Virtual Educators

A Whole New Mind

2008-08-26T08:25:00.016-04:00

About Daniel H. Pink

Daniel H. Pink is the author of the New York Times bestseller A Whole New Mind.

Pink's articles on business and technology have appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Wired. Pink worked previously as Vice President Al Gore’s chief speechwriter from 1995-97.

Conceptual Age

Pink outlines four major 'ages':

Agriculture Age (farmers)

Industrial Age (factory workers)

Information Age (knowledge workers)

Conceptual Age (creators and empathizers)

Three Trends

Pink references three trends pointing towards the future of business and the economy:

Abundance (consumers have too many choices, nothing is scarce)
Asia (everything that can be outsourced)
Automation (computerization, robots, technology, processes).

Abundance

People buy more than they need.
Self-storage has become a $17 billion annual industry in the U.S.
Americans spend more on trash bags than 90 other countries spend on everything.

Asia

Knowledge workers overseas can do it just as well for less money. American computer programmers earn $70,000 a year. Indian high-tech workers earn up to $15,000 a year. Each year, India s colleges and universities produce about 350,000 engineering graduates.

Automation

Computers can do many tasks faster and cheaper.

In 1989, Garry Kasparov, the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 1985, boasted that no computer can ever beat him. In May 1997, an updated version of Deep Blue, the chess-playing computer built by IBM, defeated Kasparov. In 2003, Kasparov was convinced that in few years computers will win every match.

Three Questions

These are three crucial questions for the success of any business:

1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?

2. Can a computer do it faster?

3. Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance?

If you answer YES to questions 1 & 2 and NO to question 3 – then your business is in trouble.

Six Essential Senses

Pink outlines six essential senses:

• Design - Moving beyond function to engage the sense.

• Story - Narrative added to products and services - not just argument. Best of the six senses.

• Symphony - Adding invention and big picture thinking (not just detail focus).

• Empathy - Going beyond logic and engaging emotion and intuition.

• Play - Bringing humor and light-heartedness to business and products.

• Meaning - Immaterial feelings and values of products.

Design -- Not just Function but also Design

It’s no longer sufficient to create a product, service, an experience or a lifestyle that is

merely functional. It’s economically crucial and personally rewarding to create

something that is also beautiful, whimsical or emotionally engaging.

Examples:

CHAD– The Charter High School for Architecture and Design.

Target -- selling designer products at low prices.

Best Buy -- creatively designing their stores.

Apple -- outrageous success of their iPod and other well-designed products.

Portfolio -- Design

• Keep a design notebook.

• Think of something that annoys you, and send the manufacturer of that product a well-thought-out solution to the problem.

• Read design magazines:

Dwell — http://www.dwellmag.com/

How — http://www.howdesign.com/

iD — http://www.idonline.com/

Metropolis — http://www.metropolismag.com/

• Visit Karim Rashid’s webite — http://www.karimrashid.com/

• Design Something: Your own Nike shoe, your own Vans shoe, or your own handwriting font.

• Go to a Design Museum

• Evaluate objects in your life for the emotions you have associated with them. See Design Continuum.

• Select things because they delight you not because they impress others, but never let things be more important than people. See Animatrix.

Story -- Not just Argument but also Story

When our lives are brimming with information and data, its not enough to master an effective argument. It’s important to learn how to tell stories.

Good stories instantly connect with people on a heart level and last in both our conscious mind and our subconscious for far longer than pure facts and figures ever will. We think in stories, we live in stories, and we love stories.

Example: narrative medicine – all second year Columbia students take this course. Instead of computerlike diagnostic questions, they learn to ask: “Tell me where it hurts. Tell me about your life.”

Portfolio -- Story

• Write a mini-saga, a very short story of exactly 50 words. Some examples can be found here.

• Preserve someone’s story through StoryCorps.

• Interview someone about his or her life and record the conversation.

• Visit a storytelling festival: National Storytelling Festival.

• Subscribe to One Story, a magazine that delivers one good story to your house a little more often than once a month.

• Learn Digital Storytelling — Center for Digital Storytelling.

Symphony -- Not just Focus but also Symphony.

The skill of symphony is in seeing the whole as a whole, seeing pieces in relationship to each other, and not seeing the pieces all by themselves.

Betty Edwards in her book Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain claims that we tend to see the world through symbols, and this is especially evident when we attempt to draw anything.

Negative Space

Negative space, in art, is the space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and such space is occasionally used to artistic effect as the "real" subject of an image. The use of negative space is a key element of artistic composition. Read more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_space

Portfolio: Symphony

• Listen to great symphonies: Beethoven’s 9th, Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 Mahler’s 4th Symphony in G Major, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture (with real cannons and church bells).

• Visit a newsstand and grab 10 publications that you would otherwise never read. Skim them and look for connections with your own life.

• Learn how to draw — http://www.drawright.com/

• Keep a Metaphor Log (write down metaphors you encounter throughout your day)

• Create an Inspiration Board: “When you’re working on a project, empty your bulletin board and turn it into an inspiration board. Each time you see something that you find compelling… tack it to the board.”

• Look for Negative Spaces in logos, designs and all around you.

Empathy -- Not just Logic but also Empathy

Empathy is basically the skill of being able to stand in another person’s skin and experience the world from their perspective. It is the part of us that wants to yawn when we see another person yawn.

Empathy is necessary in this new “Conceptual Age” because people are looking for products and services that truly connect with them, and that means businesses must be able to experience life from the perspective of their customers (empathy) in order to provide the products and services those customers are looking for.

Portfolio: Empathy

• Take an empathy test E-IQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) prepared by Daniel Goleman of Emotional Intelligence fame.

• Spot the Fake Smile to see if you can spot the difference between a fake smile and a real one..

• Study Paul Ekman — http://www.paulekman.com/ Emotions Revealed, Telling Lies

• Take an Acting Class

• Get the Mind Reading CD-ROM training materials.

• Volunteer and serve someone.

Play -- Not just Seriousness but also Play

Ample evidence points to enormous health and professional benefits of laughter, games and humor. Serious is good but too much sobriety can stall a career and harm your health. In the Conceptual Age, in work and in life, we all need to play.

Laughter Club

The Laughter Yoga method was created by Dr. Madan Kataria, a family physician from Mumbai, India who started the first laughter club in 1995. He has been the catalyst for the creation of over 5,000 Laughter Clubs in 40 countries, mostly free and public. http://www.laughteryoga.com/

Games

Play is more than a tool to be used to increase productivity. Instead, play itself is a primary industry. Games of all sorts are a major business, and the Army has turned to using video games as a recruitment tool – America’s Army.

Portfolio: Play

Playfulness, humor, and joyfulness are the cornerstones of a creative life. To develop the skill of play in your own life, Pink recommends these things:

• Join a Laughter Club — http://www.laughteryoga.com/

• Play the Cartoon Captions Game. Find a bunch of cartoons from publications like the New Yorker, remove the captions or punch lines, and then come up with some of your own. Preferably, do this with friends.

• Test your humor on the Humor Scale.

• Check out the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling “Invention at Play” exhibit — http://www.inventionatplay.org/.

• Learn about video games and play some.

Meaning -- not just Accumulation but also Meaning

Viktor Frankl wrote his work, Man’s Search for Meaning after being released from a Nazi concentration camp where he saw people survive against incredible odds because they had a strong sense of meaning and purpose. Pink addresses the significance of having meaning in our lives, whether by religion or otherwise. More than that, he talks about how we need to look at life from the perspective of a higher meaning and how to do so enriches our lives including extending our actual lifespan.

Portfolio: Meaning

• Write a gratitude letter or go on a gratitude visit or find some other way to develop a habit of gratitude.

• Take the 20-10 test. If you had $20 million in the bank or only 10 more years to live, would you continue doing what you do now?

• Measure your spirit with tests. Spiritual Transcendence Test, or the Index of Core Spiritual Experience.

• Visit a labyrinth (a maze-like pathway for meditation purposes).

The Worldwide Labyrinth Locator

• Picture yourself at 90. Imagine yourself as a ninety-year-old you. What has your life been like?

The Conceptual Age is dawning and those who hope to survive must master the fundamental human attributes – Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning.

References

Pink, D. H. (2006). A Whole New Mind. Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. New York: Riverhead Books.

Images

http://www.danpink.com/

http://original.britannica.com/eb/

http://www.presentationzen.com/

Online Simulations: America by Air

2008-02-26T12:37:00.031-05:00

Today, I found great simulations for upper elementary and middle school students on the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum's website America by Air.

Click on the Activities link and explore with your students artifacts, photographs, artwork and colorful interactive simulations.

Well-Dressed Pilot
Dress DE Havilland DH-4 1926 and Douglas DC-3 1936 pilots.

Contact Flying
Navigate airplane as an airmail pilot.

Pilot Personality
Explore different documents to learn about a pilot Bill Hopson's personality.

Travel Agent
Become a 1930s travel agent.

Around the World
Travel around the world in 18 days. Follow Herbert R. Ekins, a reporter for the New York World-Telegram, who travels around the world by air using regular airlines. Track his journey around the world or make a newsreel video of his journey by adding video clips, images, maps, and sound.

At Your Service
Explore an airplane -- DC-7 model.

Stewardess
Learn about stewardess requirements in 1950.

Baggage Claim
Examine each item and give it to the right person.

Generation of Leaders
Learn about early leaders of the commercial airline industry.

Today's Jets
Read about today's jets.

Air Routes
Explore air routes in the United States for five major airlines between 1930 and 2000.

Price Meter
Learn what factors affect the cost of airline tickets.

Fly the mail
Deliver mail from New York to Cleveland in 6 hours; fly over "Hell Stretch" where many pilots have lost their lives, and face several challenges along the way.

Integrating Spreadsheets into Science Curriculum

2008-02-20T13:04:00.010-05:00

Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets are powerful learning tools for K-12 students. According to Pamela Lewis, the author of Spreadsheet Magic:

Spreadsheet assignments offer concrete ways to explore abstract concepts.
A spreadsheet is a helpful tool for visual learners.
Using spreadsheets promotes higher order thinking skills. The spreadsheet tool promotes the development of problem solving skills and supports "What if..." type questions.
Students make charts and graphs from spreadsheet records, learning to organize their ideas and present information to an audience. Charts and graphs add meaning to information, helping students to analyze and interpret data.
Students are motivated to complete tasks in a Risk Free Environment, where errors can be easily corrected or edited.

I have compiled useful ideas and links for integration of spreadsheets into science curriculum.

1. Acid Rain in Our State

Students research a serious environmental problem—acid rain―which affects many communities. They use the Internet to research pH levels of rainwater for their state, collect data from their community, and investigate the causes of and solutions for acid rain. Then, they present data in a Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet and draw conclusions.

School level: middle school, high school.

Software: Microsoft Word and Excel.

2. How Do Earthquakes Affect Buildings?

In this lesson, students get the opportunity to simulate earthquakes of different magnitudes online and see how they affect buildings. Students will first choose the location and then the earthquake. They'll examine the earthquake-proofing construction for their building. Then, they will chart their simulated data in Microsoft Office Excel so that they can develop conclusions based on their findings. This activity works well with students working in group.

School level: middle school, high school.

Software: Microsoft Word and Excel.

3. Weather Scope: An Investigative Study of Weather and Climate

Students read a climate report about their city to make distinctions and study the differences between weather and climate reports for their particular region. Using Real-Time images or data on the Internet instead of information out of a textbook not only engages students, but also brings a real world connection right into the classroom. Students create a comparison chart in Microsoft Excel that displays both the average monthly temperature over one year in the form of a Line graph and average monthly precipitation over one year in the form of a Bar graph.

School level: upper elementary, middle school and high school students.

Software: Microsoft Word and Excel.

4. Spinning Coins

Students use Excel to analyze the data obtained by groups of pupils performing Activity 13 'Spinning Coins.' Each group of pupils spins a coin 50 times and they record their results in a table. This is the raw data that they will use for further analysis. The first stage of their analysis is to count the frequency of runs of heads which they record in a second table. The next stage is to add their results to the class results.

School level: upper elementary, middle school.

Software: Microsoft Excel.

5. Healthiest Fast Food

Students determine number of calories and grams of fat in food items at four fast food restaurants, enter the information into a spreadsheet, create a graph to accurately represent the data, analyze the information to determine the healthiest restaurant, and create a word processing article with the chart detailing conclusions.

School level: upper elementary, middle school.

Software: Microsoft Word and Excel.

***

I would appreciate any other ideas or useful links for integrating spreadsheets into science curriculum.

Integrating Technology into the Language Arts Classroom

2008-02-12T12:04:00.003-05:00

I've compiled a list of ideas for technology integration into the Language Arts classroom.

1. Integrating Poetry Annotation and Web Technology

In this hypertext writing project, "students annotate a poem, creating hyperlinks that connect keywords and ideas in the poem to related Web pages. The process of writing and creating links helps middle school students think not only of alternative textual forms but of more traditional organizational principals, only with more options. It also brings together the textual elements of color, font, image, as well as the more traditional conventions of print text. Further, students become more conscious of textual cues."

Tools:
Webbing Tool Student Interactive
Google Page Creator
Wikispaces

Example:
http://www.npatterson.net/sara/maryjoe.html

2. Story Character Homepage

Students will choose a character to thoroughly analyze it and create a homepage for the character. They will choose things their characters would be likely to include on the Web.

Tools:
Literary Elements Map Student Interactive
Google Page Creator
Wikispaces

Examples:
http://www.pschulze.com/Soph%20Comp/comp_student_work.htm

3. Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares

Students "want new ways to think about a work of literature and new ways to dig into it. By creating comic strips or cartoon squares featuring characters in books, they're encouraged to think analytically about the characters, events, and themes they've explored in ways that expand their critical thinking by focusing on crystallizing the significant points of the book in a few short scenes."

Tools:
Comic Creator Student Interactive (students can draw anything by selecting backgrounds, characters, speech bubbles etc., but the comic elements are imited)
Comics Sketch Mainada.Net - Sketch your imagination (students draw online with a mouse).
QuickToons.com(students can draw anything by selecting backgrounds, characters, speech bubbles etc., but the comic elements are limited)
http://www.stripcreator.com/ (students can draw anything by selecting backgrounds, characters, speech bubbles etc., but the comic elements are limited)

4. Creating a Safe Online Profile

"In this activity, teenagers explore online names by looking at sample e-mail addresses to determine what they can tell about the person who uses the account. After this exploration, teens choose a screen name or e-mail address for themselves as well as decide on personal details to include on a safe online profile."

Resources:
Child Safety on the Information Highway booklet
Online Profile Tips
Online Name Form

5. Student Blogs

Each student posts a blog entry related to the assignment.

Resources:
http://supportblogging.com/

Student Blog Examples:
Free-Range Thinking -- 11th Grade English,
Donna Hebert's Blogmeister -- Language Arts
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd -- a Modern American Literature class at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in the US has constructed a reader’s guide to the Secret Life of Bees.
Weblogs in Education: Bringing the World to the Liberal Arts Classroom -- explains how teachers and students in English classrooms are using Weblogs to effectively break down the walls of the classroom, integrating teaching and learning with local and virtual communities.
Mrs. C's Senior English Blog -- seniors in high school English weigh in on class discussions regarding British Literature. Also, teachers visit to comment on using technology in education and the language arts classroom.
English Literature 12
Senior English Reflections
HS senior English shares assigned writings via the blog.

Tools:
Blogger
Edublogs
Wordpress

6. Wikispaces

Michael McGrann, a Latin teacher, created a Latin B Culture Wiki for his 8th grade students.

"Part 1: At the beginning of the year, I had students write questions that they would ask a Roman if they could travel back in time. I've assembled these questions, organized them into broad categories, and posted them on a wiki. The students have an ongoing assignment to peruse the questions, do some research, and respond to the questions. They may include images, weblinks, etc. in their response.

Part 2: In the same wiki, I have a space for students to discuss elements of Roman culture they see in their own lives - in literature, art, architecture, etc. Again, they can post images or weblinks if appropriate.

Activities: I plan to use some class time to teach those who aren't familiar with using wikis - or can't figure it out - how to edit entries. We'll also use class time to see what students have entered and have discussions around these topics. We'll also have to discuss how to cite sources correctly.

Tools and Resources (software, hardware, websites, books): I am encouraging students to use any resource information they can to research the questions: the internet, books, people, etc. I will also encourage them to post and photos that they may have that are appropriate. They can access the wiki from any computer that has internet access. There is no special software.

Assessment: On occasion, I will ask students to work on this for homework or make it one option of several for a homework assignment. I may use high levels of participation as extra credit or as a way to improve the participation grade or a way to wipe out other missed homework assignments" (printed with permission from Michael McGrann).

Tools:
Visit Wikispaces
Take a Tour

Wiki ideas for language arts from TeachersFirst:

A continuing story in which your class adds sentence suing new vocabulary words and writes and adventure story in collaboration with the entire class. They will NEVER forget the meaning of the words as they read and re-read their story each time they visit to add. The story can be a single version or branch off into multiple versions and endings.
A collection of mythological allusions found in “real life” while studying Greek/Roman mythology: Ex. Mercury cars- why are they so named?
An online writer’s workshop or poetry workshop with suggested revisions from classmates. Start with drafts and collaborate. Make sure students use the notes tab to explain why they make changes.
Summary and discussion of a scene of a play, a poem, or even chapter by chapter of a novel, with groups taking responsibility for different portions
Literary analysis of actual text on the wiki- with links to explanations of literary devices, a glossary to explain vocabulary, etc. Try it with a scene from Shakespeare or a sonnet! Each student or group could be responsible for a portion, then ALL can edit and revise to improve the collaborative project. You will be amazed how much they will find and argue.
Collaborative book reviews or author studies
Creative projects, such as a script for a Shakespeare scene reset in the 21st century
A travel brochure wiki- use wikis to “advertise” for different literary, historical, or cultural locations and time periods: Dickens’ London, fourteenth century in Italy in Verona and Mantua ( Romeo and Juliet), The Oklahoma Territory, The Yukon during the Gold Rush, Ex-patriot Paris in the Twenties, etc.
Character resume wiki: have literature classes create a resume wikis for characters in a novel or play you are reading. Both creativity and documented evidence from the literature are required (use notes to indicate the evidence from the text).

An Idiot's Guide to Web 2.0.: Alan November's Presentation

2008-02-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

Launa Schweizer, Head of Lower School at Poly, shared with the Technology Department her well-organized and informative notes from Alan November's presentation at NYSAIS Mohonk Division Heads Conference. Launa suggested to change the title of this blog entry to "An Idiot's Guide to Web 2.0."

CORE VALUES COME FIRST

First, think about our core values when making decisions about how to use technology. Any new idea that you try to “add” to your practices does not match our core values will not stick.

However, our mere unfamiliarity with technology should not hold us back, as there is a big world out there being created, and our students WILL be a part of it. It is our responsibility to give them the critical thinking skills to use it critically and effectively (the same responsibility we have when they use paintbrushes, pens, books, etc!)

As a leader, I have to help my teachers manage fear so that they can do this job!

A SHORT LIST OF TOOLS THAT CAN HELP US TO USE TECHNOLOGY WELL

Use “Alta Vista” to find text from another nation, (i.e. Turkey) using Host:tr (Want to know how to find this for other nations? Search “Country code” internet. On Google, it is “site:country code.”) To search text and find results that are truly Global, you can’t do a “regular” Google search – that will connect you mainly with US sources.

Technorati is a search engine only for blogs.

Google Scholar searches only scholarly articles.

Alan November’s blog is on technology and education.

If you want to pull together the results of lots of blogs or news in one place, you use their “RSS feeds.” All the blogs can be pulled into one website. This is great for a class, a committee, or an organization that needs to operate from the same information. Once the students come to class, they have already read each other’s stuff. This is like connecting everybody’s bookbags!

Alan November has his own weblog (connects to people he has interviewed around the world). He then gets comments, emails, and he grows. What is a blog in an educational context? It is like the scaffolding we do for our students. A blog is a way to ask people to have a real conversation, then publish it so that you get feedback for the rest of your life… The work has “wings,” and learning does not stop with the graded product. For example, producing a podcast is not the “end,” educationally. You need commentary from around the world to help you make meaning.

Alan November's summer technology conference: July 16 - 18, 2008.

SCREENCASTING: Jingproject (Free download for Macintosh or Windows.) Get a 12 year old to download it for you, and then come back and teach you how to use it. With this software, you launch any program you want. Then you launch Jing, pull it across the screen you want to capture, and start talking. Whatever you do on the screen ,while you talk, your voice is recorded to the clicks of your fingers. When you are done, Jing project gives you a free website. You click “publish,” and the video becomes a website. Also saves it to your hard drive. Can put it into “imovie” and add another movie to it. The free one is 5 minutes. You can buy “Camtasia” for 179.95$ which is unlimited, “professional level” Screencast.com is a similar, cheap tool ($69.50 per year) our kids can use to make the tutorial. Adobe also makes one called “Captivate” with high-end tools.

With this technology, the tech guy at your school (because he can’t be everywhere all the time) can also use this to capture the steps necessary to do basic things. (How do I retrieve my password, how do I use Jing?) The guy who runs the help desk makes an accurate movie of it, and emails that!

A COLLECTION OF SOME OF ALAN NOVEMBER’S CORE BELIEFS ABOUT TEACHING

Podcasts, blogs, Googledocs, etc. all fit together. There are no books for how this all works. This is “the printing press” being invented!

The myth that “kids know more about technology” is false. They are using it more, perhaps, but the teachers know critical thinking. We should not be afraid to use technology.

“English is the language of the internet” (for business, etc.) In 15 years, China will be the largest English-speaking nation in the world.

The role of the teacher is not to provide information, but rather to ask provocative questions and to design exercises that sharpen your mind and give you skills (see: Socrates.)

The role of the teacher is also to build the intellectual scaffolding so that the students can make meaning.

Memorization should not be the end-point of any test or assessment. Now his tack is to have students bring the internet to the test, and to design assessments that require critical thought, research skills, and synthesis.

“Literacy” must now include research skills to help students to connect to new and rich sources as they make meaning: Technorati for the blogosphere; scholar.google.com; websites in the global context.

For the first time, “a lot of the world knows that they are poor.” Then they find out that education is the way to get there. Our world (particularly the college-prep world) is about to change.

Don’t focus on the technology as you plan work with students or with your colleagues. Instead, focus on – what is the understanding you want to achieve that can translate to other domains?

Idea: have a team of students advising us (show them the tools. Get their views, before we talk with the teachers.) Do you want to podcast? Do you want to build a search engine?)

4 terms in technology:

DATA: Raw
INFORMATION: Data that has been refined into a readable form (Charts, etc)
KNOWLEDGE: The ability to take information and figure out what to do
WISDOM: Willingness to ask questions we have not asked before; paradigm shift; systems redesign.

We would like children, whenever possible, to get to the knowledge level: to apply what they have been taught, out of school. Knowledge means transferring information to a new context.

DESIGN IDEAS for any tech-based assignment:

You have to talk to somebody “on the ground.”
The work should “live beyond the grade” (in a blog).
You have a feedback loop (responses to the blog).
Students work in high-performing work teams. Organizing many students doing many given tasks. Discipline and organization to work with others. Everyone gets every job in a rotation.
The product makes a contribution to everyone in class (the children can get the weekly podcast, notes, or “how-to” application.)
It should be a gift to the world: designing something that people can use.

ORGANIZING WORK TEAMS AS COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

In Alan November’s classroom world, students are involved in making meaning in a class. There are SIX JOBS assigned everyday in every class, jobs that pass along some crucial responsibilities and engage students more fully:

• Internet researcher of the day (anytime there is a question, that person answers it and puts it in a search engine for that class.) What’s the change? THE TEACHER DOES NOT ANSWER FACTUAL QUESTIONS, but the teacher does know a lot about CRITICAL THINKING. Instead, therefore, the teacher is teaching research skills and empowering kids to answer their own questions. Involves a shift in control, and teaches good research technique.

• Tutorial design team for most important skills. (Teacher guides) You have to do homework anyway, so you might as well have them create a tutorial that all the children can look at. (The teacher supports the team to breaks it down a problem into small units, and this helps kids to understand.) Put all the tutorials on a DVD so the kids can take it home. The teacher OK’s the “best one” to provide to the class. “Screencast” is the tool our students can use to make the tutorial (see above for more information on this.)

• Scribe team: the teacher asks students to take notes on particular topics that he or she knows is important. These “Editors” take notes, including webresources that are strongly connected to what is being discussed in class. To do this, use a tool called “Googledocs” which you find on igoogle, under “more.” It’s a “wiki,” for shared writing. In this method, different kids take notes on different topics. As a group, the kids are pulling together information from the web on topics that are being discussed. Through “Googledocs” we as teachers can see how the revisions of the notes progress. Notes can be assembled on one powerpoint or on a central word document. Hitting the “revisions” button helps us as teachers to know who thought/wrote what. He also finds that the notes actually EVOLVE after class.

• The team dedicated to adding to a class-wide search engine tailored to your group’s needs (Again, we find this application on Google: under “More” is “even more”) A variety of contributors (up to 100) can continue to add new sites into one search engine. Tell the kids, at the start of the year, we are going to build a search engine, by adding, to the search engine, new sources and websites. This can last into the next year, and alumni contribute even later! Now students are not just using search engines, but building them! (See below for a great idea on how elementary schools can use this to create safe search engines for young kids.

• Global Communication Team builds community around the world by finding people across the world interested in the topic at hand. The students are responsible for finding people thinking about the same thing in other parts of the world. (using alta vista, the country code.) Type in, on alta vista, the topic, plus host:ac.country code (“ac” means academic.) You have to teach the kids how to search for a nation; then how to find university professors around the world. The students then use google docs to write emails to professors around the world, and you use SKYPE, which is free software that lets you make a call anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world. This team then builds a network of people (University professors around the world, for example) you can talk with. This globalizes the curriculum.

TEACHING IDEAS

• Create an assignment to go to a Blog and interact with a political commentator. Then, ask the students themselves to create a “balanced” blog using at least three sources. Use SKYPE to interview journalists in other countries. Put those podcasts in itunes, so that anybody in the world searching for your topic in itunes will find it… the responses will go on forward into time, and the students will continue learning beyond the grade. Important to have students build a “balanced blog” to represent the issue (three sources are important.)

• Have students listen/monitor different podcasts

• A good lesson students can learn from seeing the differing points of view available on the internet: The intention of words is not the same as their impact. This is as valid at the level of the Pentagon as it is at the level of first grade!

• Find something that doesn’t have a wikipedia entry, and write an entry for it to be submitted to the largest encyclopedia in the world. Teachers can then click on the “History tab,” which shows how this has evolved. The children can put in very simple content, starting with what they know. Then, as people continue to rewrite it; the teacher can set up the “RSS feed” so that while the wikipedia entry evolves, the kids can reflect on what the third graders have started. (It’s important for an elementary school teacher to have an account with Wikipedia so that any content added is not connected to the children’s names or the school.) Wikis (like wikipedia, or the technology behind Google docs) are not going away. We need to teach kids how to use them.

• Since students are going to “blog anyway,” we as teachers should give them a “blog for life” that will connect them to our learning environment first.

• The question is not: will the kids use these tools; rather, how do we teach them to use them safely and well? We should attack the problem of teachnology, use it well, give students rigor and skills!

• We can’t allow fear to be the deciding factor of how we use technology. Instead, we need to show students the impact of their choices. (Often, we keep kids off of the internet because we are afraid they will be targeted by adults they do not know. However, statistically, the problem for kids and technology is not kids being taken advantage of by adults. Instead, it is kids taking advantage of other kids. This is an issue that Alan has studied.)

• It’s also possible for a teacher to teach kids “levels” of communication. When a teacher creates content (video, picture, etc.) that teacher (or student, or writer) can choose a level of interaction. We need to teach children: when do you publish for yourself (like a diary) and when do you publish for the world? The child needs to learn when to push the “right button.”

• Kindergarten assignment: Install SKYPE on the classroom computer, then give the Irish grandmother SKYPE so that she can read a Irish children’s book in her accent! Capture the reading using screencasting, and make a DVD. Then, send books to all the other grandparents! In fact, use SKYPE to make every day Grandparent Day – each child’s grandparent reads a book, or do something “live” in class everyday. Have them tell the stories of their lives!

• ELEMENTARY FACULTY can build a Google custom search engine (only the websites our faculty put together, and the kids can use those, rather than Google!) Parents would be so grateful, and we would feel safe having kids search it!

• At the elementary school level, we can use technology to reinforce what students are learning. For example, in one class, every Monday at snack, the children produce a podcast summarizing and reviewing what they learned last week. Every class should produce, created by kids in a high-performing work team, a podcast reviewing what they have learned. You just need an MP3 player with a microphone. (!)The teacher gets it started, and the child wants to put out her own show about Art. Another wants to talk about writing, etc. Developmentally, children need to feel that they are making a contribution. Sense of ownership. A podcast can also expand the family’s involvement in curriculum as well!

Want to see examples?

www.bobsprankle.com//podcasts
Try also www.screencast.com/users/MarcosMath, which shows a student tutorial of a skill that he has learned. (The program where they solved the math problem is called “Screencasting”) In class, the teacher keeps this on the corner of the screen, and “just do it.”) These screencasts can be sent as an email.

WHAT DO WE OWE OUR KIDS? INFORMATION and SKILLS ABOUT THE THINGS THEY ARE DOING

Here’s a fun lesson!
Teacher: “Have you heard of Myspace?”
(Kids look at you as though you are an idiot.)
Well, you know – one day, you might run for congress, etc. this won’t be good to put stuff up.
Show the students a “dead link” (through www.archive.org)
In the “WaybackMachine,” you can discover the content – when it came on the web, when it left the web, and you can get the content (even though it has been gone for ten years.) This is true no matter how long the content has been off the internet.
The internet is being stored, in its entirety, every few months.

Another important caveat for this lesson: The copyright at bottom of the page is Myspace – any music and art you put up there, you don’t own it. Those who put work on Myspace have lost all the intellectual rights to their work, and Myspace sells this content (to be searched by their future employers) to big companies.

Facebook owns all that content – facebook sells content to big companies. They have no rights to their “own” content.

The payoff of the lesson? Kid raises his hand – “You’re trying to tell us not to ruin the rest of our lives today.”

Our Lesson?

WE HAVE TO TEACH KIDS THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF USING THIS IMPORTANT MEDIUM!!

Questions: How do you retain your intellectual property rights to things you put on a blog?

Answer: Copyright it first independently. Write a draft on your own, copyright it, then put it up.

Reference

The notes from NYSAIS Mohonk Division Heads Conference are printed with the permission from Launa Schweizer. Feburary 1, 2008.

Images

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike08/194811515/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachinchina/350050473/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43204815@N00/309780689/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wongjunhao/2121938560/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62839888@N00/2056120994/

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

2008-02-06T08:46:00.000-05:00

Recently, in my Education in the "Flat World" post, I've mentioned Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech in 2005. Today, thanks to the Fishbowl post, I watched a video of this inspirational speech with my students.

8th graders watched this 15-minute video with great interest. First, we discussed Steve Jobs biography and Apple’s cool gadgets (iPod, iPhone, MacBook Air…). After watching the movie, we discussed several quotes from the movie:

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever."

"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

Reference

Stanford Report, June 14, 2005. “You've got to find what you love,” Jobs says.

What is an ePortfolio?

2008-02-05T13:00:00.000-05:00

An eportfolio, also known as an electronic portfolio or digital portfolio, is a type of learning record that provides evidence of student achievement. The eportfolios were originally used in arts, music, and architecture instead of traditional exams. Today, eporfolios are used across the curriculum in K-12 and higher education. ePortfolios are widely used in schools, higher education, continuing professional development, as well as for job applications and professional advertisements.

I have my professional portfolio at Interfolio. This online portfolio offers one place to store cover letters, resume, confidential reference letters, transcripts, etc. and distributes these materials on demand to any organizations and institutions. I also have my personal eportfolio, which includes my resume, educational philosophy and teaching goals, transcripts, recommendations letters, samples of my work, and samples of my student work. I have it online and more extensive version on DVD. ePortfolio allows to present your work during an interview or show it to a potential employer online. This is also a useful tool for self-assessment, self-promotion, and advertisement.

How to Create an ePortfolio?

Based on the Rubric for Electronic Portfolio, the process of an eportfolio development could be divided into 7 steps:

Step 1. Selection of Artifacts and Written Communication

All artifacts and work samples should be well-organized and directly related to the purpose of the eportfolio.

Step 2. Reflections

All reflections should identify and describe short-term goals and include goals for continued learning as well as effectively critique of work.

Step 3. Use of Multimedia

All of the high quality photographs, graphics, sound files or video should enhance ePortfolio. All files should be properly linked and displayed. They should be easies viewed or downloaded.

Step 4. Captions

Each artifact should be accompanied by a caption that explains the importance of that particular work including title, author, and date.

Step 5. Ease of Navigation

All of the portfolio navigation should have links back to the main table of contents or Home page. All external links should connect to appropriate websites.

Step 6. Layout and Text Elements

The ePortfolio should be easy to read. Fonts, point size, bullets, italics, bold, and indentations for headings and sub-headings should enhance the presentation. Horizontal and vertical white space should be used appropriately. Background and colors should enhance the readability and aesthetic quality of the text.

Step 7. Writing Mechanics

The text should have no errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

What to Include in a Teacher's Professional ePortfolio?

I. Background information

resume
background information
educational philosophy and teaching goals

II. Teaching artifacts and reflections documenting

overview of unit goals and instructional plan
list of resources used in unit
two consecutive lesson plans
lesson podcasts
videotape of teaching
links to websites, blogs or wikis
student work examples
evaluation of student work
reflective commentary by the teacher
additional units/lessons/student work as appropriate

III. Professional information

list of professional activities
letters of recommendation
formal evaluations

Tools for Creating ePortfolios

Microsoft Word -- word processor
Microsoft PowerPoint -- presentation builder
PDF document
Websites in iWeb or Dreamweaver
Audio – recorded in GarageBand or online program Audacity
Video – edited in iMovie, Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere
WikiSpaces.com -- wiki
WordPress.com -- blog
GoogleDocs -- online word processor
Google Pages -- online web site builder
GoogleDocs -- online presentation builder
ProtoPage -- web 2.0 web page
My Portfolio -- online software

ePortfolio Examples

Hellen Barrett's examples:
Wiki portfolio
Wordpress -- blog
Google Docs
Google Pages
Google Pages
ProtoPage

The Pennsylvania State University student eportfolios

More example of eportfolios:

An example of an eportfolio created in Microsoft Publisher:

Phyllis Bartosiewicz's ePortfolio

This is an example of a teacher eportfolio from the University of Iowa College of Education:

Teacher's ePortfolio

Collection of teaching eportfolios -- this is a good collection of e-portfolios created by elementary and secondary school teachers and prospective teachers.

Scott Merrick's portfolio includes his teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae, professional development evidence, and even a teacher toolbox page to share resources with other teachers.

Need More Information about ePortfolios?

Helen Barrett's site - Electronic Portfolios and Digital Storytelling for lifelong and life wide learning. This site provides links to information about electronic portfolio development, digital storytelling and other useful resources.

The All About ePortfolios site provides numerous links to articles and information about ePortfolios written by a representation of most of the experts in the. It also includes a list of ePortfolio tools for creating, storing and hosting ePortfolios.

The ePortfolio Portal serves as a resource to assist you in gaining knowledge around the concepts of eportfolios.

Image

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cawood/485487270/

Word of the Week: Zippies

2008-02-04T09:22:00.000-05:00

In 1960th, America had hippies. In 1980th, young urban professionals were dubbed yuppies. Thomas L. Friedman, in his book “The World is Flat,“ introduces zippies.

Who are the zippies?

Zippies are young city or suburban residents, between 15 and 25 years of age. They belong to Generation Z -- people born in a digital world. Zippies can be male or female, studying or working. They exhibit attitude, ambition and aspiration. They are cool, confident and creative. They seek challenge, love risks and shun fears (p.215).

India has 54 percent of population under the age of 25 --that's 55 million people. 6 out of 10 Indian households have at least one zippie.

Think about it -- in several years, many of these zippies will be doing American white-collar jobs for a fraction of the pay...

Image
http://media.tconline.org/images/04124MJ0117_lg1.jpg

Education in the "Flat World"

2008-02-01T08:27:00.000-05:00

Bill Gate in his speech before the National Governors Association states: "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow.... In math and science, our fourth graders are among the top students in the world. By eighth grade, they're in the middle of the pack. By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations. . . . The percentage of a population with a college degree is important, but so are sheer numbers. In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor's degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many graduates majoring in engineering. In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind."

According to Thomas L. Friedman, the author of a book “The World is Flat,“ our parents were telling us: “Finish your dinner. There are children in China and India who are starving.” Now, we should be warning our children: “Finish your homework. There are students in China and India who want your job.”

Number of American students earning science degrees has fallen to 17th in the world. Science and engineering degrees represent 60% of all B.S. degrees in China, 41% in Taiwan, and 31% in U.S. According to 2004 Trends in International Math and Science Study, 44% of 8th graders in Singapore scored at the most advanced level in math, as did 38% in Taiwan, and only 7% in the U.S.

Bill Gates in his interview with Friedman speculates that thirty years ago, if you had the choice between being born an average person in Poughkeepsie or a genius in Bombay or Shanghai, you'd take Poughkeepsie, because your life opportunities would be so much greater there, even as an average talent. Today, you'd much rather be born a genius in Bombay or Shanghai, because in the flat world you can plug and play, collaborate and connect from anywhere.

Princeton economist Alan Bliner notes, “It is clear that the U.S. and other rich nations will have to transform their educational systems so as to produce workers for the jobs that will actually exist in their societies… In the future, how we educate our children may prove to be more important than how much we educated them."

Friedman considers that the most important skills for students in the "flat world" are: learn how to learn, navigation skills, curiosity and passion, a solid foundation in liberal arts, and right brain skills.

1. Learn How to Learn

According to Friedman, the first, and most important, ability you can develop in a flat world is the ability to “learn how to learn” – to constantly absorb, and teach yourself, new ways of doing old things or new way of doing new things (p.309).

During one of the meeting, a ninth grader asked Friedman: “…how do you learn how to learn? What course should I take?” Friedman suggested the student attending popular teachers classes who could teach students to get excited about learning. “To learn how to learn, you have to love learning—or you have to at least enjoy it—because so much learning is about being motivated to teach yourself. And while it seems that some people are just born with that motivation, many others can develop it or have it implanted with the right teacher (or parent).

2. Navigation

As the world flattens, more information will reside on the Internet. Teaching students how to navigate that virtual world, how to find the real sources of knowledge becomes more important than ever. Students often consider any information on the Internet as a valid source and often use it in their research papers. Some schools forbid students to cite Wikipedia, but Joel Cawley from IBM disagrees with this policy because teachers missing an opportunity to teach their students to navigate and to distinguish between valid sources of information and misinformation (p.313).

3. Curiosity and Passion: CQ + PQ > IQ

IQ is an intelligence quotient, and PQ is curiosity quotient. Friedman writes: "Give me a kid with a passion to learn and a curiosity to discover and I will take him or her over a less passionate kid with a high IQ every day of the week. Curious, passionate kids are self-educators and self-motivators. They will always be able to learn how to, especially on the flat-world platform, where you can both download and upload."

"Work matters," said Searls, "but curiosity matters more. Nobody works harder at learning than a curious kid."

4. Liberal Arts

Since the new middle jobs require great synthesizing skills, students should be encouraged to think horizontally and connect disparate dots, and, according to Friedman, liberal arts could help students to make connections among history, art, politics, and science.

Steve Jobs shared his story with Stanford University students at a commencement speech. Jobs decided to drop out from the Reed College and started taking classes, which were not required, but interested him. Jobs took a calligraphy class and learned about serif and sans serif typeface, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. After ten years, Jobs used his calligraphy knowledge in designing Macintosh computer fonts. If Jobs didn't take this course, Mac would have never had multiple typeface or proportionally spaced fonts (p.317-318).

5. Right Brain Skills

According to Daniel Pink, the author of "A Whole New Mind," students should learn how "to mesh together different perspectives and disciplines to produce a third thing."

In the new flat world, we have to teach our students right-brain skills "such as forging relationships rather than executing transactions, tackling novel challengers instead of solving routine problems, and synthesizing the big picture rather than analyzing s single component," argues Pink.

India is a largest English speaking country in the world with millions of skilled workers who are capable to absorb most computer coding, accounting, legal research, and financial analysis jobs. However, the plenty of opportunities remain for less routine work for programmers who can design new systems, accountants who serve as life planners and bankers experts in the art of the deal. Pink argues that "Now the foreigners can do left-brain work cheaper, we in the U.S. must do right-brain work better."

One way to nurture the students' right-brain is by encouraging them to do something that they love, because students will learn to bring something intangible into their work, something out of their right brain, which cannot be easily repeated, automated, or outsourced.

We should teach our students how to be a good collaborators, leveragers, adapters, explainers, synthesizers, localizers, and personalizers. These are the most important skills, which help our students to survive the competition and succeed in the "flat world."

References:
Thomas L. Friedman (2007). The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

Image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyasusolomon/2094484539/sizes/o/

10 "Flatteners" of the World

2008-01-30T08:44:00.000-05:00

On July 24, 2007, Thomas L. Friedman published a further updated and expanded edition of his book “The World is Flat.“ In my next blog, I would like to discuss how “the flat world” affects education system, teachers and students. Today, I'll briefly introduce 10 "flatteners" of the world, in case you have not read this book.

Thomas L. Friedman, foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times, came up with an idea for his book “The World is Flat“ after an interview with Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys, in India. They were discussing massive investment into technology which created a platform “where intellectual work, intellectual capital, could be delivered from anywhere. It could be disaggregated, delivered, distributed, produced, and put back together again and this gave a whole new degree of freedom to the way we do work, especially work of an intellectual nature…” Nilekani mentioned that “the playing field is being leveled between countries” like India, and that America had better get ready for this. This conversation with Nilekani made Friedman to see clearly that the global competitive playing field was being leveled and inspired him to write a book.

Friedman lists ten "flatteners" of the world:

Flattener #1: 11/9/89

The fall of the Berlin wall.

Flattener #2: 8/9/95

Netscape went public and shifted us from a PC-based platform to an Internet-based platform.

Flattener #3. Work Flow Software

"Work flow platforms are enabling us to do for the service industry what Henry Ford did for manufacturing," said Jerry Rao, the entrepreneur doing accounting work for American from India. "We are taking apart each task, [standartizing it,] and sending it around to whomever can do it best, and because we are doing it in a virtual environment, people need not be physically adjacent to each other, and then we are reassembling all the pieces back together at headquarters [or some other remote site]. This is not a trivial revolution. This is a major one. It allows for a boss to be somewhere and his employees to be someplace else." These work flow software platforms, Jerry added, "enable you to create virtual global offices - not limited by either the boundaries of your office or your country - and to access talent sitting in different parts of the world and have them complete tasks that you need completed in real time. And so 24/7/365 we are all working. And all this has happened in the twinkling of an eye - the span of the last two or three years" (p.91).

For example, Wild Brain is an animation studio in San Francisco that produces films and cartoons for Disney with a team which is spread all around the world: the design and direction is done in San Francisco; the writers work from their homes in Florida, London, new York, Chicago, L.A., and San Francisco; the animation of characters is done in Bangalore; and the recording sessions are held in New York and L.A.

Salesforce.com offers online 590 business tools as email marketing tools, sales analysis tools, and finance tools. Justin Lu, a Shanghai-based businessman is able to sells his organic vitamins and run a $1 million-dollar-revenue generating business from his home with help from salesforce.com business tools.

Flattener #4. Uploading

Community Developed Open-source Software as Apache

Community Developed Answers

Blogging: Uploading News & Commentary

Wikipedia: Community Uploaded Content.

Flattener #5. Outsourcing

The Year 2000 problem, also known as the Y2K problem and the millennium bug, was outsourced oversees because it was cheaper to hire programmers in India. India benefited not only from the dot-com boom (when the cables were laid to India), but also from he dot-com failure (when the cables connect India with the rest of the world).

Many jobs eventually will be outsourced oversees, but I would like to mention here jobs that Friedman calls "untouchables" -- those people whose job won't be outsourced or merged. These "untouchable" jobs are:

1. Special or specialized -- like Michael Jordan, Madonna, Elton John, J.K. Rowling, brain surgeons, the top cancer researchers etc.
2. Localized and anchored -- jobs done at a specific location, involving face-to-face personalized contact or interaction with a customer, client, patient, colleague, or audience -- a barber, waitress, plumber, nurse, dentist, masseurs, repairmen, electrician, gardener, etc. I would add here a teacher.
3. Adaptable -- constantly acquiring new skills that "can make you (at least temporarily) special, specialized, or anchored, and therefore (at least temporarily) untouchable and more likely to reap rising wages" (p.285).

Flattener #6. Offshoring: Running with Gazelles, Eating with Lions

"On December 11, 2001, China formally joined the World Trade Organization, which meant Beijing agreed to follow the same global rules governing exports, imports, and foreign investments that most countries were following." (p.137) ASIMCO Technologies – an American auto parts manufacturer in China put the following African proverb, translated in Mandarin, on the factory floor:

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn’t matter if you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.

Ever since China joined the World Trade Organization, both they and the rest of the world have had to run faster and faster.

Facts to think about: the average wage of a high-skilled machinist in America is $3,000-4,000 a month, while the average wage for a factory worker in China is about $150 a month (p.147). America remains the world's biggest manufacturer, producing 75% of what it consumes, though that's down from 90% in the mid-90s (p.150).

Flattener #7. Supply-Chaining: Eating Sushi in Arkansas

Friedman describes the Wal-Mart's supply chain in Bentonvilee, Arkansas -- 1.2-million-square-foot distribution center.

When a consumer picks up one of the products in a Wal-Mart store, the cashier scans it and the generated signal goes to the supplier of that product and pops up on the supplier's computer screen and prompts him to make another of that item and ship it via the Wal-Mark supply chain. Wal-Mart movies 2.3 billion general merchandise cartons a year to its stores.

For example, during hurricane, Florida Wal-Mart stores stock more beer, pop tarts, and kid's games that don't require electricity. Of course, Wal-Mart's ruthless obsession to lower prices has its down sides. For example, Wal-Mart locks overnight workers into its stores, uses illegal immigrants as ganitors, battles the largest civil-rights class-action lawsuit, etc.

Flattener #8. Insourcing: What the Guys in Funny Brown Shorts Are Really Doing

FedEx and UPS not just delivering packages anymore. They are synchronizing global supply chains large and small (p.167). If you own a Toshiba laptop under warranty, and it breaks and you call Toshiba to have it repaired, it goes to a UPS workshop dedicated to computer repairs at their Louisville hub. UPS also dispatches the drivers and schedules supply pickup and delivery for Papa John’s Pizza.

Flattener #9. In-Forming: Google, Yahoo!, and MSN Web Search

Google is now processing roughly one billion searches per day, up from 150 million just three years ago. According to Alan Cohen, "If I can operate Google, I can find anything. Google is like God, God is wireless, God is everywhere, and god sees everything. Any questions in the world, ask Google" (p.185).

Flattener #10. The Steroids: Digital, Mobile, Personal, and Virtual

The first steroid: Computing power. in 1971, the Intel 4004 microprocessor contained 2,3000 transistors. Intel's Tianium processor has 1.7 billion transistors in 2006.
The second steroid: Breakthroughs in instant messaging, peer-to-peer networks and file sharing.
The third steroid: Breakthroughs in making phone calls over the Internet (VOIP) -- Skype.
The fourth steroid: Videoconferencing -- people can collaborate, "communicate their thoughts, facial expressions, feelings, ire, enthusiasm, and raised eyebrows."
The fifth steroid: Advances in computer graphics. "Video games are particularly important in this regard, because in addition to their very realistic visual images and great sound, they are highly interactive and increasingly collaborative." (p.194).
The sixth steroid: Wireless technologies and devices. In Japan, you can get uninterrupted wireless internet service on your computer or cell phone while traveling on the bullet train at 150 mph. According to Tamon Mitsuishi, senior VP at DoCoMo, the Japanese cellular giant, " the mobile phone will become the essential controller of a person's life. For example, in the medical field it will be your authentication system and you can examine your medical records, and to make payments you will have to hold a mobile phone. You will not be able to lead a life without a mobile phone, and it will control things at home too. We believe that we need to expand the range of machines that can be controlled by mobile phone."

These steroids made it possible for all forms of collaboration – outsourcing, offshoring, open-sourcing, supply-chaining, and in-forming – to come together. Friedman writes: "As a result of these steroids, engines can now talk to computers, people can talk to people, computers can talk to computers, and people can talk to computers father, faster, more cheaply, and more easily that ever before. And as that has happened, more people from more places have started asking one another the same two question:

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

CAN WE WORK TOGETHER NOW?"

References
Thomas L. Friedman (2007) The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

Images
http://www.flickr.com/
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/
http://www.businessweek.com/
http://www.learner.org/
http://images.businessweek.com/
http://www.downloadsquad.com/

7 Steps for Technology Integration

2008-01-22T19:15:00.000-05:00

Step 1. Learn About NETS

Teachers use technology to maximize student learning, to facilitate technology-enhanced experiences, to support learner-centered strategies, to develop students' higher order skills and creativity, and to manage student learning activities in a technology-enhanced environment.

National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) list different technology tools for students:

1. Productivity
2. Communications
3. Research
4. Problem-solving
5. Decision-making.

Explore NETS website and identify important standards and technology tools for students in your classroom.

Step 2. Examine and Distinguish Between Different Types of Technologies

I've divided different types of technologies into 14 groups:

1. Word Processing and Publishing

2. Spreadsheets and Databases

3. Presentations

Microsoft PowerPoint
Mind Mapping (iMindMap, FreeMind, bubbl.us, WiseMapping)

4. Graphic Design and Animation

Adobe Illustrator (vector graphic design)
Adobe Photoshop (photo enhancement and manipulation)
Bryce (3D)
Google SketchUp (3D)
Adobe Flash (animation)

5. Web Design

6. Digital Photo

7. Digital Video

8. Educational Games and Simulations

9. Social Networking

10. Wiki

11. Blog

12. Podcasting

13. Distance Learning

Blackboard

14. Videoconferencing

WebCam

Select specific software, Web resources, or hardware that appear to have the most potential for use in your classroom.

Step 3. Identify Potential Areas in Your Curriculum

Identify several curricular activities that you use in your classroom that may have the potential for technology integration.

List 3-5 lessons which could be enriched by technology integration.

Step 4. Develop a Technology-Integrated Lesson Plan

Explore the following Web resources:

English Language Arts Learning Activities
3 - 5: Wall of Fame
6 - 8: Birthstone Project with a Multimedia Twist
6 - 8: Creating a Heroic Character
9-12: Discovering Ourselves in Literature and Life

Foreign Language Learning Activities
3 - 5: Les Voyageurs: The Explorers
6 - 8: Keypals
9-12: Servus in Öesterreich: Welcome to Austria

Mathematics Learning Activities
3 - 5: Million Dollar Project
6 - 8: Design Your Own Bedroom
6 - 8: Getting It Right! An Investigation of the Pythagorean Theorem
9-12: Chaos and Beyond

Science Learning Activities
3 - 5: Who's Who in Fingerprinting
6 - 8: Bird Rap–A Web Guide to Local Birds
6 - 8: Earth Movement in Real Time
9-12: Acceleration

Social Studies Learning Activities
3 - 5: Navigating by Landmarks
6 - 8: Into the Next Millennium
6 - 8: Walk in My Shoes
9-12: Population Growth and Urban Planning

Visit The Best Practices of Technology Integration page.

Choose a lesson from your curriculum that you will use for technology integration. Your technology integration lesson plan should include:

1. Grade
2. Date
3. Subject
4. Description
5. Activities
6. Tools and Resources (software, hardware, websites)
7. Assessment.

Step 5. Identify Considerations for Using Technology in Your Classroom

Evaluate the feasibility of your technology integrated lesson plan and think how the Technology Department can support you in implementing technology into your classroom:
1. Request via the Help Desk necessary for your lesson hardware and software
2. Schedule with the computer teacher to visit your class and introduce software and hardware.

Step 6. Assess Your Technology Integration Lesson Plan

After finishing your technology integration lesson plan, ask yourself the following questions:

Will technology help students to achieve the curricular objectives?
Will students be motivated by the technology?
Will technology be critical to accomplish your lesson goals and objectives?
Will technology support different student ability levels?
Will available equipment be sufficient for the number of students in your classroom?
Do you need to obtain and install new software?
Do you need help to introduce new software to students?

Step 7. Go!

Resources:

National Educational Technology Standards for Students
Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for All Teachers
The Best Practices of Technology Integration
PBS TeacherLine

Five Star® Sound Binder

2007-09-26T10:42:00.000-04:00

Hey, kids, aren’t you tired of paying attention to your teachers? Don’t you wish you could find a way to tune them out?

This is a quote from one of our high school student’s article in the school newspaper. This article is about the Five Star® Sound Binder, which allows students to listen to their favorite tunes. The Sound Binder is powered via the MP3 player and could be used not only for listening to music, but also for class presentations. However, according to the student, it’s difficult to take notes and study, if the binder is blaring music. Combination of a binder with an iPod makes learning difficult, "all for the sake of sales."

Can a Five Star® Sound Binder have any educational value in the classroom?

I think, it might be useful if students:

1. Listen for teachers’ podcasts while browsing notes
2. Listen for an audio book from Audible and prepare for a quiz based on this book
3. Have a light music on the background to boost creativity
4. Deliver a presentation in a classroom with no computers.

Overall, I agree with the student that “the Sound Binder only deters students from learning.”

DVD Ripper

2007-09-23T19:54:00.000-04:00

Recently, my colleague asked me: how can one save a movie from a DVD and import a part of it into a PowerPoint presentation? I wanted to answer that this is illegal since all DVDs are copyright protected, but suddenly I’ve remembered that one of our senior students in his presentation had excerpts from different movies, and I’ve decided to research this topic.

In the hallway, a high school computer wiz enlightened me that there are several DVD ripper software and an 8th grade student suggested using an online video converter Zamzar.

This sudden glimpse into a video piracy left me intrigued, and I spent my Friday evening searching for DVD ripper software on the Internet.

On YouTube, I found many tutorials showing how to save video files, including YouTube movies, from the Internet:

How to Download and save Youtube videos to your computer
How To Download Videos From YouTube

GreaseMonkey Firefox extension allows users to “customize” websites with special scripts and save embedded videos with an unember script. A cute monkey sitting in the lower-right corner of a Firefox browser window can help you to download all your favorite movies and video tutorials from the Internet into your hard drive.

Zamzar is an amazing online software supporting conversion between a wide variety of different document, image, music, and video file formats.

Software as Mac The Ripper and PC Daniusoft DVD Ripper extract video files from DVDs and save moves onto hard drives.

There are many tutorials on how to rip DVDs on YouTube:

How to rip DVD with split/subtitle/crop/trim/effect the file
DVD rip and Video Compression Basics for Mac
Mac The Ripper DVD Copy

Is it legal to rip DVDs?

As we know, it’s legal to record movies from the TV to DVD, but the name of software “Mac The Ripper” and an icon with a knife explicitly suggest that this software is designed to strip encrypted codes from DVDs and download movies onto hard drives, and this can't be legal. Even though The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has no information on a DVD encryption since this document was signed by President Clinton in 1998, but it prohibits "any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, that . . . is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner."

The Essential Technology Skills for Educators

2007-09-11T20:33:00.000-04:00

I have compiled a list of the essential technology skills for educators. I hope this list will help teachers in self-assessment of their computer skills.

The essential technology skills for educators are:

Internet skills to navigate the World Wide Web and search effectively.

Word processing skills to complete written tasks

Database skills to create tables, store, retrieve, and query data

Microsoft Access
Zoho Creator -- an online database application for surveys, inventories, and data collection.

Electronic presentation skills to create and give electronic presentations

E-mail management skills to open, compose, and archive messages, send attachments and create e-mail folder

Digital cameras and digital image editing skills to transfer, edit, and print out images

Digital video skills

Podcasting skills

Audacity -- Free Audio Editor and Recorder
GarageBand

Understanding social networking

General Social Networks: MySpace , Facebook
Photo Social Networks: Flickr, Picasa , BubbleShare
Video Social Networks: YouTube , Google Video , Viddler
Professional Social Networks - Innocentive, LinkedIn
Technology Social Network - digg , techcrunch
Popular eLearning Networks: Moodle , eLearning Guru , NiceNet

Wikis

About Wiki
PB Wiki is as "easy as making a peanut butter sandwich."
Wikispaces has 100,000 free K-12 Plus wikis.
Schtuff.com has nice features like tagging, custom permissions, and an image gallery.
Seedwiki has no ads and no limits on the number of wikis or number of pages the users can create.

Blogs

Computer network knowledge to understand how the school network works and access online folders

File management & Windows Explorer skills to manage computer files

Windows Explorer
Finder (Mac)

Download and install software and ebooks from the Internet

Blackboard teaching skills to create online courses, quizzes, and exams, view student work, create discussions, and evaluate projects

Blackboard Tutorials

Videoconferencing skills to use a videoconferencing classroom and understand the basics of teaching with videoconferencing

Computer related storage devices (CDs, DVDs, USB drives, and external hard drives)

Scanner knowledge to scan document and save them on the hard drive

Scanner Tutorials

Multimedia and website copyright issues

Fair Use Guidelines For Educational Multimedia

Computer security

Ad-Aware - Spyware Removal Software
Windows Defender -- Spyware protection for free
Helping you Prevent and Remove Adware, Spyware, Viruses and Other Malware

10 Important Concepts for DL Courses

2007-09-09T19:03:00.000-04:00

1. A simple online course could be delivered by using a website or email. Instructors can post a course material on the website and send students assignments as email attachments. The students can complete assignments and send them back to the instructor for comment and feedback. This is a rudimentary use of technology. However, for more advanced courses, a school should have access to a distance learning management system as Blackboard, WebCT, or Lotus Notes.

2. It is crucial to have a technical support for distance learning faculty and students. The technical support staff should be in charge of everyday maintenance system, upgrade and backup of the DL management system.

3. Instructors need training to use technology effectively. They should learn about the distance learning management system and all its features, such as existence of discussion boards, file transfer capability, and an online gradebook.

4. Instructors should carefully consider technology requirements for their course and they have to identify those requirements for students prior to the beginning of the course.

5. Instructors should present new material with different media: text, audio, and video in order to address students with different learning styles --the visual style, the auditory style, and the kinesthetic style.

6. Distance learning should provide students with a learner-centered environment where learners assume primary responsibility for their choices and have opportunities to exercise control over their learning.

7. Distance learning course should be designed to provide ample student/instructor interaction. To make the course more interactive, the instructor could provide threaded discussions, synchronous chats, send students emails, communicate with them via instant massager, have videoconferences, webinars, etc.

8. Instructors should carefully plan distance learning course, set goals and objectives, and divided the course into unites, modules, topics, and learning outcomes. It’s important to have a syllabus and calendar with assignments and deadlines.

9. Students should have projects and assignments related to learning outcome, and it should be at least one learning outcome per topic or module.

10. Instructors should develop efficient assessment methods and use the distance learning management system’s tracking capabilities to measure student participation. Students should be provided with feedback and grades for their assignments and projects.

References

Carlson, R. (1999). Teaching with Technology: Migrating Your Course to the Online Environment. Syllabus Magazine, September Issue, from: http://users.mikrotec.com/carlson/wwwpages/Article_1.htm.

Simonson, M. et al. (2006). Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education (3rd. Ed.). Pearson Education Inc.: New Jersey.

BODIES...The Exhibition

2007-08-19T20:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I visited a controversial exhibition "BODIES...The Exhibition" at the South Street Seaport, New York. This exhibition displays real human bodies preserved with a polymer preservation process, which was developed by Dr. Gunthervon Hagens, a German scientist. First, tissue water is removed by submersion of a body into acetone. Then the acetone is removed in a vacuum chamber and the tissue spaces within the body are filled with liquid silicone rubber. Lastly, the silicone rubber is treated with a catalyst and hardened. The process can take from 24 hours to up to one year to prepare the whole body. Bodies filled with polymer are virtually indestructible. They are stripped of their skin, dissected, sliced, and posed -- the exhibition displays standing, playing basketball, running, and conducting an orchestra cadavers. This impressive exhibition features 22 whole bodies and more than 260 additional organ and partial bodies.

All these cadavers are unclaimed bodies from China. They were dissected at the Dalian University in Liaoning and leased for the exhibition. This raises legitimate issues of human-rights abuse since these people did not give permission for their bodies to be filled with liquid silicone rubber and put on display. However, Dr. VonHagens claims that 6,800 people have donated their bodies to his research, including 200 Americans.

Despite all controversy, in my opinion, this exhibition has tremendous educational value. Beauty and complexity of human body leaves visitors in awe. The exhibition displays human nerves, blood vessels, muscles, bones, brain, heart, lungs, intestinal and reproduction organs. There is a pre-natal section of the exhibition. Visitors can view fetuses in various stages of development, but this section can be bypassed if parents or teachers don't wish their children to view it.

The exhibition allows people to learn more about their bodies and encourages healthy lifestyle choices by presenting organs damaged by excess eating and smoking.

The visitors can view fat deposits, breast cancer, colon cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, and bone fractions.

Dr. Glover, chief medical adviser for BODIES, underlines that BODIES is a family exhibition and more than 250,000 children attended the exhibition.

The BODY's website suggests several classroom activities: create a travel brochure for the Human Skeletal System, create an anti-tobacco public service campaign, and create a brain health & safety handbook. It is suggested to visit the following websites with kids:
www.kidshealth.org/kid/,
library.thinkquest.org/10348/
www.lung.ca/children/index_kids.html
Teachers can request a teacher's guide. The exhibition catalog is available for $20.

Tickets are $20 -27 and extra $6 for the audio tour. They offer a kid friendly version of the audio tour. View Minnesota Public Radio slideshow of The Body Worlds' Exhibition at The Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. View "Bodies: The Exhibition" slideshow.

References:

Bodies: The Exhibition at washingtonpost.com
Website “BODIES...The Exhibition”
Benetti, W. (2006). Education or freak show? 'Bodies ... The Exhibition' cashes in on our own curiosity
Cunningham, G. (2006). A new way to view the body

Images are from the BODIES catalog.

Stretch Break

2007-07-09T16:10:00.000-04:00

I usually work for hours in front of my computer. Several years ago, I found an ergonomic program Stretch Break. This is an application that reminds you to take breaks and offers different Yoga-based stretching exercises -- current version 6.2 contains 36 stretches.

I like this program because it reminds me that I have to take a break, stretch, get up, move around, and drink water. It has a pleasant background music, variety of standing, sitting, and eye exercises, time-to-stretch reminder, and ergonomic information. The sessions and music are customizable. Each exercise is approximately 15-25 seconds. You can control time between stretch sessions and number of stretches per session. You can import into program your favorite music.

This year, I have Mac computers in my office and in classroom. I was pleasantly surprised that Stretch Break released Mac OS X version.

Check a free version of Stretch Break for kids. I wish 3D models for kids were more creative, colorful, and attractive, but health benefits of this application are indubitable. I would suggest having Stretch Break on all children's computers. Since Stretch Break may interfere with computer games, parents should monitor that kids wouldn't disable the program from the startup.

Distance Education in K-12

2007-07-06T19:08:00.000-04:00

Today many K-12 schools have distance learning course management systems like Blackboard, WebCT or Moodle, and K-12 teachers are encouraged to put their face-to-face course content online to allow student access to course material, syllabi, assignments, announcements, test scores and grades from home. Full online credit courses are usually available for high school students. In my opinion, elementary and middle school students (with some exceptions) may not have enough self-discipline, motivation, and study skills to work on their own without adult supervision. However, some virtual schools like K12.com deliver online classes for students of all levels including the elementary school level.

A few teachers and administrators consider that online classes are no different from face-to-face classes and teachers only need to upload all material online. This is a wrong approach since online classes require different from conventional face-to-face classes teaching, assessment and delivery methods. Distance learning instructors should be knowledgeable about online teaching strategies and requirements; they have to make changes to their face-to-face courses and to transform them from a teacher-centered to a learning-centered experience, develop assignments which will work best online, and create virtual discussions, forums, and chat rooms to ensure student participation.

Transitioning from the conventional classroom to the online environment should start with familiarity with online technologies. Distance learning courses consist of many different building blocks, and teachers should decide which blocks they are going to use in their online course: virtual presentations (PowerPoints, streaming video or audio) and lectures; virtual interactions with students (synchronous chat); online textbooks (webpages, Word or Acrobat files); simulations and games; virtual reference library; and assessment and quizzes. Teachers should map an outline of the course and write a syllabus with objectives, main topics, prerequisite knowledge, textbooks, instructional methodology, course overview, module descriptions with delivery dates and assignments. Teachers should determine the level of lowest common technologies and set a minimum computer requirements.

Teachers should get familiar with a course management system, read or watch tutorials, and explore different options and settings. After learning as much as possible about the course management system, teachers should create a distance learning course shell which includes buttons, banners, and module folders. Online instructors usually have different strategies for uploading course content. Some instructors like to upload material only for one module and keep the other modules closed; some instructors prefer to have all modules open, but require students to adhere to deadlines. Online instructors should make all course requirements, deadlines, assignments, and synchronous and asynchronous online activities easily visible for the students. Online instructors should have open communication channels with students and a quick turnaround time for assignments with feedback and grades.

Distance learning course development can be very time consuming and administrators should not expect a fast transition from conventional face-to-face classes to distance learning courses.

Images:

Images are screenshots of my online courses in Media Arts and Introduction to Educational Technology on the Blackboard.

iPhone Troubleshooting 101

2007-07-03T21:40:00.000-04:00

When you buy an iPhone, you have to activate it via iTunes. This process should take only several minutes, but I had a problem with my activation. My phone was working, and I could access the Internet through WiFi, but I couldn’t make and receive phone calls. I had to spend hours over phone with AT&T and Apple customer support. I spoke with at least 10 different representatives and most of them had no idea why my phone was not working. I was told to hook up my iPhone to a computer and wait for 48-72 hours; to go to Apple store and ask a Mac Genius for help; to send my phone back to Apple and change a SIM card… I've used all possible troubleshooting techniques described in the iPhone User Guide.

Luckily, I’ve decided to call AT&T Customer Service at 1-877-419-4500. I’ve received this number in email with my activation confirmation. Finally, one of the customer support representatives was able to help me. He performed different troubleshooting tricks: sent me updates, verified phone information including the SIM card number, and, at last, he found that my personal information wasn’t properly entered at one of their databases. He restored it and instantly my cell signal bars appeared along with AT&T and E (EDGE network) symbols.

iPhone Activation and Troubleshooting Tips

Watch Apple’s Activation and Synchronization video.

If you have iTunes Store account, check your personal data (email, credit card, address, and phone) before activating your iPhone.

Try disconnecting your phone from the computer for 30 seconds and pluging it back in. This will restart your activation process.

Go to iPhone Troubleshooting Assistant and try all steps.

If you don’t see cell signal bars, check area coverage.

Call AT&T service at 1-877-419-4500.

Download iPhone User Guide and look for Tips and Troubleshooting.

If you need to remove the SIM card, it’s easy to do with a small paper clip -- push it firmly down the hole on the SIM tray until the tray will pop up. Your SIM card’s 10-digit number is on the back of the card. To view the number, you have to remove the SIM card carefully from the tray.

iPhone Dissected

2007-07-02T08:43:00.000-04:00

In 2004-05, I had a gifted student, David H., who was taking apart and building new computers since he was 2 years old. He used to bring different computer parts from home and take them apart in class. David’s help with hardware problems at our PC lab was very useful. Recently, I found an article “A Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears” in New York Times. According to this article, David researched and uploaded the British Mosquitotone's version of the high-pitched sound into his cellphone and used it as a text-message ringtone Highring (A.K.A Teen Buzz) with his friends at Roslyn High School. Many adults can't hear a high-pitched sound at 14,400 hertz.

"David was asked, did he think this new device would alter the balance of power between adults and teenagers? Or did he suppose it was a passing fad? "Well, probably it is," said David, who added after a moment's thought, "And if not, I guess the school will just have to hire a lot of young teachers."

Today, after searching for information about iPhoto hardware and software, I found an article "Apple's iPhone Dissected: We did it, so you don't have to" by Anand Lal Shimpi.

These pictures reminded me of David. As I wrote in my previous post, the Modern Leonardos and Michelangelos dissect computers, software, webcams, and cell phones to fulfill their quest for knowledge.

Images:
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3026

Links:
David’s projects in 2004-05 -- Binary and Face (takes time to load).

iPhone

2007-07-01T18:51:00.000-04:00

Today I bought an iPhone in Apple SoHo store.

This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog

Educating the Global Citizen

2007-06-30T12:28:00.000-04:00

George Walker is a former director general of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Organization and the author of a book Educating the Global Citizen. Walker argues that ‘international’ is not the same as ‘global’ and education should reflect the increasing influence of globalization.

How can we educate a global citizen?
Walker describes three stages in international education:
1. International awareness. Students are introduced to many different countries, their history and geography. They study foreign languages, learn about culture and customs of these countries. They travel to different countries, try their food, and visit local museums.

2. Global awareness. All countries around the world are inextricably bound together in the process known as globalization. We all profit from the low-cost manufacturing in China, and we are all in danger because of global warming. Walker quotes IB’s mission statement: "other people, with their differences, may also be right."

3. Global citizenship. A global citizen should have a “mental flexibility and a basic respect for perspectives other than their own… Engagement – in thought, in discussion,
in active learning – is the basis for global citizenship.”

What is a globalized society?
Walker quotes definition of globalization: “The widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life.” (Held, 1999)

NECC 2007 conference was a great example of our globalized society. Even without attending this conference, I was fully aware what is going on there through blogs, video, podcasts, excellent NECC website with handouts and research papers.

Walker states 5 different features of globalization.

The first feature: historical context
According to Walker, the first period of globalization started in 1492 in Portugal and changed population of the whole continent of Americas. Shipping slaves to America marked the second period. The third period happened with mass migration from Europe to North America in 19th century. Recent period “started with the liberalization of international trade after the Second World War and has been greatly accelerated in recent years by new techniques of information and communication technology.”

The second feature: complexity
We live in a complex world. A perfect example of complexity of globalization is how the war in Iraq is presented to public by media and political parties. It was shocking to see a recorded by a cell phone and streamed via YouTube video with a horrible scene of the hanging of Saddam Hussein.

Walker quotes: “Global citizens…examine ideas that challenge their own and then enjoy the complexity” (from the Washington International School statement).

I try to adapt to the constantly changing complex world, but I am far from enjoying it. Recently, I’ve stopped watching news in a feeble attempt to protect myself from information full of negativity, crime, and hatred. Let’s hope that our students will learn to “enjoy the complexity” of this world.

How should our educational system reflect complexity?
1. Broadened curriculum. The students should learn about Iraq conflict from the historical, cultural and political point of view.
2. Awareness of the status of different forms of knowledge and development of a sense of intellectual honesty.
3. Interdisciplinary study of globalization.

The third feature: ethical values
Interest in ethical issues should be revived in our society and developed amongst students.

The fourth feature: connecting to other people
Globalization helps connect students around the world. The conferences bring together educators from around the world, and teachers in their classrooms connect students with their peers in different countries and continents by videoconferencing, blogging, using wikis, emailing, instant messaging, skyping, and twittering.

The fifth feature: winners and losers
According to Walker: “It has been assumed in the West that a good education will be the passport to a materially comfortable life. In future a good education, one that connects the intellect to human compassion, must be perceived as the means of providing, as much as receiving, material wealth.”

References:
George Walker, “Educating the global citizen,” speech made at The British Schools of the Middle East conference, 31 January 2007.

George Walker, Educating the Global Citizen.

Image:
Armillary sphere by William Cunningham, The Cosmographicall Glasse, London 1559.
http://www.compassrosetech.com/static/
AST03-CosmographicalGlasse.jpg

Web App Autopsy

2007-06-29T10:13:00.000-04:00

Ryan Cambell in his article Web App Autopsy analyzes 4 different web applications:
Wufoo is an online HTML form builder.

Blinksale helps companies to create and send to customers invoices for services or products.

FeedBurner creates RSS feeds for blogs and podcasts and was recently acquired by Google.

RegOnline builds online registration systems.

Campbell uses nice tables and charts to present information. This article provides the basic information about these companies:

Programming languages -- PHP, Ruby on Rails, Java, and .NET;
Time to launch -- between 3 months and 6 years;
Code lines counts -- RegOline has the highest number of code lines;
Conversion rates -- RegOnline has 1.52% free and 1.14% paid services while Blinksale has 11 free and only 1% paid services;
Average revenue per customer -- RegOnline has the higest revenue--$131/month;
Seasonal trends -- sales drop in December.

We are spoiled with plethora of free web applications and even insulted when these struggling small companies try to charge us for their hard work and great applications. This article shows how much time and effort programmers are putting into these applications, how they try to gain recognition and attract potential paid customers by giving out their applications for free, and how little they are paid for their effort unless some lucky ones get popular or purchased by the larger companies as in case with FeedBurner.

This article was suggested by Dean Collins -- http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/.

NY Times Lesson Plan and Brain-Based Learning

2007-06-28T17:15:00.000-04:00

New York Times Daily Lesson Plan developed in partnership with the Bank Street College of Education in NYC is a valuable resource for teachers in different subjects.

I've chosen a lesson plan "Under the Sea" because my students developed many underwater animated projects in Flash, and I thought it would be great to combine my computer lessons with science lessons. I've made some adjustments to the NY Times lesson plan based on Brain-Based Learning theory and added more interdisciplinary connections.

This lesson plan is for grades 6-8. In this project, students invent imaginary deep sea creatures, create a classroom museum exhibit, research the Internet, read articles and books, create movies, and write creative stories about these animals.

The lesson plan is reinforcing interdisciplinary connections: Fine Arts, Dance, Sculpture, Computers, Language Arts, Science, Geography, Global History, and Health. For example:

Science --students learn about deep sea exploration;
Dance -- imitate deep sea creatures movements and use underwater sound effects;
Sculpture -- create sculptures of underwater creatures;
Fine Arts --draw deep sea creatures;
Computers -- develop and program animated movies and 3D models;
Language Arts -- write poems and stories;
Geography -- study marine trenches;
Global History -- learn about marine explorations;
Health -- investigate the effects of extreme pressure on the body under water.

According to brain-based learning, an interdisciplinary curriculum reinforces brain-based learning because the brain can better make connections when material is presented in an integrated way, rather than as isolated bits of information.

Brain-based learning requires orchestrated immersion or creating learning environments that fully immerse students in an educational experience. While studying about the abyss creatures, students describe and draw fictitious sea creatures that might live in the deep sea, animate them, create their own animated movies, make 3D models of organisms on a computer and create a life-size diorama of the abyss. As a culmination of this project, students design costumes based on colors and shapes of the deep see animals and have a carnival.

Research documents that the brain grows and adapts in response to external stimuli. In this lesson plan, students process new information by consolidating and internalizing information and creating their own creative products: drawings, movies, 3D models, poetry, and sci-fi stories. Students are stimulated with fascinated articles, books, paintings, photo images, video, underwater sounds, etc.

This project could also benefit from field trips to aquarium, guest speakers -- marin biologists, and real-life projects as saving endangered underwater species. This will allow students to use many learning styles and multiple intelligences.

References:

Mysteries To Behold In the Dark Down Deep: Seadevils And Species Unknown.

Multimedia Slide Show: Seadevils and Species

Brain-based learning

The Definition of The Brain & Learning

Image:
Flash animation was created by my 7th grade students.

Seadragon

2007-06-27T12:15:00.000-04:00

Microsoft’s Live Labs developed a new application called Seadragon which could change the way we view images and text on computer screens. SeaDragon creates semantic interconnections across the entire collective memory of images around the world and displays them at once on a computer screen for previewing, searching, and studying. Seadragon visualizes “the world is flat” idea on screens of our monitors.

Educational implication of this application could be a visual representation of a collective knowledge or individual knowledge on the screen. Just imagine whatever you ever learned or read is stored on a hard drive; each day information is enriched, tagged, and added to your individual knowledge bank. You can view and detect your progress, review your knowledge bank to refresh associative connections among bits of information accumulated in your brain. Schools could store entire students’ knowledge banks, and could compare, analyze, and study them.

SeaDragon brings us closer to possibility of a visual representation of Jung's collective unconscious or collective psyche.

Watch Microsoft Live Labs Seadragon and Photosynth demonstration at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference in Monterey, CA.

This application was suggested by Dean Collins -- http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/.

Copyright in Distance Education

2007-06-22T17:44:00.000-04:00

On October 4, 2002 Congress enacted the “Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act” (TEACH Act) which is applied to accredited nonprofit educational institutions with a published policy regarding teacher use of copyrighted material.

The Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) helps corporations, universities, law firms and government agencies to use and share published content. The Electronic Course Content Service (ECCS) initiated by CCC provides rapid clearance for electronic coursepacks and reserves. Many periodical publications are available online in HTML or PDF format. ERIC has many full-text articles available for free. However, if instructors want to post on their websites magazine articles, excerpts from books, film clips, recorded music, and artwork, they have to obtain permission from authors or publishers. Only work published before 1923 and developed by or for state agencies, including audiovisual material, may be declared public domain and can be used without any permission.

Fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material for nonprofit educational purposes without requiring permission from the rights holders. Fair use allows quoting a few lines from a popular song or poetry in a review paper or summarizing and quoting from an article for use by a teacher or student in a lesson. Although the law does not provide specific limits or percentage, according to Stanford Copyright and Fair Use policies, it can be considered fair use if no more “than 1% of Wright's unpublished letters were copied and the purpose was informational." Stanford University’s site provides many examples of fair and not a fair use.

Video
Video is an important part in distance education and the TEACH Act provides guidelines and requires that videotape or DVD should be "lawfully acquired" -- purchased or rented to be used for the instructional purposes. If instructors obtained video footage by recording on their home VCR, the program may be displayed to students only once in each class only within 10 consecutive working days following the date of taping. The tape should be erased in 45-day period.

Photographs and Digital Images
According to the Guidelines for Classroom Copying, educators may use one picture per book or periodical issue in classroom. A Conference on Fair Use (CONFU) has the following guidelines for fair use:

Only lawfully acquired analog images may be digitized.
The images can be displayed only on a secure electronic network.
If the rights holder is unknown, the images may be used for 3 years.
The images may not be used in publications without permission (Simonson, et al., p.310).

Multimedia

CONFU guidelines have been considered very restrictive by many educational institutions:

No more than 10 percent or 3 minutes, whichever is less, of video or film may be used for instructional purposes.
No more than 10 percent or 1, 000 words, whichever is less, may be used of text material in multimedia presentations.
No more than 10 percent or 30 seconds, whichever is less, of the music or lyrics from an individual musical work may be used.
No more than five photographs or illustrations by a single artist or photographer may be used (Simonson, et al., p.311).

Based on these guidelines, most of my student work is infringement of copyright laws. I ask my students to create music in GarageBand or use free sound loops for their movies and animations, but sometimes students want to use the popular songs which they purchased and have on their iPods or on CDs. According to fair use, students can't use more than 30 seconds of the copyrighted song. What about movies on YouTube? Many movies use popular songs and don't have any obtained permission from the rights holder.

Obtaining Permission
It is better to obtain a written permission for copyrighted material. Provide the rights holder with your name, position, contact information, describe clearly how material would be used and request a written permission.

Reference:
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., Zvacek, S. (2006). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

iMindMap

2007-06-18T21:38:00.000-04:00

A mind map is a powerful tool for unleashing learners problem-solving and creative abilities and improving their note taking skills. It helps learners to understand new material, memorize information, and recall it later.

Tony Buzan, creator of mind mapping, compares our brain to a radiant thinking association machine, which has 5 functions: receiving, holding, analyzing, outputting, and controlling. Our mind is constantly looking for patterns and completion. For example, after hearing "one, two, three," we tend to add "four" (p.34-35). Our brain employs free-association of ideas to create patterns. Mind maps are used to build connections and establish associations between the learner's experience and new information, between previous knowledge and new concepts.
(Tony Buzan and Barry Buzan, "The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential.")

To create mind maps, learners put main ideas in the center of the page and supporting ideas are placed on the radiating from the center "branches." Learners work outward from the center in all directions and produce colorful charts with key words, phrases, and images. Mindmaps are useful for essay-writing, report-writing, research paper, book reviews, test preparation, planning, and note-taking.

Joyce Wycoff, the author of “Mindmapping: Your Personal Guide to Exploring Creativity and Problem-Solving," presents mind maps in 8 easy steps:
Step1. Mindmapping begins with a word or image placed in the middle of the page.
Step 2. Lighten Up! Start with an open, playful attitude.
Step 3. Free Associate. Allow the ideas to expand outward into branches and sub-branches.
Step 4. Think Fast. Brain works best in 5-7 minute intervals so try to capture new ideas and place them on branches.
Step 5. Break Boundaries. Break the 8 1/2 x 11” habit. Use larger paper and different colors.
Step 6. Judge Not. Put everything down that comes to mind even the most unrelated thoughts.
Step 7. Keep Moving. Create new branches, change colors, don’t stop.
Step 8. Organization can always come later.

(http://www.thinksmart.com/mission/workout/
mindmapping_intro.html)

These are tips for creating mind maps:

Think creatively and in a non-linear manner
Use at least 3 colors for mind mapping
Put the main idea in the center of the page
Use upper case letters to print key words
Add explanation to key words in lower case
Add single words or simple phrases to each branch
The branches should be curved
The branches should radiate from the center
Have lots of space between key words
Use symbols and images.

Mind maps can be written and drawn by hand, but learners can also use mind mapping software: Inspiration, MindGenius, Visual Mind, MindManager, MindApp, etc. Recently, Tony Buzan's group developed software iMindMap, which allows learners to draw freehand branches. Watch movies on YouTube where Tony Buzan introduces iMindMap:

I’ve downloaded a free trial version of iMindMap. It’s a colorful software which helps you to create a cloud (book, ellipse, light bulb) for the main idea, radiate your supportive ideas on curved branches and add images. According to Buzan, this program is "still a young and developing child" and, in my opinion, it requires some improvements:

1. The size of a chart is large in iMindMap, and it would be comfortable to have the shortcuts Ctrl + and Ctrl – for zooming in and out.
2. I found that Branches are difficult to resize. You can press and hold Shift with right-click and drag the branch, but the text gets distorted. Instead of resizing, it's easier to delete the branch and draw a new one.
3. iMindMap developers incorporated the mind mapping technique into the help menu, but it’s difficult to find information and navigate between different topics.

Overall, iMindMap is a useful and colorful tool, and I would recommend it to educators and learners. I've created a mind map based on the SAU 16 Levels of Technology Integration Rubric.

Image:
http://www.thinksmart.com/mission/workout/mindmapping_8.html

Active Learning with Technology

2007-06-16T22:58:00.000-04:00

Technology in Education Resource Center is an invaluable site for educators, especially for teachers who would like to integrate technology into their curriculum. This website linked me to a free sample video 6th Grade Classroom Episode: Collaborative Language Arts from "Active Learning with Technology (ALT) Portfolio," a Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) Production. Although this video was produced in 2000, I would still suggest watching it to teachers. This movie demonstrates how students collaborate in small groups, use a digital typewriter AlphaSmart to compose their own myths and write poems on CyberKids website.

In the movie, 6th grade Language Arts class is divided into four groups:
1. The Grammar and Writing Group is working on autobiography. Students read their autobiography and have a group editing session.
2. The Accelerated Reading Group is having a book talk.
3. The Literature Group is reviewing a mythological story and composing their own myths using AlphaSmart, a digital typewriter with a full-sized keyboard, integrated LCD display, basic word-processing and wireless connectivity.
4. The Poetry Group is finishing their poems and transferring them to the CyberKids website.

Overall, I liked the lesson, but I can’t justify having 4 groups working on the unrelated topics. I would understand if the teacher presented Greek mythology and divided class into 4 groups to work on different assignments related to mythology: for example, composing poems based on mythology, creating myths, designing digital images and writing biographies of the mythological heroes, and uploading everything to the “Greek Mythology” website.

In the movie, the teacher created a poster with names of mythological heroes and used a mnemonic technique to make them memorize Greek names by attaching candies to the names. After students were done with the assignment, the teacher rewarded them with the candies. I think this is a delicious idea, but I can’t imagine giving candies only to several students and disappointing the rest of them.

Hybrid Live Learning Events

2007-06-15T12:21:00.000-04:00

Several years ago, I participated in the international distance learning project where students around the world had to be in front of their computers at the same time to attend the synchronous activities offered over the Blackboard. In my opinion, the virtual chat rooms and online synchronous activities are invaluable for online courses. Most online learners find it exciting to participate in discussions with virtual classmates in real-time.

Jonathan Finkelstein in his book “Learning in Real Time: Synchronous Teaching and Learning Online” argues that online courses lack interaction: online learners have no lively chats among peers over lunch, in-class discussions or debates, student-led presentations, hallway conversations, and serendipitous meetings on campus. Online learners have only “course materials, reading assignments and isolated, independent study – none of which provide the kind of supportive, dynamic, and human environment that helps learners be engaged, motivated, or successful” (p.2). I don’t support the author’s view that online learners are not “engaged, motivated, or successful” without real-time human interaction. I feel engaged, motivated, and comfortable in the online learning environment and with my virtual instructors and classmates even without chat rooms and videoconferencing. However, I agree with Finkelstein that synchronous activities offer great opportunities for interaction with the instructors and peers in real-time.

LearningTimes offers recording of "Hybrid Live Learning Events or "Multiple Venue Productions" (MVPs)." It's a long presentation, but it visualizes how synchronous chat rooms provide participants with ample opportunities for interaction: material is presented with slideshows where text can be underlined and highlighted; participants can send instant messages and speak with each other. You have to create a user name and password to access this site.

The Digital Divide

2007-06-14T00:15:00.001-04:00

Technology revolution has bypassed billions of people around the world. Today the Internet connection, which became integral part of our life, is available only to 3.6 percent population in Africa and 69 percent population in North America. Many countries lack electricity, telephone wires, computers, and software -- this creates an electronic gap between countries, and it gets wider each day due to the effects of overpopulation, social and economic problems, and environmental deterioration.

Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a chairman of The One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC), came up with an idea to design a $100 laptop for kids in developing countires. It's a sleek looking laptop in appealing bright colors. It uses 512 MB of flash memory instead of a hard drive, has two USB ports, built-in wireless networking, a 366-megahertz processor, 1GB of memory and a dual-mode display. It uses open source and free software: a slimmed-down version of Fedora Core Linux operating system, Web browsers, eBook readers, RSS feeder, media players, wordprocessor AbiWord, gmail, Online chat and VoIP programs, music sequencer TamTam, Audio and video player software: Mplayer or Helix.

Initially, developers thought that the price of this laptop would be $100, but now it costs $175 per unit and this price doesn't include the cost of the Internet access, maintenance, repair, and teacher training. I believe that The One Laptop per Child is a noble idea, but I question motives behind selling this device to the developed countries' governments: they don't even have enough money to provide their children with food, medication, and hospitals. In my opinion, The One Laptop per Child Association should search for the donor organizations around the world who would be willing to support this great project and donate the laptops to kids from the developed countries. MIT is considering licensing the design and giving it to a third-party company to build commercial versions of the PC and $20 or $30 profit per laptop would be used for the kids' laptops. I think this is a great idea and hope that MIT would stop selling computers to the developed countries' governments.

Further reading:
http://laptop.org/children/
The $100 laptop moves closer to reality
$100 laptop project launches 2007
World Internet Usage and Population Statistics

Image:
http://laptop.org/children/learning/

Netiquette

2007-06-12T14:53:00.000-04:00

The Internet has changed the way we communicate, research, read, watch, listen, interact, and socialize. There are many different points to be taken into consideration when using electronic communication.

Read carefully your messages before sending. Due to time constrain, we often type and send out messages without carefully reading and spellchecking them. This might lead to misinterpretation and confusions.

Electronic messages could be short-lived or permanent. With 2.8 GB storage in Gmail, CD/DVDs, and servers, electronic mail could be stored for years, but it also can disappear or be deleted. Also, electronic mail can be altered, information corrupted, text reformatted, and printed.

Security and privacy is not guaranteed. Even in organizations with the most high level of Internet security, your messages can't be considered private. They can be viewed by your organization's network administrator, your boss, and can be used against you many years later.

Writing style

At work, keep your style formal but friendly;
Make sure your messages are easy to read and understand;
Cite appropriate references;
Keep messages short;
Use descriptive title for your messages;
Be careful with humor and sarcasm. People can't see your facial expressions, gestures, and can't hear your tone of voice. Use emoticons and smileys to indicate humor :-)
Use to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life.

Further reading:
A Guide to Electronic Communication & Network Etiquette
The Core Rules of Netiquette

Pedagogy, Andragogy, Heutagogy?

2007-06-12T13:45:00.000-04:00

Andragogy is derived from Greek words meaning andr "man" and agogos "leading," while pedagogy means "child-leading." First a term Andragogy was used by Alexander Kapp, the German high school teacher, in his book "Plato’s Educational Ideas" in 1833. This term was used again in reference to adult education in the 1920s in Germany and it suddenly appeared in many publications around the world in the 1950s. In 1968, Malcolm Knowles published his first article "Andragogy, Not Pedagogy."

According to Knowles, there are five main characteristics of adult learners:

1. Self-concept: As a person matures his self concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being
2. Experience: As a person matures he accumulates a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning.
3. Readiness to learn. As a person matures his readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social roles.
4. Orientation to learning. As a person matures his time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem centredness.
5. Motivation to learn. As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal. (http://www.infed.org/lifelonglearning/b-andra.htm )

Today Andragogy has been accepted around the world, and adult education is one of the essential parts of curriculum in most educational institutions.

The adult learners are self-directed and responsible for their own learning;
Self-evaluations plays important role in assessment of learning process;
The learners bring a great volume and quality of their experience;
Adults learn to perform better in some aspects of their life;
The learners bring a great volume and quality of their experience;
Learning is organized more around life/work situation than subject matter units.
Adults learn for better quality of life, for self-confidence, and self-actualization.

According to Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon, Andragogy still remains a teacher-centred learning experience, while there is a demand for different approaches in teaching and learning in our technology-oriented society where "information is readily and easily accessible; where change is so rapid that traditional methods of training and education are totally inadequate; discipline based knowledge is inappropriate to prepare for living in modern communities and workplaces; learning is increasingly aligned with what we do; modern organisational structures require flexible learning practices; and there is a need for immediacy of learning."
(http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/dec00/hase2.htm)

Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon developed a new concept of Heutagogy - "the study of self-determined learning, [which] may be viewed as a natural progression from earlier educational methodologies and may well provide the optimal approach to learning in the 21st century." According to a hutagogical approach in education, a teacher provides resources, but a learner actually designs the course and negotiates further readings and assessment tasks with the teacher. Teachers are mainly concerned with development of the learner's abilities. Assessment becomes a learning experience for students.

I agree that in distance education it is important to shift from teacher-directed to student-directed learning, but Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon article didn't convince me that Heutagogy is any different from Andragogy. At first, Knowles tend to separate Pedagogy, related only to children from Andragogy, related only to adults. However, in 1970-1980, he considered Pedagogy and Adragogy as continuum ranging from teacher-directed to student-directed learning. Knowles perceived a learner as self-directed and autonomous and the teacher as a facilitator of learning process rather than dictator and presenter of a rigid content. How is this different from the hutagogical approach?

Image:
http://www.infed.org/lifelonglearning/b-andra.htm

The World's Largest University

2007-06-12T08:25:00.000-04:00

According to the World Bank (1998), Anadolu University in Turkey with more than 500,000 students is the world's largest university. Anadolu University uses government radio and television to broadcasts prerecorded lectures along with other instructional technologies: from mass mailing, distributing lectures on videocassettes or via the Internet and videoconferencing. Students also have the opportunity to meet the local adjunct professors. Anadolu University reaches students all around Turkey including the remote rural areas.

This distance education university was established in 1981 during reorganization of Turkey's higher education system and is referred as the "open education" university. The most popular fields are economics and business administration. The university also offers accounting, banking and insurance, nursing, office management, public relations, sales management, tourism and hotel management, and prepares teachers. Most students enrolled in Anadolu University have lower scores on the national entrance examination. While prestigious state universities require 220 on the exam, Anadolu University accepts students with only 105 score. This creates difficulties for the graduates to find jobs since employers don't believe in the quality of education through distance education. Although Anadolu University graduates are more accepted now than 10-15 years ago, their diplomas still do not mention that degrees were earned by distance education and many graduates don't indicate that they received their degrees from Anadolu University.

Read more about Anadolu University at http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/cronicle.htm
and http://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/.

Image:
http://www.anadolu.edu.tr/en/

Coldeway’s Quadrants

2007-06-10T17:58:00.000-04:00

The concept of the quadrants in education was defined by Dan Coldeway, Dakota State University, in 1990s. The fictionalized version of creation of the quadrants is described in The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, Volume 4(2), 2003 (Dan Coldeway is passed away in 2003): "During the discussion, he pulled out a cocktail napkin and began to write. First he drew an x-y axis, and then he labeled each quadrant. In the upper left he wrote ST-SP, in the upper right he wrote ST-DP, in the lower left he wrote DT-SP, and in the lower right corner he put the letters DT-DP." Now they are referred as Coldeway’s Quadrants.

Dan Coldeway defines four ways in which education can be practiced:
1. Same-time and same-place (ST-SP) education is traditional classroom education.
2. Different-time and same-place (DT-SP) means that education occurs in a learning center; or students can attend classes at the same place, but at a time students choose.
3. Same-time and different-place (ST-DP) means that telecommunication systems are used. Teleconferencing or chat rooms are used to connect the students in different places at the same time. This type of education is called synchronous distance education which allows students to communicate in real time.
4. Different-time and different-place (DT-DP) is the purest form of distance education. Teachers and students may communicate asynchronously--at different times.

Image:

http://www.infoagepub.com/products/journals/qrde/articles/4-2_txt.pdf

KWLH

2007-05-07T21:43:00.000-04:00

KWL and KWLH charts were created by Donna Ogle (Carr & Ogle, 1987; Ogle, 1986) to help students develop new skills based on prior knowledge by encouraging active reading and research. The K stands for what students already KNOW, the W refers to what they WANT to know, the L underlines what students LEARNED as they read and researched, and the H stands for HOW they can learn more.

I have effectively used KWLH charts in my computer classes, and they could also be useful for teacher training sessions. In my classes, students always research the Internet before creating websites, presentations, movies or interactive animated textbooks. KWLH charts help students to stay organized, set goals, be active readers, and assess their progress. KWLH charts are also helpful in introducing new technology related topics, software applications or operating systems. For example: What we already KNOW about Photoshop? What we WANT to learn about Photoshop? What we LEARNED about Photoshop? HOW can we learn more about Photoshop?

Blog Accessibility

2007-05-01T12:02:00.000-04:00

I’ve tested my blog at WebXACT, a free site that allows web developers and users to test a webpage accessibility issues.

After scanning a webpage, WebXACT provides an extensive report, which is divided into 4 categories: general, quality, accessibility, and privacy. This report helped me to identify numerous accessibility issues on my blog. However, if I decide to get the full report results, I will have to purchase the Watchfire’s products like WebXM and WebQA .

In my opinion, the free report is still very useful. Based on this report, I’ve outlined important accessibility issues that every web developer should keep in mind.

1. Have title, author, description, and keyword information under the metadata.

2. Don't have broken links and anchors.

3. Pay attention to the “page click depth.” Try to post important information on the first page, don’t hide it on secondary pages. Visitors get frustrated when information buried on the “deep pages.”
4. Create link phrases. Don’t use phrases like "click here;" a user browsing the Web with a screen reader will have to read the surrounding text to determine the purpose of the link.

5. Do not use the same link phrase more than once when the links point to different URLs.

6. All images should provide an alternative text. For an image, a chart, table, or diagram, it is necessary to provide a detailed description. Blogger does not have an option to insert the alternative text, so I have to remember to add ALT description in HTML view.

7. Check the contrast between the foreground and background colors.

8. Synchronized text captions are required so that hearing impaired users and visually impaired users can follow an audio-visual presentation.

9. Ensure that pages are always readable and usable, even if style sheets are ignored or unsupported by a browser.

10. Inform the user if your link opens a pop-up window.

Modern Leonardos with Necrocams

2007-04-28T23:29:00.000-04:00

Last week, I’ve spent couple days as a visitor in one of the most crowded and busy emergency room's in New York City. This awakening experience has spurred an array of gloomy thoughts about our existence, dying and death. Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

Today, many schools offer the Death Education courses, as well as “values clarification, sensitivity training, transcendental meditation, out-of-body experience, magic circles, outcome based education, drug ed, sex ed, suicide ed, and now massacre ed.”

In his article, “Death Education at Columbine High,” Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld provides disturbing facts about the Death Education influence on some students.

Tara [one of the high school students at Columbine High] explained that the subject of death was integrated into many of the courses at her high school. She said that death was made to look glamorous, that living was hard, and that reincarnation would solve their problems.

Dr. Blumenfeld quotes an article "Development Opportunities for Teachers of Death Education:"

Minimally trained or untrained teachers have asked first graders to make model coffins out of shoe boxes; other students have been instructed to sit in coffins, measure themselves for caskets, list 10 ways of dying (including violent death), attend an embalming and touch an undraped corpse.

I don’t think that the Death education courses should be taught at school. Unless these courses are introduces by professional Thanatology educators or a highly-trained psychologists, they could provoke or heighten death fears, anxieties, suicidal thoughts or even attempts. In my opinion, this topic should be subtly integrated in literature, science, and arts curriculum.

Mrs. Catharine, a Latin teacher, has traveled to attend the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico, and I created a website for our students in iWeb. The Day of the Dead provides teachers with a great opportunity in a colorful and non-threatening way--with flowers, sugar candies, sumptuous food, poetry, and music--start a conversation with students about death and dying.

Students are curious about death. When we read Leonardo da Vinci’s biography, it seems natural that a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, and writer wanted to learn more about life and death. He used to dissect cows, birds, monkeys, bears, frogs, and corpses to study and draw the organs and parts of an animal and a human body. Michelangelo Buonarotti, one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, also used to visit the monastery of San Spirito in secret to dissect the corpses, a practice highly forbidden by the Catholic church in those days, in order to enhance his knowledge of the human body. However, when we watch a movie “Necrocam” about teens installing a webcam inside the coffin and broadcasting the process of their friend’s decomposition live on the web, we are horrified and appalled.

Ine Poppe, the author of Necrocam, came up with this idea for the film based on her son’s request to place a webcam in his coffin when he dies. Ine Poppe states in her interview:

I wanted to show what is important for the kids of our generation, and what is in their minds and why. The kids are not breaking taboos they are just not thinking the same way as the older generations.

In my opinion, our students have the same quest for knowledge as the older generations, but the modern Leonardos and Michelangelos are using different tools like computers, webcams, the internet, cell phones...

Images:
1. Paul Gauguin's painting "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?"
2. Mrs. Catharine's image from a website The Day of the Dead
3. Movie "Necrocam"

Progress Progresses Too Fast

2007-04-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, April 22 was the Earth Day. Today, our Middle School students have watched a cartoon “The Lorax” based on a book by Dr. Seuss.

I speak for the trees! Let 'em grow!
They say I'm old fashioned and live in the past,
but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast.

I didn’t know that “The Lorax” has been banned in Laytonville, California School District on grounds that it "criminalizes the forestry industry."

This week, I will discuss with my students e-waste problem. E-waste includes computers, cell phones, different entertainment electronics (TV, CD players, etc.), and household appliances. However, I would like to focus more on computers.

Did you know?

Computer and television monitors with cathode ray tubes (CRTs) contain four to eight pounds of lead on average.
Printed circuit boards in computers, music players, and other electronic gear contain toxic metals such as chromium, nickel, and zinc.
Batteries may contain nickel and cadium.
Relays, switches, and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) may contain mercury.
Plastics used in many electronic products also contain flame retardants that are toxic and persist in the environment.
(Green Choices)

The old computers should be upgraded, donated or recycled.

Computer Upgrade

Before buying a computer, make sure that it can be upgraded. You can add more RAM, and change a motherboard, processor, and video card.

Donate

1. Donate only Pentium computers or G4/G5 Mac computers that can run current software and browsers
2. Don’t forget to include accessories
3. Keep the operating system
4. Include all original installation disks, CDs, and documentation
5. Use disk cleaning software to delete all personal information
6. Empty browser’s cache, delete favorites, cookies, history, email addresses and messages.

Recycle

There are many organizations that will help you to recycle a computer and accessories. Try to recycle with organizations that signed “The Electronics Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship.” This pledge requires from a recycler “not to export hazardous electronic components to developing countries, not to dispose of equipment in municipal landfills or incinerators not equipped to handle it, and not to use prison labor, among other things.” (Green Choices)

To learn more about e-waste, visit the following websites: Techsoup, Earth 911, and Green Choices.

You´re in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.
And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs.
Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care.
Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.
Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.
Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.

I hope our students will speak for the trees.

Images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyd/136725626/
http://www.ekcsk12.org/science/regbio/LoraxStory.htm

A Pale Imitation of Life

2007-04-20T23:50:00.000-04:00

Childhood is time when we should nurture in our students “a sense of the beauty and sacred nature of all life.”

According to the Alliance for Childhood:

Students who grow up with a strong sense of the value and meaning of human life and of other forms of life will be less likely to choose high-tech simulations that are a pale imitation of life.

I disagree with this statement because with 3D technology development children would be spending in virtual reality more and more time, and this is inevitable. Although today most virtual worlds are still imperfect, grotesque, and awkward, in several years from now, it would be difficult to tell the difference between real and virtual worlds. The future of our education is 3D simulations; however, today, Second Life and Active Worlds are still pale imitations of life.

I would paraphrase the Alliance for Childhood’s quote:

Students who grow up with a strong sense of the value and meaning of life would make hollow, cruel, and bloody high-tech simulations more spiritual, humane, educational, and aspiring.

Students should exercise their imagination as producers and artists not just as consumers. This requires that "teachers are vigilant in doing the same” (Steve Goodman) and they develop “a new regard for imagination” (Maxine Greene).

It is more valuable to teach students to be creators of their virtual worlds, models and landscapes in the high-end 3D programs such as Alias Maya, 3ds Max, Bryce, Blender or SketchUp. 3D courses introduce students to the basic concepts of math for 3D modeling as well as to techniques of modeling, texture, rendering and animation.

References:

“Media Education: Culture and Community in the Classroom” by Steve Goodman

Tech Tonic:Towards a New Literacy of Technology by the Alliance for Childhood

The image is created by 9th grade student in Bryce.

The Most Important Lesson

2007-04-19T11:10:00.000-04:00

I was just notified by email that TeacherTube marked my most recent video upload, “Day of Silence,” as private. This means that the video won't be available for general public.

On April 18th, our school participated in the Day of Silence, and I am proud that many of our students had patience to be silent for the whole school day. I have no doubt that these students would never bully, harass or discriminate another person. The Day of Silence is not only about LGBT rights, it’s a statement against any form of discrimination based on race, color, religion, political belief, sexual orientation, national, social or ethnic origin. This is one of the most important lessons we could teach our students today.

A Brief Overview of Web Typography

2007-04-18T15:53:00.000-04:00

The choice of a fond is an important decision for a web designer. Fonts affect a website’s tone and its visual representation. Fonts should be readable for users and should be cross-browser compatible.

In this brief overview, I will discuss serif, sans-serif, mono, cursive, and fantasy fonts.

Serif fonts have little lines called serifs on the end of the font. Serif fonts are the best choice for lengthy text printed in books, magazines, and newspapers. The most popular serif font is Times New Roman or Times on Mac.

Sans-serif fonts are considered more suitable for computer screens. Verdana and Georgia are most widely used fonts on the Web. The best size for Verdana is 11 or smaller. Georgia looks best at 14 pixels. Arial and Helvetica are nice fonts, but most web designers prefer Verdana. My favorite font is Trebuchet MS, which adds a sophisticated look to your site.
Monospace fonts are typefaces in which all characters are the same width. Monospace fonts are used for computer programming and tabulated data in plain text documents. I use Courier New to show snippets of code or for computer and programming related websites. Examples of monospaced typefaces are Courier, Prestige Elite, and Monaco.

For children’s websites, I prefer to use cursive and fantasy fonts. Cursive fonts emulate handwriting: Comic Sans, Comic Sans MS, cursive, etc. Fantasy fonts are decorative fonts mainly used for titles: Impact, Fantasy, Jokerman, etc. However, I would import Cursive and Fantasy fonts as Flash text since users might not have these fonts installed on their computers.

It is important to supply a list of font alternatives when you define the font for your website text.
Sample CSS:

Day of Silence

2007-04-18T07:42:00.000-04:00

The Day of Silence is an annual event held to commemorate and protest anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools. Visit http://www.dayofsilence.org/

My 8th grade students designed posters. Watch a movie on TeacherTube. Music by Antony and the Johnsons “Hope There's Someone.”

Business Card Design

2007-04-17T13:42:00.000-04:00

Do not:

clutter the space on the card
use Times, Arial or Helvetica
use 12-point type
center you layout
use words “email” or “web site”
use “phone” if you don’t have a fax number
use parentheses around area codes.

Do:

align all elements with something else
align baseline
align left edges or right edges
use strong flush right or flush left alignments
use periods, small bullets, and blank spaces around area codes
spell out St., Blvd., Ln., etc.
have empty space
use 8-, 9-, or 10-point type
experiment with vertical and horizontal layout
use second color sparingly.

Note: These business cards are designed for exercise purposes only and contain fictional contact information.

Reference: Williams, R. (2004). “The Non-Designer’s Design Book." Berkeley: Peachpit Press.

Imitating a Scanner Darkly

2007-04-15T20:58:00.000-04:00

Recently, I've watched a trailer and read about “A Scanner Darkly,” a vector based movie entirely created in “a licensed software program not available to consumers.” I am surprised that this licensed software doesn’t even have a name (read an interview with Sterling Allen). On Friday, I’ve discussed with my students the “Imitating a Scanner Darkly” tutorial.

Director Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly impressed audiences this summer with a stunning 2D animation style that mixes heavy blacks lines with shapes of solid color to represent a realistic image. After filming the movie live action, we used proprietary vector software to animate directly over live footage, preserving the likeness and performances of the actors - a process called "Interpolated Rotoscoping." This tutorial will show you how I was able to recreate a similar effect using tools in Adobe Illustrator. Using Illustrator's pencil tool and shapes of solid color, you can imitate the graphic novel styling of A Scanner Darkly.

My students mainly use the Pen or Brush tools and a mouse to draw in Illustrator while a “Scanner Darkly’s” technique requires the Pencil tool (I use the Pencil tool only for minor corrections). To use the illustrator tools efficiently, students should have tablets, and I hope to buy Wacom tablets for my class next year. I draw on a tablet Intuos3.
However, I would like to switch to the Cintiq 21UX with a 21" display, adjustable stand, and grip pen for use directly on the screen.
I am sure tablet PCs will become more affordable, and students will be writing, drawing, and animating directly on the screens of their laptops in the near future. This is a HP tablet PC.

Today, I’ve redesigned my index page on cybernaut.com.

I've uploaded to TeacherTube my students’ self-portrait projects.

images: http://www.wacom.com/
http://www.hp.com/sbso/buyguides/pg_tablet_pcs.html

The Principle of Alignment

2007-04-12T14:52:00.000-04:00

According to Robin Williams' “The Non-Designer’s Design Book,” the principle of proximity states that you group related items together. When creating a flyer, a brochure, or a newsletter, try to form a list into visual groups. Add some contrast to the headlines, use extra margins, underline the relationships, and emphasize important information.

The next principle of design is alignment. "The principle of alignment states that nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every item should have a visual connection with something else on the page... Even when aligned elements are physically separated from each other, there is an invisible line that connects them, both in your eye and in your mind."

My students often use a centered alignment for the posters, and it works great.

However, when you look at 15-20 different posters with the centered alignment, it gets boring. According to Williams, “a centered alignment creates a more formal look, a more sedate look, a more ordinary and oftentimes downright dull look.” She suggests using “a strong flush right or left alignment with good use of proximity.”

This business card has a centered alignment.
The strong flush-right gives the card the "hard" edge. "The strength of this edge is what gives strength to the layout."
My students use Illustrator guides to align objects.

Illustrator has also the Align window.

An alignment choice for posters often depends on the visual elements. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a true genius of the posters, used what I would call a creative alignment.

I agree with Williams “that most designs that have a sophisticated look are not centered.” Based on my observation, the students’ projects with the creative alignment have a refined look.

The Principle of Proximity

2007-04-11T12:58:00.000-04:00

Proximity is one of the four basic principles from “The Non-Designer’s Design Book” by Robin Williams (2004).

Proximity principle implies that “items relating to each other should be grouped close together. When several items are in close proximity to each other, they become one visual unit rather than several separate units. This helps organize information, reduce clutter, and gives the reader a clear structure."

Take a look at this card.

How many separate elements do you see in that small space? How many times does your eye stop to look at something?

There are five separate items in this card, and your eye stops probably five times. You begin reading in the middle (since this is the largest text on the card) and continue reading from left to right (because it is English). When you get to bottom-right corner, you probably wander around to make sure you didn’t miss any information.

A problem with this card is that “not one of the items on the card seems related to any other item. It is not clear where you should begin reading the card, and it is not clear when you are finished."

Now, take look at another card.

This card has information grouped into "closer proximity" and organized "both intellectually and visually.”

Take a moment to decide how this list can be improved.

I will continue tomorrow...

The Four Basic Principles of Design

2007-04-10T10:40:00.000-04:00

Today, the head of our MS discussed “the Joshua tree” effect from Robin Williams’ “The Non-Designer’s Design Book.” I love this book and often use it with my students.

The author got a tree identification book as a Christmas present and decided to go outside and identify the Joshua tree. Williams was convinced that she has never seen this tree before, but to her amazement she found the Joshua tree in her own front yard, and at least 80 percent of her neighbors had Joshua trees planted in their front yards. Why has she never noticed this tree before?

Once I was conscious of the tree – once I could name it – I saw it everywhere. Which is exactly my point: Once you can name something, you’re conscious of it. You have power over it. You are in control.

Our students should be conscious of good design principles in order to identify bad design examples. If students and teachers master four simple design principles, they will write better papers, design attractive presentations, and even teach and learn better because “a better-looking paper often means a better grade,” “an attractive presentation garners greater respect,” and “students respond more positively to information that is well laid out.”

Here is the first assignment. Look at three business cards and choose a better-organized card.

I will continue tomorrow...

The image of the Joshua tree: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesleyworld/306758678/

Editorial Cartoons as a Teaching Tool

2007-04-06T15:49:00.000-04:00

I could use this cartoon as a logo for my blog.

While searching for information about the artist Frederick Deligne, I found that Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists Index website offers lesson plans, handouts, teacher procedures, and student activities for using the editorial cartoons as a teaching tool in Social Sciences, Art, Journalism and English for all levels. I thought that the development of editorial cartoons as a form of political satire and social commentary could be a great assignment for the Digital Design class.

Plantronics Stereo Headset

2007-04-06T13:00:00.000-04:00

I often use Skype to keep in touch with my friends and colleagues oversees. I had a problem with a low-quality sound when calling for free on Skype. I’ve tried several headsets, but I would say that Plantronics DSP-400 Digitally-Enhanced USB Stereo Headset is the best so far. It is comfortable, foldable with an adjustable microphone, and affordable. It has a great sound, long cord and an easy volume control.

I am pleased that the headset works well on both systems, Mac and PC. I had to install software and new drive for PC though. Also, make sure that all sound options and preferences are set to Plantronics on your computer and Skype.

Plantronics is great for podcasting, video dubbing, and voice recognition software.

Alice

2007-04-04T16:38:00.000-04:00

Programming is a difficult and time-consuming activity. Sometimes, a tiny mistake prevents a program from running properly, and it might take hours of debugging to determine the cause of an error. Middle School students expect immediate gratification, and if their projects don't work right away, they easily get frustrated and expect the teacher to fix errors immediately.

I always search for books, tutorials, and software to make teaching programming exciting and learning fun for Middle School students. Today, I’ve tried a free programming language Alice designed to teach object-oriented programming to children. It is developed by Carnegie Mellon University research group. Alice doesn’t require any previous knowledge of programming. The latest version 2.0 of Alice is available for free download.

Programming in Alice is easy. Students have to “drag-and-drop words in a direct manipulation interface.” Object can be added from the online gallery or created in 3DStudio MAX. A 3D world can be saved as a webpage applet.

Furthermore, I was impressed by a substantial list of available textbooks. Alice has an introductory video tutorial and the forum. In general, the newly released programs rarely have textbooks for teachers and students.

In my opinion, Alice is a good choice for Middle School computer classes. Also, it is open source software and could be implemented into High School computer classes. Students can download the source code and modify it.

PowerPoint Without a Point

2007-04-03T18:35:00.000-04:00

Edward Tufte is a professor emeritus of political science, computer science and statistics, and graphic design at Yale. In his article PowerPoint Is Evil, Tufte writes:

Particularly disturbing is the adoption of the PowerPoint cognitive style in our schools. Rather than learning to write a report using sentences, children are being taught how to formulate client pitches and infomercials. Elementary school PowerPoint exercises (as seen in teacher guides and in student work posted on the Internet) typically consist of 10 to 20 words and a piece of clip art on each slide in a presentation of three to six slides -a total of perhaps 80 words (15 seconds of silent reading) for a week of work. Students would be better off if the schools simply closed down on those days and everyone went to the Exploratorium or wrote an illustrated essay explaining something (Tufte, 2003).

According to Tufte, a PowerPoint slide may have contributed to the mistaken conclusion reached by NASA engineers that the space shuttle Columbia could safely re-enter the Earth's atmosphere despite possible damage to its wing from a falling piece of foam upon takeoff ( The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint).

I believe that Tufte's analysis has many convincing points. He considers that “PowerPoint is like being trapped in the style of early Egyptian flatland cartoons rather than using the more effective tools of Renaissance visual representation” ( Tufte's Forum , August 21, 2006). Today, many presenters try to overcome PowerPoint's “flat” effect by using Flash-based tools like Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional or Gapminder .

I agree that “a bad PowerPoint presentation is a symptom of the writer's failure” (Communication Partners, 2003). It is a presenter's responsibility to design clear, simple, and effective slides. If used correctly, PowerPoint presentation could be “a medium for creative expression” (Byrne, 2003).

Doug Johnson describes how students design PowerPoint presentations:

The slideshow contains flying bullet points, loud sound effects, unreadable fonts, and tedious clip art mismatched to the slide's content. And the student not only has little to say, but manages to say that poorly. It's the phenomena commonly referred to as "PowerPointlessness" (Johnson, 2005).

How can teachers use PowerPoint effectively in the classroom?

Recently, I found helpful information on Tufte's Forum. I liked Jose Silva's idea of the “Swiss-Army-Knife” model of presentation preparation. For his presentations, Silva uses Microsoft Word, InDesign, Mathematica (for formulas), Stata (for statistical summaries), Illustrator, Photoshop, and Keynote.

In teaching PowerPoint to students, I would suggest educators to experiment with different software and multimedia tools and follow simple steps:

1. Ask your students to design their own background in a PowerPoint presentation. My students often apply different fill effects. Do not use PowerPoint templates.

2. Encourage students to create original stories. First, they have to research a problem on the Internet and create a storyboard. I usually ask students to type text directly into the PowerPoint file because transferring information from Microsoft Word might create some layout problems.

3. Do not allow students to use images from the Internet or clip art. Students should create their own original images in Paint, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Fireworks.

4. Demonstrate to students that dark text on a light background is easier to read. It would be valuable if you could familiarize students with Robin Williams' “The Non-Designer's Design Book” (Williams, 2003). We have this book at the Technology Department.

5. Explain that it is essential to use references. Discuss issues related to plagiarism.

6. Ask students to keep animations and transitions consistent and use sound effects sparingly.

7. Encourage students to present their projects. Since children tend to read the whole presentation, provide the clear guidelines for public speaking: don't read word for word, rephrase, stand up straight, face the class, and keep eye contact with the teacher and friends.

8. After the presentation, ask students to comment each others' work and express their opinion how the project could be improved.

9. Save a PowerPoint presentation as a Web page, or produce a movie with screen recording software as Camtasia Studio, or upload PowerPoint presentation on SlideShare -- this would inspire students and stimulate them to work better.

View my 5th graders PowerPoint projects -- Computer Stories, From Butterfly to Caterpillar, and Fairy Tale.

Programming and Creativity -- Turtles and Geometry

2007-04-02T20:41:00.000-04:00

This year, I teach Microworlds and Logo programming in 6th grade. Logo enables kids to become active designers and learners. In Middle School, programming exercises should require from students to design, implement and present some ‘mini’ programming projects. The learning process should be spiral and organized in gradual stages. Each stage should help a student to foster further understanding of the abstract programming concept. Logo commands and procedures are written in plain language: forward (fd), left (lt), pen down (pd) for drawing, repeat 4 [forward 100 right 90] for a square, and clear graphics (cg) to delete the screen graphics. Even error messages are simple in Logo: “I don't know how to square.”

After reviewing “Turtles and Geometry” activity, I asked my students to produce some interesting designs and patterns by changing variables and coloring geometric shapes with the Paint Can.

Squares

Circles

Tunnel

In the Tunnel project, a turtle has onClick command “fd 783 lt 983.” The student told me that he just put some random numbers to see what would happen.

Dulsky in his article “Logo Rose Windows” (The Computing Teacher 20 (7), 1993) suggests to shows students a picture of the Gothic Rose Window of the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris. Students should detect patterns in the picture and program a turtle to draw a rose window by using three simple geometric shapes. I would like to try this exercise with my students this semester.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnmckee/432565236/

Pi Posters in Adobe Illustrator

2007-04-01T15:32:00.000-04:00

On March 14, our Math Department celebrated Pi Day. My 8th grade Digital Design class students created posters in Adobe Illustrator.

Watch a video with my students' posters on the TeacherTube.

You can view my students' best projects at http://www.cybernaut.com/projects/pi/pi.html

Quick Tip -- the Pen Tool in Adobe Illustrator

I would like to show you how to create a Pi symbol in Illustrator.

Select the Pen Tool.

Set the Fill color and the Stroke color to None.

Click the Pen Tool twice to create a straight line.

To create a curved line, click and drag the Pen Tool.

An outline of Pi is ready.

Now, fill the outline with a radial gradient. I am finishing a video tutorial and will post it soon.

Gaming as a Social Activity

2007-03-30T12:11:00.000-04:00

My son spends hours in front of a glowing computer screen frantically pushing keys and all engrossed in a virtual world. It upsets me. I feel that my son isolates himself from the rest of the world, while he is convinced that the networking video games are broadening his horizon by giving him opportunity to meet hundreds of different people online.

Games were always popular in many cultures around the world. Games are entertaining and unleashing creativity. Players become actors by changing their personality, gender, place and time of action. A game is the opportunity to experience a powerful desire to win and conquer. In everyday life, the game provides adventure and fulfillment of many hidden desires. However, can playing a computer game be considered a positive social activity?

Tournaments are already more interactive than almost any other library program; finding ways to further involve the players and make them feel a part of the action greatly increases the positive social impact for attendees and the
library alike.

The authors refer to statistical data from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) report "2006 Essential Facts about the Computer and Video Game Industry:"

Only 15 percent of the games sold in 2005 were rated “M” for “Mature” (for ages seventeen and older), despite receiving extensive coverage from major media outlets.

In my opinion, too many games that are sold for general public still contain too much violence, blood, fight, senseless and crude dialogs.

According to the Entertainment Software Association, among best-selling video games Children & Family Entertainment games were sold only 9.3% in 2005. I was pleasantly surprised that Family & Children’s computer games sold in 2005 have a significantly higher percentage –19,8%. However, I was disappointed that the ESA didn't mention any serious games or educational simulations.

89% of the time parents are present at the time games are purchased or rented.
61% of parents believe games are a positive part of their children’s lives.
87% of the time children receive their parents’ permission before purchasing or renting a game.35% of American parents say they play computer and video games.
Among gamer parents, 80% report that they play video games with their children, and 66% feel that playing games has brought their families closer together.

It was time when families were gathered around a fireplace to read books, recite poetry, sing or listen to music. Now, we are mesmerized by TV screens and meet our family members, relatives, and friends in a virtual world. Whether we like it or not, today the Internet is a place where our students interact, learn, communicate, and express themselves.

By offering teens opportunities to learn about creating music videos and movies, image editing, computer graphics and drawing, and writing and storytelling, we are speaking their language and creating a culture in which they love to interact.

Watch my Flash movie at TeacherTube. A music loop is freeware.

Stop Cyberbullying!

2007-03-29T21:33:00.000-04:00

I’ve read The dark side of blogging, March 30: Participate in Stop Cyberbullying Day, and Dear Kathy Sierra from the Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

I've never heard about Kathy Sierra before, but her message Death threats against bloggers are NOT "protected speech" (why I cancelled my ETech presentations) has stirred my soul, especially, a horrible image “i dream of kathy sierra.” When you live in a small academic world, you are forgetting how many crazy, mean-spirited misogynists and sexual maniacs are out there. My heart goes to Kathy Sierra and her family. I hope they will be able to trace IP addresses and find all these anonymous authors. I think all blogs should have a choice of blocking anonymous posts.

I agree with Steve Dembo that:

“Some people have a real dark side to them, and the relative anonymity of blogging (not having to say things directly to a person’s face) gives them the opportunity to say things they would never ordinarily voice. And to do it loudly and publicly.”

I am joining Andy Carvin’s site stopcyberbullying.ning.com. If not for a spring break, I would ask my Digital Design class students to create posters “Syberbullying Hurts.” For now, I will use one of Scott Mcleod’s images.

My first blog

2007-03-26T22:09:00.000-04:00

This is my first blog. I am very excited.

The banner for this blog was designed by Katie Wong, my 8th grade Digital Design class student, in Adobe Photoshop.