Post, the second

In an effort not to lose track of my blogging, I'm going to try to put one in every so often, whether there's a specific assignment or not. Mostly, I want to make sure I'm giving the blog concept a fair evaluation outside of what I have to do as assignments.

Also, the last blog was largely how I won't use these technology examples in class. I'm not generally against technological assistance, just to be clear. My parish issues laptops, so there is a lot of use of those tools. School email, Infinite Campus for grades and student information, PowerPoint for class presentations, Word for reports and worksheets, Excel for data tracking, lots of PDFs, in class smartboard and projector...I could probably think of some more if I took time for it.

On top of that, I make a lot of use of my own Android based tablet. What I have is a Lenovo Yoga Tab 10", which I highly recommend. I bought it for my online courses about three years ago, mostly because buying electronic versions of my textbooks saved more than the cost of the tablet over the paper versions. I'm a big fan of this particular tablet because it has a built in stand, matching bluetooth keyboard which also acts as a screen cover, battery that lasts all day, even with constant use (though it also takes all night to recharge), and the rounded spine is very comfortable to hold for reading. I said more than once, if it handled Flash web content better, I'd never buy a regular computer again.


So, when I started teaching, it came to the classroom with me. When my laptop was being used for presenting class, I could use the tablet to record attendance, look up grades, do quick on the fly information searches, display content for individual students, check email, and even take occasional photos or videos. Then I started adding apps for use in class. Adding a timer was a big step forward. I could say "you have three minutes" set the timer and then set the tablet where it could be seen so everyone would be able to see the time. I use Hybrid Stopwatch and Timer because I can pick colors easily visible across the room and select alarm tones (using the rooster alarm gets attention, and the emergency siren works well too). I probably use that ten to twenty times a day. More if we're doing a lot of quick exercises.


I also have some noise apps. Too Noisy Lite displays the room noise level on a large dial and changes the background when it is too loud.

Sound Meter works similarly, but also logs the noise level on a graph.

I even found a frequency generator app for use in class when we discussed sound and wavelength in science class.

I even installed a large display clock for during tests so students could easily track the time.

The best has been Splashtop. This let me connect my tablet to my laptop and control the laptop using the tablet touchscreen. The laptop has to stay connected to the assorted wires for the smartboard and projector. This lets me walk around holding my tablet and still control the screen, be it websites, power point slides, or whatever else I might need. I'm going to test out a new version that has a virtual whiteboard as well, so I can highlight and draw from the tablet as well.

So, when technology helps, I'm all for using it. I just don't see how the prior tools help me do what I do. Yet.

Here goes nuthin'

As our first exposure to additional technology to use in education I've now seen Delicious, Twitter, and Bitstrips.

Twitter I had some awareness of already, just no interest in. What, exactly, am I supposed to communicate in such short pieces?

 Delicious strikes me as an interesting tool...for someone else. It would make organizing and sharing of linked resources easier and available anywhere with internet. However, not everywhere has internet access. Not everyone has access. This tool might help me share with other educators, but most of my students would not be able to get to the information outside school. Even inside school, I don't have access to computers all the time. Due to school rules, students can't use their phones. Likely, even if students could, I wouldn't, just because of the distractions.

As for bitstrips...no. Just...no. I can see how someone else would use it. Easily created graphics and such, images which are readily shared. If I wanted to do that I could put together the image I want in an actual image program and then just share/email/post it. I realize that not everyone, or even most, would find something like bitstrips to take actually longer, but I do. So, for someone else.

I could overcome my own lack of interest in the tools and make the changes necessary to make them part of my instruction. I've already learned multiple hardware and software tools because that's what I had available (promethian, for example). But in this case, I would be learning it for some future teaching role. The school I am in now, with the students I have now, the necessary technology supports just aren't there to make these a good use of time and effort right now. We could find workarounds, ways past, or alternatives. In the same amount of time and effort I could focus on tailoring my instruction, streamlining lab procedure (or even getting all the stuff I need for really good labs), or any number of things which would give more immediate results. Which doesn't change that I'll do my best with the new resources. For one, the class requires it. However, knowledge and skill is never useless in the long run.

I just don't know what I'll do with it yet.