Copyright Evernote

Not wanting to miss out on the latest and greatest Web 2.0 tool, I downloaded it for my iPhone first but didn’t find a lot of use for it right away. Instead, I preferred to use built-in standalone Apple apps like Notes to record memos to myself. However, after exploring Evernote more closely as part of my Digital Contexts class through Brock University I have gained a new appreciation for its features.

For one thing, the ability to sync up notes between my laptop, phone and tablet is an invaluable tool that will allow me to be more efficient in various aspects of my life. For my online store (Festoon.ca) I often need access to the latest warehouse stock reports from our suppliers when customers come calling in search of a specific item. With Evernote, I need only add the latest reports to whichever device I am on at the moment and then sync it with my other devices so that I can access those files wherever I am.

Thanks to my Brock course I also learned how to link my Twitter accounts with Evernote, which is a very useful idea that will allow me to curate tweets and Twitpics sent out on the run. I often find that when I tweet pictures through various apps like Instagram, Twitpic, Camera+ and others that I can never find them again (or at least not very quickly). Some apps automatically send them to your camera roll, but others get dumped in your photo library or only remain within the app. With Evernote, I can now simply send them all to my default notebook by just adding @myEN to my Tweets.

Here are some other neat features of Evernote as listed on the iTunes page for the app:
• Sync all of your notes across the computers and devices you use
• Create and edit text notes, to-dos and task lists
• Save, sync and share files
• Record voice and audio notes
• Search for text inside images
• Organize notes by notebooks and tags
• Email notes and save tweets to your Evernote account
• Connect Evernote to other apps and products you use
• Share notes with friends and colleagues via Facebook and Twitter
• Works with Evernote Business: Capture, browse, search, and share Business Notes and Business Notebooks from your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

PicCollage is free, simple to use, and has a lot of options and frames to choose from. It connects easily to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms so you can post your creations directly.

Here is a rundown of the tools it offers:

• Pictures can be rotated, resized, edited, and deleted
• You can use text, stickers, and different backgrounds
• Import functionality from your photo library, Facebook albums, or the web
• Easy to share through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

And here’s a PicCollage sample I made during the Balitang Amerika News Program Anchors reunion of Gel, Ben, myself, and the production crew:

Image: A. Vendramin

Bill Ferriter (@plugusin) recently visited the Surrey School District and I had the chance to both chat with and listen to him. During his session and in a blog he subsequently wrote, he expressed his distain for the terms digital native and digital immigrant. I hadn’t given the terms much consideration until he shared his thoughts. The term digital native, he argued, gives kids today way too much credit when it comes to the use of technology, whereas the term digital immigrant not only sells educators short but also underestimates their role in technology integration in schools. Bill adds that, “…we hang our students out to dry every time that we make blanket assumptions about their ability to grow without us simply because they don’t need owner’s manuals to figure out how to use the new gadgets flooding the marketplace every year.”

In his blog titled Is Embracing Digital Learning a Moral Issue for Educators?, Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) grapples with the issue of the teacher’s role in the use of social media and digital tools in classrooms. He suggested that, “The teachers who teach my own children TODAY who aren’t embracing the uses of digital media in various forms are doing them a disservice, because they are inadequately preparing them for today as well as the world of tomorrow.” He also wondered out loud if the following passage should be excluded from his next eBook:

While there have been and will continue to inevitably be older teachers who will retire from education rather than learn “new ways” of teaching and learning in the digital information landscape, that choice is not a moral one for those of us who choose to remain twenty-first century educators.

Recalling the many times over the past few years I have worked with students on issues involving the use (and more often misuse) of technology and social media, I too have started to question the role adults, both educators and parents, play in guiding students through the rich, but complex world of social media. If the students of today were truly digital natives, they would not only use technology appropriately and in innovate ways, but they would also more consistently demonstrate the same social skills online that they do face to face. The reality is, many kids don’t do either of these!

Even further, I would suggest that as educators, steering clear of, or avoiding social media and digital tools altogether because of the fears or insecurities we may have, essentially amounts to negligence. If a child reported abuse, would we not make the necessary phone call? If a child showed up at school hungry every day and never brought a lunch, would we not find a way to feed them? And if a student were experiencing serious learning challenges, would we not do everything possible to provide them with support?

Despite our personal opinions about whether or not students should be utilizing technology and social media, the truth is THEY ARE. While many of our students make wise choices about their use of social media, inappropriate use can and does lead to difficult and sometimes dangerous situations. I feel strongly that it’s our responsibility as educators to provide them with not only appropriate and authentic ways to integrate social media and technology into learning, but to share the vast knowledge we have regarding responsible and thoughtful decision-making and social interaction.

Truly, there is much we can learn from students and much students can learn from us. Surrey Schools Deputy Superintendent Jordan Tinney (@jordantinney) succinctly tweeted, “Teachers build a bridge between what students know about the tools & what we know about good teaching.” The key certainly is capitalizing on the strengths of all learners – both teachers AND students.

As educators and parents, we have the opportunity before us to leverage the power of connectedness via social media. In doing so, we will more effectively engage learners who are becoming increasingly difficult to engage.

What are your thoughts regarding students, education, and the use of social media and digital tools?

In one of the sessions that I attended on Tuesday, Arne Olav Nygard, from the Reading Centre at the University of Stavanger, explicitly focused on the use of digital tools, thus establishing the link between “Ny Giv” and such tools, which I think is great. In his presentation, Nygard walked us through three free and easy-to-use animation and/or film editing applications that can be used to give students a different perspective on and approach to reading: GoAnimate, Movie Maker and Creaza.

Nygard has now posted six videos that cover the topics of his presentation–one introduction video, two videos on real classroom examples, and three instruction videos. These films are in Norwegian.

Flipping the lesson or the classroom is no easy task. There are lots of steps that must be done before you flip a lesson or the classroom.

Here are some recommendations:

1)   Do you have a way to record your lessons with your computer or iPad.

Using an iPad is a great tool for flipping. There are so many great apps out there that allow you to screen cast with ease.  For Elementary – Screen Chomp by Tech Smith is the app that I really love, it’s simple quick and easy for teachers and students to use. For secondary – I also recommend Screen Chomp for the same reasons but you can also look into apps such as Educreations, Show Me, Coach’s Eye, and Explain Everything. If you are trying to do a screen cast with your computer I recommend Jing by Tech Smith. This is a great tool for both PC and MAC platforms. Just like the iPad apps mentioned previously, Jing for PC or MAC allows you to create a video or screen shot of any window you create in your screen and allows you to have a voice over so you can explain your lesson or ideas while recording.

2)   Where are you going to host the videos? The majority of these screen casting services coverts your videos into a link. Some even allow you to have the embedded code so you can embed the video to your site.  This is where your personal teacher website comes in to play. It is not visually appealing to a parent or even administrators to have a site with 50 links that are tied to lessons that you flipped. As a parent I am not willing to click through all fifty links, so labeling them correctly and having a visual picture for each lesson is definitely going to be more visually attracting. Think about how YouTube has their site set up, they don’t just have links but sample pictures of the videos.  So going back to your website – can it handle the embedding of videos or pictures that can be linked to those video URL’s. Lots of times teachers (specially elementary teachers) purchase a licenses to use these cute simple websites that really don’t do much except allow you to put text in them. The websites are not very interactive or even visually appealing. I would recommend that educators look into blogging type sites for their websites that can still be visually appealing and look like a regular teacher website even though it’s a blog site. WordPress, Blogger, and EduBlogs are all great suggestions.

Here is a sample of a Blog converted into a teacher site: 

Some teachers use learning platforms such as Edmodo to flip lessons and the classroom. Edmodo is a great place to post assignments, thoughts, ideas, videos and more. It also fits the flipped lesson/classroom concept perfectly because it also allows students to ask questions using that platform that the teacher or other students can answer.

3)   Communication – You should never flip a lesson or a class with out some clear concise communication between you the teacher, administrator, and students parents. They all need to be on board for this. I saw an example of a very good teacher trying to flip a lesson- she explained her frustration to me that only 5 out of 18 kids actually watched the lesson at home like they were supposed to. My first question was did you send any documentation to the parents explaining the concept of flipping or even meet with the parents face to face to explain this concept with them and of course she said – no. Flipping the classroom or flipping the lesson is not a homework assignment. It’s a philosophy, a classroom teaching strategy, it must be explained to all stakeholders and there must be buy in before you jump into this.  The concept of flipping the classroom or flipping a lesson is based on communication. You communicate the concepts of what you are trying to accomplish with all parties. You then communicate with your students and parents through digital resources such as a short 2-minute lesson video. Parents communicate with their child by helping them understand the concepts the teacher has explained in the videos. Students communicate with their teacher’s questions that they have through an online platform (like Edmodo) or in class the next day.

4)   Connectivity: Not all students have access to the internet at home. Chances are that the videos that you are creating and posting to  your website for flipping the lessons are all web-based videos that students and parents need internet access to see. So what is your plan for these students? First thing is to identify them. If possible, try to have an iPad, or computer available for them in a class after school and before school. Give those students a chance to access the same information that everyone else might have seen at home. The lower the number of these students obviously the easier this is going to be. This is why these 2-minute videos are so important because they don’t take that long to watch. Having said this, if 90% of your students do not have Internet access at home then maybe flipping the classroom or lesson is not the best teaching strategy to try and implement.

5)   Differentiated Instruction: From an administrators point of view the main reason I am a big fan of flipping the classroom or flipping a lesson is because it gives teachers who already have little to no extra time an avenue for a new method to successfully differentiate instruction.  By flipping a lesson the teacher can have students from all levels working on different assignments and watching different video lessons be engaged in the content and classroom instruction.

Key teacher questions about Flipping the Classroom or Flipping a Lesson:

Question: How do I turn my 45-minute math lesson or reading block into a video?

Answer: You don’t! You should focus on the learning goal, main idea or concept of the course. You ask yourself what is the main thing that my students must leave today knowing and that is what you create a 1-3 minute video explaining. Another option is to create a quick video on the part of the lesson that you know your students struggled with the most.

Question: Is this more work for a teacher?

Answer: Yes it is more work if you consider creating a 3 minute video more work. You are now going to have to take an extra 3 minute of your busy schedule to create a video and post it to your website or Edmodo group for your students and their parents to have access to them.  However, it’s going to save you time from having to re-teach concepts to you’re struggling students, and help your advanced students stay engaged in lessons.  So you see how this can also help save you time.

Final thoughts:

Where school administrators and teachers get it all wrong is by trying to do too much to fast. The concept of flipping the classroom is great but it does not happen over night. It’s also something that you must stick to in order to eventually see the success of the concept.  My suggestion for a school, teacher or administrator that is interested in flipping the classroom is to flip a lesson first.  Maybe pick a lesson once a week and flip a lesson that way. As you start to see the increase in student interest of that flipped lesson then start adding to flipped lessons a week. Please note that you need buy in from all stakeholders so the lessons that you start off with must be extremely interesting and engaging. Lets get those students and parents hooked on this concept first by engaging them.  Flip the lesson first, don’t try to do too much.  By flipping the lesson once a week and adding lessons as you see fit, your class will eventually morph into a flipped classroom. Do not rush it.

As stated earlier you can not have success in flipping the classroom or lesson without, the proper hardware and software, proper website or learning platform. You must communication to all stakeholders, have a plan for how to handle the students that have connectivity issues at home, and a plan to meet the needs of your students by differentiating your instruction.

Image Sources:

• http://doceri.com/blog/2012/03/doceri-and-the-flipped-classroom-audiovideo-screencasting-coming-this-spring/
• http://fernandez1stgrade.blogspot.com/
• http://spinsucks.com/communication/the-four-is-of-leadership-communication/
• http://www.purepursuitintelnetwork.com/how-wireless-connectivity-influence-people/
• https://sites.google.com/site/touroskhaimova1/differentiated-instruction

Special thanks to Eric Stoller for the presentation and for showing me this video. I’ll be posting some more in-depth thoughts about his “Digital Identity, Social Media and Higher Education” presentation as time allows. But in the meantime, enjoy…

My apologies, but College Humor has disabled embedding this video. You can still click on it to watch on YouTube. It’s worth the click.

However, I have since softened my position and do have a personal Twitter account to post comments, life updates and family photos from time to time. I do find FaceBook a little more useful for that though and it is a larger part of my personal learning environment (PLE). For me, Twitter still largely remains a professional tool, but it also an educational tool as well. I have a Twitter account at the moment that is associated with a research project I am conducting on behalf of Durham College. The study is looking at the incorporation of iPods into the classroom

I was fairly confident that I knew a fair bit about Twitter before starting this past week’s lesson in my Brock University Learning in Digital Contexts class, but as so often happens in this course I found out that there is more to the subject than I thought. I have now installed Tweetdeck to manage my various accounts (I had been using the official Twitter app), signed up with Twubs to register a hashtag and Todaylaunch to monitor the branding of my online store. I’m still just feeling my way  around these two services but they appear to be two more valuable additions to my PLE.

Of them all though I think I will find Tweetdeck the most useful. I manage (or try to at least) five different Twitter accounts associated with personal, professional and business needs. The official Twitter app I had been using was convenient as well but I couldn’t attach photos as I can with Tweetdeck. In addition, the ability to delay or spread out the timing of your Tweets is also another nice feature.

If you want to see all the Twitter accounts I run check out: @philraby, @goingmojo,  @tripswithkids, @carblogging and @shopatfestoon.

One of my favorite podcasts is The Art of Photography by Ted Forbes. I stumbled upon his site when searching iTunes for anything related to photography. After a few sample videos I was absolutely hooked! Aside from Adorama TV, Mr. Forbes episodes are interesting, inspiring, and very entertaining!

If you’re a novice photographer like me, I highly recommend this site. You can download the free video casts in iTunes or you can watch show online. Ted Forbes has archived the previous episodes so you can avail to see them in chronological order.

Here’s a description of The Art of Photography:

The Art of Photography is a video podcast hosted by Ted Forbes. The first episode aired on iTunes on October 18, 2008 and continues today to be one of the most informative and practical podcasts produced. The concept is simple – provide information that will make you a better photographer. For beginners and pros alike – there is something to be learned here whether it be technical, educational, philosophical or practical.

There are other shows within this site that could interest you too: Master Class: Developing Your Style as a Photographer and the audio-only The Photography Show

For FlickR users, this podcast has a community group where you can also share your photographs.

My initial investigating question for ISTE 2 was: How can I ensure meaningful and authentic learning experiences in an English/language arts and/or social studies classroom while incorporating relevant contemporary digital tools? While researching this question, I found a free tool for teachers called Socrative. Please click HERE to access the Socrative website. The Socrative website explains their product in the following way: “Socrative is a smart student response system that empowers teachers by engaging their classrooms with a series of educational exercises and games. Our apps are super simple and take seconds to log in. Socrative runs on tablets, smartphones, and laptops.” In playing around on this website, I am instantly engaged and excited. This tool definitely won’t work for every classroom, as the school and/or individual students need to have a device with an internet connection (laptop, smartphone, iPpod touch, etc.), and those resources simply are not available everywhere. However, what I initially really love about this tool is the reporting feature is has for the teacher – everything happens in real time, and an email of all the results (answers to quizzes – including right and wrong responses for every student, student feedback, etc.), are sent to the teacher’s email as soon as the session is completed. I also love that this tool can be used for games, for quizzes/assessments, for exit tickets and quick check-ins, etc. Furthermore, Socrative can help reduce reduces the paper overload which many teachers struggle with! With a spreadsheet full of results instantly sent to email, I definitely think there could be some major time-saving for the teacher.

However, no tool is perfect, and there are of course some drawbacks to Socrative, as well. I do have a concern in allowing students to have their i-whatevers (phones, pods, pads, etc.) in the classroom, they may be used for other purposes that are not school related. Also, not everyone has such personal technologies, and that may make some students feel badly. Lastly, if some/all students are using laptops, it may take too long to boot up to justify, say, an exit ticket activity. With repeated practice and use, however, I feel that this interactive tool can really aid both teachers and students in the classroom.

My fellow classmates’ feedback on this tool was very similar to my initial reactions to it – fun, engaging, useful, yet perhaps unfeasible for many students and/or school districts. In fact, two other classmates discovered this site (independently) as well, and their input and feedback was also very similar! One classmate thinks this tool can be really useful for formative assessment, and I agree. Another believes the educational gaming features are neat, which I additionally agree with. Yet another classmate really likes the reporting feature, and I must say I believe this is my favorite feature, as well. With this tool, I think teachers will be able to create meaningful and authentic learning experiences while incorporating relevant contemporary digital tools, as my initial investigating question sought out to find.

While “Students exploring and using various technologies… easily become enamored by media novelties” (Porter, 2010, p. 15), Socrative is different in that it engages and excites users without the unnecessary and distracting glitz masking learning. In Deepening Connections – Teachers Increasingly Rely on Media and Technology by Grundwald Associates, LLC (2011), it is reported from surveys that “teachers believe that a variety of technology and Web-based systems help them do their jobs better and help them to engage students in learning” (p. 7). Furthermore, they report that “Teachers see great educational potential in smart, portable devices, including tables, e-readers and handhelds” (p. 8). Both of these findings can be directly related to the tool I found, Socrative.com. Socrative is a technology tool that can help teachers do their job better with the reporting feature which saves time, as well as engage students. Furthermore, Socrative requires the use of the devices mentioned above. Further still, as “Cost continues to grow as the main barrier to using fee-based digital resources” (p. 6), this tool could be incredibly useful to teachers with a limited budget (and really, isn’t that all of us?), as it is free to use. I believe many teachers would be excited to learn about this tool!

References:

Grundwald Associates, LLC. (2011). Deepening connections -Teachers increasingly rely on media and technology. PBS, 1-12.

Porter, B. (2010). Adding rigor to student digital products: Where’s the beef? Learning and leading with technology, (September/October), 14‐17.

http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-t-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=2

I am always looking for great classroom tools to help our teachers and students with digital story telling. Unfortunately, we often find ourselves with little to no time for students to spend on learning programs such as iBook Author, which also happens to be one of the best book creators ever designed. Then there are other schools that do not have the 1:1 resources like iPads and can’t use apps like Book Creator.

After I presented at FETC, (Florida Educational Technology Conference) Mrs. Krystal Princehorn from Lake Mary High suggested a great resource for student collaboration/creation for those of you who have one or more computers in your classroom. She suggested FlipSnack. After a quick look at FlipSnack I thought it would make a great addition to any teachers digital tool belt.

FlipSnack easily converts PDF’s to Flipbooks. The flipbooks are mobile friendly and can be created in just minutes. FlipSnack allows you to share your flipbook with others by converting it to an easily accessible link or share your flipbook through social media for all to see. Publishing student work and sharing their creations globally not only gives our students a voice but also allows them to understand that what they learn, and what they create does not stay in the classroom but can be shared globally. Students must always be reminded that they can and do have a positive impact on others based on their creations and their ability to share it.

I often read blogs and attend great presentations that share great tools but fail to discuss ideas on how these tools can be used in the classroom. So here you go:

Teaching strategies: Team up with another class, school in your city, state, or country and share your flipbooks with them. Use the flipbook as a way to demonstrate the knowledge that you have gained in one lesson or a series of lessons. Share the flipbook with other students and see their feedback.  It can also be used as a classroom publication for students, parents, or create one for your school.

Teaching strategies with Special Education students:  Have students create books for special education students and flip it around as well where the special education students are sharing content with the other students. After this has been done – take it to the next level where they collaborate together to create flipbooks together.

Final thoughts: Technology should not separate us but bring us together. What we create is important but what truly is important is what we do with our creations and whom did we create them with. Share your works with the world by using resources like flipbook that can be seen by anyone no matter the device.

I have yet to figure out how to change that but it may be that I have to delete the account and start over. I like the ease of this tool but outside of choosing the sources there is not a lot of control over what shows up on your paper and there is no way to edit the content as it appears. Certainly there is aggregation going on here but not so much curation. However, for those people who have a particular interest and don’t have the skills or time to create and publish their own blog it could be a good option. It’s also a neat way to create an online magazine for your own particular interests. In that way it is kind of like having someone create a magazine or daily newspaper that is precisely tailored to your likes and has a subscriber base of just you.

I’m not sure if I will keep this going but I do plan to explore a few of the other similar services to see how they compare. As someone with varied interests and a lot of irons in the fire at all times I can certainly see the attraction of curating content in this way for myself and other like-minded people.

I also spent some time learning about Diigo and how it can enhance my personal learning environment. As a tool for curation it certainly has far more going for it than something like Paper.li. What gets bookmarked or highlighted is entirely up to you and the fact that your saved websites and articles can be accessed across a variety of digital devices and operating systems is really handy. The cloud-based backing up of your research and bookmarks is also a nice feature, though as with any cloud service I have to wonder who else has access to my information and how Diigo is maintaining my privacy or possibly profiting from it.

Move over Socrative you have several serious web 2.0 tools that are attempting to dethrone you.  There is no shortage of student response systems ranging from physical devices to web 2.0 tools that can be used with any mobile device. If you are not familiar at all with Socrative, I strongly suggest that you visit Socrative.com as quickly as you can. I have yet to run into an educator that speaks negatively about such a phenomenal tool. Socrative is a FREE web based student response system that also works on android and IOS as an app.

For any school that is implementing a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) initiative or wants to get more out of their teaching in a computer lab atmosphere, then Socrative for you. For the last 2 possibly 3 years, teachers have been raving about Socrative and its ability to do multiple forms of questions such as polls, surveys, multiple choice, short response and even questioning games like Space Race.

So should Socrative worry? I am not sure but here are two other great resourcesthat are worth a look. Competition can only make products better so my ears and eyes are open for new educational resources.

Infuse Learning is a web based student response system that can be used on any platform. Educators can assign a question and push them out to students. Infuse Learning allows the teacher to push out true or false, short answer, multiple choice, and more. What really does take infuse learning above and beyond is how it allows students to reply by creating drawings/pictures on their device (no matter the device).  For those visual or artistic students this could be a huge game changer. It allows students another way to express themselves and show growth and understanding, when speaking about curriculum.

GoClass is like the other tools mentioned above, and  is a solid student response system for the digital teacher. The concepts of SHOW-EXPLAIN-ASK are the tested teaching methodology that GoClass believes in.  The application allows you to create, deliver, evaluate, and update content  from the same application and store the information that you create on the Cloud.

Final Thoughts:

Educators get excited about these tech tools all the time specially after they go to incredible technology conferences such as FETC, ISTE, ICE, TCEA, and others. Socrative, Infuse Learning, and Go Class are just three incredible classroom tools, but what makes these resources incredible are the well though out activities and questions that the teachers create. Technology is not going to make you a better teacher. If used correctly it will help you with student engagement and give you another tool to help take your teaching to the next level.