edtech VISION

Eight years ago when I began as a computer teacher at my high school, the course I inherited was titled “Computer Applications”.  The focus was on practicing keyboarding and learning Microsoft Office products:  Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Publisher.  Students worked through assignments in a textbook - but the lessons focused on one specific tool or skill and did not have any real world applications.

Over the years, I have completely transformed this course - yes we still use the Office products - but that is not the focus.  The focus is on learning — learning how to learn and demonstrating our learning in a variety of ways that have real world application.

This year I changed my unit descriptions to match the updated NETS*S.  I want students to understand that “Computer Applications” is not just about typing in Word or making a graph in Excel.  Today - this course embodies all aspects of what we want students to know and understand in the area of technology.

1. Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
2. Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
3. Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate and use information.
4. Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
5. Students understand human, cultural and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior
6. Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations.

So now my thematic units are titled:

• Creativity & Innovation
• Communication & Collaboration
• Research & Information Fluency
• Critical thinking, problem solving and decision making
• Digital Citizenship
• Technology Operations and Concepts

I was pleased how well my previous lessons fit so well into this new format.  I think the new organization communicates the wide variety of skills we cover and the importance of each.  I want my students (and their families) to understand WHY we are doing the lessons we are doing and what the focus for LEARNING is in each unit.

I’m so proud of my former student, Mariel Zagunis who won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. She is an incredible student and athlete and one of the nicest people I know.

Gold medal winner USA’s Mariel Zagunis stands on the podium after the women’s individual saber competition at the Fencing Hall of the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

This past week I have been at Western Oregon University taking a Flash class sponsored by the TechStart Foundation and the Software Association of Oregon.

My instructor, Chuck Laiti, is a graphic arts teacher at Tigard High School. Chuck has showed us some interesting ways to to introduce Flash to students with some easy and challenging activities. We started with the traditional “make the ball bounce” but with a twist - include ActionScript to start and stop the ball. Also include a shadow as the ball nears the ground. Its a great addition to that activity.

Next we assembled body parts of a cave man to make a walking character. The lesson and pieces can be found here.

Then Chuck shared how he incorporates some lessons of early film techniques as we learn about Rotoscope - which is basically traced animation. I traced the various steps of a walking sequence and then created an animated graphic that keeps walking over and over again.

Next we learned how to make a basic flash webpage with rollover buttons that display icons for flash movies. This was quite challenging for me since I really don’t know ActionScript.

I looked online for photo sequences of skateboarders and found a 16 frame shot of a jump and created this simple movie: skateboard_final. Next I will try a longer sequence and see if I can find a video sequence to use as a basis - somethings that loops continuously.

I’m glad I came to this class. It definitely opened my eyes to other ideas and activities that I can use in my graphic design class. Now to purchase ActionScript 3.0 for Dummies and begin reading.

The media keeps reminding us … 94 days until Election day … we might already be lost - but why not have some fun along the way.

Dale Goodno, the Chief Information Officer at our campus designed this fabulous corn maze for the Baggenstos Family Farm (his sister) near Sherwood, Oregon. This afternoon Dale showed me how he planned out the design (complete with Google images of the candidates) and then translated it to a grid pattern to cover the 6 acre farm.

Who knew getting the message out to vote would be so much fun! They even got national attention. Check out Keith Olbermann’s oddball video description at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ieg2rhV-7xI

• Social Networks in Education » home
  A listing of social networks used in educational environments.
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• Teachers Teaching Teachers » Blog Archive » Revisiting VoiceThread - TTT112 - 07.09.08
  We invited Steve Muth, co-founder of VoiceThread, and Colette Cassinelli, a technology teacher near Portland, Oregon who started a wiki that collects examples of VoiceThreads.
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• Knol: a unit of knowledge
  A knol is an authoritative article about a specific topic.
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• 50 Useful Blogging Tools for Teachers | Teaching Tips
  No matter how you use blogs in your classroom, these tools will help you get started, enhance your experience, or bring the students into the fun.
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• File Extensions Reference
  A list of file extensions with information about each file type, including how to open the files.
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• GELessons.com
  GELessons.com - A Free Public Resource - Providing Teachers with the tools needed to enhance their instruction using Google Earth®, the free program that brings the world to the classroom! A Website By and For Teachers.
  (tags: googleearth google maps)

Last week I joined the 3.1 class at Webcast Academy as an intern.

The Academy is a hands on, collaborative training center for people interested in learning how to produce and host live, interactive webcasts. It is part of the Worldbridges Webcasting Network and was founded to help train those who would like to webcast on Worldbridges, but all are welcome to make use of the open source learning resources and participate in collaborative training sessions.

I’ve embraced every new tool thrown my way and have lurked around EdTechTalk long enough to know that I want to learn how to webcast . I think it would cool to interview and discuss current trends with other technology-loving teachers or even provide a weekly show to follow up on ideas and lessons after I give a conference presentation.

A new project that I will start this fall is an after-school technology club just for girls. We call ourselves Digital Divas 2.0 and I think that webcasting would be a wonderful outlet for expression.

Besides reading through the introduction materials and learning how to set up Audacity and Skype, our first assignment was to record a one-minute audio introduction. The purpose of this assignment was not so much what we said, but to practice using the software, exporting it correctly, applying the ID3 tags and naming conventions. I am pretty familiar with audacity so I wanted to add an music intro (from ccmixer) but decided against it and will save it for another lesson.

The process went pretty well. I drafted my introduction first and recorded it a couple of times to get the timing down. I first found that I speak too fast and tend to slur my “s” (a habit I picked up from my big sister when i was little) so I purposely tried to slow down and make my voice lower. I don’t want it to sound too monotone but not too casual either. It was OK. I made one tiny mistake on my final recording - but its fine for now.

I love all the screencasts on the Webcast Academy. I like being able to pause the lesson, go to my software and make the required changes and then go back to the screencast. Great job guys.

So my first impression is great. I definitely need to purchase a better microphone and record in a quieter place (the phone rang once!). So far so good

Audio: Introduction

Cross-posted at Webcast Academy.net

• Welcome (Gone Google)
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• The Gong Project - NanoGong
  NanoGong is an applet that can be used by someone to record, playback and save their voice, in a web page. When the recording is played back the user can speed up or slow down the sound without changing it. The applet can be used on a web page or as an in
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• Soungle.com
  “The simplest way to search and find sounds”
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• Audacity Tutorial for Podcasters
  This is the home of the free podcast tutorial that will take
  your podcast from concept to launch fast and for minimal cost.”
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• Our City Podcast
  Our City Podcast is a podcast for kids and by kids. Students from around the globe are invited to submit a recording all about the city they live in (with the help of their teachers or parents). Click a marker on the map below to see information about par
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• School AUP 2.0 | Main / HomePage browse
  This wiki site will serve as a launchpad to other documents and communities seeking to provide guidance in acceptable use policy development and also as an incubator for ideas related to issues, document structures, new problems and opportunities, and mai
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• Welcome to Googlitics (Googlitics)
  A Study of Politics for the Digital Generation…
  At this site you’ll find links and lessons to help your students participate and learn about American political elections with online tools from Google. Explore ways to infuse 21st Century Google tools int
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• Welcome to Route 21
  The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is pleased to offer Route 21, a one-stop-shop for 21st century skills-related information, resources and community tools.
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Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior VP, Product Management writes on the Official Google Blog that future-thinking businesses are looking for “non-routine problem-solving skills”.  These knowledge workers solve problems with creative thought and tenacity.

Google is looking for ..

… analytical reasoning. Google is a data-driven, analytic company. When an issue arises or a decision needs to be made, we start with data. That means we can talk about what we know, instead of what we think we know.

… communication skills. Marshalling and understanding the available evidence isn’t useful unless you can effectively communicate your conclusions.

… a willingness to experiment. Non-routine problems call for non-routine solutions and there is no formula for success.

… team players. People need to work well together and perform up to the team’s expectations.

… passion and leadership. Be motivated by a sense of importance about what you do.

He goes on to say, “keep on challenging yourself, because learning doesn’t end with graduation.”

As educators we must ask ourselves  ….

…. are we preparing our students to work in this type of environment???

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• EdTech Solutions - Teaching Every Student: Free Technology Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms - Spread the Word!
  I have assembled a number of free resources that I believe should be on every classroom computer to promote learning for all students based upon principles of UDL. These tools provide improved access and accommodate for learner differences. Additionally,
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• Free teleprompter/autocue service. Cueprompter - The online prompter.
  CuePrompter is a free teleprompter/autocue service. Your browser works like a teleprompter -no extra software needed.
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Last year my students made a video for Peace Day 2007. I recently received an email discussing the events for Peace Day 2008 - which will be September 21, 2008 (A Sunday this year). This one day global event is organized by Jeremy Gilley. Peace One Day is a non-profit organization, impartial and independent of any government, political persuasion, corporation or religious creed.

Something new this year is the encouragement to hold a “football” match in your community.

Through the ‘One Day One Goal’ campaign, Peace One Day aims to see football matches played in all member states of the United Nations on Peace Day, 21 September. Each ‘One Day One Goal’ match will celebrate cooperation, unity and the power of football to bring people together on Peace Day, 21 September.

What is “One Day One Goal”:

• an opportunity for individuals, communities and nations to rise above violence, conflict and differences to celebrate a shared passion and a common goal
• football matches played all over the world, whether in major stadiums, local pitches, in the streets, on the beach, etc.
• every team is made up of a mix of players who normally may not find themselves playing on the same side - they might be from different cultures, communities, schools, neighborhoods, families, etc.

I think organizing a futbol match with your school and invite community members (parents, staff, neighbors, neighboring school, etc) is a great idea for encouraging unity.  I am going to bring this idea to my school and see what we can plan.

What will your school to do make peace on September 21st?