Digital Storytelling with Storehouse

I wanted to use Animoto but I did not pay close enough attention to the hyperlinks in the iBook…oh, well. I decided to use Storehouse instead (https://www.storehouse.co/). This app is a news twist on scrapbooking. It allows you to post pictures and videos in the same story arch as well as adding text. The controls were not very intuitive and it took some time to figure it out, but there are some really cool pictures and videos on some of these posts.

The app is not very intuitive to use and could stand some fine tuning or a better user guide ( or one at all).

Like I said, this is a new twist on scrapbooking and is less boring that going through one. Anywho…here is the link to my Storehouse (https://www.storehouse.co/stories/l790r-how-to-sharpen-a-knife).

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July 10

Inspiring Ideas for Teachers, iTunes U courses

Try as I might, I could not open any of these apps. I tried on numerous days and all I see after I “get” the app is a cloud with an arrow and no option to open or view the app. Ok, wait…let me try some thing…ok, there it is…I know have 18 new iBooks (I thought these were apps). Let us go with Skitch Lesson Ideas (http://www.appsinclass.com/skitch.html). This is a fairly straight forward app with the core being that you can take a picture and write on it and insert arrows to make a clearer point (like pointing at the stamen in a flower with a bright arrow) or outline shapes and add a description (the example shows shapes on a fire hydrant with a description of the shape). The most useful feature of this would be to help with foreign language as you can take a picture of someone’s face and list what the areas are in whatever language you are studying, plus it personalizes the lesson.

Did I mention that I feel like a fool for missing where the app downloaded to?

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July 10

Using Apps in the Classroom, iTunes U Courses

Rise of the Frankensuffies: The Industrial Revolution (https://itunes.apple.com/om/course/rise-frankenstuffies-industrial/id958991160) has 65 assignments in the folder and 20 posts. A frankensuffie is a plush toy that consists of multiple parts from other plush toys sewn together, like this . Three titles that I liked were Introduction: Steampunk, Mechanization Revolution and Rise of the Frankenstuffie Project. To find this on my I-Pad you just go to iTunes U and there it is, it is the only thing in there, as of now. This lesson plan was a little confusing for me. It combines the elements of history, social studies, science and fantasy. It is based on a steampunk novel called Leviathan, which has nothing really to do with history or social studies, as it is a fictional era. It also has you “create” a frankenstuffie (described above) with some mechanical components that will make it move. This lesson plan is supposed to teach about the industrial revolution, however I could not figure out where steampunk or frankenstuffies fit into it. It was an interesting project and it would be fun to participate in, I am just not sure how history is being covered with it.

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July 9

Reflection 8: Doug – Off the Record

This review is about Doug – Off the Record, by Doug Peterson (https://dougpete.wordpress.com/about/). Doug has been doing his blog since 2008 and is based out of Ontario, Canada. He has 22 interviews with educators and he has a wicked, slightly twisted sense of humor. He uses a couple of sights that I would normally be leery of such as Delicious and Diigo (they sound like I would get in trouble) and a couple more that I have never heard of (though I have used Skype before). His humor matches mine and I will probably poke around more on his sight in the future. He did not have any pictures other than this one….

Category: Education, Reflections | LEAVE A COMMENT

July 8

One Best Thing

I read Let it Grow: Developing a whole -school 1:1 digital ecosystem and pedagogy to transform teaching and learning by Greg Hughes (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/let-it-grow-developing-1-1/id844578060?mt=11). After reading it through ( four times) I am still a little confused as to what it was saying. I understand that to create an 1:1 digital ecosystem (did not know that something digital could be an “ecosystem” there are three key principles that must be followed.

3 Key Principles

Digital devices should engage all learners and help them to develop greater independence.

Digital devices should enhance and ultimately transform learning.

Digital devices should provide maximum leverage for improvements in students’ attainment and progress, at their own pace.

He also states that there are five pre-requisites that have to be done in order to achieve the end state.

5 Pre-requisites

ICT infrastructure – This includes wireless internet that is fast enough and reliable enough to handle the volume of work, as well as having suitable technical support personnel.

Flipped Lessons – Provide more time for student support by moving basic tasks (note taking, annotation and research) to pre-lessons and home learning.

SAMR Model – Used to transform teaching and learning.

Pedagogy – To truly transform teaching and learning, this must be put at the center of an educator or school’s vision.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) – Using I-Pad Champions, Student Digital Leaders and guest bloggers are ways to engage the staff.

This is where it gets difficult, he states that if you do not have the above pre-requisites completed that you are doomed to fail. I understand the need for infrastructure and continued training, but this assumes that the school has the funds to complete these tasks. If they do not, it seems that it would be a waste of time and effort. Greg gives examples of how some classes scored better by using the flipped method with the 1:1 but I wonder about the extra effort that a teacher is required to do to accomplish this task. Overall, I understand his point and applaud it, but it does not answer some critical questions for me.