This is the third part of a three part series based on a day I spent in Lincolnshire, IL at a Tech Forum sponsored by Tech & Learning Magazine. My first post of the series reviewed the excellent keynote address by Dean Shareski. The second post outlined my thoughts on a session focused on the “flipped classroom” and how technology plays a part…a big part. This third post deals with the growing trend in school districts across the country forego paper textbooks for curated digital ones.

This session was a bit different as it was more a roundtable discussion of about 25 people. That made it interesting as each shared thoughts from different circumstances and settings. Some there were in larger school districts, others smaller, while a third group were running virtual schools. All seemed to be unified in one thing however, paper textbooks are fading fast. In their place is arising a process of curating curriculum content. There was a clear distinction. It wasn’t the paper textbooks digital counterpart being produced by the textbook manufacturers, but the curation online content that is for the most part freely available.

Three key points were made:

1. The decision was made to put available school budget monies into hardware rather than content. This of course has consequences. While it aids the movement toward 1:1 computing which many schools are adopting, it puts an additional load on the teachers who must essentially “build their own textbooks.” Two things that made this more doable were the wealth of resources available to teachers trying to do this, including complete or partial curriculums and indexes by subject and grade, and also networks of teachers sharing their own findings/resources.

2. Use a Learning Management System (LMS). It is important to collect, categorize and share content through a system that is design to do that. LMS’s also enable easy content consumption by students and also quizzes, tests and assignment submissions. The usual suspects were suggested – Blackboard and Moodle (one free, the other not). But two new products that seemed to be getting a lot of buzz were Gaggle and OpenClass. The first not free, but full featured, the later slick, free, connected to Google Apps, but still in beta.

3. Do it together. The best way to begin the process is with other teachers who are working at the same grade level or subject matter. A couple of districts set aside a day a month for one year to allow the teachers to work together toward the ultimate goal of an online curriculum. Obviously that would not be enough time, but at least allowed teachers to share findings and collaborate. There were other creative ideas shared, but they all had one thing in common – work with others, not by yourself.

It was a brief roundtable, but very thought provoking. One thing seemed to be clear in the minds of these rather progressive educators – the paper textbooks days are numbered. Maybe not everywhere now, but certainly something to keep on the radar.

This is the second part of a three part series based on a day I spent in Lincolnshire, IL at a Tech Forum sponsored by Tech & Learning Magazine. My first post of the series reviewed the excellent keynote address by Dean Shareski. This post outlines my thoughts on a session focused on the “flipped classroom” and how technology plays a part…a big part.

First of all, if you are interested in watching the session you can view the recorded video at http://www.livestream.com/techlearning/video?clipId=pla_e8fab4b4-edd0-4bae-b93c-e73b95663b12.

For me the entire session was a learning experience. I had heard of flipped classrooms in the past and have even heard from one of our WELSTech Podcast listeners, Kurt Gosdeck from Kewaskum, who is doing this. But I never totally grasped the concept until last week. In short, a flipped classroom takes the traditional lecture or presentation of the material by the teacher to the class and puts that into a video or screencast, and then requires the student to watch the material at home on their computer. The class time is then spent reviewing any questions, doing what used to be “homework” and reinforcing the material with group exercises, etc. I’m sure educators who are flipping their classrooms will scoff at my simplistic definition, so please feel free to comment and help me learn. This concept of a flipped classroom is growing at an astounding rate. There is much that has already been written on the topic. Here are a few websites one of the presenters was involved with that will give much more information:

• http://www.Flipped-learning.com
• http://www.Flippedclass.com
• http://www.Flippedlearning.org

So with the definition out of the way, let’s review some of the key points made in the presentation. Perhaps the key question that drives this entire concept is: “What is the best use of your face-to-face classroom time?” Hmmm. This has always been a good question to ask and answer, however now with the ubiquity of technology both on campus and in the homes of the student, the answer may be changing.

One challenge that exists in the typical classroom lecture and homework assignment methodology is the challenge of resources when sitting down to do homework. When a question arises while doing homework at home the student has few options. They can either try and dig through a textbook, call a friend or not answer the question (i.e. give up). None of these are truly effective…even the textbook approach…as it may take a long time to find the material, if the answer is there at all. It makes the textbook “the enemy” over time.

If you “flip” that model and “homework” is done in the classroom, the best resource the student could have is right there for them – their teacher. Not that the teacher “gives” them the answer, but they can guide them as appropriate for self discovery.

The learning process can also be enhanced as “the teacher has more time to listen to the students think.” This is all about engaging students on their level and having the time and setting where one-on-one education is possible. Students can work at their own pace if desired. And the teacher has a better clue how the students are doing and where there are gaps. This isn’t always apparent or possible in a traditional material delivery approach.

There are certainly negatives to this approach and a quick search on the internet can give a balanced look at things. Tech & Learning Magazine recently published an article on the topic called: Flipped Classroom: 10 reason why you should (and 4 why you shouldn’t). You will need to subscribe, but it’s free for the digital version and well worth it! One challenge is of course the technology needed to produce the lecture or material presentation. Most teachers don’t have much experience in front of a camera or recording their screens as they present material. Still others don’t use digital resources like PowerPoint at all. Those are all barriers, but if so inclined they can be hurdled. Screencast recording software is fairly easy to use and not overly expensive. Here is a list of possible solutions:

• Camtasia Studio or Relay or SnagIt
• Screencast-o-matic
• Camstudio.org
• Telestream.net’s ScreenFlow

I’m most familiar with the Camtasia products from TechSmith. They all work pretty much the same way. You engage the program, tell it what part of the screen or application you want to record, enable the microphone and webcam, press the record button. That’s it. Camtasia even provides a website called Screencasts.com to house your recorded video.

Another objection is sometimes that not all students have web access at home. Some of the solutions suggested during the conference that flipped classroom teachers are using include:

• Provide the lecture on DVD/CD
• Allow time in the school computer lab before or after school, over lunch, etc.
• Make versions on smaller portable devices like iPods/iPads which some students may have or can be loaned out by the school

Finally, there were a number of tips offered for teachers interested in getting started:

1. Start slow. Perhaps flip one classroom session a week, not all five days.
2. Ask the students to take notes on the video/lecture viewed at home
3. Work closely with parents so they understand the process and don’t think the teacher is trying to get off easy.
4. Keep the videos under 20 minutes. This is possible as most of the critical lecture material amounts to that time or less and the rest are questions or other classroom interruptions that frustrate seamless delivery. (Tip: Insert some kind of simple fact in the middle or toward the end of the video and ask the students to “write this down”. The teacher can then review the student’s notes to see if they watched the entire video. It can be as simple as “my favorite color is pink…write that down.”)

That’s it for this post. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. Tune in to the final post of this series as I share thoughts on Curating the web to create Digital Textbooks vs. the traditional paper textbook.

Last Friday I was able to attend a Tech Forum in Lincolnshire, IL sponsored by Tech & Learning Magazine. Over the next three blog posts I want to share some of the takeaways from that conference. I think they will be mostly valuable to educators, but all readers may find something useful here. I certainly found the conference exceedingly valuable.

This first post is a review of the salient points in the morning keynote delivered by Dean Shareski of the University of Regina. He is worth following on Twitter (@shareski) and his blog (http://ideasandthoughts.org). The topic of Dean’s keynote was somewhat general as he addressed technology in education in general, but gave much food for thought for those struggling with how to use it, if at all, in educational settings, as well as some of his own philosophies for it’s effective use. Perhaps the best way to proceed is by sharing quotes or video clips that illustrate the main points. Some of his statements, while controversial, certainly make you think.

“Technology is anything that was invented after you were born.” I think we have all have been challenged by our use of technology. And there are always some who are perhaps overly critical of technology in general. Perhaps with good reason. However, when you think about it, technology is just a way of life. It happens. It starts happening from the day you were born. For me, the cassette tape was new technology. For my kids, that is called “history”. For them technology is the iPhone. For me too. For Luther, the printing press was new technology. And we know how that was a technology used by God to spread the Word…just as the Roman road system “technology” helped the spread of the Gospel in New Testament times. So technology is technology. It’s usefulness is determined by the generation it is made available to. Educators have never had more technology options than they have today. Please note much of this is not what Dean “said” but what I inferred based on the quote. You can take whatever you like from either, but it is worth thinking about.

One rather inspiring video that Dean shared was called Caine’s Arcade. Watch it here…

There were any number of points made concerning the video but my main takeaways were: 1) Take the time to look. Look at your kids/students. What they are doing, what they are thinking, what they are dreaming…and feed their dreams. Inspire them. 2) Don’t underestimate the power of social. The tools are available. If used, people can be reached with your message, cause, passion, etc.

“Teaching without technology is educational malpractice.” When I hear edgy forceful statements like this one, I usually recoil a bit. And at first, I did. But then as a thought through what this really meant I tended to agree, not just because I spend my days immersed in technology, but because it makes sense. So if you go to a doctor and he prescribes remedies that had long been replaced with more modern, effective ones, would you go back to that doctor? No way. Good practitioners of all kind need to use the best tools at their disposal. They will be on a constant hunt to be the best at their craft with every advantage available. Anything less would be…well…malpractice.

“If you want to take the excitement or passion out of something, grade it!” Now I am not a day in and day out educator, but this really resonated with me. This kicked off a longer discussion on assessment which led me to the conclusion that anything a teacher can do to help their students better “self-assess” should be done. Admittedly, most students do not know how to assess themselves. That’s a problem! That’s a life skill in my opinion. If you can’t assess how you are doing at whatever you are doing (preaching, teaching, counseling, etc) then you can’t build a plan to improve, nor would you have cause to even think about doing so. Assessment is huge. Our kids and students need this skill. I need the skill.

Tune in to my next post on Flipped Classrooms. A growing trend that deserves a look in our schools.

OK. The new iPad (3rd Generation) has been in the house for about three weeks now, so I feel I can give a fair review after seeing the good, bad and everything in between. So here goes.

First of all I’m not going to rate its fitness for ministry type tasks just yet. I need a few more weeks or perhaps evens months to figure out the right tool set and use cases for ministry (pastoral or teaching). So we can call it more a domestic review rather than professional

The Good:

1. The apps! While this isn’t specific to the new iPad, it is still the number one reason why there is no other tablet even close. I have an Android tablet as well (Asus Transformer) and there is NO comparison. Even if the same apps are available on both, the iOS version is better designed, doesn’t crash, and overall is just more fun to use.

Another thing about is apps…they pretty much function in the same way. Apple says it has to be that way and puts limitations on the design. Some say that’s limiting. I say that just makes them easier to use. Android apps all act differently. Sometimes the back button does one thing in one app and something completely different I. Another similar app. Thus there is a smaller learning curve on the iPad and you are more productive faster.

2. The screen! The screen on the new iPad is everything they said it is and more. “Resolutionary” as the commercials say. I wish my laptop screen looked like this. It is not only pretty to look at, but it is easier on the eyes. That’s right, I believe I have less eye strain using this device than my notebook or the iPad first gen which is what this one replaced. Videos are beautiful and text is razor sharp at any magnification. That is where the “easier on the eyes” comes in.

The quality of the screen allows you to read books, blogs, magazines and almost all other content as easily as you could on high quality upscale magazine paper. In short it can serve to replace those media. I have not tried this in sunlight yet, but I suspect it still might be lacking there, but I don’t spend a lot of time on the beach living here in Wisconsin…so most of my iPad usage is indoors.

3. The battery! A portable device has to be portable. I don’t want to have to carry around a cord and charger just to get through a day of usage. I have nightmares of my days with an Android phone (and tablet) of running out of juice mid afternoon. That is why I’m back to an iPhone and iPad. I can easily get though a day, or sometimes even two or three with moderate usage with hunting down a white lifeline.

This is huge. And surprising given the faster processor and higher rez screen. A tethered portable device is an oxymoron. If a device has a charge whenever you pick it up it tends to get used more often and for more things.

The Bad:

1. The new iPad isn’t perfect. One big negative in my mind is that is not a true multi-user device. We bought it in hopes of both my. Wife and I using it. To be practical you have to share an iTunes account. That can be ok, but then if you both have iPhones like we do you may have another iTunes account connected to those devices. That can get messy as iCloud will only sync to one of the two.

Some apps handle multiple users, but most don’t. Even those that do, you have to remember your username and password as the iPad doesn’t have keychain capabilities like the Mac that will remember and autofill that kind of stuff. Then throw in the fact that notifications pop up for all users even if your spouse isn’t interested in the score of the Giants game…she gets notified anyway. I get her Pinterest notifications as well.

2. No flash! That shouldn’t be a surprise since no apple device supports it. But that doesn’t make it any easier to take. It does mean there are sites I just can’t visit. If you listen to apple they will tell you it’s not that many and you can live without them. I say why should I have to. And there are more than you think. It just makes an overall good browsing experiencing a little frustrating. This is one I have to give to android.

3. No true multitasking! While you can switch between resident apps, many of them lose their state. One example is the popular OnLive app that allows you to load a remote Windows desktop. Leaving the app them coming back means you start over. Video and sometimes audio playing in another app may or may not continue if you switch to another window.

A similar negative is that you are limited to one window at a time. In most case that is ok, but if you are writing an article…or blog post like this one, and want to do some research for it, you have to leave the window you are in find the app you are looking for, get the info, and switch back.

The In-Between:

There is really only one thing in this category and that is content entry…especially the keyboard. The good side is that between predictive type, auto correct, and voice dictation (a new feature in the new iPad) inputting text is not too bad even on the virtual keyboard. The voice dictation feature is fine if you are alone, but not overly useful if you are typing in a room with other people…like I am now.

What I REALLY miss are my arrow keys. I have never been able to get used to the press and hold pop up magnification bubble to move the cursor around. Why can’t I have arrow keys?

So those are my first impressions of a device that is resolutionary if not quite revolutionary…yet. But it’s getting there.

Those of you that have followed my blog over the years know one thing for certain…I’m an inconsistent blogger. I’m “streaky.” I will blog consistently for a few weeks or even months, but then go dark for a time — like I have been the past two months. I could say life just got busy or it wasn’t a priority or… And all those things are true. That’s the point. There are many things that stand in the way of things we would like to do. And when you come out of a spell like I just did of blog inactivity, you ask yourself “why blog?” The answers vary.

If you are a pastor I believe there are a number of reasons. Primarily you have stuff to say. In the 15 minutes you have on Sunday morning in the pulpit there is much left unsaid. Blogs provide an outlet for that. There are lines of thought and teaching moments that can’t be squeezed in to the Sunday morning Bible study. There are entire topics that don’t find their way on to any public platform.

If you are a teacher you all have knowledge to share. Some of you in a particular subject area. You’ve gotten smarter over the years of course and there are others who could benefit from your wisdom. I increasingly hear from teachers that blogs are a great resource for lesson planning, ideas and professional growth. Give back. People do want to hear what you have to say.

If you are a Christian you have a unique perspective on whatever topic you would decide to write about. Season it with salt (Col 4:6). It really doesn’t matter what you write about — a passion, hobby, random stuff. How the Christian views God’s creation, God’s activity, their own purpose for living, is worth sharing. It isn’t narcissistic…it’s whats on your heart.

For me I write for many of those same reasons, but primarily it helps me stop and think. As for all of us, life zooms by and before you know it you’ve spent so much time doing and so little time thinking or praying. Blogging is a lot like journaling for me. Taking time to think, then write, helps my focus. It is also nice at times to interactive with you on topics I write about. I enjoy that. But primarily it helps be slow down and think about what’s important. This process insists that I pray. Wouldn’t it be foolish to open my mouth or in this case put finger to keyboard without conversing about it first with my Lord?

If you’ve thought about blogging on whatever topic, on whatever platform, you as a Christian should rejoice in the opportunity for two reasons: 1) You have the freedom to do it. Many in the world do not. 2) You have a unique perspective given you by our risen Lord. Share that. Self expression is a blessing for you and me.