iPads + AVID = Awesome College Fair

Students in Ms. Lauren Brehm's AVID classes hosted a college fair today in the Legacy Middle School gymnasium.

 

Ms. Brehm, an EC3 iPad teacher, has been working with her students for a number of weeks in preparation for this event. Students conducted research on their selected college/university using the Safari app on the iPad. The resulting photos, facts and other media (e.g. school fight songs) were then imported into various apps, such as PicCollage to create multimedia materials.

Students utilized the iPads to access their district GAFE Gmail accounts to email college/university officials requesting additional informational and marketing materials such as brochures, posters, pens/pencils, pennants, and tee-shirts. These materials were then prominently displayed by students at the college fair.

The highlight of each student display were the iMovies created on the iPad to advertise what they had learned about their selected college/university. These iMovies served to attract the attention of college fair visitors and showcase attributes unique to each college/university. Check them out here.

Needless to say, the college fair was a HUGE success! 

Congratulations to Ms. Brehm and her students!

The purpose of the East Central ISD AVID program 

is to prepare all students for college readiness and success in a global society.

The purpose of the EC3 iPad Program 

is to provide students with engaged learning opportunities 

that not only transform delivery, assessment and differentiate the delivery of instruction, 

but change how students and staff create, collaborate, and communicate, 

as well as develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills 

in a globally connected environment.

Getting in the Driver Seat with Google Drive

East Central ISD is a Google Apps for Education district. Students enrolled in ECISD are given access to their own Google Apps account, including tools such as Gmail, Calendar, and Drive. Google Apps tools, along with Edmodo, form the foundation of our learning management system.

As we move into our second year of Google Apps, district users are becoming increasingly comfortable with Gmail and even Google Calendar. On the other hand, many educators and students do not realize the valuable resource at their disposal in the form of Google Drive.

1. Web-based Word Processing - Google Drive allows users to create text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Documents can be exported in a variety of formats including Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
2. Collaboration - Documents created in Google Drive can be "shared" with other users. The owner of the document determines the access of other users, which includes view only access or editing rights. Multiple users can access and edit the same document at the same time. All edits are automatically saved and are viewed in "real time".
3. Digital Locker - Each student and staff member has 30GB of storage available within their Google accounts. Documents that have been created in Google OR that have been converted to Google Drive format do not count toward this 30GB of storage. File formats that can be stored within Google Drive include .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf, .jpeg, .png, .mp4, and .mov.
4. Mobile Applications - Google Drive apps are available in both iTunes and the Google Play store, allowing for ease of use on mobile devices.

For more information on how you can more effectively utilize your Google Drive account, contact the ECISD Instructional Technology Department.

What "App"ens To My Work Now?

An issue faced by all educators who teach with the iPad is the manner in which students (and teachers) will export content that they have created.
If you have an iPad then you know that there is no simple answer. Depending on the app that you are using to create your content, your options may or may not include:

• emailing,
• saving to camera roll/photo library,
• uploading to an external site and sharing a link,
• posting to Facebook/Twitter/YouTube,
• uploading to cloud storage such as Evernote/DropBox/WebDav,
• or opening in another app. 

The EC Technology Operations department has identified, and in some cases developed, several options for teachers here in East Central ISD.

1. Google Drive - All students in ECISD now have Google Apps accounts which include Gmail, Calendar, and Drive. As part of our learning management system, Google Drive provides our students with a "digital locker" in which they can store and access content shared with them and created by them.
2. ECTV - ECTV, East Central ISD's very own video streaming server can be accessed both in and out of the district. In addition, all teachers can log in to ECTV to upload videos created by teachers and/or students.
3. Documents by Readdle App - The Documents app allows you to copy, move, and store documents, images, videos, and audio files. The app features built in viewers and players that allow you to read/view/listen to your files within the app itself. One of its best features is the fact that you can transfer files from iPad to iPad or from iPad to computer using WiFi.

These are just a few examples of solutions for sharing content created on an iPad. Depending upon what you ultimately want to do with your content, you may need to use a combination of the above - eg. save to camera roll, then upload to ECTV OR save to camera roll, then open in Documents app OR email, then save to Google Drive OR open in Documents app, then save to camera roll/Google Drive.

Ultimately, the most important step is to evaluate apps BEFORE you share them with your students. Nothing is more disheartening for a student than for them to spend hours working on an assignment, only to discover that the finished project is destined to remain inside the app.

Remember - EVALUATE, then CREATE!

Webquests: Letting Students Take Charge of Their Own Learning

Earlier today the East Central ISD District Leadership Team participated in their second day of leadership training for the 2012-2013 school year.

One of the highlights of today's training was a breakout session, facilitated by Miguel Guhlin (Director of Technology), during which district administrators worked in teams to complete a WebQuest.

 ECISD Admin work in teams to complete a WebQuest.

As I floated among the groups (assisting where needed) I was struck by how engaged these digital immigrants were. The question posed itself to me:

"How much more engaged would our students (aka - digital natives) 

be during an assignment such as this?"

Later in the day as I was reading my Twitter feed, I came across a posting from TCEA that shared

"A list of the best free tools to create and administer quizzes: http://bit.ly/N86jb5." 

Number three on the list was the Zunal WebQuest Maker, a free web-based program that allows users to easily create their own WebQuests. What are the odds? It had been years since I'd heard of WebQuests being used as instructional strategies. Was I missing something?  Surely this was no coincidence?  I decided to do some investigating ...

What is a Webquest?
A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well; to focus on using information rather than looking for it; and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995. (Source: http://webquest.org/)

(Source: K-12 Techsters)

What Does a WebQuest Look Like?

A real WebQuest is designed around a a doable and interesting task. It makes good use of the web, but isn't just a series of web-based experiences. It isn't a research report or a step-by-step science or math procedure.  Rather, it requires higher level thinking including synthesis, analysis, problem-solving, creativity and judgment. WebQuests contain five critical attributes: 

1. An introduction that sets the stage and provides some background information.

2. A task that is doable and interesting.

3. A description of the process the learners should go through in accomplishing the task. The process should be broken out into clearly described steps.

4. A conclusion that brings closure to the quest, reminds the learners about what they've learned, and perhaps encourages them to extend the experience into other domains.

5. A teacher page that includes a list of the curriculum standards the WebQuest covers, additional resources if needed, credits for the resources used in the WebQuest and any other information a teacher should now.

Additionally, WebQuests may contain an evaluation instrument that should clearly measure what students must know and be able to do to accomplish the task. Evaluation tools may take the form of a quiz, project rubric, activity, etc.

(Source: Bernie Dodge, San Diego University)

Why Choose a WebQuest?

Evidence indicates that WebQuests increase student motivation and therefore result in students putting forth more effort on academic tasks. The cooperative nature of WebQuests is also a motivating factor as the completion of tasks is dependent on the input of every member of the group. Additionally, WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well and to support higher-level thinking.

Zunal WebQuest Maker

I also spent some time this evening checking out the Zunal WebQuest Maker. After creating my free account, I was ready to begin. Clicking the Create a New WebQuest from Scratch button opens the WebQuest Maker. A template is provided on which to build the WebQuest and basic elements such as template design and color scheme can be set, new pages can be created, and resources such as text boxes, website links, uploaded files, images, video, avatars, and Glogster files can be inserted onto the pages of the WebQuest. The WebQuest Maker also includes evaluation tools such as quizzes, rubrics, and pre- and post-assessmemts.

Conclusion

My brief investigation into WebQuests unearthed a remarkable number of resources on the application of WebQuests as instructional strategies in the K-12 classroom. (Check out the following link to access some of these great resources: Useful Website Resources)

 

Teacher Academy Wrap-Up

The EC3 Teacher Academy drew to a close on Tuesday afternoon. Thirteen teachers, one campus librarian, and three campus administrators participated in this four-day workshop focused on collaborative, engaging, hands-on, instructional activities with the iPad. During these lively sessions, expert consultants Lisa Johnson and Dr. Julie Smithey shared a vast array of resources that can be used to successfully implement iPads into the curriculum. Participants dove right in and started exploring these tools to see how best they could be used with students.

Martha Kizer and Kara Fujimoto from Oak Crest Intermediate collaborate on a project.

I had a front row seat to view all the action!

Some of the amazing products I witnessed included using Quizlet to create vocabulary flash cards; developing visual math story problems by creating a scene in My Play Home Lite, taking a screen shot, opening it in iPen, and writing the problem; using SnapGuide to create step-by-step tutorials; producing a narrative of the Battle of the Alamo using PuppetPals, MadLips, and iMovie; and using ScribblePress to create class books. The possibilities were endless and too many to mention!

I can't wait to see what these amazing educators will do with iPads in the classroom!

EC3 Teacher Academy Takes Off!

Day one of the EC³ Teacher Academy took place on Wednesday, June 13th in the Technology Classroom at the ECISD Technology Department building. 

Our featured presenter Lisa Johnson, an Instructional Technology Specialist with Northeast ISD, author of the TechChef4u blog, cohost of the Blogtalk Radio series Appy Hours 4 U, and co-author of the iBook "Hot Apps 4 Hots" facilitated a dynamic session attended by twelve of our EC³ Teachers.

Lisa opened the day with an engaging presentation that highlighted topics such as:

• Where do you find apps? 
• Restrictions and Cautionary apps
• What happens on iPads, stays on iPads (Digital Citizenship issues that should be covered with students who share iDevices)
• iBuild iPad Lesson templates
• iBuild iPad QR codes

The morning's session ended with a showcase of productivity apps that had all participants buzzing.

After lunch, our teachers formed collaborative groups and got down to the work of applying the knowledge they had gained from the morning's session to analyze their CSCOPE curriculum and select an objective for which they could begin to develop a lesson integrating iPads.

The day closed with a session in which the teachers "shared out" with the rest of the group regarding their chosen objective and their plans for the lesson. Their enthusiasm was contagious! I'm looking forward to what Day 2 brings!