Google Glass in the classroom...some ideas

I thought it's really cool that Google is working on an experimental project with lots of potential like the  Google Glass, and I am sure it would just be a matter of time, perhaps really soon, before its initial potential could be seen in the classrooms. And perhaps to get the ball rolling, here are my 5 initial thoughts on how it can be used in the classrooms.

1. Have the Glass networked with one another and the teacher's, and students would then be able to  see a virtual board on their screens, or see the Google Docs that the teacher has opened from his/her shared Google Drive. Very useful when used out of the classrooms, say during field-trips or school outings to locations out of the school premises
2. Conference calls, hangouts, Skyping using the Glass would be an even better experience with the Glass. Students and teachers could work from different locations, even different countries, and lessons could be done via the video tool. In fact, recording the lessons would be a natural thing to do, followed up by perhaps a review of the lesson/s.
3. Alternatively, the concept of a Flipped Classroom could be greatly enhanced here. Students would be able to learn content before their lessons, from other sources, and then present them to their classmates during lessons. In fact, why not enable multiple screens to appear on the Glass, so that there could be one-to-many interactions.
4. Allow the teacher to form groups within the class through linking the Glasses together, and get students to then collaborate on working on a project whilst leveraging on it. It could be a small group of students working on a media coverage of a school event, but being in different locations and reporting in ala a news network, at different times of the event.
5. Link up the Glass with sketching elements like a stylus, or why not enable the finger/s of the Glass wearer to be the stylus. Students would then work on sketching their ideas, on say, a subject area on coming out with designs to solve a physical problem. If networked, small groups of students would be able to work on these set of sketches concurrently! In fact, if computing power permits, why just work on 2D....let's have 3-dimensionality in these Glasses as well. SketchUp on Glass anyone?

These are just my initial thoughts of the potentials of Glass in classrooms, that I can think of at the moment. There's definitely more ideas out there, on top and above what I've read about in some of the comments and articles. Perhaps the above might work in the first versions...or not. But whatever it is, the Glass would definitely open up newer unimaginable possibilities to the teachers in the classrooms.

iPadifying my classroom: Explain Everything...Part 1

I am currently very actively looking at a model of flipped teaching, and the likes, and am exploring the use of the Explain Everything app on the iPad as a tool that would help me to get to that eventuality in certain aspects or content areas of my lessons.

Screen grab from their web site

It has been a mix of both good and trying experience in using the app so far, but more good has so far come out of my experimentation, rather than the bad. In fact I have just managed to finish working on my second clip in class earlier today, and am definitely looking at a model whereby these recordings could be used again, and even retrieved by the students during their practise or revision sessions later on, or when I am not present for lessons.

In case any of the readers reading this blog have any experience using the app, or are also using the app for their own teaching and learning, please do share with me on some of your thoughts or ideas. We could perhaps learn from each other too. I'm contactable at the usual links that you read off the side of this blog page.

5 ideas to improve Edmodo

As I've said in my previous post, I have only been using Edmodo for 4 weeks. These are 5 ideas that I thought would help to make the platform more effective, but then again, these are only ideas from me as a very early adopter, and my teaching and learning workflow could be different from others...or not. So here are my 5 ideas to improve Edmodo:

1. Show more preview of the attached files: I thought having the ability to show a little more of the attached files is a good idea to have, akin to how one can browse through the pages of a .pdf document in the Finder window on a Mac-based system.
2. Being able to simultaneously dictate posts: Currently I have to rework on another assignment post if I were to assign the same assignment to different classes, at different times of release. I know that we could just edit the original post, and add in the target groups or classes later on, but I thought being able to do these staggered timings at one go early on, and once only, would be a better and more efficient way of working.
3. Reorganising small groups: Currently the small groups are pretty much fixed, and when one needs to regroup the class into other variations for a new assignment, the old group would not stay, unless one takes the effort to create a new cluster of small groups! This might make the organisation of the small groups function a little unwieldly, especally over time. I thought it is good to have some form of a memory-system in place, so that for each of the assignment assigned to a batch of smaller groups, the teacher/user can make references to which students are in the particular small groups, for a particular specific assignment. This could also be extended to the Turned-In submissions, as only the particular student who submitted on behalf of the group would have the Turned-In status on. I thought having the status for the rest of the group members at the same time would be a bette means of indication.
4. Editable grading for students: Something small, but I thought it would be good for teacher/users to be able to edit the listing descriptors whenever they are marking the students' turned in assignments. Descriptors like 'A Rockstar' might be helpful in certain contexts...but might also not be helpful in others. Best if this could be linked to some sort of a user-defined rubrics too.
5. A much better in-built chatting/private messaging tool: I thought having this tool built in into Edmodo would be helpful, akin to Facebook's Chat and Google+'s Hangout concepts. It would help students to make connections and give feedback more quickly, within the system, rather than having to alternate to another tool to do so.

Disclaimer: Although these are ideas/suggestions from me that I deemed to be non-existent yet, I might be wrong in certain areas, and there might just be turnarounds to the challenges that I face above, that I have not discovered just yet. I would definitely love to hear from any Edmodo users out there, for some of these turnarounds, if any. Or perhaps I might have been doing some aspects wrongly, hence the shortcomings above. But whatever it is, I do hope that some of these improvements are things that could be in the pipeline, and who knows, the list above might just get a little shorter once I am done with it by the end of the year!

Experimenting with Doodlecast Pro app

My initial experiment with the iPad app Doodlecast Pro.

One of the things that I did not realise was its ability to record sound, which was rather a good thing actually!

I envision using this later on for my future lessons and being able to record them and upload to YouTube within the same hour or day.

In the sample clip on the site, there are lots of possibilities, hence I'm kind of excited to see what other possibilities would this app be able to pull off.

Storyboarding and Camera Angle exercise

One of the submissions done by my students on 'Storyboarding' and 'Videography'.

The whole idea of this exercise was to get students to be aware in the use of different camera angles, and understand the intent and purpose of the differing angles.

With the use of storyboards, students were able to visualize their stories better, and henceforth, be able to suggest angles to better tell their stories.

To make the exercise challenging, only the last scene/clip was given to the students, i.e. the picture of a broken pencil. Students, working in pairs or trios, were free to explore the storyline that leads to that final scene/clip.

Above is just one of the storylines done up by the students.

Audio was recorded in post-production, and clip was done using iMovie by yours truly.

When will 'crowdsourcing' NOT work?

This idea of seeking and collaborating with the community to seek solutions to issues and problems are back in vogue, what with the availability of web tools and ubiquitous digital connectivity that makes such an endeavour no longer the sole domain of the experts, or those presumed to be experts.

Wikipedia defines crowdsourcing as 'the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to an undefined large group of people or community (crowd) through an open call.'

Picture taken from: http://bit.ly/pGzjO0 

But with all the hoopla about the effectiveness of crowdsourcing, I do think that just like in most tools, there are reasonable limitations to leveraging on it as a hammer to nail in your problems. Perhaps these 5 are good key points of consideration for a start:

1. Size of crowd: Statistical textbooks dictates that there is a minimum amount of size that a sample should be taken from in order to validate any data obtained. Similarly, there ought to be a minimum sample size of sorts for a crowdsourcing endeavour to be deemed effective in its execution, notwithstanding its results, which I will point out a little later. And with the ease of digital connectivity, this might be one of the least hurdles that a crowdsourcer (versus the crowdsourcee) has to worry about, unless the specification calls for a certain degree of confidentiality, and the likes.
2. Levels of expertise: Perhaps one main motivation for a crowdsourcer to seek ideas from the public is the trust that he has with regards to the quality of the ideas and proposals that he would get. Although debatable, I do think that there ought to be some minimum level of cognitive familiarity with the issues or problems that are being crowdsourced. Though there is no necessity for all members participating in the crowdsourcing activity to be experts in that specific given field, there is perhaps a need for one to be at least intellectually aware of the issues at hand, and perhaps be able to give alternative ideas/proposals, bearing in mind the main objectives of the exercise. Within the community of crowdsourcees, there should also be that level of respect for alternative viewpoints, if well-justified and logical in its arguments. And in fact having multiple experts should be the order of the day, due to perhaps the ability for such a community to be able to enrich the crowdsourcing activity, much like how perhaps, the design firm IDEO, equips her design team for any design projects that she embarks on.
3. Motivation to contribute: At a personal level, although much have talked about crowdsourcing, but the motivation for one to participate in such an activity must also be something that a crowdsourcer be mindful of. Motivation, though not necessarily in the forms of something tangible, is a necessary part of the human natural psyche to act or do something, and likewise, there should be some carrot dangled for participation. A few models and sites are already available that leverages on some points/rewards system for contributors, but perhaps more could be done to attract participants to assist in contributing issues, especially of the social kind. Altruistic reasons aside, sometimes the economics of ideas and expert groups do not necessarily come in cheaply either.
4. Independence of contributors: Perhaps this is one of the primary hurdle that a crowdsourcer should look at in greater details. No doubt one couldn't really be placing in specifications to dictate the level of independence of the crowdsourcee in the whole scheme of things, but having respondents that do have a direct bearing on the outcome of the exercise is not necessarily a bad thing either. But of course certain guidelines and some degree of awareness should be put in place to create that level of 'independence of ideas' regardless of your dependency of the outcome of such an exercise.
5. Follow-Ups: Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, is the follow-up activities that such an exercise would entail after the dust has settled. Who would do the following-up? What is the timeline for such follow-up activities? What ideas or proposals would be followed-through, and which ones would be shelved or KIV'ed until further notice? Transparency, to a certain degree, is indeed the order of the day, especially to crowdsourcees, to give that level of affirmation that something is being done about their proposals. And this is especially important if the issues at hand are something that the respondents are directly being impacted upon, or if the crowdsourcer is looking at more of such activities in the future.

Would iPad 2 revolutionize education?

It has been about 3 weeks since I had my iPad 2, and I must say it has been a value-adding experience for me. But rather than just to use it to read books, entertain myself with games and video clips, and perhaps take notes, I do believe that the second version of this tablet has truly more potential that is still untapped. And I believe nothing is further from the truth when it comes to the main reason why I bought this...to see its potential in education.

Some online articles mentioned about the revolution that the iPad 2 would bring into the classrooms. Well after having tried it, I think more than just about the iPad 2, the true revolution would come when a teacher actually uses it to enrich the learning (and teaching) experiences. I applaud the idea that the iPad 2 can be a catalyst, but I would also like to hold my horses back and say that the evolution and revolution in the classrooms must be seen as more than just about the emergence of A product, and for that matter, any products at all. At the end of it, IT IS about how a teacher can masterfully weave the tool, into his or her teaching experiences, and get the students to really learn.

Yes, perhaps I'm just being a wet blanket, but the truth be told, teaching is all about that added human touch by a teacher, about how he or she can skilfully and effectively encourage the students to learn...and more importantly UNCOVER the intended, or sometimes even unintended knowledge. Much like how the great innovative companies have a 20% work time policy that allows employees to work on something non-work related, I truly believe that sometimes it is that 20% of what is not the intended knowledge, that sometimes could make that difference between making a lesson, good...or GREAT!

So am I still a firm believer in using the iPad 2 to revolutize my teaching. More than just about revolutionizing, I am more of a believer in 'evolutionizing'. Yes, there is still learning that needs to be achieved, but with the tablet on our side, I believe that it just added one more tool to our arsenal, and what an arsenal it is so far!

I am still having my share of fun with the apps and possibilities available in this second variant, and my first order of the day for a real evaluation would be to 'field-test' it for my learning trip to Vietnam. The media angle definitely opens up to a wider possibility with the addition of a camera/video capability, but how can I then leverage on this to deepen the learning experiences would be something that I am looking at, thinking of, and would definitely experiment on, during the trip. But alas, there's only so much that a single mind can think of, so if you think you can help me out with apps or possibilities that I can try out during an overseas trip, please do give me sound out, be it in the 'Comments' section on this blog post, or to my email.

Cheers...

The irony of collaboration

Picture taken from: http://www.mwdadvisors.com/pix/

With 'collaborative learning' being one of the new buzzword in education, it won't take long for this habit of including it, in one form or another, into our daily teaching routine be the norm. But is it really an effective strategy, let alone a useful tool for teaching and learning.

For me, I do find that collaborative learning does have its intended flaws, but as a concept and an idea,  it is still basically sound. But how then should one be managing collaborative learning, to ensure that the intended outcomes are met, while taking care and managing some of its deficiencies.

I, for one, have this idea that for it to work effectively, the classroom facilitator, or teacher, would need to understand the work or lessons being covered, and the main intent of having collaboration. I would think that collaboration would and could only happen if, and only if, there is truly an exchange of enriching and almost mutually exclusive content amongst the students. Or in another way, it would also work when there is an explicit intent to level up the expertise of the non-experts with the experts. I guess to draw a similarity here, one wouldn't buy an exact copy of the pair of shoes that one is having, unless of course there are some non-rational explanations for it. Maybe the same designs with a different colour, or shades of colour or with some minor enhancements...perhaps...but definitely not of the same exact design, colour, size, etc....well you know what I mean.

And to add to that argument, collaborative learning would also work, if and only if, there is this process, or perhaps criteria, that ensures that each and every one of them has almost the same level of importance towards this collaborative effort. I mean there would perhaps be no point, and in fact would be the natural human behaviour, if you suddenly find one of your students suddenly losing interest when he or she realises that his/her expertise is no longer valued, or put up to an equal footing, compared with the rest. This is perhaps why sometimes, collaborative endeavours fail. When the degree of importance is not clearly demarcated and deemed to be almost equally important, what we would have is a failure in our efforts, no matter how successful the final product is.

Which begs the question, if collaborative learning is so difficult to manage, why do we want to have it in the first place? Well, it is like asking a shoe-lover, why does he or she needs 10 pairs of shoes when he/she only has one pair of feet/legs to go with them. It is not so much of that pair of legs that is of the concern here, but the 10 pairs of shoes that are in the wardrobe (that we should worry). The leg would most probably remain quite a constant, with some variations in sizes and perhaps, colour and other minor features. More importantly is the colour of the shoes. As time goes by, and style and preferences changes, the 10 pairs might no longer suffice. One would need a lot more to cater to different situations, events and contexts. Which begs the question on the need for the development of niche areas of expertise and content knowledge!

So can we afford not to try collaborative learning? I don't think so. But more importantly, how then can we ensure that this practice is indeed successful. I for one, have no easy answer. I do have my fair share of lessons where things could, and did go either way. But that is the whole point isn't it. Knowing what doesn't work, and what works, is education for the teacher too, right? So to put the analogy of the shoes above to the question, can we then only survive, in tomorrow's day and age, with only a single pair of shoes?