Flipped Classrooms

Flipped classrooms are the new classroom models of the 21st century. What is a flipped classroom? A flipped classroom is a team effort between the teacher and the student. In a flipped classroom a student will have the chance to work collaboratively through problems with the guidance of their teachers and peers during school hours. There are no more lectures in class only activities to see what the student learned the night before. Lectures can be listened to at home this way students can take their time learning. If students can learn at their own pace they are guaranteed to remember more of the material they learn. They have the chance to rewind the lecture and listen to it as many times as they need in order to understand it. Then in the classroom they can ask as many questions to become proficient in that topic. 

To learn more about flipped classrooms visit this website: http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/

MeeGenius!

My previous post was about how young children are using iPads more and more each day. This is the first step in being proactive! MeeGenius is a free app that teachers and parents can download on their iPad or iPhone. It comes with 6 starter books: The Field Mouse and the Town Mouse, Rapunzel, The Ant and the Grasshopper, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,  Pinocchio, and Jack and the Beanstalk. When you click on the book, it has the option to either read it yourself, or it has an audio children can listen to while the words are highlighted! 

If a child is in the waiting room at a doctors office, jump start this app, plug in your headphones and let the magic begin! Your child will be occupied and educated at the same time.

You can also buy more books in the bookstore. The priciest book is about $5.00 and the lowest price is .99, but you can read them as many times as you'd like. Remember when you had your favorite book and that was the only thing you wanted to read. With this app your favorite children's book will be available any time, day or night. 

There is also a Bookclub option! When you invite other friends who have this app to your book club, you can share the book that you enjoy, and they can share their most favored books as well. 

One other wonderful aspect of this app is the "Author Challenge."This part of the app is for regular people who want to be authors! They have the opportunity to send in their book and ultimately have it published :) 

Try MeeGenius today! You won't be disappointed!

Diapers and iPads

I cannot say it enough, technology is all around us 24/7. I don't know about you, but when I go out anywhere, wether it's a restaurant, the doctors office, the gym, and just about everywhere you can think of, small children are on their parents iPhone/iPad playing games and using the Internet to keep themselves occupied.

Unfortunately, we cannot get away from technology and you can't always change parenting. Since we cannot get away from technology, lets be proactive and use apps that will educate our young children. iPad apps when used appropriately can increase a persons intelligence and keep them updated with current events. If you have a MAC computer, you can actually download apps and test them out before you download them on your iPad or iPhone. I found this incredibly useful! 

How young is too young to be using an iPad?

Glogster EDU

Glogster is one of the coolest Web 2.0 tools a teacher can use in the classroom. It is basically a presentation in virtual form! It is not just a regular boring Power Point and it's everything but boring. Glogster allows students to insert a Power Point, You tube videos, any other videos, pictures, recordings, post it notes, cartoons, and many more. In this case, technology and Web 2.0 is quite nifty. Teachers, instead of assigning the same poster board presentation for a research project, give Glogster a chance. Your students will have their Glogster account forever and they can watch their creative minds grow! Glogster is much better than buying a poster board that gets thrown away right after you are graded. The best part about this tool is that it is Elementary student friendly!

When you first sign up for Glogster you will see this screen:

When teachers sign up for the teacher account they can also keep track of their students's projects as well as their own. Glogster even has this thing called the Glogpedia Library where teachers and students can go into to get some ideas on how to set up their own Glogster. This website even has tutorials on the bottom of the page to direct you in the right direction. If you click on the link below, you will experience your first Glogster! Forget blogging get Glogging, sign up today!

http://jjennings13.edu.glogster.com/conflict-within-when-the-going-gets-tough-the-tough-get-going/?=glogpedia-source

Research Update: Survey Stats

Before I begin, I'd like you to take a second and think about the quote below and what it means to you. Do you agree with this statement? 

On Wednesday, June 12th, 2013 I was asked to find the mean and mode for numbers 9-23 of the survey. So far 19 teachers have completed the survey! Below you can find my new stats:

Question 9
How would you rate your overall enthusiasm for using educational technology?   
Median: Somewhat High
Mode: 8 Somewhat High and 8 Very High

Question 10
How would you rate your overall comfort in using educational technology?   
Median: Proficient
Mode: 7 Proficient and 7 Advanced

Question 11
How would you rate your overall mastery and skill in using educational technology?   
Median: Proficient 
Mode: 8 Advanced

Question 12
Of the time you spend teaching in the classroom, approximately what percentage is spent using educational technology. [answer between 1 and 100 %]
Median: 60%
Mode: 5--> 60%

Question 13
Do you have any formal education in the area of computer science, IT, or educational technology? (if yes please describe it in the box below, if no write no)  
Median: No 
Mode: 10 No

Question 14
Rate the encouragement and support that your school administration gives for technology integration in classroom teaching:
Median: Support
Mode: 13 Support

Question 15
Does your school have a long-term technology development plan in place? 
Median: No
Mode: 10 No

Question 16
At my school, teachers and staff members are willing to embrace the use of new technologies. 
Median: Agree
Mode: 14 Agree

Question 17
My school has an effective IT helpdesk (technology support center or staff) 
Median: Agree
Mode: 13 Agree

Question 18
I believe most technology would do little to improve my ability to teach
Median: Disagree
Mode: 9 Strongly Disagree

Question 19
I feel Technology is unreliable
Median: Disagree
Mode: 9 Disagree

Question 20
Technology has changed the way that I teach 
Median: Agree
Mode: 14 Agree

Question 21
I think I am a better teacher with educational technology
Median: Agree
Mode: 11 Agree 

Question 22
I think electronic media will replace printed text in the near future 
Median: Agree 
Mode: 15 Strongly Agree 

Question 23
I believe technology has powerful positive impact on teaching and learning
Median: Agree
Mode: 12 Agree

Statistics 101

Early this morning, my advisors and I had a conference call over skype (using Web 2.0 technology) to talk about how our research is developing and what we are doing with the data. 

Skype conference call

I have taken a class last semester that forced me make graphs and collect data in Microsoft Excel. Little did I know that there was so much more to putting numbers into a graph. Microsoft Excel is good for starters, but I will learn how to use Xpss on Friday! Xpss is a more professional software for statistical analysis. I am very excited to expand my technological palate and make a parallel between Excel and Xpss.

Excel

xpss

When you are dealing with data similar to what I am collecting, you have to think about the difference between qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data is observed but not measured, it also deals with descriptions. An example of qualitative data could be colors. Quantitative data can be measured, and it deals with numbers.  An example of quantitative data could be a group of adults ages. 

Now that we have a mutual understanding of qualitative and quantitative data, there are three major characteristics of a single variable that we tend to look at. Those characteristics are the distribution, the central tendency, and the dispersion. To the average person these terms look a bit foreign and outlandish. The distribution is an arrangement of values of a variable showing their observed or frequent occurrence. Central tendency is an estimate of the center of a distribution of values. There are three subcategories attached to central tendency and they are the famous mean, median, and mode. Lets review mean, median, and mode quickly so that we can get the elephant out of the room. Mean is the average, median is the number in the middle, and mode is the number that occurs the most. The third major characteristic of a variable is the dispersion. The dispersion measures how the various elements behave such as a location, and it usually coincides with the mean as well as range.  

We are up to 17 teachers who have taken the survey! Stay tuned for more data updates :)

Can Technology Change Education

"When we change our thinking. We can change the solution"

To watch Raj Dhingra, please look at the link below

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0s_M6xKxNc

To engage students in new technology, Turkey decided to run a program called Firefly mobile learning. The truck visits the school, the students jump into the truck, and there they will find rows of computers, comfortable chairs to sit in, and tech support on the tip of their finger tips. Everyone wants technology now a days but it seems to be rather expensive for school districts to purchase. "You can dream big and make a big impact and not have a lot of money. You can achieve a lot with a small amount of money if you know how to spend it."

Many teachers have the hunger for "Tech Candy." They believe that technology will fix everything. The thing is, technology will not fix everything unless it is used properly. If the teacher engages in blended learning then they will make the best of themselves as well as the technology. The students will work together due to the new learning, and they will become more engaged because technology is rather interesting. 

So to answer my question from before, can technology change education...Yes it can! Do you personally think technology can change education?

Interview number 3!

Hello, today is a bit rainy, but as far as research goes it's a great day! So far 6 people have taken my survey, and I have interviewed three teachers.

I had the honor of interviewing another one of my former teachers today. Mrs. Knopp is a 10th and 11th grade English teacher in Yorktown High School Central School District. She has three classes of 10th graders with 23, 24, and 27 students. Then she has two classes of small self-contained English with seven, 11th graders and thirteen 11th graders. Mrs. Knopp has been given a grant from the state for 15 chrome books for the 2014 school year. 

The students who will receive the chrome books are in the self-contained English classes. The main reason why Mrs. Knopp is taking advantage of this grant, is because her students do not always complete their homework on time or at all. Now the students will get the chance to access their work during class and work independently. The reason why she did not get iPads, is because she needs the program Flash on her computer in order to run the applications she needs. 

Mrs. Knopp's Classroom Technology
Featured: SMARTboard 11 and a Dell Computer
She also has a personal iPad

Mrs. Knopp has a personal iPad she uses in the classroom, and her favorite and most effective app in the classroom is an interactive story of Edgar Allen's "The Raven" with pictures that help with comprehension. Her personal favorite app is iBooks because she also loves to read like Mr. Carrig. Mrs. Knopp is also an active edmodo user and is very interested in using socrative in the future!

Mrs. Knopp also loves using the SMARTboard whenever she is teaching her self-contained 11th grade English classes. She also runs a paperless classroom due to the presentations in prezi, homework and presentations  on google drive, and class assignments on echalk. 

Web 2.0 is often used in her classroom as well, she uses google drive often to share projects and homework with the teacher and other classmates. She uses e-chalk in the classroom too, but stopped using dropbox, because it would not allow the students to upload a project with pictures, therefore the class enjoys using the google drive app to upload their homework and projects. Mrs. Knopp teamed up with the library specialist this year and had the students learn how to clean up their digital footprint. For a couple of days, these students had the district block taken off of their computer and they learned how to change their privacy settings on social media websites.

Mobile Ice Breakers

The first day of school is always somewhat hectic. Everyone is excited to meet their new teacher and see which students are in their class. Since the students are eager to learn all about their teacher and new classmates there are several things you can do as an educator on the first day of class.

On the student's mobile device or iPad have them pull up a song, picture, or video that they are willing to show to the class that represents them the best. Then have the student tell the class why they chose the media they selected, as the picture is projected on the SMARTboard or  screen projector.

When the activity is over, have the students reflect on the activity and if they would ever want to engage in that kind if activity again.

The first day of school is also very never wrecking and not everyone is comfortable. Tying having the students interview each other via text message. After about five minutes have all the students get together in a circle and go around having each student introduce the person they just interviewed.

When the activity is over, have the students reflect on how this was a positive or negative activity.

You can cite social media?

When you are writing any kind of academic paper, or even writing a quote, you should always cite the person who came up with it originally. Giving credit where credit is due is all about learning. Once you have learned a thing or two from someone with more knowledge, you can take that idea and expand on it to make it your own. But before you do that, lets learn about how you cite social media in both APA and MLA format.

Social media is becoming a boom in today's schools, therefore it is a big deal to acknowledge where you found the information worth noting. Remember it is always important to cite someones opinion! 

Interview Number 2!

Today I had the opportunity to interview a former teacher of mine, Mr. Fritz. He currently teaches two 9th grade Regents Earth Science classes with a total of 48 freshman. Then he teaches 2 classes of AP Environmental Science with 11th and 12th graders. Between the 2 sections, there are about 42 students. In all, Mr. Fritz teaches 90 students a day. Mr. Fritz is a devoted iPad user, although his students are not equip with iPads. This does not stop him from using technology to improve his classes!

    Some of the apps Mr. Fritz uses on the iPad in the classroom are: google earth  for the 9th grade Regents Earth Science class, and vernier for the AP Environmental class. He also uses ebook with both of his classes. His personal favorite app is the google drive app because it has endless possibilities!

Mr. Fritz
9th grade Earth Science teacher
11th and 12th grade AP Environmental teacher
Yorktown High School
Technology featured: SMARTboard, iPad, document camera, MAC laptop,
and a LabQuest Vernier Probe

Mr. Fritz also uses Web 2.0 technology in the classroom. He uses e-chalk everyday to list the homework and he also has a homework dropbox  for all assignments. For regents review, he will also have the students use clickers to answer questions for assessment purposes. Mr. Fritz also told me that he attends 'Tech Tuesdays." The school has been running Tech Tuesday for about 6 years now, and the teachers go to these meetings to learn more about technology. The teachers specifically learn about: Web 2.0, the iPad, MAC OS, and SMARTboard technology. 

   Mr. Fritz also has the same opinion Mr. Carrig has about SMARTboard technology. They both believe that the SMARTboard games and options are geared more towards Elementary students and find it difficult to use in the classroom because the students are not engaged in the activities. Mr. Fritz believes that iPads for every student would be more beneficial to all of their learning. Although, he is worried about how he will control how the students use the devices. 

Now two teachers have officially taken my survey and allowed me to interview them. This is a great start to my research and I cannot wait to start interviewing teachers from the Middle School and Elementary School!