Essential Software for the IT teacher for 2015

Tags

android studio, computer software, core education, cs4hs, css, edchatnz, edtechchat, game development, gamefroot.com, html, ICT, kiwijsengine, royal society nz, teaching, technologyteacher, wellyed

At the end of the lease period(3years), our batch of desktops from the IT lab are going away and new ones which will have similar specs apart from better RAM (8gb replacing 4) and a couple of computers which may have graphics cards for better handling video editing and other jobs. Which made me think, about time I build a list of new software that I will want the IT manager to image onto the machines.

Most machines we use are Microsoft Windows v7 (didn’t upgrade to 8 /10 yet as the students are happy with 7) and a few MacBookPro’s to add a little versatility to our department.

Starting with the intermediates (year 7 and year 8), they get going with Microsoft Office packages along with the school systems (Google Apps for mail and storage whereas Ultranet for sharing with parents). So I think we have a school wide License for Microsoft Office which works out fine. Year 8 students do Robotics with NXT mindstorm kits so the default nxt 2.0 will be installed. However, we have just received 2 NXT 3.0 kits so will need to make sure that some computers have the new software too. I think its downward compatible.

Scratch is an essential software for junior students to learn programming as they begin with the Hour of code (hourofcode.com) and get introduced to programming lingo before starting projects.

Year 9 students do some animation using Flash ( yes, I still teach Flash because its cool). Adobe has a new system for their software. Each user login pays around 20NZD a month for access to all their software in the educational section which is a variety of software including the essentials like Photoshop, Flash, InDesign, Illustrator and Premiere Pro. So I think I will get a class set of logins which will work great. They can run it on their machines at home too which means no more reason to not complete homework.

Year 10 get going with HTML using CSS and Javascript. Last year Brackets ended up being the choice software with its live preview feature and clean interface. This year, Cloud9 IDE with group collaboration sounds like the way to go. However, I will still have Brackets and notepad++ as backup software. Python shell will also be installed and so will Android studio ( year 10 are doing the ICT crest challenge with Royal Society to create an App and this software should be well suited to get them going). We used MIT’s App inventor this year and students loved it to a point until accessing the app from the server using the bar code started getting slower. Game design is another area of work for this batch of students and I will be looking into doing game design using Java Script. A platform called KiwiJS will be installed on every computer and they have a good team constantly working on their repo in git. They also have a web based game dev tool called gamefroot.com which i have been using successfully with this group.

Microsoft Visual studio will be an essential package at the senior level too as students work on some assignments needing visual basic (to build the calculator at level3). Happy that Adobe gives us Premiere Pro because a lot of students are participating in the V48 film making challenge and editing software is expensive. But if students have their own logins, they can complete the editing at home on their computers rather than queuing up for machines in the lab.

A bunch of students are also working on additional projects during the IT club which involve Arduinos and Raspberry Pi’s. Arduino has its own IDE which can be downloaded and the Pi runs of its own OS which has Python installed on it. I prefer to have some simple computers (downgraded machines like core2duos) which are not in use for these projects as then they don’t take up the class set.

Apart from these, there are tons of other tiny applications which are helpful in everyday computing. 7Zip for zipping and extracting files. Chrome is highly productive browser and with tons of helpful apps on the chrome webstore, I would recommend it over any other browser. Downloading Drive is useful but then students saving all their work to the local drive will add up to the space constraints on the local machines. They have some set space on the server for their every day use.

Java needs to be updated on every PC as its needed by Android Studio and other applications to run.

On the MacBook Pros, Garageband for music editing (free now) along with Adobe package (which is downloaded and students login) for editing images and movies. Some students are keen to build iOS apps using the new dev tool called Swift (which is probably Apple’s response to Android studio ?) . Might install that at a later date.

On the IPads, I am keen to install ArtRage for students with Graphic design on their mind. Its a real versatile design software which students can easily make game graphics for. at $6.49 NZ its not too bad. Unfortunately Apple haven’t yet sorted out their login for apps yet, which means if i install it on my login it will appear on every iPad at school giving students access to the software. Works for me.

Next blog will be about Hardware. I have also a big debate on Chromebooks vs iPads coming up. happy reading and teaching.

Wrapping up 2014

Tags

blogs, computing, connected learner, google classroom, googlesites, networking, pond, teacher blogs, teacher education, teachers, technology education, Twitter

What an awesome year this has been! So busy that blogging was out of the question!learnt so many new things and experienced some of them the hard way! But all in all, an exceptional year of my teaching experience. Google Sites has worked partly for student records and moving to Google classroom will be an interesting development too. Working on a new website for myself which will host the blog (yes, will move out of wordpress but might embed a plugin on my website for easy blogging). Signed up for a Emerging E-leaders online course on Core Education for next year, which is an 18 week approx. course starting term 2. One of the biggest things I am looking forward to is a seminar that i will present to a Teachers college in Mumbai in December this year. I also hope to give a Games in Education seminar at another high school but still working on the arrangements.

Twitter has been a new change in the way I read new research. There has been some fantastic discussions held on twitter and its all about networking these days. So twitter works as a better platform than most other social networking sites.  Pond, the New Zealand portal for teachers providing ultra fast fibre to school and a gateway for teachers to access resources was also launched this year. I believe it will go a long way in assisting teachers to manage their resources. However, work needs to be done in order to convince teachers (most of them ) that its not too difficult to migrate to.

A fire at a local school here in Wellington highlighted the need to saving work digitally. All teacher resources (some of them 20 year plus) were apparently burned down. I can imagine beautiful hard bound books and encyclopaedias turning into ash, but if the content was Over Head Projection sheets, I might be a bit concerned about where we stand in our delivery methods. Accessibility to devices sounds reasonable and achievable and could replace these older systems easily (but carefully). Its a concern that students are having an increased spelling error and crap handwriting because of increased used of devices ( not proven yet though but clearly apparent ).

So the topic of connected learning is making waves and embraced well in most schools. Students are learning on the go and flipped classrooms is a common technique in most learning places. One of my focuses for next year will be my feedback procedures. Its really hard to provide constant feedback to students in Technology class because of the lack of time (fixing problems takes the most, then helping most students learn the techniques on a one-on-one basis). The next couple of years will be awesome to develop and understand these practises and make sure effective learning takes place with an instant feedback process. Next blog entry should be within the month as I tidy up resources and plans for next year.

Great little project if you have students who are “TED” material!

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classroom ideas, creative genius, gifted and talented, teachertalk, ted2014, teded, tedtalks

This sounds like a great avenue for students to display their work and give a short “TED Talk” on the topic. Connections and Collaborations are the new big thing and this will be an awesome platform to kickstart it!

Collaborative learning

Tags

app, collaboration, collaborative, communication, devices, drive, google, interactive classroom, learning, microsoft, powerpoint, sites, teaching, technology

In our last session, we spoke about technology being ubiquitous and its influence in learning today. The big question today was, can collaboration happen without communication? 

This brings to mind, how I taught my intermediate students 6 years ago! Teaching a class of 50 students using a really slow computer and a projector, collaboration using technology was the last thing on my mind. I used slideshows made on powerpoint to teach content, lets say the Oxygen cycle! Students then had to draw whatever is on the screen, onto their notebooks to take home for study. Of course, not everyone completed the drawing in a 30minute lesson, with mixed students’ abilities in the class. Relating it to my current teaching practise, I see that I still use slideshows (Made on Google slides or even Powerpoint + Microsoft Interactive Classroom software) but the level of collaboration has improved a lot! Students have access to the same powerpoint from their devices and can contribute in real time without struggling to complete tasks. Googles auto save feature makes it impossible for you to lose work. Download the drive app on your desktop and you have all the files accessible offline!

The only thing I worry about is their ability to write with a pen! 

 

Created a template for NZ PRT using the Registered Teacher Criteria

Tags

blogging, google sites, new zealand, nzprt, nzrtc, provisionally registered teachers, teacher registration, teachers, teachers council, teaching, technology, template, wordpress

Just had a brilliant idea about how a Google template would help provisionally registered teachers to create their portfolio! I have been successfully using google sites as class blogs for each year level. The students enjoy updating their work through screenshots and other proof. 

 

Completing my registration this year was really fulfilling, but I realised that with Google sites, documenting all my work would have been more efficient (and paper free). Hence I created this template for anyone who is struggling to manage their sheets and want an efficient way to access their portfolio. Contact me here or #nzrtc (@dive_footage) or on FB at “PRT Group Share” for any details. 

 

To access the template, you will need a Google account. Go to http://www.sites.google.com and choose create site. Then search up this template; nz-rtc and select it. Instructions and some samples are given there for assistance. Each criteria is listed as a page for convenience and from there on its relatively simple! Good luck with registrations.

Tags

class dojo, classroom, Facebook, flappy bird, google, learning, learning management system, MOOC, PD, social networking, staff, teaching, technology, teenager, Twitter

Technology is ubiquitous!Being part of the revolution is key for every teenager and they want to be Constantly connected. Its the fear of missing out on the “current thing”, that gets everyone hooked onto it! Again, trends do not last as long as they used to before. Facebook, apparently is for older people now and the number of new teenagers joining is on the decline. Snapchat and other services are still holding on! How about flappy bird? How did it become so popular? How did a game which was made over 2nights and no complex graphics or coding make it so big? Currently its raking in $50k in ad revenues a day! My senior tech students are like, “sir how do we make an app like that?”

Big questions being posed are : when there is google, why do we need teachers? not forgetting there are MOOC’s (acronym for Massive Open Online Courses) these days so do students still need to go to school? Its a good phrase to get the debate started and we all know the impact, a school has on a students personality and attitude not forgetting, fulfilling their academic and social needs. Starting today, every alternate monday the staff at my school have a technology PD after school. The main idea is to update all staff with the latest teaching techniques and all the “HooHaa” over social networking, unknown to most staff who are only used to the usual sites like Facebook and twitter! A Whole lot of new apps are around and kicking which could be used effectively in teaching and learning. Today I learnt about an interesting software called “Class Dojo” (classdojo.com). Its like a light version of a learning management software which provides real time updates to student behaviours to staff and students (and parents )! It has a demo class for teachers to test its feasibility. I would strongly advice this software for junior and intermediate school students!

this was my excerpt from the staff PD this afternoon.For more detailed info follow: http://www.eodysseyblog.wordpress.com / follow Philippa(the presenter) at @AKeenReader

Junior students Typing issues

Tags

computers, future programmers, ICT, new zealand curriculum, school, student, teacher, touch typing, typingweb.com

One week almost down and realized that Junior students ( Intermediate school in NZ or Year 7-8) are having a lot of issues in touch typing. Due to the lack of hands-on time with the keyboard and the fact that devices are now touch operated, I strongly feel that students are losing a key skill in touch typing. Lets assume, keyboards will still stay with us for a number of year’s; its essential that these young ones realize how much time they lose in looking at the keyboard while typing. Using all ten fingers correctly is again a high expectation from them. 

To get them sorted, I have chosen “Typingweb.com”, an online typing tutor which has a teacher dashboard, essentially for the ones who like to keep track of student progress. The software provided touch typing lessons using a scaffolding technique which I reckon is ideal for the beginner touch typist. 15Mins of touch typing a day will keep looking at the keyboard away!

 

Start of year and getting organised!

Tags

blog, blogging, google, googlesites, learning, learning management system, organised, start of year, teaching, ultranet

Students approaching

Another year. Another start. Academic year 2014 is officially on! I couldn’t be more organised than what I am this year. As the school system is setup with Google servers this year, I decided to use Sites.Google.Com as our blogging area. Each class will have their own blog and each student will have a page on that blog. Students will be expected to write a weekly update of their learning and work on their page. Since its a shared blog, I could keep track of student work even if I may not be physically present when they are doing it. I can also check when they last edited their work and no more excuses like “my dog ate my homework!”.

Google sites as class blogs

Tags

better practises, drive, effective teaching strategies, google, learning management system, lms, moodle, office, sites, teaching, ultranet

So for next year, Google sites will host all of my year group blogs. Each student will have access to their class site and a page for each of their work. They will be expected to document their work on a weekly basis and I will provide feedback to them on their page as well. Sounds like a positive move as our current learning management system(LMS) isn’t as responsive and flexible as it should be. I will, however, post all my links (cumbersome yet needs to be done) to the LMS site as well and hope eventually we can settle on one effective system.

 

Google sites would be ideal since all their work will be stored on drive, they can make documents and folders thereby better management of data and finally acccesibility on all platforms without worry of additional software installations. No more complaints of not having Microsoft Office at home and hence couldn’t finish homework, or similar. 

 

 

End of year! Phew

Tags

3D printing, appraisal, challenges, creativity, Edudemic, Edutopia, Facebook, Google drive, google plus, iPad, nztc, performance pay, PRT, reflective teaching, registered teachers, Twitter, uLearn 2013

What a year this has been! Getting my PRT done was the biggest challenge, as even after 4 years of full time teaching, I didn’t have enough proof to submit for my full registration. I have finally submitted my full registration application along with all my work. The 3D printing has been an exciting yet daunting challenge, as i have had students creating models in Blender, Google Sketch Up and TinkerCad.com; in some cases the models printed just fine, but others, a few issues. Still learning my way around it. Moving to Google was another biggie; making use of the apps to the best was an interesting one. The students have started to work collaboratively on docs and I can address issues alongside too! 

The time of year has come start planning for next year. So my first challenge is to create folders and manage the documents for next year in Google Drive. I think being organised is vital (unsaid rule i guess) especially in these times when we have so many documents, web links, shortcuts, etc. which we constantly use in teaching. Just a couple of weeks ago, I joined Twitter and added Edutopia and Edudemic on my favourites list and since then, I have been swamped with awesome links about teaching techniques (mainly used in the States ). Its really hard to keep track of them, unless I read and maybe bookmark them to a “favourites” / folder of a browser. 

ULearn 2013 was Awesome! There was so much i learnt there! especially with implementation of technology in the classroom. Knowledge of e-learning models(SAMR) was the interesting part as just providing an iPad to a student and saying, “we are a BYOD school” will not do any good! Appropriate(and safe) use of technology, especially in breaking down the learning steps is key to e-learning and the SAMR model provides a strong base for the same. 

My next goal is to create a simple template in google sites for PRT’s to maintain their documents and blog towards their full registration. It will also be helpful for fully registered teachers to keep track of their work, and use it for their appraisal. Appraisal in teaching is interesting as there is no incentive to do it, especially monetary benefits. So to make it easy, accessible and yet reflective and useful was the reason for me to create this template. Will post a link here once I am finished.