Technology Enhanced Learning http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:36:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Drive to Read Program in Amman, Jordan http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/05/drivetoreadjordan/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/05/drivetoreadjordan/#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 17:39:06 +0000 Sue http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/?p=216 Continue reading →]]>

DTR Program - Book Mobile Activity Area Setup

I’ve started a working with the Drive To Read (DTR) program organized by AED in conjunction with USAid, Ministry of Culture and the Greater Amman Municipality.  DTR uses a mobile book library as its base when it sets up in 4 different parks within Amman and Zarqa.  Where I work there are two shifts of the program servicing an eager, rambunctious group of youngsters between the ages of 6 and 12 years.

As stated on the AED website, http://www.theaedhub.org/archives/497 , the goals of the Drive to Read Program are to build a “reading culture” among young people between the ages of six and 12 years old. Another website about the program says that it supplements and reinforces learning in the formal education system for those children attending school, and offer basic learning opportunities for children outside of the system (http://gec.aed.org/asia/drivetoread.htm).

Main Activity Area - DTR

The parents from the two parks in which I am participating have specifically inquired about the possibility of having a ‘native’ English speaker work with the children so I am keen to be meeting an expressed need! The DTR staff organizes a theme for each month and then plans active ways for the children to learn about that theme – May’s theme is Citizenship.  I decided the English activities I would do would try to dovetail with what the staff were already planning.

Introducing.... Video and Script Writing Activity

In one park, I worked with a small cluster of children pulled from the entire group for about 15 to 20 minutes and then they went back with the group.  In the other park, we tried a larger group for the entire program (45 minutes or so).  Both methods seemed to work okay – with the smaller groups, the learning was more intimate and we worked a little bit more with the technology (digital cameras & personalized ‘orange’ boards) while with the larger group, the learning was more general with more group singing games, such as head & shoulders and “Flag” hokey pokey. In the photo to the left, the older children have written a short script to introduce each other and now we are videoing them.

One of my ideas was to do a read aloud with each grouping.  Since I want to make sure I choose culturally appropriate books and also ones fitting the monthly theme, my current favourite, “The Sandwich Swap” written by Queen Rani and Kelly Dipuccio, fit both criteria.  When I noticed waning interest or confusion in the eyes of my little reading buddies, I had to alter the text ‘on the fly’ – not an easy feat I discovered! In the future I am going to look for very visual books with short sentences on each page.  “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak would be one that fits the bill.

]]> http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/05/drivetoreadjordan/feed/ 0 Virtual Read Alouds – #WRAD & “Read With Me” http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/04/virtual-read-alouds_winter_2011/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/04/virtual-read-alouds_winter_2011/#comments Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:34:03 +0000 Sue http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/?p=237 Continue reading →]]> This winter, while stationed in Amman, Jordan, I’ve had the opportunity to share a few read-alouds that did not have the typical story-time set up.  They were virtual read-alouds done over the internet using my Elluminate vroom provided by LearnCentral. I was able to connect with classes in Ontario, Canada, Washington, Iowa, Florida and North Carolina. It worked like a charm…well, almost!

Get Adobe Flash player

 For both World Read Aloud Day and Read With Me, there were calls put out on twitter looking for read-aloud classroom hook-ups. I don’t have a classroom right now but being keen to participate, I answered!  Most of the people I connected wanted to use skype but since I wanted to show the book images while I read the story, I felt Elluminate was a better option. (At the time, I hadn’t used the desktop sharing function of Skype – hopefully, I’ll get to test this option out soon!).  Like a real real-aloud, I also wanted to stop on certain pages and talk about the image or what’s going on in the story.  The whiteboard tools provided great support in circling, pointing and highlighting… actually, I thought it was kind of neat that I could write on the book and not worry about defacing it for ever!  I prepared the slides and then all that was needed was the classroom connections on the read-aloud days (for WRAD, I provided a sign-up sheet ahead of time on google docs: http://bit.ly/f7DZuw ).

The book I decided to read was “The Sandwich Swap”   .  I chose this book for several reasons.  For one, I was already quite familiar it with it since we had used it in the Lunchbox Project http://lunchboxproject.wikispaces.com/  .  Secondly, it was written by Queen Rania of Jordan and Kelly Dipuccio so there was a strong connection to Jordan, I could talk about. Thirdly, the images in the book are absolutely beautifully drawn by Tricia Tusa! Lastly, the story line involves being tolerant about other cultures. Don’t you think it’s a perfect fit for a Global Read-Aloud?

Get Adobe Flash player Here are the slides (with a bit of commentary) for both read-alouds…they just changed a bit depending upon who the audience was. Although I showed full images of the book pages during the read aloud, from a copy-right standpoint, I don’t feel I should share them here – but I do want to provide some background on the set up so I came up with the compromise, you see to the left.

Most of the people I connected with were relatively new to Elluminate being used this way.  Some of the teachers had been involved in webinars so they at least had seen the interface before.  At the very beginning of the session, I turned on the camera so that the students could see there was a real, live, breathing, waving person at the other end of the connection.  I also got some live-video back of the group I was about to read to.

I had a lot of fun reading through the book but I liked most of all connecting with the students.  In one class, they had many questions for me –about the Islamic community in which I am currently living, being Canadian and also working in a foreign place.  It was great at the end of the read-aloud to field so many questions!

The only part that was a little difficult was not being able to keep ‘an open microphone’ on the audience.  I believe all the classrooms were using the on-board microphone and not a head set so if I left their microphone on while I read, I got really bad feed back and could hear a delay of myself reading.  It was really confusing for me!  I think this is one definite advantage to using skype for these read-alouds.  The way the skype audio is engineered, does not have such awful feedback and echo when both sides have their audio, open.  So, in the Elluminate set up, with the classroom’s mic turned off, I felt more alone as I was reading and especially when I asked a question – I couldn’t hear the spontaneous replies from the students.  Luckily, the teachers got very used to relaying the answers to me in ‘walkie-talkie’ fashion.

The read-alouds lasted no longer than 30 minutes.  One group from Florida, had a fire alarm practice in the middle of their session, so I think they only got 15 minutes or so!  I had two groups signed up in one session which was pretty neat too – one class from the state of Washington and the other from Iowa.

Recently, I sent out an email asking for feedback from the teachers who had participated in my read-alouds.  I wondered what they thought of the Elluminate platform vs. using skype, Did they have any suggestions re: technique for me? Etc.  Here is a quote from each email:

We had a great time listening and participating as best as possible through your reading.  Our students came away with a smaller understanding of the world and truly enjoyed the book.  Our teachers had them do a reflective writing after hearing the story where students wrote about the beginning, middle and end of the story.  They even drew pictures of their favorite part of the book.  2 of the 3 teachers went out and bought the book (the other one already had it).  All in all it was an amazing experience for the students and teachers.

As I think about the advantages and disadvantages of Skype and Elluminate I find myself thinking about purpose.  Our school participated in a couple other read alouds that day through Skype.  From my perspective, the purpose of the Skype sessions were more about the sharing of a book and being able to see each other.  It did provide for more of a free flow conversation and students got the opportunity to see each other in their classes.  From my perspective the purpose of the Elluminate session was to have a rich learning experience.  Elluminate allowed the opportunity for students to interact with the text as you shared the book through the slide show.  Students had the opportunity to (with my help) to draw on the screen etc.  They also had the opportunity to learn about Jordan through the photos you shared.
Scott Friedman, Principal, Nine Mile School, Washington (Twitter: @irishscott)

The funny thing that happened with Scott’s group is that I usually do a little talk about the only dark page in the book, the principal’s office.  At the time, I didn’t realize Scott was the principal of Nine Mile School!

The Read With Me project had two main goals: 1) to expose students to students/ people in other areas; 2) to tie in to Read Across America Day.  The northeastern corner of NC is beautiful, but very rural.  We’re at least an hour and a half from a medium-sized city in any direction. Before and after the session, we show the students where the caller is from.  We “fly” into the area to take a look or walk around their location using Google Maps.  After the call we talk about similarities and differences of their location, accent, etc. – trying to build global awareness.

As for the tool that was used, Skype has become a more “popular” tool for educators to use in recent years.  It’s simple to use and requires little to no training.  That’s the main reason I chose it.  The recent education section that Skype has added was of benefit as well.   To be honest, it had never crossed my mind to take advantage of Elluminate’s free Vroom.

Elluminate did a much better job of allowing the listeners to see the text that was being read as well as watch the presenter.  We were able to interact a bit more with the text using Elluminate.  The main thing the students really did enjoy about Skype was seeing the readers appear larger than life on the screen.  We did have an issue with your room not being able to go through our Internet filter.  I’m not sure why, since we’ve participated in Elluminate sessions before.  But some school districts block Skype for security reasons, so I guess it’s a “whatever works” type of situation.

We did have a few issues with Skype.  Low quality cameras, incorrect microphone settings and poor internet connections also plagued some of our calls.  I’m not sure if it would have been any better with Elluminate – especially those that had poor connectivity on the other end.
Cindy Phstic, Instructional Technologist, Edenton-Chowan Schools, North Carolina

I think anytime, you can get a classroom connecting with others around the world, good things will happen.  When I think about the students I connected with on both the read-aloud days, they had probably only heard about Jordan on the news, in stories that talked negative issues.  Reading a book together, across so many miles, gave us an opportunity to learn a little bit more about normal life in a distant land.

I want to thank both Scott Friedman and Cindy Phthisic for the information they supplied in their emails.  I’d also like to thank again, all the classes that have allowed me to come into their schools from Jordan.  I hope to be doing more virtual classroom connections in the future.

]]> http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/04/virtual-read-alouds_winter_2011/feed/ 0 Virtual Literacy Initiative – Connections Wanted http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/01/virtual-literacy-initiative/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/01/virtual-literacy-initiative/#comments Fri, 14 Jan 2011 02:06:17 +0000 Sue http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/?p=199 Continue reading →]]> I’ve just finished one contract and although there’s another on the horizon, right now I’m technically ‘between contracts’.  This situation doesn’t work for some, but for me, right now, it’s a rare moment to grab tight and exploit!  I feel lucky to have time to pursue a few projects and subjects that have been on my mind for a while.

One idea I want to explore is providing support ‘virtually’ for students struggling with literacy issues.  This is an extension of an idea I had back in November after participating in the Global Education Conference.  In the post “Virtual Literacy Intervention” I explore the techniques used by one online tutor and why providing support ‘virtually’ has potential to be a transformative use of technology for education.

Some rights reserved by CoCreatr(FlickrID)

Now I want to take the idea forward, in a more formal way. I’m curious about the logistics necessary to provide an online intervention solution in a typical classroom as well as breadth of possibilities for assisting students.  I’d prefer to do an ‘action research’ project so the planned activities have a well thought out and scripted beginning, middle and end.  The key will be finding a teacher (and/or perhaps a principal) who is interested in seeking answers about the potential for virtual supports through an action research project.

Although, the specifics of the action research project will be designed with the teacher (and/or principal), there are still some basic administrative requirements for getting involved in such a project:

  1. The school needs a reliable internet connection with consistent bandwidth (at least 56k)
  2. The teacher/principal will need to set aside weekly time to organize, monitor, assess, and analyse the project as it unfolds (at least 30 minutes/week).
  3. The designated students in the study need to be able to access a computer with internet, headphones, and microphone.  Ideally, this computer will be in a space that is somewhat private yet monitored by adults such as a library, special education room, etc.

So, are you interested in the learning options provided by a Virtual Literacy Initiative or do you know someone who might be?  Let’s connect!

Virtual Literacy Initiative

I’ve just finished one contract with another on the horizon which means, technically, I’m ‘between contracts’ which doesn’t really work for some but for me, it’s a rare moment to be grabbed tight and exploit! I feel lucky to have some time to pursue a few projects and subjects that have been on my mind for some time.

One idea I want to explore is providing support ‘virtually’ for students struggling with literacy issues. This is an extension of an idea I had back in November after participating in the Global Education Conference. In the post “Virtual Literacy Intervention” I explore the techniques used by one online tutor and why providing support ‘virtually’ has potential to be a transformative use of technology for education.

Now I want to take the idea forward, in a more formal way. I’m curious about the logistics necessary to provide an online intervention solution in a typical classroom as well as breadth of possibilities for assisting students. I’d prefer to do an ‘action research’ project so the planned activities have a well thought out and scripted beginning, middle and end. The key will be finding a teacher (and/or perhaps a principal) who is interested in seeking answers about the potential for virtual supports through an action research project.

Although, the specifics of the action research project will be designed with the teacher (and/or principal), there are still some basic administrative requirements for getting involved in such a project:

1) The school needs a reliable internet connection with consistent bandwidth (at least 56k)

2) The teacher/principal will need to set aside some weekly time to organize, monitor, assess, and analyse the project as it unfolds (at least 30 minutes/week).

3) There must be space for the designated students in the study to gain to a computer with internet, headphones, and microphone. Ideally, this computer will be in a space that is somewhat private access yet monitored by adults – a library, special education room, etc.

So, are you interested in the learning options provided by a Virtual Literacy Initiative or do you know someone who might be? Let’s connect!

]]> http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/01/virtual-literacy-initiative/feed/ 0 Diigo Roundup (weekly) http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/01/diigo-roundup-weekly-3/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/01/diigo-roundup-weekly-3/#comments Sun, 02 Jan 2011 01:30:36 +0000 Sue http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/01/diigo-roundup-weekly-3/ Continue reading →]]> How to Make an Interactive Lesson Using Youtube « Knewton Blog
tags: youtube interactive digitalstorytelling

iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Corkboard: Classroom Collaboration
tags: collaborate stickynote

FoldingStory | The Group Storytelling Game
tags: collaboration storytelling foldingstory DigitalStorytelling ELA

Readers’ Theater | Literacy Connections
tags: readerstheatre

Claymation with PowerPoint!
tags: digitalstorytelling claymation

technology4kids [licensed for non-commercial use only] / DigitalStorytelling
tags: digitalstorytelling

Assessing Reading Fluency
tags: fluency literacy reading

How to Customize YouTube Embedded Player – Hacks, Tricks & Tips
tags: youtube customize

Super Teacher Tools
tags: tools educationalgames

Dabbleboard – Online whiteboard for drawing & team collaboration – Interactive whiteboard software
tags: webconferencing Web2.0 whiteboard collaboration onlinewhiteboard

Authorama – Public Domain Books
tags: literature ebooks library onlinebooks

Online Libraries – 25 Places to Read Free Books Online
tags: library ebooks

EchucaELearning – E Books
tags: ebooks

Free e-Learning | MinuteBio
tags: e-learning free instructionaldesign

Why Teachers Should ‘Friend’ Students Online – Murry’s World
tags: facebook internetsafety cybersafety onlinesafety teachers

Breaking News English Lessons: ESL Plans Teaching Current Events
tags: esl english lessons

Quick guide: Low-cost computing devices and initiatives for the developing world | infoDev.org
tags: lchtil

PopTech : Popcasts : Derek Lomas: Open Source Games
tags: poptech lchtil playpower opensourcegames

Yoza Cellphone Stories
tags: cellphone m4lit mnovel

Books « School libraries in South Africa
tags: ebook

The Story Home™ Children’s Audio Stories | FREE Podcast Stories for Kids and Family, Original and Classic Fairy Tales
tags: ebook audiobooks

Print Article
tags: mlearning mnovel m4lit

Letter from Japan: I ♥ Novels : The New Yorker
tags: mlearning novels

Molenet – Home
tags: mlearning e-learning mobile mobile_learning

Steve Vosloo
tags: mlearning

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

]]> http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2011/01/diigo-roundup-weekly-3/feed/ 0 Diigo Roundup (weekly) http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/diigo-roundup-weekly-2/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/diigo-roundup-weekly-2/#comments Sun, 26 Dec 2010 01:30:38 +0000 Sue http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/diigo-roundup-weekly-2/ Continue reading →]]>

  • “The Sandwich Swap” by Her Majesty Queen Rania |
    tags: lbp

  • Story Power in Presentations | Neuromarketing
    tags: storytelling

  • Visual Literacy: Teaching Film in the English Classroom – Associated Content from Yahoo! – associatedcontent.com
    tags: medialiteracy moviereview

  • Teaching for Visual Literacy: 50 Great Young Adult Films
    tags: medialiteracy moviereview

  • LAB MOVIE REVIEW SITE, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
    tags: moviereview templates medialiteracy

  • week3-spr09 – Powerful Ingredients for Blended Learning
    tags: digital_storytelling

  • Stickman Angles- Drawing Stickmen and Measuring the Angles- Measure
    tags: stickman mathematics

  • If we don’t, remember me.
    tags:     animations DigitalStorytelling

  • Top 5 Logo Redesigns Of 2010
    tags: designs

  • Doing it Differently: Tips for Teaching Vocabulary | Edutopia
    tags: vocabulary

  • Limits of ICT in education – Views – livemint.com
    tags: ICT4E

  • Notes From McTeach: A Little Low Tech
    tags: spelling literacy

  • WALLS 360: (Free!) Tangrams For Teachers | WALLS 360 BLOG
    tags: tangrams mathematics

  • Enjoy and Embrace Learning: August 10 for 10: Picture Book Event Round Up
    tags: picturebooks reading

  • Eldis – Job websites and consultants
    tags: international

  • Cyberchase . Games . Tangrams | PBS Kids
    tags: tangrams math geometry Games interactive

  • Techie-Tech-Tools-4-Educators – home
    tags: tools education technology wiki

  • Between the Lions . Arty’s Smarty Doors | PBS KIDS!
    tags: reading phonics kindergarten literacy alphabet strugglingreaders

    • Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

    ]]>     http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/diigo-roundup-weekly-2/feed/ 0     Diigo Roundup (weekly) http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/diigo-roundup-weekly/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/diigo-roundup-weekly/#comments Sun, 19 Dec 2010 01:30:47 +0000 Sue http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/diigo-roundup-weekly/ Continue reading →]]> Revisit
    tags: Twitter visualization tool conference

    Discovery Education: Web 2.0 Tools
    tags: web2.0 webapps

    Rush, Little Baby – The Boston Globe
    tags:     medialiteracy ece primary

    10 Podcasts for Teachers and Kids | Scholastic.com
    tags:     podcasts studentpodcast

    When’s the Best Time to Publish Blog Posts?
    tags:     twitter Blogging

    eduMedia | Interactive animations and simulations for science teaching and learning
    tags:     simulations Science learningobject

    Every Teacher’s Must-Have Guide To Facebook | Edudemic
    tags:     facebook

    19 Word Cloud Resources, Tips, & Tools | Teacher Reboot Camp
    tags:     wordcloud ELA

    Cooperative Learning: Effective Team Work! 20+ Resources | Teacher Reboot Camp
    tags:     cooperativeEducation collaboration

    Toward the Making of the Modern | Paris The Luminous Years | PBS Video
    tags:     art literature paris history media

    Education – explore – cultural and educational films and photos
    tags:     educationalvideos

    Digital Media and Learning Competition
    tags:     learninglab competition

    The Socratic Method
    tags:     socratic pedagogy math method instructionalmethods

    Digital Self-Harm and Other Acts of Self-Harassment | DMLcentral
    tags:     medialiteracy

    ViewInside – Approaches to Media Literacy

    YouTube – Filmography 2010
    tags:     mashup medialiteracy

    Timmmmyboy » Blog Archive » Rise of the Mashup
    tags:     mashup medialiteracy

    The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…
    tags:     twitter WEB2.0 howto ferlazzo

    Pawned. Gamification and Its Discontents
    tags:     educationalgames games learning

    YouTube – Games for Learning – Taking fun seriously
    tags:     educationalgames games learning

    Making Books and Creating Stories
    tags:     makingmedia

    GenieBooks in PowerPoint
    tags:     powerpoint geniebooks pptbooks

    100 Incredibly Useful YouTube Channels for Teachers | Online College Courses
    tags:     educationalvideos YouTube Channels

    Let’s Book It with Tech’Knowledge’y – Making Books – Vicki Blackwell’s Internet Guide for Educators
    tags:     flipbook making books literacy ELA reading create

    ttactechtuesday / FrontPage
    tags:     techtuesday

    District Literacy Plan
    tags:     literacy ELA

    Bookstore – A Story Before Bed
    tags:     ELA reading onlinebooks ebooks

    Beginning Reading Help: Reading Resources to Share
    tags:     reading resources ELA

    Reading Rockets: Picture This! Using Mental Imagery While Reading
    tags:     readalouds visualization visualliteracy

    The problem of the read-aloud – readerswithautism.com
    tags:     readalouds

    Reading Rockets: Vocabulary Development During Read-Alouds: Primary Practices
    tags:     reading readalouds

    Reading Rockets: Building World Knowledge: Motivating Children to Read and Enjoy Informational Text
    tags:     reading remedialreading strugglingreaders

    Youth Rights Media
    tags:     medialiteracy media youth

    The Bechdel Test: Movie List [aka Bechdel-Wallace, Mo Movie Measure]
    tags:     gender movies medialiteracy stereotyping bechdel

    How can you tell when women have significant roles in movies? | Living in a Media World
    tags:     gender movies medialiteracy stereotyping

    50 Must-Have Educational Apps | Edudemic
    tags:     apps Educationalsoftware

    ocdsbdigitalstorytelling – Digital Storytelling
    tags:     DigitalStorytelling

    Start building a jeopardy template
    tags:     jeopardy template tools quiz

    YouTube – Twist of Fate (A Teresa Phung’s Film)
    tags:     youtube studentproducer medialiteracy

    Home Page : SEN Teacher ~ Free teaching resources for Special Needs.
    tags: resources printables freeware

    Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

    ]]>     http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/diigo-roundup-weekly/feed/ 0     Low Cost – High Impact Technologies for Education http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/low-cost-high-impact-technologies/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/low-cost-high-impact-technologies/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:56:55 +0000 Sue http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/?p=148 Continue reading →]]> In an age when educational technology usually means Interactive White Boards (IWB’s) in the classroom, I am always on the search for low cost, accessible technologies that will make a great impact in the schools I like to deal with – those having limited internet, few computers and usually moving from a “teach to the test” instructional approach to one that is more inclusive and student-centric.

    For sometime now, I’ve been following two projects (OMPT and FrontlineSMS) that have the potential to impact large numbers of resource challenged classrooms in the world.  These are the types of projects I like to share when I’m working on International Educational Technology Contracts so if you know of others, please share in the comments!

    One Media Player Per Teacher (OMPT)

    Those who have worked alongside me have probably heard me explain that in some places, even One Laptop Per Child is not a viable solution so we’ve seen One Laptop Per Teacher and this project, One Media Player Per Teacher (In Sri Lanka, we even suggested the OTPT project – One Thumbdrive per Teacher!).  Started by Matt York, the CEO of Videomaker magazine, the OMPT project is now in its 4th year of building “the capacity of teachers in the most under-served places on earth with the innovative use of specialized, portable, audiovisual devices to deliver educational content“. OMPT is involved in Zambia, Somalia, Tanzania, South Africa, Bangledash, India, Mali, Ghana, Afghanistan, Haiti and Southern Sudan – read about the work here. On the organization’s website it states:

    One Media Player per Teacher (OMPT) is equipping teachers in remote areas with the powerful technology of portable media players (PMPs). This allows village educators to give their students enhanced learning via recorded voices and lessons from the most proficient teachers in their nation.

    Now, I can imagine many educators are gob-smacked by this statement and probably thinking, “Oh, no! We’re going backward to a passive ‘lecture-mode’ of teaching”.  Hang-on!  Two quick thoughts: “Contextual solutions” and the “Fisch Flip” ( see video lectures and the 21st Century)

    Contextual Solutions

    Resource Challenged Classrooms

    I like to think of this as the “Walk a mile in another’s Shoes” approach -  ‘exporting our solutions to address problems we don’t fully understand’, is an ever present caution in international development work. To get an idea of the types of classrooms this project and many others like it are dealing with, check out this Flickr Group.  Large numbers in each class, often under-qualified yet keen teachers, inadequate learning materials, limited resources in local languages – the list goes on.  OMPT is offering a contextualized solution by dealing with NGO’s that are already on the ground, working with impoverished communities.  It’s clear, when you look at the photos in the unconnected classrooms photo group, that Interactive Whiteboards or even computer labs could be a long time coming to those students.  With its low entry cost and the possibilities of readily available content, OMPT offers an excellent choice from the contextualized educational solutions smorgasbord.

    Fisch-Flip

    Also known as Reverse Instruction, Flipped thinking and although Karl Fisch explains he’s not the first one to do it, the name will probably stick – What is the Fisch-Flip?  It’s basically identifying the ‘lecture’ as homework and saving the theory application and practice for the classroom.  The idea being that if a concept is practiced ‘wrong’ over and again – which is possible in a homework setting, then there is more damage done then good. The Fisch-Flip, to me, recognizes that sometimes content needs to be presented in a rich, impactful yet compact mode – think of a Discovery Channel program on whales or any one of the Khan Academy lectures – The Discovery Channel has the means and money to provide such information much better than a teacher.  So, what is the teacher needed for? The application of the knowledge! – asking ‘good questions’ ,the design of learning activities for the students to apply the content in an authentic and meaningful way and the requisite follow-ups…has the student learned?

    The OMPT project does the Fisch Flip to a certain degree. High-quality teaching and localized instructional materials are difficult to come by in many of the classrooms that the OMPT project is destined for.  OMPT addresses these by liaising  between product designers, manufacturers, practitioners and NGOs.  The students get high quality content provided by a masterful teacher or professionals – the teachers are freed up to focus on the ‘essence’ of teaching – questions, discussion, interactions, assessment for learning (well, that’s the theory).

    In some of the OMPT projects, teachers are being taught how to produce A/V materials.  In a project I worked in Sri Lanka, we approached the dirth of quality teaching resources from an “Adopt, Adapt, Create” angle and taught many at the National Institute of Education how to find resources on the internet which they could then use in the classroom without any changes necessary (Adopt), or with slight adaptations such as adding a local language track (Adapt). To focus on “create” or “teacher as producer” is an empowering, motivating route to take, albeit slow. The OMPT project makes so much sense because in order to use many of these Adopted/Adapted resources, computers aren’t necessary, just a media player and really effective teachers who can “focus on approaches to teaching that endure through change in technologies, content or pedagogies” (Kereluik, Mishra, Koehler 2011, p.17) Speaking of which, when the OMPT is part of a teacher-training project, then the Fisch-Flip as discussed above is totally possible!

    Frontline SMS

    An introduction to FrontlineSMS from Laura Hudson on Vimeo.

    From the website: By leveraging basic tools already available to most NGOs — computers and mobile phones — FrontlineSMS enables instantaneous two-way communication on a large scale. FrontlineSMS has been applied in many educational settings such as an EcoCare project in Male where parents are kept up to date about their children’s activities/safety while on a week long field trip on the Baa Atoll, in Northeast Nambia where FLSMS was used to communicate between teachers, principals, and the regional education office, and in countless community health education projects.

    This year, FrontlineSMS has embarked on FrontlineSMS:Learn – The world is your classroom:

    FrontlineSMS:Learn leverages ubiquitous mobile technology—SMS or “text messaging”—to support and strengthen education and training initiatives and human capacity development and make learning opportunities available anytime and anywhere.

    I like FrontlineSMS because they have kept things simple – despite great advancements in the mobile phone market, they are focusing on the simple act of TEXTing and doing it well.

    For me, technology is the change-agent from which other classroom pedagogical improvements can occur. It doesn’t have to be technology, I’ve just made the big “T” my ‘tool’, others might use “learning circles“, lesson study, action research, etc. and none are exclusive of the other.  My chosen tool (not unlike the others listed) is expensive, not pervasive and usually foreign to the many unconnected classrooms I deal with.  Often, it is poorly deployed in needy areas. Since I’m interested more in supporting a teacher’s desire to facilitate the best student learning, the actual ‘technology’ I chose doesn’t really matter – it’s merely the conduit for better learning.  However, in order to motivate the teachers (and administrators) I prefer to ensure the selected technology is ‘within grasp’ (financially, & TPACK-wise, etc) if not already in-hand!  Admittedly, this approach is difficult when the “Interactive Whiteboard” is often seen as “THE” technology solution to education’s woes.

    ]]>     http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/low-cost-high-impact-technologies/feed/ 0     Diigo Roundup (weekly) http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/weekly-diigo-roundup-weekly/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/weekly-diigo-roundup-weekly/#comments Sun, 12 Dec 2010 01:30:49 +0000 Sue http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/weekly-diigo-roundup-weekly/ Continue reading →]]>

    Free Audio Book – Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter

    tags: audio ebook audiobooks librovox

    HootCourse Blog – Official blog for HootCourse and #hoot101

    tags: blog hootcourse

    School AUP 2.0 | Main / HomePage browse

    tags: aup internetsafety Policies

    Graphic Organizers

    tags: graphicorganizers templates tools mindmap

    LACMA: Families and Children in American Art

    tags: interactive art learninginteractives ArtEdventures

    Breakthroughs

    tags: reading lessonplans preservice

    freesound :: home page

    tags: audio sound freesound creativecommons opensource samples

    Articulation Worksheets

    tags: articulation worksheets specialeducation speech

    Eight Great Interactive Sites that let you Paint like a Famous Artist

    tags: interactive painting artist ArtEdventures learninginteractives

    NDDS for Residents of Ontario, Canada

    tags: ndds specialeducation screens

    Cakeapult – Care2 eCards, Free Online Animated Greeting Cards

    tags: ecards care2

    Let’s Play! 20+ Sites for Young Learners | Teacher Reboot Camp

    tags: kindergarten PJ younglearners

    technology4kids [licensed for non-commercial use only] / Drama

    tags: drama ESL ELA

    To Text or Not to Text: Even Young People Don’t Know the Answer

    tags: medialiteracy texting

    Podcasting in Education

    tags: podcasting

    100 Seriously Cool Classroom Blogs for Teaching Ideas & Inspiration | Online Classes

    tags: Blogging classroomblogs

    dtruss’s studentteacher Bookmarks on Delicious

    tags: studentteacher preservice

    Internet4Classrooms – Helping Students, Teachers and Parents Use the Internet Effectively

    tags: curriculum technology edtech onlinetools online_games

    50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Education

    tags: twitter education socialnetworking Web2.0

    Cory Roush (coryroush) on Twitter

    tags: preservice

    FFFFOUND!

    tags: image bookmarking inspiration community

    Splicd 00:40 to 00:49 · the doors movie trailer 1

    tags: youtube medialiteracytool

    Books, Stories, Writing Contests and Publishing for Kids | KidPub Press

    tags: writing publishing DigitalStorytelling kids ela

    The theft of a snowman – lesson plan — www.mikejharrison.com

    tags: medialiteracy POV roleplay

    A Beginner’s Guide To Edublogging | Burcu Akyol’s Blog

    tags: Blogging guide

    TumbleBooks – eBooks for eKids!

    tags: reading ebooks literacy readingtutor

    YouTube – WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM by Steven Johnson

    tags: creativity youtube innovation animation

    » Our online interactive session with a REAL reporter Heathfield’s Year 6 Blog

    tags: medialiteracy reporting globalclassroom

    IS Parade

    tags: twitter parade visualization twittertools

    All You Need To Know About Good Headline Creation That Work

    tags: medialiteracy media newspaper

    Googling for Social Studies – ECOO2010 by Lynda Kilpatrick on Prezi

    tags: googling prezi socialstudies

    4 Effective Tools for Monitoring Your Child’s Online Safety

    tags: onlinesafety

    experiment

    tags: digitalstorytelling

    IEAR – I Education Apps Review – Grassroots Education Community – A Community Effort to Grade “Educational Apps”.

    tags: ipod itouch apps pln

    Twitter in the Classroom? « Lisa Rampton Halverson

    tags: twitter socialmedia classroom2.0

    Post-it Note Stories

    tags: digitalstorytelling

    Download Online Videos direct to PC, iPod, PSP, iPhone, Mobile etc.

    tags: conversion youtube

    Kindergarten Language Arts Skill Builders – Reading Simple Sentences

    tags: language kindergarten literacy

    Digital Storytelling and Literacy Resources for Kids

    tags: digitalstorytelling

    Animoto by Donna Baumbach | Qrait

    tags: animoto cloudcomputing

    Search Stories in the Classroom – Digital Story Telling | PIPEDREAMS

    tags: digitalstorytelling searchstories

    ComicStripCreator.org

    tags: medialiteracy comics generator

    Kerpoof Studio

    tags: digitalstorytelling learninginteractive

    [gigya width="650" height="880" src=... « Sioux-Hudson Literacy Council

    tags: glogster

    Drape’s Takes: The Educator’s Guide to the Creative Commons

    tags: creativecommons

    Composers Find New Playgrounds In Video Games : The Record : NPR

    tags: medialiteracy music gamedesign composers

    Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

    ]]>     http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/weekly-diigo-roundup-weekly/feed/ 0     Virtual Literacy Intervention http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/virtual-literacy-intervention/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/virtual-literacy-intervention/#comments Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:08:05 +0000 Sue http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/?p=116 Continue reading →]]> The Global Education Conference 2010 is now two weeks behind us but with the 400 1 hour sessions archived on their site, the conference has the potential to easily continue throughout the entire year! I was involved in the conference as a moderator and participant but now I’m enjoying mining the site for topics of interest – you can too, the archived webinars are online.

    In one of the webinars I discovered the skyping tutor.  A little digging on google and her YouTube Channel gave me a good idea about the techniques she was using:

    There were two other Skyping Tutor videos I viewed intently: Personalized Sight Word Practice & The ‘at’ Word Family.  As you can see from the videos, the “skyping tutor” name is a bit of a misnomer since the techniques used go beyond skype where little more than a talking head from a webcam can be seen.  To do the tutoring effective, there needs to be access to a screen sharing/webinar such as: yugma that works in parallel with skype (or forget skype and use webinar software that includes an audio option – see below).

    To think deeper about online tutoring, I’d like to first share this slide from Bernajean Porter’s, webinar (session archive) at the “Leading our way forward event” from the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortia .

    Literacy / Adapting / Transforming

    Literacy / Adapting / Transforming - Bernajean Porter

    When technology is added to an educational activity, Bernajean urges that we see, in the least, an adaptive application that alters the way the learning takes place but ideally we should make the technology transform the learning so that something new occurs.

    After seeing the Skyping tutor’s use of technology to provide reading interventions, I’d say the use of technology hovers mostly around an adaptation but there are a few glimpses of the transformative nature of the techniques shown.  Let me explain.   In the first video, the Skyping Tutor has switched an actual book for one that is shown on the computer…this is an adaptation – a traditional book has been replaced by the computer.  What is gained by doing this?  Two things I can think of right away are:

    • A tutor could have an enormous number of books available without needing the physical space to store them.
    • A child who has a visual impairment can be accommodated easily by enlarging the text on the screen.

    The online nature of the interaction is not transformative, at least from a learning standpoint, but perhaps from an administrative angle, it is transformative!  Many schools ‘share’ Specialists. Think about the time lost in transportation and set up when a specialist must move from school to school.  Now consider what happens when it is just the child who must move…more focused learning time!  The specialist can work around the best times for the child and the classroom teacher rather than the Specialist’s booked time in the school.

    There are other ways, a virtual literacy support programme could aid student learning strategies in a school. The Ontario Ministry of Education provides the following characteristics for successful interventions:

    No one intervention works for all children with reading difficulties. However, interventions that succeed for many children have several characteristics in common. Typically they involve more instructional time for children, but extra time is not enough. Other characteristics include:

    • carefully planned assessments that allow for continual monitoring of the child’s response and lead to modifications of the intervention when indicated
    • teaching methods that are supported by research on how children learn to read and how they should be taught
    • considerable attention to the materials used (e.g., predictable, patterned, easy-to-more-difficult texts), with a focus on interesting and enjoyable texts at appropriate reading levels
    • an array of activities (e.g., word study, reading, rereading, and writing)

    Successful interventions generally occur on a daily basis and may occur in focused, short blocks of time, or in longer blocks, with appropriate accommodations in classroom instruction.

    A virtual literacy support programme helps to meet the Ministry’s criteria by providing additional instruction time; assessment opportunities through running records and the like; easily monitored and tweaked teaching methods to suit learning research; and effortless unobtrusive recording of online sessions so there is documented evidence of a child’s progress and home-support ideas for parents/guardians.  Given all these ways a virtual literacy intervention programme can support struggling students, how it is best used to address a particular student should be decided by the specialist team, the classroom teacher and parents/guardians.

    For a school to launch a virtual literacy support programme, a few staffing, equipment and physical room changes may be necessary. If I was providing online language interventions from afar, I would not only like to see the child’s face but also a view of the entire child and computer from the back so that I am aware of and can manage fidgeting or inattentive behaviour. This would mean having a second computer available with its camera set up to capture the room/child’s computer and registering this “dummy” computer into the online reading support environment.  I would also like access to an adult near the area the child is working in and I’d like that adult to have easy access to me. This can be accomplished through a skype backchannel or texting on the mobile phone.  An ideal set up would have a parent-volunteer or other support person in a computer lab where 3-6 primary students with literacy difficulties are working individually with their own specialists for a 15-20 minute focused, directed, session. Another option may be to try one online specialist dealing with 2 to 3 students. It is important to mention, that this virtual intervention, set up as it is, would only be a part of a child’s planned intervention programme.

    from " Learn About Reading Tutoring Online"

    So beyond the adaptive advantages and possible administrative gains, what are the transforming features of the online tutoring?  I believe the transformative nature starts to take hold in the techniques that can be used to assist the child in decoding difficult words.  When a physical book is used, there is a tendency to keep it pristine for the next user.  However when reading an electronic book, there are no issues with marking up the text either by the student or the teacher! One can write anywhere on the screen and not ‘hurt’ the book. It’s powerful to intervene in situ as seen in the screen capture from the Skyping Tutor video.

    Another transformative possibility is the ability for the student to become the producer/author – Either by adding his/her audio words, written words, pictures, or even just a name – It is very easy to re-work any electronic text so that it becomes personalized, thereby motivating the student to want to read more.

    The problems?  For one…what comes ‘out’ must be ‘put in’….meaning, the reading material must be made available ‘electronically’ – This might mean buying electronic books – there are many out there but are there electronic graded readers? Current books could be scanned and inserted as slides in a PowerPoint – this is a technique used by the Skyping Tutor . Here are three other tutorials sharing the production methods:

    1. http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-create-a-talking-book-in-microsoft-office-powerpoint-2003
    2. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial060.shtml
    3. http://drscavanaugh.org/ebooks/creating_ebooks_with_powerpoint.htm

    (It’s best to check on “Fair Use and Copyright” rules, before scanning books for reading interventions). There is a vast array of electronic stories and books already available online you just need the time to find suitable ones to meet the needs of the struggling student:

    1. http://rmtc.fsdb.k12.fl.us/content/ebooks.html#online
    2. http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic93.htm
    3. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/onlinestory.htm

    One last thing to look into is the technology of the Virtual Literacy support techniques.  As I mentioned earlier the visual is as important for the intervention to work as the audio.  In addition to skype and the products that use skype for the audio portion, there are many many free (or low cost) webinar services that could satisfy the needs of an virtual language intervention program:  Elluminate (a free Vroom set up would work in this instance) or Adobe Connect or any of the free services such as DimDim, ZoHo Meeting, Freebinar, mikogo, vyew ,  yuuguu and don’t forget the opensource offerings mentioned in this blog post by the elearnqueen. Ideally, you want the ability to share screens so that the student can interact with their mouse when appropriate. Screen writing is another technique that is common in virtual literacy interventions and although most, if not all, webinar programmes include a way to write on the screen, there may be times when sharing a screen that you want to highlight something with a mark or two.  There are two programmes that I know which allow this:Creative Commons - Alex S.H. Lin

    1. ZoomIt, a Microsoft product
    2. VB Doodle

    Both of these programs allow you to write on the screen, print it off, save it, etc.  One point, if you’re planning to do a lot of screen writing, it’s probably best to look into using a pen and tablet for writing rather than a mouse.

    Do you see a move to online support in your school boards?  What issues do you see with the strategies I’ve highlighted? Knowing that school reform should be based on strong research, I am interested in pursuing this idea further. Contact me if you would like to participate in a study of a virtual literacy support programme in your school or you have information from your own experiences in the fray.

    Creative Commons image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Wacom_Graphire4.jpg byAlex S.H. Lin.

    ]]>     http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2010/12/virtual-literacy-intervention/feed/ 1     Web Guest to Nipissing’s Infusion Conference http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2009/02/virtual-guest-to-nipissings-infusion-conference/ http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2009/02/virtual-guest-to-nipissings-infusion-conference/#comments Sun, 08 Feb 2009 12:43:37 +0000 Sue http://newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/?p=108 Continue reading →]]> On January 31st, 2009, I had the great opportunity of presenting at Nipissing University’s Pre-Service Teachers’ Infusion Conference.  That’s really not newsworthy…except, I was in Sri Lanka and the conference was happening in North Bay, Ontario!  Then, to make it a truly global experience, the presentation was twittered a few times during the week, announced on the Classroom 2.0 “Live” notice board and also promoted through emails.  I was extremely pleased when we ended up with around 24 Pre-Service Teachers in North Bay and several seasoned Teachers and Web 2.0 users from around the globe, including United States, Sri Lanka and Canada. It was really special to see the activity in the chat room, the mixing of experience and support.

    The webinar was entitled “Teaching in the Web 2.0 Era” – Here is the description:

    Join us in Elluminate to investigate how the Read/Write Web has affected teaching and learning.  We will review many ways teachers have incorporated web resources and ‘cloud applications’ into their lessons while highlighting the professional development opportunities made available through Web 2.0 technologies. Participants will be encouraged to share their own best-use examples for the classroom, as well.

    I was lucky enough to have Paul Soppit, a Nipissing University, “ITeach Support” person in the Conference room at Nipissing to help out while Steve Hargadon got up at an excruciating 6am to assist in the Virtual Room.  Both guys were gems…and were the key to making things go smoothly!

    Teaching in the Web 2.0 Era

    View more presentations from slister. (tags: web2.0 webinar)

    The Elluminate archive of the Webinar can be found here while there is an opportunity to follow up on the conversations started here.

    ]]>     http://www.newmediaworkshops.com/telblog/2009/02/virtual-guest-to-nipissings-infusion-conference/feed/ 0