This afternoon I had the opportunity to connect up with a whole bunch of schools for a video conference from all around North Carolina put on the by the North Carolina Connectivity Council.  It was really cool.  We could see all of them and they could see us.  There should be an archive of the video posted soon.  Here is the excerpt from the announcement.  

The challenge for North Carolina educators is to ensure that every public school student graduates from high school, globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and prepared for life in the 21st Century.  Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs, wikis and social networking sites, provide students the opportunity to communicate, create and collaborate in new and exciting ways.  However, some educators and parents are concerned that these “just in time”technologies create an unsafe environment for our children.

Technology specialists from four NC school districts will describe their school systems’ approach to using Web 2.0 in teaching and learning.  Panelists will present the best practices from their respective districts while discussing the challenges of implementing these new technologies. 

Ideas from around North Carolina that Teacher are currently using that IS working:

• Teacher Created Wiki’s
• Teacher Created Blogs for Professional Development
• District Blog to model, share resources, and collaborate. 

Things Students are doing that is working.

• Green County Schools have a 1 to 1 laptop program.  (Wow)
• Student created Wiki’s – Creating based on the information that is created in class.  Do it in the class while the teacher is speaking. 
• Kids created blogs and commenting on other blogs. 
• Book Study through Wiki

Tools that People ARE using

• PBWiki (safer than Media Wiki and WetPaint)
• WikiSpaces (Private domain that is password protected)
• Blogger.com or EduBlogs
• Google Docs – Collaboration across district
• Teacher Tube (Block YouTube) (Use Tools to download YouTube if Teacher’s Want)
• DimDim – Collaboration
• Skype – Global Connections
• Animoto – Video Creation
• Glogster.com – Poster Creation
• Moodle - Learning Management System
• PRIVATE Ning Social Networking Group in School
• TakingItGlobal.org  - Place to find some collaborators for all sorts of subjects

Challenges

• Time on Task… there are a ton of kids online and it is hard to monitor what they are doing.  
• Social Networking (Teachers are no longer allowed to be friends with students in some schools… good idea.)
• Keeping Acceptable Use Policy up to date
• Time… there are so MANY tools… not enough time to address them all. 
• Expanding the global learning network so that learning can be global.   Finding people to collaborate with people around the world via Skype and other technologies above. 

Trainings for Teachers

I found it interesting that in many cases the instructional technologist are working with a group of teachers to train and prepare them to use this web 2.0 technology.  It is sometimes done as a monthly meeting, a mandated technology hour requirement, training classes, an annual fall conference, or using the web 2.0 technologies themselves.

• Shift Happens – Did you Know 2.0 - Used as a starting point for Faculty discussion.

This morning a colleague of mine, Derek Rodriguez, e-mailed about the launch of a new Triangle Research Libraries Network Search Engine he has been working on for quite a while. It has some really cool features enrichment features for each search:

• Book Covers
• Table of Contents
• Summaries
• First Chapters
• Audio/Video Track Listings for items published since 1984.

Right now there are 1.48 million unique chapter authors and 9.5 million unique chapter titles so you can search for chapter authors for proceedings and book chapters.

There is an awesome tie in with our interlibrary loan system that works like a charm. It finds the items that are available and auto-populates them in our systems to order it. I ordered a couple of things in a few second this morning for pickup in a couple of days at the library here on campus.

Oh, and the entire index resides in memory…. all 18 GB of it… so it can be accessed super fast.

The search uses a platform called Endeca… I don’t think it’s cheap, but it looks awesome!

You long time readers will recall an article I wrote back in March about haptic force feedback in learning. It was my introduction to haptics and I was quite excited about it. My organization purchased two haptic devices (Novint Falcon’s) and when it came time to pick a final project for the class I suggested we do some research into developing an educational interface for the haptic device. We published the progress we made on this webpage: http://haptic.edutechie.vanswebsites.com. This is taken from the front page to give you an intro to what we include on the website.

“Haptics” are any device that provides a touch-based system of interaction with virtual environments. In education this is important because we learn as we touch and interact with objects and data (Jain, 2003). We learn using as many of our five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) as possible (Gardner, 1983). Until recently only the first two of those senses, auditory and visual, have been used in forms of digital education (Laycock & Day, 2003). Now, with a selection of inexpensive haptic devices and a growing awareness of the potential of haptics, we can begin to feel those digital objects as well.This webpage will focus on how educators might use these devices to augment the sense of presence that a student perceives while working in virtual worlds or on digital assignments (Van Shaik, et al., 2004). We have created several sections in order to facilitate this learning and attempted to organize it in a useful way.

First we have attempted to layout an explanation of what haptics are and the theoretical foundation for haptics in education.

Next have done an extensive literature review of haptics devices to this point in time and written a proposed study on the use of haptic devices in education.

Third we have laid out the basic functionality of the Novint Falcon, the primary haptic device we have worked with, as well as all the technical research we have done to this point. We have also laid out the possible uses of these devices in other areas of study.

Finally we have included an extensive bibliography for those interested in researching further on the topic, as well as some useful downloads for those working with haptic devices.

We also took all the information on the webpage and published it in a whitepaper “Use of Haptics to Augment Presence in an Experiential HCI Environment.”

I did all the technical research and created the webpage, but the resources my colleagues put together are phenomenal. I highly recommend them. Cary Gillenwater put together the theoretical foundation, Amit Kumar worked with Cary to create the fantastic literature review, and Brian Moynihan put together the study proposal for a haptic frog dissection in a high-school classroom. Overall I think it will be a great resource for educators looking to get into haptics. Please feel free to pass the information along and send me any suggestions/thoughts.

Where does the project stand now?

Probably most important to note is where the project stands now. We originally tried to program the haptic device to work in the virtual world Croquet, but that proved beyond my technical skills, so we ended up just making it navigate the virtual worlds. You can see a video here (sorry, you’ll have to turn the sound way up).

Most important though, is the recent announcement by Novint that they are working on drivers that will work with not only Second Life, but World of Warcraft as well. That should be a huge step forward in this haptic study. We (or someone else) can then build our objects (like a virtual frog) and see how students react to using haptic devices to education. Ooooh… this is exciting.

• What is an instructional technologist? instructional technology?

• Instructional technologies are a diverse group encompassing faculty, staff, and students.

• Different mechanisms for conveying information (wiki, bulletin board, asynchronous conference).

• Who is going to do this, how are we going to get this done? 20% of the people do 80% of the work.
• Need to find the things that you have a passion about to pull this group together.

• Resistance from the institution we are working for and dealing with this.
• Executive Champion from the school
• Web page clearing house for new learning techniques.
• How does new technology actually help me teach?
• Whitepaper? Other things to notify the CIO about.
• Explorer’s Reward – Reward for implementing new technology.

Learning Spaces:

• People are eagar to see good examples of good learning spaces.
• Go out and take pictures of good spaces
• Put in flickr and tag it as ‘learningspace.’ (Make sure you fill in the description field when possible).

Where to go from here:

• Create a profile on Educause Connect
• Post thoughts with the tag ‘Insttech’
• Will create an Educause Wiki – contribute.

A couple days ago Doug Edmunds from the School of Law here on campus sent out a link to a new, free (for now) screen capture program called Jing. This article looks at how to use the program, some of the features, and some missing features.

How it Works:
Users need to download and install a small (4.4MB) application on your computer (works with both MAC’s and PC’s. The program then runs in your desktop and adds a little yellow transparent half-circle to your screen that is always visible. When you mouse over the half-circle it reveals a capture option. After you’re picture/video capture (see below) you can then save it locally or instantly upload it online and share it via a URL that is conveniently copied to your clipboard.

In their FAQ page the makers of Jing introduce it in the following way:

Think of Jing as a supplement to all your chat discussions, email threads, forum posts and blog entries. It sits nicely on your desktop, ready to capture and share your stuff at a moment’s notice. Simply select an area of your screen, capture it as an image or record it as a video, and then click Share. Jing conveniently places a URL to your content on your clipboard ready for you to paste the URL into any of your conversations.

Features:

• Capture: The capture utility is smart cross-hair axis that intuitively selects certain parts of your screen.
• Picture Capture: Highlight any portion of the screen for the picture capture and then annotate it EASILY with arrows, text, highlighter, and boxes.
  • Save locally as PNG file
  • Share online using Screencast (Free up to 200MB)
  • Here is a picture I made of one of the FAQ’s.
  • The picture above was quickly made with a screen cast… even easier than picnik.
• Video Capture: Highlight any portion of the screen again and walk through anything.
  • Share online using Screencast.
  • Here is a short demo I made in about 15 seconds about how to subscribe to a blog via Google Reader.
  • Notice there is sound… I didn’t realize that till after I had made it).
• History Page: Find anything you have ever done and use the link again or delete it.

Missing Features/Cons:

• Embed Function: There really should be the option of embedding a video/picture in a page with code. A link is nice, but anyone who is building a tutorial really needs to be able to have everything in the same page.
• Upload to second sites: It would be nice to be able to upload the video’s to other sites for more exposure.
• Editing: As far as I can tell there is no way to edit marks after you have put them on pictures. That is annoying.
• Project?: They authors make it very clear on the FAQ page that this is just a project and will probably lead to a product (that costs money) someday. They do promise to give us time to get our stuff off of their servers though.

Summing Up
I have to say I was most impressed with the ease with which one could create a picture and instantly annote it and share it with friends. I am going to definetly leave this running for the next while and look for opportunities to use it to educate others.

How might you use this in your classroom, in your job?

Darren, I started blogging because I really felt like I had some ideas that would benefit the larger educational community and I felt like I was not really being heard in my current job.  I guess I really wanted to feel like I was making a difference, hoping somebody was there to hear what I was saying. 

I found all this and more.  What I really found was a community.

As I started to blog I soon realized there are TONS of people out there just like me.  Early adopters, people who just love technology and are willing to try just about anything in hopes of finding something that will make life easier.  Those who spend countless hours of their precious ‘free’ time figuring out new technology and tweaking it to work for real people.  I have only been blogging in the educational community for a little less than a year, but it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my work in instructional technology so far. 

If you check out Mac’s ‘Introducing the iPhone‘ webage you will see that it is a typical smart phone with e-mail, calendar, SMS, photo, music, and internet support. That in itself isn’t too exciting. Most smart phones come with that now a days. What people are really raging about is the interface, but I mostly just chalk that up to eye-candy. What can the iPhone REALLY do for educators? Here are three features that I believe will impact education.

1. Multi-Touch Display

By far the most promising technology is the multi-touch display. In this case, it is the technology that will make the difference, especially in the long run. Multi-touch displays are not a new technology. (Apple’s explanation of how it works.) I heard somewhere that people have been working on this since the 80′s and recently Microsoft announced their similar “Surface” computer. What is unique here is the mass production of a multi-touch device. The iPhone will be the first multi-touch device in the hands of millions of people.

When I first came across this technology it was in a TED presentation by Jeff Han. At the very beginning of his presentation he said he was excited. He went on to explain why:

I really, really think this is going to change the way we interact with machines from now on.

He was absolutely right. This new interface will allow people to interact with the computer in a much easier and more human-like manner. This is going to be the jumping off point for a whole new generation of computing. As more and more data becomes available on computers this will be the first technology that will help us to better manage that information.

From a mobile perspective, it has always been a hassle to use a mobile device. Perhaps the multi-touch display will be the missing link for actually using a mobile device in the classroom.

If you have not seen the “This is How” commercial for the iPhone, take a look, it will give you an idea as to the interface.

2. Widgets

Most computer users are already familiar with the wonderful world of widgets. Widgets are most easily categorized as mini-applications. They can be anything and everything from simply displaying the weather and RSS feeds, to fully functional translation devices. There are literally thousands, if not tens of thousands of widgets out there. In the Information and Reference categories for Macs alone there are over 300 widgets… not a bad start.

Educators, and others, will begin to use the widgets and build others that can easily be added to the iPhone thus capitalizing on the mobility factor.

3. iPhone Applications and a Fully Functional/Easily Browsable Internet

Several weeks ago Steve Jobs alluded to the iPhone being open to third party applications. Today Webware mentions that that is going to be possible with the fully-functional browser.

Athough I normally have quite a bit of vision, I admit I only know at this point that this is going to be important and that this is going to open the flood gates of creativity. Imagine harnessing the power of a multi-touch display in a test. Allowing students to more naturally interact and manipulate the test and then send it back to you over the air, anywhere.

A fully-functional browser, and most importantly, easily-browsable internet will finally allow rich multimedia, and navigation that has been impossible before. Up till now, browsing the internet on a mobile device was terrible. And if the page wasn’t formatted in mobile format, forget it. Now students and teachers can really interact with the internet, and best of all manipulate it.

Yeah, but…
As it stands right now, there is no high speed internet over the cell signal (G3), but there is built in WiFi. All I have to say to that is… don’t worry, this isn’t the final product. We all know things are going to be added on and prices are going to drop.

That brings me to my second point, and perhaps most relevant to education. Price. Right now it costs $499 for a 4GB model and $599 for an 8GB model. That is awfully pricey for an educational tool, and it certainly going to be a long time before most of us educators get our hands on one, let alone enough students to design lesson plans around having one. But I would like to point out that the new Microsoft “Surface” devices are going to cost around $10,000. Even if you could only afford one per school or organization, you would have a multi-touch display that could be shared among a lot of people.

Other Thoughts:

So what am I missing Apple enthusiasts? How could you use the iPhone in education? Maybe we could start a contest to see who could come up with the most creative way to use iPhones and see if Apple won’t supply a bunch for a class. Do you think it is going to live up to the hype?

Here’s my list of 8 things you can use a camera phone for in the classroom, in no particular order.

1. Whiteboard/Blackboard Archive

Do you ever get done with a class and look at the board with regret because you have to erase everything you or your class just created? Snap a quick picture and archive that for future use. You could even post them on a class discussion board, wiki, blog, webpage or even just e-mail them to your class for review.

2. Handheld Scanner

This one I take directly from the article.

Remember those old spy movies, where the secret agents captured documents with a tiny secret mini-camera? Now we all have one. Believe it or not, photographing documents works.

I don’t recommend stealing information, but for random paper information, notes … you can snap a picture to capture the data.

3. Reminder List

Sometimes you see something that jogs your memory. Take a picture of that thing as a reminder of what you need to do.

4. Learn Student’s Names and Faces

One of the biggest struggles we have as teachers is learning the names and faces of the constant rotation of students coming through our classes. Take some time at the beginning of the year to photograph the students, or even better yet, have them take pictures of each other and e-mail to you if they have that capability.

5. Security/Liability Device

I hesitate adding this one in here, but we all know crazy things can happen in the classroom. Sometimes you may need to take a picture of something happening, or something that happened to protect yourself and your students.

6. Assignments

Depending on the subject you teach, it may be appropriate to send the students out one day to take pictures of nature, people or other things. Try to think of ways to use the phone. Just using the phone in an assignment will help students be more excited about it. Remember, there’s nothing wrong with using technology as a motivator. It works great with these digital natives.

7. Instant Blogging

This is one of my favorite options. If you are a blogger or have a class blog/website you can set up an e-mail address that you can post directly to that blog. You can give that address out to students or use it yourself.

Granted, you need an internet connected phone for this, but I had to add it in. It is so awesome to be out in the middle of nowhere posting to a blog, archiving.

8. Memories

We all know we get attached to those we teach and often we don’t want to forget them. Take some pictures throughout the year and print them out at the end of the year for a scrapbook or collage. Five, ten, twenty years from now those pictures will bring up dear memories.

1. Make the Final Product SHAREABLE!

If a student knows that their work is going to a larger audience they will naturally take more time to work on it. The easiest way to do that is use Web 2.0 technologies like blogs, wiki’s, podcasts, and online video. Of course, you will need to be comfortable with those technologies yourself.

2. PROJECT’S, not Assignments!

Don’t give students a bunch of assignments, give them one larger project with a end result that students can see. Although this may take longer, students will naturally get more involved. They will want to be involved with the topic beyond the end of class.

3. Encourage students to use POPULAR TECHNOLOGIES they are familiar with!

The latest and greatest technology is more than likely taking over your student’s life’s. Encourage them to find educational uses for it. Almost every new web startup, or tech gadget can be used in an educational way. If you encourage the students to use these technologies they will come up with ideas that you could never have thought of yourself. (Oh, and they will think you’re cool because you encourage them to use their iPod in class. )

4. Give the Student’s OPTIONS!

Don’t limit your students to any specific medium of transfer. Some digital natives love music and would make an amazing music video, or write an amazing song. Others would do better with video like the example below.

EXAMPLE of a Great Project!

This morning I was reading the Infinite Thinking Machine, a blog I highly recommend, and I came across a video produced by some 12th grade students for an English project. The project is called MacBeth Wars and can be seen below.

From the introduction on Google Video:

This movie was done for a 12th grade english project, parodying Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” with a Star Wars style. It features the majority of the Macbeth storyline, and includes a 3-minute lightsaber duel between Macbeth and Macduff near the end.

Then the most amazing part…

We hope to release Macbeth Wars II, a project purely for our own fun, by summer 2007.

Wow! You don’t have to watch the whole production to realize that this project was probably WELL beyond what was required of them for the class. It has great digital effects, sounds effects, multiple video shots in each scene and appropriate background music. This project surely took hundreds of hours to complete AND they want to do another one in their FREE time! Now that is a good project!

What other things have you done, or seen done that really get student’s involved? What other projects have you seen that are just amazing? Do share in the comments!