High Techpectations

My Digital Kids

Although both of my kids are four years apart, they have similar digital tastes. I've found items like Leapfrog's Leapsters to be helpful during our 35 minute plus commute to school, and I decided they were ready for iPods when their last birthdays rolled around (both were born in October). I purchased the last version of the iPod Nano (the square chunky model) along with iTunes gift cards for them in addition to loading up the MP3 players with content that I thought they'd enjoy. 

So far, so good in terms of their use. My fourth grader, Julia, has learned how to select content in our iTunes library and sync it with her iPod. Both keep their headphones and iPods in plastic bags most of the time for easy transport and protection. Henry has a lamp that plays the iPod and he listens to audiobooks and music at bedtime. Julia has a clock radio that does this, too, but it hasn't worked as well as the lamp. 

In terms of content, we can fit about one movie (the current selection is Alvin and the Chipmunks) and a slew of audiobooks and podcasts on the iPods. Both kids love a Webkinz podcast; Julia tends to gravitate towards audiobooks and Henry is learning a great deal from video episodes from the National Geographic channel in iTunes. Here's a video that I did with Henry about what he's learned so far. 

Christmas in September

I've had to wait since last Christmas for my Verizon contract to run out, and finally the day of the iPhone arrived.

I'm so impressed with it's capabilities and apps. I'm using a Typepad app to write this blog post right now. Above is one of my first photos; my five year old son fell asleep in the AT & T store!

Collaboration 2.0

I'm developing a group in the Apple Learning Interchange focusing on collaborative technologies and projects. Please join the group and share your expertise! This space should be growing as I think of ways to expand and collect information.

Apple Learning Interchange - Collaboration 2.0 Group Page via kwout

Camp Apple 2008

Apple's Camp for kids has been announced and I noticed that they've added a presentation session on iWork. I wish could enroll my daughter, but we've got other plans! Click the image below to visit the site where you can register.

Apple - Retail - Camp via kwout

Moviemaking Curriculum on Apple's Web Site

Just noticed this downloadable moviemaking curriculum developed by Ross Kallen and Marco Torres. Click on the picture below to sign up on Apple's web site!

Apple - Education - High School Labs - Landing via kwout

Field Trips 2.0 Project

I am part of a group of teachers working on a project that we plan on submitting to the Apple Learning Interchange. Specifically, this project focuses on the idea of reinventing field trips as we traditionally know them. We'd like to show teachers how to plan effectively for mobile learning experiences, what great excursions look like, and help them kick field trips up a notch by taking advantage of collaborative opportunities, digital tools, and web-based resources.

Interested educators are welcome to join our project. There are a couple of ways you and/or your colleagues can help:

1) Add bookmarks to our resource collection in del.icio.us by tagging any great links with the tag: Fieldtrips2.0.

2) Let us link to your educational blogs, blog posts, and Google Earth files that deal with your own field trip experiences. We also would love links to geocaching projects. We will post your name and school along with any links you send.

3) Participate in a group audio and/or video. We want to record a conversation, preferably using iChat AV, between multiple educators on how to make a field trip work, particularly when using Apple stuff and other digital equipment.

Send any of us an email indicating strands of interest if you'd like to participate. Additional details will then follow.

Thanks in advance,

Lucy Gray - University of Chicago Charter School
Judy Beaver - Punahou School
Andrew Gardner - The School at Columbia
Julene Reed - St. George's Independent Schools
Mike Searson - Kean University

ADE Frappr Map

We are all over! I'm looking forward to meeting new ADEs at next week's Apple camp.

NECC 2007 Workshop Resources

Excuse multiple crossposts -

Julene Reed and I are teaching a workshop at NECC on global collaboration, and I've set up a series of resources to demonstrate during this class. I hope that these resources will live on as people become interested in sharing resources used to teach global awareness concepts. Please consider jumping in and joining any of these groups. Some of them are already seeded with material, but others are just getting started. Feel free to pass this info on to anyone you know that also might be interested.

If you are presenting on a simliar topic at NECC, please think about "crosspollinating" material in these spaces as well.

1) Global Education Ning group
http://globaleducation.ning.com/

2) Global Education Flickr group
http://flickr.com/groups/globaleducation/

3) Global Ed Google Group
http://groups.google.com/group/globaleducation

4) Global Education Collaborative Wikispace
http://globaleducationcollaborative.wikispaces.com/

5) I'm tagging any resources I bookmark with the tag globalawareness in Furl and in del.icio.us.

6) Google Calendar for Global Education - enter your NECC global awareness events here, for instance.

If you think of other similar resources we should include, please send me suggestions.  Thanks!!!

Friday 5: Using Chat and Instant Messaging in the Classroom

My students have found me online. I haven't decided if this is a good thing, or not, quite yet, but it definitely has me to thinking about using chat and instant messaging to communicate with students.

In my sixth grade computer science class, our discussion about instant messaging started when a student asked me about my user name for a class wiki project. I explained that I use the same user name (elemenous) for all my accounts, including the AOL Instant Messaging service (AIM), and my students perked up immediately. They were surprised that a teacher, of all people, actually used AIM, and I bet one class that many more teachers use an instant messaging service than they realized. I also explained that I use chat regularly to communicate with other teachers around the world, and that it's been wonderful tool for exchanging files and learning from other educators.

So, since this discussion, the number of kids instant messaging me after school has jumped from 1 kid last week to about 8 kids last night. I think I had 4 different chat windows open on my computer, and it was difficult for me to multitask. I noticed that the conversations are markedly different than the ones I have with adults. When I chat with an adult, I usually am pinging them for a specific reason such as tech help or to share a resource. With kids, however, it seems as if they are sort aimlessly IMing each other and me. This is a social tool for them, and they must be chatting with lots of other people because often our conversations go dead as if they were busy elsewhere. Sixth graders, IMHO, have not learned the fine art of  carrying on an online conversation. Interestingly enough, though, one of my students told me that most of the grade-level "drama" happens within instant messaging conversations after school. One kid said he's learned to hit certain keys to quit IMing quickly when his mother approaches as he's not supposed to be online during homework time. Another kid said his mother took away his keyboard because she thought his computer habits were too distracting for him. (I'm making a mental note of this tactic for when my children hit middle school.) It's fascinating to see how important this tool has become to kids; I feel like I've been let into the club a bit as they have been reaching out to me via IMing.

Generally, I think using instant messaging and chat rooms in the context of learning is not something most teachers want to incorporate into their curricula; it's a matter of digital natives versus digital immigrants. We immigrants have been slow to realize that this tool is wildly popular amongst adolescents, and that if we frame its use properly, chatting via instant messaging or inchat rooms might actually empower learning. So this week, I've compiled a slew of related articles that might help you understand this phenomenon.

Take care and have a great weekend,

Lucy Gray

1)   Strategies For Using Chat
Academic Distance Learning Center, Webster University, Saint Louis, Missouri

2)    Let's Chat: Chat Rooms in Elementary School

3)   Educause | Resources | Resource Center Abstract

4)   PC World - Internet Tips: A Grown-Up's Guide to Instant Messaging

5)   Moving at the Speed of Creativity>Blog Archive> The Case for Instant Messaging in the Classroom

6)   Experimental College at Tufts | Instant Messaging: R U Online! RU? | By Robert Farmer

7)     Spiral Notebook > IM in the Mood for Chat

8)     Apple - Education - iChat AV and iSight in the Classroom: Lesson Plans

9)     iChatCollaboration.pdf from Goochland County Public Schools

APPLE: 42 Reasons Normal People Can Switch to Macs - Valleywag

Link: APPLE: 42 Reasons Normal People Can Switch to Macs - Valleywag.

Gee, I never thought I'd see something this useful in the Silicon Valley gossip blog, Valleywag. This list is perfect for the occasional set of parents who ask questions about purchasing computers.

Resources Worth Mentioning

I've been audio and video chatting a great deal with fellow ADES recently, and I thought I'd pass on a couple of resources I've learned of via these conversations. First, check out Rae Niles' web site, and particularly this page. She's created simple video tutorials for basic thinks like CD burning. And, Judy Beaver recommmended a blog maintained by a colleage at the Punahou School as well as a book by Dr. Sally Shaywitz. Judy heard Dr. Shaywitz speak at this Learning and Brain conference. And, Judy and Kris Hill both discussed a reading intervention product called Fast ForWord that might be of interested to blog readers.

Apple - Retail - Youth Workshops

Link: Apple - Retail - Youth Workshops.

My daughter, Julia, attended her first Apple Youth Workshop a few weeks ago, and here is the resulting song. She learned how to create music in GarageBand. This workshop was free, and there are two others in the next couple of months on photos and movies.

In addition to receiving a CD of her music, Julia also a pink Music Project Book that fit inside the CD envelope. This booklet contains some GB basics and has pages for notes.

Download 01_julias_song.m4a

Friday 5: Online Teacher Networks

Friday 5: Online Teacher Networks

Dear Readers –

Last week, I spent a glorious day at Google’s New York office assisting with their new education initiative, the Google Teacher Academy. Participants in this day-long professional development event are now part of the Google Certified Teacher learning community, along with teachers from the first GTA held in Mountain View, California, late last year.

Google Certified Teachers are actively sharing ideas in a Google Group created just for them, and this has reminded me of the potential power of online communities. Virtual places can serve as support for teachers at any level, and it’s a huge convenience to participate in a professional development activity at anytime from any internet-connected computer. Judging from the enthusiasm of these Google Certified Teachers, educators are truly yearning for opportunities to connect and collaborate.

While the Google Certified Teacher program is open only to those who’ve participated in academies, there are many other places where teachers can find similar opportunities. For instance, my professional life has indelibly improved by my participation in the Apple Distinguished Educator program, which is currently taking applications for a new class of ADEs. The deadline is February 28, so consider applying as soon as possible! Please note that some of the communities cited in this week list do not require application for membership, however. There is something for everyone out there!

I suspect that Second Life probably also has some learning communities for teachers, too, but I have yet to dive into this virtual world. Maybe this summer I will take the plunge!

Have a great weekend,

Lucy Gray

1.    Tapped In
Create a virtual office in Tapped In and participate in various activities in this space.

2.    National Geographic Education Network

3.    EdWeek
EdWeek has several community tools within its extensive web site. Check out:

• Teachers with Cameras
• Ask the Mentor
• Teacher Blogs
• Teacher TalkBack

4.    Discovery Educator Network

5.    Golden Apple Foundation’s Teaching Excellence Network

Apple Learning Interchange 2007 - Become an ADE!

Link: Apple Learning Interchange 2007 - Become an ADE!.

Good news! Apple is accepting applications for its 2007 class of Apple Distinguished Educators. As I've said many times before, this program has changed my life... I've met so many wonderful people at the top of their professional games, received a great deal of moral support, and have been inspired to improve my teaching and learning.

It seems that Apple sort of remixes the application process every time it accepts applications for a new class (which is not every year... last year it was international ADES only). I was inducted in 2005, and the application process as not open; I was nominated by an Apple employee and it completely caught me by surprise.

Consider applying if you love anything and everything Apple, if you believe in professional generosity and are willing to participate in an active learning community, and if you have expertise in project based learning, 1 to 1 learning enviroments, career/creative tech and/or work in a college of education.

MacSanta

Link: http://www.macsanta.com .

One my Mac savvy fifth graders told me about Mac Heist last week, a special marketing effort of Mac shareware. A slew of cool programs were offered to participants within a time frame for the low price of $49. MacHeist organizers also donated a portion of profits to various charities. While I personally thought it was a clever way of publicizing products, apparently others think developers get the short end of the stick. The current MacHeist is now over, but a sixth is in the works apparently.

MacSanta is another promotion that is running through Christmas Day and may be of interest to those who missed MacHeist. About 30 different companies are offering their goodies via MacSanta for 20% off. I don't really *need* more stuff, but I know it will be lots of fun to experiment with these goodies once I unwrap the new iMac that Santa is bringing me!

Friday 5: Widgets in Education

Widgets are mini-applications that can be employed to make your working life more efficient. The Mac operating system, known as OS X, includes Dashboard, a piece of software that runs and manages widgets. Yahoo also has a widget engine which runs on PC and Mac desktops. This week’s list is primarily focuses on Dashboard widgets for OS X. I've also included a screenshot of my Dashboard.

The impetus behind this week’s list is that I decided that a list of educationally usefully widgets would be helpful to educators, particularly those who are implementing 1 to 1 laptop programs. There are also sorts of widgets out there that can potentially enhance learning including ones containing dictionaries, words and facts of the day, calendars, converters, translators, and photos. Also, students absolutely are intrigued by widgets and you should be aware of these doodads from a classroom/laptop management point of view. Best of all, many widgets are free, although I’ve noticed a few shareware and commercially sold ones out there.

For more background information, I suggest you check out  a couple of Wikipedia articles on Yahoo’s Widget Engine (formally known as Konfabulator) and on Apple’s Dashboard software which also uses widgets. And, for a more in-depth history of Konfabulator widgets and Apple widgets, read this blog post from Daring Fireball.

Have fun exploring,

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail

Basics

1)    Yahoo! Widgets
http://widgets.yahoo.com/

Get the Yahoo engine widget here. You need this before running any Yahoo widget. There is a version for both PC and Mac users.

2)    Apple’s Dashboard Widgets
http://www.apple.com/macosx/theater/dashboard.html
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/

If you have a Mac running OS 10.4 (Tiger), you have Dashboard on your computer. View a demo of Dashboard and find widgets that run on Dashboard using the above links.

There are differences between Yahoo! Widgets and Dashboard widgets. They are created using different technologies and Yahoo’s widgets run on your desktop while Apple’s run in Dashboard.  Read the aforementioned Wikipedia article on widgets for more info.

Next Steps

3)    Listing of Education Widgets
http://widged.com/widgets/

Here’s a comprehensive list of widgets that could be used in school settings.

4)    Dashboard Widgets from ZDNet
http://tinyurl.com/ybgpbo

Google Macintosh Dashboard Widgets
http://www.google.com/macwidgets/index.html

5)    Voicenotes Dashboard Widget
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/business/voicenotes.html

This one is a demo and it costs $5.95. Check out the company web site for additional widgets: .

6)    Graphing Widgets for Dashboard
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/business/graphingwidgets.html

7)    Notepad Widget for Dashboard
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/business/notepadwidget.html

8)    Stop-It! Widget for Dashboard
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/business/stopit.html

This widget is a count down timer.

9)    This Day in History Widget for Dashboard
http://www.5star-shareware.com/Mac/Dashboard/this_day_in_history.html

10)    The Periodic Table Widget for Dashboard
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/reference/theperiodictable.html

For Fun

11)     Pirate Translator for Dashboard
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/calculate_convert/piratetranslator.html

12)     Christmas Lights for Dashboard
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/christmaslights.html

13)     Basketball for Dashboard
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/basketball.html

Deep Dive

Apparently, it’s fairly easy to create your own widgets. Here are some sources for getting started.

14)     Developing Dashboard Widgets
http://developer.apple.com/macosx/dashboard.html

15)     Yahoo! Widgets – Workshop
http://widgets.yahoo.com/workshop/

Subscribe to the Friday 5 Google Group here.

Remember Fortunetellers?

Fortunetellers were big in my mid-elementary school life. If you have no clue what I am talking about, check out this site and its accompanying instructional video.

One of my fifth grade students designed an Apple themed one and I asked him if I could post it here because I thought it was clever. Perhaps I could have students make other fortune tellers, perhaps related to say, computer ethics or millenial terminology. Maybe we could even program a digital fortune teller in Microworlds!

Download applefortuneteller.jpg

Anyway, the student who created this is also is responsible for the Apple Pro Care idea I posted last spring. He has a APC membership and goes to the Apple store for classes that he has registered for online. It's quite a deal if you take advantage of the classes on a regular basis. As a result, this student has gotten to be pretty tech savvy!

MacDailyNews | Report: Apple Mac tablet with docking station, media center to launch in 2007

Link: MacDailyNews | Report: Apple Mac tablet with docking station, media center to launch in 2007.

Great news! Hope it's true! This has great implications for Apple's education market, I think.

Friday 5: Found @ Closing the Gap

I’m home after a busy week attending an assistive technology conference called Closing the Gap in Minneapolis. The Friday 5 sites this week are gleaned from various sessions and conversations with colleagues during this interesting event.

 

Enjoy,

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

 

1)    Closing the Gap
http://www.closingthegap.com/

This is the main page for this organization started in 1983 by parents of a deaf child. It is considered one of the premier assistive tech conferences in the U.S .

2)    Apple – Accessibility
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/

Did you know that there are many features built into the Mac operating system that make it easier for
students to use computers? This site will help you learn about these features, including VoiceOver which is designed to help those with vision issues. I am very proud that I learned a bit about how to use this spoken interface! Also check out Apple’s Accessibility in Education page at http://www.apple.com/education/accessibility/.

3)    Assistive Technology Blog and Assistive Technology Yahoo Group
http://assistivetek.blogspot.com/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/attechnology/

These two resources are maintained by fellow ADE colleague and assistive technology expert Brian Friedlander.

4)    Blogs, Wikis, Webcasts, Etc.: New Tools for Students with Disabilities
http://closingthegap.wikispaces.com/

This wiki was used for a presentation on how the popular technologies known as blogs, wikis, and webcasts can help kids. There are lots of great resources listed in this online document that would be helpful to special ed and regular ed teachers.

5)    Marratech: Video Collaboration, E-meeting, and Web Conferencing on the Internet
http://www.marratech.com/

I have not tried this yet, but it was recommended to me by another ADE, Kris Hill, who presented with me this week at Closing the Gap. Apparently, you can video conference with others and share documents.

 

Apple Learning Interchange 2006 - Rethink. Global Awareness.

Link: Apple Learning Interchange 2006 - Rethink. Global Awareness..

I am so pleased to announce the official launch of the Apple Learning Interchange exhibit on global awareness. This project was initiated as part of the Apple Distinguished Educator 2006 Summer Institute which took place in Europe. I traveled with approximately 60 other ADEs, Apple employees and people from EF Tours to Berlin, Dresden, and Prague and we began working on various curricular projects while on the trip. It was a life altering trip and I'm so impressed with the resulting work of my ADE colleagues. I hope others will join in the projects that we've started as part of this initiative.

I've started a discussion group about global awareness, by the way, and anyone with an interest is welcome to join. Just email me (elemenous@mac.com) so that I can invite you to the group!

tags technorati : apple, ade, adeinstitute2006

Fun with Photobooth

Link: Apple - iMac - iSight.

Photobooth is an app that comes with newer Macs and is used in conjunction with their built-in iSight cameras. If you click on the above link, you'll see a picture of the kind of computer now in my lab, and the iSight lens is the black square at the top of the screen.

Just about every student that's walked in my lab during the past few weeks has played with Photobooth, and it has drawn raves. I'm starting to think of ideas of how to incorporate this fun, but sort of frivilous, tool into classroom activities. One idea I have is to have each kid in a grade level take their photo using PB and we'll incorporate this pic into our end of their year iMovies. This allows kids to control their own picture and add effects instead of being at the mercy of another kid taking their picture with a digital camera.

During class yesterday, students took a series of photos in Photobooth for their parents and left these in the program's storage area so that their parents could see them during last night's Open House. Then... I had parents find their kids' photos, gave them a few instructions and had them take their own photos for their children. My students will discover these pictures either Friday or Monday, depending on their schedule. This is sort of a remix of a lower school Open House activity where parents leave notes for their children in their desks so that they have something to read the following morning. Instead, we used digital pictures!

I'm also toying with some sort of activity where kids would take a picture using iSight and Photobooth, and then move to the next computer, and take another photo and then keep moving on. It might be a nice way for a group of kids to gather photos of each other for some sort of project, like an advisory group iMovie.

tags technorati : photobooth, apple, isight

.Mac's slow death - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Link: .Mac's slow death - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).

I adore my .Mac account, and I do not forsee this service becoming obsolete, particularly because of its web publishing capabilities. Nevertheless, I am playing around with some of Google's products, and this blog posting has a nice comparison of the tools found at Google and those provided with a .Mac account. I am particularly interested in importing my Address Book contacts into Gmail and there's a reference here to a freeware program that will help do that.

tags technorati : .Mag, Gmail, Apple, Google

Friday 5: Europe

September 8, 2006

Hello –

Following my trip to the National Educational Computing Conference this summer, I had the amazing opportunity to also travel to Europe as part of a delegation of Apple Distinguished Educators charged with developing a global awareness curriculum. This curriculum will become publically available at no cost in the Apple Learning Interchange (http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/) sometime in early October.

As an unofficial part of this project, I’ve started an online group to discuss and share anything related to global education. People interested in joining this conversation can email me at lgray@ucls.uchicago.edu and I will send you an invitation with instructions on how to join.
This week’s list is comprised of web sites related to the aforementioned Apple global awareness project and to some of the cities I visited. ADEs toured Berlin and Prague led by EF Education (http://www.ef.com/ ) and afterwards, I headed to Florence and Paris with two other ADEs. I don’t know why I waited so long to travel extensively in Europe. All I can say is that if you haven’t gone abroad yet in your life, do everything in your power to make it happen. The rewards will be numerous.

Take care,

Lucy Gray

Global Education .Mac Group

I'm interested in continuing the conversation about global awareness, and I've taken the liberty of starting a .Mac group on this topic. I've never really taken advantage of .Mac groups before, so this provides an opportunity to explore this tool as well.

My goal is to provide an inclusive forum for ADEs, informal external partners, and other interested educators to discuss and share anything related to global education. Many ADEs who attended this year's institute consulted outside resources in preparation for the trip; this forum may be a way to include these groups. I see this .Mac group as a vehicle for sharing resources, collaborating on projects, and for possibly garnering feedback on our various curriculum projects. I am sure there are other ideas that we can come up with regarding how to best utilize this resource.

If you'd like to join this group, please send me an email at elemenous@mac.com or lgray@ucls.uchicago.edu, and I'll send you an invitation with instructions on how to join. Feel free to pass this on to other people that may be interested as well. Participants do not need an active .Mac account to join, only a .Mac ID.

tags technorati : adeinstitute2006 global education

2006 ADE Institute Reflections

Here's my treatise about how I spent my part of my summer. It's a work in progress, and I will be editing it as I continue to think about my experiences! It's in PDF form and you can download it from my public .Mac folder.

tags technorati : adeinstitute2006

Google Maps Plugin for Address Book - Brian Toth

Link: Google Maps Plugin for Address Book - Brian Toth.

I love Apple's Address Book. I inadvertently just discovered two cool things. First, if you have Skype installed, right click on a phone number in Address book and there's a menu that allows you to dial that number in Skype. The only problem is that I think you need to have a 1 before the number. After I stumbled on this, I typed in Apple and Address Book into Google, and I found this plug in to work with Google Maps and Google Earth.

Okay, now I need to do some real work....but while I am goofing around, I see that you can create Skypecasts and Ecamm now makes a recorder to be used with Skype. Must revisit this! I finally around to playing with their iGlasses software a few weeks ago, and it's very fun.

tags technorati : address book skype ecamm

School's Out

School's out and I am ready for some adventure! I am pinching myself because the summer of a lifetime awaits me. In two weeks, my family and I will be traveling to San Diego so that I can attend NECC 2006 and so that we all can do the Southern California tourist thing... Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Disneyland etc.

And, I had this all planned before I knew about the Apple Distinguished Educator Institute for this summer which promises to be another amazing experience. We're traveling to Europe July 21 -31 to collaborate on a digital global awareness curriculum in conjunction with EF Tours. We will be addressing an essential question via four themes, and this curriculum will hopefully be published on Apple's web site in the fall.

At any rate, I plan to be blogging on a more regular basis now that I have some time. As instructed by David Warlick in a recent post regarding tags for NECC, I'm adding mine here:

tags technorati : NECC NECC2006

Here's to a fabulous summer ! Yay!

Cut to the Core: Essential Podcasts for Educators

Link: CTTC Home.

Check out the new Apple Distinguished Educator podcast channel!

Gmail Notifier for Macs

Link: Gmail Notifier.

Here's a handy doodad that sits in your toolbar to let you know if you have any email in your Google mail account.

Apple - Retail - ProCare

Link: Apple - Retail - ProCare.

A fourth grade student at my school recently showed a fabulous DVD at our School Night at the Apple Store. He learned how to do this as his parents signed him up for a ProCare subscription. Little did I know that Procare allows subscribers to sign up for classes at the Apple Store and these classes are including in the $99 price tag! Nifty! I suggested this to a colleague who was looking to upgrade her computer skills. It looks like there's something for everyone in the listings at our local North Michigan Avenue store.

Wisconsin Educational Leadership Forum

Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending and presenting at an Apple event called the Wisconsin Educational Leadership Forum. Here is a PDF of my presentation on how technology changes learning. My Keynote preso is uploaded here.

Other speakers included Milt Dougherty, Mike Hester and Dorothy Crenshaw. Milt is a well traveled consultant and superintendent in Kansas, Mike is a high school principal in Kansas, and Dorothy Crenshaw is the Chief Information Officer of the Indianapolis Public Schools. I learned a great deal from these speakers in terms of content and presentation skills and I think all of our presos dovetailed nicely together.

From Milt, I learned that change is about leadership and that schools considering 1 to 1 laptop programs need to set a goal for what they are trying to accomplish. Mike's message reminded me a lot of Alan Novemer's presentations. I appreciated his call for people to have the courage to change our educational system. I often ponder why things stay the same in our field when some aspects are clearly not working.

Mike showed this hilarious herding cats video and gave details about 1 to 1 implementation in his district. Professional development was key to his district's success and he devoted 45 minutes to staff development time each week. This is not the first time I've heard in a 1 to 1 program, you can never allot enough time for professional development. Mike also mentioned his ICU... iBook Care Unit... at which kids could get their laptops repaired.

Dorothy was a very inspirational speaker, and it's heartening to know that an urban district can pull of a sustained 1 to 1 program. Her message was, "Do whatever it takes. Make a committment to the best resources for your students." She also made efforts to reach out to her board and to city and university partners. Dorothy's district also spent a great deal of time with professional development and developed a class for parents on laptop learning. Kids in Indy are required to produce some sort of project at the end of the eyar and they hold various celebrations to recognize the kids' efforts. The school district also partners with the city and mayor's office to tackle a community problem and the laptops facilitate this. Problem based learning is a big component to this program. Also, students are given internet cable access at home, which to me, is so important. What's the point if the kids can't use these machines at home?

All in all, this event was a great experience and I enjoyed the administrator's perspective on 1 to 1 initiatives!

Download wisconsin_education_leadership_forum.doc

Download Brookfield.pdf

NICE Mini-Conference

Download ipodinfo.doc

Here's the handout originally created for my Lab colleagues and adapted for the NICE Mini-Conference. Basic information on iPods and podcasting is included in this handout along with many resource links and commentary from a fellow ADE on how video iPods can transform education. By the way,  Karen Percak and I will conducting an all day, hands-on workshop at IL-TCE on February 27 on using iPods in the classroom.

Any feedback or questions regarding yesterday's NICE session would be greatly appreciated. Email me or Karen Percak!

Sam at the Apple Store Revisited

I blogged recently about a student and his presentation at the Apple Store last fall. I had nothing to do with Sam's actual presentation, but I did attend and was impressed with his skill set. Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen noticed  and used Sam's picture as well as some comments from me in his most recent blog post.

I appreciate his thoughtful comments for two reasons. First, his message about "the beginner's mind" is important. I like the idea of remaining unjaded and this applies to whatever field one has chosen. If one is  burdened by past negative experiences, of course one will never be able to be innovative. At any rate, I think I need to learn more about Zen philosophy. I'm liking what I am hearing!

Secondly, as further proof that this really is indeed a small world, I was surprised to receive Garr's email. I had been reading his blog for a number of months and had it listed in my blogroll, but I had never really associated a person's name with Presentation Zen. I had even used one his posts comparing Steve Job's and Bill Gates in a sixth grade class when we discussed presentation design. So when I saw his email, it took a few moments for me to register that he was the author of this fabulous blog I had been reading.  I think it is interesting how blogging can connect people around the world... a blog is not just a dumbed down way to publish a web page. Along with tags and search engines like Technorati, blogs give people a voice in this world that previously was only relegated to "experts" via traditional media. It really is a very exciting time in technology because of this, and I can't wait for more people out there to grasp the concepts of networking, collaboration, and sharing over the internet using emerging technologies.

Anyway, thank you, Garr, and I'm sure Sam will be over the moon with your description of him as "almost Steve-Jobs like"! He's a great kid and I'm looking forward to working more with him as he progresses through our middle school.

Apple - iPod shuffle

Link: Apple - iPod shuffle.

I gave the 1G model to my seven year old daughter for Christmas, and it's a big hit! The only problem is the ear buds; they are too large for her ears. Currently, we are using a pair of traditional headphones left over from a Walkman like device, but some Sony earbuds have been recommended to me. So we shall see.

It looks like we will be able to fit about 270 audio files on Julia's iPod. We have a variety of kids' music already loaded in iTunes as well as a few audio books. For instance, we visited NYC last summer and I compiled a playlist of New York themed songs. This playlist also included the audiobook of A Cricket in Times Square. We listened to the book together using a splitter on my iPod while traveling. Julia really loved it when we visited the real Times Square!

Anyway, my advice regarding setting up a shuffle is to think through your playlist. I arranged the playlist to sync with the shuffle so that the audiobooks come first. It was difficult for Julia to click through all her songs to get to the books with my original playlist, so I just rearranged things to have the books first.

I'm getting such a kick out of Julia with her Shuffle. She sat in her rocking chair, reading books and listening to music tonight. Occasionally, she starts singing out loud, too. At one point, she wanted to watch TV AND listen to her iPod, but I thought that was a bit much!

LeSportsac: Shop by Color

Link: Shop by Color.

This LeSportsac pattern caught my eye recently as I was shopping at Field's. Thought it might be of interest to other female Mac addicts out there!

MacDailyNews - Apple and Mac News - Welcome Home

Link: MacDailyNews - Apple and Mac News - Welcome Home.

Here's an article mostly about political problems at some college I've never even heard of, but to me, the most interesting part is in bold type. A teacher is being relieved of her student newspaper adviser duties and one of the reasons is that , " student staff, because they use Macintosh computers, are not being prepared for the real world".

How absurd and ignorant is that? Again, it's not the platform, dummy. Our students will be truly prepared for the "real world" if computer use is transparent to them. They should be able to sit down at any computer and use critical thinking skills to figure out the basics of a computer. It's about what you produce with a computer, not how you use the machine.

Apple's Tribute to Rosa Parks

Link: Apple.

I'm not sure how long the picture I am describing will remain so I'm just going to describe it here. After spending many hours looking at the blogs of others recently, I have not found anything particularly compelling to write about. The following is definitely worth pointing out to others.

Another ADE posted on our community site about Apple's web site today. The message was a bit cryptic, so I went to Apple's homepage. There was a picture of Rosa Parks along with name and the years of her birth and death with the familiar Think Different slogan. Clicking on the picture leads to an article about her life. Very cool. I hope they make this a tradition for acknowledge those who've changed our society.

I loved the original Think Different campaign and have a few of the posters which I have packed away somewhere. Wouldn't it be nice if there more people out there who chose to think out of the box?

Sam at the Apple Store

One of my Gen Y students was asked to give a presentation at the Apple store on Pages. Sam did a fabulous job; I was impressed with his poise and expressive manner! Incidentally, Sam has his own consulting company http://samkaplancomputing.com/.

The Michigan Avenue store was quite busy, but I did manage to spend more money on things I don't really need, but I certainly want! I did take a quick peek at the new video iPod, and it's very thin and light. The picture quality was great and big enough for me to enjoy watching a video. I hope Santa will bring me one this Christmas!

iSightEd --- the eyes and ears of Education

iSightEd --- the eyes and ears of Education

I found this site while browsing Apple's education pages. Looks like a great place to find other teachers who want to learn more about video and audio chats.

Apple Store Field Trip

I met my NLU students at Apple's Michigan Avenue store tonight for class. I designed a scavenger hunt for my students and Scott Murphy did a presentation on the iLife suite of software in the theatre.

When I arrived at the store, several students were already there. And, they had figured out how to do video chats already! I had told them on Tuesday that creating a video chat would be one of the requirements of the scavenger hunt. So I was impressed that they had already done this by the time I arrived on the scene. Their enthusiasm got me pumped for the field trip in general!

At the beginning of the theatre presentation, Scott asked our group what their impressions were of Apple. And, the usual comments were discussed... Apple products are more expensive.... not pervasive in the business community... etc. By the end of the presentation, I think the group fully understood about what makes Apple stuff so unique. Scott was a trooper and spend way more time than I expected leading us through iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, and Garageband. My students asked really thoughtful questions, and seemed to be enjoying themselves. I think Garageband perhaps drew the most oohs and ahhs from our group.This trip was intended to show my students the power of multimedia, and I think that they got the general idea of how Apple can bring sound, video, and digital photography together seamlessly.

I'd like to know what everyone else thought of the trip. Please post your comments here. Have a great weekend! Here are some pics of our trip: http://homepage.mac.com/elemenous/Work/PhotoAlbum38.html

Lucy

iChat AV & Science

iChat AV & Science

Found this while browsing the aforementioned site. Check out this neat way of using iChat AV to teach preservice teachers.