Educational Origami

In this update of on the wire I have a couple of interesting articles and the odd infographic to share

1. BBC Future – Why your brain loves to get feedback – http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130226-why-your-brain-loves-feedback An interesting article on the importance of feedback. This supports the research from Professor John Hattie in his book Visual Learning about the importance of feedback (not that I think Hattie’s work needed further support – http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/media-speeches/guestlectures/pdfs/tgls-hattie.pdf)

2. Free Stock Photos – There are some excellent sites that will provide you with access to good quality stock photography for free. Here are a couple to check out

• http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images
• http://www.kozzi.com/
• http://www.morguefile.com/

3. On a lighter note – Paper is Not Dead. This video about the iPad and paper is doing the rounds at the moment, and it makes a valuable as well as humorous point that is worth considering. technology isn’t a replacements for traditional approaches to activities, its an alternative. We need to consider the best tool for the job.

paper is not dead

4. Virtual Tours from Mountain peaks and Base camps – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10872387

This is an article from the NZ Herald that contains a number of virtual tours of mountain peaks and base camps. Here is the link to the blog post by the adventurer who created the tours – http://googleblog.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/explore-everest-kilimanjaro-and-more.html

and finally an infographic on apps and the impact these are having – http://mobilefuture.org/resources/app-infographic/

Source: http://travelblog.portfoliocollection.com/FeaturedImage/BBC-Africa1.jpg

The kids have just finished watching the final episode of the Brilliant BBC series Africa, hosted and narrated by David Attenborough. As we watch the last part of the last episode, Attenborough made a point about the importance of the wild places and the need for these to sustain the planet.

The series was predictably brilliant, and for those schools in New Zealand who subscribe to screenrights, you can record and use this legally in our classes.

But the point that Attenborough makes about the importance of preserving the wild places and their vital role in powering the planet is important, but unless you experience “the wild” then often this is a concept with out support and or experience. To be able to understand the beauty, scale, size, variety and critically importance of these wild places can only be touched on by documentaries like Africa. That is not to decry the brilliant cinematography, stunning vistas and awe inspiring settings. But the wild is not just visual, it is not just sound it is a holistic experience.

To gain an appreciation of the diversity and complexity of the outdoors, of the wild places, it is best to experience them, even if it is in a limited setting.

I am fortunate that my school takes all of our students out for an Outdoor education week, and we run outdoor education as a subject at senior levels. It encourages adventure sports, promotes the brilliant duke of Edinburgh scheme and happily supports the Roots and Shoots club based on the work by another legendary figure in Biology, Jane Goodall.  Outdoor education is a medium for understanding, experience and developing a passion for the wilder places, and the need to conserve them for not just our future generations but for our very survival.

Outdoor education as a subject, and as an event is potentially one of the keys to our survival.

 Screenrights - http://www.screenrights.org/content-users/new-zealand-services

Here are a selection of interesting articles on education, technology and digital citizenship:

New Zealand Herald

Defence force highlights social network dangers – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10870096 – This is a Digital citizenship basic concept, look after yourself by not posting information that can potentially put you at risk. For these guys it could be life and limb at risk

Dotcom’s shut down good for studios – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10870142 This another DC related post, this time for respecting and protecting intellectual property. The big studios are reporting they are better off now Dotocom’s Megaupload is Mega closed.

New MOE figures show its true – Kids struggling at maths – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10870138 – Basic arthimatic skills are suffering. This is a bit of a powder keg, but its actually very healthy to take a critical eye and look at what we do. We expect our kids to be reflective, we need to model this.

BBC News

US state (south Dakota) to arm teachers – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21722377 This is sad. This isn’t how you fix a problem, by introducing more of the problem into the system. The answer isn’t peace through superior firepower.

Web based brain for robots goes live - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21714191 - This is both cool and alarming at the same time. The opening paragraph explains it

” Robots confused about what they encounter in the world of humans can now get help online. European scientists have turned on the first part of a web-based database of information to help them cope. Called Rapyuta, the online “brain” describes objects robots have met and can also carry out complicated computation on behalf of a robot.”

I will keep this in mind next time I encounter a robot on the street.

Stuff

Your new boss is a robot – http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/8399881/Your-new-boss-is-a-robot  – This robot being developed by MIT is learning to run a factory and give orders to artifical co-workers – this is an interesting topic and links with the interesting BBC article abot the web based brain for robots

3D printing revolution: Rethinking form – http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/8394655/3D-printing-revolution-Rethinking-form  – Fascinating article and the example of use are amazing – 3D printing is becoming affordable for the classroom and schools. This is a trend to watch.

One NEWS

News Corp unveils new tablet for schools – http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/corp-unveils-new-tablet-schools-5362867 – Interesting – an android powered tablet for schools, particularly secondary schools. “digital innovation to transform teaching and learning” hum

3 News

Beer Goggles to raise awareness of drink-driving – http://www.3news.co.nz/Beer-goggles-to-raise-awareness-of-drink-driving/tabid/423/articleID/289563/Default.aspx – This a driver education tactic by Auckland transport. I like it and its worth doing. I use a similar concept with my senior IT students when we are looking at accessibility and disability with computers – earplugs, glasses, think gloves you name it we try it.

I have been looking around for a simple quality assurance test plan that my students could use for developing multi-page websites. I haven’t found one that really seemed to cover the bases. So I made one up.

This is not a testing process, rather a guide for what should be asked. To put this in context – My students have to create a multipage website including graphics, images and potentially video and animation using Cascading style sheets to render the formatting and layout.

Here is what I came up with.

I am working on an end of unit review that I want to use with all of the teachers in my faculty. The purpose of the review is multiple:

• I would like the students to give us feedback on the unit of learning they have just undertaken
• Assessment and learning objectives should be clear and transparent, again I would like feedback on this
• Teaching and learning should be purposeful and deliberate
• The students workload and the level of challenge in their learning needs to be appriopriate
• learning should be engaging, motivating and have logical structure and flow.

I would appreciate feedback on this review tool (download the PDF file here End of Unit Review Questions)

Here are a couple of useful links that I have come across recently.

1. Educause  - 7 things you should know - http://www.educause.edu/

There are two recent updates in this useful series. The first is collaborative learning spaces and the second infographics tools. We are seeing across education a shift towards learning happening not just in the classroom but beyond. Collaborative learning spaces are useful tools that allow a common point for the learners to link to.

• http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-collaborative-learning-spaces
• http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-infographic-creation-tools

2. The commoncraft show - http://www.commoncraft.com

This is one of my favourite sites and I am happy to pay the annual membership to get access to these resources. You can access this site for free and view the videos by going to http://www.commoncraft.com. There are three things that are worth highlighting on this site at the moment:

• http://www.commoncraft.com/blog  - this blog has a number of very useful tips and posts about constructing your own explanation videos – its good reading
• http://www.commoncraft.com/new-video-credit-card-responsibility-0 This is an appropriate video that would be useful in the social sciences and economics as well as at home. Credit card responcibility
• http://www.commoncraft.com/new-video-email-access-explained-common-craft This is in the tech series and is useful resource

3.  Robotics articles in the news

Robotics has recieved a little bit of press recently and here are some useful articles from my twitter feed (@achurches)

• When are we going to learn to trust robots - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21623892
• Robot warriors: Lethal machines coming of age - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21576376
• BigDog four-legged robot now sports throwing arm http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21630212
• Police use drones to catch criminals - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10868674

This starter sheets is looking at the online service Crocodoc which allows the users to upload, share and annotate document. The documents can then be downloaded in the mark-up format or in the original format.

This service supports PDF and Microsoft office files. This is a useful way of collating student work sharing  exemplars and adding comments and drawing with out modifying the original document.

starter sheet – crocodoc formative assessment

Other Starter sheets are available at http://edorigami.wikispaces.com

Educational origami wiki

Here are a couple of educause updates. These are part of the excellent seven things you should know series, published monthly by Educause.

The latest two are:

• 7 Things you should know about microlectures – http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-microlectures
• 7 Things you should know about group texting – http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-group-texting

Educause has a number of interesting libraries that are worth exploring – here is one I like, the video and multimedia production library – http://www.educause.edu/library/video-and-multimedia-production. Have a look at this 7 things about the evolution of the textbook  to see the links that are coming through with video and multimedia production – http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-evolution-textbook

Also have a loom at the K-12 Library - http://www.educause.edu/library/k-12

This is the next in the assessment series – this use a blog as the medium for a student applying the reflective cycle to reflect on an event.

The reflective cycle has 5 stages -

1. Select an event
2. describe the event – what, where, when and who
3. Analyse the event – break it down into the component elements and as the How and why questions
4. Evaluate the event – make a judgement having considered the impact, importance, effectiveness and relationships
5. Transform – make a change based on the process

This can be used in a wide range of situations whether it is a student reflecting on their learning and contribution, a students posting a comment on a peers blog and using the cycle to offer critique and comment or a student reflecting on the events of the day.

Starter sheet reflection cycle in a blog post

As always comments are appreciated

For the complete set of starter sheets visit the education origami wiki – http://edorigami.wikispaces.com

educational origami wiki

This is the next starter sheet in the assessment series. This is slightly more specialized in terms of the software being used, but the principles being applied are the same no matter what the testing tool is.

Diagnostic testing is looking backwards to plan forwards. It can also include a snapshot of the understanding of the new unit of learning, in other words what to the students actually know about this topic, unit or concept.

The process of developing a diagnostic test will include:

• Identifying the assumed knowledge that is critical to the students learning.
• Identifying a range of aspects of the new unit that could be examined. Ideally these should be the basic elements.
• Decide on a suitable assessment method – Multiple choice questions are good for lower order thinking i.e. remember and understanding

Ask yourself the questions -

1. What does this question or task show?
2. Does this identify prior learning, or existing knowledge?
3. How will it help me to adapt and change my program of learning?

Starter Sheet – Diagnostic assess in moodle

Click here for the other starter sheets in the series. http://edorigami.wikispaces.com

As always feedback is appreciated.

Educational Origami