Technology in the Classroom

Soooooooo ….. I have searched high and low for something new, something interesting and something exciting on the internet to show the Yr 7 Music class all about body music … and I find this fabulous clip on You Tube about the International Body Music Festival (yes I know  — there really is an International Body Music Festival) and the clip  has examples, interviews, in fact everything you could possibly want to show to start a discussion on “what is music”… and get kids making their own stuff … I mean composing. Well ! ….no internet access in the room … I am prepared for that and have it downloaded to the computer anyways … data projector works for all of 30seconds then the bulb goes kaput, and wonder of wonders there are no other data projectors available for use despite the fact that i am the only one who has actually booked a DP for this lesson and there should be at least 2 others available … the DER laptops have no way of plugging into a tv (unlike a mac which does!)…and so I am stuck. I grab the DER laptop and set it up in front of one group then grab the other larger laptop from my desk and play the video through that one …. success finally but 20 minutes into the lesson. Gotta love tech in a school !

International Body Music Festival

Browsing the interent recently I came across an article titled Health Concerns Raised Regarding Classroom Laptop Use. Although written in 2003 it raises some important points that our own DET DER are to my knowledge yet to address. The article may be found here http://www.applelinks.com/articles/2003/02/20030224133720.shtml.

In summary, the article addresses concerns about the usage od laptopsover a large period of time and the physiological impact on the user. Whilst it refers to the ibook program in U.S. schools  in 2003 it is extremely relevant to us Aussies in 2009.

The article mentions that whilst the laptop program is showing great results academically the health and safety issues related to the use of laptops is being hugely ignored. The article quotes Middle School teacher Josh Rogers: “As I look around the classroom, past all the excitement the laptops seem to be generating,The kids are hunched forward over their laptops, bending their arms and wrists at odd angles to reach the keyboards, and craning their necks down to see the screens properly. “

I have to admit that this is a scene I see more and more regularly throughout the school and indeed not just in classrooms but in students hunched over laptops in the playground.

Rogers refers to the scarce  information given in the user handbook  for the ibooks and its token reference to positioning of the computer. I don’t think I have ever seen a handout/email referring to any safety/health concerns associated with the laptops we and out students have been given by the DET/DER.

Rogers also talks of watching “laptop-using friends and relatives develop hollow chests, rounded shoulders, and various ergonomic-related ache and pain issues over long hours at the keyboard”. Sound familiar ? Take a look at your students and see what they are doing.

Laptops are an excellent educational tool but overuse on a day to day   basis does have some ramifications: “because the laptop monitor is attached to the keyboard, if you place the computer high enough for a comfortable viewing angle, the keyboard will be too high for maintaining healthy wrist posture….if you place the laptop low enough for the proper elbows-at-90 degrees-wrists-flat body…, your neck will be cranked down at an uncomfortable angle”. Well I don’t know about anyone else but this has certainly been the case for me. I believe the neck and shoulder pain I have experienced recently to be a direct result of peering down into the tiny screens on the DET DER Netbooks. The problem is that if you enlarge the document on the screen you can’t see enough of it to continue work adequately and if you leave it at the level of having the most info on the screen you can’t see it. Note I have made the task bar disappear and removed all but the essential task bars at the top of most internet pages and programs. It is the mouse track pad that I feel hold potential for health related problems. The squeezing of the fingers together in a claw like position is at times uncomfortable when held for a considerable amount of time and whilst this could be saved by using a mouse it is not always possible or practical in class situations, and I have to say I have never noticed it on any of my other laptops whose trackpads were twice the size !

Rogers’ article quotes extensively Alan Hedge, Prof. of Ergonomics Cornell University: “’Hunt and peck’ typing causes your head to bend forward to locate the keys causing neck strain. Raising the rear of the keyboard to the steepest angle lets you see the keys so much better and because you use your whole arm to hunt and peck, wrist strain is not the issue, neck strain is…. Beg, borrow or steal an external keyboard and mouse for desk work. ….be sure to elevate and position the screen to approximate looking at a real monitor.”  

Josh Rogers’ article may be read here:
http://www.portlandphoenix.com/archive/features/03/02/21/feat_laptop.html

The lack of information on the laptops from DET/DER to schools, DET/DER staff, and schools to staff is really quite alarming in its absence and there are many problems related to the use of laptops with in the classroom that are simply not being addressed – the health and safety of students & staff is just one of them. The article I have quoted is from 2003 – we are only just catching up to the U.S. in terms of laptop programs – will we have to wait another 6 years for them to be aware of the health and safety issues related to them?

Just a quick post — it seems there are rumblings with in the school about user guidelines for our netbooks — amazing how slow some people move, but even more amazing that most teachers can’t work it out for themselves.
Here are a few ideas:
* no social networking
* no use of audio or visual
* laptops are to be used only for educational purposes
* Laptop use in the classroom is a privilege and not a right. 
*  Internet use in the classroom is a privilege and not a right.
*Teachers reserve the right to determine when laptops will and won’t be used.
* Students are responsible for keeping their batteries charged.
* Students are responsible for the safety and security of their own laptops.
* Students are responsible for adhering to the DET’s acceptable use policy
* The laptop does not replace your work book or pens and pencils — you must bring and maintain both
* Don’t use sound and visual recording application without permission.
* Inapproapirate use  of the laptop will result in confiscation., detention etc.. — this includes cyberbullying, playing of games etc…

Use the phrase ”Lids down”  to signal you need the students attention. (It is no different to pens down eyes to me.)    

OMG — recieved an email last week about the problem with my laptop wireless not working and I cannot believe the stupidity of the help desk.

“Dear ______
We are pleased to inform you that your reported Incident has been resolved.

Will be resolved by update to image on netbook. Waiting for DMIG to release the image and imaging tools.”

Generic email or not, and mixed tenses aside, I really do not understand how one can call a problem fixed unless the proposed resolution to the problem has been applied and successfully resolved the problem !

The help desk has gone from telling me it is a hardware problem to acknowledging it is a software issue, and then saying the problem is fixed when for me it clearly has not been.

I relogged the complaint, after some searching for the online complaint service only to discover the limited application of problems allowed to be logged and recieved a second email:

“A solution for re-imaging netbooks is currently overdue for release. As soon as this is provided, the school TSO will be notified and they will reimage that netbook in order to resolve the problem.
In the meantime, once the school has its S1 allocation of netbooks, it will be possible for the TSO to loan you a netbook from the pool of spare netbooks provided for you to use until the netbook can be reimaged.
Please note that no offence is intended with the “We are pleased to inform you that your problem has been resolved” text from the email. It is a generic auto-generated email that we have no control over.”

Again — if the solution has not been successfully applied and the issue resolved then I don’t see how you can call it so. No date for the update has been given even in estimate, and no problem resolved.

Well, more info coming to light on a few things — rumours of what the netbooks do and don’t do have been rife this last few weeks with the majority ill-informed !

The broken wireless connection is still causing problems — as the computer will not find or recognise anything even if it is sitting on top of the wireless router.

A call to the help desk proved fruitless and went something like this: (for full effect read the Help desk in a thick Indian accent !

CDQ: Hello ! I have a problem with my Rudd Laptop ! I broke it ?
HD: Yes? what is it?
CDQ: The wireless won’t work.
HD: Is the light on the front of the computer on
CDQ: Yes
HD: Did you press the green button
CDQ:Yes — only about a gazillion times.
HD: What about F5?
CDQ:Yes — I keep getting a message that says I don’t have admin privileges.
HD: Oh…well no you don’t !
CDQ: So how do I fix it? and when will there be someone in the school to fix it?
HD: Oh the TSO’s will be there next month.
CDQ: Will they be able to fix it?
HD: No — it will be re-ghosted at the end of the year.
CDQ: Well ! we know how well that works — it is no use without the wireless.
HD: I will log your problem and we will get back to you.

Clearly the helpdesk was not very helpful !

A few days later I send an email, and consequently recieve a phone call from a lovely gentleman at the DER who tells me the tech department have told him the problem is “unique to my laptop”. Obviously this was met with a rather large guffaw from me — much to his surprise.

Latest developments: apparently the wireless connection will be  revamped with the next reimage of the machines which no-one knows when will happen…oh and the TSO’s have been fed to the wolves as the DET has not given them passwords for admin or suitable user manuals. YAY !!

Oh and after installing firefox … as soon as I connected to the DET LAN — it was wiped from the computer ! Now that is just plain rude !

Soooo….still playing and have discovered a multitude of  – useful programmes onboard for teachers and students to use ! …and some great resources online.

* http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/  Curriculum support has a lot of useful units of works (although some assume knowledge the majority of teachers would ssimply not have.

RESOURCES for Premier Elements 7

Fundamentals of PremierElemnts #7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK9Kn097Cqc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnx-5T3u5AM –  Forays into Animation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81QT4e0dCPs&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NgtkdwvQ7Q&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHzREx5a82w&feature=channel_page

http://www.animationsforvideo.com/html/adobe_premiere_elements_tutori.htm

 ADOBE TUTORIALS
http://www.adobetutorialz.com/categories/Creative-Suite-Family/
http://www.adobe.com/products/psprelements/explore/

DREAMWEAVER

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/

Well, I was sititng down to talk some more about the u software that is proving interesting yet unstable as it keeps crashing every few minutes….but when I tried to log onto the laptop today I found I may have succeeded in the challenge of the techie boys and finally broken it without even trying to !!

I have discovered a couple of annoying little problems:

1) Windows 7 does not come with Windows Movie Maker as part of the operating system — ironic considering it gives us Windows DVD Maker, and no disk drives, but extremely disappointing as WMM is a really handy free piece of software. Apparently you can edit with Windows Live but this doesn’t appear to be on it either. Really disappointing especially if like me you do lots of Video Production, stop motion, digital poetry etc….. We do however have Adobe Premier Elements — the dumbed down version of Premier.  I meet alot of teachers who claim to use Premier with Yr 7 and above but doubt they would use the to its full capabilities as the full version is a high end professional use software that teachers have no real need for. It will be nice to have software I don’t have to beg for and and works well  (I hope). If this is on the kids laptops it will be fantastic (see my other posts about the frustrations of digital video editing at school. (You can download the movie maker for Windows Live here: http://download.live.com/moviemaker

2) After successfully using the wireless connection at home for several days the wireless finder seems to have given up the ghost and no  amount of trouble shooting will repair the problem  – it appears to be  a Windows 7 problem and we get the message below:

As I type this at the dining room table watching Meerkat Manor we have bypassed the wireless by plugging in the ethernet cable – disappointing as it takes the portability out of a wireless laptop !

I have tried updating through the windows website but get this error message:

So….still playing with the Rudd Laptop and haven’t broken it yet although this morning I crashed Windows and the cute little music programme destined to give Finale notepad a run for it’s money (twice) !

Resolution is little hard to gauge — the super fine resolution (1026×728) is too small to read and although you can combat this with the magnifer or view in 125%  but it means you can’t fit as much n the screen. Obviously this will be better plugged into a data projector and rumour has it that the next rollout will have full size screens !

The laptop has USB ports on either side of its tiny body which is cool especially if you are right handed and want to use the mouse on the other side. My Mac was obviously design by a left hander as its 3 usb ports are on the left hand side so you either need a wireless mouse, or a long cable, or use the touch pad which I always revert to anyway.

The  windows activation screen — “contact administrator” is an annoying little popup as apparently we aren’t allowed to administrate our own laptops which is a little understandable — I wouldn’t trust most of us either but there are more than a few who know what they are doing.

Also, the flash player appears not to work (possibly due to Windows 7 — there is no download for Windows 7 on the Adobe website and it ain’t on the laptop that I can find) and there is no apparent popup stopper or adblock on the IE7.

So …. MUSE SCORE (http://musescore.org) – apparently a free programme but clearly unstable as I have just crashed it a second time and I had almost finished inputting my 16 bar melody and written the simple accompaniment to it — DAMN !! Lesson learnt — save often ! Doh !!

The programme is similar to Finale Notepad (which you have to now pay for)
* note entry is easy –  you use the keyborad, and changing note values s as simple as typing in anumerical number
* chords are simple to make (alt3 for a 3rd/alt4 for 4th and so on) but you need to know how they are constructed
* you can begin with a template or create tour own and add extra instruments as you go
* laptop on board sound is ok but not great — I will see if I can uload the xg-synth from Final Fantasy
* shortcuts are easy to use and simple alphnumerical entries — adding 3rd/4th etc
* there is an online manual and one in the programme — kids would benefit from a handout
* you can save as xml, midi, bitmap, and Lilypond (http://lilypond.org/web/index) the linux based msuic software — but not as a wav or mp3 for burning to cd or putting on your ipod.
* adding lyrics is fairly simple once you get the hang of it and editing it is simly hilight and delet or double click, adding space or a hyphon
* you can apparently plug in a midi cable and therefore a keyboard — but my adator is not usb to midi so I can’t test it yet ! (if it reads the piamo keyboard input better than finale I suggest you all chuck out finale !!)
* oh and I didn’t need to install fonts to look like notation — it seems installed already !!
* there doesn’t appear to be an import function for bitmap/jpeg or scanned music — but it did open the midi I downloaded and allow me to edit it, and print !!! NICE !!!!

All in all very user friendly !

Oooh — I just found the new paint in windows — very pretty !!!

Oh and “Print Screen” is FN+(Del)PrtSc !!

Now having said all that I have had to dump the laptop as it neared battery dump and come upstairs because the wireless connection decided to go kaput !! This may be our booster box or the laptop onboard wireless….hmmmmm !!

POSTSCRIPT — if you see lots of typos its cause the keybaord on the laptop is tiny and the screen tinier so I couldn’t see half of what I was typing…. yes I was wearing my glasses thankyou very much !!

So ….. I have just recieved my Rudd Laptop — or should I say notebook as the thing is tiny with a miniscule screen that is sure to send most of us not already vision affected by students crapy handwriting further vision impaired !! In fact if I am wearing my contacts I doubt that I will be able to read the screen at all. 

I have ranted and raved about he things for a while but I have to say that now i have got it up and running (a feat I am positive is beyond most teachers) and am sitting here on the first nght of the hols, at home, in front of the TV playing with it – it appears not too shabby.

Rumours about what they will and won’t do abound — the onboard software is actualy impressive — free stuff as audacity, some free music notation software, a stack of adobe stuff, itunes, some cool presentation software, Activ, and the Smartboard Notwbook software (thank god — activ is for babies), and heaps more. They are running Windows 7 (the one after vista) which is ok, but they only have 160g harddrives, and 2 gig off rsm which  am thinking is good for a little machine but we will see ! ooh and you can get stickers to change the colour of the outside — I am going to make a label for mine that says “I wish I was a mac” !

Mind you for those of us that have been using our own laptops for years — there is just the luxury of using a DET paid for one instead of spending our own money for them.

The techo boys have set me a challenge — “see if I can break it” so stay tuned and I will see how quick I can fry the insides !!

Apple must be smarting from not getting this gig!

Some of my Yr 10’s brought in their own analogue video camera to make their film. This presented us with a problem — how do we convert analogue to digital for editing on a computer.

Solution: we played the video camera into the set-top DVD Recorder  (a Panasonic DVD/VCR HDD Recorder/Player) in the library which was attached to the TV’s, then recorded (and finalised) the movie to a disk. I then took the resulting disk which was recorded as an actual playable DVD – VOB file, and converted the VOB file into an AVI file using WinAVI Convertor …. which I then saved to my portable hard-drive and brought back to school to put on the school computer for editing.

HICCUP: — the school computers would not play the AVI file because we didn’t have the correct codecs installed so after an urgent page of the tech boys — the correct codecs were downloaded and the students were ready to go !!!