The iCougar iPod Touch Program at Kearns High School

 There has been a lot written about this project in the local news and not all of it positive. However, what I saw today while visiting the school was nothing short of amazing. I saw engaged students and teachers using the devices in a variety of ways. 

From their website:

Welcome to our 1:1 iPod Touch program called iCougars! The iCougars@KHS project seeks to increase student achievement of our high school students through a student-centered, one-to-one mobile technologies model by providing every student and staff member with personal access to a mobile computing device in a wireless environment. The mobility of these devices will allow staff and students to use them for learning both inside and outside of school, engaging a 21st century 24/7 learning environment. Mobile devices in class will enable students to engage in research, team projects, classroom activities, and academic coursework. Beyond the school campus the devices will remain in the hands of students, available for homework, email, extra-curricular activities, independent learning, and problem solving. Using the devices for formal class work as well as independent study and personal interests, students will gain not only immediate academic benefits but also valuable 21st century skills that will benefit them in their lives and careers. 1700 students and nearly 100 teachers will participate in the largest iPod Touch implementation to date.

We were able to visit 4 classrooms today. We saw students in a Japanese 1 class using a variety of apps to learn not just to speak but to write the Japanese language. We saw a photography class using the devices to copy notes from the teacher, then using those notes heading off to different websites to do research. The next part of their assignment is to create flash cards with definitions of terms on them. Finally, they are to "bump" their devices with at least two other students to share their flash cards. Then they can compare and determine which definitions are better and can delete the ones they don't select.

We were also able to visit with a multimedia class, actually the class that creates student news show at Kearns. They have a lab full of computers yet the students were out shooting video and recording audio and video interviews with their iPod Touches connected to some of the coolest homemade tripods, and steadycams I have seen. This teacher has found apps that at least illustrate and mimic the concepts as all of the software he has on the PCs. He stated that the students actually grasp the concepts better from the iPod apps and are able to transfer that learning to the PC software. 

Finally we visited a debate class. These students told us stories about how they use their iPods for 15 minutes and would have kept going for hours I think if school wasn't ending. One young lady talked about the difference the iPod had made for here. She talked about the fact that her handwriting was so terrible that even she couldn't read her notes. So she rarely had anything to study from for quizzes and test. With the iPod (and she had an iPad keyboard dock she was using with it). She could now take notes quickly and most importantly read them easily Due to this her grade were rising. Then another girl shared that her GPA had gone from a C- in the first quarter to a B+ in the second quarter after the iPods were rolled out. She attributes that success a lot to the iPod. Someone in our group asked if anyone else's grades had gone up. 24 of the 26 students raised their hands and a few more shared stories of how the iPods had helped them feel and be more successful. One young man offered that his biggest problem in school was keeping organized and the iPod helped him to do that. 

Finally we asked one more question of the group. "Have your feelings about school changed since the introduction of the iPods?" All but one raised their hands to signify that their feelings towards school had markedly improved since the start of the program. 

This is all anecdotal evidence, but I think when real measure are taken, Kearns High will see some astounding achievement growth. They have already seen astounding school pride growth.

 

iPod Touch/iPad Lesson Plan - Graphing Using Easy Chart and the Weather App

 

Apps Used:  Easy Chart - $ Free for iPod/iPhone $0.99 for iPad; Weather - $ Free

Subjects that can be taught using apps:  Math (Graphs and Data), Geography, Science (Weather)

Grade Levels: 4th-6th, could be adapted for younger grades.  This activity works well individually or in pairs.

Time:  60 minutes

Lesson:    Once students have the devices available, start in Easy Chart. I like to have the students familiar with how the app works before gathering the data. 

Once in the app have them go to the settings. Change the input from slider to keyboard. You can adjust the output size for the charts as well here. 

 Tap Save.

Once back in the app, scroll to the bottom of charts that have already been created. You will find a green plus sign. Tap that plus sign to start a new chart.

The chart opens with a Chart #, that can be changed by selecting the name and then tapping the x.

You will see two data points labeled one and two. You tap on the names to change those. Then you can tap on the numbers to change those. You can add more data points by tapping on the next line.

 With that instruction you should be ready to go into the Weather app and gather your data.  

Here is a city already set up in the Weather app. To set up a new city in the app, tap on the information ( i ) button in the lower left hand corner. 

This brings up the  screen to add and delete cities.  Ask the students not to delete any cities as there may be other groups using those.

Tap on the plus ( + ) sign to bring up the search screen.

Type in the name of the city you would like to add to the app. Be aware that many states and even countries may have cities with the same name, make sure you select the correct city to add. 

 After they have added the 3 cities, have students get out a piece of paper and pencil. Have them create a data table with the expected high temperature for the next 5 days for each city. 

Now they can go back into Easy Chart and enter the data for their chart. I have them build 2 charts to begin with. For the first chart I have them do a comparison of the highs in the 3 cities for one of the five days.  

Next I have them build a chart of the highs for all 5 days for one city. 

When the charts are built, have the students discuss whether the default chart (pie chart) is the best way to display this data. Have them tap the chart button in the lower left corner of the screen to cycle through the different chart options. Ask them to decide which chart best tells the story of the data. 

Now have them tap the button next to the chart button. This changes the color scheme for the chart. They can cycle through and choose the scheme they like best for any particular chart. 

I like discussing how different kinds of charts tell a different story with the data. 

For a final activity with this lesson I like to do some live data collection. I may choose favorite ice cream flavors or favorite candy bars, but I let students give me five choices. Then I ask all students to vote on one of the five and we graph that data. This helps to bring data collection and understanding data home to the students.

iPod Touch Lesson Plan/Review Stack the States

Apps Used:  Stack the States - $0.99 - Universal App (works on both iPad and iPod Touch/iPhone) No VPP discounts available

Subjects that can be taught using the app:  U.S. History, U.S. Geography, Geometry, Physics

Time:  30-60 minutes depending on how long you give them in the app.

Review - 

Stack the States is a game that allows for a variety of activities. There are a total of 4 games available although you must reach certain milestones to unlock all but the beginning game. 

To begin you enter your name for a profile. There are slots for up to 7 separate profiles. Once you have selected your profile the game begins. The player is asked a question about a state. Questions include capitals, landmarks, bordering states, and abbreviations. If the player selects the correct state, he/she is presented with that state to drop onto a platform.

The goal is to stack the states above the checkerboard line on the screen. If you accomplish the task you are rewarded with a state. Not quite as easy as it might seem. The states are not all geometrically suited for stacking. Also, when you drop the states they tend to bounce and rock and roll. If a state falls off of the edge of the platform then you have to keep going. Touching the state brings up a white circle with dots around it. With the circle on-screen you can move the state by dragging it. You can rotate the state using the white dots. While not ultra-challenging it is a lot of fun. 

As you earn more states you can unlock 3 more bonus games. Having worked with 4th, 5th and 6th graders in this game, I can tell you that students really enjoy it, find some challenge and even learn things they didn't know about the states.

Lesson:

The school where I have taught this has a mobile cart of 30 iPod Touches. I have the students retrieve the iPods from the cart, taking note of the number of the iPod so they remember where to put it back after the activity. 

I begin the lesson by talking about relative size. One of the things that I really like about the app is that the states in correct proportional size to each other. Alaska is really big and Rhode Island is really small. 

Next we discuss the physics of the game. Gravity is in play as you drop the states, balance comes into play, as does the bouncy nature of the states. 

I use a document camera to demonstrate setting up the profiles and the basics of gameplay.  (This is probably not necessary as the kids have it figured out in seconds on the own, but just in case.)

At this point I lets the students start playing. I give them about 10 minutes to begin with, before stopping them. When I stop them we take a quick poll to see how who has gained the most states. This seems to be really motivational for the group. In each class that I have tried it, after polling the group, when they start playing again, they get quieter and more focused. I give them another 5-10 minutes to play then take another poll. I found that 2 to 3 rounds seems to be optimal. 

I love Stack the States, it is one of my favorite apps. I think students really enjoy it as well and learn quite a bit at the same time.  

What I'm Doing This Weekend

In the fall I talked about the K-12 Online Conference. I am still viewing sessions from that conference, some 3 months later. This weekend I will be attending a conference in Philadelphia called EduCon 2.3. Actually, I won't be in Philadelphia, but I will be attending the conference via online sources. I will be home in my jammies on my couch or recliner viewing my selected sessions remotely. The scheduled sessions start tomorrow, but today there is what are called Unconference (informal) sessions. I am following those conversations today as I work via Twitter. There are tons of messages coming out every hour and lots of good information in those messages. (search #educon on twitter to follow the conversation.

The conference is hosted by the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia under the direction of their visionary principal Chris Lehmann. The conference is staffed by teachers, STUDENTS, and parent volunteers from the school. In fact today, Philadelphia schools are closed due to weather conditions, but the students and parents would not be denied the opportunity of Educon and still showed up en masse. To me that in and of itself is a powerful message.

So, I will have other tasks to do this weekend, but every free moment I will be attending EduCon conversations. Oh, by the way, our own Dr. David Doty, Scot McCombs, and Darren Draper will be presenting a session at 12:30 pm MST on Sunday. I can't wait.

Kodak Zi8 Test

Playing around with a Kodak Zi8 this weekend. Took some inspiration from Dean Shareski.

Google Goggles is pretty impressive

Google Goggles (say that 5 times fast) came to the iPhone today. In my first test I shot a picture of a local fast food ad and it guided me right to their webpage. Pretty nifty. Thanks Google!

I'm not waiting for Superman, I see him/her everyday.

I like many have had this brewing for awhile. It is time to get it out.

I will not be going to see the new movie Waiting for Superman. The biggest reason is that I don't need to see the movie denigrate the awesome things I see every day. I am tired. I am tired of all the teacher bashing going on in the media and in general, particularly here locally. It seems like the national bashing is just catching up to what has been going on here in Utah for about as long as I have been employed in education (20+ years). The main reason that I am so tired of it is that so much of what is said is simply untrue.

I am in a unique position where I get to see several teachers everyday. In doing so, I get to see the heroic things they do with kids everyday. To public education's critics I say quit waiting for the superhero and go look at what thousands of them are doing every single day of the school year. They are heroes. The are doing the best they can with the material they have. They don't care what condition a child comes to them in, while that child is there they are working as hard as they can to help that child learn and grow and develop.

By the way, while doing so they are learning new things themselves all of the time. New programs, new tools, new technologies, new and more and more assessments. I'll be perfectly honest, I don't know that I could do it anymore. Teachers are asked to do more and more everyday, often times with less and less resources. There is always someone that doesn't like them, a parent, an administrator, a student, a fellow teacher so there is constant criticism. If what teachers do under these conditions is not the definition of heroic, then we need to change the definition.

So are there bad teachers, of course there are. There are bad accountants, bad cops, bad quarterbacks. But it seems like teachers are often get treated globally based on a few bad apples. I am not going to debate tenure, but I do know that if a teacher is truly not able to do the job there are means to remove them from the profession. My biggest fear though is that the current witch-hunt of teachers is going to cause so many of the heroic ones to leave.

That will be the saddest part of all of this. I would implore you, don't wait for Superman, go find that heroic teacher that exists in every town and city in this state and nation and tell them thank you and ask what you can do to help.

Seeing the power of social media in action.

I am in the midst of a social media barrage, primarily from Twitter. Tonight a fire rages about 15 miles from my home. Friends that live in the area have evacuated or are ready to at a moment's notice. Over 1400 homes in all have be evacuated and at this point there are reports of at least 3 homes burned. Since I started following the twitter hash #Herrimanfire around 10:00 pm, there have been at least 1,500 messages come through. 

The local news covered the fire as a top story, then most when finished went on to regular programming. One station (props to Fox 13 for staying on top of and with the story until 12:30 also they have been a major part of the twitter coverage) just finished reporting for now. On the other hand, one of our local newspapers just tweeted out the top 20 volleyball teams in the state, however nothing about the fire.But the twitter stream continues at a tremendous rate.

The information from the twitter stream has apparently been very accurate and been cited by the news and vice versa. It has been fascinating to observe and participate in this experience. That it is so close to home and even closer to friends makes important to me and those around. Even more interesting is seeing messages come in from around the country from people that have lived in the area or have family in the area. 

It has been an interesting night.

 

MathBoard - An App Review

Title: MathBoard

Grade Level: 1-12

Purpose: A-

Program Functionality: A-

Overall Educational Value: A-

Cost: $3.99 Addition Edition Only - $-Free This is an iPad only app.

Recommendation: If you haven't heard me rant against using computers for drill and kill, good, then this review won't sound hypocritical. Those who have, hey, it is that good of an app. Mathboard is an app that allows you to work Math problems. That is the strength of this app. It allows a student to actually work through problems on the iPad.

Let's start at the beginning. When you start MathBoard you can jump right into working problems with the preset settings. You can also change those settings from the main screen. Settings include: Operator Types,Problems, Number Range, Time, and Additional Settings.

Operator Types for this app are Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Squares, Cubes, and Square Roots. So this app can be made very simple for young students and more complex for older students. You can set the number of problems offered in a quiz from 10 up to 250 (wow really). You can choose the answer style the first being Multiple Choice, meh. The other answer style is the exciting part to me, Fill in the Blank. This means that the student is presented with a problem and then they write it on the screen (chalkboard). They can then solve the problem right on the chalkboard.

Once worked out they return to the main screen to input their answer. I really, really like this implementation. They can expand the work area to fill the screen. There are 5 colors of chalk available and an eraser.

Where I will ding this app is in the entering of the answer in this mode. Once a student has solved the equation, they go back to the primary screen where the problem is shown to submit their answer. Here there are two ways to enter their answer, one is to use arrows to flip through digits 0-9. This is pretty straightforward but would take some training for younger students. The second way gets a little confusing. There is a calculator icon that can pick selected to bring up a number pad. You enter the numbers you want and they appear in the answer section. This is where it can get confusing. You enter the first digit and it appears in the far right column. When you enter the next digit that first digit slides to the next position to the left. I think this could get really confusing for students, especially grade 1-4 students. I am not quite sure how this could be fixed but it bothers me a bit.

There is a problem solver that a student can invoke if they are struggling with a problem. I like this functionality as well. The student can step through the problem to see how it is solved. If a student invokes the problem solver that problem is marked incorrect.

Once the student finishes quiz their score can be saved to a history if desired. If a quiz is saved, students can retake the quiz or even just retake the ones they missed in that quiz.

Overall I think the implementation of this app is terrific. I heartily recommend it.

Classroom Use Examples / Ideas: One additional use for this app would just be as a response board in math class.

Developer Website: http://www.palasoftware.com/MathBoard.html

ITunes Link: MathBoard

Reviewer Name: Kelly Dumont

What does it all mean?

So Apple is going to live stream their event tomorrow. To me this means one of two things. Either they really don't have much to show or share so don't care that it's streamed, or they have something so spectacular coming that they want everyone to have access to the info immediately. I am hoping for the latter, but not holding my breath.

KD

iPad Discoveries for Me Today!

I made a couple of discoveries about the iPad today that have increased my excitement about this device. The first is the the release of an update to Pages that allows for exporting of documents in the ePub format. This means you can take documents and make books out of them pretty easily. Not 1-2-3 easy, but pretty danged easy.  I was able to create a document with pictures and even video that worked in iBooks. This is pretty powerful. It really ups the game for teachers. 
The second discovery really only applies to educators in Utah, but UTIPS (Utah Test Item Pool Service) is nearly fully functional on the iPad. You can create and take assessments on the iPad. The only thing I didn't try was uploading media, which I suspect won't work, but for the rest this is pretty cool. 
Here is a link to the example "book" that I created this evening. UTIPS Basics ePub

KD

Contrasting views?

A couple of items on social media caught my eye this morning. First Leo Laporte has talked about social media's failure for him. http://leoville.com/buzz-kill

On the flip side Elana Leoni in Edutopia, writes about how we educational entities are setting up students to fail in the digital space by no allowing access and teaching them to use social media responsibly. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/140conf-twitter-education

KD

Good Day

Good day today. Got at least part of the house looking like a house again. Got to see brother and sister. Kids and grandkids coming this afternoon to spend family time with 18 yo before she heads away for school tomorrow.

Design with Forever in Mind - ISTE 2010 Session by Ben Wilkoff

Capturing, Creating, and Collecting Learning - Ben Wilkoff - learningischange.com

This session was about what forever means as it relates to how our students work survives in todays world. It focused on capturing the student voice, whether that be through audio, video, text, etc. These are the concepts that Ben presented. (My comments in italics)

---

A great question to lead off... How do you create learning that last forever? ...and what does forever mean anyway?

• Forever does not mean planning for storing things indefinitely.
• Forever does not mean password protecting all of your ideas and creations.
• Forever does not mean that your work remains unchanged over time.
• Forever does not mean you are storing it.
• Forever does not mean that everything should be preserved

Forever means more than that.

It means: 

1. Done does not exist.
2. Everyone has something to teach.
3. Exit strategies are not optional.

So, how do you capture your learning? How do your students capture theirs?

This is where I think we as educators have to be extremely wise in the choice of tools. If we try to keep student work in a walled garden, we will fail. They want to be heard. If we don't provide the desired tools and the spaces there are many places online that will. But in providing those spaces there has to be an exit strategy, if not they will not choose to use our spaces.

How will you capture learning thorough Voice?

• The Quick Soundbite - Vocaroo.com
• The Call-in Drop-Box - drop.io 
• The Mixer - Myna from Aviary http://aviary.com

How do you (will you) use cell phones to capture learning?

Capturing Learning through Video and the Screen

• The Record Button
  • Screen capture - screenr.com / screentoaster.com
• Video Collaboration
  • Open Spokes - openspokes.com
    • Ask questions and record answer in video.
    • If you have a webcam 
    • Ask and frame a question at Open Spokes.

Capturing Learning though objects, Email, and Real-time creation:

• Everything posts - Posterous
• Everything syncs - Dropbox
• Everything links - CC your blog, share a folder, Collaborate in real time. Google Docs for example.

This is an important message. Students are creating,we need to help them find spaces to help them do that and also will enable them to continue to build on their thoughts and ideas. Oh yeah, and be able to get to them again 3-5 years from now.

Design with forever_in_mind 2

View more presentations from bhwilkoff.

ABC Swap - App Review

App Title: ABC Swap Grade Level: PreK-2 Purpose: B Program Functionality: C Overall Educational Value: B- Cost: $-Free Recommendation: I found this app through one of the Free App of the Day Sites. It is still free, which in my mind always makes it worth taking out for a spin. It also doesn'traise expectations too high, however this app for it's simplicity yet variety surpassed the expectations I had.

When you open ABC Swap you see this screen with an Alligator and letters mixed up. Unless that is, the quiz mode is turned off, in which case you will see the word spelled correctly. Beneath the letters there are 4 icons. The first will take you back from any of the 26 screens (one for each letter) to the Ascreen. The second will speak the name of the picture. The third button flips the screen and allows the user to trace the upper and lower case letter with their finger. It also gives the pattern for creating the letter. This is my favorite aspect of the program. For children just learning how to write the alphabet I think this is pretty powerful. Although I did not check thoroughly, I do believe it uses the Zaner-Bloser styles.

The last button is for the preferences for which there are 4 setting you can change. The first preference is for the Quiz Mode. You can turn the quiz mode on and off. With quiz mode on, the letters for the word are scrambled. This for me is what extends the use of the program a little beyond 1st grade. Some of the words are pretty simple, but others are a little more difficult, like alligator. In the quiz mode, the user drags the letters around until the word is spelled correctly. The app corrects you with each move of a letter, which is good in some ways, but gets tedious and is not specific enough in its correction. Each time is just says Try Again.

This impacts the second preference which is Auto Go To Next. If this is turned one, when a user spells a word correctly the screen will automatically advance to the next word. The third preference is for the background music, which is basically bird and other nature noises. It can get a little irritating and distracting, but kids will like it. The final preference is for the size of the pen you trace the letters with. the default is medium and seems to be the best size for the activity.

To move back and forth through the screens you simply swipe left or right. Now, the test is how a child would react to this app, so I let my 5 year-old grandson have at it for awhile. He liked flipping through the screens and hearing the names of the animal. He flipped a few of the screens to trace letters, but that didn't hold his interest for very long. He did actually like having the quiz turned on and worked to get the words spelled. The longer ones frustrated him which I suspected they would. Next I gave it to the 3 year-old. He didn't care at all about the tracing, but he loved flipping through the screens and hearing the names of the animals and repeating them. This leads to my biggest criticism of the program. The app never gives the sound or name of the letter. It only speaks the name of the animal. It seems for an app called ABC anything you should probably here the sound and/or name of the letter. For this reason alone my wife (a kindergarten teacher) was not enthused about the app. This could be fixed in an update, but I don't know if the developer has the inclination to do so. This was previously a paid app, I don't know if the reduction to free is temporary or permanent. I will try to contact the developer to see if there are any plans for upgrades and what the pricing will be going forward. All in all I think this app might have a place in some classrooms, but with a few refinements could be much more helpful in teaching the alphabet and sounds to children. Classroom Use Examples / Ideas: I really like the variety of activities for such a simple app. For a K-2 teacher the handwriting aspect is interesting. I think this app would work pretty well in a center of 4-5 iPods/iPads in a K-2 classroom. Developer Website: http://touchnology.blogspot.com/ ITunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-swap-flashcard/id313357256?mt=8

Oh Hail!

My wife and son insist these fell on our yard today. I'm skeptical. Also happy my car wasn't in the way. Although those who know my car wonder what it would matter.

Kelly Dumont
EdTech Team Lead
Canyons School District

Already

Kid trying out for a fall baseball team. I thought we just finished with this and no I am not coaching. KD

The other side of the room

The other half of the great minds working on organization and conference planning.

I am constantly amazed...

At the amount of discussion and planning it takes to put on our annual conference. A lot of great discussion and debate takes place. The focus is all on the benefit to our members and attendees and our vendors who support the conference.

A Compelling App...

Just played briefly with Flipboard for a few minutes. It is the most compelling app I have seen on the iPad. It is the first app that has really made me want one now.