Jay Blackman

Mobile Reach #22 – Integration vs. Redefinition.   This week, the team adds a guest host in the form of Jennifer Magiera who teaches for the Chicago Public Schools.  Magiera is fortunate enough to have iPads in her classroom so we interview her on how she has redefined learning in her classroom with these devices.  And as always, we also share out some useful apps.

Show Host: Chad Kafka (@chadkafka)

Co-Hosts: Judi Epcke (@jepcke), Tammy Lind (@TamL17), Jennifer Magiera (@msmagiera)

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- mobilereach@edreach.us

Universal Access is a goal for all students in school.  While the majority of students have no problem using a trackpad or mouse, there is a small segment of students who may require additional help in becoming independent in computer use.  We are fortunate to have quite a few options, most of them readily available on any operating system to help those students.

Current Accessibility Options:

Both Windows and Mac operating systems have a ton of features available to help everyone access the computer.  Some of the more common ones:

• cursor size or speed (faster for those with limited movement)
• display adjustment – larger font size, contrast, black on white or grayscale, and screen magnification
• Sticky Keys – when turned on it will hold keys so you can do keyboard commands, for example with Sticky Keys on I can easily press (without holding) ctrl-alt-del and it will execute that command.
• Filter Keys – will ignore brief or repeated keystrokes for individuals who may have motor difficulties
• Text-To-Speech – will read items on screen, selected text or menu items to help a visually impaired student access the computer.
• On-Screen Keyboard – for students who can use a trackpad/mouse but have difficulty with a keyboard, they may prefer to use an On-Screen keyboard.

There are so many more options for users, please take a look at the guides below for the operating system you are using:

• Windows 7
• Windows XP
• Mac OS X

Other Accessibility Options:

While these options are sufficient for the majority of users, there are still some students who need further modifications to be successful.  Many of these are inexpensive.

Touch Screens:

While touch screen monitors are available as add-ons or built into the monitor, when I think of touch screens these days my mind immediately goes to mobile devices, like iPod Touches, iPads and Android Tablets.  At this time there are any number of apps that allow the user to control the mouse on a computer using your device.  The extreme sensitivity of these mobile devices make it perfect for some users.

Mobile Mouse (Lite or Pro) is one such app.  After installing a small helper program on your computer of choice – Mobile Mouse Server - you are ready to go.  Taking a step further and installing an app like Splashtop ($4.99) or Air Display ($9.99), and their corresponding server program – Splashtop or Air Display and now you are mirroring your computer display on your iPad.  The touch screen allows students to interact with the computer and you can project it so all students can see what is happening!

Alternative Input Options:

Other students may require even more modifications to access the computer.  Here’s a great blog post (from our recent EdCeptional guest) Jeannette Van Houten about turning a PS3 controller into a mouse for a student with limited arm movement.  Or how about checking out the Orbitouch Keyless Keyboard, which requires no wrist or arm movement to use this unique device.

If you have a webcam you could try a head mouse.  By using a small reflective dot on your forehead or facial feature, the camera tracks your movement and moves the cursor across the screen.  You “click” on an item by dwelling on it for a preset amount of time.  You can get a free head mouse here at Camera Mouse (Windows only).  You can even look at Eye Gaze for some students, but there a quite a few physical implications like fatigue.

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of ways to access the computer, I hope it offers a few ideas for helping those students who need a little extra help.

Patrick

This week on LiTTech: 2011 was a particularly bad year for school libraries. This week, Addie and Emily give some suggestions on how to make sure your school, community, and fellow teachers know what you really do all day (hint: it’s not reading books!). After all, no one can know all the awesome things you’re up to if you don’t tell them!

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Adrienne Matteson

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

The title of this post might seem a bit trite or obvious, but some recent #EduWin tweets caused me to reflect on how critical relationships are in education and how important it is to spend time developing them. Positive relationships are made, they don’t just happen.

There are different types of relationships in these #EduWin posts, but they all demonstrate respect and trust between students and teachers.

As a child, I would never have thought to contact my teacher like this student did; especially not after I had moved on from the class. Teachers were to be revered. They were adults and we were just kids. Clearly @MusicTechie developed such a warm relationship with this student that he thought to contact her to help his friend.

This #EduWin really speaks to the notion that as educators we may never really know the impact we have on students. And to the idea that students can grow and change, even beyond our classroom influence.

The trust mentioned in this tweet goes both ways. The ability for these teachers to become students and be taught by their students is not something that all teachers would be comfortable experiencing. This culture of learning is definitely something to be admired.

Finally, in this tweet, the relationship extends to parents — a beautiful comment from a father to a son. There is faith that comments will be encouraging and that parents value the fine arts experience for their children.

And speaking of relationships, a BIG Thank You to friend of EdReach and executive director of Next Vista for Learning, Rushton Hurley (@rushtonh), for mentioning #EduWin in his recent conference appearances.

Spread the word about the best things happening in education….What is your #EduWin? Post daily at: whatisyoureduwin.com. Not sure what to say? Some ideas for an #EduWin post can be found here.

Tonight we were joined by Jeannette Van Houten a Assistive Technology/Curriculum consultant from New Jersey and a blogger at My Point of View…. We talked about all the myriad ways to access the computer, both built in features and those that are extra. Even how an iDevice can be used to access and interact with a computer.

Show Host: Patrick Black (@teachntech00)

This week’s episode of EdGamer is POPPIN’! Sorry…that was terrible…but the show this week is great! Tune in to EdGamer 37 for an in-depth review/preview of BrainPop and game creator GameSalad. We also give a shoutout to our new friend (and hopefully future guest) Pete and his endeavors with the Games and Learning Dream Tank on G+. Finally we weigh in the topic everyone is talking about: the new Apple textbooks and the impact they may have on gaming and learning. Don’t miss this packed episode!

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show contributor: Gerry James

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

Kim, Fred and Sean get up close and personal in Google Hangouts and slow bandwidth is [almost] not an issue. Hear about resources for helping students understand SOPA and PIPA and new incentives for why students should get their Doodle on.  Get in the know with Google’s “Good To Know” campaign, boundaries get shady in Google Maps, Google Plus tips and learn how to make a Table of Contents in Google Docs.

Show Hosts:   Kim Zimmer, Sean Williams, Fred Delventhal

Send us your thoughts! 

Leave us an email at googleeducast@Edreach.us

Mobile Reach #21 – The Big Apple. Announcement.  This week, the team dissects the January 19th Apple Education announcement and discusses initial thoughts on all that was shared.  We talk about the update to iBooks, the new iTunesU app, and the new iBooks Author Mac app.  We also share some true mobile learning examples and a few apps we’ve been playing with.  Come give a listen…

Show Host: Chad Kafka (@chadkafka)

Co-Hosts: Judi Epcke (@jepcke), Tammy Lind (@TamL17)

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- mobilereach@edreach.us

This week on EduWin Weekly: Michael Walker and Scott Meech talk with Tim Berndt about his use of Twitter with students and their successful #eduwin tweets.  He has another example of students using an authentic audience and getting in contact with some very interesting people!  We follow up on this with some more #Eduwin moments focused on authentic audiences.

Show Host: Michael Walker and Scott Meech

Show contributors: Tim Berndt

This week’s highlighted EduWins:

Give us some feedback! Email eduwin@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

This week on MacReach: We share our initial thoughts about today’s Apple Education announcements… The iBooks 2 iPad app, iBook Author Mac app, and iTunesU iOS device app! With some help from Katie Krueger, Kelly and I discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly… and decide that “it’s all good!”

Show Host: Meg Wilson (@iPodsibiities)

Co-Hosts: Kelly Dumont (@KDumont) and Katie Krueger (@KHirt)

Subscribe to the MacReach Podcast on iTunes

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View the complete show notes here on the EdReach MacReach Wiki to see all the links, resources, and apps discussed in the show!

In 1999, Ruth Jaynes was my first-year teacher mentor. Ruth was tasked with giving me the run down on the inner workings of Sunnybrook School District 171. While we were going over curriculum, we talked about all subjects since I was going to have a self-contained class. The was particular passion when talking with Ruth about science. What was then told to me as we went over curriculum was that Sunnybrook had never adopted a fifth grade science textbook series. I was a bit floored by this statement. It was explained to me that the fifth grade team felt that no science series did anything particularly well to convey the curriculum.

As a result, in my first three years of teaching, science was taught without a textbook. We taught science by actually doing things. We made trips to Indiana Dunes. We built conceptual models of a Mars base. We built toothpick bridges, with a construction budget, that we tried to break by attaching cups of pennies. We did not do science in a book, but found materials that would accentuate our lessons. Kids at all reading levels were still able to get the experience of science that cannot be found in a static textbook.

Ruth and I would joke that she should just write the science book, but keep it simple and to the point and without too much fluff.

Fast forward to the announcement today by Apple about the new iBooks/iBooks Authoring/iTunes U platform. While I was reading/watching this announcement, all I could think was, “Ruth would have had a ball writing her science textbook with this technology. She would have kept it focused. She would have addressed all types of learners with her book. This would have been her culmination of her career.”

So I walked into the office of my superintendent and said, “What if we instead of asking for a syllabus from our teachers, we instead ask the teachers to write their textbook?”

I want to leave that question hanging out there for a reason. I am reminded by a quote by Neil Postman from his 1992 book Technopoly:

For 400 years, school teachers have been part of the knowledge monopoly created by printing, and they are now witnessing the breakup of that monopoly.

What has happened in the last 20 years was the proliferation of big corporation curriculum in control of the knowledge monopoly, not so much teachers, in my opinion (and for full disclosure, I did work for McGraw-Hill as an independent quality assurance analyst for about two years). Schools shelled out big dollars for a copy of a textbook. And if you wanted ancillary materials, you paid extra. If you wanted a digital copy, you typically had to purchase the paper copy as well. And that digital copy was merely an unsearchable PDF of the same paper book.

Today, with the blessing of the big three textbook publishers (names redacted to not further promote them), Apple in one swoop shifted the entire textbook publishing world away from the control of the publishers and at least back towards the teachers (and students as well). I think that blessing and huge price drop came from the big three because they knew Apple was going to release this software anyway. Apple has just made their entire platform of products appealing to educators, even if they had gone ahead without the blessing of the big three publishers.

So, what does this mean, and how does this tie in with my opening story? What this means is that the everyday teacher can once again cut around the fluff and create meaningful content that goes right to the heart of the curriculum trying to be conveyed. The teacher has a delivery model that can be adjusted on the fly. The teacher has a delivery model that can address the needs of all learners. Why not create a book for a student with special needs, for example, written at their reading level? It could be presented in a way that allows concepts to be grasped in a completely different way. And why are the teachers the ones who can use this technology to create content? Students could certainly take ownership of creating meaningful representations of materials to be shared among other people.

To my colleagues who were bemoaning the technical minutia of this announcement, i.e. it requires Lion, it only works on iPads, it’s a closed system, this is the same shift in the right direction we saw when Apple announced the iPhone. Before the iPhone, smartphones were a completely useless mess. You may not remember that when the iPhone launched there was not even an App Store! This Apple proprietary attempt at educational content creation is their attempt to break the stranglehold by the big three on our curriculums (and maybe make a few bucks doing it). It may not be the best way to do it when we look back, but this is certainly a start.

“Ongoing data and access to seeing effective practices is necessary for success. It takes up the dilemmas of ‘de-privatizing practice’ in which it becomes normal and desirable for teachers to observe and be observed in teaching facilitated by coaches and mentors.”  - Michael Fullan

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on the importance of building a school culture that values open classrooms.  As school leaders we need to be working with teachers as instructional leaders and coaches; we need to create an environment and culture where teachers feel safe to open up their classrooms to coaches and colleagues.  In my experience here are three effective tools for de-privatizing the classroom while boosting a positive school culture.

First of all, principals must be present and visible.  It is vital that principals spend time walking through classrooms weekly.  This classroom presence helps your staff know you are vitally connected to the teaching and learning that goes on in your building.

Providing teachers with focused collaboration time built around a PLN framework, is just as important as being a visible presence.  At my school we have four grade level collaborations a month: data, technology, PD, and teacher led.  This focused collaboration time is vital to the mission of the school and provides the fuel for a platform for professional development.

Finally, a de-privatizing technique our school has implemented this year is Learning Walks.  Learning Walks are focused team walk-throughs where teachers go to colleagues rooms and observe them teaching.  My principal and I decided that it would be best to allow our literacy coach to facilitate these walk-throughs in an effort to help teachers feel open to share and discuss.  Our teachers played a vital role in organizing the structure of the Learning Walk, coming up with criteria during the aforementioned grade-level collaborations.  Thus far we have had a great response, and I think the richest part has been seeing teachers so comfortable to open their classrooms and invite each other in.  The powerful piece of Learning Walks occurs after the walk-through during the group’s discussion over best practices.  I like the way that Julia Steiney put it in a 2009 article for the Journal of Staff Development:

“The walk itself is instructive, but the discussion at the end is where adult learning happens. Walkers see the same classrooms together, but don’t always have the same impressions, so the discussion is rich with the details each person shares. In the end, the team jointly composes a letter to the whole school that describes what they saw, always beginning with positive impressions. They discuss problems only in terms of the school’s big-picture progress, never naming names. The teams often make recommendations.”

Below are a few articles to help any principal or coach get started in exploring the power of Learning Walks:

• Learning walks build hearty appetites for professional development - Julia Steiny (JSD 2009)
• Teachers as Walk-Through Partners - James Bushman - Ed. Leadership March 2006
• Learning from Instructional Rounds - Elizabeth A. City - Ed. Leadership October 2011
• What’s Worth Fighting For In The Principalship (Second Edition)
• Michael Fullan’s Handouts and Website

This week on EdReach Show:  We can’t contain our excitement for the big Apple education announcement tomorrow, and in the wake of that, we speculate how an eTextbook could transform teaching and school districts. Also, there’s more Matt Damon news- because when Matt Damon speaks, we listen (There’s also the fact that he and his mom don’t like Teach for America.) A Great reading app shared by Scott, and of course, Blackout Wednesday.

Show Host: Daniel Rezac

Show guest:  Scott Weidig 

Give us some feedback! Email edreachshow@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

This week on the aRTs Roundtable we discuss presenting at Arts conference, tips, and ideas to make your presentations powerful and meaningful.

Show Host: Carol Broos

Show contributors:   Trisha Fuglestad, Brenda Muench, and Jennifer Kolze

The complete show notes are now on the EdReach Wiki

Call us on our comment line!

If you’d like to leave some feedback you can call us on our very own EdReach Comment line: That’s: (443) 93REACH.

Most of the education world understands the impact Apple’s hardware and software has had on learning. If speculation is correct, tomorrow’s Apple Education Announcement could redefine the future of student learning in a similar  fashion to Josiah Bumstead’s 1841 observation regarding the blackboard:

The inventor or introducer of the blackboard deserves to be ranked among the best contributors to learning and science, if not among the greatest benefactors of mankind.(1)

Speculation surrounding this event (as with any of Apple’s announcements) runs the gambit of purely logical – something to do with textbooks and publishing – to the simply outrageous – Apple giving textbooks away on free iPads to all students(2)… Like everything else, the truth will be somewhere in-between and in Apple fashion, very few will truly know until the words leave Tim Cook’s mouth on stage in the Guggenheim. In trying to find some balance in the hundreds of stories I have read about this event, here are the most common themes and my hopes and fears:

Digital Textbooks at the K-12 Level: While I strongly believe that this is very needed and that it will be one of the main tenets for Apple’s announcement, I am uncertain of how far the publishers will be willing to go to “mainstream” textbooks. Walter Issacson’s biography of Steve Jobs details that it was Steve’s intent to “disrupt” the textbook industry “to save the spines of spavined students”(2) and to correct what he saw as a corrupt textbook certification process by the states. But, benevolent donations of resources, time, and materials by the publishing industry just because they can be placed on the iPad seems to fall into the outrageous category. That is unless the publishers are going to be getting a cut of the iPad hardware margins in return. Additionally, some publishers like Pearson are already in the process of developing their own digital versions and distribution avenues and others are partnering with App-based companies like Kno and Inkling to bring digital interactive text to the university level. So, where does that set the potential or desires for K-12 digital textbooks?

Hopes: I believe that there will be a K-12 announcement that could include publishers like Pearson, McGraw-Hill and possibly others patterning with Apple to re-develop their material into fully interactive digital textbooks for students. I can even envision a “newsstand” like app to hold student textbooks allowing for digital app linkages, interactivity, notes, and lookup capabilities and more. However, to be successful for school districts, publishers will need to move to a “software-like” app subscription model where a district (or students) can pay a low time-based use subscription fee that would guarantee updates to content for free and on a regular basis. i.e. Districts can pay by quarter / semester / yearly models and publishers guarantee continuous updates where discoveries like arsenic-based life forms and the demotion of Pluto to a planetoid do not render the textbook out of date.  Additionally, it would be nice to see a reduced subscription fee based on school calendar where a District who had a student transfer in 3 months into the year would only incur 75% of the subscription fee that the necessary textbooks for the remainder of the year.

Fears: Textbook publishers move to embracing a digital interactive text format, but maintain the current pricing structure and model (minus Apple’s 30% cut) or worse look to move the cost of textbooks directly to the students. Even at a very low cost structure this could be detrimental to low-income families. The good part about these fears is that if they had any foundation, Apple would not be having this announcement at all.

But is a digital textbook disruptive to the industry?

ePub Publishing Tool: This is another very strong possibility to be announced tomorrow. The iPad, Kindle, Nook, and other tablets and eReaders all do one thing very well. They present information in an interactive, readable, and portable format that extends the usefulness of the text itself. Additionally, most if not all, can leverage the ePub format. While all of these things are extremely valuable to learning, the actual creation of ePub formatted books or documents is a challenge at best.  Through Pages Apple began to simplify this process by providing a template that allows for the easy creation of a ePub formatted ebook. Additionally, Pages can natively save any document in the ePub format. Like digital textbook apps, a number of 3rd party app developers have recently released apps for eBook creation like Book Creator for iPad, or iBookcreator.

Hopes: Apple’s deep history of desktop publishing, leveraging their experience with iBooks, and NewsStand, positions Apple well for creating a truly disrupting textbook environment. An environment where districts, teachers, parents, students, and knowledge experts can create, build, and publish their own textbooks… There are already teachers and districts beginning (or are well underway) on this process using text files or PDF as a distribution avenue. Putting a powerful yet simple to use tool to aid in creating an INTERACTIVE, content / standards-based textbook in teachers and students hands effectively breaks the textbook publishers hold on school districts. At that point, viable school-created books become viable. Textbook publishers will need to change their business model to accommodate districts who could walk away from traditional textbooks because they potentially could have the option of simply creating their own textbooks. There is not a better source of learning materials and content experts than a group of teachers.

This would be disruptive to the textbook industry.

One thing is for sure Apple’s vision for the iPad is just starting to hit its stride. With approximately 32 million iPads sold throughout 2011(3), and projections anticipating close to 50 million being sold in 2012, Apple clearly has the potential to disrupt numerous industries and bend them to the greater good of education and learning.

Will Apple’s contributions to education be viewed in a similar fashion to the blackboard in 171 years?

Notes:
(1) excerpt from The Internet and Higher Education: Preparing for Change - May 2009
(2) Quote from Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs has provided the basis for much of the speculation regarding this education announcement – pages 1422/23, 1516, and 1544 specifically
(3) approximation based on Apple’s quarterly financial releases (Q4 upcoming Jan 24, 2012)

Image Credit: Apple – adapted by EdReach

This week on LiTTech: Special guest Kristin Fontichiaro, Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Information, tells us how to crowdsource and publish an ebook (and she should know, she published TWO in the past six months). She takes us through the step-by-step process so you can make your own with your students, colleagues, or even your friends!

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Adrienne Matteson, Kristin Fontichiaro

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

This week on the Google EduCast: The black toolbar is back, Google attempts to connect us even more by adding Search Plus Your World-What does this mean for students? Hear about Google Body’s new identity, visit college campuses virtually with Google Maps and Earth and learn how we mail merge with Google Spreadsheets. Chris Betcher explains how to save time by creating custom searches in Google Chrome and learn how to get your students involved in the Google Science Fair.

Show Hosts:   Kim Zimmer, Chris Betcher , Chris Atkinson

Send us your thoughts! 

Leave us an email at googleeducast@Edreach.us

Moodle was launched as a pet project in 1999 by Martin Dougiamas. Since then, it has grown into an enormously popular learning platform that boasts over 57 million users who have access to roughly 5.8 million courses.

Moodle is an open source, community driven learning management system that is used in traditional, blended, and fully online classrooms. Anyone can setup a Moodle server and start building online courses in a matter of minutes.

Because of my interest in online learning, I am co-hosting a Moodle Hangout on Google+ with fellow educator Sean Beaverson. This gathering is an informal conversation on all things Moodle. Whether you newbie or a ninja, you are welcome to join the conversation. We will be discussing the pros and cons of Moodle vs. other proprietary LMS systems (BlackBoard, BrainHoney, Haiku, etc) as well as more technical things such as the differences between Moodle 1.9 and 2.0. Come ask your questions, give some answers, and learn about how Moodle might help you!

When: Tuesday, January 17 at 1pm (Eastern)
Where: Google+ (to join the hangout, you will need to “circle” myself or Sean Beaverson)
What: A discussion about using Moodle in traditional, blended, and fully online classrooms.

Gerry was unavailable this week, for legitimate reasons, and I had to search for a guest. I not only found one guest, but I found two! You might know Scott Weidig from the EdReach Show and he is also one of Gerry’s bosses. My other guest is Justin Roth, who is my best friend and a serious gaming guru. We discussed 1:1 and how that can impact gaming, iPads placement within 1:1, and Apple’s announcement for Thursday, January 19th. It is a full show with plenty of content concerning your favorite subject…games and learning.

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show contributor: Gerry James

Special Guests- Scott Weidig and Justin Roth

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

Mobile Reach #20 – It’s Actually Pronounced…  This week, we are very fortunate to have a special guest host with us that many of us have followed virtually and admired for his work with mobile devices in the classroom.  You’ll have to listen to learn who!  We have some great discussions centering around CES news, the upcoming Mobile Learning Experience 2012, and share a plethora of apps!  We also debate how some apps are “actually pronounced.” Come check it all out!

Show Host: Chad Kafka (@chadkafka)

Co-Hosts: Judi Epcke (@jepcke), Tammy Lind (@TamL17), Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent)

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- mobilereach@edreach.us

Growing up computers were never scary, they were everywhere. My father came to programming accidentally, but enthusiastically. He was a programmer almost before it was really a career. And he thought that everyone should be able to play. Rather than telling my sister and I not to touch his stuff he gave us our OWN computer to mess around on. We even took a Logo class over one summer. As a result, when I did finally decide to take a real computer science class in high school, I could pick things up easily.

Granted, I’ve always treated coding more like an occasional hobby than a passion, but I like it. I also like to be able to tell other people that I know how to do it. The average person on the street will look at you like you’re super smart when you say, “Yeah, I know a little Python, but I really like doing web pages in HTML and CSS.” It’s a trip.

But there’s a secret I have to tell you: coding is not that difficult.

In fact, if you possess basic logic, it’s pretty easy. And if you can code, computers cease to be scary. After all, if you can code, you can CONTROL the silly things. They won’t stop being frustrating, but at least you know you have the power.

So, the point of all this is a belated New Year’s Resolution. I think you should take a look at Codeacademy.com’s Code Year. They send you a set of exercises every week, and by the end of it you’ll know JavaScript (which is a major language of the web). It even feels a bit like a game: every time you get something right there’s a twinge of excitement!

Just give it a shot. You deserve to feel cool too.

Emily Thompson is the host of EdReach’s show LiTTech, a show for the innovative librarian. LiTTech highlights the innovative news, gadgets, and resources for the literary educator. You can follow her on Twitter @librarianofdoom

This week on EduWin Weekly: Michael Walker and Scott Meech kickoff the first show with an interview of Judi Epcke about her weekly Edu-Winners Circle. While the first show included a lot of history regarding the history of EduWin, there was solid depth into several interesting #EduWin tweets.  We hope you enjoy the concept of this show as we try to highlight all of your EduWins!  This week we highlight @salinalong, @patberkshire, and @jenroberts along with several of our own.

Show Host: Michael Walker and Scott Meech

Show contributors: Judi Epcke

This week’s highlighted EduWins:

Give us some feedback! Email eduwin@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

This week on MacReach: Kelly and I are joined by John Sowash to talk about some fantastic apps for professional development!

Show Host: Meg Wilson (@iPodsibiities)

Co-Hosts: Kelly Dumont (@KDumont) and John Sowash (@jrsowash)

Subscribe to the MacReach Podcast on iTunes

Subscribe to the EdReach Podcast Feed

View the complete show notes here on the EdReach MacReach Wiki to see all the links, resources, and apps discussed in the show!

This week on EdReach Show:  We continue our new format as we introduce News Bits, thanks to our new Reddit account. It’s looking very likely like Apple will be talking about eTextbooks on January 19th- we explore what that means for us. Also, Greg shares his Texas-skewed ideas over the over-abundance of police arrests of students in that state. Our guest, William Chamberlain makes his EdReach debut and talks about #comments4kids, and great hashtag project for student bloggers.

Show Host: Daniel Rezac

Show contributors:  Greg Garner, and  William Chamberlain 

Give us some feedback! Email edreachshow@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

There is a great opportunity for tech-savvy leaders to reach out to their colleagues who are still hesitant to embrace digital tools for learning coming up on February 1.  Digital Learning Day 2012 is a wonderful initiative intended to highlight schools, educators, and/or classrooms where digital tools are being embraced. The goal of Digital Learning Day  from the organization’s website is as follows:

“Digital Learning Day is a culminating event in a year-round national awareness campaign to improve teaching and learning for all children.”

It is my belief that a pervasive use of digital tools cannot happen without the support of school leadership. In addition, while I am a big fan of sharing digitally (online) what is happening here at my school, I know that sharing in this space is not going to engage those who have not gotten comfortable learning in these online spaces.  The only way we are going to make a difference is connecting with these educators where they are.

My challenge for all of you reading this is to invite the administrators in your area to your school for an hour or two on February 1 and show them how one or two digital tools can support them in their learning. Call or e-mail and share the motives for digital learning day and the fact that we as educators need to ensure access to digital resources for all of our students.  It is my opinion, that many people need to see how these tools can benefit them before they see the light and realize the possibilities for others in their schools.

From a selfish perspective, every person that you draw in provides an opportunity for you to expand your own Personal Learning Network (PLN) and gain access to another individual that can offer a new insight that will deepen the quality of your own learning. Don’t miss this opportunity!

This week on the aRTs Roundtable we discuss iPad and iPod Touch Device apps in the arts classroom that we use for productivity, sharing, and individual use. We also discuss how we upload and post to various websites using iPads, iPod Touch Devices, and iPhones.

Show Host: Carol Broos

Show contributors:   Trisha Fuglestad, Brenda Muench, and Jennifer Kolze

The complete show notes are now on the EdReach Wiki

Call us on our comment line!

If you’d like to leave some feedback you can call us on our very own EdReach Comment line: That’s: (443) 93REACH.

This week on The EduNationCast:  Jim’s back from Google Israel, we discuss the media buzz around flip teaching and share some of our favorite educational videos of the week.

When people ask if you’re “flipping” your classroom, do they really know what they’re talking about?

This Week’s Contributors: James Sanders, Adam Bellow, Jim Sill and Dan Rezac. 

The complete show notes can be found on the EdReach Wiki.

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- edunationcast@edreach.us

This week on LiTTech: Ever been to a conference? Ever been to a LIBRARIAN conference? Well, ALA’s Midwinter meeting is just days away, so this week on the LiTTech show, Emily and Addie swap their best conference advice for how to get ready, get out there and meet people, get your point across, and get to the best sessions. (Not to mention how to come away with some pretty decent swag! Did you know that they have a post office on the exhibition floor? Yeah. A whole POST OFFICE) Even though they can’t get there themselves, the LiTTech hosts want to make sure that you have a fantastic time without them!

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Adrienne Matteson

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

Who are you? What do you care about? Who do you care about? What/who do love/like? What do you aspire to be? What does your digital footprint look like?

Each semester I ask my broadcast technology students to create a final video project that is unlike anything they have produced so far. Yet, I ask them to implement all the skills, techniques and processes that they have already learned to successfully complete the assignment.

I always wait to tell the students what their final project will be. The anticipation is fun (for me) to see them sweat a little bit, waiting to get their final assignment. Let’s face it, at professional television stations the reporters are assigned to complete a story in the same day. So I like to believe I am giving them a taste of the “real-world.”

For this project, I had the luxury of allowing students to complete these videos over four class periods. Yet they are always free to work in the lab after school or on their home computers if they have the necessary software and equipment. Bottom line, they have plenty of time to be successful.

We are a Final Cut Pro school, still using version 6. And while learning Final Cut Pro X, I had an idea. I kept hearing that FCP X was very similar to iMovie. I would concur, from the look and feel. And although the power in the two software designs is vastly different, an excellent educator, and very good friend of mine (@tjredbird on Twitter) said, “If you know iMovie, you can pick up Final Cut Pro X rather easily.”  I put him to the test and he spent almost two hours showing me the way through FCP X.  Sounded good. Looked like iMove ’11. “Ok,” I said, “we don’t have FCP X on the computers, but we do have iMovie ’11. Let’s give it a shot.”

Now, while I don’t believe we are going to do a full switch to FCP X anytime soon, and we won’t become an iMovie class, I am always trying to expose my students to new experiences in the broadcasting world. And, although I have not been a big fan of iMovie in the past, I do find the iMovie ‘11 film trailer templates to be quite fun and creative. So maybe there was a way I could accomplish my goal of familiarizing my students with something new and applicable.

So here it goes. I proudly share with you the final project I assigned my broadcast technology students this fall. Feel free to use this in your classes, or modify for your needs. Maybe even try to create a project yourself!

Lesson

In this final video project, you will tell the world, “iAm…”

Instructions

• Using iMovie ’11, select a film trailer theme to illustrate who you are for this iAm project. You may use video clips from any project you have ever created, or you can shoot new footage.

• iMovie ’11 film trailer templates do not allow you to import photos. However, you can change the preference. This PREFERENCE change will also allow you change the font for your text.  Watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pwQw0TZD-Y

Directions

1. Read & Watch the iMovie ‘11 tutorial videos and websites.
   1. http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/#movie-trailers-section
   2. http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/
   3. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2228
   4. http://www.macprovideo.com/hub/imovie/using-animatics-to-create-a-storyboard-in-imovie
   5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gkxlgalgDY
2. Select the film trailer theme in iMovie ‘11.
3. Change each text area to create words or statements describing “iAm….”
4. Use video clips that build or show the audience visual images of who you are, what you care about, what you aspire to be. Ultimately saying, “iAm.”

Once your video is complete, EXPORT your video:

• Create a folder (your last name & FINAL) on your desktop to save your videos into the folder
• Click Share
• Export Movie
• (Select 2 sizes to export) – Mobile, Medium, Large or HD

(I want you to identify & recognize the various sizes for the different types of devices.)

• Click and drag the folder to our dedicated server space, clearly marked in GREEN for backup.

You have 4 class periods to successfully complete this assignment. Have fun!

____________________________________________________________________

Sample Videos to watch:

Broadcast Technology

Media Literacy: A 21st Century Skill

Scoring guide

Section 1: Does the video illustrate personal features of the student?

1. Unique info  = 10 pts
2. Interesting = 10 pts
3. Creative = 10 pts
4. Powerful = 10 pts
5. Written Quality= 10 pts

Total = 50 points

________________________________________________________________

Section 2: Production Value

1. Color = 10 pts
2. Lighting = 10 pts
3. CAM angles= 10 pts
4. Steady shots = 10 pts
5. Action = 10 pts

Total = 50 points

________________________________________________________________

Section 3: Does the student follow directions according to the film trailer template, and Mr. Goble’s instructions?

1. Outline = 10 pts
2. Storyboard = 10pts
3. Shot List = 10 pts
4. Export correctly = 10 pts
5. Submitted to server space correctly = 10 pts

Total = 50 points

________________________________________________________________

Section 4: Post-production

1. Upload to SchoolTube = 10 pts
2. Embed video in your Weebly blog = 10 pts
3. Post a blog about final video = 10 pts

Total = 30 points

________________________________________________________________

Section 5: Deadline

1. Met the deadline = 20 pts
2. Missed the deadline = 0 pts

Final Project = 200 points

Care to see some of the projects my students created? Click any of these links to watch. I’m quite proud of their efforts, and the students told me it was a fun project to do.

• iAm Who iAspire To Be

• iAM Strong

• I am ME

• iAm Glantz

• iAm a Lot of  Things

• IAm a Swimmer

• iAm Senior

• iAm Final

Good luck!

iAm Don Goble. iAm a Broadcast Technology & Film Instructor at Ladue Horton Watkins High School. iAM also an advocate for technology and digital media in the classroom. 

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90373251@N00/12638218

There have been a number of #EduWin posts sharing instances of collaboration, shared successes, or teachers helping teachers.

Planning

Students Collaborating…Spontaneously!

Learning from Others

Helping a Colleague

These interactions may come naturally to teachers today, but in my first years of teaching the idea of collaboration was a very foreign concept to my grade level colleagues. They actually discouraged me from asking too many questions, “We all just kind of do our own thing”. More than a decade later, my role is to collaborate with all of our district teachers, administrators, and staff in the area of educational technology. The successes of my teachers excite me as much as the student successes we all celebrate. Outside of school, I work with other educators in professional organizations, to record podcasts, and to plan and implement ways we can move education forward. I can’t image a day without collaborating with other educators; face-to-face or virtually.

I used to have a sign up in my classroom that read, “None of us is as smart as all of us”. Isn’t this the spirit of Twitter, Pinterest, and the other numerous social media sites? How are you collaborating with colleagues; in real time and asynchronously? How are your students collaborating? How has collaborating with others made your learning and your students’ learning richer or more meaningful?

Spread the word about the best things happening in education….What is your #EduWin? Post daily at: whatisyoureduwin.com. Not sure what to say? Some ideas for an #EduWin post can be found here.

We are excited to be back for our first podcast of 2012 and talking about QR Codes. There are so many exciting, fun and free ways to create and use QR codes in the classroom, and we spend a few minutes discussing and trying them out. Make sure you check out the show notes for links to all the ideas and tools.

Show Host: Anne Truger (@atruger)

I was lucky enough to have a great conversation with some teachers last month, regarding creativity and play in the classroom.  It was one of those discussions that really got me thinking.  As educators, I think we all value the idea of creativity and play.  It all sounds so positive and rejuvenating — it sounds like something we’re supposed to value.

And yet, how many of us are actually comfortable playing anymore?  There certainly are moments, among trusted friends, where we will play around and enjoy a game or a joke. But true creative play, where we become comfortable with pretending, experimenting and falling flat on our faces in front of our peers, doesn’t happen all that often.  I look at my three-year old son and I see that kind of play all the time.  I look at kindergarten classes and it’s still there as well.  It’s inspiring to watch — that fearlessness and that ability to learn from one’s mistakes.  Something happens along the way to adulthood, though, which makes creative play taboo and embarrassing.  We all become so serious and so concerned about judgement — of being wrong and screwing up.

This thought has really haunted me lately, and I’m determined to reclaim something for myself this coming year.

Daniel Pink has written a great deal about creativity and the notion that in this century there is a definite need for individuals who are able to create new things, innovate, problem solve and empathize or connect with human emotions.  When I think about these things, it occurs to me that much of this is learned on the playground, rather than in the classroom.  Play is key to innovation, and an environment which welcomes play can foster experimentation, learning and growth in ways that the “conventional” classroom just can’t.  Creativity and innovation are all about crossing or re-drawing established boundaries.  The challenge really becomes how do we allow for boundary breaking and boundary stretching in our lives?  It’s not that easy, is it?

Personally, I can think of many times that I have scrapped a potentially great idea because I didn’t think that it “fit the mold.” Sometimes that can happen for a good and practical reason, but I bet that isn’t always the case.  And, if I feel this way, I wonder if anyone else does?  I wonder how many of our students do?

So my goal for the new year is to explore my ability to play – to do what I can to experiment more with my ideas and testing boundaries.  I want to continue to ask what we could do to create a learning environment that welcomes and encourages play, experimentation and even failure.  We can’t tear down the walls of the world we live in, but maybe we can open a few windows now and again.

I’m hoping to share more about this.  My attempts and failures may not always be pretty, or successful, or even interesting. But, maybe there could be a kernel of something wonderful at some point.  I guess I’ll never know unless I let myself try.

And that’s the point of learning, isn’t it?

This week on the Google Educast: Google History and Art Online, Google Docs vs. M$ Office, CloudOn. What Do You Love and Let Me Google That For You.  Using the new Google Presentations, and a new tool called WiFli to go with Google Forms. YouTube Downloader Chrome Extension and its implications on Terms of Service or Copyright.  Best Practices for tracking changes using comments, revision history, or text formatting in Google Docs.

Show Hosts:   Diane Main, Fred Delventhal, Chris Betcher , Sean Williams

Send us your thoughts! 

Leave us an email at googleeducast@Edreach.us

Mobile Reach #19 – New Blogs & Blowing Stuff Up in 2012!:  We kick off 2012 with sharing some new articles and blogs related to true mobile learning in the classroom.  We also share some apps that can leave an EXPLOSIVE impression!

Show Host: Chad Kafka (@chadkafka)

Co-Hosts: Judi Epcke (@jepcke), Tammy Lind (@TamL17)

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- mobilereach@edreach.us

This week on EdReach Show:  We start our focus on Ed Media as we broach the article on the NY Times concerning Idaho’s plan to de-fund teacher salaries to purchase laptops. Second, rumors have it that Apple is pushing more into the publishing realm, and may have something to announce about eTextbooks. Also- Jay gives his mini-review in our EdGadget segment about Sifteo Cubes, and of course, the One Thing I Share This Week. 

Show Host: Daniel Rezac

Show contributors:   Scott Weidig, Greg Garner, Jay Blackman, and James O’Hagan. 

Give us some feedback! Email edreachshow@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

This week on MacReach: Kelly and I are joined by Ben McNaboe, a college freshman with something to say about using Apple technology to learn!

Show Host: Meg Wilson (@iPodsibiities)

Co-Host: Kelly Dumont (@KDumont) and Ben McNaboe (@bmcnaboe)

Subscribe to the MacReach Podcast on iTunes

Subscribe to the EdReach Podcast Feed

View the complete show notes here on the EdReach MacReach Wiki to see all the links, resources, and apps discussed in the show!

This week on the EdAdmin show we decided to tackle the topic: “social media’s impact on the principalship”.  The discussion was great, and it inspired me this week to share three research studies that I think are worth sharing.  These studies can help make a quantitative and qualitative case for the positive effects of using social media and social networking in the principalship.   Take some time to sip in the statistics and use them wisely!

In no particular order:

1. School Principals and Social Networking in Education: Practices, Policies, and Realities in 2010
2. A Survey of K-12 Educators on Social Networking and Content-Sharing Tool
3. The Horizon Report

This week on the aRTs Roundtable we discuss iPad and iPod Touch Device apps in the arts classroom that we use to CREATE music and art. The mobile devices have transformed our classrooms with students creating pictures and composing music. Hear about must have apps for all art and music teachers.

Show Host: Carol Broos

Show contributors:   Trisha Fuglestad, Brenda Muench, and Jennifer Kolze

The complete show notes are now on the EdReach Wiki

Call us on our comment line!

If you’d like to leave some feedback you can call us on our very own EdReach Comment line: That’s: (443) 93REACH.

In the second episode of EdAdmin join host Chris Atkinson and special guests Lyn Hilt, Jessica Johnson, and Patrick Larkin discuss the latest news, legal headlines, and legislation effecting educational leadership.  In this episode the panel also candidly discusses the use of social media in schools.

Show Host: Chris Atkinson

Show Contributors: Lyn Hilt, Jessica Johnson, Patrick Larkin,

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- edadmin@edreach.us

This week on LiTTech: Emily and Adrienne talk about their professional resolutions for 2012 and what they think the biggest issues will be including ebooks, library innovation (from hackerspaces to new taxonomies to tablets), and inspiring triumphs over last year’s attitude toward school libraries). In addition, they chat about some of the books they’re really looking forward to in the coming months (hint: the second books in a couple of trilogies are coming up!).

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Adrienne Matteson

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

Everyday, educators are sharing their positive teaching and learning experiences with each other via the WhatIsYourEduWin.com website and the #EduWin hashtag on Twitter. You may be wondering… what is an #EduWin? An #EduWin can happen any time someone takes education forward. It is a way to celebrate all the fabulous things that are taking place in the world of education every day! So far, educators from all over the globe are sharing a daily #EduWin, and it is inspiring to read each and every one of them. (You can read all about how #EduWin came to be here!)

With the start of the new year, I have been trying to think about some innovative reflection techniques to bring into the classroom. The teacher in me knows that it is crucial for students to always be an active participant in the learning process, which includes reflection. I’m always trying to come up with new ways to incorporate that piece. I think it is incredibly important to celebrate both successes and failures with students everyday. It is even better when they can verbalize their own successes and failures, because I know that’s where honest learning comes into play. So for the second half of this school year, I have decided that I will be asking my students to share their own EduWin daily. I want to give them a few minutes every day that is dedicated to  reflecting on their own individual learning. By sharing their own EduWin with their peers, I am hoping that it will also inspire other students, just as I am inspired by other educators’ EduWins.

There are many ways for students to start sharing their own EduWins, and I am still deciding on which method I will be using in my classroom. Here are a few ideas that I have been thinking about:

1. Use the website WhatIsYourEduWin.com to tweet from a classroom Twitter account,  or students’ personal Twitter accounts
2. Make a classroom bulletin board where students add a thought bubble with their EduWin everyday
3. Write a classroom EduWin journal with daily entries (it can even be anonymous!)
4. Photograph an EduWin and use the Project 365 app or website to track their daily EduWin
5. Create a Posterous blog where students email their daily EduWin to a website

I know that there are numerous ways that the EduWin experience can seep into our classrooms and benefit our students; I will have to continue to think about what will work best for my students. And whichever option I choose, I know I will be sharing their #EduWins via WhatIsYourEduWin.com. Please feel free to help me brainstorm and add to the list!

Many argue that the iPad is the premiere consumption device at this time but it isn’t very good at creating. Is that accurate? I tend to believe that the iPad is an amazingly creative device and the user is the only limit for the device. Creating on the iPad is different but it is an effective creation device. The very nature of the device itself and how we interface with it provide for a uniquely creative environment. Effectively creating on the iPad requires a different workflow from traditional computers. Once users get proficient with that workflow, the iPad’s truly becomes unlocked!

This was my presentation for the K12 Online Conference this year. Please push my thinking, advance upon my logic, or simply disagree with a positive conversation. Hopefully, my point comes across to think differently.

So the new year is upon us. It’s that glorious time when gym owners start swimming in a sea of spare income, shopping malls gleefully accept your unwanted items in exchange for store credit, and students (and teachers?) begin counting down the days until the warmth of summer is felt again.

Ho hum. Another year, right? What’s the big deal? Why change anything now? The cynic in each of us knows what resolutions are really good for anyway. Why make resolutions, we think, when we’re just going to break them before the month is out, let alone the year?

I call for this year to be different. Not different in that we’ll actually start going to the gym or eating fewer donuts, but different in that we’ll finally stop giving lip-service to education and actually do something about it. Education should be a trending topic on Twitter, banner headlines on the evening news shows, and selling papers internationally for the advances the US will make in the coming year.

Here are five ways YOU can get involved in Taking Education Forward in 2012:

1- Tweet.

There are a lot of people on Twitter. Market research firm Pear Analytics noted in a study that 40% of all tweets can be classified as “pointless babble.” So let’s take 10% of that and turn it into a conversation about education. Tweet about your #EduWin or maybe something you remember about your favorite teacher or even your opinion on standardized testing. But let’s generate some noise that isn’t “pointless babble.” Make some noise, let’s get education trending.

 2- Follow @edreachus and stay current with the blog’s content at http://edreach.us.

There are dozens of educators and others concerned with education that are pouring themselves into the education conversation. Join in! Comment on a blog, email a post to a colleague, or listen to a podcast.

3- Contact your local schools and businesses and find ways that strategic partnerships could be developed.

Maybe a local business would like to offer a tour of their facility. Elementary students and middle school students can start to see what a business is like, asking questions about what they do and why school is important. High school students can start to hone their skills as they broaden their horizons, learning about what takes place in their own community. The local business gets free marketing as these students tell others about their trip as well as provide a great connection point for future employees.

4- Contact your local members of Congress, both state and federal.

Despite the jokes and news reports, they are still making the laws and need your input. Want education and the future of our country to be a priority? Tell them!

5- Ask questions. Lots of them.

Ask local teachers what can be done to improve education. Ask students what they think about school (dangerous, I know, but worthwhile) and what they think would improve it or make it more relevant. Ask business owners/leaders what they want to see from schools. Ask elected officials what bills or legislation are pending or in committee that will affect education. Use social media tools to ask people from all parts of the globe what they think can be done to take education forward. Ask your local book seller what they recommend to learn more about the topic of education. The information and conversation is out there and it is happening, but its voice isn’t very loud… yet.

We owe it to ourselves and to our children and even our children’s children to take education forward. We have spent too long asleep at the wheel, hibernating in the chill of the winter while the world passes us by. I am not advocating for one position or another, I am advocating that you take a position. We cannot wait, we cannot be silent, we cannot let someone else handle it for us. It is up to you and me to take education forward. When are we going to start? Well, there’s no better time than a New Year to make a new resolution.

Join me in taking education forward in 2012.

Happy New Year everyone and good luck with those New Year’s resolutions.  I have a dozen resolutions myself, but I don’t want to change too much!  If I could get every educator to commit to one resolution, it would be to create a “Personalized Professional Development Plan.” While many dibble and dabble with online tools and social networks, I don’t think enough of us have a plan for organizing our learning with these tools.  Here is my framework for what I call the Lifelong Learning Approach that has helped many teachers.

Now, one of my many resolutions is to regularly publish material to help others build their plans based upon the Lifelong Learning Approach.  The Lifelong Learning Approach is a flexible framework that allows individuals to emphasize different aspects of the framework for themselves.   While I do believe in the Lifelong Learning Framework as is, the most important excercise is to simply reflect upon how you are using digital tools to learn.  I want everyone to create their own personalized framework!

Mobile Reach #18 – 2011 Goes Out With The Gang:  We go out of 2011 with the original group that started Mobile Reach earlier this year and welcome back Scott Meech.  A lot of great discussion occurs around true mobile learning and we share out apps we’ve been trying out or using in the classroom.

Show Host: Chad Kafka (@chadkafka)

Co-Hosts: Judi Epcke (@jepcke), Tammy Lind (@TamL17), & Scott Meech (@smeech)

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- mobilereach@edreach.us

In the news: Google extends through 2012 free calling via Voice from Gmail, YouTube Slam and YouTube Rewind 2011. Google Voice – tips for using in education. Google Tasks and Inbox Zero. Things to try in 2012: Forms for the one-device classroom, Fear Not the Docs List, App Inventor Reborn at MIT.

Show Hosts:   Diane Main, John Sowash, Chris Betcher 

Send us your thoughts! 

Leave us an email at googleeducast@Edreach.us

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