ejourney with technokids

Students using elluminate for the Ping project

There is a lot of work to be done today. As the Ping music project is formerly concluded we need to get all your work uploaded on to the blog.

1. Check that all your work is on the blog, as some may have been lost or misplaced. Some of the pieces that should be posted are “Where am I?” and “What animal am I?”
2. The last piece that should be uploaded is your musical story without images and words. With each piece should be a short summary of what you tried to show, what you had to do to complete the piece and any challenges you faced. Remember that your final story should inclue at least 3 clips from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra recordings.
3. Check for any comments etc from the Portland or Camperdown students and please respond. If you do not have any comments, make sure that you go to their blog and add comments.
4. The final report – this is a reflective report on the Ping project and should be completed on your globalstudent blog.  Use the following headings to guide you:-

• Use a series of hyperlinks to link to each of your musical stories on the Ping blog.
• What were the challenges? What advice would you have for future students?
• How did you enjoy using elluminate? Give reasons. Do you see virtual classrooms as becoming a part of schools in the future? Why/why not?
• Comment on the project overall.
• Complete a powerpoint slide grabbing images and text that summarize the project. Save the presentation as a jpg and upload it into your post. Add your musical story without images and words to your globalstudent blog as well.

Demonstrating the trombone

Your last piece of work is a reflective blog post on your role in the digiteen project. Answer the following questions on your globalstudent blog post.

1. Your membership on the ning – hyperlink to your page and briefly describe your experiences using the ning – how sociable were people, did you meet many others, what countries
2. The group you were in – brief summary of the topic. Add a hyperlink back to your wiki page. Any comments about working with the wiki.
3. Discuss your outcome – what you produced, software used etc
4. Any challenges, advice for future participants.
5. Overall comment on the project itself!

Our student summit is next week, on Wednesday and our practise on Monday.

Instructions

• Finish your image “picturing the netgened project” and script. Insert this image into your globalstudent blogpost together with your script. Due Monday 3rd May
• Complete the final report (30 marks) by Thursday 6th May. This is to be posted into your globalstudent blog. Questions follow.
• Respond with comments to this post as to what tasks you completed on Friday 1st May

Reflections on the Netgened Project (adopted per kind favour from Vicki Davis post)

You are to reflect upon the experience of the Netgened Project, in a post on your globalstudent blog. You must include the following items at the top of the post, where possible. (5 marks)

• Name of group assignment:
• Hyperlink to Group Wiki:
• Hyperlink to Outsourced Video Clip:
• Video Hyperlink:

1. Overview of your technology – In at least 100 words and 3 hyperlinks, explain your technology. What was most interesting about what you learned?  (5 marks)
2. Overview of your NetGen Norm – In at least 100 words, 2 hyperlinks and describe your NetGen Norm. (Find this on the wiki as it is the group you were in.) (5 marks)
3. Outsourced Video -
   What was the outsourced video you created? Did you understand clearly what was asked of you? Did the video you, made make it into the final video for the person you created it for? Why or why not? Include a hyperlink to the final video of the person that included your outsourced clip. (No need to embed) — (min 50 words)  (3 marks)
4. What was the outsourced video you requested? Did you or did you not receive it? If you didn’t receive it, why do you think you didn’t? Did you use the outsourced clip(s) you received, why or why not? (please include a hyperlink to the student who created your outsourced video) (min 50 words) (2 marks)
5. Final Video – What was your initial idea for this video? Did what challenges did you face with your video? Critique your own video – what is the quality of video? If it is not acceptable, what could you have done to improve it? Critique your own audio. What could you have done to improve it? Name at least one thing you could have done to have a better movie. Finally, share the hyperlink to at least one other movie on the Flat Classroom project that you believe deserves recognition and state why. (min 150 words)  (5 marks)
6. Reflection on NetGenEd project in a sentence
   What is the most useful thing you’ve learned as a result of this project – summarize it in one sentence at the end and put it in bold. (5 marks)

Total  = 30 marks

Heard about the swine flu?  Goto the following post Walking the Wiki – Marathon Style and answer the questions on wikipedia.

Day 1, term 1, 2009 with our students, we discovered that our internet was down. The extensive heatwave, had burned out our router (or was it the power blackouts) and it was a Telstra job.  Their priority was the bushfires and connecting residents affected in those areas back onto telephones. Unfortunately, I only have my year 7 students for two lessons a week and it is a double on Monday. This means that I have not been able to:-

• register each one for the blog (I will rectify that this Monday)
• tested the equipment with these students
• been able to fully explain the nature of virtual classroom software etc
• have not been able to place a webcam on the whiteboard yet, so will run with my laptop webcam on Monday
• test again as our computers have been reghosted on Friday, to allow the beta version of audacity be placed onto our lab computers.
• need to take care when putting our webcam on, as I keep clicking the wrong option and switching Ajax’ off.

and we are the first to kick start the program this Monday!!

However, on Thursday, Ajax McKerrall met with us in elluminate and I tested the gear with firstly my year 11 students and then my 9/10 IT classes. This was such a teachable moment for them as they were immediately plunged into virtual learning and all the technical issues that this causes. However, they all rose to the occasion and finally got online.  How lucky were we to hear Rohan de Korte, a cellist, from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra who was in the studio play to us. He was very good and accommadated student requests for various sounds and of course,  played us a composition by Bach which was as old as the cello is.

Some considerations:

•  problems with elluminate recognizing the headsets.  Had to goto tools>sound>and direct elluminate to the mic and headset.
• if using a webcam to scan or span for use in a virtual classroom, it needs to be done slowly and rest on the object for at least 15 secs to be able to see the object or focus of attention.
• feedback in the room. However, I think that this is unavoidable due to the large number of headsets in action.
• need to let students play with the whiteboard before they go into the formal classroom, or else lock the whiteboard down as students love to know what everything does.
• Loved the way that the students really worked the chat with immediate feedback on what they were hearing ( I have only been in a student summit with my students before or in staffrooms with other teachers using elluminate previously.)
• Students asked questions and interacted so well.

It was a great run through, and the students were very enthused about the whole project, and I am sure that my year 7s will do the same.

This morning, I was awoken by my husband shaking me  asking me what time I needed to get up on my first morning back in Australia. (I had already slept in by an hour.) The routine that had been developed over the last week has been broken.

5am Prayers from the local mosque would awaken me in Doha, Qatar

5:30am Arise and get organized for the day

7:20am School would start at the Qatar Academy, or 8:00am the flatclassroomconference would commence .

School day, tours or conference sessions filled in the day until 2:20pm (the end of school) or up to 8:00 pm for conference sessions.

My students are again a monoculture compared with the many varied nationalities, creeds and cultures of the last week.

The accents are all the same, except for those of us who went to Qatar and occasionally slip into the Texas or Alberta accent without thinking. I had to listen so intently to the many and varied accents of staff and students to ensure I understood what was said and responded appropriately.

Salim, Anne and students from Oman and Hawkesdale

 The dress is entirely Western again – gone are the  thobes , Ghutra and Igal of the Qatari and Arabic men, the abaya and hijab of the Islamicwomen , and the more traditional dress  of the women from Pakistan. Back are the short skirts, singlet tops and shorts, and our school uniform. Gone is the routine but we

Teaching Teachers how to blog

It is that time of year when report writing is at its most feverish, senior classes are into or finished exams and some of the best subject conferences are on. There was a report writing day on Friday, with no students at school.

So, this week was a busy one for me, as part of my teacher professional leave had been set aside to report back to the subject associations that I am a member of VITTA (Victorian Informatin and Technology Teachers Association)  andVCTA (Victorian Commercial Teachers Association). It was unfortunate that this year the two conferences clashed so I spent my time between, Rydges in Bell Street, La Trobe University and VUT in Flinders Street Melbourne. I made 5 presentations over the three days and these were as follows:-

• A 21st century classroom for the early years
• Blogs, wikis, nings and more….
• From storytelling to web2.0 in the accounting classroom
• Podcasting using audacity
• Shift your school into the 21st century (co-presented with Jess McCulloch)

These will be uploaded on to the appropriate websites soon.

With the students

• Year 9 and 10 wrote their final post for the Blogging across Cultures project and thanked those involved
• Year 7 and 8 wrote a reflective post on their blogging
• Year 4 inserted their MS Paint images for the Vendee Globe project and added blogroll links.
• Year 6 completed their “My dreams” image and audo and inserted them into a combine MS Photostory. They also commenced a presentation for their linkup with Lorraine Leo and students, in Boston which will take place on Friday, 5th Dec discussing our school and associated activities.
• Our video completion date for the flatclassroomproject was extended by week. (Thanks organisers)

My personal involvement

• welcomed guest teachers, from Colac, into my classes on Thurs morning and showed them some of what we do. Year 7 girls then became the ‘experts’ and taught them how to set up a blog and how to post.
• spent a lot of time at some wonderful conference sessions, one of my favourite being on “web and videoconferencing can take you there” by Carol Daunt Skyring of Learntel. Carol took us into the future of videoconferencing with technology and using virtual worlds in the 21st century.
• My approval came through to attend the flatclassroomconference in Qatar in January. I am so excited and three of my students will come with me.

Student blog of the week

This week it goes to one of my year 10 girls who has worked ceaselessly and often from home to complete blog posts and questions on our global project wiki with Ms Corbett’s students in USA. Thank you Kelly for a great effort.

Favourite quote for the week comes from Susie Corbett in USA:-

 Thanks to all of you to all who contributed to this wiki!!
Especially you Aussie’s, you are AWESOME!
We learned much about you and your wonderful country.
Collaborative tools such as wikis offer a way travel and communicate beyond our backyards
without even leaving the room!!
This was a whole lot more fun than researching with an encyclopedia!!

It is now time, after approximately 10 months since commencing your blog, to reflect. Answer the questions below, if you have not already done so.
Tell me:-

1. The number of posts/pages/comments you have written.
2. Which is your personal favourite post and why?
3. Which post has the most number of comments? Why do you think this is so?
4. Which is your favourite widget and why?
5. Have you added posts voluntarily?
6. List the media that you have used in your posts. Eg podcasts, movies, polls, images etc
7. Three lessons I have learned from blogging
8. Copy your clustr map and paste it into this post. (for future refercence)
9. What are you three or five top tips for those students starting to blog for the first time?

Week ended Nov 2nd

A frustrating week as our blogs were down for most of the time. Not a lot was achieved, especially as I was missing for Thursday and Friday in Geelong and Melbourne for meetings.

With the students…

• Collaborating with collaborationnation again.  How wonderful!  Last semester, we had such a great collaborative experience with this group, where much learning was empowered on both sides. We will take it in turns to write the prompts, with me taking the first turn, with a post entitled 3,2,1 However, my year 8s were not able to complete this task as the blogs were down. Instead, we started to look at using scratch, but this unfortunately has not been installed properly on our system! So, we had a non-lesson!!
• Many of the collaborationnation students also responded to my query re Halloween and my friend Lorraine Leo, from Boston, sent us a voicethread with photos of her students dressed up in their ‘trick or treat’ gear.
• Flatclassroom project students are up to planning their scripts and story boarding, and then about to start making the videos. One section of their video must be outsourced from students in another country.
• Other students in year 9/10 wrote a post in response to a request from Susie Corbett’s class who are seeking advice on creating travel posters for Australia.

From a personal perspective…

• Elluminate meeting with the flatclassroomrproject staff was extremely useful once again.
• Ajax visited us from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) with a wonderful idea of creating a virtual classroom with three other schools teaching students how to compose digital music using audacity utilising the MSO for particular sounds and loops. Elluminate will be the software used.
• Kerry from the Education Channel has asked grade 6 to assist with the Richmond PS program on using web2.0 tools when the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, visits their school on Wednesday. Marg Murnane (the grade 6 class teacher) has created a voicethread introducing us.  We will participate in a live blog on Wednesday.
• my duty group on the flatclassroomproject is Wireless Connectivity

Sites to check our further

woices Leaving an echo. I got an interesting email, from the creator of this site and it is certainly worthy of further investigation.

pictaps for my younger classes to make their drawings dance.

Photo of the Week

Whilst in Melbourne, in the early hours of the morning I walked along my favourite route, through the Royal Arcade, the Block Arcade and on down to Flinders Stree Station. One of the side lanes has been brightly painted by professional graffiti artists, but graffiti gangs, have unfortunatley overridden that art work.

Week ended 24th October

Friday this week, was a holiday for Warrnambool Show Day. In Australia, we celebrated agriculture with local shows, where cattle, sheep, poultry, flowers etc are judged. There are many other events including horse riding, wood cutting, shearing competitions etc. The carnival is there, including a ferris wheel, other rides, fun stalls and of course the sale of the ever popular show bags. In Warrnambool, it is a three day event.

With the students…..

• Last week for year 12 students
• Grade 2’s worked with Kahootz
• Grade 3/4 looked at some of the online material available for the Vendee Globe project and wrote up three questions to ask Will Rich, the US sailor as he spends 100 days at sea, non stop sailing around the world. They also listened to the delightful voicethreads that Mrs Leo ’s class from Boston set up.
• Years 7 and 8 are in process of completing their text videos on poverty. Most are composing music ready to upload to their blogs.
• Years 9/10 Completed posts on illegal immigration, animoto or slideshare shows on photos of our school to share on their blogs. I love the cross culture blogging. The previous topic was illegal immigration. The US students certainly asked some questions  via the commenting option and keldog actually researched the answers to their questions without being directed to. of ours and Flatclassroomproject girls commenced adding material and content to their collaborative wiki pages.

From a personal perspective

• Due to confusion with timezones, I missed the flatclassroomproject elluminate meeting with other teachers involved. So, instead I listened to the recording. The girls and I were starting to flounder around, undecided about what was expected of us, so I found that I needed to time to just sit down and have a good look around the wonderful wiki that has been setup by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis.

My photo of the week:-

Year 9/10 students made cakes to accompany cappacinos, lattes, flat white coffees etc as a fund raiser for breast cancer, whilst parent teacher interviews were on.

My day in a sentence

I sat in a staff meeting using elluminate with Vincent from France as moderator and other teachers from USA, Portugal, France and Romania re the global project on the Vendee Globe. We had to wait at times, whilst Vincent translated back to French for the nonEnglish speaking teachers. Maybe my French will improve!!

Week in review ended Oct 18th

Yard duty – Normally yard duty is a chore that I most dislike in my teaching duties and I have scored an extra duty over the next fortnight. However, I look forward to this one. As part of our responsibility of involvement in the flatclassroom project, all teachers are assigned one group to monitor their discussions on the wiki. My duty group for the fortnight is Mobile and Ubiquitous

Challenging moments

• edublogs (and globalstudent) was annoyingly down most times we tried to blog this week.
• ….trying to connect with Korean students and their blogs which are all in Korean. (Students have started using an online translator and pure, sheer guess work)
• Despite joining Tom Barrett and his class on a voice thread, our grade4/5 class lost their voices and identities, despite them reappearing intermittently. (emailed VT for help).

This week’s involvement and tasks….with the students

• Blog action week with the theme of poverty, on Oct 15th. Grade 6 students wrote posts in conjuction with their classroom teacher. It was great to also see posts by my fellow teachers Britt Gow and Marg Murnane.
• Year 6,7 and 8 students commenced making text movies for their blog posts on poverty, using Sony Vegas Movie Studio.
• Year 4/5 drew a picture of themselves and added it to a VT to share with a school in Boston. We looked at the Vendee Globe – yacht race around the world and viewed a presentation on a yacht and the sections of it.

What worked well

• Students enjoyed the challenge of completing a movie using only text either works, phrases or sentences
• Year 9/10 really liked answering all the questions of Ms Corbett’s  students, who are studying Australia for 6 months on their wiki.

Inspiring moments

• Particpated in online staff meetings using elluminate. It is inspiring to work with some leading educationalists on global projects. The first meeting was the flatclassroom project, with Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis and other teachers from USA, Oman, Spain and Australia.
• My second staff meeting was again using elluminate, but with Vincent Mespoulet (School Beyond the Walls) and other teachers from Romania, USA, Portugal and France. An interested parent who lives just near the village where the Vendee Globe race is to start was also present. Discussion took place on how the schools from the various countries might be able to connect and work together.  Task for next week, upload some photos of our school and place a pin on the google map to the ning.

Exciting moments

• Our first Talk It Tuesdays with Knowledge Bank, a division of the Victorian Education Dept and Early Childhood Development.
• Our first coffee morning for parents, informing them of our web2.0 work with students, concentrating on blogging. There was a very positive response to this. Parents want to know and to learn more.
• Skype (Sydney) rang me to ask me about my use of skype in my classrooms.

Humorous….

Students in grade 4 in Boston, USA, asked their teacher Mrs Leo, whether our grade 4 students could speak English. (We were sharing voicethreads)

Food for thought

• What can we send in our parcel to our fellow bloggers in Korea and USA? Something quite Oz?             

Blog posts I found useful this week.

 Avoiding the 5 most common mistakes in using student blogs

Blogging in accounting - two subjects I love to teach.