Thursday 31 January 2013

Thursday

The final film I have viewed for Week 1 of #edcmooc is Thursday.



Once again, I am not going to compose a massive essay... If I did that for every stimulus in the course I would be here forever!

Questions posed:

What message is the film presenting about technology? What losses and gains are described? Who or what has ‘agency’ in this film?

It seems that this film is presenting a somewhat neutral representation of technology.
Sure, it is saying that technology is immersed in our home and work lives (the office scene, the alarm clock, the constant mobile phone reliance, the entertainment elevator), and that it is fragile (bird disruption, hand scanner), but overall the view is quite neutral.
In terms of losses, the film depicts somewhat of a loss of creativity and individuality - for some this would be dystopian - for others, utopian.
In terms of gains, the film depicts a simplicity of existence.

One of the interesting things I noticed was the scene at the train station. The man seemed to blame his hand for the issue, rather than the technology. I think this says something about our attitudes toward technology... Are they changing? I know that if something goes wrong with technology for me, I definitely blame the technology! Many of my colleagues, however, blame themselves.

Hmmm.... Should I be more like them? 

Who/what has agency? All of the characters have agency to some level. Though there is an underlying feeling that there is someone/something bigger that is the main driving force (employer/government?) that is potentially shaping the decisions and actions - either by social factors or physical factors (e.g. the bird has the free will to choose to make a nest, but makes it with electrical cabling).

Is this the metaphor for technological determinism? Maybe... Plenty of food for thought.


Wednesday 30 January 2013

Inbox

Inbox is the third film I have watched for the E-Learning and Digital Cultures MOOC #edcmooc


The question posed by our course leaders is:

"Depending on how you interpret the relationship between the two main characters, and the ending, you might argue that this is a utopian account, or a dystopian one - what do you think, and why?"

Firstly, I would like to state that in all cases, the dichotomy of utopia and dystopia annoys me.
There are varying degrees and contexts that must be considered. Certainly, in some aspects, for some people, present society is a dystopia. For others, it is utopia.
I can pretty well eat whatever I want, whenever I want. For some people, I live in a food utopia.
I live in Tasmania. For some people that is a dystopia. (more fool them!)

I will not attempt to describe all of the aspects of this film - that has been done expertly by many others. What I will do is present my opinion with respect to the posed question.

I think that this is a utopian account. It doesn't represent the future, simply a metaphor for the present.

It highlights that simple human interaction is all we really need in order to be happy. The medium through which we choose to communicate with one another is unimportant - it is how we use it.
In the movie, the technology is magical - as do many real technologies seem - this is inconsequential.
What is important is that people can communicate. Simple things, short notes, nothing too in-depth. The ultimate end-goal, however, is to meet in person - it is then that relationships can fully blossom.
For a lot of people communicating with the various social networks today, this is still one of the goals for people that they build friendships with.
When the "technology" breaks in the film, the characters still endeavour to meet. They have hope. They are rewarded.


Some other points:

What was happening to the notes/items/information that went into the bags before it got to the other side?
Are people questioning what is happening in between?
Who has access to that information, and what are they doing with it? Is it really private?
Do you care?



That will do...


Tuesday 29 January 2013

Addicted to Technology?

There is a lot of talk in the #edcmooc of us being addicted to technology.



Is it that ALL technology is addictive? Or are people more prone to be addicted to communications technologies? Is it about base human needs? If we NEED something, then is it really an addiction? - perhaps if overdone? Are we "addicted" to clothes (not fashion)? Are we addicted to living in shelters (not architecture)? These are technologies. Maslow was pretty spot on with his hierarchy of needs. Communications technologies provide for all levels of basic human need - apart from physiological (although can help indirectly with these). They enable us to feel safe and secure (knowing that loved ones are ok, knowing that information about weather and disasters is very easy to get). They enable us to feel belonging and love (we can find any number of interest groups and like minded people at the click of a button, we can communicate very easily with loved ones who are away for extended periods, we can find and catch up with old friends and acquaintances, we can explore family history easily). They can boost our self-esteem, enabling us to achieve in a variety of contexts, gain respect from like-minded people who may not be in our physically local community and gain recognition in a variety of forms (badges, "likes" "+1s"). They also enable creativity and the pursuit of inner talent for self-fulfilment more easily than ever. It is interesting that technologies such as tablets, internet access etc... and the ensuing modes of use are simply fulfilling our basic needs, and because of the ease of access some are addicted. Food is a basic need - but we can become addicted and over-eat, becoming obese. I suppose some of us then can of course become addicted to technology, especially because it serves so many of our basic needs. But can we become technologically obese? Yes. Who are the most obese people in the world? People with easiest access to food? Who are the most technologically obese people?
Sorry.... just writing as I think..... interesting concepts...

15 Apps I trialled for 1:1 iPads in 2012

I mentioned in an earlier post that the school that I work for is implementing 1:1 iPads in 2013 for all students (Yrs 7-10). In 2012 a pilot was undertaken with the Yr 9 cohort only.
In this post I intend to discuss some of the apps that I trialled in (and out of) the classroom with my Yr 9 classes, along with some apps that I used to help organise myself.
I don't intend to give a full review of any of the apps, though I may point out some interesting pros and/or cons. Many are free, many require accounts to be created and some only have limited application to my subject areas.
There is no particular order to the following, and it is all coming from memory - there are many other apps that I have had a look at, some of which are potentially better for certain applications. Prices shown are correct as I write this.


1.   Notability $1.99

Notability was the first note-taking app that was recommended to us as a staff group when we first began the iPad program. Having done most of my word processing in MS word, and most of my note taking on paper in the past, I found it slightly difficult to get used to, though the ability to record audio and insert images was good. I started out using Notability to keep notes during various meetings, taking photos of the printed (that's right, hard copy!) agendas and other items and inserting them, annotating where I felt the need.
 Our students also had the app, and (unsurprisingly) picked it up much quicker than I, using it proficiently after just 30 minutes to complete a science lab report. The only downfall in this context was that there was no in-built way to create a table. My students quickly overcame that in various ways - all without my input. Students also used this app, along with Clinometer HD, to complete a trigonometry assignment, inserting images of triangles from around the school and calculating heights of various structures. It seemed natural for them to be able to include text, annotated photos and hand written calculations into their final product for submission.

2.  Teamviewer free (for personal use)

Teamviewer allows you to remotely access a computer from your iPad. You can manipulate files, transfer them directly to the iPad, or simply control the entire computer remotely. I cannot express how useful this app has been. There are many other similar apps out there, but this was the first one that I used that felt comfortable for me. I also use it on my home computer to access my school laptop, and even to help my mother with computer issues remotely.




3.  Edmodo free
I trialled using Edmodo and found it very useful to share and distribute updates, assignments etc... with my students. It was also useful for online discussions and forums. At the time that I was trialling it, however, there was no easy workflow solution for students to submit work. This was a major frustration for me. I believe that this has been fixed now and many teachers are using it very effectively as a Learning Management System. I didn't continue with it due to the limitation mentioned, and moved on to try iTunes U (read below). Hint: If you intend to use Edmodo and wish to advise parents of its great potential, ensure that you don't mistakenly send them to edmondo.com as a colleague of mine did.



4.  Educreations free

I tried many whiteboard apps, and couldn't quite find one that was right for me. Then I stumbled across Educreations. It's interface is simple. There aren't a million bells and whistles. It is easy and fast to publish your recording to the web and share it. One of the main troubles for those perfectionists out there is that there is no inbuilt editing tool, and you can't export the recording to anywhere but the Educreations site. This means that you have one take. That was ok for me, I was using it mainly as a lesson recording tool while I was actually delivering the content. It became my whiteboard and I simply recorded the examples and discussion we had in class. This was then available for students to go back over at their leisure (or absent students could catch up). Some students would try to be silly and get their voices heard on the recording, but overall it was a great success. With the updated app, students can even create videos, and I am looking forward to using this next year in that capacity.

5.  Explain Everything $2.99

Explain Everything is another whiteboard app, and has many more bells and whistles than Educreations. I used it to create short theory videos for some of my science classes. One of the main benefits of Explain Everything is that you can export your recordings locally to the iPad.
The handwriting is not great, and some of the functions are not particularly intuitive, but it is a handy app to have around.
I encouraged students to use it to complete assignments and tasks, but none were adventurous enough at that stage.


6.  iTunes U free
I first used iTunes U for my own learning, looking at lectures from various universities and starting to delve into the world of moocs. I decided to put all of my year 9 science content and assignments on iTunes U for Term 3 to see how that would go. I spent a fair bit of time preparing the content, structuring the tasks and the workflow. But when it was all up and running, the transformation in my classroom was amazing. No longer was I spending half a lesson lecturing and dealing with disruptive students. The students were taking responsibility for their own learning. My time was freed up to have rich discussions with students of all abilities about different aspects of the content. iTunes U is not the only platform that this is possible with, but the Term was the first real major success that I have had with the whole concept of blended learning.

7.  Nearpod free

Nearpod showed promise, but fell by the wayside a bit for me. At the time I was trialling it, I was probably trying too much. It seemed to take a fair bit of work to set up presentations well, and I found the interface difficult to use when setting up quizzes etc... (this may well have changed now). When I went ahead with it in a lesson with my students I didn't really notice any benefit. The students didn't seem to engage more with it than if I had simply used a presentation on the big screen. I didn't find that I could gauge their understanding any better either. I'm not saying that Nearpod isn't good - in fact I definitely intend to explore it more, however at the time I tried it, it didn't work in the way that I had hoped.


8.  Quick Graph free

There are many graphing calculator type apps available, but this app is pretty much explained by its title. You can use it to produce graphs quickly. Simply type in a function and it will plot it for you. You can plot several functions at the same time, and in different colours. I found it very useful showing transformations of linear and quadratic graphs on the big screen to my maths classes. So much quicker and easier than drawing several graphs on the board, or handing out photocopies.





9. Wolfram Alpha $2.99

Want to check if you have factorised a quadratic trinomial correctly? This app can do it really easily. Population density and life expectancy in Australia? Done. Half life and tensile yield strength of thorium? Yep. One of the most useful apps ever. I love it. Better than a calculator, better than an atlas. Mainly used to check things or for some quick information in order to provide some real numbers for a maths problem.






10.  Numbers $10.49
I have always been a PC user - not for any reason other than the institutions where I have studied and worked have all been PC based. Hence, the spreadsheet software that I am used to (and love!) is Excel. One of the first apps I looked for when I got an iPad was a spreadsheet. It took me a while to get used to using Numbers, due to being Excel-washed and also touch-screen based. Of course, now I can access Skydrive and Google Docs, but I still find myself using Numbers when I'm on my iPad. The forms function is really useful, as is its ability to generate charts - one thing that many other iPad spreadsheets, including cloud based, do not support on this platform.


11.  King of Maths $0.99

I tried King of Maths with my Year 7 class. They did not have iPads, but I used it on a single iPad as a reward for behaviour and work ethic. The students loved it. They were able to set up their own character and compete against each other in turns. The problems are well suited and increase in difficulty nicely. They also aren't too repetitive and challenge the students in different ways. I am definitely going to use this again in 2013 when all students have iPads.





12.  TeacherKit free

I found TeacherKit useful as a tool for attendance and keeping notes about students. There are many similar apps available, and many other ways of doing what it does. It has a nice interface, and enables you to have photos of your students, seating plans etc... along with taking attendance and making notes. It has a gradebook feature that I didn't use. I found that to analyse my attendance data in the ways I wanted meant that I had to export the data and deal with it, which was not ideal, but that is the case with most of the apps like this. As a consequence I think I will simply be creating a spreadsheet in Numbers to serve the same purpose as this app. That way I am able to determine how my data is manipulated without the middle man.


13.  iMovie $4.99

I used iMovie to create short theory videos for science classes, video presentations for assemblies and also as a creation tool for my students. Many students found the app engaging when allowed to use it to demonstrate their understanding. However, there are always students who simply want to use it because it is different to what they are used to, and, similarly to Powerpoint presentations when they were novel, students can get caught up with the bells and whistles instead of focusing on the work at hand. Students also seemed to move toward Pinnacle Studio instead as the year went on.




14. Penultimate $0.99

So, my penultimate entry is Penultimate. I have found this the nicest handwriting app so far. One of its key benefits is its simplicity. You have notebooks, and you write in them. Simple. Sure, you can change the colour of your pen, and insert images, but that's about it. The rendering of the writing is smooth, and it looks good projected to a big screen. I have used it occasionally as a replacement to my whiteboard (which at that point was unusable), but also just to do scratchy notes and to show students examples of maths problems.




15.  Dropbox free

One of the most useful things ever. There are many cloud storage services out there, but Dropbox was the first one that I came across. Easy to use, plenty of free space to start with, ability to share folders. We use it within our departments as a shared storage space for curriculum documents, planning, common tasks, meeting minutes, the list goes on. I didn't use it with my students as part of any workflow, but the potential is there - read some other blogs to see how this has been done.
I now use Dropbox alongside Skydrive and Google Docs.






In 2013 I hope to consolidate and simplify. I am beginning to get an idea of what works and what doesn't work in my particular context.

The technology leaders in the school are asking that for consistency we all use Schoology and its associated app as our LMS, and I have been busy setting up some classes ready to go for the new school year. I haven't had enough experience with it to elaborate, but it seems to be very similar to Edmodo.

I have also found that Knowmia has a nice app for creating videos - which I will use as a supplement for some of my Maths classes.

Further to these I hope to have my students using Blogger and will attempt to curate their blogs using paper.li

Now back to it.....

New Media

I decided to watch New Media second in the film festival for Week 1 of #edcmooc.



I chose to jump to New Media second as the guiding question was:

What similarities and differences can you identify between Bendito Machine III and New Media?

On first viewing I did not immediately see any clear similarities between the two films. Sure, they are both obviously representing (or predicting) a somewhat dystopian future with technology as a driving force, but that is about all I can see.

In New Media, we are presented with a world where aliens/robots/airships float in the sky and have taken over buildings. They are collecting what seem like drones that float through the streets below. Cars have been overtaken by vegetation and the only human to be seen is passively consuming (news) media through what seems to be one of the arms of an airship. Interestingly, he is wearing sunglasses and looks reasonably healthy.

The nature of this film has only really prompted questions... 

Are humans controlling/driving the airships and hence delivering the media?
Are the drones in the streets collecting information/news stories/data in a "Big Brother" type of way?
Where are the other humans (if any are left)? Are they all simply sitting consuming?
Are the things being collected rubbish or E-waste?
Is the human consuming or being consumed?
Where has the human obtained sustenance to survive?




Bendito Machine III

I just watched the short film Bendito Machine III as part of #edcmooc .



I am not going to write an essay, but I will address the questions that have been put to us to consider.
I purposefully have not researched the background of the film, so as to not sway my thinking. Once I have posted this I will engage in discussions with my classmates. My opinions and views may well change as a result, as there are many others out there with better minds than mine.



What is this film suggesting are the ecological and social implications of an obsession or fixation on technology?

The film certainly tries to make a point about ecological implications of technology, particularly with a focus on our current consumerist attitude toward everything. The themes presented and elicited by the repetitive and speedy cycle of new technology ending up in a scrap heap seem to represent this.
It is not only technology that ends up on the heap though. In one of the final scenes, a human is dumped along with the technology. Whether he is dumped by the tribe on purpose, or by accident is not clear, but in the final credits, a bird on the scrap heap is eating him. I read this as the obsolete technology not being the sole victim of society's consumerism.
I suppose a further interpretation could be read into the scavenging birds on the scrap heap. Perhaps all of the victims of the technology ended up on the heap - including those that they squashed/killed on the way. The birds may be seen as a metaphor for those in society who prey on the victims of technology (eg. scammers, fraudsters, hackers, profiteers, etc...)


Do the film’s characters have any choice in relation to their technologies?

I think that it is important to point out that the film's characters have had access to a diverse range of technologies apart from the main focus technologies. Some examples are: tools, bridges, huts, gas masks, carts, cars, balls, wine.
I believe that the characters have choice in some of their technologies, but not all. Certainly having the Radio Cow and the TV and the Big Mama (thrust upon them with no input) at the end as centrepieces in their community made their choices difficult, and perhaps factors within their society drove them to engage with the technologies. They still had choice. They decided to scrap things. They utilised other technologies to help them to achieve their goals (eg. a cart to move the Radio Cow to the scrap-heap & the War Machine that destroyed the TV was controlled by a human) .


What are the characteristics of various technologies as portrayed in this film?

All of the focus technologies in this film enabled a glimpse of life outside of the culture of the tribe that was shown (perhaps more desirable in parts - with cars and aerobics etc...but also threatening and scary in parts - images of war). It was depicting that technology can transform culture - the tribe emulated what was communicated to them on the TV. So was it the specific piece of technology, or what it enabled that was the focus?? The anthropomorphic portrayal of technology in the film could be interpreted as a physical metaphor for the extent to which it can be also be detrimental - crushing people etc...


There is much more to say, but at this point I cannot articulate it. So I will leave it there and trawl through various discussions to find ways to elaborate my thinking. Maybe even find some people who have interpreted some things in the same way...







Sunday 20 January 2013

How I currently use Twitter for Education

This Summer I became addicted to Twitter.

I originally created an account when I first got an iPad, last Summer. The school I work at had decided to implement 1:1 iPads for students and was piloting the initiative with the Year 9 cohort in 2012. Staff got iPads (though had to purchase them themselves - more on that in a different post) before the Summer break. During that time, I downloaded hundreds of apps in order to see what was out there that could be useful in the classroom, as well as for organising myself. I created accounts for so many different things that I had to create a list to track what the service was along with my username and password. I did a lot of learning that Summer.

Back to Twitter- Although I downloaded the app and signed up, I didn't really use it. I hadn't previously had an account online, and couldn't really figure out what the point was at that stage. Because I had so many other things bubbling away, it ended up slipping by the wayside.
In late 2012, I unsuccessfully applied for a job (outside of teaching, but still in education) but figured that having an active Twitter account may help my chances of landing it. So I reintroduced myself to Twitter and spent a little bit of time discovering what it was all about. I learned how to follow people, how to follow conversations with hashtags, how to retweet - most of the basics. In fact, I still only use the basics at this point. I found some educators and organisations to follow, and as the list slowly grew, I discovered more professional reading than I could possibly have imagined. I never otherwise would have had the time or inclination to go looking for the material that I now read daily. Though I didn't (and still don't) have many followers, I retweeted links to articles and other things that I found interesting. I was, for the most part, a passive user of Twitter - consuming what it could offer me, and regurgitating some of the interesting stuff that reflected my interests.

As the year rolled on and into the Summer of 2012/13 my usage of twitter shifted.

It is transforming from passive consumerism to active creation and participation.

I think the turning point was when we had bushfires here at the beginning of January.
There were many fires in Tasmania, and in fact all up the Eastern seaboard of Australia. Record temperatures and unfavourable winds contributed to the catastrophic nature of this fire season. The fire that wiped out several small communities began only a few kilometres from our house - in fact we had to evacuate for 3 nights because of the imminent threat to our community. My father-in-law lost a rental property in the fires. My wife's mother, brother and sister were isolated on the Tasman Peninsula for several days without power and many other things - worrying that their home may be taken by the fire (luckily it wasn't). Other friends of our family lost everything. Many families of my students will have been severely affected.
As soon as I noticed the smoke, I was constantly looking at the Tasmania Fire Service website to see what was happening. Unfortunately, it did not provide as much information as I was keen to get.
I had heard that people used Twitter to follow what was happening with the recent hurricane in New York, so I decided to see what I could find.
There was heaps of stuff. I branched out and posted updates on what was happening in my local area. I was glued to #tasfires, and felt part of an amazing community. People were using Twitter to find missing people, update where the fire was at, offer and seek help... all manner of things (there was a pretty amazing Facebook group too).
So in between reading #tasfires posts, I was doing more professional reading and exploring the Twitterverse. I found more groups and people to follow. I followed links to blogs and read them. I searched for other blogs and tweeted links to them. More people followed me. 

It is now getting close to the end of our Summer break, and I have (thanks to finding it via Twitter) enrolled in an online course through Coursera : E-Learning and Digital Cultures. #edcmooc
I am looking to Twitter now to actively contribute to professional discussions, continue learning and discovering more. It has even inspired me to begin this blog so that I can expand on what could be said (not enough characters in a Twitter post!).
I might leave my first blog post there. I'm not much of a writer, so if you are reading this and the structure of it hurts, I apologise. I intend to write more though. The more I do it, the better I will get.