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Alternative to Voicethread

Started this discussion. Last reply by Grace Gorman Oct 9, 2011. 7 Replies 1 Like

Language Labs

Started this discussion. Last reply by felicitas asteinza Jul 31, 2009. 8 Replies 0 Likes

Avatars, Social Networking and Stages of Development

Started this discussion. Last reply by Sanjib Kumar Parida Jan 15, 2009. 6 Replies 0 Likes

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Saying Goodbye to Ed Tech Axis

Hello readers. As of today, I'm not going to be updating this blog any longer. As times have changed, I have shifted my own way of gaining and sharing information. Just as I have discontinued use of Facebook, I find that I'm just not blogging. If I find a site I find worthwhile, I'll share it on Twitter. Although there is great value in reflecting, in discourse of more than 140 characters, I don't take the time any longer. Note that I didn't say I don't have the time. I just spend it differently. And that, my friends, is called moving on. So, I'm moving on, but I'm going to leave the site active because I did a lot of work on it, and the posts are still, even as stale as they are, getting hits. So, goodbye. Check me out on Twitter @BermanDry.

Touchscreen or Not? Chromebooks

My school is on the brink of offering computers to every child for the first time, ever. I know we're behind the curve on this. Lots of schools have been doing this for a long time. However, my school is on the conservative side, the traditional side and the budget-conscious side. We began with Chromebooks this Fall, and a set of iPads for the littlest nuggets. The Chromebooks were a wild success, I'm happy to say. The iPads....meh. The first graders used them in ways that I'm proud to talk about. The Kindergarteners and Preschoolers...it's just reinforcement of key skills. I know that has its place but I want more. I don't really see that iPads are a better way than simple flashcards for reinforcement. Just more expensive, engaging and entertaining, which reinforces that education should be entertaining. Let me just do a little dance for you while I make you learn your ABCs, too early for you to actually learn them, I might add. But, I digress.

The reason for this post is to ruminate on the decision before us for next year: Touchscreen Chromebooks or Not? We had Samsung Chromebooks this year and they've been fine. Not great, about 40% breakage of screens and such, but they did the job okay. Next year, we want more for our money. We're looking at HP 11s and 14s, as well as the new Lenovo Touchscreen Chromebook, the N20P. The Lenovo is about $150 more than the basic HP and that's a tough sell for our school, for our parents. However, our kids are going to have these devices for at least three years. My argument is that we should buy as much technology as we can because we can't ask them to go buy something newer in two years, when touch will inevitably be the standard. That begs the question: Is touchscreen really going to be the standard for Chromebooks? Obviously phones have gone that way and tablets were made that way. Are laptops really going that way. There's no way to predict the future, but if you're a "betting man" then you have to assume that water flows downhill. So, I guess as I write this, it's apparent that I really
want to get the Chromebooks with the touch feature. Now, I just have to figure out if I want the touch feature because the market wants me to want something we don't REALLY need? That's one of the most frustrating, yet exciting parts of my job: Guessing which way the wind is going to blow. Just call me the Weather Woman. I'm predicting Touchscreen.

Reactionary or Visionary or Just Plain Scared Cyber Parenting?

I recently spoke to a small group of parents at a DC middle school and present in the room was some righteous indignation. It's an enjoyable experience for me to hear a concerned parent share his or her views about cyberparenting from a radical perspective. Lots of parents are happy to be in the middle, going along with the crowd. As I learned from this fascinating article by Dr. Agarwal "Why Some Human Brains Become Leaders While Others Followers" on BrainBlogger, constructive and reflective intelligence are not easily found in people. At most of my talks about parenting in the age of social media, there is usually one, or maybe two, who espouse the notion that it's okay to ban social media altogether. The jaded, edtech professional in me often nods my head agreeably when they talk, all the while thinking "your kid is using it outside the home whether you know it or not." This is mostly because I read articles like "Web the Web Kids" and it seems like it is just so much a part of the fabric of our children's lives that there is no way they are not speaking in their native tongue at some time or another, despite being told, like Native Americans were told by white settlers, that they could not do so.

However, upon reflection, I think that maybe there is another space, another way. Last night, I had a parent who felt it would be a good idea to just jump in the pool with the kids and have some fun. Yes, do that. The other parent asked every other parent in the room, can't we just let them have regular phones without the smart features? I'll say, all they need is an iPod Touch and they pretty much have the same thing; it's not really about the phone, but she kind of piqued my interest. Is there a space in between elementary school and high school where we can and should limit their exposure to these tools or ban them altogether because they are such an emotionally vulnerable group at this age? There's no doubt that the technology tools make it easier to be mean to each other--what they're doing online is just a mimic of their real lives and it's normal to be mean to one another at this age. However, maybe it's important to have a "time-out" where they become literate in face-to-face social conflict before we allow them to immerse themselves fully in online social life. It won't necessarily translate to better online behavior (look at adult behavior online!) but maybe it will allow us adults to get a word in edgewise between the spaces. Just a thought.

Wikipedia Lesson for Research 6th Grade

Our school has a trimester-long class on Research for our sixth graders. It is team-taught by myself and the librarian with an eye towards helping students to understand the wide variety of research tools available to them, and which to use for what. It's fairly heavy on the tech side because, well, that's what our kids seek to use first, but we try hard to show why books are just as important to use. One of the lessons is based entirely on Wikipedia because of its widespread use. I retooled the lesson this year and thought I'd share:

1.Quick mind-map/brainstorm of what they know about wikipedia using Coggle online tool: https://coggle.it/

2. Compare what we know to short Discovery intro video:

3. Read New York Times Article about senator with false accusations made about him: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20051205monday.html

4. Fill out worksheet to go along with the article to focus students:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K9pXhfcjBWp5hX-6kPqysZK-O3L22xXZbWObcMu4ync/edit?usp=sharing

There's more I want to do, especially after finding this fascinating article about gender and Wikipedia entries, as well as this short CBS wikipedia video that introduces the founder of Wikipedia.

Copyright Unit: Lesson Two (Movies) Update

This year, I have a particularly loquacious fourth grade class and I knew that a "reader's theatre" approach to teaching movie copyright would be an epic fail. Thus, I rewrote the lesson to be less "whole-class." Instead, I used the cases on the Copyright web site as a basis for a new lesson. For this lesson, the students are placed in the role as JUDGE. Each of them has this handout. They are given four different scenarios and must then judge whether copyright was infringed upon. We view "evidence" (clips) from the movies, then students answer questions. Some of these are admittedly not open-ended enough, but did inspire a rich, spirited discussion. Feel free to adapt this lesson for your purposes. The other lessons in this unit are documented in this blog post.

I created a youtube channel with links to the movies and scenes in question. The playlist is embedded below:

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Alecia Berman-Dry's Page

Profile Information

School / Work Affiliation: St. John's Episcopal School

Blog: http://www.ed-tech-axis.blogspot.com/

Website: http://stjes.com

Favored IM Account: BermanDry

Skype Account: BermanDry

About Me: I am a technology coordinator at a K-8 independent school. My primary interests run from the obvious (wikis, blogs) to the not-so-obvious (psychological implications of social networking and avatars for child development.).

Comment Wall (9 comments)

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At 10:52am on September 16, 2010, Nancy vonWahlde said…: Hi Alecia, Yes am interested in a collaboration. So great to be able to create and implement ideas fully again and it feels so great to be a classroom teacher again as well. Our tech is slow getting started this year with a school renovation that was just finished so let me know what you have in mind and perhaps late Oct we can start.
Cheers,
Nancy

At 4:37am on September 17, 2009, Theodore Shatagin said…: Hello Alecia Berman-Dry
Congratulations on the career shift! It must be very exciting for you. I can't wait to find out more about it.

At 10:24am on August 1, 2009, Mark Cruthers said…: Hi Alecia,

With your work in Technology Coordination for St. John's, I recommend you take a look at Wiziq's virtual classroom and authorstream's power point presentation platform. Both are web based platforms, have a bunch of features and free basic service. Here’s a public class recording you might find of interest.

Demo of WiZiQ Virtual Classroom by Mark Cruthers

Get your own Virtual Classroom

At 9:38am on April 24, 2009, Jack said…: Hey Alecia,

Our Brainyflix video contest just ended, and I wanted to thank you for helping us get the word out. We got 800 submissions from across the country!

That said, MIT was really happy with the results and will let us run another contest, so we're going for it! But this time, we're gonna have kids create Brainypics flashcards - which are images and sentences paired up with a one of our SAT/ACT words. The contest ends May 22nd, and there'll be iTunes and a cash prize like last time. To boot, we'll double the payout if the kids can hit a certain goal. More details at brainyflix.com/main/contest_rules.

Could you pass this message along to your colleagues at the HS?

Thanks,
Jack

At 9:13pm on February 12, 2009, Jack said…: Thanks, Alecia! That is very appreciated :]

At 12:18pm on February 12, 2009, Kristian Still said…: Not avoiding Skype but the conversation is often distracting (though valuable). Tend to have twitter on in the background. How are things with you?

At 7:19pm on January 27, 2009, Jack said…: Hi Alecia. I was wondering if you and your students would be interested in participating in a nationwide SAT Vocab Video Contest @ MIT university. If not, perhaps you have some educator contacts you could direct me to. You can view contest details at BrainyFlix.com Please let me know. Thanks!

At 7:55pm on November 29, 2007, Shawn Jackson said…: It is working out great! WOW!!!! PROJECT BASED LEARNING ROCKS. We had our first project based lesson and I don't know why we teach any other way. I had to make them leave the class room they were so involved. AND GET THIS, this was the first time EVER not one child asked me "Mr. Jackson can we have free time and go on the internet before the end of class?" It's like a constant chant I here over and over and over all during computer class I have nightmares about it. Anyway, these kids worked until I forced them out of the class.
So I'm sure you want to know well did they learn any thing? When class started I showed them how to use the help in word 2003. A few weeks prior we learnded internet search techniques (finding filetype:, intitle:, using "", and a few others.) The week before we looked at the "DID YOU KNOW" video ---THANKS Sylvia Martinez --- You guys can look it up on you tube. As a class, we discussed it and began talking about how to get their parents involed. Our goal is to produce a letter that they can give to there parents. The core was to start networking, find out who can help us and if not do they know someone who can.
The first assignment was
1. Break up into groups of 3 or 4, and list your names and grade below.
a. ____________________________________
b. _____________________________________
c. _____________________________________
d. _____________________________________
2. Each of you will choose a job to fulfill. All of you will give input on the letter.
a. Researcher, this person will have to lookup things on the internet or in microsoft word help. If your team doesn't know how to do it you put your research skills to work and figure it out.
i. _________________________________
b. This person will do the typingand work close with the designer.
i. _________________________________
c. Designer, this person will have to decide what style the letter will be in and if or not to add clip art ect.
i. ___________________________________
d. 2nd researcher if needed looked up statistics on the benefits of computers in the class room and whatever else researcher 1 coulnd get to.
i. ___________________________________
3. Explain how you contributed to the team effort.
a. Researcher 1 what did you lookup on the internet or in Microsoft word help? How did you use this information?

b. Designer what did you add to improve your letter (photos, clipart, or templates)? Where did you find it? And why did you choose it?

c. Typist was spell check helpful? How helpful where the changes your designer made? What did you learn form your researchers?

4. Explain how you contributed to the team effort.
a. Researcher 2 what did you lookup on the internet or in Microsoft word help?After the "DID YOU KNOW" video We had came up with a general outline that had to be in the parent letter. So everyone on the team had to contribute some extra information to add into the letter and present it to the typist.

The first 5 or 10 min of class they asked me how do I do this or how do I do that. And I just directed them to there researcher. They taught themselves intermedate and advanced word skills in the process. Next week before we get started, each team will select someone to reteach a few skills they learned in Word. I will keep u posted please give me any advise you may have. The ship has sailed from here we sink or swim. Thanks guys for all of your help Delete Comment

At 3:33pm on October 25, 2007, Shawn Jackson said…: I am at a very small Christian school in Kansas City, KS. and I just finished my first quarter teaching. I am the computer lab teacher as well as the Spanish, and P.E. teacher. I am also responsible for keeping the computer lab and all the teachers computers up and running, and the server in tip top shape.
Now that I have cried a river, let me tell you what I can use your input on. I teach K-8th grade. I have things to keep the little ones busy the K-4th. That leaves me with 5th-8th I know that I wanted to teach them word, PowerPoint, and excel. I think I can handle that without a text book or curriculum. The way in which I want to go about it is where I can use some direction.
The lab here is out dated, so I thought how can I kill 2 birds with one stone? I have equipment that doesn't work or needs to be replaced, and 50 kids that need to learn word, PowerPoint, and excel. Hmmm, I could ask for a curriculum, give them some commands, tell them to commit them to memory, give a quiz, and then a test. Or I can find a way to give them real world experience with Microsoft office tools. Hmmm, how can I do this and update the lab? I went to a work shop on proposal writing, you know so I could update the lab. Well as you can see from the first paragraph I don't have enough to do. Sooo, why not start writing proposals too?
But then after my proposal work shop it hit me, let the kids write the proposals. Am I crazy? What government agency or foundation will accept a proposal from some middle school and grade school kids? And the 5th and 6th graders. I mean really, I'm I just nuts?
So here's the plan and you can tell me if "I'm just nuts". Let me remind you "THIS IS MY FIRST YEAR TEACHING", so feel free to smack me around a bit and point me in the right direction. We are going to start small we will use "word" to make an outline. They will visualize a dart board. We will start with the center and work our way out. The center will be mom, dad, and other family and close family friends. From there we will ask the inner circle to tell us were they work. How open would their employers be at helping us. This will start the 2nd ring of our target buy letting them know if there business or employers have widgets, computers, money, and services, they could donate. They will keep track of the budget and goals in excel. The next circle in the target will be for them to research local companies. The last circle will be anything they choose outside of the local business area. We are hoping that some of the local companies will allow them to present PowerPoint’s. Buy them we will have identified their strengths, the leaders, researchers, spokesmen and number crunchers. And with corporate precision we will make presentations. Well that's the plan. Can you help me make it work?