The Death of Website Design

There used to be a time in my freshman computer classes where we would create Websites. We would learn a little HTML, move to Dreamweaver, and use an actual Web server that students could upload and publish their finished Websites. Students loved it. They got to create, publish, and they were out there on the Web. Talk about having your students actively working, this was the unit. The finished product was not always pretty. (Surprisingly enough, most students have no design sense whatsoever) But, it was fun. Unfortunately, it has all disappeared. .

 

Last year, when we upgraded to Adobe CS 4 the other year, it came loaded with CSS tags and became more difficult (and less fun) for students to use. Don't get me wrong, we still make Web sites, but  thanks to Web 2.0 tools such as Weebly and Wix, students create wonderful looking Websites using pre-made templates in about half the time. Their content is about the same (mostly weak), but it looks better.

 

The part that makes me sad is the loss of the process. Creating and designing a Website (without the pretty templates) took some planning and forethought by students and I think that is a great skill. Even having to upload, test, fix, re-upload, test again to get everything working very beneficial for students. In the end, they were very proud of their finished product.

 

Wix and Weebly makes it easier and prettier, but I will forever miss the process of the "old way" of doing things.

Moodle, Moodle, Moodle

Admit it, it is fun to say. It rhymes with poodle (which I have a deep hatred for) and I still like it. But, what is Moodle and what is it all about. Lets take a quick at a video to explain the finer points and then I will fill you in on my experiences.



I have heard about Moodle for several years. A couple of the teachers at my high school use it as the online platform for their classes. Some of you may have used similar programs such as Blackboard or Web CT for Online courses at college. I had always resisted using it because I already had a Web Site and didn't want to try anything new. But, I finally tried Moodle (through my ISD) last year with a Computer Programming class I was teaching. It wasn't bad. Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. Some of the things that I liked were the fact that it was "locked down." If I had materials or information that I didn't want floating around on the Internet, I could make my class password protected and not allow visitors. I also liked the testing feature that allowed you to create and give exams over the Internet. Convenient. The class forum feature allows students to collaborate or post their thoughts on videos, readings, or assignments. Other students or the instructor can also comment on each post. Finally, the big thing I liked about Moodle was that I could use multiple means of instruction. Links are easily created to YouTube videos, sound files, screen-casts, PDFs, images, Office files, etc. This really helps students that learn in different ways. Think back to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) that I have posted on earlier.

As classroom instruction changes, wireless connections increase, and where a person learns expands, Moodle might be an option for your classroom in the future. Ask your tech director for more information. Thanks for visiting!

Summer Tech Challenge

Yes, I know it is summer and I like to forget about school in the summer. But, summer is a great time to learn something new. So, here is my challenge. Learn some new type of new technology this summer. Here are some ideas: Google Docs, Google Sites, Weebly, Prezi, Wordle, Blogger, KeepVid, etc.

I am taking a vb.net class online (it is very different than Visual Basic 6.0) and reading a new blog I found called Teach Paperless.

Find something that can help you in the classroom next year and give it a try while you have time this summer. Remember that YouTube is a great place to look for tutorials.

Thanks and have a great summer!

BYOD to School?

No, I said BYO "D" as in Bring Your Own Device to school. This is a huge area of growth and uncertainty for schools across the nation. Also know as BYOL or BYOT (for laptop or technology), these types of programs are just what they sound like, students are allowed to bring their own laptops, net books, iPod Touches, etc. to school and connect to the schools Internet connection as a guest.

This is a shift in paradigms. Gone are the days of checking out a computer lab. All students would have their own laptops. Gone are the days of students saving to their network accounts. All students save their work to the cloud where it can be accessed at home, school, or anywhere with a wireless connection. Gone are the days of printing assignments. All students can hand-in assignments to digital drop boxes, E-mail them as attachments, or post them to a Wiki. Students at Sparta High School can collaborate, search, create, analyze, share, and publish on the Web from the classroom, lunchroom, livingroom, wherever they are connected. Students can greener. Students can be more productive. Students can do it all on the Web.


Forest Hills Local Schools, located near Cincinnati  is one of the schools piloting this type of program. They went to a BYOL program at their middle school last fall and it has been a huge success. Visit their resource site for a ton of info. I would love to do a program like this at my high school. Think about it. If just 30% of students chose to bring a laptop of their own to school with them, the school would automatically have around 300 more computers available. By the way, that is like 10 computer labs worth of computers.
 
Programs like this are the wave of the future. Think back to graphing calculators. Teachers used to have a classroom set to use with their students. Now days, most students buy their own and bring it to school to use. The same thing will happen with laptops. The future is now and we need to embrace it.
 
Thanks.

Tech Savvy Teachers Part 1

Paul and I have spent parts of the last four weeks visiting with teachers around our high school. We have been showing teachers how set up staff profile pages on the district's Website, move materials to the Web, use their SharePoint accounts, and many other technology related items. We were able to work with teachers that were not very tech literate, some that were very tech literate, and a bunch in between. Out next few posts will feature teachers at SHS that are using technology in the classroom effectively as guest bloggers. Our goals is to have them share how technology has made their teaching lives better.

Our first guest is Mr. David Fix. He teaches Civics and Econ here at the high school. Here is what he has to say about using technology in the classroom. Enjoy!

From Dave Fix:

Technology can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the educational process, but it is only a tool. Technology cannot compensate for poor teaching, but it can augment good teaching. A teacher needs to master his/her curriculum, assessments, organization, teaching strategies and professional relationships before the introduction of technology can be of benefit. Once this foundation is in place, however, technology can make the educational process easier and more effective for all involved.


A good first step is to digitize your curriculum. Every assignment, every assessment, every lesson needs to be put into an engaging digital form. This allows for elements of your curriculum to be shared and updated more easily. It allows your curriculum to evolve. Changes are easily made from anywhere and updates are instant.


I used to dread when students were absent because it meant I needed to bring them up to speed in the two minutes before class started or to stay after school tutoring them. Now, all my lessons are online and absent students are responsible for finding out what we covered in class. It empowers students and parents and liberates the teacher.


Digitizing assessments and using Examview is also a great time-saver. It used to take me two to three hours just to correct 100 weekly tests. Now it takes me about 30 minutes to grade them, look at which items students consistently struggled with and put the grades into Powerschool. This saves me about 60 hours every school year.


Although a simple idea, having an online calendar also serves the students, parents and teachers. After digitizing my curriculum and using an online calendar for the past six years, I am now able to plan every day of the school year ahead of time. As soon as the school calendar comes out, I spend about and hour filling in my online calendar with each unit, each test and each project. I no long am constantly recalculating scope and sequence.
Mass emails are another simple and effective idea. I track students who are struggling and send all their parents a mass email notifying them of upcoming tests, projects and deadlines. Parents appreciate this and, once the groundwork is done, it takes about five minutes a week to do.


Of course the catch is that digitizing your teaching process takes a lot of time up front. My first semester using a digital interface, I spent about five hours, seven days a week developing my systems. Now, if I use my conference hour effectively, I can cut my time planning outside of school down to zero. I review and update my lessons and assessments every year. But with everything digitized systematically, I can do it a lot faster, and I can do it from a coffee shop or from home.


I used to get butterflies on Sunday nights worried about weekly lesson plans. I used to spend a lot of time combing through files at school on nights and weekends. I used to make notes to myself about things I needed to remember to say in class - lots of them. Now, on most days I don't even think about the lesson a head of time. Class starts the second the bell rings, and I am confident and well-rested. My professional life has become easy, and I have become a much better teacher. I am more consistent, and my lesson evolve over time.


Investing in learning technology and staying organized are critical elements. If you don't do this homework, adding technology to your teaching will make things worse - more variables, more glitches, more confusion and frustration. But, if you dedicate yourself to some core technology that you use in a simple and consistent way, it can help make you a stress-free and effective teacher.

Graduation Gift? Mac VS. PC

Every year about this time I get the same question over and over again, “my son and daughter has just received a sum of money from their graduation open house and we’re thinking of buying a new laptop computer to send our pride and joy off to college with”. So instead of answering this question over and over and I thought I’d just create a post. This is how I see it (please remember I have never owned a Mac):

• Number one: I think Macs are better than PCs.
• Number two: I think PCs are a better value dollar for dollar. A Mac will cost 2 to 2.5 times the cost of the same specification PC.
• Number three: The less you know about computers, the better idea it is to buy a Mac. 
• Number four: If you buy a PC you had better have a backup plan, you will get viruses, and you will need to restore your computer to its original factory settings sometime in the next 18 months. That is not a big deal, if you know what to do (that will be the topic of our next blog post). 
• Number five: Macs are cool PCs are not. 
• Number six: I will never own a Mac, unless it costs about the same as a PC. I will never be cool. 

I would love feedback from my Mac friends and militant PC supporters. Let’s get this party started!

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Last month I told you I was signed up for a training on Universal Design for Learning. Well, we had our training last Thursday and it went quite well. Ron Houtman and Kindy Segovia led our group in a discussion of UDL Guidelines and how teachers can get started.

The three main pillars of Universal Design for Learning are:

I. Teachers should provide multiple means of representation. Or, in plain English, that we should present information and content in different ways.

II. Teachers should provide multiple means of action and expression. Or, differentiate the ways that students can express what they know.

III. Teachers should provide multiple means of engagement. Or, stimulate interest and motivation for learning.  

UDL is meant to benefit all students. Low-level learners, ESL, or high-achievers. Ron and Kindy went on to talk about some of the Web 2.0 tools that teachers can use to help design some of their lessons using UDL. The usual items such as Google Docs, Blogs, Wikis, Screencasting, and VoiceThread were mentioned. One of the big items was to get more teacher materials online so that students could access them from school and home. Also, so parents could access materials and be more of a help to their children. Probably one one line I remember from the whole training was when Ron said that the first thing teachers need to do is "find a place to put their stuff." I found this very reassuring because I had just spent three days helping teachers around my high school set up SharePoint sites, Blogs, and Wikis.

So, all-in-all, I thought the UDL training was very informative and really reinforced a lot of the things that I do in my classes. This, of course, just begins to scratch the surface of UDL and how it can be used in your classroom, but I like anything with technology in it. :) If you would like to learn more about Universal Design for Learning, you can visit CAST.org or the National Center for Universal Design for Learning.

Thanks for visiting!