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1:1

Jan 12 2015

1:1 Teachers: Have you tried podcasting?

Back in the late fall of 2004—yes!, just over ten years ago—I started podcasting for Goochland County Public Schools. These were audio-only. Some podcasts were conversations with then superintendent, Frank Morgan. The main idea behind the podcast was to highlight the good things we were doing with technology in our schools.

Today, TechTimesLive is still updated, albeit more slowly than before. With 167 episodes, there is a considerable amount of content I have pushed out, online, with a focus changing to providing professional development videos.

What’s special about podcasting?

Podcasts are one form of serialized, creative communications. It’s more of a delivery method than media, but we tend to think of podcasts as audio or video files that we can listen to using a mobile device like an iPod or a phone. But what’s interesting is the process involved in creating these files and the potential for a world-facing audience once they are published.

You see, podcasts (and here I need to be specific) are like television shows, a magazine, a blog, or a YouTube channel. It’s an umbrella container for episodes. Just like a magazine has multiple articles (or a regular column, month to month), a blog has posts, and a YouTube channel has multiple videos, a podcast is organized around a topic with multiple takes on that topic.

Why might I start a podcasting project with students?

Podcasting in the classroom can take some time, which is why, in a 1:1 environment, podcasting becomes a new type of homework assignment. The key is—students will love making podcasts if we can focus the series on something students want to know about. There has to be a little passion behind the theme of the podcast, otherwise, producing episodes will feel like tedium and an audience beyond the teacher will be less likely…

When you produce episodes in a podcast, you have to be organized, know what you are talking about, and polish your presentation. In my recent effort in producing a new podcast outside of work, I thought it would be easy. But when I set out to actually do an episode, suddenly, I realized it was more work. But it was still fun. And after I recorded each episode, I knew a lot more about the topics I had chosen to focus on in each 20-minute episode.

How important is the audience?

We don’t play television sitcoms on TVs in forests where there are only birds and trees. An audience is important, but it does not have to be huge one. As Chris Anderson taught is in his 2006 book The Long Tail, there is a huge amount of diversity in interests out there, and published podcasts, I believe, are likely to be of interest to somebody. For students, that can be a peer, a relative, or even a stranger who shares a similar interest with the student.

How do I get started?

Share some examples. You might start by making it one choice in several for a student, not everyone is required to make their own show. Some students may choose to work together, and that’s fine. While the iTunes Podcast Directory (open iTunes Store and click to Podcasts) has ton of examples of podcasts, you might also share the video episodes put together by Super-Awesome Sylvia.

Does it have to be a podcast?

No. The point here is serialized creative communications. More examples can be found in YouTube videos produced by teenagers and college students, blogs, live streams of video game playing, a really cool Flickr account, and more. The point is, we get into a habit with our communication, sharing in a somewhat regular fashion, as a way to share, but also teach ourselves more about something that matters to us. While 1:1 technology is not required, it’s a pretty awesome use of our devices, and a good reason personalize learning.

For more on using GarageBand to produce a podcast with iPad, visit this online tutorial for some tips!

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: 1:1, constructivist, podcasting

Jun 19 2014

U-bi-qui-tous

This week we had our second 1:1 computing training, ever. Sometimes this is called ubiquitous computing, meaning “the technology is everywhere.” For SY 2014-15, we are expanding our 1:1 program with iPads to Year 1 – with 5th and 6th grade covered across the division.

teachers

Teachers from all of our schools save for GHS attended for learning about our 1:1 program. I’d like to say it was all about using the iPads students will receive in the fall, but it was not! It was focused on deeper learning, engaging students through instructional decisions, and some theoretical concepts like SAMR, TPACK, and more.

I had a lot of fun watching Zoe Parrish, Bea Leiderman, and Joe Beasely work with our teachers in an effort to allay fears and prepare them for delivering the best learning opportunities possible to students next school year.

We also looked at Schoology as a learning management solution for use with the iPads and with laptops for next year. A few core apps, QR codes, and some experience with Google Drive rounded out the experience.

Our next and final summer training is in July: 28th, 30th, and 31st!

As I shared earlier in a tweet, this was the first training session I’ve ever participated in where teachers wanted a hug at the end. I was moved by the commitment of our teachers to inspire our students and to prepare them for their futures.

By John Hendron • General News • • Tags: 1:1, ipads, pd, training

May 20 2014

Writing for Others

Writing, as a pursuit, can be a private pursuit. Writing on a blog is not private, it’s public, but the funny thing is, you may not always feel you have an audience. One person could read your blog post, or 100s, and you don’t really get a reaction unless you have comments turned on and people have something to respond to. Writers also have more established forms of public sharing, through books, magazines, the newspaper, etc. Finally, a lot of writing that takes place in schools is not public nor private, it’s what we might call semi-public. Your teacher and maybe a peer would read your work. Often that writing is to a certain specification, to ensure you are practicing the craft of writing towards improvement.

So, it’s not often that we get to write in school. Illustrate our writing. And, have a guaranteed audience that we know will read our work and give us immediate feedback. But 4th graders at Goochland Elementary recently had this opportunity through a collaborative effort of ITRT Zoe Parrish and classroom teacher Krystle Demas. Demas’ students had the opportunity in class to help Ms. Parrish define what an ebook was, then they were told they would be writing their own! And then they’d have the opportunity to share their ebooks on their iPads with preschool students next door.

Book Example

The books were created with an app we installed as part of our 1:1 pilot called Book Creator, which allows students to create ePub “books” with multiple pages, text, images, and you can even insert video and audio. Students added sound files to each page so that preschool students could be “read to” when the students no longer were there. Ms. Parrish has since loaded the eBook collection on the iPads used at GES specialty center so that the preschool students can continue to enjoy the books created for them by Ms. Demas’ fourth grade students.

eBook Story

The books can be read on a variety of platforms. On the Macintosh, you can use iBooks in OS X Mavericks, and on iOS, you can use iBooks. Access all the books and materials used to deliver the lesson here. Kudos to Ms. Parrish and each and every one of Ms. Demas’ students for their problem solving and application of very creative skills! From what I hear, the preschool students enjoyed the experience immensely.

By John Hendron • General News, Resource of Interest • • Tags: 1:1, ebooks, ipads, writing

Apr 23 2014

1:1 Year 1

At this week’s board meeting, we presented some details about our 1:1 expansion next year for grades 5 and 6 across the division. Included in this presentation was some of the numbers involved in all the new devices we will be supporting!

We’re offering training on June 16, June 18, and June 19th for new teachers participating in the 1:1 program. We’re excited about expanding the program.

I also passed out books at our leadership meeting for our principals. We’ll be reading them between now and the summer and have a book discussion at one of our retreat days.

Dr. Mark Edwards, currently the superintendent in Mooresville, NC, and formerly the superintendent in Henrico, has some advice about how and why to start a 1:1 program. As I shared with all of our principals, this isn’t really about new technology or more computers. It’s about improving instruction through engaged student participation in and outside the classroom, through opportunities to personalize instruction, and through teaching that begins to includes inquiry into daily instruction.

Our 1:1 program is being planned to expand slowly, year by year, over a 4-year period. By year four, we plan to have gone completely 1:1 in grades 3-12, across the division.

We will have collected all of the iPads from GES students by June 4, 2014. We plan to re-deploy in Fall, 2014 to grades 3-5 at GES and grades 5 at BES and RES, plus grade 6 at GMS. We will be advertising deployment night times this summer to parents, when families come to learn more about the program, receive training, and take delivery of iPads.

If you’re interested in seeing what our students have done in our “Year 0″ pilot year, check out this link from our November, 2013 iPad Exhibition at GES.

By John Hendron • For Parents, General News • • Tags: 1:1, ipads

Jul 5 2013

A little competition

This appears at the start of a dissertation I am reading by Rae Niles, completed in 2006. She starts her work with a little ditty written by an anonymous high school student from Abilene, Kansas. It appeared online in January, 2004.

I had a great time working with 14 folks from GES this week – training for the future of their school and possibly the future of our school division. While I was involved for “digital” and “technological” reasons, our real purpose was to consider concepts such as deeper learning, project-based approaches, and considering how we can personalize learning for students. While we joked around about some things be “hot” (thanks go to Mrs. Richardson from Apple for the phrase hotness), I was humbled by the group’s eagerness to approach all of this with an open mind.

By John Hendron • General News • • Tags: 1:1, ges, ipads

Apr 28 2013

Are schools obsolete?

Sugata Mitra looks at education in light of the Victorians, and the future, “in the Cloud.” Do we want to be spare parts for some great human computer?

The most important take away for me: “the Grandma Pedagogy” and the power of encouragement! Can we adopt the SOLE principle?

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: 1:1, cloud

Mar 13 2013

Positive Video on iPads at Elementary School

Looks like they have the right culture, the right support, and the right enthusiasm for learning with tablets.

By John Hendron • General News • • Tags: 1:1, ipads

About this blog…

This is the blog of John Hendron, Ed.D., director of innovation & strategy for Goochland County Public Schools. Through this blog I share information for teachers, administrators and families dealing with learning and teaching with technology.

You can contact me via e-mail! I look forward to hearing from you.

John Hendron Goochland Schools

Blogroll

  • Bea Leiderman – ITRT
  • Bruce Watson – Director of CTE
  • Connected Principals
  • G21 Framework
  • Goochland Leadership Blog
  • Peter Gretz, Assistant Superintendent
  • Rushton's Resources
  • Steve Geyer – Assistant Superintendent
  • Tom DeWeerd – Director of Technology
  • WordPress Planet
  • Zoe Parrish, ITRT

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