Learning and Teaching with ICT

Today began with breakfast at Oracle where we heard about the ThinkQuest Projects. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to apply their critical thinking, communication, and technology skills to a real-world problem. There are three competition groups: under 9, under 16 and under 22. Groups can be between 1-6 students.

Next we visited Intel where we heard from three presenters about their global programs, recent ethnographic research into the use of technology at home,  and the education initiatives freely available to teachers and preservice teachers. This is something that I need to follow up as the online resources may be valuable for my students. Lunch was compliments of Intel.

In the afternoon we visited  The Urban School in San Francisco. This is an Apple Distinguished,  private senior secondary school where a 1:1 laptop program has been in operation for 10 years. The school was once the site of a fire station and theatre! Our host, Howard Levin is Director of Technology, an Apple Distinguished Educator and former member of the ISTE Board of Directors. Howard described how ICT is fully integrated as a tool for learning in all subjects and that class time is designed to optimise face to face learning time where the laptops are not always used. Most use tends to be after class where students access the online materials and resources.  Howard’s work on Telling Their Stories: Oral History Archives Project resulted in a NAIS Leading Edge Award in Technology and had recently published an article in an academic history journal.

In the evening, I checked out Pier 39 where the sea lions were putting on a show. Apparently there were 1700 of them in September 2009! The wind was freezing and the clam chowder excellent.

Today began early with a 6:15am departure for Apple where we enjoyed an insightful practical session in the executive boardroom on ipads. The session included reviewing the cycle of create –> distribute –> access –> collaborate and the connection between the technical capabilities of the devices and how this supports educational benefits. Highlights of the session included exploring the accessibility features and use of voice over that would be ideal for students with disabilities; investigating a fantastic Star Walk app (Apple Design Award 2010) that takes astronomy to a new level; and investigating the interactive features of epubs. No visit would be complete without a visit to the merchandise store and a group photo at the no. 1 Infinity Loop.

Google was the next stop on the tour. There we enjoyed an overview of Google Apps and #32 things you can do with these to enhance student learning. It would have been good to have been able to participate in a practical professional development session. Something to add to the list for next year. Back in the city, the bus dropped up at Union Square and I finally got connected with a micro sim from T-mobile for $60. Unlimited calls to landlines even in Australia, unlimited text and unlimited data (albeit 2G) for 30 days! Later we enjoyed dinner at the Fransiscan Crab Restaurant with guest speaker Bernard Trilling. The idea of a dinner speaker is really good. Next year, I wonder if we could incorporate that with a dinner cruise?

After much angst about cancelled and delayed flights due to the volcanic ash cloud, the ACCE tour 2011 commenced on Sydney on Wednesday June 14th. There are 29 of us all together, with many award winners from Queensland and some return ACCE tour participants from previous years. The next morning, we checked out the Qantas lounge for breakfast and departed for Los Angeles after 1pm. The flight on the A380 was good. The plane was delayed arriving. However, with express check-in passes in hand, the group eventually managed to get the connecting flight (although a couple of missing boarding passes made things interesting). We arrived at San Francisco where the coach picked us up for a city tour. It was difficult to stay awake but important to readjust to the new time zone and the views over the city and of the bridge were clear and impressive. In the evening, I went in search of a micro sim for my iphone but to no avail. The Raddison Hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf is an excellent location and the bed was fabulous.

Just discovered this cool tool called Slide that allows you to create your own slide show and embed it in your blog etc. That’s nothing new but I liked this one that was prepare about the findings of the McKinsey Report 2007 (pdf).

Today’s workshop was on Moodle. After a brief introduction and opportunity to experience some online quizes, we have been asked to reflect on the following questions:

1. How do you think Moodle can support student learning?
2. Will you use Moodle in your classroom?

I think Moodle can support student learning in a number of ways. Firstly, it can assist students to organise, revist and extend their learning by the teacher organising the resources so that students can access these anywhere and anytime. Secondly, I like the assessment features of Moodle that can encourage students to engage in formative as well as summative assessment tasks and get quick feedback.

I would like to use Moodle more in my classes. At this stage, access is a problem although this is improving. I can’t wait until the new version of Moodle arrives at the end of this year.

Today a group of students ran a great workshop on edublogs. They created a page about blogging with educblogs on the CEGSA website http://cegsa.editme.com/blogs

Part of the practical part of thworkshop was to respond to the following questions on our own blog:

1. Do you think Edublogs is a tool that you would use as an educator? If not, why?
2. How would you use Edublogs within your classroom with your students?

I think thatEdublogs is an excellent tool that I would definitely use with my students. 21st Century learning is all about getting students to be more aware of their thinking and abilities and needs as a learner. Blogging to reflect on learning is a perfect strategy for developing students’ metacognitive skills. It is also a wonderful way for students to write for a purpose to an authentic audience.

When using Edublogs in my class of I would create a class home page and link to students’ individual blogs. I would ensure that students are not identified in any way but use avatars and pseudonyms. When setting up of a class page, I would ensure that I had administration rights over students individual blogs.

A great workshop!

Great video

Just came across this Slide share presentation from Melanie McBride on the best approach school boards (and similar organisations) can take to web 2.0. Steven Downs suggests thtat “the summary of approaches (slide 41) and the Howard Rheingold pic (slide 48) should be blown up and made into a poster”.

I just found this and think it has some valid points for presenters, especially teachers who use PowerPoint for teaching.

Here is a test post