I participated in #ohedchat last night where the topic was “PARCC ASSESSMENTS.” Based on Wes Fryer‘s post from earlier in the day, I decided to try Tweetchat.com. I found the service to be helpful for filtering the conversation into a single stream. This was great for following and focusing on only the #ohedchat discussion, however I quickly became frustrated with the inability to see @replies that I receiving during the chat. I ended up following the chat using Tweetchat, but also using Hotot for Chrome on my Samsung Chromebook to interact with others.

I took away a lot of great information from the chat. I’ve collected and curated the pieces I found most helpful using Storify. You can view them below. Read the rest of this entry…

I was down in Columbus, Ohio this week to attend eTech Ohio‘s annual educational technology conference, OETC13. I was involved in a number of interesting sessions, but my one “official” conference presentation was a BYOT titled “Student-Created Multimedia eBooks on the iPad in Grades K-3.”

The Google Site I created as a resource can be found here. I included quite a bit of background information that covers the current research on ebooks for young children, types of ebooks, selecting ebooks and also evaluating ebooks. This content is Flash-based, so if you’re trying to review it on an iPad, you’re out of luck. Sorry! But trust me, it is good stuff, so find a desktop or laptop and go through it!

The BYOD activity for the session is here. Please feel free to borrow, steal, use or remix with your students or teachers. If you’re just looking for my app recommendations from the session, here are the FREE ones and the PAY ones. If you want to learn more about how the session went, read on…

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This morning, Wes Fryer tweeted something that he probably thought was a pretty simple and routine update…

…but it got me to thinking…

which lead into a pretty interesting asynchronous conversation that I think I need to document and remember… Read the rest of this entry…

From the NAEYC ECETech Listserv:

As it takes so much time to locate and evaluate apps, I was wondering:

-Do you have favorite app review sites? (there are so many now, and video reviews cropping up, so people can see apps before they buy them.)

-Do you have a system, and if you do, what is it, for listing your favorite apps to share with others?  Is your favorites list available online/can you share it? I am interested in ways others in the group are organizing this info, and to take a look at your lists, if possible.

-In schools/programs where teachers in various classrooms may be exploring and finding new apps-are there systems set up to share about these discoveries with others?

So many apps, so little time- thanks for sharing tips from your workflow about these questions.

I’m often asked to provide lists of apps for schools, districts or teachers. This is tricky because of the wide variety of apps. In general, I’d say that there are way more skill and drill type apps available (flashcards, letter games, puzzles, etc…) most likely because they are simple for app developers (non-educators most often) to create. Apps that support higher-order think skills are less in numbers. I think the most important thing for a teacher to consider is what they want their students to accomplish using the app and then consider whether an app is actually the best resource for this learning experience. I like to point admins and teachers to the SAMR model when asking them this and then try to help them discern is the are using the app as simply a substitution for something they have always done or if they are able to use the app to help redefine the learning task.

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ISTE 2012 is underway. On Tuesday at 12:15 PM PST I’ll be moderating a panel discussion around 1:1 computing in education. A top notch panel has been assembled to contribute to the session. They’re all leading 1:1 initiatives in their districts and bring a wealth of experience to the table. But we need your help, your voice. We need to know what questions you have about going 1:1. However, the questions have to go beyond the device. We need to consider all aspects that contribute to building a successful 1:1 or BYOD program.

How can you contribute? Take a few minutes to look over our backchan.nl document. Vote for the topics and questions you feel are most relevant to this discussion. Feel free to add any questions you feel are missing. Make your voice heard and help shape the conversation that unfolds Tuesday. We appreciate your time and input.

From the ISTE porgram:

Transcending the Device: Crucial Conversations around 1:1

Jeremy Brueck, University Of Akron with Benjamin Grey, Jim Klein, Scott Meech, Matt Montagne and Joe Morelock

iPad2, Xoom, Playbook, iPod Touch, netbook, iPhone, Chromebook, this list of potential 1:1 devices continues to grow on a seemingly daily basis. Nearly everyday, a new device is hyped, over-hyped and pushed into our consciousness by a barrage of media and market glam. Due to the pervasiveness of mobile technologies into daily life, countless questions from school leaders and teachers continue to arise around mobile computing devices, specifically which device is best for creating a 1:1 program in a school or district.

Traditionally, much of the 1:1 discussion centers on “what” device to purchase, rather than what the school intends to accom­plish with 1:1. Through a variety of perspectives provided by the distinguished panel members, we will discuss both the overarching goals of 1:1 implementations, as well as debate the merits of iOS, Android, Linux, netbooks, iPads, laptops and other devices commonly associated with 1:1. This discussion will provide the information ISTE attendees need to begin this journey in their own school or district, including useful advice, best practices and practical strategies, from a panel of highly qualified experts who have an established track record of success in the 1:1 arena.

Creating 1:1 spaces enables students to learn in an environment where students can own their learning and are engaged meaningful work. Establishing a new environment for this type of learning takes careful planning and consideration. There is some research that indicates 1:1 computing can produce impressive results. Findings indicate that 1:1 computing can provide greater access to resources, information, and up-to-date instructional content. In addition, 1:1 environments can lead to increased student motivation, engagement, interest, organization, and self-directed learning. Join a collection of educational thought leaders from across the country for an interactive conversation focused on developing, deploying and sustaining a successful 1:1 program.

Photo Credit: Enjoying the Keynote by Ben Grey on Flickr

We know that lots of parent-child book reading, pretend reading, and book browsing with traditional picture and storybooks promotes children’s development of literacy knowledge and skills in ways that support reading success (Mol & Bus, 2011). Reading storybooks exposes children to print and starts the process of learning how speech is written down. But can that very same process be nurtured when reading e-Books as children start to learn basic reading skills? Can parent-child sharing of e-Books help children gain an understanding of concepts such as, knowledge of letter names and how letters relate to sounds, identification of meaningful parts of words, awareness of book language as different from everyday language, and the insight that print has meaning? After all, at their core, e-Books are still books, right?

These very questions are some which I have been exploring with a small group of colleagues for the past 3 years.  So, I was extremely excited to review the  Cooney Center E-books QuickReport titled “Print Books vs. E-books.”  The QuickReport explored parent-child interactions as they were reading print and/or digital books together. The Cooney researchers refer to this type of activity as “co-reading.” Read the rest of this entry…

I’ve been off the blogging path for a while, sidetracked by a number of projects that I have kept me quite busy for the last 3-4 months. One of those projects was an eTech Ohio Teacher Planning Grant program I have been leading called the Digital Text Initiative. Over the course of the 2011-2012 school year, I’ve been working with 9 K-2 teachers in 3 local districts to study the ways elementary teachers incorporate eBooks in their classroom.

This has been a great project, and one that was noticed by a writer from the New York Times. He published a piece titled “Bringing up an E-Reader” back in March that featured students, parents and a teacher from the DigiTXT program. I’m currently working on data analysis from a variety of sources and also starting to put together some of the greatest hits from the project for the a final report. This report is slated to be released as a white paper about mid-June. I was asked for 3 DOs and 3 DON’Ts for using eBooks that we could use in the white paper. Here they are.

DO:

1. Look for eBooks with content that has direct ties to your curriculum and student’s personal experiences.
2. Allow students opportunities to self-select eBooks for independent and shared reading experiences.
3. Consider the role space plays in the reading experience and design a quality-learning environment for browsing/reading eBooks in the classroom.

DON’T:

1. Select eBooks with multimedia or interactivity that is extraneous and/or not relevant to the story.
2. Use an eBook with students until you have thoroughly previewed and evaluated its potential as an instructional resource.
3. Underestimate the “WOW” factor that eBooks bring to the table. Use their natural engagement to capture reluctant reader’s interest and motivate them.