WPP Part D - Findings and Implications 2/2

It’s been a week since I started using my new Google Site to manage the technology resources at my school. I see now that it’s going to be a slow process for some teachers and others won’t hesitate to use it. After showing it first to a select group, my next step was to make it public to all. I placed a nice banner on our Moodle page where everyone can click to visit the site and sent an email to every teacher and coordinator telling them the purpose of the site and to contact me if they had questions or suggestions. 23% of the teachers replied to my message and agreed to check it out.

It’s no surprise that the students, especially from middle and high school, were the first to use the site in a more consistent way. They come to my office daily to borrow school laptops to use inside the classroom. Instead of having to fill a paper form, I told them to use my computer and fill a Google Form inside of the site. They liked this method a lot more and I now I have a nice spreadsheet that I can later use to generate reports.

I am now thinking of placing another computer inside of my office that will have the site displayed during the entire school day. When students and teachers come for a technology resource they will use it to fill the forms and ask me questions if they have problems. For now, I’ve been letting them use my PC, but then I have to wait for them to finish… students frequently come in groups and I have to wait between 10 and 15 minutes until all of them fill-in the form. Maybe with time they will do this procedure from another place, but even then I would like to make it easier for all and offer them the choice to come to my office where there is a PC at their disposal.

I’m happy that the project is getting implemented as planned but it will take at least a moth for everyone to use it, and maybe more for the teachers to start copying some of its features. The main objective of the site is to motivate everyone at school to use Google Apps more. I’m happy that they are becoming more aware of them. The next time we have meetings or workshops I can use the site as a reference and they will be able to associate it when I talk to them about the different Google tools they can use.

The next time I decide to create a project that will serve as a model for some specific technology or software I will probably send an email to all the teachers prior to actually publishing it with a brief explanation of the technology behind it and the objectives of why I created the model for them. I noticed that only the persons that are already curious asked me how I did the site and took the time to read my descriptions. Others just went straight to what they needed and didn’t bother to ask. Maybe if I create some expectation beforehand they will be more intrigued about seeing the demonstration.

I think the best way of teaching something is by fist experiencing or using it yourself. I will surely make more projects using Google Apps for education. I know the more I use these tools with the teachers and students to make processes a lot simpler the more they will get motivated to use them themselves. There is still much to do, but my job wouldn’t be that much fun if there weren’t.

WPP Part D - Findings and Implications 1/2

Today was my first day back at work from our Holy Week break. “Semana Santa” is a very big deal here in Guatemala; we have some very incredible traditions. If you’re curious about it, you can see some great photos in Flickr.

The Wicked Problem Project is almost coming to an end. Because of the break, I decided to split this last post in two parts, with the permission of my CEP-812 teacher, I hope! I just don’t have enough feedback yet and will surely have more at the end of the week.

I will tell you how today went. I introduced the Google Apps demo site first to the teachers that are more open to try new technologies. It’s always part of my strategy as tech coordinator: Go seek some friendly feedback and support first. Because there are some teachers that always give me a look that I’m sure means “what do you want me to do or try now?” If I tell them that others have already began using the software or tools with specific examples many become interested and drop the negative attitude.

I showed it to three teachers today. I was very glad when the first one asked me: “How did you do it? Can I do something similar?” A voice inside my head said: “Yey! It worked.” What I wanted was for them to see the different Google Apps in action and try to use them for their own purposes. With the second person, I found that I needed to add more instructions to the site. When she saw the calendars on the first page, she immediately started clicking them and wanted to add an event there, not going to the form that was on another page. The last person I showed it to was in a hurry. She wanted to schedule her class for tomorrow in one of the Computer Labs, so I showed her the site but I ended up filling the form for her. I have a feeling that I have to work on making it easy for teachers to access the site quickly, if not I might end up filling the forms for them.

Tomorrow I will show it to a larger group of teachers and also introduce it to the other Coordinators. I’m happy that there will be more order when it comes to scheduling and using different technology resources, I will be able to generate reports more easily and everybody at school will get to know and use Google Apps for education.

First steps to Mobile Learning

As Technology Coordinator, I decided to take my first steps to include mobile learning in school at the beginning of this year. I have to say, I was very pleased when they included this topic in my current MAET course. Just as many other educators, I also had to convince the authorities and parents that phones aren’t that bad in the classroom. You just have to plan your classes a little differently if you decide to use them.

I’m proud to say that I’m now a member of the Classroom 2.0 Social Network and joined the Cell Phones in Education Group. This is an image of my first contribution to the group:

As I mentioned in my Classroom 2.0 post, my first experience with mobile learning was in my Computer Science class using the mobile Twitter App. I like to try new things with my students first, to gain some experience and then motivate the other teachers to try it in their class. It is complicated to have so many smart phones in class. You have to be prepared for the possibility of your students getting distracted. In my case, I try to keep them busy all the time and tell them to put their phones in a visible place while we are not using them. 

In other classes we’ve tried to incorporate other mobile technologies like cameras but those seem less scary or distracting. Students use them to take photos and record short videos. Most of them really enjoy using MovieMaker and online image editors like Picnik to make their class projects. I also have under my care 25 laptops that I can lend to teachers or students to use them inside the classroom. My school has wireless internet access in all classrooms and hallways which makes it really easy for students to search information on the Web. Usually they work in groups of three or four and they take six or five laptops to their class. The laptops aren’t that small, so I don’t see them as portable as other devices. I work at a K-12 school, so I worry about the little ones carrying a 7 pound laptop around the school. I hope we can invest on another type of portable device like Tablet PCs for our Elementary Kids. That would be awesome!

I just learned about PollEverywhere and the possibility to vote using Twitter, so I will try this on my next class coming this Thursday. I was supposed to do it las week but we had time off  for Holy Week. I will post a small update of how it went with my students. You can see a screenshot of my poll underneath:

For the coming months I would like to encourage the use of ipods and phones in other classes. I’m also very excited about developing mobile apps in my CS class.

I think it will take time for the school to open up to these technologies. I have to work with the school's authorities and help them become more flexible about the use of mobile technologies in the classroom. They are still very worried of what the consequences might be if they allow students to bring their phones, ipods and cameras to school.

WPP Part C - Implementation

My Wicked Problem Project consists of developing a Google Site with different features that will help me in my job as Technology Coordinator, but at the same time demostrate teachers what they can do with Google Apps for Education.

You can visit the website here: https://sites.google.com/a/entrevalles.edu.gt/teched/

What surprises, delight and unexpected bumps in the road did I encounter? Listen to my podcast to find out:

Implementation MP3 File

Here are a couple of screenshots of my site, it's coming along quite nicely and I can't wait to return to school and try it out with my teachers and students.

You can now subscribe to my Blog using FEEDBURNER.

GLP Part B - Storyboard and Script

The second part of our Group Leadership Project consisted in creating a storyboard and script for our 10 minute tutorial video about Google Apps Script.

We decided to create a Google Site for this:

Group #3 Storyboard & Script

Each of us worked on different parts of the storyboard and of the script. You can see a published document of the script by clicking here. Alex focused more on the theoretical part of the tool and I worked more on the practical examples. At the end of the video we will both explain how to create a simple script. Parts of the video will display slides of a PowerPoint Presentation that we will design, this will be mostly in parts 1 to 4 of the storyboard. And for parts 5 and 6 we will use Jing or Screenflow to record our screen while we use the different features of the tool.

GLP Part A - Brainstorm

In the Group Leadership Project we have to create a 10 minute stand alone professional development tutorial on a technology of our choice. I was assigned to Group #3 and it consists of three members: Alejandro Gonzalez, Marcus Clark and myself.

For part A of the GLP we had to make a web conference together were we would brainstorm and choose a technology to be taught and a technology to facilitate the learning.

You can watch our Web-conference recording here: http://vimeo.com/22204766

Unfortunately, one of our group members was not present, so it was just Alex and I for the first meeting. The technology we chose to teach is Google Apps Scripts and we plan to make a narrated video of it. We will use ScreenFlow for making the recording.

More technical aspects and timeline of the project:

We divided our video tutorial in two parts. The first is more about the concept of scripting and the technology behind it. We will create a PowerPoint presentation as a visual aid for this section. Some parts of the presentation will be animated so we will campture them with Jing and then put it all together with Screenflow. The second part of the video will be more of a walkthrough of this new feature in Google Apps. We will show how to include already created scripts into Google Spreadsheets and Sites, and how to create a very simple first script using the editor. Both of us will be the narrators of the video and we'll try to make it interesting and funny to watch. We will include some background music and audio effects in some strategic parts of the video as well.

The timeline of our project has three stages. The first stage is to be completed on April 17th with the creation of our script and storyboard. We used Google Apps for this! Our script is in a public Google Document and our storyboard is a Google Site. The second stage for April 23rd is creating our PowerPoint presentation and selecting some background music and audio for our video. The final stage would be recording the actual video using Jing and Screenflow, by the 27th and 28th of April. We should have the finished product by the 30th.

What web conferencing tool did our group use? We used Vyew for our web conference.

What were the advantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project? I think that these types of technologies help you communicate better with others regardless of the distance. I'm in another country so I have no choice but to communicate through some electronic method, and it can be very slow and hard to express oneself with emails, IM or forums. It's nice to hear my classmate's voice! The conference lasted about 30 minutes and we got to decide many things we wanted to accomplish with this project. I'm sure it would have taken a lot longer to reach a decision writing back and forth to each other.

What were the disadvantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project? We had some minor technical problems with the tool. Sometimes I couldn't hear Alex very well and there were some delays with the audio, so it's always good to have backup plan just in case. You also may need other supporting technologies to make your collaboration work more efficient, like Google Docs for example.

At the end it was a very productive meeting and I'm sure we will have others throughout the process of this project.

WPP Part B - Application of TPACK

For my MAET Wicked Problem Project I decided to create a website with Google Apps. The site will help me administrate more efficiently our school's technology resources and improve communication among the staff. At the same time it will serve as a model of the different uses or functionalities that G-Apps offers. Our school has been using Google Apps for Education since 2009, I want my teachers to take better advantage of these Google tools.

I've already started my Technology Integration Website using Google Sites.

Now, I will analyze my project using the TPACK model to see if this solution has the necessary elements to become a good learning resource for my teachers.

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK)

In this solution, the same tools that I want my teachers to learn are the ones that they will be using on a daily basis for sharing their edtech experiences and scheduling the use of different technology resources. I will also communicate events and share important documents regarding technology integration within the school. Inside the site each feature will make reference to what Google App or feature is being used with a link to a more detailed description. It would be a lot harder to explain to them in a traditional verbal workshop the tools if they haven't used them first and have not seen the benefits of their implementation. TPK in this case will help them identify similarities and differences of doing tasks with or without Google Apps. I think it will also be a good engagement strategy since they are using the same thing that they are learning.

Technological Content Knowledge (TCK)

For TCK, the content in this case is Google Apps. You might say that the whole site is a non-linguistic representation of the content, since it's a physical or digital model of the different tools. This will help create a mental picture of the different functionalities. So when I talk to my teachers about sharing a document template or calendar with their students, they will know what I'm talking about because I've done the same thing with them.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)

I think that this solution has a very practical or kinesthetic approach to learning the content. The teachers will first have the experience of using Google Apps as part of the school's needs to keep track of technology integration. Later, they can appropriate the same tools for their own needs inside the classroom.

Web-Conferencing Lab

This week I had my first web conference using a free online tool called Vyew. I had used other software for Web conferencing like Skype, MS Live Meeting and Adobe Connect, so I was very curious about this new option.

It has some really nice features like whiteboarding, screen and document sharing, IM, wecbam and voice activation and the continuous meeting rooms are always saved and can be always on.

I liked that even though Vyew is free and ad supported, the ads are discrete. The only downside of the free version is that only 10 people can participate at the same time in a room, not very practical for a teacher, when classes consists of at least 15 to 30 students.

Some features that are missing and could be very useful are:
- Recording sessions (You need to use another program like ScreenFlow for this)
- Polling

Alex and I had a very productive Web conference. I think it is a lot faster to brainstorm ideas this way than just send emails or post messages on a forum. You also get to know your classmates better and it's always nice to make new friends :)

WPP PART A - Description of Need or Opportunity

My next MAET assignment is the Wicked Problem Project or WPP. It consists on implementing a use of technology to address a problem of practice and/or an educational goal. For part A, I have to describe a need or opportunity where technology can make a real impact on the issue I will propose.

Part of my job as Technology Coordinator is to make sure that all the technological resources available in the school are being used effectively. Since I’ve started working at Entrevalles, I wanted to design a system that would not only give me better control of all our devices and software, but also keep a history of the creative things that my teachers are doing with them. I feel that there isn’t enough communication between different subject areas or grade levels. I also wish that my teachers would use Google Apps a lot more; collaboration would be so much easier if they would take advantage of these great tools.

By incorporating most of the tools that Google Apps has to offer (Sites, Calendar, Docs and Scripts) in creating a site where teachers could request assistance and resources, but at the same time they could share how their activity went with other members of the staff, I would not only make part of my job a lot easier but also build a functional demonstration of how using Google Apps could be very helpful for other educational tasks and promote their use in the classroom.

This site would be accessible to all the teachers and coordinators. It would be available to them during the entire school year. Inside they would find a page for each of the different technology resources, with a form that would add events to a Google calendar and a spreadsheet for statistical purposes. They could also get an email with the day’s agenda. There would be a page for sharing comments and photos about the different activities. I would make some useful Google docs templates for sharing reports with other coordinators and myself. These are only some of the basic features that I would like my site to have; new ideas still keep coming every time that I learn new things about Google Apps.

Why is it important for my teachers to use our school’s Google Apps? Google has plenty of documentation on how to use Google Apps in a K-12 setting. You can find the top 10 reasons for choosing them by clicking this link. How will this help me do a better job? There is a Google Sites page for Teachers where I found a similar project or a simple example of a school’s Technology Site. I’ve recently participated in a Google Apps Script for Educators Webinar and was amazed with all the possibilities! Don’t hate, automate! You can really take Google Apps to another level with this scripting feature. I'm excited to try this scripting language out and make many of my day-to-day tasks a lot easier.

So, where to start? During the course I would implement the basic elements of the site, like the forms and calendars for requesting different technology resources, a template repository, a photo gallery, an announcements section and a comments page for different technology integration activities.

I would know the sites success depending on the use or acceptance it has with all the teachers at my school. It would also be successful if it helps me have better control of all the different technological resources and motivates teachers to use them more frequently. I have a pretty good feeling that this site will have a very positive impact on the school’s academic community.