Muti-tasking and Meta-reflecting

Technology, Technology everywhere... Is that a good thing? 

At the end of my Power Tools for Educators Class, I’d have to answer “It depends.” Like any new technology in history, the value of new tools depends on the choices of the people who use them. 

Usually the ability to work anywhere brings out my inner workaholic. Last year, I would never have considered taking work on a family trip a good idea. Fast forward to last week: 

What happened to my living room?
The last month of school!

My house was a mess, with hastily packed boxes from my school office stacked all over the one room in the house that was distraction-free. My family was burned out after weeks of end-of-year concerts, celebrations, projects and high-stakes testing. We all needed a change of pace, but I still had assignments due. What to do? Take my work to the Great Wolf Lodge. Seriously! 

With a laptop, I was able to make the car ride productive, then work in our room or in the restaurant. When I bought my first computer, I never imagined that one day I would be editing full color high definition video in the car!  The WI-FI at the hotel was good enough to upload a fifteen minute video. Thanks to technology, I was able to work more productively on the road than at my house!

Multitasking at Great Wolf Lodge

At the lodge, I spent just enough time enjoying our family’s favorite bonding activities without having too much fun. Perhaps it is my age, but running up and down stairs in hotel hallways waving magic wands at things that make noise becomes too much fun in a nanosecond.  

(No disrespect to MagiQuest intended. I LOVE that it keeps our only child happily engaged with movement, collaboration, leadership and problem-solving. I just personally enjoy any excuse to withdraw to a quieter setting!)

The fact that technology made this trip possible did not automatically make it a good idea. I made some key choices that made the trip a win-win situation. I planned when I would work, and when I was not working I stayed focused on family activities. I chose to participate in the activities that provided the most family interaction. A corporate discount, a weeknight rate, and bringing food from home significantly improved the cost/benefit ratio. 

And now, three paragraphs after you started wondering if this post was ever going to relate to class, I conclude that using technology in schools much like using technology on my trip. The new technology tools available to schools can be good but it all depends on the choices made by the humans using them. Do they increase productivity and help us work smarter, not harder? Do they encourage or hinder positive group collaboration? Finally, does the cost of the tools justify the benefits to students? 

During our class we found tools that offered significant opportunity for student collaboration and engagement in higher order thinking for a relatively low cost. We also found tools that are very popular in schools might not be as interactive as other options, and sometimes require more teacher planning to make them just as interactive as lessons with traditional tools. 

No matter how much technology we use, it is still up to us to be reflective in our practice, understand our students, and apply research supported pedagogy. Unlike technology, those skills will never be obsolete.

Rediscovering RSS feeds and George

RSS feeds are not new to me. Years ago I set up some feeds into an RSS reader that was integrated into Mac’s Safari web browser. When I went to use it for my RSS assignment, I was sad to see that the feature was gone! Apparently it has been gone for quite some time, so whatever I followed must not have been that interesting. 

I selected Feedly as a replacement, but it wasn’t as user friendly as the RSS reader from Safari. First, I added an RSS feed of all my classmates’ blogs. The process was tedious and time-consuming, but it has saved time in the long term. Another timesaving feature of Feedly is the ability to organize feeds into categories. I put my three favorite long-running instructional technology blogs into one category. How did they make the cut? 

- They were all blogs recommended by practicing educators.

- I have practically applied something that I learned on the site

- I scrolled through previous posts and found that the majority of them were well written and interesting.

Finally, I was happy to see that Edutopia was connected with George Lucas. My maiden name is Lucas, so my friends at the campus computer center all called me George. At least the other three criteria are solid!  

Reflective Practice and My Reflection: My Own Best Teacher or My Own Worst Critic?

In my last post I wrote a bit about my first experience with flipped instruction, and alluded to my frustration with the reflection of my chin in the iPad. That’s not all I noticed. The more I watch it the more I add to my list of “I wish I would have.....” Of course, some of those thoughts are good! Next time, I could break the video into three or four shorter topics, so teachers could access only what they need. There are places where I wish I had been more clear. When I demonstrate typing in a device name, the keyboard should have been in the frame. Those changes would matter more than my chin. 

I can see why the Flipping Instruction Training Program students at NCSU record their lectures before the school year begins. I simply didn’t have enough time to record the video over enough times. I recorded several takes, and chose the best one, but even then there was room for improvement. 

I just watched the You are Your Best Teacher video from the Flipped Instruction Training Program at  http://go.ncsu.edu/fctp which focuses on the potential for videos to help teachers reflect on their practice:

Of course, there is a difference between being a reflective practitioner and being a perfectionist. I think reflective practitioners take risks and keep on trying to to their best, while perfectionists are so afraid of mistakes they either try to hard or give up. With video, we can be our own best teacher, or our own worst critic. 

Experimenting with Flipped Professional Development

It’s June: that extremely busy time of year when teachers are inundated with deadlines from report cards and benchmark assessments to end-of-year celebrations. Teachers are already tired and overwhelmed, but I get to help add “one more thing” onto their pile of stuff to do. Its time for... (insert ominous cello music here)... 

The “Before You Leave" Checklist!

It's my job to help teachers with summer sign out procedures designed to keep track of our expensive equipment. Because our new iPads were distributed on the first day of EOG exams, there was not much time for training. Yet teachers will be expected to use the iPads for summer professional development. How could I make sure teachers had the information they needed to complete a summer equipment checkout form while making the best use of everyone’s limited time? I decided it was time to flip instruction!   

To see my first effort, click here: 
My First Flipped Instruction Video

In classrooms that flip instruction, lectures are videotaped and watched for homework. This frees time in school for the students to apply what they have learned with collaborative activities. Although I was unable to attend class when Dr. Lodge from North Carolina State University and Katie Gimbar from Durant Road Middle School spoke about flipped instruction, I was able to watch the videos linked below. Besides gaining direct experience with the benefits of flipped instruction for absent students, I learned that video lectures helped diverse learners who could pause and repeat the lectures as much as needed. Hopefully that will also help busy teachers with diverse amounts of experience with technology. 

Even though I have experience recording and editing video of other people, recording myself presented a few new challenges, like finding the right camera placement. After several tries you can still see my chin reflected at an unflattering angle! Still I have high hopes that the quick video I made will provide the right amount of help for teachers who are new iPad users, without scheduling yet another meeting. Stay tuned! 

These are two the videos from the Friday Center at North Carolina State University that helped me learn about flipped instruction even though I missed class. Note that Google owns YouTube and Blogger, so it is easier to add a YouTube video than one hosted on Vimeo. 

Brussel Sprouts and Potato Chips: My First Infographic

At first, I approached this infographic assignment the same way I do Brussel Sprouts (and most vegetables!) It was something I had to do. I knew it would be good for me. But I wasn’t looking forward to it.

Infographics convey images with visuals. If you’re old school like me, you can think of the graphics made popular by USA today. I remember when USA Today was criticized for oversimplifying information, but I think infographics are a communication tool that works for the right information and the right audience. Used educationally, they are an opportunity for using the higher order thinking skills in Blooms Taxonomy. So I knew I had do do it...but how? 

First there was the overwhelming task of choosing an infographic tool. The perfectionist in me wanted to experiment with every one, but the working mom in me elected to try a few and settle on the first one that looked workable. Anything in “beta” like Easel.ly was ruled out. I’ve had too much experience with “beta” versions, and too little time. 

I chose Piktochart because I could find a template that looked appealing. Once I understood some of the basics, the experience turned into potato chips. The ability to do just one more tweak here and one little edit there was addictive! If I resize this graphic, will it look better? What if I rotate it the other way?  Before I knew it it was 2:00 am! I was being a perfectionist again, but at least I was having fun! 

Piktochart was mostly fun, but it did a few frustrating things I didn't understand... like cutting off some of the text when I exported to a .jpg file. To see the complete infographic, click here.

VoiceThread and Diverse Learners

Voice Thread  wouldn't be my favorite assignment, but I want to offer it as an option for people who learn differently. Responding verbally to a VoiceThread was a completely new experience for me. I wrote many of my thoughts before recording them, because I've always been a manuscript preacher. I’m certain listeners could tell I was reading from notes at first, but by the end I started to relax and improvise a bit. The process of recording was a bit awkward since I never have enjoyed practicing a sermon to an empty room. It is difficult for me to speak without seeing the nonverbal response of listeners. If you are the kind of person that avoids making phone calls at all costs, VoiceThread may not be your favorite tool. 

I can see why this tool would be a great benefit for ESL students. Learners can pause, delete, and retry as many times as they want until they are confident with their contribution. This allows them to practice speaking in a low risk situation, and provides an alternate mode of assessment. 

My daughter is allowed to use a keyboard for her writing disability, which works well for her because we followed a doctor’s advice and encouraged her to practice with a typing program over the summer. VoiceThread could be another option for students who have not learned to touch type efficiently.  

Listening to a student does take more time than reading print. However, giving a time limit for verbal response could minimize this issue with the added benefit of requiring the student to outline a well-constructed answer. With VoiceThread, a student could focus on the organization instead of the mechanics of typing or handwriting. 

Note: My daughter has given me permission to talk about her writing challenges in class and on my blog. 

1984

In 1984, I was the only student in my dorm with her very own personal computer. I may be too old to be a digital native, but I’m a well-adjusted naturalized citizen. 

My parents didn’t buy me a computer because they knew how much it would revolutionize the world, they bought it because I wouldn’t survive college without the miracle of spell check. The sales representative told us that eventually people would be able to carry computers as if they were large notebooks, but we didn’t believe him. At the time this picture was taken I couldn’t imagine carrying a full color computer in my pocket! I didn’t think I would one day be able to connect with people all over the globe and find information about anything in an instant. I could have any color on the monitor I wanted, as long as it was green or amber.

Although I didn’t add a modem until later, using a computer opened my world. Until I had a computer, writing was a miserable chore. The ability to write quickly and edit easily allowed me to express myself more freely. Newer technologies are not only giving unprecedented access to information, they empower people to create, communicate and share in multiple formats. The challenge is to show students how to be critical thinkers and collaborators who use technology as a creative tool, and not passive consumers who use it for entertainment. 

Curtis J. Bonk writes that learners have the right to “share content that you create as well as comment on or evaluate the educational resources you find.” New technologies give more people the opportunity to share with a wider audience, but they also allow learners to share in a style that fits their unique strengths. Because of technological innovators, 1984 wasn't 1984!