Kids were issued a BYOT sticker or license. They had to be able to produce this for anyone who asked since the kids carried their devices around the school.

Other Questions to Consider: 

• Kind of phone a kid owns is often a sign of social status. 
• Equity issues. (Eanes had iPods and laptop carts in place for students without devices at school. Parents at elementary were assured students would have technology provided to them when needed. Do not let this concern hold you back...) 
• Filters (because kids could use their 3G/4G to access Internet. Be sure to address this in your policy. Some districts are renaming AUPs to RUP (Required Use Policy). Also, best filter is a teacher who is moving around the room staying involved with students.
• At what age do you start BYOT?

When teachers want students to BYOT, there are preliminary conversations about how those teachers want students to be able to use those devices. If you have tech vision committees, include students on the committee.

Remember to educate your community about BYOT, too!

Educational Uses of BYOT

Poll Everywhere - Free. Students can answer questions via text message.

eClicker - Teacher app is $4.99 through volume purchasing. Send out questions to class.

Toontastic - app that allows students to create and narrate stories

Sock Puppets - app that allows students to move virtual sock puppets and record your voice talking for the puppet. Puppets play back in a squeaky voice.

Puppet Pals - another puppet app

QR Codes - Students scan them to download assignments and presentations or go to websites.

Songify - read or speak into the app; app changes it into a song

Titan Pad - a way to collaborate on a document without using Google docs. Limited to 6 collaborators at a time.