Here’s to another year of Bright Ideas

As the year draws to a close we come to the last Bright Ideas post for 2011. It’s been a wonderful year of sharing and collaboration and a big thank you goes out to all of our guest bloggers and contributors who worked with us this year. Thanks especially to Rachel, who did such a fantastic job with the blog early in the year.

Most importantly, thanks to all of our readers who make our community vibrant and exciting. We’ve welcomed many new followers through programs like the VicPLN and the work of SLAV, who do such an amazing job in supporting educators everywhere. The strength of Bright Ideas is the wonderful sense of sharing and community that exists amongst our readers, who constantly inspire us with their willingness to help each other.

From all of us at the Bright Ideas, we wish you and your families a safe and happy holiday season. Enjoy your break, recharge those batteries and we’ll see you back here in 2012.

Appy holidays

Apps to get you started

With Christmas and the holidays fast approaching, there’s a chance that many of you may be unwrapping a shiny new phone or tablet this weekend. So after the obligatory first step (downloading Angry Birds) what apps should you download next?

Here’s our list of some of the great apps to download so you can make the most of your new toy. The list includes apps for Apple (IOS), Android, Windows mobile and Blackberry devices. Let us know your about your own favourites on Twitter or in the comments section.

Feedly (IOS, Android):  Feedly integrates with your Google Reader account and presents your feeds in a clean, attractive interface. You don’t need to create an account as you can just login with your Google account, and any changes you make to your feeds and folders in Feedly are also updated in Google Reader.

Tune In Radio (IOS, Blackberry, Android, Windows mobile):  Tune In Radio allows you to listen to thousands of internet radio feeds from across the world. There is a free version but the paid version adds the ability to record and save content for later.

Hootsuite (IOS, Blackberry, Android): The official Twitter app has come in for quite a bit of criticism, so we recommend Hootsuite as a great Twitter alternative for mobile devices. It’s reliable, allows you to  access multiple accounts and also allows you to add columns which monitor hashtags. Tweetdeck is another good option and offers similar features.

Flipboard (IOS): Considered by many to be the IPad’s flagship app, Flipboard takes your RSS feeds, social network accounts and curated content to create a beautifully presented, personalised magazine. Flip through your articles, tap on content to browse and pinch to close. It’s a great example of why tablets are so good for consuming content. Zite is another good option for IOS, while Google is also testing out the newsreader market with its upcoming Google Currents app.

Evernote (IOS, Blackberry, Android, Windows mobile):  If you haven’t signed up for Evernote yet, then prepare to be more organised than ever before. Evernote allows you to store notes on multiple devices, including your computer, and keep them all synced and updated. The mobile app lets you record voice memos and take pictures. All notes can be tagged and text is fully searchable, making this one of the most powerful organisational tools available.

Read It Later (IOS, Blackberry, Android) or Instapaper (IOS): Both of these apps allow you to save articles on your computer and then read the text version on your mobile device. The articles are presented in a clean, simple interface and are stored on your mobile device so you can read them even when you don’t have an internet connection.

Dropbox (IOS, Blackberry, Android): Dropbox gives you 2 gigabytes of online storage for free, and the mobile apps allow you to access your files on the go. This can also be a good way to get files to your IOS device without having to sync your device with a computer. Another powerful tool for transferring many types of files to your IOS device is GoodReader, which removes much of the hassle of trying to get documents from your computer to your IPad or IPhone.

Strip Designer (IOS): A powerful yet straightforward comic design tool, Strip Designer allows you to use your photographs and pictures to create comic strips. Add text, export directly to Facebook and make the most of your photographs.

Star Walk (IOS): Inevitably when you are showing off your new tablet someone will say “Well it doesn’t do anything a computer can’t do.” This is the app for putting these people in their place. Star Walk is a paid app, but it’s worth it for the wow factor when you hold your Ipad up to the night sky and see a full, interactive map of the stars and planets. Search for constellations, learn about the universe and more importantly get envious glances from your non tablet-toting friends.

Test your search skills: A Google a day

A Google a Day

Whether we like it or not, for many students (and adults) the first step in any research task is to visit Google. There are many great resources that can be used to teach students about creating more specific, powerful searches, such as Google Inside Search which guides you through some advanced search functions.

Once students read these tips, they need some way to apply their knowledge to specific tasks. The website A Google a Day provides a question each day which can be solved using a search engine.  A timer runs while you search for the solution, and you can also click on a series of clues which will step you through the search process. For those who are completely stumped, the answer can be provided along with an explanation of how to find it online. The questions can vary in quality, but there are enough good ones in the archive to test out your searching skills.  Click the arrows at the bottom of the frame to see previous questions.

Interestingly, one of the problems with the site comes due to its popularity. You’ll often find that when you search for older answers the top results will be pages linking to blogs about A Google a Day. This might lead to a discussion about how search engines like Google actually index the web.  One possible solution might be to develop your own questions for students to solve. Have a read through the archive to get some ideas about what works and which questions are less effective.

How connected are you?

Connected: the film

Hamish Curry, Education Manager at the State Library of Victoria, explores his feelings about the film Connected:

It was back in early September at a Gathering ‘11 event organised by David Hood that I first watched ‘Connected’, a film about “love, death and technology” by Tiffany Shlain. The film stimulated a whole bunch of complex thoughts and ideas I’d been having around the ways in which we relate to one another, and the tools of technology we’re using to help improve these relations. A tweet response from Tiffany afterwards, along with some email networking led me to organise the State Library’s own screening of the film on November 23. I’ve seen Connected four times since September, and each time something new resonates. I love the shock value of Albert Einstein who said that “if honeybees were to disappear, humankind would be gone in four years.”

Connected weaves a myriad of personal, historical, and global issues and challenges together, showing us that patterns are emerging amongst these random pieces. From the evolution of language, to our reliance on machines and the demands we’re placing on the hemispheres of the brain, humans are making more and more rapid decisions, connections, and discoveries. The film’s premise is that while technology is changing the way we communicate, relate, work and consume, it is having unintended impacts on our well-being and that of the planet around us.

I think all of us familiar with technology sense this, and no doubt all those who have been involved with the VicPLN program experienced various levels of anxiety and excitement around the tools of the web as well. Yet the film also highlights how technology is enabling us to make better and faster connections to issues confronting us and to the people who share our passions. Technology has helped us visualise data, trends, thoughts, and images in new ways. As such, the film promotes deeper thinking and reflection. There have been some great posts from people like Judith Way and Jenny Luca. Some see Tiffany’s story being quite self-indulgent, others see her experiences as being symptomatic of our struggle to connect.

For me it has stirred up a passion around a radical rethink of how we approach education. The traditional system broke learning down into disconnected but measurable chunks and pieces, which mirrored our thinking around literacy, numeracy, and sciences. Now more and more educators are realising that we’ve reached a point where we need to put these back together, creating an integrated, blended, and connected education system, where the school is simply a node in a much bigger community, both locally and internationally.

Another big node is libraries. They are at cross-roads too. Their ability to be hubs of information and community connections is beginning to be leveraged in new and exciting ways. It’s a nice time to be part of libraries and education; change is an expectation. So in closing, I’ll leave you with a Connected thought for 2012 from John Muir, who said “when you tug at a single thing in the universe, you find it’s attached to everything else.”

PLN for 2012

Personal Learning Network website

The next Personal Learning Network (PLN) program will run for 12 weeks beginning 5th March 2012. For more information visit State Library website page or email learning@slv.vic.gov.au

The program, run by the State Library of Victoria in association with SLAV, is part of a network of inspired and inspiring people embracing technology and social media in schools around the world.

This self-paced, online learning program developed by and for teacher librarians, teachers, and school library technicians features practical how-to sessions and online mentoring.

Anne Fraser, a recent alumni of the program created this Prezi – PLN Learning Network using comments and feedback from her new network, discussing the program itself but also using her PLN to do it.

Poetry mash up: Leanne Hampson

The Resourcehound

Leanne Hampson (aka The Resourcehound) from Brauer Secondary College recently completed the PLN program and is experimenting with web tools in her library and classroom. Her guest post today talks about how to create poetry mash ups with students.

Recently I was studying poetry with my year 9 English class, mainly focussing on analysing particular poems. Most students seem to find it difficult to create their own poetry and I certainly find it very difficult to assess (poetry is such a personal thing, don’t you think?). Then I happened across a Bright Ideas post about the Phat Poetry site and although I couldn’t seem to get the mash up function to work (more investigation required!), it was the spark I needed.

One thing I have discovered is that while students can use some computer programs well, they needed a lot of guidance and suggestions on how they might present their mash ups. Whenever I promote a particular web tool or program I like to demonstrate it to the students as well (the old, ‘and I expect yours to be much better than mine…’). This meant creating some mash ups of my own. This was quite addictive and I spent far too long on my ‘demos’ when I should have been writing reports…oh well.

Students used two texts with a similar theme but they could choose these themselves. I recommended they select song lyrics they felt strongly about and then we went to the library and searched the poetry collection for something that matched. Then students had to take lines from each text, find images and music to match the feel and atmosphere and then decide on a program to create their mash up. I recommended to students that they use either Photostory, Animoto, Movie Maker or Glogster. All of these have the capacity to combine text, images and sound together. I made examples in Photostory, Animoto and Glogster to show them.

Some issues we had were that Animoto tended to ‘eat’ their internet quota pretty quickly and its ability to add text is limited. But it does come out looking absolutely smashing! Glogster is also simple to create but I did struggle with how to let students share their work. I think this was because I was unfamiliar with the new Edu Glogster though, rather than a limitation of the site. Photostory was very straightforward and was probably the most successful of the three. We worked together to solve issues and had a great time in class looking at everyone’s work.

Overall the students were very engaged. They loved using their computers and the final products were impressive. It is amazing how effective the new texts were. One student used poetry written by her grandmother and even the ‘I hate poetry’ boys got enthused. I also used Rubistar to create an assessment rubric for the task (if you’d like a copy, contact me via my blog, The Resourcehound, or Twitter, @LHampso).

Here is an example I made using Animoto. It features ‘Been Caught Stealing’ by Jane’s Addiction and the poem ‘Stealing’ by Carol Ann Duffy.

PLN reflection: Catherine Morton

This year’s Personal Learning Network (PLN) program recently ended with over 150 people taking part. In the next few weeks Bright Ideas will feature guest posts from PLN alumni with the first being from Catherine Morton from Whitefriars College.

This year l completed the Personal Learning Network (PLN).

In May I wrote my first blog post…

“I’ve recently returned to teaching after working in the wonderful public library world. In my new position as a teacher librarian in a secondary college, l’m interested in exploring and learning the Web 2.0 world and am excited about the potential applications in my work with students and teachers. I’m feeling a little hesitant as l’m sure there’ll be challenges along the way. I’ve had some already. So the opportunity to learn from you all and my colleagues, who are well along the Web 2.0 road, will help my travels. Look forward to meeting you along the way”.

But by my last post in November…

“To think l’ve completed the PLN and about to post my digital story! It’s a great sense of satisfaction and achievement. It’s interesting that the frustrations, the enormity of the workload and the feeling of being overwhelmed have faded into the background.

I chose Animoto as it’s relatively easy to use and l’m quite happy with the results. There are some features that could be improved, however it’s a tool that l would use with students. The PLN program has been just like travelling, being introduced to new places and people, experiencing things for the first time and all of the emotions associated with travelling. The music l selected is titled ‘Flying’ by Mike Strickland, which l feel is quite a reflective piece and also a very appropriate title. Not that it was always a smooth flight as l weathered storms, heavy rain and grey days, along with sunshine and blue sky!

It’s been a year of so many learnings. Thanks to the PLN support team at the SLV. Your guidance, encouragement and support have been greatly appreciated. Thanks to the wider PLN community for your generosity in sharing knowledge and supporting my journey. There are improved outcomes for both me as a teacher and the students. I’ll always continue to travel.”

Some of my reflections on the PLN – I’ve gained more confidence with Web 2.0 tools, and have used some of these tools, both in the library and in my teaching. Now l feel l’m one step ahead of the students. I used the SLV ergo website to teach research skills to Learning Support students. I’ve benefited professionally by joining Twitter. I’ve also benefited personally from the PLN as I’m setting up a blog for my upcoming overseas trip! My goal is to continue to explore, learn and assist with educating students and colleagues in using these tools. If we have the ability to locate information, we can find anything.

The PLN program will be running again in 2013. For further information email learning@slv.vic.gov.au

#pencilchat

Over the past couple of days the #pencilchat has been trending on Twitter with educators using the allegory to comment on technology use in schools.

Discussing the ‘dangers’ of  pencils, how they’re just a passing fad and more, people humorously voiced concerns about the challenges of using technology (and pencils) in schools.

Good education has a great article, Why #Pencilchat May Be the Most Clever Education Allegory Ever, about how the tag discussion began and evolved.

Photo by Nalini Prasanna

Photo by Nalini Prasanna

Our space: digital citizenship resources

Our space is a website providing education resources for exploring the ethics of digital citizenship with students.

Our space

Developed as part of the GoodWork project and in collaboration with Harvard Graduate School of Education and Project New Media Literacies, the website offers pages of lessons and fact sheets to support students’ use of social media and the web.

Lessons are grouped under five themes – participation, identity, privacy, credibility and authorship/ownership.

Ethical engagement is at the centre of the program so the focus is on students’ personal responsibilities and behaviours. A great resource to share with colleagues and to potentially look at when planning for 2012.

Volumique

Volumique is a French publishing company that explores book creation as a new computer platform, with particular emphasis on how physical paper books can interact with smart phones. They also experiment with interactive story telling and game.

With projects like Pirates (paper board game using smartphones), the book that disappears (a book you have 20 minutes to read before the pages turn black) and Balloon (an Ipad virtual reality pop up book), there are lots of lovely ideas to explore.

Volumique

It’s wonderful to think that artists and publishers are thinking so creatively about where books can go in the future and how technology can augment the experience of storytelling.

To see more of their recent work, take a look at the Volumique Vimeo channel.