Video Game Addiction

Went to a parent evening last night at Caringbah High regarding video game addiction. Some startling, research supported facts were relayed to the parents and teens in attendance regarding the psychology of gaming as well as the risks and remedies - personally I think a lot of the behaviours referred to are evident in Primary School...I recommend you catch Emil Hodzic's presentation if you ever get the chance...

Ipevo!

           

        Ipevo

Webcam from Hong Kong

At a recent Maths PD day at CEO Revesby, were were given a glimpse of a digital web camera called an IPEVO - I was really excited with the applications I could see immediately in the the classroom including demonstrations of art or craft techniques, using concrete materials in maths, modelling writing, editing, observing experiments, displaying documents and the like...so I ordered one straight away ;) ....... So far I've pretty much used it for everything I have listed above and it has been great! At this point in time they are $85 ex GST from Learning With Technologies, a great IT supplier we use at school from time to time for non-CEO catalogue items...

Being the hardened budget conscious eLearning Coordinator that I am however, I wanted to explore cheaper alternatives, jumping online to check out webcams direct from Hong Kong. I settled on the model above right as it had a flexible mount and looked as though it could do the same job all for $12.

In comparing the the two products - I was wrong. 

The picture quality of the iPevo is much higher, the extension arm allows for better positioning, and it is packaged with it's own software that is simple to use and does a great job.

The cheap webcam had a small viewable area, less clear picture, unstable, short stand and came with absolutely no software - I had to install some freeware to even get a picture...

Although the cost is way above it's competitor in this case - the iPevo wins....let me know if want to borrow it for your classroom (if you are from my school), and depending on more feedback we could look into further purchases... 

Automation...What Does this Mean For Education?

So what employment will our students remain secure in? If any? Also, once we are all unemployed (replaced by robots) who will earn the money to spend at the large corporations? I'm keen to hear people's opinions - just be careful of the "...it'll never happen!" stance - it started long ago and is only accelerating... 

Student Emails

We do have to deal with a lot more email in our professional roles these days as teachers. I am a firm believer however in encouraging students to interact with me in a time that suits their learning and is appropriate to their own schedules. To be honest, it suits me as a teacher to clear an issue up, help with homework or assignments etc. as soon as I can and whilst the student is motivated than to potentially wait until the next day for an opportunity to interact regarding their learning. Feedback is made more timely, personalised and reinforcement of learning can happen as needed and 'just in time'. Over the past five years I have not been inundated by student or parent emails, so digital communication has not had a huge impact on my time - in fact it may indeed SAVE me time the following day...something to consider ;)

Click to Enlarge

Archdiocesan eLearning Meeting - Mascot 2014

The Sydney Archdiocesan eLearning Coordinator's Meeting was held yesterday at St Therese Catholic Primary School Mascot, and I missed the first 40 minutes...the atrocious weather turned the normally 30 minute trip from my house in Burraneer into a 1 hour 40 minute epic during which I nearly ran out of petrol and was given the opportunity to study the scenery of Botany Bay for a whole hour whilst stuck in the traffic!

Anyway...

George Couros was the speaker and he was pretty good, he largely convinced me regarding blogging, hence my most recent foray...

Some of the points I took away from the meeting included:

Would you like to spend a day learning in your own class? Great question, I know there were times that I wouldn't have wanted to be in my class, one massive practise springs to mind...the days before word processing. Having been a product of the process writing method myself nothing irked me more than draft writing, editing, redrafting and publishing on paper - in the end I'd settle for far less than I was capable of due to the sheer exhaustion induced by rewriting. In my own class I am always looking for chances for the students to work in a digital environment where the editing process is so much more efficient and allows them the freedom to edit, and improve their product without the tedium of starting from scratch.

I love teaching my class, we have guitars, drums, jokes, conversations, bean bags, lounges, communicate after hours on email regarding their tasks and assignments, share a lot of our lives with each other for that year we spend together...I have children waiting at the door to the room when I arrive for classes. This doesn't require technology either, it what makes us teachers. Building a relationship with your students allows a teacher to enjoy their own work as well - and if you're not enjoying it you're going to burn out too early and give up you'll go back to what's easiest not best...

Some other ideas 25 Things Successful Teachers do Differently

1995 - a great year to be in Yr 1 according to my old class (via Facebook) 

Learning first, technology second - Something that has always been at the front of my mind over my last 14 years as an eLearning Coordinator. When it comes to technology it is so easy for teachers and educational leaders to be dazzled by the bells and whistles of new 'stuff'. As an educator you really need to have your 'fad meter' running when evaluating classroom technology, not only that you also need to be looking at the staff you have at your school and the changes they may need to make in order to use technology - giant leaps or small steps? If the tech promotes good pedagogy, then small steps should be all that teachers would need to make - they are modifying good current practice...giant leaps are difficult.

Three things need to be really looked at: achievement of students learning outcomes (faster? easier? motivating? more effective? generally enhanced?), total cost (do you maximise exposure for students in an authentic way for a minimum outlay? installation will cost, support will cost, training will cost, consumables will cost - it's not just the price in the catalogue), and lastly teacher uptake - educators must see the point! If they explicitly see the value in an undertaking they will prioritise technology and its use - if not it may as well stay in the box.

Don't leave your stuff in the box - push something else aside and make memories that children will cherish for at least 19 years ;)

Steve

eBooks Using Google Slides

A few weeks back I sent everyone a link to a video on using Google Slides to make eBooks. An activity popped up in our R.E. Creation Unit, so we decided to give it a shot! I told the students that once we save the finished product (.pdf) we can share it with all the teachers for some feedback, even open it with iBooks on an ipad and look at it like any other ebook...it's amazing how motivated the class becomes once the audience goes beyond each other and their regular class teacher ;)

We split up into groups of two and three and worked collaboratively on a slide (page) each...everyone helped edit and set formatting etc...we had a great time and..well...it's finished!

Let us know what you think, and who you could make your own ebooks for!

If you need a hand, let me know and I'll help you get started...

New Blog Starts Today...

Blogging seems like the answer to a lot of issues that I am facing in my eLearning role at the moment. Sharing and evidencing what I am doing in my classroom with the staff is becoming increasingly difficult due to time constraints and competing system priorities, new curricula etc...I think with this in mind I am going to give this blog a real shot and hope that it becomes a great resource for the staff at my school, myself as a record of my work in education, and possibly parents and students also!