My digital artefact

Computer programming just got a whole lot easier. I made this on Scratch. It's as simple as clicking lego bricks together and a lot more fun.
Learn more about this project


If you can't see it click here artefact

Project Notes
(click on the green flag to start and the red stop sign to stop)

This is a reflection piece (digital reflective artefact ) for my university course. It is interactive and designed to reflect my thoughts over the course of my course!

Press 1, 2 and 3 for my thoughts

Move the mouse to see my pain and frustration (on the second face)

Click on the unicorn to see some connection

Click on the pencil to write your repsonse on the blackboard.

Press space to clear the chaos and stamp the unicorm.

A big thanks to the scratch community for this awesome software and the chance to play around with other people's ideas (and scripts).

mobile devices are taking over

Everything is going mobile. I'm going to have to get a man bag soon to fit in all the technology I am supposed have. Unfortunately it doesn't all fit into my cargo pants with 10 plus pockets and zips anymore. I mean how can I get the palm, mobile, ipod, mini laptop, portable DVD player, USB stick, portable USB hard drive, portable speakers, bluetooth enabled hands free ear piece, portable wireless modem, GPS, .....

If you can't shrink and connect then it is old technology, seems to be the future of technology at the moment. Don't believe me? just tune into the biggest IT announcement of each year when Steve Jobs steps onto the stage and introduces Macs latest.....(drum roll) miniature portable device. Or look at the growth or web software applications (wikipedia table). Maybe this is a plot by short tech geeks to make the world reflect themselves!

The world is going mobile and flexible. And I think this is good news (mostly). Project like the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) are all about empowering people. And this obsession with being constantly connected can be wonderful if it improves your lifestyle rather than always tying you to work. I, as a teacher, love it. I can go off on holidays and not have to see the classroom as I can prepare my work anywhere at anytime.

Besides my self reasons, it is great to see this obsession have important social ramifications. As I previously mentioned the OLPC project is all about breaking down the information technology divide that exists in the world. Those who have this incredible access to the internet and those who don't. My uni readings this week have been all about mobile devices. The first by J McKenzie questions the laptop 1-1 programs that many schools have jumped to do. He helpfully points out the need to have unbiased data from these programs and manages to find one satisfactory survey. The results aren't encouraging but McKenzie doesn't dismiss the whole idea rather he promotes caution and other options. Personally I have seen laptop trolleys with enough laptops work well in a school, particularly those short on space, but most of the 1-1 programs are in their infancy and it is hard to know what the long term issues will be. Perhaps his most poignant point is in reference to the staff attitudes and aptitudes.

Another reading , What can you learn from a mobile? by Marc Prensky in this field of hand held devices has staggering statistics in regards to mobile devices owned by students. When considering the power of these devices it is amazing that such incredible resources are not utilized by educational institutions. Although I have heard of institutions using mobile devices to share important messages quickly, the scope for marking, grade feedback, absentee information, web software through internet browsers make mobile devices not only mini desktops in your pocket but instant ways to communicate and journal through in built cameras and internet connections and mobile software. Suddenly those thesis trips camping around France recording first hand information are viable. While the software is good it still needs to catch up to make mobile devices fully independent.

Vote in my handheld poll on the right

oldies vs newies

Let's take a brief respite from all the new technology 'out there' at the moment and consider some of those classic 'oldies' that have stood the test of time. Let me explain why I am suggesting this.......

My computer course has given me the opportunity to investigate and experience many fantastic IT resources. The 'Wow' factor behind some of these resources often distracts me initially from really appraising these tools. While it is great to know some of the great IT resources and interactive tools available you still need to have the learning outcomes/concepts/ideas at the forefront of your mind when examining these products/tools. 'What is the best way for the students engage in a topic? should guide what range of resources and tools we use to teach with.

Whilst in a toy shop recently with my two boys, I noticed a set of trumps cards (sport cars). It was a flash back moment and a bought a pack for my youngest son. Since then he has rarely put them down challenging anyone who gives him eye contact. When I played it with him I noticed how quickly he grasped place value including decimal notation. He correctly names numbers, orders and compares them and relates these values to a real world context. Not bad for a 6 year old and why? because he is motivated to understand it. He wants to play and win! Imagine creating a set of trumps cards with your class after studying the solar system, what a great way to assess knowledge or reinforce facts etc.

So my question is what old games do you know of the are used in classrooms? Or can you think of an old resource/technology that could be incorporated into a learning situation? Anyone for boggle during a spelling session?

communities

Central to PYP (IBO Primary Years Program) curriculum is the teaching of units. My class is about to start a unit on communities. It is such a big topic and I am struggling to narrow it down in terms of priorities and relevance to my class of 8 -10 year olds. Below are the questions that will guide our inquiry:

1. What is a community?
2. What contributes to a well functioning community?
3. How are communities the same/different?
4. How are needs and wants different from place to place?
5. How are decisions made in a community/What are people's rights and responsibilities?
6. Why have some communities changed over time?

Feel free to comment here on some of these questions or your own thoughts on communities.

For my part a community is a group where each member contributes to the successful functioning of the needs of it's members. We are all in multiple groups established for various reasons. A communities depends on relevance to the needs of it's members and on the members themselves performing a specific role. I wonder how far you can stretch this idea, ie do whales have a community? What about plants? etc where do you draw the line?

I want the class to focus on the communities they are a part of and their rights and responsibilites in helping the functioning of their communities. Also I want them to have a greater appreciation of all members of a community no matter their position or perceived status in society of their job.

Interestingly with my uni course readings and activities is it becoming apparent that online communities play an important part not just in education but across all areas of life. An example of this is wikis, where members can edit a web space collaboratively. Our reading Lamb, B 2004, Wide Open Spaces takes the analogy from real life of a community that safe guards against vandalism to explain how a wiki experiences less attacks than initally expected of an editable space open to the public. He emphasises the power of a community through the example of wikipedia, "It has such a huge and active contributor community..." (Lamb, 2004, para 24)

So any real or virtual ideas out there to help me?

I found the following on youtube from the Herald School Kindergarten class (Apple 4). It's cute and a simple definition of a community.

copyright

I find this a really tough issue. Being a primary teacher I have mostly tended to see that all my copious photocopying, cutting and pasting of internet images etc have had a educational purpose and thus not infringed copyright laws. Thus I went happily along, until I was forced to face the fact that maybe I was wrong during a moodle course I completed recently.

Researching various links, including the wikipedia article, helped me to be a) very confused and b) find out some very useful stuff.

First the confusing stuff. "In all countries where the Berne Convention standards apply, copyright is automatic, and need not be obtained through official registration with any government office." wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright)so in countries that haven't signed this treaty what are the rules? How could this be enforced? in most places it is simply 50 years past an author's death, but in Europe it is 70. There are other exceptions as well but the BIG one is "fair use", how on earth can this be defined?



Now the good stuff. Creative commons is a site where you can copyright your work in detail. This means you can specify exactly what bit can be copied by whom and how often, rather than just a blanket "copyright protected". But it's best feature is the search engine. You can search for stuff that you can use without feeling guilty (or more importantly without breaking the law).

My readings for my university course also lead me to some fascinating examples of the complexity involved in the internet and copyright. Cooper v Universal Music Pty Ltd was a landmark case as "...a Brisbane webmaster, his Internet Service Provider (ISP), a director of the ISP, and a technical support employee of the ISP were liable for ‘authorising’ the infringing activities of users of a website which acted as an index and search engine for MP3 files located elsewhere on the Internet." , (Electronic Frontiers Australia

Media Release - Hyperlinking appeal causes concern)

So watch out with your links, you could be in breach of copyright if the original person to upload something also breached copyright.

So what are the implications in the classroom? What about the kids work? What do I teach them about this? and LASTLY what about all the stuff I link to and embed on my own blog...AAARRGH

Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University created this humorous, yet informative, review of copyright principles delivered through the words of the very folks we can thank for nearly endless copyright terms.



This video is also an interesting spin on the issue

discussion triggers

I am a bit of a fan of michael Wesch's technology videos. Watch and comment on what you think about the use of technology in classrooms today.