Best To-Do, iTunes U, and other Whoop-te-do

Why (And How) Teachers Should Start Using iTunes U

Duke University at iTunes U

A quick search of the iTunes U catalog reveals many incredible courses full of engaging educational materials and resources. I believe it is through avenues like iTunes U that schools will learn to help our students see learning in new and exciting ways while at the same time opening our classrooms and homes to a wide array of exciting new educational opportunities.

http://tinyurl.com/blm9l87

Five Best To-Do List Managers

Earlier in the week, we asked you which to-do list app you thought was the best. You weighed in with hundreds of nominations. We tallied them up, ranked them, and looked into the top five to see why they're the best of the pack. Here they are:

http://tinyurl.com/btnkqd7

Google Apps Challenging Microsoft in Business

“Google is getting traction” on Microsoft, said Melissa Webster, an analyst with IDC. “Its ‘good enough’ product has become pretty good. It looks like 2013 is going to be the year for content and collaboration in the cloud.”

http://tinyurl.com/a8cfpys

Bring the noise: has technology made us scared of silence?

Beginning at infancy, the constant media soundscape has provided the background noise either side of bassinet, kindergarten, school and university. It is little wonder many of my students feel agitated and ill-at-ease when there is not at least one portal providing background noise.

http://tinyurl.com/bzqmoty

3 Ideas That Will Not Transform Schools

I wanted to share a couple of ideas that I think get way too much attention and definitely need some tweaking.  Although there is merit for each idea, they do little to transform the culture of a school yet I have seen many jump on their individual bandwagons.

http://tinyurl.com/b4p6ucb

23 Ways To Use The iPad In The 21st Century PBL Classroom

Update on Staff iPad P.D.

A month ago, I wrote "Ten Things for Three Labs", describing our scheme for providing drop-in labs for helping staff with a set of techie skills they were assigned to achieve before August 30. Included among these goals were basic proficiency with Moodle, Google Calendar, the iPad camera, and some staple iPad apps. This week we hosted our third lab and had about 30 staff members in attendance. I was pretty blown away by the turn out, and the level of proficiency with the iPad has really advanced. Best of all the atmosphere in the room was spirited-- lots of laughter.

Our trainers continue to turn out in high numbers. Perhaps most impressive of all, one teacher completed her ten challenges and decided she was ready to volunteer as a "trainer." Very cool.

One side of our room during a busy "lab

We've scheduled one more lab on August 14 before school starts in earnest. Mercy 2.0 moves on apace!

A Baker's Dozen Quotes

Creative Commons photo by Sundar1

"I often grapple with the question: 'if we designed education today, what would it look like?'. Would it look like our existing classrooms? Textbooks? Libraries? Or would it look more like the internet? What roles would teachers play? Or learners? What would 'teaching' look like if we had a system that jettisoned the legacy baggage of our current education system?" - George Siemens


"The understanding of the importance of motivation and persistence is growing every day – but not within school." - Yvonne Roberts

"There’s a difference between the kind of problems that companies, institutions, and governments are able to solve and the ones that they need to solve. Most big organizations are good at solving clear but complicated problems. They’re absolutely horrible at solving ambiguous problems–when you don’t know what you don’t know. Faced with ambiguity, their gears grind to a halt (sounds like the current educational system)." - Jackie Gerstein

"There's something unnerving about how much I depend upon one corporation in order to function in this world. I still have a voice, but I'm willingly filtering it through the white noise of Google, hoping that when they claim "don't be evil" as a mantra, they'll stick to it." - John T. Spencer


"While 'technology will replace teachers' seems like a silly argument to make, one need only look at the state of most school budgets and know that something’s got to give. And lately, that something looks like teachers’ jobs, particularly to those on the receiving end of pink slips . . . . . we are laying off teachers in mass numbers. Teachers know their jobs are on the line, something that’s incredibly demoralizing for a profession already struggles mightily to retain qualified people." - Audrey Watters


"I have books on my bookshelf that I've owned across several computing platforms coming and going. I LOVE the idea of having all my books with me, and not having to box and move them, and to be able to search, etc. But, books aren't a 'throw away' item to me, so another thing Apple really needs to consider is how to ensure books I buy are still going to be useable to me after the iPad and OSX have moved on as well." - Steve Wilkinson


"China and India are likely to produce many rigorous analytical thinkers and knowledgeable technologists. But smart and educated people don’t always spawn innovation. America’s advantage, if it continues to have one, will be that it can produce people who are also more creative and imaginative, those who know how to stand at the intersection of the humanities and the sciences. That is the formula for true innovation, as Steve Jobs’s career showed." - New York Times editorial

Mercy 2.0 Boot Camp

With two recent retirements and and a bumper crop of 9th graders expected in August, we have six new teaching positions posted. These newbies will certainly have an impact on our school environment. And naturally, we are very eager to impact them with Mercy 2.0.

Ironically, we cannot reasonably expect that otherwise excellent candidates will arrive with the tech skills needed to jump in to Mercy's program. For one things, schools of education are behind in such things. For another, we truly are on the leading edge in instructional technology, so even experienced teachers may be unprepared for the breadth and depth of our program. Consequently, rather than listing specific skills as prerequisites, on our job descriptions we stipulated a need to demonstrate both an aptitude and an enthusiastic curiosity toward the investigation of technological tools and their integration across [science, etc.] curriculum

In order to prepare them for Mercy 2.0 we have arrived at a unique solution. In July, we will host a Mercy 2.0 Boot Camp for new teachers. (Mercy staff veterans will also be welcome to audit). The sessions will be led by our crackerjack Religious Studies teacher and tech wizard, Alison Kline-Kator. Over the course of three days, Alison will introduce teachers to such Mercy necessities as Moodle, PowerTeacher, Google Apps, and of course iPad/iPad apps. Most importantly, she will orient them to the engaging teaching methods that these powerful tools enhance.

We have introduced a number of innovations with Mercy 2.0. I consider this to be one of the most critical. We have a lot riding on the staff's enthusiasm Mercy 2.0. After graduating from boot camp, our cadets will be ready to join in the action.

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Creative Commons Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard

Experimenting with a Google Apps Lab

As we shift into a summer mode at Mercy, we are also going to shift our professional development format. In May we presented some "Super Tuesdays" (and Thursdays) -- These were after-school workshops dedicated to the introduction of specific iPad apps like Dropbox, Noteshelf, Evernote, and Explain Everything. These sessions were very well attended even though they came at an exceedingly busy time for our teachers. Volunteers presented the workshops and it was unreasonable to expect them to give make-up sessions or post lots of resources.

So for summer, we will try to slow down and individualize. In June, we will host two "labs". This was the suggestion of our incredibly tech savvy, Alison Kline-Kator (someone you will be hearing more about in an upcoming post). She suggested a "drop-in" environment where folks could come for the 1:1 or small group training they desired. About eight staff members answered my call to serve as "trainers" for these two hour periods.

The first lab will be held on June 4, and it will focus on anything Google. Going to Google Apps was a key facet of our transition to Mercy 2.0. During a Keynote in April, Lucy Gray gave us a taste of all the interesting instructional possibilities for Google Apps. In addition, since across the school we are transitioning to Google Calendar, fluency in that environment will become essential for all staff. About 25 staff members have indicated that they will probably or certainly attend.

Two weeks later we will present a lab for all things iPad. I will be very curious to see how many people drop by, and that will pretty much determine whether we will offer another couple of labs during the summer.

In my next post I will describe a scheme for our newbie teachers that is a little more intense!

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CC illustration found at http://bit.ly/LTaWcl

New Adventures in Staff Collaboration

As we implement Mercy 2.0 we are moving forward with innovative professional development plans which I wish to document through this blog.  

In April we "unboxed" our iPads and participated in two days of PD with Lucy Gray.   After listening to our colleagues' conversations with Lucy, we decided to offer some workshops after school on specific productivity apps.  The first one on Tuesday was attended by about forty staff members.  This was truly inspirational.  Here is our program, called Super Tuesdays:

May 1 - Dropbox 

May 8 - iAnnotate 

May 10 - Noteshelf  

May 15 - Evernote for Beginners 

May 22 -  Explain Everything

May 24 - Intermediate Evernote 


In addition we are assigning a bit of homework to each staff member.  iPad app and Google app exploration will be organized by our academic departments. By August 23, we will all report our findings to each other on Google Groups.  Besides the obvious benefits of sharing important information, I hope
that this exercise will implicitly encourage all of us to use this
Google group format to ask questions and share Mercy 2.0 discoveries.


It is exciting to be involved in a collaborative venture that holds such promise for serving our students. But what is more, I think we are piloting some really interesting approaches to professional development.

Explain Everything

MACUL 2012 Conference

Today,  we are making a presentation at the MACUL state conference in Grand Rapids, MI.  I will be joined by two of Mercy High School's department chairpersons, Ann Lusch (Religious Studies) and Susan Smith (Art).  Our topic will be  "Free Multimedia Activities for Secondary Students That Don't Gobble Time!"

We hope to fly through as many tech tools and lessons as our time constraints allow. By taking a multi-disciplinary approach, we hope to inspire rather than instruct.  In other words, rather than laboriously showing our lessons, we hope to give a taste of several easy recipes, hoping that each person in attendance will find one or two things for his or her students. 

Here are the slides that we will use at our presentation:

 "Free Multimedia Activities for Secondary Students That Don't Gobble Time!"

Loving My Gmail

I am one of the Gmail "beta-users" at Mercy.  Our tech department has already assigned all students and staff Google accounts, but we do not all switch to Gmail until June.  However, I have several personal and administrative reasons to thrill at the switch:

*We each will have ten times the amount of mail storage as we do presently.

*Gmail is free.

*Gmail has terrific spam recognition software.

*It is "smart" in other ways too, like autofilling addresses

*No email has a better search function (After all, this is a Google app).

*As a "cloud" service it suits both desk top and mobile users.

*It will naturally integrate well with our other Google Apps.

*It is fast.

Like anything new, there will be adjustments.  But this is one area where I think the payoffs for changing will be realized very quickly.

Mercy on the Cloud

The the cornerstone of Mercy 2.0 is our transition to the iPad, the first changes involve moving to “the cloud”.

We are in the process of moving us to Google Apps for Education.   Besides being free,  Google Apps gives us the advantage of moving easily across platforms.  Don’t worry, your work will not be immediately impacted.  Even when we move to Gmail (this summer), you will be able to keep the same name@mhsmi.org address.  Google provides fantastic educational tools which we will invite you to explore with your students through 2012.  Tom will be creating a Google Account for every student, teacher, and staff member.  This may create a hiccup for you that I will describe in a separate email, following on the heels of this one.

In addition, we are moving Moodle off the Mercy servers to a company called Moodlerooms.  They will host, support, back up, and update this vital vehicle for our curriculum.  We will pay for this service, but allowing them to assume the increasingly heavy technical  burden of keeping Moodle operational, we have reduced our own staffing through retirement. (not quite sure how to rewrite this since I don't know exactly what you were trying to highlight?)

We thought you would also be interested in how exceptionally well Moodlerooms has integrated Google Apps into Moodle:

• Automatic creation of users in Google Apps (Google Docs™, Google Calendar™, and Gmail™) when they are created in Moodle
• Automatic log in to Google Apps when a user logs in to Moodle
• A Gmail block in Moodle that displays latest Gmail messages on the Moodle Front Page
• A Google Apps block on the Moodle Front Page displays links to Google Start Page, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Gmail

Exploring iPad Apps

Last week I was the beneficiary of two separate phone conversations concerning Mercy's adoption of the iPad for incoming ninth graders.  I learned a great deal from Lisa Tortorich, principal of Mercy Burlingame about their pilot program with the iPad.  They will be requiring an iPad of all students, next year.  I also spoke with consultant,  Lucy Gray about a whole range of topics.  But both conversations allowed me to ask them off the top of their heads for recommendations of iPad apps that we might consider putting on all staff and student iPads.  Yesterday, I added the ones I had not already explored.  Checking them out will be a fun project.  Here's the list:

Google Search

Google Translate

Places,
Google Earth
Evernote

http://www.mercyhsb.com/

Kindle
Calculator
Chomp
Diigo
Dropbox
Dragon Dictation
Edmodo
Explain Everything
Flashcardlet
Garageband

iMovie

Instapaper
Leafsnap

Blue FIRe

iBooks
Common Core Standards
Flipboard
iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote)
NYT
NPR
Open Culture
Skype
Twitter
NASA
Penultimate
Documents to Go

What would you add to my list?  Do you have any feedback on those listed here?

Our Move to iPad and Google Apps

Flickr CC Photo bydavidAigner

This week we announced a major change to our educational technology plan at MHS.  As part of what we are calling "Mercy 2.0", we are moving to the iPad as our 1:1 device and we will be adopting Google Apps. Among the reasons:


The iPad’s functions fall more in line with current staff and student usage than our current device.  What is more, the 400,000 apps available on the iPad (for a relative pittance) offer great opportunities for instructional customization and exploration.  


The cost of a Mercy education should be measurably reduced for new students.  Furthermore, our Wi-Fi system can accommodate the iPad, immediately, meaning that we will not incur major infrastructure costs in the transition.

The iPad is light, has a battery life that makes it through our school day, and boots up/shuts down almost instantly.  We expect that the students will need little time “learning” how to use the device.

The iPad is a terrific e-reader.  The lack of digital materials available on our laptops has been (along with cost) a chronic disappointment with our program.  With e-texts becoming more available, the iPad is suited to to lightening book bags.

Needless to say, these major changes will help supply the Drive-thru with content in 2012!

My Presentation Proposals

With my new job I have curtailed my presentation schedule, but I have just submitted proposals for presentations to a state conference and national conference.  Here are my topics:


Free Multimedia Activities for Secondary Students that Don't Gobble Time!


 A high school American Government teacher will show how to introduce robust collaborative, multimedia activities into your curriculum without devoting lots of valuable instruction time to teaching the techonologies themselves.  Multiple activities using Google Sites, Blogger, Google Docs and YouTube (all free!) will be shared.

Teaching Students to Build PLNs through Online Networking with Alumni


Learn how students at MHS network with the school's alumni through an online database.  The best part? This unique solution was designed by students!

Timely Links on Anger at Netflix and other Techie Matters

"Link" Flickr CC Photo by bulliver

Netflix Subscribers Threaten to Quit, but Will They Really?

Even if a bunch of DVD-by-mail subscribers do leave, Netflix will be happy to replace them with the more profitable streaming subscribers.

http://bit.ly/pK2fwH


Google Apps v. Office 365 Feature Showdown
Microsoft took the beta label off of Office 365 last [month], and many consider the cloud-based productivity suite a potshot at Google and Google Apps. Office 365 may offer cloud-based document, storage, and collaboration services that look like Google Apps, but the user experience and price tag are very different. Here's a look at the major differences between them.
http://lifehac.kr/rt0oOt

Twenty-Eight Creative Ideas for Teaching with Twitter
Beyond facilitating communication within the course itself, teachers may like the idea of connecting with similar ones in other cities, states or even countries. Set up a communal hastag for students and professionals alike to use and exchange their views and lessons.
http://bit.ly/qD6CHU

Why an Amazon tablet can rival the iPad
Without so much as a whisper from the retailer itself, Amazon’s Android tablet is heading our way. Rumoured to launch at the end of the third quarter in time for the holiday season, Amazon is hoping it can steal a little of Apple’s thunder and steal a little of its market share.
http://tnw.co/nOmltr

Four Ways Schools Can Increase Their Social Media Presence
We’re now at a point where almost all schools have a social presence, but many have yet to fully embrace the spirit of social media and tap into its potential. Social media presents a wealth of possibilities for engaging prospective students, current students, alumni, and other community members.
http://on.mash.to/qPBl7b

Interesting Ways to (Possibly) Use Google+ to Support Learning
A collaborative Google Doc which is collecting classroom possibilities for Google Plus like "Organizing a Class with Circles" and "Curriculum Topic Sparks"
http://bit.ly/oYohcn

Ten Thoughts for May 10

Erica Werner

A high school English teacher from Iowa who incorporates everything from singing to Facebook in her lessons has been recognized by President Barack Obama as the nation's top teacher. . . ."Her students don't just write five-paragraph essays, but they write songs, public service announcements, film story boards, even grant proposals for their own not-for-profit organizations . . . ."

Brad Overnell-Carter:

The iPad is a social tool, whereas smart phones and laptops are personal tools.

Horace Mann:

A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on a cold iron.

LawyersUSA

During oral arguments today in the case City of Ontario v. Quon . . . .Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. - who is known to write out his opinions in long hand with pen and paper instead of a computer - asked what the difference was “between email and a pager?”

Dave Snowden

People should be able to choose their own technology and tools - IT needs to learn this lesson fast.

Tom Witby
Technology in our society should be more than a topic for superintendents and principals to use in speeches in order to make them sound as if they are cutting-edge educators . . . . They sell the sizzle, but nobody will ever get to see the steak.

ORVSD
Oregon is the first state in the nation to sign up for Google Apps for Education in K-12 classrooms.

Marco Antonio Torres:
Being global is no longer sexy... it is mandatory.

Edison Research
Awareness of Twitter has exploded from 5% of Americans 12+ in 2008 to 87% in 2010 (by comparison, Facebook's awareness is 88%). Despite equal awareness, Twitter trails Facebook significantly in usage: 7% of Americans (17 million persons) actively use Twitter, while 41% maintain a profile page on Facebook.

George Siemens:

When we make our learning transparent, we become teachers.

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"Strike a Pose" Flickr Creative Commons Photo by melodramabab