True Confessions of a Former Technophobe

When I started reflecting my use of technology during instruction I thought about the types of technology I use, the cool websites I have taught the students use, and my favorite - Edmodo. I realized though that before I could get into explaining and highlighting the different tools I used I need to first discuss why I didn't use technology in my classroom. And that was a mixture of pride and fear.

I am not a "tech guru."  For several years, I went without using  all of the cool resources I had available because I didn't want to admit I didn't know how, and I was afraid of not having it work and looking silly in front of my students. As I began to realize that my kids were really missing out on some great opportunities for learning, I had to be brave.  I had to figure out the technology.

For me, that meant asking questions, finding a patient person who could show me a few things, playing around a lot, and then doing what I do best...teaching others how to use the things I had discovered. I began by using the video tutorials on the websites I was using or even using YouTube videos to figure out things I was unsure about. I also found a co-worker who was great at instructional technology and I would ask questions and work with her and her classes collaboratively in order soak in all of the technology I could. When I found new resources I spent time to make demo versions of what I wanted my students to make. I was able to anticipate the questions they had or possible glitches that might occur. Then, when I felt comfortable, I would share with other teachers in my department or in my building my newly gained skill.  This would prepare me even more and help me to feel even more comfortable with the new software, website, or tool.

By no means did I turn into a "tech guru" (true confession: I had to watch a You Tube video on how to copy and paste on my new Mac Book last month), but I am more comfortable and have more confidence so that my pride and fear will no longer be stumbling blocks to using instructional technology.

If you find yourself hesitant about trying something new, I encourage you to ask questions, find someone who will patiently guide you, play around with it, and then teach it to others. Take advantage of all the amazing resources that we have available.

And if you happen to be a "tech guru" and it comes naturally to you? Take the time to help answer the questions of someone more hesitant. Maybe even partner with them on a collaborative project. Our students will surely benefit from the time you take, and the hesitant teacher will be thankful for the support.

Carrie Jones is a reading coach at University Place Elementary School.  Connect with her on Twitter, where she's @carriekeyjones.

Weekend Links for November 1

Happy November!  Here are some links to chew on over the weekend:

Sign up for the 2014 Global Read Aloud - Learn more about the GRA here.

Calendly - Conveniently Schedule Meetings Through Google Calendar via Free Technology for Teachers

The Immense Complexity of Dynamic Conversations by Kristen Swanson

We've Got Extra Funds! Let's Buy Test-Taking Devices! via Dangerously Irrelevant

Stop Trying to Figure Out If Screentime Is Good for Students by Lisa Nielsen

Michael Wesch: How the Internet Has Changed Us via The Vancouver Sun


And, in case you missed them, check out this week's posts here on the TCS Tech blog:

Pros and Cons of Using Livebinders as a Digital Archiving Tool for Student Work by Lavanda Wagenheim

Malware: What It Is and Why You Have It by Erik Hammonds

Malware: What It Is and Why You Have It

A computer is just a box of circuits, transistors, resistors and other electrical engineering words. Left to its own devices, you can’t really do anything with it. You need software, right? Of course you do! Luckily, the internet is full of software, and a lot of it says it’s free in big red letters! Isn't that great?!

No. That is not great.

Here’s the thing… most of the time, that “free” software is going to be a timed trial. You can use it a certain number of days or hours, and then it wants you to purchase the full version.  Even worse, most of those programs are bundled with installers that will add several different programs to your computer that you didn't ask for. Those programs are often harmful to your computer, and are what we call “malware”.

Malware is actually a portmanteau… it’s short for “malicious software”. The actual definition of malware is “software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems”. Those programs that you may have seen pop up wanting your credit card number to fix several thousand errors in your registry? Random things opening when you try to start up your favorite Internet browser that should never, ever be Internet Explorer? Yep, that’s malware.

Getting rid of malware isn't always easy (though sometimes it totally is; it depends on what’s on the computer and what you're willing to lose). The easiest thing to do is to just not get it in the first place! With this stuff sneaking its way onto your computer when you're trying to download innocent-looking software from reputable sites (even CNET is guilty of distributing the stuff now) how can you avoid it? How do you know if that file you want to download is safe or not?

ASK US FIRST.

That’s the best piece of advice I can give you. Put in a work order and let us know that you’re interested in a program, and where you found it online. We can download it and try it out first to make sure it’s safe. If it’s not, we'll let you know and might be able to suggest a similar, safer program that will do what you need to get done.

The Pros and Cons of Using Livebinders as a Digital Archiving Tool for Student Work

Teachers at the Magnet Middle have wanted a user-friendly way to showcase students' work from the school year so that all stakeholders could access the work at any time.  We knew that the Chromebooks would be launched this semester, and I think we were all aware that when the students had their gmail accounts set up that everyone would be able to collaborate, create, and store work using Google Drive and the suite of Google tools.  However, we couldn't wait for the Chromebook roll-out because of the (impending) IB Authorization Visit in early October.  We felt that we had to show the team that we were beginning the process of setting up a system for organizing student projects.  Since I was already familiar with Livebinders.com and its ease-of-use (basically little to no training of staff or students required -- a kind of log-in and use-straight-away tool), we looked at the free tool and decided to implement its features immediately.  The IB visiting team came and viewed student work samples and reflections via Livebinders (with the permission of students, of course), and we seem to have "passed that test." So here is an assessment of the online portfolio tool.

Pros:  Livebinders serves a good purpose for what it was designed to do: it is a fairly decent organization and presentation tool that can be accessed at school or at home.  Students may showcase their best work from all of their classes -- even music, visual art, Spanish, and participation in community service projects -- with minimal effort or steps.  It is relatively attractive with its color-tabbed format.  Students find it easy to upload pictures of their 3-D projects and their text documents. They can write directly onto the tabbed pages to reflect upon a project or to describe a picture of the project. They can create layers of subtabs under each school subject. They can provide links to videos that they have uploaded on Youtube, such as their video or animation projects, or even embed the Youtube video itself onto the page (however, see Cons list below for caveats regarding this feature). Teachers can monitor the most recent session time when a student has logged in, and when the level of student effort is in question, teachers can show parents or students a screenshot of the most recent log-in time.  Work is automatically saved, so there is little risk in "losing" work.

Cons: According to the teachers, one of the cons of using Livebinders is the fact that there is not an admin feature to the website.  Teachers have to log in to every student's account to make sure that their work has been uploaded as assigned.  This can get very tedious for the teacher. And although the teacher can edit work when he/she is logged in, there is no feature to comment on the student's work. It is not designed to be a collaborative tool among teachers and students, and that is where the usefulness and productivity of Livebinders ends.  Another detraction from using this tool concerns momentary "freezing" of the program while students are working.  One teacher reported that one student could not work on his binder for a few minutes, which can be frustrating for students working on a deadline.  Livebinders is also hampered by its slightly static, "old school" Powerpoint slide-like format interface for each tab. In addition to its rigid styling options, students can get buried in creating multiple subtabs to the point that they have to dig to find their own work.  The file formats supported by the Livebinders platform are very limited as well.  Video files can be inserted as links to other document saving sites, but unless they have been uploaded to Youtube, they cannot be embedded right into the tab page.  Some students do not have permission to use Youtube, and therefore, this limits what a student can show directly on his/her portfolio. PDF files cannot be embedded either. They display as links.

Another inconvenience for setting up Livebinders in a middle school classroom:  Livebinders requires students to be 13 years of age in order to use their personal email accounts to set up a Livebinders account; however, the company provided a way for our under 13 population to use the program. Because we did not have our systemwide student Gmail accounts in time to set up our Livebinders accounts, we had to create "subaccounts" on  teacher's existing Gmail accounts.  There is a detailed video that shows teachers how to do this, and it is provided in a link on Livebinders.  It is not as difficult as it sounds.  The username is created by the student and the password can be a generic password for all users.  The teacher receives emails on his/her Gmail inbox that each student account has been set up.  In order for the teacher to access and assess the Livebinders account for that student, he/she keepst the list of usernames handy.  Students are encouraged to keep their usernames private so that others could not compromise their binders.

Overall, the teachers, students, and parents have been pleased with Livebinders and its simplicity.  Students have taken real pride in organizing their work in this manner and have shown a genuine enthusiasm for reflecting back on their learning goals for the projects they have posted, writing down what they learned and enjoyed, and evaluating their work to describe what they could have done better.

Of course, since we are now launching Chromebooks and Google Drive in the classroom (as of this week), once teachers have set up the folder sharing feature, they will be able to view and comment on student work without having to log in to every individual student's account. True collaboration in the classroom to improve learning is our main goal.  We are excited to see what G-Drive can do for writing workshop and math class, and we're ready to incorporate what we learn from every new tool to improve our fledgling digital archiving system.

Lavanda Wagenheim is the IB Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa Magnet School - Middle.  Connect with her on Twitter, where her handle is @ELavanda.

Weekend Links for October 25

Happy Friday, folks!

Here are a few links from the week to keep you learning through the weekend.  If something grabs you, give these blogs a follow or consider joining in on the discussions via comments.

For the Purpose Of by Scott McLeod

Connect to Win by Lyn Hilt

Sharing Real-World Projects Sharpens the Literacy Skills of Connected Students by Brian Crosby

Remember This... by Will Richardson

Where Are All the Connected Female Educators? by Pernille Ripp

Five Minute Film Festival: Copyright and Fair Use for Educators via Edutopia

Have a great weekend!

Questioning Connectedness

Connected Educator Month causes me to stop and ask questions? I ask lots of questions anyway.

What would connected educators look like?

My friend and colleague, Andrew Maxey, correctly points out connections cannot be forced. Networking happens organically. So what is the proper environment to make the seeds of connectedness produce fruit? How can leaders tend to their crop of educators to generate a better harvest?

What structures keep us separate?

I routinely refer to teaching as the most lonely profession. Using an industrial revolution model, we isolate teachers in a classroom with 20 to 35 kids and no other adult contact for most of the day. Any structured adult time is usually centered around "sit-and-get" meetings or petrified development.

If a teacher does not do well in managing alone 30 kids, s/he is regarded as less-than. I wonder how many really good teachers have left the profession because those management skills would have developed later, if the structures existed for the teacher to be used differently until management skills developed.

What current structures could help us be more connected?

We have teachers who are very good a certain things and not very good at others. How do we allow teachers to be better matched with their strength areas? Are there scheduling changes we can make to facilitate this process? Are there people within the current system whose skills can be better matched with tasks?

We now have tremendous technology tools for communication and collaboration we can use within the current system to improve how we connect with one another.

What structures have to change for educators to be more successful?

Is there any facet of educationism so dear we would not sacrifice it if we knew it would create a most ideal educational situation for our students and teachers? Are all "cards on the table" when we talk about how teachers can be encouraged to be learners in a professional community?

How might teachers quality of life be different if we answered some of these questions?

Chris Jenks is the instructional technology coordinator for the Tuscaloosa City Schools.  Follow him on Twitter, where he goes by @chrisjenks.

No Man is An Island - At Least Join an Archipelago!

In case you have missed it so far, October is Connected Educator Month.  Clearly implied is the assertion that educators should be "connected".  I know many teachers who are.  I aspire to be a principal who is.  This post is for my peers and colleagues near and far who do not know what it means to be connected or are not convinced that they should be.

Allow me to begin with my definition of being "connected".  To me, being a connected educator is about forming professional relationships with educators I am unlikely ever to meet for the purpose of exchanging ideas.  Being connected means discovering and activating vast digital resources for professional learning.  One metaphor for the "traditional" approach to teaching describes teachers as independent contractors.  The new conventional wisdom suggests that teachers leave that model for one of collaboration with their peers.  Connected educators embrace that wisdom and take it much farther, seeing themselves as part of a team that extends across the profession.  They seek to engage the teacher next door in powerful professional dialogue and to apply that learning to planning that impacts student learning.  They are willing though, to find such connections on the other side of the country or the globe if they must.  Many connected educators have come to the realization that the Digital Age was not created specifically to serve learning but has provided an enormous array of tools that do exactly that.  In today's rapidly shrinking global society, long distance communication and collaboration can be done instantly and nearly effortlessly. "Being connected" then, usually includes learning how to take advantage of the tools to make such connections possible.

Lest there be any confusion, let me make clear my opinion that educators should never be required to be connected.  Any attempt to do so would be counterproductive at best. It would be analogous to forcing someone to diet - isn't that called starving them?  I believe the case for connectedness to be so strong, however, that it requires little more than a clear articulation and open modeling of these practices to win the consideration of others.

So, let me attempt to very briefly make the case.  If you are an educator (of any kind) you should be connected with other educators.  Imagine carrying in your pocket the computing power equivalent to that which put a man on the moon.  Picture having the collected whole of the accumulated knowledge of mankind at your fingertips.  Then open your eye and realize that you live in a world where such power is not only available to but already in the hands of most educators.  Today's technology allows you to seek for resources or advice from colleagues via social media such as Twitter and receive outstanding responses from folks who do not know you and who have no reason to share other than their love of the profession.  Through platforms such as Pinterest, teachers can gather enough instructional ideas and templates to last a career ... without spending a penny.  Only first year teacher in your building?  There are hundreds of thousands out there waiting to share how they are tackling the very same challenges you are facing.  Creating a new program or course or club or student organization for your school?  You can find someone who has implemented what you are shooting for and would be happy to mentor you or at least to share a few pointers.

If you need one more great reason to begin the journey towards being a connected educator, consider your students.  Imagine the implications of the fact that change accelerating at an exponentially accellerating rate.  Imagine a future where social media is long out of style, where text messaging is embarrassingly quaint, and where cell phone calls are as forgotten as mimeograph machines.  What if that future is just around the corner, waiting for your students before they are a quarter of the way through their career?  Will the instruction you are providing them prepare them to be healthy and productive members of that society?

What I am trying to say is consider becoming a connected educator.  What could it hurt?

Andrew Maxey is the principal of Rock Quarry Middle School.  He blogs at nothingthatprofound.wordpress.com and tweets from time to time as @_ezigbo_.