Posts filed under 'Out and About'
It’s been a bit quiet on the Western Front, with school holidays and all, but finally our annual winter treat is here. The New Zealand International Film Festival has begun! I saw a charming French movie yesterday called “Conversations With My Gardener” and tonight we are off to see “Helvetica”.
The Herald had an article about the movie on Saturday 14th July:
“For New York filmmaker Gary Hustwit, the sheer pervasiveness of helvetica makes it every bit as worthy of screen treatment as anything else in the world.
And as this typeface becomes the prevalent means by which we receive written messages in some parts of the world — it can be seen in business logos, public transport networks and numerous posters around the western world — Hustwit thinks its story is worthy of broadcasting.
Perhaps just as curiously, plenty of moviegoers at film festivals around the world have wanted to see Helvetica, his documentary about the font which began life as Die Neue Haas Grotesk in Switzerland 50 years ago.
Hustwit, who will attend screenings of the documentary at the New Zealand Film Festival in Auckland next week, admits he didn’t think his historical tale of graphic design would find such a wide audience.”
So, one may ask how does the NZFF tie in with ICT? Well, I have been experimenting further with Google Calendar to share my picks of the festival with friends. Every year I diligently go through the programme, record the films I am interested in, figure out which sessions can be attended and then highlight them on the timetable provided. But every year I am stuck with writing a massive email to various film-festival-interested-friends; which takes a lot of effort for me to compose and a lot of effort for them to negotiate. Everyone I know seems to be complaining about receiving too much email and so I struck upon the idea of creating a Google Calendar for such things.
In the past I have used Google Calendar to upload my Work and ICTPD calendars from iCal. This works pretty well - you export your calendar from iCal, then import to Google Calendar. Something to remember is that you import to Google. This is not a sync. That means that in order to avoid duplicates I had to delete the current version in Google Calendar and then import the new version. If you forgot to do that it would mean you got double ups all over the place - somewhat frustrating but easily avoided. I was reasonably happy with the service - it’s a bit clunky and slow but it is handy having your calendar on call when you’re away from your own computer/cellphone.
I have had a few questions recently about the best calendar solution for Mac/PC situations. I am not sure that Google Calendar is there yet but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. Some handy hints when sync-ing your calendars between devices:
1. Make sure you have the time set correctly. This includes the Time Zone and Daylight Savings settings. It’s confusing if you can’t remember which device you created the appointment on and now have two different times for the same event.
2. Fill in as much detail as possible. It’s very handy to have phone numbers, physical addresses on call. Nothing like being delayed on a plane, trying to let your rental car company know to stay open for you and being able to access their number quickly.
3. Sync your devices regularly. Play with the settings for how far in the past/future you want your calendars to be sync-ed. It can be quite handy referring back to previous appointments i.e. when did you ring that person, is it time for a follow up call? In the school environment you need the full details of at least the current term, if not the next one.
4. Share your calendars where appropriate and possible. It’s very handy adding attendees to events and sending them notifications/reminders.
I have found being able to sync my iCal with my cellphone invaluable. In fact, I investigated my options for compatible phones before purchasing the last one in order to ensure that it would work with my Mac. I don’t know how I’d get by now if there was no calendar option on my computer (iCal, Google, whatever) and the ability to sync my phone. Life would be one mixed up jumble of never-ending surprise events! Which has it’s charm and place but I prefer to know what’s going to happen next.
July 16th, 2007
I attended a very well run session today about Cybersafety. Some links to follow through on:
The Internet Safety Group
The Internet Safety Group’s Policies, User Agreements and Other Resources
Hector’s World
Have a look at this article, “You Tube Attack Leads To Expulsion”, from The NZ Herald for something topical and local.
Schools have to be so very careful because of their very nature and the number of constraints placed upon them. Compliance on any safety issues is an ongoing headache for many principals. Our presenter’s first comment was that people think that Internet safety is all about inappropriate material e.g. images and video, however, security and copyright continue to be huge issues. In reference to music, it’ll be good to see the outcome of the amendments to the Copyright Act.
This also from the TKI ICT Community site:
Becta report on Microsoft Vista and Office 2007
30 January 2007 marked the New Zealand launch of Microsoft’s new operating system Vista and their new Office 2007. While it may be tempting to rush into purchasing the new products and see what it is all about, Becta’s interim report for schools recommends caution and more of a wait-and-see approach:
“The new features of Vista add value but do not justify early deployment in the educational ICT estate. We therefore strongly advise educational institutions to take into account the findings of Becta’s final report on Vista before considering any wide-scale deployment.”
I’d be waiting until the Ministry of Education announces what it will be doing with the Microsoft Agreement anyway.
May 7th, 2007
About 11 years ago, when I was first introduced to the (text based!) internet, there were things called newsgroups. These groups were forums where people discussed topics close to their hearts and where quite heated debates sometimes took place. People who disagreed with others “flamed” others and it could all get a bit… unpleasant. You had to find someway to cope if this happened to you i.e. develop a thicker skin or leave the group. But what happens when you can’t do that and you are targeted on your personal website?
Kathy Sierra, a well known blogger, has recently been the target of harassment through her blog and consequently cancelled her appearance at the O’Reilly EdTech Conference. As a part of a larger community response, Tim O’Reilly has posted some ideas about a Bloggers Code of Conduct:
“We celebrate the blogosphere because it embraces frank and open conversation. But frankness does not have to mean lack of civility. We present this Blogger Code of Conduct in hopes that it helps create a culture that encourages both personal expression and constructive conversation.
1. We take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog
2. We won’t say anything online that we wouldn’t say in person.
3. We connect privately before we respond publicly.
4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.
5. We do not allow anonymous comments.
6. We ignore the trolls.”
These ideas seem noble but unfortunately haven’t been received positively from a number of commentators on his blog - something about freedom of speech seems to be the general gist.
It did get me wondering about blogging in the classroom and think that the guidelines could be a good starting point for discussion amongst students. Eighteen months ago my class worked on a blog as part of the Netguide Webchallenge. We spent quite some time discussing safety on the website, how to manage comments, why we’d use pseudonyms and so on. As we were constructing that website ourselves the comments were easily managed (we uploaded the pages as soon as possible to encourage participation from parents and teachers) by having them emailed to a Hotmail account which I checked regularly. Luckily enough, this method worked very well but involved copying/pasting the text from emails onto a comments page. We weren’t knowledgeable enough to include comment boxes and forms but I think really it (potentially) saved us from having to deal with spam and nasty, inappropriate comments on our blog.
Emotional safety comes under the fifth National Administration Guideline:
“Each Board of Trustees is also required to:
(i) provide a safe physical and emotional environment for students;
(ii) comply in full with any legislation currently in force or that may be developed to ensure the safety of students and employees.”
I constantly wonder about the “emotional safety” aspect of using the Internet with students. Many schools respond to the potential threat of cyberbullying and inappropriate material by locking down as many internet sites as possible, only letting approved websites through or spending hours creating an intranet. I wonder if we are doing the best job as teachers by continuing to do this - how will students learn to search sensibly and avoid pitfalls if we closet them away? I am not arguing to show inappropriate material to students at all, but I can’t help wonder if we’re teaching them how to ride a bike by refusing to take off the training wheels. Surely it would be more worthwhile to teach them (with the training wheels on) skills until they are ready to fly off on their own? How can we do this without risking some nasty bumps and bruises?
By the way, our class did a fantastic job on the blog and won second in the Primary Class category. The Netguide Webchallenge will be coming up again in Term 3. It’s probably a good time to start thinking about what sort of website you could create with a class or a team of students. The students really got so much out of participating and we won some neat prizes for school.
P.S. In other competition news: I completed my duathlon on Sunday in 1 hour 9 minutes. This placed me in the top half of the field (just!), which I was pretty happy with. And for those who count these things, my average heart rate was 180 beats per minute. I’m still recovering!
April 18th, 2007
Where we take a short break from scheduled programming…
It seems holiday brain has come early to me and the old blog posts have dried up in flurry of spring cleaning and hot cross buns. I can sympathise with Nix, who wrote:
“Sometimes I am blog-stipated. I can sit with an editting window open for ages. I can try all sorts of measures. But I can’t perform.”
However, all is not lost. I’ve had a few ideas knocking around still about ICT and HPWB. The duathlon training continues, as does all the measuring of progress; Artichoke will berate me for trying to assess everything but it has been very satisfying to measure training successes. I can see the distance that can be jogged within a set time has increased and the average heart rate over a training session has decreased. The next move is to video my performance and identify areas for improvement.
I was wondering how to create a Google Map with Flickr integrated so I could share stills from the duathlon track or later, trails around the mountain. Trying to create a map with digital photos will end up becoming my holiday goal. My Christchurch based friend, who is flying up to compete with me on Sunday, will be able to prepare herself for the undulating countryside of Auckland.
“Make Google Maps your maps.
Create and share personalized, annotated maps of your world.
Mark your favorite places on your map.
Draw lines and shapes to highlight paths and areas.
Add your own text, photos, and videos.
Publish your map to the web.
Share your map with friends and family.”
Another application: snowboarding! I know that there can be a wide degree of variation between a “blue” (or intermediate) run at Whakapapa and Treble Cone, say. It’d be awesome for a boarder to see a trail map and photos integrated so you know what might be at the top of long chairlift ride and (know you can get down without unstrapping!) not have it judged relatively to the ski field’s terrain. Videoing will definitely be worthwhile in the approaching snowboarding season too. A mobile phone does this quite nicely - it doesn’t have been amazing quality to see how your stance is, how fast you’re going, how deep in the knees you are etc.
I’m going to keep playing around with ideas for integrating ICT into sport. No better way to motivate a geeky person towards exercising more regularly and enthusiastically!
April 9th, 2007
I spent quite a bit of time discussing creativity in the classroom yesterday with some teachers. We looked at Sir Ken Robinson’s article “Mind The Gap - The Creative Conundrum”, mainly focusing on the quote:
“… creativity has become hopelessly stereotyped. First, creativity is associated with particular types of activity, mainly the arts. For that reason, it is thought to be marginal to academic and economic success. Second, only certain sorts of people are thought to be creative. As a result, it’s often thought that creativity can’t be taught.”
We unpacked ways in which we foster creativity in the classroom. Most of those seemed to revolve around The Arts, English, Maths and the Health and Physical Well-Being curricula. It’s natural to see ways in which to educate the whole body of students (a point made in Ken Robinson’s creativity video) through drama, dance, visual art, music and sport. Certainly the integration of more co-operative games and the play-teach-play model in HPWB enhance student creativity.
We stumbled in our discussion around ideas of becoming more creative in other areas: science, technology and so on. Some ideas were generated around the BP Technology Challenges. The main feeling from teachers was a desire for more professional development and content knowledge in those areas. It seems like there is potential here to connect with the community and get in experts as well but how do we find these people? It seems that you need to stumble across them somehow…
Monday night saw us engage in some philanthropic activities down in Parnell. There were a number of people from creative industries; musicians, writers, web designers, and so on. I had a very interesting conversation with a self-professed internet entrepeneur about local programmers and discovered that the well-known application, ArtRage, was created locally. Talk about stumbling across them!
The company is based out at beautiful Bethells Beach and has a gorgeous Bengal as part of the team. What a perfect environment in which to be creative. I got to thinking, these are the sorts of people that we should be meeting and learning from. Here are people being creative in an “interdisciplinary” and economically successful way. How can we connect our young students with this reality? How can we teach people to see the creativity and elegance of a well crafted programme?
March 21st, 2007
This copyright article has just been put up on the TKI ICT Community page. Finally some guidelines! I felt quite sure about the copying of print media but was a bit lost when it came to digital media and music. It looks like you are able to have and use music for private study and research. However, note under the instructional purposes you can’t play sound recordings at public events at the school. So, where does that leave us for the traditional end-of-year-show?
“Playing Sound Recording for Instructional Purposes:
This exception allows a student or teacher to play a sound recording in a school, for instructional purposes, provided that the audience consists only of teachers, students and others directly associated with the activities of the school. This means that you may not play sound recordings (such as a CDs) in any public event at the school (and note that parents/guardians, siblings, and whānau are members of the public), nor play a purchased CD in your school simply for entertainment purposes.”
To be honest, I don’t know a lot about copyright but have heard many people worrying about it. It seems there is quite a bit of confusion and misinformation around. I’m glad to see something clear has been published to help out teachers, however, please note that the “Digital Technology and Copyright Act” (1994) is under review.
Which brings me back to The Great Blend; here is a link to theyworkforyou.co.nz, a website run by Rob McKinnon, one of the panel-members at the Great Blend discussion about online media. The site allows you to see what is happening in Parliament, check out bills, portfolios, committees etc. You can go and see the progress being made on the Copyright Act. I like the idea of being able to find out what actually happens down there in Wellington!
February 19th, 2007
Computer Games in Education – Exercising the Learning Muscle?
There have been rumblings for a while. I haven’t read this specific paper yet but will given that it’s recommended on the ICT Community page at TKI. If you’ve read “Everything Bad Is Good For You” you will be familiar with the argument that popular culture is becoming increasingly complex and actually “making us smarter”.
Along slightly different lines, I’ve had this video recommended to me by Artichoke. I love the way it’s constructed - sooo much text! How much text do you interact with every day? Even making this simple post I am flicking between my browser’s tabs, watching the video, linking, msn-ing and so on - and that’s just cruising, y’know. It makes me mull over some ideas discussed last night at the Great Blend, organised by Russell Brown - how will traditional media get over copyright issues? Won’t it be neat when we can see things from the archives of TVNZ! Is new media (and it’s not really “new” anymore is it?) helping New Zealanders shake off years of cultural cringe?
February 12th, 2007