QR Codes

Last year at ISTE there was a lot of talk about QR codes.  This year, there wasn't so much talk - they simply were everywhere as a normal part of conference life.

In most sessions (including my own) the presenters displayed QR codes for their links to their online notes.  Most people had a blend of QR and print data on their handouts and business cards, but there were a good number who only used QR.

Teachers from Pt England School sent me off to ISTE with a big bunch of cards to give out with QRs to their class blogs.  I distributed these in the two sessions I presented at, so time will tell whether people visit their blogs as a result.

I discovered the downside to QR though.  I was determined not to use the data plan on my phone this time and end up with a large phone bill.  So I was reluctant to use the QR reader on my iPhone.  I began looking for a reader for my MacBook, so at least I could access the online notes and information when people only gave out QRs.

After some research I found there is not a lot of choice out there, and I ended up downloading an App called - QR Reader !  It requires you to also have Adobe Air installed and uses the camera built into your Macbook.  It does the job ok, but is a lot more fussy than an iPhone about getting the angle right when it scans.   I am also looking at something called QuickMark in the Apps store, but it costs $5.29 so is not something we will be putting on the classroom iMacs.

We would be very interested if someone has a better App to suggest - must work on an iMac and or MacBook.  Also looking for a good Linux reader for our netbooks.

Dance with the Dinosaurs

I was thinking of titling this "Hanging out with Dinosaurs" but that might have given quite the wrong impression!  

This time last year I posted about the highlight of ISTE 2010.  Well, Google have done it again.

We received our invite to "Dance with the dinosaurs, kiss a butterfly, and (mini) golf like a tiger at the Academy of Natural Sciences" and hobbled (in my case) on down there for a fun night out. And yes there were dinisaurs there and they were quite something to look at.

3 Minute Keynote Smackdown

What a great idea!  The final session of the Saturday EdubloggerCon at ISTE11 was introduced by Steve Hargadon as "your opportunity to hear in 3 minutes what some great speakers talk about in all the keynotes you miss!"  Or something to that effect.

So for an hour we were treated to some inspiring keynotes in successive 3 minute bites - perfect!  Snippets from these are below.

If there was one speaker we wanted to put on a plane back to New Zealand, it was Kevin Honeycutt, http://kevinhoneycutt.org/
Some quotes from his 3 minutes...
Our kids have digital limbs
We cannot amputate those digital limbs
We have to learn to use them
Give kids rigor and make them quote sources. You don't cite your sources I delete your post
'Where might YOU fit as a teacher'. Not "where does the tool fit'?

Earlier in the web 2 smackdown he demonstrated with his iPad and a cardboard guitar.

It was so much fun we had to track him down afterwards and get our own demo....

Introduction: Steve Hargadon

1. Kathy Schrock - Infographics as a Creative Assessment

She showed an inspiring 3 minute movie of her keynote outline to keep to her brief. 

From her website:

An infographic is a visual representation of information. Come learn tips and tricks for using student-created infographics as an authentic assessment. The presentation will showcase how infographics are created and concentrate on the student literacy skills necessary to research, critique, summarize, and communicate information in a visual way to reach their audience.
2. Brad Flickinger - Unbelievable Elementary Tech Projects Spoke about what is going on at his school,  Bethke Elementary School.
Quote "21st C skills need to have 21st century assessments"
3.Howie DiBlasi - "Making Waves In A Changing Education World"
4.Cindy Lane- "Geo Apps Span the Curriculum"

More of Cindy's wealth of Google Earth/Mapstips and tricks

Gave us her URL for her presentation notes  Http://goo.gl/f9e8U

Reminded us that:

• Maps/ Earth/ Sketch up all talk to each other
• Math lessons are possible using Google Earth (thanks Tom Barrett)

5. Joan Gore and Janet Corder - "Success Solutions for the High Tech Classroom"

Using LiveBinders with Junior students
6. Adam Bellow - "Web Tools to Make Your Classroom Rock!"

Likes to use Webtool rather than Web 2.0
Education technology is not about stuff

From his website about this keynote:

Come to a session that focuses on ten amazing web tools to make learning more captivating and exciting! We begin with a memorial for the term "web 2.0" and move on to explore tools that will bring new life into the classroom. The web tools focused on will reach across all subject areas and can easily be scaffolded for different age groups or student abilities.
7. Hmmmm.... forgot....
8. Steve Hargadon: "School 2.0"

• Factory model of schooling is broken
• Social media has brought a profound power shift
• Freedom <----------->structure, and school has been at the structure end

9. Tammy Worcester: Google Projects for Kids!
10. Rurik Nackerud: "Sharing is Caring"
11.Kevin Honeycutt: Trends, Tools, & Tactics

see above
12. Katherine Walraven: Youth, Technology and the World We Want

Taking IT global

• Hope challenge
• Understanding challenge
• Engagement challenge
• Apathy challenge

13. Bernajean's Spotlight I-imagine: Waking Up a Generation for Greatness

From her website:

Calling all educators to illuminate students' sense of identity and purpose through exploring, mining understanding and imagining taking their place in the world. The I-imagine project creating 3-4 min vision videos is grounded in new research for inspiring hope, joy and action in students discovering and activating their own life-goals - living in the truth that their lives and talents matter to the world. Narrative story is one of the oldest and most proven tools for motivating individuals to engage in change, mobilized by inspired hope while activating positive actions NOW. Finding purpose and passion are the hallmarks of a life that matters, a life worth living. They are also the source of joy and happiness. The greatest gift parents and teachers can give their children is to help them discover, nourish and act on this truth NOW. Participants will explore the possibilities, research and process and positive impact when students create multimedia visions via docudrama stories AS IF their future life is NOW.

This sounded to be along the lines of  videotaped self-modeling as defined by Dr. Peter Dowrick of The University of Hawaii ie where he uses carefully planned and edited positive self-images of behaviour on video.
14. Scott McLeod: Where we are, where we need to go, and the importance of leadership

Leadership is the key to change

If leaders don't get it it's not going to happen

• Perspective -why are they here
• Practice. It's about who you are, what your practices are
• Pedagogy. Know and define what your pedagogy is

ISTE 2011: Web 2 Smackdown

First up in Philadelphia for us was the EdubloggerCon on Saturday June 25th.  This was a great chance to meet up with friends and learn new things.

These are my notes from the web 2.0 smackdown.  If you have been using any of these feel free to add links to your work through the comments.....

Web 2.0 Smackdown - Organized by Lisa Thumann

Shapeways.com
3D printing software

http://stencyl.com/
Scratch kind of website for making games

 



screenr.com
records whatever screen you're on

 



jotform.com
create forms that go straight to your Drop Box








notaland.com
kinda like prezi

Casual Collaboration.

Mash your ideas and media together with friends in a dynamic whiteboard wiki. Using photos, videos, and other web content you can instantly create brainstorms, presentations, scrapbooks, and enjoy an interactive chat with more than 50 friends. 

answergarden.ch
no login required so great for school kids.  Create quick surveys

AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic feedback tool. Use it as a tool for online brainstorming or embed it on your website or blog as a poll or guestbook.

scoopit.com
Find web2 tools, post it on the website. Kinda like netvibes or iGoogle

Be The Curator of Your Favorite Topic!

Create your topic-centric media by collecting gems among relevant streams

Publish it to your favorite social media or to your blog

 






lucidchart.com
Create organiser diagrams and mind maps online.  They give all educators free pro accounts.
Diagrams Done Right

We have rethought and redesigned the entire diagramming process to make it as easy as possible. Draw flow charts, wireframes, UML diagrams, and more with just a few clicks.

HTML5 and web standards make LucidChart fast, smooth, and reliable.

Collaborative. Work simultaneously with as many people as you want.

 






qwertytown.com
Keyboarding game. A social network.  Teach your kids to type.  Can limit the social network to the level you are comfortable with
30 day free trial. Also teaches Internet safety as they play

QwertyTown teaches keyboarding, an essential component of literacy for today's students.

Reinforces skills through safe online communication

Addresses Common Core Literacy Standards

Entirely web based

Customizable for learners with different abilities

 






class.io
A way to host your class within Google Apps.  Kinda like teacher dashboard but much more limited



Bo.lt
Connect with People through the Pages you Share
allows you to take any URL and create a unique one

 






shmoop.com
Learning guides
eg literature.  Allows students to choose a novel and has masses of information about the book.  Free text to speech so they can listen to this as well.



present.me
a really easy way to present and share your presentations
If you can’t see a presenter’s face their impact reduces by 55%!

Present.Me is a community for easily recording & sharing your presentations. If you’re a business – it could be to share within your own private space with your employees and customers, or publicly on www.present.me to market to your prospects and collect leads.

Present.Me combines video, audio and your presentations in an easy and intuitive way, so your audience get to see and hear your message in the way it was intended. We’ve built the whole process with ease of use in mind, there’s no need to download specialist software – it’s all there in your browser already. And because it’s online, you can instantly share it with anyone you like, anywhere in the world.

gamesalad.com
Make games with GameSalad Creator
Create games for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and HTML5. No coding involved. All drag and drop. Similar to scratch. Embed code available for blogs portfolio etc. No flash, all html5

 






storybird.com
Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories you make to share, read, and print.
Read them like books, play them like games, and send them like greeting cards.
Create a story with their clip art. Keep adding pages. Collaborative storytelling. Embed on web.  

 




mycybertwin.com/
Create your own cyber twin.  Possibly fun for adults, but kids would have to give it way too much information to make it effective - unless you were doing an embellishment genre for writing, then it may be great fun!

 




popplet.com
combination of glogster and prezi
Check out Amanda's great post about how she uses Popplet here.

 




pixlr.com
Online image editor for the masses
Edit photos online. Kinda like photoshop express online

 



oneword.com
Online vocal builder and enhancer. They give you a word, you write as much as you can about it in the time allocated ie one minute.

You’ll see one word at the top of the following screen.

you have sixty seconds to write about it.

click ‘go’ and the page will load with the cursor in place.

don’t think. just write.

Then type in name and email and submit it.  Then you can see what eveyone else has written.
 





weekinrap.com
Flocab gives you the last week in current events in rap

 




flocabulary.com
hip hop in the classroom for vocabulary

Flocabulary produces educational hip-hop music and engaging curricular materials to teach academic content for grades K-12. The programs are proven to raise scores on state reading tests and are being used in over 10,000 schools nationwide. Heralded as "groundbreaking" and "necessary," Flocabulary has been featured on The Today Show, Oprah & Friends, and MTV.

Dream Job

How do you feel about your job?  Would you call it your dream job?

From time to time I meet people who don't seem that thrilled about their job.  I guess in recession times it is understandable why they don't move on, but I have often wondered why they would keep doing it. 

Today I came across this diagram when I was reading Jen Hegna's Moodle course on Creating Student ePortfolios with Google Sites (and yes, I did have a smile at using Moodle to workshop Sites....).

 

I feel blessed that my job has more often than not landed me in that sweet intersection of passion/talent/career. Hard work, crazy hours - impossible milestones! But if those 3 circles align it doesn't seem to matter.

How 'bout you?....