Mr Bass Online

I made this VoiceThread how-to to help teachers in my buildings get started using VoiceThread.com.  Feel free to use as you see fit.

Using VoiceThread (pdf)

21st Century Education, Education, Technology, Tools

Web 2.0 has been a buzzword for the last few years and none of the tools that I’m about to tell you about are necessarily new, however, sometimes it’s good to create a list for teacher use. While there are 10 tools here, I don’t mean to make this a top 10 list. Think of it more like a cross section of some of the tools that are out there. So, here, in no particular order are 10 Web 2.0 tools to engage students and make your life easier.

1. Wallwisher – Basically, this is like an online bulletin board that doesn’t require a login for students or teachers to leave a comment, message, image, music or links.

Possible uses:

• Use it as a parking lot for collaborative groups or professional development
• Post assignments
• Student reflection of an activity or daily learning
• Question forum
• Parent sign up as field trip chaperones, sign up to bring things to a party, etc.
• Interest inventory or assessment of prior knowledge

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2. Etherpad – Etherpad was a startup company that was purchased by Google last year. Google decided that they would release the code used to create Etherpad as an open source project for anyone to use. So, Etherpad.com is no longer in existence. But, there are a number of people who have taken the open source project and created their own, free Etherpad sites for public use. Two that are readily available are ietherpad.com and typewith.me. Basically, etherpad is a free online collaborative writing space which requires no login for students and is immediately updated on everyone’s screens. Just send or post the link to your webpage and anyone will be able to join and etherpad gives all users their own text color.

Possible uses:

• Brainstorming
• Schedules
• Group writing
• Group reflections
• Peer editing

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3. Weblist.me – Weblist is a bookmarking portal where a user can create smart lists from URLs, photos, music, videos, documents and files that can then be shared. The smart list is then displayed in thumbnail view for browsing, sharing, and organization.

Possible uses:

• Resource portal for assignment or lectures
• Presentation url list
• Bookmarks
• Organizing research
• Sharing images and video

Sample Smart list

• Copyright Friendly Image Search
• Math Sites for K-2

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4. Delicious – A social bookmarking site that allows you to tag and keep bookmarks like you would in a browser, but allows access on any computer with an internet connection. Each time the user bookmarks a site there is the option to categorize the site using tags that you generate that can then be sorted and searched. Each tag and bookmark list also creates an RSS feed for subscriptions.

Possible uses:

• Resource list
• Research
• Annotations
• Sharing sites with classmates

Delicious Examples:

• All My Bookmarks
• My bookmarks tagged “Google”

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5. Skype - Skype is a great instant messaging/VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) allowing you to use your computer as a phone of sorts. Using Skype you can make voice and video calls to another computer as well as communicate with any of your Skype contacts through text as an instant messaging client. When making a voice call, you can even share your screen with whomever you’ve called to show them a document or how to do something on the computer. The Instructional Technology department uses it every single day to communicate across the district.

Possible uses:

• Virtual office hours
• Remote assistance
• Video conferencing with experts
• Homework help
• Video conferencing with students who are absent (long term illness)

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6. Mailcatch – Mailcatch is a service that provides disposable email addresses so students that don’t have email addresses can sign up for services like Google Docs or Voicethread. So many services require valid email address in order to create an account and then they send a link to that email account to verify that whoever is trying to sign up for their service is actually a person and not a automated computer. I have not been comfortable having students create email addresses without their parents’ permission, yet I still want them to have access to the tools we are using. Enter mailcatch. Students can sign up with a mailcatch.com email address, but they can’t actually send email from it, they can only receive email, click the verification link and then they can sign in to the web service with an account, but no email. To see an example of how this might work, I’ve created a video that walks you through the steps to sign up for Voicethread.

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7. Glogster – Glogster is a tool that allows users to create virtual, multi-media posters that can include text, images, and video. Teachers can create glogs for their students to use and students can make glogs as class projects. Here are some examples categorized by content area.

Possible uses:

• Webquest
• Projects
• Anything that you’d normally create a print poster could be made into a glog

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8. Google Squared – Google has given educators a ton of tools for use in the classroom, but their main purpose is still a search engine. Google can find information for us in seconds, but so many times that information is spread across so many different sites that deciphering it becomes the real challenge. Google Squared is an attempt to make those search results a little more usable. When doing a search in Google Squared, the search term pulls what it sees as the relevant information and puts it into a grid with categories to organize the information. Here is an example of one I did on film makers. If you visit the site, you’ll see that the search has pulled the name, picture, description, date of birth, etc. into a grid allowing students to compare the film makers in a meaningful way without have to visit site after site. They can then use their critical thinking skills to decide what information is important and what is not. They can even change the categories, share their “squares” or export them to a separate spreadsheet program. It uses Google’s searching techniques, but organizes the information differently.

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9. Bubbl.us – Mind mapping software is not anything new, we’ve been using Inspiration in the district for years, but Bubbl.us is an online version that seems to work really well. What’s nice about this version is that it’s sharable and since it’s online, no software is required on your computer, everything is online. That means that when you (or your students) need to work on a project on different computers, there is no need to try to transfer via a flash drive or save it to server space, Bubbl.us stores it online. Just login and all your mind maps are right there. Below is an example of part of a mind map that I made as a part of a presentation that I did on writing in the 21st century. The audience gave me suggestions and we plugged them in as we went.

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10. Dropbox - Do you use more than one computer? I do. Actually, I use lots of them. Dropbox allows me to share my files across computers by syncing anything that I place in a specific folder to their webservers. The client can be installed on any number of computers and all files that are synced to the Dropbox servers are then synced across any computer (regardless of operating system) with the client installed. Additionally, all files can then be access from any computer with an internet connection as well as many mobile devices. You can also share your Dropbox folder with other people so if you’re collaborating on a project, sharing files is a snap. All files are backed up to the Dropbox service included as a part of the basic service.

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This is not an exhaustive list of Web 2.0 tools by any means but it does give you a starting point for some that are less well known. Good luck and enjoy your online journey.

This post was written in response to a request made at a technology meeting by teachers looking for some new tools to use with their students.

21st Century Education, Education, Google Tools, Online Apps, Technology, Tools Tools, web2.0

I’ve been thinking a lot about authentic audiences for the past few weeks and decided that it might help me to talk through some of my thoughts on the film festival that I run and the reasons that I think it’s so important.  If you listen, hopefully you’ll be able to learn from me and, in turn, I would like to learn from you.  Below you will find the two videos that I reference in the podcast as well as a link to the gallery of all films that were created for the film festival.  Leave me a comment or drop me an email with your thoughts about whatever comes up for you.  Thanks for stopping by.

Life of Bus One

Outsider Jeans

2010 Parkway Digital Film Festival Gallery

Authentic Audience – MP3 file

21st Century Education, Education, Film Festival, Reflections, Technology, authors audience, authenticity, podcast

At the end of January, I spent a week meeting with and learning from some fabulous people at the Midwest Education Technology Conference (METC) in St. Charles, MO.  In reflecting on the conference, I was thinking about some of the sessions I attended and I can’t help but wonder what conference goers want from a conference.  Is it to learn about the latest and greatest tools or is it more about strategies and concepts? As someone who presents at a variety of conferences and for a variety of groups, I spent some time watching people present and to a certain extent, analyzing their presentation styles looking for things that I might implement.

This year I’ve been thinking a lot about presentation styles and working with/leading groups.  I’ve read books like Presentation Zen and, while those have helped me think about techniques, it hasn’t really helped me think through my latest pondering, that being the responsibility of presenters to serve their audience. In one session, the speaker was describing the evils of filters and how filtering the web from students isn’t helping teach responsibility and ethics. Now let me be clear about this, I agree with this speaker. I’m not for filtering everything and I think that students miss out on a lot of information/experiences because of these filters.  However, I’m also a realist and understand that most districts are not about to completely open up the filter to the world. As a presenter, I feel as though I need another solution. What if YouTube is blocked in the district? Is suggesting breaking YouTube’s terms of service and downloading the video for use really the best idea? Sure it’s possible, but what are we then modeling? Certainly not ethical use. Is a school district likely to get sued? Probably not. Is that a good defense or justification? Definitely not.

In another session I attended, the presenter was “shocked” that sites like YouTube, Flickr and Twitter were blocked in schools. I was amazed. “How can you be shocked?”, I thought. “Are you ever in a school anymore?” More often than not, these kinds of sites are blocked for “safety reasons”. I’ve even heard of districts who’s filters are so locked down, the school website isn’t even accessible inside the district. Ridiculous.

However ridiculous, this is a reality. I hope it’s not a reality forever, but I also understand that many times, teachers have no control or say over what is blocked and unblocked. Rather than looking at them with incredulity when they ask what to do when a certain tool or site is blocked, I think it’s important to understand the plight of these teachers who desperately want to give their students access and try to help them by giving them alternatives or avenues to help them help those who make decisions to see the benefits of sites such as YouTube.

As I more time comes between me and the classroom, I’m going to try to keep my perspective and understand the limitations that teachers have based on the decisions of others.  I want to continue to work inside of schools and not just with teachers but with students as well. It’s important for those of us who are “spreading the word” to also live that life and get inside the classroom. Currently I’m working on three different presentations and will continue to keep revisit the responsibilities and understandings that I need to have about my audience so that I can answer those questions. I don’t believe that filtering online content is the way, but I also don’t want to rattle on about it with only one solution, to un-filter everything. I will be continuing to think about alternative solutions or approaches and welcome conversation about how to address the needs of classroom teachers.

21st Century Education, Education, Reflections, Technology, leadership, presentations

I know it’s been out for awhile, but over the last few months it seems that I’m inundated with references to Marzano and his Interactive Whiteboard research (sponsored by Promethean).  I have many misgivings about that research project but that’s an entirely different issue.  However, one of highlights that I found in that study is that student achievement can be enhanced through the use of an IWB when used effectively by a well trained teacher (not the exact wording, but what I took from it).

Today, I was perusing the March issue of eSchool News and found an article citing new research from Boston College suggesting that “1 to 1 laptop programs are only effective as the teachers who apply them”.  My response?  Obviously!!

I don’t know when it happened that we thought that laptops and IWB’s were going to magically educate all of our children, but it seems as though that’s the attitude by many.  I’m glad that there’s research out there to support this (I guess), but we have to realize that technology is still just a tool.  It’s kind of exciting and I, personally, love to play with the toys as much as the next person, but we must remember the most important piece of this puzzle, the teachers. Giving them a tool and walking away expecting them to use it will never be the answer. The first time I received a laptop from a school district was many years ago.  I remember going into a little room with boxes stacked everywhere and checking my laptop out. I was given a computer, a case and a cord and sent on my merry way.  There was no training, no instruction, nothing to show me how to use it effectively with my students.  I checked it out and was on my own. Luckily, I already knew my way around a computer and had been using them with students in my classroom for a number of years.  This was not the case for many of my colleagues who struggled, became frustrated and walked away from it only indulging in the frustration to take attendance.  While the district successfully checked out laptops, I considered the launch a failure because of a lack of support.

I have the privilege of spending every day supporting teachers in their endeavors.  We work through problems and find solutions. We collaborate and explore. Most importantly, they have someone who they know will support them.  I readily admit that I don’t have all the answers, but I also refuse to leave them alone to “figure it out”. There is a certain point at which professional responsibility kicks in, but for the most part, when new equipment comes in, I know that I need to make an appointment to walk through some things.

Marzano and Boston College say that teachers are the single most important factor in student achievement yet budget cuts, new initiatives and time constraints continue to impede on professional learning.  Maybe these studies will bring new light to teacher needs. But in the meantime, it’s important to remember that there is support out there by way of Nings, twitter and other online professional development groups.  Find a podcast in iTunes, read a blog, find an article that speaks to you and run with it. We don’t have time to wait for research studies to prove that teachers are important for student achievement, we know that. We don’t have time for federal, state and districts to see the need for professional learning, we need to act with a sense of urgency and take that learning upon ourselves and utilize these tools in spite of the obstacles, too much is at stake.

21st Century Education, Education, Professional Development, Technology, Tools, teaching 1 to 1 computing, marzano, research, whiteboard

About a week ago I had a somewhat heated conversation about how technology is affecting students and their attention. Our biggest point of disagreement surrounded social and communication skills of “kids these days.” I’ll spare the details and get right to the point. Yes, kids communicate differently than many adults. Yes, there is some disconnect between the virtual and the real in some cases. However, a blanket statement about how Facebook and texting is the fall of communication isn’t just wrong… it’s ludicrous. Students today are reading, writing and communicating more than any other time in history but their communication is different than our own. I remember being in college as email was being introduced. I have to say, I was resistant. I saw email and text chat rooms as a waste of time but now it’s one of my primary forms of communication. At one time I made calls on my cell phone, now I do far more texting than talking. My communication has changed as technology has advanced and given me new ways to communicate. Yes, I want my children to be able to talk to real live people and have good social skills but I also understand that they will be tools that haven’t even been invented yet for their communications as adults.

So where does that leave us? Right now it seems that the most common approach for schools and educators is to ban the tools from use in the classroom under the guise of “removing the distraction” for students and focusing on more traditional classroom instruction. This practice makes students very successful at hiding their technology and communications and gives them great practice at playing the game of school and then going home to learn. Does that seem wrong to anyone else? By limiting their access to tools, they’re getting their education out in the world rather than in school. So, what becomes our message? Do we think that they will somehow magically figure out how to use resources safely? What about how to effectively write online? Will they know anything about copyright and ethical use? Ignoring these communication tools and processes just does a disservice.

Interestingly, I just read an article in Slate entitled “Don’t Touch That Dial!” which addresses the fact that this fear of advancing technology is not new. Anxiety has always existed, but, in this age of information and change, we as educators must also adapt.

21st Century Education, Reflections, leadership communication

This morning I did a round table sessions at the NCTE Annual Convention on the use of various Google tools in the classroom. The session itself went very well and I had the opportunity to meet a number of teachers from around the country who are doing amazing things.  In this session I talked about a variety of Google tools, some common, some more obscure, but as I talked about each tool, I tried to give specific examples as to how it might be used in the classroom on a daily basis and, more importantly, ideas on how they could start using it immediately.  I made my best effort to give and overview of each of 8 tools in a 20 minute time period and, while I know I didn’t do any single tool the justice that I would have liked, I think I did bring an awareness of some possibilities of each tool.  As I now sit and reflect on the session, I think that was my overall goal.  There are thousands of how-to’s on all of these tools online and, truly, is a conference really the best place to show people what to click on?  I’ve seen too many conference presentations in which a presenter goes through a process of showing how to create a wiki or podcast. Luckily, at NCTE, Kylene Beers brought in Tech-to-go kiosks where people can learn about the specifics of a program or the process of a project. With the introduction of these kiosks, that really should limit the need for the how-to and give presenters far more freedom to explore possibilities and frame the content in theory and real world examples.  Now, whether I did that or not, I’m not completely sure, but I think that everyone walked away with something new, either a tool or an idea.  At least that’s my hope.

This brings me to why I present at conferences, blog and teach teachers about technology integration.  Basically, I remember being in a classroom. I remember what it was like to be so overwhelmed with grades, grading and discipline.  I remember the frustration I felt when I was told “No!” by my technology department. But I also remember coming to NCTE for the first time and feeling like my world opened up as a teacher.  I also remember trying something new with my students using technology and having it work.  I also remember how my students reacted when I told them I needed their help to try something new and how willing they were to give me feedback and help me change my practice.  All these things I remember have made me the educator that I am.  I try not to say “no” very often and I try to share my knowledge.  When I have the opportunity to present content to teachers, I want it to be worth their while, regardless of their technology proficiency, age or content area.  I want them to know the “why” as well as the “how.” And I want them to be successful so they will be willing to continue to grow in their journey. That’s why I do what I do.  It’s not groundbreaking or all that innovative, but I do believe that it’s real and that, in a small way, it helps.

21st Century Education, Education, Google Tools, NCTE, Reflections, Technology

NEA – Turning the Page. — “Students live in a Digital World. Are schools ready to join them?

I just found this article via Twitter in which I’m quoted. It appears in the most current edition of NEA Today.

21st Century Education, Education, English, Technology

As I’ve written before, I was the coordinator of a Film Festival in my district this last spring.  While the night went exceedingly well, upon looking back on it, there are several things that I’ve been looking at for next year. A friend of mine, asked me to reflect on the program through the lens of the NCTE 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment Framework.  Because there were so many different types of entries in the program and such a range of curricular areas involved, it’s tough to really bring all of it together so I’ll be general and we’ll see how this goes.

Develop proficiency with the tools of technology

In many cases, one of the main goals that teachers had when they started their film festival projects was to get students familiar with the tools of technology.  Focusing on the tools is a starting point in many cases, but once we got beyond how to edit video and where to begin a project, we started to focus more on the evaluating the sources that were found.  The process became as important as the final product.  We looked at the literary skills that were involved in working through the problems, evaluating possible solutions and working together to become creators rather than simply consumers of information.

Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally

One of the biggest successes of the film festival process was the collaborative nature of the work. While some were individual submissions, the vast majority were done as a group.  They worked thorough many problems and found solutions that were acceptable for all involved.  Additionally, many came away with a new understanding of the possibilities of working together.  When talking with students about what they learned, they weren’t just focused on their own part of the project.  They were learning from each other and, in many cases, stopped relying on their teachers as the sole people with the correct answers.

Design and share information for global communities that have a variety of purposes

Students who participated in the film festival were creating content that would be viewed by a greater audience.  The students were expanding their realm and evaluating the purpose of their films and the response their films would have on the audience both in the festival and later online as they were archived in a gallery.

Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneously presented information

Again, because of the nature of this project, information came from internet sites, databases, books, video, interviews, etc.  This proved to be beneficial for teachers as they asked their students to evaluate the reliability of the informaiton they found as they worked through their research process. Then, in most cases, students took that information and created their own meaning from it.  This new meaning resulted in a transformational experience in which students were not simply consumers of the information, but made it relevant to their own world and work.  Through those projects, students had a far deeper understanding of the material, had exercised their higher-order thinking skills, and created a relevant product that they were proud of.  One example of this is “The Great Car Robbery” created by a group of high school students who were studying the Niobe Myth.

Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts

One of the things that we’ve asked some of the students to do is to reflect on the experience.  We’ve gotten a variety of responses but mostly, because of our medium, students talked about the challenges of technology and  video editing.  However, when pushed, those who’s projects were of high quality realized that they learned a great deal through their projects that had nothing to do with the technical process of making the video.  They were working with concepts, solving problems and working together as they analyzed and reconstituted the information in a meaningful format.

Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by complex environments

Probably one of the biggest questions that students and teachers had when working with the materials had to do with copywrite and fair use.  Because the films that would be shown at the festival would also be shown on the Higher Educagtion Channel, we worked to compile a list of resources teachers could use that wouldn’t violate copywrite.  This was tough for many teachers who believe in and use fair use in their classrooms.  However, it was a great opportunity to model real world methods and have conversations about the implications of using the work of others.  This is something that we’re still trying to work out right now.  One of the things that I hope to accomplish this year is to provide other ways to find music, pictures and video for use in films.  I’m not sure what this will look like, but I want to show students that there are a number of places that provide royalty-free materials that we can use.  This was a learning experience for both student and teacher.  Truly, some didn’t think it was worth it.  However, I think it’s important to model ethical use of information as we work with students.  The film festival was a great vehicle to do just that.

I’ve been meaning to write about the Film Festival for awhile now and just haven’t made myself do it.  Looking at the NCTE Framework as a tool to think through the process and the projects provides some insight into how effective it might be in the classroom.  There are many changes that will be made this year and the framework will help to work through some of the issues that might be important.

21st Century Education, Education, Film Festival, NCTE, Reflections, Technology, Uncategorized

Yesterday, a few of my colleagues and I took a trip to Effingham, Illinois to see the 6th Annual AHA Film Festival.  This festival has grown over the years from 150 to around 1500 attendees and incorporates two different school districts.  Essentially, two English teachers, Joe Fatheree and Craig Lindvahl, have collaborated on a multimedia class and decided to recognize their student’s work in a public forum.  As Joe described his classroom, it reminded me of the project based classroom that I had a few years ago.  Just as in Joe’s class, my students created films and told their story.  We talked about and studied cinematic techniques and tried to create an avenue in which students who weren’t strong writers could still tell their stories.  They wrote, rewrote, filmed, refilmed, edited and reedited before they came away with a product that they could be proud of.

We went so that we could get some pointers and ideas on how to run our own festival happening in about one month.  While our scope is different (ours is grades K-12 and district wide, while AHA encompasses two high school classes) and we are not awarding prizes for our festival, the meaning is still the same, we want to celebrate student work through video.  I learned a lot yesterday and, as I was driving home (and laying in bed awake thinking about the day) I began to think about the quality of the films that the students in Effingham had created.  To be frank… they were outstanding.  They were still student films and they are definitely still learning, but as I thought about many of the student films that I’ve seen in my years teaching, I think these are among the best.  Not because of the equipment that they used, nor because of the fact that Joe and Craig are both film makers. No, these students understood that film making is really storytelling.  They were telling a story and that was the focus of the entire class.

The technical capacity to make films is getting significantly lower.  With cell phones capable of capturing video to Flip cameras to more traditional video cameras, the equipment is getting cheaper.  Nearly every computer out there has a video editing application built into the operating system and now there are even online video creation tools that can be used.  The rules have changed when it comes to the tools.  However, the methods of storytelling remains very much unchanged.  So that makes me wonder (yet again) do the tools really matter?  There will always be technical obstacles that must be addressed, but does learning what to click on in Movie Maker, iMovie, Premiere or Final Cut Pro really what we should be teaching, or should we be more focused on the process of storytelling?  Yes, learning the program has it’s place, but when you’re telling a story, what do you focus on, the tool or the process?  For me it’s always been process.  Technical details can be worked out and many times, I’m not the one to figure it out.  If I can teach the process, regardless of what tool is chosen, the story can be told.  It just makes me wonder, how many districts are teaching the tool rather than the process when it comes to digital storytelling?  And for those that are, how can that mindset be changed?

Additional information about the AHA Film Festival can be found here:

• Online Student Film Festival
• AHA YouTube Channel
• Main AHA Film Festival Page

21st Century Education, Education, English, Film Festival, Reflections, Technology