One of the neat parts about my job is that I get to wander into classes when I get the chance to see what learners (teachers and students) are up to and how technology might help…I am sometimes pleasantly surprised as learners grow.

Yesterday I had the chance to wander into one of our Grade 7 1:1 laptop classes.  The teacher was introducing a new research project where students would be looking at the contributions of aboriginal peoples to our culture.  They began by discussing where and how students might find and, more importantly, assess information.   In preparation, she had made a clear list on the whiteboard of the criteria students should use to assess web-based information.  She answered two questions particularly well…

(paraphrasing…)

Q: What if the website doesn’t show an author?

A: Credible wesbites should indicate who wrote it.

Q: Is it OK to use wikipedia? 

A: Wikipedia is a good place to start.  Remember, it’s written by individuals like you and me, but my experiences are that it is pretty accurate and gives some links to other sources.  We should always be looking for more than one source to assess credibilty.

Great Job!  While these answers seem pretty logical to many of us, it is my experience that many/most learning communities are still struggling about issues with assessing on-line information.  This teacher has obviously taken the time to read and become familiar with information assessment tools (authors, publishers, links to/from, update age, etc.).  I especially liked how she didn’t immediately dismiss Wikipedia (many teachers do!).  Like all on-line tools, it is only as valuable as it is credible.  In this case, she related to her experiences but laid the responsibility of verifying the veracity of any information from many sources squarely on the learner. 

Bravo Angela!

Had a couple of chances to use Vyew in the past few days…in case you missed my previous post, Vyew is an interactive, collaborative, web-based tool that allows two or more people to share live desktops, images or other files on a real-time basis.  Thought I would drop a couple of observations.

First of all, I had a chance to spend some on-line time with Clay Burell from Seoul, Korea on Saturday night (his Sunday morning) exploring Vyew in more detail.  We used Skype for the audio connection (which was high-quality) and had quite a good experience sharing desktops and teaching other things about wikis, etc.  I was impressed by the clarity and response time to screen changes by the presenter (I actually set up two laptops side by side to monitor performance).  It was certainly comparable to both Interwise and Illuminate, which I had used previously.

Then, yesterday morning came the real test…with students!  I was able, using a simple presentation annoted with my tablet (see below) and sharing my desktop browser, to walk two classes of students in New Orleans (2000 miles from here) in how to join our collaborative project wiki – all through the same Skype/Vyew combo.

Like all new things, it takes some time to figure out just how it works best.  I found the opportunity to learn with Clay on-line and having the dual computer setup to get a feel for the “vyew” from the receiving end  real benefit.

One other neat feature is the ability for two, or more, people to be presenters at the same time, allowing for reciprocal sharing of desktops on different pages, which can be stored and shared again later. 

All in all, this is a BIG bang for the buck (which of course…is FREE!!!)

technorati tags: education, vyew, technology, skype

As we move towards the confusing future of education and the role technology plays in information artisanship with our students, sometimes it’s nice to just share the simple, practical use of a new tool within our classrooms.

One such tool is the simple pen-based graphics tablets which were designed to allow a human interface with software utilizing a pen instead of a mouse. This was primarily designed for use by artists.

A couple of years ago, just as we started a 1:1 laptop pilot, I was passed one by our school tech coordinator and asked if we might use it in someway with students.  Well…we never got that far – although I expect it would have many applications there as well.  But I immediately latched on to it as a tool for turning my computer/projector/screen into a whiteboard.

I have had the opportunity to use a SMART Airliner (wireless version designed for use with the SMART Software tools) but for pure ease of setup and use, it’s hard to beat the USB-wired WACOM tablets (picture above).  I have used the smallest USB connected Graphire 4×5 model, but there are other larger ones, even some more expensive wireless ones.  The one I use is currently running at just over CAN$100…great return on the investment.

These things are such a hot commodity among our staff that over 15 of them showed up for a day on their Christmas holidays for some PD after each of them was offered a WACOM to use in their classrooms as a benefit!  There are some hand/eye issues – the kids have a good laugh for the first couple of days of kindergartenesque scrawls – but the results improve after just a couple of days of practice!

technorati tags: education, wacom, technology