Do visit this website to see a wonderful story unfold in pictures and video, of a group of young people under the loving care of Marco Torres at the San Fernando High School, California.
Their website provides tutorials, examples of their video and photographic work and links to their shop for the purchase of their new DVD.
Look at their wiki and the amount of support it provides for top class photographic and video production ...
07 August 2009
31 July 2009
BLC09: Julia Leong - Narrative Inquiry
Narrative inquiry is one trying to make sense of life as lived [Clandinin & Connelly, 2000].
Julia Leong's presentation on SlideShare
When you look at a photo or an effect, don't ask 'is it good' but 'what is it good for'!
Think about altering shutter speed and personal movement whilst pointing the camera.
Use light torches in the dark - photograph people dancing with these.
You can do a lot with photographing smoke and using mirroring or blurring effects etc!
And think about photographing things from a different perspective - at least 3 different ways - crouching down, looking up ...
Julia Leong's presentation on SlideShare
When you look at a photo or an effect, don't ask 'is it good' but 'what is it good for'!
Think about altering shutter speed and personal movement whilst pointing the camera.
Use light torches in the dark - photograph people dancing with these.
You can do a lot with photographing smoke and using mirroring or blurring effects etc!
And think about photographing things from a different perspective - at least 3 different ways - crouching down, looking up ...
BLC09: Lainie Rowell - iMovie for digital storytelling
Suggests Apple iLife website for tutorials on all sorts of Apple applications.
The focus of this session is on the digital storytelling.
File >> Import
Top left is the project library. Create a new library - standard [other choices are widescreen and iPhone]. Don't worry too much about themes at the moment ... choosing 'none' is fine! If you're formatting for iDVD, then you might wish to set a theme.
You can put transitions in later if you want them ... so don't worry about the 'automatically add' option.
Move frames from the raw footage bottom right up into the Project Library top left.
Explore the settings by clicking the settings button in the bottom left hand corner of each clip - you can crop, add visual effects etc.
The focus of this session is on the digital storytelling.
File >> Import
Top left is the project library. Create a new library - standard [other choices are widescreen and iPhone]. Don't worry too much about themes at the moment ... choosing 'none' is fine! If you're formatting for iDVD, then you might wish to set a theme.
You can put transitions in later if you want them ... so don't worry about the 'automatically add' option.
Move frames from the raw footage bottom right up into the Project Library top left.
Explore the settings by clicking the settings button in the bottom left hand corner of each clip - you can crop, add visual effects etc.
BLC09: Keynote replays
For all the keynotes at the BLC Conference, please visit this blog!
- Ben Zander - a metaphor for leadership
- Stephen Heppell
- David Weinberger - Knowledge building in the age of the internet
30 July 2009
BLC09: Tom Daccord - Wikis for the classroom
Wikispaces
PBWorks
Mac wiki [coming soon!]
Wiki elements - collaborative. Multi users can edit the wiki at the same time [textured literacy]. Very flexible. Asynchronous. Can incorporate media.
You can make the wiki private by inviting other members - see Manage wiki.
The wiki contains a history so that you can retrieve earlier versions and also see who has been contributing and to assess the value of those contributions.
Students can incoporate video footage into a wiki.
There is a site especially for teachers - https://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
As I know about the basic use of wikis, I've decided to take up Tom Daccord's challenge to insert video footage ... a polling facility ... and reporting facility [stats!]
To add both, you need to find the 'add widget' tool on the toolbar and then choose the category of widget. For video materials, there are a number of compatible formats offered ... YouTube is one. I embedded the code for the YouTube video 'Wikis in plain English' into the video widget code box.
For polls, you can sign up to Survey Gizmo but this will cost you when the trial runs out in 14 days' time. And so I signed up to Poll Daddy offering a free polling/survey service. After creating my poll [very simplistic], you have access to code which you embed in the polling widget code box. Since writing this, I've also discovered Micropoll which seems to provide some very clear and simple designs.
My experimental wiki, in which I've mastered the art of inserting a video, a survey and a table of contents, can be found here ...
PBWorks
Mac wiki [coming soon!]
Wiki elements - collaborative. Multi users can edit the wiki at the same time [textured literacy]. Very flexible. Asynchronous. Can incorporate media.
You can make the wiki private by inviting other members - see Manage wiki.
The wiki contains a history so that you can retrieve earlier versions and also see who has been contributing and to assess the value of those contributions.
Students can incoporate video footage into a wiki.
There is a site especially for teachers - https://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
As I know about the basic use of wikis, I've decided to take up Tom Daccord's challenge to insert video footage ... a polling facility ... and reporting facility [stats!]
To add both, you need to find the 'add widget' tool on the toolbar and then choose the category of widget. For video materials, there are a number of compatible formats offered ... YouTube is one. I embedded the code for the YouTube video 'Wikis in plain English' into the video widget code box.
For polls, you can sign up to Survey Gizmo but this will cost you when the trial runs out in 14 days' time. And so I signed up to Poll Daddy offering a free polling/survey service. After creating my poll [very simplistic], you have access to code which you embed in the polling widget code box. Since writing this, I've also discovered Micropoll which seems to provide some very clear and simple designs.
My experimental wiki, in which I've mastered the art of inserting a video, a survey and a table of contents, can be found here ...
BLC09: Peggy Sheehy - Second Life for Education
Peggy works at Suffern Middle School in New York state.
No amount of computers and other technologies can ever replace a good teacher. What does 'Shift Happens' mean for today's teachers? She is not going to get into the literacy argument because it detracts from moving forward.
Peggy has been influenced by the writing of Daniel Pink and David Warlick in terms of defining what literacy and learning look like.
She gives us the light bulb problem. We have to train our students to think along these lines to solve problems.
To make the shift...
Give education a Second Life! Multi user virtual environment supporting constructivist learning.
Second Life can provide ...
Linden Labs [Second Life creators] have tuned into concerns expressed in the media and by educators. Adult X-rated content has been moved to its own islands! Main grid is for 18s and over >> teen grid for children aged between 13 and 17. The age boundaries cause a problem for educators and Linden Labs are working on this. And there is no provision for under 13s.
Safey and security on Ramapo Islands
Dress codes upheld. Respect between the students. Zero tolerance.
Peggy knew which teachers she was going to trial this with ... mostly those that had shown interest in what she was doing with Second Life! After the first couple of training sessions, they were up and running on their own.
Children with learning issues chosen to trial the software. They had just finished a unit on inventions. So the children recreated things like the telephone, the aeroplane. Then the children set up a weather centre on their island and looked at catastrophic events. They had ecology debates. NASA rocket studies.
Now, there are courses on personal finances and entrepreneurship ... they started up their own business ... business plan >> Board >> Linden currency >> plot of land >> resumes >> interviews for staff >> >>> cooking, jewellery, car business etc.
In Maths, children started to build problems in geometry and then to sell the solutions! Fleamarket Math project - children had to buy 10 items and stay within budget so they had to choose the most economical from a range of items! If they did stay within budget, they were rewarded! If the children went over budget, they developed strategies [like selling and bartering] to overcome the problem.
Social studies - Ellis Island immigration became great opportunity to explore issues and develop empathy.
English - held a mock trial for Of Mice and Men!
Health and wellness - this was a 10-week block for 8th grade students. Body image issues also dealt with. Girls first asked to design media-beautiful women and boys asked to design media-handsome chaps ... then they were asked to switch gender! Then they were asked to finish the unit of work by returning to the avatar they preferred. Lots of useful indepth discussion around beauty, media, issues. Lots of press and media coverage about the success of this.
Multimedia island - music studio
Foreign Language island ...
Digital storytelling project ...
Discussion pods ...
Students are helping to design the curriculum
Adolescents need a place to explore their personality in a non-confrontational environment ... and to explore alternate identities without repercussions. Supports Erikson's theory that teens need to try on different roles with minimum consequences.
No amount of computers and other technologies can ever replace a good teacher. What does 'Shift Happens' mean for today's teachers? She is not going to get into the literacy argument because it detracts from moving forward.
Peggy has been influenced by the writing of Daniel Pink and David Warlick in terms of defining what literacy and learning look like.
She gives us the light bulb problem. We have to train our students to think along these lines to solve problems.
To make the shift...
- What will teachers let go?
- When will administrators start trusting their teachers?
Give education a Second Life! Multi user virtual environment supporting constructivist learning.
- You can customise your avatar and make yourself look as you wish.
- Thriving online economy conducting millions USD in transactions per month.
- You maintain the owner rights in Second Life - you can build something and sell it for Lindens! People in Second Life are making their living buying and selling pixels - they watch the LindeX index for current status!
- Simple building tools to create [even for the non ICT literate]. There can be programming and mathematics involved, but mostly the tools are easy to use.
Second Life can provide ...
- A supplement to traditional classrooms environments
- Extend learning
- Introduce and explore concepts
- Demonstrate mastery and create new meaning
- 16 acres of 'virtual space'
- Secure intranet space
- Or open and public
- $700 + $147.50 monthly - http://seconlife.com/land/privatepricing.php
Linden Labs [Second Life creators] have tuned into concerns expressed in the media and by educators. Adult X-rated content has been moved to its own islands! Main grid is for 18s and over >> teen grid for children aged between 13 and 17. The age boundaries cause a problem for educators and Linden Labs are working on this. And there is no provision for under 13s.
Safey and security on Ramapo Islands
- Private islands
- Adults have rigorous background checks
- No access to TH residents or contents
- Constant adult supervision
Dress codes upheld. Respect between the students. Zero tolerance.
Peggy knew which teachers she was going to trial this with ... mostly those that had shown interest in what she was doing with Second Life! After the first couple of training sessions, they were up and running on their own.
Children with learning issues chosen to trial the software. They had just finished a unit on inventions. So the children recreated things like the telephone, the aeroplane. Then the children set up a weather centre on their island and looked at catastrophic events. They had ecology debates. NASA rocket studies.
Now, there are courses on personal finances and entrepreneurship ... they started up their own business ... business plan >> Board >> Linden currency >> plot of land >> resumes >> interviews for staff >> >>> cooking, jewellery, car business etc.
In Maths, children started to build problems in geometry and then to sell the solutions! Fleamarket Math project - children had to buy 10 items and stay within budget so they had to choose the most economical from a range of items! If they did stay within budget, they were rewarded! If the children went over budget, they developed strategies [like selling and bartering] to overcome the problem.
Social studies - Ellis Island immigration became great opportunity to explore issues and develop empathy.
English - held a mock trial for Of Mice and Men!
Health and wellness - this was a 10-week block for 8th grade students. Body image issues also dealt with. Girls first asked to design media-beautiful women and boys asked to design media-handsome chaps ... then they were asked to switch gender! Then they were asked to finish the unit of work by returning to the avatar they preferred. Lots of useful indepth discussion around beauty, media, issues. Lots of press and media coverage about the success of this.
Multimedia island - music studio
Foreign Language island ...
Digital storytelling project ...
Discussion pods ...
Students are helping to design the curriculum
Adolescents need a place to explore their personality in a non-confrontational environment ... and to explore alternate identities without repercussions. Supports Erikson's theory that teens need to try on different roles with minimum consequences.
BLC09: John Davitt - Creative Curriculum
This session was recorded live, using Twitcam
We can follow John's tools at www.newtools.org
When John feels down, he visits his eBay account to read his positive feedback! He has 100% good feedback ... and says that in all his life to date, this is the most positive assessment he's ever had! On the other hand, are we more interested in shopping than education? There's a danger that we are using new tools for old learning.
Wordle Try pasting in a 'bunch of text' from a news website - provides an overview and a sense of what is important in that article. Or a suggestion from the floor, you could put the contents of your presentation into Wordle to see if you are getting your point across!
You could print screen the Wordle image and save it, then open PhotoStory and create some motion animation ie fade from small to large.
Barcodes are coming ... QR codes and Microsoft TAG iPods with eyes etc. If your phone has a camera, it will read the code ... this will take you to a website. Codes are a way of labelling environments and can be generated. I generated this one for my Teachnet UK website.
John had codes for a lunar landing mission [Apollo 11] pinned on trees in Boston Gardens!
Mobile mission games can be found at GPS Mission Designer
Learning Event Generator and the Homework Generator ... to generate very different tasks. See this wiki for some ideas on how these are being used!
Scratch from MIT
See this YouTube video about Twitter, in plain English!
We can follow John's tools at www.newtools.org
When John feels down, he visits his eBay account to read his positive feedback! He has 100% good feedback ... and says that in all his life to date, this is the most positive assessment he's ever had! On the other hand, are we more interested in shopping than education? There's a danger that we are using new tools for old learning.
Wordle Try pasting in a 'bunch of text' from a news website - provides an overview and a sense of what is important in that article. Or a suggestion from the floor, you could put the contents of your presentation into Wordle to see if you are getting your point across!
You could print screen the Wordle image and save it, then open PhotoStory and create some motion animation ie fade from small to large.
Barcodes are coming ... QR codes and Microsoft TAG iPods with eyes etc. If your phone has a camera, it will read the code ... this will take you to a website. Codes are a way of labelling environments and can be generated. I generated this one for my Teachnet UK website.
John had codes for a lunar landing mission [Apollo 11] pinned on trees in Boston Gardens!
Mobile mission games can be found at GPS Mission Designer
Learning Event Generator and the Homework Generator ... to generate very different tasks. See this wiki for some ideas on how these are being used!
Scratch from MIT
See this YouTube video about Twitter, in plain English!
- Encourage ebb and flow of things in the virtual and real worlds
- Every school its own NBC? Lid, zone it
- Embrace the age of 'adhocracy' ... look at the professional development on one screen
- Walk many paths .. invent the 10 cent curriculum
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