In the ed tech office we often get teachers coming in with computer problems that are solved with some very basic troubleshooting tips. I created this document (in the form of a certificate) with the hope of helping teachers to learn the most basic troubleshooting. I created it as a certificate thinking that people might be more inclined to post it on the wall and refer to it. Please feel free to share the document.
I have a friend in Costa Rica, Harry, and it seems that whenever we get together we talk historical politics. I haven’t seen him for over a year, but today I received an email from Harry’s wife & she passed along a question from him. He wants to know who my top ten US presidents are. Harry is very well read, and he knows a lot more about US history than I do. I was a political science major in college and have taught United States history for over ten years, but I haven’t ever given much thought about which presidents were the best in history. My first thought for first & second are Lincoln and Washington. I’m not a big fan of Kennedy (for bringing humanity to the brink of nuclear war), and William Henry Harrison won’t make my list (he only served one month of his term). Beyond that I’m not sure.
This is the type of discussion/debate I love to have in my classes. It really forces the students into a deeper understanding of the history in order to be able to argue in favor of their favorite. Of course, we must define what we mean by “best.” Is it based on leadership, popularity, winning a war, economic prosperity, integrity, crisis management, or some other factor? How would these factors be measured?
I’d like to ask for your help in answering my friend’s question. Leave a comment letting me know what you think are the criteria I should use to judge the presidents, and who your top presidents are. Also, you can collaborate on a Google Doc by adding why you think a president should or should not be included on the list. I’ll post my list when I finish it.
Unfortunately, hard drives don’t last forever. But you can keep using them. Here is my friend Kevin‘s external hard drive shortly after it died.
I love opening electronic equipment after it no longer is in use, so that’s what I did with the hard drive. I left it sitting on my desk after opening it. I started using it as a coaster for my coffee cup.
A few days later I came across some of those rubber footpads that are used to keep things from scratching up your table. I stuck four of those to the bottom to keep my “coaster” from scratching my desk.
Last year the KIS ed tech team began planning to develop critical thinking through programming in all three divisions. Mark Page started using Scratch in the elementary school during an EPP. Mark plans on continuing this and I have begun working with the middle school Tech Gurus and an high level math class in the high school. I was fortunate enough to connect with Jane Harris from Chinese International School in Hong Kong, who has been working with scratch programming for several years with her students. What follows is how Jane suggested we set up the projects. Most of this post are her exact words, not mine.
Jane suggested that we structure the programming as challenge-based learning projects, where the students design and build a game to build connections between Maths and Music/Art/Science. Something which will influence the way players think about Maths and Music/Art/Science. The app Soundrop is a great example of the type of projects the students should attempt.
Some of Jane’s other ideas for the course include: 1. Groups will use the Scratch environment to build the game. 2. Groups will identify their Big Idea, Essential Question, Guiding Questions and Guiding Activities: these will help to define and structure the projects. 3. The Essential Question should be answered by the Scratch game; the Guiding Questions should help to shape the process the group move through to design the game by providing their context and the “so what?” The Guiding Activities should help the group to better understand what they need to know before they can build the game; these activities are ongoing upskilling – research, connecting with experts, tinkering with ideas, etc. Groups should use a range of tech tools to document their learning and the process they go through.
Groups should create accounts on the Scratch website and a class gallery should be set-up where group projects can be uploaded and shared with the Scratch community. This is fantastic for eliciting feedback, problem solving and having projects beta-tested. Groups can develop their own wikis/blogs where they can post, collect and document their learning process.
The high school math class is finishing up their projects. I will post links to them soon.
This is the second of three blog posts about my experience at the Learning 2.0 conference.
A very informative session I attended was on the implementation of iPads. The presenter, Sheldon Bradshaw from Western Academy in Beijing had recently implemented iPads into the school and was sharing with us some of what he learned throughout this process.
His recommendation on iPad covers was to weigh the cost of the cover versus the cost of the iPad. Some of the best covers cost close $100 (otterbox.com & goballisticcase.com), meaning that with a class set of 20 iPads, the cases could add another $2000 to the purchase, or in other terms, take three iPads out of students’ hands. His suggestion was to find something reasonably priced, that when closed covers the entire iPad.
His suggestion on carts was that a homemade solution is going to be more cost effective without losing functionality. Some of the carts can cost $1000. His school built one for a little over $100 that works well.
Syncing and charging has brought some challenges to his school. Apple did not follow international USB standards, meaning standard USB hubs will not both charge and sync the iPads. WAB chose not to buy expensive charge & sync ports, but to use two processes. The have USB strips on the cart to charge and bought an extra set of cables to sync (with D-Link 7-port powered hubs). They only sync every couple of weeks. When OS 5 comes out there will be wireless syncing, so this might not be an issue very soon.
App purchases are a challenge for WAB to do legally. Apple does not have volume licensing internationally and in China the app store is very different from the US app store, and does not carry all of the apps they need, or at least does not carry the English version of the app. The way they resolved this was by having someone who was traveling to the US purchase iTunes Store gift certificates for the budgeted amount. Then they set up a “master” iTunes account for the school that they used to make the purchases and sync the iPads. They also set up a sub-accounts for each iPad, to legally purchase one license for each iPad. The master account “gifts” money to the sub-accounts to purchase the necessary apps.
Another topic of discussion was app evaluation. He recommended that the school come up with some type of process for making the decisions on the purchases, including who decides, what criteria is used for evaluating an app, how to track what has been tested, collection of information, and how to keep track of what apps are purchased and what version of the app is on the iPads. Sheldon also recommended these two sites for iPad app reviews: iear.org and momswithapps.com. He said to remember to focus on purpose. Don’t get caught up in the hype. These are the apps WAB uses. More detailed notes from this session by Wes Fryer.
I collected a list of favorite iPad apps that were shared by attendees at the 5th @pple Meetup on Friday, September 23 at Apple Korea Headquarters. If you are a progressive educator who is integrating technology in your classroom in Korea & would like to be invited to future Meetups, please leave a comment on the @pple Meetup blog and we’ll put you on the list.
Apps shared (In no particular order): Prices not listed. Almost all of the apps are free. Flipboard – A fast, beautiful way to flip through the news, photos, videos, and social networking updates. Zite – Personalized news, articles, blogs, videos and other content from both mainstream and niche publications & sites. SoundCloud -Capture sound & share it online. BrainStorm – Multi-device brainstorming. ProHDR – Fully functional photo editing. CamScanner – Scan using your camera. Diigo Browser – Browser that is very similar to Chrome. PowerSchool – App to access PowerSchool. The Tale of Peter Rabbit – Interactive Peter Rabbit book. BrainPop – Learn something different each day. Comic Life – iPad version of the popular Apple app. Poplet – Capture ideas & collaborate with others. ScreenChomp – Use this like an interactive whiteboard. GPS Log – Document your adventures & share them online. Google Translate – Translating tool. Word Lens – Translate printed words using your camera. Texit – Easy way to create mathematical equations. Formulus HD – Find the formula you are looking for. Math Ref – Math reference application. Formulas, tips, & examples. EduTecher – Powerful app for free ed tech resources. Jibbigo – Korean speech translator. They have other languages also. My LessonPlan – Lesson plan creator. Audiogalaxy – Stream your music or playlists. RedLaser – Barcode & QR code scanner. i Like Free – Lets you know which apps are free for a limited time. Soundrop – Draw lines & watch as they begin to create music. Very addicting! Edmodo – Stay connected to Edmodo. Epic Citadel – Want to see how incredible iPad graphics can be? Download this. Moms with Apps – Recommendations of children/family friendly apps. Seoul Bus – Seoul bus information, including closest stop & how many minutes until your bus arrives. GoodReader – Robust pdf reader. AudioNote – Combination notepad & audio notetaker. Idoms – Idioms for English learners. FlickStackr – Flickr photo sharing. Prezi Viewer – View Prezis on the iPad. SnapSeed – Add high quality effecs to your photos. iMapMyRide (iPhone) – Map your bike ride & share rides with others.
I recently was given the challenge of reducing a large, text-filled pdf file to 50% of its size. Unfortunately, I had to figure out how to do this without losing too much of the document’s quality, and I don’t have Adobe Acrobat on my MacBook Pro. No, Preview could not reduce the size and maintain a reasonably legible quality. After many trails and just as many errors I found an article on how to use ColorSync Utility to reduce the size of a pdf. In short, here’s how it is done:
Korea International School is rolling out a class set of iPads in the elementary school in the next few days. Our ed tech specialists Mark Page & David Lee have worked tirelessly to get them ready. They put together a great list of apps that are installed on the iPads, and they gave me permission to share them. I hope this list is helpful to you.
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