The Power of Picking the Right Ap

I was delighted this evening to get a call from my 7 year nephew asking me the name of the x table ap I had downloaded for him a few weeks prior. I said why do you want to know that? He responded by saying that all the aps on Mums iphone were boring and that one was helping him learn. I had a wee giggle to myself when I mentioned Mum would need $1.29 to buy it. Here he was 6.00pm requesting to play an educational game to get better at the times tables he was wanting to get better at. This phone call reminded me just how capable our young learners are at self regulating what they need to work on. Just had to share that wee pearl!

Thank goodness for the video camera on the iphone!

Having the phone in the back pocket has been incredibly handy on more than one occasion today. Would you believe it Nan and Aunty were in charge of one family of three today and boy number 2 scores his first goal of the session. Mum and Dad weren't there but we have the evidence! Am sure his arms were in the air for more than a minute in shear glory he had scored. Captured first hand on the iphone!
I set the 5 year old up on the mac to write his own book. Dragged a few movies and pictures of him into keynote and away he went. He was hooked for the next hour sounding out words and writing his own story and stopping to read it to anyone interested in listening.
Had a blast tonight when all 6 cousins came together at Nans for dinner. The music was turned up after dinner for all to reveal their best moves! Must admit we have some real groovers amongst us. Out came the iphone to capture the moment. The interesting thing was when I showed the 3 year old just how groovy she was she was mesmerized watching herself as the movie was played back. I wonder what she was really thinking?
Loving trying out how different technologies might be used on my nieces and nephews. One thing I am learning is it's in them, intuitive and you don't need to show them much before they start teaching you!

Personalising Learning - Selecting Aps

What fun I have had recently selecting the most appropriate aps for each of my nieces and nephews. The ease in which an application can be searched for, downloaded and instantly tried out to see if it is pitched at the right level is instantaneous. I am intrigued by what hooks each individual. The aps that give immediate gratification as to whether the individual has been successful or not seem to be a hit and played over and over again. A priceless moment was when my 3 year old niece whilst playing a counting game on my iphone beams ear to ear and looks up for a brief moment and says 'See Aunty it claps me'. On reflection it was so obvious she was hooked by the frequent feedback and gratification of achieving success, when she wasn't successful she tried again. The engagement levels I continue to observe are intense and sustained over long periods of time. The learning that is taking place is significant. Why is it significant I keep asking myself, I am coming to realise that the i pod touch/iphone uses all sensory modes at once, kinesthetic, auditory and visual, which we know is more likely to lead to long term memory. Loving this informal research!

ipod Touch- Engagement Continues

You may recall that I got an ipod touch for my nephews to share as payment for building my deck! but more importantly as an experiment for myself to see what types of activities would sustain their engagement and if the time they spent on it was of educational benefit. I managed to pop round this week at story time. As I entered the 5 year old was keen to show me a lego city movie he had just about recited. This is relevant at the moment as the house hold challenge is to build a city out of all the lego they have. The movie adds to their creative imaginations as to what is possible. It was then story time, as I read to the 5 year old the 7 year old timed how long it took me to read the story and had great joy in reading the number decimals in all. After the story the 7 year old then proceeded to tell me that his school reader the night before was about Mr Windsor. He said it wasn't that interesting, he continued to share how he went onto you tube and looked up Windsor, this is when it started to get interesting. He told me all about how to tie a windsor knot (tie) and that he had toured the Windsor castle and explained what he saw. Dull book turned interesting as the learning then was unlocked.
I asked the 7 year old how the sharing was going as one of the rules was that if there are problems with sharing I might have to have it back. With a big grin on his face he replied none. His Dad backed that up and said I haven't taught the boys anything. I can't believe what's starting to happen.
In summary the engagement increases - no interest is lost at this point. Will keep you posted.

ITSC 2010 - 2 Day Conference

Flexible display technology
Mobile devices

6 design Principles of 21st Century

"The predominant technology determines the predominant learning task in the classroom" Alan Kay

Engagement, Learning, iphone

Take a look at this as an example of engagement. How does one harness this in the classroom?

Engagement, Learning, iphone from Stonefields School on Vimeo.

Google Docs - Right tool for Primary Education?

I have been working between two platforms (mac and PC) over the last couple of months. The usual hurdles have been encountered - not being able to open office 2007 on my mac, backing up each computer to ensure the hard drive is up to date and I can access the documents as and when I need to.
This prompted me to give google docs a real go. For someone very comfortable in the use of Microsoft Office for a number of years I have been pleasantly surprised just how good it is. I can share the same document amongst many folders, share the document with whom I want and collaborate on documents when the need arises. It doesn't matter what platform or software I have as it all sits on the web. As long as the connection is good I can access my docs anytime, anywhere!
In thinking about IT solutions for Mt Wellington School it seems a very good option.
Anyone giving it a go in their schools?

Wiki Educator Taster Session

I was involved in a really valuable session this week with Mark Osbourne who ran a wikieducator taster session for a group of our senior leadership. I whole heartedly agree with the vision and principles behind wiki educator, where content is added with the intent of contributing to a wider educational audience and where sharing and collaboration is encouraged through individuals being able to add to, shape, remix and blend content so that it potentially continues to evolve.
Check out how Warrington School is using wikieducator

Gary Stager - Ulearn Keynote

Gary's Blog
Gary's Website
'Less us, more them'. Putting the students at the centre

The Pattern on the Stone: The Simple Ideas that Make Computers Work - Daniel Hillis
Computer enables self expression, we can make things that we haven't been able to make before because of the availability of construction material online.
'Software determines what you do and what you do determines what you learn'
'To understand is to invent' Piaget
10 Things to do with a Laptop
Write a novel - write more, write better, write differently, writing for different media - podcasting, Research.
Share your Knowledge - The changing nature of memory - no need to remember when you can google it. Wikipedia - distributed nature of expertise, breaking news, passion = accuracy, talk to authors & other experts, publish to authentic audience, access to 'current' info. Schools have created the 'I'm done' attitude in students. How do schools reinforce the importance of comparing info from different sources.
Answer Tough Questions, Access to Primary Resources. Use the movie clips, photos etc. Guess the key is if the learning is purposeful and authentic, students engage.
Make sense of Data, google earth, plotting data, looking at trends.
Design a Video Game, not just consume them. In designing students are involved in animation, narration, number, space, etc.
Build a Killer Robot, building something and refining it, problem solving having a hypothesis and trying it out then tinkering some more. Allow for Computationally-rich learning
Lose Weight, ipod technology students set up virtual running clubs.
Direct a Block Buster, 'your video should be shorter', it should be edited at least one more time', mirrors the writing process.
Compose a Symphony, authentic problems, real construction materials
Change the World - Be a mathematician, a scientist, anything is possible.

Technology Matters - Allows kids to engage with a broader range and depth of problem solving. It allows intellectual stimulation and opportunity.

Digital NZ - Check this out

Have you checked out Digital New Zealand.  It aims to make NZ content easy to find, share and use.  It includes content from a range of content repositories.

Click here to start searching

ICT Tools

Have had another wondering this week.  We are strategic planning for the next school year, considering possible items to fundraise for and formulating a budget.  ICT hardware year after year takes a considerable chunk of ones budget.  In thinking about continuing to move forward in the implementation and expansion of ICT integration what should the school wisely purchase?  Having an array of mimios, interactive whiteboards, large monitors, projectors, cameras, video cameras etc  -which tools best engage students and powerfully help to improve students learning? We are not convinced it's tools such as mimio, whiteboards as they can have a tendency to regress teacher practice to presenting and being the 'sage on the stage'  Such tools often perpetuate teacher control.

I wonder if we should not be making our choices based on the ability for the tool, application to be student led and driven.  It's interesting how successful blogging is for many students.  Why I ask?  It puts the learner in the driving seat, they are in control leading their own learning.  Like Facebook (for better or worse)- the interface is intuitive, no manual is required to use it and you create your own profile, contacts etc for your own needs and purposes.

Maybe we should be purchasing the new small portable computers that are wireless and connect to the web so that more students get their hands on and are involved in the 'doing' of learning.

All interesting thoughts to ponder?  Are we not better to buy a few one off pieces of hardware and give them to students, observe what happens and then purchase from student feedback and consultation?  We are ignorant and maybe arrogant to not be led by students as they are the digital 'natives' we the digital 'immigrants'

Managed Learning Environments

Yesterday was an interesting day. Had the opportunity to find about LAMs - an online course and lesson planner, exe - similar tool for teachers to design learning material for lesson or course sequences, Moodle - a Learning Management System predominantly used in secondary schools and lastly Maharas e-portfolio applications.
Creating content is a time consuming task, teachers all over the globe and throughout New Zealand are creating and recreating similar kinds of material. Would a different and much needed approach be to first gain national consistency around key learning progressions in student speak. Rich digital material could then be linked to specific learning intentions e.g digital learning objects, flash animations, artifacts, games etc that students self select. Isn't our goal for students to know how they are going?, where they are going? and where to next? Should the students not be more empowered to own this learning process more. Is it extremely motivating for students to select their next learning goal and work towards achieving it because they are owning the process. A student who requests an assessment to check in on how they are going is a huge constrast to the assessment being done to a student.
I am sure the benefits would be two fold as I am constantly hearing that teachers need support in developing content knowledge. Let's put the learner more in the driving seat, as Hattie suggests students raise the bar more for themselves as to their next learning steps than teachers.
The rich material is there, let's stop working in isolation on this and gain the clarity nationally around these progressions. Then if more writing of content is required in certain areas it can be developed and added to a depository that all teachers across NZ could benefit from.
The literacies is a great place to start - the numeracy is there and assTTle has put huge effort into the writing matrices. Let;s get kid speak around it and get better about showing kids exactly where they are and what the next steps look like.