The Update

This is an example for Hieun

2008-09-03T07:59:00.002+07:00

When I make an entry into a blog, this is what it looks like. I write about whatever topic I want to. If my blog is about our basketball team, then after every practice I can write about how the practice went, games that are coming up, and other things related to the topic.

On our basketball team, there are 13 girls in grade 6-8. All of the girls go to the International School of Phnom Penh.

If I had a picture of our basketball team, I could insert it like this...

Then everyone on our team could look at this entry and comment on it. Isn't that fun?

ISPP Tech Tips - August 28

2008-08-28T11:43:00.001+07:00

I've been asked to write a technology-related article for our school newsletter. Here is my first one. If an ISPP parent or student is reading, feel free to comment at the end of the article.

Tech Tips
By Miss Jennie

There is a lot of concern about children’s safety when online, and for good reason. Here are a few tips to keep you and your family safe and smart when surfing the internet:

➢ Keep your family computer in a common room, not hidden away in a bedroom. After all, the internet is a public place.
➢ Know what your kids do online. Are you worried about what pictures your child is posting on Facebook (or Bebo, MySpace, or any other social networking website)? Ask him to show you his Facebook profile. If your child is not comfortable showing you, that is an opportunity to start a conversation.
➢ Know who your child is interacting with online. If he is a member of social networking website, have him show you his list of friends and make sure he actually knows them. If he has strangers on his list of friends, that person should be removed immediately. This is another opportunity to talk with your child about being safe on the internet.
➢ If you use a webcam for Skype or video application, turn it off when you are not using it.
➢ If your child is young, it is a good idea to discuss with him what he should do if a stranger tries to contact him online or if he accidentally comes across an inappropriate website.

Of course, these are general guidelines. Your decisions might be different based on your child’s age or other factors. Use your best judgment when making decisions for your family. The most important thing is that as our students evolve from children to adult members of the cyber-community, they learn how to make safe and responsible choices online.

If you have any questions, want to add a suggestion, or comment on this article, I have added it to my blog at: http://teach-ct.blogspot.com/

JOSTI Conference 2008

2008-06-26T00:05:00.004+07:00

I’m at the JOSTI conference and so far, for me, the sessions have been hit or miss in terms of whether the information is new, review, or over my head. Even in the sessions that are mostly review, I have come away with some new nugget of knowledge that is either helpful for me or will be good for someone on my staff.

Anyway, there are a few applications, utilities, and/or websites that I am pretty excited about so I figure I’ll blog about them before I forget. I’ll start with the one I’m most excited about, Zotero.

From Zotero’s website:
Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. It lives right where you do your work — in the web browser itself.
Of course it is essential to properly credit sources when doing research; however, I see no reason for a person to manually format a bibliography when an application can do it for you. Zotero extremely intuitive, particularly for students, because the developers emulated the iTunes interface when creating it. It keeps track of resources and easily creates bibliographies and citations. There is also a plug in for Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer which generates the bibliography and citations, allowing the user to easily switch between different formats (e.g. MLA, APA, etc.).

The only “drawback” is that it only works with Firefox, so if you are married to using Internet Explorer then you’ll be stuck.

So:

Download Zotero from www.zotero.org. Follow the instructions and install it in Firefox.
Watch the screencast tutorials on the website to get an overview of the interface and its capabilities.

I’m thinking this will be helpful for students working on extended essays for IB, personal projects for MYP, the PYP exhibition, students’ investigation stages in MYP technology, science projects, or any project involving multiple resources in research/investigation. Up until now, I’ve encouraged students to use Citation Machine, but Zotero does so much more than this because the information is saved locally and can even make a local copy of a webpage for the student to highlight and have available when offline. That feature is pretty clutch for students who do not have internet at home or for schools in countries where the internet is spotty.

Thanks to http://www.mrbass.org/freeware/firefox/ for the image of the Firefox eating the IE logo.

I Finally "Get" a Virtual World

2008-05-05T14:55:00.002+07:00

I was wary of social networks for a long time. I held out with MySpace and finally caved in with Facebook. Joining Facebook instantaneously added a dimension of connectedness to my life. As a born-again believer in the benefits of being part of a social network, I find myself much more open minded to new online trends. Show me a beta for a cool new technology and I’m ready to hop right on the bandwagon.

Second Life is still a black box to me. I just don’t get it. I’ve read articles about how Second Life is being used in different areas of education. It all seems really strange to me. Universities have invested money to building islands in Second Life and have classes that meet virtually. People make real-world money off of their Second Life jobs. I created an avatar in Second Life and lasted about 20 minutes before I gave up. As a teacher, I know that it is essential to use a technology myself before introducing it to students or other teachers. This is one of the reasons that I blog. I’m keeping an open mind with Second Life but for the moment, I am just not into it.

An article I read in the Washington Post gave me a glimmer of hope in understanding at least one virtual world (in development): Lego Universe. This MMOG has the hallmark characteristics of other virtual worlds like Second Life and Club Penguin – virtual money can buy more Lego bricks, players create avatars, and no “end” or goal to the game. Now this is a world I can get my head around. When I was a kid, I could spend hours building with Legos and Construx. The best part of Lego Universe – mom and dad won’t fuss at you for not cleaning up after playing.

(Lego photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/huladancer22/530743543/)

Murphy's Law Meets RSS

2008-04-30T14:25:00.003+07:00

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.

Wiimote and Interactive Whiteboards

2008-04-19T17:52:00.003+07:00

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:

Trying to Go 2.0

2008-04-18T18:42:00.005+07:00

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.

Supporting Teachers with ScreenSteps

2008-03-30T14:43:00.001+07:00

One of the challenges for a person who “gets” technology is to understand how to teach those who don’t. We all have the technophobes and techno-reluctant on our staff. When you start explaining to them how to do something on their computer, their eyes gloss over as they consider whether to go to Bangkok or Sihanoukville for the upcoming 3-day weekend. Who can blame them. It’s human nature. Even for someone like me who loves technology and everything it has to offer, it can be tempting to put my fist through my macbook screen when I’m late for a meeting and I’ve got to download that one last document and my pinwheel is stuck in an infinite spin.

That’s why I felt a weight lifted off of my shoulders when I learned about the ScreenSteps software from Blue Mango Learning Systems. I mean, it’s just plain hot. I’ve labored over “How To” lessons for students and teachers this year and finally decided that for the time it took me to create one document, I could have planned my next unit and marked a class set of design workbooks. With this software, I’ve already cranked out three lessons in thirty minutes.

Here’s some of the things I like about it:

1) Cross platform. This is a super bonus because my school is cross platform and there are teachers and students who shy away from our MacBooks because they don’t know the operating system. ScreenSteps is going to help me help them see the light.
2) Exportable to html or the ScreenSteps Live website. Students, teachers, and the world (eek! I’m getting global) can access the lessons from anywhere.
3) Exportable to pdf. Because the internet in Cambodia can be a little slow at times, being able to export to pdf will enable me to put a copy on our school server.

Another fabulous thing about this software is the two-part video tutorial from ScreenCastsOnline that covers just about everything you need to get started. And, if you purchase ScreenSteps before May 1, 2008, you get a 25% discount. I, for one, am sold!

Brain Explosion - EARCOS 2008

2008-03-29T12:55:00.000+07:00

I'm here at EARCOS and I think my brain is going to explode with all of the things that has been jammed into it in the past 72 hours. These 90 minute sessions are such a tease. They just plant the seed - during the sessions I find myself furiously typing up notes to self - websites to visit when the session's over, rss feeds to add to my netvibes page, nuggets of knowledge I need to bring back to my staff. Each 90 minute session requires at least 4 hours of follow up (not to mention a few coffees, reliable internet, and access to a power source that fits an American plug) to even begin to scratch the surface of this wide, wide web. It's completely overwhelming and exhilarating.

So I already need to call myself out on fronting - netvibes. I just made my page yesterday. I can tell it's going to revolutionize the way I interact with the internet. Can anyone remember doing web searches in altavista? Or listening to music on a walkman? RSS readers (like netvibes or Google reader) will change my daily interaction with the internet so drastically that the memory of blindly googling a topic will elicit nostalgic and slightly amused feelings a la memories of altavista and walkmen.

Top Tech Things I've Learned About (In No Particular Order)
I really feel like my brain is going to burst so I need to offload some of these thoughts into the blog to make space:

www.netvibes.com - My RSS reader and new best friend.
www.zamzar.com - Download any video (YouTube, for example) as any standard movie format. Clutch for teachers dealing with limited bandwidth or spotty internet (i.e. teachers in Cambodia).
Google Earth - I was aware of this but hadn't thought about its potential as a teaching tool.
www.thethinkingstick.com - I'm going to subscribe to all blogs associated with Jeff Utecht until I'm old and gray.
mnemograph.com - Very cool web app for making interactive timelines.

I'll share more links as I get a chance to check them out.

Teaching a New Subject

2008-02-12T19:38:00.000+07:00

I am a computer technology teacher at an international school. Just one semester into the school year, I am amazed by what I have learned in such a short time. I attended a science and technology high school which was deemed the best public high school in the United States by US News and World Report. This is not to ring my bell; rather, it is to highlight the fact that my high school was (and is) cutting edge. When I went to high school (10 years ago), I learned how to create webpages in a text editor in html. There was no wysiwyg applications, digital video or photography, youtube, or web 2.0, to name a few. Almost all of these things I have have learned this year. Not to their fullest extent. Often just before my students. Or, learned from the students.

One thing I have never underestimated in teaching and learning is the power of reflection. I am starting this blog for just that reason - for me to reflect on my teaching, to document the teaching tools (or just plain neat gadgets) that I come across in my research, and perhaps, at some stage, as a place that other educators might come to share ideas.

But, for now, this is just a record of my journey in teaching a new subject that is constantly changing, moving, morphing, evolving, and sprouting strange tentacles.