YouTube. Need I Say More?

Okay, I know, writing an instructional technology blog entry about YouTube is kind of a cop-out. Few social media sites on the whole wide Interwebs haven proven more useful than YouTube. 

Top Five iPad Apps for Educators

Okay, I use the term "Top Five" entirely subjectively. There are probably others with higher records of sales and widespread use in the classroom. However, I have employed these five apps the most frequently and with the most success in my own classroom. Here we go...

#5- Educreations & ShowMe
What's that? I listed two different apps above? Yeah, sorry about that. While trying to rank these apps, a problem quickly emerged: they're essentially the same things.

Both Educreations and ShowMe are digital whiteboard applications which allow you to draw on the iPad as if it were that ubiquitous large board at the front of your room. If you have the right dongle for your iPad (and a digital projector), you can present this to your class via HDMI or VGA cable.

More than just being a mess-free portable whiteboard, these apps allow the user to record their lecture as they utilize their whiteboard. No more unintelligible notes or indescribable graphics to be found amidst bullet points and quotations.

Best of all, the lectures are shareable. Through the magic of internet, email, Twitter and Facebook, the recorded lectures can be given out to students who may have missed the class or require audio/visual accommodations.

#4- GoDocs
As I'll discuss in a later post, Google Docs has become an integral part of my curriculum. Computer-based group projects are an ease with Google Docs. No more, "but my partner has all the notes and they aren't here today!" The GoDocs app allows me portable access to Google Docs right from my laptop and iPad. Very nice! How much? At $4.99, this app is fairly pricey for its limited usage, but if you are as wealth-paid as this public school teacher (and obsessed with Google products), it is well worth the price


#3- Keynote
This app is simply one more example of my begrudging and reluctant transfer to the world of Apple. Though I bemoan their extraordinary profit margins and lament their child-labor practices, they do put out a good product. For only $9.99 (I seriously have a spending problem when it comes to technology), this handy little app allows me to make Keynote presentations on the fly. When my laptop dies or my iPad is the only thing within reach, it is nice to be able to employ the user-friendly interface to craft the next day's lesson. I absolutely DO NOT endorse throwing together a last-minute presentation at red lights on the way to work. 


#2- Pointer
This app is in no way flashy or exotic. The graphics seem to indicate that though it works well enough with the iPad that it was meant for the iPhone. I mean, the iPhone. However, the PowerPoint comes through the projector with crystal-clear quality and the app allows the user to click, highlight or annotate the PowerPoint wirelessly. As someone who uses PowerPoint perhaps too heavily, this app has been a little $0.99 godsend.


#1- Splashtop HD
With the steepest price tag of this top five ($19.99 for the HD version), I have found it well worth the cost. This app allows the user to wirelessly stream their desktop (or laptop if one prefers to go even smaller) to their portable device. I find this extremely useful in helping managing an effective classroom instead of being tethered to my desk.

Now, I've heard rumors of other similar apps which allow access to one's home computer from work. One such app is "LogMeIn." I, however, have not been able to get LogMeIn to work properly and have as such abandoned the process. Over the long summer days spent at the pool, though, I will probably try my hardest to get said app to function properly.

As I said before, these are simply the apps which have worked most frequently and best for my own classroom environment. Their applications beyond the classroom, however, are too numerous to count. i recommend trying these apps and similar ones for yourself. Feel free to drop me a line if you find one that works better (or is cheaper)!

A KeepVid A Day Keeps the Firewall At Bay

Before my school board so wisely began to allow teachers access through the Firewall, KeepVid was the only light in the veil of darkness of the Youtube-less classroom. In the world we live in, watching entire VHSs or DVDs in a class is seen as cumbersome, perfunctory and wasteful. YouTube often offers succinct, edited versions of longer documentaries and movies. Why show all of “Saving Private Ryan” and “Enemy at the Gates” when you can show just the scenes depicting D-Day and the Battle of Stalingrad?

For those not as fortunate as I, access to YouTube on school networks is usually a rarity. KeepVid is a simple internet-based application that offers a free, innovative alternative to showing whole videos or using proxy servers to bypass firewalls. In a manner similar to Pinterest, KeepVid allows the user to take an online video and make it their own. Usually offering a variety of file format for downloads (.mp4, .wmv, .avi, .etc), KeepVid allows the organized and forward-thinking teacher to employ YouTube without accessing YouTube.

My personal favorite aspect of KeepVid is the fact that with a download file, I can use it at anytime, nearly anywhere. A big fan of Prezi and PowerPoint/Keynote, I loathe having to "ESC" out of the window to drag over a Google Chrome window to show a video. Saving a YouTube file as .mp4 and embedding it into the PowerPoint slide, however, allows me to seamlessly integrate a one- or two-minute video clip to reinforce my lecture.

While I have little to no need for this anymore since YouTube is available in my classroom, I highly recommend for anyone who is not as blessed by their almighty and benevolent school district.

Fakebook: It's Like Facebook, But Fake

This is not my first foray into the world of Facebook alternatives. The two sites (I have heard rumors that these sites are becoming more and more ubiquitous) I have actively used in my classroom are Fakebook.com and MyFakeWall.com. I'm not entirely enthused with either one, to be honest. Their educational value, however, forces me to reconsider them. Often.

Facebook isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Students without Facebook profiles are outnumbered by their counterparts nearly 35 to 1 (I made that statistic up, but it sounds about right). Facebook, combined with text-messaging seems to be the primary method of contact for students. So why not redirect its corrupting and socially undermining aspects into educating our young?

Both sites essentially provide the basic services of Facebook without all of the intricacies of social networking. This is especially useful when studying a historical figure (or, perhaps, several). Earlier this year, my students used MyFakeWall.com to create fictional Facebook pages for Alexander the Great (see my class website for the rubric and completed examples). To be honest, I was quite impressed. Despite my lack of familiarity with the technology at the onset, the students seemed naturally adept at navigating the site.

Later on in the year, however, the falibility of MyFakeWall.com proved itself insurmountable. The sheer number of students who lost their work entirely when the page automatically refreshed was staggering. The voices of a hundred whinny fifteen-year olds rose in chorus instantaneously. As such, I was glad Fakebook was available. Fakebook.com, while not differing much from MyFakeWall in terms of content, provided a much more stable platform for the students to work with. My recommendation? If you are going to invest the time and effort in getting your students to do online research and create a project on an internet site, go with Fakebook.com.

Duh. Pinning.

Pinterest. Yes, seriously, Pinterest.

Now I know what you are thinking. Pinterest is normally associated with middle-aged housewives hoarding copious quantities of recipes and decorating tips. You’re right, actually. This stereotype about the demographic belies the true potential of this social media outlet, however.

For you readers who have yet to take the plunge into the sea of Pinterest, it is a site/application combo that allows the user to grab interesting pictures (and the sites they are located upon) and “pin” them to user-themed “boards”.  One of the most innovating features of the process is the cutesie “Pin It” application the user can apply to their bookmark bar. With just the press of a button, the Pinterest application finds the interesting pictures on the site and allows the user to share it.

While this has been used primarily to shown off one’s good sense of fashion, decoration and gastronomy, its untapped potential is still unbounded. Personally, I just began utilizing Pinterest for the classroom setting.

As I was standing in my office the other day, tapping my foot impatiently as my wife clicked aimlessly on my computer on her Pinterest boards—I will address the topic of people not signing off of their accounts when they use your computer at a later date—I thought to myself, why does this have to be such a “chick thing”? After she finally got off the computer, I sat down and crafted an account for myself.

The practical applications for this have already started to pay off. Instead of the usual boards, mine are history and education themed. A great many of my fellow “Pinners” are teachers who use the site as a means of anonymously sharing ideas and pedagogical techniques. If I were attempting to teach a unit on Abraham Lincoln to a gaggle of fourth graders, for example, I have ready access to step-by-step instructions on how to glue cotton balls together to form a beard or how to craft a stove-pipe hat out of black construction paper. Here’s where Pinterest’s drawbacks become readily apparent.

The largest detractor from Pinterest is the fairly limited scope of its educational usage. While my wife can (and does) spend countless hours scouring the boards of colleagues and complete strangers alike, stealing management methods, borrowing craft activities and waxing melodically over “cute ideas”, my interactions have been far more limited. Going into the upcoming school year, I will be teaching primarily Advanced Placement-level sophomores. These students are especially adept at outwardly loathing arts and craft activities. But where there is a will, there is a way. Or several.

Since it first burst out into the limelight, Pinterest has spread faster than Snooki’s arrest caught on tape. While many stereotypes  are currently afflicting it, if more and more secondary social studies teachers begin to employ it, its usefulness will increase a hundredfold. I, myself, will be valiantly attempting to further the cause on Pinterest. Search my boards for cool ideas, or share some new ones with me. I’ll be doing so myself as @MrLHistory. 

Facebook, No I'm Not Kidding

I'm about to say something dramatic--and for many, counter-intuitive--that may shock and amaze some of you. "Facebook has a place in the classroom." Yes, seriously. Well, to be more specific, due to the  imposition of firewall restrictions upon the average education professional, saying, "Facebook has a place as an extension of the classroom onto the internet, but has to be managed from outside the classroom" would be a far fairer claim.

Now, I am not the first to advocate the use of the Facebook as a supplementary tool to instruction (check out this article as well as this one or even what they're saying in the UK). I am, however, one of the few educators at my place of employment who actively (and appropriately) utilize this stunning social media outlet. I started my educator Facebook profile about a month ago and very quickly became "Friends" with over a hundred students. This decision came after laborious hours studying my school district's Electronics Usage Policy and scouring the internet for testimonies (and a few horror stories) from my colleagues both domestic and foreign. I had many doubts and fears to overcome, so I'd like to share some of them--as well as my logical denunciations of them--with you.

Fear #1- Other People's Updates
After seeing on many separate occasions the filth and hate being spread around Facebook, I was very reluctant to throw myself into the political and religious frays which seem to be popping up more and more often as the election draws near. This is not to say that these topics are not important and cannot be of value in an educational setting. This is to say, however, that these topics should be broached in an organic, controllable manner. Needless to say, I was afraid of pictures and comments made by my students showing up all over my "Wall."

Solution #1- "Unsubscribing"
Upon adding a "Friend" on Facebook (which requires the user's approval, by the way), Facebook will automatically start tracking the updates and activities of that person. There is a way to stop this, however. Along the top right-hand corner of each "status update" is a small, inverted arrow. When clicking upon this, a drop-down menu appears. One of the options towards the bottom of this list is to "Unsubscribe from (student's name)." This option will stop automatically putting the posts and activities of your "Friends" on your "Wall." Currently, I only allow posts by myself and my teaching partner (another long story) to be displayed. The students are, unfortunately, still allowed to comment on your updates, but an "X" in the same spot as the arrow allows for those to be deleted quickly. This leads me to my next fear...

Fear #2- My "Wall"
The "Wall" in Facebook is the place where my own status updates appear and where my "Friends" are able to leave comments and links. For the most part, these links are referential to the course or discussions I have had with the students, but there is a potential for this to go awry. I have heard of countless teachers who have been harassed on Facebook, or who have had students leave inappropriate messages or links. This reflects negatively on the teacher and can land them in hot water with their administration or school district. It's an easy problem to fix, however...

Solution #2- "Wall" Post Approval
Fortunately for me, my school district's policy is that though I bear responsibility for anything found on my Facebook page, I have 24 hours from its posting to remove it. This covers those teachers who have never encouraged the behavior and who might not have checked their Facebook as soon as the inappropriate message was posted. But there is a method for preventing it from ever getting that far. In the "Security" settings of Facebook, they provide for an option to approve of any posts, tags or links put onto your Wall before anyone gets to see them. I used this post today to ward off a link to a "parcore" video, that was very cool to watch, but contained foul language. It wasn't that the student was trying to be edgy or push the limits; he just wanted to show me his video and the language was a non-issue for him (as it is with nearly EVERY student in secondary school today).

Solution #3- Professionalism in Social Media
This solution is not a technical one, to be achieved through the navigation of certain menus or the selection of certain options. Nor is it in response to any particular fear about the implementation of Facebook as an element of my instructional method. This solution applies to social media as a whole. The pervasive nature of social media needs to dispel us of the notion of security. Yes, we change our Facebook pages to be "Friends Only" and limit what is posted on our Walls. These are mere tripping points for any inexperienced or half-hearted researcher. Anyone with enough motivation and technical acumen can find anything anyone has posted. Whether it is on a Twitter, Facebook or MySpace page, if it is on the internet, it can't be taken back. The solution, therefore, is to change our attitudes and to engage more actively in professionalism.

I'm not going to get up on my pulpit and denounce a "fun" lifestyle. If you want to "hang wit ur boyz" and engage in the same activities most educators publicly denounce to their students, that's fine. We're all adults here. I would strongly caution, however, that your life not make its way onto your Facebook. If you feel compelled to share pictures of your Bachelor Party with those who couldn't make it (as I personally did), create a personal Facebook account and set the privacy settings to their most stringent levels. Still, take care to still screen your photos. Want to post the shots of the fish you caught on the deep-sea charter you took during the day? Great! Do it! Want to post the shots of alcohol-fueled adventures the night beheld? DON'T DO IT! Invite your friends over and show them the photo slideshow while your wife is at Zumba.

Moderation, modesty and good judgment are the best tools one can employ in the creation of a social media outlet. Keep the posts and updates focused on the learning environment you have fostered at school and the influence of your personal life to a minimum. But that's enough preaching for now. Let's discuss "Facebook Chat"

Fear #4- Chatting
A major element of the Facebook experience is "chatting." One may instant message any of his Facebook friends, provided that the other user is currently online. Again, horror stories abound related to the inappropriate conversations held between teachers and students which later came to light and cause a heap of trouble for all involved. For the most part, these troubles arise from a lack of understanding on the part of the participants. When the chat window is closed, the conversation might be over in your mind, but hasn't gone anywhere digitally. At any time, a Facebook user (or police investigator) may delve into the history of any chat. I have often been afraid that a student would message me inappropriately and such troubles would befall me. That was, until, I realized a simple solution...

Solution #4- Know You're "On the Record"
Before you engage in creating a Facebook account as a teacher, be sure to speak to your students about the concept of being "on the record." Let your students know that the Facebook forum is going to be treated as an extension of the classroom. If they don't believe you, call their parents if they misbehave on your Wall. Have them face punitive measures in your classroom the next day. If even one student receives such a reaction, the word will quickly spread that you are to be taken seriously.

You yourself should keep this in mind as well. Just as you would never run your mouth to a newspaper or TV reporter, you should never run it to a student. If you've had a bad day, pour yourself a Scotch and call your mother. Don't complain about another student or coworker to a student via chat. That not only crosses a professional line, but a moral one as well. Students need to remember that they are not adults, they are not your friends.

Just this weekend, I have had some wonderful results (and a certain "brow-raising" experience) from Facebook chatting. During a scholastic sojourn to my local Barnes & Nobles with the Mrs., I brought up my teacher Facebook. I was instantly messaged by two different students. One student (who shall remain nameless until I hold him after class on Monday) asked if I would like to come to a party he was throwing Saturday evening. I politely disinclined his invitation and there will be a record of such. The other student, however, was too busy working on bringing up his grade to attend any sort of party this weekend.

The second student engaged me in a Facebook chat in order to advocate for himself. During my time at Barnes & Noble, this student asked if he could make up several assignments and how he could access them prior to returning to school on Monday. Needless to say, my jaw remained dropped for quite some time. I was then able to check the student's grade via eSembler (an internet-based grading program employed by my school district) and let him know which assignments he was missing. He was then able to go to our class' website and find not only the assignments he was missing in Word documents, but also able to print out the PowerPoints during which he had not been paying attention.

But the best part wasn't that interaction. The best part came the next day, when he messaged me again. This time, I was at home, snacking on some ravioli in the comfort of my own kitchen, when I saw the message. The student had been working on his take-home test (which he found on the website and printed out) using the PowerPoint notes he had printed the night before. He was having difficulty understanding a certain problem and asked me for help. I was able to rephrase the question for him in a way he could understand and point him in the right direction as per the PowerPoints.

This help actually went two ways. During our conversation, the student pointed out that I had only put one of the three Industrial Revolution slides on the website. I was then able to put them up fairly quickly and we could proceed from there. If the student had raised this observation during class, there would have been nothing I could do about it at that moment, and I would have invariably have forgotten to do it later (my memory is often lacking when it comes to things "To Do").

Conclusion
While the potential for disaster is always present in a poorly secured and monitored Facebook page, the potential for great success is also hanging around. Before undertaking the adoption of a page for yourself, be sure to contemplate the level of interaction required by the teacher to make the page worthwhile. For me, the experience above made it worth it already. Even if I never have an experience like it again, being able to help one student one time was worth the efforts.

P.S. While I was writing this blog, two additional students pestered me via Facebook for help on a group project. One left comments on a "status update" and the other messaged me directly. They convinced me to post links to the grading rubric and the supplementary sources I had provided them on the class website. Their grades should reflect the extra help! The student I mentioned earlier was able to bring his 9% F up to a 66% D in one weekend. His grade went up to a C by the end of the next week.

Timidly going where many have gone before...

My dearest readers (my wife, my sister and my mother),

This blog is meant to be a retreat for technology-inclined individuals who have invariably found themselves in the classroom on a daily basis (or aspire to do so). Each post will take a look at either a new form of technology I am attempting to apply in my own classroom, or some major event in the world of instructional technology. I hope that this blog is not only informative, but inspiring as well.

Just today, as I was moving my classroom from one building to another (it's a long story), a, um.... *ahem* veteran teacher was expressing his dismay at the concept of a Mimio. It wasn't that the Mimio was an inferior product to some other form of technology (perhaps a Mobi or SmartBoard) which he preferred, it was the integration of technology as a concept which he seemed to be dismayed at. While I had always known that some teachers were initially reluctant to apply new strategies in their classroom and that others had never been properly trained in the usage of new technologies, I was bewildered that this teacher was so adamantly anti-technology. Ah well, hopefully the strategies and instructions I provide in this blog will help to win instructional and social technology some converts. If not, I'm sure that the upcoming performance evaluations will force many peoples' hands.

A point of clarification before we begin, please. I am fully aware that many will take exception with the manner in which I employ the term, "technology." As defined by dictionary.com (a useful tool we should take a look at in due time), technology is "the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science and pure science" (See it here). This puts A LOT of options into our wheelhouse. For the most part, this blog will cover technologies applicable to the daily life of a classroom teacher. This can include social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapfish, Tumblr, etc.) as well as instructional tools (such as the MOBI, Mimio, SmartBoard, ELMO, LeapFrog, etc.), alongside new gadgets and their applications (such as the iPad, iPod, iPhone, Android phones and tablets, Nook, Kindle, etc.). If it plugs into a wall to charge and can be applied effectively in the classroom, this blog will do its best to cover the best pedagogical techniques to enhance your class.

Sincerely,

Alexandre Le D'Ford