Enable Learning and Create Connections

The book The Connected Educator was a wealth of knowledge  for the following information. By utilizing technology you can enable learning and create connections to expand your Professional Learning Network (PLN). We are all overwhelmed by the amount of information we come across on the web. The following tools may be used for documenting and archiving learning:

1. Delicious

2. Diigo 

Delicious is a helpful site for bookmarking and tagging web sites. After searching articles that you may utilized or share you may copy and paste the URL onto Delicious by utilizing the "Add Book Mark" option. You may add a tag so that you can quickly find it at a later date. Diigo is like Delicious but you can make annotations on the web pages. You may highlight or add sticky notes to the article. There are three sections in Diigo:

1. My Library - Utilized for research. Book mark pages and highlight and add notes.

2. My Network -  You may create a PLN by following people of similar interests.   

3. My Groups - Share documents with your PLC or Global Community

Tool for Connecting and Building your PLN

1. Edublog - Allows educators to communicate to all stake holders--students, teachers, parents, or the community. You may provide current information to your group or bring up upcoming events or issues.  

2. RSS Reading - Brings new content to you rather than having to visit various web sites to check individually.

3. Google Reader - Is a Blog Reader that will allow you to subscribe to a RSS of a Blog you would like to follow.

Some Other Helpful Tools

1. Pod Casts - Video or audio files you may subscribe to just like a blog.

2. Podomatic - Is a free tool you may utilized to record, produce, and publish a web broadcast.

3. Twitter - Is a microblog you may utilized to follow people and create a PLN. You may send messages to your followers or people you are following by utilizing their Twitter handle.  

4. Wikis - Is a web age that allows groups to compile documents and information all in one place.

5. Wikispaces - Is a tool to utilized to create and manage a Wiki.

6. Google Documents -  Web Base document sharing tool. Unlike a Wiki which is a collaborative web page it takes the place of a software like Microsoft but it resides in the cloud.

Social Networking

Ning may be utilized to create a specialized social network for a few dollars a month. It is meant for those individuals who lack the skills and are unable to create their own web site. On Netvibes you can create and share a Dashboard with your PLC. Instantly access current information on your selected topics. It is also important to proactively build your digital footprint. Twitter and LinkedIn are a good place to start building your PLN. I've been steadily increasing my usage on both sites to grow my PLN. Your online reputation is very important. By creating a web page or blog, utilizing Twitter, Google, or LinkedIn, and sharing your insights goes a long way with managing your online reputation.

Amazing Augmented Reality Apps

ZooKazam

This app will let you bring animals, birds, invertebrates, reptiles, fish and even dinosaurs into the classroom.  All you need to do is print out the target and view the animal through the app. This educational app will give you common facts of the animal that may be shared with the students. The app also has a weather feature which lets you add rain or snow to your picture or video. On the ZooKazam web site they are two markers that you can print out. One marker has a grass background and the other one their logo. Both work just fine with the app. The dinosaurs were a big hit with the kids.

VR on your IPhone with Google Cardboard

Do you want to experience virtual reality with a device you already own?  Google cardboard may be your answer without spending $600 plus dollars for a VR headset. The ones entering the market are very expensive with the Oculus Rift  priced at $600 and the HTC Vive priced at $799. You can purchase the Google cardboard on Amazon with the prices ranging from $5.80 through $19.99. The Linkcool Google cardboard below is priced at $9.98. There are also some on the pricey range hitting $80 and $90 dollars. There are many options but you still can make your own and Google will provide the plans. There are also some sites that will provide the non-cardboard pieces in a bundle.

 

The cardboard is an affordable shell with specialized lenses and it utilizes your iPhone to do the heavy lifting. Depending on the viewer you purchase your phone will either slide or strap in. Once you stare into the lenses  the two images become a 3D image. The Cardboard apps use your phone’s gyroscope and accelerometer to let you freely look around the virtual world. You are able to view 360 degree videos and photo spheres. Google does not  make or sell Cardboard viewers, but it has given an official “Works with Google Cardboard” stamp to many manufacturers.

 

DAQRI Smart Helmet Brings AR to Heavy Industry

DSH makes augmented reality (AR) practical in the workplace for the first time. The face shield and helmet are both ANSI compliant. The helmet has a six generation Intel processor, multiple cameras (low, high resolution and infrared), four-microphone array, and a rugged industrial AR HUD. The following applications have been used for the DSM: 

1. Replace instruction manuals - Augmented instructions that adapts to the environment

2. Thermal Vision - Workers can visually scan for unsafe or out-of-tolerance thermal anomalies

3. Remote Expert - Using audio and telestration (drawing on HUD) expert can send information to novice worker

ShowMe App

This White Board app currently has 1.5 million teacher produced lessons. The app allows users to create, share, and search for lessons. ShowMe captures what users draw on the iPad screen and records their voice. The lessons are stored and can be shared with your students when the time comes. The platform can be used for any type of learning including, K-12, higher education, job training or hobbyist. The best lessons are elevated by voting which identifies best teachers and content creators. The best lessons may be placed on Web Sites adding to their visibility. 

During our last class session there were many mobile apps that were introduced. I have already touched on ZooKazam and Google cardboard. The following three apps were also discussed and I believe were the most interesting: 

1. Spacecraft 3D - The app works like ZooKazam where you point your ipad, iPhone, or ipod at a marker to create a 3D model. The app includes Curiosity, Hubble, and Cassini.  

2. Elements 4D - This is a impressive app. The app uses blocks that are inscribed with the symbols of 36 elements from the periodic table. You may download paper block for free. When you view the block through the app the block transform into a dynamic, dimensional, 4D representations of the element. If you place them close together and they’ll react!

3. Anatomy 4D - The app provides models of the human body as well as an interactive heart. You can peel back the layers on the body to see the different systems, such as the skeleton. I was very impressed with this app.     

 

   

Founder of the Mars Generation

Astronaut "Abby" & Some Useful Presentation Tools

Abigail Harrison was our class guest speaker last week and she made a very good impression with the class with her enthusiasm and determination. She aspires to one day become a scientist and a NASA astronaut. She would like to be on the first mission to Mars. I have no doubt that she will one day reach her goal. At only 18 years old Abigail has accomplished alot. She founded the Non-Profit, Mars Generation, on Twitter which will share the possibility of space travel with her generation and future ones. During her Video Conference she shared that she also utilizes Instagram and her web site to share information with her PLN (Professional Learning Network). She especially likes Instagram to reach the younger audience. A good percentage of them are on Instagram. 

Upcoming Events

Abigail has been chosen to participate in Wellesley College’s 2016 scientific research expedition to Siberia’s Lake Baikal. She is one of twelve students selected for the trip.  Abigail posted, "I am excited to share my experiences online and hope to inspire many young future scientists along the way"! This is her second trip to Russia. Her mentor, Astronaut Luca Parmitano, invited her to attend his first launch to the International Space Station. This lead to her launching a world wide out reach program, and eventually, Mars Generation. She will also be speaking at the 2016 Humans to Mars Summit. This annual event is an Explore Mars premiere event. Congrats to Abigail.

Presentation Tools

Some of the presentation tools that were covered during our last session included:

• Office Mix - Interactive online lessons; share them with your students and colleagues in OneNote, on the web, or in your learning management system

• Sways - Create and share interactive reports, presentations, personal stories, and more

• Emaze - Create 3-D walk through presentations

• Haiku Deck - Haiku Deck clears away the clutter, helping you focus on your key idea for your presentation 
• Prezi - Open, zoom-able canvas show

• PowToon - Create animated videos and presentations

• Pixton - Make a comic for your resentation

• Animato - Create professional video slide shows

Office Mix

Office Mix may be utilized for your online training requirements for your students or co-workers. It was utilized by Dr Rysaoy in her article for new hires. Some of the advantages that she went over are listed below:
  

• Slide recording – with or without audio from a microphone or video from your webcam. You can even advance slide animations while recording the slide.
• Screen recording –  include audio and even webcam video
• Quizzes / Polls - Office Mix records answers given 

The option to create quizzes on previously covered content is a plus. You may publish your lesson to Office 365 Video to share it. You also have the option to download and share it on a web site. 

 

Microsoft Sway

This is another product offered by Office 365. It can be utilized for creating presentations but maybe used for tutorials, topic introductions and interactive reports. The Sway presentation are backed up to a cloud and they can be easily shared in websites. Sway's interface utilizes a series of cards which may be filled with content. The user's narrative can be easily added, removed, edited, or reordered. The overall theme is chosen by the user and you are allowed some leeway but the built in design engine will decide how your Sway will look. Sways can be shared via the user's public gallery, social media, link or as a piece of embedded media. 

Prezi

Ned Potter 's article (LSE) gave a good over view of the basics of Prezi. Prezi is a zooming presentation tool which offers an alternative to PowerPoint. You start off with a blank canvas. You position objects such as text, images, embedded videos or graphics, anywhere you like on the canvas. You then plot a path between them in the order you specify, so Prezi zooms in on each object in turn, allowing you to deliver the presentation to the audience. During the presentation you may zoom out to view your whole presentation. This allows the audience to see where you are at, where you've been, and where you are going. Also, be careful to pace your Prezi to avoid motion sickness. Lastly, you should choose your visual theme early. Prezi is not like power point where every slide can be different.  

The Puzzel of Motivation

 

The recently viewed video by Career analyst Dan Pink examined the puzzle of motivation.
He stated a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think.
He started off with the candle problem which originated in the mid forties. It is a problem solving puzzle, where you have thumb tacks inside a box, matches, and a candle. There are two groups that are assigned to solve a problem. Their task is to attached the candle to the wall so it will not drip onto the table. The first group is told that they will be timed, so average times may be calculated. The second group is told that if they are in the top 25% , they will receive $5 and if they have the fastest time they will receive $20.  You would think that the group with the reward incentive would win  since they have the extra motivation of winning money. During that time period it was a good amount of money. What happened next may shock some people,  the group with the money incentive took three and a half minutes longer. Dan Pink explained that rewards do the complete opposite. It blocked creativity and dulled the thinking process. The assumption is that if you want people to work better and faster and you reward them, it does not work. Rewards narrow your focus but it does work well for simple problem solving.    


            If you repeat the same candle problem with the tacks outside the box the group with the incentive does very well. They have that narrow focus for simple problem solving. The problem is most tasks in our country today involves creative thinking. Many of your simple tasks are being outsource to other countries. There were similar studies completed at MIT, India, and the London School of Economics with similar results. At the London School of Economics there were studies conducted on paid for performance. They concluded that "Financial incentives can result in a negative impact in overall performance. Intrinsic motivation where you do things because they matter, they are interesting, or they are part of something important is what really matters. Extrinsic motivators work well with tasks that involved mechanical skills. But once the task called for even rudimentary cognitive skills the larger reward "led to poorer performance".

 Building  Blocks

There were three building blocks that he referred to:

1. Autonomy - The urge to direct our own life's.
2. Mastery - The desire to get better and better with something that matters.
3. Purpose - The yearning to do something good for something larger than ourselves.

Autonomy is what he spoke about in this session. Below are a few examples from different businesses:

1. FEDEX Days - Australian software company tell their engineers to go and work on whatever they want for 24 hours. Many solutions have come to light with this approach.
2.  20% Time - Google allows their workers to work on something they care about. Half the new products in a typical year are created at this time e.g. Google News, Gmail.
3. ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) - 20 companies in North America operate like this.

• No fix work schedule
• Just get your job done
• Meetings are optional

Results from the above examples:

• Productivity goes up
• Worker engagement goes up
• Turnover goes down

Guest Speaker Adam Taylor

Adam Taylor has a passion for Science and Technology. He is a high school Science teacher  who started  #scistuchat a Twitter chat with High School students & Scientists. You can follow him on Twitter under the handle @2footgiraffe. The U.S. Dept. of Energy and renowned scientists have participated with his projects on Twitter. He mentioned to not worry about how many followers you have on Twitter that it will come in time when building your PLN. Once you select a professional in your field check to see who they are following and follow those individuals also. Also retweet articles that you find interesting. The owner will appreciate it.



During our class session we also watched a video on Kansas students who solved a water crises for a school in Kenya. Their water lines had burst and the water was contaminated with their sewage. The teachers from the two schools had connected through Skype. The grade students in Kansas immediately started working on a solution to the water problem. Their solution for the crises was Life Straw filters. They immediately started emailing the company. A company spokesman connected with them through Skype and told them that once they raised $2,000 dollars that they will immediately send 4 filters to the school in Kenya. This was terrific news!   

Artistic Tools

The book "Untangling The Web" will give you the paint, microphone, and special effects to empower your student's ideas. Try these sites:

1. Big Huge Labs - Edit Photos and Images

2. iPiccy - Photo editing regardless of OS.

3. Sumu Paint - Full feature drawing application.

4. Ujam - Create, edit and remix music.

5. WeVideo - Upload video to the web and edit it on line in a rich editor.