Pinch Hitter at ISTE

I am excited to be added to the ISTE line-up.  Thankful to MHS for supporting my attendance. I will learn alot!

https://isteconference.org/2013/program/search_results_details.php?sessionid=80390900

Challenge Projects and Their Unintended Consequences

I have planned and coached several Challenge Based Learning experiences over the last few years.  Since students have so much control over these projects, the direction the teams take vary considerably.  Always for me, the unexpected outcomes provide considerable excitement and anxiety.  Fortunately, I have found that the unexpected successes trump the failures, which is why I continue to forge ahead using the CBL principles.

This semester, I assigned a modified CBL with the following challenge:


Create a video on a policy about which you care, which has measurable impact.

As I told the students, since they were taking a political science course, the most essential (and most difficult) piece of the assignment involved assessment.  And fortunately, all the challenge teams did indeed develop legitimate means of testing for the impact of their messaging.  As I had hoped,  to what they learned through planning, researching and consulting about their survey plans, they gleaned almost as much from the post mortems we conducted after the studies were implemented.

When I issued the challenge, I emphasized that I did not expect the students-- without training-- to produce slick videos.  Nevertheless, each of the teams did significant research on visual messaging.  In fact all three groups consulted with at least one accomplished videographer who reviewed their work during the production.

Consequently, though I was attempting to teach political science, in their reflections, my students learned important information about  video production-- an unanticipated, but valuable outcome.  With their permission I've shared one, below:

New Toys

In a recent post concerning a new course I will be teaching, I remarked that  I will learn more than I teach.  The course starts today, and I have already had my horizons expanded by it.  Already I have gained considerable experience at the following cloud sites.

The greatest revelation has been LiveBinders.  As I began collecting materials

Getting started with LiveBinders

for my course, I first relied on my old mainstay, Evernote.  Then a colleague shared a Binder chock full of materials which were organized by tabs in a highly intuitive manner.  I soon began forming my own binder, including all kinds of media.  The binders are very presentable.  They are great for organizing and sharing course materials-- something I hope to do more of as I become more practiced with the software.

I had never used BlackBoard until recently.  At Mercy, we use Moodle as a Learning Management System.  It is versatile and it is free!  However, while it took me several weeks to become proficient in Moodle, I was competent with BlackBoard, literally within minutes.  Its design and help features are truly impressive. 

You may have noticed that I have started using embedded slides at this blog.  This is thanks to SlideShare which I am leaning onfor an iBook Author project Recently, I purchased the "Pro" version so that I could store large slide decks "privately" and then share them out with my project team members as needed.  I also now can upload some videos there.  The only disadvantage for me is that I cannot upload directly from Keynote, so I usually have to convert those files to PowerPoint before I upload them.

Usually when I whip up a survey, I use Google Forms.  In April, I joined a project team that was determined to create sophisticated tech integration surveys for two large cohorts at our school.  We have found that the "Select" version of SurveyMonkey could meet our layout, collaboration, and data analysis needs.

Well, this ends my commercial.  However, I am always appreciative of tech tools which are both versatile and easy to use.

The Old Professor

This summer I will turn sixty.  How odd that my professional career would have taken such twists and turns at a time of life when most of the folks at my last high school reunion had either talking about retirement or had already done so.

Two years ago I became an administrator at Mercy, and now I've decided to do a little moonlighting.  On Friday, I signed a contract as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Teacher Education Department at Madonna University.  I'll be instructor for a small section of Masters Degree students in Leadership in Technology.

"Classical Scholar" CC photo by lisby1

I'm very excited to teach the course, and I feel like I do have some experiences to share in this area.  Nevertheless, it has been about thirty years since I attended a university class.  And though I logged lots of college classroom time as a student, those traditional academic qualifications have little to do with my new role.

I think that it is very telling that I find myself in this position due to factors like this blog, being an Apple Distinguished Educator, and my professional learning network.  

Ironically, many moons ago I entered (but eventually abandoned) a doctoral program in Instructional Technology-- a field so new at the time that my advisor pretty much had to create my program as we went along. I do not regret some of that coursework but of course it has little bearing on the course I will be taking.  What I view as my strong areas for Leadership in Technology have largely come through collaborations with folks like Lucy Gray, Katie Morrow, Tom James, Susan Smith, and so many others.

Well, this will be another fun challenge and I expect that I will learn more than I teach.

Tweeting As Women Mean Business!

The Women Mean Business Symposium is a terrific event that allows our students to hear from accomplished women leaders during a panel discussion. Immediately following the panel presentation, the girls can network and converse at table discussions, conducted by career "women who make a difference".

This year M-Hub partnered with Women Means Business on a new social media feature.  M-Hub managed a scheme for allowing students in the audience to tweet questions to panelists as they made their presentations during the first portion of the program.

The WMB Planning Committee and M-Hub came up with a marvelous way to facilitate the "tweets".  Questions were sent via @MercyWMB.  Senior M-Hub member, Stephanie Luther monitored the tweets and projected questions to the screens flanking the panelists.  The panelists were able to follow the tweets on Mercy iPads loaned by our IT Department.

As it turned out, Stephanie received about 21 tweets-- most of them very good questions (They are still posted @MercyWMB).  As it turned out, only a couple were actually used by the panelists.  Still, several people told me that it was "cool."  I was particularly pleased to be complimented on the iPad/Twitter presence by communications expert and Mercy alumna Vanessa Denha Garmo of Denha Media.  Most importantly, the twittering was unobtrusive and in the future could probably be used more robustly for sharing comments as well as asking questions.

Another important take-away:  Over half of the M-Hub members attended.  They felt a stake in the program and were drawn into the into through the very welcoming manner they were included in the planning.  Perhaps there are other student groups that could be hooked in the same way.

The event is certainly a wonderful experience for our Mercy girls and the planners as well as the Mercy Advancement staff deserve great credit for hosting a truly special event.

Photo by L. Baker

iBook Authoring

My ADE friends from Nebraska, Katie and Kevin Morrow, have shared a wonderful set of slides on iBook Authoring, something we really look forward to engaging with at Mercy:

iAuthoring from teach42morrow

Strong, Curated Links from My Reading

From the Principal's Office: 10 Things School Leaders Do to Kill a Teacher's Enthusiasm for Technology

Here's a list of ten things a school leader does to kill any teacher’s enthusiasm for using technology in their classrooms. An alternative title for this list might be, “10 Things a 21st Century School Leader Will Not Do to Discourage Teachers from Engaging in the Use of Technology.”

http://tinyurl.com/czf4x3j

Distinguish Yourself

Creative Commons photo by ernest figueras

From Apple Distinguished Educator to GoogleCertified Teacher, these days it seems like every ed tech behemoth has an award to bestow on educators. . . . You’ll certainly come away knowing you were chosen over scores of other applicants. Most significant, you’ll also have gained entry into a select group of passionate educators who want to collaborate on projects, share ideas and resources, and may even prompt you to take on challenges you wouldn’t otherwise have thought of.

http://tinyurl.com/ccwmjv7

Creating Classrooms We Need: 8 Ways Into Inquiry Learning

“There are so many ways that kids can be active in their learning, beyond the standard call-and-respond business,” [Diana] Laufenberg said. It may be hard to do with 140 students, but if you consider all the available tools at your disposal, ideas can start to take shape.

http://tinyurl.com/bqqlqru

Schools are doing Education 1.0; talking about doing Education 2.0; when they should be planning Education 3.0

Education 3.0 is based on the belief that content is freely and readily available. It is self-directed, interest-based learning where problem-solving, innovation and creativity drive education.

http://tinyurl.com/chyd2h9

The 8 Elements Project-Based Learning Must Have

The checklist is by the PBL masters over at BIE and they’ve outlined 8 different ‘essential elements’ that must be present in a project in order for it to be considered PBL. While you may agree, disagree, or think there should be some additional elements, this checklist is phenomenal.

http://tinyurl.com/bp4pv43

Top 10 must-have apps for the iPhone and Android smartphones

You can do a lot with smartphones these days, but unless you're downloading the best apps for your device, you aren't really using it to its full potential.

So if you aren't sure what to download, just make sure you have these 10 apps on your iPhone or Android device.

http://tinyurl.com/azzpwq6

The Google Graveyard

It’s hard to lose a loved one, especially if that loved one is a Google service. That’s why we’re opening the gates of the Google Graveyard, a virtual space for grieving.  Leave a flower for a deceased Google product. 

http://tinyurl.com/cdc3h3b