Teaching with Technology Made Simple

Creating and Managing a School "Learning Commons" - October 3, 2011

2011-10-07T06:56:00.000-04:00

It is both exciting and challenging to be a teacher in the Information Age. This is my ninth year working with the great team at Burkevale School in Penatanguishene, Ontario, Canada

My key role during this time has been introducing useful, student centered technological tools to the classroom and the school community. At each step, both tools and knowledge in general were changing and improving at a rapid pace.

1) We first added Burkevale.com a course management system, now our virtual learning hub for students, parents, teachers, and administration.

2) Digital whiteboards and student response systems were integrated into classrooms.

3) Teacher technological training was a constant. Students adapted quickly.

4) Moved from traditional software to collaborative learning tools for teachers and students.

5) Continue to build the library and computer lab into a Learning Commons for our entire school community.

Over the next year I will write regular posts on "Creating and Managing a School Learning Commons". Hopefully this will assist and encourage those who are charged with managing school libraries and computer labs to get the most of these two valuable learning tools. There are some exciting possibilities in having well managed, constantly evolving, student centered Learning Commons in every school, I look forward to working with other educators in achieving this goal.

Library as Learning Commons

2011-10-07T06:46:00.001-04:00

A recent report about our schools' declining libraries shows that only 56% of our elementary schools have at least one librarian or part-time librarian. This is disappointing to hear as a elementary school librarian. I know that without a librarian the school library quickly deteriorates, since it does require a lot of work to maintain and keep the library running smoothly.

With this said, I strongly believe that our libraries are worth the investment. Our small school has decided to buck the trend and combine our traditional computer lab with our traditional library to create a "Media Literacy Centre". Our goal is to create a "Learning Commons" for the entire school, a central hub used by students and staff to collaborate, research and learn. The third part of our Media Literacy Centre is our Virtual Media Literacy Centre (www.burkevale.com), that we create using Moodle an open-source course management system and Google Apps for Education.

With these three components working in unison, our school community is moving in the right direction to providing teachers and students with the tools and skills they need to compete in our ever changing technological age.

K-8 Search Engines, Encyclopedias and more...

2011-01-31T19:41:00.000-05:00

When it comes to projects, students usually go right to Google and type in exactly what they want (i.e. When was the first computer made?). This made lead them to some information about computers, but it may give them way too many sites and also be way over their heads. Two things that we need to do here is teach students how to enter proper search terms properly using specific language and boolean operators (i.e. and, or, not). Secondly, we need to lead them to student friendly search tools, especially for our K-6 students who are just beginning to learn how to do research. Here is a list I created for our library with kid friendly search engines, library resources, and encyclopedias, followed by a great video to help them understand how search engines work and how to search smarter.
.

Search Engines

Ask Kids - http://www.askkids.com/

Boolify - http://www.boolify.org/index.php

Quintura Kids - http://quinturakids.com/

Study Search - http://www.studysearch.com.au/

Kid Rex - http://www.kidrex.org/

Dibdadoo - http://www.dibdabdoo.com/

Encylopedias and Library Resources

Britannica Kids - http://kids.britannica.com/

Yahoo Encylopedia Kids - http://kids.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia

Awesome Library - http://www.awesomelibrary.org/

Great Websites - http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwebsites&template=/cfapps/gws/default.cfm

Multi-Search Engines

Kids Search Tools - http://www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm

Tek Mom - http://www.tekmom.com/search/

Ivy Joy - http://ivyjoy.com/rayne/kidssearch.html

Use Gift Catalogs to Teach Valuable Lessons

2010-12-03T19:00:00.000-05:00

Every Christmas I use gift catalogs to teach my students about how we can help 3rd world countries. I usually start the discussion around the saying "It is better to give than receive." I always get some great responses about what this means, especially from my primary kids. I follow this up with a short video from my favourite charitable organization Samaritan's Purse. This gives them a quick understanding of what gift catalogs are about and they really love the little chicks.

After the video we use the Samaritan Purse website to look at pictures and videos of 5-10 possible gifts they could give a family. I use the farm and livestock category or you could choose a couple from each category depending on the grade. I don't give them a lot of details about the gifts at first, instead I have them think about why some gift would be better than others and steer the discussion in the direction of sustainable gifts. Finally, I have students type up a journal entry on a paint program about what gift they would choose and why it would be a good choice for a family. They finish by creating a colourful picture that relates to their journal entry.

This is always a big hit around Christmas time and some years students even decide that we should start collecting money to buy something as a class. This leads to some great teamwork and negotiating as we make the final decision of what we are really going to buy.

Is Your Technology Enhancing or Distracting?

2010-11-28T20:00:00.000-05:00

Today more than ever we are bombarded with new technology in our lives. Whether its emails, Facebook updates, tweets, text messages, talking on cellphones, listening to I-Pods, surfing the net, reading eBooks, following a GPS, or any other of the many technologies that have flooded into our lives; we need to take a step back and examine what they are really doing to our lives and in our classrooms.

The purpose of technology is to make our lives more efficient and enhance our ability to learn. However, too many of us forget about this and get sucked into the hype of new technologies and just added them to our tech arsenal. When we do this we are sabotaging ourselves and students because these supposed tools are simply becoming high-tech distractions. Evidence of this is probably sitting beside you right now or walking by you on the street each day. People who have let technology move from the efficiency realm and into distraction territory. These people are missing out on human interactions and real life experiences that help shape us as human beings.

The same thing can happen in classrooms when educators loss control of the technology they are using, instead of carefully planning how they will implement the tools in their classroom. This doesn't mean you shouldn't test tools with your students to see if they are really what they are cracked up to be, but they shouldn't automatically become a staple of your teaching diet just because a so called tech expert posted it on twitter or because a teacher down the hall swears by it. As educators we need to analyze the technology that is entering our classroom and make sure that it is enhancing creativity, collaboration and helping our student learn efficiently and not just becoming another distraction in their already overly noisy lives.

Typing or Cursive Writing?

2010-11-20T10:31:00.000-05:00

Should we be focusing more on typing skills in our schools? Recently many classes have been coming to the Media Literacy Center to type up stories and reports. Our school also uses course management software where students are asked to complete online journals, blogs and wikis. The problem is that most students type slowly because they cannot locate the keys or they use the single finger typing style. Should typing skills become more of a priority in our curriculum?

This week I did an experiment to see how young typing could be taught to students. I found that students as low as grade 1 were able to learn proper posture and hand positioning when keyboarding. If student at this age are required to practice their typing a few times a week, by grade 3 and 4 they should be able to type up their assignments quickly and efficiently.

So what gets sacrificed for the time we would spend on teaching typing? Should cursive writing be put on the back burner or even integrated into art class? Or should we just let students learn typing on their own since technology is integrated into their daily lives? In my opinion we should just put a higher emphasis on typing skills to ensure students don't get frustrated when the begin to be required to typed up their assignments.

I learned to type properly in grade 9 on a typewriter and I am grateful for the skills I acquired to this day as I still see many people still typing with their pointers. However, in this technological day and age, waiting until high school to type properly would be much too late. I for one will start teaching primary students proper typing skills as early as possible so that they can focus more on learning and less on finding the semi-colon as they head through their educational careers.

You can purchase many effective typing programs for your students http://typing-for-kids-software-review.toptenreviews.com/, however there are many free websites and games where kids can learn to type.

Here is a list of my favourite website that help to make typing fun.

BBC School Dance Mat Typing - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
(Great program for K-6 students...might be a little hokey for the older grades.)

AuntLee.com - http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/keyboarding_games.html
(Great games for K-8 students to have fun while learning to type.)

Keyboard Learning Game for Kids - http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/keyboarding_games.html
(12 keyboarding games for your K-6 students)

Curriculum of the Future?

2010-08-23T14:10:00.001-04:00

The one thing in education that has money constantly pouring into it as it is talked about and revamped is the all consuming curriculum. I still find it frustrating when I hear teachers stressing over covering every aspect of the "War and Peace" sized curriculum. Are we not missing the point? Yes, we do have to make sure our students learn the essentials in Math, Language, Science and Social Studies, but getting hung up on covering content frequently causing teaching methods to suffer and in turn student learning.

Scotland's new curriculum, while perhaps not perfectly implemented, seems to be on the right track.

" The changes, for children between the ages of three and 18, which are already in place in primary schools, aim to focus more on teaching methods rather than content, and seek to make young people more resourceful and responsible."

Is not our goal to help teachers use their natural talents and unique styles to effectively teach children the essentials, help them to be independent learners and become responsible and respectful citizens? I think we continue to fall short of this with our constant focus on results and content. Yes these are important parts of our system, but I think we can take something from the direction our Scottish friends are headed or better yet our Finnish counterparts that seem to have the secret recipe to great teaching and learning.

BBC News - New Scottish Curriculum for Excellence takes Effect.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-10951893

What is the Key to

Finland

's Education Success?

http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/what-is-the-key-to-finlands-educational-success

Virtual Computing

2010-08-23T14:09:00.002-04:00

Most people would agree that harnessing the power of the personal computing in our classrooms make sense. However, only a selected few have had the opportunity to implement the one computer per child program in their classrooms. The main problem is cost. The cost of purchasing computers or laptops for each child can become staggering, not to mention the cost of installation, maintenance and regular replacements.

The solution may lie in an article that is in ISTE's latest edition of Learning & Leading, about a paperless classroom that uses virtual computing. After some research I learned that virtual computing is based on the fact that we only use a small portion of the power of our personal computers. Due to this fact, virtual computing allows us to run up to 30 workstations using the power of one personal computer. Not only does this help the bottom line, as a bonus virtual computing dramatically cuts energy costs and reduces our carbon footprint since only 30 monitors are needed instead of 30 towers.

Will virtual computing be the catalyst that brings sustainable one to one computing technology into the classroom and enables teachers to transition from traditional teaching methods to project based learning? Only time will tell.

For more information and case studies on virtual computing in schools visit http://www.ncomputing.com/.

Who Will Re-Kindle the Romance?

2010-08-23T14:09:00.000-04:00

The next year will be interesting as E-books and E-book readers become more mainstream. This metamorphsis is very similar to the change we saw in the way people buy and listen to music over the last few years.

I believe textbooks will be the first casualty of this battle, since they are not the type of books that people need to keep forever and anything that brings down the cost of the textbook will be readily embraced by university students and school boards. Once publishers start accepting the change in times and modify the way they deliver content, the only textbooks left may be my $100/copy university textbooks collecting dust in my garage.

How E-books change the way we read novels, childrens books, magazines and other types of written works is still uncertain. These mergers may be more of a happy marriage of electronics and print. Only time will tell if we all will be snuggling up with our Kindle or our dust old paperback.

Want to try out some e-books? Here are some links from PC World to get you started.

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page - Over 30, 000 free E-books.

http://feedbooks.com/ - Thousands of public domain titles.

http://calibre-ebook.com/ - Free E-book management software to convert, sync and manage you titles.

Digital Security for Schools

2010-08-23T14:07:00.001-04:00

In 6 Steps to Success in Teaching with Technology, we stated that, “no subject was of more concern than security, when developing a teaching with technology strategy for your classroom". We stressed the importance educating students, parents and teachers about their individual responsibilities and of developing clear standards for the use of technology in the classroom and in the schools.

Two factions of thinking are developing around the question of digital security in schools. Remember, digital security refers to any electronic tool being endorsed and utilized by the school and school board. This applies to board, school and teacher websites but also software use, emerging tools like e-testing as well as day to day student use of technology

One suggestion put forward is e-security must be extremely rigorous in all aspects of the schools’ virtual community. This makes sense when looking at cyber attacks on school websites, privacy of pictures and information, cyberbullying and student physical and emotional security. How far do we go? One school I am aware now bans the use of Youtube by students because of some of its content. Youtube does have some questionable content but is it not also a magnificent research and creative tool for students. What should we do?

Another avenue of thinking, be more flexible with security when it comes to student research and communication. This group believes there needs to be more individual responsibility in digital security. Teachers, boards and especially parents need to teach students “digital responsibilities”. Many of them have open access to the web elsewhere. They must be taught these e-rules and guidelines from the earliest age. They must be e-responsible as they must be in other areas of life such as when among strangers, watching TV, talking on the phone or visiting a library.

1 to 1 Computing?

2010-08-23T14:06:00.001-04:00

As schools move toward 1 to 1 computing we will see a shift in learning. The traditional stand in front and lecture style teaching is changing to a project-based type of learning. Finding the right solution can be tricky. Here are some questions to ask before settling on a 1 to 1 computing solution.

- Full laptops or Netbooks?
- With or Without Windows?
- XP or XP Pro?
- What price is realistic?
- Can it be managed properly?
- How about security and safety?

Dell is now into the netbook game with their newest netbook that is geared toward K-12. They seem to be listening to teachers and schools because they have many of the solutions which will help 1 to 1 computing work for you.

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24393

Obama's Schools

2010-08-23T14:05:00.001-04:00

Barack Obama and Teaching with Technology from a speech at Stebbins High School near Dayton, Ohio, September 2008

"Without a workforce trained in math, science, and technology, and the other skills of the 21st century, our companies will innovate less, our economy will grow less, and our nation will be less competitive. If we want to out-compete the world tomorrow, we must out-educate the world today," .

"While technology has transformed just about every aspect of our lives--from the way we travel, to the way we communicate, to the way we look after our health--one of the places where we've failed to seize its full potential is in the classroom.

"Imagine a future where our children are more motivated because they aren't just learning on blackboards, but on new whiteboards with digital touch screens; where every student in a classroom has a laptop at [his or her] desk; where [students] don't just do book reports but design PowerPoint presentations; where they don't just write papers, but they build web sites; where research isn't done just by taking a book out of the library, but by eMailing experts in the field; and where teachers are less a source of knowledge than a coach for how best to use it and obtain knowledge. By fostering innovation, we can help make sure every school in America is a school of the future.

"And that's what we're going to do when I'm president. We will help schools integrate technology into their curriculum, so we can make sure public school students are fluent in the digital language of the 21st-century economy. We'll teach our students not only math and science, but teamwork and critical thinking and communication skills, because that's how we'll make sure they're prepared for today's workplace."