Create an Online Interactive Map

Heganoo.com is a free website that allows you to create interactive maps. What a great way for students to map out areas that they are studying about! Once a site is plotted, you can add a plethora of information in the description, including URLs. Here is a quick sample of a map of CISD that I created. It was very simple to create!

Encouraging Higher Order Thinking with Tech Tools

We have heard it said many time that to enhance student learning, we need to incorporate higher order thinking. However, sometimes we find it hard to implement this type of thinking. The use of technology can certainly aide in this process. In the article I have referenced below, the author, Susan Brooks-Young, gives 5 great examples of how to get students to think at higher levels.

Link to Article

All CISD student netbooks/notebooks already have access to applications listed below:

1. Use Movie Maker  to record the one-minute video using the built in webcam and microphone.

2. Use Audacity or RecordMP3.org to record the short podcast using the built in microphone.

3. Use infogr.am or Piktochart to have students create their own infographic.

4. Use either Smart Recorder or Screencast-o-matic to have students explain a concept via screencasting.

5. Use VoiceThread to create a Five Photo Story.

Implementing One-to-One - October 13th Training Session

Classroom environments are changing with the implementation of one-to-one. In Castleberry ISD, every 7th-12th grader is issued a netbook so that they have access to digital content at school and at home. As we have entered into the 21st Century, students are acquiring digital skills that will transport them into their future. However, just carrying the netbook to class each day does not provide the student with these 21st Century skills. Teachers must continue to examine the strategies they are using in the classroom as they implement one-to-one to ensure that the students are using the devices as a tool so that they are thinking at higher levels. In the course I am instructing on October 13th, teachers will examine tips and strategies for best practices when implementing one-to-one. By the end of the class, teachers will be able to answer the following question: How can you improve the way that you implement one-to-one in your classroom?

Web App Highlights - Recordmp3.org and GroupZap

If you have not tried out RecordMP3.org, you need to take a minute to see how powerful this tool can be in your classroom. For the teacher, you can leave personal messages on the Wall of your Gaggle classroom. Teachers can record instructions for students as well. But students can use this app to enhance their learning in your classroom. What a great way for students to reflect on what they have learned in class. I can also see students using this tool to practice answering questions at a higher level. There are so many ways that teachers and students can use this app in the classroom...just use your imagination!

Another web app that I just found recently that is great for collaboration is GroupZap.com. This online whiteboard allows teachers and students to collaborate, using sticky notes and badges to brainstorm together. What I really like about this app is that students do not have to have an account to use a whiteboard that the teacher has shared! Again, this is a great app to start training students on how to answer questions beyond the basic one word answers. Try it out and see how you could use this app in your classroom!

One-to-One: How to Maximize the Use of Technology on a Daily Basis

Today I am meeting with teachers from the middle school to begin preparing for the 1:1 environment that will be in all classes this year. With change, there can be fear. But that fear is overcome by walking through it. I remember as a kid walking out to the end of the diving board, and then returning to the ladder because I was afraid to jump. My Dad would encourage me to jump, so I would walk back out to the end of the board and just stand there. It would not take long before I was walking back to the ladder. My Dad would tell me that I needed to walk out without stopping and jump. I finally got up the nerve and jumped. Once I jumped, I couldn't wait to get back up on that diving board. I wanted to jump again and again.

The fear of utilizing technology on a daily basis can be a frightening thought at first. However, with encouragement from your coaches, administrators, and even students, you will realize that infusing technology will enhance learning and you will want to use it again and again.

Reflect back on the initial discussion held today in class about your hopes and concerns on maintaining a 1:1 classroom. Using what you learned today about managing a 1:1 classroom, address your three concerns with solutions.

Where is Your Vision as You Drive Your Classroom?

This morning, I heard a powerful lesson presented by Chris Seidman. In the lesson, he gave an analogy to living your life that I immediately applied to the classroom. So, here is my twist to his analogy!

First of all, imagine yourself driving your car. You can continually look in the rear view mirror to see what is behind you, but without looking ahead, you will swerve and not be prepared for what is ahead of you. Additionally, you can continually look through the windshield without ever referencing what is around you, however your navigation could be altered if you do not reflect periodically on what is behind you. Or finally, you can drive looking through the windshield, ever so often checking your surroundings through the rear view mirror as you head toward your destination. Think of how small the rear view mirror is as opposed to the large windshield. This reflects the amount of time you should spend looking in each direction to maximize the probability of a successful journey.

As a teacher, you take your students on a journey of learning. If you continue to only use teaching strategies that you have used in the past, your students will not be prepared for what is in their future. However, if you are only implementing new teaching strategies and do not reflect back on effective strategies used in the past, there can be learning bumps along the way as well. Educators must have a good balance of using new teaching strategies that prepare students to be successful using 21st Century Skills, yet periodically look back on the strategies used in the past to help guide the implementation of 21st Century Skills so that student learning is enhanced and they are prepared for their future.

New students are about to arrive in your classroom, buckled up and ready for you to take them on a learning journey. Where is your vision as you prepare lesson activities for the upcoming school year?

Using Gaggle for Collaboration and Communication

Every year, the Instructional Technology department looks at the services and applications we offer for students and teachers to determine if we will continue with what we have or move to a new service or application. This past year was no different. As E-Rate proposals came in, we began to look closely at a new service for student email. To remain in accordance with the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA), all student email and online navigation must be filtered when using school equipment. We looked at numerous solutions, but continued to return back to Gaggle as the solution we would use beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.


Gaggle's solution not only included student email, but also included an online classroom environment, digital lockers linked with Google Docs, student and teacher blogs, classroom discussion boards, and Gaggle Tube as a venue for students to watch YouTube videos that teachers have assigned for lessons. With the one-to-one project being extended to all 7th-12th graders, the Gaggle solution gives teachers one area where communication, collaboration, and sharing can all take place in a safe and filtered environment.

Gaggle filters uses human monitoring. This means that a person looks at the email, blog post, or discussion post to determine if school administration needs to be notified on flagged posts. Not only are they looking for inappropriate language, but also for posts that are harassing, bullying, or contain thoughts of suicide. In any of these cases, the school administration is contacted immediately, even outside of school hours.

On July 22nd, a group of teachers participated in the first overview of Gaggle. Below, you will see their comments about how Gaggle will enhance their classrooms, how they intend to use Gaggle in their classroom to enhance the learning environment, and how the use of the discussion boards and student blogs can be utilized for students to share what they have learned.

Preparing Students for the Real World - A Summary of Chapter 9 in Eric Sheninger's "Digital Leadership"

As school systems prepare teachers to educate students, the focus of student learning must move from what is scored on a test. Education must prepare students for what they will face beyond the school walls. Schools must begin to make changes so that experiences in real life are reflected inside the school walls.

Twenty-first Century Skills, or Essential Skills as Mr. Sheninger calls them, must be part of every teacher's toolkit for lesson activities to meet the diverse needs of each student. Incorporating activities that allow students to collaborate, communicate, think critically, and use their creativity to present new knowledge will help build these skills so that they can be productive outside of school. In addition, teaching students entrepreneurism through artifacts of learning, as well as global awareness through connections with their own peers around the world enable students to use these same skills in the workforce. And finally, lesson activities must be developed so that technology proficiencies, digital media literacy, and digital responsibility are part of the learning environment. Allowing students to solve real world problems with real work tools is the key to making sure our students our ready to tackle the world in front of them.

With this vision in mind, CISD has devoted itself to becoming a 1:1 school district. This next school year, every 7th-12th grade student will be issued their own netbook/notebook to use in class. Providing students with the technology is a key step that allows teachers to begin to make the changes necessary to fully integrate technology in their classrooms. A change in pedgogy is difficult for many teachers. However, when the teacher begins to move from the giver of all knowledge to the facilitator of student-centered learning, students become more engaged in their own learning and they begin to seek answers to their own questions instead of waiting on the teacher for those answers. When we engage the students in their own learning, their learning is enhanced.

References

Sheninger, E. (2014). Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times. Corwin Press.

Tech Academy - July 14-17

Over the past 4 days, a group of 18 teachers have worked on implementing 21st Century Skills and Technology TEKS into their existing curriculum. With 21st Century Skills, new technology TEKs, and secondary students in a one-to-one environment, teachers must be prepared to teach differently than they have in the past.

This summer in Tech Academy, we focused on several items:

1. Building a strong PLN (we can never learn enough)
2. Overcoming barriers when infusing technology
3. What is a flipped classroom?
4. Creating an infused lesson using a web app for students to present new knowledge
5. Maintaining a teacher blog
6. Using Google Docs
7. Gaggle.net

It has been another excellent week of training. I learned right along with the teachers as they shared new resources they found each day while spending time developing their PLNs. Teachers created their own videos that could be used in a flipped activity using applications such as Screen-cast-o-matic, Smart Recorder, and Powtoons. In addition, teachers went through the lesson activity themselves and created a student sample of a possible student product. The teachers this week have filled their teacher tool boxes with many useful resources as they transform their classrooms into 21st Century learning environments!

Teachers that attended from July 14-17, please reflect upon the week in a comment below. Also include answers to the following questions for me in your comment:

1. In Tech Academy, we used several web apps such as GoSoapBox.com. Answer Garden, Blogger, Google Docs, etc. Which of these web apps are you most excited about implementing in your classroom?
2. How do you see student using the web app you selected in #1 to enhance your curriculum?
3. What level(s) of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy can be reached using this tool? Why? How?

Wow! Leave Voice Comments for Students on Files in Google Docs

Several weeks ago, I tweeted a link to kaizena.com where a teacher can leave voice comments on documents that students have turned in. This week, I had a teacher from the high school contact me looking for a resource to do this very thing. I decided to look into the Kaizena app that is available for use with Google Docs. I think that this app could be a true time saver for teachers as they are reviewing and providing feedback on student work.

First of all, the app is free and it connects through your Google Drive account. Once you connect the app, you have students share their file with you in Google Drive. By right clicking on their shared file, you can open the file with kaizena.com. You are then able to leave three types of comments. You can record your voice, leave a text comment, or you can provide a link to a resource that the student may need to enhance the content of their work.

Using this app could save so much time when reviewing student work. Additionally, how nice will it be for the student to hear what you have to say! By adding your voice, it is easier for students to interpret what you have suggested. By hearing your comments, the feedback becomes more personal for the student, minimizing confusion while adding emotion for a clear understanding.

Since all of our students will have Google Docs connected through Gaggle.net next year, this will be a very effective tool to use for feedback. Below is a quick tutorial on how to use kaizena.com.

Tech Academy June 16-19

For the fourteenth summer now, I have trained teachers in a summer academy to learn how to infuse technology into their curriculum. In the summer of 2000, the course was called Intel Teach to the Future. This training was provided through a grant that CISD was awarded. In this training, the main purpose was to teach teachers how to use Microsoft Office Word documents, Spreadsheets, Databases, and PowerPoint! The entire week was about how to use these applications and to create lesson plans to take back to use in the classroom. When the grant was over, we continued the training, but changed the name to Tech Academy. Boy have we come a far way! This year as I planned on what we would cover in Tech Academy, I realized how much has changed in how we prepare teachers and how we teach students. With 21st Century Skills, new technology TEKs, and secondary students in a one-to-one environment, teachers must be prepared to teach differently than they have in the past.

This summer in Tech Academy, we will focus on several items:

1. Building a strong PLN (we can never learn enough)
2. Overcoming barriers when infusing technology
3. What is a flipped classroom?
4. Creating an infused lesson using a web app for students to present new knowledge
5. Maintaining a teacher blog
6. Using Google Docs

It has been another excellent week of training. I learned right along with the teachers as they shared new resources they found each day while spending time developing their PLNs. I was also very intrigued with the solutions that the teachers found on how to overcome barriers to infusing technology. The teachers this week have filled their teacher tool boxes with many useful resources as they transform their classrooms into 21st Century learning environments!

Teachers that attended from June 16-19, please reflect upon the week in a comment below. Also include answers to the following questions for me in your comment:

1. In Tech Academy, we used several web apps such as GoSoapBox.com. Answer Garden, Blogger, Google Docs, etc. Which of these web apps are you most excited about implementing in your classroom?
2. How do you see student using the web app you selected in #1 to enhance your curriculum?
3. What level(s) of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy can be reached using this tool? Why? How?

How Do You Infuse Technology? A Quick Look at the SAMR Model

Next year, all secondary students in Castleberry will have daily access to a device to use in class. How these devices are used can have a profound impact on student learning. We have looked at Bloom's Digital Taxonomy to determine the level of thinking that is required to master a particular objective. However, many still see the infusion of technology as a separate entity. So how do we meld curriculum and technology together so that they seamlessly work together?

Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Ph.D. created the SAMR Model that shows the progression of technology infusion. The great thing about this model is that it focuses on student learning, not the tools. As I researched about this model, I found the video embedded below. It is a short video that takes you on a quick tour of the model.

Last Week of School

It is so hard to believe that it is the last week of school! Where has the time gone this year? It seems like just yesterday, I was training new teachers to start the school year! This has been a very busy yet exciting year. We began the year expanding the Connected Learning Program to include all 8th through 12th grade students. Students were introduced to web apps such as Edmodo, Symbaloo, LiveBinders, Fotobabble, Infogr.am, Kidblog, Toonlet, Phrase It, Popplet, Thinglink, Smore, and the list goes on and on.

As we move into the next phase of infusing technology, the focus must now move from using technology as an add-on to curriculum to using technology seamlessly with curriculum. This will be a change of teaching strategy for many teachers. Moving from the comfort of how we have taught in the past to a new classroom environment that incorporates 21st century skills can be scary and uncomfortable for many teachers. Providing our teachers with the support that they need beyond training sessions is crucial for changing classroom environments.

To provide the extra support, we will have an additional Technology Coach next year. Stephanie Martinez has been hired as the Technology Coach for the high school. She will work with the teachers to continue to enhance the one-to-one program already in place. To replace Mrs. Amon at the elementary campuses upon her retirement will be Jessica Batchko. She will work with elementary teachers as they begin to focus on including lessons from their curriculum during their scheduled lab time. I will be the Technology Coach at the middle school. As we continue to expand the one-to-one program, which will include 7th graders next year, this move will allow me to focus on assisting teachers at the middle school as they infuse technology. Our 6th grade classes will also each be equipped with a classroom set of netbooks for the 2014-15 school year making our middle school  a one-to-one campus. Castleberry ISD continues to expand the availability of technology and is dedicated to also providing the support that teachers need to fully utilize these tools to enhance the learning environment for students.

Influenced by Amon

For the past 14 years, my brain has been developing in two different hemispheres: one side continuing grow in the Kelsoe mind frame, and the other side influenced by the Amon mind frame. The use of a colon in the previous sentence proves this influence! But the influence is more than just grammar and includes work ethic, life skills, problem solving skills, and much more. The two of us began the journey together as CISD began to introduce technology to the district. The first wave was to put a computer and a telephone on the desk of each teacher. Next, each teacher classroom was equipped with a mounted projector for teachers to share presentations, videos, and Internet sites with the class. From there, the addition of technology equipment began to expand exponentially. Smartboards, document cameras, digital cameras, student response systems, COWs, iPod touches, iPads, and student netbooks were deployed. Although the tools were available, there was still a disconnect between teaching lessons and infusing the technology seamlessly into the curriculum.

Last summer, the district provided a Digital Leadership Academy for all administrators and supporting admin staff to attend to start learning about how to seamlessly add these technology tools into lessons and activities. Teachers began to have students use the technology to enhance their learning in their prospective classes. Video conference events for the elementary campuses tripled from past years. Teachers began to use online classes and online resources with their students.The ideas and teaching strategies that Mrs. Amon and I had been working so hard on for the past 14 years were finally coming to fruition. As we come to the end of the year, Mrs. Amon will be retiring and two new individuals will join our technology team. Although it will be very different without her working by my side, I am excited to move into this next chapter of my career. I look forward to sharing with my new colleagues, but I also look forward to learning from them as well. Thank you for the influence you have had on my life Mrs. Amon. I can only hope that I will be able to now pass that forward!

6th Grade Leach Classroom

6th Grade Classroom Roman

Week 8: Activity 3 - Final Blog Reflection

Throughout this course, I have learned several key points about designing instruction from a multimedia perspective. First, I discovered that instruction using text and images in isolation is much more difficult than designing instructions that combined the two together. Combining the two enabled me to give more detail that would enable the student to visualize the expected outcome for each step. Combining the two will enhance student memory (Hede, 2002). Next we were introduced to the use of audio in the design of instruction. After reading the research by Barron (2004), I realized that listening to audio files left a more lasting impression on the students than reading textual instructions or looking at images in instructions. By using audio files, the teacher was able to give a personal touch to the instruction. This led right into the next week where we learned about the impact of combining audio and visual together. As I read through the research of Lang (1995), I found it interesting that the use of visuals along with text and audio has an even greater impact on student learning. Finally, we looked at how to create video and then add it to a multimedia instruction set. During these final weeks, I learned that designing instruction from a multimedia perspective does enhance learning and is well worth the extra time required to design such instruction.

Based on what I read by Duffy and Cunningham (1996), there are key components included in the design of instruction from a constructivist perspective. A constructivist design takes on a problem-based instruction set. Initially, desired outcomes of what is to be learned must be identified. An initial problem or question is given to the student that drives the project. Students generate answers to this problem through collaboration and self-directed learning. The instructor for the course acts as a facilitator of learning, guiding the students with extending questions, eluding the supply of information or personal opinions. From their findings, students create meaning through a project. Students evaluate each other and through these peer evaluations, they construct their own answers to the initial problem.

The design of my project would have been different if I had designed it from a constructivist perspective. Although there was an initial problem, the students were guided through a series of steps to understand how to overcome the problem instead of leading the students with questions. The instructor took a more active role in the instruction by providing audio and video files to teach the steps. In a constructivist environment, the students might have created these resources themselves. In the end, the assessment was performed by the instructor through the use of a rubric. There was not a peer evaluation piece to my instruction set. The design of my instruction set was from a cognitive perspective, and although the two theories have some similarities, there would be differences in the design if a pure constructivist perspective had been taken.  

References

Barron, A. E. (2004). Auditory Instructions. In D. H. Jonassen (ed.), Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology (2nd ed., pp. 949 - 978). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Duffy, T. M. & Cunningham, D. J. (1996). Constructivism: Implications for the Design and Delivery of Instruction. In D. H. Jonassen (ed.), Handbook of research for educational communications and technology (pp. 170--198). Simon & Schuster Macmillan.

Hede, A. (2002). An integrated model of multimedia effects on learning. Journal Of Educational Multimedia & Hypermedia, 11(2), 177-191.

Lang, A. (1995). Defining Audio/Video Redundancy from a Limited- Capacity Information Processing Perspective. Communication Research, 22, 86-115.

Week 7: Part 2 Activity 2 - My Take-Aways on Designing Instruction

When I started this course, I felt knowledgeable in designing instruction. As part of my job as an instructional technologist, I design and create training guides, professional development sessions, and tutorials on a daily basis. My hope for entering this course was to grow in this area and not only find new ways of delivering instruction, but to also find ways to enhance instruction. Now that I have completed the course, I realize that there are so many different facets of designing good instructional sets.

First, a quick look at some of the major points that I learned over the past seven weeks. I learned that without teacher direction, written instructions can be interpreted in many different ways, leading to frustration on the student’s part. Instructions seem to be much better when a connection is made between the student and instructor with the use of audio and/or video. Students are driven to learn when they know that their instructor has put forth the extra effort to provide the tools needed for the students to learn. To create these multimedia instructions, there are some simple steps that make the process much smoother. When creating video instructions, it is important to make a script prior to recording so that your thoughts are planned out in advance and you do not skip over crucial pieces of information. Then as you create the mashup, it is easier to edit when short video clips are used and then spliced together. As you put together multimedia instructions, special attention must be paid to the fact that there is a fine line between adding elements that enhance the instructions and elements that cause distractions.  Although the creation of good multimedia instruction takes more time up front, it gives the instructor more time to facilitate learning and also provides the student with the ability to go back over the instructions when needed.

As I designed the projects for this course, I realized that there were some differences in creating multimedia instructions as opposed to single media instructions. First, I found that it takes much more time to create instruction when media such as audio and video are included. These types of media have to be recorded, edited, and then published or embedded in a way that the student can access the information. Although there is more time involved, I feel that using these types of media enhances instruction because it allows the instructor to add phrasing and tone which in turn adds a personal touch to the instruction. Finally, using audio and/or video in the design of the instruction allows on demand access of the instruction from any mobile or smart device.

Although there are some differences, there are also similarities between designing multimedia instructions and other forms of instruction. With any type of instruction, the designer must initially set clear goals for the instruction. These goals give purpose to the instruction set. Then, no matter how the instruction is delivered, the designer must also include some form of assessment to measure mastery of these goals. And just like any other type of instruction, multimedia does not replace the teacher. The teacher is still needed to guide students and be a source to direct student’s to finding answers to their own questions.