Everyone wants to put a picture on his/her project. Of course, this is not as simple as dragging and dropping. At the elementary level, we want to encourage good habits of digital citizenship; however, sometimes it seems like a lot of steps for young kids to get an appropriate image that is free and clear for them to use.

If we are in a Microsoft Office program, such as Word or PowerPoint, kids are steered toward the online clip art gallery (which seems to get trickier and trickier for Mac users… there’s a whole rant that I won’t get into…). Unfortunately, not all programs are linked into their own galleries, and that leaves us with some options that are not always so appealing or friendly to young users.

Google Images is the big one. Sure, we turn on SafeSearch filtering, and kids are taught to choose their search terms carefully. They also are told not to scroll within results as the best choices usually are in the first few rows. They even are taught how to obtain the specific address of the image (not Google!) to cite the source on the project. Yet, what we are not teaching them is that we are NOT obtaining permission during this process.

The message that they need to hear/learn is “Just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t mean it’s mine to take and put in my project.”

Yes, education does have some latitude with copyright (Fair Use), especially if something is only being used within the walls of the classroom. Our ability to break through those walls by posting our projects to a potential world wide audience is putting us into a whole new grey area. Since bad habits are hard to break, I’d rather start the students in the right direction with their responsibilities in a digital world.

So if you come to the computer lab and ask me to help your students put an online image onto a project, I am going to show them how to use the Advanced Search of Google. (There also is an Advanced Image Search, but it’s not a link from the home page of Google, and I like them to know that they always can get where they need to go from the home page.)

On the Google home page, in the lower right hand corner, there is a Settings link. When you click on it, this is what you see:

When you choose Advanced Search, you are taken to a page that lets you set all kinds of parameters. (If you’ve never seen all of the parameters, you will want to do some exploring here!) As far as finding images that we can use, the Usage Rights filter needs to be selected. For most student projects, “free to use or share” is sufficient. See below:

Normally, when you do a Google Image Search, the images are not filtered by license. Unfortunately, that means that the vast majority of the images in the results probably are not permissible to use. This is a very hard concept to grasp at any age because as we all know, it’s so easy to drag/drop or copy/paste. By using the filter, we are taking a step in the right direction of finding images that are “OK” for us to use in projects.

Of course, I wish it all ended here… and it really was this simple.

You still should do your due diligence and make sure that the images are truly “free to use or share”. Google claims that it doesn’t check the licenses on images and can not be held responsible. And then there’s the whole need for a citation or attribution… and what’s the right way to do that? I’m going to leave that information to be continued in a future post.

For now, let’s plant the seed for finding images that are free to use or share.

Technology can be a good avenue for producing a polished piece of work that can be displayed proudly to a large audience. Today’s tech tools can assist even the youngest student in achieving a professional and sophisticated look. Honestly, it’s never been a better time to showcase a student’s work and knowledge at the end of a unit.

I think we do a good job of designing and guiding these culminating experiences for students. What certainly helps is the ease of use of the tools. I’ve noticed that we tend to get into a traditional scenario: draft a story, then use a tool to publish that story; research a topic, then make a technology aided project sharing that research; etc.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe that this is a solid method for learning and a legitimate use of technology. I collaborate on a multitude of these projects that are a tremendous synthesis of student learning and lend themselves to sharing and commenting experiences beyond the classroom walls. However, this year, outfitted with iPad Minis, I also have been suggesting during consults (when it’s appropriate to the curriculum objective) that we harness technology in the moment to make student thinking visible, and this kind of tech integration is often not so polished.

I briefly have mentioned a screencasting app (ScreenChomp) in the past (post here). At the Boston iPad Summit, one versatile app that was highly recommended (and a must have if you were going to spend money) was Explain Everything. This screencasting app is very much like ScreenChomp or Educreations, but on steroids. Explain Everything does exactly what its name implies: Students can set up slides with words, pictures and videos and then record their thinking via voiceovers and pencil/pointer movements over elements. The result is a movie that shows exactly what students know (and don’t know) about any topic, and my proposal is that this tool does not have to wait to be used by a student until the end of a unit.

For example, I recently worked with a colleague, Chris Stanvick. She used Explain Everything with her fourth grade students during math (as a station) to find out what her students really knew.

Here is the teacher example that she created :

I’d like to share some feedback that I received from Mrs. Stanvick once the students were finished with their own screencasting movies. Below is her response to my follow-up question, “What worked?” It provides some background and should give you a good idea of what we wanted to accomplish and how we went about it.

‘The FDVP project was another opportunity for students in my class to work with fractions. However, this time around there was a shift in the “purpose” of the assignment/project. Rather than having the children produce a final product that was meant to be perfect for public display, the goal was to have the children illustrate and verbalize their understanding of how to change a fraction (reducing it if possible) to a decimal and to a percent. They also had to shade in on a grid of 100 squares what the fractional part represented. Students used iPad Minis to demonstrate their understanding. Each child had an opportunity to practice what he/she might draw and say prior to the recording, but there was no set script and each student had to rise to the occasion when it was time to move from one type of number to the next (fraction, decimal, visual, percent, aka FDVP.) Six or more students could record simultaneously and were left to their own devices (literally!) to complete the project. Ms. Sanderson had created a detailed direction sheet, which she had introduced to the students the day prior to the recording. Students worked efficiently and we were able to have everyone in the class record his/her explanations in a little over an hour… Ms. Sanderson circulated among the recording students to troubleshoot, but more often than not she placed the power of solving the problem back to the students by asking them if they had looked on their direction sheets, etc., (“Where on your direction sheet will it explain to you how to solve that problem or answer that question?”)’

In response to my request for “any comments or suggestions”, this was Mrs. Stanvick’s response:

‘Initially I was uncomfortable knowing that my students’ work would be recorded but not necessarily perfect. This activity made me, as an educator, realize that technology isn’t always about producing flawless work, but can be used, as well, for purposes of evaluation. Lisa created a file of my students’ projects for me to look at immediately. At first I started analyzing each one by myself and writing notes about what each student could have said or what he/she omitted, or what wasn’t quite clear, and then I realized that as the children worked on another project independently, I could call them up one at a time to view/listen to the explanations together with me. This provided each student with immediate feedback, and also gave me an opportunity to take notes so I now knew where along the process comprehension might have broken down. Often it was the case that students were misusing or omitting specific math vocabulary, not so much that they didn’t understand how to transfer from F to D to V to P! Now that each child has received 1on1 feedback I would like to repeat the procedure, giving each student a different fraction, to see if the second time around their work (explanations and drawings) is more accurate and clear.’

Mrs. Stanvick went on to thank me ‘for opening (her) eyes to using technology to evaluate student work.’ However, I want to thank and congratulate her on taking a risk and using technology in a less polished way. With a screencasting tool, we are able to get insight into student thinking and inform our instruction while we are knee deep in the learning. In my opinion, this tool is a game changer and should not be overlooked.

Are you using technology or integrating technology? There is a difference. The SAMR Model is a good way to think about the answer to this question.

I don’t want to pass judgement on practices as each level in the model (like Bloom’s Taxonomy) has its place in instruction and learning.

I think enhancement experiences are pretty much straight-forward. For example, using a math fact app on an iPad (or iPod Touch) is a substitution for the traditional paper multiplication flash cards. Maybe, there are some features in the app that allow for some augmentation, such as immediate, tailored feedback.

Transformational experiences, however, I think, are more challenging to set up for students. There are a lot more details to consider if you want to get maximum potential. Yet, I don’t think this level is out of our reach at elementary. A goal that I have with the iPad Minis is for us to move toward students using these devices for creation and sharing, not always at the end of a unit of study, but rather more of a transformational experience that modifies and possibly redefines the learning as it is taking place. I like the idea of doing things we never imagined possible as isn’t that what we are preparing our students for in this century?

I’m looking forward to discussing this further in upcoming conversations via consults or meetings.

As always, your thoughts are welcome.

A useful resource: SAMR Model: Background and Exemplars

Over the weekend, I drove by a business sign that proclaimed: Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.

Wow. That sums up the beginning of my school year with 50+ new machines and just about everyone upgraded to the latest operating system.

I fully admit that it has not been a smooth transition.

The new iMacs in the classrooms do not have CD/DVD Drives, causing massive amounts of stress. Over the last few years, a lot of curriculum resources have been purchased that require such devices. Does this now mean we will go with more online subscriptions? Presently, no. External drives have been installed, but it certainly has made us think. Do we need to change? Where should we be heading? Lots of stake holders need to be involved in these decisions.

Another example is the Everyday Math software that allows teachers to access the student resource book no longer works due to the operating system upgrade. It seems that the company is not making an upgraded software either. Again, online subscription? For the moment, teachers who project the computerized book pages will need to use their IPEVO cameras to display the pages for students on white boards. (I’m thankful that IPEVO did upgrade its software!)

And that brings me to resolution and mounted projectors. Oh, boy, who knew how much we loved the display shortcut icon at the top of our screens to turn on and off mirroring. Going in and out of System Preferences and adjusting the size of a screen seems like small stuff, but if you have a room full of elementary kids watching your every move and suddenly everything is a HUGE 800 X 600 on your screen, and it’s hard to navigate around your web browser- well, there goes the flow of that lesson! I found an app called Display Menu that will put that nice little icon back at the top of desktops, but it certainly has its learning curves with order of operation. (I’m hoping that I will have some tips for teachers this week as I continue getting used to it.)

Of course, just when you think you know something… I had a PowerPoint presentation going in the lab and presenter view was showing on the computer. I wanted to use the pen mode which requires the monitor and projected image to be the same. Apparently, in Office 2011 for Mac, that pesky mirroring option has moved, and I couldn’t fix it on the fly. Later, after Googling my exasperation, presto- I found where the new button is. I also discovered a whole new slew of options in PowerPoint. (The wheels have started to turn…)

Yes, this all might sound petty to some people, and I don’t want this post to sound like I’m complaining about our new computers (and Office 2011). I’m very grateful for the upgrade and everything that we have at our school. However, I hadn’t realized how comfortable I (we) had become. It’s made me think about how much I liked the old ways and how change can be uncomfortable, time consuming and very often just plain annoying.

For the moment there needs to be a slow moving period to keep some sanity (and cries of mutiny at bay). Yet, as last week is turning into a blur, I’m focusing more on the opportunities we have been handed. Time to start thinking of these changes as a catalyst for inspiration and, ultimately, growth.

I subscribe to a parenting website and receive weekly email alerts about developmental milestones and topics relevant to my child’s age. Recently, I read a post: Your 3 3/4-year-old: Computer Ready?

Perhaps, it’s my profession, or better yet, maybe, it’s my experiences and the topics presented during #ETMOOC that had me scratching my head and pondering some of the statements.

Here are a few quotes that really jumped off the screen at me:

‘Computers can be great learning tools, and software for preschoolers is plentiful — but this kind of play is by no means necessary at 3.’

We have so many interactive books apps for my son on our iPad. I constantly am downloading these same apps for the preschool teacher who consults with me in my district, too. Recently, we had a conversation about how a few parents in her classroom that is piloting an iPad initiative do not want their children using these devices at all. She respects their wishes; however, she feels that these students are missing out. Children love to listen to stories. Even though there are four adults in her classroom, it’s still hard to read all of the various stories that they each individual child wants in a block of time. As we know, some children also like to hear the same story over and over and over again. She finds the interactive book apps to be almost a miracle in meeting these demands. Of course, the apps can not replace the conversations and rich discussions that can take place with a good book shared with another person. Therefore, these iPad apps are a great rotating center choice that complements the other areas of the classroom such as blocks, sensory table, and dramatic play. Could this classroom function without these apps? Absolutely. However, advancing academics, such as literacy, is not the only reason to use these tools.

‘But scientists say that the best way to develop a young mind is hands-on exploration and interacting with people.’

My son Skypes almost every night with his grandmother. She reads him stories. They talk about their days. This daily interaction is an opportunity for my son to practice manners, courtesies and listening & conversational skills. He has a chance to interact with a family role model who he otherwise would only see in person a couple of hours twice a month due to distance. This type of interaction is one of the wonders of what technology can do: bring people together. I know that my son’s future will be filled with this mode of communication in both his personal and professional life. While this should not be the only way to interact with people, it certainly needs to be practiced and developed. These guided sessions with Grandma are laying a solid foundation.

‘Above all, don’t be overeager to introduce computer play. All too soon you’ll be looking for ways to actively discourage your school-ager from the addictive computer screen.’

My biggest aversion is the sense that computers are only for play. I know that children, especially preschoolers, learn through play. However, I think so many more skills beyond reading, writing and arithmetic are being acquired when a young child uses technology. It’s an occasion to guide and establish practices for safety and ethical situations. Young children learn about their worlds from watching what the adults and other people in their lives do. They mimic our behaviors. While a preschooler (or any child) most certainly should not be given free reign on computers and devices, withholding all access reminds me of friends I knew growing up who were not allowed to watch T.V. The minute they were at someone else’s house, that’s all the friends wanted to do. Teaching moderation and self-control is a better alternative. I also want my son to know that there is a balance in this age of technology. We always can be plugged in and connected. Yet, we need to know when face-to-face may be the better option.

It used to be that our families and small communities where we grew up were the only influences that shaped our adult lives. Today, family and community still are primary influences, but not the only ones due to the accessibility of the world through electronic devices. If Mom and Dad do not know or give a satisfactory answer, a child can take the matter into his/her own hands via a Google or YouTube search. That is very powerful and scary at the same time since the volume of information available can be astounding and overwhelming at the same time. The Internet used to be “read only” for most. Only a select few controlled the content available. Now, we all can be contributors. In preparation for this, I want to seize the opportunity now at a young age to model and discuss good digital citizenship before issues arise. Be proactive.

Therefore, a take away from #ETMOOC for me is that a preschooler needs to start becoming aware of his rights as well as the responsibilities that come with this citizenship, and I am the first teacher of this topic in the curriculum of life.