"ADAPT or DIE"

ISTE 2013 Conference (International Society for Technology in Education 2013 Conference)

The ISTE's 34th Annual Conference and Exposition was held in San Antonio, Texas from June 23-26. As an SBISD ETrainer I had the opportunity to attend to this important event thanks to the support of the Educational Technology Director (Sheri Alford) and Shadow Oaks Elementary Principal (Julie Baggerly).

The ISTE Conference was an eye opener! Teachers, authorities, vendors, students, and almost everyone involved either in the educational or technology fields attended to the conference. There was a multi-format interchange of ideas and people connections, using posters, keynotes speakers, vendors presentations, exhibitors demonstrations and hands-on sessions. Twitter, iPhones, tablets, netbooks, robotics, electronic technology, Bloom's taxonomy, multiple intelligencies, project based learning, "flipping the classroom", and more touching the most diverse areas of education and technology. Amazingly, all of them having in mind the achievement of our students' meaningful learning.

In this brief presentation I just want to mention some of my most important reflections after the conference, which follow: The Spring Branch T-2-4 needs a high quality education supported by the appropriate technologies. SBISD is in the right track of using technology to support education at different educational levels. There are still many areas of opportunity to increase the use of existing technology resources to improve students' education. We, teachers, have to think about the relevance of the old saying "adapt or die" and take action for the benefit of our students and ourselves.

In the near future I will continue posting more info about the ISTE 2013 Conference. However if you want to go ahead directly and take a look at their website, follow the link http://www.isteconference.org/2013/ .

STUPEFLIX training at SOE

Dear ETrainers, last Friday the 22th of March, I had the opportunity to train several SOE teachers on STUPEFLIX. They found this application very easy and straightforward to use. I agree because the conceptual structure of the menus is very logical and makes the program user friendly. Most of the attendants to the training created a complete video with different themes, pictures and sound. The only cumbersome part of the application seems to be the creation of your class because each one of the students should log in with their Google Apps accounts and then you as a teacher can identify them and include them in your class. However, this is not finally a big obstacle and is worth the work because you can check your students' videos. I think this is a great product that should be promoted as much as possible. Of course if you or your students are top level designers, most possibly you will need a Professional version of the product to create your applications but this is out of the scope of the current Teacher license we have. By the way, I created a STUPEFLIX presentation flipchart to share with all of you.

Tool 11: Practicing Good Digital Citizenship.

I would like my students to understand three main concepts about "digital citizenship":

Students safety: using the internet requires to take basic actions to ensure the safety of the students. It is important to access educational websites, locking their personal identity, and commenting to teachers and parents about places to visit and/or communications on line.

Following teacher instructions to access academic content: this point is impoortant because we are using digital resources as educational tools for eduaction.

Privacy of password: The unique combination of User ID and Password allows teachers and administrators keep track of each student's academic advancement. The password is of personal use and no one else should know it.


I am going to explain "digital citizenship" to my students based on the following facts:

The internet world could be considered as an extension of the school in which they are "citizens". The use of the internet and digital tools to enrich their education, is a privilege. They have in consequence the responsibilty of making good use of the resources. There are rules and ways to communicate, share information, websites to visit, etc.


Questions?

1. What are your favorite tools you now have in your personal technology toolbox? Briefly describe a particular activity that you will plan for your students using at least one of these new tools.

Two of the more useful tools are "Bookr" and the "iPod Touch". I will teach my students how to create stories using Bookr to describe concepts or the meaning of new words. The iPod Touch has many possibilities, however, I would like my students use them for on line data gathering regarding Science and Social Studies.

2. How have you transfomed your thinking about the learning that will take place in your classroom?

I think that the digital tools will help to create a more friendly learning environment. It will benefit the students because in many ways they already started using some of the tools. Personally speaking, I think that a good balance between traditional media and digital tools is the best way to conduct teaching and students learning.

3. Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

Just a confirmation that education is evolving at a very fast pace. In order to keep us updated and ready for the new generations, we, the teachers have to continue learning and changing our tools and methodologies to better serve our students.

Tool 10: Exploring Mobile Technology and Apps.

"Google Earth" is one of tha applications that the students could have in the iTouch to learn about their city, state and country. It could be used mainly for Social Studies lessons.

AccuWeather could fit perfectly be used for Science. The students could check current weather conditions and forecasts. Particularly we are interested in the daily temperature and the type of clouds.

There is no question about the fact that mobile devices, such as the iTouchs, are "cool" and student friendly to acces the internet. The students feel inclined to use them instinctively. We can guide our students to take advantage of this tool and also have fun.

Tool 9: Sharing Information Through Jing & Skype.

Jing seems to be a realy good tool for students because they could benefit by snapping pictures from the screen to check for understanding or working on a project. Also, they could work on more elaborate activities using the record feature of Jing.

Skype is a great tool for communicating among people using this tool. For free, you can "call" anywhere on the world to anyone who is using a Skype program. I have been using it extensively and the quality of the voice is generally speaking very good. You can also have a videoconference, however sometimes the quality of the video is not so good. It is difficult for me at this point in time figure out how the students could benefit from this tool (I am thinking about second graders), however I will continue looking for an application appropriate for the students.

Tool 8: Using Video Resources.

The use of video resources provides a great way to support a mini lesson or illustrate examples in class. In general, students are very receptive to visual information and get engaged easily.

Regarding the two videos: the first one on the life of Abraham Lincoln will be used in Social Studies (American History), and the second one one camouflage will help to illustrate this Science topic.


Abraham Lincoln (Part 1)




Camouflage in the Nature

Tool 7: Creating Digital Stories.

Because of the availability of Dell computers I decided to work with Photostory. It is really easy to create a basic presentation. Maybe the most important part is the planning, searching and the selction of pictures for the digital story.