BYOD Immersion Training for CCHS and West Catholic Teachers

CCHS and WCHS just finished a 3-day workshop with Wynn Draper-Bryan from The One-to-One Institute. A group of 15 teachers and technology specialists, all participating in or interested in our upcoming Bring Your Own Device classrooms for the 2011-2012 school year, attended. We learned about several different tools to assist with project-based learning and teachers worked on incorporating technology tools to enhance student engagement. I think the following video produced by Kevin Honeycutt fits with the mindset of this group of dedicated teachers.
The goals set by our teachers include continued collaboration both amongst themselves and with the trainer through the GRCatholic wiki setup for our group.

Tagul Word Clouds

I tried out a new site for making word clouds today. As with many of these sites, Tagul allows you to simply copy and paste text or link directly to a website (I used this blog as the link) to create your cloud. What I like about it is that it creates a word cloud that you can then link to a google search of the word you click on in the cloud. You can also specify a site rather than a google search. Kinda cool! See the results below:
Do you think you could use something like this in your classroom to start a discussion on a particular topic or have students analyze the frequency of particular words in their own writing? Other ideas?

Do you Tweet?

I've been using Twitter (cctechie) to widen my Personal Learning Network for about a year now. I tend to read much more that I actually post but I've been trying to share more. Today I read a blog post on Edutopia by Betty Ray that describes how to use Twitter to grow your PLN. Her post is a good resource for those just starting out with Twitter or who need a few ideas to get more out of this good PLN resource. So... do you Tweet?

Bring Your Own Device

In the fall of 2011, CCHS is planning to pilot a program of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) as a means to move toward a one-to-one environment in certain classrooms. One-to-one means one computing device to one student, every student has their own device for productivity, research, communication, etc. While doing some research I found a post by April Weston, AZ on the Discovery Educator Network blog. I thought that this excerpt from that blog was very pertient: “We have to start thinking of these devices like pencils,” my colleague said. “Some kids have their own pencils, and we encourage them to bring them to school.” The post then goes on to talk about the "pencils", computing devices, that many students bring with them everyday yet aren't allowed to use as well as the paridigm shift that will eventually take place. She then poses some very good discussion questions that need to be answered prior to implementing a BYOD program. Administrators, teachers, and technology personnel from both CCHS and WCHS, have begun some of these discussions to prepare for our pilot program. Currently the plan is to continue the ban on cell phones but to allow other devices (laptops, netbooks, iPads or other slates) for students enrolled in the pilot courses only. What concerns and questions do you have regarding the use of student owned devices? Should we continue banning smartphones or should we allow our students to use the technology that they carry in their pockets? Are smartphones going to be enough for students or is a laptop the only way to go?

Scoop-It!

 I used this for a while but found that I have too many places to share info so I've deleted this site and am concentrating on just my blog and Twitter for now. It's still a great tool for sharing info so if you're interested create your own Scoop.it! site. I'll follow you! MO -- 2/29/2012. Found a great new tool for keeping teachers updated on cool tools that I find as I read blogs and surf the web. http://www.scoop.it/ allows you to creat a site on your favorite topic(s) and quickly post updates to keep your readers informed. It's currently in beta but so is Google and that seems to be working out fairly well! :-)
Check out my new scoop.it site at http://www.scoop.it/t/tech-tools-for-schools!

MI Learning on iTunes

Most all of us use or have at least heard of iTunes the application from Apple that organizes, plays and allows you to purchase music and video. There is a wonderful component of the iTunes Store called iTunes U. iTunes U contains free educational content contributed by top universities as well as K-12 teachers. Michigan even has their own component within iTunes U with several resources contributed by teachers and technology specialists across the state. Check out Mi Learning and you might find some very interesting and useful content. Not seeing what you need? Create and submit your own content for inclusion as part of the Mi Learning community! Share what you've created and you may even earn yourself a stipend!

Flipping Professional Development

One of the newest buzz phrases in education is "Flipping the Classroom". Basically students are assigned videos and tutorials to view in the evenings, either teacher-created or other, and then their class time is spent actually working on what they've learned. I attended a session at MACUL 2011 presented by Ryan Miller and had a bit of an epiphany during his presentation (here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/5wchncn). What about doing the same thing with professional development for our teachers? The week/evening prior to a PD session we could post videos and tutorials on what is being presented and then the PD time could be productive time spent actually discussing how the topic will affect and change what we're doing or actually using the software and tools if we're talking a technology workshop. Hmmm... What do you think?

MACUL 2011

On March 17 & 18, I attended the MACUL conference in Detroit, MI. Wow! What an information packed couple of days! I listened to national speakers, Michigan teachers and technology specialists, and various vendors and garnered lots of information about new webtools, new ways to use old tools, and great ways to incorporate more technology in our classrooms. Big on my list for sessions was anything dealing with one to one learning.  I will feature some of the information I garnered in future posts after I organize and decompress!