The K12 Geek

Shutting down the geek…

k12dave — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 16:22:03 +0000

My inattention to this site for a few months shows that it may just be time to put the K12Geek to bed for now. I’ll keep things posted here for a while, but new ideas are churning and energies need to be redirected at this point.

Thanks for reading over the years…

-Dave

NYT Response Visualization Tool

k12dave — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:44:31 +0000

Ok, I need to know what tool was used for this and if our teachers are able to utilize it:

http://goo.gl/ZG1Zy

This could be a powerful learning tool – any help would be appreciated.

Thanks to Barb Rule for sharing with me.

Short, bite-sized, mobile learning is the future

k12dave — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:49:37 +0000

If you haven’t yet seen Khan Academy, you need to visit the site. What an incredible set of resources, coupled with exercises for our students – or anybody for that matter. The premise is that anyone can call up for FREE, short, bite-sized videos to learn something — anything — from their catalog.

Some K12 teachers are actually ‘flipping‘ their learning. Instead of lecturing to their students during the day and giving problems for homework, they are having students watch the Khan Academy videos for homework, then having students practice in class, with the teacher there for support. Students can watch and reply those parts they don’t understand, then get real support from their real teacher at school. It’s a no-brainer!

After attending the Learning Solutions Conference last week, I’m even more convinced this is how our students will be doing much more of their learning now and in the future.

Just a quick, practical example of learning-turned mobile: Hairdressing Training

This is just one example of how we’ll all be learning in small, bite-sized, mobile chunks. It’s already happening in industry. I attended a few case studies at the conference, one of which was from a physical therapy group rolling out iPod Touches to their caregivers in order to track patient therapy electronically. They gave the staff the actual iPods they would be using with these types of tutorials and also some simulations of what they needed to learn to use them. The staff was expected to go through the trainings and simulations for a month, then the new electronic therapy tracking system would go live the next month. Through the simulation software, they track the roll out on how people are doing and see if some need extra help before they went live with the system.

Feedback from the caregivers was incredibly positive. They could work at their own pace, in small, bite-sized chunks when they had a break, over lunch, or those short ‘down-times’ they had during the day.

Khan Academy gets it. Many of our students are quick to utilize video for learning. They can play it back without having to ‘ask to have that part explained again.’ They can take it anywhere and learn any time – at their convenience.

It’s not a question of us getting on board with this type of learning – it’s a question of when we’ll get on board.

Exciting stuff!

ePUB for Education

k12dave — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:30:36 +0000

My eyes have been opened to the idea of producing ePUB documents for education. I didn’t realize how easy it was to do on the Macintosh with Pages, the iWork word processing application. I put together an ePUB ebook inside of about 30 minutes mixing text, audio clips, video, and web links using Pages. Now, it wasn’t pretty, but the ease with which I could produce something with all those elements really made me start thinking: why not have our students and teachers start producing such work? Talk about a collaborative, real-world, project-based assignment that would cover several learning styles!

So, now I have to try to find an equivalent piece of software for the Windows side of things. Sure, Adobe InDesign will work well, but it’s a bit pricey, especially in this time of budget cuts and spending freezes. I started thinking, well, if Pages will do it on a Mac, why not Word for Windows? I tried searching on Microsoft’s site and look what I found:

Can you believe it?! NOTHING!

So, instead I’m off to Google to see what I can find. If you have experience or suggestions for inexpensive ePUB software for creating and laying out ePUBs on Windows, please comment. I’ve started looking at eCub, but other than that, I’d like to have something simple. I realize you can use Word, then save to HTML and/or PDF, then convert, etc. but we need to make this EASY or no one will want to do it.

I started putting together an ePUB wiki on the subject as well, just as a one-stop-shop.

Thanks for any suggestions / comments you may have on the subject. I think ePUB can be a powerful tool for learning in the classroom, if used correctly.

Podcast research update…

k12dave — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:58:35 +0000

Thanks to all that helped out with the survey for the research project – it is appreciated.

Right now I’m working with the data and on the paper. I hope to be able to share sometime in January / February of 2011. For updates on the project please go to:

http://davidsolon.wikispaces.com

Like Podcasts? Help me with my research!

k12dave — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:13:23 +0000

I admit it – I’m a podcast junkie. That said, if you listen to or watch podcasts, would you please help me with my research? Just 10 quick questions!

The anonymous podcast research survey can be found HERE. It will only take about 5 minutes and will help me with my Electronic Media Research grad class at Kutztown University. I need your input by November 26th, but would much rather have them within the next week.

Please don’t put it off – just click THIS LINK and do it now, if you would.

When all is said and done, I’ll share my findings and data at davidsolon.wikispaces.com

Thanks so much for helping with this study – in the long run I hope it will further our understanding of podcasts and how I guide educators when they start to create their own podcasts. Really, it’s just 10 quick questions!

Homeless, but not without technology…

k12dave — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:09:56 +0000

So many times I’ve heard people say: “Look at that homeless guy – no house, but he’s got an iPhone! Sheesh!” They seem disgusted that someone might not be able to afford a place to live, but god forbid they still have some sort of communication device! How is that person to get a job without some sort of communication? Should they simply be relegated to going to the public library to use a computer – that is, if their library is still open, since many folks seem to think public library funding isn’t important any more. That’s another story.

In these days of high technology and mass communication, is it really that far-fetched that a homeless person would have a phone or computer of some sort? I don’t think so. This post was prompted by the following Gizmodo story. So what do you think?

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/10/im-homeless-and-this-is-why-i-have-an-ipad/

Twitter is a river…

k12dave — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:03:21 +0000

Great quote I had to share:

“…think of Twitter as a river, always moving, when you have time to sit on the bank, watch the current, dip your feet in, enjoy it. Other days, you may not have the time, that’s fine too, things that are worthwhile always seem to come back to the top. Everyone has their own way of using Twitter, allow yourself the time to know what way works for you.” Robin Ellis

Many uses for blogs

k12dave — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:09:22 +0000

Many folks use blogs for personal reflection, collaboration, entertainment, sharing of topics, hobbies, etc.

One of our districts is actually using the popular blogging platform WordPress for their entire district website, as well as their online high school newspaper. Way to go Penn Manor!

Just goes to show you that a single tool can be used effectively for multiple purposes.

Oh, and WordPress is FREE.

IU 13 PLP Kickoff!

k12dave — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 14:55:44 +0000

I’m getting excited for the IU 13 PLP Kickoff tomorrow! Getting the chance to introduce educators to new tools for learning is one of the best jobs a person can have.

I want my teams to know that I’m still (and always will be!) a ‘learner-in-progress.’ It sounds silly, but no one can know everything there is to know about educational technologies, and it can be a big job keeping up with things. Just know that from the top down of our community, we are ALL learners and will benefit from each other’s unique life experiences.

I look forward to the year ahead!