Ideas about learning, ICT and pedagogy

Ideas for Learning and Creativity: simplicity

Seeing things differently

When I first came to the UK from Sweden I got a job as a Guest Porter in a fancy hotel in Cambridge. This was a real learning experience for me particularly when it came to day-to-day language. For example colleagues would ask, pretty much daily, if I was ‘alright’. Now this may not seem like an odd question to most, however, I felt that although they may be concerned about my well-being, I certainly was ‘alright’ as there was nothing wrong with me mate. Today I see what they meant. Strangely enough I was never lynched.

In a similar vein, the 3 minute talk below deals with those simple issues that can very easily be misunderstood although you wouldn’t think that asking for direction could be so different?

What are you doing, you know, generally?

I came across dawdlr whilst browsing Russel M Davies’s blog. According to Davies, he wanted to create a really slow version of Twitter. In his view:

Something less rushed and immediate but still brilliantly rich and daft.

To contribute to this tiny global community you must answer the simple question:  What are you doing, you know, more generally? – on a postcard and send it to Russel Davies. When Davies means a ’slow’ version of Twitter, he really means slow as he scans each postcard and uploads it to dawdlr every 6 months. The point, according to him, is to see how far something this slow can become viral or if it will stop all together. Ingenious.

It would be very interesting if this was replicated for education. Perhaps if it was aimed at students the question could be:

What have you learnt in school, you know, that you can use in life?

Or if it was geared towards teaching professionals, perhaps something like this:

Have you made it relevant enough, you know, so students really got it?

If you can think of more creative ways of using this approach, just add a comment. By the way, what are you waiting for, head over to dawdlr and get the address!

If you find these videos interesting why not also take a look at the Eat.Sleep.Teach channel on YouTube.com?

Top iPhone Apps for Teachers and Students (and others)

There are hundreds of apps to use for teachers and students. The problem is that many are either of poor quality or, let’s be honest, too pricey or pointless. I have compiled a brief list of excellent apps that work in the classroom and/or as independent tools for teachers, presenters and other professionals. This post builds on another review of mine about iPhone apps that enhance productivity.

1. Air Mouse Pro

There are free apps that will turn your iPhone, iPad or iTouch into a remote but they are not as powerful and simple to use as Air Mouse Pro. Perhaps the most effective feature for me is the ability to just move the phone to move the virtual mouse on the screen – great for Interactive Whiteboards. The features of this app is too long to list but here’s a quick video to demonstrate what you get:

As mentioned above, the best feature is the possibility of controlling the Interactive Whiteboard from the back of the classroom and allow students to add content to the board from iPod Touches. Air Mouse Pro is worth the £1.19 (!) and you won’t regret buying it.

2. Audio Note

This is one of the best apps for note-taking and recording that I have come across recently. By synchronizing notes and audio, AudioNote automatically indexes meetings, lectures, talks or study sessions.

It is simple to use and whilst you record you can quickly add text and annotations (drawings, diagrams and the like) all of which are added next to the time of the recording. Sharing is possible either via WiFi or email – great resource for both teachers, students as well as people who need a dedicated tool to document meetings, talks and so on.

If you want share the recording over a WiFi connection you will be provided with the address where you can download an HTML file with drawings, text file, PDF or an audio file.

3. Cram

This creative tool provides the teacher or student with the opportunity to create Flash-Cards and Multiple-Choice questions which can be saved on the iPhone/iTouch or synced with the  Mac (separate software). The strongest feature of Cram is the possibility of adding images to your activities as well as keeping scores of past tests. There are other free alternatives available to download on the AppStore but this one gives the teacher or student the power to customise tasks to suit your class or exam – simple and fun.

4. iVocabulary

Create your own content for language lessons with this simple tool. You are provided with a wide range of activities (constantly growing but last count: 2500 tests!) for different languages but you can also create your own text-based tests, Flash-Cards or Multiple-Choice with the typical iPhone buttons, sliders and menus. There is also a free software to download and use to create activities for the iPhone, though you’d need to buy the app (£3.49) for them to work. The beauty of this app is the ability for teachers to create straight-forward tasks that are customised for their students and the added bonus of using the free software to do so from your laptop.

5. iStudiez

This handy little app gives students the possibility of organising themselves using a suite of useful features including:

Timetable: colourful built-in planner lets you input and easy manage all types of schedules including classic, alternating (A & B weeks), rotating and block schedule. Different classes or courses can be colour-coded.

Homework and assignments: iStudiez Pro uses Push Notifications which allows students to set general alarm time for classes and separate alarms for each of their assignments and homework.

Today View: provides a summary of upcoming classes and homeworks.

Back-up: a handy little feature which allows students to email themselves a copy of the timetable at the click of a button.

6. Air Sharing Pro

This is one of the most powerful apps I have come across. It uses your WiFi connection to open up a gateway between your iPhone and Mac or PC. Accordingly, as a teacher you can then transfer documents or other files between your work laptop and home computer, amongst other uses. See the video below for more ideas.

“Air Sharing Pro makes using the iPhone as an external drive easy as can be. Any iPhone user who needs to view and move files on the go should download this app.” — AppReview

Check out this video on using Air Sharing Pro (note: not advertising).

I hope you also found these apps useful and exciting to use in the classroom. If you have come across other ones do leave me a comment : ) . Please also see another post of mine on iPhone apps to enhance productivity.

Ideas for Learning and Creativity #4

Creativity and Innovation

This fifth post looks at ways in which students and teachers can improve the way they express ideas and communicate their understanding of key issues. I have also mentioned how cross-pollination into different spheres can help improve our practice as teachers – if you find this topic of particular interest please visit Take the Plunge for more ideas.

Create Kaleidoscopes for Learning

I came across the FoldPlay website  in one of @creativetallis‘ Tweets (well worth following for great ideas). This creative tool lets you upload a number of images and then download  a .JPG kaleidoscope of your creation including instructions for putting it together – very cool. There is also a slideshow with still images which shows you step-by-step how to construct it. This would be a great addition to a task for students where they have to convey their understanding of a concept by selecting a number of images that together shape the meaning of that particular concept.

Here’s an example:

Making a Point

In Ideas for Learning and Creativity #3 I added the superb poem/talk by Taylor Mali as it shows how powerful public speaking can be with the right script and preparation (amongst other things). The following clip involves a different type of public speaking and demonstrates that age does not have to be an obstacle to a sincere and compelling speech. Truly inspiring.

Cross-Pollination

I have always tried to keep an eye on what other industries get up to, apart from education, for example how business view CPD, collaboration and the way they present information to customers. This cross-pollination of ideas is essential, in my opinion, so that our teaching practice and pedagogical ideas do not become insular and we can instead progress and explore new avenues. There are many books that can help you explore and make cross-pollination a regular aspect of your work, see this list. I also subscribe to different newsletters/RSS feeds or podcasts to keep in the loop of the ever changing world of innovation. One particularly useful source of information which I was suggested by Scott Hewitt of Real Projects recently, is the Harvard Business School – Working Knowledge . This website gives its readers insight into the cutting-edge thinking and research that is taking place place at Harvard and covers a wide range of topics and interests – well worth looking into even if you’re not interested in Business or Technology as they cover many other areas as well.

ICT and E-Learning

The Creative Beast

It’s hard to think of easy-to-use and cheap methods of producing high-quality media.

This is one of the most simple but creative ways of using text, images and post-its to communicate a message. The potential for using this format is immense whether one uses frame-by-frame animation in Adobe Flash or with a camcorder or digital camera, the results could be tremendous and the creative output for students very positive.

Besty Streeter blogs at Betsy Streeter .

WeToku: interviews made simple

WeToku was set up, according to the founders of this Korean website, because one of the team members, James, insistence that he was a true celebrity but found interviews face-to-face too inconvenient, so they made it easy for him by creating the website. Whatever the reason behind this nifty tool, it is a good resource if you want to invite someone for a meeting or to interview them for blog as you can record and then embed the video immediately afterwards. This has real potential particularly if you’re brave and decided to invite someone you’re inspired by for an interview – can you think of someone, I definitely can! WeToku can really make your blog even more interesting – I have scheduled an interview already.

Here’s an interview with Guy Kawasaki – discussion about the quality of the interviewer’s questions and prep is discussed on the website…

Clever Online PDF/PowerPoint Viewer

Have you ever tried the Google Docs Viewer ? This is a superb tool if you want to display PowerPoint presentations, like in SlideShare but without having to sign up, on your webpages. You can also embed PDF files which is a handy little feature, like this:

Ideas for Learning and Creativity #3

This third post on Ideas for Learning and Creativity explores ways in which both teachers and students can communicate in a range of different ways; from public speaking, writing, composing or using technology to make an impact on their audiences. This post contains more video clips than other post in this series (see #1 and #2 for more ideas) but each one is definitely worth watching.

Creativity and Innovation

So, what do teachers make in a year?

In this powerful 3 minute clip, the poet Taylor Mali defends the teaching profession at the Bowery Poetry Club (Nov. 2005). Mali’s explanation is an uplifting – yet with a bitter undertone – explanation about what impact we as teachers can have on students’ learning. It is also a great example that creative public speaking does not have to lengthy to be either convincing or powerful.

Reading is Changing

I ran a couple of sessions at the Norfolk Schools ICT Conference last week where Steven Moss of Partnerships Schools discussed the significance of using technology in the classroom whilst pointing out the fact that not all use of ICT is effective (you can download his presentation here ). He went on to argue that we need to rethink and re-structure the way we teach young learners as we are using the same pedagogies we used at the start of the century but that students have changed the way they learn. This is a very potent issue as students now have an array of sources to learn from, unlike 20 years ago. They are now learning through interactions, new ways of communicating, instant feedback via webinars, VLEs, Skype, IM and so on.

I came across the following video clip from TVO.org (Ontario, USA, public educational media organisation) a while ago and it continues the discussion raised above and centers around the question: Is technology destryoing students’ ability to write? This is a very interested clip and it looks at how far technology has improved students’ ability to work with text e.g. that WEB 2.0 has provided learners with the opportunity to access material; and brings up the issue that, in many respects, students perform their ideas and thoughts in different ways than by just writing and that our methods of teaching must begin to meet these new ways of learning.

Is technology destryoing students’ ability to write? from TVO.org

Audience Participation

I spotted a link to this video on Twitter a few days ago when it was posted by Dughall (worth following for great links, ideas and discussions). It shows how a simple scale can engage an entire audience whilst at the same time compose a piece of music together. There is a lot we can learn from Bobby McFerrin’s in this clip about engagement and how to bring out the best of whole class teaching.

Whole class participation is a difficult task to achieve both in terms of logistics, outcomes and your patience (!) but a worthwhile endeavor. Some subjects are more difficult than others but as a starter activity it can really get a class excited about the lesson. For example, try getting students working in ‘character’, attempt whole-class composition or deconstructing text, use active learning when piecing together essays and or for assessments. Take a look at these ideas for whole class participation:

Create ‘interactive diagrams’ with the whole class

Discuss the Grey Matter: Continuums involving the whole class

More ideas in this book: Exam Class Toolkit - how to create engaging lessons that ensure progression and results:

ICT and E-Learning

Games as assessments

Games are essentially assessments – but games do not seperate learning from the game unlike traditional education where pupils learn and then they are tested. – James Paul Glee

The game manual is sometimes as complex as a standard textbook. James Paul Glee, for example, gave up reading the manual as it was too complex. He played the game for a while and then returned to the manual and suddenly it all made sense because he had seen what the terminology was referrring to in the game. Like a textbook, the words are connected to a game, for example the game of History – what historians do like source analysis, unveiling mysteries of the past, interpreting information. He then used the game manual as a reference in case he wanted to look something up or tweak something he knew but wanted to explore further. Glee states that you should do the same with a textbook, use it to look up and reference material. Very interesting video.

Technology that Matters

Terry Haydn at the University of East Anglia showed me this superb viral video produced by MoveOn.org under the fake name of CNNBCVideo. It was created to show what could happen if people didn’t vote for Obama in the general election. One segment of the video asks the question “How long until we nuke Iran? Experts say it may be as early as Saturday, around lunchtime“.

This is a very interesting clip for many reasons, not only because of the importance of political change, but it also shows students how powerful media and technology really can be. It can also encourages students to explore using ICT in more creative ways and consider how technology can assist in conveying key messages or clouding the accuracy of others.

How Google Search Works

I came across this Youtube video on Steven Anderson’s blog WEB2 Classroom and thought I’d share it with you – great to show students how (apparently) a search engine works.

Learning whilst Immersed in Web 2.0 Part 2

This post follows on from Learning whilst Immersed in Web 2.0 Part 1 where I discuss the origins of WEB 2.0 and why the World Wide Web changed in the way it did around 2004. I also listed 10 WEB 2.0 tools that have helped me in my teaching and some that have been suggested to me on Twitter. This second post will highlight a further 10 tools that have made an impact on pupils learning for many teachers I know. If you find these tools useful why not subscribe to my new series of posts on Ideas for Learning and Creativity?

WEB 2.0 Tools for the classroom

11. Xtranormal

There are many comic and video editors available on the web, but not many that combine the two so well. Once registered you can either create videos online or download ‘State’, their offline video editor (PC only). Xtranormal provides the user with a vast array of different characters, backgrounds, music, effects and pre-made animations that you use to create your movie.

What is especially good about this tool is that you can control the camera as well as character movements and reactions by using the pre-recorded items in the editor. The editor is divided into three main sections which together make up the final movie:

• Direct the Action – camera movements, animations, expressions, reactions
• Write the Script – decide on a single or two characters and then type what you’d like them to say
• Design the Scene – change set, music and background noise

If you want to create a quick movie and you’re not to fussed about camera angles (you can even get the characters to look into the camera – I love that bit) then you only have to select the ‘Magicam’ which sets up auto camera angles for you.

Once the final movie has been rendered you can send it to colleagues, share it on the most common Social Networks and embed it on your school blog or website – it also embeds well on most Learning Platforms. There is also the option of downloading it as a movie file so you can edit it using your favorite video editor.

Here’s an example:

12. Awesome Highlighter

This is a superb tool, particularly for older students, as it can be used to teach them how to underline and read more effectively. It also has the added bonus that everything that has been highlighted is also copied so they later can print off their notes or email them. There is also a firefox bookmarklet so you can highlight on the go and if you register you can also save pages including annotaed videos. Quick and effective.

13. Browzmi:

This tool gives the user the possibility if co-browsing or social browsing sites as well as sending each other instant messages. Google Wave is more powerful of course, but this one is quick and easy to use and only does one thing. This is a very effective for group work and for research, well worth a look.

14. Go Animate!

There are many good WEB 2.0 tools that provide possibilities for students and teachers to create comic books of various kinds, some of which I have already mentioned in other posts for example ToonDoo, Pixton, Memoov and Pikikids. GoAnimate is slightly different as it provides the user with the possibility of creating talking characters as well as full animations. This tools is as featured-packed as Xtranormal but uses more comix-styled graphics. Here’s a simple example of an animation (3 minutes to set up):

15. ShowDocument

If you are looking for an easier to use tool to Elliminate then ShowDocument is a good choice. Although it’s not as powerful as Elluminate, for example lacking many of the administrative features, ShareDocument is  quick to set up and fun to use. Here’s a brief list of what you can share and collaborate at the same time using the Quick Start menu:

• Watch Youtube videos
• Files from your machine
• Google Maps and Docs
• Whiteboard

16. Scribblar

Scribblar shares many of the features of ShowDocument. Unlike the latter students can use audio chat and not only text-based chat (like in ShowDocument) and Scribblar’s Pro account ($99/month) enables you to integrate the entire functionality of Scribblar into your existing website – pretty powerful. Although Scribblar is very good, ShareDocument has a few extra functionalities that makes it just that little better.

17. MovYlo

This surprisingly powerful resource provides you with the tool to create mobile websites. All you need to focus on is to add the content – MovYlo will take care of the rest. There are several features that you can use to produce your mobile site including:

• RSS feeds from e.g. your blog, Youtube, Flickr
• Create newsletters
• Adding mini blog and pages
• Polls and contests
• Videos
• Images

See this example of a mobile site that was set up in less than 10 minutes. For about £3.50/month you get 5000MB of space and your pages will not be covered in ads, which is the only set back of the free option.

18. Mobile Study.org

If you’re looking for an easy tool to help you create quizzies for mobile phones then look no further.

MobileStudy.org is suprisingly effective and with its ‘Add Explanation’ feature you can produce good activities that will support students in their learning by providing them with feedback for each question. The website has evolves since it first started and you can now install each mobile quiz in different ways:

• Install the quiz on a mobile phone via SMS
• Install the quiz on a mobile phone using QR Code
• Download directly to your phone or PDA

There is also installation guidance available on the website. Here’s are a couple of examples:

KS2 French Quiz (PC version) (mobile version)

GCSE Quiz + Explanations (PC version) (mobile version)

19. QR Generator

If you are looking to use mobile phones in the classroom, in school or even for outdoor learning then QR codes could help. QR stands for ‘Quick Response’ as the inventor Denso-Wave intended to have the code decoded at high speed. For more information about QR its history and usage please visit Mobile Barcodes.

This tool is very simple and very powerful so you don’t need to know any coding as the website will generate that for you. You need a mobile phone that has a camera + software that can decode QR codes (most barcode apps do a pretty good job). Here is a list of recommended softwares. I use QR App on the iPhone which works very well and it’s free.

The QR Generator allows you to create a number of different QR images:

• website url
• vCard
• 100 character text message
• Phone number
• SMS
• Email address

As a result you can create a suite of interactive tasks for students to do, particularly if you combine the different tools. For example:

• Setting up a Thinking Skills Mystery using a combo of website urls and cryptic messages which finally ends with students having email their answers to the teachers.
• Hook QRs: teachers stick up images outside the door of the classroom which students can access before the lesson starts
• Revision: create a series of images and add them to the departmental ‘Revision Board’.
• QR Challenge: split class into a number of teams and get each one to create questions that the other teams have to answer
• QR Debate: same as above but get teams from different sets/classes to have a running debate on a key topic over a half-term. Add QR images outside each others’ classrooms.
• PowerPoint aide: students scan the image and can link to a website, article or task instead of having to remember the Url.

Here are couple of examples of code generated by the website just use a QR decoder which is compatible with your camera, take a snapshot and see what happens:

For more ideas about using QR in the classroom and for more articles on QR please visit the brilliant blog Don’t Waste Your Timeby David Hopkins and also watch this example of using QR code in the classroom (worksheets linked to YouTube):

20. FaceBook

This application is blocked on schools’ network and most teachers don’t wish to share their FaceBook profile with students. Judy Hart explained at the NAACE conference 2010 that there is an alternative so you don’t need to add students as ‘Friends’ to your page, just create a Fan Page. This is different to a standard FaceBook page because authors of the fan page can’t add fans as friends. This is a great way of  providing additional opportunities to engage students as autonomous learners by adding resources to your Fan page.

Scroll down to the end of any page and click ‘Advertising’, then ‘Create Page’ and off you go. There are several applications that are useful to add to your Teacher Fan Page e.g SlideShare and Poll to name a couple.

Here’s an example of a Fan Page – at the time of writing I had no Fans…

Mr. Ahrenfelt

Hopefully these two posts have provided you with 20+ tools that can be used in the classroom to help the delivery of lessons, content-generation as well as a series of engaging tools for your pupils.

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