In the world of technology, there are many devices that are competing for mass adoption into classrooms. Tablets, notebooks, netbooks, iPod Touch, and smartphones are all competing for attention in the education market. Each of these devices has some limitations and advantages. I will briefly talk about each type of device before diving more in-depth into some smartphone apps.
Tablet computers are touch devices that would be greatly suited for mass viewing of materials. If an entire classroom had these devices, it would be very easy to explore webpages or books together. However, these devices are not made to create material. Therefore, they are somewhat limited in their application in the classroom. Netbooks are nearly fully featured notebooks that are smaller, easier to transport, and have longer battery life than full sized notebooks. Acer and Asus are 2 manufacturers of these devices. They are relatively inexpensive and are packed with functions. You can install any application that would be applicable for Word Processing, presenting, or web exploration. The one drawback to these devices is the lack of a CD-ROM. But, they are extremely useful and relevant in education. The iPod Touch is a small touch sensitive device that is similar to an iPhone. There are literally thousands of applications available to the iPod touch users through the iTunes app store. The main educational uses of iPod Touch would be individual web searching, research, and listening to podcasts. That takes us to the world of smartphones.
It seems that everywhere you turn today, you see someone with their eyes glued to the screen of their smartphone, either checking out the latest text message from their friend, surfing the latest status updates, or downloading the latest application or game that will keep their attention during times of boredom. What many people do not realize, is that there are many applications available that are useful from an educational standpoint.
There are literally thousands of apps out there that are great for helping young children... flash card apps, state memorization apps, capitols, geography, history, but there are not a lot of applications out there to help high school students. As a teacher of a vocational area, agriculture, I searched for a long time for applications that would be useful in my particular area. There are a few that I have been using, and a few that I downloaded just for the purpose of researching what is available. I will share with you some of the more interesting applications that I found in regards to my particular teaching area.
The first app I will discuss is an Android app called "Distance and Area Measurement." Quite a self explanatory name. This application is very useful for determining the size of a pasture, cropland, pond, or any other area for the purpose of determining grazing area, crop yields, fertilizer application rates, or perhaps even a fish stocking rate. My students have projects that utilize this type of information, so this app will instantly add a level of reliability to those measurements.
Real Calc Scientific Calculator is a free application for Android that turns your smart phone into a true scientific calculator. The most interesting feature of this app is the fact that it will do unit conversions directly in the calculator. This allows you to go from pounds to tons, square meters to acres, or liters to gallons in a few swipes of your finger. This is a tremendously useful app for smartphone users. It can be used in any classroom, not just mathematics.
Another application that I downloaded on my HTC Inspire is called "Bubble". It is an app that uses sensors inside the phone to determine if an object is level. This is a very accurate and useful tool for my students in our welding shop. When I had my iPhone, we utilized a similar app to help in leveling the frame rails on a trailer in conjunction with a traditional bubble level. It is just another amazing free app that makes smartphones more and more useful in everyday life.
Document Scanner is a useful application for anytime in your life that you have seen something on paper and needed a copy machine OR a scanner. This app lets you take a picture of a document, it transfers the picture into a PDF file which you can combine into a multiple page document. You can then email or share that PDF document and bring that information with you. Who would have thought that we could scan dosuments with our cell phones! There is a free 7 day trial version of this app, but the full version of this application costs $3.98.
On a personal note (because I am a personal type of guy), I love golfing. There are several golf apps that are available on the Android Marketplace and iTunes app store. Free Golf Range Finder is an easy to use, free app that gives golfers the distance to the hole on the golf courses that they are playing.
In conclusion, the amount of applications for smartphones is continually expanding. It is easy to find smartphone applications for elementary learning levels, but you have to dig a little deeper to find useful applications for older students.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Animoto vs. PhotoStory 3
As an educator, you are always trying to find way to ensure that the material that you teach is accurate, fluent, and meaningful to your students. One way to ensure this is to "review" what you are teaching and change or add to it appropriately. Video and photo editing/sharing is one way to ensure that your material is accurate and relevant to your students. There are two free photo to video applications that I am going to discuss in this blog to let you know the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Animoto is a web based photo OR video editing tool. Animoto is a very good at making "cool looking" video projects. You choose a theme, import the pictures (or video) that you want to put to video, choose a song to be played in the background, and then click on finalize. You are DONE, that easy. Yes, with this tool, anyone, and I do mean ANYONE can change their simple photographs into an exciting video/photo montage with music. However, this program does have it's limitations. You can NOT narrate the project after you are done. The only way that you would be able to narrate and coordinate your voice with the slides would be to use a recording program and then import your audio into Animoto... (not easy). Another negative, you can NOT crop your photos from inside of this application, your cropping must be done with another program first. Final analysis: If you are a beginner user, or perhaps even a student in school, and needed to make a video that shared a lot of pictures in an exciting way, then Animoto may be for you, but if you are wanting some other features to make your photo sharing more personal, then this may not be for you.
Microsoft PhotoStory 3, however, is a program used to create a virtual "show and tell" for the users. In several very easy steps, you import your photos, crop them while IN the application, add emphasis to certain spots in the photo through zoom, AND narrate your views through the entire presentation. This free little gem from Microsoft, however, may soon be phased out. In fact, they have not updated the software since 2005. If you are trying to download this software, and have a Win7 based computer, you will probably have to use the CNet download here as opposed to the Microsoft download site. Anyway, back to the point... PhotoStory 3 is a very user friendly and feature packed piece of software. In the world of education, this program can and will be VERY useful. From teaching specific lessons, to having students share their own projects, this little piece of software is golden in my book.
This video was created using Animoto and then exported to YouTube.
This video was created using PhotoStory3
Animoto is a web based photo OR video editing tool. Animoto is a very good at making "cool looking" video projects. You choose a theme, import the pictures (or video) that you want to put to video, choose a song to be played in the background, and then click on finalize. You are DONE, that easy. Yes, with this tool, anyone, and I do mean ANYONE can change their simple photographs into an exciting video/photo montage with music. However, this program does have it's limitations. You can NOT narrate the project after you are done. The only way that you would be able to narrate and coordinate your voice with the slides would be to use a recording program and then import your audio into Animoto... (not easy). Another negative, you can NOT crop your photos from inside of this application, your cropping must be done with another program first. Final analysis: If you are a beginner user, or perhaps even a student in school, and needed to make a video that shared a lot of pictures in an exciting way, then Animoto may be for you, but if you are wanting some other features to make your photo sharing more personal, then this may not be for you.
Microsoft PhotoStory 3, however, is a program used to create a virtual "show and tell" for the users. In several very easy steps, you import your photos, crop them while IN the application, add emphasis to certain spots in the photo through zoom, AND narrate your views through the entire presentation. This free little gem from Microsoft, however, may soon be phased out. In fact, they have not updated the software since 2005. If you are trying to download this software, and have a Win7 based computer, you will probably have to use the CNet download here as opposed to the Microsoft download site. Anyway, back to the point... PhotoStory 3 is a very user friendly and feature packed piece of software. In the world of education, this program can and will be VERY useful. From teaching specific lessons, to having students share their own projects, this little piece of software is golden in my book.
This video was created using Animoto and then exported to YouTube.
This video was created using PhotoStory3
Sunday, June 12, 2011
RSS feeds.... Simple yet sophisticated.
After a full week of exploring the wonderful world of RSS feeds. I am amazed at how simple it was to setup and follow all of these different "news" sources. Using Google Reader, I can put my different subscriptions into different folders so I know when I have feeds to read. It is simple enough for anyone to figure out, yet allows the end user to read news from all around the world in one simple location.
Some of the feeds that I have been following from a professional and educational standpoint. Education Week's E-learning Blog is a great blog to follow if you have any interest at all in electronic learning in your own classroom OR in general. There are several articles that I found very interesting on their blog, including the one talking about how the internet could put an end to snow days. You have to register for a free account to get access to this blog, but it is definitely worth the 30 seconds required to register.
From a personal standpoint, and being a big fan of sports... I follow Yahoo Sports NFL RSS feed to get the latest about professional football. Also, being a part time DJ, I follow a couple music sites, Amazon MP3's Top songs is my most popular RSS feed for finding popular music. I am an agriculture teacher, so I have chosen Farm Journal as well as Beef Today to help stay current on the changes in agriculture.
I am almost absolutely hooked to Google Reader now... I have downloaded the Reader app for my Android phone and feel even more connected now than I had before. If I had not been enrolled in this class, I would NOT be aware of the capabilities of an RSS reader/aggregator such as Google Reader.
Some of the feeds that I have been following from a professional and educational standpoint. Education Week's E-learning Blog is a great blog to follow if you have any interest at all in electronic learning in your own classroom OR in general. There are several articles that I found very interesting on their blog, including the one talking about how the internet could put an end to snow days. You have to register for a free account to get access to this blog, but it is definitely worth the 30 seconds required to register.
From a personal standpoint, and being a big fan of sports... I follow Yahoo Sports NFL RSS feed to get the latest about professional football. Also, being a part time DJ, I follow a couple music sites, Amazon MP3's Top songs is my most popular RSS feed for finding popular music. I am an agriculture teacher, so I have chosen Farm Journal as well as Beef Today to help stay current on the changes in agriculture.
I am almost absolutely hooked to Google Reader now... I have downloaded the Reader app for my Android phone and feel even more connected now than I had before. If I had not been enrolled in this class, I would NOT be aware of the capabilities of an RSS reader/aggregator such as Google Reader.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Copyrights, Fair Use, and Creative Commons
Being a teacher, you are constantly aware of some of the following terms... Copyright, plagiarism, infringements, fair use, and licensing. We always teach our students to properly give credit for material that they cite in their works. We constantly remind them that plagiarism is a terrible and heinous crime that can be punishable under law. True... but how many teachers have not done almost the same thing?? perhaps even on a daily basis?? I for one am constantly utilizing information gleaned from the internet for my classes. BUT, how can I do that without first obtaining permission from those sources? The answer lies with proper "fair use" of media.
Temple University's Media Educational Lab has a great set of PowerPoint presentations that give a great deal of information about Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons licensing. Teachers have been known to react to using copyrighted material in 3 interesting ways... #1: "See no evil", in other words pleading ignorance of the copyright laws. #2: "Closed doors", keep everything that you are doing under wraps so nobody can see what materials you are using in your classroom. #3: "Hyper-comply", never using any material that may be copyrighted... in other words, living in fear of the consequences and therefore not doing anything.
What many teachers do NOT realize is that copyrighted material CAN be used in educational settings. According to the Copyright Act of 1976, "Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." This gives teachers an opportunity to utilize many items that their students will find beneficial.
So, what can I do to help make teachers at my school more aware of how to properly use web-obtained copyrighted material? Educate them... let them know that the creative commons licensing allows teachers to obtain materials, modify it to suit their needs, and then use the media in their classroom. Renee Hobbs wiki contains a plethora of information regarding copyright information. It also has different scenarios for viewers to discuss.
Copyright, fair use, and creative commons are all important in education. But, with the proper utilization, there is a "happy medium" to be found for educational purposes.
Temple University's Media Educational Lab has a great set of PowerPoint presentations that give a great deal of information about Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons licensing. Teachers have been known to react to using copyrighted material in 3 interesting ways... #1: "See no evil", in other words pleading ignorance of the copyright laws. #2: "Closed doors", keep everything that you are doing under wraps so nobody can see what materials you are using in your classroom. #3: "Hyper-comply", never using any material that may be copyrighted... in other words, living in fear of the consequences and therefore not doing anything.
What many teachers do NOT realize is that copyrighted material CAN be used in educational settings. According to the Copyright Act of 1976, "Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." This gives teachers an opportunity to utilize many items that their students will find beneficial.
So, what can I do to help make teachers at my school more aware of how to properly use web-obtained copyrighted material? Educate them... let them know that the creative commons licensing allows teachers to obtain materials, modify it to suit their needs, and then use the media in their classroom. Renee Hobbs wiki contains a plethora of information regarding copyright information. It also has different scenarios for viewers to discuss.
Copyright, fair use, and creative commons are all important in education. But, with the proper utilization, there is a "happy medium" to be found for educational purposes.
Opensource Apps.... a primer
What are Opensource apps? This is a question that I thought I knew the answer to. However, after spending a couple hours researching the topic, I realized that it isn't exactly what I thought it was.
Initially, I thought that an opensource app was just a "free" application that could be used by anyone. What I didn't realize is that opensource applications have their source code available to be changed by anyone who was willing to change the code. Then, that person can also redistribute the changed app to whomever they want. To be considered an actual OpenSource application, the application must meet the 10 standards as developed by The OpenSource Initiative. The benefits of making an application OpenSource is that is will constantly improve through design changes by collaborative development. A few of the more popular OS applications are Mozilla's Firefox browser, the Linux Operating System, and the OpenOffice productivity suite.
I have used Firefox and OpenOffice regularly. Both are very effective at what they do. They are able to do exactly the same operations as their proprietary counterparts (Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office).
So, how are these applications licensed? After researching, I found out that there are literally hundreds of opensource licensing options out there. Some of the most common licenses are Apache, Common Public License, Mozilla Public License, and CDDL (Common Development and Distribution License).
By no means am I an expert on OpenSource applications, but I feel that there are several excellent applications available for use in education. The first is OpenOffice. Openoffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office. This is important to some teachers as they may assign projects to students who do NOT have access to Word Processing, Presentation, or Spreadsheet software at home. OpenOffice can be installed onto a jump drive, and sent home with the student to be installed onto their home computer. This allows the student to complete the assignment at home, at their convenience, rather than during school.
Another awesome OS app that I am familiar with and really enjoy is Paint.net. This is a free image editing tool that can be used by anyone. It is very easy to learn and has some really neat tools included with the free program.
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