Using Social Media to Enhance Your Professional/Personal Development

What a GREAT webinar we held today!!!

This was our opportunity to contribute to the  University of Northern Iowa Hot Topics in Education webinar series. Robin Galloway and I are gave this webinar on May 26, 2011 from 3:30 - 4:30.

Here's the Link to the actual hour-long webinar that you will be able to watch through Adobe Connect (You don't need Adobe Connect to watch this, however):
 
Using Social Media to Enhance Your Personal/Professional Development 

This webinar was our opportunity to explore how today's professionals need to take responsibility for their professional development. We introduced a variety of ways that people can facilitate their own professional/personal development by getting involved in educational learning communities. Some existing online communities were cited and then we shared some tools they can use to create/enhance their own personal learning networks.

Here are some of the resources:

Using Social Media to Enhance Your Personal/Professional Development View more presentations from Leigh Zeitz

Distributed-Learning Communities as a Model for Educating Teachers (Dede) 

Online Education Communities
Classroom 2.0 - An active education community with over 56,000 members.
1:1 Laptop Schools - An education community dedicated to connecting and inspiring educators in 1:1 schools.

Twitter
Twitter for Teachers - Terrific intro video to show how teachers can use Twitter.
Twibes - Search Twitter Groups that fit your interest.
Listorius - Lists of twitter-ers who are sorted by areas of interest. Great place to find people to follow.
How to Use Twitter to Grow Your PLN | Edutopia  - Lists of educationally focused twitter chats.
#edchat   .    #edchat website - An active Twitter chat list.
Tweetchat - This site helps you get involved in Twitter chats.

Blogging
Cited blogs:
Dr. Z Reflects - Blogging for understanding about ed tech, learning and life (Leigh Zeitz)
Cool Cat Teacher - Vicki Davis shares her life and ideas about teaching and learning.
2 Cents - David Warlick pontificates about social media, education and learning.
Angela Maiers - Angela shares her ideas and experiences about working with teachers and students.
Blogging Resources - Resource page on Dr. Z's ActiveWeb20 wiki.

Social Bookmarking
Diigo - Bookmark, share, highlight and notate your favorite places on the web
Delicious - Another bookmarking site.
Social Bookmarking in Plain English - Explained in simple terms.
Social Bookmarking Resources - Resource page on Dr. Z's ActiveWeb20 wiki.

Virtual Events
TED Talks - Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.
Hot Topics in Education: Professional Development Webinars -
K-12 Online Conference - Online conference where presenters submit 20 minute presentations that can be watched anytime. This site has 5 years of videos.
Flat Classroom Conference - Website for the Flat Classroom Conference in Beijing this past February.

Organizing Your PLN
iGoogle in Plain English - 50 second intro to iGoogle
RSS in Plain English - Real Simple Syndication explained in simple terms.
PLN Resources - Resource page on Dr. Z's ActiveWeb20 wiki.

The webinar was attended by a number of teacher, students and life coaches from multiple states.
Please keep in touch with Robin and myself:

• Robin Galloway, galloway@uni.edu Twitter: rgalloway  www.uni.edu/galloway
• Leigh Zeitz, zeitz@uni.edu  Twitter: zeitz   drzreflects.com

What additional sources to you suggest? Add them to our learning community through the comment section below.

Z

100 Best YouTube Videos for Teachers

WOW!!!!

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, John Costilla shares a list of the Top 100 Videos for Teachers provided by SmartTeaching.org.

This list of videos have been divided into 9 different categories including history, arts, science, language, classroom management, How-Tos and a variety of others.


I can take a tour of the Rijksmuseum or learn sign language or get tips on classroom management.  It even includes The History of the World and The Theory of Everything. The selection is quite varied.

I must admit that some of the videos were inaccessible because they had been removed from YouTube. Some of the links weren't touch and go. I had to copy the link to paste it into a new browser window.  Anyway, it is a useful set of resources that you will enjoy.

White House Webinar Explains Osama Bin Laden Death to Students

How do you explain cheering Bin Laden's death to students?  This is as problem that many teachers are having.  It is difficult to explain the dark world of terrorism, but how do you explain to third grade students when they see people cheering the death of a person?  

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have someone from the White House explain about the Osama Bin Laden's death?  This happened last Thursday, May 5, at noon (CST).  Ben Rhodes, Deputy Assistant to the President, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriter, gave a 10-minute presentation on what happened. It wasn't fancy but it was effective. He had a slide show filled with photos that was interspersed with this discussion.

Mr. Rhodes began by explaining the events of 9/11 and how things have progressed since then in trying to find and capture Bin Laden. The broadcaster had been part of the group who were involved in watching the invasion from the White House and was well-informed on the progression of events.

The amazing part of this event is that over 1600 viewers were involved.  While some of them might have been individuals like me in their offices I would imagine that most of them were classes of students. There is a recommendation on the site that suggests that because of the sensitive nature of the webinar, it would be best to limit viewers to middle and high school students.

The best part was the last 20 minutes where the students/viewers were actually able to ask questions. These questions asked about how Bin Laden's death will affect the threat of terrorism in the U.S.; why they buried Bin Laden at sea; how they compared the DNA and a variety of other pertinent questions from the news.

The Discussion on Bin Laden webinar archive is available for you to review.  It has a 10-minute segment of Rhodes' presentation and then they divided the students' questions into 2 10-minute segments.

I haven't been able to find any archives of other White House webinars through Discovery (or anyone else).  Do you know of any archives? This would be a valuable asset for Discovery and the White House to create.

What do you think?  Did you use this with your students?  Will you use this with your students? How do you like the way that they addressed this issue?  

How did YOU address the issue?

Web Tools Adorn 21st Century Bloom's Taxonomy

Richard Overbaugh's image

Bloom's Taxonomy has a new face. Well, actually it isn't so new. If it were a human, it would be old enough to drive.

Back in 1956, Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues realized that they didn't have the common vocabulary to discuss types of questions that would be used on test or in class. Some questions only required learners to recall the capital of Iowa, while answering others involved synthesizing ideas from multiple sources to create a new opinion. It took them a couple of years to finalize on the 6 groups that they used in Bloom's original taxonomy. Would you believe that they were arguing about whether to put Evaluation or Synthesis at the top right up to printing time and that it was answered with a coin toss?

In the mid 1990s, Lorin Anderson and a team of cognitive psychologists updated the taxonomy by changing all of the nouns to verbs, adding Creating on the top, and folding synthesis into Evaluating.

This is a welcome change where they put the emphasis for learning on the individual to create. It has been reflected in a variety of tools include the ISTE NETS-S.  ISTE placed the emphasis of using technology on Creating with technology instead of Operating the computers.

Recently, there have been a few educators who have been aligning Web 2.0 tools with Bloom's Taxonomy. This is a useful tool to show the variety of opportunities with the available online tools, but it is also a wonderful way to help classroom teachers link the tools with their curriculum.

Schrock's Google Taxonomy

Kathy Schrock's Bloomin' Google. http://kathyschrock.net/googleblooms/

My favorite arrangement was done by Kathy Schrock. Kathy is always at the head of the pack when it comes to organizing things.  You know, little things like the World Wide Web or the vast collection of Google Tools.  She creates the wonderful instruments and I sit in Awe (just south of Des Moines) asking myself "Why didn't I think to that?"

Anyway, while the image above is linkless - when you go to her Bloomin' Google website each of the logos links directly to the tool (don't click the image above because it won't take you there.) She also is using this as a means for collecting educators' ideas about her creation.  She has included a Google form below the table where teachers can add their "ideas and justifications for why you might have students utilize apps and tools in the cognitive area they appear on the taxonomy"

Penney's Digital Taxonomy Pyramid

Samantha Penney's Digital Taxonomy Pyramid. http://www.usi.edu/distance/bdt.htm

While Kathy limited hers to primarily Google Tools, Samantha Penney at the University of Southern Indiana crossed Bloom's Pyramid with over 50 Web 2.0 tools. Samantha says that she created this for some summer staff development. It is based upon Andrew Church's concept of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy.  She used Go2Web20 and Cool Tools for Schools.

Once again, the image above has no working links, but if you venture over to Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Pyramid you will find that each of the logos links to an individual tool. I haven't checked all of them out yet, but there are a bunch that I have used yet.

This is a wonderful merging of theory with practical application. These organizers provide some sanity in the ever-exploding world of Web 2.0 tools.

Which tools are missing? What do you use that you don't see included on one or both of these charts?

Do you disagree with any of these categorizations? There is often a murky distinction between these levels.  Seems that only academics worry about the strict distinctions, but what do you think?

I challenge you to make your opinion known on the comments below.

Z

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead!!!

Yes, Osama Bin Laden is Dead!!!

After a long 10 year of war and terrorist attacks, we have finally killed the head of the snake.
Yes, there will be other heads who will be trying to graft themselves onto the top of the Al-Qaeda reptile, but this is a huge accomplishment in the war on terrorism.
Twitter is ablaze with #binladen tweets.  Most of them are celebrating the death of the terrorist leader and some of them are asking if it is too early to tell Bin Laden jokes.

Wondering where he was found?  A cartographer identified the location of the Bin Laden compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and marked it on the Google Map. Search for Osama Bin Laden's Compound in Google Maps and it will take you to the spot. 

It is amazing to see the immediacy of this identification. The funny part is that as of 12:27 AM CST, people have already posted 180 reviews of the compound.  They are complaining about bed bugs and poor maid service. 

I don't know what to say that is profound about tonight's events. By the time you read this, who knows what will have happened in the world as a result this event. It may be an escalation of the  war or, hopefully, it will mean a reduction in the peril in the world. 

Whatever the change in world, it can be said that the world will never be the same.

How has it affected your world?

Z

Talking with Milo. Amazing Reality in Virtual World Interface

Talk about realistic interaction - - - this Milo video is absolutely amazing!

This is a system where the on-screen boy, Milo, can recognize faces, voices and even emotions in our voices.  The ability for the user to interact within the video world is astonishing but watch what happens when the user "hands" a paper with a hand-drawn photo to the character on the screen and you will be astonished.

Imagine what this could do in learning situations.  Doesn't necessarily have to be in the classroom. This would be even more effective during the non-school hours as tutor, collaborator or even tutee.

Video Games | Lionhead Milo Project | E3 09: Milo Tech Demo

Xbox 360 | PlayStation 3 | Nintendo Wii | PC Games

What do you think?  Where do you think that this will change the educational world?  Will it endanger schooling as we know it today?

Poof! Your iPad Becomes an Interactive Whiteboard

I have never been a big fan of the Interactive Whiteboards (IWB).  We continually cry for more student-centric problem-based learning curriculum and then we introduce these BIG TICKET devices to maintain the teacher's control of the classroom. Where is the sense in that? We need to provide a system where the control is in the students' hands. That IS the definition of student-centric.

IWB proponents say that we can use the Interactive Slates (e.g., Promethean Activslate) but they cost $600 a piece.  What if we could spread them out so that the students have access to these slates?  What if they could help control them from their seats by themselves or in small groups?  What if we could do this with the iPads that we already have along with some modestly priced software apps? Sure, iPads cost $500, but you can use them for so many more things than just controlling the projector screen.

I was reading Wesley Fryer's Moving at the Speed of Creativity blog when I happened upon his posting about Using iPads as IWBs for $5 or $10. In that posting (and I strongly suggest you read it) he introduced us to Dr. Tim Tyson who has created some quickcasts that tell you how to turn your iPads into interactive slates that can control your screen from your seat for a paltry price.



The strategy is simple. You need to have some software that will enable you to share screens between your iPad and your computer (Mac or Windows). This means that when you move things around on your iPad, it will appear on the projected screen. I found such software a few weeks ago when I purchased the app, Air Display, for $10.  It easy to use and you remember that I used it to add a third screen to my laptop (Triple Screens on My MacBook Pro.)

Once you have this capability, your ability to interact with the screen will require some screen annotation and screen capture software. Believe it or not, this is available at a reasonable price.

Screen Annotation Software: Technically, you can't use IWB-specific software to run your iPad. You might be able to download a personal version for free from a commercial website (e.g., Promethean) but it is supposed to me used on a Promethean board.  I did a little investigating and found that Promethean has a SPECIAL SITUATION offer. They WILL allow you to use the Personal version of ActivInspire on a non-Promethean board "solely for the purpose of operating  Resources available from Promethean Planet on non-Promethean hardware."  You just have to apply for a Teacher Consent License.  You apply and they approve/disapprove it in 5 days.

If that doesn't fit your needs, you can purchase some useful software for a reasonable price.  Dr. Tim suggests Ink2Go.  It provides annotation and screen captures for $20.  I haven't purchased it, but the video in Dr. Tim's #3 Quickcast showed it to be pretty good.  I think that Wes is being overly optimistic when he says that you can get this set-up for $10, but you can get it for $30 and that's a pretty good deal.  Wes recommends getting a Pogo Stylus for $15 to improve your accuracy, and that looks like a pretty good idea.

Is this going to work for us?  Kathy Schrock says that she has been doing it for a few weeks at her schools and love it to death. I look forward to going to school and trying this on our Promethean Boards. You will want to watch Dr. Tim's videos and set yourself up to have a personal IWB on your iPad.

What do you think?  Will this fit your needs?

Z

ITEC Student Tech Fair

Students are the Center of Attention this week for the Iowa Technology and Education Connection (ITEC) organization.

Movies, graphics and robots have invaded sites statewide as Iowa K-12 students share their technology projects this week. Sponsored by the Iowa Technology and Education 

This Student Technology Fair occurs as three fairs held this week across the state at Iowa State University (3/12) and Denison High School (3/14). Almost 300 projects will be presented statewide. The projects span seven different categories including multimedia, web presence, programming, video/linear presentation, graphics/publishing, 3-D rendering/non-linear animation, and music/sound design. 

Each of the projects will be reviewed by local judges and those receiving the Judges’ Purple Ribbon awards will be invited to showcase their projects at the ITEC conference in October.

Here is some of the coverage for the events:

Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier

 Students Show Off Tech Skills at University of Northern Iowa

KWWL Broadcast

KWWL TV covers the ITEC Student Tech Fair at UNI

#ITECtechfair Tweet Feed

#ITECtechfair Tweet Feed - See what Twitterers are saying throughout the week.

Triple-Screens on my MacBook Pro

Yes, it's true.

You are seeing triple screens running with my MacBook Pro without any external splitter hardware.

Cast of Characters (from the left):
--iPad I (bought 3 wks before iPad II was released)
--MacBook Pro
--Scavenged flatscreen monitor.

The flat screen is just connected using a VGA dongle to connect it as I would connect a projector to use in class.

The iPad connection is a little trickier. I found a nifty app called Air Display (relative to Air Guitar - but not).  Air Display is an app created by Avatron.  It allows you to wirelessly extend your desktop to iPad, iPhone, iPod or Mac.

You load the app on your iPad (or other i-device) and then load a computer-based version on your base computer. They even say that you can run the computer-based software on a Mac OR Windows PC.

Turn-on Air Display on your computer.
Now go to your i-device and turn the Air Display app.  You might have to play with the System Preferences on either of the computers.

Now you are connected.  Play with the Monitor Preferences Arrangements but it's pretty easy.

Why would anyone need such an arrangement asks my secretary?

That's not the point.

The point IS . . . . . . . . . that it's possible.

Z

Returning to the Grid

I am doing it again. I have returned to blogging my ideas so that I can hear your feelings on these topics.

It isn't until I leave to a different strand of life that I realize how connected to "The Grid" I really am.  As a professorial geek, I typically spend my life blogging, tweeting, texting (not so much), Toodledo-ing my todo list for the day, signing in with 4square, grading papers online, writing and continually refining the online resources for my classes. lt is all just part of my life.  It's not until I go to a place where this is not accessible that I realize how intergral begin "on the grid" is to my life.

This first became apparent when I took a week-long mountain biking trek in Utah.  I consciously left behind my phone and computer and anything electronic except a flashlight. It was liberating. I lived my life for myself and didn't worry about having to share it with anyone except my colleague bikers.

Recently, I traveled with a team of UNI grad students to the Flat Classroom Conference in Beijing where it was all about technology, but I kind of dropped off the grid for a little while. I didn't buy a local phone or sim card so I didn't have phone access. I was online with my laptop, but didn't find the time to blog our adventures for my readers and professional colleagues (sorry about that.) There was just too much to do and see for me spend extra time trying to sound literate through social media. Good thing our students did such a wonderful job of blogging, vlogging and skyping with the public about our travels. (explore links to their wise writings.)

Vicki Davis talks about how we need a break from the grid during Spring Break in her posting Be There. She says that we need to "Rest, Relax and Reach Out."  I couldn't agree with her more. I can't say that I was really Off the Grid over our spring break, but when I returned to my new office at UNI it took a few days to get back into the swing of things.  This means that I actually stopped thinking about work for a few days.

I have been back for about a month and am trying to get back on the grid. This Saturday morning I decided to go to Panera's coffee shop to spend a few hours writing and reconnecting with the world. Some of the postings I will make this week and others will be stockpiled as timeless pontification that will be used for a myriad of opportunities in the near future. (wow, pontification and myriad in the same sentence - how pedantic is that?)

I truly hope that you aren't reading this from your Blackberry while driving down the 605 freeway. I hope that you are enjoying this with a cup of java (or drink of your choice) while pondering the meaning of life.

Take care of yourself. You can Work Less and Produce More

I am happy to report that Dr. Z is back "On the Grid" again - for now.  =-)

What do you do to maintain your sanity?

1-to-1 Principal Tells It ALL!!!

What does it take to succeed in implementing a Technology-Rich Learning Environment in your school?  Dr. Z had an opportunity to speak with Principal Deron Durflinger at the Van Meter High School where they have provided laptops for their students for 2 years. This 10-minute video is the second in a series of video interviews that Dr. Z had with leaders in the Van Meter School District.



What do you think? Do you agree with Principal Durflingers ideas?  What works for you?

Z

My Blackberry is NOT Working!

Wondering how the OLDER generation (is that us Baby Boomers? . . .  couldn't be) is interpreting the digital revolution? Here is a video by Ronnie Corbett (The One Ronnie) that provides a fruit stand perspective to out digital world:





What do you think? Did they hit it on the noggin?

Back from Beijing

Isn't that a fantastic group?!?!

This is our team from UNI who traveled to Beijing for the Flat Classroom Conference.  I have blogged about it some on my blog and you will find the wonderful postings by everyone else through the links over there in the right column of Dr. Z Reflects. ---------------->>>

Just in case you don't know, this team is identified thusly:
         Leigh Zeitz
Lisa Schaa      Vicki Davis        Carrie Jacobs     Brandi Day     Cathy Olson    Farah Kashef
                                     Jami Elliott         Deb Bruxvoort         Jenny Ties             Kathy Klink-Zeitz

I must admit that I have pages and pages of things to share with you but have spent the past week trying to catch up on all of the things that fell behind while I was gone. Look for a number of new things over the next couple of weeks.

Students Working with Teachers

Sorry that I haven't done much blogging during the conference.  Web access has been quite splotchy so I haven't always had the access when I had the time to post.  I hope that you have been following the blogs of the other students and attendees of this wonderful conference.  If you haven't, look in the right column of this page to see links to blogs where you will find more stories of what has happened.

This conference has been all about Action.  Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay call it an Action-Based Conference.  That means that it involves more Doing and less Watching.
Follow this link to the Conference Program and you will see that there are very few lectures to watch and lots of time for students and teachers to work by themselves and together.

Strands
The essence of the Flat Classroom movement is collaboration. This means people working together. People working together to develop online experiences that cause learners to develop new understandings of each other and the global experience.

There are two strands: Student Summit and Leadership Workshop:

Student Summit Strand: Students are challenged to develop a Flat Classroom-style project that will help to promote awareness and global improvement based on the summit theme, 'Our Global Future Living Together'.  This is something that they began on Thursday afternoon when they broke into groups. None of these group members knew each other before the conference. Together they identified ideas and created 2-minute "pitches" that they were to present to the members of the Leadership Workshop on Friday morning.  This format involves students presenting ideas to educators.

Leadership Workshop Strand: Educators (teachers, administrators and specialists) divide themselves into groups by grade level and interests.  None of the members are to work at the same schools. Diversity of location is the name of the game here. Their assignment is similar to the students' assignment because they must develop a Flat Classroom-style project that they might use in their classrooms. This is important because the main goal here is to create content that will be used at a later time. The most interesting part of this assignment is that the Educators were to also develop a 2-minute "pitch" that they would present to the members of the Student Summit. YES. Students were going to be asked to evaluate teachers' ideas.

Interaction
The strongest part of this experience was the interaction. Group members interacting with other group members from around the world. Teachers providing feedback for students.  Students providing opinions about teachers' ideas for lessons before they actually have to experience them. The students LOVED this, by the way.  They loved telling their teachers what they didn't like about the proposal.  =-) I was quite impressed with the suggestions they offered.  It was like watching "Dancing with the Stars" or "America's Got Talent." Everyone wants to provide an opinion.

yahoo.com/superkimbo

By the way, let me point out that they didn't just make their pitches once. NOOOO. Each group had to pitch 6 times to 6 different groups. They had 2 minutes to make their pitches and then received 3 minutes of feedback about the pitch.  It was interesting to watch the pitches get better and better with each review. It seemed to me that the teachers asked for more suggestions about how to make their pitches better.

Developing Their Ideas
Students: Once each group received their feedback, they took their proposals to the next step.  The students began work on 7-minute presentations that they would do for a large group. These were proposal for projects. Some included Creative Recycling, Culture Connections, or  energy monitoring systems.

yahoo.com/superkimbo

The whole group stood in front of 100 students and leaders to make their presentations.  These presentations were then evaluated by the audience using an online polling system.
The top 6 projects have already been identified and they have been working with Bernajean Porter and Frank Guttler to create short videos of their final project. These will be shown at the closing ceremonies. This should be quite exciting.

Educators: The educators need to actually turn their ideas into Flat Classroom Projects. They have been provided with online wiki forms for them to complete.  The first form was a Brainstorming form that helped them get their ideas together for their pitch.  It involved analyzing their needs and then identifying Methods of Interaction that they would use in the project.  These were completed on their wiki so that virtual members of their teams would be able to add to their ideas.

After they made their pitches and received their feedback, the educators were challenged to finish their Flat Classroom projects by completing an additional form that took them through the rest of the ADDIE process.  This was also done on a wiki so that the virtual attendees would be able to give their input.

The educators don't need to present their ideas again. Their written work will be reviewed by me (Dr. Z), the Panther squad, and some Apple Distinguished Educators.  We will use rubrics to identify the winners and the top 3 will share them at the closing ceremony.

All in all, this is an exciting conference to experience!  It is TRULY and Action-Based Conference. It is all about doing things and interacting with other people and making things happen. Interestingly enough, these are the precise traits of the two ladies who put this conference together: Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay.

I guess I should make a note that these are the traits of everyone they involved in making this conference happen. Learning at a conference is no longer about sitting in a chair and listening to lecturers share their lives and ideas.  It is about making things happen now that can affect education later.

What do you think?  How do you see this format as changing conferences as we know them?

Ducking My Blogging Responsibilities

OK, OK  . . .
So I have been ducking my responsibilities for keeping you informed of our wonderful trip to Beijing. (Don't you just love that duck? <-- Bernajean Porter took it outside a shop near Tiananmen Square. 

Actually I haven't been too worried about our trip being documented. Our students, the Beijing Travelers, have been doing a great job of doing that. It has been a HOOT to watch these Teachers in a Strange Land running around with their Flip cameras recording anything that moves. It is even more fun to see them narrating their experience.



Look what is already posted:

• If you want to see video about our flight to Bejing, check out Jamie Elliott's video on our Flight to the New Land.
• If you want to read about our Marathon Sightseeing, read Deb's Diary by the same name. 
• Want to know more about the schools we visited?  Read Jen's posting called Wednesday at WAB where she discusses their visit to the Western Academy of Beijing.  I couldn't make that trip because we were working on the conference, but Kathy's photos of the school are quite impressive.
• Here is a video of the Amazing Flying Acrobatic Show. 

I promise that I will do a better job of posting to this blog to keep you updated, but look at the ones I cited above and look down the right column of my blog (see them up there?) to see wonderful reporting of our trip.

Follow Us Virtually at the Flat Classroom Conference

Yes, we will be in Beijing for a week so that our 8 wonderful Instructional Technology grad students will be able to present about Instructional Design and facilitate hands-on workshops with teachers and students.

The Flat Classroom Conference is unique in that it includes teachers and students from around the world.  That means that we have attendees from a variety of different countries who will attend.

Believe it or not!!!!!!  You can attend too!!!!!!

This conference will be streamed through the Internet. That means that people can watch it from almost anywhere in the world.   But there's more . . .

Some teachers and students will be able to actually take part in the conference virtually.  That means that they will be involved in the small group activities.  They will listen to what is happening and respond through an online chat room for that group.   Unfortunately, the deadline for signing up has passed, but you will be able to watch the conference.

There are two strands for this conference: the Leadership Strand and the Student Summit:

• The Leadership Strand will involve adults who will explore collaborative learning modes and emerging technologies that support these while designing new instructional models for immediate use in their own classrooms.
• The Student Strand will involve 100 students who will be challenged to be part of an action project which asks them to envisage solutions to problems identified as "Our Global Future Living Together."
  

Read this posting from the Flat Classroom Blog to learn more about this and see all of the schools that will be involved. 

GET INVOLVED!!!!   Watch the videocast at the Streamed Video website.  Here is a schedule for the conference. Please note that it begins on Friday morning in Beijing, but that is Thursday evening here in Cedar Falls.

The Scheduled Activities:

Time in Beijing is 14 hours ahead of Cedar Falls. This means that you will be watching a Friday morning presentation on Thursday evening here in Iowa.  Below are the times of the conference activities with the Iowa times listed after each presentation.

Friday

  8:30                        Introductory Activities (Th 6:30 PM CST)

10:00 - 10:45           Technology Skills Workshops (Bootcamp) (Th 8:00 PM CST)

11:00 - 11:45           Technology Skills Workshops (Bootcamp) (Th 9:00 PM CST)

  2:30 - 5:30              Sessions (Fri 12:30 - 3:30 AM)

Saturday

8:30 - 9:00               Leaders provide ideas for projects (Fri 6:30 PM CST)

9:15 - 10:00            Dr. Z and UNI Grad Students present: Instructional Design (Fri 7:15 PM CST)

11:15 - 12:15          Students present ideas (Fri 9:15 PM CST)

1:00 - 5:00              Sessions (Fri 11:00 PM CST)

Sunday

10:15 - 10:45          Feedback for student presentations. (Sat 8:15 PM CST)

10:45 - 11:15          BE the Change presentation by Julie Lindsay (Sat 8:45 PM CST)

11:45 - 12:45          Closing Ceremony (Sat 9:45 PM CST)

Remember that all of this will be recorded so you can watch it later if you wish.

Will you be involved in this?

Z

Heading for China and the Flat Classroom Conference

On Saturday, we will be flying from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Beijing, China, via Chicago. In this case, "WE" means that I will be accompanied by 8 Instructional Technology graduate students from UNI and their teacher of record, my wife Kathy Klink-Zeitz.

We are going to Beijing to participate in the Flat Classroom Conference. The Flat Classroom Conference is a celebration of the work done by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsey in creating and running the Flat Classroom Project (FCP).  I have written about FCP in previous postings. It is instructional global collaboration where students from around the world join together to interact in collaborative problem solving.

I haven't posted about this conference before this because I have been too busy trying to get it all together.  Our students are practicing professionals.  Most of them are teachers.  They have been blogging about their upcoming trip and I have listed links to their blogs below.  They will be blogging, video blogging and Skyping with their students here in the States.

Review These Blogs:

1. Jami Elliott, a graduate of Iowa Wesleyan College, teaches third grade in an elementary school in West Burlington, Iowa for the last 8 years. Her blog, Ms. Elliott's Adventure to China, is dedicated to her trip.
2. Cathy Olson, a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, is a high school English teacher in Boone, Iowa.
3. Carrie Jacobs, a graduate of Central College, is a social studies teacher and the technology specialist at Walnut Creek Campus, an alternative high school in West Des Moines, Iowa. She has a masters of education degree in Quality Schools from Graceland University.
4. Deb Bruxvoort, a graduate of William Penn University, is Director of Academic Computing at Central College in Pella, Iowa.
5. Farah Kashef, a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, is a Dental Hygiene Instructor at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, Iowa.
6. Brandi Day, a graduate of Harding University, is a Program Associate with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.
7. Jennie Kies, a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, teaches engineering technology at Jefferson high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
8. Lisa Schaa, a graduate of the University of Iowa, has taught art and technology at an elementary school in Stratford, Iowa for the last 27 years. Mrs. Schaa's Adventures in China is a blog all about her travels

A wealth of information can be found in Kathy Klink-Zeitz's Beijing Design blog which is the blog that she used to organize the course, Applied Instructional Design, which all of the students had to take.


Follow along and I will tell you how to watch us virtually and even get involved virtually as one of the attendees.

UNI Videos Go Viral

Yes, videos from UNI Panther-Land are making it on the web. We have had a couple of successes.


The first is one from our very own Northern University High School. This one is entitled:

(AKA Bo Beep) It is the brainstorm of two students from Taiwan: Wendell Tsai and Shang-Hung Tsai. Based on a popular music video from Taiwan, the brothers decided to involve some classmates so that they could share something from their culture. (Watch carefully, because I think that the blue and green room with the glaring lights is the broom closet that I used to call my office when I was the instructional technology coordinator at NU high.)

Upon writing this posting, this video has had almost 1/2 million viewings.



Another UNI video (actually set of video) involves the Interlude Dance.  This is a dance using the Interlude song by Attack Attack was created by a student, Tyler Wright. An article about this dance is in our Waterloo Courier newspaper today and it says that Ian Goldsmith and Scott Connerley worked with Wright to create it. They created an instructional video and then, for the 2011 basketball season, the song has been played during game interludes and hundreds of students dance to it.


Below is the instructional video. It has a number of students (is that Hailey dancing there?) who are dancing in their dorms, at McDonalds, under a black light and even at the student union. At this posting, this video had been viewed over 38,000 times.


Now you can watch the video of the students dancing the Interlude Dance during the UNI - Creighton basketball game. You can see hundreds of students dancing (is that Michael in there?).  You might even see some faculty (Is that Nick Pace?)   At this posting, this video has been viewed 59,000 times.



Have you danced the Interlude Dance or the sung Bo Beep? If so, what was your experience?
What other links can you provide us to share this experience?

Google Apps is now MORE than Google

Google Apps has been a boon to schools all over the world. This was a packaged deal from Google where many tools are made available to the schools and school districts to create a controlled system for communication and collaboration.

Google Apps has been adopted by many schools and school districts. In 2010, whole states adopted Google Apps for their education programs. Oregon was the first one to "see the light" (Go Ducks!!) This was quickly followed by Iowa and Colorado. the states of Iowa and Oregon adopted Google Apps as their suite of tools available to all for free online.

These Google Apps typically include Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Docs, Sites, Video and Groups.  More recently, it has added Blogger and a few other offerings.



Now Google has expanded their offerings to include a variety of apps created and offered by private companies. These companies provide online curriculum and utilities for the students to use in their learning. This is another example of how Google made deep connections with institutions by providing them free services.  Now the Google conduit will provide pay-for-use resources like BrainPop, EasyBib and Aviary. It is difficult to tell from the news releases that I have found, but some of these may be for free.  You can see the list of offerings at the Google Apps Marketplace.

Are you using Google Apps for Education in your schools?  How do you think that these new offerings will be received by your teachers and students?

First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy

This video is provides an interesting perspective on leadership.  It was filmed at a conference. Begins with a guy dancing (shirtless dancing guy). He was joined by another person who wanted to dance. This continued until there was a mob of dancers.

The most interesting part was how the narrator pointed out that it was the first follower who transformed the "lone nut" into a leader. He turns this jiggly video of motivated concert goers into a lesson on leadership.

Watch it.  You will enjoy it.

How does it fit your ideas about leadership?  Have you ever considered the importance of the first follower? What does this mean to your life?

Z

Not Comfortable with Technology? Get Over It!!!

I was just reading George Couros' blog, The Principal of Change, where I found some great observations.  I must admit that my feeling about the correctness of George's ideas has a high correlation to their agreement with my own ideas.  Isn't it funny?

One of the things that I like about George is his undying dedication to kids. He is a "Principal of Change" who continually works to provide students exciting learning experiences. It's not about us, it's about the kids.


What I liked in his posting entitled "Push". was that he identified a major problem that many educators have with technology - they may "not feel comfortable with this technology." He says that there are lots of people to us with technology.  He had 3 words for educators who "didn't feel comfortable" . . .  Get Over It!  Empowering students for their futures isn't about us, the teachers.  It's about the students.

Learning is a social activity and today's social technologies provide a venue through which they can connect with you, the teacher, students in your class, community and around the globe. Couros suggests that teachers need to take risks.  They need to expand outside their comfort zones to provide learning opportunities that are relevant to today's students.


What do you think?

photo: George Couros

Skype in the Classroom Soon to be Released

Skype brings a whole new dimension to the classroom opportunities. As I have been chronicling throughout this blog, I have used Skype for years to bring experts and fellow educators into by university classroom. 


In a previous posting, I discussed ways to find people to Skype into your classroom through wiki directories or conference program directories or just meeting up with people at conferences and getting their contact information.

You were introduced to a Skype page for an Author Network.   This is where authors can offer their services to talk with your students. 

We shared Silvia Tolisano's wonderful 20-minute introductory video about how to use Skype in your classroom, Around the World with Skype.

Well, Guess What?   Skype is taking the lead to foster using its video conferencing software in the classroom with their new project entitled Skype in the Classroom. Skype is going to support an online directory of people who would be willing to skype with you and your students.  What is really exciting about this project is its international aspect. I don't know if you know this, but Skype was founded by a Swede and a Dane.  It was developed by a pair of Estonian developers.  Presently, Skype's headquarters are in Luxembourg.

There isn't a great deal of information about how they will do this. You can pre-register at their Skype in the Classroom website. I just signed-up this morning and they sent me an email verifying my "subscription."  This took me to their Subscription Page entitled "Skype - Pay Me"  I didn't quite see how this fit with the FREE label that Skype put on Skype in the Classroom. I looked around and didn't find anything that mentioned Skype in the Classroom.  I figured that something would happen in the future . . .  and it did.

I received another email from Skype sending me a list of the information I had submitted - my name and email address.  Oh Well . . . Skype in the Classroom is in its beta format and I am happy to be one of the early adopters for this project. 

The international aspect of this video conferencing tool has the potential to enhance the global aspects of our education.

Thanks, Skype!

Z

photo: skype.com

Keyboarding Skills for 4th Grade Students

What effect does a 4-week online computer keyboarding instructional tutorial have on 4th grade students?

Teaching keyboarding at the elementary level is the way it should be.  Kids are using computers during their preschool ages and should be provided guidance early in their lives so as to develop good keyboarding habits.  I must admit that I am not a fan of preschool keyboarding instruction. I think that it should begin about 3rd grade. Research states that 8 years old is a good age because students have developed the coordination and manual dexterity to keyboard efficiently.

I agree with the physical development statements, but more importantly they have a reason to communicate in a written format.  It doesn't make sense for kids to learn how to keyboard if they don't have much to say.

Amy Lockhart and I had an opportunity to do some keyboarding research in her 4th grade classroom at Price Laboratory School at the University of Northern Iowa.  We involved the students in 4-weeks of instruction. We spent 40 minutes a day in the computer lab learning how to keyboard. It was fun and productive.

 Keyboarding Camp! Keyboarding Skills for 4th Grade Students (.pdf)

We used the Almena Keyboarding Method. This is a unique form of instruction where instead of learning the homerow first, the Almena Method uses a series of mnemonic jingles for each finger’s keys. These jingles consist of three-word phrases that allow the students to learn the keys’ locations. The phrase, “Quiet Aunt Zelda”, was used to remember the left little finger keys; Q, A and Z. The phrase, “Over Longer Periods”, was used for the right ring finger keys; O, L and P.  

The Almena Keyboarding Method was relatively successful. The 4th graders averaged an improvement of 2.6 Adjusted Words Per Minute (A-WPM). The A-WPM was calculated by subtracting the number of Errors Per Minute (EPM) from the WPM. While 2.6 doesn't seem like much of an improvement, consider that they began at an average of 7.2 A-WPM.  This means that they improved an average of 36% in keyboarding fluency.  Not bad.

What was unique about our action research was that we also investigated how specific attributes affected students' ability to keyboard.  These characteristics were: Gender, Age, Hand Size, Music Experience, and Athletic Experience.

• Gender - Boy or girl.
• Age - Students’ ages ranged from 9 - 11 years old.
• Hand Size - Students’ hand sizes ranged from 5.0 to 6.75 inches in length from wrist to the tip of the middle finger. This variable was classified into three groups for analysis.
• Music Experience - Students were questioned about their musical experience. If they had taken lesson for playing a musical instrument, they were identified as having Musical Experience.
• Athletic Experience - Students were questioned about their athletic experience. If they had been involved in an organized athletic activity, they were identified as having Athletic Experience.

We had some interesting results.  Here is an table displaying the overall results based upon Adjusted Words Per Minute:

What does this tell you?  The small size of the sample does not allow us to generalize to a larger population, but it shows some trends that should lead to additional research. 

• Musical experience seems to have an affect on success using keyboarding tutorials.
• Younger students tended to key faster then their older classmates.
• Students with smaller hands tended to key faster than their bigger-handed classmates.

We need to further analyze this data to investigate how multiple variables affect A-WPM. Do small-handed 9-year-olds key faster then bigger-handed 9-year-olds?

If this research catches your interest, you can download the whole .pdf file here:

Keyboarding Camp! Keyboarding Skills for Fourth Grade Students (.pdf)

What are your experiences in young students keyboarding?