WolframAlpha Works For Schools!

I've been exploring a new search engine called WolframAlpha the last couple of days. It is a fantastic resource for many disciplines and I can find great educational use in this tool.
As a former foods and nutrition teacher, I was quite excited to see the data that was found when I typed in the word "Apple" and got a nutrition facts label and several other charts displaying nutrients provided in 1 apple. I considered the projects I would do with students using labels they would have to bring in (and of course forget). This tool would be such a fantastic way to do those projects without having to spend extra time on finding labels.
The next search I did (a little more fun) was my birthday. I typed in the date and found that I am 10,888 days old! It also told me that no notable events happened on that day (except for of course the obvious) and informed me that the sun came up at 6:37.
As you may be able to tell, this search engine is focused more on data, charts, graphs, etc. It will compare stocks, perform calculations and give you statistics about dates, towns and even people. I encourage you to check this one out if you haven't already but keep in mind as you're looking that this engine is specific in its information. You're not going to be able to type in everything and get a list of results.

You're Too Old to Hear My Phone!

At first, I thought my technology manager was telling a joke when he told me about teens using high frequency ring tones on their cell phones, but turns out they're very popular. Students are using them, of course, to alert them when a text comes in during class. Seems that teens can hear sounds at higher decibels than we "old" people can.
Honestly, I was a bit skeptical until he showed me this website from Free Mosquito Ringtones. Go ahead, test it yourself. I recommend you get someone younger than you to sit with you just to prove it. If you want to know how each sound corresponds to age, see this page.
Yes, this is just another method to get around the rules of the school that govern the use of cell phones in class. I say it's still pretty cool though and I read that a student came up with the idea-way to use your noggin' kid-pretty cool stuff!

iExcited!

Have been working on the iPod cart most of of the week so I wanted to send out an update on a few things I've learned along the way.

I met with my technology manager earlier this week so we could figure out how to get everything set up correctly. Being the first in our county to have an ipod cart, I think we were both excited about playing with something new! We had talked with Val Brown, the technology specialist at Culbreth Middle School in Chapel Hill NC and received a few pointers. We knew from talking with her that we needed to get an email address for the cart, a paypal account and an itunes account. We're keeping the account information secure between a few individuals at our school so anyone that wants to buy an app will have to get it approved first through one of us-probably me. We had a cash back card from the NEC Star Student program that we're using to provide money for buying apps. It worked out really well because Apple doesn't have anything set up for purchasing power with schools. We don't have any way of doing a purchase order through itunes or setting up a paypal account through the school, so for us we felt this was the best way to handle buying the apps.

With all of the accounts set up, we were ready to start registering the ipods. We knew we would have to do it one at a time and we held our breath as we did #6 because we both felt like we had heard you could only have 5 ipods per computer. We learned that is just not true! The ipod cart comes with two drawers that hold 20 ipods per drawer. Each drawer has its own cable to sync the units, so 20 ipods can be synched at one time (once you go through the initial setup process). It is so important to have your accounts set up before you get started because the itunes account is what is needed to register your ipod.

After we set up 6, he left me to do the rest, but I couldn't help but to go download a bunch of apps! I went and found a ton of freebie educational apps and put them on the computer. It was really neat to plug them all in (and hear the sound of them linking) and watch them sync. In the end, that wasn't the best idea. I learned the hard way that once you have all those apps on there, the set up process takes a little longer. Once you register the ipods, you have to wait for all of the apps to load. In retrospect I realize that I could have turned off automatic synching, but it really wasn't that big of a deal as one ipod can by performing the sync while you're registering others.

I got through about 20 of them and my principal came knocking at my door. She was all excited because there was a class of students that was available to test the ipods and she wanted to see what they thought. I gave her a few and sent her on her way and then thought, wait a minute-why does she get to have all the fun? So, I went to the class to see what was going on. When I got there, the kids had already gotten together and were using the apps that I had just installed. By the end of the period, they had made a list of all of the apps and shared their opinions of each. They found the formulas app with all types of math formulas to be pretty fantastic while the iBrush app, used to teach you how to brush your teeth, was not so great! (That one was more for me to try-it is neat...once).

Now, we're looking for an engraver. I made the mistake of forgetting to get them engraved when we purchased. We want the school name to be on there somewhere in case one gets lots or stolen. Once we get the engraving done, we'll be ready to send them out for more testing!

Google Sites gets Thumbs up!

I have had the opportunity to work as a mentor to a graduation project student this semester. It has been a very rewarding experience. His topic relates to social networking and he is the only student in our county creating an online portfolio. He volunteered to try it after finding out that I would be his mentor. A few of us tech nerds in the county have been wanting to get the graduation project to go digital and we're hoping this example might help move the process along.
Upon first meeting with him, we talked about options for creating the portfolio online which included many free and paid sites. I told him to try out a few that looked of interest to him and let me know which he thought was best for his needs. In the end, he picked Google Sites. I was of course pleased because I love Google and Sites is an area I've not really explored too much.

I sat down with him for our last meeting of the year yesterday and we talked about the Pros and Cons of using Google Sites as a tool for the graduation project.

Pros:
1. He was amazed at how easy it was to get started and work on the pages. He really felt like it would take very little computer knowledge (by teachers or students) to create a Google Site
2. The colors and customization are great and very easy to change even after you've created the site.
3. There are spots on each page (if you want them there) to add comments, so if he had wanted to share his site with others (peer editing, etc.) they could have posted their comments right on the page.

Cons:
1. When using columns, it's set up so that the 2nd column is fixed. In other words, if you resize the page, the 2nd column does not change it's size, but the 1st column does. This caused a problem on at least one of his pages.
2. We were not able to find a way to edit table borders. We tried to create a table when we had problems with the columns but there wasn't a way to make the table borders invisible.

Overall, he felt that the ease of use of the google sites was fantastic and said he's recommend it as a tool to use in the future. He will be sharing his site with students in his class next week and has been asked to present it to the graduation project committee during their county-wide meeting (also next week). He hasn't finished the site as of this moment and has asked that I don't share it yet. Once he give me the ok, I'll post it here.

Apps of Steel

Our Mac server arrived today for the 21st Century Lab! The lab is not ready yet, but we're setting up our ipod cart so that it works with the server, allowing us to manage the apps and other settings on the ipods. I want to add lots of apps to the ipods so teachers can start learning and helping me to find those "Apps of Steel" that should be on all of the units. We're looking for all the apps we can try that are related to the various curriculum areas in a high school. Teachers will evaluate them and once we decide which apps each department wants to use, we'll put them on the server to sync with the ipods.
I have talked with one teacher and actually gave him one of the ipods to try. He's been very successful in learning to use the ipod as well as find many apps that are available for his discipline (Social Studies). His department recently got together and he shared what he was finding. I asked how it was received and he said it was positive, but with any new technology, there were concerns.
Not only are teachers concerned about learning how to use the equipment, but they are still looking at it as an "extra" thing to add to their day. I mentioned this in another blog post and it becomes more aware to me every day that I need to refocus their thinking on technology integration.
It was also mentioned that teachers might be a little resentful of the new equipment because of the budget cuts in our state. My talk with this teacher solidified the fact that I may need to step lightly around this for a little while-at least until the dust settles this year. In the mean time, we are pushing forward. I believe once a few of the teachers here start to see the educational options available with the ipod touch, word will travel quickly and we'll get buy-in from the teachers. I know I already have excitement of the students because every student that walks in my office drops their jaw when they see the stack of ipods on my table!