My Last Blog as a BU Student

It's pretty simple I am done at Brandon University next week.  It is bitter sweet and I am going to miss a lot things but mostly the people I have met over my 5 years at BU.  I loved living in Brandon and going to this small school.  It is so unique the person to person level you can use in your learning here at our university.  I can't even begin to describe all the memories I have had here.

I will however describe what my experience was like in Internet for Education and I will do it through this blog post via my video. Thanks for the opportunity and class Mike and good luck everybody!  Enjoy and I will keep in touch and this blog will continue.

    

TT #12 The future??

What does the future hold? What is in store for us an educators and for our students? It is easier to predict than you may first think.  I don't have to go 88 miles per hour in a time machine to get there and have some evidence to show whats 5, 10 even 20 years down the road.  We have even took the time to discuss this in class.

From what I know and what we have discussed as a class things are on the change and some of the grey area we talk about now concerning devices used, sites, apps we may not even be thinking about having in 5 years because it will be fully adapted into our lessons and curriculum.  The more flexible the division and especially the people at the top the more change that can easily occur.  As a class we discussed that the rural divisions in Manitoba have been more adaptable to the use of technology in the classroom than those of the  city or urban divisions aka Winnipeg and Brandon.

So why is this? Are they afraid that there are too many teachers and students to make it work in a positive manner? Their has been evidence in Winnipeg to show that bringing your own device (BYOD) to school can be beneficial.  I have heard that it has been a success for the most part at Dakota Collegiate in Winnipeg.  There are also risk, what if it gets damaged or stolen; what happens then?  Are students going to use them in the right way?  These are the questions, I believe it must be tried just like anything to see if it works or not, similar to a science experiment.  There are honestly too many questions that could be asked about the use of technology and devices in a class that one blog post is just going to open the conversation.

What are my personal thought on the future though?  I want to look deeper, 10-20 years down the road when I am in the middle of my teaching career, hopefully with a family and in a place I enjoy being at everyday.  I feel that books will rarely be used by middle and senior years students, it will be almost paperless in most classes besides Math.  All students will be able to BYOD for use in school. Student learning will happen a lot more on there own through module style, video tutorials and presentations.  Reading will improve but won't be done through traditional books.  Our students will have access to many more sites and apps that can advance their education.  The teacher will either have an easier time or tougher time managing their classroom.  I am on the fence about that one I do not know which way to lean to.  These are my ideas, in kind of a rambling on manner but that what the blog is for.  Not a psychic but have some predictions with some evidence and thought behind it. Let me know what you think. This was my last tech task, Yahoo!

So Long for Now,
Rod.

 Doc Brown and Marty McFly

From Back to the Future

What I'm going to Miss about Internet for Educators

I have taken 2 classes about using ICT and Internet in Education.  I got to say Mike has brought the noise in both.  It often is hard to pay attention because I want to get work done with that computer staring be right in the face.  The apps and sites I have learned about in the last 2 years are going to help me become a better teacher and support my students in a way the current student knows how, through the internet.  We have stayed current discussed hot topics and gone over the positives and negatives and now I know what to look for and commence in and what to stay away from, which I am truly thankful for.

Will I use everything I am shown in class, probably not even half.  But the ones I do like and have learned about make it easier for me as a teacher implemented tech into teaching.  I find myself using these apps and sites almost everyday and a year ago I didn't even know about them.  I am going to miss my family when I leave my ED family that is.  With only 2 weeks to go at BU it is so strange. I have been here for 5 years, this has been what I know and do. Thanks for making this year another good one ED family and thanks Mike Nantais you make the experience fun and easy going.  You know I like to joke around and appreciated the sarcasm and laughter. 

Rod.
BU at BU.

Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.

During the 7th Week I went to Westcast and....

I learned nothing.  Just kidding of course I learned a few things and had fun doing it.  Our tremendous group of Brandon University Education students took off around 9 am on Wednesday Feb 18th.  We spent about 6 hours on the bus ride there but it was so much fun it seemed like 2.  We got there and on the first night after settling in and hitting the pool we had a nice meal, a couple drinks and a few of us even went to the Saskatoon Blades game.  It was an awesome start.

Thursday morning rolled around and we took a shuttle or city bus to University of Saskatchewan. We then checked in and sat around until the 9:30 keynote speaker.  He was actually a big technology guy so it was right up the alley of this class.  The keynote was good, not too long.  The sessions than began and it was an open house type of concept.  You could go to which ever you wanted.  I tended to go to ones that catered to the early years.  I am going to be teaching grade 1 and have little to no experience with that age group so I felt that was a good opportunity for me.  I really enjoyed the Math Work Stations that our own BU early years students put on.  Those were my favourite, I learned a lot.  A few of us decided to head back around 5 in a cab and got settled in for the night and supper.

The next morning was the last day and we were headed out after lunch for our trek back to Brandon.  I myself along with Jon Filewich, Jake Weidenhamer, Kelly Whitmore and Kalena Green formed a group called PEDAL standing for Physical EDucation Activity Leadership.  We made a presentation and it was hands on and fun.  We got the feel that most enjoyed it and we even got invited to present at another conference.  That was exciting.  More sessions followed and they were quite interesting.  A great catered lunch brought us to the end of our trip and a longer more relaxed bus ride home.  All and all a great experience, fun group and cool university. Thats my story, thanks for reading.

Rod.

TT # 7 : Infographics

When I looked at this task and the word infographic I thought it might be complex and I didn't know what it was. When I googled and searched it on pintrest I found out I indeed do know what an infographic is. An infographic is a unique was of expressing graphic visual representations of information, data and knowledge.  It is made to present it quickly and clearly.

I definitely think these could and should be used in a classroom. They are great to have to present info to dress up the walls of a classroom. You can analyze them in class as a discussion for any portion of a lesson. You could also have students make their own as a form of assessment.

Here's some cool infographics you could use in Social Studies/World Issues

Now here is my infographic I made on Piktochart. I focussed on one of my favourite sports, Curling! This great for introducing the game to young students in Early Years Physical Education.

Reading the Fine Print...For Once

Honestly how often do we read all the fine print and the user agreement when updated, getting apps or signing up for different online sites? I know I often glance but never take the time to look at anything in depth. We now know from this weeks presentation that if you want to sign up for something in your classroom with you or your students involved you better take an in depth look at these documents.

The user agreements are usually long but straight forward. The biggest thing to look for is minimum age. Some sites have a restriction that should be followed such as 13+ only on this site.  In BSD you must send in a form with what social site you want to use if it is restricted. You are liable if anything goes a rye. Teachers must make sure that this site is going to be useful. If there is anything fishy or you suspect something may be off it is best to look at using something else. Use trusted sites!

I think using social media sites in the classroom can be beneficial but you have to take the time to really look through the agreements. It is much different when you are looking out for 20 people that you are responsible for during school hours than just for you personally. Be careful folks!

TT #11: Show and Tell

I have two apple applications that I find useful in Physical Education and that may be relatively unknown. The two are: Team Shake and Games for Understanding.

Team Shake is used to sort teams. You can set it up for your classes if you want to randomly select teams for a specific activity you may be doing that day.  You input the names, number of teams you want or people on those teams and shake your device. It is that simple! Fun and easy to use plus the classes I used it for liked it a lot as well.

Then there is Games for Understanding. We were told by Lee Carter last year that it is a very useful app. It is simply a collection of games for Phys. Ed that is sorted by grade and type. It is very useful for ideas in the gym.

TT #9: Using Online Video in the Classroom

I am definitely a YouTube fan. Now that Google owns YouTube in what was a multi-billion dollar acquisition it makes it that much better if you use a Google account.  I fully understand why Google would spend this money to acquire YouTube.  Simply because it is an awesome resource, easy to use and arguably the easiest thing to make money off of in the world via advertisements.  Hard to imagine about 20 years without having this site where you can literally search and find almost any video you want to see. It could have happened 50 years ago or yesterday YouTube has so much data and really works as a history resource.  I love it and use it daily. For the most part it is relatively safe and classroom friendly providing you are searching for something appropriate.

The best known YouTube source that I know for Physical Education that is easy and awesome is Phys.Ed Games. If you type phys. ed games you will get to the channel that literally has hundreds of games and exactly how to play them with rules in the short videos. They even separate it in grades if you wish to follow that. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/user/PhysEdGames
Here is an example: Swamp Ball

This video can be used by the instructor to fully understand how a specific game is played. The large collection of games that Phys. Ed game has gives Phys. Ed teachers all over the world a great resource. If you wanted you could use this as your instruction in class for the students if suitable or possibly a substitute so they fully understand how the game is played. This is just Phys. Ed if I wanted to show a video in class for learning, an assignment or as a reward YouTube is always my favourite. I had done a WWII unit with a group of Grade 7's in my practicum and found a great video resource called WWII from Space. It was a 90 minute video that got the students engaged right away because it was a overview of the War in a modern style with different aspects and a view of the geography from Space. The students absolutely loved it and their grade's reflected it as they did a choice project with rave reviews.

The good thing about YouTube is it's popular. Most people use it, it is able to be used in most school divisions although mostly just by the teacher. I could see it being a distraction for students so having the teacher being the only one able to get on may be a good thing. This way you can ensure it is used in an appropriate way...we hope.

There is my opinion on YouTube, very positive.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Rod

TT #8 Podcasts

I myself enjoy listening to podcasts. I have listened to many different podcasts over the past few years and have my genre set on sports talk and comedy. I have some podcasts that I subscribe to that I listen to on the regular.  These being; The Jay and Dan Podcast (sports/comedy), Pardon the Interruption (sports/comedy) and Baseball Central (sports). I try to subscribe to new ones that are high on the featured list to listen to something new. I tend to listen to podcasts that cater to my likes (sports and comedy).  I did a lot of driving with my summer job the last 2 summers so podcasts were my go to on the road. I made sure I had plenty downloaded for my travels. I sometimes will even listen to them when I workout.

The podcast that I tried for this assignment was technology based.  It was rated high on the most downloaded list under that categories in the iTunes podcast vault.  It is called "This week in Google."
The two people involved in this podcast are Leo Laporte and Jeff Jarvis.  I found myself lost at times because they discussed technology very in depth and referred to data and research behind it. It was very business related which I found myself uninterested in.  So I guess I would say I wasn't that interested in it and didn't like it but I will describe what they talked about. They ranted and ranted quite often. The theme of the day seemed to be how people make money off of YouTube. This one specific issue came up where a young musician put her music on YouTube with no real agenda of making money put getting notice. She did and some started using her music in different videos and actually made the big screen. She was happy but felt that YouTube didn't credit her the way she felt it was necessary. The two hosts went back and forth about this for about 30 mins.  They spoke of issues that google has had in the past and will in the future.  Most of this section of the pod was fuzzy to me. They also talked about a Google retreat in Switzerland and how that was. I found this story telling to be far more interesting and found I liked that part.  Overall I won't be subscribing to this podcast but it is well done and the right person certainly would enjoy it.  I'm not sure this specific episode could be used for an assignment in a class.

I would consider using a podcast for an assignment. I would have students listen to a much shorter podcast about 10-30 minutes. Some podcast tend to run quite long like the Google one which ended up being 90 minutes long.  With the podcast you can do a formative type discussion or listen to before and have them answer specific questions. A bigger assignment would be for them to make up their own podcast. I made one last year using audacity with classmates. It was only 12 minutes long so you don't get too bored. Garage band for apple also works well.

Thanks for reading
Rod

TT #6: Your PLN & The Connected Student

To me this is what I like to use and use consistently.  All of these are both websites as well as apps for my iPhone and iPad.  I tend to always have my phone on me and use the apps more than double the time of the websites.  It is just easy and convenient for me.  I like the power that google can give me.  They connect many of their apps together with one username and password which is awesome.

Here is what I think represents the student currently with the use of devices and technology.  I tend to use some of the things and devices these student's use because of closeness in age. I think students are easily adaptable to new technology which is a good thing.  The bad thing is there is that much more to distract them from their studies and being physically active.  I hope the 21st century student will continue to learn and grow with technology but hope they don't forget the basics to which got us to this point.

Using Social Media in the Classroom

How cool is this using Social Media in your own classroom! Well if used correctly and professionally with understanding by students and their parents it can extremely useful. I would like to use some forms of social media in the classroom because it is an easy way of relaying information to teacher to student or parent and vice versa.

There must be an understanding that the classroom social media will be used in a positive manner. Students could take advantage of this is a negative sense if boundaries aren't set via cyber bullying, etc.  The sites I would find useful for a middle to senior years class are: a classroom website, Google community, twitter and blog. These all are good for relaying information, notes and assignments that may be missed, homework, sites that may be useful for that specific course and a project or assignment along with test preparation.  Twitter could be used for a twitter chat as students may ask questions for a test as an example and the teacher can set up a time where they can answer and reply rapidly.  The Google community is a great way to present all sorts of information while keeping it just in your classroom.   YouTube could also be useful as a social medium if they are always posting along with watching. Presentations and projects could be filmed and put on YouTube if the students all agree upon this. Social media in your classroom could get your class the credit they may deserve from the educational world!