Student A: I can’t do this. I don’t have my text book!
Student B: Dude – you’ve got your computer. That’s like 400 textbooks!
Zotero for Research
Mar 7
One of the plug-ins I included in Firefox on the student image was Zotero. Here’s the description from their website:
Zotero is an easy-to-use yet powerful research tool that helps you gather, organize, and analyze sources (citations, full texts, web pages, images, and other objects), and lets you share the results of your research in a variety of ways.
Although I think it was designed for a much more serious user (college/university student/researcher), Zotero is easy enough for my grade eight students to use.
As I’ve been conferencing with students about essays that they’re working on, I’ve been asking them kind of research they’ve come across and many students have been quickly able to flip through their notes on Zotero to show me what they’ve found, what they’ve taken from it, and exactly what their sources are. Students find it far easier to keep track of their notes and sources and create a properly formatted bibliography.
I’ve been working with my class since September to encourage sharing and it’s been happening intermittently, but usually with my encouragement (or insistence). But on Friday, when my students were working on an assignment for another teacher, I came across the first example of a couple of students setting up their own wiki to share the resources they’ve found with the rest of the students in the class! Fantastic!
Facebook Security
Mar 5
My students have been working on essays all week and I wanted to lighten things up a little bit for Friday afternoon, so I decided that I would run a Facebook Privacy session for the last period of the day. Approximately 90% of the students in my class have Facebook accounts, but few of them had looked beyond their wall, their albums and applications.
Most students didn’t know how to get to their privacy settings and when they arrived, they found that a lot of their personal details were being shown to everyone. They were pleased to be shown how to restrict access to their information and pictures to just their friends. Students were also amazed when I showed them the terms of service for one Facebook application, in particular that…
Allowing [application name deleted] access will let it access your Profile information, photos, your friends’ info and other content that it requires to work.
[application developer name] does not guarantee any confidentiality with respect to any User Submissions.
User submissions may include any of that profile information, photos, etc., that realistically are not required at all for the application to work.
Students also appreciated being shown how to remove their Facebook content from search engine results so that a few years down the road when they are looking for a job, prospective employers won’t be able to find as much evidence of youthful enthusiasm and indiscretion.
Wow – it has been a hectic learning curve. I have neglected this blog for way too long. Hopefully I can make up for it a little bit now with updates on some of the successes and learning experiences we’ve had over the past month and a bit.
Storage Cart
A storage cart arrived for the netbooks two weeks ago and it has worked out wonderfully. It seems very secure and has a built in power supply for charging the students’ netbooks. It differs from other laptop carts that I’ve seen because there are actually individual adaptors locations on each shelf, so it has helped clear up some of the “cable clutter” around my classroom. In fact, most students just leave their power cables at home now. The netbooks seem to have a 4-5 hour battery life (I know – they’re still new), but if they charge them overnight at home (or in the cart) and then pop them back into the cart at lunch for an hour, they seem to be able to make it through the day totally mobile.
The only issue I can see with the cart is that the cooling fan is very loud. This can be compensated for to some degree by closing the front doors of the cart, and you can turn off the fan by turning off the power supply to the cart (just remember to turn it on again to charge the computers before you leave at the end of the day).
Wireless Access
Wireless access is now working perfectly and the only time students lose their signal is if they accidentally turn off their wireless adaptor (or a classmate turns it off for them – not accidentally – and rather annoying).
Online Assessment
The Moodle Experience
I’ve run a couple of formative and diagnostic assessment quizzes through Moodle and haven’t had the greatest luck (nothing to do with our computers, just some frustration around getting Moodle to accept all Hot Potatoes quiz answers). I know I could probably build quizzes in the Moodle environment itself, but that takes a long time. Another problem in having Moodle automatically score answers is that if you give an open response, short answer question, and try your best to predict every possible “correct” answer, the students frequently find some other way to give the correct answer, that the computer won’t recognize. So I have to go through and check all open response questions anyway.
The Google Docs Experience
I’ve also tried to use forms to collect responses from the students using Google Docs, and this has worked out relatively well (though it does take some competency in using spreadsheets). I’ve created forms where students have various multiple choice and open response questions. All the responses are collected on a spreadsheet. I can then use a variety of IF…THEN… statements and conditional formatting to identify correct and incorrect answers. To some degree, it is easier to look for “correct” open response questions that do not match the criteria, because all answers for all students are presented in one column, you don’t have to look through each students entire quiz (i.e. like in Moodle) to find the correct answers.
Writing
The jury is still out on writing. Initially, students were writing more (quantity) on the netbooks, but I’m still not sure that I’ve seen an improvement in the quality (aside from fewer spelling mistakes). To a certain degree, I think this is just based on the fact that they need more instruction and practice in getting their voice into their writing, along with developing their ideas, doing relevant research and supporting their persuasive writing with evidence. No small task! However, we are making some in roads, and I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly they picked up Zotero to collect and organize their research (now – if only I can get them to move from copy and paste – to writing down their thoughts as they read, to gathering those thoughts and sharing their ideas clearly).
Math
The netbooks have been working out well in math. I was surprised by how many students chose to actually write their math work on the netbook. Many are becoming very competent at using the equation editor. For some students with fine motor control issues (MESSY) it has made reading their work much easier.
I’ve run into a few problems with some of the online interactive web sites. Often I’ll be working on my personal computer, pull up a site and post it to use in math class, only to find out that the version of Java or Flash on their netbook isn’t necessarily compatible with the online activity.
Back to the dance…
Well, it’s my turn to go supervise, so I’d better get out of here. I’ll try and update this again over the weekend.
Math Homework
Jan 11
Page 60: Questions 7, 9, 12, 14, 16
Over the past week I administered the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) to my students. One of the challenges of this assessments is that as a teacher, you can only work with one student at a time for the oral reading assessment, and the remainder of your class is “in theory” working independently and quietly. The laptops made this task significantly easier. I set up 5 activities linked to online resources and activities for students to practice their reading skills. As far as assessment went, I told the students that they would receive 20% for each completed assignment, but really, the bulk of my time was spent on the DRA. The main benchmark of success was that the class worked quietly and independently and I was able to get through the oral reading component of my whole class in 3 days.
I had my first student get caught using Facebook in class today (I know, it’s shocking isn’t it). Only three days in and they’re breaking the rules. Now it didn’t actually happen in my class, it happened in another class, but was reported to me.
Here’s the situation at my school.
Facebook is not permitted . . . but Facebook is not blocked by the firewall.
So, we’re left with it being the students’ responsibility to respect the rules, just like every other rule in the school. It basically comes down to “Even though you can do it, doesn’t mean you should do it.” Also, the parental favourite of “Having that computer is not a right, it’s a privilege that comes with a lot of responsibility”, followed up by “There are 100 000 other students in this school board who deserve to have this opportunity, don’t mess it up for them.” That was pretty much the discussion that I had with the whole class.
I think that’s the best way to handle it for now, but I’m wondering if it will become an issue, and if so – what is the best way to handle it. In this case, because we are an elementary school, and I have set up many other resources (Google Docs, Moodle, etc.) for them to collaborate with, maybe adding Facebook to the school’s block list might be the best idea. After all, it’s a flat out, not during class, not during recess, not during lunch, rule. If they want to access Facebook that badly, they’ll have to use their own smart phones to do it.
Integrated Webcam Rules
Dec 15
We had a discussion about the responsible use of the webcams today. These are two rules that I came up with that are non-negotiable.
- Students must ask permission before taking a picture of another person.
- Students must ask permission before uploading any digital photo of another person to any online storage site.
The consequence of students not following these rules is that all webcams will be disabled.
Why not disable them right away and avoid the risk?
Most students already have access to digital cameras (whether in their own computers, cameras, cell phones, etc.) and have access to online services or social networking sites such as Facebook where they can upload photos. I think my goal is to teach the responsible use of this kind of a tool.
There are many learning activities that the webcam can help facilitate. Students can document experiences and performances as well as learning products such as artwork. They can also prepare presentations and projects using the webcam to take pictures or embed video.
Even today, some students used the webcam innovatively: taking pictures of diagrams from their science text that they needed to study so that they don’t have to carry the whole textbook home.
Today’s the first day that some students will be bringing their netbooks home. We had a good discussion in class about their responsible use again. I would like all students to participate in the development of community standards (rules) for the responsible use of these netbooks both in school and at home.
Here are some of the rules that have been developed so far… (the original document is shared on Google Docs)
- When teacher asks for screens to be lowered, lower your screens 3/4 of the way and give your attention to the teacher.
- Don’t use material that you don’t have permission to use.
- Give credit where credit is due (i.e. provide links to sources).
- Don’t use social networking sites in school (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.).
- Don’t use instant messaging in school (this includes sites that allow you to access your MSN Messenger, Facebook Chat, etc.).
6. Be aware of where it is al all times. Don’t loose track of it
7. Only use websites that are appropriate for school
8. Hold it with 2 hands never with one, and don’t leave it on the edge of the desk
9. Liquids and food shouldn’t be anywhere near it ever. Water and netbooks don’t mix
10. Don’t install anything you don’t have permission to
11. If you are going on vacation, it would be a good idea to leave it at home because you could loose it
12. when you are finished using it, turn it off completely so that it doesn’t run out of battery
13. but a good password that won’t be easily hacked
14. don’t vandalise it in any way
15. always bring it to school, don’t forget it at home
16. if you are putting pictures on it, use appropriate pictures for school and make sure you are getting them from a trusted website
17. during class, if you are given a work period, use it wisely and don’t go and play a game of something
18. if your siblings can’t be trusted around it, them don’t let them on or near it because you are responsible for it
19. Ask permission before you take a picture or make a video of someone with the webcam and definitely ask permission before you post their picture online (anywhere – school or other sites)
I would like to get this list down to 10 or fewer rules, so look for ways to consolidate rules or set broad standards that cover a range of things, rather than specifying every minute detail.