Tuesday, February 14, 2012
An experiment begins ...
The art of the blog can be seen in the graceful, energetic writing found in sites such as solon.com. I have "put off" blogging until I had something to say. Therefore, I am still not blogging! This is a test.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
First Days- A Return to Paper
Early this Fall, I was ready with a good collection of moodle-based and other activities starting with the first week. Unfortunately, you can guess what happened. And what didn't happen?
Numerous server and network problems resulted in simultaneous problem reports from students. "This is really slow, Mr. Appel" and "My computer won't let me in, but I know I typed the password right!" When network woes plagued us, it was frequently true that students could get into moodle, but if they tried to write notes or do vocabulary activities using Open Office Writer, they then could not save their work!
In such times, we retreat to paper. We were well into the third week until the system seemed reliable enough to count on again, with occasional problems about once a week for the following several weeks. Traditional paper and pencil activities made a big "come back" during that time.
However, there were some "work-arounds" to save students from losing their work. It was sometimes possible to use some parts of the system. For example, on some days it was possible for students to log in, write notes or a vocabulary activity, only to find out that they no longer had access to their network accounts (and completely losing what they had just worked on). In most cases, they still had access to moodle. That meant that not only could they use moodle activities that hour, but that they could copy from their notes and vocabulary, then paste that work into a moodle journal or assignment. Since moodle was not subject to losing student folders, their hourly work was safe. Once sanity had returned to our network, students could retrieve their work by cutting from moodle and pasting to an OpenOffice document. Or, they could just refer to moodle if required.
As we've all heard, it is wise to have an alternate activity ready. That is never more true than in the first month of school.
A semi-technical aside: Some of the problems may have related to things such as IT's attempts to create a single log in for students, rather than the double log in required the previous year, and the switch from OpenSuse Linux to Ubuntu on the server with Kubuntu on the desktops. The IT folks worked hard, and we're far better off now!
Numerous server and network problems resulted in simultaneous problem reports from students. "This is really slow, Mr. Appel" and "My computer won't let me in, but I know I typed the password right!" When network woes plagued us, it was frequently true that students could get into moodle, but if they tried to write notes or do vocabulary activities using Open Office Writer, they then could not save their work!
In such times, we retreat to paper. We were well into the third week until the system seemed reliable enough to count on again, with occasional problems about once a week for the following several weeks. Traditional paper and pencil activities made a big "come back" during that time.
However, there were some "work-arounds" to save students from losing their work. It was sometimes possible to use some parts of the system. For example, on some days it was possible for students to log in, write notes or a vocabulary activity, only to find out that they no longer had access to their network accounts (and completely losing what they had just worked on). In most cases, they still had access to moodle. That meant that not only could they use moodle activities that hour, but that they could copy from their notes and vocabulary, then paste that work into a moodle journal or assignment. Since moodle was not subject to losing student folders, their hourly work was safe. Once sanity had returned to our network, students could retrieve their work by cutting from moodle and pasting to an OpenOffice document. Or, they could just refer to moodle if required.
As we've all heard, it is wise to have an alternate activity ready. That is never more true than in the first month of school.
A semi-technical aside: Some of the problems may have related to things such as IT's attempts to create a single log in for students, rather than the double log in required the previous year, and the switch from OpenSuse Linux to Ubuntu on the server with Kubuntu on the desktops. The IT folks worked hard, and we're far better off now!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
No Muddle with Moodle
Now that summer is truly here, I can catch up a bit with commentary on my life with technology.
I use moodle for much of what I do in class. It is provided on a local server by our school district to any teacher, with some basic inservice provided. It is key to use of a technology-based classroom.
Moodle is "a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities." Teachers basically create as much of an on-line "presence" as they feel able to do. The key is that moodle gives you a variety of tools, which, when mastered, allow you to do any thing from posting your agenda for the day or uploading student assignments to giving a semester final.
The students must log-in and identify which class they want (Mr. Appel's US History, Ms. Chastain's English, etc.). My students next see a sort of "title page" which includes a list of current units with graphics. Students then click on the provided calendar to get the daily agenda. My moodle approach is a bit different from some, in that I make items on the agenda active links to assignments. Here is a typical Agenda:
On this agenda, students start by taking an open-book quiz on yesterday's work. The quiz is taken on-line, and students know immediately how they did. I still lecture, while showing notes on the presentation system. Students can save their own typed copies to their own folders for later use. That day I also had then create their own mini-protest signs from the era and we saw a bit of the movie Across the Universe.
More about using moodle later.
I use moodle for much of what I do in class. It is provided on a local server by our school district to any teacher, with some basic inservice provided. It is key to use of a technology-based classroom.
Moodle is "a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities." Teachers basically create as much of an on-line "presence" as they feel able to do. The key is that moodle gives you a variety of tools, which, when mastered, allow you to do any thing from posting your agenda for the day or uploading student assignments to giving a semester final.
The students must log-in and identify which class they want (Mr. Appel's US History, Ms. Chastain's English, etc.). My students next see a sort of "title page" which includes a list of current units with graphics. Students then click on the provided calendar to get the daily agenda. My moodle approach is a bit different from some, in that I make items on the agenda active links to assignments. Here is a typical Agenda:
On this agenda, students start by taking an open-book quiz on yesterday's work. The quiz is taken on-line, and students know immediately how they did. I still lecture, while showing notes on the presentation system. Students can save their own typed copies to their own folders for later use. That day I also had then create their own mini-protest signs from the era and we saw a bit of the movie Across the Universe.More about using moodle later.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Big Video Arrives
After school yesterday, Kevin and Keith arrived to assemble and mount a new 60 inch monitor/TV!
All day as students entered today, there were exclamations of happy surprise. Since many US History students have been out for the GQE (basic graduation test) the last few days, I had started the movie "Thirteen Days," which yields a pretty exciting look at the Cold War. We're just starting the unit on the Cold War, so it helped to establish the risky nature of the era. In Geography, we're doing a walk-through on South Asia, so the provided text's provided video was a natural. All were impressed.
I also demonstrated the connection to my computer monitor, using the iTalc software (which shows a mini version of what each student is currently working on).
As I demonstrated how I had been looking at each station in a kind of classroom picture, it occurred to me to walk through the new South Asia unit by having a web search for pictures as we did an overview of topics. The whole class could see when an individual had found a picture We easily found "competing" pictures of the Taj Mahal (inside and out), the Himalayas, and the results of a monsoon. When a picture would appear, I could quickly make it the size of a (large) screen and we could comment on it. Geography students enjoyed the competitive nature of the search, as well as the INSTANT recognition.
Generally, it was a good day.
All day as students entered today, there were exclamations of happy surprise. Since many US History students have been out for the GQE (basic graduation test) the last few days, I had started the movie "Thirteen Days," which yields a pretty exciting look at the Cold War. We're just starting the unit on the Cold War, so it helped to establish the risky nature of the era. In Geography, we're doing a walk-through on South Asia, so the provided text's provided video was a natural. All were impressed.
I also demonstrated the connection to my computer monitor, using the iTalc software (which shows a mini version of what each student is currently working on).
As I demonstrated how I had been looking at each station in a kind of classroom picture, it occurred to me to walk through the new South Asia unit by having a web search for pictures as we did an overview of topics. The whole class could see when an individual had found a picture We easily found "competing" pictures of the Taj Mahal (inside and out), the Himalayas, and the results of a monsoon. When a picture would appear, I could quickly make it the size of a (large) screen and we could comment on it. Geography students enjoyed the competitive nature of the search, as well as the INSTANT recognition.
Generally, it was a good day.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
A Bit of Background
Sometime in the Fall of 2007, Kevin McGuire, our district's Technology Director and Mary Gish, the Information Technology Coordinator, approached me about the One-to-One technology project at Michigan City High. Many of our high school's English classrooms now had thirty computers, a large screen monitor, and a lot of useful software, all running on linux. This was all part of a larger state program.
Would I be interested in piloting the next step into Social Studies? Oh yeah. Since this would combine interests in social studies and instructional technology, and might possibly make me a more effective teacher, what's a little sleep loss?
By Late November, 2007, the computer desks were in, complete with power and network cabling. Over Christmas, HP computers running linux (OpenSuse/Novell) were installed. I did not yet have a "teacher computer." so the ability to observe and supervise (and change!) student desktops from my desktop was not yet there, but by mid to late January, 2008, I was ready to go with that software, "iTalc."
Would I be interested in piloting the next step into Social Studies? Oh yeah. Since this would combine interests in social studies and instructional technology, and might possibly make me a more effective teacher, what's a little sleep loss?
By Late November, 2007, the computer desks were in, complete with power and network cabling. Over Christmas, HP computers running linux (OpenSuse/Novell) were installed. I did not yet have a "teacher computer." so the ability to observe and supervise (and change!) student desktops from my desktop was not yet there, but by mid to late January, 2008, I was ready to go with that software, "iTalc."
Friday, February 22, 2008
What the Heck Does This Do?
A wonderful part of using technology in education (as in other fields) is that "Ah Ha!" moment, the moment when you discover how something works. It's nearly as exciting as when your students make the same type of discovery!
This particular blog will focus on implementing a computer lab in a high school Social Studies classroom. The "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" as some things are enthusiastically adopted, while others fizzle, will be chronicled.
This particular blog will focus on implementing a computer lab in a high school Social Studies classroom. The "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" as some things are enthusiastically adopted, while others fizzle, will be chronicled.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)