I was chatting with a student in Grade 6 today about a movie he made. After 10001 photos, he and his brother produced a high quality entertaining stop-motion movie simply by using Movie Maker. When asked what he had done with it, he said “YouTube.”
It made me wonder how many other students are producing great stuff that we are not even aware of.
Any ideas for organizing students’ multimedia work somehow? Many students from IB down to Grade 6 have produced great work. Many have posted randomly to YouTube. There is great digital art, models, diagrams, etc. They are crying for an audience. Not sure what is the best solution. Should the school host the products? Should there be an independent site with grade or subject categories? Should we simply gather links to outsourced hosts?
What happens when you get three computer geeks in a pub? They talk about monkeys.
While a feeble attempt was made to discuss standard small talk items such as politics and sport, the focus inevitably turned to computers. So what do computers and monkeys have in common?
The infinite monkey theorem loosely states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type or create a particular chosen text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. This idea has several variations including a thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters. Even the Simpsons and Ricky Gervais had a go at it. Read the rest of this entry »
In a previous post, Fred posted some shownotes from his recent Wednesday morning in-service on web skills. I’d just like to expand on this a bit. If you’re an MS or HS teacher and plan for your students to do research on a topic, you can share the below hints with your students before they start. Effective web searching involves a whole set of skills that need reinforcing over time. Read the rest of this entry »
What makes a good presentation? What are some design tips for presenters? Are there examples of good or bad presentations? If you have any resources on these topics, please share them here for the benefit of all of us.
This site has a great presentation that discusses good design by demonstrating what not to do. There seem to be 2 general sets of guidelines for designing effective presentations: Read the rest of this entry »
Okay, I’ll really try to keep it shorter this time!
Regular exercise or study is much more effective than intense but irregular bursts of effort (what we call ‘cramming’). Stephen Covey refers to this as “the Law of the Farm”: you can’t cram on the farm - only steady day-to-day work will provide a full harvest. Similarly, ongoing (well considered) ICT use in the day-to-day classroom environment offers more powerful and longer-lasting benefits than one-off, intensive projects.
Traditional education tends to relegate students to the role of consumers, of passive recipients of knowledge, which is seen as something to be delivered by the teacher (with the aid of secondary sources such as authoritative textbooks). Over the years, the underlying assumptions of this model about how learning takes place have increasingly come under criticism, but while many call for an overhaul of the teacher’s role - from “Sage on the Stage” to “Guide on the Side” - this is still effectively the model according to which many classrooms operate. The critics further argue that schools need to upgrade the students’ role to active co-producers of learning and knowledge. Read the rest of this entry »
This morning, a student forwarded this article to me about iPods in schools. While the article mentions iPods, this could in fact apply to any mp3 player. A couple of quotes really stood out such as:
“You know the No. 1 complaint about school is that it’s boring because the traditional way it’s taught relies on passive learning,” Mr. Noguera said. “It’s not interactive enough.”
“…students seemed bored by their English-language textbooks…which they found outdated and irrelevant”
Fortunately, this is not necessarily the case at our school, however, the article made me reflect on how we are using mp3 players at ISM. In the HS, how are mp3 players used in the classroom to facilitate learning? Why are mp3 players not allowed in the MS? Now, aside from the obvious concerns about theft and loss, I think there could be real value in allowing students to bring iPods to school, however, it would require a well thought out vision that clearly outlines how iPods could be utilized and training for teachers on how to integrate this technology into the class. The groundwork for integration has already started. Training on podcasting has been offered to several departments in the school. Mp3 recorders are being used at the IB level for oral exams. The Music and Modern Language departments are recording student work for playback and self evaluation. Many of the students are already familiar with the technology and possess the tools to use it. Where do we go from here?
I love programming. I love how you can make something useful from scratch, and in very little time. I love it because it’s logical, and I’ve always been one for logic puzzles. And I especially love it because it’s fun.
As a computer science teacher I want everyone to love it. It’s an uphill battle. People tend to see programming as completely alien, difficult, and frustrating to understand. And especially as something that has very little use in their lives. Why worry about what goes on behind the scenes of a program? You’re just using the program, right? Read the rest of this entry »
That’s right - last night! I put the kids to bed, brewed some of Starbucks’ finest for my wife and myself, got out a packet of Tim Tams and then got comfy in my softest lounge chair. And then I went to a conference. No need for a visa, no airport checkins, and it didn’t cost me a single centavo - basically, it was all the flavour but none of the CO2 emissions (talk about going green!). No taxis, no need for an ironed shirt. I may even attend the next session from my bathtub!
What happens when you get three computer geeks in a pub? They talk about monkeys.
This morning, a student forwarded this 
That’s right - last night! I put the kids to bed, brewed some of Starbucks’ finest for my wife and myself, got out a packet of Tim Tams and then got comfy in my softest lounge chair. And then I went to a conference. No need for a visa, no airport checkins, and it didn’t cost me a single centavo - basically, it was all the flavour but none of the CO2 emissions (talk about going green!). No taxis, no need for an ironed shirt. I may even attend the next session from my bathtub!
