They had the self service check out where you could scan your book and swipe your card, but they still had it wrong.

They had a nice performance area with several levels of seats, but there was no one there.

They had a wide selection of fiction works, media to take out and magazines. They had an extensive array of reference materials and even some computers, but they still had it wrong.

They had staff who were experience and knowledgable. They had a long and wide service desk and this was part of the problem.

I walked into the library, rummaged around, found a book and left all with out ever talking to the librarians. This was where it went wrong.

The librarians with all of  their accumulated wisdom, extensive experience, passion for books and understanding of system, stayed behind there thick, wide desk. They were the end point of the process if I had to withdraw a book or item that required a charge or required some degree of intervention. Other than that I was on my own.

Why is it that the experts with the passion for books are the last point of call? why are they the end of the process? Why are they only relevant if I need help or if I need to pay?

Surely in the modern library, the librarians are the starting point of the journey.

Wouldn’t it be great if they can out from behind their fortified issues desk and became relevant to me as I tried to find the object of my curiosity rather than as the cashier? I struggle too in the days of self check out, where you can demagnetize the book yourself, issue it at a compact workstation where you can perform the cataloging functions as to why they need a huge desk that keeps them separate from the customers?

Why are libraries, even ones built in the last few years, still designed with the librarians as the end point. Where the apparent role of the librarian is to protect the book stock or to issue the book.

Walk into your own library. Does a librarian come and greet you and ask how they can help? Do they share the accumulated wisdom and scholarship they have? Do they exude the passion and love they have for reading? Or do you have my experience and never encounter a librarian at all?

And what will happen soon when eBooks are much much more common.

Many of us may have seen the recent release from Google about a project they are working on called Project Glass. http://g.co/projectglass and perhaps you have looked up the video on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c6W4CCU9M4 Aside from the privacy and security issues that the boys on Facebook (yes Andrew and David) mentioned, and these are real concerns too. This is a great project and it heralds what we can expect to see in the future.

But this is not alone and its also worth looking at this offering from Corning the glass company – A day made of Glass - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38

The potential here is amazing and again we will be increasingly challenged by issues of privacy, security and anonymity. We are heading towards an incredibly information pervasive society, where connection is ubiquitous and constant. While in some ways I find this exciting, I also find it challenging. are we going to get to a point where there is no OFF switch. We already know that the OFF switch on most of our devices does not actually mean OFF it means standby, it means don’t display, it means hide and process in the background.

The BBC has on their website a number of very interesting articles in a column called Future. These are some that also relate to the future of ICT:

• Voice Control - http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120323-future-interaction-voice-control
• Touch screens - http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120316-future-interaction-touch-screens
• Gesture control - http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120221-future-of-interaction-gesture
• Brain Control - http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120229-future-interaction-brain-control
• BBC Future - http://www.bbc.com/future

The article asks two pieces of information from you, the first is the country you are in and the second your pre-tax monthly wage. It then calculates your wage against your own countries average wage and the global average wage.

Its fascinating

The URL for this interactive is - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17543356

Its also worth while visiting that master of statistics, Hans Rosling at gapminder –  http://www.gapminder.org. Check out the Wealth and Health of Countries – which relates well to the Global pay scale question.

If you have a spare hour, I wold recommend that you check out the Joy of stats video, broadcast on the BBC and hosted on the Gapminder site.

Comparing life expectancy and wage for Nepal and NZ. Interesting, you would have thought the gap would have been bigger.

Source: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com

In the court case involving Cricketer Chris Cairns and the prosecution of the student who tweeted about stricken footballer Fabrice Muamba we see examples of people who did not consider that comments made in public mediums like Twitter can be libelous or illegal. In Cairn’s case, comments have seen him awarded a substantial amount of damages and costs and in the Tweets about the footballer, the young man has been jailed for 56 days.

Source: http://taliamark.com/blog/images/Twitter-Logo.jpg

We used to say “email in haste, repent at your leisure” this must now extend to these other mediums as well. We and our students must be considered and deliberate in what we say, whether this is via email, blog posts or instant communication mediums like twitter.

At school, we ask the students to consider how they would feel if the comment they were making was said about them. To put themselves in the other persons shoes. And if the message isn’t suitable, appropriate or “nice” then don’t say it. The recent court activity is adding yet more imperative to this. This is Respect other and Looking after others.

It also raises the issue of the digital footprint. That once something is said, it is un-erasable. Our digital footprints are permanent, and the comments we have made can be retrieved, taken out of context, interpreted in many different ways and served back to us. I don’t think that in either of the cases above there was any doubt about the meaning of their tweets, but they are un-erasable.

Resources:

http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/The+Digital+Citizen

http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Digital+Citizen+AUA

Middle School Digital Citizenship.pdf

acceptable use agreement 1.1.pdf

1. accessibility in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/Accessibility.aspx
2. Mathematics 4.0 in the classroom _ http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/Mathematics-guide.aspx – this includes a step by step guide, plus links to the download of the product as well
3. Bing (Microsofts search engine) in the classroom  - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/bing.aspx
4. Windows 7 in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/windows-7.aspx this also has videos as well to help you out.
5. One note in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/one-note.aspx again with videos to support the professional development.
6. Microsoft Office in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/microsoft-office-system.aspx  - videos and other resources.
7. Digital Storytelling in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/digital_storytelling.aspx
8. Free tools from Microsoft - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/free-tools.aspx – this is Autocollage, photo synth and Movie maker live
9. Product How to’s - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/how-to/Pages/index.aspx
10. Microsoft Free Products - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/Pages/free-products.aspx some interesting software here like the chemistry add in for word, the mathematics add in, flash cards, songsmith, Kodu game lab and more. Check out this as well - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/faculty/Pages/free-software.aspx 
11. Templates - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/Pages/templates.aspx This is an interesting set of templates, some of which are quite useful.
12. Critical thinking in the classroom - http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/critical_thinking.aspx – This is an interesting one with set of lesson plans, students hand outs and teacher resources for:

• Searching
• Plagarism
• Citing web resources
• Validity and reliabilityt
• Civil Discourse

They call this the new wonders of the world but these are interesting and useful resources which give a 360 degree perspective on some of the fascinating places most of us will never visit. Check these out:

1. Colosseum - http://www.panoramas.dk/7-wonders/colosseum.html
2. The Great wall of China - http://www.panoramas.dk/7-wonders/great-wall.html
3. Petra - http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen2/full24.html
4. Taj Mahal - http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen/fullscreen23.html
5. Machu Picchu in Peru - http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen6/f2-machu-picchu.html
6. Christ the redeemer in Rio de Janeiro - http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen6/f40-rio-de-janeiro.html
7. Chichen Itza in Mexico - http://www.panoramas.dk/7-wonders/Chichen-Itza.html
8. There are more in the archive - http://www.panoramas.dk/archive.html

1. Commoncraft video – Web Browsers – http://www.commoncraft.com/video/web-browsers This is another excellent product from the commoncraft show. This video looks at the basics and features of web browsers. A very useful tool for professional development and within IT courses. Consider becoming a member, its cost efficient and ethical.

2. Seven things you should know about projecting from mobile devices - http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7082.pdf This is another useful perspective from Educause. We have all seen the amazing growth in mobile devices, the ability illustrated by iPhones having applications like “keynote” which allows you to present from your iPhone or for the really game, edit and create your presentation. This is a useful view.

3. QRstuff http://www.qrstuff.com/ have you played with QR (Quick response) Codes? Increasingly we are seeing these versatile codes appearing everywhere. So much more than a barcode they can send you emails, text messages and much more. QRstuff is an easy to use site that allows you to create and generate QR codes. try this link:
4. BBC Future - http://www.bbc.com/future This is an interesting series of articles and columns that I have recently discovered while browsing around on the BBC site. Today’s article is an interesting one – Is email evil? http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120328-is-email-evil

This is a site to book mark and visit often.

If the students are working as an individual, I get them to use the waterfall or cascade method of project management. This is the classical cycle of:

1. Define the problem
2. Design a solution
3. Develop the solution
4. Debrief

When the students are working in groups a better approach is the agile project management method, where the tasks are clearly defined and of short duration, where there is regular feedback and updates. Explaining agile projects and the process to the students can be a little complex, but I have discovered a very good video resource that I use with them. When you look at the video you can also see how the core concepts of the Sprint – Defining the tasks and assigning the roles, the Daily stand up with its three core questions:

• What did you do yesterday
• What will you do today
• What are the obstacles or impediments preventing you progressing,

and the project review can fit very nicely into every day project based learning. We know from John Hattie’s Meta-research in Visible Learning that feedback has a huge impact on on the learning of our students.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJflDE6OaSc – Agile, an Introduction.

My students are developing an advertisement and part of the production process is the development of a suitable storyboard or plan which provides structure and flow to the final product.

The storyboard must have a start, middle and end. They have to consider timing, sequence, structure, purpose, audience, balance, alignment, transitions, images, audio etc.

storyboard rubric

Comments and suggestions are always welcomed.

Watch the video – its quite amazing. I love the fact that the computer is in English and the students are still able to navigate and use the computer. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass/17461332.

I suspect that we take for granted the access to such technologies. The young lady who is the center of the article has been teaching her father to read and write. Education is the key, its opens opportunities and more.

This is a useful article for ITGS education.

The difference was I was in Auckland and the teachers were in Beijing at WAB, the Western Academy of Beijing. It was 10pm in NZ time and 5 pm Beijing time.

We used Blackboard Elluminate (they call it Collaborate) to host the session. While we ran into the odd problem with the size of the presentation I wanted to use (I had to reduced the file size substantially), the program worked well and supported the file I uploaded. The audio was good, but there was a 5-10 second delay, which when we left the microphone on in the room in Beijing was quite disconcerting. However, with the microphone off while I was speaking and using the chat window, we were able to communicate, keep me up to speed on the slide (its very strange not seeing your slides pop up) being displayed at the time. Madeleine was brilliant and had every thing running like a well oiled machine.

Doing distance presentations is very different from standing up and presenting in front of an audience. There are some advantages, you can build in interactivity, polls etc and deliver to people in remote locations, as well as the obvious reductions in costs and the carbon footprint.

The disadvantages are quite profound at times, its hard to gauge the impact your presentation is having, that the funny bits are coming across as funny and the serious elements are delivered. Its hard to pick your speed of delivery and to feel confident that your slides are presented as you would want. The importance of rehearsal and great support on the ground can not be under estimated, seeing comments flowing in the chat window are brilliant for adjusting and modifying your delivery to suit the audience.

Doing distance presentations and working with teachers across the world is a great example of Transformative use of Technology. This would not have been possible with out technology. There are three levels to consider: Literacy, Augmentative and Transformative. The three levels come from the work of Bernajean Porter

Level 1: Literacy use - This is often “Teaching about technology”. This level of use often manifests itself as learning how to use technology etc. This is critical as there must be an aspect of this before we progress to the higher levels. eg. This could be teaching of word processing techniques, discussing use of colour in a presentation, writing formula in a spreadsheet etc

Level 2: Augmentative/Integrating use - This is often “Teaching with technology”. Does the use of technology reinforce, augment or substitute for a traditional teaching approach? The key question here is “Can we do this without technology?” If the answer is Yes, then this is augmentative or integrating. eg. This could be using an email system to distribute class notes or materials, having students process mathematical formula or process on a smartboards, developing a presentation etc. Each of these can be achieved using traditional teaching approaches.

Level 3: Transformative use - This is “Teaching through technology”. Here the activity or learning you are doing can only be completed by using the technology. The learning is focused is on learning by and developing skills in collaboration & communication, self-directed learning, higher order thinking and use of electronic information. Technology here is not the goal, rather learning is. At this level the use of technology is seemless and this level of learning could not happen without the technology.
eg. Students collaboratively researching a presentation topic and assembling the research in Google documents and then each students prepares a section of the presentation synchronously using the presentation tool in the Google apps suite. A teacher who holds a regular evening homework tutorial between 7pm and 7.30pm for his students using a collaboration tool. etc.

Source: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Tech_audit_tool