I think I'm done!

I went through the assignments page and I think I am done. Here is my wiki if you want to check it out. I will not be in class Friday so I thought I would share it now. Let me know what you think...especially if I am missing something. Thank you all for another wonderful class!

Photoshop has come a long way

We all know Photoshop is a pretty impressive piece of software. However, the new features in Photoshop CS5 will amaze you. This YouTube video will show how the newest version will automatically take objects out of pictures and fill in the background with one click! You will also be able to move object by dragging them around, and the background will automatically adjust. Just watch the video and be amazed.

With Adobe making photo manipulation better and easier, what does this say about images we see on billboards, magazines, TV, or online? Do you look at pictures with a skeptical eye? or believe what you see? Leave comments in the section below.

Sketchup and 3d Modeling

I have received a few questions on Google Sketchup so I thought I would post some helpful videos.

What is Sketchup?

Google Sketchup Warehouse - a collection of 3d models.

Downloadable tutorials - Make a house in minutes!

Physical Science or Mechanical people watch this. This is sketchyphysics. It is a plug-in for Sketchup. Very cool.

Star Wars fans?

Bias Reports and Copyright

I recently read this techdirt.com article on how Joe Biden hosted a “Piracy Summit” that included all stake holders. The author of this article complains that no one representing consumers where present and much of the discussion was behind closed doors. I like to read articles from techdirt.com and others, but when the author is so clearly biased it insults me. The article never acknowledges that stealing intellectual property is a real problem and, maybe more importantly, it is morally wrong. We all like free stuff, but complaining about government upholding and enforcing the law is too far.
It seems that my generation and younger individuals have very little respect for copyright. I know very few people my age or younger who have an issue with illegally downloading songs or software. The attitude seems to be that “if it doesn’t hurt anyone then why not do it?” Even if it takes money away from a pop star or record label the impact is so small per person they dismiss it as no real harm done. I remember hearing a student telling me that even though he steals almost all of his music it doesn’t matter because he will go see them in concert or buy their t-shirt. He even showed me an article on how free downloads actually help artist gain exposure. The more music that is stolen the more successful monetarily an artist seems to be. These are not my views, but in my experience it seems to be the prevailing view of the 15-25 year olds today

Google Street View hits the Olympic slopes!

Google equipped a snowmobile with its Street View equipment to show users what the ski trails look like for the 2012 Olympic Alpine skiing events. Google even made sure to create 3d models of the buildings at the resort to show up when you are using Google Earth. Side note: you can create 3d models to be uploaded to Google maps using Google Sketchup. Sketchup is a free, easy to use, 3d modeling program. So in less than an hour you could create a 3d model of your own house and upload it to Google for everyone in the world to see. What will Google do next when it comes to creating a virtual world? Maybe record sounds of the streets? What do you think?

Mr. YouTube…The computer teacher I never had.

YouTube is a great resource to find video tutorials on just about anything. The summer before I started teaching technology I watched dozens of how to software videos. Like many of you, Audacity was new to me and looked a little intimidating. After watching just one video I was able to put together a short podcast. That summer I did attend some professional development days to learn Google docs and Scratch. I did learn a lot during those sessions; however I think I could have learned just as much watching tutorials online. It was clear to me that you do not have to wait for a professional development day to learn software. That goes for students as well. This last semester I had students find a tutorial of something they wanted to learn about as an independent learning project. It worked pretty well. I also had some students create their own tutorials to put on YouTube.

40 mph man!?

This article has little to do with technology education but I had to write something about it since I am a track coach. You may have heard that the 100 meter dash world record was broken by a Jamaican who runs at about 27 miles per hour. A recent study found that humans could possible run up to 40 mph! The human body can produce the strength to travel at this speed, but the limiting factor is how fast our muscles can contract. Some training techniques do allow us to develop faster contractions, but it’s not enough. Maybe through some gene therapy or some sort of muscle shocking system the human body could travel at high speeds. Crazy!

iPad take two.

Last week I came down a little hard on Apple’s iPad. Even though it doesn’t have expandable memory, camera, keyboard, and the name is a little silly, the iPad will probably be more successful than I first thought for three reasons.
Reason 1: When the iPod was released years ago it too did not get a warm welcome. The device didn’t really sell well for the first two years, but now it dominates the market even though cheaper alternatives exist.
Reason 2: The iPad is an Apple product. Apple has an ever growing following over the last decade that seems to love Steve Job’s creations.
Reason 3: The internet is used more and more to consume media. My students use the internet for almost all of their entertainment needs. Whether it is games, videos, blogs, or music, it looks like the iPad will do any of these very well.

What’s all the fuss about the iPad?

Here is a video that wraps up the iPad announcement. It looks like a fun toy but the price is not justified. (Click Here)
I found a video that sums up the negatives of the iPad. I never thought anything about Hitler was funny, but the creators of this video but a humorous spin on the drawbacks of the iPad using a clip from a WWII movie. Warning: Vulgar and inappropriate language (all in subtitles). (Click Here)
I seems like Apple is trying to fill the small gap between a netbook and the iPhone, while adding a Kindle like reader. Is it cool? Yes. But I do not think it will catch on like the iPhone because I do not think there are that many customers looking for a device to fill this gap.

Balance

Balance. I remember hearing back in my education classes as an undergraduate that we all need to strike a balance between school and family. At the time I didn’t think it would be tough. I am now realizing it is very difficult. My wife and I have been arguing about how I have been at school at night more than at home. Track season is coming up and that takes up even more of our time. Sometimes I feel that extra effort as a teacher and coach is a noble cause, but my relationship with my family suffers. With one 15th month old, one on the way, an upcoming track season, an ill father, two new classes to teach, and these classes are making it tough to find the right balance. Something has to give. How do you find balance?

Race to the Top

Edutopia has new poll asking “Should teacher unions support their state's Race to the Top efforts?” I do not know if I support the Race to the Top because I, along with most, do not understand what is in the proposal or what will be in it. However, I know my local union opposes it. It seems like most union members become very defensive when they hear ideas regarding evaluations and performance pay. I can understand the fear of losing your job and performance pay might seem unfair depending on the group of students you have. But we all know that some teachers are better than others. And we all know some underperforming teachers that just do not care enough to improve their methods. What can a school do about them? We can offer carrots or sticks. It is not clear if the Race to the Top will include rewards and/or consequences. Either way, I do not worry about such proposals because I think good teachers should be rewarded and ineffective teachers should be held accountable. I am not saying teachers should be fired for bad test scores in a single year, but hopefully underperforming teachers can be identified to be provided resources to improve their methods. What do you think? Do schools need carrots or sticks to encourage better teaching? Or do schools need something else?

Google Street View

Today I enjoyed this article from Stephen Shankland on CNET’s website. The article is about using Google’s Street View feature in the U.K. Google Street View is a feature on Google Maps that allows you to virtually stand on various points along hundreds of thousands of miles of roadway. In fact, I, or anyone else, can virtually stand 50 feet from my house and look at my house from various angles from the road. Kind of creepy.
Even though it seems strange that a car equipped with automatic cameras took pictures of my house that I can now see on the internet, I am still a fan of Google Street View. Before class starts many of my students virtually tour places around Michigan, but also other places around the globe. Google Street View is now even expanding to include historical sites that are not accessible by car using a peddled version of their camera system. I encourage you to take a look.

My favorite teaching tool - CamStudio

CamStudio is an open source screen capture software. Let me say that again. CamStudio is a free application that allows you to record whatever is on your screen and even audio at the same time.
Some of you may be thinking I am referring to TechSmith’s Camtasia software. Camtasia is the more full featured $300 big brother that allows you to edit the audio and video. I don’t think having a few extra options and a video editor makes it worth spending $300. Record with CamStudio and edit it with Windows Movie Maker for free. Or spend less than $100 and buy Sony Vegas and have a superior video editor.
Back to screen recording. Last year was my first year as the technology teacher. Day after day I would demonstrate how to use a piece of software just to have students ask me questions like “how did you do that thing again?” two minutes later. I was thinking maybe they could take notes on all the steps or I could print directions. Students do not want to take notes in a computers class, and paper directions are a poor and expensive choice. What to do? Enter CamStudio. I recorded what I was doing and uploaded it to youtube.com for my students to watch individually. I immediately saw several benefits. Students could see and hear. They could pause, rewind, and reply anything I did. Absent students could watch from home or immediately catch up the next day. And watching YouTube in class is just fun! For the most part it works really well. The only downside is that sometimes I don’t feel like a teacher if I am not demonstrating live. On some project days I don’t talk for more than 30 seconds to the whole class. I mostly work one on one with students finding mistakes or clarifying instruction.
I wouldn’t recommend doing this for a history or science class, but when showing students new complicated software I find it very quick and effective.

Maybe setting the bar to high?

The last week has been crazy in my classroom. Last year I assigned students to complete their website/portfolio over the last 7 school days and it went pretty well. I did have some students finish early and they seemed to shut down a little early. So this year I added an “independent study project” on top of their portfolio to fill in any down time. I am now debating if it was a mistake due to time constraints. Not only is it stressing my students to get it all done in time, it is stressing me out even more since I worry for about half of them getting it done. I will have a lot of upset parents if I give them an incomplete or “E” on their report card.
However, I am seeing about 20 kids at lunch and after school working very hard.
A few students are even doing movies that appear to take much more time than the other projects options, but are having a ton of fun. I strongly encouraged them to film everything outside of class, which I think has given students more freedom and flexibility. Some students made costumes for their silent film, while another made a ShamWow infomercial in front of a green screen.
Even though it is stressful, I am seeing great results and I feel good setting the bar high, even if I have to be a step they can use.

Only two days left to work and it seems like some students are only half way. Some students are planning coming to class Sunday afternoon and Monday before and after school. Wish us luck.

Have you ever questioned assigning too much?

Videogames helped a teen lose weight?

Wired.com has an article about a high school teenager who lost 150 pounds in 18 months. Surprisingly, he attributes his success to his love of video games! He thought of his diet as a video game in which calories and exercise was all about earning points and defeating the enemy every day.
I think this is a good example of how students can learn and apply what they know and enjoy about technology to help better themselves in real life. We all know that connecting what students know to new material is crucial to student learning. This student knew video game strategy and applied it to dieting with great success. What can we do to tap into what students know and love about technology?

Google drops China

I recently read the article “Only Google Could Leave China” from wired.com and was shocked to hear that Google is leaving. Not only is China have the largest population in the world, the country’s middle and upper class is growing and is becoming more and more connected every day. Hard to believe an established corporation would leave more than one billion potential customers. Google reportedly made more than 500 million dollars there last year but the company made over 22 billion dollars last year worldwide, so maybe it isn’t a huge lost.
Financial concerns aside, some view this as a hit to the humanitarians who relied on Google for communication. Google did censor search results after the Chinese government asked them to. Even still, Google never fully gave in to Chinese demands and was seen as a helpful to those trying to get their message to the world.
Google never had physical servers on Chinese soil that could be taken by the government, but the continued cyber attacks on user accounts and even stealing Google source code must have been to large of a risk to continue operations.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

I recently looked at this Edutopia's poll and the comments on how schools should observe MLK Jr. Day. I know many schools do have the day off. I wonder how many family's actually do something to honor MLK or serve others? When I was in school at Fowler and now as a teacher at PW we do have class. As a student I do not remember our school doing anything out of the ordinary except for maybe the History teacher mentioning something at the beginning of class. I also recall fellow students complaining that they should have the day off. Only because they wanted to be home. I do not remember an official response but the consensus among the students was that we do not have MLK day of because we do not have any Black students. I now believe that is the exact reason why as a community we need to take note of Black history and do something to honor those who gave their life to the cause. But what to do?

What does your school do? or should do?

So what does this all mean to Josh?

So what does this all mean to Josh? Josh’s learning disabilities and attitude towards traditional methods of teaching puts him at a disadvantage. However, with the use of technology he is engaged and he can perform at the higher levels. Our school does lack equipment to meet his needs but recent improvements have created a lot of opportunity for differentiated instruction. Unfortunately, some of Josh’s teachers lack the knowledge or desire to incorporate technology into the curriculum. On the other hand, the administration keeps internet restrictions to a minimum, allowing teachers to take advantage of software and resources students enjoy and understand. At the same time, the school is firm in handling any cyber bullying and takes swift action against the offenders.
Overall, it is unclear how Josh will fair. My hope is that all staff members understand the value of incorporating technology and work to improve student achievement. I believe by furthering my education and investing my time in technology education I can lead the charge against traditional, boring, and unattractive ways of teaching, which the Joshes of our society have grown to hate. I believe it is not only my job, but my obligation to create lifelong learners and I am committed to doing just that for Josh.

Cell Phones and Cyber Bullying

Some teachers do not mind if students use cell phones during school hours but most teachers treat personal electronic devices like an illegal substance. Either way, cell phones can be thought of as a tool to do good or evil. A recent social issue in schools is cyber bulling with text messaging. Schools have various ways in handling the problem, but what about my school?
I asked multiple students, teachers, and administrators what they think would happen if a student in our district was caught bullying another student by text messaging using a cell phone during school hours. After some class discussion most students believed that the offending student would have to talk to our assistant principal. The resulting discipline was unclear. Student opinion varied from suspension to a warning. The most disturbing part of the conversation was that the majority of students admitted to never thinking about the consequences. Even with no supporting statistics, this would lead many to believe it is a common occurrence. Teacher belief was much more homogonous. They believed that the student would be sent to our well-respected and feared assistant principal. They believed the resulting consequence would be detention or suspension. In the end, virtually all staff and students agreed the bully would be sent to our AP.
I explained the situation to our assistant principal and he referred to the “behavioral consequence chart” and pointed out that the student’s parents would be contacted. He also expressed his deep hate for students who intimidate, harass, or belittle other students. He went on to say he would also suspend the student for 3-10 days, give them 7-14 community service hours. He also pointed out that the any student using their cell phone during school hours would have their phone confiscated. First time offenders for a week, and repeat offenses are for a month. He routinely comes under fire for taking student cell phones and keeping them for extended periods. Parents have even come into school demanding they give them the cell phone. Surprisingly, he has won every battle. Parents have a hard time fighting back after he points out the policy in the student handbook that was signed by the parent and student in the beginning of the year.

Google Earth

For students Google Earth is a fun way to fly around the world and zoom in on places of interest. It can also be used to reach students that prefer nonlinguistic representations. Graphic organizers, pictures, diagrams, charts, and drawings are commonly used aids for visual learners and Google Earth can be used in the same way. Recently I created a lesson in which students created a Google Earth Tour that would highlight specific locations within a city. The students would summarize information about a building or structure and would attach these notes to a 3D model. As a group they would then present the various locations as a tour. In addition to showing the building models and self created descriptions, they also clicked on the wiki descriptions and user uploaded pictures to show different perspectives. While students enjoyed this project, the real benefit was for my students with disabilities. Obviously students who are visual learners preferred this lesson. More surprisingly Josh and my other students who have attention disorders seemed to be able to focus better. Maybe it was the change of pace, maybe the visuals made more sense to them, or maybe it was just fun. Regardless, the attention disorders seem to fade away. Josh who typically scores very much below average, was able to create a clear and well thought out presentation.

Technology requires desire

Districts across the state, including my district, are attempting to improve their technology. However, even with the best resources equipment is meaningless unless the staff has the desire and knowledge to utilize it. A survey was administered to P-W teachers and other teachers from the Lansing area to gauge the attitude and perception of technology in the classroom.
The data shows that nearly 80% of P-W teachers use technology regularly. This is near the other school averages, however, many teachers are using projectors regularly, but unfortunately just to show video clips. This is a very minimal use of technology and does not utilize the equipments full potential. It seems some teachers do not have the skill and/or the desire to create anything technology based to present students. The school is attempting to address teacher’s lack of technology skills by offering more department time to work together on incorporating technology. In addition, the administration is increasing the number of technology based professional development sessions. The training is available but that will not totally address the issue.
The survey results reveal a more troubling area of concern. Almost 90% of PW teachers believe technology aids in student learning. However, only roughly 70% of teachers regularly use and seek new ways to incorporate technology. Therefore, approximately 20% of PW teachers believe in benefits of technology but fail to utilize it. The participating teachers in this category also admitted that the school provides enough technology to them and have some form of access to training. Unfortunately, it seems some prefer to keep the status quo and not seek to improve their methods even if they believe students would benefit. Sorry Josh.

How you and your students can use YouTube

Since YouTube was unblocked I have created multiple software tutorials and placed them online. Students love them. In the beginning I would try and show students how to do something but students would get distracted by whatever is on their screen. So I asked everyone to turn their monitors off while I show them a demonstration. It was easier to keep their attention, however, some of my demonstrations were a little lengthy and the students would miss small, but important, steps. I decided to record the demonstrations using Camstudio, which is a free screen capture program, and post them on YouTube. The two greatest student benefits were they could watch the demonstration if they missed class and they could pause and resume the video at any time. I would still do the demonstration in class and that would be enough for some students, but not all.
Posted demonstrations especially benefited my special needs students as well as my audio and visual learners. Not only was it cool they could watch me on YouTube, but they could see and hear what I was doing multiple times. Audio or visual learners, like Josh, could now obtain the same results by watching shorter segments of video or repeat the video more than once. Some students even reported watching them at home to refresh their memory.
YouTube can also serve as a motivator for some students. Last school year, and recently this school year, I had students create a wiki about computer hardware and videos showing the installation process. Last year the wikis and videos were very good. The students knew the video would only be seen by fellow students. This year I told students they will be posting them on YouTube. The quality of work was even higher. Students not only wanted to get a good grade, but they wanted theirs to be the best and they took pride in their published work. After talking with students about publishing their work, the question was, why work hard on something that will only be seen by a teacher? Students wanted to show their hard work to others and they loved the idea that not only would our class see it but anyone in the world could too.

You fear what you do not know.

There always seems to be a backlash to the new popular ways students find information and learn from. I am sure there is legitimate concern for the student but maybe it is fear of the unknown that is main cause of resistance. It is easy for a teacher to make a surface level judgment of applications they do not fully understand. Some educators see Youtube as entertainment, a distraction, or garbage. Wikipedia is unreliable. Even Google Earth might appear as just a fancy map with unnecessary amusement features. As a result, many districts block these types of websites and applications.
Pewamo-Westphalia is rather open compared to many districts. However, when I first started teaching last year YouTube was blocked. I asked a few fellow teachers and the principle why. Not surprisingly it was blocked after teachers complained that students were watching videos when they should be working.
I talked with the principal and a few teachers about the issue and attempted to address their concerns and convince them of the benefits. I argued it is the responsibility of the teacher to design lessons and implement good classroom management techniques that would prevent students from getting off task. In addition to that, I explained YouTube has numerous educational benefits, including, access to documentaries, tutorials, and the ability to upload and view student work. There was no written policy and it ultimately came down to what the principal wanted. After sending the email I previously posted the ban was lifted the next week.

Does your district block YouTube? Is there any chance you could fight and win?

A case for Youtube

Below is an email I sent to my principal last year in hopes of getting youtube unblocked.

When people of my generation, under 30, have a question we turn to the Internet. Not in the same way a 40+ might find the answer. We rather discuss than listen. We rather see than read. This is why youtube.com is the answer to millions of questions. This summer when I wanted to install a pre-hung door, who did I ask for help? Youtube, because to see how something is done is simply better. Youtube can show you how to use any piece of software, swim faster, figure out trinomials, type better, filet a fish, fix a loud muffler, introduce you to the constitution, teach you how to speak another language, and just about anything you can think of.

I am in the opinion that youtube.com should be unblocked because of the numerous educational benefits it provides. Including access to documentaries, tutorials, and the ability to upload and view student work. Yes there is teachertube.com and schooltube.com, however their content is limited. For example I have students who ask me how to do something in Google Sketchup. Instead of me sitting with one student for 5 minutes showing them how to do it I could just send them a link to a video that will show them how to do it.

I realize that youtube.com has thousands of videos that are inappropriate for school. However, students know of dozens of other video hosting sites that have the same type of content we are trying to block. Many of these copycat sites will copy all of the popular videos from youtube.com and post them on their site to attract users. They typically do not copy educational videos to their site since they get less traffic. So by blocking youtube.com students are channeled to other sites with worse content with little to no educational value.

I am not opposed to blocking particular websites. But it does not make sense to block youtube.com.

Youtube was unblocked the next week.

The infamous library computer lab

The library lab is a hot topic. The lab is checked out weeks in advance and it has become a frustration for all parties involved. We have rules on when and how to check out the lab and due to the high demand some teachers just avoid it all together. About five teachers routinely check it out and want to use it even more if possible. Multiple teachers have expressed interest in having a classroom set of netbooks instead of textbooks. Knowing the up front cost would be much to high for the administration to accept, teachers have been pushing idea of having one mobile computer lab for each department. The cost would be low since most teachers just need a word processor and internet browser. Netbooks can be purchased for $250 each so the cost could be kept under $10,000 for a classroom set of netbooks including wireless equipment and cart. This would allow the teachers who want and need to use technology the most the opportunity to finally find space in the computer lab or in the classroom.

Is booking a computer lab in your school difficult?

Available Technology

Understanding that students like Josh need technology to learn effectively, begs the question do schools provide appropriate technology for students learning styles and interest? The answer will vary by district, building, and even classroom. In Pewamo-Westphalia School district the answer is mixed. The 7-12 jr/sr. building houses approximately 420 students and 120 computers and 24 teachers. Almost all classrooms have one computer for just the teacher. The majority of computers are contained in three labs. The latest and best-equipped computers are in the computer science teacher’s lab, me. It's used all 7 hours of the day by me and the drafting teacher. Another lab is joined to the business/accounting teacher’s room and is used most hours of the day operating accounting software. Lastly the library has one lab that is checked out by teachers on an hourly basis. It holds 30 computers and also is equipped with an interactive whiteboard. There is also another 14 computers in the library but is difficult for teachers to use these due to class size. Thus 20+ teachers wrestle over the one lab that can fit their entire classroom.

In addition to computers the school is also equipped with a few older digital cameras and camcorders that are rarely used. The two most recent camcorders and digital cameras are in my room and are used infrequently by others. Fortunately, in the last tech plan meeting it was decided to provide all teachers with a data projector if they wanted one. All but two classrooms now have data projectors permanently mounted. This was a huge leap forward for our school.

Is this comparable to your building?
Do you see the same issues?

How to reach Josh

Let me introduce you to Josh. Josh is one of those students that most teachers rather not have in their classroom because he interrupts class, rarely does quality work, does not focus and is vocal about his disdain for school. A teacher is told that all students can learn if you are able to engage the student, connect with them, or spark their interest with a prop or gimmick. This is easier said than done. Education classes and online resources are packed with ideas to address this issue, but one carefully crafted method or ingenious technique seldom works for all students. The great task of any educator is to motivate the unmotivated. What can I do to interest Josh? I could inspire him by revealing the value of the content and show him why he wants to know this. Or I could deliver the lesson in an entertaining way, making the lesson fun and tricking him into learning. Or I could relate to him by utilizing familiar terms, situations, and analogies. Or I could do all three. If done correctly the lesson should be inspirational, fun, and relatable. But how can I do this for Josh? Technology is the key to all three. The best way to teach is to enter the student’s world and present the opportunity for the student to create their own knowledge and shape it in ways we never imagined.

This is why I have taken on the journey of learning more about technology education through a graduate program. To reach the hard to reach through properly incorporating technology in the classroom. I also hope to be the technology ambassador to the rest of the school district. I will be posting my progress on this blog and I hope you enjoy the journey with me.