As the school year is drawing to a close, lots of student projects are still streaming in. I’ve noticed that many of these projects really have no technology involvement. And that’s OK. Technology should not be used for technology’s sake. If a student built diorama or growing a live plant gets the job done for the content objective, that’s fine. However, what I would like to propose is how we can document this great learning that is taking place with these projects. Sure, pictures can be snapped and stuck in a portfolio binder or made into a quick slideshow to be viewed by the class or even parents who visit during an end of the year sharing day. Putting together a slideshow in iPhoto is fairly simple. Music can be added. Great. But what if you wanted to take it a step further without a whole lot more work? Even get the students involved in capturing their learning? Allowing more student reflection to take place in the process?

Today, I read a blog post on Richard Byrne’s iPad Apps for School about 30hands. This is an app for iPads and Touches that lets you create slideshows quickly and share them easily. What I envision is having students snap pictures of their projects or portfolio items using our iPod Touches and then recording their voices explaining their projects and learning. This app allows the user to make simple drawings as well right in the app. Therefore, diagrams and important points can be made into visuals right in the presentation (usually we have to find another drawing app or hand draw and snap a picture of it to insert). The app also seems to be very forgiving of mistakes. Perfect for younger students! The presentations can be sent to Camera Roll and uploaded to our Dropbox account for easy sharing from a computer/projector set up. These presentations also could be posted and shared on a wiki or blog. All without an account to 30hands. Again, perfect for elementary age students.

Here is a tutorial of the app:

You also can download a similar tutorial to watch right within the app. It even highlights updates to the app.

So something to think about in these last few weeks… The Touches are waiting to help you!

Looking to try something new in 2013?

How about getting your students out and about with a QR Code Treasure Hunt (a.k.a. Scavenger Hunt)?

First off, you may be wondering what a QR Code is? You probably have seen QR Codes on flyers or in stores. Simply put, it is a type of barcode. When the barcode is scanned (with, for example, a smart phone), the device will be directed to a website where a message, picture, audio file or even coupon awaits you.

How can this technology be used in the classroom?

Here’s the gist:

1. Come up with questions (and answers) on any subject.
2. Make the questions into QR Codes.
3. Put the codes around the school.
4. Students find the codes, and using a device such as an iPod Touch (with the Scan app), students will “read” the codes a.k.a. questions. Students then will answer the questions via paper and pencil or even email the answers to the teacher from the device before proceeding to the next code.

What a great way to hook students into reviewing for a benchmark! Or perhaps, even at the beginning of the school year, going on a hunt in order to take a tour of the building while creating teamwork.

Intrigued? Here is a generator from ClassTools.net to get you thinking and designing your own hunt. And of course, let me know if you would like to collaborate.

We may never buy a “regular” camera again. Come to this week’s App-tober session to find out why!

For a preview, please read a previous iPod Touch post about its built-in camera.

After the session: Need help with the iMovie app for iPod Touches (4th Generation)? Here are the FAQs from Apple. The Help button in iMovie also is great to get you started:

Please stay tuned for a future post about how iPod Touches and the iMovie app are being used in a grade 5 classroom for ELA.

If you and your students like BrainPOP quizzes, then you just might love this very useful tool for making your own: BrainPOP Mixer.

Watch this video to see how easy it is to make your own BrainPOP style quiz:

What I really like is that you don’t even have to make up the questions. (This is one feature that Google Forms doesn’t have.) With thousands of questions being shared, there is no re-inventing the wheel. Plus, you can use convenient tools for grading the quizzes. More time saved! In the end, your created quiz can be accessed from your own blog or a common web page through this portal. Students just need to use an access code that you can tailor make.

So what are you waiting for? Get your own free Educator account, and link it to your school subscription to start making interactive quizzes today!

(If you couldn’t tell, I’m very excited for us to start using this tool. Let me know how I can help.)

As the end of the school year draws to a close, I’m trying to be proactive in the area of future software purchases and upgrades. What will we need next year? And most importantly, in what do we really need to invest those limited budget funds?

If we upgrade our Macs to OS 10.7, one perennial favorite will no longer run: Timeliner. (I can’t even get a good online link to show you our version due to its age!) Is it worth buying a new version? I honestly think in this age of web 2.0 tools that the answer is “no”. There are lots of online timeline makers out there. It’s just a matter of finding one that meets our elementary school needs.

To get a jump start on this decision, a fourth grade class has been using the site, Timetoast. Here are the pros and cons.

PROS:

• It’s easy to set up an account using the Gmail hack method. This allows for each student to have his/her own account, but it is managed by one address by the teacher.
• Timelines are able to be saved and edited.
• Pictures can be uploaded to the timelines.
• The format for typing text and uploading pictures is very straightforward. Very simple for elementary age kids!
• Once published, the timelines can be shared by link or embed code with a world wide audience.
• The timelines are interactive.

CONS:

• A specific date is needed for an event. The day and month can not be omitted. This can prove a little tricky if a child does not have a specific date for an event (a very forgiving area of Timeliner the software.) Our solution with Timetoast: if you only want the year, use January 1 +year; or if you don’t know the specific day, use the month 1 +year. This at least puts the event in the right chronology.
• No spell check. (However, our current Timeliner software does not have that tool either.)
• If a print out is desired, there is no real print friendly option. The timeline may be viewed as text in a table format and then printed (with the contents of the web page).
• Fairly benign advertising appears on the site.
• There does not seem to be any comment moderation.

Personally, I don’t think any of the cons are deal breakers at this point in our test.

Please take a moment to check out these 4th grade samples. (Students were able to select up to 4 events to create KidPix drawings. Screenshots of these drawings were uploaded by the students.)

I’d love to hear if anyone has any other recommended free timeline making sites!

Last year, I wrote two posts about stop-action movies (something new MAY be in order: Stop-Action Movies & Stop-Action Movies Follow-Up).

The latter post concluded with our hopes to integrate this technology into fifth grade. What follows is a summary of our results.

During the 2011-12 school year, all fifth graders at Abbot School participated in the Westford Education Foundation funded project In Motion on the Ocean: European Explorer Stop-Action Movies. Under the direction of four social studies teachers, Stacey Mulholland, Aimee Murphy, Karla Pentedemos and Kate O’Brien, and in conjunction with the Instructional Technology Specialist (me), 40 movies were created and uploaded to the blog portion of a Wiki. Although the project is over for the year, all of the movies still may be played right on the site or downloaded by clicking on the Subscribe in iTunes button. Commenting also continues to be open for constructive feedback. (Many comments have resulted from participation in #comments4kids on Twitter.)

The overall goal of this project was for students to demonstrate their knowledge of early European explorers (Massachusetts History and Social Studies Standards 5.1, 5.3) using an extremely hands-on and constructivist medium that would appeal to all students. During the learning process, students were observed informally as well as surveyed formally. Here are some quotes from both students and staff that demonstrate the project’s success:

‘This is the best project I’ve ever done!’ – overheard by Mrs. Murphy as students were working in their groups.

‘I know we are doing a new unit, but can we do that again with Colonial America?’ – said to Mrs. Murphy at the end of the project.

‘I thought it was a great way to express your creativity and have fun with your friends.’ – from a 5th grader’s reflection sheet- Question answered: Is there anything else about the project you want to tell?

‘I wish we had more assignments like this.’ – from a 5th grader’s reflection sheet- Question answered: Is there anything else about the project you want to tell?

‘Advice I give future SAM directors is listen to everyone, they might have great ideas.’ -from a 5th grader’s reflection sheet- Question answered: Advice I give future SAM directors is….

‘Advice I give future SAM directors is to meet a few days before you film and find out what everyone is bringing.’ -from a 5th grader’s reflection sheet- Question answered: Advice I give future SAM directors is….

Also, students were asked: Doing this project, I feel that a) I know more about the explorer than I did before or b) my knowledge of the explorer hasn’t changed. Almost 100% chose “a”. This confidence was reflected in benchmark as well with one teacher reporting that these were the best scores yet.

‘I loved watching the kids develop group decision making skills.  Throughout the process, I noticed kids that aren’t normally leaders speak up and get their voices heard.  Group members gave each other positive feedback on how to meet their goals.  Half way through the project in a self-evaluation, students were asked to reflect on the process.  I was encouraged by how many students commented that they knew more about their explorer than before.  I also was impressed at how many students now look at the movie making process differently and respect the process that it takes to accomplish it.’ – Stacey Mulholland

At Abbot School, we integrate technology into our core curriculum. Students use technology to master content and deepen understandings. The European Explorer Stop-Action Movies Project has been one of those great projects where the students are so invested in their learning that it doesn’t feel like work. The students are so engaged that they are having rich content conversations in their groups. The hands-on nature has appealed to many different types of learning styles, too. Everyone is on task and making a contribution. The technology tool, SAM Animation, truly is a facilitator allowing for real world skills to be developed and core curriculum to be front and center.

The challenge with any new project is the time devoted to reach its full fruition in its inaugural year. Our hopes is to streamline the process a little next year. However, this project definitely is a keeper!

Looking for a visual and interactive way for students to display learning? Give SpiceyNodes a try.

This free service lets the user create nodemaps (a.k.a. webs or concept maps) about a topic. What takes this tool beyond traditional webbing and graphic organizers of the past is the user’s ability to customize for an audience’s experience.  Images (both uploaded and online) as well as YouTube videos may be added to text. Because this nodemap lives online, it can be linked to or embedded into a blog or webpage. A visitor to the posted nodemap has navigational controls to explore the topic at his/her own pace and with viewing preferences. The visitor also can use a search function to find information in the displayed nodemap, making it ideal for research. All of these features truly make it a tool for sharing knowledge that appeals to many different learning styles and needs. One idea is to have older students create nodemaps on topics that younger students could access since age appropriate resources sometimes do not exist. Since curriculum often spirals, this does not have to be an add-on for older students. (For another example of this older student creation model, see my Mass Confusion post.)

Here is an example of a grade 4 animal research project created by Ms. Sandi Guild. Click away!

Historically, this project has been a word processed report. This project will continue to meet research and organization objectives; however, now, its final product will be in a much more appealing, interactive, and (Do I dare say it?) “spicey” format for sharing with an audience. Please check back at our special blog to see the student self-embedded examples by the end of May.

Good news for teachers! There is an educator resource section at SpiceyNodes. Furthermore, email addresses are not necessary for creating student accounts. (Personally, I like to have an email affiliated with my students’ accounts for managerial purposes, and the Gmail hack method works like a charm at the site.)

As always, I’d love to hear about your ideas or experiences!

Do you find researching with elementary age students to be a real challenge?

(If yes- keep reading! OK- and if you don’t have time to read, at least watch the demo video at the bottom of this post!)

Just setting students loose on a search engine is not an option. Even though we have a strict filter set at Google, there is so much sifting that has to take place. The more we scroll, the further we get away from our topic usually. Then there is the readability issue. I know we can use the Advanced Search at Google to choose a reading level, but even then I still find the results are not always what we want as well as the format is a bit cumbersome for the elementary level. Things need to be a little more straightforward.

Perhaps, something that came across my radar last week is the answer to our searching woes: instaGrok.

instaGrok is a search engine with a very visual appeal. It allows students to set the complexity of the information searched with a simple toggle bar. The results are easy to navigate from a web or on a sidebar. The key facts are quickly offered up in their own category. Perfect for elementary searchers! The sidebar also offers more websites, videos, pictures and even quizzes- all on the topic. So far all of my random test searches have yielded appropriate, and even great results.

But wait there’s more! A bonus feature of this site is a built-in journal for students to use for their research, gathering all information, links and pictures all in one place. It’s a snap to use, too. No multiple steps necessary!

This free site can be used with or without a log-in. The advantage of getting a log-in is that you can save your journal pages for an extensive research project. The sign up requires no email. (“Yay” again for elementary!) When a teacher signs up for an account, s/he can assign a class code. This class code is used by students when they set up their accounts. It links the teacher to the students, and the teacher now can see student journal pages and keep better tabs on student research.

If you research with students (and have felt the frustrations), then it’s well worth the minute and half to check out this demo of a search engine designed for students- instaGrok:

Anyone using this site already? I’m looking to get a collaboration going in my school!

No doubt, Google Earth is a powerful tool that puts the world’s geographic information at a user’s fingertips. There is so much to see and experience with the various layers (see previous post) as well as the different views that it can be very overwhelming – even to adults! Coming fresh off teaching a course in geo-multimedia tools, I have heard the concerns. The enormity of a tool like Google Earth can make teachers leery of using it with students, especially young ones. How can you harness the power to meet your lesson’s objectives while maintaining control? This month, I wanted to share two social studies lessons where the youngest students in our school (third graders) used Google Earth to make focused observations.

Lesson One: Pilgrims

Third graders flew to several locations where the Pilgrims traveled. The task was simple: type in the locations, answer some specific geography questions and write two-three descriptive sentences at each stop. Even though the areas have changed significantly in 400 years, students got a sense of the distance that the pilgrims traveled and how far away these locations are from our school. They also got a feel for what communities who live on coastlines look like.

The best part of the whole adventure was when students zoomed in on the Mayflower 2 with the 3D building layer at the ground level view. Being able to spin and interact with the model of the ship gave them more insight into this historic vessel and what it must have been like to travel on it.

Lesson Two: Town Centers

The teacher and I chose five Massachusetts’ town centers for third graders to visit. This lesson took a little more preparation as exact views were chosen for students to observe.

A folder was created in Google Earth containing each of these five stops. Students double clicked on each of the placemarks in the folder in order to fly to the locations. Once at the locations, students wrote down three things that they observed about the town center. The views included aerial as well as street level views where the students could “drive” through the commons. Students were given about 5 minutes per stop to make observations. The goal was for students to begin to see patterns in town centers and to use this information as they drew their own Puritan town. (If you’d like to try out our town center tour, please download the MA Town Centers KMZ file. You will need to have Google Earth installed on your computer.)

In both lessons, students had a specific purpose and task, and they were given strategies if they got off-track. If students zoomed off-course or became disoriented, they would click on the search button (Pilgrims) or double click on the placemark in the folder that never disappeared in their My Places (Town Centers). This simple act righted students and kept confusion and chaos out of the lesson.

Therefore, we were left with two lessons that allowed students to take field trips without leaving their school. Moreover, the lessons were engaging and extremely hands-on. A great tool to use with third graders. I’m excited about the future possibilities.

Want to know more about the basics? Start here with these great video tutorials from Google.

This month, I was reminded about a terrific resource: Thinkfinity. (Thanks to my colleague, Andrea Gardner!)

Essentially, Thinkfinity is an educational resource engine powered by the Verizon Foundation. Free lessons plans, ideas and interactives only are a search away. And it’s easy. Look at the screenshots below to see how you can tailor your search to meet your particular age level, learning style and curriculum needs.

One also can search by standards. The site has both state and Common Core listed.

The content partners are impressive, too: National Geographic Education, ReadWriteThink, Smithsonian’s History Explorer and EDSITEment to name a few. Plus, Thinkfinity is affiliated with leading educational organizations like iste and NEA.

So go ahead and take a tour of Thinkfinity here. It’s worth a look and a definite visit the next time you’re looking for a resource.

Your thoughts and comments as always are welcome!