In the past, notifying staff has been time-consuming and wasteful of paper.  We would call up each faculty member in Asset Manager, take a screen capture of what was checked out, and then use SnagIt to highlight the items which needed to be returned.  Next we would print two copies – one for the teacher and one for us to use during check in so the teacher did not need to wait while we scanned each item back into the system.

In addition to being wasteful of paper, this process had other flaws. The biggest problem was that the official name of an item in the inventory might be rather cryptic, such as Sony BNZ-MW35.  We ended up making picture explanations of the different items to clarify it for teachers.

This year, inspired by Steven Katz, I am going paperless. To get started, I created a Google spreadsheet.  Across the top I listed the different items that needed to be returned. I was able to use clear terms rather than confusing model numbers. In each teacher’s row, either I ticket the first column to indicate that all items were returned, or I ticked other columns to indicate which items needed to be returned.

I set the share settings on the spreadsheet so that anyone with the link could view the document, but not edit it.  I put that link in our End-of-Year checklist that teachers use as part of the check out process.  On Monday I will further explain it by posting this blurb in our daily newsletter.

Tech Items to Be Returned
This year, we are not giving each faculty member a print out of the tech items they need to return. Instead, we have created this Google spreadsheet. There is a link to it on your End-of-Year Checklist.

• Check the first column. If it contains a red X, then there is nothing you need to return.
• If the first column is blank, as mine is below, read across looking for other x’s.  They indicate which items you still need to return.
• You may return these items any time between now and the end of the day on June 5. You do not need to return them all at once. Keep in mind that the check-in lines are long on the last few days of school.
• Return these items directly to Susan Sedro.  Items left unattended might be stolen and would still be checked out in your name.

A few events this year are making this change more feasible.  First, we have a new ticketing and inventory management software, EasyCMDB. It is easier to use than Asset Manager .  It allows me to pull up any teacher in just a few clicks. The other key event was our introduction of Google Apps and our migration to Gmail.  I think most teachers will now be successful using the spreadsheet.

On my walk tonight I was listening to a great chapter in Reality is Broken. The chapter focused on different types of alternate reality games, including the Quest for Learning school and SuperBetter which I have been playing.  At the end of the chapter I switched my ipod to instrumental because my head was full of ideas for the typing game I want to design.

Typing you say? Ugh you say? Exactly! I say. Next year we won’t have weekly computer classes.  Our homeroom classes are not 1:1 with computers or iPads. As a result, I am not confident they will be come accurate and quick enough to make the computer a viable tool for efficiently completing the class projects.  Besides, there isn’t enough time in school for them to practice to become proficient.  It is an ideal skills to work on outside of school. Those children who are self motivated or who have a parent motivating them make good gains. They learn to type well enough that they can type their projects.

Seeing Jeff Utecht’s post on his Google Apps Ninja game. Seeing how with almost no promotion students and even staff were diving into the optional learning opportunity, I think a game could motivate my upper elementary students to voluntarily improve their typing skills.

After my walk I logged in to Mind Meister to get my ideas down before I forgot them.  Here are my initial ideas. Of course, since this is the actual mind map embedded, unless you are viewing it on the day I posted it, it will show more than my initial ideas.

Cool Resources

Here are some resources I might use when I am farther in my thinking.

• Chris Taylor’s Game Design Document Sample
• Another game design template

Prior to the conference, my brain was tickled by educational gaming in a number of instances.  One was having my grade 5 students play Carnegie Mellon Univeristy’s excellent Carnegie Cadets game.  When combined with discussion my students were eagerly learning and retaining more digital citizenship skills and information than any other method of instruction. Quite a few of them downloaded it at home and were eager to repeat the missions even after they finished the game. Likewise, I have third and fourth graders eagerly downloading Timez Attack at home.  Another was Jeff Utecht’s intriguing Become a Google Apps Ninja post. I kept going back to it wondering if I could find a way to make it work for elementary students.

All of that was simmering on the back burner when I read Madeleine Cox’s Gaming the Rules blog post. In it she starts applying gaming principles to helping students understand her school’s Acceptable Use Policy. Seeing how this might be used with grade 6 students gave me another kick to get learning and thinking.

She also mentioned that she was drawing on information from Jane McGonigal’s book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. I already have the gamification book to read over break but I was eager to start so I used my Audible.com membership to download the audiobook. I love audiobooks because they make tedious tasks enjoyable. I am finding them a great option for non-fiction books since I jealously guard my brief reading time for fiction.

The down side to audiobooks is my inability to highlight and take notes.  Usually I’m listening while working out, cooking or washing dishes.  None of those tasks are conducive to note taking. I may start a blog post to serve as a brain dump for latter reflection.  If I do it won’t be pretty but you are welcome to come along for the ride.

If you have already gamified some of the learning at your school I’d appreciate hearing from you. I am especially interested in elementary school examples.

First, a bit of background information.  My iPhone 3GS was already running the most current version of iOS (5.0.1).  That phone was already using iCloud to sync mail, contacts, calendars, bookmarks and notes. I am using a Mac running Lion (10.7.2) for syncing.

1. Read this short article designed to help people who are traveling and rent an iPhone.
2. Run software update to ensure you have the most current version of iTunes.
3. Prepare to Back Up Contacts, Mail Accounts, Calendars, Bookmarks and Notes
   Check that you have your important data set to backup.  With the iPhone plugged in and iTunes open, click on the iPhone in the left navigation bar. Then click on the Info tab.  That is where you tell the iTunes which data to backup.  If you are not using iCloud, make certain you have the right boxes ticked to back up that data from the phone to the computer. I am using iCloud so I did not tick any of the boxes and I had the message below.
4. Sync your old iPhone.
5. Transfer Purchases and Back Up
   It was probably redundant, but I also right-clicked on the iPhone in iTunes and transferred purchases from iPhone to computer.  Then I right-clicked again and made the iPhone back up.
   
6. Back Up Databases
   I created a folder on my desktop. Then I backed up the following data sets on my computer into it so I could more easily recover if something went wrong.
   • Contacts: Open Address Book > File > Export >Address book archive
   • iCal: Open iCal > File > Export > iCal archive
   • I should have backed up 1Password, my third-party password program. Fortunately, that data seems just fine.
7. Backup Third-Party Apps Data
   Next, from within iTunes I scrolled to the bottom of the apps tab to the filesharing section.  This is where you can backup app data from certain third-party apps.  For the apps that actually had data which I wanted to keep, I clicked on the app, clicked on the data, and then clicked the Save To.. button to save it to that backup folder I created on my desktop.  I did this for Good Reader, Gym Buddy and HandDBase.  Many of my apps, such as 2Do and Evernote sync to a location on the web, so I did not back them up here.
8. Sync New iPhone
   When I plugged in the new phone I was asked if this was a new phone or if I wanted to restore. I chose the latter and selected to restore from my old iPhone.  Everything I did up until now took around 15 minutes.  This step took another 15 minutes while all my data was transferred to my new phone.  To my delight, everything seems to have transferred correctly.  My apps seems to be there, in the same locations and folders.  My important information is there such as contacts and calendars.  Even my third party apps have their data and my Gmail app already knew my credentials and logged in.
9. Rename Your New Phone
   Since you did a restore, your new phone now has your old phone’s name. Double-click on the name of your old device in the left navigation bar.  Give it a new name and press return.
   
10. Connect to WIFI
    In settings, connect to your wifi network.
    
    
11. Connect to iCloud
    In settings, click on iCloud and login. Select which data sets you want to backup to iCloud.  Make certain Find My iPhone  is turned on. I sync everything except  Photostream, Documents & Data.  That is a personal preference. You may want to sync those as well. See short directions with photos here.
12. Check that Find My iPhone is Working
    On your computer, open Safari. Navigate to www.icloud.com.  Login. Click on the cloud.  Click on Find My iPhone.  Let it find your new phone.
13. Charge Phone and Wait for Network Services to Kick In
    Since I am switching to a new phone but keeping the same phone number, it will take a few days for network services to transfer from my old phone to my new one.

That’s it. The entire process took no more than 45 minutes.  I hope your migration goes as smoothly. If you are lucky enough to give it a try, let me know how it goes.

(This was actually an attempt at using the WordPress ipad app to post to a personally hosted blog. Looks like it worked! Our attempt to upload mp3 also worked but AAC was not so good.)

Jump ahead five years and now most of my files are online and platform-independent. I’ve shifted from One Note to Evernote.  I’m using Dropbox instead of My Site in Sharepoint to store files.  Both of those play well with my Windows 7 tablet at work, my Mac at home, my iphone and my ipad.  As a result, I can do more of my work from the comfort of my home or on the road.

Increased use of Google Docs further facilitated this change.  It allowed me to work on docs, spreadsheets and presentations from home and work. However, finding an app that accessed those well on my iphone and ipad has been less fun.  When I started looking, I discovered that many apps allow you to view your docs.  Unfortunately, few let you edit them well. Google’s own app sent you to Safari to do any work.

Eventually I found iGoogDocs and access improved.  It is not flashy, but it is quick and reliable.  With few taps I was into my docs. One further click and I was editing them. I used it with both Docs and Sheets and while I wouldn’t want to do major revision work on either on a phone, the quick bits I needed to revise on the fly worked well.

With Safari for reading my mail, and iGoogDocs for viewing work docs, all was well until I switched from Outlook to Gmail at work.  I was part of the pilot group charged with figuring out and resolving the glitches of moving off the Exchange server. This made mail a bit trickier on the iPhone. I was already using Safari to read my personal Gmail. It wasn’t very feature-rich, but my personal mail didn’t require much.  However, my work mail needed a more powerful interface to improve my workflow.

I found a really nice phone app called iMailG. I was quickly hooked on it due to all its handy features and visual appeal. I could now star messages.  I could quickly jump to the top and bottom of message.  I was amazed at how much better my experience was using that rather than the iPhone’s Mail app or Safari. (Since that time Google has vastly improved it’s mobile version so most features are available via Safari if you don’t want a stand alone app.

Since these two apps served me well on the iPhone, I eagerly put them on my iPad when I finally purchased one. iGoogDocs worked, but only at the size of an iPhone screen.  After trying a few iPad apps, I decided to use IGoogDocs anyways because it was more stable and quicker.
I also installed iMailG only to find it was not compatible. The developers were working on an iPad version but it wasn’t available yet.  I briefly used a nice app designed to play well with multiple Gmail accounts. It worked well until it was updated. I contacted the developer and he made a fix but it didn’t stick. I was back to looking for an app for my work Gmail.

Fortunately I found Google Apps Browser by G-Whizz! As with iMailG on the phone, this app added value to my experience.  It has a well-designed interface that lets me work more efficiently. It has many nifty features and it is stable.  It works well for mail, docs, spreadsheets and calendar.  The other apps probably work well but I don’t use them at work. I am so pleased that I think I will purchase the iPhone version.  That way my work mail can be on that and my personal account can be on iMailG.

The story could end there, but it doesn’t.  iMailG is now available for the iPad. It is a delight to use.  It is tied in my affections with Google Apps Browser  for mail and doc access.  Since I don’t have an app on either device that handles multiple accounts, this is the best solution– and it is a good one.

How are you accessing your Google accounts on your i-devices?

My reading habits are changing and some of it is due to the devices I have been using. The popularity of these devices is unquestionable, but they have the long history of paper to compete against. They are interesting, useful and easy to use. But can they change what and how we read? Do they make being literate different?

Recently this same topic has been on my mind.  I received a Kindle at Christmas time.  I enjoyed using it for many reasons.

• I appreciated the almost instant access to books that would be expensive to ship to Singapore or require a trip downtown.
• I liked the integrated reading light in the overpriced cover.
• The built-in dictionary was helpful.
• When travelling I found it useful to carry many books in such a small package.
• My tired night eyes appreciated that I could change the font size.

Then I read a professional book on it. I could mark up the text, take notes and then sync those with my online account.  Voilá!  No more flipping through the book to find my highlights and notes. Instantly my notes became much more useful, much more powerful.  In addition to my own highlights, I can optionally view what other readers have highlighted. This has further enhanced my reading experience. Now when a professional book isn’t available on Kindle, I grouse and am less likely to read it.  All in all, the Kindle did add value to the reading experience and I was glad to own it.

Then I discovered that I could manually (or automatically for a fee) upload my Instapaper articles to the Kindle.  I know from past experience that I am unlikely to spend time on my computer reading the articles I have saved to Instapaper. When I discovered that I could upload the files to the Kindle I read far faster and with more enjoyment.

However, all was not perfect.  Adding notes was a tedious process. The reading light sometimes bothered my spouse.  The Instapaper articles were “dead;” I couldn’t share them or save them on the Kindle. Most bothersome was needing to buy the reading material. I am a big fan of libraries and wanted to read library books on my Kindle.  I know that feature is coming out later this year. I hope it isn’t a Windows-only thing as so many DRM things are.

This summer I purchased an iPad 2.  I knew it was supposed to be a nice platform for reading, but I was more interested in it as a laptop replacement for use when traveling, teaching and in meetings.  Therefore I was surprised to find how much it impacted my reading.

The first impact came from using Flipboard.  I was able to enter my blogroll, Facebook and Twitter RSS feeds into the app.  It’s newspaper-like layout made it a pleasure to read those feeds and easy to skim to find the posts I really wanted to read. The app’s sharing features made it easy for me to share links on Twitter, Google Reader or via email.  I could retweet and reply to what I was reading. I could send articles to Instapaper.  I even worked out a fairly painless procedure for  getting links into Diigo. (I dearly wish there was direct integration  with Diigo. That would save me even more time.) In short order, I went from 1000+ unread posts to being caught up each week.

Next I tried the Kindle app.  Now reading professional books was even better because it was easier to add notes. I am more likely to have my ipad with me than my Kindle, so books are more often at hand.

Then I tried Zite. It is a news reader that allows you to pick areas of interest. Then, within those areas, you can give individual articles a thumbs up or down to train the app to better meet your interests. The layout and features are similar to Flipboard so reading is a pleasure.  Not since I had a paper subscription to the International Herald Tribune have I read so much news and enjoyed it so much. Today I noticed that the app has added the feed from the Popular Science magazine website.  An hour later I was still grinning as I read articles back through last December, everything from the theory of cancer as a parasite, not merely a cell mutation, to a photo from the International Space Station of the last space shuttle’s glowing vapor trail on its final descent.

Then I discovered that the Ramsey County Library in my hometown in Minnesota has many books available for reading on your computer or your mobile device using Overdrive software from Adobe.  More than 15,000 libraries world wide use that system.  I needed to create a free Adobe account from the Adobe website.  I also needed to download the Overdrive app and enter my Adobe ID into it.  Then I used my library account which I already used to reserve and renew print books, to login. In a matter of minutes I had a book downloaded to my iPad.

Patrons are allowed to have up to two ebooks checked out at a time. The lending time varies by book but most seem to be 2 week loans.  Unlike most Kindle books, the layout was the same as the print book. Picture books are in full color. The first chapter book I read included page embellishments.  I wish the Overdrive app had a built-in dictionary, but other than that, it has all the features I need.  Their ebook collection is tiny compared to their print collection. Despite that, I have a long wishlist of books I plan to download and read.

Back to Clarence’s original questions.  I haven’t exactly addressed them, but I can unequivocally say that for me, digital reading devices have me reading more, reading more broadly, sharing more of what I read, and making better use of my notes.

My  own questions include the following:

• Will mobile reading devices have a similar impact on our students? I know for my elementary students that is unlikely since most of the apps mentioned above cannot be used by them since they are under 13.
• For older students, how can we leverage the power of these devices?
• I have been an avid reader since I was a child so my taking to these devices is no surprise.  Will the diversity of materials readily available make reading more appealing to reluctant readers?
• Will they appeal to some reluctant readers because they are tech?
• Do we need to teach them different literacy skills to make the most of these devices?

Now in addition to those formats, we have podcasts, videos, Bitstrips, Voicethreads, Glogs, and other formats.  We are also starting to see more open-ended projects where teachers let students chose how to share their learning.

About a third of our teachers and specialists have their own blogs or wikis. Two of our classes are using student blogs as digital portfolios.  A number of others are using Powerpoint as a digital portfolio platform and embedding or linking to their projects.  Some digital projects can be saved as .wmv or .jpg or .mpe and dropped in our online photo galleries. The rest have been more problematic to share. For the rest of the classes we need a digital showcase.

In addition to showcasing student learning, I saw other uses for this showcase…

• Share examples of projects with teachers during planning meetings
• Share exemplars with students at the start of a project
• Share exemplars with WASC accreditation teams

We clearly had a need, but we weren’t sure which format to choose. Our school has a Wikispaces account and an Edublogs campus account. We could make a case for either platform.  In the end we decided on Edublogs. At this time, the blog templates were better looking, and the platform was easier to work with.  You can view it here.

The Gecko Hub

Our original theme was much better looking but the font size was too small and we weren’t ready to start modifying the CSS template.  We switched to our current theme which is not nearly as attractive but the black background makes the student work pop visually.  It met our needs in terms of allowing the needed search widgets.

We set up a number of categories to allow us to search effectively.  We have categories for grade level, subject and tool type.  Now I am realizing we should add the ISTE categories as well.  Since it is the computer teacher and myself adding projects, that should be manageable.

The search field should allow visitors to search by teacher’s name, making it easier for families to use.

We are just starting to add student work to the blog.  I am liking that the newest projects appear at the top of the main page, that we don’t need to create the navigation links, and that each post really has its own “page” so teachers can add the link to their newsletters.

I am not loving the unfinished look of this theme, but I’ll leave it for now.

I am learning how to modify embed codes to make for a more attractive post. For example, embedding a full-sized glog doesn’t work very well. The right side of the glog gets cut off.  Fortunately, I can modify the embed code, making the glog appear at less than full -size.  Now I need to find that magic combination of easy to read but still fits in the blog.

Creating the posts is time-consuming. I am hoping my assistant will be able to help. Another problem may be storage.  At the end of the year we tend to clear out most student projects from our subscription services. We need a way to mark the exemplars so they don’t become dead links on the blog.

I suspect at the end of each year we need to go in an modify the posts, removing the link to each child’s project and leaving only the exemplars.

While we’ve clearly only made baby steps, it is a start. I am confident we will continue to refine it into a powerful tool. I’d love to hear how you are showcasing student work online.

I have been planning on setting something like that up since school started.  I wanted it for the following purposes.

• A place to share student work with families, other classes and each other.
• A place for students to receive feedback from an outside audience.
• An archive to help students see what has been done in the past — they usually rise above the bar set by previous classes.
• A repository of examples so that as teachers plan the year with us, we can “show” them what other classes have done.
• A record of our tech integration growth. It won’t capture all our growth. Rather, it is one of many tools used for that purpose.

My first questions is format. We have Wikispaces.net, Edublogs, Blogger and Google Sites as school supported options so my first decision is blog or wiki?  I am least interested in Blogger and Google Sites due to the space limitations on our school Google Apps accounts.  I don’t think students will usually be the ones adding projects to the site since neither platform allows multiple people to work on the same page at the same time.  Can you do that with Google Sites as you can with Google Apps? If so, that could be very useful. In any case, I am leaning towards Edublogs because it has so many attractive themes. Our Wikispaces.net account has a very vanilla theme. It goes well with our corporate website, but it isn’t a look that I think will appeal to children.

Whichever I choose, I am uncertain how to organize it.  Based on my list of goals above, would you organize it purely chronologically? By grade level?  By type of project? By subject area?  Having so many goals make it challenging to choose.  As I look back over those goals, I think they are already listed in orders of importance.

If I use a blog, then the most current projects would be what you saw as you visited the site which is handy for parents and students.  This would also create an automatic chronological archive in the sidebar, making it good to show our school’s growth over time.  That is good. Will that still work if I have multiple pages?  For example, I could have different pages for different types of media.  However, when I’ve seen teachers add pages to their site, those pages are like a single entry blog post. If they want to add to it, it is all still the same post.  That is less desirable.  I would like each new project added to be posts.  That would more elegantly allow for comments on each group of projects.  Anyone know how to make Edublogs do this?

Maybe, I only have one page but use categories. I can have categories  by year, grade level, subject, and type of project.  With those categories listed in the sidebar, it would be easy to click on the grade 3 category and view work that way, click on math and see tech integration in math, or click on Bitstrips and view all the ways we used Bitstrips across the curriculum.

There are of course, student privacy concerns.  However we take those into account when we create any project that may appear online.

As you can tell, these are preliminary thoughts. Does your school have anything like this? What platform do you use? Any words of advice as I embark on this project? I’d appreciate hearing them.