Documentaries: Enough is Enough Already...

Yet another post about documentaries! I'm giving a workshop today at the CECA conference in Hartford. If you're interested, here's a link to my page on resources.

Well, it's getting there...

Here's my first Prezi. I obviously still need work on layout/design, but you get the gist!

Good-Bye Power Points (and good riddance...)

Have you seen Prezi yet? It promises to revolutionize presentations. It thinks WAY outside the linear box, allowing users to create more organic presentations.

There's a definite learning curve--I was going to do one to demonstrate, but I'm struggling with paths. So I decided just to post one of the videos demonstrating the process. Very cool!

I'm actually giving a workshop at a conference on Monday, but that's probably not a good time to try using it. So I may convert one of the power points I do with the students and try that.

The site provides video tutorials, but needs a few that are more detailed (as I said, I'm struggling with the whole create a path thing). It also gives some great ideas for using Prezi creatively. Take a look!

Ah, the Irony!

If you haven't read it yet, take time to read Tom Friedman's editorial in the NYT two days ago. He discusses the necessity for fundamental educational reform--i.e. 21st century skills--if the U.S. is to remain competitive.

Where does the irony come in? I was reading it just as one of our teachers came in to ask if I could unblock YouTube so students could complete a history assignment. We called the appropriate people and were told 'no.' Yet we're a laptop school with a strong mandate for technology. Go figure.

And so much for educational reform. I've blogged about this before, and probably will again. While I think Friedman's column ignores several factors (take the time to read the comments--some were incredibly thoughtful and insightful), he's not wrong. I work with an amazingly talented faculty, many quite tech savvy.

As always, however, there are those who not only resist using technology, but see it as detrimental. They use tools only in the most shallow manner: watch a YouTube video, but we won't take the time to actually create our own. Keep a blog, but only as a personal journal, no comments, no linking. And heaven forbid we go public!

Friedman is wrong to declare we need a country entirely made up of innovators and creative thinkers. That is never going to happen, as not everyone is wired to think that way. Multiple intelligences alone tells us that. Nevertheless, we can do better at teaching students to work and think more collaboratively and use technology in meaningful ways.

Case in point: About a month ago, we finally opened up the education version of Google Apps for the school. I think three teachers are using it. I was teaching (another!) workshop on Google Docs, and a couple teachers basically said it was too much work to use it, when they could just have students work on peer-editing in class.

I agreed, but pointed out that once students were trained in peer-editing, weren't there better uses of classtime? I don't think I convinced them.

Similarly, too many assignments use technology for its own sake. Students in a school where I used to teach worked on rockets, which was fun for them. But there were few curricular ties--no work on propulsion, trajectories, etc. They just put together a kit. How much more meaningful would it be to have them design and test their own rockets, determining which factors most contribute to maximum lift?

We in the library have a special responsibility to guide both students and faculty towards more analytical engagement with content and technology. I'm not even sure my own work with students is all that innovative. As I teach the research process, I basically have two weeks with students (in 9th grade)--not a lot of time to engage them in thoughtful lessons, though we do some useful stuff on working with primary sources and analyzing websites.

Ideally, I would like to see all students in a semester long class. But that's another job in and of itself! How do others deal with this?

Of course, education alone won't solve our job and financial crisis. If education needs fundamental change, so does our national and corporate culture. When did we become a nation that looks only at short term gain? When did we stop caring about general welfare, focusing selfishly on personal profit at the expense of..well...everything else?

Educational change is AN answer, not THE answer.

Google Wave

Here's the best explanation of Google Wave I've seen yet. I'm still waiting for my invitation!

Yikes!

Haul out your "The End is Near" sign. If Cushing Academy is anything to go by, it's a whole lot closer than I imagines.

The Boston Globe reported a couple days ago that the Boston-area independent school has turned its library into a media center--minus the books. Except for a few children's books and rare editions, they've given away everything and replaced it with a couple of large screens, laptop bars, 18 Kindles and a $12,000 cappuccino machine.

Never mind my English teacher/librarian reaction to doing away with a library full of books. One odd result of making the library switch is that I'm surprisingly less sentimental about books than I used to be, whatever Nicholson Baker says.

But this horrifies me for a number of other reasons.

1) 18 Kindles for the entire school? Reading is going to be down, that's for sure. And how will they ensure equitable access for all? Usage rights are so limited with digital information, I can't imagine how they're going to work this. Are students who can't access the libraries Kindles forced to buy assigned texts? Google books is great, but how many online books provide free full-text access? Not many.

Moreover, Kindles cost around $500 each; that doesn't seem very cost-effective. And what happens when the Kindle has a run-in with the output from that $12,000 cappuccino machine? Believe me, it will happen, and the results won't be pretty, as anyone who has spilled a drink on their keyboard knows.

2) I'm a tech-geek, so I don't dismiss online reading out of hand, as many do. I think it's another literacy we need to teach. However, there is no doubt that reading from a screen makes deep, sustained thought less likely, if not altogether impossible.

This seems like a bad idea on so many levels, almost all of the pointed out in the comments section, which is almost more interesting to read than the article. Take a look.

ScreenToaster: The Alternative to Jing

 UPDATE:  Sadly, Screentoaster is now defunct.  I posted an updated blog on other screencasting tools here.

You've gotta love how easy Web 2.0 makes it to do screen tutorials. These are huge time-savers, whether you use them to record lectures for students to view at home or as catch-up tutorials when students miss a lesson.

Jing pretty much dominated the free-screencasting market until ScreenToaster launched in 2008. And, while Jing is a fantastic tool, there are some advantages to using Screentoaster.

First, ScreenToaster is web-based, requiring no software download and works on all of the major web browsers.

Jing also requires a Pro upgrade (i.e. money) in order to have the option to embed webcam video (a video of yourself embedded in the tutorial); with ScreenToaster, it's free. You can also add audio and titles, though ST doesn't allow you to add graphic call-outs (arrows, etc).

Most importantly--and this is a biggie--while both tools record video as Flash files, ScreenToaster allows you to save your tutorial as a high-quality .mov file. In other words, you can load the file into an iMovie or MovieMaker....and EDIT it! No more 15 takes trying to get something right.

Finally, you have the option to host your video on either the ScreenToaster site (ala the Jing-related Screencast.com) or upload it directly to YouTube.

If only for the ability to edit, ScreenToaster will now be the screencasting tool of choice that I use with students. Check it out.