A key to getting things going

Me being starstruck at NECC with Kevin Honeycutt












Kevin's Keychain -what a great idea!!


Finally school has finished on what could only be described as a year of real ups and downs for me and the school. We have been going through a huge rebuilding and re-organisation programme at my school and the last few weeks of school were incredibly difficult with effectively only one third of the school available for use. The projects are huge and we are starting to see the finished product as we pack our bags for the long break.

In this climate of change, many find the process unnerving and the usual shedding of staff, non renewal of contracts, interviews, departures has really taken it toll on staff morale. The last week has been an attempt to heal some of this and look towards next year with hope. Meetings, planning and general unwinding have been a major part of the last week of school.

My year's highlight would have to be NECC and though the school has not asked me to present about my trip, I want to do something to create change. With so many other things happening it has not really been given a time on the school calendar, but with the reality of lots more computers in the school next year and my job as the head of curriculum for year 8, this was an opportunity to do some training of staff. I offered the opportunity to staff to come and have a sandpit session and try some new tools and said the session was voluntary.

The humour that has been required to survive around school lately was really needed on the day- the door the library was blocked by huge cranes lifting out classrooms and we had to enter by a back entrance. The whole session was one I had thought about for quite a while. I was extremely nervous about it - people feel so confronted by tec hnology and I didn't want to add to the problem.
I had been inspired by Kevin Honeycutt's presentation at NECC where he had used the simple prop of a keychain with a tag for each application or software that he covered in an inservice. These tags are laminated and have the link and a note about what the software is for on the back. They can go on the keyring he provides and the collection can be neverending- just like the learning involved. As Kevin says,'Teacher's love to collect things and if they are laminated they don't throw them out'.

This all sounded fine and then on a WOW 2.0 interview Kevin provided a link to his template and I downloaded it. Many of the apps on his template are great but some I wasn't going to use and some I would use weren't on there. So I had to learn Excel very fast and created seven new tags. These then had to be printed and stuck together, cut out and laminated. I found some cheap carabiners for them to use as the holders and after many hours of cutting and hole punching I took my self doubt and my packets of tags to the classroom. My dear friend Pam came along to help and although there were only eight staff who took up the offer, it was a great start to learning for me - how to deal with all the usual issues with adult learners - and for them.

I started with showing them 'Did You Know' and 'Pay Attention' on Teacher tube and then got them to make and account and favourite those two vids. Most had never done any of these things! I showed them where the embed codes were and said we would use these later.

Then we had a look at 'Searchme' a really beautiful visual search engine and Silobreaker which is a topic based news aggregator. After we had done these three I gave out the first sets of tags and instead of guffaws I had lots of delight and wows ! Those who had been taking notes relaxed and started to explore because they knew they could come back late and find what they wanted.

We moved on to getting a gmail account and some had done Google docs with me and I showed those who hadn't what it could do. Then we started individual blogs using blogger- none had done any of this before. First entry included uploading a photo . Then for the second entry they had to find a video on their subject area from teacher tube and get the embed code and upload it.

This process was about where we had a break. After the break I showed them Voicethread and got some started on that and also Animoto. By the end of the morning all had a blog and were happily blogging, embedding and uploading away. Several were starting to produce their own content. Most had eight new tags for their keyrings and could say they felt confident to do this on their own. My challenge to them was to ask them to be my assistants when I did this with the whole staff and most said they could!


So my reflections- the small group was a blessing and having Pam and tech support person Euan Bradley as helpers was essential.
- the keytags idea really works! People are grateful for something given to them and the fact it is a handy prompt to remember the learning and to show what they did is fantastic
- this was a tricky group - almost minimal users and mostly older women, but they came and tried and were telling me what they had done next day. They were supporting each other and it was fun!
- the sandpit idea was good -come along and try at your own speed
- my main focus was 'How could you use this in your classes?' We could have done more apps but the conversations around this question were fantastic and for a group of tired out folk who just wanted to rest- I take my hat off to their professionalism and enthusiasm.
What Next?
Do it again with the next who are willing to come. The videos set the tone and focused people's minds on the task,
Have help to answer the questions.
Make lots of keytags- people want their one!!!
Go on to wikispaces,nings, social bookmarking , google readers, twitter- maybe an in-school one using yammer?, using the flip videos to create content themselves, movie maker ...
My list will go on and perhaps a wiki of what we do would be good- something like the 23 things site as challenge with lots of support and a list of go-to people for support... I am on a roll here!

Looks like I will be making lots of keytags ... thanks Kevin!!!

Here is the link for the template again -http://iconnectilearn.ning.com/forum/topics /2084620:Topic:6146 Please note you have to be a member of Ning to enter this site and the template is available in pdf , excel and numbers formats

So How do I.... ? Podcasting on the go!

It's funny how things converge at a moment when you just happen to find the need- does this sound too zen? Well as a result of our recent OZ/NZ Educators group meeting, with Joe Dale and Mark Pendleton leading the group, I have decided to try and tackle the idea of actually podcasting. I know that Jo Mcleay and I have discussed an Australian version of the EDtech Podcast with an emphasis on women, but the technical skills were something I just found a bit too daunting. Joe and Mark did a great job, but I got lost in the huge torrent of information, thinking that I would have to come back and listen to the recording later to make sense of it.

Later this week my husband gave me his old 20G Ipod - it seemed huge when we first bought it - as he now is totally absorbed by his new ITouch. The Ipod has a voice recorder and an ITrip transmitter. So ... I decided to get some raw files to play around with and then follow the information trail that my personal learning network- aka the twitter gang- had left for beginning podcasters.I also listened to Andrew Douch's podcast on Knowledge Bank about his award winning website and this was very encouraging-the guy is a legend and so committed and talented!!

So armed with my 'new' Ipod and mike I went to my year 8 class of bloggers and decided to do some research. I chatted to the class in groups of three- luckily I had a small office off the main room so we could talk; and I tried to think like Tony Richards of the EDTech Crew- a fantastic and very focussed interviewer.I asked them lots of questions about blogging this year and what they thought of it. The whole process was wonderful and I have nearly an hour of recording and I am so proud of my kids - they said such thoughtful and interesting things and it was surprisingly easy to do. In fact one group got out their mp3 players and began to interview each other on the other side of the room after they had spoken to me.An Assistant Principal came into the computer room while we were in there and the kids proudly showed him their blogs and explained what we have been doing.

That night I came home and tried to work out Audacity- still a bit confused there. Frank helped - and complained as always that it wasn't a Mac. Then I got online and got help. We downloaded the file- or is that up? and the collected the 'Lame ' encoder that converts files into mp3s and that is where I am at the moment. i have been sent files and tutorials and videos from several lovely people- Allanah King is so generous and so are John Pearce and Tony Richards. I have been to podomatic and made an account, checked out the ITunes store for Podcasts to subscribe to and also found royalty free music to use. Now if someone would write my 100+ reports and do my exam marking I could get on with the fun stuff!!

My next job is to get a name for my podcasts and then to put it together with music and even edit some noisy bits. Cos I am a newb at this it will take time but I have help just 140 characters away and I will learn before I go to NECC.
Watch this space- a podcast will arrive soon!!

Pressure, Pressure...

freefoto.com

The clouds of the end of semester rush are gathering. I have mountains of marking to do, assessment on tasks which I hope my students will have found meaningful and relevant, but the more I read in my blogging life ,the more unsure I am about what I do. Is the ability to write an analytical essay on a text a really vital life skill? What would these kids have chosen to learn about if they could have run the curriculum? Am I able to make some links about the wider world which for most of them seems only a distant roar they can easily ignore, focussing more on the pressing social concerns of relationships and social calendars for the weekend?
How does a Constructivist classroom work? Where is the curriculum based- on a set of skills that need to be demonstrated by the passage of the class over a semester? How will this fit in our new Learning centre next year and in the basically very traditional school in which I teach? How do we get teachers who are trained to work as effective solo units managing a group of 'learners' to change and the learners themselves to take on the very real responsibility of their own 'learning'?
Can I say at this point that I vacillate between absolute joy and excitement with the possibilities of what can happen in this sort of change and the negativity and doubt as the idea of supported change is such a hard one to have happen in an organisation which has the duality of being a transmitter of values from our past as well as being an institution which provides skills for dealing with a future which for all of us is not yet clear or known?
So here I sit, listening to podcasts about people doing great things, stretching the boundaries and making change happen while I have to write reports mark essays, tick worksheets and embed my comments into the kids folios. At the same time I am planning for going to NECC where I expect to be challenged even more by what is possible.
What is my dilemma? Is it that I am not coping with the pace of change? Is it that I find the demands of my job to have taken so much of my energy and enthusiasm that I should move on to something else? Is it that because I am aware of the possibilities that I find it so hard to deal with the realities of here and now as well of how to get 'there'?
I read, I blog - I try to be positive and see options, but at the moment the messages are coming in thick and fast and seemingly conflicting with each other

Twittering on -the tipping point is reached!

Holidays have been rolling along here and for the first time in nearly twenty years we haven't had a holiday away; but instead of it being dull and boring, I have had a fabulous time! While not posting has been on my mind, I have almost been attached by an invisible cord to my computer and that cord has been Twitter. If you have been living under a rock you may not know about twitter, but for me a tipping point has been reached and long passed as I have gone from being a somewhat sceptical observer to a committed addict.

I use snitter which allows me to continually get updates as I read blogs,fill up my del.icio.us pages with great information and generally zip around the blogosphere.My network has nearly reached a hundred followers and I am convinced for me it is the most powerful app around.The reason I haven't done any posts despite having more 'time' is that I am too busy doing things to stop and reflect on my doings! As I pondered my lack of posts I decided to write about the huge explosion of things that I have suddenly become involved in over the last six week and the power of jumping in to a social network which is so welcoming.As I composed my draft- ie tried to remember the things which had been so earth shifting in my new committment to the power of web 2.0 -I was not at all surprised to see others write on a similar theme. Chris Betch, Murcha and Jo McLeay have all posted recently on how significant Twitter has become in their network and I agree with their thoughts.

I have also worked out how to actually connect to World Bridges presentations and have been participating live in chat rooms and even contributed online in a skype call to one presentation which was a first for me. The effect of this participation is powerful and how to make sure my students have the chance to engage as personally as this not just on Myspace, will be something to work on this year.

Following my meeting with Jo Mcleay I have also signed up to class 2.4 of the webcast academy and even have been given an intern badge!!Hopefully I will be able to get up a 6am for the classes on monday mornings - committment eh?
The time difference problem has not been such a problem while on holiday and I have been much more able to participate in webcasts and chats because i have been home. How I will go once back at work will be a challenge as I have relished the immediacy of the live broadcasts. Hopefully once I have done the training Jo and I and others will be able to do something to help with the problems of time difference.

As part of my new twitterness habit, I have also been using skype more effectively. Previously it was for talking to my daughter when she was on exchange in France for a year and the webcam plus the audio helped me survive the year. In the last few weeks however, I have been involved in conference calls and chats with the real people whose writing I have enjoyed so much. The first way to 'flatten out' this world is by simply talking and when teachers can start these conversations, we are on a good road.
A really concrete example of this has also been the FLNW08 - a virtual un-conference which was an example of how technology could be used across countries to present. We were watching -we being a very large chat room as a result of Kim Corfino and others sending out tweets- the ustream of the meeting in Thailand and also the slideshare presentation was posted, as were the photos in flickr that were being discussed. All this plus a very active and entertaining chat room covering several continents made it a fabulous experience and NZChrissy has blogged about it in detail and included some screen capture as well.
My last but not least or only point is how last Sunday I was playing around with Picasa to explore it for photo editing. I just mentioned it in twitter for fun and then Sue Waters and Chris Betch took over having a long conversation of tweets discussing the pros and cons of picasa and flickr as photo editing tools. This went thick and fast for quite a while with others adding in and finally I said that a blog post might be the best way to preserve their combined knowledge... and so they did!! They used Google docs and from both sides of this continent they wrote a blog post about the suject and then individually posted it- preserving the moment in the blogosphere.What an awesome example of knowledge sharing, and of the immediacy of the tools available to us to share and comment!
So apart from doing lots of bottling of the fruits of summer and having time to enjoy my garden, my holidays have been about Twitter and networks and a path forward - I am hoping to go to NECC in Texas in June. I have definitely dived in and am swimming as fast as I can.My 'tweeties' are are a great bunch and we are all swimming together. They say that the first part of dealing with an addiction is admitting to it. Now what is step two?