Tag Archive for 'blended learning'

Google Docs for Collaboration (Part 1)

Published on 26 April, 2009 in Cloud Computing, Cool Tools, Google Docs and History. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

This is the first of a sequence of posts that I am going to make about how I am using Google Docs with my classes. We often hear about how wonderful web-based tools are for collaboration and learning in theory, but not so often in practice.

I am fairly new to Google Apps having been convinced by other 2008 eLearning Fellows to give it a try. I just looked at my oldest document and Gmail and they date back to Beginning September 2008 so 8 months experience is what I am giving.

First, I must say that I have become a huge fan of Google Apps, and Google Docs in particular. Here are a few examples of their use with my Year 11 History class:

The students all have their own Google Accounts (our school has a planned shift to Education Edition in the future). With the students quite new to Docs I started them off with a simple task of notes building, to help them become familiar with the environment.

TASK ONE: As the students worked through their online course I provided them with a brief set of notes published online (yes you can publish a document as a web page) which they could copy and paste into their own set of notes. These publish notes were formatted with Headers 1 and 2 – this is important as the students could create an easy table of contents using this formatting.

The requirements that they were given were simple: Go online and find relevant images to embed into their notes. They were studying “The Origins of World War II” topic. With the collaboration facility in Docs I got the students to share their notes document to me as a collaborator. This meant that I could monitor their progress and give them assistance, if needed, and feedback.

One of the students has published his final product. Follow this link to view.

The next History topic (just started) has led to an increase in collaboration between students and the difficulty level of the task.

TASK TWO: Students have now been placed in groups of three (in my view this is an ideal number for online tasks such as this – they can be help more to account by others in the group for their contribution, or lack of). The students were tasked with writing a new set of notes on the new topic which is “New Zealand’s post WW2 Search for Security”. They are given suggested headings and a theme for them to write their content – example here. Students have only just started on this topic/task – it will be interesting to see how they progress.

I will post more on my experiences with Google Docs over the coming month. I can only recommend that you give it a go…..Good Luck!

Timelines using Dipity

Published on 20 December, 2008 in Cool Tools and History. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Hey I just discovered this cool timeline tool which I intend to use next year with my History classes. It is called Dipity and allows the user to create timelines over any period and to post events with multimedia embedded. There is even a function which allows for the presenting of timelines in a “flipbook” format.

This was clearly made as a free social software tool for people to share their travels with each other. I could just imagine getting students either individually or in groups to present a historical topic to the class or via their blog etc. Of course it can be embedded. Here is a sample one that I found on the History of Technology:

Blended Learning in Secondary Schools

Published on 11 December, 2008 in Moodle and blended learning. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

Well my year long elearning fellowship has finally come to an end and I will be back into regular teaching alongside my role as eLearning Director at Wellington College starting next year.

This year has seen me test and research a model of learning which I had used previously with a Year 11 History class. The research explored how student interactivity can be enhanced through the use of a blended learning approach and sought to discover how students could become more engaged in their learning when offered an environment that encouraged interaction and collaboration.

I used a Moodle LMS where students prepared for upcoming classes by engaging with online readings, quizzes, forum discussions and a variety of other resources and activities. They would then come to class and participate in activities including discussion around the content that had been covered. I found that the students were interacting with the content, me and each other with a deeper understanding than they might have previously. One of the most significant findings was that engagement equalised, that is to say that lower ability students became more engaged in discussion now that they felt more confident in their knowledge of course content. I finish my report with a discussion about how I believe that emerging technologies will impact on the future of blended learning and high schools in general.

My completed research report is available for download in PDF format here (2.14MB). It will be made available on the efellows site shortly.

I have also discussed my research project and year in general in an edtalks video which can be viewed below (approximately 7 mins):

Collaboration Webs and Mobile Tools (Part 2)

Published on 12 November, 2008 in Cloud Computing, Mobile Devices, blended learning and mLearning. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

This is a follow-up to my previous post a month ago on Collaboration Webs and Mobile Tools. What has brought it about is the November issue of Interface magazine article titled “Would you look good with a mini?” (well worth a read). The article discusses the emerging trend of Mini Laptops and how they have become more appealing with the particular attractions being size and price.

It is hard to believe that only 13 months (October 16, 2007) ago the very first viable mini, the Asus Eee PC, entered the market. Interface now mentions 6 standard models in addition to the recently released Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (image shown) which I purchased recently. I first started looking at the minis about 4 months ago as an option but was reluctant to touch them because of the key board size and screen size – but I changed my mind once the keyboards came in at 90% standard and the screen could handle 1024px width (600px height) to prevent the nightmare of side-scrolling. Another feature I like is that it runs on Windows XP which, love it or hate it, is the standard for most schools including mine.

This is a truly fast evolving resource and I predict that Mini Laptops will become the standard wireless access tool for students NZ High Schools within 2-3 years.

PS. I am not an apologist for Dell but I do love my Inspiron Mini 9…

Collaboration Webs and Mobile Tools

Published on 15 October, 2008 in Cloud Computing, Cool Tools, Laptop Classrooms, blended learning and ePortfolios. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Classmate PC

Well I have just about recovered from the U-Learn 08 Conference held in Christchurch last week. It is the largest eLearning conference for teachers in the country. The conference more than anything confirmed my belief that we are headed rapidly towards a combination of Collaboration Webs and Mobile tools which will take over our teaching. This year’s Horizon Report confirms that these will be adopted within 1-3 years.

For this reason I will be helping to implement a project at my school to facilitate a shift to the use of Mobile Tools and Connected Learning in the classroom. Currently teachers need to jostle over the limited computer room resources, similar to most schools as we know. We will be dedicating one classroom of laptops to allow 5-6 teachers from a range of subjects and Year levels to have online access on demand. The teachers will become a collaborative team with ongoing professional development in the use of online tools to implement student centred learning. The focus of this project is on developing the staff so that they can become team leaders the following year when we purchase a number of sets of cheap mini laptops such as the Classmate PC (as shown above).

Already there is strong interest in participation in the project. I see it as just one project among many where rapid growth can occur by exploring and modelling what is possible.

Clearly the expectation is that Mobile Phones will become the web tool of choice for most teenagers and possibly adults too. However, until the more web-capable iPhone & T-Mobile become more affordable then we see the use of the mini PC as an affordable choice to help prepare our staff and students for what lies ahead.

Here is a link to my presentation to Department Heads which was use to promote discussion of our “Collaboration Webs Project”:

Implementing Moodle in a High School

Published on 6 October, 2008 in Laptop Classrooms, Moodle and blended learning. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

It is my belief that the implementation of an interactive Learning Management System such as Moodle is best accomplished using a ground up rather than top down model.

The following two videos show what Belmont City College in Perth, Western Australia accomplished within a short space of time. After 10 months over 50% of teaching staff were using Moodle. The videos (part 1 & 2) step through the process of the schools implementation of Moodle and also demonstrate what is possible for teachers, students and administrators with the Moodle LMS.

This is a great presentation which I thoroughly recommend:

 

Google Forms

Published on 24 September, 2008 in Cool Tools. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

I have just come back from 3 days in Christchurch with the efellows group. I have learnt so much this year which has inspired me to start blogging my ongoing eLearning experiences.

Here is just one of the many great ideas that I picked up from the other efellows:

Google Forms is a standard part of the Google Docs tool. Here you can write a range of questions which you can invite people to answer and submit online. In a presentation setting participants can go online and answer questions such as the sample below - Feel free to answer the question.

The presenter can show the participants instant and updating results to the online survey as it is happening – see screenshot below:

Wow what a powerful tool. Imagine using this in class if your students had access to mobile devices!!