Concise Professional Development with Diigo

Education is a busy business.  Ask your teachers to participate in a book study and watch the eyes roll to the sky.  Its not you, its not your book--it a time thing.  Educators feel slammed during the year, but Diigo offers a great solution.  With a Diigo account, you can annotate articles with highlights and sticky notes and share the annotated articles to your colleagues or have them create Diigo accounts and create a group, which makes sharing very simple.

The real beauty of of Diigo is the ability to just grab the most important sentences and paragraphs (using the browser extension), which allows you to share the most important, actionable parts of a given article.  The selected text can be emailed or shared in groups creating a concise, digestible form of professional development for departments, administrators, or the entire staff. Obviously, this tools can be used in the classroom too!

In addition, users can make comments on annotated parts of an article allowing virtual conversations to take place right in the article.  This video (courtesy of Will Richardson) shows user conversations about highlighted areas of an article.  We all need to learn and improve our craft.  Tech tools such as Diigo allow learning and collaboration to fit into our busy schedules by cutting the fat and getting right to the meat.

The Amazing Power of Google Apps for Education

This originally appeared as our guest blog at eLearning Industry.  

Its hard not to use hyperbolic statements when describing Google Apps for Education. Its that good and its free! The diversity of apps you get with a Google account is astounding. I’ve felt for years that Google is an education company and they don’t even know it, but after hearing that institutions like Notre Dame University and Chicago Public Schools have adopted Google Apps I think they are starting to catch on, especially considering the latter is estimated to save 6 million dollars by moving to Google Apps. Our small school saves thousands annually on servers and email platforms alone. Each of our students and teachers has a managed account that has access to dozens of incredible, reliable apps that can be utilized in every subject.

Gmail, Drive/Docs, Calendar, Sites, YouTube, Reader, and Blogger are just a few of the amazing apps your students will enjoy, but the hidden beauty of Google Apps is the sharing, security, and web-based platform. The days of “turning in” are obsolete when students can simply “share” their work with their teacher, and it totally changes the landscape of writing. I previously blogged about the power of writing in Google Docs. Inserting comments allows students and teachers to have a virtual conversation without marking up student work and gives teachers the power of real-time formative assessment. As a Google Apps school, you control and own your data, while letting Google handle storage and server maintenance. Google is totally web-based, so students can log in at school then go home on their own computer, log in to Google and pick up their work right where they left off. Their work saves automatically into the “cloud” and the revision history will allow them (and you) to review and/or revert to any previous version of their work. They have the same power on their phone or tablet anywhere, anytime.

With Google Apps there is no need to install, maintain, or update new software--its all in the cloud! This is a dream for anyone who has had to update hundreds or thousands of computers in a district. In addition, Google is excellent about introducing new updates with pop-up bubbles explaining the changes in a user-friendly manner. Our district has chosen to move away from costly office software for student computers. Google Documents, Presentations, and Spreadsheets are excellent office substitutes that offer exceptional functionality and a growing number of special features. I have heard some teachers suggest that students need to learn Microsoft Office software, but the Microsoft platform changes with every new edition and its more important that students learn to adapt to new platforms and broaden their skill base beyond the confines of one product.

Your Google Apps administrator has complete control of what apps are available to students and teachers. Each app can simply be switched on or off with a single click for individual users depending on the setup of the accounts. There are dozens of outstanding lesser known apps that are engaging and useful:

• Google Maps is well known, but many don’t know it is slowly becoming a web-based version of Google Earth. Google Earth is amazing, but its extra software that must be installed and maintained. You can create custom maps in Google Maps with your own place marks, shapes, and colors and everything is saved in the cloud. Students can insert images and text into the place marks and give a virtual tour of anything that can be found on a map--a great activity for social studies and English classrooms. 
• Google Forms are part of the Drive/Docs App, but they deserve a special mention because Forms have incredible utility. Basically it is a survey tool, but it can also be used for quizzes, polling, purchasing requests, service request, etc. The data entered into the quiz or service request is populated in a Google Spreadsheet. You can even set up email notifications to alert you to a new submission or use a “script” to grade a quiz. 
• Google Moderator is hardly known, even to Google gurus. This app allows users to submit and vote on questions about a lecture, video, or any event. Basically its a Google-based backchannel for discussion. Its similar to the web tool gosoapbox, which is great, but anonymous. Sometimes anonymity allows for abuse in digital discussion forums. 
• Google Voice gives users (probably best just for teachers) a free phone number that they can use to communicate with students and parents without giving out their personal information. You can call, text, and receive email notifications every time you receive a call or text. 
• Google+ is an emerging social network that may rival Facebook in the future. You can set up a controlled network within a school similar to an Edmodo environment. Another great features is the Hangout. Hangouts are one of the best ways to organize a video chat with up to nine other people! 

 
I could go on about the dozens of other apps and their potential uses in class because there are so many, they are so useful, and they are all free. I sometimes feel like an unpaid sales associate for Google. The web-based platform of Google provides anywhere/anytime access, which reflects the edtech landscape that is clearly moving to web-based applications, so when you go Google, you will be ahead of the curve. It can be argued that the glory of Google completely depends on an Internet connection, but the time of ubiquitous WiFi is approaching. Poverty greatly affects our community and our students rarely have trouble finding a connection. Oh, did I mention that Google Drive/Docs allows off-line editing? As a Google user and overall tech-evangelist I can easily say Google Apps is the most powerful tech tool available for the classroom and one I couldn’t go without.

Middle School News Team

One of the many things I love about my school, Wabash Middle School, is that we offer something for every student.  I have never seen such a small school with so many opportunities for diverse student interests.  We offer everything from tennis to Spanish Club.  Our newest edition is the APAX News Team.  Since our school is 1 to 1 we have incredible digital potential.  We have about 20 students who do a variety of jobs.  We meet everyday in our after school Computer Club.  Some days we have several stories to cover, on slow days we just hang out and think of fun things to include in the next broadcast.  I work with another teacher-sponsor who was a journalism major at one point.  She writes or at least edits most of the script, and I handle the video editing.  We are planning to hand this off to the students eventually, but its middle school.  One the things I love about this is the diverse group of students who are involved.  We are attracting new members all the time and the APAX News Team is all the rage in Wabash.

This is a perfect example of the fantastic opportunities afforded to 1 to 1 schools.  This would be very difficult without our infusion of technology.  You can follow our broadcasts at our website found here.

Computer Club

The summer before my school went 1 to 1, we tried to prepare for any foreseeable problems our students, parents, or teachers might encounter.  One issue was Internet access. There are many in our community who suffer from unemployment or underemployment and roughly 70% of our students receive free or reduced lunch.  What are students supposed to do if they have homework and they need the Internet to complete their work?  While they likely have local hotspots, friends, or relatives who have Internet, as a school we can't ask them to "just figure it out" without a reasonable option.  My experience has been that students are efficient excuse machines, and if given any legitimacy, they, and their parents, will overrun you.

Thus, the creation of Computer Club.  Computer club is an after school, supervised place for students to  work on homework or just hangout and use the school's Internet access.  This is also a place to get help with computers.  Teachers often send student to me in Computer Club to learn how to use iMovie, iPhoto, or some web tool.  Teachers themselves regularly drop in to get tech advice or troubleshoot a problem.

To be fair, lots of kids come to Computer Club to play non-educational games like Minecraft, and hang out with their friends. However, one could argue this is a great alternative to having them walking around town getting into trouble or returning to an empty house because their parents are at work.  Last week I sat up and surveyed the kids in Computer Club.  There were several athletes using it as a pre-practice study hall, there were 2 kids discussing their new blog and how to promote it, our APAX News Team was planning their next broadcast, about 12 hardcore Minecraft builders hunched over their computer, and another 6 or 7 kids floating from group to group socializing and casually working on homework.  It was exciting to see kids engaged in what they were doing and having fun in school.  Computer Club has been an integral part of our 1:1 plan, it has also become a time for clubs to assemble like APAX News Team and the new upstart SWAT Team (Students Working to Assist Technology).  Great things are happening in little Wabash, Indiana, and like our announcements regularly say, "its a great day to be an Apache".

Why Chrome is the Most Amazing Browser

People don't like to talk about religion and politics because people are generally set in their ways and emotions gets high.  This is how I feel towards web browsers (nerd alert), and like any religious zealot, I am completely convinced I am right!  However, this is no leap of faith.  Google Chrome is, by any measure, the best web browser available and anyone who doesn't agree simply doesn't know what Chrome can do. This is especially true for educators and students.

Speed is thought to be a major issue with web browsers, and you can find speed tests that favor just about any browser, except maybe Internet Explorer.  I personally think Chrome is faster after using IE, Firefox, and Safari on a fairly regular basis, however, Internet speed is more linked to your Internet connection and computer processor than it is to your browser.

The real beauty of Google Chrome is the apps and extensions.  For those who don't know, web extensions (also called add-on too) are essentially mini-programs that work within your web browser.  Some of my favorites are Evernote Web clipper, Diigo Highlight/bookmarking tool, Explain and Send (screenshots), Black Menu (for easy access to all your Google Apps), and Aviary image editor for Google Drive--this is important when working in Google Presentation to edit and crop images.  The Google Chrome Store is full of thousands of other extensions and apps such as Ancient History Encyclopedia--and they are almost all FREE.

There are many other benefits too.  Google Chrome automatically updates, so there is no need to ever update the software.  Do you ever leave your browser open so you don't lose the tabs you have open?  Chrome allows you to close your browser and continue where you left off.   Possibly the greatest benefit is the fact that it is 100% web-based.  What does that mean?  I can log into Chrome (Google account) on my desktop and have the same apps and extensions I have on my laptop. I can log into my account on my friend's computer, library computer--ANYWHERE and have all the same apps, extensions, web history, bookmarks, etc. as I do on my personal laptop.  Not to mention the incalculable value of all the other Google Apps, which I've blogged about before here and here.  I don't want to live in digital world without Google.  You won't either when you discover the glory of Google.

Writing in Google Doc's

This year I have really embraced the fact that literacy is the foundation of everything we do in school.  I  am trying to inject more non-fiction reading and formal writing into my social studies class.  As students write, they need formative feedback.  Assigning a paper and waiting a week before we cover it in red ink is assigning students to failure.  Ideally, I would like to sit down with every student, everyday while they write.  With classes as large as 28 this year, I would need to budget 1.7 minutes for each student as I guide them toward better grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, vocabulary, summarizing, etc. 

Luckily, our school has Google Apps for Education.  Every student has a Google account, so when they write, they do it in Google Docs.  They share their paper with me and I have 24 hour access to their work.  I sit down face-to-face with as many students as I can during class, but I look at every paper, everyday.  For the students I don't sit down with, I insert comments into their paper.  Comments are great ways to have a discussion without marking up their paper.  Students can respond and you can easily have a conversation about their work.  I keep track of who I talk to in person and who I comment on to keep balanced and keep track of formative progress.  By the time the paper is due, I rarely need to do any "grading" and there is no need to turn anything in.   Another major benefit is the "dog" can't eat it, they can't forget it at home, and since it's saved in the cloud any online device can access it.  Revision history is another tool that allows you or students to recover their work in case of a problem.  You can also do research without leaving your doc. 

Managing all of the paper is an issue for many teachers.  If you have several hundred students it can be difficult to manage that many docs.  Its important to use collections/folders and be proactive in managing your files.  I would also recommend teaching student about email notifications.  Every time someone shares a document with you, they can send an email to notify you.  If you are expecting their work, you don't want to clear several hundred email from you inbox. 

The way I manage my student work is by having 2 Google accounts.  I have my school account and my personal account.  When I'm online, I usually operate out of my personal account and forward all my school mail to my personal account.  I have students share their work to my school account, so 90% of the documents in my school's Google Docs account and my personal account isn't cluttered up by other people's work.  I really don't know why every school doesn't take advantage of Google Apps for Education.  Docs and formative assessment is just the tip of the iceberg.  

What's Bad About Education Technology

I want to start by saying that I am a huge advocate of technology in education.  I work in a one-to-one school and infuse technology into every activity and project in my class.  That being said, all great power can be wielded positively or negatively There are definitely some negative outcomes that can occur as technology floods into education.  Here are a few that a can lead educators and districts down a bad path.

Sorry Apple, but tablets that don't have full computer capabilities are are mistake as a one-to-one device.  You can try to make this square peg fit into the round hole of education, but you will have to jam it in to make it work.  I love my iPad, but I find it increasingly difficult to use compared to my Macbook when I do school work.  Problems with typing, moving from app to app, file management, compadibility, etc. can doom a one-to-one initiative if it becomes more cumbersome than paper and pencil.  I understand the cost prohibitive of a Macbook, but by the time you buy an iPad, accessories, apps, and other required equipment, you can nearly afford Macbooks, considering Apply will knock down the price on a large education purchase.  Don't go one-to-one because all the cool kids are doing it--with some device that "is good enough"--it will end up costing you more in the long run.

While we are talking about technology devices.  I have to get in a few shots at SMART Boards (SINO--smart in name only).  Spending valuable tech-dollars on SMART Boards is not a good investment of money or pedagogy.  These are a gargantuan waste of money for most classroom applications.  I can see the usefulness in a small elementary or special needs classroom, but in a classroom of 20+ students from middle school up--the only real purpose SMART Boards serve is a $8,000 projection screen.  Technology needs to be used for creation--student creation--not content delivery.  This leads me to my next point.

Using technology to replace or support traditional methods of direct instruction is a misuse of technology.  Computers are tools of creativity.  Schools are not going one-to-one to save paper.  Running worksheets through the Xerox machine to turn them into PDF's and digitizing multiple choice quizzes, based on a boring lecture are tech-crimes that should be met with corporal punishment at the very least.  This is bad and students will know it right away.  This stale method is not engaging to say the least, and it will lead to cheating and other discipline issues.   

Webinars are the absolute worst form of professional development and should be avoided at all costs.  If the video and audio feeds actually work, which is rare in my experience, a webinar is one of the most disengaging forms of learning I have experienced.  Short tutorials are useful, but a 5-person, conference-call-styled presentation is awkward and borderline absurd as a learning methods.  I understand if it is the last possible option, but it too closely resembles traditional direct instruction, only you're not in the same room--a method most effective teachers would laugh at.

My Favorite Web Tools Part 2

About a month ago, I posted some of my favorite web tools.  I wanted to mention a few others.  Of course, there are bloggers who make a living reporting and reviewing web tools, but as a teacher who actually uses these on a regular basis I hoped to provide a different perspective.

I can't say enough about Twitter.  I learn more on Twitter in an hour than I do at most 2-day professional development seminars.  This is not just another social network.  Too many people hear Twitter and they think Facebook.  They couldn't be more different.  I once heard, if Facebook is the mall, Twitter is a specialty store, especially when you use it strictly for professional purposes.  For people who are reluctant to join, you don't need to "tweet" anything.  You can just sit back and learn.  I recommend using TweetDeck.  It allows you to follow the topics you are interested in.  In case you don't know, topics are organized by "hastags" (#).  Since I am a social studies teacher I follow #sschat and #socialstudies, but I also love #edtech, #elearning, #edchat, #educoach, and a few others.  Tweetdeck allows you to view the "tweet stream" of all of these topics simultaneously, where as the Twitter site allow you to view one stream at a time.  Twitter is a great first step to building a PLN--professional (or personal) learning network.  This is the professional development of the future--personalized, individually driven, and organic. 

Thinglink is a fairly new site.  It allows users to make images interactive by adding "tags" to selected areas of an image. You can see an example I made of India here.  This is a great way to bring content to your students, or better yet have them create content. These can easily be embedded into a website or blog and Thinglink lets you create 50 for free.  Last year, my students struggled reading complicated graphs and charts, so this year I want them to upload the chart/graph image into Thinglink and explain the various parts with tags.

Students could also create a basic timeline in a spreadsheet (one of my favorite ways), then take a screenshot, and tag it with information, videos, and webpage links to annotate the timeline and bring it to life. You could also take a screenshot of an assignment and give instructions through the interactive tags.  The same idea could work for teaching students new technology.

PaperRater is a great website.  Unlike other similar sites, PaperRater will evaluate the vocabulary level and "grade" the paper.  When you copy your text into PaperRaer, you can select the type of writing and intended grade level.  The spelling and grammar do a nice job of explaining why something might need changed, so students learn some basic mechanics in the process.  I sometimes use it for this blog--probably not often enough.  I always use it when I put together text resources for my class--it can help identify the reading level.  Next year I plan on encouraging students to use it too.  This way they can focus on the content of the paper and get some feedback aside from me. 

Tech Lag

It has always been obvious that a massive chasm exists between technology innovation and the average user's knowledge.  From phones to computers, most users are aware of 1/10th of a given gadget's capability.  This same phenomenon is rampent in the education world.   Every time I am involved in professional development, I am surprised to see people who don't know the basics of general computer literacy and troubleshooting.  Even people in the technology department sometimes work and spend in counterproductive ways.  To be fair, many teachers are too busy learning their content, pedagogy, professional requirements, building requirements, coaching obligations, not to mention trying to balance a personal life, to keep up with the constantly changing landscape of educational technology.  Edtech moves so fast its hard even for technology people to keep up and make good decisions about what to commit to.

However, there are countless web tools and gadgets to make life easier for everyone.  The question is how can we professionally develop teachers in a way that is efficient, meets their needs, doesn't overwhelm, and is cost effective?  I don't think there is a silver bullet that can span all school districts systematically.  Just like our students, each school corporation, each building requires a unique plan for professional development. I think there are a few things like an RSS Reader such as The Old Reader, Feedly, or NewsBlur that make learning easy and fast, but that is another post.

http://www.mylot.com/w/photokeywords/computer+frustration.aspx

All too often teachers are given some technology, such as a SMART Board with very little training, so the technology actually ends up more frustrating than their older paper and pencil methods.  This is an example of the problem with efficiency and bad tech decisions.  "SMART" Boards can cost from $2,500 to $8,000 or more if you get all the bells and whistles.  However, for the way most teachers use SMART Boards the same technology is FREE online--all you need is a $300 dollar projector, a wireless mouse, and a bed sheet to project on--I can guarantee it will work more often too.

Technology in and of itself is not the answer for education--that is not what I am saying.  It is a tool... actually it is a massive warehouse full of millions of tools and if we don't let teachers in the warehouse and give them a guided tour, they are going to walk the other way.  This is going to have negative effects on their classroom and school corporation as a whole.  Education is moving quickly into technology, we have to equip or teachers with the tools and support they need to embrace this movement, not fear it.

My Favorite Web Tools

My school went 1:1 with Macbooks for several reasons.  One of the reasons was the creative software, which at the time came standard on all education purchases.  The iLife software is really unmatched as a package of creative software.  That being said, there is a wealth of free web tools available online that meet any need, regardless of the operating system or software package--the only exception would be some mobile devices that might not have corresponding apps.

There are countless great bloggers out there that make half a dozen posts EVERYDAY about great web tools.  People like Richard Byrne are more valuable than any one of these web tools--he will keep you in the know about new and FREE tools to keep your digital class running smooth.  However, not every blogger is a classroom teacher, so I thought I would give the fulltime teacher prospective of really useful web tools that I use in our 1:1 school.  I will probably post a few of these over the summer.

Not sure how to put this--I don't know how much I would enjoy 1:1 as much as I do without Google Apps.  Google Docs, Sites, Reader, Gmail, Chrome, Calendar, Voice, Maps, YouTube, SketchUp, and others make Google an absolute necessity when going 1:1.  I highly recommend Google Apps for Education.  Its amazing and free.  It will revolutionize your school's communication, given the PD to support it.

LiveBinder is a great tool that will allow you to insert a website into a "binder" that remains "live"--so when the website updates, the tab in your binder updates too.  Teachers can collect websites of content in a LiveBinder and share it with students.  Make a Google Doc public and include your own content, educational games, videos, quizzes, collaborative notes, etc.  You are limited by your own creativity.  I would like to see LiveBinder add an annotation component, but you could do this with something like Diigo or Awesome Screenshot.

In a 1:1 situation, you will inevitably be working with video--collection, editing, creation, etc.  When you want to keep the actual video file you find online, KEEPVID is a very simple tool.  You simply copy and paste the URL and download the file type you want.  In addition, KEEPVID lets you download only the MP3, so if you want only the narration, so students can create a new video from the narration--KEEPVID is a nice tool.

Trends in Educational Technology

Recently a college professor published the infographic below about how his fellow teachers use their LMS (learning management system)--Blackboard in this case.  I think this infographic exposes a few worrisome trends in educational technology.

1.  An apparent majority of teachers are using educational technology simply to digitize their old pedagogy.  In this case, the main uses of Blackboard is passing out assignments, making announcements, and entering grades. The infographic may be misleading in this case, but the trend is clear that many teachers are simply turning paper assignments into PDF files and giving multiple choice quizzes online.  This is old wine in new bottles.  What is the point of using technology?  Saving paper?

2. Universities and secondary schools seem to favor a one-size-fits-all LMS.  I can understand a common grade-entry software, but this standardization of learning platforms seems to go against the spirit of innovation and creativity that educational technology has to offer.  Standardization in general is a 20th Century trend.  Standardized tests, national content standards, standardized textbooks, uniforms, standard calendars... it all needs to go.  Students aren't standardized objects.  Why do we try to put them in a standard educational box?  Educational technology should do the complete opposite.  Would we standardize art?

3. Schools continue to pay big money for LMS software, when the services they actually use within the LMS are free on hundreds of other sites?  As the graph shows, the main use of Blackboard was simply posting assignments.  Any free website can do that (Google Sites, Weebly, etc.).  The second use is for announcements.  Again, this could easily be delivered free in dozens of ways for free.  I would venture to guess cheaper "grade" software exists too.

I hope this is simply the early transitional stage of technology integration.  Certainly this infographic isn't the best we can do for kids.  I read an article recently in Forbes Magazine that stated,

"Today knowledge is free. It’s like air, it’s like water. It’s become a commodity… There’s no competitive advantage today in knowing more than the person next to you. The world doesn’t care what you know. What the world cares about is what you can do with what you know".    

 How long will it be until our education system responds?

Intrigue

Students must be intrigued and inspired to learn.  All of us do.  As adults, why would we learn about something if we are not interested.  Would you pick up a book about a topic you don't like?   Back when public education started it was easier to gain the interest of our students.  Schools were the only place where people could be intrigued about anything beyond their daily grind.  The public library began a shift away from schools.  Radio and printed material for all ages (comic books) intrigued the youth.  I think school began its movement toward obsolescence when the television became a popular home item.  Cable made it worse.  Home gaming systems and the Internet were the final nail in our coffin of boring obsolescence.  This is how many kids see traditional schooling. Can you blame them?

I had this thought as I was making my last 2 videos for my Flipped experiment.  I used ahead.com to create a presentation.  From what I have heard, it is similar to Prezi.  The kids were SO into it.  They were clicking through, reading slides, zooming around; they loved it.  They were intrigued.  I think this is the value of using presentation tools beyond PowerPoint.  We become a one-trick pony.  The show gets boring and we lose our kids.  Granted this type of intrigue is short-lived.  Its a new toy on Christmas that gets forgotten by New Years.  Even though the intrigue is temporary it increases your skills and deepens your repertoire.  On a separate note, the web-based tools I have been exploring lately are really impressive.  I have always believed Apple had the edge on the creative market when it comes to software, but the web-based tools are giving Apple a run for their money.  If this trend continues, I might actually be convinced that Chromebooks are a better device than a Macbook for schools.  Sorry Apple.

Professional Development of the 21st Century

Professional development money is drying up fast.  Schools can no longer afford pricey conferences and expensive guest speakers.  Fortunately, we live in the era of private broadcasting.  Social networks and blogs are a great place to learn new pedagogy, assessment, and technology skills.  The days of a static classroom are over--using the same old crusty worksheets and activities.  The Digital Age is creating exponential growth, and we have to find cost effective ways to keep up. 

http://ingetang.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/connected_teacher.jpg

The term associated with this movement is PLN (Professional or Personal Learning Network) or PLC (Professional Learning Community).   This is the group of people or resources you rely on for help and professional growth.  Twitter can be a great way to build a PLN.  Google Reader is the best resource I use.  I search education and technology blogs and collect them in Reader.  There are many services to choose from such as Pinterest, Edublogs, and countless others.  You have to find what combination works for you, without overwhelming you. 

Professional development via a PLN is flexible, individualized, and self-paced--all ingredients of a 21st Century education.  Its also easy and free.  District and building administrators can find measures of accountability and collaboration to meet their expectations, but PLN/PLC are without a doubt the PD of the future.