ICTs, Tech and other stuff

Learning in Hand is a podcast “channel”/program which I subscribe to. It is fantastic, in a word, presented by Tony Vincent, an educator who provides advice about how to use iPods and the like to enhance learning.

Recent episodes included a lesson on how to combine images taken from Google Earth and the Internet and combine them with text in another app, Strip Designer, to create small comic strip images. This was a great tip as it showed how the unique nature of some of the iPod apps could be combined. Sure, a similar activity could happen on a computer in a lab but for that matter, a lot can be done on both sorts of devices. People choose to use iPods for their convenience or mobility or ease of use or whatever. Not every student wants to be tied to a machine. And as we move towards more portable styles of education, with more students having some form of mobile device, it is going to mean that we need to look at what can be done on those devices.

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2Do is an organiser app which allows you to add tasks and have them sorted by category. It is much the same in principle as any other organiser app with the exception of its cool interface.

I have only added a few categories but I like the way it displays this info in a tabbed manner. It almost replicates what I would have in a diary. Once a task is added, you can set priorities and reminders and add notes to the task, add an associated URL and so on. It is not a great project manager, though I suppose you could use the categories as projects and then define tasks according to the project? I might try that later.

I have been using this as my main organiser lately. It is quick and allows me to add notes on the fly fairly easily, sort them and so on. Worth the few dollars I may have spent on it!

We have been considering doing something with Moodle for a little while and finally, our flustered tech found some time to install it on a machine running as a server which would let us look at it. (Thanks for that!)

So what is it like? Does it solve any issues? Why do we need it?

Currently, the department offers us Blackboard as a LMS tool, where teachers can put course work and enrol kids into their courses and the like. It is secure (so long as they remember their usernames/passwords and don’t give them out!) but is limited mainly by bandwidth issues. It can take a very long time  to log on, especially during peak times, which is when you want it. It is available to users at home, which is handy, but…

Moodle offers much the same kind of functionality as BB and if we run it locally, speed should not be an issue. The main obstacle would be the fact that users cannot access it from home. It would have to be limited to being used from school, which might be an issue. However, that assumes that we use it predominantly as a LMS. What if we were to use it just as a portal? As a place for notices? Assessment? Research Guides? Links to websites? Reading Guides? Maybe kids wpuld not even have to log on? Or be enrolled in a course?

On the other hand, though, if that was the case, why not just have a simpler solution than Moodle? It is like using a Swiss Army knife for cutting cheese. It can do it but most of the tools would be left untouched.

Issues, issues…why can’t life be simple?!

I have long been a fan of mindmapping, in general, and feel as though I have tried just about every piece of software there is! Inspiration (way back when), MindManager, Freemind, online Web 2.0 sites and I have settled on XMind recently.

Why Xmind?

1. It is free. Well, open source, anyway. There is a Pro version but I have yet to see any reason to move there.

2. It is cross-platform, working well on Macs as well as Windows; the files open on each others platform and the software generally works the same on each. I must admit to having a preference for the Mac version which has a couple of features that make it nicer.

3. It can import MindManager files so my earlier work still opens. It can also open my FreeMind files.

4. It links to files and folders on my computer, as well as URLs.

5. It has some handy templates, including fishbones (never use!) and Venn diagrams.

What do I use it for? Mainly planning my semester. I can add my weeks as children to the main topic, then lessons as children to the weeks, link resources to lessons, URLs to lessons, notes for each lesson, export them as a Word document if needed. It works a treat and is highly recommended.

I have been using iThoughts on my iPod and it has promises of being able to import/export Xmind files soon. Then my life will be complete!

For a long time, I have tried variations on planning themes. Diaries, teacher chronicles, etc. I had finally settled on a single piece of A4 before moving to using various mindmapping software to keep track of lessons and assessment. My hopes for the iPod are that it can replace all of the paper I used to carry around. Can I use it as my diary/planner/schedule?

I imagine that I am going to need a range of apps to get this done. So, what is needed?

A mindmapping app might work but it needs to have notes and the ability to link nodes. On a computer, my preference is for Xmind. This is open-source and brilliant. A great alternative to Inspiration, especially for high school students. But there is no iPhone port so I am still looking.

A calendar would be nice. The default app in the iPod OS is great as it syncs with iCal on my Mac but does not grab the tasks so…some form of Task Manager is also needed.

I have yet to find the app which combines all of the above but I have been forcing myself to keep the iPod with me at all times and when students or staff tell me the name of a book I must read or similar, I am typing it in, hopefully reducing the little scraps of paper that I used to have sitting in my pockets when I got home!

The search continues…

I am still using Awesome Note because it just looks so good. And it does have some very nice features and a great interface. But it is not perfect.

I have also played with Organiser Lite which gives you a day view and allows you to add notes to it. It looks very much like a written planner. Items can be dragged around and have their colours changed, smiley faces added, images can be added and so on. But I cannot add recurring appointments, like I can with the normal Calendar app, nor can I do any form of project management, like I can with Awesome Note. (Of course, it might be that I just have not found out how to do this yet…)

To get from one day to the next requires a tap to bring up the basic lower menu that can be seen above. Shaking the iPod brings you back to today, which is handy. So overall it has some nice things but is still not all that it could be. More info can be found here.

One of the exciting features of the new iPod is the ability to use voice memos, which was there before but certainly was not a feature I used on my old Classic. I tried this out with the provided earbuds and mic (incorporated into them) and it worked quite well but then I started thinking how this might work in, say, a class. Maybe a separate mic would work?

I started looking on eBay and settled on a small external mic for about $12. It works an absolute treat. It is so small, though; I have taken tablets larger than this! The challenge now is to figure out how to store it as the iPod is great for just throwing in the pocket. That won’t work if I have to worry about a little pill-sized thing. Does this mean I need an accessory bag for my iPod and the other gear I have to lug around? I already have something of the sort that I take with me on holidays – the small case contains the A/V leads, a wall charger and a set of fold-up speakers. All of this is great but kind of goes against the portability of the device!

One of the many challenges facing us as educators is what to with these kids. Can we ignore them? Obviously not. But how does a generation which either taught with or grew up on (say) various ABC Sing books and radio programs deal with them? Let them go at their own pace with little instruction? Leave them to their own devices (no pun intended)?

This is not easy. We want to help them and provide guidance.

My principal asked me today if I got my iPod. I had mentioned that I was getting one before the hols. When I said that I had, she wanted a look and was amazed, I think, at what was on there…the apps, the pics, the video podcasts, etc. Now she has asked me to come to the Admin meeting tomorrow and “show and tell”. A little scary. Why? How do I explain to people who have little or no idea about iTunes or iPods what it can do? How do I explain the concept of syncing? Downloading apps through the store? Maybe it will be easier than I think!

I would dearly love, though, the ability to show them the screen on a projector. They will have to crowd around it!

There have been a lot of posts and discussions in various places about the changing video camera scene. It is very confusing for many, myself included at times! I thiught years ago that we were safe when we were using VHS cameras! But then they had a variety of formats and forms. And then we were using Digital 8 and Hi-8. All seemed good for a while until…we moved to mini-DV. More cameras and a new set of batteries and cables and AC adaptors. Then the market dropped out of that format…forcing us to look at digital options. Should we go to DVD? (As it turned out, I am glad we did not!) How about HDD-based cameras? (Again, they have their own problems.)

So what have we settled on? After much research, we have bought a couple of Canon cameras, the FS22 being the main one we will be using for most classes. Why this one? It is only SD quality but that is as good as the mini-DV footage we were getting before. The main thing about this one is that it has an external mic socket. Getting the students to get their audio clear is something we have been trying to focus on for a while. Do they listen to us? Not really! Other good things include the lack of a touch screen which is something I really detest. Grotty fingers touching the screen, and everytime you touch the screen, it moves the camera itself…Ugh! The camera connects nicely to our Mac computers as well.It works on SD cards (SDHC) so no worry about footage being left on the cameras. Students will shoot footage to a card and then give it to the teacher for transfer using a card reader.

What don’t I like? The major stupid thing is that it requires AC power before transferring files. The battery seems to be only able to charged while attached, as the price of a Canon charger is nearly as much as the camera itself!

The other unit we bought for our Seniors was a Canon Legria HF20. It is HD and far more complex than the baby model. The footage looks great but it suffers from the same problems, mainly the requirement to be connected for transfer.It also has 32gb of onboard flash memory, as well as being able to take the SDHC cards.

We will see how the management of these go next year!