Mindcraft Learning Blog

Saturday, 18 August 2012

A Week of iPads

Learning to share and use a small pod of iPads has been a slow journey, however now that my cooperative teachers and I have allocated device time, we have been able to plan to use them more effectively for learning. We struggle with the balance of having laptops free so students can access them anytime, with using them effectively through planning.

During Maths on the iPads this week I used EduCreations a screen recording whiteboard that allows students to record audio, write freehand and type. It has multiple pages and if all the iPads are signed up to one class account then the students work can be saved directly to the website where we can grab links and embedding codes.

During group guided teaching we used it as a mini whiteboard while
practicing the strategies. The students went off after and recorded themselves
working out problems which will make great evidence and portfolio samples.

In Guided Reading my students and I used
Tools4Students graphic organiser iPad app to sequence the main events of the text we were reading. The US$0.99 app has a good range of graphic organiser templates which are easy to email when completed but can't be saved.

I didn't use the iPads as much in Writing as I could have. We used Inspiration to do some writing brainstorming and used a Notepad to type up the students writing and add a drawing.

The more ways you use iPads for teaching and learning the more ideas you get, the more possibilities show themselves. As I share this pod of 5 iPads I enjoy the challenge of using them in new ways when I get some dedicated time with them.

This week my focus was using them within guided teaching. Next time I'll focus on using them for evidence based follow up activities.

What good ways of using iPads in learning have you used recently?

Tuesday, 7 August 2012

Sharing Student Audio

Audio tools have become more common in mobile phones, ipods and ipads. I find it a helpful tool for assessment and capturing the voice of my students. With these devices it is easy to capture the students voice and share then it by email or embed code. However it is not always easy to share these sound files on blogs and websites. These are some of the tools I have tried and my thoughts on them.

I used SoundCloud for a while and liked that I could group a whole lot of audio files in one widget. I disliked that the free version only allowed three free file sets. So I moved on.

Podomatic is another similar service, I tried it a few years back and found painful to use, although many teachers recommend it.

Vocaroo
online recorder has been one of my favourite over the years, it is easy to use, link to and embed into other websites. The down side is that it doesn't show on ipad, that's Flash! However you can now upload other types of files including mp4's like those from our iPods. My students sent this recording to me by email, see the example embedded into Blogger using the HTML tab.

Audiopal is another similar service.

I use Google Sites for all our websites, yes it's harder than wiki's but I want to learn to get the best out of it, so the best way is to use it. After a chat about this problem with @sharpjacqui she showed me her very useful site GoogleDocsClassroom which answers all those "how to" questions.

The best way to store and play audio files is using the website itself. Upload the sound file to your Site or Wiki, then embed a widget audio player. Then you control the original file and it plays on an iPad!

- To see how to do this in Sites go to GoogleDocsClassroom and scroll down to "Embed mp3 files on a Google Sites" (it works for mp4 too).
- To see how to do this in a Wiki go to WheretostartwithWikisandBlogs.

What success and challenges have you had sharing audio files?

Thursday, 7 June 2012

CORE Breakfast

The smell of coffee and pastries made a delicious start to the CORE Breakfast hosted at Hingaia Peninsula School this morning. With lots of wit and humour DK shared his thoughts on social media for educators which were packed with sweet practical ideas. It was an inspiring morning and I left feeling creative.

As there was a nice Twitter channel using the hashtag #corebreakfast I decided to create a word cloud from the text. I learnt we can make learning more delicious with social media, we just need to play with it ourselves.

What did you learn?

Monday, 23 April 2012

Registered Teachers Criteria

Since 2011 New Zealand teachers are required to justify their professionalism using the Registered Teachers Criteria (RTC). The RTC describe the criteria for quality teaching, which replaces the previous Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions.

Nick Rate wrote an excellent blog post on the Registered Teachers Criteria and professional ePortfolios, he looks at it around the framework of the Teaching as Inquiry framework.

I am a very digital person so most of my evidence is digital and thus easy to link to a document. I have chosen Google Presentation to record my RTC evidence as it is easy to embed into other websites and updates. Below is an example of how I have started this process, it is important to be able to continuously update and change this document on a regular basis.

Other RTC Tools

This wiki shows examples of how to provide evidence for the RTC in eLearning contexts

http://registeredteachercriteria.wikispaces.com

The Teachers Council have also created a Word document "Registered Teacher Criteria Self Assessment Tool" this is an excellent tool that provides scaffolds and ideas to reflect upon the RTC.

We are all different learners and I believe their are many other creative ways of showing evidence that will suit you. If you find these scaffolds helpful feel free to use them or get creative and do something different. In the end as long as you can give evidence that you are meeting the 12 criteria then you are meeting the requirements.

How do you reflect and record the RTC for yourself?

Sunday, 25 March 2012

Igniting Collaborative Teaching

Ignite at HPS

I was lucky enough to attend my first Ignite evening host at my own school. Ignite is a worldwide event, where presenters share their passions Pecha Kucha (PK) style using 20 slides every 15 seconds. My first encounter with PK's was in my interview for my current job, I remember searching Google to find out what it meant.

The Emerging Leaders Ignite evening is a network of educators ready to challenge themselves and share their educational journey. Watch ignite talks from previous events here.

I was also 'lucky' to get to present for the first time along with my co-teacher from Studio 3. Collaborative teaching has been a new and exciting journey for us this term and we tried to capture our path so far.

PK look easy but are really challenging to capture you message clearly in a short time. Below is our slideshow. I look forward to trying to share my learning at Ignite again, and learn from other passionate educators.