Posts filed under 'Education'
Well, it’s been a while since my last post… to be honest, I’d just got a bit distracted in real life. Things have been hectic here. It’s been hard to find my laptop and check that we have some connectivity after deciding on paint colours, door handles, bar stools, unpacking furniture and so on. Moving house when you’re 8 months pregnant is an experience. Thankfully the weather has only recently decided to get completely summery.
So, one has to disregard what I wrote last time about the iPhone. I got one for my birthday. It’s lovely. I didn’t really want to wait for the second gen. I was just putting on a brave face.
While it is lovely but you have to be committed to this iPhone ownership thing. Bit like getting a pet really. It’s not just for Christmas (or your birthday, or whatever). For example, I have to make sure I don’t let the slippery little blighter tumble out of my handbag or hands when I make a lunge for it. You also have to be aware of where you put your handbag because, while it’s backed-up regularly to my laptop, you don’t want to have to ask another US based friend to send/bring another one into the country. But the hardest thing to do is resist the big UPGRADE button in iTunes. Whatever you do, don’t touch that button!
As I’m a lover of lists, here’s the good stuff about the iPhone:
- it looks amazing
- it works super intuitively
- it syncs seamlessly with my laptop
- it takes better pictures than I’d thought (the camera is better than my old Sony)
- you can’t txt and drive (safety feature!)
- the spontaneous “iPhones on the table!” moments in bars
Things that are a bit “first gen” and need to be worked out:
- inconsistencies in the user interface
- not being able to send group text messages
- not being able to receive pxt
Things that you need a tame hacker for:
- making it work on the Vodafone network (and being able to manage the updates)
- installing software to make your phone cooler e.g. editing music to be your cool new ringtone, alerts that let you know that you’ve got a voice message waiting for you
So, as the end of the school year approaches and life gets a bit more cumbersome, I think this may be my last post in some time. I’m not sure how this whole at home/maternity thing will go. Maybe I’ll be back to work quick smart? Who knows?
Simon inspired me to reflect on this past year but then it got hot and I needed to have a lie down. Being a facilitator this year has been challenging. It’s taken me into some neat schools and allowed me to work some amazing teachers. It’s been a great change of pace from classroom teaching. I have missed the kids but I love working with teachers too. I guess that means that there are loads of opportunities for me when I’m ready to go back to work.
I hope you’re counting down to the end of term and realising you are going to make it. As my mother-in-law says: this is the time of year you can lose you best friend. So some end of year advice: don’t be late for duty but if you are, be quick smart about getting a choccie bar into that person’s pigeon hole!
Merry Christmas and I hope you have fantastic break.
December 17th, 2007
I would recommend anyone interested in young people, and their mental health, to check out this podcast recorded during Kim Hill’s show on National Radio on Saturday 1st September. Kim Hill interviews Michael Carr-Greg, a psychologist who specialises in the mental health issues of adolescents. The podcast is about 34 minutes long. If you are a teacher you might also like to look at his educational resources online.
September 5th, 2007
Leo Laporte, from TWiT, calls the launch of the new Apple iPhone “the largest consumer electronics launch ever”. It certainly looks amazing - an all-in-one device: cell phone, iPod, “internet in your pocket”, camera… And, it’s beautifully designed. Say what you want about Apple, but they certainly know how to design good looking hardware. Unfortunately there’s a couple of (potential) stings in the tail: some costly data plans, limited battery life, being locked into one provider and the US$500 cost. Mind you, with the exchange rate as it is that’s not too bad!
It got me thinking about my old cell phone, a Sony Ericsson K700i. It’s been a great little work horse. Three years on and it’s still trucking along beautifully and provides an excellent range of tools e.g. Bluetooth and the ability to sync with my laptop. Its camera is fairly average but okay for those quick snaps and the video is alright as long as you hold the phone as still as possible.
Something really exciting about cell phones is their ability to be used in the classroom. Stephen Heppell discussed this at the last Navcon I saw him present at. As he said, cell phones are found even in the most remote parts of the world. They are the most ubiquitous piece of hardware that teachers can access. It’d be hard to find a teacher who doesn’t have access to a cellphone! Yet, not many other teachers I know ever use them in the classroom, despite me often encouraging them to do so.
Here are some ideas that you can use your cellphone for:
- recording audio
- photographing spontaneous learning situations
- videoing learning experiences
I have used my phone for all these things and it’s been so easy. The students have recorded interviews with others in the school, I’ve recorded them speaking about their learning on trips (capture the moment!), and then we’ve used bluetooth to send files to the laptop. In the past we’ve published those audio files via podcast and on the class blog.
I’ve used the camera on the phone when there has been some exciting learning and my digital camera has been unavailable (flat batteries, the next door teacher has it) and then shared those photos or video via the data projector. One memorable time we did this, I took short videos of the students learning rugby skills with the Auckland Rugby guys. I uploaded the videos to my laptop, renamed them and then shared them (out of order) with the class on the projector. The students were asked to discuss the activities they were doing for oral language and then, to support writing, I asked them to sequence the activities. This really motivated and excited the children. They love to see themselves on screen! None of these activities relied on having awesome quality pictures, sound or video. The students could see clearly what they were doing and were completely satisfied with the quality.
Disadvantages for using a cellphone in school time:
- the potential for students to access private information.
- the “portability” of cellphones - they’re expensive and you don’t want them to get taken.
- the policies of the school in which you work - do they allow teachers to use cellphones during class time?
- the potential for mixed messages to be sent for kids - it’s okay for the teacher to use their phone in school time but it’s not okay for them to use them.
What happens at your school? Are you making the most of the piece of technology in your bag?
June 26th, 2007
Simon has posted the second part of Ian Jukes presentation over at his blog. Click here to have a listen to the second episode of Edcast. Thanks Simon!
I’ve enjoyed reading all the comments about the previous post of the Ministry of Education’s Microsoft Agreement, or lack thereof, in the case of Mac schools. Keep ‘em coming! You may enjoy listening to this podcast from National Radio recommended by my brother-in-law about the agreement.
I have been wondering about the idea of using Parallels on a Mac and Vista as a way to get around the licensing agreement. Are Mac schools eligible to get Vista for free from the Ministry? If so, would they then be able to get the PC version of Microsoft Office to use at school? Is this just getting too convoluted? Parallels doesn’t cost that much and there are other reasons to run it on a Mac network, such as, using MUSAC. I have Parallels installed on my machine and have been waiting to get Windows up and running (I’m still trying to decide whether to do XP or go Vista). It’ll be good being able to access both platforms.
The podcast mentioned above also covers the use of other types of search engines, including Quintura. Quintura for Kids looks really cool. They describe it as a “visual find engine”. Along those lines there is also Grokker which is worth checking out. Both are good alternatives to using Google and work by presenting the search results in “clouds” or as a “map”. Both also have the option of the listing search results in the standard kind of way.
While Google has become all encompassing, I don’t believe that it serves our younger students well as a search engine because it’s particularly text heavy. In the past I have used Yahooligans quite successfully because it’s visually more interesting to students and the content is more tailored their needs/reading levels. You have to watch out though because it does have the latest “cool” stuff on there e.g. movies, games, and the search tool is somewhat secondary.
And in a last, unrelated thought, webcams are a mixed blessing. It may feel as though winter is upon us but the lovely folks at the Metservice aren’t able to share any beautiful snowy pictures of the ski-fields just yet. Poor Cardrona and Whakapapa look a bit… forlorn. Let’s pray for a cold snap before the school holidays!
June 10th, 2007
“Software has been wiped from thousands of school computers because of a row over Government funding.
Microsoft Office programs have been ordered to be removed from about 25,000 Apple Macintosh computers in schools.
The Ministry of Education did not renew its deal for the programs, meaning that students using the Apple computers will not have access to common programs such as Excel and Word unless the school buys the software independently”
Ah, this has been brewing for a while but I am surprised that it has made front line news on the Herald. I understand the argument that students should be using Word, Excel and PowerPoint, however, I don’t really believe that it’s students who care about the name on the software they use. They just want it to work. Does it matter whether I use Graphic Convertor, PhotoShop or Fireworks to manipulate photos? Maybe at some high end professional level, but certainly not at the level at which I work. The difficulty will be in teachers and admininstrators accepting other options. They are most comfortable with Word. Plus, why should some schools be disadvantaged because they have Macs? This seems unfair.
I’ve been playing with Keynote lately because of previously mentioned arguments with PowerPoint and it’s pretty good. It still feels like an immature product and sometimes functions are hidden a little bit too far down menus, which can be frustrating. I’m still using it though… and it’s done a good job. I can export to PowerPoint format if necessary (so I have compability with machines that don’t have Keynote) which makes it all the more flexible. I might have a go with Pages and see how that performs too.
May 29th, 2007
Simon and I have been working on the idea of co-creating a podcast for a while now, since we (kind of) met at Learning@School earlier this year. We’ve been working collaboratively online to set up a regular local podcast - somewhere we could share ideas about ICT, professional development, and any other issues arising that interest us as teachers in New Zealand. Our aims are more eloquently stated in the introduction of the first podcast. And here it is!
Edcast Episode 1: Understanding Digital Kids Part 1
Simon had the great idea of approaching Ian Jukes to see if he could record his recent presentation in Napier. Ian kindly gave us permission to do so. This episode is about 1 hour 28 minutes long.
From Ian Jukes Website:
“Ian Jukes has been a teacher, an administrator, writer, consultant, university instructor and keynote speaker. As the Director of the InfoSavvy Group, an international consulting group that provides leadership and program development in the areas of assessment and evaluation, strategic alignment, curriculum design and publication, professional development, planning, change management, hardware and software acquisition, information services, customized research, media services, and on-line training as well as conference keynotes and workshop presentations.”
Thanks to Simon for recording, editing and publishing the first Edcast. Our website will be up and running with show notes and links very soon.
May 23rd, 2007
At the International Confederation of Principals Conference in April this year, Education Minister Hon Steve Maharey spoke with Sir Ken Robinson about the need for education to cultivate creativity and innovation. Hopefully you will have seen the other video from his presentation at the TED (Technology Entertainment Design) Conference in 2006. Click here to view the video with Steve Maharey.
A quote that I picked out:
“… it’s partly that we have this very narrow view of intelligence and I think it’s because we have such a narrow view of ability, and we have such a big view of disability. This system, in a way, prejudices the talents of a lot of people. But it also, I think, marginalises some of the other talents those academically gifted have.”
I really like his phrase “a big view of disability”. We pride ourselves on having an inclusive education system, where the achievements of all are promoted. I do wonder though how many “academically gifted” students we are doing a disservice by ignoring, or not even looking for, their other talents. Do they even get a chance to discover them? Are we so keen to celebrate success that we don’t look beyond the superficial successes?
Are we the same as teachers? In what way are we disabled? Do we marginalise our own talents by subscribing to the status quo?
May 23rd, 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
This morning’s Herald has an article entitled “Concern about Wi-Fi health danger spreads to NZ from British schools” . The opening paragraphs state:
“A British furore over wireless internet technology - Wi-Fi - use in schools is raising similar concerns here.
Britain’s top health-protection watchdog wants the network, which emits radiation, to be full investigated because of the concern for students’ health.
Wi-Fi - described by the British Department of Education and Skills as a “magical” system that means computers do not have to be connected to telephone lines.”
Magical?!
“Virtually no studies have been done on Wi-Fi’s effects on pupils, but it gives off radiation similar to emissions from mobile phones and phone masts.”
Yet…
“Professor Olle Johansson, of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, who is concerned about the spread of Wi-Fi, says “thousands” of articles in scientific literature demonstrate “adverse health effects” from Wi-Fi.”
I thought that there was still quite a lot of disagreement about whether mobile phones and phone masts can potentially harm people? I’m going to ask a scientific friend of mine to help me find some peer reviewed articles about this.
At the moment I think Wi-Fi is wonderfully freeing. Going back to using cables will feel like being shackled, especially in a classroom setting. It is so easy to send students off to work on a laptop somewhere quiet and still have them be able to access the network. I wonder what schools will do if they find that Wi-Fi is banned/limited in the classroom? Just think of the bill for “upgrading” current school networks from wireless back to ethernet.
April 23rd, 2007
“The current Microsoft Schools Agreement expires at the end of 2006. Work is underway on the re-negotiation of the agreement.”
Anyone else nervous? I don’t know about you but I’d got pretty comfortable with all the free software that we’d been provided and I know it took a lot of stress off the ICT budget. It meant that we could be freed up to look at purchases, such as, Kidspiration, Dreamweaver and Kidpix.
Having said that, luckily enough, now new computers come with some neat free software (and there are always lots of sessions at conferences to find out more about free software) like the iLife package, MovieMaker etc. Perhaps its time for schools to start looking at other free solutions from Google for Office-type products? This could go someway to minimising the ongoing costs of licensing.
Google Notebook
Google Docs and Spreadsheets
Google Calendar
I don’t know if it’s software so much that will really limit schools but the cost of upgrading operating systems is going to be pretty hefty, particularly when Vista apparently requires quite grunty machines. A while ago there was quite a lot of talk amongst those technically-able about getting schools to use Linux on their networks. It’s a great idea but it seems to hinge upon schools having a friendly techie available to install and maintain those systems. Something that bugs me, as a teacher, is that you are sometimes forced into feeling like a charity. We shouldn’t have to rely on “friendly techies” - we should be able to afford to maintain our networks, licenses etc. The MOE Software Agreement went some way to helping schools out of that charitable position. I hope it continues.
April 20th, 2007
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