eSchool News

If you don't already subscribe to eSchool News, you should! It is free and they will send you a monthly newspaper with lots of good articles about technology in education. www.eSchoolnews.com
In the February issue there is an article about What U.S. Schools Can Learn From Abroad. I found it interesting. It says that, "the U.S. ranked near the middle of the pack in the latest international comparisons in reading, math and science." It goes on to say that the reasons for other nations performing better is that they respect their teachers and provide them with adequate trainings, pay them well and empower their teachers more. It also says that there is more of an emphasis on pre-school education and that they pair struggling schools with successful ones. Finally, it says that the learning is more personalized for the students.
Technology is a great way to provide more personalized instruction and practice for students. The problem I notice in our county is that we have the technology but not the training that is needed. I am an ITRT and that is my job to train the teachers, so you may think it is inappropriate that I say that. My job is difficult because there is no good time during the day to train and the county does not provide training days for technology. This all goes back to respecting the teachers and empowering them. If we provide teachers the time they need to learn how to effectively learn the technology they have been given, I think we would see an upsurge in the effective use of that technology. Effective, being the key word here. Just playing a video on your Smartboard or using your doc cam as an overhead projector is not effective use of technology. I say we join the nations that are making a positive difference and put more emphasis on properly training our teachers on effective use of technology and less time on meetings and paperwork. Then we may join the ranks of those near the top.

Hoppala - You can now create your own Augmented Reality!

I discovered Hoppala, an application that allows you to create your own augmented reality on your phone, with just a few clicks!
Check out this video:


The Berlin wall is back! - in augmented reality.

This is just a fun example of the things you could do
with your class. Can you think of interesting and
 fun ways you could use this as a teacher?
Could you see ways that students could use it?

My AR Project

Since I am an ITRT, I do not have a class of my own. I have to find a willing teacher to allow me to come in and do the AR experience with their class. For my first experience, I have asked the gifted teacher to allow me to do an AR experience with her class. She agreed and suggested we do it on the Ididarod, which is the next LA lesson she is working on with her 4th graders.  I think it will work out great! We can have the students do the Ididarod trail and at each checkpoint they can learn something about a language arts SOL. We are still building our list of skills we want to include. We should have that ready by the end of next week.
Any ideas on how to make this a great experience?

The Horizon Report 2011

I read the Horizon Report with great interest. It was the first time I even heard of it. I find it interesting as it directly relates to my job as an ITRT and it applies directly to my project for EDET 650, Augmented Reality. The Roar project was my first introduction to AR, but after reading the Horizon Report, I realized that there is so much more to AR.  I discovered that various forms been around for more than 30 years! I learned that the Roar project is based on "gravimetrics", which means that it is position based and it uses GPS on a mobile device.  There is another type of AR that is image based and they can detect and interpret gestures and postures as commands. This is an excited new development! I believe we are witnessing the beginning of a huge development in the world of technology. It will not only have many uses in industry but I am especially excited about its use in education. AR is an active technology. Most technologies in the classrooms now are more passive. The program prompts the student to make a selection on a computer screen while the student sits strapped to their seat, because the computer is too heavy to carry around. But AR will require students to be up and out of their seats moving around in space. AR can bring images to life in 3D, which is becoming so popular these days. Students will no longer be satisfied with flat, 2 demensional images. Books will no longer be flat when the students place them under a document camera that brings the characters to life in 3D! I can't wait to see where the field of Augmented Reality leads!

Twitter in the Classroom - Should we have students tweeting at school?

I think there is a place for tweeting at school. The students love to use technology and I think it would peak their interest in any subject it is being used in. Of course the students need to be able to write, but I think it could be used in grades as low as third grade. I equate it to the use of the classroom response clickers. It has an advantage over them in that you can send free form answers as opposed to multiple choice responses. It can also be a great way to get kids talking about what is being taught. As with any form of technology, there are risks and they would need to be thought out and addressed prior to use.

Augmented Reality - Is it "realistic" to use it in the classroom?

Is using Augmented Reality in the classroom an achieveable, affordable thing to do?
Did you know it is currently being used in classrooms around the world? Check out this video and you can begin to see the possibilities:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pGyFjgvBbE
How might a teacher use augmented reality in the classroom? You could use it to teach science, math, literature. I have an idea to use it to teach students about Explorers, where they went and what they disovered, as well as what they encountered. What ideas come to your mind?