Technology Integration
Vocabulary, Keywords, Tagging & Search Skills
Jun 27, 2011
I am thinking again about what are 21st century skills in a broad sense... one of them is most certainly tagging, keywording and other side of that coin is searching. While there are some fascinating stabs at visual search engines such as Tin Eye, most of the searching (or Googling) that we do is reliant on Words. Vocabulary. Language. Diction. Terminology. Phraseology. Nomenclature. Terms. Expressions. Parlance. Idiom. Jargon. Vernacular.
You get the idea, right?
As important as the visual to invoke emotion, curiousity, learning and memory- and as much as music can set mood and is the Global Language - We still rely on language to be effective at sharing our multimedia to the widest and most appropriate audience. If we don’t label, title, tag or keyword it effectively, others will never find it. On the other side of the coin, if we are looking for something ourselves– the only way to be effective at searching is to have a broadening mastery of language to expand our search returns, or to filter and refine them.
So as technology integrators, I think we have more reason than ever to expose our students to the process of intentionally going beyond their immediate personal response to the question “How should I tag this?” for pictures and other digital publications. Facilitate the expansion of their vocabulary and perspective by asking them the question: “What would someone else who was looking for this publication use as a search term?” “What would be their view or perspective, and what language would they use?”
This analysis will certainly result in deeper understanding and more durable conceptualization of the topics that they are learning about.
Comments
Teaching with Photography
Mar 09, 2011
I am so excited about my latest school project!
Our school on the Space Coast of Florida has issued a challenge to middle grade schools in six other countries:
Show us YOUR WORLD!
As a social studies class project, my school will host 4 photo galleries for students to submit pictures from their country. Let’s learn together visually about life in your country.
| The Participants this round: | United States (contest host) |
| Singapore | Australia |
| Germany | France |
| Israel | Mexico |
There are four categories:
Food Picture Gallery: What food or beverages do you regularly eat that you think might be different from other countries?
Traditions Picture Gallery: What Cultural/Religious/Historical traditions do you participate in that might be unique to your country?
Home Life Picture Gallery: Do you think that your living accommodations or decor may be different from other countries?
School Picture Gallery What does your classroom and school day look like? Is it different from mine?
We will be hosting this project on our school’s Studywiz server. Each student from each country can post one picture in each category. We will rely on Exif information and honor code to insure the pictures were taken by the students during the contest period (the first three weeks of April). Teachers will monitor submissions from their students using RSS feed aggregation.
After the three week submission period, we will lock the students from further submissions and open up a five star rating, commenting and tagging system. Teachers will promote up to five pictures in each category to a new gallery that only the sponsoring teachers can submit their student’s pictures to. These will be our Photographic Best Gallery (PBG).
The Photographic Best Galleries will be judged and commented on for photographic skills and composition, and the general student school galleries will be rated for social/cultural interest and comments should be more of a conversation about cultures.
Students can ask the photographer and other students questions for clarification or more information. This will be where social networking skills (tagging, commenting), and some of the Technology Literacy goals regarding communication and ethical exchanges will take place.
All photos will be available for viewing all through the month of May and may also be downloaded under Creative Commons Licensing.
Doesn’t this sound fun?
iOS / iPad not 'better' but 'good different'?
Mar 04, 2011
(this is a good blog to read- check it out!)
We lose a bit of perspective when we try and equate iOS devices to laptops and netbooks. iOS devices have taken novel technologies and have opened up one of the first genuinely new ways of interacting with a computer.
After reading various GUI Experts* critiques for years, I have been intrigued with the notion that people were tired of the Desktop/File System/Mouse/Icon ways of interacting with computers. REALLY? So what would this look like? What could be better? The iOS has answered that question for me (sometimes). Maybe not 'better' but at least "good different".
Although iOS doesn't completely change the way everything works (we still have icons and clipboard, etc.), it is a pretty radical departure that makes computing much lighter weight, generally lighter wait, and simpler. Furthermore, accelerometers, gyros, geolocation, multitouch surface, these are integrated and being integrated in ways that are refreshing, novel, and inspiring! Most of us would not have imagined the crazy things that could be done with these technologies if we were limited to a laptop or netbook form factor.
So I believe our students and educators deserve to have access to both experiences and I think that true technology literacy is developed by being aware of the strengths and appropriateness of a variety of tools.
*such as the late Jef Raskin, one of the creators of the original MacOS GUI says "shuttling between a keyboard and a mouse wastes too much time." http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2003/tc20030122_7027.htm
Metacognition and Authentic Audience Opportunities
Jan 19, 2011
Why do we do things the way we do?
How do we make the process more effective, more efficient, more effectual?
When we ask these things, we take our learning to the next level. At least that is my opinion.
Mid–January 2011, seven of my students (seventh and eighth graders) stayed after school to mentor students on the other side of the continent.
US. VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH NEW VILLAGE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY IN NORTH LA, CA
New Village Leadership Academy (NVLA) is a private school founded by the actor Will Smith. His son and daughter are students at this K-8 school.
Recently, their Technology Director, Mrs. McGuire asked Mr. Shupe for some suggestions for initiating a weekly school news program for broadcast in their school. He offered to have our Video Production mentor their students using iChat Video Conference and Screensharing technology. We did some pre-planning in our regular class time during school, but the NVLA students were not available until 1 PM Pacific Time (4 PM EST).
Mrs. McGuire downloaded and installed FaceTimeTM for the Mac. This allowed our students to use an ultra- portable wireless video camera on an iPod TouchTM to give our guests in California a tour of our studio. NVLA students were watching and listening to the narration on their teachers iMac in CA.
The detailed process from anchor desk to micing the talent and using the TelePrompter. Students were able to show
how the cables were hooked up with the wireless camera and where other stu- dents worked on various parts of the broadcast. Our students did a remarkable job, first using the iPod Touch with FaceTime, then moving to using iChat to share their screen with the students in CA. This allowed them to show the stu- dents how they used the different applications to create, edit then move large video files directly (and quickly) from a production computer to the final product editing and broadcast computer.
Mr. Shupe commented: My students were walking on clouds as they left our meeting. Someone far away (an authentic audience) wanted to hear from their experience and expertise. This was a unique opportunity for metacognition that occurs when the learner and practicer becomes the expert. They reflect on how and why they do a complex task. They revisit sequences, troubleshooting, effi- cacy of certain actions and skills. They have to prioritize and consider their audi- ence in their communication.
That evening, Mrs. McGuire sent an enthusiastic reflection back to our school:
OMG! that was so cool! Your kids are rock stars!! Thanks so much! My kids were so excited about their own news show done!
How do we make the process more effective, more efficient, more effectual?
When we ask these things, we take our learning to the next level. At least that is my opinion.
Mid–January 2011, seven of my students (seventh and eighth graders) stayed after school to mentor students on the other side of the continent.
US. VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH NEW VILLAGE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY IN NORTH LA, CA
New Village Leadership Academy (NVLA) is a private school founded by the actor Will Smith. His son and daughter are students at this K-8 school.
Recently, their Technology Director, Mrs. McGuire asked Mr. Shupe for some suggestions for initiating a weekly school news program for broadcast in their school. He offered to have our Video Production mentor their students using iChat Video Conference and Screensharing technology. We did some pre-planning in our regular class time during school, but the NVLA students were not available until 1 PM Pacific Time (4 PM EST).
Mrs. McGuire downloaded and installed FaceTimeTM for the Mac. This allowed our students to use an ultra- portable wireless video camera on an iPod TouchTM to give our guests in California a tour of our studio. NVLA students were watching and listening to the narration on their teachers iMac in CA.
The detailed process from anchor desk to micing the talent and using the TelePrompter. Students were able to show
how the cables were hooked up with the wireless camera and where other stu- dents worked on various parts of the broadcast. Our students did a remarkable job, first using the iPod Touch with FaceTime, then moving to using iChat to share their screen with the students in CA. This allowed them to show the stu- dents how they used the different applications to create, edit then move large video files directly (and quickly) from a production computer to the final product editing and broadcast computer.
Mr. Shupe commented: My students were walking on clouds as they left our meeting. Someone far away (an authentic audience) wanted to hear from their experience and expertise. This was a unique opportunity for metacognition that occurs when the learner and practicer becomes the expert. They reflect on how and why they do a complex task. They revisit sequences, troubleshooting, effi- cacy of certain actions and skills. They have to prioritize and consider their audi- ence in their communication.
That evening, Mrs. McGuire sent an enthusiastic reflection back to our school:
OMG! that was so cool! Your kids are rock stars!! Thanks so much! My kids were so excited about their own news show done!
Technology as an Amplifier-The SciPad Technology as an Amplifier-The SciPad!
Dec 08, 2010
This fits beautifully with my interests as an educational technologist and my background as a science educator/scientist. The definition of technology states in part: the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes (New Oxford Dictionary) A scientist views technology as taking a 
scientific principal and making something practical and useful out of it. So Technology amplifies our capabilities and potential. Technology helps us extend our senses to see, hear, feel, and perceive things that our natural senses may not be able to detect and quantify. A microscope amplifies our sight so that we can see what is otherwise invisible. A properly created graph may help us to project and predict future trends, amplifying our understanding and communication.
Technology can also improve the quality of our information by being more exacting. In science we call this quantifiable observations - observations that are quantities based on a standard of measurement. Qualitative observations that we make such as the water is warm or cold become temperatures that are much more meaningful. We are not relying on an ambiguous expression that is relevant only to some unexacting construct in the observer’s mind.
A eighth grade science research student believes that the sound of a boat engine causes stress to aquatic organisms. We find a sound file of the sound of a boat engine, set it to loop as a Quicktime file. This audio file is played through a set of headphones clamped on the outside of the small tanks with 30 Daphnia (a small freshwater crustacean).
Sound is typically measured in decibels (dB) units. Decibels are units of pressure – but sound is also described in terms of frequency... so you could have a lot of sound ‘pressure’ at a low (bass, drum) frequency and have very little pressure at a high (tweeter, cymbal, flute) frequency. So sound is characterized by a combination of frequency (measured in Hz) and pressure (measured in dB).
So we had a hydrophone – a submersible microphone. But we needed a special type of meter that would measure sound, unfortunately I learned at the last minute that our $50 dB Meter from Radioshack was broken. Furthermore, we also looked at the specs and determined that the Radioshack device wouldn’t work to measure sounds below 50 dB, which was likely going to be an issue. Next day delivery on another $200 device from Amazon didn’t mention any external microphone port (for the hydrophone) and there were no reviews
.
When Google searches and Amazon next day delivery didn’t work, I turned to the place I increasingly am relying on for novel solutions: The iTunes App Store! Here I found over 20 apps that served as dB meters, the most promising from audio enthusiast and professional sound engineer, Andrew Smith in Boulder, CO and his software company: Studio Six Digital . With a click, a brief download and sync I was in business with an audio testing suite of software that some reviews equated to equipment costing between $4,000 and $6,000!
Our set up included a Belkin microphone that plugged into the base of the iPod Touch (or iPhone). Research on the audio recording capabilities of the iPod Touch’s headphone/microphone input at the top of the device revealed that the Touch has a low frequency filter (probably to prevent wind noise) which was part of what we wanted to measure. The Belkin device has a miniplug (3.5-millimeter), stereo microphone adapter for an external microphone- our hydrophone in this case. This input will bypass the low frequency filter of the headphone/microphone jack at the top of the Touch.
When she was able to measure the sound levels in the tanks, our research found that the tanks that were supposed to have no sound had virtually the same audio characteristics as the tanks that were being treated with sound! It turned out that most of the sound was being conducted through the surface of the desk and since all the tanks were on the same desk surface, they were all being treated with the same sound. Our researcher was going to have to repeat the experiment and isolate the tanks so that the treatment was not transferred through all the tanks.
So end of story:
Technology can also improve the quality of our information by being more exacting. In science we call this quantifiable observations - observations that are quantities based on a standard of measurement. Qualitative observations that we make such as the water is warm or cold become temperatures that are much more meaningful. We are not relying on an ambiguous expression that is relevant only to some unexacting construct in the observer’s mind.
An Example of How Technology Amplifies a Student’s Understanding
A eighth grade science research student believes that the sound of a boat engine causes stress to aquatic organisms. We find a sound file of the sound of a boat engine, set it to loop as a Quicktime file. This audio file is played through a set of headphones clamped on the outside of the small tanks with 30 Daphnia (a small freshwater crustacean).
Technology Amplifies Our Abilities
We create a simple script on her Mac laptop in Automator to play and stop playing the file in iTunes. Then we create an event to run these Automator scripts for 5 days in iCal. On one computer the iCal events allow the looped file to play for 5 hours, On another computer, the motorboat file is set in iCal to run for 12 hours. A third group (the control group), there is no sound being played at all.Technology Amplifies and Quantifies Our Observations
So we have an audio file playing at the same volume out of iTunes on six experimental groups – using six sets headphones. Or do we? How do we know the sound in the different tanks is the same sound? How do we characterize the sound? Is it loud? Medium loud? Primarily highs, lows or midrange tones? To have a clear and common understanding we need to use numbers that are based on a standard of measurement (common meaning so that other people can have a true sense of what the character of the sound is).Sound is typically measured in decibels (dB) units. Decibels are units of pressure – but sound is also described in terms of frequency... so you could have a lot of sound ‘pressure’ at a low (bass, drum) frequency and have very little pressure at a high (tweeter, cymbal, flute) frequency. So sound is characterized by a combination of frequency (measured in Hz) and pressure (measured in dB).
Technology Allows Us To Monitor Things In Unusual Places
Next we needed to monitor what the Daphnia were hearing in the water. It would be silly to stick our head in the water– we probably would introduce a whole new level of stress for these aquatic crustaceans, assuming our head fit. And we wouldn’t be able to quantify (provide number measurement of our observations) if we used only our ears.So we had a hydrophone – a submersible microphone. But we needed a special type of meter that would measure sound, unfortunately I learned at the last minute that our $50 dB Meter from Radioshack was broken. Furthermore, we also looked at the specs and determined that the Radioshack device wouldn’t work to measure sounds below 50 dB, which was likely going to be an issue. Next day delivery on another $200 device from Amazon didn’t mention any external microphone port (for the hydrophone) and there were no reviews
.App Store & iPod Touch to the Rescue
Our set up included a Belkin microphone that plugged into the base of the iPod Touch (or iPhone). Research on the audio recording capabilities of the iPod Touch’s headphone/microphone input at the top of the device revealed that the Touch has a low frequency filter (probably to prevent wind noise) which was part of what we wanted to measure. The Belkin device has a miniplug (3.5-millimeter), stereo microphone adapter for an external microphone- our hydrophone in this case. This input will bypass the low frequency filter of the headphone/microphone jack at the top of the Touch.
When she was able to measure the sound levels in the tanks, our research found that the tanks that were supposed to have no sound had virtually the same audio characteristics as the tanks that were being treated with sound! It turned out that most of the sound was being conducted through the surface of the desk and since all the tanks were on the same desk surface, they were all being treated with the same sound. Our researcher was going to have to repeat the experiment and isolate the tanks so that the treatment was not transferred through all the tanks.
So end of story:
Technology helps us learn. Technology amplifies
what we are capable of. Ok, maybe I am not an amplifier, but with technology I can help others amplify their knowledge, understanding, senses, communication, and LIFE!Troubleshooting Video Chats
Nov 17, 2010
This list assumes that your network engineers haven’t blocked the key ports that iChat uses for communication. And while I keep referring to ‘iChat’, most all of these troubleshooting techniques will work for Skype and other video chat programs. Keep in mind, this is a complicated task that you are asking your computer, your friends computer and the network in between to accomplish. There are a lot of variables and potential weak links. I have tried to list the ones that are under your control.
Some are actually kinda common sense things, but I tried to be thorough – when we are under pressure, sometimes the obvious isn’t.
- Use your fastest computer, with the most RAM and open HD space. Especially if you are hosting (initiating) with several others.
- Unless there is a compelling reason to go wireless (for mobility), ALWAYS use the fastest ethernet (wired) connection possible. You may ask your local tech specialist- sometimes one location on campus has a faster network connection than another.
- Obviously, you should test your connection prior to your big moment. Test to make sure you can connect with your partner.
- If there are issues (unable to connect or poor quality) Minimize or eliminate other network traffic locally- ie, ask colleagues to refrain from streaming video or audio, downloading updates, transferring large files etc. If possible, ensure that other computer labs on the local network aren't browsing the web.
- If you still can't connect, close out of iChat on at least your machine, relaunch, & retry.
- Try and video chat with someone else. See test accounts below.
- Check your System Preferences (under Apple Menubar), select Sharing (third row end), and make sure all of your options are deselected (no sharing) especially Internet Sharing!
- Restart your computer and make sure that only iChat is launched. If you don't need other programs, don't have them running.
- You may even need to reset your switch and or router in the network closet.
The last two choices sound extreme, but they may help reset or renegotiate the speed or duplexing of the port that your computer is connecting to. - There are test accounts you can check with detailed in this article:
http://bit.ly/vidichat
- Check your lighting. Soft, diffused, even lighting is preferred. Watch out for a bright window in the background.
- Simplify your background. The more objects, colors etc, the harder it is for the software to compress the video stream.
- Minimize movement in the camera view while streaming your video.
- Beware of background noise sources (air conditioners, fans, custodians blowing off the sidewalk
)
By all means, if you have some other tips or troubleshooting suggestions, leave them below in the comments or email them to me, I will add them here and acknowledge your contribution. - Have a great time!
Final Observations on the Survey
Mar 21, 2010
My previous blog entry looked at the overall results of a survey I conducted the last week of December based on a Google Doc’s Survey (survey now closed).
It was a simple survey that was really only asking two questions:
This blog entry were also seven demographic types of questions, so that the responses to the two questions could be desegregated into subgroups. I will be real up front– I was both surprised and disappointed that the delta between the 1:1 schools and non-1:1 schools responses was not greater. On a scale of 1-10 Teacher Personal Use was only 1.16 points higher and Integration into Student Activities was only less than one point greater.
One would think that the ubiquitous access to computers would dictate a much more comprehensive, global use both in Personal, but especially in Student Activities!
These results are disappointing on several fronts. As referenced in my previous reflection on this survey, maybe the respondents to the survey needed more refined ways of qualifying instructional integration. It is clear there is room for more research (larger samples and better quality survey).
It was a simple survey that was really only asking two questions:
- What percentage of the teachers at your institution could be considered technology literate in personal practice?
- What percentage of the teachers at your institution use lesson plans that provide students with activities that incorporate 21st century technology?
This blog entry were also seven demographic types of questions, so that the responses to the two questions could be desegregated into subgroups. I will be real up front– I was both surprised and disappointed that the delta between the 1:1 schools and non-1:1 schools responses was not greater. On a scale of 1-10 Teacher Personal Use was only 1.16 points higher and Integration into Student Activities was only less than one point greater.
One would think that the ubiquitous access to computers would dictate a much more comprehensive, global use both in Personal, but especially in Student Activities!
These results are disappointing on several fronts. As referenced in my previous reflection on this survey, maybe the respondents to the survey needed more refined ways of qualifying instructional integration. It is clear there is room for more research (larger samples and better quality survey).
A Measure of Technology Integration
Feb 01, 2010
So I made a brash statement...
In a previous blog entry I lamented that 80% of today’s teachers don’t feel compelled or prepared to really integrate what could be considered 21st century technology skills.
As I wrote this, it occurred to me that this was really just a guess on my part. Although I have traveled to quite a few schools across the nation to do professional development, I had not read any research upon which to base such a statement. So the scientist in me said, “Let’s find out!”.
So I constructed a Google Doc’s Survey (survey now closed).
It was a simple survey that was really only asking two questions:
- What percentage of the teachers at your institution could be considered technology literate in personal practice?
- What percentage of the teachers at your institution use lesson plans that provide students with activities that incorporate 21st century technology?
Not a Perfectly Sound Scientific Study
I appreciate solid, well-thought-out research. This Google form was thrown together in a couple of hours with distractions. Here are some admitted weaknesses:
- Technology Literacy was defined in terms that for some people may be too limiting, and for others may have been too broad:
Web 2.0 defined as participating in social networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc. commenting, rating, tagging, shared collections of bookmarks, photos, videos, or blogs. 21st Century Skills would include such things as online text, audio and video conferencing and collaboration, a use and ability to edit digtital files such as video, photo or audio files. Standard computer skills include page layout, presentation design, use of spreadsheets and databases.
- The number of respondents over the 10 day period was only 124.
- The data collected reflects an opinion of an individual, as opposed to an objective measure of each school. So I really feel this type of survey might be useful to think about our teacher and student’s experience in terms of a generalized trend.
almost 20% of the respondents were from schools where each student was issued a computer - The sample was not really ‘random’ by most measures. This survey was promoted primarily through Twitter followers many of whom were at the higher end of tech savvy educators. This was a mixed blessing– these survey respondents were probably better suited to answer these questions from an educated view point than (for example) a random parent who has limited direct experience with all the teachers at a given institution.
However, it also meant that almost 20% of the respondents were from schools where each student was issued a computer- a much higher ratio of technology per student than the national or international average. One would expect that teachers were teaching at a much higher level of technology integration in such a setting!
- It was pointed out to me (by a parent) that I had not included 0% in my scale for a possible answer. (What can I say?– I am an optimist and generally try and promote my profession)
Breadth of Survey Response Geographically
- 28 out of 50 states of the USA were represented
- 21 respondents were from countries other than the United States (leading the pack were 4 from both Canada and the United Kingdom and 3 from Australia)
Almost exactly 1/4 of the school respondents were from private schools.
Here we get down to the meat of the survey. I suspected that more teachers are personally using technology, and was pleased to see that 35% of the schools felt that at least half of the teachers were personally using technology extensively.
On the other hand, one wonders how schools that have only 10% of their teachers personally using technology are going lead their student population into the new decade. This group represented almost 20% of the schools!
The Real Question- How much of this Technology is Reaching the Students?!!
Next we have something of an answer to the real important question, because it is the students that matter. Is the opportunity to learn with technology reaching the students? When you look at this as a chance that one child will receive technology infused instruction, it is much better than I thought– but there is still a long way to go. Almost a third of the schools provide only one chance out of 10 to receive this experience. My next step is to isolate the responses from the Standard schools, I predict that the 1:1 schools have pushed the integration numbers up considerably. I think looking at the Standard schools will betray much lower technology integration in the average classroom.
What do these responses say to you? Please leave your comments below!