Digital Literacy needs to go beyond traditional literacies...

Hi all,

Please check out the connections below if you get a chance… First item re: "coding"… We need to bring this issue front and center into the YRDSB KSA's (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes) (not currently evident) and maybe make some waves in our schools to help address problems and solutions. I think this starts in Kindergarten and all of our teachers need to be prepared to work with kids on these new literacies. We continue to think about computers/technology as a way to help students become literate and numerate in old world values and so we may make them better readers, writers and rithmetic-ers  but perhaps we fail them in relation to their emerging world… Coding scares people but it's not coding to me…. It is object oriented storytelling and making them literate in an amazing new language that is the communication model of the future. It also means jobs.  

These are all examples of direction being set outside our public school domain.  We need to bring some of this thinking inside. Perhaps there is something we can do at Digital Literacy Work Team to explore this further.

1. Working to fill the gap in programmers that looms!!!!! 

http://www.zdnet.com/code-org-solving-our-cs-shortage-1-teacher-1-student-at-a-time-7000011841/?s_cid=rCOMBINED

5 minute version of the video http://www.code.org/

2. And once you check out the video, check out the link to a company in Great Britain that is hiring with the intent to turn the world of education upside down. Video clip is interesting. Careers they offer also interesting. Anyone want a job in England?

http://sparx.co.uk/default.asp

3. And then check out the Big History project… We have a few History teachers looking at these resources and concepts and I am trying to get Microsoft Partners in Learning program people interested in a supporting a Canadian iteration of the concepts

https://course.bighistoryproject.com/en/Sign-In

Overall, these things point to an opportunity for innovation and rethinking some of our approaches and some of our direction in relation to students. We can wait for the ministry to catch up in terms of Curriculum development or we can start forging into these areas in an effort to influence that direction.  

Innovation Commons is a place where we can begin some exploration and discussion. DLWT is a group that can wrestle with some issues. TCC is a place that can help make some changes happen!  Can we say "progressive"? Pass these links on if you know of people who might be able to contribute to the conversation. This is what happens when I get a snow day and meetings get cancelled. Bring on more snow…

Todd

Copyright Matters

With Canada's new copyright laws, the Copyright Matters program has updated their guide for students and teachers.  The new rules make it much easier for students to remix copyrighted materials for school projects.  The Copyright Matters guide has a nice clear index with many common questions.

You can find the document online at http://www.cmec.ca/140/Programs-and-Initiatives/Copyright/Copyright-Matters-/index.html or preview it below.

iOS App Privacy

If you are concerned about your personal privacy and the privacy of the students in your class, you might want to take a look at Clueful.  The site has a database of iOS apps maintained by Bitdefender and reports how various apps use your personal and device informations (i.e. your location, whether it accesses your contact list, etc.).  The database is searchable.  Not all apps from the app store are in the database, but many are.

Keep Students On-Task/On-App with Accessibility Settings

One of the issues that is often raised when discussing the use of handheld and portable apps in the classroom is that of controlling what the students are doing (i.e.  "How can I make sure that students are doing what I want them to, and not checking their Facebook accounts?").  While the most effective way to do this is through developing common expectations for the use of technology in the classroom with students and creating a culture in which they are respected, sometimes that doesn't happen quite the way that we anticipate or some students intentionally (or unintentionally with younger students) "accidently" move on from the assigned task or app.

Two resources explaining a method of keeping students "on-app" through the use of the Accessibility settings in iOS devices.  Check out the posts below for more info on how to restrict students to using a certain app by requiring a password to switch apps.

• Enable “Kid Mode” on iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch with Guided Access in iOS - OSX Daily
• More iPad Helpsheets - Ant's ICT (PDF)

For Parents and Teachers Considering Handheld Devices in the Classroom

The Huffington Post recently published Janell Burley Hofmann's letter and contract to her son (who was the lucky recipient of an iPhone over the holidays) outlining the conditions of being entrusted with an iPhone.  This might be useful to you as a parent, or if you are considering allowing students to bring their own handheld devices into your class.  Perhaps this might be used to introduce a discussion about reasonable expectations for the use of these tools in the classroom.  

Dear Gregory

Merry Christmas! You are now the proud owner of an iPhone. Hot Damn! You are a good and responsible 13-year-old boy and you deserve this gift. But with the acceptance of this present comes rules and regulations. Please read through the following contract. I hope that you understand it is my job to raise you into a well rounded, healthy young man that can function in the world and coexist with technology, not be ruled by it. Failure to comply with the following list will result in termination of your iPhone ownership.

Click here to read the rest of the terms of her contract...

How are you managing your iOS Devices?

As Digital Literacy Resource Teachers, we see a lot of different styles of management for the iOS devices that are out in schools.  We're consistently asked for ideas for how to manage them best.  The challenge is that iPads and iPod Touches are designed to be single-user devices and most often in our school settings, these tools are being shared among students and/or classes.  When you have a few iPads in a school, an interested teacher generally takes over management of the iPads, and things work out pretty well.  However, when you increase the number of devices in a school, the management becomes much more complex as devices and apps require updating and configuration.  In terms of managing the iPads and apps, schools that manage them tighter (i.e. only one person able to add remove apps, restrictions locked down, etc.), seem to be more successful.

Apple has a tool (Apple Configurator) that is designed to manage the deployment of larger numbers of iPads.  Unfortunately, it requires that users be integrated into the Volume Purchasing Plan and we aren't there yet as a board.

What are you doing in your school?  Do you have any suggestions for managing your iPads?  Success stories that you'd like to share?  Hard-won advice on "What not to do"?  Please use the comments section to share your thoughts.

Rich Internet Applications

Rich Internet Applications are a set of Web 2.0 tools hosted by The Center of Language Education and Research (CLEAR) at Michigan State University.  I came across them while looking for a tool to allow students to make audio recordings that would automatically be uploaded to a teacher's Dropbox account (like Dropvox for iOS).  Of course, it needed to be free.  Audio Dropbox was the specific tool that came up in my search results.  

It fit the bill perfectly.  After signing up for a CLEAR account, I was able to create an Audio Dropbox following the instructions posted on the site..  You can see what it looks like below, and actually use it to send a reponse to this blog post.  The Audio Dropbox can be embedded into any web page, Moodle, blog post, etc. and all responses are stored on CLEAR's servers at MSU.  What is nice about this tool is that each student can attach their name to the response, so you can see which response belongs to which student before listening to them (as opposed to Dropvox where the student has no chance to name their file).  You can also download the responses as MP3 files.

 

There are several other tools available on the Rich Internet Applications website:

• Broadcasts - a podcasting tool
• Conversations - asynchronous audio/video conversations
• Mashups - Making multimedia web pages
• QuizBreak - A multimedia "Jeopardy" style quiz tool
• Revisions - A process writing environment
• Smiles - Interactive drill tool
• Video Dropbox - Video voicemail
• Viewpoint - A repository for multimedia
• Worksheets - Create multimedia "worksheets"

Like any online tool, you must consider your students' privacy when deciding how to use these tools and should talk to your administrator before implementing them in your classroom.  However, as a set of tools that allows for easy differentiation and meeting the needs of a variety of users, this is one set that is worth taking a look at.

Click here to visit the Rich Internet Applications homepage

 

y The Center of Language Education and Research (CLEAR) at Michigan State University

The Classroom of 2030

TVO The Agenda with Steve Paikin

The internet, individual tablets, smart screens: will digital technology realize the promise of customized, student-centred education? The first in The Agenda's Learning 2030 series, from the Communitech Hub in Kitchener, Ontario.

http://ww3.tvo.org/video/184224/classroom-2030

MediaSmarts is a Canadian-based digital and media literacy resources for K-12.  It covers a wide-range of issues in “traditional” media and also addresses the unique issues arising for digital media. These resources (which include lesson plans and more) are easily integrated into existing curriculum.

This link http://mediasmarts.ca/tutorial/thats-not-me-tutorial <http://mediasmarts.ca/tutorial/thats-not-me-tutorial>  offers just one sample of the many resources found within MediaSmarts.  It deals primarily with media portrayals of ethnicity and race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and Aboriginal people. 

The bulk of the resources can be accessed for free by teachers, students, and parents.  But there are two resources within MediaSmarts that require a login and password.  These include Reality Check! Evaluating Online Information and Passport to the Internet.  These two resources have been licensed by OSAPAC.  The link to these resources can also be found within BWW, or by simply clicking on this link http://mnet.hypernet.ca/e/

The logins and passwords are listed below.

Teacher Credentials
Username: onedt10
Password: wut4kx

Student Credentials
Username: oneds10
Password: 8ngeyf

How Do I Know if a Website is Working?

One of the most frustrating things that can happen for any user of the internet is to find a great website one day, and then go and try it the next day and find out that it no longer works.  For teachers, this is particularly problematic because, while we might do much of our planning at home with a commercial/residential internet service provider, when we get to work/school, we're working behind a firewall or on computers that may not be as up to date as what we have at home.  When we can't access a site, we can't really tell if the site is down or it's our school computer or network.

Down for Everyone or Just Me is a great site that has been around for a long time now.  It works simply by copying and pasting the URL (address) of the site you want to be able to access into the text box and hit enter.  Shortly, you'll have a message confirming that the site appears to be down for everyone, or that they can access the site, and it looks like it's just you.

It's not a perfect solution, because it doesn't tell you if it is a computer issue or a network issue, but it can help you troubleshoot troublesome websites.