Investigate, Communicate, Create: Using an iPad as a productive tool in the classroom. Presenter: Dr Jenny Lane
We are offering a free professional learning event for teachers at Edith Cowan University Mount Lawley Campus on the 30 May 2013. I will be sharing some of the exciting things I learnt at the recent Apple Distinguished Educators Summer Institute.
Come and join us as we learn and share experiences about using iPads in schools. To book for the session:
This blog is part of the professional learning for research that I am doing with teachers in schools. It is important that we do applied research on our practices. When doing research involving students it is very important that ethical processes and procedures are followed.There are different processes and guidelines that need to be followed in different countries and educational systems. I suggest that before you start on a research project, take time to find out about the ethics processes and the permissions you have to have to proceed in your educational system. If you are not sure contact the department of education, a university or a local research institute who will guide you through the correct procedures.
The research that I do goes through rigorous procedures to ensure it meets the ethical guidelines for research, these mandated for research projects involving human participants in Australia. Before any data is gathered the research project has been reviewed and approved by the University Ethics Committee. My research has also met the requirements for research in the schooling systems in Western Australia, namely the department of Education and Catholic Education. It has also received the approval of the school managers and prinicipals of the schools involved. Here is a short 3 minute video which gives explains the TIPS research project phase 1.
I am now working on the TIPS research project phase 2 involving advanced professional learning for teachers.
When selecting apps my rule is “less is more”…In my experience it is better to have a few carefully selected apps that you can use in multiple ways than an app for every topic.
For many teachers at the start of a semester or the beginning of a new school year you will be deciding which apps you will be using in your teaching. Selecting the right apps can be a challenge when there are so many applications on the app store. Always keep your educational objective clearly in focus, it is easy to be seduced by bright colours and cute animations. Think carefully about what the student will do… will this app allow the students to create, engage in higher order thinking and connect in new ways? There is some value in apps that allow students to consolidate their skills in an engaging manner. Apps that support the teaching and can be used across the curriculum are good value per use as opposed to apps that will be used once or twice in a specific area.
A colleague Jan Clarke from AISWA has shared an extensive list of apps that she has complied. Classroom apps Thanks for sharing all your hard work Jan. I look forward to hearing from you about the apps you find most useful in your teaching.
The simulation surfboard with wheels
I have been exploring different ways of making learning more mobiIe. We want to take learning to exciting authentic places in the real world. The gopro video cameras capture high resultion video footage of high speed activities. I recently presented at the fabulous Createworld Conference in Brisbane. At this conference the focus is on sharing how you are using technology to stimulate creativity. A interesting use of mobile technologies was an inspirational performance by Beau entitled “Sliver surfer”. Beau set up a simulation with a silver tarp and a surfboard on wheels. The surfboard was fitted with a “Gopro”
and a small projector connected to an iPhone. On the iPhone were video Images of waves which were projected on to a silver tarp. The tarp was used to form the tube of a wave. The “surfer” then surfed through the tube on the surf board with wheels.
The Gopro captured the experience of the surfing simulation. The video could be uploaded to an iPad for on the spot editing in iMovie and shared on Vimeo. This raises the possibility of capturing high quality video of simulation and authentic experiences an exciting combination of science, technology and visual arts.
What are the drivers of transformative teaching?
The research I have been doing in this project has brought some very clear messages from teachers
1.Teachers want to know how they can use the exciting new mobile technologies in their teaching. They also want to know how they can use the existing technologies in more interactive, engaging ways.
2. Teachers want support from school leadership and educational organisations in a number of areas to make changes in teaching: resourcing, training, infra-structure
3.Teachers want support to learn the new skills to transform classroom practice:
To teach in new ways integrating ICT, teachers need help to acquire a range of skills to create resources, plan interactive learning experiences, distribute work and assess learning using digital tools.
Free twilight seminar and workshops for teachers:
Drivers of Transformative teaching.
In this upcoming twilight seminar I will give an overview of the findings from the Tpack iPad Project in Schools on what teachers report they need to integrate information and communications technology (ICT) in their teaching.
We will look at some of the tools available for teachers to create digital learning resources that can be accessed on a range of mobile devices including iPads. We will highlight at practical examples of how Adobe software can be used across the curriculum to promote student learning. This will provide an overview of what is possible including creating multimedia portfolios, multimodal texts, e-pubs, digital storytelling, movie making and simple photo editing. Examples and context will be linked to the Australian National Curriculum.
An introductory PD will be held on 29 November 2012 at ECU’s Mount Lawley campus and is available to teachers. If you would like to attend, please register here.
We would love to hear about how you are using the Adobe products in your teaching come along to share your experiences with us in a short 3-5min session. Use the link above to register.
More detailed hands on workshops will be provided on 30 November, at Mount Lawley campus where teachers will be asked to bring their own laptops to be guided through a series of training sessions in using Adobe software for teachers and how to include the use of multi media tools by students for learning and assessment. Two workshops will be conducted Workshop 1 starting at 9am-12pm and Workshop 2 from 1pm until 3pm. Please register your interest for these sessions here
Dr Jenny Lane receives a National Award for Learning and Teaching
I felt very honoured to be awarded a national award from the Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching for my work and research on the use of ICT in education. The citation:
“For sustained contribution to promoting the use of learning technologies to enhance student learning through research and personal practice.”
Celebrating the awards with Frank Lane,Dr. Jenny Lane, Professor Mark Hackling who received an award for his contribution to Science Education and Research, Kathleen Hackling and Professor Lynne Cohen, Dean of the Faculty of Education and the Arts Edith Cowan University.
One of the most frequently asked questions that I receive is “how do I get started using iPads in my classroom?”.
The next question I get asked is “I know the basics but what is the next step? How do I integrate this technology into my teaching to make a difference in learning outcomes?”<
In response to these questions I have prepared two preconference workshops that I will be offering at the ACEC conference in Perth on the 2 October. The morning workshop “Getting started with iPads” gives an overview of how to set up and begin using iPads effectively in classrooms.
In the afternoon workshop we will look at ways of “Integrating iPads into the curriculum”. We will discuss and create resources that teachers can use in their teaching. The designing of workflows to import and export materials from mobile devices will be one of the topics we will explore.
These workshops are also open to those who cannot attend the full conference. You can book on the conference website.
Thanks to all who attended the workshops we had two amazing groups of enthusiastic educators. Many thanks to the fabulous teachers Louise, Kym and Anna and Jamie and the crew from Winthrop who helped me facilitate the groups as the enrolments to these workshops kept increasing.
The spirit of sharing and collaboration made these workshops a very worthwhile learning experience for all. I am sharing the workshop resources through an edmodo site. To access the resources set up a personal edmodo account. This is free. Search for the group titled Jenny lane and join it. The code for the group is mom1q0. ( last letter is the digit 0). Please contribute by adding your comments thoughts and ideas.
Jenny
One of the ways to create interactive online experiences is to use a learning management system (LMS). This is much easier than you think and is a great way to use mobile learning devices in daily classroom practice. These systems now incorporate social networking so students can create and share their learning as part of professional learning networks. There are a range of these, today I am discussing two free LMS systems designed for classroom use. Edmodo and Schoology. I am seeing excellent use of these systems in classrooms. Teachers can post tasks and assessments online in the password protected space they have created for their students. They can give parents access to sections of the site so parents can view the work. Students can access this work anywhere, anytime on a web enabled device. There are apps for Android and IOS devices like iphones and iPads. Students can post their responses to their teacher and work collaboratively with their peers. The facility to set up groups is very useful. The student work is all safely stored online, no need for complex server configurations.
Schoology
This video link guides you through how to set up a site in Schoology. Schoology has advanced features to set up test and assessments with self marking features.
This post gives more details on how to use Edmodo in education
This post on edmodo gives lots of links to schools and blog sites with practical examples of edmodo in action
This video shows how a 5th grade student uses Edmodo
Please post a comment and share how you are using these tools in your teaching and learning
Edmodo touch app also available for android devices
Today I am working with a group of students from the Pilbara region in Australia. These year eleven and twelve students are visiting EDith Cowan University to explore their opportunities for future study at University. In our session we will be looking at how to make learning fun by using technology. We will be creating multi-modal ways to express learning using film, screencasts and blogs.
I am exploring the use of mobile technologies with school leavers and prospective new students at the Edith Cowan University open day today. The weather is not perfect but we have are having fun exploring different ways of expressing learning using multi-modal strategies.
We areusing mobile devices to create learning resources.
A learning challenge “Taste my world”
The yr 1 students at Rossmoyne Primary are very busy working on their learning challenge “Taste my world.” This class has students from thirteen different cultural backgrounds and they are exploring tastes and flavours from around the world. I am looking forward to working with them and their teachers next week. Watch this space for exciting updates.
I enjoyed presenting a plenary session at The Christian Schools Assocation National Leadership Conference. It is a great pleasure to work with such a committed group of educational leaders as they plan how to move schools forward to embrace mobile learning and the educational possibilities it offers in schools. I am happy to be part of this exciting learning journey with CSA.
Here is an outline of today`s plenary session.
M-learning: Education beyond the walls of the classroom.
Mobile devices are changing our lives, but how can they best be used in classrooms?
Dr Jenny Lane is a research fellow at Edith Cowan University, currently researching “m-learning” – the use of mobile technologies to open up a field of learning beyond the classroom wall. Her research shows that teachers need to be trained to bring together technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (the TPACK framework) for a tool like the iPad to be effective. Many teachers are following the TIPS Research Project Blog in which Dr. Lane guides school leaders and teachers as they use mobile devices in schools.
This session will provide both theoretical and practical insights.
“We explored a range of research based approaches to support schools and teachers as they include M-learning strategies and take the learning beyond the walls of the classroom.”
“To make this an effective learning strategy, this needs to be is a long-term process that requires visionary leadership and strategic planning involving the whole school and the community.”Dr. Jenny Lane
I am enjoying my visit to a new school in Perth.This school has embraced the use of technology to transform teaching and learning from day one. The design of the school encourages collaborative learning with glass walled classrooms and communal learning spaces. The timetable has been designed to allow space and time for students to engage in deep learning. Students have longer blocks of time to work on cross curricular projects exploring “Big Ideas” using an inquiry based approach.
Mobile touch tablets are used as the base technology. This was introduced to the community through information sessions with parents and students. This school has recommended that schools work with parents to set up individual iTunes accounts managed by the parents. Students agree to a digital use policy.
Posters and e-pubs were used to distribute information on policy and use within the school. The school created resources to guide parents, and these resources contain everything parents need to know about using the device at school and at home.
The school gave instructions on how students need to set up the device to promote learning. Specific instructions were given to students on how to set their up the pages on each screen and a number of essential apps were recommended. These were arranged in folders according to learning areas and function.
Digital learning spaces have been created using Edmodo, a free online learning space which presents in format like Facebook, but is specifically designed for teaching and learning. This is safe and is password protected. The teacher has control over what is posted. All students in the class can share resources and post their work.
Students use the devices to create visual collections to display their learning in a visual way. Skype and FaceTime are used to link the class to community experts and to students in other classes. This way of learning uses technology to transform traditional learning experiences, extending the learning beyond the four walls of the classroom.
I welcome the teacher education students, academics and teachers in Israel who will be using the blog in their ICT Project. We had a fascinating online session discussing our future research plans tonight. I look forward to seeing your comments and responses on the blog postings.
Please send me your stories and experiences and we can share them with our professional learning community of educators around the world. Thank you for inviting me to present at your conference.
I look forward to sharing my research with you all at the conference next year.
Dr. Jenny Lane
Miss D and her class the Superstars have been taking a journey back in time this term to celebrate the 75th anniversary of their school.
“The students worked in small groups using the Puppet Pals app on the iPads kindly lent to us by Dr Jenny Lane from Edith Cowan University. Our class has been lucky enough to take part in the TPACK Project, which is researching the integration of iPads into classrooms to help teachers successfully integrate this technology in the future.
Our class has loved using the iPads, and the following movies made with the Puppet Pals app show how our class has been reflecting on their learning in History this term and having lots of fun at the same time.”
Tamara Doig
Select this link to see more fabulous videos made by Miss D’S Class
