Technology in the Classroom

It seems this is the way forward for most educational institutions, but I have to admit to not owning one yet — mainly because the apps seem to be more primary orientated. Never the less, here are some resources I have found to get us all started:
* http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/

* http://sqworl.com/4n97bh

* http://www.fluidtouch.biz/noteshelf/  (a handy writing app)

* http://www.cocoabox.com/ (a handy handwriting app)

* http://treetops.org.au/groups/ipadagogy/

* http://ipad.ipadsforeducation.vic.edu.au/

* http://techchef4u.wordpress.com/

* http://learningwithipads.blogspot.com/

This document is for use by CHS staff for the SDD on 2tth April 2011

EASY TECH

What a great site/article !!

Teaching activities for English & Welfare include:
* discuss digital footprints
* read about and discuss documented cases of people pretending to be others on the internet
* gather information by googling someone
* using persuasive or manipulative behaviour
* ethics and the internet
* and ….

http://socialmediatoday.com/pammoore/247258/green-eggs-facebook-15-social-media-tips-dr-suess

I found this book in a bookstore (where else !) last week — given the overdependednce of people on technology it is refreshing and just so adorable !!

It\’s A Book – By Lane Smith

Available through:

Macmillan http://us.macmillan.com/itsabook

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Its-Book-Lane-Smith/dp/1596436069

Angus and Robertson http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/book/its-a-book/8582582/

This is the video I made of the Ed-E Robot to show people what we do with him at the Macquarie ICT:  ed-eX3b

This term I am  deployed to the Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre to develop a cross-curricular project with the Ed-E Robots.

The concept of the project is to incorporate students from the fields of Music, Dance and Computing/Technology. The music students will compose a piece of original music, and the dancers will choreograph a dance to that music, which the computer students will then program Ed-E to dance. Ideally we would then film ED-E dancing against a blue screen and create a film clip that could be shown in a public forum such as a school assembly or eventually on a grander scale such as a Regional Dance Festival.

The students we are intending to trial the project with are Yr 8 students from a Sydney school.  I will be working with about 4-5 classes divided into groups of 6 (2 composers, 2 dancers, and 2 programmers) over about 4-5 days, working with a different class each day and culminating in an assembly which will display their work in some form. The students are currently using Sibelius for music composition, as well as GarageBand, and I have managed to compose a piece of music using the pre written snippets from Sibelius and import that into Ed-E then have him dance to it.

Dancing Robots

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.