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Nic Says: New Trends: For the TechnoYES Teacher!

31/10/2014

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In our book, “TechnoTeaching: Taking Practice to the Next Level in the Digital World,” we created characters to help illustrate our TechnoTeaching continuum. The TechnoNOs are those who create barriers against the digital age entering their classroom. The TechnoMaybes have a casual approach, but are not the barrier-breaking TechnoYes brigade. In our blog posts we want to ensure that we are challenging and informing all types. So, if you are a TechnoNo… this might blow your mind. If you are a TechnoMaybe, you may have heard of them but not integrated them into your lessons. If you are a TechnoYes this might also blow your mind - but hopefully in a great way. 

Let me tell you about two emerging edtech trends. First, Wireless Projecting is being used in business for conferences and for in-house meetings. Teachers can too. Everyone has their own device, so why not use this fact to your advantage? If you can stream your video/images/presentations right into the palm of another teacher, why not? Better than having your audience all stare at a large screen…more accessible, more comfortable, more personalised…? 

In education, the roll out of personal devices is more visible in schools and, if you have a class set of tablets wireless streaming is the next step in using them in your lessons. The second emerging edtech trend is very new—augmented reality. Only a handful of teachers are exploring the use of Augmented Reality in lessons. 


Wireless Projecting for 1:1 Learning
To wirelessly stream from your device - especially when the school network goes down - Wireless Projecting for 1:1 Learning offers a great Plan B. However more and more teachers are using this tool as their Plan A. One benefit is that you can stream content directly to a hand held device, therefore making the learning 1:1 for students. It also doesn’t matter if you are using a Mac or iPad or PC. I have done the how-to searching for you (you’re welcome). For an Apple device, use Airplay. Also see this good roundup from a voice in the field. For Chromebook or Android users, try Chromecasting. Here are some tips for using Chromecasting in the classroom.

Augmented Reality 
This is quite out there, even for us. Try using Layar to get started and see what the fuss is all about. It blew our TechnoTeaching minds. Then see this article. I see augmented reality as a really new trend, and in reality not many teachers will likely be using it. But still. It could very well be the shape of things to come. If film is not the future, as I have recently said as part of a live web chat, then this is. For more information, see this great article on Edutopia and another ‘How to’ from Edudemic. 

We would love to know what you think after reading more. Do these sound like edtech trends you would want to establish in your schools?




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Jules Says: Travel Without The Suitcase

31/10/2014

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It’s not easy to be a global traveller if you never have the chance to leave home. Sure, you can read books and watch foreign films, but what you really want to do is explore art, music, culture, and more. And with the exception of being able to sample the local cuisine, you can get the flavor of various counties without leaving home.

Once again, champion blogger Monica Burns (ClassTechTips.com) weighs in with exciting ideas for virtual field trips. In a recent article in Edutopia, “Travel the World from Your Classroom: Free iPad Apps for Virtual Field Trips,” Burns inspires us to explore nine far-flung places, including near-real-time global climate information via NASA Earth Now, a free iPhone app.

Interested in the great artists of the world? Try “Timeline – Art Museum.” Type in the name of a particular artist from the Renaissance through the present day—Picasso, for example––and you will get a range of images and background information.


Ms. Burns’ article got me thinking—what other educational apps might also fascinate students and teachers? When I searched by “Education,” at Apple’s App Store, links to dozens of apps popped up. 

Three other cool apps that can take us beyond planet Earth caught my eye.  
  • “Star Walk HD – 5 Stars Astronomy Guide” ($2.99) for stargazing fu.
  • “Sky View – Explore the Universe” ($1.99) for a tour of stars, constellations, and other objects in the sky.
  • “Moon,” (free) which gives you up to the minute information about the moon (for example, when the next new moon will occur). 
So, while you might not have had a chance to experience weightlessness while exploring the heavens, you may have gained a new way of seeing the cosmos. 

Which educational apps for exploring the world have you tried? Let us know!




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Nic Says: New Trends: (Just Under 10) Lists

30/10/2014

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In this series of exploring new trends, I thought it might be worthwhile to post an article about what’s new and what has caught my attention recently. This recent article echoed my thoughts (and a Twitter conversation I had) about how the movement from devices to the use of online space is about to happen. It might be that the Apple cloud is about to burst. It might be that people have had enough of upgrading both the software and/or hardware. In any case, I believe users now want to focus on the quality of sites and apps, rather than the quantity. As a result, I thought a quick list (with links) would show you what I have been impressed with recently. Hope you like it! 

Teaching Sites
  1. Edutopia is a fave for top teaching tips and strategies.
  2. Innovate My School (heaps of innovative inspiration and advice - but we’re not biased even though that Nic is a frequent contributor. How dare you…? Ahem).
  3. Education World is just that - although a theme park would also be interesting…
  4. Teachers has heaps of resources and is worth a click. 
  5. Although a USA site, the ideas and strategies found on The Teaching Channel can be used anywhere. I have been recommending it to teachers in Europe. 
  6. Teacher Toolkit is the most followed Twitter feed for teachers. Go here for interesting nuggets. 
  7. Edudemic is fab for education and tech news. 
  8. Ed.Web was a new one for me and I watched the archived ‘Games-Based Learning’ webinar last night (as my husband watched the football). It was amazing. I cannot believe that this is free. A fantastic global community, where I will definitely be spending more time. 
  9. GooruLearning is an open online platform with a huge variety of lesson and module resources. Enjoy!


Resources = Sites/Apps
1. Using moving image is not new, but being able to crop it, add audio and basically mix it all up is cutting edge. Try EdPuzzle. View the demo to see how easy it is.
2. Want a collaborative platform for writing, you say? Go to MixedInk it. 
3. Want to design video games? Gamestar Mechanic. They even offer an online course to get you started. 
4. Want to turn your students into reporters? Try Stortify. 
5. Interested in creating an online classroom for youself, or mini-learning environments for your students? Stoodle is worth a go.  It allows you to store resources and collaborate within the platform. It started as an interactive student network and has blossomed. See what you think.
6. Want something with ‘Pod’ in the title? The award winning GCSEPod makes revision more engaging and accessible. You might also look into NearPod as a means of accessing the mobile devices in your classroom.
7. Want to create cartoons with your class? Try Toontastic. We love it. 


If you would like to add any, or if you have a click-fest and want to tell us what interested you, we would love to hear from you!



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Nic Says: New Trends: S is for...

28/10/2014

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When I am not being an edtech consultant, I am busy being a range of things to my three-year-old son. Part of this includes now being his coach as he starts to explore the world of language, letters and sounds. Therefore I spend A LOT of time working out how children learn to match letters with sounds, blend sounds together to make words and form letters. 

One day, when my son and I were thinking of words that began with ’S’, my mind went to my work and I said ’S is for Skype’. I paused. How would I explain that!? Well, I didn’t have to as we ‘Skype’ our family in Australia so my son was aware of it. My first reaction to his acknowledgement was immense pride! Of course, my son would be aware of Skype, he has a geeky Mummy. But later that day, I wondered how many of my colleagues were not only aware of Skype but knew of how it could be used in education? Therefore I thought a little blog post might help a few of our followers out there. So here we go….

S is for… Skype
Skype Classroom may not be the newest kid on the block but it is definitely still causing ripples in education. In addition, the newly (adapted) Skype Qik  has hit the streets and is being marketed as a rival to Snapchat. It is worth considering the ways that video calls (and videos in general) can be integrated into your lessons for both a new way to capture ideas and to make learning in your classroom more global. 

S is (also) for… Socratic Seminars 
As a way to stimulate critical thinking and textual analysis, I first came across this tool as part of my HarvardX MOOC in August, but have since seen it in practice in UK schools when doing Learning Walks. Here is a great YouTube Video with the USA teacher explaining how Socratic Seminars work. This site is being used in many American schools and now starting to find a place over here. It works for any year group and for any piece of discussion. The benefits are that it not encourages independent work, it also encourages productive talk. Please also see ReadWriteThink and the Teaching Channel for best practices using these tools. 

I would love to know what the letter ’S’ makes you think of (when it comes to teaching) and think there may well be a TechnoTeacher Alphabet to come soon… What do you think?


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Nic Says: Give It UP

28/10/2014

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‘Giving’ is very much en vogue today. What with #ice bucket challenges, Channel 4 in the UK just hosted a whole evening around ‘Standing Up To Cancer’ (#SUTC)…and well, any hashtag campaign come to think of it…so why not ask students and parents to ‘#give’ a little back to your community? You can even create your own #. Exciting #eh?

Hmmm… so, putting my money where my mouth is I thought I would  should share a few ideas for creating your own season of ’Giving’ in your school community. 
  1. In School: Positive Post-Its: This article really caught my eye and I would think that many a school student council (or staffroom!) would love to mirror it. Promoting positive thought is a cause/ celebration/festival that all schools could manage (and need now that the days are getting longer and darker), 
  2. Community: Parent Power: Taking the idea of  ’Giving’ can be something that also relates to parents. The majority of parents are keen to get involved with school, but do not know how. This barrier grows as the students get older, in my experience. So… a way of changing this pattern can be to have a ‘Giving Festival’. You can ask parents if they would be happy to give an hour a year for in-school volunteering, mentoring or coaching. This type of volunteer work can result in a parent helping with their office’s ICT refresh (free, slightly old computers for you - thank you) to a grandparent coming in to assist with reading in the morning (thank you again). Dads, Uncles and Granddads are happy to do a bit of DIY around the school (sorry to stereotype but it is true) or help coach the footy team (in the UK), Mums might be happy to help with some reading and writing support. I think that ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t know,’ so give it a go.
  3. In and Out (and shake it all about) of the Community: Film Festival: This is a great way to bring creativity back into school at any time of the year. 
    1. Create your own Film club: IntoFilm offer a range of resources and tips for creating your own film festival. See here for more information. You could base your festival on a country and screen a range of films it has produced, in the country’s language. Or, you could focus on a particular genre, such as ‘Spooky’ (for this time of year) or ‘Resilience’. 
    2. Literacy: Use the Film Club to help promote digital and media literacy: I have way too many ideas for this, but here are a few. For primary schools (younger children) you might consider how students can access media literacy. You could look at branding and marketing for particular films. For example, you can analyse DVD cases and interviews to identify how the ‘star image’ of celebrities is created using images and words. Secondary schools might want to look at ‘classic’ films that students should (in my opinion) see, like ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Minority Report’, or ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and ‘Moon’ or ‘Gravity’. They can then compare the intertextuality and analyse the impact of classic films on more modern texts. 
    3. Production and Red Carpets: Or, you might decide to have students create their own films. Then you can ask a ‘guest’ panel to judge them. You might even find that a parent owns a recording studio or has a famous relative. A further idea might be to host an ‘Oscars’ night with a red carpet and prizes. 
    4. Film Festival for teachers: As a means of making your CPD more global, you might want to focus on film at a staff meeting. Is your school aware of the changes in education? What is the future of education and how does your community reflect that? There are a range of amazing films online that your school could promote instead of the ‘same old same old’ workshops. For example, this film about  future schools is a real inspiration. Or you could screen a TED ex Talk like this one by Will Richardson (on why schools don’t work) or Angela Duckworth (who speaks for her notion of GRIT, which illustrates qualities that help learners improve their resilience, gain confidence and have more self-worth). 
Having a festival does not mean staring at lots of old canned tins, wearing wellies in a field or eating cake surrounded by bunting (although I like that part), it can mean just coming together as a community.

We would love to hear what you do to celebrate your community, and how you link up with others!


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  • Welcome
  • The TechnoTeachers
  • TechnoTeachers Blog
  • Our Work
    • E-Coaching for Educators
    • Beyond eCoaching: TechnoDialogues
    • Printworks
  • Critical Responses to TechnoTeaching
  • Testimonials for TeachTeachers
  • Contact