Can’t attend the 2011 MACUL conference? Here are my notes, complete with the links and resources shared in the sessions that I attended. Have a question you like me to ask, use the discussion button in the top right corner of the screen!
This document is open for editing. Feel free to add in your own thoughts, reflections, and ideas.
John Sowash
Twitter: @jrsowash
email: jsowash@southfieldchristian.org
Blog: electriceducator.blogspot.com
Macul Conference Notes:
Thursday Keynote: Rushton Hurley
Rushton’s Bio (From Next Vista for Learning): Rushton Hurley has taught at the high school and college level, been a school principal, worked with charter and traditional schools, and organized and run an online school. His graduate school background at Stanford includes exploring technology-enhanced learning through multi-media and speech recognition. Starting with his professional experiences and training, and adding having built connections to interested educators around the world, he is in a strong position to advance this project. Even better, the idea of helping students become more engaged in and confident with their learning is one that drives his passion and resources to make this project succeed. Give him a few minutes, and he'll convince you, too.
Tools referenced by Rushton:
Videos Referenced by Rushton:
Sites Mentioned by Rushton:
Thursday Session #1 (10:00)
Quality Online Courses from AZ (Michigan Virtual University)
Presenters: Mary Barry-Cybulski, Londa Horton, Molly Bruzewski, Andrew Vanden Heuvel
Online teaching positions available at: mivhs.org Contact Londa for more details. Specifically looking for German teachers!
Molly and Andrew are both former online teachers of the year.
Uses for online learning:
Aspects of Quality in Online Learning:
Teacher Perspective--- Molly Bruzewski
A day in the life of an online student:
What is full time?
Andrew: depends on the course (courses with heavy paper grading are different than math courses). Andrew’s Sections: AP physics (13), gen physics (32). Enrollment capped at 30 students per course (MIVU policy).
Biggest mistake made by first time online teachers:
iThink iNeed iPads in the Classroom
Presenter: Steve Dembo, Discovery Education
Twitter: @teach42
Website: teach42.com
Presentation Link: http://tinyurl.com/4zanu7g
Lots of school have netbooks. Few people love them. Lots of people have ipads. Everyone loves them. ‘Nuff said. Way more people have purchased apps for an Apple device than for an Android device.
People choosing ipad over netbooks 78% to 22%. Primary reason is the battery life-- 10 hours of actual use.
The ipad is an inherently social device. It’s unobtrusive, easy to pass around, has enough screen real estate to make viewing a pleasurable experience. The tactile experience of using the ipad is part of the experience. It’s not just about the content.
When choosing apps for iOS devices, few people ask the question, “what do I need to do”. We talk about what our favorite apps are, but just because they are fun/good, doesn’t mean that they are the best for an educational setting.
iPads were meant to be individually owned. Ownership is critical for full benefit of an iPad.
Digital Textbooks? Not yet. The publishing companies have not produced K-12 textbooks. Those that have are producing PDF documents, not digital textbooks.
Discovery Education on the iPad: http://mobile.discoveryeducation.com/ 35,000 videos available.
iPad: consumption or creation device? Both! It is unlikely that any student will want to use the iPad to write a long paper, but short posts are definitely possible.
Create digital books.
Apps Mentioned by Steve:
Twitter, Twitter, Twitter
Leslie Fischer: @lesliefischer
On the Web: http://lesliefisher.com/index.php?/blog/
Twitter: Launched in March of 2006. Created by the creators of Blogger who sold Blogger to Google and then wondered what they should do ne 65 million tweets/day. 190 million users. 800,000 search queries/day.
Two Ways to think about Twitter:
1. Gathering information/ideas
2. Sharing information/ideas
What do I post?
Advanced Search: search.twitter.com
Need some people to follow? Here are some “Twitter Lists”
Twitter Clients:
A Twitter client providers a more user-friendly experience for Twitter Users. Many also integrate URL shortening and picture and video sharing.
Friday Session
What’s the Fuss about Google Apps?
Dave Tchozewski, Director of Information Technology, Jenison Public Schools
@daveski61 on Twitter
www.jpsonline.org
(616) 667-3375
Presentation Site: bit.ly/maculski
In 90 minutes Jenison PS was able to train teachers to create a Google site with a class calendar and contact information. Demonstrates the fact that Google Sites are easy to use and share. Low training burden on IT staff.
Question: can you sync your Google Calendar with Outlook Exchange? Yes, but you will need to download and install Google Calendar Sync.
A recent policy change from Google requires all NEW passwords to be 8 characters in length. Does not affect existing passwords.
Schools can use Google to host their email for students and staff. Email address extension will continue to be your domain (i.e. johndoe@myschool.edu), but will you the powerful, secure, and stable Gmail interface. Can also customize mail, docs, calendar, sites, etc, with your School Logo.
What do you do with the accounts of Graduating Seniors? Jenison sends out documentation several times a year with the seniors and their families that recommends that seniors create a personal Gmail account and share important documents in their apps account with their new personal gmail account so that they can take their work and documents with them.
Naming structure for usernames is very important. Here’s what Jenison does:
2010dsmith@
2013tjohnson@
20xx(initial)(lastname)@
This allows you to sort usernames by graduating year.
Kevin Honeycutt
Website: kevinhoneycutt.com
YouTube Field Trip
1. Find a funny video
2. Find a video that teaches you something.
3. Find a video that would be good for kids to learn.
There are two ways to get people to do something: tell them to do it or make them want to do it.
Apps referenced by Kevin:
Talent radio-- rewarding the talent of someone you don’t know.
podstock.ning.com yearly even featuring the best in Educational Apps