Sep

28

Reach Out and Chat With Someone-Virtually!

September 28, 2009 |  Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

We educators are always on the look out for something new and cool that can enhance our way to collaborate with others.  Well, thanks to Jennifer Pugsley and Charlie Mahoney of Turning Point Learning Center in Emporia, Kansas I learned about Tokbox.  Tokbox is a free, web based video collaboration tool.  Yes, free!  Another excellent point that will keep the IT Department from getting too upset is the fact that there is nothing to download and install.  (The only concern the IT Department may have is the bandwidth used to stream your video conversation.)

So, I set out taking on the challenge placed in front of me to learn about this new tool.  I asked if anyone on my main social networking site, Plurk, would join in the evaluation process of tokbox.   I was joined by Eddie A. (JettaGLI), and two close friends from my former school district.  During the original evaluation we discovered that folks can join a conference by just using audio to collaborate with the others using video.  Eddie was successful in sharing photos from his Flickr account as well as showing a presentation from SlideShare.   I found that a YouTube video could be played within the conference window for all participants to view and control.  The interesting point about this feature is how the feed comes via tokbox.  Thus, the participants behind the firewall could see the video.  Another very nice application included with tokbox is Etherpad.  You can have a private or public Etherpad used within your conference.  Each person participating in collaborating via the Etherpad are identified by the color associated to their typing.  A great feature provided by Etherpad is the ability to upload or download in a variety of documents to go along with the “save version” option to revert to a previous saved copy if needed.  One of the lesser features that we felt was a really nice turned out to be the links for each video, Etherpad, presentation that can be re-visited by just clicking on them as you browse back over the main options.  As we continued to chat and play with the features the school day ended with us hoping to reconnect.

Later that evening Eddie and I hosted another session in hopes of truly testing the limit of 20 participants that tokbox says can participate in a conference.  Unfortunately, we were only able to get 6 people at one time to take the challenge.  In testing tokbox that evening we had participants on PC and Macs collaborating and sharing resources without any issues.  One of our participants, Dyane Smokorowski (aka Mrs.Smoke) even used CamTwist to share her Mac Book Pro desktop so we could see her demonstrate “How To” processes.  Unfortunately, it did not come through as clearly as one would hope.   Another thing we discovered dealt with bandwidth.  We had one participant connecting to the Internet via his Alltel connection.  Needless to say, he had troubles communicating with us due to delays while the rest of us were streaming smoothly.

Tokbox provides a wealth of other  creative options for it’s users.  One of the commonly used features is the ability to record and e-mail video messages to friends.  These video e-mails can be for some simple message or for special moments including holidays via the templates hosted by tokbox.  Tokbox also provides users the ability to embed it’s conference feature within a blog, wiki, or website.    In addition, the opportunity to embed tokbox is now officially part of Ning networks.  I have even went to the point of adding it to my Ning site that is used for promoting future teachers to districts looking to hire young educators.   Click on this thumbnail picture to see an example of tokbox’s Ning feature. tokbox feature for Ning sites.

Finally, I hope you consider watching the following overview video I created to show the features and functionality of tokbox.  The video is 11 minutes in length.

Free online screen recorder

All in all, I have been impressed with the features of tokbox and the potential ability to have several people involved in a single video conference.  Maybe the challenge of hosting 20 people simultaneously can be answered after everyone reads this post and lets me know that they want to join the party.  After all, I plan using this site on October 5, 2009 with my pre-service students so we can bring in educators across the globe to discuss how social networking and media can strengthen us professionally.

Jul

23

Turning up the “HEAT” in Education

July 23, 2009 |  Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

LoTi WordleIt was a quiet evening when the winds of change arrived with the approaching storm.  As we all know too well, storms can provided desperately needed moisture and enjoyable temperatures.  Well in our case, the winds lowered the temperatures outside to a much more bearable degree.  It was this setting that inspired and aided in getting my mind wrapped around this blog entry.    This post focuses on the winds of change or renaissance (rebirth) of an education  framework I strongly believe in – Levels of Teaching Innovation (LoTi).

Education has experienced a variety of trends in pedagogy ranging from a one room school house to multiple classroom structures to the virtual schools of today.  These changes are driven by the need to further develop one’s own skills to think, research, solve problems, and collaborate with others.  These same changes have been viewed in the revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Thus, LoTi too has adjusted to meet the “Winds of Change” in education.  Dr. Chris Moersch developed an educational framework in 1994 known as Levels fo Technology Implementation.  This framework was designed to assist educators in enhancing classroom instruction while integrating technology.  Levels ranged from classrooms having no or little technology for student use to levels where teachers begin to permit students to take ownership in their own curriculum with the teacher taking on the role of facilitator.  Then 2007 arrived.  The International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) established newly refreshed National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S) along with standards for teachers (NETS-T) and administrators (NETS-A) over the next two years.  These new NETS ignited the spark to turn up the “HEAT” in LoTi.  Dr. Chris Moersch and his staff met the challenge by revamping the LoTi framework.  Changes included updates to the online survey, classroom observations, and the emphasis of “HEAT” as the core to their name being re-defined as Levels of Teaching Innovation.  ”HEAT” stands for higher order thinking, engaged learning, authentic learning, and technology use.  The key to successfully measuring the “HEAT” in classroom is to cut out technology then evaluate the “HEA…”  To learn more about the further development of HEAT and explaination about the re-defined name please watch the following video provided by Miguel Guhlin via Edublogs.tv

As mentioned earlier, in emphasizing classroom instruction through the integration of “HEAT”, LoTi revised their “DETAILS” educator assessment survey from focusing just on current instruction practices (CIP), Personal Computer Use (PCU) and LoTi.

LoTi DETAILS Survey Results

The areas of focus (CIP, PCU, LoTi)along with a bar graph respresenting the DETAILS for the 21st Century of this educator ranging from Low Priority to High Priority as viewed in this screen shot has been changed to truly reflect the new enhancements of the revised LoTi framework.

LoTi's Digital Age Survey ResultsIn this screen image you will notice the new enhancements to LoTi’s Digital Age survey, of which, LoTi has mapped the survey questions to the NETS-T Standards.  You will notice that both “DETAILS” and “Digital Age” surveys display professional developments needs.  The visual difference comes in what is identified on this survey results page below the five bar graphs.  Yep, you read it correctly.  LoTi, Partnership for 21st Century Learning, Marzano’s Instructional practices, Daggett’s Rigor and Relevance, as well as Webb’s Depth of Knowledge all have been included to determine where you are on those scales in educational methodology.  For those of you not familiar with or want a refresher on the educational methodologies integrated into LoTi’s Digital Age survey, I have listed links for you to visit:

I hope that this post has enlightened your understanding to the “Winds of  Change” that LoTi has went through to further develop “Teaching Innovations” that assists in turning up the “HEAT” in schools.  As Dr. Moersch always says “May the LoTi be with you!”

Jul

12

Podcasting with Drop.io

July 12, 2009 |  Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Podcast as defined on “Podhead” – PODCAST: The word podcast was originally constructed by the words “iPod” and “boradcast”. Later, the expression POD was redefined to mean “Personal On Demand”, so that podcasting came to mean “Personal On Demand CASTING” or “Personal transmitions available for download”. So, a podcast is a series of related shows available on the internet, that can be played back on an MP3 player. Besides a number of episodes a podcast consists of an RSS feed, that describes the podcasts and its individual episodes.

The embedded video is my recorded Podstock 2009 presentation with Brian Richter of USD #376 in Sterling, Kansas. Brian addresses his use of podcasting as a replacement for written reports and student collaboration/sharing of projects via Moodle.

Sterling Online Learning Community

Podcasting Tools:

Blue Snowball

iPod Touch and Thumbtack mic I would suggest either audiomemos or iTalk (free applications).

SanDisk Sansa m250 2GB MP3 player

Skype and Supertintin or Pretty May Recorder

Apple’s Garageband on a Mac Book or Mac Book Pro.

Audacity cross platform sound recorder

Audioboo

Vocaroo Audio recording using a flash application that is web based. Very basic ability to record audio and then have option to embed or e-mail.

GeograffittiRecord a audio via your cell phone and have it geographical map your location of broadcast.

Free cell phone podcasting with drop.io

Podstock Roaving Reporter Assignment:
Voicemail
646-402-5683 x 51065

Podstock Podcast Project questions:

1. What are some of your favorite podcasting websites?

2. Where can I listen to podcasts other teachers have done so I can get ideas?

3. Do you prefer virtual or FTF conferences? Why?

4. What will be the first idea, site, or tool that you will share with your colleagues when you return to school/office?

5. When 2 web 2.0 tools can serve the same purpose, how do you choose which one to use?

6. How does student podcasting compare to “real world” podcasting?

7. What is your strategy for managing information and minimizing info overload?

8. What books would you suggest to others to further their understanding of education or technology?

9. What strategies do you use when selecting sessions at a conference?

10. What are your favorite topics to turn into a podcast?

Tony Vincent’s Podcasting Booklet Podcasting_Booklet.pdf

Podcasting Rubric TnC Podcast Rubric.pdf

Pre-service student PSA podcasts These are pre-service podcasts created based on public service announcements based on educational issues.

Interviews with students about technology and their projects.Mantz’s Mission podcasts

Podcasting and Education – January 2008 article from Campus Technology magazine

The Following items are cell phone podcasts created by participants of the Podstock 2009 presentation. Please keep in mind that these audio clips are embeded (new feature) without any editing. The reason for not editing is to show you the quality of the audio straight from drop.io

Read more

Apr

17

Platitudes and Baby Steps

April 17, 2009 |  Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Over the last month I have been very fortunate to be asked to guest blog with a variety of other passionate educators.  Tim Holt and I exchanged blog posts about “What Inspires Me” as well as “Those Who Inspire”.  In doing so, I found it very motivating and enjoyable.  Therefore, I asked on Plurk if anyone would be interested in guest blogging too.  Well, I am honored once again to have a fantastic person and even more successful educator than myself be  a guest blogger.  This guest blogger is Lisa Parisi.  I was honored to meet Lisa Parisi and Christine Southard in San Antonio, Texas at the 2008 NECC.  It was Ginger Lewman from Turning Point Learning Center that introduced us.  I would also like to mention that Lisa cohosts a very successful Internet talkshow that EdTechTalk airs on Sunday Mornings.  Please take some time and participate in her online show! Now here is Lisa Parisi……..

This blog has been written by Lisa Parisi.

I have high hopes for education in general and public education in particular. I truly believe that education is the answer to all our world problems. But I am feeling tired and defeated at this time. I seem, each year, to come to a moment where it seems as if we haven’t made much progress. And now is the time. So here I am, the year winding down, and I look back on where we were in September and where we are now. And I find we are still having the same conversations. And I am tired of the platitudes.

“We must make sure our students are prepared for this unknown future they will face.”

“We must allow them to use technology in all its forms to break down walls, open doors, expand their horizons.”

“We must show students how to think and innovate and create.”

And we all mean what we say and truly believe it. And, yet, we never talk about how to do it. Individuals are successful and, thankfully, I get to connect with many of them online. But as a whole, what have we done to meet these goals?

A week ago I had a unique situation to deal with. I have 24 students in my class. 4 of them were pulled out for the morning for an enrichment program and 7 of them were working with the physical education teacher, helping the children with austism. They had learned about autism through Temple Grandin at the Celebration for Teaching and Learning and were anxious to put their learning to use. That left me with 12 children.

Since I couldn’t begin anything new, I told the students to finish up their projects. I sat looking around the room and saw some students recording audio for their favorite teacher photostories. So throughout the morning you could hear students calling out, “Recording. Silence, please.” Three children went out of the room to record a podcast about how our classroom runs. When they came back in, they said to me, “We made a lot of mistakes. You will need to do lots of editing.” I responded, “No, you are going to edit.” So they sat down with audacity and edited the podcast, adding music at the front and back. I had two students who had recorded a science presentation and were sitting at the computer editing the movie. I had two students at the scanner, scanning pictures to import into a wiki. A few more were working on podcast scripts.

And as I looked around, I realized that the classroom seemed chaotic. But it was a controlled chaos. The children were learning, engaged and excited. I happened to have a sub in the room at the time, since my co-teacher, Christine Southard, was out. I am sure the sub thought this was the most unruly bunch of students she had ever encountered, because they were talking over each other and to each other and across the room to me. They were making decisions about who I should see first for assistance. They were running the classroom. So the sub probably did not appreciate the class. But I did. I was proud of them and excited by the learning and collaboration going on in the room.

This is also the time of year that we are assessing students in reading, writing, and math. Christine and I do this periodically throughout the year to be sure our students are keeping up. And what we are finding now is the learning has far surpassed our expectations. Reading levels are soaring, writing skills are being mastered, math concepts are understood and applied. And all of this with this very “unruly, chaotic class”.

So what does this mean for us all? I wonder, over and over again, why this classroom is not the norm. Why are teachers not able to let go and see what the children can do, when given the reigns? Why aren’t administrators encouraging this type of behavior? Why are we still working on a one lesson per class format? Let’s allow students to demonstrate their learning in different ways. What are we waiting for? Enough with the platitudes. Let’s stop taking baby steps. It is time for huge leaps. I’m ready. Are you?

Images:

Baby steps‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29868516@N00/3283470811

‘Team work means….‘
www.flickr.com/photos/81576641@N00/257649874

‘Chaos‘
www.flickr.com/photos/7762644@N04/2391631937

Mar

26

PBS in Education

March 26, 2009 |  Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Public Broadcasting System (PBS) has been influencing children and education for years. Now PBS has taken an even deeper step into education. I encourage you to explore PBS for Educators. Some of the features provided on the website ranges from Professional Development that includes their PBS Teachers Live (free Media and Tech webinars) to Standards based curriculum resources to Family Resources. Family Resources is composed of PBS for Kids, PBS Parents, and PBS Kids Play.

The designers of the PBS for Teachers website have also featured educational resources including Nova, Masterpiece classics, PBS for Kids, and Graphic Organizers. An additional enhancement offered is the ability to customize based on your resources and grade level.

Finally, I would like to pass on to all educators is this feature provided by PBS. Educators can find great resources and lesson ideas from the educational packs posted here on PBS. Here is the definition of an education pack as defined on the PBS website:

An Activity Pack is a set of educational resources focused on a theme and packaged in a widget-format that you can embed in your own class or social media web page. Each pack includes links to PBS web sites and a set of activities by grade level.

Themes that compile the educational packs include:

  • The Arts
  • Health and Fitness
  • Reading and Language Arts
  • Science and Technology
  • Social Studies

Here is an example of the PBS educational Pack widget that one can embed into a website, blog, or class wiki. This widget features the theme for March “Women’s Rights: Then and Now”.

In closing, I challenge all educators to take time and review the benefits and offerings provided by PBS. Best wishes hunting for your gold nugget!

Mar

26

Those that Inspire Us

March 26, 2009 |  Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Inspiration as defined by Merriam-webster.com says it is “the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions: act of influencing or suggesting opinions.” It was after reading this definition of Inspiration I was able to get my mind wrapped around what I wanted to write in this blog entry. I am writing this post to accomplish two goals: 1) be a guest blogger in collaboration with Tim Holt of El Paso, Texas. 2) Express the inspiration and respect I developed for a middle school student in Connecticut.

What inspires me personally?

My family is the biggest influence and inspiring portion of my life. See, both of my parents were educators for a time. They always focused on what was best for the students and not what was best for them. My sister is the head of the education department at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. She loves working with students and educators making them aware of all living animals, reptiles, and insects on Earth. She too wants to provide students every possible benefit of learning in a student-centered environment. I see this same attribute in how my wife approaches her daily task of working with a wide range of students in her high school special education classroom. Some students are high-level functioning students while others are either mentally or physically disabled. But that does not change her approach to finding ways to let each and every student become productive citizens. The other two inspirational parts of my life are my children. My four-year-old son is always asking questions. Then again, what young child does not want to learn about his surroundings? The thing that amazes me about him is his ability to remember the smallest trivial piece of information along with the passion his possess in wanting to attend pre-school. If he misses school, his world has been rocked. Then there is my nine year old. One of her biggest characteristics is her passion to help others. She is always looking out for the other person. If there is a way she could help a friend or classmate out, she will get involved. Honestly, she is my “Extreme Home Makeover” watcher. We watch the show together and there are not very many episodes she does not make a comment about wondering how to make a difference locally or globally.

Who else inspires?

Students inspire me. Thus, they are the focal point of my “Mantz’s Mission” podcasts and several blog posts. I feel that the key to improving education and the success of technology implementation rests in student engagement. I also see students and educators inspiring one another. For example, three educators that indirectly inspire me in how they inspire students are Kymberli Mulford, Ginger Lewman, and Paul Bogush. Kymberli has students assist her during professional development sessions with other educators. After all, what is more powerful than being an educator and learning from our students and understanding what inspires them to learn? She also said that several teachers observed the passion of the students and felt that they could integrate a variety of tools into their own classrooms. Next educator is Ginger Lewman. I strongly believe that this lady has as much energy, if not more, than Tim Holt and Kevin Honeycutt. Ginger is the Director of face-to-face learning at the Turning Point Learning Center in Emporia, Kansas. Ginger, along with a great cast of fellow educators, has developed a curriculum using project based learning activities to inspire their students to search out the answer and collaborate on developing possible resolutions to global issues. Through one of her projects, I learned of Paul Bogush in Connecticut. Paul and Ginger teamed up for a collaborative project that placed students in the role of debaters. The students had to research issues being addressed in the presidential campaigns. Upon completion of their research, each student team debated the other students using uStream channels embed into a wiki site. I observed this debate remotely and was just amazed by the ability of the students to communicate their points. Wow, what a powerful use of technology transparently to get across to their students the importance of understanding the issues and being able to communicate.

It is this transparent use of technology and openness to let students explore that inspires Paul’s students. I was honored to view and later interview one of Paul’s middle school students “Meg” about her digital story project. Paul had challenged the students to create a digital story about an African American that influenced others. Rosa Parks was Meg’s selection. To make a long story short, she continued to inspire me with her passion to learn and willingness to stand up (in this case “sit down”) for the rights of others. We continued to talk about how she was inspired by the lesser-known people that have influenced American history. Here is the digital story created by this young inspiring lady from Connecticut. Thanks again Meg for being such an inspiration!

Who are some of the lesser-known women that have inspired?

In recognition of March being Women History month, I have compiled a small list of inspiring, influential women from America’s past. Those ladies include Betsy Ross, Clara Barton, Mary Elizabeth Bowser, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Rosa Parks, Carrie Chapman Catt, Susan Brownell Anthony, Amelia Earhart, and Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, USNR just for beginners.

In another challenge that meets present day inspirational women came from Heather Braum. The challenge was Ada Lovelace Day. Here are the ladies of technology that I feel deserve to be acknowledged and recognized for the time they take to inspire educators and students today with the integration of technology. Tammy Worcester, Dyane Smokorowski (Smoke), Becky Herl, Rita Betts, Laurie Korte, Sheryl McCoy, Teryl McGee, and Carol Skyring. To learn of additional ladies that influence technology please check out the list of my friends on Plurk.

Future inspiring and influential women that come to mind is Paul Bogush’s student and my nine-year-old daughter. Who are your up and coming inspirational ladies?

Finally, I hope you take a moment and step back to reflect upon those that influence and inspire you on a daily basis. Please keep in mind that educators can be viewed as role models to our students. It is this honor that educators should cherish as we look to inspire students today and tomorrow.


Mar

19

What Inspires Me

March 19, 2009 |  Tagged , | 11 Comments

What inspires me?
Tim Holt
Guest Blogger

(I started an experiment by asking some of my edu-blogger friends to write a guest blog for my site, in exchange for a guest entry for their site. Dean was nice enough to bite, so here is my guest blog. I hope you enjoy it.)
I often wonder what are the things that inspire the other writers out there in the blogosphere, especially the incredibly prolific ones? And since I started wondering about what inspires them I thought I would write a little piece about what inspires me.   What is it that inspires me to write blogs, create podcasts, and share what little knowledge I have with my fellow educators?

Some people think that my writing is okay, some people don’t care for it all, and a lot of people have never read anything I’ve written.
That’s okay.

I certainly don’t have the audience that a lot of the famous edu-bloggers have and that’s okay because the edu-bloggers that have a large audience are the ones that inspire me. I get ideas from them and then create mash ups in my mind. So the David Warlick’s of the world, the Ian McIntosh’s of the world, the Wes Fryer’s of the world, and the Kevin Honeycutt’s of the world all are doing something that they probably don’t even realize they’re doing, they’re inspiring me to write, they are inspiring me to podcast  and they are inspiring me to publish my ideas.
I get inspired by the blogs of people that you’ve never heard of, the teachers that blog just for their class or their schools,  the principals that do blogs just other principals in their district. These people inspire me because these people are in the trenches they’re the ones that are actually doing the work that are actually putting the pedal to the metal and testing out in real life all those theories and all those ideas that I write about. They’re the living part of the conversation of this big Web 2.0 experiment that’s going on in education.

I get inspired by my professional learning networks on Plurk and on Twitter because people on there are always posting things about a how something works in real life or asking  “Have have you seen this website?” I love clicking on those URLs. I collect them, and I go back to them, and those websites inspire me.
Some of the websites are really cool and have really good education related activities and some of the websites are just terrible and have absolutely no worth in whatsoever. So I collect the good ones. I’ve even started writing reviews of all those websites that are on Plurk and on Twitter and I’m trying to keep the reviews less than 144 characters long so that I’ll have Plurk reviews. So all of those websites are inspiring, all the people that are suggesting the websites are inspiring, and my professional learning network which grows on a daily basis inspires me.

What else inspires me?

Conferences inspire me. The big conferences, the little conferences, there’s always something to be inspired about; whether it’s the people, the presentations, the keynotes or something else at the conference, they are all very inspiring. Now personally I’m beginning to think that the large conferences are beginning to all look the same so I am kind of headed toward a smaller conferences. The most inspiring conference I went to this year was a conference which only had 1000 people at. It was on a topic that I was not used to.  I learned so much  at every session because the topic was new and exciting, the speakers were exciting and I became a human sponge. If you want be inspired, seek out of little conferences like NACOL, or Kevin Honeycutt PODSTOCK.

The media inspires me as well.

Sometimes I’ll be listening to the radio and  start yelling back at whoever’s talking because they don’t know what they’re talking about. As soon as I hear people that don’t know what they are talking about, it inspires me to write a rebuttal and post it on my blog site. There’s this guy that rights in education column in the El Paso Times who is consistantly so wrong on so many levels so I always write a rebuttal and it never gets published and since it never gets published I post on my website instead. (Now I know that I certainly don’t have the circulation of the El Paso Times but it certainly makes me feel good and his bad writing certainly inspires my writing.)

What else inspires me?

My family inspires me. I have a wife that’s an incredible teacher, and every once in awhile she’ll come home and she’ll wonder how to solve a particular problem that’s going on in her classroom and that will inspire me to look up an answer. Of course, I will then write about it.
My children inspire me because I can see how technology actually works when they use it. They’re my own living laboratory of Web 2.0 and mash ups and gaming and movie making. They do it all, so I can see through their eyes what works and what doesn’t work.

Teachers inspire me. When a teacher calls me asking for help and I can give it to them, that inspires me. If I don’t know the answer right away it inspires me to go find it. Sometimes their questions beyond my capacity so it inspires me to seek out and find help on my PLN because I know that if I help that teacher, that teacher can end up taking my words and my suggestion and using it with her students, so I’m actually helping the students.

What else inspires me? I don’t know. Sometimes it’s a billboard that I see, sometimes it’s an article I read in the paper, sometimes it’s something that Apple computers might be coming out with, sometimes it’s just an idea that hits me as I’m driving along. I guess the point of the story here is that anything can be an inspiration, anything can be fodder for your blog site, for your podcast, for you to share with your fellow teachers.

Inspiration comes in so many different ways, that there is no one single thing that inspires me or inspires you or inspires anybody.

I guess that’s why we have to start teaching our kids not just to look in the classroom for inspiration, not to just look at home for inspiration, not just looking a magazine for inspiration, but to look everywhere for inspiration. They have the ability now to look everywhere for inspiration. They have at their fingertips the world, the universe. Unlike any other time in history our students have the ability to be inspired like no other children ever before them.

I hope that all of you will  be inspired to inspire others because you can and because you must.  Our future depends on how well we inspire our children. Lead on.

Tim Holt’s Education Blogsite: www.snipurl.com/ic

Jan

10

7 things NOT known about me…

January 10, 2009 |  Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

As I spend time and strengthen my “friends” via the online professional (personal) learning community Plurk I was tagged by Wendy Sigele (@wsigele) to participate in the “7 Things” sharing. Wendy, I appreciate the honor of being tagged by you! Therefore, here is a my “7 Things” list for all of you to read and now learn about Dean Mantz.

7. My sister is the head of the Education Department at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, KS. She has serviced as an assistant at the Hogel Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah as well as serving as an intern in Kansas City, Missouri and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

6. I met my wife while I was teaching middle school and she was student teaching.

5. Believe it or not during high school I had a lot of hair, enough to even perm it during my senior year…..now I look like a cue ball.

4. My favorite song is “Eye of the Tiger” and two favorite tv shows are “M.A.S.H” and CSI ( the original series).

3. I learned a lot about pitching in college from John Denny, 1983 CY Young award winner with St. Louis Cardinals while he served as an assistant coach. I went on to be a high school assistant coach for five years followed by being a head coach for another five years. During my five years as a head coach the program won 1 Kansas state title (2004), 2 league titles (2 more 2nd place finishes), 3 regional titles with an overall record of 96-20. But the best part of those 10 years was the connections I made with those gentlemen and seeing them mature and become fine young men. To this day I can not say their is not one of them I would not coach again. I find myself reflecting back to many of our conversations about what lies ahead for them as college students and adults. It was those conversations that I used to relate with them and provide them a venue to see there was more to life than just baseball.

2. I was born in Smith Center, KS and attended 5 different schools while growing up and graduating highschool in Enid, OK. When attending junior high in Spring Hilll, Kansas, I came out of the PE locker room with my gym shirt on….only problem was I forgot to put on my gym shorts…can you say “whitey tighties”?

1. During my senior year my grandfather (mom’s dad) passed away due to cancer. I remember the days of coming home from morning kindergarten and papa was there to pick me up at the farm. We would do chores including feeding the cattle or watering the horses. Then we would go into town for his afternoon “tea” break. He was a fairly quiet man that worked from dawn to dusk to provide for his family. I would say I have inherited that trait from my grandfather and father. Anyhow, when grandpa was diagnosed with cancer he was given 6 months to live. Well, this hard headed, workaholic, farmer was not going to give into cancer because he wanted to reach his 70th birthday. Well, that was about 9 months away. Amazingly and defiantly, grandpa made reached his goal regardless of having a cancer count that doctors were amazed had not already taken his life. It was not until two days after his birthday that he accepted his rightful place in heaven. When I was told grandpa passed away their in his bedroom at the farm I did not shed a tear. I could not accept that grandpa had passed away for he was the strong determined model that has assisted in shaping the person I am today. I did not attend his funeral and that bothers me secretively to this day. So, I am taking advantage of this post and expressing my appreciation and love from “Grandpa Mathes”.

P.S. For those of you not getting to say “Good bye” to the ones you love take the time and do it. Do not let it go unresolved! May God bless each and everyone that reads this, knows of someone suffering from a terminal disease and needs prayers, or those that have lost loved ones and not been able to close that chapter.

Here are two people and their videos I fully respect for it was terminal illnesses that took their lives too. Jimmy Valvano and Randy Pausch

Now I “tag”
@dennisa
@scarter
@MrsSmoke
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Dec

22

Our Responisbilities as “Digital Citizens”

December 22, 2008 |  Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Whether you are a digital immigrant or native we all find ourselves browsing the web exploring blogs, podcasts, wikis, or your own favorite professional (personal) learning community, there is a responsibility we have…..it is “Digital Citizenship”. As we read posts and make our own comments we may ask ourselves a couple of questions. First, “Do I agree with that point of view?” Second, “How can I use that in my classes”. The one other question that I find myself asking at times is “Is that appropriate use of technology?” It was after reading Mike Ribble’s Passport to Digital Citizenship in the December/January edition of ISTE’s Learning and Leading with Technology that got me thinking about previous experiences and conversations I have participated in recently.

Mike Ribble defines digital citizenship using the new NETS-S standards. According to the newly revised standards digital citizenship is defined as:
                 “Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior……”
In reflecting upon this portion of the definition I look back at my own experience as an educator and Director of Technology. Before technology became one of the spokes supporting the every turning wheel of education, students were being taught and asked to discuss legal as well as ethical behavior in their daily lives. During those discussions there would not be a unanimous resolution to the question at hand because everyone had different point of views and were raised differently in the diverse culture of our community. However, the students were at least developing skills to communicate and respect the opinions of others within their own community. To me, this is the beginning of becoming a true citizen. Now, with the integration and implementation of technology tools and the Internet, educators need to develop methods to assist students in learning how to communicate and respect the comments of others globally. Two people that I have grown to know, via my professional (personal) learning community on Plurk, are Kim Mulford and Paul Bogush. Both educators are working with their students on developing communication skills that lead into the development of digital citizenship. Kymberli (kmulford on Plurk) has her students read blog and wiki posts to enlighten their understanding of the digital community they are growing up in. Students then are encouraged to respond and post comments in response to what they read. Through this process the students earn their own right to have and create blogs. Now, how real world is this activity? As for Paul Bogush (paulbogush on Plurk), his middle school students are asked to research and develop questions for special lunch time guests that are interviewed for his class’s Lunch Time Leaders podcast series. The students conduct the interview and then, with Paul’s assistance, they produce and publish the product. I see this project as another method of developing digital citizens.

The specific points that make up the remainder of ISTE’s digital citizenship are:

  1. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology
  2. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity
  3. Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning
  4. Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship

As having been a Director of Technology and having to uphold E-Rate regulations along with meeting CIPA and COPPA regulations I find myself being split on the safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology. As a result of having to wear both hats, I chose to ask the opinion of my professional learning network their opinion on the question of “Do you believe in teachers having the ability to remote into student computers and see what is going on?” (view responses) I found the comments very interesting and thought provoking. The range of comments reminds me of the situation I spoke about earlier regarding the lack of unanimous agreement in a resolution. Then again, does digital citizenship mean we must all agree on the same resolution or does it mean we can collaborate and reach our own decisions and respect one another regardless of which side of the fence it falls? Nonetheless, my stance on the question I posted is……..I am not a believer in such products for teachers. It is not that teachers cannot be trusted as much as it is a point that I feel those tools would not be needed if teachers would collaborate with their students and not sit at their desk. I am a strong believer, just read my first blog post, in student engagement. If students are engaged and using their time efficiently, they would not be looking to do things that would not be permissible on a normal day. Educators, as yourself, how you would feel if administration had your laptop on their screens to observe on a routine basis. Would the teacher association not be up in arms about treating the teachers like professionals? Sure, many students are not mature at times, but if they understood your expectations and had input to what was going on in class, the problems would decrease while student achievement would increase as a result of students seeing their education as being a partnership not a dictatorship. So, I ask you the reader “Is it ethical/necessary for teachers to have products that can remote control student machines and sit at their own desks?” After all, the teacher’s role is to model proper usage of technology and exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning and productivity!

The final portion of digital citizenship I want to address is leadership modeling technology and life long learning. Why are so many administrators afraid of technology? The same question can be asked of teachers. The answer….I am not sure other than they are afraid to make mistakes or feel like they may appear to look foolish because they do not know how to use such tools. Permit me to refer to this Nike commercial staring Michael Jordan.

Listen to his message “I have failed over, and over, and over again and that is why I succeed”. To be a life long learner one must take chances and step outside of their comfort zone. Those intimidated by technology and Web 2.0 need to listen to this video and realize that making mistakes is part of learning. After all, no human is perfect. I encourage teachers and all administrators to find a professional learning community online whether it is Plurk, Twitter, or a Ning community and join the conversations. If you want to try out Plurk I will be glad to direct you to numerous principals and superintendents that do understand the big picture and want to engage all aspects of education through the transparent implementation of technology and higher order thinking skills.

In closing, I want to openly express my deepest appreciation to my wife and children as they support my motivation to learn more about the Web 2.0 tools and methods being used by other educators globally. For I spend many hours learning from all of you. But they too understand it is my passion to learn more and to make myself better in earning the privileges that makes my family what we are today. I will leave you all with the nine elements of Digital Citizenship provided within Mike Ribble’s Passport to Digital Citizenship as introduced in the opening paragraph.

1. Full electronic participation in society. Can all users participate in a digital society at acceptable levels if they choose?
2. Electronic buying and selling of goods. Do users have the knowledge and protection by buy and sell in the digital world?
3. Electronic exchange of information. Is there an understanding of the digital communication methods and when they are appropriate?
4. The capability to use digital technology and to know when and how to use it. Have users taken the time to learn about digital technologies? Do they share that knowledge with others?
5. The standards of conduct expected by other digital technology users. Do users consider others when using digital technologies?
6. The legal rights and restrictions governing technology use. Are users aware of laws (rules, policies) that govern the use of digital technologies?
7. The privileges and freedoms extended to all digital technology users and the behavioral expectations that come with them. Are users ready to protect the rights of others to defend their own digital rights?
8. The elements of physical and psychological well-being related to digital technology use. Do users consider the risks (both physical and psychological) when using digital technologies?
9. The precautions that all technology users must take to guarantee their personal safety and the security of their networks. Do users take the time to protect their information while creating precautions to protect others’ data as well?

Dec

14

Online Puzzlemaker

December 14, 2008 |  Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

It is that time of year when the students are anxious for Santa to arrive and deliver the gifts of their dreams. Teachers feel pressured to get the semester requirements met and try to find small activities to occupy student time. Well, here is one web based application that will ease the stress on teachers to create an activity that students can collaborate on or solve on their own. The web application is Discovery Education’s Puzzlemaker.

Puzzlemaker provides several options for teachers to integrate into a lesson or a fun activity.  The puzzle options consist of word Search, criss-cross, double puzzles, fallen phrases, math squares, mazes, letter tiles, cryptograms, number blocks, and hidden message.  Click on its name upon deciding which one is best for your activity.   The selected puzzle screen will provide you step-by-step instructions to successfully create and print your own puzzle.  Another option to printing it directly from the web is to save it as a webpage to your desktop.  By saving the puzzle as a webpage, teachers have the advantage of re-printing the puzzle at anytime.

I have created a demonstration video of Discovery Education’s Puzzlemaker site using ScreenToaster.  Screen toaster is currently in the early stages of development. I have found it fairly easy to use. There is no software to download. The recording is all done via a web browser. ScreenToaster will be on one page and the recording will actually take place on a different window or tab. I recommend using “tab” options for recording. The tabs permits the user to transition from the ScreenToaster tab to the recording screen.

In closing, I encourage everyone to try out Discovery Education’s Puzzlemaker site and create their own puzzle from the variety of styles provided. For those of you looking to create tutorial videos of web site applications take ScreenToaster out for a test drive.

Free online screencasting tool