CAMOUFLAGE APP (for laptops)

A great app to hide Desktop icons is 'Camouflage'. Particularly for people who project their laptop in front of an audience. Teachers particularly face this problem, particularly with files that may contain confidential details such as student names, or identifying features of what information the file may contain.

The Camouflage app is easy to use. In fact it doesn't even have a screen when you open it - very QuickTime-esque. The icon sits in the task bar at the top of the screen, and waits for your command to wave the magical digital wand to hide those pesky documents on your desktop.

Click the Camouflage app and select 'Hide Icons' to... you guessed it... hide the icons. Watch them vanish and reveal the desktop beneath, until you click again to find those files by selecting 'Show Icons'. Other options include setting preferences such as 'Open at Login' and links to the Display and Wallpaper preferences for easy access.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/camouflage/id445264274?mt=12

At the moment, Camouflage is available through the Mac App Store on Mac laptops for $6.50, although I'm sure other products will soon become available that may even perform more functions or offer greater control - despite the simplicity of this app being a selling point - and possible for a cheaper price. I look forward to writing the update with these new apps in the near future.

Preparing an Effective Device Deployment

There are many steps involved in an effective device deployment at schools and colleges operating a 1:1 program. Many are guided, rightly or wrongly, by companies who they purchase devices through, which is usually an excellent starting point from which schools can personalise and make as low key or 'pumped up' as they desire. Many schools who have operated 1:1 programs for a number of years will have a system derived perhaps from other schools' experiences, and perhaps from repeating last year's successes and eliminating last year's failings or areas for improvement. 'Customer' feedback (i.e. parents and students) also provide an area from which subsequent deployments can be improved. In this post, many of my experiences will be detailed, of which many have been gained from all the above situations. Essentially, planning is the key! It is July as I write this, and we have already begun planning for our two deployment sessions (one in early December, one in early February).

The following four step process can be useful in planning a successful deployment. More detail follows.

PLANNING

• Communicate with:
• ICT Staff (internal and/or external)
• External suppliers
• Teaching staff
• Parents
• Students
• Other members of the community as needed
• Refer to 'why' within teaching and learning process, this will guide decisions made during this process to always reside in the realm of what is best for the teaching and learning process
• Paperwork - assignment sheets for parent/student signing, ICT Code of Conduct/Terms of Use, Help sheets, List of Apps etc.
• Record jobs/dates/prices for future deployment. A project plan with dates across the top and jobs down the left, can help guide this process.

TESTING

• Communicate with:
• ICT Staff
• Teaching staff (as a whole group? as a focus group?)
• Parents (as a whole group? as a focus group? at an info session?)
• Students (as a year level cohort? as a class? as a focus group?)
• Have students involved where possible - what do they think? What do they want?
• Volume Purchase Program or Apple Configurator or Casper JAMF Software (or other?) to distribute/image/manage devices initially and on an on-going basis
• Production line / quality control when arranging the deployment packages
• Look for everything/anything to go wrong!

DEPLOY

• Communicate with all stakeholders:
• prior to
• during
• after
• Contingency Plans
• What happens if you are one or two laptops short?!
• What happens if a student does not attend the deployment session
• Do you need wireless? Do you have enough access?
• What happens if one laptop does not work as expected?

REVIEW

• Communication from:
• ICT staff (internal and/or external)
• External suppliers
• Teaching staff
• Parents
• Students
• Forms of communication/feedback
• Emails
• Survey (Obsurvey, GoogleDocs form, Survey Monkey, Survey Gizmo)
• Wiki (on the school's intranet, external intranet)
• Formal meeting (focus group?)
• Anecdotal discussions (parents, staff, students)

Good luck!

Using Shared Photo Streams

Using iOS 6 devices, photos can easily be shared with a selected audience. This means teachers using 1:1 iPads in their classroom can easily share relevant images with their students rather than email several times or upload multiple images to a shared web space. It also automatically updates when images are posted to the shared album. These images can also be viewed on a laptop using iPhoto.

Firstly, on the iPad, go to 'System Preferences' select 'Photos and Camera' (you can also see these options under 'iCloud' and 'Photo Stream'). Ensure that both 'My Photo Stream' and 'Shared Photo Streams' are turned on.

After these options are set, go to the 'Photos' app. There are multiple options at the top - select 'Photos' and ensure you have at least one image you want to place in your Shared Photo Stream album as you can not create an empty album. Select 'Edit' at the top right, and select the images you wish to share. Notice that when you select the photos they will display a blue tick icon at the bottom right of the selected image/s.

Once the images have been selected (you can add more later), at the top left of the screen, click the 'Share' button. The options include sending the images to Facebook, printing through AirPrint or copying - choose the 'Photo Stream' option. This launches a list of the Photo Stream albums you have. To add to existing albums, select the album. To create a new one select 'New Shared Photo Stream'.

Select a name for the album, and invite others using their Apple IDs. If you wish to make it available for the whole world, select 'Public Website'. Comments can be made on the album, as well as on individual images. Click 'Post' at the top right to finalise the creation of this Shared Photo Stream. This will now appear under the 'Photo Stream' option. Easy!

Taking screenshots and adding them to this Shared Photo Stream is one of the easiest way to share images or information. Caution will need to be taken with respect to copyright. Good luck!

SOCRATIVE

One of the best websites/apps for use in the classroom is Socrative. Without a doubt.

http://www.socrative.com/

WHAT IS IT?
A free application or website that students access as a response (or 'clicker')  system. Teachers can create quizzes pre-class and have students use laptops or the app on a mobile device to respond to multiple-choice or short answer questions. This can gauge up to 50 people's responses in one sitting/class/event etc. and presents info in a downloadable pdf report or editable excel file.

HOW I USE IT
There are many features/functions, yet they're all remarkable simple and presented on an uncluttered display.

http://m.socrative.com/lecturer/#mainScreen

• Run a pre-made quiz/test for students to complete during class as pre-test or post-test, with:
• Questions set at individual student pace -vs- Question set at teacher pace (e.g. next question after discussion, to stop students 'going ahead' if needed);
• Random answer choices (to avoid sharing "question one is option 'B' " comments etc.);
• Immediate feedback on/off (I LOVE this feature, for me this is the power of the system - students get instant feedback as to whether they are right or wrong - and no marking for me! Brilliant!);
• Question explanations on/off upon student answer selection.
• Use the 'Exit Ticket' quiz to run after each class to quickly gauge student understanding after (or during) a class. Questions are predefined as:
• How well did you understand the material? (multi-choice);
• What did you learn today? (short answer/free response);
• Please solve the problem on the board (short answer/free response).

• 'Space Race' runs a quiz but assigns students to teams and tracks progress of the group via Space Ships moving forward on correct answers;

http://m.socrative.com/lecturer/#spaceRace

• Automatically generated reports that are sent instantly to your inbox. No marking - correct answers are highlighted green, wrong in red (as shown below);

• Sharing a quizes - use as template or run as is from another teacher's test.

MORE TO LEARN
As with any new ICT system/website/app, I am debating how it does a job for me. Currently, creating a test doesn't take me any longer to create but it saves me marking. This works for any multi-choice question, not short answer obviously. Would I use it for formal tests that end-of-course marks are dependent on, perhaps not, but it certainly does a job. Sharing these quizzes across our school is also exciting on a department level. This is certainly a must-have for the digital classroom!

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM - ICT CAPABILITY

I have recently got my teeth into the General Capabilities of the Australia Curriculum. In many different formats, it is implied that ICT Capability is the number 3 of the 7 general capabilities that permeate throughout all learning areas. It states, "ICT capability supports and enhances student learning across all areas of the curriculum." It's nice to see this acknowledged and spelt out in this new document!

Other notable comments made in the Background of the Capability, include:

• "ICT capability is based on sets of relevant knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions."
• "ICT capability is based on the assumption that technologies are digital tools that enable the student to solve problems and carry out tasks."
• "...students come to perceive ICT systems as useful tools rather than feeling that they themselves are the tools of the machine (Maas, 1983). The later often occurs when users have little information about how ICT systems operate and simply follow set, standard procedures, determined for them by the system."
• "ICT capability needs to consider the types of tasks that provide authentic contexts for learning."

Broadly, the capability is organised into five elements:

• Applying social and ethical protocols and practices when using ICT;
• Intellectual property; Digital information security; benefits and consequences; changes.
• Investigating with ICT;
• Define/plan information searches; locate/access data; select/evaluate data.
• Creating with ICT;
• Generate ideas, plans, processes and solutions to challenges/tasks (by clarifying, generating products or solutions).
• Communicating with ICT;
• Share, exchange and collaborate to enhance learning; understand and apply social protocols; apply techniques or strategies to ensure safety.
• Managing and operating ICT;
• Applying technical knowledge; Using digital technologies efficiently (hardware/software); transferability of knowledge/skills, manage and maintain information.

This is essentially the basis for ICT that we all know and love (...to hate in some cases!). I especially like the comments relating to not letting the hardware or software determine what you do with it. In fact, the winner of any educational software/website/app is that it does not dictate what you do or how you use it! Applying social and ethical protocol and practices is an are where I believe our focus will be. Investigating, creating and communicating are evident in learning tasks for students, and managing/operating ICT still appear to be the root of negativity with using ICT. Having students become good, responsible digital citizens must be our focus as more and more communication and life tasks move digital. If kids cannot act responsibly online for their own and others' safety, as well as data safety, ICT stops 'doing a job for us' and starts to 'get in the way'.

Source: General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum, January 2012, © ACARA, 2012.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/au/

STUDENT DIGITAL MEDIA GROUP

At a recent ADE retreat we were given time to work on something. That's right... 'something'. Given a rare moment to work on something that has been sitting at the back of my mind but never having the hour or two to sink my teeth in to get it done has always been a regret, and a frustration.

My 'something' was the creation of a Student Digital Media Group (SDMG). I have already held a meeting to gauge interest and with the help of colleagues refined where this group may venture to. I was amazed to see 21 interested Year 7/8 students who lapped up the possibilities and offered some amazing suggestions arising from the passion in using digital media.

The goals of the group are:

• Provide a pathway for highly proficient technology users amongst student an opportunity to develop their skills and harness their knowledge for self-improvement, self-esteem and to assist the school;
• Provide an opportunity for students create and engage in non-academic activities;
• Develop skills of students with a passion for digital technology;
• Provide the student body with help from their peers during break time, via a student help desk;
• Provide an avenue for students to assist teachers as needed during class time.

Opportunities for group members:

• Contribute resources for students and staff in academic areas (eg Hyperlinked Keynote quizzes for study);
• Create regular podcast episodes highlighting school activities (eg interviews of recent incursions);
• Help students and staff on the student help desk (eg answer the "How do I print this document?" and "How do I use iMovie?" questions);
• Creating photo reflections after significant events, possible inclusion at assemblies (eg photo montage after a sport carnival to display to the school community);
• Service learning hours can be accrued for students;
• Autonomous task/projects completed during break times (eg build a website, create a school widget);
• A one/two day retreat with projects, guest speakers and visits to businesses who utilise new and innovative technologies (eg visit the ABC and see how cameras, greens screen, auto prompts are used);
• Participate in informal school-based and formal state, national and global competitions (eg short film festivals);
• Contribute to parent PD sessions as roaming problem solvers.

I am excited about what these guys can come up with, particularly due to one student creating a stop animation movie to show me and outlining how it could be used in a regular school video podcast. More to come!




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

iCAL: CLASS CALENDAR SUBSCRIPTIONS

Communicating information to students becomes easier when using calendar synchronisation software. The corporate world has been doing this for years, but calendaring has strangely been quiet in classrooms. Even in schools, staff may be used to getting a printed A4 yearly calendar and then an updated A4 term calendar at the beginning of each term with individuals liquid papering, crossing out, drawing arrows and rewriting events as updates occur.

iCal makes calendaring within a class or school a piece of cake (if you use Apple devices). I love how my calendar is available on my MacBook, iPad and iPhone, but most of all I love how I can communicate with my class via our own calendar. No matter what time of the day it is I can update events and communicate what is required to be brought, or completed before an upcoming event. Students can check this each night from home to see what is happening the next day. It needs to be said that many software solutions are available including the online webpage version - Google Calendar, as well as Microsoft solutions such as Outlook, which links emails too. Check out the images below for more info on this valuable tool for teachers.

Image 1: iCal Calendar Example

Image 2: iCal Sidebar Features

Image 3: iCal Subscription Options

5 APPS I USE WEEKLY

GOODREADER ($5.49)

I see it as a 'Finder' equivalent for my iPad. I can organise pdf documents downloaded from the net, from my email or from my linked Dropbox account. The ability to create folders and add, delete etc files into these folders easily make it an excellent resource, particularly for those looking to move towards a paperless classroom. Recently I annotated my class marks from their reports using the highlight button and instantly shows how students are going - great for visual learners. I'm eager to try other features over this next term.




EVERNOTE (Free)
Links to so well between the Evernote website and the MacApp. Sometimes I need my iPad, sometimes I need my MacBook, it syncs seamlessly between both. Organising notebooks and notes within these is great for teachers - each student has their own notebook full of formal results, and informal notes. Along with the ability to tag notes, any info on students can be easily archived and located. This works the same for committee and meeting notes. It even suggests the name of a new note you create based on appointments in your calendar! A must have for iPad. A must have for teachers.



NUMBERS ($10.49)

Some people are not sold on this App, but I love it. It does work slightly differently to how the Mac version works, but that's its advantage. I use the 'tick boxes' on the forms section for a quick checklist in class. This works for attendance and record keeping. It still uses SUM, MAX, MIN, AVERAGE features of it's Mac brother, but generally if I want those features, I will use my Mac. Brilliant for 'on-the-run' mobile uses (eg Excursions).

SHOWME (Free)
I'm only juts getting into this one, but have hardly put it down. ShowMe essentially is a whiteboard that records all screen markings as well as voice. We set this up with students talking through how they complete Maths sums - and learned a little about their thinking, where their understanding trails off and their misconceptions. It's difficult to get this feedback from traditional pen and paper methods. Parents can be shown these movies to see exactly what they are doing in class. The movies can be uploaded to the web and then downloaded - having this synced more easily (Evernote style) would be a great advantage to future updates, but still works a treat.


SPORTING APPS
OK, another 5 to the list, but in my coaching roles I enjoy using the features that these apps offer to help develop skills of players.

iScore Basketball ($10.49)
Brilliant for keeping stats during a basketball game. We used this with our A team for each game last season. The stat reports and scoring charts provide invaluable feedback to coaches and players. Well worth the expensive price tag.








nxCricket HD ($14.99)
Another outstanding scoring/stats app. Scoring charts, manhattan graphs, score worms, ball-by-ball tracking features all allow individual palyers to disect their game, see their batting and bowling strengths as well as the coach to see how the team is playing on the whole. Again, well worth the money. Non-HD version available for a cheaper price.







Cricket Coach Plus HD ($2.99)

We used this extensively for its record function. It can show player their action and superimpose it against a video modelling good skill execution. Lines can be drawn on paused video to outline weaknesses in a batting, bowling and throwing action. The ability to email to players is also a great feature. A must have for the new-age cricket coach!







Footy Coach Plus HD ($2.99)
By the same developers of Cricket Coach Plus HD, and very similar features. With the help of older players and parents, we will be taking a bank of videos of each player's skill and working through it with them at the time and also to disect afterwards to aid skill development. Interesting to see the videos side by side from Week One to the end of the season!

FILENAME CONVENTIONS

Any teacher collecting digital files from students (or staff pooling/sharing files) will have endured the lack of order when 30 files come together with 30 different filenames! The disorder and inability to know what, who or when the file was created or created by is a frustration easily fixed.

Teaching about filename organisation is the new age equivalent of having your desk tray organised (usually by book size and crayon/pencil case size!). Below are some pointers to keep those pesky files is order. A simple conventions checklist to teach students (and staff!) to help their organisation and your sanity when you get to dropbox, wikis, shared server folders etc.

• Filename examples:
• T2W1-MyTermGoals-nanhea17.pages
• T2W2-LetterToMrNankivell-21HN.pdf
• Folder examples:
• T2W1-MyTermGoals
• A-English
• B-Mathematics

• Don't use spaces. Although computer searches are pretty good, some don't like spaces or it doesn't read them as well, if you're organised anyway you probably won't use it!
• Don't use underscores (the _ symbol). It is difficult to see quickly with hyperlinked filenames.
• Put the date at the front (a code that works for me - T1 = Term 1, W5 = Week 5). If you need to use dates, use year-month-date as it will sort all 2011 together, then all 2012 together underneath.
• Use letters or numbers to order folders that you don't want sorted by alphabetical order (see e.g.).
• Use the students name/code/logon at the end so it is ordered by class list (see e.g.).
• Use hyphen to denote parts of the filename (see e.g.).
• Train the students to use the EXACT filename you want, if it's not correct, don't accept it.
• When having students download a scafold or digital sheet, use the correct file title with a hyphen at the end for students to 'Save As...' only having to add their name/code/logon.
• Use colours on folder to aid visual clarity (available in Finder on the Mac).

EXAMPLES

Image A: No guidance for students = filenames all over the place. Who belongs to which file? What is it? When was it done?

Image B: An essay about Australia completed sometime in Term 1. Students are given a code based on their position on the class list (surname alphabetical). E.g. 04FD is Fred Dennis. He uses this code for all his files.

Image C: An iMovie TV Report complete in Term 2, Week 5. Students use their school computer logon to denote their file. E.g. the last file was created by Robert Zander. In this case the 15 stands their graduating year, obviously meaning these students are currently in Year 9 (in 2012).

PS Installing DropBox and then signing up to http://dropitto.me allows students to visit your site and 'drop' files through that site straight that are downloaded straight into your dropbox folder. Easy!

P.A.G.E.S. for 'N2ICT' (New To ICT) Teachers

Integrating technology into the any teachers classroom can be frustrating, time consuming and unrewarding. Teachers who have technology 'lumped' on them or who are expected to use it well immediately rightly put walls up and find reasons for not utilising the myriad of opportunities that lie patiently waiting for enthusiastic educators to realise their power in enhancing the curriculum.

For me, small steps are needed for me to introduce something into my classroom and my teaching. It must do a job. If it doesnt - I don't use it. The novelty wears off when learning objectives are not met and students lose motivation. Here are 5 things that teachers, of any experience level, to try who are new to integrating ICT in their classroom. Let's call these of our colleagues 'New to ICT', or N2ICT teachers. Feedback most welcome.

PLAY
How do young kids learn things that are not part of our curriculum in schools? By PLAYing. Hence, early childhood teachers factor in structured play where kids can try things, muck up and the world doesn't collapse. When presented with an iPad for the first time, it is reasonable to assume that a person could 'break' it by pressing 'the wrong button'. But that's exactly how to learn! Press 'the wrong button' and you'll know not to press it next time! N2ICT teachers should be encouraged to try and 'break it' (the software, not the hardware) so they can see what could work for them in their teaching. Play, play, play.

ACCESS
There are many resources available for N2ICT teachers to ACCESS. Let's start with the room next door. "What are you doing with ICT?" does not need to be timetabled in, nor does it need to whip up a verbal frenzy amongst staff. These 'here's one idea' moments are generally all anyone can handle in passing conversation. These brief discussions over time can elicit a great variety of resources from a variety of ICT areas. As stated above, if it does a job for you - use it and you win. If it doesn't - do not use it! There's no right or wrong.

GOOGLE
I haven't mastered this, but can fumble my way around to find a relevant image, graph, kids' website etc. to enhance my lessons. There is so much more that GOOGLE searches could be used for or to refine searching, however it does a job for me. N2ICT teachers entering their learning area or specific concept to teach with keywords such as 'school', 'for kids' or 'education' will open a world where students can explore ideas outside of the classroom. Imagine teaching without websites or the web? We used to. This small step will open doors.

EMBRACE
ICT can easily get a bad name. 'The network's down' or 'it cost too much' are common counters for ICT's effectiveness, but let's get real - the network isn't always down and for ever expensive piece of software there's an online equivalent waiting to be used. Resources are also sitting in every teachers classroom. The students. Setting up an 'expert session' where students can teach other students can help teach the ICT skills needed to quickly and effeciently negotiate software. Teachers do not need to be ICT experts. Having students 'go-to' people for websites (Edmodo, Google Images, Evernote) can relieve the teacher of the burden of feeling a need to be the expert. it's empowering and certainly communicates to the class your expertise lies with the teaching and helping them learn content. You'd also have to be hiding under a rock to not hear about free PDs that are available. I was read 7 PDs flyers in one week last term... They're out there if N2ICT teachers want to EMBRACE ICT.

S.A.M.R.
I love this model. It says to me that it's OK to use a laptop for word processing, but it's not OK to keep doing it lesson after lesson, year after year. N2ICT teachers can substitute something that they currently do (eg Substitute pen and paper for Microsoft Word, Apple's Pages MacApp, or Notes on the iPad). The next steps are to AUGMENT, MODIFY and REDEFINE so that the end

The following image was posted on Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's brilliant blog 'Langwitches': http://langwitches.org/blog/category/technology/ and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It gives a definition and examples of each stage for N2ICT teachers to work with. I still refer to it regularly to see how I can improve my teaching to 'Redefine' for students who don't live in a society that I lived ina t their age, so don't want to be educated the same way I was at their age.