This week I had time to catch up with Johnny Kissko (@JohnnyEducation) on Skype. Johnny is a math teacher in Lubbock who is passionate about the potential of various technologies integrated effectively into the curriculum. What do we mean by effectively? In his interview, you will discover that he envisions and develops online communities where technology specialists, students, and educators can collaborate. He has developed the K12 Mobile Learning website. However, in this interview we talk about his most recent community, KinectEducation, that gathers developers, students, and teachers to collaborate on integrating the Kinect software into the curriculum. Kinect allows the user to use gestures to control any PC. The MAC software is also available but still developing. This means that students would be able to move while they learn. In most schools, students sit in uncomfortable desks for hours which is not healthy. Therefore, I was super excited to be able to discuss the possibilities of gesture-based learning and game-based learning with Johnny!
Bio
Johnny Kissko is currently a secondary math educator; his background and experience within the IT sector has afforded him the ability to assist school districts, individuals and education-affiliated companies effectively integrate technology into K12 curricula. He was recently selected as 1 of 76 Apple Distinguished Educators and is Google Apps for Education Individually Qualified. In addition to KinectEDucation, Johnny also owns and maintains K12 Mobile Learning, a website devoted to providing mobile learning tools and resources for education stakeholders.
His primary objective with KinectEDucation is to engage and develop learners with free access to Kinect applications along with a community of like-minded educators, developers, and students. Find Johnny on Twitter, @johnnyeducation.
Stay up-to-date on Kinect in education by registering and becoming active in the KinectEDucation community. Additionally, you can follow the Twitter hashtags #glearning and #kinectedu for instant access to discussion related to gesture-based learning in education.
This year I am touring various continents and countries with the message why we need mobile learning devices in schools. Funding isn’t the issue. Governments worldwide choose to invest in technologies in schools. They have done this for decades even equipping schools with the chalkboard and slates at one period. Unfortunately, the technologies they invest in mostly promote the traditional model of learning with the teacher at the head of the class sharing knowledge with students. The most recent technology that once again seems to support this traditional style of education have been IWBs. Currently, you can visit schools in the UK, US, China, the UAE, and other countries where the government has funded IWBs in the classroom.
What else will you see?
Many unplugged IWBs that never get used or those that are used only to promote more teacher talk time as the teacher stands in the front and shares information with students who are silent and sit in desks. My argument is that if governments are going to invest funds in technology then they should invest in mobile learning devices instead and equipped schools with smart phones, iPods, iPads, and so forth. What ignited this post is a conversation I had with the incredible e-learning specialist, Steve Wheeler (@timbuckteeth) over my tweet, “Personally, I feel $$ better spent on mobile devices in classrooms vs IWBs.” Thanks Steve for forcing me to flesh my thoughts out.
Why Mobile Learning in Schools?
In Steve Wheeler’s post, Rock and a Hard Place, he also discusses the issue of funding mobile learning devices in schools and brings up a valid point that if teachers were better trained and had the time they could utilize an IWB to provide more authentic learning. He also encouraged me to share my tweeted thoughts in a blog post.
Here are the main reasons why I support mobile learning in schools. You will notice you can’t make these arguments about IWBs and other technologies:
Less training involved
The majority of the populations worldwide have experience using mobile devices. Educators, students, parents, and other stakeholders carry mobile phones in their pockets. Most use them daily. Many are familiar with their basic features and more. Several know how to take pictures, videos, send text messages, access the Internet, and post online. In many developing countries, mobile devices are the way they access the Internet. With such experience, less training is involved by everyone. The leap isn’t that huge. We also already know problems associated with integrating these devices. This is the reason many schools ban them. If we know so much about them, then why not think of solutions and lift bans? Why not invest in technology that requires less training.
Let me tell you a secret, the majority of governments won’t pay for professional development when investing in technologies for schools. This has been the case for years. I’m not saying they shouldn’t but if this is the situation we work with then why wouldn’t we choose a technology to integrate that takes less of a leap. I don’t imagine that mobile devices wouldn’t be used like IWBs.
Have more features that promote autonomy
I would argue that there would be less traditional teaching supported as well. Mobile devices are in the hands of the learner and teachers are forced to relinquish control to the learners. Learners know how to use them better than teachers and I bet a majority of teachers would be willing for their students to teach them how to use the mobile device. Something powerful happens when a technology is placed in the hands of learners. Mobile devices support this type of autonomy while IWBs and other technologies are too huge and stationary to do this. Many mobile devices are also equipped with cameras, video cameras, audio recorders, and even advanced apps. Basic cellphones come with various communication tools including the ability to take pictures and send text messages. These various communication tools promote autonomy as learners are able to collect visual, audio, text, and video records of their surroundings and environment. We can’t argue this about other technologies, especially IWBs.
One of the cheapest technologies to invest in
I have used my iPhone to support learning with my 4 to 80 year-old students in Germany. I was teaching English to various age groups and was fortunate my institute didn’t ban cellphones. I am not provided funding, though, for technology. Instead, I usually supply the technology. For this reason, I began using cellphones for learning.
How do we begin?
Have an edtech workshop for parents and demonstrate what technologies you will use and ask them for their support. I provide snacks they wouldn’t usually get in Germany like my 7 layer dip as an incentive to show up. Then, ask parents if they would be willing to allow their children to bring in their mobile devices for a show and tell day. Basically, the child would show what their cellphone can do. This allows teachers to see what technology is available to nearly every learner in their classes and for parents to feel more comfortable with the students using the devices for learning. In many cases, I have found parents are comforted by their students using the cellphone for learning because a majority of the parents I deal with feel that cellphones damage their children’s intelligence. They let their children have them, though, because cellphones are considered staples in the majority of societies worldwide. I discovered this when working with refugees in Athens. All but one in the class had a cellphone.
When you host your first successful show and tell day of cellphones, how much did this room full of technology cost your school?
It cost nothing!
You can’t say that about the majority of technology that exists today. If this is the case, then why are we still fighting cellphone bans?
They promote health and learning
Children worldwide attend schools 180 to 200 days a year. They spend 6 to 8 hours a day in schools where they are forced to sit in uncomfortable desks for long stretches of time, carry huge backpacks, and stay silent. Sounds like torture to me! With mobile devices students are encouraged to move around. They can go outside, move around the classroom, use them in class field trips, use them in their homes, and even get to use them on their travels home. I believe if schools equipped with mobile devices or even allowed educators to use them for learning then we would see more movement in the classroom. This is the nature of the technology. IWBs and other technologies are still stationary and need other software and training to promote movement. Moreover, children can carry their textbooks, homework, and so forth all in their mobile devices. This eliminates the carrying of heavy books. Did I mention this is more environmentally friendly as well. I know we are a long way from this becoming the norm but if we begin investing in mobile device filled classrooms now this is the potential to be the norm. No matter how much we invest in other technologies this does not have the same potential.
Promote the notion learning takes place everywhere
In schools, students collect evidence and research. They brainstorm and search. These are daily requirements. With mobile devices, students are able to collect this evidence through interaction with their environments. On the way home they can interview friends with the audio features, take pictures of their environment, type notes, or create videos. They can search online and save these searches with free apps like Evernote. They can brainstorm with free mindmapping apps. They can even record their thoughts audibly. The students choose which tool to learn with and what in their surroundings becomes part of their research. The students make the choices and interact with their environment. What better way to demonstrate hands-on that learning actually does take place everywhere?
My intention is not to argue mobile devices versus IWBs. My intention is to get those in charge of funding technology in schools to see the possibilities of equipping our schools with mobile devices and get educators, parents, administrators, businesses, and students to support these measures. At the very least, get schools to lift bans on the use of mobile devices. Mobile learning has the potential to be a real game changer in education.
Here are my questions to you if you care to share in the comments section:
So why won’t bans on mobile devices at schools be lifted?
Why won’t governments invest in mobile devices in classrooms?
What is the best mobile device for schools? Well, that’s still up to you to decide.
Yesterday, I aged another year! Yes, it was my birthday and what made it really special was my personal learning network (PLN)!
Some people may think that choosing to spend time online for a birthday is insane, weird, antisocial, or geeky. They rather disconnect and that’s okay because every person should be allowed to spend a birthday the way they wish. For me, I have enjoyed exploring the ways to celebrate digitally. I moved to Germany 4 years ago and during that time I have been away from family and friends. However, digital technology continues to amaze me in the way it affords me to spend time developing close friendships and relationships and keep in contact with my friends and students across the globe.
Second Life
This is my second year spending my birthday with my online community. Last year I had a great celebration with close friends on Second Life, all who I met face to face later in the year at conferences. We went to a poetry reading that day, exchanged virtual gifts, danced, and enjoyed a Pearl Jam live concert on Second Life. In the past year, I attend edone of their weddings in Istanbul, met another’s newborn baby at a conference in the UK, and spent the summer in Greece with another one. The first time I met each of them face to face felt like I knew them for years because we had spent time together chatting and getting to know about each other.
Ways to Celebrate Digitally
Through technology we can show are appreciation in so many ways. We can send e-cards, share videos, exchange photos, leave a message on social networks, and so much more. This year my PLN created a birthday Wallwisher for me which was incredible. With Wallwisher, friends can leave a 160 character message accompanied by a video, image, or audio. Thanks to everyone who left a birthday message on the Wallwisher, Facebook, or Twitter!
Dedicate a song to them on Twitter or Facebook through Blip FM or on many online radio stations!
Make them a birthday Wordle or use another word cloud tool! Thanks to Marisa Constantinides who made me a very cool one that was in the shape of my profile!
Find another very creative way to show your appreciation or celebrate with your friends digitally!
Challenge:
Celebrate with someone digitally using one of these tools!
Collaboration is the real step to education transformation. When we gather to produce, our ideas, talents, and skills embody our final outcome. Each person who participates has the ability to add full attention to the designated task versus one person spread thin over several tasks. Collaboration is also important for students who will have to work with others in some capacity to be able to problem solve or brainstorm.
Why Teaching Online Collaboration is Important
While completing my Masters online, I discovered that many people lacked collaboration skills. I observed 20+ global teams in which members fought or offended each other by their lack of communication and team building skills. These skills include having the ability to compromise, lead, meet deadlines, deal with disagreement, and communicate in an effective manner. When we collaborate online many forget that online communication is very different than person to person communication. Sometimes an online message can be misread or come across quite differently than the message we originally tried to communicate.
Why is Online Collaboration Different than Face to Face Collaboration?
Online collaboration is very different than in person collaboration mainly because we don’t have nonverbal cues to support our messages. Many researchers believe that nonverbal communication is as high as 60% to 93% of all communication. This means that a majority of our online messages could be misinterpreted, yet many of us do not communicate with this in mind. When we accidentally offend others we shut down the lines of communication, which jeopardizes the final outcome or our efforts. In our digital world, online collaboration will become increasingly important, yet schools rarely teach students to collaborate online. We can change that by ensuring our students participate in at least one online collaborative project this year. I would love to see the day when schools teach all learners to collaborate effectively with their peers worldwide. We would be able to solve issues like the environment, the economy, and possibly prevent wars. Wow! That’s pretty powerful potential!
Top Collaboration Sites
These are my favorites free tools to get your students and you collaborating! Included is a brief description and helpful links to facilitate using these tools more effectively.
Wiggio- Developed by college students this free site has everything from meeting planning, your own whiteboard, updates, group mailing, a calendar, video conferencing room, group text messages, and much more! I love this website. Read more about it in the ILearnTechnology blog.
Enter the Group- create project pages and online classrooms for free. Includes features like to-do lists, tasks widget, chat, message boards, group email, file sharing, an online calendar, checklists, blogs, polls, and more!
Juntos- communicate in real time through audio, video, and chat. Supports a multivideo chat and scheduling option.
iBrainstorm App for iPad and iPhone- Allows up to 4 to collaborate on a brainstorming diagram or group thinking process that can be emailed. Has drawing and writing tools.
Scribblar-Real-time multi-user whiteboard, image upload/ download, text chat with userlist, live audio
Google Tools for Educators- One of my favorite ways to collaborate! Collaborate in real time to create slideshows, drawings, documents, and more that are on the web and can easily be embedded and organized in folders.
Zoho- Collaborate on PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, word documents, and more. Similar to Google Apps, but shows a condensed view of all recent project activity and includes group chat rooms, forums, wikis, and a tabbed interface.
CrocDocs- Collaboratively highlight and comment on PDFs, Word documents, images, and more!
Prezi-the alternative to PowerPoint. Create non-linear presentations with images, text, video, and cool transitions. Now with the ability for students to collaborate on one Prezi together in real-time.
Prezi as a Presentation Tool wiki- Lists several tips, resources, and examples. You will also find useful information in integrating Twitter and other tools with Prezi.
Twiddla- real time collaboration on documents, websites, and images. Includes writing and drawing tools and audio to talk in real time. No registration needed.
Skrbl- Multi user whiteboard that can be embedded. Sketch, text, share files, upload pictures all in one common shared space. No registration required.
Groupboard- Free online whiteboard and chat that can be easily embedded into your website. Also is an iPhone, iPad and Android app.
Titan Pad- real time collaboration on document that assigns everyone their own color. Includes formatting options like MS Word. No registration needed.
Meeting Words- nearly the exact same service as Titan Pad.
Type With Me- Like Titan pad with the ability to save as a PDF, website, bookmark, pdf, and more.
Writeboard- real time collaboration on document that tracks changes from each person, no registration needed.
Online Sticky Boards
Most of these services allow you more options if you sign-up for free. You can also make your walls of post-its private in all these services.
Wallwisher- Put messages up to 160 characters on an online board. Looks like post-its but these can include videos, links, images, and audio. This online board is embeddable which is its best feature. Additionally, you can choose from a variety of backgrounds and pictures from Wallwisher’s library! You don’t have to be registered to post. I love Wallwisher and am registered since I have around 30 walls. The problem is that this service is unreliable and often down so here are other options below.
Pindax- Post text, images, and files, also the ability to embed and search your posts! Not as nice looking as Wallwisher but a good alternative.
Linoit- Include links, images, video, and audio as well as change the size and color of your fonts. Has various background options and other attractive options. It’s embeddable as well.
Stixy- Add tasks, appointments, files, photos, notes, and bookmarks to boards. More options than Wallwisher but doesn’t have an embedding option.
Listhings- It’s a corkboard template, but has the ability to change the color of notes and create several note pages! I haven’t found the embed option. Read more about Listhings here.
Spaaze- Described as a virtual corkboard, add images, video, and more. No embedding option but does allow you to search content.
EditStorm- Brainstorming board that allows collaborators to post ideas on different colored notes. Has an idea bot idea bots that look up related concepts, synonyms and even words that rhyme with any term that has been used. You can also poll ideas but you can’t add video, audio, or images. Some html is supported. There’s also templates to choose from and an iPad/iPhone app. Not embeddable.
Posted by Shelly Terrell on Wednesday, October 27th 2010
Professional development is important for educators. I love the sharing spirit of our Passionate/ Personal Learning Network (PLN) who continuously provides free presentations and resources online through webinars, blogs, wikis, and podcasts. The fantastic part is that many of these resources are free and can be enjoyed by educators worldwide in the comfort of their home, while at school, or while traveling on the subway on the way to work.
Thanks to the American TESOL Institute, I will be conducting 6 free 30 minute online workshops on the Adobe Connect platform every Friday at 4pm EST (New York Time), 9pm London Time, 8pm GMT:
Digital Storytelling with Young Learners, Oct. 22nd
Enriching the Young Learner Classroom with Drama Tasks, Nov. 17th
Using Graphic Organizers to Enrich Discussion, Nov. 26th
Check your time zone here! This is the Adobe Room to join at 4pm EST http://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell/. I will be updating this page with the wiki and blog resources I prepare for each presentation so bookmark and visit this website every Saturday for the latest updates.
Challenge
Attend one of the free workshops or use one of the resources shared in the wiki or in the blog posts!
