Last week I attempted to have a session in which I taught teachers about what RSS is and then helped them make their own, personalized readers through www.netvibes.com. It did not work out as I had intended. Here is the I wrote to my staff as a follow-up. The attached pdf referenced in the email can be accessed at http://www.drop.io/JennieDocs.
Email to staff:
I wanted to thank my sessions’ participants for attending and for your patience as www.netvibes.com refused to cooperate with me. It was Murphy’s Law at its best (or is it worst) – the site was down for maintenance and was back up by 5 pm that night. I will work on a video tutorial on netvibes this weekend, so there will be a follow-up for those who attended (and even those who didn’t).
In the first session, when the website wasn’t loading, someone had the comment that this is often what teachers go through – lots of planning around something on a website and just when you go to use it, it’s down. I agree, it can be frustrating and whenever possible, I try to have a back-up plan. So in the spirit of trying to turn yesterday’s problem into today’s teachable moment, I wanted to share with you a strategy I use for downloading videos off the web. The attached pdf (downloadyoutubevideos.pdf) gives step-by-step instructions with screenshots for how to download videos off of YouTube.
The benefits of downloading are:
1) Once you’ve downloaded a video, you don’t have to worry about whether the internet is down. The video is on your computer and available for viewing any time, anywhere.
2) You don’t have to sit and wait for the video to load during the lesson, which depending on the length of the video and internet traffic can be a very long time.
3) Sometimes a perfectly appropriate video has inappropriate comments underneath it in YouTube.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Wiimote and Interactive Whiteboards
My longest lasting struggle as technology coordinator this year has been to get interactive whiteboard technology to my school. I used a Smartboard (paired with an ELMO document camera) when I taught middle school mathematics. I found the Smartboard technology had a relatively steep learning curve but once I got used to it, I really couldn't imagine returning to teaching math without the same set-up.
When reviewing the budget requests for the 2008-09 school year, the number of requests from my elementary school teachers brought on mixed feelings. On one hand it is extremely exciting to have so many teachers interested in learning about a technology, on the other hand, I was worried about the cost benefit ratio to this particular technology. We have piloted a few eBeam IWBs with limited success this year, which was due in part to not having the full interactive package shipped at the beginning of the year.
I was downloading some TED videos today and came across a recently posted talk in which Johnny Lee demonstrated rigging a Nintendo Wii remote to create a cheap interactive whiteboard. With $40 for the Wii remote and perhaps $10 for the pen parts, that's $50 for interactivity. Compare that to $2,000 for a Smartboard or Activboard (don't even mention the $5,000 to get one IWB shipped from Bangkok, the closest dealer). Granted, Smartboard and Activboard come with packaged software and other possible benefits.
I'll be bringing this conversation to my school's technology committee and perhaps student council and will be interested to see where it goes.
Here are some links to useful things I've come across when researching:
When reviewing the budget requests for the 2008-09 school year, the number of requests from my elementary school teachers brought on mixed feelings. On one hand it is extremely exciting to have so many teachers interested in learning about a technology, on the other hand, I was worried about the cost benefit ratio to this particular technology. We have piloted a few eBeam IWBs with limited success this year, which was due in part to not having the full interactive package shipped at the beginning of the year.
I was downloading some TED videos today and came across a recently posted talk in which Johnny Lee demonstrated rigging a Nintendo Wii remote to create a cheap interactive whiteboard. With $40 for the Wii remote and perhaps $10 for the pen parts, that's $50 for interactivity. Compare that to $2,000 for a Smartboard or Activboard (don't even mention the $5,000 to get one IWB shipped from Bangkok, the closest dealer). Granted, Smartboard and Activboard come with packaged software and other possible benefits.
I'll be bringing this conversation to my school's technology committee and perhaps student council and will be interested to see where it goes.
Here are some links to useful things I've come across when researching:
- A YouTube video of Johnny Lee demonstrating how to set up the Wiimote Interactive whiteboard
- A YouTube video of a teacher comparing a Wiimote IWB to commercial IWBs
- A How-To on building the pen and setting up the board
- A How-To on connecting the Wii remote to you computer via Bluetooth
- Johnny Lee's webpage with instructions and source code (only for Windows so far) for the whiteboard
Friday, April 18, 2008
Trying to Go 2.0
Ever since I attended Jeff Utecht's sessions at EARCOS, I've been trying to play catch up on the Web 2.0 tools that I learned about. I've bought a domain name ad am just waiting for the summer so I can learn RapidWeaver and make a homepage. Why RapidWeaver? There are heaps of other web design tools out there, but I'm a sucker for apps made exclusively for Mac.
So in the few weeks since EARCOS, I've been using my netvibes page to keep up on some Ed Tech related blogs, which has been going really well. I have an upcoming pd session next week in which I'll introduce fellow teacher to RSS feeds, which I'm really excited about.
The thing I've found frustrating since EARCOS is Internet in Cambodia. It often takes 10x the actual length of a video to load it on YouTube or TeacherTube. I've tried a work-around of downloading without previewing through Zamzar. I leave my computer downloading heaps of videos overnight and watch the videos the net morning over breakfast. The catch is that about half are corrupted. The upside - videos like "Think Before You Post" and "Are You Listening" are powerful hooks for pds with staff or discussions with students.
Another source of frustration is the TED talks. It takes hours to download the file for a 20-minute talk. Some of the videos are so thought-provoking and inspiring, but again I'm working with a 50% corruption rate. I wish I could get a dvd of all the talks.
Despite these frustrations, though, I'm still committed. I'm starting a list of all the videos I'm going to download this summer when I'm visiting the US and have faster, more reliable Internet.
I recognize that the title of this post is Trying to Go 2.0 and that most of the things I've discussed are arguably not technically Web 2.0 tools. The point, though, is that in the face of Internet-related frustration, I struggle with whether, as technology coordinator of my school, it would be responsible for me to teach teachers about the valuable and powerful Web 2.0 technologies available. Would introducing blogs, wikis, streaming video, and other 2.0 tools be a help or a source of frustration to most newcomers?
My inclination is to hold off a little bit longer and to do a field test with my own students using wikis and blogs before doing any pd with my staff. I'll continue to attempt to download videos and share them with my staff. With the Internet still slow and spotty, I think this is the best balance I can find between going 2.0 and avoiding a staff of frustrated teachers.
So in the few weeks since EARCOS, I've been using my netvibes page to keep up on some Ed Tech related blogs, which has been going really well. I have an upcoming pd session next week in which I'll introduce fellow teacher to RSS feeds, which I'm really excited about.
The thing I've found frustrating since EARCOS is Internet in Cambodia. It often takes 10x the actual length of a video to load it on YouTube or TeacherTube. I've tried a work-around of downloading without previewing through Zamzar. I leave my computer downloading heaps of videos overnight and watch the videos the net morning over breakfast. The catch is that about half are corrupted. The upside - videos like "Think Before You Post" and "Are You Listening" are powerful hooks for pds with staff or discussions with students.
Another source of frustration is the TED talks. It takes hours to download the file for a 20-minute talk. Some of the videos are so thought-provoking and inspiring, but again I'm working with a 50% corruption rate. I wish I could get a dvd of all the talks.
Despite these frustrations, though, I'm still committed. I'm starting a list of all the videos I'm going to download this summer when I'm visiting the US and have faster, more reliable Internet.
I recognize that the title of this post is Trying to Go 2.0 and that most of the things I've discussed are arguably not technically Web 2.0 tools. The point, though, is that in the face of Internet-related frustration, I struggle with whether, as technology coordinator of my school, it would be responsible for me to teach teachers about the valuable and powerful Web 2.0 technologies available. Would introducing blogs, wikis, streaming video, and other 2.0 tools be a help or a source of frustration to most newcomers?
My inclination is to hold off a little bit longer and to do a field test with my own students using wikis and blogs before doing any pd with my staff. I'll continue to attempt to download videos and share them with my staff. With the Internet still slow and spotty, I think this is the best balance I can find between going 2.0 and avoiding a staff of frustrated teachers.
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