New device

Now that I have upgraded my phone I n continue my journey. Goal to use phone as a tool for programming and assessment.

I am excited about the recommendation  the students gave me about the Nexus5 Google phone. They are expert about recent devices such as phones, tablets, laptops, and the the most current apps. Journey education continues. New device leads  to knowledge attainment. Information at the fingertips. The journey continues .....

Creating a video

As I continue to explore the use of technology in classroom I am confronted with obstacles that become time consuming and hinders progresss. In an effort to integrate technology in the class I have created an assignment for students to make a webisode of calculating surface area and volume of a cylindrical container. At first students and I were very excited about this new endeavour. However, as we continue to use the technological devices that are available to us such as the school camera and the laptops we realized that it was as easy as we had thought. (In fact it would have been easy if we had the most up to date hardware and software available)Some problems the student encountered with the acer laptops was that once they recorded their videos and uploaded it there was no volume. Seems like the sound cards in some of the laptops were defective. After some investigation one of the students used a headphone to see if the volume would work. It worked with the headphones and then when the head phone was removed then the laptops speakers started to work. (That was weird, I thought and so did the students) Other issues making our videos resulted from the cameras we had available. The images weren't sharp and when students zoomed in on their written work instead of the video becomming clearer it became more distorted and elligible. Also, when zooming in on the speaker or an object the person voice gets distorted. I must admit that students observed enthusiasm at creating the videos have drastically reduced to the complications they are experiencing. It has also led me to question whether I should be trying to incorporate more creating learning videos because of the amount of time it takes to capture, edit, and publish footage of their learning. Considering how much of the curriculum content I should be covering over the limited time that I have to do it. Today all the students should have been completing their final cut and by the end of the time, not one group was finished. Though this may seem like a rant it is not. I am just journaling my observations and experiences in the process of creating 21st century learner in the 21st century classroom. Journery Educationa Technology ....... To Be Continued!

Keeping journeyedutech alive!

Today I introduced the idea to my students to create a webisode for solving volume of a cylinder. The idea is for students to create an educational video that we can use to demonstrate how to solve volume of a cylinder. Students were definately engaged in their small groups and I could tell they were having fun! As I continue to put my studies into practice I would like to see the students using their devices to enrich their learning. Hopefully in a couple weeks I will have some awesome videos of students demonstrating their knowledge of volume and surface area of a cylindrical container. I am keeping journeyedutech alive by allowing students to explore the use of technology in the class as tool to develop knowledge content as well as a tool to seek out knowledge. I am excited to see the students engaged.......To Be Continued

BYOD peel google search on my not so smart blackberry torch device

Eager to get on board with BYOD peel to send an email to my students. Trying to find the link on google  from  my blackberry torch but cant. Is it my phone? Is it the website?

JourneyEdutech continues....

Why Bother?: Gary Kern at TEDxWestVancouverED

As I watch this video I begin to think about J. Krishnamurti's book titled Education and the Significance of Life. I see many parallels with self actualization and the "right education" as discussed in Krishnamurti's book.

Watch this video post a comment to this blog. Do you know of Krishnamurti's ideology? Share your perspective..

Whatever Happened to Joy in Education?: Dean Shareski at TEDxWestVancouv...

Bring joy into teaching for the sake of a happy learning environment!

Experimenting with the Hipstreet Flare 4.0

So, I bought a cheap tablet from Walmart to experiment with for BYOD. I didn't own a device for myself so I thought... why not get one since students may be bringing their own to class coming Fall 2013. Well, my first tablet experience was not good. The review on the particular tablet I bought indicated that the machine was faulty. Hipstreet tablet received fairly poor reviews. After reading the critiques, I wanted to experiment with the device for myself so I can come to my own conclusion.

Well my experience was not good with the device. I experienced some deficiency when try to type  information for my blog. The text box gets covered by the pop-up keyboard on the screen  when your trying to type. This was frustration because I could only see one line as I typed which made it hard for me to read over what I had written. This was definitely a disadvantage that could hinder students learning in the classroom using this tablet. Another problem which was indicated in the reviews that is similar to my experience was the tablet kept dropping the WI-FI signal. Wearing my teacher's hat. I began to consider the devices use in the classroom. I decided to return the device back to Walmart and save my money for a much more expensive device that I would be able to use comfortably at home and in the classroom.

As I continue this journey educational technology (JourneyEduTech), I am becoming familiar with how to integrate technology in the class for 21st century teaching and learning.

I can say with certainty that the Hipstreet tablet isn't powerful enough to handle multiple open screens, streaming music or video, or playing games simultaneously. Even the camera quality is awful. As one of the critiques said in an Amazon post "you pay for what you get", however I am not ready to part with my $115 on something that doesn't meet my basic need to surf the web and listen to music at the same time without the system slowing dramatically. I will be getting a refund!

Post a comment about your tablet experience. What brand do you possess? Also, provide some positives things about your device that makes it suitable for the classroom environment as well as some things that could be improved upon.

Teaching and Learning in a Digital World .

Here is a link about a workshop taking place at Castlebrook H.S. in the Peel District School Board for teachers about 21st century teachers and learners. They're look for presenters for this workshop on Aug 21st and 22nd, 2013. Check out the YouTube video. Click the link! http://youtu.be/GoG8kdnm444

Impact of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiative on teachers and students in 21st century classrooms

Here is a research paper written about the possible impacts of Bring Your Own Device in the classroom. Take a read. Make a comment!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ql3VztR5oD6j6VwTxrlrjAHSr3GNkZf9ZOmgSRALfGU/pub

21st century learners in 21st century classrooms: Is Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) the key?

The Peel District School Board have implemented an initiative for students to begin bringing their personal devices from home to school as part of Bring Your Own Device initiative. The boards goal is to provide all school with Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) by September 2013 so that students can use their device to access Wi-Fi as part of the learning environment. When you visit the Peel District School Board website at www.peelsb.com the first thing you see is their publications about the BYOD initiative. I encourage bloggers to take a look at their publications and blog here about it. Post your comments, concerns, or anything you would like to share about the idea to have students bring and use their personal device in the school environment. Do you think this is the right move by the board? Please share!