Educating the Dragon

I blogged about it ages ago, Vicki Davies commented and David Warlick showed interest too.

It finally happened, in little old
Flaxmere, New Zealand. The Kid’s Conference.

Kimi Ora, Flaxmere Primary,
Iron Gate and Peterhead came together to showcase what they have been doing with ICT over the past couple of months. We had groups of children demonstrating how Google SketchUp, Art Rage and PowerPoint worked, we had some working with a green screen and my kids showed off their Talk and Write work with Taradale Intermediate School.

What a buzz, kids sharing with kids, teaching each other and enthusing about the possibilities of these applications and tools.

Sitech were on hand to add their input into proceedings and provided additional hardware so thanks for that Kevin.

But it was the kid presenters who really made the day. I was so proud of them all. There enthusiasm for it all practically brought tears to my eyes.

Just a thought from the day, part of a discussion I had with team members down there.

We were talking about how important it is that ALL levels of education jump on board with the new move to Web 2.0 otherwise I’ll enthuse my 7 year olds and get them thinking about broader contexts and incorporating technology use in their work but then they have a further 11 years of School 1.0 to have all that drained from them. Fortunately that is not happening in Flaxmere as the whole Cluster is part of the Sitech Champion Schools Programme, dedicated to teacher PD in the area of technology, so as teachers across the year levels become up-skilled our kids will continue to have those technology opportunities in their learning. (for other pictures from the conference click here)

I sense they are quite privileged in that regard. Are other areas in
New Zealand/ around the globe experiencing what we are in Flaxmere?

I recieved this email today, quite out of the blue, so to speak, have a read:

Hi Simon,

I have just checked out the video clip Why Teach Technology on your site
and wonder if i can make a couple of comments?

1: The quality of the images you have used is sub standard…throughout
the the entire clip thereare images of ok resoltuion and
others that have pixelated so badly that they are not worth
using…….if using imahes from the web and u have found them using
google image
set your image size to large…any other size gives you the result u
have in your clip.

2. The clip is to stactic. it is a video not a slide show…therefor
your text and images should have movement. Moving the text and the image
will allow you to draw focus / attention to the image and words. I dont
know what you create the clip in but adding motion will greatly increase
the  imapct of the clip.

3. Also you have used images of  varying shape and sizes which doesnt
increase the imapct of the clip but rather distracts from it. Really
you need to use clips that will fill your screen…either 4:3 or 16:9
ratio…so you may need to zoom images in to fill the screen……tv
screens and data projector screens are rectangular in shape so to
effectivly use the space only use landscape nased images…if an image
is portrait based then zoom in or find another image.

4.  I note that some of the images you have used were created and signed
by others…ir u dont own the image. Be careful about using other
peoples images. If you are wanting to promote technology then u need to
ensure that you dont cross the ethical boundries by using images
you have created or captured yourself. Just because an image is online
doesnt mean that you can use it. check out each images copyright uses
and restrictions
before downlaoding. Images automatically some with international
copyright protection…..

5. The same thing applies to the audio track….in order to use clips, u
need to gain permission from the proper people….in some cases they are
free in others, u may need to pay tens of thousands of dollars. be
careful with what u use esoically if u post on line.

6. The fonts you have used didnt add to the clip…again they were
static and placed centrally….yawn!   use a thicker font.

7. When putting together clips keep in mind the person viewing the
show…..if someone came in part way through the clip
playing and began to view it, would they understand what you are trying
to tell them? more often than not they wont.

hope the above is of some use to you……..

any questions just ask.
Download: Posted by Dragon09 at TeacherTube.com.
It got me thinking about several things to do with Teachertube:

•  
  • What is the purpose of posting material to Teachertube?
  • Who is to benefit from the posting?
  • What quality of video/audio is permissable on such a format, and at what point does the quality impact on whether material is valuable or not?
  • Remembering that we are all teachers/ administrators etc, should be expect one another to produce a ‘Spielberg’ quality piece or are we all just out to support, encourage and inspire each other?
  • The Youtube: Disney copyright video I found on Sheryl’s blog defines ‘fair use’ but my question really is: Is that in the US only or is it some International standard/ expectation?
  • Are ALL available (Googled) images open to being used in the way that I have?
  • What about copyright for audio tracks that are being used as background to many Teachertube videos?

These are questions worth asking.

Here it is, my second effort after “Why teach technology?” into the TeacherTube zone of inspiring teachers to investigate the Pandora’s box that is Web 2.0.

I was culling my folder entitled “Web discussions” where I store past posts and bits and pieces I’ve cut and pasted for use later on. I came across the words included in me second video presentation; I think I got them off Durff’s Blog, if it wasn’t from there it was someone similarly thoughtful, observant and insightful, but it sounds like Durff to me. Anyway here it is entitled: “School 1.0 v School 2.0 “On your marks…””

Teaching Sagittarian will laugh at me as I still am unable to embed my own videos and Miguel of Around the Corner will no doubt roll his eyes at me as, yes, I used PhotoStory3 yet again. I’m not sure this presentation is going to give Vicki Davies the ‘chills’ like last time, but them I feel this is more of a Die Hard 2 moment rather then a Godfather II. What do you think?

Download: School 1.0 v School 2.0 “On your marks…”

Teaching Sagittarian check this out, I DID IT! (Thanks to the new embed feature for WordPress on TeacherTube )

Thought i’d share the contents of an email I sent to Mrs Durff. 

It’s funny isn’t, this whole joining the conversation, what is the best platform for it? We link up through Frappr, your my friend in Ning, you leave stuff on my blog, I’ve done that to you (I think) and I’ve got your email address too. So many avenues to communicate and I haven’t picked up the phone yet.
It’s incredible
How are we to keep track?

Here is my response to Vicki’s question ‘Why teach technology?’ It’s my first go at uploading to Teachertube. Technology teaching is the equipping of students today for the environment tomorrow. Yes, the future is unclear but if they leave us armed with the tools, shortcuts, and critical thinking skills then they will be prepared for a lifetime of learning and change.

Ps. I wish someone would teach me how to embed vodcast and podcast into my blog. I look like such a newbie, but I just can’t figure it out.