EdTechBytes

As Web 2.0 tools become more prevalent in the classroom, educators are integrating blogs and wikis into classroom activities to create engaging writing activities for students. The challenge for special educators is how to create meaningful Web 2.0 activities for students who may have reading and writing deficits, or for students in classrooms emphasizing functional academics. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how assistive technologies can by used to help students with a range of deficits create and access a wiki created using PB Works.

This presentation builds on our 2008 NECC presentation to focus on more of the assistive technology tools.

We chose to create a Community Travel Wiki to model how students in functional life skills programs can benefit from Web 2.0 tools. Teachers can replicate the same process to create similar wikis or wikis that are more academic for core subjects. For example, a teacher for students with Learning Disabilities could create a wiki for vocabulary terms for grade level content using PB Works and the various components of the SOLO program. The possibilities are endless.
 
This link contains a Quicktime video of the various videos from our presentation.
 
necc2009_ledesma_long
 
The following assistive technology tools are featured:
 
1) Boardmaker
 
2) Solo
 
3) Read Naturally
 
4) Read Please
 
The “Safeway” or grocery store featured on the wiki for community travel is at http://safeway.pbworks.com/.  I chose PBWorks because of the free educator account and its ability to create student accounts.
 
My co-presenter, Lara Long, an Assistive Technology Specialist, can be contacted via email at lelong1@fcps.edu.

With the students now gone for the summer, Mr. Jarosz and I posted an article on Teacher Magazine online about some of our conclusions about the iPod Touch Pilot. The article is entitled Adding a Touch of Technology.

As a sixth grader, Daniel would sit in on the evening Web Publishing Fundamentals and Intermediate classes I taught for the school system. The educators taking the classes were tech savvy teachers, web curators, and technology specialists, and it would be accurate to say that he ended up helping me with those who were having difficulty with the CSS code and graphics, sitting next to the teachers and showing them which icons to click.

Daniel’s technology skills were definitely advanced for his grade level, but he was not alone. Each year there are always a couple of students who are too advanced for the Microsoft Office and entry level multimedia focus of our Middle School Technology Tools curriculum.

Fast forward three years later, Daniel’s latest project is using the Wii remote to create a ~$100 Interactive Whiteboard. With encouragement from some of his teachers, he has given presentations to various teachers and administrators in his school to suggest that there are cheaper alternatives to the expensive Interactive Whiteboards we use. As a result, he has learned alot of valuable real world “business” and “marketing” skills in addition to the technology skills required to create such a project. His presentation can be viewed here.

Where did Daniel learn to develop the research and technology skills required to replicate and customize the Wiimote Whiteboard?

YouTube and the Internet…. In other words, NOT in school.

Educators who advocate for more technology and projects that require higher level thinking and authentic experiences in schools often talk about the need to stay “relevant” in our student’s education.

I think the term “relevant” is confusing for many, because, what exactly does “not staying relevant” look like?

Perhaps it looks like when some students learn to be innovative somewhere else…

Of course, what is learned in school is important, but so are the missed opportunities….

The iPod Octopus

Implementing the iPod Touch in a PC Only environment without an Apple iPod Touch cart using only free apps  requires us to problem solve some  challenges. Here is a picture of what that may look like.

Parts

1: Synching PC Laptop

2: Power Supplies

3: Main USB Hub: Connects to laptop

4: USB Hubs: Connects to Main USB Hub (which connects to laptop).

The teacher synchs all iPods through a single iTunes Account. As a classroom teacher, think about the possible challenges:

1) Got Space?  Look at the picture. You’ll need it.

2) Got Procedures? A good teacher provisions for everything that happens in the classroom, so determining, modeling, and coordinating a synching procedure for 29 students is very important.  For example, how often will the teacher synch the iPods? When will this occur? Which students go first? How will the students get their iPods back? What will the students be doing when the teacher is entangled in those wires trying to synch?

3) Got Behavior Problems? One won’t if they do #2 correctly. (This refers to the students, not the teacher or technology specialist trying to synch.) 

4) Got Saved Work? The synching process will remove all student data from the iPods, so any files must be transferred prior to synching.

5) Got Flexibility? Not all iPods may synch upon connecting the Main USB Hub to the laptop. Based on my experience, one should not try to synch more than 5-10 iPods at a time. Which leads to:

6) Got Time? A teacher will need time to manage the synching process.

Just some of the technical challenges involved.

Due to these issues, we only synched once prior to the start of the pilot. Therefore, we had to think of all the applications and media that the students would need to do the activities.  Since we used a WordPress class website, instead of our county’s Blackboard system, we did not have any problems with getting content to students.

Students in Mr. Jarosz’s English class were expected to create podcasts at home and outside the classroom using the iPod Touch. After reviewing various recording devices, iTalk appeared to be the app of choice. A free version is available and the interface is very easy to use.  Highly recommended.

Students in Mr. Jarosz’s 8th Grade English class are using the free Stanza application to read free books on their iPod Touch. Since the students can bring the Touch home, they have on-demand access to their reading assignments. 

The terms of our pilot limit us to free apps, so using a free book reader that can download a variety of free books online has many advantages. At the same time, these are the challenges:

1) Any book or story assigned must be previewed by the teacher. The challenge was to find a free book or story that was appropriate to the 8th grade curriculum and the student’s interests. 

2) The Stanza application can download other books online, raising the next implementation policy question of whether we should allow students to download other books freely. Since any programs or content on the Touch should support instructional classroom goals, we required the students to ask teacher permission prior to downloading other books or stories.  The criteria for defining what is acceptable reading material in a school library can provide guidelines as to what is appropriate. 

The results so far have been positive. 

To be continued….

Does increased access to technology lead to increased usage and integration in the classroom?

Does increased usage and integration in the classroom lead to increased student engagement, motivation, learning, achievement, higher order thinking skills, and creativity?

What does it take, in terms of technical, administrative, and instructional support, development, and classroom practices to get to the next level?

And the big evolutionary question: As computing in schools evolves from desktop access in hallway computer labs, to labs of portable laptop carts accessible in individual classrooms, to now ultra portable handhelds for ubiquitous computing, how will teachers and administrators integrate the fact that students can now have, in their pocket, easy access to the Internet and powerful tools for learning and creating?

Will the nature of teaching and learning change? Or, will we just continue traditional teaching in digital format?

Of course we won’t solve these types of questions in a June iPod Touch pilot. And these questions are not new to anyone involved with technology. But, hopefully, as more educators see these devices and understand the potential, more will understand why these questions are important.

There’s an App for that… as the iPhone/iTouch commercial goes.. 

Our iPod Touch pilot limits us to free apps. During one of our county meetings, it appears that the issue of buying and distributing apps is still in the early stages. For example, if our school bought an app, and we synch 30 computers to one iTunes account, do we buy one app for the synching computer, or do we need 30 licenses for the 30 iTouches? 

So for now, it’s free apps only. I’ve heard from some sources that Apple is aware of this issue, and has hinted that a school would only need one app. But, any tech geek is always hopeful and cautious about rumors when it comes to Apples.

From initial observations, the variety of apps provide the iTouch with a significant advantage over previous handheld technologies. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for those of us in tech to always expect the one killer application or the immediate transformational effect that defines the benefits of a technology product, perhaps originating from the hopeful, but flawed, perspective to see technology as the immediate silver bullet solution to problems in education.

But, in this case, the sum may be greater than the parts. All the different apps, from graphing calculators, e-book readers, notes, personal organizers, video, slideshows, etc- all quickly and easily accessible in a student’s pocket, may define the value of the iPod Touch as a supplemental learning tool in education- if we can figure out how to pay for some apps.

How does a teacher get content (documents and multimedia files) to the iPod Touch for students to use in class? This may appear to be an easy question, but it proved to be quite challenging.

Some background info: We operate in a PC environment and all teachers use Blackboard. We can only use free applications, so for now, applications like ikonstrukt or other similar systems are off limits.

So how does a teacher get content to the iPod Touch(es)?

Solution 1: Synch all the iPods when content is needed; based on our experience, a less than optimal process considering we use 1 PC and about five USB hubs to sync with 30 cables. (Think: octopus….)

Solution 2: Use Blackboard. This requires students logging in through the Safari browser and navigating to their specific course. In addition, multimedia content in Blackboard will not play through the Safari browser. Typing a username and password in the Safari browser, then navigating through the small buttons is not a quick process.

Unfortunately, the Blackboard Learn app for iTouch has received terrible reviews (1 1/2 stars in the iTunes store) and has not been cleared by our technology department. So that’s out….

Solution 3: ???

After some research, our solution was to create an independent WordPress site. The benefits:

1) Students can access the content, especially multimedia file formats not readable in Blackboard using an iTouch directly with the Safari browser in any location with Internet access. The Quicktime player launches when it encounters a multimedia file. PDF files are also viewable.

2) Teachers can post content (text, multimedia files (video and podcasts), and PDF files) quickly and easily and make it readily available to students. No synching is needed to get video, podcasts, etc to students. (No instructional time lost.)

3) A shortcut to this website using “Add to Home Screen” can make this site quickly available to iPod users upon turning on a iPod. Unlike using Blackboard, no login is needed, making access quicker and more efficient.

The cons:

1) The need for a WordPress hosted website.

So, Mr. Jarosz, the 8th Grade English Teacher implementing the pilot, and I created the following WordPress site: http://english.mcbytes.com/ . Our goal was to be able to have all required content and products accessible through the iPod Touch… Overall, we are pleased with the result and the students can access the content very quickly.

To be continued…..