Digital Leaders in the Modern Classroom.

I remember when I was a primary school student and the buzz that surrounded the arrival of a computer to our small village school. It think it was an Acorn BBC Model, which at the time was a big deal in the UK. I remember the thrill and excitement in the school community about this new, intriguing and somewhat alien arrival. The individual classes got the computer for one week a term and what a week it was! It was indeed a brave new world in education.

A cartoon from 1986.

However, by high school, the image of the "computer geek" had been born and most students at my school didn't choose to do "Computer Studies" nor were they encouraged to do so. Indeed there were more students in my Latin class than there were in CS. Most of us were beginning to get technology in our homes (my first computer was the magnificent Toshiba T1000) but this and my academic life were distinct and separate. Computers were eventually part of university life of course, whether it was Word for the work and Doom for the play but even then, my knowledge of this area was solely for my own use. Only recently have I been sharing what I know (and often admitting what I don't) with my peers and students as a tech mentor and I have been wondering what I could have learned and shared before now.

In the past few months I have read numerous blogs and articles about "Digital Leaders" being appointed in schools. These are students that can offer insight into what they think is important in their digital learning. They give advice to teachers, discover the new things that we as educators do not possibly have the time to do and are committed to peer to peer mentoring in the classroom.

http://wibsey.primaryblogger.co.uk/digital-leaders/

In short, not only are they being chosen for their love and interest of all things technological but they are being celebrated for this. One school has even started this in the infant school. The teacher created a blog asking children if they would like to be a Digital Leader. The response was overwhelming, even from the younger children. One child simply stated that they want to be a digital leader because "I like helping people. I like meetings. I like computers." (Note the order!)

http://www.digitalleadernetwork.co.uk/?p=757

Scouring the web, we can find a remarkable amount of blogs and references to students in similar positions in schools. They are proud of their role, committed to becoming part of something innovative and exciting and happy to be an active participant in their own learning. 

Research Skills for our IB Diploma students

Throughout the past few months the Digital Literacy Team has been working with the Secondary Library to deliver a series of workshops to all Grade 11 students, about research skills and information literacy. It is a central aspect of the UWCSEA Profile that our students are able to critically solve complex problems based upon informed and ethical decisions. Part of this theme relates to the ability of students to analyse and synthesize information which is a constant part of their IB Diploma course work, including Extended Essays and writing in the Theory of Knowledge course.

The resources for our workshops at the following public site. Please have a look at this website, explore some of the tutorials and discuss some of the material with your child.

Planning a Project

Topic Exploration

Sources of Information

Searching Skills

Referencing

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

The first workshop looked at potential sources of information focusing on academic sources including electronic databases and academic journals. We outlined the available databases from within the UWCSEA website portal (Encyclopedia Britannia, SIRS, NewsBank) and then looked at the eResources available from the Singapore National Library.

The Singapore National Library subscribes to a vast array of scholarly articles and also several more mainstream publications such as Time Magazine and The Economist. Our Grade 11 students have all registered for a Digital Account with the National Library, allowing them full access to the eResources section. Whilst this may not be something they will access very often, it is a good point of reference when they begin writing about more in-depth and focused topics such as an Extended Essay. This resource is also available to parents who can sign in with the relevant ID Card or FIN pass at the registration page.

REFERENCING AND ACADEMIC HONESTY

The second workshop looked at referencing and academic honesty. We covered the principles of quoting, summarising and paraphrasing and reinforced referencing styles. The main form of referencing used across the High School is the Modern Language Association style, unless guidance is provided otherwise from individual teachers.

A key tool introduced in the second workshop with all Grade 11 students is an application called Zotero. This is citation tool that helps students collate sources of information as they progress with research. They can either manually add a reference by typing in the essential meta data (author, title, publisher, date) or use the connector within an Internet Browser. The connector is a nifty gadget that grabs data from a academic journal about the author, title, publisher etc, and places it back in the student's Zotero library. It also attaches a PDF of the original journal.

The final wow factor is left for last. Zotero will let students to extract a bibliography in their format of choice from the collected resources, and a small plug in allows students to complete the in-text references. Whilst we still focus on teaching the principles of referencing, tools such as this help student's manage the process and focus on the analysis and evaluation skills.

Assessment for Learning and Socrative

Throughout our Middle School we have been referring to the PIPE lesson structure, where teachers focus on the following techniques to support learning and to develop enduring understanding.

• Preparing the Learner
• Input new learning
• Practise
• Evaluation and Feedback

Online tools such as Socrative, support teachers in setting quick exit quizzes, or to set more in-depth open questions to elicit deeper thinking. Any quiz which is created can be archived for future use, or shared via other teachers who have a Socrative account. At the end of the quiz, you can receive a copy of the results in a spreadsheet or anonymously show responses through the projector. 

The product is free and does not require student login. Bonus!!

WHAT IS SOCRATIVE?

CREATING A QUIZ

You need to sign into the Socrative website to create and share quizzes. When you sign up you are allocated a class number, which is the unique code students use to access your online room of quizzes. Students complete quizzes by visiting the website m.socrative.com and then type in your number.

1. Click on the button to Manage Quizzes
2. Click to Create a Quiz
3. Name the quiz, then click to add questions. You have two options, either an open question or multiple choice question.
4. You can click on the correct answer and also give students optional feedback on each question. This is a nice tool to experiment with and give rich feedback.
5. Once you have finished click the save button.

DELIVERING A QUIZ

Once you have saved a quiz, you can click back to the main screen.

1. Click on Start Quiz
2. Choose you quiz from the drop down
3. Select the option of either Teacher Paced or Student Paced Quiz. Teacher paced is nice if your using in class and if you want to stop and show the results mid survey. Student paced is good for quizzes that are focused on deeper thinking or longer multiple choice assessments. Either format gives you the same spreadsheet at the end. 
4. Once kids have entered the room using the m.socrative.com link and your code you can begin the quiz.
5. You have the option (if plugged into the projector) to either show or hide the results, once the students have begun. This is nice if you wish to stop and discuss the outcomes and link back to prior learning. 

OTHER IDEAS

One nice idea is to gather student responses and then select the text and then copy into a website like Wordle. This will show the pattern of responses and be a great discussion point, or poster for the wall. Plus the kids will think your are amazing :)

Apps not Abaci: Using iPads in the Primary Classroom

This term, Grade Two have embraced iPads in the classroom and are trialling, testing and reflecting on their use. It is easy for the hardened iPad lover (like myself) to see the good in every aspect of tablet use in teaching and learning. From simple planning on "Notes" for Writing Workshop to assessments using "Screen Chomp" and don't forget the wealth of number apps- "Math Bingo" anyone?
But as with all things new and shiny and Apple's desire to "reinvent the textbook" it is easy to forget the bigger jpeg. Are the students actually learning by using tablets instead of textbooks, apps instead of abaci?

It is very encouraging to see the first rounds of data coming from the USA indicating increased Literacy scores in Kindergartens that use tablets:

http://techland.time.com/2012/02/22/new-study-finds-ipads-in-the-classroom-boost-test-scores/

The downside of course is to consider the schools that need help with raising Literacy scores are the schools that have limited access to technology. Does E-Learning come at a price, saved for the "E-lite" learners? Time will tell.

Creating Infographic Visuals with Easel.ly

A previous post about using Gapminder World to visualise data, highlighted lots of ways to consume and analyse patterns in data. The most powerful way for students to understand a concept is to use data to create a visual representation. This technique encourages deep thinking and forces students to draw out the main points and then convey them to an audience.

This post therefore looks at creating an infographic with Easel.ly. This is the easiest and yet most functional tool I have come across so far. Easel.ly allows you to drop and drag from collections of symbols, change colours, annotate and duplicate. If students log into the website they can save edits and then download a jpeg of their work.

WHAT ARE INFOGRAPHICS?

CREATING AN INFOGRAPHIC

Before you begin a project with your students it is important to step back and look a few infographic examples. Websites such as Visual.ly and the work of David McCandless and his website Information is Beautiful provide some great examples. Ask you students to rate them using the following criteria, which I have borrowed from the following website - Rubric for Effective Infographic (UMW FSEM)

Usefulness: A useful infographic should have a clear purpose present, the data should come from a reliable source, the display of data should be proportional to the values (i.e., it should avoid data distortion), and the graphic should relate to the audience (i.e, it should meet the needs of the intended audience). 

Legibility: A legible graphic should have a general aspect in the areas such as labels, axes, font, and contrast. Font would vary in size depending on the importance of the content and be an appropriate type. Axes and labels generally go together so use them when needed; include a scale when appropriate. Contrast should help with the clarity. So these bring a basis for what makes a legible graph. 

Design: An effective infographic must use most of the available space, utilize color where needed, and present the information in the graph in a useful (containing a purpose), legible (conveys the data clearly) and aesthetically pleasing and interesting way. The choice of graphic needs to be appropriate for the data. 

Aesthetics: In order to make an infographic aesthetically appealing you need to first make sure all of the data is organized. That is, avoid clutter or information overload. The organization of the infographic should have clear purpose to the viewer, avoiding confusion. Once the infographic is organized, it directly correlates with the overall attractiveness. If it’s easy to understand, it is easy on the eyes; in other words the infographic is attractive. Once the organization and attractiveness are achieved, the interestingness comes naturally. Add colors or small images to ultimately make an infographic aesthetically pleasing.

Source: Rubric for Effective Infographic (UMW FSEM)

USING EASEL.LY FOR CREATING INFOGRAPHICS

Easel.ly comes with a series of themes, which are either useful starting points for students or they will constrain the students thinking. My feeling is that a clean slate is the best starting point for a creative project. 

1. Ensure students login with school email address so that their work can be saved
2. Click on a the first chart to begin and then drag and delete the object
3. Explore the objects button and explore the different category
4. Change the colour on an object
5. Add text boxes, graph outlines, or even maps from objects.
6. Click on the save button
7. Then click home button once finished. 
8. Click on the share button to download or to send someone a link to your infographic.
9. You could create a Picasa Web Gallery and ask the students to upload thier image, and then use the commenting functions and the above rubric for guiding feedback.

Simple example which I created from this Economist Article on Japan

Visualising Data with Gapminder World

Data is an important quantitative tool in many subjects including Geography and Economics and it helps our students understand trends, patterns and the contrasts that exist in the world. Student's ability to visualise and therefore interpret data is becoming an important skill at the intersection of the arts, maths and humanities disciplines.

This blog post, looks at ways to help students interpret data through effective use of the Gapminder Tool. A subsequent post in this series "Creating Infographic Visuals with Easel.ly" explains how to create infographic visuals with Easel.ly which help them showcase their understanding.

Techniques for using Gapminder in the classroom

Gapminder World is the utopia of online statistical tools, that enables students to construct and interpret scatter diagrams with a range of human development statistics. The amazing aspect is that they can drag the data back in time, showing a 4th dimension to the pattern. Our students also have GapMinder Desktop installed on their MacBooks, enabling offline access.

Top Tips for using GapMinder

• Remember to change the indicator on each axis
• See this link for the full list of indicators, or to download the raw data.
• If you like a graph, save the URL into a Google Doc for future reference
• Click on two or three different countries to simplify the view.
• Drag the timeline back, and see the trails of data. 
• Ask students questions about the direction of change, what is the correlation, cause and effect.
• Hover the cursor over each circle to see the data and to see the axis statistical values.
• Need a lesson on correlation and causality? See the brilliant Khan Academy.

Going deeper with GapMinder - Skitch

• Try using programs such as Skitch with students to help them annotate the GapMinder diagram to highlight correlations and the main points. This technique forces students to think more deeply about the data, trends and patterns.
• Students can save these into their notes or assignment. 

Screen Recording and GapMinder - Quicktime

• To really push students, you need to make them think more deeply about the connections an trends in the data. Ideally you want to glimpse into their thinking processes (metacognition).
• You can do this by asking them to use the Screen Recording functions within Quicktime, and to answer a question such as "describe two countries, one that follows the correlation and another that does not and the relationship between the data"
• The student will record a short clip of them speaking, whilst also clicking and dragging the GapMinder gadget. Whilst you might not access this video explicitly the level of thinking required really pushes students who are comfortable writing something but find it harder to verbalise thier thinking. 

Simple Slideshows in Preview

Sure you can spend hours constructing a visual masterpiece in Keynote, Prezi, SlideRocket, or even, if you insist, PowerPoint... 

If you do want a slide show with images and video, import it all into iPhoto and run the slideshow from there. 

But what if you just want to create a slide show, no transitions, no titles, no fuss, no faff? 

What if this slideshow can contain all sorts of visual media, images of course, but also PDFs, text documents but ... not video. Well not yet. 



So, you have a folder stuffed full of the slide show content, (including content in sub folders) how does this magic work?

Easy, open Preview if it isn't open already - Grab the folder and drop it on the Preview icon in the dock.

Or, if you're drag and drop dysfunctional, go to Open, and browse to the folder you want to use, just click on the folder (not its contents) and click open.

Now all you do is choose View > Slide Show from the main menu.

If you have got something you want to include in the slideshow that Preview does not like, eg, an Excel spreadsheet - just 'print' it and save it as a PDF. Sorted.

To loop a slideshow, and include video. 

Dump all the media (video/image/pdf) in one folder (no sub folders)

Select it all, and press the spacebar to launch Quickview

Then go to full screen and press play.

Finally, make sure any media you want to use for a presentation is on your local hard drive (on your computer), not on a shared drive, unless you like the spinning beach ball of death that is.

Keynote simplicity

If you really want to use Keynote, this can be quite painless as well—not as quick as the methods outlined above, but maybe only few minutes longer...

Just select all the media (including PDFs, but it will only display the first page) and drag and drop it into the navigation panel on the site. Keynote will place each separate item on it's own slide, it will resize large images to fit, but smaller images will be left at original size.