Remember to tag...

It's a hard habit to get into but I am finding it very helpful.

Meeting with Susan, Keith and Kim

To discuss w/ Keith, Susan, Kim:
- hosting Moodle for a few teachers next year
- access to installing software, browser updates, etc.--power users?
- student email aliases
- better publicize what's available--some teachers don't know what they can ask for
- Better distribution/accountability of the tablets to substitute for smartboards (are people sitting on them?)
- pass on faculty responses to survey--want projectors, tablet-type things
- possibility of hosting wikis? Coordinators supporting pbwiki?
- Show the wii
- Discuss tech training website--integration with park staff page.
- Money (for subscriptions, etc.)--not next year--future budgets
- Their questions, comments

Note: let's not do feel the need to give them a full demo of everything we've been doing--let's focus on questions, and they can learn about the things themselves later

Digication

I've been in touch with digication and they're going to add you both as users so we can really test things out. However, we might decide to abandon this right away. They gave me a quote for the department - 10 teachers, 20 students - for a little over $300 per year. For the whole MS and US it would cost THOUSANDS. Meanwhile, I still love how easy it is to use.

RSS subscriptions feature added to Blogger!

Check out the area to the right...Blogger has just added some features including an area there that makes it a lot easier to subscribe to the blog. When I clicked to add an RSS feed of our blog to my Google Reader, it gave me an error the first time, but then it seemed to work great the next time I tried it. I still don't know how to get rid of the "Subscribe (Atom)" at the bottom of the page, though.

Snapz Pro with Movie Capture

I am looking at Snapz Pro for capturing video screen shots...I never needed that feature before but in writing the online tutorials I found it a little frustrating not to just be able to put in a little video showing how I clicked and opened things! Waiting to hear from the company to make sure it is in fact true that I don't have a license to cover that feature already. See Ambrosia Software for details. I believe it is a Mac-only program but I'm sure there are comparable things out there for Windows.

PBwiki tutorial done

Comments and tips would be much appreciated.
Wiki Help

Ning--Growing on me!

As I work on the tutorial for Ning, I am really very impressed with it. Uploading photos and movies is VERY easy. I think it might almost be more useful for what I have in mind for my 6th grade classes than pbwiki. I have a fairly specific set of purposes and I don't really have a lot of HW assignments as I would for a different type of class.

Chat

cPros:
- multiple people can be typing at the same time, which actually increases the amount of participation you can have, especially from people for whom conversational wait time is a bigger problem.

Cons:
- thoughts sometimes get shared out of order. (Then again, that sometimes causes them not to be shared at all when face-to-face--I'm thinking of faculty meetings where you don't end up making your point because the conversation has already moved on past it.)

Telecommuting

We're trying out working from home today, partly to experience the kinds of interactions that many of our students have on a daily basis in the evenings, and partly to make a few life arrangements easier for us on this particular day. We'll be using Diigo for links, the blog as a notebook, and chat programs as quick communication. We're going to be looking for the strengths and weaknesses of this arrangement and these modes of communication.

Wii Remote Continued

Today I was able to put an infrared LED into a mini-flashlight and have the Wii remote detect it. I still need to test it on an actual whiteboard since I'm not sure if the LED I am using is powerful enough for the remote's camera to detect from that far away.

Wii Whiteboard Progress...

I was able to convert an LED squeeze flashlight into an infrared LED "pen" that the Wii remote could detect. I have to test it for whiteboard distances, though; the infrared LED might not be powerful enough to be picked up by the Wii remote's camera from a longer distance.

Tutorials are a pain

They take lots of time. Screenshots are labor-intensive. We'll see how far I get on my three, but I'll definitely finish the pbwiki one.

Copyright and Online Safety Section

I have been working on a section on the parktechtraining wiki called "Copyright, Privacy and Other Considerations." I think that although a lot of this is common sense, for teachers who haven't done a lot of this up until now or who haven't really thought about it in a systematic way before could benefit from these guidelines. As I'm writing from the perspective of a middle school teachers, some of what I have put there may seem overly restrictive for the Upper School. (I know from experience that MS teachers have been very receptive to using these guidelines whenever I've brought them up.) Open to suggestions and edits!

Wii Remote/Wii Whiteboard Hack Continued

Went out to Baynesville Electronics to see if they had an infrared LED flashlight or some infrared LEDs...bought some and some switches and such to try making a pen from scratch. My first attempt did not work but I am going to keep trying. I have also found a 99 cent LED flashlight that I might be able to pull apart fairly easily and swap out the LED with one of the infrared LEDs. I am having fun with the puzzle of trying to build the light pen (it would make a not-too-hard project for some of my more advanced tech kids, actually, so I think I will buy a Wii remote for my classroom if only for that purpose) but if this is going to be a practical solution as a low-cost alternative to the interactive whiteboards or Mimios (which still cost quite a lot more, $600-800 for the most basic model depending on the vendor), I think we will have to look for pre-made pens or for something that is extremely easy to modify without looking clunky like the one I built. Or have kids do it. More to follow...

Meeting with Louise

Important things to take away:
- Pay attention to the initial rollout, in terms of cost, time, and faculty burden. Maybe consider recruiting groups of people who would definitely get on board.
- Tailor rollout/pitch to divisions.
- Meet with Matt and Kim to show what we've been working on, discuss different needs of different divisions, talk about ways to train, and invite to add ideas to wiki or whatever method of rollout.
- Talked about privacy, school image, comments on webpages.
- Money will be available for various implementation issues through Program Implementation fund.
- Talk to Keith and Susan about building money into tech budget in the future.

Making Implementation Fun!!!

I am actually not kidding about doing this; I think (most) people would enjoy the humor and it might make this seem like a friendlier undertaking. In our "9 Tech Tools You Should Try in 08-09" (or whatever we are going to call it), we should include some kind of incentives, like merit badges (which could be like the badges people put on their social networking pages or blogs...maybe Carolyn's class could design some for us?!) which they could earn if they completed certain tasks at any point in the year. An example of a task: "Set up a blog on Blogger and invite Samira, Elliot and Carolyn to join." Once we get the invitation, we email the badge or send a password to a page where they can get the badge, etc. I am willing to put some time into this if you think it's worth it!

For Implementation

For each of the "tech essentials" we are planning to encourage folks to try at least once during the 08-09 year, we should make a quick list of what it's good for. This would then be followed with more detailed information about the tool, specific links, tutorials, examples, and so on. Example:

PBWiki is good for

• collaborative projects and discussions
• posting photos, videos, links, and other items for students to access
• posting files

Ning is good for

• allowing each student to have his/her own blog and photo album accessible by everyone in the class

etc.

(There are better things to include for PBWiki and Ning, I'm just typing off the top of my head.)

Thoughts for my classes (Samira)

• I definitely want to use a wiki for my course page.
• I have always wanted to do more with the idea of "emerging technologies" and current events in technology with my students but time has been a problem. I could set up an article or video each week on the wiki and they would be asked to read/view and respond as a HW assignment.
• A Ning network or a wiki would be a great way to have the kids record their group work when they do their iMovie projects.

Calendar Thoughts

Pros & Cons for various calendars:

- Google Calendar: pretty (pro); can do groups by email invite (neut)
- 30 Boxes: integrated into pbwiki (pro); reader can see calendar w/o being able to edit it (pro); no edit history (con); having trouble getting the personal one I set up to find the pbwiki one (con)
- Plans: eh
- Scrybe: looks good (pro); has offline sync (pro); still in closed beta (con)
- Backpack: looks great, but substantial cost (con)--didn't really explore it
- Ourcal: graphics courtesy of 1998 (big con)
- CalendarHub: eh, but looks fine
- Moodle: calendar events not mutually exclusive (con); automatically would sync w/ assignment dates (pro); good for making announcements (pro)
- Yahoo Calendar: just like Yahoo mail--a little visually busy (con); about the same kind of permission settings as everyone else (neut)--no way to have admin vs. lower editor privileges where the lower editors can't change each other's events

Online Survey/Quiz Software WITH IMAGES?

I want to find a quiz maker like Survey Monkey only one where I can put in photos or screenshots for kids to use when answering questions. Does Moodle do something like that? On my list of things to look for if nobody else has ideas...

Wii Remote Hack (Interactive Whiteboard)

I've spent the morning looking at what is needed for using a Wii remote to turn any whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard, as originally described by Johnny Chung Lee. So far, it looks like the basic requirements are:

• a computer with a Bluetooth interface (which will either be built into the computer, as with my MacBookPro, or which will be a USB Bluetooth adapter that would be purchased separately for about $30; see this Amazon link for an example);
• a Wii Remote for $39.99;
• an LED light source; this can be built from scratch for a few dollars, but some people have been using little squeeze LED mini flashlights, which is what I am planning to try;
• (free) software for your computer. I am going to use Mac software called Wiimote Whiteboard. The PC version is available here on Johnny Chung Lee's site;
• a standard LED projector, of which we already have many in the school.

I left my Wii remote at home but I will definitely be working on this by tomorrow!

Meeting with Language Tech FACA

What we can share: Second Life, Moodle, wiki possibilities (and portfolios)
What we'd like to hear about: experiences with Moodle, WordChamp, anything else?

Elliott's Plans for Day 4

- Wrap up Moodle research. Look into calendar, grade/reporting, maybe quick quiz/survey?
- Explore alternatives to some Moodle functionalities: online calendar, organizers, etc.

Apture is amazing!

Apture--quick and easy way to add "rich" html to your website. This means that you mouse over a word, and a little box pops up that automatically loads certain links you've told it to show--usually wikipedia definitions, videos, or other such things. You don't need to be in the "editor" function of the webpage to do this. It works in any site that you have access to the html code--you just paste one line of text into the code (like in pbwiki--haven't tried moodle yet) and it works. You need to have an account to access it, and right now it's in beta testing, with no more accounts being granted, but it has a lot of promise. Another nice thing is that it can automatically convert certain links you may already have--youtube, wikipedia, etc.--into Apture links. It's very, very easy to use, with only minor trouble-shooting necessary. It makes your site look much, much more professional. Looking forward to doing more with it.

ETA: Initial impression is that this won't work through moodle--at least not for the wikis.

Implementation/Training Note

We should put together a listing of favorite little tech tools, like Slideshare or Survey Monkey with notes about how they could be used.

UPDATE: We should also make a list of things everyone should try at least once; it would be optional, but we should make it clear that we think these things are so great that you wouldn't want to miss out! Examples: SurveyMonkey, using an RSS feed reader, listening to a podcast, etc. Provide tutorials on our wiki and hold monthly gatherings to show people how to do this.

Copyright Issues: Fair Use

One thing to keep in mind is our responsibility to respect copyright laws when posting student work on the Web as well as the materials we use in our classrooms...I am referring here not so much to the students' rights (a different topic) but to the fact that fair use rules that apply within a physical classroom space do not necessarily apply to the Web. See Copyright 101 for Educators" from the Technology and Learning website, and "Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web" from the University of Maryland library.

Creative Commons

We should explore this as a possibility for works on public or semi-public sites. For example, the parkscience.pbwiki.com, which is not indexed by search engines but can be found by anyone going through the pbwiki site, has a number of labs and assignments I've written, and while I'd happily share with teachers, I wouldn't want someone else making money off of them.

Ning

Ning allows you to set up your own social networking site, with a blog, comments, etc. We have set one up called ParkTechFACA2008. You can make the network private (invisible to others, and by invitation only). You can post photos and videos, create discussion groups and have blogs (each individual member has one). The administrator can preview and approve videos and photos before they are posted. This could be a good tool for a class to have discussions and share work.

The photo feature is very easy to use; it opens a window WITHIN THE NING PAGE that shows your computer's files on the left and you just drag and drop them into the upload area on the right. You can drag and drop multiple photos at once. You can tag photos as a group and individually before completing the upload. You can then create albums and filter them according to the tags.

Second Life

I finally managed to get into Second Life. My avatar is Samira Quintessa. It took me about 30 minutes or so to do the tutorial and figure out how to get to ISTE Island (the home of the International Society of Technology in Education in Second Life). It's a lot like moving around in a video game. Lots to distract you. I'm planning to go back and see if I can attend some of the NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) sessions in Second Life next week.

More Moodle Notes

Here are the things Moodle can do that Pbwiki can't. Ideally, if we choose not to do Moodle, these are the tasks for which I'd like to find replacements through other websites or programs.

Pros:
- online gradebook
- site, course, group, user events
- easy chat sessions

Cons:
- No convenient links page? Taggable resources? (Could use wikis within moodle for this instead?)

ETA:
Things you can do:
- For a page full of links, you can: 1) create a web page and have it float at the top of the course outline; 2) create a wiki and do the same; 3) also break either down and have links specific for each topic listed under each unit (if that's the way the course is being organized).

- Can set up hierarchies of folders for storing your files--pbwiki stores everybody's in the same place, so naming conventions and such become more of an issue, and it can be hard to find your file. (NOTE: Disadvantage is max upload of 2MB--changeable, depending on the server settings?)

- Assignments: Require that students upload digital content by a certain time.

Wiki Review Part 2

Continuing my wiki reviews...

eTouch Samepage (http://www.etouch.net): this is free up to 5 users, $100 a month for 1-20, and upward from there. As with some of the other business-oriented wikis, Samepage sets things up as "projects." The administrative and user interfaces are fairly straightforward and uncluttered. You can save the projects as PDFs or in rich-text format (RTF), which could be helpful for archiving work. This would not be good for a comprehensive homework or course page, however.

ScribbleWiki (http://scribblewiki.com) is free for 0ne user, $9.99/month for 2-10 users, and upward from there. It's a very traditional wiki interface. Does not seem to offer much in the way of layouts, extras such as photos, etc.

Seedwiki (http://www.seedwiki.com/) is ad-free but you have to pay a monthly fee to password protect, set restrictions, or use as a web-page builder. ($2.50/month for the password controls, $5.00/month for that as well as the ability to build web pages with the wiki). Probably not worth looking at any further.

Wetpaint (http://www.wetpaint.com) is free (but Google ad-ridden), allows you to make it private and allows control over who can edit the page. It has pre-made layout templates. It allows you to import addresses of people you want to invite from a variety of online sources such as Gmail or from your Outlook or Palm address book--very cool! It has a discussion forum and a photo gallery. It allows attachments (Word, Excel, PDFs, etc.) but there is a limit of 40 and the size for each is limited to 2 MB, not practical for videos or other multimedia besides photos. Very easy to use but probably not as comprehensive as one would like for a webpage or a course page.

Day 2, Carolyn

I'm building course pages on both pbwiki and moodle to compare their interactivity. Also looking at tumblr and flickr vs Adobe Bridge for ePortfolio use. I'm also feeling a little out of my league, especially when I see how quickly Elliott and Samira master this stuff. Guess I represent those people in our survey who said "tech...what's tech?"

Moodle Annoyance

Ok, so Moodle appears to be seriously high-powered in the number of things you can do, but doesn't appear very intuitive or user-friendly. For example, you can write a quiz and have it sort the results by all kinds of different data--very useful. However, I had a lot of trouble with formatting, and I don't find the interface of Moodle very easy to use--the meanings of the icons aren't clear, it's hard to categorize things (does an assignment have to be associated with a given week?)

Moodle Quiz, part 1

The format for uploading questions to the Moodle quiz module is a little idiosyncratic. For example, it's not the same as for Word Champ, unfortunately.

Wiki Review

I focused on the following criteria:
-ease of use (WYSIWYG, text entry, layout, adding plugins, images, etc.)
-pricing (free or cheap)
-flexibility (additional pages, uploading files)
-flexibility in adding users (invite keys, etc.)


POOR CANDIDATES:
PMWiki (www.pmwiki.org): Needs to be hosted on a separate server; looking at the sandbox area, it seemed to me that the text editing was not very intuitive.

Luminnotes (https://luminotes.com) "Luminotes is a WYSIWYG personal wiki notebook for organizing your notes and ideas. You don't have to use any special markup codes or install any software. You simply start typing." I found the interface a little confusing, actually and I don't really see why this is more useful than a blog or a different sort of wiki. Maybe TOO simple.

Netcipia (http://www.netcipia.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/ ) No templates or skins that I could see; you can create separate spaces and pages within spaces, and set privileges separately for these; you can attach files of various types; but I couldn't see how to make all the pages in one space show up.

Powerpoint Animations

I'm also interested in fooling around with Powerpoint animations, since I don't have iMovie, which is apparently easier. I won't do anything with this until I've spent a fair time with Moodle (since that's the higher priority).

RSS Feed Problems with Blogger?

I am having trouble setting up the RSS feed to enable readers to subscribe to this blog. Will continue working on this problem later.

UPDATE: I worked out the problem; I had to go to FeedBurner to set up an RSS feed and then plug that feed address into the layout for the page.

Meta Issues

Some of the side issues that are coming up for me:

1) Naming conventions. This is an issue for naming wikis & blogs (see me stepping on the tech department's toes with the name of the pbwiki) and for within the wiki itself (the science department wiki has so many pages that their names kind of matter--I'm pretty much the only one who's named all of my pages starting with "Huntsman - " so that they all show up in the same place when I look at the list of them all).


2) Tagging. I've been struggling with this with Diigo--coming up with tags I like and then remembering them when it comes time to do so.

3) Privacy (naturally). Do we worry about "representing" Park just by putting it out there that we work here when we join a community? What are the issues around the privacy of our students? Does increasing the privacy protection make it a) harder to collaborate, and b) harder to get things going (more registrations/passwords/hoops to jump through)?

4) Probably other things. Post comments here for similar concerns or reflections on these?

ePortfolios

I'm looking at various ePortfolios to see whether any are more accessible than Adobe Bridge.

First!

So, now we've checked out Blogger, Tumblr, Ning, and Diigo as possible ways of collaborating. It seems that Ning is a little too separated--it'd be good to have all our ideas for this FACA in one place. Diigo is better for links--not as good for commentary. Tumblr I'm still figuring out.

Wiki & formatting

I'm working on reformatting the wiki so that it's internally consistent (font, spacing, etc.) and can be used as our FACA report. If that's going to work, it's going to have to be well-organized into categories similar to those for the standard report, as well as printable, in case that's what they need to do. So, let's stick with Arial font, and I'm using the "headings" label to set categories off from each other. If we have a page with a number of different headings on it, let's use the "table of contents" plug-in (which you can add under "add plug-ins" at the top right of the Edit screen).